CHAPTER 7
Ch.
GUARDIAN OF ISRAEL
His own image, all that is of thought and reason, the foundation of His own creation from the beginning, and set man, therefore, in a kingly and ruling relation to all living things on earth, and sent him forth free and with , the power of undetermined choice between his good and ' evil inclinations.
But man using his free-will badly, turning (d) from the right road, went wrong, caring neither for God nor Lord, nor distinguished between holy and unholy, with all manner of rude and dissolute actions, living the life of the irrational beasts.
Then surely the AU-Ciood, the King of kings, the Supreme, God Almighty, that the men on earth might not be like brute beasts without rulers and guardians, set over them the holy angels to be their leaders and governors like herdsmen and shepherds, and set over all, and made the head of all His Only-begotten and Firstborn A\'ord.
He gave Him for His own portion the angels {156) and archangels, and the divine powers, and the immaterial ^ and transcendent spirits, yea, verily, of things on earth as well the souls among men beloved by God, called by the names of the Hebrews, Jacob and Israel.
CHAPTER
That to the Hebrews alone of Old was the Ktimoledge of the (b) True God repealed, being known by the Manifestation of the Christ.
Into this truth Moses, the first mystic theologian,-' initiated the Hebrews of old, saying :
,'•7. Ask thy father, and he shall announce to thee, thine elders, and they shall tell thee.
8. When the Most High divided the nations, when he distributed the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to (c) the number of the angels of God.
His people Israel became the portion of the Lord :
Israel was the line of I>eut. his inheritance.'
'''"'"• 7- '
&\j\a: cf.
I'.E. 106 c, 149 b.
* Or "saying in inysiic language."
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. IV.
In these words surely he names first the Most High God, the Supreme God of the Universe, and then as Lord His Word, Whom we call Lord in the second degree after the God of the Universe.
And their import is that all the nations and the sons of men, here called sons of Adam, were distributed among the invisible guardians of the nations, that is the angels, by the decision of the Most (d) High God, and His secret counsel unknown to us.
Whereas to One beyond comparison with them, the Head and King of the Universe, I mean to Christ Himself, as being the Only-begotten Son, was handed over that part of humanity denominated Jacob and Israel, that is to say, the whole division which has vision and piety.
For the one engaged in the contest of the practice of virtue, even now struggling and contending in the gymnasium of holiness, was called in Hebrew nomenclature Jacob : while he that has won victory and the prize of God is called Israel, one like that actual famed forefather of the whole race of the Hebrews, and his true sons and their descen- (i57)dants, and their forefathers, all proi)hets and men of God.
Do not suppose, 1 beg you, that the multitude of the Jews are thus referred to, but only those of the distant past, who were made j)erfect in virtue and piety.
These, then, it was, whom the Word of God, the Head and Leader of all, called to the worship of the Father alone.
Who is the Most High, far above all things that are seen, beyond the heaven and the whole begotten essence, calling them quietly and gently, and delivering to them the worship of God Most High alone, the Unbcgotten and the Creator of the Universe.
CHAPTl'R
That the Other Nations, assi-^^ued to Certain An^::;eh, ivorshipf^ed only the Stars of Heaven.
(c) But the angel-guardians and shepherds of the other races allowed them, inasmuch as they were not able with their mind to see the invisible, nor to ascend so high through
Ch. 8.
GUARDIANS OF THE NATIONS
their own weakness, to worsliij) things seen in the heavens, the sun and moon and stars.
For tiiese, indeed, being the most wonderful of the things of the phenomenal world, invited upwards the eyes of those who see, and as near as possible to heaven, being as it were in the precincts of the King's court, manifesting the glory ' of Him that is the Source of all by the analogy of the vastness and beauty of created visible things.
" For his invisible things," as the divine Apostle says, "from the creation of the world are Rom. i. 20. clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, (d) even his eternal power and Godhead."
And this again the great Moses mystically says.
For in exhorting the portion of the Lord to grasp with clear mind and pure soul that which is known to the mind only and unembodied, he prohibits all terror of the things seen in heaven, adding that "The Lord thy God has divided them for all the Dent. iv. nations."
And it is worth rcali/.ing why he says that they ^9were divided.
Since unseen by us they that bear the earthy and daemonic nature are everywhere wanderers, flying through the air around the earth unknown and un-(i5S) distinguished by men, and the good s[)irits and powers and, indeed, the divine angels themselves are ever at variance with the worse, there was but one way for those who failed of the highest religion of the Almighty to prosper, namely to choose the best of things visible in heaven.
For there was no slight danger, lest seeking after God, and busy with the unseen world, they should turn towards the opposing daemonic powers amid the stress of things obscure and dark.
So all the most beautiful visible created things were (I') delivered to theni who yearned for nothing better, since to some extent the vision of the unseen shone in them, reflected as in a mirror.
* deujpta.