Hence he was in the shadow of life, whereas sinners are in the shadow of death. According to Isaiah, the people who sinned sat in the shadow of death. For these a light arose, not by the merits of their virtues but by the grace of God. There is no distinction, therefore, between the breath of God and the food of the tree of life. No one can say that he can acquire more by his own efforts than what is granted him by the generosity of God.

Although he filled all things with his invisible majesty, [Christ] came, nevertheless, to those who had not known him, as if from a very remote and deep seclusion. At that time, he took away the blindness of ignorance, as it has been written: For those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, a light has risen.^[1]

Now the expression darkness will likewise be used to refer to two corresponding concepts. The statement And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night^[1] is an example of the more common meaning. An example of the spiritual meaning occurs in the statement The people who sat in darkness . . . and in the shadow of death, light has dawned on them.

So we have in another place: A child is born to us, and a son is given to us. In the term child there is an indication of age; in the term son a reference to the fullness of Godhead. He was made of his mother and born of the Father, but as the same person he was born and given. Do not think of two but of one. For the Son of God is one person, born of the Father and sprung from the virgin. The names differ in order but unite in one, just as the scriptural lesson just read teaches: Man was made in her, and the Highest himself has founded her.^[1] He was man indeed in body, but the Highest in power. And while he is God and man through diversity of nature, he is the same person, not two persons, though being God and man. He has, therefore, something peculiar to his own nature and something in common with us, but in both cases he is one and in both he is perfect.

We read, A child is born to us, because we see him in the nature of a servant, which he had because the Virgin conceived and brought forth a son. However, because it was the Word of God who became flesh in order to dwell among us, and because he remains what he was (that is, really God hidden in the flesh), we use the words of the angel Gabriel and call his name Emmanuel.^[1] He is properly called God with us to avoid thinking of God as one person and the humanity [in Christ] as another.

And not only did the Father send the Son but also gave him, as the Son himself gave himself. For we read, Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins.^[1] If they think that the Son was subjected to God because he was sent, they cannot deny that it was of grace that he was given. But he was given by the Father, as Isaiah said: Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. But he was given by the Spirit and was sent by the Spirit. For since the prophet has not defined by whom he was given, he shows that he was given by the grace of the Trinity; and inasmuch as the Son himself gave himself, he could not be subject to himself according to his Godhead. Therefore that he was given could not be a sign of subjection in the Godhead.

We often find the Lord Christ described as a child because of the purity of his innocence. The simplicity of youth bestows on a child the blessing of aversion from vices and from the malice of the world. As Christ himself attested, Of such is the kingdom of heaven.^[1] Child is used in the text: Behold my child whom I have chosen, my beloved in which my soul delights,^[2] and in another passage: A child is born to us, and a son bestowed on us.

In the holy Scripture Christ is often called a child because of his innocence of mind. As Isaiah says, For a child has been born to us, and a son has been given to us.

For this reason the apostles are told, unless you change and become like this child.^[1] He does not say like these children but like this child. He chooses one; he proposes one. Let us see, then, who he might be, who is proposed to the disciples to be imitated. I do not think that he is from the people, nor from the ordinary crowd, nor from the vast multitude—this one who was given, through the apostles, as an example of holiness to the entire world. I do not think, I say, that he is from the ordinary crowd but from heaven. For he is the child from heaven about whom the prophet Isaiah says, A child is born to us, a son is given to us. Clearly he is the child who, like an innocent, did not curse when he was cursed, did not strike back when he was struck,^[2] but rather in his very suffering prayed for his enemies, saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.^[3] Thus simplicity, which nature has given to infants, the Lord augmented with the virtue of mercy.

A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulders. This signifies the power of the cross, which, at his crucifixion, he placed on his shoulders, as shall be demonstrated more clearly as we proceed in this discourse.

