611 SPURIA. Why from Jerusalem? Because there the coming of the Spirit began: for the apostles received the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem, and from there He went forth through the apostles to the ends of the earth. *There shall go forth living water from Jerusalem; half of it into the first sea, and half of it into the last sea* (Zach. 14.8). What was this, *Into the first sea, and into the last sea*? Does the Scripture tell fables? It proclaims the truth, it interprets the mystery, it reveals virtues. *There shall go forth living water.* Look at a wondrous thing. It does not say "River," but first "Water." For grace, always beginning from small things, is multiplied into great things. *There shall go forth living water from Jerusalem; half of it into the first sea, and half of it into the last sea.* It calls the first sea the first regions of the earth inhabited from the east. For the race of Adam flourished there first; then it spread into the west and filled the earth. Therefore it calls the first sea the first regions of the earth that were inhabited; and the last sea, the extremes of the west: which sea both fills the east and honors the west. Consider, therefore, the mystery, which heretics mock, offering insult to the Holy Spirit and introducing domestic order into the divine power. Let us flee malice, let us flee heretical blasphemy, let us flee the practice of wicked works. Beneficence is a proof of faith; humanity is a proof of faith. Have mercy on the poor. Buy and receive; for you cannot reap that which you do not sow. How do you say to God: "Forgive me"? You who do not give, why do you ask? That which you do not, how do you receive? Remember, therefore, your words in poverty. When you were poor, to the beggars who asked you would say: "I would like to have and give." When you were poor, you would say: "Who will grant me wealth? I would distribute it; I would like to give; God knows the intention." Often God, exercising such a mind and reproving it by the very works, enriches it with wealth; and the man no longer judges himself as he once did, but forgets his former words. 612 For everyone is truly judged by his words. While we are not judges, we say: "If I were a judge, I would act thus; if I were a judge, I would decide this and that." You have been brought to the tribunal; show your promise. When you were poor, you promised alms, you promised righteous judgment. Now show them by your works. Indeed, men who are cast into abjection are like locusts. For a locust sits in a hedge in winter and cannot move itself; for it is bound by the cold and is lowly and easy to catch. But when it is warmed a little by the sun, it flies away; and that which could not lift itself in that place before, it flies through the air. So too, a man is humble in troubles, pious, showing equity and kindness. But when brilliant fortune arrives, his mind is stripped bare and reveals itself. Therefore the Scripture says to the Jews, who were pious in prosperous times but wicked in adverse ones: *A crawling locust has jumped up; your mixed multitude is like a locust.* The sun has arisen, and it has flown away, and it has forgotten its place (Nahum 3.17). Like a crawling locust sitting in a hedge in the time of cold. The sun has arisen and it has flown away, and it has not recognized its place; that is, it has forgotten its humility. So we too are humble in poverty; but having become rich, we forget. We philosophize in death, and when a dead man is carried out, everyone philosophizes about human affairs, saying: "Everything passes; we are nothing." As long as he sees the corpse, he philosophizes; the sight that strikes terror passes, and he immediately forgets his purpose. Therefore the Scripture says: *In all your words remember your last things, and you will not sin for eternity* (Eccli. 7.40). Remember your death, and you will have an unshakeable purpose. Would that we, brothers, might remain faithful to God in all things, to whom is due all glory, honor, and empire, for ever and ever. Amen.
MONITUM
[620] In this homily there are many things which are also contained in the homily on the withered fig tree, the beginning of which is δόξης ὀπίσω ἡ δένδρον. Which homily Fronto Ducæus published among the spuria in Vol. 6, p. 552, and which we shall take care to put to the press below in its own place. Hence Savile conjectures that the same person was the author of both homilies. In this work, he says (a), there are many things that are read in the one immediately preceding. Whence perhaps the author of both was the same: as certainly in these writings, as much in those that are disputed as in the spurious ones, there are many things that, since they are from the works of Chrysostom...ON THE DICTUM OF THE NINETY-SECOND PSALM, "THE RIVERS HAVE LIFTED UP THEIR VOICES" (v. 3): AND ON THE SAVIOR WALKING ON THE SEA, ON THE FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISHES, AND ON THE TRANSGRESSION OF OUR FIRST PARENTS.
