On the Confusion of Languages (166-170)

On which account an oracle of the all-merciful God has been given, full of gentleness, which shadows forth good hopes to those who love instruction, in these terms: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." [*] For when the chains of the soul, by which it has been used to be held in bondage, are loosened, then the greatest of all calamities follows, namely, the being deserted by God, who has fastened chains which can never be broken round the universe, namely, his own powers, with which he binds everything, willing that it shall never more be released.

Accordingly, he says, in another passage, that "all things which are bound with a chain are pure;" [*] since unbinding is the cause of the destruction of that which is impure. Beware, then, lest when you see a man accomplishing without difficulty all the objects which he endeavours to effect, you admire him as a prosperous man; take care rather to pity him as a very unfortunate one, because he passes his whole life in a perfect destitution of virtue and a great abundance of vice.

And it is worth while to consider in no superficial manner what the meaning is of that expression which is put by Moses into the mouth of God: "Come, let us go down and confuse their language there." [*] For here God is represented as if he were speaking to some beings who were his coadjutors. And the very same idea may be excited by what is said in the account of the creation of the world,

for there, too, Moses records that "the Lord God said, Come, let us now make man in our image; man in our similitude." [*] The expression, "Let us make," implying a number of creators. And, in another place, we are told that God said, "Behold, the man, Adam, has become as one of us, in respect of his knowing good and evil;" [*]for the expression, "as one of us," is not applicable to one person, but to many.