Homilies on Galatians and Ephesians
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HOMILIES ON GALATIANS AND EPHESIANS.
Abraham, justified by faith, 25; his household a pattern of harmony and good government, 148; his hospitality and contempt of riches, 156.
Achan, his sin brought calamities upon all, 79.
Adam, the parent stock of mankind, 143.
Adultery, an instance of the willfulness of sin, 57.
Agar, interpretation of, 34 (note) .
Almsgiving, duty of, 45; the danger of omitting the duty, 69; enforced, 172.
Amattari, the family of, mentioned 1 Sam. x. 21; the text quoted in illustration of God's Paternal Government over the families of heaven and earth, 82 (and note) .
Ambition of those who wished to introduce circumcision, 42.
Angels, men become in the Gospel, 6; Priests called, 8-28; St. Paul received as, 32; their life a pattern for Christians, 55; cannot confer spiritual gifts, 60; are taught the mystery of the Gospel by the Church, 80; their knowledge limited, 80; orders of them alluded to, 81; as implied in the word "family," 82 (and note) ; surround Elisha and encamp unseen as guardians of God's saints, 95; keep unity, 99; are a pattern of love and unity to us, 100; are present at the Christian mysteries, 120; represented as girded like soldiers, 165.
Anger, to be directed against the devil and against ourselves, 58, 163; forbidden against our brethren, 118; its cure, 118; it is giving place to the devil, ib.; of momentary anger, 128.
Apostles, &c., Eph. 4:11, 12; the subordination of the Christian ministry not defined in this text, 104.
Apostolic vocation, prerogative of, 2.
Argument, not the way to attain spiritual wisdom, 60.
Atonement, 4, 22, 23, 27; the marvelousness of it and its effects, 53.
Babylas, St., buried in his fetters, 96.
Baptism, not the Law, makes us sons, 4; a crucifixion with Christ, 22; regenerating with the Word, 35; a confession of faith before and after it, 53 (and note) ; no second Baptism, 57, 73; raises Christians to sit together with Christ, 67; washes away sin, 69; the beginning of righteousness, 114; the danger of sin after it, 171.
Bitterness, taints the whole character, 122; is powerless, 122; must be entirely eradicated, 125.
Boasting in self ultimately leads to humility, 44.
Body, not sinful, but the instrument of sin, 39; not necessarily evil, 41; nor opposed to the spirit, 41; not evil in substance, 42.
Body, not sinful in itself, but sins, when left to itself, 73; should be in subjection to the soul, 74; the compactness and sympathy of its members a type of those of the Church, 106, 117; its limits forbid covetousness, 58; and excess, 138; the Church is Christ's body, 62; receives life from Him as the body from the head, 106; as such must not be torn by schism, ib.
Body and blood of Christ, partaken in the Eucharist, 63.
Bonds, their great power, 85 et seqq.; a type of bondage by sin, 88; see Prison.
Carnal, what acts are so called, 73.
Cathari, a name indirectly assumed by the Novatians, 119 (and note) .
Catholics, accused of being through ambition contentious against heretics, 7.
Charity, can only be exercised in this life, 46; to be extended to all, ib.
Children, the Three Holy Children, 92, 93.
Children, admonished, 153; their duty obedience, 153; need not be made monks, but must be brought up as Christians, 154; to be taught self-discipline and trained for immortality, 154; require this training more for courts than for monastic life, 155; they who train them are forming statues to Christ, 156.
Chosen, how Christians are chosen, 55; are made manifest by sealing, 56.
Christ, His sufferings voluntary, 4; the cause both of our hidden and of our visible life, 22; was sacrificed for all men, 23; yet loved each enough to die for him alone, ib.; awful mysteriousness of His death, 23; took on Him the curse of the Cross, 27; in the baptized, 29, 30; Christians fulfill the Law one with and for another, 43; our Mediator and Judge, 51; above all principality and power, 61; our Head, 62, 105; made man's nature His garment, 62; His deep humiliation and high exaltation, 62; specially present in the Eucharist, 65; how He broke down the middle wall, 71; and abolished the enmity, 72; became a Jew by circumcision, 73; a Gentile by being a curse, ib.; united both Jews and Gentiles and slew the enmity by His Cross, 73; the chief corner-stone, 75; brought us to Himself, 75; dwells in the faithful, 81; His glory in the Church, 82; the exemplar of love to enemies, 84; and of forgiveness of injuries, 129; led captivity captive, 104; is the Head of the Church, and the Saviour of the Body, 144; the Bridegroom of the Church, 144; His love to the Church a pattern for husbands, 142-145.
