virtue, to be introduced by it to everlasting enjoyment. Men are liars, having corrupt judgements in their minds, whom the Prophet pities, saying, "Woe unto them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter (a).' Present things, says a person, are within my reach, but who knows what will be hereafter? You weigh things ill in preferring bad things to good, vain things to true, temporal things to eternal, in choosing transitory pleasures rather than continued and endless joys. The sons of men are deceitful in the balance of injustice. They injure first themselves, then their neighbours; being bad counsellors to themselves in their own conduct, and a miserable example to others. You will not be allowed to say in the day of judgement, I did not know what was good. You are furnished with your own balance, which affords you a sufficient discrimination between good and evil. Bodily weights are estimated by scales; but what is eligible in life, we discern by the free-will of our minds, which is called a balance, because it is capable of inclining either way."-Vol. 1. p. 197. "Every rational creature is capable of virtue, and of vice."-Vol. 1. p. 297. Animals are created with a natural forma (a) Is. c. 5. v. 20. tion tion suited to them, and they enter upon life provided with limbs, but they become diseased when perverted to an unnatural use. For they lose their health either through a bad diet, or from any other cause which brings on illness. Therefore God made the body, but not illness. And so God made the soul, but not sin; but the soul became disordered when turned from its natural state. What then was its chief good? An adherence to God, and union with him through love; failing in which, it became disordered with various infirmities. But why was it at all capable of evil? Because of its free-will, which is particularly suited to a rational nature. For, being exempt from all necessity, and enjoying a freewill from its Creator, being made in the image of God, it understands what is good, and knows the enjoyment of it; and while it continues in the contemplation of what is good, and the enjoyment of intellectual things, it has power to preserve its life, agreeably to nature; but it has also a power to decline from what is good."-Vol. 2. p. 78. "You well know, that both our good will towards you, and the co-operation of God, depend upon your own wills, which being directed to that which is right, God will be present with you as an assistant, whether called upon or not." Vol. 3. p. 432. "Above all things I exhort you to remember the faith of the Fathers, and not to be shaken by those who would disturb you in your retreat; knowing that neither correctness of life of itself, unless enlightened by faith towards God, is profitable, nor that a right confession of faith without good works will be able to recommend you to the Lord; but both must concur, that the man of God may be perfect, and that our life may not be defective in any respect; for the faith which saves us, as the Apostle says, worketh by love (b)." Vol. 3. p. 433. "We exhort you to remember the Lord, and having always before your eyes your departure out of this world, so to regulate your life, of which you must give an account to an infallible Judge, that you may have confidence in good works, before him who will reveal the secrets of your hearts, in the day of his visitation."Vol. 3. p. 434. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUM—A. D. 370. "How great ought the contest to be consi dered by us, the salvation of whose blessed and immortal souls is at stake, which will be eternally punished (b) Gal, c. 5. v. 6. punished or commended, for vice or virtue."Vol. 1. p. 13. Speaking of the sufferings of Christ, he says, By which we were created anew, not, one man and not another, but all who partook of the same Adam, and were deceived by the serpent, and by sin were made subject to death, and were saved again by the heavenly Adam, and were restored to the tree of life, from whence we had fallen by the tree of dishonour."-Vol. 1. p. 436. "As works are not accepted without faith, as many do what is right for the sake of glory, or from natural disposition, so faith without works is dead. And let no one deceive you by the vain reasoning of those, who readily grant every thing for the single purpose of adopting impious doctrines, and propose a trifling reward for a trifling thing. Shew therefore faith by works, the produce of your soul, if we have not sown in vain."-Vol. 1. p. 476. 6 "When you hear 'Those to whom it is given,' add, It is given to those who are called, and who are so disposed. For when you hear It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (c),' I advise you to suppose the same thing. For because there are some so proud of their virtue, as to attribute (6) Rom. c. 9. v. 16. every every thing to themselves, and nothing to Him who made them, and gave them wisdom, and is the author of good, this expression teaches them that a right will stands in need of assistance from God; or rather the very desire of what is right is something divine, and the gift of the mercy of God. For we have need both of power over ourselves, and of salvation from God. Therefore, says he, It is not of him that willeth, that is, not of him only that willeth, nor of him only that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Since the will itself is from God, he with reason attributes every thing to God. However much you run, however much you contend, you stand in need of him who gives the crown. Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain (d).' I know, says he, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; nor is the victory to those who fight, nor the harbour to those who sail well: but it is of God both to work the victory, and to preserve the vessel into port. And what I have said and explained in another place, it may be necessary to add to what has been now mentioned, that I may impart my riches to you. The mother of the asked Jesus that one (d) Ps. 127. v. I. might |