Let him therefore wait for that time which is necessarily made co-extensive with the development of humanity. For even Abraham and the patriarchs, while they had the desire to see the promised good things, and ceased not to seek the heavenly country, as the apostle says, are yet even now in the condition of hoping for that grace, "God having provided some better thing for us," according to the words of Paul, "that they without us should not be made perfect." If they, then, bear the delay who by faith only and by hope saw the good things "afar off" and "embraced them," as the apostle bears witness, placing their certainty of the enjoyment of the things for which they hoped in the fact that they "judged Him faithful Who has promised," what ought most of us to do, who have not, it may be, a hold upon the better hope from the character of our lives? Even the prophet's soul fainted with desire, and in his psalm he confesses this passionate love, saying that his "soul hath a desire and longing to be in the courts of the Lord," even if he must needs be rejected to a place amongst the lowest, as it is a greater and more desirable thing to be last there than to be first among the ungodly tents of this life; nevertheless he was patient of the delay, deeming, indeed, the life there blessed, and accounting a brief participation in it more desirable than "thousands" of time-for he says, "one day in Thy courts is better than thousands"-yet he did not repine at the necessary dispensation concerning existing things, and thought it sufficient bliss for man to have those good things even by way of hope; wherefore he says at the end of the Psalm, "O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that hopeth in Thee."

Οὐκοῦν ἀναμεινάτω τὸν χρόνον τὸν ἀναγκαίως τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ αὐξήσει συμπαρατείνοντα. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ πατριάρχαι͵ τοῦ μὲν ἰδεῖν τὰ ἀγαθὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔσχον καὶ οὐκ ἀνῆκαν ἐπιζητοῦντες τὴν ἐπουράνιον πατρίδα͵ καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐν τῷ ἐλπίζειν ἔτι τὴν χάριν εἰσί͵ τοῦ Θεοῦ κρεῖττόν τι περὶ ἡμῶν προβλεψαμένου κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου φωνήν, Ἵνα μή͵ φησί͵ χωρὶς ἡμῶν τελειωθῶσιν. Εἰ οὖν ἐκεῖνοι φέρουσι τὴν ἀναβολὴν οἱ πόῤῥωθεν͵ διὰ μόνης πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἰδόντες τὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι͵ καθὼς μαρτυρεῖ ὁ Ἀπόστολος͵ τὸ ἀσφαλὲς τῆς τῶν ἐλπισθέντων ἀπολαύσεως ἐν τῷ πιστὸν ἡγήσασθαι τὸν ἐπαγγειλάμενον θέμενοι, τί χρὴ πράττειν τοὺς πολλοὺς ἡμᾶς͵ οἷς τυχὸν οὐδὲ ἡ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἐλπὶς ἐκ τῶν βεβιωμένων ἐστίν; Ἐξέλιπε δι' ἐπιθυμίας καὶ ἡ τοῦ Προφήτου ψυχὴ καὶ ὁμολογεῖ διὰ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας τὸ ἐρωτικὸν τοῦτο πάθος͵ ἐπιποθεῖν λέγων καὶ ἐκλείπειν αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς τοῦ Κυρίου γενέσθαι κἂν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις δέῃ παραῤῥιπτεῖσθαι͵ ὡς μεῖζον ὃν καὶ προτιμότερον τὸ ἐν ἐκείνοις ἔσχατον εἶναι τοῦ πρωτεύειν ἐν τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς τοῦ βίου σκηνώμασιν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἠνείχετο τῆς ἀναβολῆς͵ μακαρίζων μὲν τὴν ἐκεῖ διαγωγὴν καὶ τὴν ἐν βραχεῖ μετουσίαν χιλιάδων χρόνου προτιμοτέραν ποιούμενος· Κρεῖσσον͵ φησίν͵ ἡμέρα μία ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς σου ὑπὲρ χιλιάδας, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐδυσχέραινε τῇ ἀναγκαίᾳ περὶ τῶν ὄντων οἰκονομίᾳ͵ ἱκανόν τε εἰς μακαρισμὸν ᾤετο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τὸ δι' ἐλπίδος ἔχειν τὰ ἀγαθά. Διό φησιν ἐπὶ τέλει τῆς ψαλμῳδίας, Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων͵ μακάριος ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἐλπίζων ἐπὶ σέ.