It is necessary to bear in mind that for certain other tasks a particular time is allotted, according to the words of Ecclesiastes: All things have their season. For prayer and psalmody, however, as also, indeed, for some other duties, every hour is suitable, that, while our hands are busy at their tasks, we may praise God sometimes with the tongue (when this is possible or, rather, when it is conducive to edification); or, if not, with the heart, at least, in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, as it is written.^[1] Thus in the midst of our work we can fulfill the duty of prayer, giving thanks to him who has granted strength to our hands for performing our tasks and cleverness to our minds for acquiring knowledge, and for having provided the materials, both that which is in the instruments we use and that which forms the matter of the arts in which we may be engaged, praying that the work of our hands may be directed toward its goal, the good pleasure of God.

When, however, the disciple had professed his faith, he charged them, it says, and commanded them to tell it to no one: for the Son of man, he said, is about to suffer many things, and be rejected, and killed, and the third day he shall rise again.^[1] And yet how was it not rather the duty of disciples to proclaim him everywhere? For this was the very business of those appointed by him to the apostleship. But as the sacred Scripture says, There is a time for everything. There were things yet unfulfilled which must also be included in their preaching of him, such as were the cross, the passion, the death in the flesh, the resurrection from the dead, that great and truly glorious sign by which testimony is borne of him that Emmanuel is truly God and by nature the Son of God the Father. For that he utterly abolished death, and effaced destruction, and spoiled hell, and overthrew the tyranny of the enemy, and took away the sin of the world, and opened the gates above to the dwellers upon earth, and united earth to heaven; these things proved him to be, as I said, in truth God. He commanded them, therefore, to guard the mystery by a seasonable silence until the whole plan of the dispensation should arrive at a suitable fulfillment.

We ought to think of God even more often than we draw our breath; and if the expression is permissible, we ought to do nothing else. Yea, I am one of those who entirely approve that Word which bids us meditate day and night, and tell at eventide and morning and noon day, and praise the Lord at every time;^[1] or, to use Moses’ words, whether a person lie down, or rise up, or walk by the way, or whatever else he is doing^[2]—and by this recollection we are to be molded to purity. So that it is not the continual remembrance of God that I would hinder, but only the talking about God; nor even that as in itself wrong, but only when unreasonable; nor all teaching, but only want of moderation. As of even honey, repletion and satiety, though it be of honey, produce vomiting. As Solomon says and I think, there is a time for everything, and that which is good ceases to be good if it be not done in a good way; just as a flower is quite out of season in winter, and just as a man’s dress does not become a woman, nor a woman’s a man; and as geometry is out of place in mourning, or tears at a carousal. Shall we in this instance alone disregard the proper time, in a matter in which most of all due season should be respected? Surely not, my friends and brethren (for I will still call you brethren, though you do not behave like brothers). Let us not think so nor yet, like hot-tempered and hard-mouthed horses, throwing off our rider reason, and casting away reverence, that keeps us within due limits, run far away from the turning point. But let us philosophize within our proper bounds and not be carried away into Egypt, nor be swept down into Assyria, nor sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.^[3] By this I mean before any kind of audience, strangers or kindred, hostile or friendly, kindly or the reverse, who watch what we do with great care, and would like the spark of what is wrong in us to become a flame, and secretly kindle and fan it and raise it to heaven with their breath and make it higher than the Babylonian flame which burned up everything around it. For since their strength lies not in their own dogmas, they hunt for it in our weak points. And therefore they apply themselves to our, shall I say misfortunes or failings, like flies to wounds. But let us at least be no longer ignorant of ourselves or pay too little attention to the due order in these matters. And if it be impossible to put an end to the existing hostility, let us at least agree upon this, that we will utter mysteries under our breath and holy things in a holy manner, and we will not cast to profane ears that which may not be uttered, nor give evidence that we possess less gravity than those who worship demons, and serve shameful fables and deeds; for they would sooner give their blood to the uninitiated than certain words. But let us recognize that as in dress and diet and laughter and demeanor there is a certain decorum, so there is also in speech and silence; since among so many titles and powers of God, we pay the highest honor to the Word. Let even our disputings then be kept within bounds.

