{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/110/1100063.htm","path":"chr/ecf/110/1100063.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/110/1100063.htm","text":"\u201cAnd His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come?\u201d\nNot then from the Scriptures did they know this, but the Scribes used to explain themselves, and this saying was reported abroad amongst the ignorant people; as about Christ also.\nWherefore the Samaritan woman also said, \u201cMessiah cometh; when He is come, He will tell us all things:\u201d 2215 and they themselves asked John, \u201cArt thou Elias, or the Prophet?\u201d 2216 For the saying, as I said, prevailed, both that concerning the Christ and that concerning Elias, not however rightly interpreted by them.\nFor the Scriptures speak of two advents of Christ, both this that is past, and that which is to come; and declaring these Paul said, \u201cThe grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and righteously, and godly.\u201d 2217 Behold the one, hear how he declares the other also; for having said these things, he added, \u201cLooking for the blessed hope and appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.\u201d 2218 And the prophets too mention both; of the one, however, that is, of the second, they say Elias will be the forerunner. For of the first, John was forerunner; whom Christ called also Elias, not because he was Elias, but because he was fulfilling the ministry of that prophet. For as the one shall be forerunner of the second advent, so was the other too of the first. But the Scribes, confusing these things and perverting the people, made mention of that other only to the people, the second advent, and said, \u201cIf this man is the Christ, Elias ought to have come beforehand.\u201d Therefore the disciples too speak as follows, \u201cHow then say the Scribes, Elias must first come?\u201d\nTherefore also the Pharisees sent unto John, and asked him, \u201cArt thou Elias?\u201d 2219 making no mention anywhere of the former advent.\nWhat then is the solution, which Christ alleged? \u201cElias indeed cometh then, before my second advent; and now too is Elias come;\u201d so calling John.\nIn this sense Elias is come: but if thou wouldest seek the Tishbite, he is coming. Wherefore also He said, \u201cElias truly cometh, and shall restore all things.\u201d 2220 All what things? Such as the Prophet Malachi spake of; for \u201cI will send you,\u201d saith He, \u201cElias the Tishbite, who shall restore the heart of father to son, lest I come and utterly smite the earth.\u201d 2221\nSeest thou the accuracy of prophetical language? how, because Christ called John, Elias, by reasoning of their community of office, lest thou shouldest suppose this to be the meaning of the prophet too in this place, He added His country also, saying, \u201cthe Tishbite;\u201d 2222 whereas John was not a Tishbite. And herewith He sets down another sign also, saying, \u201cLest I come and utterly smite the earth,\u201d signifying His second and dreadful advent. For in the first He came not to smite the earth. For, \u201cI came not,\u201d saith He, \u201cto judge the world, but to save the world.\u201d 2223\nTo show therefore that the Tishbite comes before that other advent, which hath the judgment, He said this. And the reason too of his coming He teaches withal. And what is this reason? That when He is come, he may persuade the Jews to believe in Christ, and that they may not all utterly perish at His coming. Wherefore He too, guiding them on to that remembrance, saith, \u201cAnd he shall restore all things;\u201d that is, shall correct the unbelief of the Jews that are then in being.\nHence the extreme accuracy of his expression; in that he said not, \u201cHe will restore the heart of the son to the father,\u201d but \u201cof the father to the son.\u201d 2224 For the Jews being fathers of the apostles, his meaning is, that he will restore to the doctrines of their sons, that is, of the apostles, the hearts of the fathers, that is, the Jewish people\u2019s mind. 2225\np. 338\n\u201cBut I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Then they understood that He spake to them of John.\u201d 2226\nAnd yet neither the Scribes said this, nor the Scriptures; but because now they were sharper and more attentive to His sayings, they quickly caught His meaning.\nAnd whence did the disciples know this? He had already told them, \u201cHe is Elias, which was for to come;\u201d 2227 but here, that he hath come; and again, that \u201cElias cometh and will restore all things.\u201d But be not thou troubled, nor imagine that His statement wavers, though at one time He said, \u201che will come,\u201d at another, \u201che hath come.\u201d For all these things are true. Since when He saith, \u201cElias indeed cometh, and will restore all things,\u201d He means Elias himself, and the conversion of the Jews which is then to take place; but when He saith, \u201cWhich was for to come,\u201d He calls John, Elias, with regard to the manner of his administration. Yea, and so the prophets used to call every one of their approved kings, David; 2228 and the Jews, \u201crulers of Sodom,\u201d 2229 and \u201csons of Ethiopians;\u201d 2230 because of their ways. For as the other shall be forerunner of the second advent, so was this of the first.\n2. And not for this only doth He call him Elias everywhere, but to signify His perfect agreement with the Old Testament, and that this advent too is according to prophecy.\nWherefore also He adds again, \u201cHe came, and they knew him not, but have done unto him all things whatsoever they listed.\u201d 2231 What means, \u201ccall things whatsoever they listed?\u201d They cast him into prison, they used him despitefully, they slew him, they brought his head in a charger.