HOMILY III.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. Nay, God forbid it should be thus; for were it thus, such a, body could be His body no longer. Thy own head the more respectable of thy serv ants reverence, and dost thou subject thy body to be the sport of them that insult it? How sore punishment then shalt thou not deserve ? If a man should bind the feet of the emperor with bonds and fetters, will he not be liable to the extremity of punishment? Dost thou ex pose the whole body to fierce monsters, and not shudder ? However, since our discourse is concerning the Lord s body, come, and let us turn our thoughts to it, even that which was crucified, which was nailed, which is sacrificed. 1 If thou art the body of Christ, bear the Cross, for He bore it : bear spitting, bear buffetings, bear nails. Such was thatBody ; thatBody " did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." (i Pet. ii : 22.) His hands did every thing for the benefit of them that needed, His mouth uttered not a word of those things which are not con venient. He heard them say, "Thou hast a devil," and He answered nothing. Further, our discourse is concerning this Body, and as many of us as partake of that Body and taste of that Blood, are partaking of that which is in no wise different from that Body, nor separate. Consider that we taste of that Body that sitteth above, that is adored by Angels, that is next to the Power that is incor ruptible. Alas ! how many ways to salvation are open to us ! He hath made us His own body, He hath imparted to us His own body, and yet not one of these things turns us away from what is evil. Oh the darkness, the depth of the abyss, the apathy ! " Set your mind," saith he, "on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God." (Col. iii : i.) And after all this, some set their affections upon money, or licentiousness, others are carried captive by their passions ! Do ye not see, that even in our own body, when any part is superfluous and useless, it is cut off, is cut away ? It is of no use that it has belonged to the body, when it is mutilated, when it is mortified, when it is decayed, when it is detrimental to the rest. Let us not then be too confident, because we have been once made members of this body. If this body of ours, though but a natural body, nevertheless suffers amputation, what dreadful evil shall it not undergo, if the moral principle should fail ? When the body partakes not of this natural food, when the pores are stopped up, then it mortifies; when the ducts are closed, then it is palsied. So is it with us also, when we stop our ears, our soul becomes palsied ; when we partake not of the spiritual food, when, instead * Qvofievov. ofcorrupt bodily humors, evil dispositions impair us, all these things engender disease, dangerous disease, disease that wastes. And then there will be need of that fire, there will be need of that cutting asunder. For Christ cannot endure that we should enter into the bride-chamber with such a body as this. If He led away, and cast out the man that was clothed in filthy gar ments, what will He not do unto the man who attaches filth to the body ; how will He not dis pose of him ? I observe many partaking of Christ s Body lightly and just as it happens, and rather from custom and form, than consideration and under standing. When, saith a man, the holy season of Lent sets in, whatever a man may be, he partakes of the mysteries, or, when the day of the Lord s Epiphany2 comes. And yet it is not the Epiphany, nor is it Lent, that makes a fit time for approaching, but it is sincerity and purity of soul. With this, approach at all times; without it, never. " For as often," (i Cor. xi : 26.) saith he, "as ye do this, ye proclaim the Lord s death," i. e., " ye make a remembrance of the salvation that has been wrought for you, and of the benefits which I have bestowed." Consider those who partook of the sacrifices under the old Covenant, how great abstinence did they practise ? How did they not conduct themselves? What did they not perform? They were always purifying themselves. And dost thou, when thou drawest nigh to a sacri fice, at which the very Angels tremble, dcst thou measure the matter by the revolutions of seasons ? and how shalt thou present thyself be fore the judgment-seat of Christ, thou who pre- sumest upon His body with polluted hands and lips ? Thou wouldest not presume to kiss a king with an unclean mouth, and the King of heaven dost thou kiss with an unclean soul ? It is an outrage. Tell me, wouldest thou choose to come to the Sacrifice with unwashen hands ? No, I suppose, not. But thou wouldest rather choose not to come at all, than come with soiled hands. And then, thus scrupulous as thou art in this little matter, dost thou come with soiled soul, and thus dare to touch it? And yet the hands hold it but for a time, whereas into the soul it is dissolved entirely. What, do ye not see the holy vessels so thoroughly cleansed all over, so resplendent ? Our souls ought to be purer than they, more holy, more brilliant. And why so ? Because those vessels are made so for our sakes. They partake not of Him that is in them, they perceive Him not. But we do; 2 This was the great festival of the Greek Church, being in re membrance of our Lord s Baptism, and, as it would appear, of His birth inclusively. The festival of Christmas, which had been in use in the West from an earlier date, was introduced at Antioch A. D. 376, with much opposition. Chrysostom, A. D. 387, ur>;cs its due celebration in his Horn. <& Beato Philogon. and Scrnt . in Diem Natal, y. C.