Jeremiah 17

"What is your own opinion? What people do you call happy?" He [the psalmist] would not say, "Happy is the people whose strength is in their own mind." If he had said this, he would, it is true, distinguish that people from the former that made happiness consist in that visible and bodily good fortune, but he would not yet have passed beyond all the vanities and lying follies, for the same Scriptures teach elsewhere: "Cursed be everyone that places his hope in humankind." Therefore, he ought not to place it in himself, because he himself is human. Thus, in order to pass beyond the boundaries of all vanities and lying follies and to place happiness where it truly exists, he says, "Happy is the people whose God is the Lord."

The Stoics, when questioned about where they place the efficient cause of the happy life that is the thing in people that makes life happy, answer that it is not bodily pleasure but a virtuous mind. What says the apostle? Does he agree? If he agrees, let us agree, too. But he does not agree, because Scripture reproves those who trust in their own virtue. And so the Epicurean who places a person's supreme good in the body is placing his hopes in himself. But after all, the Stoic who places a person's supreme good in the mind has indeed placed it in a person's better part. But even he has placed it in himself. Now the Stoic is a human just as much as the Epicurean. Cursed therefore is everyone who places his hope in humankind. So what now? Here we have three people set before our eyes: an Epicurean, a Stoic, a Christian. Let us question them one by one. "Tell us, Epicurean, what thing makes one blessed?" "Bodily pleasure," he replies. "Tell us, Stoic." "A virtuous mind." "Tell us, Christian." "The gift of God."

But of these matters, all of which are true objects of faith, those only pertain to hope that are embraced in the Lord's Prayer. For "cursed is the one that trusts in humankind" is the testimony of Holy Scripture. Consequently, this curse attaches also to the person who trusts in himself. Therefore, we ought to ask for nothing that we either hope to do well or hope to obtain as a reward for our good works except from God the Lord.

Out of that confession of faith that is briefly contained in the creed and that, pondered according to the flesh, is the milk of babes but spiritually considered and studied is the food of the strong, arises the good hope of believers, which holy charity accompanies. But of all those things that are to be believed by faith, only those pertain to hope that are contained in the Lord's Prayer. For "cursed is everyone who puts hope in humankind," as the divine Scriptures testify; and, consequently, one who puts hope in himself is also ensnared in the chain of this curse. Therefore, we ought to make petition only of the Lord God, whatever it is that we hope to do well or to obtain as a reward for good works.

Blessed are all who trust in God. If the blessed are those who trust in him, then the wretched are those who trust in themselves. Cursed, you see, is everyone who puts his hopes in humankind, so do not put them even in yourself, because you too are human. If you put your hopes in another person, that is the wrong kind of humility. But if you put your hopes in yourself, that is dangerous pride. What is the difference, anyway? Each is pernicious, neither is to be chosen. Humble in the wrong way, you cannot lift yourself up; dangerously proud, you are heading for a fall.

Take care not to let trust in your own strength steal on you, for you are human, and "cursed is everyone who puts his hope in humankind." But put your trust fully and with your whole heart in God, and he will be your strength. Trust him lovingly and gratefully and say to him humbly and faithfully, "Trust in the Lord with your whole heart; he will be your strength."

People who despise being in need before God, lest they receive true perseverance from him, glory in their own false endurance and seek to "confound the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his hope." Nor do they regard, seeing they are human and attribute so much to their own, that is, to the human will, that they run into that which is written, "Cursed is everyone who puts his hope in humankind."

But it is said, "It is by his own fault that any one deserts the faith, when he yields and consents to the temptation which is the cause of his desertion of the faith." Who denies it? But because of this, perseverance in the faith is not to be said not to be a gift of God. For it is this that a man daily asks for when he says, "Lead us not into temptation;" and if he is heard, it is this that he receives. And thus as he daily asks for perseverance, he assuredly places the hope of his perseverance not in himself, but in God. I, however, am loth to exaggerate the case with my words, but I rather leave it to them to consider, and see what it is of which they have persuaded themselves—to wit, "that by the preaching of predestination, more of despair than of exhortation is impressed upon the hearers." For this is to say that a man then despairs of his salvation when he has learned to place his hope not in himself, but in God, although the prophet cries, "Cursed is he who has his hope in man."

We must find out from what source true perseverance, worthy of the name, is to be had. There are those who attribute it to the powers of human will, not those that people have from divine assistance, but from their own free will. But that is an arrogant error. It is the error of the rich about whom the psalm speaks: "a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud." Glorying in their own false endurance, they wish "to confound the counsel of the poor person, but the Lord is his hope." Since they are people and attribute so much to themselves, that is, to their human will, they do not tend to apply to themselves the words of Scripture: "Cursed is everyone who trusts in humankind."

This is the combat we are challenged to, this the struggle with the flesh, this the struggle with the devil, this the struggle with the world. But let us be wary of confidence, because the one who instituted this contest does not watch his own champions, nor does he encourage us to rely on our own strength. Anyone relying on his own strength, you see, is relying, being clearly human, on the strength of a person; and accursed is everyone who rests his hope in humankind.

We have recognized ourselves, seen ourselves and taken a thorough look at ourselves. Let us groan and sigh in ourselves, pour out prayers, that we enter not into temptations. We must not rely on our own powers to overcome all these things. Blessed, after all, is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob, his hope in the Lord his God, not in himself, because he is a mere mortal. But cursed is everyone who places his hope in humankind.

In order that we fall not away from the virtue of the soul, we ought to watch especially against those snares of the suggestions of the devil that we presume not of our own strength. For "cursed is everyone who places his hope in humankind." And who is he, but mortal? We cannot therefore truly say that the person who places his hope in humankind places it in himself. For this also is to "live after humankind," what is it but to "live after the flesh"? Whoever therefore is tempted by such a suggestion, let him hear, and if he has any Christian feeling, let him tremble. Let him hear, I say, "If you live after the flesh, you shall die."

All things which are good, even those of which man is the agent, really come from God rather than man. "It is the spirit," we are told, "that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer." Hence there is a curse on the man who puts his trust in man, for although our whole hope rightly depends on God made man, it is not because he is man but because he is God.

Thus says the Lord: cursed is the man who trusts — or has hope — in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he will be like a tamarisk in the desert, and he will not see when good comes, but he will dwell in dryness in the desert, in a land of saltness and uninhabitable. If every man who trusts in man is cursed, and Paul of Samosata and Photinus, although they proclaim the Savior holy and exalted above all in virtues, nevertheless confess him to be a man, then they will be cursed, having hope in a man. But if it is objected to us that we too believe in him who says: but now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. You do the works of your father, we shall answer with that saying of the Apostle: even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know him. Then the same Apostle, at the beginning of his epistle, writes to the Galatians: Paul an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren who are with me. For if death has been swallowed up in victory, why should not the lowliness of the flesh, which was assumed for the sake of human salvation, have passed into the majesty of the divinity, so that he has made both one, and we do not adore a creature but the Creator, who is blessed forever? Cursed, therefore, is not only he who has hope in man, but he who makes flesh his arm, that is, his strength, and who thinks that whatever he has done belongs not to the mercy of the Lord but to his own power. For he who does this, his heart departs from the Lord, since he asserts that he can do what he cannot.

