A Then what does he say? "For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife" (Gen. 2. 24). He did not say simply, "shall be united," but "shall cleave," to signify the highest union: "and they shall be one flesh." If, therefore, he knew so many things, tell me, I pray, was he ignorant of what was good and what was evil? And to whom could this seem reasonable? For if he did not know what was good and what was evil before he ate of the tree, but learned it after eating, then sin became his teacher of wisdom, and the serpent was constituted not a seducer, but a counselor of useful things, and it made the human being out of a beast. God forbid: for the matter is not so, it is not so. For if he did not know what was good and what was evil, how did he receive a commandment? For no one lays down a law for him who does not know what transgression of evil is; yet God both gave it and punished the transgressor—who, clearly, would have done neither of these, had he not from the beginning bestowed upon him the faculty of discerning virtue and vice. You see it is clear to us on every side that he not only knew what was good and what was evil after he ate, but also knew it before.
B EPILOGUE OF THE SERMON. Let us, therefore, dearly beloved, hold fast to all these things, and upon returning home, let us set out a double table: one of food, the other of sacred reading; and let the husband repeat the things that have been said, let the wife learn them, let the children hear, and let the servants not be defrauded of this reading. Make your home a church; for you have to render an account for the salvation of your children and your servants; and just as accounts are required of us for you, so shall an account be demanded of each one of you for your servant, for your wife, and for your son. And so, after narratives of this kind, most pleasant dreams shall receive us, free from all fantasy; for whatever the soul is accustomed to meditate upon during the day, such things does it imagine and fashion in its dreams. And if we keep in mind each day what is said, there will be no need for great labor; for the subsequent sermon will be clearer to you, and our effort in teaching will be easier and lighter. Therefore, that some utility may flow from this both to us and to you—to us, because we teach, and to you, because you listen—after the bodily table, let a spiritual table also be prepared for you. For those things will be of use to you both for security and for adornment, and God will direct the business of this life to your advantage, and all things will be made easy and forward for you. "Seek ye therefore," he says, "first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6. 33). Let us seek this, therefore, dearly beloved, that we may attain the goods of both this and that future life, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
SERMON VII
Why that tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and what it is, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Gen. 2. 9; Luke 23. 43).A B Yesterday, I exhorted your charity at length to remember the things that had been said, and to set out a double table in the evening: to join one of food with another, that of the sermons. What then? Have you done this, and set out a double table? I know that you have done it, and that you have partaken not only of the former, but of this one also. Nor, having applied such zeal to the inferior, ought you to have neglected the superior. For this is indeed the better of the two; for the hands of cooks prepared the former, but the tongues of the prophets prepared this one; in that are the fruits of the earth, in this the fruits of the Spirit; the food of that table hastens toward corruption, the feasts of this one toward incorruption; that one sustains the present life, this one leads us to the future. That you have prepared this table along with the other, I know well, not having inquired of your footman nor of your servant, but of a messenger more faithful than all these. By what, then? By the applause, surely, with which you accepted the things that were said, and by the praise with which you commended the doctrine delivered to you. For when I said yesterday that each one of you should make his own home a church, you shouted with a loud voice and gave a sign of the pleasure with which those words had saturated you. Furthermore, he who hears what is said with pleasure, shows himself ready to put these things into action. Therefore, I set myself more promptly to teach today.
C D Concerning the obligation to put the divine word into action. But rouse your minds now as well; for one must not only be aroused while the speaker is speaking, but the listeners must also be attentive, and even more so than the orator. For we indeed study one thing: to invest the Lord's money; you, however, apply even greater labor to keep it, once received, with great caution. After you have heard, therefore, bolt the doors with locks and bars, and set terrible thoughts all around your soul like guards. For the thief is impudent and watches perpetually, and frequently makes an attack; and even though he often fails, he often makes the attempt. Let these terrible guards be present, and if they see the devil approaching and preparing to snatch away any of the things that have been deposited, let them drive him off with a great cry; if secular cares invade, let them repel them; if forgetfulness from the weakness of nature causes trouble, let them rouse the memory by exercise. For it is no mediocre danger that threatens if you lose the Lord's wealth. For if those who disperse money they have received are often punished by death, what punishment shall those not suffer who have received the divine oracles, which are much more precious than these, and have lost them? For those who receive money are liable to render an account only of how they have guarded it, and nothing further is required; for as much as they have received, just so much must they restore, and nothing more is asked of them. But, having received the divine oracles, one must render an account not only of their safe-keeping, but also of much commercial profit. For we are bidden not only to return what we received, but also to offer it doubled to the Lord. Although, if it were only commanded to us to guard them...
