ut according to all_ the _desires_[1121] and efforts of
Malachy; they are great and many and _very good_,[1122] though better in
proportion to the good origin of the pure purpose. What work of piety
escaped the attention of Malachy? He was poor as regards himself, but
rich to the poor. He was a _father of the fatherless_, a husband _of the
widows_,[1123] a protector of the oppressed. _A cheerful giver_,[1124]
seldom making petitions, modest in receiving gifts. He was specially
solicitous, and had much success, in restoring peace between those who
were at variance. Who was as tender as he in sharing the sufferings of
others? who as ready to help? who as free in rebuke? For he was zealous,
and yet not wanting in knowledge, the restrainer of zeal. And, indeed,
_to the weak_ he was _weak_,[1125] but none the less strong to the
strong: he _resisted the proud_,[1126] he lashed the tyrants, a teacher
of kings and princes. It was he who by prayer deprived a king of sight
when he worked wickedness, and restored it when he was humbled.[1127] It
was he, when certain men broke a peace which he had made, who gave them
up to _the spirit of error_,[1128] and foiled them in the evil which
they devised to do; and who compelled them to accept peace a second
time, confounded and stunned by that which had happened to them. It was
he[1129] to whom a river most opportunely lent its aid against the
others, who were equally _transgressors of a covenant_.[1130] In
wonderful fashion, by throwing itself before them, it made void the
efforts of the ungodly. There had been no rains, no floods of waters, no
gathering of clouds, no melting of snows, when suddenly the mere rivulet
was converted into a great river; and it rushed along[1131] and swelling
up overflowed the banks, and utterly denied passage to those who wished
to do wickedly.[1132]

3. What things we have heard and known of the wrath of the man and his
vengeance on his enemies, while yet he was _sweet and gentle and
plenteous in mercy unto all_[1133] that suffered need! For he lived for
all as though he were the one parent of all.[1134] _As a hen her
chickens_,[1135] so he cherished all and _protected them under the
covert of his wings_.[1136] He made no distinction of sex or age, of
condition or person;[1137] he failed none, his loving heart embraced
all. In whatsoever affliction men cried to him he counted it his own:
even more than that, for in regard to his own afflictions he was
pati