Homilies on Jeremiah and Ezekiel

God is prompt to do good; but toward punishing those who are worthy of punishment, he delays. For though he could, by remaining silent and without warning, punish those whom he has once judged worthy of punishment, he never does this: but even if he has condemned, he says what he always proposes to say, that those who had been condemned for their sin might be freed from condemnation through repentance. Since we could take many examples of these things from the Scriptures, those that occur suffice for the present, that we may come to the contemplation of the things that have been read. The Ninevites, sinners, had been condemned by God: "Yet three days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown".

God did not wish to punish the condemned in silence; but giving them a place for repentance and conversion, he sent to the Hebrew nation a prophet, so that, when he said, "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," those who had been condemned might not perish, but by doing penance might obtain the mercy of God—as also happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, which were already destined for destruction, as is manifest from the words God spoke to Abraham: nevertheless the angels did what was theirs to do, wishing to save those who had judged themselves unworthy of salvation, saying to Lot: "Have you here any son-in-law, or sons, or daughters?" For they were not ignorant that these would not follow Lot, but they showed both their own kindness and love toward men, and that of him who had sent them. We find something similar written also in Jeremiah: for the time of his prophecy is noted, when he began to prophesy, and until when.

Therefore whoever reads the Scriptures, if he attends diligently to the reading, and seeks the intention of what is written, can say, from the superscription of the history, at what time Jeremiah began, and when he completed his prophecy. What then is the time of the history to me? Reading, I have learned that he began to prophesy in the days of Josiah, son of Amos, king of Judah, until the thirteenth year of his reign; then he prophesied in the days of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the completion of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah. And reading, I have learned that through three kings his prophecy was despised, up until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month. What then are we taught by these things, if we are attentive to the reading? God had condemned Jerusalem on account of the sins she had committed, and this was the final sentence, that she be left to captivity.

Nevertheless, since he is a lover of men, and wishes no one to perish, before the time of the devastation should press upon them, he sent this prophet also, that through his words they might be turned to repentance; he sent the same also under the second king after the first, he sent him also under the third. What more? Already captivity was imminent, and still God was exhorting, granting (so to speak) even before the last day a place for repentance: hence it is written that Jeremiah prophesied until the captivity of Jerusalem, and up to the fifth month. Already the bonds of the enemy had bound their hands, and nevertheless God was saying, as it were, something like this: Behold, you have become captives: do penance, though late: ask me, and I will spare you: I who delivered you into captivity am able to rescue you from it.

We have therefore certain necessary things from this superscription, which contains the times of the prophecy, namely that according to his own clemency God always exhorts men to salvation, so that, with sin ceasing, captivity too may come to rest. But these things we can also understand of ourselves: if we sin, we too shall be captives. For to be delivered a sinner to Satan differs in nothing from the Jews having been delivered to Nebuchadnezzar. And as God gave those over to the adversary because of their frequent impieties, so we, on account of the sins we have committed, are delivered to a spiritual Nebuchadnezzar: "and whom I have delivered," he says, "to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme", the Apostle speaking of other sinners. Consider how great an evil it is to sin, that one should be delivered to Satan, who takes captive the souls of those who are abandoned by God. Not without cause, nor without judgment, does God abandon those whom he forsakes.

For when he has sent rain upon the vineyard, and the vineyard, instead of grapes, has brought forth thorns, what will he do, but command the clouds not to rain a shower upon it? Wherefore it is near at hand, on account of our sins, of which we are conscious, that we too become captives. For it shall come to pass that we shall be delivered, if we do not do penance, to Nebuchadnezzar and to the Babylonians, who will torment us sensibly. Since these things already lie before us, the words of the prophets, the words of the Law, the words of the Apostles, the words also of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, exhort us to repentance, call us to salvation. But if we hear, we believe him who said: "And I will repent of all the evils which I have spoken to do to them". And these things belong to the Proem. After the proem it is thus written: "The word of the Lord came to him"—certainly to Jeremiah.

What does the word of the Lord say to him? A thing preeminent above all that has been said to the other prophets. For we never find this said to any of the other prophets. Abraham was called a prophet, in that it is said: "He is a prophet, and he shall pray for you": and yet God did not say to him: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you". But afterward, only at the last time, was Abraham sanctified, when he went out from his land, and from his kindred, and from his father's house.

Isaac was born of promise, and yet we do not find this word said to him either. And why need I run through each one? Jeremiah obtained a gift preeminent above all others, the Lord saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you: and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you." Nor indeed are we ignorant that there are some who refer these words, as being greater than Jeremiah, to our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ; and it must be known that very many of these things can fit the Savior, which we too shall interject. But a few of the things said concerning Jeremiah constrain the understanding, as though they could not, as many suppose, be referred to the Lord. What then are the things that can fit the Lord? "To all to whomsoever I shall send you, you shall go: and whatsoever I command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid before them, for I am with you, to deliver you: says the Lord".

Nor yet do these seem idly referred to the Savior: but the things which follow: "The Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth; behold, I have set you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down": these make the interpretation, as regards Jeremiah, difficult: for what nations did Jeremiah root out? What kingdoms did he overthrow, that it should rightly be said to him, "Behold, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to root out and to dig up"? What power did he have to destroy, that he heard "and to destroy"? Whom did he build up, that there should consequently be added, "to build"? Jeremiah said, "I have not profited, nor has anyone profited me": and how then was building and planting given to him? These things, as we said, when referred to the Savior, do not constrain the interpreter. For in these Jeremiah is a figure of the Savior.

But the things that follow also bring difficulty of exposition even to a most learned man, as to how they can agree with the Lord: "And I said: Who are you, O Ruler, O Lord? Behold, I know not how to speak". He who is the wisdom, who is the power of God, in whom the fullness of divinity dwells bodily—how can this be fitted to him: "I know not how to speak"? But also this: "Because I am a youth" is forbidden him, as though he had not answered well. For if the Lord says to him, "Do not say, I am a youth," it is plain that he was rebuked as one not speaking well. These are the things which seem not to suit the Savior. But the things above are referred to him with easy understanding. To say, however, that some things are to be interpreted of Jeremiah, and others of the Savior, is not the worst thing.

But he who strives to know the Scriptures well will press hard upon this point, seeing the understanding divided under one text of discourse, and it being said: these things, since they are lesser, do not fit the Savior, but Jeremiah; but those, since they are greater, do not fit Jeremiah, but Christ. On this account we shall attempt to refer all things to Jeremiah: that is, even those which, though they are greater, seem to exceed his condition. Whoever has received words from God, taking the grace of heavenly eloquence, receives them for this purpose, that he may root out and overthrow kingdoms and nations.

But when nations and kingdoms are named, I do not wish anyone who receives the divine words to understand kingdoms and nations bodily, but, considering the souls of men reigned over by sin, according to what is written in the Apostle: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body": let him also, seeing the many kinds of sins, allegorize kingdoms and nations through the various sins which have possessed human souls: and these will be the things which shall be plucked up and dug out by the words of God, which were given either to Jeremiah or to the other saints. Thus it will come about that the first things, which did not seem to suit the Savior, shall be referred to Jeremiah; and the second, by him who knows that what was said figuratively was said figuratively, shall be assigned to Jeremiah.

Someone among the hearers will say to me, disclose still another discourse, and lay down that all things which are written concerning the Saviour are as if written of him: do not be anxious about the second things. For it is apparent that the Saviour has uprooted the kingdoms of the devil, and overturned nations, destroying the life of the Gentiles. In these things what makes the understanding difficult is this, how the Saviour can say: I know not how to speak, for I am a youth, and so forth. In this discourse interpreters are hard pressed.

We know Jesus Christ to be God: we seek to expound the words that were spoken according to the dignity of the person: wherefore it is necessary for us to call the sacred Scriptures into testimony: for our understandings and expositions have no credit without such witnesses; and that which is said: In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand, applies more to the proof of the interpreter than to any number of men whatsoever: so that the word of my understanding may stand firm, taking two witnesses from the New and Old Testament, taking three witnesses from the Gospel, from the Prophet, from the Apostle. For thus shall every word stand. How then shall we be able to join these things to the Saviour? Let the Old Testament give me testimony: Before the child shall know good or evil, and so on.

Let Isaiah also give it: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel; and there it is added: Before the child shall know. But if it is fitting to take testimony also from the Gospel, Jesus, not yet a man but still an infant, because he had emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, advanced. But no one who is perfect advances; rather he advances who is in need of advancement. Therefore he advanced in age, he advanced in wisdom, he advanced in grace, both with God and with men. For if he emptied himself, descending to us, and having emptied himself took back again those things of which he had first emptied himself, what is unworthy in his having advanced in wisdom, having advanced in age, having advanced in grace with God and with men, and in these things being true which are said of him: Before the child shall know good or evil, and those things we have interposed concerning the same?

But someone will say to me: Even if it can be understood as said of the Saviour that he knows not, and other such greater things, and even if you take him as a child, do you not offend by holding such views concerning the only-begotten, and firstborn of all creation; concerning him who, before he was conceived, was announced, Gabriel speaking: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: and do you dare to say that he knows not how to speak? For this reason I will see if I am able to bring forward something worthy concerning the Saviour in this place, that his not knowing certain things is greater than if he had known them. Let us use his own word, how there are some things which he does not know. He answered those who said to him: Have we not eaten in thy name, and drunk in thy name, and in thy name cast out demons, and done many mighty works?

Depart from me, I know you not. Do you think that this saying, I know you not, proves his power lesser, or greater and more wonderful, in that he knows not the wicked who are to perish? For he knows the differences from these, he knows the better ones, the Lord knows those who are his, and if anyone is unknown, he is unknown. Therefore (as is agreed) the sinner is unknown by God. Someone among the hearers will say to me: you have shown that God does not know sinners, you have shown that he is ignorant of those who work iniquity, for they are not worthy of his recognition: how will you prove it to be a great and glorious thing that was said by him: I know not how to speak? To speak is human, and we always use speech, for instance, the tongue of the Hebrews, or of the Greeks, or the speech of others.

Therefore if you ascend to the Saviour, and know him in the beginning to be the Word with God, observe that he knows not how to speak—since this thing called speaking is human—if for this reason he knows it not, because there are greater things which he knows. But if you compare also the tongues of Angels with human tongues, and know that he is greater than the Angels (as the Apostle testified concerning him in his Epistle which he writes to the Hebrews), understanding him to have been greater even than the tongues of Angels, when he was so much the Word with the Father alone. He speaks, therefore, and in a certain manner receives instruction not of great things, but of lower and lesser things.

Just as I too learn to stammer, doing violence to myself, when I speak with little children—for I do not know (so to speak) how to speak infantly, and, being now advanced in years, to converse with children in broken words: in the same way the Saviour, indeed in the magnificence of the glory of God, and abiding in the Father, does not speak human things, knows not how to address those who are below. But when he came into a human body, he says at the beginning: I know not how to speak, for I am a youth: a youth, on account of the dispensation; an elder, according to this, that he is the firstborn of all creation; a youth, because he came now at the consummation of the ages, and in the last time of this life. He says, therefore: I know not how to speak; for I know how to speak certain greater things, I know certain things greater than this mortal speech. Do you wish me to speak in earthly terms?

I have not yet assumed human frailty, I have your utterance, I am your Word, I know how to speak to you, I know not how to speak to men, I am a youth. Say not: I am a youth, since to all to whomsoever I shall send thee, thou shalt go. Then he moved his hand to touch his mouth, that he might give him words, by which he might uproot empires. Yet the Saviour did not need words in order to receive them, when he was in the Father, none in heaven being worthy to be overthrown. But now he receives small things, deferring the greater for a little while. And thus from this it is proved, just as elsewhere he had said gloriously: I know you not, for you are workers of iniquity, and now that he had received words gloriously, being God, and according to the magnificence of his glory having said: I know not how to speak, that is, I know not human things.

Whether it be said to Jeremiah, or to the Saviour: Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; reading Genesis and observing what is written there concerning the formation of the world, you will find that the divine Scripture, very cautious in its wording, did not say: Before I made thee in the womb, I knew thee: for when the creation is according to the image, God says: Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and does not say, let us form. But when he took clay from the earth, it is not written: He made man, but: He formed man, and he placed in paradise the man whom he had formed, to work it and keep it. If you can understand the difference between making and forming, when he says, whether to Jeremiah or to the Saviour, he did not say: Before I made thee in the womb. For what is made is not made in the womb, but what is created from the dust of the earth, this is formed in the womb.

Before I formed thee in the womb, I know thee. If God knows all, how does he say to Jeremiah as though preeminent above the rest: I knew thee? Or does God know only those who are worthy of his knowledge, and does he recognize those who are his; but those who are unworthy, neither the Father nor the Son knows, saying: I know you not? We, since we are men, if we have been endowed with any dignity, judge some worthy of our acquaintance, others unworthy; and those we do not wish to know, nor wish to hear, we know not. What do you think concerning the God of the universe? He wishes to know Pharaoh, he wishes to know the Egyptians, but they are unworthy of his knowledge; but they themselves cause themselves to be unknown. But he knows Moses, he knows the prophets, and whoever is like them. You must labor much, that you may begin to be known by the Lord.

Jeremiah indeed, before he formed him in the womb, he knew: but another of the prophets he began to know at thirty years, another at forty. The sayings concerning the Saviour are ineffable, and not greatly to be sought out; but concerning Jeremiah, we need the ears of those who have knowledge of the Scriptures, as to how he says: Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth from thy mother's womb, I sanctified thee: God himself sanctifies certain ones to himself. He does not wait for this one to be born in order to sanctify him, but sanctifies him before he comes forth from the womb. If (as I have said) you refer this to the Saviour, it is not amiss to say that he was sanctified before he was born. Thus you may understand of the Lord, who, before he came forth from the womb, was sanctified, but for infinite time before was always holy: but this one, before he came forth from the womb, was sanctified.

I have set thee as a prophet among the nations. If you ask concerning Jeremiah how he is set as a prophet among the nations, observe in what follows, when he is bidden to prophesy to all nations: for such is the writing, that Jeremiah prophesied concerning all the nations, Elam, Damascus, Moab: and you will find that he prophesied to all nations, according to what is said: I have set thee as a prophet among the nations, if indeed you wish to understand these things as said concerning Jeremiah. But if you transfer the understanding to God, this one truly preached to all nations. There are indeed those who have admonished. As many other things, so also the prophet. As he is the prince of priests, as he is the Saviour, as he is the physician; likewise also he is the prophet.

Moses announced concerning him, naming him not only a prophet, but a prophet admirable among all, saying: A prophet from among your brothers will the Lord your God raise up for you; hear him as you hear me. And it shall be, that whoever does not hear that prophet shall perish from among his people. This is the prophet appointed among the nations, and he has received grace poured out from God upon his lips, so that not only when he was present in body, but also now, when he is present in power and in spirit, he prophesies to all nations, and by his prophecy draws men from the whole world to salvation. And he said: Who is the ruler, O Lord? Behold, I know not how to speak, for I am a youth. And the Lord said to him: Say not, I am a youth, for to all to whom I shall send you, you shall go.

We have often said that it is common for someone to be a child according to the man that is within, though even in bodily age he be aged: and conversely it is often found that someone is a little child according to the man that is without, and yet be inwardly a perfect man. Such was Jeremiah, having already been granted by God grace even while still in the childlike age of his body, for which reason the Lord says to him: Say not, I am young. And the sign of this matter, that he is not young but a perfect man, he shows by saying: For to all to whomsoever I shall send you, you shall go: and according to whatever I command you, you shall speak: and fear not before their face. For the word of God knows that those who perform the embassy of the word incur danger from those who scorn to hear. For being rebuked, they hate the rebukes, and being convicted, they persecute those who convict them.

Whatever is evil, the prophets always suffer: A prophet is without honor except in his own country and in his own house. Of this matter we have also lately made mention. God, therefore (as we began to say), sending the prophet, knows how great perils he is to endure, and so exhorts him, saying: Fear not before their face, for I am with thee, to deliver thee, says the Lord. Whatever things Jeremiah suffered are written: he was cast into a pit of mire, he remained there eating the bread of affliction, and drinking only water, and many other things which he endured are contained in his book. But which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? The Lord says to the Jews. And it is necessary that those who desire to live religiously in Christ should suffer persecution in every kind from the contrary powers, through the vessels that are found.

For which reason nothing should seem new or strange to those who are afflicted in tribulations: let them do all the things that are commanded, only let them pray that Christ may be the cause of the persecution; lest they be brought low on account of injustice, on account of sins, on account of avarice. But if at any time someone is harassed on account of justice, let him hear: Blessed are you when they reproach you, and persecute you, and say every evil against you, for my sake: rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in heaven. For so did they persecute the prophets who were before you. For I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord; and the Lord stretched out His hand to me, and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me. Observe the differences between Jeremiah and Isaiah. Isaiah says: Having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips, and I saw the King, the Lord Sabaoth, with my eyes.

And since he confessed that he did not have unclean deeds, but only words (for up to this point he had committed sins of this kind), the Lord did not stretch out His hand, nor did one of the Seraphim touch his lips with his hand, but touching only with tongs, said: Behold, I have taken away your iniquities. But to Jeremiah, because he had been sanctified in the womb, neither tongs are sent, nor a coal kindled from the altar; for he had nothing worthy of fire, but the very hand of the Lord touched him, for which reason it says: The Lord stretched out His hand to me, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth; behold, I have appointed you this day over nations and kingdoms, to root out. He who is so blessed that he roots out the many kingdoms which the devil showed to Christ—the kingdoms of demons, the kingdoms of sin—has need of the words given to him by God.

For it is written: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have appointed you this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out. But just as there are very many kingdoms, so likewise there are many nations. Nor can any kingdom be so called, unless it contains nations under itself. For example, let it be said: fornication reigns (in a sinful man); it is necessary that the kingdom of fornication have its own nations. That very general sin of avarice and fraud, from which scarcely anyone is free, has its own kingdom, and under one kingdom possesses many nations, namely through the many species of avarice; and for this reason there is need of the words of God, that kingdoms of this sort, with their nations, may be uprooted. The Savior shows this in the Gospel, saying: Every planting which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted out. There are certain things planted inwardly in your souls, which the heavenly Father did not plant.

For all the worst thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies, are plantings which the heavenly Father did not plant. But if you wish to know whose planting such a thought is, hear that an enemy man has done this, who sowed tares in the midst of the wheat. Behold, God is at hand, and the devils having their seeds are at hand also. If we give place to the devil, the enemy man will sow over a planting, which the heavenly Father did not plant, one certainly to be rooted out. But if, having driven away the devil, we give place to God, God, rejoicing over the principal part of our heart, will scatter His own seed. Nor let anyone think that Jeremiah received something sad, because he was appointed for the uprooting of kingdoms and nations. This is a sign of the goodness of God: to root out vices through words, to destroy kingdoms hostile to the heavenly kingdom, and to overturn nations warring with their own people, to root out and overturn.

There is a certain building of the devil, and there is a certain building of God: what is built upon sand, this is of the devil, for it is settled upon nothing stable or firm. But what is built upon rock, this is of God. Whence also it is said to those who are His: You are God's tillage, God's building. Over nations and kingdoms, to root out, and to dig up, and to destroy utterly. If something is rooted out, and the uprooting itself has not perished: still that which was torn out remains. If a house is thrown down, and the stones in the ruin remain whole: the house is scattered, yet not destroyed. There is need, therefore, of the kindness of God, that the uprooting itself and the overthrow may wholly perish. Read more carefully how the things rooted out are destroyed: But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. And: Bind the bundles of tares, and deliver them to the fire. Thus the things that are rooted out are utterly destroyed.

But if you wish to know how the scattering is reduced to nothing, how the worst material of the building is ground into dust, the house that is ordered to be destroyed on account of leprosy, when it has been made into dust, is cast out of the city, so that not even a stone remains of it, according to what is written: Likewise I will wipe them out like the mud of the streets. For it is necessary that malice perish utterly. Something has been overthrown; let the very stones also which have been thrown down be ground to powder, lest they be able to be taken up for any building which the devil might contrive. Something has been rooted out; the adversary finds, even among the things that have been rooted out, some seed, which he may sow again. For which reason the Lord commands: Gather, he says, and burn them with fire, namely so that the uprooting of the devil too, and the very overthrow, may be consumed.

But the divine word does not stop only at this, that it roots out, and destroys, and utterly perishes: for suppose all the evils in me were rooted out, the worst things destroyed and scattered, what does it profit me, if better things are not planted and built in me instead of those which have been rooted out and dug up? For this reason, the words of God first do what is necessary: they root out, they destroy, they utterly perish, and after this they build, and plant. We have always observed in the Holy Scriptures, that first the things which seem sad are named, then the things which are more joyful are said second: I will kill, and I will make alive. It did not say first, I will make alive, and afterward, I will kill. For it is impossible that what God has once made alive should be killed either by Him or by another. But: I will kill, and I will make alive. Whom will I kill?

Paul the persecutor, I will bring it about that Paul the apostle comes to be. So that you may clearly see, Jerome did not depart further of his own judgment; but from him who now surpasses, in the Greek text, by the recurrence of the same words καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω, the intermediate words, which the holy Doctor interpreted, have fallen away.

Paul the persecutor; and I will make alive, that Paul may become an apostle of Christ Jesus. If the most wretched heretics understood these things, they would never bring these things to us, frequently saying: Do you see how the God of the Law and the Prophets is fierce and inhuman? How does he say: I will kill, and I will make alive? Not noticing in the Scriptures the announcement of the raising of the dead, not considering that the resurrection has already begun for each one: For we are buried together with Christ through baptism, and we shall rise together with Him. God always begins from sad things, but necessary ones, as: I will kill, and I will make alive: I will strike, and I will heal. For whom the Lord loves, He chastises; and He scourges every son whom He receives; and after this He heals. He Himself causes the sorrow, and again restores the joy.

Likewise also in the present passage the Lord says: I have appointed you this day over nations, and kingdoms, to root out, and to dig under, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant. Nevertheless it is first necessary that evils be taken away from us. God cannot build in the place of an evil building: For what fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? It is necessary that malice be rooted out from its deepest seats: it is necessary also that the worst building be utterly taken away from our souls, that afterward the words of God may build and plant. We can also understand in another way what is written: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. And it tells what the words do: to root out, and to dig under, and to destroy. Words root out nations, words dig under kingdoms; but not these kingdoms of flesh and of the age, worthy of destroying, worthy of rooting-out words.

Perceive the things that have been rooted out and overthrown—do you suppose that in these things which we now speak there is not the power which the Lord grants, according to what is written: The Lord will give words to him who evangelizes with much power? A power rooting out and digging under, if there be any unbelief, if any lie, if any malice, if any luxury, if any discord not dug under. Just as an idol has been built in the heart, once that has been put down, let the temple of God be built, and let His glory be found in it, and let it become not a barren, or a rising place, but a planting of paradise, where the temple of God may be in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Just as our body is situated in some place of earth, in the same way the soul also, according to its condition, is in some place of the earth called by name. What I mean will become clearer thus. Our body is either in Egypt, or in Babylon, or in Palestine, or in Syria, or certainly wherever it may be. Likewise the soul too is in some place bearing the same earthly name—one in Babylon, another in Egypt, another in the region of the Ammonites; and thus, separately, according to the judgment of the Scriptures, it is distinguished by the diversity of places corresponding to the quality of its life. It is in Babylon when it is confounded, when it is troubled, when, peace having been abandoned, it endures wars of passions, when the tumult of malice roars around it—then, as we said, it is in Babylon. And to that soul the prophetic word is directed, saying: Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let each one save his own soul.

For as long as one is in Babylon, he cannot be saved. And even if he should remember Jerusalem there, he groans and says: How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land? And because it is impossible for those established in Babylon to sing to God with instruments—for the instruments of God's hymns lie idle there—therefore it is said through the Prophet: By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, when we remembered you, O Sion: on the willows in the midst of it we hung up our instruments. Our instruments are hung up as long as we are in Babylon, on the willows of the rivers of Babylon. But if we come to Jerusalem, to the place of vision and peace, the instruments which before hung idle are then taken up in our hands, then we play the harp continually, and there is no time when we do not praise God with the instruments we hold in our hands.

Therefore, as we had begun to say, the soul is always in some place of earth called by name; and just as sinners are in Babylon, so on the contrary the just are in Judea. Yet according to the quality of life and faith, even within Judea itself they are separated by various places among themselves. For whether one is in Dan, which is the extreme part of Judea, or in somewhat higher places, better than Dan, or in the middle borders of Judea, or around Jerusalem—and the most blessed of all is the one who dwells in the middle of the city Jerusalem. But whoever is a sinner, and oppressed by exceeding crimes, this one is in Babylon. But one who is a little less than this, and not yet ascended to the very summit of sins, dwells in Egypt and in the parts of Egypt.

And just as those who are in Judea do not all possess equal places—for one is indeed in Jerusalem, another in Dan, another in Naphtali, another in the borders of Gad—so all who are in Egypt do not inhabit equal parts of Egypt; one dwells in Taphnes, another in Memphis, another in Syene, another in Bubastis. These places the prophet Ezekiel, full of mysteries, attests with his voice, expounding also the names of the parts of Egypt; concerning which, if any spiritual reader has judged all things, being himself judged by no one, he will not only allegorize the greater regions, such as Judea, Egypt, and Babylon, but also the small portions of the land. And just as in Judea there are Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, and the other cities, so in Egypt, reading of Diospolis, Bubastis, Taphnes, Memphis, Syene, he will figure them according to the understanding of the matters. Who is wise and understands these things? Or who, understanding, knows them?

Who, even one established in a slighter sense, will be able to know the will which the Holy Spirit holds for the letter? But now another matter is proposed—what is commanded by the word of God to those who are in Babylon: Flee from the midst of Babylon. Not gradually, not step by step, but with speed, with a run, flee—for this is what fleeing means: Flee from the midst of Babylon. Whoever of you have a soul confounded by the passion of various vices, to you the word is directed; and to me too the same is commanded, since I am still grown old in confusion, and therefore I am in Babylon. What then does God command? He did not say, Go out from the midst of Babylon—for that can be done even gradually—but: Flee from the midst of Babylon.

Indeed I seek the reason of the word even in what is said, "from the midst." For it can happen that someone is in Babylon; but while he dwells in its outermost borders, he may in some way seem to be outside Babylon. But it is another thing to be established in the middle of Babylon, so that the space is equal from every side, and thus he dwells in its navel, as it were in the middle of the heart of a living creature. For just as the middle of a living creature is the heart, and in the Gospel according to Luke the "heart of the earth" is named the middle of the earth—so it seems to me also said in Ezekiel, Tyre placed "in the heart of the sea"; and now sinners ought to flee from the midst of Babylon, that is, from its heart. Flee therefore from the midst of Babylon, so that, abandoning the middle of Babylon, you may begin to be in its borders, not in the middle.

But if this seems obscure to anyone, it will become clearer thus: that whoever is deeply sunk in vices, this one is a dweller in the middle. But whoever, gradually leaving evil behind, and turning his nature toward better things, has not yet so much begun to possess virtues as to desire them—this one, though he has fled from the midst of Babylon, has nevertheless not yet departed from Babylon. According to expositions of this kind it is fitting to believe of the sacred Letters, that not even one point is empty of the wisdom of God. For He who commands me, a man, saying: You shall not appear before my sight empty, does this Himself much more, so that He may not speak anything empty.

Receiving from His fullness, the prophets sang the things that were taken from that fullness, and therefore the sacred volumes breathe with the fullness of the spirit, and there is nothing, whether in the Prophets, or in the Law, or in the Gospel, or in the Apostle, that does not descend from the fullness of the divine majesty. Wherefore the words of fullness breathe in the holy Scriptures even today. But they breathe for those who have both eyes to see heavenly things, and ears to hear divine things, and nostrils to sense the things that are of fullness. I have said these things because it is not simply set down: Flee from Babylon, but with a necessary addition: Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let each one save his own soul. First it is necessary to flee from the midst of Babylon, then for each soul to save itself, once they have fled. Nor indeed did he say "save," but "resave." The addition of the syllable signifies a mystery.

Because those who once tasted salvation, and afterward fell from it on account of sins, came to Babylon. For this reason it is necessary to resave one's own soul, that it may begin to recover what it lost, according to the apostle Peter saying thus: "We shall obtain the end of faith, salvation, concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied concerning the grace that was to come to us". Yet it is in our power to flee from Babylon, and it is placed in our power, if we will, to raise up again what has fallen. The third command is: And be not cast out into her iniquity. When someone has fled the injustice of Babylon, and has not done penance, then it follows that he be cast out. Observe, however, how Scripture, although translated from the Hebrew language into Greek, has nevertheless, as far as it could receive the differences of words, expressed them significantly.

For it says in another place: I have chosen to be an abject in the house of the Lord, and it does not say "cast out." But in the present passage it has not put, "and lest you be cast down into her injustice," but, "Lest you be cast out into her injustice." For to be cast out is one thing, to be cast down is another. For what is in contempt and neglect is not cast out, but cast down. But what is estranged from safety and blessedness outside, this is cast out. Which also the divine Scripture declares in another place, saying: The leaders of my people shall be cast out from the house of their delights, on account of their most wicked wills. For their possessions shall not profit them (Micah 2:9). But you yourself will also be able to gather, wherever you find in the Scriptures the name of "casting out" and "casting down," so that from the comparison of the words you may be able to pronounce judgment with more confidence.

For the dispensation of providence, even if it did not greatly take care that the elegance which is praised in Greek speech should be followed in the Greek translation, nevertheless took care to exhibit those things which are significant, and to explain clearly their difference to those who most diligently search the Scriptures. Be not cast out into the iniquity of Babylon, because the time of her vengeance is from the Lord. In a wondrous sense he says that punishments are inflicted for the sake of the vengeance of him who suffers them. For when someone is not avenged, and is left unpunished, I remember I have often said that thing which is written among the twelve Prophets: And I will not visit upon your daughters when they play the harlot, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (Hosea 4). Therefore, not as some suppose, does God punish sinners in anger; but, if it is fitting to speak so, it is a great wrath, not to suffer torments from God.

For whoever is punished, even if he is corrected by that which is called the wrath of God, is punished to this end, that he may be amended. Lord, says David, rebuke me not in your wrath, nor chastise me in your fury. But even if you do rebuke, rebuke us in judgment, and not in fury, said Jeremiah. You will find also, from the promise of God, that correction is given to some. Therefore, when Christ's sinning children are concerned, punishment is promised, mercy is not denied, as it is written: If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my justices, and keep not my commandments, I will visit their offenses with the rod, and their iniquities with scourges, but my mercy I will not take away from them. Considering these things, see how one who up to the present time commits crimes and is not punished is not yet worthy of punishment.

For the visitation of God is shown through the torments of the one visited; but I know not what befalls as punishment for the one who sins and is corrected. These things are said on account of what was said, "Because the time of her vengeance is from the Lord." There follows: He himself will render retribution to her. Not through ministers will God render retribution to Babylon, but He himself will render what she deserves. I wish to say something about the addition of the pronoun in that which is written, "himself"; for it says: He himself will render retribution to her. Not to all does God himself render what they deserve, but there are some to whom He renders it through others, either punishing, or healing through pain, as is contained in the Psalms: He sent upon them the wrath of his indignation, fury, and anger, and distress, a sending by evil angels.

To those indeed He himself did not render, but for their retribution He used evil angels as ministers; and to others perhaps He renders not through evil ones, but through good, as in those who are punished for their crimes. And many such things you will find, if you search the Scriptures. But there is a time when, the office of ministers being set aside, God himself renders the retribution, as now to Babylon. I fear to insert something obscure into a manifest passage, which seems to me to lie hidden if I keep silent. Yet it must be ventured, at least to touch upon a few things briefly. When wounds are slight, and the cure ready, the physician sends his servant, sends his disciple, that through him the sick person may be treated; for the wounds are not great.

It happens too sometimes that one who is to be healed needs cutting and the knife; yet the physician himself does not go to him, but choosing one of the disciples who is able to cure, he uses him as minister. But when the wounds are incurable, so that, the flesh having died, the rot has wasted away, and the illness is so great that not the servant or disciple, who have already come near him through knowledge of the art, but the hands of the master himself are needed, then the great physician himself, girding his loins, is roused to the cutting of the most foul wound. Similarly, therefore, when sins are lesser, God himself does not render retribution to the sinners, but uses other ministers. But when, through her own merits, a vast sickness seizes a man, as now Babylon, which is pierced with the grievous wounds of her own malice, then God himself hastens to render retribution.

You will find some things similar to this, if you seek, concerning Jerusalem also, which happened to her after the prophets, because she had plotted against Christ. Thus is finished the content of the first chapter. Let us look also at the rest: Babylon a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, making all the earth drunk. Of her wine the nations drank, therefore the nations were troubled, and Babylon suddenly fell, and was crushed. Nebuchadnezzar, wishing to deceive men, through the deceitful cup of Babylon, did not mix in an earthen vessel that which he prepared to give to drink, nor even in a somewhat better vessel of bronze or tin, or one that surpasses these, of silver: but choosing a golden vessel, in it he tempered the drink, so that whoever, seeing the beauty of the gold, while delighting in the beauty of the shining metal, and clinging wholly with his eyes to the appearance, might not consider what lay hidden within, and, taking the cup, might drink without knowing it was the cup of Nebuchadnezzar.

You will understand, however, that the golden cup is named in the present passage, if you observe what a composition of words, what elegance of eloquence, what division of matters the deadly words of the most wicked doctrines possess; and you will recognize how each of the poets, who are thought among you to be most eloquent, tempered a golden cup, and put poison of idolatry into the golden cup, and poison of foul speech, poison of those doctrines which destroy the soul of man, poison of falsely-named knowledge. But my Jesus did the contrary, knowing the golden cup of the Devil, and taking care lest anyone coming to his faith should suspect that Christ's cup too was such as it ought to be, and through the similitude of the material should dread error; therefore He took care that we should have this treasure in earthen vessels. Often have I seen a golden cup in the beautiful ornament of speech, and considering the poisons of doctrines, I have detected the cup of Babylon.

Babylon a golden cup in the hand of the Lord. Not always is Babylon a golden cup. But when she comes to vengeance, and is placed in the hand of God, then she becomes earth, which was once touched at Jubath. Nor indeed is she held continually in the hand of God, but only in the time of vengeance, when the Lord begins to render to her what she deserves: then, in his hand, this golden cup Babylon, making all the earth drunk, will make it drunk. But how it will make the whole earth drunk you will easily know, if you consider all men drunk. We are made drunk by anger, we are made drunk by sadness, we are made drunk in mind, we lose ourselves through love, through desires and vainglory. How many cups this cup has tempered, how many intoxicating cups it has offered, what need is there to say? A golden cup, Babylon, making all the earth drunk.

Notice that all the earth is full of sins, and you will not ask how Babylon has made all the earth drunk. But if perchance you see a just man not drunk from the cup of sinners, do not think that Scripture has lied, which said: Making all the earth drunk, since this man is not made drunk by Babylon, and yet he is established on the earth. Hear, because the just man is not earth [or: in the earth]: this golden cup makes all the earth drunk. But the just man, though he is upon the earth, has his citizenship in the heavens. And for this reason it is no longer fitting for it to be said to the just man: You are earth, and into earth you shall go. But if it is necessary to speak boldly, God says to the just man still established upon the earth: You are heaven, and into heaven you shall go. For he bears the image of the heavenly one.

Therefore, to conclude, the golden cup makes all the earth drunk, that is, we are all made drunk by it as long as we are earth. Of her wine the nations drank, therefore they were troubled. Just as in those who drink this liquor of wine which is in use, if they drink beyond thirst and beyond measure, we see the movement of the drunken body, staggering feet, the head and temples weighed down, the mouth loosened, the tongue marking the words of a drunkard, and words cut off by sticking lips: similarly it is to be seen in those who have drunk from the golden cup of Babylon, how they are moved, how unstable in step they are, how, with weakened mind and fluctuating thought, they hold nothing firm, but are always driven about uncertain in disturbances. Wherefore the divine Scripture says of men of this kind in another place thus: Therefore they were troubled. Let us insert something of a mystery, what is said of the sinner Cain.

When he went out from the face of God, he dwelt in the land of Naid, opposite Eden. Naid in the Greek tongue is interpreted "commotion." For whoever forsakes God, who abandons the sense of thinking continually of Him, he dwells today in the land of Naid, that is, he abides in the tribulation of an evil heart, and in commotion of mind. The nations drank, therefore they were troubled, and Babylon suddenly fell, and was crushed. When it says Babylon fell suddenly, it seems to me to prophesy that the consummation of the world will happen suddenly. For just as in the days of the flood they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, until the flood came and took them all, and the flood came suddenly; likewise also in the days of Lot; so too the consummation of the world will not happen by parts, but suddenly.

I think comparable to this what is written in Joshua the son of Nun, when, at the sound of the trumpet alone, the city of Jericho fell and suddenly perished; and according to this likeness Babylon too will fall at the consummation of the age, and will be suddenly crushed—and these things indeed were said concerning the consummation. But if you come to the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ, and see his great work, how he overturned all the doctrines of idols among the nations, that he might free believers from the yoke of error, you will understand that in the time of his passion Babylon fell as an example and was crushed. Let each one of us consider himself, and observe whether Babylon has fallen in his own breast. But if in someone's heart the city of confusion has not fallen, to this one Christ has not yet come. For where he comes, Babylon is accustomed to fall in ruin.

Therefore, fleeing to the aid of prayers, ask that Jesus may come into your hearts, and crush Babylon, and make all her malice fall, and rebuild, in place of the things overthrown, and in place of Babylon which had been built before, in the very principal part of your heart, the holy city of God, Jerusalem. Mourn for her, and take resin for her correction, if perhaps she may be healed. Mourn, it says, for Babylon. Then, because every soul can receive salvation, and not even one before God is incurable, therefore he gives counsel to those who can migrate to Jerusalem to have as witness the resin for making plasters, that they may take up the remedies, and, with as much zeal as they are able, restore Babylon to health.

Let us also try to do this, entreating God, that we may learn from ourselves a rational resin, and from the rational resin learn to apply to Him a poultice, and oil, and bandages, and, applying them, bind up the wounds of Babylon, imitating the Samaritan, and let the wretched city be healed, and, once cured, cease to be what it had been. This is what it means to take resin for her correction if perhaps she may be healed. Where are the heretics? Where are those who, introducing certain natures, assert that there is a hopeless nature which by no means receives salvation? If there is a nature which perishes, what other such nature will there be as Babylon? And yet God does not despise even this one. For God commands the physicians to take resin for Babylon, if perhaps she may be healed.

Some, then, of those who had received the command, taking the resin for the correction of Babylon, if perhaps she might be healed, did what had been commanded, found the resin for her correction, hearing that it was possible for Babylon to receive health. And because they did not accomplish what they had hoped, Babylon indeed persevering in her former malice, refusing to be healed, the good physicians give their account, and say: We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed. Let us leave her. But take heed, man, lest at some time God commands the angels to prepare plasters of remedies for the sickness of your soul, if perhaps you may be healed of your infirmity, and the angels answer: We have healed Babylon—showing this to be your soul, confounded by passions—and she is not healed. They do not blame the knowledge of their art, nor the power of the resin; but you, who were unwilling to obey their precepts, saying: We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed. Let us leave her.

The physicians have stood beneath the great physician, the angels of God, wishing to heal our infirmities, wishing to free the soul from vices, but we ourselves repel them, while we do not comply with their counsels. They see themselves losing their labor, when they speak to one another, and say: Let us leave her, and let us go, each one to his own land. That is: the medicine has been entrusted to us by God, that we might heal the human soul; we have applied the remedy, we have laid on the medicine; she is very stubborn, she does not wish to keep what we say, our zeal is not followed by result. Let us leave her, and let us go, each one to his own land, that is, to his own domestic and proper place. Beware, man, lest at some time the physician forsake you, whether an Angel of God, or whoever of men, to whom the care of words for bringing the medicine of salvation has been entrusted.

For if they forsake you and say: Let us go, each to his own land, because her judgment has approached even unto heaven, it is manifest that their departure is your condemnation, as one incurable and unwilling to be cured. But when they have forsaken you, what else will happen to you than what is accustomed to happen to those who are despaired of by physicians, who, following the will of their own disease, sink into worse things? Things similar to this happen also in the custom of this life, among prudent physicians. One of them approaches a sick person, and, as far as the art allows, the diligence of medicine does not cease; but if either the sickness is so great that it resists cure, or the invalid himself, through impatience of pain, acts contrary to what is ordered, the physician leaves him, despairing of such a man, and withdraws, lest, while the man expires in his hands, the cause of his death should be turned back upon himself.

If, therefore, we too, lest we die in the hands of the holy angels who have been sent by the Lord to heal us—they leave us, despairing of our soul, and say: There is no laying on of plaster, nor oil, nor bandages, because her judgment has approached even unto heaven. And it has been lifted up even to the stars. Whoever has a small sin does not raise his judgment up to heaven and the stars. For it is small and lowly.

But whoever grows in crime, grows also in judgment, and together with the vices the punishment also increases; and because he offends so greatly that his judgment is raised up even to the heavenly regions, and through his impiety, resisting God, ascends to the higher places, God brings forth his judgment for the humiliation of that judgment which was hidden by the sinner, and, bringing forth his judgment, indeed humbles the sinner, but renders to the just what is worthy of his life, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

How, he says, is the hammer of the whole earth broken and ground to pieces? How is Babylon made a desolation? It must be asked among these things who the hammer of the whole earth is, and what its being ground to pieces is: whence the prophet says that it was first broken before it was ground to pieces, so that, gathering together those things which are written elsewhere concerning the hammer, exalted from sin, and bearing his own judgment, he humbles indeed sin, but renders to the just man the reward worthy of his life are, when we have found its name, let us also investigate the meaning of the name from the examples which we bring forward. A house was once being built for God, according to the third Book of Kings, and Solomon was constructing and building it. Everywhere it is said, as it were in praise of the house, concerning the house of God, that hammer and axe were not heard in the house of God.

Therefore just as the hammer is not heard in the house of God, so, because the house of God is the Church, the hammer is not heard in the Church. Who is this hammer, wishing, so far as in him lies, to hinder the stones of the building of the temple, so that, being broken, they might not come together into its foundations? See now whether the Devil is not himself the hammer of the whole earth. But I will declare with confidence that there is someone who does not greatly care about the hammer of the whole earth. And since the example is taken from a sensible hammer, I seek a material stronger than the hammer, which, struck by it, suffers nothing from it. Seeking this, I found it in what is written: Behold a man standing upon walls of adamant, and in his hand an adamant. Now history relates concerning adamant, that it is stronger than every hammer that strikes it, remaining unbroken and unconquerable.

Although the hammer, the Devil, stands over it, and the dragon is set beneath it, being as it were an untamable anvil, yet nothing is suffered by the adamant which stands in the hand of God and in his sight. Thus two things are contrary to this adamant: the hammer, and the anvil that cannot be worn down. Now there is also among the nations a proverb worn smooth by common speech, so that concerning those who are oppressed by anxieties and great evils, they say: They are between the hammer and the anvil. But you refer this to the Devil and the dragon, who in the Scriptures are always marked with such names according to the variety of causes: and you say that the holy man, who is as a wall of adamant, or an adamant in the hand of the Lord, cares neither for the hammer nor for the anvil; but the more he is struck, the more his virtue shines forth.

They say that those who practice the trade of stones, when they wish to test an adamant, not knowing whether it is an adamant or not, so long as they have not found hammer and anvil: but then it is most truly proved to be an adamant, if the untamed stone, if it perseveres between anvil and hammer, if, the hammer striking from above and the anvil set beneath, the harder nature of the stone holds firm. Such a man is, before temptations, unknown to those who do not know how to test stones by these means. But most certainly God alone knows with certainty the nature of adamantine stones, unknown to most. I myself do not yet know whether, the hammer coming and striking me, I shall be broken and ground to pieces, convicted that I am not an adamant, or whether indeed I shall be shown a true adamant, if, persecutions, dangers, and temptations pressing upon me, I shall be found as much proved as struck by the blows of the hammer.

And do you yourself run through the Scriptures to me. And you will ask whether, if you can find any trace, it is well promised by God, that the hammer should strike the things to be struck. For example, let it be said (for examples are taken for the understanding of more obscure things), that if there were no hammer, there would be no drawn-out trumpet, which according to the Law sounds forth for the solemnities of God, which by its blast kindles the minds of the hearers to war. The hammer is necessary, that the drawn-out trumpet may be made. This hammer wrought much together with the drawn-out trumpet Paul, that it might bring him forth through various trials, and prove him, so that, unharmed, he might be forged and take on the shape of a loud-sounding trumpet, giving no uncertain voice to the hearers, that they might be prepared for the warfare of battle.

And since in the hammer is found a contrary strength, and the dragon an anvil that cannot be worn away, always in the Scriptures under the name compounded of hammer, or of any other material, I will press on with the discourse: Cain begot sons, and from Cain arose a worker in brass and iron. Therefore, as the Devil, who is the worker of all temptations, is called the hammer: so he who ministers to him is the hammerer, the son of Cain. For as often as you fall into temptation, know that the Devil is the hammer, and that the hammerer is he through whom the Devil pursues you. As in the betrayal of the Savior the Devil was the hammer, Judas was the hammerer. And there were many hammerers at that time when the Lord suffered, crying out: Take such a one from the earth: crucify, crucify him. All things are full of hammerers.

For as many as look up to the Devil in their act, and minister to him for the proving of the just and the condemning of the unjust, are all hammerers. Therefore if yesterday you were a hammerer, and held the hammer in your hand, now, learning that hammerers arise from Cain the fratricide, cast the hammer from your hand, and pass over to the generation of hammerers which is spiritual, like that of Enos and the rest, who are extolled by the praises of the Scriptures. Nevertheless the end is breaking and grinding to pieces. It must be known indeed, that the hammer now prophesied is the Devil, a hammer not of some part of the earth, but of the whole earth, because his malice is scattered throughout the whole earth, and everywhere this hammer works evil. But this also must be said, that the Devil is the hammer of the whole earth, not the hammer of heaven. For a hammer does not befit a subtler substance, but a coarser one.

If you bear the image of the earthly, the hammer strikes you, because you are earthly; if you sin, and are earth, and shall go into earth, you will experience the hammer of the whole earth working also in you. According to this understanding, this also must be noted, that the Devil is the hammer of the whole earth, because he exercises his power against all earthly things: but it is also possible to understand a lesser hammer, which is not the hammer of the whole earth, but, so to speak, of this or that part of the earth. And if indeed some one contrary force resists me, and wrestles with me, not being able together with all others to contend with the Holy Spirit. To strive hand to hand, as the Devil does: then indeed there is a hammer in me, but not the hammer of the whole earth; but, so to speak, a hammer only of my own earth.

But when the hammer of the whole earth has been broken and ground to pieces, what need is there to think of the hammer of the parts of the earth? And at the same time I think it worthy of admiration, that the hammer of the whole earth has been crushed. For what great thing would it be, if the hammer of the parts of the earth had been broken and ground to pieces? But truly now it is to be admired, that the hammer of the whole earth has been broken and ground to pieces. After this I ask who it is that broke and ground to pieces the hammer of the whole earth: and I will say that Moses could not break and grind to pieces the hammer of the whole earth, nor before him Abraham, nor after him Joshua the son of Nun, nor any other of the prophets. Who then could break and grind to pieces so great and so mighty a hammer of the whole earth? Who is this?

Jesus Christ broke and ground to pieces the hammer of the whole earth. And this now, marveling in the Holy Spirit, the prophet says: How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and ground to pieces? First it was broken, then it was ground to pieces. And since I have found that it is the Savior who broke the hammer of the whole earth and ground it to pieces, I will come to the Gospel, to see the first temptation, when the Devil said to him: All these things I will give you, if falling down you will worship me, and the rest: and I will say that at that time Jesus did not grind to pieces the hammer of the whole earth, but only broke it. But when he had withdrawn from him for a time, and afterward, the time being at hand, came again, then the hammer of the whole earth was ground to pieces, not only broken as at first.

And because that which had before been broken, the hammer of the whole earth, was ground to pieces, therefore through each one of us it is broken indeed when we are brought into the Church, and advance to the faith. But it is ground and crushed to pieces, when we come to progress. But if you doubt that the Devil is ground to pieces for us as we come to progress, hear the Apostle blessing the just man with a certain blessing, and saying: And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. This animal hammer, perhaps, is now against us, and seeks—because we set forth these things about him, and he is ground to pieces by us (for he is not only broken, but also ground to pieces through us)—to break us in turn, and to grind us to pieces. And indeed he has ground to pieces many who do not take heed to themselves, nor kept watch over their own heart.

But let us, trusting in God, believing in the Christ of God, not fear the Devil. The fear of God makes us fear the Devil not at all, and suffer nothing from him, but also say, not only in general, but also concerning ourselves: How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and ground to pieces? But when he has been broken and crushed, Babylon becomes a desolation: nor is the city of confusion destroyed before the hammer of the whole earth is broken and ground to pieces.

Whence also the prophet used a marvelous and excellent order, saying: How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed? How is Babylon become a desolation? What was done first, he related first; what was second, he set forth accordingly. And this ought to be observed throughout every discourse of the Scriptures. When, then, does Babylon become a desolation? When all confusions are exterminated from my soul, and no longer does the death of a son or the demise of a wife confound me: when there is no one to provoke me and stir me to sadness, to anger, to concupiscence, to pleasure; when I remain unconfounded, taking up reason, which strengthens and fortifies me—then befalls me that which is said: Babylon is become a desolation, that is, all confusion. And this comes to pass, that is, the hammer of the whole earth is broken and crushed, and Babylon is demolished, when the nations are set upon the hammer and upon Babylon.

For it is written: In the nations they shall be set upon thee—that is, those who are of the nations shall be set upon thee, O Babylon; they shall be set upon thee, O hammer, that thou mayest be broken and crushed. When were these things done? At the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ, when the Gospel was preached to all nations; then were the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit set upon Babylon and upon the hammer of the whole earth, and there was fulfilled that which is written: In the nations they shall be set upon thee, and thou shalt be taken, O Babylon, and thou knowest it not. Would that Babylon might also be taken in each one of us. From what precedes, the captivity of Babylon can be understood—when, being captured, it is dug up, overturned, laid waste, so that no confusion may remain in us. And thou shalt be taken, Babylon, and thou knowest it not; thou art found and apprehended, because thou hast resisted the Lord.

Did Babylon alone resist the Lord, and not rather all the nations, when, forsaking the Creator, they venerated idols—did they resist the Lord? Or does he speak figuratively, calling every soul contrary to Jerusalem—that is, to the vision of peace—Babylon? Whence the Saints were in Jerusalem, sinners in Babylon. And if the Jerusalemites sinned, they were sent into Babylon, and thus, remaining in Babylon, they were converted to repentance. But the Saints returned to Jerusalem. Babylon, then, is captured, and knows it not. Babylon indeed is not subject to law; for Babylon cannot be apprehended without being found; but on this account she was apprehended when she was found, because she resisted the Lord. Then begins another chapter: The Lord hath opened his treasure, and hath brought forth the vessels of his wrath, because it is a work for the Lord of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. For her times are come to open her storehouses; search her as a cave, and destroy her, that nothing of her may remain.

Dry up all her fruits, and let her go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them, for their day is come, the time of their vengeance. Wishing to understand what is said, "The Lord hath opened his treasure, and hath brought forth the vessels of his wrath," I inquire in another Scripture concerning the vessels of the wrath of God, and I find, for a fuller comparison with this Scripture, the Apostolic Scripture; and there I find the Apostle setting before me what the vessels of the wrath of God are. For he says: But if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory upon the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared unto glory, whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. In general the Apostle divided all men into two classes, saying that some are vessels of mercy, some vessels of wrath.

For example, he called Pharaoh and the Egyptians vessels of wrath; and again he called himself, who was the first to obtain mercy, and those who in due time believed, whether of the Jews or of the Gentiles, vessels of mercy. There are, then, vessels of wrath in the treasury of God. For it is written: The Lord hath opened his treasure, and hath brought forth the vessels of his wrath. What is this treasury of the Lord, in which vessels of wrath are found? Someone perhaps will ask whether in the treasury of the Lord there are only vessels of wrath, and whether the treasury of God, which is the treasury of all, does not have vessels of mercy; or whether something else ought to be understood by the treasury of God, from which his vessels of wrath are brought forth. I will confidently say that the treasury of the Lord is his Church, and that in this treasury, that is, the Church, men often lie hidden who are vessels of wrath.

