their own weakness, to
worship tilings seen in the heavens, the sun and moon and stars. For these,
indeed, being the most wonderful of the things of the phenomenal world, invited
upwards the eyes of those who see, and as near as possible to heaven, being as
it were in the precincts of the King's court, manifesting the glory of Him that
is the Source of all by the analogy of the vastness and beauty of created
visible things. "For his invisible things," as the divine Apostle
says, "from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." And this
again the great Moses mystically says. For in exhorting the portion of the Lord
to grasp with clear mind and pure soul that which is known to the mind only and
unembodied, he prohibits all terror of the things seen in heaven, adding that
"The Lord thy God has divided them for all the nations." And it is
worth realizing why he says that they were divided. Since unseen by us they
that bear the earthy and daemonic nature are everywhere wanderers, flying
through the air around the earth unknown and undistinguished by men, and the
good spirits and powers and, indeed, the divine angels themselves are ever at
variance with the worse, there was but one way for those who failed of the
highest religion of the Almighty to prosper, namely to choose the best of
things visible in heaven. For there was no slight danger, lest seeking after
God, and busy with the unseen world, they should turn towards the opposing
daemonic powers amid the stress of things obscure and dark. So all the most
beautiful visible created things were delivered to them who yearned for nothing
better, since to some extent the vision of the unseen shone in them, reflected
as in a mirror.