How pitiable are they for their cleverness! how wretched, how fatal is their over-wise philosophy! Who is there who goes of his own accord to the pit so eagerly as these men labour and bestir themselves to dig out their lake of blasphemy? How far have they separated themselves from the hope of the Christian! What a gulf have they fixed between themselves and the faith which saves! How far have they withdrawn themselves from Abraham the father of the faith! He indeed, if in the lofty spirit of the Apostle we may take the words allegorically, and so penetrate to the inner sense of the history, without losing sight of the truth of its facts—he, I say, went out by Divine command from his own country and kindred on a journey worthy of a prophet eager for the knowledge of God17    Heb. xi. 8.. For no local migration seems to me to satisfy the idea of the blessings which it is signified that he found. For going out from himself and from his country, by which I understand his earthly and carnal mind, and raising his thoughts as far as possible above the common boundaries of nature, and forsaking the soul’s kinship with the senses,—so that untroubled by any of the objects of sense his eyes might be open to the things which are invisible, there being neither sight nor sound to distract the mind in its work,—“walking,” as saith the Apostle, “by faith, not by sight,” he was raised so high by the sublimity of his knowledge that he came to be regarded as the acme of human perfection, knowing as much of God as it was possible for finite human capacity at its full stretch to attain. Therefore also the Lord of all creation, as though He were a discovery of Abraham, is called specially the God of Abraham. Yet what saith the Scripture respecting him? That he went out not knowing whither he went, no, nor even being capable of learning the name of Him whom he loved, yet in no wise impatient or ashamed on account of such ignorance.

Ὡς δείλαιοι τῆς ἀγχινοίας, ὡς δυστυχὴς αὐτοῖς καὶ ὀλέθριος ἡ περιττὴ καὶ κατεσκεμμένη φιλοσοφία. τίς οὕτω κατὰ σπουδὴν αὐτομολεῖ πρὸς τὸ βάραθρον, ὡς οὗτοι πόνῳ καὶ σπουδῇ τὸν λάκκον ἑαυτοῖς τῆς βλασφημίας ὡρύξαντο; ὅσῳ τῷ μέτρῳ τῆς ἐλπίδος τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀφωρίσθησαν: οἵῳ χάσματι πρὸς τὴν σῴζουσαν πίστιν διετειχίσθησαν: ὅσον τῶν κόλπων τοῦ πατρὸς τῆς πίστεως Ἀβραὰμ ἀπῳκίσθησαν. ἐκεῖνος, εἰ δεῖ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀποστόλου μεγαλοφυΐαν ἀλλάξαντα τὴν φωνὴν ἀλληγορικῶς τὸν νοῦν τῆς ἱστορίας κατανοῆσαι, μενούσης δηλαδὴ καὶ τῆς ἱστορικῆς ἀληθείας, ἐξῆλθε διὰ θείου προστάγματος τῆς ἰδίας γῆς καὶ τῆς καθ' ἑαυτὸν συγγενείας ἔξοδον ἀνδρὶ προφήτῃ πρὸς θεοῦ κατανόησιν ἐπειγομένῳ πρέπουσαν. οὐ γάρ μοι δοκεῖ τοπική τις μετάστασις τῶν νοητῶς εὑρισκομένων προξενεῖν τὴν κατάληψιν. ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἰδίας γῆς, τοῦ ταπεινοῦ λέγω καὶ γηΐνου φρονήματος, ἔξω γενόμενος καὶ ὑπεράρας ὡς οἷόν τε ἦν τῶν κοινῶν τῆς φύσεως ὅρων ἑαυτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ καταλιπὼν τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν πρὸς τὰς αἰσθήσεις συγγένειαν, ὡς μηδενὶ τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν προφαινομένων διοχλούμενος πρὸς τὴν κατανόησιν τῶν ἀοράτων ἀμαυρωθῆναι, μήτε ἀκοῆς περιηχούσης μήτε ὄψεως ἐν τοῖς φαινομένοις τὴν διάνοιαν διαπλανώσης, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, διὰ πίστεως περιπατῶν, οὐ διὰ εἴδους, εἰς τοσοῦτον ἐπήρθη τῇ μεγαλοφυΐᾳ τῆς γνώσεως, ὥστε ὅρος νομισθῆναι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης τελειώσεως, τοσοῦτον γνοὺς τὸν θεόν, ὅσον ἦν δυνατὸν τὴν βραχεῖαν καὶ ἐπίκηρον ταύτην δύναμιν ὑπερταθεῖσαν χωρῆσαι. τοιγαροῦν καὶ ὁ πάσης κτίσεως κύριος, ὥσπερ τι εὕρημα τοῦ πατριάρχου γενόμενος, ἰδίως θεὸς τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ὀνομάζεται. ἀλλ' ὅμως τί φησι περὶ ἐκείνου ὁ λόγος; ὅτι ἐξῆλθεν οὐκ ἐπιστάμενος ποῦ ἀπέρχεται, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἀγαπωμένου μαθεῖν χωρήσας οὔτε μὴν τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ ταύτῃ δυσανασχετῶν τε καὶ αἰσχυνόμενος.