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has the name been placed upon it? for he did not simply say, that the lot of the ministry. For since things allotted do not come from one's own choice, but depend on some other authority, it is necessary for the one who has been allotted to hold the place which he has been allotted, and neither to arrange it for himself; for this would not be a lot; nor to flee what has been given; for if the things of the lot are authoritative, much more are the things of God, when God allots. But that lot is irrational, but this one does not the one acting also need to act without partiality; for this is a lot. Not whom he himself wishes, but whom grace gives. As long, therefore, as the apostles were without the Spirit, they entrusted matters to the lot; but later both to the multitude, and to their own grace. The lot is a thing without grief, it does not permit even them to be pained as though being wronged. The lot saw no kinship, nor favor, nor enmity. For since, when there are many, it is not possible for all to be chosen by lot, it is reasonable that we also choose a few out of many. Be ashamed of your boasting. Let us be ashamed before God, not before men. What is, of your boasting? Either, Be ashamed of the things in which you boast; for men often boast of things for which they ought to be ashamed; or that, Remembering your boasting, be ashamed. 64.884 Who were you once, and who are you now? From reproach, from those who reproach you; not from the reproach of God. For the greatest remedy is to know how to be ashamed, and to blush is no small occasion for salvation. And if you take away shame, you have taken away all hope of salvation. I have often known it to have as much power as punishment has. God did not simply place this in our nature; but that it might always arouse us, He placed it, not so that we should be ashamed before men, but also the conscience. Often, even when there is no punishment for a sin, shame alone and self-condemnation have restrained it. For thus says the Lord concerning all the wicked neighbors. He hints here at the Arabians, because they taught them no small evils, for which they first spent forty years in the desert. For this reason He did not permit them to be mixed with the nations, for this reason He also established laws more secure than a wall, not allowing them to mix with their neighbors. “Behold, I will tear them away.” He threatens them with a great threat, so that they too may become better; and He threatens the captives too. See how they too were brought to their senses by the things that happened to these; at the same time He gives them a pretext for an apology as though they did not know. Just as you have become for them a cause of destruction, so will they be for you a cause of salvation. Great is the shame of the Jews, if indeed they are to learn from their neighbors. See how He appropriates them. Was His salvation for one nation? Do you wish to be friends at all, and to be of one mind? Therefore, for good, not against the salvation of those who agree; therefore it is possible even before this to become better.

CHAP. XIII.

Go and get for yourself a linen loincloth. What the image means is this: the loincloth is intimacy, and a linen loincloth, the priestly, the incorruptible, the comeliness of the people, that it should not be corrupted by any of these customary things, either by time, or by moth, or by any such things. The one in the rock, lest anyone should say that it was corrupted through the indolence of nature; so also the Israelites; for such, he says, are human affairs. Now wars, now battles, now peace, now abundance; from above He made them of such a change. It will not pass through water, that is, new; for if water passes through, they consider it to be old; lest they should think they were corrupted by becoming old eq. as having been corrupted by becoming old, which we call undyed, un-wetted. For to wet is to moisten, which the many un-wetted

