Matthew — Chapter 9

And, dehold, a leper, &c. This same miracle is related by S. Mark (i. 40), and by Luke (v. 12). From a comparison of these 320 LEPROSY. it would seem to follow that the miracle was not performed imme- diately upon our Lord's descent, at the very toot of the mountain, for Luke says that it came to pass in one of the cities . And both Mark and Luke speak of other miracles as previously performed. But S. Matthew's narrative appears to be the most chronological, according to which it may be said that this miracle was the first which Christ wrought after His descent. So S. Jerome, Jansen, and others. As to what S. Luke says, that, it took place in one of the cities , we must understand, near the city . For by the law lepers were ordered to be kept entirely apart, and were forbidden to enter towns and camps, lest the inhabitants should catch the disease. Some think that the Levitical law only forbade lepers living in towns, but not their passing through them, so that this leper might have been cleansed by Christ as he was passing through this city. This city, as may be gathered from the fifth verse, was Capernaum. How great, how incurable and contagious, a disease was leprosy is plain from hence, that lepers, both by the ancient law and the usage of all nations, were debarred from consorting with their fellow men. For in lepers there is a contagion which spreads by contact with the whole, whom they are able to infect by the stench of their ulcers and their fetid breath. With them, by the contagion and the infection of the disease, the face is dis- figured. the hair falls off, the nostrils are enlarged, the bones are eaten away, and the tongue swells, in short, every kind of disease, and all their symptoms, are found as the accompaniment of leprosy. Physicans teach that it may be considered an elephantine disease, and incurable. How, says Avicenna, can leprosy be cured, since it is an universal cancer, when even a single cancer is beyond the power of medicine ? Moreover, hot and stony and salt regions, and such as are exposed to excessive vicissitudes of cold and heat, are peculiarly liable to this disease. Such regions were Palestine and a part of Egypt. Wherefore Galen says, " In Alexandria many labour under elephantia (leprosy) as well on account of their way of living as of the heat." TOUCHING THE LEPER. 321 Worshipped \ *.*., falling- down upon his knees and face, for S. Mark adds yowircrw) i.e . 9 falling at his knees. The leper did this not with the design of rendering Him civil honour, but that he might give to Christ the highest worship of religion, as is plain from his so humble and believing petition. For he did not request Christ to ask God, as Moses did, but If Thou art willing , Thou art able to make me clean . As though he had said, I know that Thou hast the power of God, and therefore dominion over diseases, so that Thou canst control leprosy by the right of a master, and canst, by Thy command alone, drive it from me. I ask Thee, therefore, that thou wouldst deign to do this. For if Thou wilt, the thing is done, and I am healed. So S. Chrysostom says, “ To the spiritual physician, he offers spiritual hire — viz., believing prayer, than which nothing of more worth can be offered to God.” Also the Interlinear Gloss says, “ To will He adds the attribute of power, for as great as His will so great is the power of God. For whatsoever He wills, that He is forthwith able to perform. According to the words of the Psalmist, “ Whatsover the Lord willed, that did he in heaven and earth.” (Ps. cxxxv. 6 , Vulg.) This leper therefore had faith in the Divinity of Christ, partly from His inward illumination and inspiration, partly from His miracles, several of which Christ had already performed in this first year of His preaching. For this leper was healed in the second year, as I have said in the Chronoiaxis , nu. 22. Again, the words, if Thou wilt, denote the desire of being healed, mingled with resignation. For he resigns himself to the will of Christ, that if He wishes it, he may be cured ; if He be unwilling, he may remain unhealed. And Jesus pul forth his hand \ &c. Touched him, that He might show that He was above the law, which forbade contact with the leper. The law forbade this touching of a leper from fear of contagion. But there was no danger of such contagion in Christ's case, but rather the certainty of healing the leper. When, therefore, Christ touched the leper, He did not do so as against the law, but rather as fulfilling the spirit of the law. v 322 HZANl »G OF CHRIST'S 44 I WILL.” 2. lie touched him out of kindness, that He might show His love for the leper. 3. He touched him, says S. Cyril, that the saving efficacy of the Flesh of Christ might be made manifest. Whence Victor of Antioch, on S. Mark (chap, i.), says, 44 The Word, willing to show forth Its indivisible union with the Flesh, wrought magy miracles and signs through the ministry of the body.” And Bede says, “God stretched forth His hand, and touched human nature by His Incarnation, and brought back to the Temple those who were cast out of the camp of the people of God (the lepers), that they might offer their bodies a living sacrifice to Himself, to whom it is said, 4 Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek .' 99 I will , be thou clean . From these words the Fathers prove the Divinity of Christ and His omnipotence. Maldonatus cites them at length. Thus S. Ambrose: “He saith, 4 1 will/ because of Photinus, He commands on account of Arius, He touches on account of Manichaeus.” For Photinus taught that Christ was a mere man, and not God, whose attribute is an almighty will, by which, he says, 44 1 will, be thou clean.” Arius taught that Christ was inferior to the Father, and, therefore, did not Himself com- mand, but received the Father’s commandments. Manichaeus taught that Christ had not real flesh, but only in appearance, such as could not in reality either touch or be touched. And immediately , &c. There was no interval between Christ's command and its fulfilment. He spoke and all things were made, because His will was omnipotent. (Genesis i.) The Arabic translates, the man was cleansed from his leprosy : for the words, the leprosy was cleansed, are a figure of speech. By this miracle Christ shows that He tame into the world as a physician that He might heal all diseases and purge away all filthiness. And Jesus saith unto him . (S. Mark, threatened , i.e. t commanded him with a severe and stern countenance.) He did this to avoid ostentation, and to teach us not to boast of our virtues and gifts, but rather conceal them. SACRAMENT OF PENANCE. 323 But go, show thyself to the priest ; Mark has to the high priest . “He sends him to the priests,” says S. Jerome, “on account of humility, that He may appear to show deference to them, so that they henceforth might either believe and be saved, or else be held without excuse ; and, lastly, that He might not be accounted to violate the law. The gift which was to be offered to the priest by lepers who were cleansed was a lamb, or, if the leper were poor, two turtle doves, or two young pigeons. (Lev. xiv. 13, &c .) For a testimony unto them , sc. the priests. By the word testimony , some understand the law, as though He had said, “ Offer the gift enjoined, that thou mayest fulfil the law which Moses commanded." For in the 1 19th Psalm the law is often called by the name of testimony . That is to say, it is the Divine will, which God testifies that He would have done by us. There is, however, no reason why testimony should not be taken in its ordinary acceptation. This then was the testimony which the leper gave to the priests that he was cleansed from his leprosy, namely, an ocular inspec- tion of his body and his limbs, which was made by them. And if they saw that he was healed, they accepted his gift as a thank- offering to God ; but if he were not healed they refused it. Tropologically , leprosy signifies mortal sin, especially that which is contagious, such as heresy is in an especial manner, because of its extreme foulness and infectious nature. So S. Augustine (lib. 2, Quasi. Evan., quasi. 40), Theodoret, Radulphus, and others, on Levit. xiv. Hence the cleansing of leprosy is the symbol of the sacrament of penance, and of sacramental confession, whereby sins are forgiven. From this type, S. Jerome on the sixteenth

But that ye may know , &c. Observe the expression. Son of Man, for Christ forgave sins, not only as He was God, but in that He was man, authoritatively and meritoriously. Because His Humanity was hypostatically united to His Divinity, and sub- sisted in the Divine Person of the Son of God, therefore He was able to make full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Wherefore this primary power and authority of forgiving sins was given unto Him, next unto God, which power He is able to grant unto others likewise, such as priests, who are instituted by Him, as His ministers, that they too should forgive sins. Whence S. Thomas says (3 part . quasi. 63, art . 3), “The power of the excellence of Christ standeth in four things. 1. Because His merit, and the virtue of His Passion, operate in the sacraments. 2. Because by His Name the sacraments are sanctified. 3. Be- cause He Himself, who gives virtue to the sacraments, had power to institute them. 4. Because the effect of the sacraments — in other words, the remission of sins, and grace — Christ is able to confer without the sacraments. This power is peculiar to Christ alone, qud man ; and therefore it has been communicated neither to priest nor pontiff, nor to S. Peter.” Rise, take up thy bed, &c. Rise • be sound and healed of thy S. SIMON STVLITES. 357 palsy ; and to show to the Scribes and all the people that thou art healed, take up thy bed, that now thou mayest bear that which has lately borne thee, as Sedulius says in this place, “ He him- self, with grateful thanks, repaid his hire.” Instead of bed (ledum), Mark has grabaium . Grabatus , says Sipontius, is a narrow sort of couch on which we recline at noon, as if from carabatus , something on which we lay our head, from k apa, the head , and, fiarov, passing . Whence the line of Martial — . “Went the three-legged grabatus, went the three-legged table.” And he arose , &c. He arose at once, for what Christ said was straightway done. And the man walked off with the bed upon his shoulders. S. Simon Stylites followed the example of this miracle of Christ, as may be seen in his Life, taken by Surius out of Theodoret. “A certain Saracen prince brought to him a paralytic domestic, and asked him to heal him. The holy man commanded him to be brought into the midst, and bade him abjure the impiety of his ancestors. After the man had done this, he asked him if he believed in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He replied that he did believe. ‘ If thou believest,* said he, 4 rise up/ As soon as he had arisen, he bade him take up and carry the before- named prince, who was an excessively fat man, upon his shoulders, as far as his tent. And he immediately raised him up, and carried him whither he was bidden. All the spectators were amazed at this miracle, and glorified God.” In a similar manner, S. Bernard, at the request of the King of France, healed a man sick of the • palsy, with the sign of the Cross, and bade him take up his bed. TropologicaUy ; by the sick man’s taking up, and carrying his bed is meant, that by the just judgment of God it cometh to pass that the sinner who aforetime willingly consented to temptation, after he has repented, feels temptation against his will. For re- pentance truly takes away sin, but not sinful habits and depraved inclinations, which the sinner of his own will contracted and put on. Thus S. Mary of Egypt, after her conversion, felt for seven- 358 TROPOLOGICALLY. teen years the sharp goads of lust, because for so many years she had shamefully lived in lust But when the multitudes saw it they marvelled \ Ac. Instead of marvelled \ the Latin Vulgate has, they feared. S Mark adds, that the multitude said, We never saw it after this fashion. S. Luke, We have seen strange things to-day . For this man's whole body was paralyzed. S. Mark says that, he was borne of four , which shows that the palsy had affected every limb. He was a different para- lytic from the one of whom S. John makes mention (v. 2), who was healed in the Sheep-market at Jerusalem. That man had no one carrying him : neither did he believe, as this one did, to whom it was said, Son, be of good cheer . Tropologically ; paralysis is any disease of the soul whatsoever, but especially of fleshly lust, and the carelessness and indifference to spiritual things which it generates. For it so entirely pros- trates the soul, that it is without power to lift itself up to virtue, to heaven, to God. Wherefore the man that labours under this disease must be carried by bearers, that is, by pastors, preachers, confessors, up upon the housetop, that is, to the desire of salvation and heavenly things ; and then must be let down through the roof to the feet of Christ ; and they must ask of Him by earnest prayer to heal him by His grace, and restore to him the power of motion, and the sense of spiritual things. Then when he is healed, let him give thanks to Christ his Saviour, and let him not be sloth- ful, but let him go away to the house of his mind and conscience, and sweep it clean of vices, and adorn it with all virtuous actions. Thus ought the soul to trust in the Lord, because He alone is able to supply all her wants. She ought to arise from the sleep of sin, and the bed of depraved habits, by calling to mind into what a state she has fallen, which she doth by confession ; for as he who arises, so also does he who confesses, come forth : she ought to take up her bed, which pertains to satisfaction, for when that is enjoined in confession, it is a sort of burden to be borne, for the flesh which, as a bed, gave pleasure, and as it were carried the dead soul, ought, after remission and satisfaction, to be a burden CALL OF MATTHEW. 