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The Syrian language has kinship with the Hebrew tongue. And why was he called the one from beyond, he says? The land of Judea, that is, all of Palestine, from Egypt up to the Euphrates, lies opposite Babylonia, from where Abraham was; and the river flows in the middle through both, being a common boundary of each land. Since therefore he was not from Palestine, but came from beyond, from Babylonia, for this reason he received the name from the place and the fact, and was called "the one from beyond," because he came from beyond. But why did he come from beyond? Because God commanded it. And why did God command it? So that He might show the obedience of the just man. And how did he show the obedience of the just man? Because for His command, leaving his own land, he exchanged it for a foreign one. Do you see what a long chain is woven from the just man's title? This name has opened to us a whole sea of history. Learn therefore his old name, so that when you see him inhabiting Palestine, being guided by his title to his ancient fatherland, and learning the reason for which he left it, you might receive sufficient encouragement for the same zeal. For being a man before the law and the lawful polity, he demonstrated the philosophy in grace, and that which Christ later said to the apostles: "Truly I say to you, that there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, who will not receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life;" this he did through his works before grace. Not only from this is it possible to see the philosophy of the just man, but also from the promise of God itself. For "Come," He says, "into the land which I will show you." For even if both fatherlands are tangible, yet the one was his own, and the other foreign; and the one was manifest, and the other unseen; and the one in hand, and the other in hopes; and yet leaving the manifest and clear things and the things in hand, he ran toward the unmanifest and unseen things, and of which he was not lord, so that he might persuade and teach you, when God commands to leave the clear things, and to look to the unseen, not to contradict, nor to dispute. For the things in hand are not so clear as those things in hope; the present life is not so clear as that which is to come. For this one we see with our own eyes, that one we see with the eyes of faith; this one we see lying in our hands, that one we see also preserved by the promises of God. 4. But the promises of God are much more powerful than our hands. Do you wish to learn how this present life lies always in uncertainty, while that life which is to come, which seems to be unseen, is more manifest than the present one and more certain and lasting? Let us examine, if you please, the splendors of the present life, wealth, glory, power, the honors from men; and you will see nothing more uncertain than these. For what is more untrustworthy than wealth, which often does not even remain with us until evening? For just as an ungrateful runaway slave continually moves from this one to that one, and again from this one to another. Glory is also something of this kind. For he who before this was splendid and distinguished, suddenly becomes dishonored and nameless 54.626; and the opposite again. And just as with a wheel continually turning one cannot see it rest on the same part of the rim; for by the swiftness of the whirling the things above always become below, and the opposite again; so also the course of our affairs, continually turning, makes the things above below; so it is also with wealth and with power and with all other things. It never stands on the same foundation, but imitates the currents of rivers, which never stand still anywhere. What then could be more uncertain than these things, which are so continually changing, and flying away before they appear, before they arrive

