Orthodox Study
Various Church Fathers

Homilies on the Statues

Indexes of Subjects — translated by ANF/NPNF editors

Public domainServed

¶1

Abel, beloved of God, yet slain, 342; more blessed in his death than Cain, 374; died the first to instruct Adam, 414; his sacrifice good, 422.

¶2

Abraham, rich but not covetous: entertaining angels, 349; tent of, stronger than Sodom, 456.

¶3

Absolution, 356; at the altar, 443.

¶4

Accused at Antioch, tortured, 474.

¶5

Acrobats, 470.

¶6

Actions, few, for their own sake, 379; end of, 459, n.; the proof of philosophy, 465.

¶7

Adam, fell when idle, 353, 369; wretchedness of his fall, 393; what he merited, 392; fitted, by humiliation, to appear before God, 396; pride of, cast down, 413; his hiding was due to his sense of guilt, 422; his being made to confess, a mercy, 422.

¶8

Admonition, repeated, a shame, 379; obligation and advantage of, 425, 437; to be repeated, 452; not like seeing, 467; of others a duty, 481.

¶9

Adultery, self-condemned, 429; in desire, 443.

¶10

Advantages of nature and art not the dignity of a city, 457.

¶11

Alms, given at martyrs' shrines, 340; of less worth than thankfulness, 341; recompensed at the Judgment, 350; riches given for, 351; means of pardon, 351.

¶12

Altars, raised by the heathen to men, 338; by Christians only to God, though in memory of men, 338, n.; Christian, for remission of sin, 443.

¶13

Ambrose, St., obliged Theodosius to do penance, 383, n.; on invocation of Saints and Angels, 390.

¶14

Angels, applauded Job's victory, 339; invocation of, 390, n.; visited Jerusalem, 467.

¶15

Animals, wild, uses of, 395, 417; their fear of man lessened at the fall, 395; the vilest worshipped, 409; man dreads from sin, 417; their excellences not of free-will, and invariable, 420; sacrifice of, discussed, 422, n.; refugees of Antioch, destroyed by, 487.

¶16

Art, a pattern of industry, 420.

¶17

Antioch, old church of, 331, n.; blasphemy prevailing in, 343; hopes of reforming, 344; state of after sedition, 344, 425, 453; compared to Job, 344; disgraced and deserted, 345, 364, 454, 463; a mother of cities, 345, 355; shaken as with an earthquake, 345; fears of the inhabitants, 346, 412, 419, 453; character of, 347, 355; schism at, 354, n.; Christians first so named there, 345, n., 355, 438; amended by danger, 382, 383, 418, 439, 455; dealt with tenderly, 383, 419; deliverance from danger, 412, 452; spared on repentance, 418; inhabitants had recourse to God, 427, 439, 482; confiscation and disruption at, 427; again disturbed, 431; submission of the people to the Emperor, 437; cowardice in, 445; distinguished in virtue, 456; exhortation before calamities, 463; accused tortured, 474; prisoners at, their trust in God, 482; the dead insulted, 484; reproached for the sedition, 484; wretched state from terror, 486; public rejoicings at, 389.

¶18

Apostles, powerful both living and departed, 333; example of, 342; dwelt in Antioch, 355; words of, like music, 331; would have been too magnified, but for sufferings and infirmities, 337; persecutions of, why permitted, 409; despondent, were dull, 413; victorious by suffering, 449; few natural advantages of, 466.

¶19

Applause, in church, 347, 379, 394.

¶20

Armour, spiritual of the Bishop, 357, n.; of all Christians, 357.

¶21

Arms, of the righteous, 396; of brutes and men compared, 416.

¶22

Army, of Saul, wisely abstemious, 433; excessive hunger of, 434.

¶23

Art, great in the temple at Jerusalem, 456.

¶24

Artificer, finds his work as he left it, 430.

¶25

Ascension Day, Sunday before, how styled, 464.

¶26

Ash Wednesday, epistle for, 358, n.

¶27

Asiarchs, 427, n.

¶28

Ass, fondness to its master, 420.

¶29

Assurance, greater from not exacting oaths, 444.

¶30

Athanasius, St., strong against oaths, 470, n.

¶31

Athenian courts, 400, n.

¶32

Audience, of the powerful, artifices to obtain, 474.

¶33

Augustin, St., on the Sabbath, 422, n.

¶34

Avengers, 475.

¶35

Baptism, called initiation, 342, 354, 355; Lord's Prayer taught with, 355.

¶36

Barathrum, 361, n.

¶37

Basil, St., strong terms on the invocation of saints, 389, n., 390; strong against oaths, 470, n.; kept Valens from communion, 481, n.

¶38

Basilides, 413, n.

¶39

Baths, closed, 455; highly prized, 464.

¶40

Battle, kings lay aside their crowns in, 447.

¶41

Beatitudes, 392, n., 428.

¶42

Beauty of person not to be cherished, 397, 466; of woman a snare, 442; no criterion of merit, 458.

¶43

Bee, labouring for others, 420.

¶44

Beginning, a small, great results from, 405, 470.

¶45

"Believe me," a phrase instead of swearing, 398, n.; as a bridle, 481.

¶46

Bema, occupied by clergy alone, 465, n.

¶47

Benefits of God at the creation twofold, 395; doing, for others a duty, 451; never to be desisted from, 452; from reminding one another of duty, 399.

¶48

Birds, 408; finding nests robbed, 427; flying high escape snares, 441; caught, cannot use wings, 441.

¶49

Bishop, how regarded, 354, 356, 383; duty of, 355; a Priest, 355; a High Priest, 482; a Ruler and above emperors, 356; armour of, 357.

¶50

Blasphemy, evil of, 342, 361, 437; adds to trouble, 343; to be sharply corrected in others, 343, 347; a public wrong, 343; Job's wife tempts him to, 366.

¶51

Blessed bread given to those who do not communicate, 384, n.; the righteous alone to be held, 385; who called, in Scripture, 462.

¶52

Blessedness, real, what, 340.

¶53

Blessings, the chief, common, 351.

¶54

Blind, fallen into a pit, 451.

¶55

Body, human, frailer than matter, 404; elementary parts of, 407; becomes an earthen vessel, 409; by whom framed, 413; feebleness of, why, 413; as it was framed at first, 413, 417; might have been created better, 414; fineness of, 415; excellent as joined with the soul, 416; sustains injury in spite of prudence, 437; effects upon, of externals, 462.

¶56

Boldness of monks, 453, 454.

¶57

Bones of the skull, a defence, 415; around the heart, 415.

¶58

Brain, construction of, 415.

¶59

Bread, consecrated, reservation of for sick, 384, n.

¶60

Brutes, fasted with the Ninevites, 358.

¶61

Burdens, duty of bearing another's, 452.

¶62

Burial, pomp of, 358.

¶63

Business, worldly, the clergy engaged in, 465.

¶64

Butler, Bishop, on "Law of Nature," 428, n.

¶65

Cain, misery of, 345; consciousness of his sin and denial, 423.

¶66

Camp, place so called, 382, n.

¶67

Careless, Christian ready to fast, 431.

¶68

Carnival, 358, n.

¶69

Catechism, Church of England on Real Presence, 354, n.; on remission of sin in the Eucharist, 444, n.

¶70

Chains, how got rid of, 403; of St. Paul, 447; a security, 447; efficacy of St. Paul's, 450.

¶71

Charms, texts of Scripture as, 470; those used by Christians condemned, 470, n.

¶72

Chastity, learnt from Sodom, 466.

¶73

Children, unreasonable in their fears, 374; little ones by whom frightened and quieted, 381; to be taught public deliverances, 419, 489; under instruction from fathers and teachers, 429; pulling at a rotten cord, 432; murder of, prevented by not vowing, 434; fond of sweets, severe training for, 449; virtue of, proved, 453; wrestling at the top of a pole, 470; fear their fathers more than we fear God, 471.

¶74

Christ, teaching of, 348; scorned in the poor, 349; keeps for us what we give them, 350; left us His flesh and blood, 354; instructed after feeding, 400; instructs from irrational creatures, 420; taught the law of conscience, 428; instructs us to fear, 440; forbids oaths, 444; set against Himself by swearing on the Gospel, 444, 446; gave warning of sorrow before reward, 449; judgment of, on cities, 457; teaches reconciliation by His Sacrifice, 470.

¶75

Christianity, not universal, 401, n.; a stricter law than the Mosaic, 469.

¶76

Christians, the saviors of Antioch, 343; bear trials cheerfully, 346; soldiers and wrestlers, 357; all reproached for sins of any, 359; should admonish each other, 425, 451; name diffused worldwide, 438; instructors and comforters of unbelievers, 445; under training like heirs: with heaven in view like the merchant, 450; are citizens of heaven, 456.