\n\u201cLikewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.\u201d Seest thou how again He in due season reminds them of His passion, laying up for them great store of comfort from the passion of John. And not in this way only, but also by presently working great miracles. Yea, and whensoever He speaks of His passion, presently He works miracles, both after those sayings and before them; and in many places one may find Him to have kept this rule.\n\u201cThen,\u201d for instance, it saith, \u201cHe began to signify how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and be killed, and suffer many things.\u201d 2232 \u201cThen:\u201d when? when He was confessed to be Christ, and the Son of God.\nAgain on the mountain, when He had shown them the marvellous vision, and the prophets had been discoursing of His glory, He reminded them of His passion. For having spoken of the history concerning John, He added, \u201cLikewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them.\u201d\nAnd after a little while again, when He had cast out the devil, which His disciples were not able to cast out; for then too, \u201cAs they abode in Galilee,\u201d so it saith, \u201cJesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinful 2233 men, and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again.\u201d 2234\nNow in doing this, He by the greatness of the miracles was abating the excess of their sorrow, and in every way consoling them; even as here also, by the mention of John\u2019s death, He afforded them much consolation.\nBut should any one say, \u201cWherefore did He not even now raise up Elias and send him, witnessing as He doth so great good of his coming?\u201d we should reply, that even as it was, while thinking Christ to be Elias, they did not believe Him. For \u201csome say,\u201d such are the words, \u201cthat Thou art Elias, and others, Jeremias.\u201d 2235 And indeed between John and Elias, there was no difference but the time only. \u201cThen how will they believe at that time?\u201d it may be said. Why, \u201che will restore all things,\u201d not simply by being recognized, but also because the glory of Christ will have been growing more intense up to that day, and will be among all clearer than the sun. When therefore, preceded by such an opinion and expectation, he comes making the same proclamation as John, and himself also announcing Jesus, they will more easily receive his sayings. But in saying, \u201cThey knew him not,\u201d He is excusing also what was done in His own case. 2236\nAnd not in this way only doth He console them, but also by pointing out that John\u2019s sufferings at their hands, whatever they are, are undeserved; and by His throwing into the shade what would annoy them, by means of two signs, the one on the mountain, the other just about to take place.\nBut when they heard these things, they do not ask Him when Elias cometh; being p. 339 straitened either by grief at His passion, or by fear. For on many occasions, upon seeing Him unwilling to speak a thing clearly, they are silent, and so an end. For instance, when during their abode in Galilee He said, \u201cThe Son of Man shall be betrayed, and they shall kill Him;\u201d 2237 it is added by Mark, \u201cThat they understood not the saying, and were afraid to ask Him;\u201d 2238 by Luke, \u201cThat it was hid from them, that they might not perceive it, and they feared to ask Him of that saying.\u201d 2239\n3. \u201cAnd when they were come to the multitude, there came to Him a man, kneeling down to Him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic, and sore vexed; 2240 for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him unto Thy disciples, and they could not cure him.\u201d 2241\nThis man the Scripture signifies to be exceedingly weak in faith; and this is many ways evident; from Christ\u2019s saying, \u201cAll things are possible to him that believeth;\u201d 2242 from the saying of the man himself that approached, \u201cHelp Thou mine unbelief:\u201d 2243 from Christ\u2019s commanding the devil to \u201center no more into him;\u201d 2244 and from the man\u2019s saying again to Christ, \u201cIf Thou canst.\u201d 2245 \u201cYet if his unbelief was the cause,\u201d it may be said, \u201cthat the devil went not out, why doth He blame the disciples?\u201d Signifying, that even without persons to bring the sick in faith, they might in many instances work a cure. For as the faith of the person presenting oftentimes availed for receiving the cure, even from inferior ministers; so the power of the doers oftentimes sufficed, even without belief in those who came to work the miracle.\nAnd both these things are signified in the Scripture. For both they of the company of Cornelius by their faith drew unto themselves the grace of the Spirit; and in the case of Eliseus 2246 again, when none had believed, a dead man rose again. For as to those that cast him down, not for faith but for cowardice did they cast him, unintentionally and by chance, for fear of the band of robbers, and so they fled: while the person himself that was cast in was dead, yet by the mere virtue of the holy body the dead man arose.\nWhence it is clear in this case, that even the disciples were weak; but not all; for the pillars 2247 were not present there. And see this man\u2019s want of consideration, from another circumstance again, how before the multitude he pleads to Jesus against His disciples, saying, \u201cI brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him.\u201d\nBut He, acquitting them of the charges before the people, imputes the greater part to him. For, \u201cO faithless and perverse generation,\u201d these are His words, \u201chow long shall I be with you?