HOMILY XVI.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 125 the discipline employed about your maid-ser vants, will be of the greatest service to you in gaining the goodwill of your husbands. " For with what measure ye mete," He saith, " it shall be measured unto you." (Matt. vii. 2.) Set a bridle upon thy mouth. If thou art disciplined to bear bravely with a servant when she answers back, thou wilt not be annoyed with the inso lence of an equal, and in being above annoy ance, wilt have attained to the highest philoso phy. But some there are who add even oaths, but there is nothing more shocking than a woman so enraged. But what again, ye will say, if she dress gayly ? Why then, forbid this ; thou hast my consent ; but check it by first beginning with thyself, not so much by fear as by example. Be in everything thyself a perfect pattern. " And let railing," saith he, " be put away from you." Observe the progress of mischief. Bitterness produces wrath, wrath anger, anger clamor, clamor railing, that is, revilings ; next from evil-speaking it goes on to blows, from blows to wounds, from wounds to death. Paul, however, did not wish to mention any of these, but only this, "let this," saith he, "be put away from you, with all malice." l What is " with all malice " ? It ends with this. For there are some, like those dogs that bite secretly, which do not bark at all at those thatcome near them, nor are angry, but which fawn, and display a gentle aspect ; but when they catch us off our guard, will fix their teeth in us. These are more dangerous than those that take up open enmity. Now since there are men too that are dogs, who neither cry out, nor fly in a passion, nor threaten us when they are offended, yet in secret are weaving plots, and contriving ten thousand mis chiefs, and revenging themselves not in words but in deeds ; he hints at these. Let those things be put away from you, saith he, " with all mal ice." Do not spare thy words, and then revenge thyself in acts. My purpose in chastising my tongue and curtailing its clamor, is to prevent its kindling up a more violent blaze. But if thou without any clamor art doing the same thing, and art cherishing the fire and the live coals within, where is the good of thy silence ? Dost thou not know that those conflagrations are the most destructive of all which are fed within, and appear not to those that are without? And that those wounds are the deadliest which never break out to the surface ; and those fevers the worst which burn up the vitals? So also is this anger the most dangerous that preys upon the soul. But let this too be put away from you, saith he, " with all malice," of every kind and degree, great and little. Let us then hearken to him, let us cast out all " bitterness and all malice," that we "grieve not the Holy Spirit." Let us destroy all bitterness ; let us cut it up by the very roots. Nothing good, nothing health- i ful, can ever come from a bitter soul ; nothing but misfortunes, nothing but tears, nothing but weeping and wailing. Do ye not see those beasts that roar or cry out, how we turn away from them ; the lion, for instance, and the bear ? But not so from the sheep ; for there is no roar ing, but a mild and gentle voice. And so again with musical instruments, those which are loud and harsh are the most unpleasant to the ear, such as the drum and trumpet ; whereas those which are not so, but are soothing, these are pleasant, as the flute and lyre and pipe. Let us then prepare our soul so as never to cry aloud, and thus shall we be enabled also to gain the mastery over our anger. And when we have cut out this, we ourselves shall be the first to enjoy the calm, and we shall sail into that peace ful haven, which God grant we may all attain, in Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom, together with | the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father, glory, , might, and honor, now, and ever, and through- I out all ages. Amen. HOMILY XVI. EPHESIANS iv. 31, 32. " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for giving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you." IFwe are to attain to the kingdom of Heaven, it is not enough to abandon wickedness, but there must be abundant practice of that which is good also. To be delivered indeed from hell we must abstain from wickedness ; but to attain to the kingdom we must cleave fast to virtue.- Know ye not that even in the tribunals of the heathen, when examination is made of men s deeds, and the whole city is assembled, this is the case? 1 [KaKta.: " Malice, the genus to which all the above-mentioned vices belong, or rather the active principle to which they are all due, animi pravitas, humanitati et equitati opposita (Calvin)." Ellicott. G. A.] - [This way of putting it would imply that there is an intermedi ate place, neither hell nor heaven, which Chrysostom felt; and so he corrects himself a little below. This does not appear to be a trick of the orator. G. A.]