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his servants of honor, they gave up his own daughters to dishonor, when their sins were so many, will He spare them? Truly these things are a laugh and nonsense and error and diabolical deceit. Do you want me to bring forward another example? You have surely heard of Pharaoh the king of the Egyptians; therefore you know the penalty which he paid, and how with his chariots and horses with his entire army he was drowned in the Red Sea. Do you want to learn other things too? for perhaps he was impious; or rather, not perhaps, but truly he was impious. Do you want to see even those who believe and attend to God, but are not of an upright life, being punished? listen to Paul saying: Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and fell in one day twenty-three thousand; neither let us murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer; neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and were destroyed by serpents. If fornication had such power, and murmuring, what will our sins not accomplish? And if He does not demand a penalty now, do not be surprised; for they did not know of Gehenna; for this reason they were punished with immediate penalties; but you, whatever sins you may commit, even if you pay no penalty here, you will pay it there. Then, He punished those who were more childish and did not sin so much with such great punishments, and will He spare us? It would not be reasonable. For even if we sin the same things as they did, we are worthy of a greater punishment. Why? Because we have enjoyed greater grace. But when we sin more and greater sins than they did, what pe 62.444 nalty shall we not undergo? They (and let no one think I say this admiring them or pardoning them, may it not be so; for when God punishes, he who casts the opposite vote does this from a diabolical mind; therefore I do not say this praising them nor pardoning them, but showing our own wickedness): they, therefore, though they murmured, yet they were going into a desert; but we, having a fatherland and being in our own houses, murmur. And they, though they committed fornication, yet they had just come out of Egyptian evils and had scarcely heard such a law; but we have received the saving doctrines from our forefathers; so that we are worthy of a greater punishment. Do you want to hear other things too, all that they suffered in Palestine, famines, plagues, wars, captivities, those under the Babylonians, those under the Assyrians, the evils under the Macedonians, those under Hadrian and Vespasian? I want to narrate something to you, beloved, but do not jump away; or rather, before this I will say another thing. A famine once occurred, he says, and the king was walking on the wall; then a woman approached and uttered these words to him: King, this woman said to me: Let us cook your son today and eat him, and tomorrow my son; and we cooked him, and we ate him; and she no longer gave hers. What is more terrible than this calamity? Again elsewhere the prophet says: The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. The Jews, therefore, paid such a penalty; shall we not pay a much greater one? d. Do you want to hear of their other calamities as well? go through the works of Josephus, and you will learn that whole tragedy, if we can persuade you from these things that there is a Gehenna. For consider: if they were punished, why are we not punished? or how is it likely that we should not be punished, sinning worse things than they did? Is it not clear that it is because the punishment is reserved for us? But if you wish, I will also speak of each single person, how they were punished. Cain killed his brother. A terrible sin indeed; for how could it not be? but he paid a penalty, and a harsh one, and one worthy of ten thousand deaths, and for which he would have chosen to die even ten thousand times; for listen to him saying, If you cast me out from the earth, I will also be hidden from your face, and it shall be that everyone who finds me will kill me. Tell me then, do not many now do the same things as he did? for when you destroy not a carnal, but a spiritual

