על שהאל הוא ללא שינוי כ׳On the Unchangeableness of God 20
א׳
1[91] On the other hand, it is a common experience that things befall us of which we have not even dreamt, like the story of the husbandman who, digging his orchard to plant some fruit-trees, lighted on a treasure, and thus met with prosperity beyond his hopes.
ב׳
2[92] Thus the Practiser, when his father asked him in this manner of the source of his knowledge, “What is this that thou hast found so quickly, my son?” answered and said, “It is what the Lord God delivered before me” (Gen. 27:20). For when God delivers to us the lore of His eternal wisdom without our toil or labour we find in it suddenly and unexpectedly a treasure of perfect happiness.
ג׳
3[93] It often happens that those who seek with toil fail to find the object of their search, while others without thought and with the utmost ease find what had never crossed their minds. The slow-souled dullards, like men who have lost their eyesight, labour fruitlessly in the study of any branch of knowledge, while to others richly blessed by nature it comes unsought in myriad forms; theirs is a ready and unfailing grasp; it seems as though they trouble not to come in contact with the objects of their study, rather that these are impelled to take the lead and hurry to present themselves before the student’s vision, and create in him the unerring apprehension which they have to give.