l about the Divine attributes, but held quite ordinary notions
about God, and to these notions their revelations were adapted, as I
will demonstrate by ample Scriptural testimony; from all which one may
easily see that they were praised and commended, not so much for the
sublimity and eminence of their intellect as for their piety and
faithfulness.

Adam, the first man to whom God was revealed, did not know that He is
omnipotent and omniscient; for he hid himself from Him, and attempted to
make excuses for his fault before God, as though he had had to do with
a man; therefore to him also was God revealed according to his
understanding--that is, as being unaware of his situation or his sin,
for Adam heard, or seemed to hear, the Lord walking in the garden,
calling him and asking him where he was; and then, on seeing his
shamefacedness, asking him whether he had eaten of the forbidden fruit.
Adam evidently only knew the Deity as the Creator of all things. To Cain
also God was revealed, according to his understanding, as ignorant of
human affairs, nor was a higher conception of the Deity required for
repentance of his sin.

To Laban the Lord revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, because Laban
believed that each nation had its own special divinity (see Gen. xxxi.
29). Abraham also knew not that God is omnipresent, and has
foreknowledge of all things; for when he heard the sentence against the
inhabitants of Sodom, he prayed that the Lord should not execute it till
He had ascertained whether they all merited such punishment; for he said
(see Gen. xviii. 24), "Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the
city," and in accordance with this belief God was revealed to him; as
Abraham imagined, He spake thus: "I will go down now, and see whether
they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto
Me; and if not I will know." Further, the Divine testimony concerning
Abraham asserts nothing but that he was obedient, and that he "commanded
his household after him that they should keep the way of the Lord" (Gen.
xviii. 19); it does not state that he held sublime conceptions of the
Deity.

Moses, also, was not sufficiently aware that God is omniscient, and
directs human actions by His sole decree, for although God himself says
that the Israelites should hearken to Him, Moses still considered the
matter doubtful and repeated, "But if they will not believe me, nor
hearken unto my voice." To him in like manne