HOMILY VII.] HOMILIES ON TIMOTHY. 431 Ver. 6. " Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified : in due time." Was Christ then a ransom for the Heathen ? Undoubtedly Christ died even for Heathen ; and you cannot bear to pray for them. Why then, you ask, did they not believe? Because they would not : but His part was done. His suffering was a "Testimony," he says; for He came, it is meant, "to bear witness to the truth" of the Father, and was slain. 2 Thus not only the Father bore witness to Him, but He to the Father. "For I came," He saith, "in my Father s name." (John v. 43.) And again, " No man hath seen God at any time." (John i. 1 8.) And again, "That they might know Thee, the only true God." (John xvii. 3.) And, " God is a Spirit." (John iv. 24.) And He bore witness even to the death. But this, " in due time," means, In the fittest time. Ver. 7. " Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an Apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not :) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity." Since therefore Christ suffered for the Gen tiles, and I was separated to be a " teacher of the Gentiles," why dost thou refuse to pray for them? He fully shows his own credibility, by saying that he was "ordained" (Acts xiii. 2), that is, separated, for this purpose, the other Apostles being backward 3 in teaching the Gen tiles ; he adds, " in faith and verity," to show that in that faith there was no deceit. Here is observable the extension of grace. For the Jews had no prayers for the Gentiles ; but now grace is extended to them : and when he says that he was separated to be a Teacher of the Gentiles, he intimates that grace was now shed over every part of the world. " He gave himself a ransom," he saith, how then was He delivered up by the Father ? Be cause it was of His goodness. And what means " ransom " ? God was about to punish them, but He forbore to do it. They were about to perish, but in their stead He gave His own Son, and sent us as heralds to proclaim the Cross. These things are sufficient to attract all, and to demonstrate the love of Christ. MORAL. So truly, so inexpressibly great are the benefits which God has bestowed upon us. He sacri ficed Himself for His enemies, who hated and rejected Him. What no one would do for friends, for brethren, for children, that the Lord hath done for His servants ; a Lord not Himself such an one as His servants, but God for men ; for men not deserving. For had they been de serving, had they done His pleasure, it would 1 Lit. " the Testimony." He seems to mean, " was slain for that purpose." 3 fvapKuiv. Montf. observes that all copies agree, and that this may be true of the countries mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, but not universally. have been less wonderful ; but that He died for such ungrateful, such obstinate creatures, this it is which strikes every mind with amazement. For what men would not do for their fellow- men, that has God done for us ! Yet after such a display of love towards us, we hold back,4 and are not in earnest in our love of Christ. He has sacrificed Himself for us ; for Him we make no sacrifice. We neglect Him when He wants necessary food ; sick and naked we visit Him not. What do we not deserve, what wrath, what punishment, what hell? Were there no other inducement, it should be sufficient to prevail with every one that He condescended to make human sufferings His own, to say I hunger, I thirst. O the tyranny of wealth ! or rather the wick edness of those who are its willing slaves ! for it has no great power of itself, but through our weakness and servility : 5 it is we that are mean and groveling, that are carnal and without un derstanding. For what power has money ? It is mute and insensible. If the devil, that wicked spirit, that crafty confounder of all things, has no power,6 what power has money ? When you look upon silver, fancy it is tin ! Cannot you ? Then hold it for what it really is ; for earth it is. But if you cannot reason thus, consider that we too shall perish, that many of those who have possessed it have gained scarce any advantage by it, that thousands who gloried in it are now dust and ashes. That they are suffering extreme punishment, and far more beggarly than they that fed from glass and earthenware ; that those who once reclined on ivory couches, are poorer now than those who are lying on the dunghill. But it delights the eyes ! How many other things delight them more ! The flowers, the pure sky, the firmament, the bright sun, are far more grateful to the eye. For it hath much of rust, whence some have asserted that it was black, which appears from the images that turn black. But there is no blackness in the sun, the heaven, the stars. Much greater delight is there in these brilliants 7 than in its color. It is not therefore its brilliancy 8 that makes it please, but covetousness and iniquity ; these, and not money, give the pleasure. Cast these from thy soul, and what appeared so precious will seem to thee more worthless than clay. Those who are in a fever long for mud when they see it, as if it were spring water; but those in sound health seldom wish even for water. Cast off this morbid longing, and thou wilt see things as they are. And to prove that I do not speak falsely, know, that I can point out many who . ** One MS. and old Lat. " dissoluteness." 6 i.e. over those who resist him. 7 Lit. " flowers." See on Stat. Horn. ix. 3. 8 Lit. " flower."