sware [to give] to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and inherit ye it, a land flowing with milk and honey.”[519] What, then, says Knowledge?[520] Learn: “Trust,” she says, “in Him who is to be manifested to you in the flesh—that is, Jesus.” For man is earth in a suffering state, for the formation of Adam was from the face of the earth. What, then, meaneth this: “into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey?” Blessed be our Lord, who has placed in us wisdom and understanding of secret things. For the prophet says, “Who shall understand the parable of the Lord, except him who is wise and prudent, and who loves his Lord?”[521] Since, therefore, having renewed us by the remission of our sins, He hath made us after another pattern, [it is His purpose] that we should possess the soul of children, inasmuch as He has created us anew by His Spirit.[522] For the Scripture says concerning us, while He speaks to the Son, “Let us make man after our image, and after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the beasts of the earth, and the fowls of heaven, and the fishes of the sea.”[523] And the Lord said, on beholding the fair creature[524] man, “Increase, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”[525] These things [were spoken] to the Son. Again, I will show thee how, in respect to us,[526] He has accomplished a second fashioning in these last days. The Lord says, “Behold, I will make[527] the last like the first.”[528] In reference to this, then, the prophet proclaimed, “Enter ye into the land flowing with milk and honey, and have dominion over it.”[529] Behold, therefore, we have been refashioned, as again He says in another prophet, “Behold, saith the Lord, I will take away from these, that is, from those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw, their stony hearts, and I will put hearts of flesh within them,”[530] because He[531] was to be manifested in flesh, and to sojourn among us. For, my brethren, the habitation of our heart is a holy temple to the Lord.[532] For again saith the Lord, “And wherewith shall I appear before the Lord my God, and be glorified?”[533] He says,[534] “I will confess to thee in the church in the midst[535] of my brethren; and I will praise thee in the midst of the assembly of the saints.”[536] We, then, are they whom He has led into the good land. What, then, mean the milk and honey? This, that as the infant is kept alive first by honey, and then by milk, so also we, being quickened and kept alive by the faith of the promise and by the word, shall live ruling over the earth. But He said above,[537] “Let them increase, and rule over the fishes.”[538] Who then is able to govern the beasts, or the fishes, or the fowls of heaven? For we ought to perceive that to govern implies authority, so that one should command and rule. If, therefore, this does not exist at present, yet still He has promised it to us. When? When we ourselves also have been made perfect [so as] to become heirs of the covenant of the Lord.[539]