Homilies on First Corinthians 29 part 2/2

Wherefore I am ashamed, that among the Greeks, senseless as they are, there are those who pursue this wisdom—if not in deeds, yet at least in judgment for the present—and who know the perishableness of present things;

but among us some do not even understand these things, but have their very judgment corrupted—and that too when the Scripture, up and down, sings in our ears and says:

'In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord.'

'The fear of the Lord surpasseth all things.'

'Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole of man.'

'Fret not thyself because of evildoers;'

'be not afraid when a man is made rich.'

'All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.'

For though we hear these and such like things every day, we are still nailed to the earth.

And just as untaught children, though they are continually learning their letters, when they are examined at random about the order of them, saying one letter in place of another, stir up much laughter;

so also you, when here we recite them to you in order, follow along somehow or other;

but when outside we ask you at random which of these matters it is right to rank first, which second, and which after which, being unable to tell, you become a laughing-stock.

Is it not a matter of much laughter, tell me, that men who look for immortality and for the good things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, should contend over the things which remain here, and think them worthy to be envied? For if you still have need to learn these things—that wealth is nothing great, that present things are a shadow and a dream, that like smoke it dissolves and flies away—

then stand for the present outside the sanctuary; remain in the outer courts;

for you have not yet become worthy of entrance into the palace on high.

For if you know not how to discern their nature—unstable and ever-flowing—when will you be able to despise them? But if you say you do know it, cease to be a busybody and to meddle, asking why in the world this man is rich and that man poor.

For in asking these things you do the very same as if you went about inquiring why in the world this man is fair and that man dark, or this man hook-nosed and that man flat-nosed.

For just as these things make no difference to us, whether it be thus or thus, so neither does being poor or rich—and much more so than those matters;

but the whole matter turns upon the manner of the using.

Even if you be poor, you can live cheerfully, practising true wisdom;

and even if you be rich, you are of all men the most wretched if you flee from virtue.

For these are the things that make the difference to us—the things of virtue;

and if these be not present, of the rest there is no profit.

For this reason too come these frequent questionings, because the many think that the things indifferent make a difference to them, while of the things that truly make a difference they take no account.

For the thing that makes the difference to us is virtue and true wisdom.

Since therefore you stand far off, at a distance from this, for this reason comes the tumult of reasonings, for this reason the many waves, for this reason the storm.

For when men fall away from the glory above and from the love of the heavens, they set their desire on the present life, and become slaves and captives.

'And whence,' one says, 'do we come to desire this life?' From not desiring that other life exceedingly.

'And this very thing, whence does it come to pass?' From slothfulness;

'and slothfulness, whence?' From contempt;

'and contempt, whence?' From folly, and from being glued to present things, and from being unwilling to examine with exactness the nature of matters.

'And this very thing, whence does it again come to pass?' From neither giving heed to the reading of the Scriptures, nor associating with holy men, but pursuing the assemblies of the wicked.

In order therefore that this may not always be so, and that wave upon wave, receiving us, may not carry us off into the ocean of evils and drown and utterly destroy us,

while there is yet time, let us come up for air, and standing upon the rock—I mean the doctrines and words of God—let us look down upon the surge of the present life.

For thus shall we ourselves escape it, and having drawn up others who are shipwrecked, we shall attain the good things to come, by the grace and lovingkindness [of our Lord Jesus Christ], and the rest.