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that is, lions' cubs, who tore apart with their terrible gaping mouths and sharp claws. But the allies came, mercy and truth, the good pair. For mercy is not without judgment, nor truth without mercy. And through these I am freed from living with these cubs. And these beasts, he says, are sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. The constitution of our nature does not know these sensible arrows placed in human mouths instead of teeth, but when someone is conformed to passion and transformed to the prevailing wickedness, having lost his natural form he becomes a beast. For this reason, having mentioned lions, he called the sons of men beasts, whose teeth and tongue are the instruments of war. 5.157 He, therefore, who has been so lifted up above his adversaries, as to dwell under the shadow of the divine wings and to be taken up from the earth to the heavenly inheritance (For he sent, he says, from heaven and saved me), no longer looks at earthly things, but contemplates the glory in the heavens, saying, Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and your glory over all the earth. And recounting the attacks of the enemies, he says that they are entangled in their own evils, falling into pits. For he says that They prepared a trap for my feet and bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face, and fell into it. But he himself says he is ready to sing praise to the divine glory. How blessed is he of such great nature, whose heart is prepared for the praise of the divine glory, containing in itself the uncontainable; saying he is well-disposed and ready, he does not postpone the song, but summons his living instruments by name, calling them to the service of hymnody, saying, Awake, psaltery and harp. which demonstrates the harmonious symphony of the twofold man, the visible and the hidden, for the divine doxology, and it obeys the one who calls the instruments. And the time for such music is the early morning. For the glory of God is not awakened for any of those who have not put away the works of darkness. I will awake, therefore, in the early morning, says the psaltery and harp to the one calling. And thus he promises to fulfill for God the thanksgiving, which he calls confession, fulfilled among peoples and nations. For the grace of faith is divided equally toward these two names, 5.158 toward both the peoples and the nations. For he is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the nations. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith, for this reason, just as a double stream of the divine blessing was poured out on both, being divided partly to the peoples and partly to the nations, on behalf of both the prophecy offers thanksgiving to God, because when sin had increased infinitely, the mercy of God exceeds in its own greatness, becoming even higher than the height of heaven itself. For great, he says, is your mercy above the heavens. And I think the words of the doxology for these things are the final utterances of the psalmody, in which he says, Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and your glory over all the earth. For as much as the glory of God abounds on earth, increased through those who are saved by faith, so much do the supracelestial powers, rejoicing in our salvation, praise and glorify God, as the heavenly host said concerning the shepherds, when the angels saw peace on earth appear in our life for the sake of goodwill among men, that Glory to God in the highest.

CHAPTER 15

But the subsequent succession of this height of the psalmody to such a degree to the

more magnificent differs, as 5.159 it is possible to learn from the things written. and

