ORIGEN'S SELECTIONS ON JUDGES
A And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord. If the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, how does he make a vow of what is not fitting? For it was possible that even a dog might have met Jephthah as he returned. Was the Spirit, then, in error? By no means; rather, the Spirit came to assist, not to suggest an inappropriate vow; but Jephthah himself erred by promising inconsiderately.
And they said to him, "Say now, Shibboleth." But they said "Sibboleth," which signifies *sebela*, that is to say, an ear of corn. Those who said *sebela*, however, could not clearly pronounce *sebela*. For even if they were Hebrews, they differed according to the measure of their brevity in the pronunciation of the dialect. The password, therefore, was *sebela*, which those who were questioned, by saying *sebela*, were proven to be not of the kin of Jephthah, but of the rebels. B
And his wife was barren and did not bear. He calls her barren here not because of nature, but because of her service.
"No razor has come upon my head," for I am a Nazarite of God. Throughout the whole history of Samson, his hair is shown to supply him with all his strength.
By the same. He names "Nazarite," according to the Syriac language, that which is kept. C God, however, does not command Samson to follow the custom of the Israelites, who at that time were accustomed to shave their heads so that they might easily be recognized by everyone.
And he made an Ephod and Teraphim. The Ephod was a priestly garment, which the priest on whom it was placed used to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. But the Teraphim was something of that kind, however not divine, but rather idolatrous, as is shown in the books of Kings. D
And the sons of Benjamin went out. Why are they defeated, although they had set out justly? It is clear that it was on account of a preceding cause. And the Psalm says, "When I shall take the time, I will judge justices." Then, after they were defeated once and a second time, anger came upon the wrongdoers, and they achieve a righteous victory.
[Translation of the provided text, which constitutes a scholarly apparatus regarding Genesis and patristic commentary, not Origen's Homilies on Judges:]
Some think that those who imagine another tree to be at fault are in error through excessive simplicity. Athanasius in Question 58 to Antiochus; Isidore of Pelusium in Lippomanus on Genesis chapter 3; Moses Bar-Cepha in his book *On Paradise*, and Oleaster the Portuguese on Genesis chapter 3. Furthermore, it should be noted that this passage clearly and soundly proves that bodily punishments here, whether voluntarily undertaken by penitents or enjoined upon them, are to be endured with an upright spirit so that, being joined to the passions of Christ, they may compensate for the pleasure conceived from sins and satisfy the punishments and hardships of that One, which, as fruits worthy of repentance, are, after sins are forgiven and the penalty of eternal doom is condoned, to be discharged either in this world or in the expiatory underworld down to the very last farthing. Indeed, Adam, having cast off all softness, put on a most austere garment, represses the onslaught of petulant flesh, girds himself with the bridle of continence, and so far as he is able, casts himself down and humbles himself in the sight of God in justice. Are these not clearly satisfactions for committed sins? Hence Tertullian says in chapter 36: "Adam himself, the root of the human race and the author of the offense against the Lord, does not remain silent, having been restored to his paradise through confession." And he had also written before these words: "You have Someone to whom you may make satisfaction; confession is the design of satisfaction; through satisfaction, confession is disposed; to make satisfaction to the offended Lord?" etc. And Cyprian, reproving those who neglected this part of repentance, writes: "Effort is given so that sins might not be redeemed by satisfactions and just lamentations, and so that wounds might not be washed away by tears." And in his sermon *On the Lapsed*: "The Lord must be entreated and appeased by our satisfaction," etc. Augustine exhorts everyone to this same satisfaction and urges it with dense arguments in his *Enchiridion* chapters 65, 70, and 71; in his letter to Macedonius; in his book of 50 Homilies, Homily 50; his commentary on Psalm 50; and his book *On Ecclesiastical Dogmas*, chapter 53. Let the heretics, therefore, who attempt to remove from the midst, to the incredible loss of souls, the name and works of satisfaction—that is, this third part of the sacrament of penance—be confounded and converted.
"Because," he says, "he." By this paraphrase it is signified that Adam lost through his sin both the original justice and the grace that makes one pleasing, or charity, which he had received in the beginning; concerning which matter it was also said above in chapter 20: "But we have recovered in Christ what we lost in Adam." This is also what Cyprian later taught, writing that he did not guard the gift of grace divinely bestowed, in his sermon *On the Virtue of Patience*. Ambrose also says in chapter 38: "Angels of darkness, like robbers, spoiled man of the garment of saving grace when he fell into them." Therefore, those who either deny that original justice was a supernatural gift or stubbornly deny that divine grace is lost through mortal sin wander disgracefully.
