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Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. 
 
 An attempt to illustrate the History of their Suppression, 
 with an Appendix and Maps showing the situation of 
 the religious houses at the time of their dissolution. By 
 Francis Aidan Gasquet, O.S.B. i Vols. Third 
 Edition. Price 12s. each. 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION— Monastic England. 
 
 CHAPTER I. — Dawn of Difficulties. 
 
 CHAPTER II. — Precedents in England for Suppression. 
 
 CHAPTER III. — Cardinal Wolsey and the Monasteries. 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— The Holy Maid of Kent. 
 
 CHAPTER V. — The Franciscan Observants. 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— The Carthusians. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. — The Visitation of Monasteries, 1535-6. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. — The Suppression of the Lesser Monasteries 
 
 BY Act of Parliament. 
 CFIAPTER IX. — The Comperta Monastica, and Charges against 
 
 THE Monks. 
 CHAPTER X. — The Chief Accuser, Thomas Crumwell. 
 CHAPTER XI. — The Accusers' Chief Agents : Layton, Legh, 
 
 Ap Rice, and London. 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. IL 
 
 CHAPTER I. — Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries. 
 
 CHAPTER II. — The Lincolnshire Rising. 
 
 CHAPTER III. — The Pilgrimage of Grace. 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— The Second Northern Rising. 
 
 CHAPTER V. — Dissolutions by Act of Attainder. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. — The Suppression of Convents. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL— The Fall of the Friars. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. — Progress of the General Dissolution. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. — The Three Benedictine Abbots. 
 
 CHAPTER X.— The Monastic Spoils. 
 
 CHAPTER XL — The Spending of the Spoils. The Disbanded 
 
 Monks and their Pensions. 
 CHAPTER XII. — Results of the Suppression. 
 
 Appendix, &c. Maps, Index to both Volumes. 
 
Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. 
 
 SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS UPON VOL. I. 
 
 "The old scandals, universally discredited at the time, and believed in by a later 
 generation only through prejudice and ignorance, are now dispelled for ever." — 
 Academy. Signed, Jamks GAinoNEit. 
 
 " I lis book promises to be a most valuable contribution to ecclesiastical history." 
 — Sulurday Review. 
 
 •'A learned, careful and successful vindication of the personal character of the 
 Monks. ... In Mr. Gasquet's skilful hands the dissolution of the Monasteries assumes 
 the proportions of a Greek tragedy." — Gunrtlian. 
 
 " The work is solid, authentic and trustworthy in its matter. . . . 'I'he history 
 speaks for itself in clear, simple and good English." — Diil-lin Reciew. Signed, Henky 
 EowAHi), Cardinal Archbishop. 
 
 " A book of great value. . . . We are impatient for the second volume." — 
 Reliijuary. Signed, J. C. Cox, LL.D. 
 
 "Mr. Gasquet is always calm and moderate. ... He has produced a work of much 
 research, which has the merit of being most conscientiously fair." — Notes and Queries. 
 
 " Every source of information seems to have been drawn on. The result is a 
 picture of monastic life more truthful than any hitherto painted." — The Standard. 
 
 " We look anxiously for the second volume of this work, which will always hold 
 its own on the shelves of our libraries, for it is the result of the labours of a learned 
 scholar and divine." — Tablet. 
 
 " Gasquet is a trenchant writer and formidable historical scholar, and his book will 
 be welcomed as an admirable contribution to the study of the epoch." — Star. 
 
 " An excellent and most interesting volume." — Freeman's Journal. 
 
 "This is a noteworthy book. . . . The author writes in a calm and critical spirit 
 and the style is lucid and refined." — Kensington News. 
 
 "The book is so interesting, so temperately written, and in such excellent 
 English . . . that we are glad to commend it most cordially to our readers." — Literary 
 Churchman. 
 
 " It is a book which students of history ought to possess.'' — Sussex Advertiser. 
 
 " A most important work." — American Catholic ff'orld. 
 
 " It is as instructive as it is gravely important." — Nation. 
 
 " A historian of the right kind, and one who deserves the success, remarkable for a 
 book of the kind, which he has already had." — Mancliester Guardian. 
 
 " A very interesting and valuable volume. . . . Every page teems with informa- 
 tion," — A rchcenliigical Review. 
 
 " The present work shows that the Benedictine Oriler can still produce writers not 
 unworthy to hand on the reputation earned in the field of history by the brethren of the 
 learned congregation of St. Maur." — Church Times. 
 
 " The author's statements are beyond dispute, while his main conclusions are 
 formed with much fairness.'' — St. yames's Gazette. 
 
 "Gasquet's ' Henry Vlll.' will be a very valuable work for historical reference." — 
 Punch. 
 
 " The book will be thankfully received by all historical scholars who work with 
 unbiassed minds."' — Pul-lisher.'i' Circular. 
 
 " His second volume will be looked forward to with expectation and iiiterest." — 
 Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " The real merit of the work is that it is one of great and useful historical 
 research." — English Churchman. 
 
 " We think he has executed his task with praiseworthy candour, and all who 
 desire that truth should prevail will thank him for giving the results of his laborious 
 researches to a generation which is willing to rectify the judgments of a less critical 
 age." — Church Review. 
 
 " This volume is a splendid addition to our history." — Universe. 
 
 " Great diligence, great care, great accuracy, and the gift of skilful grouping and 
 ordering of facts, are all evident on the face of this excellent volume." — The Month. 
 
 " Kr. Gasquet's statement of facts leave nothing to be desired in point of accuracy." 
 — If'estmiiisler Review, 
 
 JOHN HODGES, 25, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. 
 
p^6 
 
 €.5 
 
 existed. The " Black Book " is not mentioned before the reign of Queen 
 EHzabeth, and the document has completely disappeared. Its details 
 have been supplied by the conjecture of hostile historians. If any such 
 statement was ever drawn up it was probably in the nature of an abstract 
 compiled from the reports of the visitors. We are thus driven back to 
 these " Comperta " as the final source of the charges against the monks. 
 It is in dealing with the existing documentary evidence that Mr. Gasquet 
 is at his best ; but his reasoning rests upon detailed criticism, which is 
 convincing in its entirety, though it hardly admits of isolated illustration. 
 He shows that comparatively few of the religious are charged with any 
 crime ; that the accusations are vague, based upon idle rumour, and not 
 upon confessions of the accused ; that they are often misleading and 
 deceptive ; that they are contradicted by Episcopal visitations as well as 
 by reports of other royal visitors and by subsequent evidence ; and that 
 in several specific instances they totally fail. These accusations, which in 
 themselves are thus of little value as evidence, are tainted at the source by 
 the character and the obvious motives of the witnesses. Of Crumwell, 
 who was the moving spirit of the movement, Mr. Gasquet says — 
 
 No single minister in England ever exercised such extensive authority, none ever rose 
 so rapidl}', and no one has ever left behind him a name covered with greater infamy 
 and disgrace. . . . " Thomas Crumwell, the cloth carder " (to give him the style 
 ordered by Henry VIII.), was regretted by very few in England. He had plundered 
 and murdered defenceless men and women ; he had endeavoured to rob the religious of 
 their reputations as he had of their property ; he had defrauded the people of their 
 rights, and had seized upon the patrimony of the poor ; he had deprived tJie sick and 
 aged of their hospitals and places of refuge ; he had driven monks and nuns from their 
 cloisters, to wander homeless in poverty and disgrace. But his day of reckoning came 
 at last, and in merited ignominy his career closed. 
 
 Crumwell had chosen fit instruments for his work — Legh, Layton, Ap 
 Rice, and London : — 
 
 They were not troubled with scruples of conscience or unnerved by tenderness in 
 effecting the end their master had in view. "The inquisitors," remarks Fuller, the 
 historian, " were men who well understood the message they were sent on, and would 
 not come back without a satisfactory answer to him who sent them, knowing them- 
 selves to be no losers thereby."* They were, and professed themselves to be, com- 
 pletely dependent on Crumwell. That they would not hesitate to serve him and their 
 own interests, even at the expense of their honesty, is made clear from their own 
 letters. 
 
 They were obscene, profligate, and perjured witnesses, men of prurient 
 mind and depraved nature, servile tools in the hands of their master 
 Crumwell. Their avowed object was plunder, and the charges made 
 against the religious were means to attain that end. Mr. Gasquet thus 
 concludes : — 
 
 The character of the men upon whose word the monasteries have been defamed 
 would in these days be defended by no honest historian. No other evidence is forth- 
 coming, and it may be fairly asked, in the name of common sense no less than of 
 sacred justice, that the religious houses may not be condemned on the unsupported 
 word of such miserable men as Layton, Legh, Ap Rice, and London. 
 
 The first volume of the present work clears the ground for the history 
 of the suppression of the monasteries, which will be narrated in the 
 second. The story of the dissolution is full of pathetic incidents, which 
 render it a fascinating subject to inspire a historian who is so well quali- 
 fied for his task as Mr. Gasquet. — The Guardian. 
 
 * /7/.s7., ii., p. 214. Dean Hook adopts Fuller's estimate of these tools of Crumwell. 
 
THE CATHOLIC STANDARD LIBRARY. 
 
 Demy 8vo., cloth, price 12s. each vol. 
 
 Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. An attempt to illus- 
 trate the History of their Suppression, with an Appendix and Maps showing the 
 situation of the religious houses at the time of their dissolution. By Francis Aidan 
 Gasquet, O.S.B. 2 Vols. Fourth Edition, now ready. 
 
 The Great Commentary upon the Gospels of Cornelius a Lapide. 
 
 Translated and Edited by T. W. Mossman, D.U. Complete in 6 vols. 
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 Piconio (Bernardine a). Exposition on St. Paul's Epistles. Trans- 
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 late Dr. Maiti.and, Keeper of the MSS. at Lambeth. A new and revised Edition, 
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 By the Benedictines of Downside. 4 Vols. 
 
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CATHOLIC STANDARD LIBRARY. 
 
 PICONIO 
 
 ON ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES. 
 
v^:^' 
 
 AN EXPOSITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL 
 
 BY 
 
 BERNARDINE A PICONIO 
 
 O'? - -• r A ' •,, c^e. \ 
 
 TRANSLATED AND EDITED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN BY 
 
 A. H. PRICHARD, B.A. 
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. OXFORD. 
 
 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, 
 
 EPHESIANS, PHILIPPIANS, AND COLOSSIANS. 
 
 JOHN HODGES, 
 
 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON. 
 
 i8go. 
 
LEWES: 
 SOL Til COUNTIES PRESS, 
 
 Limited. 
 
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE First Epistle to the Corinthians was written 
 shortly before, and the Second was written shortly 
 after, the tumultuous attack made upon Saint Paul 
 at Ephesus, in the year 57, with which the name of 
 Demetrius is associated, and which is related in the 
 19th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. This out- 
 break was probably instigated by the Jews, and it 
 occasioned the Apostle's departure from Ephesus, where 
 he was exposed to imminent peril of his life. This 
 occurrence caused him a degree of anguish and annoy- 
 ance which he can hardly find words to express, tis 
 appears from the opening of this Epistle ; and it occa- 
 sioned a change in his plans, for instead of crossing the 
 sea to Corinth and proceeding thence to Macedonia, as 
 he had intended (i., 16), he went at once into Macedonia 
 by way of Troas. Arriving in Macedonia, he found himself 
 plunged into a laborious course of Apostolic labour which 
 occupied him some months, during which he traversed 
 the province in every direction (Acts xx., 2). Mean- 
 while, he despatched his friend and fellow-labourer. Saint 
 Titus, to Corinth, to explain the reasons for his non- 
 appearance, according to promise, and ascertain the 
 effect produced by the First Epistle, which had been 
 sent previously by the hands of Timothy, Stephanas, 
 and others ; and on the return of Titus he wrote the 
 
 A 
 
2 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 extremely beautiful letter which follows. It was 
 despatched from Philippi, the capital of Macedonia, 
 towards the close of the year 57, by the hands of Saint 
 Titus and Saint Luke. The effect of the former one, 
 when received at Corinth, had been marked and extra- 
 ordinary. The Corinthian Christians, as a body, 
 submitted at once, not only readily, but eagerly, to all 
 the Apostle's exhortations and requirements; so much 
 so, that in one instance he has even to rebuke their 
 over-zeal ; while on the oiher hand his opponents, the 
 teachers against whom he inveighed, were driven to 
 open war. They now threw off all disguise, and openly 
 arrayed themselves against the authority of the Apostle, 
 whom they assailed with a flood of calumny and 
 invective. He was inconstant and uncertain, always 
 altering his plans, faithless to his promises, infamous in 
 his character, hypocritical in his professions of piety ; the 
 doctrine he taught was his own invention, altered 
 continually to suit his own will and pleasure ; he had 
 intruded himself into the Apostolic office without any call 
 from Christ. To defend himself from these charges, 
 assert the genuineness of his mission, the conformity of 
 his doctrine with that of the other Apostles, and its 
 uniform consistency with itself, is the object of this 
 second Epistle. In support of his argument he is 
 compelled to introduce the mention of visions and 
 revelations from heaven with which he had been favoured, 
 and to which, under other circumstances, he would 
 probably never have alluded ; and he goes so far as to 
 threaten his opponents, since they sought a proof of h s 
 ministry, with a trial of his miraculous powers similar to 
 that which Saint Peter exercised in the case of Ananias 
 and Sapphira. But this is only under extreme provoca- 
 tion. As a rule, the tone of the Epistle is gentle, humble, 
 and apologetic, to a degree which is very pathetic and 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 3 
 
 touching; and it is more personal than the former, owing to 
 the influence upon his mind of the extremely violent sorrow 
 and anguish which the outbreak at Ephesus had caused 
 him, and which produced a feeling of depression under 
 which, though some months had elapsed, he still laboured. 
 His letter was an avant courier of his own presence, for 
 he announces his intention of coming to Corinth, and 
 recurring to the subject of the collection for the 
 Christians in Judea, requests that the money may be 
 ready for him to take with him when he went to the East. 
 It appears, from the opening words of Acts xx., that he 
 carried out this intention, for he came to Greece, 
 remained there three months, and then proceeded, 
 according to arrangement, to Jerusalem. Baronius thinks 
 this Epistle was written at Nicopolis, in Asia Minor, in 
 the year 58, but this is not the commonly-received 
 opinion. It is addressed generally to all the Christians 
 in Greece, or, as it was then called, the province of 
 Achaia, of which Corinth was the political capital. 
 
 W 
 
 o/l\o 
 
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, 
 Knd our brother Timothy, to the Church of God, which is 
 at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of 
 Achaia. 
 
 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 In this Chapter the Apostle, after saluting the 
 Christians of Achaia, points out that suffering brings with 
 it consolation, because it makes us partakers of the 
 passion of Christ ; describes the sorrow which had been 
 occasioned him by the recent occurrences at Ephesus ; 
 and excuses himself for not having visited the Corinthians, 
 as he had intended, on his way to Macedonia. 
 
 1. Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. — The will 
 of God is the origin of the Apostolic office, and every 
 other office in the Church ; and it is to the will of God 
 that Saint Paul ascribes his appointment to this office, 
 and the obligation he was under of discharging its 
 functions, not to any merit or assumption of his own. 
 
 Our brother Timothy. — Saint Timothy w^as well known 
 to the Corinthian Christians, having been the bearer of 
 the first Epistle, and they appreciated the high gifts of 
 the Spirit of God, with which he was endowed (see i 
 Cor. xvi., 10, ii). He had now rejoined Saint Paul, 
 and the Apostle here associates him with himself as 
 the writer of this Epistle. 
 
 2. Grace to you and peace. — Grace, the source of all 
 goocj ; and peace, with God for eternity. These terms 
 are the summum bonum in which all good is included. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 5 
 
 This formula is used also in the Epistle to the Romans 
 and the first to the Corinthians, and is in effect a 
 benediction in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. 
 
 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation. 
 
 4. Who consoles us in all our trouble, that we also may 
 be able to console those who are in every affliction, 
 through the exhortation with which we ourselves are 
 exhorted by God. 
 
 5. Because, as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so 
 also through Christ abounds our consolation. 
 
 6. And if we are troubled it is for your exhortation and 
 salvation ; if we are consoled it is for your consolation ; 
 if we are exhorted it is for your exhortation and salvation, 
 which work the endurance of the same sufferings which 
 we also suffer. 
 
 7. That our hope of you may be quite confident, since 
 we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so 
 you will be also of the consolation. 
 
 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jestis 
 Christ. — There is no verb in this sentence either in the 
 Vulgate or the Greek, but according to analogy it should 
 be rendered as in the imperative, blessed be, not blessed is ; 
 a-s in the Lord's Prayer, hallowed be Thy Name. To bless 
 God is to acknowledge that He is essentially blessed, and 
 the source of all blessing to His creatures. The Father of 
 mercies, because mercy proceeds from Himself. God is 
 nowhere called the Father of justice or of vengeance, 
 because these are caused by our sins ; but mercy is from 
 God. He is also the Father of mercies, because Christ 
 implored mercy for us on the cross — Father, forgive them. 
 
 4. Who consoles us. — The Greek word -n-apaKaXeo) which, 
 or its derivatives, occurs no less than twelve times in ihis 
 
6 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 passage, has the double meaning of console and exhort. 
 In the Vulgate it is rendered five times by exhort, or 
 exhortation, and seven times by console, or consolation. 
 The meaning is rendered clearer by expressing it 
 throughout by consolation, with the added idea that 
 consolation necessarily conveys exhortation to continue 
 patient under continued suffering. God consoles us in 
 every trouble, as He has consoled me now by the report I 
 have received of your good disposition and readiness to 
 repent. And this consolation He is wont to send, not for 
 our sakes only, who receive it, but especially to enable us 
 to administer to others, whatever the nature of their 
 trouble may be, the same consolation and the same 
 exhortation and encouragement to perseverance which we 
 receive from Him. And the principal source of consola- 
 tion which God sends is this, that we are by suffering 
 made to partake the sufferings of Christ, which, as if they 
 had been too much for Him, overflow upon and extend 
 also to us. But so also does the consolation which Christ 
 experienced in the knowledge that He was doing His 
 Father's will. And the reason God sends us trouble is in 
 order that we may be enabled to impart this consolation 
 and encouragement to others who are in affliction. In 
 time of trouble, therefore, I have the satisfaction of 
 feeling that it is sent me to enable me to console and 
 encourage you ; in time of consolation, that consolation 
 is enhanced by the same reflection, because my example 
 encourages you to endure bravely troubles and annoyances 
 similar to those which I also am called on to bear. And 
 witnessing your suffering, I have an unquestioning and 
 confident hope that you will partake also the consolation 
 which I am permitted to feel. 
 
 There is some discrepancy in the reading of verses 6 
 and 7 in the Vulgate and in the Greek. Saint Chrysostom 
 reads the passage thus : If we are in trouble, it is for 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 7 
 
 your consolation and salvation, wrought by the endurance 
 of the same sufferings we also endure ; and if we are 
 consoled, it is still for your consolation and salvation, 
 because we know that as you are partakers of the 
 suffering, so you will be also of the consolation. 
 
 The expression in verse 6, that consolation works, 
 operates, or produces endurance of suffering, is, in the 
 Greek, acts by means of, or takes the form of, patience 
 and resignation. For the grace of endurance of suffering 
 patiently for God's sake comes directly or indirectly from 
 Him. 
 
 8. For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, 
 regarding our tribulation which happened in Asia ; that 
 beyond measure we were oppressed, beyond strength, so 
 that we were weary even of life. 
 
 g. But we had of ourselves, and in ourselves, the answer 
 of death, that we trust not in ourselves, but in God who 
 raises the dead. 
 
 10. Who delivered us, and delivers, from perils so great, 
 in Whom we hope that He will yet deliver. 
 
 11. You also aiding in prayer for us ; that from the 
 persons of many, for the gift which is in us, thanks may be 
 given for us by many. 
 
 It is a mark of charity and affection to impart our 
 sorrows and sufferings to our friends, even when they are 
 passed and over, as showing that we feel sure of their 
 sympathy. The grief Saint Paul had suffered at Ephesus 
 had been almost more than his strength could endure ; we 
 were weary even of life. As Job says (x. i.), my soul is 
 weary of my life. But the Greek has we despaired of life, 
 or believed death to be inevitable, and this is how Erasmus 
 understands it. The Syriac version reads it, our life was 
 nearly gone. 
 
8 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 g. The answer of death. In the Greek, the sentence of death. 
 We considered ourselves as good as dead, and only awaited 
 the execution of the sentence. It would appear that some 
 of Saint Paul's companions were in equal peril with him- 
 self, and he includes them by the use of the plural number. 
 The remainder of the verse may either mean : We aban- 
 doned all confidence in our power of resistance in self- 
 defence, and looked forward only to God's promise of 
 resurrection from the dead. Or, more probable : Being 
 delivered from such extreme peril, we learn to trust fully 
 in God, Who saved us in a way as wonderful as if He had 
 actually raised us from the dead. This we hope He will 
 continue to do, by the aid of your prayers, so that con- 
 tinual thanksgiving may be offered to God by multitudes, 
 for the continual deliverance which the prayers of multi- 
 tudes have been the means of obtaining ; or, as Saint 
 Chrysostom says, have obtained, for the benefit and salva- 
 tion of multitudes. Saint Paul does not ascribe his 
 deliverance to God's care solely for him, but for the 
 advantage obtained by his Apostolic Ministry for the 
 human race. 
 
 12. For our glory is this, the testimony of our 
 consciences that in simplicity of heart and sincerity of 
 God, and not in carnal wisdom, but in the grace of God, 
 we have conversed in this world, and more abundantly to 
 you. 
 
 13. For we write no other things to you, than what you 
 have read and known, and I hope will know unto the end. 
 
 14. As also you have known us in part, that we are your 
 glory, as also you are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 The Apostle here enters on his defence against the 
 charges brought against him by his opponents at Corinth. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. Q 
 
 My boasting is only this, the conviction of my own con- 
 science that I have always lived and acted in good faith 
 and simple and straightforward honesty, as in the sight 
 of God, not in any parade and affection of worldly wisdom, 
 and the profession of philosophy, like your self-appointed 
 teachers at Corinth, but in the wisdom conferred upon me 
 by the Holy Spirit, and the miracles which the grace 
 of God has enabled me to effect (Theophylact). And this 
 I have done in all parts of the world which I have 
 visited, and most conspicuously of all among you. And if 
 this seems like boasting, I call yourselves as witnesses of 
 what I say, for what I have asserted is only what you are 
 already acquainted with, from what you saw of me, and the 
 contents of my former letter ; and when I return among 
 you, you will find further confirmation of what I declare 
 and protest. And in effect you have and do candidly 
 acknowledge it to be true, not indeed all of you, but in 
 part, and have confessed that my presence and action in 
 Corinth, and my having made known to you the faith of 
 Christ, is an honour and distinction to your city, and the 
 community of believers in Greece ; as you will in turn be 
 my glory and rejoicing at the great day of the appearance 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. " He has associated the Corin- 
 thian Christians with him in his affliction," says Saint 
 ■Chrysostom, " and so associates them with him in his 
 triumph and hope." 
 
 15. And in this confidence I wished to come to you first, 
 ithat you might have a second grace. 
 
 16. And by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from 
 Macedonia to come to you, and by you be conducted to 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 17. But when I so wished, was I guilty of levity ? or 
 what I think, do I think according to the f^esh, that 
 Avith me there should be is and 7iot ? 
 
10 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 Having this confidence in your regard and affection for 
 me, I fully intended, when I wrote the former Epistle, ta 
 come to Corinth on my way to Macedonia, and again on 
 my return from Macedonia, in the course of my journey to- 
 Jerusalem, to give you the advantage of my presence 
 twice. Some read, for the word grace, x"-P^^) joy or satis- 
 faction. And I hoped to pass the winter in Greece (i Eph, 
 xvi. 6) ; (this intention the Apostle afterwards carried out) 
 and that you would send a deputation of some of your 
 number to conduct me to Jerusalem. Do you suppose 
 that in forming and announcing this intention, and after- 
 wards altering it, I acted from mere caprice or levity ? 
 That I was insincere when I made the promise, and that 
 anything but urgent necessity compelled me to break it ? 
 That I form my plans simply by my own inclination, or on 
 worldly or selfish considerations ; that I am changeable 
 and inconstant, saying one thing one day and another the 
 next ? There is no doubt this charge was brought against 
 Saint Paul by his opponents at Corinth, and probably in 
 the very terms he used. They said his promises were, as 
 the Greek expresses it, val vat, ov, ov. But what was a 
 more serious matter, they brought the same charge against 
 the doctrine he taught; and to this he proceeds to refer ia 
 the next verses. 
 
 Saint Chrysostom : My promise was my own ; my 
 preaching is God's. 
 
 Saint Thomas : What I intended, is of Paul ; what I 
 preached, of the Apostle. 
 
 Saint Anselm: God speaks by my mouth; and God is true. 
 
 i8. But God is faithful ; because our v/ord which was" 
 among you, there is not in it is and not. 
 
 ig. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who was by us 
 proclaimed among you, by me and Sylvanus and Timothy,, 
 was not is and not, but in Him was is. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 11 
 
 20. For as many promises as are of God, are in Him is ; 
 and, therefore, in Him is Amen to God, unto our glory. 
 
 21. And He who confirms us with you in Christ, and who 
 has anointed us, is God. 
 
 22. Who also sealed us, and gave the pledge of the 
 Spirit in our hearts. 
 
 23. And I call God a witness on my soul ; that sparing 
 you, I came not again to Corinth. 
 
 24. Not that we dominate your faith ; but we are helpers 
 of your joy ; for you stand in faith. ■ ' 
 
 Whatever may be said of me, God is faithful to His 
 promises ; and the Gospel which I preached in His name 
 is not subject to change, to be withdrawn or explained 
 away. Jesus Christ, Who was proclaimed among you by 
 me and Silas and Timothy, is Himself the Unchangeable 
 Truth, the Completion and Fulfilment of all the promises of 
 God made in the olden times, and His word is the assur- 
 ance of the reality of that eternal glory which He has 
 promised to us, which is what we mean when we sing A men 
 in the praises of God. God has Himself given among you 
 the proof of the reality of our Apostohc ministry, as 
 preachers of Christ, and ratified it by the seal of the 
 miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, an unanswerable 
 demonstration of the presence of His Divine power ; to 
 which the presence and influence of the same Spirit in 
 your hearts testifies and answers. In these words the 
 Apostle calls all the three Persons of the blessed Trinity 
 to witness, in the cognisance and consciousness of the 
 Corinthian Christians, to the reahty of his Apostolic 
 authority. 
 
 Silas, or Sylvanus, is spoken of in terms of great respect 
 and honour in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles. He subsequently accompanied Saint Paul in his 
 second Apostolical journey, in the course of which they 
 
12 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 visited Corinth, and his name is frequently mentioned in 
 the detailed narrative given in the Acts. 
 
 23. Having made this protest on behalf of the eternal 
 verity and unchangeableness of the promises of God, the 
 Apostle proceeds at last to explain the real reason why he 
 had not visited Corinth on his way to Macedonia, which 
 he does with an oath of great solemnity, calling God to 
 witness on his soul. He avoided coming to Corinth at 
 that time, lest he should be called upon to exercise his 
 Apostolic authority with severity, and for punishment. He 
 evidently preferred to try first the effect of the Epistle he 
 sent by the hands of Timothy. Not, he adds, that we take 
 advantage of your unshaken fidelity and allegiance to God, 
 to exercise dominion and power over you. We infinitely 
 prefer to find you rejoicing in faith and hope, undisturbed by 
 doubts and controversies, and to share your joy. In faith you 
 stand; your fidelity and perseverance in faith I fully acknow- 
 ledge, and, therefore,would rather bring you joy than sorrow. 
 
 The Greek text reads in verse 20 : Whatever are the 
 promises of God, in him they are yes, and in him amen, to 
 God's glory through us. God's promises in the Old 
 Testament are completed in Christ ; and consequently 
 God's glory is fulfilled in us. The Syriac : All the promises 
 of God are yes through Christ (that is, are fulfilled in 
 Christ) ; therefore, through him we give amen to the glory 
 of God : — i.e., we sing amen in the Churches to God's 
 glory. The sense of the reading of the Vulgate is : All 
 God's promises of former days have been fulfilled in Christ, 
 for which reason we say amen to God ; that is we trust 
 and believe in God, and this faith is the ground or cause 
 of our eternal glory and salvation. For faith is the root 
 from which eternal glory springs. 
 
 23. / came not again to Corinth, I would not return to 
 Corinth till I had seen the effect of the former Epistle, as 
 he explains in the next chapter. 
 
st. paul to the corinthians. i3 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 Man's promises are written in the shifting sand. Even 
 an Apostle cannot always keep his word. Man proposes, 
 but God disposes ; the promise may be sincerely given ; 
 but who shall say to what conditions it may be subject ? 
 What altered circumstances, what unforeseen difficulties, 
 may be in the way of its fulfilment ? But God's promises 
 are always to be depended on, and His words are always 
 true. True, in a sense in which no other words are true. 
 Dust thou art : to dust thou shalt return. In the day 
 thou eatest, thou shalt die. A hundred thousand millions 
 of human beings have experienced the truth of this pre- 
 diction since the words were spoken ; for their bodies 
 have mingled with the earth from which they sprang, and 
 their souls passed into the hands of God. If His denuncia- 
 tions are true, so are His promises. You know in all 
 your heart that of all God promised to do for you, not one 
 word has failed (Jos. xxiii. 14). All God's promises of old 
 have been fulfilled in Christ ; so shall those be which Christ 
 spoke. I am with you always, to the end of the world. 
 On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of 
 Hell shall not prevail against it. Science and philosophy, 
 or what pass for such, declare that death is an eternal 
 sleep, and deride the hope of resurrection. God says the 
 trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible. The mortal and corrupt shall be invested with 
 incorruption and immortality. And the promise of the 
 Gospel of Christ remains unshaken and unaltered to the end 
 of time: that all who live and die, humbly and sincerely, in 
 the communion of the holy Cathohc Church — whatever 
 they may in justice suffer for their sins — shall find eternal 
 salvation, and entrance into bliss and glory, on that day. 
 Aperuisti credentibtis regna ccelorum. Those who put their 
 trust in man must, some day, or in some manner, find their 
 confidence deceived. God, and God only, keeps His word- 
 
14 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. And I settled this with myself, that I would not 
 come again to you in sadness. 
 
 2. For if I make you sad — and who is there to make 
 me glad but he who by me is saddened ? 
 
 3. And I wrote this very thing to you, that I might not, 
 Avhen I came, have sadness upon sadness from those for 
 -whom I ought to rejoice : trusting in you all, that my joy 
 is the joy of you all. 
 
 4. For in great tribulation and oppression of heart I 
 wrote to you with many tears : not that you might be 
 saddened, but that you might know what charity I have 
 more abundantly towards you. 
 
 In this Chapter the Apostle explains that he would not 
 come to Corinth until he had seen the effect of his former 
 Epistle, the severity of which he acknowledges and 
 excuses. He directs that the penitent offenders should be 
 restored to the communion of the Church ; and passing 
 from this subject, protests that he had preached the word 
 of God in all sincerity. 
 
 I. I decided not to come to Corinth for a time, for if I 
 did, I should have come in sadness, and occasioned sadness 
 to you, on account of the circumstances referred to in the 
 former Epistle. There is none to make me glad but you, 
 the principal object of my care and affection ; and those 
 who are in sorrow do not gladden those who have 
 occasioned that sorrow. I wrote to induce you to repent, 
 that I might have joy and not sorrow ; and I had a right 
 to joy, not sorrow, among you when I came. I knew you 
 well enough to feel sure that the joy I should experience 
 in your repentance would be a source of pleasure and 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. T5 
 
 satisfaction to all of you. I wrote to you, as Saint 
 Chrysostom says, not only in tribulation and with tears, 
 but with great tribidation and oppression of heart, and many 
 tears, and as if choked and strangled with grief. He 
 implies that he felt, on that occasion, greater sorrow than 
 they did. Not for any satisfaction I felt in occasioning 
 grief to you, but to let you know the depth of my affection 
 for you. With how great earnestness I sought your 
 salvation, your rescue from sin, your restoration to Christ, 
 says Saint Anselm. And Saint Chrysostom : He says, not 
 charity only, but charity more abundant, as showing that he 
 had greater regard for them than for any others, and 
 considered them his principal and pattern converts. If 
 there were angry expressions in his first Epistle, as when 
 he says : Do you want me to come with a rod (i. Cor. iv. 21) ; 
 these very expressions sprang from the depth of his love 
 and grief. The same Father compares Saint Paul to a 
 father heahng the sores of a son, by cutting or cauterising, 
 and enduring in doing so a double sorrow, both because 
 his son requires such treatment, and because he is com- 
 pelled to inflict it upon one who is dear to him, and is 
 weak and suffering ; both feelings spring from his affection. 
 This should be the feeling of every prelate who is called 
 upon to put in execution the censures of the Church. 
 
 The repetition in verse 3, sadness upon sadness, is not in 
 the Greek text, nor in the Syriac, Arabic, or Ethiopic 
 versions. Ambrose also has not these words either in his 
 text or explanation. Erasmus thinks they were introduced 
 by mistake from Phil. ii. 27. But, according to Father 
 Amelotte, they are found in many copies, which he 
 collates. 
 
 A wise son makes his father glad (Prov. x. i). The joy of 
 the Apostle at the repentance of the Corinthian Christians 
 was in proportion to the depth of anguish which their 
 errors had occasioned him. 
 
l6 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 5. But if any has occasioned sorrow, he has not occa- 
 sioned it to me ; but, in part, that I may not burden you 
 all. 
 
 6. Sufficient to him who is such is this rebuke, adminis- 
 tered by many. 
 
 7. So that on the contrary you should rather give and 
 console, lest haply by more abundant sadness he that is 
 such be swallowed up. 
 
 8. Wherefore I entreat you to confirm your charity 
 towards him. 
 
 g. For on that account also I wrote, to make trial of 
 you, whether in all things you are obedient. 
 
 10. And to whom you have given anything, I also ; for 
 I also have given, whatever I have given, on your account, 
 in the person of Christ. 
 
 11. That we may not be circumvented by Satan : for 
 we are not ignorant of his thoughts. 
 
 These verses refer to the case of the person censured in 
 chapter v. of the former Epistle. The Apostle does not 
 name him, nor his crime ; and says, if any, as if he had 
 half forgotten the circumstance, or was not certain of it. 
 This man was the principal occasion of sorrow, but he has 
 not occasioned this sorrow only to me, but to you also — at 
 least, in some degree, in part; or as the Syriac reads, to 
 7iearly all of you. For I do not lay the blame upon you all. 
 He had apparently done so in verse 2 of the first Epistle : 
 yon arc inflated, and have not rather monrned ; words which 
 he seeks now to soften and limit in their apphcation. 
 Saint Chrysostom, however, understands the last clause 
 differently. He sa.ys, in part, not meaning that you suffered 
 less than I did, but that I may not press too heavily upon 
 the guilty person in saying that he grieved and offended 
 you all ; and that you may deal with him indulgently. 
 
 6. The criminal had been publicly censured and 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. I7 
 
 excommunicated by the Church of Corinth, in comphance 
 with the Apostle's command in the first Epistle ; and the 
 evidence of his repentance being very public and sincere, 
 Saint Paul considers the penalty sufficient. This is the 
 eariiest instance of an Apostolic indulgence. 
 
 7. So that you ought now rather to pardon him ; remit 
 the sentence pronounced against him ; restore him to 
 communion ; and console him for the grief he has suffered, 
 lest the excess of his grief should induce him to cast 
 himself into the gulf of despair, and deny his faith. Or, 
 as Ambrose says, lest finding himself for too long a time 
 shunned by everyone, he turn his mind to the pleasures of 
 the world, as having no longer any part in God. Or, by 
 further sin, plunge deeper into the pit of destruction. 
 
 8. Therefore, to prevent such a catastrophe, I entreat 
 you that he may be publicly absolved, as penitent, by the 
 same judges by whom the sentence of excommunication 
 was pronounced. The Apostle here takes, as Saint 
 Chrysostom observes, the place, not of a judge, but of the 
 prisoner's advocate, pleading before the tribunal. 
 
 g. I write this Epistle, Saint Chrysostom says, to test 
 your obedience in all things, in the restoration of the 
 penitent, as in his expulsion. Or else (for the Greek 
 aorist will bear either meaning) I wrote the former one 
 principally to test your obedience, and being satisfied as to 
 this, have no reason to be too severe upon the guilty 
 party, whose restoration I now request. 
 
 10. For I also am present with you in spirit, as when 
 you pronounced this sentence (i Cor. v. 3, 4, 5), and 
 confirm and ratify your judgment by the Apostolic 
 authority I exercise, and whom you forgive, I forgive. But 
 the sentence of absolution I now pronounce is spoken for 
 you, and in your name, and should be registered and 
 confirmed by you ; and is spoken in the name and person 
 of Christ, WIio said, Whose sins you forgive, they are 
 
l8 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 forgiven (John xx. 23). In Christ's name Saint Paul 
 had dehvered this man to Satan. 
 
 II. Lest Satan take advantage of undue severity, and so 
 impel the sinner to the abandonment of his fate, or give 
 ground to a heretical construction, as if the Church 
 refused absolution to penitents. Saint Thomas says : — 
 "The devil deceives, by drawing some into sin, and others 
 into too great severity against sin ; and if he cannot gain 
 souls by sin, endeavours at least to complete and ensure 
 the ruin of those he has gained by driving them to despair 
 by means of the too austere severity of the prelates of the 
 Church, if they do not in judgment exercise mercy and 
 discretion." Thus either way he seeks to entangle the 
 souls of men in his net. 
 
 12. But when I came to Troas on account of the Gospel 
 of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord, 
 
 13. I had not rest to my spirit, because I did not find 
 Titus, my brother ; but bidding them adieu, I set out for 
 Macedonia. 
 
 14. But thanks to God, Who always makes us triumph 
 in Christ Jesus, and makes manifest the odour of the 
 knowledge of Himself through us in every place : 
 
 15. Because we are a good odour of Christ to God, in 
 those who are saved, and in those who perish. 
 
 16. To some indeed the odour of death to death : but to 
 others the odour of life to life. And to this, who is so fit ? 
 
 17. For we are not hke very many, adulterating the 
 word of God ; but of sincerity, but as of God, before God, 
 in Christ we speak. 
 
 12. Leaving Ephesus, I went to Troas to preach the 
 Gospel of Christ, for which I found opportunity, and good 
 prospect of doing it in security and without interruption. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. IQ 
 
 Here I expected to be joined by Titus (who had been sent 
 to Corinth from Ephesus, to report to the Apostle the 
 condition of affairs in Greece), and not finding him, my 
 anxiety on your account deprived me of tranquilHty and 
 rest. I quitted Troas accordingly (doubtless leaving some 
 in his place to take advantage of the favourable circum- 
 stances just referred to) and went into Macedonia. Troas 
 was a town on the sea coast of Asia, not far from the site 
 of ancient Troy. In Macedonia the Apostle seems to have 
 encountered much trouble and difficulty, of which, how- 
 ever, he gives no detailed account, nor is there any in the 
 Acts of the Apostles (xx. 2), possibly because Saint Luke 
 was absent, being employed to convey this letter to 
 Corinth. Nevertheless, the travels of Saint Paul in 
 Macedonia, which he traversed in every part, were most 
 encouraging in their result, on the whole, as appears from 
 the following verses : — 
 
 14. Thanks to God, Who everywhere not only gives us 
 victory, but open triumph and display of that victory : 
 and in every place makes manifest the sweet odour of the 
 knowledge of His mercy in Christ. The more spices are 
 bruised, the stronger and sweeter is their fragrance. 
 
 The passion of martyrs is the triumph of the martyrs, 
 the triumph of God, and the triumph of Christ. The 
 triumph of the martyrs, because it displays them openly 
 as victorious over the world and the devil. The triumph 
 of God, because thereby the knowledge of Him is spread, 
 hke the sweet odour of spices or of incense. The triumph 
 ef Christ, because His Gospel is spread, His faith conquers 
 unbelief. His truth is victorious over error. 
 
 15. We are a sweet odour of Christ to God. By our good 
 .lame, by our divinely taught words, by our Christian 
 example, by our unmerited sufferings. To some, indeed, 
 this odour is deadly occasionally ; not in itself, for in itself 
 it is life, and gives life, not by our fault, but by theirs. 
 
 B2 
 
20 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 Some may love darkness rather than light. The scent of 
 ointment fattens the dove, and kills the beetle, (Ecumenius. 
 Vineyards in flower refresh men and kill serpents (Saint 
 Thomas). The sunshine refreshes strong eyes, gives pain 
 to weak ones. Fire purifies gold, but burns up chaff and 
 stubble. And who is so fit for these things, as the Apostles of 
 Christ ? This is the reading of the Vulgate, quis tarn 
 idoneus ? It is, however, conjectured that it was originally 
 written quisnam : who is sufficient ? which is the meaning 
 of the Greek. All is to be attributed to the grace of 
 Christ ; we can assume nothing to ourselves (Saint 
 Chrysostom). 
 
 17. We are not as many. Here the Apostle resumes his 
 defence of his doctrine, which occupies him to the end of 
 Chapter VII. There are many who dilute or adulterate 
 the word of God and make a trade of it, for the word will 
 bear either meaning — mixing it with doctrine of their own 
 invention, or derived from alien sources, as wine-sellers 
 are wont to dilute wine with water, thus selling for prc^t 
 what they ought to give for nothing (Saint Chrysostom). 
 What we teach we teach pure, unmixed with error — truth 
 as it comes from God, uttered as in His presence ; and in 
 Christ, not in the subtleties of philosophy. Or, in the 
 person of Christ, and in His name, not our own. 
 
 A preacher is a trader, not an apostle, who mixes false- 
 hood with the true ; who speaks of God as absent ; who 
 trusts in himself and not in Christ. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Jesus Christ has consecrated this world to God nnd 
 made it His altar of sacrifice. All the pleasure of God the 
 Father is in God the Word, in whom He sees the perfect 
 likeness and reflection of His own infinite perfection and 
 loveliness. Behold, the odour of my son is as the odour of a 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 21 
 
 field of plenty, which the Lord hath blessed (Gen. xxvii. 
 27). And in this plenitude of perfection, and in this only, 
 God is well pleased. And as the earth revolves, from every 
 country, every clime, every continent and island, there 
 arises before the throne of God the incense of the love of 
 Christ. The Lord smelled an odour of sweetness, and said, 
 I will no more curse the earth for man (Gen, viii. 21), 
 when the smoke of the incense arose from beside the sacri- 
 fice of the second father of our race. Earth becomes the 
 altar of incense beside which the Archangel stands, offering 
 the prayers of all the Saints to God. The holy sacrifice 
 of the Mass, the prayer of devotion, the consecration of 
 man's will to the sacred will of God, the incense of 
 contrition, mortification, chastity, suffering, love to God 
 and man, all inspired and all consecrated by the grace of 
 Christ, continually rise before Him. But for this, what is 
 there in this world to attract the love of God ? But for 
 this, would He have suffered the race of man to continue 
 for so many generations ? The world does not realise that 
 it owes its continued existence to the presence of Christ in 
 the Catholic Church, which is what, and what alone, 
 reconciles the Almighty to our fallen and sinful race. Not 
 only from churches, convents, hospitals, all places where 
 Christ is adored or where men suffer for Him, or with Him, 
 but from every Christian heart in which He dwells by His 
 Spirit, by faith, contrition, charity, the sweet odour of Christ 
 rises like the cloud of incense before the throne of God 
 the Father, and draws down His blessing upon a lost and 
 ruined world. 
 
 <Zyn\ZJ 
 
 x\y 
 
22 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. Do we begin again to commend ourselves ? or do we 
 need (as some do) letters of commendation to you, or from 
 you ? 
 
 2. You are our Epistle, written in our hearts, which is 
 by all men known and read : 
 
 3. Manifestly shown that you are the Epistle of Christ, 
 ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the 
 Spirit of the living God ; not on tables of stone, but on 
 tables of flesh of the heart. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle complains that after all that 
 has passed he should be put upon his defence, and 
 required to give over again the proofs of his Apostolic 
 ministry and of the glorious and heavenly character of the 
 message with which he was entrusted. 
 
 I. Having in the concluding verse of the last chapter 
 protested his sincerity, and that he spoke in the name of 
 Christ, he now asks whether he is to introduce himself 
 over again to the Corinthian Christians, whom he had 
 converted to the faith, and come to them with a letter of 
 introduction. As some do. It appears to have been the 
 custom of the teachers of heresy to obtain testimonials or 
 certiiicates, with which they went round from city to 
 city to spread their views by lecturing. There appears 
 to be some irony in the Apostle's question. But it was 
 also probably made a charge against Saint Paul that in his 
 former Epistle he had taken occasion to speak much of 
 the dignity of his Apostolic mission, especially in the four 
 earlier chapters ; to which he here replies that it is all the 
 more unnecessary for him to do so again. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 23 
 
 2. Yoti are our Epistle. There is here a double metaphor. 
 You are the Epistle on which I have inscribed, visibly 
 and conspicuously, the word of God and the truth of the 
 Christian faith ; Corinth being one of the most populous 
 and celebrated cities of the Roman Empire, and its 
 conversion a fact of notoriety, seen and read by all men. 
 You are inscribed upon the affections of my heart, like 
 the names of the tribes of Israel upon the plate worn upon 
 the shoulders of the high priest, and I carry you always in 
 my recollection. This should be the double effort of the 
 prelate or pastor, to write God's law in the hearts of His 
 people, and then to carry them always in His own. 
 
 3. More than this. You are an Epistle from Christ, 
 conveyed by my hands, manifest and evident to all the 
 world, by your faith and the miracles which accompany 
 it ; in which God's word is inscribed, not with ink, as in 
 ordinary letters, but with the Spirit of God, Who lives and 
 operates visibly in you. Not inscribed, as the law was 
 inscribed by Moses, upon tables of stone, but upon the 
 tables of your hearts, which are tables of flesh. Flesh is 
 not here opposed to spirit, as in most cases, but to that 
 which is hard and insensible, like stone ; and signifies 
 impressible, docile, obedient. The heart is here regarded 
 as the organ of sensibility or feeling, and the source of 
 volition or energy, and the love of Christ engraved upon 
 the heart prompts to readiness and obedience to all His 
 commands. The result is patent and evident to all the 
 world, for your faith and charity manifestly show that you 
 belong to Christ. 
 
 " As spirit differs from ink, and heart from stone, so is 
 the New Covenant better than the Law," says Theophylact. 
 
 4. And such trust we have through Christ to God. 
 
 5. Not that we are sufficient to think anything of 
 ourselves, as from ourselves: but our sufficiency is of God; 
 
24 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 6. Who also has made us fit ministers of the New 
 Testament; not in the letter, but in the Spirit: for the 
 letter kills, but the Spirit brings to life. 
 
 4. I speak confidently, and claim much ; but I have a 
 right to this confidence, because my trust is in God 
 through Christ. Christ is to us a cause of glorying in God, 
 there is no cause of glorying in ourselves (Theophylact). 
 
 5. For I do not for a moment suppose or imply that 
 there exists in me any power or strength to conceive and 
 plan, much less execute and carry out, anything that can 
 forward the salvation of the souls of men. Our sufficiency, 
 or ability to do this, is from God, and God alone. The 
 Syriac has : Oitr strength is from God, through the merits of 
 Christ. 
 
 To think anything. It is worth noting, says Saint 
 Anselm, by those who consider that faith originates with 
 ourselves, and is supplemented by the Grace of God, that 
 to think necessarily comes before to believe. No one believes 
 that which he has not first thought credible. But if we 
 are not sufficient, or naturally able, to think any good, 
 much less are we naturally able to believe it; our sufficiency 
 both to think and to believe is therefore equally from God. 
 By thought we believe, by thought we speak, by thought 
 we act, all that we do. 
 
 6. God has chosen and fitted us as the ministers of the 
 New Covenant ; not in the letter, by giving us a law 
 engraved on tables of stone, which we are to announce 
 and explain to others ; but by endowing us with the gifts 
 of the Holy Spirit, which gifts we are empowered and 
 enabled to confer upon others in their actual power and 
 potency. For the law alone, without the grace of the 
 Holy Spirit, not in its own nature, but accidentaliter, kills 
 the soul, or becomes an occasion of death, first because it 
 prescribes what is to be done, or left undone, but does not 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 25 
 
 give power to fulfil the command ; and sin thus becomes 
 worse by knowledge of the law and transgression of its 
 precepts ; and secondly, because it suggests the desire of 
 acting in contravention of those precepts. Niihmir in 
 vetitum. But the Spirit makes alive, or vivifies, is a fountain 
 of life within us. He diffuses charity in our hearts, and 
 charity is the life of the soul. 
 
 The law is spiritual, says Saint Chrysostom, but did not 
 give the Spirit. Moses brought letters, not the Spirit. 
 The commission of our faith is to confer the Spirit. 
 
 The law is good, in so far as it enjoins what is good ; 
 grace is good, because it confers what is good. — St. Aug. 
 {Contr. advers. Icgis, II. i.) 
 
 This comparison of the Gospel of Christ with the law is 
 intended, as the Apostle explains farther on, to show the 
 great dignity and splendour of the salvation offered to 
 man by Christ. 
 
 The contrast between the letter and the Spirit in verse 6 
 has led some readers hastily to infer that by the letter the 
 Apostle means the literal sense of the writings of the Old 
 Testament, in their ordinary grammatical meaning ; and 
 by the Spirit, a figurative interpretation, known by 
 tradition or by prophecy, but not apparent on the surface. 
 That this cannot be his meaning will be evident to anyone 
 who has carefully read the books of the Old Testament, 
 of which the plain, literal meaning, as it stands, points so 
 clearly to Christ, that the Jews could not possibly be 
 misled by it. What was wanting was not any clearness 
 in the oracle, but the Grace of God to dispose them to 
 accept Christ, and prefer the promises of a better life to 
 the riches or glory of this mortal state. Otherwise they 
 would not have incurred such guilt in rejecting Him. It 
 was the clearness of the letter which occasioned their fall, 
 for in rejecting Christ they consciously rejected also the 
 teaching of their own lawgiver and prophets. 
 
26 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 7. But if the ministration of death, formed in letters on 
 stones, was in glory : so that the sons of Israel could not 
 look upon the face of Moses, on account of the glory of 
 his countenance, which is being abolished : 
 
 8. How much more shall not the ministration of the 
 Spirit be in glory ? 
 
 g. For if the ministration of damnation is glory: much- 
 more abounds the ministry of justice in glory. 
 
 10. For it is not even glorified, that which shone, in this 
 respect, on account of a glory that excels it. 
 
 11. For if what is being abolished is through glory ; 
 much more that which remains is in glory. 
 
 Even the law of ]\Ioses, the ministry of death, engraved 
 in letters on the tables of the law, was invested with such 
 splendour that the people of Israel could not look upon 
 the face of Moses when he came down from the mountain 
 (Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30). How much greater will be the 
 glory that will attend the ministry of the Spirit who gives 
 life, at the resurrection of the dead ? That the Apostle 
 here refers to the future glory of the resurrection appears 
 from the reference to this hope in verse 12, and is the 
 opinion of Saint Chrysostom and others. And in the 
 glory of heaven the Apostles of Christ will doubtless have 
 a place of pre-eminence. If the ministry of damnation is 
 glorious, much more so is that which confers remission of 
 sin and the gifts of the Spirit of God. Compared with 
 this (which is the meaning oi ex parte, in this respect), the 
 glory of the old law fades into insignificance, and is no 
 glory at all. The transitory splendour which irradiated 
 the countenance of Moses was a figure of the transitory 
 nature of the law he ministered. Much greater, as it is 
 more enduring, will be the glory of that salvation in Christ 
 which shall stand for ever. 
 
 It is probable that the heretical teachers whom the 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. IJ 
 
 Apostle is opposing sought to depreciate the Gospel of 
 Christ by putting it on a level with the law of Moses, and 
 required the perpetuation of many of the customs of the 
 old law. Here he stigmatises them as ministers of the letter, 
 ministers of death, ministers of damnation. 
 
 12. Having therefore such hope, we use much boldness: 
 
 13. And not as Moses put a veil upon his face, that the 
 sons of Israel might not look upon his face, which veil is 
 abolished. 
 
 14. But their senses are blunted ; even to this day the 
 same veil in the reading of the Old Testament remains 
 not removed (since in Christ it is done away) : 
 
 15. But even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil 
 is placed upon their heart. 
 
 16. But when he shall have turned to the Lord, the veil 
 shall be taken away. 
 
 Animated by the hope of immense and eternal glory 
 through Christ, we. His Apostles, speak boldly and 
 fearlessly. Nothing concealing, nothing dissimulating, 
 nothing grudging, we speak in all openness and clearness. 
 — Saint Chrysostom. Moses put a veil on his face 
 to show that the time was not come for full revelation 
 of the truth; we are bold to speak without veil. — 
 Saint Thomas. Which is abolished ; that is, the veil, as 
 Saint Thomas thinks. The veil is the obscurity of types 
 and figures, abolished in Christ. Others consider that 
 what is said to be abolished is the glory of the face of 
 Moses, which soon passed away. The Greek text, which 
 is followed by the Syriac and Arabic versions, and by 
 Saint Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Theodoret, reads: 
 The sons of Israel coidd not look to the end of that which was 
 being done away. They could not see that the law was to 
 be abolished ; neither could they see that it was to be 
 
28 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 aljolished in Christ. Neither do the Jews perceive now 
 either of these truths, but in reading the writings of the 
 Old Testament their eyes are bhnded, and a veil seems 
 wrapped round their hearts. But when their nation, or, 
 as the Syriac says, any one of them, shall turn to the 
 Lord, the veil will be removed, and they will see clearly. 
 Moses put a veil on his face, signifying the blindness of 
 those who do not believe ; when he returned to God he 
 removed the veil (Exod. xxxiv. 34) to signify the clear 
 vision of God, by faith now, face to face hereafter, of those 
 who believe in Christ. 
 
 17. And the Spirit is Lord : and where there is the 
 Spirit of the Lord, there is freedom. 
 
 18. But we all, with face unveiled, reflecting the glory 
 of the Lord, are transformed into the same likeness, from 
 clearness to clearness, as if by the Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 17. The Spirit is Lord. The Spirit of God is sovereign 
 and free, breathing where He will, bestowing His gifts 
 according to His own good pleasure and infinite wisdom. 
 He does not deal with us, as with Moses, under a veil and 
 in types and shadows, but openly and plainly. And where 
 there is the presence and action of the Spirit of Jesus 
 Christ our Lord, there is freedom; freedom of intellect and 
 understanding to see God's truth, freedom of will to 
 believe in and embrace it. For if freedom of will was a 
 natural gift given to man at his Creation, it was impaired 
 and weakened by his fall, and is restored only by the 
 grace of the Spirit of God. 
 
 18. And we all, not Moses only, but all Christians who 
 have received the Holy Spirit, and especially we, the 
 Apostles, who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit, 
 with unveiled face, that is with, clear intellectual vision, 
 seeing and reflecting in turn (the Greek participle will 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 29 
 
 bear both meanings, and the Apostle probably passes 
 mentally from one to another) as a mirror reflects the light 
 of the sun, the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, are trans- 
 formed into His image and likeness, derived from His glory 
 to ours, in accordance with the mysterious and super- 
 natural action of the Holy Spirit, which human wisdom 
 is unequal to comprehend or explain, upon the soul of 
 man ; but which is seen in its effects, in the marvellous 
 and heroic virtues of the Saints of God, who in a certain 
 sense and certain measure are a reflection of the glory of 
 Christ and the sanctity of God. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 The heart of the Christian is an Epistle written by the 
 hand of Christ. It is the parchment on which is inscribed 
 the sacred and mysterious text. The Holy Spirit of God 
 is the finger of Christ, which traces the words with the 
 ink of His grace. His inspiration. His illumination. His- 
 movements and aspirations of piety ; and the legend 
 inscribed is faith, and hope, and charity. God is the 
 writer ; the Christian is only the book ; his part is tO' 
 receive with submission and thankfulness the tracing of 
 God's hand ; to obey the movements of His Holy Spirit. 
 For there is a heart of stone, of iron, of adamant, which 
 will take no impression from that gentle hand. Let ours 
 be a heart of flesh, living, sentient, obedient. Let that 
 gentle influence curb and restrain our rebellious will. Let 
 us pray God to destroy within us all unworthy affections,, 
 all useless fears, all destructive errors. Then shall we be 
 prepared to receive that which God will write upon our 
 hearts. My heart is ready, Lord : my heart is ready. Write 
 therein Thy truth, Thy holy fear, the sincere and perfect 
 love of Thee. And what God writes upon our hearts, 
 angels and men are free to read. 
 
30 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. Therefore holding the administration, according 
 as we have obtained mercy, we fail not. 
 
 2. But we renounce the hidden practices of shame, 
 not walking in craft, nor adulterating the word of God ; 
 but in manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves 
 to every conscience of men in the presence of God. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle protests the integrity and 
 purity of motive of himself and his fellow-labourers, of 
 which the sufferings they endured are a proof, and not of 
 the contrary : and asserts that those who failed to see the 
 truth and beauty of the Gospel, as he taught it, were 
 blinded by Satan. 
 
 I. Therefore, inasmuch as we are trusted with the 
 ministry of the Gospel of God, through His mercy, as 
 explained above, we fail not, are not idle or backward in 
 discharging this office, as Erasmus understands it ; we do 
 not shrink or quail before peril and affliction, says 
 Theophylact, a sense which is more in accordance with 
 the language both of the Vulgate and the Greek text. 
 We renounce and execrate all sin and impurity, even that 
 which is hidden and concealed ; we do not cheat or 
 deceive ; we do not falsify God's word ; but place the 
 truth plainly in appeal to the consciences of men, as in the 
 presence of God, who sees the hearts of all men. 
 
 The heretical teachers, intruding themselves into the 
 office of teachers of religion, and doing so for gain, shrank 
 from persecution; and it is impossible not to see the 
 intention of the Apostle to reflect upon these men all the 
 charges from which he defends himself and his friends, 
 in this passage. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 3I 
 
 3. But even if our Gospel is hid, it is hid in those who 
 perish ; 
 
 4. In whom the God of this world blinded the minds of 
 unbelievers, that the illumination of the Gospel of the 
 glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, may not shine 
 upon them. 
 
 If it is objected that this Gospel, thus plainly offered to 
 the conscience of mankind, is by many of them rejected, 
 and that this throws doubt upon its truth, I answer that 
 those who do not see it are such as perish voluntarily, 
 because they do not choose to see the light, for the Devil, 
 whom our Lord calls the prince of this world (John xiv. 30), 
 has blinded their minds by the darkness of infidelity and 
 vice. It would appear from this that the blindness 
 caused by the influence of Satan upon the souls of men 
 is voluntary blindness, because they will not see. Where 
 there is good will Satan has no power. The result is that 
 the clear light of the Gospel, by which is made manifest 
 the glory of Christ, who is the perfect image of God the 
 Father, hght of light begotten, the splendour of his 
 glory (Heb. i. 3), the brightness of the light eternal 
 (Sap. vii. 26), who illuminates every man who comes into 
 the world (John i. g), cannot shine upon them. Bats 
 cannot see in the sunlight, for they shun the day, and 
 love darkness rather than light. Truth and error are not 
 matters of opinion, and are not on equal grounds. 
 Darkness means deprivation of light. Light is real, 
 darkness negative. The Gospel of Christ is light in 
 itself, and clearly placed before the minds of men ; it is 
 darkness only to the wilfully blind. 
 
 5. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, and us your servants through Jesus. 
 
 6. Because God, Who told light to shine from darkness. 
 
32 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 Himself shone in our hearts, to the illumination of the 
 knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Having replied to this objection, the Apostle goes on 
 with the comparison between the teachers of truth and 
 the teachers of error. These, he implies, preached them- 
 selves, not Jesus Christ ; and sought to rule and dominate 
 their converts, not to serve them. We do not seek either 
 our own glory or our own profit, but the glory of Jesus 
 Christ, and your spiritual profit and advantage, your 
 salvation through Jcsiis, and to this we give up all our 
 exertion and all our time. And the reason we do so is, 
 because He Who in the beginning said Let there be light, 
 has cast the effulgence of His light in our hearts, which 
 before were dark, not only to illumine us, but to the 
 illitmination of the world by the knowledge and recognition 
 of the glory of God. And this divine Light has shone 
 upon the world from the face of Jesus Christ, Who is the 
 image of the Father's glory. It is the office of the Son 
 to reveal to creation the glory of the Father. Who sees 
 Me, sees My Father. The Syriac has in the person of Jesus 
 Christ, in us as His legates and representatives ; but St. 
 Chrysostom and Theophylact follow the sense of the 
 Vulgate. 
 
 God the Father is the source of light. God the Son is 
 light begotten of light ; and has illuminated His Apostles 
 and their successors, that they may in turn illuminate the 
 world. For it is the nature of light to shine. 
 
 The light of God's truth shone out from the darkness 
 of the law, as light in the beginning flashed from dark- 
 ness at the word of God, at the appearance of Jesus 
 Christ, the consubstantial image of the Father. Christ 
 is a more perfect image of God than the creature, and 
 the knowledge of God is therefore more perfect through 
 Christ than through the creature. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 33 
 
 7. But we have this treasure in vases of clay, that the 
 subhmity may be of the power of God, and not of us. 
 
 8. In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not 
 crushed ; we are helpless, but not destitute. 
 
 9. We suffer persecution, but are not abandoned : we 
 are dejected, but we do not perish : 
 
 10. Always carrying in our body the mortification of 
 Jesus, that also the life of Jesus may be made manifest in 
 our bodies. 
 
 11. For always we who live are being delivered up to 
 death for Jesus : that also the life of Jesus may be made 
 manifest in our mortal flesh. 
 
 12. Therefore death operates in us, and life in you. 
 
 The treasure of this celestial light is enclosed in us 
 fragile vases of clay, that all the excellence and glory of 
 our ministry may be attributed to God's power, and not 
 our own. And to God's power, not ours, it is evidently 
 due. Assailed from all quarters, and in every manner, we 
 are not overwhelmed ; perplexed and anxious, we are 
 never without resource, for God comes to our aid ; contin- 
 ually persecuted, we continually escape ; thrown to the 
 ground, though made of clay, we are not broken ; contin- 
 ually in peril of death, we carry about, wherever we go, a 
 sort of likeness of the passion of Christ, that His glorious 
 life may similarly be shown forth in us at the resurrection. 
 While we live, we are exposed to danger of death for 
 Jesus, and our continual deliverance from it is a sort of 
 image of His resurrection. He has risen, and lives, or He 
 could not so continually and miraculously deliver us from 
 death. And o«r morijl flesh, in which we suffer, shall one 
 day put on immortality like His. Thus the preaching of 
 the Gospel brings us death in the body, and spiritual life 
 to you. The Apostle, in writing these words, clearly 
 
 foresaw at least the probability of his own martyrdom. 
 
 c 
 
34 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 Vases of clay refers not only to the mortality of the 
 Apostles, as children of clay, but most of them were men 
 originally humble, rude, illiterate, destitute of this world's 
 goods, looked down upon and despised. All the more 
 brilliant became the glory and excellence of the Aposto- 
 late they exercised, in their hands. 
 
 13. And having the same spirit of faith, as it is written : 
 I believed, therefore I spoke ; we also believe, wherefore 
 we also speak : 
 
 14. Knowing that He who raised up Jesus, will also 
 raise us with Jesus, and place us with you. 
 
 15. For all things are on your account : that the grace, 
 abounding through many in giving thanks, may abound 
 to the glory of God. 
 
 16. On which account we do not fail ; but though our 
 man, which is without, be corrupted ; yet that which is 
 within is renewed from day to day. 
 
 17. For that which is momentary and light of our 
 tribulation in the present, operates in us above measure 
 in sublimity an eternal weight of glory. 
 
 18. In us who contemplate not things that are seen, 
 but things that are not seen : for the things that are seen, 
 are temporal : but the things that are not seen, are 
 eternal. 
 
 In spite of all these afflictions and persecutions, we 
 continue to speak boldly and plainly. Why ? because we 
 believe. We have the same spirit of faith which prompted 
 the prophet of old to say, / believed, therefore I spoke. 
 (Fs. cxvi. 10.) The false apostles were silent in time oi 
 persecution, because they did not believe. And what we 
 believe is, that as when Jesus had been put to death God 
 raised Him from the dead, so He will also raise us up from 
 death, and place us in His heavenly kingdom with you. I 
 say purposely, place us with you, not you with us. For 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 35 
 
 ihe whole of our ministry exists and is ordained for your 
 •salvation : and the more widely the Gospel is spread, the 
 •more fully will the eucharist of thanksgiving be offered to 
 ^God, for His glory. The firmness and confidence of this 
 faith and hope of the resurrection, arms and steels us 
 against all perils and adversities ; and though that part of 
 our human nature, the body namely, which is outward 
 and visible, and is sensitive to fatigue, blows, hunger, 
 thirst, and cold, may decay and perish, and is sensibly 
 beginning to do so, that which is within, namely the mind 
 and soul, grows stronger every day in faith and hope. 
 lOr, is daily renewed and refreshed with new graces, which 
 ■cause it to grow and flourish in the knowledge and love 
 •of God, and become strengthened against the persecutions 
 which may be coming in the future. For our faith 
 .assures us that the affliction of the body, which is light 
 .and momentary, is preparing for us an immense and 
 indescribable weight of glory, which is eternal, and which 
 •will exceed, beyond all measure or calculation, all the 
 .afflictions of this mortal life. Above measure in sublimity. 
 In the Greek, by excellence to excellence. Exceedingly 
 ■exceeding all magnitude, says Theophylact. The Syriac : 
 The trouble and oppression of this mortal life, slight and 
 insignificant as it is, is preparing for us glory infinite in 
 degree, and that shall last for ages of ages. And on this 
 account we disregard, and do not even look at, things 
 that are visible, temporal, and transitory ; but we fix our 
 mental gaze on the things that are invisible and eternal. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 All visible things have come, or will come, to an 
 <end. This world, its fame, its ambitions, its pleasures, 
 its empires. There were mighty men of old, men of 
 erenown. (Gen. vi. 4.) Who were these men of renow7i, what 
 •were their names, and what is their renown worth now ? 
 
 C2 
 
36 THE SECOND EPISTLE OE 
 
 They are forgotten, as if they had never been. Babylon' 
 and Troy have passed away. Where is the empire of 
 Alexander? Where is the empire of Caesar? Whatsoever 
 m\' eyes desired, I refused them not : and I withheld not 
 my heart from enjoying every pleasure. What trace is- 
 left of the pleasures of King Solomon, except this record 
 of his repentance ? So will all things visible pass away in 
 their turn. One day the earth itself, and the works- 
 which are in it, shall be burned up. (2 Pet. iii. 10.) Care,, 
 and anxiety, and regret, and grief, and disappointment, 
 and penury, and bodily pain and sickness, the ill will,, 
 hatred, and vengeance of those who hate the truth — all 
 these things are visible and temporal. All will come to 
 an end one day, in the silence of the grave. There is one 
 thing which will never come to an end, and will endure, 
 because it is in its own nature eternal, immortal, inde- 
 structible ; it is the Throne of Christ, before which His- 
 Angels stand, near which His Saints reign with Him in. 
 glory. He shall reign for ever, and of His kingdom there- 
 shall be no end. (Luc. i. 33). We do not see this glory 
 with our bodily eyes, for the things that are eternal are- 
 not seen ; not that in their own nature they are incapable 
 of being seen, but because we are not yet worth}- to see 
 them. We shall see them with our bodily eyes one day ;. 
 we see them now by faith. Bencdidum fructum ventris tui 
 nobis post hoc exilium ostende. Meanwhile let us learn, with 
 the Apostle, to look at things transitory as if we saw theni 
 not, and to see the invisible by faith and hope. 
 
 ^C^S-" 
 
■ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 I. For we know that if our earthly house of this habi- 
 tation be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house 
 not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle defends himself from the 
 charge of vain glory and undue assertion of his claims, by 
 pointing to the glorious hope of immortality in heaven, 
 which God had commissioned him to announce. 
 
 I. The persecution and opposition which Saint Paul 
 and his companions had encountered, at Ephesus, in 
 Macedonia and elsewhere, had been turned into an argu- 
 ment against them, as if it were the result of their own 
 imprudence, fanaticism, and audacity. To this the 
 Apostle has replied, in the last chapter, that these suffer- 
 ings were entirel}' insignificant, and he regarded them as 
 nothing, though he felt them severely at the time, in 
 comparison with the hope of resurrection and the future 
 life of glory. And he goes on, for we know (by faith) that if 
 .our earthly mansion or tabernacle — a soldier's tent intended 
 for temporary occupation only — namely, the mortal body, 
 be dissolved or destroyed by death in the service and 
 cause of Christ, we shall receive at the resurrection a 
 dwelling eternal and celestial — the spiritiicd body. It is of 
 .this that he here speaks, not simply of the glory of the 
 :Soul. The animal or physical body of this mortal life is 
 ■created by God, but by human intervention in the course 
 .of nature ; but the spiritual body of the resurrection 
 will come directly from the hands of God, and will be 
 immortal and incorruptible, subtle, glorious, splendid, 
 jfitted to dwell for ever m the heavens. 
 
38 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 2. For also in this we groan, desiring to be clothed' 
 with our habitation, which is from heaven. 
 
 3. If, indeed, we shall be found clothed, not naked. 
 
 4. For also we, who are in this tabernacle, are weighed 
 down and groan, because we would not be stripped, but 
 clothed ; that that which is mortal may be absorbed in 
 hfe. 
 
 5. And He Who is making us for this very thing, is God,. 
 Who also gave us the pledge of the Spirit. 
 
 2. There is a confusion of metaphor in this verse, but it: 
 makes the meaning clearer. Clothed with our habitation. - 
 For the body is both the dwelling and the vesture of the- 
 soul. We groan in this mortal body, longing for the gifts- 
 of that body which is glorious and immortal. 
 
 3. These gifts we shall receive at once, perhaps without 
 dying at all, or at least dying only for a moment, if the 
 coming of Christ occurs during our mortal life, and finds 
 us clothed with our mortal body, not disembodied. The 
 writer evidentl}' regards it as uncertain whether this would, 
 be the case or not. There is another interpretation of the 
 words, which is adopted by man}^ ecclesiastical writers : 
 If we are found clothed with grace, charity, and good 
 works, not naked of these graces ; if, when leaving the 
 body, we are clothed with Christ, with the form and 
 tradition of our baptism. — Ambrose. The reader must 
 choose between these two interpretations. 
 
 4. As long as we remain in this tabernacle of clay, we 
 groan under the weight of our burden, and pant for 
 incorruptibility, not that we desire dissolution and death, 
 from which nature recoils, but we desire the change to- 
 immortality, and that what is mortal in us may be absorbed, 
 in the glorious transmutation to life eternal. 
 
 5. And for this change God created and is preparing us^ 
 First, by our creation, God made man immortal ; secondly. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 39 
 
 in our baptism, in which we w^ere made sons of God in 
 Christ, and heirs of immortality. By baptism, says 
 Theophylact, God sanctified us, and destroying sin 
 destroyed also corruption and death ; for from sin is 
 corruption. And, the Holy Spirit, given us in baptism, is 
 a pledge of immortality, given us now in part, to be 
 imparted to us wholly and fully at the resurrection to life, 
 and dwell in and animate us for ever. 
 
 6. Boldly, therefore, always knowing that while we are 
 in the body we are exiles from the Lord, 
 
 7. (For by faith we walk, and not by sight), 
 
 8. We dare, and have good will rather to be exiles from 
 the body, and to be present with the Lord. 
 
 g. And, therefore, we endeavour, whether absent or 
 present, to please Him. 
 
 From the glory of the body the Apostle goes on to the 
 glory of the soul. This faith and hope inspires us with 
 courage to face peril, suffering, even death itself; because 
 we know that while we are in this motal body we are 
 travellers in a foreign land, far from our native home, 
 shut out from the vision of the Lord, which is the felicity 
 and happiness for which we were created, and for which 
 we long. 
 
 7. We walk by faith ; we are pursuing our path, pilgrims 
 of faith, whose kindly light guides our footsteps through 
 the gloom. Thy word is a light to my feet; but we have not 
 yet arrived at the clear vision of God in Himself, nor see 
 him face to face, nor behold Him in His own essential 
 beauty ; we are not yet in the enjoyment of God. 
 
 8. We, therefore, boldly face death, and are willing to 
 die, for w^e know and believe that even when disembodied, 
 and if the resurrection should not immediately follow, our 
 souls will be present with the Lord, and enjoy, at least by 
 
40 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 near anticipation, the happiness of His presence. The 
 saints of God are always courageous and trustful in death, 
 desiring to be set free from the body, that their souls may 
 be with Christ. The Syriac reads thus : Since we know 
 and are persuaded that as long as we dwell in the body we 
 are pilgrims from our Lord (for by faith we ^\alk and not 
 by sight), we, therefore, confide and choose to be pilgrims 
 from the body, and to be with our Lord. Therefore, 
 pilgrims, or at home — 
 
 9. Dead or living, we seek in all things to please Christ, 
 as He pleased His Father. What pleases Him I always do. 
 He who does My Father's will, is My brother, sister, mother. 
 
 10. For we all must be made manifest before the 
 tribunal of Christ, that everyone may receive what 
 belongs to the body, whether good or evil. 
 
 11. Knowing, therefore, the fear of the Lord, we seek 
 to persuade men, and to God we are manifest, and I hope 
 all are also manifest in your consciences. 
 
 12. We are not again commending ourselves, but giving 
 you occasion of glorying for us, that you may know what 
 to say to those who glory in face, and not in heart. 
 
 10. We, and all mankind, without exception, must stand 
 before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive our due, 
 reward or penalty, good or evil, according to what we 
 have done in the body. 
 
 11. Having, therefore, before our eyes the terrors of this 
 dreadful judgment, we seek in all sincerity to persuade men 
 to come to Christ for their salvation, and we endeavour 
 carefully to remove every cause of scandal or aspersion 
 upon the Christian religion. Offcndiculis mcdeimir. This 
 interpretation is adopted by all the Greek fathers, Saint 
 Chrysostom, Theophylact, Theodoret, Saint Athanasius, 
 and by Estius, Erasmus, and many modern commentators. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 4I 
 
 Saint Chrysostom infers that to escape God's judgment it 
 is not sufficient to do no evil, but we must avoid all occasion 
 •of scandal or offence, even when we are free from guilt. 
 •Our sincerity is known to God, and we trust that you, in 
 your conscience, are equally convinced of it. 
 
 12. I have been accused of talking arrogantly and proudly 
 in the former Epistle. It will be said I am doing the 
 same thing now. But my object is to suggest to you what 
 to say when next' you hear this charge brought against me, 
 as it will in all probability be brought by my opponents, 
 men who are themselves arrogant and proud enough, but 
 whose glory is in their erudition or their wealth, or their 
 ■dignified or imposing aspect, and the like, and who have 
 ;no real ground for glorying, in their secret consciousness, 
 in purity of heart. 
 
 13. For whether we are out of our mind, to God ; 
 "whether we are sober, to you. 
 
 14. For the charity of Christ impels us : reckoning this, 
 •that if one died for all, all therefore died. 
 
 15. And for all Christ died ; that those also who live, 
 Tnay now live not for themselves, but for Him, Who died 
 ;for them and rose again. 
 
 Saint Paul's opponents said he was out of his mind, in 
 ■ consequence of the lofty view he took of the destinies of 
 man, redeemed in Christ, and the absolute nothingness of 
 • earthly things. The same charge was afterwards made 
 against him by the Roman governor, Festus. (Acts xxvi. 
 24.) His reply here is. If I am mad it is for God's sake, 
 lest you despise Him in despising His messengers and 
 the message we deliver, and so perish in His anger.— St. 
 Chrysostom. The madness he was accused of was nothing 
 but the simple narration of what he had seen, heard, and 
 •done. — Thcodoret. If we are sober, use the language of 
 
42 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 humility, it is for you, that }ou also may learn to think 
 and speak humbly of yourselves. In either case it is not 
 in my own cause that I am mad or sober, but for God. 
 and for you. 
 
 14. What impels me is the consideration of the infinite- 
 charity of Christ, Who never sought His own, and 
 submitted to a painful and ignominious death, regardless 
 of life and reputation, to save mankind. And if He died 
 for us all, He died to save us from eternal death, to which, 
 we were all therefore liable. But He died for us, that we^ 
 restored to hope of life by His death and resurrec- 
 tion, may no longer live for ourselves, but for Him. And 
 in giving all my life and energies to His service I am. 
 doing that to which every consideration of reason,, 
 gratitude, duty, and affection irresistibly impels and urges- 
 me. This idea is further amplified in the following verse- 
 
 16. Therefore we henceforward know no one after the- 
 flesh. And if we have known Christ after the flesh, yet 
 now we know Him not. 
 
 17. If there is therefore in Christ a new creature, the- 
 old has passed away : behold all things are become new. 
 
 16. We, as dead, risen, living in Christ, and for Him. 
 alone, no longer regard, respect, or love any human being" 
 for considerations of earth, whether Jews or Gentiles, rich, 
 or poor, relatives or strangers, aliens or citizens, but only 
 with reference to Christ, and for God's sake. And if 
 formerly we have known Christ Himself in the flesh 
 during His mortal life (he says this in the name of other 
 disciples of Christ, who regarded him with simply personal, 
 affection, as Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas observe), 
 we have learned now to regard Him with a higher and 
 more spiritual reverence, as our God, Redeemer, and 
 Lord. Probably some of Saint Paul's opponents, whO' 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 43; 
 
 were Jews, had listened to the teaching of Christ in 
 Judea, and took advantage of this circumstance to claim- 
 authority as teachers ; and it is to such persons that 
 Christ referred in Matt. vii. 22, 23. / know you not. 
 
 17. And what is true of us, the Apostles, is equally true 
 of you, and of all baptised Christians. Your baptism haS' 
 been a new creation. The old world has passed away^ 
 Its affections, ambitions, objects of desire, are all, for you^ 
 past and over. They are replaced by a new life and a new 
 world, new motives, new objects, a new principle of 
 existence ; to you, as to us, all things are become new. 
 
 18. And all of God, Who reconciled us to Himself 
 through Christ : and gave to us the ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion. 
 
 ig. That in truth God was in Christ reconciling the 
 world to Himself, not imputing to them their faults, and 
 placed in us the word of reconciliation, 
 
 18. This new creation proceeds wholly from God, the 
 Author of all good. The Syriac version joins the words 
 to the preceding, all things are made new by God ; Who has^ 
 reconciled us, formerly His enemies by sin, to Himself by 
 the merits of Christ. And He employs us, the Apostles,, 
 as His messengers and fellow workers in this reconciliation :; 
 not only the office of proclaiming it, but also of effecting 
 it by baptism and remission of sin. All power is given to 
 Me; go ye therefore; teach, and baptise. As My Father sent 
 Me, I also send yon. 
 
 ig. This is a fuller statement of what is said in the last 
 verse : i. That God is the Author of our reconciliation in 
 Christ ; 2. God is the source and origin of the power which 
 Christ gave to his Apostles. The Syriac version, followed 
 by St. Chrysostom, and the Greek Fathers, understand the 
 Apostle tosay that it is God Who, through Christ, reconciled 
 
^4 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 the world to Himself. Many Latin writers, ancient and 
 modern, understand it, God was in Christ by unity of 
 •essence. The Father in the Son, because their substance is 
 ;the same : for where there is no difference, there is unity. 
 The Latins accordingly make use of these words to prove 
 the unity of the Father and the Son. God was in Christ, 
 not reconciling Himself to the world, for the salvation of 
 man proceeded from His mercy, but the world to Himself, to 
 induce them to accept this mercy, not imputing to them their 
 faults. This task of reconciliation of the world He entrusted 
 to the Apostles. O, the depth of the clemency of God ! 
 For the Father sent the Son as His legate, and behe!d 
 Him put to death by those who needed reconciliation. 
 Yet, even then. He did not abandon us, but entrusted to 
 His Apostles the ministry of reconciliation, to bring back 
 ±o God those who had rebelled against him. — Theoph}'lact. 
 
 20. For Christ, therefore, we discharge an embassy. 
 .As if God were exhorting you through us, we entreat you 
 in Christ's name be reconciled to God. 
 
 21. Him, Who knew not sin. He made sin for us, that 
 we might be made the justice of God in Him. 
 
 20. For Christ therefore we are ambassadors. That which 
 •God the Father once did through Christ made man, He 
 continues now to do through us, the vicars of Christ. — • 
 Theophylact from St. Chrysostom. So precious in God's 
 sight is the race of man, that for us He gave His Son to 
 ■death, and appointed us His Apostles. — Omnia Propter vos, 
 iv. 15. It is not we who exhort you: Christ entreats you: 
 the Father implores and beseeches you. — St. Chrysostom. 
 Wonderful instance of indulgence, kindness, humility 1 
 ■God is the offended party, yet He sends an embassy to 
 implore pardon, as if He had done wrong to us. We are 
 to forgive God, and enter into His grace. — Theophylact. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 45 
 
 21. Him Who knew not sin. He who is without sin, is^ 
 ignorant of its nature, says St. Augustine. Christ was so 
 ahen from sin that it was as if He could not even under- 
 stand it. He was justice itself. Yet God made him siiv 
 for us ; delivered Him to death as a sinner and the worst 
 of men. Punished Him in our place, as if He had been 
 sin itself, guilty of all sin. Himself the universal sin. 
 Probably, however, the words are intended to signify 
 an offering for sin; the Lamb of God Who taketh away the 
 sins of the world. God put upon Him the iniquity of all of 
 us. (Is. liii. 6.) That we might be made the justice of God.. 
 Just by the grace of God, perfectly just before God,, 
 participators in God's justice. That sinners might be^ 
 justified with God in Christ. — Ambrose. And, St. Anselm ^■ 
 He is sin, and we 2Lre justice ; not our own, but God's; not 
 in us but Z7J Him. Just as He is sin, not His own, but ours, 
 not in Himself, but in us, by the likeness of the llesh of 
 sin, in which He was crucified. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Man, before baptism, is in the nothing of sin. For, as- 
 Saint Augustine says, sin is nothing; men do, when they 
 sin, nothing. But by baptism man passes from the 
 nothing of sin to a divine and supernatural existence, the 
 existence of grace, and from nothing becomes the child of 
 God, the consort of the divine nature. A new creation, a 
 new creature. But, as in baptism we received a new 
 existence, spiritual, supernatural, divine; so also in 
 baptism there is infused into us a new principle of life 
 aid action, divine and spiritual, Hfe and action through 
 charity. The creature being new, its mode of operation 
 should be also new, and the creature being divine and 
 spiritual, so its mode of action should be spiritual and 
 divine. The old has passed away from our grasp and: 
 cognisance. Dead to the flesh, we should not live after 
 
46 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 the flesh ; risen and hving w ith Christ, we are to hve the 
 spiritual hfe of Christ. To both we are pledged ; to the 
 mortification of the flesh, by the renunciation of Satan and 
 all his works ; to the life of Christ, by the promise of 
 obedience to the commandments of God. In the degree 
 in which we act spiritually, we act Christianly. Are you 
 a Christian ? And how far ? Do you act carnally or 
 spiritually ? For you will be a true Christian if you are 
 altogether dead to yourself, living to Christ, walking in 
 newness of life. You are the servant of Christ, bought 
 with His blood. The servant is not his own but his 
 Lord's ; he who is ransomed and purchased, belongs to 
 his Redeemer. This illustration, drawn from the customs 
 and ideas of ancient times, is not strictly true in the 
 figure ; for any right of purchase or property in man is 
 superseded by the original right of the individual to 
 freedom. But the right of the individual to freedom 
 is itself superseded by the original claim of God 
 as Creator and Benefactor, Who alone is able to provide 
 for our eternal happiness. Christ is our Creator, our 
 Redeemer, our promised inheritance of bliss. We are 
 His by all three titles. To withdraw ourselves from His 
 service and live for ourselves, is to be guilty of rebellion, 
 and robber)', and sacrilege; for we belong to Him Who 
 made us. Who redeemed us, and has promised Himself to 
 „us as our eternal reward. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1. And in aid of God we exhort you, lest in vain you 
 receive the grace of God. 
 
 2. For He says : In a time accepted I heard thee, and 
 iin a day of salvation I succoured thee. Behold now the 
 acceptable time ; behold now the day of salvation. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle earnestly exhorts the 
 ■Corinthian Christians to holiness of life, and to shun 
 "the dangerous society of unbelievers. 
 
 1. As ambassadors of God, aiding Him in His work of 
 salvation, we exhort you not to render the gift of God's 
 grace, conferred upon you by our ministry, useless rmd 
 ineffectual. The grace of God, says Saint Anselm, is the 
 remission of sins, which is rendered useless to those who 
 ■do not, after receiving it, persevere in good works. The 
 same writer says elsewhere: The grace of God is the power 
 •of doing that which is good, a power depending on God — 
 without Mc you can do nothing ; and it is received in vain 
 .by him who labours not with God's help, and adds not to 
 it his own endeavours to fulfil God's will by God's 
 assistance. 
 
 2. God said to Christ on the cross (Is. xhx. 8) : In an 
 acceptable time I have heard Thee, and in the day of 
 salvation I have helped Thee. That acceptable time is 
 now, for Christ is crucified. Before Christ it was not day 
 but night, says Saint Thomas ; all shadows and darkness. 
 Before Christ there was no salvation, for none attained to 
 saving faith, or to the vision of God. Now is the day oj 
 salvation. Day, for the light has shone ; salvation, for 
 :salvation is obtained in Christ. 
 
48 THE SECOiND EPISTLE OF 
 
 3. To none giving any offence, that our ministry may 
 not be spoken against. 
 
 4. But that in all things we may exhibit ourselves as- 
 God's ministers, in much patience, in tribulations, in 
 necessities, in perplexities, 
 
 5. In stripes, in prisons, in tumults, in labours, in vigils,, 
 in fasts, 
 
 6. In chastity, in science, in long-suffering, in sweetness, 
 in the Holy Spirit, in charity not feigned, 
 
 7. In the world of truth, in the power of God, by the 
 arms of justice on the right hand and the left. 
 
 8. Through glory and dishonour, through infamy and 
 good repute : as seducers and true, as those who are 
 unknown and known. 
 
