HOMILY XXIII.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 163 inherited, which God forbid ; but let us engage in the war we have to wage with him. Ifany one hath an enemy, ifany one hath been wronged by him, if any one is exasperated, let him collect together all that wrath, all that fierceness, and pour it out upon the head of the devil. Here wrath is a good thing, here anger is profitable, here revenge is praiseworthy, for just as amongst the heathen, revenge is a vice, so truly here is revenge a virtue. So then if thou hast any failings, rid thyself of them here. And if thou art not able thyself to put them away, do it, though with thy members also. 1 Hath any one struck thee ? Bear malice against the devil, and never relinquish thy hatred towards him. Or again, hath no one struck thee? Yet bear him malice still, because he insulted, because he offended thy Lord and Master, because he injures and wars against thy brethren. With him be ever at enmity, ever implacable, ever merciless. Thus shall he be humbled, thus despicable, thus shall he be an easy prey. If we are fierce towards him, he shall never be fierce towards us. If we are compliant, then he will be fierce ; it is not with him as it is with our brethren. He is the foe and enemy, both of life and salvation, both ours and his own. If he loves not himself, how shall he be able to love us? Let us then put our selves in array and wound him, having for our mighty confederate the Lord Jesus Christ, who can both render us impregnable to his snares, and worthy of the good things to come ; which God grant that we may all attain, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father, glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and throughout all ages. Amen. HOMILY XXIII. EPHESIANS vi. 14. " Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth." HAVING drawn up this army, and roused their zeal, for both these things were requisite, both that they should be drawn up in array and sub ject to each other, and that their spirit should be aroused, and having inspired them with courage, for this was requisite also, he next pro ceeds also to arm them. For arms had been of no use, had they not been first posted each in his own place, and had not the spirit of the soldier s soul been roused ; for we must first arm him within, and then without. Now if this is the case with soldiers, much more is it with spiritual soldiers. Or rather in their case, there is no such thing as arming them without, but everything is within. He hath roused their ardor, and set it on fire, he hath added confidence. He hath set them in due array. Observe how he also puts on the armor. " Stand therefore," 2 saith he. The very first feature in tactics is, to know how to stand well, and many things will depend upon that. Hence he dis courses much concerning standing, saying also elsewhere, "Watch ye, stand fast." (i Cor. 1 [We have here followed the text of Sayile (supported by three MSS.), as follows: ei JU.T) Svva&ai OLVTOS a.iToBeaBa.1., KO.V fj.fTa.Tuiv (ieAu TUIV aiav, in preference to the text of Field, which has a ftrj &vva<ra.i aiiTa a.Tr9oe<r9o.i, rj fjifTa TUIV /neAoiy TU>V ertav. G. A.] 2 [" Stand, here, is not, like the preceding oTTJi ai (in verse 13) , the standing of the victor, but the standing forth of the man ready for the combat. " Meyer. G. A.] xvi. 13.) And again, "So stand fast in the Lord." (Phil. iv. i.) And again, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." (i Cor. x. 12.) And again, "That ye may be able, having done all, to stand." (Eph. vi. 13.) Doubtless then he does not mean merely any way of standing, but a correct way, and as many as have had experience in wars know how great a point it is to know how to stand. For if in the case of boxers and wres tlers, the trainer recommends this before any thing else, namely, to stand firm, much more will it be the first thing in warfare, and military matters. The man who, in a true sense, stands, is up right ; he stands not in a lazy attitude, not lean ing upon anything. Exact uprightness discovers itself by the way of standing, so that they who are perfectly upright, they stand. But theywho do not stand, cannot be upright, but are un strung and disjointed. The luxurious man does not stand upright, but is bent ; so is the lewd man, and the lover of money. He who knows how to stand will from his very standing, as from a sort of foundation, find every part of the con flict easy to him. " Stand therefore," saith he, " having girded your loins with truth." 3 He is not speaking of a literal, physical gir- 3 Compare Isa. xi. 5.