464 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY XVI. thee to myself, "eat Me, drink Me," I said. Above I hold thee, and below I embrace thee. Is it not enough for thee that I have thy First- fruits above ? Doth not this satisfy thy affection ? I descended below : I not onlyam mingled with thee, I am entwined in thee. I am masticated, 1 broken into minute particles, that the inter- spersion, 2 and commixture, and union may be more complete. Things united remain yet in their own limits, but I am interwoven with thee. I would have no more any division between us. I will that we both be one. Therefore knowing these things and remem bering His abundant care for us, let us do all things which may prove us not unworthy of His great gift, which God grant that we may all obtain, through the grace and lovingkindness of Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom, &c. HOMILY XVI. i TIMOTHY v. 21-23. " I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing noth ing by partiality. Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men s sins : keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach s sake and thine often infirmities." HAVING spoken of Bishops and Deacons, of men, and women, of widows and elders, and of all others, and having shown how great was the authority of a Bishop, now he was speaking of judgment, he has added, " I charge thee be fore God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality." Thus fearfully he charges him. For though Timothy was his beloved son, he did not therefore stand in awe of him. For as he was not ashamed to say of himself, " Lest by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away " (i Cor. ix. 27) ; much less would he be afraid or ashamed in the case ofTimothy. He called the Father and the Son to witness. But wherefore the elect Angels ? From great moderation, as Moses said, " I call heaven and earth to witness " (Deut. iv. 26) ; and again, " Hear ye, O mountains, and strong foundations of the earth." (Mic. vi. 2.) He calls the Father and the Son to witness what he has said, making his appeal to Them against that future Day, that if anything should be done that ought not to be done, he was clear from the guilt of it. " That thou observe these things without pre ferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality." That is, that thou deal impartially and equally between those who are upon trial and are to be judged by thee, that no one may pre-occupy thy mind, or gain thee over to his side beforehand. But who are the elect Angels? It is because there are some not elect. As Jacob calls to witness God and the heap (Gen. xxxi. 45), so we often take at once superior and inferior per sons to witness ; so great a thing is testimony. As if he had said, I call to witness God and His Son and His servants, that I have charged thee : so before them I charge thee. He impresses Timothy with fear ; after which he adds, what was most vital,3 and bears most on the main tenance of the Church, the matter of Ordina tions. " Lay hands," he says, " suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men s sins." What is "suddenly"? Not upon a first, nor a second, nor a third trial, but after frequent and strict examination and circumspection. For it is an affair of no common peril. For thou wilt be responsible for the sins committed by him, as well his past as his future sins, because thou hast delegated to him this power. For if thou overlook the past unduly, thou art answerable for the future also, as being the cause of them, by placing him in that station, and of the past too, for not leaving him to mourn over them, and to be in compunction. For as thou art a partaker of his good actions, so art thou of his sins. " Keep thyself pure." This he says with ref erence to chastity. " Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach s sake and thy often infirmities." If one who had practiced fasting to such an ex tent, and used only water, so long that he had brought on " infirmities " and " frequent infirmi ties," is thus commanded to be chaste, and does not refuse the admonition, much less ought we to be offended when we receive an admonition from any one. But why did not Paul restore strength to his stomach? Not because he could not for he whose garment had raised the dead 3 Or " seasonable."