2IO WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VI. thorns. And now,O men of Judah and inhabi tants of Jerusalem, judge between Me and My vineyard. What should have been done to My vineyard, that I have not done to it? Where fore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth thorns? Now therefore I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard : I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be for a prey, and I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will leave My vineyard, and it shall not be pruned or digged, but thorns shall come up upon it, as upon a desert land. I will also com mand the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant. I looked that it should do judgment, but it did iniquity, and a cry instead of righteousness." (Isa. v. 1-7, LXX.) This is spoken also of every soul. For when God who loveth man hath done all that is needful, and man then bringeth forth thorns instead of grapes, He will take away the fence, and break down the wall, and we shall be for a prey. For hear what anotherprophet speaks in his lamenta tions : " Why hast thou broken down her fences, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her ? The boar out of the wood doth ravage it, and the wild beasts of the field feed on it." (Ps. Ixxx. 12, 13.) In the former place He speaks of the Mede and the Babylonian, here nought is said of them, but " the boar," and " the solitary beast " is the Devil and all his host, because of the ferocity and impurity of his dis position. For when it would show us his rapac ity, it saith, " As a roaring lion he walketh about, seeking whom he may devour " ( i Pet. v. 8) : when his poisonous, his deadly, his destructive nature, it calleth him a snake, and a scorpion ; " For tread," saith He, " upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy" (Luke x. 19) : when it would represent his strength as well as his venom, it calleth him a dragon ; as when it says, This dragon " whom thou hast formed to take his pastime therein." (Ps. civ. 26.) Scripture everywhere calleth him a dragon, and a crooked serpent, and an adder (Ps. Ixxiv. 13, 14) ; he is a beast of many folds, and varied in his devices, and his strength is great, he moves all things, he disturbs all things, he turns all things up and down. (Isa. xxvii. i ; li. 9 ; Ezek. xxix. 3 ; xxxii. 2.) But fear not, neither be afraid ; watch only, and he will be as a sparrow ; " for," saith He, " tread upon serpents and scorpions." If we will, He causes him to be trodden down under our feet. See now what scorn is it, yea, what misery, to see him standing over our heads, who has been given to us to tread down. And whence is this ? it is of ourselves. If we choose, he becomes great ; and if we choose, he becomes of small power. If we take heed to ourselves, and take up our stand with Him who is our King, he draws himself in, and will be no better than a little child in his warfare against us. Whenso ever we stand apart from Him, he puffeth him self up greatly, he uttereth terrible sounds, he grindeth his teeth, because he finds us without our greatest help. For he will not approach to us, except God permit him ; for if he dared not to enter into the herd of swine, except by God s permission, how much less into men s souls. But God does permit him, either chastening or punishing us, or making us more approved, as in the case of Job. Seest thou that he came not to him, neither dared to be near him, but trembled and quaked? Why speak I of Job? When he leaped upon Judas, he dared not to seize on him wholly, and to enter into him, until Christ had severed him from the sacred band. He attacked him indeed from without, but he dared not enter in, but when he saw him cut off from that holy flock, he leaped upon him with more than wolfish vehemence, and left him not till he had slain him with a double death. These things are written for our admonition. W T hat gain have we from knowing that one of the twelve was a traitor ? what profit ? what ad vantage? Much. For, when we know whence it was that he arrived at this deadly counsel, we are on our guard that we too suffer not the like. Whence came he to this? From the love of money. He was a thief. For thirty pieces of silver he betrayed his Lord. So drunken was he with the passion, he betrayed the Lord of the world for thirty pieces of silver. What can be worse than this madness? Him to whom noth ing is equivalent, nothing is equal, " beforewhom the nations are as nothing" (Isa. xl. 15), Him did he betray for thirty pieces of silver. A grievous tyrant indeed is the love of gold, and terrible in putting the soul beside itself. A man is not so beside himself through drunkenness 1 as through love of money, not so much from madness and insanity as from love of money. For tell me, why didst thou betray Him ? He called thee, when a man unmarked and unknown. He made thee one of the twelve, He gave thee a share in His teaching, He promised thee ten thousand good things, He caused thee to work wonders, thou wert sharer of the same table, the same journeys, the same company, the same in tercourse, as the rest. And were not these things sufficient to restrain thee? For what reason didst thou betray Him? What hadst thou to charge Him with, O wicked one? Rather, what good didst thou not receive at His hands? He knew thy mind, and ceased 1 See on Rom. vii. n, Horn, xiii., Tr. p. 438.