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2. Then, showing that he is more inclined toward love for humanity, he adds again, saying: And our God has mercy. And he spoke well: Our God, in contrast to the gods whom he mentioned before. For their work is to slaughter and to kill, and to wage undeclared war; but His is to love mankind, and to forgive, and to continually snatch them from dangers; which things indeed, especially with the others, show that the former are demons and sinners, but the latter is a guardian and protector and true God. The Lord protects the infants; I was brought low, and he saved me. Here he brings up the greatest form of His providence. For since he said: "Merciful and just," and "He has mercy," he shows a work of His greatest love for mankind. What is this? That of the infants. For we have reason which teaches us to guard some things and to choose others, and to ward off approaching evils, and to resolve present ones, and we possess strength, and we know skills; but children are bereft of all these things, as if unprotected; but through everything they have the providence of God, which if they did not continually enjoy, all would have perished. For indeed a serpent would have destroyed the child while still in swaddling clothes, and a domestic bird, and many other crawling things that are in houses. For neither is it sufficient for a nurse, nor a mother, nor anyone else to show perfect providence for them, unless they enjoy the impulse from above. But some say that also concerning embryos and those not yet emerged from the womb this saying was spoken. I was brought low, and he saved me. He did not say: "He did not allow me to fall into dangers;" but, "After I had fallen in, he saved me." For since he spoke of His universal providence, he also brings forward the argument in his own person, as is his custom to establish these things both from the universal and from the particular. Therefore do not you seek a life full of security; for it is not profitable for you. For if it was not advantageous for the prophets, much more so for you. For that it was not advantageous, hear what he says: "It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I might learn your statutes." Here the thanksgiving is twofold, that He allowed him to fall into dangers, and that He did not abandon him when he had fallen. Both are in a way a form of beneficence, and the first is not less than the second, but, if one must say something astonishing, even greater. For the one resolved the dangers, but the other made the soul more philosophical. Return, my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For he has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I will be well-pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living. The historical account speaks of a terrible deliverance, and a certain rest and freedom. But if someone should interpret it anagogically, he will be able to call the 55.318 departure from hence a redemption, and to call it a rest. For it is a release from all unexpected evils. and one is no longer subject to uncertainty, having come to be in safety, one who has departed with good hope. For even if death was introduced through sin, yet God has used it for our benefit. For this reason He was not satisfied with it alone, but also made life toilsome, so that you may learn, that He would not have permitted the former, unless this thing which came to be was very useful according to His wisdom. For this reason, having said: "On whatever day you eat, you shall surely die," He was not satisfied with the penalty; for this was the penalty: "You are earth, and to earth you shall return;" but now He also shows another, saying: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread." "Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; in sorrows you shall eat of it." And to the woman he said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrows and your groaning. In pain you shall bring forth children." For that was not sufficient to make them sober-minded. At least we see many becoming better especially in this way. For death delivers to insensibility when it comes; but these things make the living better. But if the matter seems to be fearful, it is due to weakness

