HOMILY IX.] HOMILIES ON THESSALONIANS. partially. For the period of consummation took its beginning from Adam, and then is the end of the consummation ; l since even now one would not err in calling it a consummation. For when ten thousand die every day, and all await That Day, and no one is raised before it, is it not the work 2 of That Day ? And if you would know on what account it is concealed, and why it so cometh as a thief in the night, I will tell you how I think I can well account for it. No one would have ever cultivated virtue during his whole life ; but knowing his last day, and, after having committed numberless sins, then having come to the Laver, he would so have departed. For if now, when the fear aris ing from its uncertainty shakes the souls of all, still all,3 having spent their whole former life in wickedness, at their last breath give themselves up to Baptism, if they had fully persuaded themselves concerning this matter, who would ever have cultivated virtue? If many have de parted without Illumination, and not even this fear has taught them, whilst living, to cultivate the things that are pleasing to God ; if this fear also had been removed, who would ever have been sober, or who gentle ? There is not one ! And another thing again. The fear of death and the love of life restrain many. But if each one knew that to-morrow he would certainly die, there is nothing he would refuse to attempt be fore that day, but he would murder whomsoever he wished, and would retrieve himself by taking vengeance on his enemies, and would perpetrate ten thousand crimes. For a wicked man, who despairs of his life here, pays no regard even to him who is invested with the purple. He therefore who was per suaded that he must at all events die would both be revenged upon his enemy, and after having first satisfied his own soul, so would meet his end. Let me mention also a third thing. Those who are fond of life, and vehemently attached to the things of this world, would 4 be ruined by despair and grief. For if any of the young knew that before he reached old age, he should meet his end, as the most sluggish of wild beasts, when they are taken, become still more sluggish from expecting their end, so would he also be affected. Besides, not even the men that are courageous would have had their reward. For if they knew that after three years they must certainly die, and before that time it was not possible, what reward would they have gained for daring in the face of dangers? For any one might say to them, 1 [This is obscure as to the exact purport. Does " then " mean the end of the individual life, or the time of Christ s coming? The expanded text understood it in the former sense. J. A. B.j 2 TO tpyov, i.e. is not what is now doing part ofThat Day s work? Or it might be rendered " reality." 3 i.e. as we say loosely, " every one." St. Greg. Naz. complains of this practice, Or. XL., preached at Constantinople, A.D. 381. Because you are confident of the three years of life, for this reason you throw yourselves into dangers, knowing that it is not possible for you to pass away. For he, that expects from each danger that he may come by his death, and knows that he shall live indeed, if he does not expose himself to- peril, but shall die if he attempts such and such actions, he gives the greatest proof of his zeal, and of his contempt for the present life. And this I will make plain to you by an example. Tell me, if the patriarch Abraham, foreknowing that he should not have to sacrifice his son, had brought him to the place, would he then have had any reward? And what if Paul, foreknowing that he should not die, had despised dangers, in what respect would he have been admirable ? For so even the most sluggish would rush into the fire, if he could find any one he could trust to ensure his safety. But not such were the Three Children. For hear them saying, "O king, there is a God in heaven, who will deliver us out of thine hands, and out of this furnace ; and if not, be it known to thee that we do not serve thy gods, nor wor ship the golden image which thou hast set up." (Dan. iii. 17, Sept.) Ye see how many advantages there are, and yet there are more than these that arise from not knowing the time of our end. Meanwhile it is sufficient to learn these. On this account He so cometh as a thief in the night ; that we may not abandon ourselves to wickedness, nor to sloth ; that He may not take from us our reward. "For yourselves know perfectly," he says. Why then are you curious, if you are persuaded? But that the future is uncertain, learn from what Christ has said. For that on this account He said it, hear what he says, " Watch therefore : for ye know not at what hour" the thief 5 "cometh." (Matt. xxiv. 42.) On this account also Paul said, Ver. 3. "When they are saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child ; and they shall in nowise escape." Here he has glanced at something which he has also said in his second Epistle. For since 6 they indeed were in affliction, but they that warred on them at ease and in luxury, and then while he comforted them in their present suffer ings by this mention of the Resurrection, the others insulted them with arguments taken from their forefathers, and said, When will it happen ? 5 [This may be considered a mere slip ofmemory, or Chrys. mayhave inserted " the thief" as representing our Lord. The Rev. Ver. properly reads " on what day, in ver. 42, " at what hour " having been drawn from ver. 44, where all documents have it. Chrys. has, as so often, the reading which passed into the Textus Receptus. J.A. B.] 8 [To this "since" answers " see then," below. He digresses to quote the Prophets, and then returns in a way very natural to free speaking. J. A. B.]