those who are hidden by the shade of the thickets are lured out, that they may be consumed by the stags with less effort. Perhaps, therefore, He who reproves the vices hidden in the secret place, reveals the thickets—that is, He brings into the open the sins lurking in the material nature, which are called snakes because of the variety of pleasure. B But He will reveal them on that day, when He will reveal the hidden things of darkness and the counsels of their hearts. Perhaps also John, being the voice of the Lord, spoke to Israel in a riddle, saying: "Already the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire." He was revealing the thickets—that is, He was making manifest the uselessness of their fruits; for a thicket is unfruitful matter. By showing them its harmfulness, He was calling them to the appropriate fruitfulness, saying: "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." From all these things there is one result: the building of the Lord's temple, where anyone who has become a part of it can truly bring glory to the Lord.
7. "But the Lord also dwells in the flood." For through baptism, the dwelling-place of the Lord is made in the souls of the sanctified. God, therefore, dwells in the soul that has been washed from sin. For this reason, it is said that He dwells in the flood. For that He called the forgiveness obtained through baptism a "flood," we have also learned from the thirty-first Psalm, in saying: "Nevertheless, in a flood of many waters they will not reach him." For the sins of sinners, in the redemption that comes through baptism, will no longer be allowed to approach. "And the Lord shall sit as King forever." In addition to all these things, it will be granted to us to recognize the lordship of the Master over all, who gives strength to His people, so that, having conquered the evil one, we may receive the blessing C which is given by the Lord in peace to those who are worthy of Him; for to Him be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
UPON PSALM XXXVII
A teaching on confession. A Psalm of David for a reminder.1. The words of the divinely inspired Scripture shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. D "For I will reprove thee," He says, "and will set thy sins before thy face." So let us also pay heed soberly to what is said according to Scripture, and let us strive to bring into practice the commandments of the Lord.
A Ver. 2. *O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy displeasure.* With these same words and syllables the sixth Psalm also begins, and the remaining parts of the sixth Psalm are closely related to those which are contained in the present Psalm. For in the sixth he was saying that his bones were humbled and his soul was wearied in his groaning, and he added, saying: *I will wash my bed every night, I will water my couch with my tears,* and the things which are joined to these. And the things which are contained in the present Psalm are similar to those; for he said: *There is no soundness in my flesh, and there is no peace in all my bones from the face of my sins; for my iniquities have gone over my head.* And the things which are added to these throughout the whole Psalm, in which he laments his own misery. For he has used this same expression B by saying: *I have been miserable and have been bowed down even unto the end; all the day I went about with a clouded face.*
However, in the sixth, the inscription has: *Unto the end, in hymns for the octave, a Psalm of David;* but in the present one, none of these, but only this is said: *A Psalm of David for a memorial.* This phrase furthermore, *For a memorial*, seems to refer us to the inscription of the sixth Psalm, so that those things which are now in our hands—*Unto the end, in hymns for the octave*—may be understood as applying to the present one. For the phrase, *For a memorial*, indicates all these things. But because, when we were explaining the sixth Psalm, we explained what concerned the inscription, let us also in the present case return to the remembrance of those things.
