Homilies on the Statues

^12. But consider thou with me the magnanimity of the youths; for they neither sprang out before the call, lest some should suppose they feared the fire; nor when they were called did they remain within, lest any one should think that they were ambitious and contentious. “As soon,” say they, “as you have learned whose servants we are, as soon as you have acknowledged our Lord, we come forth to be heralds to all who are present of the power of God.” Or rather, not only they themselves, but even the enemy with his own voice, yea, both orally, and by his epistle, proclaimed to all men both the constancy of the combatants, and the strength of Him who presided over the contest. And even as the heralds, when they proclaim the names of the victorious combatants in the midst of the theatre, mention also the cities to which they belong; “such an one, of such a city!” So he too, instead of their city, proclaimed their Lord, by saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.” What has come to pass, that you call them the servants of God? Were they not your servants? “Yea,” says he, “but they have overthrown my sovereignty; they have trampled under foot my pride. They have shown by deeds, that He is their true Lord. If they were the servants of men, the fire would not have feared them; the flame would not have made way for them; for the creation knows nothing of reverencing or honoring the servants of men.” Therefore again he says, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.”