There will come, then, a time when the Lord will open the treasury of the Church; for now the Church is closed, and vessels of wrath dwell together with vessels of mercy, and the chaff is with the wheat, and the fish to be destroyed and thrown away are kept together with the good fish that had fallen into the nets. When he shall have opened it at the time of judgment, and shall have brought forth from it the vessels of his wrath, then perhaps he who is a vessel of mercy will say of the vessels of wrath going out: They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us. But they went out from us, that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us. The discourse desires to break forth into something else, which we venture to state as follows.

In the treasury of God there are vessels of wrath; outside the treasury, sinning vessels are not vessels of wrath, but they are less than vessels of wrath. For they are servants who do not know the will of their Lord, and do not do his will. But whoever enters the Church is either a vessel of wrath or a vessel of mercy. He who is outside the Church is neither a vessel of mercy nor of wrath. I seek another name for him who dwells outside the Church; and just as I confidently determine that he is not a vessel of mercy, so on the contrary, fortified by the truth of reason, I openly declare the judgment that he cannot be called a vessel of wrath either, but a vessel reserved for something else.

Shall I, then, be able to prove from the Scriptures that he is neither a vessel of mercy nor of wrath, so that a second exposition may also interpose something useful for us at this point, and the discourse may again venture to break forth into that which it has long been attempting? The Apostle says: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some indeed unto honor, but some unto dishonor. If, then, anyone shall have cleansed himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and profitable to the Lord, prepared unto every good work. Do you suppose that the great house is the present one, and that in it there are vessels unto honor, and others unto dishonor?

Or, in that house which is to come, will vessels of gold and silver, which are unto honor, be found to be vessels of mercy; while the rest, that is, mediocre men who are outside the treasury—lest they be vessels either of wrath or of mercy—these may, according to some deep dispensation of God, be vessels in the great house, which have not been cleansed, but are earthen vessels unto dishonor, yet necessary to the house? See now whether I can confirm this very example by another testimony of Scripture. Jechonias, he says, is dishonored, like a vessel of which there is no use. He does not say, there is indeed some use of him, but unto dishonor is his use; but because he was of the house of God, and sinned, there is altogether no use of him. I have also another Scripture, in which it is said of a certain other sinner: And he shall be like a potsherd, wherewith thou shalt draw a little water, and wherewith thou shalt carry coals.

And again this affirms that it is not necessary at all, and that it is in every way a useless vessel. Shall not we, then, who are in this house of God, when the Lord begins to open his treasury, begin to be cleansed, if only we are vessels of mercy, the vessels of wrath being cast away from us? Or is it not rather already the beginning, that we ought to be diligent, not only that we ourselves may not be vessels of wrath, but that those who are such may be cast out from among us? For such a thing is signified by what the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians: It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife, and you have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you: as if he said, when the treasury of God is opened, let the vessels of his wrath go forth.

For the Lord has opened his treasury and has brought forth the vessels of his wrath. I have read somewhere as though the Savior were speaking, and I inquire, whether someone has represented the person of the Savior, or has brought it to mind, whether this saying is true: But the Savior himself says: He who is near me is near the fire; he who is far from me is far from the kingdom (apocryphal saying). For as he who is near me is near salvation, so also is he near the fire. And he who, hearing me, and having heard, transgresses, becomes a vessel of wrath, prepared for destruction, when he is near me, he is near the fire. But if anyone, being wary because he who is near me is near the fire, has removed himself far from me, lest he be near the fire, such a one will indeed be far also from the kingdom.

And just as an athlete who is not enrolled in the contest neither fears the lash nor expects the crown, but he who has once professed the name, if he be conquered, is scourged and cast out; but if he conquer, he is crowned: in the same way he who has entered the Church—O Catechumen, listen—he who has come to the word of God is nothing other than one enrolled in the contest of piety, and if enrolled he does not contend lawfully, he is beaten with scourges with which those who were not enrolled from the beginning are not beaten. But if he strives valiantly to flee the scourges and reproaches, he shall not only be freed from harm, but shall receive the incorruptible crown of glory. It is a work for the Lord of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.

According to different understandings, an earthly place is named in many ways, and just as, according to a different notion, the Savior has many names, while the subject is one, but he is manifold in his powers: so also, on account of the malice of the human race, earthly affairs, though one in subject, are many according to diversity of understanding. What I say will become clearer by an example, which I have taken from the Savior, when, having explained it, I pass over to expounding the things that are subject to it. There is one subject in my Lord Jesus the Savior. This one subject being given, in one sense he is a physician, according to what is written: They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. In another sense he is a shepherd, according as he presides over irrational beings. In another sense he is a king, according as he rules over rational beings.

In another sense he is the true vine, according as men grafted into it bear most abundant fruit, and, being cultivated by the Father the husbandman, receive the richness of the true vine from the fellowship of one root. According to another sense he is wisdom, according to another truth, according to another righteousness. Yet the subject is one. As, then, in the Savior, one subject being given, there are many understandings of his various names, so also earthly affairs, though one according to subject, are many according to understanding. We have often, allegorizing, said that Babylon signifies earthly affairs, which are always confused with vices, Egypt likewise afflicting them. But the land of the Chaldeans, because they consecrate to the stars most of the things done on earth, and assert that the causes of our sins, or the power of the things that befall us, arise from the movements of the stars, we have said to be those who have devoted themselves to such superstitions. Everyone, then, who believes these things is in the land of the Chaldeans.

If any of you follows the ravings of the astrologers, he is in the land of the Chaldeans. If anyone calculates the day of a birth, and, trusting in various reckonings of hours and moments, adopts this doctrine, that the stars, being configured thus and thus, make men luxurious, adulterous, or chaste, or indeed whatever else—such a one is in the land of the Chaldeans. Some already suppose that Christians are made from the courses of the stars. As many, then, as think thus, as many as believe these sayings, are in the land of the Chaldeans. God, then, threatening those who are in the land of the Chaldeans, threatens spiritually those who have devoted themselves to genealogies and to fate, asserting that all things that happen among mortals depend either on the movements of the stars or on the necessity of fate. But God, advancing Abraham to better things, said to him: I am he who brings thee out of the land of the Chaldeans.

For God is powerful, who grants to us also to go out from the land of the Chaldeans, that we may believe that there is no other besides him who, disposing all things and ruling our life according to the quality of our merits, governs the diverse outcomes of events. For no shining star, whether of Phaethon, as they say, or of a comet, contains the cause of our affairs. And according to one argument, indeed, he is in the land of the Chaldeans who has believed the aforesaid reckonings; but according to another, someone ascends upon the housetops and worships the host of heaven. We find in Jeremiah also a great threat made against those who make offerings to the host of heaven. It is, then, a work for the Lord of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans, because her times are come. Open her storehouses. It is manifest that this refers to the land of the Chaldeans. Now the storehouses of the Chaldeans are the doctrines of nativities. Search her as a cave, and destroy her.

He who rejects the calculation of nativities, who employs the word of truth against it, who shows that nothing of what the astrologers say is true, who teaches that the judgments of God are unsearchable and cannot be comprehended by men, who asserts that the stars are not the causes of the things that happen upon the earth, still less of the things that befall us Christians—such a one carries out the precept of the Lord, who says: Destroy her. Now what follows must be inquired into: Let there be no remnant of her. Do not, he says, spare any part of the Chaldeans, reserve nothing. For this reason he commands that not even a little be left in her. Dry up all her fruits. Who is so blessed as to be able to dry up all the fruits of the land of the Chaldeans, and let them go down to the slaughter? Woe unto them, for their day is come, and it is the time of their vengeance.

After this, again the contents of another chapter: The voice of them that flee, and of them that are saved, out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Sion the vengeance of our Lord. He now prophesies of those who, leaving behind the customs of their fathers, and the laws of the Gentiles, and the unbelief of the ancients, come to the word of God. For something of this sort is signified in what he says: The voice of them that flee, and of them that are saved, out of the land of Babylon. Would that your voice too, O Catechumens, were the voice of those fleeing from Babylon, fleeing from vices, fleeing from sins. For it is the voice of them that flee and of them that are saved.

It does not suffice to flee from the land of Babylon, but also to be saved out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Sion, to the Lord our God, the vengeance, so that, fleeing from the land of Babylon, you may come to Sion, the watchtower, the Church of God. To declare in Sion, that is, in the Church, the vengeance of the Lord our God. Declare the vengeance of his people in Babylon to many, to every one that bends the bow. It is significantly said, "to many"; for many are they who are in Babylon, but few in Jerusalem. For not because you were many did the Lord your God love you, he says, for you are few in number among all the nations. And well is it said to those who were of God's portion: You are few in number among all the nations. Understand further this also: Few are they who are saved.

But also this: Strive to enter in through the narrow gate; but wide and broad is the way in which many walk. Declare in Babylon to many, to every one that bends the bow. Let none of her be saved: destroy, slay all that is of Babylon. We have recently spoken of the little ones of Babylon, of the men of Babylon, of the seed of Babylon. Let there not even be one of the seed of Babylon that is saved; repay her according to her works, according to all that she has done, and do to her, because she has resisted the Lord, and has been against the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. As long as you have in yourself wicked thoughts resisting piety and true faith, you have in yourself Babylonians.

But execute vengeance, and slay all the sinners of the land that is in you, that is, all the Babylonians, that, being cleansed, you may be able to pass over into Jerusalem, the city of God, in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

Throne of glory exalted from the beginning, place of our sanctification, sustaining of Israel. O Lord, all who have forsaken thee shall be confounded; they that depart shall be written upon the earth, because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my glory. Behold, they say unto me: Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come. But I have not laboured following after thee, nor have I desired the day of man: thou knowest. We come to a famous question, to inquire what the partridge is of which Scripture now speaks: The partridge cried, she gathered what she did not bring forth, making her riches, not with judgment. In the midst of her days they shall forsake her, and in her latter end she shall be foolish.

It seems fitting, from the nature of the bird, to recall a certain history, so that, knowing the animal, we may be able to know whether we should refer the understanding of the partridge now named to a good or an evil sense. It is said that this animal is malicious, deceitful, cunning, and greatly deceiving hunters. For it often rolls itself before the feet of the fowler, and, in the midst of his effort, as if about to be caught, slips away. It promises its prey by its nearness: and it does this so that the hunter may not swiftly come upon the nest of her young. And when she perceives that her chicks have already fled, then, having deceived the enemy, she herself also departs. But her wickedness is surpassed by her impurity.

There is no doubt about what we are about to say, which truth confirms from those birds that are reared tame in houses: male rises upon male, headlong lust forgets sex, they fight for coupling, and the single palm of the victor is to have defiled the one he has conquered. If, then, this animal is malicious, if unclean, if deceitful, it will seem impious to refer this name to the better part, and to apply it to the understanding of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Rather it is fitting to join its evils to the Devil, and to understand the present reading concerning the adversary: if indeed the interpretation of the whole chapter shall have followed us thus. Let us begin, then, from what is written: The partridge cried, she gathered what she did not bring forth. The Devil does not gather his own creatures, he does not collect those which he himself begot; but when he has cried out, gathering creatures belonging to others, he makes them his own.

The partridge cried through Valentinus, cried through Basilides, through Marcion, through all who were seized by desire of a glory foreign to God. For none of them was able to sound the voice of the Lord Jesus: My sheep hear my voice. But the voice of Christ was in Paul, was in Peter; wherefore Paul said: Do you seek a proof of him who speaks in me, Christ? But the voice of the partridge gathering what she did not bring forth is in those who ensnare any of the simple among the faithful in the trap of heretical faction. So the partridge cried, she gathered what she did not bring forth, making her delights, not with judgment, the partridge became rich. Behold how many thousands are hers, an immense crowd, many are the peoples of captives, and she makes her riches, not thinking of judgment, nor having justice in her heart, but doing all things without law; rightly she is charged with having made her riches not with judgment. But my Jesus makes his riches with judgment.

His wealth has been examined and chosen. In the midst of her days they shall forsake her. We all who were once under the power of the crying partridge (for she cried not only through those whom we mentioned above, but through all in general who, as if calling to piety and religion, cried out under a doctrine contrary to truth)—we, I say, all of us, in the midst of her days forsake her. And indeed all her days are the days of this age; but because the Lord Jesus has rescued us from the present wicked age, therefore in the midst of her days we forsake her. And her latter end shall be foolish. But when was she wise, that her latter end should rightly become foolish? But let us say she was wise: for the serpent was wiser than all the beasts upon the earth, which the Lord God had made. She was wise according to what is written: I will bring upon Assyria a great prince of understanding.

And he said: By my own strength I will do it, and by the wisdom of understanding I will take away the boundaries of the nations, and I will devour their strength, and I will move the inhabited cities. If anyone is able, let him understand how her latter end shall be foolish. This one, from what she was—wise in an evil way (for she was wiser than all the beasts upon the earth)—becomes, on the contrary, because she was wise, foolish in an evil way. You will understand what it means: Her latter end shall be foolish, if you know how it is also enjoined upon you through the Apostle, that for your salvation you should receive foolishness: If anyone, he says, seems to himself to be wise among you in this age, let him become a fool. He who cried before dissolves this: be foolish and simple, that you may become wise.

If, then, there is a certain culpable wisdom, according to which the children of this age are wiser than the children of light in this generation, God is good, who by contraries overturns diverse things, that he may bring to fulfillment what is said: Her latter end shall be foolish. When her latter end shall be foolish, it is necessary for Christ to reign, until God shall put all his enemies under his feet. But when he shall have subjected all things to him, then the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed; when death has been destroyed, then shall come the last things of the partridge, and her latter end shall become foolish. So much concerning the partridge. Now the beginning of the chapter is read according to this: Throne of glory exalted from the beginning, place of our sanctification, sustaining of Israel. Isaiah said, the blessed prophet, seeing the Lord and his kingdom: I saw the Lord of Hosts sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.

Jeremiah too saw how God reigns, on account of which, glorifying him, he says: Throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, place of our sanctification. Whether you wish to understand these things of Christ, you will not sin, or of the Father, you will not think impiously: for the throne of glory is on high, and from the beginning the Savior is. It is a throne of glory because his kingdom is exalted. Our sanctification is Christ: for both he that sanctifies, and we that are sanctified, are all of one. The sustaining of Israel. Just as Christ himself is justice, he himself is truth, he himself is sanctification, likewise he himself is also the sustaining. And nothing is just without Christ, nor holy without him, nor patient, that does not have Christ in itself: for he himself is the sustaining of Israel. But if you refer this also to the Father, you understand it not impiously. O Lord, all who forsake thee shall be confounded, departing.

Each one of us, when he sins, through the things by which he sins, forsakes Christ: but forsaking the Son, he has also forsaken the Father. The unjust man is far from justice, the polluted man from holiness, the warrior from peace, and he who begins to be under the power of the enemy becomes a stranger to redemption, and he who is outside the wisdom of God forsakes the wisdom of God. Teaching us, then, what shall become of all who forsake the Lord, the prophet says: All who forsake thee shall be confounded, departing—that is, in the measure that they forsake, in that measure they shall be confounded, departing. They shall be written upon the earth. All men are registered: the saints in heaven, sinners upon the earth. Jesus says to his disciples: Rejoice, because your names are written in the heavens. Therefore one ought to rejoice if he be such that his name is written in the heavens.

And just as the names of the just are inscribed above, so, on the contrary, the names of those who dwell on earthly things, who do not pass through the land of Edom, but possess the fields and vineyards of the land of Edom, are written, as of those forsaking God, upon the earth. Let them be confounded, departing; let them be written upon the earth. For with what measure they have measured, it shall be measured to them again. Each one is himself the cause that he is written upon the earth, if he does not seek heavenly things while on earth, if his soul is always inflamed with the affairs of this world, which seem good to the age. But if, hearing Jesus say: Do not treasure up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and worm consume, and where thieves break through and steal, but treasure up for yourselves treasures in heaven: he who shall have treasured up for himself in heaven, he himself is the cause that he is written in the heavens.

These things are said on account of what is written: They shall be written upon the earth; and he records the cause: Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord. And at the beginning the prophet himself, in the person of the Lord, says: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water: and now: Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord. Let us say, then, we too, if we do not wish to forsake the fountain of living water, the Lord, with the voice of those closest disciples of Jesus Christ, with which they spoke to their Master, when he said to them: Do you also wish to withdraw? What then shall we say? Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life. Thus the outline of the second chapter also is finished. The following passage contains this: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my glory. Let it come.

But I have not laboured following after thee, and I have not desired the day of man: thou knowest. To him alone, who came for the sake of those who are ill, saying to the physician: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are ill, it must be said confidently by him who wants his sick soul to be saved: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. For indeed that woman in the Gospel with the flow of blood spent all her substance on physicians, and could not be healed by any of them: for to none of them was it worthy to say: Heal me, lord, and I shall be healed, except to him alone for whom it suffices to touch only the fringe of his garment, to whom alone I shall say: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. For then, indeed, health follows the medicine, if Christ deigns to heal: Save me, and I shall be saved. A horse is a false hope of safety.

Therefore I will say to him: Save me, and I shall be saved. And this I will rejoice to say, if, renouncing all worldly glory, I am able also to say the rest: For thou art my glory: or when I shall have fulfilled the command in which it is enjoined: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches, but let him that glories glory in this, to understand and know that I am the Lord. Blessed, then, is he who has renounced all glory that is below, such as glory in noble birth, in beauty and bodily goods, in riches and boasting. Blessed is he who, having despised vain glory, says to the Lord: For thou art my glory [Or: my praise]. Let it come. But I have not laboured following after thee. Jesus has said to you: Take up your cross, and come, follow me.

And: He who has not left father or mother, and has followed me [Or: has not followed], is not worthy to be my disciple. If, then, you are such as always to follow Christ, the more you have followed, the less you will labor. For there shall be no weariness in Jacob, nor shall sorrow appear in Israel. Therefore he said this, that we might not labor further, having labored before we began to follow him: Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. If we, laboring, shall have come to Jesus, and shall have followed him, then we shall be able to say: But I have not laboured following after thee, and I have not desired the day of man. There is a certain day of man: there is a certain day of the Lord, that is, the day of resurrection, which every saint desires—not that day of which it is written: Woe to those who desire the day of man. For that day is darkness, and not light.

Who is he that can say: And I have not desired the day of man? The explanation of the word convinces us that we do desire the day of man. For often, when we are sick, when we begin to be in the delirium of fevers, and are pressed at the threshold of death, we lift our weary hands to the brethren who visit us, begging them to pray to the Lord for us, and saying: Ask for me some space of life, ask that I may remain a little while longer in this light. In remembering these things, we desire not the holy day of the Lord, but the day of man. Wherefore, laying aside the love of long life, and the desire of the human day, let us seek to see that day, in which we may be made partakers of that blessedness which is in Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Taking up, so to speak, three virtues—fortitude, wisdom, and prudence—the prophet distributes to each its proper work: to fortitude the earth, to wisdom the world, to prudence the heaven. Hear indeed the order of Scripture: The Lord who made the earth in his fortitude, and set up the world in his wisdom, and by his prudence stretched out the heaven. We also, therefore, in our earth (for it was said to Adam: Thou art earth) have need of the fortitude of God, because without it it is impossible for us to carry out what is opposed to the flesh. But when the members have been mortified upon the earth, then the spirit obeys the will. For, according to the Apostle, the deeds of the flesh are mortified by the spirit. The Lord therefore who made the earth in his fortitude.

But if you come also to this earth, and consider that which is written in Job—according, however, to the most correct copies—how he established it upon nothing, you will find the fortitude of God, in the midst of the world, sustaining the balance of the earth. But I will come to the world, which in Greek is called οἰκουμένη, that is, inhabited. I know my soul to be inhabited, I know a soul to be deserted. For if it does not have the Son saying: I and my Father will come to him, and will make our abode with him; if it does not have the Holy Spirit, the soul is deserted. But it is inhabited when it is full of God, when it has Christ and the Holy Spirit. Now these things are said differently and variously in the Scriptures, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit dwell in the soul of man. For David also in the psalm of confession asks for three spirits, saying: Strengthen me with a guiding spirit.

Renew a right spirit within my bowels. Take not thy holy spirit from me. Who are these three spirits? The guiding Spirit is the Father; the right Spirit is Christ; the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. We have said these things to prove that the world was inhabited in the wisdom of him who fashioned it. For wisdom will help the just man more than ten mighty men who are in the city. But he who casts away wisdom and discipline is unhappy, and his hope is vain, and his labors without profit, and his works unprofitable, says Wisdom, which bears the title of Solomon. Therefore, as much as we can, let us strive to labor, that our habitation may be raised up by the wisdom of God. For it fell, and toppled down from on high, as we came into this place of miseries. Our habitation fell after we sinned, acted unjustly, did wrong, behaved impiously, and after the fall it needs to be raised up.

But if you are not willing to be led by this interpretation, let us seek the common ruin of the whole world, so that, after its fall, God may consequently be proclaimed as the one who raises it up. Whoever is in this world fell before being raised up. But if he fell, he consequently had to be raised up; for no one is lifted up without having fallen. But if he has been raised up, let us see what fall preceded it. We all fell through sin into the world. And the Lord who raises up the fallen lifted us up as we lay prostrate. In Adam we all die; and thus the world fell, and needs to be raised up, that in Christ we may all be made alive. We have therefore given a twofold understanding of the world: one, how individual souls are either inhabited or deserted; the other, how the whole world alike fell. And by his prudence he stretched out the heaven.

Not by chance was wisdom taken up in connection with the stretching out of heaven; you will find it also said in Proverbs: The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, he prepared the heavens by prudence. There is, then, a certain prudence of God, which I would not have you seek outside of Christ. For all that belongs to God is Christ: he is God's wisdom, he is fortitude, he is sanctification, he is justice, he is holiness and redemption, he is—that I may come to the present point—even prudence. But though it is one thing in its underlying reality, it is called by different names according to the variety of meanings. Wisdom signifies one thing, justice another. For when it is called wisdom, that instruction and discipline of divine and human matters is meant; when justice, the distributor and judge of merits is signified. When holiness is described, that virtue which makes those who believe in God holy is meant.

So then, for me, his prudence too is understood as the teaching and demonstration of good and evil things, or of things neither good nor evil, and in this way it is now said that he stretched out heaven in prudence. But how is heaven stretched out, prudence stretching it? Hear: Because I stretched forth my words, and you did not attend. He asserts that there is a certain stretching out of words, just as it is now said of heaven; according to that too which is written elsewhere: Who stretches out heaven like a skin. But our soul is stretched out, having formerly been contracted, so that it may be capable of the wisdom of God. But to return to our purpose, we have said that heaven was made by his prudence, and now we affirm that those who bear the heavenly man are heavens.

For if it is said to sinners: You are earth, and unto earth you shall go, why should it not be said to the just man, whose is the kingdom of heaven: You are heaven, and unto heaven you shall go? Or if, because of the earthly man, it is said to him who bears the image of the earthly, that is, of the terrestrial: You are earth, and unto earth you shall go—why should it not, because of the heavenly man, befit him who bears the image of the heavenly to be told: You are heaven, and unto heaven you shall go? Now each of us has done either heavenly or earthly deeds: if earthly deeds have been done, they lead him who lays up treasure in earth, and not in heaven, down to the earth that is akin to him. And again, these deeds which have been done according to virtue carry their author up to the regions of the heavens that are akin to them.

And he added: Bringing forth clouds from the end of the earth. A discussion of this kind occurred lately in the Psalm too, and it was said by us how God brought forth clouds from the end of the earth. This we are now compelled to take up again, so that those who heard it may fully recall what they know, and those who were not present, or have forgotten, may recognize the substance of the discourse which we then set forth as best we could. We said that the saints are clouds. For indeed that which is written: Thy truth reaches even unto the clouds, cannot be referred to inanimate clouds; but the truth of God reaches to those clouds which hear the command of the Lord, and know where to carry the rains, and from whom to withhold them. Of these clouds it is said: And I will command my clouds that they rain not a shower upon it.

For concerning those clouds said to consist of dense air, if there is no rain, God does not command that they not rain a shower upon a vineyard or any region; rather, they simply do not appear—as we read in the third book of Kingdoms, when in a time of drought no cloud appeared, and afterward, according to the prophecy of Elijah, the sign of the future rain was shown in the footprint of a man, and thus, after a cloud had gathered, rain descended upon the earth. But to these subsisting clouds, as it were, it is commanded to withhold the rain when a soul is unworthy of the heavenly shower, and it is said: I will command the clouds that they rain not a shower upon it. And so each of the saints is a cloud. Moses was a cloud, and spoke as it were like a cloud: Give ear, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my speech be expected as the rain.

If he had not been a cloud, he would never have said: Let my speech be expected as the rain, and let my words descend as the dew. Speaking as it were like a cloud he said: As showers upon the grass, as hoarfrost upon the hay, because I have invoked the name of the Lord. Likewise Isaiah too spoke like a cloud: Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. And because he himself was a cloud, and knew that other clouds prophesied along with him, therefore, prophesying, he said: I will command my clouds that they rain not a shower upon it. But now that we have said who the clouds are, let us see how God brings forth clouds from the end of the earth. The Savior says: He who wishes to be first among you, let him be last of all.

Paul kept this command, and became the last in this world, saying: For I think God has shown us the apostles last, as men appointed to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. If, then, any saint, obeying the Savior's command of this manner of life, has become the last in this life, he is a cloud; and the Lord brings forth clouds not from the first of the earth, not from consuls, not from leaders, not from the rich: for Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Do you see how God brings forth and gives body to clouds from the extremities? Therefore, if we wish to become clouds, to which the truth of God may come, let us become the last of all, both in affection and in deed, and let us say: For I think God has shown us the apostles last.

But if I am not an apostle, still it is permitted me to become the extremity, so that God, bringing forth clouds from the end of the earth, may bring me forth also. And he made lightnings into rain. Those who investigate natural causes say that lightnings are generated from the collision of clouds, in the manner of hard flints, which, when struck together, produce fire flashing out between them; and thus thunder rumbles together with lightning—the thunder indicating the sound of the collision, and the lightning the brightness of the light struck out. If you have understood the example, consider now the rational clouds. Moses was a cloud; Joshua son of Nun was a cloud: if these converse together, lightnings flash from their words. Jeremiah and Baruch were clouds; let them speak with one another, and you will see lightning gleam. You yourself can find, in the same way, from the holy Scriptures, such meetings, from which fire is sent forth.

But to come to the New Testament, Paul and Silvanus, two clouds, came together as one, and behold, their Epistles illumine the whole world with their lightning: He made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds out of his treasuries. Are, then, these winds which blow over the earth in the treasuries of God, and is not the nature of these things manifest, how and by what reason they subsist? But there are certain treasuries of winds, treasuries of spirits: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of God, of fortitude, and of love and charity. You yourself too can gather these winds from the Scriptures, and find the treasuries of these spirits. Where are these treasuries? Surely in him in whom the treasures of knowledge are hidden: they have their seat in Christ. From there these spirits arise, so that one is wise, another faithful, another learned, and another possesses another of the gifts of God.

For to one is given, through the spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge according to the same spirit; to another faith in the same spirit. He brought forth, then, clouds from the end of the earth, and made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds out of his treasuries, and, according to the mercy of God, we hope to arrive at these treasuries. And since there are many treasuries, perhaps, according to the order of those rising again, there will also be rest in the treasuries of God. What I mean is this: the resurrection of the dead will take place in certain orders. For the Apostle says: But each shall rise in his own order, and the orders of those rising are not mingled at random: there will be one order in this and that treasury of God, and another order in another and another treasury of God. All these treasuries have one treasury, in which are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And just as I possess one most precious pearl by means of many other pearls, so I come to the treasury of treasuries, and the Lord of lords, and the King of kings, when I shall be found worthy among the spirits that dwell in the treasuries of God. For he brought forth winds out of his treasuries. Every man is made foolish by knowledge. If every man is made foolish by knowledge, and Paul is a man, then Paul is made foolish by knowledge. We know in part, and we prophesy in part. Made foolish by knowledge, seeing through a glass, seeing in an enigma, seeing a small portion, and—if it is fitting to say so—recognizing even of that small portion the smallest part. By contrast you will understand what this means: Every man is made foolish by knowledge. In comparison with the sins of Jerusalem, the sin of Sodom is righteousness. For it is said: Sodom is justified in comparison with you.

As, then, the sins of Sodom do not have righteousness in themselves, but are justified only by comparison with greater crimes, so, on the contrary, the knowledge of Paul, in comparison with that heavenly knowledge, with that consummate understanding of reason, is reckoned foolishness. Therefore every man is made foolish by knowledge. Something of this sort, I think, Ecclesiastes perceived when he uttered: I said, I will become wise, and she withdrew herself from me farther than she was, and deep is the depth, who shall find it? We wish to say something, if it be permitted, somewhat boldly: that this which descended into the world emptied itself, so that by its emptying the world might be filled. But if that which descended into the world emptied itself, that very emptying is wisdom: since that which is the foolishness of God is wiser than men. If I myself had said "the foolishness of God," how would those who hunt after my words, ever bent on accusation, brandish their poisoned tongues against me?

But now Paul, as a wise man and one possessing apostolic authority, dared to say that all earthly wisdom—that which was in himself, that which was in Peter, that which was in the other apostles, that which had descended into this world—is the foolishness of God: in comparison, indeed, with that wisdom which no earthly place can contain; in comparison with that wisdom which is heavenly, which exceeds the bounds of the world, that which has descended to men is the foolishness of God. But this very foolishness of God is wiser than men—which men? Not indeed the foolish, but the wise; you may call them, if you like, the wise of this age, whether princes or seers—to these wise ones of the age applies what we have expounded: The foolishness of God is wiser than men. We wish to insert something remarkable: that the wisdom of the world is foolishness before God, and God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.

For in his own wisdom he made foolish the wisdom of the world; nor can the wisdom of the world grasp the wisdom of God, so that it is proved to be foolishness. For the wisdom of God does not deign to descend wholly to refute the wisdom of the world, but rather a small portion, which was necessary, which was the foolishness of God, so that by this small and foolish thing of God the wisdom of the age might be made foolish. For the wisdom of the age was not able to withstand, unable as it was, the magnitude of the wisdom coming upon it. But let us bring in an example, so that it may be clearly understood how the foolishness of God made the wisdom of the world foolish: let me imagine for a moment that I, who am thought to know something, converse with some foolish and uneducated man, who understands nothing, who asks no question of acute disputation.

Do I need, in order to refute his foolishness, to employ dialectical cunning and the sharpness of profound thoughts? Shall I not, by the throw of a single cheap and small remark, which nevertheless will seem very sharp to his understanding, convict him of being foolish and ignorant? So, then, in order to make foolish the wisdom of the world, there is no need for the wisdom of God to descend and wrestle with that wisdom which is below; but the foolishness of God suffices: since the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God stronger than men, and my Savior and Lord took on all contrary things, that by contraries he might dissolve contraries, and that we might be strengthened by his weakness and be made wise by his foolishness, and, being led in by this, might be able to ascend to the wisdom and power of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Hear the words of this covenant; down to the place where it is said: They have turned back to the iniquities of their fathers. According to the truth of history indeed, we do not deny that the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ was made bodily, and that it shone upon the whole world, when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. But we must know that even before he assumed a body he also descended to the saints; and after this bodily presence, ascending victorious to the heavens, he will come again to us. If you wish to grasp the proof of this matter, listen to what is said: The word that came upon Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Hear, and so forth. For what is this word that came from the Lord, whether to Jeremiah, or to Isaiah, or to any of the prophets? Is it not that which was in the beginning with God?

I know no other word of the Lord besides that one, of which the Evangelist says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But we ought to know that this is the benefit of believers, if the word comes to each one individually. For what does it profit me if he descends into the world, and I myself do not possess him? On the other hand, even if he should not come to the whole world, and I were like the prophets, I have him. But I will say that the same word passed also to Moses, and to Jeremiah, and to Isaiah, and to each of the saints individually: wisdom, that the wisdom of the world may be shown to be foolishness.

Wherefore also we have just now supplied from the same Rabanus the words "wisdom of God," which were missing, in a fitting and coherent sense: now, besides the testimony of Rabanus and the authority of the Greek text, the very sequence of the discourse proves that the place has been excellently restored. And that which was said by the Lord to the disciples: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world, was fulfilled in deed before his coming, which he manifested to all. For he was with Moses, with Isaiah, with all the saints. For how could they utter the word of God without the coming of that very Word? But we who are of the Church ought all the more to observe this, we who wish the God of the Law and of the Gospel to be the same, the same God both anciently and now and unto all ages of ages, Amen. There are some who in their opinion divide the ancient divinity from that which is announced in Christ.

We know one God, both in the past and in the present, one Christ then and now alike, and one Holy Spirit, everlasting with the Father and the Son. This is said because of what has been read: The word which came upon Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: what then does he say, let us hear. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. We are the men of Judah on account of Christ, nor is there any doubt that our Lord arose from Judah. If I shall also prove, according to the Scriptures, that the very name Judah refers to Christ, the men of Judah will not be the Jews who do not believe in Christ, but we who believe in Christ. Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee: thy hands shall be upon the necks of thy enemies. They praise thee. It was not that Judah, the son of Jacob, whom his brethren praised, but now they praise Judah, his brethren.

For this Judah says: I will declare thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the Church I will sing to thee. It is said to that Judah: Thy hands shall be upon the neck of thine enemies. Where is it found that that Judah placed his hands upon the necks of his enemies? History has written nothing of the kind about him. But if you consider the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ, destroying Zabulus, spoiling the principalities and powers, making a show of them, and triumphing on the wood, you will see how the prophecy was fulfilled concerning this Judah, saying: Thy hands shall be upon the neck of thine enemies. And now, when the word is addressed to the men of Judah, no one doubts that the word is addressed to Christians on account of Christ, who was born of the tribe of Judah. The word is also addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that is, to those who dwell in the Church.

This is the city of the great King, this is the vision of peace. For peace is multiplied and seen in us, if indeed we are children of peace. Hear therefore the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you shall say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man who shall not hear the words of this covenant, which he commanded your fathers. Who more truly hears the words of the covenant which God commanded the fathers? We who believe in Christ, or those who did not even believe Moses, since they do not believe in Christ? To whom the Saviour says: If you believed Moses, you would surely believe me also, for he wrote of me: But if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe my words?

Therefore they did not believe Moses; but we, truly believing in Christ, believe the covenant that was handed down through Moses, and it is said to us, lest we become cursed: Cursed is the man who shall not hear the words of this covenant, which he commanded your fathers. Therefore they are cursed, for they did not hear the covenant which God commanded the fathers: In the day, he says, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. And God brought us also out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace: especially according to one who understands what is written in the Apocalypse of John, that the place where the Lord was crucified is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.

For if someone is spiritually called Egypt, and it is not Egypt according to bodily understanding, there is no doubt that if you understand the spiritual Egypt, and go out of it, you are one going out from the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, and it is said to you: Hear my voice, and do according to all these things. Then follows God's promise to those who hear, if they do whatsoever the Lord has commanded, saying: And you shall be to me a people, and I will be to you a God. Not everyone who calls himself the people of God is the people of God. The people of the Jews, selling themselves as the people of God, deserved to hear: You are not my people; and it was said to it: Not my people. And again this people was called not a people: For they, he says, have provoked me to jealousy with what is not God.

Of them he says: They have provoked me with their idols, and I will provoke them to jealousy with those who are not a nation. And I will provoke them with a foolish nation. We, then, have been made into the people of God, and righteousness is announced to a people who shall be born of the nations. For this people is born suddenly: and it is written in the prophet: If a nation is born at once. When the Saviour ascended into heaven, and in one day five thousand believed, and on another day three thousand were added, then indeed one could see a people born at once by the word of God, and suddenly the barren one bringing forth, to whom it is said: Rejoice, O barren, that dost not bear; break forth and cry, thou that dost not travail: for the children of the desolate are more than of her that hath a husband. The Church, deserted by the Law, was deserted by God. But the synagogue, having a husband, had the Law and God.

What then does God promise? You shall be to me a people, and I will be to you a God. He is not the God of all, but only of those to whom he has given himself, as to that patriarch to whom he says: I am your God: and again to another: I will be God, I will be your God: and also concerning others: I will be, he says, their God. Do you think we ever attain that of which I speak individually, that God becomes the God of all of us? But if you wish to learn more fully whose God he is, and to whom he grants the title of his name: I am, he says, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: and the Saviour, explaining this very thing, says: But God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Who is dead?

Surely the sinner, who does not have him who says: I am the life, who has dead works, who has not yet done penance from dead works: of whom the Apostle says: Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. If then God is not the God of the dead, but of the living: and we know that he who lives in Christ is alive, so that he may become a partaker of him: and if we wish that he be our God also, let us renounce dead works, so that he may fulfil his promise in us, saying: And I will be to you a God, that I may establish my oath, which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. Observe what he says: I will establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. For this is not the land of which the Saviour taught, saying: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.

Then to these things which God had said, the prophet responded, that is, to what he said: Cursed is the man who shall not hear the words of this covenant: and he says: And I answered, and said: So be it, Lord. What is meant by: So be it, Lord? Surely that which God pronounced: Cursed is the man who shall not hear the words of this covenant. And the Lord said to me: Read these words in the cities of Judah, and outside Jerusalem. And twice to those who are outside, we read the divine words, provoking them to salvation. The words of this covenant, and do them. And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. If we who are called Christians on account of Christ shall have sinned, and shall be found among the number of sinners, it is also said of us: A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

When there are such in the Church of God in whom is found the snare of iniquity and the bonds of sin, so much so that what is said of the sinner may fittingly apply to them: Everyone is bound by the chains of his own sins, then God says: A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah. But no conspiracy will be found in us. Yet how will no conspiracy be found in us, if up to this hour there is conspiracy in some? But: Loose every bond of iniquity, undo the bonds of violent exchanges, scatter every unjust contract. Break your bread to the hungry. A conspiracy, then, is found among the men of Judah, among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers. They have turned to iniquities. Whose? He does not say simply, of the fathers, but with an addition, of their former fathers. We have said that these things are said of us, and of those sinners who are among us.

How then have those who are sinners among us turned to the iniquities of their fathers, and of their former fathers? We have two sets of fathers, and one kind is of the worst fathers. For before we believed, the devil was our father, as the word of the Gospel shows, saying: You are of your father the devil: but when we believe, we become sons of God. If, then, after this we should sin, we turn back to the iniquities of the fathers, not simply, but of the former fathers. And as proof of this matter, that we have two sets of fathers, we use also the testimony of David, who says thus in the forty-fourth psalm: Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear, and forget your people, and your father's house. As though beginning as a father: Hear, O daughter. Therefore our fathers are twofold. But forget, he says, the house of your former father.

If, then, having forgotten the house of your former father, you should again turn to sins, you have fallen into what is now called sin: They have turned back to the iniquities of their former fathers. We said a while ago that the devil was our father before God became our father; and if this was so, still now we do not have the devil as father, which we also confirm from the epistle of John, in which it is written thus: Whoever commits sin is born of the devil. As often as we sin, so often we are born of the devil. Unhappy is he who is always begotten by the devil. And again, greatly blessed is he who is always born of God. For I would not say that the just man is born of God once only, but through each single work of virtue he is always born of God.

But that this may be more fully proved, let us speak also of the daily birth of our Saviour, plainly obtaining in the just what preceded in the Lord. Our Saviour is the brightness of glory; but brightness is not born once, and then cease to be born: as often as the light arises from which the brightness arises, so often the brightness of glory arises. Our Saviour is the wisdom of God. But wisdom is the brightness of eternal light. Thus, then, the Saviour is always being born, and therefore he says: Before all the hills he begets me, not, as some read wrongly, he begot me. If the Lord is always being born of the Father, you too, having in likeness of him only the writing of adoption, are always being begotten by God through each act of understanding, through each work, and you become a son of God in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

Who is this who says: Because of me all the earth has been utterly destroyed by destruction? Christ speaks these words: for before his coming there were indeed many sins in the people of Israel, but the Lord, coming, forbade such things, so that they should be wholly abandoned, and be delivered over into a long captivity. But when they had filled up the measure of their fathers, and added to it the slaying of the prophets, and the persecution of the just, and the killing of the Saviour, then was fulfilled: Your house shall be left unto you desolate. And because he suffered from them what is written in the Gospel, therefore it is now said: All the earth is utterly destroyed by destruction.

But if you wish to understand this more subtly: Because of me all the earth has been utterly destroyed by destruction: consider how the earth that is within you has been destroyed, and then you will see that, after the coming of Jesus Christ, what was spoken has been fulfilled in our members that have been put to death upon the earth, since the earth no longer performs its own works, since those things by which the flesh was formerly nourished no longer occur in the just man—no fornication, no uncleanness, no more luxury, no servitude to idols, no favors sought. The Lord says: What do you think, that I came to send peace upon the earth? I came not to send peace, but a sword. Truly before he descended, there was no sword upon the earth, neither did the flesh lust against the spirit, nor the spirit against the flesh.

But when he came, and we were taught what things belong to the flesh and what to the spirit, his teaching, like a sword thrust in, divided the flesh, that is, the earth, from the spirit, and destroyed it, for we carry about in our body the mortification of Jesus Christ, and we live no longer according to the flesh, but the spirit lives, and we sow not in the flesh but in the spirit, that we may reap not corruption from the flesh, but eternal life from the spirit. But it is said to sinners: You sow wheat, and reap thorns. For he who utters the words of God neither according to the will of the Scriptures nor according to the truth of the faith, sows wheat and reaps thorns. This is what heretics do, who read the Scriptures and reap thorns not from the holy books but from their own opinions. Their clergy shall not profit them.

These things have been expounded by others before me, and since I do not disapprove of their interpretation, I offer it in agreement, not as one who has discovered it myself, but repeating what has already been discovered, that it may profit both me and you equally, if only the attentive mind receives what is to be said. We who are thought to be something, that is, we who preside over you in the order of the clergy—so much so that some from a lower rank desire to arrive at this position—ought to know that we are not thereby immediately to be saved because we are clergy; for many presbyters perish, and laymen are found most blessed; but only if we both merit and hold the order of the clergy alike.

Since therefore there are certain clergy who do not so live that they themselves derive fruit from their order, and are an ornament to their dignity: therefore they say that the prophet, when he now says: Their clergy shall not profit them; for indeed the usefulness of the clerical office does not consist in someone sitting in the assembly of presbyters, but in whether he walks worthily according to his place, and according to the precepts of the Lord. But, dearly beloved, do not think that this was said only about us; the divine majesty admonishes both us and you, that we should live according to the precepts of the Scriptures, and, if it is fitting to say so: The mighty shall be mightily tormented. More is required of me than of a deacon, more of a deacon than of a layman. But he who holds the summit of the whole Church shall render account for the whole Church.

For this reason the apostle Paul (namely as one to whom many things had been entrusted) said: So let a man account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. Here now it is required among stewards, that a man be found faithful. So rare a thing is it to find a good steward, that Jesus, who before things future arose had known them, said: Who then, do you think, is the faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?

And a little after, complaining of certain stewards, he added, saying: But if that evil servant shall begin to say: My lord delays his coming, and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and be drunken, the lord of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect, and at an hour when he does not know, and shall cut him asunder, and shall appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. This concerns what is written: Their clergy shall not profit them. Let us also look at the correction necessary for the rest, which, as it seems to me, we ought to take in a moral sense: Be confounded at your boasting, at the reproach in the sight of the Lord. There are many things in which, by boasting, we display our folly. For example, if any boast in many possessions, it is said to them: Be confounded at your boasting. If any boast in nobility of birth, it is said to them: Be confounded at your boasting.

If any walk proudly in most costly garments, in a house adorned with many riches, this boasting is indeed foreign to the boasting of the saints; it is said to them: Be confounded at your boasting. But this is a small matter. Hear what the divine word says in Jeremiah, commanding that we should not boast even in our wisdom: Let not, it says, the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches; but let him who boasts, boast in this, that he understands and knows that I am the Lord. Do you wish to boast, and not hear the boastful rebuke? Be confounded at your boasting. Boast as the apostle did, and say: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Do you wish to boast and not hear: Be confounded at your boasting—hear Paul boasting, and learn when he says: I will gladly glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Hear what kind of glories they are in which a man may exalt himself: In labors abundantly. Who can say this: In prisons more frequently, in deaths often, of the Jews five times I received forty stripes save one, thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck? Let us learn the differences of boastings, and that there are some who boast in things worthy of shame, whose glory is in their confusion. For indeed they boast in the very things which, when they do them, they seek out hiding places and secrecy for. After this let us consider what has been commanded concerning the girdle. Thus says the Lord: Go and get yourself a linen girdle, and put it about your loins, and you shall not pass it through water.

And I got the girdle according to the word of the Lord to me, saying: Take the girdle that is about your loins, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. After many days the prophet came, and took the girdle from the place where he had buried it, and behold, it had rotted, so that it was fit for no use. And lest anyone should presume upon his own understanding regarding this passage, the Lord, giving occasion for interpretation, added, saying: For as the girdle clings about the loins of a man, so have I glued to myself the house of Israel and all the house of Judah, that they might become to me a people named, and for exultation, and glory; and they did not obey me. Therefore let the prophet in this place be taken for God, and the linen girdle wrapped about his loins understood as the people of God.

For I have glued, he says, the house of Israel to myself, and in a certain manner the just man becomes God's girdle. You will ask for what reason? Read Ezekiel, and understand how God appears in bodily form, and why from his loins downward to his feet there appears fire, and from his loins upward to his head, amber: then you will be able to find the reason of the present Scripture too, why the lower parts of God are fiery. The reins are reckoned by generation, the loins by fire. For all things that come from intercourse and pleasure require purgation, and that very purgation is mingled with punishment. But the things that rise up from the reins to the higher parts transcend by their own power the works of lust, and, as it were a purer material, are compared to the likeness of amber. For amber is said to be more precious than gold. Why then does Scripture use such examples, to show that the upper body of God is magnificent, and the lower more base?

Therefore it has now introduced the Lord as subsisting from fire and from amber. From which each one of us, according to the beginning of his birth, is referred to fire; but according to zeal and progress, becomes that upper body of God, that of amber, as we withdraw from fire, from punishments, from torment. Attach therefore to your loins the linen girdle. Why? That it may be shown that the people is the kingdom of God. For against those who wish to accuse the providence of God, He resists, and protects the works of His own, and does not allow anything unseemly to be told of His majesty. But when we have sinned, just as the prophet put off that girdle and cast it into the river Euphrates, that it might rot there: so also God will cast us off from His loins, and, thrown away, will leave us at the Euphrates river of Mesopotamia, where the Assyrians dwell, the enemies of Israel, where the Babylonians dwell, and there we shall rot.

For why, passing over so many rivers in the whole world, does the prophet send from Judea to the Euphrates, unless to teach a mystery according to the force of the name? After this we ask why it is called a linen girdle. Flax grows from the earth; for when its seed has been cast into the ground, it first sprouts as grass, then—to pass over countless details—being harvested it is carried home, is combed, washed, rubbed, beaten, and shaken out with great labor (so to speak), that it may become such that from it a girdle, or something else for necessary uses, may be made. And so we too, all of us who have our generation from the earth, who are woven into God's girdle, need much care, that we may be combed, that we may be washed, that we may cast off the color of the earth. For one color belongs to flax in its birth, another when it has been cleansed by labor.

The color of its birth is darker and blacker, but that of its finished work is brighter. Something like this, I know not what, happens to us too at the beginning: for we are black when we are regenerated, when we believe, when in the Song of Songs we say: I am black and beautiful. We have a soul as unlovely as the Ethiopians'; we are washed that we may become white, that we may attain by diligence a brightness which was not implanted in us by nature, according to what is written in the same place: Who is this that comes up made white? And that we may become linen, white and pure. And thus, when we shall have been worthy of fellowship with God, we are folded into His girdle, and are never taken off from Him, provided only that we always keep the whiteness which He had granted us.

Since therefore the Jews, and all the house of Israel, showed themselves unworthy of God, and were cast off by Him, He has girded Himself with us in their place. For it must not be thought that, having thrown off the girdle, He remained ungirded: as soon as He cast them off, He wove others for Himself. This girdle is the Church gathered from the Gentiles: which ought to know that if God did not spare those who came before, neither will He spare her, if she forsakes Him, if she is not worthy of His loins, if she does not cling to the Lord, being one spirit in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

If the oracles of God are in the Law and the Prophets, the Gospels and the Apostles, it is fitting that the disciple of God should ascribe God as the master of divine words. For he who teaches man knowledge, according to the Psalmist, is God. The Savior too bears witness that no one ought to be called master upon the earth, saying: And you, do not be called master upon the earth. For one is your master, the Father who is in heaven: but the Father who is in heaven instructs men either by himself, or by the Son, or by the Holy Spirit: and to come to lesser things, he instructs by Paul, by Peter, by any other of the saints: only let the spirit of God and the word of God descend and teach. Why have we said these things? Namely because the prophet says: Make known to me, O Lord, and I shall know. For I cannot know, unless you have revealed it to me.

But if, with you showing, I shall be able to know what I do not know, then I shall see the thoughts of individuals, and I shall know what each one does, and of what will he is. These are the words of the prophet. Then let us see what the Savior says in the prophet: I like an innocent lamb led to be slaughtered, and I did not know. Against me they devised a plan, saying: Come, let us put wood into his bread, and let us crush him from the land of the living, and his name shall no longer be remembered. Isaiah too proclaims that Christ was led as a sheep to the sacrifice, and like a lamb before its shearer without a voice, so he did not open his mouth: and there indeed he speaks of Christ, but here Christ himself speaks of himself: I, he says, like an innocent lamb led to be slaughtered, and I did not know. Nor does he add what he did not know.

For he did not say: I did not know evils, I did not know good things, I did not know sin or injustice; but simply, I did not know. He has left it to you, therefore, to seek what he did not know. Read the Apostle: Him who knew no sin he made to be sin for us. For to know sin is to sin: as to know justice is to act justly. From which it is manifest that he who preaches justice and does not act justly does not know justice. Against me they devised a plan, saying: Come, let us put wood into his bread. That the Lord was crucified by the Jews, no one doubts: and while we preach this with total freedom, how shall we fit to him what is said: Against me they devised a plan, saying: this that they add: Come, let us put wood into his bread, is of very great difficulty. The bread of Jesus by which we are nourished is interpreted as his word.

Since therefore, while he was teaching, some wished to place a stumbling block against his teaching, crucifying him they said: Come, let us put wood into his bread. For when the crucifixion of the master is joined to the word of Jesus and his teaching, wood is put into the bread. And they indeed, plotting, say: Come, let us put wood into his bread. But I shall bring forth something admirable. The wood put into his bread made the bread better. Take an example from the law of Moses. Just as the wood which was put into the bitter water made it sweet: so the wood of Christ's passion put into his teaching made his bread sweeter. For before the wood was put into his bread, when it was only bread, and there was no wood, his sound had not gone out into all the earth: but after it took on strength through the wood, then the word of his passion was sown throughout the whole world.

In figure of which the water also in the Old Testament was made sweet at the touch of the wood. For I say that the Law not understood is bitter water. But when the wood of Jesus Christ comes, and the word of my Savior descends into it, then it is sweetened, and becomes of the sweetest savor, the law of Moses being both understood and read alike. Saying therefore: Come, let us put wood into his bread, they also add this: and let us crush him from the land of the living, and his name shall no longer be remembered. For thus they killed him, as though they were utterly rooting out his name. But Jesus knows why and how he dies. For which reason he says: Unless a grain of wheat falling into the earth die, it remains alone; but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. Therefore the death of Jesus Christ became an ear of wheat, restoring sevenfold and much more than had been sown.

For let us imagine for a little while that he had not been crucified, nor descended to the underworld after death: it follows that only a single grain of wheat remains, and many are not born from it. Attend carefully to the divine oracles, what they wish to be understood in themselves. A grain of wheat, if it does not fall into the earth and die, does not bring forth much fruit. The death of Jesus made all these fruitful. But if death brought forth such great fruits, of what abundance will the resurrection be? Lord of powers, judging justly, testing the reins and hearts, may I see the vengeance from you upon them. He prays prophetically, that he may see vengeance upon them before the Father; for Jerusalem was surrounded by an army, and its overthrow drew near, and that which had been said to it: Behold, your house is left to you desolate, was fulfilled. May I see, then, the vengeance from you upon them; for to you I have revealed my justification.

