HOMILY XX.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 145 loved, as for one of wonderful beauty. And it was in admiration of this that Paul said, " For scarcely for a righteous man will one die (Rom. v. 7); and again, "in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. v. 8.) And though such as this, He took her, He arrayed her in beauty, and washed her, and refused not even this, to give Himself for her. Ver. 26, 27. "That He might sanctify it hav ing cleansed it," he proceeds, " by the washing of water with the word ; that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." " By the washing or laver " He washeth her uncleanness. " By the word," saith he. What word ? " In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 1 (Matt, xxviii. 19.) And not simply hath He adorned her, but hath made her " glorious, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." Let us then also seek after this beauty ourselves, and we shall be able to create it. Seek not thou at thy wife s hand, things which she is not able to possess. Seest thou that the Church had all things at her Lord s hands? By Him was made glorious, by Him was made pure, by Him made without blemish ? Turn not thy back on thy wife because of her deformity. Hear the Scripture that saith, "The bee is little among such as fly, but her fruit is the chief of sweet things." 2 (Ecclus. xi. 3.) She is ofGod s fashioning. Thou reproachest not her, but Him that made her ; what can the woman do ? Praise her not for her beauty. Praise and hatred and love based on personal beauty belong to unchastened souls. Seek thou for beauty of soul. Imitate the Bridegroom of the Church. Outward beauty is full of conceit and great license, and throws men into jealousy, and the thing often makes thee suspect monstrous things. But has it any pleasure ? For the first or second month, perhaps, or at most for the year : but then no longer ; the admiration by familiarity wastes away. Meanwhile the evils which arose from the beauty still abide, the pride, the folly, the contemptuousness. Whereas in one who is not such, there is nothing of this kind. But the love having begun on just grounds, still continues ardent, since its object is beauty of soul, and not of body. What better, tell me, than heaven? What better than the stars? Tell me of what body you will, yet is there none so fair. Tell me of what eyes you 1 [" The word (pr/pa) does not mean here the baptismal for mula, as Chrysostom holds, but the gospel, and here stands with out the article, because, denoting the word icar fo\r)v, it could be treated as a proper noun, as vd/nos, &c. All^special interpretations, except that of gospel," are purely invented." Meyer. G. A.] - [Note that Chrysostom here quotes the Old Testament Apocry pha as Scripture: a/cove TTJS -ypa^ijs Ae-yovo-rjs. Dr. Schaffsays: " He accepts the Syrian Canon of the Peshito, which includes the Old Test, with the Apocrypha," &c. Prolegomena, p. 19. G. A.] will, yet are there none so sparkling. When these were created, the very Angels gazed with wonder, and we gaze with wonder now ; yet not in the same degree as at first. Such is famil iarity; things do not strike us in the same degree. How much more in the case of a wife ! And if moreover disease come too, all is at once fled. Let us seek in a wife affectionateness, modest-mindedness, gentleness ; these are the characteristics of beauty. But loveliness of person let us not seek, nor upbraid her upon these points, over which she has no power, nay, rather, let us not upbraid at all, (it were rude ness,) nor let us be impatient, nor sullen. Do ye not see how many, after living with beautiful wives, have ended their lives pitiably, and how many, who have lived with those of no great beauty, have run on to extreme old age with great enjoyment. Let us wipe off the " spot " that is within, let us smooth the " wrinkles " that are within, let us do away the " blemishes " that are on the soul. Such is the beauty God requires. Let us make her fair in God s sight, not in our own. Let us not look for wealth, nor for that high-birth which is outward, but for that true nobility which is in the soul. Let no one endure to get rich by a wife ; for such riches are base and disgraceful ; no, by no means let any one seek to get rich from this source. " For they that desire to be rich, fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, and into destruction and per dition." (i Tim. vi. 9.) Seek not therefore in thy wife abundance of wealth, and thou shall find everything else go well. Who, tell me, would overlook the most important things, to attend to those which are less so? And yet, alas ! this is in every case our feeling. Yes, if we have a son, we concern ourselves not how he may be made virtuous, but how we may get him a rich wife ; not how he may be well-man nered, but well-monied : 3 if we follow a busi ness, we enquire not how it may be clear of sin, but how it may bring us in most profit. And everything has become money ; and thus is everything corrupted and ruined, because that passion possesses us. Ver. 28. " Even so ought husbands to love their own wives," saith he, " as theirown bodies." What, again, means this? To how much greater a similitude, and stronger example has he come ; and not only so, but also to one how much nearer and clearer, and to a fresh obligation. For that other one was of no very constraining force, for He was Christ, and was God, and gave Himself. He now manages his argument on a different ground, saying, "so ought men " ; because the thing is not a favor, 3 OV^ OTO>? ei TpOTTOS ttAA* OTTOJ? fUTT