Sow in good season, and gather together, and open your barns when it is the time to do so; and plant in season, and let the clusters be cut when they are ripe, and launch boldly in spring, and draw your ship on shore again at the beginning of winter, when the sea begins to rage. And let there be to you also a time for war and a time for peace; a time to marry, and a time to abstain from marrying; a time for friendship, and a time for discord, if this be needed; and in short a time for everything, if you will follow Solomon’s advice. And it is best to do so, for the advice is profitable. But the work of your salvation is one upon which you should be engaged at all times; and let every time be to you the definite one for baptism. If you are always passing over today and waiting for tomorrow, by your little procrastinations you will be cheated without knowing it by the evil one, as his manner is. Give to me, he says, the present, and to God the future; to me your youth, and to God old age; to me your pleasures, and to him your uselessness. How great is the danger that surrounds you. How many the unexpected mischances. War has expended you, or an earthquake overwhelmed you, or the sea swallowed you up. Or a wild beast carried you off, or a sickness killed you, or a crumb going the wrong way (a most insignificant thing, but what is easier than for a man to die, though you are so proud of the divine image), or a too freely indulged drinking bout. Or a wind knocked you down, or a horse ran away with you, or a drug maliciously scheming against you, or perhaps was found to be deleterious when meant to be wholesome. Or [there was] an inhuman judge, or an inexorable executioner, or any of the things which make the change swiftest and beyond the power of human aid.

But if you would fortify yourself beforehand with the seal and secure yourself for the future with the best and strongest of all aids, being signed both in body and in soul with the unction, as Israel was of old with that blood and unction of the firstborn at night that guarded him,^[1] what then can happen to you, and what has been wrought out for you? Listen to the Proverbs: If you sit, he says, you shall be without fear; and if you sleep, your sleep shall be sweet.^[2] And listen to David giving you the good news: you shall not be afraid for the terror by night, for mischance or noonday demon.^[3] This, even while you live, will greatly contribute to your sense of safety (for a sheep that is sealed is not easily snared, but that which is unmarked is an easy prey to thieves), and at your death a fortunate shroud, more precious than gold, more magnificent than a sepulcher, more reverent than fruitless libations, more seasonable than ripe firstfruits, which the dead bestow on the dead, making a law out of custom. No, if all things forsake you or be taken violently away from you; money, possessions, thrones, distinctions, and everything that belongs to this early turmoil, yet you will be able to lay down your life in safety, having suffered no loss of the helps which God gave you unto salvation.

To everything then is its season, and a time for everything under heaven, a time to gather the goodly pearls, and a time after their gathering to find the one precious pearl, when it is fitting for a person to go away and sell all that he has in order that he may buy that pearl.

What, then, is the Paraclete’s administrative office but this: the direction of discipline, the revelation of the Scriptures, the reformation of the intellect, the advancement toward the better things? Nothing is without stages of growth: all things await their season. In short, the Preacher says, A time to everything. Look how creation itself advances little by little to fruitfulness. First comes the grain, and from the grain arises the shoot, and from the shoot struggles out the shrub. Thereafter boughs and leaves gather strength, and the whole that we call a tree expands. Then follows the swelling of the germen, and from the germen bursts the flower, and from the flower the fruit opens. That fruit itself, rude for a while, and unshapely, little by little, keeping the straight course of its development, is trained to the mellowness of its flavor. So, too, righteousness—for the God of righteousness and of creation is the same—was first in a rudimentary state, having a natural fear of God. From that stage it advanced, through the law and the prophets, to infancy. From that stage it passed, through the gospel, to the fervor of youth; now, through the Paraclete, it is settling into maturity.

It He does well to mention right away the binding union between birth and death; death necessarily follows birth, and each generation passes away. To show the connection between death and birth, the former is like a spur to arouse persons immersed in the flesh who love this present existence that they may pay attention to the future. Moses, the friend of God, quietly philosophizes over these matters as we see in the first titles of his books; he immediately writes Exodus right after Genesis. Thus these titles teach us about the order of our lives, for there is no birth [genesis] without death [exodos]. The great Ecclesiastes shows that death holds the same rank as birth: There is a time to be born and a time to die.

This is written in the Scriptures and is manifest to all. For although it be hidden and unknown to all, what period of time is allotted to each, and how it is allotted; yet every one knows this, that as there is a time for spring and for summer, and for autumn and for winter, so, as it is written, there is a time to die, and a time to live.

For as our Savior passed three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth, so you by your first rising out of the water represented Christ’s first day in the earth, and by your descent the night. For as in the night one no longer sees, while by day one is in the light, so you during your immersion, as in a night, saw nothing, but on coming up found yourselves in the day. In the same moment you were dying and being born, and that saving water was at once your grave and your mother. What Solomon said in another context is applicable to you: A time for giving birth, a time for dying, although for you, contrariwise, it is a case of a time for dying and a time for being born. One time brought both, and your death coincided with your birth.

A time to live and a time to die: you can see, therefore, beloved brothers, that this was said concerning the time of the Lord’s birth and death. Thus you must accept his virgin birth if we are to believe not only that the Word in the beginning who was called is was born, but, as I said, also that the humanity which he adopted and put on was born, both Lord and man. For it says, what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit.^[1] Yet, what suffered, died, was buried, and resurrected was not God but man, since he raised man to God, not God to man.

