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           Title: Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew
      Creator(s): Aquinas, Thomas, Saint (1225?-1274)
                  Whiston, William (Translator)
     Print Basis: London: J.G.F. and J. Rivington, 1842
   CCEL Subjects: All; Classic; Bibles;
      LC Call no: BS2555
     LC Subjects:

                  The Bible

                  New Testament

                  Special parts of the New Testament
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                               St. Thomas Aquinas

Catena Aurea (Golden Chain)

Volume I.

    J.G.F. and J. Rivington
    London, 1842
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   Ver. 1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David,
   the Son of Abraham.
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   Jerome, Ez, i. 5. Hier. Prolog. in Com. in Matt.: The face of a man'
   (in Ezekiel's vision) signifies Matthew, who accordingly opens his
   Gospel with the human genealogy of Christ.

   Rabanus: By this exordium he shews that it is the birth of Christ
   according to the flesh that he has undertaken to narrate.

   Pseudo-Chrys., Hom. in Matt., Hom. i: Matthew wrote for the Jews, and
   in Hebrew [ed. note: It seems to be the general witness of antiquity
   that there was a Hebrew copy of St. Matthew's Gospel, whether written
   before or after the Greek. This Hebrew copy was interpolated by the
   Ebionites.]; to them it was unnecessary to explain the divinity which
   they recognized; but necessary to unfold the mystery of the
   Incarnation. John wrote in Greek for the Gentiles who knew nothing of a
   Son of God. They required therefore to be told first, that the Son of
   God was God, then that this Deity was incarnate.

   Rabanus: Though the genealogy occupies only a small part of the volume,
   he yet begins thus, "The book of the generation." For it is the manner
   of the Hebrews to name their books from that with which they open; as
   Genesis.

   Gloss. Ordinaria: The full expression would be "This is the book of the
   generation;" but this is a usual ellipse; e.g. "The vision of Isaiah,"
   for, This is the vision.'

   "Generation," he says in the singular number, though there be many here
   given in succession, as it is for the sake of the one generation of
   Christ that the rest are here introduced.

   Chrys., Hom. in Matt., Hom. ii: Or he therefore entitles it, "The book
   of the generation," because this is the sum of the whole dispensation,
   the root of all its blessings; viz. that God become man; for this once
   effected, all other things followed of course.

   Rabanus: He says, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ," because
   he knew it was written, The book of the generation of Adam.' He begins
   thus then, that he may oppose book to book, the new Adam to the old
   Adam, for by the one were all things restored which had been corrupted
   by the other.

   Jerome, Hier. Comm. in Matt., ch. 1: We read in Isaiah, "Who shall
   declare His generation?" [Isa 53:8] But it does not follow that the
   Evangelist contradicts the Prophet, or undertakes what he declares
   impossible; for Isaiah is speaking of the generation of the Divine
   nature; St. Matthew of the incarnation of the human.

   Chrys.: And do not consider this genealogy a small thing to hear: for
   truly it is a marvellous thing that God should descend to be born of a
   woman, and to have as His ancestors David and Abraham.

   Remigius: Though any affirm that the prophet (Isaiah) does speak of His
   human generation, we need not answer to his enquiry, "Who shall declare
   it?" - "No man;" but, "Very few;" because Matthew and Luke have.

   Rabanus: By saying, "of Jesus Christ," he expresses both the kingly and
   priestly office to be in Him, for Jesus, who first bore this name, was
   after Moses, the first who was leader of the children of Israel; and
   Aaron, anointed by the mystical ointment, was the first priest under
   the Law.

   Hilary, Quaest. Nov. et Vet. Test. q. 40: What God conferred on those,
   who, by the anointing of oil were consecrated as kings or priests, this
   the Holy Spirit conferred on the Man Christ; adding moreover a
   purification. The Holy Spirit cleansed that which taken of the Virgin
   Mary was exalted into the Body of the Saviour, and this is that
   anointing of the Body of the Saviour's flesh whence He was called
   Christ.

   [ed. note: This passage is from a work commonly ascribed to Hilary the
   Deacon. The Fathers bear out its doctrine; e.g. "Since the flesh is not
   holy in itself, therefore it was sanctified even in Christ, the Word
   which dwelt in it, through the Holy Ghost, sanctifying His own Temple,
   and changing it into the energy of His own Nature. For therefore is
   Christ's Body understood to be both holy and hallowing, as being made a
   Temple of the Word united to it bodily, as Paul says." Cyril Alex. lib.
   v. in Joann. p. 992.

   In like manner, Gregory of Nazianzus speaks of "The Father of the True
   and really Anointed (Christ), whom He has anointed with the oil of
   gladness above His fellows, anointing the manhood with the Godhead, so
   as to make both one." Orat. 5. fin]

   Because the impious craft of the Jews denied that Jesus was born of the
   seed of David, he adds, "The son of David, the son of Abraham."

   Chrys.: But why would it not have been enough to name one of them,
   David alone, or Abraham alone? Because the promise had been made to
   both of Christ to be born of their seed. To Abraham, "And in thy seed
   shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." [Gen 22:18] To David,
   "Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy seat." [Ps 132:11]

   He therefore calls Christ the Son of both, to shew that in Him was
   fulfilled the promise to both. Also because Christ was to have three
   dignities; King, Prophet, Priest; but Abraham was prophet and priest;
   priest, as God says to him in Genesis, "Take an heifer;" [Gen 15:9]
   Prophet, as the Lord said to Abimelech concerning him, "He is a
   prophet, and shall pray for thee." [Gen 20:7] David was king and
   prophet, but not priest.

   Thus He is expressly called the son of both, that the threefold dignity
   of His forefathers might be recognized by hereditary right in Christ.

   Ambrose, in Luc. iii: He therefore names specially two authors of His
   birth - one who received the promise concerning the kindreds of the
   people, the other who obtained the oracle concerning the generation of
   Christ; and though he is later in order of succession is yet first
   named, inasmuch as it is greater to have received the promise
   concerning Christ than concerning the Church, which is through Christ;
   for greater is He who saves than that which is saved.

   Jerome: The order of the names is inverted, but of necessity; for had
   he written Abraham first, and David afterwards, he would have to repeat
   Abraham again to preserve the series of the genealogy.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Another reason is that royal dignity is above natural,
   though Abraham was first in time, yet David is honour.

   Gloss.: But since from this title it appears that the whole book is
   concerning Jesus Christ, it is necessary first to know what we must
   think concerning Him; for so shall be better explained what this book
   relates of Him.

   Aug., de Haer, et 10: Cerinthus then and Ebion made Jesus Christ only
   man; Paul of Samosata, following them, asserted Christ not to have had
   an existence from eternity, but to have begun to be from His birth of
   the Virgin Mary; he also thought Him nothing more than man. This heresy
   was afterwards confirmed by Photinus.

   Pseudo-Athan., Vigil. Tapsens. (Athan. Ed. Ben., vol ii, p. 646): The
   Apostle John, seeing long before by the Holy Spirit this man's madness,
   rouses him from his deep sleep of error by the preaching of his voice,
   saying, "In the beginning was the Word." [John 1:1]

   He therefore, who in the beginning was with God, could not in this last
   time take the beginning of His being from man. He says further, (let
   Photinus hear his words,) "Father, glorify Me with that glory which I
   had with Thee before the world was." [John 17:5]

   Aug., de Haeres. 19: The error of Nestorius was, that he taught that a
   man only was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom the Word of God
   received not into Unity of person and inseparable fellowship; a
   doctrine which Catholic ears could not endure.

   Cyril of Alexandria, Ep. i. ad Monachos Egypti.: Saith the Apostle of
   the Only-begotten, "Who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery
   to be equal with God." [Phil 2:6]

   Who then is this who is in the form of God? or how emptied He Himself,
   and humbled Himself to the likeness of man? If the abovementioned
   heretics dividing Christ into two parts, i.e. the Man and the Word,
   affirm that it was the Man that was emptied of glory, they must first
   shew what form and equality with the Father are understood to be, and
   did exist, which might suffer any manner of emptying.

   But there is no creature, in its own proper nature, equal with the
   Father; how then can any creature be said to be emptied? or from what
   eminence to descend to become man? Or how can he be understood to have
   taken upon Him, as though He had not at first, the form of a servant?

   But, they say, the Word being equal with the Father dwelt in Man born
   of a woman, and this is the emptying. I hear the Son truly saying to
   the Holy Apostles, "If any man love Me, he will keep My saying, and My
   Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode
   with him." [John 14:23]

   Hear how He saith that He and the Father will dwell in them that love
   Him. Do you then suppose that we shall grant that He is there emptied
   of His glory, and has taken upon Him the form of a servant, when He
   makes His abode in the hearts of them that love Him? Or the Holy
   Spirit, does He fulfil an assumption of human flesh when He dwells in
   our hearts?

   Isidore, Epist. lib. iv. 166: But not to mention all arguments, let us
   bring forward that one to which all arguments point, that, for one who
   was God to assume a lowly guise both has an obvious use, and is an
   adaptation and in nothing contradicts the course of nature. But for one
   who is man to speak things divine and supernatural is the highest
   presumption; for though a king may humble himself a common soldier may
   not take on him the state of an emperor. So, if He were God made man,
   all lowly things have place; but if mere man, high things have none.

   Aug., de Haeres. 41: Sabellius they say was a disciple of Noctus, who
   taught that the same Christ was one and the same Father and Holy
   Spirit.

   Pseudo-Athan., Vigil. Tapsens. (ibid. p. 644): The audaciousness of
   this most insane error I will curb by the authority of the heavenly
   testimonies, and demonstrate the distinct personality of the proper
   substance of the Son. I shall not produce things which are liable to be
   explained away as agreeable to the assumption of human nature; but
   shall offer such passages as all will allow to be decisive in proof of
   His divine nature.

   In Genesis we find God saying, "Let Us make man in Our own Image." By
   this plural number shewing, that there was some other person to whom He
   spoke. Had He been one, He would have been said to have made Him in His
   own Image, but there is another; and He is said to have made man in the
   Image of that other.

   Gloss.: Other denied the reality of Christ's human nature. Valentinus
   said that Christ sent from the Father, carried about a spiritual or
   celestial body, and took nothing of the Virgin, but passed through her
   as through a channel, taking nothing of her flesh. But we do not
   therefore believe Him to have been born of the Virgin, because by no
   other means He could have truly lived in the flesh, and appeared among
   men; but because it is so written in the Scripture, which if we believe
   not we cannot either be Christians, or be saved.

   But even a body taken of spiritual, or ethereal, or clayey substance,
   had He willed to change into the true and very quality of human flesh,
   who will deny His power to do this? The Manichaeans said that the Lord
   Jesus Christ was a phantasm, and could not be born of the womb of a
   woman. But if the body of Christ was a phantasm, He was a deceiver, and
   if a deceiver, then He was not the truth. But Christ is the Truth;
   therefore His Body was not a phantasm.

   Gloss.: And as the opening both of this Gospel, and of that according
   to Luke, manifestly proves Christ's birth of a woman, and hence His
   real humanity, they reject the beginning of both these Gospels.

   Aug., cont. Faust, ii, 1: Faustus affirms, that "the Gospel both
   begins, and begins to be so called, from the preaching of Christ, in
   which He no where affirms Himself to have been born of men. [ed. note:
   The Ebionites, as well as the Manichees, rejected the beginning of St.
   Matthew, vid. Epiphan. II arr. xxx. 23. And the Marcionites the
   beginning of St. Luke. Epiph. Haer. xlii, 11. But what exact portion
   they rejected is doubtful.]

   Nay, so far is this genealogy from being part of the Gospel, that the
   writer does not venture so to entitle it; beginning, The book of the
   generation,' not The book of the Gospel.' Mark again, who cared not to
   write of the generation, but only of the preaching of the Son of God,
   which is properly The Gospel, begins thus accordingly, 'The Gospel of
   Jesus Christ the Son of God.' Thus then, all that we read in Matthew
   before the words, 'Jesus began to preach the Gospel of the kingdom,'
   [Matt 4:17] is a part of the genealogy, not of the Gospel. I therefore
   betook myself to Mark and John, with whose prefaces I had good reason
   to be satisfied, as they introduce neither David, nor Mary, nor
   Joseph."

   To which Augustine replies, What will he say then to the Apostle's
   words, "Remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ of the seed of David
   according to my Gospel." [2 Tim 2:8] But the Gospel of the Apostle Paul
   was likewise that of the other Apostles, and of all the faithful, as he
   says, "Whether I, or they, thus have we preached the Gospel."

   Aug., de Haer., 49: The Arians will not have the Father, Son, and Holy
   Spirit, to be of one and the same substance, nature, and existence; but
   that the Son is a creature of the Father, and Holy Spirit a creature of
   a creature, i.e. created by the Son; further, they think that Christ
   took the flesh without a soul.

   But John declares the Son to be not only God, but even of the same
   substance as the Father; [margin note: ref Id. de Trin. i. 6] for when
   he had said, "The Word was God," he added, "all things were made by
   Him;" whence it is clear that He was not made by Whom all things were
   made; and if not made, then not created; and therefore of one substance
   with the Father, for all that is not of one substance with the Father
   is creature.

   I know not what benefit the person of the Mediator has conferred upon
   us, if He redeemed not our better part, but took upon Him our flesh
   only, which without the soul cannot have consciousness of the benefit.
   But if Christ came to save that which had perished, the whole man had
   perished, and therefore needs a Saviour; Christ then in coming saves
   the whole man, taking on Him both soul and body.

   How too do they answer innumerable objections from the Gospel
   Scriptures, in which the Lord speaks so many things manifestly contrary
   to them? as is that, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death," [Matt
   26:38] and, "I have power to lay down My life;" [John 10:18] and many
   more things of the like kind.

   Should they say that He spoke thus in parables, we have at hand proofs
   from the Evangelists themselves, who in relating His actions, bear
   witness as to the reality of His body, so of His soul, by mention of
   passions which cannot be without a soul; as when they say, "Jesus
   wondered, was angry," and others of like kind.

   The Apollinarians also as the Arians affirmed that Christ had taken the
   human flesh without the soul [margin note: Id. de Haeres. 55]. But
   overthrown on this point by the weight of Scripture proof, they then
   said that part which is the rational soul of man was wanting to the
   soul of Christ, and that its place was filled by the Word itself.

   But if it be so, then we must believe that the Word of God took on Him
   the nature of some brute with a human shape and appearance. But even
   concerning the nature of Christ's body, there are some who have so far
   swerved from the right faith, as to say, that the flesh and the Word
   were of one and the same substance, most perversely insisting on that
   expression, The Word was made flesh; which they interpret that some
   portion of the Word was changed into flesh, not that He took to Him
   flesh of the flesh of the Virgin.

   [ed. note: Some of the Apollinarians thus hold. vid. Nyssen. vol. ii,
   p. 694. A.Theodor. Eranist. p. 174. ed. Schulz. The same doctrine was
   afterwards ascribed to the Eutychians, vid. Vigil. Taps. in Eutych. iv.
   Theod. Haer. iv. 13]

   Cyril, Ep. ad Joan. Antioch. tom. 6, Ep. 107: We account those persons
   mad who have suspected that so much as the shadow of change could take
   place in the nature of the Divine Word; it abides what it ever was,
   neither is nor can be changed.

   Leo, Epist. 59, ad Const.: We do not speak of Christ as man in such a
   sort as to allow that any thing was wanting to Him, which it is certain
   pertains to human nature, whether soul, or rational mind, or flesh, and
   flesh such as was taken of the Woman, not gained by a change or
   conversion of the Word into flesh.

   These three several errors, that thrice false heresy of the
   Apollinarists has brought forward. Eutyches also chose out this third
   dogma of Apollinaris, which denying the verity of the human body and
   soul, maintained that our Lord Jesus Christ was wholly and entirely of
   one nature, as though the Divine Word had changed itself into flesh and
   soul, and as though the conception, birth, growth, and such like, had
   been undergone by that Divine Essence, which was incapable of any such
   changes with the very and true flesh; for such as is the nature of the
   Only-begotten, such is the nature of the Father, and such is the nature
   of the Holy Ghost, both impassible and eternal.

   But if to avoid being driven to the conclusion that the Godhead could
   feel suffering and death, he departs from the corruption of
   Apollinaris, and should still dare to affirm the nature of the
   incarnate Word, that is of the Word and the flesh, to be the same, he
   clearly falls into the insane notions of Manichaeus and Marcion, and
   believes that the Lord Jesus Christ did all His actions with a false
   appearance, that His body was not a human body, but a phantasm, which
   imposed on the eyes of the beholders.

   But what Eutyches ventured [margin note: Id. Ep. 35 ad Julian] to
   pronounce as an episcopal decision, that in Christ before His
   incarnation were two natures, but after His incarnation only one, it
   behoved that he should have been urgently pressed to give the reason of
   this his belief.

   I suppose that in using such language he supposed the soul which the
   Saviour took, to have had its abode in heaven before it was born of the
   Virgin Mary [ed. note, e: This opinion, which involves Nestorianism,
   the opposite error to Eutychianism or Monophysitism, is imputed to
   Eutyches by Flavian, ap. Leon. Ep. xxii. 3. Ephraem, Antioch, ap Phot.
   p. 805. Leont. de Sectis 7 init].

   This Catholic hearts and ears endure not, for that the Lord when He
   came down from heaven shewed nothing of the condition of human nature,
   nor did He take on Him any soul that had existed before, nor any flesh
   that was not taken of the flesh of His mother. Thus what was justly
   condemned in Origen [ed. note, f: Vid. Origen in Joan. t. i. n. 37. t.
   xx. n. 17. Patriarch. ii. 6. n. 4. ix. Cels. i. 32, 33], must needs be
   rebuked in Eutyches, to wit, that our souls before they were placed in
   our bodies had actions not only wonderful but various.

   Remig: These heresies therefore the Apostles overthrow in the opening
   of their Gospels, as Matthew in relating how He derived His descent
   from the kings of the Jews proves Him to have been truly man and to
   have had true flesh.

   Likewise Luke, when he describes the priestly stock and person; Mark
   when he says, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of
   God;" and John when he says, "In the beginning was the Word;" both shew
   Him to have been before all ages God, with God the Father.
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   2. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas
   and his brethren.
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   Aug., de Con. Evan., ii, 1: Matthew, by beginning with Christ's
   genealogy, shews that he has undertaken to relate Christ's birth
   according to the flesh. But Luke, as rather describing Him as a Priest
   for the atonement of sin, gives Christ's genealogy not in the beginning
   of his Gospel, but at His baptism, when John bare that testimony, "Lo,
   He that taketh away the sins of the world." [John 1:29]

   In the genealogy of Matthew is figured to us the taking on Him of our
   sins by the Lord Christ: in the genealogy of Luke, the taking away of
   our sins by the same; hence Matthew gives them in a descending, Luke in
   an ascending, series. But Matthew, describing Christ's human generation
   in descending order, begins his enumeration with Abraham.

   Ambrose, in Luc. cap. 3. lib. iii. n. 7,8: For Abraham was the first
   who deserved the witness of faith; "He believed God, and it was
   accounted to him for righteousness." It behoved therefore that he
   should be set forth as the first in the line of descent, who was the
   first to deserve the promise of the restoration of the Church, "In thee
   shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." And it is again brought
   to a period in David, for that Jesus should be called his Son; hence to
   him is preserved the privilege, that from him should come the beginning
   of the Lord's genealogy.

   Chrys., Hom. iii, and Aug. City of God, 15, 15: Matthew then, desiring
   to preserve in memory the lineage of the Lord's humanity through the
   succession of His parents, begins with Abraham, saying, "Abraham begat
   Isaac." Why does he not mention Ismael, his first-born? And again,
   "Isaac began Jacob;" why does he not speak of Esau his first-born?
   Because through them he could not have come down to David.

   Gloss.: Yet he names all the brethren of Judah with him in the lineage.
   Ismael and Esau had not remained in the worship of the true God; but
   the brethren of Judah were reckoned in God's people.

   Chrys., Hom. iii: Or, he names all the twelve Patriarchs that he may
   lower that pride which is drawn from a line of noble ancestry. For many
   of these were born of maidservants, and yet were Patriarchs and heads
   of tribes.

   Gloss: But Judah is the only one mentioned by name, and that because
   the Lord was descended from him only. But in each of the Patriarchs we
   must note not their history only, but the allegorical and moral meaning
   to be drawn from them; allegory, in seeing whom each of the Fathers
   foreshewed; moral instruction in that through each one of the Fathers
   some virtue may be edified in us either through the signification of
   his name, or through his example.

   [ed. note: Origen considered that there were three senses of Scripture,
   the literal or historical, the moral, and the mystical or spiritual,
   corresponding to the three parts of man, body, and soul, and spirit.
   Hom. in Lev. ii, 5, de Princio iv, p. 168. By the moral sense is meant,
   as the name implies, a practical application of the text; by mystical
   one which interprets it of the invisible and the spiritual world.]

   Abraham is in many respects a figure of Christ, and chiefly in his
   name, which is interpreted the Father of many nations, and Christ is
   Father of many believers. Abraham moreover went out from his own
   kindred, and abode in a strange land; in like manner Christ, leaving
   the Jewish nation, went by His preachers throughout the Gentiles.

   Pseudo-Chyrs.: Isaac is interpreted, laughter,' but the laughter of the
   saints is not the foolish convulsion of the lips, but the rational joy
   of the heart, which was the mystery of Christ. For as he was granted to
   his parents in their extreme age to their great joy, that it might be
   known that he was not the child of nature, but of grace, thus Christ
   also in this last time came of a Jewish mother to be the joy of the
   whole earth; the one of a virgin, the other of a woman past the age,
   both contrary to the expectation of nature.

   Remig.: Jacob is interpreted, supplanter,' and it is said of Christ,
   "Thou hast cast down beneath Me them that rose up against Me." [Ps
   18:43]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Our Jacob in like manner begot the twelve Apostles in
   the Spirit, not in the flesh; in word, not in blood. Judah is
   interpreted, confessor,' for he was a type of Christ who was to be the
   confessor of His Father, as He spake, "I confess to Thee, Father, Lord
   of heaven and earth."

   Gloss: Morally; Abraham signifies to us the virtue of faith in Christ,
   as an example himself, as it is said of him, "Abraham believed God, and
   it was accounted unto Him for righteousness." Isaac may represent hope;
   for Isaac is interpreted, laughter,' as he was the joy of his parents;
   and hope is our joy, making us to hope for eternal blessings and to joy
   in them. "Abraham begat Isaac," and faith begets hope. Jacob signifies,
   love,' for love embraces two lives; active in the love of our
   neighbour, contemplative in the love of God; the active is signified by
   Leah, the contemplative by Rachel. For Leah is interpreted labouring,'
   [ed. note, h: Leah full of labour, Jerom. de nomin. Hebr. from l'h, to
   weary one's self.] for she is active in labour; Rachel having seen the
   beginning,' [ed. note, i: Rachel, in ewe, (as Gen. xxxi. 38, &c.)
   Jerom. ibid. who also gives the interpretation in the text, from r'h
   and chll? (chchlh beginning.] because by the contemplative, the
   beginning, that is God, is seen. Jacob is born of two parents, as love
   is born of faith and hope; for what we believe, we both hope for and
   love.
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   3-6. And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom;
   and Esrom begat Aram; and Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat
   Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and
   Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David
   the king.
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   Gloss: Passing over the other sons of Jacob, the Evangelist follows the
   family of Judah, saying, "But Judah begat Phares and Zara of Thamar."

   Augustine, City of God, 15, 15: Neither was Judah himself first-born,
   nor of these two sons was either his first-born; he had already had
   three before them. So that he keeps in that line of descent, by which
   he shall arrive at David, and from him whither he purposed.

   Jerome: It should be noted, that none of the holy women are taken into
   the Saviour's genealogy, but rather such as Scripture has condemned,
   that He who came for sinners being born of sinners might so put away
   the sins of all; thus Ruth the Moabitess follows among the rest.

   Ambrose, in Luc. 3: But Luke has avoided the mention of these, that he
   might set forth the series of the priestly race immaculate. But the
   plan of St. Matthew did not exclude the righteousness of natural
   reason; for when he wrote in his Gospel, that He who should take on Him
   the sins of all, was born in the flesh, was subject to wrongs and pain,
   he did not think it any detraction from His holiness that He did not
   refuse the further humiliation of a sinful parentage.

   Nor, again, would it shame the Church to be gathered from among
   sinners, when the Lord Himself was born of sinners; and, lastly, that
   the benefits of redemption might have their beginning with His own
   forefathers: and that none might imagine that a stain in their blood
   was any hindrance to virtue, nor again any pride themselves insolently
   on nobility of birth.

   Chrys.: Besides this, it shews that all are equally liable to sin; for
   here is Thamar accusing Judah of incest, and David begat Solomon with a
   woman with whom he had committed adultery. But if the Law was not
   fulfilled by these great ones, neither could it be by their less great
   posterity, and so all have sinned, and the presence of Christ is become
   necessary.

   Ambrose: Observe that Matthew does not name both without a meaning; for
   though the object of his writing only required the mention of Phares,
   yet in the twins a mystery is signified; namely, the double life of the
   nations, one by the Law, the other by Faith.

   Pseudo-Chyrs.: By Zarah is denoted the people of the Jews, which first
   appeared in the light of faith, coming out of the dark womb of the
   world, and was therefore marked with the scarlet thread of the
   circumciser, for all supposed that they were to be God's people; but
   the Law was set before their face as it had been a wall or hedge. Thus
   the Jews were hindered by the Law, but in the times of Christ's coming
   the hedge of the Law was broken down that was between Jews and
   Gentiles, as the Apostle speaks, "Breaking down the middle wall of
   partition;" [Eph 2:14] and thus it fell out that the Gentiles, who were
   signified by Phares, as soon as the Law was broken through by Christ's
   commandments, first entered into the faith, and after followed the
   Jews.

   Gloss: Judah begat Phares and Zarah before he went into Egypt, whither
   they both accompanied their father. In Egypt, "Phares begat Esrom; and
   Esrom begat Aram; Aram begat Aminadab; Aminadab begat Naasson;" and
   then Moses led them out of Egypt. Naasson was head of the tribe of
   Judah under Moses in the desert, where he begat Salmon; and this Salmon
   it was who, as prince of the tribe of Judah, entered the land of
   promise with Joshua.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But as we believe that the names of these Fathers were
   given for some special reason under the providence of God, it follows,
   but "Naasson begat Salmon." This Salmon after his father's death
   entered the promised land with Joshua as prince of the tribe of Judah.
   He took a wife of the name of Rahab. This Rahab is said to have been
   that Rahab the harlot of Jericho who entertained the spies of the
   children of Israel, and hid them safely. For Salmon being noble among
   the children of Israel, inasmuch as he was of the tribe of Judah, and
   son of the prince thereof, beheld Rahab so ennobled through her great
   faith, that she was worthy whom he should take to wife. Salmon is
   interpreted receive a vessel,' [ed. note: slmvn. Probably as if from
   m'n Ch. a vessel; perhaps gs' l m'n] perhaps as if invited in God's
   providence by his very name to receive Rahab a vessel of election.

   Gloss: This Salmon in the promised land begat Booz of this Rahab. Booz
   begat Obeth of Ruth.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: How Booz took to wife a Moabitess whose name was Ruth, I
   thought it needless to tell, seeing the Scripture concerning them is
   open to all. We need but say thus much, that Ruth married Booz for the
   reward of her faith, for that she had cast off the gods of her
   forefathers, and had chosen the living God. And Booz received her to
   wife for reward of his faith, that from such sanctified wedlock might
   be descended a kingly race.

   Ambrose: But how did Ruth who was an alien marry a man that was a Jew?
   and wherefore in Christ's genealogy did His Evangelist so much as
   mention a union, which in the eye of the law was bastard? Thus the
   Saviour's birth of a parentage not admitted by the law appears to us
   monstrous, until we attend to that declaration of the Apostle, "The Law
   was not given for the righteous, but for the unrighteous." [1 Tim 1:9]

   For this woman who was an alien, a Moabitess, a nation with whom the
   Mosaic Law forbad all intermarriage, and shut them totally out of the
   Church, how did she enter into the Church, unless that she were holy
   and unstained in her life above the Law? Therefore she was exempt from
   this restriction of the Law, and deserved to be numbered in the Lord's
   lineage, chosen from the kindred of her mind, not of her body.

   To us she is a great example, for that in her was prefigured the
   entrance into the Lord's Church of all of us who are gathered out of
   the Gentiles.

   Jerome: Ruth the Moabitess fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah, "Send forth,
   O Lord, the Lamb that shall rule over the earth, out of the rock of the
   desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion." [Isa 16:1]

   Gloss: Jesse, the father of David, has two names, being more frequently
   called Isai. But the Prophet says, "There shall come a rod from the
   stem of Jesse;" [Isa 11:1] therefore to shew that this prophecy was
   fulfilled in Mary and Christ, the Evangelist puts Jesse.

   Remig.: It is asked, why this epithet King is thus given by the holy
   Evangelist to David alone? Because he was the first king in the tribe
   of Judah. Christ Himself is Phares the divider,' as it is written,
   "Thou shalt divide the sheep from the goats;" [Matt 25:33] He is Zaram
   [ed. note, l: zrch; in Zech. 6:12, it is zrch], the east,' "Lo the man,
   the east is His name;" [Zech 6:12]; He is Esrom [ed. note, m: chtsrvn,
   as if from chts, and so Jerome.], an arrow,' "He hath set me as a
   polished shaft." [Isa 49:2]

   Raban.: Or following another interpretation, according to the abundance
   of grace, and the width of love. He is Aram the chosen [ed. note, n: rm
   to be lofty, vid. infr. p.23], according to that, "Behold my Servant
   whom I have chosen." [Isa 42:1] He is Aminadab, that is willing,' [ed.
   note, o: my ndv My people is willing, - Jerome; comp. mk ndvt, Ps
   110:3], in that He says, "I will freely sacrifice to Thee." [Isa 54:6]
   Also He is Naasson [ed. note, p: nchsn, from nchs to augur from
   serpents, and so Jerome], i.e. augury,' as He knows the past, the
   present, and the future; or, like a serpent,' according to that, "Moses
   lifted up the serpent in the wilderness." [John 3:14] He is Salmon [ed.
   note, q: And so Jerome], i.e. the feeleth,' as He said, "I feel that
   power is gone forth out of me." [Luke 8:46]

   Gloss: Christ Himself espouses Rahab, i.e. the Gentile Church; for
   Rahab [ed. note, r: rchv, to be wide or broad. (rhv might rv hunger)]
   is interpreted either hunger' or breadth' or might;' for the Church of
   the Gentiles hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and converts
   philosophers and kings by the might of her doctrine. Ruth is
   interpreted either seeing' or hastening' [ed. note, s: And so Jerome,
   from r'h, and perhaps rvts for the second.], and denotes the Church
   which in purity of heart sees God, and hastens to the prize of the
   heavenly call.

   Remig. Christ is also Booz [ed. note, t: And so Jerome; perhaps vz =
   activity; here, as if vz "with might."], because He is strength, for,
   "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me." [John 12:32] He is
   Obeth, a servant' [ed. note, u: vvd Obed, and so Jerome], for "the Son
   of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." [Matt 20:28]
   He is Jesse, or burnt' [ed. note, x: As if from 's], for, "I am come to
   send fire on earth." [Luke 12:49] He is David [ed. note, y: And so
   Jerome], mighty in arm,' for, "the Lord is great and powerful;" [Ps
   24:8] desirable,' for, "He shall come, the Desire of all nations;" [Hag
   2:7] beautiful to behold,' according to that, "Beautiful in form before
   the sons of men." [Ps. 45:3]

   Gloss: Let us now see what virtues they be which these fathers edify in
   us; for faith, hope, and charity are the foundation of all virtues;
   those that follow are like additions over and above them. Judah is
   interpreted confession,' of which there are two kinds, confession of
   faith, and of sin. If then, after we be endowed with the three
   forementioned virtues, we sin, confession not of faith only but of sin
   is needful for us.

   Phares is interpreted, division,' Zamar the east,' and Thamar,
   bitterness.' [ed note, z: tmrvrym bitterness, from mrr Jer. 31:15, Hos
   12:15] Thus confession begets separation from vice, the rise of virtue,
   and the bitterness of repentance.

   After Phares follows Esron, an arrow,' for when one is separated from
   vice and secular pursuits, he should become a dart wherewith to slay by
   preaching the vices of others.

   Aram is interpreted elect' or lofty' [ed. note, a: Lofty from rvm, for
   as soon as one is detached from this world, and profiteth for another,
   he must needs be held to be elect of God, famous amongst men, high in
   virtue.

   Naasson is augury,' but this augury is of heaven, not of earth. It is
   that of which Joseph boasted when he said, "Ye have taken away the cup
   of my Lord, wherewith He is wont to divine." [Gen 44:5] The cup is the
   divine Scripture wherein is the draught of wisdom; by this the wise man
   divines, since in it he sees things future, that is, heavenly things.

   Next is Salomon [ed. note, b: slm peace, and so Jerome], that
   perceiveth,' for he who studies divine Scripture becomes perceiving,
   that is, he discerns by the taste of reason, good from bad, sweet from
   bitter.

   Next is Booz, that is, brave,' for who is well taught in Scripture
   becomes brave to endure all adversity.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This brave one is the son of Rahab, that is, of the
   Church; for Rahab signifies breadth' or spread out,' for because the
   Church of the Gentiles was called from all quarters of the earth, it is
   called, breadth.'

   Gloss: Then follows Obeth, i.e. servitude,' for which none is fit but
   he who is strong; and this servitude is begotten of Ruth, that is
   haste,' for it behoves a slave to be quick, not slow.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: They who look to wealth and not temper, to beauty and
   not faith, and require in a wife such endowments as are required in
   harlots, will not beget sons obedient to their parents or to God, but
   rebellious to both; that their children may be punishment of their
   ungodly wedlock. Obeth begat Jesse, that is, refreshment,' for whoever
   is subject to God and his parents, begets such children as prove his
   refreshment.'

   Gloss: Or Jesse may be interpreted, incense.' [ed. note: See p. 29,
   note i] For if we serve God in love and fear, there will be a devotion
   in the heart, which in the heat and desire of the heart offers the
   sweetest incense to God. But when one is become a fit servant, and a
   sacrifice of incense to God, it follows that he becomes David (ie. of a
   strong hand'), who fought mightily against his enemies, and made the
   Idumeans tributary.

   In like manner ought he to subdue carnal men to God by teaching and
   example.
     __________________________________________________________________

   6-8. David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of
   Urias; and Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat
   Asa; and Asa begat Josaphat.
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Evangelist has now finished the first fourteen generations, and is
   come to the second, which consists of royal personages, and therefore
   beginning with David, who was the first king in the tribe of Judah, he
   calls him "David the king."

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 4: Since in Matthew's genealogy is shewed
   forth the taking on Him by Christ of our sins, therefore he descends
   from David to Solomon, in whose mother David had sinned. Luke ascends
   to David through Nathan, for through Nathan the prophet of God punished
   David's sin; because Luke's genealogy is to shew the putting away of
   our sins.

   Aug., Lib. Retract., ii, 16: That is it, must be said, through a
   prophet of the same name, for it was not Nathan the son of David who
   reproved him, but a prophet of the same name.

   Remig.: Let us enquire why Matthew does not mention Bathsheba by name
   as he does the other women. Because the others, though deserving of
   much blame, were yet commendable for many virtues. But Bathsheba was
   not only consenting in the adultery, but in the murder of her husband,
   hence her name is not introduced in the Lord's genealogy.

   Gloss: Besides, he does not name Bathsheba, that, by naming Urias, he
   may recall to memory that great wickedness which she was guilty of
   towards him.

   Ambrose: But the holy David is the more excellent in this, that he
   confessed himself to be but man, and neglected not to wash out with the
   tears of repentance the sin of which he had been guilty, in so taking
   away Urias' wife. Herein shewing us that none ought to trust in his own
   strength, for we have a mighty adversary whom we cannot overcome
   without God's aid. And you will commonly observe very heavy sins
   befalling to the share of illustrious men, that they may not from their
   other excellent virtues be thought more than men, but that you may see
   that as men they yield to temptation.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Solomon is interpreted, peace-maker,' because having
   subdued all the nations round about, and made them tributary, he had a
   peaceful reign. Roboam in interpreted, by a multitude of people,' for
   multitude is the mother of sedition; for where many are joined in a
   crime, that is commonly unpunishable. But a limit in numbers is the
   mistress of good order.
     __________________________________________________________________

   8-11. And Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; and Ozias begat
   Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; and Ezekias
   begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; and
   Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were
   carried away to Babylon.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: In the fourth book of Kings we read, that Ochozias was the son
   of Joram. On his death, Josabeth, sister of Ochozias and daughter of
   Joram, took Joash, her brother's son, and preserved him from the
   slaughter of the royal seed by Athalias. To Joash succeeded his son
   Amasias; after him his son Azarias, who is called Ozias; after him his
   son Joatham. Thus you see according to historical truth there were
   three intervening kings, who are omitted by the Evangelist. Joram,
   moveover, begot not Ozias, but Ochozias, and the rest as we have
   related.

   But because it was the purpose of the Evangelist to make each of the
   three periods consist of fourteen generations, and because Joram had
   connected himself with Jezebel's most impious race, therefore his
   posterity to the third generation is omitted in tracing the lineage of
   the holy birth.

   Hilary: Thus the stain of the Gentile alliance being purged, the royal
   race is again taken up in the fourth following generation.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: What the Holy Spirit testified through the Prophet,
   saying, that He would cut off every male from the house of Ahab, and
   Jezebel, that Jehu the son of Nausi fulfilled, and received the promise
   that his children to the fourth generation should sit on the throne of
   Israel. As great a blessing then as was given upon the house of Ahab,
   so great a curse was given on the house of Joram, because of the wicked
   daughter of Ahab and Jazebel, that his sons to the fourth generation
   should be cut out of the number of the Kings.

   Thus his sin descended on his posterity as it had been written, "I will
   visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
   fourth generation." [Ex 20:5] Thus see how dangerous it is to marry
   with the seed of the ungodly.

   Aug., Hilsr. Amast. V. et N. Test. q. 85: Or, Ochozias, Joash, and
   Amasias, were excluded from the number, because their wickedness was
   continuous and without interval. For Solomon was suffered to hold the
   kingdom for his father's deserts, Roboam for his son's.

   But these three doing evil successively were excluded. This then is an
   example how a race is cut off when wickedness is shewn therein in
   perpetual succession.

   "And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat
   Ezekias."

   Gloss: This Ezekias was he to whom, when he had no children, it was
   said, "Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die." [Isa 38:1] He wept,
   not from desire of longer life, for he knew that Solomon had thereby
   pleased God, that he had not asked length of days; but he wept, for he
   feared that God's promise should not be fulfilled, when himself, being
   in the line of David of whom Christ should come, was without children.

   "And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat
   Josias."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But the order in the Book of Kings is different [2 Ki
   23], thus namely; Josias begot Eliakim, afterwards called Joakim;
   Joakim begot Jechonias. But Joakim is not reckoned among the Kings in
   the genealogy, because God's people had not set him on the throne, but
   Pharoah by his might. For if it were just that only for their
   intermixture with the race of Ahab, three kings should be shut out of
   the number in the genealogy, was it not just that Joakim should be
   likewise shut out, whom Pharaoh had set up as king by hostile force?
   And thus Jechonias, who is the son of Joakim, and the grandson of
   Josiah, is reckoned among the kings as the son of Josiah, in place of
   his father who is omitted.

   Jerome: Otherwise, we may consider the first Jeconias to be the same as
   Joakim, and the second to be the son not the father, the one being
   spelt with k and m, the second by ch and n. This distinction has been
   confounded both by Greeks and Latins, by the fault of writers and the
   lapse of time.

   Ambrose, in Luc., cap. 2: That there were two kings of the name of
   Joakim, is clear from the Book of Kings. "And Joakim slept with his
   fathers, and Joachim his son reigned in his stead." [2 Ki 24:6] This
   son is the same whom Jeremiah calls Jeconias. And rightly did St.
   Matthew purpose to differ from the Prophet, because he sought to shew
   therein the great abundance of the Lord's mercies. For the Lord did not
   seek among men nobility of race, but suitably chose to be born of
   captives and of sinners, as He came to preach remission of sin to the
   captives. The Evangelist therefore did not conceal either of these; but
   rather shewed them both, inasmuch as both were called Jeconias.

   Remig.: But it may be asked, why the Evangelist says they were born in
   the carrying away, when they were born before the carrying away. He
   says this because they were born for this purpose, that they should be
   led captive, from the dominion of the whole nation, for their own and
   others' sins. And because God foreknew that they were to be carried
   away captive, therefore he says, they were born in the carrying away to
   Babylon.

   But of those whom the holy Evangelist places together in the Lord's
   genealogy, it should be known, that they were alike in good or ill
   fame. Judas and his brethren were notable for good, in like manner
   Phares and Zara, Jechonias and his brethren, were notable for evil.

   Gloss: Mystically, David is Christ, who overcame Golias, that is, the
   Devil. Urias, i.e. God is my light, is the Devil who says, "I will be
   like the Highest." [Isa 14:14] To Him the Church was married, when
   Christ on the Throne of the majesty of His Father loved her, and having
   made her beautiful, united her to Himself in wedlock.

   Or Urias is the Jewish nation who through the Law boasted of their
   light. From them Christ took away the Law, having taught it to speak of
   Himself.

   Bersabee is the well of satiety,' that is, the abundance of spiritual
   grace.

   Remig.: Bersabee is interpreted, the seventh well,' or, the well of the
   oath' [ed. note, c: v'r sv the well of the oath, the origin of the name
   is given, Gen 21:28-31. "satiety" as if from sv, by which is signified
   the grant of baptism, in which is given the gift of the sevenfold
   Spirit, and the oath against the Devil is made.

   Christ is also Solomon, i.e. the peaceful, according to that of the
   Apostle, "He is our peace." [Eph 2:14]

   Roboam [ed. note, d: So Jerome, from rchv; or the foolishness of the
   people, Ecclus. 47. 23] is, the breadth of the people,' according to
   that, "Many shall come from the East and from the West."

   Raban.: Or; the might of the people,' because he quickly converts the
   people to the faith.

   Remig.: He is also Abias, that is, the Lord Father,' according to that,
   "One is your Father who is in heaven." [Matt 23:9] And again, "Ye call
   me Master and Lord." [John 13:13]

   He is also Asa [ed. note, e: So Jerome; as if from ns' = ns'; but 's'
   means a physician], that is, lifting up,' according to that, "Who
   taketh away the sins of the world." [John 1:29]

   He is also Josaphat, that is, judging,' for, "The Father hath committed
   all judgment unto the Son." [John 5:22]

   He is also Joram, that is, lofty,' according to that, "No man hath
   ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven." [John 3:13]

   He is also Ozias, that is, the Lord's strength,' for "The Lord is my
   strength and my praise." [Ps 118:14]

   He is also Jotham [ed. note, f: And so Jerome, from tmm], that is,
   completed,' or perfected,' for "Christ is the end of the Law." [Rom
   10:4]

   He is also Ahaz [ed. note, g: 'chz to seize or hold, and so Jerome.],
   that is, turning,' according to that, "Be ye turned to Me." [Zech 1:3]

   Raban.: Or, embracing,' because, "None knoweth the Father but the Son."
   [Matt 11:27]

   Remig.: His is also Ezekias, that is, the strong Lord,' or, the Lord
   shall comfort;' according to that, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome
   the world." [John 16:33]

   He is also Manasses, that is, forgetful,' or, forgotten,' according to
   that, "I will not remember your sins any more." [Ezek 28]

   He is also Aaron [ed note, h: A strong mountain; Jerome. It has no
   Hebrew root.], that is, faithful,' according to that, "The Lord is
   faithful in all His words." [Ps 145:17]

   He is also Josias, that is, the incense of the Lord,' [ed. note, i: A
   sacrifice to the Lord, - Jerome; from 'sh fire in the ritual service,
   or incense, Lev 24:7], as, "And being in an agony, He prayed more
   earnestly." [Luke 22:44]

   Raban.: And that incense signifies prayer, the Psalmist witnesses,
   saying, "Let my prayer come up as incense before Thee." [Ps 141:2] Or,
   The salvation of the Lord,' according to that, "My salvation is for
   ever." [Isa 55]

   Remig.: He is Jechonias [ed. note, k: yknyhv "the Lord establisheth,"
   also "prepareth."], that is, preparing,' or the Lord's preparation,'
   according to that, "If I shall depart, I will also prepare a place for
   you." [John 14:3]

   Gloss: Morally; After David follows Solomon, which is interpreted,
   peaceful.' For one then becomes peaceful, when unlawful motions being
   composed, and being as it were already set in the everlasting rest, he
   serves God, and turns others to Him.

   Then follows Roboam, that is, the breadth of the people.' For when
   there is no longer any thing to overcome within himself, it behoves a
   man to look abroad to others, and to draw with him the people of God to
   heavenly things.

   Next is Abias, that is, the Lord Father,' for these things premised, He
   may proclaim Himself the Son of God, and then He will be Asa, that is,
   raising up,' and will ascend to His Father from virtue to virtue: and
   He will become Josaphat, that is, judging,' for He will judge others,
   and will be judged of none.

   Thus he becomes Joram, that is, lofty,' as it were dwelling on high;
   and is made Oziah, that is, the strong One of the Lord,' as attributing
   all his strength to God, and persevering in his path.

   Then follows Jotham, that is, perfect,' for he groweth daily for
   greater perfection. And thus he becomes Ahaz, that is, embracing,' for
   by obedience knowledge is increased according to that, "They have
   proclaimed the worship of the Lord, and have understood His doings."

   Then follows Ezekias, that is, the Lord is strong,' because he
   understands that God is strong, and so turning to His love, he becomes
   Manassas, forgetful,' because he gives up as forgotten all worldly
   things; and is made thereby Amon, that is, faithful,' for whoso
   despises all temporal things, defrauds no man of his goods. Thus he is
   made Josias, that is, in certain hope of the Lord's salvation;' for
   Josias in intepreted the salvation of the Lord.'
     __________________________________________________________________

   12-15. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat
   Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begat Abiud;
   and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; and Azor begat Sadoc;
   and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; and Eliud begat Eleazar;
   and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: After the carrying away, he sets Jeconiah again, as now
   become a private person.

   Ambrose: Of whom Jeremiah speaks. "Write this man dethroned; for there
   shall not spring of his seed one sitting on the throne of David." [Jer
   22:30]

   How is this said of the Prophet, that none of the seed of Jeconias
   should reign? For if Christ reigned, and Christ was of the seed of
   Jeconiah, then has the Prophet spoken falsely. But it is not there
   declared that there shall be none of the seed of Jeconiah, and so
   Christ is of his seed; and that Christ did reign, is not in
   contradiction to the prophecy; for He did not reign with worldly
   honours, as He said, "My kingdom is not of this world." [John 18:36]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Concerning Salathiel [ed. note, l: This Gloss. from
   Pseudo-Chrys. is not found in Nicolai's edition.], we have read nothing
   either good or bad, but we suppose him to have been a holy man, and in
   the captivity to have constantly besought God in behalf of afflicted
   Israel, and that hence he was named, Salathiel, the petition of God.'
   [ed. note, m: s'lty'l "I have asked of God."]

   "Salathiel begot Zorobabel," which is interpreted, flowing postponed,'
   or, of the confusion,' or here, the doctor of Babylon.' [ed. note, n
   (p.31): The teacher of Babylon; Jerome; perhaps from zr "crown;" zrv
   Ch. flowed, poured away," Syr. "contracted, bound;" hence another of
   the meanings in the text.]

   I have read, but know not whether it be true, that both the priestly
   line and the royal line were united in Zorobabel; and that it was
   through him that the children of Israel returned into their own
   country. For that in a disputation held between three, of whom
   Zorobabel was one, each defending his own opinion, Zorobabel's
   sentence, that Truth was the strongest thing, prevailed; and that for
   this Darius granted him that the children of Israel should return to
   their country; and therefore after this providence of God, he was
   rightly called Zorobabel, the doctor of Babylon.' For what doctrine
   greater than to shew that Truth is the mistress of all things?

   Gloss: But this seems to contradict the genealogy which is read in
   Chronicles. For there it is said, that Jeconias begot Salathiel and
   Phadaias, and Phadaias begot Zorobabel, and Zorobabel Mosollah,
   Ananias, and Solomith their sister. [1 Chron 3:17] But we know that
   many parts of the Chronicles have been corrupted by time, and error of
   transcribers. Hence come many and controverted questions of genealogies
   which the Apostle bids us avoid. [1 Tim 1:4]

   Or it may be said, that Salathiel and Phadaias are the same man under
   two different names. Or that Salathiel and Phadaias were brothers, and
   both had sons of the same name, and that the writer of the history
   followed the genealogy of Zorobabel, the son of Salathiel. From Abiud
   down to Joseph, no history is found in the Chronicles; but we read that
   the Hebrews had many other annals, which were called the Words of the
   Days, of which much was burned by Herod, who was a foreigner, in order
   to confound the descent of the royal line.

   And perhaps Joseph had read in them the names of his ancestors, or knew
   them from some other source. And thus the Evangelist could learn the
   succession of this genealogy. It should be noted, that the first
   Jeconiah is called the resurrection of the Lord, the second, the
   preparation of the Lord. Both are very applicable to the Lord Christ,
   who declares, "I am the resurrection, and the life;" [John 11:25] and,
   "I go to prepare a place for you." [John 14:2]

   Salathiel, i.e. the Lord is my petition,' is suitable to Him who said,
   "Holy Father, keep them whom Thou hast given Me." [John 17:11]

   Remig.: He is also Zorobabel, that is, the master of confusion,'
   according to that, "Your Master eateth with publicans and sinners."
   [Matt 9:11]

   He is Abiud, that is, He is my Father,' according to that, "I and the
   Father are One." [John 10:30]

   He is also Eliacim [ed. note: So Jerome, 'l yqym "God will raise up"],
   that is, God the Reviver,' according to that, "I will revive him again
   in the last day." [John 6:54]

   He is also Azor, that is, aided,' according of that, "He who sent Me is
   with Me." [John 8:29]

   He is also Sadoch, that is, the just,', or, the justified,' according
   to that, "He was delivered, the just for the unjust." [1 Pet 3:18]

   He is also Achim, that is, my brother is He,' according to that, "Whoso
   doeth the will of My Father, he is My brother." [Matt 12:50]

   He is also Eliud, that is, He is my God,' according to that, "My Lord,
   and my God." [John 20:28]

   Gloss: He is also Eleazar, i.e. God is my helper,' as in the
   seventeenth Psalm, "My God, my helper."

   He is also Mathan, that is, giving,' or, given,' for, "He gave gifts
   for men;" [Eph 4:8] and, "God so loved the world, that He gave His
   only-begotten Son." [John 3:16]

   Remig.: He is also Jacob, that supplanteth,' for not only hath He
   supplanted the Devil, but hath given His power to His faithful people;
   as, "Behold I have given you power to tread upon serpents." [Luke
   10:19]

   He is also Joseph, that is, adding,' according to that, "I came that
   they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly."

   Raban.: But let us see what moral signification these names contain.
   After Jeconias, which means the preparation of the Lord,' follows
   Salathiel, i.e. God is my petition,' for he who is rightly prepared,
   prays not but of God.

   Again, he becomes Zorobabel, the master of Babylon,' that is, of the
   men of the earth, whom he makes to know concerning God, that He is
   their Father, which is signified in Abiud.

   Then that people rise again from their vices, whence follows Eliacim,
   the resurrection;' and thence rise to good works, which is Azor, and
   becomes Sadoch, i.e. righteous;' and then they are taught the love of
   their neighbour. He is my brother, which is signified in Achim; and
   through love to God he says of Him, My God,' which Eliud signifies.

   Then follows Eleazar, i.e. God is my helper;' he recognizes God as his
   helper. But whereto he tends is shewn in Matthan, which is interpreted
   gift,' or giving;' for he looks to God as his benefactor; and as he
   wrestled with and overcame his vices in the beginning, so he does in
   the end of life, which belongs to Jacob, and thus he reaches Joseph,
   that is, The increase of virtues.'
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,
   who is called Christ.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss: In the last place, after all the patriarchs, he sets down Joseph
   the husband of Mary, for whose sake all the rest are introduced,
   saying, "But Jacob begot Joseph."

   Jerome: This passage is objected to us by the Emperor Julian in his
   Discrepancy of the Evangelists. Matthew calls Joseph the son of Jacob,
   Luke makes him the son of Heli. He did not know the Scripture manner,
   one was his father by nature, the other by law. For we know that God
   commanded by Moses, that if a brother or near kinsman died without
   children, another should take his wife, to raise up seed to his brother
   or kinsman. [Deut 25]

   But of this matter Africanus the chronologist [ed. note: In his Epist.
   ad Aristidem, vid. Reuth Reliqu. vol. ii, p. 114. Africanus], and
   Eusebius of Caesarea, have disputed more fully.

   Euseb., Hist. Eccles. i, 7: For Matthan and Melchi at different periods
   had each a son by one and the same wife Jesca. Matthan, who traced
   through Solomon, first had her, and died leaving one son, Jacob by
   name. As the Law forbade not a widow, either dismissed from her
   husband, or after the death of her husband, to be married to another,
   so Melchi, who traced through Matthan, being of the same tribe but of
   another race, took this widow to his wife, and begat Heli his son.

   Thus shall we find Jacob and Heli, though of a different race, yet by
   the same mother, to have been brethren. One of whom, namely Jacob,
   after Heli his brother was deceased without issue, married his wife,
   and begat on her the third, Joseph, by nature indeed and reason his own
   son. Whereupon also it is written, "And Jacob begat Joseph." But by the
   Law, he was the son of Heli; for Jacob, being his brother, raised up
   seed to him.

   Thus the genealogy, both as recited by Matthew, and by Luke, stands
   right and true; Matthew saying, "And Jacob begot Joseph;" Luke saying,
   "Which was the son, as it was supposed, (for he adds this withal,) of
   Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of Melchi."

   Nor could he have more significantly or properly expressed that way of
   generation according to the Law, which was made by a certain adoption
   that had respect to the dead, carefully leaving out the word
   "begetting" throughout even to the end.

   Augustine, de Cons. Evan., ii, 2: He is more properly called his son,
   by whom he was adopted, than had he been said to have been begotten of
   him of whose flesh he was not born. Wherefore Matthew, in saying,
   "Abraham begot Isaac," and continuing the same phrase throughout down
   to "Jacob begot Joseph," sufficiently declares that he gives the father
   according to the order of nature, so as that we must hold Joseph to
   have been begotten, not adopted, by Jacob. Though even if Luke had used
   the word, "begotten," we need not have thought it any serious
   objection; for it is not absurd to say of an adopted son that he is
   begotten, not after the flesh, but by affection.

   Euseb.: Neither does this lack good authority; nor has it been suddenly
   devised by us for this purpose. For the kinsmen of our Saviour
   according to the flesh, either out of desire to shew forth this their
   so great nobility of stock, or simply for the truth's sake, have
   delivered it unto us.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 4: And suitably does Luke, who relates
   Christ's ancestry not in the opening of his Gospel, but at his baptism,
   follow the line of adoption, as thus more clearly pointing Him out as
   the Priest that should make atonement for sin. For by adoption we are
   made the sons of God, by believing in the Son of God. But by the
   descent according to the flesh which Matthew follows, we rather see
   that the Son of God was for us made man.

   Luke sufficiently shews that he called Joseph the son of Heli, because
   he was adopted by Heli, by his calling Adam the son of God, which he
   was by grace, as he was set in Paradise, though he lost it afterwards
   by sinning.

   Chyrs., Hom. 4: Having gone through all the ancestry, and ended in
   Joseph, he adds, "The husband of Mary," thereby declaring that is was
   for her sake that he was included in the genealogy.

   Jerome: When you hear this word, "husband," do not straight bethink you
   of wedlock, but remember the Scripture manner, which calls persons only
   betrothed husband and wife.

   Gennadius, de Eccles. Dog., 2: The Son of God was born of human flesh,
   that is of Mary, and not by man after the way of nature, as Ebion says;
   and accordingly it is significantly added, "Of her Jesus was born."

   Aug., De Haeres, ii: This is said against Valentinus, who taught that
   Christ took nothing of the Virgin Mary, but passed through her as
   through a channel or pipe.

   Wherefore it pleased Him to take flesh of the womb of a woman, is known
   in His own secret counsels; whether that He might confer honour on both
   sexes alike, by taking the form of a man, and being born of a woman, or
   from some other reason which I would not hastily pronounce on.

   Hilary, Quaest. Nov. et Vet. Test. q. 49: What God conveyed by the
   anointing of oil to those who were anointed to be kings, this the Holy
   Spirit conveyed upon the man Christ, adding thereto the expiation;
   wherefore when born He was called Christ; and thus it proceeds, "who is
   called Christ."

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 1: It was not lawful that he should think to
   separate himself from Mary for this, that she brought forth Christ as
   yet a Virgin. And herein may the faithful gather, that if they be
   married, and preserve strict continence on both sides, yet may their
   wedlock hold with union of love only, without carnal; for here they see
   that it is possible that a son be born without carnal embrace.

   Aug., de Nupt. et Concup., i, 11: In Christ's parents was accomplished
   every good benefit of marriage, fidelity, progeny, and a sacrament. The
   progeny we see in the Lord Himself; fidelity, for there was no
   adultery; sacrament, for there was no divorce.

   Jerome: The attentive reader may ask, Seeing Joseph was not the father
   of the Lord and Saviour, how does his genealogy traced down to him in
   order pertain to the Lord? We will answer, first, that it is not the
   practice of Scripture to follow the female line in its genealogies;
   secondly, that Joseph and Mary were of the same tribe, and that he was
   thence compelled to take her to wife as a kinsman, and they were
   enrolled together at Bethlehem, as being come of one stock.

   Augustine: Also, the line of descent ought to be brought down to
   Joseph, that in wedlock no wrong might be done to the male sex, as the
   more worthy, providing only nothing was taken away from the truth;
   because Mary was of the seed of David.

   Hence then we believe that Mary was in the line of David; namely,
   because we believe the Scripture which affirms two things, both that
   Christ was of the seed of David according to the flesh, and that He
   should be conceived of Mary not by knowledge of man, but as yet a
   virgin.

   The Council of Ephesus: Herein we must beware of the error of
   Nestorius, who thus speaks; "When Divine Scripture is to speak either
   of the birth of Christ which is of the Virgin Mary, or His death, it is
   never seen to put God, but either, Christ, or Son, or Lord; since these
   three are significative of the two natures, sometimes of this,
   sometimes of that, and sometimes of both this and that together. And
   here is a testimony to this, Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of
   whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.' For God the Word needed not
   a second birth of a woman."

   Pseudo-Aug., Vigil. Cont. Fel. 12. ap. Aug. t. 8. p. 45: But not one
   was the Son of God, and another the son of a man; but the same Christ
   was the son of both God and man. And as in one man, the soul is one and
   the body is another, so in the mediator between God and man, the Son of
   God was one, and the son of man another; yet of both together was one
   Christ the Lord. Two in distinction of substance, one in unity of
   Person.

   But the heretic objects; "how can you teach Him to have been born in
   time whom you say was before coeternal with His Father? For birth is as
   it were a motion of a thing not in being, before it be born, bringing
   about this, that by benefit of birth it come into being. Whence it is
   concluded, that He who was in being cannot be born; if He could be born
   He was not in being."

   (To this it is replied by Augustine:) Let us imagine, as many will have
   it, that the universe has a general soul, which by some unspeakable
   motion gives life to all seeds, so as that itself is not mixed up with
   the things it produces. When this then passes forth into the womb to
   form passible matter to its own uses, it makes one with itself the
   person of that thing which it is clear has not the same substance.

   And thus, the soul being active and the matter passive, of two
   substances is made one man, the soul and the flesh being distinct; thus
   it is that our confession is, that that soul is born of the womb which
   in coming to the womb we say conferred life on the thing conceived. He,
   I say, is said to be born of His mother, who shaped to Himself a body
   out of her, in which He might be born; not as though before He was
   born, His mother might, as far as pertained to Him, not have been in
   being. In like manner, yea in a manner yet more incomprehensible and
   sublime, the Son of God was born, by taking on Him perfect manhood of
   his Mother. He who by his singular almighty power is the cause of their
   being born to all things that are born.
     __________________________________________________________________

   17. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen
   generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are
   fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto
   Christ are fourteen generations.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Having enumerated the generations from Abraham to
   Christ, he divides them into three divisions of fourteen generations,
   because three times at the end of fourteen generations the state of the
   people of the Jews was changed. From Abraham to David they were under
   Judges; from David to the carrying away into Babylon under Kings; from
   the carrying away to Christ under the High Priests.

   What he would shew then is this: like as ever at the end of fourteen
   generations the state of men has changed, so there being fourteen
   generations completed from the carrying away to Christ, it must needs
   be that the state of men be changed by Christ. And so since Christ all
   the Gentiles have been made under one Christ Judge, King, and Priest.
   And for that Judges, Kings, and Priests prefigured Christ's dignity,
   their beginnings were always in a type of Christ; the first of the
   Judges was Joshua the son of Nave; the first of the Kings, David; the
   first of the Priests, Jesus son of Josedech. That this was typical of
   Christ none doubts.

   Chrys.: Or he divided the whole genealogy into three parts to shew that
   not even by the change of their government were they made better, but
   under Judges, Kings, High Priests, and Priests, held the same evil
   course. For which cause also he mentions the captivity in Babylon,
   shewing that neither by this were they corrected. But the going down
   into Egypt is not mentioned, because they were not still in terror of
   the Egyptians as they were of the Assyrians or Parthians; and because
   that was a remote, but this a recent event; and because they had not
   been carried thither for sin as they had to Babylon.

   Ambrose, in Luc., c. 3: Let us not think this is to be overlooked, that
   though there were seventeen Kings of Judaea between David and Jeconiah,
   Matthew only recounts fourteen. We must observe that there might be
   many more successions to the throne than generations of men; for some
   may live longer and beget children later; or might be altogether
   without seed; thence the number of Kings and of generations would not
   coincide.

   Gloss: Or we may say that there are three Kings overlooked, as was said
   above.

   Ambrose: Again, from Jeconiah to Joseph are computed twelve
   generations; yet he afterwards calls these also fourteen. But if you
   look attentively, you will be able to discover the method by which
   fourteen are reckoned here. Twelve are reckoned including Joseph, and
   Christ is the thirteenth; and history declares that there were two
   Joakims, that is two Jeconiahs, father and son. The Evangelist has not
   passed over either of these, but has named them both. Thus, adding the
   younger Jeconiah, fourteen generations are computed.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, the same Jeconiah is counted twice in the Gospel,
   once before the carrying away, and again after the carrying away. For
   this Jeconiah being one person had two different conditions; before the
   carrying away he was King, as being made King by the people of God; but
   he became a private man at the carrying away; hence he is reckoned once
   among the Kings before the carrying away; and after the carrying away
   once among private men.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan, ii, 4: Or, one of Christ's forefathers is counted
   twice, because in him, Jeconiah to wit, there was made a passing off to
   strange nations since he was carried to Babylon. Wherever a series
   turns out of the right line to go in any other direction there is an
   angle made, and that part that is in the angle is reckoned twice. Thus
   here is a figure of Christ, who passes from the circumcision to the
   uncircumcision, and is made a cornerstone.

   Remig.: He made fourteen generations, because the ten denotes the
   Decalogue, and the four the four books of the Gospel; whence this shews
   the agreement of the Law and the Gospel. And he put the fourteen three
   times over, that he might shew that the perfection of law, prophecy,
   and grace, consists in the faith of the Holy Trinity.

   Gloss: Or in this number is signified the sevenfold grace of the Holy
   Spirit. The number is made up of seven, doubled, to shew that the grace
   of the Holy Spirit is needed both for soul and body to salvation.

   Also the genealogy is divided into three portions of fourteen thus. The
   first from Abraham to David, so as that David is included in it; the
   second from David to the carrying away, in which David is not included,
   but the carrying away is included; the third is from the carrying away
   to Christ, in which if we say that Jeconiah is included, then the
   carrying away is included. In the first are denoted the men before the
   Law, in which you will find some of the men of the Law of nature, such
   as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all as far as Solomon.

   In the second are denoted the men under the Law; for all who are
   included in it were under the Law.

   In the third are found the men of grace; for it is finished in Christ,
   who was the giver of grace; and because in it was the deliverance from
   Babylon, signifying the deliverance from captivity that was made by
   Christ.

   Aug.: After having divided the whole into three periods of fourteen
   generations, he does not sum them all up and say, The sum of the whole
   is forty and two; because one of those fathers, that is Jeconiah, is
   reckoned twice; so that they do not amount to forty-two, as three times
   fourteen does, but because one is reckoned twice over, there are only
   forty-one generations.

   Matthew therefore, whose purpose was to draw out Christ's kingly
   character, counts forty successions in the genealogy exclusive of
   Christ. This number denotes the time for which we must be governed by
   Christ in this world, according to that painful discipline which is
   signified by the iron rod of which it is written in the Psalms, "Thou
   shalt rule them with a rod of iron."

   That this number should denote this our temporal life, a reason offers
   at hand, in this, that the seasons of the year are four, and that the
   world itself is bounded by four sides, the east, the west, the north,
   and the south. But forty contains ten four times. Moreover, ten itself
   is made up by a number proceeding from one to four.

   Gloss: Or, the ten refers to the decalogue, the four to this life
   present, which passes through four seasons; or by the ten is meant the
   Old Testament, by the four the New.

   Remig.: But if any, maintaining that it is not the same Jeconiah, but
   two different persons, make the number forty and two, we then shall say
   that the Holy Church is signified; for this number is the product of
   seven, and six; (for six times seven make forty-two;) the six denotes
   labour, and the seven rest.
     __________________________________________________________________

   18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother
   Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found
   with child of the Holy Ghost.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Having said above, "And Jacob begat Joseph," to whom
   Mary being espoused bare Jesus; that none who heard should suppose that
   His birth was as that of any of the forementioned fathers, he cuts off
   the thread of his narrative, saying, "But Christ's generation was
   thus." As though he were to say, The generation of all these fathers
   was as I have related it; but Christ's was not so, but as follows, "His
   mother Mary being espoused."

   Chrys.: He announces that he is to relate the manner of the generation,
   shewing therein that he is about to speak some new thing; that you may
   not suppose when you hear mention of Mary's husband, that Christ was
   born by the law of nature.

   Remig.: Yet it might be referred to the foregoing in this way, The
   generation of Christ was, as I have related, thus, "Abraham begat
   Isaac."

   Jerome: But why is He conceived not of a Virgin merely, but of a Virgin
   espoused? First, that by the descent of Joseph, Mary's family might be
   made known; secondly, that she might not be stoned by the Jews as an
   adulteress; thirdly, that in her flight into Egypt she might have the
   comfort of a husband.

   The Martyr Ignatius [margin note: vid. Ign. ad Eph. 19] adds yet a
   fourth reason, namely, that His birth might be hid from the Devil,
   looking for Him to be born of a wife and not of a virgin.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Therefore both espoused and yet remaining at home; for
   as in her who should conceive in the house of her husband, is
   understood natural conception; so in her who conceives before she be
   taken to her husband, there is suspicion of infidelity.

   Jerome, Hieron. cont. Helvid. in princ.: It is to be known, that
   Helvidius, a certain turbulent man, having got matter of disputation,
   takes in hand to blaspheme against the Mother of God. His first
   proposition was, Matthew begins thus, "When she was espoused." Behold,
   he says, you have her espoused, but as ye say, not yet committed; but
   surely not espoused for any other reason than as being to be married.

   Origen: She was indeed espoused to Joseph, but not united in wedlock;
   that is to say, His mother immaculate, His mother incorrupt, His mother
   pure. His mother! Whose mother? The mother of God, of the
   Only-begotten, of the Lord, of the King, of the Maker of all things,
   and the Redeemer of all.

   Cyril, Epist. ad Monach. Egypt. (Ep. p. 7): What will any one see in
   the Blessed Virgin more than in other mothers, if she be not the mother
   of God, but of Christ, or the Lord, as Nestorius says? For it would not
   be absurd should any one please to name the mother of any anointed
   person, the mother of Christ. Yet she alone and more than they is
   called the Holy Virgin, and the mother of Christ. For she bare not a
   simple man as ye say, but rather the Word incarnate, and made man of
   God the Father.

   But perhaps you say, Tell me, do you think the Virgin was made the
   mother of His divinity? To this also we say, that the Word was born of
   the very substance of God Himself, and without beginning of time always
   coexisted with the Father.

   But in these last times when He was made flesh, that is united to
   flesh, having a rational soul, He is said to be born of a woman after
   the flesh. Yet is this sacrament in a manner brought out like to birth
   among us; for the mothers of earthly children impart to their nature
   that flesh that is to be perfected by degrees in the human form; but
   God sends the life into the animal. But though these are mothers only
   of the earthly bodies, yet when they bear children, they are said to
   bear the whole animal, and not a part of it only.

   Such do we see to have been done in the birth of Emmanuel; the Word of
   God was born of the substance of His Father; but because He took on Him
   flesh, making it His own, it is necessary to confess that He was born
   of a woman according to the flesh. Where seeing He is truly God, how
   shall any one doubt to call the Holy Virgin the Mother of God?

   Chrysologus, Serm. 148: If you are not confounded when you hear of the
   birth of God, let not His conception disturb you, seeing the pure
   virginity of the mother removes all that might shock human reverence.
   And what offence against our awe and reverence is there, when the Deity
   entered into union with purity that was always dear to Him, where an
   Angel is mediator, faith is bridesmaid, where chastity is the giving
   away, virtue the gift, conscience the judge, God the cause; where the
   conception is inviolateness, the birth virginity, and the mother a
   virgin. [ed. note: The allusions here made may be illustrated by a
   passage in the Ad Uxor. ii. 1, of Tertullian, who, with reference to
   the civil usages, speaks of "the [cont. p. 42] happiness of that
   Marriage, which the Church "brings about, (conciliat,)" the "Oblation"
   confirms, the Blessing "seals," the Angles "witness," and the Father
   "ratifies," In Chrysologus the Angel brings about, (interpres ost,)
   virtue is the oblation or bride's gift, and a pure conscience is the
   witness.]

   Cyril, Epist. ad Joan. Antioch. (Ep. p. 107): But if we were to say
   that the holy Body of Christ came down from heaven, and was not made of
   His mother, as Valentinus does, in what sense could Mary be the Mother
   of God?

   Gloss: The name of His Mother is added, "Mary."

