[7.] Let us even now become strangers; that God may “not be ashamed of us to be called our God.” For it is a shame to Him, when He is called the God of the wicked, and He also is ashamed of them; as He is glorified when He is [called the God] of the good and the kind, and of them that cultivate virtue. For if “we” decline to be called the masters of our wicked slaves, and give them up; and should any one come to us and say, ‘such a one does innumerable bad things, he is your slave, is he not?’ We immediately say, “by no means,” to get rid of the disgrace: for a slave has a close relation to his master, and the discredit passes from the one to the other. —But they were so illustrious, so full of confidence, that not only was He “not ashamed to be called” from them, but He even Himself says, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” ( Ex. iii. 6.)