Sermon 229R

Sermon 229/R (partial): "The Lord ascended into heaven Let us shout for joy. He reigns at the right hand of the Father; Let us rejoice and be glad."

FROM THE SERMONS OF THE OCTAVE OF EASTER

A fragment.

Light and firmament are explained allegorically.

Under the name of light, by allegory, we understand all the just and faithful, as the Apostle says: "You were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord." But this light was made. However, there was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world, which was not made, but born of God. That light was not made, and by the one not made, this one was made. Thus also the firmament: as the light was made by the shining God, so the firmament was made by the firm God. And we find that the firmament in the Church ought to be understood as the authority of the divine Scriptures; and therefore first light, then firmament; because Scripture was made by just men, and unless they were first justified, so that they might be light, Scripture could not be propagated, so that it might become the firmament between the waters and the waters, a mediator between the inferior peoples of men and the superior peoples of angels. Why? Because angels do not desire to profit from the Scriptures, hence they are not under the firmament, under the authority of the Scriptures; because they contemplate the appearance of divinity and wisdom. But we rightfully are under the firmament, to whom the will of God is revealed through the authority of the Scriptures.