the matter required; but when the Master commands us even to multiply them, consider how much labor and care is needed by us who have been entrusted with them. Therefore, he who was entrusted with five talents did not offer merely what he had been entrusted with, but other talents besides. For those were of the Master’s philanthropy; however, the servant also had to demonstrate his own diligence. Likewise, he who was entrusted with the two talents also gained other two, and for this reason was deemed worthy of the same honor by his own Master. But another man, having been entrusted with one talent and having offered that which he was entrusted with—not having diminished or reduced the deposit, and not having returned it by halves—because he did not demonstrate the transaction nor offer double what was entrusted to him, suffered the ultimate punishment, and very reasonably so. For if I wished, he says, for them to be merely guarded, and for no other profit to arise from them, I would not have given them into the hands of servants. But consider with me the philanthropy of the Master. He who was entrusted with the five talents offered other five, and he with the two, other two; and each enjoyed the same rewards. For just as he said to the one, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many," so also to the one who offered the two he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many." The income is not the same, yet the reward is the same; thus he deemed him worthy of the same honor. Why so? Because God paid attention not to the quantity of what was offered, but to the power of those working. For each of them demonstrated that which was according to his ability; but the multiplication of what was offered and the decrease were caused not by the sloth of the one, nor the diligence of the other, but by the difference of the deposit. The one received five, and offered five others; the other received two, and offered two, and he has been in no way diminished in the matter of diligence. For indeed this one worked double, and that one worked double what was entrusted; but he who had received one offered it merely single; for which reason he was also punished.
B 2. Have you heard, therefore, how great a punishment lies in store for those who do not traffic with the Master’s money? Let us, therefore, both guard it and trade with it, and show great profit concerning it. Let no one say: "I am a layman, I am a disciple, I do not have the reasoning for teaching, being unlearned and worthy of nothing." Even if you are a layman, even if unlearned, even if you are entrusted with one talent, work that which was placed in your hands, and you will receive the same reward as the one who teaches. Now, that you keep what has been spoken, and preserve it with much precision, I strongly believe; but so that we do not consume this entire discourse on that, come, let us add what follows from what was said to us yesterday before your love, paying back to you this reward for your keeping. For he who was entrusted with the former things and kept them would naturally be worthy to receive others again. What, then, was the narrative set before us yesterday? The discourse was about the tree, and we showed that man knew the good and the evil before eating from the tree, and was filled with much wisdom, from the fact that he gave names to the beasts, from his recognizing his own wife, from his saying: "This now is bone of my C bones"; from the fact that he discussed marriage and child-rearing, and the union and father and mother, from the fact that he received a commandment. For no one gives a commandment and a law of what must be done and what must not be done to one who is ignorant of good and evil. Today it is necessary to speak why, if man did not receive this knowledge from the tree, the tree was called "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"; for it is no small thing to learn why it has this appellation, and is called "the tree." Indeed, the devil also said: "In the day you eat from the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil." How then do you say, he asks, that he did not implant the knowledge of good and evil? Who then, tell me, implanted it? Was it the devil? "Yes," he says, by saying: "You will be as gods, knowing good and evil." Then do you bring to me the testimony of the enemy and of the plotter? And yet he said that you will also be gods; did they therefore become gods? Just as, then, they did not become gods, so neither did they then receive the knowledge of good and evil. For that one is a liar, and speaks nothing true. For "in the truth," it says, "he does not stand."
