now. Faith nothing without holiness: sin of adultery. 561 XI. 40. 1 al. 'is 3 al. every 4 al. 'Christ more the discoursin eth the And about Me, this, and them- Matt. 7, they saith' 21. Mat. 22, 5 al. aside' may justly be lamented'. And on this account they have JOHN gone astray, some saying that they know God as He knoweth Himself, a thing which not even any of those Greeks have the rididared to assert; others that God cannot beget without culous thing' passion, not even allowing Him any superiority over men';al. the others again, that a righteous life and exact conversation many' avail nothing. But it is not the time to refute these things right.' Yet that a right faith availeth nothing if the life be [4] corrupt, both Christ and Paul declare, having taken the more care for this latter part; Christ when He teacheth', Not one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into kingdom of heaven; and again, Many will say unto Me that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from ye that work iniquity; (for they who take not heed to selves, easily slip away into wickedness, even though have a right faith;) and Paul, when in his letter to the 23. Hebrews he thus speaks and exhorts them; Follow peace often with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see turn the Lord. By holiness, meaning chastity, so that it behoved Heb. 12, each to be content with his own wife, and not have to do 14. with 6 any other woman; for it is impossible that one not so al. contented should be saved; he must assuredly perish though to he have ten thousand right actions, since with fornication it is impossible to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Or rather, this is henceforth' not fornication but adultery; for as a'i.e. woman who is bound to a man, if she come together with another man, then hath committed adultery, so he that is bound riage. to a woman, if he have another, hath committed adultery. Such with' an one shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven, but shall fall into the pit. Hear what Christ saith concerning these, Their? al. 'for worm shall not die", and the fire shall not be quenched. For he of such can have no pardon, who after (possessing) a wife, and the com- God' fort of a wife, then acts shamelessly towards another woman; Mark 9, since this is henceforth wantonness". And if the many abstain even from their wives when it be a season of fast or al.'stu prayer, how great a fire doth he heap up for himself who is pidity' not even content with his wife, but mingleth with another; bal. I never knew you: and again, to you: for, &c. Rejoice not that the devils are subject 'attend after mar 8 al. 'lie saith 10 dieth 44. 562 Fornication worse than idolatry: its punishments. HOMIL. and if it is not permitted one who has put away and cast LXIII. out his own wife to mingle with another, (for this is adultery), 1 the woman 1 Cor.7, 13. ever shall Mat. 5, 32. how great evil doth he commit who, while his wife is in his house, brings in another. Let no one then allow this malady to dwell in his soul; let him tear it up by the root. He doth not so much wrong his wife as himself. For so grievous and unpardonable is this offence, that if a woman separate herself from a husband which is an idolater without his consent, God punisheth her; but if she separate herself from a fornicator, not so. Seest thou how great an evil this is? If, It saith, any faithful woman have a husband that believwhich eth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not hath leave him. Not so concerning a harlot; but what? If any man put away his wife, saving for the cause of forni'cation, he causeth her to commit adultery. For if the coming together maketh one body, he who cometh together with a harlot must needs become one body with her. How then shall the modest woman, being a member of Christ, receive such an one, or how shall she join to herself the member of a harlot. And observe the excess of the one (fornication) over the other (idolatry). The woman who 1 Cor. 6, dwelleth with an unbeliever is not impure; (for, It saith, the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife ;) not so with the harlot; but what? Shall I then make the members of Christ the members of an harlot? In the one case sanctification remains, and is not removed though the unbeliever dwelleth with his wife; but in the other case it departeth. A dreadful, a dreadful thing is fornication, and an agent for3 al. end everlasting punishment; and even in this world it brings Youσa, with it ten thousand woes. The man so guilty is forced to troduc- lead a life of anxiety and toil; he is nothing better off than ing him- those who are under punishment, creeping' into another man's house with fear and much trembling, suspecting all alike every, both slave and free. Wherefore I exhort you to be freed 6 al. from this malady, and if you obey' not, step not on the sacred give dili- threshold. Sheep that are covered with the scab, and full gence to of disease, may not herd with those that are in health; we must drive them from the fold until they get rid of the malady. 'will.' We have been made members of Christ; let us not, I entreat, sanctu- become members of an harlot. This place is not a brothel 15. 3 ξενοῦσα. al.' in self.' 5 al. where.' be.' 7 al. 8 al. ary.' Fornicators warned from Church. 563 but a church; if then thou hast the members of an harlot, JOHN stand not in the church, lest thou insult the place. If there XI. 40. were no hell, if there were no punishment, yet, after those contracts, those marriage torches, the lawful bed, the procreation of children, the intercourse, how couldest thou bear to join' thyself to another? How is it that thou art not ashamed' al. " place' nor blushest? Knowest thou not that they who after the death of their own wife, introduce another into their house, are blamed by many? yet this action hath no penalty attached to it: but thou bringest in another while thy wife is yet alive. What lustfulness is this! Learn what hath been spoken concerning such men, Their worm, It saith, shall not die, and Mark 9, the fire shall not be quenched. Shudder at the threat, dread the vengeance. The pleasure here is not so great as the punishment there, but may it not come to pass that any one (here) become liable to that punishment, but that exercising holiness they may see Christ, and obtain the promised good things, which may we all enjoy, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 44. HOMILY LXIV. 1 lit. overflow JOHN xi. 41, 42. Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that WHAT I have often said, I will now say, that Christ looketh not so much to His own honour as to our salvation; not how He may utter some sublime saying, but how something able to draw us to Him. On which account His sublime and mighty sayings are few, and those also hidden, but the humble and lowly are many, and abound' through His discourses. For since by these men were the rather brought over, in these 2 avrà He continueth; and He doth not on the one hand utter these universally, lest the men that should come after should receive damage, nor, on the other hand, doth He entirely withhold 3 aurà, those3, lest the men of that time should be offended. Since i. e. higher they who have passed from lowmindedness unto perfection*, sayings will be able from even a single sublime doctrine to discern the whole, but those who were ever lowminded, unless they Taura had often heard these lowly sayings', would not have come to Him at all. In fact, even after so many such sayings they do not remain firm, but even stone and persecute Him, and try to kill Him, and call Him blasphemer. And when He Matt. 9, maketh Himself equal with God, they say, This man blasč.10,20,phemeth; and when He saith, Thy sins be forgiven thee, they moreover call Him a demoniac. So when He saith that the 5 al. 'have been held' 3. aal. have passed to perfection,' al. have passed from low mindedness.' 2 60. 80 XI. N.T. c. 5, 30. 3 al. 4 ἀπ to 27. man who heareth His words is stronger than death, or, I am JOHN in the Father and the Father in Me, they leave Him; and 41, 42. again, they are offended when He saith that He came down c. 8. 51. from heaven. If now they could not bear these sayings, c. 6, 33. though seldom uttered, scarcely, had His discourse been always sublime, had it been of this texture, would they have given heed to Him. When therefore He saith, As the c. 14, 31. Father commanded Me, so I speak1; and, I am not come of1 so I do, Myself, then they believe. That they did believe then, is clear, c. 7. 28. from the Evangelist signifying this besides, and saying, As Heal. I speak spake these words, many believed on Him. If then lowly nothing speaking drew men to3 faith, and high speaking scared them away, must it not be a mark of extreme folly not to see at a 'caused' glance how to reckon the sole reason of those lowly sayings, eroßei namely, that they were uttered because of the hearers. Since 5 al. 'not in another place when He had desired to say some high reckon' Mat.17, thing, He withheld it, adding this reason, and saying, Lest we should offend them, cast a hook into the sea. Which also He doth here; for after saying, I know that Thou hearest Me always, He addeth, but because of the multitude which standeth around I said it, that they might believe. Are these words ours? Is this a human conjecture? When then a man will not endure to be persuaded by what is written, that they were offended at sublime things, how, when he or, beheareth Christ saying that He spake in a lowly manner that they might not be offended, how, after that, shall he suspect that the mean sayings belonged to His nature, not to His condescension'? So in another place, when a voice came down from heaven, He said, This voice came not because of c.12,30. Me, but for your sakes. He who is exalted may be allowed to speak lowly things of himself, but it is not lawful for the humble to utter concerning himself any thing grand or sublime. For the former ariseth from condescension, and has for its cause the weakness of the hearers; or rather (it has for its cause) the leading them to' humblemindedness, al. to and His being clothed in flesh, and the teaching the hearers to say nothing great concerning themselves, and His being bal. for when we are persuaded from the actions that the men are offended at high sayings, and when He saith Himself, that "on this account I speak 6 cause 6 look to' |