Ch. 14
That the deity oversees all things.
WHEN a person asked him how a man could be convinced
that all his actions are under the inspection of God, he
answered, Do you not think that all things are united in
one?94 do, the person replied. Well, do you not think
[p. 47]
that earthly things have a natural agreement and union95
with heavenly things? I do. And how else so regularly
as if by God's command, when He bids the plants to flower,
do they flower? when He bids them to send forth shoots,
do they shoot? when He bids them to produce fruit, how
else do they produce fruit? when He bids the fruit to ripen,
does it ripen? when again He bids them to cast down the
fruits, how else do they cast them down? and when to
shed the leaves, do they shed the leaves? and when He
bids them to fold themselves up and to remain quiet and
rest, how else do they remain quiet and rest? And how
else at the growth and the wane of the moon, and at the
approach and recession of the sun, are so great an alteration and change to the contrary seen in earthly things?96
But are plants and our bodies so bound up and united with
the whole, and are not our souls much more? and our souls
so bound up and in contact with God as parts of Him and
portions of Him; and does not God perceive every motion
of these parts as being his own motion connate with himself?
Now are you able to think of the divine administration,
and about all things divine, and at the same time also
about human affairs, and to be moved by ten thousand
things at the same time in your senses and in your understanding, and to assent to some, and to dissent from others,
and again as to some things to suspend your judgment;
and do you retain in your soul so many impressions from
so many and various things, and being moved by them, do
you fall upon notions similar to those first impressed, and
do you retain numerous arts and the memories of ten
thousand things; and is not God able to oversee all things,
and to be present with all, and to receive from all a certain
communication? And is the sun able to illuminate so
large a part of the All, and to leave so little not illuminated, that part only which is occupied by the earth's
shadow; and He who made the sun itself and makes it go
round, being a small part of himself compared with the
whole, cannot He perceive all things?
But I cannot, the man may reply, comprehend all these
[p. 48]
things at once. But who tells you that you have equal
power with Zeus? Nevertheless he has placed by every
man a guardian, every man's Daemon,97 to whom he has
committed the care of the man, a guardian who never
sleeps, is never deceived. For to what better and more
careful guardian could He have intrusted each of us?98
When then you have shut the doors and made darkness
within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you
are not; but God is within, and your Daemon is within,
and what need have they of light to see what you are
doing? To this God you ought to swear an oath just as
the soldiers do to Caesar. But they who are hired for pay
swear to regard the safety of Caesar before all things; and
you who have received so many and such great favors,
will you not swear, or when you have sworn, will you not
abide by your oath? And what shall you swear? Never
to be disobedient, never to make any charges, never to
find fault with any thing that he has given, and never
unwillingly to do or to suffer any thing that is necessary.
Is this oath like the soldier's oath? The soldiers swear
not to prefer any man to Csar: in this oath men swear to
honour themselves before all.99
[p. 49]