\u201d 2248 not aiming at his person only, lest He should confound the man, but also at all the Jews. For indeed many of those present might probably be offended, and have undue thoughts of them.\nBut when He said, \u201cHow long shall I be with you,\u201d He indicates again death to be welcome to Him, and the thing an object of desire, and His departure longed for, and that not crucifixion, but being with them, is grievous.\nHe stopped not however at the accusations; but what saith He? \u201cBring him hither to me.\u201d 2249 And Himself moreover asks him, \u201chow long time he is thus;\u201d both making a plea for His disciples, and leading the other to a good hope, and that he might believe in his attaining deliverance from the evil.\nAnd He suffers him to be torn, not for display (accordingly, when a crowd began to gather, He proceeded to rebuke him), but for the father\u2019s own sake, that when he should see the evil spirit disturbed at Christ\u2019s mere call, so at least, if in no other way, he might be led to believe the coming miracle.\nAnd because he had said, \u201cOf a child,\u201d and, \u201cIf thou canst help me,\u201d Christ saith, \u201cTo him that believeth, all things are possible,\u201d 2250 again giving the complaint a turn against him. And whereas when the leper said, \u201cIf Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean,\u201d 2251 bearing witness to His authority Christ commending him, and confirming His words, said, \u201cI will, be thou clean;\u201d in this man\u2019s case, upon his uttering a speech in no way worthy of His power,\u2014\u201cIf Thou canst, help me,\u201d\u2014see how He corrects it, as not rightly spoken. For what saith He? \u201cIf thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.\u201d 2252 What He saith is like this: \u201cSuch abundance of power is with me, that I can even make others work these miracles. So that if thou believe as one ought, even thou thyself art able,\u201d saith He, \u201cto heal both this one, and many others.\u201d And having thus said, He set free the possessed of the devil.\nBut do thou not only from this observe His providence and His beneficence, but also from that other time, during which He allowed the p. 340 devil to be in him. Since surely, unless the man had been favored with much providential care even then, he would have perished long ago; for \u201cit cast him both into the fire,\u201d so it is said, \u201cand into the water.\u201d And he that dared this would assuredly have destroyed the man too, unless even in so great madness God had put on him His strong curb: as indeed was the case with those naked men that were running in the deserts and cutting themselves with stones.\nAnd if he call him \u201ca lunatic,\u201d trouble not thyself at all, for it is the father of the possessed who speaks the word. How then saith the evangelist also, \u201cHe healed many that were lunatic?\u201d 2253 Denominating them according to the impression of the multitude. For the evil spirit, to bring a reproach upon nature, 2254 by wine? For the weaker the vessel, the more entire the shipwreck, whether she be free or a slave. For the free woman behaves herself unseemly in the midst of her slaves as spectators, and the slave again in like manner in the midst of the slaves, and they cause the gifts of God to be blasphemously spoken of by foolish men.\nFor instance, I hear many say, when these excesses happen, \u201cWould there were no wine.\u201d O folly! O madness! When other men sin, dost thou find fault with God\u2019s gifts? And what great madness is this? What? did the wine, O man, produce this evil? Not the wine, but the intemperance of such as take an evil delight in it. Say then, \u201cWould there were no drunkenness, no luxury;\u201d but if thou say, \u201cWould there were no wine,\u201d thou wilt say, going on by degrees, \u201cWould there were no steel, because of the murderers; no night, because of the thieves; no light, because of the informers; no women, because of adulteries;\u201d and, in a word, thou wilt destroy all.\nBut do not so; for this is of a satanical mind; do not find fault with the wine, but with the drunkenness; and when thou hast found this self-same man sober, sketch out all his unseemliness, and say unto him, Wine was given, that we might be cheerful, not that we might behave ourselves unseemly; that we might laugh, not that we might be a laughingstock; that we might be healthful, not that we might be diseased; that we might correct the weakness of our body, not cast down the might of our soul.\nGod honored thee with the gift, why disgrace thyself with the excess thereof? Hear what Paul saith, \u201cUse a little wine for thy stomach\u2019s sake, and thine often infirmities.\u201d 2255 But if that saint, even when oppressed with disease, and enduring successive sicknesses, partook not of wine, until his Teacher suffered p. 341 him; what excuse shall we have, who are drunken in health? To him indeed He said, \u201cUse a little wine for thy stomach\u2019s sake;\u201d but to each of you who are drunken, He will say, \u201cUse little wine, for thy fornications, thy frequent filthy talking, for the other wicked desires to which drunkenness is wont to give birth.\u201d But if ye are not willing, for these reasons, to abstain; at least on account of the despondencies which come of it, and the vexations, do ye abstain. For wine was given for gladness, \u201cYea, wine,\u201d so it is said, \u201cmaketh glad the heart of man:\u201d 2256 but ye mar even this excellence in it. For what kind of gladness is it to be beside one\u2019s self, and to have innumerable vexations, and to see all things whirling round, and to be oppressed with giddiness, and like those that have a fever, to require some who may drench their heads with oil? 2257\n6. These things are not said by me to all: or rather they are said to all, not because all are drunken, God forbid; but because they who do not drink take no thought of the drunken. Therefore even against you do I rather inveigh, that are in health; since the physician too leaves the sick, and addresses his discourse to them that are sitting by them. To you therefore do I direct my speech, entreating you neither to be at any time over-taken by this passion, and to draw up 2258 as by cords those who have been so overtaken, that they be not found worse than the brutes. For they indeed seek nothing more than what is needful, but these have become even more brutish than they, overpassing the boundaries of moderation. For how much better is the ass than these men? how much better the dog! For indeed each of these animals, and of all others, whether it need to eat, or to drink, acknowledges sufficiency for a limit, and goes not on beyond what it needs; and though there are innumerable persons to constrain, it will not endure to go on to excess.\nIn this respect then we are worse even than the brutes, by the judgment not of them that are in health only, but even by our own. For that ye have judged yourselves to be baser than both dogs and asses, 2259 revealed to Peter, He doth hereby again confirm. And neither at this did He stop, but by His very condescension declares this self-same truth; an instance of exceeding wisdom.\nFor after thus speaking, He saith, \u201cBut lest we should offend them, go thou and cast an hook into the sea, and take up the fish that first cometh up, and thou shalt find therein a piece of money; 2260 that take, and give unto them for me and thee.\u201d 2261\nSee how He neither declines the tribute, nor simply commands to pay it, but having first proved Himself not liable to it, then He gives it: the one to save the people, the other, those around Him, from offense. For He gives it not at all as a debt, but as doing the best 2262 for their weakness. Elsewhere, however, He despises the offense, when He was discoursing of meats, 2263 teaching us to know at what seasons we ought to consider them that are offended, and at what to disregard them.\nAnd indeed by the very mode of giving He discloses Himself again. For wherefore doth He not command him to give of what they have laid up? That, as I have said, herein also He might signify Himself to be God of all, and the sea also to be under His rule. For He had indeed signified this even already, by His rebuke, and by His commanding this same Peter to walk on the waves; but He now again signifies the self-same thing, though in another way, yet so as to cause herein great amazement. For neither was it a small thing, to foretell that the first, who out of those depths should come in his way, would be the fish that would pay the tribute; and having cast forth His commandment like a net into that abyss, to bring up the one that bore the piece of money; but it was of a divine and unutterable power, thus to make even the sea bear gifts, and that its subjection to Him should be shown on all hands, as well when in its madness it was silent, 2264 and when, though fierce, it received its fellow servant; 2265 as now again, when it makes payment in His behalf to them that are demanding it.\n\u201cAnd give unto them,\u201d He saith, \u201cfor me and thee.\u201d Seest thou the exceeding greatness of the honor? See also the self-command of Peter\u2019s mind. For this point Mark, the follower of this apostle, doth not appear to have set down, because it indicated the great honor paid to him; but while of the denial he wrote as well as the rest, the things that make him illustrious he hath passed over in silence, his master perhaps entreating him not to mention the great things about himself. And He used the phrase, \u201cfor me and thee,\u201d because Peter too was a firstborn child.\nNow as thou art amazed at Christ\u2019s power, so I bid thee admire also the disciple\u2019s faith, that to a thing beyond possibility he so gave ear. For indeed it was very far beyond possibility by nature. Wherefore also in requital for his faith, He joined him to Himself in the payment of the tribute.\n3. \u201cIn that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?\u201d 2266\nThe disciples experienced some feeling of human weakness; wherefore the evangelist also adds this note, saying, \u201cIn that hour;\u201d when He had preferred him to all. For of James too, and John, one was a firstborn son, but no such thing as this had He done for them.\nThen, being ashamed to avow their feeling, they say not indeed openly, \u201cWherefore hast thou preferred Peter to us?\u201d or, \u201cIs he greater than we are?\u201d for they were ashamed; but indefinitely they ask, \u201cWho then is greater?\u201d For when they saw the three preferred, they felt nothing of the kind; but now that the honor had come round to one, they were vexed. And not for this only, but there were many other things which they put together to kindle that feeling. For to him He had said, \u201cI will give thee the keys;\u201d 2267 to him, \u201cBlessed art thou, Simon Barjona;\u201d to him here, \u201cGive unto them for me and thee;\u201d and seeing too in general how freely he was allowed to speak, it somewhat fretted them.\nAnd if Mark saith, 2268 that they did not ask, p. 342 but reasoned in themselves, that is nothing contrary to this. For it is likely that they did both the one and the other, and whereas before, on another occasion, they had had this feeling, both once and twice, that now they did both declare it, and reason among themselves.\nBut to thee I say, \u201cLook not to the charge against them only, but consider this too; first, that they seek none of the things of this world; next, that even this passion they afterwards laid aside, and give up the first place one to another.