Accordingly, to call the nations to the grace of his resurrection—which is the rich and fertile land that bears everlasting fruits, fruits a hundredfold and sixtyfold^[1]—he bowed his shoulder to labor, bowed himself to the cross, to carry our sins. For that reason the prophet says, whose government is on his shoulder. This means, above the passion of his body is the power of his divinity, or it refers to the cross that towers above his body. Therefore he bowed his shoulder, applying himself to the plow—patient in the endurance of all insults, and so subject to affliction that he was wounded on account of our iniquities and weakened on account of our sins.^[2]

Christ, then, is the beginning of our virtue. He is the beginning of purity, who taught maidens not to look for the embraces of human-ity^[1] but to yield the purity of their bodies and minds to the service of the Holy Spirit rather than to a husband. Christ is the beginning of frugality, for he became poor, though he was rich. Christ is the beginning of patience, for when he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he was struck, he did not strike back. Christ is the beginning of humility, for he took the form of a servant, though in the majesty of his power he was equal with God the Father.^[2] From him each various virtue has taken its origin.

For this cause, then, that we might learn these different virtues, a son was given us, whose beginning was upon his shoulder. That beginning is the Lord’s cross—the beginning of strong courage, wherewith a way has been opened for the holy martyrs to enter the sufferings of the holy war.

Likewise Isaiah also says, For unto us a child is born. But what is there unusual in this, unless he speaks of the Son of God? To us is given he whose government is upon his shoulder. Now, what king is there who bears the ensign of his dominion upon his shoulder, and not rather upon his head as a diadem, or in his hand as a scepter, or else as a mark in some royal apparel? But the one new King of the new ages, Jesus Christ, carried on his shoulder both the power and the excellence of his new glory, even his cross; so that, according to our former prophecy, he might thenceforth reign from the tree as Lord.

When Isaac himself carried the wood for the sacrifice of himself, in this, too, he prefigured Christ our Lord, who carried his own cross to the place of his passion. Of this mystery much had already been foretold by the prophets: And his government shall be upon his shoulders. Christ, then, had the government upon his shoulders when he carried his cross with wonderful humility. Not unfittingly does Christ’s cross signify government: by it the devil is conquered and the whole world recalled to the knowledge and grace of Christ.

When Scripture wishes to show that God needs no one, it says that he has no counselor.^[1] When it wishes to show the equal honor of the Only Begotten, it calls the Son of God his counselor.

Furthermore, we must prove that this Jesus was beforehand promised from ancient times in the prophets and was called the Son of God. David said, You are my son; today I have begotten you.^[1] Again he said, In the glories of holiness, from the womb, from of old, I have begotten you, a child.^[2] And Isaiah said, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his government was upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, and Counselor, and mighty God of the ages, and Prince of peace. And to the increase of his government and to his peace there is no end. Therefore tell me, O wise teacher of Israel, who is he that was born and whose name was called child and son and Wonderful and Counselor, the mighty God of the ages, and Prince of peace, to the increase of whose government and to whose peace [he said], there is no end? For if we call Christ the Son of God, David taught us [this]; and that we call him God, this we learned from Isaiah. And his government was laid upon his shoulder; for he bore his cross and went out from Jerusalem. And that he was born as a child, Isaiah again said, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear; and his name shall be called Immanuel, which is, our God with us.^[3]

Surely the entire divinely arranged plan of our Redeemer’s [coming] in the flesh is the reconciliation of the world—it was for this purpose that he became incarnate, for this he suffered, for this he was raised from the dead—that he might lead us, who had incurred God’s anger by sinning, back to God’s peace by his act of reconciliation. Hence he was rightly given the name Father of the world to come and Prince of peace by the prophet; and the apostle, writing about him to those from among the nations who had believed, said, And coming, he brought the good news of peace to you who were from far off and peace to those who were near, since through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.^[1]

Today was born the child, and his name was called Wonderful! For a wonder it is that God should reveal himself as a baby.

[Eutyches] might have read the words of the same prophet: A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulders: and they shall call his name, angel of the Great Counsel, God the Mighty, the Prince of peace, Father of the world to come. And he would not speak nonsense, saying that the Word was made flesh in such a way that Christ, born from the Virgin’s womb, had a man’s form yet did not have the reality of his mother’s body.

But the prophet who predicted the Emmanuel has written of him a little further on that unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name is called angel of great counsel, wonderful, counselor, mighty God, powerful, Prince of peace, Father of the age to come. Now if the baby born of the virgin is styled Mighty God, then it is only with reason that the mother is called mother of God. For the mother shares the honor of her offspring, and the Virgin is both mother of the Lord Christ as man and again is his servant as Lord and Creator and God.

