st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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1 62 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
St. Matth. v., ii. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you, &>c.
Heb. xi., 13. These all died in faith, not having
received the promises, &c.
(And thirty-three other passages from Scripture).
St. Gregory Nazianzen. This, I say, is the best
of bargains, to purchase the kingdom of heaven for a
few drops of blood, and in return for temporal advan
tages to receive an eternity of glory."
St. Chrysostom. The wonder-workers of Christ
are not men who run on a slender cord, or who
throw somersaults over naked swords, avoiding
wounds by their dexterity. What they run along
with unfaltering step, is not a rope, but the narrow
and precipitous pathway of righteousness.
The points
of tyrants swords they blunt by their own eagerness
for receiving wounds. They count it not a mark of
skill to avoid suffering, but study how to conquer in
suffering."
ON A GOOD KING.
Numb, xxiv., 7.
His kingdom shall be exalted,
Prov. xiv., 28. In the multitude of people is the
king s honour.
(And twenty-five other passages.
St. Gregory Nazianzen. reverence
"Kings, your
purple. For the Word of God will give laws even to
the law-givers. Recognise what has been entrusted
be a fruitful vine, our version has their soul shall be as
a -watered garden. The whole string of texts could not be
quoted, owing to this circumstance, without frequent explana
tions.