NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

Homiletical.themselves be comforted; they themselves shall laugh. But by laughter is meant not thenoise that comes out through the cheeks from the boiling of the blood, but cheerfulnesspure and untainted with despondency. The Apostle allows us to weep with weepers, forthis tear is made, as it were, a seed and loan to be repaid with everlasting joy. Mount inmind with me, and contemplate the condition of the angels; see if any other condition becomesthem but one of joy and gladness. It is for that they are counted worthy to stand besideGod, and to enjoy the ineffable beauty and glory of our Creator. It is in urging us on to thatlife that the Apostle bids us always rejoice.”The Homily contains an eloquent exhortation to Christian fortitude in calamity, andconcludes with the charge to look beyond present grief to future felicity. “Hast thou dishonour?Look to the glory which through patience is laid up for thee in heaven. Hast thousuffered loss? Fix thine eyes on the heavenly riches, and on the treasure which thou hastput by for thyself through thy good works. Hast thou suffered exile? Thy fatherland is theheavenly Jerusalem. Hast thou lost a child? Thou hast angels, with whom thou shalt danceabout the throne of God, and shalt be glad with everlasting joy. Set expected joys overagainst present griefs, and thus thou wilt preserve for thyself that calm and quiet of the soulwhither the injunction of the Apostle calls us. Let not the brightness of human success fillthy soul with immoderate joy; let not grief bring low thy soul’s high and lofty exaltationthrough sadness and anguish. Thou must be trained in the lessons of this life before thoucanst live the calm and quiet life to come. Thou wilt achieve this without difficulty, if thoukeep ever with thee the charge to rejoice alway. Dismiss the worries of the flesh. Gathertogether the joys of the soul. Rise above the sensible perception of present things. Fix thymind on the hope of things eternal. Of these the mere thought suffices to fill the soul withgladness, and to plant in our hearts the happiness of angels.”Homily VII., against the rich, follows much the same line of argument as VI. Two mainconsiderations are urged against the love of worldly wealth; firstly, the thought of the dayof judgment; secondly, the fleeting and unstable nature of the riches themselves. The luxuryof the fourth century, as represented by Basil, is much the same as the luxury of the nineteenth.“I am filled with amazement,” says the preacher, “at the invention of superfluities. Thevehicles are countless, some for conveying goods, others for carrying their owners; all coveredwith brass and with silver. There are a vast number of horses, whose pedigrees are kept likemen’s, and their descent from noble sires recorded. Some are for carrying their haughtyowners about the town, some are hunters, some are hacks. Bits, girths, collars, are all ofsilver, all decked with gold. Scarlet cloths make the horses as gay as bridegrooms. There isa host of mules, distinguished by their colours, and their muleteers with them, one afteranother, some before and some behind. Of other household servants the number is endless,who satisfy all the requirements of men’s extravagance; agents, stewards, gardeners, andlxiii109