5o8 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VIII. should disbelieve the Resurrection ; nor all the righteous afflicted, lest men should think that vice, and not virtue, is approved. These are the rules and limits. Bring what you will to the test of these, and you will not be perplexed with doubt. For as there is among calculators the number of six thousand, to which all things can be reduced, and everything can be divided and multiplied in the scale of six thousand, and this is known to all who are acquainted with arithmetic 1 ; so he who knows those rules, which I will briefly recapitulate, will never be offended. And what are these? That virtue is a good, vice an evil; that diseases, poverty, ill-treat ment, false accusations, and the like, are things indifferent ; that the righteous are afflicted here, or if ever they are in prosperity, it is that virtue may not appear odious ; that the wicked enjoy pleasure now that hereafter they may be pun ished, or if they are sometimes visited, it is that vice may not seem to be approved, nor their actions to go unpunished ; that all are not pun ished, lest there should be a disbelief of the time of resurrection ; that even of the good, some who have done bad actions are quit of them here ; and of the wicked, some have good ones, and are rewarded for them here, that their wickedness may be punished hereafter (Matt, vi. 5) ; that the works ofGod are for the most part incomprehensible, and that the difference between us and Him is greater than can be ex pressed. Ifwe reason on these grounds, nothing will be able to trouble or perplex us. Ifwe lis ten to the Scriptures continually, we shall find many such examples. " Which are able," he says, " to make thee wise unto salvation." For the Scriptures suggest to us what is to be done, and what is not to be done. For hear this blessed one elsewhere saying, " Thou art confi dent that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes." (Rom. ii. 19, 20.) Thou seest that the Law is the light of them which are in darkness ; and if that which showeth the letter, the letter which killeth, is light, what then is the Spirit which quickeneth ? If the Old Covenant is light, what is the New, which contains so many, and so great revela tions ? where the difference is as great, as if any one should open heaven to those who only know the earth, and make all things there visible. There we learn concerning hell, heaven, and judgment. Let us not believe in things irrational. They are nothing but imposture. "What," you say, " when what they foretell comes to pass ? " It 1 ypanvaTa., lit. letters. The -ypa/oi^aTi<TTa.i taught reading, writ ing, and arithmetic. See Johannes a Wower de Polymathia, c. vi. Grsev. torn. ix. Hales suspects the number 6000, but it may refer to computations of money, as the talent contains 600 denarii, or6000 asses. is because you believe it, if it does come to pass. The impostor has taken thee captive. Thy life is in his power, he manages thee as he will. If a captain of robbers should have under his power and disposal the son of a king, who had fled to him, preferring the desert, and his lawless company, would he be able to pronounce whether he would live or die? Assuredly he would, not because he knows the future, but because he is the disposer of his life or death, the youth having put himself in his power. For according to his own pleasure, he may either kill him, or spare his life, as he is become sub ject to him, and it is equally at his 2 disposal to say whether thou shalt be rich or poor. The greater part of the world have delivered them selves up into the hands of the devil. And furthermore, it contributes much to favor the pretenses of these deceivers, that a man has accustomed himself to believe in them. For no one takes notice of their failures, but their lucky conjectures are observed. But if these men have any power of prognosticating, bring them to me, a believer. I say not this, as magnifying myself, (for it is no great honor to be superior to these things,) and indeed I am deep-laden with sins ; but with respect to these matters. I will not be humble-minded ; by the grace of God I despise them all. Bring me this pre tender to magic ; let him, if he has any power of prognosticating, tell me what will happen to me to-morrow. But he will not tell me. For I am under the power of the King, and he has no claim to my allegiance or submission. I am far from his holes and caverns. I war under the king. "But some one committed theft," you say, " and this man discovered it." This is not always true, certainly, but for the most part absurdities and falsehoods. For they know nothing. If indeed they know anything, they ought rather to speak of their own concerns, how the numerous offerings to their idols have been stolen, how so much of their gold has been melted. Why have they not informed their Priests? Even for the sake of money, they have not been able to give in formation when their idol-temples have been burnt, and many have perished with them.3 Why do they not provide for their own safety? But it is altogether a matter of chance, if they have predicted anything. With us there are prophets, and they do not fail. They do not speak truth in one instance and falsehood in another, but always declare the truth ; for this is the privilege of foreknowledge. Cease, then, from this madness, I beseech 2 i.e. Satan s. 3 He may allude to the burning of Daphne, lamented by Liba- nius, Or. 61, which is preserved by St. Chrysostom in his work on St. Babylas, 18, Ben. t. 2, p. 566, where he also mentions this in ability to discover the cause.