HOMILY VIII.] HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS. 299 not have us to hang upon these signs, but to be ready for death. Why then clingest thou to the present life ? why lookest thou not on the future ? and for the sake of this indeed canst bear even to commit idolatry, but for the other not so much as to restrain sadness? For this cause it is that there are none such now ; because that (future) life hath seemed to us honorless, seeing that for its sake we do nothing, whilst for this, there is nothing we refuse to undergo. And why too that other farce, ashes, and soot, and salt? and the old woman again brought in? A farce truly, and a shame ! And then, " an eye," say they, " hath caught the child." Where will these satanical doings end? How will not the Greeks laugh? how will they not gibe when we say unto them, " Great is the vir tue of the Cross " ; how will they be won, when they see us having recourse to those things, which themselves laugh to scorn? Was it for this that God gave physicians and medicines? What then? Suppose they do not cure him, but the child depart? Wliither will he depart? tell me, miserable and wretched one ! Will he de part to the demons? Will he depart to some tyrant? Will he not depart to heaven? Will he not depart to his own Lord? Why then grievest thou ? why weepest thou ? why mournest thou? why lovest thou thine infant more than thy Lord? Is it not through Him that thou hast this also ? Why art thou ungrateful ? Dost thou love the gift more than the Giver ? " But I am weak," she replies, "and cannot bear the fear of God." Well, if in bodily evils the greater covers the less, much rather in the soul, fear de stroyed fear, and sorrow, sorrow. Was the child beautiful? But be it what it may, not more beauteous is he than Isaac : and he too was an only one. Was it born in thine old age? So too was he. But is it fair? Well: however fair it may be, it is not lovelier than Moses (Acts vii. 20), who drew even barbarian eyes unto a ten der love of him, and this too at a time of life when beauty is not yet disclosed ; and yet this beloved thing did the parents cast into the river. Thou indeed both seest it laid out, and deliverest it to the burying, and goest to its monument ; but they did not so much as know whether it would be food for fishes, or for dogs, or for other beasts that prey in the sea ; and this they did, knowing as yet nothing of the Kingdom, nor of the Resurrection. But suppose it is not an only child ; but that after thou hast lost many, this also hath departed. But not so sudden is thy calamity as was Job s, and (his was) of sadder aspect? 1 It is not when a roof has fallen in, it is not as they are 1 [This abrupt sentence was expanded as usual, in what came to be the common printed text. J. A. B.] feasting the while, it is not following on the tidings of other calamities. But was it beloved by thee ? But not more so than Joseph, the devoured of wild beasts ; but still the father bore the calamity, and that which followed it, and the next to that. He wept ; but acted not with impiety ; he mourned, but he uttered not discontent, but stayed at those words, saying, "Joseph is not, Simeon is not, and will ye take Benjamin away? all these things are against me." 2 (Gen. xlii. 36.) Seest thou how the constraint of famine prevailed with him to be regardless of his children? and doth not the fear ofGod prevail with thee as much as famine ? Weep : I do not forbid thee : but aught blasphemous neither say nor do. Be thy child what he may, he is not like Abel; and yet nought of this kind did Adam say ; although that calamity was a sore one, that his brother should have killed him. But I am reminded of others also that have killed their brothers ; when, for instance, Absalom killed Amnon the eldest born (2 Sam. 13), and King David loved his child, 3 and sat indeed in sackcloth and ashes, but he neither brought soothsayers, nor en chanters, (although there were such then, as Saul shows,) but he made supplication to God. So do thou likewise: as that just man did, so do thou also ; the same words say thou, when thy child is dead, " I shall go to him, but he will not come to me." (2 Sam. xii. 23.) This is true wisdom, this is affection. However much thou mayst love thy child, thou wilt not love so much as he did then. For even though his child were born of adultery, yet that blessed man s love of the mother was at its height,4 and ye know that the offspring shares the love of the parents. And so great was his love toward it, that he even wished it to live, though it would be his own accuser, but still he gave thanks to God. What, thinkest thou, did Rebecca suffer, when his brother threatened Jacob, and she grieved not her husband, but bade him send her son away? (Gen. xxvii. 46; xxviii. i.) When thou hast suffered any calamity, think on what is worse than it ; and thou wilt have a sufficient consolation ; and consider with thyself, what if he had died in battle? what if in fire? And whatsoever our sufferings may be, let us think upon things yet more fearful, and we shall have comfort sufficient, and let us ever look around us on those who have undergone more terrible things, and if we ourselves have ever suffered heavier calamities. So doth Paul also exhort us ; as when he saith, " Ye have not 2 Or (Gr.), " are come upon me." 3 He passes on to the child of Bathsheba. 4 fiKfjia.ev. 2 Sam. xii. 24 gives the impression that David laid the crime to his own charge, and regarded her as wronged.