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insignificance persuades him to overlook our salvation. 2. Since, therefore, his providence for the small and least is so great, and so great for the many, casting everything upon the influence from there, let us bring our discourse to the saying of Paul that was read today. And what is the saying? For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle, he says, were dissolved But rather, let us go further up and to the very head of the thought. For just as some, when tracing a spring, then seeing a water-soaked spot, do not just dig there, but guided by the moisture itself and the vein, they proceed inward until they come to the root and the source of the streams; so let us also do. Having found a spiritual spring issuing from the wisdom of Paul, being guided as by some vein of the saying, let us ascend to the very root of the thought. What then is the head and the root? But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed, therefore 51.274 I have spoken; we also believe, and therefore we speak. What do you say? if you do not believe, you do not speak, but stand speechless? Yes, he says; I am not able to open my mouth without faith, nor move my tongue, nor part my lips, I, a rational being, stand speechless without the teaching from thence. For just as, if a root has not been planted, fruit would not sprout; so, if faith has not been laid down beforehand, a word of teaching would not come forth. For this reason he also says elsewhere: With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. What could be better than, or equal to, this tree, when not only the branches, but also the root itself bears fruit, the one righteousness, and the others salvation? For this reason he says: We believe, and therefore we speak. For just as a staff, safely guiding limbs that are trembling and enfeebled by old age, does not allow them to slip and fall, so also our soul, shaken and carried about by the weakness of our reasonings, faith, drawing it more safely than a staff, and making it rest on the power of its own strength, supports it with exactness, and never allows it to be tripped up, correcting the weakness of its reasonings by the abundance of its own strength, and driving away the gloom from it, and illumining with its own light the soul that sits, as in a dark house, in the tumult of its reasonings. For this reason, those who are deprived of this are in no better condition than those who live in darkness, but just as they stumble against walls, and dash against those they meet, and are carried down into chasms and precipices, and their eyes are of no use to them, since there is no guiding light; so also those deprived of faith have both dashed against one another, and stumbled against walls, and finally, carrying themselves to the abyss of destruction, have cast themselves down. 3. And witnesses to these words are those who boast of external wisdom, those who think great things of their beard, and their cloak, and their staff. For after long and many courses of arguments, they did not see the stones lying before their eyes; for if they had seen them as stones, they would not have considered them to be gods. And they dashed against each other, and were carried down into the deepest precipice of impiety, from no other cause than from entrusting all their affairs to reasonings. And Paul, declaring this, said: They became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing to be wise, they became fools. Then, stating the proof of the darkness and the folly, he added: They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