It seems to me C that David, having confessed the sin committed by himself in various and many Psalms, had set aside this Psalm specifically *for a memorial*, so that he might always and at all times carry it in his mouth, and use it in place of a soothing remedy for the healing of his own soul. He sends up a supplication, therefore, to God, by which he averted the wrath hanging over all those who sin, and renders the good Lord propitious to himself with the voices of exceeding confession. For when he says: *O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger,* he does not decline the rebuke, but that which is joined with anger; and when he says: *Neither chasten me in thy displeasure,* he does not flee from being chastened, but asks that he may be chastened without anger: just as if someone, seeking relief from a physician through cauterization, through the knife, or through harsh medicines, D should—
say: "Do not heal me with fire, neither with the knife and incisions, but with mild and gentler medicines." Such a person does not reject the healing but the painfulness of the remedies. We have often said that when "anger" and "fury" A of God are spoken of in the divinely inspired Scriptures, they do not signify emotional states, for the Divine is alien to every passion. Rather, the language of Scripture is accustomed to naming such things by metaphor, just as it speaks of the eyes of God, ears, hands, fingers, feet, and the remaining members; these are usefully dispensed as toward men, adapting itself to the quality of the listeners. Thus, therefore, the punishments brought upon sinners by the judgment of God, which are gloomy and painful to those who suffer them, are portrayed as if they were brought on by anger and fury. This B is also taught by the holy Apostle, saying: "But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath, and revelation and righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds" (Rom. II, 5, 6). It is as if someone were to call the penalties hanging over a murderer by law "anger" and "fury," not because the law is in reality angered and enraged, but because the one being punished thinks the legal penalty is anger. Furthermore, even the malignant demons who are the ministers of the punishments inflicted upon the impious, and the powers of God C that serve these purposes, are called "anger" and "fury." Thus, at least, it is spoken of in the passage concerning the ten plagues brought upon the Egyptians: "He sent upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation and trouble, by sending evil angels among them" (Ps. LXXVII, 49). In this way, also, the "right hand" of God is said to be those things which are provided to the worthy through right and good powers. David, therefore, entreats not to be reproved by evil powers, nor to be chastened by the sending of evil angels, but through saving D words and profitable disciplines. And in another way he beseeches not to be reserved for the day of wrath, revelation, and righteous judgment of God, but to have his sins remitted then and there in the present life, before death. And he indeed succeeded in his aim; for it is evident that he paid the penalty, through what he suffered, before death. And furthermore, he punished himself by subjecting himself to various chastisements through modes of confession.
2. "For thine arrows are fastened fast in me, and thou hast laid thine hand heavy upon me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any peace in my bones because of my sins." That great athlete, Job, having endured temptations of every kind, did not ignore whence this came to pass for him; wherefore he said: "For the arrows of the Lord in..."
my body are, the rage whereof drinks up my blood." But David, not wounded in his body as Job was, but smitten with a deadly wound in his very soul, does not speak as Job did; for he says: "For thy arrows are stuck fast in me, and thou hast pressed thy hand against me." Now Job makes mention of the hand of the Lord, saying: "The hand of the Lord is what has touched me." And the devil also said to the Lord: "Send forth thy hand, and touch all that he has." And again: B "Send forth thy hand, and touch his flesh and his bones." But there was one hand, and other arrows, that touched his flesh and his bodily possessions; here, however, because David’s soul was ailing, he signifies that he was transfixed with other darts and touched by another hand. And it seems to me that the arrows here mentioned are intellectual—or rather, they are the very words of God, piercing and wounding his soul, and taking vengeance upon and chastising his conscience itself. For since this man was so great and had received so many good things from God, he nevertheless committed a shameful deed. Perhaps he also signifies the devil himself and that wicked one’s fiery darts—the passions and amatory impulses that kindled in him a lust for the wife of Uriah—concerning which the Apostle gives this warning, saying: "Take up the armor of God, that you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." For because David was found unarmed and did not resist C the fiery darts of the wicked one, he was justly wounded in his soul and seized by concupiscence. But just as Job called the devil’s arrows—namely, the ulcers that were inflicted upon his body—the "arrows of the Lord," because they occurred by the permission of God, saying: "For the arrows of the Lord are in my body, the rage whereof drinks up my blood," so it is likely that David also called them the "arrows of the Lord" here, because it was by the Lord’s permission that the adversary attacked him, that he might learn not to say: "I shall not be moved for ever." For since, being strengthened by the grace of God, he once became puffed up with himself, so as to become arrogant and say: "And I said in my abundance: I shall not be moved for ever," for this reason he was justly handed over to the tempter, who, having laid hold of his soul, inflicted upon him a greater damage than upon Job. Now the arguments by which the just judgment of God is recalled to memory, and by which the wrath impending over sinners is taught, are like arrows; for they pierce D the conscience, they wound it, and they goad it. Indeed, you may say that David, being confessed by these holy and divine arrows, describes the reproof applied out of fury and the chastisement resulting from the wrath of God.
A For he says, "Do not rebuke me in your fury, O Lord, nor chastise me in your wrath." Why? "Because your arrows are fastened in me." For the arrows that come from you, having anticipated the wrath and the fury, sufficiently punish me and are enough to chastise me. Hence, he pleads that he may not experience another wrath or fury, "Because your arrows are fastened in me," or, according to Symmachus, "They touch me."
