462 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY XV,
ing our souls, some sin as readily as if there
were no such thing in existence, what enormities
should we not have committed, if it had not been
declared and threatened? So that, as I have
ever said, the threatenings of hell show the care
ofGod for us no less than the promises ofheaven.
For the threat cooperates with the promise, and
drives men into the kingdom by means of terror.
Let us not think it a matter of cruelty, but of
pity and mercy ; of God s concern and love for
us." If in the days of Jonah the destruction of
Nineveh had not been threatened, that destruc
tion had not been averted. Nineveh would not
have stood but for the threat,
"
Nineveh shall
be overthrown." (Jonah iii. 4.) And if hell
had not been threatened, we should all have
fallen into hell. If the fire had not been de
nounced, no one would have escaped the fire.
God declares that He will do that which He
desires not to do, that He may do that which
He desires to do. He willeth not the death of
a sinner, and therefore He threatens the sinner
with death, that He may not have to inflict
death. And not only has He spoken the word,
but He has exhibited the thing itself, that we
may escape it. And lest it should be supposed
to be a mere threat, He has manifested the
reality of it by what He has already done on
earth. Dost thou not see in the flood a symbol
of hell, in that rain of all-destroying water an
image of the all-devouring fire ?
l "
For as it
was in the days of Noah," He says,
"
they
were marrying and giving in marriage
"
(Matt.
xxiv. 38), so is it even now. It was then pre
dicted
2
long before it took place, and it is now
predicted four hundred years or more before
hand :
3 but no one heeds it. It is looked upon
as a mere fable, as a matter of derision ; no one
fears it, no one weeps or beats his breast at the
thought of it. The stream of fire is boiling up,
the flame is kindled, andwe are laughing, taking
our pleasure, and sinning without fear. No one
even bears in mind That Day. No one consid
ers that present things are passing away, and
that they are but temporal, though events are
every day crying out and uttering a fearful voice.
The untimely deaths, the changes that take
place in our lives, our own infirmities and dis
eases, fail to instruct us. And not only in our
own bodies are these changes visible, but in the
elements themselves. Every day in our differ
ent ages we experience a kind of death, and in
every case instability is the characteristic of
things we see. Neither winter, nor summer, nor
spring, nor autumn, is permanent ; all are run-
1 The construction is too involved for such a passage ; a slight
change would refer the whole latter clause to the Judgment, or to
the destruction of the cities of the plain.
2 i.e. the deluge.
3 See Horn. xx. on St. Matt, fin., where he says the end of the
world might now come at any time.
ning, flying, and flowing past. Why should I
speak of fading flowers, of dignities, of kings
that are to-day, and to-morrow cease to be, of
rich men, of magnificent houses, of night and
day, of the sun and the moon? for the moon
wanes, and the sun is sometimes eclipsed, and
often darkened with clouds? Of things visible,
in short, is there anything that endures for ever?
Nothing
! No, nor anything in us but the soul,
and that we neglect. Of things subject to
change we take abundant care, as if they were
permanent
: but that which is to endure for ever
we neglect, as if it were soon to pass away.
Some one is enabled to perform mighty actions,
but they shall last till to-morrow, and then he
perishes, as we see in the instances of those
who have had yet greater power, and are now
to be seen no more. Life is a dream, and a
scene ; and as on the stage when the scene is
shifted the various pageants disappear, and as
dreams flit away when the sunbeams rise, so
here when the end comes, whether the universal
or that of each one, all is dissolved and vanishes
away. The tree that you have planted remains,
and the house that you have built, it too stands
on. But the planter and the builder go away,
and perish. Yet these things happen without
our regarding it, and we live on in luxury and
pleasure, and are ever furnishing ourselves with
such things, as if we were immortal.
Hear what Solomon says, who knew the pres
ent world by actual experience. "I builded
me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made
me gardens, and orchards and pools of
water. I gathered me also silver and gold.
I gat myself men-singers, and women-sing
ers, and flocks, and herds." (Eccles. ii. 4,
5.) There was no one who lived in greater
luxury, or higher glory. There was no one so
wise or so powerful, no one who saw all things
so succeeding to his heart s desire. What then?
He had no enjoyment from all these things.
What after all does he say of it himself?
"
Van
ity of vanities, all is vanity." (Eccles. xii. 8.)
Vanity not simply but superlatively. Let us be
lieve him, and lay hold on that in which there
is no vanity, in which there is truth ; and what
is based upon a solid rock, where there is no old
age, nor decline, but all things bloom and flour
ish, without decay, or waxing old, or approaching
dissolution. Let us, I beseech you, love God
with genuine affection, not from fear of hell, but
from desire of the kingdom. For what is com
parable to seeing Christ ? Surely nothing !
What to the enjoyment of those good things?
Surely nothing
! Well may there be nothing ;
for
"
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love
Him." (i Cor. ii. 9.) Let us be anxious to