22

a loan; a gift, on the one hand, because of the hopelessness of its recovery, but a loan, on the other, because of the great gift of the Master who repays on his behalf, who, having received a little through the poor man, will repay great things for it. For he who has mercy on the poor lends to God. Do you not wish to have the Master of all as your debtor for repayment? Or if one of the rich in the city should guarantee to you repayment on behalf of others, do you accept his security? But do you not accept God as the repayer for the poor? Give the money that lies idle, 29.280 not weighing it down with additions, and it will be well for both. For to you will belong the security from its safekeeping; and to the one who receives it, the profit from its use. But if you also seek an addition, be content with what is from the Lord. He himself will repay the increase on behalf of the poor. From the one who is truly a lover of mankind, await loving-kindness. For what you take, these things leave behind no excess of misanthropy. You profit from misfortunes, you collect money from tears, you strangle the naked, you beat the hungry; there is mercy nowhere; there is no thought of kinship with the one who suffers; and you call the profits from these things philanthropy. Woe to those who call bitter sweet, and sweet bitter, and those who call misanthropy philanthropy. Not even Samson's riddles were such as he proposed to his fellow-drinkers: Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet; and out of a misanthrope came philanthropy. They do not gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles, or philanthropy from interest. For every corrupt tree produces evil fruit. Some hundred-percenters and ten-percenters—names dreadful even to hear; monthly collectors, like demons who cause epileptic fits, attacking the poor according to the phases of the moon. An evil gift for both, for the one giving and for the one receiving; for the one, it brings loss to his money, for the other, to his very soul. The farmer, having taken the ear of grain, does not search again for the seed under the root; but you both have the fruits and do not let go of the principal. You plant without earth; you reap without sowing. It is unclear for whom you gather. The one weeping over the interest is plain to see; but the one who is going to enjoy the abundance from it is doubtful. For it is unclear whether you will not leave the grace of your wealth to others, having stored up for yourself the evil from injustice. Therefore, neither turn away the one who wants to borrow, nor give your money at interest, so that, having been taught what is profitable from the Old and New Testaments, you may depart to the Lord with good hope, to receive there the interest on good works, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

ON THE 28TH PSALM.

A Psalm of David, for the exodus of the tabernacle. The twenty-eighth psalm has both the

common inscription; for it says, a Psalm of David; but it also has something particular; for it is added, For the 29.281 exodus of the tabernacle. But what is this? Let us understand what the exodus is, and what the tabernacle is, so that we may be able to be in the purpose of the psalm. According to history, then, this command will seem to be given to the priests and Levites who have been released from their work, so that they may remember what they must have prepared for the worship. For as they are departing from the tabernacle and are now going out, the word testifies what it was fitting for them to have prepared, what they should have to meet what comes next; that is, sons of rams; that is, glory and honor; that is, glory to his name; that is, it was fitting to worship nowhere else than in the court of the Lord and in the place of the sanctuary. But to our mind, which contemplates lofty things and, through a sublime understanding worthy of the divine Scripture, makes the ... our own

