WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY II. with a view to marriage ; it was given with a view to the procreation of children, not with a view to adultery and corruption. The laws, too, know how to make allowance for those sins which are of necessity, or rather nothing is sin when it arises from necessity but all sin rises from wantonness. God hath not so framed man s nature as that he should have any neces sity to sin, since were this the case, there would be no such thing as punishment. We ourselves exact no account of things done of necessity and by constraint, much less would God, so full of mercy and loving-kindness. Again, what is stealing? is it matter of neces sity ? Yes, a man will say, because poverty causes this. Poverty, however, rather compels us to work, not to steal. Poverty, therefore, has in fact the contrary effect. Theft is the effect of idleness; whereas poverty produces usually not idleness, but a love of labor. So that this sin is the effect of indolence, as you may learn from hence. Which, I ask, is the more diffi cult, the more distasteful, to wander about at night without sleep, to break open houses, and walk about in the dark, and to have one s life in one s hand, and to be always prepared for mur der, and to be shivering and dead with fear ; or to be attending to one s daily task, in full enjoy ment of safety and security ? This last is the easier task ; and it is because this is easier, that the majority practise it rather than the other. Thou seest then that it is virtue which is accord ing to nature, and vice which is against nature, in the same way as disease and health are. What, again, are falsehood and perjury? What necessity can they possibly imply ? None whatever, nor any compulsion ; it is a matter to which we proceed voluntarily. We are dis trusted, it will be said. True, distrusted we are, because we choose it. For we might, if we would, be trusted more upon our character, than upon our oath. Why, tell me, is it that we do not trust some, no, not on their oath, whilst we deem others trustworthy even independently of oaths. 1 Seest thou that there is no need of oaths in any case? When such an one speaks, we say, I believe him, even without any oath, but thee, no, not with thy oaths. Thus then an oath is unnecessary; and is in fact an evi dence rather of distrust than of confidence. For where a man is over ready to take his oath, he does not leave us to entertain any great idea of his scrupulousness. So that the man who is most constant in his use of oaths, has on no oc casion any necessity for using one, and he who never uses one on any occasion, has in himself 1 Vid. also Horn, ad Pop. Antioch. vii. fin. However, in Act Apost. Horn. x. fin. he considers oaths allowable in order to con vince the weak. St. Augustine says the same, de Serm. Dom. i. 51. thus accounting for St. Pau"s expressions, Rom. i : 9. i Cor. xv; 31. 2 Cor. ii : 31. Gal. i. 20. the full benefit of its use. Some one says there is a necessity for an oath, to produce confi dence; but we see that they are the more readily trusted who abstain from taking oaths. But again, if one is a man of violence, is this a matter of necessity? Yes, he will say, be cause his passion carries him away, and burns within him, and does not let the soul be at rest. Man, to act with violence is not the effect of anger, but of littleness of mind. Were it the effect of anger, all men, whenever they were angry, would never cease committing acts of violence. We have anger given us, not that we may commit acts of violence on our neighbors, but that we may correct those that are in sin, that we may bestir ourselves, that we may not be sluggish. Anger is implanted in us as a sort of sting, to make us gnash with our teeth against the devil, to make us vehement against him, not to set us in array against each other. We have arms, not to make us at war amongst ourselves, but that we may employ our whole armor against the enemy. Art thou prone to anger ? Be so against thine own sins : chastise thy soul, scourge thy conscience, be a severe judge, and merciless in thy sentence against thine own sins. This is the way to turn anger to account. It was for this that God implanted it within us. But again, is plunder a matter of necessity? No, in no wise. Tell me, what manner of ne cessity is there to be grasping : what manner of compulsion ? Poverty, a man will say, causes it, and the fear of being without common neces saries. Now this is the very reason why you ought not to be grasping. Wealth so gotten has no security in it. You are doing the very same thing as a man would do, who, if he were asked why he laid the foundation of his house in the sand, should say, he did it because of the frost and rain. Whereas this would be the very reason why he should not lay it in the sand. They are the very foundations which the rain, and blasts, and wind, most quickly overturn. So that if thou wouldest be wealthy, never be rapacious ; if thou wouldest transmit wealth to thy child ren, get righteous wealth, at least, if any there be that is such. Because this abides, and re mains firm, whereas that which is not such, quickly wastes and perishes. Tell me, hast thou a mind to be rich, and dost thou take thegoods of others ? Surely this is not wealth : wealth consists in possessing what is thine own. He that is in possession of the goods of others, never can be a wealthy man ; since at that rate even your very silk venders, who receive their goods as a consignment from others, would be the wealthiest and the richest of men. Though for the time, indeed, it is theirs, still we do not call them wealthy. And why forsooth ? Be cause they are in possession of what belongs to