WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY I. imitated this, but that I write the salutation with mine own hand, as is the custom also now among us. For by the subscription the writings of those who send letters are made known. But he comforts them, as being excessively pinched l by their troubles ; both praising them from their present state, and encouraging them from a prospect of the futurity, and from the punish ment, and from the recompense of good things prepared for them ; and he more clearly en larges upon the topic, not indeed revealing the time itself, but showing the sign of the time, namely, Antichrist. For a weak soul is then most fully assured, not when it merely hears, but when it learns something more particular. And Christ too bestowed great care upon this point, and being seated on the Mount, He with great particularity discoursed to His disciples upon the Consummation. And wherefore? that there might be no room for those who introduce Antichrists and false Christs. And He Himself also gives many signs, one indeed, and that the most important, saying, when " the Gospel shall be preached to all nations" (from Matt. xxiv. 14), and another also, that they should not be de ceived with respect to His coming. "As the lightning" (ver. 27), He says, shall He come; not concealed in any corner, but shining every where. It requires no one to point it out, so splendid will it be, even as the lightning needs no one to point it out. And He has spoken in a certain place also concerning Antichrist, when He said, " I am come in My Father s name, and ye receive Me not : if another shall come in His own name, Him ye will receive." (John v. 43.) And He said that those unspeakable calamities one after another were a sign of it, and that Elias must come. The Thessalonians indeed were then per plexed, but their perplexity has been profita ble to us. For not to them only, but to us also are these things useful, that we may be delivered from childish fables and from old women s fooleries. And have you not often heard, when you were children, persons talking much even about the name of Antichrist, and about his bending the knee? For the devil scatters these things in our minds, whilst yet tender, that the doctrine may grow up with us, and that he may be able to deceive us. Paul therefore, in speaking of Antichrist, would not have passed over these things if they had been profitable. Let us not therefore enquire into these things. For he will not come so bending his knees, but " exalting himself against all that is called God, or that is worshiped ; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God." (2 Thess. ii. 4.) For as the s, see on Stat. Horn. vi. Tr. p. 388, note 6. devil fell by pride, so he who is wrought upon by him is anointed unto pride. Wherefore, I beseech you, let us all be earnest to be far removed from this affection, that we may not fall into his condemnation, that we may not subject ourselves to the same punishment, that we may not partake of the vengeance. " Not a novice," he says, " lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil." (i Tim. iii. 6.) He who is puffed up therefore, suffers the same punishment with the devil. " For the beginning of pride is not to know the Lord." (Ecclus. x. 12, 13.) Pride is the be ginning of sin, the first impulse and movement toward evil. Perhaps indeed it is both the root and the foundation. For " the beginning " means either the first impulse towards evil, or the grounding. As if one should say, the be ginning of chastity is to abstain from the sight of an improper object, that is the first impulse. But ifwe should say, the beginning of chastity is fasting, that is the foundation and establish ment. So also pride is the beginning of sin. For every sin begins from it, and is maintained by it. For that, whatever good things we do, this vice suffers them not to remain and not fall away, but is as a certain root not letting them abide unshaken, is manifest from hence : see what things the Pharisee did, but they profited him nothing. For he did not extirpate the root, but it corrupted all his performances, because the root remained. From pride springs con tempt of the poor, desire of riches, the love of power, the longing for much glory. Such an one is prompt to revenge an insult. For hewho is proud cannot bear to be insulted even by his superiors, much less by his inferiors. But he who cannot bear to be insulted cannot bear either to suffer any ill. See how pride is the beginning of sin. But how is it the beginning of pride, not to know the Lord? Justly. For he who knows God as he ought to know Him, he who knows that the Son of God humbled Himself so much, is not lifted up. But he who knows not these things, is lifted up. For pride anoints him unto arrogance. For tell me, whence is it that they who make war upon the Church say that they know God? Is it not from arrogance? See into what a precipice it plunges them, not to know the Lord ! For if God loveth a contrite spirit (Ps. li. 17, etc.), He on the other hand " resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (i Pet. v. 5.) There is therefore no evil like pride. It renders a man a demon, in solent, blasphemous, perjured, and makes him desirous of deaths and murders. The proud man always lives in troubles, is always angry, always unhappy. There is nothing which can satiate his passion. If he should see the king