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just as in the time of Moses, in that former one. But there, it was of waters, but in this, of the teaching of the Spirit. For those who pour this forth, evangelists and apostles, and as many as are mystagogues in the Church, are called rivers. And according to David, who said, "The rivers have lifted up their voices." Since, as he says again, Their sound has gone out into all the earth. 2396 Then, through certain sweet-voiced birds, which he called Sirens, he presents some of the wise men from without, adorned with poetry, who will turn to God; and through sparrows, or ostriches according to the others, those in deserts and uninhabited lands who will bless God; the reason for which is their having drunk of the water that was given. Through which, along with the beasts of the field, they will change to a rational and gentle nature, and will learn to recount my virtues, or the hymn according to Symmachus, they who will also be a chosen race. To whom Peter says: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now are the people of the Lord." But when these things have thus miraculously happened, you, O Jacob, will not be worthy of my calling. Or according to Symmachus: And you did not call me, Jacob. And the others are in agreement. For while the beasts and sirens and sparrows were blessing me, you yourself did not bless, nor did you deign to call me at all. But you were wearied for me according to Symmachus; or according to the others, that you toiled in me, although I caused you no toil. For whatever was thought to cause you toil, I have previously rejected, saying: "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full," and what follows. And in the New Covenant I asked nothing of the sort from you through the servant whom I chose. But neither did you offer to me. But you did other things instead of others. For in your sins you stood before me. Or according to the others, in your sins you called me. But see also in the preceding, how to the desert and the beasts in it he proclaims hopes of good things, but the people of the circumcision he reproves for their impieties, whom he calls by the bare names of Jacob and Israel, calling him neither servant nor chosen, things he said of the better order. But no less he urges them to turn back, promising to forgive them their sins. But some have rendered, "I did not call you now, Jacob," thus: Having mentioned those who are saved in Christ, and the New Covenant, whom he said would bless him, calling them beasts of the field (and doxology is the manner of spiritual sacrifice), he now persuades Israel, that he has been redeemed from the servitude in Egypt, not so that they might offer him things of blood and smoke; for these are rejected and taken as a type of a shadow. Therefore he says. Not now, when you are sacrificing, did I call you, that is, I did not call you when you were offering sacrifices, so that you might not seem to have had the redemption as a kind of recompense for the offering. 2397 But while you were practicing idolatry, through my love you had the grace of salvation. But what you offered after these things, is nothing to me. For only in the rational sacrifices from virtues am I well pleased. And through Jeremiah the prophet he says: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh, for I did not speak to your fathers about burnt offerings and sacrifices, on the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt." And elsewhere: "Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba, and cinnamon from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not pleased me." And through the Psalm he says: "I will not accept calves from your house, nor he-goats from your flocks." Through which he draws them away from the types, urging them toward the evangelical way of life. For God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. I then, he says, as being good, am ready to forgive you. But for you, to remember your sins is a security against falling into them again. From which it also happens that one is justified. "For a just man is his own accuser in the first instance." And he shows that he does not know