¶77

Chrysostom, St., requests the people to check blasphemy, 343; silent for seven days: as Job's friends, 344; bewails Antioch, 345; hopes to cheer the people, 346; speaks at length, and warns, 347; applauded, 347, 379; made bishop, 354, n.; proposes three precepts for memory, 363; blesses God for comforting, 364; love and anxiety for his people, 380, 399, 443; like a mother for a sick child, 430; watchfulness over his flock, 399; regrets the absence of some, 400; repeats admonitions, 424, 443; rewarded through their obedience, 380, 389, 399; confidence for Antioch's rescue, 382; interpretation of 1 Cor. iii. 15, 387, n.; intercourse with his people, 389, 481; mode of dealing with the unreformed, 389; success of special preaching, 438; testimony of, as to relics, 396; opinion concerning the earth, 403; shape and motion of the heavens, 419; on the Sabbath, 422; notions about sacrifice, 422; admonitions about theatres ineffectual, 439; on remission in Eucharist, 443, n., 444; indignation over the people's irreverence, 445, 446; teaching, practical not doctrinal, 447; welcome to the country clergy, 465; forbids all oaths, 470, n.; offers to cure the swearer, 480; threatens, 481; gives thanks for Flavian's return, 482; his praises of city, Bishop, Emperor, etc., 482.

¶78

Church (building), old at Antioch, 331; not a place of amusement, 347; full in time of distress, 364; then resorted to by the wicked, 366; to be absent from sinful, disgraceful, 400, 406; no other place so good, 406; the fittest place for thanksgiving after deliverance, 419; a place of prayer, 443; feelings in, are not religious attainments, 446; part of, reserved for clergy, 465, n.; common talk in, 473; exclusion from, 481.

¶79

Church (community), prayers of, 356; injured by evil speaking, 359; Greek, its lenten observances, 359, n.; mother of the afflicted, 364, 386; influences all ranks, 481; censure of, for familiarity, 481.

¶80

Citizens of heaven, none without virtue, 457.

¶81

City, strength of, in virtue, 457; by virtue a pattern to the world, 471; contemptuous, infects others, 486.

¶82

Clouds, cause different productions, 419.

¶83

Commander of troops, 452, n.

¶84

Common cause, most injured by fall of the most eminent, 334.

¶85

Communication with others during self-discipline, 379, 481; to the absent, of religious instructions, 400; of the Pastor to all his flock, 389; object of, 401; with the wicked in guilt, 331; in sufferings marks affiliation, 340; in many things with all men, 343; of good with the disorderly, 464.

¶86

Confession, private to a Priest, 360; of sins overcome, 418; an encouragement to others to repent, 419; a condition of pardon, 422.

¶87

Confusion, prevented by fear of Rulers, 381.

¶88

Congregation, number of St. Chrysostom's, 380, n., 406; eager for instruction, 395; obedient to his counsels, 399, 406, 430; one bad member corrupts many, 430.

¶89

Conjurer's tricks shame our endeavours at virtue, 470.

¶90

Conscience, roused by fear, 363; a bad makes us suspicious: a scourge, 396; a good makes bold, 396; a natural law, 421; shewn from the case of Adam, 422; adds obligations to the enlightened, 424; proved from sense of shame and reproach, 428; facilitates virtue, 429; disturbed by having enemies, 479.

¶91

Consolation in adversity as witnessed by the Saints, 336; effects of, 346; is for the sad, 381; derived from religious communion with others, 383; derived from every part of the Bible, 391; from God's chastising in mercy, 431, 434; mode of, 444; in temporal distress to be sought from God's ministers, 445.

¶92

Constantine, instance of mildness, 486.

¶93

Constantinople, distance from Antioch, 361.

¶94

Contemplation of heavenly things like a view from an height, 441.

¶95

Conversation, on religious subjects how good, 388; cheering effects of, 489; reverted to by Saul's army, 433; in divine service wrong, 473.

¶96

Corn, ears of, 415.

¶97

Correction of others a means of self-correction, 405.

¶98

Corruptibility of creation, 409, 411.

¶99

Covetousness, 348; is poverty, 349; cured by considering the equality of day and night, 402.

¶100

Councils, secular, customs of, 400.

¶101

Country, one's, how to be advanced, 471.

¶102

Courage from a good conscience, 396.

¶103

Cowards realize groundless fear, 445.

¶104

Cowardice unbecoming men, 446.

¶105

Creation, not to be disparaged, 335; dishonors fawners, 386; a proof of God's love for us, 391; when written of, in Scripture, 394; testifies to God, 401, 407; mode of above the power of Nature, 403; consists of contraries harmonized, 404; decay of, without Providence, 408; deified, 408; why subject to decay, 409, 411; like the Apostles under persecution, 409; mutual dependence of parts, 411; neither all at rest nor all in motion, 419; the parts not understood ought to amaze, 421.

¶106

Creature, use of word, 411, n.

¶107

Criminals, wretched appearance of at the bar, 396.

¶108

Cross, the, a symbol of salvation, 448; sign of, not a charm, 470, n.

¶109

Crown, given for overcoming sin, 438; inferior to chains, 447; humanity gained by Theodosius, 485.

¶110

Custom, no match for fear, 437; easier overcome than concupiscence, 469.

¶111

Cyprian, St., on intercession of Saints, 389, n.

¶112

Dancing, feats in, 470, n.

¶113

Danger of arguing about nature, 403, n.; unconcern of Saints for, 448; of relapsing under prosperity, 452.

¶114

Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, 457, n.

¶115

David, though small, a victor, 458.

¶116

Davison vindicates the idea of sacrifice, 422, n.

¶117

Day, unvarying and equal with night, 402.

¶118

Death, proves vanity of riches, 351; no subject of alarm, 372; eagerness of St. Paul for, 372; base if in sin, but not so from violence, 373; evil to sinners only, 373; an unjust brings into special communion with the Saints, 374; unjust permitted by God, 374; what is, 374, 390; having it before our eyes, 376; soldier fearing, ignoble, 376; dreaded for want of self-mortification, 384; full of joy to the godly, 461; courted by the monks of Antioch, 463.

¶119

Debtors, treatment of, 362.

¶120

Debts, God's remission of to men, and a creditor's compared, 478.

¶121

Deer, escaped from a snare, 441.

¶122

Degradation, attaching to athletics, 470.

¶123

Demosthenes, bad habit of: how cured, 394.

¶124

Desertion of the Philosophers in distress, 454.

¶125

Dice-playing to be shunned, 442.

¶126

Differences, seeming, reconciled, 403, 469.

¶127

Difficulties for God's sake, 477; none can stand against the fear of God, 480.

¶128

Dignity of a city is its virtue, 456; of no avail at the Judgment, 457.

¶129

Discipline, course of usual, 334, n.; under Christianity a preparation for trials, 366; moral from war, 435.

¶130

Discontent from going to feasts, 440.

¶131

Discourse, subjects of, at conventions, 406.

¶132

Diseases, their origin, 407.

¶133

Disposition, makes sad or cheerful, 460, 463.

¶134

Dog, shameless, 420.

¶135

Doubt, Ninevites doubted the consequences of their repentance, 377.

¶136

Dove, an example of simplicity, 420.

¶137

Dress, finery in, how cured, 450; not to be despised or admired, 466.

¶138

Drunkenness, 335.

¶139

Eagle, under man's dominion, 416; a king so styled, 467.

¶140

Ear, fasting of the, 359; to be closed against slander, 360.

¶141

Earth, diurnal motion of a type, 402, n.; supported on water, 403; productiveness of, 404.

¶142

Earthquake, alluded to, 345, n.; 362.

¶143

Easter, mercy suited to, 355; act of human mercy at, 383, n.

¶144

Eating a meal no reason for staying away from church, 400, 406; moderation favors attendance, 400.

¶145

Edification, mutual of members of a household in religious practice, 379, 480.

¶146

Elements, harmony and opposition of, 404; weakness and dependence of, 410.

¶147

Elijah, of like passions with us, 340; his poverty, 353; twofold, 353, 396.

¶148

Elisha, his inheritance, 353; changed the water, 396, 411.

¶149

Emotions, high term for, 386.

¶150

Emperor, see Theodosius, vengeance expected from, 345; has no equal on earth, 346; inferior to a Bishop, 356; a fellow-servant, 361.

¶151

Emulation, in religious practice, 370, 379; in reforming the community advantageous, 389; spirit of, promotes self-restraint, 430.

¶152

Enemies, none to be held, 363, 370; not reconciled without a third person, 408; Jews knew righteousness prevailed in Israel, 435; misfortunes of, rejoiced in, 461; the sight of possessions of, disturbs, 474; good and bad fortune alike annoys, 474; the worse, the more reason for forgiving, 475; implacable, how treated by God, 475; the worst softened by gentleness, 475; like a limb cut off, 476; duty of making friends of, 478; are alone enough to cause insecurity, 479.

¶153

Ephraim, St., quotations from, 389, n.

¶154

Episozomenes, title of a Sunday, 464.

