WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VIII.
them, in His Incarnation, I mean, He became
a servant for their sakes,
"
He humbled Him
self, He emptied Himself, He took the form of
a servant." (Phil, ii : 7, 8.) And when He
came unto them, He went not Himself aside
"into any way of the Gentiles," (Matt, x : 5.)
and gave the same charge to His disciples, and
not only so, but
"
He went about healing all
manner of disease, and all manner of sickness.
(Matt, iv: 23.) And what then ? All the rest
indeed were astonished, and marvelled, and
said, "Whence, then, hath this man all these
things?" (Matt, xiii : 56.) But these, the ob
jects of His beneficence, these said,
"
He hath
a devil," (John x: 20.) and
"
blasphemeth,"
(Johnx: 36.) and "is mad," and is a
"
de
ceiver," (John vii : 12, and Matt, xxvii : 63.)
Did he therefore cast them away ? No, in no
wise, but when He heard these sayings, He
even yet more signally besiowed His benefits
upon them, and went straightway to them that
were about to crucify Him, to the intent that
He might but only save them. And after He
was crucified, what were His words?
"
Father,
forgive them, for theyknow not what they do."
(Luke xxiii : 34.) Both cruelly treated before
this, and cruelly treated after this, even to the
very latest breath, for them Hedid everything,
in their behalfHe prayed. Yea, and after the
Cross itself, what did He not do for their sakes ?
Did He not send Apostles ? Did He not work
miracles ? Did He not shake the whole world ?
Thus is it we ought to love our enemies, thus
to imitate Christ. Thus did Paul. Stoned,
suffering unnumbered cruelties, yet did he all
things for their good. Hear his own words.
"
My heart s desire and my supplication to God
is for them that they may be saved." (Rom. x :
i, 2.) And again ;
"
For I bear them witness
that they have a zeal for God." And again;
"
If thou, being a wild olive tree wast grafted
in, how much more shall these be grafted into
their own olive tree ? ( Rom. xi : 24.) How
tender, thinkest thou, must be the affection from
which these expressions proceed, how vast the
benevolence ? it is impossible to express it, im
possible.
Thus is itwe ought to love our enemies. This
is to love God,Who hath enjoined it, Who hath
given it as His law. To imitate Him is to love
our enemy. Consider it is not thine enemy
thou art benefiting, but thyself; thou art not
loving him, but art obeying God. Knowing
therefore these things, let us confirm our love
one to another, that we may perform this duty
perfectly, and attain those good things that are
promised in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom
to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be
glory, might, and honor, now, and for ever
and ever. Amen.
HOMILY VIII
CHAPTER iv. Verses i, 2.
"
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to
walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were
called, with all lowliness and meekness."
IT is the virtue of teachers to aim not at
praise, nor at esteem from those under their
authority, but at their salvation, and to do
every thing with this object ; since the man
who should make the other end his aim, would
not be a teacher but a tyrant. Surely it is not
for this that God set thee over them, that thou
shouldest enjoy greater court and service, but
that thine own interests should he disregarded,
and every one of theirs built up. This is a
teacher s duty : such an one was the blessed
Paul, a man who was free from all manner
of vanity, and was contented to be one of the
many, nay more, to be the very least even of
them. Hence he even calls himself their ser
vant, and so generally speaks in a tone of sup
plication. Observe him then even now writing
nothing dictatorial, nothing imperious, but all
chastened and subdued.
"
I therefore," saith he,
"
the prisoner in the
Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the call
ing wherewith ye were called." What is it,
tell me, thou art beseeching ? Is it that thou
mayest gain any end for thyself ? No, saith he,
in no wise ; it is that I may save others. And
yet surely they who beseech, do so for things
which are of importance to themselves. True ;
and this, saith he, is of importance to myself,
according to what he says also elsewhere in his
writings,
"
Now we live, if ye stand fast in the
Lord;
"
(i Thess. iii : 8.) for he ever earnestly
desired the salvation of those whom he was
instructing.
"I, the prisoner in the Lord." Great and
mighty dignity
! Greater than that of king or
of consul, or of any other. Hence it is the very
titlehe uses in writing to Philemon,
"
As Paul the