6 without having derived fruit from his fasting. The Publican fasted not, and yet the Publican, who fasted not, was preferred to the Pharisee, who fasted; that we might know, that fasting of itself profiteth nothing. The inhabitants of Nineveh fasted, and obtained the divine favour; the Jews fasted and effected nought; but were condemned by God. Let us then inquire what averted the wrath of God from Ninevah? Was it fasting and the putting on of sackcloth ? Certainly not; but it was an entire change of life. Whence doth this appear? Even from the words of the Prophet; for he who spake concerning the wrath of God, and their fasting, the same declared, the reconciliation of God, and the cause of that reconciliation, saying thus: and God saw their works.' What works? their fasting? their wearing of sackcloth? No! having passed over all these things in silence, he added: that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them.' see that fasting rescued them not from peril, but that a change of life rendered God merciful towards them. I have not said this to undervalue fasting; but to honour it. For to honour fasting is not to abstain from food, but to depart from sin. He who limiteth fasting to an abstinence from food, he it is who discovereth a contempt for it. Dost thou fast? Prove it to me by thine actions. By what actions? If thou see a poor man take pity upon him. If thou behold an enemy, reconcile thyself unto him. only the mouth but every sense must fast. profiteth it to abstain from birds and fish, if we devour our brother with hatred?-Hom. III. to People of Antioch. Ye Not What In another Homily, he says: Of what advantage to us is abstinence from food, if we lay not aside the evil habits of our souls? Behold we have passed this entire day without food, and our tables will this evening be spread more sparingly, than on yester eve. Can any one of us say, that he hath this day with his table altered his course of life? That with his sustenance he hath given up one evil habit? I think not. Of what advantage then is fasting? Wherefore I exhort you;-and shall not cease exhorting you, to devote two or three days to the special consideration and practice of each commandment. Since there are many, who with exceeding contention emulate each other in fasting, some dispensing with food for two entire days; others during the forty days not only removing from their table oil and wine, but all food except bread and water,— let us rival one another in abolishing the frequency of oaths; for this will be more profitable than fasting-more effectual than mortification of the body. The same zeal which we display in abstinence from food, let us discover in abstinence from oaths; for we shall expose ourselves to the reproach of extreme folly, if we regard not things forbidden, but direct all our zeal to things indifferent. After the second week of the Fast had elapsed, he said:-We have now concluded the second week of the Fast; but let us not on this account ascribe to ourselves merit; for the celebration of the Fast requireth not only abstinence from food, but likewise the performance of good works. Let us rather consider, whether we have become more earnest? whether we have corrected any one of our faults; whether we have cleansed ourselves from sin. It is a general custom on the fortieth day to inquire how many weeks each person hath fasted? and some reply that they have fasted two, others three, others all the weeks. But what availeth it, if they have kept the Fast without having performed good works should any one say to thee, I have fasted forty days,' reply: 'I had an enemy, with whom I have reconciled myself; I had the bad habit of speaking ill of others, and this I have laid aside; I was wont to swear, and have forsaken this wicked custom.'-Hom, V. to People of Antioch. ALMSDEEDS. [We have already seen, that, from the eloquence with which he advocated the cause of the poor, and from that more effective eloquence-his own example, St. Chrysostom obtained the appellation of "John of Almsdeeds,". -a more touching claim to our admiration than even that of "John of the Golden Month."] It is not without reason, that I insist as I do on the performance of this duty. I know that many are in the habit, before they will acquit themselves of it, of satisfying their curiosity with respect to those who come to them to crave assistance; they must know all about their country, their way of life, their morals, their business, whether they are strong or weak. They might be excused if they confined themselves to these general inquiries-but they go further, -they accuse, they condemn without hearing; and it is this which obliges these poor creatures to employ all the artifices imaginable to endeavour to get the better of this hard-heartedness in their regard. Were it only in the season for labour that we permitted ourselves to act in this manner, it might perhaps be endured; but at the present time, when they have to struggle with every privation, without any means of procuring work, to appear to them only in the light of severe unpitying judges, is a rigour without excuse, and the excess of inhumanity. We reproach the poor with doing nothing; merciless on this point with respect to them, we are indulgent towards ourselves on things far more criminal than all their idleness. The poor man who solicits your charity, has left his lonely roof, as soon as the shades of night gave him a hope that he might not be known, to beg from door to door, for the means of supporting his miserable existence. Trembling and fearful he dares scarcely trust himself to the obscurity around. He relinquishes sleep-how indeed can he hope to taste the comfort of it, when the hunger which preys upon him chases it from his eyes! No matter whether the rain wets him through, or the cold freezes him, he must still wander on, and watch and beg; whilst you, just stepping out of your bath, luxuriously attired, without uneasiness for the morrow, without thinking any more of the day that has imperceptibly come to its close, your imagination nursing the most agreeable dreams,-you are going to sit down to a table where opulence and refinement dispute the palm of taste. Let the poor man come up to you at this moment; let him extend his suppliant hands towards you; see his humble posture, almost bowed to the earth, pinched with cold and hunger alike—he craves a morsel of bread: do you give it him? No; all he will take away with him from your door will be a humiliating refusal, pronounced in the most insulting manner. No; he is reduced to return as he set out, with empty hands; vainly imploring the compassion of those whom he may meet in the streets, and arriving once more, through the mud and in darkness, at the dismal dwelling whence he set out, and where he finds neither fire to warm him, nor food to keep him from fainting with inanition. It is to you, my brethren, that I recommend this unfortunate. When you return to your own homes, where the streaming light of your flambeaux supplies the absence of the day, where sumptuous tables and voluptuous beds are waiting for you, think of this poor man, left to a neglect you would not suffer your domestic animals to endure, with nothing to lie upon but a little straw, devoured with hunger, congealed with cold. You, if a few drops of water chance to pierce your walls, cry out as if it were a deluge, and set all your servants in motion to dry it up again; whilst this poor creature, stretched on his truckle bed, has nothing to defend him from all the inclemencies which overwhelm him at once. Could you see his misery without being moved? Would you have the heart of a tiger? Nor is it enough to be liberal-you must be merciful also. Mercy is more acceptable to God than all sacrifices. It is the virtue that he loves the best. Of all the qualities of man, it is that which most surely wins him the suffrages of his fellow-creatures. How indeed can we do without it for ourselves!Have we not need of all the mercy of our God?— Let us then begin by showing it to others: but what do I say? begin!-can we ever do a deed of mercy, in which we have not already been anticipated by |