Let us not, therefore, bring forward the testimony of the enemy, but let us see from the things themselves why the tree is called "the knowledge of good and evil." And first, if it seems good, let us examine what is good and evil. What then is good? Obedience. And what is evil? Disobedience. And for the present, so that we may not err concerning D the nature of the good and evil, let these be thoroughly examined from the Scriptures. For that this is the good and evil, hear what the prophet says: "What is good, and what does the Lord God seek from you? Tell what is good. To love the Lord your God." Do you see that obedience is good? For from love comes obedience. And again: "Two evil things," he says, "my people have done: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug for themselves broken cisterns which cannot hold water." Do you see that disobedience and abandonment are evil? For now, therefore, let us hold this: that obedience is good, and disobedience is evil, and thus we will know that also. For indeed, for this reason the tree is called the knowledge of good and evil, since the commandment, which creates the exercise of obedience and disobedience, occurred concerning the tree. For Adam knew even before this that obedience was good, but disobedience was evil; he learned, however, later more clearly through the events of experience itself. Just as Cain also knew that fratricide was evil even before he slaughtered his brother; for that he knew the deed was evil, hear what he says: "Come, let us go out into the field." And yet, why do you draw him into the field after having pulled him away from the paternal [eyes]? Why do you settle him in the desert? Why do you make him naked of the protection? Why do you lead him far from the paternal sight? Why do you hide the daring crime, if you do not fear the sin? And why also after perpetrating the murder, on being questioned again, are you distressed and do you lie?
hy do you return him desolate from his father’s sight? Why do you hide your evil deeds? Why do you not reform the sin? But why, after the murder was committed, are you asked again A for when God said: "Where is Abel thy brother?" you answered: "Am I my brother’s keeper?" (Gen. 4.9). From which it is evident that he rushed into this deed even while he knew it well. Just as he knew before the trial that murder was something evil, but learned it more clearly afterward when he suffered the punishment and heard: "Groaning and trembling you shall be upon the earth" (Gen. 4.12); so also the father of this man, before he did eat, possessed knowledge of good and evil, albeit not as clearly as when he had eaten from the tree. Shall I speak more plainly?
We know evils better after we have performed them. We all know evils even before we commit them; but we learn them more manifesty after we have committed them, and much more manifestly when we are punished. Thus also Cain knew indeed before that fratricide was evil; but he learned it more evidently afterward when he was mulcted with punishment. For we ourselves also know that health is a good thing and sickness a troublesome thing before we experience that; but much more surely do we recognize the difference between the two when we have fallen into the illness.
The same way also with Adam: he knew indeed that obedience was something good and disobedience something evil, yet he learned it more clearly when, having tasted of the tree, he was cast out of paradise and fell from that felicity. Since, then, he fell into punishment because he tasted of the tree when God forbade it, the punishment taught him more clearly by experience how evil it is not to obey God, and how good it is to obey; wherefore it is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And for what reason, if the tree itself did not possess the knowledge of good and evil, but man learned this more clearly from the very punishment brought upon him for his disobedience on account of tasting the tree, is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Because this is the custom of Scripture, that when some B thing happens in certain places or times, it names both the places and the times from those things. And so that what I say might become clearer, I will illustrate this for you by an example. Isaac once dug wells; when the neighbors started to destroy these wells, a conflict arose from this, and he called the well "Inimicities" (Gen. 26.21)—not because the well exercised enmity, but because enmities had arisen around it. Thus also it is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not because it itself possessed knowledge, but because around it occurred the declaration of the knowledge of good and evil. Again, Abraham dug a well, Abimelech laid traps, they came together, laid aside their enmities, and having given a mutual oath, they called that well the Well of the Oath (Gen. 21.31-32); not because the well had sworn, but because the oath had been given around the well. Do you see how places do not become the causes of things, even if they receive names from the things? Since it is very necessary that examples be provided, so that what we say might be made more manifest. Again, Jacob saw angels meeting him and the camp of God, and he called the place "Camp" (Gen. 32.2). Although the place was not a camp, nevertheless the place was called "Camp" because he had seen a camp there. Do you see how he named the place from the event of the thing that had occurred in that place? Thus also the tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not because it itself possessed the knowledge of good and evil, but because around it the demonstration of the knowledge of good and evil was made, and the exercise of disobedience and obedience. Again, Jacob saw God—as much as it is possible for Him to be seen by a man—and he called the name of that place "Species of God." Why? "Because I saw God" (Gen. 32.30). C And yet the place was really not the species of God, but from the thing that had happened in the place, the appellation was born. Do you see how by many things I have demonstrated that it is the custom of Scripture to impose names upon places from the things that have happened? It is accustomed to do the same also in regard to times. But that we may not weary you, come, let us transfer the discourse from sadder things to more pleasant ones. For your mind is now tired, having dwelled upon subtler concepts; wherefore it will be worth the effort to refresh it and feed it with simpler and more cheerful concepts.
