AFTER THE RETURN FROM THE FIRST EXILE
1. What shall I say, or what shall I speak? Blessed be God! This I said when I departed, this I offer again—nay, even when I was there, I did not cease to say it. You remember that I brought Job into your midst, and said: "Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever" (Job 1.21). These pledges I left with you when I departed, these thanksgivings I repeat: "Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever." The circumstances were different, but the glorification is one. Driven out, I gave thanks; returned, I give thanks. The items are different, but the end of winter and summer is the same; one end: the fruitfulness of the field. Blessed be God who permitted the departure; blessed again be He who called me back to my return; blessed be God who allowed the storm; blessed be God who settled the storm and provided calm. I say these things to instruct you to bless God. Have good things happened? Bless God, and the good things remain. Have bad things happened? Bless God, and the bad things are resolved. For even Job, when he was rich, gave thanks, and when he became poor, he gave tribute of glory to God. He neither stole then, nor did he blaspheme then. The times were varied, but the mind was one: and the virtue of the helmsman was neither loosened by the calm nor submerged by the tempest. Blessed be God both when I was separated from you, and when I recovered you. Both were matters of the same providence. I was separated from you in body, but by no means in mind. See what great things the snares of the enemy have wrought. They increased their zeal, they kindled longing, and they procured for me six hundred lovers: heretofore my own loved me, now even the Jews honor me. They hoped that they would separate me from my own, but they have gained strangers. But thanks are to be rendered not to them, but to the name of God, who used their wickedness for our honor: for even the Jews crucified our Lord, and the world was saved; I owe no thanks to the Jews, but to the Crucified. Let them see how our God sees, what peace their snares have brought forth, what glory they have prepared. Before this, the church alone was filled; now the entire forum has become a church. One head from there to here occupies the space. No one commanded silence for your choir, and yet all remained in silence, all in compunction. Some were chanting, others were praising as blessed those who were chanting. Today there are games, and no one is present; but all have flowed into the church like torrents: but your gathering is a torrent, and your voices are rivers A which ascend to heaven and bear witness to your love for your father. Your prayers are more splendid to me than a diadem. Men and women together: "For in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female" (Gal. 3.28). How shall I declare the powers of the Lord? You know how true is what I say: If anyone bears temptations bravely, he shall reap great fruit from them.
2. A discourse delivered in the church of the Apostles. — Therefore I have gathered you to the apostles. We come as those driven out to those who were driven out. We have been attacked by snares; they have been driven out. We come to Timothy, a new Paul. We come to the holy bodies that bore the stigmata of Christ. Never fear temptation, if you know you are instructed with a noble spirit: all the saints were crowned in this way. There is much bodily affliction, but greater is the tranquility of the soul. Would that you were always in hardship. So even the pastor rejoices when he undergoes labor for the sake of the sheep. What shall I say? Where shall I sow? I have no desert place. Where shall I labor? I have no open vineyard. Where shall I build? The temple is finished; my nets are breaking because of the multitude of the fish. What shall I do? There is no time to labor. Therefore I exhort you, not because you are in need of doctrine, but to show my genuine love for you. Everywhere the ears of corn are flourishing. There are so many sheep, and nowhere a wolf; there are so many ears of corn, and nowhere thorns; there are so many vines, and nowhere foxes. The biting beasts have been drowned, the wolves have fled. Who pursued them? Not I the pastor, but you the sheep. O nobility of the sheep! With the pastor absent, they routed the wolves. O beauty of the bride, or rather, purity! With her husband absent, she drove away the adulterers. O beauty and purity of the bride! She shows her beauty; she shows also her integrity. How did you drive away the adulterers? Because you loved your husband. How did you drive away the adulterers? By the magnitude of your chastity. Not B