Chapter VII.—We Shall See God When We Put on Immortality.
This is my God, the Lord of all, who alone stretched
out the heaven, and established the breadth of the earth under it; who
stirs the deep recesses of the sea, and makes its waves roar; who rules
its power, and stills the tumult of its waves; who founded the earth upon
the waters, and gave a spirit to nourish it; whose breath giveth light to
the whole, who, if He withdraw His breath, the whole will utterly fail. By
Him you speak, O man; His breath you breathe yet Him you know not. And
this is your condition, because of the blindness of your soul, and the
hardness of your heart. But, if you will, you may be healed. Entrust
yourself to the Physician, and He will couch the eyes of your soul and of
your heart. Who is the Physician? God, who heals and makes alive through
His word and wisdom. God by His own word and wisdom made all things; for
“by His word were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the
breath of His mouth.”536536 Most excellent is His wisdom. By His wisdom
God founded the earth; and by knowledge He prepared the heavens; and by
understanding were the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the
clouds poured out their dews. If thou perceivest these things, O man,
living chastely, and holily, and righteously, thou canst see God. But
before all let faith and the fear of God have rule in thy heart, and then
shalt thou understand these things. When thou shalt have put off the
mortal, and put on incorruption, then shall thou see God worthily. For
God will raise thy flesh immortal with thy soul; and then, having become
immortal, thou shalt see the Immortal, if now you believe on Him; and
then you shall know that you have spoken unjustly against Him.