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by the removal of the filthy supposition of those who are deceived and bound only to sense perception, which for a time seems to be apparent in it, through the wise variety of the different forms that complete it, which, in a manner analogous to a garment, reveals the worth of the wearer, the power of the creative Word. For both these statements will apply to the Word, since in both He is reasonably veiled for our sake in obscurity, so that we do not dare unworthily to approach things that are incomprehensible: in the letter of Holy Scripture, as Word, and in creation, as Creator and Maker and Craftsman. Therefore I say that one who wishes to proceed blamelessly toward God is necessarily in need of both scriptural knowledge in the spirit, and the spiritual contemplation of the nature of beings; so that he who desires to become a perfect lover of perfect wisdom may be able, as is fitting, to show that the two laws, the natural and the written, are of equal honor and teach the same things to one another, and that neither has more or less than the other.

A contemplation of both the natural and the written law, and of their interchangeable concurrence with one another.

I understand the one, which is directed as smoothly as possible according to reason through the innate spectacles within it, as having the harmonious fabric of the universe (1129) in the manner of a book, which has for letters and syllables the primary things that are proximate and particular with respect to us, bodies thickened by many conjoined qualities, and for words, things more universal than these, being more remote and subtle, from which the Word who wisely inscribed them and is ineffably inscribed in them is composed when read, providing the notion only that He is, but not what He is in any way whatsoever, and leading, through the pious collection of different images, to a single likeness of the truth, allowing Himself to be seen analogously through visible things as the Creator; and the other, which is achieved by learning, through the things wisely dictated to it, like another cosmos made of heaven and earth and the things in between—I mean, one constituted of ethical, natural, and theological philosophy—proclaims the ineffable power of the one who dictated it, and shows that they are interchangeably the same as one another: the written being the same as the natural in power, and conversely the natural being the same as the written in state, and that they reveal and conceal the same Word, the one by its letter and appearance, the other by its meaning and what is hidden. For just as we, calling the words of Holy Scripture garments and understanding the meanings as flesh of the Word, conceal with the one and reveal with the other, so also, when we call the visible forms and shapes of created things garments, and understand the inner principles according to which these things are created as flesh, in the same way we conceal with the one and reveal with the other. For the creative and legislative Word of the universe is hidden when He appears, being invisible by nature, and is revealed when He is hidden, since He is believed by the wise not to be insubstantial by nature. And may it be for us to reveal this hidden thing through negation, and rather to pass beyond all power of shapes and enigmas that images the truth and to be lifted up ineffably from the letter and from phenomena to the Word Himself according to the power of the Spirit, than for it to happen that we hide this apparent thing through affirmation, so that we too, having become murderers of the Word, might not in the manner of the Greeks worship creation rather than the Creator, believing nothing to be higher than visible things and more magnificent than sensible things, or, seeing only as far as the letter, in the manner of the Jews esteem only the body, making a god of the belly and considering shame as glory, the same inheritance as the deicides

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κατά περιαίρεσιν τῆς δοκούσης τέως ἐμφαίνεσθαι αὐτῇ τῶν ἠπατημένων καί μόνῃ αἰσθήσει προσδεδεμένων ῥυπαρᾶς ὑπολήψεως, διά τῆς τῶν αὐτήν συμπληρούντων διαφόρων εἰδῶν σοφῆς ποικιλίας, ἀναλόγως ἱματίου τρόπον τήν ἀξίαν τοῦ φοροῦντος τήν τοῦ γενεσιουργοῦ λόγου δύναμιν μηνυούσης. Ἄμφω γάρ ἐπί τοῦ λόγου ἁρμόσει τά λεγόμενα, ἐπεί καί ἀμφοῖν δι᾿ ἀσαφείας κεκάλυπται δι᾿ ἡμᾶς εἰκότως, πρός τό μή τολμᾶν τοῖς ἀχωρήτοις ἀναξίως προσβάλλειν, τῷ μέν ῥητῷ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς, ὡς λόγος, τῇ δέ κτίσει, ὡς κτίστης καί ποιητής καί τεχνίτης. Ὅθεν ἀναγκαίως ἀμφοτέρων ἐπιδεῖσθαί φημι τόν πρός Θεόν ἀμέπτως εὐθυπορεῖν βουλόμενον, τῆς τε γραφικῆς ἐν πνεύματι γνώσεως, καί τῆς τῶν ὄντων κατά πνεῦμα φυσικῆς θεωρίας· ὥστε ἰσοτίμους καί τά αὐτά ἀλλήλοις παιδεύοντας τούς δύο νόμους, τόν τε φυσικόν καί τόν γραπτόν, καί μηδέτερον θατέρου ἔχοντα πλέον ἤ ἔλαττον, δύνασθαι δεῖξαι, ὡς εἰκός, τόν τελείας ἐραστήν γενέσθαι τῆς σοφίας τέλειον ἐπιθυμοῦντα.

