if you call yourself upright, you have become useless, even if you are upright; but if you name yourself useless, you have become useful, even if you are unproven. For as God knows how A to oppose the proud, so He knows how to give grace to the humble; for to Him belongs glory and power, unto the ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY VIII. On the Soul.
Those who are adorned with good works, but are ignorant of the faith in God, appear like the remains of the dead, which, though beautifully clothed, have no sense of the beautiful. For what profit is it to a man to have a dead soul, yet clothed in good works? Works are for the sake of the hope of reward and crowns; but if you are ignorant of the Judge, for whom do you struggle? For just as with men, living must precede eating, so also must the hope in Christ precede our life, and then we must be nourished by good works. For he who does not eat may still live for much time; but he who does not live cannot be nourished. And without faith, you cannot show that he who does works of righteousness has truly lived; but without works, I can show a believer who has lived and been deemed worthy of the kingdom. No one has lived without faith; but the robber, having only believed, was made righteous. Do not say to me, "He had no time for a way of life"; for if he had survived after his faith and neglected works, he would have fallen from salvation. Cornelius was also attested for alms and prayers, but he was ignorant of Christ; and because the eye of truth, the great Judge, saw that while the works were beautiful, they were dead as they lacked faith, He sends an angel to award the works, so that he who was struggling well might be crowned by faith, as He says to him: "Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God" (Acts 10:4). If, therefore, the prayer was heard, and the alms were accepted, what was lacking for me unto righteousness? "But send," He says, "to Joppa, and call for Simon surnamed Peter; who coming shall speak B words to you, by which you shall be saved, you and all your house" (Acts 11:13-14). If, therefore, from what Peter says, he and his house are saved, he did not yet have salvation from the works until faith awarded it to his works. It is said that one of the philosophers from abroad entered a brilliant house, one flashing with much gold and gleaming with the beauty of marbles and columns; and when he saw the floor covered with carpets everywhere, he spat in the face of the master of the house; and then, being accused, he said that because there was nowhere else in the house that it was permitted to do this, he was compelled to insult his face. Do you see how ridiculous he is who adorns the exterior, and is despised by all who have sense? And very rightly so. For when you adorn the walls and the floor and everything else, but neglect the soul, leaving it to walk in rags, filthy, hungry, full of wounds, and torn apart by ten thousand C dogs—what punishment, tell me, will you not endure? For if you lose money, you can give other money, and for a house, or slaves, or any other of your possessions; but if you lose your soul, you cannot provide another soul in its place; no, even if you had the whole world, or were king of the world, you would not be able, by casting everything of the world down with the world itself, to buy one soul. For if with the body, even if you be clothed in ten thousand diadems, you have a body that is naturally sickly and incurable, you cannot, even if you offer the whole kingdom, correct that body, even if you add ten thousand bodies and cities and riches; how much more so with the soul? God has given us everything doubled in our nature: two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet; so that if one of these should be harmed, we may comfort our need through the other; but He has given us D one soul; if we should lose this, with whom shall we live? For a soul, once captured by avarice, will not easily nor readily decline to do and say some of the things that provoke God, inasmuch as it has become the slave of another master, and one that orders all things in opposition to God. A soul, once it has despaired of its own salvation, nowhere desists from its madness, but having given the reins of its salvation to irrational desires, it is carried everywhere, and is unbearable to those it meets, while all flee from it, and no one dares to restrain it; but it runs down all the regions of wickedness, until, carrying itself into the very pits of destruction, it casts down its own salvation. A soul once having made a compact with sin, and having become insensitive, provides much additional matter for the disease. For just as one who wallows in mire takes pleasure in it, so also a soul covered by evil habit does not even perceive the stench of its sins; and just as it is impossible for the earth that is not watered, even if one sows ten thousand seeds, to produce ears of corn, so it is impossible for a soul that has not first been illuminated by the divine Scriptures, even if one pours out ten thousand teachings, to show any fruit. And just as land, when it is not sown nor planted, produces weeds of its own accord; so also the soul, when it does not have some of the necessary things to do—since it cannot be idle, and is altogether desiring to be doing—gives itself over to wicked deeds. For just as there is inflammation in bodies, so there is recklessness in the soul; and then from recklessness, desire for what is unbecoming tends to follow. And just as in bodies those who have neglected their wounds have brought forth fevers and putrefaction and death; so also in souls those who despise small sins introduce greater ones. For this reason God gave us the body from the earth, so that we might lead even it up to heaven, not that through it we might drag the soul down to the earth. O what a wonder! How all are intent upon present things, and never take thought of those to come; but