As, there is the faculty of sight, the thing which is visible, the act of seeing.
The faculty of hearing, the thing which is audible, and the act of hearing.
The faculty of smelling, the thing which can be smelled, and the act of smelling.
The faculty of taste, the thing which can be tasted, and the act of tasting.
The faculty of touch, the thing which can be touched, and the act of touching.
These are the fifteen cubits in excess; for they also are overwhelmed by the overflow, being destroyed by the unseasonable influx of infinite vices and evils.
(22) What is the meaning of the expression, “And all flesh capable of motion perished?” (Genesis 7:21). It is with especial propriety, and strictly in accordance with natural truth, that the sacred historian has here pronounced all flesh capable of motion devoted to destruction; for flesh excites pleasures, and is excited by pleasures; and such affections are the causes of the destruction of souls, as one the other hand sobriety and patience are the causes of safety.
(23) What is the meaning of the expression, “And everything which was on the dry land died?” (#Ge 7:22). The literal meaning is notorious, because in that great deluge everything which was upon the earth was destroyed and perished; but with respect to the secret meaning, as, since the material of timber, when it is parched and dry, is readily consumed by fire, so, likewise, when the soul is not mingled with wisdom, and justice, and piety, and the other enduring virtues, which alone are able to impart real joy to the thoughts, then it, being parched up and dried like a plant which is deprived of any power of budding or producing seed, or like a withered trunk, dies, being handed over to the mercy of the overwhelming overflow of the body.
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