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 would injure [my] fear of Him”; and when all the fathers heard [this], they all cried out with a loud voice, and said unto God, “O Lord, how great are Thy works! Thou hast created all of them in wisdom.”

Now therefore, O Christians, since we know from the Holy Scriptures and from divine revelations how great is the grace which God dispenseth to those who truly run to Him for refuge, and who blot out their former sins by means of repentance, and also how, according to His promise, He rewardeth with good things, and doth neither take vengeance according to what is just, nor bring upon men a punishment for their former sins, let us not be in despair of our lives. For, even as He promised by the hand of Isaiah the Prophet, He will make clean those who have toiled in sin, and will make them bright and white like clean wool and snow, and will make them to be happy with the blessings of heaven. And moreover, God asserteth with oaths by the hand of the Prophet Ezekiel that He doth not desire their destruction, for He saith, “As I live, saith the Lord, I do not desire the death of a sinner, but that he should turn from his evil way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).