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men who are in Anathoth, who seek my life, who say: You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord, otherwise you shall die at our hands. Behold, I will visit upon them: their young men shall fall by the sword, and their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, and there shall be no remnant of them. For I will bring evils upon the inhabitants of Anathoth, in the year of their visitation. The name Anathoth is now taken figuratively. And the whole Jewish mystery is in it.

For Anathoth is interpreted "obedience": since therefore the obedience of God was in that people, as was his kingdom: and it came to pass concerning the kingdom that which we know was foretold: The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits: now also the men who are in Anathoth, that is, in obedience, seek the life—not of Jeremiah, for no history records this, that the men of Anathoth sought his life. We have the books of Kings: Scripture there mentions Jeremiah, but nothing of the sort is written. We have Chronicles, and that too, which is now interpreted as the volume of the Prophet—the men of Anathoth said nothing of the sort: but they seek the life of Christ, my Lord, who say: You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord. We read also that this was forbidden to the Jews, lest Christ should teach: Otherwise you shall die at our hands.

Behold, I will visit upon them, their young men shall fall by the sword, and their sons and their daughters shall die by famine. They did not fall by the sword in the days of Jeremiah, but after the coming of the Lord: then famine also came upon them, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of God. For among them it is no longer said: Thus says the Lord, God almighty. This is the famine of prophecy ceasing among them. But why should I speak of the Prophets? Neither teachers nor doctors remain any longer in Judea: and although there are countless ones who claim wisdom for themselves, the word of God is no longer among them.

For that prophecy has been fulfilled: The Lord shall take away from Judea and from Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman, the strength of bread and the strength of water, the giant and the mighty man, and the man of war, and the judge, and the prophet, and the arbiter, and the elder of fifty years, and the admirable counselor, and the wise architect, and the intelligent hearer. No longer is there among them one who can say: As a wise architect I have laid the foundation. The architects have migrated from them, they have come to the Church, they have laid the foundation, Jesus Christ. Upon this all who have believed after them build. In famine, therefore, that people has been left: For I will bring evils upon the inhabitants of Anathoth, in the year of their visitation. You are just, O Lord, for I shall excuse myself before you. Nevertheless I will speak judgments to you. Why is it that the way of sinners prospers? All have abounded who have despised, holding in contempt.

Let us ask whether God is good, who granted the Law and the Prophets, seeing the way of the impious prosper, and they suffer nothing from him for their desert. For all have abounded who have despised, holding in contempt, those who bark with rabid jaws against the Creator, who accuse him with blasphemous words: They have abounded, they have been planted, and have sent forth root; they have begotten sons and made fruit. How many fruits did Marcion make, begetting sons of unbelief? How many did Basilides? How many did Valentinus? Concerning these indeed, yes, he prophesies, saying: They have begotten sons, and made fruit. You are near to their mouth, and far from their reins. They name Jesus, and do not possess him, for they do not confess him as Christ. And you, O Lord, know, and have tested my heart in your sight. Sanctify them in the day of their slaughter. What shall I do to explain this? He calls the torments the sanctification of those who are tormented.

For "sanctify them," he says, "in the day of their slaughter," that is, through this—that you kill them—sanctify them. For whom the Lord loves he chastens; and he scourges every son whom he receives. How long shall the earth mourn, and all the hay of the field wither, because of the malice of those dwelling in the land? As though the earth were a living creature, so the prophet now speaks, saying that it mourns when the inhabitants who dwell in it are evil. For through each one of us the earth either rejoices in the virtues of its inhabitants, or mourns in their vices. But if the earth does, so consequently do the other elements, among which is water also, that is, the angel who is set over the water.

For I cannot otherwise explain the earth mourning, or rejoicing: nor does sense allow us to believe that an insensible body feels; but rather we must understand that angels preside over all things, over earth and water as much as over air and fire, that is, they rule the elements, and in this order it extends to all living creatures, to every sprouting thing, even to the heavenly stars themselves. One angel is set over the lands: and thus all these angels, with whom we live on the earth, rejoice when we act justly, and mourn when we sin. The earth shall mourn because of all its inhabitants. By the same name he calls the angel of the earth as the earth itself is named.

For just as, when that which is made by hand is cursed, he who made it is also cursed—not that the thing cursed, which lacks soul and sense, is truly cursed, but rather he who attends the insensible image is called cursed, called by the same name as that which is made by hand—so also now the earth is called by the name of that angel who is set over the earth. Nor should you take this only of the earth; the angel of the water also is called by its name, according to that which is said elsewhere: The waters saw you and were afraid, the depths were troubled. The abundance of the sound of waters, the clouds gave forth a voice, for your arrows passed through. I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance. I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies. Behold for me him who existed in the form of God in the heavens. Behold his house, the Thrones, and all the exalted Virtues.

But if you wish to understand something more sublime, because of what he says: I am in the Father, and the Father in me: behold his house, God the Father. He leaves his father, and his mother, the heavenly Jerusalem, and comes into this earthly place, and says: I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance. That was his inheritance, the Angelic possessions, and the order of the holy Virtues. I have given my beloved soul into the hands of my enemies. He handed over his soul into the hands of his enemies, into the hands of the Jews who killed him, into the hands of the princes gathered against him, into the hands of kings, since: The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest.

That inheritance which was his on the earth, which he had chosen for himself as a possession, which had been his portion, has become fierce against him, and his inheritance—that is, the Jews—has become like a lion in the forest. Nor is it to be wondered at, if it has been compared to so savage a beast: even to the present day there are lions in the forest, anathematizing the Lord Jesus, and blaspheming him, and lying in wait for those who believe in his name. She has given forth her voice against me, therefore I have hated her. Is my inheritance to me a den of the hyena? Concerning his own inheritance he foretells that it shall become a den of the hyena, a beast rabid and fierce, living on the corpses of the dead, which always lurks over graves and bones. Is my inheritance to me a den of the hyena, or a den round about it?

Since such they are, I command you, angels, to go and gather the beasts, and hand them over to be torn apart. Go, gather all the beasts of the field, let them come and devour them. The beasts of the field came, they devoured the people of the Jews. Behold the hearts of all consumed by hostile powers. If God did not spare them, but said: Go, gather the beasts, how much more will he not spare us? If we do not keep his law, if we neglect the word of the Gospel, again he will say: Go, gather the beasts, and hand her over. But let us trust in the Lord, and in prayer say: Do not deliver to the beasts the soul that confesses to you.

Let us do penance for our sins, let us confess the offenses which we have committed, and we shall not be handed over to the beasts: but rather angels will come, who, carrying us in their bosom, will transfer us from earthly places to the heavenly, and from the present age will place us in perpetual eternity, in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

Concerning that which is written: Every bottle shall be filled with wine, as far as this: And your eyes shall shed tears, because the flock of the Lord is broken. That which is commanded by God to the prophet to say ought to be worthy of the command of God. But it does not seem worthy, if we remain in the letter, and seek nothing deeper, so much so that if some untutored hearer should appear, he would say it is foolish to lend an ear to the Scriptures, and to take note of the things that are read in them. This is the speech of the animal man: for the animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God. For it is foolishness to him. Let us consider, then, what the word of God commands: And you shall say to the people this word: Thus says the Lord God of Israel. What the Lord God of Israel says, let it be, I ask, worthy of the Lord God of Israel.

Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And it shall be, if they say to you: Do we not know, in knowing, that every bottle shall be filled with wine? Those who answer thus, if they follow only the letter, and say that they know that every bottle shall be filled with wine, are deceived. For it does not necessarily follow that all bottles are filled with wine. There are bottles full of oil; there are others empty of any matter of liquid nature whatsoever, or at least not full. But the Lord says that every bottle is to be filled with wine; and the people answered: Do we not know, in knowing, that every bottle shall be filled with wine? These things, indeed, according to the poverty of my talent, may be interpreted thus, if we first examine the differences of wine, so that then we may consequently treat as true what is said, that every bottle shall be filled with wine.

For whether someone is good (so to speak) among bottles, the bottle shall be filled with the wine of his own goodness; or whether he is evil, according to this, that he is evil, he shall be filled with evil wine. How then can we take from the Scriptures the differences of wine? Concerning evil wine these things have been written: Of the vine of Sodom is their vine, and their branch is of Gomorrah; their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness is in them, their wine is the venom of dragons, and the incurable poison of asps. Concerning the good these things are said: Your cup that inebriates, how excellent it is? And Wisdom calls to her mixing-bowl, saying: Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you. There is, then, a wine from Sodom, and there is a wine which Wisdom has mixed.

And again: A vineyard was made for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place, planted by God, which is called the vineyard of Sorec, a certain chosen one and marvelous among all vineyards. But there is another vineyard, of the Egyptians, which God strikes, according to what is written: He struck their vineyards with hail, and their fig trees with frost. Let us consider, then, that all men are figuratively capable of αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ κληματὶς αὐτῶν. Of wine, nor can we impose any other name on those who are capable of wine than that of bottles, and say that a wicked man is full of the wine of the vineyard of Sodom and of the Egyptians, full of the wine of the enemies of Israel; but the holy man, and he who progresses in virtues, is full of the wine of the vineyard of Sorec, the wine of which it is written: Your cup that inebriates, how excellent it is, the wine which Wisdom has mixed.

And let these things be understood by me according to wickedness and virtue, that we may know how every bottle shall be filled with wine. But if bottles are filled with wickedness or with virtues, it follows that they are filled with punishments on account of wickedness, with blessings on account of virtue. Let the sacred letters furnish testimony as to how torments or promises are called wine. Take the cup of this pure wine, and you shall give it to drink to all the nations to whom I send you. Now Jeremiah says these things; on which he adds: And they shall drink, and vomit, and go mad, and fall. Therefore in this passage he has called punishments pure wine.

Some drink pure wines, that is, they are worthy of pure torments; others, however, drink punishments—wines indeed not entirely pure, but tempered to some extent: For the cup is in the hand of the Lord, full of pure wine mixed, and he has poured out from this into that, yet its dregs are not emptied out; all the sinners of the earth shall drink of it. If you wish also to behold the cup of blessing, which the just drink, although the testimony of Wisdom suffices, in which she says: Drink the wine which I have mixed for you, yet see the Savior ascending on the day of the Passover, a great upper room spread and cleansed, and keeping the feast day with His Disciples, and offering them that cup, of which it is said in the Gospel, that He mixed it, and thus delivered it; for Jesus, gladdening His disciples, offers them the pure cup, and says: Take and drink: This is My blood, which shall be shed for you for the remission of sins.

Do this, as often as you shall drink, in remembrance of Me. And: Amen I say to you, I will not drink it henceforth, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God. Do you see the cup of the New Testament? Do you see the cup of punishments, which we explained above, full of pure wine? There is also another cup, which is mixed for you and delivered to you in recompense for good deeds or for evil ones. For understand by me those who depart entirely from piety, and are opposed in every respect to religion, so much so that they live by chance and in the manner of cattle, drinking the cup of pure wine which we brought forward from the book of Jeremiah; but those who have not departed entirely, but though they are sinners, and are judged unworthy of the cup of the New Testament, and often do good works, often the contrary, drink the cup mixed with pure wine. For God has poured out from this into that.

What is it that he says, from this into that? I see two cups. He has poured out from this into that, yet its dregs are not emptied. Observe the cup of your good works in one hand of the Lord. But if you allow me to say something more bold, let there be in His right hand the cup of virtues, in His left the cup of vices. When, therefore, you begin to be tormented for sins, because you have also done good works, the cup in the hand of the Lord is full of pure wine mixed, and he has poured out from this into that: that is, from the one that was in the right hand, into that which was contained in the left. For you cannot drink only the cup of good things, as if you had done only good things; nor again only that of sins, because you have also at some time done good things.

Therefore he has poured out from this into that, so that, according to the recompense of your works, a punishment more watered down, or more pure, may be mixed for you, and according to your merits, either the sting of divine wrath is blunted, or it is emptied out. But if you have been good, and have kept the commandments of God, consider what you say: I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. Every bottle, therefore, whether good or evil, shall be filled with the wine of its own quality, nor shall oil, or anything else liquid, be put into it, except the wine of Sodom, or of Sorec. Then he teaches, meanwhile that we may follow the letter, on account of those who sinned in Jerusalem, and who at that time dwelt in Judea, with what kind of wine such bottles are to be filled. For it follows: If they say to you: Do we not know, in knowing, that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings, and the sons of David who sit upon his throne, and the priests. He spares no one who is about to punish sinners. Not because someone has been called a prophet, not because someone is a priest, shall he be freed from punishments. But these things are recorded concerning them, as the Apostle says: they were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. If, then, someone even among these priests, and one a little afterward, punishments not entirely pure.

I speak of us presbyters, or of those who stand around the people, the Levites, that is, the deacons—if anyone has sinned, he will endure the punishment which the Lord now threatens through the prophet: just as, on the contrary, there are certain priestly blessings, concerning which, God granting it, after the exposition of this passage, when we come to the book of Numbers, we shall discuss; for there indeed certain things are written concerning priests. And so God calls to witness the priests and the prophets, and Judah, and all who dwell in Jerusalem, that they shall be made drunk with wine, and dispersed, man from his brother, and fathers from their sons. Which indeed (as it seems to me) is to be understood thus: God gathers together the just, and separates sinners. Accordingly, so long as men had not been moved from the east, they were not scattered.

But when they were moved from the east, and a man said to his neighbor: Come, let us build a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, God spoke, saying: Come, let us go down, and confound their tongues there. And a little after he adds: And God scattered them thence over the face of all the earth. The people of Israel too, before it sinned, was in Judea; after its sins it was scattered over the whole world. Understand something of this sort also concerning all of us. There is a certain Church of the firstborn, namely of those who are enrolled in the heavens, where is Mount Sion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Blessed are they who shall be gathered there. But sinners shall be divided one from another, so that in this too they may be tormented equally with anguish.

I know that certain kings are accustomed to deport to desert islands those who have plotted against their rule, and to command this as a great punishment, so that they may not endure the hardship of exile in one place, but that the wife be banished to one part of the world, the children to another, so that not even in their calamities may they enjoy comfort, neither father from son, nor mother from daughter, nor brother from brother. In like manner the sinner too, by a certain dispensation of God, suffers the bitterer torments of solitude, if he is banished alone into exile, so that, corrected, he may return to his former state. And just as you seek to bring back your kinsmen or children, not by chance nor by unreasonable anger, but by words, from the error into which they had fallen: so God draws back by pains and torments to what they once were those who could not be converted by word, according to the Scripture which says: By every pain and scourge you shall correct Jerusalem.

That the pain of the correcting punishment may increase, therefore, those who are corrected are separated one from another. For the punishment becomes somewhat lighter if many, set in the same place, console one another with mutual conversation. But if it is necessary to introduce another reason also for the division of the wicked, we will present this one too. When the wicked are together, they think evil things, and, persevering in their former wickedness, they increase sins upon sins: just as, on the contrary, the good, when they are together, converse of honorable things. Therefore an evil thought is dissolved and reduced to nothing, when it has no conversation of another still more wicked person to draw upon. Accordingly it is provided by the dispensation of God that the worst be separated from the worst, even for their own advantage, that by that very solitude and lack of company they may at some time desist from their former crimes.

This concerning what is said: And I will scatter them, man and his brother, and their fathers, their sons together, says the Lord: I will not seek, and I will not spare, and I will not have mercy on their destruction. At these and such-like words the heretics rise up, saying: Do you see what sort of God the Creator is, the God of the prophets and the Law, what he says? I will not spare, and I will not have mercy on their destruction. How can this one be good? Let me then take the example of a good judge who, for the common benefit, shows no mercy to certain persons, so that we may perceive how, in sparing many, God does not spare one; let me take also the example of a physician, showing that he does not spare one member, so that he may spare all the members. For example, let it be said: Let a judge have the purpose of providing quiet for the city and peace for the people over whom he presides.

If a robber of comely form, still in full vigor of age, is brought before him, and on one side his mother, with disheveled hair, begs that he have pity on her old age, and on the other his wife, with tearful voice, laments that he not kill her husband, and small children too, soon to be orphans, stand round about—what will the judge do? Will he have pity on the robber, or not? What is expedient in common for the city? If he shows mercy, the murderer will return to his former crime; but if he remains firm in judicial severity, one man will perish, and provision will be made for the whole people. So if God should spare the sinner, and, taking pity on him, refuse to punish him for his crime, who would not take license for wickedness? He who now is at least restrained by fear of punishments—would he not, given time, fulfill whatever he wished, and be carried headlong into vices? But we can consider these things as often happening in the Church.

Someone has sinned, and after the sin requests communion. If what he asks is granted him, the pardon proceeds to the detriment of all, and, the reins being loosened, a way is opened to crimes. But if, with reasonable deliberation—neither as a merciless nor, again, as a cruel judge, but as one providing for the one and considering the salvation of all—he has weighed the loss to the people against the pardon of the one, there is no doubt that he causes one to be cast out of the Church, that he may save the many unharmed. Come now, consider for me also the physician: if he should refrain from cutting the wound that needs a second incision, if he should not cauterize what requires the cautery, on account of the pains that follow from such remedies, how the infirmity grows, and the disease worsens into something more chronic.

But if (so to speak) the surgeon boldly approaches the wound, and cauterizes the sore, he heals the one who is cut and burned, because he has taken on a little severity, although he may seem for the moment not to pity the sufferer. So too God cares not for one man, but for the whole world, heavenly and earthly things, and disposes all things everywhere. And while he provides for what is advantageous to one, much more does he provide for what is beneficial to the whole world and to all mankind. He does provide indeed also for what is expedient for one, but in such a way that the advantage of one is not to the harm of all. Accordingly the eternal fire has been prepared, and Gehenna, and the outer darkness: all of which have been established not so much on account of him who is to be punished, as for the sake of all mankind.

And if you wish to receive Scripture as witness of this—that, for the instruction of others, even sinners who are already past hope and utterly beyond cure are tormented—hear Solomon saying in the Proverbs: When the pestilent man is scourged, the simple will become more cunning. He did not say that the one who is scourged will become more cunning, and wiser through his own chastisement, but that the fool is converted from foolishness to prudence through the punishments of the pestilent man: for this indeed is signified by the very word "cunning," and he is converted from his cunning, when he sees others tormented for those sins by which he himself is guilty. It is therefore profitable for us, if indeed we are worthy of salvation, that others be tormented for our benefit. And just as the sin of Israel was useful for the salvation of the Gentiles, so the punishment of some is useful for the salvation of others.

And therefore the good and merciful God says: I will not spare, and I will not have mercy on their destruction. But having concluded this chapter, let us see what the following Scripture teaches: Hear, and give ear, and be not lifted up, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon the darkened mountains: and you will look for light, and there shall be the shadow of death, and they shall be put into darkness. If you will not hear this in secret, my soul shall weep in secret because of your pride, and my eyes shall run down with tears, because the flock of the Lord is broken. He wishes them to hear and to give ear, not content with hearing alone, nor with the reception of the ears alone; wherefore he says: Hear and give ear, and, what is greater than these, be not lifted up, and the rest that follows.

What then is to hear, and what is to give ear, let us consider from the very words. To give ear is (as it seems to me) to hear with the ears the things that are said. But what precedes, "Hear," if it is said as distinct from that precept which is afterward added, "give ear," commands that they receive into mind and understanding the things that are said. And not only in this passage, but throughout all Scripture, there are certain things easy and ready to be understood, which, as soon as they have been read, confer benefit on the readers. There are others more secret and ineffable, and (so to speak) wrapped in certain obscurities. Of these things, then, which are hidden and need exposition, I think it is now said: "Hear"; but of those things which, without the scruple of an interpreter, are advantageous to the hearer: "Give ear." Let us run through all the Scriptures, and, become approved money-changers, let us say: this we ought to hear, this we ought to give ear to.

Finally, when we have heard and given ear to what is said, let us not be lifted up: for everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted. And our Savior, saying: Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls, teaches us not to be lifted up. For although the human race is troubled by many vices, it is oppressed most of all by this sin. Nor is there but one kind of pride. One is lifted up unreasonably, and after the manner of fools, in things which are rather worthy of shame, or which certainly exceed the measure of elation. Another, seduced as if by a plausible reason, is exalted over things which he thinks are worthy of glory, though even in such things it is dangerous to glory. Let me take an example, that it may become clearer. There are some who boast of this, that they are the sons of leaders, and born of noble family.

Such men cannot show even the shadow and image of their own elation. There are others who are elated over this, that they have power to kill men, and, as they themselves suppose, are supported by such dignity that they may cut off the heads of whomever they wish. Their glory is in their own confusion. Others applaud themselves for riches—not the true riches, but those riches which are of this lower world. Others are proud over a splendid house, over many possessions: in all of which one ought not to glory at all. But that which is judged plausible and worthy—as some think—of glory, is this: when someone is lifted up because of his wisdom, or is conscious to himself that for ten years already he has not touched matters of the flesh, or has remained chaste and pure from infancy. And again another is exalted because he has borne chains for Christ.

All these things indeed seem right, and to furnish some persuasion for glorying; but not even in these (if indeed we follow the truth) is one reasonably lifted up, because even to glory in good things is not without danger. Paul had matter for elation, having in himself visions, revelations, signs, powers, on account of the labors which he endured for Christ's sake, on account of the Churches which he established, striving to lay the foundation where Christ had not yet been named. All these were matter for glorying, and, if it is proper to say so, a plausible cause which might furnish honorable boasting.

But because it is not without danger to be lifted up even in such things, the kind and provident Father, just as he had granted him revelations and surpassing graces, so, for the guarding of his gifts, delivered to him an angel of Satan to buffet him, lest he be exalted, and for this reason he besought the Lord three times, namely that the angel of Satan, who by dispensation had been set upon him, might depart from him. But the Lord answered him (for Paul was worthy of the Lord's answer) and said to him: My grace is sufficient for you; for power is made perfect in weakness. In nothing, then, ought one to glory. For ruin follows boasting, as Scripture says: Before destruction the heart of a man is exalted, and before glory it is humbled. And these things indeed have been said concerning what is said: Hear and give ear, and be not lifted up, for the Lord has spoken. Let us now consider the rest also.

Give glory to the Lord our God, before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon the darkened mountains, and you look for light. He wishes him who is to give glory to God to give it in the light, as though he could no longer proclaim glory when darkness has arisen. When does it grow dark, and when is there no darkness? Work while it is light in you. There is light in you, if you have within you him who says: I am the light of the world. As long as this light rises for you, glorify God, knowing that darkness is to come. Nor is it expedient for you to wait for it; but before it comes, give glory to God. Perhaps you will understand the present chapter, if you take an example from the Gospel, which is framed thus: Work while it is day; night comes, when no man can work. There he called this present age "day," and I have necessarily added this here.

For I know that in other places things dissonant with the present are signified by the word "day." He called this present age "day," then; but darkness and night he called the consummation of the world, on account of the punishments that are to come. For why should we desire the day of the Lord? And it is darkness and not light, says Amos the prophet. If you consider the mourning that is to come after the consummation of the world, which almost the whole human race is to suffer for what it has sinned, you will see how darkness will occupy all things, and no one will be able at that time to glorify God. For indeed even the just are commanded in Isaiah: Go, my people, enter into your chambers, shut your door, and hide yourself a little while, until the wrath of God pass over. And at the same time let him who can also observe why he said "a little while": for this "little while," which is small, is not small for men.

And we ought to consider how a thing may be small to one and great to another. To prove this let us also use an example. For each of the animals, according to its nature and the measure of its body, food is either small or great; and what is little for one is likewise much for another. Why should I speak of animals? Even in man himself there are differences of things. What is little for a man, is more than enough for an infant. And in this way the whole span of human life, even if it exceed a hundred years, is short in comparison with eternity: whence what is little to God is much to us, and conversely all the ages, referred to God, are very brief. So then it is said: Go, my people, enter your chambers, shut the door, hide yourself a little while.

That "little while" is not referred to the nature of him who is bidden to enter his chambers, but to him who commands, to whom this whole thing, however great, is little. For if, until the wrath of God pass over, some must enter their chambers, but there are others whose sins are not to be forgiven, not only in the present age but also in the age to come, it is clear that the "little while" is to be referred to what we have said. Give therefore to the Lord your God glory. How do we give glory to the Lord our God? Not by words and voices only is the Lord to be glorified: glorify him in chastity, and justice, and beneficence: glorify him in fortitude, patience, piety, wisdom, and the other virtues. And God is to be glorified thus—if I bring forward the contraries, do not think that I blaspheme.

For I present Scripture as witness of my meaning, how the chaste man glorifies, and the luxurious man dishonors God: for he destroys and corrupts his temple, like a Nebuchadnezzar, and, according to the Apostle, dishonors God through transgression of the Law. Therefore the just man glorifies God; whoever is a sinner heaps contumely upon him. For even that which some doubt, whether there is providence of God, arises for no other cause than vices. Remove these, and you have removed at the same time the grounds for destroying providence, above and below. Those who argue against providence say this: Why are there so many adulterers? Why so many effeminate men? Why so many sacrilegious? Why so many irreligious? And thus sinners engender contumelies against providence, and offenses against God, and accusations against the Creator. From which it plainly appears that some give glory to God, others do him outrage, while they serve their passions and vices. Give glory to the Lord your God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble on the darkened mountains.

There are other mountains, dark, and others, shining. Yet since both are called great mountains, the shining mountains are the angels of God and the prophets: Moses his servant, the apostles of Jesus Christ, of whom I think it is said: His foundations are in the holy mountains. The dark mountains are those that are raised up against the knowledge of God. The devil is a dark mountain. The princes of this age, who are to be destroyed, are dark mountains.

The demon of the lunatic was a mountain, and a dark one: it was the mountain of which the Savior said: If you shall say to this mountain—for a question had arisen to him concerning the demon of the lunatic; and when the disciples said: We could not cast it out, the Savior answered: If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, of which you asked, of which you inquired: you shall say to this mountain: Remove hence, and it shall remove—that is, from the man to the place appointed for it. Those, then, who stumble, do not stumble upon the shining mountains, but upon the dark mountains, if they are with the devil and his angels, the dark mountains. And you shall look for light. It can indeed be fitted to this that is said: Give glory to the Lord our God, this which he now adds: And you shall look for the light.

If you give glory to the Lord your God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon the darkened mountains, there is no doubt that even if it grows dark, and you wait for light, he will receive you. Another might say, I know not whether rightly or wrongly, that even those who stumble upon the dark mountains at some time await the light of mercy. For this seems to be shown by: And you shall look for the light. But if anyone should come to the dark mountains, see what he finds there. There is the shadow of death; there the dark mountains; there the shadow of death engendered from those very mountains. And they shall be put into darkness. And unless you hear in secret, my soul shall weep because of your reproach. Among those who hear, some hear in secret; but some, when they hear, do not hear in secret. What then is it to hear in secret?

Surely this: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which is hidden, which God foreordained before the ages unto our glory. And again it is said elsewhere, that most of the works of God are in hidden things. If I hear the Law, I hear either in secret or not in secret. The Jew, because he does not hear the Law in secret, is circumcised in the open, not knowing that he who is circumcised in the open is not a Jew, nor is that circumcision which is openly in the flesh true circumcision. But he who is a hearer of secret circumcision is circumcised in secret. He who hears the Law in secret concerning the mysteries of the Passover feeds on Christ as on the sheep; for Christ our Passover is sacrificed; knowing that the flesh of the Word of God is truly food, he feeds on it. For he has heard of the Passover in secret.

But the wretched Jew, therefore, killed the Lord Jesus, and to this present day is guilty of his death, because he did not hear the Law and the Prophets in secret. If you can hear about the unleavened bread in secret, you can also hear it openly. Whoever of you (for the Passover is near) celebrates unleavened bread—that is, this bodily unleavened bread—has not heard the commandment which says: Unless you hear in secret, your soul shall weep. And concerning the sabbath, certain little women, not hearing the prophet, do not hear in secret, but openly, washing themselves on the sabbath day, and again returning to the weak and beggarly elements, as though Christ had not yet come down, and washed us by his baptism from the beginnings of the Law into evangelical perfection. Let us therefore attend more carefully whenever we read the Law and the Prophets, lest we fall into the curse which is now spoken: Unless you hear in secret, your soul shall weep because of your reproach.

Whoever of you observes the fast of the Jews, as if ignorant of the day of redemption after the coming of Jesus Christ, do not hear redemption in secret, but only openly. For hidden indeed is the hearing of propitiation, to know how God set forth Jesus as a propitiation for our sins, and that he himself is the propitiation for sins, not only ours, but also of the whole world. When parables too are read in the Gospel, and the hearer is a stranger, he cannot hear them in secret. But if the hearer be an apostle, and one of those who enter into the house of Jesus, he approaches him, asks concerning the obscurity of the parable, and if what he has heard is interpreted to him, understanding the Gospel, he hears it in secret, so that his soul may not weep. For the soul of those who do not hear in secret will weep.

How admirably he does not say: You shall weep, unless you hear in secret, but: Your soul shall weep—for weeping belongs to the soul alone, and perhaps this is that of which the Savior says, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That threat too, by which he announces mourning and tears to those who laugh, belongs to this weeping which the prophet now recalls, saying: Unless you hear in secret, your soul shall weep because of your reproach. For when you have suffered reproach, then you shall weep, and your eyes shall run down with tears, because the flock of the Lord is broken. If we consider the state in which the Jews now are, and compare it with their ancient prosperity, we shall see how the flock of the Lord has been broken. For this was once the flock of the Lord, and because they judged themselves unworthy of salvation, the word of the Lord was turned to the Gentiles.

If then that flock has been broken, ought not we, the wild olive, who contrary to nature have been grafted into the good olive tree of the Patriarchs, fear all the more, lest this flock too, the Lord's flock, be broken? For it is to come to pass that at some time this flock too will be broken, according to that which was said by the Savior: When iniquities have been multiplied, then the charity of many shall grow cold. For of whom is this said, that the charity of many shall grow cold? Is it not of those who are called Christians? Of whom this word is spoken: But when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth, do you think? Is it not of us?

Therefore let us take more attentive heed, that day by day this flock of the Lord may be bettered, may grow strong, may persevere whole, so that, all breaking having departed from our souls, we may be made perfect in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The things which are said against Jerusalem with such great threatening, we wish to understand as having this sense: Who shall spare thee, Jerusalem? Or who shall be sorrowful for thee? Who shall turn aside to ask those things that are for thy peace? Thou hast turned away from me, saith the Lord. Thou shalt go backward, and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will destroy thee, and I will no longer allow thee, and I will scatter them in dispersion. I said: I have become childless: want has seized me. Let me take an example: some enemy and traitor has been judged against the Emperor of this land: from him all mercy is taken away; namely, lest, while someone pities the condemned man, he begin to offend the one who condemns. There are also some who add to this severity, that they do not even grieve over him, avoiding this especially, lest by sorrow of countenance they be seen to be offended at the king’s judgment.

If you have understood, consider for me a sinner condemned by God for many sins, and see how, though countless angels preside over the human race, he is judged worthy of mercy from not even one of them. For each of the angels, perceiving that it is God who has condemned, that it is the Creator who turns away, and that the sin is such that the merciful and clement God has, as it were, suffered a necessity to pronounce sentence upon him, do not spare, do not grieve, nor pity, do not turn back to ask peace for him. Jerusalem, therefore, which added this to her former crimes, that she crucified my Lord Jesus, and rose to such a height of crime, that the Saviour said of her: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate—for this reason she was abandoned, and remains destitute even to the present time. For the angels who always aided her, through whom also the law of Moses was given, ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator, forsook her, and said: She has been oppressed by many crimes, she has killed Jesus, and has laid hands upon our Lord. As long as she sinned in lesser things, we could ask for her, we could entreat the Lord, we could spare her: but for this, who shall spare? If a man sinning shall sin against a man, he shall be entreated for; but if he shall sin against God, who shall pray for him? Jerusalem committed a great sin, she perpetrated a great crime, therefore she has been made a thing of trembling: and it is said to her: Who shall spare thee, Jerusalem, or who shall be sorrowful for thee? We are not sorrowful over Jerusalem, and her calamities, and all that people.

For by their fault salvation has come to us, that we might provoke them to emulation. And because she has sinned so that it was said by the voice of the Lord: Who shall spare thee, Jerusalem? I too say to the murderess of my Lord: Who shall spare thee, Jerusalem? And who shall be sorrowful for thee? But let me pass over, from the humility of the letter, to the spiritual understanding, reason opening the way for me, that I may see how each soul, worthy of the peace of God, is called Jerusalem. For after divine discipline you became, Jerusalem, who had first been Jebus. It is related in the history that the name of this place was Jebus, and afterward, the name being changed, it was called Jerusalem.

Jebus, moreover, the descendants of the Hebrews interpret to mean “Trodden down.” Jebus, then, trodden down by hostile powers, is our soul, which has been transformed, and made Jerusalem, “Vision of peace.” If, then, after this change from Jebus into Jerusalem you should sin, and, like some, should consider even the blood of the covenant a common thing, it shall be said of you also: Who shall spare thee, Jerusalem, and who shall be sorrowful for thee? For who shall be sorrowful, if you become such as to betray Jesus? Each one of us, when he sins, especially whoever sins in great matters, sins against Jesus. But if he should also fall away from the faith, he does spiritually to Christ what Jerusalem did bodily. Wherefore how much greater punishments do you think he deserves, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

If you have trodden underfoot Jesus the Son of God, if you have done despite to the Spirit of grace, who shall spare thee? Who shall be sorrowful for thee? Who shall turn back to ask those things that are for your peace? That very Jesus, who both asked, and at the same time supplied, the things that were for peace, the sinning soul has betrayed—who can any longer ask, turning to those things that are for your peace? Knowing therefore that it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted also of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away, to be renewed again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame, let us strive with all effort, lest it be said of us too: Who shall spare thee, Jerusalem?

Or who shall turn back to ask those things that are for thy peace? Now to the remaining interpretation, what follows is fitting: Thou hast turned away from me, saith the Lord, thou shalt go backward. Because you have turned away from the Son of God, and through this have also departed from God the Father, you shall go backward. But what need is there to repeat things that are manifest? Jerusalem, which once was in Judea, by which figuratively all the Jews are understood, because she has turned away from Christ, therefore goes backward. For there was a time when they did not walk backward: but now they walk, and have turned in heart to Egypt, that they may walk backward. But consider what it is to walk backward, or to be stretched forth to the things before. The just man, forgetting the things that are behind, is stretched forth to the things before. The sinner remembers the things behind, not desiring the things before.

But he who remembers the things behind transgresses against the law of Jesus, who says: Let him not turn back to take up his garment: he is disobedient to his word: Remember Lot’s wife: he despises the command of the Saviour who says: No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. We also find it written in the Law, that the angels said to Lot as he went out from Sodom: Look not back, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Here too you have a meaning worthy of the Spirit of God: Look not back, he says, that is, stretch forth to the things before. You have left Sodom—do not return to Sodom. You have abandoned vices and sins—do not go back to them. Neither stay thou in all the plain.

Even if you keep the preceding command, of which it is said, Look not back, it is not enough for you unto salvation, unless you also observe what follows: Neither stay thou in all the plain; for it does not profit one beginning to make progress, to stand still in the regions of Sodom. And if you have passed beyond Sodom, and, departing from the region of Satan, begin to be free from punishments, it is expedient that you be saved on the mountain. Look not back, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. If you wish not to be caught in the ruin of Sodom, do not turn back, do not stay in their region, do not go on to other places, but when you have departed from there, ascend into the mountain, in which alone is salvation—the name of Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

Physicians of bodies, attending upon the sick and wishing, according to the discipline of their art, to cure those who are set in infirmities, see sad things, handle unpleasant things, and are worn down with their own grief in others' calamities; for their conversation is always in groaning, always in cares, they never have fellowship with the joyful: with the wounded, with those whose flesh is weakened by various afflictions, who burn with fevers, who are tormented with pain, they persevere in continual service. And if any of them wishes to fulfill the office of medicine, he is not indignant, he does not forget the purpose of his art, after he has been with those of whom the discourse has spoken. We have said these things by way of preface, because prophets too are in a certain manner physicians of souls, and are always bidden to go there where there are ailing ones: for they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

But what physicians suffer from pampered invalids, this the prophets and teachers endure from those who do not wish to be cured. For they are held in hatred as though enjoining things contrary to the desires of the ailing, because they forbid those who, though weak, are unwilling to be fed with the food of the weak, to indulge in delicacies and various foods. Therefore the disobedient and ailing flee from physicians, and repel them with curses and injuries, and do to them exactly what one would do to enemies and foes. For they abominate them as though they came as enemies, as though desiring only this: how pains and the parsimony of diet might arise from their prescription; how they might cut bodies with the sharpest steel; and they curse them as the authors of such great torments, and not of the health that is rendered from the pains. The people, then, were sick with various maladies, and God sent them physicians, the prophets.

Jeremiah too was one of the physicians, rebuking sinners, and wishing to convert them from vices to virtues. But they, when they ought to have listened to what was said, on the contrary accused the prophet before judges like themselves. From this it came about that Jeremiah was always amid slanders and sorrows, bearing, as far as in him lay, care for their perversity. According to their own unbelief, still ailing in this manner, he sometimes says: And I said: I will not speak, neither will I name the name of the Lord. And it came to pass as a burning fire in my bones, and I am dissolved on every side, and I cannot bear it. And sometimes, seeing himself always pursued with curses, cries, and injuries, he says: Woe is me, my mother, why hast thou borne me a man who is judged and contended with by the whole earth? And because the ailing scorned to hear him counselling well and according to the discipline of medicine, he says: I have not profited.

And again, because when he was lending spiritual money, the hearers were unwilling to receive it so as to gain benefit and to render the fruit of what they had received, he says: Neither hath any man profited me. But I have spoken these things by anticipation, before I explained: I have not profited, neither hath any man profited me. For the reading is twofold: in many copies it is contained: I have not profited, neither hath any man profited me. But in those copies which are truer, and which agree with the Hebrew, it is: I ought not, neither ought any man to me. It is necessary, therefore, to expound both what is in use and read in the churches, and not to pass over untouched what is found in the Hebrew codices. Jeremiah preached the divine commands; no one attended to what was preached.

Wherefore, like a willing and ready physician, he gave remedies to the ailing, and to those acting not according to the art of the one curing but according to their own will, he says: I have not profited, neither hath any man profited me. For in a certain manner the one who cures himself obtains a benefit, if he sees the fruit of his labor in the sick person, and through the gladness of mind he too obtains benefit, according to that which is said elsewhere: Blessed is he who speaks in the ears of those who hear. This benefit, then, which the teacher obtains from his hearers if they profit by hearing, while he obtains the fruit from their health, Jeremiah, seeing in a manner that he does not have this from the Jews, says: No man hath profited me.

For if what I speak ought to profit the hearers, but the hearers cast away what is said, then I too say: I have not profited, neither hath any man profited me; because I have not obtained that benefit which is obtained by him who is made blessed while he speaks in the ears of those who hear. But it can also be understood otherwise. Whoever instructs disciples, if he has hearers of ingenious and receptive nature, the more he instructs, the more he profits, they inquiring and often asking about what he says, what is the sense in the saying, what the order, what the intent of the writing. Whence, on the contrary, he says: I have not profited, neither hath any man profited me. But since another exposition remains to us, on account of the more certain copies, in which it is contained: I ought not, neither ought any man to me, let us also consider this passage.

He who renders all things to all, to whom tribute is due, tribute; to whom fear, fear; to whom custom, custom; to whom honor, honor, and represents all things to all, owing no service to anyone—for example, honoring parents, brothers as brothers, sons as sons, bishops as bishops, presbyters as presbyters, deacons as deacons, the faithful as faithful, catechumens as catechumens—if he renders all things to all, he owes service to none. But if he ought to render and does not render, he cannot say: I did not owe; for since he ought to have paid, he has not discharged it. But what follows: No man owed to me, is to be understood thus: I indeed wished to lend at interest, and to lend out spiritual moneys, but they turned away their ears from the things that were said, and were unwilling to show themselves docile, so that they should owe to me what they heard. Therefore no man owed to me.

For if anyone is willing to hear the words that are spoken, he becomes a debtor of them, and as a debtor is required also to pay interest. Whence it is more expedient for hearers to receive the words of discipline with interest, and to become debtors, than not to receive and not to owe. For such are accused, the prophet saying: No man owed to me. As for what he says: Woe is me, my mother, why hast thou borne me a man who is judged and contended with by the whole earth? I do not think this fits other prophets so well as Jeremiah; for many of the prophets, after some interval, being first wicked and only afterward converted from sins, began to prophesy: but Jeremiah took the beginning of his prophecy as a boy. And of this matter we can receive testimony from the Scriptures.

Did not Isaiah hear: Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee, and I set thee a prophet among the nations: nor does he say: I know not how to speak, for I am young: but, a vision having been revealed to him, he says: Woe is me, wretched man, for I am pierced, because, having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of Sabaoth, and there was sent to me one of the Seraphim, and he touched my lips, and said: Behold, I have taken away thine iniquities, and I have purged thy sins. Thus his former sins were purged, and Isaiah, made worthy by the Holy Spirit, prophesied. If you inquire concerning others as well, you will find similar things.

But not so Jeremiah; for from his very cradle, full of the Holy Spirit, he began to prophesy: wherefore he says (for according to the common sense we must first expound it): Woe is me, mother, why hast thou borne me a man who is judged and contended with by all the earth? A certain interpreter of this passage says that the prophet spoke this not to his bodily mother, but to her who bears prophets; and that there is no other mother of the prophets than the Wisdom of God, to whom he says: Woe is me, my mother; as if to say: Why hast thou borne me, O Wisdom? For we read elsewhere of the sons of Wisdom too, Scripture saying: Wisdom loseth her children. Woe is me, he says, my mother, Wisdom, as if to say: Why hast thou borne me a man who is judged?

Who, who was born for this, to be judged and contended with, on account of rebukes, on account of correction, on account of teaching, while I strive to correct those who dwell upon the earth? If Jeremiah says: Why hast thou borne me a man who is judged and contended with by the earth? We cannot explain what "by all the earth" means; for Jeremiah is not judged by all the earth, unless perhaps, dragging the Scripture violently, we say that "all the earth" is put for all Judea. For his prophecy had not yet at that time reached the whole earth: unless perhaps, as we have shown in many other places that Jeremiah is set in the place of our Lord Jesus Christ, so also in the present passage we should interpret it thus. We noted at the beginning of this book the saying: I have set thee a prophet among the nations, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant.

Now Jeremiah did not do these things, but my Lord Jesus, who rooted out the kingdoms of sin, and, the building of iniquity overthrown, made justice and truth reign in our souls. As, then, these things suit Christ more than Jeremiah, so, I think, do many other things as well, and these words now spoken are to be referred to the Lord. And first indeed it must be seen whether that which seems incongruous and blasphemous, if it be referred to the Lord—namely: Woe is me, mother—could be said by our Savior, pitying others. To prove this, testimonies must be produced which plainly fit no one but the Savior: how, seeing Jerusalem, he wept over her, because he said: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children, and the rest.

And also those words plainly spoken by the Savior: Woe is me, for I am become as one that gathereth stubble in the harvest, and as gleanings in the vintage, when there is no cluster left to eat of the first ripe grapes. Woe is me, my soul, for the reverent man has perished from the earth, and there is none to correct among men. All judge in blood. For he came to reap the fruits, and, as it were finding stubble in a crop, because of the very many sinners, he says: Woe is me, for I am become as one that gathereth stubble in the harvest. He came to gather the grape-clusters among men, and, finding sins in the harvest, he says: And as gleanings in the vintage, when there is no cluster of grapes left to eat of the firstfruits. In another place also he speaks similar words to the Father, saying: What profit is there in my blood, while I go down into corruption?

What have I profited so greatly by names, since they have not profited even by my blood, which I poured out for their salvation? What profit is there in my blood, while I come down from heaven, while I come to earth, while I am afflicted with insults, while I bear a human body? What worthy thing among men has been accomplished by all these? What profit is there in my blood, while I go down into corruption? Shall the dust confess to thee, or declare thy truth? Such, then, is what is said in Jeremiah: Woe is me, my mother, why hast thou borne me a man? He does not say, Woe is me, mother, according to the fact that he is God the Savior, but according to that he is man, as in another prophet: Woe is me, he says, my soul, for the reverent man has perished from the earth.

Now it is the soul of the man that is troubled and sorrowful even unto death, not the Word which was in the beginning with God, which never grieves, was never troubled, never said: Woe is me: for the Word does not undergo death, but the man who suffers these affections, as we have often explained: Why hast thou borne me a man who is judged and contended with by all the earth? If you consider the martyrs condemned everywhere, and brought forth from each individual church to the tribunal, you will see how, through each of the martyrs, Jesus Christ is condemned. For it is he who is judged in those who bear testimony to the truth: and you will faithfully receive this, because he did not say that you were in prison when you were in prison, that you hungered when you hungered, that you thirsted when you thirsted, but that he himself did.

I was in prison, he says, and ye came unto me; I was hungry and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. So then, if a Christian is condemned, not indeed for any other reason nor for his own crimes, but for this alone, that he is a Christian, it is Christ who is condemned, from which it follows that Jesus is condemned in all the earth, as often as he is convicted who is condemned for his sake. Nor is Christ convicted only before the judges of the age and the powers of the tribunals, but even if a Christian suffers slander from anyone, and is drawn into litigation, then too Christ is unjustly judged: as though you say, why hast thou borne me a man who is judged and contended with by all the earth? We can also understand otherwise how Jesus is condemned and contended with in all the earth. Who among the wicked does not condemn the Christian religion? Which of the Gentiles does not, even in passing, examine it?

Which of the Jews does not speak of Christians? Which of the philosophers? Which of the unlearned? Everywhere Christ is condemned and disputed: and by some indeed he is condemned, by others not condemned. But if he is not condemned, he is received: you open the door to him and he enters to you; you believe in him, he eats with you. But if, hearing of the Christian religion, you have not received it, you do nothing else than condemn Jesus, as a liar, as a deceiver of men, as one dragging the world into error. As though you say: Why hast thou borne me a man who is judged and contended with by all the earth? Whoever do not believe in him at all, condemn him. But those who believe, and still doubt, dispute him. Two things, then, are sought against Christ among men: he is condemned by unbelievers, disputed by the doubtful.

If you bear the image of the heavenly, having put off the image of the earthly, you are not earth condemning him, nor earth in which he is judged and disputed: My strength has failed among those who curse me. The Apostle speaks of our Savior, that he was crucified from weakness. To whom the prophet bears similar witness, saying: Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He shall be declared before him as an infant, as a root in a thirsty land. He hath no form nor glory; we have seen him, and he had no form nor beauty, but his form was dishonored and lacking before the sons of men. A man of stripe and sorrow, knowing how to bear infirmity, for his face was turned away, he was despised and not esteemed. He bears our sins, and grieves for us; and we accounted him to be in sorrows, and in stripe and affliction. But he was wounded and made infirm for our iniquities.

The teaching of our peace was upon him; by his stripes we are healed. Therefore he took upon himself the infirmities of our sins, and bore us, and came to those who cursed him, and his strength failed among those who cursed him, descending from the heavenly places. For at the same time he assumed the form of a servant; the Word made flesh emptied himself, and, according to the Apostle who says: He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, he now also says: My strength has failed among those who curse me. But let us see, the sense and the discourse itself being granted to us, whether we can say something else, more manifest, than what has been said. There was the true light which enlightens every man coming into this world. The true light is the Son of God, which enlightens every man coming into this world. Whoever is rational becomes a partaker of the true light. Now every man is rational.

Since, then, all men are rational, in some the rational power is increased, in some diminished. If you see a soul full of vices and enslaved to disturbances, you will see how the power of the Word fails in it: if you see one holy and just, you will see that the power of God advances and grows day by day in it: and what is written of Jesus you will apply to it. For Jesus did not only progress in himself in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men; but also, in each individual receiving progress of wisdom, and age, and grace, Jesus progresses in wisdom, age, and grace with God and men. Therefore the Word, the Son of God, who was God the Word, who dwells in the one saying: Woe is me, my mother, and the rest, speaks according to the nature of his majesty: My strength has failed among those who curse me. If anyone curses the Word, he immediately receives a return, and suffers torments.

For the strength of Jesus fails in him, when reason is diminished. If, on the contrary, one blesses and receives Jesus, his strength, different from that in those who curse him, having suffered, endures; for as it fails in those who curse, so it grows in those who bless: Let it be, O Lord, to those directing them, if I have not stood before thee in the time of their evils. What is meant by this saying: Let it be, O Lord, let him who can consider from the very words. To these very ones, O Lord, who cursed me, directing them, let the strength which was failing in them come to be in them, when, converted to repentance after the curses with which they persecuted me, they begin to walk the straight way. Let it be, O Lord, to those directing them, if I have not stood before thee. He gives the reason why he asks direction and strength for those who cursed him, saying: If I have not stood before thee in the time of their evils.

He stood before the Father as a propitiation for our sins, and made supplication for us in the time of our evils: for he did not stand after the time of our affliction, but while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for us. If I have not stood before thee in the time of their evils, and in the time of their tribulation, let the enemy rise up: I have stood before thee for them. Who is our enemy, but the devil, who afflicted us and pressed us with the yoke of servitude; against whom the Savior stood before the Father, and, freeing us from captivity, restored us to liberty. These things the Lord may have said prophetically. But he can also have said the same things concerning the prophet on behalf of the people, and in the time of their evils.

To whom God answered and speaks to the people, who had been accused by the Savior or the prophet, saying: Iron and a brazen covering is thy strength, hard, untamable, which does not seek to be softened, which is scarcely produced. Iron and brazen covering is thy strength, that is, cutting and dividing, and disturbing what is well composed, an accursed strength. Thy riches and thy treasures I will give for spoil, freely. God grants and gives them over in exchange because of all their sins. Is it those which they had treasured up for themselves in the earth? For every man treasures up for himself; if he is a sinner, on earth; if just, in heaven, as the Gospel has taught us. Or what he says is of this kind: Behold, one treasure is Jeremiah, another treasure is Isaiah; Moses too was a treasure, and the rest.

These treasures God took away from the people, and, through Christ who said: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, he bestowed them upon us. I will give, then, because of thy sins, thy treasures for spoil. The Lord gave us the treasures of that people, because first the oracles of God were entrusted to them, and afterward assigned to us. And that which is written: The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, we have already asserted to be fulfilled. Not that the Scripture has been taken away from them: for they have the Law and the Prophets, they have the volumes of the divine letters: but that they do not understand them. And thus the kingdom of God has been taken away from them, while the sense of Scripture is taken away. The interpretation of the Law and the Prophets has ceased among them: they read everything, and do not understand.

That prophecy has been fulfilled after the Lord's coming: Say to this people: By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not know, for the heart of this people is grown fat. And also that which is said by Isaiah: The Lord shall take away from Judea, and from Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman, the giant and the man of war, and the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the skillful architect, and the wise hearer. All these things God has taken away from them, and, if we were willing to receive them, has handed them to us who are of the Gentiles. And thy treasures I will give for spoil, an exchange for all thy sins in all thy borders. What he says is of this kind: All these things, because of thy sins which have come upon all thy borders, have been rendered to thee.

For there is no border of that people which is not filled with its sins: nor could it be that every border of them should not be filled with their sins, who, as far as in them lay, killed justice, if Christ is justice; killed wisdom, if Christ is wisdom; killed truth, if Christ is truth. Whence, because of their cruel outcries against the Son of God, they have lost all these things. And my Lord Jesus Christ, rising again, appeared no more to his slayers, but showed himself as victor from the dead only to those who believed in him. And I will give thee into servitude to thy enemies, into a land which thou knewest not. The people of the Jews served their enemies, and was scattered into a land which it did not know. For a fire is kindled in my wrath, it shall burn upon you.

