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d. Attrition, the activity; but extirpation destroys even the thought of evil itself. For attrition is the abolition only of the passionate action in its activity; but extirpation is the complete destruction also of wicked movements in the mind.

e. The sensible and the intelligible are intermediaries between God and men; above which the human mind passes, proceeding toward God; not being enslaved to sensible things in practice, and not being held at all by intelligible things in contemplation.

f. Creation becomes the accuser of impious men; through the principles within it, proclaiming its own maker; and through the natural laws within it according to each species, instructing man toward virtue. The principles, then, are known in the coherence of the stability of each species; and the laws are seen in the identity of the natural activity of each species; by not attending to these through the intellectual power within us, we have been ignorant of the cause of beings, and have become attached to all the passions that are contrary to nature.

g. The word commands that gifts be offered by us to God, in order to demonstrate the infinity of the divine goodness, which, having contributed nothing beforehand, accepts from us as gifts its own endowments, reckoning the whole offering to our account, showing that the goodness of God toward us is great and ineffable, since He receives as ours what is His own, offered to Him by us, and acknowledges the debt for them as if they were another's.

h. Man, by understanding the spiritual principles of visible things, is taught that there is a certain maker of phenomena; leaving unexamined as unattainable the concept of what He is like. For creation, being clearly seen, provides the comprehension that He is a Maker, but not what the maker is like.

i. The wrath of God is the painful sensation of those being disciplined. And a painful sensation is the infliction of involuntary labors, by which God often leads the mind that is puffed up with virtue and knowledge toward contraction and humility; granting it to become a judge of itself, and conscious of its own weakness; by perceiving which, it puts away the vain swelling of the heart.

j. (1264) The wrath of the Lord is the suspension of the bestowal of divine gifts; which profitably comes upon every mind that is lofty and arrogant; and that boasts in the good things given to it by God as if they were its own accomplishments.

k. Every gnostic and philosophic mind has both Judas and Jerusalem; Judas, as practical philosophy; and Jerusalem, as contemplative mystagogy. Whenever, therefore, through divine grace the God-loving mind, according to both practical and contemplative philosophy, has repelled every power opposed to virtue and knowledge, and has completely bound the dominion over the spirits of wickedness, and does not offer due thanksgiving to God, the cause of the victory, but has its heart lifted up, considering itself the cause of every accomplishment; then, as one not giving back to God according to the recompense which He gave to it, it receives not only upon itself the wrath of abandonment, but also Judas and Jerusalem; that is, the state of practice and contemplation immediately experiences passions of dishonor, with God's permission, which rise up against practice and defile the formerly pure conscience; and false thoughts, which become entangled with the contemplation of beings, and pervert the formerly correct opinion of knowledge. For passions of dishonor succeed the one who is exalted in practice; and just judgment allows the one who is lifted up in knowledge to stumble concerning true contemplation.

l. A truly divine definition and law according to Providence exists in beings, permitting them to be disciplined by contraries toward gratitude, those who for better things

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δ΄. Ἡ τρίψις, τήν ἐνέργειαν· ἡ ἔκτριψις δέ, καί αὐτήν ἀφανίζει τῆς κακίας τήν ἐνθύμησιν. Ἡ μέν γάρ τρίψις, τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν μόνης ὑπάρχει πράξεως κατάργησις· ἡ δέ ἔκτριψις, καί τῶν κατά διάνοιαν πονηρῶν κινημάτων παντελής ἐστιν ἀφανισμός.

ε΄. Μέσα εἰσί Θεοῦ καί ἀνθρώπων τά αἰσθητά καί τά νοητά· ὧν ὑπεράνω γίνεται χωρῶν πρός Θεόν ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς· τοῖς μέν αἰσθητοῖς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν μή δουλούμενος, τοῖς δέ νοητοῖς κατά τήν θεωρίαν μηδόλως κρατούμενος.

στ΄. Κατήγορος ἡ κτίσις γίνεται τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀνθρώπων· διά μέν τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ λόγων, τόν ἑαυτῆς κηρύττουσα ποιητήν· διά δέ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ κατ᾿ εἶδος ἕκαστον φυσικῶν νόμων, πρός ἀρετήν παιδαγωγοῦσα τόν ἄνθρωπον. Οἱ μέν οὖν λόγοι, ἐν τῇ συνοχῇ τῆς τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον εἴδους γνωρίζονται μονιμότητος· οἱ δέ νόμοι, ἐν τῇ ταυτότητι φαίνονται τῆς τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον εἴδους φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας· οἷς μή ἐπιβάλλοντες κατά τήν ἐν ἡμῖν νοεράν δύναμιν, τήν τε τῶν ὄντων ἠγνοήσαμεν αἰτίαν, καί πᾶσι τοῖς παρά φύσιν προστετήκαμεν πάθεσι.

