Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit

In the treatise preceding the present one, we discussed the question of rewards to the best of our ability. Our present purpose is to examine who is the heir of the things of God; for after the wise man heard the oracle, which being divinely given, said,

"Thy reward is exceedingly great;" [*](Genesis xv. 1. ) he inquired, saying, "What wilt thou give me, O master?" And I shall depart childless: but my son who is the child of my handmaid will inherit after me, this Eliezer of Damascus." And in another place he says, "Since thou hast not given me any seed, but one born in my house shall be my heir."

And yet who would not have been amazed at the dignity and greatness of him who delivered this oracle, so as to become silent and mute before him, if not out of fear, still at all events from excess of joy? For excessive griefs stop the mouth, and so also do excessive joys;

on which account Moses confesses that he is "a man of a slight voice and slow of speech from the time when God first began to converse with him." [*](Exodus iv. 10. ) And this testimony of the prophet is unerring; for it is natural for the organs of speech to be checked, and for the reason which is collected in the mind to be borne onwards with unrestrained impetuosity, philosophically examining the unceasing beauty of ideas not of words, with fluent and sublime power;

and the most admirable virtues are boldness and freedom of speech at suitable times towards one’s betters, so that the sentence in the comic poet appears to me to be uttered with truth rather than with comic humour:— [*](Genesis xv. 1. ) [*](Exodus iv. 10. )

When then has a slave freedom of speech towards his master? Is it not when he is conscious that he has not wronged him, but that he has done and said everything with a view to the advantage of his owner?

When therefore is it proper for the servant of God to use freedom of speech to the ruler and master of himself, and of the whole word? Is it not when he is free from all sins, and is aware in his conscience that he loves his master, feeling more joy at the fact of being a servant of God, than he would if he were sovereign over the whole race of mankind, and were invested without any effort on his part with the supreme authority over land and sea.

And he mentions the ministrations and services by which Abraham displayed his love to his master in the last sentence of the divine oracle given to his son, "I will give to thee and to thy seed all this land, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham thy father obeyed my voice, and kept all my precepts, and all my commandments, and my laws, and my judgments." [*](Genesis xxvi. 3. )

And it is the greatest possible praise of a servant that he does not neglect a single thing of the commandments which his master lays upon him, but that he labours earnestly without any hesitation and with all his vigour, and even beyond his power to perform them all with a well affected mind.

There are persons, then, to whom it is becoming to listen but not to speak, with respect to whom it is said, "Be silent and hear," [*](Deuteronomy xxvii. 9. ) a very admirable injunction; for ignorance is a very bad and a very audacious thing, the first remedy for which is silence, and the second, attention to those who present you with anything worthy of your listening to.

Let no one, however, think that this is all that is signified by those few words, "Be silent and hear;" but that there is also something greater in them which may give a lesson to any one. For these words do not recommend you only to be silent with your tongues, and to hear with your ears, but also to conduct yourself thus in both these respects in your soul;

for many persons when they have come to listen to some one, have nevertheless not come with their minds, but wander outside, [*](Genesis xxvi. 3. ) [*](Deuteronomy xxvii. 9. )

If, therefore, the mind chooses to associate neither with things wandering about outside, nor with those which are stored up within it, but, remaining quiet and silent, directs its whole attention to the speaker, keeping silent in accordance with the injunction of Moses, it will be able to listen with all attention, but otherwise it would not be able to do so.

Silence, then, is a desirable thing for those who are ignorant, but for those who desire knowledge, and who have at the same time a love for their master’s freedom of speech, is a most necessary possession. Accordingly it is said, in the book of Exodus, "The Lord will fight for us, and you will be silent." [*](Exodus xiv. 4. ) And, immediately afterwards, there is added a scripture in the following words: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Why dost thou cry unto me?" As it is proper for those persons to be silent who can say nothing worthy of being listened to, and for those to speak who, through love of wisdom, believe in God; and not only to speak quietly but to cry out with exceeding noise, not indeed with the noise of the mouth and tongue, by means of which they say that the air is affected with a rotatory motion, and so is rendered capable of being perceived by the hearing, but by the all-instructed and very loudly speaking organ of that voice of which no mortal man is the hearer, but only the uncreated and immortal God.

For the well-arranged and carefully attuned melody of that harmony which is perceptible by the intellect, the invisible musician, perceptible by the intellect, is alone able to comprehend; but no one of those involved in the entanglements of the outward senses can appreciate it. Accordingly, when the entire organ of the mind sounds according to the symphony of the diapason and of the double diapason, the hearer, as it were, asks (for he does not ask in reality, since everything is known [*](Exodus xiv. 4. )

But the man who appears to be endued with a thin voice, and with slowness of speech, and to be almost dumb, is nevertheless found to be talkative, so that in one place he is represented not merely as speaking, but even as crying out; and, in another, as exerting a ceaseless and uninterrupted flow of words;

for, says the scripture, "Moses spoke, and God answered him with a voice." [*](Exodus xix. 19. ) He did not speak in brief periods or sentences, but in one continuously extended speech; and God also instructed him, not in brief sentences, but gave him one unbroken and continuous answer.

And whenever there is an answer, there then must of necessity have been, in every case, a question. But whenever any one puts a question it is respecting something which he does not know, because he is desirous to learn; inasmuch as he is aware that there is nothing so useful with regard to acquiring knowledge as to ask, to inquire, to investigate, to appear to know nothing, and not to have an idea that one comprehends anything firmly.

The wise, therefore, take God for their teacher and instructor; and those who are less perfectly initiated in wisdom take the wise men for theirs. On which account they say, also, "Do thou speak with us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die." [*]( Exodus xx 19. ) And the virtuous man uses such freedom of speech as not only to speak and cry out, but even to advance positive claims with true confidence and genuine feeling;

for the expression, "If thou forgivest them their sin, forgive them; and if not, then wipe me out of the book which thou hast written." [*](Exodus xxxii. 32. ) And this sentence also, "Did I conceive all this people in my womb? Or have I brought them forth, that thou sayest unto me, Take them up into thy bosom, as a nurse takes her sucking child." [*](Numbers xi. 11. ) And also that passage where we read, "From whence am I to get flesh to give to all this people, because they cry unto me? Shall sheep and oxen be sacrificed, or shall all the fish of the sea be collected together, to satisfy them?" And again, "Lord, why hast thou afflicted this people?" And again, "Why hast thou sent me?" And, in another place, "From the time that [*](Exodus xix. 19. ) [*](Exodus xxxii. 32. ) [*]( Exodus xx 19. ) [*](Numbers xi. 11. )