359 to a man, as it was to him who cried out, “ O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" So Salermon, Jansen, Toletus, and others, expound this passage. AnagogicaUy , understand it of the celestial glory, concerning which the Psalmist speaks, “ I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord/' (Ps. cxxii. i.) For, in the resurrection, the Lord win say, “ Arise, that is, from death ; and take up thy bed, that is, resume thy body, endowed with glorious gifts; and go into thine house, that is, into the eternal and heavenly mansion." And as Jesus passed forth from thence , Ac. Custom , in Greek, rcAos, means revenue ; from which telonium, the word here used by S. Matthew, means the house, or place where the sailors and merchants paid the tribute and customs' dues upon their ships and merchandise. Here sat the publicans, who were the farmers and collectors of these dues. Hence the Persian version, instead of telonium has, in the house of payment; the Ethiopic has, in the forum , or market-place . Matthew was one of these publicans ; whence it is probable that his house was at Capernaum, by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, at a point where the vessels touched. The Roman Senate and the people were accustomed to let the tribute which was due to them from their subjects for a stipulated sum. Jansen, in his Harmony of the Gospels , says, that persons who have carefully surveyed the Holy Land, assert that the spot where Matthew was called is still pointed out, outside of Capernaum, near the Sea. Mark and Luke say, that Matthew was sitting at the telonium^ because, by this word, they seem to mean not a house, but a table, on which they were counting the tribute money. Named Matthew . Matthew names himself, both out of humility, that he might confess to the whole world that he had been a publican and a sinner, and also out of gratitude, that he might make known abroad the exceeding grace of Christ towards him, just as S. Paul does : “ It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." (i Tim. i. 15.) 360 porphyry's cavil. Follow me: Whom in Capernaum thou hast heard preaching* heavenly doctrine, and confirming- it by many miracles, and especially by that recent healing of the paralytic. He calls Matthew, already subdued by the fame of His miracles, says Chrysostom. Observe the condescension of Christ who calls Matthew, the publican , and so a man infamous among the Jews, not only to grace but to His family and intimate friendship and Apostleship. And he arose , &c. Note here the efficacy of Christ's vocation, and the ready obedience of Matthew. Hear what S. Jerome says about it. “ Porphyry and Julian find fault in this place, either with the lying unskilfulness of the historian, or else with the folly of those persons who immediately followed the Saviour, as though they irrationally followed the first person who called them. But they do not consider that great miracles and mighty signs had preceded this calling. And there can be no doubt that the Apos- tles had witnessed these things before they believed. This at least is certain, the very refulgence and majesty of the hidden Divinity, which shone even in His human countenance, was able to attract to Him those who saw Him as soon as they beheld Him. For if there be in a magnet, which is but a stone, such force that it is able to attract, and join unto itself rings and straws, how much more is the Lord of all creatures able to draw unto Himself whom He will." Thus then as a magnet draws iron unto it, so did Christ draw Matthew, and by His drawing, gave him his virtues, and chiefly his exceeding love of God, zeal for souls, ardour in preaching. Listen to the account of S. Matthew's conversion, which he himself gave to S. Bridget, when praying at his tomb at Mai phi: ** It was my desire at the time I was a publican to defraud no man, and I wished to find out a way by which I might abandon that employment, and cleave to God alone with my whole heart. When therefore He who loved me, even Jesus Christ was preach- ing, His call was a flame of fire in my heart ; and so sweet were His words unto my taste, that I thought no more of riches than of SIGN OF TRUE CONVERSION. 361 straws : yea, it was delightful to me to weep for joy, that my God had deigned to call one of such small account, and so great a sinner as I to His grace. And as I clave unto my Lord, His burning words became fixed in my heart, and day and night I fed upon them by meditation, as upon sweetest food.” And it cam to pass as he sat at meat , &c. This was in Matthew's own house, for he is silent about his virtues, outspoken about his errors. This appears from what Luke says, Levi, that is, Matthew, made him a great feast in his own house: to this feast he invited many of his companions, publicans like himself, and sinners, that they might be drawn by the kindness of Christ to follow Him, as he had done. It is indeed a sign of true conversion to be anxious that others also should be converted from their sins. For good is self-diffusive, and charity instigates men to seek the salvation of other lost sinners. The office of a publican, although a just one in itself, and one that could be exercised without sin, yet, because avaricious men frequently undertook it from love of gain, who extorted unjust dues, especially from the poor, publicans were accounted infamous among the Jews, and public sinners, as public usurers are similarly accounted among Christians. There was this also, that the Jews maintained that they, as a people dedicated to God, ought not to pay tribute to the Romans, who were Gentiles and idolaters : for this was contrary to the liberty and dignity of the children of God. Thus they detested the publicans, who exacted the tribute. Sinners are here distinguished from publicans . These sinners seem to have been dissolute Jews, who cared little for the law and religion of the Jews, and lived in a heathenish manner, or who had apostatized to heathenism. And when the Pharisees saw it, &c. These are the words, not of those who asked a question, but of those who were making an accusation. As much as to say, “ Your Master Christ acts con- trary to the law of God and the traditions of the Fathers. Why do you listen to Him, and follow Him? He associates with 362 GOD'S LOVE OF MERCY. sinners. He is bringing* the stain of their sins and infamy upon, you.” But when Jesus heard that , Sc c. : from the report of His disciples. For even the Pharisees did not dare to make this charge to Christ Himself. He saith , not to His disciples, but to the* Pharisees, for He turned Himself to those from whom the com- plaint proceeded, as is clear from what follows. They that are whole , &c. As a physician is not infected by the diseases of those who are sick, but rather overcometh diseases, and drives them away, and therefore it is not a disgrace, but an honour to a. physician to be associated with the sick, so in like manner I, who have been sent from heaven to earth by God the Father, to be a physician of sin-sick souls, am not contaminated by their sins- when I associate with them, but rather heal them, which is the highest praise to Me, and the greatest benefit to them. I therefore* am the Physician, not the companion of sinners. But go ye: that is, go away from Me; depart out of My sight* They are the words of one repudiating them. And learn, what Hosea says (vi. 6), I will have mercy and not sacrifice : i.e. f I prefer mercy to sacrifice, although sacrifice is the noblest act of religion. Therefore follow mercy, even as I do, that ye may save sinners^ For I prefer mercy, and to have pity upon miserable sinners^ rather than with you to offer victims to God. See what I have said upon Hosea vi. 6, where I have commented upon the dignity and surpassing excellency of mercy. Well does S. Bernard ( Serm . l6 in Cant.) exclaim, “ O Wisdom, with what art of healing, by wine and oil, dost Thou restore- health to my soul ! Thou art bravely sweet, and sweetly brave, brave for me, sweet to me. Thy name is oil poured forth, not wine. For I would not that Thou shouldst enter into judgment with Thy servant. It is oil, because thou crownest me with- mercy and loving kindness. It is indeed oil ; for oil floats at the* top of all liquids with which it is mingled: and thus it is a lively figure of that Name which is above every name.” For I came not to call the just but sinners . So it is in the Vulgate* UNAUTHORIZED FASTS. 363 The G/eek adds, tU ixeravoLav, to repentance . So too S. Luke, and the Arabic Version. This must be either expressed or understood. For Christ also called Nathanael, who was a just man. Also He called the Blessed Virgin, S. John, and Elizabeth, who were saints, to still greater sanctity and perfection. Hilary, Jerome, Bede, &c., take the words differently, I cam not to call the righteous , that is, those who proudly, but falsely esteem and boast themselves to be righteous, when they are in very truth sinners and hypocrites, such as ye are, O ye Pharisees. Then came to him the disciples of John , &c. Then, signifies that it was shortly afterwards. The Pharisees being, therefore, upon just grounds, refuted by Christ, here frame another accusation against Him. They suborn the disciples of John, that by the occasion of fasting, practised by them in common with themselves, they might bring it as a charge against Christ, that neither He, nor His disciples fasted. Now this particular fast to which they refer was not prescribed by the Law, for Christ and His disciples ob- served the fasts as well as all the other requirements of the Law : but it was a fast, either appointed by the Jewish doctors, or else voluntarily taken up by their disciples at the exhortation of the doctors. Wherefore S. Luke relates that they said, Why d*> the disciples of John fast oft , and make prayers \ and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees , but Thine eat and drink ? It is as much as to say, “Thou wishest to be our Reformer, and a master of perfection: Why then do we fast, when Thou and Thine lead a genial life?” S. Mark speaks of the disciples of John, in connection with those of the Pharisees. This was because the Pharisees instigated John’s disciples to propose this question to Christ And this is the reason why S. Matthew in this place makes mention only of John’s disciples. They therefore press Christ with the authority of John the Baptist, which was very great among the Jews, but they do it in an unwarrantable and presumptuous manner. “This was a haughty interrogation,” says the Interlinear , “and full of Pharisaic pride. 1 ’ “Therefore,” says S. Jerome, “John’s disciples 364 CHRIST THE BRIDEGROOM. are to be blamed, because of their boasting* about their fasting*, as because of their uniting* themselves to the Pharisees whom John had condemned ; also because they were calumniating* Him of whom John had preached." Moreover, the disciples of John said these things out of zeal for their master, and out of envy of Christ, preferring John to Him. This may be gathered from S. John iii. 26 . We may perceive a like jealousy in certain good men, even now, who busy themselves in extolling their own founder or patron above everybody else: but in this they are carnal and childish, and betray their own secret vanity and arrogance. For in thus extolling their master above others, they are really seeking to exalt themselves. Such were the Corinth- ians, who said, “I am of Paul, I of Cephas." Such the Apostle sharply rebukes, saying, “ When there is envy and contention among you, are ye not carnal and walk as men ?" (1 Cor. iii. 3.) And Jesus saith unto them , Can the children of the bridechamber , &c. The Bridegroom is Christ, because He hath betrothed human nature, and by it the Church, unto Himself, in the Incarnation, and hath united them unto Himself by a perpetual bond of mar- riage. This marriage Christ hath begun by grace on earth (Matt. xxii. 2), but He will consummate it in glory with His elect in heaven, where there shall be celebrated the endless marriage- feast of the Lamb (Apoc. xix. 7). Hence John the Baptist calls himself the friend of the Bridegroom (John iii. 29). And Christ's disciples, hearing this, knew that He was the Bridegroom. Children of the bridechamber . So it is in the Greek. But the Latin Vulgate has, sons of the bridegroom . The meaning of children of the bridechamber , is that they rejoice in the Bridegroom's marriage, and are accounted His familiar friends, and are admitted to His chamber and hear His secret counsels. By a similar Hebraism, they are called sons of obedience, who love obedience; sons of pride, who delight in pride. Mourn , by catachresis, for fast, because in mourning, men fast, and fasting makes men sad ; just as, on the contrary, food and - HOW NOVICES SHOULD BE TREATED. 365 wine make men jovial and cheerful. The meaning is, “ It is not wonderful that My disciples do not mourn and fast whilst they are enjoying Me and My nuptials. For at a wedding, modest banquets are becoming, fasting is unbecoming. But the sons of the Servant — that is, My servant John Baptist, who leads an austere life to bring men to repentance, and imposes the burdensome law of Moses upon his followers because it is still binding — grief and fasting, I say, become them ; for they, by means of sorrow and austere deeds of penance, are preparing the way for sinners to the joyful marriage supper of the Bridegroom, Christ. But Christ shall die, and be taken from them, and then shall His disciples mourn and fast. He alludes to the ancient custom of mourning for the dead, accompanied by fasting. Thus the Hebrews mourned for Saul, fasting seven days. Christ here intimates that novices in the faith and in religious orders must be gently and blandly treated, as being tender and but children in spirit, until they become matured in virtue, lest they should despair, or forsake the path of virtue on which they have entered. Thus S. Pachomius, who received the rule of his Order from an angel, directed novices to be instructed in it for three years, even as Christ fed His Apostles with milk, and instructed them in His school for three years. We are here reminded of that ancient good Abbot, who used to receive his guests to dine before the canonical hour for refection. When asked the reason, he said, “ Fasting, my brethren, is always with me, but since I am about to send you away, I cannot have you with me always. Since, therefore, I receive Christ in you, I ought to refresh you ; and when I shall have set you on your way, 1 shall be able, by myself, to make up for deferring my fasting.” So Cassian and Sulpitius relate. Moreover, after Christ’s death, the Apostles often fasted, and suffered from hunger and thirst, as S. Paul relates at length, 2 Cor. xi. So in the Life of S. Peter we read that he did severe penance, and ate only bread with olives. Hence, also, in the Eastern Church, says S. Epiphanius {Hares, 366 THE NEW CLOTH. 