HOMILY III.] HOMILIES ON TITUS. 529 means to guide them. So in the case of the oxen, that drew the ark. " If it goeth up by the way of his own coast, then He hath done us this great evil" (i Sam. vi. 9), as their prophets suggested. Do these prophets then speak the truth ? No ; but he refutes and confounds them out of their own mouths. Again, in the case of the witch, because Saul believed in her, he caused him to hear through her what was about to befall him. Why then did Paul stop the mouth of the spirit, that said, " These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation " ? (Acts xvi. 17.) And why did Christ hinder the devils from speakingofHim ? In this case there was reason, since the miracles were going on. For here it was not a star that proclaimed Him, but He Himself; and the demons again were not wor shiped 1 ; for it was not an image that spoke, that it should be forbidden. He also suffered Balaam to bless, and did not restrain him. Thus He everywhere condescends. And what wonder ? forHe permitted opinions erroneous, and unworthy of Himself, to prevail, as that He was a body formerly, 2 and that He was visible. In opposition to which He says, " God is a Spirit." (John iv. 24.) Again, that He delighted in sacrifices, which is far from His nature. And He utters words at variance with His declarations of Himself, and many such things. For He nowhere considers His own dignity, but always what will be profitable to us. And if a father considers not his own dignity, but talks lispingly with his children, and calls their meat and drink not by their Greek names, but by some childish and barbarous words, much more doth God. Even in reproving He con descends, as when He speaks by the prophet, " Hath a nation changed theirgods ? " (Jer. ii. 1 1), and in every part of Scripture there are instances ofHis condescension both in words and actions. Ver. 13. "Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith." This he says, because their disposition was froward, deceitful, and dissolute. They have these numberless bad qualities ; and because they are prone to lying, deceiving, gluttonous, and slothful, severe reproof is necessary. For such characters will not be managed by mild ness, " therefore rebuke them." He speaks not here of Gentiles, but of his own people. " Sharply." Give them, he says, a stroke that cuts deep. For one method is not to be em ployed with all, but they are to be differently dealt with, according to their various characters and dispositions. He does not here have re course to exhortation. For as he who treats 1 i.e. by Saul, i Sam. xxviii. 8. - This word seems to refer to the time when the opinions were allowed to prevail. with harshness the meek and ingenuous, may destroy them ; so he who flatters one that re quires severity, causes him to perish, and does not suffer him to be reclaimed. "That they may be sound in the faith." This then is soundness, to introduce nothing spurious, nor foreign. But if they who are scrupulous about meats are not sound, but are sick and weak; for, "Them that are weak," he says, " receive ye, but not to doubtful disputa tions " (Rom xiv. i) ; what can be said of those who observe the same fasts, (with the Jews,) who keep the sabbaths, who frequent the places that are consecrated by them? I speak of that at Daphne,3 of that which is called the cave of Matrona, and of that plain in Cilicia, which is called Saturn s. How are these sound ? With them a heavier stroke is necessary. Why then does he not do the same with the Romans ? Because their dispositions were different, they were of a nobler character. Ver. 14. "Not giving heed," he says, "to Jewish fables." The Jewish tenets were fables in two ways, because they were imitations, and because the thing was past its season, for such things be come fables at last. For when a thing ought not to be done, and being done, is injurious, it is a fable even as it is useless. As then those 4 ought not to be regarded, so neither ought these. For this is not being sound. For if thou believest the Faith, why dost thou add other things, as if the faith were not sufficient to justify? Why dost thou enslave thyself by subjection to the Law? Hast thou no confi dence in what thou believest ? This is a. mark of an unsound and unbelieving mind. For one who is faithful does not doubt, but such an one evidently doubts. Ver. 15. " Unto the pure," he says, "all things are pure." Thou seest that this is said to a particular purpose. " But unto them that are defiled and unbe lieving is nothing pure." Things then are not clean or unclean from their own nature, but from the disposition of him who partakes of them. " But even their mind and conscience is de filed." Ver. 1 6. " They profess that they know God ; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good work repro bate." The swine therefore is clean. Why then was it forbidden as unclean? It was not unclean by nature ; for, " all things are pure." Nothing is more unclean than a fish, inasmuch as it even 3 See on Stat. Horn. xvii. 4 i.e. heathen fables.