Homilies on First Corinthians 16

'I wrote unto you in the epistle not to keep company with fornicators';

'and by no means with the fornicators of this world, or the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters';

'since then you would have to go out of the world.'

'But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not even to eat.'

For since he had said, 'Ought you not rather to have mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away?' and, 'Purge out the old leaven,' it was likely that they should suspect that one must shun all fornicators (for if the sinner communicates his own defilement to those who have not sinned, much more must one turn away from those outside;

for if one must not spare even a member of the household, because such harm arises from him, much more must one not spare the rest)—

but as, on this being supposed, it would be necessary to separate also from the fornicators among the Greeks, and thus, the matter coming round to an impossibility, they would have been the more distressed, he employs this correction, saying:

'I wrote unto you not to keep company with fornicators';

'and by no means with the fornicators of this world';

putting the word 'by no means' as of a thing already acknowledged.

For lest they should think that he did not enjoin this upon them as being too imperfect, and so, as though they were perfect, should undertake to do it, he shows that it is not even possible for this to come about, not even if they were exceedingly willing;

since one would have to seek another world.

'Since then you would have to go out of the world.'

Do you see how he is not burdensome, and how everywhere he looks not only to what is possible but also to what is easy in his legislation? For how, he says, is it possible for one who is a man, and set over a household and children, and engaged in the affairs of the city, or being a craftsman, or a soldier, when the greater part are Greeks, to flee the fornicators everywhere? For by 'fornicators of the world' he means those among the Greeks.

'But now I have written unto you, if any man that is a brother be such, with such a one not even to eat.'

Here he hints also at others who live in wickedness.

And how, being a brother, can he be an idolater? As once happened in the case of the Samaritans, who embraced piety only by halves;

and moreover he is also laying the groundwork beforehand for the discourse concerning things offered to idols, which he intends afterwards to handle.

For indeed against these too he strips himself for the contest;

'Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Why do you not rather allow yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, you do wrong and defraud.'

For indeed he brings this charge also as he goes on, as when he says:

'One is hungry, and another is drunken';

and, 'Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats.'

For indeed he had rebuked these also before.

Then he adds also the reason why he does not forbid mingling with those outside who are such, showing that it is not only not possible, but also superfluous.

'For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?'—calling those within and those without, the Christians and the Greeks, even as he says elsewhere too:

'He must also have a good report of them which are without.'

And in the Epistle to the Thessalonians also he says the same thing, saying:

'Have no company with him, that he may be ashamed';

'yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.'

Here, however, he does not set down the reason.

Why ever so? Because there he wished to comfort;

he wished, whereas here he no longer does so.

For the sin here and there is not the same, but there it was less;

whereas here it is fornication and other most grievous sins.

And if one should wish to go over to the Greeks, he does not forbid eating with them, for the same reason again.

And thus we too act, doing everything on behalf of our sons and brothers, while of strangers we make no great account.

What then? Did Paul not care also for those without? He did care, but after they had received the preaching and had been made accountable to the teaching of Christ, then he legislated for them;

but so long as they despised it, it was superfluous to speak the commands of Christ to those who did not know Christ himself.

'Do you not judge them that are within? But them that are without God judges.'

For since he had said, 'What have I to do to judge them that are without?'—lest anyone should suppose that these are let off unpunished, he sets over them another, a fearful tribunal.

And this he said, at once terrifying those and comforting these, and showing that this temporary punishment snatches men away from the immortal and unending one;

which he made plain elsewhere too, saying:

'But when we are judged, we are chastened, that we should not be condemned with the world';

and, 'Put away from among yourselves that wicked person.'

He made mention of a saying laid down in the Old Testament, at once showing that they too shall gain the greatest benefit, as though delivered from some grievous plague, and at the same time making clear that such a thing is no innovation, but that even from of old it seemed good to the Lawgiver that such men should be cut off;

but there more severely, here more gently.

Wherefore one might also reasonably be at a loss, why ever there he permitted the sinner to be punished and stoned, but here no longer, but rather leads him to repentance.

