488 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY IV. were to thy strengthening more than to his. 1 For if I, Paul, endure these things, much more oughtest thou to bear them. If the master, much more the disciple. And this exhortation he introduces with much affection, calling him " son," and not only so, but " my son." If thou art a son, he means, imitate thy father. If thou art a son, be strong in consideration of the things which I have said, or rather be strong, not merely from what I have told you, but " of God." " Be strong," he says, " in the grace that is in Christ Jesus " ; that is, " through the grace of Christ." That is, stand firmly. Thou knowest the battle. For elsewhere he says, " We wrestle not against flesh and blood." (Eph. vi. 12.) And this he says not to depress but to excite them. Be sober therefore, he means, and watch, have the grace of the Lord cooperating with thee, and aiding thee in thy contest, contribute thy own part with much alacrity and resolution. " And the things that thou hast heard of me amongmany witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men " ; to " faithful " men, not to ques tioners nor to reasoners, to " faithful." How faith ful ? Such as betray not the Gospel they should preach. "The things which thou hast heard," not which thou hast searched out. For " faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. x. 17.) But wherefore, " among many witnesses " ? As if he had said : Thou hast not heard in secret, nor apart, but in the presence of many, with all openness of speech. Nor does he say, Tell, but " commit," as a treas ure committed is deposited in safety. Again he alarms his disciple, both from things above and things below. But he says not only " com mit to faithful men"; for ofwhat advantage is it that one is faithful, if he is not able to convey his doctrine to others? when he does not indeed betray the faith ; but does not render others faithful ? The teacher therefore ought to have two qualities, to be both faithful, and apt to teach ; wherefore he says, " who shall be able to teach others also." " Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Oh, how great a dignity is this, to be a soldier of Jesus Christ ! Observe the kings on earth, how great an honor it is esteemed to serve under them. If therefore the soldier of the king ought to endure hard ness, not to endure hardness is not the part of any soldier. So that it behooves thee not to complain, if thou endurest hardness, for that is the part of a soldier ; but to complain, if thou dost not endure hardness. " No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And 1 So Edd., but B. has txen o. for exelvov, " more than the other," and Old Lat. paraphrases it, " more than if I had suffered nothing." if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully." These things are said indeed to Timothy, but through him they are addressed to every teacher and disciple. Let no one therefore of those who hold the office of a Bishop disdain to hear these things, but let him be ashamed not to do them. " If any one strive for masteries," he says, " he is not crowned, except he strive law fully." What is meant by "lawfully"? It is. not enough that he enters into the lists, that he is anointed, and even engages, unless he comply with all the laws of the exercise, with respect to diet, to temperance and sobriety, and all the rules of the wrestling school, unless, in short, he go through all that is befitting for a wrestler,2 he is not crowned. And observe the wisdom of Paul. He mentions wrestlers and soldiers,, the one to prepare him for slaughter and blood, the other with reference to endurance, that he might bear everything with fortitude, and be ever in exercise. " The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits." He had first spoken from his own example as a teacher. He now speaks from those that are more common, as wrestlers and soldiers, and in their case he sets before him the rewards. First, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier ; secondly, that he may be crowned ; now he proposes a third example that more particularly suits himself. For the instance of the soldier and the wrestler corresponds to those who are under rule, but that of the husbandman to the Teacher. (Strive) not as a soldier or a wrestler only, but as a husbandman too. The husbandman takes care not of himself alone, but of the fruits of the earth. That is, no little reward of his labors is enjoyed by the husband man. Here he both shows, that to God nothing is wanting, and that there is a reward for Teach ing, which he shows by a common instance. As the husbandman, he says, does not labor without profit, but enjoys before others the fruits of his own toils, sq is it fit that the teacher should do : either he means this, or he is speak ing of the honor to be paid to teachers, but this is less consistent. For why does he not say the husbandman simply, but him " that laboreth"? not only that worketh, but that is worn with toil? And here with reference to the delay of reward, that no one may be impa tient, he says, thou reapest the fruit already, or there is a reward in the labor itself. When therefore he has set before him the examples of soldiers, of wrestlers, and husbandmen, and all figuratively, " No one," he says, " is crowned - See Horn. iii. on Stat.