3, 1. 2. defence. 19, 14. 500 St. Chrysostom asks to be told if thought in fault. us. 2 THES. why art Thou not there? Because 1 wish all to be together, and not to be separated. Let us therefore crowd together. Let us bind one another together in love, let no one separate If any one accuses, or is offended, let him not retain it in his mind, whether against his neighbour, or against us. This favour I ask of you, to come to us, and bring the accui. e. a sation, and receive an apology' from us. Reprove him, it From says, lest haply he hath not said it. Reprove him, lest haply Ecclus. he hath not done it; and if he hath done it, that he add not 15. thereto. For then either we have excused ourselves, or being condemned have asked pardon, and henceforth endeavour not to fall into the same faults. This is expedient both for you and for us. For you indeed having accused us perhaps without reason, when you have learned the truth of the matter, will stand corrected, and we have offended unawares and are corrected. It is not expedient for you to be indifferent'. For punishment is appointed for those who utter any idle word. But we put off accusations, whether false or true. The false, by shewing that they are false; the true, by not again doing the same things. For it must needs happen that he who has the care of so many things should be ignorant, and through ignorance commit errors. For if every one of you having a house, and presiding over wife and children, and slaves, one more and another fewer, among souls that are so easily numbered, is nevertheless compelled to commit many errors involuntarily, or from ignorance, or when wishing to set something right; much more must it be so with us, who preside over so many people. And may God still multiply you and bless us, the little with the great! For although the care becomes greater from the increase of numbers, nevertheless we do not cease praying that this our care may be increased,.and that this number may be added too, and be many times as great and without limit. For fathers, although often harassed by the number of their children, nevertheless do not wish to lose any one. All things are equal between us and you, even the chief of our blessings. I do not partake of the holy very diapog. Ed, Par. adds the word from one Ms. It means, 'not to mind whether your complaints are true or not.' Care of children painful, but sweet to a parent. 501 IV. Table with greater abundance, and you with less, but both Hoм. equally participate of the same. And if I take it first, it is. no great privilege, since even among children, the elder first extends his hand to the feast, but nevertheless no superior advantage is gained thereby. But with us all things are equal. The saving life that sustains our souls is given with equal honour to both. I do not indeed partake of one Lamb and you of another, but we all partake of the same. We both have the same Baptism. We have been vouchsafed the same Spirit. We are both hastening to the same kingdom. We are alike brethren of Christ, we have all things in k common. Where then is my advantage? In cares, in labours, in anxieties, in grieving for you. But nothing is sweeter than this grief, since even a mother grieving for her child is delighted with her grief, she thinks carefully of those whom she has brought forth, and is delighted at her cares. And yet care in itself is bitter, but when it is for children, at least it has in it much pleasure. Many of you have I begotten, but after this are my pangs. For in the case of mothers in the flesh the pangs are first, and then the birth. But here the pangs last till the latest breath, lest there should be any where some abortion even after the birth. And I indeed have a further longing'; for although perchance another has be- 'iriot gotten you, yet I nevertheless am harassed with cares. For we do not of ourselves beget you, but it is all of the grace of God. But if we both through the Spirit beget, he i will not err who calls those begotten by me, his children, ríerousv and those begotten by him, mine. All these things then consider, and stretch forth your hand, that both you may be our boast and we yours, in the day of the Lord Jesus, which God grant that we may all see with confidence, through Jesus Christ our Lord. goßárov, sheep in general, but he seems to have the Passover in mind. HOMILY V. 2 THESS. iii. 3-5. But the Lord is faithful, Who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. NEITHER ought we, having committed every thing to the prayers of the Saints, to be idle ourselves, and run into wickedness, and to lay hold of none of those things that lead to virtue; nor again when working good to despise that succour. For great indeed, great are the things which prayer for us can effect, but it is when we ourselves also work. For this reason Paul also, praying for them, again gives them assurance from the promise, and says, But the Lord is faithful, Who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. For if He has chosen you to salvation, He will not deceive you, nor suffer you utterly to perish. But that he may not by these means lead them to sloth, and lest they thinking the whole to be of God should themselves sleep, see how he also demands cooperation from them, saying, And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. The Lord indeed, he says, is faithful, and promising to save will 1 Ms. omits this clause, but it is said. not more than St. Chrys. may have b B. and L. having promised. God saves the willing. His help needful for loving Him. 503 certainly save; but as He promised. But how did He Hoм. promise? If we be willing, and hear Him. Not absolutely, nor like stocks and stones, being inactive. V. And he has well introduced the words, We have confidence in the Lord, that is, we trust to His lovingkindness. Again he brings them down, making every thing depend thereupon. For if he had said, We have confidence in you, the commendation indeed was great, but it would not have shewn that in all things they were dependent upon God. But if he had said, But we have confidence in the Lord, that He will preserve you, and had not added as touching you, and, that ye do and will do the things which we command you, he would have made them more slothful, by casting every thing upon the power of God. For it becomes us indeed to cast every thing upon Him, yet working also ourselves, embarked in the labours and the conflicts. And here he shews that even if our virtue alone is sufficient to 1 B. and L.'were' save, yet nevertheless it ought to be persevering, and to abide with us until we come to our latest breath. But the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and the patient waiting for Christ. Again he commends them, and prays, shewing his concern for them. For when he is about to enter upon reproof, he previously smooths down their hearts, by saying, ' I am confident that ye will hear,' and by requesting prayers from them, and by again invoking upon them infinite blessings. But the Lord, he says, direct your hearts into the love of God. For there are many things that turn us aside from that love, and there are many paths that draw us away from thence. And in the first place indeed the wickedness of Mammon, laying, as it were, certain shameless hands upon our soul, and tenaciously holding it in its grasp, draws and drags us thence even against our will. Then vain-glory, and often afflictions and temptations, turn us aside. For this reason we need, as a certain wind, the assistance of God, that our sail may be impelled, as by some strong wind, to the love of God. For tell me not, I love Him, even more than myself.' These are words. Shew it by thy works, if thou lovest Him more than thyself. Love Him more than money, and then I shall believe that thou lovest Him even 504 Patient waiting. Obedience enjoined in Christ's Name. 2 THES. more than thyself. But thou who despisest not riches for 7. And the patient waiting for Christ, he says. What is the patient waiting? That we should endure even as He endured, or that we should do those things, or that with patience also we should wait for Him, that is, that we should be prepared. For since He has promised many things, and Himself is coming to judge the quick and the dead, let us wait for Him, and let us be patient. But wherever he speaks of patience, he of course implies affliction. For this is to love God; to endure, and not to be troubled. Ver. 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us. That is, it is not we that say these things, but Christ, for that is the meaning of in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. By thus speaking he shews the fearfulness of the message. Through Christ, he says, we command you. Christ therefore commanded us in no case to be idle. That ye withdraw yourselves, he says, from every brother. Tell me not of the rich, tell me not of the poor, tell me not of the holy. This is disorder. That walketh, he says, that is, liveth. And not after the tradition which they received from me. Tradition, he says, which is through works. And this he always calls properly tradition. d Ver. 7, 8. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought. And yet even if they had eaten, it would not have been Luke10, for nought. For the labourer, he says, is worthy of his hire. But wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you. Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For when we were with you, this we |