 9. As the dying, and behold, we live ; as chastised and 
 not slain : 
 
 10. As sad, and always rejoicing ; as poor, and making, 
 man}' rich ; as having nothing, and possessing all. 
 
 Saint Paul imphes, in this passage, that his example,, 
 and that of his fellow-labourers, in their brave endurance 
 of suffering and persecution, should not be thrown away 
 upon his readers, but nerve them to similar tirmness in 
 resisting attacks upon their faith, a quality in which it is 
 evident he feared they were deficient. Secondly, he 
 defends himself and his colleagues against the calumnies 
 of their opponents. And thirdly, he tacitly rebukes the 
 cowardice, self-indulgence, and other vices of those 
 opponents themselves, by comparison and contrast. 
 
 We are careful not to give offence to any, lest blame 
 should fall upon our ministry. The Syriac : lest there be 
 a mole on our ministry. Whose life is despised, says Saint 
 Gregory, his preaching will also be despised. A public 
 sinner sins by preaching, says St. Thomas. 
 
 4. In all things, times, and circumstances, showing 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 49 
 
 ourselves to be fit ministers of God ; and in the example of 
 every virtue. In inuch patience, not in patiently enduring 
 suffering once, but again and continually. He places 
 patience first, as the foundation of every good quality, and 
 especially the foundation of the Apostolic life. Then he 
 particularises the circumstances in which this patience has 
 to be exercised. In tribulations, common or ordinary 
 distresses or annoyances. In necessities, poverty and 
 destitution, great and pressing ; in perplexities, anxieties, 
 solicitudes, grave and critical. 
 
 5. In stripes or blows, with whips or stones. He says 
 more on this subject in chapter xi. of this Epistle. \n prisons 
 or dungeons, in which he was more than once immured, 
 as in one notable instance in Philippi, recorded in Acts xvi. 
 In tumults or seditions, the people being stirred up to 
 insurrection against him, as occurred not long before at 
 Ephesus, and not long after at Jerusalem. In labours, 
 incurred in travelling and in the fulfilment of his ministry, 
 as well as in toiling for his own maintenance and support 
 (Acts xviii. 3). In vigils, for prayer, or teaching, or toiling. 
 In fasting, of necessity, through poverty ; and voluntarily, 
 for mortification, to give effect to his prayers. 
 
 6. In chastity, the special mark of the true Church of 
 God ; science, the knowledge of the faith and of the holy 
 scriptures; long-suffering, or patience, and charity towards 
 those who injured or offended him; sweetness, or gentleness 
 to all ; in the exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit ; and 
 in charity, not in word only, but in act and deed, not 
 feigned, but real. 
 
 7. In the word of truth. In the faithful and sincere 
 enunciation of the true Gospel of God; and the attestation 
 of it by the power of miracles, by the armour cf justice, 
 with which we are girded to the right and left, always 
 kept faithful to God, and always just. 
 
 8. Whether honoured or despised, well or ill spoken of. 
 
50 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 Christ's soldiers are to march, guarded on ri,G:ht and left 
 by the armour of justice, by which they protect themselves 
 from the assaults of the devil. In prosperity fear, in 
 adversity be confident. — St. Anselm. In glory they are 
 not to exult, in infamy not be daunted ; so will they 
 preserve justice. St. Thomas : Called impostors and 
 seducers, we continue to speak the truth ; seeming to 
 be ignoble and obscure, we are in reality conspicuous, 
 famous, and well known. 
 
 g. We seem always about to die ; yet God saves us from 
 death. We are punished by magistrates, imprisoned, 
 flogged, yet we are never killed. 
 
 lo. We look as if we were depressed and saddened by the 
 multiplied evils w-e endure, yet we always rejoice interiorly 
 in God. Poorest of the poor, we enrich many, not with 
 spiritual goods only, but with temporal things also, as 
 administrators of the alms of the Church. The sums of 
 money of which the Apostles became trustees and dis- 
 tributors, appear from many indications in the New 
 Testament to have been at times very considerable indeed. 
 (See Acts iv. 34, vi. 3, i Cor. xvi. 3.) If they adopted a Hfe 
 of poverty it was not from necessity, or want of funds at 
 their disposal. We have nothing, have stripped ourselves 
 of all possessions, like St. Barnabas (Acts iv. 36), yet we find 
 all that is necessary for our support by the providence of 
 God. It is the prerogative of evangelical poverty to have 
 nothing, wish for nothing, despise all for Christ, and in 
 Christ possess all things. First, by interior greatness of 
 heart (says St. Thomas), by which the pauper of the gospel 
 is superior to all earthly things, and is lord of the world ; 
 and secondly, by the providence of God, who supplies him 
 with the hundredfold Christ promised, and makes him in 
 effect richer than if the world were his; happier, gayer, 
 and more tranquil than if all things were legally his own. 
 This was the experience of Saint Francis, poorest of the 
 
-ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 51 
 
 QDOor, when he spent whole nights repeating, and as it were 
 :gloating over his treasure : Dciis et oiiuiia, Dens metis et 
 ^oinnia. 
 
 11. Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians! our 
 !heart is dilated. 
 
 12. You are not narrowed in us ; but you are narrowed 
 in your own bonds. 
 
 13. But having the same remuneration, as to sons I 
 speak : be you dilated also. 
 
 14. Do not bear the yoke with unbelievers : for what is 
 the participation of justice with iniquity ? or what society 
 ,has light with darkness ? 
 
 15. And what agreement of Christ with Belial ? or what 
 part for a believer with an unbeliever ? 
 
 16. And what concord of the temple of God with idols ? 
 for you are the temple of the living God, as God says : 
 That I will dwell in them, and walk among them, and will 
 ,be their God, and the}^ shall be My people. 
 
 17. Therefore come out from the midst of them, and be 
 separate, saith the Lord, and you shall touch not the 
 unclean. 
 
 18. And I will receive you, and will be to you a father, 
 and you shall be to Me sons and daughters, saith the Lord 
 Almighty. 
 
 I speak with open mouth to you, Corinthians, because 
 my heart is dilated and expanded in affection toward you. 
 It is no slight or narrow place you occupy in my affection 
 and regard. It is your heart that is narrow, your affection 
 that is slight, towards me. I say to you, as to my children, 
 let your heart also be enlarged, reciprocate and return my 
 affection. Have no fellowship with unbelievers (the 
 practical conclusion of his argument and entreaties). You 
 iiave as little in common with them as justice with iniquity, 
 
 D2 
 
52 
 
 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 light with darkness, Christ with Belial, the oriental deity 
 of impurity. The Apostle's injunction appears to prohibit 
 marriage with unbelievers ; though by the law of the 
 Church this was not actually forbidden as an invalidating 
 objection, impedimentum dirimens, until the fourth Council 
 of Toledo, A,D.634. 
 
 The temple of God can make no covenant with idols. 
 And you are the temple of God. The quotation in verse 
 i6 is from Leviticus xxvi. 12. Verse 17 is from Isaiah lii, 
 II. Verse 18, Jeremiah xxxi. i, 9. This reference to zio/y- 
 possibly points to the complicity with idol worship, treated 
 of in the former Epistle. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Samuel the Prophet was brought up from childhood in^ 
 God's temple, and there, during the remainder of his long 
 life, he was always to be found. David prayed that if 
 possible he might dwell in the temple of God all his life. 
 Anna the Prophetess departed not from the temple,, 
 serving God with fastings and prayers day and night. 
 The Christian is born in God's temple, which is the Holy 
 Catholic Church ; into which he is brought at his baptism,, 
 the beginning of his real and spiritual life. He is brought 
 up in the temple, Hke Samuel ; taught by the Church,, 
 joining in her devotions, worshipping at Mass, admitted, 
 almost before childhood is over, to the Sacraments of 
 Penance, Communion and Confirmation. And in that 
 temple he dwells, as David prayed to dwell, all the days 
 of his life, continually renewing his communion with God, 
 obtaining pardon for his sins, assisting, weekly or daily, at 
 the holy Sacrifice, having a part in the prayers of Holy 
 Church, and contributing his own. Outside is storm and 
 darkness, bhndness and obscurity, wandering in hopeless 
 error, night without starlight and without a dawn ; sorrow, 
 bitterness, desolation and despair. Happy those who,. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 53 
 
 like the aged Prophetess, depart not from the temple of 
 •God, but remain therein day and night, to the end. For 
 when this transitory world shall have passed away, and 
 ■God's presence shall be revealed, all the universe shall 
 •then become God's temple, wherein His glorious presence 
 shall be visibly displayed. Those who on earth have made 
 God's temple, the communion of the holy Catholic Church, 
 their home and dwelling-place, will find that dwelling 
 •enlarged, glorified, magnified immeasurably in visible 
 extent and splendour and magnificence : yet it will be 
 Iheir own home still. And from it they shall depart not, 
 .dwelling amid its glory and its loveliness, inter splendores 
 •sanctorum, and serving God with praise and transport 
 ;.ii?ht and day, for ever and ever. 
 
54 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I. Having, therefore, these promises, beloved, let us- 
 cleanse ourselves from the defilements of flesh and spirit,, 
 perfecting sanctification in the fear of God. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle expresses the lively 
 satisfaction and joy which he experienced in receiving 
 nom Titus the intelligence of the repentance of the 
 Corinthian Christians, and of their favourable reception, 
 of his former letter. 
 
 I. This verse properly belongs to the I;i.-.l chapter, and* 
 forms the conclusion of the argument there maintained. 
 Having these promises, that we are to be for ever the temple 
 of God, and have God's presence dwelling within us, for 
 ever His sons and daughters, and have Him for ever for 
 our Father, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement, either 
 of the flesh, as luxury, gluttony and the like ; and of the 
 spirit, pride, envy, heresy. Making perfect, and cultivating 
 to its true development, the sanctification we received in 
 Baptism ; and doing so in the fear of God. For the fear 
 of God is not the beginning only, but the end of true 
 sanctification. Filial fear is not inconsistent with love,, 
 but the contrary ; for in the earthly relation they always 
 go together. Be ye cleansed, wko bear the vessels of the 
 Lord (Isaiah lii. ii). The Christian priest is in a certaini 
 sense the Father of Christ, by consecration ; and the- 
 Temple of Christ, whom he receives daily in the Mass. 
 
 2. Receive us. We have injured no one, we have cor- 
 rupted no one, we have defrauded no one. 
 
 3. I am not saymg it to your condemnation : for we 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 55 
 
 have said before that you are in our hearts, to die with 
 you, and Hve with you. 
 
 4. Much is my trust in you, much is my glorying for 
 you, I am filled with consolation, with superabundant joy 
 in all our tribulation. 
 
 2. Receive us. The Greek word is xw/jf/a-are : make room 
 for, contain, or hold us. The Vulgate, Capite nos, receive 
 us without reserve, scruple, or suspicion, into your fullest 
 confidence and affection. After the brief digression at 
 the conclusion of the last chapter, the Apostle here returns 
 to his defence of himself. The calumnies circulated 
 against me are groundless and untrue. We have done 
 wrong to none, corrupted none by false teaching, taken 
 no profit or advantage from any. There are others who 
 do, and are less worthy of your regard than we. I do not 
 use this language in complaint of you, as if you suspected 
 or accused me. It is not you, but those who seek to 
 mislead you, who are my accusers. For you I entertain 
 the fullest and most sincere affection, so that I would 
 gladly die with and for you, gladly spend the rest of my 
 life with you. It is my confidence in you that leads me 
 to speak thus freely. I frequently speak of you to others 
 as attached and devoted to me. The thought of you fills 
 me, not with consolation only, but with a joy so deep that 
 it outweighs all the troubles and annoyances I endure, 
 and obhterates the recollection of it. 
 
 5. For, when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh 
 had no rest, and we suffered every tribulation, fightings 
 without, fears within. 
 
 6. But He Who consoles the humble, God, consoled us 
 in the coming of Titus. 
 
 7. And not only in his coming, but also in the consola- 
 tion by which he was consoled in you, reporting to us 
 
56 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 your desire, your weeping, your emulation for me, so that 
 I the more rejoiced. 
 
 8. So that although I made you sad in my letter, I do 
 not repent : though I repented when I saw that the 
 epistle, though only for an hour, made you sad. 
 
 5. Those troubles and annoyances were anything but 
 trifling and insignificant. From my first arrival in Mace- 
 donia (from Ephesus) they left me no rest, outwardly and 
 in the JlcsJi. His spirit reposed, says Saint Anselm, in the 
 hope of a reward to come, while his flesh felt the pain of 
 present affliction. The soul of Paul was invincible, says 
 Theophylact. Without were struggles with our persecutors, 
 and fears within of fresh persecutions to come ; or of 
 possibly occasioning scandal to the faith ; or for the faith 
 of his new converts, as St. Anselm thinks ; or from false 
 brethren within the Church. There are false brethren ; 
 sons, but bad sons, who do not blaspheme Christ or oppose 
 us openly, but who worship Christ with us, and persecute 
 Him in us, as Absalom his father. Of such the Church is 
 afraid lest they lead others astray, for they are a source 
 of great and real danger. — Saint Anselm. It is observed 
 that St. Luke makes no mention of these persecutions in 
 Macedonia in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter xx. 
 
 6. God, the consoler of the downcast, consoled us by 
 the arrival of Titus ; not by his presence only, though, as 
 you now know, this was in itself no slight encouragement, 
 but especially by the report he brought of you ; your 
 earnest desire of amendment, your grief for your sins, 
 your zeal in my defence, so that I had consolation greater 
 than the sorrow I felt in writing such a letter. I almost 
 repented having written it, knowing the sorrow it must 
 cause you, and hearing of that which it did in effect cause 
 you. The Greek reads : I repent no longer, because I 
 see the Epistle really made you sorry, though only for an 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 57 
 
 hour ; but the sense of the Vulgate, as given above, seems 
 'dearer. 
 
 9. Now I rejoice, not that you are saddened, but that 
 you v^^ere saddened to penance ; for you were saddened 
 :according to God, so that in nothing you suffer loss from us. 
 
 10. For the sorrow which is according to God operates 
 penance to salvation which endures ; but the sorrow of 
 the world operates death. 
 
 11. For behold this very thing, that you were saddened 
 after God, how great solicitude it operates in you ; but 
 defence, but indignation, but fear, but desire, but emula- 
 tion, but revenge, in all you have shown yourselves pure 
 in the matter. 
 
 12. Therefore, though I wrote to you, it was not on his 
 .account who did wrong, nor on his who suffered ; but to 
 make evident the solicitude which we have for you in the 
 vpresence of God. 
 
 9. Now I have no regret, but only gladness, not because 
 you grieved, but because your grief was occasioned by the 
 •offence you gave to God, and such sorrow not only does 
 no harm, but is of infinite advantage to the soul. Sorrow 
 that springs from love of God produces salutary and 
 ■durable repentance ; sorrow occasioned by love of this 
 world, and of the creature, kills the soul. He who mourns 
 .lost riches, does not recover them ; he who sorrows for a 
 Aost friend, does not restore him to life ; he who grieves 
 for the pain of disease, does not thereby cure it. And he 
 has his mental sorrow in addition to his pain. But he who 
 sorrows for his sins alone sorrows to any purpose, for he 
 ■obtains remission of them. — Saint Chrysostom, Your 
 sorrow first made you solicitous to remove the scandal, 
 then anxious to defend yourselves from participation in it; 
 ^then indignant with the offender ; then afraid of the 
 
58 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 recurrence of such cases ; then desirous of making satis- 
 faction ; then zealous for God's honour, or for mine ; ther>. 
 determined to punish the guilty. Thus you have cleared 
 yourselves from participation in guilt. And this was the 
 real reason I wrote to you on the subject ; not simply for 
 the salvation of the sinner, or for satisfaction to the person, 
 injured (a father whose second wife had been taken away 
 from him by his son), but in discharge of my pastoral duty 
 and solicitude towards you, and for the protection of the 
 Church from evil example. But the Syriac reads: To- 
 make known in God's presence your diligence, or respect 
 and affection for me. The meaning of the Greek appears 
 to be : That your zeal for me may become known publicly 
 to yourselves, before God. 
 
 13. Therefore we were consoled : and in our consolation 
 we were abundantly rejoiced at the joy of Titus, because 
 his spirit was refreshed b}- you all. 
 
 14. And if I boasted of you to him, I am not confused:; 
 but as we spoke to you all things in truth, so also our 
 glorying, which was to Titus, became truth. 
 
 15. And his affection is more abundantly in you; 
 remembering the obedience of you all : how with fear 
 and trembling you received him. 
 
 16. I rejoice that in all I confide in you. 
 
 The consolation which was imparted to me by the report 
 which Titus brought of you from Corinth, was greatly 
 augmented by witnessing his own joy and satisfaction at 
 all that he had seen and heard in Greece, and perceiving 
 how greatly it had refreshed his soul. I had spoken much 
 to him in your praise, and should have been put to shame 
 if he had not found you all that my report had prepared 
 him to expect. As you found I was right, and all things 
 true I said to you ; so he acknowledged that I did not 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 5^ 
 
 exagg^erate in all I had said to him of you. The respect 
 and affection with which he regarded you were increased 
 by the recollection of the reception you gave him, as my 
 representative, and the reverence and awe with which 
 you listened to him. I acknowledge with joy that I can- 
 trust you in all things, and that there is nothing good 
 and noble which I may not expect and ask from you.. 
 And I am now about to put this expectation to the test.. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Sorrow is the lot of all mankind, and various in itS' 
 causes as the multifarious objects of desire from which 
 they hope to derive pleasure and satisfaction. For all end 
 in disappointment. Riches elude our grasp, friends die 
 or are estranged, animosities, inexplicable and apparently 
 causeless, encounter us ; suffering or poverty is the lot of 
 the greater number in their path through life. And it is- 
 wisely so ordained. It was not so in the Garden of Eden^ 
 for the sense of God"s presence, and the vision or 
 conception of His glory, raised the thoughts and hearts- 
 of man above this world, and there was no danger of too 
 great attachment to created things, even amid the 
 sunshine and flowers of Paradise, withdrawing the heart 
 of man from God. But that vision, all but a far-off 
 reflection of it, has passed from the sight of men, and in. 
 its absence, in the fulness of our longing for joy, and 
 affection, and appreciation of beauty, which is the 
 attribute of the human soul, we should be in danger of 
 falling down and worshipping the creature, rather than 
 the Creator, were it not for the attendant footsteps of 
 sorrow and disappointment, which follow us day by day 
 from the cradle to the grave. So wc learn that the 
 satisfaction of our desires cannot be here. Ihit there arc 
 two ways of meeting sorrow. The sorrow of the world 
 workcth death. At lirst, like children, who beat the- 
 
-60 THE SECOND EPISTI.E OF 
 
 thing that hurts them, we turn round upon the earthly 
 instrument, whoever it may be, through whom God 
 .chastens us, and upbraid or hate it. When we learn 
 .better than this, we turn round upon God, and upbraid 
 or hate Him, as the real author of our misery. And so, 
 in hopeless despondency, and gloomy sullenness, refusing 
 the kindness which would reconcile us, and repulsing the 
 aid of the hand that would console us, we go despairing 
 and wrathful to our graves. Buc it need not be so, and 
 •God does not so intend it. Sorrow is part of our lesson 
 of life: part of our conformity and assimilation to Christ: 
 part of our penance for our sins. Accepted generously, 
 it fits us for immortality, becomes the cross which leads 
 to glory, procures for us forgiveness of sin. Sorrow 
 according to God, taken as God sends it, operates penance, 
 '^oes penance for us, in saUitem stabilem. 
 
 ^t. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 6I. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1. And we make known to yovi, brethren, the grace of 
 God, which is given in the churches of Macedonia: 
 
 2. That in much experience of tribulation there was 
 great abundance of their joy; and the depth of their 
 poverty abounded unto the riches of their simpUcity. 
 
 3. Because according to their strength, I bear them 
 witness, and beyond their strength, they were ready and 
 wiUing. 
 
 4. With much exhortation entreating of us, the grace 
 and communication of the ministr}' made for the saints. 
 
 5. And not as we hoped, but gave themselves first to 
 the Lord, then to us by the will of God. 
 
 6. So that we requested Titus, that as he began, so he 
 would complete in you also this grace. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle earnestly requests the 
 Christians of Greece to contribute liberally to the relief 
 of the destitute Christians of Judea, urging the noble 
 example set by the Macedonians in this respect. 
 
 1. The grace of God in the churches of Macedonia. Given 
 to the churches of Macedonia; but since the whole 
 Church shares in the graces and gifts of God, he regards 
 this grace as a blessing and happiness bestowed upon the 
 whole Church of Christ. He proceeds to explain what 
 it was. 
 
 2. First, that in great affliction and persecution they 
 were favoured with overflowing and abundant joy. This- 
 is not an unusual accompaniment of persecution, as is 
 noted in the lives of many saints. Saint Chrysostom 
 says that the joy experienced in persecution is deeper 
 than imagination can conceive, and cannot be described^ 
 
'52 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 in human lani[^uage. The nature of the sufferings endured 
 by the Christians of Macedon is not told us in detail, but 
 that it was vory great appears from I. Thess. i. 6 ; You 
 received the word in great tribulation, with joy of the 
 Holy Ghost. Secondly, that in the midst of great poverty 
 
 .and destitution, not unlike that which had fallen upon the 
 Christians of Judea, and was owing to similar causes (see 
 I. Thess. ii. 14) their poverty, deep and extreme as it 
 
 •was, overflowed in a large, wealthy, and generous 
 liberality, which was offered in complete sincerity and 
 simplicity of heart. Joy and exultation in trouble, 
 munihcent liberality in deep poverty, are evident signs 
 
 .and proofs of the omnipotence of God, operating in the 
 nndst of iiuman frailty. This wonderful grace of God, 
 conferred upon one portion of the Church, is a just 
 subject of admiration, thankfulness, and rejoicing to the 
 
 •Church at large. They did not even wait to be asked, 
 but volunteered of their own accord, presenting gifts not 
 only to the full extent of their means, but even beyond 
 them, as I can testify, being on the spot and witnessing 
 it. With great earnestness and many entreaties they 
 implored me to permit them, and arrange for them, to 
 have a part in this ministry of grace and communication for 
 the relief of the saints, as the Christians of Judea were 
 called par excellence. According to the Greek text, which 
 is followed by Theodoret, but not by the Syriac version, 
 or the Vulgate, they implored me to receive and take 
 charge of the ministry of grace and communication, that 
 is, of the sums of money they collected. They did, 
 further, what I did not expect, for they offered themselves 
 first to the Lord, and to us by God's will; that is, they 
 appointed some of their number to be at my disposal, and 
 to go with me, or for me, to Jerusalem to convey the 
 sums collected. And this splendid example has encouraged 
 
 ;me to make it a particular charge to Titus, who is one of 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 63 
 
 the bearers of this letter, to urge you to similar HberaHty, 
 thus completing the task he began among you during his 
 .recent visit to Greece. 
 
 7. But as in all things you abound in faith, and words 
 and science ; and in all solicitude, and further in your 
 charity towards us, so you may abound also in this grace. 
 
 8. I do not speak as though in command ; but through 
 the solicitude of others proving the good disposition alscj 
 
 ■of your charity. 
 
 g. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 that on your account He became poor, when He was 
 rich, that by His indigence \'ou might be rich. 
 
 7. You are already well known and conspicuous, on 
 account of the wonderful graces which God has so largely 
 and liberally bestowed upon you ; the gift of faith, the 
 gift of languages, the gift of divine knowledge, the gift of 
 diligence in administration, and the gift of charit^■, which 
 last you have specially and abundantly manifested in 
 your conduct towards me. I would have you, therefore, 
 abundant also in the grace of liberality towards the poor. 
 
 8. I am not saying this as giving you an explicit com- 
 mand, though it might be within my power to do so ; but 
 by calling your attention to the diligence and fervour 
 which have been exhibited by others, I wish to make trial 
 of the practical reality of your charity, and the sincerity 
 
 •of your good dispositions. The Greek word yv^<TLov signifies 
 genuineness, ingenuousness, generosity, sincerity. To 
 prove it, to make it more conspicuous and illustrious. — 
 Theophylact. 
 
 g. For you need not be reminded that our Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ, though He 'u^as rich, became poor for you, was born 
 
 in a stable, had no home in which to lay His head, and 
 
 •dying, was buried in another's sepulchre, that by His 
 
64 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 poverty in temporal things you might be enriched ire 
 spiritual things, in faith, piety, justice, grace, in glory in 
 the eternal and enduring riches that are in the Hfe to 
 come. There is no possible or conceivable degree of 
 liberality to others which that example will not cover or 
 out-distance. 
 
 10. And in this I am giving you a counsel ; for this is- 
 useful to you, since you have not only begun to do it, but 
 also desired it last year. 
 
 11. Now, therefore, complete it also in fact ; that as the 
 mind of the will is ready ; so there may also be readiness- 
 in bringing it to completion from what you possess. 
 
 12. For if the will is prompt, according to what every- 
 one has, it is accepted, not according to that he has not. 
 
 13. Not that there may be to others remission, and to- 
 you tribulation, but by equality. 
 
 14. That at the present time your abundance may 
 supply their want ; and that their abundance may be the 
 supplement of your want ; that there may be equality. 
 
 15. As it is written : Who much, abounded not ; and 
 who little, was not deficient. 
 
 10. I give you, not a command, but a counsel, and one 
 useful to yourselves, for the eternal reward you will obtain. 
 St. Chrysostom says that if there were no poor, our 
 salvation would be in a great part prevented, scattered,, 
 overthrown ; for we should have nowhere to invest our 
 money. You formed the intention last year, or a year ago,, 
 and have since actually begun to put it in execution ; now,_ 
 therefore, complete it without further delay, that the zeal 
 of the intention may ripen into performance of the deed. 
 Where there is good will, God accepts it, regarding the 
 quality of the will that gives, rather than the amount of 
 the gift given, and asking, not for what we have not, but 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 65 
 
 for what we have. Not that others should hve in luxury 
 and you be starved. The Thessalonians gave beyond their 
 power; I do not ask of you this; but, St. Chrysostom 
 adds, he asked it not, as knowing their weakness. Yet 
 there should be some balance and equalisation, even of this 
 world's goods, among those who have the same hope of 
 immortality. Your abundance in temporal things will 
 supply their temporal wants ; their abundance of spiritual 
 grace will, through their progress, increase your spiritual 
 grace and consolation. Thus there will be balance and 
 equality in another sense, as among the people of Israel 
 when they gathered the manna (Exod. xvi. i8). 
 
 16. But thanks to God, who gave the same solicitude 
 for you, in the heart of Titus. 
 
 17. Because indeed he accepted the exhortation ; but 
 since he was very earnest, of his own will he set out to 
 you. 
 
 18. We have sent also with him the brother whose 
 praise is in the Gospel through all the Churches. 
 
 ig. And not that only, but also was ordained by the 
 Churches as a companion of our pilgrimage, for this grace 
 which is ministered by us, to the glory of the Lord, and 
 our destined good will. 
 
 20. Avoiding this, lest any blame us in this plenitude 
 which is ministered by us. 
 
 21. For we provide what is good, not only before God, 
 but also before men. 
 
 I thank God that Titus was as zealous as myself to 
 engage in your service, and did not need exhortation to do 
 so, for he goes of his own accord. He (Titus) was one of 
 the bearers of this letter, and though the Apostle says he 
 set out, he must have written before Titus had actually 
 left. This is the opinion of St. Chrysostom. One of his 
 
 E 
 
66 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 companions is the well-known Evangelist, whose praise is 
 in all Churches, for the Gospel he has written, and 
 preaches ; and who has been especially commissioned to 
 accompany me with a view to this special service, the 
 administration of the fund for the Christians of Judea. 
 Our destined good will, v. 19, or purpose and resolution to 
 this effect, is in the Greek, for the glory of the Lord and 
 the exhibition or declaration of your readiness and zeal. And 
 also because, being entrusted with the care of very large 
 sums of money, I am anxious to avoid all suspicion or 
 calumny, and do not choose to encounter alone the 
 responsibility of conveying it. For we should regard, not 
 our conscience only, but the eyes of the world, and avoid 
 suspicion. Our conscience is our own affair, says Saint 
 Augustine, but our good fame affects our neighbours. 
 
 The brother referred to in verse 18 is by Theodoret 
 supposed to be St. Barnabas. But it is certain that St. 
 Barnabas was not now the companion of St. Paul. 
 Baronius thinks it was Silas ; but the majority of writers 
 agree in the received opinion, which is that of St. Jerome, 
 that it means the Evangelist St. Luke. St. Ignatius, 
 writing to the Ephesians, uses the same phrase, in referr- 
 ing to St. Luke, which is here used by St. Paul ; whose 
 praise is in the Gospel. 
 
 22. And we have sent with them also our brother, whose 
 zeal we have proved on many occasions ; and now is much 
 more zealous, from his great confidence in you. 
 
 23. Whether for Titus, who is my companion, and 
 coadjutor towards you, or our brethren, they are Apostles 
 of the Churches, a glory of Christ. 
 
 24. Exhibit to them, therefore, the attention which 
 belongs to your charity, and our glory for you, in the face 
 of the Churches. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 67 
 
 Together with Titus and Luke, we have sent another, 
 who is not named, but is characterised as habitually 
 diligent in any business entrusted to him, and most 
 anxious to undertake this commission, from his confidence 
 in you. In the Greek, these last words are simply with 
 great confidence in you, and are by some interpreters con- 
 sidered to refer to what follows. I send these three in 
 perfect confidence that you will accord them a suitable 
 and honourable reception. Titus is my colleague or 
 .companion in my Apostolical journey ; the other two are 
 Apostles of the Churches, who must be distinguished from 
 ithe Apostles of Christ ; and are worthy of the splendid 
 title which St. Paul further adds. I am sure you will 
 accord them such a reception as may be expected from 
 your charity, and such as will bear out all I have said to 
 them in your praise ; and in doing so you will be paying 
 .a mark of attention and respect, not to them only, but 
 (to the Churches from whom they are sent. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 The Christians of Macedon were a model and pattern 
 for the Christians of all time ; first, because they were 
 joyful under tribulation, which is certainly, from the 
 nature of the case, a supernatural grace ; and secondly, 
 that in their poverty, they were liberal in giving. They 
 gave to the full extent of their power to give. They gave 
 beyond the full extent of their power to give, if that is 
 possible. They gave of their own accord, not waiting to 
 Ije asked. They entreated to be allowed to give. And 
 they gave, not their goods only, but themselves, ready in 
 all things to obey the will of God. This is true charity, 
 and what we should endeavour to imitate. Give to God 
 your heart, yourself, your life, and all you have, offering 
 and consecrating all these, of your own free will, to the 
 Church and to the poor. And when about to give alms, 
 
 E2 
 
68 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 like the Macedonians, first offer your heart to God : them 
 ratify and confirm that ^\h by free and generous ahns- 
 giving to the poor. Look upon almsgiving as a tribute 
 and acknowledgment of God as your Lord, and Lord of 
 all that is yours ; give therefore humbly and with rever- 
 ence. So will God accept you, and accept your gift. God 
 looked first upon Abel, and then upon the offerings he 
 brought (Gen. iv. 4). He regards the heart of the giver, 
 before He looks at the gift. And do not despise the 
 person you relieve. He may be richer than you. The 
 Lord of the universe mcndicavit, says Erasmus. He was 
 Lord of the universe still, but poor in outward things, for 
 your sake. And therefore he condescends to be repre- 
 sented by the poor, because it was among them thatr 
 when on earth, he chose to take his lot. 
 
 ^P" 
 
ST. PAUI. lO THE CORINTHIANS. 6g 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1. For of the ministry which is being rendered to the 
 saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. 
 
 2. For I know your ready mind ; for which I boast of 
 you to the Macedonians : since also Achaia was ready 
 last year ; and your zeal has provoked a large number. 
 
 3. But I send the brethren, lest what we boast of you 
 be brought to nothing in this matter : that as I said, you 
 may be ready. 
 
 4. Lest if any Macedonians come with me, and find 
 you not ready, we blush (that I say not you) at this 
 ground of boasting. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle urges the Greek Christains, 
 not to give, for this he says is unnecessary, but to 
 do so freely, cheerfully, and, above all, promptly and 
 at once. 
 
 I. I have introduced the three bearers of this letter, 
 who are commissioned to make the collection of money, 
 but with regard to the collection itself I need not urge 
 you. For I know your promptitude. There is some gentle 
 irony in this praise. The promptitude was in their minds, 
 but he wishes it to be brought to practical effect, without 
 further delay. They were ready last year. He had 
 xe )orted this to the Macedonians, who at once acted on 
 the exan pie, end with extraordinar_, hberality ; and he 
 now turns the tables on the Greeks, urging them by the 
 example of thj Macedonians. There seems some reason 
 to apprehend that it may, after all, come to nothing, 
 £vacueiur, or to very little, and I therefore send the three 
 brethren in hopes they will find you, as I have boasted, 
 ready. If when I come (and the Apostle very quickly 
 
70 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 followed his letter) the Macedonians who accompany me- 
 find that nothing has been done, I may be put to shame^ 
 as having boasted of you without cause, and you, as- 
 negligent in the performance of what }'ou have under- 
 taken. 
 
 Although the Apostles did not travel with a pompous 
 retinue, it is evident from many parsages in the New 
 Testament that they were in the habit of being escorted 
 from place to place by a deputation of the Christian 
 community in each place they were leaving. (See i Cor. 
 xvi. 6, Rom. xv. 24.) The word translated substantia, ground 
 of boasting, at the end of v. 4 is correctly rendered in the 
 Anglican version confidence of boastinj;. 
 
 5. I therefore thought it necessary to request the 
 brethren to go on to you beforehand and provide that this 
 promised blessing should be ready, as a blessing, not as 
 avarice. 
 
 6. But I say this : Who sows sparingly shall sparingly 
 also reap ; and who sows in blessings, in blessings also- 
 shall reap. 
 
 7. Every one as he has destined in his heart, not of 
 sadness, or necessity : for a glad giver God loves. 
 
 8. And God is able to make all grace abound in you ; 
 that in all things, at all times, having all sufficiency, you 
 may abound to every good work. 
 
 9. As it is written : He has dispersed, He has given to- 
 the poor ; His justice enduies f jr evjr and ever. 
 
 5. Lest we should be thus put to shame, I have thought 
 it prudent to send the brethren to have all ready before- 
 hand. The promised blessing, for almsgiving is a blessing 
 to the receiver, and brings God's blessing on the giver. 
 It should be given, therefore, no; tardily, unwillingly, 
 sparingly, or witti rough words. That is the tribute of 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 7I 
 
 avarice. He who gives alms unwillingly, says St. 
 Chrysostom, gives avarice, not blessing. 
 
 6. Alms are seed sown in the hands of the poor, as 
 God's field. The harvest will be gathered in his embrace. 
 He who sows but little, will also reap little, in comparison 
 with him who, with equal opportunities, sows much ; but 
 the reward will in any case be great, in comparison with 
 the value that is given. He who sows in benedictions, 
 spends his money liberally and syste natically for the relief 
 of the poor, will reap a large and plentiful harvest of the 
 benediction of God. Yet the value is estimated by the in- 
 tention of the giver, rather than the value of the gift. The 
 widow gave all she had, but it was but two half farthings. 
 
 7. But above all, the gift should be voluntary, not com- 
 pulsory. If you are sorry to part with your money, keep 
 it. If you only give because others do, you are not in the 
 least compelled to follow their example. A ^lad giver is 
 what God loves, approves, rewards. In all thou givest, 
 make thy countenance glad (Ecclus. xxxv. ii). He who gives 
 bread to a poor man sadly, loses both the merit, says St. 
 Augustine, and the bread. 
 
 8. Do not be under any apprehension that if you give too 
 ffeely and largely, you yourself may possibly come to want. 
 God is at least as generous as you, and more powerful ; 
 He is able to make all grace abound to you, temporal as 
 well as spiritual. For this mortal life you shall always 
 have what is sufficient wherever you may be, whatever you 
 may stand in need of, for as Icng as you require it. And 
 more, you shall have abundance for works of charity. The 
 less we spend on ourselves, the more we have to give 
 to others. Saint Chrysostom takes this as a prayer. He 
 asks for them, in carnal things, what is sufficient ; in 
 spiritual things, abundance. 
 
 9. Ps. cxi. g, His justice remains for ever. That is, his 
 alms. Alms is called justice, because it makes the just 
 
72 THE SECOND EPISTLE OP 
 
 man more just ; and obtains remission of sin. Take lieed 
 that you do not your justice before men (Matt. vi. i). Seed 
 sown in the ground does not perish, but remains, and 
 bears fruit ; so does the alms of the just given to the poor. 
 For ever and ever. In time and in eternity. In time, for 
 God's blessing will give you larger means for the exercise 
 of your bounty ; in eternity it will have an eternal rewartl. 
 You need not, therefore, be under any apprehension 
 about giving more than is prudent, for what you give is 
 not lost, but remains. It seems marvellous, says St. 
 Chrysostom, that all we keep perishes, and all we give 
 remains, for time and eternity. Saint Basil (on Luc. xii.) 
 compares riches to a well. A spring always flowing is 
 continually renewed, but if still it stagnates. Wealth 
 hoarded is useless ; given to the poor it becomes fruitful. 
 When the infant sucks the breast, says Saint Clement of 
 Alexandria, the milk will flow ; and when riches are spent 
 on the poor, the supply, by God's promises, is unfailing. 
 
 lo. And He Who administers seed to the sower, will 
 both supply bread to eat, and multiply your seed, and 
 augment the increase of the fruit of your justice. 
 
 The Greek text, as we now have it, the Arabic version, 
 Saint Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact, all read 
 these words in the optative mood, as a prayer. May God 
 supply you with bread, and increase the fruits of your 
 justice. The Vulgate, and the Syriac and Ethiopic 
 versions, take it in the future indicative, as above. The 
 figure used by the Apostle is intended to illustrate what 
 he said in verse 8 that it is in God's power to do, and 
 in verse 9 that He ordinarily does ; give to the just 
 sufficiency for their own life, and abundance for the poor. 
 A landlord gives the cultivator seed to sow, and bread for 
 himself to eat until the crop grows up. And he gives 
 him also a share in the crop itself when the harvest 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 73 
 
 ■comes. That share gives him a larger supply of seed for 
 the next sowing, so that he can extend the breadlli of his 
 operation for the next, and more and more in future 
 years. Thus God gives to the giver of alms, who is His 
 cultivator, the temporal goods which he is to bestow in 
 :alms, and which are the seed he has to sow. 2. He also 
 gives him what is necessary for his own subsistence. 
 3. He multiplies the seed, by increasing the means at his 
 disposal for liberality; and 4. He will augment the increase 
 of the fruit of justice, give a spiritual and eternal reward 
 immeasurably great, beginning in this life and continued 
 hereafter, the recompense of charity. Alms are the seed 
 •of a threefold harvest, the multiplication of temporal 
 goods, the increase of grace and sanctity, the merit of 
 •everlasting glory. As Christ said (Acts xx. 35), It is happier 
 io give than to receive. The reward is given certainly in 
 the life to come, also ordinarily in this : for the givers of 
 alms are ordinarily better off than the avaricious. But 
 •God's providence is not in this invariable and always the 
 same, for sometimes, for the trial of faith, and greater 
 glory to the just, it happens otherwise. 
 
 11. That enriched in all things, you may abound 
 to all simplicity, w^hich operates through us thanksgiving 
 to God. 
 
 12. Because the ministry of this duty not only supplies 
 what is wanting to the saints, but abounds also through 
 .many thanksgivings in the Lord. 
 
 13. By the trial of this ministry glorifying God in the 
 'Obedience of your confession, to the Gospel of Christ, 
 and simplicity of communication to them and to all. 
 
 14. And in their entreaty for you, desiring you on 
 account of the eminent grace of God in you. 
 
 15. Thanks to God for His unutterable gift. 
 
74 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 11. Enriched in all things, in what is sufficient for this- 
 life, and the treasures of the hfe to cr ne. You may 
 abound in simplicity — that is, as Saint Chrysostom under- 
 stands, in munificence. This gives us cause of thanks- 
 giving to God; of which the Apostle always speaks as if 
 it were a good in itself, owing to the kindness of God, 
 who is pleased with our thanks. God's gifts proceed 
 from His bounty, and return to Him in thanksgiving. 
 
 12. The ministry of this duty, of almsgiving. In the 
 Greek, the diaconate of this liturgy. He regards it as a 
 sacrifice. The priests are the Corinthian almsgivers, the 
 deacons the administrators of the bounty — Paul, Titus,. 
 and the others ; the victim, the alms offered ; the altar, 
 the poor at Jerusalem ; the incense, the giving of thanks 
 to God. 
 
 13. This service affords them proof of the reality and 
 sincerity of your confession of faith, and obedience to 
 God's invitation to receive the Gospel of Christ, and of 
 your genuine and unaffected liberality and desire to make 
 all men partakers of the good things you possess. 
 
 14. And they glorify God in the prayers they offer for 
 you, desiring earnestly to see you, for the excellence of 
 the grace, the faith and charity, which He has bestowed 
 upon you, and of which your liberality is a proof and 
 indication. 
 
 15. Thanks to God for His unutterable gift. You are- 
 asked to give. Do not forget God's great Gift to you, 
 with ragard to which silent adoration is more eloquent 
 than any language. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 God is incomprehensible by any human or any finite- 
 intelligence. No created mind can fathom the depth of 
 His immensity. Yet it is this immense and infinite- 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 75 
 
 Deity, the Image and Likeness of God, His con- 
 substantial Son, who is the Gift which God has sent us ; 
 not partially or in symbol, but in His own personality and 
 completeness. This is what the shepherds of Bethlehem 
 found in the manger of the stable of the inn ; this, com- 
 plete in body, blood, soul. Divinity, is what reposes in our 
 tabernacles ; this is what is given to the faithful in their 
 communion. The Apostle may well call this gift 
 unutterable, for it is inconceivable. Something we know: 
 His boundless charity. His infinite self-sacrifice, His burn- 
 ing love for man, the divine beauty and wisdom of His 
 words, the mercy shown in His deeds. We see Him an 
 infant in the arms of Mary, we see Him stretched on the- 
 Cross. More we shall learn hereafter, but all we never 
 can know. We shall spend eternity in learning the value 
 of this gift, but in eternit}-, or an eternity of eternities, 
 we shall never have learned our lesson, and shall still be 
 at the beginning of it. Not that He will conceal His 
 glory from us, for He gave Himself unreservedly to the 
 knowledge and adoration of His Saints; but because that 
 which is finite cannot measure the infinite. Too great for 
 comprehension, and too great for thanks; yet we do 
 comprehend, and with the Apostle, we thank God for His 
 unutterable gift. For all eternity we be still learning, and 
 still giving thanks ; and w^hen the Treasure is exhausted,, 
 so will be our thanksgiving. God's passion is to give ; 
 having given us all else that we could receive, He gave 
 Himself. Human charity is a spark caught from* the 
 burning Heart of Christ. There have been Saints in all 
 times, and doubtless are still, who cannot be satisfied but 
 with sacrifice distantly resembling His. Like the 
 Egyptian Saint Serapion, who, having given all he had to 
 the poor, sold himself for a slave, and gave the money to 
 the -poor. Released after a long captivity, he went down 
 to the market again, and sold himself for a slave, and 
 
■yS THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 gave the money to the poor. We cannot comprehend 
 <;iod's nature ; but His f^ift reveals it to us in part. There 
 is no 1 -nit to His infinite love for man. Thanks to God 
 for Hib unutterable iritt. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORLNTHIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1. And I Paul myself, beseech you by the gentleness- 
 and modesty of Christ ; who in face indeed am humble 
 among you ; but absent confide in you. 
 
 2. I entreat you that I may not be daring when present, 
 with the confidence with which I am considered to be- 
 daring, against some, who judge us as if we walk accord- 
 ing to the flesh. 
 
 In this chapter, and the two that follow, the Apostle 
 proceeds to defend himself from the charges brought 
 against him by his opponents at Corinth. 
 
 I. I Paul myself. The Apostle here abandons the use- 
 of the plural, as he is no longer speaking of himself in- 
 conjunction with his companions and colleagues. I have 
 an earnest entreaty to address to you, by the gentleness 
 and meekness of Christ. I am accused of being humble 
 and retiring in bodily presence, but bold and lofty in the- 
 language I address to you at a distance. My request is 
 that you will not compel me, when I come among you,, 
 to assert in my own person, and when present, the 
 Apostolic authority I profess, and which is supported by 
 miraculous power for the confusion of the guilty, against: 
 the base and unworthy traducers who bring against me 
 the charge of using worldly craft and cunning in my deal- 
 ings with you. I Paid, the Apostle. There is great 
 emphasis and gravity in this use of his name, says St.- 
 Chrysostom, and it is used to carry dignity and authority. 
 St. Thomas, on the other hand, sees in it an expression 
 of his humility, as in reference to the etymological mean- 
 incr of the name. The gentleness of Christ was one of the- 
 
^8 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 "best known and most striking of His attributes; and He 
 refers to it Himself as generally known, in the words, 
 Learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble. It is said that 
 •the Apostle Saint Peter could never speak of his Master 
 without tears. This quality Saint Paul imitated, both in 
 ■manner and disposition, and this gave rise to the 
 ill-natured charge against him that he pretended to be 
 meek and holy when present, but was full of arrogance 
 and assumption when he expressed himself in writing. 
 
 3. For walking in the flesh, we do not war according to 
 the flesh. 
 
 4. For the arms of our warfare are not carnal, but 
 ■powerful through God to the destruction of fortresses, 
 overthrowing systems of philosophy. 
 
 5. And every height that exalts itself against the science 
 of God, and leading every intellect captive into obedience 
 .to Christ. 
 
 6. And always ready to punish every disobedience, when 
 your obedience shall have been fulfilled. 
 
 I live, like other men, in the body, but my mode of 
 ■warfare is not by force of arms. The life of man is warfare, 
 says Job (vii. i), but the Apostle refers especially to the 
 assault upon the world and the devil, its prince, which he 
 carried on under the command of Christ. The arms 
 used in this war are spiritual, not carnal. Not riches, 
 fame, cleverness, equivocation, facility of talk, and the 
 like, such as are used by men of the world, but the Word 
 of God, patience, gentleness, humility, prayer, charity. 
 With these, to be used in case of necessity, there was an 
 appeal to the miraculous power of the Spirit of God, such 
 as he had exercised in the case of Elymas, the sorcerer 
 (Acts xiii.). These arms have proved, and will prove again, 
 effectual to the destruction of all the fortresses in which 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 79 
 
 -our opponents entrench themselves. However high the 
 tower may be reared, and supported by any plausible 
 •arguments of philosophy, and of worldly influence, it 
 must come down before the assault of the Gospel of 
 •Christ. The highest intellect of man must be led captive, 
 and made submissive to Christ ; a prophecy wonderfully 
 fulfilled in later ages, and exemplified even in the time of 
 rthe Apostles, in the cases of Dionysius the Areophagite, 
 the pro-consul Paulus, Clement of Rome, and many 
 •others, who have submitted to the obedience of Christ, 
 Avhich is man's highest happiness and freedom. Think 
 •of those who burned the books of their magic art, and 
 you will see how Paul made prisoners. — Theophylact. 
 See Acts xix. ig. These weapons, the most powerful of 
 which is excommunication, we hold in readiness, if 
 wanted, for the punishment of the disobedient. And 
 Ihese I intend to use against the impostors at Corinth, 
 and those who have been misled by them, when time has 
 elapsed sufficient to show w^ho among you will accept the 
 warning, and submit to the appointments of God. 
 
 7. Look at that which is before your face ; if any trusts 
 to himself that he is Christ's, let him think again with 
 Jiimself this, that as he is of Christ, so also are we. 
 
 8. For even if I should boast somewhat amply of our 
 tpower, which the Lord gave us for edification, and not 
 for your destruction, I shall not blush. 
 
 g. And that I may not be thought as it were to frighten 
 you by letters. 
 
 10. Because indeed his letters, they say, are grave and 
 .strong; but his presence of body is infirm, and speech 
 •contemptible. 
 
 11. Let him who is of this sort think this, that what we 
 are in word through letters when absent, such also present 
 -in act. 
 
80 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 7. Look at what is before your eyes. Judge for yourselves^ 
 from the facts which are evident and patent to your 
 observation. But the Greek and the Syriac, followed 
 by St. Chrysostom, take the words as a question, which 
 gives a different sense. Do you look no further thaa 
 merely outward appearances, and believe only what you 
 see ? If any of those to whom I am referring boasts 
 of being a minister of Christ, he must at least acknow- 
 ledge the same of me, and that we are so far on an 
 equality. I might say a great deal more of the special 
 powers of the Apostolate, which Christ has entrusted tO' 
 me. This power God has given me for the edification or 
 building up of His spiritual temple, the Catholic Church, 
 or the Christian doctrine. But it is a two-edged weapon, 
 and might in extreme necessity be turned to the destruc- 
 tion of those who pertinaciously oppose it. If I am called 
 upon to draw the sword from its sheath, I am not at all 
 afraid of having to blush for any failure in the efficacy of 
 the weapon. But I refrain from enlarging on this (Syriac^ 
 I close my eyes), lest they should say, as usual, that I am 
 thundering in the upper sky, and trying to frighten you at 
 a distance with the sound and terror of my words. His 
 letters, they acknowledge, are weighty and strong, in power 
 of argument and expression. But his bodily presence is. 
 insignificant, and his power of speaking contemptible. It 
 is very difficult to imagine on what this last impression or 
 opinion can possibly have been founded, for the Acts of 
 the Apostles contain unmistakable evidence that St. Paul's 
 power of persuasive oratory was extremely great. (See 
 his address at Antioch, Acts xiii. ; that before Agrippa,. 
 Acts xxvi., and the effect of his presence and teaching at 
 Corinth, Ephesus, in Cyprus, Macedonia, Malta, and 
 many other places.) He was, however, it is believed, 
 little of stature, and St. Chrysostom, in whose time some 
 traditions of his aspect and appearance may easily have 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. Si 
 
 been preserved, calls him a man of three cubits, a little 
 over five feet high, who towered above the skies (Carn. a 
 Lapide), and this account of him is confirmed by 
 Nicephorus. He had also, as is inferred from some- 
 thing he says further on in this Epistle, a weakness of 
 sight which gave him an appearance of infirmity. He 
 was at this time, probably, nearly sixty years of age. But 
 he adds. Whoever says these things of me will find, when 
 I come, that my presence in the body corresponds to 
 what he finds and acknowledges in my letters ; words 
 weighty and powerful enough to be terrible to those who 
 persist in their opposition to the Gospel I am commis- 
 sioned to announce, and the Apostolic authority which is 
 entrusted to my hands. 
 
 12. For we venture not to include or compare ourselves 
 with some, who commend themselves ; but measuring 
 ourselves with ourselves, and comparing ourselves with 
 ourselves. 
 
 13. And we will not glory immeasurably, but by the 
 measure of the rule which God marked out for us, a 
 measure extending also to you. 
 
 14. For we do not overpass our boundary, as though 
 we reached not to you ; for we have arrived to you also 
 in the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 12. We venture not. This is said in irony. I do not 
 presume to compare myself with my opponents, who so 
 loudly proclaim their own praise, and look down upon me 
 and my companions. I do not compare myself with 
 others at all, but have my own standard and measure of 
 action — namely, the commission God has entrusted to me. 
 The Greek reads the passage as follows : They, measuring 
 themselves by their own measure, and comparing themselves 
 with one another, have no understanding. This is followed 
 
 F 
 
82 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 by the Syriac version, and by St. Augustine. It implies 
 that the heretical teachers, having no other standard but 
 their own, and looking down upon all the rest of the world, 
 are lifted up with pride and vain-glory to a degree incon- 
 sistent with common sense. It is scarcely too much to 
 say that these words would describe equally the mental 
 attitude of some modern teachers of heresy. 
 
 13. I abstain from all boasting and self-glorification, and 
 keep wdthin the limits God has for the present assigned 
 me, which are wide enough, for they extend from the 
 frontier of Judea to Greece, inclusively. The figure is 
 from the cord used in measuring plots of land, to assign 
 to each proprietor his due share. God gives to each 
 labourer in His vineyard his own piece of ground to 
 cultivate : and the portion assigned to Saint Paul 
 included Greece within its limit, the proof of which 
 was that he had actually planted the Church in Corinth. 
 
 14. We do not overpass our boundary. My opponents are 
 always boasting of their diligence in spreading their 
 Gospel, but they cannot point to any city they have con- 
 verted, or any Church they have planted, and their 
 boasting is of the labours of others. But I very lawfully 
 boast of you, who are my spiritual children, my vineyard, 
 and the product of my labour. 
 
 15. Not boasting immeasurably of the labours of 
 others ; but having hope of your increasing faith ; to be 
 magnified in you according to our rule into abundance. 
 
 16. To preach the Gospel also in those lands which lie 
 beyond you ; not to boast of what has been prepared in 
 the rule of another. 
 
 17. And who glories, let him glory in the Lord. 
 
 18. For not he who commends himself is approved ; 
 but whom God commends. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 83 
 
 15. My opponents are in the habit of boasting, and 
 boasting beyond all measure, of what are really the 
 iresults of the labours of others, This I will not do. But 
 I entertain the hope that as your faith is confirmed and 
 increased, and the numbers of the Christian Church in 
 'Greece increase, two results will follow : First, I shall 
 have due credit and honour, and that fully and 
 .abundantly, in proportion to the labour I have 
 •expended in the conversion of the people of your land ; 
 and, also, I shall thereby be encouraged and set free to 
 extend hereafter my Apostolic labours in lands still 
 further west, without entering the limits of countries 
 which have been already prepared for the reception of the 
 faith of Christ by the preaching of any of the other 
 Apostles. It is clear, as St. Chrysostom observes, that 
 the Apostle regarded the rule or limit assigned him by 
 •God's decree, as having no end or boundary than that of 
 the world itself; and on this splendid inheritance he 
 was prepared to enter, in all its full extent. And 
 secondly, that he ascribed the grace which animated all 
 his efforts, as well as the success which attended them, 
 to God alone. For this reason he adds : Whoever wishes to 
 glory or triumph, let him Glory in tJic Lord, from Whom, 
 through Whom, and to Whom, all good things come 
 and return. God alone gives honour, and he is approved 
 and shown to be truly great, not who is so by his own 
 suffrage and commendation of himself, but to whom God 
 accords the proof of greatness, and the presence of His 
 Spirit, in the work he is empowered and privileged to do. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 The preceding chapter contains so many principles 
 applicable to prelates and ecclesiastical superiors, in the 
 discharge of their high office, that it seems reasonable 
 ,to note them down successively. 
 
 F2 
 
84 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 1. A lofty view and firm maintenance of the high 
 dignity of their office is not inconsistent with the most 
 perfect personal humility. 
 
 2. The Prelate, imitating the gentleness of Christ,, 
 punishes unwillingly. 
 
 3. Whether strict or indulgent, whether he punishes 
 or pardons, he must equally, in either case, ex.pect that 
 some one or other will find fault with him. He must, 
 therefore, act as in God's presence, and disregard the 
 censure of men. 
 
 4. The ecclesiastical Superior is a general officer in 
 Christ's army. The arms he wields are patience,, 
 gentleness, humility, prayer, charity. With these arms 
 the Apostles conquered kingdoms, overthrew the strong- 
 holds of error and false philosoph}-, and brought the 
 world to the obedience of Christ. Upon the weapons 
 of carnal warfare, money, influence, position, worldl}' 
 greatness, he is not to rely, nor will they advance the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 5. Ecclesiastical authority is appointed to edify, not to- 
 destroy. Therefore the aim of the ecclesiastical Superior 
 should continually be to edify, sanctify, and save the 
 souls of his subjects ; and never do what will hurt or 
 hinder their salvation, even in inflicting punishment or 
 censure. He is their healer, patron, father. 
 
 6. He is to keep within the limits of his jurisdiction. 
 
 7. He is to expect and look for the commendation of 
 God, not that of man. For in looking for the praise of 
 man he becomes subject to man ; nor can it av.ui l\uii in 
 the great day of account. 
 
•ST. PAUL TO THE COKINTHIAXS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 1. I WOULD you could endure my folly a little while ; yet 
 also bear with me. 
 
 2. For I am jealous of you with a jealousy of God. 
 For I have betrothed you to one husband, to present 
 you a chaste virgin to Christ. 
 
 3. But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his 
 ■craft, so your senses be corrupted, and fall away from the 
 simplicity which is in Christ. 
 
 In this chapter the Apostle asserts and proves his 
 •own authority as a teacher of the faith, in contrast to 
 his opponents, whose real character he exposes. 
 
 1. It is a mark of folly for a man to praise himself, but 
 yet I wish you could be persuaded to put up with this 
 folly in me for a little while, for I do it only under the 
 pressure of absolute necessity. Therefore bear with me, 
 and you will find that in my case self-assertion is in this 
 instance wisdom, and not folly. 
 
 2. / am jealous of you^ I have contracted you in 
 marriage to Christ, and am jealous for His sake. God 
 also uses this language : The Lord thy God is jealous (Exod. 
 XX. 5). But Saint Paul is not jealous for himself, but for 
 God, with a jealousy of God. 
 
 3. I fear that as Satan, concealed under the figure of 
 the serpent, tempted Eve, and led her astray by his great 
 •craft and cunning ; so he may also corrupt your faith and 
 fill your minds with error, by means of his false apostles, 
 the teachers of heresy, and thus you may fall away from 
 the pure faith which I have delivered to you, unmixed 
 with error, and which alone is, in truth and reality, 
 
86 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 faith in Christ. The words, and fall away, are not in the 
 Greek, and appear to have been added by the translator 
 of the Vulcrate for the sake of clearness. 
 
 4. For if he who comes, preaches another Christ, 
 whom we preached not ; or you receive another Spirit, 
 whom you received not ; or another Gospel, which you 
 accepted not ; you will rightly bear with him. 
 
 5. For I think I did nothing less than the great Apostles, 
 
 6. For though I am unskilful in speaking, yet not in 
 knowledge, and in all we were made manifest to \ou. 
 
 If the new teacher \\ho has replaced me, and intruded 
 into my labours, tells of another Saviour than the Saviour 
 we preached to you ; if under his instruction you receive 
 another Holy Spirit, and a better Gospel than you 
 received from us, you would in such a case be right in 
 listening to him. But this is not so. The Saviour I 
 made known to you, the Spirit I was the means of 
 imparting to you, the Gospel I taught you, were all the 
 same whom the great Apostles, Peter, John, James,, 
 proclaim and serve. You cannot point to any circum- 
 stance in what I said and did in which I am inferior to* 
 them. In the former Epistle (xv. g) he had said : / a;u 
 not worthy to be called an Apostle; for which reason he here 
 explains that in office and administration he was not 
 inferior to the others. This is the interpretation which 
 St. Chrysostom and all the ancient writers put upon the 
 words. Many modern writers consider tlic ^rcat Apostles, 
 or Apostles in the highest degree, as in the Greek, to be said 
 in irony, of the heretical teachers. 
 
 6. Though I am unskilful in speaking, or am said ta 
 be ; at any rate, I am not without experience in the 
 knowledge of God. He implies here that his opponents 
 were, however fluently they discoursed in the language 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 87 
 
 of the Greek philosophy, which Saint Paul evidently 
 despised. And I have dealt openly with you, and kept 
 nothing in reserve ; whereas they had concealed the 
 poison of their heresy, and unfolded it only by degrees. 
 Saint Paul's skill in the use of the Greek language to 
 convey his thoughts is questioned by Origen and Saint 
 Jerome, who acknowledge from his writings that he was 
 riidc of speech, though his style is undoubtedly nervous, 
 forcible, and expressive in a very high degree. Saint 
 Augustine fully acknowledged and admired his wonderful 
 eloquence. There seems no ground for the impression 
 some have derived from this verse, that he stammered, or 
 was afflicted with any physical impediment of speech. 
 
 7. Or have I done any sin, humbling myself, that you 
 may be exalted ? Because I taught you the Gospel of 
 God for nothing. 
 
 8. I spoiled other Churches, taking pay for your service. 
 
 9. And when I was with you, and in want, I was a 
 burden to no one ; for what I wanted, the brethren 
 supplied who came from Macedon ; and throughout I kept 
 myself, and will keep myself, from being a burden to you. 
 
 10. There is truth of Christ in me, that this boast shall 
 not be checked in me, in the climes of Achaia. 
 
 11. Why ? Because I love you not ? God knows. 
 
 12. But what I do, and will do, that I may cut off the 
 occasion of those who seek occasion, that wherein they 
 boast, they may be found even as me. 
 
 7. The heretics made it matter of offence that Saint 
 Paul had not, as they did, lived upon the alms of the 
 Christians of Greece. Is this, he asks, a sin in me ? He 
 was perfectly free in this respect, and his determined 
 resolution to take nothing from the Greeks was perhaps 
 founded on his knowledge of the wealth of the residents 
 
88 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 of Corinth, and the sources whence the riches of the city 
 were in great measure derived ; lest it should be said he 
 was attracted to that country by hope of gain. / was a 
 burden to no one. In Greek, KureyapKyird, said by Saint 
 Jerome to be a Cicilian idiom, of Saint Paul's native 
 land. Qucest ad Al^as, lo. 
 
 10. There is tntth of Christ in me. This is an oath ! As 
 Christ's truth is in me. This boast shall not be checked, 
 stopped, or dammed up, like the course of a river. My 
 boast shall flow forth unchecked through the provinces of 
 Achaia. It is not because I do not love you that I refuse 
 your gifts, God knows. But those who blame me shall 
 either cease their invective, or they shall do as I do, 
 preach their doctrine at their own expense. Saint 
 Chrysostom thinks they made a pretence of doing so, but 
 received large presents secretly from the more wealthy of 
 th^ir adherents and supporters. It seems, however, more 
 probable from verse 20 that they received this assistance 
 openly, and were vexed with the Apostle because he would 
 not do the same. 
 
 13. For false apostles of this kind are cheating work- 
 men, transfiguring themselves into Apostles ot Christ. 
 
 14. And no wonder; for Satan transfigures himself into 
 an angel of Hght. 
 
 15. Therefore, it is not a great thing, if his ministers 
 are transfigured as ministers of justice, whose end shall 
 be according to their works. 
 
 They profess to be what we are, and assume the name 
 and appearance of Apostles of Christ. They are like 
 workmen who manufacture goods to sell, but whose work 
 is hollow and worthless, only painted on the outside. 
 They are in truth ministers of Satan, disguised as 
 ministers of justice, or preachers of the holiness of God ; 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 89 
 
 •at which we need not be surprised, since Satan himself is 
 transfigured as an angel of light. It does not appear 
 whether the Apostle here refers to any special incident, or 
 lo the general character of the doings of the Evil One, as 
 •shown, for instance, in his temptation of Eve. His 
 ministers are wolves in the clothing of sheep — teachers of 
 • error, going about masked as Apostles. God will one day 
 tear the masks from their faces, and expose them, and 
 ■ their end shall he according to their works. This prediction 
 the denunciation of the Apostle in the text undoubtedly 
 helped to hasten and fulfil, for we find in many other 
 passages of the New Testament ample evidence that the 
 •dreadful doctrines of these sectaries were known to, and 
 ■exposed by, the Apostles, and they were shown in their 
 true light as open enemies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 It is probable that many of them perished in the Jewish 
 War. 
 
 16. I say again, let no one think me a fool ; or else, as 
 a fool receive me, that I also may glory for a little. 
 
 17. What I speak, I speak not according to God, but 
 as if in folly, in this confidence of glory. 
 
 18. Since many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. 
 
 16. I repeat what I said before : my boasting ought not 
 to be considered a mark of folly, for I have good reasons 
 for the course I am now pursuing. But if you will not 
 ^rant me this, then grant me the privilege of a fool, the 
 licence of boasting for a while. If my words do not 
 sound like Christian humility, yet my intention in speak- 
 ing them springs from charity, and is according to God, for 
 my object is to prevent you despising a minister of Christ, 
 and listening to the ministers of Satan. Others are fond 
 • of boasting of external claims to respect, and if I seem to 
 ;imitate their folly, you will bear with me, as you bear with 
 
go THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 them. A modern Protestant commentator insists that 
 the words, / say again, in verse i6, signify I retract or 
 withdraw what I said before, and say the opposite ; but 
 this seems an unnecessary refinement, for the Apostle 
 after all repeats very much the same thing as he said in. 
 verse i. The Apostle's humility and charity are very 
 conspicuous in this passage. Humility, in repeating so- 
 often his excuse for speaking of himself, which shows how 
 unwillingly he did so ; and his charity in doing what was 
 evidently distasteful to him, for the salvation of the 
 Corinthians. 
 
 ig. For you willingly bear with fools, being wise your- 
 selves. 
 
 20. You bear it, if one reduces you to slavery, if one 
 devours you, if one takes presents from you, if one exalts 
 himself, if one strikes you in the face. 
 
 21. I speak to your dishonour, as if we were weak in 
 this respect. What any dares (I speak in folly), I alsO' 
 dare. 
 
 ig. I do not deny your wisdom ; but it is certain that 
 you do submit, without remonstrance, to the proud and 
 arrogant self-assertion of others, far worse than anything 
 you have had, or will have, to put up with from me ; and 
 indeed to absolute outrage and insult at their hands. You' 
 allow them to sell you into slavery, probably for money 
 advanced ; to seize and appropriate your goods ; to exact 
 heavy contributions from you under the name of gifts ; 
 to treat you as inferiors ; sometimes to strike you in the 
 face. These are unquestionably allusions to incidents, 
 which the Apostle knew to have occurred at Corinth, in 
 the conduct of the heretical teachers or their influential 
 supporters and allies. Some writers think that the- 
 expression, strike you in the face, is metaphorical ; but 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. Ql 
 
 there is no difficulty in supposing that it may, in some 
 case or cases, have occurred hterally. Verse 21, Saint 
 Chrysostom says, is obscure, and apparently refers to 
 some occurrence of a still more serious nature, which the 
 writer does not choose to particularise more exactly. 
 Whatever it was, it did not redound to the honour of the 
 Corinthian Christians. And because I do not behave in 
 the same way, you put it down, or are told to put it down, 
 to weakness or cowardice on my part. I must protests- 
 foolish as the remark may sound, that I am as bold as 
 others, in cases where boldness is required, or would be 
 honourable and right. Of the truth of this statement he 
 proceeds to give ample proof in the following verses. 
 
 It is, however, observed by Cornelius a Lapide, from 
 Lalmeron, that what the Apostle here complains of, is 
 the custom of the world, and has been so in all ages, and 
 will be to the end of time. The servants of God are 
 resisted and defied. On the smallest provocation, or 
 appearance of provocation, men will murmur against 
 them, cry out against them, complain of their measured 
 and moderate severity, reject the very idea or appearance 
 of ecclesiastical discipline ; while at the same time they 
 will exhibit the mo: t abject and servile submission to 
 teachers of heresy, give them full licence, submit to what- 
 ever exactions they lay upon them ; as the people of 
 Israel, rejecting the modest and gentle government of 
 the Prophet Samuel, preferred the yoke of a haughty and 
 tyrannical king (see i Reg. viii.). i\nd an ecclesiastical 
 superior, who attends to, and discharges faithfully, the 
 duties of his office, if he finds himself despised and looked 
 down upon on that account by his own flock, may com- 
 fort himself by the example of the Apostle Saint Paul, to 
 whom the Corinthian Christians preferred the false 
 apostles of their day, although these last tyrannised over 
 them, robbed and insulted them, and crushed them under 
 
»92 IHK SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 the weiijht of worldl}- influence and j)o\ver. Another, 
 who neglected the duties of his office, and the salvation 
 -of his flock, might very possibly find himself spoken of 
 with honour, and valued and respected by the selfish and 
 the worldly. If so, he should bestow a thought on these 
 false teachers of the Corinthians, and consider whether, 
 in partaking their worldly honour, he may not also be 
 partaker of their guilt. At any rate, he cannot reason- 
 ably congratulate himself upon distinction at the hands of 
 the world, which he shares with the ministers of Satan. 
 
 22. They are Hebrews, and I ; they are Israelites, and 
 I ; they are the seed of Abraham, and I. 
 
 23. They are ministers of Christ, I speak as one not 
 quite wise ; I am more ; in labours very many, in prison 
 more often, in stripes beyond measure, in deaths fre- 
 <juently. 
 
 24. From the Jews five times I received forty less one. 
 
 25. Thrice I have been beaten with a rod, once I was 
 stoned, thrice I have been shipwrecked, I have been a 
 night and day in the deep sea. 
 
 26. Often in journeys, in perils of rivers, in perils of 
 robbers, in peril from my countrymen, in peril in the city, 
 in peril in the solitude, in pf:ril on the sea, in peril among 
 false brethren. 
 
 27. In labour and care, in many vigils, in hunger and 
 thirst, in many fasts, in cold and nakedness. 
 
 28. Besides those things that are without, my daily 
 preoccupation, the solicitude of all the churches. 
 
 22. It appears from this verse that his opponents were 
 Jews, or Judaizers. They ma}-, however, possibly have 
 sought to introduce, under the guise of Judaism, heresies, 
 which were of foreign origin. The term Hchrexi'S included 
 originally all the descendants of the patriarch Heber, who 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. QJ 
 
 lived at the time of the dispersion (Genesis xi., 15). I am 
 a Hebrew, and speak the Hebrew language. The 
 Israelites, God's chosen people, were a branch of the 
 Hebrew race. The seed of Abraham, not converts or 
 proselytes. 
 
 23. They arc niiiiisters of Christ, or say they are. In' 
 verse 13, he calls them ministers of Satan. It may be a 
 foolish thing to say, but I am much more a minister of 
 Christ than they. The proof he adduces of this state- 
 ment is not, perhaps, exactly what we should have 
 expected, for he does not refer to the cities, provinces,, 
 and kingdoms he had evangelised and converted, but ta 
 the labours, blows, and imprisonment he had suffered for 
 the cause of Christ. I have certainly undergone toil, 
 imprisonment, blows, peril of death, to a much greater 
 degree than they. 
 
 24. Forty less one (Deut. xxv. 3). If he who has sinned 
 is found worthy of beating, let them lay him down and 
 beat him in presence of the judges. But the number of 
 blows must be in proportion to the crime, and never 
 exceed forty, lest thy brother go away cruelly torn before 
 thine eyes. Forty was therefore the maximum number of 
 stripes allowed, and the Jews never inflicted more than 
 thirty-nine, lest they should inadvertently exceed it.. 
 There is no record in the Acts of the Apostles of this 
 punishment being inflicted on Saint Paul, nor is it known 
 where it occurred. 
 
 25. Thrice I ivas beaten with a rod, by the Gentile magis-- 
 trates. It may be inferred that the Jews used a whip. 
 Only one of these three beatings is mentioned in the 
 Acts. It occurred at Philippi (Acts xvi. 22), and on this 
 occasion the magistrates apologised when they learned 
 that he was a Roman citizen. Saint Paul was stoned at 
 Lystra, in Lycaonia (Acts xiv. 19, 20), on which occasion 
 his life seems to have been saved by miracle. Of the: 
 
•94 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 three shipwrecks, there is no account in the Acts ; the 
 shipwreck at Malta, described in Acts xxvii., occurred 
 some years later. A niij^ht and day in the deep. The word 
 sea is not in the Greek, and l^aronius thinks it refers to a 
 deep dung^eon at Cyzicus, in Asia Minor, in which he was 
 ■once immured. But he has already spoken of prisons, 
 the word before is shipwrecked, and the Vulgate is most 
 probably right in saying the deptJi of the sea. Theodoret 
 says it was in an unseaworthy boat, in which he was 
 tossed for a night and a day. The Syriac has : Thrice I 
 have been in shipwreck, a day and night I have been in 
 the midst of the sea without a vessel. It is clear from 
 these verses that many circumstances have been omitted 
 by Saint Luke in his narrative in the Acts, which gives 
 principally those events of which the writer was himself a 
 witness. 
 
 26. Theodoret : Everywhere dangers are scattered in 
 his path. Dangers in crossing and navigating rivers, at 
 the hands of robbers, of Jewish conspirators, of Gentile 
 persecutors, in the city, in the desert, by land, by sea. 
 Everywhere plots laid against his life ; and this sometimes 
 hon\ false brethren, or pretending believers. For from the 
 beginning the devil has so\\n the tares. The number of 
 attempts against Saint Paul's life from the Jews is very 
 remarkable (see Acts ix. 23 ; xiii. 50 ; xiv. 5 ; xvii. 5 ; 
 XX. 3; xxi. 31; xxiii. 10, 11, 12, etc.; xxv. 3). 
 
 27. The Greek has toil and misery. Watching, for 
 prayer, preaching, labouring. Hunger and thirst for want 
 of food and water in long journeys, in the burning heat of 
 the summer of the south. Fasting voluntarily undertaken 
 for religion. Cold and nakedness, from insufficient 
 clothing in winter. 
 
 28. Besides these things which arc without, and affect the 
 body, there are the cares and anxieties of the mind. The 
 •Greek word eVio-iViao-i? means conspiring or combined 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 95 
 
 assault and tumult ; and Saint Chrysostom, taking it 
 literally, refers it to the frequent conspiracies and seditions 
 which threatened the Apostle's life. But he has already 
 :spoken of this in verse 26, and from the following words, 
 the solicitude of all the Churches, it is reasonable to suppose 
 lie alludes to the tumult and whirl of business in which he 
 is continually involved, and which is always distressing to 
 a man whose delight is in communion with God. The 
 •case of all the Churches, says Erasmus, continually 
 weighed and pressed upon him. 
 
 29. Who is weakened, and I am not weakened? Who 
 is scandalised, and I learn not ? 
 
 30. If I must glory, I will glory of what is my weakness. 
 
 31. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who 
 is blessed for ever, knows I do not lie. 
 
 32. Saint Damascus, the chief of the people of King 
 Aretas, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to take me. 
 
 33. And through a window, in a basket, I was let down 
 •over the wall, and thus escaped his hands. 
 
 29. If any is weakened in faith or virtue, I am, in a 
 degree, weakened too. Any scandal arising tortures me. 
 I will glory, if I glory, not as my opponents do, in worldly 
 greatness — he had very high prospects of worldly great- 
 ness once — but in the suffering and humiliation which I 
 share with Christ. The City of Damascus, with Arabia 
 Petroea, in the division of Syria, made by the Romans 
 among the family of Herod, fell to Aretas, whose daughter 
 was married to Herod Antipas, the King of Galilee. 
 Herod dismissed her to marry Herodias, wife of his 
 brother Philip. Aretas had placed a governor in the town 
 of Damascus. The occurrence related by the Apostle 
 happened in a.d. 31, six-and-twenty years before the 
 Epistle v.'as written. It is recorded m the Acts ix. 24, 25. 
 
9*3 the second epistle of 
 
 Corollary of Piety, 
 \\'hat a spectacle is exhibited to us in this brief 
 narrative of the labours and sufferings of Saint Paul ! 
 The Legate of Jesus Christ beaten with clubs, whips, 
 rods, as if he were a guilty and worthless slave ; the 
 herald of God's message of salvation stoned, almost to- 
 death, as a blasphemer ; the faithful servant and minister 
 of the Almighty shipwrecked at sea, tossed on the stormy 
 waves, as if he were a wretch whom God's very providence 
 had abandoned to death and destruction ! A sight to 
 cause scandal, if looked at with the eyes of the flesh. Is 
 there knowledge on high ? But edifying to the last degree, 
 regarded with the eyes of faith. For we learn from it, 
 not to shrink, as from real evils, from care, suffering, and 
 humiliation, but to esteem these as precious gifts of God, 
 which He has ready for His faithful servants. It is given 
 you, for Clirisfs sake, not to believe in Him only, but also to 
 suffer for His sake. And we learn not to shrink from and 
 avoid the ordinary ills of life, but to prefer and choose 
 them, as sources of eternal glory ; to rejoice in them as 
 means and principles of true glory. Our life, for the most 
 part, has little resemblance to that of the Apostles. 
 Theirs was a life of labour, ours of ease ; theirs of 
 suffering, ours of softness and indulgence ; theirs of 
 poverty, slight, contempt ; ours of wealth, consideration, 
 pride. Yet ought we to differ from those of whom we 
 boast as the fathers of our faith ? Should we not be 
 ashamed to suffer nothing, for ourselves, of all the Apostles 
 underwent for us ? Affliction is the mother of glory. By 
 affliction Christ and the Apostles entered into glory. It 
 is to affliction that God predestined us, as the means of 
 making us like the image of His Son, that He might be 
 the eldest born of many brethren ; and the Cross is the 
 inheritance He shares with us, and which it is our 
 privilege to partake with Him. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 97 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 I.. If I must boast, this indeed is not expedient, but I will 
 come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 
 
 2. I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether 
 in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God 
 knows), such an one caught up to the third heaven. 
 
 Ch. XII. In this chapter the Apostle refers to the 
 wonderful secret revelations which had been made to him, 
 as a proof of his authority ; and announces his intention to 
 pay another visit to Corinth. 
 
 1. If I must boast. Under protest, and because you re- 
 quire this proof of my divine commission, I will tell you that 
 I have received this wonderful favour from heaven, although 
 the nature of the revelation made to me is not to be com- 
 municated to mortal man. So the Vulgate and the Syriac. 
 The Greek text differs slightly. Boasting is not good for 
 me ; and Theodoret says that as the Greek fathers under- 
 stand it, he means to say that my relation of this occurrence 
 is of no advantage to myself, but may be useful to you. 
 
 Visions and Revelations. Visions may be granted without 
 revelations, when the meaning is not understood, as to 
 Pharao, Gen. xli. 17, to Nabuchodonosor, Dan, ii. 31. 
 The revelation adds to the vision the intelligence of the 
 meaning of what is seen. Of the Lord, not of the devil, who 
 also is able to send visions and revelations. St. Thomas. 
 
 2. I know a man in Christ. He suppresses his own name, 
 out of modesty, A man in Christ. That is, a Christian. 
 
gS THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 Fourteen years ago. He had concealed all knowledge of this 
 wonderful event for fourteen years, and would have con- 
 tinued to do so till the end of his life, if the Corinthians had 
 not compelled him to refer to it. St. Thomas thinks the 
 vision here referred to was seen at the time of Saint Paul's 
 conversion, during the three days when he could neither see 
 nor eat. Act ix. g. Baronius and modern writers calculate 
 more accurately that it must have happened about eight 
 years after his conversion, probably at the time he went to 
 Antioch with Barnabas, Acts xiii. Baron. Ann, 44 and 58. 
 See also Estius. 
 
 The third heaven is a Hebrew phrase for the highest heaven. 
 We have in the Scriptures mention of three heavens ; the aerial 
 heaven, where the clouds float ; the sidereal heaven, Avhere 
 are the planets and the stars ; and the empyreal heaven, or 
 world of the angels, into which last Saint Paul was rapt. 
 Whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell. The words 
 seem to imply that the Apostle's own impression was that he 
 had actually been taken up to heaven in the body, but was 
 not absolutely certain. This is the opinion of Saint Chrysos- 
 tom, Ambrose, Grotius, Fromond, and others. Cornelius a 
 Lapide thinks it the more probable opinion that he was con- 
 veyed to heaven in the body, as well as in spirit ; and Father 
 George Ambianus is decidedly of that opinion, De conditione 
 raptus. Among modern writers the more general view is that 
 the Apostle was rapt up to heaven only intellectually and in 
 an ecstasy, not physically or corporeally ; but that the soul 
 remained still united with the body, as St. Thomas thinks, 
 and was not separated from it by death. As the body is said 
 to be rapt, when violently removed from its place by an 
 external force, so the soul is rapt when taken from the 
 shadows and symbols on w^hich its knowledge of external 
 things depends, and raised to the unclouded vision and clear 
 intelligence of the angels in heaven. 
 
 In support of the first opinion it may be observed that the 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 99 
 
 verb used in the Greek is not tUfrrr], visited with an ecstasy, 
 but apirayEPTci, which seems to suit better with the idea of a 
 bodily transportation. And as Saint Chrysostom remarks, it 
 was in a sense due to Saint Paul that he should receive a 
 favour not inferior to that which was granted to the other 
 Apostles, who conversed with Christ in the body. As Saint 
 Peter saw his glory on Mount Thabor, so did Saint Paul in 
 the third heaven. And as Moses conversed with God in the 
 mountain, before he came forth to promulgate the law, so 
 Saint Paul conversed with Christ in heaven before he went 
 forth as the teacher of the nations. But after all, a question 
 with regard to which the Apostle was himself uncertain, must 
 remain uncertain for us. 
 
 3. And I know such a man (whether in the body or out of 
 the body I know not ; God knows) : 
 
 4. That he was rapt into Paradise, and heard secret 
 words, which man may not speak. 
 
 5. On behalf of such an one I will boast ; but for myself I 
 will not boast but in my infirmities. 
 
 6. For though I were willing to boast, I shall not be a 
 fool ; but I spare, lest any one esteem me above what he 
 sees in me, or hears from me. 
 
 Secret words, arcana verba, is in the Greek apprjTa pz/xara, un- 
 utterable utterances, things so great that man cannot explain 
 them, and transcending all power of speech. He recurs to 
 this in verse 6. The mention of paradise suggests to some 
 ancient writers, and among them Ambrose, St. Anselm, and 
 Theophylact, that this is a distinct vision from that referred 
 to in verse 2, where he says he was rapt into heaven. But 
 it seems more probable that whereas in the heavenly vision 
 his intellect was [enlightened by the knowledge of sublime 
 
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 mysteries of truth, he intends by the use of the word paradise 
 to denote the sweetness and dehght with which his heart was 
 filled and overflowed. Heaven denotes the perfection of 
 knowledge, paradise the perfection of joy. He heard un- 
 utterable things, because he was instructed by another, for 
 instruction comes by hearing. St. Thomas. This doctor, as 
 well as St. Chrysostom, St. Anselm, and St. Augustine (xii. 
 28 de Gen.) consider that Saint Paul beheld the divine 
 essence in this vision ; but a contrary opinion is maintained 
 by modern writers. But the Apostle then adds, if I were 
 able, or if I were permitted, to tell what I saw and heard, all 
 doubts would be removed, all cavils silenced. I should not 
 then be a fool. I refrain, lest you should think me an angel, 
 or a god, like the people of Lystra, Acts xiv. 10, or the people 
 of Malta at a later date, Acts xxviii. If they offered bulls in 
 sacrifice when he wrought a miracle, what would they not 
 have done, had he revealed all he knew ? Theophylact. 
 The example of Saint Paul in concealing this divine favour 
 for fourteen years, is worthy of observation and imitation. 
 When compelled to speak of it he does so as briefly as 
 possible, and in ambiguous and enigmatical terms, and at 
 once proceeds to record the humiliation that followed. God's 
 gifts are secret. If compelled to speak, say as little as 
 possible, and recur at once to thy own nothingness. 
 
 7. And lest the greatness of the revelations should lift me 
 up, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan 
 to buffet me. 
 
 8. On account of which I thrice besought the Lord, that 
 it might depart from me. 
 
 g. And he said to me : My grace is sufficient for thee ; 
 for virtue is perfected in infirmity. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. lOI 
 
 The Apostle here changes the person, and shews that he 
 has been speaking of himself. Should lift me up. For he 
 also was human. Theophylact. The sUng is in the Vulgate 
 stimulus, in the Greek o-KoXo-i/, which, according to Grotius, 
 signifies a thorn, according to Erasmus a sharp stake. A 
 stimulus is properly a stake shod with iron to drive oxen 
 when at work. This affliction Saint Paul ascribes to Satan, 
 but nevertheless says it was given to him by the overruling 
 goodness of God. The verb rendered buffet, or bruise, 
 might either infer pain or humilation, or both together. As 
 to the nature of this infliction, there is great variety of con- 
 jecture among ecclesiastical writers. The Greek fathers. 
 Saint Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact, and 
 Ambrose among the Latins, think it signifies persecution 
 from enemies of the faith, urged on by the Devil. This is 
 also the opinion of Erasmus. F. George Ambianus, quoted 
 by Grotius, thinks it was an acute pain in the head or ears. 
 Saint Thomas, that it was a painful disorder of the intestines. 
 Some of the authorities cited by Cornelius a Lapide consider 
 that it was a weakness of the stomach ; others that the devils 
 assailed him literally with blows and violence, as in the case 
 of Saint Antony. The modern opinion now most commonly 
 received is that it was a motion of concupiscence suggesting 
 impure ideas to the imagination, and exciting rebellion and 
 tumult in the flesh. In support of this latter view there is 
 urged, I, the metaphorical terms in which the Apostle 
 describes it ; 2, he says it was in his Jlesh, which hardly agrees 
 with persecution from without ; 3, it was occasioned by an 
 angel of Satan, which would scarcely have been said of any 
 ordinary form of disease ; 4, the word colaphizat seems to 
 imply humiliation ; whereas persecution for God's sake 
 brings glory, and disease inflicts pain, not shame ; and 5, if 
 it had been persecution or disease, he would not so earnestly 
 have prayed for deliverance from it. Erasmus rejects the 
 idea altogether, as unworthy of so great a man, and one so 
 far advanced in age. (Hammond, in loc. suggests that the 
 
102 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 affection referred to by Saint Paul was an affection of the 
 eyes, which impaired his sight, and from which there are 
 other grounds for beheving that he suffered. He dictated all 
 his epistles to an amanuensis, adding only a few words in his 
 own handwriting at the end, for identification, and these 
 written in very large characters. You see in what large 
 letters I write io my own hand. Gal. vi. ii. In support of 
 this conjecture it may be observed that he refers to his 
 infirmity as if it were already well known ; and if it were of 
 the kind suggested above, and known only to himself, it 
 seems hardly likely that he would have alluded to it at all ; 
 while the urgency with which he prayed for deliverance 
 would imply that it was something he thought likely to 
 occasion hindrance to the exercise of his ministry). 
 
 / besought the Lord thrice. Doubtless at these different 
 oblations of the Holy Sacrifice. But Saint Chrysostom 
 thinks that thrise means simply often. That it, that is the 
 angel of Satan, might leave me. The prayers of the just are 
 often heard, when not heard ; heard for their good, unheard 
 for their wishes. God is good, and often withholds what we 
 want, to give what we want still more. St. Jerome. The 
 patient under the knife will call out for mercy, but the 
 operator does not listen. St. Augustine. Virtue is made 
 perfect in weakness. Virtue is not here opposed to vice, but to 
 weakness. The Greek has my power. The power of God is 
 shown forth most conspicuously through the infirmity of 
 man. 
 
 g. Willingly therefore I will glory in my infirmities, that 
 the virtue ot Christ may dwell in me. 
 