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εὐτέλεια ὑπεριδεῖν αὐτὸν πείθει τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν. βʹ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοσαύτη μὲν αὐτῷ τῶν μικρῶν καὶ ἐλαχίστων ἡ πρόνοια, τοσαύτη δὲ τῶν πολλῶν, τὸ πᾶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ῥοπὴν ῥίψαντες, ἐπὶ τὴν Παύλου ῥῆσιν τὴν σήμερον ἀναγνωσθεῖσαν τὸν λόγον ἀγάγωμεν. Τίς δὲ ἡ ῥῆσις; Οἴδαμεν γὰρ, ὅτι ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους, φησὶ, καταλυθῇ Μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνωτέρω καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὴν τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ νοήματος ἴωμεν. Καθάπερ γάρ τινες πηγὴν ἀνιχνεύοντες, εἶτα διάβροχον ἰδόντες χωρίον, οὐκ ἐκεῖ διασκάπτουσι μόνον, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς νοτίδος αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς φλεβὸς χειραγωγούμενοι ἐνδοτέρω χωροῦσιν, ἕως ἂν ἐπὶ τὴν ῥίζαν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν ναμάτων ἔλθωσιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ποιήσωμεν. Πηγὴν εὑρόντες πνευματικὴν ἐκ τῆς Παύλου σοφίας ἐξιοῦσαν, ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος φλεβὸς τῆς ῥήσεως χειραγωγούμενοι, πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν αὐτὴν ἀναβῶμεν τοῦ νοήματος. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ καὶ ἡ ῥίζα; Ἔχοντες δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πίστεως, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ 51.274 ἐλάλησα· καὶ ἡμεῖς πιστεύομεν, διὸ καὶ λαλοῦμεν. Τί λέγεις; ἂν μὴ πιστεύσῃς, οὐ λαλεῖς, ἀλλὰ ἄφωνος ἕστηκας; Ναὶ, φησίν· οὐδὲ διᾶραι στόμα δύναμαι χωρὶς πίστεως, οὐδὲ κινῆσαι γλῶτταν, οὐδὲ ἀνοῖξαι χείλη, ἄφωνος ὁ λογικὸς ἕστηκα χωρὶς τῆς ἐκεῖθεν διδασκαλίας. Καθάπερ γὰρ, ῥίζης μὴ πεφυτευμένης, οὐκ ἂν βλαστήσειε καρπός· οὕτω, πίστεως μὴ προκαταβεβλημένης, οὐκ ἂν προέλθοι διδασκαλίας λόγος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησι· Καρδίᾳ πιστεύεται εἰς δικαιοσύνην, στόματι δὲ ὁμολογεῖται εἰς σωτηρίαν. Τί τοῦ δένδρου τούτου βέλτιον, ἢ ἴσον γένοιτ' ἂν, ὅταν μὴ οἱ κλάδοι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ῥίζα φέρῃ καρπὸν, ἡ μὲν δικαιοσύνην, οἱ δὲ σωτηρίαν; ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι· Πιστεύομεν, διὸ καὶ λαλοῦμεν. Καθάπερ γὰρ τὰ ὑπότρομα μέλη καὶ τῷ γήρᾳ παρειμένα βακτηρία μετὰ ἀσφαλείας χειραγωγοῦσα οὐκ ἀφίησιν ὀλισθῆσαι καὶ καταπεσεῖν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἡμετέραν σεσαλευμένην καὶ περιφερομένην ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν λογισμῶν ἀσθενείας, βακτηρίας ἀσφαλέστερον ἡ πίστις ἕλκουσα, καὶ τῇ τῆς οἰκείας ἰσχύος ἐπαναπαύουσα δυνάμει, στηρίζει μετὰ ἀκριβείας, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίησιν ὑποσκελισθῆναί ποτε, τὸ τῶν λογισμῶν ἀσθενὲς τῇ τῆς οἰκείας ἰσχύος περιουσίᾳ διορθουμένη, καὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀπελαύνουσα ζόφον, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν, ὥσπερ ἐν οἴκῳ σκοτεινῷ, τῷ θορύβῳ τῶν λογισμῶν καθημένην τῷ οἰκείῳ φωτὶ καταυγάζουσα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οἱ ταύτης ἀπεστερημένοι, τῶν ἐν σκότει διατριβόντων οὐδὲν ἄμεινον διάκεινται, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ τοίχοις προσπταίουσι, καὶ τοῖς ἀπαντῶσι προσρήγνυνται, καὶ εἰς βάραθρα καὶ κρημνοὺς καταφέρονται, καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῖς ὄφελος οὐδὲν, οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ χειραγωγοῦντος φωτός· οὕτω καὶ οἱ τῆς πίστεως ἀπεστερημένοι, καὶ ἀλλήλοις προσεῤῥάγησαν, καὶ τοίχοις προσέπταισαν, καὶ τέλος εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀπωλείας βάραθρον φέροντες ἑαυτοὺς κατεκρήμνισαν. γʹ. Καὶ μάρτυρες τῶν λόγων τούτων οἱ τὴν ἔξωθεν αὐχοῦντες σοφίαν, οἱ μέγα ἐπὶ τῷ πώγωνι, καὶ τῷ τρίβωνι, καὶ τῇ βακτηρίᾳ φρονοῦντες. Μετὰ γὰρ μακροὺς καὶ πολλοὺς διαύλους λόγων, τοὺς πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν κειμένους λίθους οὐκ εἶδον· εἰ γὰρ ὡς λίθους αὐτοὺς ἑώρων, οὐκ ἂν αὐτοὺς ἐνόμισαν εἶναι θεούς. Καὶ ἀλλήλοις δὲ προσεῤῥάγησαν, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τῆς ἀσεβείας τὸν βαθύτατον κρημνὸν κατηνέχθησαν, οὐδαμόθεν ἄλλοθεν, ἀλλ' ἢ διὰ τὸ λογισμοῖς ἐπιτρέψαι τὰ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἅπαντα. Καὶ τοῦτο ὁ Παῦλος δηλῶν ἔλεγεν· Ἐματαιώθησαν ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ἡ ἀσύνετος αὐτῶν καρδία· φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοὶ, ἐμωράνθησαν. Εἶτα λέγων τοῦ σκότους καὶ τῆς μωρίας τὴν ἀπόδειξιν, ἐπήγαγεν· Ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου Θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ πετεινῶν, καὶ τετραπόδων, καὶ ἑρπετῶν.