"And now." Thus the old codex; the printed editions say "and then."
"Just as some." Theophilus of Antioch writes to this effect in book II *To Autolycus*: "God was not envious, as some feel, when He commanded Adam to abstain from the tree of knowledge; but He wished to prove the man, whether he would be willing to be obedient to the command," etc. I would be persuaded that Marcion and the approvers of that same discipline are being designated here, since Theodoret writes that they taught that the serpent was better and more excellent than the Creator, because he forbade the participants of the tree of knowledge, while the latter permitted them. Gregory of Nyssa thinks that tree was prohibited because it had the power of engendering in the mind the knowledge of evil things, which it was not expedient for man to have. Others of the ancients, such as Theophilus, Augustine, book 14 *On the City of God*, chapter 12, and book 7 *On Genesis*, chapter 10; Chrysostom, Homily 16 on Genesis; and Theodoret, Question 26, wish it to have been forbidden to exercise the material of obedience.
"And incurable." We have deleted "insensible" on the authority of an old codex. His annotations on chapter 38.
"Wherefore enmity." *Ekhthra*, enmity, which is called anger watching for the time of vengeance. It is discussed, however, concerning Christ, the promised seed of the woman, so that He might overcome the head of the serpent—that is, death, the Antichrist, the devil, sin, and hell—by saving man. And thus they teach that that place of Genesis must be understood and explained, as what follows in Genesis 12:3, 18:18, and 22:4, just as Paul also indicates in Galatians 3:8. Moreover, it is also manifest that by that sacred seed of the woman promised, Christ was signified; but by the name of the serpent, the devil, from Isaiah chapters 7 and 9, John 3, Romans 1, 6, 16, Hebrews 2, 1, Peter 5, Apocalypse 12 and 13, and the unanimous consent of the holy Fathers, so that I can never sufficiently wonder at the more than Jewish impiety of Calvin and Marloratus, by which they prefer to interpret that passage not concerning the dissension between Christ and Satan, but concerning a common hatred and vulgar horror, by which we all from a natural sense abhor all serpents.
"Upon the asp." Augustine and Cassiodorus also interpret this passage concerning the victory of Christ and His servants over the devil. The devil, they say, is an asp when he strikes secretly; a basilisk when he disseminates poisons openly; a lion when he violently persecutes the innocent; a dragon when he swallows the negligent with impious gluttony. Or, a dragon when he lays snares secretly through heretics; and a lion when he rages openly through tyrants; all of which, through the advent of the Lord, lie prostrate under His feet, that is, by the saints. His annotations on chapter 39.
"They lie, therefore." He repeats the same heresy of Tatian and the Encratites which he refutes here, in book 1, chapter 31, where we have also collected many things from other authors which explain this passage. Furthermore, Nicodemus, a disciple of Christ, and the history which is carried under his name concerning the passion and resurrection of the Lord, reports that the Lord Jesus, when He had descended to the underworld according to His soul, took the hand of Adam and said: "Peace be with you and all your righteous sons, my own." But Adam himself, having fallen at the knees of Christ, tearfully entreated Him in a loud voice with these words: "I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have taken me up, and you have not let my enemies rejoice over me: O Lord my God, I cried to you, and you healed me. You have brought up my soul from the underworld, you have saved me from them that go down into the pit?" etc.
"And they contend concerning." We have removed "contending" and a little later substituted "profited" for "profiting," on the authority of an old codex. His annotations on chapter 40.
"Having transferred therefore all." By a brief recapitulation he concludes what he has hitherto discussed against the various impieties of the Gnostics; namely, concerning the one God, the economy of Christ, and the creation of the world, and then opposes to their sects the everywhere constant and consonant preaching of the Catholic Church, the Holy Spirit perpetually residing in it; and for that reason its communion is to be sought by all with the greatest effort, lest we fluctuate with every wind of doctrine.
"Aspiration." Old codex: "from the inspiration of formation," as perhaps it was elsewhere: "from inspiration," that is, by divine revelation, "formation," that is, the creation of the first man, became known; or if the printed reading pleases, by "aspiration" he understands the soul capable of reason, which was infused into the body by the divine breath.
