there is something like a taint of leprosy has been seen by me in my house," and presently he adds, "And the priest shall command him to dismantle his house, before the priest enters into the house to see it, and all the things that are in the house shall not be impure; and after that the priest shall enter the house to examine it." Therefore, before the priest enters in, the things in the house are pure; but after he has entered in, from that time forth they are all impure. And yet the contrary would have been natural, that when a man thoroughly purified and perfect, who is in the habit of offering up prayers and purifications, and sacrifices for all the people come into a house, all that is therein would be improved by his presence, and would become pure from having been impure; but now they do not even remain in the same condition as before, but they are brought into a worse state by the arrival of the priest.

But whether this is consistent with the literal and obvious order of the words, those men may inquire who are in the habit of, and fond of pursuing such investigations; but we must affirm distinctly, that no one thing can be more consistent with another than the fact, that when the priest enters in, all the things in the house should be polluted; for as long as the divine word has not come to our souls as to a hearth of hospitality, all its actions are blameless; for the overseer, or the father, or the teacher, or whatever else it may be fit to entitle the priest, by whom alone it is possible for it to be admonished and chastened, is at a distance: and those persons are to be pardoned who do wrong from inexperience, out of ignorance what they ought to do: for they do not look upon their deeds in the light of sins, but even sometimes they believe that they are doing right in cases in which they are erring greatly; but when the real priest, conviction, enters our hearts, like a most pure ray of light, then we think that the designs which we have cherished within our souls are not pure, and we see that our actions are liable to blame, and deserving of reproach, though we did them through ignorance of what was right. All these things, therefore, the priest, that is to say, conviction, pollutes, and orders that they should be taken away and stripped off, in order that he may see the abode of the soul pure, and, if there are any diseases in it, that he may heal them.

• Leviticus xiv. 85.

BB

+ Ibid.

66

XXIX. And the woman who met the prophet,* in the book of Kings, resembles this fact: And she is a widow;" not meaning by that, as we generally use the word, a woman when she is bereft of her husband, but that she is so, from being free from those passions which corrupt and destroy the soul, as Thamar is represented by Moses. For she also being a widow, vas commanded to sit down in the house of the father, the only Saviour;t on whose account, having forsaken for ever the company and society of men, she is at a distance from and widowhood of all human pleasures, and receives a divine seed; and being filled with the seeds of virtue, she conceives, and is in travail of virtuous actions. And when she has brought them forth, she carries off the prize against her adversaries, and is enrolled as victorious, bearing the palm as the emblem of her victory.

For the name Thamar, being interpreted, means the palmtree. And every soul that is beginning to be widowed and devoid of evils, says to the prophet, "O, man of God! hast thou come to me to remind me of my iniquity and of my sin?" For he being inspired, and entering into the soul, and being filled with heavenly love, and being amazingly excited by the intolerable stimulus of heaven-inflicted frenzy, works in the soul a recollection of its ancient iniquities and offences not in order that it may commit such again,-but that, greatly lamenting and bitterly bewailing its former error, may hate its own offspring, and reject them with aversion, and may follow the admonitions of the word of God, the interpreter and prophet of his will. For the men of old used to call the prophets sometimes men of God, and sometimes seers,§ affixing appropriate and becoming names to their enthusiasm, and inspiration, and to the foreknowledge of affairs which they enjoyed.

it

XXX. Very properly, therefore, the most sacred Moses says that, the earth was corrupted at that time when the virtues of the just Noah were made manifest : "And the whole earth," says he, "was corrupted, because all flesh had corrupted his (avrov) way upon the earth." || Now to some persons this expression will seem to have been incorrectly used, and that the consistency with the context, and the truth of the fact will * 1 Kings xvii. 10 + Genesis xxxviii. 11. 1 Kings xvii. 18.

§ 1 Samuel ix. 9.

Genesis vi, 12.

require that we should read rather that, "All flesh had corrupted its (aurns) way upon the earth." For it does not agree with the feminine noun "flesh" (rñ oagxi), if we subjoin a masculine case, the word abrou in connection with it. But perhaps, Moses does not mean here to speak of the flesh alone as corrupting his way upon the earth, so that he deserves to be considered to have erred in the expression which he has used, but rather to speak of the things of the flesh, which is corrupted, and of that other being whose way the flesh endeavours to injure and to corrupt.

So that we should explain this expression thus :-All flesh corrupted the perfect way of the everlasting and incorruptible being which conducts to God. And know that this way is wisdom. For the mind being guided by wisdom, while the road is straight and level and easy, proceeds along it to the end; and the end of this road is the knowledge and understanding of God. But every companion of the flesh hates and repudiates, and endeavours to corrupt this way; for there is no one thing so much at variance with another, as knowledge is at variance with the pleasure of the flesh. Accordingly, the earthly Edom is always fighting with those who wish to proceed by this road, which is the royal road for those who partake of the faculty of seeing who are called Israel; for the interpretation of the name Edom, is "earthly," and he labours with all earnestness, and by every means in his power, and by threats, to hinder them from this road, and to make it pathless and impracticable for ever.

