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| Chapter XII.—God Cannot Be Embraced in Words or by the Mind.
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Chapter XII.—God Cannot Be Embraced in Words or by the Mind.
“For both is it a difficult task to discover
the Father and Maker of this universe; and having found Him, it is
impossible to declare Him to all. For this is by no means capable of
expression, like the other subjects of instruction,” says the
truth-loving Plato. For he that had heard right well that the all-wise
Moses, ascending the mount for holy contemplation, to the summit of
intellectual objects, necessarily
commands that the whole people do not accompany him. And when
the Scripture says, “Moses entered into the thick darkness
where God was,” this shows to those capable of understanding,
that God is invisible and beyond expression by words. And “the
darkness”—which is, in truth, the unbelief and ignorance
of the multitude—obstructs the gleam of truth. And again Orpheus,
the theologian, aided from this quarter, says:—
“One is perfect in himself, and all things are made the progeny of one,”
or, “are born;” for
so also is it written. He adds:—
“Him
No one of mortals has seen, but He sees all.”
And he adds more clearly:—
“Him see I not, for round about, a cloud
Has settled; for in mortal eyes are small,
And mortal pupils—only flesh and bones grow there.”
To these statements
the apostle will testify: “I know a man in Christ,
caught up into the third heaven, and thence into Paradise,
who heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to
speak,”—intimating thus the impossibility of expressing
God, and indicating that what is divine is unutterable by human3084
| 3084 ἁγίᾳ is the reading of
the text. This is with great probability supposed to be changed from ἀνῃ,
a usual contraction for ανθρωπίνη. |
power; if, indeed, he begins to speak above the third heaven, as it
is lawful to initiate the elect souls in the mysteries there. For I
know what is in Plato (for the examples from the barbarian philosophy,
which are many, are suggested now by the composition which, in accordance
with promises previously given, waits the suitable time). For doubting,
in Timæus, whether we ought to regard several worlds as to
be understood by many heavens, or this one, he makes no distinction in
the names, calling the world and heaven by the same name. But the words
of the statement are as follows: “Whether, then, have we rightly
spoken of one heaven, or of many and infinite? It were more correct to say
one, if indeed it was created according to the model.” Further, in
the Epistle of the Romans to the Corinthians3085
| 3085 [i.e., as written by St. Clement of Rome. See vol. i,
p. 10. S.] | it is written, “An ocean illimitable by men
and the worlds after it.” Consequently, therefore, the noble apostle
exclaims, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the
knowledge of God!”3086
And was it not this which the prophet meant, when he
ordered unleavened cakes3087
| 3087
Alluding to Gen. xviii. 6; the word used is ἐγκρυφίαι,
which Clement, following Philo, from its derivation, takes to signify
occult mysteries. | to be made, intimating that the truly
sacred mystic word, respecting the unbegotten and His powers, ought
to be concealed? In confirmation of these things, in the Epistle to
the Corinthians the apostle plainly says: “Howbeit we speak
wisdom among those who are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world,
or of the princes of this world, that come to nought. But we speak the
wisdom of God hidden in a mystery.”3088
And again in another place
he says: “To the acknowledgment of the mystery of God in Christ,
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”3089
These things the Saviour Himself seals when He says: “To you it
is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”3090
And again the Gospel says that the Saviour
spake to the apostles the word in a mystery. For prophecy says
of Him: “He will open His mouth in parables, and will utter
things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”3091
And now, by the parable of the leaven, the Lord shows concealment; for He
says, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and
hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”3092
For the tripartite soul is saved by obedience, through the spiritual
power hidden in it by faith; or because the power of the word which is
given to us, being strong3093
| 3093
According to the conjecture of Sylburgius, σύντονος
is adopted for σύντομος. |
and powerful, draws to itself secretly and invisibly every one who
receives it, and keeps it within himself, and brings his whole system
into unity.
Accordingly Solon has written most wisely respecting
God thus:—
“It is most difficult to apprehend the mind’s invisible measure
Which alone holds the boundaries of all things.”
For “the divine,” says
the poet of Agrigenturn,3094
—
“Is not capable of being approached with our eyes,
Or grasped with our hands; but the highway
Of persuasion, highest of all, leads to men’s minds.”
And John the apostle says: “No
man hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten God, who is in the bosom
of the Father, He hath declared Him,”3095
—calling invisibility
and ineffableness the bosom of God. Hence some have called it the Depth,
as containing and embosoming all things, inaccessible and boundless.
This discourse respecting God is most difficult to
handle. For since the first principle of everything is difficult to find
out, the absolutely first and oldest principle, which is the cause of all
other things being and having been, is difficult to exhibit. For how can
that be expressed which is neither genus, nor difference, nor species,
nor individual, nor number; nay more, is
neither an event, nor that to
which an event happens? No one can rightly express Him wholly. For on
account of His greatness He is ranked as the All, and is the Father
of the universe. Nor are any parts to be predicated of Him. For the
One is indivisible; wherefore also it is infinite, not considered with
reference to inscrutability, but with reference to its being without
dimensions, and not having a limit. And therefore it is without form and
name. And if we name it, we do not do so properly, terming it either
the One, or the Good, or Mind, or Absolute Being, or Father, or God,
or Creator, or Lord. We speak not as supplying His name; but for want,
we use good names, in order that the mind may have these as points of
support, so as not to err in other respects. For each one by itself
does not express God; but all together are indicative of the power of
the Omnipotent. For predicates are expressed either from what belongs
to things themselves, or from their mutual relation. But none of these
are admissible in reference to God. Nor any more is He apprehended by
the science of demonstration. For it depends on primary and better known
principles. But there is nothing antecedent to the Unbegotten.
It remains that we understand, then, the
Unknown, by divine grace, and by the word alone that proceeds
from Him; as Luke in the Acts of the Apostles relates that Paul
said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are
too superstitious.3096
For in walking about,
and beholding the objects of your worship, I found an altar on which was
inscribed, To the Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him
declare I unto you.”3097
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