Let no one believe that he possesses any happiness or true joy in this world. Happiness can be prepared for, but it can-not be possessed here. Two times succeed each other in their own order, a time to weep, and a time to laugh. Let no one deceive himself, brethren; there is no time to laugh in this world. I know, indeed, that everyone wants to rejoice, but people do not all look for joy in the place where it should be sought. True joy never did exist in this world, it does not do so now, and it never will. For thus the Lord himself warned his disciples in the Gospel when he said: You will suffer in the world,^[1] and again, While the world rejoices, you will grieve for a time, but your grief will be turned into joy.^[2] For this reason, with the Lord’s help let us do good in this life through labor and sorrow, so that in the future life we may be able to gather the fruits of our good deeds with joy and exultation according to that sentence: Those that sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.^[3]

Now, is the time to weep while the time to laugh consists in hope because our present sadness is a mother who begets joy which is stored up for the future. Who does not squander his life in lamentation and sullenness? He returns to his senses and realizes what he had and then lost, that is, his original condition and that which is present. Both you and I were subject neither to death nor sickness because these pernicious elements had been banished from our lives. The sun, air and God’s grace belong to everyone and share his common blessing. While God freely offered us a share in every good, he did not acknowledge the sickness of avarice; neither does the person with less have reason to hate the one who has more (for such was not the case). There are other examples too innumer-able to list which require lengthy explanation. I mean the honor bestowed upon the angels, our confidence in God’s presence, contemplation of transcendent blessings and the incorruptible beauty of [God’s] blessed nature which adorns us and is manifested by the soul’s beauty in its resplendent divine image.

Since weeping has different meanings, laughing needs to be understood accordingly; for weeping does not have only one meaning, nor does laughing. And since laughing is split in two meanings—sometimes praiseworthy, sometimes reprehensible—even weeping must be seen in this way, so that praiseworthy laughing corresponds to praiseworthy weeping and the same with reprehensible laughing and weeping.

Often, thus, a life which is prone more to lust than to the love of God is laughing in such a way that the laughter itself is made into a god. And as some consider their stomachs divine and others consider them mammon, so a third person who loves entertainment and wants to be witty and so on, builds altars for laughter by making it divine so that he sacrifices to it. One sacrifices to it if one teaches what is suitable for laughing or what excites laughter.

That kind of laughter is reprehensible. It is blissful to abandon this kind of laughter and to devote one’s self to the weeping opposed to it. This is what the virtuous one was striving for when he said, Every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.^[1]

There is, however, also a praiseworthy laughter. It is said that God will yet fill your mouth with laughter^[2]—with (of course) praiseworthy laughter. This corresponds to the fruit of the Spirit, which is joy, for The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.^[3] Laughter, therefore, that corresponds with joy is praiseworthy.

Any weeping that is opposed to this kind of laughter and to the condition that opposes the joy of the Holy Spirit is reprehensible. That kind of weeping did not help Jerusalem.^[4] . . . And why was that so? It is because it did not repent at the time when it should have repented, but after it was too late. . . .

Now, we want to look for the spiritual meaning: The ascetical life, which is appropriate for pious people, is called weeping; the uninhibited life, however, which is prone more to lust than to the love of God, is laughter. Those who weep in this life will laugh later on, so that they are even blessed: Blessed are you who weep now.^[5] . . . But those who have laughed here, because they lived prone more to lust than to the love of God, will weep, after the punishment that will follow, so that the following is said to them: There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^[6] Those, however, who here greatly weep out of repentance pray to God with the words: You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.^[7]