\u201d But we are not able to attain so much as unto their faults, neither do we seek, \u201cwho is greatest 2269 in the kingdom of heaven;\u201d but, who is greatest 2270 in the earthly kingdom, who is wealthiest, who most powerful.\nWhat then saith Christ? He unveils their conscience, and replies to their feeling, not merely to their words. \u201cFor He called a little child unto Him,\u201d saith the Scripture, \u201cand said, Except ye be converted, and become as this little child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.\u201d 2271 \u201cWhy, you,\u201d He saith, \u201cinquire who is greatest, and are contentious for first honors; but I pronounce him, that is not become lowest of all, unworthy so much as to enter in thither.\u201d\nAnd full well doth He both allege that pattern, and not allege it only, but also set the child in the midst, by the very sight abashing them, and persuading them to be in like manner lowly and artless. Since both from envy the little child is pure, and from vainglory, and from longing for the first place; and he is possessed of the greatest of virtues, simplicity, and whatever is artless and lowly.\nNot courage then only is wanted, nor wisdom, but this virtue also, humility I mean, and simplicity. Yea, and the things that belong to our salvation halt even in the chiefest point, if these be not with us.\nThe little child, whether it be insulted and beaten, or honored and glorified, neither by the one is it moved to impatience or envy, nor by the other lifted up.\nSeest thou how again He calls us on to all natural excellencies, indicating that of free choice it is possible to attain them, and so silences the wicked frenzy of the Manich\u00e6ans? For if nature be an evil thing, wherefore doth He draw from hence His patterns of severe goodness?\nAnd the child which He set in the midst I suppose to have been a very young child indeed, free from all these passions. For such a little child is free from pride and the mad desire of glory, and envy, and contentiousness, and all such passions, and having many virtues, simplicity, humility, unworldliness, 2272 prides itself upon none of them; which is a twofold severity of goodness; to have these things, and not to be puffed up about them.\nWherefore He brought it in, and set it in the midst; and not at this merely did He conclude His discourse, but carries further this admonition, saying, \u201cAnd whoso shall receive such a little child in my name, receiveth me.\u201d 2273\n\u201cFor know,\u201d saith He, \u201cthat not only, if ye yourselves become like this, shall ye receive a great reward; but also if for my sake ye honor others who are such, even for your honor to them do I appoint unto you a kingdom as your recompence.\u201d Or rather, He sets down what is far greater, saying, \u201che receiveth me. So exceedingly dear to me is all that is lowly and artless.\u201d For by \u201ca little child,\u201d here, He means the men that are thus simple and lowly, and abject and contemptible in the judgment of the common sort.\n4. After this, to obtain yet more acceptance for His saying, He establishes it not by the honor only, but also by the punishment, going on to say, \u201cAnd whoso shall offend one of these little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.\u201d 2274\n\u201cFor as they,\u201d saith He, \u201cwho honor these for my sake, have heaven, or rather an honor greater than the very kingdom; even so they likewise who dishonor them (for this is to offend them), shall suffer the extremity of punishment. And marvel thou not at His calling the affront \u201can offense;\u201d 2275 for many feeble-minded persons have suffered no ordinary offense from being treated with slight and insult. To heighten therefore and aggravate the blame, He states the mischief arising therefrom.\nAnd He doth not go on to express the punishment in the same way, but from the things familiar to us, He indicates how intolerable it is. For when He would touch the grosser sort most sharply, He brings sensible images. Wherefore here also, meaning to p. 343 indicate the greatness of the punishment they shall undergo, and to strike into the arrogance of those that despise them, He brought forward a kind of sensible punishment, that of the millstone, and of the drowning. Yet surely it were suitable to what had gone before to have said, \u201cHe that receiveth not one of these little ones, receiveth not me;\u201d a thing bitterer than any punishment; but since the very unfeeling, and exceeding gross, were not so much penetrated by this, terrible as it is, He puts \u201ca millstone,\u201d and \u201ca drowning.\u201d And He said not, \u201cA millstone shall be hanged about his neck,\u201d but, \u201cIt were better for him\u201d 2276 to undergo this; implying that another evil, more grievous than this, awaits him; and if this be unbearable, much more that.\nSeest thou how in both respects He made His threat terrible, first by the comparison with the known image rendering it more distinct, then by the excess on its side presenting it to the fancy as far greater than that visible one. Seest thou how He plucks up by the root the spirit of arrogance; how He heals the ulcer of vainglory; how He instructs us in nothing to set our heart on the first honors; how He persuades such as covet them in everything to follow after the lowest place?\n5. For nothing is worse than arrogance. 2277 This even takes men out of their natural senses, and brings upon them the character of fools; or rather, it really makes them to be utterly like idiots.