After these things which we have expounded, and the words of threat to the people, he who had prayed above completes his prayer, and adds to what precedes what follows: Thou knowest, O Lord; remember me, and visit me; make me innocent from those who persecute me, not in patience. And the Prophet can say this, having suffered persecution from those whom he rebuked, who were unwilling to hear the truth—for he became an enemy to them by speaking the truth. But the Savior too can say these things, having suffered persecution unto the cross from the people. Not in patience. What is meant by this: Not in patience? Thou hast always been long-suffering with this transgressing people; but concerning this, that it has raised up its rashness even against me, be not long-suffering. And indeed God was not patient; for if you consider the times of the Lord's passion, and the ruin of Jerusalem, when it was overthrown, you will see how God did not deal with them in patience.

For from the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar to the overthrow of the Temple, forty-two years are counted; because it was fitting that a modest space of time be left for repentance, on account of those who were to believe through the signs and wonders of the apostles. Know how I have received reproach for thy sake from those who despise thy words. It can happen that the prophet says this, being despised by the sinning people over what he preached: for he also says elsewhere: I have completed my days in mockery. He suffers reproach, then, from those who scorn to hear the words of God, and he begs to have the help of God, saying: Know how I have received reproach for thy sake from those who despise thy words. Consume them. The prophet can say this, but it suits the Savior better, after whose passion came the destruction of Jerusalem and the slaughter of the people of the Jews.

After these things, since the prophets suffered many things on account of the embassy of the word and the rebukes of God which they brought forth to the people, it is fitting that hearers be admonished a little concerning their life, and their promises, and our own will, that, according to the possibility of our strength, if we wish to attain rest with the prophets, we should also strive to do their works. And what I say is of this kind: often in prayer I shall say: Almighty God, give us a part with the prophets, give us with the apostles of thy Christ, grant that we be found at the footsteps of thy Only-Begotten. Saying these things, we do not perceive what we ask: for in fact we say this: Make us to be so hated as the prophets were hated, and give us such words for which we may suffer persecution; grant that we fall into those calamities which the apostles endured.

For to say, give me a part with the prophets, while unwilling to suffer what the prophets suffered, is of all things most unjust; to say, give me a part with the apostles, while unwilling to speak truly from Paul's affection: In labors abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, and in deaths often, and all the rest, is most iniquitous. If, then, we wish to rest with the prophets, let us consider the lives of the prophets, how, from the fact that they rebuked and reproved transgressors, they were judged and condemned: They were stoned, cut asunder, died by the slaughter of the sword, went about in sheepskins and goatskins, in want, in tribulation and affliction, wandering in deserts. At the time when there were very many synagogues in Israel, nevertheless they hid themselves in deserts, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the rocks. What then? If anyone wishes to imitate the lives of the prophets, let him rebuke and reprove sinners—he will immediately earn hatred, immediately be slandered, immediately suffer plots.

This too we often see happen even now in the churches. Someone sins in whatever way: he who presides over the people and governs ecclesiastical discipline casts him out of the congregation of the saints: immediately that one goes about the city, tearing apart him who, as far as in him lay, vindicated the Church. But let us not lend our ear to those who, because of their excommunication, tear to pieces with a raving mouth both their superiors and the whole assembly of the Church. But the blessed apostles, worthy of all admiration, having suffered countless injuries for the sake of truth, said: Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. It is fitting to labor for this alone, that we suffer reproach for no other reason than for Christ, and that the cause of the necessity be Christ.

Let us desire this, that having suffered curses we may know ourselves cursed for the truth, we who defend it, and proclaim it with all confidence according to the will of the Scriptures. Therefore, as much as we can, let us stretch ourselves out to imitate the life of the prophets and the conversation of the apostles, not avoiding troubles and dangers. For an athlete, if he flees the difficulty of the contest, is not crowned with joy, and does not obtain the glory of praise. And thy word shall be to me for joy. He does not say, Is, but, Shall be; since in the present time he grants me prisons, exiles, reproaches, and labors, but the end of all these shall be joy. And thy word shall be to me for joy, and the gladness of my heart, because thy name has been invoked upon me, O Lord, Almighty Father. Even if Christ says this, it is not out of keeping: for the name of the Father has been invoked upon him.

I did not sit in the council of them that mock. Whenever the prophet saw a council not of the careful but of mockers, he fled from it. Whence it is fitting to know the differences of councils, of the careful and of the mocking. If this our council is careful, if it seeks all things with ecclesiastical diligence, if the discourse is with discipline, if the life is careful, if affairs are conducted with caution, it is a council not of mockers but of the careful. But if it has abandoned zeal for religion, and given itself over to the sports of this world, which come from depravity, it becomes a council of mockers. The prophet says, then: I did not sit in the council of them that mock, but I feared before the face of thy hand.

When two things were set before me, to sit in the council of mockers and to offend thy majesty, or else to rise from it and do the things that were pleasing to thee, I rather chose to rise from the congregation of mockers, that I might be thy friend, than, doing the contrary, be counted among those who are enemies. I did not sit in the council of them that mock, but I feared before the face of thy hand. And our Savior did not sit in the council of mockers, but, showing that he had risen from it, says: Your house shall be left unto you desolate. For the divine Word left the council of the Jews and gathered for itself another council from the Gentiles. I sat alone.

And even the discourse alone, without exposition, builds up the hearers, when there is a multitude of sinners, and it does not endure that a just man live piously with it; it is not unfitting to flee their congregation, and to imitate the prophet saying: I sat alone: to imitate Elijah miserably complaining: Lord, they have slain thy prophets, they have digged down thy altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life to take it away. But if we should wish to take something more sacred from what is said: I sat alone, perhaps we shall find a worthy interpretation of the Holy Spirit. When we imitate the life of the multitude, and our conversation is no better than the people's, and, God the judge being disregarded, is not separated from the wickedness of men, we cannot say: I sat alone; for we sit with very many. But when our life shall be such that no one is equal to us in sense, speech, deeds, then we can say: I sat alone.

It is permitted to him who is not a presbyter, nor a bishop, nor a deacon, nor decorated with any other ecclesiastical dignity, if he lives well, to say: I sat alone, for I am full of bitterness. If narrow and strait is the way that leads to life, it is expedient for you, withdrawing from all sweetness, to be filled with bitterness in the present age. Do you not know that the solemnity of God is celebrated with bitterness joined to it? For the divine word says: When you keep the feast, you shall eat unleavened bread with bitterness. Now I think it must at the same time be considered what this command means, which bids one keeping the passover of God to eat unleavened bread with bitterness. And concerning the unleavened bread, what my interpretation is, the Apostle Paul has expounded. But concerning the bitterness that follows, it is necessary that something similar to the apostolic discussion be rendered.

Concerning the unleavened bread, then, the Apostle speaks thus: Let us keep the feast not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Concerning bitterness it is necessary that such a reason be rendered as teaches that it is to be observed in the same way that unleavened bread is eaten. Have sincerity and truth, and bitterness will follow you, and you will eat unleavened bread with sincerity and truth. Because Paul was eating such unleavened bread, bitterness followed him, saying: Am I become your enemy, speaking the truth? He was eating bitterness in sorrow, in labor, in frequent watchings, in hunger and thirst, besides the other things which he spread abroad for the salvation of the whole world, and which made him, president of the truth, eat unleavened bread with bitterness. And the Law indeed says this: Eat unleavened bread with bitterness, and be filled, as it is also said elsewhere of certain ones: Eat and be filled.

But the prophet does not say: I have eaten bitterness; but: I am filled with bitterness: that is, upon me alone has weighed the burden of the persecutions of the age, so that I became full of bitterness. Why are they who make me sorrowful strengthened against me? Jeremiah suffered many things from those who were unwilling to hear the truth, and who were stronger than he in this age, since the kingdom of God is not of this age, but of a certain other region of the living, as the Savior says: If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews. They are strengthened, then, against him in this age. And that the just man is weaker than his persecutors, behold the sufferings of the martyrs. The judge sits on high tribunals, pronouncing sentences amid belching and delights: the Christian, in whom Christ dwells, is judged, full of bitterness, and subjected even to death, his enemies being strengthened against him. My wound is firm.

Those who are strengthened against me inflict wounds on me: and my wound is firm. Whether you wish to take this as spoken concerning the cross of the Lord, or of the just, or specifically of Jeremiah, it will not be out of keeping with the sense. My wound is firm; whence shall I be healed? And the Savior too can say, Whence shall I be healed? Announcing his resurrection after the wounds of the nails: and the just man who, after wounds, receives health. It has become to me (understand: the wound) as deceitful water having no faithfulness. Since indeed my wound does not remain, but passes over me. Therefore thus says the Lord: If thou wilt return, I will restore thee. God speaks these things to all whom he wishes to turn back to salvation.

But he seems to signify a certain mystery in what he says: I will restore thee; for no one can be restored except to that place from which he had before departed, as, for example, if a member of my body had been disjointed from its structure, the physician tries to restore it to its former place. If someone is separated from his country, sent into exile, and afterward, through the indulgence of those who have power to release exiles, is given back liberty, he returns whence he had been expelled. A soldier too, cast out of his rank, is restored to his rank, if he receives pardon. So also now it is said to the mortal race, that is to us men, who had been turned away from God: If ye be converted, I will restore you.

For the end of the promise is restoration, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: Until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets, in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

In the Gospel which is according to Matthew, it is written that our Saviour came near the sea of Galilee, and there saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting their nets into the sea. For they were fishermen. And there it is added: But Jesus seeing them, said to them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And leaving their nets they followed him. And the Saviour made them, from fishers of fish, fishers of men. The Lord also found two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a boat with their father Zebedee mending their nets. Whom, having likewise summoned to the ministry of the Gospel, he made fishers of men.

If, then, anyone should consider the disciples of the Saviour according to this history, so that they possess not only the grace of speech, but also nets so woven by the reason of the Scriptures as to be able to be cast round about, with the skill of a craftsman, over the souls of men, and should consider this very thing with the utmost reasoning of faith, he will see how it is not only then that the Saviour, but even to this present day, sends fishers of men, appointing them to deliver souls from the sea, and out of ... which is a worse kind of lettuce. But Jerome followed the LXX. To a freer air out of the most bitter waves. But those fish, when they have been drawn out of the water by seines, nets, and hooks, die.

But among us, when someone has been caught by the net of the word, and led out of the sea of the world, he too indeed dies, but to sin, but to the world: so that rising with Christ, he may live to God. If therefore you can bring your mind to grasp the sense which we are attempting to expound, that fish drawn out of the sea take up another life again and put on another body, then you will know how the example has profited us. Let no one blaspheme, let no one maliciously tear at this; let it not be called a fault what has been drawn from another's understanding.

And you too, therefore, when you have been drawn out from the waves of this world by the disciples of the Lord, change the vices of the body, change the mind of the soul; be not that fish which used to be tossed in the salt waves, but having been drawn out from the deep gulf, turn yourself to better things, according to that word of the Apostle: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.

And when you have been freed from the sea-waves by the apostles and disciples of Jesus, do not seek the deep, but let your dwelling be on the mountains; so that you may no longer have need of fishermen to draw you out again from the waves, but of certain others, whom Scripture calls hunters, who will afterward hunt you from the mountain, from the hill, from the higher places: there let your walking be, there your mind, your step and your standing: forget the sea; forget the valleys and the depths; come to the mountains, the Prophets; come to the hills, the just; let your dwelling be among them; so that when the day of death shall come, hunters may be sent, certain others besides the fishermen, who have been appointed over the taking up of souls, and they may receive you together with the other saints from the hill and from the mountain, from the higher place.

See now whether the Prophet does not agree with the same view in a consecrated voice, saying: Behold, I send many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish for them: and after this I will send many hunters, that they may catch them upon every mountain and hill. If you too wish to be caught by these hunters, beware lest you dwell in the valleys, lest you settle in some other lowly region. Seek the hills, seek the mountain, upon which, when the people had been seen, the Lord went up, and his disciples followed him, from which, opening his mouth, he taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and the remaining seven beatitudes. Nor indeed think that it is permitted to these hunters to catch men from anywhere else than from the mountains and hills, and, as follows, from the clefts of the rocks. Whence can I understand the rocks? Whence the clefts of the rocks?

I come to Exodus: I seek some occasion for interpretation, and there I find Moses wishing to see the Lord, and the Lord promising him and saying: Behold, I place you in a cleft of the rock, and you shall see my back parts, but my face you shall not see. If you consider what is meant there by the rock, and the hole of the rock, in which Moses, standing upon the rock and gazing from the cleft of the rock, may see God through the hole of the rock, you will understand also the other rocks, and the holes of the rocks. What then is the rock? The Lord Jesus Christ: For they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them. And he set my feet upon the rock, it is said in the thirty-ninth psalm. What is the hole of the rock?

See God in God the Father, God the Word, and you shall see the whole rock; see the dispensation of the assumed body, and you shall see the hole of the rock, through which human sight, according to the possibility of its weakness, beholds the back parts of God. For this is what he says: You shall see my back parts. I have found one cleft of one rock; I seek other rocks and other clefts: I come to the choir of the Prophets and Apostles, and of the surpassing holy Angels, and I say that all imitators of Christ are rocks, as he is a rock who taught. And just as this one has a hole through which the back parts of God are seen, in the same way each one of us who, through his own words, opens a way to the understanding of God, makes himself also a hole of the rock.

But if you wish to understand the rock and the hole of the rock otherwise, see through Moses the Law; through Isaiah, prophecy; through Jeremiah, other divine utterances. But if it be an Angel, and he speaks in a man, according to that prophetic word: The angel who spoke in me, I stand in the Angel, and through his hole I see God angelically. I have a necessary example, to teach how someone standing in an Angel can see God. It is written in Exodus: The Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of a bush; Moses saw that the bush was burning and was not consumed. And Scripture did not continue in the rest as it had begun by saying, The Angel of the Lord appeared, so as to say, I am the Angel of the Lord; but it says, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Therefore God was there visible in the Angel, and through his hole his back parts appeared.

Since therefore you do not know at what time the hunters are sent, beware lest at some time you come down from the mountain, lest you leave the hills, lest you go out from the clefts of the rocks. For if you are found outside, there will be said to you what those who are outside deserve to hear: Fool, this night they shall demand your soul of you; and the things you have prepared, whose shall they be? But these things will be said to you if you say: I will tear down my storehouses, and build greater ones, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have goods laid up for many years; rest, eat, drink, be merry. Do you notice one descending from the mountains and hills? Do you notice one standing outside the hole of the rock?

How he errs and thinks those things good which are nothing, saying: I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods laid up: he thought grain and the abundance of earthly fruits to be goods, not knowing that true goods are not born in the accursed earth, but in the heavenly regions: he laid up treasure for himself on earth, because he thought treasures were on earth. But if anyone, taking up his cross, follows the Lord Jesus, and lays up treasure for himself in heaven, it is not said to him: Fool, this night they shall demand your soul of you; but the hunters coming, and seeking animals from the mountains, from the hills, from the clefts of the rocks, will take him too together with them from the sublime hunting, and will carry him to the more sublime kingdoms of blessedness. For my eyes are upon all their ways. Upon all the ways of such men who dwell on the mountains, walk on the hills, live in the clefts of the rocks, God has his eyes.

They have not hidden themselves from my face. Those who are holy do not hide themselves from the face of God; but the unjust are hidden from his face. Adam, after the transgression of the heavenly command, heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise in the afternoon, and hid himself. The holy man does not do this, but has confidence toward God from the conscience of his own deeds: For if our conscience does not reproach us, we have confidence toward God, and whatever we ask, we shall receive from him. But Adam, although he sinned, yet his mind did not fall to the point of perfect malice, and therefore he was hidden from the face of God. But when the most impious fratricide sinned, observe what he did: He went out from the face of God, and dwelt in the land of Nod. If you come to a comparison of evils, it is better to be hidden from the face of God than to flee from him.

In the one case, indeed, the wound inflicted on the conscience, seeking darkness and secret places, does not allow the eyes to be lifted to heaven. In the other, obstinacy born of despair disregards the Lord. They have not hidden themselves therefore from my face, neither are their iniquities hidden from before my eyes. Above what injustices did the just not hide themselves from the face of God? At one time they were in sins, when they were in the sea, from which they were drawn out by the fishermen. Lest therefore they should suppose that it was not by the mercy of God, but by their own merit, that they came from the deep to the mountains, the divine word, reminding them both of their former offense, and therefore, after prosperous and happy things, bringing in sad ones, says: Neither are their iniquities hidden from before my eyes.

What follows presents us a difficulty of interpretation: for whether we understand these things to cohere with what precedes, we are nonetheless made afraid concerning the punishments to be repaid; or whether it seems not to cohere with what precedes, which we said about the fishermen and hunters, and thus they generate for us no small perplexity. And I will repay them first the double injustices of theirs, and their sins, in which they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their abominations, and their iniquities, with which they have filled my inheritance. As to what it says, "first"—whether those not understanding what is written removed it, or the Seventy interpreters, as with other things, wished to remove it according to their own dispensation, God will see.

We, comparing this passage with the other editions, have found it set down: And I will repay them first the double injustices of theirs: so that it may be shown that even though by their later deeds they have been made worthy of the blessedness of God, nevertheless, because they once sinned and were not without human faults, it is necessary that they first receive their own offenses. And see whether the reasoning is not true: who does not receive back his sins? Surely not he who, after belief and baptism, has heard the Lord saying: Your sins are forgiven you, and sin no more.

But if after the washing and the forgiveness of offenses we have again returned to our former filth, and still with imperfect understanding, departing from the footsteps of the apostles, either have done some unjust things, or certainly some sins are mixed even in that very righteousness, let us consider what will happen to us—whether, departing from the present world, if we have had both vices and virtues, we shall receive rewards for the virtues, and be forgiven those things which we knowingly sinned; or shall we be punished for the offenses, and not receive rewards for the virtues. But neither of these is true, because we shall both be tormented for our sins, and shall receive for righteousness the rewards we deserve. For if, after the foundation of Jesus Christ, you have built upon it in your heart not only gold, and silver, and precious stone (if indeed you have any gold or silver), but also wood, hay, and stubble, what do you wish to happen to you when your soul has been separated from the body?

Whether to enter into the holy things with your wood, with hay and stubble, so as to pollute the kingdom of God; or, on account of the wood, hay, and stubble, to remain outside? And for the gold, silver, and precious stone to receive no reward? But neither is this fair. What then follows, except that fire be given to you first on account of the wood, to consume the wood, hay, or stubble? For our God, among those who can understand divine things, is said to be a consuming fire. And when the prophet says: Our God is a consuming fire, he did not add what he consumes, leaving the understanding to you from clearer things. For that which remains in his image and likeness this fire does not consume—not his own creatures—but the wood, hay, stubble that has been built upon. This is a difficult passage, and requires much labor to interpret, so that the second things may agree with the first.

We read promises, and after prosperous things suddenly sad things are foretold: And I will repay them, it says, first the double injustices of theirs; "first" was necessarily added: for first we suffer torments on account of injustices, then we are crowned on account of righteousness. For it is not the reverse—that just things should first be granted, and sins repaid afterward, so that, with good things ceasing, the vices should remain eternal—but we shall first receive evil things, and then good things, so that, with the vices removed, the virtues may remain forever. Observe the whole treasury of Scriptures, and you will find that God always threatens first the things that are sad, and afterward brings in the things that offer joy to those who hear. He kills, and makes alive; he strikes and heals; he himself causes the pain, and again restores it; he has struck, and his hands have healed.

Concerning these things, therefore, let the just man, considering with a pious understanding what is said, groan, and say: Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle, or who shall rest in your holy mountain? He who walks, it says, without blemish, and works righteousness, who speaks the truth in his heart, who has not practiced deceit with his tongue, nor done evil to his neighbor, nor taken up reproach against his neighbors. Let us also not reproach those who are turning from sins to repentance, since Scripture says: Do not reproach a man turning from sins. He has not taken up reproach against his neighbors: the malignant one is brought to nothing in his sight, but he magnifies those who fear the Lord. All of us, therefore, who have the material of that fire in us, shall first receive our own offenses. But someone among the hearers will say to me, explain also what follows: The double injustices of theirs.

Granted indeed, I receive my sins, that what was said by the Apostle may be fulfilled: If anyone's work shall burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire: but why do I receive double sins? To this it must be answered, because the servant who knows the will of his lord, and does not do it, shall be beaten with many stripes; indeed it is fitting that those who are of the Gentiles should receive single sins, and we double ones, since the Apostle says: For if we sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fire of zeal, which shall devour the adversaries. It has been prophesied concerning those who have been drawn out of the deep to the mountains by the sinners and hunters, how they receive first their double sins.

After this it has been prophesied concerning the calling of the Gentiles—not of those who have not yet known Christ, but of those who have already been called, that they may know to render praise for grace: and, standing in the Church, may confess and adore his name: Lord, my strength, and my helper, and my refuge in the day of evils, to you shall the nations come from the end of the earth, and they shall say: Truly our fathers possessed false idols, and there is no profit in them. How have the Gentiles come from the end of the earth to the Lord, and said: Truly our fathers possessed false idols, and there is no profit in them? Who are these that come from the ends? There are some who are first of the earth, and others who are last. Who are the first? The wise of the world, the noble, the rich, the great. Who are the last?

God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may confound the strong, and the things that were not, that he may destroy the things that are. The Gentiles shall come from the end of the earth: as if it said: from all these who are last upon the earth, from the foolish, from the ignoble, from the abject. And they shall say: Truly our fathers possessed false idols, and there is no profit in them—not that idols are true, in contrast to which these are now called false, but idols which are false by nature, there is no profit in them. If a man shall make gods for himself, these are not gods. Not only from bodily images do men make gods for themselves, but also fashion them out of the heart: for those who can imagine another creator besides the God of the universe, another Spirit, another Christ, other worlds besides those which we behold—these men have made gods for themselves, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

All the philosophers who have put forth various doctrines, all the heretics who have arisen as authors for wretched mortals to believe otherwise concerning God, have made idols for themselves, and have thought pleasure of the mind to be God, and turning, have worshiped the work of their own hands, thinking to be true what they had fashioned. All, therefore, who fashion gods for themselves, both from visible material and from false doctrines, the divine word now rebukes, saying: If a man shall make gods for himself, and these are not gods; therefore I will make known to them in this time my handiwork, I will show them my power: at what time, if not at this, in which our Savior assumed a human body? And they shall know that I am the Lord.

Then another prophecy follows (which, I know not why, we do not find in the Septuagint, but find in the other editions, which agree with the Hebrew wording), which is full of necessary and useful matters, so useful that, if the mind be attentive, it can call the reader back from vices. It continues thus: The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with the point of a diamond; it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart. Since it is difficult for anyone to confess himself evil, therefore the Jews, who falsified some copies, in this place too put "their sin" instead of "the sin of Judah." But if you consider figuratively (as we have often shown) that Christ is called Judah, perhaps the sin of Judah is our sin, we who believe in Christ, of the tribe of Judah, and born of his stock according to the flesh.

But if you wish to understand it more sacredly as spoken of Judas the betrayer: The sin of Judas is written with an iron pen, with the point of a diamond, engraved upon the tablet of the heart, what follows will resist you: "of them." Therefore (as we said above) these things apply to us who sin, whose sins are not written down somewhere externally, but on the conscience of the heart, engraved with an iron pen, carved with a diamond point. But that our sins are written on the heart, understand from what follows. Before I commit a sin, no image of sin dwells in my heart; but when the conscience has taken up the image of the sin, I have its form, and always before the eyes of my heart the pageant of the offense is depicted.

And if indeed my sin were written in ink, perhaps I might erase it; but now it is written with an iron pen, and with a diamond point, it is written upon the tablet of my heart, so that it may come with me to the tribunal, and that may be fulfilled which was prophesied by Christ: Nothing is hidden that shall not be made manifest, and nothing secret that shall not be made plain. The conscience of my breast shall be laid bare, and with the heart opened, the letters of sins shall be seen, which were engraved with an iron pen, with a diamond point. And thus the whole multitude of onlookers shall read in my breast the signed images of sins. For nothing is hidden that shall not be revealed. And among themselves, the thoughts accusing or defending one another. And: Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of hearts. To whom will he make it manifest?

Surely not to himself, who knows all things before they happen; but to those who are to come with him, and who, on account of purity of mind and body, shall follow the Lamb—to them he will show the offenses expressed in the heart of the sinner, that the just may rise to glory, but sinners to reproach and eternal confusion; from which may God deliver us, rising with Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things that they might be, and the generations of the world were healthful, and there is no poison of death in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth. Then, going on a little further, I find whence death is: But by the envy of the devil, death entered into the world. All good things, therefore, did God establish in us and for our sake, but we ourselves have drawn upon ourselves, by our own will, wickedness and our own sins. Whence also in the present reading God, through the prophet, now makes complaint, and as it were in doubt inquires, how in certain persons that soul is bitter which he himself had made sweet, and says: How art thou turned into the bitterness of a strange vine? What he says is this: I made the feet, by which the race of mortals should walk; for what cause has it come to pass that so many limp?

I made all the limbs strong and whole; how do I see in many of them weak and useless limbs? So then not only the soul of the first man, but of all men, was made after the image and likeness of God, and this image, which is God's, is older than the image of the devil, which we afterwards put on because of sin. Wherefore we ought greatly to strive, that as, by sinning, we have borne the image of the earthly, so, being turned to repentance, we may bear the image of the heavenly, unto which also the whole creature was at first made; on account of whose turning aside into evil the word now, rebuking sinners, says: How art thou turned into the bitterness of a strange vine? But I planted thee fruitful, wholly true. And we have said before, and now we repeat the same thing more fully that you may understand it, that God planted the soul of man good, but it, by its own fault, was depraved against the will of its maker.

But I planted thee a fruitful vine, wholly true: I did not plant thee true in part and false in part, but wholly true. How then, contrary to my planting, art thou turned into bitterness, and become a strange vine? After this it follows: If thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the herb borith, thou art stained before me in thine iniquities, saith the Lord. Are we then to suppose that the sinning soul has attempted to cleanse its stains with nitre, and, taking up the herb which springs from the earth, has striven to purge from itself the uncleanness of its offenses? Whence the divine word now speaks to it: If thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the herb borith, thou art stained before me in thine iniquities, saith the Lord.

Or is this rather to be judged the truer sense, that as the sacred volumes are full of all virtue, so also the word of God is full of all virtue, and has a strength of this kind, that it can cleanse vices, and, the filth being scoured away, recall the soul to its former hue? For the word of God is living, and effectual, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and so on. From which we have said that the word has remedies for the passions of the soul, that in it there is nitre, there is borith, whereby filth may be washed away. But not every sin can be cleansed by the nitre and the borith of the word; there are some offenses which do not admit of easy healing, nor depart cleansed by nitre and borith alone. So now it is said: If thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the borith, thou art stained before me in thine iniquities, saith the Lord.

And just as there are certain wounds which are restored to their former soundness by plasters, and oil, and bandages, but there are others of such a kind that of them it is said: There is no plaster to be laid on, nor oil, nor bandages, but your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire: so there are certain sins which defile the soul, and require a man who has borith, and nitre of the word; but there are others of such a kind that they cannot be cured by the power of the aforesaid word, for they are not to be compared to mere filth. Wherefore, knowing the differences of sins, the Lord says through Isaiah: The Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion (in blood). He shall cleanse from the midst of them by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning, filth and blood. Filth by the spirit of judgment, blood by the spirit of burning.

If thou hast sinned, and art defiled by the filth of sins, the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Sion, and shall cleanse the blood from the midst of them. But if it be a mortal sin, we cannot be cleansed by nitre and borith, but by the spirit of judgment, the spirit of burning and of punishment. Perhaps also Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire: not that he baptizes the same person in the Holy Spirit and in fire; but that the holy one is baptized with the Holy Spirit, while he who, after faith and the teaching of God, has again turned to wickedness, is purged by the torment of burning. Blessed is he who has received the washing of the Holy Spirit, and needs not the washing of fire. But wretched, and worthy of all lamentation, is he who, after the washing of the Spirit, must be baptized with fire.

For indeed Jesus has both baptisms: for there came forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower ascended from his root; the rod for sinners, the flower for the just. Thus God is called in the Scriptures both a consuming fire and a light, fire to sinners, light to the holy: and: Blessed is he who has part in the first resurrection. If anyone shall have kept the washing of the Holy Spirit, he shares in the part of the first resurrection. But if anyone is reserved for the second resurrection, he is a sinner who needs the baptism of fire, who is purged by burning, so that whatever of wood, hay, and stubble he has, the fire may consume.

Wherefore, since we see that such things await us after death, let us read the Scriptures diligently together, and lay them up in our hearts, and strive to live according to their precepts, that before the day of our departure, if it can be done, being cleansed from the filth of sins, we may be found worthy to be taken up with the Saints, in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen.

On the passage in which he says: Israel hath justified her soul more than treacherous Judah.

We ought first to examine the very wording of the reading, which is very obscure, and afterward, if the Lord grant a way of understanding, to arrive at a deeper meaning. In the books of Kings a history is related which teaches that, after the death of Solomon, in the days of Rehoboam, the twelve tribes were divided: that is, that Jeroboam reigned over ten tribes, and they were called Israel; while Rehoboam ruled two tribes, and they were called Judah. This division of the people, according to the account of the book, remains to the present day. For in no writings is it found that Israel and Judah are again brought together under one rule. Israel sinned first under Jeroboam and his successors after him, and sinned so greatly that it was handed over by God to captivity, and has served among the Assyrians even to this day. And Judah sinned also, and was handed over to the Babylonians, not to this day, but (as Scripture testifies) for seventy years, concerning which Jeremiah and Daniel prophesied.

If you have understood the history that is written in the books of Kings, consider the words of the prophet, and you will see that the same meaning is expressed. Israel is accused, and it is said: The congregation of Judah, hearing that Israel had been given over to captivity because of her sins, did not do penance, nor was she converted to me; but only heaped sins upon sins, so that in comparison with her vices Israel is found more just. Then the prophet is bidden to preach to Israel, that, since Judah had become worse than she, she might turn to the Lord, and that Israel and Judah would be under one rule, and would return to their former concord. That this may be made plainer, the very words of Scripture must be set down: And the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Hast thou seen what the house of Israel, my dwelling, hath done? He did not say Judah, but Israel first.

She went under every high mountain, and under every leafy tree, and there played the harlot; and I said, after she had done all these things: Return to me; and she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah heard her transgression, that is, the transgression of the people of Israel. And they saw—that is, those who were of Judah—that Israel my dwelling had been caught in all the acts of adultery in which she committed adultery. I put her away and gave her a bill of divorce. For I put away the people Israel, and cast them out among the Assyrians: And I gave her a bill of divorce into her hand, and her treacherous sister Judah feared not.

After all that Israel had suffered, being put away by God, receiving the bill of divorce into her hands, Judah ought to have turned from her vices, and, being corrected by another's sins, to have guarded against similar ones herself: yet she not only did not cease to sin, but doubled her former crimes, to such a degree that, by comparison with her, the congregation of Israel, which had before been itself condemned, is more just. And I gave her a bill of divorce into her hand, and her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot herself also, and her fornication came to nothing, and she committed adultery with wood and stone: and in all these things her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood: nor did she fear, from what Israel had done, so as to turn to me with her whole heart, and, laying aside the falsehood in which she persisted, truly do penance.

And the Lord said to me, Israel hath justified her soul in comparison with her treacherous sister Judah: The sins of Israel, compared with the vices of Judah, in some way justify her soul. Go and read these words toward the North. If you have understood the history, let us see what the mystical meaning signifies in these things. The calling of the Gentiles, the expectation of Israel, had its beginning, as the apostles testify, after the proclamation which they preached to the synagogues of the Jews: To you, they said, was the word sent; but because you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles. Paul also speaks with sacred voice: By their offense salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Therefore the many sins of that people caused them to be forsaken by the Lord, and caused us, who were strangers to the covenants and the promise, to come to the hope of salvation.

For whence is it to me, born I know not where outside the holy land, now to discourse of the promises, and to believe in the God of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed by the voices of all the prophets? If you have understood the two peoples, Israel and the Gentiles, understand the migration of Israel from the people of the Jews, and that it is written of it: I put her away, and gave her a bill of divorce. For God truly put away the people Israel, and gave them a bill of divorce, as the following example confirms. The law of Moses commands that, when a wife displeases her husband, a bill of divorce be given her, and she be put away, and then the husband is permitted to take another. According to this meaning, understand that the Jews, receiving the bill of divorce, were altogether forsaken by the Lord. For where now among them are the prophets? Where the signs of powers? Where the manifestation of God?

Not a temple, not sacrifices, not any other worship set forth in the books of the Law. They have been cast out of their own regions, and thus the Lord gave the bill of divorce to Israel. After them we, who in the Scriptures are called Jews (Jews indeed, because of the tribe of Judah, from whose stock the Savior descended), were converted to the Lord; and our latter state—which would that it might not, even at this time, be fulfilled—will be like the sins of Judah, nay, worse. And that you may believe that at the consummation of the age worse things will befall us than befell the Jews, hear the Savior proclaiming in the Gospel: When iniquities shall abound, the charity of many shall grow cold. But he who shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.

And in another place: There shall be signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, to deceive, if it be possible, even the elect: and such unbelief shall come upon the whole human race, that our Savior (who knew all things that were to come) said: Do you think, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Truly, if we judge by faith and truth, not by number, and if we look to the will of men, not to the multitude, we see that among so great a number in the Churches a faithful man is hard to find. Then were men truly faithful, when the victims of martyrs were being slain, when, having followed the bloody funerals, we returned sorrowing to the Church, when the whole multitude was one of mourners, when catechumens, at the very first entrance into the faith, were taught to bear martyrdom, when little women and the weaker sex remained undaunted even unto death. Then truly were there signs from heaven, then were there portents upon the earth.

Then were there few indeed, but truly faithful, entering the narrow and strait way that leads to life. But now, when we have become many (for it is difficult that many should be good, nor does Jesus lie when he says: Many are called, but few are chosen); of so many who profess the Christian faith, few indeed are found who possess faith and truth, and are worthy of blessedness. If therefore he says: At first, because of sins, I put away Israel, and left her in captivity: and Judah, hearing what had happened to Israel, would not turn to me: he speaks of our sins, we who, reading what the people of the Jews suffered, do not fear, nor say: If he spared not the natural branches, how much more will God not spare us?

If Christ, the most merciful God, according to their desert, rooted out those who boasted themselves to be the good olive tree, and of the root of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, how much more will he not spare us, if we do the like? Behold the goodness and the severity of God. For he is neither good only, and not severe; nor severe only, and not also good. If he were good only, we would despise his goodness; if severe only, despair of salvation, because of the sins we have committed, would hurl us headlong into vice. But now, as God, we men have need of his goodness, for the sake of penance, and of his severity, for the sake of our offenses: and so he is both good and severe, and speaks to us through the Prophet, saying: Hast thou seen what the house of Israel, my dwelling, hath done (take Israel here for the people of the Jews)? She went upon every high mountain, and went in under every leafy tree.

If you consider the Pharisee going up into the temple with pride, and not smiting his breast, nor feeling his own evils, how he says: I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. You see how he goes up upon every high mountain, and, inflamed with that arrogance, presumes. But there are others who go up upon the hills, and become under every tree, not fruitful, but leafy: for one is the nature of the tree that is fertile with abundance, another that only abounds in the foliage of leaves. In groves and sacred woods no one plants a fig tree, no one a vineyard, no one fruitful trees, but only leafy trees for the delight of sight. Such are the heretics, who compose their discourse with the adornment of words, not that they may turn hearers from vices, but that they may delight them.

Therefore he who has been persuaded by seduction of this kind has gone away under every tree. And note at the same time why it was not said, "every tree," and passed over in silence, nor again added "every fruitful tree," but pointedly added: "under every leafy tree." Wherefore, if you understand why it is commanded in the Law: You shall not plant any tree near the altar of the Lord your God, nor shall you make a grove: for it is expressly forbidden that a grove be planted in the temple—if you observe why it is said: She played the harlot there, and I said after she had played the harlot in all these things: Return to me, and she did not return, and treacherous Judah saw her transgression—understand this to be said of us, who, abandoning the covenant which we made with God, do not keep it, nor do we consider that the former people lost the covenant, and the promises, and the nobility of race through sin in like manner.

If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of your father: says the Lord to them. And in another place John the Baptist says: Do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham: signifying that we are stones, because, hardening our hearts after the likeness of stones, we refuse the truth. And truly the Almighty God will raise up children of Abraham from stones, if we remain in his adoption, and keep in ourselves the spirit by which we were adopted. Treacherous Judah, then, saw the transgression of Israel, who did not keep the covenant which she had made with God: And she saw that, in all the things in which she committed adultery, that generation was taken.

For all the things which Israel suffered, we who are Judah, reading in the sacred volumes, find that for all the things by which she was taken, in which the dwelling of Israel committed adultery, the Lord dismissed her, and gave her a bill of divorce. And whereas we ought, from the things which they suffered, to be converted to better things, and to observe that they were delivered up to captivity for their sins, and slain by enemies, and their cities burned with fire: since, then, as we have said, we ought to reckon these things with ourselves, because if God spared not the natural branches, how much more will he not spare us? If he thus dismissed those who descended from the race of the patriarchs, for their sins, what must we, called from the Gentiles, expect to suffer?

We reckon none of these things, and therefore we who have been called, that they might be provoked to jealousy, seeing that some who were servants have at times become free, some who were ignoble have now become sons of God. But if they suffered such things, how much more shall we, if we sin, suffer worse things? In whom the dwelling of the house of Israel committed adultery, I dismissed her, and gave her a bill of divorce into her hand, and treacherous Judah feared not this, which the dwelling of Israel did, because I dismissed her, and gave her a bill of divorce. Nor did treacherous Judah fear, lest she herself, for her own sins, should suffer the like.

If someone newly bought enters the house of the buyer and master, he inquires of some fellow servant which of the former servants offended the master, and what he deserved; and if he wishes to persist in the master's house, he takes care not to do those things which he hears those did who were found worthy of stripes and torments and banishment. Then, most diligently inquiring what those did who deserved liberty from the master, he strives with all effort to do those things which he has learned they did. And so we also, who were not servants of God but of idols and demons, and afterward, gathered from the Gentiles, believed in Christ, let us read the Scriptures, let us see who was justified, who offended God, and let us strive with all watchfulness to do those things which we read the just did, and let us take care not to fall into those things into which those fell who were delivered to captivity and cast out from the inheritance of God.

And treacherous Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot, she too. After the fornication in which Israel first fell, Judah also played the harlot. And her fornication came to nothing, and she committed adultery with wood and stone. When we sin with a hardened heart against God, we do nothing else but commit fornication with a stone. When we sin in pleasure, we commit adultery under every leafy tree. And in all these things treacherous Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood. And we have turned to the Lord; but because we have not turned with our whole heart, it is said: Treacherous Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood. Nor indeed does it say: Treacherous Judah has not turned to me, and stop there: but, Treacherous Judah, it says, has not turned to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood: to show that those who are converted, if they are not converted with their whole heart, are converted in falsehood, not in truth.

Wherefore let us read the histories of the Old Testament, and the prophets, and if we find any who were justified, let us imitate the means by which they were justified. Let us read the Gospels, and the whole New Testament. Let us read all the Epistles of the apostle Paul, and let us write them in our hearts, living according to the heavenly precepts, that a bill of divorce be not given to us also, but that we may be made joint heirs with Christ Jesus, and we shall see that, when the fulness of the Gentiles enters the Church of God, in the last days Israel shall be saved, according to that saying: But when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, then all Israel shall be saved, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd, teaching in common his people to magnify the Almighty Lord with Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages, Amen.

Not everyone who is a captive endures captivity on account of sins. For although the whole multitude of the Jews was forsaken by God on account of sin, and, undergoing captivity, was seized by Nabuchodonosor and cast out from the holy land, and led all the way into Babylon: yet a few just men who were among the people underwent captivity not for their own fault, but for this reason, lest the sinners who had been oppressed by the yoke of captivity should have no help at all. For let us suppose that, once the sinners had been led away into Babylon, the just had remained behind in their former borders: it would be lamentable that the sinners should never obtain a remedy. Therefore the merciful and kind God, the lover of mankind, arranged that, among the punishments with which He chastises sinners, He should also mingle the mercy of His visitation, and should not oppress the wretched with immoderate punishment. Our God is always thus: He tortures the guilty, but as a devoted father joins clemency to torments.

But if you wish to know that what we say is true, see what happened in Egypt through the famine. If He had wished only to kill the Egyptians, and to punish them with torments in a seven-year famine, He would certainly have done what He wished, and neither would Joseph have gone down into Egypt, nor would Pharaoh have seen the dream about what was to befall Egypt, nor would it have been shown to the king by the chief of the butlers that there was someone who could interpret the king's dream for him. But now, as you see, God scourges as a father, but spares—not only Israel, but also the Egyptians, though they are strangers to Him—out of His own gentleness.

And it is clear that the work of the good God is exercised upon them, while Joseph goes down into Egypt, while Pharaoh is warned by dreams, while the chief of the wine-servers points out an interpreter, while the interpreter discourses on the vessels, and so, in the time of plenty, when the crops have been gathered, the scarcity of the later famine is overcome. From all of which it is evident that there is no immoderate wrath, such as is reproached against the Creator by the heretics. We could indeed unfold many histories to prove these things I have said, but lest I seem to depart from my purpose, I make my discourse brief. For my purpose is to explain concerning this: that the people of Israel was led captive on account of their sins. And lest perhaps someone should think that sinners, once handed over by God, are no longer governed by Him, and, once reduced into captivity, no longer merit His dispensation and mercy, let us consider the present passage more carefully.

Daniel did not sin; Ananias, Azarias, Misael were free from sin, and yet they were made captives, so that, being placed there, they might console the captive people, and by the exhortation of their voice might restore the penitent to Jerusalem, chastened for a time. For they paid the penalty of servitude for seventy years, and then thereafter returned to their own dwellings, because the holy word of the prophets had lifted up their cast-down souls. But not only did those four prophets exist in captivity, but Ezechiel too was one of them, and Zacharias son of Barachias prophesied during the time of the captivity, under King Darius. We also find that Aggaeus and many other prophets prophesied at those same times, from which it is shown that God not only punishes sinners, but also mingles mercy with punishments.

But if you doubt, hear the voices of those suffering torments, how they proclaim, even sacredly, in the midst of their own torments, the clemency of God: "Thou shalt feed us with the bread of tears, and shalt give us drink in tears, and in measure." He does not say indifferently, "in tears"; but "in tears and in measure." For the mercy of God is by weight. If it were not beneficial for the conversion of sinners to apply torments to sinners, the merciful and kind God would never punish crimes with penalties; but as a most indulgent father chastises his son for this reason, that he may instruct him; as a most provident teacher, with severity of countenance, so corrects a wanton pupil, lest, feeling himself hated, he perish. See what Solomon, wisest of all men, thinks concerning the corrections of God: "My son, be not fainthearted under the discipline of God, neither faint when thou art corrected by Him".

"For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth: and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." "For there is no son," says the Apostle, "who, when he has sinned, is not scourged by his father." And to this he added wonderfully, saying: "Persevere in discipline. As to sons, God offers Himself to you". "For what son is there whom his father does not correct? But if you are outside discipline, of which all have been made partakers, you are bastards, and not sons." But perhaps there is someone who, offended by the very name of wrath, accuses God of it. To him we shall answer that it is not so much wrath as it is a necessary dispensation that is called the wrath of God. Hear what the work of God's wrath is: to reprove, to correct, to amend: "O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath, neither chasten me in Thy fury".

He who speaks these words knows that the fury of God is not useless for healing, but is applied for this purpose, that He may cure the sick, that He may amend those who have scorned to hear His word. Therefore he does not pray that he not be corrected by such remedies, lest, along with the penal medicine, he should recover his former health—as if a servant, already placed under the lash, were beseeching the Lord, promising Him that he would do what was commanded, and saying: "O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath, neither chasten me in Thy fury." All the things that are of God are good, and we deserve to be corrected. Listen to what He says: "I will rebuke them in the hearing of their affliction." Therefore we have heard those things which concern tribulation, that we may be corrected. In the curses of Leviticus also it is written: "If after this they will not obey, nor be turned to me, I will add seven plagues to them for their sins.

But if after this they will not be turned, I will amend them". All things of God, which seem bitter, tend to instruction and remedy. God is a physician, God is a father, He is a lord—not a harsh, but a gentle lord. If you come to those who have been punished according to the sayings of the Scriptures, compare Scripture with Scripture, as the Apostle also teaches you, and you will see that things are sweetest there where they are thought most bitter. It is written in the prophet: "He does not avenge twice for the same thing in judgment". He avenged once in judgment by the Flood; He avenged once in judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrha; He avenged once in judgment upon Egypt, and six hundred thousand of the Israelites. Do not suppose that this vengeance was a punishment only for sinners, as if after death punishments were to be received again out of punishment. They were punished in the present, lest they should be perpetually punished in the future.

Consider the poor man in the Gospel: he is oppressed by squalor and want, and afterward rests in the bosom of Abraham.

He received his evils in his lifetime. How do you know whether those who were drowned in the flood received their evils in their lifetime? How do you know whether Sodom and Gomorrha's evils were restored to them in their lifetime? Hear the testimony of the Scriptures. Do you wish to learn the testimony of the Old Testament? Do you wish to be taught by the New? Sodom will be restored to its former state: and do you still doubt whether the Lord punishing the Sodomites is good? It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, says the Lord, having mercy on the Sodomites. Therefore God is kind, God is merciful. He truly makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil, and he truly rains upon the just and the unjust: not only this sun which we perceive with our eyes, but also that sun which is beheld with the eyes of the mind. I was evil, and there arose for me the sun of justice.

I was evil, and there came upon me the rain of justice. The goodness of God is present even in those things which are thought bitter. Therefore the Prophet was set in a city, and see what he beholds, lest he feel the sorrows of captivity. Below he sees toils, but lifting his eyes upward, he looks up at the opened heavens, he beholds the heavenly things unlocked to him, he sees the likeness of the glory of God, he sees four living creatures, about which there is much discourse and difficult interpretation. He beholds the charioteer of the four living creatures. He beholds wheels containing one another. The charioteer of the four living creatures is not entirely fiery, but from the feet up to the loins, and from there to the top he glows with the brightness of electrum. For God does not have torments only; there are also refreshments in him. He punishes sinners; but through those mysteries which are below.

For the Prophet did not see fire in the head, nor in those members which rise upward from the boundary of the loins. The Lord is fiery; but from the loins down to the feet, to show that those who are engaged in generation need fire. For the loin is a sign of intercourse. Levi was still in the loins of his father Abraham when Melchisedec met him. And in the psalm it is said: Of the fruit of thy loin I will set upon my throne. The Lord is fiery from the loins downward. For the works of generation and lust are seized by the punishments of hell. God is fiery; but he is not wholly fiery: his upper parts are electrum. Electrum is more precious than silver, and even than gold. Scripture set down electrum as an example of brightness, not because God is truly electrum. And just as God is not such electrum as he seemed to be, so the fire is not such as appeared from the loins down to the end of the feet.

This fire consumes, and it is not added what it consumes, so that you, seeking, may find what it is that is consumed by the fire of God. Our God is a consuming fire. What does this fire consume? Not the wood we perceive, not sensible hay, not the straw that is seen; but if you build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ the wood of works of sin, the hay of works of sin, the lesser straw of works of sin, fire comes, and examines all these things. Who is this fire, which the Law proclaims, and which the Gospel does not keep silent? Fire shall test what sort each man's work is. Who, O Apostle, is this fire that tests our works? Who is this fire, so wise as to guard my gold, to make my silver shine more brightly, to leave unharmed the precious stone that is in me, to consume only the evils I have done, the wood, hay, and straw I have built upon it? Who is this fire?

I have come to send fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it be kindled. Jesus Christ says, how I wish that it be already kindled. For he is good, and knows that if this fire be kindled, malice will be consumed. It is written in the Prophets: he sanctified him in burning fire, and it devoured the forest like hay. And again: The Lord of Sabaoth sends forth reproach for your honor, and for your glory a burning fire is kindled, that is, fire is sent forth against the works of your sins so that you may be glorified. Do you wish still to learn from the Prophet that the torments of the good God are established for the benefit of those who endure them? Listen to the same prophet saying: You have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them; they shall be a help to you.

These things ought to have been hidden, and not brought forth into the open, but the heretics compel us to bring into public what should be concealed, because these things are usefully covered for those who are still little children as regards the age of the soul, who need the fear of teachers, who must be corrected by threats and terrors, and can attain to goodness, so that through bitter remedies they may at some point cease from the wounds of sins. For the mysteries of God are always covered with certain veils for the sake of little hearers. How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee. The God of the Law and the Prophets hides the multitude of his goodness not from those who love him, but for those who fear him. For they are little ones, and cannot learn to their profit that they are loved by the Father, lest they be dissolved, lest they despise the goodness of God.

Wherefore when you hear of the captivity of the people, you should indeed believe that it truly happened according to the truth of history, but that it preceded as a sign of another matter, and signified a mystery to follow. For you too, who are called faithful, who behold peace—for Christ indeed is our peace—dwell in Jerusalem. But if you sin, the visitation of God will forsake you, and you will be handed over captive to Nebuchadnezzar, and being delivered you will be led into Babylon. For when your soul has been thrown into confusion by vices and disturbances, you are led away into Babylon, since Babylon is interpreted as confusion. Yet again, if you do penance, and through the conversion of a true heart obtain the mercy of God, Esdras is sent to you, to lead you back and cause Jerusalem to be built. For Esdras is interpreted as helper, and a helping word is sent to you, so that you may return to your homeland.

It is also a mystery, that which is spoken in a riddle by Daniel, and is narrated by the Apostle both hiding and revealing at once: In Adam we all die, and in Christ we are all brought to life. For Adam was in paradise, but the serpent became the cause of his captivity, and brought it about that he was cast out either from Jerusalem or from paradise, and came into this place of tears. The serpent is the enemy opposed to truth. But he was not created adverse from the beginning, nor did he walk at once upon his breast and belly, nor was he cursed from the start. Just as Adam and Eve did not sin immediately when they were made, so also the serpent was once not a serpent, when he dwelt in the paradise of delights.

Whence afterward, falling on account of sins, he deserved to hear: You were the seal of likeness, the crown of beauty in the paradise of God, born, until iniquity was found in you; you walked blameless in all your ways. Concerning whom Job also records, that he grew proud in the sight of Almighty God: For Lucifer fell from heaven, who used to rise in the morning, he was crushed upon the earth. See the agreement of the prophetic and evangelical speech. The Prophet says: Lucifer fell from heaven, who used to rise in the morning, he was crushed upon the earth. Jesus speaks: I saw Satan, as lightning falling from heaven. What difference is there in saying "lightning" or "Lucifer" falling from heaven? As far as the matter is concerned, all the agreement is about one who falls. For God made not death, nor did he work malice. He granted free will to man and to angel alike for all things.

Here now it must be understood how, through freedom of will, some have climbed to the summit of good things, others have fallen into the depth of malice. But you, O man, why do you not wish to be left to your own free will? Why do you find it hard to strive, to labor, to contend, and through good works to become the cause of your own salvation? Or does it please you more to remain asleep, and established in idleness, to rest in eternal prosperity? My Father, says the Lord Jesus Christ, works until now, and I work; and does it displease you to work, you who were born for works? Do you not wish your work to be justice, wisdom, chastity? Do you not wish your work to be fortitude and the other virtues? Therefore those are led into captivity who, on account of their sins, deserved the punishments of servitude. And Jesus Christ came to preach to captives release, and to the blind sight.

He cries out to those who are in chains: Go forth, and to those who dwell in darkness: See. And we too were in the chains of sins, and we too once dwelt in darkness, contending against the rulers of the darkness of this world: Jesus came, proclaimed by the voices of all the prophets, saying to those bound: Go out; and to those set in darkness: Look. But if you wish to hear Ezechiel the son of man preaching in captivity—and he was a type of Christ—it happened, he says, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, and I was in the midst of the captivity beside the river Chobar, and the heavens were opened. Beside the river Chobar, then, Ezechiel, being thirty years old, saw the heavens opened. And the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning, was about thirty years old beside the river Jordan, and the heavens were opened. And throughout the whole prophecy Ezechiel is called: Son of man.

