HOMILY III.] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 59 others. For though the piece itself happens to be theirs, still the money it-is worth is not theirs. Nay, and even if the money is in their hands, still this is not wealth. Now, if consignments thus given render not men more wealthy be cause we so soon resign them, how can those which arise from rapine render them wealthy? However, if at any rate thou desirest to be wealthy, (for the matter is not one of neces sity,) what greater good is it that thou wouldest fain enjoy? Is it a longer life? Yet, surely men of this character quickly become short lived. Oftentimes they pay as the penalty of plunder and rapaciousness, an untimely death; and not only suffer as a penalty the loss of the enjoyment of their gains, but go out of life hav ing gained but little, and hell to boot. Often times too they die of diseases, which are the fruits of self-indulgence, and of toil, and of anxiety. Fain would I understand why it is that wealth is so eagerly pursued by mankind. Why surely for this reason hath God set a limit and a boundary to our nature, that we may have no need to go on seeking wealth beyond it. For instance He hath commanded us, to clothe the body in one, or perhaps in two garments ; and there is no need of any more to cover us. Where is the good of ten thousand changes of raiment, and those moth-eaten? The stomach has its appointed bound, and any thing given beyond this, will of necessity destroy the whole man. Where then is the use of your herds, and flocks, and cutting up of flesh ? We require but one roof to shelter us. Where then is the use of your vast ground-plots, and costly build ings ? Dost thou strip the poor, that vultures and jackdaws may have where to dwell ? And what a hell do not these things deserve ? Many are frequently raising edifices that glisten with pillars and costly marbles, in places which they never so much as saw. What scheme is there indeed that they have notadopted ? Yet neither themselves reap the benefit, nor any one else. The desolateness does not allow them to get away thither; and yet not even thus do they de sist. You see that these things are not done for profit s-sake, but in all these cases folly, and ab surdity, and vainglory, is the motive. And this, I beseech you to avoid, that we may be enabled to avoid also every other evil, and may obtain those good things which are promised to them that love Him, in our Lord Jesus Christ, withwhom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, strength, honor forever. Amen. HOMILY III. VERSES. 15-20. "For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which is among you, and which ye show toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers ; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wis dom and revelation in the knowledge of Him : hav ing the eyes of your heart enlightened ; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatnessof His power tous-ward who believe, according to thatworking of the strength of His might, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." NEVER was anything equal to the yearnings of the Apostle, never anything like the sympa thy and the affectionateness of the blessed Paul, who made his every prayer in behalf of whole cities and peoples, and writes the same to all, 1 "I thank my God for you, making mention of you in my prayers." Think how many he had in his mind, whom it were a labor so much as to remember ; how many he made mention of in 1 [Ro. i. 9 ; i Cor. i. 4 ; Phil, i- 3, 4 : Col. i. 3 ; i The*, i. 2. G. A.] his prayers, giving thanks to God for them all as though he himself had received the greatest blessing. "Wherefore," he says, i. e., because of what is to come,2 because of the good things that are laid up in store for them who rightly believe and live. And it is meet then to give thanks to God both for all the things which mankind have received at His hands, both heretoforeand here after ; and meet to give Him thanks also for the faith of them that believe. " Having heard," saith he, " of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and which ye show3 toward all the saints." He on all occasions knits together and com bines faith and love, a glorious pair ; nor does he mention the saintsofthat countryonly, but all. a [" On the contrary this wherefore, Sia TOVTO, refers to what precedes ver. 13, 14, because this is the case that ye too are in Christ and have been sealed with the Spirit. So Theophylect." Meyer. G. A.] 3 [The word love, ayaur^, which gets into the Auth. Ver. from some inferior MSS.. is omitted by Aleph. A. B. VV. and H Vers. cf. Col. i: 4. G. A.]