they observe people running on another business, suppose that they are come against them; and when others are conversing one with another on quite a different subject, they that are conscious of sin suppose they are conversing about them. 3. For such is the nature of sin, that it betrays whilst no one finds fault; it condemns whilst no one accuses; it makes the sinner a timid being; one that trembles at a sound; even as righteousness has the contrary effect. Hear, at least, how the Scripture describes this cowardice of the former, and this boldness of the latter. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth.”1377 How doth he flee when no man pursueth? He hath that within which drives him on—an accuser in his conscience; and this he carries about everywhere; and just as it would be impossible to flee from himself, so neither can he escape the persecutor within; but wherever he goeth,1378 he is scourged, and hath an incurable wound! But not such is the righteous man. Of what nature then is he? Hear: “The righteous is bold as a lion!” Such a man was Elias. He saw, for instance, the king coming towards him, and when he said, “Why is it that thou pervertest Israel?”1379 he answered, “I pervert not Israel, but thou and thy father’s house.”1380 Truly, the just man is bold as a lion; for he stood up against the king just as a lion doth against some vile cur. Although the one had the purple, the other had the sheepskin, which was the more venerable garment of the two; for that purple brought forth the grievous famine; but this sheepskin effected a liberation from that calamity! It divided the Jordan! It made Elisha a two-fold1381 Elias! O how great is the virtue of the Saints! Not only their words; not only their bodies, but even their very garments are always esteemed venerable by the whole creation. The sheepskin of this man divided the Jordan! the sandals of the Three Children trampled down the fire! The word of Elisha changed the waters, so that it made them to bear the iron on their surface! The rod of Moses divided the Red Sea and cleft1382 the rock! The garments of Paul expelled diseases! The shadow of Peter put death to flight! The ashes of the holy Martyrs1383 drive away demons! For this reason they do all things with authority, even as Elias did. For he looked not on the diadem, nor the 1377 Prov. xxviii. 1. 1378 Sav. and M., ‡πίῃ. 1379 ἳνα τί διαστρ™φεις. There is not authority for why dost thou, instead of art thou he that. The word pervertest is the LXX. rendering of , disturbest, and seems to mean “turnest from right worship,” for “from allegiance;” but the meaning of the Hebrew seems to be troublest (i.e., with famine), as in E.V.: comp. Jos. vii. 25, where they render it “destroy.” 1380 1 Kings xviii. 17, 18. 1381 See Hom. II. 25. 1382 Ps. lxxviii. 15. 1383 See Hom. I. 5. The like is said of the relics of St. Epiphanius, in the second part of the Homily against the Peril of Idolatry, quoted from Cassiodori Hist. Eccl. Trip. ix. 48 (Soz. vii. 27). 568 Homily VIII