620

Unfaithful pastors flee as hirelings,

HOMIL. present to open Himself, Who is the Porter of the Door, Himself the Door.

XLVI.

8. Who is the hireling that seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth? The man who seeks his own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's, that man does not frankly reprove him that sinneth. Lo, some man hath sinned, hath grievously sinned: he must be rebuked, be excommunicated: yea, but excommunicated, he will be an enemy, will plot, will do a mischief when he can. Now the man who seeks his own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's, this man that he may not lose that which he follows after, to wit, the advantage of men's friendship, and incur the annoyance of men's enmity, holds his peace, does not rebuke. Lo, the wolf is griping the sheep by the throat: the devil hath seduced a believer into adultery; thou holdest thy peace, rebukest not: O hireling, thou sawest the wolf coming, and fleddest! Perchance he answers, and says: Lo, here I am; I have not fled. Thou hast fled, becul ou hast held thy peace; thou didst hold thy peace, because thou wast afraid. Fear is the flight of the mind. In body, thou stoodest; in spirit, thou fleddest: which thing 1 Cor. did not he who said, Though I be absent in body, in spirit I am with you. For how could he be said to have fled in spirit, who, even being absent in the body, rebuked fornicators by his epistle? Our affections are the motions of our minds. Joy, is a diffusion of the mind; sorrow, a contraction of the mind; desire, a progression of the mind; fear, a flight of the mind. For thou art diffused abroad in thy mind when thou art delighted; contracted in mind, when thou art in trouble: thou goest forth in the mind, when thou desirest ought; fleest in mind, when thou art afraid. Lo, how it is that the hireling is said to flee at sight of the wolf. Why? Because he careth not for the sheep. Why careth not for the sheep? Because he is an hireling. How is an hireling? Is one John 8, seeking temporal hire, and shall not dwell in the house for ever. There are questions here yet to be asked and discussed with you, but it is not our purpose to burden you. For we minister the viands of the Lord to our fellow-servants; in the Lord's pasture we feed the sheep, and ourselves feed with them. As that ought not to be denied you which is needful, so the weak heart must not be weighed down with

5, 3.,

35.

621

X. 12.

when they are afraid to rebuke and punish sin. the quantity of food. Then take it not amiss, beloved, that JoHN I do not to-day discuss all that is here still to be discussed; but on the Sermon-day the same Lesson shall, in the name of the Lord, be read to us a second time, and by His aid, more diligently handled.

HOMILY XLVII.

JOHN X. 14-21.

I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd. Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

1. YE who hear the word of our God not only willingly but diligently, are doubtless mindful of our promise. For the same Gospel Lesson has been read to-day, which was read on the last Lord's day : because, having had our time taken up with certain necessary matters, we were not able to discuss all that is due to your understandings. Therefore, what has been already said and handled, we do not to-day bring in question; lest, by still repeating the same things we be not permitted to come to that which has not been said. Ye now know in the name of the Lord, Who is the Good Shepherd,

How Christ the Good Shepherd enters through Christ the Door: 623

X. 14.

and how good shepherds are members of Him, and so the JOHN Shepherd is One: ye know who is the hireling that we must bear; who the wolf, and thieves, and robbers of whom we must beware; what the sheep, what the Door by which both sheep and Shepherd enter in; how the Porter is to be understood: ye know too, that whoso entereth not in by the Door, is a thief and a robber, and cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. All these sayings have, I suppose, been sufficiently handled. To-day we owe it you to say, as the Lord aideth,-since Jesus Christ Himself our Saviour hath said that He is both Shepherd and Door, and hath said that the Good Shepherd entereth in by the Door,—how He entereth in through Himself. For if none is a good shepherd but he who enters in by the Door, and He is preeminently the Good Shepherd, and Himself the Door, I cannot understand otherwise than that He doth through Himself enter in unto His sheep, and giveth them His voice that they may follow Him, and they entering in and going out find pasture, which is everlasting life.

2. Quickly then I say it. I, seeking to enter in unto you, that is unto your heart, preach Christ: if I preach other than that, I shall be striving to climb in at some other side. Christ then is my door unto you: through Christ I enter in, not to your chambers, but to your hearts. Through Christ I enter, Christ in me ye have willingly heard. Why have ye willingly heard Christ in me? Because ye are Christ's sheep, have been purchased with Christ's blood. Ye know the price paid for you: which not by me is given but through me is preached. He bought you, Who shed precious blood: precious is the blood of Him Who is without sin. Yet hath He made the blood of His own for whom He gave the price of His blood, to be also precious: for did He not make the blood of His own to be precious, it would not be said, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Ps. 116, Accordingly in this also that He saith, The Good Shepherd 15. layeth down His life for the sheep, it is not He alone that hath done thus: and yet if they who are His members have done this, it is He alone that hath done it. For He had power to do it without them: but how should they have power to do it without Him, seeing Himself hath said,

XLVII.

John 15,

3, 16.

23, 1. 2.

624

i. e. in the person of His true pastors:

HOMIL. Without Me ye can do nothing? Now we shew that others have done it, by this, namely, that the same Evangelist John, 5. who preached this Gospel which ye have heard, hath said in 1 John his Epistle, Like as Christ laid down His life for us, so ought we to lay down our lives for the brethren. We ought, he saith; He Who did it first, hath made us debtors thereto. Prov. Accordingly in a certain place it is written: If thou sit to LXX. sup at the table of the mighty, wisely understand what is set before thee and put forth thine hand, knowing that it behoveth thee to prepare the like. What is the table of the Mighty, ye know: on it is the body and blood of Christ: whoso cometh to such a table, let him prepare the like. And how "prepare the like?" As He laid down His life for us, so we ought—for edifying of the people, and assertion of the faith-to lay down our lives for the brethren. Accordingly, speaking to Peter, when it was His will to make him a good shepherd, not in Peter himself, but in His body, He said, John 21, Peter, lovest thou Me? Feed My sheep. This once, this twice, this a third time, even to Peter's grief. had questioned Peter as much as He judged him meet to be questioned, that he might thrice confess, who had thrice. denied, and when He had a third time given him charge to feed His sheep, He said to him, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. And the Evangelist hath expounded what the Lord meant, saying: This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. That charge, then, Feed My sheep, comes to this-that thou lay down thy life for My sheep.

15-19.

v. 15.

And when He

3. This now that He saith, As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father, who but knows it? He, namely, knoweth the Father by Himself, we by Him. That He bath this knowledge by Himself, we know: that we have it by Him, this also we know: because in fact we have the knowledge of this very thing by Him. For Himself John 1, hath said: No man hath seen God at any time, but the Only-Begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Therefore we know the Father by Him, being they to whom He hath declared Him.

18.