Θεωρία τοῦ τε φυσικοῦ καί τοῦ γραπτοῦ νόμου, καί τῆς αὐτῶν κατ᾿ ἐπαλλαγήν εἰς ἀλλήλους συνδρομῆς.

Νοῶ τόν μέν ὁμαλῶς ὅτι μάλιστα κατά λόγον διευθυνόμενον διά τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ συμφυῶν θεαμάτων βίβλου τρόπον τό ἐναρμόνιον τοῦ παντός ὕφασμα (1129) ἔχοντα, γράμματα μέν καί συλλαβάς ἐχούσης, τά πρός ἡμᾶς πρῶτα, προσεχῆ τε καί μερικά, καί πολλαῖς παχυνόμενα κατά σύνοδον ποιότησι σώματα, ῥήματα δέ, τά τούτων καθολικώτερα, πόῤῥω τε ὄντα καί λεπτότερα, ἐξ ὧν σοφῶς ὁ διαχαράξας καί ἀῤῥήτως αὐτοῖς ἐγκεχαραγμένος λόγος ἐναγινωσκόμενος ἀπαρτίζεται, τήν ὅτι μόνον ἐστίν, οὐχ ὅτι ποτέ δέ ἐστιν οἱανοῦν παρεχόμενος ἔννοιαν, καί διά τῆς εὐσεβοῦς τῶν διαφόρων φαντασιῶν συλλογῆς εἰς μίαν τοῦ ἀληθοῦς εἰκασίαν ἐνάγων, ἀναλόγως ἑαυτόν διά τῶν ὁρατῶν ὡς γενεσιουργός ἐνορᾶσθαι, διδούς· τόν δέ μαθήσει κατορθούμεον, διά τῶν αὐτῷ σοφῶς ὑπηγορευμένων ὥσπερ κόσμον ἄλλον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καί γῆς καί τῶν ἐν μέσῳ, τῆς ἠθικῆς φημι καί φυσικῆς καί θεολογικῆς φιλοσοφίας συνιστάμενον, τήν ἄφατον καταμηνύειν τοῦ ὑπαγορεύσαντος δύναμιν, καί ταὐτόν ἀλλήλοις κατ᾿ ἐπαλλαγήν ὄντας δεικνύοντα τόν μέν γραπτόν τῷ φυσικῷ κατά τήν δύναμιν, τόν δέ φυσικόν ἔμπαλιν τῷ γραπτῷ κατά τήν ἕξιν, καί τόν αὐτόν μηνύοντας καί καλύπτοντας λόγον, τόν μέν τῇ λέξει καί τῷ φαινομένῳ, τό δέ τῇ νοήσει καί τῷ κρυπτομένῳ. Ὡς γάρ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς τά μέν ῥήματα ἱμάτια λέγοντες, τά δέ νοήματα σάρκας τοῦ λόγου νοοῦντες, τοῖς μέν καλύπτομεν, τοῖς δέ ἀπακαλύπτομεν, οὕτω καί τῶν γεγονότων τά πρός τό ὁρᾶσθαι προβεβλημένα εἴδη τε καί σχήματα ἱμάτια λέγοντες, τούς δέ καθ᾿ οὕς ἔκτισται ταῦτα λόγους σάρκας νοοῦντας, ὡσαύτως τοῖς μέν καλύπτομεν, τοῖς δέ ἀποκαλύπτομεν. Κρύπτεται γάρ φαινόμενος ὁ τοῦ παντός δημιουργός καί νομοθέτης λόγος, κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχων ἀόρατος, καί ἐκφαίνεται κρυπτόμενος, μή λεπτός εἶναι φύσει τοῖς σοφοῖς πιστευόμενος. Εἴη δέ ἡμῖν τοῦτο δι᾿ ἀποφάσεως ἐκφαίνειν κρυπτόμενον, καί πᾶσαν σχημάτων τε καί αἰνιγμάτων τό ἀληθές εἰκονίζουσαν δύναμιν παρελθεῖν μᾶλλον καί πρός αὐτόν τόν λόγον ἀπό τοῦ γράμματος καί τῶν φαινομένων κατά τήν τοῦ πνεύματος δύναμιν ἀῤῥήτως ἀναβιβάζεσθαι, ἤ τοῦτο φαινόμενον κρύπτειν διά τῆς θέσεως γίνεσθαι ἵνα μή καί ἡμεῖς φονευταί τοῦ λόγου γενόμενοι Ἑλληνικῶς τῇ κτίσει λατρεύσωμεν παρά τόν κτίσαντα, μηδέν ἀνώτερον τῶν ὁρωμένων εἶναι πιστεύοντες καί τῶν αἰσθητῶν μεγαλοπρεπέστερον, ἤ μέχρι μόνου τοῦ γράμματος διαβλέποντες τό σῶμα μόνον Ἰουδαϊκῶς περί πολλοῦ ποιησώμεθα, τήν κοιλίαν θεοποιήσαντες, καί τήν αἰσχύνην ἡγησάμενοι δόξαν, τόν αὐτόν τοῖς θεοκτόνοις κλῆρον