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QUESTION 30.

What does this mean, "The dwelling of the heron leads them?" Answer. They say the heron is a bird; and that it lives with such chastity (812), that whenever

it is about to come together for intercourse, it mourns for forty days; and again after this, for another forty. It builds its nest in trees, where it is not overshadowed by anything, but has clear air. And through these things it signifies chastity. For this leads all the virtues; and it is separated from sensible things, being overshadowed by none of the temporal things. For the number forty contains the perfection of each of the four elements.

QUESTION 31.

What is this, "Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me?"

Answer. We have supposed the first generation to be the sowing of evil; that is, the

assault; the second, desire; the third generation, the habit of evil, that is, consent; and the fourth, the energy, that is, the act. It is repaid, therefore, unto the third and fourth generation; that is, for consent and for the act. For the assault and desire are without accountability, since the evil has not proceeded to its conclusion.

QUESTION 32.

How should the repentance of God, which is found in Scripture, be piously understood? Answer. Those who have resolved to think piously about divine things say that it is impossible for God, being by nature

a creator, not to be by nature also a provider for the things created. If this is so, it is altogether necessary, as God naturally provides for humanity, that there be with Him many modes of salvation concerning the nature for which He provides. For since man is a creature of quick turns, easily changing with the times and with ways, it is altogether necessary that divine Providence also, although being the same, should change along with our dispositions, by inventing a way through means fittingly suited to the evils that spring up in our nature. And just as in the case of medicine, there are many diseases subject to it; and it is necessary for the skilled physician, when the subject body falls into many and various afflictions, for him also to change to better ways from lesser ones; so also in the case of God, (813) the transition of providence from one such way to another way, is customarily called in Scripture the repentance of God.

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Λ΄ .

Τί σημαίνει τό, "Ἐρωδιοῦ ἡ κατοικία ἡγεῖται αὐτῶν;" Ἀπόκρισις. Ἐρώδιον φασιν ὄρνεον εἶναι· τοσαύτῃ δέ σωφροσύνῃ συζῇν (812), ὥστε ἡνίκα

πρός συνουσίαν συνέρχεσθαι μέλλει, τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας πενθεῖν· καί πάλιν μετά ταῦτα, ἄλλας τεσσαράκοντα. Τήν δέ καλιάν πήγνυσιν ἐν τοῖς δένδροις, ἔνθα μή ἐπισκιάζεται ὑπό τινος, ἀλλά καθαρόν τόν ἀέρα ἔχει. Σημαίνει δέ διά τούτων τήν σωφροσύνην. Αὕτη γάρ ἡγεῖται πασῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν· ἀποδιάκειται δέ καί τῶν αἰσθητῶν, ὑπό μηδενός σκιαζομένη τῶν προσκαίρων. Ὁ τεσσαρακοστός γάρ ἀριθμός, τήν ἑκάστου τῶν δ΄ στοιχείων ἐμπεριέχει τελείωσιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΛΑ΄.

Τί ἐστι τό, "Ἀποδιδούς ἁμαρτίας γονέων ἐπί τέκνα, ἕως τρίτης καί τετάρτης γενεᾶς, τοῖς μισοῦσί με;"

Ἀπόκρισις. Πρώτην γενεάν ὑπειλήφαμεν εἶναι, τήν σποράν τοῦ κακοῦ· τουτέστι, τήν

πρσβολήν· δευτέραν δέ, τήν ἐπιθυμίαν· τρίτην δέ τήν ἕξιν τοῦ κακοῦ γενεᾶς, τουτέστι, τήν συγκατάθεσιν· τετάρτην δέ, τήν ἐνέργειαν, τουτέστι τήν πρᾶξιν. Ἀποδίδοται οὖν ἕως τρίτης καί τετάρτης γενεᾶς· τουτέστιν, ὑπέρ τῆς συγκαταθέσεως καί τῆς πράξεως. Ἡ γάρ προσβολή καί ἡ ἐπιθυμία, ἀνεύθυνός ἐστιν, ὡς μή εἰς πέρας τοῦ κακοῦ προελθόντος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙ ΛΒ΄.

Πῶς ὀφείλει εὐσεβῶς νοηθῆναι ἡ ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ κειμένη τοῦ Θεοῦ μεταμέλεια. Ἀπόκρισις. Φασίν οἱ τά θεῖα εὐσεβῶς φρονεῖν διεγνωκότες, ἀδύνατον εἶναι τόν Θεόν φύσει

ὄντα δημιουργόν, μή καί προνοητήν εἶναι φύσει τῶν δεδημιουργημένων. Εἰ δέ τοῦτο, ἀνάγκη πᾶσά ἐστι φυσικῶς προνοουμένη τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, πολλούς εἶναι παρ᾿ αὐτῷ τούς περί τήν προνοουμένην φύσιν τῆς σωτηρίας τρόπους. Ἐπειδή γάρ ἀγχίστροφον ζῶον ὁ ἄνθρωπος, εὐχερῶς τοῖς καιροῖς καί τοῖς τρόποις συμμεταβαλλόμενον, ἀνάγκη πάντως καί τήν θείαν Πρόνοιαν, καίτοι τήν αὐτήν οὖσαν, συμμεταβάλλεσθαι ταῖς ἡμῶν διαθέσεσι, διά τῶν προσφυῶς ἁρμοζόντων ταῖς ἐν τῇ φύσει ἀναφυομέναις κακίαις τρόπον ἐφευρίσκουσαν. Καί ὥσπερ ἐπί τῆς ἰατρικῆς, πολλαί αἱ ταύτῃ ὑποκείμεναι νόσοι· καί ἀνάγκη τόν ἐπιστήμονα ἰατρόν, τοῦ ὑποκειμένου σώματος εἰς πολλά καί διάφορα παθήματα πίπτοντος, καί αὐτόν εἰς κρείττονας τρόπους ἀπό τῶν ἡττόνων μεταβαίνειν· οὕτως καί ἐπί Θεοῦ, (813) ἡ ἀπό τοῦ τοιοῦδε τρόπου ἐπί ἕτερον τρόπον τῆς προνοίας μετάβασις, μεταμέλεια τοῦ Θεοῦ τῇ Γραφῇ σύνηθες ὀνομάζεσθαι.