B Understand also the "hand of the Lord" that has taken hold of him, the same as that which was manifested in Job. This hand of the Lord shook the entire house of David from its foundations, making Amnon, the firstborn of his sons, go mad with love for his sister, and inflaming Absalom with such wrath against his brother that he delivered Amnon to death and afterwards rebelled against his own father. The rest of the events recorded in history are also that same hand which is indicated here. Your hand, he says, has touched me through calamities succeeding one another. I entreat, he says, that I may not be rebuked by another fury, nor chastised by a worse wrath. And not only these things, but also C the words that follow, which he teaches thereafter, saying: "There is no health in my flesh because of your wrath; there is no peace in my bones because of my sins." I, he says, having anticipated, and without waiting for someone from outside to chastise my body, have punished myself with a grievous ulcer, and I have handed over to punishments my flesh, through which the sin was committed by me, taking vengeance upon myself and punishing myself with all kinds of chastisements. For he indicated this also in other words, saying: "I humbled my soul with fasting," and "My flesh is changed for the sake of oil," and "I have forgotten to eat my bread; by reason of the voice of my groaning my bones have cleaved to my flesh." And, "I will wash my bed every night, I will water my couch with my tears." So then also now he says: "There is no health in my flesh because of your wrath." Instead of "wrath," Aquila and Symmachus consistently interpreted it as "the face of your indignation." For it was enough for me, he says, the indignation from your divine Scriptures and the threat made through your prophet Nathan. D Therefore, because of the face of your indignation, I have thus punished myself so as to chastise my own flesh, and for my bones not to have peace "because of my sins"; for which Symmachus interpreted, "Because of my sins."
VERS. 5-7. "For my iniquities have gone over my head; they are heavy upon me like a heavy burden."
A They have stunk and are corrupt, my wounds, because of my foolishness. I have been troubled and bowed down even to the end. Since, he says, these things have been committed by me, for this reason "I have been troubled and bowed down even to the end, and I went about mourning all the day long." By these words, he demonstrates what he has suffered and how he took vengeance upon himself, not accusing himself of one sin, but of many at once, and such great ones that they could neither be hidden within his soul nor stay concealed within his body, but had exceeded it, so that they were manifest and known to all. He himself, therefore, was his own accuser at the first mention, and before all, so that that saying might be fulfilled in him: "A righteous man is his own accuser," forestalling any human accuser. He indeed condemned himself, but he stopped the mouths of all his enemies, since they could say nothing else against him. B This discourse teaches us not to hide our own evils, nor to keep our sins like some kind of blackness and putrefaction in the lowest recess of the soul, branding a mark upon the conscience. Just as it is in fevers—for a fever, while it creeps within and into the deepest parts, makes the disease graver, but if it comes into the open, it shows hope of decline—so also it happens to the soul. Moreover, David teaches another thing which he had experienced himself, saying: "They are heavy upon me like a heavy burden." For his misdeeds were weighing down his conscience, so that, because of the nobility and sincerity of his soul, he could not bear them. For he who is stubborn and hardened, according to his hardness and impenitent heart, treasures up for himself wrath in the day of wrath, drawing sin upon sin, and increasing his own evils. For when a sinner has come into the depth of evils, he despises them; C but the man of noble mind, even if he once slips at some time through a certain subreption of the devil, is immensely weighed down in his conscience, so that he can neither be silent, nor hide his own evil. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Hence, when silence was intolerable to him, he laid bare the things that were pressing upon him, saying: "They are heavy upon me like a heavy burden," namely, my iniquities. And again: "My wounds have stunk because of my foolishness." By "foolishness," he denotes an unwise action born of folly. For every sin is committed through folly; but virtue, since it is wisdom itself, declares all things which are done according to it to be worthy of praise and virtue. D But also, things done according to wisdom are productive of health for the soul; while folly brings about wounds and weals. Those, therefore, who persevere in sins, and rejoice in them and take pleasure in them—
A they are like swine wallowing in mire; but he who has stumbled once, and afterward has pulled himself together, loathes that wicked action as foul and unclean. David, having suffered something of this sort, confesses it from a healthy conscience, saying: *My wounds have stunk and are corrupt because of my foolishness.* Since, therefore, my iniquities have been multiplied, and have risen above my head, and have been heavy upon me, and have stunk and are corrupt; for this reason, healing myself, *I have become miserable and bowed down even to the end.* And not for one day, nor for a brief hour, but *all the day long I went about mourning,* or, according to Symmachus, *in sadness I walked;* being neither indifferent regarding the things done by me, nor acting with the arrogance of a king because I was subject to no judge; but rather, because of your fear and your indignation, *all the day long I went about mourning.*