"And in it arranged." Thus we have restored it from the old codex, so that it may be understood that in that duty of preaching and faith, which was entrusted to the Church, the communion of Christ is arranged; unless perhaps it was otherwise elsewhere, "a deposit," and in its place "disposed" had crept in, which the printed codices had.
HOMILY I ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES
which are present and falling away. Those who consider the highest good to be pleasure are illuminated by such light; those who seek riches and honors of this age and earthly glory, as if it were a memory of eternity, are likewise illuminated by it. These, therefore, are in the days of that light which will be extinguished. Everything that they do, desire, and covet comes to an end. Heretics, too, preaching a knowledge falsely so-called, are illuminated by this light; hence Marcion, having been illuminated by it, calls the God of the Law just, but not good. If, therefore, we have correctly understood who they are that are illuminated by our Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, and who these days are that are illuminated by Him—He who transfigures himself into an angel of light, and whose light is extinguished—we can fittingly understand also these days of Jesus the Lord, of which it is said that "the people served the Lord all the days of Jesus." A For it is certain that he who has the days of Jesus in himself serves the Lord; nor can it be that one who has in himself the days of Jesus and the light of Christ should serve the devil or serve avarice. Nor can it be that one illuminated by the light of sanctification should serve lust and impurity. Finally, the Apostle says: "For what participation has righteousness with iniquity? Or what company has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has the faithful with the unbeliever?" Let us pray, therefore, that Christ, who is the true light, may always create good days in us, and that we may never have in us evil days from the devil who illuminates us—days of which the Apostle says: "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." For we have evil days when we seek carnal things instead of spiritual, earthly instead of heavenly, falling things instead of eternal, present things instead of future. If, therefore, you see desires of such a kind arising within you, know that you are placed in evil and most wretched days. And therefore, persist in prayers that you may be freed from that day, and, as the Apostle says, may be snatched "from the present evil age." For in this way, which we mentioned above, not only do the days become evil, but the age itself is made evil. B C and by His precepts they illuminate our hearts, and they themselves also create certain days in us coming from that light in which they themselves participate from the true light. Whoever, therefore, is illuminated and instructed by the precepts of the apostles, and is instructed by apostolic rules for the service of the Lord, he is the one who is said to serve the Lord in the days of the elders who were after Jesus. But do you wish to see how, just as the Savior "was the true light, which illuminates every man coming into this world," so also the apostles were the light of the world? It is written in the Gospel, the Lord saying to them: "You are the light of the world." But if the apostles also are the light of the world, without a doubt they illuminate for us, through their precepts and commands, the days in which we may serve the Lord.
5. Regarding what it said: "All the days of the elders who were after Jesus," it does not seem to me to have been said idly that those who were after Jesus are called elders of long duration or of longer days. And indeed, it belongs to God alone to know who, among the elders who were after Jesus, made a longer day—that is, who emitted a greater light from himself: whether Peter, or Paul, or Bartholomew, or John. Nevertheless, the saints are called men of longer days. Conversely, however, when this world shall be filled with evils, when "iniquity shall abound and the charity of many shall grow cold," and when the Son of Man coming shall find it difficult to find faith upon the earth, then the future days are not called long, but are rather said to be shortened, as the Lord said, because "unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved." Therefore, evil days are said to be shortened; but the good days, in which we serve the Lord, are long-lived and of much time and—in a way—of great span. See, however, that He also designed this in the Gospel, that "for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened." Therefore, for the elect, the evil days—the days of iniquity and scandal—shall be shortened. And as I judge, once the evil days have begun to be shortened for the elect, they are always shortened and diminished, until they are reduced to nothing, and completely wither away and in the end perish. Among which, I think, was also he who said: "Let that day perish in which I was born." Thus, therefore, for the elect, the evil days are shortened and perish. D Therefore he is blessed who serves the Lord in the days of Jesus, who is illuminated by His word and wisdom, who is enlightened by His precepts, who receives the light of knowledge from His doctrine. But in the second place, he also is blessed who serves the Lord in the days of the elders who were after Jesus. Who are the elders who were either with Jesus or after Jesus, if not the apostles, who also themselves by their writings and precepts illuminate our hearts, and they themselves are the elders of the saints, long-lived and prolix? But also that which occurs to us when we speak—and I wish it had occurred to us by the Lord’s suggestion—must not be passed over: what He said, because "the people served the Lord all the days of Jesus." He did not say one day of Jesus, but there are many days of Jesus.
