s of God, "He[36] reacheth from end to end
mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly." [Wid. 8:1] And if we
examine these blessings, the truth of Moses' words, in
Deuteronomy xxxii, will become plain, "He bore him on His
shoulders, He led him about, and kept him as the apple of His
eye." [Deut. 32:10] With these words we may stop the mouths of
those ungrateful praters who hold that there is in this life more
of evil than of good. For there is no lack of good things and
endless sweet blessings, but they are lacking who ate of the same
mind with him who said, "The earth is full of the mercy of the
Lord" [Ps. 33:5]; and again, "The earth is full of His
praise" [Hab. 3:3]; and in Psalm ciii, "The earth is full of Thy
riches" [Ps. 104:24]; "Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy
work," [Ps. 92:4] Hence we sing every day in the Mass; [37]
"Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory." [Isa. 6:3] Why do we
sing this? Because there are many blessings for which God may be
praised, but it is done only by those who see the fulness of
them. Even as we said concerning the evils of the first
image,[38] that a man's evils are only so great as he in his
thoughts acknowledges them to be, so it is also with the
blessings. Though they crowd upon us from every side, yet they
are only so great as we acknowledge them to be. For all things
that God made are very good, [Gen. 1:31] but they are not
acknowledged as very good by all. Such were they of whom it is
said in Psalm lxxvii,[39] "They despised the pleasant land." [Ps.
106:24]

The most beautiful and instructive example of this image is
furnished by Job, who when he had lost all said. "Shall we
receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"
[Job 2:10] Truly, that is a golden saying, and a mighty comfort
in temptation. For Job not only suffered, but was tempted to
impatience by his wife, who said to him, "Dost thou still retain
thine integrity? curse God, and die." [Job 2:9] As who should
say, "It is plain that he is not God who is thus forsaking thee.
Why, then, dost thou trust in him, and not rather, renouncing
him, and thus cursing him, acknowledge thyself a mortal man, for
whom naught remains after this life?" These things and the like
are suggested to each one of us by his wife (i. e., his carnal
mind[40]) in time of temptation; for the carnal mind[40] savoreth
not the things that be of God. [Matt. 16:13]

But these are all bodily blessings, and common to all men.