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they benefit the human race, both signifying and bringing the rain from there. Having thus recounted all things, the prophet added:

CHAPTER 2. 1. This is the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And he did not say, This is the nature

of the Lord, nor the glory of the Lord, but "the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." For as He willed, he says, having formed the appearance, He deemed me worthy of the vision. "And I saw, and I fell upon my face." And very reasonably so; for if the Seraphim, while singing hymns, cover their faces, what would a man not suffer, clothed in a mortal body, and being in a true vision? But the philanthropic Lord casts out fear. "For I heard," he says, "one speaking 81.837 to me, and he said to me: Son of man, 81.837 stand on your feet, and I will speak to you." And he addresses him as son of man, as if to say, Do not forget your own nature, having been deemed worthy of a vision beyond your nature, but know yourself; neither persist in excessive fear, since I encourage you to be of good courage, but stand and hear what is said by me, not being overthrown, but by your stance signifying steadfastness. And not only did the good Lord say these things, but also through the very deeds he removed the fear. 2. For a spirit came upon me, he says, and took me up, and raised me, and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. For a certain divine power, having touched me, strengthened me who was dissolved by fear, and prepared me to stand and to hear the words that were being brought. 3. And he said to me: Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to those who provoke me, who have provoked me, they and their fathers, and have been unfaithful to me even to this day. Who could measure with words the divine philanthropy? What mind could reach the sea of His goodness? After countless impieties and transgressions, He does not forbid salvation, but He accuses both them and their fathers of having been unfaithful, and of having transgressed the established covenants, and of having persisted in wickedness even to this day; but He calls them back, and calls to health those who are incurably sick, and this, knowing their disobedience and hard-heartedness; wherefore he also adds: 4. And sons hard of face and hard-hearted, to whom I am sending you to them. That is, impudent, not knowing how to blush, unwilling to be softened; neither persuaded by words of counsel, nor changed by the necessity of punishments. "And you shall say to them: Thus says Adonai the Lord." Now Adonai itself also means Lord; but it also has a certain other small emphasis: Thus says, he says, the Lord, my Lord. 5. If perhaps they will hear, or be afraid, because they are a provoking house, and they shall know that you are a prophet in their midst. The phrase, if perhaps, is not indicative of ignorance. For He who knows all things before their creation is ignorant of nothing that is to come; wherefore also the blessed David cries to him, "You knew my sitting down and my rising up, 81.840 you understood my thoughts from afar; my path and my lot you have searched out, and all my ways you have foreseen; behold, Lord, you knew all things, the last and the first." Knowing, therefore, their inflexibility precisely, He puts 'if perhaps,' teaching through these words the free will of their mind, that it is possible for them to be changed if they wish; of such a kind is also what is said in the Gospel from the person of the Father: 'I will send my son to the husbandmen, perhaps they will have respect for him;'" for there also 'perhaps' is not of doubt; for He knew that they would not have respect; but He does what is fitting to His own justice. For so that no one might suppose His foreknowledge to be the cause of the outcome of events, He necessarily uses words of doubt, showing the free will of the mind, and preserving a defense for Himself on the day of judgment. For this reason, also foreseeing the

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τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐεργετοῦσι γένος, τὸν ἐκεῖθεν ὑετὸν σημαίνουσαί τε καὶ ἐπιφέρουσαι. Οὕτως ἅπαντα διηγησάμενος ὁ προφήτης ἐπήγαγεν·

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Βʹ. αʹ. Αὕτη ἡ ὅρασις ὁμοιώματος δόξης Κυρίου. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, Αὕτη ἡ φύσις