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ἤτοι σκύμνοι λεόντων, οἳ τῷ φοβερῷ χάσματι καὶ ταῖς τῶν ὀνύχων ἀκμαῖς κατεσπάρασσον. ἀλλ' ἦλθον οἱ σύμμαχοι, ὁ ἔλεός τε καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἡ καλὴ συζυγία. οὔτε γὰρ ἄκριτος ὁ ἔλεος οὔτε ἀνελεὴς ἡ ἀλήθεια. καὶ διὰ τούτων ἐλευθεροῦμαι τῆς μετὰ τῶν σκύμνων τούτων διαγωγῆς. τὰ δὲ θηρία ταῦτα, φησίν, υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων εἰσίν, ὧν οἱ ὀδόντες ὅπλα καὶ βέλη καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν μάχαιρα ὀξεῖα. οὐκ οἶδεν ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν κατασκευὴ τὰ αἰσθητὰ βέλη ταῦτα τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις στόμασιν ἀντὶ ὀδόντων ἐγκείμενα, ἀλλ' ὅταν τις ὁμοιωθῇ πρὸς τὸ πάθος καὶ μεταμορφωθῇ πρὸς τὴν ἐπικρατοῦσαν κακίαν, ἀπολέσας τὴν κατὰ φύσιν μορφὴν θηρίον γίνεται. διὰ τοῦτο λεόντων μνησθεὶς τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ θηρία ὠνόμασεν, ὧν ὀδόντες καὶ γλῶσσα τὰ τοῦ πολέμου ὄργανα. 5.157 Ὁ οὖν τοσοῦτον ὑπεραρθεὶς τῶν ἐναντίων, ὡς ὑπὸ τὴν σκιὰν τῶν θείων πτερύγων αὐλίζεσθαι καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὴν ἐπουράνιον λῆξιν ἀναληφθῆναι (Ἐξαπέστειλεν γάρ, φησίν, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἔσωσέν με), οὐκέτι πρὸς τὰ περίγεια βλέπει, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις δόξαν περιεργάζεται, Ὑψώθητι, λέγων, ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐρανούς, ὁ θεός, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἡ δόξα σου. καὶ διηγούμενος τὰς τῶν ἐχθρῶν προσβολὰς ἐκείνους φησὶν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἑαυτῶν κακοῖς περιστρέφεσθαι τοῖς βόθροις ἐγκαταπίπτοντας. φησὶ γὰρ ὅτι Παγίδα ἡτοίμασαν τοῖς ποσί μου καὶ κατέκαμψαν τὴν ψυχήν μου. ὤρυξαν πρὸ προσώπου μου βόθρον, καὶ ἐνέπεσον εἰς αὐτόν. αὐτὸς δὲ ἐν ἑτοίμῳ εἶναί φησιν τοῦ τὴν θείαν δόξαν δι' εὐφημίας ὑμνεῖν. ὡς μακάριος τῆς τοσαύτης μεγαλο φυΐας ἐκεῖνος, οὗ ἡ καρδία πρὸς εὐφημίαν τῆς θείας δόξης ἡτοίμασται, χωροῦσα ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὸ ἀχώρητον· εὐτρεπής τε εἶναι λέγων καὶ ἕτοιμος, καὶ οὐκ ἀναβάλλεται τὴν ᾠδήν, ἀλλὰ προσκαλεῖται τὰ ζῶντα ἑαυτοῦ ὄργανα ὀνομαστὶ πρὸς τὴν τῆς ὑμνῳδίας ὑπηρεσίαν καλῶν, Ἐξεγέρθητι, λέγων, ψαλτήριον καὶ κιθάρα. ὅπερ τοῦ διπλοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ φαινομένου τε καὶ κεκρυμμένου τὴν ἐναρμόνιον συνῳδίαν πρὸς τὴν θείαν δοξολογίαν ἐνδείκνυται καὶ ὑπακούει τῷ καλοῦντι τὰ ὄργανα. ὁ δὲ καιρὸς τῆς τοιαύτης μουσικῆς ὄρθρος ἐστίν. οὐδενὶ γὰρ τῶν μὴ ἀποθεμένων τὰ ἔργα τοῦ σκότους ἡ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ διεγείρεται. Ἐξεγερθήσομαι οὖν ἐν τῷ ὄρθρῳ, φησὶ πρὸς τὸν καλοῦντα τὸ ψαλτήριόν τε καὶ ἡ κιθάρα. καὶ οὕτως ἐπαγγέλλεται πληρώσειν τῷ θεῷ τὴν εὐχαριστίαν, ἣν ἐξομολόγησιν λέγει, ἐν λαοῖς πληρουμένην καὶ ἔθνεσι. μερίζεται γὰρ πρὸς τὰ δύο ταῦτα ὀνόματα κατὰ 5.158 τὸ ἴσον ἡ χάρις τῆς πίστεως, πρός τε τοὺς λαοὺς καὶ τὰ ἔθνη. οὐ γὰρ Ἰουδαίων ὁ θεὸς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐθνῶν. ἐπείπερ εἷς ὁ θεός, ὃς δικαιώσει περιτομὴν ἐκ πίστεως καὶ ἀκροβυστίαν διὰ τῆς πίστεως, διὰ τοῦτο καθάπερ διπλοῦ τινος ῥεύματος τῆς θείας εὐλογίας ἐπ' ἄμφω χυθείσης, πῇ μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς λαούς, πῇ δὲ πρὸς τὰ ἔθνη διαιρεθείσης, ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων ἡ προφητεία τῷ θεῷ προσάγει τὴν εὐχαριστίαν, ὅτι τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἰς ἄπειρον αὐξηθείσης ὑπερέχει ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ μεγέθει ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἔλεος καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ οὐρανίου ὕψους ὑπεράνω γενόμενος. Μέγα γάρ, φησίν, ἐπάνω τῶν οὐρανῶν τὸ ἔλεός σου. τὰ δὲ ῥήματα τῆς ὑπὲρ τούτων δοξολογίας οἶμαι τὰς τελευταίας εἶναι τῆς ψαλμῳδίας φωνάς, ἐν οἷς φησιν Ὑψώθητι ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ὁ θεός, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἡ δόξα σου. ὅσον γὰρ πλεονάζει κατὰ γῆν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ δόξα διὰ τῶν σῳζομένων ἐκ πίστεως ἐπαυξομένη, τοσοῦτον αἱ ὑπερκόσμιοι δυνάμεις ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ ἡμῶν ἀγαλλιώμεναι τὸν θεὸν ἀνυμνοῦσί τε καὶ δοξολογοῦσιν, καθώς φησιν ἐπὶ τῶν ποιμένων ἡ ἐπουράνιος στρατιά, ὅτε εἶδον οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐπὶ γῆς τὴν εἰρήνην τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώ ποις εὐδοκίας τῷ βίῳ ἡμῶν ἐπιφανεῖσαν, ὅτι ∆όξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΕʹ

Τούτου δὲ τοῦ ὕψους τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ἡ ὑπερκειμένη διαδοχὴ τοσοῦτον ἐπὶ τὸ

μεγαλειότερον διαφέρει, ὅσον 5.159 ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔστι τῶν γεγραμμένων μαθεῖν. καὶ