 10. On that account I please myself in my inhrmities, in 
 insults, in destitution, in persecutions, in distress for Christ : 
 for wheii I am weak, then am I powerful. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. I03 
 
 11. I am become a fool: you have compelled me: for I 
 ought to be commended by you ; for I am in nothing inferior 
 to those who are Apostles beyond measure : though I am 
 nothing. 
 
 12. Yet the signs of my apostolate were done upon you in 
 all patience, in signs, and miracles, and powers. 
 
 Since the power of Christ is most manifest in the weakness 
 of man, I will willingly glory (the Greek text has, I will most 
 willingly glory more) in my infirmities, whether of nature 
 or coming upon me by God's permission from without, 
 than in the fullness of divine revelation which has been 
 accorded me, because the power of Christ dwells in me; accord- 
 ing to the Syriac, overshadows and protects me. And this 
 being the case, my own weakness and infirmities, the insults 
 to which I am exposed, the poverty and destitution, in 
 which I live, the persecutions I endure, the troubles and 
 perplexities I undergo, all for Christ's sake, are to me 
 actually a source of joy and pleasure, because through 
 all these things the power of Christ, which dwells in me, 
 is more conspicuously manifest. And if in saying this 
 I have used language which sounds like boasting, this is 
 your tault. It is you who have compelled me, for I have only 
 done what you ought to have done for me. It was for you 
 to stand up for me, your Apostle. In no sign or character of 
 the Apostolate am I inferior, I will not say to the heretical 
 teachers who are endeavouring to mislead you, and constantly 
 depreciating my work, but even to the first and greatest of 
 the Apostles of Christ. You have compelled me to make 
 this assertion, not for the sake of my own dignity, but out of 
 regard to your salvation, which is miperilled by the false 
 teachers to whom you listen. Saint Anselm thinks the words 
 supya viodum apostoli refer to St. Peter, St. John, and, St. 
 James ; and the Syriac has the very great Apostles. The first 
 
I04 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 character of the Apostolate mentioned by St. Paul in verse 
 12 is patience, the suffering persecution and poverty for 
 Christ's sake. The second is the exercise of miraculous 
 powers, which he distinguishes into signs, miracles, and powers, 
 greater, lesser, and more ordinary. You know this, and you 
 ought not to have left it to me to assert and defend my 
 apostolic commission, and you might have spared me the 
 necessity of doing so. 
 
 13. For what is there that you have had less of than the 
 other churches, except that I personally put you to no 
 expense ? Forgive me this wrong. 
 
 14. Behold, this third time I am prepared to come to you : 
 and I shall not burden you. For I seek not what is yours, 
 but you. For sons should not lay up treasure for their 
 parents, but the parents for the sons. 
 
 15. But I will most willingly spend and then be spent my- 
 self for your soul ; though the more I love the less I may be 
 loved. 
 
 16. But be it so ; I did not burden you : but as I am crafty, 
 I caught you by artifice. 
 
 17. I requested Titus to go to you, and sent the brother 
 with him. Did Titus cheat you ? Did we not walk in the 
 same spirit, in the same footsteps ? 
 
 Othev churches, planted in other places by otlier Apostles, 
 have enjoyed no privileges you have not equally received, 
 whether in the full announcement of the truths of the Gospel, 
 or their confirmation by miracle. The only difference in 
 your case is that whereas the other Apostles usually accept 
 offerings for their maintenance and expenses, I would not do 
 so at Corinth. St. Paul's motive for acting in this way 
 ppssibiy arose from the condition of pagan society at Corinth, 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. 105 
 
 to which he preferred not to be, even indirectly, under any 
 obligation. This resolution to live at my own expense, he adds 
 satirically, is an injury which I should think you might easily 
 forgive. It is to be wished that all Christian missionaries 
 were, like St. Paul, chargeable with no other error than this. 
 
 This third time I am prepavcd to come to you. Saint Paul had 
 in fact only visited Corinth once, but he had intended to do 
 so a second time a few months previously, and was prevented 
 by circumstances. On this account he says, I am coming the 
 third time. See i. 15-17 of this Epistle. But when I come I 
 shall continue to live at my own charge, and cost you nothing. 
 For, he adds, what I seek is not your goods, but yourselves ; 
 not yours, hut you. An apostle is a fisher of men, and a hunter 
 of souls. The words are intended to soften his sarcasm in 
 verse 13. There may also be an allusion to the heretical 
 teachers, as if he would imply that they apparently acted on 
 a different principle. I am in the place of your father ; and 
 would gladly give all I have for you, and my life at last ; and 
 this with the ardent and disinterested affection which seeks 
 no return ; though the more I love, the less I may be loved. He 
 proceeds to reply to a most ungrounded calumny brought 
 against him by his opponents at Corinth, who could not deny 
 that he lived there at his own expense, but they asserted 
 that he only did so ostensibly and in pretence, and meanwhile 
 surreptitiously accepted contributions collected by his agents. 
 Titus and Luke (see viii. 18) came to you at my request ; did 
 either of these act or teach in any way differently from my- 
 self ? We were all animated by the same spirit, and followed 
 the same course of life. 
 
 19. Do you still think we are excusing ourselves to you ? 
 Before God and in Christ we speak ; but all, most beloved, 
 for your edification. 
 
Io6 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 20. For I fear lest perhaps when I come I shall not find 
 you such as I wish, and may be found by you such as you 
 wish not. 
 
 21. Lest there be among you contentions, emulations, 
 animosities, dissensions, detractions, whispers, inflations, 
 seditions ; 
 
 22. And that when I come again God may humble me 
 among you ; and I may have to mourn for many of those 
 who sinned before, and have not done penance for the 
 uncleanncss and fornication and immodesty which they have 
 done. 
 
 Are you still unconvinced, and inclined to ascribe all I 
 have said to the solicitude of a guilty conscience, as if I was 
 anxious to clear myself in the sight of men ? Am I a de- 
 fendant on trial, trying to find excuses for myself? The 
 Vulgate begins verse 19 with olim putatis, as if the translator 
 had read TraXai in the Greek, but the present text has ttuXiv, 
 which seems to give a more intelligible meaning, as above. 
 The Syriac has do yon still think ? Yet surely you may trust 
 me when I speak, as I now speak, in presence of God, who 
 sees the heart, and in the spirit of Christ, which is sincerity 
 and truth. All I have said, I have said not for my own 
 glory, or in my own defence, but for your edification ; from 
 desire for your salvation, fear for your danger of falling from 
 the faith. I fear that I shall not find the faults corrected, 
 which I have pointed out ; that you will find in me a severe 
 judge, rather than a kind and loving father. The faults are 
 those I endeavoured in the former epistle to correct ; verbal 
 controversies, personal rivalr}^ angry feelings, calumnious 
 charges, party spirit, discord, pride, tumult, sedition. This 
 is not all, nor the worst ; I am afraid I shall find, to my grief 
 and humiliation, many persons whom I have been compelled 
 to censure for an openly flagitious course of life, persisting 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. I07 
 
 in their wickedness, and refusing to do penance. Ambrose 
 remarks that this passage proves, against Novatian, that 
 fornicators might, in the days of the Apostles, be admitted 
 to penance. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Certainly it is disappointing to find Saint Paul, carried up 
 to the third heaven among the holy Angels, admitted to the 
 joys of Paradise, and this, as he himself thought probable, 
 in bodily presence as well as in spirit, unable or not permit- 
 ted to reveal to us the great and glorious things he heard 
 and saw. Both because it would have given him a more 
 powerful and effectual argument in his controversy with his 
 opponents ; but still more, because for our own sake we 
 cannot but wish to know what he knew, and hear what he 
 heard. But for some reason, it cannot be so. The words 
 he heard were unutterable by mortal lips. Saint John, like 
 Saint Paul, was in spirit taken up to heaven, and saw the 
 Throne of God, and Him who sat thereon. All was gleam- 
 ing with splendour, with the iris of emerald above, the 
 Seniors, clothed in white and crowned with gold, enthroned 
 around ; and from the Throne of God proceeded lightnings, 
 and voices, and thunders. But what these voices said, he has 
 not told us. Even in our experience of earth we find enough 
 to prove that the secrets of heaven cannot be rendered 
 intelligible to mortal man. Who, but a Christian, under- 
 stands the motives of the Christian life ? The wind blows 
 where it will, and we hear it, yet know not whence it comes 
 or whither it goes. Who, outside the Church of Christ, can 
 form the faintest conception of the motives of the Religious 
 Life ? And this, the ludicrous mistakes made by Protestant 
 writers on the subject, evidently prove. Heaven and 
 heavenly things are an enigma to the mind which is not 
 
Io8 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 enlightened by the Spirit of God. Whatever may have been 
 the tenor of the arcana verba which Paul heard in heaven, 
 they did not make him more in love with earth, nor make 
 him less desirous to attain his heavenly home. The secrets 
 of heaven are withheld from us, because they are too glorious 
 for our weakness to endure. I have many things to say, our 
 Lord said to His Apostles, but you cannot bear them now. 
 Only eternity will be long enough to say them, only immor- 
 tality strong enough to endure them. And the joy and 
 delight of God's presence, when we are admitted to it, will 
 come upon us as an endless, boundless, and glorious surprise. 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. lOQ 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 I. Behold, the third time I am coming to you : in the 
 mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand. 
 
 2. I have said beforehand, and I say beforehand, as 
 present and now absent, to those who have sinned before, 
 and to all the others, that if I come again, I will not spare. 
 
 3. Are you seeking a proof by experiment of Christ who 
 speaks in me, who is not weakened towards you, but is 
 powerful among you. 
 
 4. For though he was crucified out of infirmity, yet he 
 lives by the power of God : for we also are weak in him, but 
 we shall live with him by the power of God in you. 
 
 Ch. XIII. In this chapter the Apostle threatens the im- 
 penitent with the visible judgment of God, to urge them to 
 penance ; and concludes the Epistle with his salutation and 
 benediction. 
 
 The third time I am coming. I am certainly coming now, 
 although on the last occasion when I proposed doing so, I 
 was unable to carry out my intention. In the mouth of two or 
 three witnesses is a reference to Deut. xix. 15. Either he 
 meant to hold a formal judicial enquiry into the charges 
 brought against the heretical leaders and their followers at 
 Corinth, and obtain testimony against them ; or he used the 
 phrase in allusion to his two or three visits to Corinth. This 
 
no THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 last is the opinion of St. Chrysostom,Theodoret,Theophylact, 
 Ambrose, and St. Anselm. St Chrysostom says : I have 
 threatened twice, and now for the third time ; you will find 
 that I have not done so in vain. The faithful prelate will 
 always warn before he strikes. I warned you when present, 
 I warn you absent : when I come I will not spare. What 
 he threatens is the visible judgment of God upon the im- 
 penitent, such as overtook Ananias and Sapphifa, and the 
 impenitent fornicator in I. Cor. v. 5. Are you seeking proof by 
 experiment that the power of Christ dwells in me ? The 
 Greek and Syriac read, in continuation of the sense of the 
 previous verse : since you are making trial of Christ, who speaks 
 by me. As Christ, crucified in weakness, now lives by the 
 power of God ; so you shall find that we, the Apostles, feeble 
 in his mortal weakness, exercise nevertheless his divine 
 power, which will be exhibited in vobis, towards you. 
 
 5. Try yourselves, whether you are in the faith ; your- 
 selves make proof of yourselves. Do you know yourselves 
 that Christ Jesus is in you ? Unless perchance you are 
 reprobate. 
 
 6. But I hope you will know that we are not reprobate. 
 
 7. But we pray God that you do no evil, not that we 
 may appear approved, but that you may do what is good, 
 and we be as reprobate. 
 
 8. For we cannot do anything against truth, but for 
 truth. 
 
 I advise you not to make trial of the power of God com- 
 mitted to my hands ; but rather try yourselves, whether you 
 are in the true faith. The test of orthodox faith in those days, 
 as St. Chrysostom points out, was the power of working 
 miracles, and this test the Apostle urges his opponents at 
 Corinth to apply. By this means you will know for certain 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. Ill 
 
 whether Christ Jesus — the real and true Christ, the Son of 
 Mary, not some vague metaphysical abstraction whom you 
 call by that name — dwells among you and in your com- 
 munion. Otherwise you are reprobate. The word reprobi is 
 not used here in opposition to predestimati, but to probi, honest 
 and sincere ; and the reference is, according to St. Chrysos- 
 tom and Theophylact, to the secret corruption of life which 
 the heretics justified and practised. The Greek has : unless 
 in any respect you are reprobate. Christ is in you, for he dwells 
 not in Apostles and prelates only, but in all the faithful. 
 At any rate / hope you will find that we are not rejected by Christ. 
 The word is here applied in a slightly different sense, ex- 
 cluded from the grace of God. This sounds like a threat, 
 and we may be surprised that St. Paul uses the word hope, 
 with the prospect of inflicting punishment on the Corinthians 
 in his view ; but his mind was directed to the great danger 
 from which the Church was to be delivered, and the benefit 
 the example would bring to so many Christian souls. It is 
 not for my own vindication ; rather I would pray to be 
 reprobate or rejected myself, if only you would sincerely turn 
 to God. It is evident that miraculous power, such as I 
 claim, and mean to exercise, since it comes from God, can- 
 not be used against the truth of God, but only in support 
 of it. 
 
 g. For we rejoice that we are weak, and you are powerful. 
 And this we pray for, your consummation. 
 
 10. Therefore I write this being absent, that I may not 
 when present act with severity, according to the power which 
 the Lord gave me, for edification, and not for destruction. 
 
 11. For the rest, brethren, rejoice, be perfect, exhort one 
 another, be of one mind, be at peace, and the God of peace 
 and love shall be with you. 
 
 12. Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the saints 
 salute you. 
 
112 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF 
 
 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of 
 God, and the communication of the Holy Spirit, be with you 
 all. Amen. 
 
 I shall be only too glad to find no occasion for the exercise 
 ot any such power, if you are strengthened in God's grace, for 
 what I most desire is your complete restoration to true faith 
 and sanctity. It is in the hope of this that I have used 
 language of such apparent severity in this epistle, written 
 from a distance, that I may be spared the necessity of acting 
 with severity when I am among you. For God's end and 
 object in conferring miraculous power is attained by your 
 edification, and he did not give them to destroy. For the 
 rest, and passing by the matters to which I have been 
 referring, I desire you to rejoice in your Christian privileges 
 and hopes ; study daily to improve, and thus make progress 
 towards perfection (St. Thomas) ; exhort, or as the Syriac 
 reads, console one another in affliction or trouble, or other- 
 wise, be consoled, for by God's help all will in the end be 
 well ; try to be at concord in your views and sentiments ; and 
 live at peace with one another. God, who is the author of 
 charity and peace, will be with you through His grace and 
 charity. For God is charity, and who dwells in charity, 
 dwells in God, and God in him. He is the God of peace, 
 both as the author and proclaimer of peace between heaven 
 and earth, pardon and reconciliation, to men of goodwill ; 
 and because his Gospel promotes peace among mankind, 
 and his people live at peace with one another. And the God 
 of charity, because he is charity himself, and love continually 
 flows forth from the fountain of his sacred heart to ours ; 
 charity between God and man, and charity between Christians 
 to one another. 
 
 Salute one another with a holy kiss, the symbol of a holy 
 affection. Saint Chrysostom says : We are the temple of 
 God, and of this temple the mouth is the vestibule, because 
 by the visible channel of this vestibule Christ enters into us 
 
ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. II3 
 
 when we communicate. Therefore we kiss the threshold 
 of the temple. St. Chrysostom. All the Saints, the 
 Christians at Philippi in Macedonia, where this epistle 
 was written. 
 
 13. The grace of salvation was sent us by the chanty 
 of God, and communicated to us by the Holy Spirit. 
 All the elements of salvation are therefore included in 
 this blessing. Ambrose. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 When Christ comes again, he will not spare. He 
 promised to return, and the Church has expected the ful- 
 filment of that promise ever since. This third time he is 
 preparing to come, and will come in earnest. And heaven 
 and earth bear witness against us that to spare the guilty 
 race of man he has not yet returned. But return he will. 
 At his first coming his bodily presence was like other men, 
 in the weakness of mortality, his demeanour gentle and 
 humble, and we despised and rejected him. We gave 
 him a stable for his palace, a manger for his cradle, a 
 cross for his throne. He came in the spirit of meekness ; 
 he will return with a rod (i Cor. iv. 21). Those who have 
 refused to believe him the Creator of the world, because 
 he was not proud, as they foolishly and blasphemously 
 suppose the Creator of the world ought to be ; those who 
 have thought so little of the promises he set before them, 
 as to scoff at them and pass them by ; those who have 
 disregarded his warning that the great torrent of human 
 life, unguided by any other wisdom than that of man, 
 uncleansed from evil which men are only half conscious 
 of because it is common, is hastening downwards into hell; 
 
 and those who, after deliberate choice, have consciously 
 
 H 
 
114 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 
 
 made their election for the ambitions of this hfe, or its 
 pleasures, rather than the hope of heaven ; will find their 
 error then, but find it too late. He warned, but they put 
 his warning to the test. They will have their answer. 
 Nor can they plead that they did not believe ; for the root 
 of unbelief is in the will, and they did not believe because 
 they would not. Those who have believed, and taken him 
 at his word, will have their triumph then, for it will be 
 shown that they were wiser than the wise men of this 
 world, saw what was coming more clearly that its most 
 clear-sighted statesmen, understood the problems of life 
 better than its acutest and most learned philosophers. 
 Human history had its beginning, and will have its end, 
 in Christ ; and those who have trusted in him he will 
 know how to save. 
 
THE EPISTLE OF SAINT PAUL TO 
 THE GALATIANS. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Galatia is a province of Asia Minor, bounded on the 
 east by Cappadocia, on the west by Bithynia, on the 
 south by Pamphylia, and on the north by the Euxine Sea. 
 It was at one time called Gallo-Graecia, and subsequently 
 Galatia, the dominant race among the inhabitants being 
 Gauls of the tribe of the Senones, who crossed the Helles- 
 pont under the guidance of Brennus, after the invasion of 
 Rome, conquered the Troas B. C. 278, were checked by 
 King Attains in a battle about B. C. 241, and then 
 occupied the territory called from them Gallo-Graecia or 
 Galatia. This is the statement of Suidas ; there are other 
 accounts of the circumstances attending this invasion, but 
 there is no doubt the people were of Gallic origin. Galatia 
 was conquered and incorporated into the Roman Empire 
 in B.C. 25, on the death of King Amyntas. 
 
 The Galatians were converted to the faith of Christ by 
 the preaching of Saint Paul. They received the faith 
 with extraordinary zeal and devotion, wrought many 
 miracles, and endured persecution for the cause of Christ. 
 But after the Apostle's departure, they were led astray by 
 false teachers, whose ostensible zeal for Judaism was 
 
 possibly a mask for still more dangerous errors, and who 
 
 H 2 
 
Il6 PREFACE. 
 
 were, as Saint Chrysostom says, intoxicated with empty 
 glory. These men endeavoured to persuade them to 
 adopt circumcision and other ceremonies of the Mosaic 
 law ; and with a view to obtaining acceptance for their 
 doctrine, began by attacking the authority of Saint Paul. 
 They declared that he was no Apostle of Christ, but only 
 a disciple of the Apostles, and not even a consistent and 
 faithful one; for James at Jerusalem carried on the 
 observance of the Jewish law ; and Peter, the Prince of 
 the Apostles, had lately at Antioch, avoided association 
 with Gentile converts who had not received circumcision. 
 They accused Saint Paul of inconsistency in this respect, 
 alleging that he conformed to Jewish custom in one place 
 and not in another, and taught different doctrines at 
 different times according to circumstances. The Galatians, 
 too easily listening to these false statements, were per- 
 suaded to accept circumcision and adopt the observance 
 of days and months, seasons and years, according to the 
 Jewish calendar, iv. lo. The Apostle, perceiving the 
 dangerous consequences to which this error might lead, 
 and the hindrance it was likely to place in the way of the 
 conversion of the Gentiles, the task which God had 
 specially committed to his hands, denounces it as nothing 
 less than apostasy from Christ and the destruction of llis 
 Gospel, 3. 7. With just indignation and profound sorrow, 
 Saint Chrysostom says, and with burning zeal, he ad- 
 dressed to the Galatians an Epistle full of vehemence, as 
 is plainly evident to every reader, from its opening on- 
 wards. He rather chides than teaches, says Saint Jerome, 
 but chides to recal them from the errors by which they 
 had been led astray. The false apostles had denied his 
 Apostolate, for which reason, in the very first words, he 
 declares that he received it from Christ our Lord, as the 
 other Apostles did, but with this special prerogative, that 
 he received it from Christ reigning in glory in heaven. 
 
PREFACE. 117 
 
 Then he shows that his doctrine was in complete agree- 
 ment with that of St. Peter, St. John, and St. James. He 
 gives the true history of the occurrence at Antioch, which 
 had been perverted to his prejudice by the false teachers. 
 Then he shows by many arguments from Scripture and 
 the reason of the case, that the ceremonies of the old Law 
 are insufficient and useless for salvation, and that man is 
 justified by faith in Christ. Finally, he exhorts the 
 Galatians to hold these truths in purity of faith and a 
 holy life. 
 
 The argument of this Epistle is, therefore, as will be 
 seen, not dissimilar to that of the Epistle to the Romans, 
 and it is sometimes regarded as a compendium or epitome 
 of that treatise, having in common with it many senti- 
 ments, arguments, conclusions, and even phrases. But 
 there is this difference, that while in the Epistle to the 
 Romans the Apostle proves the insufficiency, both of legal 
 obedience, and Gentile philosophy, to effect the regenera- 
 tion of mankind, in this he deals with the Jewish question 
 only, proving the efficacy of faith and the works which 
 follow it. 
 
 It is not quite certain whether the Epistle to the 
 Galatians was written before or after that to the Romans. 
 Cornehus a Lapide considers that there is greater un- 
 certainty as to its date, than in the case of any other 
 of St. Paul's writings. The Greek copies, and the 
 Syriac and Arabic versions, assert that it was written at 
 Rome. This is also affirmed by St. Athanasius, in the 
 Synopsis, St. Jerome, Theodoret in the Preface to St. 
 Paul's Epistles, and by other writers. In this case it was, 
 of course, composed at a later period than the Epistle to 
 the Romans, and probably in the year 60. And this view 
 is supported by the words of the Apostle, Rom. xv. 26, 
 Macedonia and Achaia have resolved to make a collection of 
 money for the poor, which money he intended to convey to 
 
Il8 PREFACE. 
 
 Jerusalem, and he adds, v. 28 : when I have done this, I 
 shall come through Rome to Spain. And in Gal. ii. 10 he 
 shows that this pious errand had been discharged. 
 
 Nevertheless St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, in the argu- 
 ment of the Epistle to the Romans, and Baronius, torn. 1., 
 maintain that Saint Paul cannot have written this Epistle 
 at Rome, because he makes no allusion to his imprison- 
 ment, as he does in all the others written at that period ; 
 and they consider that it was written before the Epistle 
 to the Romans, at Ephesus, Philippi, or some place in 
 Greece, in the year of Christ 58. Some modern writers 
 place it before the Epistles to the Corinthians, in 55 or 
 56. M. de Tillemont is inclined to this view, though not 
 positively. Mem. note 42 sur St. Paul. And the san^e 
 opinion is expressed, though with some hesitation, by the 
 author of the Analysis ("/Ir^wwew^j. The question must, 
 therefore, be left undecided. 
 
EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATL\NS. Iig 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. Paul, Apostle not from men, nor through man ; 
 but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who 
 raised him from the dead. 
 
 2. And all the brethren who are with me, to the 
 Churches of Galatia : 
 
 3. Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 4. Who gave himself for our sins, that he might 
 deliver us from the present wicked world, according to 
 the will of our God and Father, 
 
 5. To whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Chapter i. In this chapter the Apostle emphatically 
 declares, in opposition to his unworthy antagonists in 
 Galatia, that his Apostolical mission was derived directly 
 from Jesus Christ : and pronounces an anathema against 
 those who endeavoured to pervert the truth of Christ's 
 Gospel. 
 
 I. Apostle, not from men, nor throngh man. Saint Paul's 
 commission as a divine teacher was not derived from 
 human authority, like that of his opponents, who could 
 advance no other claim than their own appointment of 
 themselves ; but derived originally from God. 2. It did 
 not come to him through any human agency whatever, as 
 did the appointment of St. Matthias, who was chosen to 
 
120 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 a place in the Apostolic College by the other Apostles, 
 under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; and as is the 
 case with all the prelates and pastors of the Church who 
 have exercised their office since. It was derived from God 
 the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, not in his 
 mortal life, but after his resurrection from the dead and 
 ascension into heaven, seated at God's right hand and 
 reigning in glory and the exercise of divine omnipotence. 
 The commission of the pastors of the Church now is 
 divine as to its origin, but human as regards the means of 
 its communication. This was not the case with Saint 
 Paul, or the other Apostles. 
 
 2. And all the brethren with me. The whole Church of 
 Rome, assuming this Epistle to have been written there. 
 Saint Chrysostom notes that whereas in other Epistles 
 Saint Paul gives his own name only, or with one or two 
 others, he here joins with him all the Christians who 
 were with him, the dangerous tendency of the errors he 
 had to oppose, and the peril of the salvation of the 
 Galatians, requiring a more formal demonstration than 
 usual. He addresses all the Churches of Galatia collectively, 
 because they were all infected with these errors. And he 
 omits the usual designation, beloved or holy ; his object 
 being to warn them that they were in danger of losing, 
 if they had not already lost, their faith. 
 
 3. Grace to you, the source of spiritual good ; and 
 peace, either the repose of the mind in faith, or as St. 
 Augustine thinks, reconciliation with God. The Father 
 is the originating, the Son the meritorious, cause of grace 
 and of peace. 
 
 4. Christ became the meritorious cause of grace and 
 peace to us, by becoming the victim of our sins. This 
 statement has an important bearing on the argument 
 which follows, which goes to show that divine grace and 
 the peace of the soul with God are not attainable by 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 121 
 
 •compliance with the law of Moses, nor can such com- 
 pliance in any way aid in effecting it. . Grace and peace 
 are from our Lord Jesus Christ, because he gave himself 
 for our sins. 
 
 Saint John tells us that we are of God, and the whole 
 world lies under the power of the devil (i Joh. v. ig). 
 But the world is not evil in itself, or by any fault of its 
 Creator ; the evil that is in it comes from the sins of 
 men. Our deliverance /row this present evil world is the 
 effects of Christ's death, but it may be effected without 
 the necessity of withdrawing us from God's visible 
 creation, by taking away sin. This Christ did freely 
 and voluntarily, but in accordance with the will of God, 
 his Father by nature, ours by grace. 
 
 5. To whom be the glory for ever. There is no verb in 
 this sentence in the Greek, and the article is prefixed to 
 the word glory. The Vulgate reads Cui est gloria. 
 
 6. I wonder that thus so quickly you are removing 
 from him who cahed you into the grace of Christ, into 
 another Gospel. 
 
 7. Which is not another ; unless there are some, who 
 trouble you, and wish to change the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 The Apostle, without further preface, plunges at once 
 into his subject, expressing his horror and surprise at the 
 change which had come, in so short a time, over the faith 
 of the Galatians. The word thus is not in the Greek, and 
 Erasmus says the phrase is absurd, but he acknowledges 
 that it is so read by Tertullian and Saint Augustine, as it 
 is also by Ambrose. I wonder : I cannot conceive how 
 it has happened. That thus, after you have received 
 God's grace, done such good works, suffered so much for 
 Christ : and so quickly, you are removing. Not removed. 
 
122 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 The use of the present tense is very noticeable, indicating 
 that the apostasy he feared had not actually taken place,, 
 or at least was not general, though there was imminent 
 danger of it. From the faith and service of Almighty 
 God, who has called you into the grace of Christ, the 
 communion of the Catholic Church, justification, sanctifi- 
 cation, salvation, you are turning to another Gospel. 
 Thus their perversion was nothing less than apostasy 
 from God and Christ. 
 
 7. Which is not a Gospel at all, for there is but one. 
 Those who trouble you are trying to subvert, overthrow, 
 and destroy the Gospel of Christ. This is in reality their 
 design and enterprise, though they disguise and conceal 
 it by calling what they teach, the faith of Christ. The 
 false teachers of heresy then, as false teachers of heresy 
 always do, called the mixture of Judaism and Christianity 
 which they had invented, and were endeavouring to get 
 the Galatians to accept, by the name of the Christian 
 religion. This, says Saint Chrysostom, was their craft 
 and deceit. The nature and characteristic of the 
 Christian faith is salvation by faith in Christ. To teach 
 the necessity of circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic 
 institutions, is wholly to change its nature, and subvert 
 and overthrow the Gospel of Christ. It was not another 
 Gospel, but it was a new religion. 
 
 8. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a 
 Gospel to you beyond that which we have preached to 
 you ; let him be anathema. 
 
 g. As we have already said, I now also say again ; if 
 any shall have preached a Gospel to you beside that you 
 received ; let him be anathema. 
 
 The heretics falsely cited the names of St. Peter, St. 
 John, and St. James, as supporting their error. St. Paul 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 123 
 
 does not name these Apostles, but by saying an angel from 
 heaven, as St. Chrysostom observes, he includes all 
 authority and knowledge of celestial things, while by in- 
 cluding himself in the anathema, in case he changed his 
 opinions, he also includes every earthly friendship, in- 
 fluence, and relation. The Gospel he taught them was 
 true, and all the Angels, Apostles, and political leaders in 
 God's universe, could not shake its truth. Lest he 
 should be thought to have made this statement, 
 which certainly is a startling one, hastily and without 
 consideration, he deliberately repeats it in the same words. 
 The Greek Trap' u is rendered in the Vulgate by premier and 
 prceterquam, but its meaning is different from, ox inconsistent 
 with. Further and completer instruction on the lines 
 already laid down is not a subject of anathema, and as 
 St. Augustine observes, the Apostle himself expressed a wish 
 to visit the Thessalonians to supply what was wanting to 
 their faith (i Thess. ii. 17, iii. i, 2). Heretics have dis- 
 torted what Saint Paul says to the Galatians, as if it con- 
 veyed an anathema agamst the decrees of Popes and 
 Councils, as being an addition to the faith taught by the 
 Apostles. But the decrees of Popes and Councils, while 
 they explain the faith, do not cross its borders ; and while 
 they teach explicitly what Scripture teaches implicitly, 
 they contain nothing opposed to it. If the Catholic 
 Faith in St. Paul's days was so certain that he does not 
 hesitate to anathematize the whole College of the 
 Apostles, and the Angels of heaven, if they taught any- 
 thing contrary to it ; it is even more certain now, con- 
 firmed by the tradition of so many centuries, the 
 innumerable miracles wrought by God in support of it, 
 and the general consent and agreement of mankind. 
 
 10. For am I now trying to persuade men, or God ? 
 
124 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Or am I seekinc^ to please men ? If I still pleased men 
 I should not be Christ's servant. 
 
 St. Paul is sensible that the anathema he has just pro- 
 nounced will give great offence in Galatia. But he does 
 not shrink. What I have said, is said because it is God's 
 truth : I am quite indifferent what men may think of it. 
 If my object in life was to please men, I should be at this 
 moment the leader of the Jews ; perhaps their king. A 
 servant of Christ, I should never have become. St. 
 Chrysostom says : I am not bidding for a leader's place, 
 nor seeking disciples, nor ambitious of your praise. I 
 seek to please God, not men ; and if I sought to please 
 men, I should still be a persecutor of the Church of God. 
 There is undoubtedly here a reflection on his opponents, 
 whose judaizing tendency was adopted in the hope of con- 
 ciliating the favour and support of Jews, still politically 
 powerful in Western Asia. The Jewish religion was at 
 that time tolerated and fostered by the Roman laws, 
 whereas there were many indications and threatenings of 
 the coming persecution of the Christian Church, which 
 broke out a few years later ; and the Judaizers sought to 
 obtain in advance the protection and support of Jews. 
 They endeavoured to persuade the Jews to countenance 
 them ; to please them by advocating the ceremonies of 
 their law. Saint Paul sought to please God, by courageous 
 adherence to his truth. 
 
 It is impossible to serve God and man. The bride can- 
 not have two husbands, nor the servant two laws. God 
 made the soul of man for himself, and admits no rival. 
 Unum uni, una iini, was the exclamation of the ecstatic 
 brother Aegidius, the companion of St. Francis. One 
 heart for God, one bride for Christ. At the same time, 
 while to please man for man's sake is sin, to please man for 
 God's sake is charity. Let every one please his neighbour, 
 Rom. XV. 2. I please all, in all thin{:s, i Cor. x. 33. Man, 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I25 
 
 says St. Augustine, does not please to any good purpose, 
 unless it is for God's sake, and that he may be pleased 
 and glorified, in hope that his grace may be accorded by 
 human ministry and agency. For in this case it is not 
 man, but God, that pleases. 
 
 11. For I make it known to you brethren, of the 
 Gospel which was preached by me, that it is not accord- 
 ing to man. 
 
 12. For neither did I receive it from man, nor learned 
 it : but through the revelation of Jesus Christ. 
 
 13. For you have heard of my conversation at one 
 time in Judaism ; that above measure I persecuted the 
 Church of God, and fought against her ; 
 
 14. And made progress in Judaism above many my 
 contemporaries in age, in my nation, being more abun- 
 dantly jealous of the traditions of my fathers. 
 
 II. The remainder of this chapter is addressed to the 
 slander of his opponents, that he was not really an 
 Apostle of Christ. I tell you, and wish all to know, that 
 my Gospel is neither human in its origin, nor taught to 
 me by men, but by direct revelation from Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, in person. This revelation was begun at Saint 
 Paul's conversion, and carried out in further detail in 
 visions during his prolonged retirement in Arabia or at 
 Tarsus. 
 
 13. I am no novice or tyro in the religion of the Jews, 
 and am better acquainted with it, more thoroughly under- 
 stand its bearings, its teaching, its inner significance, 
 than those who are now persuading you to embrace it. 
 The outline of my career and history cannot be unknown 
 to you. And he goes on to remind them how, with the 
 whole energy of his fiery nature, and acute intellect, and 
 
126 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 pure and ardent love of all that is spiritual and true, he 
 studied the Jewish law, under its most accomplished 
 teachers, until he was thirty years old, and was urc^ed, bv 
 his profound conviction of its divinit^^ and truth, to seek 
 to root out and overthrow the faith of Jesus Christ, as 
 bein.t:^ in opposition, as he conceived to the will of God ; 
 which he doubtless believed to be, the restitution of the 
 kingdom of Juda, and its deliverance from the Roman 
 power. And both in zeal ap^ainst Christ, who had 
 advocated submission to the Roman power, and in inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the institutions and relifjious 
 belief of his own nation, he confessedly distanced all com- 
 petitors of his a.^e and generation. 
 
 15. But when it pleased him who set me apart from 
 the womb of my mother, and called me by his grace : 
 
 16. To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him 
 among the nations : at once I did not rest in flesh and 
 blood. 
 
 17. Nor did I go to Jerusalem to the Apostles who were 
 appointed before me : but I went away into Arabia ; and 
 again returned to Damascus : 
 
 15. In spite of this inauspicious commencement of his 
 career, God had nevertheless separated and set him apart, 
 even when he was in his mother's womb, and appointed 
 him his herald, minister, and servant, like the Prophet 
 Jeremias, Jer. i. 5. In due time God was pleased to 
 accomplish what he had thus fore-ordained, and called me 
 bv Ms grace, revealing his Son to him, that he might in 
 turn reveal Him to the nations. St. Jerome thinks the 
 revelation here referred to took place on the road to 
 Damascus. St. Thomas thinks it was made, at least 
 partly, during the following three days ; others consider 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I27 
 
 that it was subsequent to the visit of Ananias and baptism 
 of St. Thomas. 
 
 16. I rested not in flesh and blood. The Greek, I con- 
 sulted not with flesh and blood. The Syriac : I made it 
 not known to flesh and blr)od. The Arabic has the same 
 meaning. I began to preach Christ at once, without 
 asking permission of any one. Act. ix. 20. By flesh and 
 blood, says St. Chrysostom, he means the Apostles ; or 
 if any one prefers to think he means all mankind, I shall 
 not contradict. I did not go to Jerusalem to consult 
 with Peter, John, and James, who were there at that 
 time. 
 
 Damascus was at that period the capital of the kingdom 
 of Arabia Petrsea, and the Apostle, when he says he went 
 into Arabia, doubtless means that he preached Christ in 
 the neighbouring country, for three years. This is not 
 mentioned by St. Luke in the Acts, possibly because it 
 was not attended by any remarkable occurrence. St. 
 Luke only says that after many days, that is three years, 
 St. Paul left the country and proceeded to Jerusalem. 
 
 18. Then after three years I came to Jerusalem to see 
 Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 
 
 ig. But I saw no other of the Apostles, except James, 
 the brother of the Lord. 
 
 20. And what I write to you, behold before God, that 
 I do not lie. 
 
 21. Then I came into the parts of Syria and Cilicia. 
 
 22. And I was unknown by face to the Churches of 
 Judea which were in Christ. 
 
 23. But this much they had heard, that he who for- 
 merly persecuted us, now preaches the faith which once 
 he fought against. 
 
 24. And in me they glorified God. 
 
128 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 i8. / cmne to Jerusalem to see Peter. The Greek word 
 is ia-Topr}aaL, to seek or make his acquaintance ; not to 
 learn from him, says St. Jerome, but to pay honour to the 
 first of the Apostles. Saint Chrysostom says the same. 
 Ambrose observes that it was reasonable he should wish 
 to see Peter, not to be taught by him, because he had 
 been taught already by the same authority who instructed 
 Peter, but from respect to his Apostolic office, and to 
 inform him of the wonderful gifts and extraordinary 
 mission he had received. He adds that he remained 
 with Peter fifteen days, which is a proof that he could 
 not have learned from him the religion of Christ, the 
 time being insufficient. 
 
 ig. I saw no other of the Apostles, none of whom, 
 possibly, were at that time at Jerusalem : except Saint 
 James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, the brother of our Lord, 
 that is, his cousin, being the son of Mary, the wife of 
 Cleophas, sister of the Blessed Virgin. Saint Luke's 
 account of this visit to Jerusalem, in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, is very circumstantial, and is given Act. ix. 
 26 — 30. His life being in danger, he was, by the inter- 
 vention of the Christians of Jerusalem, shipped off to 
 Tarsus, his native place, where he remained for some 
 years, with his family and friends. 
 
 20. Before God, I lie not. So many false statements 
 regarding the Apostle's life and history had been 
 maliciously circulated among the Galatians, that he 
 evidently considers they would have some difficulty in 
 believing him, and accordingly thinks it necessary to con- 
 firm his own statement with an oath. 
 
 Tarsus was in Cilicia, and parts of Syria were in its 
 immediate neighbourhood. If the conversion of St. Paul 
 took place a.d. 31, the earliest convenient date, he must 
 have remained nine years in this comparative retirement. 
 He could not have met there any of the Apostles, from 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I29 
 
 whom he might have received instruction ; neither did 
 he receive it from the Christians of Judea, by whom the 
 heretics declared he must have been taught the necessity 
 of circumcision and of the observance of the law, for he 
 only remained a few days in their country, and they were 
 not even personally acquainted with him. But they knew 
 him only too well by reputation, as the most violent and 
 dangerous adversary they ever had, and his marvellous 
 conversion from a persecutor into a preacher of the faith 
 he once assailed, filled them with astonishment and grati- 
 tude to God. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 I wonder, the Apostle says, that you are changing so 
 soon from the grace of God to another Gospel. The 
 same phenomenon encounters us every day, and is just 
 as wonderful, extraordinary, and unaccountable as ever. 
 In early youth, in the flower of their age, with all the 
 teaching of the Church, to which they listened in child- 
 hood, fresh in their memory, all the impressions of love 
 to God, the aspirations after heaven, of which they were 
 once conscious, not yet faded from their heart, how many 
 turn aside from the communion of the Catholic Church 
 of Christ, to follow another Gospel — the pleasures, the 
 vanities, the ambitions of the world, the cavils of un- 
 believers, the sophistries of heretics, the sneer of the un- 
 godly, the snares of Satan, which they renounced in their 
 baptism ! This is worse than the apostasy of the 
 Galatians ; for the Galatians wandered into Judaism, but 
 at any rate they had never renounced it. We renounce 
 the Gospel of the devil, and return to it as soon as we 
 are old enough to act for ourselves. It is a double 
 treason, for we abandon Jesus, to whose service we were 
 
130 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 solemnly devoted ; and we return to the standard of the 
 devil, whose service we have solemnly abjured. Truly we 
 may wonder : for what are the hopes this new Gospel sets 
 before us ? A few years of pleasure, of amusement, of 
 success, perhaps renown, and these chequered by dis- 
 appointment, saddened by sorrow, poisoned by remorse. 
 Then the bitter dregs of the cup, of which the sweetness 
 is all gone ; the dreary retrospect of a wasted life ; the 
 gloomy prospect of a future that is endless, and without 
 hope. This is no Gospel; and the only Messenger who 
 ever brought good news from heaven to this earth of ours, 
 since it became the prison house of sin, was He who 
 brought us the glad tidings of God's forgiveness, and his 
 grace, for this mortal life, and joy eternal in his presence 
 in the life to come. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I3I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jeru- 
 salem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with us, 
 
 2. And I went there according to a revelation, and 
 conferred with them on the Gospel, which I preach 
 among the nations ; but apart with those whom I found 
 to be in authority, lest haply I should run, or had run, 
 to no purpose. 
 
 Chapter ii. In this chapter the Apostle insists on 
 the perfect conformity of his doctrine with that of St. 
 Peter and the other Apostles. 
 
 I. It was "one of the charges against St. Paul that his 
 opinion on the subject of the observation of the Jewish 
 law differed from that held by St. Peter, St. John, and St. 
 James : and to this charge he thinks it right, in charity to 
 the Galatians, to give a formal reply. He, therefore, pro- 
 ceeds to relate the circumstances of the first occasion on 
 which he had any prolonged communication with these 
 Apostles, which was at the Council held at Jerusalem to 
 settle this question, in the year 45, fourteen years after his 
 conversion ; for it is proved by St. Thomas, in loc. and 
 by Baronius, tom. i., a.d. 51, that it is from his first con- 
 version that these fourteen years are dated. The circum- 
 stances are recorded by St. Luke in Act. xv. The con- 
 troversy arose at Antioch, on the arrival of some brethren 
 from Jerusalem, who insisted that circumcision was neces- 
 sary for salvation, for the Gentile converts. This was 
 
 I 2 
 
132 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 strongly opposed by Paul and Barnabas, who had just 
 returned from their Apostolical journey in Cyprus and 
 Asia Minor, in which journey they had exempted their 
 converts from any such necessity. Eventually it was 
 agreed that these two Apostles should proceed to Jeru- 
 salem to consult with St. Peter, St. John, and St. James ; 
 which they did, with several companions, and among 
 them Titus, as St. Paul states in the text, that he might 
 have the support both of a distinguished Jew and Gentile. 
 The phrase go up, or ascend, to Jerusalem, was a custom- 
 ary one, that city being on the highest ground between 
 the river Jordan and the sea. See Matt. xx. 17, Mark 
 X. 32, Luc. xviii. 31, &c. 
 
 2. St. Luke says it was decreed, or determined, at 
 Antioch, that Paul and Barnabas should go to Jerusalem. 
 St. Paul says he went by revelation ; he had, therefore, 
 both an internal and external call to proceed thither : on 
 which St. Thomas observes that all the actions and move- 
 ments of the Apostles were guided by an interior impulse 
 of the Spirit of God. He went in discharge of an embassy 
 entrusted to him by the Christians of Antioch, with regard 
 to which he conferred with the Church at Jerusalem. 
 This he did frequently and publicly, previous to the 
 formal assembly of the Council, but as truth cannot be 
 advantageously discussed in a crowd, as St. Anselm 
 observes, he spoke privately on the subject with the three 
 Apostles, not as requiring instruction, for this he had 
 received from the Holy Spirit, but in order to arrive with 
 them at a perfect and complete agreement. This pre- 
 vented the circulation of calumnious statements as to 
 any alleged discrepancy of opinion among the Apostles on 
 this important point, rumours which, if allowed to spread, 
 might have undone all the work he had accomplished in 
 conjunction with Barnabas, in Asia, and seriously impeded 
 and embarrassed him in his labours in the future. The 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 133 
 
 occurrences here related suggest these reflections ; i. 
 No communication from God to the soul of man, however 
 clear, should be accepted as unquestionable, until it has 
 been approved by the Prelates of the Church. 2. The 
 minister of God should leave nothing undone to remove 
 obstacles likely to hinder the salvation of souls. 3. In 
 all important questions of faith and morals the Church 
 has always had recourse, in the last instance, as St. Paul 
 and St. Barnabas had here, to Peter and his successors, 
 the Vicars of Christ. 
 
 (The Council that followed was attended by the Apostles 
 SS. Peter, James, John, Paul, Barnabas, the Bishops of 
 Judea, the seven deacons of Jerusalem, and a body of the 
 Christian laity as spectators and witnesses. Hammond 
 thinks it suggested the imagery in Apoc. iv). 
 
 3. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he 
 was a Gentile, was compelled to be circumcised. 
 
 4. But on account of false brethren who came in 
 under false pretences to explore our freedom which we 
 have in Christ Jesus, to bring us back into slavery. 
 
 3. Titus, a Greek convert, who had never received 
 circumcision, and who accompanied me to Jerusalem, 
 was not required by the Apostles to receive that rite. 
 The Apostles, therefore, took the same view that I did, of 
 this question. And it was not accidental, or owing to 
 ignorance of the circumstances, for the matter occasioned 
 much controversy. Some of the sect of the Pharisees 
 who had believed (Act. xv. 5) warmly insisted on it. St. 
 Paul does not hesitate to denounce these Pharisees as 
 false brethren, who had obtained admittance into the 
 Church by baptism, not with sincere faith, but with the 
 sinister motive of discovering what degree of freedom 
 
134 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 from Mosaic institutions the Christians practised, and to 
 use their influence to compel them to submission to the 
 whole law. This freedom we have in Christ, who at his 
 death said coiisuinuiatnin est, in token that he had fulfilled 
 the obligations of the law and removed them. 
 
 Heresies usually have their origin in the action of false 
 brethren, pretended Christians who enter the Church 
 under a hypocritical appearance of sincere faith, but in 
 reality in order secretly to spread their own errors and 
 corrupt the truth. They are detected when these errors 
 are pointed out, for they leave the communion of the 
 Church rather than abandon them, as St. John sa3'S, 
 I Joh. ii. ig. They left «s, but they were not of us. If they 
 had been of us, they luould have remained with us. 
 
 The grammatical construction of these two verses is 
 irregular, but the meaning is that not even the arguments 
 of the false brethren referred to induced the Apostles to 
 compel Titus to receive circumcision. 
 
 5. To whom not even for an hour we yielded sub- 
 jection, that the truth of the Gospel may remain with 
 you. 
 
 To these Pharisees, who had invaded the Christian 
 Church from the camp of our opponents, I never for one 
 moment yielded, that the freedom from legal servitude, 
 which Christ purchased for us with his blood, might 
 remain unimpaired for you. Why, then, by receiving 
 circumcision, have you again, and of your own accord, 
 placed yourselves in subjection to it ? The first duty of 
 the Prelates of the Church is to maintain unaltered the 
 truth of the Gospel, on which depends the eternal welfare of 
 their people, whatever crafty and subtle arguments the 
 opponents of the faith may bring forward in the hope of 
 shaking it. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I35 
 
 It is remarkable that although St. Paul would not 
 suffer Titus to be circumcised, he shortly afterwards 
 advised Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess, to undergo 
 this ceremony, Act, xvi. 3. St. Chrysostom thinks he did 
 so, because he was about to send Timothy to teach the 
 Jews of Asia, and wished to render him more acceptable 
 to them. Timothy entered with the circumcision, in 
 order to abrogate it. No harm could ensue, for though 
 the law was dead, it was not yet deadly ; and the pro- 
 ceeding could give no scandal to the Gentiles. The 
 Apostle showed here a due consideration of the matters in 
 question, times, persons, and circumstances, with regard 
 to which he followed the precept of Christ : Be prudent as 
 serpents. 
 
 6. But from those who were something considered (it 
 is of no interest to me who they were at any time, God 
 accepts not the person of man), for to me those who 
 appeared to be something conferred upon me nothing. 
 
 6. This sentence is somewhat involved, owing to the 
 change of construction at the end. From those who were 
 in highest authority in the Church I learned nothing, 
 because they had nothing to tell me which I did not 
 already know, from the same source from which they 
 knew it. This is another proof of the agreement of his 
 teaching with that of the other Apostles, for when they 
 explained to him their view, in private conference, there 
 was nothing to change on either side. The expression 
 seemed to be something does not imply any pretence above 
 the reality, but that they were evidently, publicly, and 
 notoriously recognised as the Princes of the Church. 
 The reference is undoubtedly to St. Peter, St. John, and 
 St. James. I did not consider for one moment what they 
 
136 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 may have been in former times. St. Peter and St. John 
 were fishermen ; St. James was very probably, Hke his 
 relative St. Joseph, a handicraftsman. St. Paul was a 
 citizen of Rome, learned in the law, a pupil of the great 
 Gamaliel, and on a question of the Hebrew law he would 
 not have needed to consult them. God chooses whom he 
 will to make known his gospel to the world. He takes 
 the face of no man. I regarded them as the great pillars 
 of the Church, the firmness of whose faith sustained that 
 of others, and reverenced them accordingly. St. Paul pro- 
 bably wished to remind the Galatians that he had himself 
 studied the law, but adds that this gave him no superiority 
 over others who may not have had that accidental advan- 
 tage in the same degree. Prelates and priests are to be 
 reverenced for what they are, not for the human origin 
 they spring from, or the circumstances under which they 
 began their career. 
 
 7. But on the contrary, when they saw that the 
 Gospel of the uncircumcision was entrusted to me, as also 
 to Peter that of the circumcision. 
 
 8. For he who operated to Peter for the apostolate 
 of the circumcision, operated also to me among the 
 nations. 
 
 g. And when they knew the grace that was given to 
 me, James, and Cephas, and John, who seemed to be 
 columns, gave the right hands of association to me and to 
 Barnabas, that we to the nations, and they to the circum- 
 cision. 
 
 10. Only that we should be mindful of the poor, and 
 this, of myself, I hastened to do. 
 
 7. So far from finding any fault with my doctrine, they 
 acknowledged that the evangelization of the Gentiles was 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I37 
 
 especially entrusted to me by Jesus Christ, as to Peter 
 that of the Jews. For the same God who gave such 
 power to the preaching of Peter, that three thousand 
 Jews were converted by him on the day of Pentecost, and 
 much larger numbers afterwards, has bestowed on me a 
 similar power among the Gentiles. There is no reference 
 here to official functions or jurisdiction, but only to the 
 miraculous efficacy of the preaching of the two Apostles 
 severally, in different fields of labour. Nor is it implied 
 that St. Peter was the Apostle of the Jews only, or St. Paul 
 of the Gentiles only. At a later period St. Peter preached 
 effectually to the Gentiles at Rome, in Italy, in many 
 countries ; as was mystically foretold to him in Act. x. 13, 
 kill and eat. And of St. Paul it was said to Ananias, He is 
 a vessel of election to me, to carry my name before kings, 
 nations, and sons of Israel, Act. ix. 15. Accordingly he 
 addresses an Epistle to the Hebrews. But Saint Paul, 
 being an object of hatred to the Jews, and having gifts 
 certain to attract the admiration of the Gentile world, was 
 especially directed to begin the harvest of souls in this 
 new field. 
 
 g. James and Cephas and John. St. Paul names St. 
 James first, probably out of respect to the relation in 
 which he stood to our Blessed Lord, whom he repre- 
 sented in Jerusalem as the next Prince of the house of 
 David. These three Apostles, on hearing all St. Paul had 
 to tell them, and, being acquainted with the miracles he 
 had wrought, and the numberless conversions he had 
 •effected, gave to him and to Barnabas their right hands 
 in symbol of their recognition of their Apostolate, and 
 their reception into the Apostolic College, by virtue of 
 Christ's choice and appointment, with a special mission 
 for the conversion of the Gentiles. The expression used 
 by Saint Paul, that these three great Apostles (the others 
 had no doubt left Jerusalem at this time, and gone into 
 
138 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 foreign countries) seemed to be columns of God's Church, 
 must imply that there was in their aspect and their 
 language a certain charity, majest}^ and dignity, the gift of 
 the Spirit of God, which made it impossible for any one 
 who saw and spoke with them, to entertain any doubt on 
 this point. 
 
 10. The three Apostles took the opportunity of request- 
 ing Paul and Barnabas, who were likely to go among the 
 wealthy and prosperous populations of Asia and Greece, 
 then the most flourishing in the world, to collect money 
 for the impoverished Christians of Judea. This charitable 
 work they readily undertook, and the diligence with 
 which St. Paul had carried it out, in Macedon and Greece, 
 and elsewhere, is very apparent in the two Epistles he 
 addressed to the Christian Churches at Corinth. This is 
 an inseparable part of the Apostolic office. They divide 
 their preaching, says Theophylact, but the poor are the 
 undivided inheritance of the Church. 
 
 St. Paul has now given three reasons to prove that his 
 doctrine was in every respect in agreement with that of 
 the other Apostles, and accepted and approved as such 
 in the Council of Jerusalem. i. They did not require 
 the circumcision of Titus : 2. They demanded no change 
 or alteration in the message which St. Paul had received 
 from Christ to deliver to the nations : and 3. They 
 frankly and cordially received and admitted both him and 
 Barnabas into the College of the Apostles.. 
 
 11. But when Cephas had come to Antioch, I resisted 
 him to his face, because he was worthy of blame. 
 
 12. For before certain men came from James, he used 
 to eat with the Gentiles, but when they were come, he 
 withdrew himself, and separated himself, fearing those 
 who were of the circumcision. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I39 
 
 13. And the other Jews consented to his hypocrisy, so 
 that Barnabas also was led by them into this hypocrisy. 
 
 14. But when I saw that they were not walking right 
 to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas before them 
 all : If thou, though thou art a Jew, livest like the 
 Gentiles, and not like the Jews, how compellest thou the 
 Gentiles to judaize ? 
 
 Immediately after the Council at Jerusalem, Paul and 
 Barnabas, accompanied by Judas and Silas, conveyed the 
 decrees to Antioch, as related Act. xv. 30. It appears 
 from the statement in the text that St. Peter very shortly 
 followed them thither, possibly on his way to Rome, and 
 the occurrence referred to then took place. I withstood 
 or resisted him openly. Saint Paul says, because he was 
 worthy of blame. The Greek is KaT€<yv(o(70fjbevo<i rjv, which 
 signifies literally he had been condemned. The Syriac : 
 because they (the Gentiles) were offended in him. The 
 Ethiopic : because ihey were indignant with him. The 
 Arabic : because he was worthy of blame. St. Chrysostom, 
 Oecumenius, Theophylact, and all the Greek interpreters, 
 read, he was blamed', so among ancient Latin authors, 
 does Ambrose, and among the more modern, Erasmus 
 and Cajetan, though they understand the statement 
 somewhat differently. He was not blamed by me 
 (Theophylact, Chrysostom) but by others, who did not 
 know that what he did, he did with a purpose. Erasmus, 
 tollowing the Greek scholia, understands it, he had been 
 blamed by the other Apostles, for eating with Cornelius, 
 Act. xi. 3. He had been found fault with in private, by 
 others, Cajetan. Almost all the Latin writers, however, 
 understand the words in the same sense as the Vulgate, 
 lie was blamable, or worthy of blame, and Estius, Cor- 
 nelius a Lapide, and Grotius, insist that this is what St. 
 Paul intended to say, but he uses a Hebrew idiom, 
 
140 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 because in that language the derivative adjective does not 
 exist. This explanation is the simplest and most obvious ; 
 or the Apostle may mean that the Gentile converts at 
 Antioch found fault with the conduct of St. Peter, and 
 St. Paul himself concurred in the same view. What St. 
 Peter was blamed for was that while he customarily 
 associated and took food with Gentiles, without regard to 
 what he took, as allowed or forbidden by the Hebrew law, 
 he varied this custom on the arrival of certain legates from 
 St. James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, and withdrew from 
 this association with Gentiles, fearing those who were of the 
 circumcision, that is, from an excessive regard to their 
 scruples, which he himself did not share, fearing to give 
 them scandal. This showed a want of due consideration, 
 for he should have foreseen that the course he took would 
 equally cause scandal, in a different direction. The 
 Gentiles, it is evident, were seriously offended, and, 
 though privately, blamed him. Truth, St. Thomas observes, 
 is never to be sacrificed for fear of scandal. 
 
 13. The other Jews consented to his hypocrisy. This is the 
 word used in the Greek, in which language it is applied 
 generally to any one who assumes a character, or acts a 
 part, other than his own. The term in the Vulgate is 
 simulatio. Saint Peter was so far acting a part, as that 
 he yielded, for the sake of others, and for motives of 
 charity, to scruples which he did not share, or ordinarily 
 regard. The other Jews, and even St. Barnabas, followed 
 his example. Examples, Saint Leo observes, are more 
 potent than words ; and an example other than good, is 
 more dangerous in proportion to the eminence and dignity 
 of the person who affords it. 
 
 14. / saw they were not walking with straight steps toivards 
 the truth of the Gospel. So the Greek. Saint Peter, and 
 those who on this occasion acted with him, were as it 
 were staggering from one side of the path to the other, 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I4I 
 
 wavering between the Jews and Gentiles. Not walking 
 in a way likely to conduce to the extension and propa- 
 gation of the Gospel. The words addressed by St. Paul 
 to Saint Peter were a public reminder that the course he 
 was at that moment taking was not his customary and 
 ordinary one. Hitherto you have lived like the Gentiles ; 
 why do you now give the Gentiles ground for saying that 
 you are requiring them to turn Jews ? As Saint Peter 
 made no reply, that is put on record, it must be assumed 
 that he acknowledged his colleague to be in the right, and 
 the occurrence, which might, if continued, have led to 
 some serious division in the Church at Antioch, produced 
 in effect no results of any consequence, if the affair had 
 not been maliciously exaggerated by report among the 
 Galatians, Saint Paul's opponents adducing it as showing 
 that he held views different from those of Saint Peter on 
 the subject of the Hebrew law. On this account Saint 
 Paul thinks it necessary to relate the circumstances, 
 otherwise possibly of no great importance, as they 
 occurred. Saint Augustine makes the remark that while 
 Saint Paul exhibited in this affair an example of evan- 
 gelical freedom and Apostolic zeal which is rare, holy, and 
 edifying ; the example of humility set by Saint Peter in 
 accepting a rebuke from an inferior, thus publicly ad- 
 ministered, is still rarer, holier, and more difficult. The 
 pastor, who for the salvation of his flock willingly endured 
 reproof, is more worthy of admiration than the reprover, 
 and harder to imitate. Peter was silent, says Saint 
 Gregory (Hom. i8 in Ezech.) that he who was first in the 
 summit of the Apostolate, might be the first also in 
 humility. Peter was happy in that, when in fault, he 
 found a colleague bold enough to rebuke him, with 
 Christian charity ; Paul not less happy in a superior who 
 accepted the rebuke with gratitude and humility. 
 
 Having so far given the explanations necessary for the 
 
142 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 refutation of the calumnies circulated against him, Saint 
 Paul now proceeds to the formal proof of the abrogation 
 of the Hebrew law, which he states in the form of a 
 rcdnctio ad ahsurdum. St. Jerome and Theodoret consider 
 the following words addressed to St. Peter ; but almost 
 all other writers, and the opinion now universally 
 received, understand that St. Paul has now done with 
 this subject, and in what follows addresses the Galatians. 
 
 15. We, by nature Jews, and not sinners from the 
 Gentiles ; 
 
 16. But knowing that man is not justified by the 
 works of law, except through faith of Jesus Christ ; we 
 also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by 
 faith of Christ, and not by works of law : because by 
 works of law there shall no flesh be justified. 
 
 17. But if seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves 
 also are found sinners ; is Christ the minister of sin ? 
 God forbid. 
 
 We who have been born among the nation of the Jews, 
 and of parents who observed the law, and who are not 
 proselytes and converts to Judaism (as most of the 
 heretical teachers are) sprung from heathen parents, 
 ignorant of the law ; yet being persuaded that justifica- 
 tion, or remission of sins is not obtainable by obedience 
 to the law of Moses, because it is not possible for imper- 
 fect human nature to render that perfect obedience to 
 God's commands which will satisfy the severity of God's 
 justice, and justification is therefore only to be obtained 
 through faith in Christ ; we, in search of that reconciliation 
 with our Creator which is the first and last great want of 
 every human soul, and without which existence is 
 intolerable, have believed in Christ, to find this justifica- 
 tion in the Christian faith. For the Saints of old who 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I43 
 
 obtained justice, as Abraham and Isaac obtained it, as 
 Ambrose observes, not by the works of any law, but by 
 faith in Christ. 
 
 If then, in abandoning the law, and taking refuge in 
 the Church of Jesus Christ, we have, as your heretical 
 teachers assert, committed a sin, and forsaken God's 
 holy law, it follows that Christ is the minister of sin, the 
 cause and author of our sin. For he fulfilled and 
 abrogated the law, and substituted the grace of the 
 Gospel, which they maintain to be nevertheless insuffi- " 
 cient for justification. If the law of Moses is necessary 
 for the salvation of Christian men, as they assert, Christ, 
 who is sanctity itself, and the destroyer of sin, will be the 
 author of sin, and we Jews, in deserting the law for 
 Christ, have in so doing committed treason against God, 
 and incurred the guilt of mortal sin. This is absurd and 
 impossible. It is, therefore, equally absurd and impos- 
 sible that the observation of the law should be indispen- 
 sable for the salvation of Christian men. 
 
 18. For if what I have destroyed, this I build again, 
 I constitute myself a transgressor. 
 
 ig. For I through the law died to the law, that I may 
 live to God. With Christ I am fixed to the cross. 
 
 20. And I live not now myself, but Christ lives in me. 
 But in so far as I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith 
 of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for 
 me. 
 
 21. I do not throw away the grace of God: for if 
 justice is through the law : therefore Christ died for 
 nothing. 
 
 If after forsaking the law of Moses, and proclaiming it 
 to be abrogated, I return to it again and maintain it by 
 preaching or example, I become a transgressor of the law 
 
144 'T^^ EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 itself. Because it was the law itself v/hich led me to 
 Christ, and pointed to him as its completion and con- 
 summation. A prophet the Lord your God shall raise up ta 
 you, and you shall hear him, as you hear me, Deut. xviii. 
 Obeying and believing this, I became dead to the law, 
 and the law became dead to me. Henceforth, I live to 
 God, and live to God through Christ. In forsaking the 
 law, I have therefore obeyed the law ; in returning to it, 
 I should break it. 
 
 19. With Christ I am fixed to the cross. This is the 
 introduction of a new argument to prove the abrogation 
 of the law, continued to the end of verse i. of the next 
 chapter. When Christ died on the cross, he ceased to be 
 subject to the law, which he had fulfilled. We, crucified 
 with him by Baptism, share his death ; but we share 
 equally the new life, and the new freedom, to which he 
 rose. I live to God, for I live to him whose life I have put 
 on, Theodoret. Christ's crucifixion and death is our life^ 
 says St. Chrysostom. The life of the graft is not its own, 
 but that of the tree. I live not now myself, but Christ lives 
 in me. Christ, the source of grace and justice, is the 
 source of my spiritual life ; his Spirit moves and governs 
 my soul, his will is the active principle of mine. And 
 leading this spiritual life while still in the body, / live in 
 the faith of the So7i of God. 
 
 The sacrifice of Christ was his infinite charity, which 
 extends severally to every individual soul of man. He 
 loved me and gave himself for me. He loves, therefore, 
 every individual of the human race, with the same charity 
 with which he loves the human race, and would have died 
 for each one singly. St. Chrysostom says : The Apostle 
 expresses in these words that it is reasonable and right 
 for every one of us, singly and individually, to return 
 thanks to Christ, as much as if he had died for me alone. 
 For he would not have shrunk from making this exhibi- 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I45 
 
 tion of charity and self-sacrifice for even a single soul, and 
 he loves every individual of our race with a charity equal 
 to that with which he loves all creation. 
 
 Can I then, says the Apostle, be expected to cast aside, 
 reject, and despise this marvellous and inconceivable 
 mercy and affection, this grace of God, and the salvation 
 it has procured me ? 7 reject not the grace of God. Yet 
 this is what the heretic teachers call upon me to do, and 
 do themselves. He who seeks justification through the 
 law, rejects the salvation of Christ; for if justification 
 were obtainable by the law, there would have been no 
 necessity for Christ to die. He suffered and died for 
 nothing. This is inconceivable and absurd. Therefore, 
 it is the faith of Christ, and not the law, which obtains 
 for man the remission of sins and the grace of God. 
 
 The controversy at Antioch between St. Peter and St. 
 Paul was made the subject of a lively discussion between 
 St. Jerome and St. Augustine, which is to be found in the 
 letters of St. Jerome 86-97, and in the letters 8-19 in the 
 second volume of St. Augustine's works. As a preliminary, 
 they differed as to the period when, and the manner in 
 which, the precepts of the old law ceased to take effect. 
 St. Jerome recognised only two epochs ; before the 
 passion of Christ, when the law lived, and after it, when 
 the law became dead, and deadly. St. Augustine 
 recognised three ; the law was living before the passion 
 of Christ ; after the passion, but before grace was pro- 
 mulgated, the law was dead ; after grace was promulgated, 
 it was dead, and became deadly. This last opinion is the 
 one generally received ; for the old law ceased to be 
 obligatory on the day of Pentecost, when the new law 
 was promulgated, but did not so completely cease but 
 
146 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 that it was capable of endurin;::;^ some time longer, until 
 the Jews could be withdrawn from it gently and by 
 degrees. The Jews were not at once prohibited from all 
 observance of the law, lest the law should appear evil, 
 as if it were a parallel with idolatry, and the Jews of old 
 be thought to have walked side by side with idolaters. 
 Their mother the synagogue was dead, but was to be 
 conducted respectfully and decently to the tomb. 
 
 Secondly, the two Fathers differed as to whether the 
 Apostles did, or did not, in reality obey the law. St. 
 Jerome, who considered the legal observances deadly 
 after the passion of Christ, held that the Apostles did not 
 really conform to them, but only pretended to, in order to 
 avoid occasioning scandal to Jewish converts who adhered 
 to observance of the law. St. Augustine, on the other 
 hand, holding that the law was indeed useless, but not 
 baleful or injurious, says that the Apostles observed it, 
 but reposed no hope in it, being well aware that it was 
 inefficacious to salvation. 
 
 Thirdly, they disputed as to whether Peter sinned at 
 Antioch, or not ? St. Jerome says that Peter did not sin 
 in his dissimulation (sinmlationc) because he dissembled 
 from charity, not from worldly fear. St. Augustine asserts 
 that he sinned venially, through indiscretion ; and that, 
 by his adherence to the Jews, gave scandal to the 
 Gentiles, inclining them to judaize with him, and think 
 Judaism necessary to salvation. 
 
 Fourthly, they disagreed as to whether the reproof 
 administered by St. Paul was real or a pretence. St. 
 Jerome insisted that it was a pretence, or piece of acting, 
 as was also St. Peter's observance of the Jewish prohibi- 
 tions. St. Augustine maintains that Peter really observed 
 the rules of the law, and that St. Paul really reproved him. 
 The opinion now generally received is that of St. Augus- 
 tine, as more in accordance with the language of St. Paul, 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I47 
 
 who said that Peter walked not aright, and was on that 
 account blamed, or blameworthy. This interpretation is 
 that which has been followed in this commentary. 
 
 Nevertheless the language used by St. Chrysostom on 
 this subject is well worthy of consideration, though it is 
 too long to be quoted here at length. He held the same 
 opinion as St. Jerome, and is followed by Theophylact and 
 Baronius. In this view, St. Peter affected a pretended 
 zeal for Judaism, in order that by means of the pretended 
 rebuke administered by St. Paul the Jews in a body might 
 be withdrawn from their superstitious attachment to the 
 law ; and that the whole proceeding was prepared and 
 arranged beforehand by the two Apostles with this intent. 
 In favour of this view, St. Chrysostom refers to the 
 expression of the Greek text, KaTct TrpocrcoTrov, I resisted him 
 in show or appearance ; and the word used in verse 13, 
 the other Jews a-vvvTreKpiOrjcrav, consimulahant, or dis- 
 sembled with him. Nor can it be said that this was 
 giving sanction to lying. It was a stratagem rather than 
 a He, as Cornelius a Lapide asserts, page 396. And 
 deeds are more, and more easily, excusable from the 
 charge of falsehood than words. It would have been a 
 lie, had Peter externally simulated Judaism, while secretly 
 detesting it in his heart. But this is not imagined or 
 assumed either by St. Chrysostom or St. Jerome, as 
 Cornelius shows. And the last-named writer is further of 
 opinion that St. Jerome and St. Augustine did not clearly 
 understand, or make themselves understood, to one 
 another, on the point they were discussing. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Jesus Christ is the author of our salvation. The Scrip- 
 tures of the Old Testament prove this, for they point to 
 
 K 2 
 
148 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 him ; the astonishing miracles God has wrought in the 
 Church confirm it, for they evidence his Divine power. 
 There is, therefore, no room for doubt. The salvation 
 offered by Christ is true. What follows ? This : that the 
 Christian who believes in Christ and from Christ hopes 
 to receive salvation, has nothing to fear. God has 
 undertaken our salvation, and is answerable for it ; and 
 in the words of Richard of St. Victor, we shall be entitled 
 to say to him at the day of judgment, By so many signs, 
 wonders, prodigies, possible only to your unlimited power, 
 you have confirmed your promise, that we have no room 
 or right to fear, and with all confidence we are able to 
 say, Lord, if there is error, it is you have deceived us. 
 Who loved me, are the words of the Apostle. Who loved ? 
 and loved whom ? God loved the miserable creature he 
 had made. The Lord loved the servant. The Saint of 
 saints loved the sinner. He who himself contains all good, 
 loved him who in himself is nothing. How, then, are we 
 to become partakers and sharers of this redemption, in 
 this salvation, in this love? He was crucified for us, and 
 we are crucified with him. And how ? First, by Baptism : 
 secured to us by the charity of others long ago. We are 
 one body with Christ, and animated by his Spirit. 
 Secondly, by the Sacrament of Penance, by which we are 
 washed from our sins. And, thirdly, by frequent acts of 
 faith, of charity, and of contrition. In these ways we 
 partake the sufferings of Christ, and sharing his sufferings, 
 may look forward confidently to share the glory of his 
 resurrection. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I. O SENSELESS Galatians, who has fascinated you not 
 to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was pro- 
 claimed as condemned, and crucified among you ? 
 
 Chapter hi. In -this chapter the Apostle shows that 
 the law of Moses was preparatory to the Gospel, and that 
 salvation is obtained only by faith in Christ. 
 
 I. This verse is the conclusion of the argument begun 
 in the last clause of verse 19 of the last chapter. The 
 immense love of God, as exhibited in the death and 
 passion of Christ, should have convinced the Galatians 
 that their salvation was secured by that great sacrifice, 
 and appropriated by faith in it. senseless ! is said m 
 paternal compassion and remonstrance for their folly, not 
 m angry reproach ; like the words of Christ, Luc. xxiv. 25, 
 Fools, and slow of heart. Who has fascinated, bewitched, 
 or charmed you, as if by an evil eye. A belief in super- 
 stitions of this character was doubtless common among 
 the Galatians, and possibly exposed them to ridicule 
 among other nations, but the reference of the Apostle, 
 being only figurative, gives no authority or countenance 
 to any supposed reahty in it. He implies only that their 
 folly and insensibility were so great that no ordinary or 
 natural cause seemed to him sufficient to account for it. 
 Jesus Christ hangs on the cross before your eyes ; are you 
 incapable of learning the lesson that sight is intended to 
 teach you ? 
 
150 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 The Greek word 7rpoeypu(}>')j is variously interpreted to 
 mean depicted or represented in painting, which is the 
 view taken by the Syriac and Arabic versions ; or described 
 in my preaching, which is what is understood by St. 
 Chrysostom and the Greek Fathers : or condemned to 
 crucifixion, with his title affixed to the cross, which is 
 the interpretation commonly given. Baronius suggests 
 (A.D. 35) that some of the Galatians had been present at 
 Jerusalem when Christ was crucified, and saw him hang- 
 ing on the cross. In either view, Christ was, as it were, 
 crucified before their eyes ; yet they rejected the salvation 
 he brought them, and the free remission of sins purchased 
 by his blood, and were looking to useless ceremonial of 
 an abrogated law for that which God's mercy had so 
 abundantly and so wonderfully conferred upon them. 
 
 2. This only I wish to learn from you ; was it by 
 works of law that you received the Spirit ? Or by hearing 
 of faith ? 
 
 3. Are you so foolish, that having begun by spirit, you 
 are now made perfect by flesh ? 
 
 2. You know well that by Baptism, and the imposition 
 of our hands, you received the Holy Spirit, by whose 
 power you prophe sied, spoke tongues, and worked 
 miracles. Was it then the law that gave you this spirit, 
 and these operations of the Spirit? Or was it not by 
 faith in Jesus Christ, which reached you by means of 
 preaching ? 
 
 3. Are you then so foolish, that beginning your 
 salvation by the reception of the Spirit of God, you seek 
 the completion and consummation of it in carnal and 
 corporeal ceremonies ? 
 
 Saint Jerome observes that St. Paul does not ask, did 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I5I 
 
 you receive the Spirit by works, for he knew that CorneHus 
 the centurion received the Spirit by works. He says, 
 was it by the works of the law. 
 
 Saint Paul's love of brevity in writing is so extreme that 
 he almost always omits the definite article, where it is not 
 absolutely necessary to make his meaning clear, and here, 
 as elsewhere, he speaks generally of law. It is certain, 
 however, that he refers to the Hebrew law as given in the 
 Old Testament. In the Latin, of course, the omission is 
 not apparent. 
 
 After miracles, says St. Chrysostom, you have come 
 down to circumcision ; after apprehension of the truth, 
 you have gone back to types and figures ; after gazing on 
 the sunlight, you are gone to look for a lantern ; after 
 solid food you have returned to the use of milk. 
 
 4. Have you suffered so many things without cause ? 
 If indeed without cause. 
 
 5. He then who gives you the Spirit, and works 
 miracles in you, is it by works of law ? or by hearmg of 
 faith ? 
 
 6. As it is written : Abraham believed God, and it was 
 reputed to him to justice. 
 
 7. Know, therefore, that who are of faith, these are 
 sons of Abraham. 
 
 8. And the Scripture foreseeing that of faith God justi- 
 fies the nations, foretold to Abraham, that all nations 
 shall be blessed in thee. 
 
 g. Therefore who are of faith, shall be blessed with 
 Abraham the faithful. 
 
 The reference to the miracles wrought among the 
 Galatians reminds the Apostle that they not only 
 possessed these gifts, but had also suffered much incon- 
 
152 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 venience and persecution for the cause of Christ ; 
 occasioned, not improbably, by the enmity of wealthy and 
 influential Jews ; for which he is anxious to give them full 
 credit, and soften somewhat the apparent harshness of his 
 language. All this they would have suffered in vain, if 
 after all they fell away from the true faith. I trust, he 
 says, it will not be so, for if you repent and turn to God, 
 you will receive the reward of your sufferings, and they 
 will not be in vain. 
 
 5. When God gives you his Holy Spirit, and works 
 miracles by your hands, is this by the law, or by the faith 
 of Christ which you heard from me ? This is the same 
 question as in verse 2, but it is here put in the present 
 tense. God continues to work miracles among yon, many 
 of the Galatians doubtless continuing yet in the com- 
 munion of the Church, and retaining their faith. The 
 answer to the question is not given, but is understood. 
 Certainly it is by faith, and not by legal observance : and 
 the Apostle continues : 
 
 6. Abraham received the Holy Spirit before he was 
 circumcised, and before the law was given, and was 
 justified because he believed God, Gen. xv. So you also 
 have been justified, in exactly the same way, by faith in 
 Christ. The argument here is the same which is stated 
 more fully in the Epistle to the Romans, iv. 9, &c., and 
 shows by the example of Abraham that justification is by 
 faith, and not by legal works. You ought to know, there- 
 fore, by your own experience, that faith, not the law, 
 
 makes true sons of Abraham. 
 
 7. The Scripture preached the Gospel beforehand to 
 Abraham, is the phrase in the Greek : announced to him 
 the joyful news that in him all nations of the earth would 
 be blessed. The Scripture is here personified, or rather 
 the Apostle means the Spirit of God speaking in the 
 Scripture. The Syriac has: When God forckncK' that the 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 153 
 
 nations would be justified by faith. All nations, Hebrew 
 and Gentile alike, shall be blessed, for, being justified, they 
 shall hear the words of benediction. Come, blessed children 
 of my Father. 
 
 Christ said of Abraham, He saw my day, and was glad. 
 The greatest joy of Abraham was that he was the father 
 of saints and just men ; or rather, says Ambrose, that he 
 was the type and form of all believers, and those who 
 believe are blessed in him. For those who follow his 
 faith, participate in his benediction. This is the more 
 probable meaning of shall be blessed in thee, shall be blessed 
 like thee by faith. 
 
 g. Believers in Christ are therefore blessed, for the 
 same reason and in the same manner that Abraham was, 
 namely by faith in Jesus Christ. Abraham is called 
 particularly and specially, the faithfid, because faith was 
 his most conspicuous excellence, and on this account he 
 is also called the Father of the faithful, or of all believers 
 in all time. Thus at a Christian burial we pray that the 
 holy Angels may lead the soul of the departed into 
 paradise, and into the bosom of Abraham. 
 
 The Apostle's argument may be stated thus : Believers 
 in God are children of Abraham spiritually, and are justi- 
 fied as he was justified ; but Abraham was justified with- 
 out circumcision or the works of the law, and by faith, as 
 the ancient Scriptures testify, Gen. xv. 6. Christians are 
 therefore justified by faith in Christ. And this is the 
 accomplishment of the promise to Abraham, that in him 
 all nations should be blessed. 
 
 10. For whoever are of works of law, are under a 
 curse : for it is written : Cursed is every one who has not 
 persevered in all things which are written in the book of 
 the law, that you may do them. 
 
154 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 11. And that in the law no one is justified with God, 
 is manifest; because the just lives of faith. 
 
 12. And the law is not of faith: but he who has done 
 these things, shall live in them. 
 
 13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law ; 
 being made a curse for us : because it is written : Cursed 
 is every one who hangs on a tree. 
 
 14. That the blessing of Abraham may come upon the 
 nations in Christ Jesus, that we may obtain by faith the 
 promise of the Spirit. 
 
 10. This is the negative conclusion. Faith justifies; 
 the law does not. For those who seek justification by 
 the law fall inevitably under the curse pronounced upon 
 all who fail in obedience to it, or to any part of it, 
 Deut. xxvii. 26. For complete and perfect obedience to 
 God's law is impossible for human nature, since the Fall. 
 And again, the law cannot justify with God, for as the 
 Prophet Habacuc says (ii. 4) Tlie just man lives of faith. 
 And the law is not matter of faith, nor affords any exercise 
 of faith, requiring obedience to its precepts. The man that 
 doeih them shall live by them, Lev. xviii. 5, live, that is, a life 
 of temporal prosperity, but not the true life of the soul, 
 which is derived only from Christ by faith. 
 
 The jnst man lives by faith, because God is a Spirit, to be 
 adored by man in the spirit, and faith is the highest 
 faculty of the created human soul. And by faith in 
 Christ, because Christ is the source of spiritual life, and 
 spiritual life itself, to and in all his creatures. Only faith 
 in Christ can ever bring the human soul to the exercise of 
 its noblest faculties, to happiness and ultimate perfection. 
 And for this perfection there is required the redemption of 
 the soul, fully and completely, from the guilt of sin. This 
 Christ has done, delivering us from the curse attaching 
 to disobedience to the holy law of God, taking that curse 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 155 
 
 upon himself, and becoming, for our sakes, an object of 
 execration to God. (Cursed of God is every one who hangeth 
 on a tree, Deut. xxi. 23) as rejiresenting the accumulated 
 guilt of all the human race. Then the curse or male- 
 diction which hung over us was removed, and the blessing 
 of Abraham came upon the nations, now justified by faith in 
 Christ, and the promised Spirit (Joel ii. 28) was at length 
 poured forth on mankind. 
 
 15. Brethren (I speak according to man), yet the 
 settled covenant of man, no one sets at nought or super- 
 sedes. 
 
 16. To Abraham were the promises given, and to his 
 seed ; he says not to seeds, as to many, but as in one, 
 and to thy seed, who is Christ. 
 
 17. And I say this : the covenant confirmed by God ; 
 the law which came after four hundred and thn'ty years 
 does not render invalid to the abolition of the promise. 
 
 18. For if the inheritance of law, now not of promise ; 
 but to Abraham God gave it by promise. 
 
 15. This is another argument to prove the same 
 thesis — namely, that the justification of man is to be 
 obtained by faith in Christ, not by the Mosaic law. God's 
 promise was anterior to the law, and could not be aftected 
 by it. The Syriac has : My brethren, I speak as among 
 men. He has just called them fools, and senseless, but 
 he used that language affectionately, lor he now says, my 
 .brethren. And while one time he chides, and at another 
 consoles, he does all for their salvation. An agreement 
 between man and man, duly authenticated, registered, 
 and accepted, cannot be set aside as worthless, as long as 
 it exists and is in force ; neither can it be changed, or 
 anything added to it or taken from it. Much moie 
 the solemn promise of Almighty God stands immutable 
 
156 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 and irrefragable, like himself. The promise of God was 
 given to Abraham, and extended to his posterity, in theCy 
 Gen. xii. 3, z;i thy seed, Gen. xxii. 18, shall all nations be 
 blessed. In the singular not the plural, as limiting this 
 promise to the children of Isaac, to the exclusion of those 
 of Ismael, because from Isaac, not from Ismael, Christ 
 was to descend, in whom the promise is fulfilled. This 
 promise, the salvation of the nations through faith in 
 Jesus Christ, cannot be abrogated or rendered void, 
 changed or altered, anything added to it or taken from it, 
 by the giving of the law four centuries later. But it 
 would be abrogated, if justification and salvation were 
 given by circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic insti- 
 tutes, instead of faith in Christ and baptism. The giving 
 of the law on Mount Sinai took place B.C. 1491, and the 
 computation of the Apostle would place the date of the 
 promise to Abraham in B.C. 1921, the year usually 
 assigned for the original call of Abraham in Ur of the 
 Chaldees, which is the date St. Paul probably had in his 
 mind. If the inheritance, or hereditary and traditional 
 promise of benediction, justification, eternal salvation, 
 were afterwards made dependent in its fulfilment upon 
 obedience to the law of Moses, the promise would not 
 have been made good. This cannot be the case ; God 
 gave it to Abraham by promise, and the promise was that 
 the nations were to obtain salvation by faith in Christ. 
 
 In deferring the execution of this promise to a later 
 period of the world's history, the Almighty did not act 
 inconsistently with his own love and affection for the lost 
 race of man, afterwards so conspicuously displayed in the 
 incarnation and death of Christ, because from the 
 beginning he promised it, and confirmed his promise with 
 an oath. By the promise, as by its subsequent fulfilment, 
 he earned beforehand a title to the adoration and grati- 
 tude of mankind. The faith, confidence, and affection of 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I57 
 
 mankind are therefore due to him. Faith and obedience 
 are the attitude of the soul, due from the creature to the 
 Creator. And if we are not Hkely to be called upon to 
 shed our blood for our faith, we can at least shed our 
 faith over all we do. 
 
 ig. What then is the law ? It was enacted on account 
 of transgressions ; until the seed came, to whom he had 
 promised, and ordained by angels, in the hand of a 
 •mediator. 
 
 20. And a mediator is not of one ; but God is one. 
 
 This is an anticipation of the objection that if the law 
 does not affect in any way the promise made to Abraham, 
 or invest the fulfilment of that promise with any con- 
 ditions, why was it given ? To what purpose does it 
 serve ? is it worthless and useless ? And in reply to this 
 question the Apostle takes occasion to notice incidentally, 
 though in reality it is the more important aspect of what 
 he has to say, four particulars in which this grand, 
 eternal, universal promise is more excellent than the law 
 which followed it. The law, he says, was given, the 
 Greek has added or appointed in addition, on account of 
 transgressions ; to restrain and curb the vicious and 
 irregular inclinations and propensities of the people of 
 Israel, consequent on their long residence in Egypt, until 
 the coming of Christ. For otherwise they might have sunk 
 into the same degeneracy as the nations round them, and 
 the fulfilment of the promise, which depended on the birth 
 of Christ of an Immaculate Virgin, sprung from a holy 
 race, might have been gravely imperilled, if not frustrated 
 and prevented. St. Augustine interprets the words on 
 account of transgressions to mean in order to multiply trans- 
 gressions, that having been its effect, as St. Paul shows 
 
158 THE EPISTLE OF ST, PAUL 
 
 in the Epistle of the Romans. But this signification of 
 the words, thous^h verbally different from the former, 
 amounts to very much the same thin^]; in the end ; for any 
 law which revealed the sanctity of God, and the nature 
 of the obedience he required, must have the double effect, 
 on the one hand, of acting in a large degree as a restraint 
 on the faults and vices of the nation to whom it was 
 given, while on the other hand it would reveal to their 
 apprehension much evil which they had not known or 
 suspected to be such, or would soon have forgotten or 
 become indifferent to, under the influence of bad examples 
 around them, and would therefore probabl}' multiplj' cases 
 of conscious transgression of the divine law. 
 
