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of the new people of the rational sheep. Act and speak, building upon the rock, or rather, yourself be built upon the rock. Let this one be your shepherd, your architect, and the foundation of your life. What need is there of a roof before foundations? First the building and then the roof, action in knowledge and thus contemplation. Why do you want to drink the wine before the vintage? It is not contained in an old wineskin. Why do you gather the sheaves before the sowing and think to impart them to others in vain? If you wish, come, do not fall from the path, but teach about the depth of the judgments concerning us, how some, perhaps wicked and not knowing God, prosper, how others, knowing God and known by God alone, are unfortunate, some are poor, perhaps giving thanks, and others bear poverty thankfully, while others are rich, being wickedly ungrateful, and others, plundering and doing wrong, think to serve God by these things, and many other things which you see every day, that mortals do and suffer in turn, and God, the creator of all, endures it. (159) Lest one be reckoned unjust by the lawless or by the fainthearted like myself? Speak, teach about the divine judgment, about that hour and day, in which we all will stand naked before the judgment seat of my God and Savior and for our deeds and words here, our reasonings, and our thoughts as well, we shall receive the wages according to our worth: say, who there will have confidence and who, in turn, will be put to shame? You have countless things to say about these matters; but after these things, consider also creation, for you will find another abyss in it! Behold the heaven, the sun, and the stars, look upon the earth, the mother and tomb

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τοῦ νέου λαοῦ τῶν λογικῶν προβάτων. Πρᾶξον καί λέξον κτίζων ἐπί τῆς πέτρας, μᾶλλον δέ καί αὐτός ὑπό τῆς πέτρας κτίζου. Οὗτος καί ποιμήν, οὗτος καί ἀρχιτέκτων, οὗτος καί θεμέλιος ἔστω σοι βίου. Τί τῆς ὀροφῆς χρεία πρό θεμελίων; Οἰκοδομή πρῶτον καί τότε στέγος, πρᾶξις ἐν γνώσει καί οὕτως θεωρία. Τί πρό τοῦ τρύγους τόν οἶνον θέλεις πίνειν; Οὗτος εἰς ἀσκόν παλαιόν οὐ χωρεῖται. Τί πρό τοῦ σπόρου τά δράγματα συλλέγειν καί ἄλλοις οἴει μεταδιδόναι μάτην; Εἰ βούλει, δεῦρο, τῆς ὁδοῦ μή ἐκπέσῃς, ἀλλά δίδαξον περί βάθους κριμάτων, τῶν περί ἡμᾶς, πῶς εὐδρομοῦσιν ἄλλοι ἴσως πονηροί καί μή Θεόν εἰδότες πῶς ἄλλοι δυστυχοῦσι Θεόν εἰδότες καί ὑπό Θεοῦ γινωσκόμενι μόνου, ἄλλοι πένονται ἴσως εὐχαριστοῦντες, ἄλλοι δέ πτωχοί φέρουσιν εὐχαρίστως, πλουτοῦσι δ᾿ ἄλλοι κακῶς ἀγνωμονοῦντες, ἁρπάζοντες δ᾿ ἕτεροι καί ἀδικοῦντες οἴονται Θεόν θεραπεύειν ἐκ τούτων, καί ἄλλα πολλά, ἅ ὁρᾷς καθ᾿ ἑκάστην, ὅτι βροτοί ποιοῦσι καί πανθάνουσι πάλιν, καί Θεός ἀνέχεται, ὁ πάντων κτίστης. (159) Μή τις ἄδικος λογισθῇ τοῖς ἀνόμοις ἤ τοῖς κατ᾿ ἐμέ οὖσιν ὀλιγοψύχοις; Εἰπέ, δίδαξον περί κρίσεως θείας, περί τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης καί ἡμέρας, ἐν ᾗ γυμνοί ἅπαντες παρασταθῶμεν τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ μου βήματι καί Σωτῆρος καί τῶν ἐνταῦθα πράξεών τε καί λόγων, διαλογισμῶν, ἐνθυμήσεων ἅμα, τούς μισθούς ληψόμεθα τούς κατ᾿ ἀξίαν˙ λέγε, τίς ἐκεῖ πεπαρρησιασμένος καί τίς ὑπάρξει πάλιν κατῃσχυμμένος; Ἔχεις τό λέγειν ἄπειρα περί τούτων˙ μετά δέ ταῦτα σκόπησον καί τήν κτίσιν, ἄβυσσον ἄλλην εὑρήσεις γάρ ἐν ταύτῃ! Ἴδε οὐρανόν, ἥλιον καί τά ἄστρα, βλέψον εἰς τήν γῆν, τήν μητέρα καί τάφον