¶155

Equanimity from true wisdom, 454.

¶156

Esther, prayer of, saved the Jews, 356.

¶157

Ether, consistence of, 409, n.

¶158

Eucharist, a greater gift than Elisha's, 354; doctrine of, 354, n.; fasting or sufficiency at, 400; an oblation distinct, 422, n.; efficacy for remitting sin, 444, n.; the prize of fasting during Lent, 471; not to be approached unless healed of sins, 472; prohibited the resentful, 472; and the swearer, 481; hands washed before receiving, 479; object of exclusion from, 481.

¶159

Evils, temporal, of little moment, 372; the worse make the less unfelt, 374, 428; warded off by repentance, 376; cannot touch the righteous, 385; God merciful amidst, 393; past, remembrance of, 426; a source of pain, 444, 457; must run to God under, 448; an occasion of thanksgiving, 452; felt according to the disposition, 459; comfort from, 463.

¶160

Evil speaking, mischief of, 359, 370; pleasure of, 360; causes quarrels, 361; hinders pardon: spoils fasting, 361; breaking away from, 363.

¶161

Examination of our path necessary, 440.

¶162

Example, partakes of our own nature, 340; the irrational animals are, 420; the old referred to the young for, 420; effects of, 405, 429; of pilots in a storm, 446; of one city upon the whole world, 438; the giver of, precedes, 487.

¶163

Excellences, natural, liable to fail, 448.

¶164

Excuses for not seeking reconciliation, 474, 475, 478; concerning inveterate swearing, 479.

¶165

Eye, government of the, 359; a surer organ than the ear, 401; beauty and power of, 414; eyebrows like eaves, 415; of God, 475.

¶166

Faith, shewn by works, 373; like an eagle's wing, 416.

¶167

Fall, sin of, 393; the human body changed after, 413, 417; of another bewailed is pleasing to God, 461.

¶168

Fame, injured by enemies, 479.

¶169

Famine, relieved by the people of Antioch, 456.

¶170

Fasting of Timothy, 33; easily misjudged, 334; moderation urged, 335; a help to prayer: bodily, not enough, 357, 370, 406, 459; of Ninevites accepted, 358; due honor of, 359; of the eye, ear, and tongue, 359, 406; general practice, 370, 388, 450, n.; together with danger facilitates repentance, 378; made easy by custom, 388; from sin, 406, 472; indulgence before and after, 438; without fresh gains a loss, 459; well used welcomed, 459; omission of, may be excused, 472.

¶171

Fathers, the view of, about the earth, 403, n.; upon oaths, 470, n.; strong statements of, as in the Bible, 477, n.; most such, in punishing their children, 392; first severe then indulgent, 449; grieve more when absent, 483.

¶172

Favour, the overcoming bad habits accounted by God a, 412; Divine, bestowed on Jerusalem, 467; the forgiving others a, asked by God, 478.

¶173

Fear, needful to holy men, 334; a chastisement for carelessness, 347; of the Lord true riches, 351; a punishment, 355; awakens conscience, 363; of harm from man ignoble, 366; a good man firm against, 369; without the fear of hell death terrible, 374; of hell profitable, 374, 439; prevents magnanimity, 376; of Rulers promotes order, 381; effect of, on public morals, 382, 439; a most powerful motive, 392, 437; God's wrath a cure of bad habits, 394; of scorpions from sin, 417; prevents bad passions, like a soldier on guard, 439; breeds virtue, 439; why Christ broadly taught, 440; groundless made real, 446; an ocean of joy, 460; of God overcomes quickly, masters, 479; purifies like a furnace, 480.

¶174

Feasts, evil of frequenting, 440; beget envy, 440.

¶175

Festival, of Easter an argument for mercy, 355; in celebration of martyrs, 464.

¶176

Festus, how approached by St. Paul, 448.

¶177

Fingers, unequal, 416.

¶178

Fire worshipped by the Persians: then worshipped, 367; rivers of, 386; purgatorial, 387, n.; in a forest, 389; its property of rising, 404; used in torture, 474.

¶179

Firmament, use of word, 404.

¶180

Fish, 408; caught with baits, 449.

¶181

Flavian, Bishop of Antioch, 354, n.; leaves his sister almost dying, 354, 482; his boldness, 355; prayers of, for his people, 482; return from Constantinople, 482; obstacles to his journey, 483; magnanimity of, 483; absent, grieved for Antioch, 484; silent like Moses, 484; will quit Antioch if unpardoned, 488; proofs of forethought for the people, 488.

¶182

Flattery of the great, 474.

¶183

Flesh, an unruly steed, 334.

¶184

Floods, 470.

¶185

Flowers, 408; yield a sweeter, than artificial smells, 466.

¶186

Folly of laboring for worldly things, and not to be reconciled, 479.

¶187

Food, carried away by guests, 38.

¶188

Forgiveness of sin by forgiving others, 473; brings our minds into peace, 474.

¶189

Fountains, 408.

¶190

Fowler, a zealous, 441; enticements of, 449.

¶191

Fox, cunning of, 420.

¶192

Frailty of the body a cure for pride, 413.

¶193

Fraternities for mutual religious help, 417.

¶194

Freedom, in righteousness, not immunity from punishment, 386.

¶195

Friend, a, shews dissatisfaction by silence, 436.

¶196

Fruits of fasting, remain, 459; from bitter roots, 462.

¶197

Fund, common, 452.

¶198

Gain, whatever promises, to be suspected, 441; from evils, 444.

¶199

Games, alluded to, 339, 405; presidents of, 427, n.; participants of, excluded from the Communion, 439, n.

¶200

Garment, oiled of wrestlers, 339, n.; miraculous virtue of, 396; a rich, how used, 405.

¶201

Gazing at the beauty of a woman a snare, 442.

¶202

Gentiles, see Heathen, signifying a worshipper of God, 423.

¶203

Gifts, Divine, on the temple, 456.

¶204

Glory of suffering for Christ, 447; not happiness, 460; in shewing mercy, 485.

¶205

Gluttony, 357; inexcusable before prayer: incapacitates, 400; cured by considering St. Paul, 450.

¶206

God, His work good, 335; power of shewn in weakness, 337, 409; love of Him, its own reward, 338; challenged Satan to try Job, 339; cares more than we for the poor, 341; not to be called in question, 341, 362; afflicts those He loves, 342; His honour to be vindicated, 343, 347; cares for us more than ourselves, 347; never weary of our prayers, 356; blasphemed for our sins, 359; His mighty longsuffering, 361, 362; tempers prosperity and adversity for our good, 366; overrules Satan's worst efforts to his loss, 367; if our friend, nothing matters, 369; cares less for His repute than our salvation, 378; does not punish when the threats affect, 382; overrules the designs of men, 383, 447; judges sinners by the standard of the good, 388; His love shewn in our punishment, 392, 413, 431; otherwise only half good, 392; deals with fallen man as a father, 392, 449; tenderness of in addressing Adam, 393; His walking was in Adam's perception, 396; His providence shewn in making the cure of the soul easy, 397; instructs by the creation, 401; His ordering of the seasons and the day, 402; uses weak instruments to shew His power, 404; glorified man in the works of creation, 405; needs nothing, 410; the source of all things, 410; skill of in human frame, 414; known by His works, 421; mercy and wisdom of bringing Adam to confession, 422; why He delays punishment, 424; His goodness shewn in man's natural love of virtue, 429; the leader of the Jews in war, 435; silence toward Saul from gentleness, 436; turns causes of evil to good, 448; to believers is the whole fountain of cheerfulness, 460; ordains suffering first, 450; unceasingly gracious, 452; reproaches for insensibility to the ills of others, 462; fear of, the foundation of peace, 463; insulted worse than man ever is, 473; our Avenger, and despised when we avenge, 475; like a friend in requiring forgiveness of others, 478; never ceases to entreat us, 478; assists earnest endeavours, 480; exceeds hopes, 482; takes occasion of offences to shew love, 485; overrules all for good, 489.

¶207

Gods, heathen, who, 339; the vilest animals made, 409; the Apostles held to be, 409; ambition of some men to be held, 413.

¶208

Good, what is, at one time is not always, 401; temporal, yields pleasure to the reverent, 463; temporal, is mutable and insufficient, 460.

¶209

Gospel, the book of the, oaths taken on, 443; preaching of promoted by conflicts, 448; like a sunbeam, not bound, 450; portions of worn by women and children, 470.

¶210

Government, two sorts of, natural and elective, 391.

¶211

Grave, robbing, 393, n.

¶212

Greek Church, usage in fasting, 370, n.; Fathers of, opinions of on Purgatory, 387, n.

¶213

Gregory, St. Naz, on invocation of the Saints, 390, n.; on Beatitudes, 392, n.

¶214

Grief, a medicine only profitable when felt for sin, 375, 390; this the end of it, 375, 390; temporal ills, not cured by, 375; produced by sin, 419.