The fact that the one who talked to Moses is called both the angel of the Lord and the Lord raises a big problem, which calls not for hasty assertion but for careful investigation. There are two opinions that can be put forward about it, of which either may be true, since they both fit the faith. When I say that either may be true, I mean whichever of them was intended by the writer. When we are searching the Scriptures, we may of course understand them in a way in which the writer perhaps did not; but what we should never do is understand them in a way which does not square with the rule of faith, with the rule of truth, with the rule of piety.^[1] So I am offering you both opinions. There may be yet a third that escapes me. Anyway, of these two propositions, choose whichever you like. Some people say that the reason why he is called both the angel of the Lord and the Lord is that he was in fact Christ, of whom the prophet says plainly that he is the angel of great counsel. Angel is a word signifying function, not nature. Angel is Greek for the Latin nuntius.^[2] So Messenger is the name of an action: you are called a messenger for doing something, namely, for bringing some message. Now who would deny that Christ brought us a message about the kingdom of heaven? And then an angel, that is to say, a messenger, is sent by the one who wants to give a message by him. And who would deny that Christ was sent? So often did he say, I did not come to do my own will but the will of him who sent me,^[3] that he of all people is the one who was sent. After all, that pool at Siloam means Sent.^[4] That is why he told the man whose eyes he anointed with mud to wash his face there. No one’s eyes are opened except those of the person who is cleansed by Christ. So then, the angel and the Lord are one and the same.

Clothed in flesh, [Christ] descended into the water as an angel of great counsel,^[1] that is, as a herald of the Father’s will to Jewish people. By his deeds and his teaching he moved sinners, so that he would be killed—he who, by his bodily death, was able not only to heal those who were ailing spiritually but also to bring the dead back to life. The movement of the water,^[2] then, suggests the Lord’s passion, which occurred by the Jewish nation being moved and stirred up.

The Son of God is said to be the angel of great counsel because of his many other teachings, but especially because he revealed his Father to humankind.

Come now, and let me show you that the Son is called God. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall give birth to a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means, ‘God is with us.’^[1] Did you see how both the name Lord is given to the Father and the name God is given to the Son? In the psalm, the sacred writer said, Let them know that Lord is your name.^[2] Here Isaiah says, They shall call his name Immanuel. And again, he says, A child is born to us, and a son is given to us; and his name shall be called Angel of Great Counsel, God the Strong, the Mighty One.

For we too say plainly that the prophet, wishing to make manifest the mystery concerning Christ, called the self-existent Angel, that the meaning of the words might not be referred to the Father, as it would have been if the title of Existent alone had been found throughout the discourse. But just as our word is the revealer and messenger (or angel) of the move-ments of the mind, even so we affirm that the true Word that was in the beginning, when he announces the will of his Father, is styled angel (or messenger), a title given to him on account of the operation of conveying the message. And as the sublime John, having previously called him Word,^[1] so introduces the further truth that the Word was God, that our thoughts might not at once turn to the Father, as they would have done if the title of God had been put first. So too does the mighty Moses, after first calling him Angel, teach us in the words that follow that he is none other than the self-existent himself, that the mystery concerning the Christ might be foreshown, by the Scripture assuring us by the name Angel that the Word is the interpreter of the Father’s will, and, by the title of the self-existent, of the closeness of relation subsisting between the Son and the Father. And if Eunomius should bring forward Isaiah also as calling him the ‘angel’ of mighty counsel, not even so will he overthrow our argument. For there, in clear and incontrovertible terms, there is indicated by the prophecy the dispensation of his humanity; for unto us, he says, a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name is called the angel of mighty counsel. . . . For as the angel (or messenger) gives information from someone, even so the Word reveals the thought within, the seal shows by its own stamp the original mold, and the image by itself interprets the beauty of that whereof it is the image, so that in their signification all these terms are equivalent to one another. For this reason the title angel is placed before that of the self-existent, the son being termed angel as the exponent of his Father’s will, and the existent as having no name that could possibly give a knowledge of his essence, but transcending all the power of names to express.

