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I spoke—both to learn and to keep the things that are spoken. 1.4 But I undertake this therapy, composing it not only from the divine Scriptures, but also from the things that happen and continually occur in the present life; so that the correction may become common also for those who do not pay attention to the Scriptures, if they are willing. 1.5 For I will not cease to say this continually: For by necessity and by force and unwillingly it is not possible for this cure ever to be healed, nor for one who does not accept the divine oracles; and from this source, and rather from this source than from the proof of the facts. 1.6 For one must believe God's 1.6 decree to be more trustworthy than things seen. For this very reason a more severe punishment awaits those who are not corrected, because having received the Scriptures, they gain no such benefit from them. So that they may not suffer this, come, let us take up the correction now, first stating the cause of the disease.

2.t Ch. 2. That it is dangerous and full of madness to

be meddlesome and curiously examine the secret wisdom of God 2.1 What then is the cause of so great a sickness? The meddlesome and

curious mind, and the desire to know all the causes of all that happens, and to contentiously, shamelessly, and officiously investigate the incomprehensible and unspoken providence of God, which is infinite and unsearchable. 2.2 And yet who has become wiser than Paul? For tell me, was he not a chosen instrument? did he not draw upon himself the great and ineffable grace of the Spirit? did he not have Christ speaking in him? did he not share in the secret words of God? did not he alone hear what it was not lawful for any man to speak? was he not caught up to paradise? was he not carried up to the third heaven? 2.3 Did he not run over land and sea? Did he not persuade barbarians to philosophize? Did he not have many and varied workings of the Spirit? Did he not regulate whole peoples and cities? Did not God bring and place the entire inhabited world into his hands? But nevertheless, so great and so important a man, so wise and powerful and spiritual a man, one who had enjoyed so many things, whenever he enters into the examination of the providence of God—and not of the whole providence, but only of a part of it—hear how he is astonished, how he grows dizzy, how he quickly leaps away, yielding to what is incomprehensible. 2.4 When, therefore, he considered not how God provides for angels and archangels and the cherubim and the seraphim and the other invisible powers, nor how for the sun and moon and heaven and earth and sea, nor how for the entire race of men, nor how for irrational creatures and plants and seeds and herbs and airs and winds and springs and rivers, nor for natural generation and growth and nourishment and the other such things, 2.5 but having taken one part of His providence, that concerning the Jews and the Greeks—for concerning these he was going through the whole discourse, teaching how He called those from the Gentiles, and how He rejected those from the Jews, and how by mercy He worked out the salvation of both—hear what he says. 2.6 For seeing a gaping sea opened, and wishing to peer down into the depth of this His providence in this very part and toward it, as if seized by a certain dizziness at the secret of this economy, and having marveled and been astonished at the ineffable, the infinite, the unutterable, the incomprehensible wisdom and providence of God, he leaped away, uttering these words and crying out with great astonishment these sayings: ‘O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!’ 2.7 Then, showing that he saw the depth, but was not able to learn how great it was, he added: ‘How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!’ He did not say incomprehensible only, but also

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εἶπον-καὶ μαθεῖν καὶ φυλάξαι τὰ λεγόμενα. 1.4 Ποιοῦμαι δὲ τὴν θεραπείαν ταύτην, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν θεϊκῶν μόνον Γραφῶν συντιθείς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον γινομένων καὶ συμβαινόντων διηνεκῶς· ὥστε καὶ τοῖς μὴ προσέχουσι Γραφαῖς κοινὴν γενέσθαι τὴν διόρθωσιν, εἰ βουληθεῖεν. 1.5 Οὐ γὰρ παύσομαι τοῦτο συνεχῶς ἐπιλέγων· Ἀνάγκῃ γὰρ καὶ βίᾳ καὶ μὴ βουλομένῳ οὐκ ἔνι ταύτην ποτὲ θεραπευθῆναι τὴν ἰατρείαν, καὶ τοὺς θείους μὴ καταδεχομένῳ χρησμούς· καὶ ἐντεῦθεν, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐντεῦθεν ἢ ἐκ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἀποδείξεως. 1.6 Τῶν γὰρ ὁρωμένων ἀξιοπιστοτέραν δεῖ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ 1.6 ἀπόφασιν πιστεύειν εἶναι. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ χαλεπωτέρα τούτους μένει τιμωρία μὴ διορθουμένους, ὅτι δεξάμενοι τὰς Γραφάς, οὐδὲν ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὴν τοιαύτην καρποῦνται ὠφέλειαν. Ἵν' οὖν μὴ τοῦτο πάσχωσι, φέρε ἁψώμεθα τῆς διορθώσεως λοιπόν, τὴν αἰτίαν εἰπόντες τοῦ νοσήματος πρῶτον.

