HOMILY XV.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 121 purpose, and then that any one of the servants were to take and use it for holding dung. Would he ever venture again, after it had been filled with dung, to store it away with those other vessels, set apart for those other uses ? Surely not. Now railing is like this, reviling is like this. " Our Father ! " But what? is this all? Hear also the words which follow, "which art in Heaven." The moment thou sayest, " Our Father, which art in Heaven," the word raises thee up, it gives wings to thy mind, it points out to thee that thou hast a Father in Heaven. Do then noth ing, speak nothing of things upon earth. He hath set thee amongst that host above, He hath numbered thee with that heavenly choir. Why dost thou drag thyself down? Thou art stand ing beside the royal throne, and thou revilest? Art thou not afraid lest the king should deem it an outrage? Why, if a servant, even with us, beats his fellow-servant or assaults him, even though he do it justly, yet we at once rebuke him, and deem the act an outrage ; and yet dost thou, who art standing with the Cherubim beside the king s throne, revile thy brother? Seest thou not these holy vessels? Are they not used continually for only one purpose? Does any one ever venture to use them for any other? Yet art thou holier than these vessels, yea, far holier. Why then defile, why contami nate thyself? Standest thou in Heaven, and dost thou revile? Hast thou thy citizenship with Angels, and dost thou revile? Art thou counted worthy the Lord s kiss, and dost thou revile? Hath God graced thy mouth with so many and great things, with hymns angelic, with food, not angelic, no, but more than angelic, with His own kiss, with His own embrace, and dost thou revile? Oh, no, I implore thee. Vast are the evils of which this is the source ; far be it from a Christian soul. Do I not con vince thee as I am speaking, do I not shame thee ? Then does it now become my duty to alarm you. For hear what Christ saith : " Who soever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire." (Matt. v. 22.) Now if that which is lightest of all leads to hell, of what shall not he be worthy, who utters pre sumptuous words ? Let us discipline our mouth to silence. Great is the advantage from this, great the mischief from ill language. We must not spend our riches here. Let us put door and bolt upon them. Let us devour ourselves alive if ever a vexatious word slip out of our mouth. Let us entreat God, let us entreat him whom we have reviled. Let us not think it be neath us to do so. It is ourselves we have wounded, not him. Let us apply the remedy, prayer, and reconciliation with him whom we have reviled. If in our words we are to take such forethought, much more let us impose laws upon ourselves in our deeds. Yea, and if we have friends, whoever they may be, and they should speak evil to any man or revile him, demand of them and exact satisfaction. Let us by all means learn that such conduct is even sin ; for if we learn this, we shall soon depart from it. Now the God of peace keep both your mind and your tongue, and fence you with a sure fence, even His fear, through Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory forever. Amen. HOMILY XV. EPHESIANS iv. 31. " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice." As bees l will never settle down in an unclean vessel, and this is the reason why those who are skilled in these matters sprinkle the spot with perfumes, and scented ointments, and sweet odors ; and the wicker baskets also, in which they will have to settle as soon as they come out 1 [Chrysostom seems to have observed everything, and he had the " homiletical habit," as Dr. Shedd calls it (Horn. p. 108), in gath ering material for illustration. What has been said of a greatmodern preacher, may be said of Chrysostom: "He watched ships and sailors: he acquainted himself with the customs, good and bad, of commercial life: he curiously inspected a great variety of mechani cal processes; he closely observed agricultural operations, and the various phases of rural life; he constantly saw and heard what oc curred in his own home and other homes; and always and every where he asked himself, What is this like? what will this illustrate? " Dr. Broadus, in Preparation and Delivery ofSermons. G. A.] of the hives they sprinkle with fragrant wines, and all other sweets, that there may be no noi some smell to annoy them, and drive them away again, so in truth is it also with the Holy Spirit. Our soul is a sort of vessel or basket, capable of receiving the swarms of spiritual gifts ; but if there shall be within it gall, and "bitterness, and wrath," the swarms will fly away. Hence this blessed and wise husband man well and thoroughly cleanses our vessels, withholding neither knife nor any other instru ment of iron, and invites us to this spiritual swarm ; and as he gathers it, he cleanses us with prayers, and labors, and all the rest. Mark then how he cleanses out our heart. He has banished lying, he has banished anger. Now, again, he is