Christians, in all conditions called saints and faithful, 49; their blessings spiritual, 50; how chosen in Christ, 51; in order to be unblamable, 51; ought to be like Angels, 55, 62, 100; how sealed by the Spirit, 56, 120; their privilege in having Christ for their head, 62; are members of His body, 62; partakers of His body in the Eucharist, 63; are made to sit in heavenly places, 67; are created unto good works, 68; may not live in the flesh, but in heaven, 74; are given what elder saints toiled after, 75; are collectively and severally the temple of God, 75; are bound as one body by mutual ties, 102; all equal in Christ, 102; alike in grace, differ in gifts, 103; how light in the Lord, 133; cannot serve God and mammon, 135; must walk circumspectly and not give offense, 137; must put on the whole armor of God, 160; their conflict with the devil, 161; must stand well and be braced up for the fight, 163; how they are to keep the Passover, 165; their warfare ceases in the land of promise, 166; are here in a pilgrimage or campaign, 166.
Chrysostom, St., did not preach to please, 79; calls to public humiliation, 102; offers to resign his dignity for the sake of unity, 108; his times, manifold vices of, 78, 79 (and note) ; neglect of Communion, 64; degeneracy of teachers, 78; Church offices salable, ib.; the Church in conflagration through pride, 100; treatment of slaves, 123.
Church, name of, implies unity, 4; divided into a thousand parties, 8; represented by Sarah, 34; its exaltation as the body of Christ, 62; is Christ's fullness, 62; shall continue till He comes, 76, 82; is one body in Him, 99; binds all together by mutual good offices, ib.; is like a house built of men's souls, 100, 101; set on fire by pride, ib.; ought not to seek the support of bad men, 107; is the spouse of Christ, 144; her condition when He took her, ib.
Circumcision, brings us under the Law, 37; observed by St. Paul, not preached, 38.
Clamor, forbidden, 123; is the vehicle of anger, a special fault of women, ib.
Commandments, the Ten, the order of them, 153.
Communicants, unworthy, 79; careless and formal, 108; must refrain from reviling, and why, 120.
Communion, Church, not to be expanded to take in bad men, 107.
Concession, and command, difference between, 15; condescension of the Apostles to the Judaists, 1-15.
Corruption, various meanings of the word, 171.
Covenants, old and new proceeded both from the Father and the Son, 6.
Covetousness is idolatry in Christians, 133-34; leads to the death of the soul, 134.
Cross, destroys the need of the Law, 3; removes the curse, 27; the boast of Christians, 46; raises them above the old Dispensation as well as above the world, 46.
Curiosity, generally misdirected and misplaced, 141.
Damsels, devoted to monastic life, 115-16.
David, a guileless character, 123.
Deacon, his office in dismissing the congregation, 64 (and note) .
Death, of the soul, what it is, 134; the second death, 172.
Devil, why called the prince of this world, 66; why of the power of the air, ib.; takes advantage of men's quarrels, 119; and of their covetousness, 162; his wiles, 159; his forces, 160; maybe overcome, 160; but is not to be wrestled with so much as trampled on, 162; his fiery darts are doubts, 169; and evil desires and sharp sorrows, 169; to be slain by keeping the commandments, 169.
Drunkenness, excludes from Heaven, 69; its temporal ill effects, 138.
Earnest, the meaning of the word explained, 56; see Spirit.
Economy, of the Apostles about the Law, 15; to be beneficial to the objects of it, must be concealed from them, 16; of St. Paul in circumcising Timothy, 16.
Education in Scripture remedies that in the Classics, 154; consists in nurture, see Children.