\nFor like as, if any one, being three cubits in stature, were to strive to be higher than the mountains, or actually to think it, and draw himself up, as overpassing their summits, we should seek no other proof of his being out of his senses; so also when thou seest a man arrogant, and thinking himself superior to all, and accounting it a degradation to live with other people, seek not thou after that to see any other proof of that man\u2019s madness. Why, he is much more ridiculous than any natural fool, inasmuch as he absolutely creates this his disease on purpose. And not in this only is he wretched, but because he doth without feeling it fall into the very gulf of wickedness.\nFor when will such an one come to due knowledge of any sin? when will he perceive that he is offending? Nay, rather he is as a vile and captive slave, whom the devil having caught goes off with, and makes him altogether a prey, buffetting him on every side, and encompassing him with ten thousand insults.\nFor unto such great folly doth he lead them in the end, as to get them to be haughty towards their children, and wives, and towards their own forefathers. And others, on the contrary, He causes to be puffed up by the distinction of their ancestors. Now, what can be more foolish than this? when from opposite causes people are alike puffed up, the one sort because they had mean persons for fathers, grandfathers, and ancestors; and the other because theirs were glorious and distinguished? How then may one abate in each case the swelling sore? By saying to these last, \u201cGo farther back than your grandfather, and immediate ancestors, and you will find perchance many cooks, and drivers of asses, and shopkeepers:\u201d but to the former, that are puffed up by the meanness of their forefathers, the contrary again; \u201cAnd thou again, if thou proceed farther up among thy forefathers, wilt find many far more illustrious than thou art.\u201d\nFor that nature hath this course, come let me prove it to thee even from the Scriptures. Solomon was son of a king, and of an illustrious king, but that king\u2019s father was one of the vile and ignoble. And his grandfather on his mother\u2019s side in like manner; for else he would not have given his daughter to a mere soldier. And if thou wert to go up again higher from these mean persons, thou wilt see the race more illustrious and royal. So in Saul\u2019s case too, so in many others also, one shall come to this result. Let us not then pride ourselves herein. For what is birth? tell me. Nothing, but a name only without a substance; and this ye will know in that day. But because that day is not yet come, let us now even from the things present persuade you, that hence arises no superiority. For should war overtake us, should famine, should anything else, all these inflated conceits of noble birth are put to the proof: should disease, should pestilence come upon us, it knows not how to distinguish between the rich and the poor, the glorious and inglorious, the high born and him that is not such; neither doth death, nor the other reverses of fortune, but they all rise up alike against all; and if I may say something that is even marvellous, against the rich more of the two. For by how much they are less exercised in these things, so much the more do they perish, when overtaken by them. And the fear too is greater with the rich. For none so tremble at princes as they; and at multitudes, not less than at princes, yea rather much more; many such houses in fact have been subverted alike by the wrath of multitudes and the threatening of princes. But p. 344 the poor man is exempt from both these kinds of troubled waters.\n6. Wherefore let alone this nobility, and if thou wouldest show me that thou art noble, show the freedom of thy soul, such as that blessed man had (and he a poor man), who said to Herod, \u201cIt is not lawful for thee to have thy brother Philip\u2019s wife;\u201d 2278 such as he was possessed of, who before him was like him, and after him shall be so again; who said to Ahab, \u201cI do not trouble Israel, but thou, and thy father\u2019s house;\u201d 2279 such as the prophets had, such as all the apostles.\nBut not like this are the souls of them that are slaves to wealth, but as they that are under ten thousand tutors, and taskmasters, so these dare not so much as lift up their eye, and speak boldly in behalf of virtue. For the love of riches, and that of glory, and that of other things, looking terribly on them, make them slavish flatterers; there being nothing which so takes away liberty, as entanglement in worldly affairs, and the wearing what are accounted marks of distinction. For such an one hath not one master, nor two, nor three, but ten thousand.\nAnd if ye would fain even number them, let us bring in some one of those that are in honor in kings\u2019 courts, and let him have both very much wealth, and great power, and a birthplace excelling others, and distinction of ancestry, and let him be looked up to by all men. Now then let us see, if this be not the very person to be more in slavery than all; and let us set in comparison with him, not a slave merely, but a slave\u2019s slave, for many though servants have slaves. This slave\u2019s slave then for his part hath but one master. And what though that one be not a freeman? yet he is but one, and the other looks only to his pleasure. For albeit his master\u2019s master seem to have power over him, yet for the present he obeys one only; and if matters between them two are well, he will abide in security all his life. But our man hath not one or two only, but many, and more grievous masters. And first he is in care about the sovereign himself. And it is not the same to have a mean person for a master, as to have a king, whose ears are buzzed into by many, and who becomes a property now to this set and now to that.\nOur man, though conscious of nothing, suspects all; both his comrades and his subordinates; both his friends and his enemies.