6o WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY III. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." What is thy prayer, and what thy entreaty? It is " That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation." l Two things he re quires them to understand, as it is their duty to understand them ; to what blessings they are called, and how they have been released from their former state. He says, however, himself, that these points are three. How then are they three ? In order thatwemay understand touch ing the things to come ; for from the good things laid up for us, we shall know His ineffable and surpassing riches, and from understanding who we were, and how we believed, we shall know His power and sovereignty, in turning again to Himself those who had been so long time estranged from Him. "For the weakness of God is stronger than men." (i Cor. i: 25.) Inasmuch as it is by the self-same power by which He raised Christ from the dead, that He hath also drawn us to Himself. Nor is that power limited to the resurrection, but far exceeds it. Ver. 21, 22. "And made Him to sit at His right hand, in the Heavenly places, far above all rule and authority, and power and dominion, and every name that is named : and He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that fill- eth all in all." Vast indeed are the mysteries and secrets of which He hath made us partakers. And these it is not possible for us to understand other wise than by being partakers of the Holy Ghost, and by receiving abundant grace. And it is for this reason that Paul prays. "The Father of glory," that is, He that hath given us vast blessings, for he constantly addresses Him according to the subject he is upon, as, for instance, when he says, " The Father of mercies and God of all comfort." (2 Cor. i: 3.) And, again, the Prophet says, "The Lord is my strength and my might." (Ps. xviii : i.) "The Father of glory." He has no name by which he may represent these things, and on all occasions calls them "glory," which is in fact, with us, the name and appellation of every kind of magnificence. Mark, he says, the Father of glory ; (cf. Acts vii: 2) but of Christ the God.2 What then ? Is 1 [Chrysostom s hastyand superficial treatment of this great pas sage would seem to justify the language of Dr. Newman in his pre face to the Oxford translation of these homilies on Ephesians. There are " imperfections in their composition which in the opinion of some critics argued the absence of that comparative leisure which he enjoyed at Antioch." SchafF also says: "His life in Constantinople was too much disturbed to leave him quiet leisure for preparation." This, however, in referring to his Homilies on Acts. Prolegomena p. 19. G. A.j the Son inferior to the glory ? No, there is no one, not even a maniac, would say so. "May give unto you," That is, may raise and wing your understand ing, for it is not possible otherwise to under stand these things. For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him." (i Cor. ii: 14.) So then, there is need of spiritual "wis dom," thatwemay perceive things spiritual, that we may see things hidden. That Spirit " reveal- eth all things. He is going to set forth the mysteries of God. Now the knowledge of the mysteries of God, the Spirit alone comprehends, who also searcheth the deep things of Him. It is not said , " that Angel, or Archangel, or any other created power, may give," that is, confer upon you a spiritual gift. And if this be of revelation, then is the discovery of arguments consequently vain. For he that hath learned God, and knoweth God, shall no longer dispute concerning any thing. He will not say, This is impossible, and That is possible, and How did the other thing come to pass? If we learn God, as we ought to know Him ; if we learn God from Him from whom we ought to learn Him, that is from the Spirit Himself; then shall we no longer dispute concerning any thing. And hence it is that he says, Having the eyes of your heart enlightened in the knowledge of Him." 3 He that hath learned what God is, will have no misgiving about His promises, and disbelief about what hath been already brought to pass. He prays, then, that there may be given them " a spirit of wisdom and revelation." Yet still he also establishes it, as far as he can himself, by arguments, and from "already" existing facts. For, whereas he was about to mention some things which had already come to pass, and others which had not as yet happened ; he makes those which have been brought to pass, a pledge of those which have not : in some such way, I mean, as this, "That ye may know," saith he, " what is the hope of His calling." It is as yet, he means, hidden, but not so to the faithful. "And," again, "what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." 4 2 [Compare Mat. xxvii. 46 ; John xx : 17 ; Rev. iii : 12. G. A.] 3 [" The words, in the knowledge of Him, efeirt yfiotrec avrov. are not to be joined with thewords * having your heart enlightened, as Chrysostom here, which entirely destroys the paralellism and symmetry of the sentence, but with the words, may give you a spirit of wisdom, etc., (in theknowledge of Him)." Meyer and Ellicott. G. A.] 4 [" That ye may knowwhat a great and glorious hope is given to the man whom God has called to the Kingdom of the Messiah ; and that ye may kno%v what is the object of that hope, namely, the riches of the glory of the inheritance which He gives; and that ye may know that by which this hope is to be realized, namely, the infinite power of God as shown in the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ." Meyer. G. A.]