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We read, "The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which
the sons of men built:" it was not the sons of God, but that society
which lived in a merely human way, and which we call the earthly city.
God, who is always wholly everywhere, does not move locally; but He
is said to descend when He does anything in the earth out of the usual
course, which, as it were, makes His presence felt. And in the
same way, He does not by "seeing" learn some new thing, for He
cannot ever be ignorant of anything; but He is said to see and
recognize, in time, that which He causes others to see and
recognize. And therefore that city was not previously being seen as
God made it be seen when He showed how offensive it was to Him. We
might, indeed, interpret God's descending to the city of the descent
of His angels in whom He dwells; so that the following words, "And
the Lord God said, Behold, they are all one race and of one
language," and also what follows, "Come, and let us go down and
confound their speech," are a recapitulation, explaining how the
previously intimated "descent of the Lord" was accomplished. For if
He had already gone down, why does He say, "Come, and let us go
down and confound?", words which seem to be addressed to the angels,
and to intimate that He who was in the angels descended in their
descent. And the words most appropriately are, not, "Go ye down
and confound," but, "Let us confound their speech;" showing that
He so works by His servants, that they are themselves also
fellow-laborers with God, as the apostle says, "For we are
fellow-laborers with God."
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