 Saint Paul has, therefore, so far, established two par- 
 ticulars in which the promise to Abraham is shown to be 
 an infinitely grander and nobler thing than the law of 
 Moses. First, the law is occasional and accidental, intro- 
 duced only for the furtherance of the fulfilment of the 
 promise, to which it is subsidiary and subservient ; while 
 the promise is original, universal, the dispensation of 
 God's great purpose for the redemption of the world from 
 the beginning of its history. Secondly, the law is tem- 
 porary, to last only until the coming of Christ, which it 
 was designed to facilitate and prepare the way for ; but 
 the promise is unlimited and eternal, and the blessing it 
 foretold is to constitute the happiness and well-being of 
 the whole human race to the end of the world, and on- 
 ward to eternity. He now adds two others. The law 
 was ordained by angels. This was well known by tradition 
 to the Jewish people, and St. Stephen said, yoii received the 
 law by the ordinances of angels, and have not kept it. An 
 angel was the representative of the Almighty on Mount 
 Sinai,but he was doubtless not alone. The Lord came with 
 tens of thousands of holy ones, Deut. xxxiii. 2. But the pro- 
 mise was given to Abraham directlj^ from the mouth of 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 159 
 
 God, or by an internal voice speaking to the heart of the 
 patriarch, and there is no mention made of the interven- 
 tion of any angel, Gen. xii. 3. In the repetition of the 
 promise, and extension of it to the seed of Abraham, Gen. 
 xxii. 15, it is indeed said that the angel of the Lord called ta 
 him out of heaven the second time. The first time was 
 shortly before, when he stopped him in the act of slaying 
 his son. But even here the angel did not directly repre- 
 sent the Almighty, as on Mount Sinai ; he only delivered 
 the message, with the words. By myself I have sworn, saith 
 the Lord. The communication thus made could not be 
 said to be made by the ordinance of angels, nor could an 
 angel promise Christ. The promise came, as before, from 
 the mouth of God, though it was delivered by angelic 
 ministry. 
 
 Lastly, Saint Paul points out, as the great and crowning 
 difference and super-excellence which distinguishes the 
 Promise and the Law, that the law was given in the hands 
 of a mediator, namely Moses. The promise was given by 
 God directly to Abraham, without any mediator whatever. 
 And this, as the Apostle proceeds to point out in verse 
 20, marks a radical difference and distinction in the 
 character of the two dispensations respectively. For a 
 mediator is not of one ; that is, he is a negociator between 
 two parties. The result of his mediation or negociation is 
 a covenant or agreement between those two parties. And 
 one of them, at least, must be human, and subject, there- 
 fore, to the imperfections and conditions of mortality. 
 God may be one party to the covenant, but man must be 
 the other, and man is constitutionally changeable, 
 irresolute, not to be depended on. Every agreement or 
 covenant to which man is a party must always contain 
 some elements of uncertainity, instability, or change. 
 The Jews received the law by the ordinance of angels, 
 and stood to the covenant and accepted it. But, as St. 
 
t6o the epistle of ST. PAUL 
 
 Stephen says, they did not keep it. But the promise to 
 Abraham was not in any sense a covenant between two 
 parties. The patriarch had nothinj::^ to do with it, except 
 to receive it and transmit it to the tradition of the ages 
 that followed. God's oath requires nothint^to support or 
 to endorse it. It is like himself, one, eternal, unchanging, 
 unchangeable. What God says is, what God foretels will 
 be, what God promises, he will do. His promise is ojie 
 with its fulfilment. There is one God who made the 
 world, one promise which sustained its hope and expecta- 
 tion of redemption, one Saviour who redeemed it. The 
 in'ord of the Lord shall stand for ever. 
 
 The argument in these two verses may be summed up 
 in this way. In reply to the question, Wliat is the law ? 
 the Apostle says that the law was given, i. occasionaliter, 
 on account- of transgessions ; 2. for a time, until Christ 
 came ; 3. by the ministry of angels ; 4. by the ministry 
 of a human mediator, Moses. He replies that the Promise 
 Avas given, i. principaliter ; 2. without limit as to time ; 
 3. immediately, from the mouth of God ; 4. absolutely, 
 without stipulation, condition, or contingency. It follows 
 the Promise is beyond all comparison a greater thing than 
 the law. The promise is immutable and eternal, like its 
 Author, the law transitory and dependent on the circum- 
 stances which occasioned it. The promise was fulfilled 
 when Christ came, to realise it ; the law was then 
 abolished, as having fulfilled its object. It no longer 
 binds the Jews, much less the Gentiles. Why, then. 
 Galatians, do you seek justification in the law, when you 
 have found this justification, and all the infinite benedic- 
 tions which accompany and follow it, by faith of Jesus 
 Christ ? 
 
 The above is, undoubtedly, the general sense of the 
 argument the Apostle endeavours to express in these two 
 verses. The economy of words in which he conveys it. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. l6l 
 
 'is probably absolutely without parallel. It is fair to 
 -observe, since he addresses the Christians of Galatia as 
 senseless, or mindless, that he certainly credits them in 
 this passage, and in the general tenor of the Epistle he 
 addressed to them, with a considerable share of that 
 ■quick intelligence and dialectical acuteness which was a 
 ■characteristic of the Greek people, and the nations who 
 •were brought under their influence. 
 
 21. Is the law then against the promises of God ? 
 'God forbid. For if a law was given which could give life, 
 truly by the law would be justice. 
 
 22. But the Scripture concluded all things under sin, 
 that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given 
 <to believers.. 
 
 21. This is another objection. The law might be 
 represented as the rival of, or seeking to take the place of 
 the Promise, in that by pointing out the evil of sin, it 
 •sought to effect the regeneration or restoration of man- 
 kind, and so against tJie promises of God. St. Chrysostom, 
 ihowever, thinks the objection arises from what was said 
 in verse lo, that the law inflicted a curse, from which 
 •curse Christ redeemed lis. Is the law, then, in opposition 
 to the promise ? St. Ambrose refers it to the statement 
 in verse i8, // the inheritance is of the law, it is not of the 
 promise. Is there, then, an opposition of contrariety of 
 nature between the law and the promise ? Lastly, and 
 this is probably the most simple explanation, the objection 
 may be taken generally against the whole argument of the 
 Apostle, that the law is only preparatory to the fulfilment 
 of the Promise, and was only enacted, on account of trans- 
 gressions, until Christ should come, and then would cease, 
 .as no longer required. Are the law and the promise, 
 
 L 
 
l62 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 when fulfilled, contrary to one another, as if they did 
 proceed from the same God, that they cannot co-exist,, 
 and one must cease when the other is realised ? 
 
 The answer is, that so far from there being any con- 
 trariety or opposition between the law and the fulfilment 
 of the promise, both have, in intention and effort, the 
 same object in view, that is to give justice, or impart to 
 man remission of sin, the grace of God, and holiness of 
 life. This it was in the intention of the law to further, 
 but not within the power of the law to accomplish. No 
 law can give life. The Greek has : if a laic had been given, 
 which could give life ; meaning, if it had been possible to 
 enact such a law. Had it been possible, God 
 would have granted justification by the law. This 
 was not possible, by any law. But b}' the revel- 
 ation it made of the real evil of sin, and the 
 holiness of God, the Scripture, that is the written law,, 
 convince! or convicted all mankind, of all nations, Jews 
 and Gentiles alike, of sin, and concluded them all under 
 the sentence of condemnation which the infinite justice of 
 God must pronounce upon the guilty race of man. Thus 
 it brought men to repentance, and by forcing upon them 
 the recognition of their lost condition, and absolute 
 dependence upon the free mercy of Almighty God, 
 prepared them to accept the justification, or remission of 
 sins, which he offered them through Christ. When 
 Christ came, mankind, taught by the law, had nothing 
 left to do but to believe in him. Thus the law^ 
 so far from being in opposition to God's great promise of 
 redemption, prepared the way for its accomplishment. 
 
 The same thing might be said, though the Apostle does 
 not expressly refer to it in this place, of the moral law 
 of natural conscience which existed in the people of the 
 pagan world. Such a law could not, any more than the 
 law given to Moses, give life, or obtain remission of sin.. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 163 
 
 Rather, it aggravated sin, by bringing it into contrast 
 with the hght of conscience. Yet it pointed it out, and 
 concluded all things, included the whole race of Adam, 
 under the sentence of guilt, self-conscious and self- 
 pronounced, and thus prepared the Gentile world, as the 
 law of Moses prepared the Hebrew world, to look for 
 pardon, reconciliation with their Creator, deliverance 
 from their apprehensions of futurity, and the satisfaction 
 of the unfulfilled aspirations of the human soul, in the 
 grace and mercy of a Redeemer to come. Of the promise 
 of his coming, they also had a vague tradition. In him 
 they were prepared to believe, and to those who believed, 
 were given, in all their completeness, the promises which, 
 by God's appointment, were to be obtained by faith 0/ 
 Jesus Christ.. 
 
 As pride is the beginning of all sin, so is humility, or 
 humiliation, the beginning of all recovery from sin. So 
 necessary was humiliation for fallen men, that God per- 
 mitted the greatest of all possible evils, namely sin, that 
 the sinner being humbled might have recourse to his 
 only redemption, and his only Redeemer. 
 
 23. For before the faith came, we were kept guarded 
 under the law, locked up for the faith which was to be 
 revealed. 
 
 24. Therefore the law was our guide in Christ : that 
 we may be justified by the faith. 
 
 25. But when the faith was come, we are no longer 
 under a guide. 
 
 26. For you are all sons of God through the faith 
 which is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 23. We Jews were kept as it were locked up in safe 
 custody under the law, waiting for the revelation of the 
 
 L 2 
 
164 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 faith. Another service which the law rendered to faith. 
 The law kept us faithful to the true worship of G')d, and 
 at least in a partial, though not complete obedience to his 
 commands, in expectation of something better that was 
 to come. The law held them enclosed by its terrors, as 
 by a wall, says St. Chrysostom, and reserved them for 
 the age of faith, by the very necessity of existence. 
 
 24. The pccdagogus was the person entrusted with the 
 duty of conducting children to school, and keeping them 
 out of mischief till they were safe under charge of the 
 teacher. He was not the teacher, but only a guide to the 
 teacher. Christ is the teacher, or rather faith in Christ ; 
 the law the guide to Christ. There is no opposition or 
 antagonism between the teacher and the guide, for both 
 have the same object in view, neither is there any antag- 
 onism between the law and faith, one being the provision 
 made for the safety of the pupil until the other was ready. 
 When the preceptor comes, the guide departs, as when 
 the sun is risen the lights are extinguished. Faith being 
 come, we no longer need the guide. 
 
 26. You are now all sons, and grown-up sons, of God. 
 As Ambrose says, you have attained your majority. How 
 wonderfully the power of faith, St. Chrysostom says, is 
 exhibited and developed in the progress of the Apostle's 
 argument. He has just told us (verse 7) that faith makes 
 us sons of Abraham. Now he s^L-ys, you arc all the sons of 
 God through the faith that is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 27. For you, whoever are baptized in Christ, have put 
 on Christ. 
 
 28. There is not Jew, nor Greek ; there is not slave, 
 nor free : there is not male, nor female ; for you are all 
 one in Christ Jesus. 
 
 29. And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham's 
 seed, heirs according to promise. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 165 
 
 27. Yon have put on Christ. An explanation of the 
 statement in the last verse. You are by baptism incor- 
 porated into Chiist, and in a certain sense tranformed 
 into him, and as he is the Son of God, you therefore also 
 are sons of God. Differences of race, of conditions of life, 
 of sex, are all absorbed, and become of infinitesimal con- 
 sequence and importance, in comparison with this 
 immense and transcendent dif^^nity. You are all one in 
 Christ. The Greek has there is not among yon, or in yon, 
 Jew nor Greek, &c. Even types of individual disposition 
 and character are changed, so far as is possible, in 
 Christian people into one and the same type, which is the 
 disposition and character of Christ. What can be more 
 astonishing, what can demand greater awe and reverence, 
 says St. Chrysostom, than this assertion of the Apostle, 
 that he who once was Pagan or Jew, bond or free, now 
 bears the likeness, not of Angel or Archangel, but of 
 the Lord of all things, and is in himself a living represen- 
 tation of Christ ? 
 
 29. Christ was the seed of A brahaju promised from 
 ancient days. You are one with Christ. Therefore you 
 are the seed of Abraham, and the heirs of the Promise. 
 And this is the thesis which this Epistle was written to 
 establish. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Consider and realize, O brother Christian, the exalted 
 dignity which has been conferred upon you. You have 
 put on Christ, the Son of God, in Baptism. You are 
 become one with Jesus Christ. Christ has been, so to 
 say, multiplied and reproduced in you. You are trans- 
 formed into Christ, as St. Chrysostom puts it, by receiv- 
 ing his likeness and resemblance. You are become what 
 
l50 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 he IS. He is God's Son by nature ; you are God's son by 
 ^race. Man is made Christian, says St. Augustine, by 
 the very same grace by which Christ was made man. 
 We have put on Christ, says another ancient writer, that is, 
 we are brought into the same relation in which he stands to 
 God, we are the idea of which he is the ideal, and are 
 become by grace what he is by his divine and original 
 nature. We have taken Christ, as wood takes fire, says 
 St. Thomas. What follows from this ? Evidently that 
 3'ou live alwa3's in memory of so great a privilege, live as 
 a son of God must live, live as Christ lives. What pleases 
 Him, I always do. My food is to do my Father's will. 
 Christ's rule of live is also yours. Tliy will be done, in 
 heaven and eartJi. ExterioiT/, live like Christ, whom you 
 have taken and put on. Let him be the vesture with 
 which you are clothed. Let Christ alone be seen upon 
 you, as the vesture only is seen of one who is clothed. 
 Let his humility, modesty, gentleness, patience, be 
 apparent in all you do or say. Compared with this splen- 
 did distinction, earthly honours and distinctions fade into 
 absolute insignificance. Noble or humble, slave or free, 
 all Christian men alike are one with Christ, who sits 
 enthroned in glory at the right hand of God in heaven. 
 You are seated there with Him, and are continually in 
 God's immediate presence. God does not look for lord 
 or slave in you, but sees in you the person of his Son, 
 looks in you for the likeness of his Son. Our 
 stud}^ our endeavour, and our prayer shoultl to carry 
 Christ within, exhibit him without. Jesus, likeness of the 
 Father, splendour of his glory, express image of his sub- 
 stance and person, imprint thyself upon my heart by grace, 
 that I may bear thy image, and thy Father's likeness, and 
 thus may he see himself and thee reflected in me, and for 
 thy likeness' sake, have compassion on me for eternity. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 167 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 T. And I say as long as the heir is a little child, he 
 inotiiing differs from a slave, though he is lord of all ; 
 
 2. But is under guardians and agents, up to the time 
 .appointed by his father. 
 
 3. So we also, when were little children, were in 
 •service under the elements of the world. 
 
 Chapter iv. In this chapter the Apostle asserts and 
 illustrates the nobility and freedom of the Christian in the 
 Catholic Church of Christ. 
 
 I. As long as the heir is a child. The Apostle takes up 
 the word heirs, which is the concluding word of the last 
 ■chapter, in the Greek and in the Vulgate, and makes it the 
 subject of the reflections and illustrations by which he ex- 
 pands and developes the idea, in this chapter. The heir 
 when a child, and though the real possessor of all things 
 round him, has nevertheless to be treated as if he were a 
 •servant, as regards the control of himself and choice of his 
 movements and proceedings, on account of his inexperi- 
 •ence of life. He himself is controlled by his guardians, 
 and his property managed by agents and factors, under 
 their superintendence, until his arrival at full age. 
 
 3. So we, the Jews, though heirs of the promise, wen^ 
 like little children, and treated as such. Children in in- 
 telligence, we saw only outward signs, without under- 
 standing their significance, or understanding it iniper- 
 
l6S THE EPISTLE OK ST. PAUL 
 
 fectly. Children in affection, we regarded only the- 
 temporal promises of the law, the gifts of God for this 
 mortal life. We were instrucled by the law of Moses,, 
 which God gave to the world as conveying the first 
 elements or rudiments of piety and religion, the alphabet ofi 
 faith, the clcuienta, or elevauicnta, as Ambrose says, the 
 first rudiments of education : like the first lessons given- 
 to infancy. We were in bondage or service to the ritual 
 of the Hebrew religion, not perceiving that these things 
 were only signs of something else ; and controlled by 
 threats or fear of punishment, to obedience to the com- 
 mands of God. 
 
 4. And when the fulness of time was come, God sent 
 his Son, made of a woman, made under law, 
 
 5. To redeem us who were under law, that we might 
 receive the adoption of the sons of God. 
 
 4. The fulness of the time. When the time came which 
 was marked out and appointed by God the Father, for 
 the fulfilment of the great promise made to Abraham, and 
 wlien the race of man were ready to enter upon the 
 iiil.eritance then pledged to them, which was to be the 
 benediction of all the nations : He sent Christ, the 
 promise, the benediction, the inheritance, his only- 
 begotten Son, born of woman, like all other men who have 
 come into this world, and therefore human, but with no 
 sire but his heavenly Father, because he was divine. 
 
 Made under the laio, that is born of a Hebrew mother,, 
 and therefore subject to the obligation of the law, m 
 consequence of which he received circumcision and 
 practised the requirements of the Mosaic institutions, by 
 his own free will. Not to be cleansed by the law, says 
 St. Anselm, but to set at liberty those who were subject 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 169 
 
 to the pressure of its claims. And that both Jews and 
 Gentiles might receive the adoption 0/ the sons of God. The 
 Greek, receive the sonship. Recover that adoption as sons- 
 of God which was lost by the fall of Adam, and the 
 restoration of which was promised to the sons of 
 Abraham. 
 
 6. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of 
 his Son into your hearts, crying : Abba Father. 
 
 7. Therefore now there is not a servant, but a son ;• 
 and if a son, also an heir through God. 
 
 6. Because yon, are sons. Because you, Galatians, who' 
 were originally pag^ans and not Jews, have become by 
 adoption sons of God, equally with those who were Jews- 
 before they received the faith of Christ, therefore God has- 
 sent his Holy Spirit into yoitr hearts, that is into your souls^ 
 into which you receive the grace of God, and by this 
 filial love you are enabled and encouraged to say to God^ 
 in Christ's words, Our Father. See some further observa-- 
 tions on this subject in the commentary on Rom. viii. 15.- 
 
 7. The Greek has : therefore thou art 110 more a servant,- 
 hut a sou. The Vulgate has the verb est for es. The 
 spirit of God is called indifferently the Spirit of the 
 Father, and the Spirit of the Son. The Apostle says in' 
 this place the Spirit of his Son, because he is engaged in. 
 proving the adoption of Christian believers to be the sons 
 of God. The fact that the Galatian Christians had 
 received the Spirit of God, was one that required no- 
 proof, because the miracles which had been wrought, and 
 were even then wrought continually, among them,, 
 afforded an unanswerable demonstration of it. The 
 Apostle's argument is that you have undoubtedly 
 received the Holy Spirit, and that spirit is the Spirit oi 
 
iJO THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 the Son, therefore you have received the adoption of sons. 
 If a son, you are an heir of God. A father will some- 
 times distribute to his sons, when of full age, a portion of 
 his inheritance, as a pledge and earnest for the remainder 
 which they are one day to inherit. God is our eternal 
 inheritance, to be enjoyed in heaven ; in pledge and 
 earnest of which, and as a portion of it given in advance, 
 he has sent ihe Spirit of his Son into our souls, the pledge 
 of our sonship, and earnest of our inheritance, to be 
 .received in full hereafter. 
 
 8. But then indeed being ignorant of God you served 
 :gods who are not by nature gods. 
 
 g. But now that }'ou know God, yes, are known of 
 ■God, how is it }"ou turn back again to the feeble and 
 .destitute elements, wliich you desire to serve anew? 
 
 10. You observe da\s, and months, and seasons, and 
 years. 
 
 11. I fear }OU, lest haply I have laboured among you 
 ito no purpose. 
 
 8. Either in serious reproach or severe sarcasn:i, St. 
 Paul describes the Judaizing superstition of the Galatiaus 
 ..as a relapse into paganism. For your old idolatry some 
 excuse can be found. You worshipped gods who are not 
 ^ods in reality, but only in popular belief, because at that 
 time you knew not the true God. I5ut now that you know 
 him, or rather are known by him (so the Greek ; the 
 .Syriac reads now that you know God, and what is more, 
 .are known to God). To be knoicn to God means to be 
 received, recognised, and approved as his sons. Wh\', as 
 if you had become children again, do you go back to 
 the alphabet of 3'our infancy, the observance of rites and 
 customs which are weak, because the)- have no power of 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I7I 
 
 ^anctification, poor because they contain not, and cannot 
 ■confer, the riches of celestial grace. These you are 
 willing to serve anew, not in the same manner, but with no 
 greater profit to your souls. Formerly you worshipped 
 idols which had no realities corresponding to them ; now 
 you look for purification in customs and observances 
 which have no efficacy for the sanctification of the soul. 
 You observe the sabbath, the new moons, the feast of 
 tabernacles, the day of propitiation, the feast of trumpets, 
 the sabbatical year, the year of jubilee: all which the 
 Judaizing teachers instruct you to keep as holy, and as 
 included in the obligations incurred by circumcision. The 
 Christian festivals are not, as some heretical writers main- 
 tain, included in this condemnation, for they are not 
 •observed with any superstitious end or belief, nor as being 
 ■directly of divine appointment. They are the appointment 
 ■of the Church, for objects evidently of advantage to 
 Christian people, and tending manifestly to the promo- 
 tion of devotion and piety. In the Christian calendar all 
 days are holy. And the heretical argument is inconsistent 
 with itself, and proves too much, for if the observation of 
 .the Christian festivals is condemned indirectly by the 
 Apostle in this passage; that of Sunday is condemned 
 .among them, a day which almost all heretics observe as 
 sacred. 
 
 Paganism is spoken of by St. Paul as a condition of 
 dgnorance and slavery. You were ignorant of God ; you 
 did service to imaginary gods who do not exist in the 
 universe. The faith of Christ is a condition of lit^ht and 
 freedom. But on this account the relapse into sin is evi- 
 dently graver and more serious in the Christian, than in 
 the pagan. 
 
 II. I fear for yoti. The Apostle's love and aifection 
 for the Galatian Christians was tossed on the waves of 
 .anxiety. He fears and trembles for their salvation. St. 
 
172 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Chrysostom. Lest haply I have laboiii'ed in vain. The 
 gravity of the danger consisted in this, that since the new^ 
 moons, and sabbaths, an 1 other similar observances, were 
 never alleged to be appointed by Jesus Christ, or by his 
 authority, the observance of them indicated that the 
 Galatians reposed onl}- a partial trust in Christ, if they re- 
 posed any at all, and looked for sanctification and salvation 
 to another religion and another system. The object of 
 the teachers in whom they had placed their confidence 
 was plainly to withdraw them altogether, if possible, from 
 the faith of Christ. They were becoming Jews instead of 
 Christians, and might as well have remained pagans, as 
 far as regarded any advantage to their spiritual state. 
 But, as St. Chrysostom observes, he says if haply, 
 not to drive them to despair. He says not, / have laboured' 
 in vain (Is. xLix. 4). l)ut / fear lest I have. The ship is 
 not wrecked, but I see the tempest rising ; I fear, I des- 
 pair not ; it is still within your power to correct the evil,, 
 to sail forth again into smooth waters, and find refuge 
 from the storm. 
 
 12. Be as I, because I as you. Brethren, I beseech' 
 you, in nothing you have injured me. 
 
 13. And you know that through infirmity of the flesh 
 I preached the gospel to you long ago, and your tempta- 
 tion in my flesh. 
 
 14. You despised me not, nor rejected, but received' 
 me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 
 
 15. Where then is your beatitude ? For I bear my 
 testimony to you, that if it could be done, you would have 
 torn out your eyes and given them to me. 
 
 16. Then am I become an enemy to you, telling you 
 the truth ? 
 
 Lest I should have laboured among you in vain, I 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I73 
 
 ■entreat you now to follow the example I have set, and 
 abandoning the Jewish observances, assert your Christian 
 freedom as I have done. I have left the wrecked ship 
 and swum to shore, do you also the same. There have 
 been suggested other explanations of these words, but the 
 -above is the most simple and natural one. Do not think, 
 he adds, that I write in anger, under a sense of injury. 
 You have done me no wrong. 
 
 13. Not only have you done me no wrong, but when I 
 Avas among you, you exhibited extraordinary kindness and 
 charity towards me. I must have appeared to you, being 
 subject to slander and persecution, vile, abject, miserable ; 
 one whom you could have reasonably overlooked, 
 neglected, and despised. The infivjuity of the flesh referred 
 to was the poverty of his surroundings, in which the 
 Apostle was then placed, or else the weakness of bodily 
 presence, and what the prejudiced or unobservant took 
 for deficiency of eloquence, remarked by his opponents at 
 'Corinth, i Cor. ii. 3, 2 Cor. x. i, 10. Your temptation in 
 iuy flesh is another reference to the same thing, as inter- 
 posing a difficulty in his reception by the Galatians. The 
 present Greek text has my temptation, but the reading of 
 the Vulgate, which is more intelligible, is confirmed by 
 the Syriac version. 
 
 14. Yet you did not despise or spurn me. On the 
 ■contrary, you received me as if I were an angel from 
 heaven, or Christ himself, and testified the most extreme 
 joy and satisfaction at my presence, on account of the 
 message of reconciliation with God which I brought 
 you. 
 
 15. Where is this joy and enthusiasm vanished to ? 
 For I declare my belief that you would have pulled out 
 your eyes and given them to me, as more precious to you 
 than sight, if it could have done me any good. Why has 
 this confidence and affection been changed into suspicion 
 
174 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 and dislike ? The Greek text has what is your beatitude^ 
 but the Syriac reads as the Vulgate, 
 
 i6. Can it be that I am become an enemy to you, or 
 come to be regarded as your enemy, because I have told 
 you what is true ? Or is it not rather, that others have 
 studiously laboured to bring me into suspicion, and pre- 
 judice your minds against me, with a view of depriving 
 you of the faith I taught you ? 
 
 17. They seek you earnestly, not well, but they wish 
 to exclude you, that you may seek them. 
 
 18. Seek earnestly the good in what is good always^ 
 and not only when I am present with you. 
 
 ig. My little children, of whom again I am in labour^ 
 until Christ be formed in you. 
 
 20. But I wish I were with you now, and could change 
 my voice, because I am confounded in you. 
 
 Your teachers leave no stone unturned, move heaveni 
 and earth, to effect your conversion to their views, and 
 obtain their confidence. But this is not with any good 
 motive, nor zeal for your spiritual advantage, but in the 
 desire to detach you from me, and shut you out from the 
 faith and communion of the Catholic Church, that you 
 may become followers of them, for their own aggrandize- 
 ment and renown. This sort of restless activity has beem 
 a characteristic of teachers of heresy in all ages. 
 
 18. Follow earnestly and zealously the counsels of a 
 good and faithful teacher, but only when he guides you to- 
 what is good, not when he leads you into heresy. The 
 Greek text reads the introductory words of this verse as 
 a general proposition. It is good, reasonable, and salutarj-, 
 zealously and earnestly to attach yourselves to your 
 religious teachers, but only in what is good. And it 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 175 
 
 would be irrational to follow his advice onl}- when he is- 
 present to give it, for if it is sound, it is equally excellent 
 and obligatory in his absence. You were once zealous- 
 adherents of the doctrine I taught you : why should my 
 absence make any difference in your attachment to it, if 
 it was sound and true ? The Apostle here states the 
 three conditions indispensable for zeal on behalf of a 
 religious teacher, that it may be just and salutary : the- 
 teacher must be good and faithful ; he is to be followed 
 only in what tends to good ; and in these cases, the- 
 attention paid to his instructions should be constant and 
 unwavering, not affected by his presence or absence. 
 
 19. In writing to the Corinthians, i Cor. iv. 15, Saint 
 Paul claimed to be their spiritual father, because he had 
 converted them to the faith. He calls himself the mother 
 of the Galatians, whom with many pangs, sorrows, and 
 troubles he had brought to the birth. A literal birth is- 
 only once ; but now he had all this sorrow and anxiety 
 over again, and laboured in delivery of them once more.- 
 Until Chi'isi he forivcd in yon, for Christ, or Christ's faith,, 
 is the form an(i life of the soul. The just liveth of faith. 
 
 20. I earnestly wish I could return and see you again,, 
 to know more accurately your condition of mind, that I 
 might adapt my words to the state in which I find you,, 
 and address to you warning or encouragement, as the 
 case may require. Perhaps there is further reference to- 
 the metaphor of the last verse, for a mother will change' 
 her voice in addressing her young child, according as it 
 requires for the moment blame or praise. / am confounded' 
 in you. The Greek : / have lost my way in you. The 
 S3'riac : / am a)nazed in you. I am in doubt how to write- 
 to you, whether as still Christians and Catholics, or as- 
 having already deserted Christ for heresy. 
 
 The prelate is the mother of his flock. All his life he is 
 bearing them to Christ. He must alternately pray^ 
 
176 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 entreat, lament, argue, reprove for the advancement and 
 perfection of his subjects. Patience and perseverance are 
 requisite for this, and will do all. The Blessed Virgin 
 brought Christ forth, without the pains of labour ; but the 
 preacher must bring forth children to Christ with toil, 
 and pain and suffering, that he may form in his people 
 the spirit and faith of Christ, accommodating his words to 
 the disposition and condition of his hearers, but all with 
 charity, like the varying accents of maternal affection, to 
 Ibring forth souls to Chrisi. 
 
 21. Tell me, you who would be under the law, have 3'ou 
 not read the law ? 
 
 22. For it is written ; that Abraham had two sons, 
 -.one of a maid-servant, and one of a freewoman. 
 
 23. But he who was born of a maid-servant, was born 
 according to the flesh : and he who of the free, through 
 the promise. 
 
 24. Which is said in alle;;ory. For these are the two 
 Testaments ; one indeed in Nb)unt Sina, generating to 
 ^bondage, which is Agar. 
 
 25. For Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which is 
 joined to that Jerusalem which is now, and serves with her 
 sons. 
 
 26. But that Jerusalem which is above, is free, who is 
 our mother. 
 
 Since I do not know, at this distance, your disposition 
 towards me, or how far you are prepared to listen to what 
 I say, tell me at least, you who are so anxious to be under 
 the control of the law, have you not read it, the law to 
 which you defer ? The Greek, heard it ? For it is written 
 in the law. Gen. xxi. 15, xxi. 2, that Abraham had a son by 
 .Agar, and another by Sara. Agar was young, and fit to 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. I77 
 
 become a mother, and in the birth of her son there was 
 nothing remarkable, or beyond the ordinary course of 
 nature. Sara was old and sterile, and the birth of Isaac 
 Avas supernatural and miraculous, in fulfilment oi the pro- 
 mise God had made to him long before. But these facts, 
 beyond their historical sense, have a higher and figurative 
 ■meaning, contemplated and intended by the Holy Spirit, 
 who dictated these inspired and ancient records. These 
 tv>'o mothers are the Old Testament, or covenant, and the 
 New. One in, or (in the Greek) given from Mount Sina 
 in Arabia, has brought forth the Jews, under the yoke of 
 the law, serving God, but doing so as slaves, and for fear 
 of punishment. 
 
 In verse 25 the Greek text reads : Agar is Mount vSina 
 in Arabia ; and so the Syriac. The name Agar, on the 
 -testimony of St. Chrysostom and Thcophylact, is the 
 Arabian appellation of Mount Sina, and is therefore an 
 additional illustration of the allegory ; and Grotius says 
 the mountain, or the region in which it rises, is so called 
 because it contains the town of Agar, or Agara, for which 
 statement he cites Pliny, Dion, and Strabo. Hence the 
 term Agarencs, Ps.lxxxii. 7. 
 
 Mount Sina is distant from Jerusalem twenty days' 
 journey, and is therefore only figuratively joined to Jeru- 
 salem. The Greek text and all the interpreters have 
 .corresponds with, or answers to. The Jerusalem which now 
 is, is a slave, like Agar, and can only be the mother of 
 slaves. She serves with her sons. 
 
 26. Sara is a figure of the New Testament, or of the 
 Church of Christ, a statement which, as being obviously 
 implied, and therefore unnecessarv, the Apostle has 
 •omitted. This is tlie Jerusalem zchicJi is above, or on high. 
 J, JoJin, saw the holy city, neic Jerusalem, descending from 
 God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, 
 Apoc. xxi. I., because the Son of God, descending frona 
 
 M 
 
178 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 heaven, founded the Church on earth. Jerusalem sic^nifies 
 the vision of peace. Peace I leave to you, luy peace I give you, 
 Joh. xiv. 27. This Jerusalem is free, bearing children to- 
 freedom, by the spirit of adoption of sons, by which we 
 cry Abba, Father. Lastly, she is the fruitful mother of us 
 all, Jews and Gentiles. Lift thine eyes all around and 
 see ; these all are assembled and come to thee ; thy sons 
 shall come from far, and thy dauj^hters shall spring up at 
 thy side. Then shalt thou see, and overflow, and thy 
 heart shall be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea 
 shall be turned unto thee, and the might of the nations 
 has come to thee. \\'ho are these that fly as a cloud, and 
 as doves to their windows ? (Is. Ix. 4, 5, 8.) Thy deserts^ 
 and solitudes, and the land of th}- ruin, shall be too nar- 
 row for its inhabitants. And the sons of thy sterility 
 shall say in thine ears : the place is too narrow, give us 
 space to dwell. And thou shalt say in th}- heart, Who 
 has begotten me these ? (Is. xlix. 19, 20.) 
 
 27. For it is written ; Rejoice sterile one, who bearest 
 not ; break forth and cry, thou who dost not bring forth 
 children ; for man}- are the sons of the forsaken, more 
 than of her who has a husband. 
 
 28. And we, brethren, like Isaac are sons of promise. 
 2g. But as then he who was born after the flesh perse- 
 cuted him who was born after the spirit, so also now. 
 
 30. But what says the Scripture ? Cast out the maid- 
 servant and her son ; for the son of the maidservant shall 
 not be heir, with the son of the free. 
 
 31. Therefore, brethren, we are not sons of the maid- 
 servant, but of the free; for with this liberty Christ has 
 made us free. 
 
 27. For it is written : Is. liv. i. The sterile one and ///tr 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 1 79 
 
 forsaken is the Gentile world, which before the coming of 
 Christ brought forth no fruit to God. SJic ivlio has a hus- 
 band is the synagogue, and the prophecy implies that the 
 children of the Catholic Church would be beyond all com- 
 parison more numerous than the Jewish nation, a pre- 
 diction which had only begun to be fulfilled when these 
 words of Saint Paul were written. The Apostle proceeds 
 to give three applications of his parable. 
 
 28. We, like Isaac, are the children of promise, the ful- 
 filment of God's promise to Abraham that in him, and in 
 Christ, who was to descend from him, all nations should 
 be blessed. This the Jews cannot claim, for the bene- 
 diction of all nations is through Christ alone ; any more 
 than Ismael could claim it of old. 
 
 29. He K'Jio was born after the flesh persecuted him who 
 was burn after the Spirit. The words referred to in 
 Gen. xxi. 9, are, Sara saic tJie son of Agar the Egyptian 
 playing icith Isaac her son. This is variously explained as 
 a quarrel about the inheritance, in which Isaac, as the 
 younger, would of course be worsted ; or that Ismael 
 mocked at the piety of Isaac ; or that Ismael had made 
 gods of clay, after the Eg}ptian fashion, and endeavoured 
 to induce Isaac to worship them ; or by other conjectures. 
 It was undoubtedly persecution, corporal or spiritual, and 
 stands for a figurative representation of the persecution of 
 the early Christian Church by the Jews. So also now. 
 
 30. What says the Scripture ? Gen. xxi. 10 : Cast out the 
 maidservant and her son. This is the third and principal 
 application of the allegory, and signifies the exclusion of 
 the synagogue and the unbelieving portion of the Jewish 
 nation from the communion of the Church of God, into 
 which admittance can be found only through faith in 
 Christ. The Galatians could not but see that the syna- 
 gogue being cast out, or repudiated, they had reason to 
 
 dread the loss of their inheritance, like Ismael, if by 
 
 M 2 
 
iSo THE EPISTLI:; OF ST. PAUL 
 
 persisting:; in lej;al observances, they made themselves 
 children of the synagogue, and therefore slaves. 
 
 31. You therefore, Galatian Christians, are not sons 
 of the synagogue, nor bound to the rites and obligations 
 of the Jewish law ; but to the commands of God, as }-our 
 blither, and the precepts of the Church of Christ, your 
 spiritual mother, who is //rj. And this freedom we owe, 
 not to merit of our own, but to the grace of Christ, who 
 by his passion and death has emancipated us from the 
 \()ke of that law Nvhich, in fultilling, he has abrogated 
 and done away with. 
 
 It may be observed, with reference to this allegory. th:;t 
 the Scriptures of the Old Testament ha\e throughout a 
 jirophetic reference to the New, and are intended to be 
 read with that fact in view. This prophetic meaning was 
 doubtless not always known to the ancient writers, who 
 c(nild not have had within their mental vision the whole 
 series of the events of future times ; but it was known to, 
 and intended by, the Spirit of God, who inspired an.d 
 dictated Ihe sacred records. Neither is it confined to 
 such notices and references to the Old Testament 
 as the ^^'ritings of the New Testament contain ; for the 
 whole of the ancient narrative is full of such ap|>lications, 
 which may often be found b}^ those who look for them 
 diligently, and are sometimes striking and startling. Never- 
 theless, this imposes upon students of the Old Testament 
 the obligation of carefully observing that these typical cor- 
 respondences and coincidences are to be found and noted 
 for edification only, and as probable and reasonable con- 
 jectures, and are never absolutely certain, except where 
 they are confirmed by the authority of Christ, or the sacred 
 writers of the New Testament, or other writers of ap- 
 proved authority. Subject to this caution, any reader 
 can find many for himself, or study with profit and 
 pleasure those which have been collected by Catholic 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. iHl 
 
 writers. The acts and proce^(lin,q^s of tlie patriarchs, 
 kings, and leaders of the ancient people of Israel, very 
 often have this prophetic character, and the incidents in 
 their lives which have not, are generally omitt3d in the 
 sacred narrative, in which many are inserted which, but 
 for this prophetic reference, would not seem to be greatly 
 important ; such as the comparatively trivial incident of 
 Esau's pretending to sell his birthright for pottage. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 We are not children of the bondslave ; we are children 
 of the free. The first statement was what it was most 
 important for St. Paul to impress upon the Christians of 
 Galatia, eighteen hundred years ago, in consequence of 
 the errors of their belief ; the secontl is the more inter- 
 esting to us. We are children of God, and of our mother, 
 the Church. Be followers of God, as beloved children, 
 and walk in love. We love God as our Father, and frf)m 
 love obey him, and look forward to, and long for, as our 
 promised inheritance, the things that are spiritual, 
 celestial, eternal, and divine. Yet, even now, says St. 
 Anselm, there are to be met with those who seem to be 
 born after the flesh, and love above all things else the 
 things of time. Such are children of the Old Testament, 
 transplanted into the days of the New, Children of the 
 bond-slave, they too often persecute the lovers of celestial 
 things, whose hopes are fixed upon things eternal, and 
 who are the children of the Free. As then, says the 
 Apostle, so also now. And this now will last to the end of 
 the world. Always in this world, the flesh and the spirit 
 will be opposed, and the children of the flesh, who live for 
 earthly aims and objects, will annoy and persecute the 
 children of freedom, whose hope and inheritance is ir- 
 
lS2 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 eternity. All wJio will live piously in Christ will suffer 
 persecution, 2 Tim. iii. 12. Eveiy believer in Christ, who 
 is honest and fears God, must make up his mind to this. 
 This hfe is no place of peace and rest ; yet it is to peace 
 and rest that temporal persecution leads, and of peace 
 and rest that temporal persecution is a pledge. Blessed 
 who endure persecution ; for theirs is the kin<^dom of the 
 lieavcns. The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be 
 compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed 
 in us, at the final emancipation and freedom of the glory of 
 the sons of God. That is our inheritance and destiny, for 
 the Holy Catholic Church, the Jerusalem, which is from 
 above, is free, who is the mother of us all. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 183 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 T. Stand, and do not again become bound under a 
 3oke of bondage. 
 
 2. Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you are circum- 
 cised, Christ will in nothing profit you. 
 
 3. And I testify again to every man who circumcises 
 himself that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 
 
 4. You are emptied from Christ, who are being justified 
 an the law : you have fallen awa}^ from grace. 
 
 Chapter v. In this chapter the Apostle, while urging 
 the Galatian Christians to the preservation of their 
 ■Christian freedom, explains that this freedom does not 
 consist in carnal license. 
 
 I. Stand. The Greek text, as also the Syriac version, 
 join to this verb the concluding words of the last chapter. 
 We are children, not of the slave, but of the free. Stand, 
 therefore, in the liberty in which Christ has made you 
 free. The different arrangement of the words does 
 not, however, materially affect the sense. The liberty 
 with which Christ had made them free, was eman- 
 ■cipation from the obligations of the Hebrew law, 
 as appears from the last words of ch. iv. But the 
 paganism from which the Galatians had escaped was also 
 .a state of bondage and slavery, for he adds, having 
 escaped one yoke of servitude, be not caught, made 
 captive, entangled in another. Do not ai^aiii bccunie bound. 
 
184 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Between Judaism and paganism there was not much tc 
 choose. 
 
 2. Behold, I Paul say to you. The judaizing teachers 
 had appealed to Moses. Unless yon are circumcised as 
 Moses prescribed, you cannot be saved, Act. xvi. Saint Paul 
 names himself, as an authority equal to Moses, and teach- 
 ing, not only the negative of this proposition, but the 
 direct contrary. You cannot be saved if you are circum- 
 cised. For you cannot be saved without Christ, and ir> 
 that case Christ will not profit you. It is important to- 
 observe that this is not said to Jewish converts, but only 
 to Gentiles, ^^'hile circumcision was not necessary to- 
 salvation either to Jews or Gentiles, it was not as yet 
 deadly or mortal for persons born of Jewish parents, and 
 such often accepted it as a matter of custom, as in the 
 case of St. Timothy, Act. xvi. 3. But for Gentile converts 
 to receive it after baptism, was fatal, for such a proceed- 
 ing iin})lied that the}' relied upon circumcision and the 
 Mosaic law for salvation, and had no confidence in thc 
 faith of Christ and the sacraments of the Church. It was 
 an act of apostasy from Christ, and his incarnation, 
 passion, and death, will not profit those who thus openly 
 protest that his faith is not sufficient for salvation. 
 
 3. The heretical teachers did not observe a great part 
 of the law of Moses, or profess to do so. They told the 
 Galatians that if they received circumcision and practised 
 some few of the more prominent and characteristic of the 
 Hebrew customs, such as were open to public observation, 
 such as the solemnization of sabbaths and new moons, 
 ike. referred to in ch. iv. 10, this was all that was required. 
 Tlie object evidently was first, to bring them within the 
 terms of the edicts and enactments of the Roman 
 government, which at that time protected the Jews, so 
 that they might avoid persecution ; and next, to withdraw 
 them from communion with the Apostles. St. Paul here 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 185 
 
 insists that any man who received circumcision was bound 
 to the fulfilment of every detail of the Mosaic law, of 
 which it was a public profession, as baptism was a public 
 profession of the Christian faith. This consideration was 
 calculated to make them pause before taking such a step. 
 It was an acceptance of a new religion, and abandonment 
 of that which he had taught them. You are emptied, anni- 
 hilated, abolished from Christ, have lost your hope in 
 him, are no longer branches of the true vine, or capable 
 of receiving his grace, inasmuch as you are seeking 
 salvation by another law. This is further explained in 
 the next verse. 
 
 5. For we by the spirit from faith expect the hope of 
 justice. 
 
 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision is of any 
 value, nor uncircumcision, but faith which operates 
 through charity. 
 
 5. We who are Christians seek for justiTication b}' 
 faith, and by the action of the spiritual faculties of our 
 nature, not in ceremonies and observances purel\ 
 material and external. The hope of justice is a hebraisu) 
 implying the justice hoped for: the remission of sins and 
 grace of God promised to believers in Christ, and that 
 eternal life which is the reward of justice hereafter. 
 
 6. For in the religion of Jesus Christ it is unimportant 
 w^hether the believer is circumcised or uncircumcised. 
 Faith has removed and obliterated all such external dis- 
 tinctions, God does not regard what belongs only to the 
 body, but the condition of the heart. As the leaders of 
 an army require in their soldiers not to be fair or dark, 
 but courage and skill in their duties, says St. Chrysostom, 
 so God considers in his soldiers not outward circum- 
 
l86 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Stances, but a mind and disposition animated and directed 
 by faith, as its principle of life. Faith which operates thnnt'^h 
 .charity. The Greek, effectual through charity. The- Sxriac 
 has : faith which is made perfect by charity. Shown to 
 be always livings active, and effectual by the love of fesus 
 Chi-ist. The only faith which is of value in Christ Jesus 
 is that which burns with charit}^ and toils unwearied in 
 i^ood works, says St. Ansehn. This is the Christian's 
 faith. The faith that does nothing, and is destitute of 
 charity, is the devils' faith. 
 
 7. Yon ran well : who hindered 3'ou, not to obey the 
 truth ? 
 
 8. This persuasion is not of him who called 30U. 
 g. A little leaven corrupts the whole mass. 
 
 10. I trust in you, in the Lord, that you will think no 
 otherwise : but he who troubles you, shall bear the judg- 
 ment, whoever he is. 
 
 11. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why 
 do I still suffer persecution ; therefore the scandal of the 
 cross is gone. 
 
 12. I wish the}' may be even cut off who trouble you. 
 
 7. You ran xvcll. A high commendation, following on 
 what the Apostle has just said of the faith which operates 
 through charity. In this course you were once actively 
 engaged. Who is it who has suddenly stopped \ou in 
 your course and thrown you back ? This ipiestion, St. 
 Chrysostom observes, is not for information, but an 
 expression of sorrow and anxiety, like the wiio fascinated 
 you in iii. i. The object in view can have been only to 
 hinder your obeying the truth. 
 
 8. God is never contrary to himself, and he who railed 
 you to the faith of his Son, has certainly not now per- 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 187 
 
 suaded you to reject that faith by receiving circumcision. 
 This persuasion, whoever is the author of it, is not of him 
 who called you. 
 
 g. A little leaven spreads its effect through the whole 
 mass of dough. A single error, though it may originate 
 with only one or two individuals, will infect the whole 
 community. The same words occur in i. Cor. v. 6, with 
 reference to error of another kind, but the principle is 
 applicable equally to every description of evil introduced 
 by the malice of the devil or of evil men. St. Paul's words 
 indicate that the sinister influence he refers to among 
 the Galatian Christians sprang from a very small number 
 of persons, perhaps only one in the first instance, only 
 one being referred to in verse lo. It is impossible to 
 overrate the mischief that may be done by one evil 
 example, one word of scandal. One wicked man can 
 poison a whole city with the infection of his example, one 
 heretic lead astray a whole church or nation. Calvin, 
 Luther, and other heretical teachers were a little leaven, 
 but they led away whole nations from the faith of 
 Christ. 
 
 10. I trust and confide in you, that when you have fully 
 considered the question, in the light in which I have laid 
 it before you in this Epistle, you will adopt or retain no 
 opinion or conviction which is not part of, or consistent 
 with, the doctrine I taught you. The author of all this 
 confusion, whoever he may be — he was probably a person 
 of local authority and influence, and most likely a Jew — 
 will pay the penalty of his guilt, by the justice of God, 
 who is the avenger of all heresy. Woe to him by whom 
 
 ■ offence cometh. 
 
 11. /// still preach circmucision. This falsehood must 
 have been circulated, with others, regarding the doctrine 
 and practice of Saint Paul, grounded probably on his hav- 
 ing induced Timothy to receive circumcision, for special 
 
l88 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 reasons, which were whoHy inapphcahle to the case of 
 Gentile converts. As he observes, the persecution he 
 suffered at the hands of the Jews was a sufficient proof 
 that the doctrine he tau;;ht on this point was not such as 
 suited their views. Tlic scaiuLil of the cross has ceased. 
 They would have been offended in much less degree by 
 the simple preaching of Christ crucified, than by the an- 
 nouncement that Christ had abolished the observances of 
 the Jewish law. The removal (tf the greater stumbling- 
 stone would in cajct have removed also the lesser. 
 
 12. / wish they may even be cut off. St. Chrysostom, 
 Theodoret, Theophylact, St. Jerome, Cajetan, and other 
 writers, give a literal interpretation to this wish expressed 
 b\- St. Paul. 1 wish tliese apostles of circumcision may be 
 themselves not circumcised, for that the}' are, but cut off 
 altogether. Erasmus and other modern writers appear to 
 think this imprecation harcil\- consistent with Apostolic 
 gravity: and understand the wish to mean, that they may- 
 be cut off from God's mercy and the hope of salvation in 
 Christ. Ambrose considers bcjtli meanings included. He- 
 curses them spiritnall}', and corporall\- as well, to multi- 
 ply their pain. It is possible the Apostle refers to ecclesi- 
 astical censure, but in the bitterness of his heart, and. 
 resentment and indignation against these troublers of the 
 peace of the Church, uses this equivocal and pointed, 
 term. 
 
 13. For you have been called into freedom, brethren ;: 
 only give not freedom for an occasion of the flesh, but 
 through charity of spirit serve one another. 
 
 14. For all the law is fulfilled in one word : thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself. 
 
 15. But if you bite and eat up one another, see that 
 you are not consumed by one another. 
 
 13. I would they were cut off who trouble you, because- 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. l8g 
 
 'God has called you to freedom, and that freedom they 
 would take away. In what does this freedom con- 
 sist ? The answer to this question occupies the remainder 
 of this Epistle, as far as the concluding words, from 
 ch. vi. II, which the Apostle adds with his own hand. 
 Christian freedom consists i. in freedom from the burden- 
 some obligation of the ceremonies of the law, which in the 
 first verse of this chapter he calls ayokc of servitude. 2. In 
 freedom from servile fear, which he describes as the effect 
 ] produced by the law, at the beginning of the fourth 
 chapter. 3. Especially and above all, freedom from the 
 service of sin, from which Christ died to redeem us, 
 Rom. vi. 18. Only give not freedom fur an occasion to tJie 
 flesh. There is no verb in this sentence in the Greek 
 text. The Vulgate supplies i/t'/!/s ; the Syriac, let not your 
 liberty be an occasion, &c. The Apostle first indicates the 
 misuse of this freedom, that they may avoid it ; then its 
 ■end and object, which is charity, that they may pursue it; 
 then, in verse 16, the means of attaining it. Walk in the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Freedom from the yoke of the law and the fear of its 
 penalties is not given you that you may fulfil the desires of 
 the flesh, neither are you set free for this purpose. Such 
 a statement would hardly be required inthesedays, but in 
 the time of St. Paul so many erroneous doctrines and 
 systems of philosophy were current in the world, that the 
 caution was not unnecessary. 
 
 By charity of spirit serve one another. The more complete 
 your emancipation, by means of 3^our Christian calling, 
 from a series of troublesome and unprofitable restrictions 
 and ceremonies, the more diligently endeavour to serve 
 ■one another, by a voluntary interchange of good offices, in 
 a spirit of charity. Charity, the spirit of love, is that 
 which should animate Christians; make use of your free- 
 dom, therefore, for the cultivation of it. Not only refrain 
 
I (JO THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 from injuring another, but by love serve one another, 
 Christ has changed the heavy and insupportable yoke of 
 the law into the gentle, happy, and voluntary yoke of 
 kindness. Happy, who bears this yoke, for he serves 
 God, the source of all good ; for God is charity. 
 
 14. All the law, so far as it regards our relation to 
 others, is fulfilled in one word. Lev. xix. 18. Thou shalt 
 love thy nci;^hbour spiritually, for God's sake, and in order 
 to eternal life. There are two precepts of charity, accord- 
 ing to the material distinction of the object, the love of 
 God and of our neighbour ; but there is only one charity, 
 that by which God is loved, and our neighbour for God's 
 sake. The one command is therefore often included in 
 the other. One word, but including all the business of all 
 our lives. Love, and do what 30U will. 
 
 15. But if you bite and eat up one another, by mutual 
 animosities, slander, and detraction. The introduction 
 of the new doctrine had. no doubt, introduced mucli of 
 this strife among the Galatians, and the Apostle counsels 
 first charity for the extinction of these angry feelings. 
 Then he seeks to deter the Galatians from quarrels and 
 dissensions by pointing to the evil end to which they so 
 often lead, comparing the combatants to fighting dogs, 
 who will bite and tear one another, sometimes to death- 
 Contention brings corruption and death, not only upon 
 the victims of it, but upon its authors and originators as- 
 well, says Saint Chrysostom. The fruit of strife is waste 
 of life, says Ambrose. And St. Augustine says that 
 human society, divided into two parties, is already in 
 process of dissolution. 
 
 tG. And I say: walk by the Spirit; and the desires of 
 tile flesh vou shall not fulfil. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. igr 
 
 17. For tlie flesh lusts a,ij;-ainst the spirit, and the' 
 spirit against the flesh ; for these are antagonistic to one 
 another, so that you do not everything you wish. 
 
 18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under 
 law. 
 
 16. And I say, to emphasize what follows. As he has 
 just reduced all the precepts of the law to the one precept 
 of charity, so now he brings all the means of making 
 charit}- perfect under one rule. Walk by the Spirit. Li\-e 
 according to the dictate of the Holy Spirit, and }ou will 
 not fulfil the desires of the flesh. By the flesh, in this 
 passage, is signified desire, either that of the physical 
 appetites, as gluttony or luxury : or of irascible feeling, as 
 env5% malice, or resentment : or of the rational appetite,. 
 as the desire of fame or distinction. Although these 
 desires all influence the soul, they are called collectiveh- 
 theflcsli, because for the most part it is from the animal 
 nature that they arise. lUit the Apostle does not say, the 
 desires of the flesh you shall not feel, or be sensible of, 
 because this is in this life inevitable, but you shall not 
 fulfil them, either by internal consent or outward act, for 
 this }ou will easil}' avoid, by living according to the im- 
 pulse of the Spirit of God. 
 
 17. The Syriac version reads this verse : Inasmuch as- 
 the flesh desires that which injures the spirit, and the 
 spirit that which injures the flesh ; and these two are 
 contrary to one another, so that you do not what 3'ou 
 would. The flesh desires what is pleasant and agree- 
 able, the spirit what is holy ; the flesh desires what is 
 carnal, earthly, and temporal, the spirit what is spiritual,, 
 celestial, and eternal. And these are so opposed that 
 frequent!}- we cannot do all we would. We would not 
 desire, 3-et in spite of ourselves we do desire. We would 
 do good with fervour and alacrity, but the flesh resists the- 
 
r.92 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 ■impulse of the will, and weighs down the soul, and makes 
 ns tepid and inactive. 
 
 These opposite mo\ements of nature and of grace are 
 xlescribed, with great simplicity of language, but with 
 great force and truth, in the third book of the Imitation 
 of Christ, cap. 54. Saint Augustine vividly describes the 
 same conflict as carried on within himself, in the eighth 
 .book of the Confessions ; and the final victory of the 
 spirit, and overthrow of rebellion against its authorit}', in 
 liis commentary on Psalm Ixxv. 
 
 It must be observed that in this passage, as elsewhere 
 in the writings of St. Paul, the spirit does not signif\' the 
 .intellectual faculties of human nature as distinguished from 
 the animal faculties ; a sense in which the term is some- 
 times used in modern philosophy ; for the mind and body 
 .are so mysteriousl}- allied and related that the same or 
 similar impulses and motives govern both. The spirit 
 jueans the supernatural power of the Spirit of God upon 
 ihe human heart, the reality of which is proved by its 
 jVesults, though the mode of its action cannot ordinaril}' 
 be traced. 
 
 18. If you arc led by the Spirit you arc not under laic. A 
 parenthetical statement, importing that we have here the 
 xeal solution of the controversy about the law. Led by 
 the Spirit, you do of your own accord, and from the 
 motive of affection, that which the law prescribes, and 
 exacts b}' menace of penalty to be incurred by transgres- 
 sion. You are above the law, and beyond it, and there 
 is no law opposed to }ou. If all Christians walked by 
 the Spirit, and all mankind were Christians, no la:.'s would 
 be required. You have in that case, what the law cannot 
 impart, the spirit of sons, not servants. We shall find 
 .this statement repeated in verse 23. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 193 
 
 19. And the works of the flesh are manifest, which 
 are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, hixur}-, 
 
 20. Service of idols, magic, enmities, contentions, 
 •emulations, anger, quarrels, dissensions, sects, 
 
 21. Jealousies, homicides, drunkenness, revelling, and 
 things like these : which I declare to you, as I have 
 already declared, that they who do such things will not 
 attain the kingdom of God. 
 
 22. And the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, 
 patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering. 
 
 23. Gentleness, fidelity, modesty, continence, chastity ; 
 against such there is no law. 
 
 ig. Lest there should be any doubt, amid the general 
 corruption of pagan society then prevailing, as to what is 
 meant by the flesh and the spirit, or any should pretend 
 to doubt, the Apostle proceeds to enumerate the effects of 
 each ; observing that theivorks of the flesh are plainly mani- 
 fest to all who have eyes to see. The four named inverse 
 ig do not exactly correspond with the Greek, which has, 
 adultery, fornication, uncleanness, luxur}' ; this last term 
 the Vulgate appears to divide into two. Idolatry and 
 magic were temptations of powerful influence in ancient 
 times, though now in some degree out of date. Magic 
 ■charms were supposed to control persons at a distance, or 
 secure affection, or do injury to persons or property, and 
 the pretenders to such powers as these made a profitable . 
 trade out of the wickedness and credulity of those who 
 trusted to them. The Greek word for sects is heresies. It 
 is interesting to observe that the Apostle considers that 
 the motives which prompt men to cavil at the faith, and 
 set up parties in opposition to the Church of God, have 
 their origin in this world, and in man's fallen nature, so 
 that he classes these among the works of the flesh. Those 
 who do these things, or things like them, shall not attain, 
 in the Greek inherit, the langdom of God, or a kingdom of 
 
1(j4 the ElMSTLK OF ST. PAUL 
 
 God. This is a statement which Christians not unfre- 
 qiient)}' lose siji^ht of. Of the seven mortal sins, or classes- 
 of mortal sin, two only, luxury and gluttony, have 
 directly reference to the body. The others are spirituals 
 Yet most people, as is evident by their confessions, da 
 penance only for sins of the body, and pass over all the 
 others as immaterial. And j-et it is of all alike that the 
 Apostle says, that they who do such things shall not in- 
 herit God's kingdom. 
 
 22. Saint Paul speaks of tJic works of the flesh, and the 
 fruits of the Spirit. Carnal and worldly passions move 
 and work tumultuously in the soul, and produce crime, 
 death, and ruin. But the Holy Spirit acts powerfully, yet 
 insensiblv, and is seen only in his effects, as the influence 
 of the sunshine is seen in the harvest and the vintage.^ 
 Thc/;'/(?7,s of his presence are charity, jo)', peace, and the 
 othiTs. Patience, modesty, and cliastity, given in the list in 
 the \'ulgate, are wanting in the Greek, and in the same 
 list as given both by Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine. 
 The Greek text gives, therefore, nine fruits of the Spirit, 
 the \'ulgate, twelve. The S\riac version also gi\es only 
 nine; Ambrose includes ten. The Greek list is : charity^ 
 jo}', peace, patience, benignit}', goodness, fidelit}-, meek- 
 ness, continence. It would seem, and is observed by 
 ICstius, that the Greek word /xaKpodvfMia is translated in 
 the Vulgate b}' the two words patience and lon<^-siifferin<^r 
 '7rpn6T)]<; by ^i:;e)itlcncss and modesty, and ijKpdreia by con- 
 tinence and chastity ; thus increasing the list as given in the 
 Greek b\- three. Charit}' is the principal fruit of the 
 Spirit ; and charity does no ill. The fruits of the Spirit 
 are opposed in general and in detail to the works of the 
 flesh. Joy is opposed to C7ivy, which is pain at another's 
 happiness; peace to enmity; patience to strife and quarrclliug ; 
 goodness to magic and homicide; continence to luxury and 
 gluttony. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. ig5 
 
 Against such there is no law. Laws are not enacted for 
 the just. The law is given for those who err, says Am- 
 brose. If all men were such as the Apostle here describes, 
 penal legislation would be altogether unnecessary. 
 
 It is to be observed that while the works of the flesh 
 enumerated by the Apostle, are the ordinary and natural 
 result of the passions and desires of human nature, 
 directed to objects belonging to this mortal life, and not 
 controlled by grace, the fruits of Spirit are all supernatural 
 and the effect of the grace of the H0I3' Spirit acting on 
 the powers and faculties of human nature. 
 
 24. And they who are of Christ crucified the flesh 
 with the vices and concupiscences. 
 
 25. If we live by spirit, b}- spirit also let us walk. 
 
 26. Let us not become desirous of empty glory, pro- 
 voking one another, env3'ing one another. 
 
 This enumeration of the works of the flesh and the 
 fruits of the Spirit now enables the Apostle to place the 
 combatants in array, distinguishing the soldiers of Christ 
 from those who are devoted to the interests of this world. 
 Those who belong to Christ crucify the aims, ambitions, 
 and desires that belong to this mortal life, or con- 
 tribute to the satisfaction of our animal nature. The 
 verb is used by the Apostle in the Greek text, in the 
 aorist, and may possibly have a general sense as regards 
 time present, past, or future. The Vulgate reads cruci- 
 fixerunt. A man crucified is bound to the cross, his body 
 torn and dislocated, his life blood drained, life itself by 
 slow degrees extinguished. So the Christian crucifies 
 concupiscence, binds, crushes, enfeebles it to death. The 
 flesh of Christ on the cross is the exemplar of Christian 
 mortification. The Apostle does not say that the 
 Christian crucifies the body, for the body is often thereby 
 
 N 2 
 
iqG the epistle of st. paul 
 
 rendered stronger and more effective for the service of 
 God ; and the body will be raised one day from the grave 
 to eternal strength and immortality. What is crucified, 
 or mortified, is tlic jhsh in a figurative sense, all desires, 
 affections, and inclinations which find their satisfaction in 
 anything that is limited and measured by this mortal 
 life. And as Christ died for our sins in pain and suffer- 
 ing, so not without pain and suffering can sin be crucified 
 in us. 
 
 25. St. Paul repeats in this verse what he said in 
 verse 16. Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the 
 desires of the flesh. To crucify the flesh, walk by the 
 guidance of God's Spirit, whose presence is the life of the 
 soul. The S3riac reads : Let us live by spirit, and follow 
 spirit. 
 
 26. Let us not become desirous 0/ empty glory. In this 
 verse the Apostle reproves three spiritual faults, which 
 are closely connected together ; into which those are 
 liable to fall who do not fall into sins of the flesh ; and 
 which were doubtless frequent among the persons to 
 whom he is writing. First, empty glory, that is the pur- 
 suit of honour where true honour is not to be found, as in 
 science, eloquence, or riches, or delight in the distinction 
 and respect which the possession of such things generally 
 carries with it, in the false estimate which the world so 
 often forms. The contempt of others who do not possess 
 these things, with an inclination to expose their short- 
 comings. Lastly, envy of such as possess them in a 
 greater degree than ourselves. For these also are in- 
 cluded in tlie works of tJic flesh, which he that belongs to 
 Christ, and walks under the guidance of the Spirit, will 
 learn to crucify. 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. ig7 
 
 Corollary of Pif.ty. 
 
 The unspeakable dignity conferred by regeneration in 
 Christ consists in this, that we are made thereby sons of 
 God, instead of sons of man. For we have put on Christ ; 
 and we have the Spirit of Christ in our hearts. But 
 being the sons of God, we no longer serve God as slaves, 
 nor as children under age ; we are sons of full age, grown 
 up, free, placed already in part in possession of our 
 Father's inheritance, of which the Holy Spirit has given 
 us a pledge. For what purpose are we thus made sons 
 of God ; and for what purpose has the Spirit of God been 
 infused into our hearts ? 
 
 We have been made sons of God in order that we may 
 lo\-e God, our most loving Father, with all our hearts, 
 and serve him, not from fear of punishment, but from 
 filial affection, fulfilling his commandments for charity, as 
 his own dear sons. And as God is Charity, so the Christian, 
 ^\•ho is God's son, as a partaker of the charity of God, 
 should live in charity and by charity should act. 
 
 And the Spirit of God has been infused into our hearts, 
 that we may walk by the Spirit, and mortify the deeds of 
 the flesh. For as long as we are in this mortal state, 
 there are two natures within us, the spirit and the flesh, 
 struggling in antagonism to one another, and drawing us in 
 opposite directions. In presence of this interior conflict, 
 what course is the Christian to adopt ? The Apostle 
 answers this question. Take firmly and decidedly the 
 side of the Spirit. Walk by the dictates of the Spirit, 
 and fulfil not the desires of the flesh. Then will the flesh 
 be crucified and perish at last, and the Spirit will 
 triumph. 
 
 There are, therefore, three things which the Christian 
 is to keep continually in view. i. The end he aims at. 
 
IqH the epistle of ST. PAUL 
 
 2. That which he is carefully to avoid. 3. The means of 
 attaining the one and escaping the other. 
 
 1. Charity is the end he aims at, and the object and 
 intention of all the Christian religion, and of that 
 freedom of sonship which we enjoy in Christ. We arc 
 to love God as sons, not servants. We are freed from 
 the yoke of the law that we may for charity serve one 
 another. The exercise and increase of charity is the end 
 of our adoption and the ground and motive of our freedom. 
 
 2. What we have to guard against is the danger of 
 making a wrong use of our Christian freedom, by following 
 the desires of the flesh. Make not your freedom an 
 occasion to the llesli. It is not the will of God that we 
 should misuse our Christian freedom and so perish in sin. 
 
 3. The means of accomplishing both these objects is 
 to walk by the Spirit, and crucify the flesh. That is, 
 mortify, by the refusal of gratitication, all desires which 
 are sinful in thcmseKes, or purt^ly worklly, having no 
 object in view be}on(l what belougs to this miserable and 
 transitory life of mortality. As Christ died on the cross, 
 so are we to crucify sin. 
 
 God has been generous to us, and has given us freedom 
 and adoption. Of this freedom and adoption we shall in 
 return make a generous use, and the only use which is not 
 base, treacherous, and ungrateful, if we make it the object 
 of our lives to become worthy of our Heavenly Father's 
 affection, and struggle against and overthrow his enemies 
 and ours. 
 
TO THE GALATIAKS. I99 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1. Drethren, even if a man shall have been taken 111 
 any fault ; you who are spiritual, instruct such one in a 
 spirit of gentleness ; considering thyself, lest thou be also 
 tempted. 
 
 2. Bear the burdens of one another, and so you shall 
 fulhl the law of Christ, 
 
 3. For if any one thinks himself to be anything when 
 he is nothing, he is his own deceiver. 
 
 4. And let each prove his own work ; and then in 
 himself onl}- he shall have glory, and not in the other. 
 
 5. For each shall bear his own burden. 
 
 Chapter vi. In this chapter, the Apostle exhorts the 
 Christians of Galatia to active charity ; and concludes the 
 Fpistle with a solemn and formal condemnation, written 
 with his own hand, of the judaizing errors with which 
 ithey were threatened. 
 
 I. Saint Paul has pronounced the error of doctrine 
 anto which heretical teachers were endeavouring to draw 
 the Christians of Galatia, as nothing less than apostasy 
 from Christ, and involving the loss of their eternal in- 
 heritance. But he acts himself, and requires them to act, 
 with the greatest gentleness and forbearance towards 
 individuals who may, by ignorance or carelessness, have 
 been led astray into these errors. The expression if a 
 man, Jiomo, shall have fallen into a fault, is a Hebrew 
 
200 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 idiom, in Greek and Latin this substantive beinci^ rarely 
 used where it is to be understood. If any amont,' you' 
 shall have already fallen into these errors I have described., 
 or an\- cf them, and especially heresy, you who retain your 
 faith and are led by the Spirit of God, instruct, or restore 
 him ; not condemn or punish him, but correct him in a 
 spirit of f^entleness. Not gently, only, but in genuine and 
 interior spirit of charity, kindness, and desire for his 
 salvation, an affection which comes from the Spirit of 
 God, who inspires his own gentleness into 3'our hearts. 
 / am uicck and Jinuible of heart, not in words or appearance 
 only, but in spirit and disposition. 
 
 Con^idcrin;^ tJiysclf, he adopts the singular number, as if 
 to make his warning more personal, pointed, and direct. 
 Lest thou also be tempted. The Syriac has : and beware 
 lest ye also be tempted. Lest haply you yield to the same 
 or a similar temptation. 
 
 2. Ikar one anotJier's burdens. Treat the fallen with 
 rompassion, and correct them with gentleness, as if their 
 oirors were your own, and you bore the burden of them. 
 ]>\- burden the Apostle denotes any kin 1 of sin, and more 
 particularlv that of apostasy, to which this passage refers^ 
 and we bear the burdens of our neighbours when we 
 strive to correct them with sympathy, mildness, and com- 
 passion. Thus you 'icill fulfil the law of Christ, which is the 
 law of charity. The Greek has the imperative \nood, and 
 thus fulfil. St. Chrysostom observes that the Apostle 
 (lues not say simply /?//, hut fulfil, absolutely and com- 
 pletely, as if every other duty of charity had been dis- 
 charged, and this alone remained to make the observance 
 of the law complete. 
 
 3. Everyone who thinks himself anytliir.g, is guilty of 
 self-deception, because in the presence of God we are all 
 nothing. 
 
 4. Let each prove his own work, thnt is, let each one ex- 
 
TO THE GALATIAXS. 201: 
 
 amine and judge of his own works, not by comparison 
 with others, hke the Pharisee who thanked God he was 
 not as other men, but by comparison with the rule of hfe, 
 by which we shall be judged at the judgment of God. 
 Every other standard but this is deceptive and fallacious. 
 And so far as, judged by this standard, he finds his work 
 to be just, right, and good, he will ha^^e the approval of 
 his conscience, and will glory in God. This does not 
 imply that he is to glory in himself. This the fear of the 
 divine judgment forbids. For who is just before God ? 
 and who, before the Saint of saints, will dare to boast of 
 sanctity ? But when the Apostle says that the Christian 
 will have glory in himself alone, and not another, he 
 means that his merit will be assigned according to what 
 he has done, and not in comparison with any other. The 
 Christian, therefore, is not to boast at the expense of 
 another, and he who refrains from doing this, with due 
 consideration of the reason, will not glory in himself, for 
 he will recal his own sins, bearing the burden of which he 
 must himself appear before God. For in the great judg- 
 ment of God each one must bear Jiis oxen burden, answer 
 for his own sins, and receive God's sentence, which wilj 
 pass on the true merits of the case, without any allevia- 
 tion or excuse on the ground that others are worse. 
 
 Although the injunctions conveyed in these verses have 
 direct and immediate reference to the case of the Gala- 
 tians, and the danger of apostasy which threatened them, 
 they include the principle on which Christian charity will 
 deal with sinners in all cases. First every excuse should 
 be made for the guilty. They may have been taken or 
 overtaken, against their deliberate intention and will. 
 Secondly they should be dealt with genth', leniently, and 
 compassionately, not in words and appearance only, but 
 in true charity of spirit. Thirdly those who correct others^ 
 aware of their own fragility, should fear for themselves. 
 
202 THE EPISTLK OF ST. PAUL 
 
 He to-day, I io-iiwrrow, says an ancient Father. God not 
 unfrequently punishes the hard and unmerciful by allow- 
 ing them to be involved in temptations similar to the sins 
 they have rebuked in others, l-'ourthly, we should bear 
 the inhrmitie? of others, as Christ bore ours. He bore 
 ■OUT sins, by expiating and taking them away. So should 
 we bear the burden of others, and do what is in our power 
 to take them away, by compassion, by instruction, by 
 prayer, and by doing penance for them. And this is imi- 
 tation of Christ, who for us prayed, did penance, suffered 
 and died. If a mule falls under its burden, the driver 
 must remove the burden and take it in his arms, before 
 lie can raise the fallen animal. Thus must the burden of 
 the sinner be removed, for his imi)rovemcnt and correc- 
 tion. And lasth", to beware, lest, like the Pharisee, we 
 take pride in the evil deeds of others, than which nothing 
 can be less consistent with Christian charity, or give 
 jr^reater offence to Goil. b^or as is observed by Optatus 
 Milevitanus, quoted by Cornelius a Lapide, on Luc. 
 ,\viii. 14, it is better tf.> sin with luimilit}- than to be inno- 
 cent with pride. 
 
 6. And let him who is catechised in the word com- 
 jnunicate to him who catechizes him, in all good things. 
 
 7. Do not err, God is not mocked. 
 
 6. He who is taught the Gospel of Christ, should 
 freely contribute from his temporal goods to the support 
 of his teacher. Having instructed those who are spiritual 
 in the duty of charity and forbearance towards the weak, 
 St. Paul now urges upon the laity the dut}' of supporting 
 their pastors and teachers. The Greek verb 7};]^: Fz' signifies 
 to sound with the voice. Hence the word echo. Karrj^elv 
 is to instruct vocally, and from this we obtain catechist, 
 an instructor in the Christian nnsteries ; catechumen, 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 20J 
 
 the person instructed ; and catechism, the form of 
 •doctrine tau|;ht. The Apostles were catcchists, and the 
 later Fathers followed them, and the office, therefore, is 
 •of Apostolic origin. 
 
 Saint Chrysostom observes that God, who fed the 
 ungrateful Israelites with manna, permitted the Apostles 
 to live in poverty. This was for the attainment of two 
 great objects, moderation and charity. Moderation in 
 the teachers, who depend upon their disciples, charity in 
 the disciples, in supplying the wants of the teachers. In 
 the same spirit our father Francis, truly Apostolic and 
 seraphic, would have us poor, that we may be the more 
 humble and of greater service to our neighbours, even from 
 absolute necessity. St. Chrysostom further says that a 
 teacher who asks and receives only what is requisite for 
 subsistence, loses no dignity thereby ; for a teacher so 
 .assiduous in the ministry of the word as to pay no regard 
 to the supply of his own wants, and willing to labour in 
 poverty, is worthy of all praise. Evangelical povertv 
 which despises earthly things to obtain, and comnumicate 
 to others, the things of heaven, is laudable in the highest 
 degree, and gives what is of much greater value than 
 anything it can possibly receive. If we have sown to you 
 zc'hat is spiritual, is it much if we reap from you what is 
 .carnal? i. Cor. ix., ii. 
 
 7. Do not mistake. God is not mocked, by false excuses 
 you may offer for the neglect of this duty. He sees and 
 knows all, and judges rightl}', and your own conscience 
 can also judge. 
 
 8. For what a man has sown, this he shall also reap : 
 because he who sows in his flesh, from the flesh shall also 
 reap corruption : and he who sows in the spirit, shall mi 
 •the spirit reap life eternal. 
 
204 '^^E EPISTLE OE ST. PAUL 
 
 g. And doin.i; i,'oo(l, let us not fail: for in its own time 
 we shall reap, not failing^. 
 
 10, Therefore, while we have time, let us work good 
 to all, and especially to those who are of the family of 
 faith. 
 
 8, The injunction just given, with regard to the duty 
 of supplying the teachers of the Gospel with the neces- 
 saries of life, is in these verses more generally extended,. 
 so as to apply to the use made of time, money, faculties- 
 of the mind, and other gifts of God, especially with refer- 
 ence to the obligation of employing these for the benefit 
 of our neighbours. ]]'liat a Jiiaii suicctJi, he shall reap. This 
 life is the sowing time, the life of eternity the time of 
 reaping. He who lives for this world, its pleasures or its 
 ambitions, soiceth to his flesh ; that is, the flesh, the mortal 
 nature and the mortal life, is the held in which he sows. 
 We have already seen what are the works of the flesh. The 
 flesh is but corruption, and corruption he will reap ; dis- 
 grace, punishment, eternal death. He who lives for 
 charity and good works, throws the seed into the bosom 
 of God, the held of the Holy Spirit ; whence he shall reap- 
 eternal beatitude of soul and body, through the power of 
 the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit have been already 
 enumerated ; the perfection of them will constitute life 
 eter)ial. St. Paul says, sows in his own flesh, because the 
 flesh is the fallen nature of man, but he does not say hiS' 
 own spirit, but in the Spirit, because the Hoi}- Spirit is 
 the fountain of grace and charity. 
 
 g. The Greek has : Let us not weary in doing what is 
 generous and good, for in due time we shall reap, and not 
 be wearv. The Syriac : Let us do good, and not be 
 w^eary ; fur one day we shall reap, and not be wear}-. For 
 as St. Chrysostom observes, in this life sowing and reap- 
 in"- are both wearisome. The reaper faints in the summer 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 205 
 
 heat, and his toil is never heavier. But in that harvest 
 ithere shall be neither toil nor labour, but only rest and joy. 
 lo. While we have time. It is not sowing time all the 
 year round ; neither does the time of well-doing last for 
 •ever. The night cometh, when none can work. The 
 foolish virgins went to purchase oil, but too late, and 
 were excluded from the wedding feast. Matt. xxv. The 
 rich man feasted every day, until he died, and in hell he 
 •opened his eyes in torment, Luc. xvi., 23. While we 
 have time, let us do good, so far as is in our power, to all 
 men, for all are our neighbours. Even the stranger, of a 
 different faith, was neighbour to h'm who fell among 
 thieves, Luc. x. 36. But especially to the faithful in 
 ■Christ, who by faith belong to his family or household. 
 Literally, the domestics of the faith, domesticos Jidei, for 
 these have the first claim upon us. The Church is God's 
 house, and Christian people are inmates of that house, 
 and members of God's family. The Christian, therefore, 
 has the first claim upon his brethren, as the servant and 
 •child of God, and among the faithful, those especially 
 who have given up all means and opportunities of worldly 
 ^ain to devote themselves to teaching the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 11. See with what letters I have written to you with my 
 hand. 
 
 12. For whoever aim at pleasing in the flesh, these 
 •desire you to be circumcised ; only that they may not 
 suffer the persecution of the cross of Christ. 
 
 13. For not even those who are circumcised keep the 
 law; but wish you to be circumcised, that they may glory 
 in your flesh. 
 
 14. But for me, God forbid I should glory, except in 
 the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to me 
 the world is crucified, and I to the world. 
 
20G THE EriSTLK OF ST. PAUL 
 
 15. For in Christ Jesu^ neither is circumcision of any 
 vahie, nor uncircumcision, but new creation. 
 
 16. And whoever shall ha\e followed this rule ; peace 
 on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 
 
 17. For the rest let no one ^dve me trouble ; for I 
 bear in my body the stigmata of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with your 
 spirit, brethren. Amen. 
 
 II. See how long a letter I have written to you, not as- 
 usual, by the hand of another, but throughout with my 
 own hand. For though this Epistle is not so long as 
 several others of St. Paul, the longer ones were written by 
 an anuuiuensis at his dictation. There is, however, much 
 difference of opinion as to the meaning of these words.. 
 Saint Jerome thinks that up to this point the letter was 
 dictated to a writer, and that Saint Paul only added the 
 concluding verses, from this point to the end, with his 
 own hand. The Greek w^rtls TnjXiKofi jpafifiaaw signify 
 with letters of hoiv lav^e a size, as if the Apostle had some 
 affection of the e}es which injured his sight, and com- 
 pelled him, whenever he wrote, to write ver}- large. The 
 words of the \'u!gate, qnalihiis Uteris, seem to imply that 
 the Latin translator took this view, as also did St.. 
 Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact, except that 
 these three writers differ from St. Jerome in thinking that 
 the Epistle was written throughout by the Apostle with 
 his own hand. St. Chrysostom says it refers to the 
 unskilful manner in which the letters were formed, as if the 
 writer had said, I ha\'e written all this with my own hand, 
 though I do not write well, and do not form the Greek, 
 characters correctly ; and that he calls attention to the 
 circumstance to prove that the document was reall}- his- 
 own, and not a forgery passed off by another person in 
 his name. Saint Anselm, on the other hand, has the 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 207 
 
 singular idea that Saint Paul is directing their attention^ 
 to the beauty of the letters he forms, as if he would have 
 said, see how well I write Greek. Yet the word irrfKiKOi^ 
 is an adjective of quantity, and cannot refer to anything 
 but the size of the letters. However this may be, it is- 
 certain that the x\postle's writing with his own hand was- 
 a mark of regard and affection for the Galatiara 
 Christians ; and that he certainly wrote with his own^^ 
 hand the remainder of the Epistle from this point to the 
 end. 
 
 12. St. Paul states at once, without apolog} or cir- 
 cumlocution, the real motive of those who were endea- 
 vouring to lead the Christians of Galatia astray. They 
 wished not to offend the Jews, who were at that time in- 
 fluential and powerful, so that they might avoid the 
 annoyance and persecution which commonly overtook the- 
 preachers of the Gospel of Christ. The Jews cared very 
 little whether Christ was preached or not, so long as 
 circumcision and the law of Moses were not abolished :' 
 because these were national customs, on the maintenance 
 of which their influence and organization depended. These- 
 heretical teachers therefore preached Christ for gain, and 
 circumcision and the law at the same time, to please the 
 Jews. Not that they cared to observe the law ; but they 
 would havej'on circumcised that they may boast of }ou to- 
 the chiefs of the Jewish party as converts to Judaism. 
 
 14. God forbid tJiat I sJioiild glory. The Apostle puts his 
 own motives, principles, and conduct in contrast with 
 those of the men whom he has been describing. God 
 forbid I should do anything, change anything in the doc- 
 trine of the religion of Christ, to avoid persecution, or' 
 obtain the goodwill and the praise of men. For all my 
 glory, and all my rejoicing, is in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, believing it, preaching it, in my measure sharing it. 
 This is all my joy and all my glory. For the love of 
 
208 THE EPISTLE OE Sr. I'ALL 
 
 Christ our Lord all the universe is no more to me than 
 the dead body of one who has been crucified, worthless 
 and good for nothing, an object even of detestation and 
 abhorrence, so far as there is any danger of its drawing 
 awav to itself, for one moment, or in the smallest degree, 
 iiny part of the allegiance and adoration of m}' heart and 
 soul, which is consecrated to him. And for his sake I 
 .am not only willing, but proud and joyful, and make 
 it my highest boast and glorying, to be myself re- 
 :garded by the world, as on his account I am regarded, and 
 by all who love this world, as an outcast, beneath notice, 
 utterlv unworthy of consideration and regard, an object 
 -of scorn, detestation, and abhorrence, like the body of 
 one who has been cruciiied. In anything but this, God 
 forbid that I should glory. The world is crucified to me, 
 imd I to the world. 
 
 15. This verse contains in a few words what is in effect 
 an epitome of the whole Epistle. In Clivht Jcsu^, in the 
 •Christian religion, and before the }>resence of God, cir- 
 cumcision has no value, nor uncircumcision, nor v/ill either 
 condition affect salvation ; which depends upon the 
 renewal of the soul by grace. The word crcatnva. like the 
 •Greek word to which it corresponds, may be rendered 
 -either in the abstract or the concrete : the act of creation, 
 or the thing created. The nciv creature is the soul ex- 
 -teriorly regenerated by baptism, interiorly renewed by 
 grace, walking in newness of life, under the guidance of 
 4he Spirit of God, and for charity observing his com- 
 mands. 
 
 16. Those who observe this rule of life, the Syriac, 
 -those who walk along this path, just described, and further 
 explained in the teaching of this Epistle, peace and mercy 
 be upon them, whether they have been Jews or Gentiles 
 before their conversion to Christ. Eor the true Israel of 
 <God are those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 
TO THE GALATIANS. 20g 
 
 God, and the son promised to Abraham, and in him look 
 for justification and salvation. 
 
 17. Henceforward let no one, whether a Judaizer or 
 any other, give me further trouble, the Syriac, impose 
 further toil or labour upon me, with regard to this ques- 
 •tion of circumcision, or Hebrew rites and ceremonies ; 
 for I have fully stated the mind and teaching of Jesus 
 •Christ on this subject. If they are circumcised, so am I ; 
 but what is far greater, and an infinitely higher privi- 
 lege, I bear in my body the marks which prove that I have 
 been partaker of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, who was 
 in a sense circumcised in his whole body. From the sole 
 of his foot to the head there was no soundness, by the 
 thorns that tore his head, the nails that pierced his hands 
 .and feet, the gashes of the scourge, the thrust of the lance. 
 Marks, more or less, like these I also bear in my body, 
 and if they glory in their circumcision, I will glory in 
 sharing Christ's sufferings. They can show nothing of 
 this sort. The very purpose for which they preach cir- 
 cumcision is that they may escape all risk of ever doing 
 so. Saint Paul had been thrice beaten itnth rods, to which 
 perhaps he here particularly refers. At the very time he 
 wrote these words he was living under arrest, in the city 
 of Rome, and very probably fastened by a chain and hand- 
 cuff to the soldier who guarded him. 
 
 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your 
 spirit. In all the other Epistles, except the second to 
 Timothy and that to Philemon, Saint Paul says, be ivith 
 
 you. Saint Chrysostom thinks he here whites expressly 
 •with your spirit, in order to remind the Galatians that it is 
 by faith, which is a spiritual act, not by any exterior 
 ceremonies of the Hebrew law, that they were to look for 
 .salvation in Jesus Christ ; and that they had received the 
 Holy Spirit of God by faith, not by the law. 
 
210 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be ivith your spirits 
 There is no occasion to enter into metaphysical distinc- 
 tions as to any difference there may be, or not be,, 
 between the spirit and soul, in man. Some have attempted 
 to distinguish between them. It is enough to know that 
 into the material frame, formed of the dust of the earth,, 
 by the hands of omnipotence, God breathed the breath 
 of life, and man became a living soul, and an im- 
 mortal spirit. Man is one, body, soul, and spirit. The 
 Dominus vobiscuni, and cuui spiritu tuo, are not dif- 
 ferent pravers, but the same in a different phrase, and if 
 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit of 
 man, the spirit of man is strengthened and vivified by that 
 grace, and enabled to hold its proper place as sovereign 
 over all faculties and functions of soul and body, over the 
 \\'\\\, the exercise of the intellectual powers^ the affections,, 
 and the movements of physical action and life. When 
 the powers of the mind, and the purpose of the will, are 
 applied to what tends only to the preservation, the en- 
 largement, or the enjo}nient of this mortal state and what 
 belongs to it, and is bounded by it, this is said to be (in 
 philosophical language, not in poetry) the action of the 
 soul. When they rise above this world, expand in faith, 
 and strive after perfection and happiness in eternity, this 
 is the life of the spirit. The higher faculties of man's 
 nature are formed by our Creator to answer to and 
 receive the impress and impulse of that which is to raise 
 them to glory, and give them wings to soar to heaven. 
 This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our 
 Creator, and who, in forming our nature, looked forward 
 to investing himself with it, and, therefore, made the 
 human nature capable of becoming the vehicle of the 
 
TO THI'; GALATIANS. 211 
 
 Divine. Without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 man's spirit, however wonderfully formed, is useless and 
 imperfect, and cannot attain the end for which it was 
 created. It is the almond tree that never blossoms, the 
 vine that yields wild grapes, the chrysalis that dies in the 
 earth, and never expands to the sun the wings folded 
 within it. With the aid of that grace, there is no height 
 of glory to which it ma}' not rise. For Christ has 
 enthroned the nature of man, spirit, soul, and body, at 
 the right hand of the Majesty that is in the heavens, for 
 the admiration of the universe and the adoration of the 
 Angels. And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will not 
 fail to accompan}', animate, transform, guide through 
 the perils and perplexities of life, and bring to the con- 
 summation of perfection and complete beatitude of soul 
 and body in the life to come, all those who persevere till 
 death in the faith of Christ, and the communion of the 
 Holy Catholic Church. This is, in brief and in sum, the 
 truth which Saint Paul enforces in the Epistle he con- 
 cludes with these words, and which he so earnestly 
 implores the Galatian Christians to accept and adhere to. 
 Such are the true sons of God, the true heirs of the 
 promises made to Saints of old, the true citizens of that 
 Jerusalem which is froni above, who is the mother of us 
 all. The grace of Christ is that which alone can deliver 
 human nature from corruption, can alone raise it to the 
 life for which it was created, which is life eternal. 
 And that grace all who believe in Christ have received 
 and may retain, until the life of grace and hope is 
 absorbed in the life of security and glory. 
 
 O 2 
 
THE EPISTLE OF SAINT PAUL THE 
 APOSTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 This Epistle, written while St. Paul was a prisoner at 
 Rome, is entitled as addressed to the Christians of 
 Ephesus, the famous capital city of the Roman province 
 of Asia. Ancient writers have sometimes referred to and 
 quoted it as adch'essed to the Christians of Laodicea. 
 The probability is that it was an encyclical letter or circu- 
 lar intended for all the Churches of Asia, and primarily 
 that of Ephesus. The title in the earlier copies (mysti- 
 cally explained by St. Basil, Eunom. lib. ii. 2 p. 733) pur- 
 ports that it is addressed to the Saints who are — omittint:^ 
 the name of any particular place — and the faithful in 
 Christ Jesus. In verse i the blank is filled up with at 
 Ephesus. At the conclusion the Apostle salutes not the 
 Ephesians only, but all the Christians of Asia, and instead 
 of writing, as usual, peace to you, he writes peace to the 
 brctliren. And it was sometimes spoken of as the Epistle 
 to the Laodiceans, as by Tertullian, cont. Alarcion. 
 V. II, 17, p. 598. See on this point M. de Tillemont, 
 M^moires &c., an. 49, p. 321, and notes sur S. Paul, 79, 
 p. 613. 
 
 The Apostle had converted many of the Ephesians to 
 the faith of Christ during a residence of three years in 
 their city ; and his present object is to confirm them in 
 the faith and instruct them more fully in the sublimer 
 
PREFACE. 213 
 
 mysteries of the Christian rehgion. Tliere was another 
 and more urgent object which he has in view, for the faith 
 of the Ephesian Cliristians was seriously imperilled by the 
 efforts of the Judaizers on the one hand, and on the 
 other by the followers of Simon Magus, whose wild errors, 
 disguised under the veil of a subtle and imposing system 
 of philosophy, were beginning to spread over the Roman 
 Fm ire. They maintained, among other false doctrines 
 which will have to be referred to further on, that angels, 
 and not Christ, are the true mediators between God and 
 man, and that it is to angels, and not to Christ, that we 
 are to have recourse for reconciliation with God. The 
 first three chapters of the Epistle treat of eternal predes- 
 tination, of man's redemption by the death of Christ, 
 of the vocation of the Gentiles, of the union of Gentiles 
 and Jews, men and angels, under the sceptre of Christ, 
 the great Head of the Church, who is raised above all 
 creation. In the concluding chapters the Apostle lays 
 down the principles and precepts of the Christian life in 
 all its relations and conditions. For both the Juiaizers 
 and the followers of Simon erred alike, in manners as in 
 faith. 
 
 The style of this Ep'stle, as every reader of it must 
 have observed, differs conspicuously from that of all the 
 other writings of St. Paul. Erasmus remarks that it 
 would appear to have been written by another hand, were 
 it not that its drift and meaning, and the doctrine it con- 
 veys, proceed evidently from the mind of St. Paul. The 
 difference is ascribable to the more serious and terrible 
 nature of the heresies which the Apostle is compelled to 
 expose and refute. In a Idressing the Galatians, he could 
 appeal to their common sense, almost their sense of 
 ridicule, against the Judaic compliances which were 
 exacted from them by worldly and self-seeking men, or iu 
 refutation of unfounded charges brought against himself. 
 
214 PREFACE. * 
 
 But in repelling the awful and monstrous delusions, con- 
 cealed under the guise of philosophy, which were put for- 
 ward by the impiety of Simon and his adherents, he is 
 compelled to ascend to the higher regions of theological 
 truth, and use language of greater solemnity, not unlike 
 that which was directed, a few years later, against the 
 same or similar errors, !)}• St. Peter and St. Jude, and in 
 the second of his own Epistles to Timothy, and later still, 
 by the Evangelist St. John. All early writers have noticed 
 in the Epistle to the Ephesians a deeper wisdom, energ}-, 
 and fervour, than in the others composed during the 
 same period of imprisonment, as if the writer were pant- 
 ing after martyrdom, and breathed forth something of the 
 divine lire and celestial illumination which enlightened 
 and consumed his soul. 
 
 There is, however, some diffjrcnce of opinion as to 
 whether it was composed during St. Paul's first or sccon 1 
 imprisonment at Rome, of which the latter terminated in 
 his martvrdom. Theodt^-et (Preface to the Ep. of St. 
 Paul) thinks it was written during the first imprisonment, 
 and sent by Tychicus, together with the Epistle to the 
 Colossians. Baronius (a.d. 62) also considers that it wa^ 
 written at that time, and sent by Tychicus, and with it the 
 second Epistle to Timoth}^ Other writers also think 
 that it was sent together with the second to Timothy, but 
 that both were written during the second incarceration, and 
 shortly before the Apostle's martyrdom, which took place 
 June 29, 67. On this subject see M. de Tillemont, nutc 
 78 on St. Paul and Maiioircs, torn. i. 
 
:EPISTLE of ST. PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS. 21' 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. Paul, Apostle of Jesus Christ, throuj^h the will of 
 God, to all the saints who are at Ephesus, and faithful in 
 Christ Jesus; 
 
 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Chapter l In this chapter the Apostle declares the 
 purpose of Almighty God, from all eternity, to call the 
 Ephesian believers, and all other faithful followers of Jesus 
 'Christ, to grace and salvation ; and prays that they may 
 he enlightened to see the splendour and sublimity of this 
 heavenly calling, and of the hope cf sharing the greatness 
 :and felicity of Jesus Christ, seated in glory at the right 
 Jiand of God. 
 
 I. Apostle of jfcsiis Christ, by ilic icill of God. This 
 tstatement is frequently repeated by St. Paul, as at the 
 beginning of both the Epistles to the Corinthians, that to 
 rthe Colossians, &c. It implies that avocation depending 
 •on the will of God is required for every minister of Christ, 
 ■whether called to preach the Gospel or stand at the altar. 
 It may suggest to every priest to consider and reflect upon 
 the motives and circumstances which led him to enter the 
 .sacerdotal office, so that if he thinks there existed any 
 defect in his vocation, it may be supplied by penance. 
 
 To all the saints. So also in both the Epistles to the 
 ■Corinthians, and elsewhere. For all Christians are saints, 
 iuid called to sanctity, though, it may be, in different 
 
2i6 TH1-: ]:pistle of st. paul 
 
 degrees. The}- came forth nninaculate from the fount of 
 baptism, and with that beginning a profane and worldly 
 hfe can hardly be consistent. At least the}' should aspire 
 in some degree to sanctity. 
 
 2. Grace and peace. St. Paul prays for grace and peace 
 for his brethren, in almost all his Epistles. Grace and 
 peace are what we should continually ask of Christ, for 
 ourselves and others. Grace includes every gift necessary 
 for eternal life ; peace is the firm, unshaken, and tranquil. 
 possession of these spiritual gifts. 
 
 3. Blessed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Ghrist, who has blessed us in every spiritual benediction,, 
 in the heavenly places, in Christ. 
 
 4. As he chose us \n him before the foundation of the 
 world, that we might be holy and immaculate, in his- 
 sight, in charit}'. 
 
 3. Blessed be the God and FatJicr of our Lord Jesii'i 
 Christ. There is no verb in this sentence, either in the 
 \'ulgate or the Greek text. We may understand, either 
 blessed is, or blessed be. It is a theological truth that 
 God is, and ought to be, blessed ; the recognition of this 
 truth is an act of piety in the creature towards the 
 Creator. In this verse the Apostle blesses God. and 
 affirms that God has blessed ns. In the first, to bless means 
 to praise, in the second it signifies to do good ; but both 
 significations are radically the same, because to praise,, 
 and to do good, proceed alike from a good will, and have 
 their origin in charit}'. We bless God, when we thank 
 him for his benefits, and God blesses us when he bestows 
 those benefits. For God's blessing confers good, in 
 which it differs from the ineffectual, and sometimes 
 false, benedictions of man. 
 
 In every spiritual benediction. The word in is redundant^ 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 217' 
 
 by a Hebrew idiom. With every spiritual benediction 
 In saying spiritual benediction, the Apostle means tc 
 contrast the blessings we receive from God, with those he 
 promised to, and conferred upon, his ancient people,- 
 which were not spiritual, but material. He promised' 
 earthly blessings to the Jews, he has promised the 
 heavenly to Christians. The New Testament is distant 
 from the Old, as heaven from earth. In the ancient 
 Scriptures, as for example in Lev. xxvi., Deut. vii., or' 
 xxviii., we find only earthly advantages secured or offered 
 to the people of Israel. But, in reading the New Testa- 
 ment, we find no promises of terrestrial good. Blessed arc 
 the pour in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Whc 
 lovcth me, zee will come and make our dwelling with hinir- 
 Matt. V. 3, Joh. xiv. 23. The followers of Christ are, ou' 
 the contrary, warned to expect persecution and affliction. 
 Yon shall mourn and tcccp. hi the world you shall havf 
 trouble. Joh. xvi. 20, ^i,. The spirit of the Christian 
 faith is to despise earth, and aspire to heaven, to be with- 
 drawn from what is carnal, the more abundantl}- tc 
 possess that which is spiritual. 
 
 In the heavenly, understand /'^""io/zs or palaces, not literall}" 
 but in figure, because the nature of the heavenly can-' 
 not be fully apprehended by our limited intelligence. God 
 lias blessed us in the heaxeni}- places, because there he- 
 dwells ; or more properly, has blessed us with celestial 
 gifts which are one day to raise us to heaven. 
 
 In Christ. That is, through Christ ; or by the faith of 
 Christ ; or because the possession of Christ is the pro- 
 mised blessing which awaits us in the heavenly 
 places, whither he has ascended. The preposition) 
 in is omitted in the Greek, but probably by mistake 
 of a transcriber, the expression as it stands being: 
 a solecism and ungrammatical. Christ is the means or 
 channel by which every blessing of God reaches us ; and 
 
^iS THR liPISTLl-: OF ST. PAUL 
 
 by which our praise ami benediction ascends in answer to 
 •God. Tiiroii.i^ii him, with him, and in him, is all honour 
 .and glory given to God omnipotent, not by man only, but 
 by the holy Angels as well. 
 
 4. As he chose us in Christ before tlie foundation of the world . 
 This particularizes and describes the blessin<( referred to 
 in the last verse. God chose us, before the foundation of 
 ithe world, in view of the merits of Christ, and for the sake 
 •of Christ ; and having chosen us in eternity, has blessed 
 (US in time. The Greek word Kara/SoXyj signifies the lay- 
 ing of a foundation, literally, throwing down. As if, says 
 :St. Chrysostom, God had thrown down the universe from 
 .an infinite lieigiit, not locally, but on account of the im- 
 measurable distance which separates the nature of the 
 Creator from that of the creature. 
 
 That K'c mii^ht be holy and blameless in his sii^ht. This is 
 the object of our election, to be lioK and blameless, not 
 only in the sight of men, who may be deceived, but in that 
 of God, who sees all things. /» c7;^rr/()', because this is the 
 crown and perfection of sanctification, and the means of 
 attaining it. The Apostle does not assert that sanctifica- 
 tion is the final end of our election, but it is the final end 
 as regards this life. Or it may be considered as identical 
 •with the final beatification of soul and body in the pre- 
 sence of God, for which it is, in an}- point of view, essential. 
 But St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, and the Syriac version, 
 take the words in cliarity as belonging to the ne.xt verse : 
 who has predestinated us in charity, or love. 
 
 In order to understand these openir.g words of the 
 Apostle, it may be useful to enumerate some of the 
 .•shocking tenets of the heretics against whom this 
 Epistle is directed, and which were more fully brought 
 to light at a later period when they had been separated 
 from the communion of the Church. These errors are 
 /uUy detailed in the writings of Irenieus and St. Clement. 
 
TO THE EPHKSIANS. 219 
 
 "It will be sufficient to say here that the followers of Simon 
 Magus maintained, i. That the Creator of the world was 
 not the Supreme Being, but an evil or imperfect principle 
 or agent ; 2. That he was the enemy of Christ, and 
 brought him to the cross ; 3. That the heirs of salvation 
 iiave a divine or angelic nature, derived from spheres 
 beyond the knowledge of the Creator; 4. That their 
 salvation is, therefore, the result, not of election but of 
 ■ creation ; 5. That it depends on destiny, not on the 
 will of the Creator ; 6. That sanctity, or obedience 
 to the laws of the Creator of the world, is a degra- 
 •ding servitude, and the contrary is the characteristic 
 •of the sons of light ; 7. That the rest of the race of 
 mankind are not objects of charity, but of scorn and hate, 
 like their Creator, and incapable of salvation ; 8. That 
 knowledge, not love, is the perfection of humanity an 1 
 the inheritance of the Saints. These errors are coni- 
 batted throughout the present Epistle ; and in the two 
 ^verses now under consideration St. Paul asserts, i. That 
 •our Creator is blessed; 2. That he has blessed us, that is, all 
 baptized Christians, i}i Christ ; 3. That he has chosen us 
 liefore creation ; 4. That he has chosen us to salvation ; 
 5. That he has chosen us for Christ's sake, from the 
 foreknowledge that we should believe in Christ ; 6. That 
 he has chosen us to sanctihcation ; 7. That sanctilication 
 lis obtained and made perfect by charity ; 8. That in charity 
 he has predestinated us to life eternal. 
 
 To this may be added that the heretics appear to have 
 •considered the world to have existed from eternity, or at 
 Jeast the material from which it was framed, on which 
 .account St. Paul says that God laid, or cast down, the 
 foundations of the world. And that angels, not Christ, are 
 our true mediators with God ; for which reason the 
 Apostle avers that God has blessed us in heavenly places 
 dn Christ. It is possible that some of these wild opinions 
 
220 THE EPISTLE Ol- ST. PAUL 
 
 may be faintly reflc'ctcd in the heresies or philosophies of 
 modern times, but for the most part they are obsolete 
 and forgotten, and the chief interest of the Epistle to the 
 Ephesians consists in the sublime and beautiful expositiorh 
 of the Christian philosophy with which St. Paul has 
 crushed and refuted them, in this magnificent treatise,, 
 and which he derived directly from the inspiration of the 
 Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 5. Who predestined us to the adoption of sons,. 
 llirough Jesus Christ, into him, according to the purpose 
 <J his will : 
 
 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, whereby he- 
 made us gracious in his beloved Son. 
 
 5. Who predestined ns. The Apostle borrows this word, 
 from the vocabulary of his opponents, who attributed. 
 ever3'thing in human life to destiny, or the influence of an: 
 inexorable fate determined by mysterious po\\ers presiding 
 over the birth of every individual, and whose dictates 
 could not be escaped. But he uses the term in a sense of 
 his own, very different from theirs, declaring that God 
 has, from the beginning of the world, appointed or 
 predestined believers in Christ, to the adoption of sons.. 
 The same blessing he has described before, and now ex- 
 pands in further detail ; to be chosen to sanctity is the same- 
 thing as to he predestined to sonship. Forthesaints are the 
 sons of God. Through, by means of and for the sake of,. 
 jcsiis Christ, to hnn. The Greek text, as we have it now, 
 reads eU avrov, to himself ; the translator of the Vulgate 
 appears to have read ete alio \ to him, that is, to Christ.. 
 According to the purpose of his uill, or the good pleasure of his- 
 will, his own voluntar\- and spontaneous mercy and kindness, 
 the sole origin and source of this infinite honour and 
 benefit to man. It is clear that St. Paul understands that 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 221 
 
 this adoption to be sons of God had already been con- 
 ferred upon the Ephesian Christians in the laver of re- 
 generation, to which God had chosen or predestined them 
 from eternity. This was the immediate object of their 
 predestination and election, to which these tended ; and 
 that he does not refer to any immediate election and pre- 
 destination to glory, appears from these considerations. 
 
 1. The inscription, the Epistle being addressed to the 
 saints and faithful, not to such as were chosen to glory. 
 
 2. The words of the text: predestined to sonsliip, which is 
 the privilege of all believers. 3. The general tenor of the 
 Epistle addressed to them. No one would venture to 
 assert that none of the Ephesian Christians were damned ; 
 "that the object of St. Paul in writing it was to assure them 
 ■of salvation unconditionalh', or that he meant to make 
 their election to glory patent and public to all the vvorld. 
 That their attainment of eternal glor}' was the end of their 
 -election, there is no doubt; but it does not follow that the 
 ;mode of arriving at grace and glory are the same. This is, 
 however, another and more general question ; what is 
 asserted here is that the Apostle is not treating of election 
 or predestination to final glory, but election and predesti- 
 nation to the adoption of sons, which is the privilege of all 
 Ijaptized believers in Christ. They are chosen to sanctity. 
 But it is evident, from the language of this Epistle, that 
 the Ephesian Christians were not 2i\\ saints. This election 
 is not, therefore, absolute, but conditional. Absolute on 
 the part of God, who gives the graces necessary for 
 sanctity, but conditional, as assuming our own free co- 
 operation with that grace. 
 
 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace. The Syriac: 
 that the praise of his grace may be celebrated. The final 
 cause and object of our election and salvation is, that for 
 God's infinite love and mercy, praise and glory may be 
 rendered to him by men and angels. 
 
222 THE liFlSTLE OF ST. I'ALL 
 
 In which grace, or by which grace, he has made us gracious - 
 endowed us with Christian graces, made us acceptable andl 
 beloved to himself, as his own sons. Bring out the best 
 robe and put it on him, and place a ring on his hand, 
 Luc. XV. 22. St. Chrysostom says : By this grace he not 
 only freed us from our sins, but made us pleasing, and 
 objects of love and affection to himself. As if he took up- 
 one who was foul and disfigured with pestilence, disease,, 
 and leprosy, enfeebled by age, ruined in fortune, and 
 restoring him at once to youth, health, strength, and 
 beauty, beyond all compare, and in the flower and fulness- 
 C)( his age, and the vigour of life, clothed him with purple,, 
 placed a jew^elled diadem upon his head, surrounded hini' 
 with state and splendour. Thus has God recreated and 
 adorned the soul of man, and made it brilliant and 
 beautiful, lovely, amiable, and desirable in his sight. 
 
 /;/ his beloved Son. The word Son is omitted in the 
 Greek. In the Beloved. The Striae : through his Beloved,. 
 Christ is essentially and by excellence the Beloved of the 
 Leather. The felicit}' of Dcit\- consists in the eternal 
 affection that reigns between the Father and the Son.. 
 The Son beholds the fulness of the Father's glor}- ; the 
 Father sees his own infinite perfection perfectly reflected 
 in the Son, his image and likeness. And through our 
 union with Christ we also are belcncd, rendered amiable,, 
 gracious, acceptable, to God the Father, in the Beloved. 
 The false doctrine of the heretics, that the sons of light 
 have by creation, and of themselves, a different nature 
 from other men, the development of which must bring 
 them to ultimate glory, is contradicted by this statement 
 of the Apostle, that we are gracious and acceptable in the 
 sight of God only for the sake of Christ, and through 
 union with liim. 
 
 7. In whom we have redemption through his bloody 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 223 
 
 the remission of sins, accord inj:;^ to the riches of his grace. 
 
 8. Which has over-abounded in us, in all wisdom and 
 prudence. 
 
 The heretics, referring everything to fate, and regarding 
 all human action as the inevitable outcome of the law of 
 man's creation, did not believe either in sin, or the re- 
 mission of sin. The sons of light could not sin, the ordi- 
 nary run of mankind, the work of an evil creator, could 
 do nothing good. The Apostle, therefore, insists on the 
 reality, both of SJ7Z, and its remission. In Christ we have 
 redemption, or deliverance, from sin and prospect i\'ely all 
 other ill or evil. In the Greek, the ransom or cleansing,. 
 through the blood of Christ, /or the remission- of sins. 
 According to the riches of his grace, that is, by the abundance 
 of his mercy. The riches of God is the riches of his- 
 mercy. St. Chrysostom remarks that the Apostle- 
 seems here to be going back from the greater to the less,- 
 for having spoken of election to sanctification and pre- 
 destination to the adoption of sons, he now tells us of tJic 
 remission of sin. But it is not so, for in truth he is ascend- 
 ing from the little to the great. Nothing else is so great 
 as the shedding of the blood of God ; no mercy or bless- 
 ing so high as that it was shed for us. Greater than even 
 the adoption to be his sons, and all God's other gifts, is 
 this, that for us he spared not his own Son. Remission 
 of sins is called redemption, on account of the infinite value 
 of the price paid for it, the blood of the only-begotten 
 Son of God. A price in proportion to the riches of God's 
 grace. But if God gave his Son to death for sinners,^ 
 when his enemies : what may we not expect that he will 
 do, from the riches of his grace, for those who are now 
 gracious in the Beloved ? 
 
 8. This grace of God is abundant in all Christian 
 people, as appeared by the miracles which the Spirit of 
 God enabled them to work, so frequently and constantly. 
 
-;224 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 jn the Apostolic a.s^e. But it abouiulcd still more, or over- 
 abounded, in us the Apostles of Christ, who were super- 
 naturally endowed with loisdoin, or the knowledge of divine 
 things, and prudence, the knowledge how to act, or direct 
 others to act. For God imparted to the founders of his 
 Church a more perfect insight into heavenly mysteries, 
 .that they might instruct others in the faith, and practical 
 wisdom to guide the Church of God. St. Anselm observes 
 ithat St. Paul says this because there were many so-called 
 philosophers at Ephesus, who boasted that they were the 
 .only wise men living, and in order to attract the con- 
 -fidence and attention of the Ephesians to the words he 
 •was addressing to them. 
 
 g. That he might make known to us the sacrament of 
 his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed 
 in him. 
 
 10. In dispensation of the fulness of the times, to 
 -restore all things in Christ which are in heaven and 
 
 which are in earth, in him : 
 
 11. In whom we also were called by lot, being predes- 
 tined according to the purpose of him who operates all 
 
 •things after the counsel of his will : 
 
 12. That we may be for the praise of his glory, who 
 were the first to have hope in Christ. 
 
 g. That he might make kuoicu to ns. The Greek has, 
 when he had made known to us, the mystery of his will. 
 In these four verses the Apostle explains the economy or 
 purpose of God in first communicating the message of re- 
 demption to the Apostles, and thereby constituting them 
 -the teachers of the nations, to whose voice, consequently, 
 the Ephesians might reasonably be expected to listen. 
 •God endowed them with wisdom and prudence, and made 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS- 
 
 225 
 
 known to them the hidden mystery of his will, which was 
 to reconcile and redeem through Christ not the Jews only, 
 but all tribes and nations of mankind. This was owing 
 •solely to the charity, kindness, and love of God, the good 
 pleasure which he purposed in himself. This is the read- 
 ing of the Greek text, but the Vulgate reads in him, that is 
 in Christ, and this Cornelius a Lapide thinks more in ac- 
 cordance with the Apostle's probable meaning and inten- 
 tion. St. Chrysostom says that the mystery of the divine 
 will, made known to the Apostles for the instruction of 
 the world, was the Incarnation of the Word of God, an in- 
 tention so involved previously in silence and darkness that 
 eot men only, but the angels also, were ignorant of it, 
 until it was accomplished. A mystery, the understanding 
 of which invested with wisdom and prudence the minds 
 to whom the knowledge of it was communicated. Not 
 flesh and blood has revealed it to thee, but my Father in 
 heaven. 
 
 10. And that which God revealed to the Apostles was, 
 bis intention in the dispensation or economy of the fulness of 
 the times, when what he saw to be the fitting time had 
 arrived, to renew, restore, collect and rally, under the 
 sceptre of Christ, and in the embrace of the same divine 
 charity which unites the Father and the Son, all things 
 in heaven and earth, angels and men, Gentiles and Jews. 
 Christ is the head over all the Church, and to him all 
 power is given, in heaven and earth. All things in heaven, 
 because the ruin of the fallen angels is repaired from the 
 Tanks of the human species. Men are raised thither, says 
 St. Anselm, whence the apostate angels fell. On earth, 
 because sinners are converted to justice. Heaven and 
 •earth are now one family in Christ. Angels are our 
 brethren, Christ our Father and head. Christians on 
 earth, of whatever nation, are one people of God, united 
 in his service. Raised to so great an honour, says St. 
 
 u 
 
226 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Chnsostom, let us do no disgrace to him who has sc-^ 
 dignified and distinguished us, nor allow so great a favour 
 to be bestowed on us in vain. Associated with angels, 
 let us lead an angelic life. Let not our advancement be 
 our judgment and condemnation, but let us rather enter 
 freely and generously on the enjoyment of the high destiny 
 to which God's grace has called us. 
 
 11. In whom we also Jiave obtained an inheritance. The 
 Apostle repeats at the end of the last verse, in him, that is 
 in Christ, alone, not by any angel or created spiritual 
 power. In the Incarnate Word of God, we the Apostles^ 
 and others of our nation, obtained our share in God's in- 
 heritance. It would seem that in very ancient times in- 
 heritances were distributed by lot, for which reason the 
 Greek term to inherit means literally to obtain by lot. By 
 the lot of God's appointment, the message of salvation 
 was first communicated to the Jewish nation, among 
 whom Christ spent his mortal life, and to which all the 
 Apostles belonged. Not by virtue of any superior merit,, 
 for we were, as it were, called by lot. But this was accord- 
 ing to the purpose, election, predestination, and decree of 
 the Almighty, by whose all-powerful will and unerring 
 wisdom all things are guided and directed, and not by any 
 accident. 
 
 12. That we might be to the praise of his glory. In order 
 that we, the Jews, who were the first to believe in Christ, 
 and embrace the glorious hope of everlasting life to be 
 attained through him, might be the means of extending 
 God's praise and glory in the world, by making known to 
 all other nations the grace we have received from Christ, and 
 the Gospel of his salvation. It is possible that the Greeks 
 of Ephesus, proud of the antiquity of their famous city, 
 their attainments in literature and philosophy, and a cer- 
 tain lustre derived by reflection from the imposing worship- 
 of their world-celebrated temple, resented the introduc- 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 227 
 
 tion of a new religion brought by foreigners from the East, 
 and the Apostle consequently justifies in this apology the 
 economy of God, who had purposely adopted this means 
 of making the message of salvation known to the nations. 
 He goes on to show that the gifts and graces of God were 
 poured forth in ample measure upon the Gentile nations 
 also, in the following verses. 
 
 13. In whom you also, when you had heard the word 
 of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and in whom also 
 believing, were sealed with the Spirit of promise, the 
 Holy, 
 
 14. Who is the pledge of our inheritance, for the 
 redemption of the acquisition, to the praise of his glory. 
 
 13. In verse ii the Apostle said, in whom we also have 
 obtained an inheritance. Here he adds, in whom aha you. 
 What he said before of the Jews he now says of the 
 Gentiles. When yon heard the word of truth, the word of 
 Christ, who is Truth. The word of Christ is truth, 
 I. Because he is truth. 2. Because it contains no errors, 
 as the doctrines of philosophy often did. 3. Because it 
 reveals divine things openly, not in shadows and figures, 
 like the old Law. It is the Gospel of your salvation ; he 
 who believes, shall be saved. And having heard the word of 
 Christ by the preaching of the Apostles, and believing it, in 
 the Greek having believed, or given j'our assent to it, 3'ou 
 were in Christ (in quo) united to him by faith and the 
 grace of baptism, you were sealed, in Baptism and Con- 
 firmation, with the Holy Spirit promised of old by the 
 Prophets (Ezech. xxxvi. 26, Joel ii. 28) and by Christ 
 (Luc. xxiv. 49) and therefore called the Spirit of promise, 
 
 the Holy, the source of sanctity. The Jews, St. Chrysos- 
 
 u 2 
 
228 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 torn says, were marked outwardly in the flesh, like sheep 
 or cattle, Christians within by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 14. The Holy Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance. His 
 interior gifts, charity, justice, peace, joy, and the exterior 
 gifts of miracles, are a part of your eternal inheritance 
 given in advance as a pledge of the remainder, to be given 
 in eternity, until such time as God shall complete and 
 accomplish the redemption of the Acquisition, or of the 
 people he has acquired or purchased. This redemption 
 consists, for the present, in freedom from the service of 
 sin, but it will not be complete until God shall have set 
 his people free from all evil for ever and given them 
 possession of eternal glory. 
 
 The redemption of the acquisition, therefore, means here 
 full and absolute emancipation from all infirmities of soul 
 and body, at the resurrection to eternal life. And the 
 Holy Spirit is given us, i. as a seal in confirmation and 
 assurance of our adoption to be the sons of God. 2. as 
 a pledge of our right of succession in the future to the 
 inheritance of God our Father, until that redemption is 
 made perfect and complete. We are sealed that we may 
 be assured we are God's people now, and that we shall 
 rise hereafter to everlasting life and glory. 
 
 To the praise of his glory. This is the third time we have 
 met with this expression. In verse 6 the Apostle says 
 that God predestined us to adoption, to the praise of the 
 glory of his grace. In verse 12, we, the Jews, obtained 
 this inheritance, to the praise of his glory. Here, the 
 supreme and final end of the redemption of God's acquisi- 
 tion, from all nations of the earth alike, is the praise of his 
 glory. As if not satisfied with being glorious in himself, 
 God desires to have that glory seen, acknowledged, 
 admired, and praised, by his creatures. For this he 
 made the world. It is his reward for creation ; it is also 
 the supreme felicity of the creature, and the occupation 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 22g 
 
 of Saints and Angels for eternity. For the creature, 
 rational and intelligent, has nothing in itself which satisfies 
 it, nor is capable of receiving that satisfaction in anything 
 else that is finite and created. Only the infinite glory of 
 God can fill its aspirations, and the tribute of its homage 
 is rendered to its Creator in praise. 
 
 15. On this account I also, hearing of your faith, 
 which is in the Lord Jesus, and your love to all the 
 saints. 
 
 16. Do not cease giving thanks for you, making 
 memory of you in my prayers. 
 
 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father 
 of glory, will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, 
 in the recognition of him ; 
 
 15. On this account, because God has called you, and 
 you have received the Gospel, and are sealed with the 
 Holy Spirit, and because God is willing to receive the 
 praise due for his gifts. Then follows the parenthesis : 
 since I heard of your faith which is in the Lord Jesus. 
 Some years had elapsed since the Apostle visited Ephesus, 
 and there had probably been a large accession of believers 
 since that date, whose conversion was a fact well known, 
 and realized thankfully as a great mercy of God, by all the 
 Catholic Church. Hearing of your faith and charity to- 
 wards all Christians. Faith and charity, St. Chrysostom 
 remarks, are a well matched and noble pair of coursers, 
 for without charity faith is dead, and will never reach the 
 goal. 
 
 16. Cease not giving thanks, the Vulgate here adopts 
 the Greek idiom, Cease not to give thanks. Remembering you 
 in my prayers. The Greek word for giving thanks is 
 evxctpcarcbv, I remember you daily in offering the Holy 
 
230 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Sacrifice, in thanksgiving to God for your faith, and 
 prayer for your perseverance. 
 
 17. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, ilic Father of 
 Glory. This seems to be a Hebraism, for Father most 
 glorious. Or, as Ambrose thinks, the Father of all great- 
 ness, power, and dignity. Or possibly, the Father of 
 Christ, who is the splendour of his glory. Will give 
 you wisdom to see and understand the grandeur and 
 sublimity of the Christian vocation, the wonderful 
 and supernatural graces with which God has endowed 
 you, the inconceivable glory and happiness which awaits 
 you. All which is included in the knowledge of God, be- 
 cause it is from the infinite charity of God that these 
 proceed. Of this knowledge he pra3's that the3' maj' have 
 a larger and increasing share. For he who knows God 
 aright, says St. Chrysostom, will never doubt the truth of 
 any of his promises. 
 
 18. The eyes of your heart illuminated, that you may 
 know what is the hope of his vocation, and what the 
 riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, 
 
 19. And what is the sovereign greatness of his might 
 towards us who believe according to the operation of the 
 power of his strength, 
 
 20. Which he operated in Christ, raising him from the 
 dead, and placing him on his right hand in the heavenly 
 regions, 
 
 21. Above all principality, and power, and strength, 
 and dominion, and every name which is named, not only 
 in this world, but in that which is to come. 
 
 18. I pray that God would give illumination to the 
 eyes of your heart, or your interior vision. The Greek has 
 the eyes of your mind. (The Vulgate substitutes heart, but 
 
TO THE EPIIESIANS. 23I 
 
 the heart is not in Latin, as in French, the seat of the 
 ■affections, but of the intellect and power of mental percep- 
 tion). That you may understand the hope of his vocation, 
 a Hebraism for the thing hoped for. The greatness of 
 tliose good things to which he has called us, and which he 
 has bidden us hope for. And the abundance of that rich 
 and glorious inheritance of bliss which he has prepared 
 for the Saints hereafter. For without the light of grace 
 we cannot know either (i) the excellence of the Christian 
 Avocation, or (2) the richness of the inheritance to which 
 Ave are called, or (3) the miracle of our justification, which 
 is an evidence of divine power as great and wonderful as 
 that which was exhibited in the resurrection of Christ 
 from the dead, as is explained in the next verse. 
 
 ig. The supreme, supereminent, victorious grandeur 
 -of that power which God exercised in ns who be- 
 lieve, that is in bringing us from unbelief to faith. 
 There is another explanation of these words, which 
 is adopted by Ambrose and St. Thomas, and among 
 inodern writers by Cajetan and Estius, viz., that great 
 and crowning miracle of divine power which God will one 
 day exert, towards us believers, in raising our bodies from 
 the grave, a power similar to, or parallel with, that which 
 he put in exercise at the resurrection of Christ. The 
 former interpretation, however, appears the more probable 
 in view of the comparison instituted in the next chapter 
 between the resurrection of Christ and the justification of 
 the faithful. It must also be considered what was the 
 ■condition of the world at that period, wholly in the poiver 
 .of the evil one, overrun with idolatry, magic, and every kind 
 •of wickedness. Yet God converted many of these people 
 to the faith of Christ, sanctity of life, the true worship of 
 'God. This was a miracle not less wonderful than the 
 .resurrection of Christ. The natural world submits 
 anechanically to God's commands ; but the heart of man 
 
232 THE EPISTLE OF ST, PAUL 
 
 resists and rebels. It is commonly said that to make a 
 sinner just is more difficult than to create heaven and 
 earth, i. Because sin and grace are more opposed than 
 existence and non-existence ; 2. because sin and the 
 sinner are further removed from God than nothing. For 
 God and sin are the two furthest jXDSsible extremes, 
 3. Because grace and justice belong to the divine and 
 supernatural order. It requires, therefore, the highest 
 exercise of divine power for man, fallen through sin below 
 the level of all other creatures, to rise to grace, partake of 
 the divine nature, become God's son and heir. All this 
 will explain why the Apostle says that the spiritual resur- 
 rection of himself and the Christians of Ephesus was a 
 miracle of divine power not less wonderful than Christ's 
 glorious resurrection from the dead. Photius and some 
 others understand the great strength of God, exhibited in 
 the faith and justification of us who believe in the operation 
 of his power, shown in the resurrection of Christ. That is,. 
 our belief in Christ's resurrection is the cause of our 
 justification, which sense of the words seems to be 
 favoured b}- the Arabic translation. But the former^ 
 which we have adopted, is the interpretation of St, 
 Chrysostom and Theophylact, as well as of many modem 
 writers. 
 
 20. The strength and energy {evepjeca) which God 
 exhibited in raising us to grace from sin, idolatr}', and 
 hell, resembles, says St. Chrj-sostom, that which he 
 showed when he raised Christ from the grave and placed 
 him on his own right hand, his equal in power and 
 divinity, though wearing the form of a servant. 
 
 21. Above all principality. The Greek, more than 
 above, far above, in the highest height above, all the 
 orders and choirs of Angels, whether Principalities, or 
 Powers, or Virtues, or Dominions, whatever name, dignity, 
 office, or excellence they may bear, unknown to us, but 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 233: 
 
 which possibly we shall know in tJie ivorld to come. Every 
 name stands for every power, authority, or excellence^, 
 whether angelic or human, in heaven or earth. 
 
 The reason for the introduction of this description of 
 the supereminent dignity and splendour of the position- 
 to which Christ is raised in heaven, is explained in the next 
 chapter, where, in verses 5 and 6, St. Paul declares that 
 in the resurrection of Christ, and in his glory at the right- 
 hand of God in heaven, his faithful people share, by" 
 destination even now, and will share in actual reality hv 
 eternity. Wonderful and inconceivable as is the elevationi 
 of human nature at the head and summit of all creation, 
 in the person of Jesus Christ, it is at the same time an 
 infinite condescension for Deity, because the nature of 
 God is infinitely removed above all created natures, even^ 
 that of the highest spirits of heaven. 
 
 22. And subjected all things under his feet: and gave- 
 him head over all the Church, 
 
 23. Which is his body, and the plentitude of him whc 
 is completed in all things by all. 
 
 22. God has subjected all things, or placed all things,. 
 under his feet. Hence St. Chrysostom concludes that 
 Christ, even as man, is king and lord of heaven and earths 
 All power is given to me. But as regards the exercise of 
 this power all things are not as yet subject, as is observed 
 in Heb. ii. 8. Evil spirits and evil men will be subdued- 
 by the power of Christ only at the end of the world. 
 
 And gave him as head over all the Chiirch. The Greek- 
 text has : and gave him to the Church as her head over ail,- 
 or supreme head. The Syriac reads : and him, who is over 
 all, he gave to the Church as her head. All the Church, in- 
 cluding men and angels, militant and triumphant. 
 
^34 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 23. Which is his mystical body, and perfection or com- 
 plement, as the body is the necessar}' complement of the 
 ,head. For the head would be powerless without the body, 
 and the body useless without the head, and the head is 
 perfect or completed, when it has the members of the body 
 attached to it. 
 
 Who is completed as to all tilings by all. Christ is com- 
 pleted, says Theophylact, as to the hand, by a liberal 
 .almsgiver ; as to the feet, by one who goes on pil,",rimage 
 .for love of him, or visits the sick ; as to the tongue, by 
 the teacher of the Church. The Syriac takes the verb in 
 the active : wlio fills all things in all men. The Greek verb 
 Avill bear either sense. Grotius, who takes it actively, 
 ■says that this use of the word is an Attic idiom. The 
 liead may be said to_^// the body by supplying its nervous 
 iiction. So Christ fills the minds of the faithful with 
 flight, their hearts with pious affections, their souls with 
 rsupernatural and spiritual gifts. 
 
 COROLLAPvY OF PlETY. 
 
 God predestined thee from eternity, because he loved 
 thee. Not only in general was it his purpose through 
 Christ to bring many sons to glory ; but each one, singly 
 and separately, was the special object of his affection, his 
 preparation by his Providence, his design of redemption. 
 He thought of thee, in the ages before the world was, and 
 •when thou hadst as yet no being, and no merit, chose thee 
 among many others in Christ, and for Christ. And to 
 ^vhat art thou chosen ? To be holy and spotless in his 
 sight, and therefore like God, who is holy and spotless. 
 Here is honour. To be his adopted son and heir, the 
 owner and possessor of the riches of eternity. Here is 
 happiness. There is no other honour, and there is no 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 235 
 
 other happiness. And this predestination, formed in 
 eternity, and from eternity, he has in tmie carried out. 
 For in the fountain of regeneration he made thee holy and 
 spotless. Spotless, because washed from sin in the blood 
 of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the 
 world. Holy, because the grace of the Holy Spirit was 
 there abundantly shed forth on thee, with all spiritual and 
 heavenly benediction. First, by this sanctifying grace thy 
 soul is made like God, and restored to his image and like- 
 ness, thou art made gracious in his sight, and become the 
 friend of God. Next, thou art united to Christ, and thus 
 become the child of God, and co-heir with Christ of the 
 joys of heaven. And lastly, the Spirit of God, thus im- 
 parted to thee, is the pledge of this inheritance and assur- 
 ance of its future completion. More than this, consis- 
 tently with the law of creation, and the conditions under 
 which the world consists, even God's omnipotence could 
 not do. To have added earthly and temporal pleasures 
 and advantages to these higher gifts, would only have been 
 to insult and degrade the immortal heir of glory, whom it 
 is his delight to honour, to treat the adopted son as but a 
 servant after all. God has done all, and is doing all, for 
 the present, and what he has done and given is the pledge 
 and earnest of the rest which he will give and do here- 
 after. With perfect trust and confidence thou canst 
 commit thy soul to him, as to a faithful Creator. 
 
2^6 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 I. And you, when you were dead in your faults and sins^ 
 
 2. In which at one time you walked according to the 
 age of this world, according to the prince of the power of 
 this air, the spirit who now operates upon the sons of 
 unbelief, 
 
 3. In which all we also at one time lived in the desires- 
 of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the 
 thoughts ; and were b}- nature sons of wrath, even as the 
 others. 
 
 Chapter ii. In this chapter the Apostle contrasts the- 
 lost and miserable condition of the pagan world with the 
 inconceivably high and glorious privileges of the Christiani 
 who is united to Jesus Christ by faith and baptism. 
 
 I. And you. This is in the objective case, and is 
 governed by the verbs convivificavit and conresuscitavit (in. 
 Latin) verses 5 and 6, the intervening words forming a 
 series of relative and dependent sentences. In the last, 
 chapter St. Paul declared that the conversion of the 
 Ephesians was an exercise of God's power as great as,, 
 and similar to, that which was shown in raising Christ. 
 from the dead : of which resurrection it should be re- 
 membered that Saint Paul himself was a witness, having 
 seen our Lord in the body, two years subsequently to his 
 death on the cross. In the first six verses of this chapter 
 he dwells on and expands the comparison, beginning by a. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 237 
 
 ■description in this verse of their condition before their 
 •conversion, and living in paganism, as hke that of the 
 dead. When you were dead spiritually, being deprived of 
 the grace of God, which is the life of the soul, in your 
 Janlts and sins, your sins of omission and commission^ as 
 St. Thomas says. 
 
 2. In which at one time yon walked. As the expression 
 in delictis et peccatis vestris denotes the multiplicity of sin 
 among the pagans, so the expression ambnldstis, you 
 walked, denotes its persistency and habitual character. In 
 which sins you long lived and continued, following the 
 fashions and vanities of this transitory world, with refer- 
 •ence to which St. John says, love not the world, and as the 
 more real though hidden instigating cause, obeying the 
 guidance of the devil, the spirit who still, in the pagan 
 world, rules, works and dominates in the souls of men 
 who are unbelieving, unfaithful and disobedient to their 
 'Creator. For when man revolts from God he falls under 
 the dominion of the devil. 
 
 The prince of the poiver of this air. The air is not, any 
 more than the other elements, materially subject to the 
 power of the devil, for all the material universe serves its 
 Creator mechanically. The expression is probably figura- 
 tive, as representing the universal j^revalence of sin in the 
 human soul, as if it were the air we breathe. The word 
 Jiower seems to bear the same sense as in i. 21, all princi- 
 pality and power, the singular being used for the plural. 
 The prince of the powers who exercise dominion in this 
 air. It is just possible there may be an indirect allusion 
 to the prevalent worship of Zeus or Jupiter, the god of 
 the air. See Acts xix. 35. Sons of unbelief is a Hebraism, 
 like S071S of wrath, in the next verse. 
 
 3. To soften this terrible picture of the former condi- 
 tion of the Ephesians, the Apostle here observes that it is 
 ■equally applicable to the Jews, not excluding himself, 
 
238 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 although the general tenor of his argument, as will appear 
 from the application of it in the next chapter, has refer- 
 ence to the Gentile converts only, or especially. In 
 which sins and offences we also, all of us, at one time 
 lived, following the desires, and the perverted will, of the 
 flesh and of the mind, according to the distinction of 
 various kinds of concupiscence into carnal and spiritual^ 
 such as envy, ambition, and the like. We were plainly 
 and simply children of wrath, like the pagans, and were 
 nothing else. Deserving and liable to the anger and 
 wrath of God. By nature may signify the nature of sin 
 we inherit from Adam ; or the inclination to it which is a 
 phenomenon of human life. The Apostle is not, however, 
 here referring to original, but to actual sin, and probably 
 means to say that we were evidently and completely sons 
 of wrath. The Greek word is (^vaet. The Syriac renders 
 it evidently. The old Latin versions, cited by St. Jerome, 
 have plenc and oninino. Theoph}lact, truly and genuinely. 
 St. Chrysostom : We were wrath and nothing else. As 
 who is born of human parents is man, and only man, 
 so we were wrath, and only wrath. 
 
 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, on account of the 
 too great charity with which he loved us, 
 
 5. Even when we were dead in sins, brought us to life 
 with Christ, by whose grace you are saved ; 
 
 6. And with him raised us from death, and seated us 
 with him in the heavenly, in Christ Jesus. 
 
 4. God who is rich in mercy. God is rich, as the owner 
 of all the universe, but his principal riches is his mercy. 
 On account of the too great charity with which he loved us 
 The Greek has, the great charity, the Syriac, the immense 
 charity with which he loved mankind. God's charity is 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS, 239 
 
 too great, relatively to us, for it was too great charity to 
 sacrifice his only begotten Son for enemies and sinners. 
 
 5. Even ichen we were, we Jews and you Gentiles, dead 
 in sins, as described in verse i, God gave us life in Christ 
 and together with Christ, when he raised Christ from 
 the grave. The Greek has gave us life with Christ, the pre- 
 position t7i being added by the Vulgate. What Christ 
 received at the resurrection was the life of the body, what 
 we received in Baptism was the life of the soul. The one 
 is the cause of the other. By whose grace you are saved. 
 The Greek omits whose. You are saved, that is 5^our 
 salvation is begun, by grace, not by destiny, or any law of 
 3-our creation giving you a different nature from other men, 
 
 6. And with him raised ns from death. The resurrec- 
 tion of the soul in Baptism will be followed by the resur- 
 rection of the body at the last day, and both in conse- 
 quence of the resurrection of Christ. This has already 
 been accomplished in promise. And as the resurrection 
 of Christ, so also his ascension into heaven, and session 
 at the right hand of God. The convivificavit belongs to 
 the soul, the conrcsnscitavit to the body, the consedere fecit 
 to both. The past is used for the future, forthe certitude 
 of the hope, says St. Thomas. And the right of possession 
 is taken for the possession itself. God has seated us with 
 Christ in the heavenly places, that is in heaven, or as in the 
 Greek, in the places above the heavens. 
 
 7. That he might show in the ages to come the abun- 
 dant riches of his grace, in his goodness upon us in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 8. For by grace you are saved through faith ; and this 
 not of you, for it is the gift of God. 
 
 g. Not of works, that none may boast. 
 
 7. All this God has done, in order that to the cen-- 
 
:240 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 ituries now to follow, until the end of the world, he may 
 •exhibit his boundless munificence in the kindness he has 
 conferred upon us through Jesus Christ. St. Chrysostom, 
 Theophylact, and some other writers, understand by the 
 .ages that are to come, the eternity that is to follow the 
 resurrection. But though the statement, so understood, 
 ■would be true, it seems more in accordance with the mind 
 •of St. Paul to understand it as referring to the centuries 
 ■which are passing in the history of the Church on earth. 
 
 8. You aye saved, that is justified, by faith. This is the 
 (beginning of salvation. And it did not begin with you, 
 ■for faith itself is the gift of God. Yon are saved, so far as 
 -God can save you, for the completion of your salvation 
 depends upon your co-operation with the grace of God, 
 and the consent of your will with his. 
 
 g. You are saved by faith, not by zcorZ^s preceding fait li. 
 'The Apostle does not assert that good works have no 
 fcearing on salvation, for in fact obedience to the laws of 
 •God is an indispensable condition of it. But works, how- 
 •ever good in themselves, which precede faith, and do not 
 therefore proceed from faith, are not effectual to salvation 
 "Faith is the beginning of justification. Neither was it for 
 ;any such works that God gave you faith. That none may 
 .boast. Some of the Ephesian converts may possibly have 
 .boasted of the sanctity and purity of their lives in the 
 •days of their paganism, previous to their acceptance of 
 the faith of Christ, at least in comparison with others. 
 •Or there may be some irony in the words of the Apostle. 
 The whole of the argument in these verses is 
 introductory to the practical conclusions drawn 
 in chapter iv. The purity of life which God requires of 
 you is not a development of philosophical virtues you may 
 have exhibited, more or less perfectly, in former times ; 
 •or in my own case, of my obedience to the ancient law. 
 Rather, we were all then alike in a condition of sin and 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 24I 
 
 death. It is a new life, springing from the faith which 
 made you capable of receiving God's grace in Baptism, 
 similar to, and dependent on, the resurrection of Christ 
 from the grave, and which will not cease to carry you 
 nearer and nearer to God until it leaves you enthroned 
 with Christ in glory on the right hand of the Majesty 
 above the heavens. 
 
 10. For we are his own work, created in Christ Jesus 
 in good works, which God prepared that we might walk 
 in them. 
 
 10. For we are God's work, his creation, his workman- 
 ship, the thing which his hands have made. But this is 
 said here, not of natural creation, but of regeneration. 
 The spiritual life infused into us by faith is as real, as 
 new, as completely a new creation, as the animal life 
 which God breathed into the insensible form of our first 
 father in the garden of Eden. Regeneration, says St. 
 Chrysostom, is real creation, for by it we are brought out 
 of nothing, and are a new creature, and for this purpose, 
 that we may exist. As to what we were before, we are 
 dead, that is the old man is dead ; what we were not be- 
 fore, we have become. This creation is therefore more 
 recent, and far nobler and fairer than the old. For of old 
 we were created to live, now we are created to live well. 
 Let, therefore, no one glory, for the thing created can 
 boast only of its Creator, not of itself. The justification 
 of the sinner is not a physical creation, literally from 
 nothing, but a moral creation, from no antecedent merit ; 
 wholly attributable to the merit of Christ, as physical 
 creation is wholly attributable to the omnipotence of 
 God. 
 
 In good works. The Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic vere 
 sions all have or good works. The Greek preposition is 
 
242 THE EFISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 iiri, and Cornelius a Lapide, Grotius, and Erasmus, give 
 many proofs that this preposition used as in this phrase, 
 has the meaning oi for or with a view to. Having stated 
 in verse g that we are saved hy faith, not by works, that 
 is worlds antecedent to faith, lest this should be misunder- 
 stood, the Apostle adds that we are expressly created for 
 good w^orks following faith. Not e^ epjcov, but errl 'epyoi<;. 
 
 11. On this account remember and bear in mind, that 
 you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision 
 by that which is called circumcision in the flesh done 
 with hands. 
 
 12. That you were at that time without Christ, alien- 
 ated from the conversation of Israel, and strangers to the 
 testaments, having not the hope of the promise, and 
 without God in this world. 
 
 13. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were afar 
 off, have been brought near, in the blood of Christ. 
 
 II. On this account, that you may better understand 
 the immense benefit and advantage you have received by 
 your regeneration, remember and bear in mind 3'our 
 former lost and hopeless condition, and your happy de- 
 liverance from it. You, who were Gentiles in carnal 
 origin and by hereditary descent, in the flesh, were without 
 any knowledge of Christ or faith in him. You were with- 
 out a God, in reality atheists, for the gods you worshipped 
 had no real existence. There cannot be a greater misery 
 than for the soul of man to be without God, in whom 
 alone it can find satisfaction, and without Christ, who is 
 the interpreter and revealer to creation of the love of God. 
 Even if a man could gain the whole world, and possess 
 for eternity every pleasure created things could afford, 
 these would soon cease to please, because nothing that is 
 finite can fill the desires of the human soul, but leaves him 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 243 
 
 m desolation and completely miserable. What does it 
 profit, if a man gain all the world, and lose his soul ? 
 You had the world, but had lost God. In mundo, sine 
 •Christo, sine Deo. And even that incomplete and partial 
 .knowledge of the true God, and ot Christ the coming 
 Saviour of the world, which was retained among' the 
 people of the Jews, to facilitate the fulfilment of the 
 promises made in ancient days, you, the Gentiles, did not 
 possess. The inheritors of the circiuncision — not the 
 spiritual circumcision of the heart, which is the privileo-e 
 of the Christian, but the outward circumcision made ivith 
 .hands — stigmatized you as tlie uncircunicision. You were 
 alienated from the conversation of Israel, the chosen 
 people of God, who were prohibited from entering into 
 treaties of alliance with the Gentile nations (Deut. vii. 2) 
 strangers to the covenants made with the nation of the 
 Israelites, ignorant of the promise God had made to Abra- 
 ham, to bless all the nations of the earth. (You were the 
 nations of the earth, yet you lived throughout its wide 
 extent, in hue mundo, ignorant of its Creator.) All this 
 you may usefully remember, in contrast with the position 
 you now hold, in God's sight. 
 
 There are three ways of recalling sin, one evil, the 
 second dangerous, the third useful and advantageous. 
 To remember sin with complacence, is mortal sin re- 
 newed, and incurs its guilt and malice over again. To 
 remember sin with disquiet and distrust is dangerous, 
 hindering progress and causing peril of relapse. To re- 
 member sin with contrition and gratitude for its forgive- 
 ness, increases grace, and glorifies God. It is this to 
 which the Apostle invites the Ephesian Christians. 
 
 But remember also that from the time you believed in 
 •Christ, the blood of Christ has won for you, and conferred 
 .upon you, all that was wanting to you before. You who 
 
 X2 
 
244 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 were banished from God, from Christ, from the covenants, 
 the promise, the society of Israel, from hope of salvation, 
 are brouf^ht near to God, made one with Christ, become 
 heirs of his promise of everlasting life, broup^ht into the 
 communion of the Holy Catholic Church, raised to heaven 
 in anticipation and with Christ seated at God's right 
 hand in glory. There is evidently some strong reason 
 which leads the Apostle to insist on enforcing the belief of 
 the high privileges which the Christian faith had procured 
 for the Ephesians, and that either Jewish influence or the 
 pernicious doctrines of the heretics against whom this 
 Epistle is principally directed, were dangerously likely to 
 lead them to distrust the grace of Jesus Christ and the 
 efficacy of the Sacraments of the Christian Church. The 
 heretics made salvation dependent upon the acceptance 
 of some hidden wisdom which they professed themselves 
 able to impart, and which constituted the only true 
 illumination of the soul. 
 
 14. For he is our peace, who made the two into one, 
 destroying also the dividing wall of the building, the 
 enmities in his own flesh. 
 
 15. x\bolishing the law of commandments by decrees ; 
 to build up the two in himself into one new man, making 
 peace. 
 
 16. And reconcile both in one body, to God through 
 the cross, killing the enmities in himself. 
 
 17. And he came and preached peace to you who were 
 afar off, and peace to those who were near. 
 
 14. He is our peacemaker or pacificator, who has not 
 only reconciled us to God, but as a result of this recon- 
 ciliation has conciliated the Jews and Gentiles together, 
 and made them one people. And the wall of partition 
 (the law of Moses) which separated Jews and Gentiles, 
 he destroyed by the death which he suffered in his flesh 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 245 
 
 abolished and replaced the law of commandments by the 
 dogmas of the Gospel, so as to unite both Jews and 
 Gentiles into one Church, which is figuratively one body, 
 and ihw, founded by his Spirit on the day of Pentecost, 
 reconciling them to God by the cross, b}^ which he slew, 
 at his own death, the enmities of former ages. And 
 coming into this world he preached peace, by his Apostles 
 to you who were at a distance, in his own person to the 
 Jews, among whom he lived. There is therefore no 
 ground for jealousy on your part, because the Gospel of 
 God reached you through the preaching of Apostles who 
 are all Jews. That was an economy of God to facilitate 
 the establishment in the world of the truth of Christ's 
 resurrection, But Jews have no privileges in the Church 
 of Christ which are not extended in equal measure to the 
 Gentiles, and both are one people and one body in the 
 faith of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The word macevia signifies a wall built of uncemented 
 stone, and therefore easily destroyed. The Judaic law, 
 says Theophylact, was a congeries of precepts, not bound 
 together by charity, for the motive of obedience was not 
 love, but fear. Christ by his death broke down, solvens, 
 this law, while at the same time he fulfilled it. Christ, 
 says the writer just quoted, dissolved the shadows of the 
 law of ceremonies, while at the same time he exhibited 
 its divine authority by the fulfilment of it; as a painter 
 putting the finishing touches to his picture fills, while he 
 obliterates, the outline his own hand has traced. 
 
 15. Abolished tJic law of covnnandmcnt, by decrees. The 
 Greek has in dogmas. The Syriac : Abolished the law of 
 precepts by precepts of his own. The Arabic : Abrogated 
 the law of commandments by his own decrees. The term 
 dogma was popularly applied to the doctrines of the philo- 
 sophical sects of that day ; the Apostle here uses it to 
 denote the truths of heaven, made known by Jesus Christ. 
 
246 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Almost all the interpreters, ancient and modern, under- 
 stand the words in this sense ; but Erasmus, Cajetan, 
 Menochius, and Tyrinus read it, the laic of coiiiiiiaiidtiiciits 
 contained in decrees. The law of Moses contained a multi- 
 plicity of precepts relating,' to thinjj^s indifferent in them- 
 selves, sacred days, victims to be offered in sacrifice, 
 meats to be avoided, &c., all which Christ abrof^ated by 
 the laic of faith. This, therefore, the older interpretation, 
 seems to be more in accordance with the usual teaching 
 of St. Paul. 
 
 16. Killing the enmities in himself. St. Jerome and the 
 3Tian version both read in it, that is in the cross, but the 
 
 sense of both readings is nearly the same. It is to be 
 observed that the participles dissolving, abolishing, making 
 peace, coming, are all in the past tense, in the Greek. 
 The Latin language has no past active participle, and 
 accordingl}' we have them in the \'ulgate in the present 
 tense. 
 
 17. Coming, he preaclied peace. An allusion to the words 
 of the Angel in Luc. ii. 10, 14. / bring you good tidings of 
 joy, peace on eartJi. Christ also himself preached peace to 
 the nations ; man}' shall come from east and west, and sit 
 down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom 
 of heaven. Matt. viii. 2. This Gospel of the kingdom 
 shall be preached all over the world, for a testimon}- to 
 all nations, Matt. wiv. 14. I will draw all to me, John 
 xii. 32. Go and teach all the nations. Matt, xxviii. ig. 
 Christ therefore preached peace to them that were afar 
 off, as well as to them that were near. 
 
 18. Because through him we both have access in one 
 Spirit to the Father. 
 
 19. Therefore now you are not strangers and foreigners, 
 but you are citizens of the saints, and domestics of God. 
 
, TO THE EPHESIANS. 247 
 
 20. Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and 
 Prophets, the highest stone of the corner being Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 21. In whom the whole building constructed grows 
 into a holy temple in the Lord, 
 
 22. In whom you also are being built together for a 
 dwelling-place of God in the Spirit. 
 
 18. The fruit of the Incarnation of Christ is that we 
 are permitted with confidence to approach God as our 
 Father, through the Spirit, by whose teaching w^e say Oin 
 Father. 
 
 ig. You were strangers, v. 12. You were witliout God, v. 
 z 2, far from God, v. 13. You are now no longer strangers 
 and foreigners, but citizens ; the Greek, fellow-citizens with 
 the Saints. The Syriac : Sons of the city of the Saints, and 
 sons of the house of God. Members of his Church, which is 
 God's house and family. 
 
 20. Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. 
 For what the Apostles proclaimed, the Prophets had fore- 
 told, and the foundations laid by the Apostles had been 
 prepared by the Prophets. In i Cor. iii. 11, Christ is 
 spoken of as the foundation of the Church. The same 
 figure is here varied, for the foundation is the teaching of 
 Prophets and Apostles, and Christ is the corner stone, placed 
 on the summit of the building, its crown and completion. 
 For the Apostles laid the foundations on earth, and Christ 
 will come from heaven to finish and crown their work. 
 The placing of the corner stone on a public building, as the 
 last completion of the structure, was an occasion of public 
 ceremony and rejoicing. The stone which the builders 
 rejected, is placed on the head of the corner, Ps. cxvii. 
 22. He shall bring out the corner stone, and give grace 
 for grace, Zech. iv. 7. 
 
 21. Bound together and compacted by the corner 
 stone, or as we say the key-stone, the whole building is 
 
248 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 rising into a consecrated temple of God, who dwells in it 
 by his Spirit, and of this temple you and other nations of 
 the Gentile world, hereafter to be converted, form a p^art. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 To be without God is to be in hell. The world is in hell 
 already, in so far as it is without God, although worldly 
 men are unconscious of the fate towards which they 
 are being carried forward to the brink of the cataract. 
 They have only to continue as they are, and their pursuit 
 of riches and ambition, pleasure and delight in transitory 
 things, will carry them on to the condition in w^hich all 
 this will be over, and they will have no interest to occupy 
 them for eternity, only an infinite blank, a hopeless deso- 
 lation, an unending despair. All other torments of hell 
 are insignificant compared with this. The Saints have 
 sometimes been instructed by visions of hell, and collo- 
 quies with lost souls which either are real, or drawn from 
 the depth of their piety and insight into the great realities 
 of eternity, but in every case the lost have testified that 
 they suffer, and can suffer, no torment worthy of com- 
 parison with the infinite and hopeless desolation of a soul 
 deprived of God. A great preacher put into the mouth of 
 a lost soul these words : let thousands of demons, and 
 thousands more, torment me for eternit}', if only I am not 
 for ever deprived of God. If for the torments of hell were 
 substituted the joys of heaven, and that for eternit}', the 
 soul would be no happier in heaven than in hell, without 
 God. For the human soul is formed for the love of God, 
 and nothing else will satisfy it. It is not only that earthly 
 pleasures pass away. Were they enduring, they would occa- 
 sion still greater pain, for the soul itself becomes weary of 
 pleasure, of change, of everything but God. Most terrible of 
 all, for the soul which has once been united to God through 
 Christ. For eternity will the contemptuous reproach of 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 249 
 
 fellow-sufferers, not so happy, be ringing in his ears. Once 
 you were a Christian, a member of Christ, a son of God, 
 an heir of God, a co-heir with Christ, an associate with 
 his Saints. And lo ! you are cut off from Christ's body, 
 shut out from God's promises, cut off for ever from the 
 society of the holy ; without a country, without friends, 
 without hope of salvation in Christ, withotit God ! 
 
250 THK EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I. For this thing's sake I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus 
 Christ for you Gentiles. 
 
 Chapter in. While the Epistle to theEphesians is to 
 be regarded as a sublime exposition of the higher Christian 
 philosophy, its arrangement is singularly characteristic of 
 the writer, and singularly unlike any other writer. The 
 great truths and lofty thoughts of which his mind was 
 full, he appears to write down as they occur to him. with- 
 out attention to the niceties of construction, and on a 
 system, or disregard of system, all his own. He appears 
 to consider the first two chapters as introductory, and 
 enters on his subject again at this point, with a fresh pre- 
 sentation of himself as the writer. But even here he im- 
 mediately begins another parenthesis, and there is great 
 difference of opinion as to where he resumes the thread of 
 his argument in a formal manner. The whole of this 
 chapter ma}- be regarded as parenthetical, and the words 
 for this cause, hujns rci gratia, as ushering in the practical 
 exhortation on which he enters at the beginning of ch. iv. 
 Or the parenthesis may be considered to end with verse 
 13, and for this cause, in verse 14, to be a repetition of 
 these introductory words for this cause I boiv my hices to 
 God. St. Jerome thinks there is a parenthesis, but that 
 it ends in verse 3. For this cause the mystery has been 
 made known to me, which, however, still does not save the 
 grammatical construction. CEcumenius makes the paren- 
 thesis end at verse 8, with a change of construction. To 
 me the least of the Saints, the grace is given. On the other 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 2^1 
 
 hand the Syriac and Arabic versions, St. Chrysostom^ 
 Theophylact, St. Ansehn, St. Thomas, and amon^ more 
 recent writers Gaj^Mie, Tyrinus, Erasmus, and Fromond, 
 all agree in understanding the verb / am in the first verse. 
 For this thing's sake, I Paul am the prisoner of Jesus 
 Christ for 3'ou Gentiles. This will certainly avoid the 
 grammatical difficult}- in the construction of the sentence. 
 But there seems to be a hiatus : there is no reason why 
 St. Paul should have omitted the verb; nor is it clear 
 why he should have prefaced the announcement with the 
 words /or this tiling's sake, which it seems easier to refer 
 to his earnest entreaty to God in verse 14 et seq., that the 
 Ephesian Christians may appreciate and understand the 
 immense value and sublimity of the privileges to which 
 thev had been admitted ; or to his not less earnest en- 
 treaty, addressed to the Ephesians themselves, in ch. iv., 
 that for the sake of the Church of God, in which they had 
 been made fellow-citizens with the vSaints, and for their 
 own salvation and eternal happiness, they would walk 
 worthy of their vocation, and not listen to the seducers 
 who would persuade them to neglect, renounce, or bring 
 it into discredit. In any case the general course of the 
 Apostle's argument is sufficiently clear, whatever mode 
 may be adopted of solving the difficulties of his gram- 
 matical arrangement. 
 
 I. For this thing's sake, because you are, and in order 
 that you may remain, fellow-citizens of the Saints, and 
 the household and temple of God, I Paul, the prisoner of 
 Jesus Christ. The article is prefixed to prisoner in the 
 Greek. The prisoner of whom you have so often heard, 
 for the captivity of the Apostle was a great political event, 
 well known throughout the Roman empire. / Paul, who 
 have been chosen by Jesus Christ to carry his name be- 
 fore nations and kings. Act. ix. 15. It was the indignation 
 and anger of the Tews at his assiduous and successful 
 
252 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 accomplishment of this mission, which occasioned his im- 
 prisomnent, as appears from the narrative in the Acts of 
 the Apostles, xx — xxxvi., and accordin<,dy he describes 
 himself as ihc prhuncv, literally the hound, of Jesus Christ, 
 for you Gentiles. It will be observed that St. Paul is not 
 at all ashamed of his imprisonment, or of its cause, but 
 glories in both as a high honour and distinction. This 
 imprisonment was either that of two years at Rome, 
 described Act. xxviii. 30, which is most probable ; or that 
 which took place two years later, and ended in the 
 martyrdom of the Apostle, June 29, A.D. 67. 
 
 2. If indeed you have heard the dispensation of the 
 grace of God, which was given me towards you. 
 
 3. That by revelation the mvster}- was made known 
 to me, as I have briefly written above. 
 
 4. So that you are able, when }ou read, to understand 
 my wisdom in the mystery of Christ. 
 
 2. You will recognize that I am a prisoner on }Our 
 account, if, which is most probable, \ou ha\'e heard of the 
 Apostolic mission which God has entrusted to me, towards 
 the Gentiles. St. Paul had resided and taught three years 
 at Ephesus, but the Saints never, unless absolutely com- 
 pelled, speak of God's graces shown to themselves, and it 
 was possible that some of the Ephesians, who had been 
 converted since the visit of the Apostle to their city, 
 might not be sufficiently aware of his claims on their 
 attention. He calls his apostolate tJie dispensation, or 
 economy, of the grace of God. Economy means the 
 prudent management of domestic affairs, or sometimes of 
 the administration of the government of a state. Here it 
 is God's prudent provision for the extension of the Gospel 
 and the welfare of the Church. Every apostolate, prelacy, 
 or charge of preaching is a grace of God, given gratu- 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 253 
 
 itously for the welfare and advantage of others. It should 
 therefore not be sought for personal reasons, or from the 
 favour of man, or for repose or pleasure ; but only for 
 labour. 
 
 3. You have heard that tlie mystery was made known 
 to me by divine revelation. The Vulgate here uses the 
 word sacrmnentuin,a.nd in the next verse niysteriuin, for the 
 Greek term, which is the word last named. What the 
 mystery is, he explains in the following verses. Here he 
 states that God had directly revealed it to him, as is 
 briei^y recorded in the former chapters of this Epistle,, 
 especially in i. g. 
 
 4. When you read what I have already said, and what 
 I am about to say, you will at once perceive the source 
 from which my information is drawn. The Greek haS' 
 my intelligence, Theophylact, my knowledge. St. Paul does 
 not always accurately distinguish between prudence^ 
 wisdom, intelligence, and science. 
 
 5. Which in other generations was not known to the 
 sons of men, as now it is revealed to his holy Apostles 
 and Prophets in the Spirit. 
 
 6. That the nations are coheirs, and united in one- 
 body, and fellow-participators of his promise, in Christ 
 Jesus, through the Gospel, 
 
 5. The secret was absolutely unknown, in former gene- 
 rations, to the greater part of the nations of the earth. 
 Neither was it known to any one of those nations, or eveo 
 to their Prophets, with the same clearness and certainty 
 with which it has now been revealed by the Holy Spirit to 
 the holy Apostles and Prophets of the new law. The 
 vocation of the Gentiles is, indeed, mentioned not ob- 
 scurely by Isaias and other Prophets, but still there was 
 silence as to many circumstances not then fully revealed^ 
 as, for instance, that the Gentiles were to be admitted 
 
254 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 without becoming; Jewish proselytes, without circumcision 
 and obedience to the precepts of Moses. And to many 
 nations the writings of these Prophets were wholly un- 
 known. The truth was only revealed in its fulness to the 
 Apostles and Prophets of the Christian Church. Of these 
 Prophets there were many in the Apostolic aj^^e, as is evi- 
 .dent from the writings of St. Paul, and particularly his 
 ifirst Epistle to the Corinthians. 
 
 6. The Gentiles, without becoming Jewish proselytes, 
 are Jicirs with the Jews of God's heavenly kingdom, mem- 
 bers of the holy Catholic Church, which is the mystical 
 body of Christ, and partakers of the promised benediction of 
 all nations, which was announced of old to the patriarch 
 Abraham. Or else, of the Holy Spirit, which God had 
 promised to j^our forth upon mankind. And this inherit- 
 ance, with all its glorious privileges in the present, and 
 anticipations in the future, they obtain by faith in the 
 Gospel of Christ. Those who listen to the teaching of 
 the Apostles, have, therefore, a deeper insight into the 
 mysteries of God, than was communicated even to the 
 Prophets of the Old Testament. 
 
 7. Of which I was made a minister, according to the 
 gift of the grace of God, which was given me according to 
 the operation of his power. 
 
 8. To me of all the saints the least this grace was 
 given, to preach among the Gentiles the untraceable riches 
 of Christ. 
 
 g. And to enlighten all men what is the dispensation 
 of the mystery hidden from the ages in God, who created 
 all things. 
 
 7. I was made a minister and herald of this Gospel, 
 not for any merits of my own, for I was a persecutor of the 
 Church of God, but by the grace of God freely given to 
 rre. But this grace was efficacious for the conversion of 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 the nations, through the energy, the Greek word he 
 ■emplo3'S, of the strength of God, evidenced b}' the miracles 
 I was able to accomplish. 
 
 8. In a genuine spirit of humility St. Paul is not satis- 
 fied to call himself the last and least of Christians, but 
 coins a comparative of this superlative, eka-x^LaroTepoa less 
 than the least, behind the last. Yet his trust in God's 
 power was equal to his sense of his own personal un- 
 worthiness. St. Chrysostom says that St. Paul brouo-ht 
 three things to his preaching ; a dauntless courage, an 
 unequalled wisdom, a blameless life. We are not worthy 
 even to remember him. In fol. gog of this Father will be 
 found some comparisons illustrating the difficulty of imi- 
 tating him. The grace, or favour, which St. Paul declares 
 to have been conferred upon himself, was the privilef^-e of 
 making known to the nations the unsearchable, inexhaust- 
 ible, literally the untraceable, ridies ofCJirist. The riches 
 ■of Christ is his generosity, the infinite richness, splendour, 
 and felicity of the gifts v/hich he has in store for those who 
 believe in him, in the life to come, never to be exhausted 
 ■or understood, and which he gives in part and in antici- 
 pation during this mortal life. 
 
 9. To teach all men wJiat is the economy of this mystery. 
 The Economy, in the language of theologians, means the 
 Incarnation of Christ and the work of our redemption. 
 To let all men see how God retained through the ao'es 
 this great purpose, known only to himself, and how wisely 
 and wonderfully, in the fulness of the times, he has 
 accomplished it, by the Incarnation and death of Christ. 
 
 This Economy was a mystery known only to God, and 
 hidden during the ages from all other knowledge than his. 
 Who created all things. The Greek text has : who created 
 .all things by Jesus Christ, and this is the reading of Saint 
 Chrysostom and of Theodoret. The last-named writer 
 has, who made all things, his Son co-operating with him. 
 
256 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 The same statement is made also b\- St. John, i. 3, 
 Tlu'ough him (the Word) luerc all thi)igs made, and apart 
 from liim icas nothing made; and has been incorporated, 
 ahiiost in the expressions of Saint John, in the Creed of 
 Nicaa: By ivhom, ]esns Christ, our one Lord, per quern 
 omnia facta sunt, through him, or by his instrumentahty, 
 were all things made. St. Paul's introduction of this truth 
 into his argument in this place, is in all probability 
 directed against the heresy of the followers of Simon 
 Magus, who maintained that the corporeal world was 
 not made by Christ, nor by God the Father, but by in- 
 ferior agents, or Angels of great power, but infinitely 
 removed from the Supreme Deity. The same or similar 
 heresies were still extant when St. John wrote his Gospel,, 
 at Ephesus, many years later, for which reason that 
 Evangelist also repeats this wonderful truth. For it is in 
 reality the foundation of the Christian faith, that the 
 Creator of the world is Mary's Son, that is, its immediate 
 Creator, acting in concert with his Father. But as God 
 created all things b}^ Jesus Christ, so also by Jesus Christ 
 he re-created, restored, and regenerated all things in the 
 great Economy, the Incarnation and death of God the 
 Son. 
 
 The office of Apostles, Evangelists, and preachers is to 
 enlighten all men. They are on earth what the higher 
 ranks of angels are among the lower in heaven. Their 
 function is to purify, enlighten, and make perfect. This 
 is why the Angel in Apoc. xix. 20, would not receive wor- 
 ship from an Apostle. See that yon do it not, for I am your 
 fellow -servant. 
 
 10. That the multiform wisdom of God may become 
 known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly 
 regions, through the Church, 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 257 
 
 11. According to the purpose of the ages, which he 
 made in Christ Jesus our Lord ; 
 
 12. In whom we have trust and access in confidence 
 through his faith. 
 
 13. Therefore I entreat that you fail not in my tribu- 
 lations for you ; which is your glory. 
 
 10. The statement of the Apostle in this verse is that 
 God had called him to make known the Gospel of Christ 
 to the Gentile nations of the world, in order, doubtless 
 among other reasons, chat the multiform wisdom of God 
 may noia (this word is in the Greek text) become known, 
 as it never was known before, to the highest spirits of 
 creation, who bear rule, authority, and power, in God's 
 great empire in the heavens. This revelation is made to 
 them through the fortunes, the history, the extension, and 
 the wonderful permanence and preservation, of the holy 
 Catholic Church, in all which Paul, as one of the founders 
 of that Church, had a special share. And they will now 
 understand, what they could not so clearly perceive before, 
 how throughout all the history of the world in former 
 ages God has been preparing the way for, and disposing 
 the history and migrations of the nations, and the vicissi- 
 tudes of empires, to the accomplishment of the great pur- 
 pose he had all along in view, which was, one day to bring 
 the nations to reconciliation with himself and the hope of 
 eternal salvation, in his Son Jesus Christ, the Lord of 
 Creation and second founder and chief of the human race. 
 Thus, says Theophylact, God's mercy to man teaches his 
 wisdom to the Angels. Paul is the Evangelist of angels, 
 and enlightens them, says St. Chrysostom. The mysteries 
 of God are made known to the highest orders of creation, 
 through the Church ; a consideration which adds incon- 
 ceivably to the dignity and honour of the human species. 
 The Angel in the Apocalypse, xix. lo, as before observed, 
 would not accept the worship of the Apostle, because the 
 
 Y 
 
258 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 function and office of the Apostle were hi<^her than his 
 own. The statement in the text is doubtless directed 
 against the followers of Simon Magus, who held that the 
 angels, especially the higher orders of the celestial hier- 
 archy, are our mediators with God, and ought to be 
 adored as gods. 
 
 11. The purpose of the ages which he made in Christ Jesus. 
 There is some ambiguity in this verse, there being nothing 
 either in the Greek or Latin phrase to show whether the 
 antecedent to the relative pronoun which is the wisdom, or 
 the Church, or the purpose. St. Jerome thinks it is the 
 multiform wisdom of God, which he formed or planned in 
 Christ. Others understand that this is made known 
 through tJic CJinrch, which God founded in Christ. More 
 commonly it is understood of the purpose of the ages, which 
 God from eternity, before the world was, intended to 
 accomplish in Christ. 
 
 12. The result of this eternal purpose of God, carried 
 into effect by the mediation and propitiation of Jesus 
 Christ, and the end and object it was intended to effect, 
 is that we are enabled to draw near to God in full trust 
 and confidence, as children to a Father. 11'^ have access 
 li'ith confidence through faith in Christ. And this was God's 
 purpose from eternity, that for which he created man, and 
 redeemed him. 
 
 13. But this being so, and having God for your Father, 
 I entreat you not to be downcast and afflicted on account 
 of my sufferings and imprisoment in Judea, my being 
 brought a captive to Rome, my detention here, my 
 possible execution and death : as if this could cast any 
 doubt on the ultimate success of my mission, or the 
 genuineness and truth of what I proclaimed in my preach- 
 ing among you. God's great purpose, from eternit)% is 
 not set aside by opposition or persecution from the powers 
 
TO THE EPHEC-.i'JS. 259 
 
 and princes of this passing world. Rather it is your 
 glory, that I, your Apostle, should be counted worthy to 
 suffer like Christ, and with Christ, and the palm of 
 martyrdom, when I receive it, will be the token of your 
 triumph and victory, as well as mine. God so loved us, 
 says St. Chrysostom, that he gave his Son to die, and his 
 servants to suffer, for us. St. Jerome and the Syrian 
 version read it, / pray that I may not fail, or lose courage, 
 but all other interpreters understand it as the Vulgate. 
 
 i^. For this thing's sake I bow my knees to the Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
 15. Of whom every paternity in heaven and in earth is 
 named, 
 
 16. That he will give you, according to the riches of 
 his glory, to be strengthened with power through his 
 Spirit, into the interior man. 
 
 17. Christ to dwell by faith in your hearts, rooted and 
 founded in charity. 
 
 18. That you may be able to comprehend with all the 
 saints, what is the width and length and height and depth ; 
 
 ig. To know also the charity of Christ, which exceeds 
 knowledge, that you may be filled to all the plenitude of 
 God. 
 
 14. On account of all that depends upon the main- 
 tenance of your faith and confidence in God under dis- 
 couragement, and your disappointment and alarm at my 
 imprisonment, I throw myself on my knees in prayer 
 before God, entreating him to strengthen you with his 
 spirit of power. St. Augustine remarks (Serm. 7. de verbis 
 Apostoli) that St. Paul had entreated the Ephesians them- 
 selves not to allow their faith to fail, because this was of 
 their free will, but at the same time he earnestly implores 
 of God the aid of his Spirit to strengthen them, because 
 free will is not sufficient, unless aided by the grace of God, 
 to support the soul under trial. 
 
260 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 The laiii^ua^e ofverses 14 and 15 is directed against the 
 error of the heretics, who held that there were two original 
 principles, one good and the other evil, and that it was by 
 the evil principle, and his angels, that the material world 
 was framed. Christ was not, therefore, in their view, the 
 Son of the creator of the world. The Apostle teaches 
 that there is but one God, who made all things, and is the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in a different sense 
 the Father also of angels and of the human soul, that is 
 b}' adoption, for these do not spring from his substance, 
 but are the work of his hands. He is the source of 
 all Fatherhood in heaven and earth. And he asks 
 for God's blessing and the grace of strength for the 
 Ephesian Christians, according to the riches of his glory, the 
 richness of his mercy, kindness, and charity, which is his 
 highest glory, so far as we know, and which is lauded, 
 praised and glorified in the Scriptures of the Old Testa- 
 ment. Gratias agiuins tibi propter niagnaui gloriaui tnani, 
 for his infinite love and mercy, which is God's great glory, 
 
 17. The Syriac version read these verses : that God 
 would grant you, according to the ricties of his glory, to 
 be strengthened by his spirit, that in your interior man 
 Christ may dwell through faith, and in your hearts 
 through charity, your root and foundation remaming un- 
 moved and firm, so that you may be able to comprehend, 
 tvc. The interior man is the mind, will, or resolution, and 
 this, according to the Greek text and the Vulgate, requires 
 to be strengthened by the Spirit of God. Faith is said to 
 dwell in the heart, which in ancient times was figuratively 
 regarded as the seat of the intellectual powers, and faith is 
 an intellectual virtue, to which reason and understanding 
 contribute. Rooted and founded in charity. Charity is a 
 tree which throws its branches towards the skies, in 
 search of the smile of God, and sends its roots down- 
 wards, to soothe and alleviate the sorrows of earth. And 
 
TO THK EPHESIANS. 261 
 
 Charity is a building of which the foundations are fixed 
 firmly in the love of God, and faith in his love and care 
 for us, while the upper chambers afford a refuge for the 
 homeless and the friendless. Only the grace of charity 
 enables the soul to understand and measure, to apprehend 
 and realize the infinite charity of God, to which it is in its 
 measure the response. 
 
 18. That you may be able to comprehend and under- 
 stand, with all other Christians, for whom also I implore 
 the same inestimable happiness, the measurement of the 
 divine goodness and charity shown in the mystery of 
 man's redemption, and the vocation of the nations to the 
 faith and grace of Jesus Christ. Wide as the furthest 
 limits of the inhabited world, long as the ages of eternity 
 through which God's love for his people will endure, deep 
 as the abyss of misery and ruin from which he has raised 
 us, high as the throne of Christ in the heavens, where he 
 has placed us. The Apostle's words are indeterminate, 
 since he does not expressly say the breadth and length, 
 the height and depth, of ichat, and there have been accord- 
 ingly many interpretations of this passage, which are 
 enumerated by Cornelius a Lapide. The above seems to 
 be that which is most in agreement with the argument of 
 St. Paul in this place. St. Augustine refers to the four 
 members of the cross on which Christ was fixed, the lower 
 end of which was buried in the ground, but it may be 
 doubted whether this is to be regarded as a poetical or 
 rhetorical allusion, 01 whether he considered this resem- 
 blance to be actually in the Apostle's mind. 
 
 ig. That you may know the charity of Christ, which ex- 
 ceeds all human knowledge, and cannot be fully measured 
 and comprehended by any finite intelligence, not even in 
 the ages of eternity. St. Paul uses the word know in the 
 sense of learn or advance in the knowledge of. This 
 infinite charity Christ exhibited in offering himself for us 
 
262 THE EPISTLE OF ST, PAUL 
 
 to God the Father, a sacrifice on the cross, and will ex- 
 hibit farther by the manifestation of his love to the Saints 
 in heaven. 
 
 20. That yon ))iay be fiUcd to tJie fubicss of God. The 
 fulness of God is the complete perfection of Deity, re- 
 flected and represented to creation in Jesus Christ. The 
 fulness of all perfection, the infinite holiness of God. // 
 pleased the Father that in Christ all the fuhiess should dwell. 
 Col. i. ig. /;/ hiin dicelleth all the fuhiess (f the Deity, ii. 9. 
 God gives the Spirit to Christ icithont measure, Joh. iii. 34, 
 But t\\\?, fulness Christ imparts to his faithful people, as 
 he makes them partakers of all his privileges and all his 
 glory. Of his fulness all ive have received, Joh, i. 16. That 
 the Saints receive God's grace in different degree, accord- 
 ing to their measure and capacity, is certain ; but vessels 
 of different capacity may all be full. That }cu may be 
 filled with the knowledge and love of God, and the fulness 
 of all divine gifts. We have in this passage a complete 
 description of the reward of the spiritual life. Strengthened 
 with the might of the Spirit, Christ dwelling in the heart 
 by faith, charity immovable and unfailing, a complete un- 
 derstanding of the full extent of the love of Christ, which 
 exceeds all human knowledge. The Greek word TrXijpcofj,^ 
 used in these passages by St. Paul and St. John is 
 borrowed from the vocabulary of the heretics, who desig- 
 nated by it the abode of the angels or celestial spirits 
 who presided over the destinies of man and the order of 
 the universe. This is wh}- St. Paul says that the whole 
 m-Xypcofia dwells in Christ. 
 
 20. And to him who is able to do all things more 
 abundantly than we ask or understand, according to the 
 power which operates in us ; 
 
 21. To him be the glory in the Church and in Christ 
 Jesus, to all generations of the age of ages. Amen. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 263 
 
 The consideration of the infinite love of God prompts 
 
 the Apostle to this ascription of glory and thanksgiving. 
 
 God is able to do for us infinitely more than we can 
 either ask or imderstand, and this, in some degree, we 
 
 know by our own experience, by his grace which operates 
 
 or is effectual in us. And as he is able, he is also ready, 
 
 and what he does is not limited by what we ask. We 
 
 may, therefore, in full confidence, leave our future to him. 
 
 To him, therefore, be the glory in the Church which has 
 
 been redeemed and saved by Jesus Christ ; not to us, the 
 
 Apostles, who are his ministers and messengers. The 
 
 Greek text omits the word and before in Christ Jesus. 
 
