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him. For while you are yet speaking, he says, I will say: Behold, I am here. What father would so readily obey his children? What mother is so prepared and continually standing by, lest her children should call her? There is no one, no father, no mother, but God stands continually waiting, if any of his servants should ever call him, and he has never failed to hear when we have called as we ought. For this reason he says, While you are yet speaking. I do not wait for you to finish, and I will obey immediately. Let us call him, then, as he wishes to be called. And how does he wish? Loose, he says, every bond of iniquity, undo the knots of forced contracts, tear apart every unjust document; break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see one naked, clothe him, and from your own kindred you shall not hide yourself. Then your light shall break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall encompass you. Then you shall call upon me, and I will hear you; while you are yet speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here. And who can do all these things, one says? And who cannot, tell me? For what is difficult in what has been said? What is laborious? What is not easy? For they are not only possible, but also easy, so that many have even surpassed the measure of what was said, not only tearing apart unjust documents, but also divesting themselves of all their possessions; not receiving the poor with shelter and a table, but also toiling with the sweat of their body, so as to nourish them; doing good not only to relatives, but also to enemies. And what at all is difficult in what has been said? For he did not say, Cross the mountain, traverse the sea, dig up so many plethra of earth, remain without food, put on sackcloth; but share your house, share your bread, tear up the unjustly held documents. What is easier than these things, tell me? But if you think them difficult, consider the prizes for me, and all things will be easy for you. For just as kings in the hippodromes place crowns and garments and prizes before the contestants; so also Christ places the prizes in the midst of the stadium, extending them as if through the many hands of the prophet's words. And kings, even if they are kings ten thousand times over, being human and having a supply that is spent and an ambition that is consumed, are ambitious to show the little as much; for which reason also, entrusting each one thing to each of the attendants, they thus bring them into the middle; but our King, on the contrary, having gathered everything together, since he is exceedingly wealthy and does nothing for show, thus sets them forth in the middle, which, when stretched out, will be infinite and will require many hands to hold them. And that you may learn this, examine each of them with precision. Then, he says, your light shall break forth as the morning. Does it not seem to you to be one gift? But it is not one; for it has many things within, both crowns and prizes and other rewards. And, if you wish, by unpacking them we will show all the wealth, as far as we are able to show it; only do not grow weary; and first let us learn what "shall break forth" is. It signifies to us speed and abundance, and 63.852 how greatly he desires our salvation, and how the good things themselves are in travail to come forth and are hastening, and there will be nothing to hinder their ineffable rush; by all of which it shows their abundance and the infinity of their superabundance. What is "as the morning"? That is, not after being in temptations, nor after the assault of evils, but it comes beforehand. For just as in the case of fruits we call that early which appears before its season, so also here, signifying speed again, he spoke thus; just as he said above, "While you are yet speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here." But what light does he mean, and what ever is this light? Not this sensible light, but another much better one, which shows us heaven, the angels, the archangels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, the thrones, the dominions, the principalities, the powers, the whole army, the royal cities, the tabernacles. If

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αὐτόν. Ἔτι γὰρ λαλοῦντός σου, φησὶν, ἐρῶ· Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Ποῖος πατὴρ οὕτως ἂν ὑπακούσειέ ποτε τοῖς ἐγγόνοις; ποία μήτηρ οὕτως ἐστὶ παρεσκευασμένη καὶ διηνεκῶς ἑστηκυῖα, μήποτε καλέσειεν αὐτὴν τὰ παιδία; Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεὶς, οὐ πατὴρ, οὐ μήτηρ, ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς ἕστηκε διηνεκῶς ἀναμένων, εἴ τίς ποτε καλέσειεν αὐτὸν τῶν οἰκετῶν, καὶ οὐδέποτε, καλεσάντων ἡμῶν ὡς δεῖ, παρήκουσε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν, Ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου. Οὐκ ἀναμένω σε πληρῶσαι, καὶ εὐθέως ὑπακούσω. Καλέσωμεν τοίνυν αὐτὸν, ὡς κληθῆναι βούλεται. Πῶς δὲ βούλεται; Λύε, φησὶ, πάντα σύνδεσμον ἀδικίας, διάλυε στραγγαλιὰς βιαίων συναλλαγμάτων, πᾶσαν συγγραφὴν ἄδικον διάσπα· διάθρυπτε πεινῶντι τὸν ἄρτον σου, καὶ πτωχοὺς ἀστέγους εἰσάγαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου. Ἐὰν ἴδῃς γυμνὸν, περίβαλε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων τοῦ σπέρματός σου οὐχ ὑπερόψει. Τότε ῥαγήσεται πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου, καὶ τὰ ἰάματά σου ταχὺ ἀνατελεῖ, καὶ προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθέν σου ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ περιστελεῖ σε. Τότε ἐπικάλεσαί με, καὶ εἰσακούσομαί σου· ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου, ἐρῶ, Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Καὶ τίς ταῦτα πάντα δύναται ποιῆσαι, φησί; Τίς δὲ οὐ δύναται, εἰπέ μοι; τί γὰρ δυσχερὲς τῶν εἰρημένων; τί δὲ ἐργῶδες; τί δὲ οὐ ῥᾴδιον; Οὕτω γάρ ἐστιν οὐχὶ δυνατὰ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὔκολα, ὅτι πολλοὶ καὶ τὸ μέτρον τῶν εἰρημένων ὑπερηκόντισαν, οὐκ ἄδικα γραμματεῖα διασπάσαντες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἀποδυσάμενοι πάντα· οὐ στέγῃ καὶ τραπέζῃ τοὺς πτωχοὺς ὑποδεχόμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τοῦ σώματος ἱδρῶτι κάμνοντες, ὥστε αὐτοὺς διαθρέψαι· οὐ συγγενεῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐχθροὺς εὐεργετοῦντες. Τί δὲ ὅλως καὶ δύσκολον τῶν εἰρημένων· Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπεν, Ὑπέρβηθι τὸ ὄρος, διάβηθι τὸ πέλαγος, διάσκαψον γῆς πλέθρα τόσα καὶ τόσα, ἄσιτος διάμενε, σάκκον περιβαλοῦ· ἀλλὰ μετάδος τῆς οἰκίας, μετάδος τοῦ ἄρτου, τὰ ἀδίκως κείμενα γραμματεῖα διάῤῥηξον. Τί τούτων εὐκολώτερον, εἰπέ μοι; Εἰ δὲ καὶ δύσκολα εἶναι νομίζεις, σκόπει μοι καὶ τὰ ἔπαθλα, καὶ ἔσται σοι ῥᾴδια πάντα. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐν ταῖς ἱπποδρομίαις πρὸ τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων στεφάνους καὶ ἰμάτια καὶ βραβεῖα τιθέασιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν μέσῳ τίθησι τῷ σταδίῳ τὰ ἔπαθλα, καθάπερ διὰ πολλῶν χειρῶν τῶν τοῦ προφήτου ῥημάτων ἐκτείνων αὐτά. Καὶ οἱ μὲν βασιλεῖς, κἂν μυριάκις ὦσι βασιλεῖς, ἅτε ἄνθρωποι ὄντες, καὶ εὐπορίαν δαπανωμένην ἔχοντες, καὶ φιλοτιμίαν ἀναλισκομένην, τὰ ὀλίγα πολλὰ φιλοτιμοῦνται δεῖξαι· διὸ καὶ ἓν ἕκαστον ἑκάστῳ τῶν διακόνων ἐγχειρίζοντες, οὕτως εἰσάγουσιν εἰς τὸ μέσον· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ὁ ἡμέτερος τοὐναντίον πάντα ὁμοῦ συμφορήσας, ἐπειδὴ σφόδρα ἐστὶν εὔπορος καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν ποιεῖ, οὕτως εἰς μέσον προτίθησιν, ἅπερ ἐκταθέντα, ἄπειρα ἔσται, καὶ πολλῶν δεήσεται τῶν κατεχουσῶν χειρῶν. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς τοῦτο, ἕκαστον αὐτῶν περισκόπησον μετὰ ἀκριβείας. Τότε ῥαγήσεται, φησὶ, πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου. Ἆρα οὐ δοκεῖ σοι ἕν τι εἶναι δῶρον; ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν ἕν· καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ ἔνδον ἔχει, καὶ στεφάνους καὶ βραβεῖα καὶ ἕτερα ἔπαθλα. Καὶ, εἰ βούλεσθε, λύσαντες δείξομεν τὸν πλοῦτον ἅπαντα, καθὼς ἡμῖν οἷόν τε ἐπιδεῖξαι· μόνον μὴ ἀποκάμητε· καὶ πρῶτον μάθωμεν, τί ἐστι, Ῥαγήσεται. Τὸ ταχὺ καὶ δαψιλὸς ἡμῖν ἐμφαίνει, καὶ 63.852 πῶς σφόδρα ἐφίεται τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας, καὶ πῶς ὠδίνει τὰ ἀγαθὰ αὐτὰ προελθεῖν καὶ ἐπείγεται, καὶ οὐδὲν ἔσται τὸ κωλύον τὴν ἄφατον ῥύμην· δι' ὧν ἁπάντων τὴν δαψίλειαν αὐτῶν ἐνδείκνυται καὶ τὸ ἄπειρον τῆς περιουσίας. Τί δέ ἐστι Πρώϊμον; Τουτέστιν, οὐ μετὰ τὸ ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς γενέσθαι, οὐδὲ μετὰ τὴν τῶν κακῶν ἔφοδον, ἀλλὰ προφθάνει. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν καρπῶν λέγομεν πρώϊμον τὸ πρὸ τοῦ καιροῦ φανὲν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸ ταχὺ πάλιν ἐμφαίνων, οὕτως εἶπεν· ὥσπερ ἄνω ἔλεγεν, Ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου, ἐρῶ, Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Ποῖον δὲ λέγει φῶς, καὶ τί ποτέ ἐστι τοῦτο τὸ φῶς; Οὐ τοῦτο τὸ αἰσθητὸν, ἀλλ' ἕτερον πολλῷ βέλτιον, ὃ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἡμῖν δείκνυσι, τοὺς ἀγγέλους, τοὺς ἀρχαγγέλους, τὰ Χερουβὶμ, τὰ Σεραφὶμ, τοὺς θρόνους, τὰς κυριότητας, τὰς ἀρχὰς, τὰς ἐξουσίας, τὸ στρατόπεδον ἅπαν, τὰς πόλεις τὰς βασιλικὰς, τὰς σκηνάς. Ἂν