   Bede, in Luc., c. 3: Mary in interpreted, Star of the Sea,' after the
   Hebrew; Mistress,' after the Syriac; as she bare into the world the
   Light of salvation, and the Lord. [ed. note, r: mrym their rebellion.
   S. Ambrose interprets it "God from my race," and "the bitterness of the
   sea." de Instit. Virg. 33. It is not necessary to give the origin of
   these various interpretations.]

   Gloss: And to whom she was betrothed is shewn, Joseph.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Mary was therefore betrothed to a carpenter, because
   Christ the Spouse of the Church was to work the salvation of all men
   through the wood of the Cross.

   Chrys.: What follows, "Before they came together," does not mean before
   she was brought to the bridegroom's house, for she was already within.
   For it was a frequent custom among the ancients to have their betrothed
   wives home to their house before marriage; as we see done now also, and
   as the sons-in-law of Lot were with him in the house.

   Gloss: But the words denote carnal knowledge.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That He should not be born of passion, of flesh and
   blood, who was therefore born that He might take away all passion of
   flesh and blood.

   Aug., de Nupt. et Concup., i, 12: There was no carnal knowledge in this
   wedlock, because in sinful flesh this could not be without carnal
   desire which came of sin, and which He would be without, who was to be
   without sin; and that hence He might teach us that all flesh which is
   born of sexual union is sinful flesh, seeing that Flesh alone was
   without sin, which was not so born.

   Pseudo-Aug., in App. 122 et. al.: Christ was also born of a pure
   virgin, because it was not holy that virtue should be born of pleasure,
   chastity of self-indulgence, incorruption of corruption. Nor could He
   come from heaven but after some new manner, who came to destroy the
   ancient empire of death. Therefore she received the crown of virginity
   who bare the King of chastity. Farther, our Lord sought out for Himself
   a virgin abode, wherein to be received, that He might shew us that God
   ought to be borne in a chaste body.

   Therefore He that wrote on tables of stone without an iron pen, the
   same wrought in Mary by the Holy Spirit; "She was found with child of
   the Holy Ghost."

   Jerome: And found by none other than by Joseph, who knew all, as being
   her espoused husband.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For, as a not incredible account relates, Joseph was
   absent when the things were done which Luke writes. For it is not easy
   to suppose that the Angel came to Mary and said those words, and Mary
   made her answer when Joseph was present. And even if we suppose thus
   much to have been possible, yet it could not be that she should have
   gone into the hill country, and abode there three months when Joseph
   was present, because he must needs have enquired the causes of her
   departure and long stay. And so when after so many months he returned
   from abroad, he found her manifestly with child.

   Chrys.: He says exactly "was found," for so we use to say of things not
   thought of. And that you should not molest the Evangelist by asking in
   what way was this birth of a virgin, he clears himself shortly, saying,
   "Of the Holy Ghost." As much as to say, it was the Holy Ghost that
   wrought this miracle. For neither Gabriel nor Matthew could say any
   futher.

   Gloss., ap Anselm: Therefore the words, "Is of the Holy Ghost," were
   set down by the Evangelist, to the end, that when it was said that she
   was with child, all wrong suspicion should be removed from the minds of
   the hearers.

   Pseudo-Aug. , Serm. 236 in App.: But not, as some impiously think, are
   we to suppose, that the Holy Spirit was as seed, but we say that He
   wrought with the power and might of a Creator. [ed. note: And thus S.
   Hilary speaks of the sementiva ineuntis Spiritus "efficacia." de Trin.
   ii, 26]

   Ambrose, De Spir. Sanct., ii, 5: That which is of any thing is either
   of the substance or the power of that thing; of the substance, as the
   Son who is of the Father; of the power, as all things are of God, even
   as Mary was with Child of the Holy Spirit.

   Aug., Enchir. c. 40: Furthermore, this manner in which Christ was born
   of the Holy Spirit suggests to us the grace of God, by which man
   without any previous merits, in the very beginning of his nature, was
   united with the Word of God into so great unity of person, that he was
   also made son of God. [margin note: Aug., Enchir. c. 38]

   But inasmuch as the whole Trinity wrought to make this creature which
   was conceived of the Virgin, though pertaining only to the person of
   the Son, (for the works of the Trinity are indivisible,) why is the
   Holy Spirit only named in this work? Must we always, when one of the
   Three is named in any work, understand that the whole Trinity worked in
   that?

   Jerome, Hieron. Cont. Helvid. in princip.: But says Helvidius; Neither
   would the Evangelist have said, "Before they came together," if they
   were not to come together afterwards; as none would say, Before dinner,
   where there was to be no dinner. As if one should say, Before I dined
   in harbour, I set sail for Africa, would this have no meaning in it,
   unless he were at some times or other to dine in the harbour?

   Surely we must either understand it thus, - that "before," though it
   often implies something to follow, yet often is said of things that
   follow only in thought; and it is not necessary that the things so
   thought of should take place, for that something else has happened to
   prevent them from taking place.

   Jerome: Therefore it by no means follows that they did come together
   afterwards; Scripture however shews not what did happen.

   Remig.: Or the word "come together" may not mean carnal knowledge, but
   may refer to the time of the nuptials, when she who was betrothed
   begins to be wife. Thus, "before they came together," may mean before
   they solemnly celebrated the nuptial rites.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 5: How this was done Matthew omits to write,
   but Luke relates after the conception of John, "In the sixth month the
   Angel was sent;" and again, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee." This
   is what Matthew relates in these words, "She was found with child of
   the Holy Ghost." And it is no contradiction that Luke has described
   what Matthew omits; or again that Matthew relates what Luke has
   omitted; that namely which follows, from "Now Joseph her husband being
   a just man," to that place where it is said of the Magi, that "They
   returned into their own country another way."

   If one desired to digest into one narrative the two accounts of
   Christ's birth, he would arrange thus; beginning with Matthew's words,
   "Now the birth of Christ was on this wise;" then taking up with Luke,
   from "There was in the days of Herod," [Luke 1:5] to, "Mary abode with
   her three months," and "returned to her house;" then taking up again
   Matthew, add, "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost." [Matt 1:10]
     __________________________________________________________________

   19. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make
   her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Evangelist having said that she was found with child of the
   Holy Ghost, and without knowledge of man, that you should not herein
   suspect Christ's disciple of inventing wonders in honour of his Master,
   brings forward Joseph confirming the history by his own share in it;
   "Now Joseph her husband, being a just man."

   Pseudo-Aug., Serm. in App. s. 195: Joseph, understanding that Mary was
   with child, is perplexed that it should be thus with her whom he had
   received from the temple of the Lord, and had not yet known, and
   resolved within himself, saying, What shall I do? Shall I proclaim it,
   or shall I overlook it? If I proclaim it, I am indeed not consenting to
   the adultery; but I am running into the guilt of cruelty, for by Moses'
   law she must be stoned. If I overlook it, I am consenting to the crime,
   and take my portion with the adulterers. Since then it is an evil to
   overlook the things, and worse to proclaim the adultery, I will put her
   away from being my wife.

   Ambrose, in Luc., ii, 5: St. Matthew has beautifully taught how a
   righteous man ought to act, who has detected his wife's disgrace; so as
   at once to keep himself guiltless of her blood, and yet pure from her
   defilements; therefore it is he says, "Being a just man." Thus is
   preserved throughout in Joseph the gracious character of a righteous
   man, that his testimony may be the more approved; for, the tongue of
   the just speaketh the judgment of truth.

   Jerome: But how is Joseph thus called, "just," when he is ready to hide
   his wife's sin? For the Law enacts, that not only the doers of evil,
   but they who are privy to any evil done, shall be held to be guilty.

   Chrys.: But it should be known, that "just" here is used to denote one
   who is in all things virtuous. For there is a particular justice,
   namely, the being free from covetousness; and another universal virtue,
   in which sense Scripture generally uses the word justice. Therefore
   being "just," that is, kind, merciful, he "was minded to put away
   privily" her who according to the Law was liable not only to dismissal,
   but to death. But Joseph remitted both, as though living above the Law.
   For as the sun lightens up the world, before he shews his rays, so
   Christ before He was born caused many wonders to be seen.

   Aug.: Otherwise; if you alone have knowledge of a sin that any has
   committed against you, and desire to accuse him thereof before men, you
   do not herein correct, but rather betray him. But Joseph, "being a just
   man," with great mercy spared his wife, in this great crime of which he
   suspected her. The seeming certainty of her unchastity tormented him,
   and yet because he alone knew of it, he was willing not to publish it,
   but to send her away privily; seeking rather the benefit than the
   punishment of the sinner.

   Jerome: Or this may be considered a testimony to Mary, that Joseph,
   confident in her purity, and wondering at what had happened, covered in
   silence that mystery which he could not explain.

   Rabanus: He beheld her to be with child, whom he knew to be chaste; and
   because he had read, "There shall come a Rod out of the stem of Jesse,"
   of which he knew that Mary was come [ed. note: Jerome in loc. Ambros.
   de Spir. S. ii. 5. and Pseudo-Augustine (t. vi. p. 570.) so apply these
   words, considering Christ the Branch' or flower (flos) which is spoken
   of in the clause following. Cyril Alex. et Theod. in loc. explain it of
   Christ.], and had also read, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive," he did
   not doubt that this prophecy should be fulfilled in her.

   Origen: But if he had no suspicion of her, how could he be a just man,
   and yet seek to put her away, being immaculate? He sought to put her
   away, because he saw in her a great sacrament, to approach which he
   thought himself unworthy.

   Gloss, ap Anselm: Or, in seeking to put her away, he was just; in that
   he sought it privily, is shewn his mercy, defending her from disgrace;
   "Being a just man, he was minded to put her away;" and being unwilling
   to expose her in public, and so to disgrace her, he sought to do it
   privily.

   Ambrose, in Luc., ii, 1: But as no one puts away what he has not
   received; in that he was minded to put her away, he admits to have
   received her.

   Gloss, part ap. Anselm, part in Ordinaria: Or, being unwilling to bring
   her home to his house to live with him for ever, "he was minded to put
   her away privily;" that is, to change the time of their marriage. For
   that is true virtue, when neither mercy is observed without justice,
   nor justice without mercy; both which vanish when severed one from the
   other.

   Or he was just because of his faith, in that he believed that Christ
   should be born of a virgin; wherefore he wished to humble himself
   before so great a favour.
     __________________________________________________________________

   20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord
   appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear
   not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her
   is of the Holy Ghost.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: Because Joseph was minded, as has been said, to put Mary away
   privily, which if he had done, there would have been few who would not
   rather have thought her a harlot than a virgin, therefore this purpose
   of Joseph was changed by Divine revelation, whence it is said, "While
   he thought on these things."

   Gloss., ap Anselm: In this is to be noted the wise soul that desires to
   undertake nothing rashly.

   Chrys.: Also observe the mercifulness of Joseph, that he imparted his
   suspicions to none, not even to her whom he suspected, but kept them
   within himself.

   Pseudo-Aug., Serm. in App. 195: Yet though Joseph think on these
   things, let not Mary the daughter of David be troubled; as the word of
   the Prophet brought pardon to David, so the Angel of the Saviour
   delivers Mary. Behold, again appears Gabriel the bridesman of this
   Virgin; as it follows, "Behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to
   Joseph."

   Ambrose: In this word "appeared" is conveyed the power of Him that did
   appear, allowing Himself to be seen where and how He pleases.

   Raban.: How the Angel appeared to Joseph is declared in the words, "In
   his sleep;" that is, as Jacob saw the ladder offered by a kind of
   imagining to the eyes of his heart.

   Chrys.: He did not appear so openly to Joseph as to the Shepherds,
   because he was faithful; the shepherds needed it, because they were
   ignorant. The Virgin also needed it, as she had first to be instructed
   in these mighty wonders. In like manner Zacharias needed the wonderful
   vision before the conception of his son.

   Gloss., part Int., part Anselm: The Angel appearing calls him by name,
   and adds his descent, in order to banish fear, "Joseph, son of David;"
   Joseph, as though he were known to him by name and his familiar friend.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: By addressing him as son of David, he sought to recall
   to his memory the promise of God to David, that of his seed should
   Christ be born.

   Chrys.: But by saying, "Be not afraid," he shews him to be in fear that
   he had offended God, by having an adulteress; for only as such would he
   have ever thought of putting her away.

   Chrysologus: As her betrothed husband also he is admonished not to be
   afraid; for the mind that compassionates has most fear; as though he
   were to say, Here is no cause of death, but of life; she that brings
   forth life, does not deserve death.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Also by the words, "Fear not," he desired to shew that
   he knew the heart; that by this he might have the more faith in those
   good things to come, which he was about to speak concerning Christ.

   Ambrose, in Luc., ii, 5: Be not troubled that he calls her his wife;
   for she is not herein robbed of her virginity, but her wedlock is
   witnessed to, and the celebration of her marriage is declared.

   Jerome: But we are not to think that she ceased to be betrothed,
   because she is here called wife, since we know that this is the
   Scripture manner to call the man and woman, when espoused, husband and
   wife; and this is confirmed by that text in Deuteronomy, "If one finds
   a virgin that is betrothed to a man in the field, and offer violence to
   her, and lie with her, he shall die, because he hath humbled his
   neighbour's wife." [Deut 22:25]

   Chrys.: He says, "Fear not to take unto thee;" that is, to keep at
   home; for in thought she was already dismissed.

   Raban.: Or, "to take her," that is, in marriage union and continual
   converse.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: There were three reasons why the Angel appeared to
   Joseph with this message. First, that a just man might not be led into
   an unjust action, with just intentions. Secondly, for the honour of the
   mother herself, for had she been put away, she could not have been free
   from evil suspicion among the unbelievers. Thirdly, that Joseph,
   understanding the holy conception, might keep himself from her with
   more care than before.

   He did not appear to Joseph before the conception, that he should not
   think those things that Zacharias thought, nor suffer what he suffered
   in falling into the sin of unbelief concerning the conception of his
   wife in her old age. For it was yet more incredible that a virgin
   should conceive, than that a woman past the age should conceive.

   Chrys.: Or, The Angel appeared to Joseph when he was in this
   perplexity, that his wisdom might be apparent to Joseph, and that this
   might be a proof to him of those things that he spoke. For when he
   heard out of the mouth of the Angel those very things that he thought
   within himself, this was an undoubted proof, that he was a messenger
   from God, who alone knows the secrets of the heart.

   Also the account of the Evangelist is beyond suspicion, as he describes
   Joseph feeling all that a husband was likely to feel. The Virgin also
   by this was more removed from suspicion, in that her husband had felt
   jealousy, yet took her home, and kept her with him after her
   conception. She had not told Joseph the things that the Angel had said
   to her, because she did not suppose that she should be believed by her
   husband, especially as he had begun to have suspicions concerning her.

   But to the Virgin the Angel announced her conception before it took
   place, lest if he should defer it till afterwards she should be in
   straits. And it behoved that Mother who was to receive the Maker of all
   things to be kept free from all trouble. Not only does the Angel
   vindicate the Virgin from all impurity, but shews that the conception
   was supernatural, not removing his fears only, but adding matter of
   joy; saying, "That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit."

   Gloss. ord: To be "born in her," and "born of her," are two different
   things; to be born of her is to come into the world; to be born in her,
   is the same as to be conceived. Or the word, "born," is used according
   to the foreknowledge of the Angel which he has of God, to whom the
   future is as the past.

   Pseudo-Aug., Hil. Quaest. N. et V. Test. q. 52: But if Christ was born
   by the agency of the Holy Ghost, how is that said, "Wisdom hath built
   herself an house?" [Prov 9:1]

   That house may be taken in two meanings. First, the house of Christ is
   the Church, which He built with His own blood; and secondly, His body
   may be called His house, as it is called His temple. But the work of
   the Holy Spirit, is also the work of the Son of God, because of the
   unity of their nature and their will; for whether it be the Father, or
   the Son, or the Holy Spirit, that doeth it, it is the Trinity that
   works, and what the Three do, is of One God.

   Aug., Enchir., 38: But shall we therefore say that the Holy Spirit is
   the Father of the man Christ, that as God the Father begot the Word, so
   the Holy Spirit begot the man? This is such an absurdity, that the ears
   of the faithful cannot bear it.

   How then do we say that Christ was born by the Holy Spirit, if the Holy
   Spirit did not beget Him? Did He create Him? For so far as He is man He
   was created, as the Apostle speaks; "He was made of the seed of David
   according to the flesh." [Rom 1:3] For though God made the world, yet
   is it not right to say that it is the Son of God, or born by Him, but
   that it was made, or created, or formed by Him. But seeing that we
   confess Christ to have been born by the Holy Spirit, and of the Virgin
   Mary, how is He not the Son of the Holy Spirit, and is the Son of the
   Virgin? It does not follow, that whatever is born by any thing, is
   therefore to be called the son of that thing; for, not to say that of
   man is born in one sense a son, in another a hair, or vermin, or a
   worm, none of which are his son, certainly those that are born of water
   and the Spirit none would call sons of water; but sons of God their
   Father, and their Mother the Church. Thus Christ was born of the Holy
   Spirit, and yet is the Son of God the Father, not of the Holy Spirit.
     __________________________________________________________________

   21. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name
   Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: What the Angel thus told Joseph, was beyond human thought, and
   the law of nature, therefore he confirms his speech not only be
   revealing to him what was past, but also what was to come; "She shall
   bring forth a Son."

   Gloss., ap Anselm: That Joseph should not suppose that he was no longer
   needed in this wedlock, seeing the conception had taken place without
   his intervention, the Angel declares to him, that though there had been
   no need of him in the conception, yet there was need of his
   guardianship; for the Virgin should bear a Son, and then he would be
   necessary both to the Mother and her Son; to the Mother to screen her
   from disgrace, to the Son to bring Him up and to circumcise Him. The
   circumcision is meant when he says, "And thou shalt call His name
   Jesus;" for it was usual to give the name in circumcision.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He said not, "Shall bear thee a Son," as to Zacharias,
   "Behold, Elisabeth thy wife shall bear thee a son." For the woman who
   conceives of her husband, bears the son to her husband, because he is
   more of him than of herself; but she who had not conceived of man, did
   not bear the Son to her husband, but to herself.

   Chrys.: Or, he left it unappropriated, to shew that she bare Him to the
   whole world.

   Raban.: "Thou shalt call His name," he says, and not, "shalt give Him a
   name," for His name had been given from all eternity.

   Chrys.: This further shews that this birth should be wonderful, because
   it is God that sends down His name from above by His Angel; and that
   not any name, but one which is a treasure of infinite good. Therefore
   also the Angel interprets it, suggesting good hope, and by this induces
   him to believe what was spoken. For we lean more easily to prosperous
   things, and yield our belief more readily to good fortune.

   Jerome: Jesus is a Hebrew word, meaning Saviour. He points to the
   etymology of the name, saying, "For He shall save His people from this
   sins."

   Remig.: He shews the same man to be the Saviour of the whole world, and
   the Author of our salvation. He saves indeed not the unbelieving, but
   His people; that is, He saves those that believe on Him, not so much
   from visible as from invisible enemies; that is, from their sins, not
   by fighting with arms, but by remitting their sins.

   Chrysologus: Let them approach to hear this, who ask, Who is He that
   Mary bare? "He shall save His people;" not any other man's people; from
   what? "from their sins." That it is God that forgives sins, if you do
   not believe the Christians so affirming, believe the infidels, or the
   Jews who say, "None can forgive sins but God only." [Luke 5:1]
     __________________________________________________________________

   22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
   of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

   23. Behold, a Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son,
   and they shall call His Name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God
   with us.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: It is the custom of the Evangelist to confirm what he says out
   of the Old Testament, for the sake of those Jews who believed on
   Christ, that they might recognize as fulfilled in the grace of the
   Gospel, the things that were foretold in the Old Testament; therefore
   he adds, "Now all this was done."

   Here we must enquire why he should say "all this was done," when above
   he has only related the conception. It should be known that he says
   this to shew, that in the presence of God "all this was done" before it
   was done among men. Or he says, "all" this was done, because he is
   relating past events; for when he wrote, it was all done.

   Gloss., ap Anselm: Or, he says, "all this was done," meaning, the
   Virgin was betrothed, she was kept chaste, she was found with child,
   the revelation was made by the Angel, that it might be fulfilled which
   was spoken. For that the Virgin should conceive and should bring forth
   would never have been fulfilled, had she not been espoused that she
   should not be stoned; and had not her secret been disclosed by the
   Angel, and so Joseph taken her unto him, that she was not dismissed to
   disgrace and to perish by stoning. So had she perished before the
   birth, that prophecy would have been made void which says, "She shall
   bring forth a Son." [Isa 7:14]

   Gloss: Or it may be said, that the word "that" does not here denote the
   cause; for the prophecy was not fulfilled merely because it was to be
   fulfilled. But it is put consecutively, as in Genesis, "He hung the
   other on the gallows, that the truth of the interpreter might be
   proved;" [Gen 40:22] since by the weighing of one, truth is
   established. So also in this place we must understand it as if it were,
   that which was foretold being done, the prophecy was accomplished.

   Chrys.: Otherwise; the Angel seeing the depths of the Divine mercy, the
   laws of nature broken through and reconciliation made, He who was above
   all made lower than all; all these wonders, all this he comprises in
   that one saying, "Now all this hath happened;" as though he had said,
   Do not suppose that this is newly devised of God, it was determined of
   old. And he rightly cites the Prophet not to the Virgin, who as a
   maiden was untaught in such things, but to Joseph, as to one much
   versed in the Prophets.

   And at first he had spoken of Mary as "thy wife," but now in the words
   of the Prophet he brings in the word, "Virgin," that he might hear this
   from the Prophet, as a thing long before determined. Therefore to
   confirm what he had said, he introduces Isaiah, or rather God; for he
   does not say, Which was spoken by Isaiah, but, "Which was spoken of the
   Lord by the Prophet."

   Jerome, in Isa 7:14; Since it is introduced in the Prophet by the
   words, "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign," it ought to be
   something new and wonderful. But if it be, as the Jews will have it, a
   young woman, or a girl shall bring forth, and not a virgin, what wonder
   is this, since these are words signifying age and not purity?

   Indeed the Hebrew word signifying "Virgin" (Bethula) is not used in
   this place, but instead the word, Halma,' [ed. note, a: lmh, &c.] which
   except the LXX all render girl.' But the word, Halma,' has a twofold
   meaning; it signifies both girl,' and hidden;' therefore Halma' denotes
   not only maiden' or virgin,' but hidden,' secret;' that is, one never
   exposed to the gaze of men, but kept under close custody by her
   parents.

   In the Punic tongue also, which is said to be derived from Hebrew
   sources, a virgin is properly called Halma.' In our tongue also Halma'
   means holy; and the Hebrews use words of nearly all languages; and as
   far as my memory will serve me, I do not think I ever met with Halma
   used of a married woman, but of her that is a virgin, and such that she
   be not merely a virgin, but in the age of youth; for it is possible for
   an old woman to be a maid. But this was a virgin in years of youth, or
   at least a virgin, and not a child too young for marriage.

   For that which Matthew the Evangelist says, "Shall have in her womb,"
   the Prophet who is foretelling something future, writes, "shall
   receive." The Evangelist, not foretelling the future but describing the
   past, changes "shall receive," into "shall have;" but he who has,
   cannot after receive that he has. He says, "Lo, a Virgin shall have in
   her womb, and shall bear a Son."

   Leo, Serm. 23, 1: The conception was by the Holy Spirit within the womb
   of the Virgin; who, as she conceived in perfect chastity, in like
   manner brought forth her Son.

   Pseudo-Aug., in App. s. 123: He, who by a touch could heal the severed
   limbs of others, how much more could He, in His own birth, preserve
   whole that which He found whole? In this parturition, soundness of the
   Mother's body was rather strengthened than weakened, and her virginity
   rather confirmed than lost.

   Theodotus, Hom. 1 and 2. in Conc. Eph. ap. Hard. t. i. pp. 1643, 1655:
   Inasmuch as Photinus affirms that He that was now born was mere man,
   not allowing the divine birth, and maintains that He who now issued
   from the womb was the man separate from the God; let him shew how it
   was possible that human nature, born of the Virgin's womb, should have
   preserved the virginity of that womb uncorrupted; for the mother of no
   man ever yet remained a virgin.

   But forasmuch as it was God the Word who was now born in the flesh, He
   shewed Himself to be the Word, in that He preserved His mother's
   virginity. For as our word when it is begot does not destroy the mind,
   so neither does God the Word in choosing His birth destroy the
   virginity.

   Chrys.: As it is the manner of Scripture to convey a knowledge of
   events under the form of a name, so here, "They shall call His name
   Emmanuel," means nothing else than, They shall see God among men.
   Whence he says not, Thou shalt call,' but "They shall call."

   Raban.: First, Angels hymning, secondly, Apostles preaching, then Holy
   Martyrs, and lastly, all believers.

   Jerome, in Isa 7:14; The LXX and three others translate, Thou shalt
   call,' instead of which we have here, "They shall call," which is not
   so in the Hebrew; for the word, Charathi,' [ed. note: qr't] which all
   render "Thou shalt call," may mean, And she shall call,' that is, The
   Virgin that shall conceive and shall bear Christ, shall call His name
   Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us.'

   Remig.: It is a question who interpreted this name? The Prophet, or the
   Evangelist, or some translator? It should be known then, that the
   Prophet did not interpret it; and what need had the Holy Evangelist to
   do so, seeing he wrote in the Hebrew tongue? Perhaps that was a
   difficult and rare word in Hebrew, and therefore needed interpretation.
   It is more probable that some translator interpreted it, that the
   Latins might not be perplexed by an unintelligible word.

   In this name are conveyed at once the two substances, the Divinity and
   Humanity in the one Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who before all
   time was begot in an unspeakable manner by God the Father, the same in
   the end of time was made "Emmanuel," that is, "God with us," of a
   Virgin Mother. This "God with us" may be understood in this way. He was
   made with us, passible, mortal, and in all things like unto us without
   sin; or because our frail substance which He took on Him, He joined in
   one Person to His Divine substance.

   Jerome: It should be known, that the Hebrews believe this prophecy to
   refer to Ezekias, the son of Ahaz, because in his reign Samaria was
   taken; but this cannot be established. Ahaz son of Jotham reigned over
   Judaea and Jerusalem sixteen years, and was succeeded by his son
   Ezekias, who was twenty-three years old, and reigned over Judaea and
   Jerusalem twenty-nine years; how then can a prophecy prophesied in the
   first year of Ahaz refer to the conception and birth of Ezekias, when
   he was already nine years of age? Unless perhaps the sixth year of the
   reign of Ezekias, in which Samaria was taken, they think is here called
   his infancy, that is, the infancy of his reign, not of his age; which
   even a fool must see to be hard and forced.

   A certain one of our interpreters contends, that the Prophet Isaiah had
   two sons, Jashub and Emmanuel; and that Emmanuel was born of his wife
   the Prophetess as a type of the Lord and Saviour. But this is a
   fabulous tale.

   Petrus Alfonsus, Dial. tit. 7: For we know not that any man of that day
   was called Emmanuel. But the Hebrew objects, How can it be that this
   was said on account of Christ and Mary, when many centuries intervened
   between Ahaz and Mary? But though the Prophet was speaking to Ahaz, the
   prophecy was yet not spoken to him only or of his time only; for it is
   introduced, "Hear, O house of David;" [Isa 7:13] not, Hear, O Ahaz.'

   Again, "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign;" meaning He, and none
   other; from which we may understand that the Lord Himself should be the
   sign. And that he says "to you," (plur.) and not to thee,' shews that
   this was not spoken to Ahaz, or on his account only.

   Jerome: What is spoken to Ahaz then is to be thus understood. This
   Child, that shall be born of a Virgin of the house of David, shall now
   be called Emmanuel, that is, God with us, because the events (perhaps
   delivery from the two hostile kings) will make it appear that you have
   God present with you. But after He shall be called Jesus, that is,
   Saviour, because He shall save the whole human race. Wonder not,
   therefore, O house of David, at the newness of this thing, that a
   Virgin should bring forth a God, seeing He has so great might that
   though yet to be born after a long while, He delivers you now when you
   call upon Him.

   Aug., Cont. Faust., 12, 45, and 13, 7: Who so mad as to say with
   Manichaeus, that it is a weak faith not to believe i Christ without a
   witness; whereas the Apostle says, "How shall they believe on Him of
   whom they have not heard? Or how shall they hear without a preacher?"
   [Rom 10:14]

   That those things which were preached by the Apostle might not be
   contemned, nor thought to be fables, they are proved to have been
   foretold by the Prophets. For though attested by miracles, yet there
   would not have been wanting men to ascribe them all to magical power,
   had not such suggestions been overcome by the additional testimony of
   prophecy.

   For none could suppose that long before He was born, He had raised up
   by magic prophets to prophesy of Him. For if we say to a Gentile,
   Believe on Christ that He is God, and he should answer, Whence is it
   that I should believe on Him? we might allege the authority of the
   Prophets. Should he refuse assent to this, we establish their credit
   from their having foretold things to come, and those things having
   truly come to pass. I suppose he could not but know how great
   persecutions the Christian religion has formerly suffered from the
   Kings of this world; let him now behold those very Kings submitting to
   the kingdom of Christ, and all nations serving the same; all which
   things the Prophets foretold. He then hearing these things out of the
   Scriptures of the Prophets, and beholding them accomplished throughout
   the whole earth, would be moved to faith.

   Gloss, in Anselm: This error then is barred by the Evangelist saying,
   "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
   Prophet."

   Now one kind of prophecy is by the preordination of God, and must needs
   be fulfilled, and that without any free choice on our part. Such is
   that of which we now speak; wherefore he says, "Lo," to shew the
   certainty of prophecy.

   There is another kind of prophecy which is by the foreknowledge of God,
   and with this our free will is mixed up; wherein by grace working with
   us we obtain reward, or if justly deserted by it, torment.

   Another is not of foreknowledge, but is a kind of threat made after the
   manner of men; as that, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
   overthrown;" [Jonah 3] understanding, unless the Ninevites amend
   themselves.
     __________________________________________________________________

   24. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord
   had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

   25. And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born Son: and
   he called his name, Jesus.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: Life returned by the same entrance through which death had
   entered in. By Adam's disobedience we were ruined, by Joseph's
   obedience we all begin to be recalled to our former condition; for in
   these words is commended to us the great virtue of obedience, when it
   is said, "And Joseph rising from sleep, did as the Angel of the Lord
   had commanded him."

   Gloss. ord. et ap. Anselm ex Beda cit.: He not only did what the Angel
   commanded, but as he commanded it. Let each one who is warned of God,
   in like manner, break off all delays, rise from sleep, and do that
   which is commanded him.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Took unto him" not took home to him; for he had not
   sent her away; he had put her away in thought only, and now took her
   again in thought.

   Remig.: Or, Took her so far, as that the nuptial rites being complete,
   she was called his wife; but not so far as to lie with her, as it
   follows, "And knew her not."

   Jerome, Cont. Helvid. c. 5: Helvidius is at much superfluous trouble to
   make this word "know" refer to carnal knowledge rather than to
   acquaintance, as though any had ever denied that; or as if the follies
   to which he replies had ever occurred to any person of common
   understanding. He then goes on to say, that the adverb, until,' denotes
   a fixed time when that should take place, which had not taken place
   before; so that here from the words, "He knew her not until she had
   brought forth her first-born Son," it is clear, he says, that after
   that he did know her. And in proof of this he heaps together many
   instances from Scripture.

   To all this we answer, that the word until' is to be understood in two
   senses in Scripture. And concerning the expression, "knew her not," he
   has himself shewn, that it must be referred to carnal knowledge, none
   doubting that it is often used of acquaintance, as in that, "The child
   Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and His parents knew not of it."
   [Luke 2:43]

   In like manner, until' often denotes in Scripture, as he has shewn, a
   fixed period, but often also an infinite time, as in that, "Even to
   your old age I am He." [Isa 46:4] Will God then cease to be when they
   are grown old? Also the Saviour in the Gospel, "Lo, I am with you
   always, even to the end of this world." [Matt 28:20] Will He then leave
   His disciples at the end of the world? Again, the Apostle says, "He
   must reign till He has put His enemies under His feet." [1 Cor 15:25]

   Be it understood then, that which if it had not been written might have
   been doubted, is expressly declared to us; other things are left to our
   own understanding.

   [ed. note: In other words, "till," need not imply a termination at a
   certain point of time, but may be giving us information up to a point
   from which onwards there is already no doubt. Supposing an Evangelist
   thought the very notion shocking that Joseph should have considered the
   Blessed Virgin as his wife after he was a witness of her bearing God
   the Son, he would only say that the vision had its effect upon him up
   to that time when it was no longer necessary. Just as if, in speaking
   of a man like Augustine, one said, that, in consequence of some awful
   occurrence, he was in the habit of saying prayers till the time of his
   conversion, no one would suppose that he left them off on being
   converted.]

   So here the Evangelist informs us, in that wherein there might have
   been room for error, that she was not known by her husband until the
   birth of her Son, that we might thence infer that much less was she
   known afterwards.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As one might say, He told it not so long as he lived;'
   would this imply that he told it after his death? Impossible. So it
   were credible that Joseph might have known her before the birth, while
   he was yet ignorant of the great mystery; but after that he understood
   how she had been made a temple of the Only-begotten of God, how could
   he occupy that? The followers of Eunomius think, as they have dared to
   assert this, that Joseph also dared to do it, just as the insane think
   all men equally mad with themselves.

   Jerome, cont. Hevlid. 8: Lastly, I would ask, Why then did Joseph
   abstain at all up to the day of birth? He will surely answer, Because
   of the Angel's words, "That which is born in her, &c." He then who gave
   so much heed to a vision as not to dare to touch his wife, would he,
   after he had heard the shepherds, seen the Magi, and known so many
   miracles, dare to approach the temple of God, the seat of the Holy
   Ghost, the Mother of his Lord?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: It may be said, that "know" here signifies simply, to
   understand; that whereas before he had not understood how great her
   dignity, after the birth he then "knew" that she had been made more
   honourable and worthy than the whole world, who had carried in her womb
   Him whom the whole world could not contain.

   Gloss: Otherwise; On account of the glorification of the most holy
   Mary, she could not be known by Joseph until the birth; for she who had
   the Lord of glory in her womb, how should she be known? If the face of
   Moses talking with God was made glorious, so that the children of
   Israel could not look thereon, how much more could not Mary be known,
   or even looked upon, who bare the Lord of glory in her womb? After the
   birth she was known of Joseph to the beholding of her face, but not to
   be approached carnally.

   Jerome: From the words, "her first-born Son," some most erroneously
   suspect that Mary had other sons, saying that first-born can only be
   said of one that has brethren. But this is the manner of Scripture, to
   call the first-born not only one who is followed by brethren, but the
   first-birth of the mother.

   Jerome, Cont. Helvid. 10: For if he only was first-born who was
   followed by other brethren, then no first-birth could be due to the
   Priests, till such time as the second birth took place.

   Gloss. ord.: Or; He is "first-born" among the elect by grace; but by
   nature the Only-begotten of God the Father, the only Son of Mary. "And
   called His name Jesus," on the eighth day on which the circumcision
   took place, and the Name was given.

   Remig.: It is clear that this Name was well known to the Holy Fathers
   and the Prophets of God, but to him above all, who spake, "My soul
   fainted for Thy salvation;" [Ps 119:81] and, "My soul hath rejoiced in
   Thy salvation." [Ps 13:5] Also to him who spake, "I will joy in God my
   Saviour." [Heb 3:18]
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 2

   1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod
   the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

   2. Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen
   His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug.: After the miraculous Virgin-birth, a God-man having by Divine
   power proceeded from a virgin womb; in the obscure shelter of such a
   cradle, a narrow stall, wherein lay Infinite Majesty in a body more
   narrow, a God was suckled and suffered the wrapping of vile rags -
   amidst all this, on a sudden a new star shone in the sky upon the
   earth, and driving away the darkness of the world, changed night into
   day; that the day-star should not be hidden by the night.

   Hence it is that the Evangelist says, "Now when Jesus was born in
   Bethlehem."

   Remig.: In the beginning of this passage of the Gospel he puts three
   several things; the person, "When Jesus was born," the place, "in
   Bethlehem of Judaea," and the time, "in the days of Herod the king."
   These three circumstances verify his words.

   Jerome: We think the Evangelist first wrote, as we read in the Hebrew,
   Judah,' not Judaea.' For in what other country is there a Bethlehem,
   that this needs to be distinguished as in Judaea?' But Judah' is
   written, because there is another Bethlehem in Galilee.

   Gloss. ord.: There are two Bethlehems; [Josh 19:15] one in the tribe of
   Zabulon, the other in the tribe of Judah, which was before called
   Ephrata.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., 2, 15: Concerning the place, Bethlehem, Matthew
   and Luke agree; but the cause and manner of their being there, Luke
   relates, Matthew omits. Luke again omits the account of the Magi, which
   Matthew gives.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Let us see to what serves this designation of time, "In
   the days of Herod the king." It shews the fulfilment of Daniel's
   prophecy, wherein he spake that Christ should be born after seventy
   weeks of years. For from the time of the prophecy to the reign of
   Herod, the years of seventy weeks were accomplished.

   Or again, as long as Judaea was ruled by Jewish princes, though
   sinners, so long prophets were sent for its amendment; but now, whereas
   God's law was held under the power of an unrighteous king, and the
   righteousness of God enslaved by the Roman rule, Christ is born; the
   most desperate sickness required the better physician.

   Rabanus: Otherwise, he mentions the foreign king to shew the fulfilment
   of the prophecy. "The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a
   Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." [Gen 49:10]

   Ambrose, in Luc., iii, 41: It is said, that some Idumaean robbers
   coming to Ascalon, brought with them among other prisoners Antipater.
   [ed. note: The same account of Herod's parentage is given by Africanus,
   Euseb. Hist. i. 7. but Josephus says (Antiq. xiv. 1. n. 3. de Bell.
   Jud. i. 6. n. 2.) that Herod was an Idumaean, of noble birth, and that
   his father Antipas was governor of Idumaea under Alexander Jannaeus.]
   He was instructed in the law and customs of the Jews, and acquired the
   friendship of Hyrcanus, king of Judaea, who sent him as his deputy to
   Pompey. He succeeded so well in the object of his mission, that he laid
   claim to a share of the throne. He was put to death, but his son Herod
   was under Antony appointed king of Judaea, by a decree of the Senate;
   so it is clear that Herod sought the throne of Judaea without any
   connection or claim of birth.

   Chyrs.: "Herod the king," mentioning his dignity, because there was
   another Herod who put John to death.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "When He was born . . . behold wise men," that is,
   immediately on His birth, shewing that a great God existed in a little
   one of man.

   Rabanus: The Magi are men who enquire into the nature of things
   philosophically, but common speech uses Magi for wizards. In their own
   country, however, they are held in other repute, being the philosophers
   of the Chaldaeans, in whose lore kings and princes of that nation are
   taught, and by which themselves knew the birth of the Lord.

   Aug., Serm. 202: What were these Magi but the first fruits of the
   Gentiles? Israelitish shepherds, gentile Magians, one from far, the
   other from near, hastened to the one Corner-stone.

   Aug., Serm. 200: Jesus then was manifested neither to the learned nor
   the righteous; for ignorance belonged to the shepherds, impiety to the
   idolatrous Magi. Yet does that Corner-stone attract them both to
   Itself, seeing He came to choose the foolish things of this world to
   confound the wise, and not to call the righteous, but sinners; that
   nothing great should exalt himself, none weak should despair.

   Gloss: These Magi were kings, and though their gifts were three, it is
   not to be thence inferred that themselves were only three in number,
   but in them was prefigured the coming to the faith of the nations
   sprung from the three sons of Noah.

   Or, the princes were only three, but each brought a large company with
   him. They came not after a year's end, for He would then have been
   found in Egypt, not in the manger, but on the thirteenth day. To shew
   whence they came it is said, "from the East."

   Remig.: It should be known that opinions vary respecting the Magi. Some
   say they were Chaldaeans, who are known to have worshipped a star as
   God; thus their fictitious Deity shewed them the way to the true God.
   Others think that they were Persians; others again, that they came from
   the utmost ends of the earth. Another and more probable opinion is,
   that they were descendants of Balaam, who having his prophecy, "There
   shall rise a Star out of Jacob," [Num 24:17] as soon as they saw the
   star, would know that a King was born.

   Jerome: They knew that such a star would rise by the prophecy of
   Balaam, whose successors they were. But whether they were Chaldaeans,
   or Persians, or came from the utmost ends of the earth, how in so short
   a space of time could they arrive at Jerusalem?

   Remig.: Some used to answer, No marvel if that boy who was then born
   could draw them so speedily, though it were from the ends of the
   earth.'

   Gloss: Or, they had dromedaries and Arabian horses, whose great
   swiftness brought them to Bethlehem in thirteen days.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, they had set out two years before the Saviour's
   birth, and though they travelled all that time, neither meat nor drink
   failed in their scrips.

   Remig.: Or, if they were the descendants of Balaam, their kings are not
   far distant from the land of promise, and might easily come to
   Jerusalem in that so short time.

   But why does he write "From the East?" Because surely they came from a
   country eastward of Judaea. But there is also great beauty in this,
   They "came out of the East," seeing all who come to the Lord, come from
   Him and through Him; as it is said in Zechariah, "Behold the Man whose
   name is the East." [Zech 6:12]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, whence the day springs, thence came the first-fruits
   of the faith; for faith is the light of the soul. Therefore they came
   from the East, but to Jerusalem.

   Remig.: Yet was not the Lord born there; thus they knew the time but
   not the place of His birth. Jerusalem being the royal city, they
   believed that such a child could not be born in any other.

   Or it was to fulfil that Scripture, "The Law shall go out of Sion, and
   the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." [Isa 2:3] And there Christ was
   first preached.

   Or it was to condemn the backwardness of the Jews.

   Pseudo-Aug., Append. Serm. 132: Many kings of Judaea had been born and
   died before, yet had Magi ever sought out any of them for adoration?
   No, for they had not been taught that any of these spoke from heaven.
   To no ordinary King of Judaea had these men, aliens from the land of
   Judaea, ever thought such honour due. But they had been taught that
   this Child was one, in worshipping whom they would certainly secure
   that salvation which is of God. Neither His age was such as attracts
   men's flattery; His limbs not robed in purple, His brow not crowned
   with a diamond, no pompous train, no awful army, no glorious fame of
   battles, attracted these men to Him from the remotest countries, with
   such earnestness of supplication. There lay in a manger a Boy, newly
   born, of infantine size, of pitiable poverty. But in that small Infant
   lay hid something great, which these men, the first-fruits of the
   Gentiles, had learned not of earth but of heaven; as it follows, "We
   have seen His star in the east." They announce the vision and ask, they
   believe and enquire, as signifying those who walk by faith and desire
   sight.

   Greg., M. in Evan., i. 10. n. 4: It should be known that the
   Priscillianists, heretics who believe every man to be born under the
   aspect of some planet. cite this text in support of their error; the
   new star which appeared at the Lord's birth they consider to have been
   his fate.

   Aug., contr. Faust, ii, 1: And, according to Faustus this introduction
   of the account of the star would lead us rather to call this part of
   the history, The Nativity,' than The Gospel.'

   Gregory: But far be it from the hearts of the faithful to call any
   thing, fate.'

   Aug., City of God, book v, ch. 1: For by the word, fate,' in common
   acceptation, is meant the disposition of the stars at the moment of a
   person's birth or conception; to which some assign a power independent
   of the will of God. These must be kept at a distance from the ears of
   all who desire to be worshippers of Gods of any sort. But others think
   the stars have this virtue committed to them by the great God; wherein
   they greatly wrong the skies, in that they impute to their splendent
   host the decreeing of crimes, such as should any earthly people decree,
   their city should in the judgment of mankind deserve to be utterly
   destroyed.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: If then any should become an adulterer or homicide
   through means of the planets, how great is the evil and wickedness of
   those stars, or rather of Him who made them? For as God knows things to
   come, and what evils are to spring from those stars; if He would not
   hinder it, He is not good; if He would but could not, He is weak.

   Again, if it be of the star that we are either good or bad, we have
   neither merit nor demerit, as being involuntary agents; and why should
   I be punished for sin which I have done not wilfully, but by necessity?
   The very commands of God against sin, and exhortations to
   righteousness, overthrow such folly. For where a man has not power to
   do, or where he has not power to forbear, who would command him either
   to do or to forbear?

   Gregory Nyss.: How vain moreover is prayer for those who live by fate;
   Divine Providence is banished from the world together with piety, and
   man is made the mere instrument of the sidereal motions. For these they
   say move to action, not only the bodily members, but the thoughts of
   the mind. In a word, they who teach this, take away all that is in us,
   and the very nature of a contingency; which is nothing less than to
   overturn all things. For where will there be free will? but that which
   is in us must be free.

   Augustine, City of God, Book 5, ch. 6: It cannot be said to be utterly
   absurd to suppose that sidereal afflatus should influence the state of
   the body, when we see that it is by the approach and departure of the
   sun that the seasons of the year are varied, and that many things, as
   shells and the wonderful tides of the Ocean, increase or decrease as
   the moon waxes or wanes. But not so, to say that the dispositions of
   the mind are subject to sidereal impulse. Do they say that the stars
   rather foreshew than effect these results? how then do they explain,
   that in the life of twins, in their actions, their successes,
   professions, honours, and all other circumstances of life, there will
   often be so great diversity, that men of different countries are often
   more alike in their lives than twins, between whose birth there was
   only a moment's, and between whose conception in the womb there was not
   a moment's, interval.

   And the small interval between their births is not enough to account
   for the great difference between their fates. Some give the name of
   fate not only to the constitution of the stars, but to all series of
   causes, at the same time subjecting all to the will and power of God.

   This sort of subjection of human affairs and fate is a confusion of
   language which should be corrected, for fate is strictly the
   constitution of the stars. The will of God we do not call fate,' unless
   indeed we will derive the word from speaking;' as in the Psalms, "God
   hath spoken once, twice have I heard the same." [Ps 62:11] There is
   then no need of much contention about what is merely a verbal
   controversy.

   Aug., cont. Faust. ii, 5: But if we will not subject the nativity of
   any man to the influence of the stars, in order that we may vindicate
   the freedom of the will from any chain of necessity; how much less must
   we suppose sidereal influences to have ruled at His temporal birth, who
   is eternal Creator and Lord of the universe? The star which the Magi
   saw, at Christ's birth according to the flesh, did not rule His fate,
   but ministered as a testimony to Him. Further, this was not of the
   number of those stars, which from the beginning of the creation observe
   their paths of motion according to the law of their Maker; but a star
   that first appeared at the birth, ministering to the Magi who sought
   Christ, by going before them till it brought them to the place where
   the infant God the Word was.

   According to some astrologers such is the connexion of human fate with
   the stars, that on the birth of some men stars have been known to leave
   their courses, and go directly to the new-born. The fortune indeed of
   him that is born they suppose to be bound up with the course of the
   stars, not that the course of the stars is changed after the day of any
   man's birth.

   If then this star were of the number of those that fulfil their courses
   in the heavens, how could it determine what Christ should do, when it
   was commanded at His birth only to leave its own course? If, as is more
   probable, it was first created at His birth, Christ was not therefore
   born because it arose, but the reverse; so that if we must have fate
   connected with the stars, this star did not rule Christ's fate, but
   Christ the stars.

   Chrys.: The object of astrology is not to learn from the stars the fact
   of one's birth; but from the hour of their nativity to forecast the
   fate of those that are born. But these men knew not the time of the
   nativity to have forecast the future from it, but the converse.

   Gloss. interlin.: His star,' i.e. the star He created for a witness of
   Himself.

   Gloss. ord.: To the Shepherds, Angels, and the Magians, a star points
   out Christ; to both speaks the tongue of Heaven, since the tongue of
   the Prophets was mute. The Angels dwell in the heavens, the stars adorn
   it, to both therefore "the heavens declare the glory of God."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev. Lib. i. Hom. 10: To the Jews who used their reason,
   a rational creature, i.e. an Angel, ought to preach. But the Gentiles
   who knew not to use their reason are brought to the knowledge of the
   Lord, not by words, but by signs; to the one prophecy, as to the
   faithful; to the other signs, as to the unbelievers. One and the same
   Christ is preached, when of perfect age, by Apostles; when an infant,
   and not yet able to speak, is announced by a star to the Gentiles; for
   so the order of reason required; speaking preachers proclaimed a
   speaking Lord, mute signs proclaimed a mute infant.

   Leo, Serm. 33, 2: Christ Himself, the expectation of the nations, that
   innumerable posterity once promised to the most blessed patriarch
   Abraham, but to be born not after the flesh, but by the Spirit,
   therefore likened to the stars for multitude, that from the father of
   all nations, not an earthly but an heavenly progeny might be looked
   for.

   Thus the heirs of that promised posterity, marked out in the stars, are
   roused to the faith by the rise of a new star, and where the heavens
   had been at first called in to witness, the aid of Heaven is continued.

   Chrys.: This was manifestly not one of the common stars of Heaven.
   First, because none of the stars moves in this way, from east to south,
   and such is the situation of Palestine with respect to Persia.
   Secondly, from the time of its appearance, not in the night only, but
   during the day. Thirdly, from its being visible and then again
   invisible; when they entered Jerusalem it hid itself, and then appeared
   again when they left Herod. Further, it had no stated motion, but when
   the Magi were to go on, it went before them; when to stop, it stopped
   like the pillar of cloud in the desert. Fourthly, it signified the
   Virgin's delivery, not by being fixed aloft, but by descending to
   earth, shewing herein like an invisible virtue formed into the visible
   appearance of a star.

   Remig.: Some affirm this star to have been the Holy Spirit; He who
   descended on the baptized Lord as a dove, appearing to the Magi as a
   star. Others say it was an Angel, the same who appeared to the
   shepherds.

   Gloss. ord: "In the east." It seems doubtful whether this refers to the
   place of the star, or of those that saw it; it might have risen in the
   east, and gone before them to Jerusalem.

   Aug., Serm. 374: Will you ask, from whom had they learned that such an
   appearance as a star was to signify the birth of Christ? I answer from
   Angels, by the warning of some revelation. Do you ask, was it from good
   or ill Angels? Truly even wicked spirits, namely the daemons, confessed
   Christ to be the Son of God. But why should they not have heard it from
   good Angels, since in this their adoration of Christ their salvation
   was sought, not their wickedness condemned? The Angels might say to
   them, The Star which ye have seen is the Christ. Go ye, worship Him,
   where He is now born, and see how great is He that is born.'

   Leo, Sermon 34, 3: Besides that star thus seen with the bodily eye, a
   yet brighter ray of truth pierced their hearts; they were enlightened
   by the illumination of the true faith.

   Pseudo-Aug., Hil. Quaest. V. and N. Test. q. 63: They might think that
   a king of Judaea was born, since the birth of temporal princes is
   sometimes attended by a star. These Chaldean Magi inspected the stars,
   not with malevolence, but with the true desire of knowledge; following,
   it may be supposed, the tradition from Balaam; so that when they saw
   this new and singular star, they understood it to be that of which
   Balaam had prophesied, as marking the birth of a King of Judaea.

   Leo: What they knew and believed might have been sufficient for
   themselves, that they needed not to seek to see with the bodily eye,
   what they saw so clearly with the spiritual. But their earnestness and
   perseverance to see the Babe was for our profit. It profited us that
   Thomas, after the Lord's resurrection, touched and felt the marks of
   his wounds, and so for our profit the Magians' eyes looked on the Lord
   in His cradle.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Were they then ignorant that Herod reigned in Jerusalem?
   Or that it is a capital treason to proclaim another King while one yet
   lives? But while they thought on the King to come, they feared not the
   king that was; while as yet they had not seen Christ, they were ready
   to die for Him. O blessed Magi! who before the face of a most cruel
   king, and before having beheld Christ, were made His confessors.
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   3. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all
   Jerusalem with him.

   4. And when he had gathered all the Chief Priests and Scribes of the
   people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

   5. And they said unto him, "In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is
   written by the prophet,

   6. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the
   princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule
   my people Israel.' "
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   Aug.: As the Magi seek a Redeemer, so Herod fears a successor.

   Gloss. ord.: "The King," he is called, though in comparison with him
   whom they are seeking he is an alien and a foreigner.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Herod "was troubled" when he heard that a King was born
   of Jewish lineage, lest, himself being an Idumaean, the kingdom should
   return again to native princes, and himself be expelled, and his seed
   after him.

   Great station is ever obnoxious to great fears; as the boughs of trees
   planted in high ground move when never so little wind blows, so high
   men are troubled with little rumours; while the lowly, like trees in
   the valley, remain at peace.

   Aug., Serm. 200, 2: If His birth as an infant makes proud kings
   tremble, what will His tribunal as a Judge do? Let princes fear Him
   sitting at the right hand of His Father, whom this impious king feared
   while He hanged yet on His mother's breast.

   Leo: Thou art troubled, Herod, without cause. Thy nature cannot contain
   Christ, nor is the Lord of the world content with the narrow bounds of
   thy dominion. He, whom thou wouldest not should reign in Judaea, reigns
   every where.

   Gloss. ord.: Perhaps he was troubled not on his own account, but for
   fear of the displeasure of the Romans. They would not allow the title
   of King or of God to any without their permission.

   Greg., Hom. in Evan., 1, 10: At the birth of a King of Heaven, a king
   of earth is troubled; surely, earthly greatness is confounded, when
   heavenly greatness shews itself.

   Leo, Serm. 36, 2: Herod represents the Devil; who as he then instigated
   him, so now he unweariedly imitates him. For he is grieved by the
   calling of the Gentiles, and by the daily ruin of his power.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Both have their own causes of jealousy, both fear a
   successor in their kingdom; Herod an earthly successor, the Devil a
   spiritual. Even Jerusalem is troubled, which should have rejoiced at
   that news, when a Jewish King was said to be risen up. But they were
   troubled, for the wicked cannot rejoice at the coming of the good. Or
   perhaps it was in fear that Herod should wreak his wrath against a
   Jewish King on his race.

   Gloss. ord.: "Jerusalem was troubled with him," as willing to favour
   him whom it feared; the vulgar always pay undue honour to one who
   tyrannizes over it. Observe the diligence of his enquiry. If he should
   find him, he would do to him as he shewed afterwards his disposition;
   if he should not, he would at least be excused to the Romans.

   Remig.: They are called Scribes, not from the employment of writing,
   but from the interpretation of the Scriptures, for they were doctors of
   the law. Observe, he does not enquire where Christ is born, but where
   He should be born; the subtle purpose of this was to see if they would
   shew pleasure at the birth of their King. He calls Him Christ, because
   he knew that the King of the Jews was anointed.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Why does Herod make this enquiry, seeing he believed not
   the Scriptures? Or if he did believe, how could he hope to be able to
   kill Him whom the Scriptures declared should be King? The Devil
   instigated Herod; who believed that Scripture lies not. Such is the
   faith of devils, who are not permitted to have perfect belief, even of
   that which they do believe. That they do believe, it is the force of
   truth constrains them; that they do not believe, it is that they are
   blinded by the enemy. If they had perfect faith, they would live as
   about to depart from this world soon, not as to possess it for ever.

   Leo, Serm. 31, 2: The Magi, judging as men, sought in the royal city
   for Him, whom they had been told was born a King. But He who took the
   form of a servant, and came not to judge but to be judged, chose
   Bethlehem for His birth, Jerusalem for His death.

   Theodotus, Serm. 1, ap. Conc. Eph.: Had He chosen the mighty city of
   Rome, it might have been thought that this change of the world had been
   wrought by the might of her citizens; had He been the son of the
   emperor, his power might have aided Him. But what was His choice? All
   that was mean, all that was in low esteem, that in this transformation
   of the world, divinity might at once be recognized. Therefore He chose
   a poor woman for His mother, a poor country for His native country; He
   has no money, and this stable is His cradle.

   Gregory, Hom. in Evan., 8, 1: Rightly is He born in Bethlehem, which
   signifies the house of bread, who said, "I am the living bread, who
   came down from heaven."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: When they should have kept secret the mystery of the
   King appointed of God, especially before a foreign king, straightway
   they became not preachers of the word of God, but revealers of His
   mystery. And they not only display the mystery, but cite the passage of
   the prophet, viz. Micah.

   Gloss. ord.: He quotes this prophecy as they quote who give the sense
   and not the words.

   Jerome, Epist. 57: The Jews are here blamed for ignorance; for whereas
   the prophecy says, "Thou Bethlehem Ephrata;" they said, Bethlehem in
   the land of Judah.'

   Pseudo-Chrys.: By cutting short the prophecy, they became the cause of
   the murder of the Innocents. For the prophecy proceeds, "From thee
   shall go forth a King who shall feed My people Israel, and His day
   shall be from everlasting." Had they cited the whole prophecy, Herod
   would not have raged so madly, considering that it could not be an
   earthly King whose days were spoken of as "from everlasting."

   Jerome, in Mich. v. 2: The following is the sense of the prophecy.
   Thou, Bethlehem, of the land of Judah, or Ephrata, (which is added to
   distinguish it from another Bethlehem in Galilee,) though thou art a
   small village among the thousand cities of Judah, yet out of thee shall
   be born Christ, who shall be the Ruler of Israel, who according to the
   flesh is of the seed of David, but was born of Me before the worlds;
   and therefore it is written, "His goings forth are of old. In the
   beginning was the Word."

   Gloss: This latter half of the prophecy the Jews dropped; and other
   parts they altered, either through ignorance, (as was said above,) or
   for perspicuity, that Herod who was a foreigner might better understand
   the prophecy; thus for "Ephrata," they said, "land of Judah;" and for
   "little among the thousands of Judah," which expresses its smallness
   contrasted with the multitude of the people, they said, "not the least
   among the princes," willing to shew the high dignity that would come
   from the birth of the Prince. As if they had said, "Thou art great
   among cities from which princes have come."

   Remig.: Or the sense is; though little among cities that have dominion,
   yet art thou not the least, for "out of thee shall come the Ruler, who
   shall rule My people Israel;" this Ruler is Christ, who rules and
   guides His faithful people.

   Chrys.: Observe the exactness of the prophecy; it is not He shall be in
   Bethlehem, but shall come out of Bethlehem; shewing that He should be
   only born there. What reason is there for applying this to Zorobabel,
   as some do? For his goings forth were not from everlasting; nor did he
   go forth from Bethlehem, but was born in Babylonia. The expression,
   "art not the least," is a further proof, for none but Christ could make
   the town where He was born illustrious.

   And after that birth, there came men from the utmost ends of the earth
   to see the stable and manger. He calls Him not the Son of God,' but
   "the Ruler who shall govern My people Israel;" for thus He ought to
   condescend at the first, that they should not be scandalized, but
   should preach such things as more pertained to salvation, that they
   might be gained.

   "Who shall rule My people Israel," is said mystically, for those of the
   Jews who believed; for if Christ ruled not all the Jews, theirs is the
   blame. Meanwhile he is silent respecting the Gentiles, that the Jews
   might not be scandalized. Mark this wonderful ordinance; Jews and Magi
   mutually instruct each other; the Jews learn of the Magi that a star
   had proclaimed Christ in the east, the Magi from the Jews that the
   Prophets had spoken of Him of old. Thus confirmed by a twofold
   testimony, they would look with more ardent faith for One whom the
   brightness of the star and the voice of the Prophets equally
   proclaimed.

   Aug., Serm. 374. 2, 373. 4: The star that guided the Magi to the spot
   where was the Infant God with His Virgin Mother, might have conducted
   them straight to the town; but it vanished, and shewed not itself again
   to them till the Jews themselves had told them "the place where Christ
   should be born;" Bethlehem of Judaea.

   Like in this to those who built the ark for Noah, providing others with
   a refuge, themselves perished in the flood; or like to the stones by
   the road that shew the miles, but themselves are not able to move.

   The enquirers heard and departed; the teachers spake and remained
   still. Even now the Jews shew us something similar; for some Pagans,
   when clear passages of Scripture are shewn them, which prophesy of
   Christ, suspecting them to be forged by the Christians, have recourse
   to Jewish copies. Thus they leave the Jews to read unprofitably, and go
   on themselves to believe faithfully.
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   7. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of
   them diligently what time the star appeared.

   8. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, "Go and search diligently
   for the young Child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again,
   that I may come and worship Him also."

   9. Whey they had heard the king, they departed.
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: As soon as Herod had heard the answer, though doubly
   authenticated, both by the authority of the Priests, and the passage
   from the Prophets, he yet turned not to worship the King that was to be
   born, but sought how he might put Him to death by subtilty. He saw that
   the Magi were neither to be won by flattery, nor awed by threats, nor
   bribed by gifts, to consent to this murder; he sought therefore to
   deceive them; "he privily called the wise men;" that the Jews, whom he
   suspected, might not know of it. For he thought they would incline the
   rather to a King of their own nation.

   Remig.: "Diligently enquired;" craftily, for he feared they would not
   return to him, and then he should know how he should do to put the
   young Child to death.

   Pseudo-Aug., Serm. in App. 131, 3: The star had been seen, and with
   great wonder, nearly two years before. We are to understand that it was
   signified to them whose the star was, which was visible all that time
   till He, whom it signified, was born. Then as soon as Christ was made
   known to them they set out, and came and worshipped Him in thirteen
   days from the east. [ed. note: This is written upon the notion that the
   Magi presented themselves to Christ twelve days after His birth,
   according to the Latin date for celebrating the event. It seems really
   to have taken place after the Purification, on the return of St. Mary
   to Bethlehem. However, Aug. (Cons. Evan., ii. 11) places it before the
   Purification.]

   Chrys.: Or, the star appeared to them long time before, because the
   journey would take up some time, and they were to stand before Him
   immediately on His birth, that seeing Him in swaddling clothes, He
   might seem the more wonderful.

   Gloss: According to others, the star was first seen on the day of the
   nativity, and having accomplished its end, ceased to be. Thus
   Fulgentius [margin note: Serm. de Epiph.] says, "The Boy at His birth
   created a new star." Though they now knew both time and place, he still
   would not have them ignorant of the person of the Child, "Go," he says,
   "and enquire diligently of the young Child;" a commission they would
   have executed even if he had not commanded it.

   Chrys.: "Concerning the young Child," he says, not of the King;' he
   envies Him the regal title.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: To induce them to do this, he put on the colour of
   devotion, beneath which he whetted the sword, hiding the malice of his
   heart under colour of humility. Such is the manner of the malicious,
   when they would hurt any one in secret, they feign meekness and
   affection.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev. i. 10. 3: He feigns a wish of worshipping Him only
   that he may discover Him, and put him to death.

   Remig.: The Magi obeyed the King so far as to seek the Lord, but not to
   return to Herod. Like in this to good hearers; the good they hear from
   wicked preachers, that they do; but do not imitate their evil lives.
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   9. And, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them,
   till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: This passage shews, that when the star had brought the
   Magi nearly to Jerusalem, it was hidden from them, and so they were
   compelled to ask in Jerusalem, "where Christ should be born?" and thus
   to manifest Him to them; on two accounts, first, to put to confusion
   the Jews, inasmuch as the Gentiles instructed only by sight of a star
   sought Christ through strange lands, while the Jews who had read the
   Prophets from their youth did not receive Him, though born in their
   country.

   Secondly, that the Priests, when asked where Christ should be born,
   might answer to their now condemnation, and while they instructed
   Herod, they were themselves ignorant of Him.

   "The star went before them," to shew them the greatness of the King.

   Aug.: To perform its due service to the Lord, it advanced slowly,
   leading them to the spot. It was ministering to Him, and not ruling His
   fate; its light shewed the suppliants and filled the inn, shed over the
   walls and roof that covered the birth; and thus it disappeared.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: What wonder that a divine star should minister to the
   Sun of righteousness about to rise. It stood over the Child's head, as
   it were, saying, This is He;' proving by its place what it had no voice
   to utter.

   Gloss. Anselm: It is evident that the star must have been in the air,
   and close above the house where the Child was, else it would not have
   pointed out the exact house.

   Ambrose, in Luc. 2, 45: The star is the way, and the way is Christ; and
   according to the mystery of the incarnation, Christ is a star. He is a
   blazing and a morning-star. Thus where Herod is, the star is not seen;
   where Christ is, there it is again seen, and points out the way.

   Remig.: Or, the star figures the grace of God, and Herod the Devil. He,
   who by sin puts himself in the Devil's power, loses that grace; but if
   he return by repentance, he soon finds that grace again which leaves
   him not till it have brought him to the young Child's house, i.e. the
   Church.

   Gloss. ord.: Or, the star is the illumination of faith, which leads him
   to the nearest aid; while they turn aside to the Jews, the Magi lose
   it; so those who seek counsel of the bad, lose the true light.
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   10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

   11. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young Child
   with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they
   had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and
   frankincense, and myrrh.
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   Gloss: This service of the star is followed by the rejoicing of the
   Magi.

   Remig.: And it was not enough to say, "They rejoiced," but "they
   rejoiced with exceeding great joy."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: They rejoiced, because their hopes were not falsified
   but confirmed, and because the toil of so great travel had not been
   undertaken in vain.

   Gloss. ord.: He rejoices indeed who rejoices on God's account, who is
   the true joy. "With great joy," he says, for they had great cause.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: By the mystery of this star they understood that the
   dignity of the King then born exceeded the measure of all worldly
   kings.

   Remig.: He adds, "greatly," shewing that men rejoice more over what
   they have lost than over what they possess.

   Leo, Serm. in Epiph., 4. 3: Though in stature a babe, needing the aid
   of others, unable to speak, and different in nothing from other
   infants, yet such faithful witnesses, shewing the unseen Divine Majesty
   which was in Him, ought to have proved most certainly that was the
   Eternal Essence of the Son of God that had taken upon Him the true
   human nature.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Mary His mother," not crowned with a diadem or laying
   on a golden couch; but with barely one garment, not for ornament but
   for covering, and that such as the wife of a carpenter when abroad
   might have. Had they therefore come to seek an earthly king, they would
   have been more confounded than rejoiced, deeming their pains thrown
   away.

   But now they looked for a heavenly King; so that though they saw nought
   of regal state, that star's witness sufficed them, and their eyes
   rejoiced to behold a despised Boy, the Spirit shewing Him to their
   hearts in all His wonderful power, they fell down and worshipped,
   seeing the man, they acknowledged the God.

   Rabanus: Joseph was absent by Divine command, that no wrong suspicions
   might occur to the Gentiles.

   Gloss, Anselm: in these offerings we observe their national customs,
   gold, frankincense, and various spices abounding among the Arabians;
   yet they intended thereby to signify something in mystery.

   Greg., Hom. in Evan., 1, 106: Gold, as to a King; frankincense, as
   sacrifice to God; myrrh, as embalming the body of the dead.

   Aug.: Gold, as paid to a mighty King; frankincense, as offered to God;
   myrrh, as to one who is to die for the sins of all.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And though it were not then understood what these
   several gifts mystically signified, that is no difficulty; the same
   grace that instigated them to the deed, ordained the whole.

   Remig.: And it is to be known that each did not offer a different gift,
   but each one the three kings, each one thus proclaiming the King, the
   God, and the man.

   Chrys.: Let Marcion and Paul of Samosata then blush, who will not see
   what the Magi saw, those progenitors of the Church adoring God in the
   flesh. That He was truly in the flesh, the swaddling clothes and the
   stall prove; yet that they worshipped Him not as mere man, but as God,
   the gifts prove which it was becoming to offer to a God. Let the Jews
   also be ashamed, seeing the Magi coming before them, and themselves not
   even earnest to tread in their path.

   Greg.: Something further may yet be meant here. Wisdom is typified by
   gold; as Solomon saith in the Proverbs, "A treasure to be desired is in
   the mouth of the wise."

   By frankincense, which is burnt before God, the power of prayer is
   intended, as in the Psalms, "Let my speech come before thee as
   incense." [Ps 141:2] In myrrh is figured mortification of the flesh. To
   a king at his birth we offer gold, if we shine in his sight with the
   light of wisdom; we offer frankincense, if we have power before God by
   the sweet savour of our prayers; we offer myrrh, when we mortify by
   abstinence the lusts of the flesh.

   Gloss, Anselm: The three men who offer, signify the nations who come
   from the three quarters of the earth. They open their treasures, i.e.
   manifest the faith of their hearts by confession. Rightly "in the
   house," teaching that we should not vaingloriously display the treasure
   of a good conscience. They bring "three" gifts, i.e. the faith in the
   Holy Trinity. Or opening the stores of Scripture, they offer its
   threefold sense, historical, moral and allegorical; or Logic, Physic,
   and Ethics, making them all serve the faith.
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   12. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to
   Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
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   Aug.: The wicked Herod, now made cruel by fear, will needs do a deed of
   horror. But how could he ensnare him who had come to cut off all fraud?
   His fraud is escaped as it follows, "And being warned."

   Jerome: They had offered gifts to the Lord, and receive a warning
   corresponding to it. This warning (in the Greek having received a
   response') is given not by an Angel, but by the Lord Himself, to shew
   the high privilege granted to the merit of Joseph.

   Gloss. ord.: This warning is given by the Lord Himself; it is none
   other that now teaches these Magi the way they should return, but He
   who said, "I am the way." [John 14:6] Not that the Infant actually
   speaks to them, that His divinity may not be revealed before the time,
   and His human nature may be thought real. But he says, "having received
   an answer," for as Moses prayed silently, so they with pious spirit had
   asked what the Divine will bade. "By another way," for they were not to
   be mixed up with the unbelieving Jews.

   Chrys., Hom. 8: See the faith of the Magi; they were not offended, nor
   said within themselves, What need now of flight? or of secret return,
   if this Boy be really some great one? Such is true faith; it asks not
   the reason of any command, but obeys.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Had the Magi sought Christ as an earthly King, they
   would have remained with Him when they had found Him; but they only
   worship, and go their way. After their return, they continued in the
   worship of God more steadfast than before, and taught many by their
   preaching. And when afterwards Thomas reached their country, they
   joined themselves to him, and were baptized, and did according to his
   preaching. [ed. note: S. Thomas is said to have preached to the
   Parthians, Persians, or Indians. Euseb. Hist. iii. 1. Clem. Recogn. ix.
   29. Greg. Naz. Or. 25. p. 438. The Margi are mentioned, Pseudo-Hippol.
   de Duod. Apost. (ed. Fabr. Append. p. 30) Combefis conjecturing Mardi.]

   Greg., Hom. in Ev. i. 10. 7: We may learn much from this return of the
   Magi another way. Our country is Paradise, to which, after we have come
   to the knowledge of Christ we are forbidden to return the way we came.
   We have left this country by pride, disobedience, following things of
   sight, tasting, forbidden food; and we must return to it by repentance,
   obedience, by contemning things of sight, and overcoming carnal
   appetite.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: It was impossible that they, who left Herod to go to
   Christ, should return to Herod. They who have by sin left Christ and
   passed to the devil, often return to Christ; for the innocent, who
   knows not what is evil, is easily deceived, but having once tasted the
   evil he has taken up, and remembering the good he has left, he returns
   in penitence to God. He who has forsaken the devil and come to Christ,
   hardly returns to the devil; for rejoicing in the good he has found,
   and remembering the evil he has escaped, with difficulty returns to
   that evil.
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   13. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord
   appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, and take the young
   Child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I
   bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.

