scrutinizing with inflexible firmness and impartiality, it would ill become her to call in the proffered but prethe proffered but preposterous aid of wit or ridicule; since nothing can be more contrary to right reason than the employment of such an alleged test for the discovery of truth. Reason properly exerted will say, It is certainly possible that God may speak in a professedly divine revelation; and it is very clear, on the mere possibility of the record being authentic, that, if the Almighty should speak, he ought at least to find a docile and ingenuous, certainly not a captious or trifling, auditor, one who meets all his communications with satire and buffoonery.

We admit, then, that reason has clearly a right to say, that, if any doctrine is absurd or impossible, she will reject it; but she is bound to exercise the greatest wisdom and caution in determining what is worthy of those epithets. The human mind is not capable, in every instance, of ascertaining what is possible or impossible. No really reflecting man would venture, for example, to say, that it is impossible the dead should rise again: whatever difficulties might be urged on the doctrine, the dictate of enlightened reason would still be, The subject is beyond human grasp. A being of limited understanding cannot comprehend all the possibilities of infinitude; so that what appears an insuperable difficulty may in truth be no difficulty at all. In matters beyond the ken of the human powers, apparent unlikeli hood is not a sufficient argument for rejecting a position; nor, in some instances, is even apparent impossibility; for, what to one degree of intellect may appear impossible to a higher may appear an inevitable certainty. The humblest understanding would not fail to perceive the folly of an infant, or a savage, undertaking to pronounce what discoveries were within the reach of such a mind as that of Sir Isaac Newton; yet, this folly would be

wisdom itself compared with the irrationality of deciding what is possible or impossible with God.

In exercising reason, as we are warranted in doing within her just limits, it is always necessary to inquire whether we really have reason on our side. Many things may appear reasonable or unreasonable for want of due investigation, which, on a more perspicuous scrutiny, would assume a different aspect. Nay, the faculty of reason itself requires diligent cultivation and exercise to bring it to maturity: it does not arrive at perfection at once, or discriminate in all cases between truth and error by mere intuition. While, therefore, it is admitted, that some most important points of investigation are within the limits of reason, the serious inquirer, before he comes to a decision, should be assured that he has exercised this faculty aright. My reason, says the Socinian, revolts at the doctrine of the Trinity; My reason, says an inhabitant of the torrid zone, revolts at the doctrine of water being congealed to a solid substance by cold. Is it not clear, in both these cases, that reason was not rightly trained to its duties; for reason, duly tempered, would have allowed the possibility of the assertion: it would have seen no greater cause for incredulity, in either of these instances, than the writer of these remarks has to dis believe, that in the polar regions, the sun for months together never sets, or that, in a certain latitude and longitude, all the stars in the hemisphere, at this moment, are different from those which now shine on the metropolis of London.

(To be continued.)

CHRYSOSTOM'S THIRD HOMILY, DE STATUIS.

(Concluded from p. 17.) AFTER some further observations, and particularly a digression about the cattle, &c. being made to fast on different occasions, the

venerable father goes back to the case of the Ninevites.

But as I (before) said, let us consider what it was averted this heavy displeasure was it fasting only and sackcloth? not so, but a change of their whole course of life. How does this appear? From the very words of the Prophet; for he who had given an account of God's wrath, and of their fasting, the very same person, when he is speaking of their reconciliation, and explaining the cause of it, uses these words following: "And God saw their works."... What works? That they fasted, that they clothed themselves in sackcloth? No such thing, he passes by all these things, and proceeds thus; "that they turned every man from his evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them." You see that fasting did not extricate them from their perilous condition, but reformation of life made God propitious and benignant to those barbarians.

I say not this to disparage fasting, but to honour it; for the great value of fasting does not consist in abstaining from food, but departing from iniquity: he who makes it consist in not eating and drinking, he it is who dishonours it the most. Do you fast? Shew me that you do, by your works; do you ask what works?....If you see a poor man, have pity upon him; if you see an enemy, be reconciled to him; if you see a friend prosper, envy him not; if you see a beautiful woman, pass by (on the other side): and let not your mouth alone fast, but your eye also, your ear, your feet and hands, and all your members: let your hands fast, by abstaining from rapacity and extortion; your feet, by withdrawing from the impious the atres; your eyes, by looks averted from every captivating form, by ceasing to be curious observers of grace and beauty-for (gratifying) sights are the unlawful element of the eye; they violate the fast,and en

