mankind are vanity, that humanity has no nobler gift than wisdom,
and no greater punishment than folly.  (112) See Proverbs xvi:22, 23.

(2:113) But let us return to the prophets whose conflicting
opinions we have undertaken to note.  (114) The expressed
ideas of Ezekiel seemed so diverse from those of Moses to the
Rabbis who have left us the extant prophetic books (as is
told in the treatise of Sabbathus, i:13, 2), that they had
serious thoughts of omitting his prophecy from the canon, and
would doubtless have thus excluded it if a certain Hananiah
had not undertaken to explain it; a task which (as is there
narrated) he with great zeal and labour accomplished.
(2:115) How he did so does not sufficiently appear, whether
it was by writing a commentary which has now perished, or
by altering Ezekiel's words and audaciously - striking out
phrases according to his fancy.  (2:116) However this may be,
chapter xviii. certainly does not seem to agree with
Exodus xxxiv:7, Jeremiah xxxii:18, &c.

(2:117) Samuel believed that the Lord never repented of
anything He had decreed (1 Sam. xv:29), for when Saul was
sorry for his sin, and wished to worship God and ask for
forgiveness, Samuel said that the Lord would not go back
from his decree.

(2:118) To Jeremiah, on the other hand, it was revealed that,
"If that nation against whom I (the Lord) have pronounced,
turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought
to do unto them.  (119) If it do evil in my sight, that it obey
not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said
I would benefit them" (Jer. xviii:8-10).  (120) Joel (ii:13)
taught that the Lord repented Him only of evil.  (121) Lastly,
it is clear from Gen iv: 7 that a man can overcome the
temptations of sin, and act righteously; for this doctrine is
told to Cain, though, as we learn from Josephus and the
Scriptures, he never did so overcome them.  (2:122) And this
agrees with the chapter of Jeremiah just cited, for it is
there said that the Lord repents of the good or the evil
pronounced, if the men in question change their ways and
manner of life.  (123) But, on the other hand, Paul (Rom.ix:10)
teaches as plainly as possible that men have no control over
the temptations of the flesh save by the special vocation and
grace of God.  (124) And when (Rom. iii:5 and vi:19) he
attributes righteousness to man, he corrects himself as
speaking merely humanly and through the infirmity of the flesh.

(2:125) We have now more than sufficiently proved our point,
that God adapted revelations to the understanding and opinions
of the prophets, and that in matters of theory without bearing
on charity or morality the prophets could be, and, in fact,
were, ignorant, and held conflicting opinions.  (126) It
therefore follows that we must by no means go to the prophets
for knowledge, either of natural or of spiritual phenomena.

(2:127) We have determined, then, that we are only bound to
believe in the prophetic writings, the object and substance
of the revelation; with regard to the details, every one
may believe or not, as he likes.  (128) For instance, the
revelation to Cain only teaches us that God admonished him
to lead the true life, for such alone is the object and
substance of the revelation, not doctrines concerning free
will and philosophy.  (129) Hence, though the freedom of the
will is clearly implied in the words of the admonition,
we are at liberty to hold a contrary opinion, since the
words and reasons were adapted to the understanding of Cain.

(2:130) So, too, the revelation to Micaiah would only teach
that God revealed to him the true issue of the battle between
Ahab and Aram; and this is all we are bound to believe.
 
(131) Whatever else is contained in the revelation concerning
the true and the false Spirit of God, the army of heaven
standing on the right hand and on the left, and all the other
details, does not affect us at all.  (131a) Everyone may
believe as much of it as his reason allows.

(2:132) The reasonings by which the Lord displayed His power to
Job (if they really were a revelation, and the author of the
history is narrating, and not merely, as some suppose,
rhetorically adorning his own conceptions), would come under
the same category - that is, they were adapted to Job's
understanding, for the purpose of convincing him, and are not
universal, or for the convincing of all men.

(2:133) We can come to no different conclusion with respect to the
reasonings of Christ, by which He convicted the Pharisees of pride
and ignorance, and exhorted His disciples to lead the true life.
(134) He adapted them to each man's opinions and principles.
(2:135) For instance, when He said to the Pharisees (Matt. xii:26),
"And if Satan cast out devils, his house is divided against itself,
how then shall his kingdom stand?  (136) "He only wished to convince
the Pharisees according, to their own principles, not to teach
that there are devils, or any kingdom of devils.  (137) So, too,
when He said to His disciples (Matt. viii:10), "See that ye despise
not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that their angels,"
&c.  (137a) He merely desired to warn them against pride and despising any
of their fellows, not to insist on the actual reason given, which was
simply adopted in order to persuade them more easily.

(2:138) Lastly, we should say exactly the same of the apostolic