Then, since many words have been gone through, there was indeed something to say about each of the things spoken, but time does not allow, as it presses upon us. Let us therefore speak on the passage read next: "Cursed is the man who has his hope on man." From this †, against those who suppose that the Son of God, the Savior, was but a man of God (for they dared, along with many of the evils of men, to say this also, that "the only-begotten," "the firstborn of all creation," is not God); for "cursed is he who has his hope on man." It is clear that they are cursed who have their hope on man. I would say that I do not have my hope on man, since, hoping on Christ Jesus, I do not know a man. Not only do I not know a man, but I know Wisdom, righteousness-itself, a man through whom "all things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, whether visible or invisible, whether principalities or authorities." "Cursed is the man who has his hope on man." Even if the Savior bears witness that the one he wore was a man—yet even if he was a man, still now he is by no means a man. For "even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer," says the apostle. I, through him, am no longer a man, if I follow his words; but he says, "I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High." Therefore, just as he is "the firstborn from the dead," so he has become the firstborn of all men, having been transformed into God. "Cursed," then, "is the man who has his hope on man, and will make the flesh of his arm his support"—whoever ratifies the things of the flesh, whoever acquires bodily strength and wages war according to the flesh. But the holy man is not so; for "he does not make the flesh of his arm his support," since he "always" bears "the dying of Jesus in his body," and he mortifies "the members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness." Having mortified these, he "does not make the flesh of his arm his support." "Cursed is he who has his hope on man." And at the same time this is against those who hope in dignities of rank. So-and-so is my friend, a centurion; he is a procurator; so-and-so is my friend and is rich and provides for me. Then to such a one also this is said: "Cursed is the man who has his hope on man." On no man do we hope, even if they seem to be our friends; for we hope not on them but on our Lord, who is Christ Jesus, to whom belong the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

A person who relies on himself, however, or even on the person whose duty it is to provide for his needs, and thinks that his own activity or that of his associate is a sufficient resource for his livelihood runs the risk, as he places his hope in humankind, of falling under the curse that reads, "Cursed is the one that trusts in humankind and makes flesh his arm and whose soul departs from the Lord." Now, by the words "that trusts in humankind" the Scripture forbids a person to place his hope in another, and by the words "and makes flesh his arm" it forbids him to trust in himself. Either course is termed a defection from the Lord. Further, in adding the final issue of both, "He shall be like tamarisk in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come," the Scripture declares that for anyone to place his trust either in himself or in anyone else is to alienate himself from the Lord.

One thing you must flee, sin. One refuge from evil must be sought, God. Do not trust in princes. Do not be exalted in the uncertainty of wealth. Do not be proud of bodily strength. Do not pursue the splendor of human glory. None of these things save you. All are transient. All are deceptive. There is one refuge: God. "Cursed is the one who trusts in humankind" or in any human thing.

One who puts his trust in humankind or is buoyed up by some other concerns of life, such as power or possessions or any of the things considered by the many to be glorious, is not able to say, "O Lord my God, in you have I put my trust." In fact, there is a command that we should not put our trust in rulers, and "cursed is the one who trusts in humankind." As it is proper not to worship anything else besides God, so also is it proper not to trust in any other except God the Lord of all things. "The Lord," it is said, "is my hope and my praise."

But let us see what kind of fruits a bad tree produces, and let us avoid bearing such fruits. The prophet Jeremiah says, "Cursed is the one who puts his trust in human beings and makes his flesh his support, and whose heart turns away from the Lord; such a person will be like a tamarisk in the desert."

And he will be like a tamarisk — which in Hebrew is called 'aroher', or, as Symmachus translated, an unfruitful tree — in the wilderness, and he will not see when good things come, which the multitude of the nations is to see, but he will dwell in dryness in the desert. This is said of the people of the Jews, who dwell in the desert and bear no fruits and are in a land of saltness, which bears no fruits, and uninhabitable, which has neither God as its guest, nor the protection of angels, nor the grace of the Holy Spirit, nor the knowledge of teachers.

"They shall not be ashamed in the evil time." In the day of trouble, in the day of distress, they shall not be "ashamed," as he is ashamed whose hope deceives him. Who is the man that is "ashamed"? He who saith, "I have not found that which I was in hopes of." Nor undeservedly either; for thou didst hope it from thyself or from man, thy friend. But "cursed is he that putteth his trust in man." Thou art ashamed, because thy hope hath deceived thee; thy hope that was set on a lie. For "every man is a liar." But if thou dost place thy hopes on thy God, thou art not made "ashamed." For He in whom thou hast put thy trust, cannot be deceived. Whence also the man whom we mentioned just above, the now "strengthened" righteous man, when fallen on an evil time, on the day of tribulation, what saith he to show that he was not "ashamed"? "We glory in tribulation; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; but hope maketh not ashamed." Whence is it that hope "maketh not ashamed"? Because it is placed on God. Therefore follows immediately, "Because the love of God is spread in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us." The Holy Spirit hath been given to us already: how should He deceive us, of whom we possess such an "earnest" already?

Nay, I say that either before the law, or in the time of the Old Testament, they were freed from sins,-not by their own power, because "cursed is every one that hath put his hope in man," and without any doubt those are under this curse whom also the sacred Psalm notifies, "who trust in their own strength;" nor by the old covenant which gendereth to bondage, although it was divinely given by the grace of a sure dispensation; nor by that law itself, holy and just and good as it was, where it is written, "Thou shalt not covet," since it was not given as being able to give life, but it was added for the sake of transgression until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; but I say that they were freed by the blood of the Redeemer Himself, who is the one Mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus. But those enemies of the grace of God, which is given to small and great through Jesus Christ our Lord, say that the men of God of old were of a perfect righteousness, lest they should be supposed to have needed the incarnation, the passion, and resurrection of Christ, by belief in whom they were saved.

You have begun to love what is outside of yourself. You have gone outside of yourself. When a person's love goes away from him toward things that are outside of him, he begins to become vain along with useless goods, and somehow to spend his substance like the prodigal son. He is emptied. He is poured forth. He becomes a beggar. However, we must not despair even of such people when they begin to repent. May God grant this to them: "He came to himself." Now if he came to himself, he had gone outside of himself. Just as he remained in himself when he fell away, so he should not remain in himself when he fell away, so he should not remain in himself when he returns. Therefore, let him keep himself close to God. Let him deny himself so he will not fall again. What does to deny oneself mean? Let him not confide in his own strength, let him realize that he is human, and let him look to the prophetic word: "Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings."

