16 These points my discourse has now treated at large, having left out many, yea, ten thousand other things, and especially things incorporeal and invisible, that you may abhor those who blaspheme the wise and good Artificer, and from what is spoken and read, and whatever you can yourself discover or conceive, from the greatness and beauty of the creatures may proportionably see the maker of them, and bending the knee with godly reverence to the Maker of the worlds, the worlds, I mean, of sense and thought, both visible and invisible, you may with a grateful and holy tongue, with unwearied lips and heart, praise God and say, How wonderful are Your works, O Lord; in wisdom have You made them all. For to You belongs honour, and glory, and majesty, both now and throughout all ages. Amen.
Note.— In the manuscripts which contain this discourse under the name of “A Homily of S. Basil on God as Incomprehensible,” some portions are changed to suit that subject: but the conclusion especially is marked by great addition and variation, which it is well to reproduce here. Accordingly in place of the words in §15: τί μεμπτόν, “What is there to find fault with?” and the following, the manuscripts before mentioned have it thus:
What is there to find fault with in the framing of the body? Come forth into the midst and speak. Control your own will, and nothing evil shall proceed from any of your members. For every one of these has of necessity been made for our use. Chasten your reasoning unto piety, submit to God's commandments, and none of these members sin in working and serving in the uses for which they were made. If you be not willing, the eye sees not amiss, the ear hears nothing which it ought not, the hand is not stretched out for wicked greed, the foot walks not towards injustice, you have no strange loves, committest no fornication, covet not your neighbour's wife. Drive out wicked thoughts from your heart, be as God made you, and you will rather give thanks to your Creator.
Adam at first was without clothing, faring daintily in Paradise: and after he had received the commandment, but failed to keep it, and wickedly stretched forth his hand (not because the hand wished this, but because his will stretched forth his hand to that which was forbidden), because of his disobedience he lost also the good things he had received. Thus the members are not the cause of sin to those who use them, but the wicked mind, as the Lord says, For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, fornications, adulteries, envyings, and such like. In what things you choose, therein your limbs serve you; they are excellently made for the service of the soul: they are provided as servants to your reason. Guide them well by the motion of piety; bridle them by the fear of God; bring them into subjection to the desire of temperance and abstinence, and they will never rise up against you to tyrannise over you; but rather they will guard you, and help you more mightily in your victory over the devil, while expecting also the incorruptible and everlasting crown of the victory. Who opens the chambers of the womb? Who, etc.
At the end of the same section, after the words “Wise Creator,” this is found: “Glorify Him in His unsearchable works, and concerning Him whom you are not capable of knowing, inquire not curiously what His essence is. It is better for you to keep silence, and in faith adore, according to the divine Word, than daringly to search after things which neither you can reach, nor Holy Scripture has delivered to you. These points my discourse has now treated at large, that you may abhor those who blaspheme the wise and good Artificer, and rather may yourself also say, How wonderful are Your works O Lord; in wisdom have You made them all. To You be the glory, and power, and worship, with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and throughout all ages. Amen.”
Source: Catechetical Lectures (New Advent)