\nBut the other man too, you may say, fears his master. But how is it the same thing, to have one or many, to make one timorous? Or rather, if a man inquire carefully, he will not find so much as one. How, and in what sense? Whereas that slave hath no one that desires to put him out of that service of his, and to introduce himself (whence neither hath he any one to plot against him therein); these have not even any other pursuit, but to unsettle him that is more approved and more beloved by their ruler. Wherefore also he must needs flatter all, his superiors, his equals, his friends. For where envy is, and love of glory, there even sincere friendship has no strength. For as those of the same craft cannot love one another with a perfect and genuine love, so is it with rivals in honor also, and with them that long for the same among worldly objects. Whence also great is the war within.\nSeest thou what a swarm of masters, and of hard masters? Wilt thou that I show thee yet another, more grievous than this? They that are behind him, all of them strive to get before him: all that are before him, to hinder him from coming nearer them, and passing them by.\n7. But O marvel! I undertook indeed to show you masters, but our discourse, we find, coming on and waxing eager, hath performed more than my undertaking, pointing out foes instead of masters; or rather the same persons both as foes and as masters. For while they are courted like masters, they are terrible as foes, and they plot against us as enemies. When then any one hath the same persons both as masters, and as enemies, what can be worse than this calamity? The slave indeed, though he be subject to command, yet nevertheless hath the advantage of care and good-will on the part of them who give him orders; but these, while they receive commands, are made enemies, and are set one against another; and that so much more grievously than those in battles, in that they both wound secretly, and in the mask of friends they treat men as their enemies would do, and oftentimes make themselves credit of the calamity of others.\nBut not such are our circumstances; rather should another fare ill, there are many to grieve with him: should he obtain distinction, many to find pleasure with him. Not so again the apostle: \u201cFor whether,\u201d saith he, \u201cone member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.\u201d 2280 And the words of him who gives these admonitions, are at one time, \u201cWhat is my hope or joy? are not even ye?\u201d 2281 at another, \u201cNow we live, if ye p. 345 stand fast in the Lord;\u201d 2282 at another, \u201cOut of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you;\u201d 2283 and, \u201cWho is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?\u201d 2284\nWherefore then do we still endure the tempest and the billows of the world without, and not run to this calm haven, and leaving the names of good things, go on to the very things themselves? For glory, and dignity, and wealth, and credit, and all such things, are names with them, but with us realities; just as the grievous things, death and dishonor and poverty, and whatever else is like them, are names indeed with us, but realities with them.\nAnd, if thou wilt, let us first bring forward glory, so lovely and desirable with all of them. And I speak not of its being short-lived, and soon put out, but when it is in its bloom, then show it me. Take not away the daubings and colored lines of the harlot, but bring her forward decked out, and exhibit her to us, for me thereupon to expose her deformity. Well then, of course thou wilt tell of her array, and her many lictors, and the heralds\u2019 voice, and the listening of all classes, and the silence kept by the populace, and the blows given to all that come in one\u2019s way, and the universal gazing. Are not these her splendors? Come then, let us examine whether these things be not vain, and a mere unprofitable imagination. For wherein is the person we speak of the better for these things, either in body, or in soul? for this constitutes the man. Will he then be taller hereby, or stronger, or healthier, or swifter, or will he have his senses keener, and more piercing? Nay, no one could say this. Let us go then to the soul, if haply we may find there any advantage occurring herefrom. What then? Will such a one be more temperate, more gentle, more prudent, through that kind of attendance? By no means, but rather quite the contrary. For not as in the body, so also is the result here. For there the body indeed gains nothing in respect of its proper excellence; but here the mischief is not only the soul\u2019s reaping no good fruit, but also its actually receiving much evil therefrom: hurried as it is by such means into haughtiness, and vainglory, and folly, and wrath, and ten thousand faults like them.\n\u201cBut he rejoices,\u201d thou wilt say, \u201cand exults in these things, and they brighten him up.\u201d The crowning point 2285 of his evils lies in that word of thine, and the incurable part of the disease. For he that rejoices in these things, would be unwilling however easily to be released from that which is the ground of his evils; yea, he hath blocked up against himself the way of healing by this delight. So that here most of all is the mischief, that he is not even pained, but rather rejoices, when the diseases are growing upon him.\nFor neither is rejoicing always a good thing; since even thieves rejoice in stealing, and an adulterer in defiling his neighbor\u2019s marriage bed, and the covetous in spoiling by violence, and the manslayer in murdering. Let us not then look whether he rejoice, but whether it be for something profitable, lest 2286 perchance we find his joy to be such as that of the adulterer and the thief.