   14. When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night, and
   departed into Egypt:

   15. And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled
   which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt have
   I called my Son."
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   Rabanus: Here Matthew omits the day of purification when the first-born
   must be presented in the Temple with the lamb, or a pair of turtle
   doves, or pigeons. Their fear of Herod did not make them bold to
   transgress the Law, that they should not present the Child in the
   temple. As soon then as the rumour concerning the Child begins to be
   spread abroad, the Angel is sent to bid Joseph carry Him into Egypt.

   Remig.: by this that the Angel appears always to Joseph in sleep, is
   mystically signified that they who rest from mundane cares and secular
   pursuits, deserve angelic visitations.

   Hilary: The first time when he would teach Joseph that she was lawfully
   espoused, the Angel called the Virgin his espoused "wife;" but after
   the birth she is only spoken of as the Mother of Jesus. As wedlock was
   rightfully imputed to her in her virginity, so virginity is esteemed
   venerable in her as the mother of Jesus.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He says not, the Mother and her young Child,' but, "the
   young Child and His mother;" for the Child was not born for the mother,
   but the mother prepared for the Child. How is this that the Son of God
   flies from the face of man? or who shall deliver from the enemy's hand,
   if He Himself fears His enemies?

   First; He ought to observe, even in this, the law of that human nature
   which He took on Him; and human nature and infancy must flee before
   threatening power.

   Next, that Christians when persecution makes it necessary should not be
   ashamed to fly. But why into Egypt? The Lord, "who keepeth not His
   anger for ever," remembered the woes He had brought upon Egypt, and
   therefore sent His Son thither, and gives it this sign of great
   reconciliation, that with this one remedy He might heal the ten plagues
   of Egypt, and the nation that had been the persecutor of this
   first-born people, might be the guardian of His first-born Son. As
   formerly they had cruelly tyrannized, now they might devoutly serve;
   nor go to the Red Sea to be drowned, but be called to the waters of
   baptism to receive life.

   Aug.: Hear the sacrament of a great mystery. Moses before had shut up
   the light of day from the traitors the Egyptians; Christ by going down
   thither brought back light to them that sat in darkness. He fled that
   he might enlighten them, not that he might escape his foes.

   Aug., Serm. 218, App.: The miserable tyrant supposed that by the
   Saviour's coming he should be thrust from his royal throne. But it was
   not so; Christ came not to hurt others' dignity, but to bestow His own
   on others.

   Hilary: Egypt full of idols; for after this enquiry for Him among the
   Jews, Christ leaving Judaea goes to be cherished among nations given to
   the vainest superstitions.

   Jerome: When he takes the Child and His mother to go into Egypt, it is
   in the night and darkness, when to return into Judaea, the Gospel
   speaks of no light, no darkness.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The straitness of every persecution may be called night
   - the relief from it in like manner, day.

   Rabanus: For when the true light withdraws, they who hate the light are
   in darkness, when it returns they are again enlightened.

   Chrys.: See how immediately on His birth the tyrant is furious against
   Him, and the mother with her Child is driven into foreign lands. So
   should you in the beginning of your spiritual career seem to have
   tribulation, you need not to be discouraged, but bear all things
   manfully, having this example.

   Bede, Hom. in Nat. Innocent: The flight into Egypt signifies that the
   elect are often by the wickedness of the bad driven from their homes,
   or sentenced to banishment. Thus He, who, we shall see below, gave the
   command to His own, "When they shall persecute you in one city, flee ye
   to another," first practised what He enjoined, as a man flying before
   the face of man on earth. He whom but a little before a star had
   proclaimed to the Magi to be worshipped as from heaven.

   Remig.: Isaiah had foretold this flight into Egypt. "Lo! the Lord shall
   ascend on a light cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and shall scatter
   the idols of Egypt." [Isa 19:1] It is the practice of this Evangelist
   to confirm all he says; and that because he is writing to the Jews,
   therefore he adds, "that it might be fulfilled, &c."

   Jerome, Epist., 57. 7: This is not in the LXX; but in Osee according to
   the genuine Hebrew text we read; "Israel is my child, and I have loved
   him," and "from Egypt have I called my Son;" where the LXX render,
   "Israel is my child, and I have loved him, and called my sons out of
   Egypt."

   Jerome, in Osee, 11, 2: The Evangelist cites this text because it
   refers to Christ typically. For it is to be observed, that in this
   Prophet and in others, the coming of Christ and the call of the
   Gentiles are foreshewn in such a manner, that the thread of history is
   never broken.

   Chrys.: It is a law of prophecy, that in a thousand places many things
   are said of some and fulfilled of others. As it is said of Simeon and
   Levi, "I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel;" [Gen
   49:7] which was fulfilled not in themselves, but in their descendants.
   So here Christ is by nature the Son of God, and so the prophecy is
   fulfilled in Him.

   Jerome: Let those who deny the authenticity of the Hebrew copies, shew
   us this passage in the LXX, and when they have failed to find it, we
   will shew it them in the Hebrew. We may also explain it in another way,
   by considering it as quoted from Numbers, "God brought him out of
   Egypt; his glory is as it were that of a unicorn." [Num 23:22]

   Remig.: In Joseph is figured the order of preachers, in Mary Holy
   Scripture; by the Child the knowledge of the Saviour; by the cruelty of
   Herod the persecution which the Church suffered in Jerusalem; by
   Joseph's flight into Egypt the passing of the preachers to the
   unbelieving Gentiles, (for Egypt signifies darkness;) by the time that
   he abode in Egypt the space of time between the ascension of the Lord
   and the coming of Anti-Christ; by Herod's death the extinction of
   jealousy in the hearts of the Jews.
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   16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was
   exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in
   Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under,
   according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: When the infant Jesus had subdued the Magi, not by the
   might of His flesh, but the grace of His Spirit, Herod "was exceeding
   wrath," that they whom he, sitting on his throne, had no power to move,
   were obedient to an Infant lying in a manger. Then by their contempt of
   him the Magi gave further cause of wrath. For when kings' wrath is
   stirred by fear for their crowns, it is a great and inextinguishable
   wrath.

   But what did he? "He sent and slew all the children." As a wounded
   beast rends whatsoever meeteth it as if the cause of its smart, so he
   mocked by the Magi spent his fury on children. He said to himself in
   his fury, Surely the Magi have found the Child whom they said should be
   King;' for a king in fear for his crown fears all things, suspects all.
   Then he sent and slew all those infants, that he might secure one among
   so many.

   Aug.: And while he thus persecutes Christ, he furnished an army (or
   martyrs) clothed in white robes of the same age as the Lord.

   Aug., Serm. 220. App.: Behold how this unrighteous enemy never could
   have so much profited these infants by his love, as he did by his hate;
   for as much as iniquity abounded against them, so much did the grace of
   blessing abound on them.

   Aug., Serm. 373, 3: O blessed infants! He only will doubt of your crown
   in this your passion for Christ, who doubts that the baptism of Christ
   has a benefit for infants. He who at His birth had Angels to proclaim
   Him, the heavens to testify, and Magi to worship Him, could surely have
   prevented that these should not have died for Him, had He not known
   that they died not in that death, but rather lived in higher bliss. Far
   be the thought, that Christ who came to set men free, did nothing to
   reward those who died in His behalf, when hanging on the cross He
   prayed for those who put Him to death.

   Rabanus: He is not satisfied with the massacre at Bethlehem, but
   extends it to the adjacent villages; sparing no age from the child of
   one night old, to that of two years.

   Aug., Serm. 132, App.: The Magi had seen this unknown star in the
   heavens, not a few days, but two years before, as they had informed
   Herod when he enquired. This caused him to fix "two years old and
   under;" as it follows, "according to the time he had enquired of the
   Magi."

   Gloss. ord.: Or because he feared that the Child to whom even stars
   ministered, might transform His appearance to greater or under that of
   His own age, or might conceal all those of that age: hence it seems to
   be that he slew all from one day to two years old.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., 2, 11: Or, disturbed by pressure of still more
   imminent dangers, Herod's thoughts are drawn to other thoughts than the
   slaughter of children, he might suppose that the Magi, unable to find
   Him whom they had supposed born, were ashamed to return to him. So the
   days of purification being accomplished, they might go up in safety to
   Jerusalem. And who does not see the one day they may have escaped the
   attention of a King occupied with so many cares, and that afterwards
   when the things done in the Temple came to be spread abroad, then Herod
   discovered that he had been deceived by the Magi, and then sent and
   slew the children.

   Bede, Hom. in Nat. Innocent: In this death of the children the precious
   death of all Christ's martyrs is figured; that they were infants
   signifies, that by the merit of humility alone can we come to the glory
   of martyrdom; that they were slain in Bethlehem and the coasts thereof,
   that the persecution shall be both in Jerusalem whence the Church
   originated, and throughout the world; in those of two years old are
   figured the perfect in doctrine and works; those under that age the
   neophytes; that they were slain while Christ escaped, signifies that
   the bodies of the martyrs may be destroyed by the wicked, but that
   Christ cannot be taken from them.
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   17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,
   saying,

   18. In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and
   great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be
   comforted, because they are not.
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   Chrys., Hom. ix: The Evangelist by this history of so bloody a
   massacre, having filled the reader with horror, now again sooths his
   feelings, shewing that these things were not done because God could not
   hinder, or knew not of them; but as the Prophet had foretold.

   Jerome, In Hierem, 31, 15: This passage of Jeremiah has been quoted by
   Matthew neither according to the Hebrew nor the LXX version. This shews
   that the Evangelists and Apostles did not follow any one's translation,
   but according to the Hebrew manner expressed in their own words what
   they had read in Hebrew.

   By Ramah we need not suppose that the town of that name near Gibeah is
   meant; but take it as signifying high.' A voice was heard aloft,' that
   is, spread far and wide.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, it was heard on high, because uttered for the death
   of the innocent, according to that, "The voice of the poor entereth
   into the heavens." The weeping' means the cries of the children;
   lamentation,' refers to the mothers. In the infants themselves their
   death ends their cries, in the mothers it is continually renewed by the
   remembrance of their loss.

   Jerome: Rachel's son was Benjamin, in which tribe Bethlehem is not
   situated. How then does Rachel weep for the children of Judah as if
   they were her own? We answer briefly. She was buried near Bethlehem in
   Ephrata, and was regarded as the mother, because her body was there
   entertained. Or, as the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin were
   contiguous, and Herod's command extended to the coasts of Bethlehem as
   well as to the town itself, we may suppose that many were slain in
   Benjamin.

   Pseudo-Aug., Hil. Quaest. N. and N. Test. 9. 62: Or, The sons of
   Benjamin, who were akin to Rachel, were formerly cut off by the other
   tribes, and so extinct both then and ever after. Then therefore Rachel
   began to mourn her sons, when she saw those of her sister cut off in
   such a cause, that they should be heirs of eternal life; for he who has
   experienced any misfortune, is made more sensible of his losses by the
   good fortune of a neighbour.

   Remig.: The sacred Evangelist adds, to shew the greatness of the
   mourning, that even the dead Rachel was roused to mourn her sons; and
   "would not be comforted because they were not."

   Jerome: This may be understood in two ways; either she thought them
   dead for all eternity, so that no consolation could comfort her; or,
   she desired not to receive any comfort for those who she knew had gone
   into life eternal.

   Hilary: It could not be that they "were not" who seemed now dead, but
   by glorious martyrdom they were advanced to eternal life; and
   consolation is for those who have suffered loss, not for those who have
   reaped a gain. Rachel affords a type of the Church long barren now at
   length fruitful. She is heard weeping for her children, not because she
   mourned them dead, but because they were slaughtered by those whom she
   would have retained as her first-born sons.

   Rabanus: Or, The Church weeps the removal of the saints from this
   earth, but wishes not to be comforted as though they should return
   again to the struggles of life, for they are not to be recalled into
   life.

   Gloss. ord.: She "will not be comforted" in this present life, for that
   they are not, but transfers all her hope and comfort to the life to
   come.

   Rabanus: Rachel is well set for a type of the Church, as the word
   signifies a sheep' or seeing;' [margin note: see Ch. 1, note i, p. 19]
   her whole thought being to fix her eye in contemplation of God; and she
   is the hundredth sheep that the shepherd layeth on his shoulder.
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   19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeareth in
   a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

   20. Saying, "Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go
   into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young
   Child's life.
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   Euseb., Eccles. Hist., 1, 8: For the sacrilege which Herod had
   committed against the Saviour, and his wicked slaughter of the infants
   of the same age, the Divine vengeance hastened his end; and his body,
   as Josephus relates, was attacked by a strange disease; so that the
   prophets declared that they were not human ailments, but visitations of
   Divine vengeance. Filled with mad fury, he gives command to seize and
   imprison the heads and nobles out of all parts of Judaea; ordering that
   as soon as ever he should breathe his last, they should be all put to
   death, that so Judaea, though unwillingly, might mourn at his decease.

   Just before he died he murdered his son, Antipater,(besides two boys
   put to death before, Alexander and Aristobulus.) Such was the end of
   Herod, noticed in those words of the Evangelist, "when Herod was dead,"
   and such the punishment inflicted.

   Jerome: Many here err from ignorance of history, supposing the Herod
   who mocked our Lord on the day of His passion, and the Herod whose
   death is here related, were the same. But the Herod who was then made
   friends with Pilate was son of this Herod and brother to Archelaus; for
   Archelaus was banished to Lyons in Gaul, and his father Herod made king
   in his room, as we read in Josephus.

   Pseudo-Dionysius, Dion. De Cael. Hierarch. 4: See how Jesus Himself,
   though far above all celestial beings, and coming unchanged to our
   nature, shunned not that ordinance of humanity which He had taken on
   Him, but was obedient to the dispositions of His Father made known by
   Angels. For even by Angels is declared to Joseph the retreat of the Son
   into Egypt, so ordained of the Father, and His return again to Judaea.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: See how Joseph was set for ministering to Mary; when she
   went into Egypt and returned, who would have fulfilled to her this so
   needful ministry, had she not been betrothed? For to outward view, Mary
   nourished and Joseph defended the Child; but in truth the Child
   supported His mother and protected Joseph.

   "Return into the land of Israel;" for He went down into Egypt as a
   physician, not to abide there, but to succour it sick with error. But
   the reason of the return is given in the words, "They are dead, &c."

   Jerome: From this we see that not Herod only, but also the Priests and
   Scribes had sought the Lord's death at that time.

   Remig.: But if they were many who sought his destruction, how came they
   all to have died in so short a time? As we have related above, all the
   great men among the Jews were slain at Herod's death.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And that is said to have been done by the counsel of God
   for their conspiring with Herod against the Lord; as it is said, "Herod
   was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him."

   Remig.: Or the Evangelist uses a figure of speech, by which the plural
   is used for the singular. These words, "the Child's life," overthrow
   those heretics [margin note: or "soul," i.e. the Apollinarians] who
   taught that Christ did not take a soul, but had His Divinity in place
   of a soul.

   Bede, Hom. in Nat. Innocent: This slaughter of the infants for the
   Lord's sake, the death of Herod soon after, and Joseph's return with
   the Lord and his mother to the land of Israel, is a figure shewing that
   all the persecutions moved against the Church will be avenged by the
   death of the persecutor, peace restored to the Church, and the saints
   who had concealed themselves return to their own places. Or the return
   of Jesus to the land of Israel on the death of Herod shews, that, at
   the preaching of Enoch and Elijah [see note, c, below], the Jews, when
   the fire of modern jealousy shall be extinguished, shall receive the
   true faith.

   [ed. note, c: That Enoch and especially Elias will come at the end of
   the world and by their preaching convert the Jews is affirmed by
   Tertullian, (de Anima 35. de Resur. c. 22) Origen, (in Joann, i. tom.
   5. in Matt. tom. 13) Hilary, (in Matt. xx. 10. xxvi. 5) Chrysostom, (in
   Matt. xvii. 10) Augustine, (City of God 20, 29. Op. Imp. contra Julian.
   vi. 30) Pope Gregory, (in Job. lib. xiv. 23. in Joann. Hom. vii. 1) and
   Damascene, (de Fid. Orth. iv. 26 fin]
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   21. And he arose, and took the young Child and His mother, and came
   into the land of Israel.

   22. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of
   his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being
   warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

   23. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be
   fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a
   Nazarene.
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   Gloss: Joseph was not disobedient to the angelic warning, but "he
   arose, and took the young Child and his mother, and came into the land
   of Israel."

   The Angel had not fixed the particular place, so that while Joseph
   hesitates, the Angel returns, and by the often visiting him confirms
   his obedience.

   Josephus: Herod had nine wives, by seven of whom he had a numerous
   issue. By Josida, his first born Antipater - by Mariamine, Alexander
   and Aristobulus - by Mathuca, a Samaritan woman, Archelaus - by
   Cleopatra of Jerusalem, Herod, who was afterwards tetrarch, and Philip.
   The three first were put to death by Herod; and after his death,
   Archelaus seized the throne by occasion of his father's will, and the
   question of the succession was carried before Augustus Caesar. After
   some delay, he made a distribution of the whole of Herod's dominions in
   accordance with the Senate's advice. To Archelaus he assigned one half,
   consisting of Idumaea and Judaea, with the title of tetrarch, and a
   promise of that of king if he shewed himself deserving of it. The rest
   he divided into two tetrarchates, giving Galilee to Herod the tetrarch,
   Ituraea and Trachonitis to Philip. Thus Archelaus was after his
   father's death a duarch, which kind of sovereignty is here called a
   kingdom.

   Aug., De Con. Evan. ii. 10: Here is may be asked, How then could his
   parents go up every year of Christ's childhood to Jerusalem, as Luke
   relates, if fear of Archelaus now prevented them from approaching it?
   This difficulty is easily solved. At the festival they might escape
   notice in the crowd, and by returning soon, where in ordinary times
   they might be afraid to live. So they neither became irreligious by
   neglecting the festival, nor notorious by dwelling continually in
   Jerusalem.

   Or it is open to us to understand Luke when he says, they "went up
   every year," as speaking of a time when they had nothing to fear from
   Archelaus, who, as Josephus relates, reigned only nine years.

   There is yet a difficulty in what follows; "Being warned in a dream, he
   turned aside into the parts of Galilee." If Joseph was afraid to go
   into Judaea because one of Herod's sons, Archelaus, reigned there, how
   could he go into Galilee, where another of his sons Herod was tetrarch,
   as Luke tells us? As if the times of which Luke is speaking were times
   in which there was any longer need to fear for the Child, when even in
   Judaea things were so changed, that Archelaus no longer ruled there,
   but Pilate was governor.

   Gloss. ord.: But then we might ask, why was he not afraid to go into
   Galilee, seeing Archelaus ruled there also? He could be better
   concealed in Nazareth than in Jerusalem, which was the capital of the
   kingdom, and where Archelaus was constantly resident.

   Chrys.: And when he had once left the country of His birth, all the
   occurrences passed out of mind; the rage of persecution had been spent
   in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood. By choosing Nazareth therefore,
   Joseph both avoided danger, and returned to his country.

   Aug., de Con. Evan., ii, 9: This may perhaps occur to some, that
   Matthew says His parents went with the Child Jesus to Galilee because
   they feared Archelaus, when it should seem most probable that they
   chose Galilee because Nazareth was their own city, as Luke has not
   forgot to mention. We must understand, that when the Angel in the
   vision in Egypt said to Joseph, "Go into the land of Israel," Joseph
   understood the command to be that he should go straight into Judaea,
   that being properly "the land of Israel." But finding Archelaus ruling
   there, he would not court the danger, as "the land of Israel" might be
   interpreted to extend to Galilee, which was inhabited by children of
   Israel.

   Or we may suppose His parents supposed that Christ should dwell no
   where but in Jerusalem, where was the temple of the Lord, and would
   have gone thither had not the fear of Archelaus hindered them. And they
   had not been commanded from God to dwell positively in Judaea, or
   Jerusalem, so as that they should have despised the fear of Archelaus,
   but only in the land of Israel generally, which they might understand
   of Galilee.

   Hilary: But the figurative intepretation holds good any way. Joseph
   represents the Apostles, to whom Christ is entrusted to be borne about.
   These, as though Herod were dead, that is, his people being destroyed
   in the Lord's passion, are commanded to preach the Gospel to the Jews;
   they are sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But finding the
   seed of their hereditary unbelief still abiding, they fear and
   withdraw; admonished by a vision, to wit, seeing the Holy Ghost poured
   upon the Gentiles, they carry Christ to them.

   Rabanus: Or, we may apply it to the last times of the Jewish Church,
   when many Jews having turned to the preaching of Enoch and Elijah, the
   rest filled with the spirit of Antichrist shall fight against the
   faith. So that part of Judaea where Archelaus rules, signifies the
   followers of Antichrist; Nazareth of Galilee, whither Christ is
   conveyed, that part of the nation that shall embrace the faith. Galilee
   means, removal;' Nazareth, the flower of virtues;' for the Church the
   more zealously she removes from the earthly to the heavenly, the more
   she abounds in the flower and fruit of virtues.

   Gloss: To this he adds the Prophet's testimony, saying, "That is might
   be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets, &c."

   Jerome: Had he meant to quote a particular text, he would not have
   written Prophets,' but the Prophet.' By thus using the plural he
   evidently does not take the words of any one passage in Scripture, but
   the sense of the whole. Nazarene is interpreted, Holy,' [ed. note, d:
   nzyr] and that the Lord would be Holy, all Scripture testifies.

   Otherwise we may explain that it is found in Isaiah rendered to the
   strict letter of the Hebrew. [margin note: c. 11. 1] "There shall come
   a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Nazarene shall grow out of His
   roots." [ed. note, e: As if ntsr]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: They might have read this in some Prophets who are not
   in our canon, as Nathan or Esdras. That there was some prophecy to this
   purport is clear from what Philip says to Nathanael. "Him of whom Moses
   in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth." [John 1:15]
   Hence the Christians were at first called Nazarenes, at Antioch their
   name was changed to that of Christians.'

   Aug., de Con. Evan., ii, 5: The whole of this history, from the account
   of the Magi inclusively, Luke omits. Let it be here noticed once for
   all, that each of the Evangelists writes as if he were giving a full
   and complete history, which omits nothing; where he really passes over
   any thing, he continues his thread of history as if he had told all.
   Yet by a diligent comparison of their several narratives, we can be at
   no loss to know where to insert any particular that is mentioned by one
   and not by the other.
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Chapter 3

   1. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of
   Judaea,

   2. And saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

   3. For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias, saying,
   "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
   Lord, make His paths straight."
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Sun as he approaches the horizon, and before he is
   yet visible, sends out his rays and makes the eastern sky to glow with
   light, that Aurora going before may herald the coming day. Thus the
   Lord at His birth in this earth, and before He shews Himself,
   enlightens John by the rays of His Spirit's teaching, that he might go
   before and announce the Saviour that was to come. Therefore after
   having related the birth of Christ, before proceeding to His teaching
   and baptism, (wherein he received such testimony,) he first premises
   somewhat of the Baptist and forerunner of the Lord.

   "In those days, &c."

   Remig.: In these words we have not only time, place, and person,
   respecting St. John, but also his office and employment. First the
   time, generally; "In those days."

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 6: Luke describes the time by the reigning
   sovereigns. [Luke 3:1] But Matthew must be understood to speak of a
   wider space of time by the phrase those days,' than the fifteenth year
   of Tiberius. Having related Christ's return from Egypt, which must be
   placed in early boyhood or even infancy, to make it agree with what
   Luke has told of His being in the temple at twelve years old, he adds
   directly, "In those days," not intending thereby only the days of His
   childhood, but all the days from His birth to the preaching of John.

   Remig.: The man is mentioned in the words "came John," that is, shewed
   himself, having abode so long in obscurity.

   Chrys.: But why must John thus go before Christ with a witness of deeds
   preaching Him? First; that we might hence learn Christ's dignity, that
   He also, as the Father has, has prophets, in the words of Zacharias,
   "And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest." [Luke
   1:76]

   Secondly; That the Jews might have no cause for offence; as He
   declared, "John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath
   a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold
   a gluttonous man." [Luke 7:33-34]

   It needeth moreover that the things concerning Christ should be told by
   some other first, and not by Himself; or what would the Jews have said,
   who after the witness of John made complaint, "Thou bearest witness of
   thyself, thy witness is not true." [John 8:!3]

   Remig., ap. Anselm: His office; "the Baptist;" in this he prepared the
   way of the Lord, for had not men been used to be baptized, they would
   have shunned Christ's baptism.

   His employment; "Preaching."

   Rabanus: For because Christ was to preach, as soon as it seemed the fit
   time, that is, about thirty years of age, he began by his preaching to
   make ready the way for the Lord.

   Remig.: The place; "the desert of Judaea."

   Maximus, Hom. in Joan. Bap. nat. 1: Where neither a noisy mob would
   interrupt his preaching, and whither no unbelieving hearer would
   retire; but those only would hear, who sought to his preaching from
   motives of divine worship.

   Jerome, in Isa 40. 3: consider how the salvation of God, and the glory
   of the Lord, is preached not in Jerusalem, but in the solitude of the
   Church, in the wilderness to multitudes.

   Hilary: Or, he came to Judaea, desert by the absence of God, not of
   population, that the place of preaching might witness the few to whom
   the preaching was sent.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: The desert typically means a life removed from the
   temptations of the world, such as befits the penitent.

   Aug. Serm.: Unless one repent him of his former life, he cannot begin a
   new life.

   Hilary: He therefore preaches repentance when the Kingdom of Heaven
   approaches; by which we return from error, we escape from sin, and
   after shame for our faults, we make profession of forsaking them.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: In the very commencement he shews himself the messenger
   of a merciful Prince; he comes not with threats to the offender, but
   with offers of mercy. It is a custom with kings to proclaim a general
   pardon on the birth of a son, but first they send throughout their
   kingdom officers to exact severe fines. But God willing at the birth of
   His Son to give pardon of sins, first sends His officer proclaiming,
   "Repent ye." O exaction which leaves none poor, but makes many rich!
   For even when we pay our just debt of righteousness we do God no
   service, but only gain our own salvation. Repentance cleanses the
   heart, enlightens the sense, and prepares the human soul for the
   reception of Christ, as he immediately adds, "For the Kingdom of Heaven
   is at hand."

   Jerome: John Baptist is the first to preach the Kingdom of Heaven, that
   the forerunner of the Lord may have this honourable privilege.

   Chrys.: And he preaches what the Jews had never heard, not even from
   the Prophets, Heaven, namely, and the Kingdom that is there, and of the
   kingdoms of the earth he says nothing. Thus by the novelty of those
   things of which he speaks, he gains their attention to Him whom he
   preaches.

   Remig.: "The Kingdom of Heaven" has a fourfold meaning. It is said, of
   Christ, as "The Kingdom of God is within you." [Luke 17:21] Of Holy
   Scripture, as, "The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall
   be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." [Matt 21:43]
   Of the Holy Church, as, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto ten
   virgins." [Matt 25:1] Of the abode above, as, "Many shall come from the
   East and the West, and shall sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven." [Matt
   8:11] And all these significations may be here understood.

   Gloss. ord.: "The Kingdom of Heaven" shall come nigh you; for if it
   approached not, none would be able to gain it; for weak and blind they
   had not the way, which was Christ.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 12: The other Evangelists omit these words of
   John. What follows, "This is He, &c." it is not clear whether the
   Evangelist speaks them in his own person, or whether they are part of
   John's preaching, and the whole from "Repent ye," to "Esaias the
   prophet," is to be assigned to John. It is of no importance that he
   says, "This is he," and not, "I am he;" for Matthew speaking of himself
   says, "He found a man sitting at the toll-office;" [Matt 9:9] not "He
   found me." Though when asked what he said of himself, he answered, as
   is related by John the Evangelist, "I am the voice of one crying in the
   wilderness."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., i. 7: It is well known that the Only-begotten Son
   is called the Word of the Father; as in John, "In the beginning was the
   Word." [John 1:1] But it is by our own speech that we are known; the
   voice sounds that the words may be heard. Thus John the forerunner of
   the Lord's coming is called, "The voice," because by his ministry the
   voice of the Father is heard by men.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The voice is a confused sound, discovering no secret of
   the heart, only signifying that he who utters it desires to say
   somewhat; it is the word that is the speech that openeth the mystery of
   the heart. Voice is common to men and other animals, word peculiar to
   man. John then is called the voice and not the word, because God did
   not discover His counsels through him, but only signified that He was
   about to do something among men; but afterwards by His Son he fully
   opened the mystery of his will.

   Rabanus: He is rightly called, "The voice of one crying," on account of
   the loud sound of his preaching. Three things cause a man to speak
   loud; when the person he speaks to is at a distance, or is deaf, or if
   the speaker be angry; and all these three were then found in the human
   race.

   Gloss: John then is, as it were, the voice of the word crying. The word
   is heard by the voice, that is, Christ by John.

   Bede, Gloss. ord. in cap. iv. 1: In like manner has He cried from the
   beginning through the voice of all who have spoken aught by
   inspiration. And yet is John only called, "The voice;" because the Word
   which others shewed after off, he declares as nigh.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., i. 7. 2: "Crying in the desert," because he shews
   to deserted and forlorn Judaea the approaching consolation of her
   Redeemer.

   Remig.: Though as far as historical fact is concerned, he chose the
   desert, to be removed from the crowds of people. What the purport of
   his cry was is insinuated, when he adds, "Make ready the way of the
   Lord."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As a great King going on a progress is preceded by
   couriers to cleanse what is foul, repair what is broken down; so John
   preceded the Lord to cleanse the human heart from the filth of sin, by
   the besom of repentance, and to gather by an ordinance of spiritual
   precepts those things which had been scattered abroad.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev. i. 20. 3: Every one who preacheth right faith and
   good works, prepares the Lord's way to the hearts of the hearers, and
   makes His paths straight, in cleansing the thoughts by the word of good
   preaching.

   Gloss. interlin.: Or, faith is the way by which the word reaches the
   heart; when the life is amended the paths are made straight.
     __________________________________________________________________

   4. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern
   girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Having said that he is the voice of one crying in the
   desert, the Evangelist well adds, "John had his clothing of camel's
   hair;" thus shewing what his life was; for he indeed testified of
   Christ, but his life testified of himself. No one is fit to be
   another's witness till he has first been his own.

   Hilary: For the preaching of John no place more suitable, no clothing
   more useful, no food more fitted.

   Jerome: His raiment of camel's hair, not of wool - the one the mark of
   austerity in dress, the other of a delicate luxury.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: It becomes the servants of God to use a dress not for
   elegant appearance, or for cherishing of the body, but for a covering
   of the nakedness. Thus John wears a garment not soft and delicate, but
   hairy, heavy, rough, rather wounding the skin than cherishing it, that
   even the very clothing of his body told of the virtue of his mind. It
   was the custom of the Jews to wear girdles of wool; so he desiring
   something less indulgent wore one of skin.

   Jerome: Food moreover suited to a dweller in the desert, no choice
   viands, but such as satisfied the necessities of the body.

   Rabanus: Content with poor fare; to wit, small insects and honey
   gathered from the trunks of trees. In the sayings of Arnulphus [ed.
   note: Arnulphus, who visited Palestine 705; his travels to the Holy
   Land written from his mouth by Adamannus, Abbot of Lindisferne, are
   still extant.], Bishop of Gaul, we find that there was a very small
   kind of locust in the deserts of Judaea, with bodies about the
   thickness of a finger and short; they are easily taken among the grass,
   and when cooked in oil form a poor kind of food.

   He also relates, that in the same desert there is a kind of tree, with
   a large round leaf, of the colour of milk and taste of honey, so
   friable as to rub to powder in the hand, and this is what is intended
   by wild honey.

   Remig.: In this clothing and this poor food, he shews that he sorrows
   for the sins of the whole human race.

   Rabanus: His dress and diet express the quality of his inward
   conversation. His garment was of an austere quality, because he rebuked
   the sinner's life.

   Jerome: His girdle of skin, which Elias also bare, is the mark of
   mortification.

   Rabanus: He ate locusts and honey, because his preaching was sweet tot
   he multitude, but was of short continuance; and honey has sweetness,
   locusts a swift flight but soon fall to the ground.

   Remig.: In John (which name is interpreted the grace of God,') is
   figured Christ who brought grace into the world; in his clothing, the
   Gentile Church.

   Hilary: The preacher of Christ is clad in the skins of unclean beasts,
   to which the Gentiles are compared, and so by the Prophets' dress is
   sanctified whatever in them was useless or unclean. The girdle is a
   thing of much efficacy to every good work, that we may be girt for
   every ministry of Christ. For his food are chosen locusts, which fly
   the face of man, and escape from every approach, signifying ourselves
   who were borne away from every word or speech of good by a spontaneous
   motion of the body, weak in will, barren in works, fretful in speech,
   foreign in abode, are now become the food of the Saints, chosen to fill
   the Prophets' desire, furnishing our most sweet food not from the hives
   of the law, but from the trunks of wild trees.
     __________________________________________________________________

   5. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region
   round about Jordan,

   6. And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Having described the preaching of John, he goes on to
   say, "There went out to him," for his severe life preached yet more
   loudly in the desert than the voice of his crying.

   Chrys.: For it was wonderful to see such fortitude in a human body;
   this it was that chiefly attracted the Jews, seeing in him the great
   Elias. It also contributed to fill them with wonder that the grace of
   Prophecy had long failed among them, and now seemed to have at length
   revived.

   Also the manner of his preaching being other than that of the old
   prophets had must effect; for now they heard not such things as they
   were wont to hear, such as wars, and conquests of the king of Babylon,
   or of Persia; but of Heaven and the Kingdom there, and the punishment
   of hell.

   Gloss. interlin.: This baptism was only a forerunning of that to come,
   and did not forgive sins. [ed. note: Tertullian (de Bapt. 10. 11) S.
   Jerome (adv. Lucifer. 7) S. Gregory (Hom. in Evang. vii. 3) Theophylact
   in Marc. ch. i. S. Augustine (de Bapt. e Donat. v. 10) considered that
   S. John's baptism gave a sort of suspensive or implicit remission, to
   be realized in the Atonement; and S. Cyril. Hieros. Cat. iii. 7-9. S.
   Greg. Nyss. in laud. Bas. t. 3. p. 482. vid. Dr. Pusey on Baptism, Ed.
   2. pp. 242-271]

   Remig.: The baptism of John bare a figure of the catechumens. As
   children are only catechized that they may become meet for the
   sacrament of Baptism; so John baptized, that they who were thus
   baptized might afterwards by a holy life become worthy of coming to
   Christ's baptism. He baptized in Jordan, that the door of the Kingdom
   of Heaven might be there opened, where an entrance had been given to
   the children of Israel into the earthly kingdom of promise.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Compared with the holiness of John, who is there that
   can think himself righteous? As a white garment if placed near snow
   would seem foul by the contrast; so compared with John every man would
   seem impure; therefore they confessed their sins. Confession of sin is
   the testimony of a conscience fearing God. And perfect fear takes away
   all shame. But there is seen the shame of confession where there is no
   fear of the judgment to come. But as shame itself is a heavy
   punishment, God therefore bids us confess our sins that we may suffer
   this shame as punishment; for that itself is a part of the judgment.

   Rabanus: Rightly are they who are to be baptized said to go out to the
   Prophet; for unless one depart from sin, and renounce the pomp of the
   Devil, and the temptations of the world, he cannot receive a healing
   baptism.

   Rightly also in Jordan, which means their descent, because they
   descended from the pride of life to the humility of an honest
   confession. Thus early was an example given to them that are to be
   baptized of confessing their sins and professing amendment.
     __________________________________________________________________

   7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his
   baptism, he said unto them, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned
   you to flee from the wrath to come?

   8. Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

   9. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our
   father:' for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise
   up children unto Abraham.

   10. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore
   every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
   into the fire."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Greg., De Cur. Past., iii, prologue: The words of the teachers should
   be fitted to the quality of the hearers, that in each particular it
   should agree with itself and yet never depart from the fortress of
   general edification.

   Gloss: It was necessary that after the teaching which he used to the
   common people, the Evangelist should give an example of the doctrine he
   delivered to the more advanced; therefore he says, "Seeing many of the
   Pharisees, &c."

   Isid. Hisp. Orig. 8. 4: The Pharisees and Sadducees opposed to one
   another; Pharisee in the Hebrew signifies, divided;' because choosing
   the justification of traditions and observances they were divided' or
   separated' from the people by this righteousness.

   Sadducee in the Hebrew means just;' for these laid claim to be what
   they were not, denied the resurrection of the body, and taught that the
   soul perished with the body; they only received the Pentateuch, and
   rejected the Prophets.

   Gloss: When John saw those who seemed to be of great consideration
   among the Jews come to his baptism, he said to them, "O generation of
   vipers, &c."

   Remig.: The manner of Scripture is to give names from the imitation of
   deeds, according to that of Ezekiel, "Thy father was an Amorite;" [Ezek
   16:3] so these from following vipers are called "generation of vipers."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As a skilful physician from the colour of the skin
   infers the sick man's disease, so John understood the evil thoughts of
   the Pharisees who came to him. They thought perhaps, We go, and confess
   our sins; he imposes no burden on us, we will be baptized, and get
   indulgence for sin. Fools! if ye have eaten of impurity, must ye not
   needs take physic? So after confession and baptism, a man needs much
   diligence to heal the wound of sin; therefore he says, "Generation of
   vipers."

   It is the nature of the viper as soon as it has bit a man to fly to the
   water, which, if it cannot find it, straightway dies; so this "progeny
   of vipers," after having committed deadly sin, ran to baptism, that,
   like vipers, they might escape death by means of water.

   Moreover it is the nature of vipers to burst the insides of their
   mothers, and so to be born. The Jews then are therefore called "progeny
   of vipers," because by continual persecution of the prophets they had
   corrupted their mother the Synagogue. Also vipers have a beautiful and
   speckled outside, but are filled with poison within. So these men's
   countenances wore a holy appearance.

   Remig.: When then he asks, "who will shew you to flee from the wrath to
   come," - except God' must be understood.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or "who hath shewed you?" Was it Esaias? Surely no; had
   he taught you, you would not put your trust in water only, but also in
   good works; he thus speaks, "Wash you, and be clean; put your
   wickedness away from your souls, learn to do well." [Isa 1:16]

   Was it then David? who says, "Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter
   than snow;" [Ps 51:7] surely not, for he adds immediately, "The
   sacrifice of God is a broken spirit." If then ye had been the disciple
   of David, ye would have come to baptism with mournings.

   Remig.: But if we read, "shall shew," in the future, this is the
   meaning, What teacher, what preacher, shall be able to give you such
   counsel, as that ye may escape the wrath of everlasting damnation?'

   Aug., City of God, book 9, ch. 5: God is described in Scripture, from
   some likeness of effects, not from being subject to such weakness, as
   being angry, and yet is He never moved by any passion. The word,
   wrath,' is applied to the effects of his vengeance, not that god
   suffers any disturbing affection.

   Gloss: If they ye would escape this wrath, "Bring forth fruits meet for
   repentance."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev. 20. 8: Observe, he says not merely "fruits of
   repentance," but "fruits meet for repentance." For he who has never
   fallen into things unlawful, is of right allowed the use of all thing
   lawful; but if any hath fallen into sin, he ought so far to put away
   from him even things lawful, as far as he is conscious of having used
   unlawful things. It is left then to such man's conscience to seek so
   much the greater gains of good works by repentance, the greater loss he
   has brought on himself by sin.

   The Jews who gloried in their race, would not own themselves sinners
   because they were Abraham's seed. "Say not among yourselves we are
   Abraham's seed."

   Chrys., Hom. 11: He does not forbid them to "say" they are his, but to
   trust in that, neglecting virtues of the soul.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: What avails noble birth to him whose life is
   disgraceful? Or, on the other hand, what hurt is a low origin to him
   who has the lustre of virtue? It is fitter that the parents of such a
   son should rejoice over him, than he over his parents. So do not you
   pride yourselves on having Abraham for your father, rather blush that
   you inherit his blood, but not his holiness. He who has no resemblance
   to his father is possibly the offspring of adultery. These words then
   only exclude boasting on account of birth.

   Rabanus: Because as a preacher of truth he wished to stir them up, to
   "bring forth fruit meet for repentance," he invites them to humility,
   without which no one can repent.

   Remig.: There is a tradition, that John preached at that place of the
   Jordan, where the twelve stones taken from the bed of the river had
   been set up by command of God. He might then be pointing to these, when
   he said, "Of these stones."

   Jerome: He intimates God's great power, who, as he made all things out
   of nothing, can make men out of the hardest stone.

   Gloss. ord.: It is faith's first lesson to believe that God is able to
   do whatever He will.

   Chrys.: That men should be made out of stones, is like Isaac coming
   from Sarah's womb; "Look into the rock," says Isaiah, "whence ye were
   hewn." Reminding them thus of this prophecy, he shews that it is
   possible that the like might even how happen.

   Rabanus: Otherwise; the Gentiles may be meant who worshipped stones.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Stone is hard to work, but when wrought to some shape,
   it loses it not; so the Gentiles were hardly brought to the faith, but
   once brought they abide in it for ever.

   Jerome: "These stones" signify the Gentiles because of their hardness
   of heart. See Ezekiel, "I will take away from you the heart of stone,
   and give you the heart of flesh." Stone is emblematic of hardness,
   flesh of softness.

   Rabanus: Of stones there were sons raised up to Abraham; forasmuch as
   the Gentiles by believing in Christ, who is Abraham's seed, because his
   sons to whose seed they were united.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The axe is that most sharp fury of the consummation of
   all things, that is to hew down the whole world. But if it be already
   laid, how hath it not yet cut down? Because these trees have reason and
   free power to do good, or leave undone; so that when they see the axe
   laid to their root, they may fear and bring forth fruit.

   This denunciation of wrath then, which is meant by the laying of the
   axe to the root, though it have no effect on the bad, yet will sever
   the good from the bad.

   Jerome: Or, the preaching of the Gospel is meant, as the Prophet
   Jeremiah also compares the Word of the Lord to an axe cleaving the
   rock. [Jer 23:29]

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., 20. 9: Or, the axe signifies the Redeemer, who as
   an axe of halt and blade, so consisting of the Divine and human nature,
   is held by His human, but cuts by His Divine nature. And though this
   axe be laid at the root of the tree waiting in patience, it is yet seen
   what it will do; for each obstinate sinner who here neglects the fruit
   of good works, finds the fire of hell ready for him. Observe, the axe
   is laid to the root, not to the branches; for that when the children of
   wickedness are removed, the branches only of the unfruitful tree are
   cut away. But when the whole offspring with their parent is carried
   off, the unfruitful tree is cut down by the root, that there remain not
   whence the evil shoots should spring up again.

   Chrys.: By saying, "Every," he cuts off all privilege of nobility: as
   much as to say, Though thou be the son of Abraham, if thou abide
   fruitless thou shalt suffer the punishment.

   Rabanus: There are four sorts of tree; the first totally withered, to
   which the Pagans may be likened; the second, green but unfruitful, as
   the hypocrites; the third, green and fruitful, but poisonous, such are
   heretics; the fourth, green and bringing forth good fruit, to which are
   like the good Catholics.

   Greg.: "Therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall
   be cut down, and cast into the fire," because he who here neglects to
   bring forth the fruit of good works finds a fire in hell prepared for
   him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   11. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that
   cometh after me is mightier than I, Whose shoes I am not worthy to
   bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

   12. Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor,
   and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff
   with unquenchable fire."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss. non occ.: As in the preceding words John had explained more at
   length what he had shortly preached in the words, "Repent ye," so now
   follows a more full enlargement of the words, "The kingdom of heaven is
   at hand."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., 7. 3: John baptizes not with the Spirit but with
   water, because he had no power to forgive sins; he washes the body with
   water, but not at the same time the soul with pardon of sin.

   Chrys., Hom. 10, 1: For while as yet the sacrifice had not been
   offered, nor remission of sin sent, nor the Spirit had descended on the
   water, how could sin be forgiven? But since the Jews never perceived
   their own sin, and this was the cause of all their evils, John came to
   bring them to a sense of them by calling them to repentance.

   Greg.: Why then does he baptize who could not remit sin, but that he
   may preserve in all things the office of forerunner? As his birth had
   preceded Christ's birth, so his baptism should precede the Lord's
   baptism.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, John was sent to baptize, that to such as came to
   his baptism he might announce the presence among them of the Lord in
   the flesh, as himself testifies in another place, "That He might be
   manifested to Israel, therefore am I come to baptise with water." [John
   1:31]

   Aug., in Joann. Tract. v. 5: Or, he baptizes, because it behoved Christ
   to be baptized. But if indeed John was sent only to baptize Christ, why
   was not He alone baptized by John? Because had the Lord alone been
   baptized by John, there would not have lacked who should insist that
   John's baptism was greater than Christ's, inasmuch as Christ alone had
   the merit to be baptized by it.

   Rabanus: Or, by this sign of baptism he separates the penitent from the
   impenitent, and directs them to the baptism of Christ.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Because then he baptized on account of Christ, therefore
   to them who came to him for baptism he preached that Christ should
   come, signifying the eminence of His power in the words, "He who cometh
   after me is mightier than I."

   Remig.: There are five points in which Christ comes after John, His
   birth, preaching, baptism, death, and descent into hell. A beautiful
   expression is that, "mightier than I," because he is mere man, the
   other is God and man.

   Rabanus: As though he had said, I indeed am mighty to invite to
   repentance, He to forgive sins; I to preach the kingdom of heaven, He
   to bestow it; I to baptize with water, He with the Spirit.

   Chrys.: When you hear "for He is mightier than I," do not suppose this
   to be said by way of comparison, for I am not worthy to be numbered
   among his servants, that I might undertake the lowest office.

   Hilary: Leaving to the Apostles the glory of bearing about the Gospel,
   to whose beautiful feet was due the carrying the tidings of God's
   peace.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, by the feet of Christ we may understand Christians,
   especially the Apostles, and other preachers, among whom was John
   Baptist; and the shoes are the infirmities with which he loads the
   preachers. These shoes all Christ's preachers wear; and John also wore
   them; but declares himself unworthy, that he might shew the grace of
   Christ, and be greater than his deserts.

   Jerome: In the other Gospels it is, "whose shoe latchet I am not worthy
   to loose." Here his humility, there his ministry is intended; Christ is
   the Bridegroom, and John is not worthy to loose the Bridegroom's shoe,
   that his house be not called according to the Law of Moses and the
   example of Ruth, "The house of him that hath his shoe loosed." [Deut
   25:10]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But since no one can give a benefit more worthy than he
   himself is, nor to make another what himself is not, he adds, "He shall
   baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

   John who is carnal cannot give spiritual baptism; he baptizes with
   water, which is matter; so that he baptizes matter with matter. Christ
   is Spirit, because He is God; the Holy Ghost is Spirit, the soul is
   spirit; so that Spirit with Spirit baptizes our spirit. The baptism of
   the Spirit profits as the Spirit enters and embraces the mind, and
   surrounds it as it were with an impregnable wall, not suffering fleshly
   lusts to prevail against it. It does not indeed prevail that the flesh
   should not lust, but holds the will that it should not consent with it.

   And as Christ is Judge, He baptizes in fire, i.e. temptation; mere man
   cannot baptize in fire. He alone is free to tempt, who is strong to
   reward. This baptism of tribulation burns up the flesh that it does not
   generate lust, for the flesh does not fear spiritual punishment, but
   only such as is carnal. The Lord therefore sends carnal tribulation on
   his servants, that the flesh fearing its own pains, may not lust after
   evil. See then how the Spirit drives away lust, and suffers it not to
   prevail, and the fire burns up its very roots.

   Jerome: Either the Holy Ghost Himself is a fire, as we learn from the
   Acts, when there sat as it were fire on the tongues of the believers;
   and thus the word of the Lord was fulfilled who said, "I am come to
   send fire on the earth, I will that it burn." [Luke 12:49]

   Or, we are baptized now with the Spirit, hereafter with fire; as the
   Apostle speaks, "Fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is."
   [1 Cor 3:13] [ed. note, e: The fire here spoken of is interpreted by S.
   Austin, (Enchir. 68) and Pope Gregory, (Dial. iv. 40) of the "troubles
   of this life;" by S. Ambrose, (in Ps. 118, 20. n. 15. apparently, Hil.
   in Ps. 118, 3. n. 12) of the "severity of the divine judgment;" by S.
   Chrysostom, and Theophylact, (in loc.) and Pseudo-Athanasius, (Quaest.
   in Ep. Paul. 98. t. 2. p. 328. Ed. Ben.) of "hell-fire;" by
   Ambrosiaster, (in loc.) S. Jerome, perhaps, (in Isa. 1. fin.) and also
   by S. Austin and Pope Gregory, of a "purgatorial fire."]

   Chrys.: He does not say, shall give you the Holy Ghost, but "shall
   baptize you in the Holy Ghost," shewing in metaphor the abundance of
   the grace.

   This further shews, that even under the faith there is need of the will
   alone for justification, not of labours and toilings; and even as easy
   a thing as it is to be baptized, even so easy a thing it is to be
   changed and made better. [ed. note, f: This sentence is not here found
   in the original.]

   By fire he signifies the strength of grace which cannot be overcome,
   and that it may be understood that He makes His own people at once like
   to the great and old prophets, most of the prophetic visions were by
   fire.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: It is plain then that the baptism [ed. note: Two
   sentences about rebaptizing, wanting in some copies of the original,
   are omitted by Aquinas. This comment on St. Matthew has apparently
   passed successively through the hands of opposite controversialists
   upon the Arian question. It may be observed that the Eunomians
   rebaptized, and that the second General Council rejects their baptism.]
   of Christ does not undo the baptism of John, but includes it in itself;
   he who is baptized in Christ's name hath both baptisms, that of water
   and that of the Spirit. for Christ is Spirit, and hath taken to Him the
   body that He might give both bodily and spiritual baptism.

   John's baptism does not include in it the baptism of Christ, because
   the less cannot include the greater. Thus the Apostle having found
   certain Ephesians baptized with John's baptism, baptized them again in
   the name of Christ, because they had not been baptized in the Spirit:
   thus Christ baptized a second time those who had been baptized by John,
   as John himself declared he should, "I baptize you with water; but He
   shall baptize you with the Spirit."

   And yet they were not baptized twice but once; for as the baptism of
   Christ was more than that of John, it was a new one given, not the same
   repeated.

   Hilary: He marks the time of our salvation and judgment in the Lord;
   those who are baptized in the Holy Ghost it remains that they be
   consummated by the fire of judgment.

   Rabanus: By the fan is signified the separation of a just trial; that
   it is in the Lord's hand, means, in His power,' as it is written, "The
   Father hath committed all judgment to the Son."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "The floor," is the Church, "the barn," is the kingdom
   of heaven, "the field," is the world. The Lord sends forth His Apostles
   and other teachers, as reapers to reap all nations of the earth, and
   gather them into the floor of the Church. Here were must be threshed
   and winnowed, for all men are delighted in carnal things as grain
   delights in the husk. But whoever is faithful and has the marrow of a
   good heart, as soon as he has a light tribulation, neglecting carnal
   things runs to the Lord; but if his faith be feeble, hardly with heavy
   sorrow; and he who is altogether void of faith, however he may be
   troubled, passes not over to God.

   The wheat when first thrashed lies in one heap with chaff and straw,
   and is after winnowed to separate it; so the faithful are mixed up in
   one Church with the unfaithful; but persecution comes as a wind, that,
   tossed by Christ's fan, they whose hearts were separate before, may be
   also now separated in place. He shall not merely cleanse, but
   "thoroughly cleanse;" therefore the Church must needs be tried in many
   ways till this be accomplished.

   And first the Jews winnowed it, then the Gentiles, now the heretics,
   and after a time shall Antichrist thoroughly winnow it. For as when the
   blast is gentle, only the lighter chaff is carried off, but the heavier
   remains; so a slight wind of temptation carries off the worst
   characters only; but should a greater storm arise, even those who seem
   steadfast will depart. There is need then of heavier persecution that
   the Church should be cleansed.

   Remig.: This His floor, to wit, the Church, the Lord cleanses in this
   life, both when by the sentence of the Priests the bad are put out of
   the Church, and when they are cut off by death.

   Rabanus: The cleansing of the floor will then be finally accomplished,
   when the Son of Man shall send His Angels, and shall gather all
   offences out of His kingdom.

   Greg., Mor. 34. 5: After the threshing is finished in this life, in
   which the grain now groans under the burden of the chaff, the fan of
   the last judgment shall so separate between them, that neither shall
   any chaff pass into the granary, nor shall the grain fall into the fire
   which consumes the chaff.

   Hilary: The wheat, i.e. the full and perfect fruit of the believer, he
   declares, shall be laid up in heavenly barns; by the chaff he means the
   emptiness of the unfruitful.

   Rabanus: There is this difference between the chaff and the tares, in
   that the chaff is produced of the same seed as the wheat, but the tares
   from one of another kind. The chaff therefore are those who enjoy the
   sacraments of the faith, but are not solid; the tares are those who in
   profession as well as in works are separated from the lot of the good.

   Remig.: The unquenchable fire is the punishment of eternal damnation;
   either because it never totally destroys or consumes those it has once
   seized on, but torments them eternally; or to distinguish it from
   purgatorial fire which is kindled for a time and again extinguished.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii. 12: If any asks which were the actual words
   spoken by John, whether those reported by Matthew, or by Luke, or by
   Mark, it may be shewn, that there is no difficulty here to him who
   rightly understands that the sense is essential to our knowledge of the
   truth, but the words indifferent. And it is clear we ought not to deem
   any testimony false, because the same fact is related by several
   persons who were present in different words and different ways.

   Whoever thinks that the Evangelists might have been so inspired by the
   Holy Ghost that they should have differed among themselves neither in
   the choice, nor the number, nor the order of their words, he does not
   see that by how much the authority of the Evangelists is preeminent, so
   much the more is to be by them established the veracity of other men in
   the same circumstances. But the discrepancy may seem to be in the
   thing, and not only in words, between, "I am not worthy to bear His
   shoes," and "to loose His shoe-latchet." Which of these two expressions
   did John use? He who has reported the very words will seem to have
   spoken truth; he who has given other words, though he have not hid, or
   been forgetful, yet had he said one thing for another.

   But the Evangelists should be clear of every kind of falseness, not
   only that of lying, but also that of forgetfulness. If then this
   discrepancy be important, we may suppose John to have used both
   expressions, either at different times, or both at the same time. But
   if he only meant to express the Lord's greatness and his own humility,
   whether he used one or the other the sense is preserved, though any one
   should in his own words repeat the same profession of humility using
   the figure of the shoes; their will and intention does not differ.

   This then is a useful rule and one to be remembered, that it is no lie,
   when one fairly represents his meaning whose speech one is recounting,
   though one uses other words; if only one shews our meaning to be the
   same with his. Thus understood it is a wholesome direction that we are
   to enquire only after the meaning of the speaker.
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   13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized
   of him.

   14. But John forbad Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized of Thee,
   and comest Thou to me?"

   15. And Jesus answering said unto him, "Suffer it to be so now: for
   thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Then he suffered Him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: Christ having been proclaimed to the world by the
   preaching of His forerunner, now after long obscurity will manifest
   Himself to men.

   Remig.: In this verse is contained person, place, time, and office.
   Time, in the word, "Then."

   Rabanus: That is, when He was thirty years old, shewing that none
   should be ordained priest, or even to preach till He be of full age.
   Joseph at thirty years was made governor of Egypt; David began to
   reign, and Ezekiel his prophesying at the same age.

   Chrys., Hom. 10, 1: Because after his baptism Christ was to put an end
   to the Law, He therefore came to be baptized at this age, that having
   so kept the Law, it might not be said that He cancelled it, because He
   could not observe it.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Then," that is when John preached, that He might
   confirm his preaching, and Himself receive his witness. But as when the
   morning-star has risen, the sun does not wait for that star to set, but
   rising as it goes forward, gradually obscures its brightness; so Christ
   waited not for John to finish his course, but appeared while he yet
   taught.

   Remig.: The Persons are described in the words, "came Jesus to John;"
   that is, God to man, the Lord to His servant, the King to His soldier,
   the Light to the lamp. The Place, "from Galilee to Jordan." Galilee
   means transmigration.' Whoso then will be baptized, must pass from vice
   to virtue, and humble himself in coming to baptism, for Jordan means,
   descent.'

   Ambrose, Ambrosiaster. Serm. x. 5: Scripture tells of many wonders
   wrought at various times in this river; as that, among others, in the
   Psalms, "Jordan was driven backwards;" [Ps 114:3] before the water was
   driven back, now sins are turned back in its current; as Elijah divided
   the waters of old, so Christ the Lord wrought in the same Jordan the
   separation of sin.

   Remig.: The office to be performed; "that He might be baptized of him;"
   not baptism to the remission of sins, but to leave the water sanctified
   for those after to be baptized.

   Aug., non occ., cf. Ambrosiaster, Serm. 12. 4: The Saviour willed to be
   baptized not that He might Himself be cleansed, but to cleanse the
   water for us. [ed. note: This is the doctrine of S. Austin, in Joan.
   iv. 14. Op. Imp. contr. Julian iv. 63. Ambros. in Luke ii, 83, &c. &c.
   vid. Pusey on Baptism, p. 279. ed. 2]

   From the time that Himself was dipped in the water, from that time has
   He washed away all our sins in water. And let none wonder that water,
   itself corporeal substance, is said to be effectual to the purification
   of the soul; it is so effectual, reaching to and searching out the
   hidden recesses of the conscience. Subtle and penetrating in its own
   nature, made yet more so by Christ's blessing, it touches the hidden
   springs of life, the secret places of the soul, by virtue of its
   all-pervading dew. The course of blessing is even yet more penetrating
   than the flow of waters. Thus the blessing which like a spiritual river
   flows on from the Saviour's baptism, hath filled the basins of all
   pools, and the courses of all fountains.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He comes to baptism, that He who has taken upon Him
   human nature, may be found to have fulfilled the whole mystery of that
   nature; not that He is Himself a sinner, but He has taken on Him a
   nature that is sinful. And therefore though He needed not baptism
   Himself, yet the carnal nature in others needed it.

   Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, Serm. 12. 1: Also like a wise master inculcating
   His doctrines as much by His own practice, as by word of mouth, He did
   that which He commanded all His disciples to do.

   Aug., in Joann. Tract. v. 2: He deigned to be baptized of John that the
   servants might see with what readiness they ought to run to the baptism
   of the Lord, when He did not refuse to be baptized of His servant.

   Jerome: Also that by being Himself baptized, He might sanction the
   baptism of John.

   Chrys., Hom. 12: But since John's baptism was to repentance, and
   therefore shewed the presence of sin, that none might suppose Christ's
   coming to the Jordan to have been on this account, John cried to Him,
   "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?"

   As if he had said,

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That Thou shouldest baptize me there is good cause, that
   I may be made righteous and worthy of heaven; but that I should baptize
   Thee, what cause is there? Every good gift comes down from heaven upon
   earth, not ascends from earth to heaven.

   Hilary: John reject Him from baptism as God; He teaches him, that it
   ought to be performed on Him as man.

   Jerome: Beautifully said is that "now," to shew that as Christ was
   baptized with water by John, so John must be baptized by Christ with
   the Spirit.

   Or, suffer now that I who have taken the form of a servant should
   fulfil all that low estate; otherwise know that in the day of judgment
   thou must be baptized with my baptism.

   Or, the Lord says, Suffer this now; I have also another baptism
   wherewithal I must be baptized; thou baptizest Me with water, that I
   may baptize thee for Me with thy own blood.'

   Pseudo-Chrys.: In this he shews that Christ after this baptized John;
   which is expressly told in some apocryphal books. [ed. note: Apocryphis
   ap. Aquin. in secretioribus libris, in the present text of
   Pseudo-Chrysost. The same opinion is imputed to S. Gregory Naz. S.
   Austin, &c. but apparently without reason, vid. Tillemont Memoirs St.
   Joan. B. note 7. It was an objection familiar with the heretics whether
   the Apostles were baptized, vid. Tertull. in Bapt. 12]

   Suffer now that I fulfil the righteousness of baptism in deed, and not
   only in word; first submitting to it, and then preaching it; for "so it
   becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Not that by being baptized He
   fulfils all righteousness, but "so," in the same manner, that is, as He
   first fulfilled the righteousness of baptism by His deeds, and after
   preached it, so He might all other righteousness, according to that of
   the Acts, "All things that Jesus began both to do and to teach." [Acts
   1:1]

   Or thus, "all righteousness," according to the ordinance of human
   nature; as He had before fulfilled the righteousness of birth, growth,
   and the like.

   Hilary: For by Him must all righteousness have been fulfilled, by whom
   alone the Law could be fulfilled.

   Jerome: "Righteousness;" but he adds neither of the Law;' nor of
   nature,' that we may understand it of both.

   Remig.: Or thus; "It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," that is,
   to give an example of perfect justification in baptism, without which
   the gate of the kingdom of heaven is not opened. Hence let the proud
   take an example of humility, and not scorn to be baptized by My humble
   members when they see Me baptized by John My servant. That is true
   humility which obedience accompanies; as it continues, "then he
   suffered Him," that is, at last consented to baptize Him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the
   water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit
   of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, Serm. 12. 4: For, as we have said, when the
   Saviour was washed, then the water was cleansed for our baptism, that a
   laver might be ministered to the people who were to come. Moreover, it
   behoved that in Christ's baptism should be signified those things which
   the faithful obtain by baptism.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This action of Christ's has a figurative meaning
   pertaining to all who were after Him to be baptized; and therefore he
   says, "straightway He ascended," and not simply "He ascended," for all
   who are worthily baptized in Christ, straightway ascend from the water;
   that is, make progress in virtues, and are carried on towards a
   heavenly dignity. They who had gone down to the water carnal and sinful
   sons of Adam, straightway ascend from the water spiritual sons of God.
   But if some by their own faults make no progress after baptism, what is
   that to the baptism?

   Rabanus: As by the immersion of His body He dedicated the laver of
   baptism, He has shewn that to us also, after baptism received, the
   entrance to heaven is open and the Holy Spirit is given, as it follows,
   "and the heavens were opened."

   Jerome: Not by an actual cleaving of the visible element, but to the
   spiritual eye, as Ezekiel also in the beginning of his book relates
   that he saw them.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For had the actual creation of the heavens been opened,
   he would not have said, "were opened to Him," for a physical opening
   would have been open to all.

   But some one will say, What, are the heavens then closed to the eye of
   the Son of God, who even when on earth is present in heaven? But it
   must be known, that as He was baptized according to the ordinance of
   humanity that He had taken on Him, so the heavens were opened to His
   sight as to His human nature, though as to His divine He was in heaven.

   Remig.: But was this then the first time that the heavens were opened
   to Him according to His human nature? The faith of the Church both
   believes and holds that the heavens were no less open to him before
   than after. It is therefore said here, that the heavens were opened,
   because to all them who are born again the door of the kingdom of
   heaven is opened.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Perhaps there were before some unseen obstacles which
   hindered the souls of the dead from entering the skies. I suppose that
   since Adam's sin no soul had mounted the skies, but the heavens were
   continually closed. When, lo! on Christ's baptism they were again
   opened; after He had overcome by the Cross the great tyrant death,
   henceforward the heaven, never more to be closed, needed not gates, so
   that the Angels say not, Open ye gates,' for they were open, but "take
   away the gates." [Ps 24:7]

   Or the heavens are opened to the baptized, and they see those things
   which are in heaven, not by seeing them with the bodily eye, but by
   believing with the spiritual eye of faith.

   Or thus; The heavens are the divine Scriptures, which all read but all
   do not understand, except they who have been so baptized as to receive
   the Holy Spirit. Thus the Scriptures of the Prophets were at the first
   sealed to the Apostles, but after they had received the Holy Spirit,
   all Scripture was opened to them.

   However, in whatever way we interpret, the heavens were opened to Him,
   that is to all, on His account; as if the Emperor were to say to any
   one preferring a petition for another, This boon I grant not to him but
   to you; that is, to him, for your sake.

   Gloss. non occ.: Or, so bright a glory shone round about Christ, that
   the blue concave seemed to be actually cloven.

   Chrys.: But though you see it not, be not therefore unbelieving, for in
   the beginnings of spiritual matters sensible visions are always
   offered, for their sakes who can form no idea of things that have no
   body; which if they occur not in later times, yet faith may be
   established by those wonders once wrought.

   Remig.: As to all those who by baptism are born again, the door of the
   kingdom of heaven is opened, so all in baptism receive the gifts of the
   Holy Spirit.

   Aug., App. Serm. 135. 1: Chris after He had been once born among men,
   is born a second time in the sacraments, that as we adore Him then born
   of a pure mother, so we may now receive Him immersed in pure water. His
   mother brought forth her Son, and is yet virgin; the wave washed
   Christ, and is holy. Lastly, that Holy Spirit which was present to Him
   in the womb, now shone round Him in the water, He who then made Mary
   pure, now sanctifies the waters.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Holy Ghost took the likeness of a dove, as being
   more than other animals susceptible of love. All other forms of
   righteousness which the servants of God have in truth and verity, the
   servants of the Devil have in spurious imitation; the love of the Holy
   Spirit alone an unclean spirit cannot imitate. And the Holy Ghost has
   therefore reserved to Himself this special manifestation of love,
   because by no testimony is it so clearly seen where He dwells as by the
   grace of love.

   Rabanus, ap. Anselm: Seven excellencies in the baptized are figured by
   the dove. The dove has her abode near the rivers, that when the hawk is
   seen, she may dive under water and escape; she chooses the better
   grains of corn; she feeds the young of other birds; she does not tear
   with her beak; she lacks a gall; she has her rest in the caverns of the
   rocks; for her song she has a plaint.

   Thus the saints dwell beside the streams of Divine Scripture, that they
   may escape the assaults of the Devil; they choose wholesome doctrine,
   and not heretical for their food; they nourish by teaching and example,
   men who have been the children of the Devil, i.e. the imitators; they
   do not pervert good doctrine by tearing it to pieces as the heretics
   do; they are without hate irreconcileable; they build their nest in the
   wounds of Christ's death, which is to them a firm rock, that is their
   refuge and hope; as others delight in song, so do they in groaning for
   their sin.

   Chrys.: It is moreover an allusion to ancient history; for in the
   deluge this creature appeared bearing an olive branch, and tidings of
   rest to the world. All which things were a type of things to come. For
   now also a dove appears pointing out to us our liberator, and for an
   olive branch bringing the adoption of the human race.

   Aug., de Trin., ii, 5: It is easy to understand how the Holy Ghost
   should be said to be sent, when as it were a dove in visible shape
   descended on the Lord; that is, there was created a certain appearance
   for the time in which the Holy Spirit might be visibly shewn. And this
   operation thus made visible and offered to mortal view, is called the
   mission of the Holy Spirit, not that His invisible substance was seen,
   but that the hearts of men might be roused by the external appearance
   to contemplate the unseen eternity.

   Yet this creature in the shape of which the Spirit appeared, was not
   taken into unity of person, as was that human shape taken of the
   Virgin. For neither did the Spirit bless the dove, nor unite it with
   Himself for all eternity, in unity of person. Further, though that dove
   is called the Spirit, so far as to shew that in this dove was a
   manifestation of the Spirit, yet can we not say of the Holy Spirit that
   He is God and dove, as we say of the Son that He is God and man; and
   yet it is not as we say of the Son that He is "the Lamb of God," as not
   only has John Baptist declared, but as John the Evangelist saw the
   vision of the Lamb slain in the Apocalypse. For this was a prophetic
   vision, not put before the bodily eyes in bodily shape, but seen in the
   Spirit in spiritual images.

   But concerning this dove none ever doubted that is was seen with the
   bodily eye; not that we say the Spirit is a dove as we say Christ is a
   Rock; (for "that Rock was Christ.) [1 Cor 10:4] For that Rock already
   existed as a creature, and from the resemblance of its operation was
   called by the name of Christ, (whom it figured;) not so this dove,
   which was created at the moment for this single purpose.

   It seems to me to be more like the flame which appeared to Moses in the
   bush, or that which the people followed in the wilderness, or to the
   thunderings and lightnings which were when the Law was given from the
   mount. For all these were visible objects intended to signify
   something, and then to pass away. For that such forms have been from
   time to time seen, the Holy Spirit is said to have been sent; but these
   bodily forms appeared for the time to shew what was required, and then
   ceased to be.

   Jerome: It sat on the head of Jesus, that none might suppose the voice
   of the Father spoken to John, and not to the Lord.
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   17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in
   whom I am well pleased."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., non occ.: Not as before by Moses and the Prophets, neither in
   type or figure did the Father teach that the Son should come, but
   openly shewed Him to be already come, "This is my Son."

   Hilary: Or, that from these things thus fulfilled upon Christ, we might
   learn that after the washing of water the Holy Spirit also descends on
   us from the heavenly gates, on us also is shed an unction of heavenly
   glory, and an adoption to be the sons of God, pronounced by the
   Father's voice.

   Jerome: The mystery of the Trinity is shewn in this baptism. the Lord
   is baptized; the Spirit descends in the shape of a dove; the voice of
   the Father is heard giving testimony to the Son.

   Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, Serm. 10. 1: And no wonder that the mystery of
   the Trinity is not wanting to the Lord's laver, when even our laver
   contains the sacrament of the Trinity. The Lord willed to shew in His
   own case what He was after to ordain for men.

   Pseudo-Aug., Fulgent. de Fide ad Petrum. c. 9: Though Father, Son, and
   Holy Ghost are one nature, yet do thou hold most firmly that They be
   Three Persons; that it is the Father alone who said, "this is my
   beloved Son;" the Son alone over whom that voice of the Father was
   heard; and the Holy Ghost alone who in the likeness of a dove descended
   on Christ at His baptism.

   Aug., de Trin. 4. 21: Here are deeds of the whole Trinity. In their own
   substance indeed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One without interval
   of either place or time; but in my mouth they are three separate words,
   and cannot be pronounced at the same time, and in written letters they
   fill each their several places. By this comparison may be understood
   how the Trinity in Itself indivisible may be manifested dividedly in
   the likeness of a visible creation. That the voice is that of the
   Father only is manifest from the words, "This is my Son."

   Hilary, de Trin. iii. 11: He witnesses that He is His Son not in name
   merely, but in very kindred. Sons of God are we many of us; but not as
   He is a Son, a proper and true Son, in verity, not in estimation, by
   birth, not adoption.

