WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VI. any of these would fain command all things. Yet if one of them be separated from the other, it henceforth becomes useless. What is the advantage of a man s being ever so regardless of danger, if his life be open to censure. " For if the light that is in thee be darkness." saith Christ, " how great is thatdarkness ? " (Mat. vi : 23.) Again, what the advantage of a man s being of an irreproachable life, if he is sluggish and indolent ? " For, he that doth not take his cross, and follow after Me," saith He, "is not worthy ofMe ; " (Mat. x: 38.) and so, " The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep." (Jo. x : n.) Again, what isthe advan tage of being both these, unless a man is at the same time prudent and discreet in "knowing how he ought to answer each one?" (Col. iv : 6.) Even if miracles be not in our power, yet both these qualities are in our power. Still howe/er, notwithstanding Paul contributed so much from himself, yet did he attribute all to grace. This is the act of a grateful servant. And we should never so much as have heard of his good deeds, had he not bee.i brought to a necessity of declaring them. And are we worthy then so much as even to mention the name of Paul ? He, who had moreover grace to aid him, yet was not satisfied, but contributed to the work ten thousand perils ; whilst we, who are destitute of that source of confidence, whence, tell me, do we expect either to preserve those who are committed to our charge, or to gain those who are not come to the fold; men, as we are, who have been making a study of self-indulgence, whoare searching the world over for ease, and who are unable, or rather who are unwilling, to endure even the very shadow of danger, and are as far distant from hiswisdom asheaven is from earth ? Hence it is too that they who are under us are at so great a distance behind the men of those days ; because the disciples of those days were better than the teachersof these, isolated as they were in the midst of thepopulace, and oftyrants, and having allmen on all sidestheir enemies, and yet not in the slightest degree dragged down or yielding. Hear at least what he saith to the Philippians, (Phil, i: 29.) " Because to you it hath been granted in the behalfof Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer in his behalf." And again to theThessalonians, (i Thes. ii : 14.) "For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judaea." And again in writing to the Hebrews (Heb. x : 34.) he said, " And ye took joyfully the spoil ing of your pessessions. " And to the Colos- sians (Col. iii : 3.) he testifies, saying, " For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." And indeed to these very Ephesians he bears witness of many perils and dangers. And again in writing to the Galatians, (Gal. iii 14.) he says, " Did ye suffer so many things in vain? if it be indeed in vain." And you see them too, all employed in doing good. Hence it was that both grace wrought effectually in those days, hence also that they lived in good works. Hear, moreover, what he writes to the Corin thians, against whom he brings charges out of number ; yet does he not bear eventhem record, where he says, "Yea, what zeal it wrought in you, yea, what longing!" (i Cor. vii : n.) And again, in how many points does he bear them record on this subject ? These things one shall not seenow-a-days, even in teachers. They are all gone and perished. And the cause is, that love hath waxed cold, that sinners go un punished ; (for hear what he says writing to Timothy, (iTim. v: 20.) " Them that sin, re prove in the sight of all ; ") it is that the rulers are in a sickly state; for if the head be not sound, how can the rest of the body maintain its vigor ? But mark how great is the present disorder. They, who were livingvirtuously, and who under any circumstance might have confi dence, have taken possession of the tops of the mountains, 1 and have escaped out of the world, separating themselves as from an enemy and an alien and not from a body to which they be longed. Plagues too, teeming with untold mischiefs, have lighted upon the Churches. The chief offices have become saleable.2 Hence number less evils are springing, and there is no one to redress, no one to reprove them. Nay, the dis order has assumed a sort of method and consis tency. Has a man done wrong, and been arraigned for it ? His effort is not to prove himself guiltless, but to find if possible accom plices in his crimes. What is to become of us ? since hell is our threatened portion. Believe me, had not God stored up punishment for us there, ye would see every day tragedies deeper than the disasters of the Jews. What then ? however let no one take offence, for I mention no names ; suppose some one were to come into this church to present you that are here at this moment, those that are now with me, and to make inquisition of them ; or rather not now, but suppose on Easter day any one, endued with such a spirit, as to have a thorough knowledge of the things they had been doing, should nar rowly examine all that came to Communion, and were being washed [in Baptism] after they had attended the mysteries ; many things would be discovered more shocking than the Jewish This alludes to the Monks who lived in the mountains about Antioch, where these Homilies seem to have been written. Com pare Homily xiii. p. 2. vid. Adv. Oppugn, i. 7. 8. Elsewhere he blames persons who retired, as hiding their talents, vid. Z Cor. Horn. vi. 8. 2The same sin is noticed among other places by S. Basil Ep. 53. S. Ambrose in Luc. lib. ix, 17 19. S. Jerome in Mat. xxi. 12. 13.