HOMILY XIX.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 141 I discover this done, I shall discover that to sin is in my own power. No one examines these matters, no one busies himself about them. But only according to Job, " Man in a way altogether different swims upon words." l For why does it concern thee, if such an one is blind, or such an one poor? God hath not commanded thee to look to this, but to what thou thyself art doing. For if on the one hand thou doubtest that there is any power superintending the world, thou art of all men the most senseless ; but if thou art persuaded of this, why doubt that it is our duty to please God ? " Giving thanks always," he says, " for all things to God." Go to the physician s, and thou wilt see him, whenever a man is discovered to have a wound, using the knife and the cautery. But no, in thy case, I say not so much as this ; but go to the carpenter s. And yet thou dost not examine his reasons, although thou understandest not one of the things which are done there, and many things will appear to thee to be difficulties ; as, for instance, when he hollows the wood, when he alters its outward shape. Nay, I would bring thee to a more intelligible craft still, for instance, that of the painter, and there thy head will swim. For tell me, does he not seem to be doing what he does, at random ? For what do his lines mean, and the turns and bends of the lines ? But when he puts on the colors, then the beauty of the art will become conspicuous. Yet still, not even then wilt thou be able to attain to any accurate understanding of it. But whydo I speak of car penters, and painters, our fellow-servants? Tell me, how does the bee frame her comb, and then shalt thou speak about God also. Master the handiwork of the ant, the spider, and the swal low, and then shalt thou speak about God also. Tell me these things. But ho, thou never canst. Wilt thou not cease then, O man, thy vain en quiries? For vain indeed they are. Wilt thou not cease busying thyself in vain about many things? Nothing so wise as this ignorance, where they that profess they know nothing are wisest of all, and they that spend overmuch labor on these questions, the most foolish of all. So that to profess knowledge is not everywhere a sign of wisdom, but sometimes of folly also. For tell me, suppose there were two men, and one of them should profess to stretch out his lines, and to measure the expanse that inter venes between the earth and heaven, and the other were to laugh at him, and declare that he did not understand it, tell me, I pray, which should we laugh at, him that said he knew, or him that knew not? Evidently, the man that said that he knew. He that is ignorant, there- 1 [Job xi. 12. the Sept. : avtipurnos &e aAAco? yr;xTai Aoyot? ; but tbe Rev. Ver., after the Hebrew, has: " Vain man is void of under standing." G. A.] fore, is wiser than he that professes to know.- And what again? If any one were to profess to tell us how many cups of water the sea contains, and another should profess his ignorance, is not the ignorance here again wiser than the knowl edge ? 3 Surely, vastly so. And why so ? Because that knowledge itself is but intense ignorance. For he indeed who says that he is ignorant, knows something. And what is that ? That it is incomprehensible to man. 4 Yes, and this is no small portion of knowledge. Whereas he that says he knows, he of all others knows not what he says he knows, and is for this very reason utterly ridiculous. MORAL. Alas ! how many things are there to teach us to bridle this unseasonable imperti nence and idle curiosity ; and yetwe refrain not, but are curious about the lives of others ; as, why one is a cripple, and why another is poor. And so by this way of reasoning we shall fall into another sort of trifling which is endless, as, why such an one is a woman ? and, why all are not men ? why there is such a thing as an ass ? why an ox? why a dog? why a wolf? why a stone? why wood? and thus the argument will run out to an interminable length. This in truth is the reason, why God has marked out limits to our knowledge, and has laid them deep in nature. And mark, now, the excess of this busy curiosity. For though we look up to so great a height as from earth to heaven, and are not at all affected by it ; yet as soon as ever we go up to the top of a lofty tower, and have a mind to stoop over a little, and look down, a sort ofgiddiness and dizziness immediately seizes us. Now, tell me the reason of this. No, thou couldest never find out a reason for it. Why is it that the eye possesses greater power than other senses, and is caught by more distant ob jects? And one might see it by comparison with the case of hearing. For no one will ever be able to shout so loudly, as to fill the air as far as the eye can reach, nor to hear at so great a distance. Why are not all the members of equal honor ? Why have not all received one function and one place? Paul also searched into these questions ; or rather he did not search into them, for he was wise ; but where he comes by chance upon this topic, he says, " Each one of them, hath God set even as it hath pleased Him." (i Cor. xii. 18.) He assigns the whole to His will. And so then let us only " give thanks for all things." " Wherefore," says he, " give thanks for all things." This is the part of a well-dis posed, of a wise, of an intelligent servant ; the opposite is that of a tattler, and an idler, and a - [A striking oxymoron. Compare the Greek, 6 ayvoiav TOV VTTO- (T\o/iei ou fiievai <ro</>u>Tepo. G. A.] 3 [Compare the Greek again : ov ird\iv ^ ayi/oia TTJS eiSTjafws em <ro<)T<rpa; G. A.] 4 [Compare, Unum scio, quod nihil scfo. G. A.J