304 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER and those that dwell in it likelocnsts; who hath weighed the mountains in a balance,and the groves in scales,"1that is,by the suretestof divinearrangement; and lestitsgreat ness,lyingunequally,should easilyfallintoruinsifitwere not balancedwith equal weights,He has poisedthisburden of the earthlymass with equity. Who saysby the prophet, "I am God, and there is none besideme."1 Who saysby the same prophet," Because I willnot give my majestyto another,"3that He may exclude allheathens and heretics with theirfigments;proving that that is not God who is made by the hand of the workman, nor thatwhich isfeigned by the intellectof a heretic. For he is not God for whose existencethe workman must be asked. And He has added heretoby the prophet," The heaven is my throne,and the earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me, and where isthe placeof my rest?"* thatHe may show thatHe whom the world does not containis much lesscontainedin a temple; and He says thesethings not for boastfulnessof Himself, but for our knowledge. For He does not desire from us the glory of His magnitude ; but He wishesto confer upon us,even as a father,a religiouswisdom. And He, wishing moreover to attractto gentlenessour minds, brutish,and swelling,and stubborn with cloddishferocity, says, " And upon whom shallmy Spiritrest,save upon him thatislowly,and quiet,and that tremblethat my words!"5 — so that in some degreeone may recognisehow greatGod is,in learningtofearHim by the Spiritgiven tohim : Who, similarlywishingstillmore to come intoour knowledge,and by way of stirringup our minds to His worship,said,"I am the Lord, who made thelightand createdthedarkness;"6 that we might deem not that some Nature,— what I know not,— was the artificerof those vicissitudeswhereby nights and days are controlled,but might recogniseGod rather(as ismore true)as theirCreator. And sinceby the gazeofour eyes we cannot see Him, we rightlylearn of Him from the greatness,and the power, and the majestyof His works. 1 Isa.xl.22,12. " Isa.xlv.22. 3 Isa.xlii.a 4 Isa.lxvi.1. 5 Isa.lxvl2. 6 Isa.xlv.7.