VARIOUS NOTES ON BOOK IV OF SAINT IRENAEUS
Annotations of Fr. Feuardent upon the preface of the fourth book.
Page 227. *But he who would wish to hold them in contempt.* From this place, as well as from others, it is not obscurely gathered that Irenaeus did not contend confidently against the heretics in words alone, but that he also perused their treatises with industrious care, whereby, their foundations having been, as it were, exposed from the bottom, he might afterwards the better demolish and subvert the entire structure of their heresies. Nor am I led by slight conjectures to believe that the leaders of the Church, when heretics were striving to disturb her peace and undermine her doctrine by booklets issued here and there, once chose with great prudence and serious counsel certain men from their own assembly—men who were wise, sincere, and sharp—to read through books of this kind and refute their chief headings with stronger arguments, so that those pious men might unearth and expose to clarity the absurd impieties which the partisans of darkness dared not vomit forth in public, and thus take them from the midst and extinguish them. But let others, to whom this task had not been entrusted, abstain from those books as from nefarious things, or, following the example of Constantine the Great, consign them to the flames. I think that the beginning of the fifth book lends credence to this conjecture, where he indeed says that in these five books he is refuting the impious opinions which the heretics left in their writings, insofar as by complying with the requests and command of him to whom he dedicates these books of his, he might provide the same man with much assistance to confirm the sense of the neophytes, lead back those who have erred, and—by valid reasons—restrain the stubborn and make them better. Added to this is the frequent mention of Valentinus's writings in Clement of Alexandria; and the voice sent from heaven to Dionysius found in Eusebius: "Read everything that comes into your hands, because you are able to test each thing and distinguish them individually." It is plain and manifest to all that Epiphanius read the writings of Marcion; Augustine those of Faustus, Maximinus, Cresconius, Gaudentius, Parmenianus, Petilianus, Caelestius, and Julian; Jerome those of Jovinian, Helvidius, and Vigilantius; Basil the Great those of Eunomius; Cyril of Jerusalem those of the Manichaeans; Gregory and Cyril those of Julian the Apostate; Primasius those of the Donatist Ticonius; and Ambrose and Prudentius perused the impious writings of Symmachus for this very reason.
Page 228. *Just as a serpent.* This comparison of heretics with the serpent, which is used in the fifth book, is certainly worthy of accord and observation. The same comparison—but explained more fully—is used by Augustine in book II *De Genesi contra Manichaeos*, chapters 25, 26, 27, and by Athanasius the Great in his second oration *against the Arians*; indeed, the Apostle also uses it in II Cor. xi, 3.
*And then indeed.* So runs the old codex; the printed editions have "and then what" in the apostate. *Not only making them apostates.* So also Tertullian in his book *De Praescriptione*: "Persecution," he says, "makes martyrs, heresy only apostates." And Augustine writes that heretics turn the lethargic into plain frenetics, in his book *De utilitate credendi*, chapter 18. Profane writers usurp the name of "apostate" for one who defects from his own leader to the enemy; the sacred writers use it for one who defects from the Christian and Catholic religion to the heathens, Jews, or heretics. Thus Justin Martyr in his *Dialogue*, Anacletus in his first epistle, Hermas in his second book, and Cyprian in his 17th and 58th epistles. Paul also calls that signal defection which will precede the coming of the Antichrist ἀποστασίαν in II Thess. ii.
*By derogating salvation.* That is, by diminishing or subtracting something from it. Cicero, *Pro Fonteio*: "The suspicion of enemies has derogated faith and authority from the testimony of those whose deeds were performed." We have removed "derogendo" by the authority of an old codex.
From the annotations of John Ernst Grabe upon the preface.
Page 226. *They taught that Christ and the Holy Spirit were emitted on account of the stain.* See above, page 13, line 13 and following (page 11, line 23 and following). They taught that Christ and the Holy Spirit were brought forth by the Monogenes so that the Aeons might be restored and confirmed. For they had sinned, desiring to contemplate the incomprehensible Bythos, according to page 10, line 12 and following (page 8, line 20 and following). And lest they be further cast down by this stain, Christ taught them that the Father is incapable of being contained and incomprehensible, and that the desire to comprehend Him is vain.
