Chapter LIII.--The Love of Moses Towards His People.
Ye understand, beloved, ye understand well the sacred Scriptures, and ye have looked very earnestly into the oracles of God. Call then these things to your remembrance. When Moses went up into the mount, and abode there, with fasting and humiliation, forty days and forty nights, the Lord said unto him, "Moses, Moses, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people whom thou didst bring out of the land of Egypt have committed iniquity. They have speedily departed from the way in which I commanded them to walk, and have made to themselves molten images." [4283] And the Lord said unto him, "I have spoken to thee once and again, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: let me destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make thee a great and wonderful nation, and one much more numerous than this." [4284] But Moses said, "Far be it from Thee, Lord: pardon the sin of this people; else blot me also out of the book of the living." [4285] O marvellous [4286] love! O insuperable perfection! The servant [4287] speaks freely to his Lord, and asks forgiveness for the people, or begs that he himself might perish [4288] along with them.
[4283] Ex. xxxii. 7, etc.; Deut. ix. 12, etc.
[4284] Ex. xxxii. 9, etc.
[4285] Ex. xxxii. 32.
[4286] Or, "mighty."
[4287] I. despotes (master).
[4288] Literally, "be wiped out."
Chapter LIV.--He Who is Full of Love Will Incur Every Loss, that Peace May Be Restored to the Church.
Who then among you is noble-minded? who compassionate? who full of love? Let him declare, "If on my account sedition and disagreement and schisms have arisen, I will depart, I will go away whithersoever ye desire, and I will do whatever the majority [4289] commands; only let the flock of Christ live on terms of peace with the presbyters set over it." He that acts thus shall procure to himself great glory in the Lord; [4290] and every place will welcome [4291] him. For "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." [4292] These things they who live a godly life that is never to be repented of, both have done and always will do.
[4289] Literally, "the multitude."
[4290] I. en Christo (in Christ).
[4291] Or, "receive."
[4292] Ps. xxiv. 1; 1 Cor. x. 26, 28.
Chapter LV.--Examples of Such Love.
To bring forward some examples [4293] from among the heathen: Many kings and princes, in times of pestilence, when they had been instructed by an oracle, have given themselves up to death, in order that by their own blood they might deliver their fellow-citizens [from destruction]. Many have gone forth from their own cities, that so sedition might be brought to an end within them. We know many among ourselves who have given themselves up to bonds, in order that they might ransom others. Many, too, have surrendered themselves to slavery, that with the price [4294] which they received for themselves, they might provide food for others. Many women also, being strengthened by the grace of God, have performed numerous manly exploits. The blessed Judith, when her city was besieged, asked of the elders permission to go forth into the camp of the strangers; and, exposing herself to danger, she went out for the love which she bare to her country and people then besieged; and the Lord delivered Holofernes into the hands of a woman. [4295] Esther also, being perfect in faith, exposed herself to no less danger, in order to deliver the twelve tribes of Israel from impending destruction. For with fasting and humiliation she entreated the everlasting [4296] God, who seeth all things; and He, perceiving the humility of her spirit, delivered the people for whose sake she had encountered peril. [4297]
[4293] I. hupomnemata (memorials).
[4294] Literally, "and having received their prices, fed others."
[4295] Judith viii. 30.
[4296] I. omits despoten (Lord).
[4297] Esther vii., viii.
Chapter LVI.--Let Us Admonish and Correct One Another.
Let us then also pray for those who have fallen into any sin, that meekness and humility may be given to them, so that they may submit, not unto us, but to the will of God. For in this way they shall secure a fruitful and perfect remembrance from us, with sympathy for them, both in our prayers to God, and our mention of them to the saints. [4298] Let us receive correction, beloved, on account of which no one should feel displeased. Those exhortations by which we admonish one another are both good [in themselves], and highly profitable, for they tend to unite [4299] us to the will of God. For thus saith the holy Word: "The Lord hath severely chastened me, yet hath not given me over to death." [4300] "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." [4301] "The righteous," [4302] saith it, "shall chasten me in mercy, and reprove me; but let not the oil of sinners make fat my head." [4303] And again he saith, "Blessed is the man whom the Lord reproveth, and reject not thou the warning of the Almighty. For He causes sorrow, and again restores [to gladness]; He woundeth, and His hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in the seventh no evil shall touch thee. In famine He shall rescue thee from death, and in war He shall free thee from the power [4304] of the sword. From the scourge of the tongue will He hide thee, and thou shalt not fear when evil cometh. Thou shalt laugh at the unrighteous and the wicked, and shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the field. For the wild beasts shall be at peace with thee: then shalt thou know that thy house shall be in peace, and the habitation of thy tabernacle shall not fail. [4305] Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thy children like the grass of the field. And thou shalt come to the grave like ripened corn which is reaped in its season, or like a heap of the threshing-floor which is gathered together at the proper time." [4306] Ye see, beloved, that [4307] "protection is afforded to those that are chastened of the Lord; for since God is good, [4308] He corrects us, that we may be admonished" [4309] by His holy chastisement.
[4298] Literally, "there shall be to them a fruitful and perfect remembrance, with compassions both towards God and the saints."
[4299] Or "they unite."
[4300] Ps. cxviii. 18.
[4301] Prov. iii. 12; Heb. xii. 6.
[4302] I. kurios (Lord).
[4303] Ps. cxli. 5.
[4304] Literally, "hand."
[4305] Literally, "err" or "sin."
[4306] Job v. 17-26.
[4307] I. blepete posos (ye see how great).
[4308] I. (despotou) pater gar agathos on (being a good father).
[4309] I. eleethenai (be pitied).