Scripture refers the term mourning to any person subject to passion and who is grieved inwardly. Similarly, dancing signifies intense joy as we learn from the Gospel: We piped to you, and you did not dance.^[1] History says that the Israelites mourned Moses’ death^[2] while David preceded the ark in dance when the Philistines returned it from captivity.^[3] David expressed himself in harmonious songs by striking his harp while his feet and body moved to the rhythm which revealed his disposition. Since man’s nature is two-fold, body and soul, mourning is beneficial for our corporeal existence (there are many occasions for affliction in this existence) because it enables us to prepare our souls for this harmonious dancing [of David]. Although we abhor dejection, the occasions for gladness are certainly more numerous. Continence is confining, humility is sad, suffering is burdensome and sorrow cannot equal these. However, He who humbles himself shall be exalted,^[4] and he who afflicts himself by poverty will be crowned. The person who subjects himself to violence and proves himself worthy through affliction in everything will rest in the patriarch’s [Abraham] bosom.^[5] This is our rightful place through the mercy of him who saved us, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Persons who look only at the letter and the superficial sense also accommodate Ecclesiastes’ words to the Law of Moses which bids us to cast stones at law breakers.^[1] History has taught us about persons who break the Sabbath^[2] and who have stolen sacred objects^[3] in addition to other transgressions which the Law has commanded to be punished by stoning.^[4] If Ecclesiastes does not provide an opportunity to gather stones of which neither the Law nor any historical record speaks, I would concur with those who interpret the Law as an occasion to cast stones at any violator of the Sabbath or at anyone who removed sacred objects. Another occasion to gather stones which is not legislated offers us another interpretation, that is, it teaches us about this stone after it is cast; the person who threw the stone can possess it again. . . . We would be correct in understanding wood as any thought inclined to evil, so we must perceive these stones which Ecclesiastes rightly casts at the destructive thoughts of evil. We should always cast them and then gather them. An enemy comes to lay waste our noble life; however, the bosom of our souls must always be prepared to cast [stones] against the foe if we perceive that he is ready to assault us in another manner. Where do we gather stones to hurl against our foe? I have heard the prophet saying for holy stones are rolled upon the land.^[5] We must gather into our soul’s bosom these divinely inspired words which come down for use against our foes. Our casting of stones destroys the enemy, a deed closely associated [with the stone itself] because whoever casts the stone of temperance at an unchaste thought which feeds the fire through pleasure is victor and always bears a weapon in his hand. Once righteousness becomes a stone against injustice, it destroys this evil and is kept in our bosom. In this way everything we understand about the good which destroys evil is associated with a person who conducts himself virtuously. Thus our interpretation [of Ecclesiastes’ words] requires a time to cast stones and a time to gather them that we may always cast goodness to destroy evil and never lack such weapons.

In the literal sense the following is said: The law prescribes that Israel’s judges have to investigate the behavior of the people; and if someone was found to have done prohibited things, he was to be convicted to be stoned. . . .

Now, we relate the verse to rebuke instead of stoning. The wise teacher knows whom he has to rebuke and whom not, and in a certain way he throws the rebuke like stones in order to dissuade the rebuked from a bad way of life. If the person improves through the rebuke, the rebuke is gathered in and no more stones are thrown against him. Paul indicates this when he says, Convince, rebuke and encourage!^[1] By rebuking and convincing he was throwing stones. After seeing the one who was rebuked improve, he encourages and gathers the stones together. The following is meant: There is a time to punish and a time not to punish.

For there is a season for a man to embrace his wife, and a season to abstain from embrace for his prayer. So then there are two commandments; and unless they be done in due order, they bring about sin. So also is it with the other commandments. Be wise in God, then, and prudent, understanding the order of the commandments, and the laws of every work, that the Lord may love you.

Now this propagation of children which among the ancient saints was a most bounden duty for the purpose of begetting and preserving a people for God, among whom the prophecy of Christ’s coming must have had precedence over everything, now has no longer the same necessity. For from among all nations the way is open for an abundant offspring to receive spiritual regeneration, from whatever quarter they derive their natural birth. So that we may acknowledge that the Scripture which says there is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing, is to be distributed in its clauses to the periods before Christ and since. The former was the time to embrace, the latter to refrain from embracing.

As for you, you both have children and live in that end of the world when the time has already come not to scatter stones but to gather; not to embrace but to refrain embraces. [This is a time] when the apostle cries out, But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remains that those who have wives be as if they had none.^[1] Surely, if you had sought a second marriage, it would not have been in obedience to a prophecy or a law, or even the desire of the flesh for offspring, but merely a sign of incontinence. You would have followed the advice of the apostle, when, after having said, It is good for them if they so remain, even as I, he immediately added, But if they do not have self-control, let them marry, for I prefer them to marry rather than to burn.^[2]

According to Solomon’s words, there is a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. Because the end of the world presses upon us, it is necessary to gather living stones for the heavenly building, in order to make our Jerusalem grow to its full stature.

The text reads There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, words which will become clear only if we first look at them in the context of scripture and enable us to clearly know how the divinely inspired text is used for obtaining insight. The great David cries out in the Psalter Walk around Zion, go round about her.^[1] Solomon himself made a spiritual connection by yoking our capacity for love to wisdom and utters other words to unite us to virtue, Honor her in order that she will embrace you.^[2] If David bids us to walk around Zion and if Solomon says that wisdom will embrace those who honor her, we will not be mistaken about the meaning [of the text] before us which instructs us about an opportune time. Mount Zion is Jerusalem predominantly situated upon a mountaintop; therefore he who urges you to embrace her bids you to be united to that lofty manner of life in order to attain the peak of virtues as symbolized by Zion. He who wishes wisdom to dwell with you announces her embrace. And so, it is time to walk [perilambanein] around Zion and be embraced [perilambanesthai] by wisdom for the word Zion represents an exalted manner of life. However, wisdom in itself signifies every virtue. If we had known the opportune time for embracing as expressed by [Ecclesiastes], separation is perceived as superior to union. Ecclesiastes says There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. Anyone joined to virtue is hostile to evil. . . . When we lovingly cling to the beautiful (that is, what is opportune) we alienate ourselves from any previous hostility. If you truly loved temperance, you hate its opposite. If you lovingly contemplate purity, you despise the foul stench of filth. If you cling to the good, you would indeed distant yourself from clinging to evil.