*That the Savior is the fructification from those Aeons who were emitted due to the stain.* We read in the heretics' accounts (page 14, line 22; pages 12 and 15) that Jesus is the τέλειον καρπόν, that is, the "perfect fruit" of the Aeons, because—they pretended—the individual Aeons had contributed to Him whatever they had in themselves that was best and most flourishing (ἀνθρώπωστον), as is taught in the same place. But when he says that those Aeons were emitted "due to the stain," this is not to be accepted as if they had taken their origin from a stain or vice—for that was not the opinion of the Valentinians, who ejaculated this blasphemy only against the Demiurge, or maker of the world—but it is necessary to understand it as "emitted from the stain," that is, "rescued" or "liberated" (although this is somewhat forced).
What can you say in the face of all this, save that Christ lives in me? Thus, in sinners Christ A dies, because in them there is nothing of righteousness, nothing of patience, nothing of truth, and absolutely none of those things which are Christ are at work. But in the saints, whatever is done, Christ is said to work it, just as the Apostle says: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me," that is, Christ. But the Lord Himself in the Gospels gives a most beautiful distinction regarding this, when He says: "Whoever shall have confessed me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall have denied me before men, I also will deny him before my Father." You see how, in those who confess, He says that He confesses in them, as if He Himself were living in them and working the works of life. But in those who deny Him, He did not keep the same form of expression, as if to say, "whoever shall have denied in me, I also will deny in him." Rather, He said, "whoever shall have denied me before men, I also will deny him before my Father," in order to show that he who denies is indeed outside of Him, whereas he who confesses is in Him. Therefore, Scripture also says here, that when Jesus had passed away, "there arose another generation after them, which did not know Jesus, nor the works which He did in Israel."
2. "And the children of Israel did evil before the Lord." God, the omnipotent ruler, forbid that it should ever happen to us that Jesus Christ, after He has risen from the dead, should die again within us. For what does it profit me if He lives in others C through virtue, but dies in me through the infirmity of sin? What does it profit me if He does not live in me and in my heart, and if He does not perform the works of life in me? What does it profit me if, in another, He is born and refreshed through good pursuits, through good faith, and through good works, but in me and in my heart He is, as it were, suffocated and killed by evil thoughts and nefarious desires, by the worst kinds of pursuits? For consider what Scripture adds: "there arose," it says, "another generation which did not know Jesus, and the great works which He did." That generation which did not know the Lord Jesus is that of evil thoughts and worst desires which proceed from the heart. This is the generation which does not recognize the Lord Jesus, nor the great work which He did in Israel. You see that sinners reach such a point that they forget even that great and manifest work which the Lord did, that He was crucified for our sins, and rose again for our justification. Hence I believe that the Apostle, fearing this very oblivion, said to his disciple Timothy, whom he held in highest regard: D "Be mindful that Christ Jesus has risen from the dead." For he knew that someone might come to forget such a great work, which rose from the dead, if a sinful generation were to arise in the heart. Therefore, an adulterous generation, which knew not Jesus, nor the elders, did evil before God.
5. "And they served," it says, "Baalim, and forsook the Lord God of their fathers." These things, to be sure, the ancients did; but since "certain things were written, not for their sakes, but for ours," upon whom "the ends of the ages have come," let us see whether these things do not appear to be said more of us than of them. Do you want to see that these things are interpreted not of me, but through the Apostle, as concerning us? Hear what he himself says: "Or what does the Scripture say of Elias? How he pleads with God against Israel: Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have broken down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what does the divine answer say to him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed their knees to Baalim; and he adds: Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace." You see, therefore, that he interprets those who bowed their knees to Baalim, and those who did not, among the remnant of believers and the multitude of unbelievers. And this shows that those who in the time of the Savior proved to be unbelieving and impious, bowed their knees to Baalim and worshipped idols. But these who have faith, and fulfill the works of faith, have not bowed their knees to Baalim. For it is nowhere recorded in historical, evangelical, or any other Scriptures that anyone in the time of the Savior bowed to idols; but this is said of those who, bound by their sins, were held as if in shackles. Whence it is evident that as often as we sin, when we are led captive in the law of sin, we bow our knees to Baalim. But we were not called to this, nor did we believe for this purpose, that we should again serve sin and again bow our knees to the devil, but that we should bow our knees in the name of the Lord Jesus: for "in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth"; and that we should bow "the knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." But what does it profit me if, coming to prayer, I bow the knees of my body to God, but bow the knees of my heart to the devil? For if I have not stood firm against the snares of the devil, I have bowed my knees to the devil. And if I have not stood constantly against anger, I have bowed my knees to anger. Similarly, if I have not constantly resisted lust, I have bowed the knees of my heart to lust. And in each and every thing that is contrary to God, I will appear to do this, unless I have stood constant and strong, just as they did, because they worshipped—