75), Christians fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. So they still do in Greece, Poland, and Holland. In other parts of the Western Church they abstain from flesh on Fridays and Saturdays. These customs arose because on Wednesday the Bridegroom was betrayed to the Jews by Judas, on Friday He was crucified, and on Saturday He lay in the tomb. Epiphanius adds that formerly on fasting days Christians ate nothing but bread and salt, with water, and that this was enjoined by a decree of the Apostles. Tropologically , S. Jerome says, "When Christ the Bridegroom departed from us on account of sins, then especially must grief and fasting be undergone.” But SS. Hilary and Ambrose say, we have Christ the Bride* groom with us, and we continually feed on His Body in the Eucharist. But those to whom the Bridegroom is not present, present, that is, by grace, such as those who are living in deadly sin, keep a perpetual fast, because they lack the Bread of Life. S. Ambrose, explaining the words of Christ, The Bridegroom shall be taken away from them , says, “ No one can take Christ from thee, unless thou takest thyself away from Him.” No man putteth a piece of new cloth 9 &c. Note I, for piece of clothe the Greek has hnfikrtfia, an addition , a patch. S. Augustine and Tertullian call it plagula . Others call it a little rag, what is called in Italian, un pezzo . Whence S. Francis desired his Brothers to wear patched garments, like paupers. For thus we see beggars wearing clothes made of many and divers-coloured patches, which you might reckon up to the number of a hundred. Hence they are called centos. Of new , ayva<f>o<;, cloth , that is, unfilled, uncombed \ uncorded cloth — cloth such as is brought by the weavers to be prepared and dyed. S. Luke has, commissuram a novo vestimento 9 " a patch off a new garment.” For such is a new and rough rag. Whence the Italians call clothes, rags. That which is put in to fill it up. The Greek and the Vulgate have, its plenitude; by which Christ means, its integrity. For if you sew a piece of new cloth on to an old garment, you will take THE NEW LAW* 367 Away its integrity, so that it will no longer seem one garment but two, partly old, partly new. Note 2, the meaning of the parable is this: If an ancient garment be torn, it should be mended with the like old cloth, not with new. For if the new patch be sewed on to the old cloth, the garment is no longer whole and homogeneous, but multiform and heterogeneous, and so deformed and spoilt. And the rent is made worse , that is, than it was before, when the garment was torn ; worse , because of the division of the old parts from the other old parts, by the intervention of the new patch* Therefore the rent is made worse , because what has been added to it to mend it, tears it still more. Thus it is again cut out, and so there is a still greater rent. In a similar way, Cicero said of Julius Caesar, when he wished to decorate certain unworthy persons with Senatorial dignity, “ Them he did not adorn, but brought disgrace upon the honours themselves.” Note 3, the parable is connected with the matter in hand, as follows : “ As no one sews a new patch on an old garment, but attaches new to new, old to old, so I, who am the most prudent Physician of souls, perceiving the ancient and ingrained habits of My disciples, as it were an old garment, and their infirmity as old bottles, do not, as yet, impose upon them hard and rigid penances and fasts, since they are not prescribed by the Law, but are voluntary ^ lest also the fruit of My teaching should be lost to them, and they, being moved to despair, should forsake Me and My teaching : but I am waiting until they shall be renewed by the Heavenly Spirit, whom I will send down at Pentecost, that, oldness and weakness being laid aside, they may undertake new austerities and new fasts. And this they shall do, not by compulsion, or from fear of punish- ment, like the Jews, but voluntarily, and out of love. For the New Law of Christ is one of liberty and love, as the Old Law was one of fear and servitude/' That the Apostles, after Pentecost, kept frequent fasts, is plain from Acts xiii. 2, 3 ; 2 Cor. xi. 27; Acts xxvii. 9, Ac. So Euthymius, Theophylact, Maldonatus, Jansen, 368 HEW BOTTLES. and others explain this passage. Less appositely Tertullian, (lib. de Oral. c. i, and lib. 3 contra Marc . c. 15) by old garments and old skins understands the Old Law, by the rough and new patch the New Law, or the Gospel. For the New Law hath re- formed the Old, and as it were made it new. For precisely and adequately, by the old garment and the new, the Apostles are meant, who as yet, from their old habit of eating and living freely, were old, but were to be renewed at Pentecost by th* spirit of temperance and austerity. Neither do men put new wine \ &c. Christ shows by a threefold similitude, that His disciples must not fast when He was present. I . By the parable of the Spouse and the wedding. 2. Of the old and new garment. 3. Of the new wine, and the old bottles of skin. The sense is this : " As new wine, or must, by the violence of its ferment- ing spirit, and its heat, bursts the old skins, because they are worn and weak, and so there is a double loss, both of wine and skins ; therefore new wine must be poured into new skins, that, being strong, they may be able to bear the force of the must : so in like manner, new austerities and fasts must not be imposed as yet upon My dis- ciples, lest their spirits should be broken, and they depart from Me; But I wait for the coming of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost/’ Truly, saith Horace, “ Unless the vessel be clean, it will taint whatever you pour into it.” So also a pure and perfect life agrees not except with a mind cleansed from vices, pure and renewed. Otherwise both the austerity and the mind itself are full of sour- ness and bitterness. An old proverb is similar to this parable, “A new sieve, a new peg,” which Nonias quotes from Varro’s Eumemdes , where Zeno is said to have first hung a new sect upon a new peg, because Zeno founded at Athens a new sect of the Stoics, which he did by new reasonings and paradoxes. There is also the proverb, “ A new swallow, a new' spring.” Whence the Rhodians, on the testimony of Theognis, by yearly public proclamation, invite the swallows in the spring-time, “ Come, come, O swallow, and bring us a good season and a prosperous year.” JAIRUS* DAUGHTER. 369 While he spake these things, &c. A ruler ; namely, of the syna- gogue, as Luke adds, who presided over the synagogue in Capernaum. For these things took place by the shore of the sea of Galilee, near Capernaum, as is plain from Mark v. 21, 22. Mark speaks of him as one of the rulers of the synagogue, for there were several rulers of the same synagogue, who taught and guided the people who assembled in it, in the same way that priests do now in churohes. His name was Jairus, as Mark records. This is the same as the Hebrew fair, meaning, that which shall be resplendent, or shall give light, from the root "V)K or, “he hath shone.” For Jairus, as the ruler of the synagogue, illumi- nated the people, and taught the Law. Worshipped him, that is, fell at his feet, as Mark and Luke have it. My daughter, twelve years old , a^s Luke says, is even now dead, but come . Matthew, studying brevity, relates in subs tance what was done, rather than the exact historical sequence. For, as is plain from Mark and Luke, the child was not yet dead when her father first came to Christ and said, Come and lay thine hand upon her, and she shall live . As Christ and Jairus were going together, some one ran, and told Jairus that his daughter was dead, and that the case being now desperate, he should come away from Christ. Then Christ as it would seem, confirms his wavering faith, and Jairus hopefully leads Him to his house, and then, either by impli- cation, or else in 'express words, asks Him lo raise his daughter from death, as Matthew here relates. S. Chrysostom and Theophylact explain differently. She is dead \ i.e., she is near death, for in this way those who are wretched, are wont to exaggerate their miseries, that they may more easily obtain the aid for which they seek. S. Austin (lib. 2 de Consens. Evang . c. 28), adds, that the father by reckoning the time which his journey had taken, might suppose that she, whom he had left in her last agony, was now dead. But come, lay thine hand . Jairus had seen, or heard of many sick who had been healed at Capernaum by the laying on 2 B 37 ® THE MINSTRELS. of hands; and he hoped that Christ would do the same for his daughter. The faith of Jairus was less than that of the centurion, for he believed that Christ, even when absent, could heal his servant by a word. And Jesus arose. It is probable that Christ was sitting and teaching the multitude when He rose up at the request of Jairus. Observe the readiness and promptitude of Christ to succour the afflicted. Let Christians imitate Him in this. S. Chrysostom adds, that when Christ first went with Jairus, He proceeded some- what slowly, and conversed for some time with the woman with the issue of blood, that in the meantime the girl might die, and that there might be a manifest proof of the resurrection. Behold, \ a woman , &c. She was from Caesarea, a place called Dan, afterwards Paneas. We learn this . from Eusebius ( H. E. 7. 14). S. Mark relates at greater length this history of the healing of the woman. It will therefore be more convenient to speak of it in the Commentary upon his Gospel (chap. v.). And when Jesus came , &c. Minstrels were persons who, as S. Ambrose says {in S. Luc . c. 8. 52), were hired at funerals, to chant doleful ditties, by which they moved the relations and neighbours to sobbing and tears. There were women minstrels as well as men. Jeremiah speaks of the former (ix. 17), “ Call for the mourning women, that they may come, and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with water.” This was not only a Jewish custom : it was also common among the Gentiles. Minstrels. Gr. flute-players. Theophylact says, that the ancients at the funerals of men sounded with trumpets ; but at the funerals of boys and virgins played upon flutes, as in this case of the daughter of Jairus. This was done, he says, in token of their virginity. He said \ Give place, &c. The girl was really dead, as is plain from verse 18. Christ, however, denied this, and said that she was asleep. 1. Because as S. Jerome says, to God and Himsel( to whom all things live, she was not dead, and because she was to SLEEPING IN THIS LORD. 371 be raised again at the Judgment Day, Wherefore the dead are continually called in the Scriptures, those who sleep . 2. And better, because this girl was not dead in the sense in which the multitude thought her dead, namely, altogether and absolutely dead, as though it were not possible for her to be recalled to life, when by the extraordinary providence of God that very thing was shortly about to be done. Thus she was not so much really dead, as sleeping for a little while. Thus too, when Lazarus was dead, Christ speaks of him as sleeping, (John xi. 1 1.) So Maldonatus, Jansen, and others explain. Moreover the soul of this deceased girl, like the souls of others whom Christ and His saints have raised from the dead, was not yet judged, or condemned to hell, or purgatory. But God’s judgment was suspended, because it was His will to bring her back to life. S. Chrysostom adds, Christ shows by this expression that it was as easy to Him to raise the dead, as to awake men out of sleep, and therefore we should not fear death, for when He comes nigh, it is no longer death but sleep. And they laughed him to scorn , &c. Christ, says Chrysostom, permitted this, that the girl’s death might be better attested, and so the greater the belief in Him when He did raise her from death. But when the people were put forth , he went in, with, says S. Mark, the parents of the child, and Peter, James, and John. Christ put forth the crowd, because they were not worthy, says the Interlinear, to see that which they would not believe. S. Jerome says, they were unworthy to behold the mystery of the resurrection, who had derided Him who was about to raise. Christ teaches us when we are doing some great work, to avoid multitudes and tumult, which distract the mind, that we may give the full force of our mind to our work and to prayer. Tropologically, S. Gregory says, u That the dead soul may arise, the multitude of worldly cares must be cast out of the heart." Symbolically, the Gloss says, “ When the scornful deriders have been rejected, Christ enters into the minds of the elect." 