HOMILY III.] HOMILIES ON THESSALONIANS. 333 now. " How holily," says he, " and righteously and unblamably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe." " As ye know how we exhorted and comforted each one of you, as a father doth his own chil dren." Above having spoken of his behavior, here he speaks of his love, which was more than what belonged to his rule over them. And what is said marks his freedom from pride. " As a father his own children, exhorting you, and en couraging you, and testifying, to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory." When he says, "and testifying," then he makes mention of " fathers " ; although we testified, it was not vio lently, but like fathers. " Each one of you." Strange ! in so great a multitude to omit no one, neither small nor great, neither rich nor poor. " Exhorting " you, he says ; to bear. " And comforting and testifying." " Exhorting," l there fore they did not seek glory ; and " testifying," therefore they did not flatter. " That ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory." Observe again, how, in relating, he both teaches and comforts. For if He hath called them unto His kingdom, ifHe called them unto glory, they ought to endure all things. We " entreat " - you, not that you should grant us any favor, but that you should gain the kingdom of heaven. Ver. 13. "And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe." It cannot be said, he says, that we indeed do all things unblamably, but you on the other hand have done things unworthy of our course of life. For in hearing us, you gave such heed, as if not hearing men, but as if God Himself were exhorting you. Whence is this manifest? Because as he shows from his own temptations and their testimony, and the way in which he acted, that he did not preach with flattery or vainglory : so from their trials, he shows also that they rightly received the word. For whence, he says, unless ye had heard as if God were speaking, did ye endure such perils? And ob serve his dignity. Ver. 14, 15, 16. "For ye, brethren, became imitators of the Churches of God, which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus : for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews ; who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drave out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men ; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles 1 Or " entreating," and so he takes it below. 1 E. V. "exhorting." that they may be saved ; to fill up their sins alway : but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." " For ye," he says, " became imitators of the Churches ofGod which are in Judaea." This is a great consolation. It is no wonder, he says, that they should do these things to you, inas much as they have done it also to their own countrymen. And this too is no little proof that the Preaching is true, that even Jews were able to endure all things. " For ye also," he says, " have suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews. There is something more in his saying, " as they also did in Judaea " ; it shows that everywhere they rejoiced, as having nobly contended. He says therefore, " that ye also suffered the same things." And again, what wonder is it, if to you also, when even to the Lord they dared do such things? Do you see how he introduces this as contain ing great consolation? And constantly he ad verts to it ; and upon a close examination one may find it in nearly all his Epistles, how vari ously, 3 upon all occasions of temptation, he brings foward Christ. Observe accordingly, that here also, when accusing the Jews, he puts them in mind of the Lord, and of the sufferings of the Lord ; so well does he know that this is a matter of the greatest consolation. "Who both killed the Lord," he says but, perhaps, they did not know Him, assuredly they did know Him. What then? Did they not slay and stone their own prophets, whose books even they carry about with them? And they did not do this for the sake of truth. There is therefore not only a consolation under the temptations, but they are reminded not to think that (the Jews) did it for the truth s sake, and be troubled on that account. " And drave out us," 4 he says. And we also, he says, have suffered numberless evils. "And please not God, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved." " Contrary to all men," he says. How? Because if we ought to speak to the world, and they for bid us, they are the common enemies of the world. They have slain Christ and the prophets, they insult God, they are the common enemies of the world, they banish us, when coming for their salvation. What wonder if they have done such things also to you, when they have done them even in Judaea? " Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved." It is a mark of envy therefore to hinder the salva tion of all. " To fill up their sins alway. But the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." 3 Or " especially "; 6iacdpu>. * eic&iiaavT<av, "drove us out," see Acts xvii. 5, 14; or "perse cuted us to the utmost."