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| Chapter X.—To What the Philosopher Applies Himself.
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Chapter X.—To What the Philosopher Applies Himself.
These three things, therefore, our philosopher
attaches himself to: first, speculation; second, the performance of the
precepts; third, the forming of good men;—which, concurring, form
the Gnostic. Whichever of these is wanting, the elements of knowledge
limp. Whence the Scripture divinely says, “And the Lord spake to
Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to
them, I am the Lord your
God. According to the customs of the land of Egypt, in which ye have
dwelt, ye shall not do; and according to the customs of Canaan, into which
I bring you, ye shall not do; and in their usages ye shall not walk. Ye
shall perform My judgments, and keep My precepts, and walk in them: I
am the Lord your God. And
ye shall keep all My commandments, and do them. He that doeth them shall
live in them. I am the Lord
your God.”2256
Whether, then, Egypt and the land
of Canaan be the symbol of the world and of deceit, or of sufferings
and afflictions; the oracle shows us what must be abstained from, and
what, being divine and not worldly, must be observed. And when it is
said, “The man that doeth them shall live in them,”2257
it declares both the correction of the Hebrews themselves, and the
training and advancement of us who are nigh:2258
it declares at once their life
and ours. For “those who were dead in sins are quickened together
with Christ,”2259
by our covenant. For Scripture, by the frequent
reiteration of the expression, “I am the Lord your God,” shames in such a way
as most powerfully to dissuade, by teaching us to follow God who gave
the commandments, and gently admonishes us to seek God and endeavour
to know Him as far as possible; which is the highest speculation,
that which scans the greatest mysteries, the real knowledge, that which
becomes irrefragable by reason. This alone is the knowledge of wisdom,
from which rectitude of conduct is never disjoined.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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