Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit

But I, learning by experience, like an infant and untaught child, decided that it was better to depart from all these things, and to attribute the powers of each to God, who makes and consolidates [*](Genesis xii. 1. )

and in the same manner in which you have departed from the other things, now rise up and emigrate from thyself. But what is the meaning of this expression? Do not treasure up in thyself the faculties of perceiving, and thinking, and comprehending, but offer and dedicate these things to him who is the cause of thinking accurately, and of comprehending without being deceived.

But it is the holier of the all-sacred places in the temple which receives this offering; for it appears that there are two; the one discernible only by the intellect, and the other perceptible by the outward senses. Now, of these creatures which are perceptible by the outward senses, this world is the receptacle; but of those things which are truly invisible, the world, which is discernible only by the intellect, is the magazine:

but he that goes out from us and desires to become an attendant of God, is the inheritor of the much celebrated wealth of nature; he bears witness, who says, "He brought him out, and said unto him, Look up to heaven;" [*](Genesis xv. 5. ) since that is the treasury of the good things of God. "May the Lord," says he, "open to thee the treasury of his good things," [*](Deut. xxviii. 12. )—that is, the heaven; out of which he who furnishes the supply does incessantly rain the most perfect joys. Look up, then, so as to convict the blind race of common men, which, though it appears to see, is blind.

For how can it be otherwise than blind, when it sees evil instead of good, and what is unjust instead of what is just, and the indulgence of the passions, instead of a mastery over them, and things mortal, instead of things immortal, and when it runs away from its monitors and correctors, and from conviction and instruction, and admits flatterers, and the reasonings of idleness, and ignorance, and luxury, all exerted in the cause of pleasure?

The good man, then, alone sees; in reference to whom the ancients also called the prophets, seers. [*](1 Samuel ix. 9. ) But he who advanced further outwards, not only seeing, but seeing God, was called Israel; the meaning of which name is, "seeing God." But others, even if they ever do open their eyes, still bend them down towards the earth, pursuing only earthly things, and being bred up among material objects;

for the one raises his eyes to the sky, beholding the manna, the divine [*](Genesis xv. 5. ) [*](Deut. xxviii. 12. ) [*](1 Samuel ix. 9. )

"For," says the scripture, "we remembered the fish which we ate in Egypt without payment, and the gourds, and the cucumbers, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our soul is dry, and our eyes behold nothing but manna." [*](Numbers xi. 5. )

And the statement, "He led him out" [*](Genesis xv. 5. ) (ἐξήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἔξω), has a bearing also on moral considerations, though some persons, through their want of instruction in moral philosophy, are accustomed to ridicule it, saying, "For is any one ever led out in (ἔξω εἰσάγεται), or led in out (εἰσέρχεται ἔξω)?" "Certainly," I would reply, "you ridiculous and very foolish man; for you have never learnt how to trace the dispositions of the soul; but by this language of yours you only seek to understand those motions of bodies which are exerted in change of place. On which account it seems paradoxical to you to speak of any one coming out into (ἐξέρχεται εἴσω), or going in out (ὲξέρχεται ἔξω); but to those acquainted with Moses none of these things seem inconsistent."

Would you not say that the perfect high priest when, being in the inmost shrine, he is performing his national sacrifices, is both within and without at the same time? within in respect of his visible body, but without in respect of his soul, which is roaming about and wandering? And again, on the other hand, would you not say that a man who was not of the family consecrated to the priesthood, but who was a lover of God and beloved by God, though standing without the holy shrine, was nevertheless in reality in its inmost parts? looking upon his whole life in the body as a sojourning in a foreign land; but while he is able to live only in the soul, then he thinks that he is abiding in his own country.

For every fool is outside of friendship, even though he may not depart for one moment from daily association with people. But every wise man is within friendship, even if he be dwelling at a distance, not merely in a different country, but in another climate and region of the world. But, according to Moses, a friend is so near to one as to differ in no respect from one’s [*](Numbers xi. 5. ) [*](Genesis xv. 5. )

And again he says, "The priest shall not be a man by himself, when he goeth into the holy of holies, until he cometh out;" [*](Leviticus xvi. 17. ) speaking not with reference to the motions of the body, but to those of the soul; for the mind, while it is offering holy sacrifices to God in all purity, is not a human but a divine mind; but when it is serving any human object, it then descends from heaven and becomes changed, or rather it falls to the earth and goes out, even though the mind may still remain within.