185 IV. 11. Absurdity of supposing no future Reward. money; and forasmuch as in thine own person hereafter, having MATT. departed, thou wilt be able to do him no good, thou givest charge concerning him to the future inheritors of thy substance, beseeching, exhorting, doing every thing, so that he may not remain unrewarded. So then thou, who art evil, art so kind and loving towards thy servant; and will the Infinite Goodness, that is, God, the Unspeakable Love to man, the kindness so vast: will He overlook and leave uncrowned His own servants, Peter and Paul, and James, and John, those who every day for His sake suffered hunger, were bound, were scourged, were drowned in the sea, were given up to wild beasts, were dying, were suffering so great things as we cannot so much as reckon up? And whereas the Olympic judge proclaims and crowns the victor, and the master rewards the servant, and the king the soldier, and each in general him that hath done. him service, with what good things he can; shall God alone, after those so great toils and labours, repay them with no good thing great or small? shall those just and pious men, who have walked in every virtue, lie in the same state with adulterers, and parricides, and manslayers, and violators of tombs? And in what way can this be reasonable? Since, if there be nothing after our departure hence, and our interests reach no further than things present, those are in the same case with these, or rather not so much as in the same. For what though hereafter, as thou sayest, they fare alike? yet here, the whole of their time, the wicked have been at ease, the righteous in chastisement. And this what sort of tyrant, what savage and relentless man did ever so devise, touching his own servants and subjects? Didst thou mark the exceeding greatness of the absurdity, and in what this argument issues? Therefore if thou wilt not any other way, yet by these reasonings be instructed to rid thyself of this wicked thought, and to flee from vice, and cleave to the toils which end in virtue: and then shalt thou know certainly that our concerns are not bounded by the present life. And if any one ask thee, "Who hath come from thence and brought word what is there?" say unto him, “of men not one; for surely he would have been often disbelieved, as vaunting, and exaggerating the thing; but 8,9. 186 Solution of apparent Inequalities here. HOMIL. the Lord of the angels hath brought word with exactness of XIII. all those things. What need then have we of any man, seeing He, that will demand account of us, crieth aloud every day, that He hath both made ready a hell, and prepared a kingdom; and affords us clear demonstrations of these things? For if He were not hereafter to judge, neither would he have exacted any penalty here. [9.] "Well, but as to this very point, how can it be reasonable? that of the wicked some should be punished, others not? I mean, if God be no respecter of persons, as surely He is not, why can it be that of one He exacts a penalty, but another He suffers to go away unpunished? Why, this is again more inexplicable than the former." Yet if you are willing to hear what we say with candour, we will solve this difficulty also. What then is the solution? He neither exacts penalty of all here, lest thou shouldest despair of the resurrection, and lose all expectation of the judgment, as though all were to give account here; nor doth He suffer all to go away unpunished, lest on the other hand thou shouldest account all to be without His providence; but He both punishes and abstains from punishing: by those whom He punishes, signifying that in that world also He will exact a penalty of such as are unpunished here; and by those whom He doth not punish, working upon thee to believe that there is some fearful trial after our departure hence. But if He were altogether indifferent about our former deeds, He neither would have punished any here, nor have conferred benefits. But now thou seest Him for thy sake stretching out the heaven, kindling the sun, founding the earth, pouring forth the sea, expanding the air, and appointing for the moon her courses, setting unchangeable laws for the seasons of the years, and all other things too performing their own courses exactly at a sign from Him. For both our nature, and that of creatures irrational, of them that creep, that walk, that fly, that swim, in marshes, in springs, in rivers, in mountains, in forests, in houses, in the air, in plains; plants also, and seeds, and trees, both wild and cultivated, both fruitful and unfruitful; and all things in general, moved by that unwearied Hand, make provision for our life, affording to us of God's Graces here a Token of Eternal ones. 187 themselves their ministry, not for our need only, but also for MATT. our feeling of high station'. IV. 11. 1 φιλοτι μίαν Seeing therefore order so great and fair, (and yet we have a not mentioned so much as the least portion thereof,) darest thou say, that He who for thy sake hath wrought things so many and great, will overlook thee in the most critical points, and suffer thee when dead to lie with the asses and swine: and that having honoured thee with so great a gift, that of Godliness, whereby He hath even equalled thee with the angels, He will overlook thee after thy countless labours and toils? And how can this be reasonable? Why, these things, if we be silent, the stones will immediately cry out1; so plain are1 Luke they, and manifest, and more lucid than the sunbeam itself. 19, 40. Having then considered all these things, and having convinced our own soul, that after our departure hence, we shall both stand at the fearful judgment-seat, and give account of all that we have done, and shall bear our penalty, and submit to our sentence, if we continue in our negligences; and shall receive crowns and unutterable blessings, if we are willing to give a little heed to ourselves; let us both stop the mouths of them who gainsay these things, and ourselves choose the way of virtue; that with due confidence departing to that tribunal, we may attain unto the good things that are promised us, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and dominion, now and ever, world without end. Amen. 188 Moral of our Lord's departing into Galilee. HOMILY XIV. HOMIL. XIV. 1, 2. MATT. iv. 12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, He departed into Galilee. [1.] WHEREFORE doth He depart? Again instructing us not to go to meet temptations, but to give place and withdraw ourselves. For it is no reproach, the not casting one's self into danger, but the failing to stand manfully when fallen into it. To teach us this accordingly, and to soothe the envy of the Jews, He retires to Capernaum; at once fulfilling the 1c. 4,14. prophecy', and making haste to catch the teachers of the and Is. world: for they, as you know, were abiding there, following 9, 1.2. their craft. But mark, I pray thee, how in every case when He is about to depart unto the Gentiles, He hath the occasion given Him by Jews. For so in this instance, by plotting against His forerunner, and casting him into prison, they thrust out Christ into the Galilee of the Gentiles. For to shew that He neither speaks of the Jewish nation by a part of it, nor signifies obscurely all the tribes; mark how the Prophet distinguishes that place, saying, The land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness, saw great 2 v. 15. light 2: by darkness here not meaning that which is sensible, 16. see but men's errors and ungodliness. Wherefore he also added, Is.9,1.2. They which sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light is sprung up. For that thou mightest learn that neither Why He waited for John's Imprisonment. 189 IV. 17. the light nor the darkness which he speaks of are sensible, MATT. in discoursing of the light, he called it not merely light, but a great light, which elsewhere he expresses by the word, TRUE1 and in describing the darkness, he termed it, a1Johnl, shadow of death. Then implying that they did not of themselves seek and find, but that God shewed Himself to them from above, he saith to them, Light is sprung up; that is, the Light of itself sprang up and shone forth: it was not that they first ran to the Light. For in truth the condition of men was at the worst before Christ's coming. Since they more than walked in darkness; they sat in darkness; a kind of sign that they did not even hope to be delivered. For as persons not even knowing where to put a step forward, so they sat, overtaken by the darkness, not being able so much as to stand any more. [2.] From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. From that time: what time? After John was cast into prison. And wherefore did He not preach to them from the beginning? Indeed what occasion for John at all, when the witness of His works was proclaiming Him? 9. 76. That hence also thou mightest learn His dignity; namely, that as the Fathers, so He too hath Prophets; to which purpose Zacharias also spake; And Thou, Child, shalt be called a Prophet of the Highest2. And that he might Lukel, leave no occasion to the shameless Jews; which motive He Himself alleged, saying, John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children3. 19. 3 Matt. 11, 18. And moreover it was necessary that what concerned Him should be spoken by another first and not by Himself. For if even after both testimonies and demonstrations so many and so great, they said, Thou bearest record of Thyself, Thy record is not true: had He, without John's saying John 8, any thing, come into the midst, and first borne record Him- 13. self; what would they not have said? For this cause, neither did He preach before John, nor did He work miracles, until 4 |