372 ALLEGORY OF THE CHURCH. Anagogicculy , S. Hilary : “ How few are the elect may be under- stood from the multitude being cast out.” Took her by the hand \ That is, like a magistrate He laid His hand upon the corpse, as upon one who was guilty. He seizes it, •and conquers it, and, as though it were a captive, He subjugates it to Himself. The Greek is iKpdrq<r€, and the word denotes the efficacy of the power and empire of Christ. He held the hand of the dead body, as though ruling and commanding it, and so mightily operating upon it as to raise it from death unto life. For by His hand He raised the body from the earth, and recalled the soul into it from the unseen world, saying to it in Syriac, Talitha cumi— that is, Maid, arise . “For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son giveth life to whom he will.” (John v. 21.) And the maid arose . Greek fjytpQr ) — was roused up, and awoke. Christ raised her to life, as easily as if He were waking one who was asleep. Mark adds, And he commanded that something should be given her to tat . This was that the resurrection might be seen to be real. And the fame hereof .... into all that land — that is, into the whole of Galilee. All men spread abroad the news, and cele- brated this resurrection of the maid by Christ, speaking of it as a new, unheard of, and Divine work. And in so doing they preached Christ, that He was a prophet — yea, the Messiah. SS. Hilary, Ambrose, and Jerome say that these things are an allegory of the Church. The woman with the issue of blood, who received health and the salvation of her soul before the daughter of the chief of the synagogue, or the Jews, is the people of the Gentiles ; for after the fulness of the Gentiles has entered into the Church, the Jews shall be converted, and saved at the end of the world. Whence the Gloss says, Jairus — illuminating, or illuminated, is Moses, who, beholding the Lord about to come in the flesh, prays for his daughter — that is, the Synagogue, who, brought up by the Law and the Prophets, languishing in error, is dead in sins, but nevertheless is in the house — that is, in the WHOM CHRIST RAISED TO LIFE. 373 worship of God. And S. Jerome says, "Even until tills day, the Synagogue lies dead, and they who seem to be teachers — the Jewish Rabbin — are flute-players and minstrels, singing a mourn- ful chant ; and the Jews are not a multitude of believers, but of people making a noise.” Tropclogically , both the woman healed of the issue of blood, and Jairus’ daughter raised from the dead, denote the sinful soul, which Christ raises from the death of sin to the life of grace ; but first, the friends and minstrels must be driven out — that is, the depraved companions and the w icked spirits ; for they soothe the soul with their dittie6, and detain it in the death of sin. They make flattering suggestions. They chant that sin is not deadly, or that some indulgence must be granted to youth, that all may be atoned for by repentance when old, and so on. Thus Christ touches the soul. By His mighty power He takes her by the hand, gives her life, and raises her up from the deep of death to the summit of life. By-and-by she is bidden to walk , that is, do good works; and to eat , that is, to feed on the Eucharist, that it may strengthen and confirm her life. Only the three chief Apostles are present, that it may be signi- fied that Christ, by the Apostles and their successors, will raise sinners from death ; and that this is the prime and chid* power of the Apostles, concerning which Christ saith, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.” (Johnxx. 23.) Lastly, Christ is recorded to have raised three dead persons only to life — first, this maid of twelve years old, whom He raised immediately upon her decease. The second was the young man, the widow’s son, whom He raised as he was being carried to the tomb. The third w f as Lazarus, whom He called out of his sepul- chre, after he had lain there four days. First, the young girl denotes those who from age — for young people are fervid and inexperienced — or from frailness, or from infirmity, fall into sin, but very soon, being touched by God, see their fall, and easily repent, and rise again. Secondly, the 374 SHARP-SIGHTED BLINDNESS, young- man denotes those who have fallen repeatedly into sin, and are verging* upon a habit of sin. These are with more difficulty recalled to life. They need more powerful and efficacious grace. So it came to pass that Christ commanded the bearers of the young man to stand still. And touching the bier, He said in a com- manding manner, Young man , I say unto thee , Arise, Thirdly, Lazarus denotes those who have grown old in sin. These are with great difficulty recalled. They need the most efficacious grace and vocation of God. And the symbol or indication of this, was Christ's groaning, weeping, and crying with a loud voice, Lazarus , come forth . Therefore Rabanus and others think that, symbolically, by the raising of the girl is meant the repentance of one who has only sinned in thought : by the young man, the re- pentance of those who have sinned in deed as well as in thought : by Lazarus, their repentance, who have contracted a habit and practice of sin. Lastly, Christ here teaches that secret and light sins are blotted out by secret repentance, and therefore the girl was raised in the house. But public sins need a public remedy, there- fore he recalled the young man and Lazarus to life publicly, before multitudes. And passing on from thence , ije^ from Jairus’ house, two blind men , &c. These blind men hadconceived the hope of recovering their sight from Christ from the many and great miracles which they had heard were done by Him. Therefore they said, Have mercy upon us, pity our blindness, w'hich is the greatest misery, and restore to us the light of the sun. We believe that Thou art the Son of David, that is, the Messiah, to whom this healing of blindness and other diseases has been promised by the Prophets. (Is. xxxv. 5 ; lxi. i.) For Messiah had been promised to David as his Son, that He should be sprung from his posterity. Wherefore Messiah was always called by the Jews, the Son of David . There- fore these men, whose bodily eyes were blind, had sharp-sighted minds, as a certain writer exclaims, “ O that darkness brighter than any light : O those most piercing eyes of blindness 1 ” And when he was come into the house , &c. The house , that is to XRR0R OP LUTHER. 37S say, His own, which Christ had hired at Capernaum, as I have said on chap. iv. 13. Christ did not answer the blind men as they cried unto Him in the way, and asked their sight He put them off until He came into the house, 1. That He might prove them, and kindle their faith and desire of healing. 2. That He might teach the necessity of persevering in prayer. Believe ye , He says, that I am able to do thist He does not say, that I am about to do it ? but, that I am able to do it t For faith is properly in the Omnipotence of God. This is why we say in the Creed, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” This faith then gave rise to hope, insomuch that these blind men conceived the hope that what Christ was able to do, that He would do. Away then with the faith of the Innovators, by which they believe, that their sins have been forgiven to them- selves in particular, for the merits of Christ, and that they are justified, and sons of God. They believe, I say, in their own false imagination, by which they say that they most firmly believe it by Divine faith, when they only imagine it, and dream of it. For nothing can be believed, except what has been revealed by God. But it has not been revealed to thee, O Luther, that thou art justified (jusiuni ), therefore thou canst not believe it. Then he touched their eyes , &c. Christ heal* them by the touch qf His hands, to manifest their saving power. “ The confession of their mouth is requited by the touch of kindness,” says the Gloss . And Jesus straitly charged them . The Greek is, b'tftpmyTaro, the Vulgate commmatus est: which means literally, He sharply and sternly threatened them . He did this to show His 9trong dislike of ostentation in His miracles, and of vain glory, and to teach us to dislike it. But they spread abroad his fame m all that counity. These blind men did not offend against the strict charge of Christ by publish- ing His miracle, as Calvin would have it, for they persuaded themselves that Christ had done so, not by an absolute precept, but only out of modesty, for the reason I have given. And no wonder 37 $ THE DUMB MAH. that the blind men thought so, for the Fathers are persuaded that Christ spoke in this sense. Hear S. Chrysostom : “ To another He says, Declare the glory of God; surely He teaches that they are to be rebuked, who wish to praise us for our own sakes, but not if they do so for the glory of God.” And S. Jerome says, “ The Lord, because of humility, avoiding the glory of boasting, gave this command ; but they, in remembrance of His grace, were not able to keep silent about His kindness.” They brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil . Gr. Kwf>bv, which rather means deaf than dumb , but the word, says S. Jerome, is used indifferently, in both senses, in Scripture. For they who are deaf from their birth, are usually dumb ; tor they who cannot hear anything, are not able to learn sounds and words, so as to speak them. For we only learn what we hear. Wherefore Christ did not require faith from this man as He did from others. So S. Chrysostom, Theophylact Moreover, the word dumb is not to be referred to the devil, as Cajetan thinks, but to the man, as is clear from the Greek &upo- vi£ 6 fuvcv. The Syriac translation makes this plain, They offered unto him a dumb man, in whom was a demon. This was a different demoniac from the one of whom Luke speaks (xi. 14), for of this latter Matthew speaks below (xii. 22). Here Christ fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Him (chap, xxxv.), “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.” And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake . From this it appears that the demon made this man deaf and dumb, who was not so naturally. He did this by hindering the use of his tongue and ears, so that, when he was cast out, the dumb man both spake and heard. How wonderful was the benignity and mercy of Christ by which He made whole a man who neither asked nor thought about it — yea, who was unable either to speak or think, tor he was possessed by a devil — simply at the prayer of those who brought him. Verily, wheresoever there is greatest affliction, there are most nigh the mercy and help of Christ, JESUS PREACHES IN VILLAGES. 377 according- to the words, “The abyss'* of our misery, “calls to the abyss ” of the Divine mercy. (Ps. xlii. 7.) The multitudes marvelled, saying, &c. Neither Moses nor Elias, nor Isaiah, nor any other of the prophets, performed so many and so great miracles as Jesus did. Therefore He was greater than they, and so was the Messias, or Christ. They preferred Christ, says S. Chrysostom, to all others, because He quickly healed an infinite number of incurable diseases. But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils . As among the angels, so also among the devils, some are lower, others higher in rank, and princes, viz., those of the higher orders who fell, who were of a grander nature ; for that which was theirs naturally remained in the devils after their fall. Thus those who fell of the Seraphim, the Cherubim, and the Thrones are princes among the lower orders of the Dominions, the Princi* palities, and the Powers ; and these again are princes over the in- ferior fallen orders of Virtues, Archangels, and Angels. Thus even among rebel soldiers there are standard-bearers, colonels, captains. For without these an army cannot be marshalled and governed. Lucifer is the prince of all the devils, as S. Michael is ot all the angels, as I have said on Apoc. xii. Observe the different disposiw tions of the Pharisees and the multitude. The multitude, with artless candour, magnified the miracles of Christ as done by a Divine Person, even the Messiah. But the Pharisees were envious of Christ, and had indignation against Him, and said that He was a magician, and had a familiar demon, by whose magic art He did these wonderful things. This was the awful blasphemy which Christ refutes in chap xii. 25. But now, meekly bearing and despising their charges, He proceeds in His course of doing good, and confutes their blasphemies by fresh miracles. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, &c. Villages, in the Vulgate, castella . Castrum is a place surrounded by walls, and is greater than a castle and less than a town, from whence the diminutive caslellum means a little lawn . These castella, then, were torts, or small walled towns; and the meaning became 2 c 37^ the spiritual harvest. extended to signify villages without walk, which the Greeks cail #ca>AUZ9. Christ visited pot only inhabitants of cities, and those who were had in honour, but poor men and rustics dwelling in villages, and taught and healed them. Let priests and religious imitate this example of Christ. Desire not, O preacher, to hold forth in the magnificent cathedrals of great cities, for Christ taught in villages, as well as in cities, and thus He was the Catechist and Preacher, as well as the Redeemer, of the sparsely scattered and poor rustics. But when he saw the multitudes , &c. Had compassion , the Greek is l<nr\ayxyur$rj, that is, pitted them from His inmost bowels . This is the same word, as to its use, as the Hebrew Dm rechem, " bowels/* and so, mercifulness . As sheep having no shepherd \ There is no animal so simple^ careless, improvident, so exposed to be the prey of wolves and other wild beasts, and therefore so needing a keeper, as a sheep. Christ takes notice that the Scribes and priests, did not care for the good of the people, to lead them in the way of salvation. And so they were not pastors, but shearers of the sheep, who only cared for the milk and the fleece, that is, for what profit they could make out of the people. The Scribes, says S. Chrysostom, were not so much shepherds of the sheep as wolves, for in word they taught them false and perverse doctrines, and by their example they destroyed the souls of the simple ones, especially in that they called Christ a magician, and so alienated from Him the minds of those who were well disposed to Him. The harvest truly is plenteous , &c. The harvest He calls the multitude of the people prepared to receive the Gospel, the seeds of which the Prophets had sown. Whence, as S. Austin saith, “ the holy Apostles reaped among the Jews, but sowed among the Gentiles, oecause they delivered to them the first doctrines of the faith, as it were seed.” Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest , &c., namely, that He would send you, O ye Apostles, and your co-adjutors and ■jfHE LORD OF THE HARVEST* 379 successors, and inspire them with the spirit of wisdom and zeal, assiduously to preach and to labour, that this so copious a harvest perish not The Lord of the harvest . Thus, tacitly, Christ calls Himself. As S. Chrysostom says, the Lord sent His Apostles to reap that which He Himself had sown by the Prophets. Remigius adds, The number ot labourers was increased by the appointment of seventy-two other disciples. Here ends the early manhood of Christ and His Acts from His Baptism and first Passover until His second Passover. That is to say, it is the history of one year and some months. This was the thirty-first year of Christ's age. F-ND of vol. ». 