ζ΄. ∆ῶρα τῷ Θεῷ προσφέρεσθαι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ λόγος διακελεύεται, ἵνα παραστήσῃ τό τῆς θείας ἀγαθότητος ἄπειρον, ὡς μηδέν προεισενεγκούσης δέχεσθαι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὡς δῶρα τά δόματα, τό πᾶν ἡμῖν λογιζομένης τῆς εἰσφορᾶς, πολλήν καί ἄφατον εἶναι περί ἡμᾶς δεικνύων τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν ἀγαθότητα, δεχομένου ὡς ἡμῶν τά ἑαυτοῦ, ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῷ προσφερόμενα, καί τήν ὑπέρ αὐτῶν ὡς ἀλλοτρίων ὀφειλήν ὁμολογοῦντος.

η΄. Ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τούς πνευματικούς τῶν ὁρωμένων λόγους κατανοῶν, διδάσκεται, ὡς ἔστι τις τῶν φαινομένων ποιητής· τήν τοῦ ὁποῖός ἐστιν ἔννοιαν, ὡς ἀνέφικτον ἀφείς ἀνεξέταστον. Τήν γάρ ὅτι Ποιητής, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὁποῖός ἐστιν ὁ ποιητής, ὁρωμένη σαφῶς ἡ κτίσις, παρέχει κατάληψιν.

θ΄. Ὀργή Θεοῦ ἐστιν, ἡ τῶν παιδαγωγουμένων ἐπίπονος αἴσθησις. Ἐπίπονος δέ καθέστηκεν αἴσθησις, ἡ τῶν ἀκουσίων πόνων ἐπαγωγή, δι᾿ ἧς τόν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ καί γνώσει φυσιούμενον νοῦν, ὁ Θεός ἄγει πολλάκις πρός συστολήν καί ταπείνωσιν· αὐτόν ἑαυτοῦ γενέσθαι διδούς ἐπιγνώμονα, καί τῆς οἰκείας ἀσθενείας συνίστορα· ἧς ἐπαισθόμενος, τό μάταιον οἴδημα τῆς καρδίας ἀποτίθεται.

ι΄. (1264) Ὀργή Κυρίου ἐστίν, ἡ ἀνακωχή τῆς τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων χορηγίας· ἤ τις συμφερόντως ἐπί πάντα γίνεται νοῦν ὑψηλόν καί μετέωρον· καί τοῖς δοθεῖσιν αὐτῷ θεόθεν καλοῖς, ὡς ἐπί ἰδίοις κατορθώμασι μεγαλαυχούμενον.

ια΄. Πᾶς γνωστικός καί φιλόσοφος νοῦς, καί τόν Ἰούδαν ἔχει καί τήν Ἱερουσαλήμ· τόν μέν Ἰούδαν, ὡς πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν· τήν δέ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὡς θεωρητικήν μυσταγωγίαν. Ὁπηνίκα οὖν διά τῆς θείας χάριτος ὁ φιλόθεος νοῦς, κατά τε τήν πρακτικήν καί θεωρητικήν φιλοσοφίαν, πᾶσαν ἀντικειμένην ἀρετῇ καί γνώσει διακρουσάμενος δύναμιν, τελείως τό κατά τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας ἀναδήσηται κράτος, καί μή τήν δέουσαν εὐχαριστίαν ἀνάθηται τῷ αἰτίῳ τῆς νίκης Θεῷ, ἀλλ᾿ ὑψωθῇ τήν καρδίαν, ἑαυτόν τοῦ παντός κατορθώματος ἡγησάμενος αἴτιον· τηνικαῦτα ὡς μή ἀνταποδούς τῷ Θεῷ, κατά τό ἀνταπόδομα, ὅ ἀνταπέδωκεν αὐτῷ, δέχεται οὐ μόνον αὐτός γινομένην ἐπ᾿αὐτόν τήν ὀργήν τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεως, ἀλλά καί Ἰούδας καί Ἱερουσαλήμ· τουτέστιν, ἡ τῆς πράξεως ἕξις καί τῆς θεωρίας παθῶν ἀτιμίας εὐθέως, συγχωρήσει Θεοῦ, κατεπανισταμένων τῆς πράξεως, καί τήν τέως καθαράν μολυνόντων συνείδησιν· καί ψευδῶν ἐννοιῶν, συνεπιπλεκομένων τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν ὄντων, καί τήν τέως ὀρθήν διαστρεφουσῶν δόξαν τῆς γνώσεως. Τόν γάρ ἐπαιρόμενον ἐπί πράξει, παθῶν ἀτιμία διαδέχεται· τόν δέ ἐπί γνώσει ὑψούμενον, περί τήν ἀληθῆ θεωρίαν πταίειν ἡ δικαία κρίσις συγχωρεῖ.

ιβ΄. Θεῖος ὡς ἀληθῶς ὅρος τε καί νόμος κατά τήν Πρόνοιαν ἐνυπάρχει τοῖς οὖσι, παιδεύεσθαι διά τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιτρέπων πρός εὐγνωμοσύνην, τούς ἐπί κρείττοσι