On Signifying
LXXIX. On Signifying
1. God signifies His Trinity
insofar as He has honoured the number three
above all other numbers enumerated.
2. Greatness signifies the Trinity in God
because the magnifier, the magnified and magnifying
are able to suffice for greatness.
3. Goodness signifies that God is good
insofar as it constitutes the cause of doing good
rather than of things wherein there lies no perfection.
4. The human nature that God assumed
signifies that He is capable of doing <whatever He wishes>
and that man should do good and not err in any respect.
5. Since goodness and being are concordant
and wickedness and non-being likewise,
is it signified that God lacks any imperfection.
6. A person who fails to do good while he is healthy
yet hopes to do so at his death
signifies that <his prayers> shall not be heeded.[1]
7. That person whom God has endowed with great power,
by means of which <power> he commits evil and sins,
signifies that he has already incurred God’s wrath.
8. He who says that man should do good rather than <commit> sins,
though does <quite> the contrary,
has indicated that he prefers lying to telling the truth.
9. He who begins with a good beginning (i.e. with worthy principles)
and who perseveres in goodness for a lengthy period,
signifies that he shall enjoy a good end.
10. Since God is so little honoured these days
and <all the> Christians have been cast out of Jerusalem,
is it signified that we are <but> little loved by God.
[1] The verb exoir/exaudir (Lat. exaudire) signifies “to hearken to/to heed/to hear/to grant/to answer” and is frequently used with reference to man’s prayers.