Mornings in Florence by John Ruskin
page 113 of 149 (75%)
page 113 of 149 (75%)
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tiara, one of the most curiously naive examples of the entirely
ignorant feeling after merely scientific truth of form which still characterized Italian art. Type of church interesting in its extreme simplicity; no idea of transept, campanile, or dome. X. PRACTICAL THEOLOGY. The beginning of the knowledge of God being Human Justice, and its elements defined by Christian Law, the application of the law so defined follows, first with respect to man, then with respect to God. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's--and to God the things that are God's." We have therefore now two sciences, one of our duty--to men, the other to their Maker. This is the first: duty to men. She holds a circular medallion, representing Christ preaching on the Mount, and points with her right hand to the earth. The sermon on the Mount is perfectly expressed by the craggy pinnacle in front of Christ, and the high dark horizon. There is curious evidence throughout all these frescos of Simon Memmi's having read the Gospels with a quite clear understanding of their innermost meaning. I have called this science Practical Theology:--the instructive knowledge, that is to say, of what God would have us do, personally, in any given human relation: and the speaking His Gospel therefore by act. |
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