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§ LXXVII. Appeal to the Sibyl Now that we have covered everything else in order, it is time to turn to the prophetic scriptures. After all, predictions, openly encouraging us to worship God, affirm the truth. The Divine Scriptures and wise state regulations are the shortest paths leading to salvation, being artless, devoid of verbal sophistication and streams of eloquence, alien to flattery, they lift up a person suffocated by vice. Despising the changeability of life, supporting many things with the same word, they turn us away from disastrous error and clearly incline us to certain salvation. So, let the prophetess Sibyl be the first to sing the saving song: He is motionless, He remains clear to everyone: come, People, come to Him and leave the darkness of the night and the hopeless darkness. The sweet light of the sun pours from the sky and illuminates everything. Having established it in your heart, you will join wisdom! There is one God who sends rain, wind, earthquake, Lightning, hunger, suffering, plague, inescapable grief, Snow, ice - is there any need to talk about everything in order? He rules the sky, owns the earth; He is truly the Existent. By inspiration, likening error to darkness, and knowledge to the sun and God's light, she teaches, comparing both, choice: after all, a lie is not dispelled by a simple comparison with the truth, but is driven out, suppressed by the use of truth. § LXXVIII. Appeal to Jeremiah and Isaiah The wise prophet Jeremiah, or rather the Holy Spirit acting in Jeremiah, shows God: “I am a near God,” he says, “and not a distant God; if a man does anything in secret, will I not see him? Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” (Jer.23:23–24) says the Lord. And again, through Isaiah: “Who can measure the heavens in spans and the whole earth in handfuls?” (Isa.40:12). Look at the greatness of God and be amazed. Let us worship the One about whom the prophet says: “At Your presence the mountains will melt, as wax melts at the presence of fire” (Ps. 96:5). He, the prophet claims, is God, whose throne is heaven and whose foot is earth, if He opens heaven, you will be overcome with trembling. Do you want to hear what this prophet says about idols and those who serve them? “They will be exposed to ridicule before the sun, and their corpses will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. And they will rot under the sun and under the moon, whom they loved and served. And their city will be burned." He predicts that the elements will perish, and the entire universe along with them: the earth will decay, and the sky will pass away, but the word of the Lord endures for centuries. § LXXIX. Appeal to Moses and other prophets And what will God reveal when He is pleased to show Himself again through Moses? “Look, look: it is I, and there is no god but Me. I will kill and give life, I will smite and heal, and there is no one who will deliver out of My hands” (Deut. 32:39). Do you want to listen to another prophet? You have the whole host of prophets - the companions of Moses. What does the Holy Spirit tell them through Hosea? I won't hesitate to say. “Behold, I increase the thunder and create the wind.” His hands founded the army of heaven. And again through Isaiah (and I will remind you of his words): “I am, I am the Lord, who speaks justice and proclaims truth. Gather together and come, hold council among yourselves, you survivors of the nations! Those who erect pillars as their idols and pray to gods who will not save have not known the truth” (Isaiah 45:19-20). Then: “I am God, and besides Me there is none just, and there is no savior besides Me. Turn to Me and everything from the ends of the earth will be saved. I am God and there is no other, I swear by Me.” He is angry with the idolaters, saying: “To whom have you likened the Lord? or what likeness was found for Him? Didn’t the carpenter make the blank, and the goldsmith, having melted the gold, didn’t he cover the image with it?” (Isaiah 40:18–19). And so on. Are you still idolaters? Fear the threats, at least for now: for the carved, hand-made images will cry out, but even more so will those who rely on them, because matter is insensible. He also says: “The Lord will shake the inhabited cities and seize the whole world with his hand like a nest.” § LXXX. Appeal to the Proverbs of Solomon and other Old Testament texts Why proclaim to you the mysterious sayings of wisdom, recorded by the Jewish prophet enlightened by it? “The Lord made Me the beginning of His ways and for His works” (Proverbs 8:22), the Lord gives wisdom, and from His presence knowledge and understanding. “How long, slow one, will you lie down when you awaken from sleep?” If you are active, your harvest, your father’s word, a good lamp, the Lord, who gives light, faith and salvation to everyone, will come to you like a source. For “The Lord, who created the earth in His power,” as Jeremiah says, “founded the world in His wisdom.” After all, we who have fallen into idolatry, wisdom, i.e. The Word of God raises us to the truth. And it is also the first overcoming of delusion. Therefore, the divinely inspired Moses, turning away from all idolatry, beautifully exclaimed: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one” and “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” (Deut. 6:4, 13). And now, O people, imbued with the words of the blessed psalmist David: “Accept the teaching, so that the Lord will never be angry with you, and so that you will not perish, leaving the path of the righteous, when His anger will soon flare up. Blessed are all who trust in Him.” § LXXXI. About the vanity and lies of the pagans Having pity, the Lord gives us a saving song, like a marching march: “Sons of men, how long will you be hard-hearted? Why do you love vanity and seek lies? What is this vanity and this lie? The Holy Apostle of the Lord, accusing the Greeks, will answer you: “having known God, they did not glorify Him as God and did not give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning and ... changed the glory of God into an image similar to corruptible man, ... and began to serve the creature instead of the Creator” (Rom. 1:21, 23, 25). Indeed, we are talking about God, who “created the heavens and the earth in the beginning” (Gen. 1:1); You don’t know God, but you worship heaven—aren’t you blaspheming? Listen again to the prophet who says: “The sun will go out and the sky will darken, but the Almighty will shine for centuries. And the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and the heavens will be folded together like skin, stretched and drawn together” (these are the words of the prophet), “and the earth will flee from the presence of the Lord.”