40. See Eph 5:32.
Book IX 397 things (Ps 73: 17). Finally, on waking up, full ofprophecy so to say, when he saw his wife brought to him he immediately burst out with what the apostle holds up to us as a great sacrament:40 This now bone out of my bones andfleshfrom my flesh, this shall be calledwoman, since she was taken out ofherman; andfor this reason a man shall leave hisfather and mother and shall stick to his wife; and they shall be two in oneflesh (Gn 2:23-24).
While scripture itself testifies that these were the words of the first man, the Lord all the same declared in the gospel that God spoke to them; he said, you see: Have you not read that the one who made manfrom the beginning made them male andfemale? And he said: For this reason a man shall leave father and mother and stick to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh? (Mt 19:4-5). From this we may conclude that through the ecstasy which Adam hadjust expe rienced he could be treated by God as a prophet. But l now have the pleasure of bringing this book to an end, so that by starting offfrom a new base-line readers may come with freshly revived attention to what comes next.
40. See Eph 5:32.