{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/113/1130080.htm","path":"chr/ecf/113/1130080.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/113/1130080.htm","text":"\u201cBut concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.\u201d\nNothing, as it seems, is so curious, and so fondly prone to pry into things obscure and concealed, as the nature of men. And this is wont to happen to it, when the mind is unsettled and in an imperfect state. For the simpler sort of children never cease teasing their nurses, and tutors, and parents, with their frequent questions, in which there is nothing else but \u201cwhen will this be?\u201d and \u201cwhen that?\u201d And this comes to pass also from living in indulgence, and having nothing to do. Many things therefore our mind is in haste to learn already and to comprehend, but especially concerning the period of the consummation; and what wonder if we are thus affected, for those holy men, themselves, were most of all affected in the same way? And before the Passion, the Apostles come and say to Christ, \u201cTell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?\u201d (Matt. xxiv. 23.) And after the Passion and the Resurrection from the dead, they said to Him, Tell us, \u201cdost Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?\u201d (From Acts i. 6.) And they asked Him nothing sooner than this.\nBut it was not so afterwards, when they had been vouchsafed the Holy Ghost. Not only do they not themselves inquire, nor complain of this ignorance, but they repress those who labor under this unseasonable curiosity. Hear for instance what the blessed Paul now says, \u201cBut concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you.\u201d Why has he not said that no one knows? why has he not said, that it is not revealed, instead of saying, \u201cYe have no need that aught be written unto you\u201d? Because in that case he would have grieved them more, but by speaking thus he comforted them. For by the expression, \u201cYe have no need,\u201d as if it were both superfluous, and inexpedient, he suffers them not to enquire.\nFor tell me, what would be the advantage? Let us suppose that the end would be after twenty or thirty or a hundred years, what is this to us? Is not the end of his own life the consummation to every individual? Why art thou curious, and travailest about the general end? But the case is the same with us in this, as in other things. For as in other things, leaving our own private concerns, we are anxious about things in general, saying, Such an one is a fornicator, such an one an adulterer, that man has robbed, another has been injurious; but no one takes account of what is his own, but each thinks of anything rather than his own private concerns; so here also, each omitting to take thought about his own end, we are anxious to hear about the general dissolution. Now what concern is that of yours? for if you make your own a good end, you will suffer no harm from the other; be it far off, or be it near. This is nothing to us.\nFor this reason Christ did not tell it, because it was not expedient. How, you say, was it not expedient? He who also concealed it knows wherefore it was not expedient. For hear Him saying to His Apostles, \u201cIt is not for you to know times, or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority.\u201d (Acts i. 7.) Why are you curious? Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and his fellows, heard this said, as if they were seeking things too great for them to know. True, you say; but it were possible to stop the mouths of the Greeks in this way. How? tell me. Because they say, that this world is a god; if we knew the period of its dissolution, we should have stopped their mouths. Why, is this what will stop their mouths, to know when it will be destroyed, or to know that it will be destroyed? Tell them this, that it will have an end. If they do not believe this, neither will they believe the other.\nHear Paul saying, \u201cFor yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.\u201d Not the general day only, but that of every individual. For the one resembles the other, is also akin to it. For what the one does collectively, that the other does p. 361 partially. For the period of consummation took its beginning from Adam, and then is the end of the consummation; 1026 since even now one would not err in calling it a consummation. For when ten thousand die every day, and all await That Day, and no one is raised before it, is it not the work 1027 of That Day? And if you would know on what account it is concealed, and why it so cometh as a thief in the night, I will tell you how I think I can well account for it. No one would have ever cultivated virtue during his whole life; but knowing his last day, and, after having committed numberless sins, then having come to the Laver, he would so have departed. For if now, when the fear arising from its uncertainty shakes the souls of all, still all, 1028 having spent their whole former life in wickedness, at their last breath give themselves up to Baptism,\u2014if they had fully persuaded themselves concerning this matter, who would ever have cultivated virtue? If many have departed without Illumination, and not even this fear has taught them, whilst living, to cultivate the things that are pleasing to God; if this fear also had been removed, who would ever have been sober, or who gentle? There is not one! And another thing again. The fear of death and the love of life restrain many. But if each one knew that to-morrow he would certainly die, there is nothing he would refuse to attempt before that day, but he would murder whomsoever he wished, and would retrieve himself by taking vengeance on his enemies, and would perpetrate ten thousand crimes.