   Aug., in Joann. tr. 14. 11: The Father loves the Son, but as a father
   should, not as a master may love a servant; and that as an own Son, not
   an adopted; therefore He adds, "in whom I am well-pleased."

   Remig.: Or if it be referred to the human nature of Christ, the sense
   is, I am pleased in Him, whom alone I have found without sin. Or
   according to another reading, "It hath pleased me" to appoint Him, by
   whom to perform those things I would perform, i.e. the redemption of
   the human race.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 14: These words Mark and Luke give in the
   same way; in the words of the voice that came from Heaven, their
   expression varies though the sense is the same. For both the words as
   Matthew gives them, "This is my beloved Son," and as the other two,
   "Thou art my beloved Son," express the same sense in the speaker; (and
   the heavenly voice, no doubt, uttered one of these,) but one shews an
   intention of addressing the testimony thus borne to the Son to those
   who stood by; the other of addressing it to Himself, as if speaking to
   Christ He had said, "This is my Son." Not that Christ was taught what
   He knew before, but they who stood by heard it, for whose sake the
   voice came.

   Again, when one says, "in whom I am well-pleased;" another, "in thee it
   hath pleased me," if you ask which of these was actually pronounced by
   that voice; take which you will, only remembering that those who have
   not related the same words as were spoken have related the same sense.
   That God is well-pleased with His Son is signified in the first; that
   the Father is by the Son pleased with men is conveyed in the second
   form, "in thee it hath well-pleased me."

   Or you may understand this to have been the one meaning of all the
   Evangelists, In Thee have I put My good pleasure, i.e. to fulfil all My
   purpose.
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Chapter 4

   1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
   tempted of the Devil.

   2. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward
   an hungred.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord being baptized by John with water, is led by
   the Spirit into the wilderness to be baptized by the fire of
   temptation. Then,' i.e. when the voice of the Father had been given
   from heaven.

   Chrys., Hom. 13: Whoever thou art then that after thy baptism sufferest
   grievous trials, be not troubled thereat; for this thou receivedst
   arms, to fight, not to sit idle. God does not hold all trial from us;
   first, that we may feel that we are become stronger; secondly, that we
   may not be puffed up by the greatness of the gifts we have received;
   thirdly, that the Devil may have experience that we have entirely
   renounced him; fourthly, that by it we may be made stronger; fifthly,
   that we may receive a sign of the treasure entrusted to us; for the
   Devil would not come upon us to tempt us, did he not see us advanced to
   greater honours.

   Hilary: The Devil's snares are chiefly spread for the sanctified,
   because a victory over the saints is more desired than over others.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., 16, 1: Some doubt what Spirit it was that led Jesus
   into the desert, for that it is said after, "The Devil took him into
   the holy city." But true and without question agreeable to the context
   is the received opinion, that it was the Holy Spirit; that His own
   Spirit should lead Him thither where the evil spirit should find Him
   and try Him.

   Aug., de Trin., 4, 13: Why did He offer Himself to temptation? That He
   might be our mediator in vanquishing temptation not by aid only, but by
   example.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He was led by the Holy Spirit, not as an inferior at the
   bidding of a greater. For we say, "led," not only of him who is
   constrained by a stronger than he, but also of him who is induced by
   reasonable persuasion; as Andrew "found his brother Simon, and brought
   him to Jesus."

   Jerome: "Led," not against His will, or as a prisoner, but as by a
   desire for the conflict.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Devil comes against men to tempt them, but since He
   could not come against Christ, therefore Christ came against the Devil.

   Greg.: We should know that there are three modes of temptation;
   suggestion, delight, and consent; and we when we are tempted commonly
   fall into delight or consent, because being born of the sin of the
   flesh, we bear with us whence we afford strength for the contest; but
   God who incarnate in the Virgin's womb came into the world without sin,
   carried within Him nothing of a contrary nature. He could then be
   tempted by suggestion; but the delight of sin never gnawed His soul,
   and therefore all that temptation of the Devil was without not within
   Him.

   Chrys.: The Devil is wont to be most urgent with temptation, when he
   sees us solitary; thus it was in the beginning he tempted the woman
   when he found her without the man, and now too the occasion is offered
   to the Devil, by the Saviour's being led into the desert.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: This desert is that between Jerusalem and Jericho,
   where the robbers used to resort. It is called Hammaim, i.e. of blood,'
   from the bloodshed which these robbers caused there; hence the man was
   said (in the parable) to have fallen among robbers as he went down from
   Jerusalem to Jericho, being a figure of Adam, who was overcome by
   daemons. It was therefore fit that the place where Christ overcame the
   Devil, should be the same in which the Devil in the parable overcomes
   man.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Not Christ only is led into the desert by the Spirit,
   but also all the sons of God who have the Holy Spirit. For they are not
   content to sit idle, but the Holy Spirit stirs them to take up some
   great work, i.e. to go out into the desert where they shall meet with
   the Devil; for there is no righteousness wherewith the Devil is
   pleased.

   For all good is without the flesh and the world, because it is not
   according to the will of the flesh and the world. To such a desert then
   all the sons of God go out that they may be tempted.

   For example, if you are unmarried, the Holy Spirit has by that led you
   into the desert, that is, beyond the limits of the flesh and the world,
   that you may be tempted by lust. But he who is married is unmoved by
   such temptation. Let us learn that the sons of God are not tempted but
   when they have gone forth into the desert, but the children of the
   Devil whose life is in the flesh and the world are then overcome and
   obey; the good man, having a wife is content; the bad, though he have a
   wife is not therewith content, and so in all other things.

   The children of the Devil go not out to the Devil that they may be
   tempted. For what need that he should seek the strife who desires not
   victory? But the sons of God having more confidence and desirous of
   victory, go forth against him beyond the boundaries of the flesh. For
   this cause then Christ also went out to the Devil, that He might be
   tempted of him.

   Chrys.: But that you may learn how great a good is fasting, and what a
   mighty shield against the Devil, and that after baptism you ought to
   give attention to fasting and not to lusts, therefore Christ fasted,
   not Himself needing it, but teaching us by His example.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And to fix the measure of our quadragesimal fast, be
   fasted forty days and forty nights.

   Chrys.: But He exceeded not the measure of Moses and Elias, lest it
   should bring into doubt the reality of His assumption of the flesh.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., 16, 5: The Creator of all things took no food
   whatever during forty days. We also, at the season of Lent as much as
   in us lies afflict our flesh by abstinence. The number forty is
   preserved, because the virtue of the decalogue is fulfilled in the
   books of the holy Gospel; and ten taken four times amounts to forty.

   Or, because in this mortal body we consist of four elements by the
   delights of which we go against the Lord's precepts received by the
   decalogue. And as we transgress the decalogue through the lusts of this
   flesh, it is fitting that we afflict the flesh forty-fold.

   Or, as by the Law we offer the tenth of our goods, so we strive to
   offer the tenth of our time. And from the first Sunday of Lent to the
   rejoicing of the paschal festival is a space of six weeks, or forty-two
   days, subtracting from which the six Sundays which are not kept there
   remain thirty-six. Now as the year consists of three hundred and
   sixty-five, by the affliction of these thirty-six we give the tenth of
   our year to God.

   Aug., Lib. 83. Quest. q. 81: Otherwise; The sum of all wisdom is to be
   acquainted with the Creator and the creature. The Creator is the
   Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the creature is partly invisible,
   - as the soul to which we assign a threefold nature, (as in the command
   to love God with the whole heart, mind, and soul,) - partly visible as
   the body, which we divide into four elements; the hot, the cold, the
   liquid, the solid. The number ten then, which stands for the whole law
   of life, taken four times, that is, multiplied by that number which we
   assign for the body, because by the body the law is obeyed or
   disobeyed, makes the number forty. All the aliquot parts in this
   number, viz. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, taken together make up the number
   50. Hence the time of our sorrow and affliction is fixed at forty days;
   the state of blessed joy which shall be hereafter is figured in the
   quinquagesimal festival, i.e. the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost.

   Aug., Serm. 210, 2: Not however because Christ fasted immediately after
   having received baptism, are we to suppose that He established a rule
   to be observed, that we should fast immediately after His baptism. But
   when the conflict with the tempter is sore, then we ought to fast, that
   the body may fulfil its warfare by chastisement, and the soul obtain
   victory by humiliation.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord knew the thoughts of the Devil, that he sought
   to tempt Him; he had heard that Christ had been born into this world
   with the preaching of Angels, the witness of shepherds, the inquiry of
   the Magi, and the testimony of John. Thus the Lord proceeded against
   him, not as God, but as man, or rather both as God and man. For in
   forty days of fasting not to have been "an hungred" was not as man; to
   be ever "an hungred" was not as God. He was "an hungred" then that the
   God might not be certainly manifested, and so the hopes of the Devil in
   tempting Him be extinguished, and His own victory hindered.

   Hilary: He was "an hungred," not during the forty days, but after them.
   Therefore when the Lord hungred, it was not that the effects of
   abstinence then first came upon Him, but that His humanity was left to
   its own strength. For the Devil was to be overcome, not by the God, but
   by the flesh. By this was figured, that after those forty days which He
   was to tarry on earth after His passion were accomplished, He should
   hunger for the salvation of man, at which time He carried back again to
   God His Father the expected gift, the humanity which He had taken on
   Him.
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   3. And when the Tempter came to Him, he said, "If Thou be the Son of
   God, command that these stones be made bread."

   4. But He answered and said, "It is written, Man shall not live by
   bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
   God.' "
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Devil who had begun to despair when he saw that
   Christ fasted forty days, now again began to hope when he saw that "he
   was an hungred;" and "then the tempter came to him." If then you shall
   have fasted and after been tempted, say not, I have lost the fruit of
   my fast; for though it have not availed to hinder temptation, it will
   avail to hinder you from being overcome by temptation.

   Greg.: If we observe the successive steps of the temptation, we shall
   be able to estimate by how much we are freed from temptation. The old
   enemy tempted the first man through his belly, when he persuaded him to
   eat of the forbidden fruit; through ambition when he said, "Ye shall be
   as gods;" through covetousness when he said, "Knowing good and evil;"
   for there is a covetousness not only of money, but of greatness, when a
   high estate above our measure is sought.

   By the same method in which he had overcome the first Adam, in that
   same was he overcome when he tempted the second Adam. He tempted
   through the belly when he said, "Command that these stones become
   loaves;" through ambition when he said, "If thou be the Son of God,
   cast thyself down from hence;" through covetousness of lofty condition
   in the words, "All these things will I give thee."

   Ambrose, Ambros. in Luc., c. 4. 3: He begins with that which had once
   been the means of his victory, the palate; "If thou be the Son of God,
   command that these stones become loaves." What means such a beginning
   as this, but that he knew that the Son of God was to come, yet believed
   not that He was come on account of His fleshly infirmity. His speech is
   in part that of an enquirer, in part that of a tempter; he professes to
   believe Him God, he strives to deceive Him as man.

   Hilary: And therefore in the temptation he makes a proposal of such a
   double kind by which His divinity would be made known by the miracle of
   the transformation, the weakness of the man deceived by the delight of
   food.

   Jerome: But thou art caught, O Enemy, in a dilemma. If these stones can
   be made bread at His word, your temptation is vain against one so
   mighty. If He cannot make them bread, your suspicions that this is the
   Son of God must be vain.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But as the Devil blinds all men, so is he now invisibly
   made blind by Christ. He found Him "an hungred" at the end of forty
   days, and knew not that He had continued through those forty without
   being hungry. When he suspected Him not to be the Son of God, he
   considered not that the mighty Champion can descend to things that be
   weak, but the weak cannot ascend to things that are high.

   We may more readily infer from His not being "an hungred" for so many
   days that He is God, than from His being "an hungred" after that time
   that He is man. But it may be said, Moses and Elias fasted forty days,
   and were men. But they hungred and endured, He for the space of forty
   days hungred not, but afterwards. To be hungry and yet refuse food is
   within the endurance of man; not be hungry belongs to the Divine nature
   only.

   Jerome: Christ's purpose was to vanquish by humility;

   Leo, Serm. 39, 3: hence he opposed the adversary rather by testimonies
   out of the Law, than by miraculous powers; thus at the same time giving
   more honour to man, and more disgrace to the adversary, when the enemy
   of the human race thus seemed to be overcome by man rather than by God.

   Greg.: So the Lord when tempted by the Devil answered only with
   precepts of Holy Writ, and He who could have drowned His tempter in the
   abyss, displayed not the might of His power; giving us an example, that
   when we suffer any thing at the hands of evil men, we should be stirred
   up to learning rather than to revenge.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He said not, I live not,' but, "Man doth not live by
   bread alone," that the Devil might still ask, "If thou be the Son of
   God." If He be God, it is as though He shunned to display what He had
   power to do; if man, it is a crafty will that His want of power should
   not be detected.

   Rabanus: This verse is quoted from Deuteronomy. [margin note: c. 8. 3]
   Whoso then feeds not on the Word of God, he lives not; as the body of
   man cannot live without earthly food, so cannot his soul without God's
   word. This word is said to proceed out of the mouth of God, where he
   reveals His will by Scripture testimonies.
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   5. Then the Devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on
   a pinnacle of the temple,

   6. And saith unto Him, "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down;
   for it is written, He shall give His Angels charge concerning Thee:'
   and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash
   Thy foot against a stone."

   7. Jesus said unto Him, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the
   Lord thy God.' "
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: From this first answer of Christ, the Devil could learn
   nothing certain whether He were God or man; he therefore betook him to
   another temptation, saying within himself; This man who is not sensible
   of the appetite of hunger, if not the Son of God, is yet a holy man;
   and such do attain strength not to be overcome by hunger; but when they
   have subdued every necessity of the flesh, they often fall by desire of
   empty glory. Therefore he began to tempt Him by this empty glory.

   Jerome: "Took him," not because the Lord was weak, but the enemy proud;
   he imputed to a necessity what the Saviour did willingly.

   Rabanus: Jerusalem was called the Holy City, for in it was the Temple
   of God, the Holy of holies, and the worship of the one God according to
   the law of Moses.

   Remig.: This shews that the Devil lies in wait for Christ's faithful
   people even in the sacred places.

   Gregory: Behold when it is said that this God was taken by the Devil
   into the holy city, pious ears tremble to hear, and yet the Devil is
   head and chief among the wicked; what wonder that He suffered Himself
   to be led up a mountain by the wicked one himself, who suffered Himself
   to be crucified by his members.

   Gloss. ord.: The Devil places us on high places by exalting with pride,
   that he may dash us to the ground again.

   Remig.: The "pinnacle" is the seat of the doctors; for the temple had
   not a pointed roof like our houses, but was flat on the top after the
   manner of the country of Palestine, and in the temple were three
   stories. It should be known that "the pinnacle" was on the floor, and
   in each story was one pinnacle. Whether then he placed Him on the
   pinnacle in the first story, or that in the second, or the third, he
   placed Him whence a fall was possible.

   Gloss. ord.: Observe here that all these things were done with bodily
   sense, and by careful comparison of the context it seems probable that
   the Devil appeared in human form.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Perhaps you may say, How could he in the sight of all
   place Him bodily upon the temple? Perhaps the Devil so took Him as
   though He were visible to all, while He, without the Devil being aware
   of it, made Himself invisible.

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: He set Him on a pinnacle of the temple when he would
   tempt Him through ambition, because in this seat of the doctors he had
   before taken many through the same temptation, and therefore thought
   that when set in the same seat, He might in like manner be puffed up
   with vain pride.

   Jerome: In the several temptations the single aim of the Devil is to
   find if He be the Son of God, but he is so answered as at last to
   depart in doubt; He says, "Cast thyself," because the voice of the
   Devil, which is always called men downwards, has power to persuade
   them, but may not compel them to fall.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: How does he expect to discover by this proposition
   whether He be the Son of God or not? For to fly through the air is not
   proper to the Divine nature, for it is not useful to any. If then any
   were to attempt to fly when challenged to it, he would be acting from
   ostentation, and would belong rather to the Devil than to God. If it is
   enough to a wise man to be what he is, and he has no wish to seem what
   he is not, how much more should the Son of God hold it not necessary to
   shew what He is; He of whom none can know so much as He is in Himself?

   Ambrose: But as Satan transfigures himself into an Angel of light, and
   spreads a snare for the faithful, even from the divine Scriptures, so
   now he uses its texts, not to instruct but to deceive.

   Jerome: This verse we read in the ninetieth Psalm, [Ps 91:11] but that
   is a prophecy not of Christ, but of some holy man, so the Devil
   interprets Scripture amiss.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For the Son of God in truth is not borne of Angels, but
   Himself bears them, or if He be borne in their arms, it is not from
   weakness, lest He dash His foot against a stone, but for the honour. O
   thou Devil, thou hast read that the Son of God is borne in Angels'
   arms, hast thou not also read that He shall tread upon the asp and
   basilisk? But the one text he brings forward as proud, the other he
   omits as crafty.

   Chrys.: Observe that Scripture is brought forward by the Lord only with
   an apt meaning, but by the Devil irreverently; for that where it is
   written, "He shall give his Angels charge over thee," is not an
   exhortation to cast Himself headlong.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: We must explain thus; Scripture says of any good
   man, that He has given it in charge to His Angels, that is to His
   ministering spirits, to bear him in their hands, i.e. by their aid to
   guard him that he dash not his foot against a stone, i.e. keep his
   heart that it stumble not at the old law written in tables of stone.

   Or by the stone may be understood every occasion of sin and error.

   Rabanus: It should be noted, that though our Saviour suffered Himself
   to be placed by the Devil on a pinnacle of the temple, yet refused to
   come down also at his command, giving us an example, that whosoever
   bids us ascend the strait way of truth we should obey. But if he would
   again cast us down from the height of truth and virtue to the depth of
   error we should not hearken to him.

   Jerome: The false Scripture darts of the Devil He brands with the true
   shield of Scripture.

   Hilary: Thus beating down the efforts of the Devil, He professes
   Himself both God and Lord.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Yet He says not, Thou shalt not tempt me thy Lord God;
   but, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God;" which every man of God
   when tempted by the Devil might say; for whoso tempts a man of God,
   tempts God.

   Rabanus: Otherwise, it was a suggestion to Him, as man, that He should
   seek by requiring some miracle to know the greatness of God's power.

   Aug., contr. Faust., 22, 36: It is a part of sound doctrine, that when
   man has any other means, he should not tempt the Lord his God.

   Theod. non occ.: And it is to tempt God, in any thing to expose one's
   self to danger without cause.

   Jerome: It should be noted, that the required texts are taken from the
   book of Deuteronomy only, that He might shew the sacraments of the
   second Law.
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   8. Again, the Devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and
   sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

   9. And saith unto Him, "All these things will I give Thee, if Thee wilt
   fall down and worship me."

   10. Then saith Jesus unto him, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is
   written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
   serve.' "

   11. Then the Devil leaveth Him, and, behold Angels came and ministered
   unto Him.
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Devil, left in uncertainty by this second reply,
   passes to a third temptation. Christ had broken the nets of appetite,
   had passed over those of ambition, he now spreads for Him those of
   covetousness; "He taketh him up into a very high mountain," such as in
   going round about the earth he had noticed rising above the rest. The
   higher the mountain, the wider the view from it.

   He shews Him not so as that they truly saw the very kingdoms, cities,
   nations, their silver and their gold; but the quarters of the earth
   where each kingdom and city lay. As suppose from some high ground I
   were to point out to you, see there lies Rome, there Alexandria; you
   are not supposed to see the towns themselves, but the quarter in which
   they lie. Thus the Devil might point out the several quarters with his
   finger, and recount in words the greatness of each kingdom and its
   condition; for that is said to be shewn which is in any way presented
   to the understanding.

   Origen, in Luc., Hom. 30: We are not to suppose that when he shewed him
   the kingdoms of the world, he presented before Him the kingdom of
   Persia, for instance, or India; but he shewed his own kingdom, how he
   reigns in the world, that is, how some are governed by fornication,
   some by avarice.

   Remig.: By "their glory," is meant, their gold and silver, precious
   stones and temporal goods.

   Rabanus: The Devil shews all this to the Lord, not as though he had
   power to extend his vision or shew Him any thing unknown. But setting
   forth in speech as excellent and pleasant, that vain worldly pomp
   wherein himself delighted, he thought by suggestion of it, to create in
   Christ a love of it.

   Gloss. ord.: He saw not, as we see, with the eye of lust, but as a
   physician looks on disease without receiving any hurt.

   Jerome: An arrogant and vain vaunt; for he hath not the power to bestow
   all kingdoms, since many of the saints have, we know, been make kings
   of God.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But such things as are gotten by iniquity in this world,
   as riches, for instance, gained by fraud or perjury, these the Devil
   bestows. The Devil therefore cannot give riches to whom he will, but to
   those only who are willing to receive them of him.

   Remig.: Wonderful infatuation in the Devil! To promise earthly kingdoms
   to Him who gives heavenly kingdoms to His faithful people, and the
   glory of earth to Him who is Lord of the glory of heaven!

   Ambrose, in Luc., c. iv, 11: Ambition has its dangers at home; that it
   may govern, it is first others' slave; it bows in flattery that it may
   rule in honour; and while it would be exalted, it is made to stoop.

   Gloss. non occ.: See the Devil's pride as of old. In the beginning he
   sought to make himself equal with God, now he seeks to usurp the
   honours due to God, saying, "If thou wilt fall down and worship me."
   Who then worships the Devil must first fall down.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: With these words He puts an end to the temptations of
   the Devil, that they should proceed not further.

   Jerome: The Devil and Peter are not, as many suppose, condemned to the
   same sentence. To Peter it is said, "Get thee behind me, Satan;" i.e.
   follow thou behind Me who art contrary to My will. But here it is, "Go,
   Satan," and is not added, behind Me,' that we may understand "into the
   fire prepared for thee and thy angels."

   Remig.: Other copies read, "Get thee behind me;" i.e. remember thee in
   what glory thou wast created, and into what misery thou hast fallen.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Observe how Christ when Himself suffered wrong at the
   hands of the Devil, being tempted of him, saying, "If thou be the Son
   of God, cast thyself down," yet was not moved to chide the Devil. But
   now when the Devil usurps the honour of God, he is wroth, and drives
   him away, saying, "Go thy way, Satan;" that we may learn by His example
   to bear injuries to ourselves with magnanimity, but wrongs to God, to
   endure not so much as to hear; for to be patient under our own wrongs
   is praiseworthy, to dissemble when God is wronged is impiety.

   Jerome: When the Devil says to the Saviour, "If thou wilt fall down and
   worship me," he is answered by the contrary declaration, that it more
   becomes him to worship Jesus as his Lord and God.

   Aug., cont. Serm. Arian, 29: The one Lord our God is the Holy Trinity,
   to which alone we justly owe the service of piety.

   Aug., City of God, book 10, ch. 1: By service is to be understood the
   honour due to God; as our version renders the Greek words, latria,'
   wherever it occurs in Scripture, by service' (servitus), but that
   service which is due to men (as where the Apostle bids slaves be
   subject to their master) is in Greek called dulia;' while latria,'
   always, or so often that we say always, is used of that worship which
   belongs to God.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Devil, we may fairly suppose, did not depart in
   obedience to the command, but the Divine nature of Christ, and the Holy
   Spirit which was in Him drove him thence, and "then the Devil left
   him." Which also serves for our consolation, to see that the Devil does
   not tempt the men of God so long as he wills, but so long as Christ
   suffers. And though He may suffer him to tempt for a short time, yet in
   the end He drives him away because of the weakness of our nature.

   Aug., City of God, book 9, ch. 21: After the temptation the Holy
   Angels, to be dreaded of all unclean spirits, ministered to the Lord,
   by which it was made yet more manifest to the daemons how great was His
   power.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He says not Angels descended from heaven,' that it may
   be known that they were ever on the earth to minister to Him, but had
   now by the Lord's command departed from Him, to give opportunity for
   the Devil to approach, who perhaps when he saw Him surrounded by Angels
   would not have come near Him.

   But in what matters they ministered to Him, we cannot know, whether in
   the healing diseases, or purifying souls, or casting out daemons; for
   all these things He does by the ministration of Angels, so that what
   they do, Himself appears to do. However it is manifest, that they did
   not now minister to Him because His weakness needed it, but for the
   honour of His power; for it is not said that they succoured Him,' but
   that they "ministered to Him."

   Gregory, non occ. vid. in Ezek. i. 8. n. 24. in 1 Reg. i. I. n. 1. 2:
   In these things is shewn the twofold nature in one person; it is the
   man whom the Devil tempts; the same is God to whom Angels minister.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Now let us shortly review what is signified by Christ's
   temptations. The fasting is abstinence from things evil, hunger is the
   desire of evil, bread is the gratification of the desire. He who
   indulges himself in any evil thing, turns stones into bread. Let him
   answer to the Devil's persuasions that man does not live by the
   indulgence of desire alone, but by keeping the commands of God. When
   any is puffed up as though he were holy he is led to the temple, and
   when he esteems himself to have reached the summit of holiness he is
   set on a pinnacle of the temple. And this temptation follows the first,
   because victory over temptation begets conceit.

   But observe that Christ had voluntarily undertaken the fasting; but was
   led to the temple by the Devil; therefore do you voluntarily use
   praiseworthy abstinence, but suffer yourself not to be exalted to the
   summit of sanctity; fly high-mindedness, and you will not suffer a
   fall.

   The ascent of the mountain is the going forward to great riches, and
   the glory of this world which springs from pride of heart. When you
   desire to become rich, that is, to ascend the mountain, you begin to
   think of the ways of gaining wealth and honours, then the prince of
   this world is shewing you the glory of his kingdom.

   In the third place He provides you reasons, that if you seek to obtain
   all these things, you should serve him, and neglect the righteousness
   of God.

   Hilary: When we have overcome the Devil and bruised his head, we see
   that Angels' ministry and the offices of heavenly virtues will not be
   wanting in us.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 16: Luke has not given the temptations in the
   same order as Matthew; so that we do not know whether the pinnacle of
   the temple, or the ascent of the mountain, was first in the action; but
   it is of no importance, so long as it is only clear that all of them
   were truly done.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: Though Luke's order seems the more historical;
   Matthew relates the temptations as they were done to Adam.
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   12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He
   departed into Galilee;

   13. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon
   the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

   14. That is might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaeas the prophet,
   saying,

   15. "The land of Zabulon, and the land of Naphthalim, by the way of the
   sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

   16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which
   sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Rabanus: Matthew having related the forty days' fast, the temptation of
   Christ, and the ministry of Angels, proceeds, "Jesus having heard that
   John was cast into prison."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: By God without doubt, for none can effect any thing
   against a holy man, unless God deliver him up. "He withdrew into
   Galilee," that is, out of Judaea; both that He might reserve His
   passion to the fit time, and that He might set us an example of flying
   from danger.

   Chrys.: It is not blameworthy not to throw one's self into peril, but
   when one has fallen into it, not to endure manfully. He departed from
   Judaea both to soften Jewish animosity, and to fulfil a prophecy,
   seeking moreover to fish for those masters of the world who dwelt in
   Galilee.

   Note also how when He would depart to the Gentiles, He received good
   cause from the Jews; His forerunner was thrown into prison, which
   compelled Jesus to pass into Galilee of the Gentiles.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: He came as Luke writes to Nazareth, where He had
   been brought up, and there entering into the synagogue, He read and
   spoke many things, for which they sought to throw Him down from the
   rock, and thence He went to Capernaum; for which Matthew has only, "And
   leaving the town of Nazareth, He came and dwelt at Capernaum."

   Gloss. ord.: Nazareth is a village in Galilee near Mount Tabor;
   Capernaum a town in Galilee of the Gentiles near the Lake of
   Gennesaret; and this is the meaning of the word, "on the sea coast."

   He adds further "in the borders of Zabulon and Naphtali," where was the
   first captivity of the Jews by the Assyrians. Thus where the Law was
   first forgotten, there the Gospel was first preached; and from a place
   as it were between the two it was spread both to Jews and Gentiles.

   Remig.: He left one, viz. Nazareth, that He might enlighten more by His
   preaching and miracles. Thus leaving an example to all preachers that
   they should preach at a time and in places where they may do good, to
   as many as possible. In the prophecy, the words are these - "At that
   first time the land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtali was lightened,
   and at the last time was increased the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
   Galilee of the Gentiles." [Isa 9:1]

   Jerome, Hieron. in Esai. c. 9. 1: They are said at the first time to be
   lightened from the burden of sin, because in the country of these two
   tribes, the Saviour first preached the Gospel; "at the last time" their
   faith "was increased," most of the Jews remaining in error.

   By the sea here is meant the Lake of Gennesaret, a lake formed by the
   waters of the Jordan, on its shores are the towns of Capernaum,
   Tiberias, Bethsaida, and Corozaim, in which district principally Christ
   preached.

   Or, according to the interpretation of those Hebrews who believe in
   Christ, the two tribes Zabulon and Naphtali were taken captive by the
   Assyrians, and Galilee was left desert; and the prophet therefore says
   that it was lightened, because it had before suffered the sins of the
   people; but afterwards the remaining tribes who dwelt beyond Jordan and
   in Samaria were led into captivity; and Scripture here means that the
   region which had been the first to suffer captivity, now was the first
   to see the light of Christ's preaching.

   The Nazarenes again interpret that this was the first part of the
   country that, on the coming of Christ, was freed from the errors of the
   Pharisees, and after by the Gospel of the Apostle Paul, the preaching
   was increased or multiplied throughout all the countries of the
   Gentiles.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: But Matthew here so quotes the passage as to make
   them all nominative cases referring to one verb. The land of Zabulon,
   and the land of Naphtali, which is the way of the sea, and which is
   beyond Jordan, viz. the people of Galilee of the Gentiles, the people
   which walked in darkness.

   Gloss. ord.: Note that there are two Galilees; one of the Jews, the
   other of the Gentiles. This division of Galilee had existed from
   Solomon's time, who gave twenty cities in Galilee to Hyram, King of
   Tyre; this part was afterwards called Galilee of the Gentiles; the
   remained, of the Jews.

   Jerome, Hieron.: Or we must read, "beyond Jordan, of Galilee of the
   Gentiles;" so, I mean, that the people who either sat, or walked in
   darkness, have seen light, and that not a faint light, as the light of
   the Prophets, but a great light, as of Him who in the Gospel speaks
   thus, "I am the light of the world."

   Between death and the shadow of death I suppose this difference; death
   is said of such as have gone down to the grave with the works of death;
   the shadow of such as live in sin, and have not yet departed from this
   world; these may, if they will, yet turn to repentance.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise, the Gentiles who worshipped idols, and
   daemons, were they who sat in the region of the shadow of death; the
   Jews, who did the works of the Law, were in darkness, because the
   righteousness of God was not yet manifested to them.

   Chrys.: But that you may learn that he speaks not of natural day and
   night, he calls the light, "a great light," which is in other places
   called "the true light;" and he adds, "the shadow of death," to explain
   what he means by darkness. The words "arose," and "shined," shew, that
   they found it not of their own seeking, but God Himself appeared to
   them, they did not first run to the light; for men were in the greatest
   miseries before Christ's coming; they did not walk but safe in
   darkness; which was a sign that they hoped for deliverance; for as not
   knowing what way they should go, shut in by darkness they sat down,
   having now no power to stand. By darkness he means here, error and
   ungodliness.

   Rabanus, ap. Anselm: In allegory, John and the rest of the Prophets
   were the voice going before the Word. When prophecy ceased and was
   fettered, then came the Word, fulfilling what the Prophet had spoken of
   it, "He departed into Galilee," i.e. from figure to verity.

   Or, into the Church, which is a passing from vice to virtue. Nazareth
   is interpreted a flower,' Capernaum, the beautiful village;' He left
   therefore the flower of figure, (in which was mystically intended the
   fruit of the Gospel,) and came into the Church, which was beautiful
   with Christ's virtues.

   It is "by the sea-coast," because placed near the waves of this world,
   it is daily beaten by the storms of persecution.

   It is situated between Zabulon and Naphtali, i.e. common to Jews and
   Gentiles. Zabulon is interpreted, the abode of strength;' because the
   Apostles, who were chosen from Judaea, were strong. Nephtali,
   extension,' because the Church of the Gentiles was extended through the
   world.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 17: John relates in his Gospel the calling of
   Peter, Andrew, and Nathanael, and the miracle of Cana, before Jesus'
   departure into Galilee; all these things the other Evangelists have
   omitted, carrying on the thread of their narrative with Jesus' return
   into Galilee. We must understand then that some days intervened, during
   which the things took place concerning the calling of the disciples
   which John relates.

   Remig.: But this should be considered with more care, viz. that John
   says that the Lord went into Galilee, before John the Baptist was
   thrown into prison. According to John's Gospel after the water turned
   into wine, and his going down to Capernaum, and after his going up to
   Jerusalem, he returned to Judaea and baptized, and John was not yet
   cast into prison. But here it is after John's imprisonment that He
   retires into Galilee, and with this Mark agrees. But we need not
   suppose any contradiction here. John speaks of the Lord's first coming
   into Galilee, which was before the imprisonment of John. He speaks in
   another place of His second coming into Galilee [John 4:3], and the
   other Evangelists mention only this second coming into Galilee which
   was after John's imprisonment.

   Euseb., H. E. iii. 24: It is related that John preached the Gospel
   almost up to the close of his life without setting forth any thing in
   writing, and at length came to write for this reason.

   The three first written Gospels having come to his knowledge, he
   confirmed the truth of their history by his own testimony; but there
   was yet some things wanting, especially an account of what the Lord had
   done at the first beginning of His preaching. And it is true that the
   other three Gospels seem to contain only those things which were done
   in that year in which John the Baptist was put into prison, or
   executed. For Matthew, after the temptation, proceeds immediately,
   "Hearing that John was delivered up;" and Mark in like manner. Luke
   again, even before relating one of Christ's actions, tells that "Herod
   had shut up John in prison." The Apostle John then was requested to put
   into writing what the preceding Evangelists had left out before the
   imprisonment of John; hence he says in his Gospel, "this beginning of
   miracles did Jesus."
     __________________________________________________________________

   17. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, "Repent: for the
   kingdom of Heaven is at hand."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Christ's Gospel should be preached by him who can
   control his appetites, who contemns the goods of this life, and desires
   not empty honours. "From this time began Jesus to preach," that is,
   after having been tempted, He had overcome hunger in the desert,
   despised covetousness on the mountain, rejected ambitious desires in
   the temple.

   Or from the time that John was delivered up; for had He begun to preach
   while John was yet preaching, He would have made John be lightly
   accounted of, and John's preaching would have been though superfluous
   by the side of Christ's teaching; as when the sun rises at the same
   time with the morning star, the star's brightness is hid.

   Chrys.: For another cause also He did not preach till John was in
   prison, that the multitude might not be split into two parties; or as
   John did no miracle, all men would have been drawn to Christ by His
   miracles.

   Rabanus: In this He further teaches that none should despise the words
   of a person inferior to Him; as also the Apostle, "If any thing be
   revealed to him that sits, let the first hold his peace." [1 Cor 14:30]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He did wisely in making now the beginning of His
   preaching, that He should not trample upon John's teaching, but that He
   might the rather confirm it and demonstrate him to have been a true
   witness.

   Jerome: Shewing also thereby that He was Son of that same God whose
   prophet John was; and therefore He says, "Repent ye."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He does not straightway preach righteousness which all
   knew, but repentance, which all needed. Who then dared to say, I desire
   to be good, but am not able?"

   For repentance corrects the will; and if ye will not repent through
   fear of evil, at least ye may for the pleasure of good things; hence He
   says, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" that is, the blessings of the
   heavenly kingdom. As if He has said, Prepare yourselves by repentance,
   for the time of eternal reward is at hand.

   Remig.: And note, He does not say the kingdom of the Canaanite, or the
   Jebusite, is at hand; the "the kingdom of heaven." The law promised
   worldly goods, but the Lord heavenly kingdoms.

   Chrys.: Also observe how that in this His first address He says nothing
   of Himself openly; and that very suitably to the case, for they had yet
   no right opinion concerning Him. In this commencement moreover He
   speaks nothing severe, nothing burdensome, as John had concerning the
   axe laid to the root of the condemned tree, and the lie; but he puts
   first things merciful, preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom of
   heaven.

   Jerome: Mystically interpreted, Christ begins to preach as soon as John
   was delivered to prison, because when the Law ceased, the Gospel
   commenced.
     __________________________________________________________________

   18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon
   called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for
   they were fishers.

   19. And He saith unto them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of
   men."

   20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him.

   21. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son
   of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father,
   mending their nets; and He called them.

   22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed
   Him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Before He spoke or did any thing, Christ called
   Apostles, that neither word nor deed of His should be hid from their
   knowledge, so that they may afterwards say with confidence, "What we
   have seen and heard, that we cannot but speak." [Acts 4:20]

   Rabanus: The sea of Galilee, the lake of Gennesaret, the sea of
   Tiberias, and the salt lake, are one and the same.

   Gloss. ord.: He rightly goes on fishing places, when about to fish for
   fishermen.

   Remig.: "Saw," that is, not so much with the bodily eye, as spiritually
   viewing their hearts.

   Chrys.: He calls them while actually working at their employment, to
   shew that to follow Him ought to be preferred to all occupations. They
   were just then "casting a net into the sea," which agreed with their
   future office.

   Aug., Serm. 197, 2: He chose not kings, senators, philosophers, or
   orators, but he chose common, poor, and untaught fishermen.

   Aug., Tract. in Joann. 8, 7: Had one learned been chosen, he might have
   attributed the choice to the merit of his learning. But our Lord Jesus
   Christ, willing to bow the necks of the proud, sought not to gain
   fishermen by orators, but gained an Emperor by a fisherman. Great was
   Cyprian the pleader, but Peter the fisherman was before him.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The operations of their secular craft were a prophecy of
   their future dignity. As he who casts his net into the water knows not
   what fishes he shall take, so the teacher casts the net of the divine
   word upon the people, not knowing who among them will come to God.
   Those whom God shall stir abide in his doctrine.

   Remig.: Of these fishermen the Lord speaks by Jeremiah. "I will send my
   fishers among you, and they shall catch you." [Jer 16:16]

   Gloss. interlin.: "Follow me," not so much with your feet as in your
   hearts and your life.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Fishers of men," that is, teachers, that with the net
   of God's word you may catch men out of this world of storm and danger,
   in which men do not walk but are rather borne along, the Devil by
   pleasure drawing them into sin where men devour one another as the
   stronger fishes do the weaker, withdrawn from hence they may live upon
   the land, being made members of Christ's body.

   Greg., Hom. in Evan., v. 1: Peter and Andrew had seen Christ work no
   miracle, had heard from him no word of the promise of the eternal
   reward, yet at this single bidding of the Lord they forgot all that
   they had seemed to possess, and "straightway left their nets, and
   followed Him." In which deed we ought rather to consider their wills
   than the amount of their property. He leaves much who keeps nothing for
   himself, he parts with much, who with his possessions renounces his
   lusts.

   Those who followed Christ gave up enough to be coveted by those who did
   not follow. Our outward goods, however small, are enough for the Lord;
   He does not weight the sacrifice by how much is offered, but out of how
   much it is offered. The kingdom of God is not to be valued at a certain
   price, but whatever a man has, much or little, is equally available.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: These disciples did not follow Christ from desire of the
   honour of a doctor, but because they coveted the labour itself; they
   knew how precious is the soul of man, how pleasant to God is his
   salvation, and how great its reward.

   Chrys.: To so great a promise they trusted, and believed that they
   should catch others by those same words by which themselves had been
   caught.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: These were their desires, for which they "left all and
   followed;" teaching us thereby that none can possess earthly things and
   perfectly attain to heavenly things.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: These last disciples were an example to such as
   leave their property for the love of Christ; now follows an example of
   others who postponed earthly affection to God. Observe how He calls
   them two and two, and He afterwards sent them two and two to preach.

   Greg., Hom. in Ex., 17, 1: Hereby we are also silently admonished, that
   he who wants affection towards others, ought not to take on him the
   office of preaching. The precepts of charity are two, and between less
   than two there can be no love.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Rightly did He thus build the foundations of the
   brotherhood of the Church on love, that from such roots a copious sap
   of love might flow to the branches; and that too on natural or human
   love, that nature as well as grace might bind their love more firmly.
   They were moreover "brothers;" and so did God in the Old Testament lay
   the foundations of His building on Moses and Aaron, brothers.

   But as the grace of the New Testament is more abundant than that of the
   Old, therefore the first people were built upon one pair of brethren,
   but the new people upon two.

   They were "washing their nets," a proof of the extremest indigence;
   they repaired the old because they had not whence they should buy new.
   And what shews their great filial piety, in this their great poverty
   they deserted not their father, but carried him with them in their
   vessel, not that he might aid in their labour, but have the enjoyment
   of his sons' presence.

   Chrys.: It is no small sign of goodness, to bear poverty easily, to
   live by honest labour, to be bound together by virtue of affection, to
   keep their poor father with them, and to toil in his service.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: We may not dare to consider the former disciples as more
   quick to preach, because they were "casting their nets;" and these
   latter as less active, because they were yet making ready only; for it
   is Christ alone that may know their differences.

   But, perhaps we may say that the first were "casting their nets,"
   because Peter preached the Gospel, but committed it not to paper - the
   others were making ready their nets, because John composed a Gospel.

   He "called them" together, for by their abode they were
   fellow-townsmen, in affection attached, in profession agreed, and
   united by brotherly tenderness. He called them then at once, that
   united by so many common blessings they might not be separated by a
   separate call.

   Chrys.: He made no promise to them when He called them, as He had to
   the former, for the obedience of the first had made the way plain for
   them. Besides, they had heard many things concerning Him, as being
   friends and townsmen of the others.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: There are three things which we must leave who would
   come to Christ; carnal actions, which are signified in the fishing
   nets; worldly substance, in the ship; parents, which are signified in
   their father. They left their own vessel, that they might become
   governors of the vessel of the Church; they left their nets, as having
   no longer to draw out fishes on to the earthly shore, but men to the
   heavenly; they left their father, that they might become the spiritual
   fathers of all.

   Hilary: By this that they left their occupation and their father's
   house we are taught, that when we would follow Christ we should not be
   holden of the cares of secular life, or of the society of the paternal
   mansion.

   Remig.: Mystically, by the sea is figured this world, because of its
   bitterness and its tossing waves. Galilee is interpreted, rolling,' or
   a wheel,' and shews the changeableness of the world. Jesus "walked by
   the sea" when He came to us by incarnation, for He took on Him of the
   Virgin not the flesh of sin, but the likeness of the flesh of sin.

   By the two brothers, two people are signified born of one God their
   Father; He "saw" them when He looked on them in His mercy. In Peter,
   (which is interpreted owning,') who is called Simon, (i.e. obedient,)
   is signified the Jewish nation, who acknowledged God in the Law, and
   obeyed His commandments; Andrew, which is interpreted manly' or
   graceful,' signifies the Gentiles, who after they had come to the
   knowledge of God, manfully abode in the faith. He called us His people
   when He sent the preachers into the world, saying, "Follow me;" that
   is, leave the deceiver, follow your Creator. Of both people there were
   made fishers of men, that is, preachers. Leaving their ships, that is,
   carnal desires, and their nets, that is, love of the world, they
   followed Christ. By James is understood the Jewish nation, which
   through their knowledge of God overthrew the Devil; by John the Gentile
   world, which was saved of grace alone. Zebedee whom they leave, (the
   name is interpreted flying or falling,) signifies the world which
   passes away, and the Devil who fell from Heaven. By Peter and Andrew
   casting their net into the sea, are meant those who in their early
   youth are called by the Lord, while from the vessel of their body they
   cast the nets of carnal concupiscence into the sea of this world. By
   James and John mending their nets are signified those who after sin
   before adversity come to Christ recovering what they had lost.

   Rabanus: The two vessels signify the two Churches; the one was called
   out of the circumcision, the other out of the uncircumcision. Any one
   who believes becomes Simon, i.e. obedient to God; Peter by
   acknowledging his sin, Andrew by enduring labours manfully, James by
   overcoming vices,

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: and John that he may ascribe the whole to God's
   grace. The calling of four only is mentioned, as those preachers by
   whom God will call the four quarters of the world.

   Hilary: Or, the number that was to be of the Evangelists is figured.

   Remig.: Also, the four principal virtues are here designed; Prudence,
   in Peter, from his confession of God; Justice, we may refer to Andrew
   for his manful deeds; Fortitude, to James, for his overthrow of the
   Devil; Temperance, to John, for the working in him of divine grace.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 17: It might move enquiry, why John relates
   that near Jordan, not in Galilee, Andrew followed the Lord with another
   whose name he does not mention; and again, that Peter received that
   name from the Lord. Whereas the other three Evangelists write that they
   were called from their fishing, sufficiently agreeing with one another,
   especially Matthew and Mark; Luke not naming Andrew, who is however
   understood to have been in the same vessel with him.

   There is a further seeming discrepancy, that in Luke it is to Peter
   only that it is said, "Henceforth thou shalt catch men;" Matthew and
   Mark write that is was said to both. As to the different account in
   John, it should be carefully considered, and it will be found that it
   is a different time, place, and calling that is there spoken of. For
   Peter and Andrew had not so seen Jesus at the Jordan that they adhered
   inseparably ever after, but so as only to have known who He was, and
   wondering at Him to have gone their way. Perhaps he is returning back
   to something he had omitted, for he proceeds without marking any
   difference of time, "As he walked by the sea of Galilee."

   It may be further asked, how Matthew and Mark relate that He called
   them separately two and two, when Luke relates that James and John
   being partners of Peter were called as it were to aid him, and bringing
   their barks to land followed Christ. We may then understand that the
   narrative of Luke relates to a prior time, after which they returned to
   their fishing as usual. For it had not been said to Peter that he
   should no more catch fish, as he did do so again after the
   resurrection, but that he "should catch men." Again, at a time after
   this happened that call of which Matthew and Mark speak; for they draw
   their ships to land to follow Him, not as careful to return again, but
   only anxious to follow Him when He bids them.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and
   preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness
   and all manner of disease among the people.

   24. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him
   all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and
   those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic,
   and those that had the palsy; and He healed them.

   25. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and
   from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond
   Jordan.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Kings, when about to go to war with their enemies, first
   gather an army, and so go out to battle; thus the Lord when about to
   war against the Devil, first collected Apostles, and then began to
   preach the Gospel.

   Remig.: An example of life for doctors; that they should not be
   inactive, they are instructed in these words, "And Jesus went about."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Because they being weak could not come to their
   physician, He as a zealous Physician went about to visit those who had
   any grievous sickness. The Lord went round the several regions, and
   after His example the pastors of each region ought to go round to study
   the several dispositions of their people, that for the remedy of each
   disease some medicine may be found in the Church.

   Remig.: That they should not be acceptors of persons the preachers are
   instructed in what follows, "the whole of Galilee." That they should
   not go about empty, by the word, "teaching." That they should seek to
   benefit not few but many, in what follows, "in their synagogues."

   Chrys.: [ed. note: A passage is here inserted in Nicolai's edition
   which is not in the original. It is of no doctrinal importance.] By
   which too He shewed the Jews that He came not as an enemy of God, or a
   seducer of souls, but as consenting with his Father.

   Remig.: That they should not preach error nor fable, but sound
   doctrine, is inculcated in the words, "preaching the Gospel of the
   kingdom." Teaching' and preaching' differ; teaching refers to things
   present, preaching to things to come; He taught present commandments
   and preached future promises.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, He taught natural righteousness, those things which
   natural reason teaches, as chastity, humility, and the like, which all
   men of themselves see to be goods. Such things are necessary to be
   taught not so much for the sake of making them known as for stirring
   the heart.

   For beneath the prevalence of carnal delights the knowledge of natural
   righteousness sleeps forgotten. When then a teacher begins to denounce
   carnal sins, his teaching does not bring up a new knowledge, but
   recalls to memory one that had been forgotten. But He preached the
   Gospel, in telling of good things which the ancients had manifestly not
   heard of, as the happiness of heaven, the resurrection of the dead, and
   the like.

   Or, He taught by interpreting the prophecies concerning Himself; He
   preached by declaring the benefits that were to come from Himself.

   Remig.: That the teacher should study to commend his teaching by his
   own virtuous conduct is conveyed in those words, "healing every sort of
   disease and malady among the people;" maladies of the body, diseases of
   the soul.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, by disease we may understand any passion of the
   mind, as avarice, lust, and such like, by malady unbelief, that is,
   weakness of faith.

   Or, the diseases are the more grievous pains of the body, the maladies
   the slighter. As He cured the bodily pains by virtue of His divine
   power, so He cured the spiritual by the word of His mercy.

   He first teaches, and then performs the cures, for two reasons. First,
   that what is needed most may come first; for it is the word of holy
   instruction, and not miracles, that edify the soul. Secondly, because
   teaching is commended by miracles, not the converse.

   Chrys.: We must consider that when some great change is being wrought,
   as the introduction of a new polity, God is wont to work miracles,
   giving pledges of His power to those who are to receive His laws.

   Thus when He would make man, He first created a world, and then at
   length gave man in paradise a law. When He would dispense a law to the
   holy Noah, he shewed truly great wonders; and again when He was about
   to ordain the Law for the Jews, He first shewed great prodigies, and
   then at length gave them the commandments. So now when about to
   introduce a sublime discipline of life, He first provided a sanction to
   His instructions by mighty signs, because the eternal kingdom He
   preached was not seen, by the things which did appear, He made sure
   that which as yet did not appear.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: Because preachers should have good testimony from
   those who are without, lest if their life is open to censure, their
   preaching be contemned, he adds, "And the fame of him went abroad
   through all Syria."

   Rabanus: Syria here is all the region from Euphrates to the Great sea,
   from Cappodocia to Egypt, in which is the country of Palestine,
   inhabited by Jews.

   Chrys.: Observe the reserve of the Evangelist; he does not give an
   account of any one of the various cases of healing, but passes in one
   brief phrase an abundance of miracles, "they brought to him all their
   sick."

   Remig.: By these he would have us understand various but slighter
   diseases; but when he says, "seized with divers sicknesses and
   torments," he would have those understood, of whom it is subjoined,
   "and who had daemons."

   Gloss: Sickness' means a lasting ailment; torment' is an acute pain, as
   pleurisy, and such like; they "who had daemons" are they who were
   tormented by the daemons.

   Remig.: Lunatics' are so called from the moon; for as it waxes in its
   monthly seasons they are tormented.

   Jerome: Not really smitten by the moon, but who were believed to be so
   through the subtlety of the daemons, who by observing the seasons of
   the moon, sought to bring an evil report against the creature, that is
   might redound to the blasphemy of the Creator.

   Aug., City of God, book 21, ch. 6: Daemons are enticed to take up their
   abode in many creatures, (created not by themselves but God,) by
   delights adapted to their various natures; not that they are animals,
   drawn by meats; but spirits attracted by signs which agree with each
   one's taste.

   Rabanus: Paralytics are those whose bodies have their nerves slackened
   or resolved from a Greek word, signifying this.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: In some places it is, "He cured many;" but here, "He
   cured them," meaning, all;' as a new physician first entering a town
   cures all who come to him to beget a good opinion concerning himself.

   Chrys.: He requires no direct profession of faith from them, both
   because He had not yet given them any proofs of His miraculous power,
   and because in bringing their sick from far they had shewn no small
   faith.

   Rabanus: The crowds that followed Him consisted of four sorts of men.
   Some followed for the heavenly teaching as disciples, some for the
   curing of their diseases, some from the reports concerning Him alone,
   and curiosity to find whether they were true; others from envy, wishing
   to catch Him in some matter that they might accuse Him.

   Mystically, Syria is interpreted lofty,' Galilee, turning:' or a
   wheel;' that is, the Devil and the world; the Devil is both proud and
   always turned round to the bottom; the world in which the fame of
   Christ went abroad through preaching: the daemoniacs are the idolaters;
   the lunatics, the unstable; the paralytics, the slow and careless.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: The crowds that follow the Lord, are they of the
   Church, which is spiritually designated by Galilee, passing to
   virtuousness; Decapolis is he who keeps the Ten Commandments; Jerusalem
   and Judaea, he who is enlightened by the vision of peace and
   confession; and beyond Jordan, he who having passed the waters of
   Baptism enters the land of promise.

   Remig.: Or, they follow the Lord "from Galilee," that is, from the
   unstable world; from Decapolis, (the country of ten towns,) signifying
   those who break the Ten Commandments; "and from Jerusalem," because
   before it was preserved unhurt in peace; "and from Jordan," that is,
   from the confession of the Devil; "and from beyond Jordan," they who
   were first planted in paganism, but passing the water of Baptism came
   to Christ.
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Chapter 5

   1. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He
   was set, His disciples came unto Him.

   2. And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying,

   3. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their is the kingdom of
   heaven."
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: Every man in his own trade or profession rejoices when
   he sees an opportunity of exercising it; the carpenter if he sees a
   goodly tree desires to have it to cut down to employ his skill on, and
   the Priest when he sees a full Church, his heart rejoices, he is glad
   of the occasion to teach. So the Lord seeing a great congregation of
   people was stirred to teach them.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 19: Or He may be thought to have sought to
   shun the thickest crowd, and to have ascended the mountain that He
   might speak to His disciples alone.

   Chrys., Hom. 4: By not choosing His seat in the city, and the market
   place, but on a mountain in a desert, He has taught us to do nothing
   with ostentation, and to depart from crowds, above all when we are to
   be employed in philosophy, or in speaking of serious things.

   Remig.: This should be known, that the Lord had three places of
   retirement that we read of, the ship, the mountain, and the desert; to
   one of these He was wont to withdraw whenever He was pressed by the
   multitude.

   Jerome: Some of the less learned brethren suppose the Lord to have
   spoken what follows from the Mount of Olives, which is by no means the
   case; what went before and what follows fixes the place in Galilee -
   Mount Tabor, [ed. note: Mount Tabor is asserted by the Fathers and by
   tradition coming down to the present day to be the scene of the
   Transfiguration. But S. Jerome seems to be the only author who speaks
   of it as the scene of the Sermon on the Mount. The mount of the
   Beatitudes according to modern travellers lies near to Capernaum, and
   ten miles north of Mount Tabor. See Grewell Diss. vol. ii. 294.
   Pococke's Descrip. of the East, vol. ii. 67] we may suppose, or any
   other high mountain.

   Chrys.: "He ascended a mountain," first, that He might fulfil the
   prophecy of Esaias, "Get thee up into a mountain;" [Isa 40:9] secondly,
   to shew that as well he who teaches, as he who hears the righteousness
   of God should stand on a high ground of spiritual virtues; for none can
   abide in the valley and speak from a mountain. If thou stand on the
   earth, speak of the earth; if thou speak of heaven, stand in heaven.

   Or, He ascended into the mountain to shew that all who would learn the
   mysteries of the truth should go up into the Mount of the Church of
   which the Prophet speaks, "The hill of God is a hill of fatness." [Ps
   68:15]

   Hilary: Or, He ascends the mountain, because it is placed in the
   loftiness of His Father's Majesty that He gives the commands of
   heavenly life.

   Aug., de Serm. Dom. in Mont. i. 1: Or, He ascends the mountain to shew
   that the precepts of righteousness given by God through the Prophets to
   the Jews, who were yet under the bondage of fear, were the lesser
   commandments; but that by His own Son were given the greater
   commandments to a people which He had determined to deliver by love.

   Jerome: He spoke to them sitting and not standing, for they could not
   have understood Him had He appeared in His own Majesty.

   Aug.: Or, to teach sitting is the prerogative of the Master. "His
   disciples came to him," that they who is spirit approached more nearly
   to keeping His commandments, should also approach Him nearest with
   their bodily presence.

   Rabanus: Mystically, this sitting down of Christ is His incarnation;
   had He not taken flesh on Him, mankind could not have come unto Him.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 19: It cause a thought how it is that Matthew
   relates this sermon to have been delivered by the Lord sitting on the
   mountain; Luke, as He stood in the plain. This diversity in their
   accounts would lead us to think that the occasions were different. Why
   should not Christ repeat once more what He said before, or do once more
   what He had done before? Although another method of reconciling the two
   may occur to us; namely, that our Lord was first with His disciples
   alone on some more lofty peak of the mountain when He chose the twelve;
   that He then descended with them not from the mountain entirely, but
   from the top to some expanse of level ground in the side, capable of
   holding a great number of people; that He stood there while the crowd
   was gathering around Him, and after when He had sat down, then His
   disciples came near to Him, and so to them and in the presence of the
   rest of the multitude He spoke the same sermon which Matthew and Luke
   give, in a different manner, but with equal truth of facts.

   Greg., Moral., iv, 1: When the Lord on the mountain is about to utter
   His sublime precepts, it is said, "Opening his mouth he taught them,"
   He who had before opened the mouth of the Prophets.

   Remig.: Wherever it is said that the Lord opened His mouth, we may know
   how great things are to follow.

   Aug., de Serm. in Mount. i, 1: Or, the phrase is introductory of an
   address longer than ordinary.

   Chrys.: Or, that we may understand that He sometimes teaches by opening
   His mouth in speech, sometimes by that voice which resounds from His
   works.

   Aug.: Whoever will take the trouble to examine with a pious and sober
   spirit, will find in this sermon a perfect code of the Christian life
   as far as relates to the conduct of daily life. Accordingly the Lord
   concludes it with the words, "Every man who heareth these words of mine
   and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man, &c."

   Aug., City of God, book 19, ch. 1: The chief good is the only motive of
   philosophical enquiry; but whatever confers blessedness, that is the
   chief good; therefore He begins, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

   Aug., de Serm. in Mont., i, 1: Augmentation of spirit' generally
   implies insolence and pride. For in common speech the proud are said to
   have a great spirit, and rightly - for wind is a spirit, and who does
   not know that we say of proud men that they are swollen,' puffed up.'
   Here therefore by "poor in spirit" are rightly understood lowly,'
   fearing God,' not having a puffed up spirit.

   Chrys.: Or, He here calls all loftiness of soul and temper spirit; for
   as there are many humble against their will, constrained by their
   outward condition, they have no praise; the blessing is on those who
   humble themselves by their own choice. Thus He begins at once at the
   root, pulling up pride which is the root and source of all evil,
   setting up as its opposite humility as a firm foundation. If this be
   well laid, other virtues may be firmly built thereon; if that be
   sapped, whatever good you gather upon it perishes.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Blessed are the poor in spirit," [ed. note, a: The
   Bened. ed. reads beati egeni' - and has this marginal note, Hinc
   sequitur hune Graece non scripsisse' - but S. Thos. reads beati ptochoi
   ptochi;' it may be remarked moreover that the author follows the order
   of verses 4 and 5 according to the Greek; all the Latin Fathers (with
   the single exception of Hilary on Ps. 118) following the order of the
   Vulgate.] or, according to the literal rendering of the Greek, they who
   beg,' that the humble may learn that they should be ever begging at
   God's almshouse. For there are many naturally humble and not of faith,
   who do not knock at God's almshouse; but they alone are humble who are
   so of faith.

   Chrys.: Or, the poor in spirit may be those who fear and tremble at
   God's commandments, whom the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah commends.
   Though why more than simply humble? Of the humble there may be in this
   place but few, in that again an abundance.

   Aug.: The proud seek an earthly kingdom, of the humble only is the
   kingdom of Heaven.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For as all other vices, but chiefly pride, casts down to
   hell; so all other virtues, but chiefly humility, conduct to Heaven; it
   is proper that he that humbles himself should be exalted.

   Jerome: The "poor in spirit" are those who embrace a voluntary poverty
   for the sake of the Holy Spirit.

   Ambrose, de Officiis, i, 16: In the eye of Heaven blessedness begins
   there where misery begins in human estimation.

   Gloss. interlin.: The riches of Heaven are suitably promised to those
   who at this present are in poverty.
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   5. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."
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   [ed. note, b: Verses 4 and 5 are transposed in the Vulgate.]

   Ambrose, in Luc. c. v. 20: When I have learned contentment in poverty,
   the next lesson is to govern my heart and temper. For what good is it
   to me to be without worldly things, unless I have besides a meek
   spirit? It suitably follows therefore, "Blessed are the meek."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont. i, 2: The meek are they who resist not wrongs, and
   give way to evil; but overcome evil of good.

   Ambrose: Soften therefore your temper that you be not angry, at least
   that you "be angry, and sin not." It is a noble thing to govern passion
   by reason; nor is it a less virtue to check anger, than to be entirely
   without anger, since one is esteemed the sign of a weak, the other of a
   strong, mind.

   Aug.: Let the unyielding then wrangle and quarrel about earthly and
   temporal things, "the meek are blessed, for they shall inherit the
   earth," and not be rooted out of it; that earth of which it is said in
   the Psalms, "Thy lot is in the hand of the living," [Ps 142:5] meaning
   the fixedness of a perpetual inheritance, in which the soul that hath
   good dispositions rests as in its own place, as the body does in an
   earthly possession, it is fed by its own food, as the body by the
   earth; such is the rest and the life of the saints.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This earth as some interpret, so long as it is in its
   present condition is the land of the dead, seeing it is "subject to
   vanity;" but when it is freed from corruption it becomes the land of
   the living, that the mortal may inherit an immortal country.

   I have read another exposition of it, as if the heaven in which the
   saints are to dwell is meant by "the land of the living," because
   compared with the regions of death it is heaven, compared with the
   heaven above it is earth. Others again say, that this body as long as
   it is subject to death is the land of the dead, when it shall be made
   like unto Christ's glorious body, it will be the land of the living.

   Hilary: Or, the Lord promises the inheritance of the earth to the meek,
   meaning of that Body, which Himself took on Him as His tabernacle; and
   as by the gentleness of our minds Christ dwells in us, we also shall be
   clothed with the glory of His renewed body.

   Chrys.: Otherwise; Christ here has mixed things sensible with things
   spiritual. Because it is commonly supposed that he who is meek loses
   all that he possesses, Christ here gives a contrary promise, that he
   who is not forward shall possess his own in security, but that he of a
   contrary disposition many times loses his soul and his paternal
   inheritance. But because the Prophet had said, "The meek shall inherit
   the earth," [Ps 36:11] He used these well known words in conveying His
   meaning.

   Gloss. ord.: The meek, who have possessed themselves, shall possess
   hereafter the inheritance of the Father; to possess is more than to
   have, for we have many things which we lose immediately.
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   4. "Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted."
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   Ambrose: When you have done thus much, attained both poverty and
   meekness, remember that you are a sinner, mourn your sins, as He
   proceeds, "Blessed are they that mourn." And it is suitable that the
   third blessing should be of those that mourn for sin, for it is the
   Trinity that forgives sin.

   Hilary: Those that mourn, that is, not loss of kindred, affronts, or
   losses, but who weep for past sins.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And they who weep for their own sins are blessed, but
   much more so who weep for others' sins; so should all teachers do.

   Jerome: For the mourning here meant is not for the dead by common
   course of nature, but for the dead in sins, and vices. Thus Samuel
   mourned for Saul, thus the Apostle Paul mourned for those who had not
   performed penance after uncleanness.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The "comfort" of mourners is the ceasing of their
   mourning; they then who mourn their own sins shall be consoled when
   they have received remittance thereof.

   Chrys.: And though it were enough for such to receive pardon, yet He
   rests not His mercy only there, but makes them partakers of many
   comforts both here and hereafter. God's mercies are always greater than
   our troubles.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But they also who mourn for others' sin shall be
   comforted, inasmuch as they shall own God's providence in that worldly
   generation, understanding that they who had perished were not of God,
   out of whose hand none can snatch. For these leaving to mourn, they
   shall be comforted in their own blessedness.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 2: Otherwise; mourning is sorrow for the loss
   of what is dear; but those that are turned to God lose the things that
   they held dear in this world; and as they have now no longer any joy in
   such things as before they had joy in, their sorrow may not be healed
   till there is formed within them a love of eternal things. They shall
   then be comforted by the Holy Spirit, who is therefore chiefly called,
   The Paraclete, that is, "Comforter;' so that for the loss of their
   temporal joys, they shall gain eternal joys.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: Or, by mourning, two kinds of sorrow are intended;
   one for the miseries of this world, one for lack of heavenly things; so
   Caleb's daughter asked both "the upper and the lower springs." This
   kind of mourning none have but the poor and the meek, who as not loving
   the world acknowledge themselves miserable, and therefore desire
   heaven.

   Suitably, therefore, consolation is promised to them that mourn, that
   he who has sorrow at this present may have joy hereafter. But the
   reward of the mourner is greater than that of the poor or the meek, for
   "to rejoice" in the kingdom is more than to have it, or to possess it;
   for many things we possess in sorrow.

   Chrys.: We may remark that this blessing is given not simply, but with
   great force and emphasis; it is not simply, who have grief,' but "who
   mourn." And indeed this command is the sum of all philosophy. For if
   they who mourn for the death of children or kinsfolk, throughout all
   that season of their sorrow, are touched with no other desires, as of
   money, or honour, burn not with envy, feel not wrongs, nor are open to
   any other vicious passion, but are solely given up to their grief; much
   more ought they, who mourn their own sins in such manner as they ought
   to mourn for them, to shew this higher philosophy.
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   6. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
   for they shall be filled."
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   Ambrose: As soon as I have wept for my sins, I begin to hunger and
   thirst after righteousness. He who is afficted with any sort disease,
   hath ho hunger.

   Jerome: It is not enough that we desire righteousness, unless we also
   suffer hunger for it, by which expression we may understand that we are
   never righteous enough, but always hunger after works of righteousness.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: All good which men do not from love of the good itself
   is unpleasing before God. He hungers after righteousness who desires to
   walk according to the righteousness of God; he thirsts after
   righteousness who desires to get the knowledge thereof.

   Chrys.: He may mean either general righteousness, or that particular
   virtue which is the opposite of covetousness. As He was going on to
   speak of mercy, He shews before hand of what kind our mercy should be,
   that it should not be of the gains of plunder or covetousness, hence He
   ascribes to righteousness that which is peculiar to avarice, namely, to
   hunger and thirst.

   Hilary: The blessedness which He appropriates to those who hunger and
   thirst after righteousness shews that the deep longing of the saints
   for the doctrine of God shall receive perfect replenishment in heaven;
   then "they shall be filled."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Such is the bounty of a rewarding God, that His gifts
   are greater than the desires of the saints.

   Aug.: Or He speaks of food with which they shall be filled at this
   present; to wit, that food of which the Lord spake, "My food is to do
   the will of my Father," that is, righteousness, and that water of which
   whoever drinks it shall be in him "a well of water springing up to life
   eternal."

   Chrys.: Or, this is again a promise of a temporal reward; for as
   covetousness is thought to make many rich, He affirms on the contrary
   that righteousness rather makes rich, for He who loves righteousness
   possesses all things in safety.
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   7. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."
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   Gloss.: Justice and mercy are so united, that the one ought to be
   mingled with the other; justice without mercy is cruelty; mercy without
   justice, profusion - hence He goes on to the one from the other.

   Remig.: The merciful is he who has a sad heart; he counts others'
   misery his own, and is sad at their grief as at his own.

   Jerome: Mercy here is not said only of alms, but is in every sin of a
   brother, if we bear one another's burdens.

   Aug.: He pronounces those blessed who succour the wretched, because
   they are rewarded in being themselves delivered from all misery; as it
   follows, "for they shall obtain mercy."

   Hilary: So greatly is God pleased with our feelings of benevolence
   towards all men, that He will bestow His own mercy only on the
   merciful.

   Chrys.: The reward here seems at first to be only an equal return; but
   indeed it is much more; for human mercy and divine mercy are not to be
   put on an equality.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: Justly is mercy dealt out to the merciful, that they
   should receive more than they had deserved; and as he who has more than
   enough receives more than he who has only enough, so the glory of mercy
   is greater than of the things hitherto mentioned.
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   8. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."
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   Ambrose, in Luc., vi, 22: The merciful loses the benefit of his mercy,
   unless he shews it from a pure heart; for if he seeks to have whereof
   to boast, he loses the fruit of his deeds; the next that follows
   therefore is, "Blessed are the pure of heart."

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: Purity of heart comes properly in the sixth place,
   because on the sixth day man was created in the image of God, which
   image was shrouded by sin, but is formed anew in pure hearts by grace.
   It follows rightly the beforementioned graces, because if they be not
   there, a clean heart is not created in a man.

   Chrys.: By the pure are here meant those who possess a perfect
   goodness, conscious to themselves of no evil thoughts, or again those
   who live in such temperance as is mostly necessary to seeing God
   according to that of St. Paul, "Follow peace with all men, and
   holiness, without which no man shall see God." For as there are many
   merciful, yet unchaste, to shew that mercy alone is not enough, he adds
   this concerning purity.

   Jerome: The pure is known by purity of heart, for the temple of God
   cannot be impure.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He who in thought and deed fulfils all righteousness,
   "sees God" in his heart, for righteousness is an image of God, for God
   is righteousness. So far as any one has rescued himself from evil, and
   works things that are good, so far does he "see God," either hardly, or
   fully, or sometimes, or always, according to the capabilities of human
   nature. But in that world to come the pure in heart shall see God face
   to face, not in a glass, and in enigma as here.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 2: They are foolish who seek to see God with
   the bodily eye, seeing He is seen only by the heart, as it is elsewhere
   written, "In singleness of heart seek ye Him;" the single heart is the
   same as is here called the pure heart.

   Aug., City of God, book 22, ch. 29: But if spiritual eyes in the
   spiritual body shall be able only to see so much as they we now have
   can see, undoubtedly God will not be able to be seen of them.

   Aug., de Trin., i, 8: This seeing God is the reward of faith; to which
   end our hearts are made pure by faith, as it is written, "cleansing
   their hearts by faith;" [Acts 15:9] but the present verse proves this
   still more strongly.

   Aug., de Genesi ad Literam. xii. 26: No one seeing God can be alive
   with the life men have on earth, or with these our bodily senses.
   Unless one die altogether out of this life, either by totally departing
   from the body, or so alienated from carnal lusts that he may truly say
   with the Apostle, "whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot
   tell," he is not translated that he should see this vision.

   Gloss. non occ.: The reward of these is greater than the reward of the
   first; being not merely to dine in the King's court, but further to see
   His face.
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   9. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children
   of God."
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   Ambrose: When you have made your inward parts clean from every spot of
   sin, that dissentions and contentions may not proceed from your temper,
   begin peace within yourself, that so you may extend it to others.

   Aug., City of God, book 19, ch. 13: Peace is the fixedness of order; by
   order, I mean an arrangement of things like and unlike giving to each
   its own place. And as there is no man who would not willingly have joy,
   so is there no man who would not have peace; since even those who go to
   war desire nothing more than by war to come to a glorious peace.