Taking our starting points from the Gospel according to Matthew just read to us, concerning the tempest of the sea, the miracle of the Lord, and the faint-heartedness of the apostles, let us speak opportunely of that saying of the prophet: *The rivers have lifted up, O Lord, the rivers have lifted up their voices, from the voices of many waters: the wonderful elevations of the sea.* What are the elevations of the sea, if not the miracle of the Lord, because by His mere nod He turned the raging sea into tranquility? And what rivers are there that lifted up their voices in the sea, if not clearly the disciples of the Lord? For the apostles are rivers, as those flowing from the perennial fountain of Christ, according to the statement: *He that believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water* (John 7.38). And the Lord indeed did not cease to perform miracles; but the apostles did not depart from justice while tossed by the waves in the sea. For when they saw the Lord walking upon the back of the sea in the fourth watch of the night, they thought it was a phantom. How could it be a phantom? The handmaid (a) recognized the Lord; but did the disciples not recognize the Lord? When they had such miracles...did they not see the hand that dried the deep, and prepared the sons of Israel to cross on dry land? They thought it was a phantom, and they were afraid. Thus, A *they were afraid with a fear where there was no fear* (Ps. XIII, 5). Indeed, they were afraid when they perceived the haven of life drawing near. But when all were afraid, Peter approached and said to the Lord: "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you upon the waters." The Lord said to him, "Come." Then to the disciples: "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid." I do not appear as a phantom, but I am the truth. For I, the Truth, took on human nature, that I might abolish him who plays the phantom. "It is I, do not be afraid. Why are you troubled by the blowing of the winds?" Was it not concerning me that the scripture said: *Who brings out the winds from his treasuries?* (Ps. CXXXIV, 7). And now I have sent forth the winds, not to trouble you, but to strengthen you.
When the Lord said these things, Peter again leapt forward, being fervent in faith, and replied, saying: "Lord, if it is you, the Christ, recognized by your steps but doubted in your actions—for we have never seen you walking on the sea—if you are the Christ, command me to come to you upon the waters." And the Lord said to him: "Come, if you have faith to sustain you. I bestow no favor out of irony. If you do not believe, you shall not walk." But when Peter leapt forth at the Lord's command, he began to walk upon the sea, having faith unaffected by the waves. But when he had proceeded a little way, since he was of human condition, subject to change—being as a man tossed to and fro—he faltered. He was emboldened, and began to say to himself: "The sight is unbelievable; I walk upon the sea, the humid nature of the dust casts off." In this, as Peter faltered, the fellow-servant sea, as if before an unbelieving servant, began to surge, and to discipline its fellow-servant, and to sink the unbeliever. Whence Peter, perceiving that faith provided the foundation, but unbelief brought the surge, cried out, saying: "Master, save me, I am perishing" (Matt. XIV, 30). What are you saying, O Peter? When you are in danger, then do you recognize your Master? What then did Christ do? I do not leave you in the abyss; I stretch forth my hand; for I bear all things in my hand. Stretching forth his hand, he says, the Lord took hold of him, and said to him: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Ibid. v. 31). Great was the lack of harmony among the apostles. Before the resurrection they were tossed to and fro; after the resurrection, having harvested certainty, they became unshakeable in faith.
That they were tossed to and fro with many arguments before the resurrection, you heard just now, how at evening the apostles approached the Lord saying: "Dismiss the crowd, for the place is desolate, that they may go into the villages round about and buy themselves food" (ibid. v. 15). Observe with me here, too, how unbelievable was their reasoning. They approached the Savior saying: "Dismiss the crowd, for the place is desolate." But the Lord said to them: "Shall I dismiss the crowd? Why do you bring ill-repute upon me? Why do you judge the Teacher? 'Dismiss the crowds, that they may buy food?' And what will the sellers of bread say to them? That in my presence they must buy bread? If we had no bread, you would rightly suggest dismissing them; but now that there is bread, how shall I dismiss those hungry ones who are waiting for us? The crowds are waiting, and shall I, who wait for them, drive them away? What shepherd of sheep does this? I sent Habakkuk carrying food to Daniel in the lions' den; I showered manna from heaven upon the sons of Israel for forty years, though they were ungrateful; and shall I let the grateful ones starve? No, by no manner of means. *You give them something to eat* (Matt. XIV, 16). The apostles say: "Shall we give them something to eat? Whence shall we give it to those who were ordered to take nothing for the journey? Except for five loaves and two fish, we have nothing more; and what are these for five thousand men, not counting women and children?" But the Lord says to them: "Whence shall you give? You have the treasury of faith. Did I not say to you, *if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove and be cast into the sea, and it shall happen*? Mountains move, and loaves do not multiply? You give them something to eat." As they demurred, and grew dizzy at the requirement of giving, the Lord said to them: "Make the crowds recline." B I am sent to the service; I do not refuse to minister to the servants. For this is my ancient practice. I ministered to Adam in paradise; what I pursued there, I do not refuse here.
