yours will be more condemnation. However, would have thee enjoy thyself, but with the real that it may not be more, to this end I will not enjoyment, that which never fadeth. What cease to speak. For perchance, perchance, by then is the real enjoyment, ever blooming? my perseverance I shall be able to reach you. Invite Christ to sup1 (Rev. ii. 20.) with thee; Wherefore I beseech you that we do not this give Him to partake of thine, or rather of His to condemnation; let us nourish Christ, let us own. This bringeth pleasure without limit, and give Him drink, let us clothe Him. These in its prime everlastingly. But the things of things are worthy of that Table. Hast thou sense are not such; rather as soon as they appear heard holy hymns? Hast thou seen a spiritual they vanish away; and he that hath enjoyed marriage? Hast thou enjoyed a royal Table? them will be in no better condition than he Hast thou been filled with the Holy Ghost? who hath not, or rather in a worse. For the one Hast thou joined in the choir of the Seraphim? Hast thou become partaker of the powers above? Cast not away so great a joy, waste not the treasure, bring not in drunkenness, the mother of dejection, the joy of the devil, the parent of ten thousand evils. For hence is a sleep like unto death, and heaviness of head, and disease, and obliviousness, and an image of dead men's condition. Further, if thou wouldst not choose to meet with a friend when intoxicated, when thou hast Christ within, durst thou, tell me, to thrust in upon Him so great an excess? But dost thou love enjoyment? Then, on this very account cease being drunken. For I, too, is settled as it were in a harbor, but the other HOMILY XXVIII. I COR. xi. 28. But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. viding for that which is the sum of all good things, viz. their approaching those Mysteries with a pure conscience. Whence neither was he content with the things said before alone, but adds these also, saying, WHAT mean these words, when another object is proposed to us? This is Paul's custom, as also I said before, not only to treat of those things which he had proposed to himself, but "But let a man prove himself:" which also also if an argument incidental to his purpose he saith in the second Epistle: "try your own occur, to proceed upon this also with great dili- selves, prove your own selves:" (2 Cor. xiii. 5.) gence, and especially when it relates to very not as we do now, approaching because of the necessary and urgent matters. Thus, when he season rather than from any earnestness of mind. was discoursing with married persons, and the For we do not consider how we may approach question about the servants fell in his way, he prepared, with the ills that were within us purhandled it very strenuously and at great length. ged out, and full of compunction, but how we Again, when he was speaking of the duty of not may come at festivals and whenever all do so. going to law before those courts, then also hav- But not thus did Paul bid us come: he knoweth ing fallen upon the admonition respecting covet-only one season of access and communion, the ousness, he discoursed at length concerning this purity of a man's conscience. Since if even subject likewise. Now the same thing he hath also done here: in that having once found occasion to remind them of the Mysteries, he judged it necessary to proceed with that subject. indeed it was no ordinary one. Wherefore also he discoursed very awfully concerning it, pro For that kind of banquet which the senses take cognizance of cannot be partaken of by us when feverish and full of bad humors, without risk of perishing: much more is it unlawful for us to 1 ἐπ ̓ ἄριστον touch this Table with profane lusts, which are these things alone, but from these he also intromore grievous than fevers. Now when I say duced and confirmed the argument concerning profane lusts, I mean both those of the body, and hell-fire, terrifying them in both ways; and solvof money, and of anger, and of malice, and, in ing an inquiry which is handled everywhere. a word, all that are profane. And it becomes I mean, since many question one with another, him that approacheth, first to empty himself of "whence arise the untimely deaths, whence the all these things and so to touch that pure sacrifice. long diseases of men ;" he tells them that these And neither if indolently disposed and reluct- unexpected events are many of them conditional antly ought he to be compelled to approach by rea- upon certain sins. "What then? They who are son of the festival; nor, on the other hand, if in continual health," say you, "and come to a penitent and prepared, should any one prevent green old age, do they not sin?" Nay, who him because it is not a festival. For a festival durst say this? "How then," say you, "do is a showing forth of good works, and a rever- they not suffer punishment?" Because there ence of soul, and exactness of deportment. And they shall suffer a severer one. But we, if we if thou hast these things, thou mayest at all times would, neither here nor there need suffer it. keep festival and at all times approach. WhereVer. 31. "For if we discerned ourselves," fore he saith, "But let each man prove himself, saith he, "we should not be judged.” and then let him approach." And he bids not And he said not, "if we punished ourselves, one examine another, but each himself, making if we were revenged on ourselves," but if we the tribunal not a public one and the conviction were only willing to acknowledge our offence, to without a witness. pass sentence on ourselves, to condemn the things done amiss, we should be rid of the punishment both in this world and the next. For he that condemns himself propitiates God in two What sayest thou, tell me? Is this Table ways, both by acknowledging his sins, and by which is the cause of so many blessings and being more on his guard for the future. But teeming with life, become judgment? Not since we are not willing to do even this light from its own nature, saith he, but from the will thing, as we ought to do it, not even thus doth of him that approaches. For as His presence, He endure to punish us with the world, but even which conveyed to us those great and unutter- thus spareth us, exacting punishment in this able blessings, condemned the more them that world, where the penalty is for a season and the received it not so also the Mysteries become consolation great; for the result is both deliverprovisions1 of greater punishment to such as par-ance from sins, and a good hope of things to take unworthily. come, alleviating the present evils. And these things he saith, at the same time comforting the sick and rendering the rest more serious. Wherefore he saith, [2.] Ver. 29. "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself." But why doth he eat judgment to himself? "Not discerning the Lord's body: i. e., not searching, not bearing in mind, as he ought, the greatness of the things set before him; not esti- Ver. 32. "But when we are judged, we are mating the weight of the gift. For if thou should-chastened of the Lord," est come to know accurately Who it is that lies before thee, and Who He is that gives Himself, and to whom, thou wilt need no other argument, but this is enough for thee to use all vigilance; unless thou shouldest be altogether fallen. He said not, we are punished, he said not, we have vengeance taken on us, but, "we are chastened." For what is done belongs rather to admonition than condemnation, to healing than vengeance, to correction than punishment. And Ver. 30. "For this cause many among you not so only but by the threat of a greater evil he are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep." makes the present light, saying, "that we may Here he no longer brings his examples from not be condemned with the world." Seest thou others as he did in the case of the idol-sacrifices, how he brings in hell also and that tremendous relating the ancient histories and the chastise-judgment-seat, and signifies that that trial and ments in the wilderness, but from the Corinth- punishment is necessary and by all means must ians themselves; which also made the discourse be? for if the faithful, and such as God especially apt to strike them more keenly. For whereas he was saying, "he eateth judgment to himself," and, he is guilty;" that he might not seen to speak mere words, he points to deeds also and calls themselves to witness; a kind of thing which comes home to men more than threatening, by showing that the threat has issued in some real fact. He was not however content with · ἐφόδια, viatica. 66 cares for, escape not without punishment in whatsoever things they offend, (and this is evident from things present,) much more the unbelieving and they who commit the unpardonable and incurable sins. [3.] Ver. 33. "Wherefore when ye come together to eat, wait one for another." Thus, while their fear was yet at its height and the terror of hell remained, he chooses again to bring in also the exhortation in behalf of the puffed up, as though I would not come to you ;' poor, on account of which he said all these (1 Cor. iv. 18.) and elsewhere again, "not as things; implying that if they do not this they must partake unworthily. But if the not imparting of our goods excludes from that Table, much more the violently taking away. And he said not, "wherefore, when ye come together, impart to them that need," but, which has a more reverential sound, "wait one for another." For this also prepared the way for and intimated that, and in a becoming form introduced the exhortation. Then further to shame them, Ver. 34. "And if any man is hungry, let him eat at home." By permitting, he hinders it, and more strongly than by an absolute prohibition. For he brings him out of the church and sends him to his house, hereby severely reprimanding and ridiculing them, as slaves to the belly and unable to contain themselves. For he said not, "if any despise the poor," but, "if any hunger," discoursing as with impatient children; as with brute beasts which are slaves to appetite. Since it would be indeed very ridiculous, if, because they were hungry they were to eat at home. in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil. ii. 12.) And therefore neither did he merely promise that he would come, lest they should disbelieve him and become more negligent; but he also states a necessary cause for his sojourning with them, saying, "the rest I will set in order when I come; which implies, that the correction of the things that remained, even had he not in any case been desirous, would have drawn him thither. [4] Hearing therefore all these things, let us both take great care of the poor, and restrain our appetite, and rid ourselves of drunkenness, and be careful worthily to partake of the Mysteries; and whatsoever we suffer, let us not take it bitterly, neither for ourselves nor for others; as when untimely death happen or long diseases. For this is deliverance from punishment, this is correction, this is most excellent admonition. Who saith this? He that hath Christ speaking in him. Yet he was not content with this, but added also But nevertheless even after this many of our another more fearful thing, saying, "that your women are so foolishly disposed as even to go coming together be not unto judgment: " that beyond the unbelievers in the excess of their ye come not unto chastisernent, unto punish-grief1. And some do this blinded by their pasment, insulting the Church, dishonoring your sion, but others for ostentation, and to avoid brother. "For for this cause ye come together,' the censures of them that are without: who saith he, "that ye may love one another, that ye may profit and be profited. But if the contrary happen, it were better for you to feed yourselves at home." This, however, he said, that he might attract them to him the more. Yea, this was the very purpose both of his pointing out the injury that would arise from hence, and of his saying that condemnation was no trifling one, and terrifying them in every way, by the Mysteries, by the sick, by those that had died, by the other things before mentioned. most of all are deprived of excuse, to my mind. For, "lest such a one accuse me," saith she, "let God be my accuser: lest men more senseless than the brute beasts condemn me, let the law of the King of all be trampled under foot." Why, how many thunderbolts do not these sayings deserve? Again; If any one invite you to a funeral supper' after your affliction there is no one to say any thing against it, because there is a law of men which enjoins such things: but when God by His law forbids your mourning, all thus contradict it. Doth not Job come into thy mind, O woman? Rememberest thou not his words at the misfortune of his children, which adorned that holy head more than ten thousand crowns, Then also he alarms them again in another way, saying, "and the rest will I set in order whensoever I come:" with reference either to some other things, or to this very matter. For since it was likely that they would yet have and made proclamation louder than many some reasons to allege, and it was not possible to set all to rights by letter, "the things which I have charged you, let them be observed for the present," saith he; "but if ye have any thing else to mention, let it be kept for my coming;" speaking either of this matter, as I said, or of some other things not very urgent. And this he doth that hence too he may render them more serious. For being anxious about his coming, they would correct the error. For the sojourning of Paul in any place was no ordinary thing and to signify this he said, "some are trumpets? Dost thou make no account of the greatness of his misfortunes, of that unprecedented shipwreck, and that strange and portentous tragedy? For thou possibly hast lost one, or a second, or third: but he so many sons and daughters: and he that had many children suddenly became childless. And not even by degrees were his bowels wasted away: but at one sweep all the fruit of his body was funerals, see S Cyprian, De Mortalitate, c. 15, 16. For the sentiments of Christian antiquity about mourning at * περιδειπνον. snatched from him. Nor was it by the common law of nature, when they had come to old age, but by a death both untimely and violent: and all together, and when he was not present nor sitting by them, that at least by hearing their last words he might have some consolation for sɔ bitter an end of theirs: but contrary to all expectation and without his knowing any thing of what took place, they were all at once overwhelmed, and their house became their grave and their snare. have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil?" (Job ii. 10.) For in fact his wife was by this time the only one left, all his having been clean destroyed, both his children and his possessions and his very body, and she reserved to tempt and to ensnare him. And this indeed was the reason why the devil did not destroy her with the children, nor asked her death, because he expected that she would contribute much towards the ensnaring of that holy man. Therefore he left her as a kind of implement, and a formidable one, for himself. "For if even out of paradise," saith he, "I cast mankind by her means, much more shall I be able to trip him up on the dunghill." And observe his craft. He did not apply this stratagem when the oxen or the asses or the camels were lost, nor even when the house fell and And not only their untimely death, but many things besides there were to grieve him; such as their being all in the flower of their age, all virtuous and loving, all together, that not one of either sex was left, that it befel them not by the common law of nature, that it came after so great a loss, that when he was unconscious of any sin on his own part or on theirs, he suffered the children were buried under it, but so long these things. For each of these circumstances looking on the combatant, he suffers her to be is enough even by itself to disturb the mind: silent and quiet. But when the fountain of but when we find them even concurring together, worms gushed forth, when the skin began to imagine the height of those waves, how great putrify and drop off, and the flesh wasting away the excess of that storm. And what in particu- to emit most offensive discharge, and the hand of lar is greater and worse than his bereavement, the devil was wearing him out with sharper pain he did not even know wherefore all these things than gridirons and furnaces and any flame, conhappened. On this account then, having no suming on every side and eating away his body cause to assign for the misfortune, he ascends more grievously than any wild beast, and when to the good pleasure of God, and saith, "The a long time had been spent in this misery1; then Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away: as it he brings her to him, seasoned and worn pleased the Lord, even SO it happened; down. Whereas if she had approached him at "blessed be the name of the Lord for ever." the beginning of his misfortune, neither would (Job ii. 21.) And these things he said, when she have found him so unnerved, nor would she he saw himself who had followed after all virtue have had it in her power so to swell out and in the last extremity; but evil men and impos- exaggerate the misfortune by her words. tors, prospering, luxurious, revelling on all sides. now when she saw him through the length of And he uttered no such word as it is likely that time thirsting for release, and desiring the termisome of the weaker sort would have uttered, nation of what pressed on him vehemently then "Was it for this that I brought up my children doth she come upon him. For to show that he and trained them with all exactness? For this was quite worn down, and by this time had did I open my house to all that passed by, that become unable even to draw breath, yea, and after those many courses run in behalf of the desired even to die, hear what he saith; "For needy, the naked, the orphans, I might receive this I would I could lay hands on myself, or could recompense?" But instead of these, he offered request another and he should do it for me;" up those words better than all sacrifice, saying, | And observe, I pray, the wickedness of his Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and wife, from what topic she at once begins: naked shall I return thither." If however he namely, from the length of time, saying, “How rent his clothes and shaved his head, marvel long wilt thou hold out 3 ?" not. For he was a father and a loving father: and it was meet that both the compassion of his nature should be shown, and also the self-command of his spirit. Whereas, had he not done this, perhaps one would have thought this selfcommand to be of mere insensibility. Therefore he indicates both his natural affection and the exactness of his piety, and in his grief he was not overthrown. 66 [5.] Yea, and when his trial proceeded further, he is again adorned with other crowns on account of his reply to his wife, saying, "If we But Now, if often even when there were no realities words alone have prevailed to unman a person, consider what it was likely he then 1 The LXX begin Job ii 9 with, “After a long time had passed.” TетаρIXενμév. Conf. Asch. Choeph. 294. Job ii. 9. where, according to the LXX, the speech of Job's wife stands as follows: "How long wilt thou be patient, saying, Lo, let me endure yet a little while, awaiting the hope of my salvation? For behold, thy memorial is vanished from the earth, even sons and daughters, the throes and labors of my womb, for whom I have wearied myself in vain with toils and thou thyself in corruption of worms sittest all night in the open air, while I am wanderer and a servant, from place to place, and from house t house, awaiting the sun when it will set, that I may rest from my labors and the pains which now straiten me ; but say some word against the Lord, and die." a being such as even to enhance that misfortune. "For I come to the doors of others," saith she; "nor do I beg only, but am a wanderer also and serve a strange and unusual servitude, going round everywhere and carrying about the tokens of my calamity, and teaching all men of my woes; which is most piteous of all, to change house after house. And she stayed not even at these lamentations, but proceeded to say, " Waiting for the sun when it will set, and I shall rest from my miseries and the pains that encompass me, by which I am now straitened. should feel, when, besides these words, the indicates her great distress: these expressions things themselves also were galling him; and what, as it should seem, was worst of all, it was a wife also who spake thus, and a wife who had sunk down utterly and was giving herself up, and on this account was seeking to cast him also into desperation. However, that we may see more clearly the engine which was brought against that adamantine wall, let us listen to the very words. What then are these? "How long wilt thou hold out? saying, Lo! I wait a short time longer, expecting the hope of my salvation." "Nay," saith she, "the time hath exposed the folly of thy words, while it is protracted, yet shows no mode of escape." And these things she said, not only thrusting him into desperation, but also reproaching and jesting upon him. Thus, that which is sweet to others," saith she, "to behold the light, this to me is grievous: but the night and the darkness is a desirable thing. For this only gives me rest from For he, ever consoling her as she pressed upon my toils, this becometh a comfort to my mishim, and putting her off, would speak as follows: eries. But speak somewhat against the Lord, "Wait a little longer, and there will soon be an and die." Perceivest thou here too her crafty end of these things.' Reproaching him there- wickedness? how she did not even in the act of fore, she speaks : "Wilt thou now again say the advising at once introduce the deadly counsel, same thing? For a long time hath now run by, but having first pitifully related her misfortunes and no end of these things hath appeared." and having drawn out the tragedy at length, she And observe her malice, that she makes no couches in a few words what she would recommention of the oxen, the sheep or the camels, as mend, and doth not even declare it plainly, but knowing that he was not very much vexed about throwing a shade over that, she holds out to these; but she goes at once to nature, and re- | him the deliverance which he greatly longed for, minds him of his children. For on their and promises death, the thing which he then death she saw him both rending his clothes and most of all desired. shaving off his hair. And she said not, "thy children are dead," but very pathetically, "thy memorial is perished from the earth," "the thing for which thy children were desirable." For if, even now after that the resurrection hath been made known children are longed for because they preserve the memory of the departed; much more then. Wherefore also her curse becomes from that consideration more bitter. For in that case, he that cursed, said not, "Let his children be utterly rooted out," but, "his memorial from the earth." "Thy sons and thy daughters." Thus whereas she said, "the memorial," she again accurately makes mention [6.] What then did the blessed saint, and of either sex. "But if thou," saith she, firmer than adamant? Looking bitterly upon "carest not for these, at least consider what is her, by his aspect even before he spake, mine." "The pains of my womb, and labors he repelled her devices: since she no doubt which I have endured in vain with sorrow." expected to excite fountains of tears; but he beNow what she means is this: "I, who endured came fiercer than a lion, full of wrath and indigthe more, am wronged for thy sake, and hav-nation, not on account of his sufferings, but on ing undergone the toils I am deprived of the fruits." And see how she neither makes express mention of his loss of property, nor is silent about it and hurries by; but in that point of view in which it also might be most pathetically narrated, in that she covertly refers to it. For when she says, "I too am a vagabond and a slave, going about from place to place, from house to house," she both hints at the loss and And mark from this also the malice of the devil: that because he knew the longing of Job towards God, he suffers not his wife to accuse God, lest he should at once turn away from her as an enemy. For this cause she no where mentions Him, but the actual calamities she is continually harping on. And do thou, besides what has been said, add the circumstance that it was a woman who gave this counsel, a wonderful orator to beguile the heedless. Many at least even without external accidents have been cast down by the counsel of woman alone. account of her diabolical suggestions; and having signified his anger by his looks in a subdued tone he gives his rebuke; for even in misfortune he kept his self-command. And what saith he? "Why speakest thou as one of the foolish women?" "I have not so taught thee," saith he, "I did not so nurture thee; and this is why I do not now recognize even mine own consort. For these words are the counsel of a foolish woman,' and of one beside herself." Seest |