Why ever, then, were those things framed in one way, and these in another? For these two reasons:

one, that these were being led on to a greater contest, and needed more longsuffering;

the other, and truer one, that these were more easily set right by escaping punishment, coming to repentance, whereas those were likely to creep on to greater wickedness.

For if, seeing the first punished, they remained in the same courses, had none been punished, much more would they have suffered this.

For this reason, there death is brought at once upon the adulterer and the murderer;

but here, if they wash themselves clean through repentance, they escape the punishment.

Yet here too one might see punishments more severe, and in the Old Testament more gentle, that it might be shown through all things that the covenants are akin, and of one and the same Lawgiver;

and that both there and here the punishments came close at hand, and often after a long time in each, and often not even after a long time, but God being content with repentance alone.

For indeed in the Old Testament David, having committed adultery and murder, was saved through repentance; and in the New, Ananias, having secretly withdrawn a little from the price of a field, perished together with his wife.

And if these things abound in the Old Testament, and the contrary in the New, it is the difference of the persons that works the difference of such a dispensation.

'Dare any of you, having a matter against his brother, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?' And here again he frames his accusation as of things acknowledged.

For indeed there he says, 'It is actually reported that there is fornication among you';

and here, 'Dare any of you?'—from the very outset immediately showing his indignation, and making plain that the matter is one of daring and lawlessness.

And why ever did he insert the discourse concerning covetousness and about not being judged outside? He was fulfilling his own law.

For indeed it was his custom to correct the things that fell in by the way, as when, discoursing about the common tables, he digressed into the discourse concerning the mysteries.

And here therefore, since he had made mention of covetous brethren, boiling with concern for the correction of those who sin, he does not endure to keep to his order;

but the sin which was brought into the midst by the sequence he again corrects, and thus returns to the former subject.

Let us hear, then, what he says concerning this also:

'Dare any of you, having a matter against his brother, go to law before the unjust, and not before the...'

of the saints. For the present he strips them bare by means of these names and turns them away, and he lays a charge against them.

And in the outset he does not yet overthrow the practice of the faithful going to law with one another;

but when he has struck them with dismay by many arguments, then at last he does away with the very idea of going to law at all.

For chiefly, he says, if one must go to law, it ought not to be before the unrighteous;

but in truth one ought not to go to law at all.

This latter point, however, he sets down afterwards;

meanwhile he first clears away this: that one ought not to be judged outside the Church.

For how is it not absurd, he says, that toward a friend who has been petty you should take your enemy as reconciler? And how are you not ashamed, nor do you blush, when a Greek sits in judgment over a Christian? But if in private matters one must not go to law before Greeks, how shall we entrust to them matters of greater weight? And observe how he put it:

he did not say, 'before the unbelievers,' but 'before the unrighteous,' setting down the word he most needed for the matter in hand, so as to turn them away and lead them off.

For since his discourse was about lawsuits, and those who go to law seek nothing so much as that there be great regard for justice among those who judge, from this very point he turns them away, all but saying:

Where are you being carried, and what are you doing, O man, suffering the very opposite of what you desire, and, in order to obtain justice, entrusting yourself to unrighteous men? And since to hear straightway that they must not go to law at all was burdensome, he did not bring this in at once, but only changed the judges, bringing the litigants from outside into the Church.

Then, since being judged before those within seemed contemptible—and especially at that time (for perhaps they were not competent to discern a matter, nor were they such as the judges outside who were experienced in laws and rhetoric, seeing that most of them came from among laymen)—

see how he makes them worthy of trust, first by calling them saints.

But since this bore witness to purity of life, yet not to precision in the hearing of cases, see how he manages this part also, speaking thus:

Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? (Chapter 3)

You then, who are destined to judge those persons at that day, how do you endure to be judged by them now? And they shall judge, not by themselves sitting and demanding an account, but they shall condemn.

And if in you the world is judged, are you unworthy of the smallest tribunals? For he did not say 'by you,' but 'in you.'

The queen of the south shall rise up and condemn this generation;

and, The men of Nineveh shall rise up and condemn this generation.

For when, beholding the same sun and partaking of all the same things, we are found to have believed, while they have disbelieved, they will not be able to take refuge in ignorance;

for we shall accuse them by the very things which we ourselves have done.