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Say in a word only. Meaning, There is no need that Thou shouldst be present to touch my servant ; but though Thou art absent, give the command, and my servant will be imme- diately healed. The centurion therefore believed that Christ was God who is everywhere present, and commandeth and worketh WONDER AS SPOKEN 07 CHRIST. 327 whatsoever He will, or at least, that Christ was an extraordinary prophet, and most dear to God — in other words, the Messiah promised to the Jews, who, in God's name in Judaea, ordered ail thing's according to His own will. For I also am a man under authority , Ac. If I have authority over a few soldiers, so that they obey my behests, how much more, O Christ, who hast power over all things, canst Thou make diseases obey Thee? Or, if I, who am placed under the authority of my tribune and of Caesar, can yet give my orders to the soldiers under me, how much more canst Thou, O Christ, who art under the power of none, but art God omnipotent and Lord of all, do whatsoever Thou wilt ? so that even if absent Thou shouldst say to the disease, I mean my servant's palsy, Go away , immediately it will depart : if Thou shouldst say, Come, straightway it would come. For diseases are, as it were, Thy ministers and satellites, whom Thou at a nod sendest upon the guilty, and whom, when sinners repent and are suppliant, Thou recallest. S. Jerome commends the faith of the centurion, who, though he was a Gentile, believed that one who was paralytic could be healed by the Saviour; his humility, in that he deemed himself unworthy that He should come under his roof ; his prudence, because he beheld the Divinity lying hid beneath Its corporeal veil, for he knew that not that which was seen, even by unbelievers, could help him, but that which was within, which was unseen. When Jesus heard , he marvelled . Whence Origen says, “ Consider how great a thing, and what sort of thing, that was which the Only-Begotten God marvels at. Gold, riches, kingdoms, princi- palities in His sight are as shadows, or as fading flowers. None of these things therefore in His sight are wonderful, as though they were great or precious. Faith alone is such : this He honours and admires : this He counts acceptable to Himself." You will ask, could wonder really exist in Christ ? I would lay down that in Christ, according to the common opinion of theologians, besides that Divine knowledge which He had as God, there was a threefold knowledge, as He was man. I. Beatific , by 328 THE CENTURION’S FAITH which He beheld the essence of God, and in the enjoyment of which He was blessed 2. Infused \ by which, through the appear- ances sent into His soul by God, at the very moment of His Con- ception, He knew all things. 3. Experimental , by which those things which He understood by infused knowledge, He daily saw, heard, and understood experimentally. I answer therefore, that in Christ wonder did not exist properly and absolutely, as something which flows from the depths of the heart. For wonder arises in us when we see or hear something new. But Christ, by means of infused knowledge, knew all things before they were done. Since therefore He was omni- scient, nothing was to Him new, unknown, unexpected, or wonder- ful. Christ, however, stirred up in Himself, as it were, by experi- mental knowledge, when He met with anything new or wonderful, a certain, as it were, interior act of wonder, and the outward expression of that wonder, that so He might teach others to marvel at the same. Thus S. Augustine (lib. 1. de Gen . contra ManicJuRos ) : “ Who indeed, save Himself, had wrought in the man that very faith at which He marvelled ? But even if another had wrought it, why should He marvel who had foreknowledge ? That the Lord wondered signifies that we must wonder, for whom it is needful as yet that we should thus be moved. But all such movements in Christ are signs, not of a perturbed mind, but of one teaching authoritatively." So also S. Thomas. Very well saith S. Cyprian (Tract, de Spectaculis), “ Never will he wonder at human works who has known himself to be a child of God. He has been cast down from the height of his nobility, who is able to admire anything after God." And he said to them which foll/wed \ &c. When Christ says, I have not found so great faith , no, not in Israel , you must understand Him to speak of the ordinary run of people at the time of His preach- ing, for there was without doubt greater faith in the Blessed Virgin, in Abraham and Moses, and John the Baptist, and others. Or as S. Chrysostom, I have not found so great faith , that is, in pro- portion, for this centurion was a Gentile ; those were believing GREAT BY COMPARISON. 329 Israelites. The same S. Chrysostom prefers the faith of the centurion to the faith of the Apostles at their first vocation. Hear S. Chrysostom: “ Andrew believed, but it was when John said, Behold the Lamb of God. Peter believed, but it was when Andrew had told him the glad tidings of the Gospel. Philip believed, but by reading the Scriptures. And Nathanael first received a sign of Christ's Divinity, and then offered the profession of his faith.” Hear likewise Origen : “ Jairus, a prince of Israel, asking in behalf of his daughter, said not, Say in a word ’ but Com quickly . Nicodemus, when he heard of the Sacrament of faith, answered, How can these things be ? Martha and Mary said, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, as though doubting that the power of God is everywhere present.” But I say unto you , Ac. Christ here predicts the calling of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews. He alludes to Isaiah xliii. 5, Ac., where is predicted the calling of the Gentiles from the four quarters of the earth, their grace and glory. Shall sit down *>., shall rest , says S. Hilary. But the Greek is faaxXtBfrwra^ i.e.y shall lie down as on a triclinium , or couch. They shall feast as guests at a magnificent entertainment. For to this the kingdom of heaven, and the felicity of Christ and His saints, is often compared, because of their perfect joy, security, and satis* faction. There is an allusion to Ps. xvii. 1 5, “ When thy glory shall appear, I shall be satisfied” (Vulg.) ; and Ps. xxxvi. 8, “ They shall be inebriated with the richness of thine house, and thou shalt give them to drink from the torrent of thy pleasure” (Vulg.)- But the children of the kingdom , Ac., />., destined and called to the kingdom as being Israelites, as being the progeny of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whose seed God had promised both the earthly kingdom of Judah, and the spiritual kingdom of eternal glory in heaven. By a similar Hebrew idiom, they are called children of death, of hell, of the resurrection, to whom death or hell is threatened, or to whom the resurrection has been promised. 330 ANCIENT FEASTS. Into the outer darkness , of hell. Christ still keeps up the metaphor of a feast in the kingdom of heaven, a feast therefore in which was abundance of light. Observe that most of the ancients did not dine, or at least out very sparingly, alter the manner of a lunch, but made supper their chief meal, at which they fed heartily, and were hilarious. And this was the time when they made their feasts, because then they had ease and leisure. For they did this, as Horace says, not to break into the day. Hence the triclinia , where feasts were made, were called supper- rooms. It is plain that this was the custom among the Hebrews from the constant mention in Holy Scripture of supper and supptr chatnbers , but rarely of dinner. Examples are the supper of Darius (3 Esdr. iii. 1), of Holofemes (Judith xii. 5), of Herod (Mark vi. 21), &c. In the Old Testament there is no mention of dinner except in Tobit ii. I, Daniel xiii. 13, and Esther, when the Jews had been carried away to Assyria and Babylon, where they followed the customs of the Gentiles, and ate as those nations did. I except Jeroboam I., king of Israel, who invited the prophet who restored his hand home to dine with him. ( 1 Kings xiii. 7.) But this king was an idolater, the maker of the golden calves which the Israelites worshipped. So that it is not at all strange that he should affect gluttonous feasts. Moreover, the first Christians were wont to fast until eventide, as Tertullian shows (lib. I de Jejun. c. 10). Indeed, as late as the time of S. Thomas Aquinas, who flourished a.d. 1270, it was customary to fast until three o’clock in the afternoon, when Christ expired upon the cross. And he who took food before that hour was considered not to have fasted, according to a decree of the Council of Cabillon. (See D. Thomas 2. 2. quasi. 147, art. 7, where, however, Chalcedon has crept in instead of Cabillon.) Since, then, they did not dine at midday, but supped at night, there was abundance of light at the ancient feasts, as Virgil says : — “ From golden roofs the lamps depend, And darkness from the guests defend.” DUr? TO SERVANTS. 331 With the guests, then, and in the supper- hall, was light, but without was darkness, which is here called the outer darkness — that is, outside the banquet. The meaning of the passage is : the children of the kingdom the Jews, destined, for the sake of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the kingdom of heaven, on account of their unbelief, in refusing to believe in Christ, shall be excluded from the royal and heavenly feast, and shall be driven into the outer darkness of hell. Jesus saith unio the centurion , &c. From this it would appear that Christ had not gone into the centurion’s house, nor touched his servant ; but in the very place where the centurion met Him, there He healed the sick man, that He might confirm his master in the faith that He was the Messiah — yea, that He might show Himself to be God; for great faith gains great rewards, great confidence gains great things. As much as thou expectest from God, so much shalt thou obtain. Whence S. Bernard (on Ps. Qui habitat , Serm. 15), explaining tropologically God’s words to Joshua — " Whatsoever place the soles of your feet shall tread upon shall be yours ” — says, “ Hope in the Lord, all ye congregation of the people; all that your feet tread upon shall be yours; for your foot is your hope.” Let masters learn from this narrative what great care they ought to bestow upon their servants, and how dear they ought to be to them. So dear was this servant to the centurion, that he employed the aid of the elders and his friends to call Christ to heal him. So too, in turn, ought servants to obey their masters with the greatest zeal, love, and reverence. Wisely saith Seneca, although he was a heathen (. Epist . 47), “ Are they servants? Still they are men. Are they servants ? Still they belong to thy family. Are they servants? Yet they are thy fellow-servants, if thou con- siderest how both are in the power of fortune.” And then he gives examples of servants who had been well treated by their masters, who were prepared to lay down their lives for them, if by so doing they could avert danger from them. Wherefore that 332 ORDER OF THE NARRATIVE. common saying* is false, “As many servants, so many enemies.’* “ For/’ saith he, “we do not have them as enemies, but we make them enemies, by treating them unkindly.” Wherefore let all masters and superiors act towards their dependents as this cen- turion acted towards his servant, especially by bringing them to Christ, to be healed of the diseases of their souls, if not of their bodies. Mystically , the centurion is every one who rules over his mem- bers, senses, and faculties, so that they, as it were soldiers, may fight for and serve God. And when he uas come into Peter" s house, &c. We have here an inverted order of the narrative, for this miracle, and the other works of Christ which Matthew proceeds to relate, as far as the end of chap. ix. took place before the healing of the leper and the centurion's servant, before, indeed, the Sermon on the Mount, as may be gathered from Mark i. 23 and 29, Lukeiv. 32 and 38, and, indeed, from S. Matthew himself. For the Sermon on the Mount was delivered in the hearing of the Twelve Apostles, and there- fore of S. Matthew himself. Yet he relates his vocation subse- quently to this, in be. 9. The reason is, that Matthew wished to give, at the commencement of Christ's preaching, a summary of His doctrine, and then to relate in order His miracles, both those which He wrought before His sermon, and those which He wrought afterwards, in confirmation of His doctrine. The true order of the narrative is, then, as follows, as may be learnt by comparing Mark and Luke. After Christ had called Peter and Andrew from their fishing to follow Him, as Matthew relates (iv. 18), He entered into Capernaum. There He preached in the synagogue, and healed the demoniac. From thence He proceeded to Peter's house, and healed his mother-in-law. This miracle, therefore, and the others which follow to the end of chap, ix ought, according to chronological sequence, to be inserted in chap, iv., immediately after ver. 22. Into Peter's house , which belonged to Peter and Andrew, as we find in S. Mark i. 29. This house was at Bethsaida, the native 8. PETRONILLA. 