Ephesus, the metropolis of [Proconsular] Asia, 49; the abode of St. John and of Timothy, and a great resort of philosophers, ib.; its inhabitants advanced in knowledge, 49.
Epiphany, the great festival of the Greek Church in remembrance of our Lord's Baptism and Birth, 63 (note) ; a season for Communicating, ib.
Equality of ranks, inconsistent with peace, 147; Christian equality, 102; civil slavery not inconsistent with it, 142; mutual service, 158.
Eucharist, called the flesh of Christ, 41; Christ's body and blood partaken in it, 63; the preparation for it, 63; profanation of it, 64; neglect of it, ib.; formalism of Communicating only at the seasons, danger of unworthy Communicating, 63; inconsistency of coming to Service and not Communicating, 64; unfitness not the fault of nature but of indolence, 65; Christ specially present in the Eucharist, 65; allusions to the Eucharistic Service, 120-21; see Sacrifice.
Evil, not necessarily connected with this life, 5; not in our bodily substance but our will, 42.
Faith, vitiated by a slight adulteration, 7; to be defended in slight matters, 8; slight perversion of, invalidates the ministerial authority, 8; anterior to the Law, 26-27; justifies without the Law, 26; but not without love, 37; ever sees Christ, 24; gains miraculous and spiritual powers, 25; as no force if the Law be added, 25; makes us sons of God, 30; always joined with love by St. Paul, 60; will not save without works, 67; a shield to protect ready believers, 169.
Faithful, the, bear about the form of Christ, 30; the body of Christ, 41.
Falsehood, an instance of willful sin, 58.
Fasting, a means of intercession, 101.
Father and Son, one in will, 4; one in act, 6; reveal each other, 11, 146.
Fathers, their duties in the nurture of their children, 154.
Faults, to be mildly corrected, 43.
Fetters and bonds, gloried in by St. Paul, 84, &c.
Flesh, means not the body, but the depraved will, 41.
Forgiveness, motives for it, 128-29.
Foundation, καταβολή, a beautiful allusion contained in the word, 51; Christ the foundation, 75.
"Fullness of the times" was Christ's coming, 54.
"Fullness of Christ" is the Church, 62.
"Fullness of God" explained, 82.
Galatians, nature of their error, 2; feared to forsake the Law, 6; justly called "foolish," 23; sons of Abraham as Isaac was, 34; misled by party spirit, 40.
"Gather together into one," the meaning of the expression, 54.
Gentiles, raised above the privileges of the Jews, 71; their calling a mystery, 80; the vanity of their worship as directed to the creatures, 110; it flattered men's evil passions, 111.
God, loves us for His own Name's sake, 56; a just apprehension of Him forbids us to doubt or rationalize, 60; the knowledge of Him derived from His Spirit, ib.; His goodness not to be presumed upon, 69; kind to the unthankful, 139; no respecter of persons, 159.
Good-pleasure, the meaning of the word, 52.
Government, in its origin paternal, 82; must be centered in one, 146; exemplified in a household, 159.
Gospels, one in substance, though fourfold in form, 7; easily perverted, 7.
Gospel, no afterthought, 51, 55; may be in itself an offense, in the manner of preaching it should not be, 137.
Grace, sets us free, makes us new, heirs and sons, 30; the great change it produces in Christians, 52; arrays the soul in spiritual beauty, 53.
Habit, one sinful one may ruin us, 68; evil ones must be cured by cultivating their opposites, 125-26.
Hannah, an example to mothers, 154; of watchfulness and prayer, 170; her reverence and contrition, 170.
Harlots, their treatment of their lovers, 83.
Heretics, denied the Co-equality of the Father and the Son, 4; considered this life essentially evil, 5.
Holiness in teachers more influential than miracles, 77.
Holy children, as examples of triumph over affliction, 93.
Hospitality, to he shown to the poor, 151.
Household, the mistress's duty in the conduct of, 124; when well ordered sheds a fragrance around, 143; is a little city and its head a prince, 159.
Husbands, to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, 144-45; the husband the head of the family, 146; the importance of him to the household, 148; character of a good one, 149; must show all forbearance, 150; and wean his wife from the world, ib.
Hymn, the Angelic Hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy," sung in the Eucharistic service, 64 (and note) , 121, 165.
Idolatry of Christians is covetousness, 134; its origin, 135.
Ignorance, to profess it more wise than to profess knowledge, 141.
Inheritance, by lot, according to a purpose, 55.
Israelites, how they kept the Passover, 164; how they fell, 165; their history is a mystery or type, ib.
Jailer at Philippi, conversion of, 87.
James the Less, not the Lord's brother, though so called, 13.
Jerusalem, earthly and heavenly, 166.
Jesting, forbidden to Christians, 130; the character of one given to it, 131; enormous when extended to Scripture, 131-32.
Jesus, the Son of Nave, the type of Jesus the Son of God, 166.
Jews, the hindrance to their conversion, 4; their blessings earthly, 50; how of old chosen by God, 51; their privileges how stated by St. Paul, 71; how Jews and Gentiles are made one, 71.
Job, an example of protracted suffering, 172.
Judaizers opposed St. Paul, 2; their ambition, 42; in St. Chrysostom's day, 8, 21; heresy of, 11.
Judgments, temporal, a call to repentance, 79.
Julian, St., a recluse, his character, 156.
Laver, of Baptism. See Baptism.
Law the, not evil, but weak and dangerous, 20; death to, different meanings of, 22; causes faith not to avail, 25; curse of removed by the Cross, 27; partially restrains sin, 28; provided for self-knowledge and self-restraint, 29; once led to, now leads from Christ, 29; sometimes means Genesis, often the Old Testament, 33; obedience to part of, subjects to the whole, 36; abolished to make room for a higher rule of life, 39, 42; fulfilled by the various gifts of the faithful, 43; the ceremonies of, abolished in Christ, 72.
Light, detects darkness by its own shining, 133, 136.
Lot, inheritance by lot implies that we are not chosen by merit, 55 (and note) .
Love, God's love the cause of our being chosen, 52; how to understand its extent, 82; its effects and obligations upon man, 98; always combined with faith, 60, 171; towards enemies enforced, 82, 127-129; its fruit unity and mutual confidence, 97-98; is the condition of our receiving the Spirit, 105; love between husband and wife, 149.
Lowliness, the ground of all graces, 96.
Man, the wonderful exaltation of his nature in Christ, 61; his littleness and greatness, 62; a fourfold consideration of him, 114.
Manichees, considered the world essentially evil, 5 (note) ; and the body, 39; paid divine honors to the heavenly bodies, 5.
Marcionites, allowed one Gospel only, 7, 139 (and note) .
Marriage, &c., some heretics forbade it, 147; rules for, 151.
Mildness in correcting enjoined, 43.
Minister, in what sense not applied to the Son, 54 (and note) .
Ministers of the Gospel to be obeyed though wicked, 8; unless they vitiate the faith, 8; maintained by their disciples, 44; mutual benefits of this, 45; contrast in the case of Heathen teachers, 45 (note) .
Monks, 165 (note) ; their self-denial, 248.
Moses, an example of love to enemies, 83.
Murder, an instance of voluntary sin, 57.
Mystery, "of His will," 53; the calling of the Gentiles so called, 77; of the Gospel made known to angels by the Church, 80; the union of Christ and the Church so called, 146.
Natural, what acts are so called, 73.
Nature, does not force man to sin, 57.
Necessity, not to be pleaded in excuse for sin, 57.
Nineveh, its repentance an example to us, 101-2.
Novatians, denied repentance to the lapsed, 25 (note) .
Oaths, not necessary to beget confidence, 62.
Obedience, slight breach of, punishable, 7.
Passover, its historical and mystical meaning, 165; how kept by Israelites, how to be kept by Christians, 165.
