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10. Why is this, I beseech Thee, O Lord my God? I see it,
however; but how I shall express it, I know not, unless that
everything which begins to be and ceases to be, then begins and ceases
when in Thy eternal Reason it is known that it ought to begin or cease
where nothing beginneth or ceaseth. The same is Thy Word, which is
also "the Beginning," because also It speaketh unto us. Thus, in
the gospel He speaketh through the flesh; and this sounded outwardly
in the ears of men, that it might be believed and sought inwardly, and
that it might be found in the eternal Truth, where the good and only
Master teacheth all His disciples. There, O Lord, I hear Thy
voice, the voice of one speaking unto me, since He speaketh unto us
who teacheth us. But He that teachth us not, although He speaketh,
speaketh not to us. Moreover, who teacheth us, unless it be the
immutable Truth? For even when we are admonished through a changeable
creature, we are led to the Truth immutable. There we learn truly
while we stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly "because of the
Bridegroom's voice," restoring us to that whence we are. And,
therefore, the Beginning, because unless It remained, there would
not, where we strayed, be whither to return. But when we return from
error, it is by knowing that we return. But that we may know, He
teacheth us, because He is the Beginning and speaketh unto us.
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