¶215

Grief, a wound, how to be treated, 381; for infants as reasonable as for the dead, 385; makes men inattentive to instruction, 413; spreads darkness over every thing, 426; for the ills of others pleasing to God, 458; a refreshment, 461; fruits of, sweet, 463.

¶216

Guilt shared by those who give power to the sinner, 331.

¶217

Habits, good to be formed, 363; difficult to be overcome, 388; easy, the subject being hard, 388; mastered in a given time, 370; almost mastered require less pains, 405; in man acquired by free-will, 420; easily conquered by fear, 437; under severe training, 449; easier to be overcome than nature, 469.

¶218

Hades, where, according to the heathen, 403, n.

¶219

Hair of eyebrows and head, 415.

¶220

Hands of God, His power, 403.

¶221

Happiness in God alone, 460.

¶222

Harlot, bad influences of, 435.

¶223

Harm, none to God's people, 378; limited to the sutures of the bones, 415.

¶224

Hares, timidity of, 445.

¶225

Hatred, to be forsaken, 363; mark of, to avoid naming the person, 393; disquiets, 473; is unbecoming brothers: increases with time, 476; to cease from is not all enough, 478; cherished corrupts fast or feast, 479; pollutes the mind, 479.

¶226

Health, won by labour, 352; bad to be borne with patiently, 332; St. Timothy's, no hindrance to his labours, 334; not happiness, 460; by sobriety, 466; ill, an excuse for not fasting, 472, 475.

¶227

Hearing without doing of no avail, 379.

¶228

Heart, the chief member, well defended, 415.

¶229

Heat, properties of, 403, n.

¶230

Heathenism, designation of, in Scripture, 367, n.

¶231

Heathen, the alleged reason for deifying the universe, 408; by their own folly make idols, 409; philosophers were actors, 465; instructed by the example of Theodosius, 488; the laws of, from the conscience, 423; not responsible without a natural law, 423; not fit instructors for Christians, 445.

¶232

Heaven, hope of, 350; not won without labour, 449.

¶233

Heavens, sight of, proclaims God: effects of, 401; matter and form of, 404; beauty of, 408; fixed, 419, n.

¶234

Hell, fear of, is profitable, 439.

¶235

Heralds in the games, 386.

¶236

Heretics, found fault with creation, 335; opinions of about the human body, 413.

¶237

Hippodrome, 439.

¶238

History, design of Scripture viewed as, 410, n.

¶239

Honey, water so called, 352; as a feast to Saul's army, resisted, 433.

¶240

Honour, bestowed on man in three ways, 391; done to God is rewarded, 446; worldly has no real dignity, 456.

¶241

Hope, in God an anchor, 446; makes present ill light, 450.

¶242

Horse, inferior to man in the foot, 416.

¶243

Hospitality, of Abraham, 349; of Job, 442.

¶244

House not to be extravagantly adorned, 349; built on a rock, 365; guarded is not robbed, 439; of mourning and feasting, 440; of the sinner overthrown a witness to all, 259, 466; brought to ruin by neglect of small repairs, 470.

¶245

Humility, produced by adversity, 337; scope for in the human frame, 417.

¶246

Hunger, gives relish to food, 351.

¶247

Hunters, 435.

¶248

Husbandry, spiritual, 357, 365; the first art, a school of virtue, 465.

¶249

Hut, in the vineyards, 408.

¶250

Idolatry, origin of, 337.

¶251

Ignorance of men brought out in arguing about nature, 403, n., 421.

¶252

Ignorant, the, taught by the creation, 402.

¶253

Illuminations, at Antioch, 489.

¶254

Image of God, 362; consists of sovereignty, 391.

¶255

Implacability, in an enemy, punished by God, 475.

¶256

Inattention, at prayers, 394; leaves us without excuse, 473.

¶257

Incarnation, alluded to in Job, 339, n.

¶258

Indifferent things, to be avoided, 442.

¶259

Indignation at the wrongs of others, of nature, 429.

¶260

Inferiority of material calls for greater skill, 414.

¶261

Inferiors, men are ashamed to sin before, 428.

¶262

Inheritance, needs previous training, 450.

¶263

Insensibility to the sins of others, 462.

¶264

Instincts, 420.

¶265

Instruction, spiritual, stored in the mind, 388; like picking a flower, 399; increases obligations, 424; conveyed formerly by things, 401; given in church, 406; to be obeyed on trust, 425; in virtue by temporal ills, 429; requires personal ardor and promptness, 430, 480; like water from a well, for use afterwards, 446; in morals precedes that in revealed truth, 446; inattention to, excused by dullness, 475.

¶266

Instruments, weakness of, shews God's power, 409.

¶267

Insult, effect of, our own fault: recoils when slighted, 353; towards aggressors an offence to God, 440; from one under high patronage, 444.

¶268

Intemperance, before and after fasting, 439.

¶269

Intentions, provided by God are rewarded, 341; known to God, 475.

¶270

Intercession to be made for Antioch, 346; arguments used in, 383; of the poor, 351, n.; bold, of monks, 453, 454; of saints departed, 389, n.

¶271

Invocation of saints and angels, 389, n.

¶272

Iron softened by water, 403.

¶273

Isaiah commands the sun, 411.

¶274

Jacob, his care of Laban's sheep, 354.

¶275

Jailor at Philippi, 450.

¶276

Jephthah's vow allowed by God, 434.

¶277

Jerusalem, temple at, 456; wretchedness of, 457; favours of God bestowed on, 467; a vine, 467.

¶278

Jesus of Nazareth, the common name of our Lord, 393, n.

¶279

Jews in distress could not listen, 346; reproved for not looking to God, 356; saved by Esther's prayer, 356; oppressed in Egypt to increase their desire of Canaan, 384; would not name Christ from hatred, 393; gave no heed to Moses, 413.

¶280

Jewels, the pride of some women, 449.

¶281

Job, his character shewn by affliction, 338, 341; his wrestling with Satan: tried as gold, 339; Antioch compared to him, 344; safest when poor, 353; his trust in God, 366; loved before grace, or the old covenant, 366; rewarded for retaining godliness, 369; dunghill of, in Arabia, 371; consolation to be derived from, 371; his body, preciousness of, 371, 372; an instance of the merit of suffering, 385; silence of his friends, 412; a Gentile, 423, n.; his virtue lofty in prosperity and adversity, 442; losses of, led him to God, 445, 461.

¶282

John, St., Baptist, to be followed in reproving sin, 343; his martyrdom a warning against oaths, 432, 470.

¶283

Jonah's flight of no avail, 378; how taught mercy, 378; forced by God, 382; author of the book of, 480, n.

¶284

Jonathan's eating the honey, 434; if slain, a double misery to Saul, 434.

¶285

Joseph sold, 363; wept, 488.

¶286

Joshua commands the sun's motion, 411.

¶287

Joy, from temporal good soon ends, 451; continual under misfortune possible, 459; aim of all, 459; in God, 460; of the world brings loss, 461.

¶288

Judge, unjust, parable of, 412; man made, of his own pardon, 477; does not question or correct the culprit, 393; sympathy of the judges at Antioch, 427; rigour of human, 427; shewed mercy upon the intercession of the monks, 453.

¶289

Judgment, the last, proved by the afflictions of the saints, 339; riches of no avail in, 349; alms help us in, 351; and mercy, 355; without benefit of others' intercession, 427; rulers threatened with, 453; harsh over others visited on ourselves, 361; rash on others without excuse, 472; temporal, effectual, 481.

¶290

Justice, courts of, originated in the natural moral law, 423.

¶291

Kidnappers entice by pleasant things, 449.

¶292

Kings excel their subjects in wealth, 421; make unreasonable laws, 447; doff their crowns in battle, 447; have more cause for sadness than any, 460; armour of, 467; made glorious by mercy, 485; may easily conquer, but not win, 487.

¶293

Knives, feats performed with, 470.

¶294

Knowledge of the creation from God, 421; withheld to remove occasion of pride, 421; of God by His works, 421; of good and evil by nature, 428; not for its own sake, 435.

¶295

Labour brings sleep, 352; our safest state, 353; spiritual reward of, 357; of life ordained by whom, 384.

¶296

Laughter often leads to sin, 442; how to be met, 481.

¶297

Law, of Nature (see Conscience) the ground of Christ's teaching, 428; against criminal suits in Lent, 383, n.; of God takes precedence of human laws, 398; civil, of the heathen, from conscience, 423; of kings not to be questioned, 447.

¶298

Lazarus gained a reward, 340, 385; example of, 342, 373; truly rich, 348.

¶299

Learning, how long Pambos was learning one verse, 332, n.; without wisdom avails nothing, 465.

¶300

Lebanon for Judæa, 467.

¶301

Legerdemain, feats of, 470.

¶302

Lent, Christian's working time, 357; commencement of, 358, n., 370, n.; precepts to learn in, 363; celebrated with daily sermons, 379, n.; covers sins of the past year, 472.

