to be spit upon, to be beaten and crucified, and He so rejoiced in suffering these things, that He said to the Father, “Glorify Me.” (John xvii. 1–5.) “With joy of the Holy Ghost,” he says. That no one may say, how speakest thou of “af- fliction”? how “of joy”? how can both meet in one? he has added, “with joy of the Holy Ghost.” The affliction is in things bodily, and the joy in things spiritual. How? The things which happened to them were grievous, but not so the things which sprang out of them, for the Spirit does not allow it.940 So that it is possible both for him who suffers, not to rejoice, when one suffers for his sins; and being beaten to take pleasure, when one suffers for Christ’s sake. For such is the joy of the Spirit. In return for the things which appear to be grievous, it brings out delight. They have afflicted you, he says, and persecuted you, but the Spirit did not forsake you, even in those circumstances. As the Three Children in the fire were refreshed with dew,941 so also were you refreshed in afflictions. But as there it was not of the nature of the fire to sprinkle dew, but of the “whistling wind,”942 so also here it was not of the nature of affliction to produce joy, but of the suffering for Christ’s sake, and of the Spirit bedewing them, and in the furnace of temptation setting them at ease. Not merely with joy, he says, but “with much joy.” For this is of the Holy Spirit. Ver. 7. “So that ye became ensamples943 to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.” And yet it was later that he went to them. But ye so shone, he says, that ye became teachers of those who received (the word) before you. And this is like the Apostle. For he did not say, so that ye became ensamples in regard to believing, but ye became an ensample to those who already believed; how one ought to believe in God, ye taught, who from the very beginning entered into your conflict. “And in Achaia,” he says; that is, in Greece. Do you see how great a thing is zeal? that it does not require time, nor delay, nor pro- crastination, but it is sufficient only to venture one’s self, and all is fulfilled. Thus then though coming in later to the Preaching, they became teachers of those who were before them. Moral. Let no one therefore despair, even though he has lost much time, and has done 326 nothing. It is possible for him even in a little while to do so much, as he never has done in all his former time. For if he who before did not believe, shone so much at the beginning, how much more those who have already believed! Let no one, again, upon this consideration be remiss, because he perceives that it is possible in a short time to recover everything. For the future is uncertain, and the Day of the Lord is a thief, setting upon us suddenly when 940 οὐκ ἀφίησι. Perhaps, “does not forsake us,” as just below. 941 Song, ver. 27. 942 διασυρίζοντος, as Sept. Dan. iii. 28. 943 [Rev. Ver. right for N.T., “an ensample”; but Chrys. has the plural, employing (as he commonly does) that which spread from Constantinople, and became the prevalent text.—J.A.B.] 573 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3