HOMILY III.] HOMILIES ON COLOSSIANS. 273 ing joy. And He led these down to men 1 (Gen. xix. 13), and led men up to them. And observe, I pray you, the marvel in this : He brought these first down hither, and then he took up man to them ; earth became heaven, because that heaven was about to receive the things of earth. Therefore when we give thanks, we say, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men." Behold, he saith, even men appeared well-pleasing to Him thereafter. What is "good will"? (Eph. ii. 14 ; Deut. xxxii. 8, Sept.) Reconciliation. No longer is the heaven a wall of partition. At first the Angels were according to the num ber of the nations ; but now, not according to the number of the nations, but that of the be lievers. Whence is this evident? Hear Christ saying, " See that ye despise not one of these little ones, for their Angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven." (Matt, xviii. 10.) For each believer hath an Angel ; since even from the beginning, every one of those that were approved had his Angel, as Jacob says, " The Angel that feedeth me, and delivereth me from my youth." 2 (Gen. xlviii. 15, 16, nearly.) If then we have Angels, let us be sober, as though we were in the presence of tutors ; for there is a demon present also.3 Therefore we pray, asking 4 for the Angel of peace, and everywhere we ask for peace 5 (for there is nothing equal to this) ; peace, in the Churches, in the prayers, in the supplications, in the salutations ; and once, and twice, and thrice, and many times, does he that is over the Church give it, " Peace be unto you." Where fore ? Because this is the Mother of all good things; this is the foundation ofjoy% Therefore Christ also commanded the Apostles on entering into the houses straightway to say this, as being a sort of symbol of the good things ; for He saith, " When ye come into the houses, say, Peace be unto you ;" 6 for where this is wanting, everything is useless. And to His disciples Christ said, " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." (John xiv. 27.) This pre- pareth the way for love. And he that is over the Church, says not, " Peace be unto you," simply, but " Peace be unto all." For what if 1 Gr. auToii?, one suspects ai/ovs (andpuiirovs), which has been conjectured. 2 " Feedeth " is said of God in the text. On the passage, St. Chrys. does not notice the mention of the Angel. He quotes it, how ever, in his first Homily de laudibus B. Pauli. He also infers the doctrine from Acts xii. 15; Horn. xxvi. St. Jerome, on Isa. Ixvi. 20, quotes all these passages. Bp. Bull, Ser. xii. adds, Eccl. v. 6.3 See St. Hermas, Past, i, ii. pr. 6, i, and Cotelerius, note 14, t. i, p. 93, who cites Origen, Horn. xii. in Luc. S. Greg. Nyss. de Vita Mosis, p. 194; Petavius, Theol. Dog. de Ang. 1. ii. c. 8, cites St. Basil, contr. Eunom. p. 70, and on Ps. xxxiii. p. 220, &c.4 [There was among the forms of prayer in Chrys. s day this. " Ask for the angel of peace." See Field s Annotations. J. A. B.]5 In Horn, xxxii. on St. Matt, he mentions a prayer for Peace. See also Const. Ap. i. viii. c. 37 fin. 6 St. Matt. x. 12, St. Luke x. 5, but neither accurately. [That is, neither Gospel is here accurately quoted. Chrys. often makes slight mistakes in quoting, as we do. J. A. B.] with this man we have peace, but with another, war and fighting? what is the gain? For neither in the body, should some of its elements be at rest and others in a state of variance, is it pos sible that health should ever be upheld ; but only when the whole of them are in good order, and harmony, and peace, and except the whole are at rest, and continue within their proper limits, all will be overturned. And, further, in our minds, except all our thoughts are at rest, peace will not exist. So great a good is peace, as that the makers and producers of it are called the sons of God (Matt. v. 9, 45), with reason ; because the Son of God for this cause came upon the earth, to set at peace the things in the earth, and those in the heavens. But if the peacemakers are the sons ofGod, the makers of disturbance are sons of the devil. What sayest thou ? Dost thou excite conten tions and fightings ? And doth any ask who is so unhappy? Many there are who rejoice at evil, and who do rather rend in pieces the Body of Christ, than did the soldiers pierce it with the spear, or the Jews who struck it through with the nails. A less evil was that than this ; those Members, so cut through, again united, but these when torn off, if they be not united here, will never be united, but remain apart from the Fullness. When thou art minded to war against thy brother, bethink thee that thou warrest against the members of Christ, and cease from thy madness. For what if he be an out cast ? What if he be vile ? What if he be open to contempt? So saith He, " It is not the will ofMy Father that one of these little ones should perish." (Matt, xviii. 14.) And again, "Their Angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven." (Ib. ver. 10.) God for his sake and thine even became a servant, and was slain ; and dost thou consider him to be nothing? Surely in this respect also thou fight- est against God, in that thou deliverest a judg ment contrary to His. When he that is over the Church cometh in, he straightway says, " Peace unto all " ; when he preacheth, " Peace unto all" ; when he blesseth, "Peace unto all" ; when he biddeth to salute, " Peace unto all " ; when the Sacrifice is finished, " Peace unto all " : and again, in the middle, " Grace to you and peace." How then is it not monstrous, if, while hearing so many times that we are to have peace, we are in a state of feud with each other ; and receiving peace, and giving it back, are at war with him 7 that giveth it to us? Thou sayest, " And to thy spirit." And dost thou traduce him abroad ? Woe is me ! that the majestic usages 8 of the Church are become 7 i.e. the Bishop. [This is the person several times above called he that is over," 6 rrpoe<rrujs, the same word that is employed by Justin Martyr, I. Apol. c. 65, for the person presiding in an assem bly for worship. J. A. B.] 8 ra mprtU