Letters

⁵ For sin has her own special bread, of her death, and calling to those who are lovers of pleasure and lack understanding, she says, 'Touch with delight secret bread, and sweet waters which are stolen;' for he who merely touches them knows not that that which is born from the earth perishes with her. For even when the sinner thinks to find pleasure, the end of that food is not pleasant, as the Wisdom of God says again, 'Bread of deceit is pleasant to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. ' And, 'Honey drops from the lips of a whorish woman, which for a time is sweet to your palate; but at the last you shall find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword. ' Thus then he eats and rejoices for a little time; afterwards he spurns it when he has removed his soul afar.

For the fool knows not that those who depart far from God shall perish. And besides, there is the restraint of the prophetic admonition which says, 'What have you to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Gihon? And what have you to do in the way of Asshur, to drink the waters of the rivers?' And the Wisdom of God which loves mankind forbids these things, crying, 'But depart quickly, tarry not in the place, neither fix your eye upon it; for thus you shall pass over strange waters, and depart quickly from the strange river. ' She also calls them to herself, 'For wisdom has built her house, and supported it on seven pillars; she has killed her sacrifices, and mingled her wine in the goblets, and prepared her table; she has sent forth her servants, inviting to the goblet with a loud proclamation, and saying, Whoso is foolish, let him turn in to me; and to them that lack understanding she says, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine I have mingled for you.'

And what hope is there instead of these things? 'Forsake folly that you may live, and seek understanding that you may abide. ' For the bread of Wisdom is living fruit, as the Lord said; 'I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.' For when Israel ate of the manna, which was indeed pleasant and wonderful, yet he died, and he who ate it did not in consequence live for ever, but all that multitude died in the wilderness. The Lord teaches, saying, 'I am the bread of life: your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which came down from heaven, that a man should eat thereof, and not die. '