WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY VI. ourselves, but we were brought nigh by Him. "No one," saith Christ, "cometh unto the Father but by Me." And again, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." (Jo. xiv : 6.) He joins them with the Saints and again re turns to his former image, nowhere suffering them to be disunited from Christ. Doubtless then, this is a building that shall go on until His coming. Doubtlesss it was for this reason that Paul said, "As a wise master builder, I laid a foundation." (i Cor. iii: 10, n.) And again that Christ is the foundation. What then means all this ? You observe that the compari sons have all referred to the subject-matters, and that we must not expound them to the very let ter. The Apostle speaks from analogy as Christ does, where He calls the Father an husband man, (Jo. xv : i.) and Himself a root. (Rev. xxii : 16.) Chap. iii. ver. i. " For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles." He has mentioned Christ s great and affec tionate care ; he now passes on to his own, in significant indeed as it is, and a very nothing in comparison with that, and yet this is enough to engage them to himself. For this cause, saith he, am I also bound. 1 For if my Lord was crucified for your sakes, much more am I bound. He not only was bound Himself, but allows His servants to be bound also, " for you Gen tiles." It is full of emphasis; not only do we no longer loathe you, but we are even bound, saith he, for your sakes, and of this exceeding grace am I partaker. Ver. 2. " If so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God, which was given me to you-ward." He alludes to the prediction addressed to Ananias concerning him at Damascus, when the Lord said, " Go thy way, for he is achosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles and Kings." (Acts ix : 15.) By " dispensation of grace," he means the revelation made to him. As much as to say, " I learned it not from man. (Gal. i : 12.) He vouchsafed to reveal it even to me, though but an individual for your sakes. For Himself said unto me, saith he, " Depart, for I will send thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles." (Acts xxii : 2i.) " If so be that ye have heard " for a dispensation it was, a mighty one ; to call one, uninfluenced from any other quarter, imme diately from above, and to say, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" and to strike him blind with that ineffable light ! " if so be that 1 [ The Syraic Version followed by commentators from Chrysos-tom to Meyer makes IMrpMf predicate, supplying "am." "I Paul am the prisoner of Christ Jesus foryou Gentiles." This isopen tograve objections. O 5e<r/u.os is rather in appositionand thebroken construction is resumed at ver. 14 Riddle Ellicott AlfordBraune. R. V. Comp. 4 : i. G. A.] ye have heard,2 saith he, "of the dispensation of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward." Ver. 3. " How that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words. Perhaps he had informed them of it by some persons, or had not long before been writing to them.3 Here he is pointing out that the whole is of God, that we have contributed nothing. For what? I ask, was not Paul himself, the wonderful, he that was so versed in the law, he that was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel ac cording to the most perfect manner, was not he saved by grace? With good reason too does he call this a mystery, for a mystery it is, to raise the Gentiles in a moment to a higher rank than the Jews. "As I wrote afore," saith he, " in few words," i. e., briefly, Ver. 4. "Whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive." Amazing ! So then he wrote not the whole, nor so much as he should have written. But here the nature of the subject prevented it. Elsewhere, as in the case of the Hebrews (Heb. v: ii.) and the Corinthians, (i Cor. iii: 2.) the incapacity of the hearers. "Whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive," saith he, " my un derstanding in the mystery of Christ," i. e., how I knew, how I understood either such things as God hath spoken, or else, that Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; and then too the dignity, in that God "hath not dealt so with any nation." (Ps. cxlvii : 20.) And then to explain what nation this is with whom God hath thus dealt, he adds, Ver. 5. "Which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy Apostles and Prophets in the Spirit." What then, tell me, did not the Prophets 4 know it ? How then doth Christ say, thatMoses and the Prophets wrote "these things concern ing Me?" And again, "If ye believed Moses, ye would believe Me." (John v : 46.) And again, "Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life, and these are they which bear witness of me." (John v: 39.) His meaning is this, either that it was not revealed unto all men, for he adds, "which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed ; " or else, that it was not thus made known by the very facts and realities a J" Gentle appeal, expressed in a hypothetical form and con veying the hope that his words had not been forgotten." Ellicott. -G, A.]