WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VI. is of the Lord. Thou plantest, thou waterest, but He soweth and maketh it produce fruit: Let us not therefore be so affected, as ifwe ourselves wrought the persuasion, even if we should per suade any one. "Taken captive by him," he says, " to His will." 1 This no one will say re lates to doctrine, but to life. For " His will " is that we live rightly. But some are in the snare of the devil by reason of their life, we ought not therefore to be weary even with respect to these. " If peradventure," he says, " they may re cover, that are taken captive, unto His will." Now "If peradventure," implies much longsuf- fering. For not to do the will ofGod is a snare of the devil. For as a sparrow, though it be not wholly en closed, but only caught by the foot, is still under the power of him who set the snare ; so though we be not wholly subverted, both in faith and life, but in life only, we are under the power of the devil. For, " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven " ; and again, " I know you not ; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. vii. 21-23.) You see there is no advantage from our faith, when our Lord knows us not : and to the virgins he says the same, " I know you not." (Matt. xxv. 12.) What then is the benefit of virginity, or of many labors, when the Lord knows us not? And in many places we find men not blamed for their faith, but punished for their evil life only ; as elsewhere, not reproved for evil lives, but perishing for their pravity of doctrine. For these things hold together.2 You see that when we do not the will of God, we are under the snare of the devil. And often not only from a bad life, but from one defect, we enter into Hell, where there are not good quali ties to counterbalance it, since the virgins were not accused of fornication or adultery, nor of envy or ill-will, nor of drunkenness, nor of un sound faith, but of a failure of oil. that is, they failed in almsgiving, for that is the oil meant.3 And those who were pronounced accursed in the words, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," were not accused of any such crimes, but because they had not fed Christ. MORAL. Seest thou that a failure in alms giving is enough to cast a man into hell fire? For where will he avail who does not give alms? Dost thou fast every day? So also did those 1 Gr. " To His and ust refer to twovji . iu liirj win. rvr> u*vivv aiiu CKVLITW [uual icier LU iwu different persons, the meaning probably is, " that they who aretaken captive by the devil may be recovered to the will of God." And so he takes it. 2 Sav. a\\ri\uiv e^erou. Ben. ep^erai, which would be hardly Greek even with a preposition. 3 So he takes it on Matt. xxv. Horn. Ixxviii. al. Ixxix, See also on Phil. i. 30, Horn. iv. 15, and notes, and on Rom. xi. 6, and on Rom. xiv. 13. St. Jerome and St. Aug. take the oil more generally cf good works, with allusion to Matt. v. 16. virgins, but it availed them nothing. Dost thou pray? What of that? prayer without alms giving is unfruitful, without that all things are unclean and unprofitable. The better part of virtue is destroyed. " He that loveth not his brother," it is said, " knoweth not God." (i John iv. 8.) And how dost thou love him, when thou dost not even impart to him of these poor worthless things? Tell me, therefore, dost thou observe chastity? On what account? From fear of punishment? By no means. It is of a natural endowment that thou observest it, since if thou wast chaste from fear of punishment, and didst violence to nature in submitting to so severe a rule, much more oughtest thou to do alms. For to govern the desire of wealth, and of bodily pleasures, is not the same thing. The latter is much more difficult to restrain. And wherefore? Because the pleasure is natural, and the desire of it is innate and of natural growth in the body. It is not so with riches. Herein we are able to resemble God, in showing mercy and pity. When therefore we have not this quality, we are devoid of all good. He has not said, " ye shall be like unto your Father, if ye fast," nor " if ye be virgins," nor " if ye pray," hath He said, "ye shall be like unto your Father," for none of these things can be applied to God, nor are they His acts. But what? "Be ye merciful, as your Father in Heaven is merciful." (Luke vi. 36.) This is the work of God. If therefore thou hast not this, what hast thou? He says : " I will have mercy, and not sacri fice." (Hosea vi. 6.) God made Heaven, and earth, and sea. Great works these, and worthy of His wisdom ! But by none of these has He so powerfully attracted human nature to Himself, as by mercy and the love of mankind. For that indeed is the work of power and wisdom and goodness. But it is far more so that He became a servant. Do we not for this more especially admire Him? are we not for this still more amazed at Him ? Nothing attracts God to us so much as mercy. And the prophets from begin ning to end discourse upon this subject. But I speak not of mercy that is accompanied with covetousness. That is not mercy. For it is not the root ofthe thorn but ofthe olive that produces the oil 4 ; so it is not the root of covetousness, of iniquity, or of rapine, that produces mercy. Do not put a slander on almsgiving. Do not cause it to be evil spoken of by all. If thou committest robbery for this, that thou mayest give alms, nothing is more wicked than thy almsgiving. Forwhen it is produced by rapine, it is not almsgiving, it is inhumanity, it is cruelty, it is an insult to God. If Cain so offended, by offering inferior gifts of his own, shall he not 4 He plays, as elsewhere, on the words eAeor and t\aiov.