 The Syriac has : To him be glor}- in his Church through 
 
 Jesus Christ for all the ages of the world of worlds. The 
 
 Greek and the Vulgate have to all generations, which 
 
 indicates that the benediction extends to the end of this 
 
 world, through all generations of the Church on earth. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 To know the love of Christ, which surpasses know- 
 ledge, is the great study of our mortal life, and will 
 continue to be our occupation for eternity. We are not 
 to find fault with the Apostle for telling us to know that 
 which can never be known. No science can be fathomed 
 to its depth, no past events recalled in their completeness, 
 no philosophy comprehend and explain the mysteries of 
 existence ; and yet science, and history, and philosophy 
 exercise, and will continue to exercise, the powers of the 
 human intelligence, and may certainly heloiown. So may 
 the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. It was 
 known to his most Blessed Mother, and to Saint Joseph, 
 who guarded his childhood ; to Saint Peter, who could 
 not speak of it without tears ; to Saint John, who 
 reclined upon the bosom of Christ ; to Saint Paul, who 
 assigns this study as the task of our existence, here and 
 
264 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 hereafter ; to Saint Francis, who devoted himself to 
 poverty in acknowledgment of it ; to Saint Francis 
 Xavier, who nearly lost his sight with weeping at the 
 thought of it ; to Saint Ignatius, who groaned all through 
 his agony in physical pain from the torrent of joy with 
 which it overwhelmed him ; to Saint Philip, whose heart 
 it broke while he was still alive; to many other Saints 
 who lived in this one thought, and some of whom died 
 under its weight. Christ's love for his creatures is 
 known to the Holy Angels, though never so fully as when 
 they witnessed the extent of his love for man. To the 
 Princes of Heaven, Christ's love was made known by the 
 happiness he has prepared for the Saints in eternity, and 
 this is the great distinction of our race, that to the 
 highest orders of Creation the depth and intensity o 
 the love of Christ is revealed in what he has done, and 
 purposes to do, for us. It can never be revealed fully, to 
 Seraph or Archangel, Apostle or Religious, not even to 
 the hol\' Mother of God, because the Finite cannot ap- 
 prehend the Infinite. Yet as the aged Simeon took the 
 Almighty Creator of the world into his arms, and blessed 
 God, so may we, if we will, and by God's grace, get to 
 know that which passes all created knowledge, or possi- 
 bility of knowing, the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 265 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. I therefore entreat you, I, the bound in the Lord, 
 that you walk worthily of the vocation by which you are 
 •called, 
 
 2. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, 
 bearing with one another in charity, 
 
 3. Solicitous to keep the unity of the spirit in the 
 •chain of peace. 
 
 Chapter iv. In this chapter the Apostle earnestly 
 exhorts the Christians of Ephesus to lead a holy life, in 
 accordance with the sanctity of the faith to which they 
 had been called. 
 
 1. Therefore, in consideration of the blessing of God, 
 who has called you from eternity, out of heathenism and 
 infidelity, to faith, and grace, and glory, equally with his 
 own people the Jews, I Paul, prisoner for Christ's sake 
 and yours, entreat you to walk worthily of the mystical 
 iDody of Christ to which you belong, and the inheritance 
 •of God to which you look forward. A prisoner on your 
 account, says Theodoret; for if I did not preach, I should 
 be free. It is obvious that this request of the Apostle is 
 equally applicable to all Christians and Catholics, in all 
 ■countries and all ages; each individual among whom was 
 born a Gentile and a child of wrath, and is called into the 
 fellowship of the Saints and the household of God, and 
 made a child of God, and a Christian, which signifies 
 another Christ. 
 
 2. With all hiunility, the Greek and the Syriac have, 
 humility of mind, not affected, but arising from a genuine 
 :sense of your own personal unworthiness. Gentleness, or 
 
266 thp: epistle of st. paul 
 
 moderation of speech and action, is the dau<i^hter of 
 humihty, and is opposed to irritabihty, as humihty is to- 
 arroj^ance. The prominence which the Apostle gives to- 
 these graces in(Hcates apparently that he thought the 
 Ephesian Christians likely to be deficient in them. They 
 would scarceU^ learn them from the teachers of heresy ; 
 and they are virtues which were unknown to, or not much 
 prized and culti\ate<l by, the pagan world. With patience 
 and charity bearing one another's imperfections, which is 
 charit}''s most difficult task, while yet it is one which 
 genuine humility would dictate, for we all have imperfec- 
 tions of our own. 
 
 3. Solicitous to keep unity. Indifference to peace, the 
 unity of souls, the integrity of the Church, is a crime ; but 
 it is a much greater crime to be the cause of disunion* 
 The Christian should ever be solicitous to keep unity of 
 belief, sentiment, and affection. Peace is a chain which 
 binds souls together b}' a bond not inconsistent with free- 
 dom, for it is voluntary. This is obviously true, if applied 
 to any voluntar\- association of a small number of persons ; 
 it is not less true in the holy Catholic Church, the 
 members of which adhere to Christ by faith and love, but 
 are under no compulsion. 
 
 4. One bod\- and one spirit, as you are called in one 
 hope of your vocation. 
 
 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. 
 
 6. One God and Father of all, who is over all, and 
 through all, and in us all. 
 
 4. One body and one spirit. There is no verb, either in 
 the Greek text or the Vulgate. These sentences are so 
 man}' inducements to unity of sentiment and action ; but 
 it seems probable also that there is a side reference to the 
 errors of the heretics of the time. They despised the 
 Catholic Church, and held to an inner and invisible fellow- 
 
TC» THE EPHESIANS. 26/ 
 
 ship peculiar to themselves, for which reason the Apostle 
 says there is one boJy, the mystical body of Jesus Christ. 
 And o)it: Spirit, not a multitude of celestial intelligences- 
 with different inflluences exerted over the souls of men. 
 All baptised Christians are called to the same glorious 
 destin}^ to share the immortality of Christ in heaven. You 
 are all called in one hope of your vocation. You have all one' 
 Lord, and your allegiance is not divided among a number 
 of Angels and Archangels as your patrons and mediators- 
 You have all one faith, not a creed taught publicly to the 
 ignorant, and a different one reserved for those initiated 
 into the mysteries of oriental philosophy. One baptism ', 
 it is extremely probable the heretics had another, or some 
 similar ceremony of initiation for those whom they ad- 
 mitted to intimate association. One God, for the heretics 
 recognised two, an evil Deity who made the world, and 
 an unseen and unknown abstraction from whom pro- 
 ceeded the celestial intelligences whom they proclaimed 
 as the real objects of devotion. It is further necessary to 
 observe, in order to explain what follows, that they re- 
 garded the evil Creator of the world as the author of the 
 Old Testament, and God of the Jews, and consequently 
 the enem}' of Christ, and while adopting some of the 
 external rites of Judaism, taught secretly that the wisdom 
 of man consisted in disobedience to all the moral com- 
 mands of the Creator of the world. This is why the 
 Apostle finds it necessary to insist so strongly, as he does 
 in this and the following two chapters of this Epistle, 
 upon the sanctity of the Christian life. And in this verse 
 for the same reason he adds that the Creator of the world 
 is the Father of Christ and all Christ's people ; that he is 
 above all angels and intelligences whatever; that his power 
 and presence extend through all things,\\s,\h\e and invisible, 
 and that his Spirit dwells in us all, not only in a few who 
 are endowed by the law of their creation with a superior 
 
268 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 nature which makes them different from their fellow men. 
 It would seem as if this passage must have suggested the 
 phraseology of the Creed of Nicea, / believe in one God, in 
 one Lord Jesus Christ, I confess one baptism for the remission 
 of sins. 
 
 The \^ilgate reads, as the concluding words of this 
 verse, ct in omnibus nobis, and in us all. The Greek text, 
 as we have it now, reads : a)id in you all. 
 
 7. But to each one of us grace is given, according to 
 the measure of the donation of Christ. 
 
 8. On account of what he says : Ascending on high, 
 he led captive captivity, he gave gifts to men. 
 
 7. Although there is but one Spirit who dwells in all 
 Christians, his gifts are various, both in degree and in 
 kind. This inequality in the gifts of the Spirit might 
 possibly occasion pride, discontent, or envy ; and as has 
 been said, the heretics attributed these gifts to the in- 
 fluences of different celestial spirits. St. Paul meets this 
 by showing: i, as in this verse, that God's gifts are 
 assigned to each by the donation or gift of Christ, in his 
 wisdom and power, not necessarily in proportion to merit; 
 2, that they are not the property of the receiver, but be- 
 long to the whole Church, in verse 12; 3, that this variety 
 tending to unity should be a cause of harmony and not of 
 discord, verse 13. 
 
 8. The quotation is from Ps. Ixvii. ig. Thou hast 
 ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou 
 hast received gifts in men. The Psalm was composed by 
 David and chanted on the occasion of bringing the Ark 
 of God in procession into the citadel of Jerusalem, which 
 he had taken from the Jebusites, as described in 2 Reg. 
 vi. and i Paral. xv. 21, where this song of victor}- is ex- 
 pressly mentioned. God's presence dwelt mystically in 
 the Ark, and the Psalmist says that God had ascended 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 269 
 
 the mountain, leading his Jebusite captives as prisoners^ 
 and received them as gifts devoted to his service. St,- 
 Paul apphes this to Christ, who ascended to heaven, 
 attended by the souls of the saints rescued from the 
 liuihns patrnvi, and reaching his throne received from hig 
 Father the celestial gifts which he has distributed tO' 
 men on earth. What these gifts are, or at least the first; 
 most necessary, and principal ones among them, is ex- 
 plained in verse 11, but the Apostle has another subject 
 to dispose of first. 
 
 9. But that he ascended, what is it, unless that he 
 descended first into the lower parts of the earth ? 
 
 10. Who descended, is he who also ascended above all 
 heavens, that he might fill all things. 
 
 These three verses, 8 — lo, seem to be directed against 
 another error of the followers of Simon, who denied the 
 reality of the death of Christ, his resurrection, and ascen- 
 sion into heaven. They maintained that all this took 
 place, like the Incarnation, in appearance only. For the 
 material world being the work of an evil God, was, in 
 their view, essentially impure, and a celestial Power, such 
 as they acknowledged Christ to be, could not possibly 
 come into such close contact with it, as is implied by 
 actually taking human flesh and suffering death. The 
 Apostle, therefore, insists that Christ really died on the 
 cross, rose again the third day from the dead, and 
 ascended into heaven. There was no reason for his 
 ascending into heaven, if he had not come down from 
 heaven ; though both were not in the same manner. He 
 descended by assuming our nature ; he ascended, having 
 assumed it. He descended bodiless ; he ascended clothed 
 with a body. The expression inferior es partes terr.x means 
 simply this lower world. He ascended to fill all things with. 
 his glor3^ Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. The 
 
:270 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 humiliation of Christ was a new revehition to the powers 
 ,of heaven of the priory of God : and earth adores him as 
 her God and Saviour with a deeper and stron]L,^cr love 
 and devotion, now that he is man. Also he ascended to 
 fulfil the prophecies of old, such as that quoted by the 
 Apostle in verse 8. 
 
 11. And he himself gave some indeed apostles, and 
 •some prophets, and others evangelists, and others pastors 
 
 and teachers, 
 
 12. To the consummation of the saints, for the work 
 .ot the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. 
 
 13. Until we all meet into the unity of the faith and 
 recognition of the Son of God, to perfect man, to the 
 measure of the age of the plenitude of Christ. 
 
 The Apostle here reverts to the gifts which Christ, 
 .ascending to his throne at the right hand of God, received 
 from his Father and transmitted and communicated to 
 the human race, whose nature he had assumed. These 
 gifts did not consist in any provision for this mortal life, 
 for he had already given the earth to man to cultivate, 
 inhabit, and improve ; they were gifts far higher and more 
 ■spiritual, worthy of the Giver, providing for the perfection 
 :and consummation of those who receive them. If all 
 mankind have not benefited by them, this is not the fault 
 of God, who requires only faith as the condition of their 
 enjoyment. They consist in the graces required to bring 
 human nature to its absolute and ideal perfection, the 
 standard of which is the plenitude of Clivist, the sharing his 
 divine perfection. But this requiring, from the nature of 
 the case, the co-operation of the human will (for an in- 
 fluence which crushed freedom and left the will no room 
 to operate, would not have been worthy of God, nor done 
 justice to the nature of man) the Divine Wisdom saw fit 
 ..to communicate these gifts by the aid of human agency. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 27I 
 
 'Christ therefore gave, as his present to mankind, the 
 twelve Apostles, to proclaim the Gospel of his redemp- 
 tion. With the Twelve, were associated Paul, Barnabas, 
 and Silas. The prophets of the]New Testament explained 
 the mysteries of the faith, and sometimes predicted the 
 future, like Agabus in Act. xxi. lo. Their place is now 
 taken by the interpreters and expositors of the Holy 
 Scriptures. The Evangelists are the authors of the four 
 •Gospels ; also the seventy disciples whom Christ sent 
 before his face ; the term is also applied to those who 
 aided and assisted the Apostles in the preaching of the 
 Gospel, as Titus, Timothy, Apollo, Silas. In Acts xxi. 8, 
 Philip the deacon, who baptized the eunuch of Ethiopia, 
 Acts viii. is st}'led Philip the Evangelist. Pastors are 
 bishops and priests entrusted with the care of souls ; and 
 doctors those who teach the people of Christ. St. Paul 
 ■does not say, and some doctors, because the offices of pastor 
 and doctor, though they are distinguishable in their 
 function, are always united in the same person, all pastors 
 being teachers, and all teachers pastors. The Apostolic 
 ■office is continued in the Church m the person of the Vicar 
 of Jesus Christ, who also exercises the prophetic office, in 
 that he is the referee in all questions of faith and morals, 
 and is the centre of evangelistic work, but what he more 
 especially exercises is the office of Pastor. Only to Peter 
 Christ said Feed my sheep. Bishops and priests execute 
 this office locally, in dioceses or parishes, but their 
 pastoral mission is necessarily derived from this com- 
 mission to Peter, as Pastor of the whole Church. The 
 word pastor or shepherd, used figuratively in the Old 
 Testament, always means a King. See 3 Reg. xxii. 17, 
 Is. xliv. 28. St. Paul appears to have expected the return 
 of Christ in the lifetime of most of the members of the 
 Apostolic College, so that it was less necessary for him to 
 •dwell on this point. Although the offices enumerated by 
 
2/2 THE El'ISTLE OE ST. PAUL 
 
 the Apostle are distinct, there is no reason why one or 
 more of them may not be combined in the same person, 
 
 12. We have now the object to which all this is di- 
 rected, the consnuimation or perfection of the Saints. The 
 Syriac has the completion of their number. The Apostle 
 names first the end to be attained, the perfection of the 
 Saints, and then the means by which it is accomplished ; 
 the work of the ministvy, and the edification, or building up, 
 the body of Christ, the holy Catholic Church. This is not 
 attained simply by the existence of a hierarchy and priest- 
 hood, but by their actively engaging in the work of their 
 ministry, or several offices, and their gifts are bestowed 
 upon them, not for their own use, but for the edification 
 of the Church. 
 
 13. Then St. Paul describes the mode of action and 
 the nature of the result obtained by the edification of the 
 Church. TJie work of the ministry is to continue until we, 
 the believers in Christ in all parts and countries of the 
 world, meet in one point, like travellers who set out from 
 various places but all converge in the same place, the 
 unity of the faith, and recognition, or knowledge, of the 
 Son of God. The Syriac has : Until we all become one 
 whole, in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and 
 one perfect man, into the measure of the stature of his 
 fullness. The work of the ministry must therefore con- 
 tinue to the end of the world, until we are all come,\\hevi 
 the various ofiices in the Church of Christ will cease, as 
 no longer necessary. To perfect man. A figure drawn 
 from the growth of the human body, through infancy, 
 childhood and youth, to its full height and strength. So 
 the Christian grows in faith, and the knowledge and love 
 of God, and becomes by degrees complete and perfect in 
 Christ. The work of the Church is not only to make 
 converts to the faith of Christ, but when made, to bring 
 them to his perfect likeness. The measure of the age or 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 273 
 
 'Stature (the Greek word will signify either, the Syriac has 
 stature, of the fullness of Christ, is the perfection of faith 
 and love, by which Christ is formed in the Christain, and 
 the Christian, as it were, transformed into Christ. 
 
 The Apostle's figure is clearl}^ to be understood of the 
 spiritual perfection which the Saints are to attain, or may 
 attain, in this mortal life. Nevertheless some Latin 
 writers, and especially scholastic writers, have taken the 
 words literally and not figuratively, and understand St. 
 Paul to refer to the resurrection of the body, in the per- 
 fect age and stature which Christ had at the time of his 
 ■death and resurrection. And they maintain that the 
 Apostle means to say that all who die, even when infants, 
 will be raised to the size and stature they would have had 
 at the age of thirty-four or thirty-five \ears. St. Augus- 
 tine refers to this interpretation as extant in his time, De 
 Civit. Dei, xxii. 15, but rejects it, preferring the former 
 or figurative interpretation. Some writers have even 
 erroneously inferred that women, with the exception of 
 the Mother of God, will rise masculine, and Tyrinus 
 names St. Basil, St. Hilar}-, St. Athanasius, and Corne- 
 lius a Lapide cites Scotus among the schoolmen, as main- 
 taining this opinion. But whatever may be the opinion 
 of these writers, the Church has never accepted it, 
 any more than the reason given by Scotus in favor of 
 it, viz. that the feminine sex is a fault or imperfection 
 of nature. For woman is as perfect as man, though 
 that perfection is on a smaller scale. And her sex 
 can hardly be a fault of nature, since woman was 
 formed by the hands of the Creator from the side of man. 
 And there can be no reason why, if the Mother of God 
 retains her sex, other women may not retain it also. The 
 plenitude of Christ is the perfection of his charity, humility, 
 
274 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 constancy, and other divine graces, in all of which there 
 is no reason why women and men ma}' not equally attain 
 perfection. 
 
 14. That we may not now be little children tossed by 
 the waves, and be carried away by every wind of doctrine, 
 by the crafty deceit of men, by villainy, to the cheating of 
 error. 
 
 14. That now we are spiritually grown up, and have 
 attained the measure of the stature or age of Christ, as 
 just described, the Greek has, tJiat we may he no longer 
 cliildren. St. Chrysostom and Theophylact also read it 
 so. Little children, on account of the imperfection of 
 their judgment, and inexperience of life, are easily per- 
 suaded, and liable to be tossed on the waves of conflicting 
 doctrines and opinions. Driven round by every veering 
 wind of false teaching. The crafty deceit of men is in the 
 Greek KvjBeioi, which signifies literally dice-playing, and 
 metaphorically craft or cheating. To this the Apostle 
 adds knavery and artifices of deceit. The whole picture 
 is undoubtedly a portrait of the heretical teachers at 
 Ephesus, who employed these artifices to make converts 
 to their cause. It does not necessarily follov/ that the 
 heretics were changeable or uncertain in the doctrines 
 they taught, though doubtless they developed them with 
 great caution. The charge of levity and inconstancy held 
 against those who listened to them, and allowed them- 
 selves to be influenced by these novelties and groundless 
 speculations. The phrase used in the Greek, no longer, 
 indicates that some considerable number of the Ephesians 
 were confused and agitated by these controversies and 
 novel theories. It was one of the intentions and objects 
 of the gifts which Christ received for man, the graces 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 275 
 
 communicated through the Church, to preserve mankind 
 from the deceit and error prepared by the fraud and 
 mahce of the devil, and of evil men. 
 
 15. But doing truth in love, may grow in him through 
 all things, who is the head, Christ, 
 
 16. From whom the whole body compacted and con- 
 nected through every joint of supply, according to the 
 operation by measure of every member, makes increase of 
 the body, to the edification of itself in charity. 
 
 15. Doing truth in love. Believing what is true, and 
 putting it into practice by charity. The Greek word is 
 cf.XrjOevovTe'i, which means ordinarily speaking truth, but 
 the Vulgate has rendered it by what is obviously the 
 meaning of the Apostle, Veritatem facicntes. The expres- 
 sion may be inaccurate in etymology, but is profoundly 
 true in philosophy. If you really believe, you will act on 
 your belief; if you do not act on it, the inference is that 
 you do not really believe. This is the judgment of the 
 world, which not altogether inconsistently or unreason- 
 ably, connects belief with practice, and charges with 
 hypocrisy those whose acts are plainly at variance with 
 the faith they profess. Perhaps doing truth is opposed to 
 the fraud and artifice referred to in verse 14. The fre- 
 quent suggestion of charity implies that the Apostle 
 thought the Ephesians deficient in this grace, though we 
 have no information as to the circumstances on which 
 this opinion was grounded. May grow in him, in all things 
 and in all directions, in breadth and length, depth and 
 height, in all gifts and graces proceeding from Christ, 
 who is the head of the body, and the source of its life and 
 growth. 
 
 16. Front whom the whole body. There is some obscurity 
 in this verse, arising from the brevity of expression, as if, 
 says St. Chrysostom, the Apostle was trying to say every- 
 
276 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 thing at once. He does not allow himself time to dis- 
 tinguish between the figure and the reality. The figure 
 is the human body. The Church of Christ is bound to- 
 gether by every variety of grace supplied by the sacra- 
 ments, and the various ministries of God's appointment, 
 which are the jniictiiyes of snbiiiinistration, and the graces 
 thus supplied to, and contributed by, every member 
 separately, re-act upon the whole, to its extension in 
 numbers and advancement in sanctity, so that the body 
 becomes in this sense the cause, and second source, of its 
 own edification or building up in charity. 
 
 17. This therefore I say, and testif\' in the Lord ; that 
 now you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity 
 of their sense. 
 
 18. Having the understanding obscured in darkness, 
 alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance 
 that is in them, on account of the blindness of their 
 hearts ; 
 
 ig. Who being hopeless, have delivered themselves 
 over to immodesty, to the operation of every uncleanness, 
 to avarice. 
 
 17. This therefore I say. The Apostle reverts to what 
 he said in verse i, / beseech yott to ivalk worthily of your 
 calling. He interrupted his exhortation at that point in 
 order to give an additional reason for it, namely that the 
 whole of the wonderful economy of God's grace was 
 directed to reproduce in the soul of the Christian the 
 likeness of Christ, in all its perfection. This being the 
 object aimed at, / testify in the Lord that noic, the Greek 
 omits now, that henceforward you no longer walk as the other 
 Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their sense, in the Greek 
 and Syriac of their mind. Following the dictates of their 
 senses and their own judgment, they are wholly given up 
 to vanities. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 277 
 
 18. Having the understanding obscured, in the Greek, 
 darkened in intellect, far removed from the sanctity of 
 Hfe which God looks for in his creatures, and not even 
 thinking of it. The cause of this aHenation is ignorance, 
 and this arises from the blindness, or hardness of their 
 hearts. That is, the hardness of their hearts occasions 
 ignorance by which their understanding is obscured, and 
 they are become incapable of perceiving that God re- 
 quired from them holiness of life. The Apostle here 
 describes the condition of the Gentile world internally, as 
 regards their souls ; in the next verse he shows what was 
 its outward manifestation. No doubt this blindness, and 
 its terrible consequences, had come upon the nations 
 gradually, and in the course of ages. God made a 
 covenant with Noe, the second father of our race, after 
 the deluge, by which salvation was attainable by such of 
 the nations as continued in the worship of the true God, 
 and in the observation of the well known laws of the 
 Creator of the world. But they had come to neglect the 
 worship of God, and transferred their adoration to false 
 divinities, the patriarchs of nations, or the powers of 
 nature, and their understanding becoming darkened, and 
 their hearts hardened, they had lost all knowledge or 
 memory of the holy laws of God. Yet even in this con- 
 dition God had not abandoned them, and he offered them 
 reconciliation with himself through the Gospel of Christ. 
 This period of ignorance God disregarded, but now calls upon 
 all men to repent, Act. xvii. 30. 
 
 ig. Who being hopeless. The Greek text at present has 
 ■j.TrrjXy/core'i, which signifies, having ceased to grieve, no 
 longer capable of remorse or sorrow for sin. They must 
 once have felt such remorse, or their forefathers in former 
 times ; but having crushed and driven it out of their 
 hearts, they feel it now no more. This reading is fol- 
 lowed by Saint Chrysostom,Theodoret, and Theophylact. 
 
278 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 The translator of the Vulgate appears to have read 
 aTrrjXTrccre^, having lost hope, and renders it by 
 dcsperantes, having sunk into despair. Having abandoned 
 all hope of any happier life than this hereafter, they set 
 themselves deliberately to obtain as much pleasure as 
 could be had on this side the grave, surrendering or 
 giving themselves up to all that is unclean and immodest. 
 The v/ord avarice does not in this place signify desire for 
 money, as St. Anselm points out, but the insatiable appe- 
 tite for pleasure, as impossible to satisfy as the miser's 
 longing for gain. 
 
 It seems necessary to conclude, from the Apostle's ad- 
 dressing this exhortation to his converts, not to imitate 
 the Gentiles, that the heretical teachers of Ephesus 
 encouraged them to do so, consistently with their mon- 
 strous tenet that the Creator of the world was the enemy 
 of Christ, and that in the service of Christ they were to 
 rebel against and violate all his laws, and it is to this that 
 the Apostle refers in the next verse. 
 
 20. But you have not thus learned Christ. 
 
 21. If, however, 3'ou heard him, and in him were 
 taught, as truth exists in Jesus ; 
 
 22. That you put off, according to the former mode of 
 life, the old man which is corrupt according the desires 
 of illusion. 
 
 23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 
 
 24. And put on the new man, which according to 
 God was created in justice and sanctity ot truth. 
 
 20. You have not learned in the school of Christ to 
 give up your lives to licentiousness and the enjoyments 
 of sense ; if at least you received his doctrine from those 
 who conveyed the real tradition of his teaching and holy 
 life. Such, says Theodoret, is the doctrine of impiety ; 
 but the discipline of Christ is directly opposed to it. In 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 279 
 
 using the expression if, however, v. 21, the Apostle does 
 not express any doubt that the Ephesians were originally 
 instructed in the true doctrine of Christ; but some of 
 them had since been led astray, and many more were in 
 danger of being led astray, by the heretics who had 
 interfered with their faith after St. Paul left Ephesus. 
 So Grotius understands it. You have heard Christ, not, 
 indeed, speaking in person, but b}^ the report of those 
 who remembered and repeated what he said. 
 
 22. What you were taught by the discipline of Christ 
 was to lay aside the old life of Gentile licentiousness, 
 when you laid aside the garments of daily use on entering 
 the font of Baptism. The life of the unregenerate must 
 be, in some form or other, a life of increasing corruption, 
 in which the appetites of the physical nature, or the am- 
 bition of worldly success, or hatred of the truth of God, 
 not being resisted, or not resisted effectually by God's 
 grace, will at last completely subjugate the will. All 
 these are desideria erroris, or desires springing from illu- 
 sion, for these things have in reality no power to satisfy 
 the soul, and leave it in desolation and despair. They 
 promise sweetness, but the fruit at last is poisonous and 
 bitter. 
 
 24. The baptized assumed a white robe to signify that 
 he was transformed into a new man ; that is the same 
 man, but with new dispositions, aspirations, and aim in 
 life. He becomes what our first father was when he 
 •came from his Creator's hands, in true justice and true 
 sanctity. The spirit of your mind is a Hebrew idiom, 
 implying the mind and heart, will and disposition, all of 
 which are renewed, or brought back to what they were 
 when man was new, or freshly created. The word 
 renovaniini, in verse 23, he ye renewed, is in the Vulgate in 
 the imperative mood, but in the Greek it is in the 
 infinitive, like deponere in verse 22 ; you were taught to 
 lay aside the old life and enter on a new one. 
 
280 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 St. Jerome consiilers that the new man created injustice 
 and sanctity of truth is our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the 
 Apostle says tlie Christian converts were instructed to- 
 put on, that is to imitate in his perfect justice and sanc- 
 tity. It is a new creation, as regards the Christian who- 
 receives the remission of sins and the grace of God in 
 Baptism. He becomes another Christ, an image and 
 hkeness of Christ, and a follower of his sanctity,, 
 humility, modesty, gentleness, and charity. The old 
 creation did not fulfil God's purpose, and resulted in the 
 fall ; the new creation is accompanied with higher graces 
 and will lead to salvation and glcr3^ But it also has a 
 higher and more perfect ideal to imitate and follow, as 
 Christ is more perfect and holy than our first father 
 Adam. 
 
 25. On which account, laying aside falsehood, speak, 
 truth each with his neighbour, because we are members 
 of one another. 
 
 26. Be angry and do not sin : let not the sun set upon 
 your wrath. 
 
 27. Give no place to the devil. 
 
 28. Who used to steal, let him not steal now ; and 
 rather let him labour, working with his hands at what is 
 good, whence he may afford what is requisite to one who- 
 suffers. 
 
 29. Every evil word, let it not come forth out of 
 your mouth ; but whatever is good to edification of 
 faith, that it may give grace to the hearers. 
 
 30. And do not sadden the Holy Spirit of God, in 
 whom 30U were sealed to the da}- of redemption. 
 
 31. All bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and 
 clamour, and blasphem}-, be taken away from you, with 
 all malice. 
 
 32. /\nu be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving 
 one another, as also God in Christ forgave you. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 281- 
 
 25. The Apostle begins with the sins of the tongue. 
 Layiiii^- aside falsehood, or lying. Speak truth to one 
 another, because we are members of the same body. 
 The eye does not mislead the feet, nor the hands put 
 stumbling stones in their way. St. Chrysostom says you 
 cannot wrong your brother without wronging Christ, for 
 you sin against Christ when you sin against one of his 
 members. Possibly St. Paul, having lived three years at 
 Ephesus, was aware of the weakness of the Ephesians, 
 particularly the pagans, in this respect. 
 
 26. This injunction is hypothetical. If you are angry, 
 do not sin. Anger is not necessarily sin in itself. It is, 
 as St. Chrysostom observes, a passion implanted in 
 human nature to enable us to assail and overcome the 
 difficulties we contmually encounter. But it ought not to- 
 lead us into violence or injustice. And it should not 
 settle into resentment. The setting of the sun, among 
 the Hebrews, and other orientals, was the beginning of a 
 new day, as in the beginning of the Book of Genesis, 
 The evening and the morning made one day, and this tradition 
 is preserved in the festivals of the Church, which begin 
 with the first vespers. Your anger should end with the 
 day. The first clause of this verse is a quotation from 
 Ps. iv. 5. 
 
 27. Give no place to the devil. A settled emnity or 
 chronic resentment in the heart will give evil spirits an 
 opportunity of temptation. It is possible, however, to 
 take the Greek expression rw Siaj^oXo) in a general 
 sense, and in its literal meaning the slanderer or cahun- 
 niator. Do and say nothing under the influence of anger 
 which may expose you to slander or calumny, for though 
 the slander will be false, it may nevertheless be an occasion 
 of scandal against the faith you profess. Especially in a 
 place like Ephesus there would be many enemies of the 
 ^aith on the watch for such opportunities, and against 
 them it was essential to keep guard. 
 
2S2 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 28. 117/0 used to steal. Qui fnrahatnr. The Greek has 
 6 nXeTTTwi', in the present tense, he ivho steals. But this 
 participle also represents the imperfect, and this the 
 Vulj^ate translator has preferred. To steal stands for any 
 unjust and illej^itimate means of acquiring what properly 
 belongs to others, whether open robbery, secret theft, or 
 fraud. Whoever has been accustomed to live by such 
 unlawful means, should in future exert himself in some 
 honest and useful labour, which may give him the oppor- 
 tunity of making restitution, though indirectly, of the 
 wrong he has done, by giving to others who are more 
 destitute than himself. It is remarkable that the x\postle 
 says nothing of the restitution of stolen property to those 
 from whom it was taken. This is undoubtedly necessary 
 where such restitution is practicable, but it very rarely is 
 so, for money or goods are usually stolen for the relief of 
 immediate and pressing necessity, or if otherwise, are 
 generally spent and squandered. Zacchasus said, if I have 
 
 .defrauded anyone, I hereby offer to restore him fourfold, but 
 he expressed it as doubtful, and was not conscious of 
 having actually done so, at least intentionally, 
 
 29. Every evil ivord, expressions that are unclean and 
 unholy, ribald and scurrilous, even should they rise to 
 your lips, which was not altogether improbable with 
 peof)le who had been brought up from childhood amid 
 pagan associations, let it at any rate not pass them. When 
 you speak, say what will tend to edification of faith, to the 
 increase of faith and piety in your hearers ; or at least, 
 will give them pleasure. 
 
 Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. 
 
 30. Do not by evil language sadden or offend the Holy 
 Spirit of God. A guest who is insulted will quit the house, 
 especially a guest of regal rank, and the Holy Spirit, thus 
 grieved or offended, may possibly withdraw his power and 
 presence. For by that Spirit you were sealed or marked, 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 283 
 
 in Baptism and Confirmation, for the great day of the 
 Resurrection, to be on that day finally and for ever set 
 free from all evil, moral or material. To that prospect all 
 your words and meditations and actions should be, in 
 reason and in piety, directed and referred. St. Chrysostom 
 observes that not the soul onl}', but the body also, is sealed 
 by the Holy Spirit of God, for the day of the Resurrection. 
 But that which is sealed must not be opened but by 
 authorization of him in whose name the seal is affixed. 
 The mouth cannot therefore be opened but by the authori- 
 zation of the Holy Spirit ; much less opened for the 
 utterance of that which is filthy and obscene. He who 
 says what is useless and purposeless, violates the seal of 
 the Spirit ; he who utters evil words grieves and offends 
 Him. 
 
 31. We have an ascending series in this verse. First, 
 bitterness in the heart, from which proceeds the rising 
 storm of anger, Ov/jlo<;, whose threatening voice is heard 
 as from afar. This, when yielded to, breaks forth in 
 opyn, indignation, the full tempest of the soul, which 
 finds expression in clamour, or violent and wrathful 
 language against our neighbour. And finally swells into 
 blasphemy, or evil speaking, against charity or faith, some- 
 times against the author of charity and faith. Clamour is 
 the steed of anger, says St. Chrysostom. Throw the 
 horse, and you overturn the rider. You clip the wings of 
 anger, if you silence clamour. Let all these things, says 
 the Apostle, be removed and taken away from the midst 
 of you ; as if he had reason to fear they were too really 
 there. And with them all malignity or cherished pur- 
 poses of hatred and revenge, which are in direct opposition 
 to the charity of Christ. 
 
 32. God has for Christ's sake forgiven you much 
 more than you can ever be called upon to forgive your 
 neighbour ; and you stand in need of greater kindness and 
 
284 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 mercy at his hands than you can ever exhibit to others. 
 The words donantes and donavit, which the vulfi^ate em- 
 ploys, stand for condonantcs and condonavit, which corres- 
 pond to the meaning of the Greek text. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Christ is the Head of the Church, and his Spirit flows 
 forth into the whole Church, which is his body, and into all 
 the faithful, who are his members. Christ, therefore, is my 
 head. To him, as my head, I must continually be united 
 by habitual charity, and as frequently as possible by acts 
 of faith, hope, and charity, that by union with him I may 
 receive from him light, spiritual guidance, spiritual grace. 
 As m the natural order Ihe body cannot act without tiie 
 head, so neither in the supernatural, can you do anything 
 without your mystical head. Whatever, therefore, you 
 propose to do, consult your Head. Unite yourself to 
 Christ, that in his light and by his spirit you may act and 
 be acted on. When about to pray to God, unite yourself 
 with Christ, and in him, through him, and with him, pray 
 to, adore, and love, your God and his. 
 
 Christ is the Heart of the Church, and his influence 
 communicates spiritual life to all its members. Christ, 
 therefore, is my heart, and to me the source and principle 
 of life. By his Spirit I am animated, moved, directed. 
 I must, therefore, as frequently as possible, unite myself 
 to Christ, my heart, and if it be possible, continually live 
 in the heart of Christ, do everything in and through the 
 heart of Christ ; use his heart as mine; in and through 
 this sacred Heart, love, adore, and pray to God. This will, 
 be the best possible consolation in spiritual dryness and 
 desolation. Forget }our own cold heart, unite yourself to 
 the divine Heart of Christ, which is also yours, and use it 
 as your own. Through this divine heart pray, love, adore. 
 Offer to God the intinite affection of the heart of Christ,. 
 
TO THE EPHEJ.nisfS. 285 
 
 its ceaseless aaJ eternal adoration, thanksgiving, praise, 
 and benediction. Rejoice to think of the acts of piety 
 which proceed from the heart of Christ. Rejoice that by 
 that Heart God is worthily loved, adored, praised, and 
 honoured. In thinking of the divine acts of this Sacred 
 Heart, your own will find rest and peace. 
 
286 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1. Be therefore imitators of God, as sonsmost beloved ; 
 
 2. And walk in love, as also Christ loved us, and de- 
 livered himself up for us an oblation and victim to God, 
 for an odour of sweetness. 
 
 Ch. V. In this chapter the Apostle urges in detail the 
 exercise of Christian charity and purity, and of mutual 
 kindness and affection in Christian marriage. 
 
 1. Be imitators of God. The Syriac, Be therefore like 
 God. This follows from the concluding words of the last 
 verse, God has for Chrisfs sake forgiven you. As his most 
 dear sons, for the sons, as a rule, are dearest to the father, 
 who most resemble him. God forgives, and loves to do 
 good ; be you also forgiving, and do good when you have 
 the power. 
 
 2. And walk in love, not only by occasional acts of 
 charity, but the habitual and progressive exercise of it. 
 St. Chrysostom observes that it is not said simply, be 
 imitators of God, but is immediately added, in charity. 
 God is in all things to be admired, but not in all things 
 to be imitated. He is to be admired in his knowledge, 
 power, immensity, eternity, and other infinite perfections, 
 but in these he cannot be imitated, for they are beyond 
 our reach. But he would have us all imitate his good- 
 ness, forgive as he forgives, bless as he blesses, and this^ 
 in our measure, we may all do. If you forgive, you are 
 like God, if you benefit your neighbour, you become like 
 God to him. For man to man becomes as God by well 
 doing. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 28/ 
 
 As also CJirist loved us, and offered himself a sacrifice for lis, 
 so should we be ready to sacrifice our lives for one 
 another. The Apostle does not say this, but this is evi- 
 dently the sense of what he omits. For an edor of sweet- 
 ness. The allusion is no doubt to the sacrifice of Noe, 
 Gen. viii. 21. The Lord smelted a sweet odor, and said to 
 him, I will no more curse the earth for man. Christ, the true 
 Noe, saved us from the deluge of sin, and God, refreshed 
 b}' the most sweet odor of his sacrifice, resolved to spare 
 mankind for his sake. The sacrifice of Christ was most 
 grateful to God, and on account of it he accepts what- 
 ever other sacrifices man offers to him; for in this great 
 sacrifice Christ is himself the Priest, lie offered himself, and 
 was himself the victim, and it was not for his friends, but 
 for sinners, his enemies. By this sacrifice the evil odor of 
 the sins of men is driven away, and God is pleased with the 
 smokeof incense of this perfect oblation. And this Priest 
 and Victim was himself God, as well as man. He offered 
 himself willingly, not on compulsion. He offered himself 
 from charity. He offered himself wholly, God and Man. 
 Therefore this sacrifice is in all things and altogether well 
 pleasing to God. And for the sake of this sacrifice we 
 should be ready to deliver up ourselves to death, if it be 
 necessary, for the safety and especially the salvation of 
 others, and sacrifice our own inclinations for charity. 
 
 3. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or avarice,, 
 let it not even be named among you, as becomes saints. 
 
 4. Or foulness, or the talk of fools, or scurrility, 
 things which are not to the purpose ; but rather thanks- 
 giving. 
 
 This is the second point in the Imitation of Christ, 
 which is the subject of this Chapter. That the Ephesians 
 people in general were open to the charge of fornication 
 and uncleanness, as well as the other vices and follies 
 
•288 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 referred to in these verses, there is not much doubt, an i 
 being a great commercial centre, it is not unlikely their 
 city was by no means free from the prevalence of what 
 the A]iostle is understood to mean by avarice, the practice 
 of acquisition of money by chicanery, underhand, or dis- 
 honest means. All these things were permitted by the 
 laws, and by public opinion ; nor were they condemned 
 b}' the heretics, but rather recommended and enforced, 
 as is more than hinted in verse 6. Such things shtnild not 
 even be made the subject of conversation among Chris- 
 tians, any more than they would have been among the 
 immediate followers of Jesus Christ, and in his presence. 
 Filthy and foolish talking, obscene and ribald jesting, 
 which ministers to sin, or does not reprove it, is also in- 
 consistent with every aim and object of the Christian 
 life, for the Christian looks forward to a tin- e when he 
 will be made perfect in sanctity in the presence of God. 
 The word evrpXTreX t^, translated b}^ the Y \i\^:ite.scnyrilita3, 
 is used by Aristotle as the designation of one of the 
 moral virtues, that of urbanity ; the wit, cheerfulness, 
 promptness to give pleasure and entertainment in conver- 
 sation, which everyone cultivates who wishes to render 
 himself agreeable in society. But it is not necessary to 
 suppose that in this sense the Apostle condemns it, 
 within due bounds, and when practised for the sake of 
 charity. There can be no doubt that the word had 
 altered its meaning since the time of Aristotle, and was 
 commonly used to describe what the great philosopher 
 himself would hardly have reccgnised as tending to virtue, 
 an indecorous and indecent wit and jocularity, tending 
 only to laughter, unless it tended to something worse. It 
 was the profession of flatterers, mimics, jesters, dancers, 
 of women who ministered to pleasure. St. Chrysostom 
 says that a man who in his talk is infamous, shameless, 
 and obscene, is called evTp yiroyeX^, which is hardly what 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 28g 
 
 Aristotle can have meant when he spoke of this as a virtue. 
 Scurrility which is not to the purpose, ad rem, serves no useful 
 end, and does not contribute to that which should be the 
 object of life, the glory of God, and the happiness of our 
 neighbour. The Greek has unsuitahle or indecent. Not 
 tending to our satisfaction, Theophylact. Since we are 
 consecrated to God in baptism, and sealed with the Holy 
 Spirit, we are guilty of sacrilege if we utter profane and 
 filthy language, like King Balthasar when he profaned the 
 sacred vessels of God's service. The same night Balthasar 
 the Chaldean king was slain, Dan. v. 30. Of course this in- 
 junction applies with still greater force to priests and re- 
 ligious. Rather thanksgiving. The words Deo gratias were 
 the ancient form of salutation in use among Christian people. 
 See Saint Augustine, ep. 77. 
 
 5. For this know and understand, that every fornicator, 
 or unclean, or covetous, which is the service of idols, has no 
 inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 
 
 6. Let no one lead you astray with empty words, for on 
 account of these things the anger of God is coming upon 
 the sons of distrust. 
 
 7. Be not therefore partakers with them. 
 
 8. For you once were darkness, but now light in the 
 Lord. Walk as sons of light. 
 
 g. (For the fruit of light is in all goodness and justice and 
 truth ;) 
 
 10. Proving what is well pleasing to God. 
 
 11. And communicate not with the fruitless works of 
 darkness ; but rather reprove them. 
 
 12. For what is done by them in secret, is disgraceful even 
 to say. 
 
 The things which Saint Paul denounces and condemns in 
 these verses and in verse 4 were not condemned or disap- 
 proved, either by the philosophers of antiquity, or by Simon 
 
2gO THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Magus and his disciples, but on the contrary, promoted and 
 encouraged. On this account the Apostle makes and enforces 
 with all possible emphasis and solemnity the assertion in the 
 text, that they exclude those who do them from any inheri- 
 tance in the kingdom of Christ and God. These words have 
 only one article in the Greek, tov XpirrTov kui Qeov, which will 
 bear the meaning that only one Person is denoted ; Christ 
 our God. At the same time it is doubtful whether the 
 translator of the Vulgate so understood it, or he would have 
 written Christi Dei instead of Christi et Dei. The words 
 fornicator or unclean put a distinction between simple fornica- 
 tion and other forms of impurity. The covetous either takes 
 the goods of others unjustly, or places all his trust in riches. 
 This the Apostle says is the service of idols. The Greek 
 has, who is an idolater, and so St. Chrysostom reads it. For 
 the avaricious makes money his God, and sacrifices in its 
 worship heart, mind, soul, self, and his hopes for eternity. 
 Let no one lead you astray with vain words. The old philoso- 
 phers maintained that there was no evil in simple fornication, 
 and the followers of Simon extended this to all other forms 
 of impurity. They went further, and asserted that these things 
 were pleasing to God, and might be acceptably offered as a 
 sacrifice to him. Let not, therefore, either the philosopher 
 or the heretic lead you astray with such empty words. Words, 
 St. Jerome says, which are set forth with the ornaments of 
 eloquence or poetry, and flatter sinners, but are empty of truth. 
 For on account of these things the wrath of God is coming. 
 The present tense with an inclusive reference to the future, as 
 in I John ii.. Antichrist is coming. So the judgment of God is 
 coming, or will come, on those who teach or follow these false 
 principles. Sons of distrust is a Hebrew idiom. The Greek 
 has sons of disobedience, who are openly rebellious against the 
 plain commands of the Creator of the world. Be not made 
 partakers with them, by joining in their sins. You were once 
 in the darkness of Gentile error, and so far might have found 
 some excuse ; but you are now enlightened by the faith and 
 
TO THE F.PHESIANS. 29I 
 
 grace of Christ. Walk therefore as sons of light, making it 
 your object to study, examine, cherish, and carry out in 
 practice, that which is the will of God concerning you. For 
 the fvuit of light, the outcome of the faith of Christ, is goodness, 
 justice, truth, in opposition to the fruit of darkness, wrath, 
 fraud, or avarice, and lies, referred to above, iv. 31. The 
 fruit of the sunshine is the ripened grape, the growth of the 
 dark dungeon the poisonous fungus. The Greek text has, 
 the fvuit of the Spirit. Hold no communication with the fruit- 
 Jess works of darkness. Do not do them, do not praise them, do 
 not approve them, do not consent to others doing them, do 
 not jest at them, do not speak of them, do not think of them. 
 Fruitless^ because they have no fruit of life eternal ; their 
 fruit is death. Rather reprove them, by taking no part in them, 
 or, if necessary, protesting in words. For it is not sufficient 
 to do well, if we tolerate an 1 encourage, by flattery, complac- 
 ence, or approval, the evil deeds of others. What these 
 people do in their secret assemblies, is execrable even to be 
 said. So the Syriac. St. Epiphanius says that this refers to 
 the heretical followers of Simon Magus. 
 
 13. For all things that are proved are made manifest by 
 light : for all that makes manifest is light. 
 
 14. On which account he says : Awake, thou that sleepest, 
 and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten thee. 
 
 The Syriac has : All things are by light proved and re- 
 vealed. The right way to reprove the darkness of evil, is by 
 the light of good deeds ; because it is the nature of light to 
 illumine. The light of day brings into prominence all that 
 had been hidden in the shades of night ; so do good deeds 
 bring out by contrast the evil deeds of others. As Christ, 
 who is the Light of the world, illumines every man who 
 comes into the world, so in proportion the Christian, who is 
 a son of this Light, should illumine and enlighten his neigh- 
 bour by his good deeds and his example. For a holy life 
 
2g2 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 is a light which is not only conspicuous in itself, but sheds its 
 radiance on, and is reflected from, all the objects around. 
 The quotation in verse 14, as St. Thomas thinks, is from 
 Isaias Ix. i. Rise, be enlightened, Jerusalem, for thy light is 
 come. Thy light is Christ. Other writers think the v^^ords 
 are taken from some other canonical book, which has been 
 lost : they do not occur in the Scriptures Hterally as the 
 Apostle gives them. 
 
 . 15. See, therefore, brethren, that you walk cautiously, not 
 as fools, but as wise ; 
 
 16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 
 
 17. Therefore do not become imprudent, but understand- 
 ing what is the will of God. 
 
 The Christian, who is a son of Light, and walks in the 
 midst of light, should proceed in all he does with the know- 
 ledge and recollection of this truth, as one walks in the full 
 flood of daylight, in the knowledge that he is open to the 
 sight of all men. A man who walks in the daylight forgetting 
 this, is liable, if he does not act foolishly, at least to look 
 foolish. Christians should be non quasi insipientes, sed itt 
 sapientes. 
 
 Redeeming the time, redeem the age in which you live by a 
 just and holy life, as the city of Sodom would have been 
 redeemed from destruction by ten just men, had ten been 
 found in it. The days are evil, full of sorcery, paganism in 
 its last degradation, heresies more terrible and monstrous 
 still. It is for you, the followers of Christ, to redeem your 
 age from the reproach of universal corruption. Do not allow 
 the example of those around you to betray you into impru- 
 dence, incaution, or carelessness, but make it your study to 
 understand and do the will of God. Otherwise the words, 
 the days are evil, may be taken prophetically as signifying that 
 persecution will shortly break out against you. The first 
 great persecution of the Church, under Nero, commenced m 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 293 
 
 fact very shortly after the date at which this epistle is usually 
 supposed to have been written. If you now enjoy an interval 
 of comparative tranquillity, remember that it will not last for 
 ever, and make the best use of the interval of time that 
 remains to you, lest the storm burst upon you unawares, and 
 your faith be endangered. 
 
 18. And be not intoxicated with wine, in which is luxury, 
 but be filled with the Holy Spirit. 
 
 19. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and 
 spiritual songs, singing and playing in your hearts to the 
 Lord. 
 
 20. Always for all things giving thanks, in the name of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, to the God and Father. 
 
 The assemblies of the heretics were orgies conducted with 
 feasting and every kind of license, and they indulged freely in 
 the use of wine, blasphemously pretending that this was the 
 service of God. In this they were not to be imitated. Be net 
 intoxicated with wine. The reference is not to the extreme 
 degree of intoxication which we sometimes witness in 
 northern countries, and which is produced generally by the 
 use of the products of alcoholic distillation, and occasions 
 insensibility, or sometimes absolute loss of consciousness. 
 This is seldom produced by the use of wine, but wine never- 
 theless, taken in immoderate quantity, will easily occasion a 
 degree of intoxication which for the time overthrows the 
 balance of reason, and urges to vices of other kinds. In 
 which is luxury, in Greek ao-w-ia, profligacy and extravagance. 
 Rather he filled zvith the Holy Spirit, the principle of spiritual 
 joy. And as the pagans, and the heretics, are accustomed to 
 sing licentious love songs at their assemblies and entertain- 
 ments, as an incitement to sin, so do you divide into choirs 
 and sing responsively psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Psalm, 
 in its etymological sense, includes music of any kind ; 
 in the sacred Scripture, and probably here, it especially 
 
^94 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 refers to the recitation of the Psahns of David, or composi- 
 tions resembhng them. The word hymns has ahnost the same 
 meaning. Spiritual songs, such as tend to what is sacred and 
 holy. The words singing and playing imply that such songs 
 might be, and usually were, accompanied by musical instru- 
 ments. This is also implied in the following couplet by St. 
 Augustine, quoted by Cornelius a Lapide : 
 
 Non vox sed votum, non chovdiila niusica, sed cor 
 Non cantans sed anians, cantat in ative Dei. 
 Continually giving thanks to God for all the mercies received 
 irom him. The Greek word is evxapiarovyreQ, and the mean- 
 ing may be, joining daily in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, 
 offered for all men in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to 
 God the Father. The words, rw 9£w /ecu nuTpi have the same 
 grammatical construction as roii Xpiarov kuI Oeov in verse 5. 
 
 21. Subject to one another in fear of Christ. 
 
 22. Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the 
 Lord ; 
 
 23. Because man is the head of woman, as Christ is the 
 head of the Church ; himself is the Saviour of his body. 
 
 24. But as the Church is subject to Christ, so women to 
 their husbands in all things. 
 
 The general principle of subordination of the inferior to 
 the superior, and consideration of the inferior by the superior, 
 necessary for the existence of any human society, and not 
 less so in the Catholic Church, the kingdom of Christ, is 
 stated by the Apostle in verse 21, and he proceeds to apply 
 it, in the remainder of this chapter, and part of the following 
 one, in detail to the three relations, i, of husband and wife ; 
 2, of parents and children ; and 3, of masters and servants. 
 In a sense, all are equal before God, but all have not the 
 same functions and duties, and the due discharge of these 
 duties involves consideration for the rights of others, whether 
 placed above us or below. The Greek text reads in fear of God. 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 295 
 
 The name Christ, in the Vulgate, points the reference as to 
 the Lord, in the following verse. Every inferior sees Christ 
 in his superiors ; because from God all power and subordina- 
 tion comes. And every superior is to his inferior the vicar 
 of God and of Christ. The inferior, called on to obey, 
 should look to Christ, and for Christ's fear and reverence, be 
 obedient to the master or superior. Thus he will be obedient 
 to God, and to Christ, the supreme Lord of all. Christ 
 became obedient for us, even to dedth, and this great example 
 every Christian should recall, when called on by a superior to 
 obey. And as the exinanition and humility of Christ, even 
 to serviLude and death, was infinite praise and glory to God, 
 so by uniting our servitude and obedience to the obedience and 
 humility of Christ, we honour God in Christ, with Christ, 
 and through Christ, in the highest degree possible to us. 
 But on the same principle superiors are bound to regard the 
 welfare of those placed under them, for it is for the welfare 
 of the inferior that the superior exists. Ideo proesunt ut 
 prosint. 
 
 Women are to be subject to their husbands, sicut 
 Domino, not as to a lord, for in this case he would have said 
 sicut dominis, but to Christ the Lord of all. The woman, 
 therefore, should regard her husband as if he was Christ. 
 And as Christ is the head of the Church, and the Saviour of 
 it, as of his own body, so the husband is the protector and 
 guardian of his wife. Corporis ejus in the Vulgate is a 
 Hebraism for corporis sui ; the pronoun does not occur in the 
 Greek or Syriac. The submission of the wife to the husband 
 is as extensive as that of the Church to Christ ; in all things ; 
 but as Tertullian observes, we may here understand the 
 words used Col. iii. i8, Sicut oportet in Domino, within the 
 limits of the Christian discipline. The woman is to honour, 
 love, and confide in her husband, as the person by whom 
 she is supported, protected, and supplied with all she needs. 
 For the Church honours Christ, trusts in Christ, and serves 
 Christ for love. 
 
296 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 25. Husbands, love your wives, as also Christ loved the 
 Church, and gave himself up for her. 
 
 26. That he might sanctify her, cleansing her by the laver 
 of water in the word of life ; 
 
 27. That he might present to himself the Church glorious, 
 having not a spot or wrinkle, or anything like it ; but that 
 she may be holy and immaculate. 
 
 28. So also should husbands love their wives as their 
 own bodies ; for who loves his wife loves himself. 
 
 29. For none ever held his own flesh in hatred, but feeds 
 and warms it, as Christ the Church. 
 
 30. Because we are members of his body, of his flesh, and 
 of his bones. 
 
 31. On this account man shall leave his father and his 
 mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one 
 flesh. 
 
 32. This is a great sacrament ; but I speak in Christ and 
 in the Church. 
 
 33. Nevertheless you also each, let every man love his 
 wife as himself; and let the wife fear her husband. 
 
 This is the other aspect of the picture. If the woman is 
 to regard her husband as Christ, treat him as she would treat 
 Christ, the man is bound to regard and treat his wife as 
 Christ does the Church. He loved the Church ; the man 
 should love his wife. Christ gave his life for the Church ; 
 the man should give the labour of his life for his wife's 
 support, risk his life, if necessary, in her defence. Christ 
 hallowed and sanctified the Church, made her holy, keeps 
 her holy, will present her to himself perfect and immaculate 
 at last. So the husband should be tolerant of the imperfec- 
 tions of his wife, and strive to render her, with himself, holy 
 and worthy of Christ. He should love his wife as he loves 
 his own body, which by natural instinct he feeds, warms, 
 clothes, and adorns ; so should he feed and adorn his wife ; 
 as Christ the Church, which he has washed in the laver of 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 2g7 
 
 Baptism, feeds with his body and blood, adorns with his 
 grace. Here Saint Paul passes parenthetically from the 
 subject he is treating, namely, the relation of husband and 
 wife, and dwells for a moment on the higher and grander 
 analogy or resemblance with which he has illustrated it. We 
 are members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones, applying to 
 Christ and the Church the words of Adam spoken to our 
 first mother Eve. Gen. ii. 23. As Eve was formed from the 
 side of Adam while he slept, so is the Church formed from 
 the water and the blood that flowed from the side of Christ 
 sleeping on the cross. The Apostle adds the words that 
 follow (verse 31 of the text), which declare that hence- 
 forward man and wife shall be one flesh. Only in figure and 
 metaphor ; though in the case of Eve and Adam it was 
 literally true, as also in the case of Christ and the Church. 
 This intimate union of Deity with humanity, the Creator 
 with the creature, is a great sacrament, or m3^stery, trans- 
 cending all human understanding or knowledge. The love 
 of the Creator for the creature is far deeper and more tender 
 than any earthly affection, the union that satisfies it more 
 intimate than any possible to mortality. Marriage conveys 
 only a distant and feeble resemblance or suggestion of this 
 sublime and unknown reality. Therefore, in conclusion, the 
 subject may be summed up in this practical injunction : let 
 every man who is married love his wife as he loves himself; 
 and the wife be careful to fear her husband. 
 
 The interpretation above given of the words sacramentnm hoc 
 magnum est, though it is not that adopted by Bellarmine, is 
 accepted by Cajetan, Vasquez, and other writers. The 
 Apostle has been speaking of marriage as it existed from the 
 beginning of the world, and among pagan nations, before 
 Christ elevated it to the rank of a sacrament ; and having 
 used the phrase this is a great sacrament, or mystery, he pro- 
 ceeds to say that he speaks, not of marriage, but of that 
 which marriage resembles and represents, the union between 
 Christ and the Church, at once his Body and his Bride. 
 
igS THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Corollary of Piety, 
 
 He redeems the time, who seeks to make reparation by 
 tears and penance for the sins of his former hfe. He redeems 
 the time, who, having previously wasted it in luxury, in sin, 
 in sloth, or in tepidity, endeavours to recover the loss by 
 greater fervour, multiplies the acts of virtue, makes his fasts 
 more frequent, redoubles his acts of mortification, accumulates 
 as many good works as possible in the slender allowance of 
 time that yet remains to him in this mortal life. He redeems 
 the time, who forsakes the world and all worldly advantages, 
 that he may have time for uninterrupted converse with God. 
 What, Saint Augustine asks (Horn, i inter 50 torn. 10), is the 
 meaning of buying time, unless it be to gain time to devote 
 to the acquisition and appropriation of eternal good, even at 
 the price of the sacrifice, if that be necessary, of the 
 temporal good of earth ? He redeems the time who consents 
 to suffer loss rather than throw away time and tranquillity in 
 the prosecution of suits of law. As you willingly part with 
 money to buy bread, says the same Father elsewhere (Serm. 
 24 de verbis Apostoli), so with equal readiness suffer the loss 
 of it to purchase peace. And he redeems the time, the time 
 which others waste in drinking and feasting, in license, or in 
 amusement, when he consecrates these hours to sacred vigils, 
 in the recitation, as the Apostle recommends, of psalms and 
 spiritual songs. Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 '"^J|CJjI)"^'" 
 
to THE EPHESIANS. 2g9 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1. Sons, obey your parents in the Lord : for this is 
 just, 
 
 2. Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first 
 commandment in promise ; 
 
 3. That it may be well to thee, and thou be long-hved 
 upon earth. 
 
 4. And you, fathers, do not provoke your sons to wrath ; 
 but educate them in discipHne and reproof of the Lord. 
 
 Ch. vi. In this chapter the Apostle urges the duty of 
 parents and children, of masters and servants, to one 
 another ; advises the Ephesian Christians to arm themselves 
 in the panoply of God ; requests their prayers for support in 
 his approaching interview with the emperor ; and concludes 
 the epistle with his apostolic benediction. 
 
 This is the second branch or division of the general in- 
 junction in V. 21, Be subject to one anothev in the fear of Christ. 
 The Apostle has alread}^ treated of the duties of wives and 
 husbands ; in these verses he deals with the relation of 
 parents and children. Sons stands here for either sex ; the 
 Greek has rii^va, children. Obey your parents in the Lord, it 
 being evidently the design and intention of the Creator of the 
 world that children, while young, should be obedient to their 
 parents. And in accordance with the law of Christ, that is, 
 except when the command given is evidently inconsistent 
 with Christian obligation, which in pagan times might 
 happen not unfrequently. Honour thy father and mother is the 
 first commandment which has a special promise attached to 
 it, namely, length of life, a promise adapted to the hopes and 
 wishes of the rising generation of the age in which it was 
 given, before whom the hope of eternal happiness in heaven 
 
300 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 had not as yet been clearly set forth, but who were encour- 
 aged to look forward to earthly prosperity and enjoyment in 
 the land promised to their fathers. St. Thomas observes, in 
 one of his minor works, that children hold life from parents 
 as vassals hold a feof from a king. The soldier retains the 
 feof as long as he pays the homage and yields the service, 
 and children are similarly entitled to the preservation of life 
 while they honour their parents. The rebel soldier is spoiled 
 of his possession, and rebellious children deserve to be de- 
 prived of life. The Apostle does not mean that the literal 
 promise holds good in every case ; for the temporal pros- 
 perity of the Hebrews of old was only a figure of the eternal 
 joy of heaven, promised to the obedient and faithful Christian. 
 If God does not always give long life on earth, he will give 
 an eternal life hereafter. Parents, in their turn, are not to 
 provoke their children to wrath by excessive severity. 
 Neither on the other hand (this is understood) are they to do 
 them the injustice of leaving their faults entirely uncorrected. 
 Educate them in the discipline and reproof of the Lord, with 
 such instruction as will guide them in the knowledge of 
 Christ's law ; such correction as is moderate, gentle, suited 
 to the doctrine of Christ, who said, Learn of me, for I am 
 gentle and hnmble ; and such warning and advice as will 
 prepare them to meet the perils of the life they are about to 
 enter. 
 
 5. Slaves, obey your carnal masters with fear and tremb- 
 ling, in simplicity of your hearts, as Christ : 
 
 6. Not serving to the eye, as pleasing men ; but as slaves 
 of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 
 
 7. Serving with good will as to the Lord and not to men. 
 
 8. Knowing that every one, whatever good he shall have 
 done, will receive this from the Lord, whether slave or free. 
 
 g. And you, masters, do the same to them, forbearing 
 threats, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in the 
 heavens ; and acceptance of persons is not with him. 
 
TO THE EPHESIAXS. 
 
 301 
 
 Yotir carnal masters, those who have the control of your 
 bodies, which according to the laws existing in those times 
 was absolute, though doubtless under restriction and control 
 from public opinion. With fear and trembling, fear to displease, 
 not altogether excluding fear of corporal chastisement, by 
 which large establishments of slaves were then ordinarily kept 
 under control. The Apostle is not defending the existence 
 of this state of things, which had arisen from the wars carried 
 on for centuries in the countries near the Levant, and the 
 capture of large numbers of prisoners, but he gives directions 
 as to the wisest and best course to be pursued under the 
 circumstances, until a better condition of society should arise. 
 In the simplicity of your hearts, not with feigned alacrity, but a 
 genuine desire to please, as serving Christ, seeing Christ in 
 the master to whom your service is rendered. The same idea 
 is restated and expanded in slightly different terms in verses 6, 
 7. Serving with good will, or benevolence, as to the Lord 
 and not to man. For you know that from his hands you 
 will receive an eternal reward for any good thing you do. 
 Masters are to do the same, act on the same principle in rela- 
 tion to their servants, treating them with humanity, kind- 
 ness, and benevolence, and the respect due to all men, made 
 in God's image, remembering that the Lord and Master of 
 all men dwells in heaven, and before Him all men are equal. 
 This statement is in direct contradiction of the opinion of 
 the philosophers, that the majority of mankind are created 
 and exist only for the pleasure of a few. Personarum acceptatio 
 non est apiid emu. 
 
 10. For the rest, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord, and 
 in the power of his virtue. 
 
 11. Put on you the armour of God, that you may be able 
 to stand against the wiles of the devil. 
 
 12. For not to us is the wrestling against flesh and blood ; 
 but against princes and powers, against the world-rulers of 
 
302 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 this darkness, against the spiritual things of wickedness, in 
 the heavenly places. 
 
 13. On this account take the armour of God, that you may 
 be able to resist in the evil day, and stand in all things 
 perfect. 
 
 For the rest. The Apostle has laid the foundation of 
 Christian morality on a sound basis, in accordance with the 
 commands and appointments of the Creator of the world, in 
 the injunctions given from the beginning of Chapter iv. to 
 this point, in opposition to the false doctrine of the heretics. 
 In conclusion, he now sets before his readers, with extraor- 
 dinary energy of language, the critical nature of the warfare 
 they had to maintain against these pestilent errors, which he 
 traces to their true origin, the machinations of the devil, who 
 was endeavouring to overthrow the Christian religion in its 
 infancy. So insidious was the danger they had to combat, 
 that it would require all their resolution and all their watch- 
 fulness to preserve their faith. Be strengthened in the might 
 of the power of the Lord. Not the strength only, but the 
 consciousness of strength, and the courage and determination 
 arising from that consciousness. Put on the armour of God, 
 in the Greek the panoply, or complete armour. As if he said, 
 we have a crafty foe to contend with, and no part must be 
 left unguarded, lest you be wounded there, as Achilles re- 
 ceived his death-wound in his heel, though the rest of his 
 body was protected. Our struggle is not against flesh and 
 blood. Our foes are not men, who are flesh and blood, but 
 evil spirits who cannot be killed, subtle, strong, malicious ; 
 though they may make use of evil men as their instruments. 
 They are princes and powers, once of heaven, since of all the 
 heavenly orders some angels accompanied Lucifer in his fall. 
 The world-nilevs of this darkness. The Greek word Kocr^oKparopar, 
 Saint Jerome thinks, was coined by Saint Paul, being used no- 
 where else than in this passage. Tertullian, on Marc v. has 
 mundi tenentes. The term used in the Vulgate, mundi rectores, 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 303 
 
 should be construed as one word, as in the Greek, and this 
 will account grammatically for the genitive which follows, 
 tenehramm hai'itm. The Syriac has, the possessors of this dark 
 world. Not that evil spirits are the possessors or rulers of 
 the world by God's appomtment, but only by usurpation 
 and conquest, and that only over the souls of men who 
 willingly submit to their power. Probably, therefore, by 
 the this dark world, we are to understand the infidels, heretics, 
 and idolaters, of whom the world was then full, in opposition 
 to whom the faithful are called sons of light, sup. v. 8. Christ 
 speaks of the devil as the prince of this world, Joh. xiv. 30. 
 Spiritualia nequitice is a literal translation of the Greek ; it is 
 a Hebraism for spiritual wickedness, or wicked spirits. And 
 they dwell in the heavenly places. The whole of this passage 
 is almost an exact description of the powers or intelligences, 
 whom the followers of Simon supposed to dwell in the 
 planets, and determine the fate of mankind, and who were 
 therefore the objects of their devotion, and the language of 
 the Apostle implies that the confidence of the heretics was 
 really reposed in evil spirits. Our foes are invisible, in the 
 air around us, innumerable, my name is legion, completely de- 
 praved and wicked, invincibly crafty and cunning, so power- 
 ful that they rule the world, hate us irreconcilably, are 
 resolutely bent on our destruction. How, then. Saint 
 Chrysostom asks, can we hope to overcome them, if we live 
 in pleasure, and unarmed ? On this account take the armonr of 
 God, the description of which is given in the following 
 verses, that you may be able to resist in the evil day. The 
 evil day is either the day of temptation, or the day of perse- 
 cution, which the Apostle foresaw; or possibly the day of 
 death, when the spirits of darkness will assemble their forces 
 for a final assault. And stand in all things perfect, that is per- 
 fectly and completely armed for the conflict. Or else, as the 
 Greek has, having completed all, and fought your fight, you 
 will stand in the judgment of the last day. The Syriac has ; 
 
304 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 that when in all things you are fully prepared, you may be 
 able to stand firm in the profession of the true faith. 
 
 14. Stand therefore with your loins girded in truth, and 
 clothed in the cuirass of justice. 
 
 15. And your feet shod in the preparation of the gospel of 
 peace. 
 
 16. In all taking the shield of faith, in which you may be 
 able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. 
 
 17. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the 
 Spirit, which is the word of God. 
 
 Stand, in order of battle, your loins girded in truth, a firm and 
 resolute adherence to the one true Catholic and Apostolic 
 faith, which you have received as God's truth. Clothed in 
 the cuirass, or coat of mail of Justice, an habitual practice 
 of the commands of God in all the relations of life, 
 as set forth in the preceding chapters. Your feet shod with 
 the preparation of the Gospel of peace, continuall}'^ ready to 
 maintain the Gospel of Christ in opposition to heretics and 
 pagans. This is doubtless said with especial reference to 
 those of the Ephesian Christians who were most thoroughly 
 acquainted with the evangelical doctrine, and able to instruct 
 and convince their neighbours, but all could illustrate its 
 teaching by a Christian life. It is called the Gospel of peace 
 because it proclaimed God's peace to man, reconciliation in 
 Christ, and remission of sins. Boldness, confidence, and 
 alacrity are required for such a task, but also the nature of 
 the promises they proclaimed was calculated to supply these. 
 One who walks barefoot over rough places must proceed 
 with timidity and caution ; but if well shod or booted, he 
 will move with boldness and freedom. Tepidity and 
 timidity are generally associated together, and so are fervour 
 and fearlessness. In all, the Greek has upon or over all, take 
 the shield of faith, the creed of the Catholic Church, which 
 will meet and extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked 
 
TO THE EPHESIANS. 305 
 
 one. These fiery darts are the insidious arguments, in the 
 guise of philosopliy, b}'- which the heretics supported their 
 monstrous system of error. The title here given to the devil, 
 in the Greek, the wicked one, is the same by which Christ 
 designated him in the Lord's prayer, on both occasions on 
 which he delivered the formula, deliver us from the wicked 
 one, Matt. vi. 13, Luc. xi. 4. The Vulgate has here the most 
 wicked. Take for a helmet the assured hope of everlasting 
 salvation, as the Apostle explains i. Thes. v. 8. The sword of 
 the Spirit is the word of God, by means of which Christ over- 
 came the devil in the temptation, and put him to flight. 
 
 18. With all prayer and entreaty praying at every time in 
 spirit, and in it watching in all earnestness and entreaty on 
 behalf of all the saints. 
 
 19. And for me, that speech may be given me in opening 
 my mouth with confidence, to make known the mystery of 
 the Gospel ; 
 
 20. For which I discharge an embassy in chains, so that 
 in it I may have boldness to speak as I ought. 
 
 The Apostle looked forward with some degree of nervous 
 apprehension, as this passage clearly shews, to his approach- 
 ing interview with Nero, to whom he considered himself, as 
 it were, accredited as an ambassador from a still greater 
 King. He was most anxious to deliver his message clearly, 
 faithfully, and fully, knowing how much might possibly 
 depend on it. He makes the same earnest petition, on the 
 same occasion, in the Epistle to the Colossians, iv. 3. The 
 intercessions offered by the Church for the Apostle of the 
 nations on this occasion were doubtless heard, for although 
 neither the emperor, nor his minister, the philosopher 
 Seneca, were converted to the faith of Christ, they treated 
 the ambassador of Christ with respect, and set him at 
 
3o6 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 liberty to pursue his apostolic labours in many distant 
 countries, until the outbreak of the persecution some few 
 years later. 
 
 21. But that you also may know how I am circumstanced, 
 and what I am doing, all will be made known to you by 
 Tychicus, the most beloved brother and faithful minister in 
 the Lord ; 
 
 22. Whom I send to you for the purpose, that you may 
 know my circumstances, and that he may console your 
 hearts. 
 
 23. Peace to the brethren, and charity with faith, from 
 God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 24. Grace with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in 
 incorruption. Amen. 
 
 Tychicus was the bearer of this Epistle, as also of that to 
 the Colossians, written at the same time. He was probably 
 a native of Ephesus, and was very useful at this time as 
 Saint Paul's messenger. See Acts xx. 4, 2 Tim. iv. 12, 
 Tit. iii. 12. The Greek word rendered minister in the Vulgate 
 signifies a deacon, and doubtless at this time he held that 
 office in the Church. The Ephesians had heard of the 
 Apostle's imprisonment at Rome, and were anxious lest he 
 should be treated with cruelty, and lest his life should be 
 endangered. On both these points Tychicus would be able 
 in some degree to reassure them. The Apostle prays that 
 the brethren may have peace, and that their charity and faith 
 may be augmented by God the Father, and our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, in the 
 purity of life which he loves and calls for, and whose love is 
 not corrupted and diluted by the love of this passing world. 
 In the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic, there are here added the 
 following words : Written to the Ephesians from Rome, 
 and sent by Tychicus. 
 
to the ephesians. 307 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 " By all prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the 
 Spirit, and in the same watching with all instance and sup- 
 plication for all the Saints." Th& Saints, according to Saint 
 Paul, stand in need of the constant, earnest, and increasing 
 prayers of the faithful upon earth. This cannot be under- 
 stood of the Saints in glory, for their salvation is secure, and 
 their happiness, since they are already admitted to the 
 Beatific Vision of God, admits of no increase until the day 
 of the resurrection from the dead. In the language of 
 Scripture all Christian people living in the communion of 
 the Holy Catholic Church, are Saints ; and they stand in 
 need of earnest intercessory prayer, for the very reason that 
 the Saints in glory do not need it, namely, that their salva- 
 tion is not yet assured, their perseverance not yet certain. 
 The holy souls m Purgatory are also Saints. It has been 
 said that even the least favoured of them is nearer to God 
 and further advanced in sanctity than the greatest Saint on 
 earth. Yet they also, for a different reason, stand in great 
 need of the prayers of the faithful upon earth, because they 
 can now do nothing to obtain merit for themselves. It is 
 evident from the earnestness with which the Apostle im- 
 presses and urges this duty of prayer for the Saints, prayer 
 with all supplication, prayer at all times, prayer in the 
 Spirit, prayer with watching, prayer with all instance, 
 prayer with all entreaty — that he was not, as some heretics 
 have maintained, a fatalist. If the salvation of the saints, 
 as long as they still live on earth, was a matter of certainty 
 because they are saints — if by an eternal decree from before 
 the creation of the world they are irrevocably delivered from 
 everlasting damnation and numbered among the flock of 
 God's elect — such earnest supplication on their behalf would 
 be superfluous. If by another such decree they are ex- 
 cluded, it would be useless. According to the teaching of 
 Saint Paul, the earnest supplications of Christian people are 
 
308 EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 to be offered for all Saints, because upon those prayers the 
 salvation of the Saints, as long as their perseverance is still 
 doubtful, and their fall from faith still possible, in a great 
 degree depends. Such is God's appointment and His 
 pleasure, the grounds and reasons of which we do not know, 
 a m3'stery we cannot explain, but must believe, for every 
 page of Holy Scripture bears witness to its truth. 
 
 -HC3e-<- 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIAM 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE city of Philippi was founded by, and derives its 
 name from, Philip of Macedon, the father of 
 Alexander the Great. It is situated in the eastern 
 extremity of Macedonia, not far from the frontier of Thrace. 
 It was near this spot that the decisive battle which occa- 
 sioned the final overthrow of the Roman republic was fought, 
 B.C. 42. Philippi was a Roman military colony, and its 
 citizens enjoyed the Roman franchise, a circumstance to 
 which the Apostle incidentally alludes in the course of this 
 Epistle. 
 
 In A.D. 53, Saint Paul, being at Troas in Asia, was invited 
 by a miraculous vision to cross over into Macedonia. He 
 had not visited any part of Europe up to this time. He at 
 once proceeded to Philippi, where his first convert was 
 Lydia, a seller of purple, of that city. The Apostle and his 
 companion, Sylvanus, were put in prison, but being miracu- 
 lously set free, in consequence of an earthquake, left the 
 place. Saint Paul, however, returned on more than one 
 other occasion, and the Christian Church of Philippi 
 became numerous and flourishing. 
 
 During the imprisonment of the Apostle at Rome, a.d. 
 62-64, the Christians of Philippi, who regarded him with the 
 greatest reverence and affection, sent to him their bishop 
 Epaphroditus, with a supply of money, and directions to 
 
310 PREFACE. 
 
 render him every support and assistance possible. Epaph- 
 roditus carried out this mission with so much energy and 
 devotion, and with so httle regard to himself, that )ie fell 
 sick, and nearly lost his life. As soon as he was able to 
 travel, Saint Paul sent him back to Philippi, with this letter. 
 He heartily thanks the Philippian Christians for their kind- 
 ness and sympathy ; congratulates them on the earnestness 
 and sincerity of their faith, and on the persecutions they had 
 suifered for the cause of Christ ; urges them to contmue to 
 live worthily of the Gospel of Christ ; and warns them 
 against false apostles, whom he stigmatises as dogs, evil- 
 doers, enemies of the cross of Christ. He expresses himself 
 hopefully as to his approaching liberation from prison. The 
 tone of this letter throughout breathes encouragement and 
 hope. 
 
 ■H{a{e^- 
 
EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 31 1 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Paul and Timotheus, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the 
 Saints in Jesus Christ who are at Philippi, with the bishops 
 and deacons. 
 
 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Chapter I. In this chapter the Apostle expresses his 
 gratitude and affection towards the Christians of Philippi ; 
 informs them as to his own situation and circumstances at 
 Rome ; expresses the conviction that he will live to return to 
 them ; and exhorts them to courage and constancy. 
 
 Paul and Timotheus. Timotheus was highly honoured and 
 valued by the Christians of Philippi, and regarded them 
 with great affection, as appears from ii. 20. For this reason 
 the Apostle adds his name to the salutation, but in verse 3 
 he recurs to the singular number, gratias ago. He does not 
 here style himself Apostle, because he prefers to adopt a 
 title shared by Timothy, Servants of Jesus Christ. It is the 
 highest ol all possible dignities, Saint Chrysostom says, to be 
 the servant of Jesus Christ, and not only be called so. If 
 you so call yourself, see that you are so in reality. You 
 glory in the name ; but have reason to blush for the work 
 you do. Fear what Christ says in the Gospel : Not everyone 
 who says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of the 
 heavens ; but who does the will of My Father. Matt. vii. 21. 
 
 With the bishops and deacons. The bishops of the other cities 
 of Macedonia, to whom it was intended that this epistle 
 should be communicated, with the deacons who assisted 
 them. There is no mention of priests, because in the 
 
312 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Apostolic times, when the numbers ot the Christian com- 
 munities were very hmited, priests were rarely required to 
 assist the bishop, and they hardly yet appear as a distinct 
 order. When Saint Gregory, for instance, went to 
 Neocaesarea, and found only seventeen Christians in the 
 place, he would hardly have required the aid of a priest. 
 Probably, therefore, under the term bishops the priests at 
 Philippi are intended to be included. Thus it is apparently 
 understood by the Syriac version, which reads : with the priests 
 and deacons. 
 
 The expression saints in yesus Christ suggests the reflection 
 that union with Jesus Christ is the only source of sanctity. 
 No one separated from Jesus Christ can in reality be holy. 
 All who are grafted into Christ are holy, and more holy in 
 proportion as they are more fully and perfectly united with 
 him. Union with Christ in mind, heart, and work, sanctifies 
 the whole man. This union is accomplished by faith, hope, 
 and charity, and sustained, augmented, and drawn closer by 
 continual prayer. Persons professing other religions, or who 
 do not belong to the communion of the Catholic Church, or 
 are devotees of some system of false philosophy, not unfre- 
 quently exhibit qualities which resemble Christian graces, 
 and are externally the same, as liberality, justice, courage, 
 fortitude, chastity, generosity, philanthropy, and the like. 
 But these do not constitute real sanctity, and are always in 
 reality referable to some motive inferior to the love of God 
 for his own sake, which is the principle of the Christian life. 
 And though these qualities, excellent as far as they go, are 
 often valuable for temporal ends, they do not advance the 
 kingdom of Christ, or tend to the salvation of souls. 
 
 2. Grace to you and peace, &c. This is the Apostle's 
 invariable form of salutation, as including all interior and 
 exterior good. 
 
 3. I give thanks to my God in every memory of you. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 313 
 
 4. Always in all my prayers for you all, with joy making 
 deprecation, 
 
 5. For your communication in the Gospel of Christ, from 
 the first day until now. 
 
 6. Trusting this, that he who began a good work" in you, 
 will complete it to the day of Jesus Christ. 
 
 3. / tlianh my God in every memory of you. Literally, in all 
 my memory of you. He was conscious, St. Chrysostom says, 
 how many great and good gifts God had bestowed on them, 
 and therefore he glorifies God and prays for them at the 
 same time. He gives thanks for what is past, he prays for 
 what is to come. He glorifies God for their good works, done 
 from their first conversion ; he prays they may persevere 
 until the day of Christ. Thank God for holy beginnings, 
 and for good works done, but pray for perseverance. It is 
 not the Christian's beginning, but his end, upon which 
 eternity depends. Not he who begins well, but v^ho perseveres 
 to the end, shall he saved. 
 
 4. With joy making deprecation. The Apostle prays with 
 joy for the Philippians. This is greatly to their praise, and 
 
 a proof of the graces and excellences they exhibited. They 
 kept their faith, persevered from their first conversion in good 
 works, had the purpose of perseverance in their hearts. 
 Nothing can give greater joy to the Saints of God than to 
 see this, and with joy will they intercede for us. For if 
 there is joy in heaven for the conversion of a sinner, how 
 much more for his perseverance in good. 
 
 5. For your communication in the Gospel of Christ. The 
 Greek has to the Gospel, omitting of Christ. This is the cause 
 of the joy referred to in the last verse. The Latin inter- 
 preters generally understand by it your participation by faith 
 in the privileges and promises of the Gospel, from the time 
 you first accepted it until now. But St. Chrysostom and 
 other Greek writers think it refers to the generosity and 
 munificence with which the Philippians had contributed to 
 
314 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 the support of their teachers and the preachers of the 
 Gospel, from the date of their conversion until the present 
 time, when hearing of St. Paul's imprisonment they crowned 
 this liberality by sending him a large sum of money by the 
 hands of Epaphroditus, to which he makes further reference 
 in verse 18. This interpretation is for several reasons the 
 more probable one. It was certainly one of the principal 
 objects for which the Epistle was written, to return to them 
 the thanks of St. Paul for this contribution to his wants. 
 The same expression, only more fully expanded, is used in 
 iv. 15, communication m giving and receiving, which undoubtedly 
 has reference to the collection of money for the service of 
 the Church. Several other passages in the writings of St. 
 Paul might be quoted, which prove that he was in the habit 
 of using the word communication in this sense, as in this 
 Epistle, iv. 14, yoti have done well in communicating with my 
 afflictions; Rom. xii. 13, communicating with the needs of the 
 Saints ; Gal. vi. 6, let the catechised communicate with the cate- 
 chiser ; Heb. xiii. 16, forget not well-doing and communicating. 
 The expression of the Greek in this place indicates the same 
 thing, to or for the Gospel, for its extension and propagation. 
 The verse may therefore be paraphrased thus : I glorify God, 
 and when praying for you I do so with joy, not only because 
 you have believed the Gospel, and faithfully retained your 
 confidence in it, but because you have displayed j^our 
 soHcitude for the salvation also of others, by giving me 
 sympathy and substantial help wherever I went, and united 
 your own zeal and diligence with mine in spreading the 
 cause of Christ ; supplying me, and those who were engaged 
 in the same labours as myself, with what we required for our 
 temporal necessities. This you have done, not once and 
 again, but continually, from the date of your first conversion 
 until now, when you have sent me substantial aid and sup- 
 port in my imprisonment, by the hands of Epaphroditus, 
 your bishop. St. Chrysostom adds : Therefore to give aid 
 in money is communication to the Gospel ; and to cherish 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 315 
 
 and support the preacher of the Gospel, is to share his crown. 
 Thus it is in your power to share the crowns and honours 
 laid up in heaven for Apostles and holy men, by giving them 
 the support of your advocacy and of your purse, by con- 
 soling them in trouble, supplying their wants, aiding their 
 ministry by any means that may be within your power. 
 You admire the angelic life of the holy hermits of the desert, 
 the Apostolic virtues of prelates and holy priests, and mourn 
 for the wide interval that separates you from them ; yet it 
 is in your power to communicate with them, by support, aid, 
 and service. And this by the kindness and benignity of 
 God, who has thus opened out to the more negligent and 
 weak, unequal to the rough passage of the ascetic life, 
 another road by which they may attain the same end. 
 
 Some people are rich in temporal things, and poor in those 
 that belong to the spirit. Yet they can in this way obtain a 
 share of the virtues of the Saints, and the merits of Apostles. 
 Others are poor equally in the things of time and the graces 
 of the spirit, yet even these can enrich themselves with the 
 merits and spiritual wealth of ^holy men, by uniting them- 
 selves with them by their advocacy and their prayers. 
 
 6. St. Paul had a firm trust and confidence that God, 
 whose grace had begun this good work, would enable it to 
 continue until the day of Christ, the last judgment. Of this 
 day, the Apostle invariably speaks as it it were near at hand, 
 that we may be always ready for it. See i Thess. iv. 14, &c. 
 And in iv. 5 of this Epistle he says expressly, the Lord is near. 
 
 7. As it is just for me to feel this for you all, because I 
 have you in my heart and in my chains, and in the defence 
 and confimation of the Gospel, that you should all be sharers 
 in my joy. 
 
 8. For God is my witness how I desire you all in the 
 bowels of Jesus Christ. 
 
 9. And this I pray, that your charity may abound more 
 and more in knowledge and in all sense ; 
 
3l6 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 10. That you may approve the better, that you may be 
 sincere and without offence to tlie day of Christ, 
 
 11. Filled with the fruit of justice through Jesus Christ, to 
 the glory and praise of God. 
 
 7. It is jti^t for me to feel this. This confidence which I 
 have expressed, namely, that God will give you grace to 
 persevere in charity until the day of Christ, is justified, first, 
 by my ardent affection for you, / have you in my heart, which 
 encourages me to pray earnestly for your perseverance ; and 
 next, because by so generously contributing to my necesities, 
 and by the sympathy and support you tender to me, you are 
 become partakers in my imprisonment, and I have your aid, 
 countenance, and authority, thus publicly conveyed, to the 
 apology or defence of the Gospel of Christ, which I am con- 
 tinually conducting at Rome, and your open support is a 
 confirmation and strengthening of what I teach. In all these 
 three things I feel and know that you are with me, by j^our 
 ardent sympathy, your advocacy, and your prayers. And 
 you are partakers also of the joy I experience in witnessing 
 the progress of Christ's truth, and the establishment and ex- 
 tension of the Church in Rome. The Greek text has grace 
 for joy, the two words x"P"c ^^d x«P'™e being very similar, 
 and one easily substituted for another. Partakers of my grace 
 would signify a share m the privilege and honour I enjoy of 
 being a herald of Christ's Gospel, and one of the founders of 
 the Roman Church. The Philippians, by contributing 
 liberally to the wants of the Apostle, obtained a partnership 
 in the merits of his chains, his apology, his confirmation of the 
 truth of Christ. Thus may one who is rich in this world's 
 goods, or possesses worldly influence, purchase a share in the 
 merits of the saints. He is like an elm, says St. Gregory 
 (Horn. 20 in Evang.), fruitless itself, but rich in the abundant 
 produce of the vine which clings to it. Men in secular life, 
 within the Church, have not the gifts and graces of the 
 spiritual life, but when by their liberality they support holy 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 3I7 
 
 men who are filled with these gifts, they bear the vine and 
 are enriched and ornamented with its fruits. 
 
