HOMILY I.] HOMILIES ON PHILIPPIANS. 185 cause ye have advanced unto virtue, cease pray ing for you. But " I thank my God," he says, " upon all my remembrance of you," Ver. 4. " Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request also with joy." " Always," 1 not only while I am praying. " With joy." For it is possible to do this with grief too, as when he says elsewhere, " For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears." (2 Cor. ii. 4.) Ver. 5. "For your fellowship in further ance of the Gospel from the first day even until now." Great is that he here witnesseth of them, and very great, and what one might have witnessed of Apostles and Evangelists. Ye did not, because ye were entrusted with one city, he saith, care for that only, but ye leave nothing undone to be sharers of my labors, being everywhere at hand, and working with me, and taking part in my preaching. It is not once, or the second, or third time, but always, from the time ye believed until now, ye have assumed the readiness of Apostles. Behold how those indeed that were in Rome turned away from him ; ~ for hear him saying, " This thou knowest, that all that are in Asia turned away from me." (2 Tim. i. 15.) And again, " Demas forsook me " : and " at my first defence no one took my part." (2 Tim. iv. 10, 1 6.) But these, although absent, shared in his tribulations, both sending men to him, and ministering to him according to their ability, and leaving out nothing at all. And this ye do not now only, saith he, but always, in every way assisting me. So then it is a " fellowship in furtherance of the Gospel." For when one preacheth, and thou waitest on the preacher, thou sharest his crowns. Since even in the contests that are without, the crown is not only for him that striveth, but for the trainer, and the attendant, and all that help to pre pare the athlete. For they that strengthen him, and recover him, may fairly participate in his victory. And in wars too, not only he that wins the prize of valor, but all they too that attend him, may fairly claim a share in the trophies, and partake of the glory, as having shared in his conflict by their attendance on him. For it availetk not a little to wait on saints, but very much. For it makes us sharers in the rewards that are laid up for them. Thus; suppose some one hath given up great posses sions for God, continually devotes himself to God, practices great virtue, and even to words, and even to thoughts, and even in everything observes extreme strictness. It is open to thee too, even without showing such strictness, to 1 The stop might be after " always," but that is harsh. 2 This was at a later period. But the comparison is in general terms. have a share in the rewards that are laid up for him for these things. How? If thou aid him both in word and deed. If thou encouragehim both by supplying his needs, and by doinghim every possible service. For then the smoother of that rugged path will be thyself. So then if ye admire those in the deserts that have adopted the angelic life, those in the churches that practice the same virtues with them ; if ye admire, and are grieved that ye are far behind them ; ye may, in another way, share with them, by waiting on them, and aiding them. For indeed this too is of God s lovingkindness, to bring those that are less zealous,3 and are not able to undertake the hard and rugged and strict life, to bring, I say, even those, by another way, into the same rank with the others. And this Paul means by " fellowship." They give a share to us, he means, in carnal things, and we give a share to them in spiritual things. For if God for little and worthless things granteth the king dom, His servants too, for little and material things, give a share in spiritual"things : or rather it is He that giveth both the one and the other by means of them. Thou canst not fast, nor be alone, nor lie on the ground, nor watch all night ? Yet mayest thou gain the reward of all these things, if thou go about the matter another way, by attending on him that laboreth in them, and refreshing and anointing him constantly, and lightening the pains of these works. He, for his part, stands fighting and taking blows. Do thou wait on him when he returns from the combat, receive him in thy arms, wipe off the sweat, and refresh him ; comfort, soothe, restore his wearied soul. If we will but minister to the saints with such readiness, we shall be partakers of their rewards. This Christ also tells us. " Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they may receive you into their eternal tabernacles." (Luke xvi. 9.) Seest thou that they are become sharers ? " From the first day," he says, " even until now." And " I rejoice " not only for what is past, but also for the future ; for from the past I guess that too. Ver. 6. " Being confident of this very thing, that He which began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ." See how he also teaches them to be unassum ing. For since he had witnessed a great thing of them, that they may not feel as men are apt to do, he presently teaches them to refer both the past and the future to Christ. How? By say ing, not, " Being confident that as ye began ye will also finish," but what? " He which began a good work in you will perfect it." He did not rob them of the achievement, (for he said, " I 3 paflu/oioTepou?. The words " arc not able" seem to show that this is here used of natural character.