   Jerome: The peacemakers [margin note: pacifici] are pronounced blessed,
   they namely who make peace first within their own hearts, then between
   brethren at variance. For what avails it to make peace between others,
   while in your own heart are wars of rebellious vices.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 2: The peacemakers within themselves are they
   who having stilled all disturbances of their spirits, having subjected
   them to reason, have overcome their carnal desires, and become the
   kingdom of God. There all things are so disposed, that that which is
   most chief and excellent in man, governs those parts which we have in
   common with the brutes, though they struggle against it; nay even that
   in man which is excellent is subjected to a yet greater, namely, the
   very Truth, the Son of God. For it would not be able to govern what is
   inferior to it, if it were not subject to what is above it. And this is
   the peace which is given on earth to men of good will.

   Aug., Retract., i, 19: No man can attain in this life that there be not
   in his members a law resisting the law of his mind. But the peacemakers
   attain thus far by overcoming the lusts of the flesh, that in time they
   come to a most perfect peace.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The peacemakers with others are not only those who
   reconcile enemies, but those who unmindful of wrongs cultivate peace.
   That peace only is blessed which is lodged in the heart, and does not
   consist only in words. And they who love peace, they are the sons of
   peace.

   Hilary: The blessedness of the peacemakers is the reward of adoption,
   "they shall be called the sons of God." For God is our common parent,
   and no other way can we pass into His family than by living in
   brotherly love together.

   Chrys.: Or, if the peacemakers are they who do not contend one with
   another, but reconcile those that are at strife, they are rightly
   called the sons of God, seeing this was the chief employment of the
   Only-begotten Son, to reconcile things separated, to give peace to
   things at war.

   Aug.: Or, because peace is then perfect when there is no where any
   opposition, the peacemakers are called the sons of God, because nothing
   resists God, and the children ought to bear the likeness of their
   Father.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: The peacemakers have thus the place of highest
   honour, inasmuch as he who is called the king's son, is the highest in
   the king's house. This beatitude is placed the seventh in order,
   because in the sabbath shall be given the repose of true peace, the six
   ages being passed away.
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   10. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
   theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
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   Chrys.: "Blessed are they who suffer persecution for righteousness'
   sake," that is for virtue, for defending others, for piety, for all
   these things are spoken of under the title of righteousness. This
   follows the beatitude upon the peacemakers, that we may not be led to
   suppose that it is good to seek peace at all times.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 2: When peace is once firmly established
   within, whatever persecutions he who has been cast without raises, or
   carries on, he increases that glory which is in the sight of God.

   Jerome: "For righteousness' sake" He adds expressly, for many suffer
   persecution for their sins, and are not therefore righteous. Likewise
   consider how the eighth beatitude of the true circumcision is
   terminated by martyrdom. [margin note: vid. Phil. 3:2-3]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He said not, Blessed are they who suffer persecution of
   the Gentiles; that we may not suppose the blessing pronounced on those
   only who are persecuted for refusing to sacrifice to idols; yea,
   whoever suffers persecution of heretics because he will not forsake the
   truth is likewise blessed, seeing he suffers for righteousness.

   Moreover, if any of the great ones, who seem to be Christians, being
   corrected by you on account of his sins, shall persecute you, you are
   blessed with John the Baptist. For if the Prophets are truly martyrs
   when they are killed by their own countrymen, without doubt he who
   suffers in the cause of God has the reward of martyrdom though he
   suffers from his own people.

   Scripture therefore does not mention the persons of the persecutors,
   but only the cause of persecution, that you may learn to look, not by
   whom, but why you suffer.

   Hilary: Thus, lastly, He includes those in the beatitude whose will is
   ready to suffer all things for Christ, who is our righteousness. For
   these then also is the kingdom preserved, for they are in the contempt
   of this world poor in spirit.

   Aug.: Or, the eighth beatitude, as it were, returns to the
   commencement, because it shews the perfect complete character. In the
   first then and the eighth, the kingdom of heaven is named, for the
   seven go to make the perfect man, the eighth manifests and proves his
   perfectness, that all may be conducted to perfection by these steps.

   Ambrose, in Luc., vi. 23: Otherwise; the first kingdom of heaven was
   promised to the Saints, in deliverance from the body; the second, that
   after the resurrection they should be with Christ. For after your
   resurrection you shall begin to possess the earth delivered from death,
   and in that possession shall find comfort.

   Pleasure follows comfort, and Divine mercy pleasure. But on whom God
   has mercy, him He calls, and he whom He calls, beholds Him that called
   him. He who beholds God is adopted into the rights of divine birth, and
   then at length as the son of God is delighted with the riches of the
   heavenly kingdom. The first then begins, the last is perfected.

   Chrys.: Wonder not if you do not hear the kingdom' mentioned under each
   beatitude; for in saying "shall be comforted, shall find mercy," and
   the rest, in all these the kingdom of heaven is tacitly understood, so
   that you must not look for any of the things of sense. For indeed he
   would not be blessed who was to be crowned with those things which
   depart with this life.

   Aug.: The number of these sentences should be carefully attended to; to
   these seven degrees of blessedness agree the operation of that
   seven-form Holy Spirit which Isaiah described. But as He began from the
   highest, so here He begins from the lowest; for there we are taught
   that the Son of God will descend to the lowest; here that man will
   ascend from the lowest to the likeness of God.

   Here the first place is given to fear, which is suitable for the
   humble, of whom it is said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," that is,
   those who think not high things, but who fear.

   The second is piety, which belongs to the meek; for he who seeks
   piously, reverences, does not find fault, does not resist; and this is
   to become meek.

   The third is knowledge, which belongs to those that mourn, who have
   learned to what evils they are enslaved which they once pursued as
   goods.

   The fourth, which is fortitude, rightly belongs to those who hunger and
   thirst, who seeking joy in true goods, labour to turn away from earthly
   lusts.

   The fifth, counsel, is appropriate for the merciful, for there is one
   remedy to deliver from so great evils, viz. to give and to distribute
   to others.

   The sixth is understanding, and belongs to the pure in heart, who with
   purged eye can see what eye seeth not.

   The seventh is wisdom, and may be assigned to the peacemakers, in whom
   is no rebellious motion, but they obey the Spirit.

   Thus the one reward, the kingdom of heaven, is put forth under various
   names. In the first, as was right, is placed the kingdom of heaven,
   which is the beginning of perfect wisdom; as if it should be said, "The
   fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." To the meek, an
   inheritance, as to those who with piety seek the execution of a
   father's will. To those that mourn, comfort, as to persons who know
   what they had lost, and in what they were immersed. To the hungry,
   plenty, as a refreshment to those who labour for salvation. To the
   merciful, mercy, that to those who have followed the best counsel, that
   may be shewed which they have shewed to others. To the pure in heart
   the faculty of seeing God, as to men bearing a pure eye to understand
   the things of eternity. To the peacemakers, the likeness of God. And
   all these things we believe may be attained in this life, as we believe
   they were fulfilled in the Apostles; for as to the things after this
   life they cannot be expressed in any words.
     __________________________________________________________________

   11. "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
   shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.

   12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:
   for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Rabanus: The preceding blessings were general; He now begins to address
   His discourse to them that were present, foretelling them the
   persecutions which they should suffer for His name.

   Aug.: It may be asked, what difference there is between they shall
   revile you,' and shall speak all manner of evil of you;' to revile, it
   may be said, being but to speak evil of. But a reproach thrown with
   insult in the face of one present is a different thing from a slander
   cast on the character of the absent. To persecute includes both open
   violence and secret snares.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But if it be true that he who offers a cup of water does
   not lose his reward, consequently he who has been wronged but by a
   single word of calumny, shall not be without a reward. But that the
   reviled may have a claim to this blessing, two things are necessary, it
   must be false, and it must be for God's sake; otherwise he has not the
   reward of this blessing; therefore He adds, "falsely for my sake."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 5: This I suppose was added because of those
   who wish to boast of persecutions and evil reports of their shame, and
   therefore claim to belong to Christ because many evil things are said
   of them; but either these are true, or when false yet they are not for
   Christ's sake.

   Greg., Hom. in Ezech. i. 9, 17: What hurt can you receive when men
   detract from you, though you have no defence but only your own
   conscience? But as we ought not to stir up wilfully the tongues of
   slanderers, lest they perish for their slander, yet when their own
   malice has instigated them, we should endure it with equanimity, that
   our merit may be added to.

   "Rejoice," He says, "and exult, for your reward is abundant in heaven."

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: Rejoice, that is, in mind, exult with the body, for
   your reward is not great only but "abundant in heaven."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 5: Do not suppose that by heaven here is meant
   the upper regions of the sky of this visible world, for your reward is
   not to be placed in things that are seen, but by "in heaven" understand
   the spiritual firmament, where everlasting righteousness dwells. Those
   then whose joy is in things spiritual will even here have some
   foretaste of that reward; but it will be made perfect in every part
   when this mortal shall have put on immortality.

   Jerome: This it is in the power of any one of us to attain, that when
   our good character is injured by calumny, we rejoice in the Lord. He
   only who seeks after empty glory cannot attain this. Let us then
   rejoice and exult, that our reward may be prepared for us in heaven.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For by how much any is pleased with the praise of men,
   by so much is he grieved with their evil speaking. But if you seek your
   glory in heaven, you will not fear any slanders on earth.

   Gregory, Hom. in Ezech., i, 9, 17: Yet ought we sometimes to check our
   defamers, lest by spreading evil reports of us, they corrupt the
   innocent hearts of those who might hear good from us.

   Gloss. non occ.: He invites them to patience not only by the prospect
   of reward, but by example, when He adds, "for so persecuted they the
   Prophets who were before you."

   Remig.: For a man in sorrow receives great comfort from the
   recollection of the sufferings of others, who are set before him as an
   example of patience; as if He had said, Remember that ye are His
   Apostles, of whom also they were Prophets.

   Chrys.: At the same time He signifies His equality in honour with His
   Father, as if He had said, As they suffered for my Father, so shall ye
   suffer for me. And in saying, "The Prophets who were before you," He
   teaches that they themselves are already become Prophets.

   Aug.: "Persecuted" He says generally, comprehending both reproaches and
   defamation of character.
     __________________________________________________________________

   13. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his
   savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for
   nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: When He had delivered to His Apostles such sublime precepts, so
   much greater than the precepts of the Law, that they might not be
   dismayed and say, How shall we be able to fulfil these things? He
   sooths their fears by mingling praises with His instructions, saying,
   "Ye are the salt of the earth." This shews them how necessary were
   these precepts for them. Not for your own salvation merely, or for a
   single nation, but for the whole world is this doctrine committed to
   you. It is not for you then to flatter and deal smoothly with men, but,
   on the contrary, to be rough and biting as salt is. When for thus
   offending men by reproving them ye are reviled, rejoice; for this is
   the proper effect of salt to be harsh and grating to the depraved
   palate. Thus the evil-speaking of others will bring you no
   inconvenience, but will rather be a testimony of your firmness.

   Hilary: There may be here seen a propriety in our Lord's language which
   may be gathered by considering the Apostle's office, and the nature of
   salt. This, used as it is by men for almost every purpose, preserves
   from decay those bodies which are sprinkled with it; and in this, as
   well as in every sense of its flavour as a condiment, the parallel is
   most exact.

   The Apostles are preachers of heavenly things, and thus, as it were,
   salters with eternity; rightly called "the salt of the earth," as by
   the virtue of their teaching, they, as it were, salt and preserve
   bodies for eternity.

   Remig.: Moreover, salt is changed into another kind of substance by
   three means, water, the heat of the sun, and the breath of the wind.
   Thus Apostolic men also were changed into spiritual regeneration by the
   water of baptism, the heat of love, and the breath of the Holy Spirit.
   That heavenly wisdom also, which the Apostles preached, dries up the
   humours of carnal works, removes the foulness and putrefaction of evil
   conversation, kills the work of lustful thoughts, and also that worm of
   which it is said "their worm dieth not." [Isa 66:24]

   Remig.: The Apostles are "the salt of the earth," that is, of worldly
   men who are called the earth, because they love this earth.

   Jerome: Or, because by the Apostles the whole human race is seasoned.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: A doctor when he is adorned with all the preceding
   virtues, then is like good salt, and his whole people are salted by
   seeing and hearing him.

   Remig.: It should be known, that in the Old Testament no sacrifice was
   offered to God unless it were first sprinkled with salt, for none can
   present an acceptable sacrifice to God without the flavour of heavenly
   wisdom.

   Hilary: And because man is ever liable to change, He therefore warns
   the Apostles, who have been entitled "the salt of the earth," to
   continue steadfast in the might of the power committed to them, when He
   adds, "If the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?"

   Jerome: That is, if the doctor have erred, by what other doctor shall
   he be corrected?

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 6: If you by whom the nations are to be salted
   shall lose the kingdom of heaven through fear of temporal persecution,
   who are they by whom your error shall be corrected? Another copy has,
   "If the salt have lost all sense," shewing that they must be esteemed
   to have lost their sense, who either pursuing abundance, or fearing
   lack of temporal goods, lose those which are eternal, and which men can
   neither give nor take away.

   Hilary: But if the doctors having become senseless, and having lost all
   the savour they once enjoyed, are unable to restore soundness to things
   corrupt, they are become useless; and "are thenceforth fit only to be
   cast out and trodden by men."

   Jerome: The illustration is taken from husbandry. Salt, though it be
   necessary for seasoning of meats and preserving flesh, has no further
   use. Indeed we read in Scripture of vanquished cities sown with salt by
   the victors, that nothing should thenceforth grow there.

   Gloss. ap. Anselm: When then they who are the heads have fallen away,
   they are fit for no use but to be cast out from the office of teacher.

   Hilary: Or even cast out from the Church's store rooms to be trodden
   under foot by those that walk.

   Aug.: Not he that suffers persecution is trodden under foot of men, but
   he who through fear of persecution falls away. For we can tread only on
   what is below us; but he is no way below us, who however much he may
   suffer in the body, yet has his heart fixed in heaven.
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot
   be hid."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss: As the doctors by their good conversation are the salt with
   which the people is salted; so by their word of doctrine they are the
   light by which the ignorant are enlightened.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But to live well must go before to teach well; hence
   after He had called the Apostles "the salt," He goes on to call them
   "the light of the world."

   Or, for that salt preserves a thing in its present state that it should
   not change for the worse, but that light brings it into a better state
   by enlightening it; therefore the Apostles were first called salt with
   respect to the Jews and that Christian body which had the knowledge of
   God, and which they keep in that knowledge; and now light with respect
   to the Gentiles whom they bring to the light of that knowledge.

   Aug.: By the world here we must not understand heaven and earth, but
   the men who are in the world; or those who love the world for whose
   enlightenment the Apostles were sent.

   Hilary: It is the nature of a light to emit its rays whithersoever it
   is carried about, and when brought into a house to dispel the darkness
   of that house. Thus the world, placed beyond the pale of the knowledge
   of God, was held in the darkness of ignorance, till the light of
   knowledge was brought to it by the Apostles, and thenceforward the
   knowledge of God shone bright, and from their small bodies,
   whithersoever they went about, light is ministered to the darkness.

   Remig.: For as the sun sends forth his beams, so the Lord, the Sun of
   righteousness, sent forth his Apostles to dispel the night of the human
   race.

   Chrys.: Mark how great His promise to them, men who were scarce known
   in their own country that the fame of them should reach to the ends of
   the earth. The persecutions which He had foretold, were not able to dim
   their light, yea they made it but more conspicuous.

   Jerome: He instructs them what should be the boldness of their
   preaching, that as Apostles they should not be hidden through fear,
   like lamps under a corn-measure, but should stand forth with all
   confidence, and what they have heard in the secret chambers, that
   declare upon the house tops.

   Chrys.: Thus shewing them that they ought to be careful of their own
   walk and conversation, seeing they were set in the eyes of all, like a
   city on a hill, or a lamp on a stand.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This city is the Church of which it is said, "Glorious
   things are spoken of thee, thou city of God." [Ps 87:3] Its citizens
   are all the faithful, of whom the Apostle speaks, "Ye are
   fellow-citizens of the saints." [Eph 2:19] It is built upon Christ the
   hill, of whom Daniel thus, "A stone hewed without hands" [Dan 2:34]
   became a great mountain.

   Aug.: Or, the mountain is the great righteousness, which is signified
   by the mountain from which the Lord is now teaching.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" though it would;
   the mountain which bears makes it to be seen of all men; so the
   Apostles and Priests who are founded on Christ cannot be hidden even
   though they would, because Christ makes them manifest.

   Hilary: Or, the city signifies the flesh which He had taken on Him;
   because that in Him by this assumption of human nature, there was as it
   were a collection of the human race, and we by partaking in His flesh
   become inhabitants of that city. He cannot therefore be hid, because
   being set in the height of God's power, He is offered to be
   contemplated of all men in admiration of his works.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: How Christ manifests His saints, suffering them not to
   be hid, He shews by another comparison, adding, "Neither do men light a
   lamp to put it under a corn-measure," but on a stand.

   Chrys.: Or, in the illustration of the city, He signified His own
   power, by the lamp He exhorts the Apostles to preach with boldness; as
   though He said, I indeed have lighted the lamp, but that it continue to
   burn will be your care, not for your own sakes only, but both for
   others who shall receive its light and for God's glory.'

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The lamp is the Divine word, of which it is said, "Thy
   word is a lamp unto my feet." [Ps 119:105] They who light this lamp are
   the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

   Aug.: With what meaning do we suppose the words, "to put it under a
   corn-measure," were said? To express concealment simply, or that the
   "corn-measure" has a special signification? The putting the lamp under
   the corn-measure means the preferring bodily ease and enjoyment to the
   duty of preaching the Gospel, and hiding the light of good teaching
   under temporal gratification. The corn-measure aptly denotes the things
   of the body, whether because our reward shall be measured out to us, [2
   Cor 5:10] as each one shall receive the things done in the body; or
   because worldly goods which pertain to the body come and go within a
   certain measure of time, which is signified by the corn-measure,
   whereas things eternal and spiritual are contained within no such
   limit.

   He places his lamp upon a stand, who subdues his body to the ministry
   of the word, setting the preaching of the truth highest, and subjecting
   the body beneath it. For the body itself serves to make doctrine shine
   more clear, while the voice and other motions of the body in good works
   serve to recommend it to them that learn.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, men of the world may be figured in the
   "corn-measure" as these are empty above, but full beneath, so worldly
   men are foolish in spiritual things, but wise in earthly things, and
   therefore like a corn-measure they keep the word of God hid, whenever
   for any worldly cause he had not dared to proclaim the word openly, and
   the truth of the faith. The stand for the lamp is the Church which
   bears the word of life, and all ecclesiastical persons. [margin note:
   Phil 2:15]

   Hilary: Or, the Lord likened the Synagogue to a corn-measure, which
   only receiving within itself such fruit as was raised; contained a
   certain measure of limited obedience.

   Ambrose. non occ.: And therefore let none shut up his faith within the
   measure of the Law, but have recourse to the Church in which the grace
   of the sevenfold Spirit shines forth.

   Bede, in Loc. quoad sens.: Or, Christ Himself has lighted this lamp,
   when He filled the earthen vessel of human nature with the fire of His
   Divinity, which He would not either hide from them that believe, nor
   put under a bushel that is shut up under the measure of the Law, or
   confine within the limits of any one oration. The lampstand is the
   Church, on which He set the lamp, when He affixed to our foreheads the
   faith of His incarnation.

   Hilary: Or, the lamp, i.e. Christ Himself, is set on its stand when He
   was suspended on the Cross in His passion, to give light for ever to
   those that dwell in the Church; "to give light," He says, "to all that
   are in the house."

   Aug.: For it is not absurd if any one will understand "the house" to be
   the Church.

   Or, "the house" may be the world itself, according to what He said
   above, "Ye are the light of the world."

   Hilary: He instructs the Apostles to shine with such a light, that in
   the admiration of their work God may be praised, "Let your light so
   shine before men, that they may see your good works."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That is, teaching with so pure a light, that men may not
   only hear your words, but see your works, that those whom as lamps ye
   have enlightened by the word, as salt ye may season by your example.
   For by those teachers who do as well as teach, God is magnified; for
   the discipline of the master is seen in the behavior of the family.

   And therefore it follows, "and they shall glorify your Father which is
   in heaven."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 7: Had He only said, "That they may see your
   good works," He would have seemed to have set up as an end to be sought
   the praised of men, which the hypocrites desire; but by adding, "and
   glorify your Father," he teaches that we should not seek as an end to
   please men with our good works, but referring all to the glory of God,
   therefore seek to please men, that in that God may be glorified.

   Hilary: He means not that we should seek glory of men, but that though
   we conceal it, our work may shine forth in honour of God to those among
   whom we live.
     __________________________________________________________________

   17. "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am
   not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

   18. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
   one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

   19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,
   and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of
   heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called
   great in the kingdom of heaven."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss. ord.: Having now exhorted His hearers to undergo all things for
   righteousness' sake, and also not to hide what they should receive, but
   to learn more for others' sake, that they may teach others, He now goes
   on to tell them what they should teach, as though He had been asked,
   What is this which you would not have hid, and for which you would have
   all things endured? Are you about to speak any thing beyond what is
   written in the Law and the Prophets;' hence it is He says, "Think not
   that I am come to subvert the Law or the Prophets."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And that for two reasons. First, that by these words He
   might admonish His disciples, that as He fulfilled the Law, so they
   should strive to fulfil it. Secondly, because the Jews would falsely
   accuse them as subverting the Law, therefore he answers the calumny
   beforehand, but in such a manner as that He should not be thought to
   come simply to preach the Law as the Prophets had done.

   Remig.: He here asserts two things; He denies that He was come to
   subvert the Law, and affirms that He was come to fulfil it.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 8: In this last sentence again there is a
   double sense; to fulfil the Law, either by adding something which it
   had not, or by doing what it commands.

   Chrys., Hom. 16: Christ then fulfilled the Prophets by accomplishing
   what was therein foretold concerning Himself - and the Law, first, by
   transgressing none of its precepts; secondly, by justifying by faith,
   which the Law could not do by the letter.

   Aug., cont. Faust., 19, 7. et seq.: And lastly, because even for them
   who were under grace, it was hard in this mortal life to fulfil that of
   the Law, "Thou shalt not lust," He being made a Priest by the sacrifice
   of His flesh, obtained for us this indulgence, even in this fulfilling
   the Law, that where through our infirmity we could not, we should be
   strengthened through His perfection, of whom as our head we all are
   members.

   For so I think must be taken these words, "to fulfil" the Law, by
   adding to it, that is, such things as either contribute to the
   explanation of the old glosses, or to enable to keep them. For the Lord
   has shewed us that even a wicked motion of the thoughts to the wrong of
   a brother is to be accounted a kind of murder.

   The Lord also teaches us, that it is better to keep near to the truth
   without swearing, than with a true oath to come near to blasphemy.

   But how, ye Manichaeans, do you not receive the Law and the Prophets,
   seeing Christ here says, that He is come not to subvert but to fulfil
   them? To this the heretic Faustus replies [ed. note: Faustus was of
   Milevis in Africa and a Bishop and controversialist of the Manichees.
   He was a man of considerable abilities. Augustine was first his hearer,
   and in after years his opponent; and in his work against him he answers
   him seriatim. In this way the treatise of Faustus is preserved to us.],
   Whose testimony is there that Christ spoke this? That of Matthew.

   How was it then that John does not give this saying, who was with Him
   in the mount, but only Matthew, who did not follow Jesus till after He
   had come down from the mount? To this Augustine replies, If none can
   speak truth concerning Christ, but who saw and heard Him, there is no
   one at this day who speaks truth concerning Him.

   Why then could not Matthew hear from John's mouth the truth as Christ
   had spoken, as well as we who are born so long after can speak the
   truth out of John's book? In the same manner also it is, that not
   Matthew's Gospel, but also these of Luke and Mark are received by us,
   and on no inferior authority. And, that the Lord Himself might have
   told Matthew the things He had done before He called him.

   But speak out and say that you do not believe the Gospel, for they who
   believe nothing in the Gospel but what they wish to believe, believe
   themselves rather than the Gospel. To this Faustus rejoins, We will
   prove that this was not written by Matthew, but by some other hand,
   unknown, in his name. For below he says, "Jesus saw a man sitting at
   the toll-office, Matthew by name." [Matt 9:9] Who writing of himself
   say, saw a man,' and not rather, saw me?' Augustine; Matthew does no
   more than John does, when he says, "Peter turning round saw that other
   disciple whom Jesus loved;" as it is well known that this is the common
   manner of Scripture writers, when writing their own actions.

   Faustus again, But what say you to this, that the very assurance that
   He was not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets, was the direct way
   to rouse their suspicions that He was? For He had yet done nothing that
   could lead the Jews to think that this was His object. Augustine; This
   is a very weak objection, for we do not deny that to the Jews who had
   no understanding, Christ might have appeared as threatening the
   destruction of the Law and the Prophets.

   Faustus; But what if the Law and the Prophets do not accept this
   fulfilment, according to that in Deuteronomy, "These commandments I
   give unto thee, thou shalt keep, thou shalt not add any thing to them,
   nor take away." Augustine; Here Faustus does not understand what it is
   to fulfil the Law, when he supposes that it must be taken of adding
   words to it. The fulfilment of the Law is love, which the Lord hath
   given in sending His Holy Spirit. The Law is fulfilled either when the
   things there commanded are done, or when the things there prophesied
   come to pass.

   Faustus; But in that we confess that Jesus was author of a New
   Testament, what else is it than to confess that He has done away with
   the Old? Augustine; In the Old Testament were figure of things to come,
   which, when the things themselves were brought in by Christ, ought to
   have been taken away, that in that very taking away the Law and the
   Prophets might be fulfilled wherein it was written that God gave a New
   Testament.

   Faustus; Therefore if Christ did say this thing, He either said it with
   some other meaning, or He spoke falsely, (which God forbid,) or we must
   take the other alternative, He did not speak it at all. But that Jesus
   spoke falsely none will aver, therefore He either spoke it with another
   meaning, or He spake it not at all. For myself I am rescued from the
   necessity of this alternative by the Manichaean belief, which from the
   first taught me not to believe all those things which are read in
   Jesus' name as having been spoken by Him; for that there be many tares
   which to corrupt the good seed some nightly sower has scattered up and
   down through nearly the whole of Scripture.

   Augustine; Manichaeus taught an impious error, that you should receive
   only so much of the Gospel as does not conflict with your heresy, and
   not receive whatever does conflict with it. We have learned of the
   Apostle that religious caution, "Whoever preaches unto you another
   Gospel than that we have preached, let him be accursed." [Gal 1:8] The
   Lord also has explained what the tares signify, not things false mixed
   with the true Scriptures, as you interpret, but men who are children of
   the wicked one.

   Faustus; Should a Jew then enquire of you why you do not keep the
   precepts of the Law and the Prophets which Christ here declares He came
   not to destroy but to fulfil, you will be driven either to accept an
   empty superstition, or to repudiate this chapter as false, or to deny
   that you are Christ's disciple.

   Augustine; The Catholics are not in any difficulty on account of this
   chapter as though they did not observe the Law and the Prophets; for
   they do cherish love to God and their neighbour, "on which hang all the
   Law and the Prophets." And whatever in the Law and the Prophets was
   foreshewn, whether in things done, in the celebration of sacramental
   rites, or in forms of speech, all these they know to be fulfilled in
   Christ and the Church. Wherefore we neither submit to a false
   superstition, nor reject the chapter, nor deny ourselves to be Christ's
   disciples. He then who says, that unless Christ had destroyed the Law
   and the Prophets, the Mosaic rites would have continued along with the
   Christian ordinances, may further affirm, that unless Christ had
   destroyed the Law and the Prophets, He would yet be only promised as to
   be born, to suffer, to rise again. But inasmuch as He did not destroy,
   but rather fulfil them, His birth, passion, and resurrection, are now
   no more promised as things future, which were signified by the
   Sacraments of the Law; but He is preached as already born, crucified,
   and risen, which are signified by the Sacraments now celebrated by
   Christians.

   It is clear then how great is the error of those who suppose, that when
   the signs or sacraments are changed, the things themselves are
   different, whereas the same things which the Prophetic ordinance had
   held forth as promises, the Evangelic ordinance points to as completed.

   Faustus: Supposing these to be Christ's genuine words, we should
   enquire what was His motive for speaking thus, whether to soften the
   blind hostility of the Jews, who when they saw their holy things
   trodden under foot by Him, would not have so much as given Him a
   hearing; or whether He really said them to instruct us, who of the
   Gentiles should believe, to submit to the yoke of the Law. If this last
   were not His design, then the first must have been; nor was there any
   deceit or fraud in such purpose.

   For of laws there be three sorts. The first that of the Hebrews, called
   the "law of sin and death," [Rom 8:2] by Paul; the second that of the
   Gentiles, which he calls the law of nature, saying, "By nature the
   Gentiles do the deeds of the law;" [Rom 2:14] the third, the law of
   truth, which he means, "The law of the Spirit of life." Also there are
   Prophets some of the Jews, such as are well known; others of the
   Gentiles as Paul speaks, "A prophet of their own hath said;" [Tit 1:12]
   and others of the truth of whom Jesus speaks, "I send unto you wise men
   and prophets." [Matt 23:34]

   Now had Jesus in the following part of this Sermon brought forward any
   of the Hebrew observances to shew how he had fulfilled them, no one
   would have doubted that it was of the Jewish Law and Prophets that He
   was now speaking; but when He brings forward in this way only those
   more ancient precepts, "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit
   adultery," which were promulged of old to Enoch, Seth, and the other
   righteous men, who does not see that He is here speaking of the Law and
   Prophets of truth? Wherever He has occasion to speak of any thing
   merely Jewish, He plucks it up by the very roots, giving precepts
   directly the contrary; for example, in the case of that precept, "An
   eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

   Augustine; Which was the Law and which the Prophets, that Christ came
   "not to subvert but to fulfil," is manifest, to wit, the Law given by
   Moses. And the distinction which Faustus draw between the precepts of
   the righteous men before Moses, and the Mosaic Law, affirming that
   Christ fulfilled that one but annulled the other, is not so. We affirm
   that the Law of Moses was both well suited to its temporary purpose,
   and was not now subverted, but fulfilled by Christ, as will be seen in
   each particular. This was not understood by those who continued in such
   obstinate error, that they compelled the Gentiles to Judaize - those
   heretics, I mean, who were called Nazarenes.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But since all things which should befall from the very
   beginning of the world to the end of it, were in type and figure
   foreshewn in the Law, that God may not be thought to be ignorant of any
   of those things that take place, He therefore here declares, that
   heaven and earth should not pass till all things thus foreshewn in the
   Law should have their actual accomplishment.

   Remig.: "Amen" is a Hebrew word, and my be rendered in Latin, vere,'
   fidenter,' or fiat;' that is, truly,' faithfully,' or so be it.' The
   Lord uses it either because of the hardness of heart of those who were
   slow to believe, or to attract more particularly the attention of those
   that did believe.

   Hilary: From the expression here used, "pass," we may suppose that the
   constituting elements of heaven and earth shall not be annihilated.
   [ed. note: The text of Hil. has maxima, ut arbitramur, elementa esse
   solvends.']

   Remig.: But shall abide in their essence, but "pass" through renewal.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont. i, 8: By the words "one iota or one point shall
   not pass from the Law," we must understand only a strong metaphor of
   completeness, drawn from the letters of writing, iota being the least
   of the letters, made with one stroke of the pen, and a point being a
   slight dot at the end of the same letter. The words there shew that the
   Law shall be completed to the very least matter.

   Rabanus: He fitly mentions the Greek iota, and not the Hebrew job,
   because the iota stands in Greek for the number ten, and so there is an
   allusion to the Decalogue of which the Gospel is the point and
   perfection.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: If even an honourable man blushes to be found in a
   falsehood, and a wise man lets not fall empty any word he has once
   spoken, how could it be that the words of heaven should fall to the
   ground empty? Hence He concludes, "Whoso shall break the least of these
   commandments, &c." And, I suppose, the Lord goes on to reply Himself to
   the question, Which are the least commandments? Namely, these which I
   am now about to speak.

   Chrys.: He speaks not this of the old laws, but of those which He was
   now going to enact, of which he says, "the least," though they were all
   great. For as He so oft spoke humbly of Himself, so does He now speak
   humbly of His precepts.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; the precepts of Moses are easy to obey; "Thou
   shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery." The very greatness of
   the crime is a check upon the desire of committing it; therefore the
   reward of observance is small, the sin of transgression great.

   But Christ's precepts, "Thou shalt not be angry, Thou shalt not lust,"
   are hard to obey, and therefore in their reward they are great, in
   their transgression, least.' It is thus He speaks of these precepts of
   Christ, such as "Thou shalt not be angry, Thou shalt not lust,' as the
   least;' and they who commit these lesser sins, are the least in the
   kingdom of God; that is, he who has been angry and not sinned
   grievously is secure from the punishment of eternal damnation; yet he
   does not attain that glory which they attain who fulfil even these
   least.

   Aug.: Or, the precepts of the Law are called the least,' as opposed to
   Christ's precepts which are great. The least commandments are signified
   by the iota and the point. "He," therefore, "who breaks them, and
   teaches men so," that is, to do as he does, "shall be called least in
   the kingdom of heaven." Hence we may perhaps conclude, that it is not
   true that there shall none be there except they be great.

   Gloss. ord.: By break,' is meant, the not doing what one understands
   rightly, or the not understanding what one has corrupted, or the
   destroying the perfectness of Christ's additions.

   Chrys.: Or, when you hear the words, "least in the kingdom of heaven,"
   imagine nothing less than the punishment of hell. For He oft uses the
   word kingdom,' not only of the joys of heaven, but of the time of the
   resurrection, and of the terrible coming of Christ.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., 12, 1: Or, by the kingdom of heaven is to be
   understood the Church, in which that teacher who breaks a commandment
   is called least, because he whose life is despised, it remains that his
   preaching be also despised.

   Hilary: Or, He calls the passion, and the cross, the least, which if
   one shall not confess openly, but be ashamed of them, he shall be
   least, that is, last, and as it were no man; but to him that confesses
   it He promises the great glory of a heavenly calling.

   Jerome: This head is closely connected with the preceding. It is
   directed against the Pharisees, who, despising the commandments of God,
   set up traditions of their own, and means that their teaching the
   people would not avail themselves, if they destroyed the very least
   commandment in the Law.

   We may take it in another sense. The learning of the master if joined
   with sin however small, loses him the highest place, nor does it avail
   any to teach righteousness, if he destroys it in his life. Perfect
   bliss is for him who fulfils in deed what he teaches in word.

   Aug.: Otherwise; "he who breaks the least of these commandments," that
   is, of Moses' Law, "and teaches men so, shall be called the least; but
   he who shall do (these least), and so teach," shall not indeed be
   esteemed great, yet not so little as he who breaks them. That he should
   be great, he ought to do and to teach the things which Christ now
   teaches.
     __________________________________________________________________

   20. "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed
   the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case
   enter into the kingdom of heaven.

   21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not
   kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

   22. But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother
   without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall
   say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but
   whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Hilary: Beautiful entrance He here makes to a teaching beyond the works
   of the Law, declaring to the Apostles that they should have no
   admission to the kingdom of heaven without a righteousness beyond that
   of Pharisees.

   Chrys.: By righteousness is here meant universal virtue. But observe
   the superior power of grace, in that He requires of His disciples who
   were yet uninstructed to be better than those who were masters unto the
   Old Testament. Thus He does not call the Scribes and Pharisees
   unrighteous, but speaks of "their righteousness." And see how ever
   herein He confirms the Old Testament that He compares it with the New,
   for the greater and the less are always of the same kind.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees are the
   commandments of Moses; but the commandments of Christ are the
   fulfilment of that Law. This then is His meaning; Whosoever in addition
   to the commandments of the Law shall not fulfil My commandments, shall
   not enter into the kingdom of heaven. For those indeed save from the
   punishment due to transgressors of the Law, but do not bring into the
   kingdom; but My commandments both deliver from punishment, and bring
   into the kingdom.

   But seeing that to break the least commandments and not to keep them
   are one and the same, why does He say above of him that breaks the
   commandments, that "he shall be the least in the kingdom of heaven,"
   and here of him who keeps them not, that he "shall not enter into the
   kingdom of heaven?" See how to be the least in the kingdom is the same
   with not entering into the kingdom. For a man to be in the kingdom is
   not to reign with Christ, but only to be numbered among Christ's
   people; what He says then of him that breaks the commandments is, that
   he shall indeed be reckoned among Christians, yet the least of them.
   but he who enters into the kingdom, becomes partaker of His kingdom
   with Christ. Therefore he who does not enter into the kingdom of
   heaven, shall not indeed have a part of Christ's glory, yet shall he be
   in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the number of those over whom
   Christ reigns as King of heaven.

   Aug., City of God, book 20, ch. 9: Otherwise, "unless your
   righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees,"
   that is, exceed that of those who break what themselves teach, as it is
   elsewhere said of them, "They say, and do not;" [Matt 23:3] just as if
   He had said, Unless your righteousness exceed in this way that ye do
   what ye teach, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

   We must therefore understand something other than usual by the kingdom
   of heaven here, in which are to be both he who breaks what he teaches,
   and he who does it, but the one "least," the other, "great;" this
   kingdom of heaven is the present Church. In another sense is the
   kingdom of heaven spoken of that place where none enters but he who
   does what he teaches, and this is the Church as it shall be hereafter.

   Aug., cont. Faust., 19, 31: This expression, the kingdom of heaven, so
   often used by our Lord, I know not whether any one would find in the
   books of the Old Testament. It belongs properly to the New Testament
   revelation, kept for His mouth whom the Old Testament figured as a King
   that should come to reign over His servants. This end, to which its
   precepts were to be referred, was hidden in the Old Testament, though
   even that had its saints who looked forward to the revelation that
   should be made.

   Gloss. non occ.: Or, we may explain by referring to the way in which
   the Scribes and Pharisees understood the Law, not to the actual
   contents of the Law.

   Aug., cont. Faust., 19, 30: For almost all the precepts which the Lord
   gave, saying, "But I say unto you," are found in those ancient books.
   But because they knew not of any murder, besides the destruction of the
   body, the Lord shews them that every evil thought to the hurt of a
   brother is to be held for a kind of murder.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Christ willing to shew that He is the same God who spoke
   of old in the Law, and who now gives commandments in grace, now puts
   first of all his commandments, [margin note: vid. Matt 19:18] that one
   which was the first in the Law, first, at least, of all those that
   forbade injury to our neighbour.

   Aug., City of God, book 1, ch. 20: We do not, because we have heard
   that, "Thou shalt not kill," deem it therefore unlawful to pluck a
   twig, according to the error of the Manichees, nor consider it to
   extend to irrational brutes; by the most righteous ordinance of the
   Creator their life and death is subservient to our needs.

   There remains, therefore, only man of whom we can understand it, and
   that not any other man, nor you only; for he who kills himself does
   nothing else but kill a man. Yet have not they in any way done contrary
   to this commandment who have waged wars under God's authority, or they
   who charged with the administration of civil power have by most just
   and reasonable orders inflicted death upon criminals. Also Abraham was
   not charged with cruelty, but even received the praise of piety, for
   that he was willing to obey God in slaying his son.

   Those are to be excepted from this command whom God commands to be put
   to death, either by a general law given, or by particular admonition at
   any special time. For he is not the slayer who ministers to the
   command, like a hilt to one smiting with a sword, nor is Samson
   otherwise to be acquitted for destroying himself along with his
   enemies, than because he was so instructed privily of the Holy Spirit,
   who through him wrought the miracles.

   Chrys.: This, "it was said by them of old time," shews that it was long
   ago that they had received this precept. He says this that He might
   rouse His sluggish hearers to proceed to more sublime precepts, as a
   teacher might say to an indolent boy, Know you not how long time you
   have spent already in merely learning to spell? In that, "I say unto
   you," mark the authority of the legislator, none of the old Prophets
   spoke thus; but rather, "Thus saith the Lord." They as servants
   repeated the commands of their Lord; He as a Son declared the will of
   His Father, which was also His own. They preached to their fellow
   servants; He as master ordained a law for his slaves.

   Aug., City of God, 4, 4: There are two different opinions among
   philosophers concerning the passions of the mind: the Stoics do not
   allow that any passion is incident to the wise man; the Peripatetics
   affirm that they are incident to the wise man but in a moderate degree
   and subject to reason; as, for example, when mercy is shewn in such a
   manner that justice is preserved. But in the Christian rule we do not
   enquire whether the mind is first affected with anger or with sorrow,
   but whence.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He who is angry without cause shall be judged; but he
   who is angry with cause shall not be judged. For if there were no
   anger, neither teaching would profit, nor judgments hold, nor crimes be
   controlled. So that he who on just cause is not angry, is in sin; for
   an unreasonable patience sows vices, breeds carelessness, and invites
   the good as well as the bad to do evil.

   Jerome: Some copies add here the words, without cause; but by the true
   reading [ed. note: Vid. also in Eph. iv. 31. Augustine says the same
   speaking of Greek codd. Retract. i. 19. Cassian rejects it too,
   Institut. viii. 20. Erasmus, Bengel. follow. vid. Wetstein. in loc. who
   would keep the word on the ground of a "consensus," of Greek and Latin
   Fathers and Versions. There is an agreement of existed MSS. also.] the
   precept is made unconditional, and anger altogether forbidden. For when
   we are told to pray for them that persecute us, all occasion of anger
   is taken away. The words "without cause" then must be erased, for "the
   wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Yet that anger which arises from just cause is indeed
   not anger, but a sentence of judgment. For anger properly means a
   feeling of passion; but he whose anger arises from just cause does not
   suffer any passion, and is rightly said to sentence, not to be angry
   with.

   Aug., Retract., i, 19: This also we affirm should be taken into
   consideration, what is being angry with a brother; for he is not angry
   with a brother who is angry at his offence. He then it is who is angry
   without cause, who is angry with his brother, and not with the offence.

   Aug., City of God, book 14, ch. 9: But to be angry with a brother to
   the end that he may be corrected, there is no man of sound mind who
   forbids. Such sort of motions as come of love of good and of holy
   charity, are not to be called vices when they follow right reason.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But I think that Christ does not speak of anger of the
   flesh, but anger of the heart; for the flesh cannot be so disciplined
   as not to feel the passion. When then a man is angry but refrains from
   doing what his anger prompts him, his flesh is angry, but his heart is
   free from anger.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 9: And there is this same distinction between
   the first case here put by the Saviour and the second: in the first
   case there is one thing, the passion; in the second two, anger and
   speech following thereupon, "He who saith to his brother, Raca, is in
   danger of the council." Some seek the interpretation of this word in
   the Greek, and think that "Raca" means ragged, from the Greek rhachos,
   a rag. But more probably it is not a word of any meaning, but a mere
   sound expressing the passion of the mind, which grammarians call an
   interjection, such as the cry of pain, hen.'

   Chrys.: Or, Racha is a word signifying contempt, and worthlessness. For
   where we in speaking to servants or children say, Go thou, or, Tell
   thou him; in Syriac they would say Racha for thou.' For the Lord
   descends to the smallest trifles even of our behaviour, and bids us
   treat one another with mutual respect.

   Jerome: Or, Racha is a Hebrew word signifying, empty,' vain;' as we
   might say in the common phrase of reproach, empty-pate.' Observe that
   He says brother; for who is our brother, but he who has the same Father
   as ourselves?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And it were an unworthy reproach to him who has in him
   the Holy Spirit to call him empty.'

   Aug.: In the third case are three things; anger, the voice expressive
   of anger, and a word of reproach, "Thou fool." Thus here are three
   different degrees of sin; in the first when one is angry, but keeps the
   passion in his heart without giving any sign of it. If again he suffers
   any sound expressive of the passion to escape him, it is more than had
   he silently suppressed the rising anger; and if he speaks a word which
   conveys a direct reproach, it is a yet greater sin.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But as none is empty who has the Holy Spirit, so none is
   a fool who has the knowledge of Christ; and if Racha signifies empty,'
   it is one and the same thing, as far as the meaning of the word goes,
   to say Racha, or thou fool.'

   But there is a difference in the meaning of the speaker; for Racha was
   a word in common use among the Jews, not expressing wrath or hate, but
   rather in a light careless way expressing confident familiarity, not
   anger. But you will perhaps say, if Racha is not an expression of
   wrath, how is it then a sin? Because it is said for contention, not for
   edification; and if we ought not to speak even good words but for the
   sake of edification, how much more not such as are in themselves bad?

   Aug.: Here we have three arraignments, the judgement, the council, and
   hell-fire, being different stages ascending from the lesser to the
   greater. For in the judgment there is yet opportunity for defence; to
   the council belongs the respite of the sentence, what time the judges
   confer among themselves what sentence ought to be inflicted; in the
   third, hell-fire, condemnation is certain, and the punishment fixed.
   Hence is seen what a difference is between the righteousness of the
   Pharisees and Christ; in the first, murder subjects a man to judgment;
   in the second, anger alone, which is the least of the three degrees of
   sin.

   Rabanus: The Saviour here names the torments of hell, Gehenna, a name
   thought to be derived from a valley consecrated to idols near
   Jerusalem, and filled of old with dead bodies, and defiled by Josiah,
   as we read in the Book of Kings.

   Chrys.: This is the first mention of hell, though the kingdom of Heaven
   had been mentioned some time before, which shews that the gifts of the
   one come of His love, the condemnation of the other of our sloth.

   Many thinking this a punishment too severe for a mere word, say that
   this was said figuratively. But I fear that if we thus cheat ourselves
   with words here, we shall suffer punishment in deed there. Think not
   then this too heavy a punishment, when so many sufferings and sins have
   their beginning in a word; a little word has often begotten a murder,
   and overturned whole cities. And yet it is not to be thought a little
   word that denies a brother reason and understanding by which we are
   men, and differ from the brutes.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "In danger of the council;" that is, (according to the
   interpretation given by the Apostles in the Constitutions,) in danger
   of being one of that Council which condemned Christ. [ed. note, e: This
   remark is not found in the Apostolical Constitutions as we now have
   them. The text in question, however, is quoted in ii. 32 and 50. So
   again the comment on Matt. vi. 3. is not found in the Constitutions,
   though the text is quoted. vid. Coteler, in Constit. iii. 14. The
   passage quoted in Matt. xxvi. 18, is found in Constit. viii. 2. vid.
   also Usser. Dissert. ix. Pearson. Vind. Ign. p. 1. c. 4 fin.]

   Hilary: Or, he who reproaches with emptiness one full of the Holy
   Spirit, will be arraigned in the assembly of the Saints, and by their
   sentence will be punished for an affront against that Holy Spirit
   Himself.

   Aug.: Should any ask what greater punishment is reserved for murder, if
   evil-speaking is visited with hell-fire? This obliges us to understand,
   that there are degrees in hell.

   Chrys.: Or, "the judgment," and "the council" denote punishment in this
   word; "hell-fire" future punishment. He denounces punishment against
   anger, yet does not mention any special punishment, shewing therein
   that it is not possible that a man should be altogether free from the
   passion. The Council here means the Jewish senate, for He would not
   seem to be always superseding all their established institutions, and
   introducing foreign. [ed. note, f: In this quotation only the last
   sentence is found in Chrys.]

   Aug.: In all these three sentences there are some words understood. In
   the first indeed, as many copies read "without cause," there is nothing
   to be supplied. In the second, "He who saith to his brother, Racha," we
   must supply the words, "without cause;" and again, in "He who says,
   Thou fool," two things are understood, "to his brother," and, "without
   cause." All this forms the defence of the Apostle, when he calls the
   Galatians fools, though he considers them his brethren; for he did it
   not without cause.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
   rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

   24. Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be
   reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 10: If it be not lawful to be angry with a
   brother, or to say to him Racha, or Thou fool, much less is it lawful
   to keep in the memory any thing which might convert anger into hate.

   Jerome: It is not, If thou hast ought against thy brother; but "If thy
   brother has ought against thee," that the necessity of reconciliation
   may be more imperative.

   Aug.: And he has somewhat against us when we have wronged him; and we
   have somewhat against him when he has wronged us, in which case there
   were no need to go to be reconciled to him, seeing we had only to
   forgive him, as we desire the Lord to forgive us.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But if it is he that hath done you the wrong, and yet
   you be the first to seek reconciliation, you shall have a great reward.

   Chrys.: If love alone is not enough to induce us to be reconciled to
   our neighbour, the desire that our work should not remain imperfect,
   and especially in the holy place, should induce us.

   Greg., Hom. 1 in Ezech. viii. 9: Lo He is not willing to accept
   sacrifice at the hands of those who are at variance. Hence then
   consider how great an evil is strife, which throws away what should be
   the means of remission of sin.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: See the mercy of God, that He thinks rather of man's
   benefit than of His own honour; He loves concord in the faithful more
   than offering at His altar; for so long as there are dissensions among
   the faithful, their gift is not looked upon, their prayer is not heard.
   For no one can be a true friend at the same time to two who are enemies
   to each other. In like manner, we do not keep our fealty to God, if we
   do not love His friends and hate His enemies. But such as was the
   offence, such should also be the reconciliation. If you have offended
   in thought, be reconciled in thought; if in words, be reconciled in
   words; if in deeds, in deeds by reconciled. For so it is in every sin,
   in whatsoever kind it was committed, in that kind is the penance done.

   Hilary: He bids us when peace with our fellow-men is restored, then to
   return to peace with God, passing from the love of men to the love of
   God; "Then go and offer thy gift."

   Aug.: If this direction be taken literally, it might lead some to
   suppose that this ought indeed to be so done if our brother is present,
   for that no long time can be meant when we are bid to leave our
   offering there before the altar. For if he be absent, or possibly
   beyond sea, it is absurd to suppose that the offering must be left
   before the altar, to be offered after we have gone over land and sea to
   seek him.

   Wherefore we must embrace an inward, spiritual sense of the whole, if
   we would understand it without involving any absurdity. The gift which
   we offer to God, whether learning, or speech, or whatever it be, cannot
   be accepted of God unless it be supported by faith. If then we have in
   aught harmed a brother, we must go and be reconciled with him, not with
   the bodily feet, but in thoughts of the heart, when in humble
   contrition you may cast yourself at your brother's feet in sight of Him
   whose offering you are about to offer. For thus in the same manner as
   though He were present, you may with unfeigned heart seek His
   forgiveness; and returning thence, that is, bringing back again your
   thoughts to what you had first begun to do, may make your offering.
     __________________________________________________________________

   25. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way
   with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and
   the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

   26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence,
   till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Hilary: The Lord suffers us at no time to be wanting in peaceableness
   of temper, and therefore bids us be reconciled to our adversary
   quickly, while on the road to life, lest we be cast into the season of
   death before peace by joined between us.

   Jerome: The word here in our Latin books is consentiens,' in Greek,
   eunoon, which means, kind,' benevolent.'

   Aug., Serm. in Mont, i, 11: Let us see who this adversary is to whom we
   are bid to be benevolent. It may then be either the Devil, or man, or
   the flesh, or God, or His commandments. But I do not see how we can be
   bid be benevolent, or agreeing with the Devil; for where there is good
   will, there is friendship, and no one will say that friendship should
   be made with the Devil, or that it is well to agree with him, having
   once proclaimed war against him when we renounced him; nor ought we to
   consent with him, with whom had we never consented, we had never come
   into such circumstances.

   Jerome: Some, from that verse of Peter, "Your adversary the Devil, &c."
   [1 Pet 5:8] will have the Saviour's command to be, that we should be
   merciful to the Devil, not causing him to endure punishment for our
   sakes. For as he puts in our way the incentives to vice, if we yield to
   his suggestions, he will be tormented for our sakes.

   Some follow a more forced interpretation, that in baptism we have each
   of us made a compact with the Devil by renouncing him. If we observe
   this compact, then we are agreeing with our adversary, and shall not be
   cast into prison.

   Aug.: I do not see again how it can be understood of man. For how can
   man be said to deliver us to the Judge, when we know only Christ as the
   Judge, before whose tribunal all must be sisted [?]. How then can he
   deliver to the Judge, who has himself to appear before Him? Moreover if
   any has sinned against any by killing him, he has no opportunity of
   agreeing with him in the way, that is in this life; and yet that
   hinders not but that he may be rescued from judgment by repentance.
   Much less do I see how we can be bid be agreeing with the flesh; for
   they are sinners rather who agree with it; but they who bring it into
   subjection, do not agree with it, but compel it to agree with them.

   Jerome: And how can the body be cast into prison if it agree not with
   the spirit, seeing soul and body must go together, and that the flesh
   can do nothing but what the soul shall command?

   Aug.: Perhaps then it is God with whom we are here enjoined to agree.
   He may be said to be our adversary, because we have departed from Him
   by sin, and "He resisteth the proud." Whosoever then shall not have
   been reconciled in this life with God through the death of His Son,
   shall be by Him delivered to the Judge, that is, the Son, to whom He
   has committed all judgment. And man may be said to be "in the way with
   God," because He is every where.

   But if we like not to say that the wicked are with God, who is every
   where present, as we do not say that the blind are with that light
   which is every where around them, there only remains the law of God
   which we can understand by our adversary. For this law is an adversary
   to such as love to sin, and is given us for this life that it may be
   with us in the way. To this we ought to agree quickly, by reading,
   hearing, and bestowing on it the summit of authority, and that when we
   understand it, we hate it not because it opposes our sins, but rather
   love it because it corrects them; and when it is obscure, pray that we
   may understand it.

   Jerome: But from the context the sense is manifest; the Lord is
   exhorting us to peace and concord with our neighbour; as it was said
   above, Go, be reconciled to thy brother.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord is urgent with us to hasten to make friends
   with our enemies while we are yet in this life, knowing how dangerous
   for us that one of our enemies should die before peace is made with us.
   For if death bring us while yet at enmity to the Judge, he will deliver
   us to Christ, proving us guilty by his judgment. Our adversary also
   delivers us to the Judge, when he is the first to seek reconciliation;
   for he who first submits to his enemy, brings him in guilty before God.

   Hilary: Or, the adversary delivers you to the Judge, when the abiding
   of your wrath towards him convicts you.

   Aug.: by the Judge I understand Christ, for, "the Father hath committed
   all judgment to the Son;" [John 5:22] and by the officer, or minister,
   an Angel, for "Angels came and ministered unto Him;" and we believe
   that He will come with his Angels to judge.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "The officer," that is, the ministering Angel of
   punishment, and he shall cast you into the prison of hell.

   Aug.: By the prison I understand the punishment of the darkness. And
   that none should despise that punishment, He adds, "Verily I say unto
   thee, thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the very last
   farthing."

   Jerome: A farthing is a coin containing two mites. What He says then
   is, Thou shalt not go forth thence till thou hast paid for the smallest
   sin.'

   Aug.: Or it is an expression to denote that there is nothing that shall
   go unpunished; as we say To the dregs,' when we are speaking of any
   thing so emptied that nothing is left in it.

   Or by "the last farthing" [margin note: quadrans] may be denoted
   earthly sins. For the fourth and last element of this world is earth.

   "Paid," that is in eternal punishment; and "until" used in the same
   sense as in that, "Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy enemies
   thy footstool;" [Ps 110:1] for He does not cease to reign when His
   enemies are put under His feet. So here, "until thou hast paid," is as
   much as to say, thou shalt never come out thence, for that he is always
   paying the very last farthing while he is enduring the everlasting
   punishment of earthly sins.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, If you will make your peace yet in this world, you
   may receive pardon of even the heaviest offences; but if once damned
   and cast into the prison of hell, punishment will be exacted of you not
   for grievous sins only, but for each idle word, which may be denoted by
   "the very last farthing."

   Hilary: For because "charity covereth a multitude of sins," we shall
   therefore pay the last farthing of punishment, unless by the expense of
   charity we redeem the fault of our sin.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, the prison is worldly misfortune which God often
   sends upon sinners.

   Chrys.: Or, He here speaks of the judges of this world, of the way
   which leads to this judgment, and of human prisons; thus not only
   employing future but present inducements, as those things which are
   before the eyes affect us most, as St. Paul also declares, "If thou
   doest evil fear the power, for he beareth not the sword in vain." [Rom
   13:4]
     __________________________________________________________________

   27. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not
   commit adultery:'

   28. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after
   her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. xvii: The Lord having explained how much is contained in
   the first commandment, namely, "Thou shalt not kill," proceeds in
   regular order to the second.

   Aug., Serm. ix, 3 and 10: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," that is,
   Thou shalt go no where but to thy lawful wife. For if you exact this of
   your wife, you ought to do the same, for the husband ought to go before
   the wife in virtue. It is a shame for the husband to say that this is
   impossible. Why not the husband as well as the wife? And let not him
   that is unmarried suppose that he does not break this commandment by
   fornication; you know the price wherewith you have been bought, you
   know what you eat and what your drink [ed. note, g: Nic. inserts here,
   from the original, immo quem manduces, quem bibas.'] therefore keep
   yourself from fornications. Forasmuch as all such acts of lust pollute
   and destroy God's image, (which you are,) the Lord who knows what is
   good for you, gives you this precept that you may not pull down His
   temple which you have begun to be.

   Aug., cont. Faust. 19, 23: He then goes on to correct the error of the
   Pharisees, declaring, "Whoso looketh upon a woman to lust after her,
   hath committed adultery already with her in his heart." For the
   commandment of the Law, "Thou shalt not lust after thy neighbour's
   wife," [Ex 20:17] the Jews understood of taking her away, not of
   committing adultery with her.

   Jerome: Between pathos and propatheia, that is between actual passion
   and the first spontaneous movement of the mind, there is this
   difference: passion is at once a sin; the spontaneous movement of the
   mind, though it partakes of the evil of sin, is yet not held for an
   offence committed. [ed. note, h: In this passage S. Jerome, who seems
   to have introduced the word propassio, propatheia, into theology, uses
   it somewhat in a sense of his own; viz. as involving something of the
   nature of sin; vid. also Comm. in Ezek. xviii, 1, 2. The word is more
   commonly applied to our Lord, as denoting the mode and extent in which
   His soul was affected by what in others became pathos. In us passion
   precedes reason, in Him it followed, or was a propatheia. vid. S.
   Jerome in Matt. xxvi. 37. Leon. Ep. 35. Damasc. F. O. iii. 20 &c. &c.]

   When then one looks upon a woman, and his mind is therewith smitten,
   there is propassion; if he yields to this he passes from propassion to
   passion, and then it is no longer the will but the opportunity to sin
   that is wanting. "Whosoever," then, "looketh on a woman to lust after
   her," that is, so looks on her as to lust, and cast about to obtain, he
   is rightly said to commit adultery with her in his heart.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 12: For there are three things which make up a
   sin; suggestion either through the memory, or the present sense; if the
   thought of the pleasure of indulgence follows, that is an unlawful
   thought, and to be restrained; if you consent then, the sin is
   complete. For prior to the first consent, the pleasure is either none
   or very slight, the consenting to which makes the sin. But if consent
   proceeds on into overt act, then desire seems to be satiated and
   quenched. And when suggestion is again repeated, the contemplated
   pleasure is greater, which previous to habit formed was but small, but
   now more difficult to overcome.

   Greg., Mor., xxi, 2: But whoso casts his eyes about without caution
   will often be taken with the pleasure of sin, and ensnared by desires
   begins to wish for what he would not. Great is the strength of the
   flesh to draw us downwards, and the charm of beauty once admitted to
   the heart through the eye, is hardly banished by endeavour. We must
   therefore take heed at the first, we ought not to look upon what it is
   unlawful to desire. For that the heart may be kept pure in thought, the
   eyes, as being on the watch to hurry us to sin, should be averted from
   wanton looks.

   Chrys.: If you permit yourself to gaze often on fair countenances you
   will assuredly be taken, even though you may be able to command your
   mind twice or thrice. For you are not exalted above nature and the
   strength of humanity. She too who dresses and adorns herself for the
   purpose of attracting men's eyes to her, though her endeavor should
   fail, yet shall she be punished hereafter; seeing she mixed the poison
   and offered the cup, though none was found who would drink thereof. For
   what the Lord seems to speak only to the man, is of equal application
   to the woman; inasmuch as when He speaks to the head, the warning is
   meant for the whole body.
     __________________________________________________________________

   29. "And if they right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from
   thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
   perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

   30. And if they right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from
   thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
   perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: Because we ought not only to avoid actual sin, but
   even put away every occasion of sin, therefore having taught that
   adultery is to be avoided not in deed only, but in heart, He next
   teaches us to cut off the occasions of sin.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But if according to that of the Prophet, "there is no
   whole part in our body," [Ps 38:3] it is needful that we cut off every
   limb that we have that the punishment may be equal to the depravity of
   the flesh.

   Is it then possible to understand this of the bodily eye or hand? As
   the whole man when he is turned to God is dead to sin, so likewise the
   eye when it has ceased to look evil is cut off from sin. But this
   explanation will not suit the whole; for when He says, "thy right eye
   offends thee," what does the left eye? Does it contradict the right
   eye, and it is preserved innocent?

   Jerome: Therefore by the right eye and the right hand we must
   understand the love of brethren, husbands and wives, parents and
   kinsfolk; which if we find to hinder our view of the true light, we
   ought to sever from us.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 13: As the eye denotes contemplation, so the
   hand aptly denotes action. By the eye we must understand our most
   cherished friend, as they are wont to say who would express ardent
   affection, I love him as my own eye.' And a friend too who gives
   counsel, as the eye shews us our way. The "right eye," perhaps, only
   means to express a higher degree of affection, for it is the one which
   men most fear to lose.

   Or, by the right eye may be understood one who counsels us in heavenly
   matters, and by the left one who counsels in earthly matters. And this
   will be the sense; Whatever that is which you love as you would your
   own right eye, if it "offend you," that is, if it be an hindrance to
   your true happiness, "cut it off and cast it from you." For if the
   right eye was not to be spared, it was superfluous to speak of the
   left. The right hand also is to be taken of a beloved assistant in
   divine actions, the left hand in earthly actions.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; Christ would have us careful not only of our
   own sin, but likewise that even they who pertain to us should keep
   themselves from evil. Have you any friend who looks to your matters as
   your own eye, or manages them as your own hand, if you know of any
   scandalous or base action that he has done, cast him from you, he is an
   offence; for we shall give account not only of our own sins, but also
   of such of those of our neighbours as it is in our power to hinder.

   Hilary: Thus a more lofty step of innocence is appointed us, in that we
   are admonished to keep free, not only from sin ourselves, but from such
   as might touch us from without.

   Jerome: Otherwise; As above He had placed lust in the looking on a
   woman, so now the thought and sense straying hither and thither He
   calls the eye.' By the right hand and the other parts of the body, He
   means the initial movements of desire and affection.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The eye of flesh is the mirror of the inward eye. The
   body also has its own sense, that is, the left eye, and its own
   appetite, that is, the left hand. But the parts of the soul are called
   right, for the soul was created both with free-will and under the law
   of righteousness, that it might both see and do rightly.

   But the members of the body being not with free-will, but under the law
   of sin, are called the left. Yet He does not bid us cut off the sense
   or appetite of the flesh; we may retain the desires of the flesh, and
   yet not do thereafter, but we cannot cut off the having the desires.
   But when we wilfully purpose and think of evil, then our right desires
   and right will offend us, and therefore He bids us cut them off. And
   these we can cut off, because our will is free.

   Or otherwise; Every thing, however good in itself that offends
   ourselves or others, we ought to cut off from us. For example, to visit
   a woman with religious purposes, this good intent towards her may be
   called a right eye, but if often visiting her I have fallen into the
   net of desire, or if any looking on are offended, then the right eye,
   that is, something in itself good, offends me. For the "right eye" is
   good intention, the "right hand" is good desire.

   Gloss. ord.: Or, the "right eye" is the contemplative life which
   offends by being the cause of indolence or self-conceit, or in our
   weakness that we are not able to support it unmixed. The "right hand"
   is good works, or the active life, which offends us when we are
   ensnared by society and the business of life.

   If then any one is unable to sustain the contemplative life, let him
   not slothfully rest from all action; or on the other hand while he is
   taken up with action, dry up the fountain of sweet contemplation.

   Remig.: The reason why the right eye and the right hand are to be cast
   away is subjoined in that, "For it is better, &c."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For as we are every one members one of another, it is
   better that we should be saved without some one of these members, than
   that we perish together with them. Or, it is better that we should be
   saved without one good purpose, or one good work, than that while we
   seek to perform all good works we perish together with all.
     __________________________________________________________________

   31. "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give
   her a writing of divorcement:'

   32. But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving
   for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and
   whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: The Lord had taught us above that our neighbour's wife
   was not to be coveted, He now proceeds to teach that our own wife is
   not to be put away.

   Jerome: For touching Moses' allowance of divorce, the Lord and Saviour
   more fully explains in conclusion, that it was because of the hardness
   of the hearts of the husbands, not so much sanctioning discord, as
   checking bloodshed.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For when Moses brought the children of Israel out of
   Egypt, they were indeed Hebrews in race, but Egyptians in manners. And
   it was caused by the Gentile manners that the husband hated the wife;
   and if he was not permitted to put her away, he was ready either to
   kill her or ill-treat her. Moses therefore suffered a bill of
   divorcement, not because it was a good practice in itself, but was the
   prevention of a worse evil.

   Hilary: But the Lord who brought peace and goodwill on earth, would
   have it reign especially in the matrimonial bond.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xix, 26: The Lord's command here that a wife is not
   to be put away, is not contrary to the command in the Law, as
   Manichaeus affirmed. Had the Law allowed any who would to put away his
   wife, to allow none to put away were indeed the very opposite of that.
   But the difficulty which Moses is careful to put in the way, shews that
   he was no good friend to the practice at all. For he required a bill of
   divorcement, the delay and difficulty of drawing out which would often
   cool headlong rage and disagreement, especially as by the Hebrew
   custom, it was the Scribes alone who were permitted to use the Hebrew
   letters, in which they professed a singular skill.

   To these then the law would send him whom it bid to give a writing of
   divorcement, when he would put away his wife, who mediating between him
   and his wife, might set them at one again, unless in minds too wayward
   to be moved by counsels of peace. Thus then He neither completed, by
   adding words to it, the law of them of old time, nor did He destroy the
   Law given by Moses by enacting things contrary to it, as Manichaeus
   affirmed; but rather repeated and approved all that the Hebrew Law
   contained, so that whatever He spoke in His own person more than it
   had, had in view either explanation, which in divers obscure places of
   the Law was greatly needed, or the more punctual observance of its
   enactments.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 14: By interposing this delay in the mode of
   putting away, the lawgiver shewed as clearly as it could be shewn to
   hard hearts, that he hated strife and disagreement. The Lord then so
   confirms this backwardness in the Law, as to except only one case, "the
   cause of fornication;" every other inconvenience which may have place,
   He bids us bear with patience in consideration of the plighted troth of
   wedlock.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: If we ought to bear the burdens of strangers, in
   obedience to that of the Apostles, "Bear ye one another's burdens,"
   [Gal 6:2] how much more that of our wives and husbands? The Christian
   husband ought not only to keep himself from any defilement, but to be
   careful not to give others occasion of defilement; for so is their sin
   imputed to him who gave the occasion. Whoso then by putting away his
   wife gives another man occasion of committing adultery, is condemned
   for that crime himself.

   Aug.: Yea, more, He declares the man who marries her who is put away an
   adulterer.

   Chrys.: Say not here, It is enough her husband has put her away; for
   even after she is put away she continues the wife of him that put her
   away.

   Aug.: The Apostle has fixed the limit here, requiring her to abstain
   from a fresh marriage as long as her husband lives. After his death he
   allows her to marry. But if the woman may not marry while her former
   husband is alive, much less may she yield herself to unlawful
   indulgences. But this command of the Lord, forbidding to put away a
   wife, is not broken by him who lives with her not carnally but
   spiritually, in that more blessed wedlock of those that keep themselves
   chaste.

   A question also here arises as to what is that fornication which the
   Lord allows as a cause of divorce; whether carnal sin, or, according to
   the Scripture use of the word, any unlawful passion, as idolatry,
   avarice, in short all transgression of the Law by forbidden desires.
   For if the Apostle permits the divorce of a wife if she be unbelieving,
   (though indeed it is better not to put her away,) and the Lord forbids
   any divorce but for the cause of fornication, unbelief even must be
   fornication. And if unbelief be fornication, and idolatry unbelief, and
   covetousness idolatry, it is not to be doubted that covetousness is
   fornication. And if covetousness be fornication, who may say of any
   kind of unlawful desire that it is not a kind of fornication?

   Aug., Retract., i, 19, 6: Yet I would not have the reader think this
   disputation of ours sufficient in a matter so arduous; for not every
   sin is spiritual fornication, nor does God destroy every sinner, for He
   hears His saints daily crying to Him, "Forgive us our debts;" but every
   man who goes a whoring and forsakes Him, him He destroys.

   Whether this be the fornication for which divorce is allowed is a most
   knotty question - for it is no question at all that it is allowed for
   the fornication by carnal sin.

   Aug., lib. 83, Quaest. q. ult.: If any affirm that the only fornication
   for which the Lord allows divorce is that of carnal sin, he may see
   that the Lord has spoken of believing husbands and wives, forbidding
   either to leave the other except for fornication.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 16: Not only does He permit to put away a wife
   who commits fornication, but whoso puts away a wife by whom he is
   driven to commit fornication, puts her away for the cause of
   fornication, both for his own sake and hers.

   Aug., de Fid. et Op. 16: He also rightly puts away his wife to whom she
   shall say, I will not be your wife unless you get me money by robbery;
   or should require any other crime to be done by him. If the husband
   here be truly penitent, he will cut off the limb that offends him.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 16: Nothing can be more unjust than to put
   away a wife for fornication, and yourself to be guilty of that sin, for
   then is that happened, "Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest
   thyself." [Rom 2:1] When He says, "And he who marrieth her who is put
   away, committeth adultery," a question arises, does the woman also in
   this case commit adultery? For the Apostle directs either that she
   remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. There is this
   difference in the separation, namely, which of them was the cause of
   it. If the wife put away the husband and marry another, she appears to
   have left her first husband with the desire of change, which is an
   adulterous thought. But if she have been put away by her husband, yet
   he who marries her commits adultery, how can she be quit of the same
   guilt? And further, if he who marries her commits adultery, she is the
   cause of his committing adultery, which is what the Lord is here
   forbidding.
     __________________________________________________________________

   33. "Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time,
   Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine
   oaths:'

   34. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by Heaven; for it is
   God's throne;

   35. Nor by the earth; for it is His footstool: neither by Jerusalem;
   for it is the city of the great King.

   36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make
   one hair white or black.

   37. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever
   is more than these cometh of evil."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss. non occ.: The Lord has hitherto taught to abstain from injuring
   our neighbour, forbidding anger with murder, lust with adultery, and
   the putting away a wife with a bill of divorce. He now proceeds to
   teach to abstain from injury to God, forbidding not only perjury as an
   evil in itself, but even all oaths as the cause of evil, saying, "Ye
   have heard it said by them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself."

   It is written in Leviticus, "Thou shalt not forswear thyself in my
   name;" [Lev 19:12] and that they should not make gods of the creature,
   they are commanded to render to God their oaths, and not to swear by
   any creature, "Render to the Lord thy oaths;" that is, if you shall
   have occasion to swear, you shall swear by the Creator and not by the
   creature. As it is written in Deuteronomy, "Thou shalt fear the Lord
   thy God, and shalt swear by his name." [Deut 6:13]

   Jerome: This was allowed under the Law, as to children; as they offered
   sacrifice to God, that they might not do it to idols, so they were
   permitted to swear by God; not that the thing was right, but that it
   were better done to God than to daemons.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For no man can swear often, but he must sometimes
   forswear himself; as he who has a custom of much speaking will
   sometimes speak foolishly.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xix. 23: Inasmuch as the sin of perjury is a
   grievous sin, he must be further removed from it who uses no oath, than
   he who is ready to swear on every occasion, and the Lord would rather
   that we should not swear and keep close to the truth, than that
   swearing we should come near to perjury.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 17: This precept also confirms the
   righteousness of the Pharisees, not to forswear; inasmuch as he who
   swears not at all cannot forswear himself. But as to call God to
   witness is to swear, does not the Apostle break this commandment when
   he says several times to the Galatians, "The things which I write unto
   you, behold, before God, I lie not." [Gal 1:20] So the Romans, "God is
   my witness, whom I serve in my spirit." [Rom 1:9]

   Unless perhaps some one may say, it is no oath unless I use the form of
   swearing by some object; and that the Apostle did not swear in saying,
   "God is my witness." It is ridiculous to make such a distinction; yet
   the Apostle has used even this form, "I die daily, by your boasting."
   [1 Cor 15:31] That this does not mean, your boasting has caused my
   dying daily, but is an oath, is clear from the Greek, which is ne ten
   humeteran chauchesin.

   Aug., de Mendac. 15: But what we could not understand by mere words,
   from the conduct of the saints we may gather in what sense should be
   understood what might easily be drawn the contrary way, unless
   explained by example. The Apostle has used oaths in his Epistles, and
   by this shews us how that ought to be taken, "I say unto you, Swear not
   at all," namely, lest by allowing ourselves to swear at all we come to
   readiness in swearing, from readiness we come to a habit of swearing,
   and from a habit of swearing we fall into perjury. And so the Apostle
   is not found to have used an oath but only in writing, the greater
   thought and caution which that requires not allowing of slip of the
   tongue.

   Yet is the Lord's command so universal, "Swear not at all," that He
   would seem to have forbidden it even in writing. But since it would be
   an impiety to accuse Paul of having violated this precept, especially
   in his Epistles, we must understand the word "at all" as implying that,
   as far as lays in your power, you should not make a practice of
   swearing, not aim at it as a good thing in which you should take
   delight.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xix, 23: Therefore in his writings, as writing
   allows of greater circumspection, the Apostle is found to have used an
   oath in several places, that none might suppose that there is any
   direct sin in swearing what is true; but only that our weak hearts are
   better preserved from perjury by abstaining from all swearing whatever.

   Jerome: Lastly, consider that the Saviour does not here forbid to swear
   by God, but by the Heaven, the Earth, by Jerusalem, by a man's head.
   For this evil practice of swearing by the elements the Jews had always,
   and are thereof often accused in the prophetic writings. For he who
   swears, shew either reverence or love for that by which he swears. Thus
   when the Jews swore by the Angels, by the city of Jerusalem, by the
   temple and the elements, they paid to the creature the honour and
   worship belonging to God; for it is commanded in the Law that we should
   not swear but by the Lord our God.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 17: Or; It is added, "By the Heaven, &c."
   because the Jews did not consider themselves bound when they swore by
   such things. As if He had said, When you swear by the Heaven and the
   Earth, think not that you do not owe your oath to the Lord your God,
   for you are proved to have sworn by Him whose throne the heaven is, and
   the earth His footstool; which is not meant as though God had such
   limbs set upon the heaven and the earth, after the manner of a man who
   is sitting; but that seat signifies God's judgment of us. And since in
   the whole extent of this universe it is the heaven that has the highest
   beauty, God is said to sit upon the heavens as shewing divine power to
   be more excellent than the most surpassing show of beauty; and He is
   said to stand upon the earth, as putting to lowest use a lesser beauty.

   Spiritually by the heavens are denoted holy souls, by the earth the
   sinful, seeing "He that is spiritual judgeth all things." [1 Cor 2:15]
   But to the sinner it is said, "Earth thou art, and unto earth thou
   shalt return." [Gen 3:19] And he who would abide under a law, is put
   under a law, and therefore He adds, "it is the footstool of His feet.
   Neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King;" this is
   better said than it is mine;' though it is understood to mean the same.
   And because He is also truly Lord, whoso swears by Jerusalem, owes his
   oath to the Lord. "Neither by thy head." What could any think more
   entirely his own property than his own head? But how is it ours when we
   have not power to make one hair black or white? Whoso then swears by
   his own head also owes his vows to the Lord; and by this the rest may
   be understood.

   Chrys.: Note how He exalts the elements of the world, not from their
   own nature, but from the respect which they have to God, so that there
   is opened no occasion of idolatry.

   Rabanus: Having forbidden swearing, He instructs us how we ought to
   speak, "Let your speech be yea, yea; nay, nay." That is, to affirm any
   thing it is sufficient to say, It is so;' to deny, to say, It is not
   so.'

   Or, "yea, yea; nay, nay," are therefore twice repeated, that what you
   affirm with the mouth you should prove in deed, and what you deny in
   word, you should not establish by your conduct.

   Hilary: Otherwise; They who live in the simplicity of the faith have
   not need to swear, with them ever, what is is, what is not is not; by
   this their life and their conversation are ever preserved in truth.

   Jerome: Therefore Evangelic verity does not admit an oath, since the
   whole discourse of the faithful is instead of an oath.

   Aug.: And he who has learned that an oath is to be reckoned not among
   things good, but among things necessary, will restrain himself as much
   as he may, not to use an oath without necessity, unless he sees men
   loth to believe what it is for their good they should believe, without
   the confirmation of an oath.

   This then is good and to be desired, that our conversation be only,
   "yea, yea; nay, nay; for what is more than this cometh of evil." That
   is, if you are compelled to swear, you know that it is by the necessity
   of their weakness to whom you would persuade any thing; which weakness
   is surely an evil. What is more than this is thus evil; not that you do
   evil in this just use of an oath to persuade another to something
   beneficial for him; but it is an evil in him whose weakness thus
   obliges you to use an oath.

   Chrys.: Or; "of evil," that is, from their weakness to whom the Law
   permitted the use of an oath. Not that by this the old Law is signified
   to be from the Devil, but He leads us from the old imperfection to the
   new abundance.
     __________________________________________________________________

   38. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a
   tooth for a tooth:'

   39. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall
   smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

   40. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat,
   let him have thy cloak also.

   41. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

   42. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of
   thee turn not thou away."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss. non occ.: The Lord having taught that we are not to offer injury
   to our neighbour, or irreverence to the Lord, now proceeds to shew how
   the Christian should demean himself to those that injure him.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xix, 25: This law, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,"
   was enacted to repress the flames of mutual hate, and to be a check on
   their undisciplined spirits. For who when he would take revenge, was
   ever content to return just so much harm as he had received? Do we not
   see men who have suffered some trifling hurt, straightway plot murder,
   thirst for blood, and hardly find evil enough that they can do to their
   enemies for the satisfying their rage?

   To this immeasured and cruel fury the Law puts bounds when it enacts a
   "lex talionis;" that is, that whatever wrong or hurt any man has done
   to another, he should suffer just the same in return. This is not to
   encourage but to check rage; for it does not rekindle what was
   extinguished, but hinders the flames already kindled from further
   spread. It enacts a just retaliation, properly due to him who has
   suffered the wrong.

   But that mercy forgives any debt, does not make it unjust that payment
   had been sought. Since then he sins who seeks an unmeasured vengeance,
   but he does not sin who desires only a just one; he is therefore
   further from sin who seeks no retribution at all.

   I might state it yet thus; It was said to them of old time, Thou shalt
   not take unequal retaliation; But I say unto you, Ye shall not
   retaliate; this is a completion of the Law, if in these words something
   is added to the Law which was wanting to it; yea, rather that which the
   Law sought to do, namely, to put an end to unequal revenge, is more
   safely secured when there is no revenge at all.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For without this command, the commands of the Law could
   not stand. For if according to the Law we begin all of us to render
   evil for evil, we shall all become evil, since they that do hurt
   abound. But if according to Christ we resist not evil, though they that
   are evil be not amended, yet they that are good remain good.

   Jerome: Thus our Lord by doing away all retaliation, cuts off the
   beginnings of sin. So the Law corrects faults, the Gospel removes their
   occasions.

   Gloss, non occ.: Or it may be said that the Lord said this, adding
   somewhat to the righteousness of the old Law.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 19: For the righteousness of the Pharisees is
   a less righteousness, not to transgress the measure of equal
   retribution; and this is the beginning of peace; but perfect peace is
   to refuse all such retribution. Between that first manner than, which
   was not according to the Law, to wit, that a greater evil should be
   returned for a less, and this which the Lord enjoins to make His
   disciples perfect, to wit, that no evil should be returned for evil, a
   middle place is held by this, that an equal evil should be returned,
   which was thus the passage from extremest discord to extremest peace.

   Whoso then first does evil to another departs furthest from
   righteousness; and who does not first do any wrong, but when wronged
   repays with a heavier wrong, has departed somewhat from the extreme
   injustice; he who repays only what he has received, gives up yet
   something more, for it were but strict right that he who is the first
   aggressor should receive a greater hurt than he inflicted.

   This righteousness thus partly begun, He perfects, who is come to
   fulfil the Law. The two steps that intervene He leaves to be
   understood; for there is who does not repay so much, but less; and
   there is yet above him, he who repays not at all; yet this seems too
   little to the Lord, if you be not also ready to suffer wrong.

   Therefore He says not, "Render not evil for evil," but, "Resist not
   against evil," not only repay not what is offered to you, but do not
   resist that it should not be done to you. For thus accordingly He
   explains that saying, "If any man smite thee on thy right cheek, offer
   to him the left also." Which as being a high part of mercy, is known to
   those who serve such as they love much; from whom, being morose, or
   insane, they endure many things, and if it be for their health they
   offer themselves to endure more.

   The Lord then, the Physician of souls, teaches His disciples to endure
   with patience the sicknesses of those for whose spiritual health they
   should provide. For all wickedness comes of a sickness of the mind;
   nothing is more innocent than he who is sound and of perfect health in
   virtue.

   Aug., de Mendac., 15: The things which are done by the Saints in the
   New Testament profit for examples of understanding those Scriptures
   which are modelled into the form of precepts. Thus we read in Luke;
   "Whoso smiteth thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also."
   [Luke 6:29] Now there is no example of patience more perfect than that
   of the Lord; yet He, when He was smitten, said not, Behold the other
   cheek,' but, "If I have spoken amiss, accuse me wherein it is amiss;
   but if well, why smitest thou me? [John 18:23] hereby shewing us that
   turning of the other cheek should be in the heart.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 19: For the Lord was ready not only to be
   smitten on the other cheek for the salvation of men, but to be
   crucified with His whole body. It may be asked, What does the right
   cheek expressly signify? As the face is that whereby any man is known,
   to be smitten of the face is according to the Apostle to be contemned
   and despised. But as we cannot say right face,' and left face,' and yet
   we have a name twofold, one before God, and one before the world, it is
   distributed as it were into the right cheek, and left cheek, that
   whoever of Christ's disciples is despised for that he is a Christian,
   may be ready to be yet more despised for any of this world's honours
   that he may have.

   All things wherein we suffer any wrong are divided into two kinds, of
   which one is what cannot be restored, the other what may be restored.
   In that kind which cannot be restored, we are wont to seek the solace
   of revenge. For what does it boot if when smitten you smite again, is
   the hurt done to your body thereby repaid to you? But the mind swollen
   with rage seeks such assuagements.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or has your return blow at all restrained him from
   striking you again? It has rather roused him to another blow. For anger
   is not checked by meeting anger, but is only more irritated.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 20: Whence the Lord judges that others'
   weakness should rather be borne with compassion, than that our own
   should be soothed by others' pain. For that retribution which tends to
   correction is not here forbidden, for such is indeed a part of mercy;
   nor does such intention hinder that he, who seeks to correct another,
   is not at the same time ready himself to take more at his hands.

   But it is required that he should inflict the punishment to whom the
   power is given by the course of things, and with such a mind as the
   father has to a child in correcting him whom it is impossible he should
   hate. And holy men have punished some sins with death, in order that a
   wholesome fear might be struck into the living, and so that not his
   death, but the likelihood of increase of his sin had he lived, was the
   hurt of the criminal.

   Thus Elias punished many with death, and when the disciples would take
   example from him they were rebuked by the Lord, who did not censure
   this example of the Prophet, but their ignorant use of it, seeing them
   to desire the punishment not for correction's sake, but from angry
   hate.

   But after He had inculcated love of their neighbour, and had given them
   the Holy Spirit, there wanted not instances of such vengeance; as
   Ananias and his wife who fell down dead at the words of Peter, and the
   Apostle Paul delivered some to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
   Yet do some, with a kind of blind opposition, rage against the temporal
   punishments of the Old Testament, not knowing with what mind they were
   inflicted.

   Aug., Epist. 185, 5: But who that is of sober mind would say to kings,
   It is nothing of your concern who will live religiously, or who
   profanely? It cannot even be said to them, that it is not their concern
   who will live chastely, or who unchastely. It is indeed better that men
   should be led to serve God by right teaching than by penalties; yet has
   it benefitted many, as experience has approved to us, to be first
   coerced by pain and fear, that they might be taught after, or to be
   made to conform in deed to what they had learned in words. The better
   men indeed are led of love, but the more part of men are wrought by
   fear. Let them learn in the case of the Apostle Paul, how Christ first
   constrained, and after taught him.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 20: Therefore in this kind of injuries which
   are wont to rouse vengeance Christians will observe such a mean, that
   hate shall not be caused by the injuries they may receive, and yet
   wholesome correction be not foregone by Him who has right of either
   counsel or power.

   Jerome: Mystically interpreted; When we are smitten on the right cheek,
   He said not, offer to him thy left, but "the other;" for the righteous
   has not a left. That is, if a heretic has smitten us in disputation,
   and would wound us in a right hand doctrine, let him be met with
   another testimony from Scripture.

   Aug.: The other kind of injuries are those in which full restitution
   can be made, of which there are two kinds; one relates to money, the
   other to work; of the first of these it is He speaks when He continues,
   "Whoso will sue thee for thy coat, let him have thy cloak likewise." As
   by the cheek are denoted such injuries of the wicked as admit of no
   restitution but revenge, so by this similitude of the garments is
   denoted such injury as admits restitution. And this, as the former, is
   rightly taken of preparation of the heart, not of the show of the
   outward action.

   And what is commanded respecting our garments, is to be observed in al
   things that by any right we call our own in worldly property. For if
   the command be expressed in these necessary articles of life, how much
   more does it hold in the case of superfluities and luxuries? And when
   He says, "He who will sue thee," He clearly intends to include every
   thing for which it is possible that we should be sued.

   It may be made a question whether it is to be understood of slaves, for
   a Christian ought not to possess his slave on the same footing as his
   horse; though it might be that the horse was worth the more money. And
   if your slave have a milder master in you than he would have in him who
   seeks to take him from you, I do not know that he ought to be given up
   as lightly as your coat.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For it were an unworthy thing that a believer should
   stand in his cause before an unbelieving judge. Or if one who is a
   believer, though (as he must be) a worldly man, though he should have
   reverenced you for the worthiness of the faith, sues you because the
   cause is a necessary one, you will lose the worthiness of Christ for
   the business of the world. Further, every lawsuit irritates the heart
   and excites bad thoughts; for when you see dishonesty or bribery
   employed against you, you hasten to support your own cause by like
   means, though originally you might have intended nothing of the sort.

   Aug., Enchir., 78: The Lord here forbids his disciples to have lawsuits
   with others for worldly property. Yet as the Apostle allows such kind
   of causes to be decided between brethren, and before arbiters who are
   brethren, but utterly disallows them without the Church, it is manifest
   what is conceded to infirmity as pardonable.

   Greg., Mor., xxxi, 13: There are, who are so far to be endured, as they
   rob us of our worldly goods; but there are whom we ought to hinder, and
   that without breaking the law of charity, not only that we may not be
   robbed of what is ours, but lest they by robbing others destroy
   themselves. We ought to fear much more for the men who rob us, than to
   be eager to save the inanimate things they take from us. When peace
   with our neighbour is banished the heart on the matter of worldly
   possession, it is plain that our estate is more loved than our
   neighbour.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 19: The third kind of wrongs, which is in the
   matter of labour, consists of both such as admit restitution, and such
   as do not - or with or without revenge - for he who forcibly presses a
   man's service, and makes him give him aid against his will, can either
   be punished for his crime, or return the labour. In this kind of wrongs
   then, the Lord teaches that the Christian mind is most patient, and
   prepared to endure yet more than is offered; "If a man constrain thee
   to go with him a mile, go with him yet other two." This likewise is
   meant not so much of actual service with your feet, as of readiness of
   mind.

   Chrys., Hom. xviii: The word here used signifies to drag unjustly,
   without cause, and with insult.

   Aug.: Let us suppose it therefore said, "Go with him other two," that
   the number three might be completed; by which number perfection is
   signified; that whoever does this might remember that he is fulfilling
   perfect righteousness. For which reason he conveys this precept under
   three examples, and in this third example, he adds a twofold measure to
   the one single measure, that the threefold number may be complete.

   Or we may so consider as though in enforcing this duty, He had begun
   with what was easiest to bear, and had advanced gradually. For first He
   commanded that when the right cheek was smitten we should turn the
   other also; therein shewing ourselves ready to endure another wrong
   less than that you have already received. Secondly, to him that would
   take your coat, he bids you part with your cloak, (or "garment," as
   some copies read,) which is either just as great a loss, or perhaps a
   little greater. In the third He doubles the additional wrong which He
   would have us ready to endure. And seeing it is a small thing not to
   hurt unless you further shew kindness, He adds, "To him that asketh of
   thee, give."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Because wealth is not ours but God's; God would have us
   stewards of His wealth, and not lords.

   Jerome: If we understand this only of alms, it cannot stand with the
   estate of the most part of men who are poor; even the rich if they have
   been always giving, will not be able to continue always to give.

   Aug.: Therefore, He says not, Give all things to him that asks;' but,
   "Give to every one that asketh;" that you should only give what you can
   give honestly and rightly. For what if one ask for money to employ in
   oppressing the innocent man? What if he ask your consent to unclean
   sin? We must give then only what will hurt neither ourselves or others,
   as far as man can judge; and when you have refused an inadmissible
   request, that you may not send away empty him that asked, shew the
   righteousness of your refusal; and such correction of the unlawful
   petitioner will often be a better gift than the granting his suit.

   Aug., Epist., 93, 2: For with more benefit is food taken from the
   hungry, if certainty of provision causes him to neglect righteousness,
   than that food should be supplied to him that he may consent to a deed
   of violence and wrong.

   Jerome: But it may be understood of the wealth of doctrine: wealth
   which never fails but the more of it is given away, the more it
   abounds.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 20: That He commands, "And from him that would
   borrow of thee, turn not away," must be referred to the mind; for "God
   loveth a cheerful giver." [2 Cor 9:7] And every one that receives,
   indeed borrows, though it is not he that shall pay, but God, who
   restores to the merciful many fold.

   Or, if you like to understand by borrowing, only taking with promise to
   repay, we must understand the Lord's command as embracing both these
   kinds of affording aid; whether we give outright, or lend to receive
   again. And of this last kind of shewing mercy it is well said, "Turn
   not away," that is, do not be therefore backward to lend, as though,
   because man shall repay you, therefore God shall not; for what you do
   by God's command cannot be without fruit.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Christ bids us lend but not on usury; for he who gives
   on such terms does not bestow his own, but takes of another; he looses
   from one chain to bind with many, and gives not for God's righteousness
   sake, but for his own gain. For money taken on usury is like the bite
   of an asp; as the asp's poison secretly consumes the limbs, so usury
   turns all our possessions into debt.

   Aug., Epist., 138, 2: Some object that this command of Christ is
   altogether inconsistent with civil life in Commonwealths; Who, say
   they, would suffer, when he could hinder it, the pillage of his estate
   by an enemy; or would not repay the evil suffered by a plundered
   province of Rome on the plunderers according to the rights of war? But
   these precepts of patience are to be observed in readiness of the
   heart, and that mercy, not to return evil for evil, must be always
   fulfilled by the will.

   Yet must we often use a merciful sharpness in dealing with the
   headstrong. And in this way, if the earthly commonwealth will keep the
   Christian commandments, even war will not be waged without good
   charities, to the establishing among the vanquished peaceful harmony of
   godliness and righteousness. For that victory is beneficial to him from
   whom it snatches license to sin; since nothing is more unfortunate for
   sinners, than the good fortune of their sins, which nourishes an
   impunity that brings punishment after it, and an evil will is
   strengthened, as it were some internal enemy.
     __________________________________________________________________

   43. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy
   neighbour, and hate thine enemy.'

   44. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
   do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use
   you and persecute you;

   45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for
   He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
   on the just and on the unjust.

   46. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not
   even the Publicans the same?

   47. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?
   do not even the Publicans so?

   48. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
   perfect."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: The Lord has taught above that we must not resist one
   who offers any injury, but must be ready even to suffer more; He now
   further requires us to shew to them that do us wrong both love and its
   effects. And as the things that have gone before pertain to the
   completion of the righteousness of the Law, in like manner this last
   precept is to be referred to the completion of the law of love, which,
   according to the Apostle, is the fulfilling of the Law.

   Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 30: That by the command, "Thou shalt love
   thy neighbour," all mankind were intended, the Lord shewed in the
   parable of the man who was left half dead, which teaches us that our
   neighbour is every one who may happen at any time to stand in need of
   our offices of mercy; and this who does not see must be denied to none,
   when the Lord says, "Do good to them that hate you."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 21: That there were degrees in the
   righteousness of the Pharisees which was under the old Law is seen
   herein, that many hated even those by whom they were loved. He
   therefore who loves his neighbour, has ascended one degree, though as
   yet he hate his enemy; which is expressed in that, "and shalt hate thy
   enemy;" which is not to be understood as a command to the justified,
   but a concession to the weak.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xix, 24: I ask the Manichaeans why they would have
   this peculiar to the Mosaic Law, that was said by them of old time,
   "thou shalt hate thy enemy?" Has not Paul said of certain men that they
   were hateful to God? We must enquire then how we may understand that,
   after the example of God, to whom the Apostle here affirms some men to
   be hateful, our enemies are to be hated; and again after the same
   pattern of Him "Who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good,"
   our enemies are to be loved.

   Here then is the rule by which we may at once hate our enemy for the
   evil's sake that is in him, that is, his iniquity, and love him for the
   good's sake that is in him, that is, his rational part. This then, thus
   uttered by them of old, being heard, but not understood, hurried men on
   to the hatred of men, when they should have hated nothing but vice.

   Such the Lord corrects as He proceeds, saying, "I say unto you, Love
   your enemies." He who had just declared that He came "not to subvert
   the Law, but to fulfil it," by bidding us love our enemies, brought us
   to the understanding of how we may at once hate the same man for his
   sins whom we love for his human nature.

   Gloss. ord.: But it should be known, that in the whole body of the Law
   it is no where written, Thou shalt hate thy enemy. But it is to be
   referred to the tradition of the Scribes, who thought good to add this
   to the Law, because the Lord bade the children of Israel pursue their
   enemies, and destroy Amalek from under heaven.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As that, Thou shalt not lust, was not spoken to the
   flesh, but to the spirit, so in this the flesh indeed is not able to
   love its enemy, but the spirit is able; for the love and hate of the
   flesh is in the sense, but of the spirit is in the understanding. If
   then we feel hate to one who has wronged us, and yet will not to act
   upon that feeling, know that our flesh hates our enemy, but our soul
   loves him.

   Greg., Mor., xxii, 11: Love to an enemy is then observed when we are
   not sorrowful at his success, or rejoice in his fall. We hate him whom
   we wish not to be bettered, and pursue with ill-wishes the prosperity
   of the man in whose fall we rejoice. Yet it may often happen that
   without any sacrifice of charity, the fall of an enemy may gladden us,
   and again his exaltation make us sorrowful without any suspicion of
   envy; when, namely, by his fall any deserving man is raised up, or by
   his success any undeservedly depressed.

   But herein a strict measure of discernment must be observed, lest in
   following out our own hates, we hide it from ourselves under the
   specious pretence of others' benefit. We should balance how much we owe
   to the fall of the sinner, how much to the justice of the Judge. For
   when the Almighty has struck any hardened sinner, we must at once
   magnify His justice as Judge, and feel with the other's suffering who
   perishes.

   Gloss. ord.: They who stand against the Church oppose her in three
   ways; with hate, with words, and with bodily tortures. The Church on
   the other hand loves them, as it is here, "Love your enemies;" does
   good to them, as it is, "Do good to them that hate you;" and prays for
   them, as it is, "Pray for them that persecute you and accuse you
   falsely."

   Jerome: Many measuring the commandments of God by their own weakness,
   not by the strength of the saints, hold these commands for impossible,
   and say that it is virtue enough not to hate our enemies; but to love
   them is a command beyond human nature to obey. But it must be
   understood that Christ enjoins not impossibilities but perfection. Such
   was the temper of David towards Saul and Absalom; the Martyr Stephen
   also prayed for his enemies while they stoned him, and Paul wished
   himself anathema for the sake of his persecutors. [Rom 9:3] Jesus both
   taught and did the same, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know
   not what they do." [Luke 23:34]

   Aug., Enchir., 73: These indeed are examples of the perfect sons of
   God; yet to this should every believer aim, and seek by prayer to God,
   and struggles with himself to raise his human spirit to this tempter.
   Yet this so great blessing is not given to all those multitudes which
   we believe are heard when they pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we
   forgive our debtors."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 21: Here arises a question, that this
   commandment of the Lord, by which He bids us pray for our enemies,
   seems opposed by many other parts of Scripture. In the Prophets are
   found many imprecations upon enemies; such as that in the 108th Psalm,
   "Let his children be orphans." [Ps 109:9]

   But it should be known, that the Prophets are wont to foretell things
   to come in the form of a prayer or wish. This has more weight as a
   difficulty that John say, "There is a sin unto death, I say not that he
   shall pray for it;" [1 John 5:16] plainly shewing, that there are some
   brethren for whom he does not bid us pray; for what went before was,
   "If any know his brother sin a sin, &c."

   Yet the Lord bids us pray for our persecutors. This question can only
   be resolved, if we admit that there are some sins in brethren more
   grievous than the sin of persecution in our enemies. For thus Stephen
   prays for those that stoned him, because they had not yet believed on
   Christ; but the Apostle Paul does not pray for Alexander though he was
   a brother [2 Tim 4:14], but had sinned by attacking the brotherhood
   through jealousy.

   But for whom you pray not, you do not therein pray against him. What
   must we say then of those against whom we know that the saints have
   prayed, and that not that they should be corrected, (for that would be
   rather to have prayed for them), but for their eternal damnation; not
   as that prayer of the Prophet against the Lord's betrayer, for that is
   a prophecy of the future, not an imprecation of punishment; but as when
   we read in the Apocalypse the Martyrs' prayer that they may be avenged.
   [Rev 6:10]

   But we ought not to let this affect us. For who may dare to affirm that
   they prayed against those persons themselves, and not against the
   kingdom of sin? For that would be both a just and a merciful avenging
   of the Martyrs, to overthrow that kingdom of sin, under the continuance
   of which they endured all those evils. And it is overthrown by
   correction of some, and damnation of such as abide in sin. Does not
   Paul seem to you to have avenged Stephen on his own body, as he speaks,
   "I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection." [1 Cor 9:27]

   Pseudo-Aug., Hil. Quaest. V. and N. Test. q. 68: And the souls of them
   that are slain cry out to be avenged; as the blood of Abel cried out of
   the ground not with a voice, but in spirit [margin note: ratione]. As
   the work is said to laud the workman, when he delights himself in the
   view thereof; for the saints are not so impatient as to urge on what
   they know will come to pass at the appointed time.

   Chrys.: Note through what steps we have now ascended hither, and how He
   has set us on the very pinnacle of virtue. The first step is, not to
   begin to do wrong to any; the second, that in avenging a wrong done to
   us we be content with retaliating equal; the third, to return nothing
   of what we have suffered; the fourth, to offer one's self to the
   endurance of evil; the fifth, to be ready to suffer even more evil than
   the oppressor desires to inflict; the sixth, not to hate him of whom we
   suffer such things; the seventh, to love him; the eighth, to do him
   good; the ninth, to pray for him. And because the command is great, the
   reward proposed is also great, namely, to be made like unto God, "Ye
   shall be the sons of your Father which is in heaven."

   Jerome: For whoso keeps the commandments of God is thereby made the son
   of God; he then of whom he here speaks is not by nature His son, but by
   his own will.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., i, 23: After that rule we must here understand of
   which John speaks, "He gave them power to be made the sons of God." One
   is His Son by nature; we are made sons by the power which we have
   received; that is, so far as we fulfil those things that we are
   commanded. So He says not, Do these things because ye are sons; but, do
   these things that ye may become sons.

   In calling us to this then, He calls us to His likeness, for He saith,
   "He maketh His sun to rise on the righteous and the unrighteous." By
   the sun we may understand not this visible, but that of which it is
   said, "To you that fear the name of the Lord, the Sun of righteousness
   shall arise;" [Mal 4:2] and by the rain, the water of the doctrine of
   truth; for Christ was seen, and was preached to good as well as bad.

   Hilary: Or, the sun and rain have reference to the baptism with water
   and Spirit.

   Aug.: Or we may take it of this visible sun, and of the rain by which
   the fruits are nourished, as the wicked mourn in the book of Wisdom,
   "The Sun has not risen for us." [Wis 5:6] And of the rain it is said,
   "I will command the clouds that they rain not on it." [Isa 5:6] But
   whether it be this or that, it is of the great goodness of God, which
   is set forth for our imitation. He says not, the sun,' but, "His sun,"
   that is, the sun which Himself has made, that hence we may be
   admonished with how great liberality we ought to supply those things
   that we have not created, but have received as a boon from Him.

   Aug., Epist., 93, 2: But as we laud Him for His gifts, let us also
   consider how He chastises those whom He loves. For not every one who
   spares is a friend, nor every one who chastises an enemy; it is better
   to love with severity, than to use lenity wherewith to deceive [margin
   note: see Prov. 27:6].

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He was careful to say, "On the righteous and the
   unrighteous;' for God gives all good gifts not for men's sake, but for
   the saints' sake, as likewise chastisements for the sake of sinners. In
   bestowing His good gifts, He does not separate the sinners from the
   righteous, that they should not despair; so in His inflictions, not the
   righteous from sinners that they should be made proud; and that the
   more, since the wicked are not profited by the good things they
   receive, but turn them to their hurt by their evil lives; nor are the
   good hurt by the evil things, but rather profit to increase of
   righteousness.

   Aug., City of God, book 1, ch. 8: For the good man is not puffed up by
   worldly goods, nor broken by worldly calamity. But the bad man is
   punished in temporal losses, because he is corrupted by temporal gains.
   Or for another reason He would have good and evil common to both sorts
   of men, that good things might not be sought with vehement desire, when
   they were enjoyed even by the wicked; nor the evil things shamefully
   avoided, when even the righteous are afflicted by them.

   Gloss, non occ.: To love one that loves us is of nature, but to love
   our enemy of charity. "If ye love them who love you, what reward have
   ye?" to wit, in heaven. None truly, for of such it is said, "Ye have
   received your reward." But these things we ought to do, and not leave
   the other undone.

   Rabanus: If then sinners be led by nature to shew kindness to those
   that love them, with how much greater shew of affection ought you not
   to embrace even those that do not love you?

   For it follows, "Do not even the publicans so?" "The publicans" are
   those who collect the public imposts; or perhaps those who pursue the
   public business or the gain of this world.

   Gloss. non occ.: But if you only pray for them that are your kinsfolk,
   what more has your benevolence than that of the unbelieving? Salutation
   is a kind of prayer.

   Rabanus: Ethnici, that is, the Gentiles, for the Greek word ethnos is
   translated gens' in Latin; those, that is, who abide such as they were
   born, to wit, under sin.

   Remig.: Because the utmost perfection of love cannot go beyond the love
   of enemies, therefore as soon as the Lord has bid us love our enemies,
   He proceeds, "Be ye then perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is
   perfect." He indeed is perfect, as being omnipotent; man, as being
   aided by the Omnipotent. For the word as' is used in Scripture,
   sometimes for identity, and equality, as in that, "As I was with Moses,
   so will I be with thee;" [Josh 1:5] sometimes to express likeness only
   as here.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For as our sons after the flesh resemble their fathers
   in some part of their bodily shape, so do spiritual sons resemble their
   father God, in holiness.
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Chapter 6

   1. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:
   otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in Heaven."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: Christ having now fulfilled the Law in respect of
   commandments, begins to fulfil it in respect of promises, that we may
   do God's commandments for heavenly wages, not for the earthly which the
   Law held out. All earthly things are reduced to two main heads, viz.
   human glory, and abundance of earthly goods, both of which seem to be
   promised in the Law. Concerning the first is that spoken in
   Deuteronomy, "The Lord shall make thee higher than all the nations who
   dwell on the face of the earth." [Deut 28:1] And in the same place it
   is added of earthly wealth, "The Lord shall make thee abound in all
   good things." Therefore the Lord now forbids these two things, glory
   and wealth, to the attention of believers.

   Chrys., Hom. xix: Yet be it known that the desire of fame is near a kin
   to virtue.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For when any thing truly glorious is done, there
   ostentation has its readiest occasion; so the Lord first shuts out all
   intention of seeking glory; as He knows that this is of all fleshly
   vices the most dangerous to man. The servants of the Devil are
   tormented by all kinds of vices; but it is the desire of empty glory
   that torments the servants of the Lord more than the servants of the
   Devil.

   Aug., Prosper. Lib. Sentent. 318: How great strength the love of human
   glory has, none feels, but he who has proclaimed war against it. For
   though it is easy for any not to wish for praise when it is denied him,
   it is difficult not to be pleased with it when it is offered.

   Chrys.: Observe how He has begun as it were describing some beast hard
   to be discerned, and ready to steal upon him who is not greatly on his
   guard against it; it enters in secretly, and carries off insensibly all
   those things that are within.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And therefore he enjoins this to be more carefully
   avoided, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men." It
   is our heart we must watch, for it is an invisible serpent that we have
   to guard against, which secretly enters in and seduces; but if the
   heart be pure into which the enemy has succeeded in entering in, the
   righteous man soon feels that he is prompted by a strange spirit; but
   if his heart were full of wickedness, he does not readily perceive the
   suggestion of the Devil, and therefore He first taught us, "Be not
   angry, Lust not," for that he who is under the yoke of these evils
   cannot attend to his own heart.

   But how can it be that we should not do our alms before men. Or if this
   may be, how can they be so done that we should not know of it. For if a
   poor man come before us in the presence of any one, how shall we be
   able to give him alms in secret? If we lead him aside, it must be seen
   that we shall give him. Observe then that He said not simply, "Do not
   before men," but added, "to be seen of them." He then who does
   righteousness not from this motive, even if he does it before the eyes
   of men, is not to be thought to be herein condemned; for he who does
   any thing for God's sake, sees nothing in his heart but God, for whose
   sake he does it; as a workman has always before his eyes him who has
   entrusted him with the work to do.

   Greg., Mor., viii, 48: If then we seek the fame of giving, we make even
   our public deeds to be hidden in His sight; for if herein we seek our
   own glory, then they are already cast out of His sight, even though
   there be many by whom they are yet unknown. It belongs only to the
   thoroughly perfect, to suffer their deeds to be seen, and to receive
   the praise of doing them in such sort that they are lifted up with no
   secret exultation; whereas they that are weak, because they cannot
   attain to this perfect contempt of their own fame, must needs hide
   those good deeds that they do.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 1: In saying only, "That ye be seen of men,"
   without any addition, He seems to have forbidden that we should make
   that the end of our actions. For the Apostle who declared, "If I yet
   pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ;" [Gal 1:10] says in
   another place, "I please all men in all things. [1 Cor 10:33] This he
   did not that he might please men, but God, to the love of whom he
   desires to turn the hearts of men by pleasing them. As we should not
   think that he spoke absurdly, who should say, In this my pains in
   seeking a ship, it is not the ship I seek, but my country.

   Aug., Serm. 54. 2: He says this, "that ye be seen of men," because
   there are some who so do their righteousness before men that themselves
   may not be seen, but that the works themselves may be seen, and their
   Father who is in heaven may be glorified; for they reckon not their own
   righteousness, but His, in the faith of whom they live.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont.: That He adds, "Otherwise ye shall not have your
   reward before your Father who is in heaven," signifies no more than
   that we ought to take heed that we seek not praise of men in reward of
   our words.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: What shall you receive from God, who have given God
   nothing? What is done for God's sake is given to God, and received by
   Him; but what is done because of men is cast to the winds. But that
   wisdom is it, to bestow our goods, to reap empty words, and to have
   despised the reward of God? Nay you deceive the very man for whose good
   word you look; for he thinks you do it for God's sake, otherwise he
   would rather reproach then command you.

   Yet must we think him only to have done his work because of men, who
   does it with his whole will and intention governed by the thought of
   them. But if an idle thought, seeking to be seen of men, mount up in
   any one's heart, but is resisted by the understanding spirit, he is not
   thereupon to be condemned of man-pleasing; for that the thought came to
   him was the passion of the flesh, what he chose was the judgment of his
   soul.
     __________________________________________________________________

   2. "Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before
   thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that
   they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their
   reward.

   3. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
   hand doeth:

   4. That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in
   secret Himself shall reward thee openly.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 2: Above the Lord had spoken of righteousness
   in general. He now pursues it through its different parts.

   Pseudo-Chrys., Hom. xv: He opposes three chief virtues, alms, prayer,
   and fasting, to three evil things against which the Lord undertook the
   war of temptation. For He fought for us in the wilderness against
   gluttony; against covetousness on the mount; against false glory on the
   temple. It is alms that scatter abroad against covetousness which heaps
   up; fasting against gluttony which is its contrary; prayer against
   false glory, seeing that all other evil things come out of evil, this
   alone comes out of good; and therefore it is not overthrown but rather
   nourished of good, and has no remedy that may avail against it but
   prayer only.

   Ambrosiaster, Comm. in Tim. 4, 8: The sum of all Christian discipline
   is comprehended in mercy and piety, for which reason He begins with
   almsgiving.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The trumpet stands for every act or word that tends to a
   display of our works; for instance, to do alms if we know that some
   other person is looking on, or at the request of another, or to a
   person of such condition that he may make us return; and unless in such
   cases not to do them.

   Yea, even if in some secret place they are done with intent to be
   thought praiseworthy, then is the trumpet sounded.

   Aug.: Thus what He says, "Do not sound a trumpet before thee," refers
   to what He had said above, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness
   before men."

   Jerome: He who sounds a trumpet before him when he does alms is a
   hypocrite. Whence he adds, "as the hypocrites do."

   Isid., Etym. x. ex Aug. Serm.: The name hypocrite' is derived from the
   appearance of those who in the shows are disguised in masks, variously
   coloured according to the character they represent, sometimes male,
   sometimes female, to impose on the spectators while they act in the
   games.

   Aug.: As then the hypocrites, (a word meaning one who feigns,') as
   personating the characters of other men, act parts which are not
   naturally their own - for he who personates Agamemnon, is not really
   Agamemnon, but feigns to be so - so likewise in the Churches, whosoever
   in his whole conduct desires to seem what he is not, is a hypocrite; he
   feigns himself righteous and is not really so, seeing his only motive
   is praise of men.

   Gloss., non occ.: In the words, "in the streets and villages," he marks
   the public places which they selected; and in those, "that they may
   receive honour of men," he marks their motive.

   Greg., Mor., xxxi, 13: It should be known, that there are some who wear
   the dress of sanctity, and are not able to work out the merit of
   perfection, yet who must in no wise be numbered among the hypocrites,
   because it is one thing to sin from weakness, another from crafty
   affectation.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 2: And such sinners receive from God the
   Searcher of hearts none other reward than punishment of their
   deceitfulness; "Verily I say unto you, they have their reward."

   Jerome: A reward not of God, but of themselves, for they receive praise
   of men, for the sake of which it was that they practised their virtues.

   Aug.: This refers to what He had said above, "Otherwise ye shall have
   no reward of your Father which is in heaven;" and He goes on to shew
   them that they should not do their alms as the hypocrites, but teaches
   them how they should do them.

   Chrys.: "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth," is said
   as an extreme expression, as much as to say, If it were possible, that
   you should not know yourself, and that your very hands should be hid
   from your sight, that is what you should most strive after.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Apostles in the book of the Constitutions, interpret
   thus; The right hand is the Christian people which is at Christ's right
   hand; the left hand is all the people who are on His left hand. He
   means then, that when a Christian does alms, the unbeliever should not
   see it.

   Aug.: But according to this interpretation, it will be no fault to have
   a respect to pleasing the faithful; and yet we are forbidden to propose
   as the end of any good work the pleasing of any kind of men. Yet if you
   would have men to imitate your actions which may be pleasing to them,
   they must be done before unbelievers as well as believers.

   If again, according to another interpretation, we take the left hand to
   mean our enemy, and that our enemy should not know when we do our alms,
   why did the Lord Himself mercifully heal men when the Jews were
   standing round Him? And how too must we deal with our enemy himself
   according to that precept, "If thy enemy hunger, feed him." [Prov
   25:21]

   A third interpretation is ridiculous; that the left hand signifies the
   wife, and that because women are wont to be more close in the matter of
   expense out of the family purse, therefore the charities of the husband
   should be secret from the wife, for the avoiding of domestic strife.
   But this command is addressed to women as well as to men, what then is
   the left hand, from which women are bid to conceal their alms? Is the
   husband also the left hand of the wife? And when it is commanded such
   that they enrich each other with good works, it is clear that they
   ought not to hide their good deeds; nor is a theft to be committed to
   do God service.

   But if in any case something must needs be done covertly, from respect
   to the weakness of the other, though it is not unlawful, yet that we
   cannot suppose the wife to be intended by the left hand here is clear
   from the purport of the whole paragraph; no, not even such an one as he
   might well call left. But that which is blamed in hypocrites, namely,
   that they seek praise of men, this you are forbid to do; the left hand
   therefore seems to signify the delight in men's praise; the right hand
   denotes the purpose of fulfilling the divine commands.

   Whenever then a desire to gain honour from men mingles itself with the
   conscience of him that does alms, it is then the left hand knowing what
   the right hand, the right conscience, does. "Let not the left hand
   know," therefore, "what the right hand doeth," means, let not the
   desire of men's praise mingle with your conscience.

   But our Lord does yet more strongly forbid the left hand alone to work
   in us, than its mingling in the works of the right hand. The intent
   with which He said all this is shewn in that He adds, "that your alms
   may be in secret;" that is, in that your good conscience only, which
   human eye cannot see, nor words discover, though many things are said
   falsely of many. But your good conscience itself is enough for you
   towards deserving your reward, if you look for your reward from Him who
   alone can see your conscience. This is that He adds, "And you Father
   which seeth in secret shall reward you." Many Latin copies have,
   "openly." [ed. note: "openly" omit Clement. Hom. iii. 56. on verse 6.
   Origen on v. 6 (in Ezek. viii. 12) but retains in Joan. tom. 13. n. 45,
   Jerome in loc. &c. vid. Wetstein in loc. Augustine adds that the Greek
   manuscripts omit, but all the present Greek manuscripts retain. He
   omits it also in v. 18]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For it is impossible that God should leave in obscurity
   any good work of man; but He makes it manifest in this world, and
   glorifies it in the next world, because it is the glory of God; as
   likewise the Devil manifests evil, in which is shewn the strength of
   his great wickedness.

   But God properly makes public every good deed only in that world the
   goods of which are not common to the righteous and the wicked;
   therefore to whomsoever God shall there shew favour, it will be
   manifest that it was as reward of his righteousness. But the reward of
   virtue is not manifested in this world, in which both bad and good are
   alike in their fortunes.

   Aug.: But in the Greek copies, which are earlier, we have not the word,
   "openly."

   Chrys.: If therefore you desire spectators of your good deeds, behold
   you have not merely Angels and Archangels, but the God of the universe.
     __________________________________________________________________

   5. "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for
   they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the
   streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have
   their reward.

   6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou
   hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy
   Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Solomon says, "Before prayer, prepare thy soul." This he
   does who comes to prayer doing alms; for good works stir up the faith
   of the heart, and give the soul confidence in prayer to God. Alms then
   are a preparation for prayer, and therefore the Lord after speaking of
   alms proceeds accordingly to instruct us concerning prayer.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 3: He does not now bid us pray, but instructs
   us how we should pray; as above He did not command us to do alms, but
   shewed the manner of doing them.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Prayer is as it were a spiritual tribute which the soul
   offers of its own bowels. Wherefore the more glorious it is, the more
   watchfully ought we to guard that it is not made vile by being done to
   be seen of men.

   Chrys.: He calls them hypocrites, because feigning that they are
   praying to God, they are looking round to men; and He adds, "they love
   to pray in the synagogues."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But I suppose that it is not the place that the Lord
   here refers to, but the motive of him that prays; for it is
   praiseworthy to pray in the congregation of the faithful, as it is
   said, "in your Churches bless ye God." [Ps. 68:26]

   Whoever then so prays as to be seen of men does not look to God but to
   man, and so far as his purpose is concerned he prays in the synagogue.
   But he, whose mind in prayer is wholly fixed on God, though he pray in
   the synagogue, yet seems to pray with himself in secret. "In the
   corners of the streets," namely, that they may seem to be praying
   retiredly, and thus earn a twofold praise, both that they pray, and
   that they pray in retirement.

   Gloss. ord.: Or, "the corners of the streets," are the places where one
   way crosses another, and makes four cross-ways.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He forbids us to pray in an assembly with the intent of
   being seen of that assembly, as He adds, "that they may be seen of
   men." He that prays therefore should do nothing singular that might
   attract notice; as crying out, striking his breast, or reaching forth
   his hands.

   Aug.: Not that the mere being seen of men is an impiety, but the doing
   this, in order to be seen of men.

   Chrys.: It is a good thing to be drawn away from the thought of empty
   glory, but especially in prayer. For our thoughts are apt to stray of
   themselves; if then we address ourselves to prayer with this disease
   upon us, how shall we understand those things that are said by us?

   Aug.: The privity of other men is to be so far shunned by us, as it
   leads us to do any thing with this mind that we look for the fruit of
   their applause.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Verily I say unto you, they have received their
   reward," for every man where he sows there he reaps, therefore they who
   pray because of men, not because of God, receive praise of men, not of
   God.

   Chrys.: He says, have received, because God was ready to give them that
   reward which comes from Himself, but they prefer rather that which
   comes from men. He then goes on to teach how we should pray.

   Jerome: This if taken in its plain sense teaches the hearer to shun all
   desire of vain honour in praying.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That none should be there present save he only who is
   praying, for a witness impedes rather than forwards prayer.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii. 2: The Lord has bid us in His instructions to pray
   secretly in remote and withdrawn places, as best suited to faith; that
   we may be assured that God who is present every where hears and sees
   all, and in the fulness of His Majesty penetrates even hidden places.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: We may also understand by "the door of the chamber," the
   mouth of the body; so that we should not pray to God with loudness of
   tone, but with silent heart, for three reasons. First, because God is
   not to be gained by vehement crying, but by a right conscience, seeing
   He is a hearer of the heart; secondly, because none but thyself and God
   should be privy to your secret prayers; thirdly, because if you pray
   aloud, you hinder any other from praying near you.

   Cassian, Collat. ix, 35: Also we should observe close silence in our
   prayers, that our enemies, who are ever most watchful to ensnare us at
   that time, may not know the purport of our petition.

   Aug.: Or, by our chambers are to be understood our hearts, of which it
   is spoken in the fourth Psalm; "What things ye utter in your hearts,
   and wherewith ye are pricked in your chambers." [Ps 4:4] "The door" is
   the bodily senses; without are al worldly things, which, enter into our
   thoughts through the senses, and that crowd of vain imaginings which
   beset us in prayer.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 20: What insensibility is it to be snatched wandering
   off by light and profane imaginings, when you are presenting your
   entreaty to the Lord, as if there were aught else you ought rather to
   consider than that your converse is with God! How can you claim of God
   to attend to you, when you do not attend to yourself? This is
   altogether to make no provision against the enemy; this is when praying
   to God, to offend God's Majesty by the neglectfulness of your prayer.

   Aug.: The door then must be shut, that is, we must resist the bodily
   sense, that we may address our Father in such spiritual prayer as is
   made in the inmost spirit, where we pray to Him truly in secret.

   Remig.: Let it be enough for you that He alone know your petitions, who
   knows the secrets of all hearts; for He Who sees all things, the same
   shall listen to you.

   Chrys.: He said not shall freely give thee,' but, "shall reward thee;"
   thus He constitutes Himself your debtor.
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   7. "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for
   they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

   8. Be ye not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what
   things ye have need of, before ye ask Him."
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   Aug.: As the hypocrites use to set themselves so as to be seen in their
   prayers, whose reward is to be acceptable to men; so the Ethnici (that
   is, the Gentiles) use to think that they shall be heard for their much
   speaking; therefore He adds, "When ye pray, do not ye use many words."

   Cassian, Collat. ix. 36: We should indeed pray often, but in short
   form, lest if we be long in our prayers, the enemy that lies in wait
   for us, might suggest something for our thoughts.

   Aug., Epist., 130, 10: Yet to continue long in prayer is not, as some
   think, what is here meant, by "using many words." For much speaking is
   one thing, and an enduring fervency another. For of the Lord Himself it
   is written, that He continued a whole night in prayer, and prayed at
   great length, setting an example to us. The brethren in Egypt are said
   to use frequent prayers, but those very short, and as it were hasty
   ejaculations, lest that fervency of spirit, which is most behoveful for
   us in prayer, should by longer continuance be violently broken off.

   Herein themselves sufficiently shew, that this fervency of spirit, as
   it is not to be forced if it cannot last, so if it has lasted is not to
   be violently broken off. Let prayer then be without much speaking, but
   not without much entreaty, if this fervent spirit can be supported; for
   much speaking in prayer is to use in a necessary matter more words than
   necessary. But to entreat much, is to importune with enduring warmth
   the heart Him to whom our entreaty is made; for often is this business
   effected more by groans than words, by weeping more than speech.

   Chrys.: Hereby He dissuades from empty speaking in prayer; as, for
   example, when we ask of God things improper, as dominions, fame,
   overcoming of our enemies, or abundance of wealth. He commands then
   that our prayers should not be long; long, that is, not in time, but in
   multitude of words. For it is right that those who ask should persevere
   in their asking; "being instant in prayer," as the Apostle instructs;
   but does not thereby enjoin us to compose a prayer of ten thousand
   verses, and speak it all; which He secretly hints at, when He says, "Do
   not ye use many words."

   Gloss. ord.: What He condemns is many words in praying that come of
   want of faith; "as the Gentiles do." For a multitude of words were
   needful for the Gentiles, seeing the daemons could not know for what
   they petitioned, until instructed by them; they think they shall be
   heard for their much speaking.

   Aug.: And truly all superfluity of discourse has come from the
   Gentiles, who labour rather to practise their tongues than to cleanse
   their hearts, and introduce this art of rhetoric into that wherein they
   need to persuade God.

   Greg., Mor. xxxiii. 23: True prayer consists rather in the bitter
   groans of repentance, than in the repetition of set forms of words.

   Aug.: For we use many words then when we have to instruct one who is in
   ignorance, what need of them to Him who is Creator of all things; "Your
   heavenly Father knoweth what ye have need of before you ask Him"

   Jerome: Or this there starts up a heresy of certain Philosophers
   [margin note: Epicureans] who taught the mistaken dogma that if God
   knows for what we shall pray, and, before we ask, knows what we need,
   our prayer is needlessly made to one who has such knowledge. To such we
   shortly reply, That in our prayers we do not instruct, but entreat; it
   is one thing to inform the ignorant, another to beg of the
   understanding: the first were to teach; the latter is to perform a
   service of duty.

   Chrys.: You do not then pray in order to teach God your wants, but to
   move Him, that you may become His friend by the importunity of your
   applications to Him, that you may be humbled, that you may be reminded
   of your sins.

   Aug.: Nor ought we to use words in seeking to obtain of God what we
   would, but to seek with intense and fervent application of mind, with
   pure love, and suppliant spirit.

   Aug., Epist. 130. 9: But even with words we ought at certain periods to
   make prayer to God, that by these signs of things we may keep ourselves
   in mind, and may know what progress we have made in such desire, and
   may stir up ourselves more actively to increase this desire, that after
   it have begun to wax warm, it may not be chilled and utterly frozen up
   by divers cares, without our continual care to keep it alive.

   Words therefore are needful for us that we should be moved by them,
   that we should understand clearly what it is we ask, not that we should
   think that by them the Lord is either instructed or persuaded.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 3: Still it may be asked, what is the use of
   prayer at all, whether made in words or in meditation of things, if God
   knows already what is necessary for us. The mental posture of prayer
   calms and purifies the soul, and makes it of more capacity to receive
   the divine gifts which are poured into it. For God does not hear us for
   the prevailing force of our pleadings; He is at all times ready to give
   us His light, but we are not ready to receive it, but prone to other
   things.

   There is then in prayer a turning of the body to God, and a purging of
   the inward eye, whilst those worldly things which we desired are shut
   out, that the eye of the mind made single might be able to bear the
   single light, and in it abide with that joy with which a happy life is
   perfected.
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   9. "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
   Heaven, Hallowed by thy name."
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   Gloss: Amongst His other saving instructions and divine lessons,
   wherewith He counsels believers, He has set forth for us a form of
   prayer in few words; thus giving us confidence that will be quickly
   granted, for which He would have us pray so shortly.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 1: He who gave to us to live, taught us also to pray,
   to the end, that speaking to the Father in the prayer which the Son
   hath taught, we may receive a readier hearing. It is praying like
   friends and familiars to offer up to God of His own. Let the Father
   recognize the Son's words when we offer up our prayer; and seeing we
   have Him when we sin for an Advocate with the Father, let us put
   forward the words of our Advocate, when as sinners we make petition for
   our offences.

   Gloss. ord.: Yet we do not confine ourselves wholly to these words, but
   use others also conceived in the same sense, with which our heart is
   kindled.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 4: Since in every entreaty we have first to
   propitiate the good favour of Him whom we entreat, and after that
   mention what we entreat for; and this we commonly do by saying
   something in praise of Him whom we entreat, and place it in the front
   of our petition; in this the Lord bids us say no more than only, "Our
   Father which art in Heaven."

   Mary things were said of them to the praise of God, yet do we never
   find it taught to the children of Israel to address God as Our Father;'
   He is rather set before them as a Lord over slaves. But of Christ's
   people the Apostle says, "We have received the Spirit of adoption,
   whereby we cry Abba, Father," [Rom 8:15] and that not of our
   deservings, but of grace. This then we express in the prayer when we
   say, "Father;" which name also stirs up love. For what can be dearer
   than sons are to a father? And a suppliant spirit, in that men should
   say to God "Our Father." And a certain presumption that we shall
   obtain; for what will He not give to His sons when they ask of Him, who
   has given them that first that they should be sons?

   Lastly, how great anxiety possesses his mind, that having called God
   his Father, he should not be unworthy of such a Father. By this the
   rich and the noble are admonished when they have become Christians not
   to be haughty towards the poor or truly born, who like themselves may
   address God as "Our Father;" and they therefore cannot truly or piously
   say this unless they acknowledge such for brethren.

   Chrys.: For what hurt does such kindred with those beneath us, when we
   are all alike kin to One above us? For who calls God Father, in that
   one title confesses at once the forgiveness of sins, the adoption, the
   heirship, the brotherhood, which he has with the Only-begotten, and the
   gift of the Spirit. For none can call God Father, but he who has
   obtained all these blessings. In a two-fold manner, therefore, he moves
   the feeling of them that pray, both by the dignity of Him who is prayed
   to, and the greatness of those benefits which we gain by prayer.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii. 4: We say not My Father, but "Our Father," for the
   teacher of peace and master of unity would not have men pray singly and
   severally, since when any prays, he is not to pray for himself only.
   Our prayer is general and for all, and when we pray, we pray not for
   one person, but for us all, because we all are one. So also He willed
   that one should pray for all, according as Himself in one did bear us
   all.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: To pray for ourselves it is our necessity compels us, to
   pray for others brotherly charity instigates.

   Gloss. ord.: Also because He is a common Father of all, we say, "Our
   Father;" not "My Father" which is appropriate to Christ alone, who is
   his Son by nature.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Which are in heaven," is added, that we may know that
   we have a heavenly Father, and may blush to immerse ourselves wholly in
   earthly things when we have a Father in heaven.

   Cassian, Collat. ix. 18: And that we should speed with strong desire
   thitherward where our Father dwells.

   Chrys.: "In heaven," not confining God's presence to that, but
   withdrawing the thoughts of the petitioner from earth and fixing them
   on things above.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 5: Or; "in heaven" is among the saints and
   the righteous men; for God is not contained in space. For the heavens
   literally are the upper parts of the universe, and if God be thought to
   be in them, then are the birds of more desert than men, seeing they
   must have their habitation nearer to God. But, "God is nigh," [Ps.
   34:18] it is not said to the men of lofty stature, or to the
   inhabitants of the mountain tops; but, "to the broken in heart."

   But as the sinner is called earth,' as "earth thou art, and unto earth
   thou must return," [Gen 3:19] so might the righteous on the other hand
   be called the heaven.' Thus then it would be rightly said "Who art in
   heaven," for there would seem to be as much difference spiritually
   between the righteous and sinners, as locally, between heaven and
   earth.

   With the intent of signifying which thing it is, that we turn our faces
   in prayer to the east, not as though God was there only, deserting all
   other parts of the earth; but that the mind may be reminded to turn
   itself to that nature which is more excellent, that is to God, when his
   body, which is of earth, is turned to the more excellent body which is
   of heaven. For it is desirable that all, both small and great, should
   have right conceptions of God, and therefore for such as cannot fix
   their thought on spiritual natures, it is better that they should think
   of God as being in heaven than in earth.

   Aug.: Having named Him to whom prayer is made and where He dwells, let
   us now see what things they are for which we ought to pray. But the
   first of all the things that are prayed for it, "Hallowed be thy name,"
   not implying that the name of God is not holy, but that it may be held
   sacred of men; that is, that God may be so known that nothing may be
   esteemed more holy.

   Chrys.: Or, He bids us in praying beg that God may be glorified in our
   life; as if we were to say, Make us to live so that all things may
   glorify Thee through us. For "hallowed" signifies the same as
   glorified. It is a petition worthy to be made by man to God, to ask
   nothing before the glory of the Father, but to postpone all things to
   His praise.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 7: Otherwise, we say this not as wishing for God to
   be made holy by our prayers, but asking of Him for His name to be kept
   holy in us. For seeing He Himself has said, "Be ye holy, for I also am
   holy," [Lev. 20:7] it is this that we ask and request that we who have
   been sanctified in Baptism, may persevere such as we have begun.

   Aug., De Don. Pers. 2: But why is this perseverance asked of God, if,
   as the Pelagians say, it is not given by God? Is it not a mocking
   petition to ask of God what we know is not given by Him, but is in the
   power of man himself to attain?

   Cyprian: For this we daily make petition, since we need a daily
   sanctification, in order that we who sin day by day, may cleanse afresh
   our offences by a continual sanctification.
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   10. "Thy kingdom come."
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   Gloss. ord.: It follows suitably, that after our adoption as sons, we
   should ask a kingdom which is due to sons.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 6: This is not so said as though God did not
   now reign on earth, or had not reigned over it always. "Come," must
   therefore be taken for "be manifested to men." For none shall then be
   ignorant of His kingdom, when His Only-begotten not in understanding
   only, but in visible shape shall come to judge the quick and dead. This
   day of judgment the Lord teaches shall then come, when the Gospel shall
   have been preached to all nations; which thing pertains to the
   hallowing of God's name.

   Jerome: Either it is a general prayer for the kingdom of the whole
   world that the reign of the Devil may cease; or for the kingdom in each
   of us that God may reign there, and that sin may not reign in our
   mortal body.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 8: Or; it is that kingdom which was promised to us by
   God, and bought with Christ's blood; that we who before in the world
   have been servants, may afterwards reign under the dominion of Christ.

   Aug., Epist., 130, 11: For the kingdom of God will come whether we
   desire it or not. But herein we kindle our desires towards that
   kingdom, that it may come to us, and that we may reign in it.

   Cassian, Collat., ix, 19: Or, because the Saint knows by the witness of
   his conscience, that when the kingdom of God shall appear, he shall be
   partaker therein.

   Jerome: But be it noted, that it comes of high confidence, and of an
   unblemished conscience only, to pray for the kingdom of God, and not to
   fear the judgment.

   Cyprian: The kingdom of God may stand for Christ Himself, whom we day
   by day wish to come, and for whose advent we pray that it may be
   quickly manifested to us. As He is our resurrection, because in Him we
   rise again, so may He be called the kingdom of God, because we are to
   reign in Him. Rightly we ask for God's kingdom, that is, for the
   heavenly, because there is a kingdom of this earth beside. He, however,
   who has renounced the world, is superior to its honours and to its
   kingdom; and hence he who dedicates himself to God and to Christ, longs
   not for the kingdom of earth, but for the kingdom of Heaven.

   Aug., De Don. Pers. 2: When they pray, "Let thy kingdom come," what
   else do they pray for who are already holy, but that they may persevere
   in that holiness they now have given unto them? For no otherwise will
   the kingdom of God come, than as it is certain it will come to those
   that persevere unto the end.
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   10. ------ "Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 6: In that kingdom of blessedness the happy
   life will be made perfect in the Saints as it now is in the heavenly
   Angels; and therefore after the petition, "Thy kingdom come," follows,
   "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth." That is, as by the Angels
   who are in Heaven Thy will is done so as that they have fruition of
   Thee, no error clouding their knowledge, no pain marring their
   blessedness; so may it be done by Thy Saints who are on earth, and who,
   as to their bodies, are made of earth. So that, "Thy will be done," is
   rightly understood as, Thy commands be obeyed;' "as in heaven, so in
   earth," that is, as by Angels, so by men; not that they do what God
   would have them do, but they do because He would have them do it; that
   is, they do after His will.

   Chrys.: See how excellently this follows; having taught us to desire
   heavenly things by that which He said, "Thy kingdom come," before we
   come to Heaven He bids us make this earth into Heaven, in that saying,
   "Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth."

   Jerome: Let them be put to shame by this text who falsely affirm that
   there are daily falls [margin note: ruinas] in Heaven. [ed. note: There
   were various opinions in the first ages about the indefectibility and
   perfection of good spirits, vid. Petav. de Angelis iii. 2, &c. Dissert.
   Bened. in Cyril. Hier. iii. 5. Huet. Origenian. ii. 5. n. 16. Nat.
   Alex. in prim. mund. aot. Diss. 7.]

   Aug.: Or; as by the righteous, so by sinners; as if He had said, As the
   righteous do Thy will, so also may sinners; either by turning to Thee,
   or in receiving every man his just reward, which shall be in the last
   judgment.

   Or, by the heaven and the earth we may understand the spirit and the
   flesh. As the Apostle says, "In my mind I obey the law of God," [Rom
   7:25] we see the will of God done in the spirit. But in that change
   which is promised to the righteous there, "Let thy will be done as in
   heaven, so in earth;" that is, as the spirit does not resist God, so
   let the body not resist the spirit.

   Or; "as in heaven, so in earth," as in Christ Jesus Himself, so in His
   Church; as in the Man who did His Father's will, so in the woman who is
   espoused of Him. And heaven and earth may be suitably understood as
   husband and wife, seeing it is of the heaven that the earth brings
   forth her fruits.

   Cyprian: We ask not that God may do His own will, but that we may be
   enabled to do what He wills should be done by us; and that it may be
   done in us we stand in need of that will, that is, of God's aid and
   protection; for no man is strong by his own strength, but it safe in
   the indulgence and pity of God.

   Chrys.: For virtue is not of our own efforts, but of grace from above.
   Here again is enjoined on each one of us prayer for the whole world,
   inasmuch as we are not to say, Thy will be done in me, or in us; but
   throughout the earth, that error may cease, truth be planted, malice be
   banished, and virtue return, and thus the earth not differ from heaven.

   Aug., De Don. Pers., 3: From this passage is clearly shewn against the
   Pelagians that the beginning of faith is God's gift, when Holy Church
   prays for unbelievers that they may begin to have faith. Moreover,
   seeing it is done already in the Saints, why do they yet pray that it
   may be done, but that they pray that they may persevere in that they
   have begun to be?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: These words, "As in heaven so in earth," must be taken
   as common to all three preceding petitions. Observe also how carefully
   it is worded; He said not, Father, hallow Thy name in us, Let Thy
   kingdom come on us, Do Thy will in us. Nor again; Let us hallow Thy
   name, Let us enter into Thy kingdom, Let us do Thy will; that it should
   not seem to be either God's doing only, or man's doing only. But He
   used a middle form of speech, and the impersonal verb; for as man can
   do nothing good without God's aid, so neither does God work good in man
   unless man wills it.
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   11. "Give us this day our daily bread."
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   Aug., Enchir., 115: These three things therefore which have been asked
   in the foregoing petitions, are begun here on earth, and according to
   our proficiency are increased in us; but in another life, as we hope,
   they shall be everlastingly possessed in perfection. In the four
   remaining petitions we ask for temporal blessings which are necessary
   to obtaining the eternal; the bread, which is accordingly the next
   petition in order, is a necessary.

   Jerome: The Greek word here which we render, supersubstantialis,' is
   epiousios. The LXX often make use of the word, periousios, by which we
   find, on reference to the Hebrew, they always render the word, sogola.
   [ed. note, c: sglh on epiousios, vid. note c on Cyr. Cat. xxiii. 15.
   Tr. and Petav. Dogm. t. iv. pp. 200,201. ed. Antwerp. 1700.]

   Symmachus translates it exairetos, that is, chief,' or excellent,'
   though in one place he has interpreted peculiar.' When then we pray God
   to give us our peculiar' or chief' bread, we mean Him who says in the
   Gospel, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." [John
   6:51]

   Cyprian: For Christ is the bread of life, and this bread belongs not to
   all men, but to us. This bread we pray that it be given day by day,
   lest we who are in Christ, and who daily receive the Eucharist for food
   of salvation, should by the admission of any grievous crime, and our
   being therefore forbidden the heavenly bread, be separated from the
   body of Christ. Hence then we pray, that we who abide in Christ, may
   not draw back from His sanctification and His body.

   Aug., De Don. Pers. 4: Here then the saints ask for perseverance of
   God, when they pray that they may not be separated from the body of
   Christ, but may abide in that holiness, committing no crime.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or by supersubstantialis' may be intended, daily.' [ed.
   note: Pseudo-Chrys. reads or translates quotidianus,' he does not
   introduce the word 'supersubstantialis' at all.]

   Cassian, Coll., ix, 21: In that He says, "this day," He shews that it
   is to be daily taken, and that this prayer should be offered at all
   seasons, seeing there is no day on which we have not need, by the
   receiving of this bread, to confirm the heart of the inward man.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 7: There is here a difficulty created by the
   circumstance of there being many in the East, who do not daily
   communicate in the Lord's Supper. And they defend their practice on the
   ground of ecclesiastical authority, that they do this without offence,
   and are not forbidden by those who preside over the Churches, But not
   to pronounce any thing concerning them in either way, this ought
   certainly to occur to our thoughts, that we have here received of the
   Lord a rule for prayer which we ought not to transgress.

   Who then will dare to affirm that we ought to use this prayer only
   once? Or if twice or thrice, yet only up to that hour at which we
   communicate on the Lord's body? For after that we cannot say, "Give us
   this day," that which we have already received. Or will any one on this
   account be able to compel us to celebrate this sacrament at the close
   of the day?

   Cassian: Though the expression to-day may be understood of this present
   life; thus, Give us this bread while we abide in this world.

   Jerome: We may also interpret the word supersubstantialis' otherwise,
   as that which is above all other substances, and more excellent than
   all creatures, to wit, the body of the Lord.

   Aug.: Or by "daily" we may understand spiritual, namely, the divine
   precepts which we ought to meditate and work.

   Greg., Mor., xxiv. 7: We call it our bread, yet pray that it may be
   given us, for it is God's to give, and is made ours by our receiving
   it.

   Jerome: Others understand it literally according to that saying of the
   Apostle, "Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content," that
   the saints should have care only of present food; as it follows, "Take
   no thought for the morrow."

   Aug., Epist., 130, 11: So that herein we ask for a sufficiency of all
   things necessary under the one name of bread.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: We pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," not only
   that we may have what to eat, which is common to both righteous and
   sinners; but that what we eat we may receive at the hand of God, which
   belongs only to the saints. For to him God giveth bread who earns it by
   righteous means; but to him who earns it by sin, the Devil it is that
   gives.

   Or that inasmuch as it is given by God, it is received sanctified; and
   therefore He adds, "our," that is, such bread as we have prepared for
   us, that do Thou give us, that by Thy giving it may be sanctified. Like
   as the Priest taking bread of the laic, sanctifies it, and then offers
   it to him; the bread indeed is his that brought it in offering, but
   that it is sanctified is the benefit from the Priest.

   He says "Our" for two reasons. First, because all things that God gives
   us He gives through us to others, that of what we receive of Him we may
   impart to the helpless. Whoso then of what he gains by his own toil
   bestows nothing on others, eats not his own bread only, but others'
   bread also. Secondly, he who eats bread got righteously, eats his own
   bread; but he who eats bread got with sin, eats others' bread.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 7: Some one may perhaps find a difficulty in
   our here praying that we may obtain necessaries of this life, such as
   food and raiment, when the Lord has instructed us, "Be not ye careful
   what ye shall eat, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed." But it is
   impossible not to be careful about that for the obtaining which we
   pray.

   Aug., Epist., 130, 6: But to wish for the necessaries of life and no
   more, is not improper; for such sufficiency is not sought for its own
   sake, but for the health of the body, and for such garb and appliances
   of the person, as may make us to be not disagreeable to those with whom
   we have to live in all good reputation. For these things we may pray
   that they may be had when we are in want of them, that they may be kept
   when we have them.

   Chrys.: It should be thought upon how when He had delivered to us this
   petition, "Thy will be done as in heaven so in earth," then because He
   spake to men in the flesh, and not like angelic natures without passion
   or appetite, He now descends to the needs of our bodies. And He teaches
   us to pray not for money or the gratification of lust, but for daily
   bread; and as yet further restriction, He adds, "this day," that we
   should not trouble ourselves with thought for the coming day.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And these words at first sight might seem to forbid our
   having it prepared for the morrow, or after the morrow. If this were
   so, this prayer could only suit a few; such as the Apostles who
   travelled hither and thither teaching - or perhaps none among us. Yet
   ought we so to adapt Christ's doctrine, that all men may profit in it.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 14: Justly therefore does the disciple of Christ make
   petition for today's provision, without indulging excessive longings in
   his prayer. It were a self-contradicting and incompatible thing for us
   who pray that the kingdom of God may quickly come, to be looking unto
   long life in the world below.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; He adds, "daily," that a man may eat so much only as
   natural reason requires, not as the lust of the flesh urges. For if you
   expend on one banquet as much as would suffice you for a hundred days,
   you are not eating today's provision, but that of many days.

   Jerome: In the Gospel, entitled The Gospel according to the Hebrew,
   supersubstantialis' is rendered, mohar,' that is, tomorrow's; so that
   the sense would be, Give us today tomorrow's bread; i.e. for the time
   to come.
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   12. "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
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   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 15: After supply of food, next pardon of sin is asked
   for, that he who is fed of God may live in God, and not only the
   present and passing life be provided for, but the eternal also;
   whereunto we may come, if we receive the pardon of our sins, to which
   the Lord gives the name of debts, as he speaks further on, "I forgave
   thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me." [Matt 18:32]

   How well is it for our need, how provident and saving a thing, to be
   reminded that we are sinners compelled to make petition for our
   offences, so that in claiming God's indulgence, the mind is recalled to
   a recollection of its guilt. That no man may plume himself with the
   pretence of innocence, and perish more wretchedly through
   self-exaltation, he is instructed that he commits sin every day by
   being commanded to pray for his sins.

   Aug., De Don. Pers., 5: With this weapon the Pelagian heretics received
   their deathblow, who dare to say that a righteous man is free
   altogether from sin in this life, and that of such is at this present
   time composed a Church, "having neither spot nor wrinkle."

   Chrys.: That this prayer is meant for the faithful, both the laws of
   the Church teach, and the beginning of the prayer which instructs us to
   call God Father. In thus bidding the faithful pray for forgiveness of
   sin, He shews that even after baptism sin can be remitted (against the
   Novatians.)

   Cyprian: He then who taught us to pray for our sins, has promised us
   that His fatherly mercy and pardon shall ensue. But He has added a rule
   besides, binding us under the fixed condition and responsibility, that
   we are to ask for our sins to be forgiven in such sort as we forgive
   them that are in debt to us.

   Greg., Mor., x, 15: That good which in our penitence we ask of God, we
   should first turn and bestow on our neighbour.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 8: This is not said of debts of money only,
   but of all things in which any sins against us, and among these also of
   money, because that he sins against you, who does not return money due
   to you, when he has whence he can return it. Unless you forgive this
   sin you cannot say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: With what hope then does he pray, who cherishes hatred
   against another by whom he has been wronged? As he prays with a
   falsehood on his lips, when he says, I forgive, and does not forgive,
   so he asks indulgence of God, but no indulgence is granted him. There
   are many who, being unwilling to forgive those that trespass against
   them, will not use this prayer.

   How foolish! First, because he who does not pray in the manner Christ
   taught, is not Christ's disciple; and secondly, because the Father does
   not readily hear any prayer which the Son has not dictated; for the
   Father knows the intention and the words of the Son, nor will He
   entertain such petitions as human presumption has suggested, but only
   those which Christ's wisdom has set forth.

   Aug., Enchir., 73: Forasmuch as this so great goodness, namely, to
   forgive debts, and to love our enemies, cannot be possessed by so great
   a number as we suppose to be heard in the use of this prayer; without
   doubt the terms of this stipulation are fulfilled; though one have not
   attained to such proficiency as to love his enemy; yet if when he is
   requested by one, who has trespassed against him, that he would forgive
   him, he do forgive him from his heart; for he himself desires to be
   forgiven then at least when he asks forgiveness. And if one have been
   moved by a sense of his sin to ask forgiveness of him against whom he
   has sinned, he is no more to be thought on as an enemy, that there
   should be any thing hard in loving him, as there was when he was in
   active enmity.
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   13. "And lead us not into temptation."
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: As He had above put many high things into men's mouths,
   teaching them to call God their Father, to pray that His kingdom might
   come; so now He adds a lesson of humility, when He says, "and lead us
   not into temptation."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 9: Some copies read, "Carry us not," [margin
   note: inferas] an equivalent word, both being a translation of one
   Greek word, eisenenkes. Many in interpreting say, Suffer us not to be
   led into temptation,' as being what is implied in the word, "lead." For
   God does not of Himself lead a man, but suffer him to be led from whom
   He has withdrawn His aid.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 17: Herein it is shewn that the adversary can nothing
   avail against us, unless God first permit him; so that all our fear and
   devotion ought to be addressed to God.

   Aug.: But it is one thing to be led into temptation, another to be
   tempted; for without temptation none can be approved, either to himself
   or to another; but every man is fully known to God before all trial.
   Therefore we do not here pray that we may not be tempted, but that we
   may not be led into temptation. As if one who was to be burnt alive
   should pray not that he should not be touched by fire, but that he
   should not be burnt. For we are then led into temptation when such
   temptations befall us as we are not able to resist.

   Aug., Epist., 130, 11: When then we say, "Lead us not into temptation,"
   what we ask is, that we may not, deserted by His aid, either consent
   through the subtle snares, or yield to the forcible might, or any
   temptation.

   Cyprian: And in so praying we are cautioned of our own infirmity and
   weakness, lest any presumptuously exalt himself; that while a humble
   and submissive confession comes first, and all is referred to God,
   whatever we suppliantly apply for may by His gracious favour be
   supplied.

   Aug., De Don. Pers., 5: When the Saints pray, "Lead us not into
   temptation," what else do they pray for than that they may persevere in
   their sanctity. This once granted - and that it is God's gift this,
   that of Him we ask it, shews - none of the Saints but holds to the end
   his abiding holiness; for none ceases to hold on his Christian
   profession, till he be first overtaken of temptation.

   Therefore we seek not to be led into temptation that this may not
   happen to us; and if it does not happen, it is God that does not permit
   it to happen; for there is nothing done, but what He either does, or
   suffers to be done. He is therefore able to turn our wills from evil to
   good, to raise the fallen and to direct him into the way that is
   pleasing to Himself, to whom not in vain we plead, "Lead us not into
   temptation."

   For whoso is not led into temptation of his own evil will, is free of
   all temptation; for, "each man is tempted of his own lust." [James
   1:14] God would have us pray to Him that we may not be led into
   temptation, though He could have granted it without our prayer, that we
   might be kept in mind who it is from whom we receive all benefits. Let
   the Church therefore observe her daily prayers; she prays that the
   unbelieving may believe, therefore it is God that turns men to the
   faith; she prays that the believers may persevere; God gives them
   perseverance even unto the end.
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   13. ------ "But deliver us from evil. Amen."
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   Aug.: We ought to pray not only that we may not be led into evil from
   which we are at present free; but further that we may be set free from
   that into which we have already been led.

   Therefore it follows, "Deliver us from evil."

   Cyprian, Tr. vii. 18: After all these preceding petitions, at the
   conclusion of the prayer comes a sentence, comprising shortly and
   collectively the whole of our petitions and desires. For there remains
   nothing beyond for us to ask for, after petition made for God's
   protection from evil; for that gained, we stand secure and safe against
   all things that the Devil and the world work against us. What fear hath
   he from this life, who has God through life for his guardian?

   Aug., Epist., 130, 11: This petition with which the Lord's Prayer
   concludes is of such extent, that a Christian man in whatever
   tribulation cast, will in this petition utter groans, in this shed
   tears, here begin and here end his prayer. And therefore follows
   "Amen," by which is expressed the strong desire of him that prays.

   Jerome: "Amen," which appears here at the close, is the seal of the
   Lord's Prayer. Aquila rendered faithfully' - we may perhaps truly.'

   Cyprian: We need not wonder, dearest brethren, that this is God's
   prayer, seeing how His instruction comprises all our petitioning, in
   one saving sentence. This had already been prophesied by Isaiah the
   Prophet, "A short word will God make in the whole earth." [Isa 10:22]
   For when our Lord Jesus Christ came unto all, and gather together the
   learned alike and the unlearned, did to every sex and age set forth the
   precepts of salvation, He made a full compendium of His instructions,
   that the memory of the scholars might not labour in the heavenly
   discipline, but accept with readiness whatsoever was necessary into a
   simple faith.

   Aug., Epist., 130, 12: And whatever other words we may use, either
   introductory to quicken the affections, or in conclusion to add to
   them, we say nothing more than is contained in the Lord's Prayer if we
   pray rightly and connectedly.

   For he who says, "Glorify thyself in all nations, as thou art glorified
   among us," what else does he say than, "Hallowed be thy name?" He who
   prays, "Shew thy face and we shall be safe," [Ps 80:3] what is it but
   to say, "Let thy kingdom come?" To say, "Direct my steps according to
   thy word," [Ps 119:133] what is it more than, "Thy will be done?" To
   say, "Give me neither poverty nor riches," [Prov 30:8] what else is it
   than, "Give us this day our daily bread?" "Lord, remember David and all
   his mercifulness!" [Ps 131:1] and, "If I have returned evil for evil,"
   [Ps 7:4] what else but, "Forgive us our debts even as we forgive our
   debtors?" He who says, "Remove far from me all greediness of belly,"
   what else does he say, but "Lead us not into temptation?" He who says,
   "Save me, O my God, from my enemies," [Ps 59:1] what else does he say
   but "Deliver us from evil?"

   And if you thus go through all the words of the holy prayers, you will
   find nothing that is not contained in the Lord's Prayer. Whoever then
   speaks such words as have no relation to this evangelic prayer, prays
   carnally; and such prayer I know not why we should not pronounce
   unlawful, seeing the Lord instructs those who are born again only to
   pray spiritually. But whoso in prayer says, Lord, increase my riches,
   add to my honours; and that from desire of such things, not with a view
   to doing men service after God's will by such things; I think that he
   finds nothing in the Lord's Prayer on which he may build such
   petitions.

   Let such a one then be withheld by shame from praying for, if not from
   desiring, such things. But if he have shame at the desire, yet desire
   overcomes, he will do better to pray for deliverance from the evil of
   desire to Him to whom we say, "Deliver us from evil."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont. ii. 11: This number of petitions seems to answer
   to the seven-fold number of the beatitudes.

   If it is the fear of God by which are made "blessed the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," let us ask that the name of God
   be hallowed among men, a reverent fear abiding for ever and ever.

   If it be piety by which "the meek are blessed," let us pray that His
   kingdom may come, that we may become meek, and not resist Him.

   If it be knowledge by which "they that mourn are blessed," let us pray
   that His will may be done as in heaven so in earth; for if the body
   consent with the spirit as does earth with heaven, we shall not mourn.

   If fortitude be that by which "they that hunger are blessed," let us
   pray that our daily bread be this day given us, by which we may come to
   full saturity.

   If it is counsel by which "blessed are the merciful, for they shall
   obtain mercy," let us forgive debts, that our debts may be forgiven us.

   If it be understanding by which they of "pure heart are blessed," let
   us pray that we be not led into temptation, lest we have a double heart
   in the pursuit of temporal and earthly things which are for our
   probation.

   If it be wisdom by which "blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall
   be called the sons of God," let us pray to be delivered from evil; for
   that very deliverance will make us free as sons of God.

   Chrys.: Having made us anxious by the mention of our enemy, in this
   that He has said, "Deliver us from evil," He again restores confidence
   by that which is added in some copies, "For thine is the kingdom, and
   the power, and the glory," since if His be the kingdom, none need fear,
   since even he who fights against us, must be His subject. But since His
   power and glory are infinite, He can not only deliver from evil, but
   also make glorious.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This is also connected with the foregoing. "Thine is the
   kingdom" has reference to "Thy kingdom come," that none should
   therefore say, "God has no kingdom on earth. The power," answers to
   "Thy will be done, as in earth so in heaven," that none should say
   thereon that God cannot perform whatever He would. "And the glory,"
   answers to all that follows, in which God's glory is shewn forth.
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
   also forgive you:

   15. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
   Father forgive your trespasses."
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   Rabanus: By the word, "Amen." He shews that without doubt the Lord will
   bestow all things that are rightly asked, and by those that do not fail
   in observing the annexed condition, "For if ye forgive men their sins,
   your heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 11: Here we should not overlook that of all
   the petitions enjoined by the Lord, He judged that most worthy of
   further enforcement, which relates to forgiveness of sins, in which He
   would have us merciful; which is the only means of escaping misery.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He does not say that God will first forgive us, and that
   we should after forgive our debtors. For God knows how treacherous the
   heart of man is, and that though they should have received forgiveness
   themselves, yet they do not forgive their debtors; therefore He
   instructs us first to forgive, and we shall be forgiven after.

   Aug., Enchir., 74: Whoever does not forgive him that in true sorrow
   seeks forgiveness, let him not suppose that his sins are by any means
   forgiven of the Lord.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii, 16: For no excuse will abide you in the day of
   judgment, when you will be judged by your own sentence, and as you have
   dealt towards others, will be dealt with yourself.

   Jerome: But if that which is written, "I said, Ye are gods, but ye
   shall die like men," [Ps 82:6-7] is said to those who for their sins
   deserve to become men instead of gods, then they to whom sins are
   forgiven are rightly called "men."

   Chrys.: He mentions heaven and the Father to claim our attention, for
   nothing so likens you to God, as to forgive him who has injured you.
   And it were indeed unmeet should the son of such a Father become a
   slave, and should one who has a heavenly vocation live as of this
   earth, and of this life only.
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   16. "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad
   countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto
   men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
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   Pseudo-Chrys.: Forasmuch as that prayer which is offered in a humble
   spirit and contrite heart, shews a mind already strong and disciplined;
   whereas he who is sunk in self-indulgence cannot have a humble spirit
   and contrite heart; it is plain that without fasting prayer must be
   faint and feeble; therefore, when any would pray for any need in which
   they might be, they joined fasting with prayer, because it is an aid
   thereof. Accordingly the Lord, after His doctrine respecting prayer,
   adds doctrine concerning fasting, saying, "When ye fast, be not ye as
   the hypocrites, of sad countenance." The Lord knew that vanity may
   spring from every good thing, and therefore bids us root out the
   bramble of vain-gloriousness which springs in the good soil, that it
   choke not the fruit of fasting. For though it cannot be that fasting
   should not be discovered in any one, yet is it better that fasting
   should shew you, than that you should shew your fasting.

   But it is impossible that any in fasting should be gay, therefore He
   said not, Be not sad, but "Be not made sad;" for they who discover
   themselves by any false displays of their affliction, they are not sad,
   but make themselves; but he who is naturally sad in consequence of
   continued fasting, does not make himself sad, but is so.

   Jerome: The word, "exterminare," so often used in the ecclesiastical
   Scriptures though a blunder of the translators, has a quite different
   meaning from that in which it is commonly understood. It is properly
   said of exiles who are sent beyond the boundry of their country.
   Instead of this word, it would seem better to use the word, "demoliri,"
   to destroy,' in translating the Greek aphanizein. The hypocrite
   destroys his face, in order that he may feign sorrow, and with a heart
   full of joy wears sorrow in his countenance.

   Greg., Mor., viii, 44: For by the pale countenance, the trembling
   limbs, and the bursting sighs, and by all so great toil and trouble,
   nothing is in the mind but the esteem of men.

   Leo, Serm. in Epiph., iv, 5: But that fasting is not pure, that comes
   not of reasons of continence, but of the arts of deceit.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: If then he who fasts, and makes himself of sad
   countenance, is a hypocrite, how much more wicked is he who does not
   fast, yet assumes a fictitious paleness of face as a token of fasting.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 12: On this paragraph it is to be specially
   noted, that not only in outward splendor and pomp, but even in the
   dress of sorrow and mourning, is there room for display, and that the
   more dangerous, inasmuch as it deceives under the name of God's
   services. For he who by inordinate pains taken with her person, or his
   apparel, or by the glitter of his other equipage, is distinguished, is
   easily proved by these very circumstances to be a follower of the pomps
   of this world, and no man is deceived by any semblance of a feigned
   sanctity in him. But when any one in the profession of Christianity
   draws men's eyes upon him by unwonted beggary and slovenliness in
   dress, if this be voluntary and not compulsory, then by his other
   conduct may be seen whether he does this to be seen of men, or from
   contempt of the refinements of dress.

   Remig.: The reward of the hypocrites' fast is shewn, when it is added,
   "That they may seem to men to fast; verily I say unto you, They have
   their reward;" that is, that reward for which they looked.
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   17. "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

   18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is
   in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee
   openly."
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   Gloss. ap. Anselm: The Lord having taught us what we ought not to do,
   now proceeds to teach us what we ought to do, saying, "When thou
   fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face."

   Aug.: A question is here wont to be raised; for none surely would
   literally enjoin, that, as we wash our faces from daily habit, so we
   should have our heads anointed when we fast; a thing which all allow to
   be most disgraceful.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Also if He bade us not to be of sad countenance that we
   might not seem to men to fast, yet if anointing of the head and washing
   of the face are always observed in fasting, they will become tokens of
   fasting.

   Jerome: But He speaks in accordance with the manner of the province of
   Palestine, where it is the custom on festival days to anoint the head.
   What He enjoins then is, that when we are fasting we should wear the
   appearance of joy and gladness.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Therefore the simple interpretation of this is, that is
   added as an hyperbolical explanation of the command; as though He had
   said, Yea, so far should ye be from any display of your fasting, that
   if it might be (which yet it may not be) so done, ye should even do
   such things as are tokens of luxury and feasting.

   Chrys., Hom. xx: In almsgiving indeed, He did not say simply, Do not
   your alms before men,' but added, to be seen of them.' But in fasting
   and prayer He added nothing of this sort; because alms cannot be so
   done as to be altogether hid, fasting and prayer can be so done. The
   contempt of men's praise is no small fruit, for thereby we are freed
   from the heavy slavery of human opinions, and become properly workers
   of virtue, loving it for itself and not for others. For as we esteem it
   an affront if we are loved not for ourselves but for others' sake, so
   ought we not to follow virtue on the account of these men, nor to obey
   God for men's sake but for His own.

   Therefore it follows here, "But to thy Father which seeth in secret."

   Gloss.: That is, to thy heavenly Father, who is unseen, or who dwells
   in the heart through faith. He fasts to God who afflicts himself for
   the love of God, and bestows on others what he denies himself.

   Remig.: For it is enough for you that He who sees your conscience
   should be your rewarder.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Spiritually interpreted - the face may be understood to
   mean the mental conscience. And as in the eyes of man a fair face has
   grace, so in the eyes of God a pure conscience has favour. This face
   the hypocrites, fasting on man's account, disfigure, seeking thereby to
   cheat both God and man; for the conscience of the sinner is always
   wounded. If then you have cast out all wickedness from your heart, you
   have washed your conscience, and fast well.

   Leo, Serm. in Quadr., vi, 2: Fasting ought to be fulfilled not in
   abstinence of food only, but much more in cutting off vices. For when
   we submit ourselves to that discipline in order to withdraw that which
   is the nurse of carnal desires, there is no sort of good conscience
   more to be sought than that we should keep ourselves sober from unjust
   will, and abstinent from dishonourable action. This is an act of
   religion from which the sick are not excluded, seeing integrity of
   heart may be found in an infirm body.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Spiritually again, "thy head" denotes Christ. Give the
   thirsty drink and feed the hungry, and therein you have anointed your
   head, that is, Christ, who cries out in the Gospel, "In that ye have
   done this to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to
   me." [Matt 25:40]

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xvi, 6: For God approves that fasting, which before
   His eyes opens the hands of alms. This then that you deny yourself,
   bestow on another, that wherein your flesh is afflicted, that of your
   needy neighbour may be refreshed.

   Aug.: Or; by the head we rightly understand the reason, because it is
   preeminent in the soul, and rules the other members of the man. Now
   anointing the head has some reference to rejoicing. Let him therefore
   joy within himself because of his fasting, who in fasting turns himself
   from doing the will of the world, that he may be subject to Christ.

   Gloss. ord.: Behold how every thing in the New Testament is not to be
   taken literally. It were ridiculous to be smeared with oil when
   fasting; but it is behoveful for the mind to be anointed with the
   spirit of His love, in whose sufferings we ought to partake by
   afflicting ourselves.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And truly we ought to wash our face, but to anoint, and
   not to wash, our head. For as long as we are in the body, our
   conscience is foul with sin. But Christ who is our head has done no
   sin.
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   19. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and
   rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

   20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth
   nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
   steal:

   21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
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   Chrys.: When He has driven away the disease of vanity, He does well to
   bring in speech of contempt of riches. For there is no greater cause of
   desire of money than love of praise; for this men desire troops of
   slaves, horses accoutred in gold, and tables of silver, not for use or
   pleasure, but that they may be seen of many; therefore He says, "Lay
   not up for yourselves treasure on earth."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 13: For if any does a work with the mind of
   gaining thereby an earthly good, how will his heart be pure while it is
   thus walking on earth? For any thing that is mingled with an inferior
   nature is polluted therewith, though that inferior be in its kind pure.
   Thus gold is alloyed when mixed with pure silver; and in like manner
   our mind is defiled by lust of earthly things, though earth is in its
   own kind pure.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; As the Lord had above taught nothing
   concerning alms, or prayer, or fasting, but had only checked a pretence
   of them, He now proceeds to deliver a doctrine of three portions,
   according to the division which He had before made, in this order.
   First, a counsel that alms should be done; second, to shew the benefit
   of almsgiving; third, that the fear of poverty should be no hindrance
   to our purpose of almsgiving.

   Chrys.: Saying, "Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth," He adds,
   "where rust and moth destroy," in order to shew the insecurity of that
   treasure that is here, and the advantage of that which is in Heaven,
   both from the place, and from those things which harm. As though He had
   said; Why fear you that your wealth should be consumed, if you should
   give alms? Yea rather give alms, and they shall receive increase, for
   those treasures that are in Heaven shall be added to them, which
   treasures perish if ye do not give alms. He said not, You leave them to
   others, for that is pleasant to men.

   Rabanus, ap. Anselm: Here are three precepts according to the three
   different kinds of wealth. Metals are destroyed by rust, clothes by
   moth; but as there are other things which fear neither rust nor moth,
   as precious stones, He therefore names a common damage, that by
   thieves, who may rob wealth of all kinds.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Another reading is, "Where moth and banqueting consume."
   For a threefold destruction awaits all the goods of this life. They
   either decay and are eaten of moths as cloth; or are consumed by their
   master's luxurious living; or are plundered by strangers, either by
   violence, or pilfering, or false accusation, or some other unjust
   doing. For all may be called thieves who hasten by any unlawful means
   to make other men's goods their own.

   But you will say, Do all who have these things, perforce lose them? I
   would answer by the way, that if all do not, yet many do. But
   ill-hoarded wealth, you have lost spiritually if not actually, because
   it profits you not to your salvation.

   Rabanus: Allegorically; Rust denotes pride which obscures the
   brightness of virtue. Moth which privily eats out garments, is jealousy
   which frets into good intention, and destroys the bond of unity.
   Thieves denote heretics and demons, who are ever on the watch to rob
   men of their spiritual treasure.

   Hilary: But the praise of Heaven is eternal, and cannot be carried off
   by invading thief, nor consumed by the moth and rust of envy.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 13: By heaven in this place I understand not
   the material heavens, for every thing that has a body is earthly. But
   it behoves that the whole world be despised by him who lays up his
   treasure in that Heaven, of which it is said, "The heaven of heavens is
   the Lord's," [Ps 115:16] that is, in the spiritual firmament. "For
   heaven and earth shall pass away;" [Matt 24:35] but we ought not to
   place our treasure in that which passes away, but in that which abides
   for ever.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Which then is better? To place it on earth where its
   security is doubtful, or in Heaven where it will be certainly
   preserved? What folly to leave it in this place whence you must soon
   depart, and not to send it before you thither, whither you are to go?
   Therefore place your substance there where your country is.

   Chrys.: But forasmuch as not every earthly treasure is destroyed by
   rust or moth, or carried away by thieves, He therefore brings in
   another motive, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
   also." As much as to say; Though none of these former losses should
   befall you, you will yet sustain no small loss by attaching your
   affections to things beneath, and becoming a slave to them, and in
   falling from Heaven, and being unable to think of any lofty thing.

   Jerome: This must be understood not of money only, but of all our
   possessions. The god of a glutton is his belly; of a lover his lust;
   and so every man serves that to which he is in bondage; and has his
   heart there where his treasure is.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; He now teaches the benefit of almsgiving. He
   who places his treasure on earth has nothing to look for in Heaven; for
   why should he look up to Heaven where he has nothing laid up for
   himself? Thus he doubly sins; first, because he gathers together things
   evil; secondly, because he has his heart in earth; and so on the
   contrary he does right in a twofold manner who lays up his treasure in
   Heaven.
     __________________________________________________________________

   22. "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be
   single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

   23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
   If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that
   darkness!"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Having spoken of the bringing the understanding into captivity
   because it was not easy to be understood of many, He transfers it to a
   sensible instance, saying, "The light of thy body is thy eye." As
   though He had said, If you do not know what is meant by the loss of the
   understanding, learn a parable of the bodily members; for what the eye
   is to the body, that the understanding is to the soul. As by the loss
   of the eyes we lose much of the use of the other limbs, so when the
   understanding is corrupted, your life is filled with many evils.

   Jerome: That is an illustration drawn from the senses. As the whole
   body is in darkness, where the eye is not single, so if the soul has
   lost her original brightness, every sense, or that whole part of the
   soul to which sensation belongs, will abide in darkness.

   Wherefore He says, "If then the light which is in thee be darkness, how
   great is that darkness!" that is, if the senses which are the soul's
   light be darkened by vice, in how great darkness do you suppose the
   darkness itself will be wrapped?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: It seems that He is not here speaking of the bodily eye,
   or of the outward body that is seen, or He would have said, If thine
   eye be sound, or weak; but He says, "single," and, "evil." But if one
   have a benign yet diseased eye, is his body therefore in light? Or if
   an evil yet a sound, is his body therefore in darkness?

   Jerome: Those who have thick eye-sight see the lights multiplied; but
   the single and clear eye sees them single and clear.

   Chrys.: Or; The eye He speaks of is not the external but the internal
   eye. The light is the understanding, through which the soul sees God.
   He whose heart is turned to God, has an eye full of light; that is, his
   understanding is pure, not distorted by the influence of worldly lusts.
   The darkness in us is our bodily senses, which always desire the things
   that pertain to darkness.

   Whoso then has a pure eye, that is, a spiritual understanding,
   preserves his body in light, that is, without sin; for though the flesh
   desires evil, yet by the might of divine fear the soul resists it. But
   whoever has an eye, that is, an understanding, either darkened by the
   influence of the malignant passions, or fouled by evil lusts, possesses
   his body in darkness; he does not resist the flesh when it lusts after
   evil things, because he has no hope in Heaven, which hope alone gives
   us the strength to resist desire.

   Hilary: Otherwise; from the office of the light of the eye, He calls it
   the light of the heart; which if it continue single and brilliant, will
   confer on the body the brightness of the eternal light, and pour again
   into the corrupted flesh the splendor of its origin, that is, in the
   resurrection. But if it be obscured by sin, and evil in will, the
   bodily nature will yet abide subject to all the evils of the
   understanding.

   Aug.: Otherwise; by the eye here we may understand our purpose; if that
   be pure and right, all our works which we work according thereto are
   good. These He here calls the body, as the Apostle speaks of certain
   works as members; "Mortify your members, fornication and uncleanness."
   [Col 3:5]

   We should look then, not to what a person does, but with what mind he
   does it. For this is the light within us, because by this we see that
   we do with good intention what we do. "For all which doth make manifest
   is light." [Eph 5:13] But the deeds themselves, which go forth to men's
   society, have a result to us uncertain, and therefore He calls them
   darkness; as when I give money to one in need, I know not what he will
   do with it.

   If then the purport of your heart, which you can know, is defiled with
   the lust of temporal things, much more is the act itself, of which the
   issue is uncertain, defiled. For even though one should reap good of
   what you do with a purport not good, it will be imputed to you as you
   did it, not as it resulted to him. If however our works are done with a
   single purport, that is with the aim of charity, then are they pure and
   pleasing in God's sight.

   Aug., cont. Mendac., 7: But acts which are known to be in themselves
   sins, are not to be done as with a good purpose; but such works only as
   are either good or bad, according as the motives from which they are
   done are either good or bad, and are not in themselves sins; as to give
   food to the poor is good if it be done from merciful motives, but evil
   if it be done from ostentation. But such works as are in themselves
   sins, who will say that they are to be done with good motives, or that
   they are not sins? Who would say, Let us rob the rich, that we may have
   to give to the poor?

   Greg., Mor., xxviii, 11: Otherwise; if the light that "is in thee,"
   that is, if what we have begun to do well, we overcloud with evil
   purpose, when we do things which we know to be in themselves evil, "how
   great is the darkness!"

   Remig., ap. Gloss. ord.: Otherwise; faith is likened to a light,
   because by it the goings of the inner man, that is, action, are
   lightened, that he should not stumble according to that, "Thy word is a
   light to my feet." [Ps 119:105] If that then be pure and single, the
   whole body is light; but if defiled, the whole body will be dark. Yet
   otherwise; by the light may be understood the ruler of the Church, who
   may be well called the eye, as he it is that ought to see that
   wholesome things be provided for the people under him, which are
   understood by the body. If then the ruler of the Church err, how much
   more will the people subject to him err?
     __________________________________________________________________

   24. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
   love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
   Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord had said above, that he that has a spiritual
   mind is able to keep his body free from sin; and that he who has not,
   is not able. Of this He here gives the reason, saying, "No man can
   serve two masters."

   Gloss., non occ.: Otherwise; it had been declared above, that good
   things become evil, when done with a worldly purpose. It might
   therefore have been said by some one, I will do good works from worldly
   and heavenly motives at once. Against this the Lord says, "No man can
   serve two masters."

   Chrys., Hom xxi: Or otherwise; in what had gone before He had
   restrained the tyranny of avarice by many and weighty motives, but He
   now adds yet more. Riches do not only harm us in that they arm robbers
   against us, and that they cloud our understanding, but they moreover
   turn us away from God's service.

   This He proves from familiar notions, saying, "No man can serve two
   masters;" two, He means, whose orders are contrary; for concord makes
   one of many. This is proved by what follows, "for either he will hate
   the one." He mentions two, that we may see that change for the better
   is easy. For if one were to give himself up in despair as having been
   made a slave to riches, namely, by loving them, he may hence learn,
   that it is possible for him to change into a better service, namely, by
   not submitting to such slavery, but by despising it.

   Gloss., non occ.: Or; He seems to allude to two different kinds of
   servants; one kind who serve freely for love, another who serve
   servilely from fear. If then one serve two masters of contrary
   character from love, it must be that he hate the one; if from fear,
   while he trembles before the one, he must despise the other. But as the
   world or God predominate in a man's heart, he must be drawn contrary
   ways; for God draws him who serves Him to things above; the earth draws
   to things beneath; therefore He concludes, "Ye cannot serve God and
   mammon."

   Jerome: "Mammon," - riches are so termed in Syriac. Let the covetous
   man who is called by the Christian name, hear this, that he cannot
   serve both Christ and riches. Yet He said not, he who has riches, but,
   he who is the servant of riches. For he who is the slave of money,
   guards his money as a slave; but he who has thrown off the yoke of his
   slavery, despenses them as a master.

   Gloss. ord.: By "mammon" is meant the Devil, who is the lord of money,
   not that he can bestow them unless where God wills, but because by
   means of them he deceives men.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 14: Whoso serves "mammon," (that is, riches,)
   verily serves him, who, being for desert of his perversity set over
   these things of earth, is called by the Lord, "The prince of this
   world."

   Or otherwise; who the two masters are He shews when He says, "Ye cannot
   serve God and mammon," that is to say, God and the Devil. "Either" then
   man "will hate the one, and love the other," namely, God; "or, he will
   endure the one and despise the other." For he who is mammon's servant
   endures a hard master; for ensnared by his own lust he has been made
   subject to the Devil, and loves him not. As one whose passions have
   connected him with another man's handmaid, suffers a hard slavery, yet
   loves not him whose handmaid he loves. But He said, "will despise," and
   not "will hate," the other, for none can with a right conscience hate
   God. But he despises, that is, fears Him not, as being certain of His
   goodness.
     __________________________________________________________________

   25. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye
   shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall
   put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 15: The Lord had taught above, that whoso
   desires to love God, and to take heed not to offend, should not think
   that he can serve two masters; lest though perhaps he may not look for
   superfluities, yet his heart may become double for the sake of very
   necessaries, and his thoughts bent to obtain them.

   "Therefore I say unto you, Be not ye careful for your life what ye
   shall eat, or for your body what ye shall put on."

   Chrys.: He does not hereby mean that the spirit needs food, for it is
   incorporeal, but He speaks according to common usage, for the soul
   cannot remain in the body unless the body be fed.

   Aug.: Or we may understand the soul in this place to be put for the
   animal life.

   Jerome: Some manuscripts, add here, "nor what ye shall drink." [ed.
   note, b: vid. Exod. xv. 34. and infra v. 31. The clause is also omitted
   by other versions, by Erasmus, Mill, and Bengel. Wetstein retains.]
   That which belongs naturally to all animals alike, to brutes and beasts
   of burden as well as to man, from all thought of this we are not freed.
   But we are bid not to be anxious what we should eat, for in the sweat
   of our face we earn our bread; the toil is to be undergone, the anxiety
   put away. This "Be not careful," is to be taken of bodily food and
   clothing; for the food and clothing of the spirit it becomes us to be
   always careful.

   Aug., De Haeres., 57: There are certain heretics called Euchitae [ed.
   note, c: The Euchites, who were so called from their profession of
   prayer, were properly fanatical Monks of the fourth and following
   centuries, but their name is often taken as synonymous with Mystics.
   They were of oriental origin, and disparaged, if not denied, the
   efficacy of Baptism.], who hold that a monk may not do any work even
   for his support; who embrace this profession that they may be freed
   from necessity of daily labour.

   Aug., De Op. Monach. 1 et seq.: For they say the Apostle did not speak
   of personal labour, such as that of husbandmen or craftsmen, when he
   said, "Who will not work, neither let him eat." [2 Thes 3:10] For he
   could not be so contrary to the Gospel where it is said, "Therefore I
   say unto you, Be not careful." Therefore in that saying of the Apostle
   we are to understand spiritual works, of which it is elsewhere said, "I
   have planted, Apollos watereth." [1 Cor 3:6]

   And thus they think themselves obedient to the Apostolic precept,
   interpreting the Gospel to speak of not taking care for the needs of
   the body, and the Apostle to speak of spiritual labour and food. First
   let us prove that the Apostle meant that the servants of God should
   labour with the body. He had said, "Ye yourselves know how ye ought to
   imitate us in that we were not troublesome among you, nor did we eat
   any man's bread for nought; but travailing in labour and weariness day
   and night, that we might not be burdensome to any of you. Not that we
   have not power, but that we might offer ourselves as a pattern to you
   which ye should imitate. For when we were among you, this we taught
   among you, that if a man would not work, neither should he eat."

   What shall we say to this, since he taught by his example when he
   delivered in precept, in that he himself wrought with his own hands.
   This is proved from the Acts [Acts 18:3], where it is said, that he
   abode with Aquila and his wife Priscilla, "labouring with them, for
   they were tent-makers."

   And yet to the Apostle, as a preacher of the Gospel, a soldier of
   Christ, a planter of the vineyard, a shepherd of his flock, the Lord
   had appointed that he should live of the Gospel, but he refused that
   payment which was justly his due, that he might present himself an
   example to those who exacted what was not due to them. Let those hear
   this who have not that power which he had; namely, of eating bread for
   nought, and only labouring with spiritual labour. If indeed they be
   Evangelists, if ministers of the Altar, if dispensers of the
   Sacraments, they have this power.

   Or if they had in this world possessions, whereby they might without
   labour have supported themselves, and had on their turning to God
   distributed this to the needy, then were their infirmity to be believed
   and to be borne with. And it would not import whatever place it was in
   which he made the distribution, seeing there is but one commonwealth of
   all Christians.

   But they who enter the profession of God's service from the country
   life, from the workman's craft, or the common labour, if they work not,
   are not to be excused. For it is by no means fitting that in that life
   in which senators become labourers, there should labouring men become
   idle; or that where lords of farms come having given up their luxuries,
   there should rustic slaves come to find luxury.

   But when the Lord says, "Be not ye careful," He does not mean that they
   should not procure such things as they have need of, wherever they may
   honestly, but that they should not look to these things, and should not
   for their sake do what they are commanded to do in preaching the
   Gospel; for this intention He had a little before called the eye.

   Chrys.: Or we may connect the context otherwise; When the Lord had
   inculcated contempt of money, that none might say, How then shall we be
   able to live when we have given up our all? He adds, "Therefore I say
   unto you, Take no thought for your life."

   Gloss. interlin.: That is, Be not withdrawn by temporal cares from
   things eternal.

   Jerome: The command is therefore, "not to be anxious what we shall
   eat." For it is also commanded, that in the sweat of our face we must
   eat bread. Toil therefore is enjoined, carking forbidden.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Bread may not be gained by carefulness of spirit, but by
   toil of body; and to them that will labour it abounds, God bestowing it
   as a reward of their industry; and is lacking to the idle, God
   withdrawing it as punishment of their sloth. The Lord also confirms our
   hope, and descending first from the greater to the less, says, "Is not
   the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

   Jerome: He who has given the greater, will He not also give the less?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For had He not willed that which was should be
   preserved, He had not created it; but what He so created that it should
   be preserved by food, it is necessary that He give it food, as long as
   He would have it to be preserved.

   Hilary: Otherwise; Because the thoughts of the unbelievers were
   ill-employed respecting care of things future, cavilling concerning
   what is to be the appearance of our bodies in the resurrection, what
   the food in the eternal life, therefore He continues, "Is not the life
   more than food?" He will not endure that our hope should hang in care
   for the meat and drink and clothing that is to be in the resurrection,
   lest there should be affront given to Him who has given us the more
   precious things, in our being anxious that He should also give us the
   lesser.
     __________________________________________________________________

   26. "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
   reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are
   ye not much better than they?

   27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Having confirmed our hope by this arguing from the
   greater to the less, He next confirms it by an argument from less to
   greater, "Behold the fowls of the air, they sow not, neither do they
   reap."

   Aug., De Op. Monach., 23: Some argue that they ought not to labour,
   because the fowls of the air neither sow nor reap. Why then do they not
   attend to that which follows, "neither gather into barns? Why do they
   seek to have their hands idle, and their storehouses full? Why indeed
   do they grind corn, and dress it? For this do not the birds.

   Or even if they find men whom they can persuade to supply them day by
   day with victuals ready prepared, at least they draw water from the
   spring, and set on table for themselves, which the birds do not. But if
   neither are they driven to fill themselves vessels with water, then
   have they gone one new step of righteousness beyond those who were at
   that time at Jerusalem, [margin note: see Acts 11:29] who of corn sent
   to them of free gift, made, or caused to be made, loaves, which the
   birds do not. But not to lay up any thing for the morrow cannot be
   observed by those, who for many days together withdrawn from the sight
   of men, and suffering none to approach to them, shut themselves up, to
   live in much fervency of prayer.

   What? will you say that the more holy men become, the more unlike the
   birds of the air in this respect they become? What He says respecting
   the birds of the air, He says to this end, that none of His servants
   should think that God has no thought of their wants, when they see Him
   so provide even for these inferior creatures. Neither is it not God
   that feeds those that earn their bread by their own labour; neither
   because God hath said, "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will
   deliver thee," [Ps 50:15] ought the Apostle therefore not to have fled,
   but to have remained still to have been seized, that God might save him
   as He did the Three Children out of the midst of the fire.

   Should any object in this sort to the saints in their flight from
   persecution, they would answer that they ought not to tempt God, and
   that God, if He pleased, would so do to deliver them as He had done
   Daniel from the lions, Peter from prison, then when they could no
   longer help themselves; but that in having made flight possible to
   them, should they be saved by flight, it was by God that they were
   saved. In like manner, such of God's servants as have strength to earn
   their food by the labour of their hands, would easily answer any who
   should object to them this out of the Gospel concerning the birds of
   the air, that they neither sow nor reap; and would say, If we by
   sickness or any other hindrance are not able to work, He will feed us
   as He feeds the birds, that work not. But when we can work, we ought
   not to tempt God, seeing that even this our ability is His gift; and
   that we live here we live of His goodness that has made us able to
   live; He feeds us by whom the birds of the air are fed; as He says,
   "Your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much greater value?"

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 15: Ye are of more value, because a rational
   animal, such as man is, is higher in the scale of nature than an
   irrational, such as are the birds of the air.

   Aug., City of God, xi, 16: Indeed a higher price is often given for a
   horse than a slave, for a jewel than for a waiting maid, but this not
   from reasonable valuation, but from the need of the person requiring,
   or rather from his pleasure desiring it.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For God created all animals for man, but man for
   himself; therefore by how much the more precious is the creation of
   man, so much the greater is God's care for him. If then the birds
   without toiling find food, shall man not find, to whom God has given
   both knowledge of labour and hope of fruitfulness?

   Jerome: There be some who, seeking to go beyond the limits of their
   fathers, and to soar into the air, sink into the deep and are drowned.
   These will have the birds of the air to mean the Angels, and the other
   powers in the ministry of God, who without any care of their own are
   fed by God's providence.

   But if this be indeed as they would have it, how follows it, said to
   men, "Are not ye of more worth than they?" It must be taken then in the
   plain sense; If birds that today are, and tomorrow are not, be
   nourished by God's providence, without thought or toil of their own,
   how much more men to whom eternity is promised!

   Hilary: It may be said, that under the name of birds, He exhorts us by
   the example of the unclean spirits, to whom, without any trouble of
   their own in seeking and collecting it, provision of life is given by
   the power of the Eternal Wisdom. And to lead us to refer this to the
   unclean spirits, He suitably adds, "Are not ye of much more value than
   they?" Thus shewing the great interval between piety and wickedness.

   Gloss., non occ.: He teaches us not only by the instance of the birds,
   but adds a further proof, that to our being and life our own care is
   not enough, but Divine Providence therein works; saying, "Which of you
   by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?"

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For it is God who day by day works the growth of your
   body, yourself not feeling it. If then the Providence of God works thus
   daily in your very body, how shall that same Providence withhold from
   working in necessaries of life? And if by taking thought you cannot add
   the smallest part to your body, how shall you by taking thought be
   altogether saved?

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 15: Or it may be connected with what follows
   it; as though He should say, It was not by our care that our body was
   brought to its present stature; so that we may know that if we desired
   to add one cubit to it, we should not be able. Leave then the care of
   clothing that body to Him who made it to grow to its present stature.

   Hilary: Otherwise; As by the example of the spirits He had fixed our
   faith in the supply of food for our lives, so now by a decision of
   common understanding He cuts off all anxiety about supply of clothing.
   Seeing that He it is who shall raise in one perfect man every various
   kind of body that ever drew breath, and is alone able to add one or two
   or three cubits to each man's stature; surely in being anxious
   concerning clothing, that is, concerning the appearance of our bodies,
   we offer affront to Him who will add so much to each man's stature as
   shall bring all to an equality.

   Aug., City of God, book xxii, ch. 15: But if Christ rose again with the
   same stature with which He died, it is impious to say that when the
   time of the resurrection of all shall come, there shall be added to His
   body a bigness that it had not at His own resurrection, (for He
   appeared to His disciples with that body in which He had been known
   among them,) such that He shall be equalled to the tallest among men.

   If again we say that all men's bodies, whether tall or short, shall be
   alike brought to the size and stature of the Lord's body, then much
   will perish from many bodies, though He has declared that "not a hair
   shall fall." It remains therefore that each be raised in his own
   stature - that stature which he had in youth, if he died in old age; if
   in childhood that stature to which he would have attained had he lived.
   For the Apostle says not, To the measure of the stature,' but, "To the
   measure of the full age of Christ." [Eph 4:13] For the bodies of the
   dead shall rise in youth and maturity to which we know that Christ
   attained. [ed. note: Hence the Roman Catholics teach that "men shall
   rise at a perfect age, which is thirty three;" vid. Bp. Doyle's
   Christian Doctrine.]
     __________________________________________________________________

   28. "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the
   field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

   29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not
   arrayed like one of these.

   30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is,
   and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you,
   O ye of little faith?"
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   Chrys.: Hom., xxii: Having shewn that it is not right to be anxious
   about food, He passes to that which is less; (for raiment is not so
   necessary as food;) and asks, "And why are ye careful wherewith ye
   shall be clothed?" He uses not here the instance of the birds, when He
   might have drawn some to the point, as the peacock, or the swan, but
   brings forward the lilies, saying, "Consider the lilies of the field."
   He would prove in two things the abundant goodness of God; to wit, the
   richness of the beauty with which they are clothed, and the mean value
   of the things so clothed with it.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 15: The things instanced are not to be
   allegorized so that we enquire what is denoted by the birds of the air,
   or the lilies of the field; they are only examples to prove God's care
   for the greater from His care for the less.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For lilies within a fixed time are formed into branches,
   clothed in whiteness, and endowed with sweet odour, God conveying by an
   unseen operation, what the earth had not given to the root. But in all
   the same perfectness is observed, that they may not be thought to have
   been formed by chance, but may be known to be ordered by God's
   providence. When He says, "They toil not," He speaks for the comfort of
   men; "Neither do they spin," for the women.

   Chrys.: He forbids not labour but carefulness, both here and above when
   He spoke of sowing.

   Gloss, non occ.: And for the greater exaltation of God's providence in
   those things that are beyond human industry, He adds, "I say unto you,
   that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

   Jerome: For, in sooth, what regal purple, what silk, what web of divers
   colours from the loom, may vie with flowers? What work of man has the
   red blush of the rose? the pure white of the lily? How the Tyrian dye
   yields to the violet, sight alone and not words can express.

   Chrys.: As widely as truth differs from falsehood, so widely so our
   clothes differ from flowers. If then Solomon, who was more eminent than
   all other kings, was yet surpassed by flowers, how shall you exceed the
   beauty of flowers by your garments? And Solomon was exceeded by the
   flowers not once only, or twice, but throughout his whole reign; and
   this is that He says, "In all his glory;" for no one day was he arrayed
   as are the flowers.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or the meaning may be, that Solomon though he toiled not
   for his own raiment, yet he gave command for the making of it. But
   where command is, there is often found both offence of them that
   minister, and wrath of him that commands. When then any are without
   these things, then they are arrayed as are the lilies.

   Hilary: Or; By the lilies are to be understood the eminences of the
   heavenly Angels, to whom a surpassing radiance of whiteness is
   communicated by God. "They toil not, neither do they spin," because the
   angelic powers received in the very first allotment of their existence
   such a nature, that as they were made so they should ever continue to
   be; and when in the resurrection men shall be like unto Angels, He
   would have them look for a covering of angelic glory by this example of
   angelic excellence.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: If God then thus provides for the flowers of the earth
   which only spring up, that they may be seen and die, shall He overlook
   men whom He has created not to be seen for a time, but that they should
   be for ever?

   Jerome: Tomorrow in Scripture is put for time future in general. Jacob
   says, "So shall my righteousness answer for me tomorrow." [Gen 30:33]
   And in the phantasm of Samuel, the Pythoness says to Saul, "Tomorrow
   shalt thou be with me." [1 Sam 28:19]

   Gloss: Some copies have "into the fire," or, "into an heap," which has
   the appearance of an oven.

   Chrys.: He calls them no more lilies, but "the grass of the field," to
   shew their small worth; and adds moreover another cause of their small
   value; "which today is." And He said not, "and tomorrow is not," but
   what is yet greater fall, "is cast into the oven." In that He says "How
   much more you," is implicitly conveyed the dignity of the human race,
   as though He had said, You to whom He has given a soul, for whom He has
   contrived a body, to whom He has sent Prophets and gave His
   Only-begotten Son.

   Gloss: He says, "of little faith," for that faith is little which is
   not sure of even the least things.

   Hilary: Or, under the signification of grass the Gentiles are pointed
   to. If then an eternal existence is only therefore granted to the
   Gentiles, that they may soon be handed over to the judgment fires; how
   impious it is that the saints should doubt of attaining to eternal
   glory, when the wicked have eternity bestowed on them for their
   punishment.

   Remig.: Spiritually, by the birds of the air are meant the Saints who
   are born again in the water of holy Baptism; [ed. note: Vid. the
   Breviary Hymn, Magnae Deus Potentiae] and by devotion raise themselves
   above the earth and seek the skies. The Apostles are said to be of more
   value than these, because they are the heads of the Saints.

   By the lilies also may be understood the Saints, who without the toil
   of legal ceremonies pleased God by faith alone; of whom it is said, "My
   Beloved, who feedeth among the lilies." [Cant 2:16] Holy Church also is
   understood by the lilies, because of the whiteness of its faith, and
   the odour of its good conversation, of which it is said in the same
   place, "As the lily among the thorns."

   By the grass are denoted the unbelievers, of whom it is said, "The
   grass hath dried up, and the flowers thereof faded." [Isa 40:7]

   By the oven eternal damnation; so that the sense be, If God bestows
   temporal goods on the unbelievers, how much more shall He bestow on you
   eternal goods!
     __________________________________________________________________

   31. "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
   shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

   32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
   heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

   33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and
   all these things shall be added unto you."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: Having thus expressly cut off all anxiety concerning
   food and raiment, by an argument drawn from observation of the inferior
   creation, He follows it up by a further prohibition; "Be not ye
   therefore careful, saying, What shall we eat, what shall we drink, or
   wherewithal shall we be clothed?"

   Remig.: The Lord repeated this, that He might shew how highly necessary
   this precept is, and that He might inculcate it more strongly on our
   hearts.

   Rabanus: It should be observed that He does not say, Do not ye seek, or
   be thoughtful for, food drink, and raiment, but "what ye shall eat,
   what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed." Wherein they
   seem to me to be convicted, who, using themselves the usual food and
   clothing, require of those with whom they live either greater
   sumptuousness, or greater austerity in both.

   Gloss, non occ.: There is also a further needless solicitude wherein
   men sin, when they lay by of produce or money more than necessity
   requires, and leaving spiritual things, are intent on these things, as
   though despairing of the goodness of God; this is what is forbidden;
   "for after all these things do the Gentiles seek."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Since their belief is that it is Fortune and not
   Providence that has place in human affairs, and think not that their
   lives are directed by God's counsel, but follow the uncertain chance,
   they accordingly fear and despair, as having none to guide them. But he
   who believes that he is guided by God's counsel, entrusts his provision
   of food to God's hand; as it follows, "for your Father knoweth that ye
   have need of these things."

   Chrys.: He said not God knoweth,' but, "Your Father knoweth," in order
   to lead them to higher hope; for if He be their Father, He will not
   endure to forget his children, since not even human fathers could do
   so. He says, "That ye have need of all these things," in order that for
   that very reason, because they are necessary, ye may the more lay aside
   all anxiety. For he who denies his son bare necessaries, after what
   fashion is he a father? But for superfluities they have no right to
   look with the like confidence.

   Aug., De Trin., xv, 13: God did not gain this knowledge at any certain
   time, but before all time, without beginning of knowledge, foreknew
   that the things of the world would be, and among others, both what and
   when we should ask of Him.

   Aug., City of God, xii, 18: As to what some say that these things are
   so many that they cannot be compassed by the knowledge of God; they
   ought with like reason to maintain further that God cannot know all
   numbers which are certainly infinite. But infinity of number is not
   beyond the compass of His understanding, who is Himself infinite.

   Therefore if whatever is compassed by knowledge, is bounded by the
   compass of him that has the knowledge, then is all infinity in a
   certain unspeakable way bounded by God, because it is not
   incomprehensible by His knowledge.

   Nemesius, De Nat. Hom., 42: That there is a Providence, is shewn by
   such signs as the following; The continuance of all things, of those
   things especially which are in a state of decay and reproduction, and
   the place and order of all things that exist is ever preserved in one
   and the same state; and how could this be done unless by some presiding
   power? But some affirm that God does indeed care for the general
   continuance of all things in the universe, and provides for this, but
   that all particular events depend on contingency.

   Now there are but three reasons that can be alleged for God exercising
   no providence of particular events; either God is ignorant that it is
   good to have knowledge of particular things; or He is unwilling; or He
   is unable. But ignorance is altogether alien from blessed substance;
   for how shall God not know what every wise man knows, that if
   particulars were destroyed, the whole would be destroyed? But nothing
   prevents all individuals from perishing; when no power watches over
   them. If again, He be unwilling, this must be from one of two reasons;
   inactivity, or the meanness of the occupation. But inactivity is
   produced by two things; either we are drawn aside by some pleasure, or
   hindered by some fear, neither of which can be piously supposed of God.
   If they affirm that it would be unbecoming, for that it is beneath such
   blessedness to stoop to things so trifling, how is it not inconsistent
   that a workman overseeing the whole of any machine, leaves no part
   however insignificant without attention, knowing the whole is but made
   up of the parts, and thus pronounce God the Creator of all things to be
   less wise than craftsmen? But if it be that He is unable, then is He
   unable to bestow benefits on us. But if we are unable to comprehend the
   manner of special Providence, we have not therefore any right to deny
   its operation; we might as well say that, because we did not know the
   number of mankind, therefore there were no men.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Thus then let him who believes himself to be under the
   rule of God's counsel, commit his provision into God's hand; but let
   him meditate of good and evil, which if he do not, he will neither shun
   the evil, nor lay hold of the good.

   Therefore it is added, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
   righteousness." The kingdom of God is the reward of good works; His
   righteousness is the way of piety by which we go to that kingdom. If
   then you consider how great is the glory of the Saints, you will either
   through fear of punishment depart from evil, or through desire of glory
   hasten to good. And if you consider that is the righteousness of God,
   what He loves, and what He hates, the righteousness itself will shew
   you His ways, as it attends on those that love it. And the account we
   shall have to render is not whether we have been poor or rich, but
   whether we have done well or ill, which is in our own power.

   Gloss., interlin.: Or, He says "his righteousness," as though He were
   to say, Ye are made righteous through Him, and not through yourselves.'

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The earth for man's sin is accursed that it should not
   put forth fruit, according to that in Genesis, "Cursed is the ground in
   thy works;" [Gen 3:17] but when we do well, then it is blessed. Seek
   righteousness therefore, and thou shalt not lack food. Wherefore it
   follows, "and all these things shall be added unto you."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 16: To wit, these temporal goods which are
   thus manifestly shewn not to be such goods as those goods of ours for
   the sake of which we ought to do well; and yet they are necessary. The
   kingdom of God and His righteousness is our good which we ought to make
   our end.

   But since in order to attain this end we are militant in this life,
   which may not be lived without supply of these necessaries, He
   promises, "These things shall be added unto you." That He says,
   "first," implies that these are to be sought second not in time, but in
   value; the one is our good, the other necessary to us.

   For example, we ought not to preach that we may eat, for so we should
   hold the Gospel as of less value than our food; but we should therefore
   eat that we may preach the Gospel. But if we "seek first the kingdom of
   God and his righteousness," that is, set this before all other things,
   and seek other things for the sake of this, we ought not to be anxious
   lest we should lack necessaries; and therefore He says, "All these
   things shall be added unto you;" that is, of course, without being an
   hindrance to you: that you may not in seeking them be turned away from
   the other, and thus set two ends before you.

   Chrys.: And He said not, Shall be given, but, "Shall be added," that
   you may learn that the things that are now, are nought to the greatness
   of the things that shall be.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 17: But when we read that the Apostle
   suffered hunger and thirst, let us not think that God's promises failed
   him; for these things are rather aids. That Physician to whom we have
   entirely entrusted ourselves, knows when He will give and when He will
   withhold, as He judges most for our advantage. So that should these
   things ever be lacking to us, (as God to exercise us often permits,) it
   will not weaken our fixed purpose, but rather confirm it when wavering.
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   34. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall
   take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
   evil thereof."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Having forbid anxiety for the things of the day, He
   now forbids anxiety for future things, such a fruitless care as
   proceeds from the fault of men, in these words, "Be not ye anxious
   about the morrow."

   Jerome: Tomorrow in Scripture signifies time future, as Jacob in
   Genesis says, "Tomorrow shall my righteousness hear me." [Gen 35:33]
   And in the phantasm of Samuel the Pythoness says to Saul, "Tomorrow
   shalt thou be with me." [1 Sam 28:19]

   He yields therefore unto them that they should care for things present,
   though He forbids them to take thought for things to come. For
   sufficient for us is the thought of time present; let us leave to God
   the future which is uncertain. And this is that He says, "The morrow
   shall be anxious for itself;" that is, it shall bring its own anxiety
   with it. "For sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." By evil He
   means here not that which is contrary to virtue, but toil, and
   affliction, and the hardships of life.

   Chrys.: Nothing brings so much pain to the spirit as anxiety and cark.
   That He says, "The morrow shall be anxious for itself," comes of desire
   to make more plain what He speaks; to that end employing a prosopopeia
   of time, after the practice of many in speaking to the rude populace;
   to impress them the more, He brings in the day itself complaining of
   its too heavy cares. Has not every day a burden enough of its own, in
   its own cares? why then do you add to them by laying on those that
   belong to another day?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; By "today" are signified such things as are
   needful for us in this present life; "Tomorrow" denotes those things
   that are superfluous. "Be not ye therefore anxious for the morrow,"
   thus means, Seek not to have aught beyond that which is necessary for
   your daily life, for that which is over and above, i.e. Tomorrow, shall
   care for itself.

   "Tomorrow shall be anxious for itself," is as much as to say, when you
   have heaped up superfluities, they shall care for themselves, you shall
   not enjoy them, but they shall find many lords who shall care for them.
   Why then should you be anxious about those things, the property of
   which you must part with?

   "Sufficient for the day is its own evil," as much as to say, The toil
   you undergo for necessaries is enough, do not toil for things
   superfluous.

   Aug.: Or otherwise; Tomorrow is said only of time where future succeeds
   to past. When then we work any good work, we think not of earthly but
   of heavenly things. "The morrow shall be anxious for itself," that is,
   Take food and the like, when you ought to take it, that is when
   necessity begins to call for it.

   "For sufficient for the day is its own evil," that is, it is enough
   that necessity shall compel to take these things; He calls it "evil,"
   because it is penal, inasmuch as it pertains to our mortality, which we
   earned by sinning. To this necessity then of worldly punishment, add
   not further weight, that you may not only fulfil it, but may even so
   fulfil it as to shew yourself God's soldier.

   But herein we must be careful, that, when we see any servant of God
   endeavouring to provide necessaries either for himself, or those
   committed to his care, we do not straight judge him to sin against this
   command of the Lord in being anxious for the morrow. For the Lord
   Himself, to whom Angels ministered, thought good to carry a bag for
   example sake. And in the Acts of the Apostles it is written, that food
   necessary for life was provided for future time, at a time when famine
   threatened. What the Lord condemns therefore, is not the provision of
   these things after the manner of men, but if a man because of these
   things does not fight as God's soldier.

   Hilary: This is further comprehended under the full meaning of the
   Divine words. We are commanded not to be careful about the future,
   because sufficient for our life is the evil of the days wherein we
   live, that is to say, the sins, that all our thought and pains be
   occupied in cleansing this away. And if our care be slack, yet will the
   future be careful for itself, in that there is held out to us a harvest
   of eternal love to be provided by God.
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Chapter 7

   1. "Judge not, that ye be not judged.

   2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what
   measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
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   Aug.: Since when these temporal things are provided beforehand against
   the future, it is uncertain with what purpose it is done, as it may be
   with a single or double mind, He opportunely subjoins, "Judge not."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; He has drawn out thus far the consequences of
   his injunctions of almsgiving; He now takes up those respecting prayer.
   And this doctrine is in a sort of continuation of that of the prayer;
   as though it should run, "Forgive us our debts," and then should
   follow, "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

   Jerome: But if He forbids us to judge, how then does Paul judge the
   Corinthian who had committed uncleanness? Or Peter convict Ananias and
   Sapphira of falsehood?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But some explain this place after a sense, as though the
   Lord did not herein forbid Christians to reprove others out of good
   will, but only intended that Christians should not despise Christians
   by making a show of their own righteousness, hating others often on
   suspicion alone, condemning them, and pursuing private grudges under
   the show of piety.

   Chrys.: Wherefore He does not say, Do not cause a sinner to cease,' but
   do not judge; that is, be not a bitter judge; correct him indeed, but
   not as an enemy seeking revenge, but as a physician applying a remedy.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But that not even thus should Christians correct
   Christians is shewn by that expression, "Judge not."

   But if they do not thus correct, shall they therefore obtain
   forgiveness of their sins, because it is said, "and ye shall not be
   judged?" For who obtains forgiveness of a former sin, by not adding
   another thereto? This we have said, desiring to shew that this is not
   here spoken concerning not judging our neighbour who shall sin against
   God, but who may sin against ourselves. For whoso does not judge his
   neighbour who has sinned against him, him shall not God judge for his
   sin, but will forgive him his debt even as he forgave.

   Chrys.: Otherwise; He does not forbid us to judge all sin absolutely,
   but lays this prohibition on such as are themselves full of great
   evils, and judge others for very small evils. In like manner Paul does
   not absolutely forbid to judge those that sin, but finds fault with
   disciples that judged their teacher, and instructs us not to judge
   those that are above us.

   Hilary: Otherwise; He forbids us to judge God touching His promises;
   for as judgements among men are founded on things uncertain, so this
   judgment against God is drawn from somewhat that is doubtful. And He
   therefore would have us put away the custom from us altogether; for it
   is not here as in other cases where it is sin to have given a false
   judgment; but here we have begun to sin if we have pronounced any
   judgment at all.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 18: I suppose the command here to be no other
   than that we should always put the best interpretation on such actions
   as seem doubtful with what mind they were done. But concerning such as
   cannot be done with good purpose, as adulteries, blasphemies, and the
   like, He permits us to judge; but of indifferent actions which admit of
   being done with either good or bad purpose, it is rash to judge, but
   especially so to condemn.

   There are two cases in which we should be particularly on our guard
   against hasty judgments, when it does not appear with what mind the
   action was done; and when it does not yet appear, what sort of man any
   one may turn out, who now seems either good or bad. Wherefore he should
   neither blame those things of which we know with what mind they are
   done, nor so blame those things which are manifest, as though we
   despaired of recovery.

   Here one may think there is difficulty is what follows, "With what
   judgment ye judge ye shall be judged." If we judge a hasty judgment,
   will God also judge us with the like? Or if we have measured with a
   false measure, is there with God a false measure whence it may be
   measured to us again? For by measure I suppose is here meant judgment.
   Surely this is only said, that the haste in which you punish another
   shall be itself your punishment. For injustice often does no harm to
   him who suffers the wrong; but must always hurt him who does the wrong.

   Aug., City of God, xxi, 11: Some say, How is it true that Christ says,
   "And with what measure ye shall mete it shall be measured to you
   again," if temporal sin is to be punished by eternal suffering? They do
   not observe that it is not said "the same measure," because of the
   equal space of time, but because of the equal retribution - namely,
   that he who has done evil should suffer evil, though even in that sense
   it might be said of that of which the Lord spoke here, namely of
   judgments and condemnations. Accordingly, he that judges and condemns
   unjustly, if he is judged and condemned, justly receives in the same
   measure though not the same thing that he gave; by judgment he did what
   was unjust, by judgment he suffers what is just.
     __________________________________________________________________

   3. "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
   considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

   4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of
   thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

   5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and
   then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's
   eye."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 18: The Lord having admonished us concerning
   hasty and unjust judgment; and because that they are most given to rash
   judgment, who judge concerning things uncertain; and they most readily
   find fault, who love rather to speak evil and to condemn than to cure
   and to correct; a fault that spring either from pride or jealousy -
   therefore He subjoins, "Why seest thou the mote in thy brother's eye,
   and seest not the beam in thy own eye?"

   Jerome: He speaks of such as though themselves guilty of mortal sin, do
   not forgive a trivial fault in their brother.

   Aug.: As if he perhaps have sinned in anger, and you correct him with
   settled hate. For as great as is the difference between a beam and a
   mote, so great is the difference between anger and hatred. For hatred
   is anger become inveterate. It may be if you are angry with a man that
   you would have him amend, not so if you hate him.

   Chrys.: Many do this, if they see a Monk having a superfluous garment,
   or a plentiful meal, they break out into bitter accusation, though
   themselves daily seize and devour, and suffer from excess of drinking.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; This is spoken to the doctors. For every sin
   is either a great or a small sin according to the character of the
   sinner. If he is a laic, it is small and a mote in comparison of the
   sin of a priest, which is the beam.

   Hilary: Otherwise; The sin against the Holy Spirit is to take from God
   power which has influences, and from Christ substance which is of
   eternity, through whom as God came to man, so shall man likewise come
   to God. As much greater then as is the beam than the mote, so much
   greater is the sin against the Holy Spirit than all other sins. As when
   unbelievers object to others carnal sins, and secrete in themselves the
   burden of that sin, to wit, that they trust not the promises of God,
   their minds being blinded as their eye might be by a beam.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That is, with what face can you charge your brother with
   sin, when yourself are living in the same or a yet greater sin?

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 19: When then we are brought under the
   necessity of finding fault with any, let us first consider whether the
   sin be such as we have never had; secondly that we are yet men, and may
   fall into it; then, whether it be one that we have had, and are now
   without, and then let our common frailty come into our mind, that pity
   and not hate may go before correction. Should we find ourselves in the
   same fault, let us not reprove, but groan with the offender, and invite
   him to struggle with us. Seldom indeed and in cases of great necessity
   is reproof to be employed; and then only that the Lord may be served
   and not ourselves.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; "How sayest thou to thy brother;" that is,
   with what purpose? From charity, that you may save your neighbour?
   Surely not, for you would first save yourself. You desire therefore not
   to heal others, but by good doctrine to cover bad life, and to gain
   praise of learning from men, not the reward of edifying from God, and
   you are a hypocrite; as it follows, "Thou hypocrite, cast first the
   beam out of thine own eye."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 19: For to reprove sin is the duty of the
   good, which when the bad do, they act a part, dissembling their own
   character, and assuming one that does not belong to them.

   Chrys.: And it is to be noted, that whenever He intends to denounce any
   great sin, He begins with an epithet of reproach, as below, "Thou
   wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt;" [Matt 18:32] and so
   here, "Thou hypocrite, cast out first." For each one knows better the
   things of himself than the things of others, and sees more the things
   that be great, then the things that be lesser, and loves himself more
   than his neighbour.

   Therefore He bids him who is chargeable with many sins, not to be a
   harsh judge of another's faults, especially if they be small. Herein
   not forbidding to arraign and correct; but forbidding to make light of
   our own sins, and magnify those of others. For it behoves you first
   diligently to examine how great may be your own sins, and then try
   those of your neighbour; whence it follows, "and then shalt thou see
   clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye."

   Aug.: For having removed from our own eye the beam of envy, of malice,
   or hypocrisy, we shall see clearly to cast the beam out of our
   brother's eye.
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   6. "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your
   pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn
   again and rend you."
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   Aug.: Because the simplicity to which He had been directing in the
   foregoing precepts might lead some wrongly to conclude that it was
   equally wrong to hide the truth as to utter what was false, He well
   adds, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, and cast not your
   pearls before swine."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; The Lord had commanded us to love our
   enemies, and to do good to those that sin against us. That from this
   Priests might not think themselves obliged to communicate also the
   things of God to such, He checked any such thought saying, "Give not
   that which is holy to the dogs;" as much as to say, I have bid you love
   your enemies, and do them good out of your temporal goods, but not out
   of My spiritual goods, without distinction. For they are your brethren
   by nature but not by faith, and God gives the good things of this life
   equally to the worthy and the unworthy, but not so spiritual graces.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 20: Let us see now what is the holy thing,
   what are the dogs, what the pearls, what the swine? The holy thing is
   all that it were impiety to corrupt; a sin which may be committed by
   the will, though the thing itself be undone. The pearls are all
   spiritual things that are to be highly esteemed. Thus though one and
   the same thing may be called both the holy thing and a pearl, yet it is
   called holy because it is not to be corrupted; and called a pearl
   because it is not be contemned.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; "That which is holy" denotes baptism, the
   grace of Christ's body, and the like; but the mysteries of the truth
   are intended by the pearls. For as pearls are inclosed in shells, and
   such in the deeps of the sea, so the divine mysteries inclosed in words
   are lodged in the deep meaning of Holy Scripture.

   Chrys.: And to those that are right-minded and have understanding, when
   revealed they appear good; but to those without understanding, they
   seem to be more deserving reverence because they are not understood.

   Aug.: The dogs are those that assault the truth; the swine we may not
   unsuitably take for those that despise the truth. Therefore because
   dogs leap forth to rend in pieces, and what they rend, suffer not to
   continue whole, He said, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs;"
   because they strive to the utmost of their power to destroy the truth.
   The swine though they do not assault by biting as dogs, yet do they
   defile by trampling upon, and therefore He said, "Cast not your pearls
   before swine."

   Rabanus: Or; The dogs are returned to their vomit; the swine not yet
   returned, but wallowing in the mire of vices.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; The dog and the swine are unclean animals;
   the dog indeed in every respect, as he neither chews the cud, nor
   divides the hoof; but swine in one respect only, seeing they divide the
   hoof, though they do not chew the cud. Hence I think that we are to
   understand by the dog, the Gentiles who are altogether unclean, both in
   their life, and in their faith; but by the swine are to be understood
   heretics, because they seem to call upon the name of the Lord.

   "Give not therefore that which is holy to the dogs," for that baptism
   and the other sacraments are not to be given but to them that have the
   faith. In like manner the mysteries of the truth, that is, the pearls,
   are not to be given but to such as desire the truth and live with human
   reason. If then you cast them to the swine, that is, to such as are
   grovelling in impurity of life, they do not understand their
   preciousness, but value them like to other worldly fables, and tread
   them under foot with their carnal life.

   Aug.: That which is despised is said to be trodden under foot: hence it
   is said, "Lest perchance they tread them under foot."

