HOMILY III.] HOMILIES ON PHILIPPIANS. *95 to shame ; fear does not hold me back, since I still exhibit the same boldness. Do not, when I mention my bonds, think shame of the matter ; so manifold good hath it caused to me, that it hath even given confidence to others. For that we should be bound for Christ, is no shame, but for fear of bonds to betray aught that is Christ s, this is shame. When there is no such thing, bonds are even a cause of boldness. But since I have ofttimes escaped dangers, and have this to boast of to the unbelievers, do not straightway think I am put to shame, if now it should turn out otherwise. The one event no less than the other gives you boldness. Note how he brings this forward in his own person, which he does in many places, as in the Epistle to the Romans .; " For I am not ashamed of the Gospel." (Rom. i. 16.) And again in that to the Corinthians ; " And these things I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos." (i Cor. iv. 6.) " Whether by life or by death " : this he says not as in ignorance, (for he knew that he was not then to die, but some time after) ; yet even now does he prepare their soul. Ver. 21. "For to me," he says, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain." For even in dying, he means, I shall not have died, for I have my life in myself : then would they truly have slain me, had they had power through this fear to cast faith out of my soul. But as long as Christ is with me, even though death overtake me, still I live, and in this pres ent life, not this, but Christ is my life. Since, then, not even in the present life is it so, " but that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith; " so I say in that state also, " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal. ii. 20.) Such ought a Christian to be ! I live not, he says, the common life. How livest thou then, O blessed Paul? Dost thou not see the sun, dost thou not breathe the common air? art thou not nourished with the same food as others ? dost thou not tread the earth as we? needest thou not sleep, nor clothing, nor shoes? what meanest thou by, " I live not"? how dost thou not live ? Why boastest thou thyself? No boast ing is here. For if indeed the fact did not witness to him, a man might with some show have called it boasting; but if facts do wit ness, how is boasting here ? Let us then learn .how he lives not, for he himself says in an other place, " I have been crucified to the world, and the world to me." (Gal. vi. 14.) Hear then how he says, " I no longer live." And how he says, " to me to live is Christ." The word " life " is much significant, beloved, as also the word "death." There is this life of the body, there is the life of sin, as he himself else where says, " But ifwe died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein ?" (Rom. vi. 2.) It is then possible to live the life of sin. Attend dili gently, I entreat you, lest my labor be vain. There is the life everlasting and immortal : with eternal life the heavenly ; " for our citizen ship," says he, "is in heaven." (Phil. iii. 20.) There is the life of the body whereof he speaks, ; through him we live and move and have our being." (Acts xvii. 28.) He does not then deny that he lives the natural life, but that of sin, which all men live. He who desires not the present life, how does he live it? He who is hastening to another, how does he live this life ? He who despiseth death, how does he live this life ? He who desires nothing, how does he live it? For as one made of adamant, though he were struck a thousand blows, would never at tend to it, no more would Paul. And " I live," says he, " but no longer I," that is, no longer the old man ; as again elsewhere, " Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me out of the body of this death!" (Rom. vii. 24.) How too does he live who does nought for the sake of food, nought for the sake of clothing, nought for any of these present things ? Such an one does not even live the natural life : he who takes thought for none of the things which sustain life, lives not. We live this life, whose every action regards it. But he lived not ; he busied himself about nought of the things here. How then lived he? Just as we are accustomed to say, in common matters, such an one is not with me, when he does nothing that pertains to me. Again, in like sort, such aman lives not for me. Elsewhere he shows that he rejects not the natu ral life : " The life which I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me " (Gal. ii. 20) ; i.e. a certain new life I live, an altered one. And truly all these things he said to comfort the Philippians. Think not, says he, that I shall be deprived of this life, for neither whilst alive did I live this life, but that which Christ willed. For tell me? He who despises money, luxury, hun ger, thirst, dangers, health, safety, does he live this life ? He who has nothing here, and is oft- times willing to cast life away, if need be, and clings not to it, does he live this life ? By no means. This I must make clear to you by a kind of example. Let us imagine some one in great wealth, with many servants, and much gold, and who makes no use of all these things ; is such an one rich for all his wealth ? By no means. Let him see his children dissipating his property, strolling idly about ; let him feel no concern for them ; when beaten let him not even be pained ; shall we call him a man of wealth ? By no means ; although his wealth is his own. "To me," he says, "to live is Christ;" if you will enquire of my life, it is He. " And to die is gain." Wherefore? Because I shall more