Paul, St., followed Christ's example in his mode of preaching, 1; his divine calling and commission, 2; suddenness of his conversion a proof of its being divine, 10; sincerity of his motives, 10; his opposition to Christianity on religious motives, ib.; called on account of his capacity, 10; reason of his first journey from Antioch to Jerusalem, 11; reason of his second journey, 14; his fervency and humility, 12; equal in dignity to St. Peter, 12; his humility shown in his visit to St. Peter, 12; his doctrine approved by the Apostles, 17; his tenderness and skill, 31-2; observed, but did not preach, circumcision, 38; usual arrangement of his Epistles, 39; why he wrote that to the Galatians with his own hand, 46; a proof of God's love and power, 52; had a foretaste of heavenly blessings, 56; his sympathy and affectionateness, 59; his gentleness, 65; bound for the Gentiles' sake, 76; saved by grace, 76; had special revelation of the calling of the Gentiles, 77; his zeal, endurance, and wisdom, 77; attributed all to grace, ib.; an example to teachers, ib.; his great humility, 79; his earnest supplication, 81; example of love to enemies, 84; glories in bonds, 85; but not before Agrippa, and why, 95; his skill as a spiritual physician, 118; his simplicity and condescension in admonishing children, 153; overcame Satan, 161; the intensity of his love to Christ, 161; asks his brethren's prayers, 168.
Paul of Samosata, heretic, 104 (note) , 164.
Peter, St., boldness of his character, 18; did not really dissemble at Antioch, ib.; reasons why he appeared to do so, 19; instructed not to spurn the Gentiles, 77; his deliverance from prison by the Angel, 86, 89-90.
Poverty the lot of the Christian, 46.
Prayer, the Lord's Prayer, how it should affect us, 120-21; prayer unceasing required in Christians, and watchfulness, 169; exemplified in the Canaanitish woman, the importunate widow, ib.; and in Hannah, 170.
Presence, real, of Christ in the Eucharist, 63-64.
Priests, may be understood under the term "Angels," 8, 28.
Prison, the blessedness of it for Christ's sake, 85 et seqq.; instanced in St. Paul, St. Peter, Three Holy Children, 93; Jeremiah, Joseph, St. John the Baptist, 94.
Privileges, Jewish and Christian compared, 51; present privileges but an earnest, 56; how enhanced in being bestowed through Christ, 52; the consideration of them very awful, 62.
Providence, instanced in mercies upon some, and judgments upon others, 90; implied in the circumstances of men, 139; in the order of nature, 140; proved by analogy, 140; yet wholly mysterious, 140-41.
Psalms, the expression of Christian cheerfulness, 138.
Punishment, degrees of it in hell, 69.
Rationalizing, its absurdity and shallowness, 139-40.
"Redeeming the time" explained, 137.
Redemption, absolute redemption will be in the next world, 56.
Regeneration, another needed by Galatians, 32; effected by the Divine Words in baptism, 35.
Repentance, possible after lapsing, 25.
Reproof, is charitable, and to be given at any hazard, 136.
Resurrection of Christ, effected by His own power, 3.
Resurrection, more miraculous to persuade souls than raise the dead, 61, 65.
Reviling, shameful in Christians, 163.
Righteousness, Jewish and Christian compared, 114; is in respect of God, or man, 114; is a garment, 115.
Rites of the law, connected with each other, 37.
Sabbath, strictness of under the Law, 7; Judaic observance of excludes from grace, 21.
Sacrifice, the Christian, 63-64; preparation for it, 63; see Eucharist.
Saints, a common name for Christians in all conditions, 50; what a saint ought to be, 131.
Salvation, is entirely of free grace, yet not exclusive of our virtue, 52.
Samuel, the child of a good mother, 154.
Satan, seduces gradually and secretly, 7.
Schism, cuts off from the Spirit, 105; implies want of love and of holiness, 106; especially provokes God's anger--like the sin of those who mangled Christ's Body, ib.; inexpiable by martyrdom, 106 (and note) , 108.
Schismatics, to be avoided, 106.
Scripture, supreme authority of, 8; sense of, not the words must be considered, 11; profane use of, 131; understatements of, 132.
Seal, of the Spirit. See Spirit.
Self-indulgence, in Christian teachers impairs their power of converting and keeping in the fold, 77.
Servants, to be taken care of, 148, 159; as brethren, 157; their duties to serve with good will, 157-58; taken to the theater, but not to church, 159.