2. It is possible for one to say: when and where did God perform the service for Adam? Listen with understanding. For it is good to repay [the debt of] the sixth day, the last of God's creation, on which we made the promise. For this reason the Creator ministered to Adam alone, taking him as both creature and partner in His own works. You all know clearly how, in paradise, the Creator seated Adam in a high place and brought to him each of the animals. The Master, from the beginning, did not refuse to minister to a servant, to His own creature; from which even in the gospel passage read just now, He did not refuse to minister to the servants; he made them recline upon the grass, and taking the loaves, he broke and gave them to the disciples to offer, feeding, multiplying, working miracles, providing things necessary. From this, even in paradise, in the ancient creation, bringing forth His goodness, the Creator seated Adam in a high place and brought before him each of the animals, so that whatever Adam wished, he might call it, taking him as a partner in His own works; which the Scripture presented, saying: *And God fashioned yet from the earth all the beasts of the field, and all the cattle; and he brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them* (Gen. II, 19). Learn, that for your sake they were brought forth. Accept my economy. Would there be as much for an angel or another creature as for man? Since He fashioned him alone with His own hands, the Creator ministered to him alone: this, in the bringing forth of the animals; that, in the beauty of garments. From which, even in the incarnation, revealing this to His own disciples, He began to wash their feet, showing the stamp of the ancient creation. But when Peter, out of reverence, refused the washing of the feet, the Lord said to him: "Unless I wash your feet, you have no part with me" (John XIII, 8). I am He who ministered to Adam, by this, bringing forth the animals, and by that, building his side into a woman, bringing to him from himself his own [bone], and before him, my own through myself. From which he shows, friend, that man alone is an incomparable and distinguished work of God among creatures. From which also concerning him alone it is written: *Let us make man according to our image and likeness* (Gen. I, 26). Great is the concern of God for man; and the Creator deemed Adam worthy of such glory, of which no other creature partook at all; but Adam, having neglected it, slipped to the bottom of Hades, embracing poverty in exchange for kingship, so that the Master became a servant, the Lord of all a beggar, he who was clothed with dignity having no staff; he who daily spent time with God in friendly company, hiding like a thief under a tree; he who received paradise as a dwelling, having become an exile from paradise, and dwelling opposite paradise, that seeing the loss of paradise, he might not cease to blame the vain counsel. For what else was Adam doing, having his dwelling outside paradise, digging, laboring, mining, plowing, flooded on every side with sweat, but reproaching with a loud mouth his wife, saying thus: "What are the gains of your counsel, that you might toy with the serpent, and I be alienated from the gift of God? Did you not promise me, saying, woman, if you taste of the forbidden fruit, you will be blessed? Did you not promise to make me a god after the eating of the forbidden fruit? How then, O god, was I shown a digger, the blessed one found thrice-wretched? You failed, and I am lashed; I have lost the side, and found no helper. Woe! Woman Eve, mother of death, generator of disobedience, expeller from paradise, lover of draconic hissing, convenient instrument of diabolical machinations. Begone, woman; why did you harvest my immortality, why did you tear my kingly robe? Which you did not weave, you rent; you taught me to sew fig leaves! Why did you bring me a fruit that traps, O woman of the bewitching mouth, saying: 'Take, eat of the fruit envied to you?' For in the day that you eat, your eyes will be opened, and"
