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then the third time it was poured over the altar, a beginning was made for the fire, and it kindled the flame as if it were oil. Take for me, he says, water-jars, and pour upon the whole burnt offering and upon the cleft wood. And he said: Do it a second time, and they did it a second time; Do it a third time, and they did it a third time, the account showing that through baptism the one who is brought forward is made God's own, and that a pure and heavenly light shines forth in the souls of those who approach through faith in the Trinity. If I were distributing gold to the church, would you not have said to me: I will come tomorrow, and you will give it tomorrow; but you would already be demanding the distribution, pressing, and you would be vexed at the delay; but since the great-giver proposes to you not the beauty of matter, but the purity of the soul, you invent excuses and enumerate reasons, when you ought to rush to the gift. O the wonder! You are renewed, without being melted down; you are re-formed, without being crushed; you are healed, without being in pain, and you do not consider the grace. If you were a slave of men, and freedom was proclaimed for slaves, would you not have gone to the mistress, hiring advocates, and appealing to judges, so as to be set free for liberty by every device? Or perhaps you would even accept a blow, the last scourge of slaves, for the sake of the subsequent release from torments. But since the herald calls you, being a slave not of men but of sin, to freedom, so that he might release you from captivity, and make you a fellow-citizen with the angels, and show you to be an adopted son of God through grace, and an heir of the good things of Christ; you say it is not yet time for you to receive the things that are given. O the wicked hindrances! O the shameful and fruitless business! How long pleasures? How long sensual indulgence?

We have lived a long time for the world, let us live henceforth also for ourselves. What is a worthy exchange for a soul? What is of equal weight to the kingdom of heaven? Who is a more trustworthy counselor for you than God? Who is wiser than the Wise One? or who is more beneficial than the Good One? Who is more kindred than the Creator? It did not even profit Eve to be persuaded by the serpent's counsel rather than by the Master's. O the absurdity of the words! I have no leisure to be made well; do not yet show me the light; do not yet join me to the King. Do you not say these things openly? Or rather, things more irrational than these. But you, if you were enrolled in the public debts, and a cancellation of debts was announced for those liable, and then there was someone who maliciously tried to make you have no share in this forgiveness; you would be indignant and you would cry out, as being deprived of your proper share of the common grace. But since not only a release from the past, but also gifts for the future were proclaimed, you, wronging yourself with things which not even one of your enemies would have inflicted on you, 31.432 think that you have deliberated properly, and have considered things expediently for yourself, you who do not accept the release, but are dying in your debts? and this though you know that the debtor of ten thousand talents would have obtained release, if he had not renewed the collection for himself by his inhumanity toward his fellow slave.

This we must also guard against suffering, when we obtain grace, by not forgiving our debtors, so that the gift may remain secure for us. Enter into the chamber of your soul, stir up the memory of your deeds. If your sins are many, do not be disheartened by their number; For where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, if you accept the grace; for he who owes much, will also have much forgiven, so that he may love more. But if your sins are small and trivial, and not unto death, why are you anxious about the future, you who have nobly borne the past, and this when you were not yet being instructed by the law? Now consider your soul to be standing as if on a scale, being pulled from one side by angels, and from the other by demons. To whom then will you give the inclination of your heart? What with you

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τρίτον τότε τοῦ βωμοῦ κατεχύθη, ἀρχὴ ἐγένετο τῷ πυρὶ, καὶ ἐξῆψε τὴν φλόγα ὥσπερ ἔλαιον. Λάβετέ μοι, φησὶν, ὑδρίας, καὶ ἐπιχέετε ἐπὶ τὸ ὁλοκαύτωμα καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς σχίδακας. Καὶ εἶπε· ∆ευτερώσατε, καὶ ἐδευτέρωσαν· Τρισσώ σατε, καὶ ἐτρίσσωσαν δεικνύντος τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος τῷ Θεῷ οἰκειοῦται ὁ προσ αγόμενος, καὶ ὅτι φῶς καθαρὸν καὶ οὐράνιον ἐν ταῖς τῶν προσιόντων ψυχαῖς διὰ τῆς εἰς τὴν Τριάδα πίστεως ἀναλάμπει. Εἰ χρυσὸν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ διένε μον, οὐκ ἄν μοι εἶπες· Αὔριον ἥξω, καὶ αὔριον δώ σεις· ἀλλ' ἀπῄτεις ἂν ἤδη τὴν διανομὴν κατεπεί γων, καὶ ἐδυσφόρεις πρὸς τὴν ὑπέρθεσιν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐχ ὕλης εὔχροιαν, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς καθαρότητα προτεί νεταί σοι ὁ μεγαλόδωρος, προφάσεις πλάττῃ καὶ αἰ τίας ἀπαριθμῇ, δέον ἐπιτρέχειν τῷ δώρῳ. Ὢ τοῦ θαύ ματος! ἀνακαινίζῃ, μὴ χωνευόμενος· ἀναπλάττῃ, μὴ συντριβόμενος· θεραπεύῃ, μὴ ὀδυνώμενος, καὶ οὐ λογίζῃ τὴν χάριν. Εἰ δοῦλος ἀνθρώπων ἦσθα, προ εγράφη δὲ δούλοις ἐλευθερία, οὐκ ἂν ἐπὶ τὴν κυρίαν ἀπήντησας, συνηγόρους μισθούμενος, καὶ δικαστὰς παρακαλῶν, ὥστε πάσῃ μηχανῇ πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν ἐξαιρεθῆναι; Ἤ που καὶ ῥάπισμα, τὴν τελευταίαν τῶν δούλων πληγὴν, ὑπὲρ τῆς μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν αἰκι σμῶν ἀπαλλαγῆς κατεδέχου. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ δοῦλον ὄντα σε, οὐκ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καλεῖ πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν ὁ κῆρυξ, ἵνα λύσῃ μέν σε τῆς αἰχμαλω σίας, ἰσοπολίτην δὲ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ποιήσῃ, καὶ υἱὸν μὲν ἀποδείξῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσποιηθέντα διὰ τῆς χά ριτος, κληρονόμον δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ· οὔπω λέγεις εἶναί σοι καιρὸν δέξασθαι τὰ διδόμενα. Ὢ τῶν πονηρῶν ἐμποδίων! ὢ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς καὶ ἀτελέστου ἀσχολίας! Ἕως πότε ἡδοναί; ἕως πότε ἡδυπάθειαι;

