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Homily IX.
Commendation of those who had laid aside the
practice of swearing. It is shown that no one need scruple about
hearing the divine oracles in the Church after a meal. Answer to
the question, Why it was so long before the Holy Scriptures were
given? Comment on the passage, “The heavens declare the glory of
God,” with a description of the natural world. And finally, an
admonition against swearing.
1. It was but lately
that I spoke to you as I do now to you again! And O that I could be
always with you,—yea, rather am I always with you, though not by
bodily presence, yet by the power of love! For I have no other life
but1394
you, and
the care of your salvation. As the husbandman hath no other
anxiety, but about his seeds and his harvests; and the pilot about
the waves and the harbours; so the preacher is anxious with respect
to his auditors and their progress, even as I am at the present
time! Wherefore I bear you all upon my mind, not only here, but
also at home. For if the multitude be great, and the measure of my
heart be narrow, yet love is wide; and “ye are not straitened in
us.” I will not add what follows next,1395
| 1395 Alluding to the passage,
2 Cor. vi. 11, 12. Ye are not
straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own
bowels. | for neither are we straitened with
you. Whence is this apparent? Because I have met with many who have
said, “We have performed the precept, by making rules for each
other, defining penalties for those who swear, and enforcing
punishment upon those who transgress this law.” A punishment
which is indeed well becoming you,1396
| 1396 He seems to mean those who voluntarily submitted
to it. He had recommended masters to punish themselves, as well as
their dependents. See above. | and which is a sign of the
greatest charity. For I am not ashamed of making myself busy in
these matters, since this love of interference does not proceed
from idle curiosity but from tender care.1397
For if it be no reproach to the
physician to make enquiry concerning the patient, neither is it any
fault in us to be ever asking about your salvation; since thus
being informed what has been accomplished, and what has been left
undone, we shall be able to apply the further remedies with the
requisite knowledge.1398
These things we have ascertained
by enquiry; and we give thanks to God that we have not sown our
seed upon rocks, nor dropped it amidst thorns; and that we have
neither needed much time, nor long delay, in order that we might
reap the harvest. On this account I have you continually upon my
heart. On this account I do not feel the labours of teaching, being
eased of the burden by the profit of the hearer. This reward is,
indeed, sufficient to recruit our strength, to give us wings, to
elevate us, and to persuade us to undergo the utmost toil on your
behalf.
2. Since therefore ye have manifested much
generosity of feeling, suffer us to discharge the further debt of
which we gave a promise the other day; although indeed I see not
all present1399
| 1399 This Homily is placed by Montfaucon on the Monday
after the last; it is difficult to find any especial reason for the
circumstance here referred to; there was the same impediment when
the following Homily was delivered. Perhaps the most probable
account is, that some persons began the fast with a strictness from
which they afterwards fell off. The meal spoken of was an early
dinner. Eumæus takes his ˆριστον at daybreak, Od. xvi. 2. But Athenæus,
l. i. c. 9 and 10, says that in his day such a meal was called
‡κρ€τισμα,
and the δεῖπνον of the ancients, at
mid-day, ˆριστον(quoted by Perizonius on
Ælian. V. H. ix. 19). | who were
here when I made the
promise. What, I would ask, can be the
cause of this? What hath repelled them from our table? He that hath
partaken of a bodily meal, it would seem, has thought it an
indignity after receiving material food, to come to the hearing of
the divine oracles. But not rightly do they think thus. For if this
were improper, Christ would not have gone through His large and
long discourses after that mystic supper; and if this had been
unsuitable, He would not, when He had fed the multitude in the
desert, have communicated His discourses to them after that meal.