615 SPURIA. eat the fruit forbidden to you through envy: "For in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3.5)? What have you done, woman? I have become blind, nor do I see. I have done evil, the good has departed. Like a ray I toil, I am not powerful as God. Begone, woman, I do not know who you are. Before I am united with you, I look for a resolution: I cannot bear the labor. You are without care, nor do you feel pain. When childbirth draws near, then you will remember. Begone, you have been the source of intolerable evils for me, woman; I have been ordered to till the earth, and to eat bread in the sweat of my face: the earth has been ordered to germinate thorns and thistles for me. This sentence I received from God. What shall I do? When shall I prepare the mattock? When shall I prepare the plow? When shall I teach the bull to submit to the yoke? When shall I lift the planks? When shall I cast the seed? When shall I expect the grain? When shall I sharpen the sickle? When shall I gather the sheaf? When shall I make the wagon laden? When shall I purge the threshing floor? When shall I press the threshing sled? When shall I join the winnowing fan? When shall I prepare bread? When shall I bake cakes? I do not bear the pain. After how many labors and sweats do I eat bread? See of how many evils you have been the cause for me, woman, you who are called life, and are found to be death. Truly the woman is the source of death, from that time even to this day. And lest the assembly of women stir up sedition against me as I say these things; I am prepared to absolve the crime, if they wish to admit it. Let them not be angry with me, but with the Christ-bearing Paul if they dare to receive him with insults—let them vent their insults upon him. We, as his disciples, teach his words, we do not bring forth new things from ourselves. Let them hear Paul crying out in our voice: "For I have betrothed you to one man, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, so your minds should be corrupted" (2 Cor. 11.2, 3). Do you see that it was not the man who was supplanted, but the woman who was deceived? Who was it that was deceived? Who was it that dallied with the serpent? The woman, having the mouth of a serpent and ejaculating venom. Who was it that dallied with the serpent? She who meditates illusions. No one was in paradise except her and her husband: she, however, fearing nothing else, went about wandering and roaming, B seeking where she might find a bedfellow, contemplating adulterous seed before the nuptial union. If she had remained with her husband, the serpent would not have approached the serpent. He discovered her far from her husband, and lured her. For a woman who always stays with her legitimate husband does not endure corruption, is not overcome, does not commit adultery: but when the husband is removed, even if she were to stay with angels, she easily slips. Where do women who are removed from their legitimate husbands dwell on and perpetrate wicked things, if not in the shrines of martyrs, on the pretext of prayer; joined with adulterers, and holding the martyrs themselves as nought? For they even swear by the martyrs that they will not commit wicked deeds. O of how many evils Eve was the teacher, the ruin of good works! And all women indeed who love continence are called manly. For there is a great distinction among women, as among men, and among angels: and as many women as love chastity follow the virgin, desire Susanna, embrace Sarah, encompass Rebecca. But whoever lives outside of chastity are led into error like Eve, are slandered like the Egyptian woman, are shorn like Delilah, are murdered like the divine men by Jezebel. The discourse is universal, not a special enigma. Lest again certain atheists, taking these words in a more recent fashion, begin to bite our ears, drawing us into diverse thoughts. We take no account of these. The discourse is Apostolic. The enigma is given because of Eve. Therefore in the annual period we repeat these very same things, bringing forward the divine witness of the words, Paul, who says: "For I have betrothed you to one man, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11.2). Lest the serpent as he deceived Eve, Adam's wife, the cause of the fault, so [also deceive you. And again the same Apostle says: "Adam was not seduced, but the woman, his Eve, being seduced was in the transgression: notwithstanding she shall be saved through the childbearing: if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety" (1 Tim. 2.14, 15), not with intemperance. He said: "She shall be saved through childbearing"; not as Eve brought forth Cain, but as the Virgin brought forth Christ in the womb: to whom be glory and empire with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.
NOTICE
Savile had rightly placed this homily among the spurious writings, with Cotelerius protesting in his Notes p. 210 in vain. For it is an intricate little work, filled to the point of nausea with childish exclamations, questions, and other tropes, and possessing nothing worthy of Chrysostom. Savile had edited this text, which was torn and gaping in many places, in Volume 7, page 561. Jo. Bapt. Cotelerius published it complete later in the year 1661. Then [the author]...OF THE SAME, ON THE PHRASE, COME, LET US EXULT IN THE LORD (Ps. 94.1)
The sound of the trumpet rouses the soldier to war, and makes him ready for battle with the enemy; and the departure of winter compels the sailors who are in the harbor to board the ship. We too, the cantor David, while he makes the panegyric melody resound through the book, has brought us to this spiritual banquet today. For what does he say? "Come, let us exult in the Lord: let us joyfully sing to God our Saviour. Let us come before his presence in thanksgiving" (Ps. 94.1, 2). C O Davidic voice! O good invitation! O spiritual food! "Come, let us exult in the Lord: let us joyfully sing to God our Saviour. Let us come before his presence in thanksgiving." O mind of the Lord, prone to mercy! O exhortation of the prophet, calling to repentance! You have seen, most beloved, the goodness of the Lord's clemency, and the hilarity of the prophetic proclamation: how he exhorts us all to repentance, and calls us to piety and salvation, saying: "Come, let us exult in the Lord." The Lord has commanded, the prophet has called, let us obey. He has not invited us to corruptible food, satisfy the gluttony...A of your soul by desiring to have your filth cleansed through repentance. Thus he calls us through his melodious lyre: "Come, let us exult in the Lord." All of you, therefore, who are bound by the cords of his love, and who carry the yoke of obedience, let us approach the Master, having made a purgation of the evils committed throughout the day. For the present life is one of repentance, but the future presence is one of threat and judgment. Hear the prophet himself saying: "In Hades, who will confess to you?" (Ps. 6:6). Therefore, let not our mind be bound by complex chains, but let us supplicate God with all our heart; for he is ready to hear the prayer of those who ask; only do not neglect to ask of him. Your God is present for you, closer to you. There is no need for a long journey, nor to cross the seas; but hear him saying: "The kingdom of heaven is within you" (Luke 17:21). There is no need for many expenditures and costs, but turn, groan, and you have immediately rendered the Master propitious. Hezekiah once turned toward the wall, not the one B composed of stones, but the one built through prophetic and apostolic teaching. That wall I call, regarding which Paul boasts, saying: "As a wise architect I have laid a foundation" (1 Cor. 3:10); that wall I call, upon which the cornerstone was set; I mean, of course, Christ, regarding whom the Scripture said: "Holy stones shall be rolled" (Zech. 9:16). That wall I call, because of which the temple of God was built. What are you doing, O Hezekiah? Why do you turn toward the wall? He says: "Because I seek Him, the giver of life and the destroyer of death; I seek him, and to him I flee." Nevertheless, having turned and repented, he harvested life, and avoided the sentence delivered C against him by God, and God added fifteen years of life to him; and when his enemies had walled him round about, and had surrounded the city, an angel became his defender, and leveled such multitudes of the Assyrians. So great was the strength of the repentance; for, he says, the angel of the Lord went out, and in the camp of the Assyrians struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand, yet he let their leader, Sennacherib, survive; for no other reason, as I think, but that God was inviting him to repentance. Surely, as God saw that he would not be persuaded, nor turn from his wickedness, but was a certain implacable and intractable person, he had him put to death by his two sons. For D when he expected to escape the total and heaven-sent death, and to attain his own land, and for his affairs to be at peace, then Adrammelech and Sharezer, his two sons, slaughter him, and flee to the mountains of Ararat. Do you see, beloved, how much confession contributed to Hezekiah? And how much harm the persistence in sins wrought for Sennacherib? Do you wish that I show you another way of repentance, and a gate of confession? Imitate the repentance of those barbarians, I mean the Ninevites. For those men, having become hearers of the prophet, though they had not received evangelical words, had not heard a prophet of God, had not received the good news of the kingdom of heaven, see how they approach God, how they implore God, how they trade with the Lord for the destruction threatening them; how they dissolved the sentence of God; how they pushed away the wrath of God, and called upon his philanthropy; how they made the city, which was falling into an abyss and a collapse, stronger than any wall, and harder than any diamond. Purple rank did not prevail with God, but sackcloth; nor royal diadem and power, but ashes with sackcloth; nor gold-embossed
The Power of Repentance and Confession
throne composed of stones, but confession. O the power of sackcloth, surpassing and conquering royal purple! O the power of ashes, stronger than a diadem and a royal throne! For when the king was in his diadem, and in the purple, and on the throne that held his authority—that is, the royal scepter—with the camps standing in a circle around him, and many guards surrounding him, the prophet enters into the midst, naked, with dusty feet, sweating in his face, and he says: "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown" (Jon. 3:4). What are you doing, O prophet? If there is any Spirit of God in you at all, why do you not know the will of God, that he gave the sentence not because he wanted to kill, but to recall them to repentance? "God told me nothing else," he says, "but only this, that in three days, Nineveh shall be overthrown." What are you doing, O Jonah? Why do you not add other teaching as well? For what else did Isaiah hear from God to say to Israel? Nothing else but one word. And what was this? "Say," he said, "to this people: By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive" (Isa. 6:9). And do you see how much other teaching and instruction he sounded into them? How much exhortation and consolation and reproof? Reproof, in his saying: "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib, but Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me" (Isa. 1:3). These things were of one reproving. But hear him also as he urges them: "Wash yourselves, be clean, take away your wickednesses from your souls" (Isa. 1:16). And how he consoles them again: "If you are willing, and you listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the earth" (Isa. 1:19). And he discusses yet more things than these with them, having written a whole book for the sake of testimony. And he did not stop at this, but also brings forward witnesses at the beginning of his teaching, saying: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken" (Isa. 1:2). What has he spoken? Tell us clearly, O Isaiah. "I have begotten and raised up sons, and they have disregarded me" (Isa. 1:2). But you did nothing of these things, O Jonah, but proclaimed the destruction, saying: "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." But concerning God you said nothing to them, nor did you say: "For the Lord has spoken," according to Isaiah; but you bring out the sentence untamed and inhuman. Yet, nevertheless, the Ninevites, even if they did not receive the instruction of teaching, even if they did not become hearers of the prophets, did not receive the promises of evangelical grace, had no love of the kingdom, no fear of punishment, but having a beastly manner, and a barbarian and inhuman character, having heard the sentence, immediately they turn to repentance, confessing the things done by them, and this while not knowing if it will be forgiven them. For what, they said, "Who knows if God will turn, and repent, and save us?" (Jon. 3:9). For they do not know to look to others who have repented and been saved, not to other Ninevites, but they still doubt concerning their salvation; yet they repent. And immediately the king, having cast away the diadem and purple, is clothed in sackcloth and ashes, and the whole city from their small to their great, and not only the humans, but also the livestock and the oxen and the sheep. What are you doing, O king, because humans have sinned, why have you condemned even the livestock to fast, and why do you clothe them with sackcloth and ashes? "We," he says, "are wrapped in many sins, and we are not worthy to implore God. For with what face, having approached, shall we deem ourselves worthy of God? Because of this we have made those who have not sinned to intercede on our behalf." For one might see this happening even among men. For when someone has offended one of those in high position, those who have not offended intercede for him, so that his transgression may be forgiven. This we too do. We have sinned beyond defense, we are not worthy to implore on our own behalf and to implore God; and because of this we have made the livestock and the oxen and the sheep to worship and to beseech God. O the strength of repentance; O the power of confession. Repentance steadied the city, having dissolved the sentence of God. But nevertheless, besides these things the prophet disbelieves in the salvation of the Ninevites; and having gone out opposite the city, he sat, watching what would happen to the city.together: and for that reason we compelled the cattle, the oxen, and the sheep to adore and pray to God. O the power of repentance! O the virtue of confession! Repentance strengthened the city when it rescinded the sentence of God. B Yet, in response to these things, the prophet distrusted the salvation of the Ninevites; and he went out and sat opposite the city, observing what might befall the city—whether the sentence would prevail, or indeed repentance. And both the sentence and the repentance were placed as if on a scale and in the moment of a balance; and repentance, having vanquished death, raised up the city. Then, to condense the discourse, Jonah was distressed, as one who was to appear a liar. Then what does the all-wise God do to him? He commands the sun to cast rays blazing with fire onto his head, so that he could not withstand the heat of the sun. But when Jonah was burning, and bore it very impatiently, God commanded a gourd in the night, that it should rise in the morning and shade the head of Jonah. Here I would gladly pose a question to a Jew, saying: “I pray you, O Jew, you who say, ‘How did the Virgin bear a child without a man, and how, having borne, did she remain a virgin?’ Tell me first: how did the earth send forth a gourd from itself in one hour of the morning, and how did it become leafy in one moment, and shade the prophet? And I will tell you how the Virgin bore a child, and after the birth remained a virgin.” But let us not throw holy things to the dogs. Let the unbelieving Jews be cast out of our catalogue. Afterwards, while the gourd was shading him, God commanded a worm in the morning; and it struck the gourd, and it withered immediately (Jon. 4.7). Behold, O Jew, and do not be incredulous when God does some great thing. The gourd was produced over night, and it perished over night. Then, the gourd having dried up, Jonah was angry and wept, and his spirit succumbed while he was distressed over the gourd; and he said, “It is better for me to die than to live” (Jon. 4.8). To whom the all-wise God drew near, comforting him and saying: “Are you very distressed over the gourd?” And Jonah replied, “I am very distressed even unto death” (Ibid. v. 9). Again, however, God says to him: “You are distressed over the gourd, for which you did not labor, which you did not nourish, which was born in the night and perished in the night; shall I not be distressed for the city of Nineveh, the great city, in which dwell more than a hundred and twenty thousand men, who do not know their right hand from their left, and many cattle?” (Ibid. v. 10–11). Now, what he says is this: “I am,” he says, “benign, and one who does not wish to destroy the works of my hands, which I created, led by pity; therefore I threatened destruction and death, not because I wished to kill, but that I might exhort them to repentance. I, who for the course of so many years had awaited their conversion, should I have neglected them when they were converted? That is not my way, Jonah. For you, as a man, wish to condemn; but I, in so far as I am God, have it to be merciful and human.” Glory to you, O Lord; glory to you. How great are the riches of your benignity and mercy! Those who were recently subject to the fatal decree are now constituted as teachers of the world. For all, while they look upon them, are led by the hand; and while we assume their repentance, we perish void of shipwreck. Do you see, beloved, how much repentance can accomplish? Therefore, let us not defer day after day. For you do not know what the next day may bring forth (Prov. 27.1). For the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5.2). C Come, therefore, let us exult in the Lord, let us jubilate to God our Savior. Let us approach his face in confession (Ps. 94.1–2). For the end of our life is uncertain; it does not await an occasion, nor is it defined by time among us: but whenever he who gave spirit to all commands it, then the soul, flying away from the body, leaves it empty. Since, therefore, we each know that death is uncertain, let us await the bridegroom; and when he knocks at the door, let us kindle our lamps for him, always prepared, having oil with us, so that when the sound of those saying, “The bridegroom is coming” (Matt. 25.6), occurs, we may enter with him, lest by chance we also, with the five foolish virgins, be found outside the bridal chamber. Dearest ones, let us not slumber, but always have oil in our lamps. For he will not grant us in that hour to go away to buy oil from those who sell: for it is bought here, and consumed there. But who are those who sell, if not the poor? Give bread, and you receive *”What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and into the heart of man has not ascended, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2.9). Come, therefore, let us exult in the Lord, let us jubilate to God our Savior. Let us approach his face in confession (Ps. 94.1–2), because the night has passed, but the day of uncertain life has drawn near (Rom. 13.12). But would that all of us, being light from light, might walk in the light of the glory of Christ our Savior, in the Lord himself, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
MONITUM
Concerning this homily, Savile speaks thus in his notes, Tom. 8, p. 124: “I have relegated to the class of spurious works the homily on Psalm 95, or rather on the first two verses of the same Psalm, an obviously insipid work, and one teeming with inept allegories and anagoges, even though it is copied throughout the libraries and was translated by Erasmus.”SING TO THE LORD A NEW SONG, SING TO THE LORD ALL THE EARTH: AND CONCERNING ALMSGIVING, A HOMILY
The hymnographer David sounded the lyre for us, while he wove the apostolic discourse with his prophetic tongue, and signified new things in ancient discourses. For what did he sound? That which we have just heard: *Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth.* Consider, and piously contemplate, how by adapting the prophecy to the evangelical words, he renders the same harmony of sentiments and dogmas. “Sing,” he says, “to the Lord a new song.” We know, brothers, that a new song is distinguished from the old. It must be sought, therefore, what is the subject of the old song, and what of the new: in this way, from the difference of things, we shall be able to attain an understanding of the truth. The first and most ancient song was sung at the Red Sea: at which time, with wonderful D power, he struck the sea;