And one will find many such tribunals there.

Then, that no one might suppose he was speaking about others, see how he makes the word common to all:

And if in you the world is judged, are you unworthy of the smallest tribunals? The thing brings shame upon you, he says, and unspeakable reproach.

For since it was likely that they, being judged by those within, felt shame, on the contrary, he says, it is a shame when you are judged by those outside;

for those tribunals are the smallest, not these.

Do you not know that we shall judge angels, how much more things pertaining to this life? Some here say that he is hinting at the priests;

for his discourse is about the demons.

For if he were speaking about corrupt priests, he would have hinted at them above when he said that 'in you the world is judged';

for Scripture knows how to call wicked men also 'world';

and he would not have said the same thing a second time, nor would he have set it down afterward as though saying something greater.

But he is speaking about those angels concerning whom Christ says:

Depart into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels;

and Paul, that His angels transform themselves as ministers of righteousness.

For when these bodiless powers are found to have less than we who are clothed with flesh, they shall suffer a more grievous punishment.

But if some still contend that he means priests, we will ask, what sort of priests? Assuredly those who have walked in a worldly manner.

How then does he say, 'We shall judge angels, how much more things of this life,' setting the angels in contrast to the things of this life?

and angels? Fittingly, inasmuch as they are outside the need of these things because of the pre-eminence of their nature.

If then you have tribunals over things of this life, set those who are least esteemed in the Church to judge.

Wishing to teach us with all emphasis that, whatever the matter may be, we ought not to give ourselves over to those outside, he raised the seeming objection and resolved it beforehand.

For what he says is of this kind:

Perhaps someone will say that there is no one wise among you, nor competent to discern, but that all are despised.

And what of that? For even if no one be wise, he says, entrust it to the least.

I say this to your shame.

This belongs to one refuting their objection as being a superfluous pretext;

So is there not a wise man among you, not even one? Is there such perplexity, he says? Such a scarcity of understanding men among you?

And the inference too carries a greater blow; for having said, 'So is there not a wise man among you, not even one?' he added:

who shall be able to discern between his brother? For when a brother goes to law with a brother, there is no need even of much understanding or cleverness in him who mediates the case, since the disposition and the kinship contribute much toward the resolution of such a quarrel.

But brother goes to law with brother, and this before unbelievers.

Did you see how in the beginning he usefully disparaged the judges, calling them unrighteous;

but here, in a way calculated to shame, called them unbelievers? For it is exceedingly disgraceful if the priest cannot become the cause of reconciliation even for brethren, but there is a necessity of running to those outside.

So that when he said, 'those who are least esteemed,' he did not say this as his primary point—that one ought to seat the outcasts—but as a way of rebuking them.

For that one ought to entrust matters to those able to discern, he made clear by saying:

So is there not a wise man among you, not even one? and, stopping their mouths superabundantly, saying that even if there were no one wise among you, it were better to entrust the hearing to the unintelligent than to have those outside judge.

For how is it not absurd that, when a quarrel arises in a household, one calls in no one from outside, but is ashamed if what happens within should be spread abroad to those outside;

yet where there is the Church, the treasury of ineffable mysteries, everything is carried outside? But brother goes to law with brother, and this before unbelievers.

The charge is twofold: that he goes to law, and that it is before unbelievers.

For if in itself the very act of going to law with a brother is a sin, what pardon can there be for doing so even before outsiders? Now then, it is altogether a defeat to you that you have lawsuits with one another.

Did you see where he reserved it, and how opportunely he did away with it? For I do not yet say, he says, who does wrong or who is wronged;

meanwhile, by the very fact of going to law, each of the two is discredited, and in this respect neither is any better than the other.

But whether one is judged justly or unjustly, that is another matter.

for from this very point I already condemn you—from the going to law.

But if not being able to bear one who wrongs you is a charge, of how much accusation is the very act of wronging worthy? Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be defrauded? But you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.

Again the charge is twofold, perhaps even threefold and fourfold.

One, that he does not know how to bear being wronged;

second, that he even does wrong;

third, that he even entrusts these matters to the unrighteous;

For sins are not judged in the same way when they are committed against a mere chance person and against one's own member.

