The Instructor 1.10.90

The Instructor uses exhortation to what is advantageous through Solomon, in this way: “I call on you, O men, and I send forth my voice to the sons of men; listen to me, for I will speak noble things,” and so on. He counsels what saves, since counsel serves for choosing and avoiding, as he does through David, saying: “Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the pestilent; but his will is in the law of the Lord.” Counsel has three parts. One takes its examples from times past: for instance, what the Hebrews suffered when they worshiped the golden calf, and what they suffered when they committed sexual immorality, and the like. Another is understood from the present, as perceived by the senses, as was said to those who asked the Lord, “Are you the Christ, or are we to wait for another?”: “Go and tell John: the blind see again, the deaf hear, lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised; and blessed is whoever is not offended in me.”