Sin, is evil, not the world, 5; not to be excused by nature or necessity, 57; its voluntariness instanced by various cases, with reference to the Commandments, murder, adultery, theft, perjury, assault, rapine, 57 et seqq.; would not be punished if of necessity, ib.; the ground of discord, 97; blinds the understanding, 112-13; is self-destructive, 113; is in omission as well as commission, 126; is the only real evil, 140; the source of corruption both of body and soul, 171; should be put away by acts of mercy, 172.
Slaves, how to be treated, 123-24.
Slavery, how mitigated by the Gospel, 142; is but a name, 157; loses its meaning when it is made volluntary, 158; its origin, it is the punishment of the sin of rebellion against parents, 159.
Solitaries, Christians induced to be so by evil times, 78.
Son and Spirit, oneness of Their power, 2; sons of God we become through baptism, 4; by the Word, 35; in putting on Christ, 29-30; in receiving the Spirit, 30; out of the course of nature, as Isaac, 33.
Soul, its relation to the Flesh and Spirit, 42; should govern the body, yet requires the guidance of the Spirit, 73; the death of, 134.
Spirit, Holy, imparts righteousness, 37; gift of not by Law, but faith, not by circumcision, but grace, 47; Christians sealed by Him, 56, 120; the earnest of our inheritance, 56, 166; alone reveals mysteries, 60; and the true knowledge of God, ib.; the calling of the Gentiles, 80; alone can strengthen against trial, 81; His indwelling necessary to teach the love of God, 82; binds the faithful in one body, 96; His gifts manifold, 104; yet have all one office to build up each and all in one faith, 105; communicates life from the Head to the whole Church, as natural life is conveyed through the body, 105-06; how grieved, especially by sins of the tongue, 120; by bitterness, 121; His grace typified by the pillar of fire, 165; the sword of the Spirit, 169.
Submission, mutual, is mutual service, 142.
Suicide worse, and punished worse by God than murder, 5.
Synagogue, the, represented by Agar, 34.
Teachers, degeneracy of, their powerlessness to convert and guide, 77-78.
Teachers of error, to be cut off, their followers to be spared, 38.
Thanksgiving, universally a duty in Christians, 138-39.
Theft, an instance of voluntary sin, 58.
Tithes, the danger of omitting them, 69.
Tongue, its proper use, 119, 131; and discipline, 121.
Trisagion, the Hymn so called. See Hymn.
Types, in the Old Testament, explained, 166.
Unity of the Spirit, binds all together, 97; its perfectness, ib.; promotes virtue, 97; kept by love, 98; binds in one body the faithful of all ages, 99; meant by St. Paul's expression, "a perfect man," 105; unity is the condition of our receiving life from the Spirit, 106; is founded on the Divine Unity, 146.
Unpopularity the lot of Christians, 46.
Vanity, not in the works of God but those of man, 109.
Vigils, of the Church, 170 (and note) .
Virtue, universal, required in Christians, 68, 125; promotes unity, 97; must be active, 126; and positive, 127.
Wall, "middle wall of partition," explained, 72.
Water with the Word regenerates, 35.
Wealth, ill-gotten has no security, 58; desires of it bounded by man's physical frame, ib.
Will, in the Almighty precedent and consequent illustrated, 52.
Will, evil, the cause of evil, 5.
Will, unity of, between Father and Son, 4.
Wisdom, not curious but submissive, 141.
Wives, to submit themselves to their husbands in the Lord, 143; in what their excellence consists, 145; not to be chosen for beauty, ib.; nor for riches, 145, 151; to reverence their husbands, 146; not to be treated as slaves, 147; marry for richer for poorer, 149; to be formed by the husband and weaned from the world, 149-50; and treated with love and honor, 152. See Women.
Women, their self-denial and endurance, 115-16; a pattern to men, 116; their faults common to men, their excellencies their own, 116; warned against clamor, 123; especially in the treatment of their slaves, 124; leniency of laws towards them, 124.
Works, good, the fruit of the Spirit, 42.
World, not essentially evil, 5.
Wrath, "children of," explained, 66 (and note) .
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