Because he is of God, he is rightly called God, since he is the Son of God; and because he is subject to the Father and herald of the Father’s will, he is proclaimed Angel of Great Counsel. . . . The title [angel] does, however, suit the person of Christ, since he is not only God, inasmuch as he is the Son of God, but also a messenger, inasmuch as he is the herald of the Father’s economy of salvation. Heretics must realize that they are acting contrary to the Scriptures when they say they believe that Christ was also an angel but do not want to admit that he is also the God who they read came frequently to visit the human race in the Old Testament.

[By] calling him the Angel of great counsel, did not Isaiah predict that Christ would be a teacher of those truths that he expounded when he came upon this earth? For he alone openly taught the great counsels that the Father intended for those who either were or shall be pleasing to him, as well as for those people or angels who withdrew from his will.

The title of angel is also appropriate to Christ because he was made the Angel of Great Counsel. He is an angel because he lays bare the heart of the Father,^[1] as John declares. For if John says that this Word, who lays bare the bosom of the Father, was also made flesh,^[2] so that he could lay bare the heart of the Father, it follows that Christ is not only man but also an angel. And the Scriptures show not only that he is an angel but also that he is God. This is what we too believe. For, if we will not admit that it was Christ who then spoke to Hagar,^[3] we must either make an angel God or reckon God the Almighty Father among the angels.

Which will be to all people, not to all the people of the Jews, nor to all the people of the nations, but to all the people who, either from the Jews or from the nations of the whole world, are brought together in one flock to one confession of Christ. From one and the same partaking of the mysteries of Christ they are called Christian. . . .

The light of life rose for those of us dwelling in the region of the shadow of death.

After two names, therefore [child and son], he will be called by another six names: wonderful, counselor, God, mighty, father of the coming age, prince of peace. For the names are not to be joined into couplets as many think, such that we would read wonderful counselor and mighty God. Instead wonderful, which is pele in Hebrew, is to be read separately, as is counselor, or what is called yôʿēṣ in their language. The title God also, whom the Hebrews call ēl, stands on its own. Thus in subsequent passages where we read, For you are God and we were unaware,^[1] and again, I am God and there is no other beyond me,^[2] along with many similar statements, the Hebrew uses ēl where Latin uses Deus. And mighty, which comes next, is called gibbôr in Hebrew. Hence when the same prophet remembers They will lay their trust upon God, the Holy One of Israel in truth, and the remnant of Jacob upon the mighty God,^[3] the Hebrew text has ēl gibbôr for mighty God. But anyone who reads that the Savior is our peace, according to the apostle Paul,^[4] will have no doubt that the father of the coming age and of the resurrection, which is completed in our vocation, is also the prince of peace who said to the apostles, My peace I give to you, my peace I bequeath to you.^[5] The Septuagint in my opinion, terrified as it was by the majesty of these names, did not dare to say of a child that he must be called God and so forth but wrote in place of the six names, which it did not have in Hebrew, angel of great counsel, and I will bring peace and his salvation upon the princes, which seems to me to have the following meaning: He who announced to us that Israel would be thrown down for a while and that the nations would be healed is the angel of great counsel who also gave peace to its princes, apostles and apostolic men, and bequeathed dogmatic healing to their believers.

Listen to how Isaiah predicted this long beforehand when he said, and his name shall be called Messenger of Great Counsel, Wonderful Counselor, God the Strong, the Mighty One, the Prince of peace, Father of the world to come.

No one could say this of a mere man, as is obvious even to those who are very eager to show how stubborn they can be. No man from the beginning of time has been called God the Mighty or Father of the world to come or the Prince of peace. For Isaiah said, There is no end of his peace. And what did happen makes it clear that this peace has spread over the whole earth and sea, over the world where people dwell and where no one lives, over mountains, woodlands and hills, starting from that day on which he was going to leave his disciples and said to them, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.^[1]

Why did Christ speak in this way? Because the peace which comes from a human being is easily destroyed and subject to many changes. But Christ’s peace is strong, unshaken, firm, fixed, steadfast, immune to death and unending.