For this is dared out of greater recklessness;

and there the nature of the deed alone is trampled underfoot, but here the character of the person as well.

Having therefore shamed them by these common considerations, and before these by the prizes set before them, he shuts up his exhortation with a threat, making his argument the more forcible, and speaking thus:

Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:

neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor the covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.

What are you saying? While discoursing about the covetous, have you brought upon us so great a crowd of transgressors? Yes, he says;

but I do this not by confounding the argument, rather even with order.

For just as, when discoursing about fornicators, he made mention of all together, so again, having mentioned the covetous man, he brings all into the midst, thereby accustoming to rebuke those who are conscious to themselves of such deeds.

For to hear continually, in the mention of others, of the punishment laid up for them, makes the reproof easy to receive when he strips himself for the fight against their own particular sins.

For it is not as though privy to these things in them here, nor as one convicting them, that he makes the threat;

which is above all sufficient to hold fast the hearer, and not to let him spring away, when the discourse is not aimed at himself, but being spoken without distinction, secretly smites his conscience.

Here he hints at certain persons saying, what indeed many say even now, that since God is loving to man and good, He does not exact vengeance for transgressions;

for He will never demand a penalty of anyone for anything.

For it is the extreme of error and delusion, having hoped for good things, to obtain the contrary, and to suspect concerning God those things which one would not even conceive concerning a man.

Wherefore the prophet says, in His person:

You thought lawlessness, that I would be like you;

I will reprove you, and set your iniquities before your face.

And Paul here: Do not be deceived;

neither fornicators (he sets first the one already condemned), nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor drunkards, nor revilers shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Many have laid hold of this passage as being exceedingly harsh, seeing that he places the drunkard and the reviler together with the adulterer and the sodomite and the abuser of himself with mankind;

and yet the charges are not equal—how then are the punishments equal? What then shall we say? That in truth neither drunkenness nor reviling is a small matter, since Christ also delivered to hell-fire him that called his brother a fool.

For oftentimes death has been born from this source;

and the multitude of the Jews too committed their most grievous sins out of drunkenness;

and further, because his discourse is not for the present about punishment, but about falling away from the kingdom.

From the kingdom, then, both this one and that one alike fall away;

but if they shall have any difference in hell, it is not for the present occasion to inquire;

for it is not about this that our subject now lies before us.

But you were washed, but you were sanctified.

Very abashingly he added, saying:

Consider from how great evils God delivered you, how great a proof and demonstration of His loving-kindness He afforded you;

and He gave not the recompense only up to the point of deliverance, but carried the benefaction much further:

Is this then the only thing? By no means, but He also sanctified you;

but not this only, but He also justified you.

And yet even to be delivered from sins is a great gift;

but now He has filled you also with ten thousand good things.

And this took place In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

not in this one and in that one, but And in the Spirit of our God.

Knowing these things, then, beloved, and considering the greatness of the benefaction that has been wrought, let us continue living soberly, keeping ourselves pure from all the things that have been enumerated; and let us flee the tribunals that are in the market-places outside, and let us guard this nobility which God has bestowed upon us.

For consider how great a shame it is to sit while a Greek dispenses justice to you.

What then, he says, if he within judges unlawfully? Why, tell me? For according to what laws does the Greek give judgment, and according to what the Christian? Is it not evident that the Greek judges according to the laws of men, but the Christian according to those of God? Therefore here rather is justice, since the laws too have been sent from heaven.

For in the case of those outside, besides the things mentioned, one may suspect many other things—the cleverness of orators, and the corruption of rulers, and many other things that spoil justice;

but here there is no such thing.

What then, he says, if the adversary be a man of power? For this very reason it especially behooves one to be judged here;

for in the courts outside he will altogether get the better of you.

But if he will not endure it, but even despises those within and drags you outside by force,

it is better willingly to submit to that which of necessity you are about to suffer, and not to go to law, that you may also have a reward.

For if anyone, He says, will sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak also;

and, Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him.

And why need one speak of our own precepts? For even those very advocates of the courts outside say these things ten thousand times over, that it is better to settle out of court.