Let no one deceive himself. Let none be misled. Only the Lord can grant mercy. Sins committed against him can be cancelled by him alone who bore our sins and suffered for us, by him whom God delivered up for our sins. People cannot be above God, nor can the servant by any indulgence of his own remit or condone the graver sort of crime committed against his Lord, for that would make the apostate liable to this further charge, he knows not the words of the prophet: "Cursed is the one who puts his hope in humankind." It is our Lord we must pray to, it is our Lord we must win over by our penitence. For he has said he will deny the person who denies him, and he alone has received all power of judgment from his Father.

He said to him, "Yes, sir. The long duration of my illness makes me desire health. But, desire it as I may, I have no one." Do not lose heart, my good fellow, because you "have no one." You have God standing by you. One who is at once man and God under different aspects, for both must be confessed. The confession of the humanity without the confession of the divinity is unavailing, or rather earns a curse. For "cursed is one who puts his trust in humankind."

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord will be his confidence — or hope — ; and he will be like a tree that has been transplanted — or fruitful — upon the waters, that sends out its roots toward moisture; and it will not fear when the heat comes, and its leaf will be green — or its twigs in leaf — and in the time — or year — of dryness it will not be anxious — or will not fear — nor will it ever cease to bear fruit. Let that be said of the Jews and of the heretics, who have hope in man, namely in their Christ, whom they think will come not as the Son of God but as a mere man. On the contrary, the man of the Church, who trusts in the Lord, hears this: and know that the Lord himself is God.

If Christ is only man, how is he present wherever he is invoked—since it is not people's nature but God's to be able to be present everywhere? If Christ is only man, why is a man called on in prayer as a mediator, when calling on a mortal to grant salvation is considered useless? If Christ is only man, why is hope put in him, when hope in humankind is declared to be accursed? If Christ is only man, why cannot he be denied without ruin to one's soul, when it is declared that an offense against people can be forgiven? If Christ is only man, how does John the Baptist bear witness of him when he says, "He who comes after me was made before me, for he was before me"? If Christ were only man, then, being born after John, he could not be before John, unless he preceded him as God.

For as it says in the psalm, "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy," so also in the gospel, those who sow in laughter, that is, because of joy, shall reap in tears. Long ago did the Creator set these things side by side: Christ, by not changing them but only giving them emphasis, has made them new. "Woe to you, when all people speak well of you." That is what their ancestors used to do to the false prophets. No less does the Creator, by Isaiah, censure those who seek after the blessing and praise of people: "My people, those who call you blessed, lead you astray and upset the paths of your feet." And in other terms he even forbids them to have any confidence in a person, and consequently not in human praise, as by Jeremiah, "Cursed is the one who trusts in humankind."

He trusts in the Lord and will be compared to that tree of which it is sung also in the first Psalm: and he will be like a tree that has been planted beside the courses of waters, which will give its fruit in its season; and its leaf will not fall off. Upon the waters, moreover: the grace of the Holy Spirit, its diverse gifts. That sends out its roots toward moisture: that it may receive fruitfulness from the Lord; but we can also say otherwise, that we have been transplanted from the Jewish dryness into the everlasting grace of baptism. And it will not, he says, fear when the heat comes — either the time of persecution or the day of judgment — ; and its leaf will be green — or there will be twigs in leaf on it —, so that it never fears dryness, but buds with the grace of all the virtues. And when the time or the year of dryness comes, it will not be afraid, when the Lord in anger commands the clouds not to rain a shower upon Israel. And what follows, nor will it cease to bear fruit, will be able to explain that passage which is written in Mark, that the Lord came to the fig tree and did not find fruit on it, because it was not yet the time, and cursed it, that it should not bear fruit forever. For he who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence the Lord is, will not be afraid even in the time of the Jewish dryness, but will always bear fruits, believing in him who once died for us and dies no more and says: I am the life.

The apostle says, "For God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." He does not say "in the likeness of flesh," for Christ took on himself the reality, not the likeness, of flesh. Nor does he say in the likeness of sin, for he did not sin but was made sin for us. Yet he came "in the likeness of sinful flesh." That is, he took on him the likeness of sinful flesh, the likeness, because it is written, "He is man, and who shall know him?" He was man in the flesh, according to his human nature that he might be recognized, but in power he was above humanity, that he might not be recognized, so he has our flesh but has not the failings of this flesh.

On hearing this curse pronounced in the figurative language of prophecy on him that trusts in man, and the blessing in similar style on him that trusts in God, the inquirer might have doubts about our doctrine, in which we teach not only that Christ is God, so that our trust is not in man, but also that He is man because He took our nature. So some err by denying Christ's humanity, while they allow His divinity. Others, again, assert His humanity, but deny His divinity, and so either become infidels or incur the guilt of trusting in man. The inquirer, then, might say that the prophet says only that Christ is God, without any reference to His human nature; whereas, in our apostolic doctrine, Christ is not only God in whom we may safely trust, but the Mediator between God and man—the man Jesus. The prophet explains this in the words in which he seems to check himself, and to supply the omission: "His heart," he says "is sorrowful throughout; and He is man, and who shall know Him?" He is man, in order that in the form of a servant He might heal the hard in heart, and that they might acknowledge as God Him who became man for their sakes, that their trust might be not in man, but in God-man. He is man taking the form of a servant. And who shall know Him? For "He was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal to God." He is man, for "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." And who shall know Him? For "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

So also, notwithstanding the surpassing justice and wisdom of Christ, His manhood was much more plainly and readily recognized by strangers, who, indeed, were not wrong in believing Him to be man, but they did not understand His being God as well as man. Hence Jeremiah says: "He is both a man, and who shall know Him?" He is a man, for it is made manifest that He is a brother. And who shall know Him? for it is concealed that He is a husband. This must suffice as a defense of our father Abraham against Faustus' impudence and ignorance and malice.

What assurance have we that our masters will or can keep the promise which induced us to sell ourselves? Let us not be deceived by phrases about 'Man taking charge of his own destiny'. All that can really happen is that some men will take charge of the destiny of the others. They will be simply men; none perfect; some greedy, cruel and dishonest. The more completely we are planned the more powerful they will be. Have we discovered some new reason why, this time, power should not corrupt as it has done before?

It had turned from God and become its own idol, so that though it could still turn back to God, it could do so only by painful effort, and its inclination was self-ward. Hence pride and ambition, the desire to be lovely in its own eyes and to depress and humiliate all rivals, envy, and restless search for more, and still more, security, were now the attitudes that came easiest to it. It was not only a weak king over its own nature, but a bad one: it sent down into the psycho-physical organism desires far worse than the organism sent up in to it.

