Miscellanies 1.19.95

Well, then, does Solomon say, “He who sows righteousness works faith.” “And there are those who sow their own and make more.” And again: “Take care of the green things in the field, and you will shear the grass, and gather ripe hay, that you may have sheep for clothing.” You see how care must be taken also for outward covering and protection. “And you will know the souls of your flock well.” “For when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,” the uncircumcision keeping the ordinances of the law, according to the apostle, both before the law and before the coming. As if comparing those from philosophy with the so-called heretics, the Word says very plainly, “Better is a friend near than a brother living far off. But the one who leans on falsehoods feeds the winds and chases winged birds.” I do not think the Word here means philosophy, though in many things philosophy argues and persuades what is probable; rather he rebukes the heresies. At any rate he adds: “For he has left the ways of his own vineyard and has wandered from the tracks of his own field.” These are the heresies that leave the church that existed from the beginning. Thus the one who has fallen into heresy “passes through a waterless desert,” abandoning the God who truly is, deserted by God, seeking waterless water, coming to the uninhabited and thirsty land, “gathering fruitlessness with his hands.”