Cattle are terrestrial and bent towards the
earth. Man, a celestial growth, rises superior to them as much by
the mould of his bodily conformation as by the dignity of his
soul. What is the form of quadrupeds? Their head is bent
towards the earth and looks towards their belly, and only pursues their
belly’s good. Thy head, O man! is turned towards heaven;
thy eyes look up. Arist.,
Part. An. iv. 10, 18. μόνον
ὀρθόν ἐστι
τῶν ζῴων ὁ
ἄνθρωπος. When
therefore thou degradest thyself by the passions of the flesh, slave of
thy belly, and thy lowest parts, thou approachest animals without
reason and becomest like one of them. cf. Ps.
xlix. 12. Thou art called to more noble cares;
“seek those things which are above where Christ
sitteth.”
Col. iii. 1. Raise thy
soul above the earth; draw from its natural conformation the rule of
thy conduct; fix thy conversation in heaven. Thy true country is
the heavenly Jerusalem; cf.
Phil. iii.
20. thy fellow-citizens
and thy compatriots are “the first-born which are written in
heaven.”
Heb. xii. 23.