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

Homiletical.crowd of lads to stare at them, and left no madness undone. On this St. Basil builds a stirringtemperance sermon. Section 6 contains a vivid picture of a drinking bout, and Section 7describes the sequel. The details are evidently not imaginary.“Sorrowful sight for Christian eyes! A man in the prime of life, of powerful frame ofhigh rank in the army, is carried furtively home, because he cannot stand upright, and travelon his own feet. A man who ought to be a terror to our enemies is a laughing stock to thelads in the streets. He is smitten down by no sword—slain by no foe. A military man, inthe bloom of manhood, the prey of wine, and ready to suffer any fate his foes may choose!Drunkenness is the ruin of reason, the destruction of strength; it is untimely old age; it is,for a short time, death.“What are drunkards but the idols of the heathen? They have eyes and see not, ears andhear not. 650 Their hands are helpless; their feet dead.” The whole Homily is forcible. It isquoted by Isidore of Pelusium, 651 and St. Ambrose seems to have been acquainted withit. 652 Homily XX., on Humility, urges the folly of Adam, in sacrificing eternal blessings tohis ambition, and the example of St. Paul in glorying only in the Lord. 653Pharaoh, Goliath, and Abimelech are instanced. St. Peter is cited for lack of humilityin being sure that he of all men will be true to the death.“No detail can be neglected 654 as too insignificant to help us in ridding ourselves ofpride. The soul grows like its practices, and is formed and fashioned in accordance with itsconduct. Your appearance, your dress, your gait, your chair, your style of meals, your bedand bedding, your house and its contents, should be all arranged with a view to cheapness.Your talk, your songs, your mode of greeting your neighbour, should look rather to moderationthan to ostentation. Give me, I beg, no elaborate arguments in your talk, no surpassingsweetness in your singing, no vaunting and wearisome discussions. In all things try to avoidbigness. Be kind to your friend, gentle to your servant, patient with the impudent, amiableto the lowly. Console the afflicted, visit the distressed, despise none. Be agreeable in address,cheerful in reply, ready, accessible to all. Never sing your own praises, nor get other peopleto sing them. Never allowing any uncivil communication, conceal as far as possible yourown superiority.” 655lxv650 Ps. cxv. 5.651 1 Ep. lxi.652 De Eb. et Jejunio. c. 18.653 1 Cor. i. 30, 31.654 § 7.655 Here several touches remind us of Theophrastus. cf. Char. xxiii. and xxiv.113