(2) It is well for thee to think fearfully of thyself here as of a living fish, much more so for the sinner to dread the fierce anguish of hell. Thou art burnt if warm water touch thee, tender creature that thou art; and when thou doest damnable sins, how canst thou sit thus comfortably? 0 wretched soul, that longest for reward unearned by striving, thou that art so tender and much afflicted, thou immortal, thou art devoured by Death, and undone! Thou hast found the ship of manhood; then sail in it across the broad river of sorrow. Fool, this is no time for slumber; it will be hard to find the ship again. How canst thou forsake the noble delight in the Law, which brings an endless course of comforts, and find pleasure in wantonness, mirth, and other like sources of sorrow?

(145) My fear is increased by remaining idle." Why then, O faint-hearted one, in the matter of religion Are you paralysed by the fear of loss? See you not how the traders in this market of ours Make large profits, both apostles and saints? What a mine of wealth awaits them on leaving it, Seeing they make such profits while still here! Fire is soft to them as cotton raiment, The ocean bears them gently like a porter; Iron in their hands is soft as wax,

(27) As they sailed, behold, there came down a storm of wind: the waves beat into the ship, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves.

(34) But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?

(2) ’Twixt Heaven and Earth, upon the waves of Cosmos, is it dragged in contrary directions, for ever racked with ceaseless pains ; so that in this its deathless nature doth afflict the soul, in that because of its unceasing sense, it hath the yoke of ceaseless torture set upon its neck. Know, then, that we should dread, and be afraid, and [ever] be upon our guard, lest we should be entangled in these [toils]. For those who do not now believe, will after their misdeeds be driven to believe, by facts not words, by actual sufferings of punishment and not by threats.

(317) They who fear when they ought not to fear, and fear not when they ought to fear, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter the evil path.

(33) Why are ye fearful? where is your faith? how is it that ye have no faith?

(125) I will not set foot upon the ship; Shall I be drowned on the voyage or a survivor? I shall not undertake the voyage on the chance On the bare hope of reaching land, as the rest do.' In that case no trade at all will be undertaken by you, The lamp of the heart, that is a timid trader, Nay, it acquires loss, for it is precluded from gain; 'Tis the lamp that takes fire that acquires light. Since all things are dependent on probability, Religion is so first of all, for thereby you find release.

(1) O Ye, who in some pretty little boat, Eager to listen, have been following Behind my ship, that singing sails along, Turn back to look again upon your shores; Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure, In losing me, you might yourselves be lost. The sea I sail has never yet been passed; Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo, And Muses nine point out to me the Bears. Ye other few who have the neck uplifted Betimes to th' bread of Angels upon which One liveth here and grows not sated by it, Well may you launch upon the deep salt-sea Your vessel, keeping still my wake before you Upon the water that grows smooth again. Those glorious ones who unto Colchos passed Were not so wonder-struck as you shall be, When Jason they beheld a ploughman made! The con-created and perpetual thirst For the realm deiform did bear us on, As swift almost as ye the heavens behold. Upward gazed Beatrice, and I at her; And in such space perchance as strikes a bolt And flies, and from the notch unlocks itself,

(84) But Thee I dare not speak. In limbs And mind I tremble. He rules from on high." And so forth. For in these he indicates these prophetic utterances: "If Thou openest the heaven, trembling shall seize the mountains from Thy presence; and they shall melt, as wax melteth before the fire;" and in Isaiah, "Who hath measured the heaven with a span, and the whole earth with His fist? Again, when it is said: "Ruler of Ether, Hades, Sea, and Land, Who with Thy bolts Olympus' strong-built home Dost shake. Whom demons dread, and whom the throng Of gods do fear. Whom, too, the Fates obey, Relentless though they be. O deathless One, Our mother's Sire I whose wrath makes all things reel; Who mov'st the winds, and shroud'st in clouds the world, Broad Ether cleaving with Thy lightning gleams,- Thine is the order 'mongat the stars, which run As Thine unchangeable behests direct.

(8) When, then, we hear, "Honour the Lord, and be strong: but fear not another besides Him," we understand it to be meant fearing to sin, and following the commandments given by God, which is the honour that cometh from God. For the fear of God is Deos [in Greek]. But if fear is perturbation of mind, as some will have it that fear is perturbation of mind, yet all fear is not perturbation. Superstition is indeed perturbation of mind; being the fear of demons, that produce and are subject to the excitement of passion. On the other hand, consequently, the fear of God, who is not subject to perturbation, is free of perturbation. For it is not God, but failing away from God, that the man is terrified for. And he who fears this - that is, falling into evils - fears and dreads those evils. And he who fears a fall, wishes himself to be free of corruption and perturbation. "The wise man, fearing, avoids evil: but the foolish, trusting, mixes himself with it," says the Scripture; and again it says, "In the fear of the Lord is the hope of strength."