\nFor a wicked man, who despairs of his life here, pays no regard even to him who is invested with the purple. He therefore who was persuaded that he must at all events die would both be revenged upon his enemy, and after having first satisfied his own soul, so would meet his end. Let me mention also a third thing. Those who are fond of life, and vehemently attached to the things of this world, would 1029 be ruined by despair and grief. For if any of the young knew that before he reached old age, he should meet his end, as the most sluggish of wild beasts, when they are taken, become still more sluggish from expecting their end, so would he also be affected. Besides, not even the men that are courageous would have had their reward. For if they knew that after three years they must certainly die, and before that time it was not possible, what reward would they have gained for daring in the face of dangers? For any one might say to them, Because you are confident of the three years of life, for this reason you throw yourselves into dangers, knowing that it is not possible for you to pass away. For he, that expects from each danger that he may come by his death, and knows that he shall live indeed, if he does not expose himself to peril, but shall die if he attempts such and such actions, he gives the greatest proof of his zeal, and of his contempt for the present life. And this I will make plain to you by an example. Tell me, if the patriarch Abraham, foreknowing that he should not have to sacrifice his son, had brought him to the place, would he then have had any reward? And what if Paul, foreknowing that he should not die, had despised dangers, in what respect would he have been admirable? For so even the most sluggish would rush into the fire, if he could find any one he could trust to ensure his safety. But not such were the Three Children. For hear them saying, \u201cO king, there is a God in heaven, who will deliver us out of thine hands, and out of this furnace; and if not, be it known to thee that we do not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.\u201d (Dan. 3:17, 18, Sept.)\nYe see how many advantages there are, and yet there are more than these that arise from not knowing the time of our end. Meanwhile it is sufficient to learn these. On this account He so cometh as a thief in the night; that we may not abandon ourselves to wickedness, nor to sloth; that He may not take from us our reward. \u201cFor yourselves know perfectly,\u201d he says. Why then are you curious, if you are persuaded? But that the future is uncertain, learn from what Christ has said. For that on this account He said it, hear what he says, \u201cWatch therefore: for ye know not at what hour\u201d the thief 1030 \u201ccometh.\u201d (Matt. xxiv. 42.) On this account also Paul said,\n1 Thess. 5.3. \u201cWhen they are saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in nowise escape.\u201d\nHere he has glanced at something which he has also said in his second Epistle. For since 1031 they indeed were in affliction, but they that warred on them at ease and in luxury, and then while he comforted them in their present sufferings by this mention of the Resurrection, the others insulted them with arguments taken from their forefathers, and said, When will it happen?p. 362 \u2014which the Prophets also said, \u201cWoe unto them that say, Let him make speed, let God hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it!\u201d (Isa. v. 19.); and again \u201cWoe unto them that desire the day of the Lord.\u201d (Amos v. 18.) He means this day; for he does not speak simply of persons who desire it, but of those who desire it because they disbelieve it: and \u201cthe day of the Lord,\u201d he says, \u201cis darkness, and not light\u201d\u2014see then how Paul consoles them, as if he had said, Let them not account their being in a prosperous state, a proof that the Judgment is not coming. For so it is that it will come.\nBut it may be worth while to ask, If Antichrist comes, and Elias comes, how is it \u201cwhen they say Peace and safety,\u201d that then a sudden destruction comes upon them? For these things do not permit the day to come upon them unawares, being signs of its coming. But he does not mean this to be the time of Antichrist, and the whole day, because that will be a sign of the coming of Christ, but Himself will not have a sign, but will come suddenly and unexpectedly. For travail, indeed, you say, does not come upon the pregnant woman unexpectedly: for she knows that after nine months the birth will take place. And yet it is very uncertain. For some bring forth at the seventh month, and others at the ninth. And at any rate the day and the hour is uncertain. With respect to this therefore, Paul speaks thus. And the image is exact. For there are not many sure signs of travail; many indeed have brought forth in the high roads, or when out of their houses and abroad, not foreseeing it. And he has not only glanced here at the uncertainty, but also at the bitterness of the pain. For as she while sporting, laughing, not looking for anything at all, being suddenly seized with unspeakable pains, is pierced through with the pangs of labor\u2014so will it be with those souls, when the Day comes upon them.\n\u201cAnd they shall in nowise escape.\u201d As he was saying just now.\n1 Thess. 5.4. \u201cBut ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.\u201d\nHere he speaks of a life that is dark and impure. For it is just as corrupt and wicked men do all things as in the night, escaping the notice of all, and inclosing themselves in darkness. For tell me, does not the adulterer watch for the evening, and the thief for the night? Does not the violator of the tombs carry on all his trade in the night? What then? Does it not overtake them as a thief? Does it not come upon them also uncertainly, but do they know it beforehand? How then does he say, \u201cYe have no need that aught be written unto you\u201d? He speaks here not with respect to the uncertainty, but with respect to the calamity, that is, it will not come as an evil to them. For it will come uncertainly indeed even to them, but it will involve them in no trouble. \u201cThat that Day,\u201d he says, \u201cmay not overtake you as a thief.\u201d For in the case of those who are watching and who are in the light, if there should be any entry of a robber, it can do them no harm: so also it is with those who live well. But those who are sleeping he will strip of everything, and go off; that is, those who are trusting in the things of this life.\n1 Thess. 5.5. \u201cFor ye are all,\u201d he says, \u201csons of light, and sons of the day.\u201d\nAnd how is it possible to be \u201csons of the day\u201d? Just as it is said, \u201csons of destruction\u201d and \u201csons of hell.\u201d Wherefore Christ also said to the Pharisees, \u201cWoe unto you\u2014for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is become so, ye make him a son of hell.\u201d (Matt. xxiii. 15.) And again Paul said, \u201cFor which things\u2019 sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience.\u201d (Col. iii. 6.) That is, those who do the works of hell and the works of disobedience. So also sons of God are those who do things pleasing to God; so also sons of day and sons of light, those who do the works of light. \u201cAnd we are not of the night nor of darkness.\u201d\n1 Thess. 5.6-8. \u201cSo then let us not sleep, as do also the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober.\u201d\nHere he shows, that to be in the day depends on ourselves. For here indeed, in the case of the present day and night, it does not depend on ourselves. But night comes even against our will, and sleep overtakes us when we do not wish it. But with respect to that night and that sleep, it is not so, but it is in our power always to have it day, it is in our power always to watch. For to shut the eyes of the soul, and to bring on the sleep of wickedness, is not of nature, but of our own choice. \u201cBut let us watch,\u201d he says, \u201cand be sober.\u201d For it is possible to sleep while awake, by doing nothing good. Wherefore he has added, \u201cand be sober.\u201d For even by day, if any one watches, but is not sober, he will fall into numberless dangers, so that sobriety is the intensity of watchfulness. \u201cThey that sleep,\u201d he says, \u201csleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.\u201d The drunkenness he here speaks of is not that from wine only, but that also which comes of all vices. For riches and the desire of wealth is a drunkenness of the soul, and so carnal lust; and every sin you can name is a drunkenness of the soul. On what account then has he called vice sleep? p. 363 Because in the first place the vicious man is inactive with respect to virtue: again, because he sees everything as a vision, he views nothing in its true light, but is full of dreams, and oftentimes of unreasonable actions: and if he sees anything good, he 1032 has no firmness, no fixedness. Such is the present life. It is full of dreams, and of phantasy. Riches are a dream, and glory, and everything of that sort. He who sleeps sees not things that are and have a real subsistence, but things that are not he fancies as things that are. Such is vice, and the life that is passed in vice. It sees not things that are, that is, spiritual, heavenly, abiding things, but things that are fleeting and fly away, and that soon recede from us.\nBut it is not sufficient to watch and be sober, we must also be armed. For if a man watch and is sober, but has not arms, the robbers soon dispatch him. When therefore we ought both to watch, and to be sober, and to be armed, and we are unarmed and naked and asleep, who will hinder him from thrusting home his sword? Wherefore showing this also, that we have need of arms, he has added:\n1 Thess. 5.8. \u201cPutting on the breastplate of faith and love: and for a helmet the hope of salvation.\u201d\n\u201cOf faith and love,\u201d he says. Here he glances at life and doctrine. He has shown what it is to watch and be sober, to have \u201cthe breastplate of faith and love.\u201d Not a common faith, he says, but as nothing can soon pierce through a breastplate, but it is a safe wall to the breast;\u2014so do thou also, he says, surround thy soul with faith and love, and none of the fiery darts of the devil can ever be fixed in it. For where the power of the soul is preoccupied with the armor of love, all the devices of those who plot against it are vain and ineffectual. For neither wickedness, nor hatred, nor envy, nor flattery, nor hypocrisy, nor any other thing will be able to penetrate such a soul. He has not simply said \u201clove,\u201d but he has bid them put it on as a strong breastplate. \u201cAnd for a helmet the hope of salvation.\u201d For as the helmet guards the vital part in us, surrounding the head and covering it on every side, so also this hope does not suffer the reason to falter, but sets it upright as the head, not permitting anything from without to fall upon it. And whilst nothing falls on it, neither does it slip of itself. For it is not possible that one who is fortified with such arms as these, should ever fall. For \u201cnow abideth faith, hope, love.\u201d (1 Cor. xiii. 13.) Then having said, Put on, and array yourselves, he himself provides the armor, whence faith, hope, and love may be produced, and may become strong.\n1 Thess. 5.9. \u201cFor God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.\u201d\nThus God has not inclined to this, 1033 that He might destroy us, but that He might save us. And whence is it manifest that this is His will? He has given His own Son for us. So does He desire that we should be saved, that He has given His Son, and not merely given, but given Him to death. From these considerations hope is produced. For do not despair of thyself, O man, in going to God, who has not spared even His Son for thee. Faint not at present evils. He who gave His Only-Begotten, that He might save thee and deliver thee from hell, what will He spare henceforth for thy salvation? So that thou oughtest to hope for all things kind. For neither should we fear, if we were going to a judge who was about to judge us, and who had shown so much love for us, as to have sacrificed his son. Let us hope therefore for kind and great things, for we have received the principal thing; let us believe, for we have seen an example; let us love, for it is the extreme of madness for one not to love who has been so treated.\n1 Thess. 5:10, 11. \u201cThat, whether we wake or sleep,\u201d he says, \u201cwe should live together with Him. Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do.\u201d\nAnd again, \u201cwhether we wake or sleep\u201d; by sleep there he means one thing, and here another. For here, \u201cwhether we sleep\u201d signifies the death of the body; that is, fear not dangers; though we should die, we shall live. Do not despair because thou art in danger. Thou hast a strong security. He would not have given His Son if He had not been inflamed by vehement love for us. So that, though thou shouldest die, thou wilt live; for He Himself also died. Therefore whether we die, or whether we live, we shall live with Him. This is a matter of indifference: it is no concern of mine, whether I live or die; for we shall live with Him. Let us therefore do everything for that life: looking to that, let us do all our works. Vice, O beloved, is darkness, it is death, it is night; we see nothing that we ought, we do nothing that becomes us. As the dead are unsightly and of evil odor, so also the souls of those who are vicious are full of much impurity. Their eyes are closed, their mouth is stopped, they remain without motion in the bed of vice; or rather more wretched than those who are naturally dead. For they truly are dead to both, but these are insensible indeed to virtue, but alive to vice. If one should strike a dead man, he perceives it not, he revenges it not, but is like a dry stick. So also his soul is truly dry, having lost its life; it receives daily nump. 364 berless wounds, and has no feeling of any, but lies insensible to everything.\nOne would not err in comparing such men to those who are mad, or drunk, or delirious. All these things belong to vice, and it is worse than all these. He that is mad is much allowed for by those who see him, for his disease is not from choice, but from nature alone; but how shall he be pardoned, who lives in vice? Whence then is vice? whence are the majority bad? Tell me, whence have diseases their evil nature? whence is frenzy? whence is lethargy? Is it not from carelessness? If physical disorders have their origin in choice, much more those which are voluntary. Whence is drunkenness? Is it not from intemperance of soul? Is not frenzy from excess of fever? And is not fever from the elements too abundant in us? And is not this superabundance of elements from our carelessness? For when either from deficiency or excess we carry any of the things within us beyond the bounds of moderation, we kindle that fire. Again, if when the fire is kindled, we continue to neglect it, we make a conflagration for ourselves, which we