 8. God is my witness, how I long for you all. The Apostle 
 cannot express his affection by words that come from his own 
 heart, and has recourse to the heart of Jesus Christ. He 
 loves the Philippians with the heart of Christ, and with 
 something of the vehemence and fire of that sacred Heart, 
 longs earnestly for their salvation and eternal happiness. 
 The Latin word viscera, like the Greek word corresponding 
 to it, includes the heart and all the other internal organs of 
 life. It is used in figure to represent the ardent and super- 
 natural love of Jesus Christ for the people he has redeemed. 
 
 g. / pray that your charity may abound more and more. The 
 Greek, still more and more. Charity is insatiable, says St. 
 Chrysostom, without bound, limit, or measure. On this 
 account the Apostle prays that the charity of the Philippians 
 may increase beyond all measurement or limit. But he 
 prays also that this charity may grow in knowledge and 
 prudence, for without this we may be blinded ourselves, and 
 leaders of the blind. Knowledge of the truth of God, prudence 
 in the conduct of life. For this term the Vulgate has sensus, 
 or tact, as the translation of the Greek word aiadr^aiQ, which 
 signifies intellectual and moral perception of what is noble, 
 and beautiful, and good. 
 
 10. Charity combined with knowledge and perception will 
 enable you to distinguish what is best, the better things, potiora. 
 This is the first effect. The second is, to give you purity, 
 integrity, sincerity of conscience before God. And the third, 
 you will be able to continue in your Christian course, and 
 
 • persevere, without stumbling, without offence, encountering no 
 difficulties in your faith or obstacles to your salvation which 
 grace will not enable you to overcome, until the day of Christ. 
 The Apostle does not say, the day of your death, evidently ex- 
 pecting that in the case of most of them this would be 
 anticipated by the speedy coming of Christ to judgment. 
 
 11. Filled with the fruits of justice. A fourth result oi charity. 
 
3l8 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 combined with knowledge. An abundant exercise of the holy 
 works which come from the grace of God given you in your 
 justification. Justice is the condition in which we are placed 
 by justification, and its fruits are the graces of the Christian 
 life. And these graces tend to that which is the ultimate 
 end and object for which you were created, redeemed, 
 justified, and endowed with grace of perseverance, the glory 
 and praise of God, from whose grace your salvation proceeds. 
 This is also, therefore, the supreme and ultimate object of 
 the Apostle's prayer for the Philippians, that they may 
 abound in charity, in knowledge, and in good works, for all 
 these tend to the glory and praise of God. 
 
 12. But I wish you to know, brethren, that what has 
 happened to me has turned out rather to the advancement of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 13. So that my chains became manifest in Christ in the 
 whole palace and in all other places ; 
 
 14. And many of the brethren in the Lord, confiding in 
 my chains, dared more freely and fearlessly to speak the 
 word of God. 
 
 12. The Philippians were afraid the imprisonment of St. 
 Paul would have the effect of retarding the progress of the 
 Gospel, and one of the reasons for which they sent 
 Epaphroditus to Rome was to obtain information on this 
 point to relieve their anxiety. On this account the Apostle 
 hastens to reassure them. His arrest in Judea, and 
 conveyance to Rome as a prisoner, had greatly tended to 
 promote the cause of Christ, by making his mission and 
 message known. He had become a celebrated political 
 prisoner, and everyone enquired the cause of his arrest and 
 appeal to the Emperor, and this led them to investigate the 
 relations in which he stood to the Jewish government and 
 religion, in which the controversy originated. So that every 
 one in Rome, in the palace and elsewhere, knew who St. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 3I9 
 
 Paul was, and for what purpose he had come to Rome. 
 The result was that a large number of the Romans, some of 
 them persons of influence in the government and among the 
 citizens, embraced the faith of Christ. The Latin word 
 pratorium, which is used in the Greek text as well as in the 
 Vulgate, signifies originally a general's tent, and the 
 Emperor being the generalissimo of the army, it came to be 
 applied to the palace in which he resided, and in a wide 
 sense to the whole staff of officials in the service of the 
 government he administered. Many of the Christians in 
 Rome, who were before afraid of becoming conspicuous, were 
 emboldened by this new state of things to proclaim the 
 Gospel of Christ fully and frequently, for they could now do 
 so without fear. It is evident, though the Apostle does not 
 say so, that the more widely he was known, the deeper must 
 have been the admiration and astonishment occasioned by 
 his lofty character and supernatural gifts with which he was 
 endowed. Ultimately, as it well known, he triumphed over 
 his opponents and was set free, not long after the date of this 
 epistle. 
 
 15. Some indeed even through envy and contention, but 
 some also of goodwill, proclaim Christ. 
 
 16. Some of charity, knowing that I am posted for the 
 defence of the Gospel. 
 
 17. And some of contention announce Christ not sincerely, 
 thinking that they are stirring up pressure to my chains. 
 
 18. What then ? So long as every way, whether through 
 occasion, or through truth, Christ is announced, in this I both 
 rejoice and shall rejoice. 
 
 15. Some indeed through envy and contention, finding that Saint 
 Paul's preaching and his imprisonment had procured him 
 importance and celebrity in the palace and the city, were 
 desirous of acquiring the same distinction for themselves, 
 and accordingly imitated his example. Others sincerely 
 
320 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 gave him their assistance and support, supplying his place 
 by going where his imprisonment prevented his going himself. 
 
 17. Stirring up pressure to my chains. In the Greek, adding 
 sorrow or affliction to my imprisonment. Judging the feel- 
 ings of the Apostle by their own, they supposed he would be 
 grieved at witnessing the distinction and honour which was 
 conferred upon others, and that the pangs of envy would be 
 added to the bitterness of his bonds and imprisonment. 
 This is the obvious and natural interpretation ; yet St. 
 Chrysostom, and other writers following him, understand 
 their object to have been to sharpen and increase the 
 persecution which the Apostle was enduring by rousing the 
 suspicion of Nero and his ministers. This seems the less 
 probable, because they would thus be drawing down per- 
 secution upon themselves, and would be the first to encounter 
 it ; while they would be so far from detracting from the glory 
 of the Apostle, that they would be in great danger of 
 increasing it by procuring for him the crown of martyrdom. 
 
 18. If Christ is preached, and his Gospel made more 
 widely known, that is in any case a subject of rejoicing. 
 And I shall rejoice, and have reason to rejoice at it, in time 
 to come : which seems like a prophetic anticipation of the 
 future conversion of the great city of Rome to the faith of 
 Jesus Christ, a result undoubtedly owing in great degree to 
 the exertions of Saint Paul, and those who associated them- 
 selves with him in spreading the Gospel. Whether through 
 occasion or through truth. Occasion or opportunity of acquiring 
 renown, giving vent to their feeling of envy and jealousy, 
 adding to my sorrows, sharpening my sufferings, or endanger- 
 ing my life. The Greek word is irpoipaatv, pretext, false ap- 
 pearance, or pretence, which in effect comes to nearly the 
 same thing, and is contrasted with truth, sincerity, honesty, 
 and good faith. 
 
 The reign of the Emperor Claudius Nero lasted from a.d. 
 54-68. During the greater part of this time, including the 
 two years of St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, when 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 321 
 
 this Epistle was written (as well as those to the Galatians, 
 Colossians, the first to Timothy, those to Titus, Philemon, 
 and to the Hebrews), the government of the empire was 
 admirably administered. The emperor's councils were 
 directed by the philosopher Seneca, and in his domestic 
 affairs he was guided by the advice of his father and mother. 
 But about the year 64 his conduct underwent an extraordinary 
 change, ascribable either to insanity, or to the influence of 
 an unprincipled woman who had obtained ascendancy over 
 him. He put Seneca to death, killed his own parents, burnt 
 down the city of Rome, and instituted the first and most 
 violent of the persecutions against the Christian Church, 
 during which St. Peter, St. Paul, all the other Apostles who 
 survived, except St. John, all the other principal preachers 
 of the faith, and many thousands of Christians of all 
 ranks and degrees, were put to death, in many cases with 
 cruel torture. The emperor's conduct systematically out- 
 raged all human feeling, and the Roman people, in great 
 grief at the downfall and depravation of the prince who had 
 once been their idol, and the object ot their hopes, at last 
 rose in insurrection and put him to death. He was the last 
 emperor of the house of Caesar. His death was followed by 
 a civil war, which encouraged the Jewish government to 
 raise the standard of insurrection in the East. This termin- 
 ated in the victory and supremacy of the Emperor Flavius 
 Vespasianus, a.d. 6g, who crushed the Jews, but extended 
 his protection to the Christian Church. 
 
 19. For I know this will turn out well for me to salvation, 
 through your prayer, and the subministration of the Spirit of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 20. According to my expectation and hope, that I shall be 
 in nothing ashamed, but in every confidence, as always, so 
 now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through 
 life, or through death. 
 
 21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 
 
322 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 ig. / hiow that this will turn to my salvation. The Apostle 
 evidently regarded with feelings of great joy, but also of 
 great solemnity, the mission on which he was engaged, in 
 bearing his testimony to the truth of Christ's resurrection 
 and divine character, in presence of men of influence in the 
 great city of the Roman world, and before the Emperor, at 
 the risk of his own life, and was determined to discharge this 
 duty fearlessly and with all Christian boldness, as if his 
 eternal crown depended on it. I know that the preaching 
 of Christ by others, whether actuated by jealousy, animosity 
 against me, or sincerity and goodwill, will turn out to my 
 salvation, and the faithful discharge of my mission, for I am 
 sure and confident that through the supply of the Spirit of 
 Jesus Christ, which will be granted to me through your 
 prayers, I shall not be disappointed in the hope I entertain 
 and cherish, and that hope is, that I shall be enabled, when 
 the time comes, to speak with boldness and confidence, 
 whether in the presence of the Emperor or elsewhere. If I 
 live, Christ wall be magnified by my preaching and my bodily 
 life. If I die, he will be glorified in my death. In either 
 case, his Gospel will be more widely known, his Church more 
 firmly founded and established upon earth. If I live, I live 
 for the service and glory of Christ ; if I die, I shall be still 
 better off, for I shall be admitted to the enjoyment of his 
 presence. 
 
 22. But if to live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my work, 
 and what I shall choose I do not know. 
 
 23. For I am urged by two things at once, having the 
 desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, much far better ; 
 
 24. But to remain in the flesh is necessary on your account. 
 
 25. And trusting this, I know that I shall remain and con- 
 tinue with you all, to your advancement and joy of faith : 
 
 26. That your rejoicing may abound in Christ Jesus in me, 
 through my coming to you. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 323 
 
 22. The meaning of the Greek text of this verse seems to 
 be, / do not know whether the fruit of my work, the result of the 
 struggle in which I am now engaged, will be my continued 
 life in the flesh, or which I should choose if the choice were left 
 to me. Saint Chrysostom is of opinion that the choice of 
 life or death was given to the Apostle, and that he hesitated 
 between inclination on one side and the interests of the 
 Church on the other. It is not, however, necessary to take 
 his words so literally as this, and it appears from his language 
 in the next chapter that he regarded his life or death as un- 
 certain, like all other contingent and future events. 
 
 23. I am urged by two at once, two equally balanced aspira- 
 tions and desires. I desire to he dissolved, set free from the 
 chain of the body with which the soul is bound. As in 
 Eccles. xii. 7. The spirit returns to God who gave it. The 
 inferior animals at death are resolved into the elements of 
 which they are composed ; the soul of man is dissolved from 
 the chain of the body, after which the body, like the body of 
 the brutes, is resolved into its elements. This dissolution is 
 something good and desirable ; because it makes the soul 
 impassable, impeccable, celestial, and divine ; or, as St. 
 Bernard says, sets men free from pain, sin, and peril. See a 
 further elucidation of this subject in the note of Cornelius a 
 Lapide on this place. St. Augustine says of St. Paul : He 
 who desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ, does not 
 die with patience. On the contrary, he lives with patience 
 and dies with delight and joy. 
 
 Multo magis melius, much more better, means better beyond all 
 comparison. St. Paul had seen Jesus Christ in the glory of 
 the resurrection, and knew that no satisfaction which creation 
 could afford was worthy of a moment's comparison with that 
 great happiness. 
 
 24. To remain in the body is necessary for you, not for the 
 Philippians only, but for the other Gentile Churches as well. 
 The presence and encouragement of the Apostle was necessary 
 to prepare the Churches for the severe trial that awaited 
 
324 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 them at the outbreak of the great persecution, which occurred 
 two or three years later, and which by depriving them of all 
 their Apostles and Evangelists must have severely tried their 
 faith. 
 
 25. Trusting this, leaving the decision of the question with 
 perfect confidence in the hands of God, who will order it as 
 he sees to be best, / know that I shall remain and continue 
 with you all, for some considerable time. The word I know 
 implies, however, no more than moral certainty, as appears 
 from the language of the preceding verses, and from his words 
 in ii. 17, even if I should be sacrijiced for your faith, and 24, 1 trust 
 in the Lord to come to you quickly. For your profit, or advance- 
 ment in sanctity and merit, and joy in the strengthening of 
 your faith, in the great privileges of the Gospel and hope of 
 life everlasting. 
 
 26. That your rejoicing or boasting may abound in Christ Jesus 
 in me, St. Chrysostom takes this actively, that I may be able 
 to boast or rejoice in your spiritual advancement and the joy 
 you derive from your faith in Jesus Christ, when I ccune 
 among you. The words will, however, bear a more simple 
 and literal interpretation. That your rejoicing in Christ maj^ 
 be increased in me, that is by my coming to you, my happy 
 return to visit you once more, alive and well, in safety and in 
 triumph. 
 
 27. Only live worthily of the Gospel of Christ, that whether 
 when I come and see you, or absent hear of you, that 3'ou 
 stand unanimous in one spirit, labouring together for the 
 faith of the Gospel : 
 
 28. And that you are in nothing daunted by the adversaries : 
 which to them is a cause of perdition, but to you of salvation, 
 and this from God. 
 
 29. Because to you it is given for Christ, not only to 
 believe in him, but also for him to suffer. 
 
 30. Having the same conflict, such as also you saw in me, 
 and have now heard concerning me. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 325 
 
 27. Only live worthily of the Gospel of Christ. The Greek 
 word is Tro\i-£ve(T^£, fill your place as citizens of the Church of 
 God, worthily of the Gospel which is the charter of your 
 incorporation. The figure is perhaps an allusion to the civic 
 privileges enjoyed by the citizens of the Roman colony of 
 Philippi. Either I shall come and visit you, and see with 
 my own eyes, or if not, I shall hear of you by the report of 
 others, and in either case I hope to find you standing in your 
 ranks (another figure borrowed from the same source, for 
 Philippi was a colony of soldiers) animated by one spirit and 
 one soul, fighting side by side on behalf of the faith of the 
 Gospel. The Vulgate has collahor antes, labouring together. 
 The Greek word will bear either meaning. The grammatical 
 construction of this sentence in the Vulgate is irregular. 
 The Greek has : that whether coming and seeing, or absent, I 
 may hear. 
 
 28. I hope also to find you, or hear of you, as in no degree 
 terrified or daunted by the adversaries of your faith, who are 
 endeavouring to stir up persecution against you. Because 
 you are entitled to conclude, and infer with certainty, that 
 their persecution of you is an undoubted evidence and proof (in 
 the Greek) that they are under the condemnation of God ; 
 and that God is saving you. This divine condemnation of 
 the enemies of the Church may be a reason for praying for 
 them, that God may convert them ; but it is also a powerful 
 reason why you should not be afraid of them, or yield to them 
 in the smallest degree. For this is from God, by his per- 
 mission, for your trial, sanctification, increase of merit and 
 salvation, and for the confusion and overthrow of the wicked, 
 not only at the last day, but even in this world. For the 
 stormy period of persecution came to an end at last, and was 
 followed by a reaction, and when the government of the 
 empire was peacefully settled, a few years later, under the 
 rule of Vespasian, the Christian Church enjoyed a long inter- 
 val of tranquillity and peace, and made astonishing and rapid 
 progress in the conversion of the nations to the faith of Christ. 
 
326 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 29. Meanwhile the sufferings you may have to endure are 
 a special gift of God's grace, a special mark of his favour, 
 givoi you for Christ. The two words for Christ in this sentence 
 are either grammatically redundant : It is given you, not only 
 to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. Or else the 
 Apostle was going to write : It is given you for Christ to suffer, 
 and he then interposes in the middle of the sentence, not only 
 to believe in him. 
 
 30. And what j^ou will have to undergo will be ill-treat- 
 ment, injustice, violence, similar to that which you remember 
 me to have met with when I first visited your city (Acts xvi. 
 22.) when with Silas I was stripped, beaten, and thrown into 
 gaol. Or else like that which you hear I am at this moment 
 undergoing in Rome, a prolonged imprisonment, not so 
 dangerous or terrible as incarceration in a dungeon, but 
 grievous and irksome. And either will be a conflict with the 
 spiritual powers and human influences which will endeavour 
 to deprive you of your faith. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Only the heart of Christ loves God worthily. By no other 
 heart, no other affection, can he ever be loved, adored, 
 worshipped, as he deserves. Because as he is infinite and 
 incomprehensible, so also the love which he deserves, the 
 adoration which is his due, the worship to which he is entitled, 
 are all alike incomprehensible and infinite. Whatever adora- 
 tion or love you give to God, as from yourself, is in his sight 
 nothing. You yourself, and the whole created universe with 
 you, are before him nothing and vanity. For you to love 
 him is nothing, to adore him is nothing, to annihilate yourself 
 in his presence is nothing. What is the value of reverence 
 from nothing, what meaning is in the annihilation of nothing? 
 But the love with which Christ loves God is infinite. The 
 adoration he gives to God is infinite. The worship he renders 
 God is infinite. If therefore you would offer to God anything 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 327 
 
 in any degree worthy of himself, 'or bearing any proportion 
 to the greatness of his infinite perfection, you must have 
 recourse to the heart of Christ. With that heart love God, 
 with that adore God, with that worship God. Then you will 
 love God worthily, adore him worthily, worship him worthily, 
 for with God's heart you will love, adore, and worship God. 
 For this was the Son of God given us as our mediator, that 
 through him we may draw near to God, and worship God. 
 For this has Christ become our Head and our Heart, that 
 we, his members and his body, may through him worthily 
 love God. Therefore in each and every act of religion have 
 recourse to the heart of Christ, enter into the heart of Christ, 
 make the heart of Christ your own, with that heart adore, 
 and bless, and praise, and worship God. Join j'our own 
 heart to the heart of Christ ; united to that heart offer to God 
 the adoration of that heart, its love, and all its acts. And 
 not less in the love of your neighbour also, use for your own 
 the heart of Christ. Love him as Christ loves him. Long 
 for his salvation with the longing of the heart of Christ ; and 
 pray that he may love Christ, even as Christ loves him. 
 
 -^jcDje^- 
 
328 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 1. If therefore there is any consolation in Christ, if any 
 solace of charity, if any association of spirit, if any bowels of 
 mercy ; 
 
 2. Fulfil my joy, that you think alike, having the same 
 charity, unanimous, united in sentiment, 
 
 3. Nothing through contention, nothing through vain 
 glory : but in humility, considering one another as your 
 superiors, 
 
 4. Not regarding each his own, but what is of others. 
 
 Ch. II. In this chapter the Apostle earnestly exhorts the 
 Philippians to mutual charity, humility, and fear. He then 
 proceeds to a warm commendation of St. Timothy and 
 Epaphroditus, both of whom he was about to send to 
 Philippi, though not at the same time. 
 
 I. If therefore there in any consolation in Christ. If you desire 
 to convey to me any consolation and encouragement in 
 Christ's name at this difficult crisis of my fortunes, when I 
 am a prisoner, awaiting trial, doubtful of my life, expecting 
 with natural anxiety and solicitude the task of pleading the 
 cause of Christ in the presence of the emperor of the 
 Romans ; — if your charity prompts you to do what is in 
 your power to support and aid me by your sympathy ; if 
 there exists between us a bond which unites and associates 
 us in spirit, though parted in the body ; if you are capable 
 even of the human, ordinary, and instinctive feeling of com- 
 passion which urges all mankind to stretch out a helping 
 hand to their fellow-men when they are in peril, perplexity, 
 anxiety ; — 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 329 
 
 2. I will show you what you can do, which will afford 
 me deeper joy than anything else in your power. Let me 
 know that you all are agreed in thq maintenance of the one, 
 holy, Catholic faith, such as I communicated it to you ; that 
 you are bound together by the bond of mutual charity ; that 
 you are united and unanimous in language and opinion, 
 sentiment and feeling, as in faith and charity. St. Paul does 
 not say, give me joy, but fulfil my Joy. He had already great 
 cause of rejoicing in the faith and charity of the Philippians, 
 as he says in ch. i., in the extension of the Christian faith in 
 Rome, in the fair and reasonable prospect of victory and 
 success in the arduous controversy in which he was engaged. 
 This joy would be made perfect and complete if the Philip- 
 pians remained united with him, and among themselves, in 
 perfect unanimity and charity. The solemnit}^ and earnest- 
 ness with which he introduces this request is suited to the 
 nature of it ; he asks nothing lor himself, but only for con- 
 cord among his friends, seeking the good of others, not his 
 own. 
 
 3. Do nothing from rivalry, jealousy, the wish to excel or 
 humiliate one another, or for the sake of the vain and empty 
 glory of this world. And let everyone treat his neighbour, 
 and consider him, as his superior, that is, in God's sight better 
 than himself; a supposition which is, at least, in all cases 
 probable. 
 
 4. And let each one seek not only his own good, but also 
 that of his neighbour. All solicitude for one's own good is 
 not wrong, but only that which is oblivious of, or injurious 
 to, the welfare of others. In these suggestions the Apostle 
 has noted four causes of discord, and four opposite causes of 
 harmony and peace. The sources of disagreement are, i, 
 tenacity of opinion ; 2, love of glory ; 3, love of power; 4, 
 undue solicitude for our own good. Opposed to these, as 
 elements of concord and agreement, he places i, humility of 
 mind ; 2, contempt of earthly glory ; 3, love of dependence ; 
 4, neglect of private interest. United in sentiment ; doijig 
 
33© THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 nothing for empty glory ; in humility considering others superior ; not 
 regarding each his own. How far the Philippian Christians 
 stood in need of these admonitions, we have no means of 
 judging; but this is what the Apostle asks of them as the 
 greatest happiness they could confer upon him, and as what 
 was still remainmg to complete his Joy. And he proceeds to 
 enforce his lesson by the supreme Example of humility and 
 of the reward with which God will crown it. 
 
 5. For let this feeling be in you which was also in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 6. Who though he was in form of God, not considering it 
 rapine to be equal to God : 
 
 7. Yet emptied himself out, taking form of a slave, made 
 into the likeness of men, and was found in habit as man. 
 
 8. He humbled himself, being made obedient even to death, 
 and the death of the cross. 
 
 9. On which account also God exalted him, and gave him 
 the name which is above every name ; 
 
 10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of 
 celestial, terrestrial and infernal : 
 
 11. And every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ 
 is in the glory of God the Father. 
 
 5. Let this feeling be in you. He says feeling, not intelligence. 
 No finite intelligence is capable of conceiving and compre- 
 hending the immensity of the humiliation of Deity which the 
 Apostle describes in this wonderful passage, which has been 
 selected by the Church, as is well known, for the Epistle at 
 Mass on Palm Sunday. But though we cannot comprehend 
 this humihation, we are not altogether incapable of feeling it. 
 St. Paul says sentite, not intelligitc. Christ Jesus was in the 
 form of God, that is, as all the Fathers understand it, the nature 
 of God. This interpretation is especially and expressly 
 insisted on by St. Chrysostom and St. Thomas. The writer 
 who assumes the name of St. Ambrose understands the form 
 of Cod to mean, not the nature of God, but the proof or 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 33! 
 
 indication of it which Christ offered in his miracles, and he 
 is followed in this interpretation by Grotius and Erasmus. 
 But this is not the view taken by other ecclesiastical writers, 
 and by the tradition of the Church, the true interpreter of 
 the Apostolic writings, all of which authorities understand 
 the nature of God. Being in the nature of God, Christ thought it 
 no robbery, or undue assumption, to claim to be on an absolute 
 equality with the Supreme Deity. The word equal is 
 expressed adverbially in the Greek, to elvai l<ra Gew. Such a 
 claim advanced by any merely created being would be a 
 rapine or robbery inconceivably presumptuous and sacri- 
 legious. (It was advanced by Simon Magus, a circumstance 
 to which it is not impossible that the Apostle incidentally 
 refers). It was attempted by Lucifer, when he said, / will 
 be like the Highest, Is. xiv. 14. But Christ was guilty of no 
 rapine when he said / and my Father are one, Joh. x. 30. 
 
 7. Yet emptied himself out, semetipsum exinanivit. Not that 
 he laid aside his divine nature and infinite perfections, but 
 concealed it under the veil of the creature, which he assumed. 
 This must not be taken as implying that there was any 
 voluntary and intentionnl concealment of his divine character 
 in the conduct or language of Christ. There is not a word 
 in the Gospels which favours such an idea, and on the con- 
 trary it was through his words, actions, gestures, and aspect, 
 that his Divinity was revealed to his Apostles. He always 
 spoke and acted, if the expression be allowable, in character, 
 and as God. But only to faith and love could this be made 
 manifest, and in the manger of Bethlelem, and in his daily 
 life, he was to ordinary observers like other men. He 
 emptied himself out by assuming a created and inferior nature. 
 Taking the form of a slave, or servant, these two words not 
 being distinguished either in the Greek or Latin. Taking, 
 that is, the nature of man, the lowest order of intelligent and 
 rational beings, capable of knowing God. He was made into 
 the likeness and habit of man, in form, appearance, nature, 
 aspect, reahty of body and soul, like all other men, true man. 
 
332 THE EPISTLE OF ST, PAUL 
 
 St. Thomas observes, on the word exinanivit : Empty is 
 opposed io full. It is of Deity to be all fullness. Humanity 
 and all that is created is merely dependent existence, and 
 relatively nothing. Divinity includes all good ; humanity is 
 a tabula rasa, in a sense empty. Christ therefore emptied himself 
 out; from full, became empty; from all, nothing; he hid 
 from siglit all his majesty, eternity, infinity, omnipotence, 
 and became and was seen as an infant, a feeble and mortal 
 man. 
 
 It is to be observed that exception might possibly be taken 
 to the comprehensive nature of the precept given by the 
 Apostle in verse 3, let each consider every other his superior. 
 There are incontestably some differences of gifts, endow- 
 ments, disposition, education, and the like, which make 
 some men superior to others, and which are real, and not 
 assumed. Are these not to be taken mto account ? And if 
 they are, how can the injunction of St. Paul be carried out ? 
 This objection, which the Apostle had foreseen, falls to the 
 ground, crushed and annihilated, in presence of the supreme 
 example of humility which he here adduces. What is any 
 earthly greatness, any limited superiority, in comparison 
 with the greatness of him who was equal with God, and yet 
 emptied himself out, fully and entirely, took the lowest place in 
 his own rational creation, and was found in habit as man in 
 the manger of the stable at Bethlehem ? After this, any 
 fancied superiority we may arrogate to ourselves becomes 
 entirely worthless and insignificant, absolutely beneath 
 regard. At last, St. Augustine says, let man blush to be 
 proud, for whom God made himself humble. That pride is 
 indeed incurable which the consideration ot this humiliation 
 will not cure. 
 
 8. Being made obedient even unto death. Having given the 
 great Example of humility in the preceding words, the 
 Apostle now adds the Example of charity. As in verse 3 he 
 said. Consider each one a superior, so he had added in verse 4, 
 regarding not only yuur own, hut what is of others. Christ was for 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 333 
 
 the salvation of man obedient to the will of God ; not as I will, 
 hilt as Thou, Matt. xxvi. 39. More than this, he condescended 
 to be obedient also to man, into whose hands he surrendered 
 himself, to be apprehended, tortured, condemned to death, 
 and crucified ; and this for the salvation of the lost race of 
 man. To this also is applicable the word used by the 
 Apostle, sentite. The mind cannot grasp this extent of charity, 
 nor the tongue express it, but the heart can feel, in a degree, 
 how great charity it was which led Almighty God to obey, to 
 suffer, and to die, for man. And to die the death of the cross, 
 ordinarily reserved for criminals who were also slaves, or by 
 their conduct had merited no better treatment. This was 
 the completion of humiliation, the completion of obedience, 
 and the completion of charity. 
 
 g. On which account also God exalted him. On account of 
 his obedience, God exalted, in the Greek superexalted, raised 
 him to the highest place in the universe, above all creation. 
 The inference is that the highest advancement in the life to 
 come will be assigned to those who have most closely imitated 
 Christ in his humiliation, obedience, and charity. It is to be 
 understood that Christ is exalted as man, and in his human 
 nature, for in his Divine nature, in which he is equal to the 
 Father from all eternity, he cannot be exalted. He is placed, 
 as man, at the head of God's creation. And gave him the name 
 which is above every name. That is, the name of God, in which 
 he receives divine adoration from angels and men, being one 
 Person, though existing in two natures. Mary's Son is God 
 for ever. God conferred this name upon him by making 
 known his Deity to the world, by the preaching of the 
 Apostles. Some writers, however, not unreasonably suppose 
 St. Paul to refer to the name of Jesus, or the Saviour. This 
 term is constantly used in the Hebrew idiom to signify a king, 
 leader, or prince, whose direction of public affairs renders a 
 nation safe from attack or invasion from outside. They 
 called upon the Lord, and he raised up to them a saviour, 
 Jud. iii. g. Thou didst give them saviours, 2 Esdr. ix. 27, &c. 
 
334 T""E EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 Thus tlie Saviour, guardian, lord, and protector of all creation 
 is the name zvhich is above every name, because from him all other 
 power and authority in heaven and earth is derived. 
 
 10. At the name of yesus every knee shall bend. The celestial, 
 the angels of heaven, the terrestrial, man on earth, the infernal, 
 all the souls in the limbus patrum, in purgatory, even the 
 fallen spirits in hell, however reluctantly, all rational and 
 intelligent creatures in the universe, bend the knee to the Man 
 whose name is Jesus, adore Jesus, acknowledge Jesus as their 
 God and Lord. There is a reference to Is. xlv. 23, 24. / 
 have sworn by myself, the word of Justice sliall come out of my mouth 
 and not return, that to me every knee will bend, and every tongue will 
 swear. This is in part fulfilled even now, and will be fully 
 accomplished at the last day. 
 
 11. Every tongue must confess. The meaning of the next 
 words in the Greek appears to be, that Jesus Christ is Lord, in 
 the glory of God the Father. That he shares the same glory 
 with God the Father, and is Lord of all creation, to all 
 eternity. This will be finally accomplished at the great day 
 when Christ will come in the glory of his Father, and attended 
 by the holy Angels, Matt. xvi. 27. 
 
 The trutli stated in this passage, that the attribute of 
 humility is an integral and essential part of the nature of God, 
 was entirely unknown to the pagan world, before the coming 
 of Christ : nor indeed was it revealed even in the Scriptures 
 of the Old Testament. Even to the holy Angels it was not, 
 until that time, made known in its full extent. The pride of 
 Lucifer was shocked by the partial revelation of it. It is 
 commonly thought that Satan refused to believe in the 
 Incarnation of the Son of God, until convinced by the 
 miracles of Christ. It must always remain, when reflected 
 on, a cause of wonder and astonishment. Nevertheless some 
 indication or confirmation of it may be gathered from the 
 •consideration of God's providence in the care of creation, 
 which descends to the minutest particulars, and provides 
 continually for the wants and necessities ol the least and 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 335 
 
 humblest of his creatures. The chavitij and Jnmiility of God 
 are commensurate, both far transcending any mental powers 
 we possess to fathom or comprehend. Jesus Christ has given 
 the proof and example equally of both ; and by doing so 
 earned and merited the inconceivable exaltation to which he 
 is raised in glor}^, at the right hand of God. And of that 
 divine glory you, Philippians, will also be partakers, if you 
 will become imitators of the humility and charity of Christ. 
 
 12. Therefore, my beloved (as you always obeyed), not as in 
 my presence only, but much more now in my absence, with 
 fear and trembling operate your salvation. 
 
 13. For it is God who operates in you both to will and to 
 accomplish according to the goodwill. 
 
 12. Therefore, inasmuch as it was the obedience of Christ 
 which brought him to this height of glory in the heavens, 
 and that glory you will be entitled to share, if you tread the 
 same path by which he won it, there is every reason why you 
 should continue in the obedience to the faith which you have 
 hitherto observed, from the hour of your conversion. And 
 this you should do, not for man's sake, or to please me, but 
 to please God, who dwells among you always, though I am 
 absent, and sees both what you do, and the motives from 
 which your actions spring. And as my withdrawal removes 
 one reason and motive for this obedience, this is itself a reason 
 why you should pursue this course much more in my absence, 
 that is with greater resolution and courage, for fear the 
 deprivation of my presence should make you negligent or 
 desponding. 
 
 With fear and trembling operate your salvation. St. Chrysostom 
 observes that the Apostle does not say tpya^eo-S-c, operate, but 
 KaTepyai^ea^E, insist on finishing or completing it. God has 
 operated your salvation, so far as it rests with him ; your 
 co-operation is requisite to complete the work he has begun. 
 This the Apostle explains more fully in the next verse. 
 
336 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAl'L 
 
 13. It is God who Operates in you, both to will and to accomplish. 
 This is a motive, i, for energy and activity ; operate your 
 salvation', 2, for humilit}' ; with fear and trembling. The will, 
 and the power to w^ork, both come from God. There is no 
 room for pride ; neither is there excuse for neglect. St. 
 Bernard observes, at the end of his book De gratia et libera 
 arbitrio, that God operates in us to think, to will, and to 
 perform. The first without us ; the second with us ; the 
 third through us. The suggestion of faith and obedience 
 comes from him, without any consent on our part, but the 
 will, also from his grace, requires the co-operation of our will. 
 The performance comes also from God's grace, but cannot 
 take place except through and by means of us. Grace 
 operates with free will, so as in the first instance only to 
 prevent and come before it, in the other two accompanying 
 it ; for this very purpose preventing the will, that the will may 
 thereafter co-operate with it. With fear and trembling, because 
 grace comes from God's pure mercy ; with energy and 
 activity, because your co-operation is required to bring it to 
 good effect. 
 
 14. And do all things without murmurings and hesitations. 
 
 15. That you may blameless and guileless, sons of God, 
 without reprehension, in the midst of a wicked and perverse 
 nation ; among whom you shine as luminaries in the world. 
 
 16. Holding the word of life, to my glory in the day of 
 Christ, because I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain. 
 
 14. Without vmrmurings and hesitations. Obey the will of 
 God, when clearly manifested, without complaining of the 
 hardship to which it may temporarily expose you, without 
 discussion, questioning, or cavilling. Such cavilling is not a 
 mode of obedience, but an excuse for disobedience. That you 
 may be blameless. The Greek has unblamed ; the Syriac, perfect ; 
 Ambrose, incapable of blame, that is, such that no one can 
 reasonably complain of you. Guileless, or simple, means 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS.- 337 
 
 candid and straightforward, placing upon every proceeding 
 of others the best interpretation, giving fair, just, and 
 respectful consideration to the rights and claims of other 
 men. These terms, blameless and guileless, are not joined to 
 sons of God, in the Greek construction of the sentence, which 
 joms sons of God to the epithet which follows, without reprehen- 
 sion, faultless and immaculate children of God. Leadmg a 
 blameless life, as suits God's sons and daughters ; an injunc- 
 tion intended doubtless for the secular life. In the midst of a 
 wicked and perverse nation. In the Greek, a generation tortuous 
 and perverted. Turned aside from God's commands, and 
 inventing all sorts of subtle and elaborate systems of philo- 
 sophy to excuse and justify their treason, loving error and 
 stubborn in wrong. 
 
 Among whom yon shine as luminaries in the world. This is 
 what Christ said to his disciples. Let your light shine before 
 men. The Christian is a star in heaven, guiding wanderers 
 on earth ; a beacon light showing the harbour of salvation 
 to the navigators in danger of being wrecked on the shoals 
 of life. But the star that has ceased to shine is lost in 
 the blackness of the dark, and the watch light, if extinguished, 
 will cause the wreck of many a gallant ship. In the Greek 
 text the word shine may be understood either in the indicative 
 or imperative, and in this last sense it is taken by the Syriac 
 version, which gives the whole passage thus : Be perfect, be 
 spotless and blameless, as pure sons of God, who dwell in 
 the midst of a rough and tortuous generation, and among 
 these appear and let yourselves be seen as the luminaries of 
 the world. 
 
 1 6. Holding the word of life. Preserving or retaining it. Or 
 else, holding it on high, as the lighthouse holds its lamp, the 
 raj'S of which gleam over many miles of land and sea. More 
 probably still, the Apostle means, as the sun, moon, and stars 
 give light, warmth, or vegetative life to plants and animals, 
 so illuminate, warm, attract, all around you, with the life- 
 
338 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 giving light of faith. For the word of life is what St. Paul 
 said to the gaoler at Philippi, Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thy household. 
 
 To my glory in the day of Christ. That I may rejoice at the 
 last day, in the conversion of the people of Macedonia to the 
 faith of Jesus Christ, the fruit of my preaching his Gospel 
 among you. Only at the last day the Apostle looks to any 
 enjoyment of the fruit of his labours. Always he desired 
 that fruit, and prayed and laboured for its abundance ; but 
 his own share was reserved for heaven. This life is the time 
 for labour and sowing the seed ; the harvest and reward 
 must come hereafter. Then it will be shown that I have not 
 run in vacuum, without a mark to aim at, and to direct my 
 course ; that I have not laboured in vacuum, for a faith that 
 is only illusion, or a hope that disappoints. 
 
 17. But even if I am immolated upon the sacrifice and 
 service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. 
 
 18. And for this very thing also do you joy and rejoice 
 with me. 
 
 If the people of Macedonia are by my means, and yours, 
 converted to the faith of Jesus Christ, it matters very little 
 in comparison what becomes of me. Rather, my martyrdom 
 will be a subject of mutual congratulation and rejoicing, both 
 to myself and 3'ou. 
 
 If I am immolated. The Greek has, // / am poured out, that 
 is, it my blood is poured out as a libation or drink offermg. 
 The pagan sacrifices, as well as those of the Hebrews, con- 
 sisted of two things : first, the victim, a bull, calf, ram, or 
 the like ; and the vegetable offering of meal and wine, which 
 was always presented with it. This offering of the fruits of 
 the earth was possibly derived from the worship of our first 
 parents in the garden of Eden, and was an acknowledgment 
 that all good gifts come from God. The victim was added 
 at the fall and expulsion from Paradise, as a confession of 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 339 
 
 sin. Cain's offering of fruit was not accepted, because he 
 brought no victim, and consequently made no confession of 
 sin. The holy sacrifice of the Mass retains the inincha, as it 
 was called in Hebrew, the offering of bread, and the Victim 
 is Jesus Christ, offered for the sins of the world. In the 
 Hebrew and pagan sacrifices the wine was poured over the 
 victim on the altar, or at the foot of the altar. In the figure 
 used by St. Paul in the text, he regards the Philippians as 
 the victim which he offered to God by the preaching of the 
 Gospel. His own blood, shed for Christ's cause and theirs, 
 was the libation, poured upon the sacrifice. He adds, obsequium, 
 the liturgy, or service, of your faith. Preaching the Gospel is 
 a kind of liturgy, or sacrifice. The hearers arp the victims, 
 the preacher is the priest, preparing them for sacrifice. The 
 Holy Spirit is the fire of charity by which the victims are 
 consumed. The same figure occurs in Rom. xv. i6. As if 
 he said : I have offered you in sacrifice to God, by your 
 conversion to the faith. And if to this sacrifice my blood is 
 added as a libation, I shall thereat rejoice with you, and you 
 will in turn rejoice with me. 
 
 ig. But I hope in the Lord Jesus that I shall shortly send 
 Timothy to you, that I also may take courage, knowing how 
 you stand, 
 
 20. For I have no one so much in agreement with me, who 
 is solicitous for you with sincere affection, 
 
 21. For all seek what is their own, not what is of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 22. But you are to know him by experience, that as a son 
 to a father, he has served with me in the Gospel. 
 
 23. I hope therefore to send him to you soon, when I have 
 seen how my affairs turn out. 
 
 24. But I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come 
 to you soon. 
 
 19. / hope in the Lord Jesus, by the help of his aid and 
 
340 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 providence, who is the supreme, though unseen, ruler of the 
 Church and of all the world, shortly to send Timotheus to you, to 
 bring me his account of your welfare. This was a return for 
 the courtesy of the Philippians, who had sent Epaphroditus 
 to Rome to enquire about St. Paul. He proceeds to give St. 
 Timothy the double recommendation that he was more than 
 anyone else then at Rome in concord with the feelings, 
 sentiments, and views of the Apostle, whom he had aided in 
 his Apostolic labours, like a son with a father ; and that he 
 had a sincere regard and affection for the Christians of 
 Philippi, and was most anxious to promote their welfare. 
 The words know him by experience are in the imperative in the 
 Vulgate. The Greek will bear this sense, or that of the in- 
 dicative, yo!c already know hint by experiment, or trial. The 
 Apostle adds that most of his companions in Rome seemed 
 to seek principally their own glory and distinction, rather 
 than to promote the glory of Jesus Christ. They were per- 
 haps the same whom he referred to above, as proclaiming 
 the faith of Christ from contention and love of vain glory, 
 rather than of sincerity and real love of Christ. God may 
 ■ make use of such persons to promote his cause, but they are 
 always liable to break down, as in the present case, under 
 experiment, or any unusual trial of their sincerity and zeal, 
 demanding some sacrifice of their temporal interest or 
 comfort. 
 
 25. But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphro- 
 ditus, my brother, and co-operator, and fellow-soldier, and 
 your Apostle, and the minister of my necessity ; 
 
 26. For indeed he is most desirous to see you, and has 
 been grieved because you heard he was ill. 
 
 27. For he was indeed sick unto death : but God had com- 
 passion on him ; and not on him only, but also on me, lest I 
 should have sorrow upon sorrow. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 34I 
 
 28. I send him therefore as soon as possible, that when 
 you have seen him, you may be glad once more, and I may 
 be free from sorrow. 
 
 29. Receive him therefore with all joy in the Lord, and 
 hold such in honour ; 
 
 30. Because for the work of Christ he drew near to death, 
 delivering up his life, to fulfil that which was wanting on 
 your part, to serve me. 
 
 24. It is not known whether St. Paul was ever able to 
 fulfil the hope expressed in this verse, that he would visit the 
 Philippians again. We have no authentic record of his pro- 
 ceedings after his liberation, for about three years, when we 
 find him once more in chains at Rome, on the outbreak ot 
 the great persecution, and then he only left his prison to go 
 to his death. From such indications as exist, it seems 
 probable that he spent the intervening period in western 
 lands, not in the east. 
 
 25. I think it necessary, without waiting for the chance of my 
 own coming, or the opportunity of sending Timotheus, to 
 send to you at once Epaphroditus, with this letter. He styles 
 this holy man the Apostle of the Philippians, because he was 
 their Bishop, according to Theodoret ; or because he was 
 their legate or nuncio to St. Paul, as Theophylact thinks. 
 St. Chrysostom calls him the Doctor of the Philippians. St. 
 Paul describes him further as his brother, fellow-labourer, 
 fellow-soldier, the supplier of his wants and necessities, and 
 support and aid in the troubles and difficulties arising out of 
 his imprisonment. Every Bishop is the brother of the 
 Apostles in faith, their collaborator in their ministry, their 
 comrade in their sacred warfare, an Apostle in his own 
 diocese, to the poor and afflicted an administrator, father 
 and protector. 
 
 26. It was an additional reason for sending Epaphroditus 
 at once, that he had recovered from a dangerous illness 
 
342 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 which had brought him, when at Rome, to the brink of the 
 grave. Communication was less easy and frequent in those 
 days than at present, and he had suffered greatly from 
 anxiety on account of his friends at Philippi, who might 
 possibly suppose that he was dead, and was most anxious 
 therefore to see them again. When you have seen him, the 
 Apostle adds, / shall be free from sorrozc. The Greek has, that 
 I may be less grieved, or sad ; and the Syriac, that the 
 burden of sorrow in my soul may be lightened. From 
 sorrow and anxiety St. Paul was never wholly free, but it 
 was capable of being alleviated and consoled, as arising from 
 causes which at no very distant day would wholly cease to 
 afflict or trouble him. 
 
 29. Receive him with Joy in the Lord. The Greek and Syriac 
 read, receive him in the Lord inith joy. And hold such in honour, 
 who for the sake of serving Christ, aiding his ministers, 
 promoting the spread of his kingdom, surrender their lives, 
 in the Greek disregard their lives, and face death for Christ's 
 sake. For Epaphroditus had risked his life, and nearly lost 
 it, by coming to Rome to give St. Paul the aid and support 
 of his presence, his personal service and exertions, and his 
 purse, in fulfilment of the mission he had undertaken on 
 behalf, and at the request, of the Christians at Philippi. 
 
 The words in verse 25 / think it necessary to send Epaphro- 
 ditus, are in the past tense, both in the Vulgate and in the 
 Greek, / tJwught it, by an idiom frequent at that period, and 
 often occurring in the letters of Cicero. The writer puts 
 himself in the place of the receiver of the letter. / think, 
 that is, / thought when I was writing. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Hold such in homur. The man who boldly faces death for 
 the glory of Jesus Christ, is worthy of respect and gratitude 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 
 
 343 
 
 and honour. Not only the Apostles, who laid down their 
 lives, as they spent them, for the testimony of Jesus Christ ; 
 the great army of martyrs who encountered, unflinchingly 
 and joyfully, the fire, the knife, every form of torture which 
 ingenuity could devise, under the execution of the cruel and 
 impious edicts of a Nero, a Domitian, or a Dioclesian, in 
 ancient days ; or the Theban Legion who were massacred 
 to a man, without resistance, rather than deny their faith : 
 these are not the only followers of Christ who have despised 
 their lives for his sake. How many brave and devoted priests 
 there are, in our own days, who go forth into distant lands, 
 to carry the Gospel of Christ and the light of faith among 
 idolaters and infidels, pledged to die in the discharge of the 
 sacred duties to which God's voice has called them, and in 
 the lands where they are sent ! Under the torrid skies of 
 Africa, amid the snowy solitudes of Northern America, 
 through the unexplored forests of the tropics, among the 
 cruel barbarians of Corea, are men who for Christ's sake 
 despise theiv lives, and having long since given up home, 
 friends, ambition, comfort, ever}'- other earthly object, for the 
 only reward that has any attraction for them, are ready and 
 willing, eager and desirous, to crown the sacrifice by the 
 surrender of life itself. Any man who, by one brave and 
 unselfish deed of daring, risks his life to save others, from 
 fire, or from drowning at sea, or from infection, or the like, is 
 by the common consent of mankind held in honour, praised and 
 respected for a self-sacrificing and generous deed. Much 
 more is he worthy of honour who for the salvation of the 
 immortal souls of men for whom Christ died, gives up all 
 that makes life to other men desirable, and daily for years 
 together faces and braves in this cause peril, suffering, and 
 death. It is of such that Christ said, you are the salt of the 
 earth. For they testify in the sight of all men that there is 
 an object and an aim in human life higher and more noble 
 than any which is bounded by the grave ; and that the things 
 of time and sense upon which mankind are so liable, in their 
 
344 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 blindness and inconsideration, to be led to set their hearts, 
 are insignificant and contemptible in comparison with that 
 eternal crown of glory, which will never fade, which God 
 has prepared for those who are ready to surrender all, even 
 life, dare all, even death, in his service and for his glory. 
 
 ^C3|H- 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 345 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I. For the rest, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To 
 write the same things to you, is not indeed troublesome to 
 me, and is necessary for you. 
 
 Ch. III. In this chapter the Apostle earnestly and 
 emphatically warns the Christians of Philippi against the 
 teachers of heresy, whose hypocrisy and wickedness he 
 denounces in language of extraordinary vehemence and 
 strength. 
 
 I. For the rest, rejoice in the Lord. The first part of this 
 verse refers to what has gone before, the second to what 
 follows. You have nothing to trouble you, nothing to make 
 you solicitous, nothing to fear. My imprisonment is no 
 hindrance to the cause of the Gospel of Christ, but rather 
 tends to advance it. Epaphroditus has returned to you safe. 
 Timotheus will shortly come. I hope eventually to come 
 myself. Rejoice therefore and be filled with spiritual joy 
 and gratitude to Christ, who has relieved your anxieties and 
 fears. 
 
 Then he adds : It is no trouble or annoyance to me to 
 keep writing and saying the same things to you, which I 
 have often said to you before, and written, if not to you, at 
 least to other Churches. I used to tell you often (v. i8) when 
 I was with you, to beware of the heretical teachers who are, 
 while professing the Christian name, in reality the worst 
 enemies of the cross of Christ. To this subject I have often 
 to refer, in every Epistle I write, in almost every address I 
 deliver. It is not troublesome to me to do so, because 1 know 
 
34^ THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 how necessary (the Greek has safe) it is for you to give you 
 this warning. The Syriac reads : It does not weary me, 
 because it puts you on your guard. It is evident that this 
 was the great controversy of the day, and the great danger 
 of the times, and that the craft, subtlety, plausibiHty, 
 philosophical language, and mask of piety, adopted by 
 heretics, made the peril of seduction very great. The light 
 m which the Apostle regarded them is forcibly shown in the 
 next words. 
 
 2. Look to the dogs, look to the false workers, look to 
 the cutting. 
 
 3. For we are the circumcision who serve God in the 
 spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and not in the flesh have 
 confidence. 
 
 2. Look to the dogs. The Greek has /jXeVtre, beware of, but 
 the Vulgate renders this word literally, vidde. Dogs, says 
 Tbeodoret, was of old a names of the Gentiles. It is not good 
 to take the bread of the sons and throw it to the dogs, Matt. xv. 26. 
 But things are now changed, and names with things, and the 
 Gentiles are now the sons, and the Jews the dogs. The dogs 
 are the judaizers, who barked at, bit, and tore the preachers 
 of the word of God. They were evil, false, or cheating work- 
 men, who helped to destroy and pull down the temple of 
 God, instead of building it up. The cutting, KaraTo/x)), concisio, 
 is a contemptuous term for the rite of circumcision, the 
 necessity of which these teachers continued to inculcate and 
 insist on. But it appears from what follows that under the 
 mask of Judaism they concealed the philosophical errors of 
 the sect of Simon ]\Iagus, and insisted on circumcision 
 chiefly because the adoption of this rite would sever from 
 the communion of the Apostles those who were persuaded to 
 take this step. In the vision of the holy Catholic Church, 
 under the figure of the new Jerusalem, granted to St. John 
 the Divine, probably during the persecution under Nero, 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 347 
 
 he says, Apoc. xxi. 15 : Outside are the dogs, and the 
 sorcerers, and the impure, and the homicides, and the servers 
 of idols, and every orie who loves falsehood and does it ; 
 evidently implying that these sectaries were at that time 
 cast out of the communion of the Church. 
 
 3. For we are the civciimcision. There is no analogy 
 between the rite of circumcision and the sacrament of 
 Baptism. On the contrary, proselytes from paganism, if 
 they became Jews, received both, being first baptised with 
 water to signify their adoption into the family of Abraham, 
 after which, being now considered children of Abraham, 
 they received the seal of the covenant. Baptism is our 
 adoption into the family of Christ. What circumcision 
 signified was the withdrawal of the heart and affections from 
 the pleasures and ambitions of this mortal life, and fixing 
 them on the hope of the enjoyment of God in eternity. This 
 is what the Apostle expresses in this place. We are the 
 circumcision, who serve God in the spirit, that is in the spirit of 
 charity and obedience, sincerely believing in him, firmly 
 hoping in him, loving God, and loving our neighbours for his 
 sake, observing God's commands for love of him, and refer- 
 ring all things to his glory. And glory in Jesus Christ, make it 
 our only rejoicing and boast that we are Christians, and 
 glory in Christ as the author of our salvation. And have no 
 confidence in the flesh. Do not work for salvation from any 
 antecedent merits of our own, mdependently of the grace of 
 God, given us through faith in Christ ; but in that grace and 
 mercy alone. Saint Paul goes on to explain that he also is 
 of the number of those who, in this sense, had no confidence 
 in the flesh, though of all men living he was most entitled to 
 such confidence, were any reliance or trust to be reposed on 
 it with safety. 
 
 4. Although I have confidence even in the flesh. If any 
 other seems to confide in the flesh, I more. 
 
348 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 5. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, 
 of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, accordmg to 
 law a Pharisee, 
 
 6. According to zeal, persecuting the Church of God, 
 according to the justice which is in the law, living without 
 blame. 
 
 4. / have confidence even in the flesh. The argument is that 
 if the advantages which the Apostle here enumerates had 
 been sufficient to save or satisfy the soul of man, they would 
 have done so in his case. But there is also a reference by 
 contrast to the claims of his opponents. Simon Magus was 
 not a Jew, but a Samaritan of the mixed race of Israelites 
 and Babylonians, originating in the Babylonian colony settled 
 at Samaria by Asor-Hadan, or Asenaphar, king of Assyria, 
 in B.C. 678, I Esdr. iv. 2, 10, 4 Reg. xvii. 24. 30. It is prob- 
 able that most of the heretic teachers were not, like St. Paul, 
 circumcised on the eighth day, like Isaac, but received the rite 
 later and expressly out of opposition to the teaching of the 
 Apostles. And it is very likely they were not all of them of 
 the race of Israel Sit all. The tyibe of Benjamin from which St. 
 Paul sprang, were descended from the best-loved son of the 
 patriarch Israel, or Jacob, and this tribe adhered to the Jews 
 in the division of the kingdoms of Juda and Israel. From 
 the tribe of Benjamin was descended king Saul, after whom 
 the Apostle was named, and from whom he was very prob- 
 ably descended. The Hebrews included all the descendants 
 of the great Semitic patriarch Heber, Gen. x. 21, and the 
 title distinguished them from the Babylonians and the Greeks ; 
 but St. Chrysostom thmks that by the expression a Hebrew of 
 the Hebrews the Apostle means to refer to his well known 
 familiarity with the Hebrew language. All these preroga- 
 tives, so far, were shared by many others, and hereditary ; 
 the three which follow were peculiar to himself, or dependent 
 on his own will and choice. M}- zeal for ni)- race and 
 traditions, religion and nationality, was absorbing, and led me 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 349 
 
 to persecute the Chnvch of God, to fly in the face of God him- 
 self. I observed the law as interpreted by the Pharisees, 
 the strictest of the sects ; and so carefully and exactly that 
 no fault could be found with me. On the score of legal 
 justice, I was blameless. 
 
 7. But the things which were gain to me, these I judged 
 to be loss on account of Christ. 
 
 8. And indeed I consider all things loss on account of the 
 eminent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord : for whose sake 
 I have made all things loss, and consider them as refuse, 
 that I may gain Christ, 
 
 g. And he found in him, not having my justice which is 
 of the law, but that which is of faith of Christ Jesus ; which 
 is from God, justice in faith. 
 
 10. To know him, and the virtue of his resurrection, and 
 the association with his sufferings ; being 'made like his 
 death : 
 
 11. If in any way I may arrive at the resurrection which is 
 from the dead. 
 
 7. The things ivhich were gain to me, all these privileges of 
 Jewish religion and nationality, on which I once set so high 
 a value, appeared to me, not only worthless, contemptible, 
 and insignificant, as soon as I knew Jesus Christ, but 
 actually /o55 and injury, as keeping me away from him, and 
 from the faith which was to unite me with him. And not 
 these things only, but all things which this world contains or 
 offers, its wealth, distinction, even life itself, appeared to me 
 worse than worthless, positive evils which it were desirable 
 to be rid of, compared with the eminent knowledge, in the 
 Greek the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. 
 And to attain this knowledge I have, in actual fact, made all 
 things loss, or lost all things, thrown away all advantages, 
 prospects, privileges in present enjoyment, dreams of 
 ambition for the future — and the worldly prospects of St. 
 
350 THE EPISTLE 01- ST. PAUL 
 
 Paul were of a singularly brilliant kind, as will be evident to 
 any reader of the Acts of the Apostles, and his change of 
 faith so disappointed and embittered his fellow-countrymen 
 that they sought his life, with the utmost resolution and 
 pertinacity, for years together — and counted them as merely 
 refuse. The Greek word ffKiiflaXa is said to be derived from 
 t'c Kvyac fiaXelv, food which is only good to be thrown to dogs. 
 The Vulgate has stercora, dung or filth, which is worse than 
 refuse, for it defiles and pollutes, occasions sickening and 
 disgust. But the Greek writers, Photius and Theodoret, 
 understand by this word straw, and think the Apostle is 
 referring to the Judaic law, which became useless and was 
 thrown aside, when Christ, the grain which it produced, was 
 threshed out of it. Photius says : The stalk and blade are 
 necessary, until the wheat is formed in it, and taken from it, 
 and as long as Christ, the real grain of wheat, was not yet 
 born, and still lay concealed in the husk, the law had its use. 
 But when, through his passion and resurrection, the grain was 
 gathered, and b}^ his ascension on high, laid up in his 
 heavenly Father's granary, the stalk was henceforth useless, 
 except to be trodden into straw. St. Chrysostom admits 
 this interpretation as possible, but thinks it more probable 
 that the Apostle is speaking, not of the law, but of earthly 
 riches, power, influence, and similar advantages, which, 
 compared to the knowledge of Christ, are vain, unsatisfying, 
 valueless, and useless, and not goods in any real sense what- 
 ever. That I may gain Christ. To gain Christ is to gain his 
 grace, his justice, the participation of his merits in this life, 
 the enjoyment of his presence in eternity. To gain this also, 
 in measure, in this life, by communion with him and con- 
 fidence in his care and love. 
 
 g. And he found in him, exist or find myself in him, belong- 
 ing to him as a member of the body of which he is the head. 
 Ox else, be found in him 21 the ']ndgment oi i\\e last day. Not 
 having my justice, or more literally, justice of my oivn, that 
 which proceeds from knowledge and observance of the law, 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 35I 
 
 without the spirit of faith and grace ; but having the justice 
 which comes through faith of Christ. The name ^esus is here 
 omitted in the Greek, but inserted in the Vulgate. The 
 Justice which begins with justification or remission of sins, and 
 proceeds to the sanctification of soul and body through the 
 grace of the Holy Spirit. This is the only justice which can 
 avail for salvation, because it is the justice which comes from 
 God, and proceeds from the grace of God, in faith, or as the 
 Greek text has it, upon faith, built upon the foundation of 
 faith in Christ. The justice of the law, the justice of the 
 Pharisees, was human and external only, founded exclusively 
 in works and obedience within the compass of the natural 
 powers of man and subject to human observation. This can 
 justify only politically, and in the sight of man, not in the 
 sight of God. Such exterior justice as this, St. Paul calls 
 justice of my own, because it proceeds from merely human 
 choice, power, or resolution. It is not Christian justice, for 
 the law is observed neither in the spirit of Christ, or by faith 
 in Christ. 
 
 10. To knoiv him, and the virtue of his resurrection. These 
 words are joined by St. Chrysostom and Theodoret to those 
 which immediately precede. The justice of God proceeds 
 from the faith by which Christ is known, and the power of 
 his resurrection understood, and a share in his sufferings 
 communicated to the believer. But they are more con- 
 veniently understood as the continuation of what was said in 
 verse 8. I count all earthly things as valueless and worse, 
 for tlie knowledge of Christ, to be found in him, and to know him. 
 To knozv who he is, how great he is, what he is like. That 
 he is God and man, the only Saviour of the world. This 
 speculatively. Practically, to know him, as the soul of one 
 man knows the soul of another, as a child knows its parents, 
 as friend knows friend, by personal acquaintance and inter- 
 change of thought and sentiment. This knowledge does not, 
 however, necessarily lead to salvation, for there must be a 
 corresponding disposition or goodwill in the receiver. Judas 
 
352 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 knew Christ intimately, and did not love him. Evil spirits 
 said, Wc hiotu niho iliou art, the Holy of God. Another said, 
 Jesus I hioxv, and Paul I knoto, Act. xix. 15. To Saint Paul, 
 this knowledge appeared the only object which made 
 existence worth having. But he was not satisfied with such 
 knowledge of Christ as the Apostles possessed during his 
 mortal life. He had seen him, for a moment, in the glory of 
 the life of the resurrection, and the desire of his heart was to 
 penetrate the mystery of that immortal life in w^hich Christ 
 lives for ever, and learn the secret of its undying strength, 
 undecaying energy, unceasing vigour, indescribable beauty, 
 gladness, and splendour. To hww him, and the power of his 
 resurrection. But in the nature of that life itself, there was 
 something that showed that it was only attained through suffer- 
 ing, and suffering of which only the perfect nature of Christ 
 was capable. This suffering, therefore, the Apostle earnestly 
 desired to share, so far as imperfect mortality could share it. 
 Beijig made like his death. Conformed or configured to his death ; 
 my own life a representation or acting over again the suffer- 
 ing and death of Christ. The suffering and death of Christ 
 turned into, or developed into, the joy of the resurrection, as 
 night turns to morning, and all sorrow, generously borne, 
 will turn to joy. All suffering which was like the suffering 
 of Christ, the Apostle was willing, and much more than 
 willing, to encounter, if by such means, and that he saw to 
 be in the nature of things, and by God's economy the only 
 means, he could attain to that glorious state and condition 
 in which Christ had appeared to him. If hy any means I can 
 arrive at the resurrection from the dead. And the glory of that 
 vision, and the attractions of that thought, so filled his 
 imagination and overwhelmed his heart, that compared with 
 it all the riches of the world, all the renown and fame of 
 its greatest men, the splendour of all the kingdoms of the 
 earth, appeared of no more value in his sight than the 
 glimmer of the rushlight in the blaze of the noon-day sun. 
 The expression if in any way appears to indicate some 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 353 
 
 uncertainty and some difficulty. In i Cor. ix. 27 St. Paul 
 expresses the fear that after having preached to others, he 
 may himself be reprobate. Yet St. Paul, on the testimony of 
 Christ himself, was a vessel of election, Act ix. 15. The 
 inference is, in opposition to the doctrine of Calvin, that 
 God's election does not make the final attainment of the 
 glory of the resurrection a matter of absolute certainty. The 
 Greek word here used for resurrection is e^amoradij', a 
 resurrection complete and final, glorious and heavenly, to be 
 followed by no decay or death. To this great end we are 
 conducted through two means, faith in Christ, and conformity 
 with his sufferings. The first renders us fervent in affection, 
 and raises us already, in desire and hope. The second will 
 endow us with the merits of Christ, and render us worthy of 
 our glorious destiny. These are the two wings on which we 
 are to rise from earth to heaven. 
 
 12. Not that already I have received, or am already made 
 perfect : but I follow if by any means I may lay hold of that 
 in which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 
 
 13. Brethren, I consider not myself to have laid hold : but 
 one thing, forgetting what is indeed behind, but stretching 
 myself out to those things which are before, 
 
 14. I follow on to the destined end, to the prize of the 
 calling of God that is above, in Christ Jesus. 
 
 12. Not that already I have received the prize at which I aim, 
 or reached the goal to which my course is directed. But 
 Christ, when he appeared to me on the road to Damascus, 
 took me as it were by the hand and placed me on the course, 
 with that prize full in view, and all my efforts and exertions 
 ever since are directed to attain and lay hold of it. He 
 caught me in his net, says Theodoret, I was a fugitive, and 
 he seized me. Now I follow him, striving to lay hold on 
 him, lest I fall away from his salvation. 
 
 Neither am I already made perfect. This verse probably 
 
354 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 refers to another error of the heretics which the Apostle 
 more distinctly formulates in 2 Tim. ii. 18. Hymenaeus and 
 Philetus asserted that the resuvrection is past already, and no 
 further change is to be looked for, the saints of God being 
 already made perfect. Some of the Christians of Philippi may 
 have been puzzled by this opinion, especially if it was 
 advanced cautiously and tentatively, and with less confidence 
 than was displayed by Hymenaeus and Philetus seven years 
 later, and the Apostle here expressly contradicts it. 
 
 13. I do not regard myself as having already laid hold on 
 the reward of eternal life. One thing absorbs all my energies, 
 faculties, endeavours. I do not regard, or recall, or regret 
 what I have surrendered and sacrificed for Christ. I do not 
 dwell on what I have already done or suffered for His sake. 
 But I stretch out my hands, and use my feet, extend my 
 hopes and desires, labour, suffer, and serve God, for that 
 which is before me. This was the crown of martyrdom, the 
 great object of his ambition and longing. 
 
 14. I press onward to the mark, destination, the prize of life 
 eternal at the resurrection from the dead, the call from 
 heaven to rise to heaven. The call is from God, the answer 
 on my part is my faith in Christ. 
 
 15. Whoever therefore of us are perfect, let us think this ; 
 and if in any degree you think otherwise, this also God will 
 reveal to you. 
 
 16. Meanwhile, as far as we have proceeded, let us think 
 the same, and remain in the same rule. 
 
 15. Whoever of us are perfect. Whoever among you either 
 claim to be perfect already, or are desirous of attaining 
 perfection — this term is apparently borrowed from the 
 language of the heretics who claimed perfection for the adepts 
 in their mystical philosophy — let each agree with me, and 
 hold the same view I do ; namely, that we have not as yet 
 attained perfection. The perfect man, says Sjt. Chrysostom, 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 355 
 
 does not consider himself perfect ; and in this consists his 
 perfection. This does not involve any contradiction, for 
 though he may be perfect in comparison with others, yet he 
 is in many respects incomplete and wanting in himself, and 
 in the sight of God. 
 
 // in any way you think differently. This is expressed with 
 extraordinary moderation and gentleness. The opinion the 
 Apostle is impugning wa§ undoubtedly heresy, and if they 
 held it, they must have been deceived. Yet he puts it down 
 to ignorance and defective information, rather than to any 
 malice or evil intent. If you do not see this, God will in 
 time reveal it to you. Meanwhile let us all, in whatever 
 degree we have made progress towards perfection, adhere to 
 the teaching of the Church, and hold the same holy faith; 
 and adopt and practice the same rule of life, as regards 
 obedience to the commands of God and the precepts of the 
 Church. On these two points there can be no variation, and 
 no exception. A nile, St. Chrysostom observes, admits 
 neither of addition or abstraction, or else it is not a nile. 
 
 17. Be imitators of me, brethren, and observe those who 
 so walk as you have our form. 
 
 18. For many walk, who I have often told you, and now 
 also tell you weeping, are enemies of the cross of Christ, 
 
 19. Whose end is death, whose God is their stomach, and 
 their glory in their own confusion, who think of the things of 
 earth. 
 
 17. Be imitators of me. The Greek has, be imitators 
 together, or by common consent, of me, and observe those 
 who so walk, as you have a type in us. It is to be explained 
 that the Apostle says, imitate me, rather than imitate Christ, 
 because there were ostensibly two types or standards of what 
 was called the Christian life, one set by the Apostles, the 
 other by the heretics, who systematically lived in sin, and 
 seriously maintained that this was serving Christ. These 
 
35^ THE EPISTLE OF ST, PAUL 
 
 were the dogs referred to in verse 2. He said there, observe 
 the dogs, to avoid them ; here he says, observe those who walk as 
 we do, to follow and imitate them. This is further stated in 
 the next verse. The Apostles, St. Chrysostom says, were a 
 type and exemplar of holy living. So should every prelate 
 be. Yet the faults of the prelate do not excuse the subjects, 
 because Christ said Learn of vie. And we have in the 
 Scriptures the examples of all virtues. 
 
 18. Many walk, who though they profess to preach the 
 cross of Christ, are not to be imitated in their lives. I often 
 told you of them when I was with you, and now I mention 
 them again with tears. Those who live in pleasure, says St. 
 Chrysostom, are truly to be wept for. The same Father 
 adds these remarks : They are enemies of the cross of Christ, 
 first, because they attributed justification to the law and not 
 to grace, the fruit of the cross. Secondly, because while they 
 made a profession of Christian faith, they lived in ease and 
 pleasure, which is in direct opposition to the cross. Nothing 
 is so unlike a Christian as to seek for rest and ease. Thy 
 Lord was led to his cross, and thou seekest rest. Thy 
 Lord was pierced with nails, and thou indulgest in pleasures ! 
 Ls this like a generous soldier ? If thou lovest thy lord, live 
 his life, and die his death, crucify thyself, not so as to die, 
 but so as to say with Paul, To me the world is crucified. 
 
 ig. Whose end is death. The end to which their steps are 
 directed, at which they must arrive if they pursue the course 
 on which they have entered, is ruin, destruction, death 
 eternal. Whose God is their stomach. Who have in reality no 
 higher object in their religious teaching than to secure their 
 own maintenance and support, and live upon the credulity 
 of their disciples. Their boast and glory is everything of 
 which they ought to be ashamed. And their care and pride 
 is exclusively for what belongs to this world, nor do they, in 
 truth and reality, sincerely believe in any other. It is not 
 improbable, from the phrase used in the next verse, that the 
 persons to whom the Apostle refers were Roman citizens- 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 357 
 
 and prided themselves on that distinction, whicii St. Paul 
 also possessed, as well as the citizens of Philippi. 
 
 20. But our conversation is in the heavens : whence also 
 we look for a Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 21, Who will reform the body of our humility, made to 
 resemble the body of his splendour, according to the opera- 
 tion by which he is also able to subject to himself all 
 things. 
 
 20. Our conversation is in the heavens. In the Greek, our city 
 stands, and is even now existing, in the heavens, ■uroKi-evfxa 
 our civic municipality or incorporation. The Syriac, our 
 military constitution, as an army. The Ethiopic, our state, 
 city, or republic. TertuUian, our municipality. In heaven 
 is our home and refuge, our safety and protection, our friends 
 and comrades, our rights and freedom. We are citizens of 
 heaven, and live under the laws and government of a celestial 
 kingdom. And from heaven we look for the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who will come at the last day, not as our judge or 
 enemy, but our Saviour, and set us, his friends, free for ever 
 from care or sorrow of mind or body, clothe soul and body 
 with eternal splendour and glory. 
 
 21. For he will reform, in the Greek transfigure or trans- 
 form, turn into another form as regards its accidents, render- 
 ing it no longer subject to suffering or corruption, but im- 
 passible, incorruptible, and eternal, the body of our humility, a 
 Hebraism for our lowly, abject, miserable body, bringing it 
 to the likeness of his our most glorious body, the body of his 
 splendour, or glory, in and through which his glory is made 
 manifest. And this change he will effect by the exertion of 
 the almighty power he possesses, by which all material things 
 are subject to his will. 
 
 The heretics believed that the human body will perish for 
 ever in the grave, and only the immaterial nature survive for 
 eternity ; and further, that all material existence being 
 
358 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 essentially impure, the body is in itself vile and unholy, so 
 our treatment of it does not aflcct the spirit, and becomes 
 therefore insignificant. In opposition to these dreadful errors, 
 the Apostle maintains, in these concluding verses, i. That 
 there is a material existence prepared for us in the heavens ; 
 2, that Christ dwells materially in the heavens, exalted in 
 glory at the right hand of God ; 3, that his body is glorious 
 and beautiful beyond imagination or description ; 4, that our 
 own will be transfigured into the same splendid image at the 
 last great day ; 5, that his empire extends over the material 
 world, which, according to his good pleasure and imperial 
 will, is destined to share his eternity. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 All earthly goods are loss, not gain, and for the most part, 
 do us no real good, but only harm. This is explained more 
 fully by Saint Chrysostom, in his tenth homily, upon this 
 chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, moral, pp. gg, 100. 
 First, he says that the good things of this life, as they are 
 commonly called and considered, are in reality loss, not gain; 
 because the acquisition of them, and even the care, possession, 
 and enjoyment of them when acquired, involve a great deal 
 of trouble, and no real profit. King Solomon pointed this 
 out, when he said, Eccles. v. 10, Where there are great 
 riches there are also many to eat them, and what doth it 
 profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes ? 
 And that, another can do equally well, or better. The 
 richest man really derives no advantages from his wealth, 
 except food and clothing, which he shares with all whom he 
 employs ; and an immensity of labour, care, and trouble, 
 from which the rest are free. Secondly the possession ot 
 riches appears almost to overset the reason. Ladies, and 
 the steeds which draw their carriages, are caparisoned very 
 much alike. Their adornments are much the same, con- 
 structed of the same materials, glowing with the same rich 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 359 
 
 colours. In what respect does all this benefit the creature 
 endowed with intelligence, more than the creature which is 
 deprived of it ? Thirdly, riches are useless to avert any of 
 the real evils of life. They cannot buy off death, they 
 cannot defend us from disease, they cannot save us from the 
 decay and debility incidental to old age. 
 
 Yet the same great writer adds, that there is nothing good 
 which God has made, and which he bestows upon us, which 
 we cannot turn into real gain, instead of loss, by converting 
 it to the service of the Giver. God has given you eyesight. 
 Render it back to him, by considering his works, and 
 glorifying him for their beauty, excellence, and perfection. 
 He has given you your hands, he has, perhaps, given you 
 money. All these, and other gifts, you can, if you will, by 
 deeds of piety and charity, devote to his service Then, and 
 only then, will they be of advantage to you. Neither riches 
 nor poverty, in themselves, conduct to hell or heaven, but 
 the dispositions with which they are received, and the use to 
 which they are put. If these are rightly directed, duly 
 moderated, made such as God intends and desires them to 
 be, riches or poverty alike, whichsoever he sends you, will 
 become to you gain, not loss. A woodman can cut down a 
 tree, and cut it up into logs of wood, with an axe of iron, or 
 with an axe of gold ; and Christian graces may be acquired 
 and cultivated by poverty, or by riches. But they are more 
 easily acquired, and better cultivated, by poverty than by 
 riches, as the axe of iron will cut down the tree better than 
 the axe of gold. 
 
360 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 I. Therefore, my brethren, dearest and most desired, my 
 joy and my crown, so stand in the Lord, most beloved. 
 
 Ch. IV, In this chapter the Apostle earnestly exhorts the 
 Philippian Christians to perseverance in the faith, unity 
 among themselves, and a holy and Christian life, and takes 
 leave of them with several salutations and his Apostolic 
 benediction. 
 
 I. Therefore, in consideration of the indescribable glory and 
 happiness of the resurrection of the body, incorruptible, sin- 
 less, impassible, and immortal, which Christ has promised 
 you, and to which you look forward, as explained in the con- 
 cluding verses of the last chapter, I entreat you, my brethren, 
 and the objects of my most ardent affection, the cause and 
 occasion of my greatest joy, and whose salvation is to be my 
 crown and reward at the last day, to continue stedfast, as 
 you have stood hitherto, in the faith of Jesus Christ, and in 
 the communion of his one, true, holy, Catholic and Apostolic 
 Church. They are not only his joy, saj^s St. Chrysostom, 
 but his glory ; not only his glory, but his crown. Could 
 there be a higher testimony to their faith and Christian 
 virtue, than to be the crown of Paul ? Happy is the 
 prelate who will be able to say of his subjects at the last day 
 what Paul said of the Philippians : my joy and crown. For if 
 not his joy they will be his sorrow ; if not his crown of glory, 
 his confusion and condemnation. 
 
 Stand, so as to inherit the promise of Christ's resurrection 
 Do not follow those whose end is death. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 361 
 
 If St. Paul missed a crown by his allegiance to Jesus Christ, 
 which is not absolutely impossible, he found another at 
 Philippi. 
 
 2. I request Evodia, and I entreat Syntiche, to agree 
 together in the Lord. 
 
 3. I also request thee, my brother and comrade, help 
 those women who laboured with me in the Gospel, with 
 Clement and my other coadjutors, whose names are in the 
 book of life. 
 
 2. Evodia and Syntiche were two women of position and 
 influence in the Church at Philippi, who were employed in 
 the conversion or instruction of women. Access to women 
 was not permitted without difficulty to the other sex in the 
 countries bordering on the Levant, and they were conse- 
 quently, as a rule, instructed by women in the principles of 
 the Christian faith. There was apparently some disagree- 
 ment between the two women here named. All the Greek and 
 Latin writers so understand the words. St. Paul proceeds 
 to recommend them, as well as the others who were engaged 
 in the same holy work, to the care of some man of high 
 reputation, whom he does not name, but whom he calls his 
 brother and comrade. In the Greek the word rendered by the 
 Vulgate germane, brother, is an adjective : av'Cvye ym'jcne. The 
 first of these words signifies fellow -labourer, the figure being 
 taken from a pair of bullocks drawing together under the 
 same yoke. Vvnme is true, sincere, and genuine. There is 
 much difference of opinion as to who was the person referred 
 to. Some suppose he was one of the bishops or deacons 
 saluted at the beginning of this Epistle ; others, that he was 
 the husband or brother of one of the two women whom St. 
 Paul has named. Vatablus and Grotius think it was 
 Epaphroditus, and that St. Paul had written down in the 
 Epistle what he had already in all probability communicated 
 to the Bishop of Philippi by word of mouth, in order that it 
 
362 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 might be publicly known to the Philippian Church. And 
 certainly the Bishop was the right person to be entrusted 
 with the task of affording encouragement, support, and 
 possibly maintenance to the female ministers and officers of 
 the Church of which he was in charge, and reconcile them in 
 case of any difference or disagreement. St. Chrysostom 
 remarks that the point is not of great importance, and what 
 is interesting is to observe the high value which the Apostle 
 sets upon the services of these holy women, the care he took 
 of their welfare, and the prominence he gives to their office 
 and their names. 
 
 To the same care and solicitude St. Paul recommends also 
 Clement, and the'rest of his fellow -labourers, whose names it is not 
 necessary for him to record, because they are written in 
 God's book of life. The list of God's faithful servants, pre- 
 destined to life eternal. There is possibly a reference to 
 Exod. xxxii. 32. // tJiou do it not, blot me also out of the book 
 which thou hast wvitten. And the Lord answered, / will blot 
 him out of my book, who has sinned against me. Mortal sin, there- 
 fore, or final apostasy, may occasion the erasure of a name 
 once entered in the book of life. In Ps. Ixviii. 29 we read, Let 
 them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written among 
 the just. In the book of the prophet Daniel, xii. i, in the day 
 when Michael the great prince shall rise up, all thy people 
 shall be saved who are found inscribed in the book. And Christ 
 said to the seventy disciples, Rejoice, not that demons are 
 subject to you, but because your names are xvritten in the heavens, 
 Luc. X. 20. In the Apocalypse iii. 5, Christ says to the 
 angel of the Church of Sardis : Who overcometh, / 
 will not blot his name out of the booh of life. But what 
 if he is overcome ? In the same mysterious prophecy we 
 read, xiii. 8, that all who dwell on earth will worship the 
 wild beast, whose names are not inscribed in the book of life of 
 the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. And in 
 XX. 12 : I saw the dead, small and great, standing before 
 God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 363 
 
 which is that of life. And the dead were judged by their 
 works, according to what was written in the books. Lastly, 
 in the vision of the lioly Cathohc Church, shown in figure to 
 St. John as the City of God, we are told, xxi. 27. There 
 shall never enter there anything that defiles, and causes 
 abomination and a lie, but only those who are written in the 
 book of life of the Lamb. In this book of life were inscribed the 
 names of the fellow-labourers of St. Paul, unknown to us. 
 The Clement here mentioned was in all probability a different 
 person from the celebrated Pontiff, St. Clement I., Bishop of 
 Rome. 
 
 It would be unnecessary to refer, were it not that it has 
 attracted the attention of St. Chrysostom, to an extraordinary 
 interpretation which some writers have placed upon the 
 opening words of verse 3, as if the faithful colleague referred to 
 meant "the Apostle's wife. To begin with, it is certain from 
 what St. Paul says in i. Cor. vil. 7, as well as from the un- 
 broken current of tradition, that he never was married. 
 Besides, the terms used in this verse are in the masculine, 
 not only in the Greek text and the Vulgate, but in all the 
 versions, and are so understood by all the Fathers, Greek 
 and Latin, as well as by Calvin and Beza. The Syriac has : 
 my true associate. The Ethiopic, my brother and comrade. The 
 Arabic adopts the Greek word as a proper name, and reads, 
 in the masculine, fair, or noble, Syzyga. This view is also 
 taken by some other writers, who consider Syzygus a proper 
 name. noble Syzygus. St. Chrysostom refers to the other 
 interpretation as meaning the Apostle's wife, only to reject 
 it as false, and Theodoret stigmatizes it as absurd. Never- 
 theless some modern writers, and among them Faber 
 Stapulensis, Erasmus, Cajetan, and Catharinus have adopted 
 it. Their arguments are criticized and refuted at consider- 
 able length by Estius. 
 
 4. Rejoice in the Lord always ; I say again, rejoice. 
 
364 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 5. Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord 
 is near. 
 
 6. In nothing be solicitous : but in all prayer and 
 entreaty, with thanksgiving, let your petitions become known 
 before God. 
 
 7. And may the peace of God, which exceeds all sense, 
 keep your hearts and your understanding, in Jesus Christ. 
 
 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Trouble and sorrow spring 
 continually from the vexations and disappointments of daily 
 life. But the Christian is nevertheless, in all reason and all 
 duty, called upon to rejoice always and continually on account 
 of the glorious hope that is set before him, his adoption to be 
 the child of God, the merit of suffering endured for Christ's 
 sake. But it is in these privileges and hopes he is to rejoice, 
 and not, like the Gentiles, in worldly prosperity, pleasure, 
 or success. Rejoice in the Lord, and especially in your com- 
 munion with him through the holy Sacraments and prayer. 
 And since, when sufferings increase and multiply, they seem 
 sometimes hard to bear, and we are instinctively tempted to 
 murmur and complain, therefore I say again, in spite of them 
 all, still rejoice. Or rather, rejoice on account of them, for 
 suffering is the seed from which glory will spring up, and 
 oiir momentary and light affliction will produce an infinite weight 
 of glory hereafter. Rejoice, partaking the sufferings of 
 Christ ; for if we suffer with him, we shall also with him be 
 glorified. Your cause of joy is greater than your cause of 
 mourning, whatever that may be, as heaven is higher than 
 earth, and eternity longer than time. 
 
 5. Yet let this rejoicing be manifested and expressed with 
 modesty, decorum, and sobriety, in the sight of all men. 
 For the Lord is near. He will soon come to render you the 
 reward you look for, to set you free from all pain and 
 suffering for ever, to vindicate your confidence in him, and to 
 judge the world which hates you. This is an additional 
 reason for rejoicing ; your Lord is coming ; he is almost 
 
TO THE' PHILIPPIANS. 365 
 
 come. But it is also a reason for sobriety, gravity, quiet and 
 patient expectation. Let your loins be girded, and your torches 
 lighted in your hands, Luc. xii. 35. 
 
 6. In nothing he solicitous. For the Lord is near, and all 
 the system of this mortal life is shortly to close and terminate. 
 In a very short time you must leave everything you possess. 
 The Saviour you look for from heaven will crown your 
 patience and your toils. There is, therefore, no room for 
 solicitude regarding temporal things. As we now know, the 
 coming of the Lord was not near in the literal sense in which 
 the Apostle seems to have expected it, for centuries have 
 rolled by, and he is not yet come. This contingency is, how- 
 ever, provided for in the words that follow. In all, at all 
 times, on all occasions, in every business, let your petitions 
 become known in the presence of God, and rise before his throne. 
 The word all should not be joined with prayer, the adjective 
 and substantive being of different genders in the Greek ; at 
 all times by prayer. And with thanksgiving, because the omni- 
 potence and the mercy of God render it certain that your 
 prayers will be heard and granted, if not precisely in the 
 terms of your petition, in some still better way. Saint Chry- 
 sostom observes that we are in reason and duty bound to 
 give thanks to God for all things, even trouble and affliction, 
 because we can be by faith firmly persuaded that all things 
 will turn to our advantage and eternal profit, though we do 
 not always understand how. Prayers, he adds, that are thus 
 accompanied with thanksgiving, God accepts and recognises, 
 and they become known before the presence of God, otherwise he 
 will not always notice them. 
 
 The Greek word for thanksgiving is eucharist, and the 
 Apostle's words will bear the meaning, in union with the 
 holy sacrifice of the Mass. 
 
 7. The peace of God, the knowledge and conviction that 
 you are at peace with God, which is a source of comfort and 
 satisfaction greater than the intelligence can understand, 
 keep your hearts and minds. The Greek text and the Syriac 
 
366 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 read shall hecp. As a garrison keeps a fortress, safe from the 
 assaults of despondency and sorrow, doubt or unbelief. In 
 Christ Jesus, by the power of Christ, and by thje assurance of 
 his divine compassion and human sympathy. 
 
 8. For the rest, brethren, whatever things are true, what- 
 ever modest, whatever just, whatever holy, whatever lovely, 
 whatever of good fame ; if there is any virtue, if any praise 
 of discipline, think on these things. 
 
 9. Those things also which you learned, and received, 
 and heard, and saw in me, these do ; and the God of peace 
 will be with you. 
 