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. In the literal sense this means men who live together with their wives have a time when they get together with them and a time when they do not. . . . When it is time for prayer, when it is a day on which one has to remain clean and send up prayers, one has to avoid embraces. When the days of prayer are over, they come together and embrace. . . .

According to a superficial explanation, but perhaps also against it, the following remark is valid. The appointed time has grown short, Paul writes; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none.^[1] He says, Since time has grown short and humankind has increased to a large number, it is not necessary any more to increase it; one has to cease. . . . When it was necessary that humankind increase, it was a time to embrace. But after the population had become numerous and the begetting of the faithful spread, one needed to avoid embracing. . . .

In the spiritual sense this is the meaning: Some have acquired God’s wisdom as a wife, like the one who says, I became enamored of her beauty^[2] and took her home as a spouse. About her it is said: She will honor you if you embrace her.^[3] Then wisdom embraces the wise by communicating to him her character, and the wise man embraces her.

When therefore this wife is with a person from whom she can beget insight and thoughts and works of insight—for wisdom begets insight for a man^[4]—then it is the time to embrace. This time, however, is not interrupted by breaks. One can always embrace wisdom. This time is eternal.

Do you wish to learn the opportune time for seeking the Lord? Let me briefly state that your entire life is the only time to carry this out. Seeking the Lord is not defined by limit or time; rather, the truly opportune time for this consists in never putting an end to our search. HOMILIES

Jerusalem, therefore, was abandoned like a booth in a vineyard^[1] because the guardian angels left it along with the Lord when Christ had suffered. A crop in the field is guarded by the Lord not for its own sake but only for the grain it yields, such that the stalk is permitted to be destroyed once its fruit is harvested. So also it was not principally for its own sake that Jerusalem was guarded temporarily, but on account of Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born according to the flesh within its borders. But when its fruit had been harvested, that is, the body of Christ, whence came the heavenly bread of life, then Jerusalem was abandoned like a field after the harvest, like a booth in a vineyard after its grapes had been gathered. This, then, is why it was said here in the divine Scriptures, There is a time for guarding and a time for casting aside, for there was a time when Jerusalem was guarded and a time when it was being cast aside.

Before the good things were found (for example, the knowledge of truth), people were in ignorance. For them it was the time of losing. But this time was preceded by the time of seeking; for when some one seeks the good, the time has come to lose what in his case had been before the good. Likewise people lived according to the law before Christ’s life on earth, and they looked for the letter. But when the Sun of righteousness rose and truth finally had come, the time also had come to lose the letter and to supersede it.

This is how one can sometimes lose in a good way. The Savior in the Gospel says: Those who want to save their soul will lose it, and those who lose their soul will find it.^[1] One [can also] understand this as referring to martyrdom and to the time of persecution: Those who want to save their soul on the day of judgment and at the time of reward must lose it by offering themselves up to death; to lose the soul here means death, the dying for truth in martyrdom.

Ought we to be dumb? Certainly not. For there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak. If, then, we are to give account for an idle word, let us take care that we do not have to give it also for an idle silence. For there is also an active silence, such as Susanna’s was, who did more by keeping silence than if she had spoken. For in keeping silence before others she spoke to God and found no greater proof of her chastity than silence. Her conscience spoke where no word was heard, and she sought no judgment for herself at the hands of men, for she had the witness of the Lord. She therefore desired to be acquitted by the One who she knew could not be deceived in any way.^[1] The Lord himself in the gospel worked out in silence the salvation of humankind.^[2] David rightly therefore enjoined on himself not constant silence but watchfulness.

Let anyone who loves wisdom, therefore, first beg this from God, then let the humble hearer seek out a teacher of truth, and all the while let him not only most carefully restrain his tongue from idle conversations but also hold back from preaching the very truth which he has recently learned. Hence Solomon, writing about differences of times, says, There is a time for keeping silence and a time for speaking. Hence the Pythagoreans, who were endowed with the capacity to teach natural knowledge, order their listeners to keep silence for five years and thus at last they allow them to preach. The truth is more safely heard than preached, for when it is heard humility is safeguarded, but when it is preached it is difficult for the preacher to escape some minimal boasting.

I believe that the Pythagoreans, whose discipline it was to remain silent for five years and to speak with erudition afterwards, drew their practice from this principle. We too should learn to be silent before opening our mouths to speak. Let us remain still for an established time, meditating on the words of the Teacher, for nothing should seem right to us except what we have learned. In this way, only after much silence will we be made teachers from the disciples. As it is currently, for the sake of those who are falling into the worst wickedness of the world, we daily teach in the churches what we do not know. And if we provoke the people’s applause by our choice of words or by the instigation of the devil, who is the patron of errors, we bear witness against our own conscience that we are doing the very thing against which we are able to warn others.

The tongue, therefore, should be discreetly curbed, not tied up fast. For it is written, A wise man will hold his tongue until the time,^[1] in order, assuredly, that when he considers it opportune, he may relinquish the censorship of silence and apply himself to the service of utility by speaking such things as are fit. And again it is written, A time to keep silence and a time to speak. For, indeed, the times for changes should be discreetly weighed, lest either, when the tongue ought to be restrained, it run loose to no profit in words, or, when it might speak with profit, it slothfully restrain itself. Considering which thing well, the psalmist says, Set a watch, O Lord, on my mouth, and a door round about my lips.^[2]

When it to comes to words about God and searching his essence there is a time for silence, but when it concerns some good operation of which we have knowledge, it is time to speak of God’s power, miracles and works which necessitate words. A creature should not overstep its bounds with regard to transcendent matters but remain content with knowledge of himself.

We must love one thing alone, that which the law of the Decalogue speaks, You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul and mind.^[1] There is one object deserving of our hated, the inventer of evil, the enemy our lives of whom the Law says, You shall hate your enemy.^[2] The love of God strengthens the person who loves, whereas a disposition towards evil brings destruction upon anyone who loves it.

IFTherefore the distinction between virtue and vice enables us to understand the opportunity which present. Ecclesiastes explains continence and pleasure, temperance and intemperance, modesty and arrogance, benevolence and maliciousness and anything else of this sort for imparting profitable advice. Thus we have a time to love continence and to hate pleasure that we may refrain from licentious behavior and be devout. Strife, gain, love of glory and so forth do not benefit love but prevent us from maintaining a pleasant disposition.

Every soul has a reprehensible companion and a praiseworthy one: the bridegroom, which is the Logos, and the adulterer, which is the devil. If the devil is present, one should not give him room; one should not let him in, as Judas did. This kind of companion needs to be hated. But a time to love has come when the true bridegroom is present. He is worthy of love, so much so that one of the saints has said, My love has been crucified. But love is intensified desire. Further, we have a commandment to love our enemies^[1] and to approach those who hate us in such a way that we even send a prayer to heaven for them. Insofar as we desire that they be helped and do not want ourselves to be troubled by hostility, we love our enemies; but insofar as we do not imitate them and do not accept the same things or want to be enemies as they want to be, we hate them.

If we have gained knowledge about the enemy against whom we must fight and take up arms, we ought to learn about another part of the text, that is, when to make a treaty of peace. Who is the good commander? He enables me to win favor by peaceful means. Who is the leader of this army? The divinely inspired scriptures clearly depict the battle array of angels belonging to the heavenly army.

If powers, forces, rulers of the world of darkness and evil spirits tempt us, we are not supposed to take issue with them or make peace with them, but we must fight them. But when we have subdued them and are given power to tread on snakes and scorpions,^[1] then it is a time for peace. Thus, first the devil has to be crushed under the feet of the saints. When it is time for war, one has to tread on all the power of the enemy.^[2] But when we have broken them down, we can live in enduring peace, our thinking is free from confusion, and we have a time for peace.

Of all these things there is not one either idle or useless. Not even the meanest of them—the hair, or the nails, or such like—is so; but all have their service to do, and all their contribution to make, some of them to the soundness of bodily constitution and others of them to beauty of appearance. For Providence cares not only for the useful but also for the seasonable and beautiful.

I have seen, he says, the material world that preoccupies human minds, that which God gave to the human race prior to its cleansing so that they would occupy themselves. He means here that the beauty of the material world is temporal, not eternal. For, after cleansing, the one who is pure no longer needs to view material things only as a diversion of the mind. Rather, he can also use them in spiritual contemplation.

Indeed, an evil observer of the times has this age in his jaws and strives with a great effort to wipe out the image of God, having chosen to fight against him from the beginning until the end.

Whoever eats in a way that he takes his stomach to be God does not find anything good in eating and drinking, but rather ungodliness: Such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own stomach.^[1]

In the spiritual and higher sense one can also say the following: The invisible things are God’s creations in the real sense. They are eternal. The timely and visible things are secondary and accidental and created for the sake of the eternal ones. These visible things have come into being for the sake of humankind, which by nature is invisible regarding the soul and the inner being. The visible things cannot primarily be called God’s creations. God certainly has created them, but for the purpose of other things.

God has made creation so that human beings, through an outward picture of the greatness and beauty of created things,^[1] might [understand] that God exists. He himself manages the cosmos and looks after it so that we—while the whole cosmos is orderly guided by one commander and provider and ruler and charioteer and king—get the outward picture that there is someone who rules the cosmos. When you see a ship which is piloted and holds its course, you perceive the idea of a helmsman even if he is not visible. And if you see a chariot which travels orderly, you get the idea of a charioteer. Likewise the Creator is known by his works and the order of his providence.

Our Father. No one should be astonished that one not yet born^[1] calls God Father. With God, beings who will be born are already born; with God future beings have been made. The things that shall be, Scripture says, have already been. [Thus] it is that while John was still in the womb^[2] he perceived his creator, and he who was unaware of his own life served as a messenger to his mother. [Thus] too we read that Jacob waged war before he was born and triumphed before he lived.^[3] [Thus] too, those who do not yet exist themselves are existent for God, that is, those who were chosen before the foundation of the world.

If those are blessed who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven^[1] and at the same time the kingdom of heaven is the totality of the ideas^[2] of the things that have been and will come into being, then it follows that the persecuted are blessed because they have insight into the knowledge of created things.

I saw in the lower regions a pit of punishment awaiting the ungodly but a different place set apart for the godly.

The shape of this world passes away,^[1] not its substance; just as with our bodies too, the shape will be changed. The substance does not perish when what is sowed as a physical body rises as a spiritual body.^[2] But we read nothing of this sort about the fire and the water. Rather we have in the book of Revelation, And the sea is now no longer,^[3] and in the prophets, And the light of the lamp shall shine for you no more.^[4] We wait for his promises, he says, in which righteousness dwells.^[5] Righteousness dwells in the future age, because then the crown of righteousness will be given to each of the faithful in accord with the measure of their struggle. This is a thing that cannot at all happen in this life, according to the saying of Solomon, I have seen beneath the sun wickedness in place of judgment and iniquity in place of righteousness and I said in my heart, ‘God will judge the righteous and the wicked, and there will be a time for every-thing.’ And again he says, I saw the deceit that goes on beneath the sun and the tears of the innocent and that there was no comforter, nor were those deprived of the help of all able to resist their power, and I praised the dead rather than the living.^[6]

I ask you, then, are we to suppose that the only decree of God that will not come to pass, the only decree of God, will be the one which we read in those same writings as being about to judge between believers and unbelievers, when everything else that we read has happened as it was foretold? On the contrary, it will come to pass as all those other prophecies came to pass. Then there will be no person of our times who will be able at that judgment to find an excuse for unbelief when everyone shall call on Christ: the upright for justice, the perjurer for deceit, the king for power and the soldier for battle, the husband to maintain his authority and the wife to show her submission, the father for command and the son for obedience, the master for his right to rule and the servant for his subjection, the humble for piety and the proud for ambition, the rich man to distribute and the poor to receive, the drunkard at his wine cups and the beggar at the gate, the good person that he may excel in virtue and the bad one that he may cheat, the Christian worshiper and the pagan sycophant. All have the name of Christ upon their lips, and, with whatever intention and formula they invoke him, without doubt they shall render an account of it to him whom they invoke.

IThe Divine Wisdom has pointed out in Ecclesiastes that for everything, that is for all things happy or those which are considered unfortunate and unhappy, there is a right time. As it says, For all things there is a time, and a time for everything under the heaven. . . . And later it says, For there is a time for everything and for every deed.

None of these things is laid down as always good, but only when they are fittingly done and at the right time. So these very things that turn out well, when done at the right moment, if they are ventured on at a wrong or unsuitable time are found to be useless or harmful. The only exceptions are those things that are in their own nature good or bad and that cannot ever be made the opposite—for example, justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance and the rest of the virtues; or on the other hand, those faults that cannot possibly be altered or classed as virtues. But those things that can sometimes turn out with either result—so that, in accordance with the character of those who use them, they are found to be either good or bad—these we consider to be not absolutely in their own natures useful or injurious, but only so in accordance with the disposition of the doer and the suitableness of the time.

In describing the pleasures of the flesh, he puts all cares out of his mind and states that it is good to eat and drink. Later, he finds fault with this view from the standpoint of reason and says it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. Likewise, from purely carnal considerations he advises a young man to find his pleasure in his youth, and later, modifying this statement, he blames youth and its pleasures as fleeting. So, too, when he speaks from the minds of the infirm, our Preacher voices an opinion based on suspicion. For the lot of man and of beast, he says, is one lot; the one dies as well as the other. Both have the same life breath, and man has no advantage over the beast. Later, however, he presents conclusions drawn from reason and says, What has the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go where there is life?^[1] So, after he says, Man has no advantage over the beast, he again specifies that the wise person has an advantage not only over the beast but also over the foolish person, namely, his ability to go where there is life.

