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reporting the good things that had happened to the Jews, and the pleasure that came to them from the freedom from Egypt, he said: When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people, Judea became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion; the sea saw, and fled, the Jordan was turned back; the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills as lambs of sheep, from the face of the Lord. And no one has heard that this ever happened. For the sea and the Jordan were turned back by the command of God; but the mountains and the hills did not skip; but, as I said before, wishing to represent the excess of pleasure, and the relief that had come to them from the affliction of the Egyptians, he said that even inanimate things skipped and leaped at the good things that had happened to them; as when he wishes to announce something grievous born from our sin, he says: Wine will mourn, the vine also will mourn; and elsewhere: The ways of Zion mourn; but he even says that senseless things weep: For O wall of the daughter of Zion, bring down tears, he says: and he says the earth itself, and Judea mourns and is drunk with grief, not as if these elements have sensation, but, as I said before, each of the proph51.160 ets wishing to represent the excess of the good things supplied to us from God, and of the punishments brought upon us from our wickedness; wherefore indeed the blessed Paul himself also introduces creation groaning and travailing, so that he might be able to represent the magnitude of the gifts of God which will receive us hereafter. 3. But all these things, he says, are in hopes; but the faint-hearted and wretched man, and having now been freed from idolatry, and not knowing how to philosophize about the things to come, is not greatly corrected by these words, but seeks also in the present time to find some consolation. For this reason indeed this wise teacher also, and knowing all things, not only consoles with future good things, but also anoints with present good things. And first, he foretells the good things that have already been done for the inhabited world, which are not in hopes and expectation, but have come to be in experience and enjoyment, which are also the greatest and clearest proof of the things to come and hoped for, and having dwelt at length on the subject of faith, and having mentioned the patriarch Abraham and that although nature forbade his becoming a father, he hoped and expected, and was persuaded that it would be, wherefore it also came to pass, and from thence leading up to the necessity of never falling into weakness of reasoning, but by the magnitude of faith to be set upright and to rise up and to think lofty things; after these things he speaks also of the magnitude of the things that have already been done. And what is this? That the Son, he says, the only-begotten, the true, the beloved, this one God gave for us, his ungrateful servants, and those weighed down by countless sins, and pressed by so many burdens of transgressions, he not only freed from sins, but also made them righteous, having commanded nothing burdensome, nor laborious, nor grievous, but having asked for faith from us only, and he made them righteous and established them as holy, and declared them sons of God, and showed them to be heirs of the kingdom, and made them co-heirs of the Only-begotten, and promised resurrection, and incorruptibility of bodies, and an allotment with angels, surpassing all reason and mind, and the sojourn in the heavens, and conversation with him and from this very place He has already poured out the grace of the Holy Spirit, and freed us from the possession of the devil, and delivered us from the demons, and destroyed sin, and abolished the curse, and shattered the gates of Hades, and opened paradise, not an angel, not an archangel, but he sent the Only-begotten himself for our salvation, so that

