6. By that grace then He despoiled that partridge the Devil, took from him the ill-gotten riches, even the multitude that followed Him, recalled from error the souls of the Gentiles, and the minds of the nations that wandered from the way. And since He knew that they were beguiled by the voice of the Devil, and in order that He might Himself loose the bonds and chains of ancient error, He cried first in Abel, the voice of whose blood cried out. He cried in Moses, to whom He said, _Wherefore criest thou unto Me?_ He cried in Joshua, He cried in David, who says, _Unto Thee do I call, help me_. He cried too in all the Prophets. Wherefore He says also to Isaiah, _Cry_, and Isaiah answers, _What shall I cry?_ He cried in Solomon, calling to all with a very loud voice in the power ♦of Wisdom, _Come eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled_. He cried also in His Body, as the _Beam out of the timber_. He cried that He might deceive and circumvent the lurking Enemy, saying, _My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me_. He cried that He might spoil him of his prey, replying to the thief, _Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise_. Wherefore when Jesus cried, straightway that partridge was left by those whom he had gathered _in the midst of his days_. 7. Wherefore some have thought that this also agrees with the nature of the partridge, forasmuch as it steals the eggs of others, and hatches them with its own body, seeking by this treachery to gain for itself the offspring of others. But when she whose eggs have been stolen, or nest invaded, or her young have been tempted by a fraudulent resemblance, and deceived by the appearance of beauty, when she, I say, perceives this, she ‘picks out the crow’s eyes[173]’ as the saying is, and, being inferior in strength, puts on and arms herself with cunning. And when all the labour she has bestowed on their nurture has exhausted her store of food, and her young ones have begun to grow up, she utters her cries, and calls to her offspring with the trumpet (as it were) of affection. And they, roused by this natural sound, recognise their mother, and desert their pretended parent. And thus, seeking to gather what he has not hatched, he loses those whom he thought to bring up. Sidenote: Rom. vi. 8. 8. Not without need therefore was it that Jesus also cried; it was in order that the whole universe which had been deceived by the voice, the allurements, the art, the specious beauty of the partridge, and enticed by his treacherous wiles, and had wandered from the true Author of their being, might be recalled by the voice of her true Parent, might abandon this deceiver, and desert him _in the midst of his days_, that is, before the end of this world. From him the Lord Jesus has rescued us, and called us to eternal life. Wherefore now, _being dead to the world we live to God_. Sidenote: 1 Cor. i. 27. Sidenote: Ib. iii. 18.