The fourth, that the endurance of these themselves may become more striking, serving God, as they do, not for a reward; but showing even such right-mindedness as to give proof of their undiminished good will towards Him after so many evils. The fifth, that our minds may be wise concerning the doctrine of a resurrection. For when thou seest a just man, and one abounding in virtue, suffering ten thousand evils, and thus departing the present life, thou art altogether compelled, though unwillingly, to think somewhat of the future judgment; for if men do not suffer those who have laboured for themselves, to depart without wages and recompense; much more cannot God design, that those who have so greatly laboured should be sent away uncrowned. But if He cannot intend to deprive those of the recompense of their labours eventually, there must needs be a time, after the end of the life here, in which they will receive the recompense of their present la- bours. The sixth, that all who fall into adversity may have a sufficient consolation and alleviation, by looking at such persons, and remembering what sufferings have befallen them. The seventh, that when we exhort you to the virtue of such persons, and we say to every one of you, “Imitate Paul, emulate Peter,” ye may not, on account of the surpassing character of their good works, slothfully shrink from such an imitation of them, as deeming them to have been partakers of a different nature. The eighth, that when it is necessary to call any blessed, or the reverse, we may learn whom we ought to account happy, and whom unhappy and wretched. 337 These then are the reasons; but it is necessary to establish them all from the Scriptures, and to show with exactness that all that has been said on this subject is not an invention of human reasoning, but the very sentence of the Scriptures. For thus will what we say be at once more deserving of credit, and sink the deeper into your minds. 15. That tribulation then is profitable to the saints, that they may exercise moderation and lowliness, and that they may not be puffed up by their miracles and good works, and that God permits it for this end; we may hear David the prophet, and Paul saying the same. The former says, “It is good for me, Lord, that I have been in trouble, that I might learn thy statutes:”1023 and the latter having said, “I was caught up into the third heaven, and” trans- ported to Paradise, goes on to say, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”1024 What can be clearer than this? “That I might not be exalted above measure,” for this reason, saith he, God permitted “the messengers of Satan to buffet me;” by messengers of Satan, indeed, he means not particular demons, but men1025 ministering for the devil, 1023 Ps. cxix. 71. 1024 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4, 7. 1025 So he explains it also on the passage, on 2 Cor., Hom. XXVI. See also on Rom. viii. 6, Trans. p. 251, and Bp. Bull, Serm v. 463 Homily I