Of the good things brought in through the Cross. Why the thief was introduced into paradise.
Let us return, therefore, to the saving tree of the Cross. For this removed all the evils which that had brought in—or rather, not that had brought in the evils, but man himself had brought in everything, which Christ subsequently removed entirely, and brought in goods much greater than them. For this very reason Paul says: "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5.20); that is, the gift is greater than the sin. Therefore he says again: "Not as the offence, so also is the free gift" (Rom. 5.15); not as much as man sinned, did God give; not as great a loss, is the gain; not as much of a shipwreck, was the trade; but the goods were more than the evils; and deservedly. Since a servant brought in the evils, and they were lesser; but the Lord bestowed the goods, wherefore they were also more. Therefore he says: "Not as the offence, so also is the free gift." Then he adds the difference: "For the judgment indeed was from one unto condemnation, but the grace is of many offences unto justification." What we have said is obscure; therefore it is necessary that we add an exposition. For the judgment indeed, that is, the punishment, the torment, D death; "from one," namely from the sin; since one sin brought in such a great evil; but the grace removed not that sin alone, but also many others. Therefore he says: "But the grace is of many offences unto justification." For this reason John the Baptist also cried out: "Behold the Lamb of God," not "who takes away the sin of Adam," but, "Who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1.29). Do you see how it is not as the offence, so also the grace, but this tree brought in more good things than the evils that had been brought in from the beginning?
Lest you think that you are affected by damage from the first ones. The devil cast out Adam, Christ introduced the thief. And look at the discrepancy. He cast out the man who was infected with no sin, but only with the stain of disobedience; Christ introduced the thief who was carrying countless types of sins into paradise. Is this, therefore, the only thing that is admirable, that He introduced the thief into paradise, and nothing else? Something else greater can also be said. For He not only introduced the thief, but even before the whole world...
and before the apostles, so that no one of those who come after should despair of gaining entry, nor cast away all hope of his own salvation, seeing himself caught in countless evils while moving in royal courts. But A did the thief show forth labors and virtues and fruits? This too cannot be said, but by a bare word uttered, by faith alone, he leapt into paradise before the apostles, so that you might learn that his own righteousness did not prevail so much, as the Master’s philanthropy did everything. For what did the thief say? What did he do? Did he fast? Did he weep? Did he tear his garments? Did he show repentance over a long time? Not at all; but even on the cross, after the sentence, he attained salvation. See the speed: from the cross to heaven, from condemnation to salvation. What, then, are those words? What power do they possess, that they brought him such great goods? *Remember me*, he says, *in your kingdom* (Luke 23:42). And what is this? He asked to receive goods; he did not show study of works; but He who knows his heart did not attend to the words, but to the disposition of his mind. For those who had enjoyed the prophets' teachings, who had seen signs, who had beheld wonders, were saying about Christ, B *He has a demon*, and, *He deceives the crowd* (Matt. 11:18). But the thief, not having heard the prophets, not having seen wonders, watching Him nailed upon the cross, he did not attend to the ignominy, he did not look at the disgrace, but looking at the divinity itself, *Remember me*, he says, *in your kingdom*. This is new and paradoxical. You see a cross, and you remember a kingdom? What that was worthy of a kingdom did you see? A man crucified, buffeted, mocked, accused, spat upon, scourged; are these things worthy of a kingdom, tell me? Do you see that he was looking with the eyes of faith, and was not examining the things that appear? Therefore, neither did God examine the bare words, but just as this man looked into the divinity, so God looked into the thief’s heart, and says: *Today you will be with me in paradise* (Luke 23:43).