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καθάπερ ἐπὶ Μωσέως, ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ πρότερον. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μὲν ὑδάτων, ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ διδασκαλίας τοῦ Πνεύματος. Οἱ γὰρ ταύτην προχέοντες εὐαγγελισταὶ καὶ ἀπόστολοι, ὅσοι τε κατ' Ἐκκλησίαν μυσταγωγοὶ ποταμοὶ χρηματίζουσι. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν ∆αβὶδ εἰρηκότα, "Ἐπῆραν οἱ ποταμοὶ φωνὰς αὐτῶν." Ἐπεὶ καθά φησιν αὐτὸς πάλιν, Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν. 2396 Εἶτα, διά τινων ὀρνέων ἡδυφώνων, ἃ Σειρῆνας ἐκάλεσε, παρίστησι τῶν ἔξω τινὰς σοφοὺς ἐπείᾳ κεκοσμημένους πρὸς Θεὸν ἐπιστρέψοντας· διὰ δὲ στρουθῶν, ἤγουν στρουθοκαμήλων κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς, τοὺς ἐν ἐρημίαις καὶ χώραις ἀοικήτοις τὸν Θεὸν εὐλογήσοντας· οὗπερ αἴτιον τὸ τοῦ δοθέντος ὕδατος πεπωκέναι. ∆ι' οὗ σὺν θηρίοις ἀγροῦ πρὸς φύσιν λογικὴν μεταβαλοῦσι καὶ ἥμερον, καὶ τὰς ἐμὰς ἀρετὰς διηγεῖσθαι μαθήσονται, ἢ τὸν ὕμνον κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, οἳ καὶ ἐκλεκτὸν ὑπάρξουσι γένος. Πρὸς οὓς ὁ Πέτρος φησίν· "Ὑμεῖς δὲ γένος ἐκλεκτὸν, βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, ἔθνος ἅγιον, λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν, ἵνα τὰς ἀρετὰς ἐξαγγείλητε τοῦ ἐκ σκότους ὑμᾶς καλέσαντος ἐπὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν αὐτοῦ φῶς, οἱ ποτὲ οὐ λαὸς, νῦν δὲ λαὸς ἐν Κυρίῳ." Τούτων δὲ παραδόξως οὕτω γεγενημένων, Σὺ, ὦ Ἰακὼβ, οὐκ ἄξιος γενήσῃ τῆς ἐμῆς κλήσεως. Ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Οὐ δὲ ἐμὲ ἐκάλεσας, Ἰακώβ. Καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ δὲ συμφώνως. Εὐλογούντων γάρ με τῶν θηρίων καὶ σειρήνων καὶ στρουθῶν, οὐκ εὐλόγησας αὐτὸς, οὐδέ με καλεῖν ὅλως ἠξίωσας. Ἐκοπιάθης δὲ εἰς ἐμὲ κατὰ Σύμμαχον· ἢ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους, ὅτι ἐκοπίασας ἐν ἐμοὶ, καίτοι οὐδένα σοι προξενήσαντι κόπον. Ὅσα γάρ σοι παρέχειν ἐνομίζετο κόπον, παρῄτημαι πρότερον εἰπών· "Τί μοι πλῆθος θυσιῶν ὑμῶν, λέγει Κύριος; Πλήρης εἰμὶ," καὶ τὰ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς. Κἀν τῇ Καινῇ δὲ ∆ιαθήκῃ τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν διὰ τοῦ παιδὸς, ὃν ἐξελεξάμην, ᾔτησα παρὰ σοῦ. Ἀλλ' οὔτε σύ μοι προσήνεγκας. Ἕτερα δὲ ἀνθ' ἑτέρων ἐποίεις. Ἐν γὰρ ταῖς σαῖς ἁμαρτίαις προέστης μου. Ἢ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς, ἐν ἁμαρτίαις σου ἐκάλεσάς με. Ὅρα δὲ κἀν τοῖς προκειμένοις, ὡς τῇ μὲν ἐρήμῳ καὶ τοῖς ἐν αὐτῇ θηρίοις ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίδας εὐαγγελίζεται, τὸν δὲ λαὸν τὸν ἐκ περιτομῆς ἐπ' ἀσεβείαις ἐλέγχει, ὃν καλεῖ ξηροῖς ὀνόμασιν Ἰακώβ τε καὶ Ἰσραὴλ, οὔτε δοῦλον οὔτε ἐκλεκτὸν τοῦτον εἰπὼν, ἅπερ ἔλεγεν ἐπὶ τοῦ κρείττονος τάγματος. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἧττον αὐτοὺς ἐπιστρέψαι παρακαλεῖ, συγχωρήσειν αὐτοῖς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἐπαγγελλόμενος. Τινὲς δὲ τὸ, Οὐ νῦν ἐκάλεσά σε, Ἰακὼβ, οὔτως ἀπέδωκαν· Τῶν ἐν Χριστῷ σωζομένων, καὶ τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης μνησθεὶς, οὓς αὐτὸν εὐλογήσειν ἔφη, θηρία καλέσας ἀγροῦ (πνευματικῆς δὲ τρόπος θυσίας ἡ δοξολογία), νῦν πείθει τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς δὴ λελύτρωται τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ θητείας, οὐχ ἵνα τὰ δι' αἵματος αὐτῷ προσάγοιεν καὶ καπνῶν· ἀπόβλητα γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ πρὸς σκιᾶς παρείληπται τύπον. ∆ιό φησιν. Οὐ νῦν, ὅτε θύεις, ἐκάλεσά σε, ἤγουν οὐ προσάγοντά σε θυσίας ἐκάλεσα, ὡς μὴ δοκεῖν σε καθάπερ ἀντέκτισίν τινα τῆς προσαγωγῆς ἐσχηκέναι 2397 τὴν λύτρωσιν. Εἰδωλολατρῶν δὲ, δι' ἐμὴν ἀγάπην χάριν ἔσχες τὴν σωτηρίαν. Ἃ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα προσήνεγκας, οὐδὲν πρὸς ἐμέ. Μόναις γὰρ ταῖς ἐξ ἀρετῶν λογικαῖς εὐαρεστοῦμαι θυσίαις. Καὶ δι' Ἱερεμίου δὲ τοῦ προφήτου φησί· "Τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν μετὰ τῶν θυσιῶν ὑμῶν συναγάγετε, καὶ φάγετε κρέα, ὅτι οὐκ ἐλάλησα πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ὑμῶν περὶ ὁλοκαυτωμάτων καὶ θυσιῶν, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ᾗ ἀνήγαγον αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου." Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· "Ἵνα τί μοι λίβανον ἐκ Σάβα φέρετε, καὶ κιννάμωμον ἐκ γῆς μακρόθεν; Τὰ ὁλοκαυτώματα ὑμῶν οὐκ εἰσὶ δεκτὰ, καὶ αἱ θυσίαι ὑμῶν οὐχ ἥδυνάν μοι." Καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ψαλμοῦ δέ φησιν· "Οὐ δέξομαι ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου μόσχους, οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν ποιμνίων σου χιμάῤῥους." ∆ι' ὧν ἀφίστησιν αὐτοὺς τῶν τύπων εἰς τὴν πολιτείαν τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν συνωθῶν. Πνεῦμα γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν, ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν, φησὶν, ὡς ἀγαθὸς ἑτοίμως ἔχω σοι συγχωρεῖν. Σοὶ δὲ τὸ μεμνῆσθαι τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἀσφαλὲς πρὸς τὸ μὴ ταύταις ἔτι περιπεσεῖν. Ἐξ οὗ καὶ δικαιοῦσθαι συμβαίνει. "∆ίκαιος γὰρ ἑαυτοῦ κατήγορος ἐν πρωτολογίᾳ." Καὶ δείκνυσιν ὡς οὐκ οἶδε