333 place of Peter. (See John i. 44.) Bethsaida was close to Capernaum, about half-an-hour's journey. Or it may be that this was Peter’s wife's mother's house, and that she lived in Caper- naum itself, and that Peter was wont to call in there. For Mark and Luke seem to intimate that this miracle was wrought in Capernaum. The mention of this mother-in-law shows that Peter was called in marriage by Christ, and that he left his wife and a daughter, who in time to come, from her father, Peter, was called Petronilla. None of the Apostles, except Peter, are spoken of in the Gospels as having a wife. Peter’s wife was called Perpetua, says Molanus, although others called her Concordia, and others again, Mary. In after time, when she had been converted to Christ, and was being led to martyrdom for her faith in Him, she was strengthened by S. Peter, who said, “ O spouse, remember the Lord." This is related by Clement of Alexandria ( Strom . lib. 2). Petronilla, on account of her great beauty, was sought in mar- riage by a nobleman named Flaccus. She asked for three days to deliberate. The term being expired, she received Holy Com- munion from the priest Nicomede, after which she gave up her soul to God, and is reckoned among the Virgin Saints. Her name occurs in the Calendar on the last day of May, and her relics are still preserved at Rome, in the Basilica of S. Peter. Sick of a freer; a great fever , says S. Luke. Tropologically , the fever of the soul is the fire of concupiscence, the burning heat of lust, of gluttony, of pride, of envy, &c. Listen to S. Ambrose (lib. 4 in Luc . c. 4, ver. 38). “ Under the type of Simon's wife’s mother, our flesh languishes under the fevers of various spiritual sicknesses, and is tempest-tossed by the varied enticements of immoderate desires. The fever of love, I may say, is no less than of heat The one inflames the mind, the other the body. Our avarice is a fever, our lust is a fever. Hence the Apostle says, ‘If they cannot contain let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.' ” He sub- joins the example of Theotimus, who, being told by his physicians that if he married he would lose his sight exclaimed, “Farewell, dear light." 334 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN Christ comes as the heavenly physician to quench the heat of this fever of concupiscence within us by the dew of His grace, that grace which must be incessantly implored by those who are thus fevered in soul. Whosoever then thou art # who labourest under the fever of con- cupiscence, I do not say that thou shouldst embrace a monastic life, or that thou shouldst macerate thy body by hair shirts or the scourge, or drink nothing but water. I make an easy suggestion ; frequently receive Holy Communion, and by so doing receive Christ into the house of thy soul. He is a virgin, and the son of a virgin, and by His own virgin flesh He will extinguish this fire. This assuredly is the most powerful medicine against lust, as Holy Scripture teaches, and the holy Fathers testify, and daily expe- rience confirms. For this is “ the wheat of the elect, and the wine that maketh virgins.” (Zech. ix. 17, where see my com- mentary.) There are nine correspondences between fever of the body and fever of the soul. 1. There is fever when noxious moisture and abnormal heat, opposed to the natural heat, affect the heart. Thus too there is fever in the soul when man's will is steeped in the love of concupiscence, which is contrary to the love of God. 2. As fever takes away the healthy disposition of the secretions of the body, so does the fever of the soul put an end to the due regulation of its passions and affections. 3. As fever is known by a violent pulse, so may the soul's fever be discerned by excessive cares and anxieties, as it were pulsating in the mind. 4. Fever excites thirst, which those who are in a fever do not quench by drinking, but rather augment, so does the soul's fever excite a thirst for riches, honours, and pleasures which is not extinguished by the possession of them, but increased. 5. Fever arises from cold, and ends in burning heat. So does the soul's fever often arise from negligence, ease, and torpor. Hence is the cupidity of luxury and pride kindled and inflamed. 6. Fever vitiates the taste, making sweet things and honey itself BODILY AND SPIRITUAL FEVERS. 335 appear bitter ; so the soul's fever makes divine things — such as spiritual reading — appear insipid. 7. Fever makes a sound, flourishing, and beautiful body appear weak, pallid, ugly; so too does the soul's fever make the soul weak, unnerved, deformed. 8. Fever agitates a man, will not suffer him to rest; so does the soul's fever make a man unquiet, so that he cannot fix his mind, but, ever unstable, he falls into lust after lust. 9. As one fever is apt to produce another, so does one vice beget another and yet another. In short, the heretic labours under a pestilential fever; the slothful man under a hectic and slow fever; the glutton under a daily, and the inconstant man under a tertian fever. And he touched her hand , &c. S. Luke adds, He commanded the fever . Gr. brerlfiiprt ru> irvpcr<£, t\e. y He rebuked the fever . As Euthymius says, with powerful authority He commanded, and as it were, threatened the fever. Well says B. Peter Chrysologus ( Serm . 18), “Ye see how the fever let go its hold of her whom Christ held. There stood not infirmity where the Author of salvation was present There could be no approach of death there where the Lifegiver had entered. He took her by the hand \ it is said. What need could there be for touching her, when He had the power to command ? Christ took hold of this woman's hand, for life, because Adam from a woman's hand had received death. He held her hand, that what the hand of presumptuous Eve had lost, the hand of her Maker might restore. When even was come . . . he healed many that were sick . S. Luke says (iv. 40), by imposition of hands. For Christ did not dis- dain, with His most pure and Divine hands, to touch those who had ulcers, running sores, and leprosies, that He might show the power and virtue of His Divine touch, and heal them all. Thai it might be fulfilled , &c. These words of Isaiah have a two- fold meaning. The first is concerning diseases of the soul, i.e., sins and their penalty, which Christ took upon Himself, and abolished upon the cross. This was Isaiah's chief meaning, as 336 COVETOUSNESS OF THE SCRIBE. appears from what follows, and from the words, He carried. The second meaning* concerns diseases of the body, which are at once the types and result of diseases of the soul. These too, Matthew here says, Christ bore : not by actually becoming diseased Himself, but by compassion, and by wholly healing those who were diseased. Hence the Syriac translates, He shall sustain our sicknesses. Christ bore so many torments, and even the death of the cross, that He might do away with all infirmities, and death itself, either in this life or at the resurrection — in other words, that He might take away sin with all its consequences and penalties. Thus therefore Christ carried our sins, thus also our diseases and punishments. And thus Christ had the power of healing diseases in that He Himself took them upon Himself, by atoning for and expiating them upon the cross. Thus S. Chrysostom and Origen (See my comment on Is. liii. 4.) And a certain scribe came to him , &c. This doctor of the Law seeing Jesus preparing to depart, and cross over the lake, and being moved by His preaching and miracles, and the concourse of applauding people, desired to be associated with Him as a disciple with a master. And Jesus said unto him , &c. Nests; the Greek has jtaraorop'OTct?, t\e., shady coverts made by the boughs and leaves of trees. S. Cyprian (lib. I. ad Quirinum , c. 11), and S. Augustine translate the word, inns. The meaning is — common, worthless, and even noxious animals, such as foxes and birds of prey, have places of rest and shelter ; but the Son of Man, He who was born of the Virgin, and made man, hath nothing of His own, not a cushion, or a bed, or a bench on which to rest His head. Christ here detects and uncovers the latent ulcer of covetous- ness in the Scribe. It is as though He said to him, “Thou desirest to follow Me because thou seest Me pleasing to the people, because of the healing and benefits which I bestow upon them. Hence thou hopest, in following Me, to increase thy pos- sessions, and pick up many gifts, as though I made Me and Mine HERESY 07 DES1DERIUS. 337 rich by the Gospel. But thou art mistaken, for I, as it were, the Master of perfection, am poor and a lover of poverty Myself, and such I wish My disciples to be, that being free from the care ot things temporal, they may be wholly at leisure for God and preaching.” When the Scribe heard this he was silent ; and, being disappointed of his hope, withdrew himself from the eyes of Christ, as Matthew tacitly intimates. Thus S. Hilary, Theophy- lact, Euthymius, and S. Jerome explain. “ Why,” says S. Jerome, “do you wish to follow Me for the sake of riches and worldly gain, when I have not even one little guest-chamber?” Let religious, who unite themselves to God by the profession of poverty, imitate this example of Christ, and look for support to His Providence. This passage also refutes the heresy of those who condemn voluntary poverty, which religious profess. The originator of this heresy was a certain Lombard, named Desiderius* in the time of Pope Alexander IV., and another called William of Holy Love, in the same age, who are entirely con- futed by SS. Thomas and Bonaventura. By an entirely opposite error, other heretics, called Apostolici , have falsely concluded from this passage, as S. Augustine testifies (Hares. 40), that this abso- lute poverty is necessary for all men for salvation. From the same passage the Waldenses, or Poor Men of Lyons, and Wick- lifFe, have falsely argued that it is unlawful for bishops and priests to possess any property, but that they ought to live only on alms, because Christ did so. But Christ did so being perfect, and gave it as a counsel, not as a command necessary to salvation. Hence this error is denounced by many decrees of Councils. From this passage it is also plain that poverty, and its very marrow and efficacy, consist in this — that a man should possess and affect nothing as though it were his own, but should keep his affections free for God alone, to serve Him. And it is not repug- nant to this spirit, but conformable to it, to possess in common things necessary for life. And so, by a decree of the Council of Trent (Sess. 25, c. 3), all religious, except the Franciscans, are % 338 THE MEANING OF allowed to own even real property in common, that they may not be forced to beg, nor be anxious about supplies, nor become burdensome to the faithful. For even Christ and the Apostles had goods in common, of which Judas was the steward and dis- penser, as appears from John xii. 6. Son of Man. That is, Man sprung from man, as Christ con- stantly calls Himself, in His love of humility, because He who was God deigned for our sakes to become incarnate, and be made man. But of what man is Christ the Son ? First, by man, the heathen understood Joseph, whence they contended that he was begotten of Joseph, not conceived by the Holy Ghost, as S. Justin testifies ( Quasi . 66 ad Or/hodoxos). But this is contrary to Scripture and the Creeds. 2. Theophylact says, Christ is the Son of Man, id., of the Virgin Mary, His mother; for man is common gender, and may be used of a male or a female, like the Greek SvOpanro?. But the addition in Greek of the masculine article shows that the word is here restricted to signify a male. 3. And more probably, others say, Son of Man, id., of Abra- ham, or David ; for to them it was promised that of their posterity the Messiah, or Christ, should be born. 4. Others, Christ is the Son of Man, i.e., of mm, as of the patri- archs and kings, from whom Matthew has deduced his genealogy. 5. And last, Christ is the Son of Man, i.e., of Adam, because He, like all other men, was sprung from Adam. For Adam is called absolutely man, because he was the first man, and the parent of all other men. Hence Adam, in Hebrew, means man. There is a reference to Ezek. ii. 1. Ezekiel, who is a type of Christ, is called son of man, in Hebrew, bm-adam, i.e., eon of Adam. Whence S. Gregory Nazianzen (de Theolog. Oral. 4) says, Christ is called Son of Adam, according to the Hebrew, not to show that He had a man for His father, but that through the Virgin Mary He derived His generation from Adam. For He willed to be born of Adam, that by this means He might repair SON OF MAN. 339 the Fall of Adam and his posterity. Hence S. Augustine (lib. 2 de Cottsms. Evang . c. i) says, “He commendeth unto us how mercifully He hath deigned to be of us, and, as it were, com- mending* the mystery of His wonderful Incarnation, He often sounds this title (Son of Man) in our ears.” Son of Man signifies more than man, because man can be created by God alone, as Adam was created; but Son of Man signifies sprung from Adam, the common parent, that first might be set forth the infinite humility of Christ, that He should deign to be sprung from a sinful man, and to receive in Himself his miseries and his mortality in that earthly body which He assumed. For Adam is derived from Adama, the ground \ as homo from humus , mor/alis from mors , “death.” (See what I have said on Ezek. ii. i.) 2. There is shown the wonderful brotherhood and charity of Christ to men, whereby He willed to be born in Bethlehem, of the same common parent Adam, that He might become the Brother of all men, and akin to them in blood, that He might be closely grafted into human nature, and united to it, even to the whole company of mankind, by human generation and natural birth from man, after the manner which I explained on chap. i. 18, according to those words of Isaiah, “ Unto us a Son is born, a Child is given.” Son oj Man therefore denotes the perfect kind- ness, friendship, and condescension of Christ, and the blandish- ments of His love, by which He offers Himself to men as the Son of Man , as a Child to children, that with' Him, as a most sweet Little One, as a most delightsome Brother, they may take delight, and have pleasure, according to the words, “ My delight is with the sons of men.” (Prov. viii.) Why dost thou fear, O man, to draw nigh to Jesus ? Lo I He is the Son of Man, Why tremblest thou, O sinner, at the wrath of God ? Come unto Jesus, the Son of Man , made a little Child for thee. In the whole world there is no Child so sweet — no son so dear. For “the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” And “ the Son of Matt came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Son of Man , therefore, is the proper z 2 340 ANECDOTE OF S. PHILIP. name of, or rather the name appropriated to Christ. It is the mark of His dignity, and of His love, the wonder of all ages, that the Only- Begotten Son of God should, for men, deign to become the Son of Man } and to have His converse with men, that He might teach them the way of salvation, and redeem them by His Cross, and make them happy in heaven.

