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the declared temptations and the storms that disturbed my soul, having led me safely through the currents of life, with glory you received me, having suffered nothing from so many things. But according to Symmachus, he says, "Afterward, honor succeeded me." For what have I in heaven, and what have I desired from you upon the earth? Your loving-kindness, he says, and your mercy and grace have been the cause of all good things for me. For having used your own goodness, you took hold of my right hand, and saved me, so that my feet were not shaken, nor were my steps scattered. But also with glory you received me; since this is present for you as a good God; for I have nothing in heaven, nor have these things happened to me as a debt; but neither is there any other for me in heaven but you alone. Therefore I desired to acquire nothing from you on earth, nor did I pray to obtain mortal and perishable things. And rightly I desired nothing from you on the earth; for I longed for the pastimes in heaven, and I prayed to obtain the good things there. Wherefore I wasted away my own life, and wore out my life on earth, and I exhausted my heart, making you alone, the God of my hope, my portion. Whence I say: My flesh and my heart failed; God is the God of my heart, and my portion, God forever. For behold, they that remove themselves from you shall perish; you have destroyed every one that goes a whoring from you. But for me it is good to cleave to God, to place my hope in the Lord, to declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. Above I said, "And I am always with you;" or according to Symmachus, "And I was with you always;" that is, by faith and by choice and by love for you; but now I also make clear the reason for which I was with you always, and I made you my portion. For I knew, and was precisely persuaded, that "They that remove themselves from you shall perish;" for which reason I did not remove myself, although I was ignorant of the reasons for your administration, but I was with you always. And they remove themselves who by their own sins and by their godless and 23.849 impious reasonings make themselves strangers to God; who, the farther they become from him, the closer they approach destruction; as conversely, by being united to God, they are united to life, but are removed from destruction. And the end of those who remove themselves is destruction, inasmuch as they have committed fornication from God. God therefore removes no one from himself, nor does he push them away; but each one alienates himself from God, committing fornication and surrendering his own soul to the enemies of God. But those who remove themselves by their own choice draw destruction upon themselves. And these who have become familiar with destruction, God himself next disposes of. And what was this? "You have destroyed," he says, "every one that goes a whoring from you." And he commits fornication from God who, after drawing near to him, has removed himself. For he himself does not disdain to be wedded to the human soul, and to cast his own seeds in it; but the soul that removes itself and gives itself to others who wish to commit fornication with it—to evil spirits and unclean demons, or to godless and impious reasonings, or to defiled and unclean deeds—is rightly handed over to destruction. Wherefore it has been said: "You have destroyed every one that goes a whoring from you." But since I knew these things, and was precisely persuaded concerning your just judgment, I chose the opposite of the impious, even though I did not understand your mysteries; but even having become like a beast before you, nevertheless I was with you always. For nothing seemed more beautiful to me than to cleave to you, my God, and to choose those things which you yourself determined and commanded. For thus he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Wherefore nothing more beautiful or better appeared to me than