But who is the son of man, as my Lord Jesus Christ? Let the heretics answer me, who mock his birth as a phantasm: why is Christ called the son of man? I affirm that he was the son of man. For he who took on human sufferings must necessarily have first received a nativity before suffering. For he could not have received human affections, words, customs, the cross, death, if he had not received the beginning of humanity. And it would follow, that in taking away his nativity, they would also take away his passion, and simply say: Jesus was not crucified. But now you confess the cross, and are not ashamed. You preach to the Jews the scandal of the crucified, and to the Gentiles foolishness, and yet, for a lesser scandal than the passion or death, you blush to confess his nativity.

Surely it is a lesser scandal that Jesus was born, than that he died, or if the Christian faith does not fear scandal, why do you fear to say the lesser things, you who have dared to confess the greater? Especially since his nativity is believed to have come about not from the seed of man and the union of a woman in sleep, but according to the word of the prophet who says: Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. This which is said, Emmanuel, does not signify merely one name, but denotes a reality. For when Jesus comes, we say, God with us. Not without reason, then, does Ezechiel prophesy in the thirtieth year. For his very name is a figure of Christ. For Ezechiel is interpreted as "the rule of God": but there is no rule of God except Christ Jesus.

He is also written as the son of Buzi, which is interpreted "despised." If you come to the heretics, and hear them despising and holding as nothing the Creator, and moreover even accusing him, you will see according to them that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of a most despised Creator. But if anyone resists, and does not wish to accept these things which we have set forth as prophecy, let me ask him why it is written that in the thirtieth year of Ezechiel's life the heavens were opened, and he saw those visions which are contained in his book. What profit is it to me, the number of years, unless it is this, that I may learn that in the thirtieth year both for the Savior and for the prophet the heavens were unlocked, and comparing spiritual things with spiritual, I may recognize that all the things that are written are the words of the same God?

For the words of the wise are like goads, and like nails driven deep, because they were given by one shepherd to those who prick. As for what is said, in the fourth month, the fifth of the month, I, investigating according to the capacity of my understanding, pray to God that I may be able to understand that very thing which agrees with the will of his Scriptures. A new year is now approaching for the Jews, and the first month among them is counted from the beginning of the new year. Now the Passover is observed as part of the reckoning of the new year. This month shall be to you the beginning of months in the months of the year. From this year count for me the fourth month, and understand that Jesus was baptized in the fourth month of the new year.

For in that month, which among the Romans is called January, we know the baptism of the Lord took place, which is the fourth month from the new year according to the reckoning of the Hebrews. And because he had assumed a body subsisting of the four elements of the world, receiving also human senses, therefore perhaps also in the fourth month, and on the fifth day of the month, he beheld the vision. And I was in the midst of the captivity. It seems to me that this is said ironically: And I was in the midst of the captivity. And I, as if he were to say, according to the history indeed, the prophet, and I who was not held by the sins of the people, was in the midst of the captivity: but according to allegory, Christ, and I came into the place of captivity, I came to those regions where slaves, where captives were held.

You have such utterances of our Savior in the Prophets, indignant that we do not act worthily of his dispensation, especially we who are thought to believe in him. For he says to his Father: What profit is there in my blood, while I go down into corruption? Shall dust confess to thee, or shall it announce thy truth? I find also another such utterance, which is spoken in the person of our Savior through the prophet, seeking souls full of justice, full of divine understanding, full of holy fruits, and seeking the true clusters of truth, but finding very many sinners, and barren of good things, and therefore saying: Woe is me, for I am become as one that gathers straw in the harvest, and as gleaning grapes in the vintage, from which there remains no cluster to eat the first fruits. Woe is me.

What is said, "Woe is me," is not the voice of the firstborn of all creation, is not the voice of divinity, but of the human soul which he assumed, whence he adds: Woe is me, my soul, for the reverent has perished from the earth: and there is none to correct among men. All are judged in blood, each man afflicts his neighbor. These things have been recorded on this account, because the prophet says: And I was in the midst of the captivity beside the river Chobar: which is interpreted "heaviness." For the river of this age is heavy, as is also said elsewhere in a sacred way. And according to the simple, it explains the history: but according to those who hear the Scriptures spiritually, it signifies the soul which has fallen into the whirlwinds of this life.

Upon the rivers of Babylon there we sat, and wept, while we remembered Sion: on the willows in the midst of it we hung up our instruments, for there they that led us captive asked of us the words of songs. These are the rivers of Babylon, beside which, sitting and remembering the heavenly homeland, they mourn and weep, where they will hang up their instruments, on the willows of the Law and the mysteries of God. It is written in a certain book, that all believers receive a crown of willow. And in Isaiah it is said: It shall spring up as hay in the midst of the water, and as a willow beside the flowing water. And at the feast of God, when his tabernacles are set up, they establish willow branches in the fixing of the tabernacles. Beside the river Chobar. Beside this most heavy river of the age. And the heavens were opened.

The heavens had been closed, and at the coming of Christ they were opened, that when they were unlocked, the Holy Spirit might come upon him in the form of a dove. For he could not have come to us, unless he had first descended to the companion of his own nature. Jesus ascended on high, he led captivity captive, he received gifts among men. He who descended is the same who ascended above all the heavens, that he might fulfill all things. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints. The heavens were opened. It is not enough for one heaven to be opened; many are opened, that angels may descend not from one, but from all the heavens, to those who are to be saved. Angels who were ascending and descending upon the Son of man, and drew near to him, and ministered to him.

Now the angels descended because Christ had descended first, fearing to descend before the Lord of all virtues and things had commanded; but when they saw the prince of the heavenly host dwelling in earthly places, then, entering by the opened way, they followed their Lord, obeying his will. He distributed them as guardians of those who believe in his name. You were yesterday under a demon, today under an angel. Do not, says the Lord, despise one of these least ones, who are in the Church. For amen I say to you, that their angels always see the face of the Father who is in heaven. Angels serve your salvation, they are granted for the ministry of the Son of God, and they say among themselves: If he descended, and descended into a body, if he was clothed with mortal flesh, and endured the cross, and died for men, why do we rest? Why do we spare ourselves? Come, let all we angels descend from heaven.

Therefore also there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising and glorifying God, when Christ was born. All things are full of angels: come, angel, receive in speech one turned from his former error, from the teaching of demons, from iniquity speaking on high, and receiving him like a good physician, warm and instruct him: he is a little one, today born, an old man becoming a child again; and receive him, granting him the baptism of second regeneration, and call to yourself other companions of your ministry, that all together you may teach unto faith those who were once deceived. For there is greater joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance, than over ninety-nine just who have no need of penance. All creation exults, rejoices together, and applauds those who are to be saved. For the expectation of creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God.

And though those who have tampered with the apostolic Scriptures do not wish such words to be found in their books, by which the Creator Christ might be approved, yet all creation awaits the sons of God, when they are freed from sin, when they are taken from the hand of the Devil, when they are regenerated by Christ. But now it is time that we touch upon some points of the present passage. The Prophet saw not a vision, but visions of God. Why did he not see one, but many visions? Hear the Lord promising and saying: I have multiplied visions (Hosea xii). On the fifth of the month. This is the fifth year of the captivity of king Joachim: in the thirtieth year of the age of Ezechiel, and the fifth of the captivity of Joachim, the Prophet is sent to the Jews. The most merciful Father did not despise, nor did he abandon the people uninformed for a long time. It is the fifth year. How much time had passed?

Five years had flowed by since they served as captives. Immediately the Holy Spirit descended, opened the heavens, so that those who were oppressed by the yoke of captivity might see the things which were seen by the prophet. For when he said: and the heavens were opened, in a certain way they too beheld with the eyes of their hearts what he had also seen with the eyes of his flesh. And the word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the son of Buzi, the priest. The word of the Lord, who in the beginning was with God the Father, God the Word, the word which makes believers gods. For if he called those gods, to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be dissolved, then to whomever the word of God came, they were made gods. Ezechiel also was god, because the word of God came to him: I have said: You are gods, and all sons of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and shall fall like one of the princes.

Where do you have in the New Testament a promise of this kind? If it is necessary to distinguish the instruments, and to say there are gods disagreeing among themselves, which indeed it is impious even to suspect, but we speak by way of misuse—I shall say boldly, that a much greater humanity is shown in the Old Testament than in the New: I have said, You are gods, and all sons of the Most High. He does not say, some of you are gods, and some are not: but all of you are gods. But if you sin, hear what follows: But you shall die like men. This is not the fault of him who calls to salvation, he is not the cause of death, who invites to divinity, and to the adoption of the heavenly nature, but it consists in our sin, and in our crime, that it is said: But you shall die like men, and shall fall like one of the princes.

There were many princes, and one of them fell, of whom it is also written in Genesis: Behold, Adam is become, not like us, but like one of us. Therefore when Adam sinned, then he became like one. And the word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the son of Buzi. Even if you wish to understand these things as said of the Savior, do not fear, for allegory has its own understanding thus: the word of the Lord came to him who was born of the Virgin, that is, to man, the word ever remaining in the Father, that both might become one, and man might be united—whom he put on for the sake of the mystery and salvation of all humanity—with his divinity and with the nature of the only-begotten God. The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the son of Buzi the priest in the land of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans dispute about celestial matters: the Chaldeans reckon the nativities of men.

In the land of the Chaldeans, as if he were to say, of those who assert fate, of those who claim the causes of all things from the circuit of the stars. This error, then, and this perversity of mind, is figuratively signified in the land of the Chaldeans. In the land of the Chaldeans beside the river Chobar. And there the hand of the Lord was upon me. And the word of the Lord came to the prophet, and the hand, that he might be adorned both by deeds and by words. And I saw visions. I shall touch upon some points, and although, for lack of time, what I have said may be sufficient, yet I will also gather some highlights from the whole body of the vision. And I saw, and behold a wind rising came from the north. Carefully consider the number of things that are mentioned: A wind rising, or taking away, came from the north—behold, one thing. And a great cloud was in it—behold, two. And brightness around it—behold, three.

And fire shining—behold, four. And in the midst of it as the appearance of electrum in the midst of the fire—behold, five. And light in it—behold, six. After this the likeness of the four living creatures, and their vision, and the narration of the vision—behold, seven. And in the midst of the living creatures, as it were coals of fire—behold, eight. Who can expound these things point by point? Who is so capable of the spirit of God, as to clarify these mysteries? The accusers of the Creator, and of the God of the prophets, ought first to understand what is said by the prophets, and afterward accuse. For whoever truly accuses ought to accuse what he knows. But if the heretics are not even near to divine understanding, how do they reasonably accuse, whom we prove not to know? Let them learn what the sense is in this vision.

First there appears a wind carrying away; second, a great cloud in the carrying-away wind; third, brightness around the carrying-away wind; fourth, shining fire; fifth, in the midst of it as the appearance of electrum, doubtless in the midst of the fire; sixth, brightness in that same electrum. I gladly confess a saying spoken by a wise and faithful man, which I often turn over in my mind. It is dangerous to speak even the truth about God. For not only are those things dangerous which are falsely said of him, but even those things which are true, if not opportunely uttered, bring danger to the speaker. The pearl is true, but if perversely cast, its ruin is that it is said to be trampled underfoot. And to set forth an example close to us: these gatherings—not only in Aelia, not only at Rome, not in Alexandria alone, but throughout the whole world at once—bear the likeness of a net, which catches every kind of fish. Not all things that fall into it can be good.

For the Savior says: When they have drawn it out, and sat down upon the shore, they shall choose the good into their vessels, but the bad they shall cast away. It is necessary, then, that in the net of the whole Church there be both good and bad. If all are already clean, what do we leave to the judgment of God? And according to another parable, both wheat and chaff are contained in the threshing floor, though only the wheat is to be gathered into the barns of Christ, and the chaff is separated from him whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will cleanse his floor, and gather the wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. For I do not assert that the whole world is the threshing floor, but I understand the threshing floor to be the assembly of the Christian people.

Just as each threshing floor is bounded, and is full of wheat or chaff, and is not wholly wheat, nor again wholly chaff: so in the earthly Churches it is not by their own cause, nor by their will, that they are chaff (for wheat is not so by its own choice)—but here it is placed in your power whether you are chaff, or wheat. These things ought to teach us, that if at any time someone sees a sinner in our congregations, he should not be scandalized, nor say: Behold, a sinner is in the holy assembly. If this is allowed, if this is granted, why should not I also sin? While we are in this present age, that is, in the threshing floor and in the net, both good and bad are contained in it.

But when Christ comes there will be a separation, and that will be fulfilled which is said by the Apostle: We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things proper to his body, whether good or evil, that he has done. These things a mind, laboring over the interpretations of visions, has spoken in the introduction, uncertain what to leave in silence, what to bring forward, what to touch lightly and pass over, which of these should be explained more clearly, which more obscurely, if indeed we shall be able to fulfill what we desire. First, then, there appears a wind carrying away: that which we said a little before, that our Lord is a consuming fire, even now we repeat, and say it agrees with this testimony. How is a wind that carries away set forth? God is a spirit, and a wind carrying away is beheld. What does it carry away from me and from my soul, that it should deservedly be proclaimed as carrying away?

Surely evils: and then I perceive its goodness, if it has taken away from me every worst thing. Nor indeed should it be thought to be the end of blessedness, if we are freed from evils; it is the beginning of happiness to be without sin. And in Jeremiah it is written (for I claim all things written in the Prophets for the most merciful God): Behold, I have put my words in your mouth, behold, I have set you over nations and kingdoms, to root up, and to dig under, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant. God is kind, giving words to root up. But what is it that ought to be rooted up and overturned? If there is any evil planting in the soul: if there is any wicked sect, this the prophetic word roots up, this it overturns.

Would that such a word might be granted to me, to root up the seeds of the heretics, and the teaching flowing from the fountain of the Devil, that it might take away from the soul of one now first entering the Church the useless plant of idolatry; but since the ancient books do not lend their aid, I do not care to reshape it from my own invention.

But let us follow the interpretation. I have given my words in thy mouth. Behold, I have appointed thee to root out and to dig under: namely, that if there be any building which is very bad, it may be destroyed. How I too would wish to dig under whatever Marcion has built up in the ears of the deceived, to root it out, and overturn it, and utterly destroy it, as Jacob destroyed the idols. Even to this day it is a matter of destroying and building up. Heretics have heard only of destroying and overturning, but to the word of building up and planting they have turned deaf ears. For they are unwilling to consider that the sad things are always said first, and the joyful things second. Why do we now recall these things? Namely, that it may be made manifest that the word of God overturns evil things, and builds up the best things, roots out vices, like a good farmer, so that upon the cleansed field a most abundant harvest of virtues may arise.

This is on account of the spirit that takes away. For he first saw the spirit taking away, then a great cloud in it. When thou shalt have been cleansed by the spirit that takes away, so that all evil is taken away from thee, and everything of wickedness that dwells in thy soul, then thou shalt begin also to enjoy the great cloud, which subsists in the taking-away spirit. This cloud is very close to that cloud which we read of in the Gospel, from which came the voice: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. But the spirit taking away, then a great cloud in it, afterward a most splendid light round about it. The evil has been taken away from thee. A great cloud has been given to thee, that it may rain a shower upon thy vine. According to that which is said elsewhere: I will command the clouds that they rain no shower upon it, namely upon a very bad vineyard.

But if this is commanded concerning the evil vineyard, there is no doubt but that, on the contrary, if thou shalt be a good vineyard, the cloud will rain upon thee. And brightness round about it. Then: fire flashing, and in the midst of it as it were the appearance of amber. In two ways God takes away evils from us, by spirit and by fire. If we are good and intent upon the precepts of God, and instructed by his words, he takes away our evils by the spirit, according to that which is written: But if by the spirit ye mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live. But if the spirit has not taken away evils from us, we need the purging of fire. Therefore observe diligently each conjunction. The first conjunction is of spirit and cloud, the second of fire and light, the third of amber and brightness, and each of these, which seem as it were sorrowful, are counterbalanced by the nearness of more pleasant things.

For whether the spirit arises, immediately a cloud follows: or whether fire appears, light is joined to it: or whether amber goes before, brightness is round about it. For it is fitting that we, like gold in the furnace, and like amber, be smelted by the most fierce fire. And in this prophet, whom we now expound, you have the Lord sitting in the midst of Jerusalem, and smelting those who are mixed with silver and tin, and bronze, and lead, complaining with a plaintive voice about those who have in themselves a mixture of baser material. Silver, he says, mixed you have become, and like a reprobate grape from the vine you have become silver. For when to the creature of God, which from the beginning is good, we bring in vices and passions from our own evils, then we mix bronze, tin, and lead with silver and gold, and fire is necessary for purging.

Therefore we must carefully take heed, that when we come to that fire, we may pass through it safely, after the manner of gold and silver, and precious stone, which without the fire are counterfeit, or those who without the fire are counterfeit: that we may not so much be burned by the fire as be tested by it. Behold, the spirit that takes away was coming from the North. And that the spirit taking away came from the North, and afterward returns, has a reason. For from the North evils blaze up upon the inhabitants of the earth. The North is the most violent wind, which by another name we call the Right, which among the four cardinal points of heaven, from which the winds are said to blow, is colder and more vehement. Nor is it without significance that which is written concerning the order of the camps among Israel in Numbers, which holds the figure of this matter.

For the last camp is placed toward the North, that of Dan; the first camp, of Judah, toward the East, then behind it Reuben, afterward next to the sea Ephraim, at the last, as we said, toward the North, Dan. And the pot, which is described as being set on fire, is kindled from the face of the North. For the North figuratively signifies the opposing power, that is, the Devil, who is indeed the hardest wind. For from the North came the spirit that takes away, and a great cloud in it: we have explained that this signifies vices. And brightness round about it, and fire flashing. He could have said, fire burning up, but Scripture was unwilling to name sadness, and to ascribe the work to it, and therefore instead of the penal force it set down only brightness. And in the midst of it, as it were the likeness of four living creatures. This is their vision. The likeness of a man in them.

And four faces to one, and four wings to one, and their legs straight, and their feet winged. You see what sort of things are governed by God, as there: Thou who sittest upon the Cherubim, appear. Cherubim is interpreted, fulness of knowledge, and whoever is full of knowledge becomes a Cherub, whom God rules. But what do the four faces mean? Those things which are to be saved bend the knee to the Lord Jesus, and are named threefold by the Apostle, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. But those things which bend the knee to the Lord Jesus are subject to him. And those things which are subject say: Is not my soul subject to God? For from him is my salvation. And: He must reign until he put all his enemies under his feet. What then is the fourth? Things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth are only three.

Indeed there is that: Praise the Lord, ye heavens of heavens, and let the water which is above the heavens praise the name of the Lord. All these things are ruled by God, and are led by his majesty. Wherever the spirit went, the living creatures went also. These same living creatures have upon them the likeness of a man, since they are of four faces. Nor was it said at the beginning that there are four faces, but that among the four faces the human face is prominent and holds the primacy, and it is described, and it is called the human face, and the face of a lion on the right of the four parts, and the face of a calf on the left of the four, and the face of an eagle on the four parts. Let us see, then, whether this signifies the tripartite soul, concerning which one must also dispute the opinions of others, so that over the tripartite soul a fourth power presides. What is the tripartition of the soul?

By the man is indicated its rational part, by the lion the irascible part, by the calf the concupiscible part. But the spirit which presides to give aid is not on the right, as the man or the lion; is not on the left, as the calf; but stands above all three faces. For the eagle is named in another place, so that by the eagle he might signify the spirit presiding over the soul. But I mean the spirit of man, which is in him. And so all things are led by the nod of God, things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and those which are above the heavens: and we all become Cherubim, which are under the feet of God, to which wheels are joined, and we follow after them. We are not under the wheel, nor are we occupied under the dominion and affairs of this age, since already through the passion of Christ we have been freed from the business of the world. And a wheel in the midst of a wheel.

If you consider how through contrary events the universe of things is saved, whether in those who are thought to err, or in those who are said to be alien from error, you will see how a wheel is in the midst of a wheel. But God of the whole universe in Christ Jesus rules all these things, and turns them wherever he wills, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages, Amen.

Scripture is silent about no species of sins, concerning which it does not instruct its readers. For it was necessary that the word of God, sent to heal those who heard it, should touch upon every spirit of sins, and speak to all men, so that no one should be defrauded of the healthful remedies and of those medicines which can profit for the curing of wounds.

As therefore some things are said concerning the people, other things concerning the high priests, and certain things concerning the presbyters, and some things concerning the stewards—and indeed praise is ascribed to good stewards, but blame to bad ones—so that some may receive exhortation toward better things, while others may not fall into worse: so it is fitting that divine teaching be given concerning false and true prophets, so that the prophets indeed may be understood to belong to that part who minister the words of God; but by the false prophets may be designated the teachers of the churches, who do not rightly correspond, either in speech or in life, to the discipline which they preach. Let us therefore be glad if Scripture admonishes us, teaching us to withdraw from vices; but still more if the word of God touches upon some of our own order, willing that they be healed and converted from their sins.

The word of the Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel, saying to him, Son of man, prophesy to me against the prophets of Israel. There were indeed prophets of Israel in name rather than in truth. And there are also today, in the true Israel, that is, the Church, certain false prophets and false teachers, to whom this discourse gives forewarning. If the word of God should reprove me, I will try to be converted, nor ought I, because certain things are said against me who seem to be a teacher of the Church, to keep silent: rather, sparing not myself, I will reveal all that has been said, that I may be converted from vices, that I may become not one of those whom Scripture now rebukes, but one of those who, most truly preaching the word of God, have stood forth as teachers in the Church. Prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and thou shalt say to the prophets.

As it was the work of the prophets to foretell in spirit these things which were seen, so likewise it is needful for him who desires to expound the things which are hiddenly signified, that he have the same spirit, so as to show that prophecy is not made for him who teaches contrary to the will of God, who prophesies out of his own heart. According to the simple understanding, indeed, some of the prophets, speaking from the divine spirit, spoke not out of their own heart but from the sense of God; but some, feigning themselves to be prophets and saying, Thus saith the Lord, while the Lord was not speaking in them, proved to be false prophets. But this discourse can also fittingly apply to those who teach in the churches, if they teach otherwise than truth demands. For if anyone teaches equally the very things which Jesus Christ the Lord has spoken, he speaks not out of his own heart, but by the Holy Spirit he speaks the words of the Son of God, Jesus.

If the Holy Spirit agrees with the will of him who spoke in the apostles, he speaks not out of his own heart, but out of the heart of the Holy Spirit, who spoke in Paul, who spoke in Peter, and who spoke in the rest of the apostles. But if anyone, reading the Gospel, fits his own understanding to the Gospel, not understanding as the Lord spoke, that man is a false prophet, speaking out of his own heart in the Gospel. And concerning heretics indeed it is not absurd to understand these words thus. For they discourse as though in the Gospels and as though concerning the apostles, expounding the fables of their own “aeons” out of their own heart, not out of the heart of the Holy Spirit. For they cannot say: But we have the mind of Christ, that we may see the things that have been given to us by God.

But when this also comes upon me, who am called an ecclesiastical man, who takes up the holy book and strives to interpret it—this which can be understood concerning heretics—I ask the hearers to attend diligently, and to receive the grace of the spirit concerning which it is said: the discernment of spirits; that, having become proven money-changers, they may diligently observe when I am a false teacher, and when I truly preach the things of piety and truth. If therefore I find in Moses and in the Prophets the sense of Christ, I speak not out of my own heart, but by the Holy Spirit. But if you find nothing fitting, then I fashion for myself the things I speak, wavering in words that are foreign to God, speaking rather out of my own heart than out of the mind of God: Prophesy, and say to the prophets who prophesy out of their own heart.

He does not say simply “out of the heart,” but “out of their own heart.” And thou shalt prophesy, and shalt say to them: Hear the word of the Lord. These things are said to me, these things are said to him who professes himself to be a teacher, so that greater fear of God may arise in us, lest we be endangered, as it were under a record written not by men but by the angels of God, in setting forth our discourse. For I know that when that judgment shall be seated in the order of which Daniel prophesied, and the books shall be opened, all my efforts, all my expositions will be brought forth into the midst, either for my justification or for my condemnation. For my justification indeed will be those things that are blessed; for my condemnation, those things which have been explained otherwise than truth demands.

By thy words, it says, thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned: as though one did not have all his words such that he would be justified by them, nor again all such that he would be condemned by them. If someone is pure from foreign words, and from those which could be reproved, he will be justified by his words, and not condemned. But if he has never spoken rightly, but has always uttered wicked things, he will be condemned by his words, and not justified. But because we, who are not perfect in every respect, neither speak so as always to be justified, nor on the contrary are so sinful as always to be condemned, but have some words by which we are justified, and others by which we are condemned: God, placing both upon his scale, weighs them diligently, and judges in which respects I am just, and by which words I am to be condemned.

But what he does in the case of words, this same thing he does also in the case of deeds. For it is necessary that there be some deeds in which we are justified, and others in which we are condemned. For neither am I so perfect as to have all my deeds such that I stand just by them; nor am I so sinful as to have done all such deeds as would condemn me in every respect. But that there are both deeds of this sort and of that sort is made manifest from what is said: The sins of some men are manifest, going before to judgment; but of some they also follow after. Likewise also good deeds are manifest, and those which are otherwise cannot remain hidden. The same holds concerning understandings. Wherefore also, amid the mutual accusation or excuse of thoughts contending with one another, a judgment awaits me concerning all that I do, all that I understand, all that I speak; and uncertain I await what shall become of me in that judgment.

And the more the fear of God is instilled in me to receive all that I have done, the more I ought to guard myself: would that indeed I could guard myself from all sins; but if I cannot do this, at least may I be able to guard against the greatest. This concerning the matter we proposed, concerning the prophets who prophesy out of their own heart, to whom it is said: Hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord Adonai: Woe to those who prophesy out of their own heart, who walk after their own spirit. There are two sins: one of the heart, the other of the spirit. Let us first consider from the better side, that we may also be able to consider the things which are contrary. Scripture keeps silent about no species of sins, of which it does not instruct its readers.

For it was fitting that the word of God, sent to heal those who heard it, should touch upon every spirit of sins, and speak to all men, so that no one might be defrauded of the healing remedies and those medicines which can benefit the healing of wounds. Just as different things are said of the people, other things of the high priests, and certain things of the presbyters, and some things concerning stewards—praise being ascribed to good stewards, but blame to bad ones—so that some may receive exhortation to better things, and others may not fall into worse: so likewise it is necessary that divine teaching be given concerning false and true prophets, so that the prophets may receive that portion which pertains to those who minister the words of God; but through the false prophets may be designated the teachers of the Churches who do not rightly correspond, whether in speech or in life, to the teaching which they preach.

Let us therefore rejoice if Scripture admonishes us, teaching us to withdraw from vices; and even more if the word of God should touch upon any of our own order, willing that we be healed and converted from our sins. And today there are, in the true Israel, that is, in the Church, certain false prophets and false teachers, to whom this word gives forewarning. If the word of God should reprove me, I will try to be converted; nor, because certain things are said against me who seem to be a teacher of the Church, ought I to keep silence: but sparing myself in nothing, I will reveal all that has been said, that I may be converted from vices, that I may become not one of those whom Scripture now rebukes, but one of those who, most truly preaching the word of God, have stood forth as teachers in the Church. Prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who prophesy, and you shall say to the prophets.

Just as it was the work of the prophets to foretell in spirit those things which appeared, so the same spirit is needed by him who desires to expound the things that are hiddenly signified, so that he may show that prophecy does not come to him who teaches contrary to the will of God, who prophesies out of his own heart. According to the simple understanding, some of the prophets, speaking from the divine spirit, spoke not from their own heart, but from the mind of God: but others, feigning themselves to be prophets and saying, "Thus says the Lord," while the Lord was not speaking in them, proved to be false prophets. But this saying may also apply to those who teach in the Churches, if they teach otherwise than truth demands. For if anyone teaches those very things which Jesus Christ the Lord spoke, in the same manner, he speaks not from his own heart, but from the Holy Spirit, the words of the Son of God, Jesus.

If the Holy Spirit agrees with the will of him who spoke in the Apostles, he speaks not from his own heart, but from the heart of the Holy Spirit, who spoke in Paul, who spoke in Peter, and spoke in the other apostles. But if anyone, reading the Gospel, fits his own meaning to the Gospel, not understanding it as the Lord spoke it, he is a false prophet, speaking from his own heart in the Gospel. For they discourse as though upon the Gospels, and as though concerning the Apostles, expounding the fables of their own "aeons" from their own heart, not from the heart of the Holy Spirit. For they cannot say: "But we have the mind of Christ, that we may know the things that have been given to us by God".

But when it comes even to me, who am called an ecclesiastical man, who take up the holy book and strive to interpret it, this which can be understood of heretics—I beg the hearers to attend diligently, and to receive the grace of the spirit of which it is said: the discernment of spirits, so that, having become approved money-changers, they may diligently observe when I am a false teacher, and when I preach the things that belong to piety and truth. If therefore I find in Moses and in the Prophets the mind of Christ, I speak not from my own heart, but from the Holy Spirit. But if you find nothing fitting, I am fashioning for myself what I say, wavering in words that are foreign to God, speaking rather from my own heart than from the mind of God: Prophesy, and say to the prophets who prophesy from their own heart.

It does not say simply "from the heart," but "from their own heart." And you shall prophesy, and say to them: Hear the word of the Lord. These things are said to me, these things are said to him who promises himself to be a teacher, so that a greater fear of God may arise in us, lest we be endangered as though bringing forth speech under a record written not by men, but by the Angels of God. For I know that when that tribunal shall be seated, of which Daniel prophesied, and the books shall be opened, all my endeavors, all my expositions, will be brought forth into the midst, either for my justification or for my condemnation. For my justification will be those things that are blessed; for my condemnation, those things explained otherwise than truth demands.

"By your words," he says, "you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned": as though one did not have all his words by which he would be justified, nor again all his words by which he would be condemned. If someone is pure from foreign words, and from those which could be reproved, he will be justified by his own words, and not condemned. But if he has never spoken rightly, but has always brought forth depraved things, he will be condemned by his own words, and not justified. But because we, who are not perfect in every respect, neither speak so as to be always justified, nor on the contrary are such sinners as to be always condemned, but have some words by which we are justified, and others by which we are condemned: God, placing both upon his scale, weighs them diligently, and judges in what respects I am just, and by what words I am to be condemned. And what he does with words, he does the same with deeds.

For it must needs be that there are some deeds by which we are justified, and others by which we are condemned. For neither am I so perfect as to have all deeds by which I stand just; nor such a sinner as to have done all such deeds as would condemn me in every respect. That there are indeed some deeds of one kind and others of another kind is manifest from what is said: "The sins of some men are manifest, going before to judgment; but the sins of some also follow after". And likewise good deeds are manifest, and those otherwise held cannot remain hidden. The same holds true of thoughts. Wherefore also, amid the mutual accusation or defense of thoughts among themselves, judgment awaits me concerning all that I do, all that I understand, all that I speak, and I wait uncertain what shall become of me in that judgment.

And the more the fear of God is instilled in me to receive all that I have done, the more I ought to guard myself: would that indeed from all sins, but if I cannot do this, at least from the greatest. So much concerning what we proposed about the prophets who prophesy from their own heart, to whom it is said: Hear the word of the Lord, thus says the Lord Adonai, woe to those who prophesy from their own heart, who walk after their own spirit. Let us first consider the better part, so that we may then be able to consider also those things which are contrary.

The Apostle speaks: I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the understanding. The understanding has its dwelling-place in the heart: I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the understanding. Therefore both spirit and understanding are in us. And just as the holy man prays with the spirit and prays with the understanding, sings with the spirit and sings with the understanding, so this one who is a false prophet prophesies out of his own heart, and walks not after the Spirit of God, but after his own spirit. For there is a certain spirit of man which stirs within him, after which far be it that I should walk; but understanding, I should walk after the holy Spirit of God, following my Lord Jesus. So then the prophets who prophesy out of the heart, and walk after a spirit not so much of God as their own, altogether—as it is said in Greek—[lacuna] do not see, and the sentence from the word is ambiguous.

For either they do not see the things that are general—[lacuna] that is, general things—though they perceive them in some part; or (which I think better) they do not see at all, though they seem to themselves in some part to see. For there are other eyes in us better than those we have in the body. These eyes either see the Lord Jesus, who created them for beholding him, or else they are blind. If I am a sinner, I see nothing, nor can I gaze upon the light of truth. For, he says, I came into this world for judgment, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. But if I am righteous, I receive grace from God, and of me too it is said, "seeing." For prophets used to be called "seers" of old. And: "You who see," he says, "go, go down into the land of Judah, and dwell there, and there you shall prophesy. But in Bethel you shall no longer add to prophesy".

And again elsewhere: "The vision which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw". Blessed is he to whom the Lord shall reveal eyes to see the wonders of the law of God, according to the prayer of the prophet who says: "Reveal my eyes, and I will consider the wondrous things of your law". Let us also look at another word, by which false prophets and false teachers are rebuked, from which—I ask—as you pray, I may be found pure. What then is this rebuke? "Like foxes in the desert are your prophets, O Israel." The fox is a wicked animal, crafty, untamable, wild. "Tell that fox," says the Savior, "Behold, I perform cures today, and tomorrow, and on the third day I am consumed". Samson had need of such foxes against the foreigners, whose tails, being bound with fire (for he had caught three hundred), he sent to the destruction of the crops of the enemy. Such are false teachers, crafty, wicked, and like beasts.

If I am such, I am a fox, but not simply a fox, but a fox in the deserts, a fox among the ruins, a fox among the rocks—for these things are contained under different senses. These shifty and wicked ones always dwell in deserts, always linger in solitudes. For wherever a soul is inhabited by God, and is full of the Holy Spirit, there the doctrine of heretics cannot penetrate, nor can their speech break through. But where there is the solitude of Christ, where the desert of righteousness is, there the poisons of most wicked teaching are found at work. Therefore: "Like foxes," he says, "in the deserts are your prophets, O Israel.

They have not stood in the firmament." If you wish to consider the teachers, you will see them weak, unstable, and unable to say: "He has set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps": and because they are not such as to stand, founded upon a strong root, therefore they have not stood in the firmament, but have loved to move their feet. And this too is a great sin—even slightly to move one's feet—as the psalmist David sings: "How good is God to Israel, to those upright of heart: but as for me, my feet were almost moved." Blessed and greatly happy is he to whom it has been granted, standing most firmly, to have steady feet of soul, who is worthy to hear from God: "But you, stand with me." But such are not the false prophets, such are not the false teachers; for they have not so stood in the firmament.

"And they gathered together the flocks of the children of Israel," whom they teach, whom they instruct—whether heretics preaching an impious doctrine, or false teachers deceiving those whose ears itch—they gather flocks of schisms against the Church of God, against the house of Israel. "They have not risen up to say, In the day of the Lord": those who see false things have not risen. But these, rising, say: "We are buried together with Christ through baptism, and have risen together with him". For we have, as a pledge, the Holy Spirit, whom we shall receive in fullness after that which is perfect has come: so too a pledge of resurrection, because in the perfect resurrection none of us has yet risen.

Nevertheless we have risen, as Paul says: "We are buried together with Christ through baptism, and have risen together with him." Therefore they have not yet risen, that is, they have not yet obtained the baptism of resurrection—the false prophets and false teachers—who would say, "In the day of the Lord," seeing things that are false, and never able to behold the truth. Take an example. He who reads Scripture, and takes it otherwise than it is written, sees Scripture falsely. But he who hears Scripture, having the understanding of truth in himself, and so interprets it, sees the truth. And indeed the saints do not divine. For there is no divination in Jacob. But sinners divine false things, saying: "Thus says the Lord"—and the Lord has not sent them. Hear the heretics, how they claim to hold the tradition of the apostles.

Hear the false teachers, how they affirm that their teaching is the Lord's teaching, that their understanding agrees with that of the prophets, and they say: "Thus says the Lord," and the Lord has not sent them. "And they have begun to raise up a word. You have not seen a false vision". For these too wish to raise up some word in their own defense; but the Lord rebukes them, and says: "You have not seen a false vision, and you have spoken vain divinations, and you have said, says the Lord, and have I not spoken? Therefore say: Thus says the Lord—because your words are false." Pray for us, that our words may not be false. Though certain men, through ignorance of judgment, assert them to be false, if the Lord does not say so, it will go rightly with us. But if a thousand men should say they are true, yet in the judgment of God they were false, what would it profit me?

The Marcionites too say that the words of their master are true, the Valentinians too—a most stubborn sect—say the same, who accept the fabrications of his fables. What use is that? Because very many of the Church, deceived by heretical wickedness, have conspired together in their opinion—this is what is sought: that the Lord may stand as witness to my words, that he himself may approve what is said by the testimony of the Scriptures of the saints. For this reason, then, the Lord Adonai says to us: "I will stretch out my hand against the prophets who see falsehoods." These are threats against false teachers, and those who speak falsehoods. Let us see, however, what is threatened concerning them: "They shall not be in the discipline of my people." Sinners are not rebuked by the Lord in one manner only. The people of the Lord is chastised in one way, one alien to him in another: "My son, do not neglect the discipline of the Lord, neither be weary when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves he chastises: and he scourges every son whom he receives". "Rebuke us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in fury": this is the correction of the people. But the rebuke of the sinner and the alien is that which the righteous man refuses, saying: "O Lord, rebuke me not in your wrath, neither chastise me in your fury".

Concerning false teachers, then, and false prophets it is said: "They shall not be in the discipline of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel." As it is said elsewhere too: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the just." And now Scripture says: "They shall not be written in the house of Israel, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel." Outside the land of promise the heretics shall dwell—that land which is very good, and into which, that we may be brought, we pray, being already written beforehand in the book of the living by Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

First we must inquire concerning what is said: Strengthen your face. Then, if the Lord grant it, we ought to investigate the daughters of the people prophesying out of their own heart, and doing those things for which the word of God rebukes them. And that there is another face besides this face of our body, although it is clear from many things, yet it is also indicated from those things which the Apostle records: But we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. This bodily face all of us have unveiled, unless perhaps we are oppressed by calamities and straits. But that countenance of which the Apostle speaks is in many covered, and in few revealed. For he who has confidence in a blameless life, in sound understanding, in true faith, he alone has no veil of confession, of deceit, and of sin; but because of a pure conscience, with unveiled face he beholds the glory of the Lord.

Far be it from us, however, that we should have this face veiled. These few things concerning the face, that we may be able to understand what follows: Strengthen your face against the daughters of your people. This face, that is, the ruling part (hegemonikon, ruling faculty) of our heart, unless it be strengthened concerning that which is to be understood, so that as it sees, it may announce to the nations, that which is looked at is not seen. For it is impossible that anyone, without a strengthening of countenance, wandering, wavering, carried about by every wind of doctrine, should see what he ought, should see as he ought. For he who wishes to understand must have his face, in that which he strives to understand, made firm: for this reason those who are about to prophesy are always first commanded to strengthen their face; that we too may be able to strengthen our face on the Gospel, on the Law, on the Prophets, on the apostles, strengthen it upon Christ, and not upon the affairs of the world.

But since our soul is occupied in worldly cares, since it always burns with the hunger of possessing, we do not strengthen our face upon those things which God has commanded, but upon those things which are contrary to God's precepts. Who, do you think, among us is unclean because of the strengthening of the face upon things forbidden? Who is so anxious and careful that day and night he strengthens the face of his heart upon the things that are commanded? Now too, if we are to understand the present Scripture, how it is said to the prophet: Strengthen your face against the daughters of your people, so that he may see those things which he is about to say, we ought to strengthen our understanding, to have a full treatment in the intention of the heart, of what this signifies, so that at last, overcome by reason, we may depart from the letter. And according to the common understanding indeed, certain daughters of the people prophesying seem to have committed the sin which follows.

Taking pillows they sewed them; having sewn them they did not place them under the head, but under the elbow of the hearers, and with certain veils they covered the heads of every age. These are the things which are reckoned as great sins in the prophesying daughters of the people. But who can, holding to the letter, say that if anyone sews pillows, and places them sewn under another's elbow, he sins, and is rebuked by God? Who can assert that if anyone makes veils to cover the head of every age, he acts impiously? Against our will, necessity is imposed upon us by Scripture itself, that departing from the letters of the letter, we should seek its word, and wisdom, and will, to open sins that are closed, to illumine things that are dark, that we may be able to become strangers to the curse, from every elbow of hands, or of hand.

Those who are occupied with the sustenance of the body, and do not even in a dream see spiritual delights, which the divine word wishes us to have, saying: Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart; who do not know the will of the blessed, of whom it is written: You shall give them drink from the torrent of your pleasure: they seek, like lovers of luxury, and not lovers of God, always to be in bodily delights. Now it seems to me a sign of carnal pleasure, a pillow sewn under the elbow of the hands. For since at the time of reclining for bodily benefits we seem to use certain sewn and embroidered things under the elbow of our hands, perhaps the divine word, through a figure and argument of this kind, blames those teachers who, through vain speech, and blessed promises of every kind, permit the multitude of hearers to lust, to vices, to pleasure.

For the word of God, and God as man, ought to bring forth those things which are for the salvation of the hearer, which exhort him to continence, to a manner of life of sound deeds, to all those things to which a man zealous for labors, and not for lusts, ought to devote himself, that he may be able to attain those things which have been promised by God. When therefore someone, suited to the manners of the people, so as to please those whose ears itch, speaks what they gladly receive, speaks what is near to pleasure, such a teacher sews pillows under every elbow of the hand. There follows upon one having this sin, that he also makes coverings to veil the head of every age. Let us consider more carefully of what thing the veil too is a figure.

He who has confidence, and is truly a man, has no veil over his head, but with head uncovered prays to the Lord, with head uncovered prophesies: through the sign of a bodily thing showing secretly a spiritual one also, so that as he has no veil over the head of his flesh, so he may have no veil over the ruling part of his heart. But if anyone bears the veil of confusion and of sin, he has, as it were, womanish veils upon his head. And so when someone teaches those things which soothe the ear of the people, and stir up rather the noise of praisers than a groan, if a flattering enemy strokes rather than cuts wounds, such a man weaves a covering upon the head. But when he pours himself out in a luxurious oration of speech, and leaps into wanton eloquence, he weaves a veil upon the head of every age; not only of boys and youths, but even of old men.

For just as the false Christ and false prophet work signs and portents to deceive, if possible, even the elect, so also those who bring forth things devised for pleasure, and always seek those things which delight the hearers rather than turn them from vices, make veils upon the head not only of boys and youths, but, if possible, of old men too and of fathers, to such an extent that they deceive even those who, according to the labor of the soul, have advanced in spiritual age and old age. And the prophet could indeed have said "against the sons of your people" who prophesy; but since they are like women who weave veils and sew pillows under every elbow of the hand, and none among them is deemed worthy of the name of man, the prophet says: Against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart, and do the things that follow.

For effeminate indeed are the souls and wills of those teachers who always compose things resounding and melodious, and (to say what is true) nothing manly, nothing strong, nothing worthy of God is in those who preach according to the favor and will of their hearers: therefore he called them all rather daughters than sons, sewing pillows. And observe the propriety of the word: sewing, he says, not weaving. Do you not know that the tunic of your Lord Jesus had nothing sewn in it, but was woven throughout from every part? These women, therefore, sew sayings to sayings fraudulently and craftily, sewing rather than weaving: and they make pillows, not for reclining the head upon, but the elbow: that is, so that their hands may not be in labor, may not grow weary in work, but may be at rest, at leisure, in those doings which serve pleasures.

But that these things which we have said are so, as we have understood them, the following word of the prophet shows more clearly, saying: Thus says Adonai the Lord: Behold, I am against your pillows, in which you there turn souls to dissolution. He has opened the riddle that lay hidden, showing plainly that the sewn pillows result in the dissolution of souls. But who, hearing God threatening upon the word which is read, that he himself will tear apart such a web and such pillows? For he says: Behold, I—not "I command," but I myself tear apart the pillows sewn under every elbow of the hand. It is God's work to expose every weaving, and to dissolve every most wicked fabrication, which harms those who are unwilling to work with their hands, but wish to use them idly. And I will tear them from your arms—that is, the pillows, so that you no longer have them placed under your elbows. And I will set free the souls which you subvert, their souls.

What subversion, then, is it to sew pillows, and place them under elbows? But that you may understand the mystery of the word, you will see that it is a great subversion to make a man soft according to the body. Such are the words of heretics, where there is no rigid way of life. You will find the disciples of Valentinus dissolute in manners, tending toward nothing strong, nothing manly, and likewise the followers of Basilides. Moreover they teach also to deny shamelessly, as though by a precept, concerning their martyrdom. They do not teach what the Ecclesiastics show, ready to take up the cross and follow the Savior. He therefore tears apart, who threatens these things—the Word, the Son of God—the most wicked seams. Grant me, O Christ, that I may tear apart the pillows sewn for the luxury of souls. But what else follows? And I will tear apart the veils. What does he testify that he will tear apart? Not only the pillows, but also the veils.

And this, that the head may become bare, so that with confidence received, and with not only the face but also the head revealed, the man of the Church may be able to pray steadfastly. I will tear apart your veils, and I will free my people from your hand. Although you subvert souls through pillows and veils, I, tearing these apart, will free my people. Now God frees the people through a severe manner of life, one that withdraws from pleasures. And no longer will they be in your hands for subversion: in your hands, you who deceive the hearers, these pillows will no longer be: and you shall know that I am the Lord. If the pillows are not torn apart, if I do not tear apart the veils, you will not know that I am the Lord. For delights and leisure and dissolution do not allow him to be known who says: I am the Lord. Because you have wickedly overturned the heart of the just.

Just as it was said in the passage on signs, that they will deceive even the elect of God: so it often happens that heretics also supplant even the just. For men love pleasure: because as soon as it appears, it is tranquil, and wanton, and delights the sense, and provokes us to its use. We flee bitter things, though they be wholesome, and we do not wish to labor, being softened by pleasures, not knowing that it is impossible for the same person to be a lover of pleasure and a lover of God. Wherefore the Apostle says of the most wicked, that they are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And I was not turning aside to strengthen the hands of the wicked. I was not turning aside, but I was dispensing all things that were for edification.

But these prophetesses, effeminate in soul, were turning aside to strengthen the hand of the wicked—that is, that the hand might become stronger in iniquity, lest it should be wholly turned from its wicked way and live—that is, that no one at all should be converted from his most wicked way and live. Therefore you shall not see false things, you who teach false things. Now I will no longer make you proceed with prosperous endeavor, so that you may be able to insinuate what you say: and you shall no longer divine divinations. And I will free my people from your hand. Let us pray that God may also free us from the hand of such teachers, who, wherever they are, speaking to the pleasures of hearers, cut apart and divide the Church, because there are more who are lovers of pleasure than lovers of God. And you shall know that I am the Lord. If I turn back your divinations, if I make lies fall silent, then you shall know that I am the Lord.

This is the former prophecy: there follows another, which is woven thus: And there came to me men of the elders of Israel, and they sat before my face. The word of God touches upon all things, and leaves no kind of the orders established in the Church untouched; but running through all things, it desires to heal all, as now it speaks in a certain way to the presbyters. For the things that preceded were spoken concerning teachers. Let us therefore consider also what is said concerning presbyters, examining ourselves, lest any of us be such a presbyter as is set forth below. And there came to me men of the elders of Israel, and they sat before my face. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man. Let us look at the accusation, that we may know whether we detect it in ourselves. Have not these men placed their thoughts in their hearts, and set the punishment of their iniquities before their face? Shall I indeed answer them when they answer?

Blessed are the pure in heart. For those who have a pure heart do not place their thoughts in their hearts, but rather have them in the word of God. But those who labor in worldly cares, and seek nothing else but how to get through the present life, these place their thoughts in their hearts—for instance, if you see a man thinking of nothing else but worldly business, bodily gains, and abundance of food: from those things which he lacks, in which he is anxious, in which he sighs, seeking future sustenance only with grief, he has placed the punishment of his thoughts in his heart. Rebuking, therefore, certain presbyters of this kind, the divine word says to the prophet: These men—that is, the aforesaid presbyters—have placed their thoughts in their hearts, and have set the punishment of their iniquities before their face. Let none of you suppose that torments are inflicted on us by another rather than by ourselves. God does not make punishments, but we ourselves prepare for ourselves the things that we suffer.

And so let us also now suitably use a testimony which we have often used. Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled. There is no fire but your own, you who have heaped up wood, stubble, material for the future conflagration. He speaks, then, concerning presbyters—far be it from us to be such. These men have placed their thoughts in their hearts, and have set the punishment of their iniquities before their face. But shall I indeed answer them when they answer? Is it fitting that I should answer these, who have come to you, the prophet, wishing to learn my words? Therefore speak to them, and say to them: Thus says Adonai the Lord. Man, man of the house of Israel. We are all born men, but we are not all men men, as I have very often noted, that which is written in Leviticus: Man, man of the sons of Israel, or of the strangers who are joined to us.

Be men, men, that is, since not all men are men. Let us show from the Scriptures how certain men are not men. Man, being in honor, did not understand, he is compared to the senseless beasts, and is made like unto them. Such a one is not a man man, but a man beast. Generation of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Such a one is not a man man, but a serpent man. They were made like horses maddened after females, each one neighed after his neighbor's wife. And this one is not a man man, but a man horse. Far be it from us, then, that we should be such as to deserve to hear that we are not men men, but something else besides men. For if we are good and gentle, we double the name of man: so that in us there is not simply man, but man man. Consider whether we are able to find what it is that doubles the name of man.

When this outer man is man, while the inner man, being a serpent, is not in us man man, but only man. But when the inner man perseveres according to the image of his creator, then man is born, and becomes of this sort according to the outer and inner man, twice man man. Further, if anyone called to this, that he become man man, has placed his thoughts in his heart, and his punishment before his face, and has come to the prophet: I, says the Lord, will answer him in those things by which his mind is held fast. The present word teaches us how he was able to answer each one, and not apply untimely remedies, but bring forth what was fitting according to the quality of the illnesses. Attend to what we say. Ten go to a physician, having ten kinds of infirmities.

He does not cure all in the same way, but one in this way, another in that; for instance, he heals one with a plaster, to another he gives another medicine, upon some he applies what is called a cautery, one he tempers with a bitter, another with a sweet potion, and the wounds of another he soothes with a thicker ointment. So too the word of God speaks according to the qualities of men, and does not indiscriminately bestow the mysteries of his wisdom. He says therefore: I will answer him in those things by which his mind is held fast. So that he may heal, namely, those things in which his mind is held fast, so that he may not make the house of Israel go astray.

Whoever does not offer himself as an example of good life, but goes about perversely, this one, through his own depravity, while he is inclined to those things which he ought not, in a certain way makes even the people of God go astray, according to their hearts, which have been alienated from me. And he who does this, according to a heart alienated from God, does it in his thoughts. Wherefore they are answered in those things in which their heart is held fast, and it is said: Say to the house of Israel: Thus says Adonai the Lord, Turn, and turn yourselves away from your pursuits. Since he has promised that he will speak to them in those things in which their heart is held fast: therefore now he speaks as it were to sinners, saying: Turn, and turn yourselves away from your pursuits, and turn away your faces. Does it not seem to you that he is doing this?

Your faces are made firm upon things which they ought not; turn them, and make them firm upon those things which are for your profit. Wherefore man, man of the house of Israel, and of the proselytes who come into Israel, whoever shall be alienated. It can happen that even a man man, or a created man man: or one made perfect, a man man, may become alienated: since even the just man, according to this same Ezekiel, sometimes turns away from his righteous deeds, and sins. If therefore a man of this sort has placed his thoughts in his heart, and the punishment of his iniquity before his face, and has come to the prophet, to inquire of him concerning me: I, says the Lord, will answer him in that very thing in which he is held fast: and I will set my face firmly against that man.

Consider how at the beginning he promised mercifully that he would answer; and then how, if he comes again, not yet healed, with the former words he says, I will set my face firmly against that man, and I will set him in the desert. For if he does not obey the words of admonition, but perseveres in fault, I will set him in the desert, and unto destruction, and I will take him away from the midst of my people. Do not take us away, almighty God, from the midst of your people, but preserve us in your people. But he is justly cast out who does things deserving of rejection, so that he is taken away from the people of God, and rooted out from it, and delivered to Satan.