Surely the coming of God in the flesh could not remain hidden from humanity, since the prophet had openly said about him, as though to the whole human race: behold your God,^[1] and this is your God,^[2] and again the mighty God, Father of the coming world, Prince of peace, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Once God had come, however, did his coming remain hidden from those who openly confessed? Was Peter ignorant of the advent of God when he said, You are Christ, the Son of the living God?^[3] Did Martha not know the one in whom she believed or the meaning of what she was saying when she declared, Lord, I believe that you are Christ, the Son of the living God who has come into the world?^[4] Finally, was not everyone who asked him to heal diseases or to replace lost limbs or to raise the dead petitioning God’s omnipotence rather than humanity’s weakness?

When Israel had been saved through the apostles, all the world flocked to the threshold of truth and of the peacemaker Solomon, of whom it was said, His dominion will be increased and there will be no end of peace. For he [Christ] is the stone broken off from the mountain,^[1] and in his earthly reign of faith, as he falls upon his enemy, he alone possesses a peaceful dominion throughout the earth.

And, indeed, just as in his divinity the Mediator between God and human beings^[1] foresaw the mother of whom he willed to be born when he should so will, so also in his humanity he chose the time that he wished for his nativity. Moreover, he himself granted that that [time] should be such as he willed, namely, that in a calm among the storm of wars a singular tranquility of unusual peace should cover the whole world.

. . . He chose a time of utmost peace as the time when he would be born because this was the reason for his being born in the world, that he might lead the human race back to the gifts of heavenly peace. . . . Our Lord was born in a time of peace, so that even by the circumstance of the time he might teach that he was the very one of whom the prophecy sent before [him] spoke: His sovereignty will be multiplied, and there will be no end of peace. . . .

The very author of peace and the Maker of time sent before him a time of peace, and thus when he appeared in the flesh he opened an approach to light and proclaimed the joys of eternal peace first to the house of Jacob (that is, the Israelite people), and then to all the nations which came streaming to him. And we must not pass over the fact that the serenity of that earthly peace, at the time when the heavenly king was born, not only offered testimony to his grace but also provided a service, since it bestowed on the preachers of his word the capability of traveling over the world and spreading abroad the grace of the gospel wherever they wished.

All these things, as the apostle teaches, were done as an example for us^[1] and were written down for us, and so we must scrutinize them carefully for their spiritual meaning. King Solomon, whose name means peaceful, typologically designates our Redeemer himself, of whom Isaiah says, His sovereignty will be increased, and there will be no end of peace. The temple that he built is his catholic church, which he gathers into the one structure of his faith and charity from all the believers throughout the world, as it were from living stones.^[2]

This voice of repentance is that of the Jewish people and of all who found in Christ access to the salvation for which they were searching. I now know with certainty that you are the one concerning whom it was said his government will be increased and there will be no end to peace and that you govern the kingdom in which the pure of heart will see God with unceasing happiness. I beg you, therefore, to strengthen and increase the faith that you imparted to me through the bestowal of your sacraments and heavenly gifts. Thus, having received the pledge of the Spirit, may I remain confident that you will forevermore preserve from destruction the generation of works which were begotten by my heart after the washing of my body and that you will never remove my name from the heavenly home which you deigned to grant to my fathers who, through the law, faithfully and devoutly awaited your coming.

It is beyond doubt that Solomon, whose name means peaceful, both by his name itself as well as by the most peaceful kingdom he established, signifies the one about whom Isaiah said, His government will be increased, and there will be no end to peace. Hiram, on the other hand, whose name in Latin means living gloriously, expresses figuratively the glorious believers from the Gentiles, along with their life and faith. Indeed, no one denies that Hiram, inasmuch as he was a king who assisted Solomon with his royal power in building the house of the Lord, prefigures those lords of earthly realities who would be converted to the faith. By [their] noble assistance the church would be supported, increased and strengthened against schismatic heretics and pagans, even more often than by its principal decrees.^[1] Solomon, therefore, sought Hiram’s help in the work of the temple because the Lord, when he came in the flesh and made plans to build the church as his own beloved home, clearly chose assistants in this work not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.^[2] He took ministers of the word from both peoples.

