76.  This depressed and kept me humble, and persuaded me that it was better to hear the voice of praise234    Ps. xxvi. 7 (LXX.). than to be an expounder of truths beyond my power; the majesty, and the height, and the dignity, and the pure natures scarce able to contain the brightness of God, Whom the deep covers, Whose secret place is darkness,235    Ib. xviii. 12; civ. 6. since He is the purest light,236    1 Tim. vi. 16. which most men cannot approach unto; Who is in all this universe, and again is beyond the universe; Who is all goodness,237    Exod. xxxiii. 19. and beyond all goodness; Who enlightens the mind, and escapes the quickness and height of the mind, ever retiring as much as He is apprehended, and by His flight and stealing away when grasped, withdrawing to the things above one who is enamoured of Him.

Ο#2ʹ. Τοῦτό με ἵστη κάτω, καὶ ταπεινὸν ἐποίει, καὶ εἶναι βέλτιον ἔπειθεν ἀκούειν φωνὴν αἰνέσεως, ἢ ἐξηγητὴν εἶναι τῶν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν: ἡ μεγαλειότης, καὶ τὸ ὕψος, καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα, καὶ αἱ καθαραὶ φύσεις μόλις χωροῦσαι Θεοῦ λαμπρότητα, ὃν ἄβυσσος καλύπτει, οὗ σκότος ἀποκρυφὴ, φωτὸς ὄντος τοῦ καθαρωτάτου καὶ ἀπροσίτου τοῖς πλείοσιν: ὃς ἐν τῷ παντὶ τῷδε, καὶ τοῦ παντός ἐστιν ἔξω: ὃς καλόν ἐστιν ἅπαν, καὶ ἄνω παντὸς καλοῦ: ὃς νοῦν φωτίζει, καὶ διαφεύγει νοῦ τάχος καὶ ὕψος, ὑποχωρῶν ἀεὶ τοσοῦτον, ὅσον καταλαμβάνεται, καὶ ὑπάγων πρὸς τὰ ἄνω τὸν ἐραστὴν τῷ φεύγειν, καὶ τῷ οἷον κρατούμενος κλέπτεσθαι.