[157] The dream shewed the Ruler of the angels set fast upon the stairway, even the Lord: for high up like a charioteer high over his chariot or a helmsman high over his ship must we conceive of Him that IS standing over bodies, over souls, over doings, over words, over angels, over earth, over air, over sky, over powers descried by our senses, over invisible beings, yea all things seen and unseen: for having made the whole universe to depend on and cling to Himself, He is the Charioteer of all that vast creation.
[158] Let nobody, when he hears of His being set fast, think that anything co-operates with God to help Him to stand firmly. Let him account the truth signified by it to be equivalent to the statement that the sure God is the support and stay, the firmness and stability of all things, imparting as with the impress of a seal to whom He will the power of remaining unshaken. For it is because He stablishes and holds it together that the system of created things remains strongly and mightily free from destruction.
[159] He, then, that stands upon the stairway of heaven says to him who beholds the dream-vision, “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac: fear not” (Gen. 28:13). This oracle was the fort and most firm buttress of the practising soul. It clearly taught him that He Who is Lord and God of the universe is both Lord and God of his family, registered under both titles as held by father and grandfather, to the end that the world at large and the lover of virtue may have the same inheritance: for it has been said, “the Lord Himself is his inheritance” (Deut. 10:9).