XXXIV. (134) Let us then look upon the tabernacle and the altar as ideas, the one being the idea of incorporeal virtue, and the other as the emblem of an image of it, which is perceptible by the outward senses. Now it is easy to see the altar and the things which are on it, for they have all their preparations out of doors, and are consumed by unquenchable fire, so as to shine not by day alone, but also by night; (135) but the tabernacle and all things that are therein are invisible, not only because these are placed in the innermost recesses and in the most holy shrines, but also because God has affixed according to the injunctions of the law, the inevitable punishment of death, not only to any one who touches them, but to any one who through the superfluous curiosity of his eyes beholds them. The only exception is, if any one is perfect and faultless, unpolluted by any error whether it be great or small, having a nature entirely even and full, and in all respects most perfect; (136) for to such a man it is permitted once in each year to enter in and behold what is invisible to others, since in him alone of all men the winged and heavenly love of incorruptible and incorporeal good things abides. (137) When, therefore, any one being smitten by the idea is influenced by the seal which gives an impression of the particular virtues, perceiving, and comprehending, and admiring the most God-like beauty of that idea which he is approaching, as having received the impression of that seal, then a forgetfulness of ignorance and folly is at once engendered in him, accompanied by a simultaneous recollection of instruction and learning. (138) On which account the scripture says, “Wine and strong drink thou shalt not drink, neither thou nor thy sons after thee,” when ye enter into the tabernacle of the testimony or approach the altar of sacrifice; and he goes through all these details not more by way of prohibition than of explaining his intention. In truth, for one who was issuing prohibitions, it was appropriate to say, Drink not wine when you are performing sacrifice; but for one who is declaring his opinion, it is more suitable to say, Ye shall not drink. For it is impossible for a man to admit ignorance, which is the cause of intoxication and of ignorance of the soul, if he be one who studies the generic and specific virtues and devotes himself to the pursuit of them. (139) And he very often speaks of the tabernacle of testimony, in truth, inasmuch as God is the witness of virtue, to whom it is honourable and expedient to attend, or inasmuch as it is virtue which implants steadiness in our souls, eradicating ambiguous, and doubtful, and hesitating, and vacillating reasonings out of them by force, and revealing truth in life as in a court of justice.
XXXV. (140) And the scripture says that, “he shall not die who offers abstemious sacrifices;” since ignorance brings death, and education and instruction bring immortality. For as in our own bodies disease is the cause of dissolution, and health of preservation; so in the same manner in our souls also, that which saves is prudence, for this is a kind of good health of the mind; and that which destroys is folly, which inflicts an incurable disease. (141) And he expressly declares his opinion, and pronounces this last to be an everlasting Evil.{34}{#le 10:9.} For he considers that there is an undying law set up and established in the nature of the universe embracing these principles, that instruction is a salutary and saving thing, but that ignorance is the cause of disease and destruction. (142) He also besides delivers this further statement, that the laws which are established in accordance with truth are at once everlasting; since right reason, which is law, is not perishable. For also, on the other hand, the contrary thing, namely lawlessness, is a thing of brief existence, and by its own intrinsic nature easily destructible, as it is confessed to be by all persons of sound sense. (143) And it is an especial property of law and of instruction to distinguish what is profane from what is holy, and what is unclean from what is clean; as, on the other hand, it is the effect of lawlessness and ignorance to combine things that are at variance with one another by force, and to throw everything into disorder and confusion.
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