are not able to extinguish. So is it also with vice. When we do not restrain it at its beginning, nor cut it off, we cannot afterwards reach to the end of it, but it becomes too great for our power. Wherefore, I beseech you, let us do everything that we may never become drowsy. Do you not see that when sentinels have only given way a little to sleep, they derive no advantage from their long watch, for by that little they have ruined the whole, having given perfect security to him who is prepared to steal. For as we do not see thieves in the same way that they see us, so also the devil most of all is ever instant, and lying in wait, and grinding his teeth. Let us not then slumber. Let us not say, on this side there is nothing, on that side nothing; we are often plundered from a quarter whence we did not expect it. So it is with vice; we perish from a quarter whence we did not expect it. Let us look carefully round upon all things, let us not be drunken, and we shall not sleep. Let us not be luxurious, and we shall not slumber. Let us not be mad for external things, and we shall continue in sobriety. Let us discipline ourselves on every side. And as men who walk upon a tight rope cannot be off their guard ever so little, for that little causes great mischief: for the man losing his balance is at once precipitated down and perishes; so neither is it possible for us to be off our guard. We walk upon a narrow road intercepted by precipices on either side, not admitting of two feet at the same time. Seest thou not how much carefulness is necessary? Seest thou not how those who travel on such roads guard not only their feet, but their eyes also? For if he should choose to gaze on one side, though his foot stand firm, his eye becoming dizzy from the depth, plunges the whole body down. But he must take heed to himself and to his steps; wherefore he says, \u201cneither to the right hand, nor to the left.\u201d (Prov. iv. 27.) Great is the depth of vice, high the precipices, much darkness below. Let us take heed to the narrow way, let us walk with fear and trembling. No one, who is traveling such a road, is dissolved in laughter nor heavy with drunkenness, but travels such a road with sobriety and fasting. No one traveling such a road carries with him any superfluities; for he would be contented even lightly equipped to be able to escape. No one entangles his own feet, but leaves them disengaged, and free to move.\nBut we, chaining ourselves down with numberless cares, and carrying with us the numberless burdens of this life, staring about, and loosely rambling, how do we expect to travel in that narrow road? He has not merely said that \u201cnarrow is the way\u201d (Matt. vii. 14.), but with wonder, \u201chow 1034 narrow is the way,\u201d that is, exceedingly narrow. And this we also do in things that are quite objects of wonder. And \u201cstraitened,\u201d he says, \u201cis the way which leadeth unto life.\u201d And he has well said it. For when we are bound to give an account of our thoughts, and words, and actions, and all things, truly it is narrow. But we ourselves make it more narrow, spreading out and widening ourselves, and shuffling out our feet. For the narrow way is difficult to every one, but especially to him who is incumbered with fat, as he who makes himself lean will not perceive its narrowness. So that he who has practiced himself in being pinched, will not be discouraged at its pressure.\nLet not any one therefore expect that he shall see heaven with ease. For it cannot be. Let no one hope to travel the narrow road with luxury, for it is impossible. Let no one traveling in the broad way hope for life. When therefore thou seest such and such an one luxuriating in baths, in a sumptuous table, or in other matters having troops of attendants; think not thyself unhappy, as not partaking of these things, but lament for him, that he is traveling the way to destruction. For what is the advantage of this way, when it ends in tribulation? And what is the injury of that straitness, when it leads to rest? Tell me, if any one invited to a palace should walk through narrow ways painful p. 365 and precipitous, and another led to death should be dragged through the midst of the market-place, which shall we call happy? which shall we commiserate? Him, shall we not, who walks through the broad road? So also now, let us think happy, not those who are luxurious, but those who are not luxurious. These are hastening to heaven, those to hell.