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ἀπαγγέλλων τὰ ἀγαθὰ τὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις συμβάντα, καὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἐλευθερίας Αἰγύπτου ἐγγινομένην αὐτοῖς, ἔλεγεν· Ἐν ἐξόδῳ Ἰσραὴλ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, οἴκου Ἰακὼβ ἐκλαοῦ βαρβάρου, ἐγενήθη Ἰουδαία ἁγίασμα αὐτοῦ, Ἰσραὴλ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ· ἡ θάλασσα εἶδε, καὶ ἔφυγεν, ὁ Ἰορδάνης ἐστράφη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω· τὰ ὄρη ἐσκίρτησαν ὡσεὶ κριοὶ, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων, ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐδαμοῦ γενόμενον ἤκουσέ τις. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ θάλασσα, καὶ ὁ Ἰορδάνης ἀνεστράφη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω προστάγματι τοῦ Θεοῦ· τὰ δὲ ὄρη καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ οὐκ ἐσκίρτησαν· ἀλλ', ὅπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἡδονῆς παραστῆσαι βουλόμενος, καὶ τὴν ἄνεσιν τὴν ἐκ τῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων κακώσεως ὑπηργμένην αὐτοῖς, καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ ἄψυχα σκιρτᾷν ἔλεγε καὶ πηδᾷν ἐπὶ τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν αὐτοῖς χρηστοῖς· ὡς ὅταν τι καὶ λυπηρὸν ἀπαγγεῖλαι βούληται ἐξ ἡμετέρας ἁμαρτίας τικτόμενον, φησίν· Πενθήσει οἶνος, πενθήσει καὶ ἄμπελος· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· Ὁδοὶ Σιὼν πενθοῦσιν· ἀλλὰ καὶ δακρύειν τὰ ἀναίσθητα λέγει· Τεῖχος γὰρ θυγατρὸς Σιὼν, κατάγαγε δάκρυα, φησί· καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν γῆν, καὶ Ἰουδαίαν πενθεῖν λέγει καὶ μεθύειν τῇ λύπῃ οὐχ ὡς τῶν στοιχείων αἰσθανομένων τούτων, ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἕκαστος τῶν προφη51.160 τῶν τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν ἐκ Θεοῦ χορηγουμένων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τῶν τιμωριῶν τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας κακίας ἐπαγομένων ἡμῖν παραστῆσαι θέλων· διὸ δὴ καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν κτίσιν εἰσάγει στενάζουσαν καὶ ὀδυνωμένην, ἵνα τὸ μέγεθος τῶν δωρεῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα διαδεξομένων ἡμᾶς παραστῆσαι δυνηθῇ. γʹ. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα πάντα, φησὶν, ἐν ἐλπίσιν· ὁ δὲ μικρόψυχος καὶ ταλαίπωρος ἄνθρωπος, καὶ νῦν τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας ἀπαλλαγεὶς, καὶ οὐκ εἰδὼς περὶ τῶν μελλόντων φιλοσοφεῖν, οὐ σφόδρα τούτοις διορθοῦται τοῖς λόγοις, ἀλλὰ ζητεῖ καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ εὑρέσθαι τινὰ παραμυθίαν. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ σοφὸς οὗτος διδάσκαλος, καὶ πάντα εἰδὼς, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν μελλόντων μόνον παραμυθεῖται ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν παρόντων ἀλείφει χρηστῶν. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὰ ὑπηργμένα προλέγει τῇ οἰκουμένῃ ἀγαθὰ, τὰ οὐκ ἐν ἐλπίσι καὶ προσδοκίᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐν πείρᾳ καὶ ἀπολαύσει γενόμενα ἅπερ καὶ τῶν μελλόντων καὶ ἐλπιζομένων μεγίστη καὶ σαφεστάτη ἀπόδειξίς ἐστι, καὶ πολὺν περὶ πίστεως κατατείνας τὸν λόγον, καὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἀβραὰμ μνημονεύσας καὶ τῆς φύσεως ἀπαγορευούσης τοῦ πατέρα αὐτὸν ἔσεσθαι, ἤλπισε καὶ προσεδόκησε, καὶ ἐπείσθη ἔσεσθαι, διὸ καὶ ἐγένετο, κἀκεῖθεν ἀνάγων εἰς τὸ μὴ δεῖν ποτε εἰς τὴν τῶν λογισμῶν καταπίπτειν ἀσθένειαν, ἀλλὰ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς πίστεως ὀρθοῦσθαι καὶ διανίστασθαι καὶ ὑψηλὰ φρονεῖν· μετὰ ταῦτα λέγει καὶ τῶν ὑπηργμένων τὸ μέγεθος. Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν; Ὅτι τὸν Υἱὸν, φησὶ, τὸν μονογενῆ, τὸν γνήσιον, τὸν ἀγαπητὸν, τοῦτον ὁ Θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀγνωμόνων ἔδωκεν οἰκετῶν, καὶ τοὺς μυρίοις βεβαρημένους ἁμαρτήμασι, καὶ τοσούτοις φορτίοις πιεζομένους πλημμελημάτων, οὐχὶ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπήλλαξε μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δικαίους εἰργάσατο, οὐδὲν φορτικὸν, οὐδὲ ἐπίπονον ἐπιτάξας, οὐδὲ ἐπαχθὲς, ἀλλὰ πίστιν ζητήσας παρ' ἡμῶν μόνον, καὶ δικαίους ἐποίησε καὶ ἁγίους κατεσκεύασε, καὶ υἱοὺς Θεοῦ ἀπέφηνε, καὶ βασιλείας κληρονόμους ἀπέδειξε, καὶ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς συγκληρονόμους ἀπειργάσατο, καὶ ἀνάστασιν ἐπηγγείλατο, καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν σωμάτων, καὶ λῆξιν μετὰ ἀγγέλων, πάντα λόγον καὶ νοῦν ὑπερβαίνουσαν, καὶ τὴν ἐν οὐρανοῖς διατριβὴν, καὶ τὴν μετ' αὐτοῦ ὁμιλίαν καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη χάριν ἐξέχεε, καὶ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου κατοχῆς ἡμᾶς ἀπήλλαξε, καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων ἡμᾶς ἐῤῥύσατο, καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατέλυσε, καὶ τὴν κατάραν ἠφάνισε, καὶ ᾅδου πύλας συνέκλασε, καὶ τὸν παράδεισον ἠνέῳξεν, οὐκ ἄγγελον, οὐκ ἀρχάγγελον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν ἀπέστειλε τὸν Μονογενῆ ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς ἡμετέρας, ὥς