In an instant of time--while your friend hesitates for a word--what things pass through your mind? We have never told the whole truth. We may confess ugly facts--the meanest cowardice or the shabbiest and most prosaic impurity--but the tone is false. The very act of confessing--an infinitesimally hypocritical glance--a dash of humour--all this contrives to dissociate the facts from your very self. No one could guess how familiar and, in a sense, congenial to your soul these things were, how much of a piece with all the rest: down there, in the dreaming inner warmth, they struck no such discordant note, were not nearly so odd and detachable from the rest of you, as they seem when they are turned into words. We imply, and often believe, that habitual vices are exceptional single acts, and make the opposite mistake about our virtues--like the bad tennis player who calls his normal form his "bad days" and mistakes his rare successes for his normal. I do not think it is our fault that we cannot tell the real truth about ourselves; the persistent, life-long, inner murmur of spite, jealousy, prurience, greed and self-complacence, simply will not go into words. But the important thing is that we should not mistake our inevitably limited utterances for a full account of the worst that is inside.

How can they declare the Savior a mere man, conceived of a man's seed? How will he "not be known," as Jeremiah says of him, "he is man, but who shall know him?" For the prophet, describing him, said, "Who shall know him?" But if he meant a mere man, surely his father would know him, and his mother, his relatives and neighbors, those who lived with him and his fellow townspeople. But that which came to birth is born of Mary, while the divine Word came from above. He was truly begotten not in time and without a beginning, not of a man's seed but of the Father on high. But in the last days he consented to enter a virgin's womb and fashion his flesh from her, patterned after himself. This is why Jeremiah says, "And he is man, but who shall know him?" He came from above as God, the only-begotten, divine Word.

In his new Utopia he says, for instance, that a chief point of the Utopia will be a disbelief in original sin. If he had begun with the human soul—that is, if he had begun on himself—he would have found original sin almost the first thing to be believed in. He would have found, to put the matter shortly, that a permanent possibility of selfishness arises from the mere fact of having a self, and not from any accidents of education or ill-treatment. And the weakness of all Utopias is this, that they take the greatest difficulty of man and assume it to be overcome, and then give an elaborate account of the overcoming of the smaller ones.

Torture is not a relic of barbarism at all. In actuality it is simply a relic of sin; but in comparative history it may well be called a relic of civilisation. It has always been most artistic and elaborate when everything else was most artistic and elaborate. Thus it was detailed exquisite in the late Roman Empire, in the complex and gorgeous sixteenth century, in the centralised French monarchy a hundred years before the Revolution, and in the great Chinese civilisation to this day. This is, first and last, the frightful thing we must remember. In so far as we grow instructed and refined we are not (in any sense whatever) naturally moving away from torture. We may be moving towards torture. We must know what we are doing, if we are to avoid the enormous secret cruelty which has crowned every historic civilisation.

For this reason [it is, said], "Who shall declare His generation?" since "He is a man, and who shall recognise Him?" But he to whom the Father which is in heaven has revealed Him, knows Him, so that he understands that He who "was not born either by the will of the flesh, or by the will of man," is the Son of man, this is Christ, the Son of the living God. For I have shown from the Scriptures, that no one of the sons of Adam is as to everything, and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth. Now, the Scriptures would not have testified these things of Him, if, like others, He had been a mere man. But that He had, beyond all others, in Himself that pre-eminent birth which is from the Most High Father, and also experienced that pre-eminent generation which is from the Virgin, the divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also, that He was a man without comeliness, and liable to suffering; that He sat upon the foal of an ass; that He received for drink, vinegar and gall; that He was despised among the people, and humbled Himself even to death and that He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the clouds as the Judge of all men;—all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.

The heart of all is depraved and inscrutable; who will know it? I the Lord search the heart and prove the reins, who give to each one according to his way and according to the fruit of his devices. LXX: the heart is deep above all things, and it is man; who will know him? and so on in the same way. The Hebrew word 'enos' is written with four letters, 'aleph' and 'nun' and 'uau' and 'sin'; if, then, it is read 'enos', it means 'man'; but if 'anus', 'inscrutable' or 'desperate', because no one is able to find out the heart of men. Symmachus, however, translated this passage thus: inscrutable is the heart of all; but who is the man that can find it out? And our people are wont, with a good desire indeed but not according to knowledge, to use this passage against the Jews, to show that the Lord and Savior is a man according to the dispensation of the flesh that he assumed, and that no one can know the mystery of his birth, according to what is written: who will declare his generation?, except God alone, who searches out secrets and renders to each one according to his works. But it is better that we take it simply, that no one knows the secrets of the thoughts except God alone; for he had said above: cursed is the man who has hope in man, and on the contrary: blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Hence, lest we should think the judgment of men certain, he added that the hearts of nearly all are perverse, as the psalmist says: cleanse me from my hidden faults, O Lord, and from those of others spare your servant — no doubt, from thoughts — and in Genesis: but God, seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that every thought of the heart was intent upon evil at all times, and again: for the sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from its youth. Through these we learn that God alone knows their thoughts. But if it is said of the Savior, but Jesus, seeing their thoughts, and no one can see thoughts except God alone, then Christ is God, who searches hearts and proves the reins and will render to each one according to his works.

David also said in the forty-fourth psalm, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness. You have hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness." By this word he also shows his name, since (as I have shown above) he has called Christ from his anointing. Then, that he was also man, Jeremiah teaches, saying, "And he is a man, and who shall know him?" Also Isaiah: "And God shall send to them a man who shall save them, shall save them by judging."

For it is of him that Isaiah writes: "A man of suffering and acquainted with the bearing of weakness." Jeremiah writes: "He is man, and who has known him?" And Daniel writes: "On the clouds he came as the son of man." The apostle Paul likewise says: "The man Christ Jesus is the one mediator between God and humankind."

The Father, now that he has made him a little lower than the angels, will crown him with glory and honor and will put all things beneath his feet. Then those who pierced him will know who he is and will strike their breasts, tribe to tribe—because in fact they formerly failed to recognize him in the humility of human condition. "And he is man," says Jeremiah, "and who shall know him?" Because also, Isaiah says, "His nativity, who shall tell of it?"

For such things as these serve for exercise and trial, so that, having proved ourselves zealous and chosen servants of Christ, we may be fellow heirs with the saints. For thus Job: "The whole world is a place of trial to people on the earth." Nevertheless, they are proved in this world by afflictions, labors and sorrows, to the end that each one may receive of God such reward as is appropriate for him, as he said by the prophet, "I am the LORD who tries the hearts and searches the reins, to give to everyone according to his ways."

