standing. Fly. Lo in thy flight thou hast passed the heavens, He is there; thou hast descended into hell, He is there; whatever deserts of the earth thou shalt choose, there is He, who hath said, “I fill heaven and earth.”2316 If then He fills heaven and earth, and there is no place whither thou canst fly from Him; cease this thy labour, and fly to His presence, lest thou feel His coming. Take courage from the2317 hope that thou shalt by well-living see Him, by whom even in thy evil living thou art seen. For in evil living thou canst be seen, thou canst not see; but by well-living thou art both seen and seest. For with how much more tender nearness2318 will He who crowneth the worthy look on thee, who in His pity saw thee that He might call thee when unworthy? Nathanael said to the Lord whom as yet he did not know, “Whence knewest thou me?” The Lord said unto him, “When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw thee.”2319 Christ saw thee in thine own shade; and will He not see thee in His Light? For what is, “When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw thee”? What does it mean? Call to mind the original sin of Adam, in whom we all die. When he first sinned, he made himself aprons of fig-leaves,2320 signifying by these leaves the irritations of lust to which he had been reduced by sinning. Hence are we born; in this condition are we born; born in sinful flesh, which “the likeness of sinful flesh” alone can cure. Therefore “God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.”2321 He came of this flesh, but He came not as other men. For the Virgin conceived Him not by lust, but by faith. He came into the Virgin, who was before the Virgin. He made choice of her whom He created, He created her whom He de- signed to choose. He brought to the Virgin fruitfulness: He took not away her unimpaired purity. He then who came to thee without the irritation of the leaves of the fig-tree, “when thou wast under the fig-tree,” saw thee. Make ready then to see Him in His height of glory,2322 by whom in His pity thou wast seen. But because the top is high, think of the foundation. What foundation? dost thou say? “Learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart.” Dig this foundation of lowliness deep in thee, and so wilt thou attain to the crowning top of charity. “Turning to the Lord,” etc. 2316 Jer. xxiii. 24. 2317 Præsume. 2318 Familiarius. 2319 John i. 48. 2320 Gen. iii. 7. 2321 Rom. viii. 3. 2322 Sublimiter. 669 On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xix. 28, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour…