110

What it is to gather together in one.

HOMIL. very beginning of the Epistle, he used the expression I. by the will of the Father. The Father, he means, willed, the Son wrought. But neither does it follow, that because the Father willed, the Son is excluded from the working; nor because the Son wrought, that the Father is deprived of the willing. But to the Father and the Son, all John 17, things are common. For all Mine are Thine, saith He,

10.

and Thine are Mine.

The fulness of the times, however, was His coming. After, then, He had practised every thing, by the ministry both of Angels, and of Prophets, and of the Law, and nothing came of it, and it was well nigh come to this, that man had been made in vain, brought into the world in vain, nay, rather to his ruin, when all were absolutely perishing, more fearfully than in the deluge; He devised this dispensation, that is by grace; that it might not be in vain, might not be to no purpose that man was created. This he calls the fulness of the times, and wisdom. And why so? Because at that time when they were on the very point of perishing, then they were rescued.

That He might gather together in one, he saith.

What is the meaning of this word, brought under one head? It is to knit together. Let us, however, endeavour to get near the exact import. With ourselves then, in common conversation, the word means the summing into a brief compass things spoken at length, the concise account of matters described in detail. And it has this meaning. For Christ hath gathered up in Himself the dispensations carried on through a lengthened period, that is to say, He hath cut Rom. 9, them short. For by finishing the work and cutting it short in righteousness, He both comprehended former dispensations, and added others beside. This is the meaning of bringing under one head.

28.

It has also another signification; and of what nature is this? He hath set over all one and the same Head, i. e. Christ according to the flesh, alike over Angels and men. That is to say, He hath given to Angels and men one and the same government; to the one the Incarnate, to the other God the Word. Just as one might say of a house which has some part decayed and the other sound, He hath rebuilt the house,

that is to say, He has made it stronger, and laid a firmer EPHes. foundation. So also here He hath brought all under one and I. 10. the same Head. For thus will an union be effected, thus will a close bond be effected, if one and all can be brought under one and the same Head, and thus have some constraining bond of union from above. Honoured then as we are with so great a blessing, so high a privilege, so great loving-kindness, let us not dishonour our Benefactor, let us not render in vain so great a boon. Let us exemplify the life of Angels, the virtue of Angels, the conversation of Angels, yea, I entreat and conjure you, that all these things turn not to our judgment, nor to our condemnation, but to our enjoyment of those good things, which may God grant we may all attain, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, strength, &c. &c.

HOMILY II.

EPHES.

II.

Chap. i. v. 11-14. In whom also we have obtained an HOMIL. inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.

Paul earnestly endeavours on all occasions to display the unspeakable loving-kindness of God towards us, to the utmost of his power. For that it is impossible to do so Rom. adequately, hear his own words. O! the depth of the riches 11, 33. both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out. Still, notwithstanding, so far as it is possible, he does display it. What then is this which he is saying; In whom also we have obtained a lot, being predestinated? Above he used the word, He hath chosen us; here he saith, we have obtained a lot. But inasmuch as a lot is the effect of chance, not of deliberate choice, nor of virtue, (for it is closely allied to ignorance and accident, and oftentimes passing over the virtuous, brings forward the insignificant into notice,) observe how he corrects this very point: being predestinated, saith he, according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things. That is to say, not merely have we obtained by lot, as, again, we have not merely been chosen, (for it is God who chooses,) and so neither have we merely been allotted, (for it is God who allots,) but it is according to a purpose". This is what he says also Rom. 8, in the Epistle to the Romans, To them that are called according to a purpose; and, whom He called, them He

28. 30.

a S. Chrysostom interprets these words in loc. "according to the purpose or will of the persons called." As

do S. Athanasius in vit. S. Anton. §. 19. S. Cyril Catech. Introd. i. Theodor. in loc. Origen in loc.

The word "lot" implies that we are not chosen by merit. 113

II.

also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. HOMIL.
Having first used the expression, " to them that are called
according to a purpose," and at the same time wishing
to declare their privilege compared with the rest of
mankind, he speaks also of inheritance by lot, yet so as aurižu.
not to divest them of free will. That point then, which "9.
more properly belongs to happy fortune, is the very point
he insists upon.
For this inheritance by lot depends not

on virtue, but, as one might say, on fortuitous circumstances.
It is as though he had said, lots were cast, and He
hath chosen us*. The sum of the matter is this: men
predestinated from deliberate choice, that is to say, having
chosen them to Himself, He hath separated. He saw us,
as it were, chosen by lot before we were born.
For mar-
vellous is the foreknowledge of God, and acquainted with
all things or ever they come to pass.

στον.

But mark now how on all occasions he takes pains to point out, that it is not the result of any change of purpose, but that these matters had been thus drawn out from the very first, so that we are in no wise inferior to the Jews in this respect; and how, in consequence, he does every thing with this view. How then is it that Christ Himself saith, I am not Matt. sent, save unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel? And 15, 24. said again to His disciples, Go not into the way of the Matt. Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. 10, 5. And yet that Paul again himself says, It was necessary that Acts 13, the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but 46. seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn unto the Gentiles. These expressions, I say, are used with this design, that no one may suppose that this work came to pass incidentally only. According to the purpose, he says, of Him that worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. That is to say, "He had no after workings; in that He had drawn out all things from the very first." Thus he adds the con

12. 14.

114

The chosen are made manifest by sealing.

EPHES. clusion himself, according to the counsel of His will. So that it was not merely because the Jews did not listen that He called the Gentiles, nor was it of mere necessity, nor was it on any inducement arising from them.

Ver. 12, 13. That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation.

That is to say, by whom. Observe how he on all occasions speaks of Christ, as the Author of all things, and in no case gives Him the title of a subordinate agent', or a minister. And so again, elsewhere in his Epistle to the Heb.1,1. Hebrews, he says, that God Who in times past spake unto our Fathers in the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us in His Son, i. e. by His Son.

The word of truth, he says, no longer that of the type, nor of the image.

The Gospel of your salvation. And well does he call it the Gospel of salvation, intimating in the one word a contrast to the law, in the other, a contrast with punishment to come. For what is the message, but the Gospel of salvation, which forbears to destroy those that are worthy of destruction.

Ver. 14. In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.

Here again, the word sealed, is an indication of especial forecast. He does not speak of our being predestinated only, nor of our being allotted our inheritance, but further, of our being sealed. For just as though one were to make those who should fall to his lot manifest, so also did God separate them for believing, and sealed them for the allotment of the things to come.

You see how, in process of time, He makes them objects of wonder. So long as they were in His foreknowledge, they were manifest to no one, but when they were sealed, they became manifest, though not in the same way as we are; for they will be manifest except a few. The Israelites also were sealed, but that was by circumcision, like the

f

Toveyou. Theophilus, however, uses the word, ad Autolyc. ii. 10. The word is disowned by Athan. Orat. in

Arian. ii. 31. Cyril Alex. in Joan. lib. i. c. 5. p. 45. vid. supr. p. 109,

note c.