Or rather, O the absurd passion for money!

which has overturned and cast down all things, and because of money all things are trifles and fables to the multitude.

And that men of the world should trouble the tribunals is no marvel;

but that many of those who have renounced the world should do these very same things—this is what is bereft of all excuse.

For if you would see how far you ought to be removed from this need—I mean that of the tribunals—which the Scripture has enjoined, and for whom the laws are laid down, hear what Paul says:

The law is not laid down for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly.

But if he says this concerning the Mosaic law, much more concerning those outside.

If then you do wrong, it is plain that you would not be righteous;

but if you are wronged and bear it (for this above all belongs to a righteous man), you have no need of the laws that are outside.

And how shall I be able to bear it when I am wronged? he says. And yet Christ enjoined something even more than this.

For He commanded not only to bear being wronged, but also to be lavish besides toward the one who wrongs, and by the readiness to suffer to surpass the desire of the one who does evil.

For He did not say, To him that would sue you and take your coat, leave the coat;

but, With that give also your cloak.

For overcome him, He says, by suffering evil, not by doing evil;

for this is the plain and brilliant victory.

Wherefore also, going on, Paul said:

Now therefore there is altogether a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits one with another.

And why do you not rather suffer wrong? For that the one who is wronged conquers more than the one who does not endure being wronged, this I will make plain to you.

He who does not endure being wronged, even if he drag the other into court, even if he prevail, then most of all is he defeated;

for that which he did not wish, he suffered;

for his adversary compelled him both to grieve and to go to law.

For what does it profit that you have conquered? What that you have recovered all your money? You endured what for a while you did not wish, being compelled to go to law.

But if you bear the wrong, you conquer—being deprived indeed of your money, but of the victory, no longer that which pertains to this philosophy alone.

For he was not able to compel you to do that which you were unwilling to do.

And that this is true, tell me: who was the victor, the envious one or he who sat upon the dunghill? Who was vanquished, Job who was stripped of all things, or the devil who stripped him of all? It is plain that it was the devil who stripped him of all who was vanquished.

Whom then do we admire for the victory, the devil who dealt the blow, or Job who was smitten? Plainly it is Job.

And yet he was not able to hold fast his perishing wealth, nor to save his own children.

And why do I speak of wealth and children? He was not even able to secure the health of his own body.

But nevertheless this is the one who conquered, the man who cast away all that he possessed.

For his wealth indeed he was not able to retain, but his piety he retained with all exactness.

But he did not come to the aid of his perishing children.

And what of that? For the very thing that befell them made them more illustrious, and thus he also defended himself who was being outraged.

For if he had not suffered ill and been wronged by the devil, he would never have won that splendid victory.

If to be wronged were an evil, God would not have enjoined it upon us.

For God does not enjoin what is evil.

Or do you not know that He Himself is the God of glory? And He would not have willed to clothe us with shame and mockery and loss, but rather to procure for us the opposite.

For this reason He bids us suffer wrong, and does all things so as to withdraw us from the affairs of this life, and to persuade us what glory is and what shame, what loss and what gain.

But it is a dreadful thing to be wronged and outraged.

It is not dreadful, it is not, O man.

How long will you be terrified at things present? For God would not have enjoined it, if it were dreadful.

He who did the wrong departed possessing wealth, but also an evil conscience.

You, though deprived of wealth, have acquired boldness before God, a possession more precious than countless treasures.

Knowing these things, then, let us practice this wisdom by deliberate choice, and let us not suffer what the senseless suffer, who then think they are not being wronged when they undergo this from a court of law.

But the very opposite is the case: it is the greatest loss, and altogether so, when we practice this wisdom not willingly, but as men defeated from thence.

For there is no gain in bearing it as one defeated from a court of law.

For the matter then becomes henceforth one of necessity.

What then is the splendid victory? When you make light of it, when you do not go to law.

What do you say? I have been stripped of all my substance, he says, and do you bid me be silent? I have been outraged, and do you exhort me to bear it meekly? And how shall I be able? Most easily indeed, if you look up to heaven, if you behold that beauty, and where God has promised to receive you when you nobly bear injustice.

