them; nor would the horsemen have made an irruption in three bands,[660] to carry away his camels or his oxen, and other cattle, unless they had been instigated by that spirit to whom they had delivered themselves up as the servants of his will. Nor would that fire, as it seemed to be, or thunderbolt, as it has been considered, have fallen upon the sheep of the patriarch, until the devil had said to God, “Hast Thou not made a hedge about all that is without and within his house, and around all the rest of his property? But now put forth Thy hand, and touch all that he hath, [and see] if he do not renounce Thee to Thy face.”[661] 7. The result of all the foregoing remarks is to show, that all the occurrences in the world which are considered to be of an intermediate kind, whether they be mournful or otherwise, are brought about, not indeed by God, and yet not without Him; while He not only does not prevent those wicked and opposing powers that are desirous to bring about these things [from accomplishing their purpose], but even permits them to do so, although only on certain occasions and to certain individuals, as is said with respect to Job himself, that for a certain time he was made to fall under the power of others, and to have his house plundered by unjust persons. And therefore holy Scripture teaches us to receive all that happens as sent by God, knowing that without Him no event occurs. For how can we doubt that such is the case, viz. that nothing comes to man without [the will of] God, when our Lord and Saviour declares, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father who is in heaven.”[662] But the necessity of the case has drawn us away in a lengthened digression on the subject of the struggle waged by the hostile powers against men, and of those sadder events which happen to human life, _i.e._ its temptations—according to the declaration of Job, “Is not the whole life of man upon the earth a temptation?”[663]—in order that the manner of their occurrence, and the spirit in which we should regard them, might be clearly shown. Let us notice next, how men fall away into the sin of false knowledge, or with what object the opposing powers are wont to stir up conflict with us regarding such things. Footnote 600: Gen. iii. Footnote 601: This apocryphal work, entitled in Hebrew פטירת משה, and in Greek ἀνάληψις, or ἀνάβασις Μωυσέως, is mentioned by several ancient writers; _e.g._ by Athanasius, in his _Synopsis Sacræ Scripturæ_; Nicephorus Constantinopolitanus in his _Stichometria_, appended to the _Chronicon_ of Eusebius (where he says the Ἀνάληψις contained 1400 verses), in the Acts of the Council of Nice, etc. etc. (Ruæus). Footnote 602: Gen. xxii. 12. The reading in the text is according to the Septuagint and Vulgate, with the exception of the words “quem dilexisti,” which are an insertion. Footnote 603: Cf. Ex. iv. 24-26. Footnote 604: