HOMILY XXV.

2 COR. xi. 21.

66

66

forty should be held disgraced amongst them. all confounded them, and his changing sides all Lest then the vehemence and impetuosity1 of at once was the greatest refutation of their madthe executioner by inflicting more than the num-ness. And there breathed a mighty war against ber should cause a man to be disgraced, they him, from his own people, from strangers, from decreed that they should be inflicted, save false brethren; and every where were billows one," that even if the executioner should and precipices, in the inhabited world, in the exceed, he might not overpass the forty, but uninhabited, by land, by sea, without, within. remaining within the prescribed number might And he had not even a full supply of necessary not bring degradation on him that was scourged. food, nor even of thin clothing, but the chamVer. 25. Thrice was I beaten with rods, pion of the world wrestled in nakedness and once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck." fought in hunger; so far was he from enriching And what has this to do with the Gospel? himself 3. Yet he murmured not, but was grateBecause he went forth on long journeys; and ful for these things to the Judge of the combat.' those by sea. "Anxiety for all the Churches." This was the chief thing of all, that his soul too was distracted, and his thoughts divided. For even if nothing from without had assailed him; yet the war within was enough, those waves on waves, that sleet of cares, that war of thoughts. For if one that hath charge of but a single house, and hath servants and superintendents and stewards, often cannot take breath for cares, though there be none that molests him: he that hath the care not of a single house, but of cities and peoples and nations and of the whole world; and in respect to such great concerns, and with so many spitefully entreating him, and singlehanded, and suffering so many things, and so tenderly concerned as not even a father is for his children-consider what he endured. For that thou mayest not say, What if he was anxious, yet the anxiety was slight", he added further the intensity of the care, saying,

"A night and a day I have been in the deep." Some say this means out on the open sea, others, swimming upon it, which is also the truer interpretation. There is nothing wonderful, at least, about the former, nor would he have placed it as greater than his shipwrecks.

Ver. 26. "In perils of rivers."

For he was compelled also to cross rivers. "In perils of robbers, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness."Everywhere were contests set before me, in places, in countries, in cities, in deserts.'

"In perils from the Gentiles, in perils amongst false brethren."

Behold another kind of warfare. For not only did such as were enemies strike at him, but those also who played the hypocrite; and he had need of much firmness, much prudence. [2.] Ver. 27. In labor and travail.”

Perils succeed to labors, labors to perils, one upon other and unintermitted, and allowed him not to take breath even for a little.

Ver. 27, 28. "In journeyings often, in hunger and thirst and nakedness, besides those things that are without."

What is left out is more than what is enumerated. Yea rather, one cannot count the number of those even which are enumerated; for he has not set them down specifically, but has mentioned those the number of which was small and easily comprehended, saying, "thrice" and "thrice," (Ver. 25.) and [again]" once;" but of the others he does not mention the number because he had endured them often. And he recounts not their results as that he had converted so many and so many, but only what he suffered on behalf of the Preaching; at once out of modesty, and as showing that even should nothing have been gained but labor, even so his title to wages has been fulfilled.

"That which presseth upon me daily." The tumults, the disturbances, the assaults2 of mobs, onsets of cities. For the Jews waged war against this man most of all because he most of

1 ῥύμη καὶ ὁρμὴ

Η πολιορκίαι

Ver. 29. 66 Who is weak, and I am not weak?" He did not say, and I share not in his dejection?' but, 'so am I troubled and disturbed, as though I myself were laboring under that very affection, that very infirmity."

"Who is made to stumble, and I burn not?” See, again, how he places before us the excess of his grief by calling it "burning." "I am on fire,' 'I am in a flame,' he says, which is surely greater than any thing he has said. For those other things, although violent, yet both pass quickly by, and brought with them that pleasure which is unfading; but this was what afflicted and straightened him, and pierced his mind through and through; the suffering such things for each one of the weak, whosoever he might be. For he did not feel pained for the greater sort only and despise the lesser, but counted even the abject amongst his familiar friends. Wherefore also he said, "who is weak?" whosoever he may be; and as though he were himself the Church throughout the world, so was he distressed for every member.

Ver. 30. "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my weakness."

Seest thou that he no where glorieth of mira-lofttimes had recourse even to such devices as cles, but of his persecutions and his trials? For these, preserving himself for the Preaching; this is meant by "weaknesses." And he shows and he refused not to use even human contrivthat his warfare was of a diversified character1. ances when the occasion called for them; so For both the Jews warred upon him, and the sober and watchful was he. For in cases where Gentiles stood against him, and the false breth- evils were inevitable, he needed only grace; ren fought with him, and brethren caused him but where the trial was of a measured character, sorrow, through their weakness and by taking he devises many things of himself even, here offense :-on every side he found trouble and again ascribing the whole to God. And just as disturbance, from friends and from strangers. a spark of unquenchable fire, if it fell into the This is the especial mark of an Apostle, by these sea, would be merged as many waves swept over things is the Gospel woven. it, yet would again rise shining to the surface; even so surely the blessed Paul also would now be overwhelmed by perils, and now again, having dived3 through them, would come up more radiant, overcoming by suffering evil.

Ver. 31, 32. "The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knoweth that I lie not. The Governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes, desiring to apprehend me."

What can be the reason that he here strongly confirms and gives assurance of [his truth], seeing he did not so in respect to any of the former things? Because, perhaps, this was of older date and not so well known2; whilst of those other facts, his care for the churches, and all the rest, they were themselves cognisant. See then how great the war [against him] was, since on his account the city was "guarded." And when I say this of the war, I say it of the zeal of Paul; for except this had breathed intensely, it had not kindled the governor to so great madness. These things are the part of an apostolic soul, to suffer so great things and yet in nothing to veer about, but to bear nobly whatever befalls; yet not to go out to meet dan gers, nor to rush upon them. See for instance here, how he was content to evade the siege, by being "let down through a window in a basket." For though he were even desirous "to depart hence;" still nevertheless he also passionately affected the salvation of men. And therefore he

[3] For this is the brilliant victory, this is the Church's trophy, thus is the Devil overthrown when we suffer injury. For when we suffer, he is taken captive; and himself suffers harm, when he would fain inflict it on us. And this happened in Paul's case also; and the more he plied him with perils, the more was he defeated. Nor did he raise up against him only one kind of trials, but various and diverse. For some involved labor, others sorrow, others fear, others pain, others care, others shame, others all these at once; but yet he was victorious in all. And like as if a single soldier, having the whole world fighting against him, should move through the mid ranks of his enemies, and suffer no harm: even so did Paul, showing himself singly, among barbarians, among Greeks, on every land, on every sea, abide unconquered. And as a spark, falling upon reeds and hay, changes into its own nature the things so kindled; so also did this man setting upon all make things change over unto the truth; like a winter torrent, sweeping over all things and overturning every obstacle. And like some champion who wrestles, runs, and boxes too; or soldier [The Apostle's mention of this isolated fact of his escape at Damascus, at the conclusion of the narrative of his varied labors engaged by turns in storming, fighting on foot, and trials, has been variously explained, some considering it an on shipboard; so did he try by turns every afterthought, others the opening of a statement of details intended to be complete but for some reason interrupted. But it does not form of fight, and breathed out fire, and was seem necessary to view it otherwise than it appears on its face, as a reminiscence of a peculiar peril which befel him at the comunapproachable by all; with his single body mencement of his Christian career, and by which he was as it were taking possession of the world, with his single matriculated in the school of persecution. The furtive method of escape (in the darkness of night, Acts ix. 25) shows the extreme tongue putting all to flight. Not with such danger and helplessness of his position. He could very well put force did those many trumpets fall upon the this among the "weaknesses" in which he ventured to glory (xii. 5), since his deliverance was effected not by the pomp of a stones of Jericho and throw them down, as did Supernatural interposition as afterwards at Philippi, but by ordi- the sound of this man's voice both dash to nary human instrumentality, and that certainly not of a very dignified kind. The name of Damascus, somewhat irregularly the earth the devil's strong-holds and bring over repeated here in that of its inhabitants, was deeply graven on the Apostle's memory, being inseparably associated with the great to himself those that were against him. And turning point of his life which is the reason why his experience when he had collected a multitude of captives, there is mentioned." (Waite). If the solemn asservation of the

Η ποικίλον.

31st verse is to be considered as referring to what follows, then the having armed the same, he made them again explanation given by Chrysostom in the text is satisfactory. The his own army, and by their means conquered.

Apostle's later trials were well known to the Corinthians; this one

might not have been. Yet to Paul it was of the profoundest inter- Wonderful was David who laid Goliah low with est because it showed that where his ministry began, there also

began his "weakness." Then and there the persecutor became a single stone; but if thou wilt examine Paul's the persecuted. There is n› greater contrast in all human history achievements, that is a child's exploit, and great

than that of Paul on his way to Damascus to bind and deliver to death the Nazarenes, and the same man fleeing that city between two days to escape the plots of his former friends and followers. CJ

διαδύς.
“τειχομαχῶν.

as is the difference between a shepherd and a "through a window was let down from the general, so great the difference thou shalt see wall," to send up from below those that lay proshere. For this man brought down no Goliath trate upon the ground. Shall we then talk any by the hurling of a stone, but by speaking only more, seeing we do not so much as know what he scattered the whole array of the Devil; as a Paul suffered ? shall we make mention any more of lion roaring and darting out flame from his goods, or even of wife, or city, or freedom, tongue, so was he found by all irresistible; and when we have seen him ten thousand times bounded everywhere by turns continually; he ran despising even life itself? The martyr dies to these, he came to those, he turned about to once for all: but that blessed saint in his one these, he bounded away to others, swifter in his body and one soul endured so many perils as attack than the wind; governing the whole world, were enough to disturb even a soul of adamant; as though a single house or a single ship; rescuing and what things all the saints together have sufthe sinking, steadying the dizzied, cheering the fered in so many bodies, those all he himself sailors, sitting at the tiller, keeping an eye to endured in one: he entered into the world as the prow, tightening the yards, handling an if a race-course, and stripped himself of all, car, pulling at the mast, watching the sky; and so made a noble stand. For he knew the being all things in himself, both sailor, and fiends that were wrestling with him. Wherefore pilot, and pilot's mate1, and sail, and ship; and also he shone forth brightly at once from the Suffering all things in order to relieve the evils beginning, from the very starting-post, and even of others. For consider. He endured shipwreck to the end he continued the same; yea, rather that he might stay the shipwreck of the world; he even increased the intensity of his pursuit as "a day and a night he passed in the deep," he drew nearer to the prize. And what surely that he might draw it up from the deep of is wonderful is that though suffering and doing error; he was "in weariness" that he might such great things, he knew how to maintain an refresh the weary; he endured smiting that he exceeding modesty. For when he was driven might heal those that had been smitten of the upon the necessity of relating his own good devil; he passed his time in prisons that he deeds, he ran quickly over them ali; although might lead forth to the light those that were he might have filled books without number, had sitting in prison and in darkness; he was "in he wished to unfold in detail every thing he deaths oft" that he might deliver from grievous mentioned; if he had specified the Churches deaths; "five times he received forty stripes he was in care for, if his prisons and his achievsave one" that he might free those that inflicted ments in them, if of the other things one by them from the scourge of the devil; he was "beaten with rods" that he might bring them under "the rod and the staff" of Christ; (Ps. xxiii. 4.) he was stoned," that he might deliver them from the senseless stones; he "was in the wilderness3, that he might take them out of the wilderness; "in journeying," to stay their wanderings and open the way that leadeth to heaven; he "was in perils in the cities," that he might show the city which is above; "in hunger and thirst," to deliver from a more grievous hunger; "in nakedness," to clothe their unseemliness with the robe of Christ; set upon by the mob, to extricate them from the besetment of fiends; he burned, that he might quench the burning darts of the devil:

πρωρεύς.

ἀνιμήσηται.

Or, desolateness."

one, the besetments, the assaults. But he would not. Knowing then these things, let us also learn to be modest and not to glory at any time in wealth or other worldly things, but in the reproaches we suffer for Christ's sake, and in these, only when need compels; for if there be nothing urging it, let us not mention these even, (lest we be puffed up,) but our sins only. For so shall we both easily be released from them and shall have God propitious to us, and shall attain the life to come; whereunto may we all attain through the grace and love towards men of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father, with the Holy Ghost, be glory, might, honor, now and for ever, and world without end. Amen.

· ἐξαπλώσαι.

• περιστάσεις.

HOMILY XXVI.

2 COR. xii. I.

It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory,* [for] I will of the body, I know not: God knoweth ;) such

come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

an one caught up even to the third heaven. And I know how that he was caught up into Paradise, (whether in the body, I know not; or out of the body, I know not;) and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. On behalf of such an one will I glory: but on mine own behalf I will not glory.

WHAT is this? Doth he who has spoken such great things say, [It is not expedient] "doubtless to glory?" as if he had said nothing? No; not as if he had said nothing: but because he is going to pass to another species of boasting, which is not intended indeed by so great a reward, but which to the many (though not to Great indeed was this revelation. But this careful examiners) seems to set him off in was not the only one: there were many others brighter colors, he says, "It is not expedient besides, but he mentions one out of many. For for me doubtless to glory. For truly the that there were many, hear what he says: "Lest great grounds of boasting were those which I should be exalted overmuch through the exceedhe had re ounted, those of his trials; he has ing greatness of the revelations. 'And yet,' however other things also to tell of,, such as a man may say, if he wished to conceal them, concern the revelations, the unspeakable mys- he ought not to have given any intimation whatteries. And wherefore, says he, "It is not ever or said any thing of the sort; but if expedient for me?" he means, lest it lift me he wished to speak of them, to speak plainly. ' up to pride. What sayest thou? For if thou Wherefore then is it that he neither spoke plainly speak not of them, yet dost thou not know of nor kept silence? To show by this also that he them? But our knowing of them ourselves doth resorts to the thing unwillingly. And therenot lift us up so much as our publishing them to fore also he has stated the time, "fourteen others. For it is not the nature of good deeds years." For he does not mention it without that useth to lift a man up, but their being wit- an object, but to show that he who had refrained nessed to, and known of, by the many. For this for so long a time would not now have spoken cause therefore he saith, "It is not expedient out, except the necessity for doing so had been for me;" and, that I may not implant too great. But he would have still kept silence, had great an idea of me in those who hear.' For he not seen the brethren perishing. Now those men indeed, the false apostles, said even if Paul from the very beginning was such an what was not true about themselves; but this one as to be counted worthy of such a revelaman hides even what is true, and that too although tion, when as yet he had not wrought such good so great necessity lies upon him, and says, works; consider what he must have grown to in is not expedient for me;" teaching one and all fourteen years. And observe how even in this even to superfluity to avoid any thing of the sort. very matter he shows modesty, by his saying For this thing is attended with no advantage, some things, but confessing that of others he is but even with harm, except there be some neces- ignorant. For that he was caught up indeed, sary and useful reason which induceth us thereto. he declared, but whether in the body" or Having then spoken of his perils, trials, snares, "out of the body" he says he does not know. dejections, shipwrecks, he passeth to another And yet it would have been quite enough, if he species of boasting, saying, had told of his being caught up and had been silent [about the other]; but as it is, in his his modesty he adds this also. What then? Was it the mind that was caught up and the Soul, whilst the body remained dead ? or was the Or, possible.'

Ver. 2, 3.

It

"I knew a man, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or out

*[A better text of this verse is given in the Revised Version

"I must needs glory, though it is not expedient. 1 λαμπρότερον.

9 ἐς πολλῆς περιουσίας. ie boasting.

"

C.]

· αίνιγμα .

• Or, in this instance.'