What does the spiritual house or temple that King Solomon made for the Lord in Jerusalem signify? Solomon himself, whose name means peaceful, is a fitting symbol of the one about whom the prophet sang, His government will be increased, and there will be no end to peace. [This is] the same one concerning whom the apostle also wrote to the church of the Gentiles, and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.^[1]

That it took Solomon seven years to build the temple,^[2] which he completed and dedicated in the eighth year, was a sign that for seven years, or the entire span of the present age, the Lord would build the church as a heavenly dwelling for the gathered faithful. In the future life, however, when he appears in the glory of the resurrection, he will complete and perfect the church and raise it forevermore to the joy of life immortal in the vision of his beauty. Our resurrection, then, is rightly signified by the number eight, since the just will be raised from the dead on the eighth day, that is, after the seventh of the sabbath.

In this verse, Solomon signifies the everlasting light by length of days, the survival of death by years of life and the state of happiness to be discovered by growth in peace.^[1] Isaiah refers to the same reality when he says, His government will be increased, and there will be no end to peace. For when the people of God are obedient to God’s law, both historically and at the present time, they are enabled to live for a long time in the repose of peace.

Solomon gave the name parables or metaphors to this book [Proverbs] because he wanted us to understand it profoundly, not just according to the literal sense. He prefigures the Lord in this respect, who would speak to the crowds through parables. For just as Solomon’s own name and peaceful reign foretold the enduring kingdom of Christ and of the church, concerning which it is written his government will be increased, and there will be no end to peace upon the throne of David and his kingdom, so also did his construction and dedication of the temple artfully refer to the building of holy church, which will be dedicated for all eternity at the resurrection. The testimony of the crowds of people who greeted Christ with palm branches and praises at his entry into Jerusalem also declares him to be the son of David and the spiritual king of Israel.

Isaiah said, His government will be increased, and there will be no end to peace upon the throne of David and his kingdom, to confirm and strengthen it in right judgment and justice.

He did not say to acquire the glory of worldly riches or to have victory over many peoples and cities or to conquer the powerful, but to confirm it in right judgment and justice.

For it is through this that the church is strengthened and the kingdom of Christ is extended both within each of the faithful and throughout the entire world.

Jacob is called the destroyer, but Israel the one who sees God. Does not Jacob symbolize the Jews? And what does Israel represent, if not the people of the Gentiles? The latter, whom Jacob strove to destroy by bodily death, have surely come to see God with the eyes of faith. The word sent to Jacob fell on Israel, therefore, because the one whom the Jews rejected when he came to them has now been discovered and believed by the Gentiles.

Because the prophet recognized that the Jewish people would perish from the faith and because he foresaw that there would arise within the church holy apostles, through whom many of the Gentiles would be established in the strength of faith and life, he spoke with great encouragement, saying, The stones have fallen, but we will build with square stones. Having foreseen the rise of the apostles, martyrs and doctors of the holy church, he was less troubled by the fall of the stones, which represents the judgment of the Jews, because he also saw the work of Almighty God, which is the holy church built from square stones.

Four tables were built from the square stones, therefore, inasmuch as faith, life, patience and kindness were given from the lives of the saints as an example for the people to follow, that they might already have a foretaste of the table. That is, the people might know the virtues through which they can offer a sacrifice of prayer to Almighty God on the altars of their hearts.

Whatever good the faithful people of the holy church have done or continue to do, then, they first received from the exemplary lives of their preachers. For how could they have acquired this foretaste of the table if they had not found the square stones?

Let’s look briefly at each of them, dearest brothers. Do you want to see an instance of faith? For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.^[1] Would you like to know what life is like? The world is crucified to me and I to the world.^[2] Do you want to hear what patience sounds like? To the present hour we hunger, we are buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our hands. We are cursed and we bless, we are persecuted and we endure, we are slandered and we implore.^[3]

Whoever offers God his choicest goods is likened to Abel’s works, while the one who brings cheap things is likened to the works of Cain^[1] or to the one who laughed at his father and went to tell his two brothers,^[2] or again to the one who decided to build a tower in the plain of Shinar,^[3] forgetting the one who had piloted him on the boat and had saved him from the water of the flood and blessed his fathers. Now he said, fleeing, Come, let us dress stones and cut sycamores and cedars, and let us build a tower for ourselves.

Against them the prophet complains to the Lord, saying, You have bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction.^[1] . . . Hence again the Lord says, The people are not returned to him who has struck them. . . . Hence the Lord reproaches the people of Israel, captive yet not converted from their iniquity, saying, The house of Israel is become dross to me; all these are brass, and tin, and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace.^[2] This is as though he said unmistakably, I wished to purify them in the fire of tribulation, and I wanted them to become silver or gold. But they have turned from me in the furnace into brass, and tin, and iron and lead, because even in tribulation they have rushed forward not to virtue but to vices. When brass is struck, it gives off a greater sound than do other metals. He . . . who when chastised breaks forth into sounds of murmuring has turned to brass in the midst of the furnace. Tin, however, when skillfully treated, presents the deceptive appearance of silver. He therefore who is not free from the vice of pretence in the midst of tribulation has become tin in the furnace. But he uses iron who plots against the life of the neighbor, and he is iron in the furnace when he does not put away in his tribulations the wickedness of doing harm to neighbors. Lead, again, is heavier than the other metals. He then is found to be lead in the furnace who is so weighed down by the burden of his sin that even in tribulation he is not raised above earthly desires.

It is better to turn again when we err than to be free from correction when we stumble. For whom the Lord loves he chastens,^[1] and a rebuke is a fatherly action. Every soul that is not chastised is not healed. Is not then freedom from chastisement a hard thing? But to fail to be corrected by the chastisement is still harder.

He who may have been at the head of the flock of Christ is now made the tail of another flock, as God declared through Isaiah: The prophet who teaches lies is the tail. Everyone among the people who is of right faith, even though he may hold a lower position or office, is beyond doubt at the head of the people by virtue of his right faith. But if he were to depart from the head, great though he may seem among the heretics, he becomes the tail by teaching lies. No longer a lamb who hears the voice of the Lord, he is now made like a wandering goat by following in the footsteps of the evil flock.

Remember what is written in Isaiah: The elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail, and there will be some who delight my people while deceiving them, and those who are delighted will be cast headlong. Thus it is clear that some desire to master those domains which all the saints and teachers of the truth are zealous to avoid, namely, worldly glory and the deception of harmful preaching. The power in their tails, therefore, extends back into this life for five months, where the lie is able to marshal the wicked or temporarily to torture the spiritual.^[1]

Where the head and the tail are said through the prophet to be destroyed, it is clear that priests are designated by the head and prophets by the tail. The crown, therefore, is removed from the head when those who are seen to preside over the body of the church abandon the rewards of heavenly compensation. Once its leaders fall, normally, the army that follows them also succumbs. Hence, soon after the condemnation of the leaders, Job comments on the manifold afflictions of the church: He destroyed me on every side, and I perish; and he has removed my hope like uprooting a tree.^[1] For the church is destroyed on every side and perishes in the persons of its sick members when those who seem to be its strength are corrupted, that is, when the crown is removed from the head because its leaders have abandoned their pursuit of eternal rewards. It is in reference to the sick who have fallen that Job then adds, fittingly: and he removed my hope like uprooting a tree. A tree is felled by a gust of wind. And what is more similar to a person who falls into unright-eousness as a result of being terrorized with threats than a tree that loses its straightness because of the wind?

He [Paul] lived not to himself but to Christ and his preaching. He crucified the world to himself,^[1] and being crucified to the world and the things which are seen, he thought all things little^[2] and too small to be desired. [He thought this] even though from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum^[3] he had fully preached the gospel, even though he had been prematurely caught up to the third heaven, and had had a vision of Paradise, and had heard unspeakable words.^[4] Such was Paul, and everyone of similar spirit with him. But we fear that in comparison with them, we may be foolish princes of Zoan, or extortionists who exact the fruits of the ground or falsely bless the people.

Mary said to him, How can this be, since no man has known me? He said to her, The Holy Spirit will come, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.^[1] Why did he not mention the Father’s name but instead the name of his Power and the name of the Holy Spirit? Because it was fitting that the Architect of the works [of creation] should come and raise up the house that had fallen and that the hovering Spirit should sanctify the buildings that were unclean. Thus, if the Progenitor entrusted the judgment that is to come to his [Son], it is clear that he accomplished the creation of humanity and its restoration through him as well. He was the live coal that had come to kindle the briars and thorns. He dwelt in the womb and cleansed it and sanctified the place of the birth pangs and the curses.