Πολὺν ἐζήσαμεν χρόνον τῷ κόσμῳ, ζήσωμεν λοιπὸν καὶ ἑαυτοῖς. Τί ψυχῆς ἀντάξιον; Τί ἰσοστάσιον τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν; Τίς ἀξιοπιστότερός σοι σύμ βουλος τοῦ Θεοῦ; Τίς φρονιμώτερος τοῦ σοφοῦ; ἢ τίς ὠφελιμώτερος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ; Τίς τοῦ κτίσαντος οἰκειότερος; Οὐδὲ τῇ Εὔᾳ συνήνεγκε τῇ τοῦ ὄφεως συμβουλῇ πεισθῆναι μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ τοῦ ∆εσπότου. Ὢ τῆς ἀτοπίας τῶν λόγων! Οὐκ ἄγω σχολὴν ὑγιᾶναι· μήπω μοι δείξῃς τὸ φῶς· μήπω συνάψῃς τῷ Βασιλεῖ. Οὐ ταῦτα λέγεις ἄντικρυς; Μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ τούτων ἀλο γιστότερα. Σὺ δὲ, εἰ μὲν ἦς ἐγγεγραμμένος τοῖς δη μοσίοις ὀφλήμασι, χρεῶν δὲ ἀποκοπαὶ τοῖς ὑπευθύ νοις περιηγγέλθησαν, εἶτά τις ἦν ὁ πρὸς ἐπήρειαν ἄμοιρόν σε ποιῆσαι τῆς συγχωρήσεως ταύτης ἐπιχει ρῶν· ἠγανάκτεις ἂν καὶ ἐβόας, ὡς τὸ ἐπιβάλλον σοι μέρος τῆς κοινῆς χάριτος ἀφαιρούμενος. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐ μόνον ἄφεσις τῶν παρελθόντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ δωρεαὶ τῶν μελλόντων προεκηρύχθησαν, αὐτὸς σεαυτὸν ἀδι κῶν, ἃ μηδ' ἂν τῶν ἐχθρῶν σοί τις ἐπηρεάσατο, 31.432 οἴει προσηκόντως βεβουλεῦσθαι, καὶ λυσιτελῶς ἐντε θυμῆσθαι περὶ σεαυτοῦ, ὅς γε οὐ δέχῃ τὴν ἄφεσιν, ἀλλ' ἐναποθνήσκεις τοῖς ὀφλήμασι; καὶ ταῦτα εἰδὼς, ὅτι ὁ τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων χρεωφειλέτης ἔτυχεν ἂν τῆς ἀφέσεως, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ τὴν εἴσπραξιν ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὸν ὁμόδουλον ἀπανθρωπίας ἀνενεώσατο.

Ὃ καὶ ἡμῖν φυλακτέον μὴ πάθωμεν, ἐπειδὰν τῆς χά ριτος τύχωμεν, μὴ ἀφιέντες τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν, ἵνα βέβαιον ἡμῖν παραμείνῃ τὸ δῶρον. Εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖόν σου τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀνακίνησόν σου τῶν πεπραγμένων τὴν μνήμην. Εἰ μὲν πολλά σού ἐστι τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, μὴ ἀθυμήσῃς τῷ πλήθει· Ὅπου γὰρ ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὑπερεπερίσσευ σεν ἡ χάρις, ἐὰν δέχῃ τὴν χάριν· τῷ γὰρ ὀφείλοντι πολὺ πολὺ καὶ ἀφεθήσεται, ἵνα περισσότερον ἀγαπήσῃ. Εἰ δὲ μικρὰ καὶ εὐτελῆ, καὶ οὐ πρὸς θάνατόν σου τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, τί ἀγωνιᾷς τὸ μέλλον, ὅς γε οὐκ ἀγεν νῶς τὰ παρελθόντα διήνεγκας, καὶ ταῦτα οὔπω τῷ νόμῳ παιδαγωγούμενος; Νῦν ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τρυτάνης ἑστάναι νόμιζέ σου τὴν ψυχὴν, ἔνθεν ὑπ' ἀγγέλων, κἀκεῖθεν ὑπὸ δαιμόνων διελκομένην. Τίσιν ἄρα δώσεις τὴν ῥοπὴν τὴν καρδίας; Τί παρὰ σοὶ