B 4. *For my loins are filled with illusions, and there is no health in my flesh. I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly; I roared by reason of the groaning of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hidden from thee.* In place of, *My loins are filled with illusions,* Aquila has, *For my sides are filled with ignominy;* while Symmachus has, *For my loins are filled with ignominy.* For this reason, coming to the remembrance of that shameful and disgraceful act, with the sensory faculties of his soul in a state of vigor, he said these things: *My wounds have stunk and are corrupt because of my foolishness.* And why have they stunk? He adds, saying: *Because my loins are filled with illusions,* or, *That ignominy of mine.* By these words, moreover, he hints at the nature of the shameful act. Then, recovering himself, he was saying: *There is no health in my flesh.* For because my loins are filled with illusions, therefore, he says, penitent for the deed, I punish and scourge my flesh. Wherefore I say: *There is no health in my flesh.* So that, having been corrected, he may one day be able to say: *Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed.* But he was saying also above: *There is no health in my flesh, and there is no peace in my bones.* Then he adds: *I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly.* This, however, he expressed a little earlier in other ways, with these words: *I have become miserable and bowed down even to the end.* It is characteristic of prudent men not to be puffed up regarding sins committed through preoccupation and haste, but to be affected with shame, to blush, to be pricked by conscience, and to be humbled. To these things, therefore, David subjoins: *I roared by reason of the groaning of my heart.* Or, according to Aquila: *I raged because of the raging of my heart.* For I do not make confession with my lips that I might become known to the many; but rather, within in the very
heart, with closed eyes, I show to Thee alone, who lookest upon hidden things, my own groans, A raging within myself. For there was no need for me to use long discourses for confession; for the groans of my heart and the lamentations sent up from the depth of my soul to Thee, O God, were sufficient for confession. But also, the desire—being good before Thee, O Lord—was itself related to my own salvation. For when I was a desirer of evil things, my desire was not before Thee; but now, when I perform everything in humility and rage B from the groaning of my heart, and desire to attain to Thee, my God, my Savior and Physician, my desire is before Thee, and Thou art not ignorant of the cause of my sighs. For Thou knowest that I send up sighs befitting Thy loving-kindness, since Thou desirest not the death of the sinner, but his repentance.
5. Therefore I say: *And my groaning is not hidden from Thee.* C VERS. 13. *My heart is troubled, my strength hath forsaken me, and the light of mine eyes, and it is not with me.* Having indicated in the title that the psalm is "for a remembrance," he rightly recalls the past and brings to memory those things which had already befallen him long ago. He teaches into what condition he had fallen through the slip into sin, for which reason he makes this entire confession. *I have become miserable, and I am bowed down, and I went about sorrowing, and I was humbled, and I roared from the groaning of my heart.* I fell into all of these things; indeed, for a certain time, *my heart was troubled, my strength hath forsaken me, and the light of mine eyes, and it is not with me.* For at the time of sin, the power of understanding with which he was endowed suffered no small disturbance, being confounded and darkened by Him who was the author of the sin, to the extent that it even lapsed into foolishness. Wherefore he said above: *My scars have stunk and are corrupted because of my foolishness.* His heart was therefore troubled when he was in foolishness, and he fell away from the virtue of prudence and performed the works of foolishness. And then his D strength also forsook him. For he could no longer say: *I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,* having been overcome by desire and