For (if one must say something startling on this point), the
hearing of the divine oracles at that time is especially
profitable. For when thou hast made up thy mind that after eating
and drinking thou must repair also to the assembly, thou wilt
assuredly be careful, though perchance with reluctance, of the duty
of sobriety; and wilt neither be led away at any time into excess
of wine, or gluttony. For the thought, and the expectation of
entering the church, schools thee to partake of food and drink with
becoming decency; lest, after thou hast entered there, and joined
thy brethren, thou shouldest appear ridiculous to all present, by
smelling of wine, and unmannerly eructation.1400
| 1400 πολλ€κις. But Sav. and
M. πολλῆς, making the sense, “thou wilt
assuredly, even if unwilling, observing great sobriety.” | These things I now speak not to
you who are now present, but to the absent; that they may learn
them through your means. For it is not having eaten that hinders
one’s hearing, but listlessness. But thou whilst deeming it to be
a condemnation not to fast, then addest another fault, which is far
greater and heavier, in not being a partaker of this sacred food;1401
and having
nourished the body, thou consumest the soul with famine. Yet what
kind of apology hast thou for doing this? For in the matter of
fasting thou hast, perhaps, bodily weakness to plead, but what hast
thou to say with respect to hearing? For surely weakness of body is
no impediment to thy partaking of the divine oracles! If I had
said, “Let no one who has breakfasted1402
mix with us;” “let no one who
has eaten be a hearer,” thou wouldest have had some kind of
excuse; but now, when we would fain drag, entice, and beseech you
to come, what apology can ye have for turning away from us? The
unfit hearer is not he that hath eaten and drunk; but he who gives
no heed to what is said, who yawns, and is slack in attention,
having his body here, but his mind wandering elsewhere, and such a
one, though he may be fasting, is an unprofitable hearer. On the
other hand, the man who is in earnest, who is watchful and keeps
his mind in a state of attention, though he may have eaten and
drunk, will be our most suitable hearer of all. For this rule,
indeed, very properly prevails with relation to the secular
tribunals and councils. Inasmuch as they know not how to be
spiritually wise, therefore they eat not to nourishment, but to
bursting; and they drink often to excess. For this reason, as they
render themselves unfit for the management of their affairs, they
shut up the court-houses and council-chambers in the evening and at
midday.1403
| 1403 A canon of Isaac Lingonensis (in the eighth
century), Tit. viii. cap. 2, Labbe viii. 620, forbids any one to
take an oath except fasting. The Athenian courts did not sit after
sunset, and the great time for forensic business was the forenoon.
Goeller on Thuc. viii. 92. Ælian, V. H. xii. 30, says that the
luxurious Tarentines would be drunk even when the forum is fullest,
περὶ πλήθουσαν ‡γορ€ν. v. Act. ii. 15; Perizonius on Ælian,
cites Dio Chrys. Or. 67, de Glor. 2, who shews it was
about that time. | But here
there is nothing of this sort,—God forbid! But he who has eaten
will rival him who fasts, as far as regards sobriety of soul; for
he eats and drinks, not so as to distend the stomach, or to darken
the reason, but in such a way as to recruit the strength of the
body when it has become weakened.
3. But enough of this admonition. It is time
now to deal with our subject; although our mind holds back and
shrinks from giving this instruction, on account of those who are
not come. And just as an affectionate mother when she is about to
spread out her table, grieves and laments when all her children are
not there, thus also do I now suffer; and when I think of the
absence of our brethren, I am reluctant to discharge my debt. But
ye have it in your power to rid me of this tardiness. For if ye
promise me that ye will convey to them an exact report of all I
say, we shall readily pay you down the whole;1404
| 1404 i.e, the promise of explaining that subject
which had been proposed in the two foregoing Homilies; namely, the
reason why the gift of Holy Scripture was so long delayed. | for thus the instructions,
charitably afforded on your part, will make up to them for their
absence; and ye will hear me the more attentively, knowing that you
must necessarily give an account of these things to others. In
order then that our subject may be made the clearer, let us take it
up and repeat it from the beginning. We were enquiring, then, the
other day, “On what account the Scriptures were delivered after
so many years. For this Book was delivered neither in the time of
Adam, nor of Noah, nor of Abraham, but in that of Moses. And I hear
many who say, that if the Book was profitable, it ought to
have been delivered from
the very beginning; but if it was useless, it ought not to have
been delivered afterwards. But this is an obsolete argument; for it
is not quite true that anything which is profitable ought to have
been delivered from the beginning, nor if anything was delivered
from the beginning, is it quite necessary that the same should
continue afterwards.1405
| 1405 See Butler’s Analogy, p. ii. c. 6,
where the somewhat similar objection, “that Christianity is not
universal,” is discussed. | For example; Milk is useful, yet
it is not always given; but it is given to us only when we are
children; and solid food is useful; but no one ever gives it us in
the beginning of our life, but when we have passed out of the age
of childhood. Again, the summer season is useful; but it does not
show itself constantly; and the winter season is advantageous; yet
this too makes room for others. What then? Do they say that the
Scriptures are not useful? I reply; they are most useful and most
necessary. And if so useful, for what reason then, say they, were
they not delivered to us from the beginning? It was because God was
desirous of instructing the nature of man, not by letters, but by
things.1406
| 1406 An enlarged view of this principle is given
in Butler’s Analogy, p. ii. c. 7, applying it further to
the facts recorded in Holy Scripture. “The general design of
Scripture, which contains in it this revelation, thus considered as
historical, may be said to be, to give us an account of the world,
in this one single view, as God’s world.” | But what
does the expression “by things” signify? By means of the
Creation itself.
4. Observe then, how the Apostle, alighting
upon this same topic, and directing himself to those very Greeks
who said, that they had not from the beginning learnt the knowledge
of God from the Scriptures, frames his answer. Having said that,
“the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness;”1407
when he saw that he was met by an
objection; and that many would still enquire, from whence the
Gentiles knew the truth of God, he goes on to add, “Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them.” But how is it
manifest in them? How were they able to know God, and who hath
shewed? Declare this. “God,” saith he, “hath shewed it unto
them.” In what manner? By the sending of what kind of prophet?
what evangelist? what kind of teacher? if the holy Scriptures were
not yet given. “The invisible things of Him,” says he, “from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal Power and Godhead.”1408
But what
he means is just this, He hath placed His Creation in the midst,
before the eyes of all men; in order that they may guess at the
Creator from His works; which, indeed, another writer has referred
to; “For from the greatness and beauty of the creatures,
proportionably the Maker of them is seen.”1409
Seest thou the greatness? Marvel
at the power of Him that made it! Seest thou the beauty? be
astonished at the wisdom which adorned it! This it was which the
prophet signified when he said, “The heavens declare the glory of
God.”1410
How then,
tell me, do they declare it? Voice they have none; mouth they
possess not; no tongue is theirs! how then do they declare? By
means of the spectacle itself. For when thou seest the beauty, the
breadth, the height, the position, the form, the stability thereof
during so long a period; hearing as it were a voice, and being
instructed by the spectacle, thou adorest Him who created a body so
fair and strange! The heavens may be silent, but the sight of them
emits a voice, that is louder than a trumpet’s sound; instructing
us not by the ear, but through the medium of the eyes; for the
latter is a sense which is more sure and more distinct than the
former.
5. For if God had given instruction by means of
books, and of letters, he who knew letters would have learnt what
was written; but the illiterate man would have gone away without
receiving any benefit from this source, unless some one else had
introduced him to it; and the wealthy man would have purchased the
Bible, but the poor man would not have been able to obtain it.
Again, he who knew the language that was expressed by the letters,
might have known what was therein contained; but the Scythian, and
the Barbarian, and the Indian, and the Egyptian, and all those who
were excluded from that language, would have gone away without
receiving any instruction. This however cannot be said with respect
to the heavens; but the Scythian, and Barbarian, and Indian, and
Egyptian, and every man that walks upon the earth, shall hear this
voice; for not by means of the ears, but through the sight, it
reaches our understanding. And of the things that are seen, there
is one uniform perception; and there is no difference, as is the
case with respect to languages. Upon this volume the unlearned, as
well as the wise man, shall be alike able to look; the poor man as
well as the rich man; and wherever any one may chance to come,
there looking upwards towards the heavens, he will receive a
sufficient lesson from the view of them: and the
prophet himself intimated and indicated
this fact, that the creation utters this voice so as to be
intelligible to barbarians, and to Greeks, and to all mankind
without exception, when he spoke on this wise; “There is no
speech, nor language, where there voice is not heard.”1411
What he
means is to this effect, that there is no nation or tongue which is
unable to understand this language; but that such is their
utterance, that it may be heard of all mankind. And that not merely
of the heavens, but of the day and night. But how of the day and
night? The heavens, indeed, by their beauty and magnitude, and by
all the rest, astonish the beholder, and transport him to an
admiration of the Creator; but as to the day and night, what can
these show us of the same kind? Nothing certainly of the same kind,
but other things which are not inferior to them; as for example;
the harmony, and the order which they so accurately observe. For
when thou considerest how they distribute between them the whole
year, and mutually divide the length of the whole space, even as if
it were by a beam and scales, thou wilt be astonished at Him who
hath ordered them! For just as certain sisters dividing their
father’s inheritance among themselves with much affection, and
not insulting one another in the smallest degree, even so too the
day and the night distribute the year with such an equality of
parts, with the utmost accuracy;1412
| 1412 The diurnal motion of the earth, or, as they
called it, of the heavens, was taken by Plato for the very type of
stability. The exactness of its rate is far greater than the
ancients had means to appreciate, as is proved by constant
observations, as well as by the oldest eclipses. | and keep to their own boundaries,
and never push one another aside. Never hath the day been long in
winter; and in like manner never hath the night been long in
summer, whilst so many generations have passed away; but during so
great an interval and length of time one hath not defrauded the
other even in the smallest degree; not of half an hour’s space,
no, nor of the twinkling of an eye!
6. Therefore also the Psalmist,1413
| 1413 ψαλμῳδὸς: St. Chrys.
usually says “the prophet.” | struck
with astonishment at the equality of this distribution, exclaimed,
“Night unto night sheweth knowledge.” If thou knowest how to
meditate wisely on these matters, thou wilt admire the Being who
fixed these immoveable boundaries even from the beginning. Let the
avaricious hear these things; and those who are coveting the wealth
of others; and let them imitate the equality of the day and night.
Let those who are puffed up and high-minded also hear; and those
who are unwilling to concede the first places to others! The day
gives place to the night, and does not invade the territory of
others! But thou, whilst always enjoying honour, canst thou not
bear to share it with thy brethren? Consider also with me the
wisdom of the Lawgiver. In winter He hath ordered that the night
should be long; when the germs1414
| 1414 σπ™ρματα. He seems to
mean the young blade. These remarks are adapted to a climate in
which the harvest is over before midsummer. | are tender, and require more
coolness; and are unable to sustain the hotter rays of the sun; but
when they are somewhat grown, the day again increases with them,
and becomes then the longest, when the fruit has now attained
ripeness. And this is a beneficial arrangement not only for seeds,
but for our bodies. For since during winter, the sailor, and the
pilot, and the traveller, and the soldier, and the farmer, sit down
for the most part at home, fettered by the frost; and the season is
one of idleness; God hath appointed that the greater part of this
time should be consumed in night, in order that the length of the
day might not be superfluous, when men were unable to do anything.
Who can describe the perfect order of the seasons; and how these,
like some virgins dancing in a circle, succeed one another with the
happiest harmony; and how those who are in the middle cease not to
pass over to the opposite ones with a gradual and noiseless
transition? Therefore, neither are we overtaken by the summer
immediately after winter; nor by the winter immediately after the
summer; but mid-way the spring is interposed; that while we gently
and gradually take up one season after the other, we may have our
bodies hardened to encounter the summer heat without uneasiness.
For since sudden changes to opposite extremes are productive of the
worst injury and disease, God hath contrived that after winter we
should take up the spring, and after the spring the summer; and
after the summer the autumn; and thus transport us to winter, so
that these changes from seasons which are opposite, should come
upon us harmlessly and by degrees, through the aid of intermediate
ones. Who then is so wretched and pitiable, that beholding the
heavens; and beholding sea, and land; and beholding this exact
adjustment of the seasons, and the unfailing order of day and
night, he can think that these things happen of their own accord,
instead of adoring Him who hath arranged them all with a
corresponding wisdom!
7. But I have yet somewhat more to say on this head.
For not only, indeed, does the magnitude and beauty of the
creation, but also the
very manner of it, display a God who is the artificer of the
universe. For since we were not present at the beginning, whilst he
was engaged in the work of forming and creating all things; nor had
we been present, could we have known how they came into being,1415
the power
that disposed them being invisible; He hath made the mode of this
creation to become our best teacher, by compounding all things in a
manner which transcends the course of nature. Perhaps what I have
said, is not sufficiently clear. Therefore it is necessary that I
should again repeat it in a clearer manner. All men, then, must
admit that it is the course of nature for water to be supported on
the earth, and not the earth on the waters. For the earth being a
certain dense, hard, unyielding, and solid substance, is easily
able to support the nature of water; but the water, which is fluid,
and rare, and soft, and diffusive, and giving way to all it meets
with, must be unable to support any solid body, though it were of
the lightest kind. Often indeed when a small pebble fails upon it,
it yields, and makes way, and sends it down to the bottom. When
therefore thou beholdest not a small pebble, but the whole earth
borne upon the waters, and not submerged, admire the power of Him
who wrought these marvellous things in a supernatural manner! And
whence does this appear, that the earth is borne upon the waters?
The prophet declares this when he says, “He hath founded it upon
the seas, and prepared it upon the floods.”1416
And again: “To him who hath
founded the earth upon the waters.”1417
| 1417 Ps.
cxxxvi. 6. Among
the variety of opinions that anciently prevailed respecting the
earth’s form and situation, one of the principal was, that the
heavens and earth above this ocean was the only visible universe;
and that all beneath the ocean was Hades, or the invisible world.
Hence when the sun set, he was said, tingere se oceano; and
when any went to Hades, they must first pass the ocean. Of this
opinion were not only the ancient poets, but some of the Christian
Fathers, particularly Lactantius, and St. Augustin, and others, who
thought their opinion was favoured by the Psalmist, in Ps.
xxiv. 2; and cxxxvi. 6. Derham’s
Physico-Theology, p. 41. St. Chrysostom must evidently have
adopted the same opinion. St. Greg. Nyss. in Hexæm. t. l.,
p. 22e., speaks of the earth’s conical shadow. See Plin. ii. 11.
St. Bas. in Hex. i. c. 9, explains the “founding on the
waters,” of their being spread all round: ix. c. 1, he speaks of
various opinions as to its shape, and some who thought it to be
180,000 stadia round. See St. Greg. Naz. Or. xxviii. al.
xxxiv. c. 28, and Philoponus de Mund. Cr. iii. 6–13;
Galland, xii. p. 525. | What sayest thou? The water is not
able to support a small pebble on its surface, and yet bears up the
earth, great as it is; and mountains, and hills, and cities, and
plants, and men, and brutes; and it is not submerged! What do I
say? Is not submerged? How comes it to pass, that since the water
has been in close contact with it below, during so long a period,
it has not been dissolved, and the whole of it become mud? For the
substance of wood, when soaked in water but a little time, is
rotted and dissolved; and why do I say of wood? What can be firmer
than iron? yet often this is softened, when it remains a long time
in water; and well it may. For it derives its substance from the
earth. Therefore many run-away servants, when they make their
escape, dragging their shackles and chains along with them, go to
brooks of water, and thrust their shackled feet therein, and after
making the iron softer by this means, they easily break it by
striking it with a stone. Iron, forsooth, is softened, and wood is
rotted, and stones are worn away by the nature of water; yet so
great a mass as the earth hath remained such a length of time lying
upon the waters, without being either submerged, or dissolved, and
destroyed!1418
| 1418 This line of argument, from arrangements
above the course of nature, is a dangerous one; and it would be
less difficult than invidious, to search out instances of fallacy
in modern writers. It always brings men’s ignorance into
play. |
8. And who is there that must not feel
astonished and amazed at these things; and confidently pronounce
that they are not the works of nature, but of that Providence which
is above nature? Therefore one speaks thus: “Who hangeth the
earth upon nothing.”1419
And another observes, “In His
hands are the corners of the earth.”1420
And again: “He hath laid the
foundation of it upon the seas.”1421
And these declarations, though
they seem contrary to one another, have yet an entire agreement.
For he that said, “He hath laid the foundation of it upon the
seas,” meant the same thing as he did who declared, “He hath
hung it upon nothing.” For its standing upon the waters is just
the same thing as hanging upon nothing. Where then is it suspended
and placed? Hear the same one saying, “In His hands are the
corners of the earth.” Not that God hath hands, but that thou
mayest know that His power it is, providing for all things which
holds together1422
| 1422 συγκρατοῦσα, but Sav.
συγκροτοῦσα. There is constant variation
of reading wherever these words occur. | and
supports the body of the earth! But if thou believest not what I
now say, believe what thou beholdest! for even in another element
it is possible to find this admirable workmanship. For it is the
nature of fire to tend upwards,1423
| 1423 See in Bacon’s Novum Organum, his
Vindemiatio prima de forma calidi, L. II. Aph. 20, Diff. 2,
he says, “the motion of heat is at once expansive, and a tendency
upwards.” | and to be always mounting aloft;
and although you force and constrain it never so much, it cannot
submit to have its course directed downwards. For often, when we
are carrying a lighted torch, although we incline its head
downwards, we cannot compel the force of the flame to direct
itself to the ground; but
still it turns upward, and passes from below toward that which is
above. But with respect to the sun, God hath made it quite the
contrary. For He hath turned his beams toward the earth, and made
his light to direct itself downward, all but saying to him by the
very shape (of the heavens), “Look downward.—Shine upon men,
for thou wert made for them!” The light, indeed, of a candle
cannot be made to submit to this; but this star, great and
marvellous as it is, bends downward, and looks toward the earth,
which is contrary to the nature of fire; owing to the power of Him
who hath commanded it. Wouldest thou have me speak of another thing
of the like kind? Waters embrace the back of the visible heaven1424
| 1424 In accordance with the notions of his age, St.
Chrysostom supposed that the firmament was something solid; and it
seems to have been entirely a notion of modern times, that the
visible heavens are formed of a subtle ether. Thus Homer terms them
χ€λκεον οὐρανὸν, and χαλκοβατῆ δώματα; and sometimes σιδήρειον οὐρανόν. The notion of St.
Chrysostom seems to have been similar. He supposes a solid
spherical arch, which he terms the visible heaven, which divided
the waters above from those below it. See
Gen. i. 7. A similar idea seems to
have prevailed among those who translated the Bible into English,
from the use of the word firmament, which was however a mere
copying of the Vulgate, and the Greek
στερεωμα. It is remarkable that this idea is defended
by Drusius in his Loca Difficiliora Pentateuchi, and in
Sylvester’s translation of Du Bartas’s Weeks and
Days. | on all
parts; and yet they neither flow down, nor are moved out of their
place, although the nature of water is not of this kind. For it
easily runs together into what is concave; but when the body is of
a convex form, it glides away on all sides; and not even a small
portion1425
is capable
of standing upon such a figure.1426
But, lo! this wonder is found to
exist in the heavens; and the prophet, again, to intimate this very
circumstance, observes, “Praise the Lord, ye waters that are
above the heavens.”1427
Besides, the water hath not
quenched the sun; nor hath the sun, which hath gone on his way
beneath for so long a time, dried up the water that lies
above.
9. Dost thou desire that we should lead thee
down again to the earth, and point out the marvel? Seest thou not
this sea abounding with waves, and fierce winds; yet this sea,
spacious, and large, and furious as it is, is walled in with a
feeble sand! Mark also the wisdom of God, He permitted it not to be
at rest, nor tranquil, lest thou shouldest suppose its good order
to be of mere natural regulation; but remaining within its limits,
it lifts up its voice, and is in tumult, and roars aloud, and
raises its waves to a prodigious height. But when it comes to the
shores, and beholds the sand, it breaks up, and returns back again
within itself; teaching thee, by both these things, that it is not
the work of nature that it remains within its boundaries, but the
work of Him whose power restrains it! For this cause accordingly He
hath made the wall feeble; and hath not encompassed these shores
with wood, or stone, or mountains, lest thou shouldest impute the
regulation of the elements to such things. And, therefore, God
Himself, upbraiding the Jews with this very circumstance, said,
“Fear ye not Me, which have placed the sand for the bound of the
sea that it cannot pass it.”1428
But the marvellous thing is not
this only, that He hath made a great and admirable world; and that
He hath compacted it in a way above the usual course of nature; but
that He hath also constituted it out of opposite things; such as
hot and cold, dry and moist, fire and water, earth and air, and
that these contrary elements, of which this whole universe
consists, though continually at strife one with another, are not
consumed of one another. The fire hath not overrun and burnt up all
things; the water hath not overflowed and drowned the whole earth.
With respect to our bodies, however, these effects really take
place; and upon the increase of the bile, fever is generated; and
the whole animal frame sustains an injury; and when there is a
superabundance of phlegm, many diseases are produced which destroy
the animal. But in the case of the universe, nothing of this kind
happens; but each thing remains held as it were by a kind of bridle
and band; preserving, by the will of the Creator, its own
boundaries; and their strife becomes a source of peace to the
whole. Are not these things evident even to a blind man? and are
not even the simple easily able to comprehend, that they were made,
and are upheld, by some Providence? For who is so silly and
senseless, that beholding such a mass of substances, such beauty,
such combination, the continual strife of such vast elements, their
opposition, and yet durability, would not reason with himself and
say, “If there were not some Providence to uphold the mass of
these bodies, not permitting the universe to fall to pieces, it
could not remain; it could not have been lasting. So perfect is the
order of the seasons, such the harmony of the day and night, so
many the kinds of brute animals, and plants, and seeds, and herbs,
that preserve their course, and yet, to the present day, none has
ever fallen into decay or sudden dissolution.
10. We might continue to speak not only of these
things, but also of many others, which are even more profound; and
might moralise even upon the Creation itself; but reserving these subjects for
the morrow,1429
let us
earnestly endeavour to retain what has been said, and to convey it
to the rest.1430
I know
indeed, that the abstruseness of these speculations has seemed
strange to your ears; but if we be a little vigilant, and accustom
ourselves to them, we shall easily be able to teach others.
Meanwhile, it is necessary farther to say this to your Charity.
Even as God hath given us glory by means of this great creation, so
let us also glorify Him by a pure conversation! “The heavens
declare the glory of God,” though only seen; and we therefore
should declare God’s glory1431
not only in speaking, but in
silence, and in astonishing all men by the brightness of our life.
For He saith, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven.”1432
For when
an unbeliever beholds thee, who art a believer, subdued, modest,
and orderly in manners, he will wonder and say, “Truly great is
the God of the Christians! What manner of men hath He formed? What,
and from what hath He made them? Hath He turned them from men into
angels? If any one treats them contemptuously, they revile not! If
any one beats them, they are not enraged! If any one does them an
injury, they pray for him who has put them in pain! They have no
enemy! They know nothing of cherishing malice! They are guiltless
of vain babbling! They have not learnt to utter a falsehood! They
cannot endure a false oath, or rather, they swear not at all, but
would prefer to have their tongue cut out, rather than to let an
oath proceed out of their mouth!” Such are the things which we
should give them cause to say of us; and we should exterminate our
evil habit of oaths, and pay at least as much honour to God, as we
do to our more valuable garments. For how truly absurd is it, that
when we have one garment better than the rest, we do not suffer
ourselves to be continually wearing it; and yet everywhere we
draggle about the name of God without concern, or ceremony! Let us
not, I earnestly pray and beseech you, let us not thus despise our
own salvation; but the care which we have used respecting this
precept from the beginning, let us carry on even to the end. For I
thus continually exhort you on the subject of oaths, not as though
condemning you of listlessness, but inasmuch as I have seen that ye
are for the most part reformed, I press you, and am urgent, that
the whole work should be finished off, and come to its perfection.
Even so act the spectators of public games. They excite those who
are near the prize, with the more vehemence. Let us, then, by no
means become weary; for we have nearly reached the completion of
this amendment; and the difficulty was at the beginning. But now
that the greater part of the evil habit has been cut away, and less
remains to correct, no labour is necessary, but we only need a
moderate degree of watchfulness, and diligence for some short time,
in order that we ourselves being amended, may also become
instructors to others; and that we may behold the Holy Passover
with much confidence, and that with much pleasure we may reap a
double or treble measure of the customary gladness of the festival.
For not so much does it delight us to be delivered from the toil
and fatigue of fasting, as to meet that holy season with an
illustrious and well-earned crown; a crown indeed that is never to
fade!
11. But in order that the amendment may take
place the more quickly, do this which I tell thee. Inscribe upon
the wall of thy house, and upon the wall of thy heart, that
“flying sickle;”1433
| 1433 Flying hook, or sickle. See
Zech. v. 1–3. A flying roll,
is the version given in the present translation of the Bible, which
follows the Hebrew as well as the Vulgate, the Targum, and the
Syriac. (See St. Jerome on the place, who adds Aquila, Theodotion,
and Symmachus.) The Septuagint, which St. Chrysostom usually
follows, instead of הלגִמ, probably
read לנמ, which signifies a reap-hook, or
sickle; in this, as in some other instances, the final letter
having been dropped through the carelessness of transcribers. See
Homily XV., conclusion. | and think that it is flying forth
on occasion of the curse, and constantly remember it. And if thou
observest another person swearing, restrain, forbid, and be careful
for him, and be careful for thine own domestics. For if we would
look to this, that we might not merely correct ourselves, but also
bring others to the same point, we shall ourselves quickly arrive
at the goal; since while we undertake to instruct others, we shall
be ashamed and blush, should we in our own case seem to leave those
things unperformed, which we enjoin upon them. There is no need to
say more; for much has been already spoken on these matters; and
these things are now said only by way of remembrance. But may God,
who is more sparing of our souls than we are, make us perfect in
this, and every good work; that so having completed the whole fruit
of righteousness, we may be found worthy of the kingdom of heaven,
through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through Whom, and with Whom, to the Father, with the Holy Ghost, be
glory, for ever and ever. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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