A Baalim, and forsook the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt. Let us not, therefore, think that because we appear not to worship idols, these things do not in some way pertain to us. Everyone’s god is that which they worship above all else, which they admire and love above all things. Indeed, this is what God demands of man before all things and above all things by His commandment: "You shall love," He says, "the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength"—desiring in a way to anticipate these affections of the human mind toward Himself, knowing that whatever a man loves with his whole heart, and with his whole soul, and with all his strength, this is his god. Let everyone now examine himself, and silently recount from his own heart what specifically blazes within him with the flame of love above all else, and which affection is fostered within him more fervently than the rest. You yourselves must have judgment regarding these things, and weigh them in the scales of your own examination; and if there is anything that outweighs the rest on the balance of love, this is your god. But I fear that for very many, the love of gold outweighs the rest, and the weight of avarice sinks the scale quite deeply. And surely it is said to such a person: "You cannot serve God and Mammon (that is, avarice)." I fear also that in others, the love of lust and pleasure may outweigh the rest to such an extent that it drags them down to the earth, or in others, the love of worldly glory and the desire for human dignity may weigh more heavily than all things. I believe that there are very few who, measuring their affections within themselves B and weighing them with an equal balance, will find that the weight of the love of God outweighs all other things that are human. I know him who, having weighed all things within himself with the utmost examination, and having found that all the affections that were within him were inclining toward that side where the love of God resided, said with all confidence: "For neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." But Paul is the one who could say these things in this way, because neither things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature can separate him from the love of God. But as for us—would that we might even say this, that neither gold, nor silver, nor the pleasure of the flesh, nor worldly glory, and fleeting and temporal dignity, or corporal delights, nor the affection for children or spouse, will be able to separate us from the love of God. Surely, may it be granted to us to be able to say with confidence that neither the love of worldly literature, nor the sophistries of philosophers, nor the deceits of mathematicians and the simulated courses of the stars, nor the divinations commended by the surreptitious C fallacy of demons, nor any love at all of foreknowledge through those things which are not permitted to be inquired into, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Does not the error of the whole Gentile world receive its beginning from this, that men wish for things they greatly love to be gods, and ascribe the divine name to all manner of human vices and desires? For those who are greedy for money, and burning with the love of avarice, call Mammon—the god of this desire—as a god among the Syrians; those who are lovers of lust and pleasure ascribe Venus to themselves as a goddess of this vice by which they are agitated. Similarly, in the case of other vices, they have made that very affection by which they are driven into their own god. Whence the Apostle also says these same things. He says, in fact: "And avarice, which is the idolatry." You see, therefore, that not only worshipping a likeness, but also being devoted to avarice, is reckoned as the worship and servitude of idols. Thus, therefore, when we are so devoted to certain vices that we love them with our whole heart, and with our whole soul, and with all our strength, we are said to worship idols and to have gone after strange gods.
4. "And they worshipped," he says, "strange gods, of the gods of the nations which were round about them, and provoked the Lord to anger." You see how much sins accomplish, so that those who sin are said to provoke Him to anger, in whom not only is there no affection of anger, but not even any other passible movement. But He remains immutable in His nature, nor is He ever disturbed by the affections of anger: but I, through the things in which I commit offenses, procure anger for myself, just as the Apostle says, teaching these very things: "But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart," he says, "you treasure up to yourself wrath in the day of wrath of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works."
5. "They provoked therefore the Lord to anger, and forsook the Lord, and served Baalim and Astaroth, and the Lord was angry with indignation against Israel, and delivered them into the hands of them that spoiled them." As long as anyone serves God, he is not delivered into the hands of those that spoil him. But when they have forsaken the Lord, and have begun to serve their own passions, then it is said concerning them, that "God gave them up unto shameful affections." And again: "God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." Why? Because they were filled, he says, "with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, and all other things which are mentioned," as it is also here. "Who served," he says, "and worshipped Baalim and Astaroth, God delivered them into the hands of them that spoiled them, and they were made in the hands of their enemies." For these things, I have said often, the Jews read as histories of past and bygone things. But we, for whom these things are written, ought to know that if we have sinned against the Lord, and if we worship the pleasures of our minds and the desires of the flesh as if they were God, we too are delivered, and by apostolic authority, into the hands of the Devil.