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δούλους αὐτοῦ τιμῆς τὰς θυγατέρας εἰς ὕβριν προέμενον τὰς ἑαυτοῦ, τοσούτων ὄντων τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, φείσεται; Γέλως ὄντως ταῦτα καὶ λῆρος καὶ πλάνη καὶ διαβολικὴ ἀπάτη. Βούλει καὶ ἕτερον ἐπαγάγω; Τὸν Φαραὼ πάντως ἀκούεις τὸν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέα· οὐκοῦν οἶδας καὶ τὴν δίκην ἣν ἔδωκε, καὶ πῶς αὐτοῖς ἅρμασι καὶ ἵπποις μετὰ τοῦ στρατοπέδου παντὸς εἰς τὸ Ἐρυθραῖον κατεποντίσθη πέλαγος. Βούλει καὶ ἕτερα μαθεῖν; ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ ἴσως ἀσεβὴς ἦν, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἴσως, ἀλλ' ὄντως ἀσεβὴς ἦν. Βούλει καὶ ἐκ τῶν πιστευόντων καὶ προσεχόντων τῷ Θεῷ, βίου δὲ οὐκ ὄντων ὀρθοῦ, τιμωρουμένους ἰδεῖν; ἄκουσον τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· Μηδὲ πορνεύωμεν, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν ἐξεπόρνευσαν, καὶ ἔπεσον ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ εἰκοσιτρεῖς χιλιάδες· μηδὲ γογγύζωμεν, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν ἐγόγγυσαν, καὶ ἀπώλοντο ὑπὸ τοῦ ὀλοθρευτοῦ· μηδὲ ἐκπειράζωμεν τὸν Χριστὸν, καθώς τινες αὐτῶν ἐπείρασαν, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἀπώλοντο. Εἰ δὲ πορνεία τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσεν, εἰ δὲ γογγυσμὸς, τί οὐκ ἐργάσεται τὰ ἡμέτερα; Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀπαιτεῖ νῦν δίκην, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ᾔδεσαν τὴν γέενναν· διὸ ταῖς παρὰ πόδας ἐκολάζοντο τιμωρίαις· σὺ δὲ ὅσα ἂν ἁμάρτῃς, κἂν μηδεμίαν δίκην δῷς, ἀποτίσεις ἐκεῖ. Εἶτα τοὺς μὲν νηπιωδεστέρους, καὶ οὐ τοσαῦτα πταίοντας τοσαῦτα ἐκόλαζεν, ἡμῶν δὲ φείσεται; Οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι λόγον. Κἂν γὰρ τὰ αὐτὰ ἁμάρτωμεν ἐκείνοις, μείζονός ἐσμεν κολάσεως ἄξιοι. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι πλείονος ἀπελαύσαμεν χάριτος. Ὅταν δὲ καὶ πλείονα καὶ μείζονα ἐκείνων πταίωμεν, τίνα οὐχ ὑποστησόμεθα δί 62.444 κην; Ἐκεῖνοι (καὶ μὴ μέ τις νομιζέτω θαυμάζοντα αὐτοὺς, ἢ συγγινώσκοντα αὐτοῖς λέγειν, μὴ γένοιτο· ὅταν γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς κολάζῃ, ὁ τὴν ἐναντίαν φέρων ψῆφον, ἀπὸ διαβολικῆς διανοίας τοῦτο ποιεῖ· οὐ τοίνυν ἐπαινῶν αὐτοὺς, οὐδὲ συγγινώσκων τοῦτό φημι, ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς τὴν ἡμετέραν κακίαν)· ἐκεῖνοι τοίνυν, εἰ καὶ ἐγόγγυζον, ἀλλ' εἰς ἔρημον ἤρχοντο· ἡμεῖς δὲ πατρίδα ἔχοντες, καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις ταῖς ἡμετέραις ὄντες, γογγύζομεν. Ἐκεῖνοι δὲ, εἰ καὶ ἐπόρνευον, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ Αἰγυπτιακῶν ἐξελθόντες ἄρτι κακῶν, καὶ νόμου σχεδὸν οὐκ ἀκούσαντες τοιούτου· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐκ προγόνων τὰ σωτήρια παραλαβόντες δόγματα· ὥστε μείζονος κολάσεώς ἐσμεν ἄξιοι. Βούλει καὶ ἕτερα ἀκοῦσαι, ὅσα ἔπαθον ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ, λιμοὺς, λοιμοὺς, πολέμους, αἰχμαλωσίας, τὰς ἐπὶ Βαβυλωνίων, τὰς ἐπὶ Ἀσσυρίων, τὰ ὑπὸ Μακεδόνων κακὰ, τὰ ἐπὶ Ἀδριανοῦ καὶ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ; Βούλομαί σοι, ἀγαπητὲ, τὶ διηγήσασθαι, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀποπηδήσῃς· μᾶλλον δὲ πρὸ τούτου ἕτερον ἐρῶ. Λιμὸς ἐγένετό ποτε, φησὶ, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐβάδιζεν ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους· εἶτα γυνὴ προσελθοῦσα ταῦτα φθέγγεται πρὸς αὐτὸν τὰ ῥήματα· Βασιλεῦ, εἶπέ μοι ἡ γυνὴ αὕτη· Ὀπτήσωμέν σου σήμερον τὸν υἱὸν καὶ φάγωμεν, καὶ αὔριον τὸν ἐμόν· καὶ ὠπτήσαμεν, καὶ ἐφάγομεν· καὶ τὸν αὐτῆς οὐκέτι ἔδωκε. Τί ταύτης τῆς συμφορᾶς χαλεπώτερον; Πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ ὁ προφήτης φησί· Χεῖρες γυναικῶν οἰκτιρμόνων ἥψησαν τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν. Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν οὖν τοιαύτην ἔδοσαν δίκην· ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐ πολλῷ μᾶλλον δώσομεν; δʹ. Βούλει καὶ ἑτέρας αὐτῶν ἀκοῦσαι συμφοράς; τὰ Ἰωσήππου ἔπελθε, καὶ μαθήσῃ πᾶσαν ἐκείνην τραγῳδίαν, ἂν ἄρα σε πείσωμεν ἀπὸ τούτων ὅτι ἔστι γέεννα. Ἐννόησον γάρ· εἰ ἐκεῖνοι ἐκολάζοντο, διὰ τί ἡμεῖς μὴ κολαζόμεθα; ἢ πῶς εἰκὸς ἡμᾶς μὴ κολάζεσθαι, χείρονα ἐκείνων πταίοντας; ἦ δῆλον, ὅτι διὰ τὸ ἀποκεῖσθαι ἡμῖν τὴν κόλασιν; Εἰ δὲ βούλει, καὶ ἐπὶ προσώπου ἑνὸς ἑκάστου ἐρῶ πῶς ἐκολάσθησαν· Ἀδελφὸν ἀπέκτεινεν ὁ Κάϊν. ∆εινὸν μὲν τὸ ἁμάρτημα· πῶς γὰρ οὔ; ἀλλ' ἔδωκε δίκην, καὶ χαλεπὴν, καὶ μυρίων ἀνταξίαν θανάτων, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἧς εἵλετο ἂν καὶ μυριάκις ἀποθανεῖν· ἄκουε γὰρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος, Εἰ ἐκβάλλεις με ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου κρυβήσομαι, καὶ ἔσται πᾶς ὁ εὑρίσκων με, ἀποκτενεῖ με. Εἰπὲ οὖν μοι, οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ πράττουσιν ἐκείνῳ πολλοὶ καὶ νῦν; ὅταν γὰρ μὴ σαρκικὸν, ἀλλὰ πνευματικὸν ἀνέλῃς