[1800] Ben. adds "for the commands of God," but it seems to be a gloss; 2 mss. at Venice omit it.
[1801] This alludes to the penitential discipline of the primitive Church, which confined penitents of the lowest order to the church porch. Consult Bingham in Antiq. viii. c. 3, and xviii. c. 1.
[1802] Sav. God's.
[1803] Ps. cxxx. 3.
[1804] Herbert's Poems, No. lxviii., "I would not use a friend as I use Thee."
[1805] St. Chrys. seems to mean, that there is none so remarkably connected with promises of remission of sin, as Matt. v. 7, vi. 14; Luke vi. 37.
[1806] Jer. xv. 1.
[1807] Jer. xv. 1.
[1808] Zech. viii. 17, vii. 10, LXX.
[1809] Prov. xxiv. 17.
[1810] From Hom. XIII. 3, we know that the torture was chiefly by scourging, but fire (if literally used, as it had often been in torturing Christians) might be applied in various ways. The allusion favours the insertion of the Homily in this place. A passage towards the end of the Homily places it unquestionably in this Lent.
[1811] i.e., the feet of their enemies.
[1812] kolakeusomen. The aorist implies that the object intended is to get an audience. For a striking picture of such servility, see Tac. An.. iv. 77.
[1813] See on Rom. xii. 21, Hom. XXII.
[1814] Numb. xii. 14.
[1815] Benedictine "Paul saith," but this is not in Savile nor in the Latin, and is omitted in a Venice ms. and some at Paris; it is accounted for by polu, but Ducæus suggests 1 Peter iii. 17.
[1816] Matt. v. 23, 24.
[1817] Ephes. iv. 26.
[1818] 1 Pet. iv. 8.
[1819] Matt. vi. 12.
[1820] This and similar language of the Fathers, is startling to many, but is hardly more than a transcript of the passages of Holy Scripture they refer to. A general acknowledgment and explanation of them occurs in the "Homily of Alms-deeds."
[1821] Or wouldest thou have proof.
[1822] 1 Ven. adds, the things remitted are not equal.
[1823] Sav. mar. those.
[1824] Often called emphatically, "The Prayer," as constantly in the title of Comments on it. Tertullian de Oratione, and the like.
[1825] Matt. vi. 14.
[1826] Matt. xviii. 24, 28.
[1827] Denarii.
[1828] Matt. v. 24.
[1829] Literally anything common with him, oud? ?cho ti koinon pros auton: see end of Hom. I.
[1830] i.e., is called so in this passage.
[1831] If such rules are found fault with because they do not necessarily involve holy living, it should be remembered that where strictly kept, they are grounds for such an appeal as this; and why not, in better men, for holy recollections? They are not truly parallel to those censured by our Lord, which did not relate to the treatment of holy things, and here they are treated quite as subservient to duties of a higher order. The word here rendered "necessity" may be "compulsion."
[1832] i.e., "and if thou bearest malice thy soul is unwashed; for," &c.
[1833] i.e., more words than he can articulate. St. Chrysostom supposes here a man who in his wrath loses the power of distinct utterance. (Such may be the meaning, or, that he never speaks without several oaths, or oftener speaks with an oath than without one, pleiona omnuonta m'llon e phthengomenon.)
[1834] Jonah ii. 4.
[1835] Jonah i. 5.
[1836] Jonah iii. 10. St. Chrysostom here of course supposes Jonah to be the author of the book which bears his name.
[1837] He refers to his own instructions during Lent: see the close of this Homily.
[1838] holokleron, wanting no constituent part.
[1839] Or vessels, ta ioth?nta ton skeuon. 'Ios also means "venom," and stains are taken out of rough earthenware in the same manner.
[1840] Prov. xxvii. 1.
[1841] ouk ?postesometha proteron. i.e., will not leave off the plan proposed above, of attending to nothing else till this was accomplished.
[1842] Luke xi. 32.
[1843] mathetas.
[1844] pisteuson.
[1845] As one who could not talk like others.
[1846] Forty days from Quinquagesima, leaving ten till Easter; see Pref.
[1847] St. Ambrose (Life by Paulinus, sec. 34), forbade Theodosius to enter the church at all, after the massacre of Thessalonica. St. Basil refused Communion to Valens, who had joined the Arians, but did not attempt to prevent his entering the church. See St. Greg. Naz. Or. 20 (Ben. 43). He even allowed him to present an offering; but this was an indulgence. Offenders would be liable of course to Ecclesiastical censure, if they took a nearer place than was allowed them.
[1848] ton pro?dron, a title of bishops. See Bingham, b. 2, c. 2. sec. 5. Flavian was probably not yet returned, but would be always supposed to pray for the people. The plural is sometimes used of a single person, especially one of dignity. Some other persons are called pat?res in Hom. XVI., and in Hom. VI. probably departed saints, where see of the intercession of saints in general.