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Σύρων φωνῇ πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἑβραίων γλῶτταν ἡ συγγένεια. Καὶ διὰ τί περάτης ἐλέγετο, φησίν; Ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα,τουτέστιν, ἡ Παλαιστίνη πᾶσα, ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου μέχρι τοῦ Εὐφράτου, κατ' ἀντικρὺ κεῖται τῆς Βαβυλωνίας, ὅθεν ἦν ὁ Ἀβραάμ· καὶ μέσος ῥεῖ δι' ἀμφοτέρων ὁ ποταμὸς, κοινὸν μεθόριον ὢν ἑκατέρας τῆς γῆς. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἦν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ πέραν ἦλθεν ἀπὸ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας, διὰ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου καὶ τοῦ πράγματος τὸ ὄνομα ἔλαβε, καὶ περάτης ἐλέγετο, ἐπειδὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ πέραν ἦλθε. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ πέραν ἦλθεν; Ἐπειδὴ ὁ Θεὸς ἐκέλευσε. Καὶ διὰ τί ὁ Θεὸς ἐκέλευσεν; Ἵνα δείξῃ τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ δικαίου. Καὶ πῶς ἐδείκνυ τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ δικαίου; Ὅτι διὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ πρόσταγμα τὴν οἰκείαν ἀφεὶς, τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἀντὶ ἐκείνης ἠλλάξατο. Εἶδες πόση πλέκεται σειρὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ δικαίου προσηγορίας; Ὁλόκληρον ἡμῖν πέλαγος ἱστορίας τὸ ὄνομα ἤνοιξε τοῦτο. Μάθε τοίνυν αὐτοῦ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ παλαιὸν, ἵνα ὅταν ἴδῃς αὐτὸν τὴν Παλαιστίνην οἰκοῦντα, διὰ τῆς προσηγορίας αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἀρχαίαν πατρίδα χειραγωγούμενος, καὶ μανθάνων τὴν αἰτίαν, δι' ἣν αὐτὴν ἐγκατέλιπεν, ἱκανὴν πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν ζῆλον λάβῃς παράκλησιν. Ἄνθρωπος γὰρ πρὸ νόμου καὶ τῆς ἐννόμου πολιτείας ὢν, τὴν ἐν τῇ χάριτι φιλοσοφίαν ἐπεδείξατο, καὶ ὅπερ ἔλεγεν ὕστερον ὁ Χριστὸς τοῖς ἀποστόλοις· Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν, ὅστις ἀφῆκεν οἰκίαν, ἢ ἀδελφοὺς, ἢ ἀδελφὰς, ἢ πατέρα, ἢ μητέρα, ὃς οὐχ ἑκατονταπλασίονα λήψεται, καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσει· τοῦτο ἐκεῖνος διὰ τῶν ἔργων πρὸ τῆς χάριτος ἐποίησεν. Οὐκ ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ μόνον τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τοῦ δικαίου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὑποσχέσεως αὐτῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆εῦρο γὰρ, φησὶν, εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἣν ἄν σοι δείξω. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀμφότεραι αἰσθηταὶ αἱ πατρίδες, ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν οἰκεία ἦν, ἡ δὲ ἀλλοτρία· καὶ ἡ μὲν φανερὰ, ἡ δὲ ἄδηλος· καὶ ἡ μὲν ἐν χερσὶν, ἡ δὲ ἐν ἐλπίσι· καὶ ὅμως τὰ φανερὰ καὶ δῆλα καὶ τὰ ἐν χερσὶν ἀφεὶς, πρὸς τὰ ἀφανῆ καὶ ἄδηλα, καὶ ὧν οὐκ ἦν κύριος ἔτρεχεν, ἵνα σε πείσῃ καὶ παιδεύσῃ, ὅταν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ μὲν δῆλα ἀφεῖναι κελεύῃ, πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἄδηλα βλέπειν, μὴ ἀντιλέγειν, μηδὲ ἀμφισβητεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτω δῆλά ἐστι τὰ ἐν χερσὶν, ὡς ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἐν ἐλπίσιν· οὐχ οὕτω δήλη ἐστὶν ἡ παροῦσα ζωὴ, ὡς ἐκείνη ἡ μέλλουσα. Ταύτην μὲν γὰρ ὁρῶμεν τοῖς ἡμετέροις ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἐκείνην ὁρῶμεν τοῖς τῆς πίστεως ὀφθαλμοῖς· ταύτην ὁρῶμεν ἐν ταῖς ἡμετέραις χερσὶ κειμένην, ἐκείνην ὁρῶμεν καὶ ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις τοῦ Θεοῦ φυλαττομένην. δʹ. Αἱ δὲ ἐπαγγελίαι τοῦ Θεοῦ πολλῷ δυνατώτεραι τῶν ἡμετέρων χειρῶν. Βούλει μαθεῖν πῶς αὕτη μὲν ἡ ζωὴ ἡ παροῦσα ἐν ἀδήλῳ κεῖται διαπαντὸς, ἐκείνη δὲ ἡ μέλλουσα, ἡ δοκοῦσα ἄδηλος εἶναι, φανερωτέρα τῆς παρούσης ἐστὶ καὶ βεβαιοτέρα καὶ μόνιμος; Ἐξετάσωμεν, εἰ δοκεῖ, τὰ λαμπρὰ τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς, τὸν πλοῦτον, τὴν δόξαν, τὴν δυναστείαν, τὰς τιμὰς τὰς παρὰ ἀνθρώπων· καὶ ὄψει τούτων οὐδὲν ἀδηλότερον. Τί γὰρ ἀπιστότερον πλούτου, τοῦ μηδὲ μέχρι τῆς ἑσπέρας πολλάκις ἡμῖν παραμένοντος; Καθάπερ γὰρ δραπέτης ἀγνώμων ἀπὸ τούτου εἰς ἐκεῖνον συνεχῶς μεθίσταται, καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ τούτου πρὸς ἄλλον. Τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ἡ δόξα ἐστίν. Ὁ γὰρ πρὸ τούτου λαμπρὸς καὶ ἐπίσημος, ἄτιμος καὶ ἀνώνυμος ἐξαίφνης 54.626 γίνεται· καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον πάλιν. Καὶ καθάπερ τὸν τροχὸν συνεχῶς στρεφόμενον οὐκ ἔστιν ὁρᾷν ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς ἄντυγος μέρους· τῇ γὰρ πυκνότητι τῆς δίνης διαπαντὸς τὰ ἄνω κάτω γίνεται, καὶ τοὐναντίον πάλιν· οὕτω καὶ ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων τῶν ἡμετέρων φορὰ συνεχῶς στρεφομένη, τὰ ἄνω κάτω ποιεῖ· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πλούτου καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς δυναστείας καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων. Οὐδέποτε ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἕστηκεν ἕδρας, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ποταμῶν μιμεῖται ῥεύματα, μηδαμοῦ ποτε ἱστάμενα. Τί οὖν τούτων γένοιτ' ἂν ἀδηλότερον, τῶν οὕτω συνεχῶς μεταβαλλομένων, καὶ πρὶν ἢ φανῆναι ἀφιπταμένων, πρὶν ἢ παραγενέσθαι