Κυρίου, οὐδὲ ἡ δόξα Κυρίου, ἀλλ' "ὅρασις ὁμοιώματος δόξης Κυρίου." Ὡς γὰρ ἠθέλησε, φησὶ, σχηματίσας τὴν ὄψιν, ἠξίωσέ με τῆς θεωρίας. "Καὶ ἴδον, καὶ πίπτω ἐπὶ πρόσω πόν μου." Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως· εἰ γὰρ τὰ Σεραφὶμ ὑμνοῦντα συγκαλύπτει τὰ πρόσωπα, τί οὐκ ἂν ἔπαθεν ἄνθρωπος σῶμα θνητὸν περικείμενος, καὶ ὀπτασίας ἀληθοῦς ἐν θεωρίᾳ γενόμενος; Ἀλλ' ἐκβάλλει τὸ δέος ὁ φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης. "Ἤκουσα γὰρ, φησὶ, λα 81.837 λοῦντος πρός με, καὶ εἶπε πρός με· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, 81.837 στῆθι ἐπὶ τοὺς πόδας σου, καὶ λαλήσω πρὸς σέ." Υἱὸν δὲ ἀνθρώπου προσαγορεύει, μονονουχὶ λέγων, Μὴ ἐπιλάθου τῆς φύσεως τῆς ὑπὲρ τὴν σὴν φύσιν θεωρίας ἀξιωθεὶς, ἀλλὰ γνῶθι σαυτόν· μήτε μὲν ἐπιμείνῃς τῇ ἀμετρίᾳ τοῦ δέους, ἐμοῦ σοι παρεγ γυῶντος θαῤῥεῖν, ἀλλ' ἑστὼς ἄκουε τῶν παρ' ἐμοῦ λεγομένων, μὴ περιτρεπόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῇ στάσει ση μαίνων τὸ βέβαιον. Καὶ οὐ μόνον ταῦτα ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἔλεγε ∆εσπότης, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων ἐξῄρει τὸν φόβον. βʹ. Ἦλθε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐπ' ἐμὲ πνεῦμα, καὶ ἀν έλαβέ με, καὶ ἐξῆρέ με, καὶ ἔστησέ με ἐπὶ τοὺς πόδας μου, καὶ ἤκουον αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος πρός με. Θεία γάρ τις ἐνέργεια ἁψαμένη μου συνέσφιγξέ με τῷ φόβῳ διαλυθέντα, καὶ στῆναι, καὶ ἀκοῦσαι τῶν φερομένων παρεσκεύασε λόγων. γʹ. Καὶ εἶπε πρός με· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, ἐξαπο στελῶ ἐγώ σε πρὸς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, τοὺς παραπικραίνοντάς με, οἵτινες παρεπίκρανάν με αὐτοὶ, καὶ οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν, καὶ ἠθέτησαν ἐν ἐμοὶ ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας. Τίς ἂν λόγῳ με τρήσειε τὴν θείαν φιλανθρωπίαν; ποῖος δ' ἂν ἐξίκοιτο νοῦς τοῦ πελάγους τῆς ἀγαθότητος; Μετὰ τὰς μυ ρίας ἀσεβείας καὶ παρανομίας οὐκ ἀπαγορεύει τὴν σωτηρίαν, ἀλλὰ κατηγορεῖ μὲν καὶ αὐτῶν, καὶ τῶν πατέρων, ὡς ἀθετησάντων, καὶ παραβεβηκότων τὰς συγκειμένας συνθήκας, καὶ μέχρι καὶ τήμερον τῇ πονηρίᾳ προσμεινάντων· ἀνακαλεῖται δὲ, καὶ πρὸς ὑγίειαν τοὺς ἀνήκεστα νοσοῦντας καλεῖ, καὶ ταῦτα εἰδῶς αὐτῶν τὸ δυσπειθὲς καὶ δυσήκοον· διὸ καὶ ἐπάγει· δʹ. Καὶ υἱοὶ σκληροπρόσωποι, καὶ θρασυκάρ διοι, πρὸς οὓς ἀποστελῶ σε ἐγὼ πρὸς αὐ τούς. Τουτέστιν ἰταμοὶ, ἐρυθριᾷν οὐκ εἰδότες, μα λάττεσθαι οὐκ ἐθέλοντες· οὔτε συμβουλευτικοῖς πειθόμενοι λόγοις, οὔτε τῇ τῶν τιμωριῶν ἀνάγκῃ μεταβαλλόμενοι. "Καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος." Τὸ δὲ Ἀδωναῒ καὶαὐτὸ τὸ Κύριος σημαίνει· ἔχει δὲ καὶ σμικράν τινα ἑτέραν ἔμφασιν· Τάδε λέγει, φησὶ, Κύριος, ὁ Κύ ριός μου. εʹ. Ἐὰν ἄρα ἀκούσωσιν, ἢ πτοηθῶσι, διότι οἶκος παραπικραίνων ἐστὶ, καὶ γνώσονται ὅτι προφήτης εἶ σὺ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν. Τὸ, ἐὰν ἄρα, οὐκ ἀγνοίας ὑπάρχει σημαντικόν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀγνοεῖ τῶν μελλόντων ὁ γινώσκων τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν· διὸ καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αβὶδ βοᾷ πρὸς αὐτὸν, "Σὺ ἔγνως τὴν καθέδραν μου, καὶ τὴν ἔγερσίν μου, 81.840 σὺ συνῆκας τοὺς διαλογισμούς μου ἀπὸ μακρό θεν τὴν τρίβον μου, καὶ τὴν σχοῖνόν μου σὺ ἐξιχνία σας, καὶ πάσας τὰς ὁδούς μου προΐδες· ἰδοὺ, Κύριε, σὺ ἔγνως πάντα τὰ ἔσχατα καὶ ἀρχαῖα." Εἰδὼς τοίνυν ἀκριβῶς αὐτῶν τὸ ἀνένδοτον, τίθησι τὸ ἐὰν ἄρα, τὸ τῆς γνώμης αὐθαίρετον διὰ τούτων διδάσκων, ὅτι ἐν δέχεται αὐτοὺς μεταβληθῆναι ἐὰν ἐθελήσωσι· τοιοῦ τόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ εἰρημένον ἐκ προσ ώπου τοῦ πατρός· Ἀποστελῶ τὸν υἱόν μου πρὸς τοὺς γεωργοὺς, ἴσως ἐντραπήσονται τοῦτον·" οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἀμφιβολίας τὸ ἴσως· ᾔδει γὰρ ὡς οὐκ ἐντραπήσονται· τὰ δὲ ἁρμόττοντα τῇ ἑαυτοῦ δικαιο σύνῃ ποιεῖ. Ἵνα γὰρ μή τις αὐτοῦ τὴν πρόγνωσιν αἰτίαν ὑπολάβῃ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐκβάσεως, ἀναγκαίως τὰ τῆς ἀμφιβολίας τίθησι ῥήματα, δει κνὺς τῆς γνώμης τὸ αὐτεξούσιον, καὶ ἀπολογίαν ἑαυτῷ φυλάττων ἐν τῇ τῆς κρίσεως ἡμέρᾳ. Τούτου χάριν καὶ προειδὼς τὸ