HOMIL.

LV.

1 that

He is your God, N. T.

Father

476 The Day of Christ the Day of the Crucifixion.

And wherefore said He not, "The Father that sent Me," as He did before, but,

Of Whom ye say that He is your God.

Ver. 55. Yet ye have not known Him.

Because He desired to shew that they not only knew not His Father, but that they knew not God.

But I know Him.

"So that to say, I know Him, is not a boast, while to say I know Him not, would be a falsehood; but ye when ye say that ye know Him, lie; as then ye, when ye say that ye know Him, lie, so also should I, were I to say that I know Him not."

If I honour Myself. Since they said, Whom makest thou thyself? He replieth, "If I make (Myself any thing,) My honour is nothing. As then I know Him exactly, so ye know Him not." And as in the case of Abraham, He did not take away their whole assertion, but said, I know that ye are Abraham's seed, so as to make the charge against them. heavier; thus here He doth not remove the whole, but what? Whom ye say'. By granting to them their boast of words, He increaseth the force of the accusation against them. How then do ye not know Him? "Because ye insult One

i.e. the Who saith and doeth every thing that He may be glorified, even when that One is sent from Him." This assertion is unsupported by testimony, but what follows serves to establish it.

3 fifty, N.T.

485

λοιπὸν

And I keep His saying.

Here they might, if at least they had any thing to say, have refuted Him, for it was the strongest proof of His having been sent by God.

Ver. 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.

Again, He sheweth that they were aliens from the race of Abraham, if they grieved at what he rejoiced in. My day, seems to me to mean the day of the Crucifixion, which Abraham foreshewed typically by the offering of the ram and of Isaac. What do they reply?

Ver. 57. Thou art not yet forly3 years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?

So that we conclude that Christ was nearly forty.

Christ declareth His Eternal Being.

477

Ver. 58, 59. Jesus saith unto them, Before Abraham was, JOHN I Am. Then took they up stones to cast at Him.

VIII. 58. 59.

55.

Seest thou how He proved Himself to be greater than Abraham? For the man who rejoiced to see His day, and made this an object of earnest desire, plainly did so because it was a day that should be for a benefit, and belonging to one greater than himself. Because they had said, The Mat. 13, carpenter's son, and imagined nothing more concerning Him, He leadeth them by degrees to an exalted notion of Him. Therefore when they heard the words, Ye know not God, they were not grieved; but when they heard, before Abraham was, I Am, as though the nobility of their descent were debased, they became furious, and would have stoned Him.

He saw My day, and was glad. He sheweth, that not unwillingly He came to His Passion, since He praiseth him who was gladdened at the Cross. For this was the salvation of the world. But they cast stones at Him; so ready were they for murder, and they did this of their own accord, without enquiry.

But wherefore said He not, "Before Abraham was, I was," instead of" I Am ?" As the Father useth this expression, "I AM," so also doth Christ; for it signifieth continuous Being, irrespective of all time. On which account the expression seemed to them to be blasphemous. Now if they could not bear the comparison with Abraham, although this was but a trifling one, had He continually made Himself equal to the Father, would they ever have ceased casting stones at Him?

After this, again He fleeth as a man, and concealeth Himself, having laid before them sufficient instruction: and having accomplished His work, He went forth from the Temple, and departed to heal the blind, proving by His actions that He is before Abraham. But perhaps some one will say, "Why did He not paralyse their strength? So they would have believed." He healed the paralytic, yet they believed not; nay, He wrought ten thousand wonders; at the very Passion He cast them to the ground, and darkened their eyes, yet they believed not; and how would they have believed if He had paralysed their strength? There is nothing a i. e. so that they could not stone Him.

Heb. 3,

478

Deadness of an abandoned soul.

HOMIL. Worse than a soul hardened in desperation; though it see signs LV. and wonders, it still perseveres in retaining the same shamelessness. Thus Pharaoh, who received ten thousand strokes, was sobered only while being punished, and continued of this character until the last day of his life, pursuing those whom he had let go. Wherefore Paul continually saith, Lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For as the callosities of the body, when formed, become dead, and possess no sensation; so the soul, when it is occupied by many passions, becomes dead to virtue; and apply what you will to it, it gets no perception of the matter, but whether you threaten punishment or any thing else, continues insensible.

13.

[3.]

с

Wherefore I beseech you, while we have hopes of salvation, while we can turn, to use every means to do so. For men who have become past feeling, are after that in the blind state of despairing pilots, who give up their vessel to the wind, and themselves contribute no assistance. Thus the envious man looks to one thing only, that is, to satisfy his lust, and though he be like to be punished or even slain, still he is possessed solely by that passion; and in like manner the intemperate and avaricious. But if the sovereignty of the passions be so great, much greater is that of virtue; if for them we despise death, much more for this; if they (sinners) regard not their own lives, much less ought we to do so in the cause of our salvation. For what shall we have to say, if when they who perish are so active about their own perdition, we for our own salvation manifest not even an equal activity, but ever continue wasting with envy? Nothing is worse than envy; to destroy another, it destroys itself also. The eye of the envious wastes away in grief, he lives in a continual death, he deems all men, even those who have never wronged him, his enemies. He grieves that God is honoured, he rejoices in what the devil rejoices in. Is any honoured among men? This is not honour, envy him not. But is he honoured by God? Strive, and be thou like him. Thou wilt not? Why then dost thou destroy thyself too? Why

Sinfulness and punishment of envy.

479

VIII.

castest thou away what thou hast? Canst thou not be like JOHN unto him, nor gain any good thing? Why then dost thou 59. besides this take for thyself evil, when thou oughtest to rejoice with him, that so even if thou be not able to share his toils, thou mayest profit by rejoicing with him? For often even the will is able to effect great good. At least Ezekiel saith, that the Moabites were punished because they Ezek. 25, 8. rejoiced over the Israelites, and that certain others were saved because they mourned over the misfortunes of their neighbours. Now if there be any comfort for those who mourn over the woes of others, much more for those who rejoice at the honours of others. He charged the Moabites with having exulted over the Israelites, yet it was God that punished them; but not even when He punisheth will He have us rejoice over those that are punished. For it is not His wish to punish them. Now if we must condole with those who are punished, much more must we avoid envying those who are honoured. Thus, for example, Corah and Dathan perished with their company, making those whom they envied brighter, and giving themselves up to punishFor a venomous beast is envy, an unclean beast, a deliberate vice which admits not of pardon, a wickedness stripped of excuse, the cause and mother of all evils. Wherefore let us pluck it up by the roots, that we may be freed from evil here, and may obtain blessings hereafter; through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom and with Whom, to the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory now and ever and world without end. Amen.

ment.

HOMILY LVI.

4.

JOHN ix. 1, 2.

And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

AND as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. Being full of love for man, and caring for our salvation, and desiring to stop the mouths of the foolish, He omitteth nothing of His own part, though there be none to Ps. 51, give heed. And the Prophet knowing this saith, That Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou art judged. Wherefore here, when they would not receive His sublime sayings, but said that He had a devil, and attempted to kill Him, He went forth from the Temple, and healed the blind, mitigating their rage by His absence, and by working the miracle softening their hardness and cruelty, and establishing His assertions. And He worketh a miracle which was no common one, but one which took place then for the first time. Since the world began, saith he who was healed, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. Some have, perhaps, opened the eyes of the blind, but of one born blind never. And that on going out of the Temple, He proceeded intentionally to the work, is clear from this; it was He Who saw the blind man, not the blind man who came to Him; and so earnestly did He look upon him, that even His disciples perceived it. From

v. 32.