\nFor wherefore, tell me, doth he rejoice? For his credit with the multitude, because he can puff himself up, and be gazed upon? Nay, what can be worse than this desire, and this ill-placed fondness? or if it be no bad thing, ye must leave off deriding the vainglorious and aspersing them with continual mockeries: ye must leave off uttering imprecations on the haughty and contemptuous. But ye would not endure it. Well then, they too deserve plenty of censure, though they have plenty of lictors. And all this I have said of the more tolerable sort of rulers; since the greater part of them we shall find transgressing more grievously than either robbers, or murderers, or adulterers, or spoilers of tombs, from not making a good use of their power. For indeed both their thefts are more shameless, and their butcheries more hardened, and their impurities far more enormous than the others; and they dig through, not one wall, but estates and houses without end, their prerogative making it very easy to them.\nAnd they serve a most grievous servitude, both stooping basely under their passions, 2287 and trembling at all their accomplices. For he only is free, and he only a ruler, and more kingly than all kings, who is delivered from his passions.\nKnowing then these things, let us follow after the true freedom, and deliver ourselves from the evil slavery, and let us account neither pomp of power nor dominion of wealth, nor any other such thing, to be blessed; but virtue only. For thus shall we both enjoy security here, and attain unto the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.\nTitus 2:11, 12. [The Homily omits \u201cto all men.\u201d]\n337:2218 337:2219 337:2220\nMatt. xvii. 11. [R.V., \u201cElijah indeed cometh,\u201d etc.]\n337:2221 337:2222\n[The Hebrew does not have this; the argument rests on the inaccurate rendering of the LXX.]\n337:2223 337:2224 337:2225\nAs to Elijah\u2019s future coming, see St. Just. Mart. Dial. adv. Tryph. p. 268, ed. Paris, 1636: Tert. de Anim. 35; de Resur. Carnis, 22; Origen (more doubtfully) in St. Matt. tom. 13, iii. 572; in St. Joan. tom. 3, iv. 92. St. Jer. in St. Matt. xi, 15, (t. 7, 70. Vallars. 1771), but doubtingly; in loco, p. 132, more positively; St. Aug. in St. Joan. Tr. iv. 5, 6. de Civ. Dei, 20, 29: who speaks positively of his coming to convert the Jews, as being \u201ca most common topic in the mouths and hearts of the faithful.\u201d\n338:2226 338:2227 338:2228\nThis refers apparently to such texts as Jer. 30:9, Ezek. 34:23, 24, Ezek. 37:24, Hos. 3:5.\n338:2229 338:2230 338:2231 338:2232 338:2233\n[\u201cSinful\u201d (\u1f01\u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03c9\u03bb\u03bd) is omitted in some mss. of the Homily. It does not occur in Matt. xvii. 22, but is taken from Luke xxiv. 7. Comp. Homily LVIII. at the beginning.\u2014R.]\n338:2234 338:2235 338:2236\nComp. Luke xxiii. 24.\n339:2237 339:2238 339:2239 339:2240\n[R.V., \u201cfor he is epileptic, and suffereth grievously.\u201d]\n339:2241 339:2242 339:2243 339:2244 339:2245 339:2246 339:2247 339:2248 339:2249 339:2250 339:2251 339:2252\nMark ix. 23. [The word \u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 is read here; The R.V. has a briefer reading. The entire passage in Mark shows many variations of text.\u2014R.]\n340:2253\nMatt. iv. 24. [\u03c3\u03b5\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03bc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5; the same term occurs here, and is the basis of the comment.\u2014R.]\n340:2254 340:2255 341:2256 341:2257\nLightfoot, Harmony, A.D., 43. t. i. p. 333, seems to show from Talmudic writers, that anointing was regularly used among the Jews, either as a remedy or as a charm, in complaints of the head especially; and he uses the fact to explain St. James v. 15.\n341:2258 341:2259\n[The Oxford edition reads \u201capes,\u201d obviously a typographical error. The Greek word is \u1f44\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd\u03c4\u03bd \u03b3\u03bd\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd.\n341:2260\nLiterally, a stater, = 4 drachmas. [R.V., \u201cshekel, Greek, stater.\u201d]\n341:2261\nMatt. xvii. 27. [Slightly abridged.]\n341:2262 341:2263 341:2264 341:2265 341:2266\nMatt. xviii. 1. [R.V., \u201cWho then is greatest (Greek, greater).\u201d Compare the comment.\u2014R.]\n341:2267 341:2268 342:2269 342:2270\n[R.V., \u201cExcept ye turn, and become as little children,\u201d but Chrysostom substitutes \u201cthis little child.\u201d\u2014R.]\n342:2271\nMatt. 18:2, 3.\n342:2272 342:2273\nMatt. xviii. 5. [\u201cone such little child,\u201d rec. text; so R.V.]\n342:2274\nMatt. xviii. 6. [R.V., \u201cbut whoso shall cause one of these little ones which believe in me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone (Greek, a millstone turned by an ass) should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.\u201d The Greek text of Chrysostom agrees very closely with the received, but omits \u201cwhich believe in me.\u201d\u2014R.]\n342:2275\n[\u03c3\u03ba\u03bd\u03b4\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd, \u201cstumbling block.\u201d]\n343:2276\n[\u03c3\u03c5\u03bc\u03c6\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5 \u03b1\u03c4, \u201cit is profitable for him.\u201d]\n343:2277 344:2278 344:2279 344:2280 344:2281 345:2282 345:2283 345:2284 345:2285 345:2286\n[The Greek text has \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03c8\u03bc\u03b5\u03b8\u03b1, which the translator has ignored: \u201cLet us consider well, lest,\u201d etc.\u2014R.]\n345:2287\n[Some mss. insert here: \u03ba\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b4\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c6\u03b5\u03b9\u03b4, \u201cand beating the fellow servants unsparingly.\u201d But it is put in brackets by Field.\u2014R.]","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. X: The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom.: Homily LV","type":"page"}