430 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VII. the covetous man may be called disorderly and intemperate. For avarice is a lust no less than the bodily appetites, which he who does not chastise, is called dissolute. 1 For men are called dissolute from not restraining their desires, so that the passionate, the envious, the covetous, the deceitful, and every one that lives in sin, may be called dissolute, disorderly, and licen tious. Ver. 3. " For this is good and acceptable in the sight ofGod our Saviour." What is said to be " acceptable " ? The pray ing for all men. This God accepts, this He wills. Ver. 4. " Who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." Imitate God ! ifHe willeth that all men should be saved, there is reason why one should pray for all, ifHe hath willed that all should be saved, be thou willing also ; and if thou wishest it, pray for it, for wishes lead to prayers. Observe how from every quarter He urges this upon the soul, to pray for the Heathen, showing how great advan tage springs from it ; " that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life " ; and what is much more than this, that it is pleasing to God, and thus men become like Him, in that they will the same that He does. This is enough to shame a very brute. Fear not therefore to pray for the Gentiles, for God Himself wills it ; but fear only to pray against any, for that He wills not. And if you pray for the Heathens, you ought of course to pray for Heretics also, for we are to pray for all men, and not to persecute. - And this is good also for another reason, as we are partakers of the same nature, and God com mands and accepts benevolence and affection towards one another. But if the Lord Himself wills to give, you say, what need of my prayer? It is of great benefit both to them and to thyself. It draws them to love, and it inclines thee to humanity. It has the power of attracting others to the faith ; (for many men have fallen away from God, from contentiousness towards one another ;) and this 3 is what he now calls the salvation of God, " who will have all men to be saved " ; without this all other is nothing great, a mere nominal salva tion, 4 and only in words. " And to come to the knowledge of the truth." The truth : what truth? Faith in Him. And indeed he had previously said, " Charge some that they teach no other doctrine." But that no one may con- 2 This of course does not imply that Heretics might not be pre vented from usurping churches, nor their persons shunned, Horn, de Incompr. ii. fin. Ben. t. i. p. 462, nor their doctrines anathema tized. Hoin. de Anathemat. fin. t. i. p. 696. On the Church s dis approval of putting them to death, see the case of Priscillian, in the vol. of Fleury s Eccl. History [Schaff, Ch. Hist. III. 143]. 3 i.e. the com.. ;j to the Faith. Sav. mar. has " and this is what he now calls salvation " (this fern.). See Ps. xcviii. 3. 4 The Greek word is applicable to bodily safety. sider such as enemies, and on that account raise troubles 5 against them ; he says that " He willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth " ; and having said this, he adds, Ver. 5. " For there is one God, and one Me diator between God and men." He had before said, " to come to the knowl edge of the truth," implying that the world is not in the truth. Now he says, " that there is one God," that is, not as some say, many, and that He has sent His Son as Mediator, thus giving proof that He will have all men to be saved. But is not the Son God? Most truly He is; why then does he say, "One God"? In contradistinction to the idols ; not to the Son. For he is discoursing about truth and error. Now a mediator, ought to have com munion with both parties, between whom he is to mediate. For this is the property of a medi ator, to be in close communion with each of those whose mediator he is. For he would be no longer a mediator, if he were connected with one but separated from the other." If therefore He partakes not of the nature of the Father, He is not a Mediator, but is separated. For as He is partaker of the nature of men, because He came to men, so is He partaker of the nature of God, because He came from God. Because He was to mediate between two natures, He must approximate to the two natures ; for as the place situated between two others is joined to each place, so must that between natures be joined to either nature. As therefore He be came Man, so was He also God. A man could not have become a mediator, because he must also plead with God. God could not have been mediator, since those could not receive Him, toward whom He should have mediated. And as elsewhere he says, "There is one God the Father, . . . and one Lord Jesus Christ " (i Cor. viii. 6) ; so also here " One " God, and " One " Mediator ; he does not say two ; for he would not have that number wrested to Polytheism, of which he was speaking. So he wrote " One" and "One." You see how accurate are the expressions of Scripture ! For though one and one are two, we are not to say this, though rea son suggests it. And here thou sayest not one and one are twt>, and yet thou sayest what reason does not suggest. " If He begat He also suf fered." 7 " For there is one God," he says, " and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." - " See St. Athanasius, Ep. on Nicene Decrees, 24, Tr. p. 41. kiraQfv. Not in the sense implied in Sabellianism. He refers to an Arian argument against the proper Divinity of the Son, which he means is less plausible than one which this passage of St. Paul shows not to be legitimate. See St. Ath. against Arians, Disc, i, Ben. 16, t. i. p. 421 a, Tr. c. v. 6, p. 204.