how by heaven, and earth, the sea, the Creator is glorified. But to-day, after briefly philo- sophising on that same subject, we will proceed to another topic. For He not only made it,1504 but provided also that when it was made, it should carry on its operations; not per- mitting it to be all immoveable, nor commanding it to be all in a state of motion. The heaven, for instance, hath remained immoveable, according as the prophet says, “He placed the heaven as a vault, and stretched it out as a tent over the earth.”1505 But, on the other hand, the sun with the rest of the stars, runs on his course through every day.1506 And again, the earth is fixed, but the waters are continually in motion; and not the waters only, but the clouds, and the frequent and successive showers, which return at their proper season. The nature of the clouds is one, but the things which are produced out of them are different. For the rain, indeed, becomes wine in the grape, but oil in the olive. And in other plants is changed into their juices; and the womb of the earth is one, and yet bears different fruits. The heat, too, of the sun-beams is one, but it ripens all things differently; bringing some to maturity more slowly, and others more quickly. Who then but must feel astonishment and admiration at these things? 5. Nay, this is not the only wonder, that He hath formed it with this great variety and diversity; but farther, that He hath spread it before all in common; the rich and the poor, sinners as well as the righteous. Even as Christ also declared: “He maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and sendeth His rain upon the just and unjust.”1507 Moreover, when He stocked the world with various animals, and implanted divers dispositions in the creatures, He commanded us to imitate some of these, and to avoid others. For example; 420 the ant is industrious, and performs a laborious task. By giving heed then, thou wilt receive the strongest admonition from this animal not to indulge in sloth, nor to shun labour and toil. Therefore also the Scripture has sent the sluggard to the ant, saying, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, emulate his ways, and be wiser than he.”1508 Art thou unwilling, he means, to learn from the Scriptures, that it is good to labour, and that he who will not work, neither ought he to eat?1509 learn it from the irrationals! This also we do in our families, when those who are older, and who are considered superior, have done amiss, we bid them to attend 1504 αὐτὴν, i.e., τὴν κτίσιν, the Creation. 1505 Isa. xl. 42. 1506 Hom. IX. (3) (4), and notes. St. Chrys. on Hebr. viii. 1, Hom. XIV. (1), denies that the Heaven is either moveable or spherical. Plato, and most others, thought that the fixed stars moved with the whole solid firmament, but Philoponus argues that a sphere moving round its axis has motion of translation, and may be called fixed. See Mont. pref. to Cosmas Ægypt., in Coll. Nov. Patr. t. ii. 1507 Matt. v. 45. 1508 Prov. vi. 6. 1509 2 Thess. iii. 10. 608 Homily XII