196 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY III. clearly be present with Him ; so that my death is rather a coming to life ; they who kill me will work on me no dreadful thing, they will only send me onward to my proper life, and free me from that which is not mine. What then, while thou wert here, wert thou not Christ s? Yes, and in a high degree. Ver. 22. " But if to live in the flesh, if this is the fruit ofmy work, then what I shall choose I wot not." Lest any should say, If what you say is life, wherefore hath Christ left you here? "It is," he says, " the fruit of my work ; " so that it is possible to use to good purpose the present life, while not living it. Lest you should think that reproach is cast upon life. For if we gain no advantage here, wherefore do we not make away with ourselves, nor slay ourselves ? By no means, he answers. It is open to us to profit even here, if we live not this, but another life. But perchance one will say, does this bear thee fruit? Yes ! he answers. Where are now the heretics? Behold now; "to live in the flesh," this is " the fruit of his work." " That which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith ; " therefore it is " the fruit ofmy work." " And what I shall choose I know not." Mar velous ! How great was his philosophy ! How hath he both cast out the desire of the pres ent life, and yet thrown no reproach upon it ! For in that he saith, " to die is gain," by this he hath cast out the desire, but in that he saith, " to live in the flesh is the fruit of my work," here he shows that the present life also is needful, if we use it as need is, if we bear fruit ; since if it be unfruitful, it is no longer life. For we despise those trees which bear no fruit, as though they were dry, and give them up to the fire. Life itself belongs to that middle class of indifferent things, whilst to live well or ill is in ourselves. We do not then hate life, forwe may live well too. So even ifwe use it ill, we do not even then cast the blame on it. And wherefore ? Because not itself, but the free choice of those who use it ill is to blame. For God hath made thee live, that thou mayest live to Him. But thou, by living through corruption unto sin, makest thyself accountable for all blame. What sayest thou, tell me. Thou knowest not what to choose? Here hath he revealed a great mys tery, in that his departure was in his own power ; for where choice is, there have we power. " What I shall choose," says he, " I know not." Is it in thine own power? Yes, he answers, if I would ask this grace of God. Ver. 23. "I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire." See the affection of this blessed one ; in this way too he comforts them, when they see that he is master of his own choice, and that this is done not by man s sin, but by the dispensation of God. Why mourn ye, says he, at my death? It had been far better to have passed away long since. " For to depart," he says, " and to be with Christ, is very far better." Ver. 24. " Yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake." These words were to prepare them for his death when it came, that they might bear it nobly : this was to teach true wisdom. " It is good for me to depart and be with Christ," for even death is a thing indifferent ; since death itself is no ill, but to be punished after death is an ill. Nor is death a good,.but it is good after our departure " to be with Christ." What fol lows death is either good or ill. Let us then not simply grieve for the dead, nor joy for the living simply. But how? Let us grieve for sinners, not only when dying, but also while living. Let us joy for the just, not only while living, but also when dead. For those though living are dead, while these al though dead, yet live : those even while here are to be pitied of all, because they are at en mity with God ; the other even when they have departed Thither, are blessed, because they are gone to Christ. Sinners, wherever they are, are far from the King. Therefore they are subjects for tears ; while the just, be they here, or be they there, are with the King ; and there, in a higher and nearer degree, not through an entrance, 1 or by faith, but "face to face." (i Cor. xiii. 12.) Let us then not make waitings for the dead simply, but for those who have died in sins. They deserve wailing ; they deserve beating of the breast and tears. For tell me what hope is there,when our sins accompany us Thither, where there is no putting off sins? As long as they were here, perchance there was great expecta tion that they would change, that they would become better ; but when they are gone to Hades, where nought can be gained from re pentance (for it is written, " In Sheol who shall give thee thanks?") (Ps. vi. 5), are they not worthy of our lamentation? Let us wail for those who depart hence in such sort ; let us wail, I hinder you not ; yet in no unseemly way, not in tearing our hair, or baring our arms, or lacerating our face, or wearing black apparel, but only in soul, shedding in quiet the bitter tear. For we may weep bitterly without all. that display. And not as in sport only. For the laments which many make differ not from sport. Those public mournings do not proceed from sympathy, but from display, from emula tion and vainglory. Many women do this as of their craft. W T eep bitterly ; moan at home, when no one sees you ; this is the part of true sym- 1 Sia ela-o&ov Ben. Sia ei&ovs, "through a figure," but it should probably be Si ecroirrpov, " in a mirror," as in the text (i Cor. xiii. 12) .