V. Which he who sees, marvelling at (and indeed it was Enough{12}{#ge 42:18.} to cause astonishment), says, “It is a great thing for me if my son Joseph is still Alive”{13}{#ge 45:28.} and has not died at the same time with vain opinions and the body which is but a lifeless carcass; (22) and he also confessed that “it was the work of God,”{14}{#ge 50:19.} and not of any created being, that he was recognised by his brethren, and so could put into commotion and agitation, and put to the rout by force, all the dispositions devoted to the body which flattered themselves that they could stand firmly on their own doctrines; he also said that “he had not been sent away by men, but had been appointed by God”{15}{#ge 45:5.} for the legitimate overseeing of the body and of all external things; (23) but there are many other things also resembling these, being of a superior and more sacred kind of order; and they do not endure to abide in Egypt, the house of the body, and are never buried in a coffin at all, but depart to a distance outside of every thing mortal, and follow the words of the lawgiver, namely, Moses, who is the guide of their path. (24) For Moses, being the nurse as it were and tutor of good works, and good expressions, and good intentions, which, even if at times they are mingled with those of an opposite character by reason of the somewhat confused medely which exists in mortal man; are nevertheless distinguished when they have passed, so that all the seeds and plants of excellence may not be destroyed and perish for ever and ever. (25) And he exhorts men very vigorously to quit that which is called the mother of every thing that is absurd, without any delay or sluggishness, but rather using exceeding swiftness; for he says that men “must sacrifice the pascha, in Haste,”{16}{#ex 12:12.} and the word pascha, being interpreted, means a “passing over,” in order that the mind, exerting its reasonings without any doubt, and also an energetic willingness and promptness, may, without ever turning back make a passing over from the passions, to gratitude to God the Saviour, who has led it forth beyond all its expectations to freedom.
VI. (26) And why do we wonder if he exhorts the man who is led away by the force of unreasonable passions, neither to yield, nor to allow himself to be carried away by the impetuosity of its onward course, but to exert all his strength, to resist, and if he is unable to resist effectually, then to flee. For the second advance towards safety on the part of those who are unable to make a good resistance is flight. When the occasion does not permit the man who is a combatant by nature, and who has never been a slave of the passions, but who is always undergoing the toil of resistance to every separate one of them, to put forth all his powers of antagonism at all times, lest from continuance of his struggles against them he may gradually contract a painful infection from them; for there have before now been many instances of men having become imitators of the wickedness to which they were previously antagonists, as, on the other hand, some opposers of virtue have become copiers of that. (27) And for this reason the following scripture has been given to men, “Return to the land of thy father and to thy family, and I will be with Thee;”{17}{#ge 31:3.} which is equivalent to saying, you have been a perfect wrestler for me, and you have been thought worthy of the prize and crown of victory, virtue having been the establisher of the contest and prospering to give prizes of victory; and now get rid of your fondness for contention, that you may not be always labouring but that you may be able to enjoy the fruit of your labours, (28) which will never happen to you if you remain here dwelling among the objects of the external senses, and wasting your time among the distinctive qualities of the body, of which Laban is the leader (and this name means “distinctive quality;”) but you must been an emigrant and must return to your native land, the land of the sacred word, and in some sense of the father of all those who practice virtue, which is wisdom, the best possible abiding place for those souls which love virtue. (29) In this country you have a race which learns everything of itself, and is self-taught, which has no share in the infantine food of milk, but which by the divine oracle “has been forbidden to go down to Egypt,”{18}{#ge 26:2.} and to put itself in the way of the attractive pleasures of the flesh, surnamed Isaac; (30) and if you receive his inheritance, you will of necessity discard labour, for excessive abundance of things ready prepared, and of good things offered to your hand, will be the causes of cessation from toil. And the fountain from which good things are poured forth is the presence of the bounteous and beneficent God; on which account setting the seal to his loving kindness he says, “I will be with thee.”
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