This was a discourse which might have made Felix tremble.
CHAPTER CLXIII.
AN OPINION OF EL VENERABLE PADRE MAESTRO FRAY LUIS DE GRANADA, AND A PASSAGE QUOTED FROM HIS WORKS, BECAUSE OF THE PECULIAR BENEFIT TO WHICH PERSONS OF A CERTAIN DENOMINATION WILL FIND THEMSELVES ENTITLED UPON READING OR HEARING IT READ.
Chacun tourne en réalités,
Autant qu'il peut, ses propres songes;
L'homme est de glace aux vérités,
Il est de feu pour les mensonges.
LA FONTAINE.
The translated extract in the preceding Chapter from the most eloquent of the Portuguese preachers, el mismissimo Vieyra, en su mesma mesmedad, as he is called in Fray Gerundio, brings to my mind the most eloquent and the most popular of the Spanish divines, P. M. Luis de Granada. He held an opinion wherein, (as will appear hereafter) the Philosopher of Doncaster did not agree with him, that every thing under the sky was created for man directly or indirectly, either for his own use, or for the use of those creatures which minister to it; for says the Spaniard if he does not eat mosquitoes he eats the birds that eat them; if he does not eat the grass of the field, the cattle graze there that are necessary for his use.
I have a very particular reason for giving the famous and Venerable Dominican's opinion in his own words.
Todo quanto ay debaxo del Cielo, ò es para el hombre, ò para cosas de que se ha de servir el hombre; porque si el no come el mosquito que buela por el ayre, come lo el pajaro de que el se mantiene; y si el no pace la yerva del campo, pacela el ganado, de que el tiene necessidad.