But

XXXI. Therefore the ambassadors who are sent speak as follows:-"We will pass on through thy land; we will not pass through thy fields nor through thy vineyards; we will not drink water from thy cistern; we will proceed by the royal road; we will not turn aside out of the way, to the right hand, nor to the left, until we have passed over thy borders. Edom answered and said, Thou shalt not pass through my land: and if thou dost, I will come against thee in battle to meet thee. And the children of Israel said unto him, We will pass by thy mountain; but if I or my cattle drink of thy water, I will pay thee the price thereof. But it is of no consequence, we will pass by thy mountain. And he said, "Thou shalt not pass through my land."*

Numbers xx. 17.

It is said of some man of old time, that when he saw a sumptuous procession properly equipped passing by, he looked towards one of his acquaintances and said, "My friends, see how many things there are of which I have no need," in a very few words uttering what was truly a great and heavenly boast. What dost thou say? Were you crowned as conqueror in the Olympic games in opposition to all the wealth arrayed against you; and were you so to that degree there that you took nothing from thence for your enjoyment or for your use? It is a marvellous statement, but the sentiment is more admirable still, which advanced to such a degree of strength, as to be able without any extraordinary exertion, nevertheless to carry off the victory by force.

XXXII. But it is not allowed to one man alone to boast before Moses who has been instructed in the highest perfection of wisdom, but it belongs to the whole of a most populous nation. And this is the proof of that fact. The soul of every one of his friends felt confidence and was hold towards the king of all the apparent good things, the earthly Edom; for in fact all earthly good things are good only in appearance; they then I say were bold, so as to say, "I will now pass by thy land." Oh, the magnanimous and sublime promise! Tell me, will ye be able to surmount, to pass by, to run past all these things which on earth appear to be and are believed to be good? And is there nothing which will be able to check and restrain your forward advance by the power with which it resists you? And when you have beheld all the treasures of riches one after another, and all full, will ye turn from them with aversion, and avert your eyes from them? And will ye look down upon the dignities of your ancestors, and on those which come to yourselves from your father and your mother, and on their nobility which is so celebrated in the mouths of the multitude? And will ye forsake the glory for which men are ready to barter everything, leaving it behind as if it were something most utterly valueless? What more shall I say? Will ye disregard the health of the body, and the accurate perfection of the outward senses, and beauty, which is an object of contention to many, and strength such as no one can oppose, and all those other things by which the house or the tomb of the soul, or whatever else one ought to call it is adorned, will ye, I say, dis ard all these things, so far as not to class any one of

them among good things? These are mighty deeds of boldness for a heavenly and celestial soul, which has utterly forsaken the regions of earth, and which has been drawn up on high, and has its abode among the divine natures. For being filled with the sight of the genuine and incorruptible good things, it very naturally repudiates those which only last a day and are spurious.

XXXIII. What is the advantage then of passing over all the mortal advantages of mortal man, and passing them by too, not in accordance with right reason, but as some do through their hesitation, or sluggishness, or inexperience; for everything is not honoured everywhere, but different things are esteemed by different persons. On this account, Moses wishing to teach further, that they had become by correctness of reasou inclined to despise what was said, adds to the words, "I will pass by." the further description, "through your land." For this is exceedingly necessary, that when surrounded by an abundance of those things which are usually accounted advantages, we should avoid being taken prisoners by any of the toils which are spread by each separate pleasure; and that like fire, we should be able at one onset to break through their attacks which are so continually armed against us.

The Israelites say then that they will pass by this way, but. that they will not pass any longer through the fields and vineyards; for it would be doting simplicity to pass by all the plants in the soul worthy of cultivation and producing eatable fruit, that is to say virtuous discourses and praiseworthy actions. For it would be proper rather to remain, and to gather the fruit, and to feed on it to satiety. For nothing is more beautiful than an insatiable cheerfulness amid perfect virtues, of which cheerfulness, the aforesaid vineyards are the symbol. But we, on whom God pours and showers his fountains of good things from above, we drank from that cistern, and we were seeking scanty moisture beneath the earth, while the heaven was raining upon us, from above without ceasing, the more excellent food of nectar and ambrosia, far better than that celebrated in the fables of the poets.

XXXIV. Moreover, should we while draining draughts stored up by the contrivance of men through distrust, seek a refuge and place of escape, where the Saviour of the universe las opened to us his heavenly treasury for our use and enjoy.