190 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY II. are more abundantly bold to speak the word without fear." This shows that they were of good courage even before, and spoke with boldness, but much more now. If others then, says he, are ofgood courag r through my bonds, much more am I ; if I am the cause of confidence to others, much more to myself. " And most of the brethren in the Lord." As it was a great thing to say, My bonds gave confidence to them, he therefore adds beforehand, " in the Lord." Do you see how, even when he sees himself constrained to speak great things, he departs not from moder ation? "Are more abundantly bold," he says, "to speak the word without fear " ; the words " more abundantly " show that they had already begun. Ver. 15. "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of good will." And what this means is worth enquiry. Since Paul was under restraint, many of the unbeliev ers, willing to stir up more vehemently the per secution from the Emperor, themselves also preached Christ, in order that the Emperor s wrath might be increased at the spread of the Gospel, and all his anger might fall on the head of Paul. From my bonds then two lines of action have sprung. One party took great cour age thereat ; the other, from hope to work my destruction, set themselves to preach Christ ; " some of them through envy," that is, envying my reputation and constancy, and from desire of my destruction, and the spirit of strife, work with me ; or that they themselves may be esteem ed, and from the expectation that they will draw to themselves somewhat ofmy glory. " And some also of good will," that is, without hypocrisy, with all earnestness. Ver. 1 6. " The one proclaim Christ of faction, not sincerely." 1 That is, not with pure motives, nor from re gard to the matter itself; but why? "thinking to add affliction to my bonds." - As they think that I shall thus fall into greater peril, they add affliction to affliction. O cruelty ! O devilish instigation ! They saw him in bonds, and cast into prison, and still they envied him. They would increase his calamities, and render him subject to greater anger : well said he, " think ing," for it did not so turn out. They thought indeed to grieve me by this ; but I rejoiced that the Gospel was furthered. Ver. 17. "But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel." What means, " that I am set for the defense 1 [The order of vers. 16 and 17 is transposed in Rev. Ver., upon the authority of nearly all the uncial MSS., nearly all the ancient versions, and other documents. It is best here to leave Chrys. s order, which is that of the Common Ver., but the translation of Rev. Ver. is given as elsewhere. J. A. B.] 2 [So Chrys. s text. The true text is (as Rev. Ver.) " thinking to raise up affliction for me in my bonds." J. A. B.] of the Gospel"? 3 It is, They are preparing for 4 the account which I must give to God, and assisting me. What is meant by " for the defense " ? I have been appointed to preach, I must give account, and answer for the work to which I have been appointed ; they assist me, that my defense may be easy ; for if there be found many who have been instructed and have believed, my defense will be easy. So it is possible to do a good work, from a motive which is not good. And not only is there no reward in store for such an action, but punishment. For as they preached Christ from a desire to involve the preacher of Christ in greater perils, not only shall they receive no reward, but shall be subject to vengeance and punishment. 5 "And some of love." That is, they know that I must give account for the Gos pel. Ver. 1 8. "What then? only that every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is pro claimed." But see the wisdom of the Man. He did not vehemently accuse them, but mentioned the re sult ; what difference does it make to me, says he, whether it be done in this or that way? only that every way, " whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed." He did not say, " Let him be proclaimed," as some suppose, stating that he opens the way for the heresies, but, " He is proclaimed." 6 For in the first place he did not lay down the law and say, as if lay ing down the law, " Let Him be proclaimed," but he reported what was taking place ; sec ondly, if he even spoke as laying down the law, not even thus would he be opening the way for the heresies. For let us examine the matter. For even if he gave permission to preach as they preached, not even thus was he opening the way for the heresies. How so? In that they preached healthfully; though the aim and purpose on which they acted was corrupted, still the preach ing itself was not changed, and they were forced so to preach. And why? Because, had they preached otherwise than as Paul preached, had they taught otherwise than as he taught, they would not have increased the wrath of the Em peror. But now by furthering his preaching, by teaching in the same way, and making disciples as he did, they had power to exasperate the Em peror, when he saw the multitude of the disciples 3 He takes " the Gospel " here in the sense of St. Paul s preach ing of the Gospel. Theodoret takes it of his being a champion of the Gospel among men. 4 [The altered text has " cutting down," " lessening." J. A. B.] " [The altered text puts these three last sentences under ver. 16. -J. A. B.] 11 [This sentence, wanting in all known MSS. of Chrys., is sup plied by Field from a Catena. It evidently fell out, as often happened in copying, through similarity to the following sentence. The am plifying repetition is quite in Chrys. s manner. J. A. B.]