22

νεισμα· δῶρον μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀνελπιστίαν τῆς ἀπολή ψεως, δάνεισμα δὲ διὰ τὴν μεγαλοδωρεὰν τοῦ ∆εσπό του τοῦ ἀποτιννύντος ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, ὃς, μικρὰ λαβὼν διὰ τοῦ πένητος, μεγάλα ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποδώσει. Ὁ γὰρ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν δανείζει Θεῷ. Οὐ βούλει τὸν πάντων ∆εσπότην ὑπεύθυνον ἔχειν σεαυτῷ πρὸς τὴν ἔκτισιν; Ἢ τῶν μὲν ἐν τῇ πόλει πλουσίων ἐάν τις ὁμολογήσῃ σοι τὴν ὑπὲρ ἑτέρων ἔκτισιν, δέχῃ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐγγύην; Θεὸν δὲ ὑπερεκτιστὴν τῶν πτω χῶν οὐ προσίεσαι. ∆ὸς τὸ εἰκῆ κείμενον ἀργύριον, 29.280 μὴ βαρύνων αὐτὸ ταῖς προσθήκαις, καὶ ἀμφοτέροις ἕξει καλῶς. Σοὶ μὲν γὰρ ὑπάρξει τὸ ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς ἀσφαλές· τῷ δὲ λαβόντι τὸ ἐκ τῆς χρήσεως κέρδος. Εἰ δὲ καὶ προσθήκην ἐπιζητεῖς, ἀρκέσθητι τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου. Αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ τῶν πενήτων τὸν πλεο νασμὸν ἀποτίσει. Παρὰ τοῦ ὄντως φιλανθρώπου ἀνάμενε τὰ φιλάνθρωπα. Ἃ γὰρ λαμβάνεις, ταῦτα μισανθρωπίας οὐδεμίαν ὑπερβολὴν ἀπολείπει. Ἀπὸ συμφορῶν κερδαίνεις, ἀπὸ δακρύων ἀργυρολο γεῖς, τὸν γυμνὸν ἄγχεις, τὸν λιμώττοντα τύπτεις· ἔλεος οὐδαμοῦ· ἔννοια τῆς συγγενείας τοῦ πάσχον τος οὐδεμία· καὶ τὰ ἐντεῦθεν κέρδη φιλάνθρωπα ὀνομάζεις. Οὐαὶ οἱ λέγοντες τὸ πικρὸν γλυκὺ, καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ πικρὸν, καὶ οἱ τὴν μισανθρωπίαν φιλανθρω πίαν προσαγορεύοντες. Οὐδὲ τὰ τοῦ Σαμψὼν αἰνίγματα τοιαῦτα ἦν, ἃ προεβάλετο τοῖς συμπόταις· Ἀπὸ ἐσθίοντος ἐξῆλθε βρῶσις, καὶ ἀπὸ ἰσχυροῦ ἐξῆλθε γλυκύ· καὶ ἀπὸ μισανθρώπου ἐξῆλθε φιλανθρωπία. Οὐ συλλέγουσιν ἀπὸ ἀκανθῶν σταφυλὰς, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τριβόλων σῦκα, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τόκων φιλανθρωπίαν. Πᾶν γὰρ δένδρον σαπρὸν καρποὺς πονηροὺς ποιεῖ. Ἑκατοστολόγοι καὶ δεκατηλόγοι τινὲς φρικτὰ καὶ ἀκουσθῆναι ὀνόματα· μηνιαῖοι ἀπαιτηταὶ, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς ἐπιληψίας ποιοῦντες δαίμονες, κατὰ τὰς πε ριόδους τῆς σελήνης ἐπιτιθέμενοι τοῖς πτωχοῖς. Πονηρὰ δόσις ἑκατέρῳ, καὶ τῷ διδόντι, καὶ τῷ λαμ βάνοντι· τῷ μὲν εἰς χρήματα, τῷ δὲ εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν φέρουσα τὴν ζημίαν. Ὁ γεωργὸς, τὸν στάχυν λαβὼν, τὸ σπέρμα πάλιν ὑπὸ τὴν ῥίζαν οὐκ ἐρευνᾷ· σὺ δὲ καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς ἔχεις, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίστασαι τῶν ἀρχαίων. Ἄνευ γῆς φυτεύεις· ἄνευ σπορᾶς θερίζεις. Ἄδηλον, τίνι συνάγεις. Ὁ μὲν δακρύων ἐπὶ τοῖς τόκοις πρόδηλος· ὁ δὲ ἀπολαύειν μέλλων τῆς ἀπὸ τούτων περιουσίας ἀμφίβολος. Ἄδηλον γὰρ εἰ μὴ ἑτέροις τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πλούτῳ χάριν ἀφήσεις, τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἀδικίας κακὸν σεαυτῷ θησαυρίσας. Μήτε οὖν τὸν θέλοντα δανείσασθαι ἀποστραφῇς, καὶ τὸ ἀργύριόν σου μὴ δῷς ἐπὶ τόκῳ, ἵνα, ἐκ Παλαιᾶς καὶ Νέας ∆ιαθήκης τὰ συμφέροντα διδαχθεὶς, μετ' ἀγαθῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ἀπίῃς, ἐκεῖ τοὺς τόκους τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ἀποληψόμενος, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΚΗʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΝ.

Ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αβὶδ ἐξοδίου σκηνῆς. Ὁ εἰκοστὸς ὄγδοος ψαλμὸς ἔχει μὲν καὶ τὸ

κοινὸν τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς· Ψαλμὸς γὰρ, φησὶ, τῷ ∆α βίδ· ἔχει δέ τι καὶ ἰδιάζον· πρόσκειται γὰρ, Ἐξ 29.281 οδίου σκηνῆς. Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστι; Νοήσωμεν τί τὸ ἐξόδιον, καὶ τίς ἡ σκηνὴ, ἵνα ἐν τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ ψαλμοῦ δυνηθῶμεν γενέσθαι. Πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὴν ἱστο ρίαν δόξει τοῖς ἱερεῦσι καὶ τοῖς Λευΐταις ἀφεμένοις τοῦ ἔργου τὸ παράγγελμα δίδοσθαι τοῦτο, ὥστε μεμνῆσθαι τῶν ὀφειλόντων αὐτοῖς παρασκευασθῆναι πρὸς τὴν λατρείαν. Ἐξοδεύουσι γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ ἐξιοῦσι λοιπὸν ὁ λόγος διαμαρτύρεται ἅτινα αὐτοὺς ἑτοιμάσαντας προσῆκε, τίνα ἔχοντας πρὸς τὴν ἑξῆς ἀπαντῆσαι· ὅτι, υἱοὺς κριῶν· ὅτι, δόξαν καὶ τιμήν· ὅτι, δόξαν ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ· ὅτι, οὐδαμοῦ ἀλλα χοῦ λατρεύειν ἢ ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τοῦ ἁγιάσματος προσῆκε. Πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἡμέτε ρον νοῦν τὸν τὰ ὑψηλὰ θεωροῦντα, καὶ διὰ τῆς με γαλοφυοῦς καὶ πρεπούσης τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ διανοίας οἰκειοῦντα ἡμῖν τὸν