stubborn, wherefore he orders them to be rebuked more roughly, and with all authority. For there are some sins, which ought to be prevented by command. We may with persuasion advise men to despise riches, to be meek, and the like. But the adulterer, the fornicator, the defrauder, ought to be brought to a better course by command. And those who are addicted to augury and divination, and the like, should be corrected “with all authority.” Observe how he would have him insist on these things with independence, and with entire free- dom.1501 “Let no man despise thee.” But Chap. iii. 1. “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey ma- gistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers.” What then? even when men do evil, may we not revile them? nay, but “to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man.” Hear the exhortation, “To speak evil of no man.” Our lips should be pure from reviling. For if our reproaches are true, it is not for us to utter them, but for the Judge to enquire into the matter. “For why,” he says, “dost thou judge thy brother?” (Rom. xiv. 10.) But if they are not true, how great the fire.1502 Hear what the thief says to his fellow-thief. “For we are also in the same condemnation.” (Luke xxiii. 40.) We are running the same hazard.1503 If thou revilest others, thou wilt soon fall into the same sins. Therefore the blessed Paul admonishes us: “Let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. x. 12.) “To be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.” Unto Greeks and Jews, to the wicked and the evil. For when he says, “Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall,” he wakens their fears from the future; but here, on the con- trary, he exhorts them from the consideration of the past, and the same in what follows; Ver. 3. “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish.” Thus also he does in his Epistle to the Galatians, where he says, “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.” (Gal. iv. 4.) Therefore he says, Revile no one, for such also thou wast thyself. “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” Therefore we ought to be thus to all, to be gently disposed. For he who was formerly in such a state, and has been delivered from it, ought not to reproach others, but to pray, to be thankful to Him who has granted both to him and them deliverance from such evils. Let no one boast; for all have sinned. If then, doing well thyself, thou art inclined to revile others, consider thy own former life, and the uncertainty of the future, and restrain thy anger.1504 1501 ἐξουσίας. 1502 i.e. hereafter. See Hom. i. on Tit. i. 4, p. 522, “how great a flame.” 1503 ἀγῶνα. 1504 Colb. and Old Lat. “impulse.” 930 Titus 2:11-14