HOMILY II.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 55 effected, thus will a close bond be effected, if one and all can be brought under one and the same Head, and thus have some constraining bond of union from above. Honored then as we are with so great a blessing, so high a privi lege, so great loving-kindness, let us not shame our Benefactor, let us not render in vain so great grace. Let us exemplify the life of Angels, thevirtue of Angels, the conversation of Angels, yea, I entreat and conjure you, that all these things turn not to our judgment, nor to our condemnation, but to our enjoyment of those good things, which may God grant we may all attain, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, strength, &c. &c. HOMILY II CHAPTER i. VERSES 11-14. " In whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will." PAUL earnestly endeavors on all occasions to display the unspeakable loving-kindness of God towards us, to the utmost of his power. For that it is impossible to do so adequately, hear his own words. " O ! the depth of the riches both of the wisdomand knowledge of God ; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out." (Rom. xi : 33.) Still, not withstanding, so far as it is possible, he does display it. What then is this which he is say ing; "In whom also we were made a heritage, being predestinated?" Above he used the word, "He chose us;" here he saith, "we were made a heritage." But inasmuch as a lot is a matter of chance, not of deliberate choice, nor of virtue, (for it is closely allied to ignor ance and accident, and oftentimes passing over the virtuous, brings forward the worthless into notice,) observe how he corrects this very point: "having been foreordained," saith he, "ac cording to the purpose ofHim who worketh all things." That is to say, not merely have we been made a heritage, as, again, we have not merely been chosen, (for it isGodwho chooses,) and so neither have we merely been allotted, (for it is God who allots,)1 but it is " according to a purpose." This is what he says also in the Epistle to the Romans, (Rom. viii: 28-30.) " To them that are called according to His pur pose ; " and "whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them he also glorified." Having first used the expression, " to them that are called according to a pur pose," and at the same time wishing to declare 1 [Meyer against the Rev. Version and many scholars makes the meaning here to be : " In whom we were allotted the inheritance." He shows that as n-io-reveii/ may take as subject when in passive voice the dative of the active construction, so also may KAqpovy which takes in the active a dative. See also verse 14, K\rjpoyoiJ.ia. G. A.] their privilege compared with the rest of man kind, he speaks also of inheritance by lot, yet so as not to divest them of free will. That point then, which more properly belongs to happy fortune, is the very point he insists upon. For this inheritance by lot depends not on vir tue, but, as one might say, on fortuitouscircum stances. It is as though he had said, lots were cast, and He hath chosen us ;2 but the whole is of deliberate choice. Men predestinated, that is to say, having chosen them to Himself, He hath separated. He saw us, as it were, chosen by lot before we were born. For marvellous is the foreknowledge of God, and acquainted with all things before their beginning. But mark now how on all occasions he takes pains to point out, that it is not the result of any change of purpose, but that these matters had been thus modeled from the very first, so that we are in no wise inferior to the Jews in this respect ; and how, in consequence, he does every thing with this view. How then is it that Christ Himself saith, " I was not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel ? " (Mat. xv : 24.) And said again to his disciples, "Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans." (Mat. x: 5.) And Paul again himself says, "It was neces sary that the word of God should first be spoken to you. Seeing ye thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." (Acts xiii : 46.) These expressions, I say, are used with this design, that no one may suppose that this work came to pass incidentally only. "According to the purpose," he says, " of Him who worketh all a "Why calls he the grace ofGod by the name of lot? because in a lot there is no choice, but the will ofGod ; for when it is said, a man does, he does not, merits are regarded ; and then there is a choice, not a lot. But when God found no merits of ours, He saved us by the lot of His will, because He willed, not because we were worthy. This is a lot," &c. August, in Psalm xxx. nar. Hi. 13.