Here, pay attention; for an inquiry of no small importance arises. For the Manichaeans, those dogs, C the dumb and rabid, pretend the form of gentleness, but within they possess the cruel madness of dogs, and hide the wolf with the sheep’s skin. But do not look at what appears, but examine the beast hidden within. These men, then, taking hold of this passage, say: Christ said, *Amen, amen I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise*; therefore, the retribution of goods has already happened, and the resurrection is superfluous. For if on that day the thief received the goods, but his body has not yet risen even to this day, then there will no longer be a resurrection of bodies. Have you understood what was said, or is it necessary to say it again? *Amen, amen I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise*. He entered, therefore, he says, into paradise, without his body; for how, when his body was not buried, nor was it dissolved and turned to dust? And it is nowhere said that Christ raised it. But if He introduced the thief, and he enjoyed the goods without the body, it is evident that there is no resurrection of the body. For if there were a resurrection of the body, He would not have said, *Today you will be with me in paradise*, but, *at the time of the consummation, when there is a resurrection of bodies*. But if He has already introduced the thief, and his body remained corrupt outside, it is clear that there is no resurrection of bodies. Such are their arguments; but henceforth receive also those from us, or rather, not from us, but from the divine Scripture; for we do not say our own things, but those of the Holy Spirit. What are you saying? Does the flesh not share in the crowns? But if it shared in the labors, is it deprived of the rewards? And when it needed to struggle, it received the greater part of the sweat; but when it is time for crowns, does the soul alone receive the crown? Do you not hear Paul saying, that *we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil* D (2 Cor. 5:10)? Do you not hear him saying again, *It is necessary for this mortal to put on immortality, and for this corruptible to put on incorruption* (1 Cor. 15:53)? This mortal, which one? The soul, or the body? It is evident that it is the body; for the soul is by nature immortal, but the body is by nature mortal. But they cut away many of these things; nevertheless, even from those that are left, we shall prove the affinity of those that were cut away. The thief entered into paradise, he says. And what of this? Are these the goods which God promises to us?
Chapter 5.
Do you not hear what Paul says about those goods? *What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man* (1 Cor. 2:9). Yet the paradise even Adam’s eye saw, and ear heard, and the heart of man received; for we have been discussing it for so many days. How then did the thief receive the goods? For God does not promise to introduce us into paradise, but into heaven itself; nor did He proclaim a kingdom of paradise, but the kingdom of heaven. For He began, he says, to preach and to say: *Repent; for it has drawn near*, not the kingdom of paradise, but *the kingdom of heaven* (Matt. 4:17). For you lost paradise, but God gave you heaven, so that He might demonstrate His own philanthropy, and bite the devil, showing that even if he should plot against the race of men in ten thousand ways, it will be nothing to him, since God is always leading us up to greater honor. You lost, therefore, paradise, and God opened heaven to you; you were condemned to temporary labor, and were honored with eternal life. He commanded the earth to bring forth thorns and thistles, and your soul brought forth the fruit of the Spirit. Do you see how the wealth is greater than the loss? How the riches are more? I say something like this: God fashioned man from earth and water, and placed him in paradise. He did not become useful who was fashioned, but was perverted. He no longer fashions him from earth and water, but from water and Spirit; and He no longer promises paradise to him, but the kingdom of heaven. And how, listen. For when Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, had collapsed, and was seeking the birth here, and saying that it is impossible for an old man to be born from above, see how Christ reveals to him more clearly the manner of the birth. *Unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot...*[...can enter into the kingdom of heaven. A If, therefore, He promised the kingdom of heaven, but introduced the thief into paradise, He has not yet rendered to him those good things.
What is to be understood by the name of paradise.
