signs and reasonings, but there is no need to go further into
the subject.  (139) If I were to enumerate all the passages of
Scripture addressed only to individuals, or to a particular man's
understanding, and which cannot, without great danger to philosophy,
be defended as Divine doctrines, I should go far beyond the brevity
at which I aim.  (140) Let it suffice, then, to have indicated a few
instances of general application, and let the curious reader
consider others by himself.  (141) Although the points we have just
raised concerning prophets and prophecy are the only ones which
have any direct bearing on the end in view, namely, the separation
of Philosophy from Theology, still, as I have touched on the general
question, I may here inquire whether the gift of prophecy was
peculiar to the Hebrews, or whether it was common to all nations.
(2:142) I must then come to a conclusion about the vocation of the
Hebrews, all of which I shall do in the ensuing chapter.

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[3:0] CHAPTER III.  OF THE VOCATION OF THE HEBREWS, AND
      WHETHER THE GIFT OF PROPHECY WAS PECULIAR TO THEM.

(3:1) Every man's true happiness and blessedness consist solely
in the enjoyment of what is good, not in the pride that he alone
is enjoying it, to the exclusion of others.  (2) He who thinks
himself the more blessed because he is enjoying benefits which
others are not, or because he is more blessed or more fortunate
than his fellows, is ignorant of true happiness and blessedness,
and the joy which he feels is either childish or envious and
malicious.  (3:3) For instance, a man's true happiness consists
only in wisdom, and the knowledge of the truth, not at all in
the fact that he is wiser than others, or that others lack such
knowledge: such considerations do not increase his wisdom or
true happiness.

(3:4) Whoever, therefore, rejoices for such reasons, rejoices in
another's misfortune, and is, so far, malicious and bad, knowing
neither true happiness nor the peace of the true life.

[3:1] (5) When Scripture, therefore, in exhorting the Hebrews to
obey the law, says that the Lord has chosen them for Himself before
other nations (Deut. x:15); that He is near them, but not near
others (Deut. iv:7); that to them alone He has given just laws
(Deut. iv:8); and, lastly, that He has marked them out before
others (Deut. iv:32); it speaks only according to the
understanding of its hearers, who, as we have shown in the
last chapter, and as Moses also testifies (Deut. ix:6, 7),
knew not true blessedness.  (6) For in good sooth they would
have been no less blessed if God had called all men equally
to salvation, nor would God have been less present to them for
being equally present to others; their laws, would have been
no less just if they had been ordained for all, and they
themselves would have been no less wise.  (3:7) The miracles would
have shown God's power no less by being wrought for other nations
also; lastly, the Hebrews would have been just as much bound
to worship God if He had bestowed all these gifts equally on
all men.

(3:8) When God tells Solomon (1 Kings iii:12) that no one shall
be as wise as he in time to come, it seems to be only a manner
of expressing surpassing wisdom; it is little to be believed
that God would have promised Solomon, for his greater happiness,
that He would never endow anyone with so much wisdom in time to
come; this would in no wise have increased Solomon's intellect,
and the wise king would have given equal thanks to the Lord if
everyone had been gifted with the same faculties.

(3:9) Still, though we assert that Moses, in the passages of the
Pentateuch just cited, spoke only according to the understanding
of the Hebrews, we have no wish to deny that God ordained the Mosaic
law for them alone, nor that He spoke to them alone, nor that they
witnessed marvels beyond those which happened to any other nation;
but we wish to emphasize that Moses desired to admonish the Hebrews
in such a manner, and with such reasonings as would appeal most
forcibly to their childish understanding, and constrain them to
worship the Deity.  [3:2] (10) Further, we wished to show that the
Hebrews did not surpass other nations in knowledge, or in piety,
but evidently in some attribute different from these; or (to speak
like the Scriptures, according to their understanding), that the
Hebrews were not chosen by God before others for the sake of the
true life and sublime ideas, though they were often thereto
admonished, but with some other object.  (11) What that object was,
I will duly show.

(3:12) But before I begin, I wish in a few words to explain what I
mean by the guidance of God, by the help of God, external and inward,
and, lastly, what I understand by fortune.

(3:13) By the help of God, I mean the fixed and unchangeable order
of nature or the chain of natural events: for I have said before
and shown elsewhere that the universal laws of nature, according
to which all things exist and are determined, are only another name
for the eternal decrees of God, which always involve eternal truth
and necessity.

(3:14) So that to say that everything happens according to natural
laws, and to say that everything is ordained by the decree and
ordinance of God, is the same thing.  (15) Now since the power in
nature is identical with the power of God, by which alone all
things happen and are determined, it follows that whatsoever man,
as a part of nature, provides himself with to aid and preserve his