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former days, in which, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings; But when we say, 'You have not suffered anything great;' for we are turned back by the word and rise up, and we become more eager for all suffering. And the one refreshes the wearied soul and makes it breathe again, but the other turns back the slothful and supine soul, and pulls down its pride. In order, then, that pride might not be born in them from that testimony, see what he does: ‘You have not yet,’ he says, ‘resisted to the point of blood, striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation.’ And he did not immediately add what follows, but after showing them all those who stood firm to the point of blood, then bringing in Christ's boast, the sufferings, he then easily ran through it. This he also says when writing to the Corinthians: ‘No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man;’ that is, small. For this is sufficient to raise up and set right the soul, when it understands that it has not reached the full measure, and convinces itself from what has gone before. What he says is this: You have not yet endured death; your loss has been up to your money, up to your reputation, up to being driven out. Christ, however, poured out His blood for you, but you not even for yourselves. He Himself struggled to the death for the truth, fighting for you; but you have not yet entered into dangers that threaten death. ‘And you have forgotten the exhortation;’ that is, you have let your hands hang down, you have grown weary. ‘You have not yet,’ he says, ‘resisted to the point of blood, striving against sin.’ Here he shows that sin is breathing fiercely, and is itself armed; for ‘you have resisted’ is said of those who are standing. ‘Which,’ he says, ‘speaks to you as to sons, "My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you."’ He made his exhortation from the facts; out of abundance he also adds that which is from words, from this testimony: ‘Do not lose heart,’ he says, ‘when he rebukes you.’ Therefore these things are of God. And this is no small comfort, when we learn that it is God’s work to be able to endure such things, He permitting it; just as Paul also says: ‘For this I besought the Lord three times, and He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness."’ So it is He 63.204 who permits it. ‘For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines; and He scourges every son whom He receives.’ You cannot say, he says, that there is any righteous person without affliction; for even if it appears so, yet we do not know the other afflictions; so it is necessary for every righteous person to come through affliction. For it is a declaration of Christ that the broad and spacious way leads to destruction, but the narrow and afflicted way to life. If, therefore, it is possible to come to life from there, and from nowhere else, then all who have gone to life have entered through the narrow way. ‘If you endure discipline,’ he says, ‘God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?’ If he disciplines, it is therefore for correction, but not for punishment, nor for vengeance, nor for suffering evil. See, from the very things from which they thought they were forsaken, from these he says they should believe that they are not forsaken. As if he had said: Because you have suffered so many evils, do you think that God has abandoned you and hates you? If you had not suffered, then you would have had to suspect this; for if He scourges every son whom He receives, he who is not scourged is perhaps not a son. What then? he says. Do the wicked not suffer evil? They do suffer; for how could they not? But he did not say, ‘Everyone who is scourged is a son,’ but, ‘Every son is scourged.’ But you could not say this; for there are many who are scourged, and are wicked, such as murderers, robbers, sorcerers, grave-robbers. But they pay the penalty for their own wickedness, and are not scourged as sons, but are punished as wicked men; but you as sons. Do you see how he stirs up their reasonings from all sides, from the facts in Scripture, from words, from fitting thoughts, from examples in life? Then again also from common custom. ‘But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children, and not sons.’ 2. Do you see that, as I said before, it is not possible for a son not to be disciplined? For just as in

