284 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VI. find by searching in the Scriptures. But let us not be weary, but attune ourselves by these things. Let us hold the faith steadfastly, and show forth strictness of life : that having through all things returned thanks to God, we may be counted worthy of the good things promised to them that love Him, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, &c. HOMILY VI. COLOSSIANS ii. 6, 7. "As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." AGAIN, he takes hold on them beforehand with their own testimony, saying, " As therefore ye received." We introduce no strange addi tion, he saith, neither do ye. "Walk ye in Him," for He is the Way that leadeth to the Father : not in the Angels ; this way leadeth not thither. " Rooted," that is, fixed ; not one while going this way, another that, but "rooted " : now that which is rooted, never can remove. Ob serve how appropriate are the expressions he employs. "And built up," that is, in thought attaining unto Him. " And stablished " in Him, that is, holding Him, built as on a foundation. He shows that they had fallen down, for the word " built " l has this force. For the faith is in truth a building ; and needs both a strong foundation, and secure construction. For both if any one build not upon a secure foundation it will shake ; and even though he do, if it be not firm, it will not stand. " As ye were taught." Again, the word "As." "Abounding," he saith, " in thanksgiving " ; for this is the part of well-disposed persons, I say not simply to give thanks, but with great abundance, more than ye learned, if possible, with much ambition. Ver. 8. " Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you." Seest thou how he shows him to be a thief, and an alien, and one that enters in softly? For he has already represented him to be enter ing in. " Beware." And he well said "maketh spoil." As one digging away a mound from underneath, may give no perceptible sign, yet it gradually settles, so do you also beware ; for this is his main point, not even to let himself be perceived. As if some one were robbing every day, and he (the owner of the house) were told, " Beware lest there be some one " ; and he shows the way through this way as if we 1 Present participle. were to say, through this chamber ; 2 so, " through philosophy," says he. Then because the term " philosophy " has an appearance of dignity, he added, " and vain de ceit." For there is also a good deceit ; such as many have been deceived by, which one ought not even to call a deceit at all. Whereof Jere miah speaks ; " O Lord, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived" 3 (Jer. xx. 7); for such as this one ought not to call a deceit at all ; for Jacob also deceived his father, but that was not a deceit, but an economy. " Through his philosophy," he saith, " and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments 4 of the world, and not after Christ." Now he sets about to reprove their observance of particular 5 days, meaning by elements of the world the sun and moon ; 6 as he also said in the Epistle to the Galatians, " How turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly elements?" (Gal. iv. 9.) And he said not observances of days, but in general of the present world, to show its worthlessness : for if the present world be nothing, much more then its elements. Having first shown how great benefits and kindnesses they had received, he afterwards brings on his accusation, thereby to show its greater seriousness, and to convict his hearers. Thus too the Prophets do. They always first point out the benefits, and then they magnify their accusation ; as Esaias saith, " I have begotten children, and exalted them, but they have rejected me" (Isa. i. 2, Sept.) ; and 2 [This comparison, wanting in all previous editions of the Greek, given by the Oxford tr. in a footnote, is found in all theMSS. collated for Field. It is somewhat obscure (and probably on that account omitted from some copies), but the general meaning is not hard to find. J. A. B.] 3 [Some documents (followed by Field) here insert, " But I am not persuaded," probably an addition to rescue Chrys. from the posi tion of defending deceit. But he has done this elaborately in his beautiful treatise on the Priesthood, employing the same arguments and expressions as here. It is an error not surprising in an Asiatic Greek. J. A. B.] 4 oroixeia, elements. 6 riav fiiJ.fptav. Montfaucon refers to his Suppl. de 1 Ant. Expl. 1. iii. vol. i, p. 112, where he shows that the observance of heathen customs about lucky and unlucky days, and the like, was common in France in the thirteenth century. Such were the Dies JEgyp- tiaci, &c. 8 [This misinterpretation is found in many Fathers. See Light- foot here, and on Gal. iv, 9. J. A. B.]