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βʹ. Εἶτα δεικνὺς τὸ πρὸς τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐπιῤῥεπέστερον, ἐπάγει πάλιν λέγων· Καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐλεεῖ. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπεν· Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν θεῶν, ὧν πρώην ἐμνήσθη. Ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ τὸ σφάζειν καὶ ἀναιρεῖν, καὶ ἀκήρυκτα πολεμεῖν ἔργον· τούτῳ δὲ τὸ φιλανθρωπεύεσθαι, καὶ συγγινώσκειν, καὶ κινδύνων ἐξαρπάζειν διηνεκῶς· ἃ δὴ μάλιστα μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων δείκνυσι τοὺς μὲν δαίμονας ὄντας καὶ ἀλιτηρίους, τὸν δὲ κηδεμόνα καὶ προστάτην καὶ Θεὸν ἀληθινόν. Φυλάσσων τὰ νήπια ὁ Κύριος· ἐταπεινώθην, καὶ ἔσωσέ με. Ἐνταῦθα μέγιστον εἶδος προνοίας αὐτοῦ ἀνακινεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπεν· Ἐλεήμων καὶ δίκαιος, καὶ ἐλεεῖ, μεγίστης αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίας ἔργον δείκνυσι. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο; Τὸ τῶν νηπίων. Ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ καὶ λόγον ἔχομεν τὰ μὲν φυλάττεσθαι, τὰ δὲ ἑλέσθαι παιδεύοντα, καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα διακρούεσθαι κακὰ, καὶ τὰ παρόντα διαλῦσαι, καὶ ἰσχὺν κεκτήμεθα, καὶ τέχνας ἐπιστάμεθα· τὰ δὲ παιδία τούτων ἔρημα πάντων, ὡς ἀπροστάτευτα· ἀλλὰ διὰ πάντων ἔχει τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν πρόνοιαν, ἧς εἰ μὴ συνεχῶς ἀπήλαυον, πάντα ἂν ἀπολώλει. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὄφις ἂν ἠφάνισεν ἐν σπαργάνοις ἔτι ὂν τὸ παιδίον, καὶ κατοικίδιος ὄρνις, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἑρπόντων ἕτερα τῶν κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ οὔτε τροφὸς, οὔτε μήτηρ, οὔτε ἕτερος οὐδεὶς ἀπηρτισμένην ἐπιδείκνυσθαι περὶ αὐτὰ πρόνοιαν, ἂν μὴ τῆς ἄνωθεν ἀπολαύῃ ῥοπῆς. Τινὲς δέ φασι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐμβρύων καὶ μήπω τῆς γαστρὸς ἐξελθόντων τοῦτον εἰρῆσθαι τὸν λόγον. Ἐταπεινώθην, καὶ ἔσωσέ με. Οὐκ εἶπεν· Οὐκ εἴασεν εἰς κινδύνους ἐμπεσεῖν· ἀλλὰ, Μετὰ τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν διέσωσεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπε τὴν καθόλου αὐτοῦ πρόνοιαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ οἰκείου προσώπου προάγει τὸν λόγον, ὅπερ ἔθος αὐτῷ ἀπό τε τῶν καθολικῶν, ἀπό τε τῶν μερικῶν ταῦτα συνιστᾷν. Μὴ τοίνυν μηδὲ σὺ ζήτει τὸν ἀδείας γέμοντα βίον· οὐ γάρ ἐστί σοι λυσιτελές. Εἰ γὰρ τοῖς προφήταις οὐκ ἦν συμφέρον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον σοί. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἦν συμφέρον, ἄκουσον τί φησιν· Ἀγαθόν μοι, ὅτι ἐταπείνωσάς με, ὅπως ἂν μάθω τὰ δικαιώματά σου. ∆ιπλῆ ἡ εὐχαριστία ἐνταῦθα, ὅτι εἴασεν ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς κινδύνους, καὶ ὅτι ἐμπεσόντα οὐ κατέλιπεν. Ἀμφότερα δέ πως εὐεργεσίας εἶδος, καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου τὸ πρότερον οὐκ ἔλαττον, ἀλλ', εἰ δεῖ τι καὶ θαυμαστὸν εἰπεῖν, καὶ μεῖζον. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ κινδύνους διέλυσε, τὸ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν φιλοσοφωτέραν εἰργάσατο. Ἐπίστρεψον, ψυχή μου, εἰς τὴν ἀνάπαυσίν σου, ὅτι Κύριος εὐηργέτησέ σε. Ὅτι ἐῤῥύσατο τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπὸ θανάτου, τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἀπὸ δακρύων, καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ἀπὸ ὀλισθήματος. Εὐαρεστήσω ἐνώπιον Κυρίου ἐν χώρᾳ ζώντων. Ὁ μὲν τῆς ἱστορίας λόγος δεινὴν ἀπαλλαγήν φησι, καὶ ἄνεσίν τινα καὶ ἐλευθερίαν. Εἰ δέ τις κατὰ ἀναγωγὴν αὐτὸν ἐκλάβοι, δυνήσεται τὴν 55.318 ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημίαν λύτρωσιν λέγειν, καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν ταύτην καλεῖν. Ἀπαλλαγὴ γάρ ἐστι πάντων τῶν ἀδοκήτων δεινῶν. καὶ οὐκ ἔτι τῇ ἀδηλίᾳ λοιπὸν ὑπόκειται, ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ γεγονὼς, ὁ μετὰ χρηστῆς καταλύσας ἐλπίδος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος εἰσενήνεκται, ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰς εὐεργεσίαν ἡμῶν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς ἐχρήσατο. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο οὐκ αὐτῷ μόνον ἠρκέσθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν βίον ἐπίμοχθον ἐποίησεν, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι οὐδὲ τὸ πρότερον συνεχώρησεν ἂν, εἰ μὴ σφόδρα χρήσιμον ἦν παρὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ σοφίαν τοῦτο γενόμενον. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο εἰπών· Ἧ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγῃ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ, οὐκ ἠρκέσθη τῷ ἐπιτιμίῳ· τὸ γὰρ ἐπιτίμιον τοῦτο ἦν· Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ· νῦν δὲ καὶ ἕτερον δείκνυσι λέγων· Ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου σου φάγῃ τὸν ἄρτον σου. Ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνατελεῖ σοι· ἐν λύπαις φάγῃ αὐτήν. Καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ εἶπε· Πληθύνων πληθυνῶ τὰς λύπας σου, καὶ τὸν στεναγμόν σου. Ἐν λύπαις τέξῃ τέκνα. Οὐ γὰρ ἱκανὸν ἦν ἐκεῖνο αὐτοὺς σωφρονίσαι. Πολλοὺς γοῦν ὁρῶμεν ταύτῃ μάλιστα γινομένους βελτίους. Ὁ γὰρ θάνατος ἀναισθησίᾳ παραδίδωσιν, ἐπειδὰν ἐπέλθῃ· ταῦτα δὲ ζῶντας βελτίους ἐργάζεται. Εἰ δὲ φοβερὸν τὸ πρᾶγμα εἶναι δοκεῖ, παρὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν