In these words it is to be observed, that [the nations] are struck with severe rebuke, not merely because they rejoice, but because they rejoice with their whole heart and mind.

In case this seems to be difficult I will come to you; I who have turned away from you will turn my face toward you, so that you may have the cultivation that you once had and that everything may be filled with seed. In this way there will be many people among you, and the cities that were once destroyed will be inhabited once again.

We say that the mountains of Israel, the prophets and the apostles, are those who hear the Word of God and are those to whom the devil is an enemy and against whom he scoffs.

I will strengthen the people’s hope, and I will make steadfast their expectation of good things to come, and they will return and enjoy those fruits that are produced by you.

Since God blesses and calls this people Israel and announces aloud that it is his inheritance, why do you not feel compunction both for fooling yourselves by imagining that you alone are the people of Israel and for cursing those whom God has blessed?

All these sacraments may be possessed by the evil person; but to have charity and be an evil person is not possible. This therefore is the peculiar gift of the Spirit: he is the one and only fountain. To drink of it, God’s Spirit calls you: God’s Spirit calls you to drink of himself.

If we pursue virtue, let us seek before all to gain for ourselves the approval that comes from God alone, and let us take no account of human praise. If we are lax, we should be afraid and humble our thinking with the thought of that judgment that cannot be bribed. Let us tremble at the approach of that dread day and the thought that our actions provoke blasphemy against God.

Though you sigh only, though you weep only, all these things he quickly snatches as an occasion for saving you.

You brought into being the everlasting struc-ture of the world by what you did. You, Lord, made the earth. You who are faithful in all generations, righteous in judgment, marvelous in strength and majesty, wise in creating, prudent in making creation endure, visibly good, kind to those who trust in you. 1

All these things the Lord will bestow, not because of those who have perished as a result of their own errors but because of his holy name.

The water ought to be first cleansed and sanctified by the bishop that it may be able to wash away in its baptism the sins of the one who is baptized.

Careful consideration should be given to what a new heart and a new spirit is given when the water has been poured and sprinkled.

He calls the pure water the water of rebirth, because we who have been baptized have received the forgiveness of our sins.

Seek the Lord, O sinners, and be strengthened in your thoughts because of hope. And seek his face through repentance at all times. You will be sanctified by the holiness of his presence, and you will be purified of your iniquity.

Free will is always present in us, but it is not always good. For it is either free of justice, while serving sin, and then it is evil; or it is free of sin, while serving justice, and then it is good. But the grace of God is always good and brings about a good will in a person who before was possessed of an evil will. It is by this grace, too, that this same good will, once it begins to exist, is expanded and made so strong that it is able to fulfill whatever of God’s commandments it wishes, whenever it does so with a strong and perfect will.

God by his grace takes away the stony heart^[1] from unbelievers and forestalls merit in people of good will in such a way that their will is prepared by what goes before grace, but that grace is not given through some merit of human will.

He means by these things a change of attitude. Your heart, he says, will incline to better things, no longer following your previous preference for what is worse. That I will give in no way damages free will, for by words and deeds and endless miracles, not only among them but in all races, so that they start to live piously; he persuades, he does not compel. And although he does not compel but persuades, he says that he has inclined their minds toward better things.

God gives a new heart so that we may walk in his justifications, which are about beginning a good will. He also gives it so that we may observe and do his judgments, which are about doing good works.

The image of Christ is formed in us through the Spirit of wisdom and the revelation of the knowledge of Him.

The word of God is at the same time the seed and the water; and even though we have a heart like stone, it will be softened and split up by the water of the Spirit, so that it can bring forth holy fruit that is pleasing to God.

We must consider the new heart and the new spirit that are given after the pouring and sprinkling of water. When a new heart and a new spirit are given, all hardness is taken away from the Jewish heart, which is compared with a heart of stone, and instead of a heart of stone there is a heart of flesh, soft and tender, which can receive the spirit of God within it and be written with the words of salvation. Then they will walk in the precepts of the Lord and will keep his judgments.

God promises that he will cause them to do those things that he commands to be done. Nor indeed does he here overlook the merits, but rather the evil deeds, of those to whom he shows that he will return good things for evil, by the very fact that he causes them to have good works from that point on, when he causes them to carry out the divine commands.

I will certainly not pour on them the waters of baptism but the waters of the teaching and the Word of God, and I will purify them of all their iniquities and from every single one of their idols and from the errors that they make in their hearts.

These things did not happen before the coming of the Lord Christ. Since they had three prophets after the return to Jerusalem, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, they were immediately deprived of the gift of prophecy. But after our God and Savior was made man and ascended into the heavens, and the Holy Spirit came on the holy apostles, through them grace was given not only to the Jews but also to all those from the peoples who came to faith. He calls a heart of stone one that is antagonistic and rebellious, and a heart of flesh, one that is compliant and obedient to what it is told, and is able to draw out the meaning of the divine writings . . . this is the mark of a spirit of grace, which assists our free will and ensures that what has been said proceeds in due course.

That penitents may have their due it is enough for them to feel shame instead of all other punishment.

Once again the prophetic word will encourage penitents to return to the churches and always seek the Lord and find him. The flocks of the Lord will thus be multiplied by the crowds who return, not of beasts of burden and wild animals, but flocks of people who are full of faith and reason, holy flocks, flocks of the city of Jerusalem.