4io WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY I. mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine " : he does not mention the persons by name, that he might not, by the openness of his rebuke, render them more shameless. There were in that city certain false Apostles of the Jews, who wished to oblige the faithful to ob serve the Jewish law, a fault he is everywhere noticing in his Epistles ; and this they did not from motives of conscience, so much as from vainglory, and a wish to have disciples, from jealousy of the blessed Paul, and a spirit of op position to him. This is meant by "teaching another doctrine." Ver. 4. " Neither give heed to fables and end less genealogies." By " fables " he does not mean the law ; far from it ; but inventions and forgeries and coun terfeit doctrines. For, it seems, the Jews wasted theirwhole discourse on these unprofitable points. Theynumbered up their fathersand grandfathers, that they might have the reputation of historical knowledge and research. " That thou mightest charge some," he says, "that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies." Why does he call them " endless " ? It is because they had no end, or none of any use, or none easy for us to appre hend. Mark how he disapproves of question ing. . For where faith exists, there is no need of question. Where there is no room for curios ity, questions are superfluous. Questioning is the subversion of faith. 1 For he that seeks has not yet found. He who questions cannot be lieve. Therefore it is his advice that we should not be occupied with questions, since if we question, it is not faith ; for faith sets reasoning at rest. But why then does Christ say, " Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. vii. 7); and, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life"? (John v. 39.) The seeking there is meant of prayer and vehement desire, and He bids " search the Scriptures," not to introduce the labors of questioning, but to end them, that we may ascertain and settle their true meaning, not that we may be ever questioning, but that we may have done with it. And he justly said, " Charge some that they teach no other doc trine, neither give heed to fables, and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than the dispensation ofGod in faith." 2 Justly has he said, " the dispensation of God." For great are the blessings which God is willing to dispense ; but the greatness of them is not conceived by reasoning. This must then be the work of faith, t .Ties, for he knew the history too well to suppose that this Epistle was written then. 1 Or " incompatible with " aixupeTixTJ. 2 The English version is " godly edifying," from the reading oiico- Soniav. OiKovofjiiav, as here, is the reading of MSS. nearly all Greek. [Adopted in the R. V.] which is the best medicine of our souls. This questioning therefore is opposed to the dispen sation of God. For what is dispensed by faith ? To receive His mercies and become better men ; to doubt and dispute of nothing ; but to repose in confidence. For what " ministers questions " displaces faith and that which faith hath wrought and builded. Christ has said that we must be saved by faith ; this these teachers questioned and even denied. For since the announcement was present, but the issue of it future, faith was required. But they being preoccupied by legal observances threw impediments in the way of faith. He seems also here to glance at the Greeks, where he speaks of " fables and geneal ogies," for they enumerated their Gods. MORAL. Let us not then give heed to ques tions. For we were called Faithful, that we might unhesitatingly believe what is delivered to us, and entertain no doubt. For if the things asserted were human, we ought to examine them ; but since they are of God, they are only to be revered and believed. Ifwe believe not, how shall we be tpersuaded of the existence of a God ? For how knowest thou that there is a God, when thou callest Him to account? The knowledge of God is best shown by believing in Him without proofs and demonstrations. Even the Greeks know this ; for they believed their Gods, telling them, saith one, even without proof; and what? That 3 they were the off spring of the Gods. But why do I speak of the Gods ? In the case of a man, a deceiver and sorcerer, 4 (I speak of Pythagoras,) they acted in like manner, for of him it was said, 5 He said it.6 And over their temples was an image of Silence, and her finger on her mouth, compressing her lips, and significantly exhorting all that passed by to be silent. And were their doctrines so sacred, and are ours less so? and even to be ridiculed? What extreme madness is this ! The tenets of the Greeks indeed are rightly questioned. For they were of that nature, be ing but disputes, conflicts of reasonings, and doubts, and conclusions. But ours are far from all these. For human wisdom invented theirs, but ours were taught by the grace of the Spirit. Their doctrines are madness and folly, ours are true wisdom. In their case there is neither teacher nor scholar ; but all alike are disputants. Here whether teacher or scholar, each is to learn 7 ofhim from whom he ought to learn, and not to doubt, but obey ; not to dispute, but be- 3 Or " and wherefore," " because," &c. See Acts xvii. 28. 4 701770? KCU judyou. a aurbs e<t>a. 6 So Sav. mar. and MS. Colb. and afterwards, " And his was the five years silence, he closed his mouth with his ringer, and com pressing his lips," &c. 7 This seems the onlyway in which the Greek can be construed. The word wit, in the Latin, may come from another reading, but the sense is plain.