"And Thou shalt direct the righteous, O God, who searcheth the hearts and reins." How then can the righteous be directed but in secret? ...How then is the righteous man directed in so great confusion of pretence, save whilst God searcheth the hearts and reins; seeing all men's thoughts, which are meant by the word heart; and their delights, which are understood by the word reins? ...God then, searching our heart, and perceiving that it is there where our treasure is, that is, in heaven; searching also the reins, and perceiving that we do not assent to flesh and blood, but delight ourselves in the Lord, directs the righteous man in his inward conscience before Him, where no man seeth, but He alone who perceiveth what each man thinketh, and what delighteth each. For delight is the end of care; because to this end does each man strive by care and thought, that he may attain to his delight. He therefore seeth our cares, who searcheth the heart. He seeth too the ends of cares, that is delights, who narrowly searcheth the reins; that when He shall find that our cares incline neither to the lust of the flesh, nor to the lust of the eyes, nor to the pride of life, all which pass away as a shadow, but that they are raised upward to the joys of things eternal, which are spoilt by no change, He may direct the righteous, even He, the God who searcheth the hearts and reins. For our works, which we do in deeds and words, may be known unto men; but with what mind they are done, and to what end we would attain by means of them, He alone knoweth, the God who searcheth the hearts and reins.

But that it belongs to God only to know men's secrets, hear what saith the prophet, "Thou most entirely alone knowest the hearts;" and again, "God trieth the hearts and reins;" and Jeremiah too saith, "The heart is deep above all things, and it is man, and who shall know him?" and, "Man shall look on the face, but God on the heart." And by many things one may see, that to know what is in the mind belongs to God alone.

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. [Jeremiah 17:10] But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

God has promised that Christ will be a light and has declared that he himself is a lantern, searching the hearts and seats of affections.

The Pharisees, by justifying themselves before people, were placing in people their hope of reward. His rebuke to them had the same bearing as that of the prophet Jeremiah, "Cursed is the one who trusts in humankind." He says next, "But God knows your hearts." This was a reference to the power of that God who declared himself a shining light, "searching the hearts and the seats of emotions." If he turns with hostility toward their pride, "what is exalted among people is an abomination in the sight of God," he sets Isaiah in front of their eyes, "For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high."

The partridge has brooded — or has gathered —, what it did not bring forth — and, as the Seventy translated: the partridge cried out, it gathered what it did not bring forth —, he makes his riches not with judgment; in the half of his days he will leave them — or in the half of his days they will leave him — and at his end he will be a fool. The writers of natural history, of beasts and birds as well as of trees and plants, whose chief men among the Greeks are Aristotle and Theophrastus, and among us Pliny Secundus, say that this is the nature of the partridge: that it steals the eggs of another partridge, that is, eggs not its own, and sits on them and broods them, and that when the young have grown up, they fly away from it and leave their alien parent. Of this kind are the rich who plunder what belongs to others and, without reflecting on the judgment of God, make riches not with judgment, which they leave behind in the middle of their time, snatched away by sudden death, when it is said to them: fool, this night they will demand your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? And nothing is more foolish than not to foresee the last things and to think brief things perpetual. Others, however, both on account of the history given above and on account of another, by which they say that the partridge is most quarrelsome and unclean, so much so that it defiles the one it has vanquished, interpret the devil under its name, because he has gathered to himself riches not his own, saying to the Lord: all these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. His riches, which had been wickedly gathered by him, will leave him, and through the apostles they will return to the Lord, and he who seemed to himself most prudent will be, in the judgment of all, a fool. And what is said by the Seventy, the partridge cried out, is to be referred to the person of the heretics: that this partridge, the devil, has cried out through the chiefs of the heretics and has gathered what it did not bring forth, and has gathered to itself a multitude of the deceived, which afterwards will abandon it, and it will be proved by the judgment of all to be most foolish.

On the notorious question we have come to see who the partridge is, concerning which Scripture now says: "The partridge cried out, it gathered what it did not bring forth, making its wealth not with judgment. In the midst of his days they shall forsake him, and at his end he shall be a fool." From the study of the nature of animals we must take up what has been recorded about the partridge, so that, knowing the facts about the animal, we may know whether the partridge now spoken of ought to be assigned to a better rank or to a worse one. It is said, then, to be a most malicious and crafty and cunning animal, one that wishes to deceive those who hunt it and that often rolls about the feet of the hunter, so as to draw him away, since the animal is nearby, in order that he may not come to the nest. And whenever it guesses that it has drawn the hunter off and that the chicks have fled, then it too flies away. And the animal is so utterly unclean that the males fight one another in single combat over mating, and male mounts male. If, then, this animal is both malicious and unclean, both cunning and deceitful, it is clear that to assign it to a better rank and to say that it can be referred to the Savior appears to be impious. We must therefore see, if we wish to interpret it of the adversary, whether the whole interpretation follows consistently for us.

The mother partridge cried out; she gathered what she did not bring forth. So then, the devil does not gather his own creatures; he does not gather what he begot, but whenever he cries out, he gathers the creatures of another and makes them his own. The partridge cried out through Valentinus, the partridge cried out through Marcion, it cried out through Basilides, through all the heterodox; for none of those men could utter the voice of Jesus: "My sheep will hear my voice." But the voice of Jesus is in Paul and Peter; wherefore Paul said, "If you seek proof of the Christ who speaks in me?" And the voice of the partridge, which gathered what it did not bring forth, is among those who lead astray and deceive the simpler among believers because of their innocence and their unpreparedness. "The partridge," therefore, "cried out, she gathered what she did not bring forth, making her wealth not with judgment." The partridge grew rich. See how many are her myriads: many have become the partridge's own, the myriads of the opposing power. And she made her wealth without taking thought for judgment, nor having any judgment, but acting without discrimination. Wherefore it is said that the partridge is "making her wealth not with judgment." But my Savior makes his wealth with judgment, and his wealth is judged and chosen out.

"In the midst" of "his days they will forsake him." We all who were once under the partridge that cried out — for it cried out not only through the things previously mentioned, but also through absolutely all who deceive and, as though summoning to piety, call people to godlessness, to doctrines contrary to the truth — but "in the midst of his days" we have forsaken him. For all his days are the days of this age; but since Christ Jesus has delivered "us out of the present evil age," for this reason "in the midst of his days" we have forsaken him. "And at his end he will be a fool." For when was he ever prudent, that at his end he should become a fool? But we will say that he was prudent; for "the serpent was the most prudent of all the beasts upon the earth which the Lord God had made." He was prudent according to what is said in Isaiah: "For I will bring punishment upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians. For he said: By strength I will act, and by wisdom…"

…you may receive: "If anyone," he says, "seems to himself to be wise among you in this age, let him become a fool." He resolves it who earlier cried out: be foolish and stupid, that you may become wise. If, therefore, there is a certain blameworthy wisdom, according to which "the sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light in this generation," God is good, who overturns opposite things by their contraries, so that he may bring to fulfillment that which was said: "his last state will be foolish." When will his last state be foolish? Christ must "reign, until God puts all his enemies under his feet," and when he has subjected all things to him, "the last enemy, death, will be destroyed"; when death has been destroyed, then will come the last things of the partridge, and its last state will become foolish. So much concerning the partridge.