 8. For the rest, brethren. This is the second time the 
 Apostle has begun anew with these words : In ch. iii. i, he 
 said, For the rest, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, and then he 
 proceeded to show how and why ; because by standing firm 
 in the faith of Christ and in the communion of his true 
 Church, we are assured of sharing the glory of his resurrec- 
 tion. Now, in concluding, he still finds a few more words to 
 say. He has told the Philippians what to believe, what to 
 expect, what to do, and whom to imitate ; now he tells them 
 what to think of. For the direction of the mind, and choice 
 of subjects of reflection, are to a great extent in our own 
 power. The human mmd, in waking hours, is ceaselessly 
 active, and many more thoughts pass through its wonderful 
 mechanism than can be communicated in speech to others. 
 It is a common remark that we could easily tell the character 
 and disposition of any man if we knew what he habitually 
 thinks of. What a Christian should habitually think of, St. 
 Paul tells us in these well-known words. All things that are 
 true. We know what is true about Almighty God, his power, 
 his wisdom, his goodness, and providence. And we know 
 what is true of ourselves. But about our neighbour we know- 
 not what is true, because we cannot see his heart, and our 
 judgment of him will therefore most likely not be among 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 367 
 
 the things that are true. All things that are modest, in the 
 Greek (Tt}xva, worthy of respect, honour, and veneration. All 
 things just, dwelling on the good we see, rather than the evil. 
 All things holy ; the present Greek text has ptire, ayva. The 
 translator of the Vulgate seems to have read ayia ; but that 
 which is holy is pure, and that which is pure is holy, and in 
 the result it will be very much the same. All things lovely, 
 or amiable ; all things that are good and beautiful, as all 
 God's works are, as they came from his hands, and when 
 they are not degraded by sin. All that is of good fame ; held 
 in honour and respect among men. For the human heart, in 
 all its ruin, although it has lost the power of attaining and 
 accomplishing what is truly good and noble, has never lost 
 its appreciation of it, and admiration for it ; and by this 
 faculty the pagan world turned to Jesus Christ, when they 
 knew him, and adored and acknowledged him as the ideal 
 and crown of perfection, the embodiment of the divine in 
 human nature. That which men acknowledge that they truly 
 reverence and hold in honour, will not be an unfit subject of 
 Christian meditation. // there be any virtue, if any praise of 
 discipline, the subjugation of vice, the triumph of the spiritual 
 over the lower nature, in any instances we know or hear of: 
 think of these things. The words of discipline are not in the 
 Greek, and are added by the Vulgate. But it is probable 
 also that the Apostle says all this in a practical sense. 
 Think on these things to do them, cogitate, habitually plan 
 and purpose, to act with sincerity and honesty, with chastity 
 and modesty, truth and justice, as becomes believers in Jesus 
 Christ, cultivating the manners and dispositions which give 
 you favour with God and man, which will render your name 
 and reputation an honour to the faith you profess. Imitate 
 the holy examples of the Saints, who by the discipline of the 
 Christian life have triumphed over sin. The religious life 
 undoubtedly affords the fullest and fairest opportunity for 
 cultivating such habits of thought as these ; and they are 
 happy whom God has called to lead thus on earth the life of 
 
368 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 angels. But to all Christians, even in the secular life, St. 
 Paul has given, in these words, a standard to aim at, and a 
 guide to follow. The lives of the Saints who have flourished 
 in this mortal life, and entered Paradise, since the great 
 Apostle lived on earth, and which have been so amply re- 
 corded for our devotion, afford an unfailing store of illustra- 
 tion of these beautiful words, of instances, multiplied and 
 varied by every variety of human character and disposition, 
 and of outward circumstances, of all that is lovely, and of 
 good fame, of the victory oi virtue, and the praise of discipline. 
 
 g. What you learned from my teaching when I was at 
 Philippi ; what you have read in this Epistle ; what you 
 have heard of me during my absence from you ; what you 
 saw in me while I was with you ; this do. Do what I have 
 preached and written, said and done. This, St. Chrysostom 
 observes, is the best way of teaching, name!}' by example. 
 And we have in these words the three great rules of Christian 
 belief and life ; namely, the doctrine preached or written by 
 the Apostles in their own words ; Apostolic tradition ; and 
 the lite and example of the Apostles. It is indeed not usual 
 for a Christian teacher to hold himself forth as a model of 
 perfect practice. What the Apostle means is that there were 
 others professing to be Christian teachers who taught a very 
 different doctrine and exhibited a very different example, and 
 that systematically, and that these heretical guides were to 
 be avoided and his own example followed. 
 
 10. And I rejoiced vehemently in the Lord, that at length 
 at some time or other you flourished again to feel for me, as 
 also you used to feel, but you were occupied. 
 
 11. Not that I speak as if in want : for I have learned to 
 be content in whatever condition I am. 
 
 12. I know both how to be humbled, and how to abound, 
 I have experience everywhere and in all things, both to be 
 satisfied, and to hunger, to abound, and to suffer penury. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 369 
 
 13. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. 
 
 14. Nevertheless you did well, communicating to my 
 trouble. 
 
 10. The Greek has : I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that 
 now at any rate your care and sympathy for me has sprung 
 up again ; as to which, you did care for me, but had not the 
 power or opportunity of showing it. The meaning is, your 
 care for me, shown in the mission of Epaphroditus, afforded 
 me the greatest jo)', in the Lf^rd, not so much for the evidence 
 of personal regard for me, as for the proof of your love for 
 Christ. And it is a renewal or springing up again of the old 
 feelings of regard and reverence you manifested for me when 
 I was at Philippi. This affection I have no doubt you con- 
 tinued to feel for me during the interval occupied by my 
 journey to the East and two years' imprisonment at Csesarea, 
 and I am certain that only want of means, or want of op- 
 portunity, or difficulty of communication, prevented your 
 supplying my wants at that time. Some interpreters have, 
 however, seen in the words sicut et sentiebatis an implied rebuke 
 or complaint, as if he felt he had been neglected in the 
 interval. You cared for my welfare once, when I was among 
 you years ago. I am dehghted that this feeling has flourished 
 again, as a tree which has lost it foliage in winter will renew 
 it in the spring, and I am willing to believe that it was not 
 so much forgetfulness or inattention which prevented your 
 sending to me before, as want of opportunity ; which the 
 Vulgate renders by occupati eratis. If any such rebuke is 
 intended, it is administered with extreme gentleness and 
 delicacy ; and in the next verse the Apostle goes on to pro- 
 test that it is not on his own account, but on theirs, that he 
 experienced such keen satisatisfaction in receiving the supply 
 they sent him, and the expression of their sympathy. 
 
 11. Not that I speak as if in want. I am not complaining of 
 my poverty, or rejoicing that you have relieved it. Poverty 
 and abundance have long since become matters of absolute 
 
370 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 indifference to me. I have learned, under the teaching of long 
 and arduous experience, the lesson of content, wherever I 
 may be, in prison or free, however I may be circumstanced, 
 in poverty or wealth. I have learned to be avrupKr)c, inde- 
 pendent or sufficient for myself. This idea he repeats and 
 expands in the next verse. 
 
 12. I know what it is to be humiliated, and I know what 
 it is to abound ; and I know how to bear humiliation, and 
 how to bear exaltation. I have been initiated, nEjjLvr]iiai, into 
 the whole mystery of the endurance of every change of 
 fortune. To have all that I require, and to have less than 
 will satisfy hunger, to have more than I want, and less, all 
 this I know by long experience. 
 
 13. / can do all things in him ivho strengthens me. The Greek 
 has, in Christ ivho strengthens me. Wwra Icr^vw. I have all 
 power of endurance, and am become independent of outward 
 circumstances, so constant, so invigorating, so adequate to 
 all my wants is the eternal strength with which Christ our 
 Lord, whom I receive in the daily Sacrifice, continually 
 supplies me. The life of the Apostle had become, as nearly 
 as is possible consistently with the laws of physical existence, 
 like that life in the spiritual body of Avhich he speaks in i Cor. 
 XV. 4, independent of passing circumstances and unaffected 
 by change. The reason he makes this statement probably is, 
 lest they should feel too great remorse or regret at having so 
 long neglected to provide for him, and having in a sense 
 forgotten him, when he left them, as if such neglect might 
 possibly have in some degree hindered his work, or occasioned 
 him unnecessary privation or humiliation. And he adds, 
 that the supplies with which they had now furnished him, 
 though not absolutely necessary for him, were not on that 
 account any the less acceptable, and that he had received 
 them with genuine satisfaction and gratitude. You have done 
 well, in communicating to my trouble, none the less, that I am 
 long since become independent in Christ, nor does my indepen- 
 dence and sufficiency diminish my gratitude to you. 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 37I 
 
 15. And you also know, Philippians, that in the beginning 
 of the Gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, no Church 
 communicated to me on account of gift and receipt, unless 
 you only ; 
 
 16. Because you sent money once and twice to Thessalo- 
 nica for my use. 
 
 17. Not that I seek a gift, but I seek abundant fruit on 
 your account. 
 
 18. But I have all things and abound : I am filled with 
 the gifts you sent by Epaphroditus, an odour of sweetness, 
 a victim accepted, pleasing to God. 
 
 15. You also knoiv, Philippians. In order more emphatically 
 to express the sincerity of his gratitude to the Philippians, 
 the Apostle recalls to their memory the liberal assistance 
 they had rendered to him on the occasion of his first visit to 
 their town, some seven years before. The circumstances 
 under which he left Macedonia at that time are related in the 
 seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Th& 
 beginning of the Gospel, means : the time when I first preached 
 the Gospel of Christ in your country. St. Paul had accepted 
 these gifts from the Philippians, but he protests, and calls 
 them to witness as to a fact within their knowledge, that 
 they were the only Christian congregation from whom he 
 had accepted money. Had he acted otherwise, he would 
 have been rich. From the Christians of Corinth he would 
 take nothing, as is evident to every reader of the two 
 Epistles he addressed to them, especially i Cor. iv. ix. 7. &c. 
 In 2 Cor. xi. 8, 9, he expressly says that all his supplies were 
 drawn from Philippi, and he had taken nothing from the 
 Corinthians, even while in Greece. Communicated to vie in 
 account of given and received, you only opened with me a debtor 
 and creditor account, having on one side the material 
 advantages they bestowed on me, on the other the spiritual 
 blessings they received themselves. Almsgiving, St. Chrysos- 
 tom remarks, is a negotiation or exchange, in which by means 
 
372 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 of earthly goods, heaven is bought, and the giver gets very 
 much more than the receiver, because the ahns given in this 
 life is consumed, but the price received for it is inexhaustible. 
 No better investment for money can be found anywhere, for 
 while the purchasers are still on earth, the value received is 
 eternal in the heavens. Yet those who are too poor to give 
 alms need not despair, for it is not the money which buys 
 celestial happiness, but the mind and disposition with which 
 it is given, the humanity and mercy that prompt the gift, 
 and what is required is goodwill, not wealth. With this 
 you may effect in two minutes the purchase of the kingdom 
 of the heavens. He who offers to God goodwill, offers 
 himself. He who offers himself, offers a human sacrifice, 
 and there is nothing in the material universe more valuable 
 than man. 
 
 1 6. Yoii sent more than once to Thessalonica to supply my wants. 
 A still greater instance of their care and affection, for it 
 extended to him even in his absence. 
 
 17. Not that I seek a gift. His reminder in verse 15 that 
 they were the only Christian community which supplied him 
 with money, was intended as a suggestion that their bounty 
 should not cease, and that a time might come when further 
 supplies would be acceptable. I am not seeking a gift ; but 
 I do seek abundant fruit, a large balance on your side of the 
 account, in the abundance of the eternal rew-ard you will 
 receive. 
 
 18. Btit for the present / have all things, and more than I 
 want. Your bishop Epaphroditus has faithfully and honour- 
 ably handed over to me the sums you entrusted to him, which 
 are in reahty offered, not to me, but to God, and God has 
 accepted them through me, from your hands, as the fragrant 
 smoke of incense, as a victim slain on his altar, and favour- 
 ably received by the Divine Majesty to whom the gift is 
 brought. But as it is not the smoke of the incense which 
 renders the sacrifice acceptable, but the intention and dis- 
 
TO THK PHILIPPIANS. 373 
 
 position of the sacrificer, so it is not the money, but the good- 
 will of the giver, with which God is well pleased. 
 
 ig. And may my God fufil every desire of yours, according 
 to his riches, in glory in Christ Jesus. 
 
 20. And to our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 21. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. 
 
 22. The brethren who are with me salute you. All the 
 saints salute you, but especially those who are of the house 
 of Caesar. 
 
 23. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your 
 spirit. Amen. 
 
 ig. May God fulfil every desire of yours. The Greek has 
 shall fulfil. Every desire. The Greek text has three different 
 readings, x«P"''» JOY' X"P'^' S^^^^^j ^^^ XP^*"''' ^eed or necessity. 
 Saint Chrysostom understands this last one, and supposes 
 the Apostle to refer to the temporary pressure or poverty 
 which had prevented the Philippians sending him for some 
 time their usual supply, as in verse lo, yon were occupied, or 
 prevented by want of means or opportunity. This necessity 
 God shall supply. But as the Apostle adds, according to his 
 riches, in glory, in Christ jfesus, it seems easier to understand 
 God shall fulfil all your joy, accomplish all you wish for and 
 desire, out of, and in proportion to, his infinite bounty and 
 infinite resources, in the glory of his presence, in Christ Jesus, 
 who is the glory of God, the riches of God, and the joy and 
 reward of the saints for eternity. In anticipation of which 
 the Apostle adds the prayer in verse 20, To God our Father he 
 glory for ever. 
 
 21. Salute every saint. For all Christ's people are holy. 
 The brethren who arc with me, the Christians of the Church of 
 Rome, who were to be found among all orders and degrees, 
 but those who had more particularly charged the Apostle 
 
374 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 with this message, were the officials of the emperor's court 
 and household. If such had learned to despise all earthly 
 things for the love of their heavenly King, much more could 
 the Philippians do the same. 
 
 23. The Greek text has : the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 be with you all. Amen. And adds the following subscription : 
 Written to the Philippians from Rome by Epaphroditus. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Nothing so much contributes to calmness of mind, and 
 moderation and tranquillity of manner, which is its outward 
 expression, as well as to the cultivation of all other Christian 
 graces, as reflection or the near approach of the judgment of 
 Almighty God. For this reason Jesus Christ concealed from 
 human knowledge the date of his second advent, and per- 
 mitted his Apostles to announce it as near at hand, that we 
 may live in continued expectation of it. A little zvhile, he 
 said to them and you shall not see vie, for I am about to ascend 
 to heaven, and a cloud will take me out of your sight. Again, 
 a little while, and you shall see me, for I shall return in the 
 clouds of heaven, as I went up, and you, and all mankind, 
 living and dead, will see me then. The first of these 
 intervals lasted forty days ; the other, how long will it 
 endure ? Yet, in comparison with eternity, it is a little 
 while. For compared with infinity, all that is finite is 
 nothing. All time, when it is past, seems short ; when 
 Christ comes, he will seem to have been absent but a little 
 while. The Lord is near. This world is soon about to end ; 
 how long shall I continue to fix my hopes and affections on 
 it ? The Lord is near, and I must give an account of all I 
 possess. Why should 1 desire more than is necessary, since 
 that is all he really gives me to enjoy, and all else is super- 
 fluous ? The Lord is near, the Saviour who is to bring mc my 
 reward ; why do I grow weary under trouble ? The Lord is 
 near, who will judge every one according to his work. Why 
 
TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 375 
 
 do I envy the pleasures, the distractions, the enjoyments of 
 the children of this world? The Lord is near. Moderation, 
 gentleness, quietness, are the soul's attitude of expectation, 
 awaiting the sound of the Archangel's voice, and the trumpet 
 of God, to announce the judgment, and call all former 
 generations from their graves. All the world must see, and 
 doubtless does see, that this is the attitude of expectation of 
 the Church of Christ, and has been for eighteen hundred 
 years. The Saints have let the world go. They have been 
 composed and gentle in their words, manners, actions, 
 sentiments, and patient in suffering, for they look for an 
 eternal crown. They have been moderate in their use of 
 earthly things, so far as possible they have relinquished 
 them, that they may have the less for which to render an 
 account. Yet doing all this with joy and hope, for the Lord 
 is near, and your redemption and deliverance draws nigh. 
 
 -^j£]}6 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Colossae was a town in Phrygia, not far from Laodicea 
 and Hierapolis, never visited by Saint Paul : but a Christian 
 Church had been founded there during the residence of the 
 Apostle at Ephesus a.d. 56-58, a time when the effects of his 
 preaching extended far beyond his bodily presence, and the 
 word of the Lord grew mightily and was confirmed, Act. xix. 
 20. It is recorded by Orosius, and by Eusebius in his 
 Chronicle, that the cities of Colossae, Laodicea, and 
 Hierapolis, were destroyed by an earthquake, not long after 
 the date at which this Epistle was written, but they were in 
 all probability rebuilt, as Laodicea certainly was, being 
 mentioned in the Apocalypse, iii. 14. 
 
 Although Saint Paul never personally visited Colossae, he 
 sent a bishop there, namely Epaphras, i. 7. The occasion of 
 writing this letter, sent from Rome during his first imprison- 
 ment, A.D. 62-64, ^v^s the introduction at Colossae of the 
 same false philosophy, that of the followers of Simon Magus, 
 which had proved so dangerous to the faith of the Ephesians. 
 They seem to have taught, among other errors, that certain 
 angels, and not Christ, are the authors and mediators of 
 man's salvation, and that it is through these angels, and not 
 through Christ, that we are to draw near to God the Father. 
 The Apostle combats these errors, and further exhorts the 
 Colossians to holiness of life, in language of great power and 
 beauty. This Epistle may be considered an epitome of that 
 addressed to the Ephesians, the argument and sometimes 
 
PREFACE. 377 
 
 the language being very similar. Saint Chrysostom says, in 
 the opening of his commentary upon this Epistle, that this 
 and the other letters written by Saint Paul during his im- 
 prisonment at Rome, are like the productions of some strong 
 warrior pausing for a moment in the midst of his career of 
 conflict and victory. It was written a.d. 62 and sent by 
 Tychicus and Onesimus. The former was the bearer also 
 of the Epistle of the Ephesians. The latter was a native of 
 Colossae (iv. g) and carried thither at the same time the 
 Epistle to Philemon, with which he was entrusted. Onesimus 
 was afterwards the successor of Saint Timothy in the patri- 
 archal see of Ephesus. 
 
 ->^}o|e-<- 
 
378 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER I . 
 
 Paul, Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and 
 Timotheus the brother : 
 
 2. To those who are at Colossal holy and faithful brethren 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you ; 
 
 4. Hearing of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love you 
 have for all the saints, 
 
 5. On account of the hope which is laid up for you in the 
 heavens, which you heard in the word of the truth of the 
 Gospel, 
 
 6. Which has come to you, as it is in all the world, and 
 fructifies and grows, as in you, from the day you heard and 
 knew the grace of God in truth. 
 
 7. As you learned of Epaphras, our most dear fellow- 
 servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ Jesus, 
 
 8. Who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. 
 
 Chapter L Li this chapter the Apostle confirms by his 
 authority and testimony the doctrine w'hich the Colossian 
 Christians had learned from Epaphras ; refutes certain errors 
 of the heretics by a statement of the Catholic faith on those 
 points ; and protests that he is the real and authorized 
 minister of Jesus Christ, for whose sake it is his boast and 
 glory to have suffered persecution. 
 
 Timotheus the brother. Saint Timothy was now in Rome 
 with Saint Paul, but he was well known to the Christians of 
 Asia, who highly esteemed him. The Apostle probably 
 styles himself Apostle through the will of God as a protest 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS, 379 
 
 against the false apostles of the heretics, who were appointed 
 by no one but themselves. To those, the Vulgate gives the 
 pronoun for the Greek article. The Greek text runs : To 
 the saints, and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus, who are at 
 Coloss^e. -Saints, because redeemed by Christ's death and 
 hallowed in Baptism. Faithful, Saint Chrysostom says, 
 because they believed in mysteries which heretofore were 
 not revealed even to angels, and believing, led a life worthy 
 of the God whom they confessed. Brethren, because all were 
 alike regenerate through the blood of Christ. The Apostle 
 gives thanks to God for the faith of the Colossians, of which 
 he had heard ; for their love to all the saints ; and for the hope 
 laid up for them in heaven. In that hope they had believed, 
 when they heard it proclaimed by the word of the Gospel, 
 which is the word of truth. That zvord is now resounding all 
 the world over, that is in the more important and civilised 
 portions of the world in Europe, Asia, Ahuca, and by fame 
 and report further still. The number of its converts is daily 
 and rapidly increasing. Est, fnictificat, crescit, it is everywhere 
 found, everywhere dominant, everywhere permanent, says 
 St. Chrysostom, and /wrifzj^^s in good works, like a tree still 
 spreading its branches while it bears its fruit. As it does 
 among you, that is, fructifies and grows, ever since the da}'' 
 you heard the preaching, and kneiv the grace of God in truth, 
 recognised it as God's truth, the revelation of his grace and 
 favour to a lost world. Epaphras, who conveyed the message 
 of salvation to you, learned it from me, his fellow-servant. 
 You may safely trust the doctrine he delivered to you, for he 
 is for you a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, and disregard 
 and set aside the cavils of his rivals and opponents, the 
 teachers of heresy. Epaphras has further made known or 
 manifested to us your charity in the spirit, especially your 
 earnest desire and anxiety for my welfare and deliverance. 
 
 9. Therefore we also, from the day we heard, cease not 
 
380 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 praying for you and imploring that you may be filled with 
 the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual under- 
 standing ; 
 
 10. That you walk worthily of God through all, pleasing 
 in every good work, fruit-bearing and growing in the science 
 of God ; 
 
 11. In all virtue strengthened according to the might of 
 his glory in all patience and long suffering, with joy, 
 
 12. Giving thanks to God the Father, who made us worthy 
 of a portion of the lot of the saints in light ; 
 
 13. Who delivered us from the power of darkness, and 
 translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love, 
 
 14. In whom we have the redemption through his blood, 
 the remission of sins. 
 
 Having returned thanks to God for the graces bestowed on 
 the Christians of Colossae, Saint Paul proceeds to pray for 
 them. He repeats in verse 9 what he said in verse 3, that 
 he had not ceased to pray for them since he heard of their 
 conversion to Christ. His prayer was that they might be 
 filled with the knowledge of God's will, and with all wisdom, 
 the apprehension of the great mysteries of faith, and spiritual 
 understanding, or prudence, in the application of these mysteries 
 to practice in their daily lives. Saint Chrysostom thinks 
 this is said in special reference to the efforts of the heretics 
 to mislead them by a false wisdom, which was not spiritual, 
 but mundane and human. The Vulgate has in verse 9 
 agnitione voluntatis ejus, the power of recognition of what is 
 truly the will of God, when the truth and the error are placed 
 in contrast side by side before their minds. The recognition 
 of God's will and determination to reconcile mankind to 
 himself, not by the ministry of angels, but through his own 
 only-begotten Son. So that knowing this you may ivalk 
 worthily of God m every respect. The Greek has worthily of 
 the Lord, that is of Christ, as befits his disciples, and 
 therefore pleasing to God the Father, whose pleasure is in the 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 381 
 
 Son of his love, and in those who belong to Him. Pleasing 
 God in every good work. In the Greek this is attached to the 
 words that follow : in all pleasing, and in evert/ good work 
 fructifying and growing in the knowledge of God. This is to 
 please God, and to walk worthily of him. To walk is to 
 continue and persevere. The word rendered in the Vulgate 
 by scientia in this verse is the same which is translated 
 agnitione in verse lo. There it was the knowledge of God's 
 will, for the redemption of the world through Christ, which 
 may be fully known and understood ; here the knowledge of 
 God's nature, in which we may continually fructify and grow ; 
 but never know fully. Next the Apo§tle prays that the 
 Christians of Colossal may be strengthened in all virtue (the 
 Greek has, in all strength) according to the power of his 
 glory, in all patience and long-suffering and joy. That is, 
 the very strength of God's strength, the victorious splendour 
 of God's glory, is put in action and exhibited to the world, 
 by the persecutions which his saints are exposed to, because 
 they bear them, not only with complete and unfailing 
 patience and endurance, to the utmost extent — in all 
 patience and long suffering — but actually with joy. 
 The Apostles, having been scourged, went from the 
 presence of the council rejoicing. Act. v. 41. Greater 
 courage is shown in suffering than in action. Scsevola 
 said fortia agere Romanonmi est, but fortia pati is equally 
 a mark of Christians. The Syriac version attaches the words 
 ivith joy at the end of verse 1 1 to the opening words of verse 
 12 ; with joy giving thanks to God the Father. It was part of the 
 Apostle's prayer that the Colossians should so give thanks. 
 But Saint Chrysostom and Theodoret are of opinion, with 
 greater probability, that Saint Paul uses the words giving 
 thanks to God the Father of himself, in continuation of the 
 orantes et postnlantes of verse g. He is passing on to a new 
 subject, and there is a change of person in verse 12, for 
 whereas he has before said impleamini, amhuletis, he now says 
 dignos nos fecit. He enters here upon what is in fact the 
 
382 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 principal object of the whole Epistle, namely to state and 
 maintain the evangelical doctrine of Christ as the true Saviour 
 of the world, in opposition to the errors of the heretics. He 
 begins therefore by thanking God the Father, who has made 
 us worthy of a portion of the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 You, and me, and all Christian people, previously unworthy 
 of any such promotion, as being God's enemies, he has 
 rendered, by his grace alone, worthy to be written and num- 
 bered among his Saints, and receive a portion of their eternal 
 inheritance. In light signifies either the means by which this 
 inheritance is attained, namely, the light of faith ; or else it is 
 said of the lot and inheritance of the Saints, which is in light, 
 m the clear vision of God. Or possibly both meanings may 
 be included, for the light of faith on earth, and the light of 
 glory in heaven, are both portions of the inheritance of the 
 Saints. God the Father has further delivered us from the 
 power of darkness, the tyranny of evil spirits, who are the 
 princes of darkness, from infidelity and sin, and translated us 
 into the kingdom of the Son of his love. The Son of his love 
 is a Hebraism for his beloved Son, as they said the mountain of 
 holiness for the holy mountain. This translation is effected by 
 Baptism, by which we are delivered from the power of the 
 devil, and grafted into the mystical body of Christ, his Church, 
 which is the kingdom of light ; and through the blood of 
 Christ have obtained redemption or deliverance, that is, the 
 remission of sins. 
 
 15. Who is the image of God the invisible, firstborn of all 
 creation ; 
 
 16. Because in him all things were created, in the heavens 
 and in earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones, or 
 Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers ; all were created 
 through him and in him ; 
 
 17. And he is before all, and in him all things consist. 
 
 God the Son is the image ol God the Father, who is 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 383 
 
 invisible, whom no man has seen nor can see (i Tim. vi.), in all 
 things like him, equal to him, consubstantial with him, pro- 
 ceeding from him per intellectum, his equal Word. And 
 through this consubstantial Image of the Father, painted in 
 the colours of the flesh, he becomes visible in time, who is 
 invisible in eternity. Firstborn of all creation, that is, born 
 before all creation, and therefore higher in dignity than any- 
 thing created ; elder than creation by all eternity, himself 
 its Creator in time. First born, Saint Chrysostom observes, 
 not first created. It is generation, not creation, which is 
 predicated of him. Because, this marks that what follows is 
 an explanation of the statement just made. Christ is the first- 
 born of creation in this sense, that in him all things were made. 
 Made by God the Father through the agency or intervention 
 of God the Word. In heaven or in earth, visible or invisible, 
 and including therefore the angels (this is stated in opposition 
 to the doctrine of Simon Magus) however lofty their dignity, 
 however great their powers and faculties. All created things 
 were made through Christ, and, in the Greek, to or for him. 
 God the Father did not create the universe by himself, or for 
 himself, but it was made through the agency of the Son, and 
 for the pleasure of the Son. He is before all creatures in time, 
 and in him they consist and are kept in being. 
 
 18. And he is the head of the body, the Church, who is the 
 principle, the first-begotten from the dead ; that he may in all 
 things hold primacy. 
 
 ig. Because in him it pleased God that all fullness should 
 dwell. Christ is the head of the Church, and the head is the 
 seat and source of life, will, and sensation. And he is the 
 Principle, Principium. Saint John applies this term to God 
 the Father : In Princlpio, in the Principle, in the great First 
 Cause, in the bosom of the Father from eternity, was the Word. 
 But Moses seems to apply it to the Son, as the Principle or 
 beginning of the Creation : In Principio, in the Principle, in 
 
384 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 the Divine Word, God the Father created the heavens and 
 the earth. But some Greek writers instead of apx»/ read 
 uirapxu, which means literally the beginning of a sacrifice, and 
 was usually a lock of haircut from the head of the victim and 
 thrown into the fire. Generally it came to mean the first- 
 fruits, the representative or more valuable part of anything. 
 Saint Chrysostom says : He calls him the first-fruits, imply- 
 ing that he has hallowed us all by the oblation of his sacrifice. 
 The first-fruits of the human race, offered for the rest in 
 sacrifice to God ; and also the Prince of the resurrection, 
 the first-born from the dead. Thus in all things he holds primacy 
 and pre-eminence, as the only-begotten son of the Father, as 
 the author and beginner of the creation, as the Victim for 
 mankind, as the Head of the Church, as the leader of the 
 resurrection. For it pleased the Father, of his own love and 
 generosity, of free grace, not the merit of Christ, that in 
 Christ all fullness should dwell, the perfection of wisdom, 
 grace, and power. Men receive these gifts in part, Christ has 
 them all, and in all fullness. And in him they dwell, perpetu- 
 ally and inseparably, both by grace and in his Divine nature. 
 But the life that dwells in the head flows also into the body, 
 and having recourse to Christ we draw from the fullness of 
 the fountain of divine grace. 
 
 20. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, 
 making peace through the blood of his Cross, whether the 
 things that are on earth, or the things that are in the heavens. 
 
 The infinitive depends upon complacent in the previous verse. 
 It was the good pleasure of the Father to reconcile all things 
 to himself by the blood of Christ shed on the Cross. The 
 words in ipsum are a Hebraism, and equivalent to sibi. Sin 
 had introduced enmity between heaven and earth, but by the 
 Cross of Christ sin is done away. By the blood of Christ 
 angels and men are made at peace. 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 385 
 
 21. And you, though once you were ahenated and enemies 
 in sense in evil works : 
 
 22. But now lie has reconciled in the body of his flesh 
 through death, to present you holy and immaculate and- 
 blameless before him ; 
 
 23. If however you remain founded in the faith, and settled 
 and immoveable from the hope of the Gospel which you 
 heard, which was preached in the whole creation which is 
 under heaven ; of which I Paul was made a minister. 
 
 24. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up 
 want is wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh, for his 
 body, which is the Church, 
 
 25. Of which I was made a minister according to the 
 dispensation of God which was given me to you, to fulfil the 
 word of God. 
 
 26. Saint Paul here applies to the Colossians in particular 
 what he has just said of the world in general. God has 
 reconciled all things to himself ; he has therefore reconciled 
 you, although once, and not very long since, you were 
 alienated from him, and in mind and disposition, as the Syriac 
 says by hostile feeling, had become his enemies, acting as 
 such by wicked works, by which he is offended. All mortal 
 sins are overt acts of hostility against God, and cause him to 
 regard those who do them as his enemies ; although of this 
 fact sinners are sometimes wholly unconscious, as the 
 Colossians probably were before their conversion to the 
 Christian faith. Now, however, Jesus Christ has reconciled 
 you to his Father by his death, and presented you before 
 him holy, immaculate, free from all blame, by the complete 
 remission of your sins in Baptism. The statement that 
 Christ suffered death in corpore carnis ejus is probably insisted 
 on, because it was one of the errors of the heretics that the 
 body of Christ was visionary and not real, and his death only 
 apparent. Holding as they did the pseudo-philosophical 
 doctrine of the inherent and original impurity of matter, they 
 pretended that contact of the Deity with the material world 
 
386 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 was impossible, and they tlierefore denied the reaHty of the 
 Incarnation of the Word, of his body, and of his death and 
 resurrection. And immaculate and blameless you will still 
 remain, in God's sight, as long as you adhere to the Catholic 
 faith, and hold to the hope of eternal life which the Gospel 
 sets before you, namely at the resurrection of the dead, 
 another dogma of the faith whicli the heretics derided and 
 denied. This faith and hope, delivered to you b}^ Epaphras, 
 is no invention of his, or of mine, but is the same Gospel 
 which for years past has been proclaimed by all the apostles 
 to all nations under heaven, west and east, to the furthest 
 limits of the Roman empire and beyond them, and which I 
 Paul have myself proclaimed all over the West of Asia, and 
 in great part of Europe. I am proclaiming it now in the 
 centre and capital of the empire, where I suffer imprisonment 
 on your behalf, on a cliarge, the recognition of the Son of 
 Mary as our Lord and King, of which you are equally guilty 
 with myself, and I bear this and all my other sufferings, not only 
 patiently, but actually with joy, because I have a share in 
 the sufferings of Christ, who, though his own were sufficient 
 for the redemption of the world, and many worlds, did they 
 exist, has nevertheless left a legacy of suffering to be filled up 
 and completed by those who proclaim his empire, and those 
 who embrace it, to the end of time, that they may be 
 partakers with him of his eternal reward. As Christ suffered 
 in the body of his mortal flesh when he dwelt on earth, so 
 now he suffers in his mystical body, the Church, and 
 prolongs his passion until his coming again. And I, and all 
 who believe in him, suffer, as he suffered, in the flesh, while in 
 heart and soul / rejoice. And my choice and appointment to 
 the office I hold was not made in any ordinary way, nor was 
 I chosen like the other Apostles, my colleagues, but according 
 to the dispensation of God towards you, the Gentile nations, for 
 the fulfilment of God's great promise and purpose, the call 
 of the Gentile nations to salvation through faith in Jesus 
 Christ. It would seem that the Colossians, dwelling as they 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 387 
 
 did in a somewhat remote portion of Phrygia, had been 
 puzzled and bewildered by the confident assertions of the 
 heretical teachers who had found their way among them, and 
 who assured them that the teaching of Epaphras was an 
 invention of his own, or an inaccurate representation of that of 
 St. Paul, that neither Paul nor Epaphras could be trusted as 
 correctly conveying to them these important truths, and that 
 the real doctrine of Christ was only to be found in the heretic 
 philosophy. The assurance thus solemnly given them by 
 Saint Paul, and sent from his prison in Rome, could not but 
 be highly satisfactory, and calculated to ensure their full con- 
 fidence in their pastor and prelate. It is also not improbable 
 that they had been told that Saint Paul's imprisonment was 
 a proof that he was an impostor and a criminal, on which 
 account he assures them that he is only filling up what 
 remained of the passion of Christ, and that while he suffered 
 in the flesh he rejoiced in hope. 
 
 26. The mystery which has been hidden from the ages and 
 the generations, but is now manifested to his saints, 
 
 27. To whom God willed to make known the riches of the 
 glory of this sacrament among the Gentiles, which is Christ 
 in you, the hope of glory. 
 
 28. Whom we announce, reproving every man, and teach- 
 ing every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every 
 man perfect in Christ Jesus. 
 
 29. In which also I labour, striving according to his 
 operation which he operates in me in power. 
 
 The call of the Gentiles to the faith was a mystery hidden 
 from former ages and generation, now revealed to believers 
 in Christ. Saint Paul states and explains this in similar 
 language, but at greater length, in the third chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians. He does not here state formally 
 what is the word of God and the mystery to which he refers, 
 because he was aware that the Colossians could have ng 
 
388 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 doubt of his meaning. .To the saints, and first and especially 
 to the Apostles, God has been pleased to reveal the immense 
 fullness and glory of the blessing which tlie faith of Jesus 
 Christ confers upon the Gentile nations. In Eph. iii. 6 he' 
 describes it thus : that the nations should be co-heirs and 
 partners of the promise of God in Christ Jesus — everlasting 
 salvation and the joy of heaven — through the Gospel. Here 
 he says that this mystery is nothing less than Christ in you, 
 the real and actual presence of Christ in you and among 
 you in this life, and the hope of glory, the certain expectation 
 of everlasting glory in heaven, for the faithful believer. The 
 same Greek word is rendered mysterium in verse 26 and 
 sacramentnm in verse 27, in the Vulgate. This great 
 privilege and glorious hope we, the Apostles, are engaged in 
 proclaiming to the nations, reproving and teaching every man. 
 The word vovQetovvteq signifies warning and admonishing, of 
 the necessity of faith in Christ, of the coming judgment of 
 God upon those who reject him and despise his promises. 
 Every man, without distinction. The command of Christ was, 
 Go and evangelise all the nations. The Apostle, when he 
 wrote this, was looking forward to the opportunity of deliver- 
 ing his message to the master of the Roman world. Perhaps 
 there is also a reference to Simon Magus and the heretic 
 teachers, who set themselves up above the Apostles, pretend- 
 ing to the possession of a higher wisdom. Simon himself 
 had once been solemnly warned and reproved by Saint Peter 
 at Samaria, Act. viii. 20-23. For the Gospel we teach is the 
 true and perfect zvisdom, not like the profane speculations of 
 the heretics, a tissue of human invention or suggestions 
 of Satan. To present to God every man, not only a few 
 selected and chosen out of mankind, but if possible the entire 
 human race, perfect in Christ. For the will and counsel of 
 God is that the nations, all nations and populations of the 
 globe, shall be co-heirs and co-partners of the promise of God 
 in Christ, in all the richness of the glory of this sacrament. Not 
 that every individual can attain complete spiritual perfection 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 389 
 
 in this life, for this varies in degree, and in its highest degree 
 is reached by few ; but in another sense, in which Saint 
 Paul here uses the expression, man is said to be perfect it he 
 lives and dies in communion with God through the sacra- 
 ments, and has obtained remission of sins, and will ultimately 
 attain to everlasting life, and in this sense there is nothing 
 to prevent the whole race being presented perfect in Christ 
 Jesus. And in this great task I also, as one of the Apostolic 
 College, have my part and share, labouring more abundantly 
 than all, and you may fully trust me, and those whom I 
 commission and accredit, as authorised exponents of the word 
 of God, the mystery of salvation, now made known and pub- 
 lished to the world. More especially so, because the 
 operation of God is plainly visible in the miracles which he 
 permits to be wrought by my hands, which are great, 
 numerous, and striking, an indisputable proof that the God 
 who sent me works with me in power. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Jesus Christ was willing and eager to be in his own Person 
 the only sufferer for the sins of men ; to bear, alone and 
 unaided, all the immense aggregate of ills, troubles, sorrows, 
 torments, which have been the lot of all the human race 
 from the fall in Eden to the end of the world. But this was 
 not the will of God, who by the m3^sterious law of creation 
 had ordained that suffering shall be the road that leads to 
 eternal glory. What therefore Christ suffered in will, in 
 mind, in disposition, in desire, this his people are left to suffer 
 in the body, and thus complement the passion of Christ. 
 This is the real reason why men suffer and die. Thus, Saint 
 Leo says, the passion of Christ is perpetuated to the end of 
 the world. Christ, says Primasius, began the passion ; the 
 Church continues it. But though the people of Christ suffer 
 in the flesh, as Saint Paul says he did, that which Christ 
 suffered in heart and will, they do not suffer in soul, for, on 
 
390 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 the contrary, they rejoice in their sufferings. They rejoice, 
 because they have part in the passion of Christ, as his 
 Mother suffered with him through sympathy, as Simon of 
 Cyrene carried his cross to Calvary. Impleo nliqiiias afflic- 
 tionum Christi, is the Latin rendering of the Apostle's words 
 as given in the Ethiopic version of his Epistles. More 
 especially are they true of the preachers of the Gospel, from 
 the days of the Apostles to our own, and will be to the end 
 of the world. For as by God's eternal decree it was 
 appointed that Christ should suffer and die for the Church, 
 so by the same decree was it appointed that the Apostles, 
 and apostolic men who have since carried on their work of 
 evangelization, as his legates and ministers, should for the 
 Church suffer, and many die. / ivill show him how much he 
 must suffer, how much I have left for him to suffer, for the 
 Church, my body. Act. ix. i6. The full signification of this 
 law of God's kingdom, and the relation between the suffering 
 and the reward, we cannot in this life fully understand. The 
 one grows out of the other as the tree grows out of the earth 
 in which its root is fixed ; but we can believe the statement 
 of the Apostle that all the sorrows and troubles of life are 
 unworthy of mention, absolutely nothing, things to laugh at, 
 compared with the splendour of the glory which shall be 
 poured upon his Saints, in the day when He returns to 
 reward them for all they have done and suffered for his sake. 
 
To THE COLOSSIANS. 3gl 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. But I wish you to know what anxiety I have for you, 
 and for those who are at Laodicea, and whoever have not 
 seen my face in the flesh ; 
 
 2. That their hearts may be consoled, instructed in 
 charity, and to all riches of the plentitude of understanding, 
 to recognition of the mystery of God, both of the Father and 
 of Christ Jesus ; 
 
 3. In whom all the treasures of wisdom and science are 
 hidden. 
 
 Chapter II. In this chapter the Apostle cautions the 
 Christians of Colossas not to listen to teachers of heresy, 
 particularly with regard to circumcision, the worship of 
 certain angels, and other superstitious observances. 
 
 Saint Paul was not personally acquainted with the 
 Christians of Colossae and Laodicea, and was the more 
 anxious on that account, for they were for that reason more 
 exposed to the sinister influence of the heretical teachers, 
 who unsettled their faith, told them they were not in the 
 right way of salvation, and divided them into parties. He 
 wishes their minds to be set at rest, and that they might live 
 in quiet enjoyment of the heavenly hopes they had embraced, 
 and in good understanding with one another. Consoled in 
 heart, instructed in charity. The Syriac version reads : That 
 their hearts may take comfort, and they with charity draw 
 near to all the riches of persuasion, and intelligent recognition 
 of the hidden God, both the Father and Christ. That is, 
 that there may be no lingering doubt m your minds, but with 
 perfect confidence, complete surrender of affection, and 
 certitude of belief, you embrace the knowledge of the God 
 
392 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 now for the first time revealed to you, whom Christ has 
 made known to man, his Father and ours. For the treasures 
 of wisdom and knowledge, of which the followers of Simon 
 profess to hold the key, as of a recondite mystery known only 
 to themselves and those to whom they choose to reveal it — on 
 which account they were called gnostici, or pretenders to true 
 knowledge — these treasures of truth are in reality hidden in 
 Christ. Hidden and revealed. Revealed to all who seek 
 him in faith, hidden from all the world beside. Wisdom, 
 science, truth, are all hidden in Jesus Christ. Without him, 
 all is vanity, error, and illusion. For the great central 
 truth of all truths, on which all knowledge and all existence 
 depends, is the relation which subsists from all eternity be- 
 tween the Father and the Son ; the mystery of God, the eternal 
 love that reigns between the Father and Christ Jesus ; and how 
 this led to his Incarnation. Unless you set out with this 
 knowledge, you can know nothing truly. 
 
 4. But I say this, that no one deceive you in sublimity of 
 language. 
 
 5. For although in the body I am absent from you, yet in 
 spirit I am with you, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the 
 steadfastness of your faith which is in Christ. 
 
 6. For as you received Jesus Christ the Lord, in him 
 walk, 
 
 7. Rooted and built up in him, and strengthened in faith, 
 as also you have learned, abounding in him in thanksgiving. 
 
 8. See that none deceive 5'ou through philosophy and 
 empty fallacy ; according to the tradition of men, according 
 to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. 
 
 g. Because in him dwells all the plenitude of deity in the 
 body. 
 
 10. And you are fulfilled in him, who is the head of all 
 principality and power. 
 
 / say this, namely, that all wisdom and science dwells in 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 393 
 
 Christ, because I know how greatly your faith is endangered 
 by the teachers of error, who are endeavouring to deceive 
 you with the pompous and imposing terms of their philosophy. 
 The Greek has, with plausible or persuasive words. It is 
 true that I am separated from you by long distance, but I am 
 present by full cognizance, perhaps supernatural cognizance, 
 of all the malice of these wicked men, and the arguments 
 they employ, and could expose them if I chose. This, St. 
 Chrysostom thinks, was what the Apostle was about to say, 
 but considering the hint sufficient, he concludes the sentence 
 with an encomium of the Colossians. The enemy has not 
 routed your ranks as yet. I rejoice to see you, being in spirit 
 present among you, drawn up in unbroken phalanx against 
 the enemy, and your faith still firm and unshaken. The 
 creed you were taught by Epaphras, that Jesus Christ is 
 your Creator, Redeemer, Meditator, in this walk, or persevere. 
 Christ is the way ; walk in this way, which leads to life. 
 Christ is the root ; adhere to him, and from him draw the life 
 of your souls. Christ is the foundation ; on this foundation 
 build your faith and hope. What the tree is without root, 
 the house without foundation, man is without Christ. Cling 
 to the faith as you have been taught it, and abound in it (the 
 Greek has it J, that is, make progress in Christian grace, and 
 rejoice with thanksgiving for the privilege you have received, 
 the hope to which you look forward. Then the Apostle re- 
 peats the caution already given in verse 4. See that none 
 deceive you. The Greek has plunder you, the Syriac and 
 Arabic, rob and spoil you ; Saint Chrysostom, rob you and 
 steal your faith away. Through philosophy and empty fallacy, or 
 deceit. The system taught by Simon appears to have con- 
 tained many expressions borrowed or translated from the 
 language of the magian philosophers of the east, which Saint 
 Paul calls suhlimitate sevmonunt in verse 4, and legends and 
 fables about angels and aeons, the object of which was to 
 substitute the adoration of these imaginary powers for the 
 worship of Christ. All this was human tradition. The 
 
394 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 traditions of paganism, however distorted, were at least 
 derived originally from primaeval truth, known to man by 
 revelation from God in the earliest ages of the world, but the 
 magian philosophy was from its beginning human invention 
 and nothing else, and founded in mere imposture. Such as 
 it was, however, it had widely influenced the philosophies of 
 western lands, and formed in Saint Paul's days the elements of 
 the instruction of the learned world. It was this system, re- 
 produced by Simon under some new phrases, intended to pass 
 it off as the religion of Christ, which Saint Paul speaks of 
 I Tim. vi. 20, as that which they falsely call their gnosis, or 
 knowledge. It is not according to Christ, is radically opposed 
 to all his teaching. For in Christ all the pleroma of Deity 
 corporeally divells. This word pleroma is a well-known term of 
 the magian philosophy, and signifies the aggregate of all the 
 great spiritual intelligences which govern the world, and of 
 which they admitted Christ to be one. As in their system, 
 the Supreme Being was non-existent, the pleroma, was the 
 supreme object of their cultus and adoration. This is not 
 the doctrine of Christ ; for in Christ the whole pleroma, or 
 fulness of Deity, dwells and is from eternity inherent cor- 
 poreally. The word corporeally is not here opposed to 
 spiritually, but to figuratively. Not in figure, as of old in the 
 propitiatory, but truly, really, and substantially. Not by 
 operation, but in substance. Not by grace only, as in holy 
 angels and men, but by hypostatic union. Not in his soul 
 only, but in his body also. The divine Person of the Word 
 is united with the human nature by a double bond, one 
 spiritual, which unites his human soul with the Word ; the 
 other corporeal, which to the same Divine Word unites his 
 body. Therefore in Christ dwells, or eternally inheres, all 
 wisdom, science, truth, because he is God. And with this 
 wisdom, you, in your degree, as members depending on the 
 Head, are also filled. He is not an angel or an aeon, but the 
 Head of all the principalities and powers that reign in 
 heaven. And since in Him dwells and remains all the 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 395 
 
 plenitude of Deity, and the plenitude of wisdom, it is to Him 
 that you should have recourse, not to angels, otherwise you 
 will be forsaking the Lord and King for the ministers and 
 servants. 
 
 11. In whom also you were circumcised with circumcision 
 not done by hand, in the despoiling of the body of the flesh ; 
 but in the circumcision of Christ : 
 
 12. Buried together with him in Baptism, in which you 
 also rose again through faith of the operation of God who 
 raised him from the dead. 
 
 13. And you, when you were dead in sins and the uncir- 
 cumcision of your flesh, he has with him quickened to life, 
 forgiving you all sins. 
 
 14. Blotting out what was against us, the writing of the 
 decree ; which was contrary to us, and took it from the 
 midst, affixing it to the cross. 
 
 15. And stripping the principalities and the powers paraded 
 them boldly, leading them openly in triumph in himself. 
 
 The heretics, while rejecting the law of Moses, and the 
 God who was its Author, affected to adhere to some of its 
 ceremonies, and among them the rite of circumcision, chiefly 
 out of opposition to the teaching of the Apostles, and were 
 endeavouring to unsettle the minds of the Colossian Chris- 
 tians on this point, as well as on some others referred to below. 
 In his reply. Saint Paul tells the Colossians that they have 
 no need of external circumcision. You have already been 
 circumcised, not by the rite done by human hands, the 
 excision of a portion of the flesh of the material body, but 
 with the circumcision of Christ, or which was instituted by 
 Christ. And he goes on to explain in the next verse what 
 this is. With Christ you have been buried in Baptism, the 
 immersion in the water figuring the burial of Christ ; with 
 him you are risen again, which was signified by the emersion 
 from it. And this through faith, the principal condition 
 
396 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 required ; indeed tlie only condition absolutely and imperatively 
 required for Baptism, being the profession of the faith of the 
 Catholic Church. This profession had to be publicly made 
 before the assembled congregation, and the symbol, or credo, 
 differing slightly in its form in different countries, was 
 expressly drawn up for this use and purpose. But the faith 
 of the Church is substantially and by inference summed up 
 and implied in one article of belief, faith in the operation of God 
 in Christ's resurrection from the dead. For if this is true, it puts 
 the seal upon all Christ's teaching when on earth, and all the 
 teaching of the Apostles and the successors of their ministry, 
 since his ascension into heaven. The reality of this resur- 
 rection is what the heretics deny ; you are Christians because 
 you believe it true. Pagans as you were, dead in sins, in- 
 volved in the guilt of actual mortal sin, and helplessly 
 enthralled to the concupiscences of the flesh, it is neverthe- 
 less perfectly true, and you are required to believe this, and 
 entitled to rejoice in the certainty of the belief, that God has 
 by your Baptism given you a new and real spiritual life, as 
 real and true as the life to which Christ rose from the grave 
 and lives for evermore, and all the sins of your former lives 
 are in the waters of Baptism as completely and absolutely 
 washed away as if they had never been, and you can be quite 
 secure that they will not be brought up against you at the 
 last great day. Saint Paul insists on this forgiveness of 
 sins, because it is the central argument of this Epistle, which 
 was mainly written to reassure the Colossian Christians, who 
 had been rendered, or were in danger of being rendered, 
 anxious and uneasy regarding it, by the cavils of the crafty 
 opponents of the faith. You require no circumcision, and 
 no initiation into any hidden system of philosophy. God 
 has in truth raised you to life, donans vobis omnia delicta. All 
 sin, actual and original. In the day thou eatcst, thou shalt die 
 death, was the terrible decree that sounded in the ears of our 
 first father in Paradise, Gen. ii. 17. And to this decree we, 
 each one of the human race, every child of Adam born into the 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 397 
 
 world, have severally set our own sign-manual, the handwriting 
 on the decree, by the actual sin which we have severally added 
 to the guilt of the original transgression. But this damning 
 bond, this recognition under our own hands of the awful debt 
 we had incurred, and must have paid, Christ has cancelled, 
 torn up, blotted out, taken out of the midst, conveyed out of 
 court. It WcLS against us, contrary to us, must have condemned 
 us ; he has taken it away by his death, and affixed it to the 
 cross. Temporal death still remains, but is changed into a 
 blessing, for it is the gate of salvation ; death eternal we 
 have not to fear, for Christ has taken away the sentence, 
 with our acceptance plainly written on it, and nailed it to his 
 cross. Grotius says it was the custom to nail antiquated 
 edicts to a cross, as a public notification that they were no 
 longer in force ; but undoubtedly the reference of the Apostle 
 is to the cross on which Christ suffered, and by his death 
 took away the sin of the world. And after the victory came 
 the triumph. He carried with him into heaven, and will 
 finally and fully do so at the last day, the spoils of the 
 principalities and powers of darkness, (those very angels 
 whom the heretics direct you to adore,) the souls of men 
 redeemed from hell, their bodies raised from the grave. And 
 in this continued procession of triumph, to the end of the 
 world, the evil spirits, the tempters of mankind, are led 
 captive, chained to the chariot wheel of their exulting 
 conqueror, exhibited to God, to angels, and to men, openly 
 baffled and defeated. Pagan worship and pagan vice gave 
 way to the love and adoration of Christ. Triumphing over 
 them in himself, for by his own power and merit alone the 
 victory was won. There is another and more ordinary 
 interpretation of this passage, which supposes the Apostle to 
 refer to the law of Moses as the handwriting of the decree, 
 which Christ removed and nailed to the cross. But the 
 Colossian Christians, to whom this was addressed, were con- 
 verts from Paganism, and never subject to the Mosaic 
 ceremonial law, nor is there, in any other part of th(2 Epistle, 
 
398 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 anything directly controverting the obhgation of obedience 
 to it. And in this sense it is difficult to assign an intelligible 
 meaning to the words chirographum dec/eti, or as the Greek 
 signifies, decretis. The explanation given above is in sub- 
 stance that of Saint Chrysostom, who says that the Apostle 
 nowhere else uses language so sublime. 
 
 16. Let no one, therefore, judge you in meat or drink, or 
 in part of a festival day, or new moon, or sabbath. 
 
 17. Which are a shadow of things to come ; but the body 
 of Christ. 
 
 18. Let no one lead you astray willingly in humility and 
 religion of the angels, which he has not seen, walking vainly 
 inflated by the sense of his flesh. 
 
 19. And not holding the head from which the whole body, 
 by joints and bands supplied with nourishment and com- 
 pacted, grows into the increase of God. 
 
 20. If therefore you died with Christ from the elements of 
 this world, why do you still judge as if living in the world ? 
 
 21. Touch not, nor taste, nor handle ; 
 
 22. Which are all to perish in the use : after the precepts 
 and doctrines of men ? 
 
 23. Which have indeed reason of wisdom in superstition 
 and humility, and not to the sparing of the body ; not in any 
 honour to the filling of the flesh. 
 
 These are some of the arbitrary commands and precepts 
 of the heretical teachers, on which they insisted as important 
 articles of the Christian religion. Those enumerated in verse 
 16 are apparently derived from the Mosaic ritual, because 
 Saint Paul says they are a shadow of things to come, and 
 the reality is Christ. Those named in verses 20, 21, are 
 probably of Pythagorean or Magian origin, derived exclu- 
 sively from precepts and doctrines of men. Among the former 
 were the distinction between clean and unclean animals used 
 for food ; in drink, perhaps the prohibition of the use of wine, 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 399 
 
 the selection of festivals for observation, some of those of 
 the old law being arbitrarily rejected, and others retained, as 
 were the new moons and sabbaths, according to St. Chrysos- 
 tum. The Syriac has the partition or apportionment of 
 festival days. These observances were only a shadow, 
 indicating the coming reality, which was the religion of 
 Christ. The Apostle cannot be, as some modern heretics 
 pretend, speaking here of the Christian festivals, for though 
 these are in a sense a shadow of a reality to come, they should 
 for that very reason be observed until it comes. Verse i8 
 refers to the superstitious worship of angels. The heretics 
 asserted that it would have been unworthy of the dignity of 
 the only-begotten Son of God to be sent to us, and be our 
 guide to the Father, and that as in the law, so also in the 
 Gospel, God has effected all by the ministry of angels. By 
 this feigned humility they sought to introduce a false and 
 superstitious adoration of angels, as the mediators to whom 
 we are to have recourse, instead of Christ. St. Chrysostom 
 Theophylact, Gagne. Let no one lead you astray. The Greek 
 word (ipajitvQ meant a judge or umpire who assigned the 
 prizes at the games, and Karal^pajoviru) means to judge a prize 
 to any competitor unjustly. Let no one cheat or cozen you 
 out of the prize you have fairly earned by believing in Jesus 
 Christ, namely, the certainty that the only-begotten Son 
 of God is himself your Saviour and Mediator with the 
 Father. The words volens in humilitate are obscure 
 from the extreme brevity of expression ; the meaning 
 probably is, wishing to appear humble and devout 
 to the angels. Quce non vidit, the Greek has, walking 
 where he has not seen, intruding into mysteries which 
 God has not revealed, proud and complacent in the 
 assumed possession of a wisdom which is wholly carnal, of 
 human invention, or the creation of his own foolish brain, 
 not revealed by God. And not holding the head. It is evident 
 that the heretics must have denied that Christ is the Head 
 of the Church, for which reason Saint Paul insists so fre- 
 
400 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 quently on this statement, in this Epistle, and in that to the 
 Ephesians, Eph. iv. 15, Col. i. 18, ii. 10. They called him an 
 eon, or intelligence of great power, but not supreme, and 
 later teachers of the same philosophy, if not Simon, held 
 that Saint John Baptist was the greater of the two, an error 
 which the Gospel of Saint John was mainly written to 
 correct, together with other false doctrines of the followers of 
 Cerinthus. Saint Paul goes on to affirm that the whole 
 society of the servants of God, in heaven and earth, is depen- 
 dent on Jesus Christ, as the body on the head. The nexus 
 and conjttnctiones which unite this body together are the 
 pastors and sacraments of the Church, by aid of which the 
 body is supplied with spiritual nourishment, and constructed or 
 built up, so as to grow, as the human body grows from child- 
 hood to maturity, into the increase of God, the extension 
 among the nations which God intended for it, and the glory 
 of the Saints who reflect God's image and likeness variously, 
 and in each individual case partially, to the sight of men. 
 If, therefore, he goes on, yon died with Christ to the elements of 
 the world, that is the current and popular philosophy of the 
 day, which directed the thoughts and sentiments of the 
 educated portion of mankind. The same expression is used 
 in verse 8. This philosophy was not strictly speaking Pagan, 
 for the Pagan traditions of Europe were represented by its 
 religion, but was imported from the east, from the days of 
 Pythagoras onward, and was an adaptation of the Oriental 
 or Magian system to the ideas of the western nations, as far 
 as this was practicable. It was in its root and foundation 
 absolutely opposed to the Hebrew traditions, which the 
 Church accepted and embodied, and therefore the Apostle 
 says that Christ died to it, and you, who were educated under 
 its influence, died to it %vith him, when you were baptised. 
 Why then do you judge — in the Greek, why do you dogmatise, 
 or allow yourselves to be dogmatised to, as if still under the 
 teaching of a worldly philosophy ? Touch not, taste not, 
 certain kinds of food proscribed by the Pythagoreans or their 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 401 
 
 successors. Nor handle women, whom the followers of 
 Pythagoras made it a rule not to touch. These outward 
 things, as the Syriac version reads, are of perishable use, which 
 may be compared with the saying of Christ, that man is not 
 defiled by what enters his body, but by the evil which comes 
 forth from his heart. These philosophical precepts and 
 prohibitions are of purely human authority, only commandments 
 of men, and have no divine sanction or authority. They are 
 put forward, indeed, on alleged reasons of pliilosophy, and 
 on some superstitious pretext or other, and are practised in 
 an affected humility and voluntary mortification of the body ; 
 but having no authority from Christ they are not to be 
 observed or held in honour by his faithful followers. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 Jesus Christ is our Way, our Root, our Foundation, and 
 our Head, v. 6, 7, 10. Our Way, along which we are not to 
 take a few tentative steps only, but to walk throughout all 
 the course of this mortal life until its end. In ipso amhdate. 
 By continuance in the communion of his holy Catholic 
 Church, until our lives' end ; by firm adherence to his faith 
 and doctrine ; by the habitual contemplation of his holy life ; 
 by the endeavour, in our degree, to imitate and reflect it ; by 
 frequenting the holy sacraments which unite us to him ; and 
 by union with him in prayer. For the way of the just 
 marches onward like the splendour of the morning, and 
 increases to the glory of the perfect day (Prov. iv. 18). The 
 Root of the tree is unseen by human eyes, but its potent 
 vitality and its specific nature are both plainly visible in the 
 spreading boughs, the countless foliage, the lovely bloom, the 
 precious fruit. Christ is not seen by mortal eyes, but his 
 Church has extended her arms over the world, God is every- 
 where worshipped in the beauty of the ritual of heaven, lives 
 of Saints adorn her chronicle, fruits of piety and sanctity are 
 everywhere rendered to God's praise and the happiness of 
 
402 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 man. Christian people are the temple of God, and the 
 temple of God is holy (i Cor. iii. 17), because it has Christ 
 for its foundation. It is yet rismg in all its splendour and 
 beauty, and when it is completed he will come from heaven 
 to dwell in it, as his presence descended mystically in a cloud 
 (3 Reg. viii. 10, 11) on the temple built by Solomon, with 
 such unendurable brilliancy and glory that even the priests 
 fled from before it. If such was the effect of the figure and 
 the shadow, what will be the glory of the reality ? Great 
 shall be the glory of the latter house, more than of the first, 
 saith the God of armies (Agg. ii. 10), for in it God will give 
 peace. The head of Christ on earth was crowned with 
 thorns, and his body pierced with wounds and torn with the 
 scourge. But the head which once wore the Crown of 
 Thorns is now crowned with everlasting glory in the 
 heavens. Of his kingdom there, shall be no end. The mem- 
 bers of the mystical body which from this Head draws their 
 life, are in a degree partakers still of the passion he endured 
 when in this mortal life, and are tortured and wounded by 
 pain and suffering and sorrow. But from cross and grave 
 Christ rose and ascended to the summit of glory and happi- 
 ness on high, and where the head is the members will be, 
 co-partners with him in his life of immortality. 
 
 "■^J]Uj&'^* 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 403 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Therefore if you rose together with Christ, seek the things 
 that are above, where Christ is, sitting at God's right hand. 
 
 2. Mind the things that are above, not those on earth. 
 
 3. For you died, and your Hfe is hidden with Christ 
 in God. 
 
 4. When Christ shall appear, your life, then you also shall 
 appear with him in glory. 
 
 Chapter III. In this chapter the Apostle exhorts the 
 Colossian Christians to mortify the desires of the body, and 
 put on the new life and character of the religion they have 
 embraced ; and adds special injunctions for wives and 
 husbands, children and parents, servants and masters. 
 
 In chapter ii. 12, Saint Paul said that in Baptism we died 
 with Christ, and rose again. And in verse 20 he said, if you 
 died with Christ, why, as if still living in the world, do you 
 regulate your lives by the principles of a mundane 
 philosophy ? Here he adds, since with Christ you rose to a 
 life spiritual and divine, seek not the pleasures and 
 advantages of earth, but the eternal joy of heaven, where 
 Christ sits at God's right hand. Christ as God is the equal 
 of the Father in majesty ; as man, he is second to him. And 
 the Scripture, using human language in condescension to our 
 ideas, expresses this by saying, that he sits at God's right 
 hand. The phrase is of very frequent occurrence, being used 
 by Saint Paul Rom. viii. 34, Heb. i. 3, viii. i, xii. 2, by Saint 
 Mark, xvi. 19, by Saint Peter, Act. ii. 33, i Pet. iii. 22, and 
 by Saint Stephen, Act. vii. 56. It signifies the highest place 
 of honour, grace, and glory. Mind therefore, sapife, things 
 that are above, love, hope for, meditate on, set your affections 
 on, the things above. Sursum cor da, love heaven, not earth. 
 For yon died, not you are dead. Christ died, but is not dead ; on 
 
404 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 the contrary, his life is hidden in God. But he died to earth, 
 and the Hfe he lives, the life j'ou live in him now by grace, 
 and the life you shall live with him in glory in eternity, is 
 hidden from the eyes of men. Hidden in the heart of God, 
 its birthplace and its home. The holy angels know and 
 honour it, but men despise it ; the world htoweth us not, i Joh. 
 iii. I. Yet one day it shall be revealed in the sight of all 
 men, when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, and then you 
 also shall appear with him in glory. For we know. Saint John 
 says, that when he appears, we shall he like him (i Joh. iii. 3). 
 Like him in the glory in which he sits at God's right hand ; 
 like him in mind, through an express image of God, or by 
 the word of the mind, which is like God, and exactly repre- 
 sents him ; like him in quality, holy, blessed, immortal, 
 impassible, glorious, the body of our humility being made like 
 the body of the splendour of Christ. Then we shall know 
 the nobility, grandeur, and felicity of the sons of God. 
 
 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon earth ; 
 fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and 
 avarice, which is the service of images. 
 
 6. For which the anger of God is coming upon the sons of 
 incredulity. 
 
 7. In which you also at one time walked, when you lived 
 in them. 
 
 Saint Paul here uses the word membra in a figurative sense. 
 In the Christian there are two men, one of earth, that is 
 Adam, from whom he inherits a nature subject to 
 concupiscence ; the other from heaven, Christ our Lord, 
 through whom he is regenerate, into whom he is grafted, and 
 who lives in him by grace. The members of the earthly man 
 are vices and evil desires ; Christian graces are members of 
 the heavenly. For the growth to maturity of the heavenly 
 man, the earthly man must perish ; the death of the one is the 
 life of the other. In Baptism the earthly man began to die; 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 405 
 
 by mortification his death is daily carried out. In Baptism 
 he died to sin, and sin was for the past remitted, for the future 
 renounce(3, but concupiscence, the root of sin, remained, and 
 this must be eradicated by mortification. The memhcvs of the 
 earthly man are the various sins which Saint Paul proceeds 
 to classify, simple fornication, defilement of the body, 
 degradingpassions of the soul, generally all desire of evil things, 
 and avarice, by which last term Saint Jerome understands an 
 insatiable desire of carnal pleasure. This the Apostle says 
 is idol-worship, either because the idolatry of those days 
 fostered it, or because wicked desires become like idol-deities, 
 to the service of which the soul is enthralled. On account 
 of these things, he adds, the wrath of God is coming upon 
 sons of unbelief. The same statement occurs in Eph. v. 6, 
 and it may possibly be a prediction of the earthquake by 
 which the cities of Colossae and Laodicea, and others in 
 the neighbourhood, were shortly afterwards overthrown, as 
 observed in the preface. It is evident that what the Apostle 
 here denounces is not any occasional fall from holiness on 
 the part of believers in Christ, but the shocking ethical 
 system of the heretics, which inculcated and counselled 
 systematic rebellion against the commands of the Creator of 
 the world, whom they denounced as an evil demon. In 
 these things, the Apostle says, you at one time walked, while 
 you were pagans, before your conversion to the Christian 
 faith. He says this, St. Chrysostom remarks, to put them 
 to shame, but in order to soften the severity of his words 
 immediately adds, while you lived in them, which j'ou do not 
 now, having changed your manner of life. 
 
 8. But now do you lay aside also all : anger, indignation, 
 malice, blasphemy, filthy language from your mouth. 
 
 g. Do not lie one to another, stripping yourselves of the 
 old man with his deeds. 
 
 lo. And putting on the new, him who is renewed to know- 
 ledge, according to the image of him who created him. 
 
406 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 11. Where is not Gentile and Jew, circumcision and 
 uncircumcision, Barbarian and Scythian, slave and free, but 
 all and in all Christ. 
 
 12. Put you on, therefore, as elect of God holy and 
 beloved bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, modesty, 
 patience ; 
 
 13. Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, 
 if any against any has complaint ; as the Lord forgave you, 
 so also do you. 
 
 14. But above all these things have charity, which is the 
 bond of perfection, 
 
 15. And let the peace of Christ exult in your hearts, in 
 which also you were called in one body : and be grateful. 
 
 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly in all 
 wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, 
 hymns, and spiritual songs, in grace singing in your hearts to 
 God. 
 
 17. All you do in word or work, all in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to the God and Father 
 through him. 
 
 Not only those graver sins in which you no longer live, are 
 to be laid aside, but also minor faults against God and your 
 neighbour, anger, malice, and violent and unseemly language. 
 See the note on Eph. iv. 31, and that on Eph. iv. 22, 24, as 
 to the distinction drawn by the Apostle between the old and 
 the new man. The Greek has, now that you have put off the old 
 man, and put on the new, that is, in your Christian profession. 
 For as the faults and vices of the pagan life are the result 
 and outcome of the influence of the evil spirit which dwells 
 within the heart, so the graces of the Christian life will, if 
 encouraged, grow from the presence of Christ within the 
 soul. But, as the reading of the Vulgate would imply, the 
 old tendencies, having still their root in human nature, and 
 possibly in habit, will still have to be repressed, and the 
 Christian life daily renewed and carefully cultivated. The 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 4O7 
 
 new man is renewed, according to the Syriac, through know- 
 ledge, according to the likeness of Him who made him. By 
 learning more and more of the character of God, through 
 communion with Him, the Christian grows into his likeness. 
 The Greek and the Vulgate read renewed into knowledge, 
 advances continually in the knowledge of God, and conse- 
 quently in his likeness. This likeness of God is the perfec- 
 tion of man's nature, not following any special or particular 
 type, or nationality, or class ; its model or pattern is not 
 Gentile or Jew, Greek or barbarian, civilised or savage, 
 slave or free ; but wholly Christ, and Christ in all. The 
 mention of Scythians suggests the possibility that, as it is 
 known that these people had formerly invaded Western Asia, 
 there may have been traces or traditions of a colony of them 
 in Phrygia. Your real nationality, whatever it was originally, 
 and your real state and condition, whatever it may be by the 
 provisions of human law, is now the elect people of God, holy, 
 and beloved of God, of angels, and of saints. Therefore put 
 on, or exhibit in your life and conversation, the characteristics 
 of this condition, mercy and kindliness, humility and 
 patience, bearing with and forgiving the faults and imper- 
 fections of one another, since you have so many of your own. 
 Forgive, as the Lord (the Greek has, Christ) forgave you. 
 Above all, have charity. The Greek has no verb, supplying 
 put on from the previous sentence. Above all, because it is 
 the highest grace. Charity is the love of God, and of man 
 for God's sake, and this is the highest motive for affection, 
 for kindness, and well doing. The bond of perfection is a 
 Hebraism for the most perfect bond, that which binds the souls 
 of men together by the noblest and truest bond, the relation 
 they bear to their Creator. And let the peace of Christ exult in 
 your hearts. The Greek verb (3pa[3eviru) might either mean, as 
 the Vulgate understands it, carry off the prize of victory, be 
 victorious over anger, or dissension, or cupidity, or pride. 
 Or it may mean, adjudge the prize of victory, that is, preside, 
 moderate, and rule. And if between you there arise con- 
 
408 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 troversy or difference, let the peace of Christ, not anger, or 
 pride, or passorr, determine it. In this sense the word is 
 understood by Saint Chrysostom and Theodoret, and this is 
 the sense of the Syriac : Let the peace of Christ govern your 
 hearts. For you all form one body, and the portions of one 
 and the same body do not fight one with another. In peace, 
 therefore, you are called. And he grateful, in the Syriac, give 
 thanks to God. Saint Jerome, however, as quoted by Erasmus, 
 understands it gracious, amiable, kind and easy, for this 
 contributes to peace. Let the word of Christ, that is the teaching 
 of Christ, which you have received from Epaphras and other 
 instructors, dwell in your minds and hearts liabitually and 
 abundantl}^ so as to make you rich in all wisdom, often 
 speaking of it to one another. The words with psalms, 
 hymns, and spiritual songs may perhaps be more fitly taken with 
 the participle cantantes which follows them. For the distinc- 
 tion between these see on Eph. v. 19, 20. Singing in grace, 
 that is, in thanksgiving, or otherwise, with sweetness, care, 
 and correctness, so as to give pleasure to 3'ourselves and 
 those who hear you. In your hearts, that is, with your hearts, 
 heartily, sincerely, not with the voice only, and the heart not 
 in .harmony with what you sing. In all you say or do, in 
 word or work, invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not 
 the names of angels, like the followers of Simon ; and 
 through him, and not through angels, give thanks to God the 
 Father. So Theodoret and Saint Chrysostom understand it. 
 Saint Tlipmas says that the precept is also to be taken in a 
 directly affirmative sense, but that to fulfil it, it is not 
 necessary that everything should be formally and in act 
 referred to God, but in the habit of the mind, and is satisfied 
 when our words and deeds are such as to promote God's 
 glory. Whoever acts or speaks against the glory or the 
 commands of God, acts in opposition to this precept of the 
 Apostle. The perfection of charity is when all things are 
 actually, or at least effectually, referred to God's glory in the 
 name and power of Christ. For then all we do will be Gods 
 
TO THE C0LO6SIANS. 409 
 
 praise, and pious and meritorious in his sight. Do all 
 through Christ, as your mediator and pontiff; ■with Christ, as 
 your head ; in Christ, in his spirit, motive, and intention. 
 
 18. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fit in the 
 Lord. 
 
 19. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter towards 
 them. 
 
 20. Sons, obey your parents through all ; for this is pleasing 
 to the Lord. 
 
 21. Fathers, do not provoke your sons to indignation, that 
 they become not pusillanimous. 
 
 22. Slaves, obey through all your carnal masters, not 
 serving to the eye, as pleasing men, but in simplicity of heart, 
 fearing God. 
 
 23. Whatever you do, work heartily, as to the Lord, and 
 not to men : 
 
 24. Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the 
 retribution of the inheritance. Serve the Lord Christ. 
 
 25. For who does wrong will receive that which he has 
 done unjustly ; and there is not acceptance of persons with 
 God. 
 
 These injunctions are almost verbally the same as those 
 given in the Epistle to the Ephesians v. 22 — vi. 9, but more 
 pointedly and briefly expressed. They were rendered neces- 
 sary by the doctrine of the heretics, who represented Jesus 
 Christ as an opponent of the Creator of the world and God 
 of the Old Testament, from whose dominion, as they pi'e- 
 tended, he came to deliver mankind. The Apostle, in effect, 
 maintains that as Christ came, not to do away with the law 
 of Moses, nor yet to re-enact it, but to fulfil it and present 
 the reality of which it was a symbol and a shadow, so he 
 came not to abrogate and unsettle the constitutions of nature 
 and society, which he has himself ordained for the guidance 
 of mankind in this mortal life, and which were preserved in 
 
4IO THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 tradition, more or less perfectly, from the beginning of the 
 world, by all nations of men ; but to preserve them, while 
 giving to them a fuller explanation and a higher meaning. 
 As is fit in the Lord, so far as the law of Christ permits. 
 Love your wives, and be not bitter to them, be indulgent to their 
 faults or imperfections, recognising all they endeavour to do 
 well. Obey your parents through all, in all respects, and 
 through all apparent discouragement, for the obedience itself 
 is pleasing to the Lord, who set the example of it in his own 
 early life at Nazareth. Fathers, provoke not your children, 
 lest they be discouraged in God's service, or lose confidence 
 in the benevolence and goodwill of their seniors. Slaves are 
 reminded in verse 25 that the master who ill-treats them, as 
 a pagan master possibly might, will have to answer to the 
 Great Judge at the last day, who will render to them the 
 same usage they have dealt out to those now in their power. 
 Human laws may give you no redress, but who does wrong will 
 receive that which he has done, and before that Judge all are 
 equal. They should not, therefore, seek revenge, but rather 
 pray for the unjust master's conversion and salvation. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. ' 
 
 Christ, our Head and our Life, rising from the dead, left 
 this lower world, and ascending to the heaven of heavens, 
 sat down on the right hand of the Father. So let us, in 
 heart, abandon this earth, the abode of sorrow and cor- 
 ruption, and continually ascend, in longing and desire, to 
 Him at whose right hand there are delights even to the end (Ps. 
 XV. 11), which can leave nothing more to wish for, flowing 
 from the fountain of glory and immortality. Living in the 
 hope to share the glory of Christ, live, as far as possible, 
 worthily of that hope, live as Christ lived, be another Christ. 
 This earthly life is not our life ; it is something else, some- 
 thing or other, but that it is not, says Saint Chrysostom. 
 Now we are sons of God ; what we shall be we do not yet 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 4II 
 
 know, for it has not yet been shown to us (i Joh. iii. 2). If 
 Saint John did not know, much less do we. To all appear- 
 ance Christians are weak and miserable, like other men. 
 That is because the world does not really see them any 
 more than it sees Christ, who no longer shows himself to the 
 eyes of men, but is hidden in the bosom of the Father. And 
 so our life, our real life, the life eternal and glorious to which 
 we are entitled, is hidden with Christ in God, and the world 
 sees it not. The bosom of God is the eternal seat and source 
 and principle of the life of Christ ; so is it the seat, and the 
 source, and the principle of our true and glorious life. The 
 bosom of the Father is the throne and the centre in which 
 Christ reposes, for ever and ever ; so is it the seat and the 
 centre of the glory for which we hope. In the bosom of the 
 Father the life of the adopted sons is hidden with Christ ; it 
 does not yet appear even what we are now, much less what 
 we shall be. As yet we hold this divine life in spirit only. 
 We have the seed of glory, but in the seed the tree is not as 
 yet apparent, though it is there. In the condition of grace, 
 which precedes glory, the nobility, the grandeur, the felicity, 
 the imperishableness of our divine adoption is not yet 
 apparent. For all these are in Christ, and Christ is hidden 
 in God. Christ is our Head, and these are all therefore in 
 his body also, but not yet made manifest. Christ is hidden in 
 God, but not for ever. The day will come when he will 
 appear, and when he does, we shall fully know what it is to 
 be the sons of God, the glory and the happiness of this 
 divine adoption. When he appears, he will appear in glory ^ 
 and we also with him, in his likeness, for he is our Brother, 
 and in his Father's likeness, for his Father is also ours. 
 
412 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Masters, what is just and right, do to your slaves, 
 knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. 
 
 2. Persist in prayer, watching in it, in thanksgiving ; 
 
 3. Praying also for us, that God may open to us a door of 
 the word, to tell the mystery of Christ, on account of which 
 also I am bound. 
 
 4. That I may so manifest it as I ought to speak. 
 Chapter IV. In this chapter the Apostle recommends 
 
 constant prayer, and wisdom and caution to those outside ; 
 and concludes the Epistle with various salutations. 
 
 Verse i belongs in sense to Chapter III., and seems not to 
 have been included in it only by an inadvertence. The 
 Greek word lau-i^ra means equality, a recognition of that 
 equality which is implied in the statement last made, because 
 you also have a Lord in heaven, and before him all are equal. 
 He will not, at the last day accept persons, regard the tempor- 
 ary accidents of this mortal life. 
 
 Recurring to what is common to all, the Apostle notes 
 three conditions of prayer. Jt is to be instant', assiduous, 
 persevering; 2, watchful, attentive, devout; 3, grateful, 
 humble, mindful of blessings received. As prayer is the 
 channel through which the grace of God descends to us, and 
 we are continually in want of grace, we should continually 
 pray. And as God is the King of all the creatures and 
 all the ages, and we are nothing, and wholly dependent on 
 him for existence, we should pray attentively and devoutly. 
 And gratitude for blessings received, with coniidence in 
 their continuance, opens to us the merciful hand of God. 
 Saint Paul urges in particular that the Colossian Christians 
 should pray for him, that God would open to him the door, 
 not of his prison, but of the word, that is, accord him the 
 opportunity of making known to men the mystery of salvation 
 in Christ, the proclamation of which was the cause of his 
 imprisonment, for which I am hound. A mystery, because pre- 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 413 
 
 viously unknown to the greater part of the Gentile world. 
 Verse 4 seems to refer to his approaching interview with 
 Caesar, and he uses the same expressions in Eph. vi. 20. 
 
 5. Walk in wisdom to those who are without, redeeming 
 the time. 
 
 6. Let your words always be in grace, seasoned with salt, 
 that you may know how you ought to answer each. 
 
 Deal prudently and cautiously with pagans and others who 
 are not of the Church, making the best use of such oppor- 
 tunities as are afforded you. Your conversation should be 
 seasoned with the salt of wisdom, but also with grace, agree- 
 able and pleasant, and this rule will generally suggest an 
 answer to any questions or observations they address to you. 
 The remark is applicable to all times, and especially to the 
 conversation of priests and religious, whose language should 
 be courteous and pleasant, as well as wise. Saint Chrysos- 
 tom, on this passage, observes that in dealing with persons 
 of rank and station in the pagan woild. Christians should not 
 refuse to cultivate their society, if it can be done without 
 danger. If there is opportunity for quiet interchange of 
 sentiment, this does not necessarily involve flattery or sanc- 
 tion to wrong. And they should be treated with every 
 respect, as far as no wrong is done to piety. The rich and 
 great should receive greater deference than others, because 
 their minds are weaker, and they are almost inevitably self- 
 important and conceited. Greater freedom may be used 
 with the poor, because they are commonly, from habit of life, 
 of tougher and more enduring mental consistency, more 
 patient, brave, and self-contained. But in both cases the 
 end aimed at should be edification, and if the rich man is 
 treated with the greater deference, it is not for his riches, but 
 his frailty. 
 
 7. All my circumstances will be made known to you by 
 Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and 
 fellow-servant in the Lord, 
 
414 THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL 
 
 8. Whom I sent to you for this very purpose, that he may 
 know how you are situated, and console your hearts. 
 
 g. With Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who 
 is of you. They will make known to you all that is doing here. 
 
 10. There salute you Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner, and 
 Mark the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you received 
 commands : if he comes to you, receive him : 
 
 11. And Jesus, who is called the Just, who are of the 
 circumcision ; these only are my helpers in the kingdom of 
 God, who have been a solace to me. 
 
 12. Epaphras salutes you, who is of you, a servant of 
 Christ Jesus, always solicitous for you in prayers, that you 
 stand perfect and full in all the will of God. 
 
 13. For I bear him witness that he has much labour for 
 you, and for those who are at Laodicea and those at 
 Hierapolis. 
 
 14. There salute you Luke the physician^ the beloved, and 
 Demas. 
 
 15. Salute the brethren who are at Laodicea, and 
 Nymphas, and the Church which is in his house. 
 
 16. And when this Epistle has been read to you, cause it 
 to be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans ; and do you 
 read that which is of the Laodiceans. 
 
 17. And say to Archippus : Seethe ministry which thou 
 didst receive in the Lord, that thou fill it. 
 
 i8. The salvation by my hand, of Paul. Remember my 
 chains. Grace with you. Amen. 
 
 Tychicus, the bearer of this letter, a faithful minister of 
 God, and my fellow-labourer in Christ, will tell you how I am 
 circumstanced. I have sent him lor this purpose, and to 
 bring me intelligence concerning you, and console you by 
 informing you of the favourable prospect of my early release. 
 I have sent Onesimus with him (Onesimus carried also the 
 Epistle to Philemon, of which below), and these two will tell 
 you all. It is observable that the former part of the com- 
 mission seems to have been entrusted to Tychicus only, and 
 not to Onesimus, who was a recent convert. Saint Chrysos- 
 tom praises the humility of the Apostle, first in God's 
 
TO THE COLOSSIANS. 415 
 
 kingdom, crowned, caught up to heaven, but yet speaking of 
 a slave as his brother and fellow-slave. Aristarchus was a 
 Macedonian of Thessalonica, a former fellow-traveller of St. 
 Paul, see Act. xix. 29, xx. 4, and seems to have accompanied 
 the Apostle to Rome, xxvii. 2. His name occurs also in the 
 Epistle to Philemon, 24. Saint Mark is called, in the Greek, 
 sister s son to Barnabas. You have received commands con- 
 cerning him, doubtless, Saint Chrysostom thinks, from Saint 
 Barnabas, to which Saint Paul here adds his own recom- 
 mendation, if he comes receive him. It is well known that he 
 had occasioned the separation of the two Apostles eleven 
 years before. Act xv. 37. Epaphras was evidently at Rome 
 with Saint Paul. Baronius thinks he was bishop of Colossae, 
 and Archippus, mentioned in verse 17, the deacon. He has 
 much labour for yen, the Greek has much zeal. Nymphas is a 
 masculine name, as appears from the pronoun in the Greek 
 text, his house. The mention of the letter of the Laodiceans 
 has occasioned some discussion. Saint Chrysostom and 
 Theodoret think the Laodicean Christians had written a 
 letter to Saint Paul, to which this Epistle is the reply, 
 addressed equally to both Churches, because both were 
 equally interested in the questions with which it deals. This 
 seems the more probable from the expression, the epistle of 
 the Laodiceans, not the epistle to them. Other writers, 
 however, think Saint Paul wrote, and here refers to, another 
 Epistle to the Laodiceans, which has been lost. Others 
 again, that he refers to the Epistle to the Ephesians, but 
 names the Laodiceans, because that town was nearer to 
 Colossae, and they could more readily obtain a copy from 
 thence. The question remains uncertain. The concluding 
 verse 18 is the only portion of this Epistle which Saint Paul 
 wrote with his own hand, for identification, as was his custom. 
 
 Corollary of Piety. 
 
 The Christians of Colossae dwelt in a remote country, 
 surrounded by a pagan population, under a pagan govern- 
 ment, their Apostle a prisoner in a distant land, and as they 
 supposed in imminent danger of death ; his legate, the 
 Bishop of Ephesus, also far away, in attendance upon him ; 
 
4l6 THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 their own bishop also, through force of circumstances, an 
 absentee. They were invaded by the emissaries of a talse 
 and fatal system of philosophy, subtle, pretentious, and 
 imposing, who laboured to unsettle their confidence in the 
 faith they had been taught, and the teachers who conveyed 
 it to them, and to whose arguments they knew not how to 
 reply. Under the circumstances this beautiful and consoling 
 letter must have come to them like a gleam of light from 
 heaven, as if to assure them that in their temporary derelic- 
 tion and perplexity God had not forgotten them, and that 
 the Apostle of the nations, amid the crowd of anxieties and 
 troubles with which he was surrounded, was still solicitous 
 for their safety and their welfare. And this is an epitome of 
 the history and condition of the Church of God in all times. 
 Her Divine Pontiff and teacher has, to all appearance, left 
 her, and gone ; heretics and unbelievers ceaselessly assail 
 her faith ; the greater portion of the world is still pagan ; 
 the governments of earth are, in general, not her friends. 
 The intensity of Satan's malice against the Church of Christ 
 can in some degree be measured and estimated by the 
 ceaseless and irreconcilable warfare which heretics, urged on 
 by Satan's machinations and inspired by his spirit, though 
 they know it not, continually wage against her doctrine, her 
 sacraments, her priesthood, her prelates, or her God. There 
 is scarcely a corner of the earth, however remote, where they 
 are not at work. But this malice itself is in turn an indication 
 how terrible must be the dismay and consternation which the 
 triumph of her truth and sanctity carries into the ranks of 
 the powers of darkness, how they cower before her advance, 
 how intolerable to them is every victory she wins, every soul 
 she saves. But God does not abandon his Church, though 
 in the eyes of the world he seems to have forgotten her. 
 His presence still dwells on her altars, his Vicar still guides 
 her helm — though, like Saint Paul, a prisoner in Rome — His 
 Spirit still animates, directs, purifies, encourages, leads on 
 through perseverance to final victory. The anger of God is 
 coming upon the sons of incredulity, whatever appearances 
 may seem to indicate. 
 
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