De testamentis et adventu Christi

They called many things god in their folly, as then the people of empty mind trusted Aaron when he sent forth the calf from the midst of fire, refuting the arrogance, and one fashioned another new god for the day-laborers, a figment of the mind—and then sinful craft and joyless wealth followed, and time fixed the shame upon the figments, increasing them with sacrifices and feasts. Few indeed dissolved them, those whose mind was a defender, who called nothing god that the mind alone did not see, but the majority, following after the lights in words, as it were. While the course of evil was short, while law, unwritten, lay within me and governed, a self-taught discrimination of good and evil. But when the gulfs and wide bounds of the earth were filled with recklessness, and the mire boiled over with insolence, and the clay, subdued by many disciplines, by tongues cut, by waters and rains of fire, would not shake off the bonds of the first evil, but always clung to the strong bonds of the flesh, devoted to lusts, strifes, and idols, then—this is the greatest wonder of the wise word—through the glorious servant Moses, in his hands, God led the people from Egypt with great wonders of the journey, and all nations were shaken. A pillar of fire went before, leading, and a cloud, unmarked, drew through the desert. And once in the desert mountains, a greatest wonder, descending from heaven under the cover of a pure cloud, consorting with the purest servant alone, with lightning, trumpets, and shakings, he kept the people back and gave the law. On tablets he inscribed on both sides the hidden and the manifest, as much as the unyielding people could bear, that he might cut them off from the most evil laws of the nations.

As a father, with light hands guiding the newly-formed sole of his child's tender foot, first lifting it a little from the ground, coaxing with gentle babble and encouraging with a look of confidence, then restraining him, drawing one step after another, leading him forward and seeming to run and walk with the child, so also Christ the King, tending foolish mortal man, first cast aside the idols, and the sacrifices he delayed, yet allowed them, and placed them within the law, softening the evil; but finally, not even the sacrifices stood, but gave way, once the people were subdued. And the law, like a kind of guardian, preserved me for the child of the great father; when the time of the child came, it willingly yielded, and the excellent son received the inheritance. Thus God. For he is accustomed to persuade, not to threaten ephemeral beings; violence is without honor, to me. And just as one who assists in sufferings does not bring all painful things at once to the afflicted, but gives one thing through desire, another through disease, kindly disposed, as if to save the sufferer, mixing with pleasant things the better devices of his art.

As when a temple-builder, raising a circular vault of hewn stone in the air, first sets the lower supports, then brings the stone above, winding circle upon circle; and when he has bound it, he casts away the outer support, and the circle stands firm, outlined in the bare air—so the law was a support for a more perfect law. Consider God to be the beginning of all things. Hold nothing in life to be secure. Honor your parents, but fear God most of all. Teach yourself not to speak what is not lawful. Strive to please God by deeds and words. Desire a life that has no end. By yielding to your friends, you will conquer. Adorn your mind more than your appearance. Though you are mortal, do not think highly of yourself at all. Always track the doors of the wise. Open your mouth, child, to the word of God. Never forget His memory. Soberly pray to God each day. Welcome strangers, lest you become a stranger to God. Restrain the soul-destroying impulses of the passions. Secure your body with chains of temperance. Carry your conscience as a staff for yourself. Devote yourself clearly to the divine Scriptures. The

Alleviate the sorrows of the poor. Wish well for your neighbors beyond yourself. Strive to have friends, or great wealth; for they are far more glorious than gold. Hate falsehood, and love truth. O child, keeping these things, you are divinely preserved.