st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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SERMONS. 121
thee out, do bring thee in ;
even I, that shut the gates
of paradise and barred them with a flaming sword.
If I bring thee not in, the gates remain shut. Come
hither to me, robber, that hast robbed the devil, and
gained the crown of victory over him. For when
thou sawest me as man, thou didst worship me as
God. Thine old weapons thou hast flung away, but
hast taken the shield of faith."
The fourth sermon, on Holy Saturday, or Easter
Eve, is the longest of all, and is an important, though
somewhat tedious one. About its
genuineness, as
Langen admits, there can be no doubt. Beginning
with the question of the Psalmist, Who can utter the
mighty acts of the Lord ? who can show forth all His
praise ? the preacher replies that none can fully do
so, though he should speak with the tongues of
angels and of men. Such mysteries of divine love
can only be accepted by faith ;
and to approach them
becomingly, we need that purity of mind which the
love and dread of God alone can give. This was
symbolised by the putting off his sandals by Moses,
a figure of the laying aside all dead and grovelling
thoughts. Let us then, my brethren," he proceeds,
ourselves from every earthly imagination, and
"purify
from all the disturbance and confusion of life, that
we may receive with unclouded vision the radiant
splendours of the divine word, and have our souls
nourished with the spiritual bread which is angels
food ;
and passing within the veil may learn clearly
the divine passion of the passionless, even the salva
tion of the world
(c. After a i.). prayer for himself