CHAPTER 8

That the Other Nations, assigned to Certain Angels, worshipped only the Stars of Heaven.

(c) BUT the angel-guardians and shepherds of the other races allowed them, inasmuch as they were not able with their mind to see the invisible, nor to ascend so high through - 177 - 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.