Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat

Do you not see in the case of Abraham that, "when he had left his country, and his kindred, and his father’s house," [*](Genesis xii. 1. ) that is to say, the body, the outward senses, and reason, he then began to become acquainted with the powers of the living God? for when he had secretly departed from all his house, the law says that, "God appeared unto him," [*](Genesis xii. 7. ) showing that he is seen clearly by him who has put off mortal things, and who has taken refuge from this body in the incorporeal soul;

on which account Moses taking his tent "pitches it without the tabernacle," [*](Exodus xxxiii. 7. ) and settles to dwell at a distance from the bodily camp, for in that way alone could he hope to become a worthy suppliant and a perfect minister before God. And he says that this tent was called the tent of testimony, taking exceeding care that it may really be the tabernacle of the living God, and may not be called so only. For of virtues, the virtues of God are founded in truth, existing according to his essence: since God alone exists in essence, on account of which fact, he speaks of necessity about himself, saying, "I am that I am," [*]( Exodus iii. 14. ) as if those who were with him did not exist according to essence, but only appeared to exist in opinion. But the tent of Moses being symbolically considered, the virtue of man shall be thought worthy of appellation, not of real existence, being only an imitation, a copy made after the model of that divine tabernacle, and consistent with these facts is the circumstance that Moses when he is appointed to be the God of Pharaoh, was not so in reality, but was only conceived of as such in opinion, "for I know that it is God who gives and bestows favours,