2.t Κεφ. βʹ. Ὅτι ἐπισφαλὲς καὶ παραπληξίας ἀνάμεστον τὸ

πολυπραγμονεῖν καὶ περιεργάζεσθαι τὴν ἀπόρρητον τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίαν 2.1 Τίς οὖν ἡ αἰτία τῆς ἀρρωστίας τῆς τοσαύτης ἐστίν; Ἡ πολυπράγμων καὶ

περίεργος γνώμη, καὶ τὸ βούλεσθαι πάντων τῶν γινομένων εἰδέναι τὰς αἰτίας ἁπάσας, καὶ φιλονεικεῖν τὴν ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἄρρητον τοῦ Θεοῦ πρόνοιαν, τὴν ἀπέραντον καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστον περιεργάζεσθαι ἀναισχύντως καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖν. 2.2 Καίτοι τίς τοῦ Παύλου σοφώτερος γέγονεν; Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, οὐ σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς ἦν οὗτος; οὐ πολλὴν καὶ ἄφατον ἐπεσπάσατο τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν χάριν; οὐ τὸν Χριστὸν εἶχεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ λαλοῦντα; οὐκ ἀπορρήτων ἐκοινώνησε τοῦ Θεοῦ ῥημάτων; οὐχ ἃ μηδενὶ ἀνθρώπων λαλῆσαι ἐξὸν ἦν, μόνος ἤκουσεν ἐκεῖνος; οὐκ εἰς παράδεισον ἡρπάγη; οὐκ εἰς τρίτον οὐρανὸν ἀνηνέχθη; 2.3 οὐ γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν περιέδραμεν; οὐ βαρβάρους φιλοσοφεῖν ἔπεισεν; οὐ πολλὰς καὶ ποικίλας εἶχε τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνεργείας; οὐ δήμους ὁλοκλήρους καὶ πόλεις ἐρρύθμιζεν; οὐ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν εἰς χεῖρας αὐτῷ φέρων ἔθηκεν ὁ Θεός; Ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ τοσοῦτος καὶ τηλικοῦτος, ὁ σοφὸς οὕτω καὶ δυνατὸς καὶ πνευματικὸς ἀνήρ, ὁ τοσούτων ἀπολελαυκώς, ὅταν εἰς τὴν ἐξέτασιν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας ἐμπέσῃ καὶ οὐδὲ ὁλοκλήρου προνοίας, ἀλλὰ μόνον εἰς μέρος αὐτῆς, ἄκουσον πῶς ἐκπλήττεται, πῶς ἰλιγγιᾷ, πῶς ἀποπηδᾷ ταχέως τῷ ἀκαταλήπτῳ παραχωρῶν. 2.4 Ὅτε οὖν ἐσκοπεῖτο, οὐχ ὅπως ἀγγέλων προνοεῖ καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων ὁ Θεὸς καὶ τῶν χερουβεὶμ καὶ τῶν σεραφεὶμ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀοράτων δυνάμεων, οὐδὲ πῶς ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης, οὐδὲ πῶς τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων παντός, οὐδὲ πῶς ἀλόγων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ σπερμάτων καὶ βοτανῶν καὶ ἀέρων καὶ πνευμάτων καὶ πηγῶν καὶ ποταμῶν, οὐδὲ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν γεννήσεως καὶ αὐξήσεως καὶ διατροφῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων, 2.5 ἀλλ' ἕν τι μέρος ἀπολαβὼν τῆς προνοίας αὐτοῦ τὸ κατὰ Ἰουδαίους καὶ Ἕλληνας - καὶ γὰρ περὶ τούτων τὸν ἅπαντα διεξῄει λόγον, διδάσκων πῶς μὲν τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκάλεσε, πῶς δὲ τοὺς ἐξ Ἰουδαίων ἀπώσατο καὶ πῶς ἐλέῳ τὴν ἑκατέρων σωτηρίαν ἐπραγματεύσατο-ἄκουσον οἷα φησίν. 2.6 Ἰδὼν γὰρ πέλαγος ἀχανὲς ἀνεωχθέν, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ μέρει τούτῳ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ τῆς προνοίας αὐτοῦ ταύτης τὸ βάθος διακύψαι βουληθείς, ὥσπερ τινὶ σκοτοδίνῳ κατασχεθεὶς τῷ ἀρρήτῳ τῆς οἰκονομίας ταύτης καὶ θαυμάσας καὶ ἐκπλαγεὶς τὸ ἄφατον, τὸ ἀπέραντον, τὸ ἄρρητον, τὸ ἀκατάληπτον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίας τε καὶ προνοίας, ἀπεπήδησε, ταύτας ἀφεὶς τὰς φωνὰς καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἐκπλήξεως ἀνακεκραγὼς ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα· «Ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως Θεοῦ.» 2.7 Εἶτα δεικνὺς ὅτι τὸ βάθος μὲν εἶδε, πόσον δὲ μαθεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθη, ἐπήγαγεν· «Ὡς ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ.» Οὐκ εἶπεν ἀκατάληπτα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