HOMII.Y VIII.] HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS. 293 ness, hast Thou set us free ! Mark ! I forewarn you, I advise no longer ; but I command and charge ; let him that wills, obey, and him that wills not, be disobedient ; that if ye women do continue thus to act, I will not suffer it, nor re ceive you, nor permit you to pass across this threshold. For what need have I of a crowd of distempered people? And what if, in my training of you, I do not forbid what is not 1 excessive ? And yet Paul forbade both gold and pearls, (i Tim. ii. 9.) We are laughed at by the Greeks, our religion appears a fable. And to the men I give this advice : Art thou come to school to be instructed in spiritual philosophy? Divest thyself of that pride ! This is my advice both to men and women ; and if any act otherwise, henceforward I will not suffer it. The disciples were but twelve, and hear what Christ saith unto them, " Would ye also go away?" (John vi. 67.) For if we go on for ever flattering you, when shall we reclaim you? when shall we do you service? "But," saith one, " there are other sects, and people go over." This is a cold argument, " Better is one that doeth the will of the Lord, than ten thou sand transgressors." (Ecclus. xvi. 3.) For, what wouldest thou choose thyself, tell me ; to have ten thousand servants that were runaways and thieves, or a single one that loved thee? Lo ! I admonish and command you to break up both those gay deckings for the face, and such vessels as I have described, and give to the poor, and not to be so mad. Let him that likes quit me at once ; let him that likes accuse me, I will not suffer it in any one. When I am about to be judged at the Tribunal of Christ, ye stand afar off, and your favor, while I am giving in my account. " Those words have ruined all ! he says,3 let him not * go and transfer himself to another sect ! Nay ! he is weak ! condescend to him ! " To what point ? Till when ? Once, and twice, and thrice, but not perpetually. Lo ! I charge you again, and protest after the pattern of the blessed Paul, " that if I come again I will not spare." (2 Cor. xiii. 2.) But when ye have done as ye ought, then ye will know how great the gain is, how great the ad vantage. Yes ! I entreat and beseech you, and would not refuse to clasp your knees and sup plicate you 5 in this behalf. What softness is it ! What luxury, what wantonness ! This is not luxury, but wantonness. What senselessness is it ! What madness ! So manypoor stand around the Church ; and though the Church has so many children, and so wealthy, she is unable to give relief to even one poor person ; " but one is hungry, and another is drunken " (i Cor. xi. 2 1 ) ; one voideth his excrement even into silver, another has not so much as bread ! Whatmad ness ! what brutishness so great as this ? May we never come to the proof, whether we will prosecute the disobedient, nor to the indignation which allowing 6 these practices would cause us ; but that willingly and with patience we may avoid all this, that we may live to God s glory, and be delivered from the punishment in the other world, and may obtain the good things promised to those who love Him, through the grace and love toward man, &c. HOMILY VIII. COLOSSIANS iii. 5-7. " Mortify your members which are upon the earth ; forni cation, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covet- ousness, which is idolatry; for which things sake, cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobe dience; in the which ye also walked aforetime, when ye lived in these things." I KNOW that many are offended by the fore going discourse, but what can I do? ye heard what the Master enjoined. Am I to blame? what shall I do? See ye not the creditors, when debtors are obstinate, how they wear- 1 [Here again the " not " seems unsuitable, if not destructive of the sense, and is omitted by Field. J. A. B.] 2 [This very natural inadvertence in free speaking is duly changed, by the group ofMSS. which make so many changes, into " how they put collars on them." These wooden collars were a disgrace, like the stocks. J. A. B.] collars? Heard ye what Paul proclaimed to day? "Mortify," he saith, "your members which are upon the earth ; fornication, unclean- ness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." What is worse than such a covetousness ? This is worse than any desire. This is still more grievous than what I was speaking of, the madness, and the silly weak ness about silver. "And covetousness," he i.e. the Preacher says. 4 [Field inserts " not" upon the authority of one MS. The sen tence is intelligible without it. J. A. B.] 5 uccrqpiav dcii/at. He alludes to the ancient custom of formally supplicating for defense or relief, as by sitting on the hearth. Sophocl. (Ed. Tyr. i, &c. 8 jriTpei)u. Perhaps firiTpl\!/ai., " aggravating," as Ben. t. i. p. 24. B, and p. 225. A.