At all events, God is represented in another passage as saying, "Abraham has kept all my law." Genesis xxvi. 5. And law is nothing else but the word of God, enjoining what Genesis xviii. 10. Genesis xii. 4. Genesis xxvi. 5. is right, and forbidding what is not right, as he bears witness, where he says, "He received the law from his words." Deut. xxxiii. 4. If, then, the divine word is the law, and if the righteous man does the law, then by all means he also performs the the word of God. So that, as I said before, the words of God are the actions of the wise man.
Section 131
Accordingly, the end is according to the most holy Moses, to follow God; as he says also in another passage, "Thou shalt walk after the Lord thy God;" Deut. xiii. 4. not meaning that he should employ the motion of his legs; for the earth is the support of a man, but whether the whole world is sufficient to be the support of God, I do not know; but he seems here to be speaking allegorically, intending to represent the way in which the soul follows the divine doctrines, which has a direct reference to the honour due to the great cause of all things.
Section 132
And he also, with a wish further to excite an irresistible desire of what is good, enjoins one to cleave to it; for he says, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve; and thou shalt cleave to him." Deut. x. 20. What, then, is this cleaving? What? Surely it is piety and faith; for these virtues adapt and invite the mind to incorruptible nature. For Abraham also, when he believed, is said to have "come near to God." Genesis xviii. 23.
Section 133
If, therefore, while you are walking you are neither fatigued, so as to give way and stumble, nor are so careless as to turn to either the right hand or to the left hand, and so to stray and miss the direct road which lies between the two; but if, imitating good runners, you finish the course of life without stumbling or error, you will deservedly obtain the crown and worthy prize of victory when you have arrived at your desired end.
Section 134
For is not this the crown and the prize of victory not to miss the proposed end of one’s labours, but to arrive at that goal of prudence which is so difficult to be reached? What, then, is the object of having right wisdom? To be able to condemn one’s own folly and that of every created being. For to be aware that one knows nothing is the end of all knowledge, since there is only one wise being, who is also the only God.
Section 135
On which account Moses very beautifully has represented the father of the universe as being also the inspector and Deut. xxxiii. 4. Deut. x. 20. Deut. xiii. 4. Genesis xviii. 23. superintendent of all that he has created, saying, "God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good." Genesis i. 31. For it was not possible for any one to have an accurate view of all that had been created, except for the Creator.
Section 136
Come, then, ye who are full of arrogance, and ignorance, and of exceeding insolence, ye that are wise in your own conceit, and who say not only that ye know accurately what each thing is, but that you are also able to explain the causes why it is so, showing daring with great rashness, as if ye had either been present at the creation of the world, and had actually seen how and from what each separate thing was made, or had been counsellors of the Creator concerning the things which were created.
Section 137
Come, and at once abandoning all other things, learn to know yourselves, and tell us plainly what ye yourselves are in respect of your bodies, in respect of your souls, in respect of your external senses, and in respect of your reason. Tell us now with respect to one, and that the smallest, perhaps, of the senses, what sight is, and how it is that you see; tell us what hearing is, and how is it that you hear; tell us what taste is, what touch is, what smell is, and how it is that you exercise the energies of each of these faculties; and what the sources of them are from which they originate.
Section 138
For do not tell me long stories about the moon and the sun, and all the other things in heaven and in the world, which are at such a distance from us and which are so different in their natures, empty-minded creatures that you are, before you examine into and become acquainted with yourselves; for when you have learnt to understand yourselves, then perhaps one may believe you when you enter into explanations respecting other things. But till you are able to tell what you yourselves are, do not expect ever to be looked upon as truth-telling judges or witnesses with respect to others.
Section 139
Since, then, these things are in this state, the mind, when it is rendered perfect, will pay its proper tribute to the God who causes perfection, according to that most sacred scripture, "For the law is, that tribute belongs to the Lord." Numbers xxxi. 40. When does the mind pay it? When? "On the third day it comes to the place which God has told it of," Genesis XXII.4. having passed by the greater portions of the differences of time, and being now passing over to that nature which has no connection with Genesis i. 31. Numbers xxxi. 40. Genesis XXII.4. time;
Section 140
for then it will sacrifice its beloved son, not a man (for the wise man is not a slayer of his children), but the male offspring of a virtuously living soul, the fruit which germinates from it, as to which it knows not how it bore it, the divine shoot, which, when it appears, the soul then having appeared to be pregnant, confesses that it does not understand the good which has happened to it, saying, "Who will tell to Abraham?" Genesis xxi. 7. as if, in fact, he would refuse to believe about the rising up of the self-taught race, that "Sarah was suckling a child," not that the child was being suckled by Sarah. For the self-taught offspring is nourished by no one, but is itself the nourishment of others as being competent to teach, and having no need to learn;
Section 141
for "I have brought forth a son," not like the Egyptian women, in the flower of my age and in the height of my bodily vigour, but like the Hebrew souls, "in my old age," Exodus i. 18. when all the objects of the outward senses and all mortal things are faded, and when the objects of the intellect and immortal things are in their full vigour and worthy of all estimation and honour.
Section 142
And I have brought forth, too, without requiring the aid of the midwife’s skill; for we bring forth even before any skill or knowledge of man can come to us, without any of the ordinary means of assistance to help us, God having sown and generated an excellent offspring, which, in accordance with the law made concerning gratitude, very properly requites its creator with gratitude and honour. For, says God, "My gifts, and my offerings, and my first fruits, you have taken care to bring to me." Numbers xxviii. 2.