130 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY XVII. sacrifice " ? And if thoa shalt die, then wilt thou be indeed a sacrifice. This it is to " imi tate God." Ver. 3. " But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as becometh saints." He has spoken of the bitter passion, of wrath ; he now comes to the lesser evil : for that lust is the lesser evil, hear how Moses also in the law says, first, " Thou shalt do no murder " (Ex. xx. 13), which is the work ofwrath, and then, " Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Ex. xx. 14), which is of lust. For as " bitterness," and " clamor," and " all malice," and " railing," and the like, are the works of the passionate man, so likewise are " fornication, uncleanness, covetousness," those of the lustful ; since avarice and sensuality spring from the same passion. 1 But just as in the former case he took away " clamor " as being the vehicle of " anger," so now does he " filthy talk ing " and " jesting " as being the vehicle of lust ; for he proceeds, Ver. 4. " Nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, or jesting, which are not befitting ; but rather giving of thanks." Have no witticisms, no obscenities, either in word or in deed, and thou wilt quench the flame " let them not even be named," saith he, "among you," that is, let them not anywhere even make their appearance. This he says also in writing to the Corinthians. " It is actually reported that there is fornication among you" (i Cor. v. i) ; as much as to say, Be ye all pure. For words are the way to acts. Then, that he may not appear a forbidding kind of person and austere, and a destroyer of playfulness, he goes on to add the reason, by saying, " which are not befitting," which have nothing to do with us "but rather giving of thanks." What good is there in uttering a witticism ? thou only raisest a laugh. Tell me, will the shoemaker ever busy himself about anything which does not belong to or befit his trade ? or will he purchase any tool of that kind? No, never. Because the things we do not need, are nothing to us. MORAL. Let there not be one idle word ; for from idle words we fall also into foul words. The present is no season of loose merriment, but ofmourning, of tribulation, and lamentation : and dost thou play the jester? What wrestler on en tering the ring neglects the struggle with his ad versary, and utters witticisms ? The devil stands hard at hand, " he is going about roaring " (i Pet. v. 8) to catch thee, he is moving every thing, and turning everything against thy life, and is scheming to force thee from thy retreat, he is grinding his teeth and bellowing, he is [" Sensuality " and " covetousness" are the two cardinal vices of the heathen which are to be avoided by Christians." Meyer on iv. 19. G. A.] breathing fire against thy salvation ; and dost thou sit uttering witticisms, and " talking folly," and uttering things " which are not bentting." Full nobly then wilt thou be able to overcome him ! We are in sport, beloved. Wouldest thou know the life of the saints ? Listen to what Paul saith. " By the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears." (Acts xx. 31.) And if so great was the zeal he exerted in behalf of them of Miletus and Ephesus, not making pleasant speeches, but in troducing his admonition with tears, what should one say of the rest? But hearken again to what he says to the Corinthians. " Out ofmuch afflic tion and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears." (2 Cor. ii. 4.) And again, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" "Who is made to stumble, and I burn not?" (2 Cor. xi. 29.) And hearken again to what he says elsewhere, desiring every day, as one might say, to depart out of the world. " For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan" (2 Cor. v. 4) ; and dost thou laugh and play? It is war-time, and art thou handling the dancers instruments? Look at the countenances ofmen in battle, their dark and contracted mien, their brow terrible and full of awe. Mark the stern eye, the heart eager and beating and throbbing, their spirit col lected, and trembling and intensely anxious. All is good order, all is good discipline, all is silence in the camps of those who are arrayed against each other. They speak not, I do not say, an impertinent word, but they utter not a single sound. Now if they who have visible enemies, and who are in nowise injured by words, yet observe so great silence, dost thou who hast thy warfare, and the chief of thy warfare in words, dost thou leave this part naked and exposed? Or art thou ignorant that it is here that we are most beset with snares ? Art thou amusing and enjoying thyself, and uttering witticisms and rais ing a laugh, and regarding the matter as a mere nothing? How many perjuries, how many in juries, how many filthy speeches have arisen from witticisms ! " But no," ye will say, " pleas antries are not like this." Yet hear how he ex cludes all kinds of jesting. It is a time now of war and fighting, of watch and guard, of arming and arraying ourselves. The time of laughter can have no place here ; for that is of the world. Hear what Christ saith : " The world shall re joice, but ye shall be sorrowful." (John xvi. 20.) Christ was crucified for thy ills, and dost thou laugh? He was buffeted, and endured so great sufferings because of thy calamity, and the tem pest that had overtaken thee ; and dost thou play the reveler? And how wilt thou not then rather provoke Him? But since the matter appears to some to be one .of indifference, which moreover is difficult