tirely subvert the health of the soul; but if it be lawful and salutary, it adds a grace to that duty, and promotes its ends: for it would be one of the most absurd things, by keeping a fast to reject that food which is allowed, and (at the same time) admit by the eye that which is forbidden. Do you take no meat? Take no food for avarice and concupiscence, by your eyes. Let your ear also keep a fast; that is.... to receive no evil speakings and false accusations. "Receive no false report," says the Scripture. [Exod. xxiii. 1. our marginal reading.] And let your tongue fast from foul language and reproaches: for of what use is it to refrain from eating birds and fishes, while we bite and devour our brethren? The calumniator eats his brother's flesh, bites the flesh of his neighbour: wherefore Paul also has deterred (us from this sin) by saying, "if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." (Gal. v. 15.) You have not fixed your teeth in the flesh, but you have fixed an evil suspicion in the soul; you have inflicted a wound; you have done much harm to yourself, to the (slandered) person, and to many others by accusing your neighbour, you have made him that heard you a worse man; for if he be a sinner, he becomes more careless for having found a (new) associate in iniquity, and if he be a righteous man, he is (secretly) elated, and is seduced by the faults of another, into a higher estimation of himself. Besides, you have injured the church, the whole community, (of them that believe): for all they who hear do not cast the blame on the offender himself, the reproach is cast on Christians in general: you will not hear the unbelievers say, such a man is a debauched and dissolute person, but, instead of the individual transgressor, they accuse the whole Christian community*.

Moreover you have caused God's name to be dishonoured; for as God is glorified when his servants are held in estimation, so is he blasphemed and dishonoured whenever we offend. In the fourth place, you have disgraced the man of whom you spread the evil report, and, have thereby rendered him more hardened and shameless, withal making him become an enemy to us. In the fifth place, you have made your own self obnoxious to punishment, by implicating yourself in affairs which do not belong to you; for let no man say, "I am a slanderer only when I speak a falsehood, not when I publish the truth;" for though you should speak the truth when you speak ill of another, even this is a crime; for the Pharisee (in the parable) spoke the truth, when he spoke ill of the Publican, and yet that did not excuse him; for was not that publican really a publican and a sinner? It is plain he was; nevertheless, because the Pharisee reproached him, he departed with the loss of all things.

Are you desirous of reforming your brother? Weep, pray to God, take him aside, and admonish him privately, persuade, exhort. So did Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 21. "Lest (says he) when I come (again) (my) God will humble me (among you), and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and lasciviousness which they have committed. Shew your love to the offender; assure him that it is from personal regard, not with any intention of exposing him, that you bring his sin to remembrance: embrace his feet, salute him with a kiss (of charity): be not ashamed (so to humble yourself) if you indeed desire to recover him. It is thus that physicians act frequently; for when they have untractable patients, by such kind attentions and exhortations they prevail with them to

individual to the whole party that he belongs to, how much soever that party may lament and condemn his conduct.

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 290.

take the medicine necessary for their recovery. Do you the same: shew the wound to the priest *: this is to act the part of one who is concerned, who is provident, who is studiously solicitous (about his brother's welfare).

some

Nor (do I address myself) only to evil speakers, but to those also who hear them. I exhort these to stop their ears, and to follow the example of that prophet, who says, (Psalm ci. 5.) (Psalm ci. 5.) "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him have I chased (from me)." Say to your neighbour, Have you some praise to bestow upon any one? encomium? then I open my ears to receive the grateful (news); but if you mean to speak evil (of him), I close my ears and refuse to admit your words, for I cannot bear to receive such defiling communications: what advantage is it to me to hear that such a one is a wicked man? it is rather a great injury and detriment: say to (your informer) let us mind our own affairs, how we may give an account of our transgressions, let us shew the same busy and inquisitive temper respecting our own lives; for how inexcusable will it be to pay no attention to our own concerns, and so much, and so officiously to those of others? and as it is a most dishonourable thing for a man to pry into a house as he passes by, and observe what is doing within, so is it most illiberal to be a curious observer of another man's life. What is still more ridiculous, they who lead such (an inquisitive) life, to the neglect of their own affairs, whenever they say something which they ought not, entreat the hearer, and conjure him to tell no person whatever. Immediately do they betray a con

This manifestly alludes to the reguvitical Law, but it is not clear whether lation respecting the leprosy, in the LeChrysostom means that the presbyter should be consulted about the case, or that supplication should be made to the great High-Priest, who himself bare our infirmities, and who alone can heal them effectually.

L

sciousness of having acted in a very blameable manner; for since you beg that he would tell no man (then by your confession), you ought not to have told it yourself in the first instance. You had the secret in safe custody (within your own breast); after suffering it to escape, then (forsooth) you are anxious to have it kept faithfully; whereas, had you been (really) desirous to prevent its being divulged, you would not have told it yourself: but, having (once) entrusted it to another, you may spare yourself the trouble of charging him to observe secrecy. Is it a pleasant thing to spread calumnies? it is pleasant to suppress them for he that has spoken evil of another, is ever after subject to internal conflicts; he suspects and fears, and changes his opinion, and eats his words, fearing and trembling, lest some great danger should result from (the slander) when it gets into many hands, and lest they who have repeated it, should be involved in serious enormities; whereas, he who suppresses it (escapes these conflicts and dangers), and lives in safety and tranquillity. "If thou hast heard a word," says (the son of Sirach, Ecclus. xix. 10.) "let it die with thee, (and) be bold, it will not burst thee." What does that mean "let it die with thee? "....Quench it, bury it, suffer it not to escape you, or to be in the slightest degree touched upon or alluded to. Be most especially careful not to tolerate those who speak evil of others; but if you should have received any thing (from them), bury in silence what they have said; stifle it; consign it to oblivion, that be as if you may you had not heard it, so shall you pass through life in much peace and security. If these slanderers should perceive that we avoid them even more than they do whom they have calumniated, they will at length abstain from this habitual sin, and correct their error, and afterwards commend us as the instruments of their deliver

ance, and applaud us as benefactors*. For as the speaking well of others and eulogizing them is the origin of friendship, so to speak evil and accuse is the origin and occasion of hostility and hatred, and numberless aggressions. This intrusion into the affairs of other men is a principal cause of the neglect of our own: for when a man is addicted to slander and to an inquisitive observation of the affairs of other men, it is scarcely possible for him to attend to his own with due care; these must be neglected, whilst his zeal is diverted into other channels, and wasted in idle speculation: for it would be wonderful indeed, if a man who devoted the intervals of business to the correcting of his own errors, and (preparing) for judg ment, should yet find time for something else. If you are continually busied with other men's faults, when will you attend to your own?

Let us fly then, O beloved, let us fly from slander, knowing it to be altogether a satanic pit, the very snare he has set to entrap us; for the devil has led us into this practice, in order that we might neglect our own concerns, and incur a heavier penalty. Besides, that we shall give an account of our slanderous words, is not the only evil consequence attending them, but we shall thereby deprive ourselves of every extenuation and excuse for our (other) sins, and aggravate them much: for he who institutes severe inquiry into the conduct of others, shall not obtain for his own sins any remission or indulgence; since God will have respect, in passing sentence, not only to the nature of our transgressions, but also to the judgment which we have ourselves passed upon others, which is the ground of this exhortation, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," (Matt. vii. 1); for not as it was when committed, such will the sin appear at the last, but it will receive

a

Though this is generally connected with the subject, there seems here an hiatus.

a great and grievous augmentation from that severity with which (the sinner) has judged his fellow-servants: for as a man of a benevolent, mild, and forgiving spirit, reduces the great mass of his iniquities, so he that is bitter, cruel, and inexorable, accumulates fresh guilt to aggravate those sins with which he is already chargeable. Let us abstain then from all evil speaking, knowing that if we should (not only lie in ashes but) even eat them, our austerities and rigid discipline would be of no avail, so long as we refused to abstain from evil speaking: for "not that which entereth into a man defileth him, but that which proceedeth out of his mouth." (Matt. xv. 17.) If any person should in your presence stir soil of a fetid and offensive odour, would you not reprove him for it? Do the same to the slanderer; for the senses are not so much offended by dispersing noxious effluvia as the mind is grieved and disturbed by discussing men's sins, and divulging the impurity of their lives. Let us abstain then from slander, reviling, and defamation; and reproach neither our neighbour nor God; for many evil speakers have rushed to such a pitch of madness, as to raise their tongue from their fellow-servants to their Master. How great an evil this is, we may learn from our present circumstances: for behold a man (Theodosius) is insulted, and we all fear and tremble; they who insulted him, and they also who are unconscious of having given offence; but God is insulted every day: why do I say every day? every hour, both by rich and poor; by those who are at ease, and those who are afflicted; by the oppressors and by the oppressed; yet no account is taken of it any where: for this reason he permitted our fellow-creature to be insulted, that by the danger incurred by that offence, we might be made to see (more clearly) the kindness (and forbearance) of the Lord. Though this be our first and only offence, yet can we not expect

to be for that reason pardoned and excused; whereas we provoke God every day, and make no submission, and yet he bears (all) with the greatest long-suffering: see then how great is the loving-kindness of the Lord. Although the men who were guilty of this treason have been taken, cast into prison, and punished, we are, notwithstanding, still in a state of alarm, for the offended sovereign has not yet heard of the transaction, nor issued his decree (respecting it), and (during this awful suspense) we all tremble: whereas God bears daily the affronts offered to him; yet no one relents, though he is so gracious and merciful (that it could not be unavailing). In this case indeed, nothing is necessary but to acknowledge the of fence and receive a discharge from guilt and punishment, but with men it is altogether the contrary: when offenders confess, then are they punished so much the more, as has been done in the present instance; some have perished by the sword, some by fire, others by wild beasts, not men only but children; neither their immature age nor the violence of the people (who urged them on), nor the fury of the dæmonst which inspired them, nor the importunate clamour which to them seemed irresistible; neither their poverty, nor their having a multitude of accomplices, nor their promising never to offend in like manner again; nothing whatever could deliver them, but they were hurried away to the pit‡ without mercy, attended by a guard of soldiers on either side of them, to prevent a rescue. The unhappy mothers followed, beholding at a distance

Gibbon says execution was expected: this passage shews that it actually began.

The Christians and Pagans agreed in believing this. See note of Gibbon, under the year 387.

"Bapaspor was a deep pit, (says Potter, Gr. Antiq. p. 159,) belonging to the tribe Hippothecates, into which condemned persons were cast headlong....it was a dark noisome hole, and had sharp spikes at the top....and others at the bottom." The Bapapov at Antioch was probably si milar to this at Athens.