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πρότερον ἡμέρας, ἐν αἷς φωτισθέντες, πολλὴν ἄθλησιν ὑπεμείνατε παθημάτων· τὸ δὲ, ὅταν λέγωμεν, ὅτι Οὐ μέγα τι πέπονθας· ἐπιστρεφόμεθα γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ διανιστάμεθα, καὶ πάντα πρὸς τὸ παθεῖν γινόμεθα προθυμότεροι. Καὶ τὸ μὲν τετρυχωμένην τὴν ψυχὴν διαναπαύει καὶ ἀναπνεῖν ποιεῖ, τὸ δὲ ῥᾳθυμοῦσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ὑπτίαν γενομένην ἐπιστρέφει, καὶ τοῦ φρονήματος κατασπᾷ. Ἵνα τοίνυν μὴ ἐξ ἐκείνης τῆς μαρτυρίας φρόνημα αὐτοῖς τεχθῇ, ὅρα τί ποιεῖ· Οὔπω, φησὶ, μέχρις αἵματος ἀντικατέστητε, πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνταγωνιζόμενοι· καὶ ἐκλέλησθε τῆς παρακλήσεως. Καὶ οὐκ εὐθέως ἐπήγαγε τὰ ἑξῆς, ἀλλὰ δείξας αὐτοῖς πάντας τοὺς μέχρις αἵματος στάντας, εἶτα ἐπαγαγὼν τὸ καύχημα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὰ παθήματα, τότε εὐκόλως κατέδραμε. Τοῦτο καὶ Κορινθίοις γράφων λέγει· Πειρασμὸς ὑμᾶς οὐκ εἴληφεν, εἰ μὴ ἀνθρώπινος· τουτέστι, μικρός. Ἱκανὸν γὰρ τοῦτο διαναστῆσαι καὶ ἀνορθῶσαι ψυχὴν, ὅταν ἐννοήσῃ, ὅτι οὐ πρὸς τὸ πᾶν ἀνῆλθε, καὶ πείσῃ ἑαυτὴν ἀπὸ τῶν προλαβόντων. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοῦτό ἐστιν· Οὔπω θάνατον ὑπέστητε, μέχρι χρημάτων ὑμῖν ἡ ζημία, μέχρι δόξης, μέχρι τοῦ ἐλαύνεσθαι· ὁ μέντοι Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τὸ αἷμα ἐξέχεεν, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν· αὐτὸς μέχρι θανάτου ἠγωνίσατο περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας, πολεμῶν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐδέπω εἰς κινδύνους ἐπέβητε θάνατον ἀπειλοῦντας. Καὶ ἐκλέλησθε τῆς παρακλήσεως· τουτέστι, Καὶ παρήκατε τὰς χεῖρας, ἐξελύθητε. Οὔπω, φησὶ, μέχρις αἵματος ἀντικατέστητε, πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνταγωνιζόμενοι. Ἐνταῦθα δείκνυσι καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν σφόδρα πνέουσαν, καὶ αὐτὴν ὁπλιζομένην· τὸ γὰρ, Ἀντικατέστητε, πρὸς τοὺς ἑστῶτας εἴρηται. Ἥτις ὑμῖν, φησὶν, ὡς υἱοῖς διαλέγεται, Υἱέ μου, μὴ ὀλιγώρει παιδείας Κυρίου, μηδὲ ἐκλύου ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐλεγχόμενος. Ἐποιήσατο ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν παράκλησιν· ἐκ περιουσίας καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων ἐπάγει, ἀπὸ τῆς μαρτυρίας ταύτης· Μὴ ἐκλύου, φησὶν, ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐλεγχόμενος. Ἄρα τοῦ Θεοῦ ταῦτά ἐστι. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ εἰς παράκλησιν οὐ μικρὸν, ὅταν μάθωμεν, ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔργον ἐστὶ τὸ τοιαῦτα δυνηθῆναι, ἐκείνου συγχωροῦντος· καθάπερ καὶ Παῦλός φησιν· Ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν Κύριον παρεκάλεσα, καὶ εἴρηκέ μοι, Ἀρκεῖ σοι ἡ χάρις μου· ἡ γὰρ δύναμίς μου ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται. Ὥστε ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν 63.204 ὁ συγχωρῶν. Ὃν γὰρ ἀγαπᾷ Κύριος, παιδεύει· μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἱὸν ὃν παραδέχεται. Οὐκ ἔχεις, φησὶν, εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἔστι τις δίκαιος θλίψεως χωρίς· κἂν γὰρ οὕτω φαίνηται, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἴσμεν ἡμεῖς τὰς ἄλλας θλίψεις· ὥστε πάντα δίκαιον ἀνάγκη διὰ θλίψεως ἐλθεῖν. Ἀπόφασις γάρ ἐστι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι ἡ πλατεῖα καὶ εὐρύχωρος ὁδὸς ἀπάγει εἰς τὴν ἀπώλειαν, ἡ δὲ στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη εἰς τὴν ζωήν. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐκεῖθεν ἔστιν ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν, ἄλλοθεν δὲ οὐκ ἔνι, ἄρα διὰ τῆς στενῆς πάντες εἰσῆλθον, ὅσοι πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἀπῆλθον. Εἰ παιδείαν ὑπομένετε, φησὶν, ὡς υἱοῖς ὑμῖν προσφέρεται ὁ Θεός. Τίς γάρ ἐστιν υἱὸς, ὃν οὐ παιδεύει πατήρ; Εἰ παιδεύει, ἄρα εἰς διόρθωσιν, ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς κόλασιν, οὐδὲ εἰς τιμωρίαν, οὐδὲ εἰς τὸ κακῶς παθεῖν. Ὅρα, ὅθεν ἐνόμιζον ἐγκαταλελεῖφθαι, ἀπὸ τούτων φησὶν αὐτοὺς πιστεύειν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐγκαταλελειμμένοι εἰσίν. Ὡς ἂν εἰ ἔλεγεν· Ἐπειδὴ τοσαῦτα ἐπάθετε κακὰ, νομίζετε ὅτι ἀφῆκεν ὑμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ μισεῖ; Εἰ μὴ ἐπάθετε, τότε ἔδει τοῦτο ὑποπτεύειν· εἰ γὰρ πάντα υἱὸν μαστιγοῖ, ὃν παραδέχεται, ὁ μὴ μαστιζόμενος, ἴσως οὐχ υἱός. Τί οὖν; φησί· πονηροὶ οὐ πάσχουσι κακῶς; Πάσχουσι μέν· πῶς γὰρ οὔ; ἀλλ' οὐκ εἶπε, Πᾶς ὁ μαστιζόμενος, υἱὸς, ἀλλὰ, Πᾶς ὁ υἱὸς μαστιγοῦται. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις εἰπεῖν· εἰσὶ μὲν γὰρ μαστιζόμενοι πολλοὶ, καὶ πονηροὶ, οἷον ἀνδροφόνοι, λῃσταὶ, γόητες, τυμβωρύχοι. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι τῆς ἰδίας πονηρίας διδόασι δίκην, καὶ οὐχ ὡς υἱοὶ μαστιγοῦνται, ἀλλ' ὡς κακοὶ κολάζονται· ὑμεῖς δὲ ὡς υἱοί. Ὁρᾷς πῶς πάντοθεν κινεῖ λογισμοὺς, ἀπὸ πραγμάτων τῶν ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ, ἀπὸ ῥημάτων, ἀπὸ ἐννοιῶν οἰκείων, ἀπὸ παραδειγμάτων τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ; Εἶτα πάλιν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς κοινῆς συνηθείας. Εἰ δὲ χωρίς ἐστε παιδείας, ἧς μέτοχοι γεγόνασι πάντες, ἄρα νόθοι ἐστὲ, καὶ οὐχ υἱοί. βʹ. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι, ὅπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, οὐκ ἔνι μὴ παιδευόμενον εἶναι υἱόν; Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς