nS WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY XIV. does not forsake us ; for his fatherly compassion does not desert him. For just as the physician prescribes to the sick what he must do, and if he does not submit to it, still does not treat him with contempt, but proceeding to add what ad vice he can by persuasion, again goes on with the cure ; so also does Paul. For he indeed who does otherwise, aims only at reputation, and is annoyed at being disregarded ; whereas he who on all occasions aims at the recovery of the patient, has this single object in view, how he may restore the patient, and raise him up again. This then is what Paul is doing. He has said, " Lie not." Yet if ever lying should produce anger, 1 he goes on again to cure this also. For what saith he? "Be ye angry, and sin not." It were good indeed never to be angry. Yet if ever any one should fall into passion, still let him not fall into so great a degree. " For let not the sun," saith he, " go down upon your wrath." Wouldest thou have thy fill of anger? One hour, or two, or three, is enough for thee ; let not the sun depart, and leave you both at enmity. It was of God s goodness that he rose ; let him not depart, having shone on unworthy men. For if the Lord of His great goodness sent him, and hath Himself forgiven thee thy sins, and yet thou forgivest not thy neighbor, look, how great an evil is this ! And there is yet another besides this. The blessed Paul dreads the night, 2 lest overtaking in solitude him that was wronged, still burning with anger, it should again kindle up the fire. For as long as there are many things in the daytime to banish it, thou art free to indulge it ; but as soon as ever the evening comes on, be recon ciled, extinguish the evil whilst it is yet fresh ; for should night overtake it, the morrow will not avail to extinguish the further evil which will have been collected in the night. Nay, even though thou shouldest cut off the greater portion, and yet not be able to cut off the whole, it will again supply from what is left for the following night, to make the blaze more violent. And just as, should the sun be unable by the heat of the day to soften and disperse that part of the air which has been during the night condensed into cloud, it affords material 1 [This seems to be a correct account of the connection, but the exact force of the first imperative it is not easy to determine. Winer (Grammar of N. T., Thayer s translation, pp. 311, 312) takes \\.per- missively: Be angry (I give you leave), but dp not sin. He cites in proof Jer. x. 24, which, however, can be otherwise explained, namely, as the imperative of request, used in prayer. Compare the Lord s prayer. Meyer says it does not seem logical to connect two impera tives by KO.I unless they are taken in the same sense. If the first imperative were permissive, the combination would be exceptive, and oAAa, /U.OPOI or ir\riy (Jer. x. 24) would be required. Both im peratives then are jussive, and there is an anger which a man not only may, but ouglit, to feel. So Ellicott and Riddle. G. A.] 2 [" There does not appear any allusion to the possible effect of night upon anger, as Chrysostom here, and Theophylact also." Ellicott. The parallel Pythagorean custom is cited by Ellicott (Hammond and Wetstein) : " If they were ever carried away by an ger into railing, before the setting of the sun they gave the right hand to each other, embraced each other, and were reconciled." G. A.] for a tempest, night overtaking the remainder, and feeding it again with fresh vapors : so also is it in the case of anger. " Neither give place to the devil." So then to be at war with one another, is " to give place to the devil " ; for, whereas we had need to be all in close array, and to make our stand against him, we have relaxed our enmity against him, and are giving the signal for turn ing against each other ; for never has the devil such place as in our enmities.3 Numberless are the evils thence produced. And as stones in a building, so long as they are closely fitted together and leave no interstice, will stand firm, while if there is but a single needle s passage through, or a crevice no broader than a hair, this destroys and ruins all ; so is it with the devil. So long indeed as we are closely set and compacted together, he cannot introduce one of his wiles ; but when he causes us to relax a little, he rushes in like a torrent. In every case he needs only a beginning, and this is the thing which it is difficult to accomplish ; but this done, he makes room on all sides for himself. For henceforth he opens the ear to slanders, and they who speak lies are the more trusted : they have enmity which plays the advocate, not truth which judges justly. And as, where friend ship 4 is, even those evils which are true appear false, so where there is enmity, even the false appear true. There is a different mind, a differ ent tribunal, which does not hear fairly, but with great bias and partiality. As, in a balance, if lead is cast into the scale, it will drag down the whole ; so is it also here, only that the weight of enmity is far heavier than any lead. Where fore, let us, I beseech you, do all we can to extinguish our enmities before the going down of the sun. For if you fail to master it on the very first day, both on the following, and often times even for a year, you will be protracting it, and the enmity will thenceforward augment itself, and require nothing to aid it. For by causing us to suspect that words spoken in one sense were meant in another, and gestures also, and everything, it infuriates and exasperates us, and makes us more distempered than madmen, not enduring either to utter a name, or to hear it, but saying everything in invective and abuse. How then are we to allay this passion? How shall we extinguish the flame? By reflecting on our own sins, and how much we have to answer for to God ; by reflecting that we are wreaking vengeance, not on an enemy, but on ourselves ; by reflecting that we are delighting the devil, that we are strengthening our enemy, our real 3 [This reference to church life is not implied in the context. He follows up what he said before by saying, Give not to the devil opportunity for being active by an angry state of mind. G. A.] 4 [Compare Goethe: Die Freundschaft ist gerecht. Sie kann allein, Den ganzcn Umfang seines Werths erkennen. G. A.]