386 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY III. Him ; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind." When the Resurrection will be, he has not said, but that it will not be now, he has said. " And our gathering together unto Him." This also is no little matter. See how the exhorta tion also is again accompanied with commen dation and encouragement, in that He and all the Saints will certainly appear with us. Here he is discoursing concerning the resurrection and our gathering together. For these things will happen at the same time. He raises up their minds. "That ye be not quickly shaken," he says, " nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is now present." Here he seems to me to intimate that certain persons went about having forged an Epistle, as if from Paul, and showing this, said that the Day of the Lord is at hand, that thence they might lead many into error. Therefore that they might not be deceived, Paul gives security by the things he writes, and says, " be not troubled, either by spirit, or by word " : and this is the meaning of what he says : Though any one having the spirit of prophecy should say this, believe it not. For when I was with you I told you these things, so that you ought not to change your persuasion from the things which you were taught. Or thus, " by spirit " : so he calls the false prophets, speaking what they spoke by an unclean spirit. For these men, willing the more to be believed, not only endeavored to deceive by persuasive words, (for this he shows, saying, "or by word,") but they also showed a forged letter, as from Paul, declaring the same thing. Wherefore pointing out this also, he has added, "or by letter as from us." Having therefore secured them on every side, he thus sets forth his own doctrine, and says : 1 Ver. 3, 4. " Let no man beguile you in any wise : for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth 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." Here he discourses concerning the Antichrist, and reveals great mysteries. What is " the fall ing away"? 2 He calls him Apostasy, as being about to destroy many, and make them fall away. So that if it were possible, He says, the very Elect should be offended. (From Matt, xxiv. 24.) And he calls him " the man of sin." For he shall do numberless mischiefs, and shall 1 [The paragraph that here ends is wanting in a group of docu ments which for this epistle is very generally correct. The contents of this paragraph give no decisive indication as to genuineness. J. A. B.] 2 [The Greek word translated " falling away " is that which we borrow as apostasy. J. A. B.] cause others to do them. But he calls him " the son of perdition," because he is also to be de stroyed. But who is he ? Is it then Satan ? By no means ; but some man, that admits his fully working in him. For he is a man. " And ex alteth himself against all that is called God or is worshiped." For he will not introduce idolatry, but will be a kind of opponent to God ; he will abolish all the gods, and will order men to wor ship him instead of God, and he will be seated in the temple of God, not that in Jerusalem only, but also in every Church. " Setting him self forth," he says ; he does not say, saying it, but endeavoring to show it. For he will perform great works, and will show wonderful signs. Ver. 5. " Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" Seest thou that it is necessary continually to say the same things, and to enlarge upon them in the same words? For behold, they heard him saying these things when present, and again they had need to be reminded of them. For as when they had heard concerning afflictions, "For verily," he says, "when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction " (i Thess. iii. 4) ; they nevertheless forgot it, and he confirms them again by letters ; so also having heard concerning the Coming of Christ, they again needed letters to compose them. He therefore reminds them, showing that he speaks of nothing strange, but what he had always said. For as in the case of husbandmen, the seeds are indeed cast into the earth once for all, yet do not constantly remain, but require much preparation withal, and if they do not break up the earth, and cover over the seeds sown, they sow for the birds that gather grain ; so we also, unless by constant remembrance we cover over what has been sown, have but cast it all into the air. For both the devil carries it away, and our sloth destroys it, and the sun dries it up, and the rain washes it away, and the thorns choke it : so that it is not sufficient after once sowing it to depart, but there is need of much assiduity, driving off the birds, rooting up the thorns, fill ing up the stony ground with much earth, check ing, and fencing off, and taking away everything injurious. But in the case of the earth all de pends upon the husbandman, for it is a lifeless subject, and prepared only to be passive. But in the spiritual soil it is quite otherwise. All is not the teachers part, but half at least, if not more, that of the disciples. It is our part indeed to cast the seed, but yours to do the things spoken for your recollection, by your works to show the fruits, to pull up the thorns by the roots. For wealth truly is a thorn, bearing no fruit, both uncomely to the sight, and unpleasant for