¶303

Leprosy of Miriam, 475.

¶304

Lessons, Scripture, in worship, order of, 347, n.; from Jonah's history, 378; from the irrational animals, 420.

¶305

Letter of the monks to Theodosius, 454.

¶306

Libanius, 394, n.

¶307

Life, a burden, a cottage here, in heaven a palace, 372; why made laborious, 384; without religion dull and wearisome, 385; a good, honours God, 405; bordering on sin like walking along a precipice, 443; in the country favourable to virtue, 465.

¶308

Litanies, 362, n.

¶309

Longsuffering of God, 424.

¶310

Loss, by doing one's duty versus the gain, 444; of children no grief to the good, 461.

¶311

Love, its own reward, 338, n.; shewn in patient endurance, 341, 342; in perseverance, 342; takes interest in everything, 356; of God absent, causes fear of death, 374; glories in suffering, 448; maternal, 453; delights in all that belongs to the object of it, 474; exercised in great offences, 485; delights in the good of others, 464.

¶312

Lucifer, consecrates Paulinus, Bishop of Antioch, 354, n.

¶313

Lungs, position of, 415.

¶314

Lust, by looking, 443.

¶315

Luxury, tendencies of, 442; unfit for trials, 459; untimely in public troubles, 464.

¶316

Madmen, never at rest, 474.

¶317

Magee, Archbishop, on Sacrifice, 422, n.

¶318

Magistrates, out of office bear the same titles, 447.

¶319

Magnanimity of monks at Antioch, 453.

¶320

Manichees, alluded to, 335.

¶321

Manners, purity of, 466.

¶322

Marcion, 413, n.

¶323

Martyrs, shrines of, places of almsgiving, 340; become mediators, 389, n.

¶324

Martyrdom, of Abel, 342; of St. John Baptist, 343; crown of, how to win, 343, 347; has efficacy of Baptism, 376, n.

¶325

Masters, approved by their scholars, 455; insulted by injuries done to their servants, 475.

¶326

Matter, heretical opinions about, 413, n.

¶327

Meal, 399, n.; principal among the Romans was supper, 379, n.

¶328

Means effecting opposite ends, 448; all to be adopted to win an enemy, 477.

¶329

Mediator, the Bishop so employed with the Emperor, 354.

¶330

Medicine, skill required to apply it, 358; the end of, 375; natural, 395; from animals, 395, n.

¶331

Meekness of the monks, 455; does not anger an enemy, 475.

¶332

Melchisideck a Gentile, 423, n.

¶333

Members, the instruments of good and evil according to our choice, 369; each its excellence, 417; one cut off to be reunited, 476.

¶334

Membranes, covering the brain, 415.

¶335

Memorial, perpetual, of sin, 466.

¶336

Men, all have much in common, 343, a spiritual flock, 355; soon tire of other's affairs, 356; images of God, 362; the race after the fall deserved destruction, 392; command over the creation, 411; gentler than brutes, 416; to be measured by virtue, not natural gifts, 457; self-taught in good and evil, 422, 428; in the Arts and Sciences, 423; naturally at enmity with vice, 429; disinterested in love and hatred, 429; of well regulated minds not distracted by events, 459; pleasure the aim of all, 459.

¶337

Merchandise, spiritual, in doing God's bidding, 477.

¶338

Merchants, labour in hope, 450; cargo not distance their care, 451; labour for enjoyment afterwards, 459.

¶339

Mercy, shewn to others, procures mercy for ourselves, 355; of judges at Antioch, 454; makes kings glorious, 485.

¶340

Merit, not proved by titles of honour, 477.

¶341

Metropolis, avails naught for salvation, 457.

¶342

Milk, for children a simile, 401.

¶343

Minister, his people's conduct his glory, 347.

¶344

Miracles, by relics, 332, 333, 367; power of, limited, 333; does not dispense with fasting, 334; tempt the ignorant to worship men, 338; an extraordinary, 367; of the Apostles, not by their own power, 409.

¶345

Miriam's punishment not remitted, 475.

¶346

Misfortunes of others open men's hearts, 429, n.; subdue our vanity, 429; light, felt by the rich, 460; without excuse before God, 472.

¶347

Monasteries, 455, n.

¶348

Monks, services of, 453; effects of their intercession, 454; account of one, 455; undismayed, 463.

¶349

Moral and Positive to Laws, difference between, 421; moral teaching, 447.

¶350

Mortality, human, for overthrowing pride, 413.

¶351

Mortification, spiritual acts of, 379; incumbent on all, 384.

¶352

Moses, suffered for doing good, 342; disregarded by the people in extreme distress, 346; wherein he brought honey from the rock, 352; his intercession, 355; rod of, 396; command over created things, 411; his righteousness availed not the Jews, 430.

¶353

Mothers miss their children at table, 400; case of a mother at Antioch, 453; grief often relieves, 461.

¶354

Mourning, sight of, sobers: reminds of Judgment, 440; calls forth sympathy from enemies, 440.

¶355

Mourner, to others like a cloud parted by the sun's rays, 346.

¶356

Multitude, the, influenced by fear and threats, 392; of inhabitants avails nothing, 457.

¶357

Murder, why not reasoned about, where forbidden, 421; by exacting oaths, 443.

¶358

Mutability of earthly good, 460.

¶359

Nails, construction of, 416.

¶360

Name, calling by, a mark of affection, 393, n.; common to our Lord, 393, n.; of God how pronounced in heaven, 394.

¶361

National calamities ought to direct us to God, 346; work national amendments, 366.

¶362

Nature, overruled by the piety of Saints, 367; what exists by, comforts, 391; gifts of, commend the Giver, 429; course of, not to be maligned, 442; ties of, are a great obligation, 453.

¶363

Nebuchadnezzar, change wrought in him, 386; herald of his own defeat, 386.

¶364

Neighbours, spiritual good of, to be furthered, 452; afflictions of, to be shared, 458; good of, an enjoyment, 464.

¶365

Night, as good as day, 395; succeeds day without change, 402.

¶366

Ninevites, their fasting accepted, 358; why, 359; teach repentance and hope, 376; forsook their sins, the city saved, 377; their disadvantages in comparison with Jews and Christians, 377, 480; complete repentance of, from fear, 480.

¶367

Noah, laughed at, 481.

¶368

Noise from "spectacles" disturbed divine service, 439.

¶369

Number, the, of fellows in sin no profit, 388.

¶370

Oaths, testimony of the life instead, 394; how Satan works amidst, 398; only to be taken fasting, 400; have caused the worst evils, 432; binding others more dangerous, 433; at the altar, 443; either superfluous or perjury, 444; caused the ruin of Jerusalem many times, 467; signified in Ezekiel's parable, 467; occasions of admitted by the Fathers, 470, n.

¶371

Observances, formal, in religion use of, to good and bad Christians, 479, n.

¶372

Occasions, passing, used for instructing, 374, 381, 398, 427, 437, 460, 463, 474.

¶373

Occurrences, incidental, often are of God, 382.

¶374

Ocean, earth upon the, 403, n.

¶375

Offences, of every man against God greater than towards other men, 472; great, an occasion of shewing mercy, 485.

¶376

Openness of Christ's declaration to His followers, 449.

¶377

Order, in nature and human fellowship proclaims God, 401, 402.

¶378

Orders, holy, sin of giving to the unworthy, 331.

¶379

Origen, an intercession of Saints, 389, n.

¶380

Ownership, unreal and real, 350, 351.

¶381

Pambos, how he learned Scripture, 332, n.

¶382

Paradise, St. Paul transported to, 447.

¶383

Pardon, of others gains our own, 355, 477, 488.

¶384

Partners in a shop, 452.

¶385

Passion, God free from, 392.

¶386

Passover, a time of mercy, 355; reverenced by pardon of offences, 479.

¶387

Pastor, bound to suffer for his people, 354; efficacy to his intercessions, 356; how to be regarded by his people, 380; intercourse with each severally, 389; like a husbandman and a pilot, 399; invigorated by success, 399; good of his flock, his good, 412; to be followed trustfully, 425; concern of, for all, 430; living by husbandry: true philosophers, 465.

¶388

Patience, 341; of Lazarus, praised by St. Chrysostom, 342, n.; punishes insolence, 353.

¶389

Paul, St., teacher of the Gentiles, 332, n.; care for Timothy, 333; distrusted himself, 334; kept humble by affliction, 337; strong though in bonds, 337; his example, 342; hindered by Satan, 342; adapts himself to hearers, 349; his labours and reward, 353; reproved sin, 359, eagerness to die, 373, 385; advantages of Christians over St. Paul, 373; his garments, virtue of, 396; more than a lion, 397; his illustrations from nature, 407; recollection of his sins, 419; proves a natural law, 423; concern about one incestuous person, 430; dangers of, for his mending, 431; counted all things loss, 441; feels paternal anxiety, 443; glories in his sufferings for Christ, 447, 462; attempts to convert his judges, 448; recommends continual joy, 459; greatness of, in hiding good deeds, 483.