A destitute of strength. For indeed in those who act according to the prescription of virtue, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; but in those who are overcome, the flesh is puffed up and gains strength, while the soul languishes and is enfeebled. Then, therefore, he says, *When I sinned, my heart was troubled, and my strength forsook me,* and another grievous thing happened to me. For *the light of mine eyes* (this was the prophetic Spirit, which illuminated the vision of his own soul), even this was not with me: for it had deserted and departed from me, *Because wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body that is subject unto sin.* For the holy Spirit of discipline *will flee deceit, and will remove himself from thoughts that are without understanding.* Thus, as soon as the holy Spirit departed from him, He left him desolate, after his heart had been troubled and his strength had been broken. For then also the light of his eyes left him desolate. B Indeed, even they who were formerly his friends and neighbors, who had lived with him for all time, having left him, *stood afar off,* no longer wishing to be with him, but from afar, as it seems, they lamented the calamity of their friend. And who were these, if not they who rejoiced in his former goods, namely, the good angels and ministers of God, who are accustomed to rejoice together over the salvation of men? Since *there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth*; and *the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.* These, therefore, all the friends of David, at the time of his sin, withdrew and turned away; yet they did not entirely desert him, but standing afar off, they lamented. He clearly teaches this same thing, saying: *My friends and my neighbors drew near against me, and stood; and they that were near me stood afar off.* Since they were far from me, certain others who are the authors of sin, standing near me, used violence and mocked my soul. C Therefore he adds, saying: *And they that sought after my soul used violence: and they that sought my hurt spake vanity, and meditated deceits all the day long.* For these men, having long thirsted for my blood, and for long ages past desiring to see my ruin, as if having found an opportunity, when they saw that my virtue had forsaken me, and that the light of mine eyes had departed from me, and that my friends and my neighbors had become remote from me, they immediately rushed upon me and used violence against my soul; and, as being malevolent, *they spake vanity,* inwardly suggesting to my soul vain words, but also deceitfully soothing and tricking D me, as if they were baiting me toward good, while they were dragging me into sin. Therefore he adds: *And meditated deceits all the day long.*
A
VERS. 14, 15. *But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and as a dumb man who openeth not his mouth. And I became as a man that heareth not: and that hath no reproofs in his mouth.* After those who sought my life had found it, then finally, having found it, they mocked me, and set upon me, insulting my misfortunes; afterwards they spoke of vanities and deceits all the day long. B Toward these things, bereft of my own friends, I had nothing to say, being filled with shame; wherefore as a deaf man I did not hear. Indeed, I who was once most eloquent and instructed with the wisdom of the time, have become as a deaf man not hearing, and as a dumb man not opening his mouth. For no argument was at hand for me for a defense; nor had I any way to address the enemies, being once defeated by them; but I was as a man not hearing, and not having in his mouth reproofs. For I was being reproved myself, but I did not reprove, nor did I have freedom of speech, being covered in shame.
VERS. 16, 17. *For in thee, O Lord, have I hoped, thou wilt hear me, O Lord my God. For I said, lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me: and whilst my feet are troubled, they have spoken great things against me.* These things, indeed, happened to me. Wherefore I became as a deaf man not hearing, and as a dumb man not opening his mouth, and as a man not having reproofs; C wherefore I said nothing to the enemies, as one indeed defeated by them. Yet I did not on this account despair of myself; but I gathered myself together again, having recoiled from sin as from death, and by the remedies of confession healing my own sore. Nay, I even ask that my scars, which had rotted from my folly, be cured. Therefore, *In thee, O Lord, have I hoped*: for not trusting in myself, nor having any other hope before my eyes except thee, I prescribed this mode of cure for myself. Since, therefore, I have hoped, O Lord, and hope does not confound, therefore hear me, because thou art a lover of mercy, and thou dost not desire the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance 18. Because I have hoped in thee, I beseech thee to obtain thy help: *Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me.* For they have not yet completely rejoiced; but they will rejoice, unless I obtain thy mercy: but that my enemies—who even before, when my feet were troubled, had spoken great things—may not rejoice over me, I have fled to thee, and I say: *Let me not be confounded forever* 19, *nor let my enemies laugh at me* 20. And again I say: *To thee, O Lord, will I cry, do not be silent from me; lest at any time thou be silent from me,* D *and I be made like unto them that descend into the pit* 21. And the rest, which in other psalms have been spoken by me
gathering them together in this supplication unto thee, I beseech to obtain present help. For even if it so happened that my feet were most moved at the time when my heart was troubled, and my strength failed me, and the light of my eyes was not with me, yet I was not utterly overthrown, nor did I fall into such ruin as those who have utterly defected from thee. Because at that very time, when my feet were being moved, my enemies spoke great things against me; so that they might not applaud over me in greater measure, I fled unto thee as unto a harbor of salvation, who art able to heal even the wounds of the soul that are incurable among men.
