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to bring in. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. See him agitated, see him disturbed. My brethren, I beseech you; My little children, of whom I travail in birth again. He imitates a mother trembling for her children. Until Christ be formed in you. Have you seen a father’s bowels? have you seen a dejection befitting an apostle? have you seen what a lamentation he let loose, much more bitter than that of women in labor? You have corrupted, he says, the image, you have lost the kinship, you have changed the form; you need another regeneration and re-forming; but still I call the abortions, the untimely births, little children. But he does not say it thus, but in another way; for he spares them, and does not wish to strike, nor to add wounds to wounds; but just as wise physicians do not treat those who have fallen into a long illness all at once, but with intervals, so that they may not perish from despondency, so also does this blessed one. For these birth pangs are sharper than the bodily ones, inasmuch as the affection is also greater, and the sin committed was not of a common kind.

3. For what I always say, and will not cease to say, even a small transgression has destroyed the whole appearance, and has marred the form. I desired to be present with you now, and to change my voice. Observe to me the impatient, the fervent one, the one unable to bear such things. For such is love; it is not content with words, but seeks also his presence. So that I might change my voice, he says. That is, to change to lamentation, to make tears also, and to draw all into a dirge. For through a letter it was not possible to show tears nor lamentation; therefore he burns, seeking to be present. Because I stand in doubt of you. For I do not have, he says, what to say, I do not have what to think. How is it that you who ascended to the very summit of the heavens, both through the dangers which you endured for the faith, and through the signs which you showed through the faith, have now suddenly been brought down to such baseness, as to be dragged to circumcision and sabbaths, and to hang upon those who Judaize? For these reasons he also said at the beginning: I marvel that you are so soon removed; and here: I stand in doubt of you; as if he were saying: What shall I say? what shall I speak? what shall I think? I am at a loss; therefore it is necessary also to lament; which the prophets also do in perplexing situations. And this too is no small form of therapy, not only to advise, but also to mourn.

For he said this also when addressing the Milesians; For three years I ceased not to warn you with tears. He says this here also, saying: To change my voice. For being overcome in perplexities and in difficulties that arise unexpectedly, we finally resort to tears. Since, then, he rebuked and shamed, and healed again, he then lamented; and lamentation is not only of rebuke, but also of comfort. For it neither harshens, like a rebuke, nor does it relax, like a therapy, but it is a mixed medicine, and has great power for exhortation. Since, therefore, he lamented and softened their mind, and drew them to himself more greatly, he enters again into the contests, setting forth a greater point, showing that the law itself does not wish to be observed. At that time, then, he introduced the example from Abraham, but now he introduces the law itself advising not to keep it, but to depart from it, which was stronger. So if you wish to obey the law, he says, depart from it; for this is what it itself wishes. But he does not say it thus; but he constructs it in another way, and mixing in history. For tell me, he says, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? He rightly said, You that desire; for the matter was not of the sequence of things, but of their untimely contentiousness. And here he calls the book of creation the law,

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ἐμβιβάσαι. Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Ὅρα ταραττόμενον, ὅρα θορυβούμενον. Ἀδελφοί μου, δέομαι ὑμῶν· Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω. Μητέρα μιμεῖται περιτρέμουσαν τοῖς παιδίοις. Ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Εἶδες σπλάγχνα πατρικά; εἶδες ἀθυμίαν ἀποστόλῳ πρέπουσαν; εἶδες οἵαν ἀφῆκεν ὀλολυγὴν πολὺ τῶν τικτουσῶν πικροτέραν; ∆ιεφθείρατε, φησὶ, τὴν εἰκόνα, ἀπωλέσατε τὴν συγγένειαν, τὴν μορφὴν ἠλλοιώσατε· ἀναγεννήσεως ἑτέρας ὑμῖν δεῖ καὶ ἀναπλάσεως· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἔτι τεκνία καλῶ τὰ ἀμβλωθρίδια, τὰ ἐκτρώματα. Ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν οὐ λέγει, ἑτέρως δέ· φείδεται γὰρ, καὶ οὐ βούλεται πλῆξαι, οὐδὲ τραύματα ἐπιθεῖναι τραύμασιν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οἱ σοφοὶ τῶν ἰατρῶν τοὺς εἰς μακρὰν καταπεσόντας νόσον, οὐχ ὑφ' ἓν θεραπεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ διαλιμπάνοντες, ὥστε μὴ ὀλιγοψυχοῦντας ἀπολέσθαι, οὕτω καὶ ὁ μακάριος οὗτος. Καὶ γὰρ αἱ ὠδῖνες αὗται τῶν σωματικῶν δριμύτεραι ὅσῳ καὶ ἡ φιλοστοργία μείζων, καὶ τὸ ἁμαρτηθὲν οὐ τὸ τυχὸν ἦν.