¶390

Paulinus, Bishop of Antioch, 354, n.

¶391

Peacock, 408.

¶392

Penalty for swearing, 389, 399.

¶393

Penitential acts of use, 378.

¶394

Penitents, discipline of, 472, n.

¶395

Pentateuch, 394, n.

¶396

Perfection, precepts of, 348, 349; how attained, 370; St. Paul's height within the reach of every one, 373; of art in the temple, 456.

¶397

Perfume, spiritual, 406; of flowers the best, 466.

¶398

Perjury from the habit of swearing, in two ways, 432, 438; of both persons swearing the contrary, 432; who forces another to, is guilty himself, 432, 439; the object of Satan, 433; guilt of, shared by those privy to it, 434; manifold from one oath, 436.

¶399

Persecutors, benefitted by the virtue of their victims, 387.

¶400

Perseverance in prosperity a test of virtue, 452.

¶401

Peter, St., the first to preach Christ, 356.

¶402

Pharisee, fasted in vain, 357; his evil speaking, 359.

¶403

Philoponus on the heavens, 419, n.

¶404

Philosophers, cowardice of the heathen, 454; the simple made, 466.

¶405

Philosophy of this world shrinks from danger, 454; worldly, falsified by deeds, 455; pagan, is but in the garb, 465; like a sword with a silver hilt and leaden blade, 465; heathen, taught a few only, 466.

¶406

Physician, spiritual, 360, 394; cures by contraries, 378.

¶407

Piety, the chief good, 369; abides, 451.

¶408

Pilgrimages, 340; to the dunghill of Job, 371; use of, 467.

¶409

Pilot, 408; his chief concern, 399; in storms, 446, 483.

¶410

Place, importance of, for the delivery of the law, 394.

¶411

Plato, 402, n.; on the human body, 413, n.; on the motions of heavenly bodies, 419, n.

¶412

Players, deprived of the holy Communion, 439, n.

¶413

Pleasure depends on relish, 352; present diminished, pain in view, 450.

¶414

Plural number, use of, 481, n.

¶415

Pole, balancing, 470.

¶416

Poor, God's care for, 341; represent Christ for us, 349; trust in God, 351; relish food and sleep, 352.

¶417

Porch, of church for penitents, 472, n.

¶418

Porphyrio, a bird greatly esteemed, 408, n.

¶419

Porters, cajoled for favours, 474.

¶420

Pot, the golden, of the temple, 467.

¶421

Poverty, a benefit and protection, 342, 353, 372; of Elijah, 353; of Job, 442; alleged to excuse almsgiving, 475.

¶422

Power, of injuring the just, why granted, 386; taken away easily, 451; of judges, 454.

¶423

Practice, laxity of, causes death to be feared, 375; a matter of choice and endeavours, 428; right, impossible without fear of God, 439; the season of, is the test of religion, 446; without questioning, 447; of Saints proves Scripture, 455.

¶424

Praise, of one another beside the purpose, 380; to be suspected, 441; of men from reconciliation, 479.

¶425

Prayer, the only resource in trouble, 346; power of, 351; recommended, 354, 356; united powerful, 356; of women, 356; to be persevered in, 362; inattention at, 394, 472; natural as a way of assisting the distressed, 426; penitential, a special kind, 427, n.; fruit of, never lost, 451; most needful after deliverance, 452; for fellows in affliction, 458; the Lord's, taught in Baptism, 355, n.; how entitled, 478, n.; not to be used by halves, 478.

¶426

Preaching, suits not extreme distress, 346; may solace the suffering, 346; to be heard for improvement, 347; of the Gospel not bound as the preacher, 450.

¶427

Precepts, three proposed to be learnt, 363; moral without the reason, 421; of the Gospel better carried in heart than on paper, 470.

¶428

Preservation of the world by God, 403.

¶429

Pride, 348; how to check, in the rich, 349; evil of, 350; spiritual, on account of good works, 337; remedied by considering the weakness of the body, 413, 417; preceded by ignorance, 421.

¶430

Priest, our wound to be shewn to, 360, n.; consoles the afflicted in adversity, 483.

¶431

Prison, likeness to, 345; emptied at Easter, 383, 486; senate of Antioch confined in, 458, n.

¶432

"Prisoner," more glorious than any title to St. Paul, 447.

¶433

Prodigal, the, unfit to manage an inheritance, 450.

¶434

Promises, of God infinitely excellent, 451.

¶435

Prophecy, not false because not accomplished, 376.

¶436

Prosperity, no ground for security, 369, 450; present, heightened by contrast, 425; transient, 427.

¶437

Proverbial sayings against Providence, 341, n.; of contempt for others, 343.

¶438

Providence, denied by some, 341; shewn in apparently accidental cases, 382, 383; in the deliverance of His children, 386; in the use of weak means, 404; proved from the human body, 407; in Flavian's journey, 483.

¶439

Publican, accepted without fasting, 358.

¶440

Punishment, a medicine, 375; of the prosperous twofold, 384; inflicted by parents, 392; severest for sins easily avoided, 411; delayed for repentance, 424; inflicted on Antioch beneficial, 455; of an inexorable enemy, 475.

¶441

Purgatory, doctrine of, 387, n.

¶442

Pusillanimity, to be always dwelling on miseries, 391; to look to man for comfort, 445.

¶443

Questions, raised to win attention, 333; on the permission of suffering, 336, 340; on brute animals fasting, 358.

¶444

Quinquagesima, 358, n.

¶445

Racing, ill effects of, 442.

¶446

Rank not to be regarded in rebuking vice, 430.

¶447

Reason, appropriates the superior powers of brutes, 416; does not constrain, 428, n.; given to avoid sin, 441.

¶448

Reasons, of God s works, a few revealed, 421; of God's laws not to be required, 447.

¶449

Recollection of past evils useful, 418.

¶450

Reconciliation, the one seeking has the whole merit, 474; endeavours after, always acceptable to God, 475; imputed to wrong motives, 476; to God by the Crucifixion, 476; every day makes, more difficult, 476; only to please God, 477; a cause of forgiveness, 477; repulses must not quell, 478; very easy, 479.

¶451

Reflection on words of Scripture, 391; from the sight of grief, 440; on being laughed at for doing right, 481.

¶452

Reformation, spiritual, of the community, rapid when begun, 389; at Antioch, 455.

¶453

Relics of Timothy expelled demons, 332; of the Apostles, 333; of Job in great repute, 371; virtue of, 389, n.; of martyrs expelled demons, 396.

¶454

Relief from grieving, 462.

¶455

Religion, how designated in Scripture, 367, n.; training in, increases obligation, 373; not to left to the clergy, 384.

¶456

Reminding one another of duties, 399.

¶457

Remission from God, according to our excusing, 477; full, by full, 478.

¶458

Repairs, small, neglected, bring ruin, 470.

¶459

Repentance, pardon offered to, 362; time given for, 363; procures the removal of evils, 376; speedy, from fear of God, 480; duty of bringing others to, 481.

¶460

Reproach felt as a wrong, 428; a spur to amendment, 429.

¶461

Reproof to be administered in love, 343, 359; calls forth love, 344; an improvement of our talent, 348.

¶462

Repulse, no excuse for not being reconciled, 472, 478.

¶463

Resentment is a practice of malice, 476; excludes from the holy Communion, 476; precluded by considering our sins, 472, 473; continually forbidden, 473; madness: punished here and hereafter, 474; merits the worst punishment, 474; the most inexcusable of all sins, 475; gives advantage to Satan: is contempt of God, 477; unjust toward our worst foes, 473.

¶464

Reserve, practised by St. Paul and our Lord, 349.

¶465

Responsibility from religious instruction, 398, 424.

¶466

Rest, must be preceded by tribulation, 366.

¶467

Restraint upon vice provided by God, 429; human on our freedom submitted to, 447; tribulation is, 452.

¶468

Resurrection, proved by afflictions of the Saints, 339; hope of, removes fear of death, 373.

¶469

Revelation by letters would have availed the learned and the rich only, 401; by things is understood by all men, 401.

¶470

Reward bestowed for pains, not natural gifts, 429; temporal and spiritual contrasted, 451; of grieving over the sins of others, 462.

¶471

Rich, the, more miserable than the poor, 460.

¶472

Riches, the true, 348, 351, 353; earthly, vanity of, 348; wherein not forbidden, 348; an encumbrance, 349; where to deposit, 349, 350; the use of, only ours, 350; why not given equally, 351; drive men to mean arts, 353; a means of virtue, 442; liability to loss of, 451; not happiness, 460.

¶473

Ridicule, for well-doing, how to be met, 481.

¶474

Righteous, arms of, 397; overthrow demons, 397; never sad, 461; alone happy, 462.