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δηλωθέντας πειρασμοὺς καὶ τοὺς χειμῶνας τοὺς ἀναθορυβήσαντάς μου τὴν ψυχὴν, διαγαγών με ἀκινδύνως τὰ τοῦ βίου ῥεύματα, μετὰ δόξης προσελάβου με, μηδὲν πεπονθότα ὑπὸ τῶν τοσούτων. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον, Ὕστερον, φησὶ, τιμὴ διεδέξατό με. Τί γάρ μοι ὑπάρχει ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ παρὰ σοῦ τί ἠθέλησα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; Ἡ σὴ φιλανθρωπία, φησὶ, καὶ τὸ σὸν ἔλεος καὶ ἡ χάρις πάντων μοι τῶν ἀγαθῶν γέγονεν αἰτία. Τῇ γὰρ σαυτοῦ χρησάμενος ἀγαθωσύνῃ, ἐκράτησας τῆς χειρὸς τῆς δεξιᾶς μου, καὶ διέσωσάς με, ὥστε μὴ σαλευθῆναι τοὺς πόδας, μηδὲ διαχυθῆναί μου τὰ διαβήματα. Ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ δόξης προσελάβου με· ἐπειδήπερ σοὶ τοῦτο ὡς ἀγαθῷ Θεῷ πάρεστιν· ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν ὑπάρχει ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, οὐδὲ κατὰ ὀφειλήν μοι ταῦτα γέγονεν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἔστι μοί τίς ἄλλος ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἢ σὺ μόνος. ∆ι' ὃ οὐδὲν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἠθέλησα παρὰ σοῦ κτήσασθαι, οὐδὲ ηὐξάμην τυχεῖν θνητῶν καὶ ἐπικήρων πραγμάτων. Εἰκότως δὲ οὐδὲν παρὰ σοῦ ἠθέλησα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· τὰς γὰρ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐπόθουν διατριβὰς, καὶ τῶν αὐτόθι ἀγαθῶν τυχεῖν ηὐχόμην. ∆ι' ὃ κατέτηκον τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ βίον, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς ζωὴν κατέτρυχον, τήν τε καρδίαν μου κατεπόνουν, σὲ μόνον τὸν Θεὸν τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ ἐλπίδος μερίδα τιθέμενος. Ὅθεν φημί· Ἐξέλιπεν ἡ σάρξ μου καὶ ἡ καρδία μου· ὁ Θεὸς τῆς καρδίας μου, καὶ ἡ μερίς μου ὁ Θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ὅτι ἰδοὺ οἱ μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ σοῦ ἀπολοῦνται· ἐξωλόθρευσας πάντα τὸν πορνεύοντα ἀπὸ σοῦ. Ἐμοὶ δὲ τὸ προσκολλᾶσθαι τῷ Θεῷ ἀγαθόν ἐστι, τίθεσθαι ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ τὴν ἐλπίδα μου, τοῦ ἐξαγγεῖλαι πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις σου ἐν ταῖς πύλαις τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιών. Ἀνωτέρω μὲν ἔλεγον, Καὶ ἐγὼ διαπαντὸς μετὰ σοῦ· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, Καὶ συνήμην σοι διαπαντός· τῇ πίστει δηλαδὴ καὶ τῇ προαιρέσει καὶ τῇ πρὸς σὲ ἀγάπῃ· νυνὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν καθίστημι φανερὰν, δι' ἣν συνήμην σοι διαπαντὸς, καὶ σὲ μερίδα ἐτιθέμην ἐμαυτοῦ. Ἤδειν γὰρ, καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐπεπείσμην, ὅτι Οἱ μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ σοῦ ἀπολοῦνται· δι' ὃ οὐκ ἐμάκρυνον ἐμαυτὸν, καίπερ ἀγνοῶν τοὺς λόγους τῆς σῆς διοικήσεως, ἀλλὰ συνήμην σοι διαπαντός. Μακρύνουσι δὲ ἑαυτοὺς οἱ ταῖς αὑτῶν ἁμαρτίαις καὶ τοῖς ἀθέοις καὶ 23.849 ἀσεβέσι λογισμοῖς ἀλλοτρίους ἑαυτοὺς καθιστῶντες τοῦ Θεοῦ· οἵτινες ὅσῳ ποῤῥωτάτω αὐτοῦ γίγνονται, τοσούτῳ τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ πλησιάζουσιν· ὡς ἔμπαλιν, συναπτόμενοι τῷ Θεῷ, τῇ μὲν ζωῇ συνάπτονται, τῆς δὲ ἀπωλείας μακρύνονται. Τέλος δὲ τῶν ἑαυτοὺς μακρυνόντων ὄλεθρος τυγχάνει, ἅτε δὴ ἐκπορνευσάντων ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Θεὸς οὐδένα μακρύνει ἑαυτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἀπωθεῖται· ἀλλ' ἕκαστος ἑαυτὸν ἀπαλλοτριοῖ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐκπορνεύων καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἔκδοτον παραδιδοὺς τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐναντίοις. Οἱ δὲ μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐξ οἰκείας προαιρέσεως ἐπισπῶνται καθ' ἑαυτῶν τὴν ἀπώλειαν. Τούτους δὲ τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ οἰκειωθέντας ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸς τὸ ἑξῆς διατίθησι. Τί δὲ ἦν τοῦτο; Ἐξωλόθρευσας, φησὶ, πάντα τὸν πορνεύοντα ἀπὸ σοῦ. Πορνεύει δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ μετὰ τὸ πλησιάσαι αὐτῷ μακρύνας ἑαυτόν. Αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ καὶ νυμφεύεσθαι οὐκ ἀπαξιοῖ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχὴν, καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα σπέρματα ἐν αὐτῇ καταβάλλεσθαι· ἡ δὲ μακρύνουσα ἑαυτὴν καὶ ἑτέροις παρέχουσα τοῖς καταπορνεύειν αὐτὴν ἐθέλουσι, πνεύμασι πονηροῖς καὶ δαίμοσιν ἀκαθάρτοις, ἢ λογισμοῖς ἀθέοις καὶ ἀσεβέσιν, ἢ πράξεσι μιαραῖς καὶ ἀκαθάρτοις, εἰκότως ὀλέθρῳ παραδίδοται. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται· Ἐξωλόθρευσας πάντα τὸν πορνεύοντα ἀπὸ σοῦ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ταῦτα εἰδὼς ἐγὼ, καὶ ἀκριβῶς πεπεισμένος περὶ τῆς σῆς δικαίας κρίσεως, τὴν ἐναντίαν εἱλόμην τοῖς ἀσεβέσι, καίπερ μὴ νοῶν τὰ σὰ μυστήρια· ἀλλὰ καὶ κτηνώδης γενόμενος παρὰ σοὶ, ὅμως συνήμην σοι διαπαντός. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐμοὶ κάλλιον ἐφαίνετο τοῦ προσκολλᾶσθαί σοι τῷ ἐμῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ταῦτα αἱρεῖσθαι ἅπερ αὐτὸς ὥρισας καὶ ἐνετείλω. Οὕτω γὰρ ὁ κολλώμενος τῷ Κυρίῳ ἓν πνεῦμά ἐστι. ∆ιόπερ ἐμοὶ οὐδὲν κάλλιον οὐδὲ κρεῖττον κατεφαίνετο τοῦ