On Sobriety 11

¹This is enough, I think, by way of preface. Let us now observe the form which the curses take. “Cursed,” he says, “is Canaan; a servant, a bondman, shall he be to his brethren,” and “blessed is the Lord, the God of Shem, and Canaan shall be their slave.” ²We have said before that Shem bears a name which means “good,” that is to say, the name which he bears is not any specific name or noun, but is just “name,” the whole genus, thus representing good, because good alone is a thing of name and is worthy of fair speech and fair report, just as bad on the other hand is nameless and of evil name. ³What, then, is the prayer which Moses deems worthy of this participant in the nature of the good? What indeed? Surely a prayer unparalleled and unprecedented, to which no mortal can act as ministrant, a prayer from which, almost as though it were from the very ocean, there pour forth fountains of things excellent, welling up and running over, unmeasured and inexhaustible. It is the Lord and God of the world and all that is therein, whom he declares to be peculiarly the God of Shem by special grace. ⁴And consider! What transcendency is not here transcended? For we may well say that he to whom this belongs is put on a level of value with the world; since when the same power rules and cares for both, the objects of this guardianship must needs by that very fact be of equal value. ⁵Surely, too, His gifts are such as shew a lavish hand. For while the words “Lord and God” proclaim Him master and benefactor of the world which is open to our senses, to that goodness which our minds perceive He is saviour and benefactor only, not master or lord. For wisdom is rather God’s friend than His servant. And therefore He says plainly of Abraham, ⁶“shall I hide anything from Abraham My friend?” (Gen. 18:17). But he who has this portion has passed beyond the bounds of human happiness. He alone is nobly born, for he has registered God as his father and become by adoption His only son, the possessor not of riches, but of all riches, faring sumptuously where there is nought but good things, unstinted in number and sterling in worth, which alone wax not old through time, but ever renew their youth; ⁷not merely of high repute, but glorious, for he reaps the praise which is never debased by flattery, but ratified by truth; sole king, for he has received from the All-ruler the sceptre of universal sovereignty, which none can dispute; sole freeman, for he is released from the most tyrannous of mistresses, vain opinion, whom God the liberator has cast down from her citadel on the hill and humbled all her pride. ⁸What, then, of him who has been deemed worthy of blessings so great, so transcendent, so multitudinous? What should he do but requite his Benefactor with the words of his lips with song and with hymn? That is, it seems, the inner meaning of the saying, “blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem.” For it is meet that he who has God for his heritage should bless and praise Him, since this is the only return that he can offer, and all else, strive as he will, is quite beyond his power.