Homily VIII. Colossians iii. 5–7 “Mortify your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake, cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience; in the which ye also walked aforetime, when ye lived in these things.” I know that many are offended by the foregoing discourse, but what can I do? ye heard what the Master enjoined. Am I to blame? what shall I do? See ye not the creditors, when debtors are obstinate, how they wear832 collars? Heard ye what Paul proclaimed today? “Mortify,” he saith, “your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” What is worse than such a covet- ousness? This is worse than any desire. This is still more grievous than what I was speaking 294 of, the madness, and the silly weakness about silver. “And covetousness,” he saith, “which is idolatry.” See in what the evil ends. Do not, I pray, take what I said amiss, for not by my own good-will, nor without reason, would I have enemies; but I was wishful ye should attain to such virtue, as that I might hear of you the things I ought.833 So that I said it not for au- thority’s sake, nor of imperiousness,834 but out of pain and of sorrow. Forgive me, forgive! I have no wish to violate decency by discoursing upon such subjects, but I am compelled to it. Not for the sake of the sorrows of the poor do I say these things, but for your salvation; for they will perish, will perish, that have not fed Christ. For what, if thou dost feed some poor man? still so long as thou livest so voluptuously and luxuriously, all is to no purpose. For what is required is, not the giving much, but not too little for the property thou hast; for this is but playing at it. “Mortify therefore your members,” he saith, “which are upon the earth.” What sayest thou? Was it not thou that saidst, “Ye are buried; ye are buried together with Him; ye are circumcised: we have put off the body of the sins of the flesh” (c. ii. 11, 12; Rom. vi. 4.); how then again sayest thou, “Mortify”?835 Art thou sporting? Dost thou thus discourse, as though those things were in us? There is no contradiction; but like as if one, who has clean scoured a statue that was filthy, or rather who has recast it, and displayed it bright afresh,836 should 832 [This very natural inadvertence in free speaking is duly changed, by the group of mss. which make so many changes, into “how they put collars on them.” These wooden collars were a disgrace, like the stocks.—J.A.B.] 833 Or perhaps, “I could wish…that I might hear from you what is right.” Gr. παρ᾽ ὑμῶν. 834 ἀξιώματος, wish to maintain dignity. 835 i.e. put to death. 836 [The word is ἄνωθεν, as in John iii. 3, 7, and here necessarily means anew or afresh,—a sense so rare as to justify calling attention to it.—J.A.B.] Colossians 3:5-7 519 Colossians 3:5-7