7. *For I am ready for scourges, and my sorrow is before me continually*. *For I will declare my iniquity, and I will be anxious for my sin*. Having said at the beginning: B *O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath*, he here says: *For I am ready for scourges*. Therefore, he deprecates anger and wrath, but says he is ready to be scourged; for he knows that *Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth*. Wherefore he also bore bravely the scourges which, through the successive calamities that followed his sin, happened to him, which the history of the Books of Kings contains. *And my sorrow is before me continually*. C For many forget their former sins, being indifferent to them, and despising them, as if no retribution were to occur; but he who has the judgment of God before his eyes continually, and is convinced that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done through the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad, is always in anxiety, and desiring to heal this pain within his own soul, he accuses himself through his confessions to God. Therefore he says: *My sorrow is before me continually, for I will declare my iniquity, and I will be anxious for my sin*. Such indeed are the voices of a faithful soul, and one that has quite certainly persuaded itself that the judgment of God will come. *Verses 20-23. But my enemies live, and are strengthened against me: and they are multiplied that hate me unjustly. They that render me evil for good, were speaking against me, because I followed goodness. Forsake me not, O Lord my God: do not thou depart from me. Attend unto my help, O Lord of my salvation*. He remembers all his enemies, those who dragged him toward sin, and he beseeches and prays the Lord not to depart from him. For he saw that his enemies were even now surrounding him, D and threatening him, not content with their previous audacity against him. Therefore, anxious lest
iterum in eosdem incidat, vigilanter admodum ait: A *Inimici autem mei vivunt.* For they are not dead, nor did they depart once they had plotted anything against me. Wherefore it is written: *Call no man blessed before his death.* They live; nay, indeed, they have multiplied in number and been strengthened against me. For they who hate me have multiplied, and they who render me evil for good, who even now do not cease to slander me, because I pursue the good and saving way, envying my salvation. Wherefore I beseech and entreat, B O Lord, do not forsake me. For I could not alone withstand so many and such great ones. Do you, therefore, my God, not depart from me, but be present to me as a helper and the guardian of my salvation.
IN PSALMUM CXV
1. V. 1, 2. *I believed, therefore I spoke; but I was humbled exceedingly. And I said in my excess: Every man a liar.* Let faith take the lead in matters concerning God; faith, not demonstration. Faith, which draws the soul toward assent more than methods relying on reason; faith, which is birthed not by the necessary inferences of geometry, but by the operations of the Holy Spirit. *In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk.* This voice was followed by the work through the Spirit. From this miracle, the divinity of the Only-Begotten was necessarily admitted by those who saw it. Which thing, tell me, compels assent more: the nexus of propositions drawing along a congruent conclusion, or rather a great miracle clearly beheld, surpassing all human power? Yet even now these things are not approved, nor do the works of the Spirit give credence to the sermon which is about God; but artful proofs, placing their hope in the persuasions of worldly wisdom, and not in the strong and clear revelation C of the Spirit, which He exhibits for the salvation of many through those who, in the simplicity of heart, without curiosity, believe in God. But would that it might be my lot to believe worthily, so that I might now speak five words in my mind to this great Church of God. And let no one mock this speech, as if we were inducing our hearers to assent to what we say without any proof. For it is necessary that the principles of every discipline be delivered to those who learn without any proof; since it cannot be that D we see the interpreter: *Through those who have cast all their confidence in simplicity of heart upon God*, etc. But, if my mind does not deceive me, you will interpret it better according to the mind of the writer: *Through those who in simplicity of heart without curiosity believe in God.* For to the writer it is the same as what is not obscure from those things which follow. For he adds: *But would that it might be my lot to believe worthily.* The writer, therefore, whoever he is, says this: Just as it happens that not a few believe in God in simplicity of heart without curiosity, would that this same thing might happen to me also.