¶475

Robes, rich, look best on ourselves, 380.

¶476

Roman Catholic Church on Eucharist, 444, n.

¶477

Roots, bitter, sweet fruits from, 462.

¶478

Rope walking, 470.

¶479

Ruin of Jerusalem by breaking oaths, 469.

¶480

Rule self-imposed for the cure of faults, 471.

¶481

Rulers, God arms, 381; fear of, proper, 381; like the supports of a building, 382.

¶482

Sabbath, why enjoined in Decalogue, 422; made a type of the Lord's Day, 422, n.

¶483

Sacrament, more than Elisha had, 353.

¶484

Sacrifice, a dictate of the natural law, 422, n.; unbloody, 472.

¶485

Sadness, darkens the sight, 346; of the rich, 459.

¶486

Saints, especially assailed, 334, 342; eight reasons why afflicted, 336; their power from God, 338; motives of, for serving Him, 338; not to be worshipped, 338, n.; ninth and tenth reason why afflicted, 340; their countenance, 355; a few save their country, 356; effects of their sanctity on nature, 367; daunted by nothing, 368; surmount all natural ills, 375; the more tried, the more glorious, 386; meekness of, when magnified by men, 386; departed, intercession of, 389, n.; unconcern for their own safety, 448; the living, proclaim the virtues of their teachers, 455; joy of, under trouble wonderful, 461.

¶487

Salvation, obtained by few without threats, 392; precepts of, not hindered by the body, 472.

¶488

Sand, the boundary of the sea, 404; house built on, 446.

¶489

Satan aims most at the advanced, 334, 342; messengers of, 337; would have men reckoned gods, 338; called to account by Jehovah, 338; accuses Job, 339; assails him, 339; foiled by Job's patience, 341; man has nothing in common with, 343; his rage against Antioch, 344; how he resisted, 357; his spite at Job, 366; greatest efforts abortive, 367, 386; most defeated by the righteous in adversity, 371; arts of, to keep alive anger, 398; attempts of, thwarted by God, 419, 439; specially flourishes amidst oaths, 433; agency of, in the case of Saul and the honey, 434, 436; reason of, urging Jonathan to eat, 434; a fowler, 441; service of, often hard, 469; author of swearing, 470; our sole enemy, 476; disappointed at the Emperor's clemency, 485.

¶490

Saul, would not from hatred name David, 393; his prohibition to eat defeated, 433, 436; rashness of, 433, 436; grief over Jonathan's confession, 436; likely consequences of his oath, 437.

¶491

Scene of remarkable events affects us, 467.

¶492

School, severity of, 381, 449.

¶493

Sciences, application to spiritual subjects, 407.

¶494

Scripture Holy, as a lyre and a trumpet, 331; flowery meadow, 331; a mine of wisdom, 332; to be alleged in teaching, 336, 337; allegorical sense of, 338, n.; course of reading, 347, 348, 358, ns.; food from, 348; consolation from every part of, 391, 394; an instance, 391; not needed in the first ages, 400; entirely agrees, 403; slowness in explaining, 446; sense of, with the clergy, 447; accounts of the faithful verified in living Saints, 455.

¶495

Seal, set on confiscated houses, 427.

¶496

Seasons, order and harmony of, 402.

¶497

Secresy, a sign of guilt, 360.

¶498

Sedition, state of Antioch after, 344, sqq.; raised by a few strangers, 347, 355, 381; offenders in, punished, 362; what befel messengers of, 382; how punished, 455; turned to the honour of the city, Bishop and Emperor, 482.

¶499

Self-possession, the best defence against dangers, 446.

¶500

Septuagint, followed by St. Chrysostom, 340, n.

¶501

Sermons, daily during Lent, 379, n.

¶502

Servants, sitting with, 345; consulting with, 363; dare not name their masters, 394; runaway, how they break their chains, 403; their spiritual good, needs attention, 405; have masters to overcome sloth, 429; flogging of, 432; not remitting debts at their master's bidding, 478.

¶503

Servility to the powerful, 474, n.

¶504

Severity before indulgence, 449.

¶505

Shame, of sinning before inferiors, 428; of not serving God better after great mercies, 438; to wait for advances to reconciliation, 474.

¶506

Sheep, parable of, 430.

¶507

Ship without pilot and crew, 408.

¶508

Shipwreck in retrospect, 426; spectators of, help by their prayers, 426; of the state, 452.

¶509

Sick, the, glutton a pitiable object, 387.

¶510

Sickle, flying, seen by the Prophet, 443.

¶511

Sickness, borne cheerfully, 332; no bar to zeal, 334; proves wealth vain, 351; no great evil, 397; past is pleasant to remember, 420; an instructor, 429; of St. Chrysostom, 464.

¶512

Silence, from suspicion, 426.

¶513

Significant, 480; the only hope of offenders, 484.

¶514

Simplicity of the country clergy, 465; of the Apostles, 466.

¶515

Sin, most hurtful in good men, 334; comes not of God's work, 335; pardon of, through affliction, 340, 387; shared by indifference, 348; how focused in pride, 348; pardon of, through alms, 351; through forgiving others, 355; by Priests, 356; on repentance, 362; to be reproved, 360; our own to be examined, 360; sure to find us out, 363, 378; removed through tribulation, 365, 385; alone to be dreaded, 372, 374, 387; blotted out by grief, 376, 461; by death, 376, 390; here punished better, 385; is misery punishment aside, 387; strikes dumb, 393; consciousness of makes cowards, 396; makes vulnerable, 397; to abstain from, no labour, 398; those easily avoided most punished, 411; forgiven, not to be forgotten, 418; the skein of our, 433; increased by frequent instruction, 438; remitted in the Eucharist, 444, n.; is dishonour, 456; great witness against, perpetuated, 466; excludes from holy Communion, 472; all, exposed at the Judgment, 430.

¶516

Sinner, the, like chaff, 397.

¶517

Sisters dividing an inheritance in peace, 402.

¶518

Slander, to be buried, 360; a snare of Satan, 360.

¶519

Sleep, sweet to the weary, 352; a medicine, 395.

¶520

Sloth, requires chastisement, 431; banished by fear, 439; danger of, under prosperity, 452, 463.

¶521

Snares, beset us on all sides, 440; wife, children, etc., may become, 441; same, catch men again, 441.

¶522

Sobriety, needful before going to church, 400; of country people, 466.

¶523

Socrates, on the faculty of women for learning, 470, n.; opinions on punishment, 375, n.

¶524

Sodom, its greatness no defense, 456; a perpetual witness, 466.

¶525

Soldiers, Christians are, 357; Christian, incapacitated by dread, 376; employed at the trials at Antioch, 426; intemperate particularly in battle, 433; on guard prevent robbers, 439; alert for conquest, 459; reverence their officers, 472.

¶526

Solomon, made trial of luxury, 352; his thoughts on mirth, 440; learned in Art and Science by God, 456.

¶527

Sores, treatment of, 387.

¶528

Sorrow, an occasion of joy to Saints, 461.

¶529

Soul, the, to be adorned for Christ's dwelling, 350; medicine for, 358; the only proper object of concern, 397; subject to infirmity to prevent pride, 414; wounded by swearing, 438; stedfast, is proof against danger, 446; of unconverted, an old wine-skin, 449; philosophy of the even, in all events, 454; dignity of, in virtue, 457; like the body as affected from without, 462; the seat of philosophy, 465; beauty of, to be admired, 466; under the fear of God like a rusty tool in the furnace, 480; sign of greatness of, looking to God, 482.

¶530

Spark, falling on the ocean, 460.

¶531

Speculations, on the Universe above us, 411; folly of, 421; improper on Divine commands, 447.

¶532

Speech, how precious, is certain, 332; how restrained, 397.

¶533

Spider, not esteemed because he toils for himself, 420.

¶534

Spirit Holy, gives matter for discourse, 332, 347; all His gifts munificent, 332; His gold needs His flame, 332; enters not where wrath is, 479.

¶535

Stability, type of, 402.

¶536

Stadium, 416, n.

¶537

Stars, like flowers, 408.

¶538

State, without Rulers, illustrated, 381; dependence of members on each other in, 417; not saved by multitude, 457.

¶539

Statuary's skill on rude materials, 414.

¶540

Statues, of the Emperor demolished, 344; a device of Satan, 439; Theodosius's mother and wife, dishonoured, 484, n.; for humaneness, 485; of Constantine, dishonoured, 485.

¶541

Stibadium, 489, n.

¶542

Storm, approaching, 446.

¶543

Striving, lawful, what, 357, n.

¶544

Substance, 362.

¶545

Suffering, for Christ, our glory, 447; fellowship in, soothes, 339.

¶546

Sun, transcends nature, 404; a bridegroom: not a god, 410; in constant motion, 419.

¶547

Superfluous, what seems, may be full of Divine wisdom, 332.

¶548

Surfeit, breaks sleep, 352.