He has taken away from the ungodly the Holy Spirit and the prophetic rain and has replenished his church with spiritual grace, as the "river of Egypt in the time of firstfruits," and has advanced the same as a house on a hill or as a high mountain, as a mountain fruitful for milk and fatness, where God is pleased to dwell. "For the Lord will dwell there to the end." And he says in Jeremiah: "A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." And he says in Isaiah: "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of the Lord shall be on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills."

As if anticipating that the inquirer would ask next by what plain mark a young disciple, not yet able to distinguish the truth among so many errors, might find the true Church of Christ. Since the clear fulfillment of so many predictions compelled him to believe in Christ, the prophet answers this question in what follows, and teaches that the Church of Christ, which he describes prophetically, is conspicuously visible. His words are: "A glorious high throne is our sanctuary." This glorious throne is the Church of which the apostle says: "The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." The Lord also, foreseeing the conspicuousness of the Church as a help to young disciples who might be misled, says, "A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

"The glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary." Again the prophet denounces the wicked who put their hope in their riches. He exhorts them to think about the household of God, he who sits in the sacred place in the Jerusalem temple, the throne of his glory, and from there God penetrates and tests everything around him. Thus, the prophet says, "Let them know that Babylon and all the glorious kings seated on its throne were exalted and raised there by God, who dwells in our sanctuary." Therefore, kings do not have reason to hope in their own strength, and no one should be afraid of princes, because their treasures will be taken away by the judgment of truth. For the oppression of the oppressed, oppressors will perish as the result of their own oppressive actions.

A throne of glory of the height from the beginning, the place of our sanctification, the expectation of Israel, O Lord, all who leave you will be confounded! Let those who depart be written in the earth, since they have forsaken the vein — or fountain — of living waters, the Lord. The partridge being forsaken for its folly, the expectation of Israel, that is, of the people of God and of the one who believes in the Lord, is he himself who made all things, whose throne is glorious and exalted from the beginning, and who is the place of sanctification of all believers; so that the Lord is not in a place, but wherever he is, that place is sanctified. On the contrary, those who forsake the Lord will be confounded with perpetual confusion, and departing or turning aside from him they will be written in the earth, blotted out from the book of the living. For just as he who can say with the Apostle, but our citizenship is in heaven, is written in the heavenly places, so he who leaves the Lord or turns aside from him will be written in the earth with those who mind earthly things. And the cause is plain why they are written in the earth: because they have left the fountain of life, the Lord, or the fountain of living waters, the Lord, who speaks in the Gospel: if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly. Now this he said of the Spirit, which those who believed were to receive.

Now the beginning of the second chapter, which was read, is this: "A throne of glory exalted from the beginning is our place, our sanctification, our support, the support of Israel. O Lord, let all who have forsaken you be put to shame; departing, let them be written upon the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of life." The blessed prophet Isaiah said, seeing the Lord and his kingdom: "I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne lofty and lifted up." Jeremiah too saw how God reigns, on account of which, glorifying him, he says: "A throne of glory exalted from the beginning is our place, our sanctification." Whether you should wish to understand these words of Christ, you will not err, or of the Father, you will not think impiously: for the Savior is a lofty throne of glory and is from the beginning. "A throne of glory," because of which his kingdom is exalted; "our sanctification." [Our sanctification] is Christ; for "both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one."

[Daniel 7:10] "There were millions ministering unto Him, and a billion stood by His side." This was not intended to be a specific number for the servants of God, but only indicates a multitude too great for human computation. These are the thousands and tens of thousands of which we read in the Psalms: "The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice. The Lord is among them" (Psalm 68:17). And in another place: "He who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire" (Psalm 104:4). Now the duty of angels is twofold: the duty of one group is to bestow rewards upon just men; the duty of the other is to have charge over individual calamities.

"...The court was in session, and the books were opened." The consciences of men, and the deeds of individuals which partake of either character, whether good or bad, are disclosed to all. One of the books is the good book of which we often read, namely the book of the living. The other is the evil book which is held in the hand of the accuser, who is the fiend and avenger of whom we read in Revelation: "The accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10). This is the earthly book of which the prophet says: "Let them be written on earth" (Jeremiah 17:13).

We must therefore not doubt that at the time when he was chosen by Christ and obtained a place in the apostolate, the name of Judas was written in the book of the living, and then he heard as well as the rest the words, "Rejoice not because the devils are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven." But because he was corrupted by the plague of covetousness and had his name struck out from that heavenly list, it is appropriately said of him and of people like him by the prophet: "O Lord, let all those who forsake you be confounded. Let them who depart from you be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters." And elsewhere, "They shall not be in the counsel of my people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel."

And again when all their efforts are exhausted and they have failed to deceive us, they must "be confounded and be ashamed" at the failure of their efforts, "who seek our souls to destroy them. Let them be covered with shame and confusion who desire evil against us." Jeremiah also says, "Let them be confounded, and let not me be confounded; let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid; bring on them the fury of your wrath, and with a double destruction destroy them."

"The endurance of Israel." Just as the Savior is righteousness-itself, truth-itself, sanctification-itself, so also he is endurance-itself. And it is not possible either to be righteous apart from Christ, or holy apart from him, or to endure without having Christ. For he himself is the endurance of Israel. And even if you refer it to God, not even so will you be committing impiety.

"O Lord, let all who forsake you be put to shame, having departed from you." Each one of us, whenever he sins, through the things by which he sins forsakes Christ, and having forsaken Christ he forsakes God. For in doing wrong he forsakes righteousness, and in becoming profane he forsakes sanctification, and in making war he forsakes peace, and in coming to be under the enemy he forsakes redemption, and in being outside the wisdom of God he forsakes wisdom. To all, then, who forsake God the prophet utters an imprecation, teaching us what will befall them, saying, "Let all who forsake you be put to shame." As far as they have departed, let them be put to shame just so far. "Let them be written upon the earth." All human beings are written: the saints in heaven, but the sinners upon the earth. It is said to the disciples by Jesus, "Rejoice that your names are written in the heavens." Therefore one ought to rejoice, if he becomes such a person that his name is inscribed in the heavens. And just as the name of the saints is inscribed in the heavens, so the names of those who conduct their lives in an earthly manner — those who do not pass by the land of Edom but hold the fields of the land of Edom and the vineyards — are written, as of those who forsake God, upon the earth. For it says, "Let them be put to shame, having departed; let them be written upon the earth." For indeed, "with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you." Each is the cause to himself of his being written. So if you seek the things upon earth, you do not seek the things of heaven. If your soul has inclined toward the affairs of this place, you become the cause to yourself, since Jesus says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Do you lay up treasure in heaven? You are the cause to yourself of your name being inscribed in the heavens. These things are on account of the phrase "Let them be written upon the earth." And he states the reason: "Because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of life." And at the beginning the same prophet said, in the person of God, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of the water of life," and now, "They have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of life." Let us too, then, say — if indeed we wish not to forsake the Lord, the fountain of life — the utterance of the genuine disciples of Jesus, which they spoke to the teacher when he said to them, "Do you also wish to go away?" What, then, shall we say? "Lord, to whom shall we go away? You have the words of eternal life."