Animals are mortal beings without reason, angels are immortal beings with reason, human beings are mortal beings with reason. Regarding mortality the human being is grouped together with beings without reason. Regarding reason [the human being] is grouped together with the immortal beings, since angels also have reason. Regarding its senses . . . the human being is of the same kind as the beings without reason. But the human being is receptive to something to which no other mortal being is receptive: its soul can become perfect, as far as this can be achieved, and become like God, as far as it is possible. . . .

Thus, when he says that the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same, he does not mean what happens to reason but what happens to the outward body. . . . The general judgment which enacts promises and punishments does not judge what human beings have in common with animals but what humans have in common with angels. As humans can be led into the kingdom of heaven and remain in heaven, so it is with angels; and as humans can be judged, so can angels be judged. . . .

If one investigates the nature of death, then the death of animals is not like the death of humans. Human death divides the soul from the body, and after the division the soul remains. But the death of animals destroys soul and body, since they have been created simultaneously.

Ecclesiastes teaches us from this not to attend to our physical needs but to our spiritual existence.

Why did he write, What advantage does man have over beast? Perceive now what had happened. Understand now the scorn toward us when he saw that humanity had recognized gods other than the Lord God alone and had not obeyed this utterance, No foreign god shall be in your midst, nor shall you worship a strange god.^[1] Then, when he saw humanity had acted wickedly by [doing] what is contrary to nature, with abominable deeds, with pernicious deeds that no one should be able to mention [and] to which no one should be able to listen, he said this. For if a person does not recognize his value, not only is he reckoned with the beast but the beast is more esteemed than he, when it is said, An ox knows its owner, and the ass its master’s crib.^[2]

By fate he means everything that is part of the life of anyone in this world, whether that person is righteous or unrighteous—things such as life, death, sickness, health, affluence, poverty, loss of limbs, of wives, children or possessions. In all these it is impossible to discern between the right-eous and unrighteous before the last judgment. He also says that both have in common the fact that they are taken from dust and will return to dust. They also have one soul, not by number but by nature. For the Spirit, he says, is one [and the same] in all. Here he calls a man, who was born in honor, a beast instead of labeling him as someone of understanding. It is because of his foolish desires that he is compared with the senseless beasts and that he ends up becoming like them.^[1] And not even through their acts can the righteous and unrighteous be clearly distinguished before the day of judgment, because a good number of the un-righteous become righteous and are elevated, while a good number of the righteous abandon virtue and are debased. What is the ad-vantage of the right-eous over the ungodly? In this present time, he says, there is no advantage. Everything is vanity except for the spiritual joy that naturally occurs to each according to his deeds and virtues.

The resurrection as a fact is not to be rejected because of an exceptional situation. Yet, since all things earthly return and crumble into the earth, I wonder how there can be any doubt even concerning the instances noted. For the most part, the sea itself also casts up on neighboring shores whatever human bodies it has swallowed. And if this were not so, it surely would not be difficult for God to join what has been scattered and to unite again what has been dispersed. Could it be maintained for a moment that God, whom the universe and the silent elements obey and nature serves, did not perform a greater miracle in giving life to clay than in joining it together?

Yea, even a person, who is dust, he changed by the inbreathing of his breath^[1] into flesh, and changed him back again into dust. And was not Moses, who himself was flesh, converted into the grandest light, so that the sons of Israel could not look him in the face?^[2] Much more, then, is God completely able to convert himself into whatsoever he wishes.

In order, indeed, that you may have the fullest and clearest assurance that what is the soul is in the usage of the Holy Scriptures also called spirit, the soul of a brute animal has the designation of spirit. And of course cattle have not that spirit which you, my beloved brother, have defined as being distinct from the soul. It is therefore quite evident that the soul of a brute animal could be rightly called spirit in a general sense of the term; as we read in the book of Ecclesiastes, Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, whether it goes upward; and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward into the earth? In like manner, touching the devastation of the deluge, the Scripture testifies, All flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, and every man: and all things which have the spirit of life.^[1] Here, if we remove all the windings of doubtful disputation, we understand the term spirit to be synonymous with soul in its general sense. Of so wide a signification is this term, that even God is called a spirit;^[2] and a stormy blast of the air, although it has material substance, is called by the psalmist the spirit of a tempest.^[3] For all these reasons, therefore, you will no longer deny that what is the soul is called also spirit. I have, I think, adduced enough from the pages of Holy Scripture to secure your assent in passages where the soul of the very brute beast, which has no understanding, is designated spirit.

Ecclesiastes, instructing us through enigmas, guides us to the other life.