22O WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VIII. bold ; "for it is God that worketh in you." If then He worketh, it is our part to bring a mind ever resolute, clenched and unrelaxed. " For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to work." " If He does Himself work in us to will, how dost thou exhort us ? for if He works Himself even the will, the words, which you speak to us, have no meaning, that ye have obeyed ; for we have not obeyed ; it is without meaning that thou sayest, with fear and trembling ; for the whole is of God." It was not for this that I said to you, " for it is He that worketh in you both to will and to work," but my object was to relieve your anxiety. If thou wilt, in that case He will " work in thee to will." Be not affrighted, thou art not worsted ; both the hearty desire and the accomplishment are a gift from Him : for where we have the will, thenceforward He will increase our will. For instance, I desire to do some good work : He has wrought the good work itself, and by means of it He has wrought also the will. Or he says this in the excess of his piety, as when he declares that our well-doings are gifts of grace. As then, when he calls these gifts, he does not put us out of the pale of free will, but accords to us free will, so when he says, " to work in us to will," he does not deprive us of free will, but he shows that by actually doing right we greatly increase our heartiness in willing. For as doing comes of doing, so of not doing comes not do ing. Hast thou given an alms? thou art the more incited to give. Hast thou refused to give? thou art become so much the more disin clined. Hast thou practiced temperance for one day? Thou hast an incitement for the next likewise. Hast thou indulged to excess ? Thou hast increased the inclination to self-indulgence. " When a wicked man cometh into, the depth of vice, then he despises." (Prov. xviii. 3.) As, then, when a man cometh into the depth of in iquity, he turns a despiser ; so when he cometh into the depth of goodness, he quickens his ex ertions. For as the one runs riot in despair, so the second, under a sense of the multitude of good things, exerts himself the more, fearing lest he should lose the whole. " For His good pleasure," he says, that is, " for love s sake," for the sake of pleasing Him ; to the end that what is acceptable to Him may take place ; that things may take place according to His will. Here he shows, and makes it a ground of con fidence, that He is sure to work in us, for it is His will that we live as He desires we should, and if He desires it, He Himself both worketh in us to this end, 1 and will certainly accomplish 1 This clause, n-pos Se rovro aurbs evfpytl, is difficult. Old Lat. seems to have used fvayti, making the sense, " and thus far Himself instructs us." it ; for it is His will that we live aright. Seest thou, how he does not deprive us of free will ? " Do all things without murmurings and dis- putings." The devil, when he finds that he has no power to withdraw us from doing right, wishes to spoil our reward by other means. For he has taken occasion to insinuate pride or vain glory, or if none of these things,then murmuring, or, if not this, misgivings. Now then see how Paul sweeps away all these. He said on the subject of humility all that he did say, to over throw pride ; he spoke of vainglory, that is, "not as in my presence only" ; he here speaks of " murmuring and disputing." But why, I want to know, when in the case of the Corin thians he was engaged in uprooting this evil tendency, did he remind them of the Israelites, but here has said nothing of the sort, but simply charged them ? Because in that case the mis chief was already done, for which reason there was need of a more severe stroke and a sharper rebuke ; but here he is giving admonitions to prevent its being done. Severe measures then were not called for in order to secure those that had not yet been guilty ; as in leading them to humility he did not subjoin the instance in the Gospel, wherein the proud were punished, but laid the charge as from God s lips (Luke xvi. 23? xviii. 14?) ; and he addresses them as free, as children of pure birth, not as servants ; for in the practice of virtue a rightminded and gener ous person is influenced by those who do well, but one of bad principles by those who do not do well ; the one by the consideration of honor, the other of punishment. Wherefore also writ ing to the Hebrews, he said, bringing forward the example of Esau, " Who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright" (Heb. xii. 16) > and again, " if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him." (Heb. x. 38.) And among the Corinthians were many who had been guilty of fornication. Therefore he said, " Lest when I come again my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn for many that have sinned heretofore, and repented not of the un- cleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness which they committed. (2 Cor. xii. 21.) That ye may be blameless," says he, "and harmless" ; i.e. irreproachable, unsullied for murmuring occasions no slight stain. And what means "without disputing"? Is it good, or not good? Do not dispute, he says, though it be trouble, or labor, or any thing else whatever. He did not say, " that ye be not punished," for punishment is reserved for the thing ; and this he made evident in the Epistle to the Corin thians ; but here he said nothing of the sort ; but he says, "That ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,