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Quod grave sit dei clementiam contemnere

4. By the same author, that it is a serious thing to despise the loving-kindness of God. And it was spoken after the parable of the ten thousand talents was read. And

against the Jews, when the earthquake happened.

64.17 The generosity of the Lord's loving-kindness, which has just been heard, has brought about a great cancellation of the debt of ten thousand talents of sin, being bestowed on sinners; but many, often making light of the Lord's goodness, and making bad use of the gifts from Him, make the wealth of loving-kindness a store of punishment for themselves. For God does not simply scatter His mercies, nor, suffering from a profligacy of generosity, display the wealth of loving-kindness, but shames by the abundance of His gifts; but when He sees the things of loving-kindness being cast away by Him in vain, He restricts the 64.18 springs of good things, holds back the showers of loving-kindness, He hesitates in bestowing grace. With how many showers of good things did He once flood the peoples of the Jews, and when He saw them fruitless for the fruits of thanksgiving, as if filled to satiety with their ingratitude, He cried out: You have become a surfeit to Me. You have shown yourselves, He says, more contentious against My loving-kindness toward you; I grew weary showing you favor; You have become a surfeit to Me. Reasonably came the surfeit of long-suffering towards them; for no way of their correction is found.

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Quod grave sit dei clementiam contemnere

∆ʹ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι βαρὺ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας καταφρονεῖν. Ἐῤῥέθη δὲ τῆς τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων ἀναγνωσθείσης παραβολῆς. Καὶ

κατὰ Ἰουδαίων, τοῦ σεισμοῦ γενομένου.

64.17 Ἡ μὲν τῆς ∆εσποτικῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἀρτίως ἀκουομένη φιλοτιμία πολλὴν

καὶ μυρίων ἁμαρτίας ταλάντων χρεοκοπίαν εἰργάσατο ἁμαρτωλοῖς δωρουμένη· πολλοὶ δὲ πολλάκις τῆς ∆εσποτικῆς κατασκιρτῶντες χρηστότητος, καὶ κακῶς ταῖς παρ' αὐτῆς δωρεαῖς κεχρημένοι, τὸν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας κατασκευάζουσι πλοῦτον θησαυρισμὸν ἑαυτοῖς τιμωρίας. Οὐ γὰρ σκορπίζων ἁπλῶς τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς ὁ Θεὸς, οὐδὲ νοσῶν ἀσωτίαν φιλοτιμίας, τὸν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἐπιδείκνυται πλοῦτον, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῶν δωρεῶν δυσωπῶν ἀφθονίᾳ· ὅταν δὲ ἴδῃ μάτην αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ῥιπτούμενα, συστέλλει τῶν 64.18 ἀγαθῶν τὰς πηγὰς, κατέχει τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τοὺς ὄμβρους, ὀκνεῖ χαριζόμενος. Πόσοις ποτὲ τοὺς Ἰουδαίων δήμους ἀγαθῶν ὑετοῖς ἐπικλύζων, ὡς εἶδεν ἀκάρπους πρὸς εὐχαριστίας καρποὺς, ὥσπερ ἐμπλησθεὶς τῆς ἐκείνων ἀγνωμοσύνης, ἐβόα· Ἐγένεσθέ μοι εἰς πλησμονήν. Τῆς ἐμῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς ὤφθητε, φησὶ, πρός με φιλανθρωπίας φιλονεικότεροι· ἔκαμνον ὑμῖν χαριζόμενος· Ἐγένεσθέ μοι εἰς πλησμονήν. Εὐλόγως τῆς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς μακροθυμίας ὁ κόρος· οὐ γὰρ εὑρίσκεται τρόπος τῆς αὐτῶν διορθώσεως