No evil person does good. And if no evil person does good, how could an evil person make himself good? He who is eternally good can make an evil person good. "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved."

So, the reason that we, being bad, have a good Father is in order that we may not always remain bad. No bad person can make a good one. If no bad person can make a good one, how can a bad person make himself good? The only one who can make a good person out of a bad one is the one who is always good. "Heal me, Lord," he says, "and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved."

He says to him who alone is the true physician, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. You are my praise and my hope."

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, since you are my praise! Many physicians in the Gospel had treated the woman with the issue of blood, who had spent all her substance on them, and yet she could be cured by none except by him who is the true physician and in whose wings is healing. Hence now too the prophet, having suffered reproaches from the people and having been often beset by plots, desires to be healed and to be saved by him who is his true praise and his true medicine.

Then again there is a prayer that runs thus: "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my boast. Behold, they say to me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.' But I have not grown weary in following after you, and I have not desired the day of man, you know it." To him alone who came for the sake of those who are sick, the physician who says, "Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are sick," everyone who wishes to be cured of the sickness of his soul may confidently say, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed." But if anyone else besides him professes the healing of souls, you would not be speaking truly if you said to that one, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed." For that woman too who "had a flow of blood" spent "all that she had" on the physicians, and "was not able to be healed by any of them"; for to none of those was it reasonable to say, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed," but only to the one whom it suffices to touch "the fringe of his garment." I say therefore to this one: "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed"; for if you heal, the end will follow upon the healing that comes from you, the cure, so that I may be saved. But however many others may save, I shall not be saved; but the only and true salvation is if Christ saves, since then I shall be saved. "A horse is false for salvation," and false too are all the other things apart from God for salvation. Therefore I would say to him: "Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved." And I say this, if I am also able to say what follows by having renounced every boast, so that I may say, "For you are my boast," or when I fulfill the commandment that says, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches, but rather let him who boasts boast in this, to understand and to know that I am the Lord." Blessed therefore is he who has renounced all boasting here below, such as in what is called nobility of birth and in beauty and in bodily things, in wealth, in glory, and who is content with one boast, so that he may say, "For you are my boast."

Behold, they say to me: where is the word of the Lord? Let it come! But I was not troubled, following you as shepherd — or I have not labored following you — and I have not desired the day of man; you know. What went out from my lips was right in your sight — or is before your face —. Do not be a terror to me, my hope in the day of affliction, or do not become a stranger to me, sparing me in the worst day! Those who do not think that what has been spoken will come say to the prophet: where is the word of the Lord? let it come!, judging the delay to be a setting aside of the sentence.

For I love those presbyters and deacons who when they have performed their mission will not allow themselves to remain absent any longer from their duties. For the prophet says, I have not been weary in following thee. And who can be weary in following Jesus, when He Himself says, Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Let us therefore never cease from following Jesus, which if we do we shall never fail, for He gives strength to them that follow Him. The more nearly you approach to the Source of power the stronger you will be. Often, while we are thus following Him, the adversaries say to us, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now. But let us not grow weary in following Him, let us not be turned aside by meeting with this crafty question. It was said to the prophet, when he was thrown into prison, when he was cast into the pit of mire, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now. But he followed him so much the more, and therefore attained the prize, and received the crown; for following Jesus he was not weary; for there is no weariness in Jacob, neither shall sorrow be in Israel.

The Lord has indeed made every day—not only has made but also continues to make. I mean, he makes every day as follows: he makes his sun rise on the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust. So we are not to imagine that this ordinary kind of day, which is common to good and bad alike, is meant in this place, where we heard, "This is the day that the Lord has made." What particular sort of day can it be when it says, "Let us exult and be joyful in it"? What sort, but a good one? What sort, but a very choice, lovable, desirable one, the sort about which Jeremiah said, "And I have not yearned for the day of men, you know it well"?

Further, also, it is written concerning the Sabbath in the Decalogue which [the Lord] spoke, face to face, to Moses on Mount Sinai, "And sanctify ye the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart." And He says in another place, "If my sons keep the Sabbath, then will I cause my mercy to rest upon them." The Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of the creation [thus]: "And God made in six days the works of His hands, and made an end on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it." Attend, my children, to the meaning of this expression, "He finished in six days." This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day is with Him a thousand years. And He Himself testifieth, saying, "Behold, to-day will be as a thousand years." Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. "And He rested on the seventh day." This meaneth: when His Son, coming [again], shall destroy the time of the wicked man, and judge the ungodly, and change the-sun, and the moon, and the stars, then shall He truly rest on the seventh day. Moreover, He says, "Thou shalt sanctify it with pure hands and a pure heart." If, therefore, any one can now sanctify the day which God hath sanctified, except he is pure in heart in all things, we are deceived. Behold, therefore: certainly then one properly resting sanctifies it, when we ourselves, having received the promise, wickedness no longer existing, and all things having been made new by the Lord, shall be able to work righteousness. Then we shall be able to sanctify it, having been first sanctified ourselves. Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbath I cannot endure." Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead. And when He had manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.

Let us give thanks to God, and let us ask him in his good will to be our shield and crown, that we may never depart from him and that we may follow him and declare with Jeremiah, "I was not weary of following you." To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

But while they are saying these things, he says: 'I was not troubled, nor did I labor, following you as shepherd, or walking in your footsteps; nor was I content to stop there, but I have not desired the day of man, either a longer life or any of the prosperities of this world'. And he calls the same one as witness whom he calls as judge: you have known. There follows: what went out from my lips was right in your sight, meaning that he never lied, that he said nothing contrary to the will of the Lord.

For it is but little for a monk to have once made his renunciation, that is, in the early days of his conversion to have disregarded the present world, unless he continues to renounce it daily. For to the very end of this life we must with the prophet say this: "And I have not desired the day of man, you know it well." Wherefore also the Lord says in the Gospel: "If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

"Behold, they say to me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.' But I have not grown weary in following after you." Jesus says to you, "Take up your cross, and follow me," and "Leave all things, and follow me," and "Whoever will not forsake his father and his mother and follow after me is not worthy to be my disciple." If, then, you become such a one as to follow Jesus always, you will indeed follow, and however far you follow you will not grow weary; for "there shall be no toil in Jacob, nor shall trouble be seen in Israel." There is no weariness for the one who follows Jesus; the very act of following takes away the weariness. For this reason he himself says—so that we may toil no longer, having toiled before we began to follow him—"Come to me, all you who toil and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." If, then, though toiling we come to him and follow him, we shall say, "But I have not grown weary in following after you."