And in the present life indeed one who goes out from the people of God can return again through repentance; but if he has been rooted out from that people concerning which it is said in a certain parable that one came in and reclined, and there entered one who had no wedding garment, the father of the household saying to him: Friend, how did you come in here, not having a wedding garment? And so commanding the servants that, binding him hand and foot, they should cast him into outer darkness, he will return to his former place with the greatest difficulty. But we shall not be rooted out; rather both in the present and in the future age we shall be planted in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in him we shall bring forth most abundant fruits, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

The word of the Lord, which came to the prophet, speaks of the sinning land, how because of her transgressions she was afflicted with various punishments—famine, evil beasts, sword, death, and sudden death, whether arising from a corruption of the air, or from whatever event it may happen: and it is said: But if I also send my four vengeances upon the sinning land, and there should be these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, in the sinning land, they alone shall be saved. In the first threat, in which he set forth the punishment of famine before the other punishments, he was silent about the names of sons and daughters. But in that word in which he threatened the land with evil beasts, he says: If their sons and daughters shall be saved—but they alone shall be saved. And the land, when it had been silent a little while, he added: And it shall be at the entrance. Again, in the threat of the sword: They shall not deliver, he says, sons or daughters.

And likewise concerning death he spoke: Their sons or daughters shall not be left, but Noah and Daniel and Job alone shall deliver their own souls. Great, therefore, is the care of exposition incumbent upon us, and for this reason we ought diligently to attend, and we beseech the hearers, that as if flocking to some great spectacle they may fix the face of the mind, lest, with the senses relaxed, obscurity slip away. He did not say in the present passage, if the inhabitants of a city or of some place should sin, but if the land should sin. And I know that any simpler person, when he hears "if the land should sin," will at once be carried off to the easy interpretation, so as to say that "land" is named for those who dwell in the land: but the sequence of Scripture will at once remove this exposition.

For when the land shall have sinned, and fallen into her sins, the hand is stretched out not over those inhabiting the land, but over the land itself: by the first chastisement she is crushed, so that indeed the support of bread be taken away from her, as though it were a punishment of the land if famine should prevail in her, so that the crops be denied to the seed. For just as the sinful man is punished among the accursed by being without offspring and barren, according to what is written in a certain place (for by contraries contraries are understood), and it is said of the just man, "there shall not be among you one without offspring, nor barren," while sinners are condemned to eternal barrenness with respect to offspring and posterity, as happened in the house of Abimelech, and of those whose womb God closed because of the sin committed regarding Isaac: so also the land is in a certain manner left without offspring and barren, famine being sent into her.

Do you think it is true, that the discourse foreshadows saying not of the inhabitants of the land, but of the land itself? I can, ascending a little to higher things, prove by testimonies of the Scriptures how the land is called a sinner. For it is said to Adam: "You are earth, and into earth you shall go". We can say that even now the sinning land is a sinner. But on the other hand, reviewing the very broad forest of Scripture, I am constrained to suspect that this land which we behold is a living being. For if we wish to take what is written: "He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble" according to what is written, we understand that at the gaze of God the movements of the earth are stirred up—not those which the Jews suppose. For they assert that the trembling of the earth is its commotion, which is far different from the truth.

And indeed we too are anxious and trembling because of our sins while on earth, and yet our trembling does not shake the body into trembling: just as it is said elsewhere: "Upon whom shall I look," says the Lord, "but upon the humble and the quiet, and him that trembles at my words" (Isai. Ult.)? From which it is manifest that one who serves God meekly and humbly trembles at his words rather in mind than in body. And these things indeed have been said in passing, by way of satisfaction of that testimony which we brought forward: "He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble." But take other things said of the land: "The land is offended by those who dwell upon it." How is the land offended, and when does it turn away from those who dwell in it? When they have become sinners.

Take another example: "The land shall take pleasure in itself on its sabbaths." For on the contrary certain sabbaths of the land are so called, in which it takes pleasure and rejoices in itself. I do not yet mention: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth". Nor the other: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth." Nor even the prophecy of Jeremiah: "O land, land, hear the word of the Lord, write this man as disowned". Many things escape us because of poverty of memory, because of slowness of mind. There are many rational things which God has established, and which are capable, not only principalities and powers, and the rulers of this darkness, but also, in the better part, thrones, dominions, and the rest, which the Apostle left to our understanding, saying: "And above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come".

The air also is full of living beings, according to the testimony of the same Apostle proclaiming: "In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience." There is, then, land, and all manner of living beings, and, through parts of these living beings, varieties. For when the land is offended, and again takes pleasure in itself on its sabbaths, not all of it is offended, not all of it rejoices. For in a certain manner it has been instructed along with its inhabitants, and has learned to keep sabbaths, whether in shadow or in truth, according to the quality of its nature. Whence, by a certain more sacred understanding, the observance of the sabbath is practiced after seven years for the holy land, until it pleases God to dwell in it. But if sinners should be in it, then no longer through weeks of years, but through seventy the land keeps its sabbath.

We have a discourse about the seventy years recorded in the sacred letters, both in Jeremiah and in Daniel, and it is to come that in the day of judgment not only man, but the whole creation shall be judged. For every creature groans together and suffers together. If every creature groans together and suffers together, and part of the creatures is the earth, and heaven, and everything else which is under heaven, and which is above the heavens, and every creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God; who knows also concerning the earth, whether according to its own nature it be held liable in some sin?

For if it is a living being, if it is rational, if it needs to hear the prophetic word saying: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth": and: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth": why should we not say that, as among men there is the man who hears and does the words which he is commanded to do, and there is another who hears and does not fulfill what is commanded, just as also the transgressing angel? For the angels who did not keep their own principality, but abandoned their own dwelling, he has kept in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. When, then, angels transgress, and there are others who keep the commands of God and await judgment—not only of men, but also of God, as we have often said both concerning the things written in the Apocalypse and from other innumerable places—why, I ask, should there not be a judgment also of the earth and of the air?

But if you do not think this argument ought to be agreed to, by which we assert that all creation is to be judged, hear also another testimony concerning the earth. God questions Cain, who killed Abel his brother: and after many words which we read in Genesis, at the last he says concerning the earth: "Cursed is the earth which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand". Nor do I pass over this: "Cursed is the earth in your works": and, on the other hand, if at any time it is blessed. We read of the earth both cursed and blessed by the voices of God. You see, then, that it is rightly said: "Every creature groans together." And, to return to the previous example, the land is offended by those dwelling upon it. I think that the land sustains us as a mother, and rejoices over good children, and grieves over sinners. For just as a foolish son is a grief to the father, so also to the mother who bore him.

And not only to this father and mother, from whose seed we arise, but also to that mother who is truly our mother. And God took dust from the earth, and formed man. Therefore the earth is our mother: she rejoices when she sustains a righteous son. The earth rejoiced bearing Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The earth rejoiced at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, perceiving herself worthy of the support of the Son of God. What need is there to speak of the Apostles and prophets, when it is written concerning the Lord's coming: "All the earth cries out with joy"? Even the wretched Jews confess that these things are foretold concerning the presence of Christ, but foolishly they do not know in whose person they see fulfilled what has been spoken. For when, before the coming of Christ, did the land of Britain consent to the religion of the one God? When did the land of the Moors, when did the whole world at once?

But now, because of the Churches, which hold the boundaries of the world, the whole earth cries out with joy to the Lord of Israel, and is capable of good things according to its own limits. "And he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel, and the Lord's portion became his people Jacob, Israel the line of his inheritance". It is capable, I say, as a living being, according to the qualities of its parts, of good and evil acts, in which it deserves either praise or punishment. When, therefore, it is said: "The land which shall have sinned against me, so as to commit a transgression," a certain mystery is signified. For it is spoken of differently concerning the inhabitants, and differently concerning that which is inhabited: "Heaven and earth shall pass away". Why does heaven pass over, why does earth pass through, unless because they have done certain things deserving of their passing? And in another place: "All the earth was corrupted," it says. When was it corrupted?

Before the flood, not because it was corrupted by the inundation of the flood. It says therefore: "The land which shall have sinned against me, so as to commit a transgression, I will stretch out my hand, and break its support of bread." God, stretching out his hand over the sinning land, sends famine into it. I can also interpret it otherwise, that the land sometimes transgresses. For the land is indeed our soul, as is signified in the parable of the Gospel. The soul is rock, the soul is good and fertile earth through much patience. This land, then, often sins, often does not sin. And if indeed it has sinned, he stretches out his hand upon it, and breaks all the support of its bread. Do not break, Almighty God, the support of bread from this our land, but rather grant to us your seed, that it may produce in us fruit a hundredfold.

"And I will send famine into it, and I will take away from it man and beast." How can I bring forth into public things so hidden? Whence shall I be able to explain why famine, why fertility, why abundance, why want of the land occur? O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Is famine sent because of men and the wickedness of souls? Or is it because of the angels, to whom earthly things have been entrusted, that if they have sinned, those things happen which we see happening? But if there are certain ministers of heavenly dispensation who preside over the fruits, perhaps also because of them infertility of the land comes about. For very many of his works are hidden. We cannot utter the greatness of wisdom. "The sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world, who shall number?

The height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of wisdom, who shall search out?" Variously, then, is famine sent upon the sinning land. "And I will take away," it says, "from it man and beast." One thing is the land, another is man.

Not the inhabitants of the land, as some suppose, does he now name in place of the land. For if he wished "inhabitants of the land" to be understood by "land," it would have been superfluous to say: I will take away from it man and beast. For the land rejoices when it is full of dwellers; it mourns when that which is said comes to pass: I will take away from it man and beast. Concerning which, if the Lord shall minister understanding to you as you pray (if indeed we shall have been made capable of the Lord's meaning), we wish to discuss a few points.

Just as it is the punishment of a mother destined for exile to be deprived of her children, or at least to see her children destined for another province: so in a certain manner our mother the earth is scourged for her sins by God, when man and beast are taken away from her; she rejoices when she has men, but more so when she has the best of men, those living in the pursuits of God, as we explained above. It is said, therefore, when the land shall have sinned, as if it were said, if ever a mother shall have sinned, I will take from her house a daughter: so also now I will take from it man. For the land rejoices not over beasts and raging wild animals, but over cattle, because it loves peaceful and gentle animals. And I will take from it man and beast. And if these three men be in the midst of it. How can the number of these three dwell together at once in a sinning land?

How can the life of those living in such different times be joined together among themselves? In the present passage we read that they abide together in the sinning land, that is, Noah, who was in the flood, and Daniel, who dwelt in the captivity of Babylon, and Job, who is reported to have lived in the times of the patriarchs and of Moses. For this we find to be the time of Job's life. What then can we say? We ought to remember (as we have often already said) that as man begets man, so Israel begets Israel. For Israel, when he was Jacob, begot Israel the people. And we find in the Scriptures that the name Israel is said both of one man and of the whole people.

Thus not only does Israel beget Israel, but Reuben begets Reuben, and Simeon begets Simeon, and Levi Levi, and Judah Judah, and all the rest who are in the tribe of Judah, coming from his stock, are called Judah: and the Scriptures have been repeated in the tribe of Judah among the men of Judah. Those things which are said in the blessings of Jacob, through Moses, concerning Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah, do not so fit the other patriarchs as they fit those who, on account of the root of the family, bore their names. Benjamin, a ravening wolf, in the morning shall devour, and at evening shall give food. That Benjamin was never a ravening wolf.

That Benjamin never at evening gave food; but he who was born of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, according to the law a Pharisee, circumcised on the eighth day, was proclaimed Benjamin, a ravening wolf devouring in the morning, when he was young, and giving food at evening, when believing he offered spiritual food, the churches having been established by him. Therefore Benjamin begets Benjamin. Just as man is born of man, Benjamin of Benjamin, so Judah is born of Judah, Reuben of Reuben; indeed let Reuben live and not die, and be many in number. So far the discourse was not about the patriarch, but about the people who were to descend from the patriarch. Why have these things been said? Namely, so that I might expound the present passage concerning Noah, and Daniel, and Job. For just as Israel begets Israel, and Job begets Job, and Reuben Reuben, and the rest the rest; so Noah begets Noah. And I will say which of the sons of Noah, Shem, was Noah.

But Ham was not Noah; for he did not have the likeness of his father. And just as not all who are sons of Abraham from Abraham, though they be of his seed, are his sons, since they are sinners: so those who have the likeness of the deeds of Daniel, are Daniel; those who imitate the patience of Job, become Job. Do not therefore say: Blessed is Noah, because he was made worthy to be chosen alone by the Lord in the flood, and while the rest perished in the inundation, he was kept safe with his own: but consider, that if you also do the things which Noah did, you will be Noah. Hear the Savior saying: If you were sons of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham. Therefore if anyone is a son of Abraham, he does the deeds of Abraham; if anyone is a son of Noah, he does the work of Noah; if anyone is a son of Daniel, he does that which Daniel did.

If anyone follows through what he was made glorious, as for instance everyone who loses his substance; and enduring patiently both the losses of household goods and the deaths of children, says: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has been done: blessed be the name of the Lord forever; who is inflamed with the evils of the body, and is scourged with the varied pain of his own ills, and nevertheless in the very punishments glorifies the Lord; who can answer divine things, and amid torments utter the prophetic voice, such as Job uttered, is an imitator of Job. And thus in this manner both Noah and Daniel and Job can be found at the same time. But that Ezekiel here does not speak of those whom we read of in the Scriptures, namely those whom either translation or death has removed from the present life, we shall try to prove also from another passage.

Daniel, who was handed over to the chief of the eunuchs along with Ananias, Azariah, and Mishael, was a eunuch, and it is said here: Noah and Daniel and Job shall not deliver sons and daughters, and so on. For let us suppose Noah had sons; how will the sons of Daniel be shown, whom the Jews report to have been a eunuch? But because his soul was fruitful and holy, and by prophetic and divine words he begot many children, therefore it is said: If they shall be in that time, or in this, as Noah and Daniel and Job, they alone shall be saved.

We too, then, can become Daniel, and, not to enumerate all the saints, I can be Paul, if I shall be an imitator of him who says: Be imitators of me; if I shall have the branding-mark with which Paul was signed; if I shall have possessed the same shape in which he was formed in Christ, through which, as a good father, he said: My little children, of whom I travail again in birth, until Christ be formed in you. But if I am convicted by the dissimilarity of the seal, because Paul had a different form than I have in my soul, I deceive myself in saying: You are my son, seed of Paul. Do not marvel that you become a son of the Apostle. Have the virtues, and you will be a son of Christ. Little children, he says, yet a little while I am with you. But when you shall be Christ's, you will also be the Almighty Father's, because they are one, and of united nature.

To this the just man labors, to this he turns all his zeal, that he may be shown to be a son of Daniel and Job and Noah and Abraham unto the adoption of God, and no longer be called by names of men, but by the appellations of the sons of God. If therefore these three men shall be. The Holy Spirit does not need, even now, to show Noah and Daniel and Job: these three men in the midst of it. A learned hearer says to me: Three are named in the present passage, but your discourse affirms many, both Daniel and Job and Noah. To whom we shall answer thus: Every multitude of like things is one, and those who are alike are not many. We are all not many bodies, but one body, according to what is written: But you are the body of Christ, and members in part. And our Savior came to seek and to save that which was lost, in the mystery of the ninety-nine sheep not straying and the one lost.

For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Just as one body is many bodies, and one sheep is many sheep, which had perished, in this manner all Noahs, Daniels, and Jobs are reduced into one Noah, Job, and Daniel. They shall be saved in their own righteousness, says the Lord Adonai. First, the name of God of four letters, which is interpreted naturally as God. Therefore famine is sent forth on account of the sins of the land. But the land, according to all the senses which we have said above, and whatsoever we leave to the understanding of the hearers, that they themselves might find other meanings from our words. Let us also see another work of divine wrath sending upon the sinning land the worst beasts. The Jews also say, that whenever wolves have devoured men, making an assault upon houses, and other beasts as well, as history reports—lions once sent against the human race, and at another time bears—such devourings descend from the indignation of God.

And this meaning meanwhile, that we may follow the letter, withdrawing from the higher understanding, we now see the prophet to follow. But he who is spiritual, judging all things, and judged by no one, confidently says that there are many beasts which God sends into the sinning land, if indeed our land shall have sinned: Our adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That history also, which offers itself in plain meaning to those diligently observing the Scriptures, has a signification of this sort: when two bears were sent against the little boys who were mocking the prophet, saying: Go up, bald head; go up, bald head. For those bears were a sign of the other beasts, which are truly wild, truly rabid, which are sent into this sinning land. Far be it from us, however, that beasts should be sent against us for God's vengeance; rather let us say in prayer: Do not deliver to beasts a soul confessing you.

I know of just men who, persevering in the faith, were delivered to wild beasts, and, torn apart by them, completed martyrdom, and yet did not cease to be blessed. For they had not been delivered to spiritual and invisible beasts, which tear apart the souls of sinners, and fix their teeth in the hearts of the impious. For just as if a shepherd should pluck from the mouth of lions two legs of a sheep, or the tip of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be plucked out. The land, therefore, is sometimes delivered to beasts, for its overthrow, that man and beast be taken away from it. And observe carefully the differences of the threatenings. In the first threatening of famine he says: They alone shall be saved, Noah, Daniel and Job. But in the second, where he testifies that he will send beasts, they are called sons and daughters: Nevertheless they alone shall be saved, says Adonai the Lord. This passage is understood in two ways.

And first let us expound it according to the common meaning, on account of the foolishness of some, who assert that the sense of their own mind is the truth of God, and frequently say: It shall come to pass that each of us, by his own prayers, shall snatch out of Gehenna whomever he wishes, and shall bring iniquity in before the Lord, not seeing that the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the iniquity of the wicked upon him, and each shall die in his own sin, and live in his own righteousness. It profits me nothing that my father was a martyr, if I shall not have lived well, and adorned the nobility of my lineage, that is, his testimony and confession, by which he was made illustrious in Christ. It profits nothing to the Jews saying: We were not born of fornication, we have one Father, the Lord, and a little after: Abraham is our father.

Whatever they shall say, whatever they shall wish to claim for themselves, if they shall not have the faith of Abraham, they glory in vain. For they shall not be saved for this reason, that they are sons of Abraham. Since, therefore, some do not think rightly, we have necessarily interposed also the sense of the letter which says: Noah, Daniel and Job shall not deliver sons and daughters, but they alone shall be saved. Let none of us trust in a righteous father, in a holy mother, in chaste brothers. Blessed is the man who has hope in himself, and in the right way. But to those who have confidence in the saints, we not unfittingly bring forward the example: Cursed is the man who has hope in man. And this: Do not trust in men. But also this other: It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes.

But if it is necessary to hope in someone, having left all else, let us hope in the Lord, saying: If camps should stand against me, my heart shall not fear. Since these things stand thus, another question also arises for us, which we ought carefully to examine, that the truth of the Scriptures may shine forth: Why, when there are so many righteous men, are only three now named, Noah, Daniel and Job? I once heard from a certain Hebrew, expounding this passage and saying, that these were named for this reason, because each of them saw three times, a joyful, a sad, and again a joyful. See Noah before the flood, consider the world whole, and the same Noah afterward, in the shipwreck of the whole world, kept safe alone with his sons and the animals in the ark: consider how after the flood he went forth, and planted a vineyard, becoming in a certain manner the creator of a second world again.

Such is the righteous man: he saw the world before the flood, that is before the consummation; he saw the world in the flood, in the corruption and destruction of sinners, which are to occur on the day of judgment; again he will see the world in the resurrection of all sinners. Someone says to me: I grant concerning Noah, that he saw three times; what will you answer me concerning Daniel? He too flourished before the captivity in his homeland in nobility, and thereafter, taken away to Babylon, was made a eunuch, as can be plainly understood from his own book: he also saw the return to Jerusalem. But that it may be proved that he was in Jerusalem before the captivity, and after the captivity was made a eunuch, let us take up that which was said to Hezekiah: They shall take of your sons, and make them eunuchs in the house of the king.

Then after seventy years he is found praying to God, that now the time of the captivity being completed, he might again enter Jerusalem. We have his prayer written in his own book, yet we cannot find where he died. He saw, therefore, three times: before the captivity, in the captivity, and after the captivity. Such is the righteous man. Let us see, moreover, whether Job also had three times. He was indeed wealthy: for he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and very much household stuff, seven sons, and three daughters. Then the devil received power against him. See the times changed. Rich in children, a father, he is suddenly made bereaved: rich in wealth, a lord, he is brought down to the last poverty: behold two times. After this the Lord appears to him, and speaks to him out of the cloud, and Job himself answers those things which are written in his book.

Therefore in the first time he is proclaimed with praises of God; in the second he is delivered to temptation, and struck with the most savage sore from his feet even to his head, he suffers sad and hard things. At the last, there were made for him fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, a thousand pasturing she-asses, and there are born to him seven sons and daughters (Job, last chapter). And thus in Job also we find three times, which we find in righteous men. The righteous see three times: the present, and that of change, when God is about to judge, and the future after the resurrection of the dead, that is, the perpetuity of the heavenly life in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

The famine, which is brought upon the sinning land, has been discussed to the extent of our powers, and after the famine we spoke of the most evil beasts which God will send upon sinners. For we set forth at the beginning four punishments, of which the remaining two are of the sword, and of death. And indeed in the first only the name of sons and daughters is found; but in the second and third, which we are now attempting to expound, the name of sons and daughters is joined, that is, in the sword, by which those fall who have done things worthy of its edge. What then is this sword, that is, the rhomphaia, which we ought to fear, lest it ever be sent upon our land, upon the land which we have expounded figuratively, so that it should be necessary for us too to pass through a sword having something twofold in its punishment?

For the very nature of the sword divides and cuts him into whom it is thrust: but if even the touch of its edge is itself penal, then he who is to be punished by this sword is tormented doubly. For it is written: "He set a fiery rhomphaia, and Cherubim to guard the way of the tree of life". And just as if a sharp and cutting sword be thrust into a body, it gives a double torment of burning and cutting: so also the rhomphaia, which is recorded to have been set for the guarding of Paradise, which we have now taken up for the exposition of the present sword, inflicts double torments, since it both burns and divides. But that we may insert here something necessary, from those things by which God enlightens our understanding, take an example. Those skilled in the discipline of medicine say that for certain healings of bodies not only the cutting of iron is necessary, but also burning.

For upon those who are rotting with the corruption of cancer, they apply either a glowing razor-blade, or whatever kind of very sharp iron, so that through fire the roots of the cancer may be torn out, and through incision the putrid flesh may be cut away, and a way opened for the applying of medicines. Who, do you think, among us has a sin like a cancer, so to speak, such that neither the mere edge of iron alone, nor the burning of fire alone, suffices for him, but both must be applied, that he may be both burned and cut? Hear the Savior signifying the reckoning of fire and iron in two places. In one place he says: "I came not to send peace upon the earth, but a sword". In another: "I came to send fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled". Therefore the Savior brings both, sword and fire, and baptizes those things which could not be purified by the purification of the Holy Spirit.

The divine mysteries are ineffable, and known to God alone: yet they consist more in the bestowal of grace than in the varieties of torments. For physicians, by the discipline of their art, do not reasonably cut, burn, and give a most bitter draught, and do many other things, according as the case demands, without reason; but shall the Lord of the universe, God, without any reasonable wisdom, and without a dispensation worthy of his majesty, inflict only punishments upon sinners? For he does not, as they suppose, apply torments only in order to torture, but as a father he knows the wounds of us all: he knows from what cause this ulcer is born, what the corruption of the unhappy soul is, from what beginning it is derived, what the form of pain is, from what sin it comes: he knows also the forms, modes, and numbers of sins; who has sinned once, twice, or thrice; who has fallen often in one kind of offenses, who has erred in various kinds of vices but only in single instances.

All these things we ought to seek according to the wisdom of God, according to that which is written: "God searches hearts and reins," and the punishments which are inflicted by him we ought to understand as worthy of God, and fitting to his dispensation, wishing us not merely to be tormented. For he made all things that they might exist; and he made the generations of the world health-giving, and there is no medicine of destruction in them; but because, by despising it, we did not do what he willed, and he did not carry out in us what he desired, the discussion has compelled us to say something about the kind of punishments which are brought upon the land. But we ought to know that it is not the case that wherever there is famine, death immediately follows. For it can happen that someone enduring famine perseveres in life, although tormented by want, and squalor, and emaciation.

It can happen that, when evil beasts are sent, not all perish at once, some being preserved by the help of flight. It can happen that, when the rhomphaia passes, destruction ceases. Now some are wounded, and cut, and, so to speak, battered by frequent blows, and yet do not perish. Therefore now the last punishment in the enumeration of punishments, death, is applied. Something of this sort the most sacred Apostle also felt when he said: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death". I will venture to say—but the last enemy to be destroyed is death. There was something an enemy before death, namely the sword: there was something an enemy before death, the most evil beasts: there was something an enemy before the most evil beasts, famine. All these are enemies to the enemies of religion.

For if you do not wish to become a friend to God who invites you to reconciliation, and says through the Apostle: "I beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God", why do you blame God, since you have chosen to be under the dominion of enemies in these matters? Or do you not know that for this reason God sent into Egypt fury and wrath and anguish, a sending through most evil angels, because they were his enemies, and were ruled by his adversary? But may these four punishments—famine, most evil beasts, sword, death—be far from us. For whatever of these has been inflicted, comes upon those who are enemies of God: it passes by his friends, nor does it dare to touch those who glory in their need of him.

And just as it is rightly believed concerning fire, the Scriptures testifying, that the just pass through it and are not burned—"for the fire will test the work of each, of what sort it is"—so also in these punishments, let some Daniel, Noah, and Job be found, and he will endure none of the punishments. These things we have expounded individually concerning each punishment, which in the last part the prophet joins together into one, saying: "Thus says Adonai the Lord: But if I send my four most evil vengeances, the sword, and famine, and evil beasts, and death." Upon what? Not upon the land, but upon Jerusalem. For if the land is punished, one chastisement suffices for it. But if Jerusalem is chastised, upon which the name of God has been invoked, four torments are inflicted upon it together. It would have been far more profitable for us not to have believed the divine word, than after belief to be turned again to the sins which we had committed before.

Consider then how Scripture says that punishments are brought upon the land singly, and does not add what land; but when it comes to Jerusalem: "But if I also send my four most evil vengeances, the sword, and famine, and evil beasts, and death, upon Jerusalem"—indicating us as Jerusalem, we who, sinning, are that Jerusalem which is destroyed; but remaining in the commandments, are called that Jerusalem which is saved. All the lamentations which we read concerning Jerusalem, all the complaints with which God mourns her, pertain to us, who have tasted the word of God, and afterward have done things contrary to his commandments. He who despises the laws of Solomon is not punished thus; he who abandons the decrees of Lycurgus is not punished so. Different is the punishment of him who tramples underfoot and despises the law of God given through Moses: greatest of all is the punishment of him who has held the precepts of the Son of God as nothing.

For "anyone who sets aside the law of Moses dies without any mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses"; how much more, do you think, does he deserve worse punishments who has trampled underfoot the Son of God! He says therefore that those whom we have enumerated did not trample underfoot the Son of God, but only transgressed the law of God—and especially those who were before the coming of the Lord. But not even those who crucified my Savior are guilty of so great a punishment, as those to whom the Apostle says: "trampling underfoot the Son of God, doing despite to the Spirit of grace": and whatever else is signified in that passage in which he recounts the sins of those who sinned after faith in God. These are the reasons for the four most evil vengeances which are brought upon Jerusalem. And all of us indeed, who have learned the divine Scriptures, whether we live well or ill, are Jerusalem.

If we live ill, we are that Jerusalem which is punished with torments, and endures four vengeances: if well, that Jerusalem which rests in the bosom of God. And there is a great difference, both in the rest of the land, and in Jerusalem itself. For all who are sinners in the Church, who have tasted the word of God and transgress it, indeed deserve punishments; but each will be tormented according to the measure of his degree. He who presides over the Church and offends has a greater punishment. Is not a faithful catechumen, by comparison, more deserving of mercy? Is not a layman more worthy of pardon, if compared to a deacon? And again, in comparison with a presbyter, does not a deacon more deserve pardon? What follows, though I am silent, you know.

Therefore, fearing the judgment of God, and setting before my eyes that order of judgment which is contained in the Scriptures, I recall that saying: "Do not lift a burden beyond yourself." But also that: "Do not seek to become a judge, lest you be unable to remove iniquities." What does it profit me that I sit first in the chair, reclining, and receive the honor of the greater, and yet cannot have works worthy of my dignity? Shall I not be tormented with a greater punishment, because the honor of the just is paid to me by all, while I am a sinner? It was necessary, in more carefully reconsidering what was said about the four vengeances upon the land, to add this: that Jerusalem indeed was in the tribe of Benjamin: and the priests of the temple, and the Levites, who served in the ministries of God, and the other ranks which the word of the Scriptures comprehends, dwelt in her. She receives these four most evil vengeances, which are not alike for those who dwell in her.

For the threat is not directed in the same manner both to the people and to the Levites. For an Israelite sinning falls into an Israelite offense. But he who is greater than an Israelite—the more noble he is in rank, being a Levite and priest—the greater punishments he will endure. But if the chief of the priests has sinned, Eli, his fellow priest, says to him: "If a man sinning offends against a man, they will pray for him: but if he sins against the Lord, who will pray for him?" These things serve as an exposition of that discourse, by which each vengeance was threatened individually against the sinning land, and likewise gathered together against unhappy Jerusalem. Let us now look also at what follows in the Scripture.

Since the prophet has heard this in a parable, we ought only to expound the sense, leaving the very order of the testimony, and sending the hearer to the book: "As the wood of the vine is more honorable in its fruit than all woods, especially those which bear fruit in the forest: so," it says, "all other works are more useless than every wood". And certain vessels can be made, useful for various works and for the service of necessary use; but from the branches of the vine, not only can no vessel or useful work be made, but not even a peg is useful.

The divine word says therefore that just as the branch of the vine becomes more honorable than other woods, if it bears fruit: so it is judged inferior to all, if it does not have that in which it excels; and in this manner, those who are imbued with the sayings of God are more honorable than all, and however placed in the vineyard in dignity, when they bear fruits, the clusters of salvation, of which it is written: "But I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true". And elsewhere: "The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel". And again: "You brought a vine out of Egypt", and so on. But if they do not bring forth fruits, so much so that it can be said by God: "How have you turned into the bitterness of a strange vine?" then they are found much worse than these woods; which, though viler, still bring forth their own fruits.

For just as the woods of the forests excel unfruitful vineyards, in the same way, within a certain dispensation of divine wisdom, some things necessary for the house are fashioned from viler woods. And do not be troubled, thinking that we affirm, apart from the Scriptures, what we say will come to pass, that something useful should be made from the wood of the forest—that is, from myself, if I do not bring forth the proper fruits of my nature. Since the Apostle also takes up a certain image of those vessels which are found in human life, saying: "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of clay" (note that he has named wooden vessels); "and some indeed for honor, but others for dishonor". These wooden vessels, which the Apostle declares to be in the great house, are not made from vines, not from the branches of vineyards, but from other woods, which, of a viler order, bore fruit in the groves.

How great an evil then it is, and what a difference, that once-vile woods should be found in the great house of the father of the family, and the branch of my vine be useless in the house, and be cast into the fire? For it is written that fire shall consume its yearly pruning. These things are in Ezekiel. But the Savior touched upon the sense of this parable in the Gospel thus, saying: "I am the vine, you are the branches, my Father is the vinedresser: every branch that abides in me, and bears fruit, my Father prunes, that it may bring forth more fruit: the branch that abides in me, and does not bear fruit, my Father cuts off and casts into the fire". Do you see the closeness of both sayings? Do you see how the Father cuts off, and casts into the fire?

We, senseless, as though Scripture were to be neglected, unwilling to learn those things which strike us with fear, but desiring to hear those things which strike itching ears with pleasure, have gladly heard the things that subvert us, that deceive us. He who says to his neighbor, God forgives us our sins, since we play even with such sacraments, mutually promising one another that God will send the napkin. And because he is good, and dissolves the sins of all, we ought to sit, and say with anxious heart: If yesterday we sinned, today let us do penance. But to this branch (for indeed it is an animal) who says: God is powerful, and a good vinedresser, who will not cut me off, and cast me into the fire—the vinedresser will answer: But if the branch is such that it is in vain in the vine, can it not be left? Will it not, if left, hinder the vine, lest, in place of the dry branch, it bring forth green and fruit-bearing branches?

For just as it belongs to a good vinedresser to cut off and prune what is dry, and to hand over the unfruitful branches as food for the fire: so it belongs to the good God, from all the vines, to prune off unfruitful branches, and hand them over to the fire for destruction. But we ourselves play with ourselves, and, deceived and deceiving alike, we wish rather to err with the many, than to be turned from error: whereas we ought rather to seek what may build up, what may increase the fear of God, what may call back to penance, what may lead to confession of sin, what may make us think day and night how we may please the Lord, that we may become fruitful branches in the true vine, Christ Jesus, clinging to his root: to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

Concerning that which is said: Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations; up to: Thou hast poured out thy fornication upon every one that passed by. A marvel comes to mind, how those who truly believed God more than men despised death, dangers, insults, and all the things they suffered from those by whom they were reproached, while they served the will of God in prophesying. I once admired Isaiah before I compared him to Ezekiel, and I was astonished how he could say: Hear the word of the Lord, ye princes of Sodom; give ear to the law of God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? Saith the Lord. For he said these things when he could have either spoken or kept silence. For the prophets did not (as some suppose) fall out of their minds and speak by necessity of the spirit. If, says the Apostle, it be revealed to another sitting by, let the first hold his peace.

By which it is shown that he who speaks has power, when he wishes, to speak, and when he wishes, to be silent. And to Balaam it is said: Nevertheless the word which I put in thy mouth, this thou shalt take care to speak: as though he had the power, having received the word of God, to speak or to be silent. What then is it that I admire in Ezekiel? That when it had been commanded him to testify and make known to Jerusalem her iniquities, he did not set before his eyes the danger that would follow from his preaching; but, that he might only keep the commands of God, he spoke whatsoever was commanded him. Granted, let it be a mystery, let it be a revelation of sacred meaning concerning Jerusalem, and whatever things are said concerning her; nevertheless, prophesying, he charges her also with fornication, because she spread her feet to every one that passed by, and with a reviling voice he bears witness, rebuking the city of crimes.

But because he trusted that he was doing the will of God, ready both to die and to see it come to pass, he spoke unafraid. Let us then look at the prophecy itself, and first indeed let us consider how it is placed in the power of the prophet whether he speaks or not. The word of the Lord came to him, saying: Son of man, testify to Jerusalem her iniquities, and thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord—not by necessity of inspiration, but the Lord set it in the will of the one speaking, that he should testify to Jerusalem her iniquities, and he said: Thou shalt say. What shalt thou say? The things that follow. It lay with the prophet who heard, thou shalt say: whether he would say it or not, as it was set in Jonah's case. For it was indeed in the power of the one who heard: Say, yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown, whether he wished to speak or be silent.

And because it was placed in his own judgment, and he did not wish to speak, see how great things followed upon him afterward: the ship was endangered because of him, he was found hiding by lot, the whale devoured him when cast forth. These prophets, then, whoever came after Jonah, considering perhaps what had happened to him, or to other prophets, saw that on every side straits pressed upon them: persecution from the age, if they spoke true things; offense against the Lord, if, fearing men, they brought forth false things instead of true. Therefore Ezekiel testified, and made known to Jerusalem her iniquities, and said: Thus saith the Lord: Thy root and thy generation is of the land of Canaan; thy father an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. Which of the cities was so exalted, and thought herself so high in the world, as the city of God?

And yet this very city, promising herself great things, as though near to God and his own city, because she sinned, is rebuked by the Holy Spirit as degenerate and a stranger. For her father the Amorite is no longer God. As long as she did not sin, her father was God: but when she sinned, her father became the Amorite. As long as she did not sin, her father was the Holy Spirit: when she sinned, her mother became the Hittite. As long as she did not sin, she had Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for her root: when she sinned, her root became Canaanite. I have often marveled at that which was said by Daniel to the sinning elder, to whom, imposing a name because of his sin, he said, Thou seed of Canaan, and not of Judah. Great indeed is Daniel, most firmly calling the sinning elder seed of Canaan and not of Judah.

But Ezekiel is greater in comparison with him, casting the reproach of shameful birth not upon one elder, nor upon two men, but saying, Thy root, and thy generation, is of the land of Canaan. Thy father an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. Because Jerusalem committed many sins, therefore the prophet, rebuking her, branded her not with one name nor with two, but with three. Seven nations are enumerated by God in Genesis in one place, which he delivered to the sons of Israel. These seven are: Into the land, he says, of the Canaanites, and the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. If it had been possible to gather together all seven of these, that through them he might reproach the ignoble birth of sinful Jerusalem, the prophet would certainly have done so. But what did he do instead?

He chose the Amorite out of the seven, and the Canaanite, and said that sinful Jerusalem had communion with the Canaanite according to root and birth, properly with the Amorite according to father, properly with the Hittite according to mother. If such things are said of Jerusalem, of whom such great and such wonderful things were written, which were promised to her, what shall become of wretched me, if I sin? Who shall be my father, or who shall be my mother? Of so great and such a Jerusalem the root and generation is called of the land of the Canaanites, her father the Amorite, and her mother the Hittite. If I sin—I who believe in Christ Jesus, and have given myself to so great a Master—who shall be my father? Not the Amorite surely, but some worse father. Who is this? Whoever commits sin is born of the devil: And again: Ye are of your father the devil.

If therefore Jerusalem is spoken of as from root and birth of the land of Canaan, what shall be said to us? There are found fathers for us too, who beget us in sins. For just as, if I shall be good, and established in the best conduct, Jesus says to me: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee; Paul the disciple of Jesus says to me: For in Christ Jesus through the Gospel I have begotten you: so if I become a sinner, the devil begetting me in sins, and taking to himself that voice with which God the Father spoke to the Savior, says to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And there will be many other fathers of mine, to whom I shall go.

Each one goes to his own fathers. If someone is of Abraham, it is said to him: But thou shalt go to thy fathers, brought up in peace in a good old age. But if someone departs from this world not with peace, but with a war of sins, and not with a good old age, but grown old in evil days, it is certainly said to him: But thou shalt go to thy fathers, nourished with war, in an evil old age. We are taught by God under other names what we ought to do. In the day thou wast born, thy hands were not bound, or, thy navel was not cut off. For in the Hebrew it thus reads: thy navel was not cut off. Allegorically he brings in Jerusalem as though a girl begotten from infancy. But let us know that the things which are said of Jerusalem pertain to all men who are in the Church.

Her first time is such as is described here: but far be it from us that we should have a third time such as is said of Jerusalem. For all of us who were first sinners are called Jerusalem by God, and we have those things which are said of the first stage. But the second stage, if after visitation and knowledge of God we have persisted in sins, pertains to us. But the third, the evils which we utterly detest, we shall pursue in order. Now, to return to the first, it is written as though of Jerusalem: In the day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut off. We need the help of God, that we may be able to find the uncut navel of sinful Jerusalem, or at least to explain the cut navel of her who did not sin. Whether then of Jerusalem, or of anyone else, I seek from another Scripture the navel, that comparing spiritual things with spiritual, I may find how the navel of Jerusalem was not cut off.

It is written in Job concerning the dragon: His strength is in his navel, and his force is in the navel of his belly. I know from what divine grace bestowed on me when I was expounding the present passage, that I said that the dragon is the opposing power. For this is the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, deceiving the whole world. His strength is in the navel. Nor is this doubtful: for the beginning of all evils is situated in the loins. And therefore he who was about to be born is said still to be established in the loins of his father, because human seeds are gathered in the loins. The opposing power therefore, wherever seeds are, there tries to show the force of its snares. Against males its power is in the loins; against females its power is in the navel of the belly.

And see how honorably Scripture named the genitals of man and woman with covered names, lest by those names which are readily at hand it should signify baseness. If the example we have brought forward from Job is understood, understand for me that just as in a man the foreskin is circumcised, so in a woman the navel is cut off. For when a woman was chaste, and used the clean changes of women, that is, lest she fall into sordid things and into the baseness of sins, then her navel was cut off. But if she has sinned, her navel is not cut off. He rebukes Jerusalem then as a woman whose navel was not cut off. The Seventy translated in this place: They did not bind thy breasts, expounding more the sense of the utterance than expressing word for word. But breasts in the Song of Songs are taken in the place of your thoughts and mind: Because thy breasts are better than wine (Song).

And he reclined upon the breast of Jesus, where thy breasts are—he who was to have communion of his understandings. When therefore the sense is rigid, and the notion bound and solid, and speech does not flow out, it is clear that thy breasts are bound. But when the things which are said are loosened and flow out, the breasts are not bound. Thou wast not washed with water unto salvation. Let us look at the things which are in Jerusalem, lest perhaps they be found in us also. For example, let it be said: There is a certain woman now washed, but it is asked whether unto salvation? That we too may fear on account of that which he says, unto salvation. Not all are washed unto salvation. We who have received the grace of baptism in the name of Christ are washed: but I know not who is washed unto salvation.

Simon was washed, and having obtained baptism, he continued in the company of Philip: but because he was not washed unto salvation, he was condemned by him who said to him in the Holy Spirit: Thy money be with thee unto perdition. It is a matter of great difficulty for him who is washed to be washed unto salvation. Attend, catechumens, listen, and from what is said, prepare yourselves, while you are catechumens, while you are not yet baptized, and come to the font, and be washed unto salvation, and be not washed as some who were washed, but not unto salvation, as one who receives water but does not receive the Holy Spirit. He who is washed unto salvation receives both water and the Holy Spirit. Because Simon was not washed unto salvation, he received water, and did not receive the Holy Spirit: thinking that the gift of the Spirit could be purchased with money, in which he was not washed unto salvation.

To every sinful soul that appears to believe, these things are said which we now read said to Jerusalem, that I may not climb up to greater things, and seek things beyond my strength and understanding. Nor salted with salt. And this is a crime of Jerusalem, that she was not worthy of the salt of God. If I believe in my Lord Jesus Christ, he himself will make me salt, and will say to me: Ye are the salt of the earth. If I believe the spirit which spoke in the apostle, I am seasoned with salt, and I can keep the precept which says: Let your speech be always seasoned with grace, with salt. It is a great work to be salted. Whoever is seasoned with salt is full of grace. For even in common proverb one who is graceful is called "salted," and conversely, one who lacks grace is called "unsalted." If therefore grace comes to us from God, and we are filled with his gift, we are salted with salt.

Again, sinful Jerusalem is not wrapped in swaddling clothes. Observe what we say: the soul being reborn and first brought forth in the laver is wrapped in swaddling clothes. My own Lord Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes, as it is recorded in the Gospel according to Luke. It is fitting therefore that he who is being reborn—reborn, that is, in Christ—should desire the rational and pure milk; but before he desires the rational and guileless milk, he ought to be salted with salt and bound with the wrappings of swaddling clothes, lest it be said to him: "You have not been salted with salt, and you have not been wrapped in swaddling clothes." That these are the crimes of this Jerusalem—not to be circumcised at the navel, and not to be salted with salt, and not to be wrapped in swaddling clothes, and not to be washed with water unto salvation—the remaining discourse indicates, which continues thus: "Neither did your eye spare you, to do for you one of all these things.

Therefore I did none of these things for you, that I might suffer somewhat over you, says the Lord." I will take an example from men; then, if the Holy Spirit grants it, I will pass on to Jesus Christ and to God the Father. When I speak to a man and beg him concerning some matter that he have mercy on me, if he is without mercy, he suffers nothing from what is said by me; but if he is of a gentle mind, and nothing of hardness has hardened in his heart, he hears me, and has mercy on me, and his inward parts are softened at my entreaties. Understand something of this sort concerning the Savior. He came down to earth having mercy on the human race; he suffered our sufferings before he suffered the cross and deigned to assume our flesh. For if he had not suffered, he would not have come into the manner of human life. First he suffered, then he came down, and was seen.

What is this suffering that he suffered for us? Love is the suffering. Does not the Father himself also, and the God of the universe, being longsuffering and greatly merciful and compassionate, in some manner suffer? Or do you not know that when he administers human affairs, he suffers a human suffering? "For the Lord your God bore your ways," as if a man should bear his son. Therefore God bears our ways, just as the Son of God bears our sufferings. The Father himself is not impassible. If entreated, he has mercy and grieves along, he suffers something of love, and becomes in these things something which, according to the greatness of his nature, he cannot be, and for our sake he endures human sufferings. "Your eye did not spare you," it says, "to do for you one of all these things, that I might suffer somewhat over you.

And because you were made such, you were cast out on the face of the field." God, do not allow us to be such that we be cast out from you and from your Church onto the face of the field, but rather that we go forth from the narrow confines of the senses into the field. "And you were cast out on the face of the field." Why? "Because of the wickedness of your soul in the day in which you were born." Can anyone have wickedness of soul on the very day he was born? He describes our sufferings and human vices and habitual wickednesses. For by our wickedness, if our heart is not upright, we are cast out into the field on the day we are born. If after the regeneration of the laver, if after the word of God we sin again, we are cast out on the day we are born.

Such are very often found who have been washed with the washing of second regeneration, and yet do not bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, nor gladden the mystery of baptism with a greater fear than they had while they were catechumens, nor with a greater love than they exercised while they were hearers of the word, nor with holier deeds than they performed before. There follows for men of this sort what is said: "You were cast out on the face of the field because of the wickedness of your soul, on the day you were born." But behold the mercy of God, behold his singular clemency. Although Jerusalem was cast out on the face of the field, he does not so despise her as to leave her cast out forever; he does not so abandon her to her wickedness as to forget her utterly, so as not thereafter to raise up the one who lies fallen.

Notice what follows: "And I passed by you." You were cast out, yet I came again to you: my visitation was not lacking to you after your ruin. "And I saw you spattered with your blood." As if he should say: I saw you guilty of homicides, guilty of blood and of mortal sins. "And I said to you: Live from your blood." Suck from your blood, and be filled with life. "As the garden of the field I gave you." I had mercy on you after you were cast out: I saw you spattered with blood and sins: I made you like the garden of the field, and you were multiplied. Because I came to you and visited you when you were cast out, I became for you the cause of your multiplying. "And you were multiplied, and magnified." I gave you into multitude and greatness, that is, I made you grow and multiply. For by this we grow and multiply.

"And you entered into the cities of cities." Again he sets forth the errors of Jerusalem entering into the cities of cities. Let us consider how she entered criminally into the cities of cities. If through the several cities in which there are heresies and doctrines alien to God someone belonging to the Church should enter, and become a partaker of such cities, he hears: "You entered into the cities of cities." "Your breasts were raised up." After such great crimes you again flourished, and the time came for you, and the time of those turning aside. It is said to me: Do not allegorize, do not expound by figure. Let them answer, I ask: Does Jerusalem have breasts, and is there a time when they are not gathered, a time when they are raised up, and does she have a navel, and because it is not cut is she reproached—how can these things be understood without allegorical exposition?

"Your breasts were raised up, and your hair grew." With all decency the divine discourse describes those things which are wont to happen to the bodies of virgins. "And your hair grew, but you were naked and dishonored." He who has not put on Jesus Christ is naked; he who has not put on the inward parts of compassion, of kindness, of humility, of meekness, of longsuffering, so as to bear with his neighbor, is dishonored. "But you were naked and dishonored, and I passed by you." A second time he came to her, he saw her sinning, again he departs because of her sins, and yet again he returns; again the merciful and kind God visits her. "And I came to you, and I saw you, and behold, your time, and the time of those turning aside." What is meant by "your time"? It signifies the time of adolescence, in which already by age they can fornicate. And again: "and the time," it says, "of those turning aside." Who are these who turn aside?

While we are little ones, those who wish to turn aside to overturn us—such as the worst Christians, unclean demons, angels of the devil—have no place, so that they cannot turn aside. But when we have become older in age, and are now able to sin, they seek an approach to turn aside to us, both the angels of God and the angels of Satan. But it is impossible that both turn aside to us at once. If we sin, the angels of the devil turn aside to us; if we stand with a fixed step, the angels of God turn aside to us. So your time came, and the time of those turning aside. Because the time of those turning aside had come, our Lord Jesus Christ, our God, again visits wretched Jerusalem, that is, our sinning soul. "I spread my wings over you." Scripture is accustomed to call the edges of garments "wings": as with Ruth, who came secretly, and, uncovering the cloak at the feet of Boaz, slept beneath the hem of his garment.

God therefore speaks as though clothed in a garment: "I spread my wings over you, and covered your shame." Blessed is he whose shame God covers with his own wings—if only he persevere in that blessedness in which Jerusalem was unwilling to persevere. "And I swore to you a covenant, and entered into covenant with you." After all this, on account of which he again returns, again withdraws, after such frequent visitation, now for the first time he enters into covenant with her. "And you became mine, and I washed you in water." After all these things I took you to myself, and I myself washed you unto salvation, and washed your blood from off you. Understanding these things, let us pray that the mercy of God may come upon us, and wash the blood from our souls. For whatever we have done deserving of death, that is our blood. "I washed your blood from you, and anointed you with oil." And God wishes to make us Christs.

"And clothed you with many colors." How great is the kindness of God toward each single soul that is Jerusalem! He grants to those who believe in him not a garment of one color, but of much variety. This many-colored garment Jacob already made then as a sign, bringing forward his son Joseph, and clothed him with many colors. If you consider the sects of understanding, and good deeds, you will indeed see the varied garment which the visitation of God bestows on those who are called unto salvation. I understand the law, I comprehend the prophets, I acknowledge the Gospels, the Apostle is not hidden from me: and I am cautious, I am just, I am merciful, and do you still seek another many-colored garment that the Lord clothed Jerusalem with, saying: "And I clothed you with many colors, and shod you with hyacinth-colored sandals"? He wants our footwear to be flowering and well dyed. What is this footwear? Hear Paul preaching more veiledly: "Your feet shod in preparation of the gospel of peace".

"And I girded you with fine linen." More plainly does the Apostle speak of this girding: "Standing, having girded your loins in truth". For truth is taken for the fine linen. "And I covered you with trichaptum." Not finding nor understanding what "trichaptum" might be, I found in another edition, in place of trichaptum, "flowering," and in another, "garment." Therefore God clothes us, after the varied garment, with a flowering tunic also. "And adorned you with ornament, and put bracelets upon your hands." When he gives me occasions for good deeds, he puts bracelets around my hands. "And a chain about your neck." If after deeds of justice he adorns me with understanding of the truth, then there is for me a wedding ornament, then a comely chain is placed around the neck. "And I gave earrings about your nostril." When I am able to receive the sacraments of true sweetness and good odor, then God adorns my nostril with earrings.

"And rings for your ears." So that not only your ears, but even a great golden ring may be about your hearing. And the golden ring is that which turns upon sacred understandings. "And a crown of glorification upon your head." Almighty God, grant to us also that we may be made worthy of the crown of glorification upon our head. "And you were adorned with gold"—that is, with divine perceptions—"and silver"—that is, with sacred discourses. "And your coverings of fine linen." Depth of perceptions is the fine linen covering. "And flowering"—for which word the Seventy set τρίχαπτα, signifying an extremely fine garment, and, as it were, a vesture attenuated to the likeness of hairs. "And many-colored." Behold, all Jerusalem is protected with wings, clothed with varied colors, adorned with jewels. What does the great and man-loving God do after these things? He feeds her with delicate foods. "You ate fine flour, and honey, and oil." He does not say simply flour, nor barley bread: what we now speak to you is fine flour.

But wretched Jerusalem, after fine flour, after honey, after oil, is again rebuked as though a harlot. Therefore let us watch more carefully lest perhaps we, after the pure words of fine flour, after the sweetest discourses of the prophets, after the oil which gladdens the face, with which we wish to anoint our head, that our fasting may become acceptable, sin again. But we are not only anointed with this oil, but also fed with it. "And you became exceedingly beautiful." He praises her beauty, praises her comeliness, proclaims her form. "And you were directed into a kingdom." How great the advance, that she should even be directed to a kingdom! "And your name went out among the nations." These things are fitting for one who, after having begun to be free from the world, advancing in conduct toward the blessed life, has also attained a glorious name in the world. But far be it from what follows: for this is written to strike fear into the hearers. After beauty, after a great name, wretched Jerusalem fornicates.