This therefore do, and lifting up your eyes to heaven, consider that you have become like unto Him who sits there upon the Cherubim.

For He too was insulted and bore it, He was reviled and did not avenge Himself, He was spat upon and did not requite it.

But on the contrary He requited those who had done such things with countless benefits, and bade us become imitators of Himself.

Consider that you came forth naked from your mother's womb.

Naked shall you also depart, both you and that man who wronged you.

Nay rather, he shall depart with countless wounds that breed worms.

Consider that things present are but for a season; reckon up the tombs of your forefathers; learn clearly what has come to pass, and you will see that he who wronged you has made you stronger.

For his own malady, I mean his covetousness, he has made more grievous.

But yours he has made weaker, having taken away the food of the wild beast.

And besides these things, he has freed you from cares, from anxiety, from the envy of sycophants, from tumult, from disturbance, from continual fear.

And he has heaped the whole mass of evils upon his own head.

What then, he says, if I wrestle with hunger? This you suffer together with Paul, who says:

Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked.

But he did so for God's sake, he says.

For when you do not seek revenge, you do this for God's sake.

But he who wronged me lives luxuriously among the rich.

Nay rather, with the devil.

But you are crowned together with Paul.

For the Lord will not suffer the souls of the righteous to famish.

Cast your care upon the Lord, and He shall nourish you.

For if He nourishes the sparrows of the field, how shall He not nourish you? Let us not then become of little faith nor faint-hearted, beloved.

For He who has promised the kingdom of heaven and so many good things, how shall He not give things present? Let us not desire things superfluous, but let us hold fast to contentment, and we shall ever be rich.

Let us seek covering and food, and we shall lay hold both of these and of things far greater than these.

But if you still grieve and hang down your head, I would fain show you, after the victory, the soul of him who wronged you, how it becomes but ashes.

For sin also is of this kind.

So long as it is being committed, it affords a certain pleasure.

But when it is completed, then that little pleasure gives way, and despondency comes in upon it.

These same things we suffer also when we insult any.

At any rate we afterwards accuse ourselves.

So too when we have overreached others, we rejoice.

But after these things we are stung by conscience.

Do you see, in such a man's hands, the house of the poor man? Weep, not for him who has been despoiled, but for him who has taken it.

For he did not give, but received, an evil.

For the one he deprived of things present, but himself he cast out from good things unspeakable.

For if he who gave not to the needy goes away into hell, what shall he suffer who takes the things of the needy? And what is the gain, he says, when I am ill-treated? Great indeed is the gain.

For God does not make the recompense to you consist in the punishment of him who did the evil.

For what profit is it, when I am ill-treated, that he too should suffer ill? And yet I know that many count this to be their greatest consolation, and think they have received everything back, when they see those who wronged them punished.

But nevertheless God does not make the requital consist in these things.

But do you wish to learn how many are the good things

that shall receive you in succession? He opens all heaven to you, He makes you a fellow-citizen of the saints, He prepares you to be numbered in their choir, He releases you from sins, He crowns you with righteousness.

For if those who forgive them that have sinned obtain forgiveness, they who not only forgive, but also lavish benefits, what blessing shall they not attain? Do not then bear it ignobly, but even pray on behalf of him who wronged you.

For it is on your own behalf that you do this.

Did he take your money? But he also took your sins.

This very thing came to pass also in the case of Naaman and Gehazi.

How great a wealth would you not have been willing to give, that your sins might be forgiven you? This then now comes to pass.

For if you bear it nobly and do not curse, you have bound upon yourself a splendid crown.

The saying is not mine, but you have heard Christ Himself declaring it:

'Pray for those who spitefully use you.'

And consider how great the prize is:

'That you may become like your Father who is in heaven.'

So that you have been deprived of nothing, but have even gained.

You have not been wronged, but have even been crowned, having become more philosophic in soul, having been made like unto God, being freed from the anxiety of riches, having won the kingdom of heaven.

Considering therefore all these things, let us bear ourselves wisely amid wrongs, beloved, that we may both be freed from the turmoil of the present life and cast out useless despondency, and attain the joy that is to come, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.