He bestowed authority not on the soul, nor on the body, but even on raiment; nor on raiment only but even on a shadow. Peter went about and his shadow put diseases to flight,868 and expelled demons, and raised the dead to life. Paul went about the world, cutting away the thorns of ungodliness, sowing broadcast the seeds of godliness, like an excellent ploughman handling the ploughshare of doctrine. And to whom did he go? To Thracians, to Scythians, to Indians, to Maurians, to Sardinians, to Goths, to wild savages, and he changed them all. By what means? By means of “the earnest.” How was he sufficient for these things? By the grace of the Spirit. Unskilled, ill-clothed, ill-shod he was upheld by Him “who also hath given the earnest of the Spirit.” Therefore he saith “and who is sufficient for these things?869 But our sufficiency is of God, who hath made us sufficient as ministers of the new Testament, not of the letter but of the Spirit.”870 Behold what the Spirit hath wrought: He found the earth filled with demons and He has made it heaven. For meditate not on present things but review the past in your thought. Formerly there was lamentation, there were altars everywhere, everywhere the smoke and fumes of sacrifice, everywhere unclean rites and mysteries, and sacrifices, everywhere demons holding their orgies, everywhere a citadel of the devil, everywhere fornication decked with wreaths of honour; and Paul stood alone. How did he escape being overwhelmed, or torn in pieces? How could he open his mouth? He entered the Thebaid,871 and made captives of men, He entered the royal palace, and made a disciple of the king.872 He entered the hall of judgment, and the judge saith to him “almost thou persuadest me to become a Christian,”873 and the judge became a disciple. He entered the prison, and took the jailor captive.874 He visited an island of barbarians, and made a viper the instrument of his teaching.875 He visited the Romans, and attracted the senate to his doctrine. He visited rivers, and desert places in all parts of the world. There is no land or sea which has not shared in the benefits of his labours; for God has given human 868 Acts v. 15. 869 2 Cor. ii. 16. 870 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6. 871 Strictly speaking, the name of the Egyptian desert in the neighborhood of Thebes; but here it must be used in a general sense, to denote any wild country. The whole passage is highly rhetorical. 872 He probably means Sergius Paulus. Acts xiii. 12. 873 Acts xxvi. 28. It is doubtful, however, whether this is the right interpretation of the words. See the revised translation. 874 Acts xvi. 30, etc. 875 Acts xxviii. 3, etc. 361 Homily II. After Eutropius having been found outside the Church had been…