multitudes, and going up into a mountain to pray Alone.” For He Alone is as yet the First-
begotten from the dead, after the resurrection of His Body, unto the right hand of the
Father, the High Priest and Advocate of our prayers. The Head of the Church is above, that
the rest of the members may follow at the end. If then “He maketh intercession for us,”
above the height of all creatures, as it were on the mountain top, “He prayeth Alone.”
4. Meanwhile the ship which carries the disciples, that is, the Church, is tossed and
shaken by the tempests of temptation; and the contrary wind, that is, the devil her adversary,
rests not, and strives to hinder her from arriving at rest. But greater is “He who maketh in-
tercession for us.” For in this our tossing to and fro in which we toil, He giveth us confidence
in coming to us, and strengthening us; only let us not in our trouble throw ourselves out of
the ship, and cast ourselves into the sea. For though the ship be in trouble, still it is the ship.
She alone carrieth the disciples, and receiveth Christ. There is danger, it is true, in the sea;
but without her there is instant perishing. Keep thyself therefore in the ship, and pray to
God. For when all counsels fail, when even the rudder is unserviceable, and the very
spreading of the sails is rather dangerous than useful, when all human help and strength is
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gone, there remains only for the sailors the earnest cry of entreaty, and pouring out of
prayer to God. He then who grants to sailors to reach the haven, shall He so forsake His
own Church, as not to bring it on to rest?
5. Yet, Brethren, this exceeding trouble is not in this ship, save only in the absence of
the Lord. What! can he who is in the Church, have his Lord absent from him? When has
he his Lord absent from him? When he is overcome by any lust. For as we find it said in a
certain place in a figure,2548 “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place
to the devil:”2549 and this is understood not of this visible sun which holds as it were the
zenith of glory among the rest of the visible creation, and which can be seen equally by us
and by the beasts; but of that Light which none but the pure hearts of the faithful see; as it
is written, “That was the true Light, which lighteneth every man that cometh into the
world.”2550 For this light of the visible sun “lighteneth” even the minutest and smallest an-
imals. Righteousness then and wisdom is that true light, which the mind ceases to see, when
it is overcome by the disordering of anger as by a cloud; and then, as it were, the sun goes
down upon a man’s wrath. So also in this ship, when Christ is absent, every one is shaken
by his own storms, and iniquities, and evil desires. For, for example, the law tells thee, “Thou
shall not bear false witness.” If thou observe the truth of witness, thou hast light in the soul;
but if overcome by the desire of filthy lucre, thou hast determined in thy mind to speak false
witness, thou wilt at once begin through Christ’s absence to be troubled by the tempest,
2548 In sacramento.
2549 Eph. iv. 26, 27.
2550 John i. 9.
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On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xiv. 24, ‘But the boat was now in the…