ds and endowed him with immortality, and set him
king of all on earth and assigned him Paradise, the fairest place of
all, as his royal dwelling. But man, beguiled by envy, and (wo is me!)
caught by the bait of pleasure, miserably fell from all these
blessings. So he that once was enviable became a piteous spectacle,
and by his misfortune deserving of tears. Wherefore he, that had made
and fashioned us, looked again with eyes of compassion upon the work of
his own hands. He, not laying aside his God-head, which he had from
the beginning, was made man for our sakes, like ourselves, but without
sin, and was content to suffer death upon the Cross. He overthrew the
foeman that from the beginning had looked with malice on our race; he
rescued us from that bitter captivity; he, of his goodness, restored to
us our former freedom, and, of his tender love towards mankind, raised
us up again to that place from whence by our disobedience we had
fallen, granting us even greater honour than at the first.

"Him therefore, who endured such sufferings for our sakes, and again
bestowed such blessings upon us, him dost thou reject and scoff at his
Cross? And, thyself wholly riveted to carnal delights and deadly
passions, dost thou proclaim the idols of shame and dishonour gods?
Not only hast thou alienated thyself from the commonwealth of heavenly
felicity but thou hast also severed from the same all others who obey
thy commands, to the peril of their souls. Know therefore that I will
not obey thee, nor join thee in such ingratitude to God-ward; neither
will I deny my benefactor and Saviour, though thou slay me by wild
beasts, or give me to the fire and sword, as thou hast the power. For I
neither fear death, nor desire the present world, having passed
judgement on the frailty and vanity thereof. For what is there
profitable, abiding or stable therein? Nay, in very existence, great
is the misery, great the pain, great and ceaseless the attendant care.
Of its gladness and enjoyment the yoke-fellows are dejection and pain.
Its riches is poverty; its loftiness die lowest humiliation; and who
shall tell the full tale of its miseries, which Saint John the Divine
hath shown me in few words? For he saith, 'The whole world lieth in
wickedness'; and, 'Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And the world passeth