450 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY XIII. (Rom. xv. 4.) This he practiced above all men, being brought up in the law of his fathers, at the feet of Gamaliel, whence he would after wards naturally apply to reading : for he who exhorted others would himself first follow the advice he gave. Hence we find him continually appealing to the testimony of the prophets, and searching into their writings. Paul then applies to reading, for it is no slight advantage that is to be reaped from the Scriptures. But we are indolent, and we hear with carelessness and indifference. What punishment do we not de serve ! "That thy profiting may appear," he says, " to all." Thus he would have him appear great and admirable in this respect also, showing that this was still necessary for him, for he wished that his " profiting should appear " not only in his life, but in the word of doctrine. Chap. v. ver. i. " Rebuke not an elder." Is he now speaking of the order? I think not, but of any elderly man. What then if he should need correction? Do not rebuke him, but address him as you would a father offending. Ver. i. "The elder women as mothers, the younger men as brethren ; the younger women as sisters, with all purity." Rebuke is in its own nature offensive, particu larly when it is addressed to an old man, and when it proceeds from a young man too, there is a threefold show of forwardness. By the manner and the mildness of it, therefore, he would soften it. For it is possible to reprove without offense, if one will only make a point of this : it requires great discretion, but it may be done. "The younger men as brethren." Why does he recommend this too here ? With a view to the high spirit natural to young men, whence it is proper to soften reproof to them also with moderation. " The younger women as sisters " ; he adds, "with all purity." Tell me not, he means, of merely avoiding sinful intercourse with them. There should not be even a suspicion. For since intimacy with young women is always sus picious, and yet a Bishop cannot always avoid it, he shows by adding these words, that " all purity " is required in such intimacy. But does Paul give this advice to Timothy? Yes, he says, for I am speaking to the world through him. But if Timothy was thus advised, let others con sider what sort of conduct is required of them, that they should give no ground for suspicion, no shadow of pretext, to those who wish to calumniate. Ver. 3. " Honor widows, that are widows indeed." Why does he say nothing of virginity, nor command us to honor virgins? Perhaps there were not yet any professing that state, or they might have fallen from it. " For some," he says, " are already turned aside after Satan." (i Tim. v. 15.) For a woman may have lost her husband, and yet not be truly a widow. As in order to be a virgin, it is not enough to be a stranger to marriage, but many other things are necessary, as blamelessness and perseverance ; so the loss of a husband does not constitute a widow, but patience, with chastity and separa tion from all men. Such widows he justly bids us honor, or rather support. For they need sup port, being left desolate, and having no husband to stand up for them. Their state appears to the multitude despicable and inauspicious. There fore he wishes them to receive the greater honor from the Priest, and the more so, because they are worthy of it. Ver. 4. " But if any widow have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents." Observe the discretion of Paul ; how often he urges men from human considerations. For he does not here lay down any great and lofty mo tive, but one that is easy to be understood : " to requite their parents." How? For bringing them up and educating them. As if he should say, Thou has received from them great care. They are departed. Thou canst not requite them. For thou didst not bring them forth, nor nourish them. Requite them 1 in their descend ants, repay the debt through the children. " Let them learn first to show piety at home." Here he more simply exhorts them to acts of kind ness ; then to excite them the more, he adds, " For that is good and acceptable before God." And as he had spoken of those "who are widows indeed," he declares who is indeed a widow. Ver. 5. " Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in sup plications and prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." She who being a widow has not made choice of a worldly life, is a widow indeed ; she who trusts in God as she ought, and continues in stant in prayer night and day, is a widow indeed. Not that she, who has children, is not a widow indeed. For he commends her who brings up children as she ought. But if any one has not children, he means, she is desolate, and her he consoles, saying, that she is most truly a widow, who has lost not only the consolation of a hus: band, but that arising from children, yet she has 1 ovToO seems unintelligible, read avrous. B. has exdvov, which would be, " in his (her husband s) grandchildren." It is not easy to see why St. Chrys. takes this as a direction to the widow herself, except it be from a. grateful remembrance of his own mother s de voting herself to him as she did. Theodoret follows him, but says, more of the corresponding duty of the children.