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Therefore, *Before my eyes*? Because the eyes of men see in one way, and the eye of God sees in another; For man looks on the face, but God looks on the heart. Do not adulterate repentance with outward appearances, he says, but before my eyes, which search out hidden things, show the fruits of repentance. d. But we who are being cleansed from sins must keep the sins themselves before our eyes; even if God, through His love for mankind, forgives you your sin, you nevertheless, for the security of your own soul, keep the sin before your eyes. For the memory of past things becomes a check upon future ones; and he who is stung by the first things shows a more secure judgment concerning the second. For this reason David also: And my sin, he says, is ever before me; so that by keeping past things before his eyes, he might not fall into future ones. And that God requires this state from us, hear Him saying: I am He who blots out your sins, and I will not remember them; but you, remember, and let us be judged, says the Lord; you first declare your sins, that you may be justified. God does not wait for a period of time after repentance; you confessed your sin, you were justified; you repented, you received mercy. Time does not make amends, but the manner of the one repenting extinguishes the sin; it is possible for one who has persevered for a long time not to obtain salvation, and for one who has genuinely confessed in a short time to cast off sin. The blessed Samuel spent much time pleading for Saul, and passed many nights vigilant for the salvation of the sinner; but God, disregarding the time—for the repentance of the sinner did not match the supplication of the prophet—says to His prophet: How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him? The *How long* indicates the time, and the persistence of the one supplicating; and God dismissed the time of the prophet's supplication; for the repentance of the king did not match the intercession of the righteous one. But to the blessed David, who received the rebuke for his sin through the holy prophet Nathan, and immediately in response to the threat showed genuine conversion, and said, I have sinned against the Lord, immediately one word, genuinely brought forth in a single moment, brought complete salvation to the repentant one; for immediately the correction overtook the sentence. For Nathan said to him: The Lord also has put away your sin. Behold, for me, God is slow to punish, and swift to save; and consider first for me, how the Lover of mankind brought the rebuke after a long time. David sinned; the woman conceived, and no rebuke followed the sin, but after the child of the sin was born, the physician of sin is sent. Why then did He not immediately correct him 49.329 when he had sinned? Because He knows that in the heights of sins, the soul of the sinners is blinded, because the ears of those immersed in the depth of sin have been made deaf. He therefore delays bringing help to the inflamed passion, and after so much time the rebuke comes; and in a single moment of time, repentance and remission. And the Lord has put away your sin. Oh, the economy of the one who threatened! Do you see that He is swift to save? This He also does in other cases, being slow to tear down, but swift to help. This is what I mean: among us men, buildings are constructed over many years, and we build a house in a long time; and the time for building is long, but for tearing down, it is short. But with God it is the opposite; when He builds, He builds quickly; when He destroys, He destroys slowly. God is swift to build, slow to destroy; since both are fitting for God: for the former is of power, and the latter, of goodness; through an excess of power

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οὖν Ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου; Ἐπειδὴ ἄλλως ὁρῶσιν ὀφθαλμοὶ ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἄλλως ὁρᾷ ὀφθαλμὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ· Ἄνθρωπος γὰρ εἰς πρόσωπον, Θεὸς δὲ εἰς καρδίαν. Μὴ σχήμασι, φησὶ, νοθεύσητε τὴν μετάνοιαν, ἀλλ' ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου, τῶν τὰ κρυπτὰ ἐρευνώντων, δείξατε τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς μετανοίας. δʹ. ∆εῖ δὲ ἡμᾶς καθαιρομένους ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχειν αὐτὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα· κἂν ὁ Θεὸς διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν συγχωρήσῃ σοι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλὰ σὺ πρὸς τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Ἡ γὰρ μνήμη τῶν προλαβόντων ἐποχὴ γίνεται τῶν μελλόντων· καὶ ὁ ἐπὶ τοῖς προτέροις δακνόμενος, περὶ τὰ δεύτερα ἀσφαλεστέραν τὴν γνώμην δείκνυσι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ ∆αυΐδ· Καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία μου, φησὶν, ἐνώπιόν μού ἐστι διὰ παντός· ἵνα πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχων τὰ προλαβόντα, μὴ περιπέσῃ τοῖς μέλλουσιν. Ὅτι δὲ ταύτην παρ' ἡμῶν ὁ Θεὸς ἀπαιτεῖ τὴν κατάστασιν, ἄκουσον αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐξαλείφων τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου, καὶ οὐ μὴ μνησθήσομαι· σὺ δὲ μνήσθητι, καὶ κριθῶμεν, λέγει Κύριος· λέγε σὺ πρῶτον τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου, ἵνα δικαιωθῇς. Οὐκ ἀναμένει ὁ Θεὸς χρόνον τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς μετανοίας· εἶπες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν σου, ἐδικαιώθης· μετενόησας, ἠλεήθης. Οὐ χρόνος ἀπολογεῖται, ἀλλ' ὁ τρόπος τοῦ μετανοοῦντος τὴν ἁμαρτίαν σβέννυσιν· ἔστι καὶ χρόνῳ πολλῷ παρεδρεύσαντα μὴ τυχεῖν σωτηρίας, καὶ ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ γνησίως ἐξομολογησάμενον ἀποδύσασθαι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Πολὺν ἀνάλωσε χρόνον ὁ μακάριος Σαμουὴλ ἀξιῶν περὶ τοῦ Σαοὺλ, καὶ πολλὰς νύκτας διήνυσεν ἀγρυπνῶν περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος σωτηρίας· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς τὸν χρόνον παραπεμπόμενος οὐ γὰρ συνέδραμε τῇ ἱκεσίᾳ τοῦ προφήτου ἡ μετάνοια τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος, λέγει πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ προφήτην· Ἕως πότε σὺ πενθεῖς περὶ Σαοὺλ, κἀγὼ ἀπῶσμαι αὐτόν; Τὸ Ἕως πότε, τὸν χρόνον δείκνυσι, καὶ τὴν παραμονὴν τοῦ ἱκετεύοντος· καὶ ἀπεπέμψατο ὁ Θεὸς τὸν χρόνον τῆς ἱκεσίας τοῦ προφήτου· οὐ γὰρ συνέδραμε τῇ πρεσβείᾳ τοῦ δικαίου ἡ μετάνοια τοῦ βασιλέως. Τῷ δέ γε μακαρίῳ ∆αυῒδ, δεξαμένῳ τὸν ἔλεγχον τῆς ἁμαρτίας διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Ναθᾶν τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ εὐθέως πρὸς τὴν ἀπειλὴν ἐπιδειξαμένῳ τὴν γνησίαν ἐπιστροφὴν, καὶ εἰπόντι, Ἥμαρτον τῷ Κυρίῳ, εὐθέως ῥῆμα ἓν ἐν μιᾷ ῥοπῇ προενεχθὲν γνησίως ὁλόκληρον ἤνεγκε τῷ μετανοήσαντι τὴν σωτηρίαν· εὐθὺς γὰρ ἡ διόρθωσις κατέλαβε τὴν ἀπόφασιν. Φησὶ γοῦν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ναθᾶν· Καὶ Κύριος ἀφῆκε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν σου. Ὅρα δέ μοι τὸν Θεὸν βραδὺν εἰς τιμωρίαν, καὶ ταχὺν εἰς σωτηρίαν· καί μοι πρῶτον ἐννόησον, ὅπως τὸν ἔλεγχον ὁ φιλάνθρωπος μετὰ πολλοὺς προσήγαγε χρόνους. Ἥμαρτεν ὁ ∆αυΐδ· ἐκυοφόρησεν ἡ γυνὴ, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἔλεγχος τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ παρηκολούθησεν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸ ἀποτεχθῆναι τὸ βρέφος τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἀποστέλλεται ὁ ἰατρὸς τῆς ἁμαρτίας. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ἁμαρτήσαντα 49.329 εὐθέως οὐ διωρθώσατο; Ἐπειδὴ οἶδεν ἐν ταῖς ἀκμαῖς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τυφλώττουσαν τὴν ψυχὴν τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων, διότι ἐκκεκώφωται τὰ ὦτα τῶν βεβαπτισμένων ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ὑπερτίθεται οὖν φλεγμαίνοντι τῷ πάθει προσάγειν τὴν βοήθειαν, καὶ μετὰ τοσοῦτον χρόνον ὁ ἔλεγχος προσέρχεται· καὶ ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ ἡ μετάνοια καὶ ἡ ἄφεσις. Καὶ Κύριος ἀφῆκε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν σου. Ὢ τῆς οἰκονομίας τοῦ ἀπειλήσαντος. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ὀξὺς εἰς σωτηρίαν; Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ποιεῖ, βραδύνων μὲν πρὸς καθαίρεσιν, ταχύνων δὲ πρὸς ἀντίληψιν. Οἷόν τι λέγω· ἐφ' ἡμῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ πολλῶν χρόνων τὰ κτίσματα κατασκευάζεται, καὶ ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ κτίζομεν οἶκον· καὶ τῆς μὲν οἰκοδομῆς πολὺς ὁ χρόνος, τῆς δὲ καθαιρέσεως ὀλίγος. Ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἀνάπαλιν· ὅταν κτίζῃ, ταχέως κτίζει· ὅταν καταστρέφῃ, βραδέως καταστρέφει. Ταχὺς ὁ Θεὸς κτίζων, βραδὺς καταστρέφων· ἐπειδὴ Θεῷ τὰ δύο πρέποντα· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο, δυνάμεως, καὶ τοῦτο, ἀγαθότητος· δι' ὑπερβολὴν δυνάμεως