384 Wandiring of the CIihtcICh ravens nflevfood.
Job 38,which he burns, (loos lie pass with iaj)id wandering from
Ali EG P^^^^ ^^ place ; he wishes to pass from one place to another,
because the love itself which fills him, urges him on. For
Rom. l.when placed far away from the Romans, he writes, / make
*
mention of you always in my 'prayers^ making request, if by
any means now at length I might have a prosperousjourney
hy the will of God to come to you : for I long to see you,
2 Cor. When kept at Ephesus, he writes to the Corinthians, Behold
' tJiis third time I am ready to come to you. Again, when
tarrying at Ephesus, he speaks to the Galatians, saying,
Gal. 4, / desire to he with you now, and to change my voice. When
he was shut up also at Rome in the close keeping of the
prison, because he is not permitted to go himself to the
Phil. 2, Philippians, he promises to send a disciple, saying, / trust
in the Lord Jesus to send Tirnotheus shortly unto you, that
I also may he of good Jieart, having known your state.
When bound also in chains, and detained at Ephesus, he
Cul. 2, writes to the Colossians, For though I he absent in body,
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yet am I with you in the Spirit. Behold how he wanders,
as it were, in his holy longing ; he is detained here in body,
he is led thiiher in the Spirit ; and exhibits the affection
of fatherly lov e to those who are present, makes it known
to those who are absent; bestows his labours on those who
'so near- are before him, expresses his wishes for those who only hear *
copies. ^^^™ ' ^efficaciously present to those with whom he was, and
Ben. yet not absent from those with whom he was not. But we
prefers
' the ab- gain a better notion of his wandering, if we consider still
^^"^* further his words to the Corinthians ; for he says, / will
1 Cor.
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16, 5. 6.come to you, when Ishall have passed through Macedonia
;
for I shall pass through Macedonia ; but I shall perhaps
remain witJt you, or even winter. Let us consider, I pray
you, what is this wandering. For behold in one place he
remains for a while, in another he says that he will go, and
in another he promises that he will turn aside. Why is it that
he so anxiously distributes himself through so many places,
except that he is bound around all with one love } For love,
which is wont to unite things that are divided, compels the
one heart of Paul to be divided amongst many things. And
yet he gathers it together the more closely in God, the more
widely he .scatters it forth in holy longings. Paul therefore