Chapter 5
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the Lord says: 'Why even of yourselves do you not judge what is right'?'7
(6) The Apostle speaks further, not merely of a judgment of a just man, but of every decision in matters which we have to examine: 'If you are ignorant on any point, this also will
God reveal to you,'8 since he himself was accustomed to give counsel, when he had no precept of the Lord, and to establish some rules on his own authority,9 since he was in possession of the Spirit of God,10 the guide to all truth.* 11 Thus, a counsel and rule of his became equivalent to a divine precept through the support given by divine reason. (7) Ask, then, this divine reason, while maintaining a respect for tradition, no matter what its source, not considering the author but the authority behind it, and especially that of the custom itself, which on this very account should be revered, lest we be without an interpreter of its rational basis. So, that, if reason, too, is
God's gift, you may then learn, not whether you should observe a custom, but why.
Chapter 5 (1) The rational basis of Christian customs is strengthened when it is supported by nature, which is the prime rule by which all things are measured. Now, nature is the first to bring an exception against crown and head being adapted for each other. It seems to me that the Lord of nature, our God,
7 Luke 12.57.
8 Cf. Phil. 3.15.
9 Cf. 1 Cor. 7.25.
10 Cf. 1 Cor. 7.40.
11 Cf. John 16.13.
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so created man and endowed him with certain powers of sensation that he may desire, appreciate, and enjoy the fruits of nature, by giving him, so to speak, specific bodily instru ments; thus, He planted hearing in the ears, He lit the light of sight in the eyes, He hid the power of taste in the mouth,
He wafted the power of smell to the nostrils and fixed the power of touch in the hands.
(2) By these instruments of the outer man, which act as servants for the inner man, the enjoyments of the divine gifts are conveyed by the senses to the depths of the soul. Now, what in flowers gives you enjoyment? For, it is the flowers of the field which form the peculiar, or at least the chief, ma terial of crowns. You answer rightly: 'Either their fragrance, or their color, or both together.' Now, what other senses, save that of sight and smell, are supposed to smell and see? And, what sense organs are supposed to accomplish that, if not the eyes and the nose? Therefore, make use of the flowers with sight and smell, for these are the senses by which they are meant to be enjoyed; use the eyes and the nose which are the organs of these senses. The thing, you have from God; while the mode of using jt is determined by the [community of men in the] world.
(3) An extraordinary mode of using a thing, however, is no hindrance to its ordinary use. Use flowers, then, when they are tied together and twisted [into a crown] with thread and rush, just the same way as you would when they are free and loose, that is, things to be looked at and smelled. Count it a crown, let me say, when a bunch of flowers is tied together in a series, so that you can carry many of them at the same time and enjoy them all at once. If they are so pure, then lay them on your breast; or spread them on your bed, if they are so soft; or even dip them in your cup if they are so
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harmless. Enjoy them in each of the ways in which they affect the senses.
(4) But what do you have in your head to relish a flower, to feel a crown, except its band? Your head is able neither to distinguish the color of flowers, nor to inhale their sweet odor, nor to appreciate their softness. It is just as much against nature to long for a flower with your head as to crave food with your ear or sound with your nose. But, anything that is against nature deserves to be branded as monstrous among all men; we, surely, should also consider it as a sin of sacrilege against God the Master and Author of nature.
Chapter 6 (1) If you demand a divine law, you have that common one prevailing all over the world, written on the tablets of nature, to which, also, St. Paul is accustomed to appeal.
Thus he says concerning the veiling of women: 'Does not nature teach you this?'1 Again, in saying in his letter to the Romans that the Gentiles do by nature what the Law pre scribes,2 he hints at the existence of natural law and a nature founded on law. In the preceding chapter of the same epistle3 he says that male and female have changed among themselves the natural function of the creature and descended to unnatural practices. And, since he understands this very sin as the punishment visited upon them for their error, he evidently supports the natural function [of the creature]. (2)
We come to the knowledge of God first by the teachings of 1 1 Cor. 11.14.
2 Cf. Rom. 2.14.
3 Cf. Rom. 1.25-27.