\nAnd perhaps indeed many of them will even laugh at the things that are said by us. But I most of all lament and bewail them on this account, that they do not even know what they ought to laugh at, and for what they ought especially to mourn, but they confound and disturb and disorder everything. On this account I bewail them. What sayest thou, O man, when thou art to rise again, and to give an account of thy actions, and to undergo the last sentence, dost thou pay no regard indeed to these, but give thought to gratifying thy belly, and being drunken? And dost thou laugh at these things? But I bewail thee, knowing the evils that await thee, the punishment that is about to overtake thee. And this I most especially bewail, that thou dost laugh! Mourn with me, bewail with me thine own evils. Tell me, if one of thy friends perishes, dost thou not turn from those who laugh at his end, and think them enemies, but love those who weep and sympathize with thee? Then indeed if the dead body of thy wife were laid out, thou turnest from him that laughs: but when thy soul is done to death, dost thou turn from him that weeps, and laugh thyself? Seest thou how the devil has disposed us to be enemies and adversaries to ourselves? For once let us be sober, let us open our eyes, let us watch, let us lay hold on eternal life, let us shake off this long sleep. There is a Judgment, there is a Punishment, there is a Resurrection, there is an Inquisition into what we have done! The Lord cometh in the clouds \u201cBefore Him,\u201d he says, \u201ca fire will be kindled, and round about Him a mighty tempest\u201d (Ps. l. 3, Sept.) A river of fire rolls before him, the undying worm, unquenchable fire, outer darkness, gnashing of teeth. Although you should be angry with me ten thousand times for mentioning these things, I shall not cease from mentioning them. For if the prophets, though stoned, did not keep silence, much more ought we to bear with enmities, and not to discourse to you with a view to please, that we may not, for having deceived you, be ourselves cut in sunder. There is punishment, deathless, unallayed, and no one to stand up for us. \u201cWho will pity,\u201d he says, \u201cthe charmer that is bitten by a serpent?\u201d (Ecclesiasticus 12.13.) When we pity not our own selves, tell me, who will pity us? If you see a man piercing himself with a sword, will you be able to spare his life? By no means. Much more, when having it in our power to do well we do not do well, who will spare us? No one! Let us pity ourselves. When we pray to God, saying, \u201cLord, have mercy 1035 upon me,\u201d let us say it to ourselves, and have mercy upon ourselves. We are the arbiters 1036 of God\u2019s having mercy upon us. This grace He has bestowed upon us. If we do things worthy of mercy, worthy of His loving-kindness towards us, God will have mercy upon us. But if we have not mercy on ourselves, who will spare us? Have mercy on thy neighbor, and thou shalt find mercy of God Himself. How many every day come to thee, saying, \u201cHave pity on me,\u201d and thou dost not turn towards them; how many naked, how many maimed, and we do not bend toward them, but dismiss their supplications. How then dost thou claim 1037 to obtain mercy, when thou thyself dost nothing worthy of mercy? Let us become compassionate, let us become pitiful, that so we may be well-pleasing to God, and obtain the good things promised to those that love Him, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, &c.\n[This is obscure as to the exact purport. Does \u201cthen\u201d mean the end of the individual life, or the time of Christ\u2019s coming? The expanded text understood it in the former sense.\u2014J.A.B.]\n361:1027\n\u03c4\u1f78 \u1f14\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd, i.e. is not what is now doing part of That Day\u2019s work? Or it might be rendered \u201creality.\u201d\n361:1028\ni.e. as we say loosely, \u201cevery one.\u201d St. Greg. Naz. complains of this practice, Or. XL., preached at Constantinople, A.D. 381.\n361:1029 361:1030\n[This may be considered a mere slip of memory, or Chrys. may have inserted \u201cthe thief\u201d as representing our Lord. The Rev. Ver. properly reads \u201con what day,\u201d in Matt. 24.42, \u201cat what hour\u201d having been drawn from ver. 44, where all documents have it. Chrys. has, as so often, the reading which passed into the Textus Receptus.\u2014J.A.B.]\n361:1031\n[To this \u201csince\u201d answers \u201csee then,\u201d below. He digresses to quote the Prophets, and then returns in a way very natural to free speaking.\u2014J.A.B.]\n363:1032 363:1033\n[The altered text gives, \u201chas not called us to this.\u201d\u2014J.A.B.]\n364:1034\n[All the mss. examined for Field give not \u1f45\u03c4\u03b9, \u201cbecause,\u201d but \u03c4\u03af, \u201cwhat,\u201d \u201cto what extent,\u201d \u201chow.\u201d This more difficult reading of Matt. vii. 14 is quite probably correct. See Margin of Rev. Ver. Observe also that Chrys. seems to omit \u201cthe gate,\u201d connecting \u201cnarrow and straitened\u201d with the way, as do several other Fathers (see Tisch.). Many now speak of the \u201cstrait and narrow way,\u201d and often imagine that it means \u201cstraight.\u201d Chrys. has a different text of this passage in his Homilies on Matthew, though some mss. there also give \u03c4\u03af. See Amer. ed. of Tr. p. 162.\u2014J.A.B.]\n365:1035\n[It is the word above rendered \u201cpity,\u201d but the other rendering is made familiar in this phrase by the Litany. \u201cHave pity,\u201d just below, is still the same word.\u2014J.A.B.]\n365:1036\nGr. \u201cWe are lords,\u201d but the phrase is more familiar in Greek.\n365:1037\n[The verb translated \u201cclaim\u201d is based on the adjective meaning \u201cworthy.\u201d Chrys. is somewhat fond of the play upon words.\u2014J.A.B.]","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. XIII: The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians.: 1 Thessalonians 5:1,2","type":"page"}