Sermon Index Quotes

Let those who think any essential part of it is wanting, point it out,

The writings of John Chrysostom provide a rich taste of the tone of this new literature. “Let there be no fornication,” he declared in one of his many fiery speeches on the topic of lust.32 A beautiful woman was, he warned, a terrible snare. A (non-exhaustive) list of other snares that the work of this revered speaker warned against includes laughter (“often gives birth to foul discourse”); banter (“the root of subsequent evils”); dice (“introduces into our life an infinite host of miseries”); horse-racing (as above); and the theater, which could lead to a wide variety of evils including “fornication, intemperance, and every kind of impurity.”33 The index of a collection of his sermons gives a taste of the whole. Under the word “Fear” one is offered: needful to holy men, 334; a chastisement for carelessness, 347; of the Lord true riches, 351; a punishment, 355; awakens conscience, 363; of harm from man ignoble, 366; a good man firm against, 369; without the fear of hell death terrible, 374; of hell profitable . . . And so on, for twenty-five references, before ending in the nicely conclusive: “purifies like a furnace.” Look under “Happiness” and the eager reader would be greeted with rather scant offerings. Here, one is merely offered: in God alone, 460 34

Return, thou wanderer! Fly back to thy ark, This is not thy home. Think not of building tabernacles here. Thou art but a stranger, a sojourner upon earth; a creature of a day, but just launching out into an unchangeable state. Make haste. Eternity is at hand. Eternity depends on this moment. An eternity of happiness, or an eternity of misery!