bly revere them. Such is the whole subject. The object of this sermon is to inspire us with complete resignation to all the decrees of the Almighty.
Grant us that, O God of infinite justice, wisdom, and goodness, through the intercession of Mary and of our holy guardian angels.
To condemn what one cannot and should not understand is folly and presumption. Shown by a simile. What a man cannot and should not understand lie should let alone; and it would be folly for him to try to indulge a useless curiosity regarding such a matter, and still worse for him to presume to condemn it. What would you think, asks St. Augustine, of a man born deaf, who sees a man speaking and moving his lips, or a choir of musicians of whom one is playing the organ with his fingers, another is blowing a horn, a third opening his mouth and singing, a fourth playing the fiddle, a fifth moving his arms and beating time; what would you think if the deaf man were to condemn those different movements and gestures of the musicians as a useless and foolish piece of nonsense, for he knows not what music is? What would you say of a blind man, who, hearing of the beauty of a certain palace, examines it with his hands, and finding open places for the windows while groping around, criticises and condemns them as blemishes, as if the walls should be everywhere the same, and present no opening whatever? Would not both these men be looked on as not merely ignorant, but also presumptuous? Truly, and with justice. For what can a blind man know of color, or a deaf one of sound? They have both reason to wonder; the deaf man at seeing the musicians, the blind man at feeling the different openings in the palace walls; but if they had common sense, they would refrain from all criticism, for they do not understand the matter, and on account of the deficiency in their senses are unable to comprehend it in spite of any explanations that may be given them. And would it not be an intolerable thing for an uneducated peasant to dispute long about the course of the stars, or for a student to discuss the best system of tillage?
Confirmed by examples.
Alexander the Great, as Pliny writes, used often to visit the celebrated painter Apelles; on one occasion, as he was discussing the subject of painting with more earnestness than usual, Apelles took him aside and whispered to him to drop the matter, lest the boys who were mixing the colors should laugh at him. His meaning was that Alexander, no matter how well he might understand the art of war, knew nothing about painting, and therefore