Truly they raise a further objection to this. Paradise, they say, in this place—he did not speak of paradise, but designated the kingdom of heaven by the name of paradise. For because he was addressing the thief, a man who had not been steeped in sublime dogmas, and who knew nothing of prophecy, but had spent all his time in desert places, and had committed murders, and had never once turned aside to an assembly, nor had been a participant in sacred reading, nor knew what the kingdom of heaven even was, he said this: "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43); by the more familiar and common name of paradise, he signifies the kingdom of heaven, and it is concerning that that Christ speaks to him. I admit this. Whence then is it clear that he entered into the kingdom of heaven? By the fact that he said, "Today you will be with me in paradise." But if this solution seems too forceful, we will add a clearer one. What, furthermore, is that? Christ said, "He who does not believe in the Son has already been judged" (John 3:18). B What then? There is as yet no resurrection, not yet punishment and penalty: how therefore is he already judged? Because of sin. And again, "He who believes in the Son," he says, "has passed from death to life" (John 5:24). He did not say, "He will pass," but, "He has already passed," and here again this is on account of a good work, and the former again on account of sin. Just as, therefore, one has been judged, though he has not yet been judged, so also the other has passed to life, though he has not yet passed, and just as he speaks of the one on account of a good work, so he speaks of the other on account of sin, as if the events had already taken place, though they had not yet occurred: thus also he was speaking to the thief. For doctors, too, after they see someone who is desperate, say that he has already perished and is dead, even though they still behold him breathing. But as he, because no hope of his salvation remains, is already dead in the eyes of the doctors: so also the thief, because he had already escaped every danger of returning to perdition, entered into heaven. C Thus also Adam heard: "But on the day you eat of it, you shall die the death" (Gen. 2:17). What then? Did he die on that very day? By no means; but after that day he lived nine hundred and more years. Why therefore did God say, "You shall die on that very day"? By decree, not experience. Thus, also, the thief entered into heaven. Hear, certainly, what Paul says, to declare that no one has yet received the retribution of good things: for when he was discoursing about the prophets and the just, he added: "In faith all these died, having not received the promises, but having seen them from afar, and having saluted them, God providing something better for us, that they should not be consummated without us" (Heb. 11:13, 40). Note these things, and keep them in memory, and teach those who have not heard; and let each one meditate on these things in church, in the marketplace, and at home. For nothing is more pleasant than sacred reading. Hear, I beseech you, what the prophet says about it: "How sweet to my throat are thy words, more than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth" (Ps. 118:103). Therefore, set this honeycomb upon your evening table, that you may fill all of that [time] with spiritual delight. D Do you not see wealthy men, how after feasts they introduce citharists and flute players? Those men make their houses a theater; do you make your house a heaven: you will effect this, not by changing the walls or moving foundations, but if you call the very Lord of heaven to your table. God is not ashamed of banquets of this kind. For where there is spiritual doctrine, there also is temperance, and modesty, and gentleness; where there are husband and wife and children, harmony and friendship and bound by the ties of virtue, there Christ dwells in the midst. For he does not seek a golden ceiling, nor the splendor of columns, nor the beauty of marble, but the beauty of the soul and the form of the mind, and a table filled with justice and abounding in the fruits of almsgiving. But if he sees a table of this kind, immediately he becomes a participant in such a gathering, and introduces himself into it. For he is the one who said: "You saw me hungry, and you fed me" (Matt. 25:35). When therefore you hear the poor man crying out below with a loud voice, then if you give to the needy any of those things which have been set upon the table, you have invited the Lord to the table through the servant, and you have filled it all with the blessings of God, and with the first fruits offered you have provided the greatest opportunity for filling your storehouses with many goods. But may the God of peace and charity, who gives bread to eat, and seed to the sower, multiply your sowing, and increase the fruits of justice in all of you, giving his grace, and may he deem you worthy of the kingdom of heaven (2 Cor. 9:10): of which may it be granted us to become participants, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom is glory to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.SERMON VIII. On a stormy day, and on the assembly of the bishops, and concerning the mandate which was given to Adam, and that it was a matter of great providence that he received the law.
...the advent of the teacher (a) made him more cheerful. For the sun does not so illuminate bodies when it emits its rays from the middle of the height of the heavens, as he, emitting the rays of paternal charity from the middle of his throne, illuminates our souls. Since he himself also knew this well, he did not come to us alone, but arrived accompanied by a gathering of luminaries, that a more copious light might shine upon us. Whence it happens that the church rejoices for us and the flocks exult, and we institute our discourse with greater alacrity. For where there is a gathering of pastors, there also is the security of the sheep. Thus sailors rejoice when more pilots are present to them: for while there is tranquility of the sea and serenity of the air, with the assistance of the helmsmen they lighten the labor of their rowing, and while the sea is agitated by storms, with art and a multitude of workers they calm the battle of the waves. Therefore we also confidently undertake the discourse for the sake of teaching, and we entrust all things to their prayers. But since [alt-version omitted]