Therefore boast not for tomorrow; for you do not know what the coming day may bring forth. And elsewhere: "Brothers, even if a man be overtaken in some fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness". And again: "Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." "And your name went out among the nations for your beauty, because it was perfect through the comeliness which I had put upon you, says the Lord Adonai." "And you trusted in your beauty." Beautiful Jerusalem savored of great things, and was lifted up by the consciousness of her own beauty. And because she savored of high things, and did not humble herself, nor glorify God, hear what is said to her: "And you fornicated in your name, and poured out your fornication upon every passer-by." What is meant by this, "You poured out your fornication upon every passer-by"? The opposing power goes about our souls, and, ranging variously, seeks a place through which it may break in.

Wrath in its own name wishes to fornicate with me: sadness, joined according to its own name to my ways, wishes to make me sorrowful; avarice, for its part, brings the desire of gold and silver and whatever like things; if I do not guard myself and shut my door, but receive every entreaty of the enemy, it is said to me: "You poured out your fornication upon every passer-by, and took your garments, and made for yourself stitched idols." Of the things with which I adorned you, by which you were made beautiful, you made for yourself stitched idols. I wish still to explain what these stitched idols are, which indeed were stitched together from garments. The garments are the divine Scriptures, and the sense that is in them.

Heretics cut these garments to pieces and stitched them together, joining word to word and expression to expression, but not with fitting and apt joining, and by stitching them together made for themselves impious images, by which they have enticed certain persons to believe, and to consent to their worship, and to receive their feigned teaching. But may God free us all from these and other images, that we may be magnified in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

The catalogue of the sins of Jerusalem, however it may be understood, edifies the hearer. For just as, if in his own house a master rebukes some member of his household and sets forth his sins, another servant, newly bought, seeing the father of the household's discipline—what he blames and what he commends—is instructed not to do those things which his fellow-servants formerly did, and hastens with all effort to do those things by which others earned honor and freedom from their master: so also we, hearing in what things God finds fault, whether with Jerusalem, or with all Judea, or with any one of the tribes specially transgressing, receive no small benefit, lest we too fall into those things into which the others fell. Now the beginning of today's reading is that Jerusalem received garments from God, and made for herself out of them certain sewn images, and fornicated upon them.

Concerning these I discoursed to the best of my ability in the previous sermon, showing that those who tear apart the Scriptures and, breaking words from words, sew them together and compose fabricated doctrines, serve the idols which they have clothed with the garments of the Scriptures. "You shall not enter into my tabernacle; you are outside, and outside you shall remain." Scripture knows that the saints are within, and sinners are without. Therefore, since Jerusalem has committed such sins that she does not deserve to enter the promises of God, and it is said to her, "And you shall not enter," let us take care lest to us also it be said, "And you shall not enter." "Nor shall it happen." This saying, "nor shall it happen," is not complete, and therefore something must be understood from outside, so that the sense may be filled out: those good things that were promised to you, and that you were to receive, shall not happen.

There follows another offense: "And you took the vessels of your glory, of your silver and of your gold, of which I gave to you, and you made for yourself male images." According to the common sense this can be understood thus: you took the vessels of glory, of which Moses wrote in Numbers—the censers, the vials, the golden candlestick, the ark gilded within and without—and the rest, and you melted them down, and made male effigies, and fornicated upon them. But according to allegory it will be explained thus: we have golden and silver vessels, that is, censers, vials, and other things of this kind, in the sacred writings; therefore when we twist the meanings of Scripture into another sense which is contrary to the truth, we melt down the divine words, and change the things of God into other shapes. Doing this, we fall into the sin which Jerusalem had now committed. The vessels of our glory are the Law and the Prophets; in these we exult, by these we are exalted.

When we expound these otherwise than the truth holds, we turn the vessels of our glory, made of rational silver and sensible gold which God gave us, and we make for ourselves male images, and fornicate upon them. There follows: "You took varied garments and covered them." The varied garment is—and here is a place of Scripture with which we are clothed—"putting on the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, to bear with one another." If we tear and rend these varied garments and beautiful vestures which God has bestowed upon us, and wrap them around false doctrine for the deception of men, there is no doubt that we cover idols with varied garments. You will understand what is said if we describe the matter itself more clearly.

Consider some Marcionite for me, or a disciple of Valentinus, or certainly a defender of any heresy whatever, and observe how he clothes his idols—that is, the fabrications which he himself composed—with meekness and chastity, so that speech adorned by goodness of life may more easily creep into the ears of the hearers. And when he has done this, understand that he has put on the varied garment of manners and of excellent conduct, and has clothed with it the idols which he himself constructed. And according to my own judgment, a heretic of good life is much more harmful, and has more authority for his teaching, than one who stains his teaching by his conduct. For he who is of a most wicked life does not easily entice men to a false doctrine, nor can he deceive the simplicity of hearers under the shadow of sanctity.

But he who is perverse in speech, and contrary to the disciplines of salvation, yet has ordered and adorned manners, does nothing else but take up the varied garments of good conduct and quiet manner of life, and wraps them around his idols, so as more effectively to deceive the hearers. Therefore let us carefully beware of heretics who are of excellent conduct, whose life perhaps the devil, rather than God, has arranged. For just as fowlers set out certain enticements of food, so that they may more easily catch birds through the delight of the palate, so (that I may say it more boldly) there is a certain chastity of the devil, that is, a snare for the human soul, so that through such chastity and meekness and justice he may more easily catch and ensnare with false words. The devil fights with various stratagems, that he may destroy the wretched man, and he bestows a good life on evil men to deceive those who see it, and he brands a bad conscience upon good men.

Even against me, who preach in the Church, he often sets traps, that he may confound the whole Church through my conduct. And therefore those who are in the midst are more attacked by the enemy, so that through the ruin of one man, which cannot be hidden, a scandal may come to all, and faith may be hindered through the wicked conduct of the clergy. All these things, as we have said, the devil works, both those which seem to be good and are not, and those which by their nature are evil—he contrives all things against the human soul.

Wherefore he who has care for his own life is neither captured by the meekness of heretics so as to consent to their doctrine, nor scandalized by my faults, who seem to preach in the Church; but considering the doctrine itself, and weighing the faith of the Church, he will indeed turn away from me, but will look up to the teaching, according to the precept of the Lord who says: "The scribes and Pharisees have sat on the seat of Moses. All things whatsoever they say to you, hear and do; but do not according to their works, for they say, and do not". This word is about me, who teach good things and do the contrary, and sit upon the seat of Moses as a scribe and Pharisee.

It is commanded to you, O people, that if you have no charge against my teaching of being most wicked or of doctrines foreign to the Church, but you observe my culpable life and sins, you should not order your life according to the one speaking, but do the things which he speaks. Let us imitate no one, and if we wish to imitate anyone, Christ Jesus is set before us for imitation. The acts of the apostles are described, and we know the deeds of the prophets from the sacred volumes; that example is firm, that pattern is solid, which whoever desires to follow enters upon safely; but if we seek out for ourselves culpable persons to emulate, so that we might say, "That one teaches, and does the contrary of what he teaches," we act against the precept of the Lord, who commanded that the teachings of masters ought to be considered rather than their lives.

We say these things concerning what is written: "You took your many-colored garment and covered them"—that is, the vessels of glory which you changed into idols. There follows: "And my oil and my incense you set before their face". Taught by Scripture, we have learned that the prayer of the saints is incense. For it says: "The incense are the prayers of the saints." If therefore, being appointed to prayer, when we ought to offer it to God—that is, to the God of the Law and the Prophets, to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the Father of Jesus Christ—we offer instead things which we ourselves have invented, so much so that we set the incense of God before idols, we do that which is now said: "My oil and my incense you set before their face." But let this be understood concerning the incense. What shall we answer concerning the oil?

Oil is that with which the holy man is anointed, the oil of Christ, the oil of holy teaching. When, therefore, someone takes this oil with which the holy one is anointed—that is, holy Scripture instructing how one ought to be baptized: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"—and, changing a few things, anoints someone, and says in some manner, "Now you are no longer a catechumen, you have obtained the washing of the second birth," such a man takes the oil of God and the incense, and sets it before the face of idols. "And my bread which I gave you—fine flour, and honey, and oil I fed you." Behold, our breads are the most pure fine flour in the Scriptures, and the honeys of the bees are the Prophets.

All these things God gave us, and fed us with the breads of the Prophets and with the fine flour of the Law and the honey of the Gospel, from which, having been fed, we set the very same things before idols. For when, wishing to take up a defense from false doctrines, we say, "It is written in the prophet," "Moses testifies," "the Apostle speaks"—what else do we do than, taking the breads of truth, set them before the images which we ourselves have fashioned? Marcion made an idol and set before it the breads of the Scriptures. Valentinus, Basilides, and the other heretics did likewise. "And you set them before their face for an odor of sweetness." Naturally most sweet in odor are these things which God has bestowed upon us. He sets this most sweet odor before idols who either acts or understands against the power of the Scriptures.

"And it came to pass," says Adonai the Lord, "and you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore, and sacrificed them for consumption." When sinful Jerusalem bears sons and daughters, the end of those who are born is slaughter. For salvation is not the end of the most wicked. Therefore it is written: "You sacrificed them for consumption. How small a thing was your fornication: you killed my children and gave them up." Properly it says: "You took your sons"; and significantly it adds: "You killed my children." For whoever are born in the doctrines of heretics, and there took the beginnings of their faith, these are the sons of the fornicating and sinful Jerusalem. But whoever is born in the Church, and afterward is deceived by heretical falsehood—since this one is a Son of God—is seized by sinful Jerusalem, and made a victim to her idols. "This is beyond all your fornication and your abominations." To take the sons of the Church and sacrifice them to idols—this is beyond all your sin.

"And you did not remember the day of your infancy, when you were naked and behaving shamefully." He has spoken before of the nakedness and shamefulness of Jerusalem. It was fitting, then, in your iniquity to remember how I spread my wings over you, and took you up out of your blood, and washed you. But you forgot all these things—these things which befit one naked, and behaving shamefully, and mingled in her own blood. "And it came to pass after all your wickednesses: Woe, woe to you," says Adonai the Lord. "And you built for yourself a house of harlotry, and made for yourself a display in every street." If you consider the soul exposed to her lovers, you will see how she builds a house of harlotry and receives all those whom we have called lovers. Understand what we say from what follows—that is, who are the lovers of Jerusalem. The human soul is very beautiful, and has a wondrous beauty.

For its Maker, when he first fashioned it, said: "Let us make man according to our image and likeness". What is more beautiful than this beauty and likeness? Certain adulterous and sordid lovers, then, allured by her comeliness, desire to corrupt her and fornicate upon her. Wherefore the wise Paul says: "But I fear lest, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted". Our senses are corrupted in carnal fornication; but in spiritual defilements the sense is corrupted, and the soul itself is wounded. "And you defiled your beauty." Even if a man is not established in the greatest sins, yet because the beauty of the soul is so great, it is disfigured even by association with lesser things.

Consider the virtues of the soul which have been implanted in it by God; see its beauty, its invention, its arrangement, its expression, its memory, its delivery, of what kind its intelligence is, how it first understands, then judges what it has understood, so that it is stirred to perceptions, so that it applies its perceptions to the mind, what impulses it has, what thoughts of God. Possessing these things it is of great beauty, but it is corrupted by the sects of heretics and by the alien institution of religion. "And your legs passed through every passage, and you multiplied your fornication." There is a fornication differing from fornication: and just as in fornication of the flesh there is one who is not of excessive fornication, and yet is polluted by fornication, while another multiplies his fornication—so also in that fornication which defiles the soul and the sense, one is overwhelmed by a multitude of fornication, while another is not so much seduced by fornication.

Therefore, with what measure we have measured, it shall be measured back to us. "And you fornicated with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors." The sons of Egypt are the contrary powers. And it is no wonder if our neighbors are called Egyptians: the neighbors of Egypt and Jerusalem are set in their own city, who are of great flesh. Not that these Egyptians have huge flesh (and indeed it seems they modestly signified their shameful parts by a changed word, that is, by "great flesh"), but because carnal understandings make us of great flesh: just as, on the contrary, there is a certain flesh that is failing, of which it is said: "As my flesh in a land deserted, and pathless, and waterless, so I have appeared to you in the sanctuary." Jerusalem fornicates, then, with the sons of Egypt, her neighbors, and of great flesh. "And manifoldly," it says, "you have fornicated to provoke me." You have committed many kinds of fornication to stir me up.

"But if I stretch out my hand against you, I will take away your lawful rights, and deliver you into the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of the foreigners." You see that she is delivered into the souls of foreigners, who is unworthy of the use of the Law and the words of God. "Who turned you aside from your way; you have acted wickedly, and fornicated with the sons of Assur." First with the sons of Egypt, then with the sons of Assur. These are kinds of sins.

For indeed, when the Assyrians took the sons of Israel captive, that which Scripture relates is indeed holy, but it is written on account of our frequent captivity which is carried out by spiritual Assyrians, of whom the Apostle says: "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness." "And not even so were you satisfied, and you fornicated, and were not satisfied." When someone is not filled by transgressing, but always joins new sins to former ones, binding them as with a long rope, and like the strap of a heifer's yoke, iniquities, never turning himself to better things, nor doing penance for his evils, it is said to him: "And you shall not be satisfied. And you multiplied your covenants with the land of Canaan." When God makes covenants with us, and we do not consent to him, we are blessed; but when we fornicate toward the spiritual forces of wickedness, then we turn the covenants of God toward the land of Canaan, we establish a pact with it.

Understand this also of me concerning the Chaldeans and the other nations, whenever we are rebuked in any sin whatsoever. "And covenants with the Chaldeans, and not even so were you satisfied." After the catalogue of sins, he speaks to sinful Jerusalem. "What shall I appoint for you," says Adonai the Lord, "since you do all these works of a shameless harlot woman?" Let us for a while ascend in speech, and far be it that there should be anyone in the Church who needs dissuading words from fornication.

For if someone needs to hear, "You shall not commit fornication", rather than this: "If anyone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him"—such a one is like those of whom the Apostle says: "The Law is not laid down for the just, but for the unjust and insubordinate, the impious, and sinners." As, then, the Law is not laid down for the just, but for the unjust and insubordinate, so the teaching which warns of withdrawal from fornication is not laid down for the chaste, but for the unjust, the fornicators, and the disobedient. We do not, then, need to learn to withdraw from fornication, but rather should press on to more perfect things, from the elementary principles of Christ. "For whereas you ought to be teachers by reason of time, you again need to be taught what are the elements of the beginning of the words of God, and you have become such as need milk, not solid food".

Every teaching which commands, "You shall not commit fornication, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal," is not solid food, but is offered as milk to infants. The food of athletes is to perceive, concerning almighty God, concerning his mysteries which are hidden, and which lie concealed and signified in the Scriptures. See how Paul speaks to the Corinthians: "I gave you milk to drink, not food, for you were not yet able, but neither are you able now". And because they still needed milk, and were learning what little ones are accustomed to learn: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman; but on account of fornication,". And again they are instructed not to eat things sacrificed to idols. All this teaching is the milk of little ones, and of those still infants in Christ. But how it is written to the Ephesians, he offers them solid food. For indeed fornication is not heard of in Ephesus, idolatry is not heard of in Ephesus, nor the eating of things sacrificed.

From these we are taught what solid food is, and what rational and guileless milk is: the moral topic, that solid food is the mystical understanding. It is blessed, then, that we should hasten toward those things which are more advanced, passing over the more imperfect beginnings. And that the moral topic is milk, the Apostle teaches, when, having already said something about milk, he adds: "Not again laying a foundation of repentance from dead works". All such are those who are still fed on milk; but the perfect one needs other disciplines. Let these things be said in passing, since I had ascended in my discourse, lest, from the exposition of one fornication, I should immediately run into another fornication, which I shall now explain. For it is said to Jerusalem: "And you fornicated threefold in your daughters." What is meant by saying that Jerusalem fornicated threefold in her daughters? We need the help of God, that he himself may explain to us the obscurity of this passage.

And as Moses heard God, and then proclaimed to the people what he had heard from God, so we need the Holy Spirit speaking mysteries within us, that by our prayers we may be able to hear Scripture, and again make known to the people what we have heard. What, then, is: "You fornicated threefold in your daughters"? If you understand the fornication of the flesh, and of the soul, and of the spirit, and see someone fornicating in all these, you will see Jerusalem fornicating threefold. But he who is threefold chaste deserves to hear from the Apostle: "May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. Last), to whom is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The things that were first read we have expounded today; let us take our beginning from that which is written: In what shall I establish thy heart, saith the Lord Adonai, since thou doest all these works of an insolent harlot? And thou hast played the harlot in a threefold manner in thy daughters: this we have already said thus far. There follows: When thou didst build thy brothel at the head of every way, and didst make thy base in every street, and wast not made as a harlot gathering hire. A woman that commits adultery, like unto thee, receives hire from her husband; but thou didst give hire: thou gavest hire to all thy lovers, she gave hire to all her lovers, and thou didst give hire to all thy lovers, and didst honor them, that they might come to thee round about from thy fornication. And man can establish man, the evil in evil, the good in good. For evil communications corrupt good manners.

Nor is it doubtful that the speech of one speaking incites the hearer toward worse things, since a heretic speaking establishes his hearer in heretical perversity. And, that we may come to better things, if he who speaks can profit, and his life agrees with his speech, he establishes his hearer in good things. We, who are of the least account, if we hear a word enjoining chastity, endeavor to establish others upon it. If we ourselves speak of purity, we also establish ourselves as hearers in purity. If we preach of justice, we impel toward justice. If of faith, we instill faith, that we may worthily obey the divine majesty in the Lord. If, then, we who are men, being evil, are wont to establish the heart of the hearer, either in good things, if we are good, or in evil things, if we do evil: do you think that God does not have the power to establish someone in better things?

Or surely, if He abandons him, does it become an occasion for him to be established in the worst things? Wretched Jerusalem sinned greatly, according to the present speech, whom God very often wished to establish in better things through His prophets: but because she was unwilling to hear counsels, unwilling to receive God's precepts, God hesitates, and says He does not know what to do. In what shall I establish thy heart, saith the Lord Adonai? What shall I do? In what shall I establish it? Thou art bound by many chains of sins, thy transgressions forbid thy life to be established by my words. I myself often wished to establish thee, speaking to thee through my holy ones, and thou didst not hear. Now I do not know what I shall do, and I say to thee: In what shall I establish thy heart, saith the Lord Adonai, since thou doest all these works of a harlot woman, insolent and impudent?

We have often said that the contrary powers love the beauties of the human soul, and when the human soul receives the seeds of its lovers, it fornicates, as it were, with them: but since in common life there are some harlots who fornicate desiring to hide with shame, while others not only do not veil their transgressions with modesty, but prostitute themselves with all insolence: therefore the example of the harlot soul was assumed in this sinning Jerusalem, and it is said that she was made like an insolent harlot woman in her fornication. Such things are often committed by us. For those who have not wholly withdrawn from religion, but are overcome by sin, and desire to hide when sinning, do things like the blushing harlot. But those who turn away from religion so entirely that they do not care about the bishop, the presbyters, the deacons, the brethren, but transgress with all insolence, become like the harlot who prostitutes herself with confidence.

God, therefore, complains in the present passage concerning sinning Jerusalem, because she does the works of a shameless harlot woman, and says to her: And thou hast played the harlot in a threefold manner in thy daughters. We have expounded this, when it was said to us: Thou didst build thy brothel at the head of every way, and didst make thy base in every street. But we wish now also to interpret what it is to build a brothel, not likewise in every way, but at the head of every way, lest it seem sufficient to have built a brothel at the head of every way, but she also, in addition, set her base in every street. Two general sins, then, did the harlot Jerusalem sin, when she built her brothel at the head of every way, and when she made a base, and set it in every street. What, then, are these ways? Stand in the ways, and ask for the everlasting paths of the Lord, and see which is the good way, and walk in it.

Many are the everlasting ways, if you hold to that exposition which I have often given. You know also that Moses is a way, and each one of the prophets. And just as there are many pearls, which he who is to come to the one most precious pearl must needs possess: so must he who is to come to Him who says, I am the way, enter upon the many ways of Moses and of all the prophets. But someone says to me: What does what you have said pertain to the matter proposed? To whom I will answer thus: Jerusalem built her brothel in every way. If you consider all the heretics, alien from the truth, building a house out of these sayings which are read in Moses, out of those which they have found in Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and the rest of the prophets, you understand that new doctrines are the fornication of Jerusalem, who builds her brothel in every way, but at the head of every way.

For if anyone should be forestalled, after the beginning of Moses, the start of the prophets, from arriving at its depth and the knowledge of the whole, this harlot who builds her brothel at the head of every way can do nothing: she seeks him who first enters the Church, who receives the elements of the faith, who is untrained in the sacraments, him who is established at the beginning of faith, she wishes to bring into her brothel, building the harlot's house. And since fornication is frequently named in the Scriptures, I wish to explain the reason for this expression. Churchmen, who are teachers in the Church, purify their own morals as well as those of their people, and from this diligence they build the house of God, the Church, and their work is the building of God.

Heretics build a brothel in every way: as, for instance, the teacher from the workshop of Valentinus, the teacher from the heaven of Basilides, the teacher from the tabernacle of Marcion and the rest of the heretics, build a house for the harlot. For the congregation of all the wicked is a brothel. But what does Scripture say? Son, do not attend to an evil woman; for honey drips from the lips of a harlot woman. Whence does honey drip for her? For honey drips from the lips of a harlot woman. She entered in to Moses, to Isaiah, to Jeremiah, and gathered for herself honey from their Scriptures. Go to the heretics who say: This says Moses, this says Isaiah, this says Jeremiah, and you will see how honey does not flow from their lips, but there drip a very few plucked words from the Scriptures. And therefore, honey drips from the lips of a harlot woman. At the head, then, of every way she builds her brothel.

Suppose the brothel is understood; let us also interpret the base which the harlot Jerusalem set in every street. It is written elsewhere how the harlot openly calls to those passing by in the streets: for sin hastens variously to draw us to itself, whether through heresy or through pagan conduct. And through heresy indeed, when she builds a brothel at the head of every way; but through pagan conduct, when she sets her base in every street. For wide and open is the way that leads to destruction. When, then, she asserts from the Scriptures what she says, and by what she tries to instruct her hearers, she builds a brothel at the head of every way. But when a moral point has been dissolved, and by enjoining luxurious things she has made her hearer wanton, what else has she done but set her base in every way? She was not made as a harlot gathering hire. Let us look at the harlot gathering hire, and again at another not gathering hire.

For concerning this one, complaint is made as though concerning a harlot not gathering hire. When I see there is a harlot who does not gather hire, and I read that it is said of this one, that she was made as a harlot not gathering hire, I will say that to gather hire is, by sinning, to become rich, by sinning to acquire glory in worldly things, by sinning to fare prosperously in the world. When through sin, as I have said, these things arise, the soul fornicates, and gathers the hire of her fornication, glory, riches, and the rest which she has acquired unto the perdition of her soul: but when she fornicates, and does not fare prosperously in worldly matters, but through her sinning also lives unhappily in the world, she is a harlot not gathering hire, and doing the contrary, that is, freely giving hire to fornicators. And thou hast given hire to all thy lovers. Sometimes the soul makes her lovers rich, they rejoicing in that they have received hire from her.

But the hearer says to me: Explain more clearly how the soul fornicates, giving hire out of the goods of her husband. For thus says the divine word both in the present passage and often in other places, that she took the things that belong to her husband, and the harlot Jerusalem gave them to her lovers. What is this, that her husband bestowed upon her, which she, having afterward become an adulteress, gives away entire, all that she received, to her lovers? The husband of the soul is the Word of God, the true bridegroom-lover, who gave her chastity, gave her justice, gave the rest of the good things. When, then, the soul has willed to follow the contrary powers, that is (to speak more plainly), living chastely for ten years, at last has fornicated, she takes the goods of her husband, which she had sought with labor for a long time, and gives them to her lovers.

These bloodthirsty lovers snatch to themselves the virtues of the wretched soul, and walk boastfully over her riches, and say: I have taken from her ten years of chastity, I have snatched from her five years of justice, I have claimed for myself her fortitudes: God has forgotten all her good deeds, which she once did, since she has been caught in sin, and thou hast forgotten her, because our friend has confessed to us the secrets which she had heard, and has handed over to us her lovers all her good things. Learning these things, let us keep our heart with all watchfulness, and take heed lest at any time the things which belong to the husband be handed over to her lovers: rather let us invite the Word and Truth as our bridegroom, that He may make for us golden ornaments wrought with various figures, through various precepts, and being made adorned, let us be prepared for our husband Jesus Christ: to whom be glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

He who reads at the beginning of the prophecy how Jerusalem was rebuked, as having a root, and a generation from the land of Chanaan, an Amorrhite father, and a Cethite mother: if he should also read these things which we now attempt to interpret, he will think the same things are being repeated, and one discourse proclaimed twice. But whoever is a diligent reader, and whose care pertains to the significance of that divine Scripture, and compares past things with present ones, and puts word beside word, will see a difference that is not accidental. For there it says: your root and your generation are from the land of Chanaan, which is not said in the present passage: your father the Amorrhite, and your mother the Cethite, which is not signified now. And again, there it is set down first: your father the Amorrhite; second: your mother the Cethite; but here: your mother the Cethite, and your father the Amorrhite, is addressed to you all.

There the discourse is made as it were to one person; here as it were to many. For it does not say (as it had said above), your mother, but your mother, [addressed] to you all. Therefore when sin is spread abroad, and wickedness proceeds further, and sinners tear apart their sins among themselves, then there is not one sinner, but in one there are many; just as at the beginning, when there was the origin of transgressing, there were not yet such multitudes as there are now. Whence it seems useful to me, withdrawing a little from the present discourse, to consider the nature of sins and of virtues. Where there are sins, there is multitude, there are schisms, there are heresies, there are dissensions; but where there is virtue, there is singularity, there is union, from which all believers had one heart and one soul.

And, to speak more plainly, the beginning of all evils is multitude; but the beginning of good things is a narrowing, and a reduction from crowds to singularity: so that we all, if we are to be saved, may come to union, that we may be made perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment, and may be one body and one spirit. But if we should be such that unity does not encompass us; but it could even be said of us: I indeed am of Paul, but I of Apollo, but I of Cephas; and we are still cut and divided by wickedness, we shall not be destined to be where those are who are brought back into union. For as the Father and the Son are one, so those who have one spirit are drawn together into union. For the Savior says: I and the Father are one. And: Holy Father, I ask that as I and thou are one, so also these may be one in you.

And in the Apostle it is read: Until we all meet in the perfect man, and in the measure of the age of the fullness, in the unity of Christ. And again: Until we all come into the unity of the body and spirit of Christ. From which it is signified that virtue makes one out of many, and it is necessary for us to become one through it, and to flee multitude. And these things have been said because in the earlier reading it was written: your father, and your mother, and the root of your generation; but in the present passage: your mother, and your father, [addressed to you all]. There we did not learn, though there was discourse about the Amorrhite father and the Cethite mother, that Jerusalem had sisters; but here it adds: your mother, it says, the Cethite, and your father the Amorrhite; and your elder sister Samaria, she and her daughter, who dwells at your left, and your younger sister, who dwells at your right, Sodom.

Just as virtue makes me a son of Abraham, if I shall have lived according to it: for doing the works of Abraham, one is a son of Abraham: so vices make me a son of the devil. For everyone who commits sin has been born of the devil. Virtue also makes me have Christ as a brother, so that when I have been good and well-behaved, he says to his Father: I will declare thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the church I will sing to thee. And he speaks to her who was able to announce his words: Go, and tell my brethren. But just as virtue makes the Lord Jesus a brother to me, so wickedness acquires very many brothers, and these sinners: and this very wickedness begets brothers for me when it has grown.

For when it was the beginning of sinning Jerusalem, she did not yet have a sister Samaria, nor was Sodom yet her own kin: but when she proceeded in wickedness, as the preceding discourse showed, she was made the middle of two sisters, the elder Samaria, and the younger Sodom. Who are these two sisters of sinning Jerusalem? Schism and separation of the people made Samaria. For at that time when the ten tribes withdrew, saying: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse, then two golden calves were set up by Jeroboam, and Samaria became a schism: which grew more after the captivity of the ten tribes, when guards were sent by the Assyrians into the land of Israel, who are called Samaritans. For Somer is interpreted "guard" in the Hebrew tongue. Therefore (as I had begun to say) Samaria is not yet my sister, as long as I am far from sins: but when I shall have sinned, two sisters grow up for me, the elder Samaria, and the younger Sodom.

Let us consider whose type each bears. Whoever promise divine words, and do not have in themselves the truth of the preaching as they promise, these are figuratively named Samaria in the Scriptures. Woe, it says, to those who despise Sion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria: you have gathered the vintage of the principalities of the nations. As if he had said: Woe to those who despise the Church, and trust in the arrogance and swelling words of heretics. For this is to despise Sion, and to trust in the mountain of Samaria. If therefore we also who belong to the Church sin, heretics are not alien from us in the perversity of doctrines. For whoever sins believes wrongly. If we have a wicked manner of life, Sodom is our sister. For the Gentiles are Sodom. And thus we are brothers of heretics and of Gentiles when we transgress; because Samaria is taken for heresy, and Sodom for gentility. Now Samaria dwells at the left of sinning Jerusalem, Sodom at the right.

For sin committed in deed is held by her to be more honorable, and therefore Sodom is at her right. And again Samaria is not far off, because she dwells at her left, and is rebuked, because she walked with her daughters and sisters in all their iniquities, and walked so far in this that, by comparison of her sins, their iniquities became justice. Whence it is necessary to recognize the iniquities of the Sodomites, that being instructed I may guard myself from them, nor be caught by ignorance of what the iniquities of the Sodomites are. Nevertheless the iniquities of Sodom your sister. What iniquity? Pride. In fullness of bread and in abundance they abounded, she and her daughters, and did not take up the hand of the needy poor. That sins are unequal, none who use the Scriptures doubts. For some are said to be great, others lesser than these.

But since they are unequal, that is, small, or greatest, perhaps someone may inquire what among all sins is greater, and it is readily supposed that the greatest of all sins is either fornication, or uncleanness, or whatever pollution of lust. These indeed are truly abominable and defiled, but not such as this which the Scripture now condemns as greater than all, from which we ought to keep ourselves. What then is the sin greater than all sins? Surely that on account of which the devil also fell. What is this sin in which so great a sublimity fell, that being lifted up he fell into the judgment of the devil? The Apostle says: Inflation, pride, arrogance is the sin of the devil: and on account of these offenses he migrated from heaven to the earth. Whence, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

And why does earth and ashes take pride, that man should be lifted up by arrogance, forgetting what he shall be, and how the name of the city which he had built shall be contained in a fragile little vessel, and in what filth he is immersed, and what kind of refuse he is always casting out from his flesh? For what does Scripture say? Why does earth and ashes take pride? And in his lifetime he cast out his own entrails? Pride is greater than all sins, and is the principal sin of the devil himself. If ever Scripture describes the sins of the devil, you will find them flowing from the fountain of pride. For it says: By my strength I will act, and by the wisdom of understanding I will take away the boundaries of the nations, and I will feed on their strength, and I will move the cities that are inhabited, and I will grasp the whole circle of the earth, as a nest, and I will take it away as broken eggs.

See his words, how proud they are, how arrogant, and how they count everything as nothing. Such are all who are puffed up with boasting and pride. The material of pride is riches, dignity, worldly glory. Frequently the cause of pride is, for one who does not know how to hold it, ecclesiastical dignity, the priestly order, and the Levitical rank. How many presbyters, once established, have forgotten humility: they were ordained for this reason, that they should cease to be humble. On the contrary, they ought rather to pursue humility, because they had attained dignity, Scripture saying: The greater you are, the more humble yourself. And if it makes you the beloved of the synagogue, more nobly bow your head: they have made you a leader, do not be lifted up, do not become as one of them. One ought to be humble, one ought to be lowly, one ought to flee pride, the head of all evils. Consider how the Gospel strikes, as it were with condemnation, the pride and boasting of the Pharisee.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus within himself: God, I give thee thanks, that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice in the week. But the publican, standing humbly and meekly far off, did not dare even to lift up his eyes, and said: Be merciful, God, to me a sinner. And the publican went down to his house justified. Not simply justified, but justified in comparison with the Pharisee. For every word, order, and connection of Scripture must be observed most diligently. It is one thing to be justified, another to be justified by comparison with another. It is similar that the publican was justified by the Pharisee, to the fact that Sodom and Samaria were justified in comparison with sinning Jerusalem. And it is necessary for us to know this, that each one of us on the day of judgment will be justified by one and condemned by another.

Even when we shall have been justified by comparison with another, that justice is reckoned not so much as praise as as a matter of guilt. For instance, if I should be found to have sins like those of Sodom, and another should be brought forward who has committed double crimes, I am indeed justified, but justified not as one who is just, but rather I am judged just by comparison with one who has committed more, though I am far from justice. Woe to that man who is justified by [comparison with] many sinners: as, on the contrary, very blessed is he who is shown just by comparison with the just. We find it set down in the praises of Scripture, to be better than the good: as, for instance, none did so right before the face of the Lord as the guard of the mountain, Samaria. The face of the Lord, as this one and that one, no one so celebrated the passover as Josias.

From which it is shown that a comparison of the just is made, and that he is truly just who deserves to be justified in this manner. Would that I too, compared with the wise, might be found wise, and judged just among the just! For I do not wish to be justified by the wicked, since such justice is criminal. I have said this beforehand because in what has been read it is said: Thou hast justified thy sisters in all thine iniquities which thou hast done. For Samaria and Sodom were justified by the iniquities of Jerusalem. In all thine iniquities which thou hast done, thou hast made them above thee. Let us therefore attend more carefully, that we may be able to recognize that all of us will be justified in the day of judgment by those worse than ourselves, and in turn we shall justify others. There is one alone who is justified by all, and he himself justifies no one.

As, for example, Sodom is justified by Jerusalem, because she committed more wicked things than Sodom; and perhaps Jerusalem is justified by some other city which is worse than she. Thus there is one who is to be justified by comparison with Antichrist, who compared with him is found lesser in his iniquity and crimes. But the worst demon there is, and (as they say) wretched, is the one who is justified by him; perhaps even his father is not justified by him, being found far more wicked than he. But my Lord Jesus Christ is justified, according to the dispensation of the flesh which he bore about for our salvation, by Abraham, by Isaac, by Jacob, and by the rest of the prophets. For when among all the just, and the prophets, and the blessed, whosoever are set in comparison, the contrary is found to what is said of Sodom and Jerusalem, I glorify our Saviour the more.

What I say is of this kind, and, God granting it, as you pray, I shall give an explanation from the Scriptures. Sodom committed sin: Samaria also sinned, Jerusalem was overwhelmed with iniquities, but lesser sins are justified by greater ones, after the example whereby Sodom is justified by her sister Jerusalem. As therefore iniquity justifies, so sometimes justice condemns. But wait, I beg you, a little, until you are taught how justice is said to condemn. My iniquity is justice by comparison with a greater iniquity. So also my justice, by comparison with a manifold justice, is reckoned iniquity. Therefore shall no man living be justified in thy sight. Though Abraham was just, and Moses just, and each of the illustrious men just, yet by comparison with Christ they are not just. Their light, when set beside his light, is found to be darkness.

And as the light of a lamp is darkened before the rays of the sun, and becomes as it were some other blind matter grown dark, so, although the light of all the just shines before men, yet it does not shine before Christ. For "Let your light shine" is not said simply, but "let it shine before men". Before Christ the light of the just cannot shine. As the splendor of the moon, and the twinkling stars of heaven, glow in their stations before the sun rises, but when the sun has risen, are hidden: so the light of the Church, like the light of the moon, shines before that true light of the Sun of righteousness rises, and is bright before men; but when Christ has come before it, it grows dark. It is also said elsewhere: The light shineth in darkness. What is this light which shines in darkness? The light of the just shines in darkness. In what darkness? Where we have our struggle against the rulers of this darkness.

Whoever examines these things more carefully and at greater length cannot be puffed up, seeing that his own light, by comparison with a greater light, is reckoned darkness. What is my righteousness, even if I become Paul the Apostle? What is chastity, even if I become Joseph? What is fortitude, even if I stand forth as Judas Maccabeus? What is any other virtue of wisdom, even if I appear as Solomon, in comparison with God, and with those who are better? Therefore, as we began to say, iniquity justifies, and justice condemns by comparison with others. Therefore it is said to God: That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and mayest overcome when thou art judged. If God wishes to save me, he does not bring his own light into judgment; if he wishes me to be safe, he does not bring forward the light of his Christ; otherwise he will punish me; but he brings forward the light of lesser ones, comparing to me those who are inferior.

The more and the greater and better ones he compares to me, the more just I shall be, if they are found lesser than I. Similarly one must understand what is said by the Apostle: One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars; for star differeth from star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead. For example: even that shining star does not glitter in the sight of a brighter star, but of a dimmer one. Which of us can shine like the moon? Which of us can gleam with the light of the brighter stars? According to what is written in Daniel: They shall shine as stars for ever. And these things we necessarily discuss, that we may withdraw far from pride: for the sin of Sodom is the iniquity of the proud. He adds whence this pride of Sodom, your sister, arose, and what roots it had: In fulness of bread, and in abundance they overflowed.

If you attend to the letter alone, there was much abundance in Sodom of old. For their land was as the paradise of God, and as the land of Egypt. But if you ascend from the carnal sense to the spiritual, so as to see how the pride of Sodom flowed from fulness of bread and abundance, you will gain profit both for the conduct of life and for the correction of certain other greater matters by greater persons. Let us set forth first that which was read many days ago, the rich man clothed in fine linen and purple, rejoicing daily in splendor and luxury, and Lazarus, wasted with the rot of sores and the foulness of worms, seeking, as a comfort for his hunger, the crumbs which fell from his table. Opportunely now this example falls into this place, that it may become clear what the iniquity of the rich man was. He was wealthy, he abounded in delights.

For Scripture did not accuse him as though he possessed his riches unjustly; the divine word did not charge him with giving to harlots; it did not call him a murderer, or one committing any other crime whatsoever. But if you consider this which is written in the present passage, and that which is said in the Gospel, you will see that his greatest sin among all his sins was pride: in fulness of bread and abundance overflowing, he had no feeling of pity for him who lay before his gates, wasted with sores; but he was lifted up into such pride, despising poverty, that he took no account either of the punishments of the underworld, or of the common rights of humanity, since a man ought to be mindful of human things, and in another's calamities to have some pity, by reason of the likeness of his own condition. That rich man, therefore, is also a Sodomite.

For if such were the sins of Sodom, that she was in fulness of bread and abundance, and such also is the rich man described in the Gospel, there is no doubt that that rich man is a Sodomite. And as Sodom, and the daughters of the Sodomites, were proud, such are arrogant souls and daughters of the Sodomites, whoever they be, who do not know the saying: Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. This was true of him and of his daughters. Next follows another sin of Sodom, which we must mention, lest we be found guilty of a like crime: And she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Consider carefully the enumeration of the sins of Sodom. I myself, if according to my powers I do not help the hand of the poor and needy, have the sin of Sodom. Another accusation follows: And she was haughtily boastful. And the boasting of glory is the crime of Sodom.

There are, moreover, certain Egyptian sins, certain Sodomite ones; there are others Babylonian, others Assyrian, others Moabite, and others Ammonite. Who is wise, and understands these things? Or who is understanding, and shall know them (Osee xiv, 10)? As often as we read what has been written of the overthrow of Sodom, let us not say, "wretched Sodomites, whose land brings forth no further fruit; wretched and much to be lamented, who suffered such mournful and dire things"; but rather let us turn this discourse into our own hearts, let us search our reins and our thoughts, and then we shall see that those whom we lament are contained within us, and that Sodomite, and Egyptian, and Assyrian, and all the other sins which Scripture in chastising enumerates, are turning within us. We promised above to say something greater from Scripture.

To Sodom, sinning in fulness of bread, and in abundance, and in delights, and in sins of this kind, the law speaks: Take heed to thyself, lest, eating and drinking and being filled, and building good houses, and being multiplied in thy sheep and thy oxen, being multiplied in silver and gold, thou forget the Lord thy God. And in another place: He ate and drank, and was filled and grew fat, the beloved kicked. Similar to these, Solomon says in Proverbs: Give me only what is necessary and sufficient, that being filled I become not a liar, and say, Who sees me? Or being needy, I steal, and swear by the name of God. And simply put, nothing so lifts one up into arrogance as riches, and fulness, and food of abundant wealth, and also dignity and power. But it is also to be seen, passing to higher matters, that pride is often nourished if I understand the divine word, if I am wiser than the rest. For knowledge puffeth up: I do not say it, but the Apostle.

And therefore I fear lest I too be lifted up. Gifts also are given for that which is profitable. If they are given for what is profitable, who is he to whom it is not profitable? And why it is not profitable, hear. It suffices for the lesser man to be puffed up, and to have a certain self-satisfaction, while he thinks himself to stand out among the rest. Often, therefore, fulness of bread and abundance is the material of arrogance. But often also the crime of pride arises from spiritual gifts, and there is no difference between the two. So great a man as the Apostle Paul needed the buffet of the angel of Satan to buffet him, lest he be exalted overmuch: because praying and beseeching God, he had often obtained for many what he asked; but when he had also asked for this, and had not obtained what he asked, it was said to him: My grace is sufficient for thee, for virtue is made perfect in weakness.

It is therefore fitting that he who is still in the human race, and dwells in this present light, should fear not only those things which are thought good in the world, but even those which are truly good; because we cannot bear great things. I bring forward, for the proof of the present statement, the history of David, in which it is recorded that he committed a sin against Uriah. Before Uriah no offense is found in David: he was a blessed man, and without blame in the sight of God.

But because, conscious of his own immaculate life, he spoke what he ought not to have said, saying: Hear, O Lord, my justice, attend to my supplication, give ear unto my prayer, not in deceitful lips: let my judgment come forth from thy countenance, let thine eyes behold the things that are equitable: thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity hath not been found in me: and he said this because the visitation of God, on account of his conscience and the blessedness of his life, was presented to him for that very reason; he was tempted, and stripped of aid, that he might see what human weakness can do. For when the protection of God withdrew, that most chaste man, admirable in modesty, who had heard: If the young men be but clean from woman, and who had received the Eucharist as one who was clean, could not persevere, but was found in that very crime in which, as continent, he had applauded himself.

If, therefore, anyone, conscious of his own purity, glorifies himself, not having in memory that saying: What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? He is left, and being forsaken learns by experience that in those goods of which he was conscious in himself, he was not so much the cause of them himself as God, who is the fount of all virtues. From which it appears that both fulness of bread and spiritual gifts generate pride in one who cannot bear them. Therefore let us flee from Sodom and her sins: let us flee from Samaria and the crimes for which wretched Jerusalem is chastised, that in all things, God supplying us strength, we may attain to humility and justice in Christ Jesus: to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

On Ezekiel, concerning that which is written: Be thou also confounded, and bear thy shame, even unto: And I will establish my covenant with thee.

The first thing indeed is, to do no work of confusion; but all such things as can behold God with a free brow. But because (like men) we often sin, we must know the second thing, so to speak, that after works of confusion is to be ashamed, and to cast down modest eyes for one's crimes, and not to walk with a shameless countenance as if one had sinned not at all. For it is good to be confounded after works of confusion: because often the artificer of malice works this too, that the sinner may not return to penitence, and so act as if he still persevered in righteousness. We can see, and learn from daily life, that many men after their sins not only do not mourn what they have done, but even with a brazen brow defend their own ruin. A great benefit therefore is preserved in Jerusalem, if only she believes the Lord saying: And be thou confounded.

Nor should you think these things are said only to Jerusalem, and not to each one of us, who are held liable to sins. For let each one consider himself, what he has done worthy of confusion, what shameful thing he has spoken, concerning which he has no boldness as if it had been well said, what he has thought that seems worthy of blushing, before Him who considers the hidden things of heart and reins: and when he has diligently reviewed his thoughts, deeds, words, then let him hear the prophet saying: And be thou confounded. After which is joined by the Prophet: And receive thy ignominy, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. Ignominy follows confusion, and God gives to him who has done things worthy of confusion, ignominy also: and he said to him, And receive thy ignominy. But you will be able to understand what is said, if you consider what happens daily in cities.

It is a dishonor to a citizen to be exiled from his homeland, and an infamy to a decurion to be erased from the roll of the curia, and to a man of any other condition to be left indeed alive, but with ignominy, whether living in public works, or on some island of solitude. But understand me the just judge saying to him who has done things worthy of infamy: O thou who art guilty of punishment, do not receive thy exile with sorrow: for thou wilt not deserve mercy, if thou art angry at the punishment: rather understand that thou dost worthily suffer what thou sufferest: and when thou hast humbled thyself, and said that a just judgment has been made concerning thee, perhaps thou wilt obtain mercy from Him who can recall thee to thy former state after condemnation.

For as it is allowed to a great prince to free someone from an island, and from exile, and from public chains: much more is it allowed to the God of the universe to restore to former honor him who has been dishonored, if only, perceiving his own fault, he has confessed that he worthily endured what he suffered. I will give another example from ecclesiastical custom. It is an infamy to be separated from the people of God and the Church. It is a disgrace in the Church to be raised up from the seat of the presbytery, to be cast out from the rank of the diaconate. And indeed of those who are cast out, some stir up seditions, others receive the judgment made against them with all humility. Whoever therefore are put out, and in the grief of their deposition gather crowds to make schism, and solicit a multitude of the malicious, do not receive their dishonor in the present, but store up for themselves a treasure on the day of wrath.

But those who, whether worthily or unworthily, have been deposed with all humility, leave judgment to God, and patiently endure what has been judged of them—these both obtain mercy from God, and are frequently also recalled by men to their former rank and to the glory which they had lost. This therefore is the best teaching: how this that is said, "And be thou confounded," so also that which follows, "And receive thy ignominy." And I say these things, that I may insert some deeper meaning about future dishonor. For there too there will be some ignominy for those who had done a work worthy of ignominy. For some will rise to eternal life, and others to reproach and eternal confusion. But what is this other than to endure the punishment of infamy?

While then it is still permitted us, we ought patiently to bear our diminishment, so that when we have here bravely endured sadness, we may move (so to speak) in the age to come the bowels of God's mercy, and his kindness, that he may recall us from ignominy and confusion to our former state: just as, on the contrary, it is impossible for one of stony heart, and utterly insensible of his own fault, and proud before the face of Almighty God, to obtain mercy. For we see that some good men indeed willingly bear the sentence passed on them, and for their own salvation justify the judgment of God: but the wicked blaspheme against the providence of God, and say: I am not worthily condemned to this infamy, I suffer these things unjustly. If we justify providence, we dissolve our infamy. But if we do not accept the judgments of God, we multiply infamy. And as with infamy, so also with punishments, so also with the rest.

For these things are wont to happen to those who have been condemned by God for their own faults. "And be thou confounded, and receive thy ignominy, in that thou hast justified thy sisters." We deserve ignominy the more, when we do such things by which other sinners are justified, so that by comparison with my sins, mercy frees from ancient condemnation the crimes of the wicked, because I, coming after, have committed worse things. It is said therefore to sinful Jerusalem: "Receive thy ignominy, in that thou hast justified thy sisters." Then if anyone has fulfilled that which is written: "Be confounded": if anyone has followed the sentence of God that follows: "Receive thy ignominy, in that thou hast justified thy sisters": let him see also the grace, how in return for confusion a recompense of clemency is restored, because he has not despised the judgment of God, but has received with all humility what had been judged of him. What then is promised?

"I will turn away their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her sisters, in that thou hast justified thy sisters, Sodom and Samaria." Sodom the younger, and Samaria the elder, as we said in what has gone before. "I will turn away their captivity"—that is, of the three, whose captivity he had turned; he converts to better things: first of the Sodomites, then of Samaria, but third of Jerusalem. But when, he says, I shall have turned the captivity of Sodom, and of Samaria, and of Jerusalem, then they will be restored to the ancient state: first Sodom, whose captivity he turns first: second Samaria, which he converts second: third Jerusalem, to which the third turnings are assigned. Therefore healings come to sinners in the turning of Sodom, and of her daughters, in the turning of Jerusalem herself: and they are given more slowly to those who are more loved by God. For Sodom, being justified by Jerusalem, obtains mercy first, that is, the Gentiles. But Samaria, that is, the heretics, receive healing in the second place.

But in the third place, as though less worthy of a swifter cure, those of Jerusalem are restored to their former state. Before us, therefore, the Gentiles, before us the heretics obtain clemency—if only we shall have been impious, if sins also shall have weighed us down. For the nearer we are to God, and the closer to blessedness, the further we shall be removed from it when we sin, being nearest to the most terrible and greatest punishments. For the judgment of God is just, and the mighty are mightily tormented. But he who is least deserves mercy the sooner. Least is Sodom: and after her, in comparison with Jerusalem, Samaria is least—though not so least as Sodom: and therefore he first turns their captivity, and afterward that of Jerusalem, saying: "I will turn also thy captivity." For this is said to Jerusalem in the third rank. One thing—when he turns my captivity, if I am found to be Jerusalem, and a sinner in the midst of my sisters.

When I shall hear: "That thou mayest bear thy torment." Therefore in the third place he says: "I will turn thy captivity," and after all: "That thou mayest bear thy torment, and be dishonored for all that thou hast done." There is a certain measure of sin, which each one will receive for what he has sinned. If I have fifty sins, I shall have fifty ignominies: if a hundred, the punishment will be doubled to me for the deeds, and according to the greatness of the sins, ignominy will be assigned to me. To the greatest sins the greatest torment is joined. But God alone, the true Judge, can fully perceive the magnitudes of sins, and the qualities of ignominy, and the number of sin.

It is said therefore to Jerusalem: "That thou mayest bear thy torment, and be dishonored for all that thou hast done in provoking me." See, on the contrary, God making satisfaction, as it were testifying through these words, that he himself does not have wrath, but the sinner stirs up God to wrath against himself. Whence the Apostle also says: "Or dost thou despise the riches of his goodness, and patience, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up wrath for thyself". This saying has separated wrath from God. For indeed wrath is something other than God, nor is it joined to him as innate. Whence it is also said of sinners: "Thou didst send forth thy wrath, and it consumed them". No one can send forth what is his own companion and kindred; but that is sent forth which is other than the one who sends it.

So we too, by sinning, provoke God to send forth wrath, which he himself does not have. After these things, that is, after the captivity, it is said: "Sodom thy sister and her daughters shall be restored as they were from the beginning." I come to images and figures, and I see for how long a time, having been tormented, Sodom is restored to her ancient state. But if that which was said figuratively is so, what will become of him who is truly Sodom? Immediately after the flood, in the tenth generation, Sodom suffered those things which are read in Genesis. For it had before been like the paradise of God, and like the land of Egypt: yet it happened to Sodom what even now can be seen in the traces of its region. Behold how many circuits of time have already passed, behold three thousand years have gone by, and Sodom is not yet restored: not that Sodom which is set forth in sign and in enigma, but that which is beheld in the account of truth.

The Hebrews say that Sodom is to be restored to the same state in which it stood before, so that it may again be compared to the paradise of God and the land of Egypt. If this be so, whether it is to be or not—for matters of this sort will be inquired into by those who are most learned—but that what is said may come to pass, three thousand years will be completed for me, and then, having been tormented for three thousand years, Sodom will be restored, that is, my soul: Sodom, punished by my sins. A great interval of time is placed between the restoration and the ruin. Even if you are restored so as to be as you were of old, see how many evils you must first exhaust, with what calamities you must first be oppressed. But what we have said of Sodom, we ought also to understand of Samaria.

For she too has not yet been restored, but from the time when the ten tribes were cast out of Judea and Samaria, and endured captivity, and received her name, having no inhabitants of her own. But she too will be restored, as she was in the beginning, when the ten tribes shall have returned, that what is written may be dissolved: "The people was led captive into Assyria unto this day". But if that which went before as a sign will be restored after so long a time, when will you be restored, if indeed you shall be restored, O Samaritan and heretical soul, who have believed in idols, and in false feasts, and in figments coming from the heart of Jeroboam? When will you be restored, O unhappy soul, since after so many ages the type of you is restored? But if this happens concerning Sodom and Samaria, who have been justified by Jerusalem, what must be said of Jerusalem herself, who justified the crimes of the aforesaid?

