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so lifted up in folly, that the one whom it is right only to glorify and worship, you contentiously and meddlesomely investigate as one of the most insignificant things? For this reason, Paul too, filled with much wisdom, seeing the incomparable excellence of God and the insignificance of human nature, being indignant and displeased with much vehemence toward those who investigate His dispensations, said: "But who are you, O man, who answers back to God?" Who are you? First, consider your nature; for there is no name that can be found to represent your nothingness. But you will say that I am a man honored with freedom. But you were honored not that you might use your freedom for contradiction, but that you might use the honor for obedience to the one who honored you. God honored you not that you might insult Him, but that you might glorify Him; but he who investigates His essence insults Him. For if not to investigate His promises is to glorify Him, to meddle and to scrutinize not only His declarations but also Him who declares them is to dishonor Him. But that not to investigate His promises is to glorify Him, listen to Paul saying concerning Abraham and his obedience and his faith in all things: "For he considered," he says, "his own body already dead, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; but he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith." Nature and age, he says, cast him into despair, but faith extended good hopes. But he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what He had promised, He was also able to perform. Do you see that he who is fully convinced about whatever God declares, gives glory to God? If, therefore, he who believes Him gives glory to God, he who disbelieves Him brings His dishonor upon his own head. "Who are you who answers back to God?" Then, wishing to show how great the distance is between man and God, he showed not as much as he ought, yet from the given example it is possible to get a notion of a much greater difference. For what does he say? "Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Or does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?" What are you saying? Must I be so subject to God as the clay to the potter? Yes, he says; for the distance between man and God is as great as that between clay and the potter; or rather, the distance is not even so great, but much greater. For of clay and the potter there is one substance, as it has also been said by Job: "But I dismiss those who dwell in houses of clay, from which we ourselves are also of the same clay." But if man appears better and more seemly than it, the difference is made not by a change of nature, but by the wisdom of the craftsman; since you differ in no way from clay. But if you disbelieve, let the coffins and the urns persuade you; for if you go to the tombs of your ancestors you will know that these things are so. Between clay and the potter, then, there is no distance; but between the substance of God and of men the distance is so great as neither speech can represent, nor can thought succeed in measuring. Just as, then, the clay follows the hands of the potter, wherever he might draw and turn it, so you too, like the clay, be silent, whenever God wishes to dispense something. For Paul has said these things, not by taking away our power, far from it, nor by destroying free will, but from great abundance silencing our insolence. But if it seems good, let us also see this. What then was it that those people wished to learn, that he silenced them so vehemently? Were they investigating essence? By no means; for no one ever dared this, but something much less, they were seeking God's dispensations; why one person is punished and why another is shown mercy; why one person is freed from punishment, while another is in dreadful circumstances; and one obtained forgiveness, while another did not. For they were seeking these and similar things. From where is this clear? From what precedes this; for having said: "Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills

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τοσοῦτον ἀπονοίας ἀρθείς, ὅτι ὃν δοξάζειν χρὴ μόνον καὶ προσκυνεῖν, τοῦτον ὡς ἕν τι τῶν εὐτελεστάτων πραγμάτων περιεργάζεσθαι φιλονεικεῖς καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖς; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ὁ πολλῆς σοφίας ἐμπεπλησμένος ὁρῶν τὴν ἀσύγκριτον ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὴν εὐτέλειαν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, πρὸς τοὺς περιεργαζομένους αὐτοῦ τὰς οἰκονομίας ἀγανακτῶν καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς δυσχεραίνων τῆς σφοδρότητος ἔλεγε· «Μενοῦν γε, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, σὺ τίς εἶ ὁ ἀνταποκρινόμενος τῷ Θεῷ;» Τίς εἶ; ἐννόησον σοῦ τὴν φύσιν πρότερον· οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν ὄνομα εὑρεῖν δυνάμενον παραστῆσαί σου τὴν οὐδένειαν. Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖς ὅτι ἄνθρωπός εἰμι ἐλευθερίᾳ τετιμημένος. Ἀλλ' ἐτιμήθης οὐχ ἵνα εἰς ἀντιλογίαν τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἵνα τῇ τιμῇ πρὸς ὑπακοὴν καταχρήσῃ τοῦ τετιμηκότος. Ἐτίμησέ σε ὁ Θεὸς οὐχ ἵνα αὐτὸν ὑβρίζῃς, ἀλλ' ἵνα δοξάζῃς· ὑβρίζει δὲ ὁ τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ περιεργαζόμενος. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ περιεργάζεσθαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας αὐτοῦ δοξάζειν αὐτόν ἐστι, τὸ πολυπραγμονεῖν καὶ διερευνᾶσθαι οὐχὶ τὰς ἀποφάσεις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἀποφηνάμενον ἀτιμάζειν ἐστίν. Ὅτι δὲ τὸ μὴ περιεργάζεσθαι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας αὐτοῦ δοξάζειν αὐτόν ἐστιν, ἄκουσον τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος περὶ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τῆς ἐκείνου καὶ τῆς ἐν ἅπασι πίστεως· «Κατενόησε μὲν γάρ, φησί, τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σῶμα νενεκρωμένον, καὶ τὴν νέκρωσιν τῆς μήτρας Σάρρας· εἰς δὲ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ διεκρίθη τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐνεδυναμώθη τῇ πίστει.» Ἡ φύσις καὶ ἡ ἡλικία, φησίν, εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν ἐνέβαλλον, ἡ δὲ πίστις ἐλπίδας ὑπέτεινε χρηστάς. Ἀλλ' ἐνεδυναμώθη τῇ πίστει δοὺς δόξαν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πληροφορηθεὶς ὅτι ὃ ἐπήγγελται, δυνατός ἐστι καὶ ποιῆσαι. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ὁ πληροφορούμενος ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν ὁ Θεὸς ἀποφαίνηται, δόξαν δίδωσι τῷ Θεῷ; Εἰ τοίνυν δόξαν δίδωσι τῷ Θεῷ ὁ πιστεύων αὐτῷ, ὁ ἀπιστῶν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀτιμίαν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ περιτρέπει κεφαλήν. «Σὺ τίς ὁ ἀνταποκρινόμενος τῷ Θεῷ;» Εἶτα βουλόμενος δεῖξαι τὸ μέσον ὅσον ἐστὶν ἀνθρώπου καὶ Θεοῦ, ἔδειξεν οὐχ ὅσον ἔδει, πλὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ δοθέντος ὑποδείγματος δυνατὸν καὶ πολλῷ μείζονος διαφορᾶς ἔννοιαν λαβεῖν. Τί γάρ φησι; «Μὴ ἐρεῖ τὸ πλάσμα τῷ πλάσαντι· τί με ἐποίησας οὕτως; Ἢ οὐκ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν ὁ κεραμεὺς τοῦ πηλοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ φυράματος ποιῆσαι ὃ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν σκεῦος, ὃ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν;» Τί λέγεις; οὕτως ὀφείλω ὑποκεῖσθαι τῷ Θεῷ ὡς ὁ πηλὸς τῷ κεραμεῖ; Ναί, φησί· τοσοῦτον γὰρ τὸ μέσον ἀνθρώπου καὶ Θεοῦ ὅσον πηλοῦ καὶ κεραμέως· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τοσοῦτον τὸ μέσον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῷ πλέον. Πηλοῦ μὲν γὰρ καὶ κεραμέως οὐσία μία, καθάπερ καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἰὼβ εἴρηται· «Ἐῶ δὲ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας οἰκίας πηλίνας, ἐξ οὗ καὶ αὐτοί ἐσμεν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πηλοῦ.» Εἰ δὲ ἀμείνων φαίνεται καὶ εὐπρεπέστερος ἐκείνου ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τὴν διαφορὰν οὐχ ἡ ἐναλλαγὴ τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλ' ἡ σοφία τοῦ τεχνίτου πεποίηκε· ἐπεὶ πηλοῦ οὐδὲν διέστηκας. Εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς, πειθέτωσάν σε αἱ σοροὶ καὶ αἱ λάρνακες· ἐπὶ γὰρ τοὺς τάφους ἀπελθὼν τῶν προγόνων εἴσῃ ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει. Πηλοῦ μὲν οὖν καὶ κεραμέως οὐδὲν τὸ μέσον· Θεοῦ δὲ καὶ ἀνθρώπων τῆς οὐσίας τοσοῦτον τὸ μέσον ὅσον οὐδὲ λόγος παραστῆσαι δύναται, οὐδὲ ἔννοια μετρῆσαι χωρεῖ. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ πηλὸς ἕπεται ταῖς χερσὶ τοῦ κεραμέως, ᾗπερ ἂν ἐκεῖνος ἕλκῃ καὶ περιάγῃ, οὕτω καὶ σὺ κατὰ τὸν πηλὸν ἄφωνος ἔσο, ὅταν ὁ Θεὸς οἰκονομεῖν τι βούληται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀφαιρούμενος τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἡμῶν, μὴ γένοιτο, οὐδὲ τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ λυμαινόμενος, ταῦτα εἴρηκεν ὁ Παῦλος, ἀλλ' ἐκ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας τὴν αὐθάδειαν ἡμῶν ἐπιστομίζων. Εἰ δὲ δοκεῖ, καὶ τοῦτο ἴδωμεν. Τί ποτε ἄρα ἐβουλήθησαν ἐκεῖνοι μαθεῖν, καὶ οὕτω σφοδρῶς αὐτοὺς ἐπεστόμισεν; ἆρα οὐσίαν περιειργάζοντο; Οὐδαμῶς· οὐδεὶς γὰρ τοῦτο ἐτόλμησεν οὐδέποτε, ἀλλὰ τὸ πολλῷ ἔλαττον, οἰκονομίας ἐζήτουν τοῦ Θεοῦ· διὰ τί ὁ δεῖνα κολάζεται καὶ διὰ τί ὁ δεῖνα ἐλεεῖται· διὰ τί ὁ δεῖνα ἀπαλλάττεται τιμωρίας, ὁ δὲ ἐν δεινοῖς ἐστι· καὶ ὁ μὲν συγγνώμης ἔτυχεν, ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἔτυχε. Ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐζήτουν. Πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον; Ἐκ τῶν ἀνωτέρω τούτων· εἰπὼν γάρ· «Ἄρα οὖν ὃν θέλει ἐλεεῖ, ὃν δὲ θέλει