HOMILY VIII.] HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS. 297 upon the earth. If the eye be such, it seeth not the things in the heavens ; if the ear, if the hand, if thou mention any other member what soever. The eye seeth bodies, and beauties, and riches ; these are the things of earth, with these it is delighted : the ear with soft strains, and harp, and pipe, and filthy talking ; these are things which are concerned with earth. When therefore he has placed his hearers above, near the throne, he then says, " Mortify your members which are upon the earth." For it is not possible to stand above with these members ; for there is nothing there for them to work upon. And this clay is worse than that, for that clay indeed becometh gold, " for this corruptible," he saith, " must put on incorrup- tion " (i Cor. xv. 53), but this clay can never be retempered more. So that these members are rather "upon the earth" than those. There fore he said not, " of the earth," but, " which are upon the earth," for it is possible that these should not be upon the earth. For it is neces sary that these 1 should be "upon the earth," but that those 2 should, is not necessary. For when the ear hears nothing of what is here uttered, but only in the heavens, when the eye sees nothing of what is here, but only what is above, it is not " upon the earth " ; when the mouth speaketh nothing of the things here, it is not " upon the earth"; when the hand doeth no evil thing these are not of things " upon the earth," but of those in the heavens. So Christ also saith, " If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble," that is, if thou lookest un- chastely, "cut it out" (Matt. v. 29), that is, thine evil thought. And he (Paul) seems to me to speak of " fornication, uncleanness, pas sion, desire," as the same, namely fornication : by means of all these expressions drawing us away from that thing. For in truth this is " a passion " ; and like as the body is subject to any affection, either to fever or to wounds, so also is it with this. And he said not Restrain, but "Mortify" (put to death), so that they never rise up more, and " put them away." That which is dead, we put away ; for instance, if there be callosities in the body, their body is dead, and we put it away. Now, if thou cut into that which is quick, it produces pain, but if into that which is dead, we are not even sen sible of it. So, in truth, is it with the passions ; they make the soul unclean ; they make the soul, which is immortal, passible. How covetousness is said to be idolatry, we have oftentimes explained. For the things which do most of all lord it over the human race, are these, covetousness, and unchasteness, and evil desire. " For which things sake cometh," he 1 The sinful passions. * The bodily organs. saith, " the wrath of God upon the sons of diso bedience." Sons of disobedience, he calls them, to deprive them of excuse, and to show that it was because they would not be obedient, that they were in that condition. " In the which ye also," he saith, " walked aforetime," and (after ward) became obedient. He points them out as still in them, and praises them, saying, " But now do ye also put away all these, anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking." But against others he advanceth his discourse. Under the head of " passion and railing " he means revil- ings, just as under " wrath " he means wicked ness.3 And in another place, to shame them, he says, " for we are members one of another." (Eph. iv. 25.) He makes them out to be as it were manufacturers of men ; casting away this one, and receiving that. He spoke of a man s "members" (v. 5) ; here he saith, "all." He spoke of his heart, wrath, mouth, blasphemy, eyes, fornication, covetousness, hands and feet, lying, the understanding itself, and the old mind. One royal form it hath, that, namely, of Christ. They whom he has in view, appear to me rather to be of the Gentiles. For like as earth, being but sand, even though one part be greater, an other less, losing its own previous form, doth afterwards become gold ; and like as wool, of whatever kind it be, receiveth another aspect, and hides its former one : so truly is it also with the faithful. " Forbearing," he saith, " one an other " ; he showeth what is just. Thou for- bearest him, and he thee ; and so he says in the Epistle to the Galatians, " Bear ye one another s burdens." (Gal. vi. 2.) "And be ye thankful," he saith. For this is what he everywhere espe cially seeks ; the chiefest of good things. Give we thanks then in all things ; whatever may have happened ; for this is thankfulness. For to do so in prosperity indeed, is no great thing, for the nature of the circumstances of it self impels one thereto ; but when being in ex tremities we give thanks, then it is admirable. For when, in circumstances under which others blaspheme, and exclaim discontentedly, we give thanks, see how great philosophy is here. First, thou hast rejoiced God ; next, thou hast shamed the devil ; thirdly, thou hast even made that which hath happened to be nothing ; for all at once, thou both givest thanks, and God cuts short the pain, and the devil departs. For if thou have exclaimed discontentedly, he, as hav ing succeeded to his wish, standeth close by thee, and God, as being blasphemed, leaveth thee, and thy calamity is heightened ; but if thou have given thanks, he, as gaining nought, departs; and God, as being honored, requites 8 He means that the word used expresses a natural emotion or act, but the abuse of this is intended; and so it may be necessary to speak evil ofone.