"And you shall be restored as you were from the beginning." You and your daughters shall be restored as you were in the beginning. He knows this who says: "As you were in the beginning," and Isaiah saying: "And I will restore thy judges as before, and thy counselors as in the beginning". "And unless Sodom your sister had been in your hearing, in your mouth, in the days of your pride, as you are now the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all the daughters of foreign nations round about you, that surround you on every side. Bear your impieties." O most merciful God, making satisfaction concerning the restoration, and saying: "Bear thy impieties, and thy iniquities"! Not in vain do I say you will be restored: but when you have exhausted your impieties and your iniquities, then you shall be restored to your former place.

Just as wounds which are in the body often happen in a short time, but the cures of wounds are applied with great torments, not according to the equality of the time in which they were inflicted, but according to the reasoning of the cure: for example, in the point of an hour a fracture of the hand or a crushing of the foot occurs: that which happened in a moment is scarcely healed in nearly three months, and a long time: so also pleasure, which cuts the sinews of the soul, and luxury, and all sins at once, when in a short time they have enticed the unhappy soul, and drawn it to vices, afterward earn for it a long time in punishments and torments.

Wherefore the Lord says this: "And I will do to you as you have done, since you have despised these things by transgressing my covenant, and I will remember." First he will do to you as you have done, then he will remember his covenant, which he made with you in the days of your infancy. For indeed he made a covenant in the days of her infancy. But we have said above how he made a covenant with her. "And I will raise up for you an everlasting covenant." "I kill, and I make alive," he says. He who has promised these things makes sorrows, and again will restore. "He has struck, and his hands will heal." It is said in Micah: "I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he himself justify my cause". How is my cause justified?

When I shall have borne the wrath of the Lord, I who have despised the riches of his goodness, and patience, and longsuffering, and according to my hardness and impenitent heart have treasured up wrath for myself against the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God. "And you shall be dishonored, in that you received your elder sisters with the younger, and I will give them to you for a building." Above he called one sister Sodom, and the other Samaria; now he repeats, and says "your elder sisters," though only Samaria is elder, and Sodom is younger; but because their daughters are counted with them, he says that there is one appearance of all. But as many as are the daughters of the Sodomites, so many also are those of Samaria.

"And I will give them to you for a building, and not from your covenant, and I will raise up my covenant with you." Consider the end of the promise and you will know that I am the Lord, that you may remember, and be confounded—that is, when you shall have received your sins, and shall have remembered them, then you shall be confounded. "And you shall no more open your mouth." When I shall have received my sins, and shall have been restored, a covenant having been made with me, then I understand my evils the more, and am confounded, and being conscious to myself, I punish myself further. But see what happens to me. That it be no longer free to open the mouth from the face of ignominy, and when it comes to pass that he is propitious to you.

Not even then, when he is propitious to me, sinning much, can I open my mouth: nor when he forgives my crimes am I free from ignominy, but perceiving my crimes, I am tormented perpetually by the fire of my conscience.

Because therefore ignominy and eternal confusion are laid up for us, if we sin, let us pray to God with all our heart, that he grant us, unto the end, both of soul and of body, to strive with effort for the truth: that even if some time shall come which tests our faith (for as gold is tried in the furnace, so our faith is tested in danger and persecutions), even if persecution should break out, it may find us prepared, lest our house fall in winter, lest the building, constructed as it were on sand, be scattered by storms: that when the winds of the devil blow, that is, the most evil spirits, our works may stand firm, which have stood firm until this day, if only they are not secretly undermined, and in the girding of expedition we may manifest our charity, which we have toward God in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The exercise of bodies provides strength altogether to those who are exercised, and part by part it renders each member and the senses of the members more vigorous for enduring something, or for perceiving; as for instance the keenness of the eyes, if it be exercised in seeing, becomes sharper for viewing: the ears, if they hear more frequently, are better able to grasp the differences of sounds. This same thing one may also observe in the other members, which we have shown in a few instances. But what does it profit me toward blessedness and eternal life, if the body be strengthened by exercises? What advantage is it to me, even if I become of the strongest body, even if I walk about vigorous in all my members? On the other hand, however, if I have the senses of the soul exercised to perceive something, if I wear away days and nights in learning, this profits me not only in this life, but will also accompany me when I depart from the body.

For this reason God spoke in parables and in riddles, that our mind might extend itself, or rather, gathering itself into one, might behold the sharp points of the sayings, and, withdrawing from the vices of the body, while it understands the truth, might direct the course of its life according to that same truth. We have said these things by way of preface, because the word of God came to Ezekiel, saying: Son of man, tell a tale, and speak a parable to the house of Israel. Now for what the Seventy interpreters rendered as "tale," another of the interpreters translated "propose a problem"; another gathers it to mean, that Aquila set down αἴνιγμα (riddle), Symmachus and Theodotion πρόβλημα (problem).

"put forth a problem," another "signify a riddle." Therefore what has been read is both problem and riddle and parable. If ever we need illumination of the knowledge of God, now especially and necessarily do we need it, that not so much I myself, as, while you pray, the grace of God may expound in me the solution of the problem, and of the riddle, or parable. What then is the parable of the eagle, which the Holy Spirit shows in the present passage? It is described as not merely an eagle, but, in comparison with other eagles, a great eagle, of huge wings, and of long extent, and full of talons, or (as someone has interpreted) full of feathers. Not only is it greater than other eagles in the respects we have mentioned, but it is especially notable in this, that it has the capacity of entering into Lebanon.

For entering there from the cedar tree, which was situated in Lebanon as chosen, it plucked off the tender shoots and the topmost parts, and brought them into the land of Canaan, into the city either of merchants, or a merchant city, or of those who transfer, or indeed (as the Seventy have translated it) a walled city, and set that which it had taken from the cedar of Lebanon, that it might be planted and grow in the land of Canaan. After this the same eagle, from the seed of the land whence it had taken the tops of the cedar, also took seed for itself from without, and planted it in a leafy field upon much water.

Now this very thing, which had been taken from the land of Canaan by the one that had plucked the topmost parts of Lebanon, that is, what it had received the second time, became a vine, not strong, but weak, and even small in stature: and the branches of this weak vine leaned back, because of what had been taken from Lebanon and the cedar, to such a degree that it had its roots planted under its own trunk. And indeed it became a vine, and made shoots, and extended its branches. And after this came another eagle, itself also great, of great wings and abundant either feathers or talons: and behold, this vine, of which we have just spoken, at the coming of the second eagle turned its allegiance toward it, spurning that covenant which it had first made with the tree, in which the vine had been made to lean, and, its shoots having been produced, had spread its branches more widely, and it embraced the second eagle, and transferred its roots from the former to the latter.

Then it sent forth its branches to the second eagle, that it might water it with the clod of its planting in a good field, and much water. And indeed this same vine was watered and transferred to the second eagle, that it might make increase, that it might bring forth fruit, that it might become a great vine. Therefore the prophet is commanded to say, that the vine, transgressing the covenant which it had made with the former eagle, and establishing it with the second, shall not prosper, nor shall the roots of its tenderness flourish: rather, because of its transgression its fruit shall rot, and all that sprang from it shall wither, and it shall no longer have a great arm and a numerous people; but it shall be plucked up by the roots, and though it be watered, yet it shall not endure, and shall not thrive into abundance, and as soon as the burning wind touches it, it shall wither, and be dried up together with the clod of its planting.

This the proposition of the history itself demands, that what has been spoken more obscurely we should relate more plainly with certain added words. And if there be such labor in understanding merely what is said, what need is there to say how great is the obscurity of the question itself—which is the former eagle, what is Lebanon, what the cedar, what the top of the cedar, what the second eagle, what the transfer of the vine from the former to the latter? If ever we have needed the help of God, we always need the Holy Spirit in the understanding of the Scriptures: now assuredly is the time that He should grant us help, and Himself weigh out what He has spoken.

As our Savior in the Gospels Himself interprets certain parables, so also now the prophet, in the second prophecy which has been read among the rest, signifies that the former eagle is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who entered into Lebanon, that is, Jerusalem, and took from the tops of the cedar, that is, the king of Jerusalem and his princes, and brought them into the land of the Chaldeans, namely into Babylon. For he planted them, taking the children of Israel into captivity, both from the royal seed and from the race of the princes, and established them in that same land. But after this, and after the royal stock, another multitude also was taken captive by him, and became a vine, not so robust as it had been when it was in the vineyard of God, and in the holy land, where the sacrifices of God are celebrated, but the vine, transplanted into Babylon, was weak. These things having so occurred, war arose between Pharaoh king of Egypt and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Therefore the people, who along with their kings and the stock of their nobles had been afflicted by the Assyrians, having found an occasion by which to cast off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar and be freed from his rule, betook themselves to the second great eagle, of great wings, that is, to Pharaoh. Then, as the course of events proceeded thus, because God had not delivered them to Pharaoh, but to Nebuchadnezzar, and they, not enduring his judgment and rule, had shaken off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from their necks, and had gone over to Pharaoh, the wrath of God fell upon them, and it turned out contrary to what they had supposed. For it behooves him who is condemned by God not to flee His sentence, nor to wish to change the will of Him who judges, but to endure most patiently, until God Himself, who condemned, sets free. Therefore, because the people betook themselves to Pharaoh, they are abandoned by the help of God, and suffer worse things than they had suffered before from Nebuchadnezzar.

We have given the solution of the parable according to the letter, and according to what is written: there follows a harder interpretation, and one difficult to understand, according to the true Nebuchadnezzar, and the true Pharaoh, and those words which have been foretold concerning the eagles. Now we have set forth this exposition summarily and briefly before the interposing of the following reading, in order that the present passage may be more easily understood, and nevertheless a fuller exposition be reserved for its proper place, and the ensuing parable also be discussed at greatest length according to allegory. But now we ought to take up a few points, and, as it were with a certain equipment, prepare the way for the future interpretation, from those things which the grace of God grants us, knowing what we shall expound more fully in what follows: And first indeed it must be seen what Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh, the eagles, are said to signify.

Perhaps someone who does not read the Scriptures idly and in passing will ask: Nebuchadnezzar is a great eagle, and of great wings, and this Pharaoh is another great eagle likewise of huge wings, and in the Law the eagle is placed among the unclean animals; why then does the just man, made rich, prepare for himself the wings of an eagle, that he may be able to turn to the house of his prince? Why also is there a certain promise in Isaiah the prophet saying: The just shall receive wings as eagles, they shall run and not labor, they shall walk and not hunger? For if the eagle is unclean, we ought not to receive wings as an eagle, when we have become just: nor, when riches increase for us, ought we to prepare for ourselves the wings of an eagle.

To this it must first be answered, that certain names of animals are set down in Scripture in both senses, that is, in a bad and in a good sense: as for instance the lion is taken in a good part and in a bad part. In a good sense thus: Judah is a lion's whelp: from the shoot, my son, you have gone up; reclining you have slept, as a lion, and as a lion's whelp: who shall rouse him up? In a bad sense thus: Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking to devour, whom it behooves us to resist, firm in the faith. But also the wicked one, desiring to trip us up, lies in wait secretly, as a lion lies in wait in his den, to seize the poor. As therefore the lion is spoken of both in a bad part and a good, it is not incongruous that the eagle also be taken in either part.

And, as I suspect, the just man is not an eagle, but as it were an eagle, for he emulates the eagle. And just as the bronze serpent was a type of the Savior—for it was not truly a serpent, but imitated a serpent, the Lord saying: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up—in the same way the just man is not so much an eagle, as like an eagle, because it is useful for him to follow the image of the eagle. According to this understanding, in another place also the just man received the precept, to be wise as a serpent, not that he should become a serpent, but lest he be caught by the cunning of the true serpent.

But if the word of God, diligently searching the Scriptures, and the spirit, of which it is written: The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, should come into anyone's soul, it will show most plainly from the Scriptures, that both the eagle and the lion are set down in the part of clean animals: that the Cherubim of God have the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right of the four parts, and the face of a calf, and the face of an eagle on the left of the four parts; and these things which appear in the Cherubim, that is, the eagle and the lion, are clean. For nothing is unclean in the chariot of God. And just as you, believing from the Gentiles, have become clean: and what God has cleansed, do not call common—which is said of all the things shown to Peter hanging down from heaven—so is the lion cleansed and the eagle, which appeared in the Cherubim.

Nor is it otherwise, that at Christ's coming it is foretold to be in the future: it shall know the clean lion, and the clean eagle, which is called unclean: For the wolf and the lambs shall feed together. For the wolf that feeds harmlessly with the sheep is no longer to be watched against.

It is not said to me concerning such a wolf: Beware of them who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. He spoke pointedly, saying: But inwardly they are ravening wolves. For there are others not ravening, when the wolves and lambs shall feed together, and the calf and the bull, and the lion shall eat alike. But when there shall have been made, in the faith of Christ, such a fellowship of natures so diverse among themselves, the lion will no longer be unclean, but will forget his savagery, and all the animals which are called unclean in the law of God will receive again the purity of their original condition. This indeed has already come to pass in part, and will be most fully accomplished at the second coming.

The mystery, therefore, which was shown in the Cherubim, anticipates the truth of the matter: and the faces of the lion and eagle are so akin to the other faces, that what appeared in the Cherubim seems to us greater than the calf, and the bull, and the lion feeding together. For from Isaiah nothing is promised of these things as cohering with itself, and mutually connected. But in the Cherubim each animal is kin with the other, the face of the calf with the face of the lion, and the countenance of the man with the countenance of the eagle. Do not, therefore, greatly wonder that Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar who preceded him, are called eagles; while the just man is said to take up wings like an eagle, and, made rich in the portion of God, prepares for himself the wings of an eagle for flying.

But, to return to my purpose, something is signified specifically concerning Nebuchadnezzar, because he was great, and of great wings, and of very long extension of himself, to such a degree that he dared to say: By strength I will act, by the wisdom of understanding I will take away the boundaries of nations, and I will devour their strength, and I will move the cities that are inhabited, and I will grasp the whole circle of the earth with my hand as a nest, and as broken eggs I will take it away. Behold, this is the extension of his wings. Nor is this enough for him, but he is full of claws, and of many feathers, and has a way of entering into Lebanon, that he may pluck off the topmost branches of its cedars.

As long as those who dwelt in Lebanon did not sin, that is, as long as those placed in Jerusalem were not caught in crimes, this great eagle did not receive the power to enter into Lebanon, nor did he take to himself the chosen ones, and the royal seed of the cedar, and the stock of the princes. For these are the tender ones of it, who at a certain time were not hard of heart: yet he seized them, because they sinned against the Lord. This great eagle, carried off the topmost parts of the whole tree into Canaan, because the land of the Babylonians is figuratively called the land of the accursed Canaan. Concerning which Noah said: Cursed be the boy Canaan, he shall be servant to his brothers.

In the city also of merchants, or of the merchant-woman, or of those transferring, or certainly of the walled one, he placed what he had taken away from the cedar, and he took to himself of the seed of the land, now not only of the higher ones, but also of the lesser, even of the people of the Jews, and he gave it into a leafy field, he set it to be looked upon beside much water, and it sprang up, and became a strong vine. Truly the people of God was weakened in Babylon, and therefore could not sing the song of the Lord, saying: How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land? Truly it could not but be weak, that which had been planted in Babylon. In what way could it keep its former strength, that which had begun to be of the vices of Babylon?

Because it had not borne fruit in the holy land, therefore, having been transferred by the eagle, and placed in the land of Canaan, it became a weak vine, and small in stature. As long as it was in the holy land, it was a great vine: but when it was transferred into the territories of sinners, it became both weak and small. And you, therefore, O vine, who hear me, if you wish to be great, do not go out from the boundaries of the Church, remain in the holy land of Jerusalem. But if, on account of sins, you fall into worse things, you will be transferred to another land, and you will become a small vine, and your branches will fall off, and your roots will dry up, to such a degree that afterward you will desire to rest upon another eagle, as is now said, of great wings and very many claws. It is good for one condemned to remain in the sentence of condemnation, as long as it pleases him who condemned.

Let us not run willingly to Pharaoh; for if we run to him, we act against God, who said: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For to Nebuchadnezzar we hasten not so much of our own will, as condemned, and dragged to him. There follows: And it came to pass that there was another great eagle with great wings, and abundant claws, and behold, this vine will embrace it, that is, the second eagle. It often happens that we are transferred from one contrary force to another. For God had commanded that the people of the Israelites should bow their necks under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, as we read in Jeremiah, to such a degree that he threatened him who should turn away from his servitude: and at that time when we expounded Jeremiah, those things which by the grace of God, you praying, were bestowed upon us, or at least, however we perceived them, we attempted to expound.

But it did not wish to do what had been commanded; but it stretched forth its branches to Pharaoh in the soil of its planting, it was set by him in a field beside much water, that it might bring forth most abundant fruits: and having forsaken Egypt, it again longed for Egypt, thinking it would attain to its former fertility: thinking this above all, that if it passed over from Nebuchadnezzar to Pharaoh, it would strengthen its roots, raise up its stature, bring forth fruits. But everything fell out contrary to what it had thought. For all its fruit rotted, and the sproutings, which at least in modest measure had come to it in Babylon, dried up with the change of region, to such a degree that it was uprooted from the very roots, lest it should further grow strong in a great arm, or in a very numerous people. What do these such great, or such, mysteries contain in themselves? What does each saying signify?

We could, if only we had listeners, ascend to another Jerusalem of some sort, and there show how the great eagle made its way, and brought its top branches into this Babylon which we now possess. We could speak certain more hidden things concerning Pharaoh; but, since we are constrained by time, and perhaps we are being boldly promised what we are not able to fulfill, let us return to lesser matters, and expound rather according to the measure of our understanding thus: This great and true eagle, Nebuchadnezzar, that is, the devil, comes to this Lebanon, that is, the Church, where the sacrifices of God are, where the incense of prayers is celebrated, and seizes. But let it be far from our times, that he should transfer from the tops of the cedar, that is, from the princes and from the royal seed, into Canaan. Let us pray that what has often happened may not happen.

For certain ones have been taken up, and transferred into Babylon, who were princes in the Church, and were removed from the summit of Lebanon on account of their sin. Concerning these it must be said that the great eagle of great claws, spread out with feathers, took from the tops of the cedar, and tore them off from Lebanon, that is, from Jerusalem, and planted them in the land of Canaan. But not only does this eagle claim for itself the tops of the cedar, that is, of the class of nobles, but it also seizes the seed of the land, and transfers it into the land of Canaan, when someone of the people sins, and is hindered by the snares of the devil from the flock of God.

Wherefore, by day and by night, let us implore the help of God, both for ourselves and for our brothers, lest anyone be transferred from Jerusalem into Canaan, lest, having deserted his sentence, we tend from his will to another eagle, and a greater wrath come upon us, and the whole planting rot, and the fruit together with the roots wither. For the planting of Jerusalem cannot bear fruit in another land, it does not put forth branches in foreign territories; but immediately, along with its own soil, it dries up, if it has not persevered in the will of God, and in his Church, that is, both in deeds and words and in the knowledge of the truth of Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

Those things which I have already mentioned above concerning the two great eagles, of great wings and great talons, as well as what the first and second eagle did, the divine word now wishes, as it were in prophecy—that is, figuratively—to expound in part, leaving to us for our understanding what it itself has left untouched. And first indeed, although I have already often said it, yet even now I will try to bring forward something not new, which may confer salvation upon our soul, in that which was said to the prophet: Speak to the house that embitters, or exasperates. For he did not add, the house that has exasperated or provoked me. And if we wish to see what sort of sin exasperation is, let us hear how sweet the sayings of God are to him who understands, saying: How sweet are thy words to my throat! These things, being naturally sweet, when believers have received them, either they live well, or truly do the contrary.

And if they walk according to the divine rule, they preserve the sayings of God in that sweetness in which they were born. But according to the movement of my mind, I think that by goodness of conduct they even increase the sweetness of the sayings of God, mingling the sweetness of life with the sweetness of the word. But if someone sins, and walks perversely outside the precepts of God, he, receiving the most sweet sayings of God, through the nature of most bitter sin (for sin is bitter, since it destroys the sweetness of the word), turns all its sweetness into a bitter taste. What we say you will notice more fully, if you take an example. The herb which is called wormwood is naturally bitter: if you throw this into honey according to the quality and quantity of the honey, it overcomes the sweetness of the honey by its bitterness, and forces what is sweet to be bitter. Sin has the force of this herb.

If I sin more, I send more bitterness into the sweetness of the sayings of God. If what I commit is great, I turn the whole sweetness of the honey into a harsh taste. And therefore God, who avenges his word trampled upon by sinners, restores to each, according to the quality of the lover of life, and according to the measure of intention, the bitterness of punishments and torments. And if we, who say these things, and once believe in God, should sin, we strive to exasperate his word: but those who have entirely withdrawn from his faith, and have not entered the Church, these do not make the sayings of God bitter. For how can they exasperate the sweetness of the words which they have not yet believed? And therefore other torments are reserved for us who seem to believe, and sin in that very belief, apart from the punishment of those who did not even have the beginning of belief.

And let us not think that we exasperate the word of the Lord only, if we sin; our offense reaches even to the injury of God himself. For it is written, that he who sins, through transgression of the law, dishonors God. It would have been little if it had said: he dishonors an angel; but now, it says, through transgression of the law he dishonors God. As often as we transgress the law of God, so often do we dishonor God, and the greater the offenses we commit, the greater the insults with which we afflict God: the more we sin, the more we dishonor the Father and his Christ, as it is written: How much worse punishments do you think he deserves who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has considered the blood of the Testament, by which he was sanctified, unclean, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace? Therefore whoever sins exasperates and does despite, and dishonors both the sayings of God which he has received, and him who taught them.

Speak now to the house that exasperates: Do you not know what these things are, that is, what has been said in the parable of the eagles. Say, when the king of Babylon shall come to Jerusalem, and shall take her king, and her princes. As far as concerns the prophetic history, it has been explained: that Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, and led away captive Zedekiah, king of Judea, and the princes who were with him, and a part of the people of the Jews: and we shall add also this, how he planted them in the land of Babylon. But let us not stand in the letter, nor cling to the history, but rather you, who have progress in the Scriptures of God, and know that all these things happened to them figuratively, but were written for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Behold, the true Nebuchadnezzar presses on, seeking to capture some of us.

And first indeed he desires (if it can be done) to lead away captive some of the princes of the Church. But as long as Hezekiah, Josiah, or certainly whatever just king reigns among the people, this Nebuchadnezzar cannot lead away bound either the princes or the people out of Judea. But if we, who seem to preside over the Church, should sin, giving place to the devil against the precept of Paul who says: Give no place to the devil—in a certain way, through our sins, which we have committed in Jerusalem, we give occasion to Nebuchadnezzar to enter the holy city, and to lead away whomever he wishes. But he who does not sin excludes Nebuchadnezzar, so that he cannot enter the land of God. Therefore let us with all our strength exclude Nebuchadnezzar, that he may not approach the blessed assembly of this Church.

Let us exclude him, taking up the key of knowledge; let us exclude him by conduct and by good deeds, so that he may not seize the king of Jerusalem and its princes, so that he may not lead them away into Babylon as the triumph of his captivity. But if the fierce enemy is able to conquer any one of us, he leads him into Babylon, not into the wide territory of some land, but into the Babylon of the soul, that is, confusion. We have often said that Babylon is interpreted as confusion. For whoever, conquered by him, is led away, is transferred into the confusion of his own mind, that is, into Babylon. Let us look at daily life. If ever we see a soul confused by sins, by vices, by sadness, by anger, by desires, by avarice, let us know that this is the one whom the devil leads away into Babylon.

But if the tranquility, serenity, and peace of the ruling part of the heart bear fruit, let us know that Jerusalem dwells in it, for indeed the vision of peace is within. And he leads them to himself into Babylon, and takes of the seed of the kingdom, and arranges a covenant with him. All of us who have received the word of God are royal seed. For indeed we are called a chosen race, and a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of acquisition. If therefore any of us, who are established in the order of royal seed, is led away captive by the devil through his own sin, there is no doubt but that he has been led away out of the royal race into Babylon, and makes a covenant with Nebuchadnezzar, because he has already spurned the covenant of God. For it is impossible for man to be without a covenant. If you have the covenant of God in you, Nebuchadnezzar cannot make a covenant with you.

But if you have repudiated the covenant of God through transgression of his commandments, you have taken up the covenant of Nebuchadnezzar. For it is written: He makes his covenant with him, and brings him into a curse. God makes a covenant with us in blessing: but Nebuchadnezzar establishes his covenant in cursing. He who has made a pact with Nebuchadnezzar cannot be in blessing. But someone, learned in the divine Scriptures, says to me: I find in the law of Moses curses set against the sinner: if therefore a curse is set by the precept of God against sinners, why should there not also, on the contrary, be some blessing with the devil, so that some may be in blessing with him, others in cursing? To this one, then, questioning acutely and sharply, I will try thus to meet and say, that there is indeed a certain blessing from Nebuchadnezzar, which may God cast far from us: and a curse, of which we must now speak, which rightly comes upon sinners. What then is the blessing of Nebuchadnezzar?

When someone in this world is wealthy and prospers happily, and all things flow to him in a fortunate course, so much so that what is written can be applied to him, His ox shall not miscarry: and if he has had the whole prosperity of the age, the blessing of Nebuchadnezzar is upon him. But the curse is on him when someone withdraws from God, and nevertheless, being placed in the portion of the devil, is tormented by miseries and punishments. God wishes therefore, as Scripture now recalls, that the covenant be a curse for Israel with Nebuchadnezzar. And therefore, because the king of Jerusalem wished to spurn the covenant of Nebuchadnezzar, and sending his messengers into Egypt, tried to make a covenant with Pharaoh, the divine word says: He shall not prosper, he shall not be saved. Wherefore we ought to bear patiently, when we are handed over by God to vengeance.

The Apostle handed over a certain member of the assembly of the Church to Satan for the destruction of the flesh: and he handed him over for the destruction of the flesh, not that he might destroy the one handed over, but that he might preserve the spirit of the one handed over. Whence Scripture says: To deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the judgment of the Lord Jesus. But the sinner is handed over to torments, that he may receive punishment in the present, and, tormented for his sins, may obtain refreshment in the future, and it may be said of him: He has received his evils in his lifetime. If, therefore, anyone, tormented with pains according to the curse in which God has placed sinners, should prefer to flee the punishments, and send to Egypt to procure help, to Pharaoh, from whom God delivered his people, he shall not prosper, he shall not be saved.

But if anyone patiently endures the curse, and the torments of Nebuchadnezzar, and fulfills the time of his sins in torment: as he who, according to the Epistles of Paul, was tormented, that his spirit might be saved in the day of judgment, this one will attain the best end. He brings, therefore, a curse upon him, and will take the leaders of his land, that they may become a weak kingdom. The kingdom is made weak, which is transferred from the holy land into Babylon. For no one is strong in Babylon, that is, in the confusion of his own mind. A man who is confounded can in no way be exalted, so as to keep my covenant, to establish it, and to depart from it, to send his messengers into Egypt.

This one, because he endures torments from Nebuchadnezzar for his sins, and sends his messengers into Egypt, not bearing the handing-over by which he was given up to the enemy by God, so that he might give him horses and a numerous people, has done what is forbidden in the law. For you shall not multiply horses for yourself, says Scripture. Shall he prosper, shall he be saved, who does contrary things, and transgresses the covenant? It was fitting that he who had been handed over to the covenant of Nebuchadnezzar should endure punishment: but he does not endure it, and therefore it is said of him, He shall not be saved. As I live, says the Lord Adonai, unless in the place of the king who set him up, he who despises my curse, and has transgressed my covenant. There is one who dishonors the curse of God, and another who honors it. Nor is there doubt but that God, in the present, is being sought concerning this one, who has dishonored his curse.

For when anyone is handed over to punishments, that he may be chastened, and does not endure what has been enjoined, he dishonors the curse of God. But if he endures it with all meekness, and blessing, and thanksgiving to God, this one honors the curse, and when he has honored the curse, it is necessary that he also obtain its blessing: And he has transgressed my covenant, he shall die with him in the midst of Babylon, and not with great strength, nor with a great multitude, shall Pharaoh make war. Pharaoh cannot give aid to him who has transgressed and dishonored the curse of God; but he shall die in the midst of Babylon for his transgression. Then it follows and tells what sinners are to suffer, and after this it recalls more prosperous things, saying: I will therefore take of the choice of the cedar, and from the top of its heart I will pluck it, and I will plant it on a lofty mountain.

After the curses which we have mentioned above, the promise of blessedness and of a most sweet pledge is set forth at the end of the discourse: because now those who needed punishments had already suffered torments for their sins. But considering within myself, and diligently treating the sense of this passage, I think it is prophesied concerning the apostles. For these indeed are of the choice of the cedar, from the summit, from the top, whom God has given for the greening of the age, scraping their hearts, and planting them on the lofty mountain, Jesus Christ our Lord. And I will hang it on the high mountain of Israel, and I will plant it, and it will produce a shoot, and will bear fruit. These have made shoots, they have brought forth fruit. And it shall become a great cedar.

Consider the greatness and sublimity of the Church of Christ, that you may understand that, according to the promise of God, it has come to pass what is said: And it shall become a great cedar, and every bird shall rest upon it, and every winged thing shall rest under its shadow. Take to yourself the wings of the word of God, and you will be able to rest under this tree, which is planted on the lofty mountain. And it shall rest, and its shoots shall be restored. See how the prophecy ends on a good note. For it follows: And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord, who humbles the high tree. The high tree is the people of the Jews, who now, humbled, pays the penalty of his crime, because he dared to lay hands upon our God Jesus Christ. And I exalt the humble tree. You were the humble tree, the cast-down tree, the tree clinging to the earth, but God has exalted you.

And I dry up the green tree. The green tree is the people of the circumcision, who once was sprouting and flourishing, but now has withered from excessive dryness. For where now is the living word among them? Where the chorus of virtues?

And I make the dry wood flourish again. You were a dry wood, and the coming of Christ made you flourish again. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. These things being said, that we too may flourish again, that we may be able to bear fruit, that we may become a budding tree and not a dry one, that the axe which is preached in the Gospel may never be laid to our roots, let us more earnestly pray to Jesus Christ our Lord together with his Father, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

We are bidden by the bishops to examine the discourse concerning the prince of Tyre, so that we may speak of his praises and his faults; and it has also been ordered that we treat somewhat of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Thus a lament is made over the prince of Tyre: and it is not to be thought that he is a man. For in the midst of the Cherubim no man was ever created, and in the paradise of God, if we follow the letter simply, no man was ever nourished. And since, as we have said, no one was ever in the paradise of delights, yet now the prince of Tyre is said to have been born and nourished in the paradise of delights. Who then is this prince of Tyre? Let us come to Daniel, and finding an occasion for understanding, let us say that these are not bodily princes of whom the question is now raised. After Daniel let us seek an example from the Apostle.

Then again let us call upon the testimonies of the prophets. To all these must also be joined that passage which Moses does not pass over in silence in Deuteronomy. Come now, let us go through the examples, beginning with Daniel. A prince, he says, is seen—Michael. And again there, the prince of Israel: and following, Michael was helping the prince of the kingdom of the Gentiles. To these let the Apostle add: But glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew first and to the Greek. And that the prince of the Israelites should help the prince of the kingdom of the Greeks has perhaps already come to pass. For at the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ, the prince of Israel helped the prince of the kingdom of the Greeks, that the Gentiles might attain salvation, and that by believing they might be saved.

And thus in this manner a certain prince of the kingdom of the Persians is spoken of, just as Michael is called the prince of the Israelites, and another the prince of the Greeks. These, then, are not men, nor are they named according to the names of the places over which they rule. Whence also the Apostle, as though discoursing not about men, says: For we speak wisdom among the perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who are coming to nothing; but we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, which God foreordained before the ages unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. And that the princes of this world crucified the Savior and Lord, prophecy bears witness, saying: The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.

Whence also elsewhere it is written in the Psalms: I have said, you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High: but you shall die like men, and shall fall like one of the princes. And there the discourse is about no bodily prince at all. If therefore there is a certain prince of the kingdom of the Persians, if there is Michael the prince of the Israelites, then consequently there is also a prince of Tyre: and it is of these princes that the prophetic discourse now speaks. And since we have also promised a testimony from Moses, hear what follows: When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels of God, or, as it is better rendered (according to the number of the sons of Israel), and the Lord’s portion became his people Jacob.

To one prince Tyre became a portion, to another Babylon, to others other nations: and thus in this manner the princes possessed all the bounds of the nations. But if anyone reading in the Scriptures thinks this is said of men, let him understand more deeply in a spiritual sense, and let him be judged by no one. For certain things are recognized concerning Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians which do not fit his person. For he said: By strength I will act, and by the wisdom of understanding I will remove the bounds of the nations, and I will shake the inhabited cities, and I will seize the whole circle of the earth, and I will ascend above the stars of heaven, and the clouds, and the rest, and I will be like the Most High. These things Nebuchadnezzar said. So also the prince of Tyre and Pharaoh. For the true and bodily Pharaoh was not so driven by madness as to say: The rivers are mine, and I made them.

This was read before in the prophecy which is against Pharaoh. Nor would that prince, that is, the bodily Pharaoh, ever have been called a dragon, where it says: Behold, I am against Pharaoh, the dragon, who lies in the midst of the rivers of Egypt, who says, The rivers are mine, I made them. But let this be reserved for its proper place; we have taken it up now for this reason, that through the recognition of the Scriptures what seemed hidden might become more manifest. Against these princes is our struggle. And the blessed apostles who had been sent to preach, when they drew men away from those who had possessed the bounds of the nations, suffered ambushes. For example, let it be said: the apostles entered Tyre, the prince of Tyre persecuted them: they went up to Antioch, the prince of the kingdom of Syria assailed them: it was he who warred against them, not all those who were merely supposed to, as Judas the betrayer.

For just as he is not to be thought the principal one who betrayed the Savior, so also for all the apostles who suffered persecution, there was another, a prince of the persecution. For it is written of Judas: And after the morsel, Satan entered into him. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, although those who persecute us seem to be of flesh and blood. Let us not hate them, but rather let us love them, even though they wish to remain our enemies; let us have pity on them, they have a demon, they suffer madness. It is not so much these who are against us who persecute us, as those who have filled their hearts. But let us beg the Lord’s help, that the efforts of so great an adversary, warring against the human soul, may be weak, and let us say: Unless the Lord had been with us, when men rose up against us, perhaps they would have swallowed us alive.

There is, then, a certain prince of Tyre, and the prophecy does not teach us about Hiram; for that name is written in the third Book of Kings, not concerning another prince of Tyre, nor concerning any man; it is not human words that teach us this, but divine ones, and certain ineffable things, hallowed under the persons of men. Pharaoh is a man: I am taught to understand something else by Pharaoh. And Nabal of Carmel is a man, and Hiram is a man: but I am taught something else under their likeness. Who is so great and of such a kind as to rise above bodily things, to contemplate invisible things from visible ones, and to be able to understand each of these according to the will of God? Who then is this prince—let us learn, so that, recognizing the lamentation, we may also avoid what is now said concerning them. A lament is made over the prince of Tyre. How good is God, who even weeps for those who have denied him!

And this too comes from the affection of love. For no one laments one whom he hates: and he who is lamented is indeed lamented as one dead: yet, as though still being sought, as though still desired as living, he is loved. And when Jerusalem is lamented, it is written: And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem was made desolate, Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamenting this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said: How does the city sit alone, that was full of people, she has become as a widow who was multiplied among the nations: she that was a princess among the provinces has become tributary. Nebuchadnezzar too is lamented. Where are the heresies, where are those who say that such men were created for perdition? They accuse the Creator, so as to absolve themselves of their crimes. Take up this lamentation over the king of Babylon, and you will say: How has the exactor ceased? How has the extorter rested?

These things are said of the king of Babylon: How has Lucifer fallen from heaven, who used to rise in the morning, he is broken down to the ground? And that one fell from heaven, and this one too, the seal of likeness, the crown of beauty, nourished in the paradise of delights. Behold, all are recorded as having fallen from heaven, not as having descended. But my Lord descended from heaven, and he who descended is the Son of man himself. But not as Satan did. For he did not descend from heaven, nor would any evil have befallen him if he had descended. Hear Jesus saying: I was watching Satan falling like lightning from heaven—not descending. But not only did the Savior descend from heaven: daily a multitude descends and ascends upon the Son of man. For you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. And do you also await your ascension. Only rise up from your fall, and hear: Arise, Jerusalem, from your fall.

Hope, since you know you are to ascend into heaven, and take heed lest to you also it be said: Shall not he who falls, rise again? Or he who turns away, shall he not return? Woe to those who turn with the worst turning, says the Lord. And this one, then, is one of those who have fallen, and he is lamented by a man—the prince—though it was the prince who ought to have wept for the man.

Ezekiel is a man, and a son of man; but he who is mourned is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Take up also your own lamentation over the king of Babylon, and say: How has he ceased who was demanding again? And the rest. Consider into what great hope you have been called, O man, who, surrounded by flesh, say: You have milked me like milk, and curdled me like cheese; you have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You then, who used to grieve over your condition, behold, you now mourn, and he who is not surrounded by flesh is mourned by you: for you have been called to that hope from which he fell. By the sin of Israel, salvation entered in for the Gentiles. I will venture to say something more sacred still.

You are about to ascend into the place of the angels who fell, and the mystery once entrusted to them will be entrusted to you, of which it is said: How has Lucifer fallen, who used to rise in the morning? But you have been made the light of the world, you have been made Lucifer in his place: Lucifer was one of the stars, who fell from heaven, and you, if indeed you are of the seed of Abraham, will be numbered among the stars of heaven. For he brought Abraham outside, and God said to him: Look up, so shall your seed be. But this will be when the stars fall like leaves from heaven, and there will be one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. For star differs from star in brightness; so also is the resurrection of the dead. But do not boast against branches of this sort, which fell through unbelief and were broken off: you, because you stand by faith, will also ascend by faith.

And by the fact that you mourn the prince of Tyre, and lament with weeping over those things which we have set forth above, you are being taught, lest perhaps, found in those same good things which the prince of Tyre possessed, you too begin to fall, if you become somewhat boastful, and do not guard your heart with all vigilance. See indeed what he says to the prince of Tyre: You are the seal of the likeness. I want to know what he was, that he was called the seal of the likeness. When you advance, you receive a seal; for God is truly the father of him whom he has sealed and sent, and therefore believers are always sealed by the Lord. Now it has even become a common proverb, that we say: that man, and that man, has not received the seal, and that man has the seal. Who has the seal? He whom God has sealed.

I will venture to say something: that with this seal he is sealed who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire, he who bestows the image of the heavenly, who forms you toward higher things, so that you no longer bear the image of the earthly. Beware, O man, lest, departing from this world, you be stamped with the seal of the devil. For he too has a seal. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, whence, or when, or who has marked us, by this sign shall we have borne the image of the earthly. The devil goes about and surveys everything, wishing himself also to seal those subject to him. He seals the hearts of individuals, considering them, and imprints upon them the figure of the earthly through sins, through vices, that they may bear the image of the earthly.

Hear what Jesus answers, when asked about the image and inscription of Caesar: He who has ears to hear, let him hear; for because neither he nor his disciple had that image which was being sought, he teaches where the image sought may be found. Go, he says, to the sea, and cast a hook, and the fish that first comes up, take, and open its mouth; and when you find a stater, take it, and give it for me and for you. Neither do I have this image and superscription, nor do you, provided you are truly my disciple, if the gates of hell do not prevail against you. Therefore Jesus otherwise gives for himself the image, taking it from the sea, which had been enclosed in a fish—like those fish of which it was read today, which cling to the scales of the dragon that sits upon the rivers of Egypt. For truly such fish cling there. How many fish today are there, whose king is he who reigns in the many waters?

For it is written concerning the invisible dragon, that he himself is king of all who are in the waters; but you are not in the waters, but in that land which is promised to you. And these things have been said, that we might more carefully winnow what the seal of the likeness is. How blessed he was in that time when he was the seal of the likeness. It still remains for you to become the likeness of the seal, and you are far from such a gift. God indeed said: Let us make man according to our image and likeness; yet you have not yet attained the likeness. For God made man, he made him according to the image of God; where the likeness of God is. When he shall appear, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Thus I understand also what is said by the prophet: God, who is like you? As if it meant: Who, do you think, is the faithful and wise steward?

Just as also this: For when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Who is it that is made like him? Very few are they who have received the likeness, as the apostles. Let us make man according to our image and likeness. This one then, who is now mourned, was a seal, and full of wisdom, whom you too will mourn, if you become Ezekiel. But I do not know whether you too are full of wisdom: meanwhile, this one who is mourned was full of wisdom, and was a crown of beauty. Consider what sort he was, who was a crown of beauty. Beauty was not simply, nor was glory, in him, but a crown of glory. But do not seek this beauty outside yourself, but around the religion of the soul, the thinking faculty, wherever the intellectual part resides, where true beauty is. But if you wish to seek beauty there where there is flesh and blood, moisture and veins, where bodily matter is, you will not be able to find it.

Since true beauty is in the Savior, and thus from him, according to his bounty and mercy, it has been distributed into the souls of all. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty one, with your comeliness and your beauty, and your loveliness. There is, then, a certain beauty in the ruling faculty of our heart, and in the soul. And that such beauty may reach even to the human soul, let the prophet teach you, saying: Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house, for the king has desired your beauty, that is, the bridegroom. Who has so fair a soul, who possesses such beauty, who is so free from every foulness, that it can be said to him: I, the king, have desired your beauty? And you indeed still seek that beauty, and strive to please; but this one fell from the beauty he had into shamefulness.

And just as we often see happen in bodies, that a woman comely and beautiful of face loses her beauty through sickness, and through old age loses the brightness of her countenance, in the same way also the soul, which was beautiful, loses its beauty through weakness, and through old age becomes deformed. For when it has taken on the old man with his deeds, by his old age it loses its former beauty. Jesus came that he might transfer us from the old man and the marks of old age: for a wrinkle is indeed a sign of old age, as the Apostle says: That he might present to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it be holy and unblemished. It is possible, then, to pass from old age and wrinkle to youth: and this is wonderful in this respect, that the body goes from youth to old age, but the soul, if it comes to perfection, is transferred from old age into youth.

Therefore even though our outer man is being corrupted, yet the inner is being renewed day by day. You ought to have known the beauty which the king desires; you ought to have known him who once was a crown of beauty: and you, when you have attained this glory, beware lest you fall. Since indeed this one who fell was the seal of the likeness, full of wisdom, and a crown of beauty. You were defiled in the delights of the paradise of your God. He does not simply say "in paradise," but "in the paradise of delights." I ask whether there are certain distinctions among paradises, and whether one who is in the paradise of God may yet not be in the paradise of delights: just as that thief entered paradise with Jesus at the first hour; if I should ask you, do you think he entered paradise or not? There is no doubt that you would answer that he did enter.

Then if I should ask you again, well then, having entered paradise, was he at once received into the place of delights? You might perhaps say that, though he entered paradise at the first hour, he was not made to be in the paradise of the delights of God. But if you should now see him receiving of the tree of life, and of all the trees which God did not forbid, so that he eats of every tree of paradise: if you behold him eating the fruit of that tree, and of all which are now not forbidden: and if I should ask you, do you think, that he has been made to be not only in paradise, but even in the paradise of delights? You yourself hasten there, who are seen to mourn. But this one who is mourned was once in the delights of God: he was clothed with every precious stone, sardius and carbuncle, sapphire and beryl, and jacinth, and jasper, and the rest of the twelve stones.

The exposition is difficult, and rises beyond our powers and the nature of this place. For who can expound the nature of each stone, and describe either its color or its power, so as to be able to find why these stones were taken up? Yet although we are not such as can understand everything, let us see a little, how he was clothed with these twelve stones. If anyone has care for the divine Scriptures (to which matter we often exhort the young, but, as I see, we accomplish nothing, merely consuming time: for we have not been able to bring any of them to the point of applying themselves to the sacred volumes), let him seek in the Scriptures those twelve stones and the rest, and he will find them named in the same manner and order in the Apocalypse. Whichever is first there is also placed first here; whichever is second is second, whichever is third is third, whichever is fourth is fourth, and so on up to the twelfth stone, the order is kept.

Why then, and concerning what, are these stones named in the Apocalypse? Indeed, concerning the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, and there it is said that the first gate is topaz, the second emerald, the third carbuncle, the fourth sapphire, and so in this manner single stones are distributed to single gates. If you have understood the gates of Jerusalem, and the gates of the daughter of Sion, where it also behooves you to sing to God—for I will sing, he says, all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion—if you have observed how someone is clothed with twelve stones, and enters Jerusalem, and enters through other gates, you will behold the twelve virgins. In the book of the Shepherd, in which the angel teaches repentance, the twelve virgins have their names, Faith, Continence, and the rest: indeed you may read, if you wish.

Then when the tower is being built, when you have taken up the strengths of the virgins, you will likewise grasp also what is said concerning the gates: for each virtue is an ornament to you, and thus in this manner they build upon the foundation of Christ, not only gold and silver, but also precious stones. But it is forbidden to build wood, hay, and stubble. This twelfth stone, then, is within. And it is still enjoined upon us to speak of Tyre and Sidon, and of Pharaoh: but the narrowness of time has not allowed us to fulfill even what we had begun above, and these things which we wish to relate must be touched upon briefly, as it were by way of summary. A threat is made against Sidon, which is interpreted "hunters." Our soul, like a sparrow, has been snatched from the snare of the hunters.

If you read the Hebrew, you have, "from the snare of the Sidonians." Therefore the Sidonians are hunters, and the threat made against them is made for your sake, since they wish to capture you, and they diligently observe how to tear away hearers of the Scriptures from the Church, how to transfer them from the borders of Judea to the borders of Sidon: but do you keep your heart with all watchfulness, and know that the threat against your hunters is made for this cause. Concerning Pharaoh, indeed, discourse has already recalled something, affirming him to be a dragon sitting in the midst of the rivers, and saying: The rivers are mine, and I made them. I know the differences of rivers, and I know the rivers in which the dragon sits, upon which rivers those who had been taken captive from Israel, sitting, when they could not sing the song of Sion, wept, according to what is written in the Psalms: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept.

And I know another river, whose rushing stream makes glad the city of God, according to the voice of the Psalmist saying: The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God. Do you wish to hear what this river is, whose rushing makes glad the city of God? Jesus Christ our Lord is the river, whose rushing makes glad the city of God. This is he who says through Isaiah: Behold, I turn toward you like a river of peace. I know there are certain other promised rivers, which flow from this river. For everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water which I shall give, says Jesus, will not thirst forever, but there will be in him a river, a fountain of water springing up into eternal life, and rivers will flow from his belly. You have, then, holy rivers, from which the dragon is far removed.

For just as there are three things impossible for me to understand, the way of the serpent upon the rock—but the Rock was Christ, and there is no way of the serpent where Jesus is—so I cannot find in these rivers the tracks of the dragon. But there is a certain river which the dragon made, for the dragon indeed says, and God threatens both the dragon and the rivers in which the dragon is: The rivers are mine, and I made them. Hear the heretic, with all his cunning and cleverness, preaching that Jesus Christ has not yet come. These are the rivers in which the dragon dwells, and he himself made them, and the dragon says: The rivers are mine, and I made them.

Therefore give careful heed, when you drink water, lest perhaps you drink from that river in which the dragon sits: but drink from the living water, and from that river in which is the Word of God, in which is our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

And the Lord said to him: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, because the Lord God of Israel shall pass through it, and shall go forth. And it shall be shut. He describes several gates of the temple—specifically Ezekiel, son of man—and what he had described concerning each of the gates, he now again sets forth for those who have ears to hear, concerning the outer gate of the saints which faces toward the East, and it shall always be shut. And the Lord said to him: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, because the Lord God of Israel shall enter through it, and shall go forth, and it shall be shut.

And he adds another reason why the gate is shut, not only because the Lord God shall pass through it, but because the prince also shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord according to the way of Elam, which is interpreted "vestibule of the gate." And he shall enter according to its way, and shall go forth. The Lord God, founder of the universe, enters and goes forth through some gate—one made of sensible matter, and yet always shut—and for his sake, who founded heaven and earth, entering and going forth, the gate shall nowhere be opened. But there is another explanation of the outer gate, and according to the way of the saints. What then is that explanation, that it should remain shut? The aforesaid prince sits there, so that no one may see him sitting to eat bread in the sight of the Lord. Whoever reads this attentively, does he not in some manner hear Scripture speaking: "Rise, thou who sleepest"?

Is he not stirred to rise from the dead, and to seek out those things which are shut? I will boldly say that all the more secret things are shut, and the more manifest things are unlocked, and are not shut. We say this, opening those things which are shut; but the Gospels testify: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, and woe to you, teachers of the law, for you have taken away the key of knowledge, and you yourselves have not entered, and those entering you have hindered". There is, therefore, a certain key of knowledge for unlocking those things which are shut; and there are very many who neither enter themselves, nor permit those who wish to enter.

And in another place the sense of the Scriptures is said to be sealed as a book: "And the words of this book shall be as the words of a sealed book, which if they give to a man who knows not letters, saying to him, Read, he will say, I know not letters; and they shall give it to a man who knows letters, saying to him, Read, and he will say, I cannot read, for it is sealed". But more clearly the purport of this example is contained in the Apocalypse of John, which relates: "An angel went about saying, Who is worthy to open the seals and to loose them, and to read the things that are written? And no one was found in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, who could open the seals and read the things that were written in the book. But I wept. And one came to me and said to me: Weep not.

Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root and offspring of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose its seals. And he opened it, who was of the tribe of Judah, and made manifest the things that were written". As long as my God had not come, the law was shut, the prophetic word was shut, the reading of the Old Testament was veiled, and even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil is placed upon the heart of the Jews. But there are some who love the veil, and hate those who interpret concerning the veil; but let us turn to the Lord, so that, the veil being taken away, we may say: "But we all, beholding the glory of God with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory". Truly there is a certain gate, and one, and shut, through which no one has passed. For there are certain things unknown to all creation, and known only to One.

For not everything that the Son knows has he opened to the world. The creature does not contain what God contains; and, to come to greater matters, signs do not equally contain knowledge. There was more in Paul than in Timothy, though he was a vessel of election. And truly a great vessel in the house, Timothy in turn contains what I cannot contain. And perhaps there is someone who contains even less than I. There are certain things which Christ alone contains, and for this reason the door of the temple of God is shut. What, then, I ask, is this door? The outer one, which opens beyond worldly things, and incorporeal, and, so to speak, immaterial things. For it is not without purpose that the outer door is said always to be shut. What is this outer door? Of the saints. Why shut? Because the Lord God of Israel alone enters and goes forth through it. Why does he enter? That he may be known. By whom? By the prince. Who is this prince at the shut gate?

It is the Savior, who eats bread, who shuts the gate with the Father, who is fed with spiritual food. "My food," he says, "is that I do the will of him who sent me, that I may finish his work". The door is therefore shut so that no one may see the great priest eating bread in the holy of holies. But to prove what we say, whoever reads Leviticus, the veil having been removed from his heart, will be able to recognize the mystery of the priests. For there it is related concerning sacrifices and foods which only the priests eat. There are certain priestly foods which the priest does not eat in his own house, nor with his children, though they be of priestly rank, nor with his wife, though he be lawfully married to her; but he eats them in the holy place, and there he eats the food in the holy of holies.

As the priest does not eat this food in his own house, or in any other place, but in the holy of holies: so my Savior alone eats the bread, no one being able to eat with him. But there is a certain place in which, while he eats, he also draws me with him to partake: "Behold," he says, "I stand at the door and knock; if anyone shall open to me, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me". From which it appears that another too can sup with him. Moreover, there is a certain food of which he alone partakes. For his nature, excelling above all creation, and set apart from all things, causes him to eat the daily bread from the nature of the Father.

Each one of us asks for daily bread, and in asking for daily bread, he does not receive it the same, nor of the same measure; but always in pure prayers, and with a clean conscience, in works of righteousness, we eat our daily bread. But if anyone is less pure, he eats the daily bread in another manner. May the Lord, however, who is the judge of all, give us the living bread, that being fed by it, and strengthened, we may be able to make our journey to heaven, glorifying God almighty, through Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.