house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.” And again: “Every one who heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”1194 Do you perceive that it was not the attack of these trials that produced the overthrow, but the folly of the builders? 366 For there was rain there, and there was rain here; there were floods there, and there were floods here; here the beating of winds, and there again the same. The one man built a house, and the other built a house. The building was the same; the trials were the same; but the end was not the same; because there was not the same foundation. For the folly of the builder, not the nature of the trials, caused the fall of the building; otherwise the house that was founded upon the rock should have fallen, whereas nothing of that kind befell it. But do not suppose that these things were spoken merely of a house; for the discourse relates to a soul, giving proof by its works that it hears the divine word, or rejects it. Thus Job builded up his soul. The rain descended;—for the fire fell from heaven and devoured all his flocks; the floods came;—the frequent,—the constant,—the successive messengers of his calamities, telling him of the destruction of his herds—of his camels—of his children. The winds blew,—the bitter words of his wife:—“Curse God,” she said, “and die.”1195 Yet the house fell not: the soul was not supplanted: the just man did not blaspheme; but even gave thanks thus, saying, “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. As it pleased the Lord, so is it come to pass.”1196 Seest thou that not the nature of the trials, but the negligence of the in- dolent, is wont to cause the overthrow? since tribulation makes the strong man stronger. Who saith this? It is the man who lived in tribulation, the blessed Paul; he speaks thus: “Tribulation worketh patience, and patience probation, and probation hope.”1197 And even as the violence of the wind, when it rushes upon strong trees, and sways them in all directions, does not root them up, but renders them still firmer and stronger by these attacks; so the soul that is holy, and lives in a religious state, is not supplanted by the inroads of trial and tribulation, but stimulated thereby to more patience; even as the blessed Job, whom they made more illustrious and honourable. 5. At the present time then, a man is angry with us, a man of like passions, and of like soul, and we are afraid: but in the case of Job it was an evil and malignant demon who was angry; nay, he was not simply angry, but set in motion all sorts of machinations, and brought forward every stratagem; and yet even with all he could not conquer the fortitude of the just man. But here is a man, who is at one time angry, at another time is reconciled; and we are 1194 Matt. vii. 24–27. 1195 Job ii. 9. 1196 Job i. 21. 1197 Rom. v. 3, 4. 514 Homily IV