PHIL. IUD. DE ABRAHAMO. §. 16. 17.

But what benefit is there in these, one might say, if the invisible nous intellect, like a wonder-worker, did not whisper from within with its own powers? Which, sometimes releasing and slackening, and at other times pulling back and dragging with force, provided measured movement and much tranquility to the wonders. Having this example with you, you will easily understand that of which you strongly desire to obtain the knowledge. For is the intellect not the governor appointed in you, to whom all the society of the body obeys, and each of the senses follows? And yet the world, the most beautiful and greatest and most perfect work, of which all other things happen to be parts, lacks a king who holds it together and who will justly manage it. And if he is invisible, do not marvel; for the intellect in you is not visible either. Reflecting on these things, and being taught not from afar but from nearby, both from himself and from those around him, one will know clearly that the world is not the first God, but the work of the first God and the Father of all; who, being unseen, shows everything, demonstrating the natures of small and great things. For He did not deem it worthy to be grasped by the eyes of the body, perhaps because it was not holy for the mortal to touch the eternal, or perhaps because of the weakness of our sight. For it would not have contained the rays pouring from the Being, since it is not even able to look at the beams from the sun.

§. 17. A most evident proof of the migration, which the mind undertook from astronomy and the Chaldaean opinion, is given. For it is said immediately upon the migration of the wise man, “And God appeared to Abraham,” Gen. 12:7 by which it is clear that He was not visible before, when he was "Chaldaeanizing" and paying attention to the choir of the stars, rather than to the harmonious and...