et seq., the necessity of good works and a holy life. Mystically the Rock is Christ, whence the Gloss, “ He builds on Christ who does what he hears of Him.” And the rain descended, &c. The Arabic has, for its foundations were made firm upon the rock . The rain, wind, and rivers are all temptations and adversities whatsoever, whether coming from the world, the flesh, or the devil. They also mean the condemnation which Christ shall pronounce upon the wicked in the Day of Judgment. For this is often expressed in Scripture by the words storm and tempest , as in Isaiah xxviii. 2, “ Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a de- stroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.” He then that is faithful to Christ and His law, being as it were founded by fear and love upon a most firm rock, cares not for the blasts of persecution, nor the .gales of adulation, nor the zephyrs of flattery, nor the north winds of threats, nor the tempest of blows, but in his vocation and ministry stands unshaken in God. Thus like a crag or a rock, which on every side is beaten by the waves of the sea, so he continues unmoved and unsubdued. We have an example in S. Peter, who being set firm upon a rock, that is, the love of Christ, overcame all adverse things. Where- fore when he was commanded by the chiefs of the Sadducees Acts iv. 18) to cease from preaching Christ, he answered, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” S. Gregory Nazianzen ( Orat . 28) thus depicts the Christian philosopher : “ There is a certain fabulous tree, which the more it is cut, the more it flourishes, and rises superior to the knife, which lives by death, and is propagated by cutting, and grows by being consumed.” This, says the Scholiast, is not a fabulous, but a real tree. It is fulfilled in the vine, which, the more it is pruned, the more it sprouts and bears fruit. Nazianzen proceeds, “Thus BUILDING ON THE SAND. 3 T S of d truth is the philosopher. He flourishes amid torments ; and he deems the troubles of life to be the harvest of virtue, and glories in adversity/' And he concludes by showing that there are three things which are invincible — namely, God, an angel, and a philosopher. Two of these cannot be severed, or plucked asunder, God and an angel. The third is a philosopher ; in matter devoid of matter, uncircumscribed by the body, heavenly while on earth, impassible amid sufferings, easily giving himself to be overcome by all things, except that through greatness of mind, in that wherein he suffers himself to be overcome, he overcomes those who seem to have overcome him.

And another of Jus disciples , &c. This disciple was not one of the twelve Apostles, but some other person who was called by Christ to follow Him. We must supply from Luke ix. 59, that Christ previously said to this same person, Follow me . He did not refuse the call of Christ, but wished, after having discharged his debt of filial piety, to be more free to follow Him. So says the Gloss . From the answer of this disciple, given by S. Matthew, we may understand his questioning and vocation by Christ. Lord. Reverently and obediently he speaks to Christ as desiring to do Him service ; whereas the Scribe, with somewhat too much freedom, addressed Christ as Teacher (magister). The one was deservedly left, the other chosen. How much of evil was there in the Scribe ? how much of good was there in this man? says S. Augustine. (Serm. 9 de Verb. Domini.) Suffer me first , &c. Theophylact, and after him Franc. Lucas, think that his father was still living, and that he said in effect — “ Suffer me to remain with my father, who is now an old man, that I may support him until he die. Then, having done what filial duty requires, I will follow Thee." Thus he asked for a long furlough from the spiritual warfare. S. Chrysostom and others expound more plainly and accurately that his father was already dead, and that Christ most opportunely and benignantly called him. As though he said, " Thy father is now deceased, Follow Me. I will be to thee a better Father. He had need of thy good offices, but thou hast need of Mine. He was the author of thy carnal life ; I will give thee spiritual and eternal life." Clement of Alexandria, ( Slromat . lib. 2) thinks that Philip, who was afterwards an Apostle, was the man to whom Christ said, WHO ARE THE DEAD* 341 Suffer the dead to lury their dead . But the objection to this is that Philip had been already called by Christ, and was following Him, as is plain from John i. 43. Unless you assume that Philip had been a follower of Christ before this, but, having heard that his father had departed this life, asked Christ's permission to bury him, but did not obtain it. This would explain why he is here called a disciple by S. Matthew. And another of his disciples. And this seems very probable, especially as Clement relates the matter as certain. But Jesus saith, &c . A second time Jesus calls him. Twice He saith, Follow Me, namely before his excusing himself, and after- wards because He effectually willed him to be His disciple. He puts aside the impediment which he alleged, and forbids him to return to bury his father. But He assigns most convincing reasons for His refusal. He says, Suffer the dead to bury their dead. Observe, Christ does not intend to condemn the burial of the dead, which is a work of mercy praised in the Book of Tobit. But He wished to teach that when God calls He must immediately be obeyed. For God knows our hindrances, and when He calls us in them He wishes us to break them off, and He in effect promises us His grace and help to enable us to do so. Wherefore He lays it down that following the call of God is to be preferred even to the burial of our parents. That is, divine are to be preferred to human duties, religion to nature, God to man. Christ here plays upon the word dead. For first the dead signifies those who are spiritually dead, as unbelievers and those who are destitute of the grace of God. Thus SS. Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine. Afterwards by dead He means those who are corporeally dead. For as a body separated from the soul is dead, so a soul separated from God is dead. As the soul is the life of the body so is God the life of the soul, says S. Augustine. Let the dead, such as the Jews who reject belief in Me ; let those who are steeped in sin and worldliness, bury their own dead , i.e., those who are figuratively dead like themselves, or those of their own relations who are naturally dead, and, it may be, spiritually dead likewise. But as 342 PREACHING THE GOSPEL. for thee, I would have thee follow Me, who am the true Life, and live with Me here through My perfect grace, and in the world to come in perfect glory, and preach this Gospel to others, as Luke adds. Hear S. Ambrose: “He is not allowed to go and bury his father, that thou mayest understand that human things must give way to Divine things/' Tropologically . Christ signifies that they are dead, and busy themselves with dead things, who give up their nlinds to the wills and legacies of parents or relations. But to this His disciple lie says, Thy destiny is to live for God, and as thou hast begun to be alive unto Him by grace, go on thus to live unto Him, and serve Him, the living God. And so leave to the dead and dying the things which are dead and about to die. Thus S. Jerome : “ If the dead bury the dead, we ought to care not for the things which are dead, but for those which are alive, lest whilst we are anxious about the dead we too should be called dead." And S. Chrysostom says, “If it was forbidden to be absent from spiritual things, for the brief space of time needed for burying parents, weigh well the punishment of which they shall be counted worthy who are always absent from those things which are worthy of Christ, because they prefer the worthless and abject affairs of worldly business to things which are indeed necessary, and that even when none compels. Luke adds (ix. 66 ), But go thou and preach the kingdom of God, namely, the way by which men may arrive at the kingdom of heaven — that is to say, by faith, and a life conformed to the Gospel which Christ has made known. As S. Augustine says (< de Verb . Domini, Serm. 7), “When the Lord is preparing men for the Gospel, He will not receive any such excuses as have to do with fleshly and temporal affairs." For, as S. Chrysostom says again, “ It is far better to preach the kingdom of God, and rescue others from death, than to bury one who is dead and can be of no use, especially when there are other persons to discharge the office." And S. Gregory speaks to the same purpose (lib. 19, Moral . c. 14) TEMPEST ON THE LAKE. 343 “Sometimes in our actions lesser good deeds are to be set aside, in favour of other things of greater usefulness. For who is ignorant that it is indeed a good work to bury the dead, but that it is better to preach the Gospel ? ” And when he had gone up into a ship , &c. The Vulgate has navicula , “a little ship,” because they were small boats, which were used for crossing the lake, and for fishing. S. Mark adds (iv. 36), they received him as he was , t\e., as he was teaching the multitudes who were standing upon the shore. And, behold \ there was a great tempest in the sea. S. Luke adds, the waves were filling the ship , and they were in jeopardy . Bede and Strabus and the Gloss are of opinion that in this storm Christ's ship alone was tossed, but not the other little ships which accom- panied them, that Christ might show thereby that He was the Author of the storm arising, as well as of its being made to cease. But it is more correct to suppose that the other \ boats were also storm-tossed, for these boats were near, yea, close to Christ's ship, that there might be shown the greater fury of the tempest, and the greater power of Christ in calming it. Moreover, God permitted this storm to arise from natural causes, such as vapours, and winds concurring with them, so that Christ raised and sent this storm. He did this — 1. That He might declare His power, and show that He is Lord of the sea as well as the land, says Origen. {Horn. 6 in Diver.) Hence the angel who appeared to S. John set his right foot upon the sea, as though commanding it. (Rev. x. 2.) For this angel represented Christ, as Bede, Richard of S. Victor, and others say. 2. That He might exercise His disciples in bearing, as well the persecutions of men as the storms and tempests of wind and rain which they must often experience in going about the world to evangelize it. So Theophylact Whence also S. Chrysostom gives this reason, “ that He might exercise the athletes of the world in temptations and terrors.” 3. That His disciples, and the other passengers in the ship 344 HOW SAILORS PREPAR1 might, through the miracle ot the quelled tempest, believe in Him that He was very and omnipotent God. Topologically^ this tempest in the sea, says S. Chrysostom, was a type of the future trials of the Church. For the ship in the waves represents the Church and the soul in temptations, by which they are quickened and profited. For a life without trial is like a dead sea, as Seneca says ( Epist . 67). And thus a man who is without temptation is like one who is in a swoon, or dead. Temptation rouses him up to exert his faculties, that he may vanquish it. Again, as a tempest drives ships before it, that they may the more speedily arrive at their wished-for haven, so does tempta- tion stimulate a man to greater zeal for virtue, whereby he may be borne on towards heaven. As Chrysologus says (&r. 20), “It is not serene weather which proves the skill of the pilot, it is tempestuous weather which does that. Any sort of a sailor can manage a ship in a gentle breeze, but for the confusion of a tempest the skill of the best captain is needed." The tempest therefore of the waves and winds is the temptation of pride, gluttony, lust, envy, and so on. Let him then who is beaten by temptation do as sailors do in a storm. First they furl their sails, that the fury of the wind may not have so much power over the ship to hurry it to destruction. Thus let him who is tempted furl the sails of his pleasures, and give himself up to fasting and penance. 2. Sailors make for the open sea, that their ship may not strike against rocks. So let him who is tempted flee from the world and worldly things, and let him betake himself to God as a haven of refuge ; and let him say with the Psalmist, “ My soul refused comfort : I thought upon God and was refreshed." (Ps. lxxvii.) 3. Sailors cast fittings and merchandise into the sea, that they may lighten the ship ; so let the tempted unburden themselves by means of contrition and confession of the heavy weight of their sins, and lighten their minds. Hence doctors teach that they who are about to go on a voyage, especially a long and perilous one, FOR A STORM. 345 ought to go to confession, that they may place themselves in a state of grace, as persons drawing nigh to the article of death, not once only, but in a manifold manner. Lastly, a good captain, maintaining his courage, and having presence of mind, tries every way of escaping from the peril of the storm. Let the mind of him who is tempted do the same. A master of a ship, says S. Cyprian ( Tract . de Mortal .) is proved by a storm, as a soldier is by a battle. But he was asleep . This was voluntary, but at the same time natural sleep. I. That the winds and storm might increase, so that Christ's power and authority might be the more manifested by His quelling them. 2. “There is set forth," says S. Ambrose, “the security of His power, that whilst all others were afraid He abode in calm serenity, so that when we are in any similar tribulation we might flee unto Him, and fix our hopes firmly upon Him, according to the saying in Proverbs xxviii. I : “ The righteous is bold as a lion." Moreover the pillow upon which, as S. Mark relates, Christ rested is mystically, I. A good conscience. 2. Resignation to the will of God. 3. Confidence in God's power and provi- dence. For on this a believer rests, and as it were sleeps, in all adversities. Origen ( Horn . 6 in Diversts ) says, Christ slept as to His body, but was awake as to His Deity. The sleep of Jonah when the rest who were in the ship were in peril was a type of this. See what I have there said. Moreover what kind of sleep this of Christ's was, and wherein it differed from ours, see in Toletus, Annotate 43, in 8. cap. Luc. Tropologically , says the Gloss, Christ sleeps when we are negli- gent : but when faith revives He commands the winds and the waves. And he said unto them , Why are ye fearful , &c. He said this before He had stilled the tempest, according to S. Matthew's order in this place, though S. Mark and S. Luke mention it afterwards. It was fitting that the extreme terror of the disciples should be MEANING OF FAITH. 34b calmed before the raging of the sea, and that their waning faith should be strengthened that it might be rewarded by the cessation of the storm. So Jansen and others. Of little faith . For ye do not seem perfectly to believe that I am God ; and ye do not trust to My providential care^ nor believe that whilst I am asleep I know of your peril, and will deliver you from it. So S. Chrysostom. 1. Faith here may be taken in the strict use of the word. Or, 2. for confidence, which is produced and sharpened by faith. On the other hand, little faith is the cause of little confidence. S. Luke gives the striking question of our Lord to them, Where is your faith ? Hear S. Bernard : “ Though the world rages, though the enemy roars, though the flesh itself lusts against the spirit, yet will [ put my trust in Thee.” Then he arose . For rebuked , the Greek has hrcrtfirjcre which corresponds to the Hebrew njtt gaar. He chided, as the Arabic translates, as a master does his servant. Whence S. Mark says, according to the literal translation of the Greek, He threatened the wind , and said unto the sea , Be silent ', be muzzled . By these expressions is denoted the great violence by which the sea was tossed with the winds, such as no human power but only Divine, could make to cease. Here, therefore, Christ shows that He was God, since He, as their Master, commanded the winds and the sea. Tropologically . Christ thought of, and invoked in the mind, commands the persecutions of the Church, and the temptations of the soul, as S. Augustine teaches: “Hast thou heard reviling? It is the wind. Art thou angry ? It is the waves. For when the wind blows, the waves arisen the ship is in peril, thy heart is in danger, for thy heart is tossed by waves. When thou hearest reproach, thou desirest to vindicate thyself. Lo, thou art avenged, and yielding to another’s evil, thou hast shipwrecked thyself. And why is this ? It is because Christ is asleep within thee. Thou hast forgotten Christ. Awake Him therefore ; call Him to remembrance. Let Christ keep vigil within thee. And think thou THE YARD-ARM OF THE CROSS. 347 upon Him. Why shouldst thou wish to be avenged ? He hath cut thee off from vengeance by His cry upon the Cross, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do/ " And after some other remarks, S. Austin proceeds : “ I will refrain from anger, and will return to the quiet of my heart. Christ commanded the sea, and there was a calm. What I have said with reference to anger, you may apply to all your other temptations. Temptation arises, it is the wind. Thou art troubled, it is the waves. Awake Christ and let Him speak with thee/' Allegorically , Bede says: “The ship with its yard-arm is the tree of the Cross, by the help of which we who were sunk in the waves of the sea, proceed as Christ's disciples to the privileges ot the eternal country. For Christ says, ‘ If any man will come after Me, let him take up the Cross and follow Me/ 99 Anagogicallyf Christ slept in the time of His Passion. The tempest arose which was stirred up by the blasts of the devil. The disciples awake the Lord, whose death they had witnessed, by desiring His Resurrection. He rises with a speedy Resurrection. He rebukes the wind — that is, the pride of the devil. He calms the tempest — that is, the insulting madness of the Jews. He chides His disciples, for He upbraided them for their incredulity after His Resurrection/' And there was a great calm , for as S. Jerome says, “ All creatures feel their Creator; and things which are senseless to us are sensible to Him." Or, as Origeri says, “It became Him who was so great to do great things." And the men marvelled , saying , &c. These men were not the disciples, but the sailors and others who were in the ship of Jesus, and in the other ships which accompanied it. For, as Origen says, “ The disciples are never named but with the mark of distinction, Apostles , or Disciples ." What manner of man . The Greek is irorairos, which is not simply a particle of interrogation, but is uttered with an emphasis of wonder and admiration. “ Who is this ? He does not seem to be like other men, but a Being of a different race." 34 » TORMENT OF THE DEVILS, And when he was come to /he other side , &c. This miracle of healing the demoniac is given with greater fulness by S. Luke. The commentary, therefore, upon it will be given in S. Luke yiii. 27—40. Hast thou come hither to torment us before the time ? From these words some have thought that the devils have not yet received the extreme punishment of their offences, and that they will not be condemned to be tormented in hell before the Day of Judgment. S. Hilary has been thought to be of this opinion, by saying ( Can. 8), “ It cried out, why should He grudge them their position ? (in the demoniac) why should He attack them before the time of judgment ?” The same opinion is by some ascribed to S. Irenaeus, Justin, Lactantius, Eusebius, Nicephorus; but I have found nothing of the kind in their writings. And the words of S. Hilary do not bear that meaning, but only say what S. Matthew relates. For it is certain from Scripture and the Fathers that the devils, from the beginning of the world were condemned as soon as they sinned, and were tormented in the fire of hell. For by that fire they are tormented, even when they are away from it, having gone forth from hell, and taken up their abode in the air. This is brought about by the omnipotence of God. The fire of hell is a supernatural instrument of the omnipotent God, hence by the will of God, it can operate in the most distant places. When therefore they said to Christ, Art thou come , Ac., they did not speak of the ancient, perpetual, irrevocable torment of hell fire, but they deprecated any new torment being inflicted upon them by Christ. This new torment was their expulsion from the bodies of those whom they were in the habit of possessing, as S. Chryso atom says, and their banishment to the prison-house of hell.

And then will I confess unto them , &c. “I Christ, will say unto the false prophets, who have taught and done miracles in My Name, in the Judgment Day, I knew you indeed as My prophets, who did miracles in My Name : but as My friends and sons whom I predestinated to the inheritance of My glory, I know you not. That is, I do not love and delight in you, because the will and law of My Heavenly Father, which ye taught unto others with your mouths, ye have not fulfilled in your deeds. Go ye therefore into everlasting fire, because ye have wrought iniquity." So says S. Augustine; and S. Gregory says, "Christ deserts them as unknown whom He did not know for the merit of their lives." ( Horn . 12 in Evangel.') This knowledge therefore of God is not speculative, but practical, loving, and affectionate : as we are said to know those whom we love, and not to know those whom we dislike.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine , &c. This is the Epilogue by which Christ concludes His lengthy Sermon on the Mount. It is as though He said — " Thus far have THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE. 313 I taught you how ye ought to live wisely and holily according to the will and law of God, if ye wish to arrive at the kingdom of God and everlasting happiness. For this is the direct way to them, and other way there is none. Wherefore if ye do those things which I have taught you, ye shall be like a prudent man who ' built Jus house upon the rock . For it will resist all winds and storms which rush against it.” Christ here alludes to Prov. x. 25, “ As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.” And ix. 1 : “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars.” Observe, the spiritual house ot the soul is the perfection of virtues, for as a material house is builded with much labour, and rises by degrees with various stones and beams, so is the spiritual house built up by various virtues and holy operations, and by long labour and slow degrees. The length of the house is long- suffering, its breadth is charity, its height, hope. The four walls are the four cardinal virtues, viz., Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. The pavement is humility ; the roof, patience. The window is the desire of heavenly glory, through which the light of the Gospel finds an entrance. The door is obedience to the Commandments. The doorkeeper is holy fear. The watchmen are holy angels. The tower is contemplation. The mind or intellect is the master of the house. The husband is the will, the children are good works. The servants are the senses obedient to the mind. The table is Holy Scriptures, the bread is the Eucharist, the wine is the Blood of Christ, the living water is the Holy Ghost. The oil is mercy. The bed is a quiet and peaceable mind. The sacraments are medicine, priests are the physicians. The Guests are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost See S. Bernard ( Tract . de interiori Domo). Lastly, note here, as against the innovators, that faith, without the good works which faith prescribes to be done, will not suffice for salvation. For Christ here calls a foundation of sand faith alone conceived by hearing preaching, for this faith is like sand, dry and 3*4 BUILDING ON THE ROCK. worthless : but the rock He calls faith solidified by good works. Note 2, the order which Christ employs. For i, in verse 15, He taught the necessity of a right faith and true teachers; 2, in

And whoso heareth these sayings of mine , &c. Rightly is the instability and disobedience of him who heareth the words of Christ and doeth them not likened unto sand. For, I. Sand is soft and shifting, so that it cannot afford a solid and durable foun- dation. 2. Sand is dry ; and so the unstable mind which doeth not that which it heareth is dry and empty of virtue and the moisture of the Divine Spirit. 3. Sand is blown about by the wind and dispersed into all quarters ; so too a light and inconstant mind is carried into every sort of concupiscence by every breath of desire and temptation. 4. As sand is very fine and composed of millions of little grains, so the unstable heart is filled with a thousand cogitations and desires after vain and trifling things. Tropologically , the foolish and worldly person builds upon sand, i.e. f says Salmeron, upon creatures, who like sand are barren for good, and in a state of fluidity, so as to fall away into sin, and shaken by the waves because they are agitated by labours and temptations. For as sand is dry, or bibulous and insatiable, so creatures cannot satisfy the soul of man. Sand is also very numerous ; so likewise the wicked are innumerable, and “ infinite is the company of fools/' Sand therefore denotes all the people of the devil — sterile, and by no means united, whereas the people of God are strong and united like a rock. For though many be called, few are chosen. And the rain descended \ &c. Rain denotes the temptation of the 3i6 POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN world; rivers, of the flesh; the winds, of the devil. For rain coming down from on high, and causing the earth to swell and making it fruitful, denotes ambition of honours and the desire of wealth, which the world offers to the vain and inconstant man, whereby he is made to depart from the law of God, and fall away from the faith. Rivers, or floods which arise out of the earth, denote the temptations of the flesh, as gluttony and lust, which have their origin in the flesh itself, so to say. Winds, which from the atmosphere blow against the house laterally and invisibly, denote the temptations of the devil, who is an invisible spirit, and the prince of the power of the air. For he insinuates, and as it were blows into our fancy a thousand depraved thoughts and desires, and they are so subtil that sometimes thou knowest not whether they come from an angel, or the devil. For Satan transforms himself into an angel of light.

And it came to pass , Ac. Here then is concluded Christ's whole Sermon upon the Mount, containing the whole law and perfection of the Gospel. And although the precepts given are dispersed, yet are they all connected. And if any one desires to learn the order and connection which exists amongst them let him read Bellarminc (lib. 4, de Justiftc.) For he taught them , Ac. That is, He was accustomed to teach , Ac. 1. Because Christ taught important matters with great authority, matters of the highest moment for salvation, and the Truth itself. But the Scribes taught with levity, trifling matters, such as rites and ceremonies, washings of the hands and of cups. 2. Because what Christ taught in word, that He fufilled in deed. For great authority is added to the doctrine of the teacher when he performs the good which he enjoins. “Protracted," says Seneca, “ is the road to virtue through precepts ; short and effectual through example." Here S. Gregory (23 Moved . 7) : “ That is indeed taught with authority which is acted before it is spoken. For we take away from confidence in our doctrine when con- science impedes the tongue. Whence also it is written of the Lord, ‘He taught as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.' CHRIST'S TEACHING AND THAT OF THE SCRIBES. 3 I 7 For peculiarly and above all He spoke only from a good power, because He had done no evil through weakness. From the power of His Divinity He had that which He ministered unto us through the innocence of His humility. 3. Christ taught with great spirit and fervour, with great persuasive force and efficacy; the Scribes coldly and super- ficially. 4. Christ confirmed His doctrine by miracles, which the Scribes could not do. Again Christ had a marvellous grace in speaking, according to those words of S. Matthew, “ They wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.” 5. The Scribes taught as interpreters of the Law, but Christ as a Lawgiver sent from heaven, with celestial wisdom and majesty. So Bede and Theophylact. 6. Christ in His teaching aimed only at the glory of God and the salvation of man. The Scribes sought their own glory and the applause of men. 7. Christ by His external teaching, and by His holy interior inspiration, and the light of grace, illuminated the minds and inflamed the affections of His hearers, and thereby made ignorant and stupid men learned, and those who were torpid and frigid fervent. In these things then let the orator and preacher imitate Christ, and let him teach more by his life than his words, like S. Basil, of whom S. Gregory Nazianzen writes (Ora/. 20), “A sermon of Basil’s was like thunder, because his life was like lightning.” S. Bernard, in his Life of S. Malachi, says that upon one occasion he rendered a certain enraged and furious woman, whose temper was perfectly intolerable to every one, so meek, that she did not even appear angry. And this he did by a word, saying to her, « In the name of the Lord Jesus, I bid thee be no longer angry.” And this, S. Bernard thinks, was a greater miracle than raising a man from the dead, which was once performed by the same S. Malachi. “For in the one case it was but the outward man who lived again, in the other case it was the inward man.”