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ἐπιτέθειται τὸ ὄνομα; οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, ὅτι τὸν κλῆρον τῆς διακονίας. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ κληρούμενα οὐκ ἐξ οἰκείας γίνεται προαιρέσεως, ἀλλ' ἑτέρας τινὸς ἐξουσίας ἤρτηται, δεῖ τὸν κληρωθέντα, τὸν τόπον ἔχειν ὃν ἐκληρώθη, καὶ μήτε κατασκευάζειν ἑαυτῷ· οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἴη κλῆρος τοῦτο· μήτε φεύγειν δοθέντα· εἰ γὰρ τὰ τοῦ κλήρου κύρια, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅταν ὁ Θεὸς κληρώσῃ. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἄλογος ὁ κλῆρος, οὗτος δὲ οὐχὶ δεῖ καὶ τὸν ποιοῦντα ἀπροσπαθῶς ποιεῖν· τοῦτο γὰρ κλῆρος. Μὴ ὃν βούλεται αὐτὸς, ἀλλ' ὃν ἡ χάρις δίδωσιν. Ἕως μὲν οὖν Πνεύματος ἄμοιροι οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἦσαν, κλήρῳ τὰ πράγματα ἐπέτρεπον· ὕστερον δὲ καὶ τῷ πλήθει, καὶ τῇ οἰκείᾳ χάριτι. Ὁ κλῆρος πρᾶγμα ἄλυπον, οὐκ ἀφίησιν οὐδὲ ἐκείνους ἀλγεῖν ὡς ἀδικουμένους. Ὁ κλῆρος συγγένειαν οὐκ εἶδεν, οὐδὲ χάριν, οὐδὲ ἀπέχθειαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλῶν ὄντων πάντας κληροῦσθαι οὐκ ἔνι, εἰκότως καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν ὀλίγους ἐπιλεγόμεθα. Αἰσχύνθητε ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν. Ἐναντίον τοῦ Θεοῦ αἰσχυνθῶμεν, μὴ ἐναντίον ἀνθρώπων. Τί ἐστιν, ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν; Ἢ Ἐφ' οἷς καυχᾶσθε, αἰσχύνεσθε· καυχῶνται γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι πολλάκις ἐφ' οἷς καταδύεσθαι χρή· ἢ ὅτι Τὴν καύχησιν ὑμῶν ἀναμνησθέντες, αἰσχύνθητε. 64.884 Τίνες ἦτέ ποτε, καὶ τίνες νῦν; Ἀπὸ ὀνειδισμοῦ, ἀπὸ ὀνειδιζόντων ὑμᾶς· μὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀνειδισμοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Μεγίστη γὰρ θεραπεία εἰδέναι αἰσχύνεσθαι, καὶ ἐρυθριᾷν οὐ μικρὰ σωτηρίας πρόφασις. Κἂν ἀνέλῃς τὴν αἰσχύνην, πᾶσαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας ἀνεῖλες. Οἶδα πολλάκις ἰσχῦσαι τοσοῦτον, ὅσον οὖν ἴσχυσε τιμωρία. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐνέθηκεν ἡμῖν τῇ φύσει ταύτην ὁ Θεός· ἀλλ' ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἀεὶ διεγείρῃ, ἐνέθηκεν, οὐχ ὥστε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους αἰσχύνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ συνειδός. Πολλάκις οὐδὲ τιμωρίας οὔσης ἐπὶ ἁμαρτήματι αἰσχύνη μόνον, καὶ κατάγνωσις ἀνέστειλεν. Ὅτι τάδε λέγει Κύριος περὶ πάντων τῶν γειτόνων τῶν πονηρῶν. Ἀραβίους ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται, ὅτι οὐ μικρὰ αὐτοὺς ἐδίδαξαν κακὰ δι' ἃ πρῶτον τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη ἐν ἐρήμῳ διέτριβον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἀναμιχθῆναι τοῖς ἔθνεσι, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τείχους ἀσφαλεστέρους τέθεικεν νόμους, οὐ συγχωροῦντας τοῖς γειτόσιν ἀναμίγνυσθαι. «Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποσπῶ αὐτούς.» Ἀπειλεῖ αὐτοῖς ἀπειλὴν μεγάλην, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ βελτίους γένωνται· καὶ αἰχμαλώτοις δὲ ἀπειλεῖ. Ὅρα καὶ αὐτοὶ πῶς ἐσωφρονίζοντο ἐκ τῶν τούτοις συμβαινόντων· ἅμα δίδωσιν αὐτοῖς πρόφασιν ἀπολογίας ὡς οὐκ εἰδόσιν. Ὥσπερ αἴτιοι γεγόνατε αὐτοῖς ἀπωλείας, οὕτως ἔσονται σωτηρίας ὑμῖν. Πολλὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων αἰσχύνη, εἴ γε μέλλοιεν παρὰ τῶν γειτόνων μανθάνειν. Ὅρα πῶς αὐτοὺς οἰκειοῦται. Μὴ εἰς ἔθνος ἓν ἦν αὐτοῦ ἡ σωτηρία; Ὅλως βούλεσθε φίλοι εἶναι, καὶ ὁμονοεῖν; Οὐκοῦν ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ, μὴ κατὰ τῆς τῶν συμφωνούντων σωτηρίας· οὐκοῦν ἔξεστι καὶ πρὸ τούτου γενέσθαι βελτίους.

ΚΕΦ. ΙΓʹ.

Βάδισον καὶ κτῆσαι σεαυτῷ περίζωμα λινοῦν. Ὃ βούλεται ἡ εἰκὼν, τοῦτό ἐστι· περίζωμα ἡ οἰκειότης, καὶ περίζωμα λινοῦν, τὸ ἱερατικὸν, τὸ ἀνάλωτον, τὸ εὐπρεπὲς τοῦ λαοῦ, τὸ μηδενὶ τούτων φθείρεσθαι τῶν εἰωθότων, ἢ χρόνῳ, ἢ σητὶ, ἤ τισι τοιούτοις. Τὸ ἐν πέτρᾳ, ἵνα μή τις εἴπῃ, ὅτι κατὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν φύσεως διεφθάρη· οὕτω καὶ Ἰσραηλῖται· τοιαῦτα γάρ φησι τὰ ἀνθρώπινα. Νῦν μὲν πόλεμοι, νῦν δὲ μάχαι, νῦν εἰρήνη, νῦν εὐθηνία· ἄνωθεν αὐτοὺς τοιαύτης ἐποίησε μεταβολῆς. Ἐν ὕδατι οὐ διελεύσεται, τουτέστι καινόν· ἂν γὰρ διέλθῃ ὕδωρ, νομίζουσιν αὐτὸ παλαιὸν εἶναι· ἵνα μὴ νομίσωσι παρὰ τὸ παλαιωθῆναι διεφθάρησαν ἴσ. ὡς παρὰ τὸ παλαιωθῆναι διεφθάρη, ὃ λέγομεν ἀβαφὲς, ἄτεγκτον. Βρέχειν γὰρ τὸ τέγγειν ἐστὶν, ὃ οἱ πολλοὶ ἄτεγκτον