78 Preachers expound Christ's code of laws, HOMIL. and seeing himself stripped of it, he was grieved and annoyed; V. and wanted to be the great man, seeing even his own enjoy ment to be small compared with his. Therefore, the day after, they change places, and now he, the great man, gets the larger share in the dejection. Now if in worldly matters, amusements are attended with such dissatisfaction, while disagreeable things are so beneficial, much more does this hold in things spiritual. Why is it that that no one quarrels with the laws, but on the contrary all account that matter a common benefit? For indeed not strangers from some other quarter, nor enemies of those for whom the laws are made, came and made these orders, but the citizens themselves, their patrons, their benefactors: and this very thing, the making of laws, is a token of beneficence and good-will. And yet the laws are full of punishment and restraint, and there is no such thing as law without penalty and coercion. Then is it not unreasonable, that while the expositors of those laws are called deliverers, benefactors, and patrons, we are considered troublesome and vexatious if we speak of the laws of God? When we discourse about hell, then we bring forward those laws: just as in the affairs of the world, people urge the laws of murder, high-way robbery, and the like, so do we the penal laws: laws, which not man enacted, but the Only-Begotten Son of God Himself. Let him that Mat. 18, hath no mercy, He says, be punished; for such is the import of the parable. Let him that remembereth injuries, pay the last penalty. Let him that is angry without cause, be cast 23. y The old text, καὶ ἐβούλετο ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἀναλίσκων καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν εὐπραγίαν μικρὰν ὁρᾷν πρὸς τὴν ἐκεῖνου, evidently requires correction, and the emendation assumed in the translation is, κal ß. ἐκεῖνος εἶναι ὁ ἀναλ. may perhaps be rejected as a gloss) kal Thy oikelav εὐπρ. μ. ὁρῶν π. τ. ἐκείνου. Thus the whole passage, from καὶ ὁ μὲν ἰδιωτὴς, refers to the id. or person feasted, and Keivos throughout is the entertainer. The edited text has: Ἐκεῖνος δὲ ὁ ἀναλ. καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν εὐπρ. μικρὰν ὁρᾶν ἐδόκει π. T. ¿Keivov: of which Erasm, makes, Ille autem qui sumptus impendit et suam felicitatem parvam cum ea quam ex sumptu habebat conspicere putabat. But even if this sense lay in the words, it is not easy to see the connexion of the following sentence, Διὰ τοῦτο, &c. Montf. translates, Qui vero sumptus fecit, suam præ illius felicitate parvam putabat, as if keîvos and èkeivov in the same sentence referred to two different and contrasted persons. The meaning of the passage is, As, on the day before, the entertainer had τὸ πλέον τῆς εὐθυμίας, it is but fair that on the following day To Théov Tês ȧbvμías should be transferred to him. This is expressed by Διὰ τοῦτο τῇ ὑστο ἀντιδιδόασιν ἀλλήλοις: which however Erasmus renders, Idcirco sequenti die reddunt sibi vestes iterum: Montf. redduntur vestes. (Perhaps there is an allusion to the legal phrase avτídoσis. v. Isocrat. περὶ ἀντιδ.) Written not on Twelve Tables, but in Twelve Souls. 79 II. into the fire. Let him that reviles, receive his due in hell. Acrs If you think these laws which you hear strange, be not 14-21. amazed. For if Christ was not intended to make new laws, why did He come? Those other laws are manifest to us; we know that the murderer and adulterer ought to be punished. If then we were meant only to be told the same things over again, where was the need of a heavenly Teacher? Therefore He does not say, Let the adulterer be punished, but, whoso looketh on with unchaste eyes. And where, and when, the man will receive punishment, He there tells us. And not in fine public monuments, nor yet somewhere out of sight', did He deposit His laws; not pillars of brass did He raise up, and engrave letters thereon, but twelve souls raised He up for us, the souls of the Apostles, and in their minds has He by the Spirit inscribed this writing. This cite we to you. If this was authorized to Jews, that none might take refuge in the plea of ignorance, much more is it to us. But should any say, 'I do not hear, therefore have no guilt,' on this very score he is most liable to punishment. For, were there no teacher, it would be possible to take refuge in this plea; but if there be, it is no longer possible. Thus see how, speaking of Jews, the Lord deprives them of all excuse; If I had not come and spoken John15, unto them, they had not had sin and Paul again, But Rom. I say, have they not heard? Nay, but into all the earth 10, 18. went forth their sound. For then there is excuse, when there is none to tell the man; but when the watchman sits there, having this as the business of his life, there is excuse no longer. Nay, rather, it was the will of Christ, not that we should look only upon these written pillars, but that we should ourselves be such. But since we have made ourselves unworthy of the writing, at least let us look to those. For just as the pillars threaten others, but are not themselves obnoxious to punishment, nor yet the laws, even so • Εἰς ἀναθήματα οὐδὲ εἰς κρύβδην. The modern text has εἰς ἄξονας οὐδὲ eis Kúpßeis, alluding to the peculiar form of tables on which the laws of Athens were written. On critical grounds we retain the reading of the old text, which, as being the more difficult one, is not likely to have been 6 substituted for the other. Οὐκ εἰς 22. V. HOMIL. the blessed Apostles. And observe; not in one place only stands this pillar, but its writing is carried round about in all the world. Whether you go among the Indians, you shall hear this whether into Spain, or to the very ends of the earth, there is none without the hearing, except it be of his own neglect. Then be not offended, but give heed to the things spoken, that ye may be able to lay hold upon the works of virtue, and attain unto the eternal blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom to the Father and Holy Ghost together be glory, power, honour, now and ever, world without end. Amen. HOMILY VI. ACTS ii. 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these my words. [YE men of Israel]: it is not for flattery that he uses this term; but, as he has borne hard upon them, he relaxes a little, and puts them in mind of their great ancestor [Israel]. Here again he begins with an introduction, that they may not become excited, now that he is going to make express mention to them of Jesus: for in what preceded, there was no reason why they should be excited, while the Prophet was the subject of discourse: but the name of Jesus would have given offence at the very outset.-And he does not say, 'Do as I bid you,' but, Hear: as being not at all exacting. And observe how he forbears to speak of the high matters, and begins with the very low: Jesus, he says: and then straightway mentions the place He belonged to, being one which was held in mean estimation: Jesus of Nazareth: and does not say any thing great about Him, nor even such as one would say about a Prophet, so far: Jesus, he says, of Nazareth, a man proved (to be) from God among you. Observe; what great matter was this, to say that He was sent from God? • TоÛ πрожάтороs, A. C. F. D. and Cat. but Toû Aavid evralpws, B. E. Edd. Ecumenius fell into the same mistake, and has Tоû πрomáтopos Aavid. But it is evident that Chrys. is commenting on the address ̓́Ανδρες Ἰσραηλῖται. b Ορα, ποῖον ἦν τοῦτο μέγα, τὸ εἰπεῖν K. T. A. i. e. He says as yet ouder μéya, nothing great, concerning Christ: G nothing even that would be great if said of an ordinary Prophet. For, observe: Toîov péya, what sort of great thing was it, to say that Christ was sent from God?' In the following sentences Chrys. seems to have been scarcely understood by his reporter. His meaning may be thus represented: And yet so it is: everywhere in the 33. 82 St. Peter approaches his subject warily. HOMIL. For this was the point which on all occasions both He and VI. John and the Apostles were studious to shew. Thus, hear John 1, John saying; The same said unto me, On whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding on Him, this is He. ib. 7, 28. But Christ Himself does this to an extreme; Of Myself I am not come, He sent Me. And everywhere in the Scriptures this seems the point most studiously insisted upon. Therefore also this holy leader of the blessed company, the lover of Christ, the good shepherd, the man put in trust with the keys of heaven, the man who received the Spiritual Wisdom, when he has first subdued the Jews by fear, and has shewn what great things have been vouchsafed to the disciples, and what a right they have to be believed, then first proceeds to speak concerning Him. Only think what boldness it was to say it, in the midst of the murderers-that He is risen! And yet he does not all at once say, He is risen; but what?" He came," says he, " from God: this is manifest by the signs which"-he does not yet say, Jesus Himself wrought but what?" which God wrought by Him in the midst of you." He calls themselves as witnesses. proved (to be sent) from God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs, which God wrought by Him in the midst of you, as also ye yourselves know. Then, having fallen upon the mention of that their sacrilegious outrage, observe how he endeavours to quit them of the crime: Him, he says, being by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God delivered up: [adding however,] ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: for v. 23. Scriptures we find examples of this A man wonderful gifts as foretold by the Prophet, and has made it felt that they have a right to be believed: you may well expect after all this that his first word about Christ will be something great; that he will certainly launch out boldly into the declaration, He is risen! Only think, though, what boldness to say this in the midst of the murderers! Nothing of the kind. He begins with, "Jesus the Nazarene, a man proved to be from God unto you by signs, &c. which (He did ? no, but) God did by Him, &c. Wait a while, however: the Orator will say all that needs to be said in due time." |