¶549

Suspiciousness from guilt, 396.

¶550

Swearer, ought to reflect on martyrdom of St. John B., 432; house of, ruined, 443.

¶551

Swearing, 363, 370, 379, 394, 417, 424, 443; easily overcome, 370, 379, 388, 398, 437; methods of overcoming, 370, 379; the excuse answered when imposed by another, 380, 398; no excuse that others swear, 388; insult to God shewn by, 304; substitute for, 398, 481; mode adopted to overcome, 399; the easier the worse, 411; abstaining from a Divine precept, 425; of contraries common in many relations, 432; Satan lies in wait for, 432, 433; doubling of Saul in, 437; to abstain from easier than to obey the Emperor, 437; forbidden by Christ, 444; worse in Christians than in Jews, 469; comes of negligence, 470; all, from Satan, 470; difficulty of curing, imaginary, 479; not to be cured little by little, 480.

¶552

Sympathy in the joy of others, 429.

¶553

Synagogue at Daphne, 457, n.

¶554

Table of spiritual food from Holy Writ, 348; of the rich not relished, 351.

¶555

Talents, parable of, 348; ten thousand, parable of, 355, 478.

¶556

Tarentines, drunkenness and luxury of, 400, n.

¶557

Taxes, 363, 398; indignation caused by, 374.

¶558

Teacher, the, a title of St. Paul, 332; to take fit seasons, 413; number of natural, 430; differs from the artificer as to consequences, shares in the merit of his scholars, 487.

¶559

Temperance, naturally approves itself, 428; practice of severe, 429.

¶560

Temple, the, honoured by God, dishonoured by sinners, 456.

¶561

Thankfulness, in trouble rewarded, 341.

¶562

Thanksgiving, contrasted with blasphemy, 342; 343, equals cross-bearing, 385; for favours procures others, 412; repeated, 412, 425, 450; in distress, 452; for evils, 489.

¶563

Theatres, forbidden, 359; one opposite the church, 439; cause many evils, 442, 455.

¶564

Theodosius, statues of, thrown down, 344, 362; embassy to, 354; hopes from his piety and clemency, 355, 356, 453, 457; baptized, 355; compared to Ahasuerus, 356; tax levied by, 361, n.; not present when insulted, 362; his religious character, 383, 487; opposite acts from, 383, n.; closing of the baths, 437; stopped public amusements as a punishment, 455; like a father in demeaning Antioch, 455; reverence of, for Priests, 483; reception of Flavian, 484; his upbraiding, restitution produced, 485; greater in pardoning than in succouring Antioch, 486; by pardoning shews the power of Christianity, 486; reasons for his expecting a reward from God, 487; an example to posterity, 487; bidden to consider the Judgment, 488; pardons Antioch, imitating Jesus, 488; proofs of his entire forgiveness, 488.

¶565

Thessalonica, massacre at, 383, n.

¶566

Thirst gives relish to drink, 352.

¶567

Thoughts, bad, how dispelled, 331; government of, 357.

¶568

Three Children, delivered by prayer, 367; song of, in use every where and always, 367, n.; a surpassing miracle variously tried upon, 367; the reverse of the idolaters, 368; example of, 376, 385; they and their executioners like gold and hay, 385; freedom and wisdom of, 386; motives in disobeying the king, 387.

¶569

Times, stated, proper for contending with particular bad habits, 370, 388; different things for different times, 401.

¶570

Timothy, St., power of, with God, 332; his labours, 333, 335; his abstinence, 333; spiritual son and yokefellow to St. Paul, 334; resolution in self-discipline, 335.

¶571

Title, the most illustrious of St. Paul's, 447; of worldly dignity soon perishes, 447; of metropolis taken from Antioch, 455.

¶572

Tongue, a snare, 443.

¶573

Torture, by scourging, 426, 474, n.

¶574

Translation of Scriptures, source of error in, 405, n.

¶575

Transubstantiation, 354, n.

¶576

Treason, a subject of fear to kings, 460.

¶577

Trees, each kind has its excellence, 417; roots of, bitter, 462.

¶578

Trials at Antioch, terrors of, 426, 453; painful instance at, 426.

¶579

Tribulation of Saints a means of pardon, 340; increased reward, 340, 342; a sign of God's love, 342, temptation by, 342; permitted for good, 344, 365; a seed time, 364; a rain, 365; strengthens the good, 366; not removed until amendment, 366; exalts men, 369; suffering unjustly like to, 385; comes before joy, 449; present, subdued by bright prospect, 450; to the godly like a spark on the ocean, 460.

¶580

Tribunals, secular, closed at midday, why, 160; at Antioch, 426.

¶581

Truth, shadows of, attained by the heathen, 386, n.; to be applied variously, 435.

¶582

Tutors compel to good conduct, 453.

¶583

Unbelievers, how affected by the example of Christians, 405, 486.

¶584

Union of men for various purposes, 452.

¶585

Valens excommunicated, 481, n.

¶586

Valentinus on matter, 413, n.

¶587

Vanity, being subject to, 411.

¶588

Vengeance on our enemies defeats its own end, 475; God the Judge for, 475.

¶589

Venture, by heathens acting upon Prophecy, 377; its lessons, 401.

¶590

Verses, division of, in Bible among the ancients, 446, n.

¶591

Vessels, earthen, 409.

¶592

Vice, hatred of, while followed, 429.

¶593

View, from the top of mountains, 441.

¶594

Vine, Jerusalem so called, 467.

¶595

Virgin, the, Mary, invocation of, 389, n.

¶596

Virgins, the ten, parable of, 388; dancing, 402; God's disapproval manifested through, 434.

¶597

Virtue, like a fine dress, looks best on the person, 380; applauded by its opponents, 387; a blessing, reward aside, 387; some, natural, 429; promoted by teachers, 429; school of, war, 435; bred by fear, 439; fruit of, rooted above, 451; test by perseverance in prosperity, 452; the defence of a people, 456; easier in country life, 465.

¶598

Void, meaning in Gen. i., 391, n.

¶599

Voyage, length of, no help to the merchant, 451.

¶600

Vow, of Jephthah, what resulted, 454.

¶601

War, a religious matter with the Jews, 435; defeat in from sin, 435.

¶602

Warriors, great, by their presence secure victory, 454.

¶603

Washing of hands before taking the Bible, 394; before receiving the sacred elements, 479.

¶604

Watchfulness over those in our charge, 354; needed especially after deliverances, 453.

¶605

Water, honey to the thirsty, 352; bearing the earth a marvel, 403; fixed in the heavens unnatural, 404; in constant motion, 419; drawing of, 446.

¶606

Wicked, often prosper here, 340.

¶607

Wilkinson on the dancing represented in hieroglyphics, 470, n.

¶608

Will, rests with, to cure the soul, 397; in man effects what nature does in brutes, 420.

¶609

Wings of zeal, 335; of birds, use of, 441; of the flying sickle, 443.

¶610

Wine, use of, lawful, 333, 348; to be used for health, 335; perfumed, 352.

¶611

Wine-skin, 449.

¶612

Winter, good of, felt afterwards, 459.

¶613

Wisdom, force of, upon the wicked, 386; to be alone sought, 463; among the humble, 465.

¶614

Wives have husbands as instructors, 430; keeping to, 435.

¶615

Women, their prayers heard, 356; at Antioch, wretchedness during disorder, 427; case of two, 426; delight in their jewels, 449; cured of finery by the thoughts of St. Paul, 450; dancing, 470.

¶616

Woods, rot from immersion, 403.

¶617

Word of God never fails, 377; sufficient to effect any thing, 410.

¶618

Words, exact use of, 332; not necessary for instruction, 402.

¶619

Wordsworth's Vernal Ode, 420, n.

¶620

Works, good, may breed presumption, 337; to be persevered in, 343; needful with fasting, 359; each man's, the measure of his moral nature, 430; bring joy, 451; laid up in heaven, 451.

¶621

Workshops closed, 439.

¶622

World, its wisdom vain, 332; Christians in, are strangers, 457; converted by simple men, 466.

¶623

Worm, undying, 473.

¶624

Wounds of the soul, 438.

¶625

Wrath of God pacified by our forgiveness, 473.

¶626

Wrestlers, stripped for contest, 339, 357; give advantage to shew their skill, 339, n.; rules for, 357, n.; must strive, 364, n.; tried in the lists, 446.

¶627

Xenophon, on dancing, 470, n.

¶628

Youth requires discipline, 334.

¶629

Zeal overcomes infirmity, 335; and difficulties, 342; of one reforms many, 344; of inhabitants of Antioch for the faith, 456.

¶630

Zedekiah's oath brought ruin, 468; a witness against breaking oaths, 469.

Translated by ANF/NPNF editors. Edition ccel.npnf109.division.xx.en.

Ask about this

Opens in Study with this context for you to review. Answers require sign-in and access.

In the margin · source text