And to this it follows that we should also speak of the words "I have not desired the day of man." There is a certain day of man, and there is a certain day of God. Let each one of us desire the day of the resurrection of the saints, not that day of which it is written: "Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord; and this day is darkness and not light." Who is it that says, "And I have not desired the day of man"? The plain sense of the passage will convict us, that we have desired the day of man. Often, when we have fallen sick and have come to imagine death upon our departure, we entreat the brethren who watch over us and say: Ask for me a respite, ask that I may remain in this life. In saying these things we do not desire the holy day of God, but the day of man. Wherefore, having laid aside the love of life and the desiring of a human day, let us seek to see that day in which we shall attain the blessedness that is in Christ Jesus, to whom belong the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.

Do not, he says, be a terror to me, my hope in the day of affliction! This is clear according to the Hebrew; but according to what the Seventy translated, saying, do not become to me as a stranger, sparing me in the evil day, the sense is: 'do not spare me in the present world, which is evil, but render to me according to my sins, so that I may have everlasting rest! for I know that it is written: whom the Lord loves, he reproves; and he scourges every son whom he receives'. But the evil day is either the whole world or the day of judgment for those who are tormented on account of their sins.

Let those who persecute me be confounded, and let me not be confounded! Let them tremble, and let me not tremble! Bring upon them the day of affliction, and crush them with a double crushing! The prophet calls down imprecations against those who taunt him with the word of the Lord and say, where is the word of the Lord? let it come: that those who persecute him may be confounded, and may blush and return to salvation; that they, who lie, may tremble, and not he, who foretells true things; and that, when the day of vengeance has come, he may crush them with a double crushing, famine and sword.

Thus says the Lord to me: go and stand in the gate — or in the gates — of the sons of the people, through which [gate] — or through which [gates] — the kings of Judah go in and go out, in all the gates of Jerusalem, and you shall say to them: hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and all Judah — or Judea — and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who go in through these gates! 'Since', he says, 'they scorn to hear your words and do not come to you to inquire what the sentence of God may be, go you to the most frequented place, either of the gates of the temple or of those of the city, through which the kings and all the common people go in and go out, so that they may be compelled by necessity to hear, and you may preach the word of God out of season and in season, and no excuse may remain to them that they did not do it because they did not hear'.

Thus says the Lord: guard your souls, and do not carry weights on the sabbath day, nor bring them in through the gates of Jerusalem! And do not cast out loads from your houses on the sabbath day, and you shall do no work, and sanctify the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers! And they did not hear, nor did they incline their ear, and they hardened their neck — and what is not found in the Hebrew: above their fathers —, that they might not hear me and might not receive instruction. And it shall be, he says, if you hear me, says the Lord, so as not to bring in loads through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, and if you sanctify the sabbath day, so as not to do any work on it, there will enter through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David and mounting in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. And they will come from the cities of Judah and from round about Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the plains and from the hill country and from the south, bringing burnt offering and victims — or incense offerings — and sacrifice — or manna — and frankincense, and they will bring in an offering — or praise — into the house of the Lord. But if you will not hear me, to sanctify the sabbath day and not to carry a load and not to bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the houses of Jerusalem and will not be extinguished. Lest I should tear in pieces the precept of the sabbath renewed through Jeremiah, I have chosen to set it out whole, so that we may know everything together. He guards his soul who does not carry the weights of sins on the day of 'rest' and of sabbath, nor bring them in through the gates of Jerusalem, which we ought to take as the virtues.

And do not, he says, cast out loads from your houses — for they are not to be carried, but utterly cast away — and do no work — either servile work or that of which it is written: food for the belly and the belly for foods; but God will destroy both it and them —, but that work is to be worked of which the Savior speaks: 'work the work that does not perish!' Sanctify, he says, the sabbath day, so that we may spend all the time of our life in sanctification, as our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did.

And when God had commanded these things, they did not incline their ear — that of the mind, surely, not of the flesh —, but they hardened their neck, rejecting the yoke of the law and, by metaphoran [metaphor], bearing the likeness of untamed animals.

Let us see what is the reward of those who do not carry loads on the sabbath day and who sanctify it. There will enter, he says, through the gates of this city kings, whose heart is in the hand of God and who reign over their bodies, and princes sitting upon the throne of David, so that they imitate the example of Christ, and mounting in chariots and on horses, of which it is written: the chariot of God is ten thousandfold, manifold, thousands of those who rejoice; the Lord is among them in Sinai, in the holy place, and elsewhere: your riding is salvation: every man who 'confesses' God and who dwells in Jerusalem, of which it has been said: was made in Salem, that is, in peace, his place, and his dwelling in Zion; and the Church of God will be inhabited forever.

And they will come from the cities of Judah and from round about Jerusalem, of which we have already spoken, and from the land of Benjamin, who is the 'son' 'of power' and 'of the right hand', and from the plains, which in Hebrew is called 'sefela' and signifies the plain understanding of the history, and from the hill country, namely the lofty doctrines, and from the south, of which it is written, God will come from the south, whence comes heat and full light, and where all cold is driven out. Bringing, he says, burnt offerings — consecrating themselves to God — and a victim or incense, so that they may say: a sacrifice to the Lord is a troubled spirit, and: we are the good odor of Christ in every place, and elsewhere: let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight; and sacrifice, for which the Seventy put the Hebrew word itself, 'manaa', which by a very bad custom, nay rather by the carelessness of scribes, is read in our books as 'manna'; and frankincense, of which it has been said, to what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Sheba?; and they will bring in an offering, which in Hebrew is called 'thoda' and can be rendered as 'thanksgiving', and which the Seventy translated as 'praise'. Into the house of David: no doubt, into the Church. These are the rewards of those who sanctify the sabbath and are weighed down by no weight.

'But if', he says, 'you will not hear my precepts, and do the things which I commanded not to be done, I will kindle a fire in its gates' — that is, of Jerusalem: that fire of which it is said, all committing adultery, like an oven, their hearts —, 'which will devour the houses or streets of Jerusalem' — which the Seventy translated as amphoda, Aquila and Symmachus as bareis, that is, 'towered houses', and which are called in Hebrew 'armanoth' — 'and this burning will never be extinguished', as the Apostle says: the fire will test what sort each one's work is, and again: if anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. But if our Judaizers reject the figurative explanation, they will be compelled either to be Jews and, with the observance of the sabbath, to circumcise their foreskins, or else to find fault with the Savior, who on the sabbath commanded the paralytic to carry his bed, as the evangelist says: for this reason the Jews sought all the more to kill him, not only because he was breaking the sabbath, but also because he said that God was his own Father, making himself equal to God.