γʹ. Ὅπερ γὰρ ἀεὶ λέγω, καὶ λέγων οὐ παύσομαι, καὶ τὸ μικρὸν παραβαθὲν ὁλόκληρον τὴν ὄψιν ἠφάνισε, καὶ τὴν μορφὴν ἐλυμήνατο. Ἤθελον παρεῖναι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἄρτι, καὶ ἀλλάξαι τὴν φωνήν μου. Σκόπει μοι τὸν ἀκαρτέρητον, τὸν θερμὸν, τὸν οὐ δυνάμενον στέγειν τὰ τοιαῦτα. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ ἀγάπη· οὐκ ἀρκεῖται τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ἀλλ' ἐπιζητεῖ καὶ τὴν παρουσίαν. Ὥστε ἀλλάξαι τὴν φωνήν μου, φησί. Τουτέστιν, ἀλλάξαι τὸν ὀλοφυρμὸν, ποιῆσαι καὶ δάκρυα, καὶ πάντα εἰς θρῆνον ἐπισπάσασθαι. ∆ιὰ γὰρ ἐπιστολῆς οὐκ ἐνῆν δάκρυα δεῖξαι οὐδὲ ὀλολυγμόν· διὸ καίεται τὴν παρουσίαν ἐπιζητῶν. Ὅτι ἀποροῦμαι ἐν ὑμῖν. Οὐκ ἔχω γὰρ, φησὶ, τί εἴπω, οὐκ ἔχω τί λογίσωμαι. Πόθεν οἱ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀναβάντες τῶν οὐρανῶν τὴν κορυφὴν, καὶ διὰ τῶν κινδύνων, οὓς ὑπ 61.661 εμείνατε ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως, καὶ διὰ τῶν σημείων, ὧν ἐπεδείξασθε διὰ τῆς πίστεως, νῦν ἀθρόον οὕτως εἰς τοσαύτην εὐτέλειαν κατηνέχθητε, ὡς εἰς περιτομὴν καὶ σάββατα σύρεσθαι, καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαϊζόντων ἐκκρέμασθαι; ∆ιὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἀρχόμενος ἔλεγε· Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτω ταχέως μετατίθεσθε· καὶ ἐνταῦθα· Ἀποροῦμαι ἐν ὑμῖν· ὡς ἂν εἰ ἔλεγε· Τί εἴπω τί λαλήσω; τί ἐννοήσω; ἀπορῶ· διὸ καὶ ὀλολύζειν ἀνάγκη· ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς ἀπόροις ποιοῦσι καὶ οἱ προφῆται. Εἶδος δὲ καὶ τοῦτο θεραπείας οὐ μικρὸν, τὸ μὴ μόνον συμβουλεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ θρηνεῖν.

Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ Μιλησίοις διαλεγόμενος ἔλεγε· Τριετίαν μετὰ δακρύων νουθετῶν ὑμᾶς οὐ διέλειπον. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθά φησι λέγων· Ἀλλάξαι τὴν φωνήν μου. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἀπορίαις καὶ ταῖς ἀμηχανίαις ταῖς παρ' ἐλπίδα συμβαινούσαις νικώμενοι, λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὰ δάκρυα καταφερόμεθα. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἐπέπληξε καὶ ἐνέτρεψε, καὶ ἐθεράπευσε πάλιν, εἶτα ὠλοφύρατο· ὁ δὲ ὀλοφυρμὸς οὐκ ἐπιπλήξεως μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κολακείας ἐστίν. Οὔτε γὰρ τραχύνει, ὥσπερ ἐπίπληξις, οὔτε χαλᾷ, καθάπερ ἡ θεραπεία, ἀλλ' ἔστι μεμιγμένον φάρμακον, καὶ πολλὴν ἔχει τὴν ἰσχὺν πρὸς παραίνεσιν. Ἐπειδὴ οὖν ὠλοφύρατο καὶ ἐμάλαξεν αὐτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ ἐπεσπάσατο μειζόνως, πάλιν εἰς τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐμβαίνει, κεφάλαιον τιθεὶς μεῖζον, δεικνὺς ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ νόμος οὐ βούλεται ἑαυτὸν φυλάττεσθαι. Τότε μὲν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ τὸ παράδειγμα εἰσήγαγε, νῦν δὲ αὐτὸν εἰσάγει τὸν νόμον παραινοῦντα μὴ φυλάττειν αὐτὸν, ἀλλὰ ἀναχωρεῖν, ὅπερ ἦν ἰσχυρότερον. Ὥστε εἰ βούλεσθε πείθεσθαι τῷ νόμῳ, φησὶν, ἀπόστητε αὐτοῦ· τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸς βούλεται. Ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν οὐ λέγει· ἑτέρως δὲ αὐτὸ κατασκευάζει, καὶ ἱστορίαν ἀναμιγνύς. Λέγετε γάρ μοι, φησὶν, οἱ ὑπὸ νόμον θέλοντες εἶναι, τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἀκούετε; Καλῶς εἶπεν, Οἱ θέλοντες· οὐ γὰρ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἀκολουθίας, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀκαίρου φιλονεικίας τὸ πρᾶγμα ἦν. Νόμον δὲ ἐνταῦθα τὸ βιβλίον τῆς κτίσεως καλεῖ,