   Gloss. interlin.: He says, "Lest perchance," because it may be that
   they will wisely turn from their uncleanness. [ed. note: the gloss. has
   guia non possunt.']

   Aug.: That which follows, "Turn again and rend you," He means not the
   pearls themselves, for these they tread under foot, and when they turn
   again that they may hear something further, then they rend him by whom
   the pearls on which they had trode had been cast. For you will not
   easily find what will please him who has despised things god by great
   toil. Whoever then undertake to teach such, I see not how they shall
   not be trode upon and rent by those they teach.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; The swine not only trample upon the pearls by their
   carnal life, but after a little they turn, and by disobedience rend
   those who offend them. Yea often when offended they bring false
   accusation against them as sowers of new dogmas. The dogs also having
   trode upon holy things by their impure actions, by their disputings
   rend the preacher of truth.

   Chrys.: Well is that said, "Lest they turn;" for they feign meekness
   that they may learn; and when they have learned, they attack.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: With good reason He forbade pearls to be given to swine.
   For if they are not to be set before swine that are the less unclean,
   how much more are they to be withhold from dogs that are so much more
   unclean. But respecting the giving that which is holy, we cannot hold
   the same opinion; seeing we often give the benediction to Christians
   who live as the brutes; and that not because they deserve to receive
   it, but lest perchance being more grievously offended they should
   perish utterly.

   Aug.: We must be careful therefore not to explain ought to him who does
   not receive it; for men the rather seek that which is hidden than that
   which is opened. He either attacks from ferocity as a dog, or overlooks
   from stupidity as swine.

   But it does not follow that if the truth be kept hid, falsehood is
   uttered. The Lord Himself who never spoke falsely, yet sometimes
   concealed the truth, as in that, "I have yet many things to say unto
   you, the which ye are not now able to bear." [John 16:12] But if any is
   unable to receive these things because of his filthiness, we must first
   cleanse him as far as lays in our power either by word or deed.

   But in that the Lord is found to have said some things which many who
   heard Him did not receive, but either rejected or contemned them, we
   are not to think that therein He gave the holy thing to the dogs, or
   cast His pearls before swine. He gave to those who were able to
   receive, and who were in the company, whom it was not fit should be
   neglected for the uncleanness of the rest. And though those who tempted
   Him might perish in those answers which He gave to them, yet those who
   could receive them by occasion of these inquiries heard many useful
   things.

   He therefore who knows what should be answered ought to make answer,
   for their sakes at least who might fall into despair should they think
   that the question proposed is one that cannot be answered. But this
   only in the case of such matters as pertain to instruction of
   salvation; of things superfluous or harmful nothing should be said; but
   it should then be explained for what reason we ought not to make answer
   in such points to the enquirer.
     __________________________________________________________________

   7. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and
   it shall be opened unto you:

   8. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth;
   and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Having before forbidden us to pray for things of the flesh, He
   now shews what we ought to ask, saying, "Ask, and it shall be given
   you."

   Aug.: Otherwise; when He commanded not to give the holy thing to dogs,
   and not to cast pearls before swine, the hearer conscious of his own
   ignorance might say, Why do you thus bid me not give the holy thing to
   dogs, when as yet I see not that I have any holy thing

   He therefore adds in good season, "Ask, and ye shall receive."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; Having given them some commands for the
   sanctification of prayer, saying, "Judge not," He adds accordingly,
   "Ask, and it shall be given unto you," as though He were to say, If ye
   observe this mercy towards your enemies, whatever seems to your shut,
   "knock, and it shall be opened to you."

   Ask therefore in prayer, praying day and night; seek with care and
   toil; for neither by toiling only in the Scriptures do we gain
   knowledge without God's grace, nor do we attain to grace without study,
   lest the gift of God should be bestowed on the careless. But knock with
   prayer, and fasting, and alms. For as one who knocks at a door, not
   only cries out with his voice, but strikes with his hand, so he who
   does good works, knocks with his works.

   But you will say, this is what I pray that I may know and do, how then
   can I do it, before I receive? Do what you can that you may become able
   to do more, and keep what you know that you may come to know more.

   Or otherwise; having above commanded all men to love their enemies, and
   after enjoined that we should not under pretext of love give holy
   things to dogs; He here gives good counsel, that they should pray God
   for them, and it shall be granted them; let them seek out those that
   are lost in sins, and they shall find them; let them knock at those who
   are shut up in errors, and God shall open to them that their word may
   have access to their souls.

   Or otherwise; Since the precepts given above were beyond the reach of
   human virtue, He sends them to God to whose grace nothing is
   impossible, saying, "Ask, and it shall be given you," that what cannot
   be performed by men may be fulfilled through the grace of God. For when
   God furnished the other animals with swift foot, or swift wing, with
   claws, teeth, or horns, He so made man that He Himself should be man's
   only strength [margin note: virtus, see Ps. 18:1] that forced by reason
   of his own weakness he might always have need of his Lord.

   Gloss. ord.: We ask with faith, we seek with hope, we knock with love.
   You must first ask that you may have; after that seek that you may
   find; and lastly, observe what you have found that you may enter in.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 21: Asking, is that we may get healthiness of
   soul that we may be able to fulfil the things commanded us; seeking,
   pertains to the discovery of the truth. But when any has found the true
   way, he will then come into actual possession, which however is only
   opened to him that knocks.

   Aug., Retract., i, 19: How these three differ from one another, I have
   thought good to unfold with this travail; but it were better to refer
   them all to instant prayer; wherefore He afterwards concludes, saying,
   "He will give good things to them that ask him."

   Chrys.: And in that He adds "seek," and "knock," HE bids us ask with
   much importunateness and strength. For one who seeks, casts forth all
   other things from his mind, and is turned to that thing singly which he
   seeks; and he that knocks comes with vehemence and warm soul.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He had said, "Ask, and ye shall receive;" which sinners
   hearing might perchance say, The Lord herein exhorts them that are
   worthy, but we are unworthy. Therefore He repeats it that He may
   commend the mercy of God to the righteous as well as to sinners; and
   therefore declares that "every one that asketh receiveth;" that is,
   whether he be righteous or a sinner, let him not hesitate to ask; that
   it may be fully seen that none is neglected but he who hesitates to ask
   of God. For it is not credible that God should enjoin on men that work
   of piety which is displayed is doing good to our enemies, and should
   not Himself (being good) act so.

   Aug., Tract. in Joan. 44, 13: Wherefore God hears sinners; for if He do
   not hear sinners, the Publican said in vain, "Lord, be merciful to me a
   sinner;" [Luke 18:13] and by that confession merited justification.

   Aug., Prosper, Sent. 212: He who in faith offers supplication to God
   for the necessities of this life is heard mercifully, and not heard
   mercifully. For the physician knows better than the sick man what is
   good for his sickness. But if he asks that which God both promises and
   commands, his prayer shall be granted, for love shall receive what
   truth provides.

   Aug., Ep. 31, 1: But the Lord is good, who often gives us not what we
   would, that He may give us what we should rather prefer.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 21: There is need moreover of perseverance,
   that we may receive what we ask for.

   Aug., Serm. 61. 5: In that God sometimes delays His gifts, He but
   recommends, and does not deny them. For that which is long looked for
   is sweeter when obtained; but that is held cheap, which comes at once.
   Ask then and seek things righteous. For by asking and seeking grows the
   appetite of taking. God reserves for you those things which He is not
   willing to give you at once, that you may learn greatly to desire great
   things. Therefore we ought always to pray and not to fail.
     __________________________________________________________________

   9. "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he
   give him a stone?

   10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

   11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
   children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good
   things to them that ask him?"
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   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 21: As above He had cited the birds of the
   air and the lilies of the field, that our hopes may rise from the less
   to the greater; so also does He in this place, when He says, "Or what
   man among you?"

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Lest perchance any one considering how great is the
   difference between God and man, and weighing his own sins should
   despair of obtaining, and so never take in hand to ask; therefore He
   proposes a comparison of the relation between father and son; that
   should we despair because of our sins, we may hope because of God's
   fatherly goodness.

   Chrys.: There are two things behoveful for one that prays; that he ask
   earnestly; and that he ask such things as he ought to ask. And those
   are spiritual things; as Solomon, because he asked such things as were
   right, received speedily.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And what are the things that we ought to ask, he shews
   under the likeness of a loaf, and a fish. The loaf is the word
   concerning the knowledge of God the Father. The stone is all falsehood
   that has a stumbling-block of offence to the soul.

   Remig.: By the fish we may understand the word concerning Christ, by
   the serpent the Devil himself.

   Or by the loaf may be understood spiritual doctrine; by the stone
   ignorance; by the fish the water of Holy Baptism; by the serpent the
   wiles of the Devil, or unbelief.

   Rabanus: Or; bread which is the common food signifies charity, without
   which the other virtues are of no avail. The fish signifies faith,
   which is born of the water of baptism, is tossed in the midst of the
   waves of this life and yet lives. Luke adds a third thing, "an egg,"
   [Luke 11:12] which signifies hope; for an egg is the hope of the
   animal. To charity, He opposes "a stone," that is, the hardness of
   hatred; to faith, "a serpent," that is, the venom of treachery; to
   hope, "a scorpion," that is, despair, which stings backward, as the
   scorpion.

   Remig.: The sense therefore is: we need not fear that should we ask of
   God our Father bread, that is doctrine or love, He will give us a
   stone; that is, that He will suffer our heart to be contracted either
   by the frost of hatred or by hardness of soul; or that when we ask for
   faith, He will suffer us to die of the poison of unbelief.

   Thence it follows, "If then ye being evil."

   Chrys.: This He said not detracting from human nature, nor confessing
   the whole human race to be evil; but He calls paternal love "evil" when
   compared with His own goodness. Such is the superabundance of His love
   towards men.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Because in comparison of God who is preeminently good,
   all men seem to be evil, as all light shews dark when compared with the
   sun.

   Jerome: Or perhaps he called the Apostles evil, in their person
   condemning the whole human race, whose heart is set to evil from his
   infancy, as we read in Genesis. Nor is it any wonder that He should
   call this generation, "evil," as the Apostle also speaks, "Seeing the
   days are evil."

   Aug.: Or He calls "evil" those who are lovers of this age; [margin
   note: Eph 5:16] whence also the good things which they give are to be
   called good according to their sense who esteem them as good; nay, even
   in the nature of things they are goods, that is, temporal goods, and
   such as pertain to this weak life.

   Aug., Serm., 61, 3: For that good thing which makes men good is God.
   Gold and silver are good things not as making you good, but as with
   them you may do good. If then we be evil, yet as having a Father who is
   good let us not remain ever evil.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 21: If then we being evil, know how to give
   that which is asked of us, how much more is it to be hoped that God
   will give us good things when we ask Him?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He says "good things," because God does not give all
   things to them that ask Him, but only good things.

   Gloss. ord.: For from God we receive only such things as are good, of
   what kind soever they may seem to us when we receive them; for all
   things work together for good to His beloved.

   Remig.: And be it known that where Matthew says, "He shall give good
   things," Luke has, "shall give his Holy Spirit." [Luke 11:13] But this
   ought not to seem contrary, because all the good things which man
   receives from God, are given by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
     __________________________________________________________________

   12. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to
   you, do ye even so to them: for this is the Law and the Prophets."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug.: Firmness and strength of walking by the way of wisdom in good
   habits is thus set before us, by which men are brought to purity and
   simplicity of heart; concerning which having spoken a long time, He
   thus concludes, "All things whatsoever ye would, &c." For there is no
   man who would that another should act towards him with a double heart.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; He had above commanded us in order to
   sanctify our prayers that men should not judge those who sin against
   them. Then breaking the thread of his discourse He had introduced
   various other matters, wherefore now when He returns to the command
   with which He had begun, He says, "All things whatsoever ye would, &c."
   That is; I not only command that ye judge not, but "All things
   whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye unto them;" and
   then you will be able to pray so as to obtain.

   Gloss. ord.: Otherwise; The Holy Spirit is the distributor of all
   spiritual goods, that the deeds of charity may be fulfilled; whence He
   adds, "All things therefore, &c."

   Chrys.: Otherwise; The Lord desires to teach that men ought to seek aid
   from above, but at the same time to contribute what lays in their
   power; wherefore when He had said, "Ask, seek, and knock," He proceeds
   to teach openly that men should be at pains for themselves, adding,
   "Whatsoever ye would &c."

   Aug., Serm., 61. 7: Otherwise; The Lord had promised that He would give
   good things to them that ask Him. But that He may own his petitioners,
   let us also own ours. For they that beg are in every thing, save having
   of substance, equal to those of whom they beg. What face can you have
   of making request to your God, when you do not acknowledge your equal?
   This is said in Proverbs, "Whoso stoppeth his ear to the cry of the
   poor, he shall cry and shall not be heard." [Prov 21:13] What we ought
   to bestow on our neighbour when he asks of us, that we ourselves may be
   heard of God, we may judge by what we would have others bestow upon us;
   therefore He says, "All things whatsoever ye would."

   Chrys.: He says not, "All things whatsoever," simply, but "All things
   therefore," as though He should say, If ye will be heard, besides those
   things which I have now said to you, do this also. And He said not,
   Whatsoever you would have done for you by God, do that for your
   neighbour; lest you should say, But how can I? but He says, Whatsoever
   you would have done to you by your fellow-servant, do that also to your
   neighbour.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 22: Some Latin copies add here, "good
   things," [ed. note: So also S. Cyprian de Orat. (Tr. vii. 18. fin.) and
   the Latin MSS.] which I suppose was inserted to make the sense more
   plain. For it occurred that one might desire some crime to be committed
   for his advantage, and should so construe this place, that he ought
   first to do the like to him by whom he would have it done to him. It
   were absurd to think that this man had fulfilled this command. Yet the
   thought is perfect, even though this be not added.

   For the words, "All things whatsoever ye would," are not to be taken in
   their ordinary and loose signification, but in their exact and proper
   sense. For there is no will but only in the good [margin note: but see
   Retract. i. 9. n. 4]; in the wicked it is rather named desire, and not
   will. Not that the Scriptures always observe this propriety; but where
   need is, there they retain the proper word so that none other need be
   understood.

   Cyprian, Tr. vii: Since the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ came to
   all men, He summed up all his commands in one precept, "Whatsoever ye
   would that men should do to you, do ye also to them;" and adds, "for
   this is the Law and the Prophets."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For whosoever the Law and the Prophets contain up and
   down through the whole Scriptures, is embraced in this one compendious
   precept, as the innumerable branches of a tree spring from one root.

   Greg., Mor., x, 6: He that thinks he ought to do to another as he
   expects that others will do to him, considers verily how he may return
   good things for bad, and better things for good.

   Chrys.: Whence what we ought to do is clear, as in our own cases we all
   know what is proper, and so we cannot take refuge in our ignorance.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 22: This precept seems to refer to the love
   of our neighbour, not of God, as in another place He says, there are
   two commandments on which hang the Law and the Prophets. But as He says
   not here, The whole Law, as He speaks there, He reserves a place for
   the other commandment respecting the love of God.

   Aug., De Trin., viii, 7: Otherwise; Scripture does not mention the love
   of God, where it says, "All things whatsoever ye would;" because he who
   loves his neighbour must consequently love Love itself above all
   things; but God is Love; therefore he loves God above all things.
     __________________________________________________________________

   13. "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is
   the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
   thereat:

   14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
   unto life, and few there be that find it."
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   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 22: The Lord had warned us above to have a
   heart single and pure with which to seek God; but as this belongs to
   but few, He begins to speak of finding out wisdom. For the searching
   out and contemplation whereof there has been formed through all the
   foregoing such an eye as may discern the narrow way and strait gate;
   whence He adds, "Enter ye in at the strait gate."

   Gloss. ord.: Though it be hard to do to another what you would have
   done to yourself; yet so must we do, that we may enter the strait gate.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; This third precept again is connected with
   the right method of fasting, and the order of discourse will be this;
   "But thou when thou fastest anoint thy head;" and after comes, "Enter
   ye in at the strait gate."

   For there are three chief passions in our nature, that are most
   adhering to the flesh; the desire of food and drink; the love of the
   man towards the woman; and thirdly, sleep. These it is harder to cut
   off from the fleshly nature than the other passions. And therefore
   abstinence from no other passion so sanctifies the body as that a man
   should be chaste, abstinent, and continuing in watchings.

   On account, therefore, of all these righteousnesses, but above all on
   account of the most toilsome fasting, it is that He says, "Enter ye in
   at the strait gate." The gate of perdition is the Devil, through whom
   we enter into hell; the gate of life is Christ, through whom we enter
   into the kingdom of Heaven. The Devil is said to be a wide gate, not
   extended by the mightiness of his power, but made broad by the license
   of his unbridled pride. Christ is said to be a strait gate not with
   respect to smallness of power, but to His humility; for He whom the
   whole world contains not, shut Himself within the limits of the
   Virgin's womb. The way of perdition is sin of any kind. It is said to
   be broad, because it is not contained within the rule of any
   discipline, but they that walk therein follow whatever pleases them.
   The way of life is all righteousness, and is called narrow for the
   contrary reasons. It must be considered that unless one walk in the
   way, he cannot arrive at the gate; so they that walk not in the way of
   righteousness, it is impossible that they should truly know Christ.
   Likewise neither does he run into the hands of the Devil, unless he
   walks in the way of sinners.

   Gloss. ord.: Though love be wide, yet it leads men from the earth
   through difficult and steep ways. It is sufficiently difficult to cast
   aside all other things, and to love One only, not to aim at prosperity,
   not to fear adversity.

   Chrys.: But seeing He declares below, "My yoke is pleasant, and my
   burden light," how is it that He says here that the way is strait and
   narrow? Even here He teaches that it is light and pleasant; for here is
   a way and a gate as that other, which is called the wide and broad, has
   also a way and a gate.

   Of these nothing is to remain; but all pass away. But to pass through
   toil and sweat, and to arrive at a good end, namely life, is sufficient
   solace to those who undergo these struggles. For if sailors can make
   light of storms and soldiers of wounds in hope of perishable rewards,
   much more when Heaven lies before, and rewards immortal, will none look
   to the impending dangers. Moreover the very circumstance that He calls
   it strait contributes to make it easy; by this He warned them to be
   always watching; this the Lord speaks to rouse our desires. He who
   strives in a combat, if he sees the prince admiring the efforts of the
   combatants, gets greater heart.

   Let us not therefore be sad when many sorrows befall us here, for the
   way is strait, but not the city; therefore neither need we look for
   rest here, nor expect any thing of sorrow there. When He says, "Few
   there be that find it," He points to the sluggishness of the many, and
   instructs His hearers not to look to the prosperity of the many, but to
   the toils of the few.

   Jerome: Attend to the words, for they have an especial force, "many
   walk" in the broad way - "few find" the narrow way. For the broad way
   needs no search, and is not found, but presents itself readily; it is
   the way of all who go astray. Whereas the narrow way neither do all
   find, nor when they have found, do they straightway walk therein. Many,
   after they have found the way of truth, caught by the pleasures of the
   world, desert midway.
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing,
   but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

   16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns,
   or figs of thistles?

   17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt
   tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

   18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt
   tree bring forth good fruit.

   19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and
   cast into the fire.

   20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord had before commanded His Apostles, that they
   should not do their alms, prayers, and fastings before men, as the
   hypocrites; and that they might know that all these things may be done
   in hypocrisy, He speaks saying, "Take heed of false prophets."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 23: When the Lord had said that there were
   few that find the strait gate and narrow way, that heretics, who often
   commend themselves because of the smallness of their numbers, might not
   here intrude themselves, He straightway subjoins, "Take heed of false
   prophets."

   Chrys.: Having taught that the gate is strait, because there are many
   that pervert the way that leads to it, He proceeds, "Take heed of false
   prophets." In the which that they might be the more careful, He reminds
   them of the things that were done among their fathers, calling them
   "false prophets;" for even in that day the like things fell out.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: What is written below that "the Law and the Prophets
   were until John," [Matt 11:13] is said, because there should be no
   prophecy concerning Christ after He was come. Prophets indeed there
   have been and are, but not prophesying of Christ, rather interpreting
   the things which had been prophesied of Christ by the ancients, that is
   by the doctors of the Churches. For no man can unfold prophetic
   meaning, but the Spirit of prophecy. The Lord then knowing that there
   should be false teachers, warns them of divers heresies, saying, "Take
   heed of false prophets."

   And forasmuch as they would not be manifest Gentiles, but lurk under
   the Christian name, He said not See ye,' but, "Take heed." For a thing
   that is certain is simply seen, or looked upon; but when it is
   uncertain it is watched or narrowly considered. Also He says "Take
   heed," because it is a sure precaution of security to know him whom you
   avoid. But his form of warning, "Take heed," does not imply that the
   Devil will introduce heresies against God's will, but by His permission
   only; but because He would not choose servants without trial, therefore
   He sends them temptation; and because He would not have them perish
   through ignorance, He therefore warns them before hand.

   Also that no heretical teacher might maintain that He spoke here of
   Gentile and Jewish teachers and not of them, He adds, "who come to you
   in sheep's clothing." Christians are called sheep, and the sheep's
   clothing is a form of Christianity and of feigned religion. And nothing
   so casts out all good as hypocrisy; for evil that puts on the semblance
   of good, cannot be provided against, because it is unknown. Again, that
   the heretic might not allege that He here speaks of the true teachers
   which were yet sinners, He adds, "But inwardly they are ravening
   wolves." But Catholic teachers should they indeed have been sinners,
   are spoken of as servants of the flesh, yet not as ravening wolves,
   because it is not their purpose to destroy Christians.

   Clearly then it is of heretical teachers that He speaks; for they put
   on the guise of Christians, to the end they may tear in pieces the
   Christian with the wicked fangs of seduction. Concerning such the
   Apostle speaks, "I know that after my departure there will enter among
   you grievous wolves, not sparing the flock." [Acts 20:29]

   Chrys.: Yet He may seem here to have aimed under the title of "false
   prophets," not so much at the heretic, as at those who, while their
   life is corrupt, yet wear an outward face of virtuousness; whence it is
   said, "By their fruits ye shall know them." For among heretics it is
   possible many times to find a good life, but among those I have named
   never.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 24: Wherefore it is justly asked, what fruits
   then He would have us look to? For many esteem among fruits some things
   which pertain to the sheep's clothing, and in this manner are deceived
   concerning wolves. For they practise fasting, almsgiving, or praying,
   which they display before men, seeking to please those to whom these
   things seem difficult.

   These then are not the fruits by which He teaches us to discern them.
   Those deeds which are done with good intention, are the proper fleece
   of the sheep itself, such as are done with bad intention, or in error,
   are nothing else than a clothing of wolves; but the sheep ought not to
   hate their own clothing because it is often used to hide wolves.

   What then are the fruits by which we may know an evil tree? The Apostle
   says, "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are, fornication,
   uncleanness, &c." [Gal 5:19] And which are they by which we may know a
   good tree? The same Apostle teaches, saying, "The fruits of the Spirit
   are love, joy, peace."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The fruits of a man are the confession of his faith and
   the works of his life; for he who utter according to God the words of
   humility and a true confession, is the sheep; but he who against the
   truth howls forth blasphemies against God is the wolf.

   Jerome: What is here spoken of false prophets we may apply to all whose
   dress and speech promise one thing, and their actions exhibit another.
   But it is specially to be understood of heretics, who by observing
   temperance, chastity, and fasting, surround themselves as it were with
   a garment of sanctity, but inasmuch as their hearts within them are
   poisoned, they deceive the souls of the more simple brethren.

   Aug., non occ.: But from their actions we may conjecture whether this
   their outward appearance is put on for display. For when by any
   temptations those things are withdrawn or denied them which they had
   either attained or sought to attain by this evil, then needs must that
   it appear whether they be the wolf in sheep's clothing, or the sheep in
   his own.

   Greg., Mor., xxxi, 14: Also the hypocrite is restrained by peaceful
   times of Holy Church, and therefore appears clothed with godliness; but
   let any trial of faith ensue, straight the wolf ravenous at heart
   strips himself of his sheep's skin, and shews by persecuting how great
   his rage against the good.

   Chrys.: And the hypocrite is easily discerned; for the way they are
   commanded to walk is a hard way, and the hypocrite is loth to toil. And
   that you may not say that you are unable to find out them that are
   such, He again enforces what He had said by example from men, saying,
   "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The grape had in it a mystery of Christ. As the bunch
   sustains many grapes held together by the woody stem, so likewise
   Christ holds many believers joined to Him by the wood of the Cross. The
   fig again is the Church which binds many faithful by a sweet embrace of
   charity, as the fig contains many seeds inclosed in one skin. The fig
   then has these significations, namely, love in its sweetness, unity in
   the close adhesion of its seeds. In the grape is shewn patience, in
   that it is cast into the wine-press - joy, because wine maketh glad the
   heart of man - purity, because it is not mixed with water - and
   sweetness, in that it delighteth. The thorns and thistles are the
   heretics. And as a thorn or a thistle has sharp pricks on every part,
   so the Devil's servants, on whatsoever side you look at them, are full
   of wickedness. Thorns and thistles then of this sort cannot bear the
   fruits of the Church. And having instanced in particular tress, as the
   fig, the vine, the thorn, and the thistle, He proceeds to shew that
   this is universally true, saying, "Thus every good tree bringeth forth
   good fruit, but an evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 25: In this place we must guard against the
   error of such [margin note: Manichees] as imagine that the two trees
   refer to two different natures; the one of God, the other not. But we
   affirm that they derive no countenance from these two tree; as it will
   be evident to any who will read the context that He is speaking here of
   men.

   Aug., City of God, book 12, ch. 4: These men of whom we have spoken are
   offended with these two natures, not considering them according to
   their true usefulness; whereas it is not by our advantage or
   disadvantage, but in itself considered, that nature gives glory to her
   Framer. All natures then that are, because they are, have their own
   manner, their own appearance, and as it were their own harmony [margin
   note: pacem], and are altogether good.

   Chrys.: But that none should say, An evil tree brings forth indeed evil
   fruit, but it brings forth also good, and so it becomes hard to
   discern, as it has a two-fold produce; on this account He adds, "A good
   tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring
   forth good fruit."

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 25: From this speech the Manichees suppose
   that neither can a soul that is evil be possibly changed for better,
   nor one that is good into worse. As though it had been, A good tree
   cannot become bad, nor a bad tree become good; whereas it is thus said,
   "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit," nor the reverse. The tree
   is the soul, that is, the man himself; the fruit is the man's works. An
   evil man therefore cannot work good works, nor a good man evil works.
   Therefore if an evil man would work good things, let him first become
   good. But as long as he continues evil, he cannot bring forth good
   fruits. Like as it is indeed possible that what was once snow, should
   cease to be so; but it cannot be that snow should be warm; so it is
   possible that he who has been evil should be so no longer; but it is
   impossible that an evil man should do good. For though he may sometimes
   be useful, it is not he that does it, but it comes of Divine Providence
   super-intending.

   Rabanus: And man is denominated a good tree, or a bad, after his will,
   as it is good or bad. His fruit is his works, which can neither be good
   when the will is evil, nor evil when it is good.

   Aug., see Op. Imp. in Jul. v. 40: But as it is manifest that all evil
   works proceed from an evil will, as its fruits from an evil tree; so of
   this evil will itself whence will you say that it has sprung, except
   that the evil will of an angel sprung from an angel, of man from man?
   And what were these two before those evils arose in them, but the good
   work of God, a good and praiseworthy nature.

   See then out of good arises evil; nor was there any thing at all out of
   which it might arise but what was good. I mean the evil will itself,
   since there was no evil before it, no evil works, which could not come
   but from evil will as fruit from an evil tree. Nor can it be said that
   it sprung out of good in this way, because it was made good by a good
   God; for it was made of nothing, and not of God.

   Jerome: We would ask those heretics who affirm that there are two
   natures directly opposed to each other, if they admit that a good tree
   cannot bring forth evil fruit, how it was possible for Moses, a good
   tree, to sin as he did at the water of contradiction? Or for Peter to
   deny his Lord in the Passion, saying, "I know not the man?" Or how, on
   the other hand, could Moses' father-in-law, an evil tree, inasmuch as
   he believed not in the God of Israel, give good counsel?

   Chrys.: He had not enjoined them to punish the false prophets, and
   therefore shews them the terrors of that punishment that is of God,
   saying, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn
   down, and cast into the fire."

   In these words He seems to aim also at the Jews, and thus calls to mind
   the word of John the Baptist, denouncing punishment against them in the
   very same words. For he had thus spoken to the Jews, warning them of
   the axe impending, the tree that should be cut down, and the fire that
   could not be extinguished.

   But if one will examine somewhat closely, here are two punishments, to
   be cut down, and to be burned; and he that is burned is also altogether
   cut out of the kingdom; which is the harder punishment. Many indeed
   fear no more than hell; but I say that the fall of that glory is a far
   more bitter punishment, than the pains of hell itself. For what evil
   great or small would not a father undergo, that he might see and enjoy
   a most dear son? Let us then think the same of that glory; for there is
   no son so dear to his father as is the rest of the good, to be deceased
   and to be with Christ. The pain of hell is indeed intolerable, yet are
   ten thousand hells nothing to falling from that blessed glory, and
   being held in hate by Christ.

   Gloss., non occ.: From the foregoing similitude He draws the conclusion
   to what He had said before, as being now manifest, saying, "Therefore
   by their fruits ye shall know them."
     __________________________________________________________________

   21. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
   kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
   heaven.

   22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
   in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done
   many wonderful works?

   23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from
   me, ye that work iniquity."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: As He had said above that those who have the robe of a good
   life are yet not to be received because of the impiety of their
   doctrines; so now on the other hand, He forbids us to participate the
   faith with those who while they are strong in sound doctrine, destroy
   it with evil works. For it behoves the servants of God that both their
   work should be approved by their teaching and their teaching by their
   works.

   And therefore He says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
   enters into the kingdom of heaven."

   Chrys., Hom., xxiv. Rom. 2, 17: Wherein He seems to touch the Jews
   chiefly who placed every thing in dogmas; as Paul accuses them, "If
   thou art called a Jew, and restest in the Law."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; Having taught that the false prophets and the
   true are to be discerned by their fruits, He now goes on to teach more
   plainly what are the fruits by which we are to discern the godly from
   the ungodly teachers.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 24: For even in the very name of Christ we
   must be on our guard against heretics, and all that understand amiss
   and love this world, that we may not be deceived, and therefore He
   says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord."

   But it may fairly create a difficulty how this is to be reconciled with
   that of the Apostle, "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the
   Holy Ghost." [1 Cor 12:3] For we cannot say that those who are not to
   enter into the kingdom of heaven have the Holy Spirit. But the Apostle
   uses the word say,' to express the will and understanding of him that
   says it. He only properly says a thing, who by the sound of his voice
   expresses his will and purpose. But the Lord uses the word in its
   ordinary sense, for he seems to say who neither wishes nor understands
   what he says.

   Jerome: For Scripture uses to take words for deeds; according to which
   the Apostle declares, "They make confession that they know God, but in
   works deny him." [Titus 1:16]

   Ambrosiaster Comm. in 1 Cor 12, 3: For all truth by whomsoever uttered
   is from the Holy Spirit.

   Aug., non occ.: Let us not therefore think that this belongs to those
   fruits of which He had spoken above, when one says to our Lord, "Lord,
   Lord;" and thence seems to us to be a good tree; the true fruit spoken
   of is to do the will of God; whence it follows, "But who doeth the will
   of my Father which is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of
   heaven."

   Hilary: For obeying God's will and not calling on His name, shall find
   the way to the heavenly kingdom.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And what the will of God is the Lord Himself teaches,
   "This is," He says, "the will of him that sent me, that every man that
   seeth the Son and believeth on him should have eternal life." [John
   6:40] The word believe has reference both to confession and conduct. He
   then who does not confess Christ, or does not walk according to His
   word, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

   Chrys.: He said not "he that doth" My "will," but "the will of my
   Father," for it was fit so to adapt it in the mean while to their
   weakness. But the one secretly implied the other, seeing the will of
   the Son is no other than the will of the Father.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 25: Here it also pertains that we be not
   deceived by the name of Christ not only in such as bear the name and do
   not the deeds, but yet more by certain works and miracles, such as the
   Lord wrought because of the unbelieving, but yet warned us that we
   should not be deceived by such to suppose that there was invisible
   wisdom where was a visible miracle; wherefore He adds, saying, "Many
   shall say to me in that day."

   Chrys.: See how He thus secretly bring in Himself. Here in the end of
   His Sermon He shews Himself as the Judge. The punishment that awaits
   sinners He had shewn before, but now only reveals who He is that shall
   punish, saying, "Many shall say to me in that day."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: When, namely, He shall come in the majesty of His
   Father; when none shall any more dare with strife of many words either
   to defend a lie, or to speak against the truth, when each man's work
   shall speak, and his mouth be silent, when none shall come forward for
   another, but each shall fear for himself. For in that judgment the
   witnesses shall not be flattering men, but Angles speaking the truth,
   and the Judge is the righteous Lord; whence He closely images the cry
   of men fearful, and in straits, saying, "Lord, Lord." For to call once
   is not enough for him who is under the necessity of terror.

   Hilary: They even assure themselves of glory for their prophesying in
   teaching, for their casting our daemons, for their mighty works; and
   hence promise themselves the kingdom of heaven, saying, "Have we not
   prophesied in thy name?"

   Chrys.: But there are that say that they spoke this falsely, and
   therefore were not saved. But they would not have dared to say this to
   the Judge in His presence. But the very answer and question prove that
   it was in His presence that they spoke thus. For having been here
   wondered at by all for the miracles which they wrought, and there
   seeing themselves punished, they say in wonderment, "Lord, have we not
   prophesied in thy name?" Others again say, that they did sinful deeds
   not while they thus were working miracles, but at a time later. But if
   this be so, that very thing which the Lord desired to prove would not
   be established, namely, that neither faith nor miracles avail ought
   where there is not a good life; as Paul also declares, "If I have faith
   that I may remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing." [1
   Cor 13:2]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But not that He says, "in my name," not in My Spirit;
   for they prophesy in the name of Christ, but with the spirit of the
   Devil; such are the diviners. But they may be known by this, that the
   Devil sometimes speaks falsely, the Holy Spirit never. Howbeit it is
   permitted to the Devil sometimes to speak the truth, that he may
   commend his lying by this his rare truth. Yet they cast out daemons in
   the name of Christ, though they have the spirit of his enemy; or
   rather, they do not cast them out, but seem only to cast them out, the
   daemons acting in concert with them. Also they do mighty works, that
   is, miracles, not such as are useful and necessary, but useless and
   fruitless.

   Aug.: Read also what things the Magi did in Egypt in withstanding
   Moses.

   Jerome: Otherwise; To prophesy, to work wonders, to cast out daemons by
   divine power, is often not of his deserts who performs the works, but
   either the invocation of Christ's name has this force; or it is
   suffered for the condemnation of those that invoke, or for the benefit
   of those that see and hear, that however they despise the men who work
   the wonders, they may give honour to God. So Saul and Balaam and
   Caiaphas prophesied; the sons of Scaeva in the Acts of the Apostles
   were seen to cast out daemons; and Judas with the soul of a traitor is
   related to have wrought many signs among the other Apostles.

   Chrys.: For all are not alike fit for all things; these are of pure
   life, but have not so great faith; those again have the reverse.
   Therefore God converted these by the means of those to the shewing
   forth much faith; and those that had faith He called by this
   unspeakable gift of miracles to a better life; and to that end gave
   them this grace in great richness. And they say, "We have done many
   mighty works." But because they were ungrateful towards those who thus
   honoured them, it follows rightly, "Then will I confess unto you, I
   never knew you."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For great wrath ought to be preceded by great
   forbearance, that the sentence of God may be made more just, and the
   death of the sinners more merited. God does not know sinners because
   they are not worthy that they should be known of God; not that He
   altogether is ignorant concerning them, but because He knows them not
   for His own. For God knows all men according to nature, but He seems
   not to know them for that He loves them not, as they seem not to know
   God who do not serve Him worthily.

   Chrys.: He says to them, "I never knew you," as it were, not at the day
   of judgment only, but not even then when ye were working miracles. For
   there are many whom He has now in abhorrence, and yet turns away His
   wrath before their punishment.

   Jerome: Note that He says, "I never knew you," as being against some
   that say that all men have always been among rational creatures." [ed.
   note: Origen was accused of saying that all men were from their birth
   inwardly partakers of the Divine Word or Reason. vid. Jerome, Ep. ad
   Avit.]

   Greg., Mor., xx, 7: By this sentence it is given to us to learn, that
   among men charity and humility, and not mighty works, are to be
   esteemed. Whence also now the Holy Church, if there be any miracles of
   heretics, despises them, because she knows that they have not the mark
   of holiness. And the proof of holiness is not to work miracles, but to
   love our neighbour as ourselves, to think truly of God, and of our
   neighbour better than of ourselves.

   Aug., Cont. Adv. Leg. ii. 4: But never let it be said as the Manichees
   say, that the Lord spoke these things concerning the holy Prophets; He
   spoke of those who after the preaching of His Gospel seem to themselves
   to speak in His name not knowing what they speak.

   Hilary: But thus the hypocrites boasted, as though they spoke somewhat
   of themselves, and as though the power of God did not work all these
   things, being invoked; but reading has brought them the knowledge of
   His doctrine, and the name of Christ casts out the daemons. Out of our
   own selves then is that blessed eternity to be earned, and out of
   ourselves must be put forth something that we may will that which is
   good, that we may avoid all evil, and may rather do what He would have
   us do, than boast of that to which He enables us. These then He disowns
   and banishes for their evil works, saying, "Depart from me, ye that
   work iniquity."

   Jerome: He says not, Who have worked, but "who work iniquity," that He
   should not seem to take away repentance. "Ye," that is, who up to the
   present hour when the judgment is come, though ye have not the
   opportunity, yet retain the desire of sinning.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For death separates the soul from the body, but changes
   not the purpose of the heart.
     __________________________________________________________________

   24. "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them,
   I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
   25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
   and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a
   rock.

   26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them
   not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon
   the sand:

   27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
   and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Because there would be some who would admire the things that
   were said by the Lord, but would not add that shewing forth of them
   which is in action, He threatens them before, saying, "Every man that
   hears these words of mine, and does them, shall be likened to a wise
   man."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He said not, I will account him that hears and does, as
   wise; but, "He shall be likened to a wise man." He then that is likened
   is a man; but to whom is he likened? To Christ; but Christ is the wise
   man who had built His house, that is, the Church, upon a rock, that is,
   upon the strength of the faith.

   The foolish man is the Devil, who has built his house, that is, all the
   ungodly, upon the sand, that is, the insecurity of unbelief, or upon
   the carnal, who are called the sand on account of their barrenness;
   both because they do not cleave together, but are scattered through the
   diversity of their opinions, and because they are innumerable.

   The rain is the doctrine that waters a man, the clouds are those from
   which the rain falls. Some are raised by the Holy Spirit, as the
   Apostles and Prophets, and some by the spirit of the Devil, as are the
   heretics.

   The good winds are the spirits of the different virtues, or the Angels
   who work invisibly in the senses of men, and lead them to good. The bad
   winds are the unclean spirits.

   The good floods are the Evangelists and teachers of the people; the
   evil floods are men full of an unclean spirit, and overflowing with
   many words; such are philosophers and the other professors of worldly
   wisdom, out of whose belly come rivers of dead water.

   The Church then which Christ has founded, neither the rain of false
   doctrine shall sap, nor the blast of the Devil overturn, nor the rush
   of mighty floods remove. Nor does it contradict this, that certain of
   the Church do fall; for not all that are called Christians, are
   Christ's, but, "The Lord knows them that are his." [2 Tim 2:19]

   But against that house that the Devil has built comes down the rain of
   true doctrine, the winds, that is, the graces of the Spirit, or the
   Angels; the floods, that is, the four Evangelists and the rest of the
   wise; and so the house falls, that is, the Gentile world, that Christ
   may rise; and the ruin of that house was great, its errors broken up,
   its falsehoods laid open, its idols throughout the whole world broken
   down. He then is like unto Christ who hears Christ's words and does
   them; for he builds on a rock, that is, upon Christ, who is all good,
   so that on whatsoever kind of good any one shall build, he may seem to
   have built upon Christ. But as the Church built by Christ cannot be
   thrown down, so any such Christian who has built himself upon Christ,
   no adversity can overthrow, according to that, "Who shall separate us
   from the love of Christ?" [Rom 8:35]

   Like to the Devil is he that hears the words of Christ, and does them
   not. For words that are heard, and are not done, are likened to sand,
   they are dispersed and shed abroad. For the sand signifies all evil, or
   even worldly goods. For as the Devil's house is overthrown, so such as
   are built upon the sand are destroyed and fall. And great is that ruin
   if he have suffered any thing to fail of the foundation of faith; but
   not if he have committed fornication, or homicide, because he has
   whence he may arise through penitence, as David.

   Rabanus: Or the great ruin is to be understood that with which the Lord
   will say to them that hear and do not, "Go ye into everlasting fire."
   [Matt 25:41]

   Jerome: Or otherwise; On sand which is loose and cannot be bound into
   one mass, all the doctrine of heretics is built so as to fall.

   Hilary: Otherwise; By the showers He signifies the allurements of
   smooth and gently invading pleasures, with which the faith is at first
   watered as with spreading rills, afterwards comes down the rush of
   torrent floods, that is, the motions of fiercer desire, and lastly, the
   whole force of the driving tempests rages against it, that is, the
   universal spirits of the Devil's reign attack it.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont. in fin.: Otherwise; Rain, when it is put to denote
   any evil, is understood as the darkness of superstition; rumours of men
   are compared to winds; the flood signifies the lust of the flesh, as it
   were flowing over the land, and because what is brought on by
   prosperity is broken off by adversity. None of these things does he
   fear who has his house founded upon a rock, that is, who not only hears
   the command of the Lord, but who also does it. And in all these he
   submits himself to danger, who hears and does not. For no man confirms
   in himself what the Lord commands, or himself hears, but by doing it.

   But it should be noted, that when he said, "He that heareth these words
   of mine," He shews plainly enough that this sermon is made complete by
   all those precepts by which the Christian life is formed, so that with
   good reason they that desire to live according to them, may be compared
   to one that builds on a rock.
     __________________________________________________________________

   28. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people
   were astonished at his doctrine:

   29. For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: Having related Christ's teaching, he shews its effects
   on the multitude, saying, "And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended
   these words, the multitude wondered at his doctrine."

   Rabanus: This ending pertains both to the finishing the words, and the
   completeness of the doctrines. That it is said that "the multitude
   wondered," either signifies the unbelieving in the crowd, who were
   astonished because they did not believe the Saviour's words; or is said
   of them all, in that they reverenced in Him the excellence of so great
   wisdom.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The mind of man when satisfied reasonably brings forth
   praise, but when overcome, wonder. For whatever we are not able to
   praise worthily, we admire. Yet their admiration pertained rather to
   Christ's glory than to their faith, for had they believed on Christ,
   they would not have wondered. For wonder is raised by whatever
   surpasses the appearance of the speaker or actor; and thence we do not
   wonder at what is done or said by God, because all things are less than
   God's power. But it was the multitude that wondered, that is the common
   people, not the chief among the people, who are not wont to hear with
   the desire of learning; but the simple folk heard in simplicity; had
   others been present they would have broken up their silence by
   contradicting, for where the greater knowledge is, there is the
   stronger malice. For he that is in haste to be first, is not content to
   be second.

   Aug., de Cons. Evan., ii, 19: From that which is here said, He seems to
   have left the crowd of disciples - those out of whom He chose twelve,
   whom He called Apostles - but Matthew omits to mention it. For to His
   disciples only, Jesus seems to have held this Sermon, which Matthew
   recounts, Luke omits. That after descending into a plain He held
   another like discourse, which Luke records, and Matthew omits. Still it
   may be supposed, that, as was said above, He delivered on and the same
   Sermon to the Apostles, and the rest of the multitude present, which
   has been recorded by Matthew and Luke, in different words, but with the
   same truth of substance; and this explains what is here said of the
   multitude wondering.

   Chrys., Hom. xxv: He adds the cause of their wonderment, saying, "He
   taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes and
   Pharisees." But if the Scribes drove Him from them, seeing His power
   shewn in works, how would they not have been offended when words only
   manifested His power? But this was not so with the multitude; for being
   of benevolent temper, it is easily persuaded by the word of truth. Such
   however was the power wherewith He taught them, that it drew many of
   them to Him, and caused them to wonder; and for their delight in those
   things which were spoken they did not leave Him even when He had done
   speaking; but followed Him as He came down from the mount. They were
   mostly astonished at His power, in that He spoke not referring to any
   other as the Prophets and Moses had spoken, but every where shewing
   that He Himself had authority; for in delivering each law, He prefaced
   it with, "But I say unto you."

   Jerome: For as the God and Lord of Moses himself, He of His own free
   will either added such things as seemed omitted in the Law, or even
   changed some; as above we read, "It was said by them of old . . . . But
   I say unto you." But the Scribes only taught the people what was
   written in Moses and the Prophets.

   Greg., Mor., xxiii, 13: Or, Christ spoke with especial power, because
   He did no evil from weakness, but we who are weak, in our weakness
   consider by what method in teaching we may best consult for our weak
   brethren.

   Hilary: Or; They measure the efficacy of His power, by the might of His
   words.

   Aug., Serm. in Mont. ii, 40. i. 10. et. seq.: This is what is signified
   in the eleventh Psalm, "I will deal mightily with him; the words of the
   Lord are pure words, silver tried in the fire, purified of earth,
   purged seven times." [Ps 12: 5-6]

   The mention of this number admonishes me here to refer all these
   precepts to those seven sentences that He placed in the beginning of
   this Sermon; those, I mean, concerning the beatitudes. For one to be
   angry with his brother, without cause, or to say to him, Racha, or call
   him fool, is a sin of extreme pride, against which is one remedy, that
   with a suppliant spirit he should seek pardon, and not be puffed up
   with a spirit of boasting.

   "Blessed," then, "are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
   heaven." He is consenting to his adversary, that is, in shewing
   reverence to the word of God, who goes to the opening His Father's
   will, not with contentiousness of law, but with meekness of religion,
   therefore, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

   Also, whosoever feels carnal delight rebel against his right will, will
   cry out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body
   of this death?" [Rom 7:24] And in thus mourning he will implore the aid
   of the counsoler, whence, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall
   be comforted."

   What is there that can be thought of more toilsome than in overcoming
   an evil practice to cut off those members within us that hinder the
   kingdom of heaven, and not be broken down with the pain of so doing? To
   endure in faithful wedlock all things even the most grievous, and yet
   to avoid all accusation of fornication. To speak the truth, and approve
   it not by frequent oaths, but in probity of life.

   But who would be bold to endure such toils, unless he burned with the
   love of righteousness as with a hunger and thirst? "Blessed,"
   therefore, "are they that hunger and thirst, for they shall be filled."
   Who can be ready to take wrong from the weak, to offer himself to any
   that asks him, to love his enemies, to do good to them that hate him,
   to pray for them that persecute him, except he that is perfectly
   merciful?

   Therefore, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy." He
   keeps the eye of his heart pure, who places the end of his good actions
   not in pleasing men, nor in getting those things that are necessary to
   this life, and who does not rashly condemn any man's heart, and
   whatever he gives to another gives with that intention with which he
   would have others give to him. "Blessed," therefore, "are the pure in
   heart, for they shall see God." It must needs be moreover, that by a
   pure heart should be found out the narrow way of wisdom, to which the
   guile of corrupt men is an obstacle; "Blessed are the peaceful, for
   they shall be called the sons of God." But whether we take this
   arrangement, or any other, those things which we have heard from the
   Lord must be done, if we would build upon the rock.
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Chapter 8

   1. When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed
   him.

   2. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, "Lord,
   if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."

   3. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, "I will; be
   thou clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

   4. And Jesus said unto him, "See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew
   thyself to the Priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a
   testimony unto them."
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   Jerome: After the preaching and teaching, is offered an occasion of
   working miracles, that by mighty works following, the preceding
   doctrine might be confirmed.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Because He taught them as one having authority, that He
   might not thence be supposed to use this method of teaching from
   ostentation, He does the same in works, as one having power to cure;
   and therefore, "When Jesus descended from the mountain, great
   multitudes followed him."

   Pseudo-Origen, Hom. in Liv. 5: While the Lord taught on the mount, the
   disciples were with Him, for to them it was given to know the secret
   things of the heavenly doctrine; but now as He came down from the mount
   the crowds followed Him, who had been altogether unable to ascent into
   the mount. They that are bowed by the burden of sin cannot climb to the
   sublime mysteries. But when the Lord came down from the mount, that is,
   stooped to the infirmity, and helplessness of the rest, in pity to
   their imperfections, "great multitudes followed Him," some for renown,
   most for His doctrine, some for cures, or having their wants
   administered to.

   Haymo: Otherwise; By the mount on which the Lord sat is figured the
   Heaven, as it is written, "Heaven is my throne." [Isa 66:1] But when
   the Lord sits on the mount, only the disciples come to Him; because
   before He took on Him the frailty of our human nature, God was known
   only in Judaea [margin note: Ps 76:1]; but when He came down from the
   height of his Divinity, and took upon Him the frailty of our human
   nature, a great multitude of the nations followed Him.

   Herein it is shewn to them that teach that their speech should be so
   regulated, that as they see each man is able to receive, they should so
   speak the word of God. For the doctors ascend the mountain, when they
   shew the more excellent precepts to the perfect; they come down from
   the mount, in shewing the lesser precepts to the weak.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Among others who were not able to ascent into the mount
   was the leper, as bearing the burden of sin; for the sin of our souls
   is a leprosy. And the Lord came down from the height of heaven, as from
   a mountain, that He might purge the leprousness of our sin; and so the
   leper as already prepared meets Him as He came down.

   Pseudo-Origen: He works the cures below, and does none in the mount;
   for there is a time for all things under heaven, a time for teaching,
   and a time for healing. On the mount He taught, He cured souls, He
   healed hearts; which being finished, as He came down from the heavenly
   heights to heal bodies, there came to Him a leper and made adoration to
   Him; before he made his suit, he began to adore, shewing his great
   reverence.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He did not ask it of Him as of a human physician, but
   adored Him as God. For faith and confession make a perfect prayer; so
   that the leprous man in adoring fulfilled the work of faith, and the
   work of confession in words, "he make adoration to him, saying;"

   Pseudo-Origen: Lord, by Thee all things were made, Thou therefore, "if
   thou will, canst make me clean." Thy will is the work, and all works
   are subject to Thy will. Thou of old cleansedst Naaman the Syrian of
   his leprosy by the hand of Elisha, and now, "if thou wilt, thou canst
   make me clean."

   Chrys.: He said not, If Thou wilt ask of God, or, If Thou wilt make
   adoration to God; but, "If thou wilt." Nor did he say, Lord, cleanse
   me; but left all to Him, thereby making Him Lord and attributing to Him
   the power over all.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And thus he rewarded a spiritual Physician with a
   spiritual reward; for as physicians are gained by money, so He with
   prayer. We offer to God nothing more worthy than faithful prayer. In
   that he say, "If thou wilt," there is no doubt that Christ's will is
   ready to every good work; but only doubt whether that cure would be
   expedient for him, because soundness of body is not good for all. "If
   thou wilt" then is as much as to say, I believe that Thou willest
   whatever is good, but I know not if this that I desire for myself is
   good.

   Chrys.: He was able to cleanse by a word, or even by mere will, but He
   put out His hand, "He stretched forth his hand and touched him," to
   shew that He was not subject to the Law, and that to the pure nothing
   is impure. Elisha truly kept the Law in all strictness, and did not go
   out and touch Naaman, but sends him to wash in Jordan. But the Lord
   shews that He does not heal as a servant, but as Lord heals and
   touches; His hand was not made unclean by the leprosy, but the leprous
   body was made pure by the holy hand. For He came not only to heal
   bodies, but to lead a soul to the true wisdom. And then He did not
   forbid to eat with unwashen hands, so here He teaches us that it is the
   leprosy of the soul we ought only to dread, which is sin, but that the
   leprosy of the body is no impediment to virtue.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But though He transgressed the letter of the Law, He did
   not transgress its meaning. For the Law forbade to touch leprosy,
   because it could not hinder that the touch should not defile; therefore
   it meant not that lepers should not be healed, but that they that
   touched should not be polluted. So He was not polluted by touching the
   leprosy, but purified the leprosy by touching it.

   Damascenus, De Fid. Orth. iii. 15: For He was not only God, but man
   also, whence He wrought Divine wonders by touch and word; for as by an
   instrument so by His body the Divine acts were done.

   Chrys.: But for touching the leprous man there is none that accuses
   Him, because His hearers were not yet seized with envy against Him.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Had He healed him without speaking, who would know by
   whose power he had been healed? So the will to heal was for the sake of
   the leprous man; the word was for the sake of them that beheld,
   therefore He said, "I will, be thou clean."

   Jerome: It is not to be read, as most of the Latins think, I will
   cleanse thee;' but separately, He first answers, "I will," and then
   follows the command, "be thou clean." The leper has said, "If thou
   wilt;" The Lord answers, "I will;" he first said, "Thou canst make me
   clean;" the Lord spake, "Be thou clean."

   Chrys.: No where else do we see Him using this word though He be
   working ever so signal a miracle; but He here adds, "I will," to
   confirm the opinion of the people and the leprous man concerning His
   power. Nature obeyed the word of the Purifier with proper sped, whence
   it follows, "and straight his leprosy was cleansed." But even this
   word, "straightway," is too slow to express the speed with which the
   deed was done.

   Pseudo-Origen: Because he was not slow to believe, his cure is not
   delayed; he did not linger in his confession, Christ did not linger in
   His cure.

   Aug., De. Cons. Evan., ii, 19: Luke has mentioned the cleansing of this
   leper, though not in the same order of events, but as his manner is to
   recollect things omitted, and to put first things that were done later,
   as they were divinely suggested; so that what they had known before,
   they afterwards set down in writing when they were recalled to their
   minds.

   Chrys.: Jesus when healing his body bids him tell no man; "Jesus saith
   unto him, See thou tell no man." Some say that He gave this command
   that they might, not through malice distrust his cure. But this is said
   foolishly, for He did not so cure him as that his purity should be
   called in question: but He bids him "tell no man," to teach that He
   does not love ostentation and glory.

   How is it then that to another to whom He had healed He gives command
   to go and tell it? What He taught in that was only that we should have
   a thankful heart; for He does not command that it should be published
   abroad, but that glory should be given to God. He teaches us then
   through this leper not to be desirous of empty honour; by the other,
   not to be ungrateful, but to refer all things to the praise of God.

   Jerome: And in truth what need was there that he should proclaim with
   his mouth what was evidently shewed in his body?

   Hilary: Or that this healing might be sought rather than offered,
   therefore silence is enjoined.

   Jerome: He sends him to the Priests, first, because of His humility
   that He may seem to defer to the Priests; secondly, that when they saw
   the leper cleansed they might be saved, if they would believe on the
   Saviour, or if not that they might be without excuse; and lastly, that
   He might not seem, as He was often charged, to be infringing the Law.

   Chrys.: He neither every where broke, nor every where observed, the
   Law, but sometimes the one, sometimes the other. The one was preparing
   the way for the wisdom that was to come, the other was silencing the
   irreverent tongue of the Jews, and condescending to their weakness.
   Whence the Apostles also are seen sometimes observing, sometimes
   neglecting, the Law.

   Pseudo-Origen: Or, He sends him to the Priests that they might know
   that he was not cleansed according to the manner of the Law, but by the
   operation of grace.

   Jerome: It was ordained in the Law, that those that had been cleansed
   of a leprosy should offer gifts to the Priests; as it follows, "And
   offer thy gift as Moses commanded for a testimony to them."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Which is not to be understood, "Moses commanded it for a
   testimony to them;" but, "Go thou and offer for a testimony."

   Chrys.: For Christ, knowing beforehand that they would not profit by
   this, said not, for their amendment,' but, "for a testimony to them;"
   that is, for an accusation of them, and in attestation that all things
   that should have been done by Me, have been done. But though He thus
   knew that they would not profit by it, yet He did not omit any thing
   that behoved to be done; but they remained in their former ill-will.

   Also He said not, The gift that I command,' but, "that Moses
   commanded," that in the meantime He might hand them over to the Law,
   and close the mouths of the unjust. That they might not say that He
   usurped the honour of the Priests, He fulfilled the work of the Law,
   and made a trial of them.

   Pseudo-Origen: Or; "offer thy gift," that all who see may believe the
   miracle.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; He command the oblation, that should they afterwards
   seek to put him out, he might be able to say, You have received gifts
   on my cleansing, how do ye now cast me out as a leper?

   Hilary: Or we may read, "Which Moses commanded for a testimony;"
   inasmuch as what Moses commanded in the Law is a testimony, not an
   effect.

   Bede, Hom. in Dom., 3 Epiph.: Should any be perplexed how, when the
   Lord seems here to approve Moses' offering, the Church does not receive
   it, let him remember, that Christ had not yet offered His body for a
   holocaust. And it behoved that the typical sacrifices should not be
   taken away, before that which they typified was established by the
   testimony of the Apostles' preaching, and by the faith of the people
   believing. By this man was figured the whole human race, for he was not
   only leprous, but, according to the Gospel of Luke, is described as
   full of leprosy. "For all have sinned, and need glory of God;" to wit,
   that glory, that the hand of the Saviour being stretched out, (that is,
   the Word being made flesh), and touching human nature, they might be
   cleansed from the vanity of their former ways; and that they that had
   been long abominable, and cast out from the camp of God's people, might
   be restored to the temple and the priest, and be able to offer their
   bodies a living sacrifice to Him to whom it is said, "Thou art a Priest
   for ever." [Ps 110:4]

   Remig.: Morally; by the leper is signified the sinner; for sin makes an
   unclean and impure soul; he falls down before Christ when he is
   confounded concerning his former sins; yet he ought to confess, and to
   seek the remedy of penitence; so the leper shews his disease, and asks
   a cure. The Lord stretches out His hand when He affords the aid of
   Divine mercy; whereupon follows immediately remission of sin; nor ought
   the Church to be reconciled to the same, but on the sentence of the
   Priest.
     __________________________________________________________________

   5. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a
   centurion, beseeching him,

   6. And saying, "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,
   grievously tormented."

   7. And Jesus saith unto him, "I will come and heal him."

   8. The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou
   shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only and my servant
   shall be healed.

   9. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say
   to this man, Go,' and he goeth; and to another, Come,' and he cometh;
   and to my servant, Do this,' and he doeth it."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord having taught His disciples on the mount, and
   healed the leper at the foot of the mount, came to Capharnaum. This is
   a mystery, signifying that after the purification of the Jews He went
   to the Gentiles.

   Haymo: For Capharnaum, which is interpreted, The town of fatness, or,
   The field of consolation, signifies the Church, which was gathered out
   of the Gentiles, which is replenished with spiritual fatness, according
   to that, "That my soul may be filled with marrow and fatness," [Ps
   63:5] and under the troubles of the world is comforted concerning
   heavenly things, according to that, "Thy consolations have rejoiced my
   soul." [Ps 94:19] Hence it is said, "When he had entered into
   Capharnaum the centurion came to him."

   Aug., Serm., 62, 4: This centurion was of the Gentiles, for Judaea had
   already soldiers of the Roman empire.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This centurion was the first-fruits of the Gentiles, and
   in comparison of his faith, all the faith of the Jews was unbelief; he
   neither heard Christ teaching, nor saw the leper when he was cleansed,
   but from hearing only that he had been healed, he believed more than he
   heard; and so he mystically typified the Gentiles that should come, who
   had neither read the Law nor the Prophets concerning Christ, nor had
   seen Christ Himself work His miracles. He came to Him and besought Him,
   saying, "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is
   grievously afflicted."

   Mark the goodness of the centurion, who for the health of his servant
   was in so great haste and anxiety, as though by his death he should
   suffer loss, not of money, but of his well being. For he reckoned no
   difference between the servant and the master; their place in this
   world may be different, but their nature is one. Mark also his faith,
   in that he said not, Come and heal him, because that Christ who stood
   there was present in every place; and his wisdom, in that he said not,
   Heal him here on this spot, for he knew that He was mighty to do, wise
   to understand, and merciful to hearken, therefore he did but declare
   the sickness, leaving it to the Lord, by His merciful power to heal.
   "And he is grievously afflicted;" this shews how he loved him, for when
   any that we love is pained or tormented, thought it be but slightly,
   yet we think him more afflicted than he really is.

   Rabanus: All these things he recounts with grief, that he is "sick,"
   that it is with "palsy;" that he is "grievously afflicted" therewith,
   the more to shew the sorrow of his own heart, and to move the Lord to
   have mercy. In like manner ought all to feel for their servants, and to
   take thought for them.

   Chrys., Hom. xxvi: But some say that he says these things in excuse of
   himself, as reasons why he did not bring the sick man himself. For it
   was impossible to bring one in a palsy, in great torment, and at the
   point to die. But I rather think it a mark of his great faith; inasmuch
   as he knew that a word alone was enough to restore the sick man, he
   deemed it superfluous to bring him.

   Hilary: Spiritually interpreted, the Gentiles are the sick in this
   world, and afflicted with the diseases of sin, all their limbs being
   altogether unnerved, and unfit for their duties of standing and
   walking. The sacrament of their salvation is fulfilled in this
   centurion's servant, of whom it is sufficiently declared that he was
   the head of the Gentiles that should believe. What sort of head this
   is, the song of Moses in Deuteronomy teaches, "He set the bounds of the
   people according to the number of the Angels." [Deut 32:8]

   Remig.: Or, in the centurion are figured those of the Gentiles who
   first believed, and were perfect in virtue. For a centurion is one who
   commands a hundred soldiers; and a hundred is a perfect number.
   Rightly, therefore, the centurion prays for his servant, because the
   first-fruits of the Gentiles prayed to God for the salvation of the
   whole Gentile world.

   Jerome: The Lord seeing the centurion's faith, humbleness, and
   thoughtfulness, straightway promises to go and heal him; "Jesus saith
   unto him, I will come and heal him."

   Chrys.: Jesus here does what He never did; He always follows the wish
   of the supplicant, but here He goes before it, and not only promises to
   heal him, but to go to his house. This He does, that we may learn the
   worthiness of the centurion.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Had not He said, "I will come and heal him," the other
   would never have answered, "I am not worthy." It was because it was a
   servant for whom he made petition, that Christ promised to go, in order
   to teach us not to have respect to the great, and overlook the little,
   but to honour poor and rich alike.

   Jerome: As we commend the centurion's faith in that he believed that
   the Saviour was able to heal the paralytic; so his humility is seen in
   his professing himself unworthy that the Lord should come under his
   roof; as it follows, "And the centurion answered and said unto him,
   Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof."

   Rabanus: Conscious of his gentile life, he thought he should be more
   burdened than profited by this act of condescension from Him with whose
   faith he was indeed endued, but with whose sacraments he was not yet
   initiated.

   Aug.: By declaring himself unworthy, he shewed himself worthy, not
   indeed into whose house, but into whose heart, Christ the Word of God
   should enter. Nor could he have said this with so much faith and
   humility, had he not borne in his heart Him whom he feared to have in
   his house. And indeed it would have been no great blessedness that
   Jesus should enter within his walls, if He had not already entered into
   his heart.

   Chrysologus, Serm. 102: Mystically, his house was the body which
   contained his soul, which contains within it the freedom of the mind by
   a heavenly vision. But God disdains neither to inhabit flesh, nor to
   enter the roof of our body.

   Pseudo-Origen, Hom. in div. 5: And now also when the heads of Churches,
   holy men and acceptable to God, enter your roof, then in them the Lord
   also enters, and do you think of yourself as receiving the Lord. And
   when you eat and drink the Lord's Body [ed. note: "I am not worthy,
   Lord, that Thou shouldest come unto me; but as Thou didst vouchsafe to
   lodge in a den or stable of brute beasts, &c." vid. Liturgy of St. John
   Chrys. also Bp. Andrew's Devotions, and our Communion Service. "We are
   not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy Table, &c."],
   then the Lord enters under your roof, and you then should humble
   yourself, saying, "Lord, I am not worthy." For where He enters
   unworthily, there He enters to the condemnation of him who receives
   Him.

   Jerome: The thoughtfulness of the centurion appears herein, that he saw
   the Divinity hidden beneath the covering of body; wherefore he adds,
   "But speak the word only, and my servant will be healed."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He knew that Angels stood by unseen to minister to Him,
   who turn every word of his into act; yea and should Angels fail, yet
   diseases are healed by His life-giving command.

   Hilary: Also he therefore says that it needed only a word to heal his
   son, because all the salvation of the Gentiles is of faith, and the
   life of them all is in the precepts of the Lord.

   Therefore he continues saying, "For I am a man set under authority,
   having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; to
   another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth
   it."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He has here developed the mystery of the Father and the
   Son, by the secret suggestion of the Holy Spirit; as much as to say,
   Though I am under the command of another, yet have I power to command
   those who are under me; so also Thou, though under the command of the
   Father, in so far as Thou art Man, yet hast Thou power over the Angels.

   But Sabellius perhaps affirms, seeking to prove that the Son is the
   same as the Father, that it is to be understood thus; If I who am set
   under authority have yet power to command, how much more Thou who are
   under the authority of none.' But the words will not bear this
   exposition; for he said not, If I being a man under authority,' but,
   For I also am a man set under authority;' clearly not drawing a
   distinction, but pointing to a resemblance in this respect between
   himself and Christ.

   Aug.: If I who am under command have yet power to command others, how
   much more Thou whom all powers serve!

   Gloss. ord.: Thou are able without Thy bodily presence, by the ministry
   of Thy Angels, to say to this disease, Go, and it will leave him; and
   to say to health, Come, and it shall come to him.

   Haymo: Or, we may understand by those that are set under the centurion,
   the natural virtues in which many of the Gentiles were mighty, or even
   thoughts good and bad. Let us say to the bad, Depart, and they will
   depart; let us call the good, and they shall come; and our servant,
   that is, our body, let us bid that it submit itself to the Divine will.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 20: What is here said seems to disagree with
   Luke's account, "When the centurion heard concerning Jesus, he sent
   unto him elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal
   his servant." [Luke 7:3] And again, "When he was come nigh to the
   house, the centurion sent friends unto him, saying, Lord, trouble not
   thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof."

   Chrys.: But some say that these are two different occurrences; an
   opinion which has much to support it. Of Him in Luke it is said, "He
   loveth our nation, and has built us a synagogue;" but of this one Jesus
   says, "I have not found so great faith in Israel;" whence it might seem
   that the other was a Jew. But in my opinion they are both the same
   person. What Luke relates that he sent to Jesus to come to him, betrays
   the friendly services of the Jews. We may suppose that when the
   centurion sought to go to Jesus, he was prevented by the Jews, who
   offered to go themselves for the purpose of bringing him. But as soon
   as he was delivered from their importunity, then be sent to say, Do not
   think that it was from want of respect that I did not come, but because
   I thought myself unworthy to receive you into my house. When then
   Matthew relates, that he spoke thus not through friends, but in his own
   person, it does not contradict Luke's account; for both have only
   represented the centurion's anxiety, and that he had a right opinion of
   Christ. And we may suppose that he first sent this message to Him by
   friends as He approached, and after, when He was come thither, repeated
   it Himself. But if they are relating different stories, then they do
   not contradict each other, but supply mutual deficiencies.

   Aug.: Matthew therefore intended to state summarily all that passed
   between the centurion and the Lord, which was indeed done through
   others, with the view of commending his faith; as the Lord spoke, "I
   have not found so great faith in Israel." Luke, on the other hand, has
   narrated the whole as it was done, that so we might be obliged to
   understand in what sense Matthew, who could not err, meant that the
   centurion himself came to Christ, namely, in a figurative sense through
   faith.

   Chrys.: For indeed there is no necessary contradiction between Luke's
   statement, that he had built a synagogue, and this, that he was not an
   Israelite; for it was quite possible, that one who was not a Jew should
   have built a synagogue, and should love the nation.
     __________________________________________________________________

   10. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed,
   "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
   Israel.

   11. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west,
   and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom
   of Heaven.

   12. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer
   darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

   13. And Jesus said unto the centurion, "Go thy way; and as thou hast
   believed, so be it done unto thee." And his servant was healed in the
   selfsame hour.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: As what the leper had affirmed concerning Christ's power, "If
   thou will, thou canst cleanse me," was confirmed by the mouth of
   Christ, saying, "I will, be thou clean;" so here He did not blame the
   centurion for bearing testimony to Christ's authority, but even
   commended him. Nay more; it is something greater than commendation that
   the Evangelist signifies in the words, "But Jesus hearing marvelled."

   Pseudo-Origen, Hom. in Div. 5: Observe how great and what that is at
   which God the Only-begotten marvels. Gold, riches, principalities, are
   in His sight as the shadow or the flower that fadeth; in the sight of
   God none of these things is wonderful, as though it were great or
   precious, but faith only; this He wonders at, and pays honour to, this
   He esteems acceptable to Himself.

   Aug., super Gen. c. Man. i. 8: But who was He that had created this
   faith in him, but only He who now marvelled at it? But even had it come
   from any other, how should He marvel who know all things future? When
   the Lords marvels, it is only to teach us what we ought to wonder at;
   for all these emotions in Him are not signs of passion, but examples of
   a teacher.

   Chrys.: Wherefore He is said to have thus wondered in the presence of
   all the people, giving them an example that they also should wonder at
   Him; for it follows, "And he said to them that followed, I have not
   found so great faith in Israel."

   Aug., cont. Faust. xxii, 74: He praises his faith, but gives no command
   to quit his profession of a soldier.

   Jerome: This He speaks of the present generation, not of all the
   Patriarchs and Prophets of past ages.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Andrew believed, but it was after John had said, "Behold
   the Lamb of God;" [John 1:36] Peter believed, but it was by reading the
   Scriptures; and Nathanael first received a proof of His Divinity, and
   then spoke forth his confession of faith.

   Pseudo-Origen: Jairus, a prince in Israel, making request for his
   daughter, said not, Speak the word,' but, Come quickly.' Nicodemus,
   hearing of the sacrament of faith, asks, "How can these things be?"
   [John 3:9] Mary and Martha say, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my
   brother had not died;" [John 11:21] as though distrusting that God's
   power could be in all places at the same time.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, if we would suppose [ed. note: The text of
   Pseudo-Chrys has 'si non sumus ausi putare.'] that his faith was
   greater than even that of the Apostles, Christ's testimony to it must
   be understood as though every good in a man should be commended
   relatively to his character; as it were a great thing in a countryman
   to speak with wisdom, but in a philosopher the same would be nothing
   wonderful. In this way it may be said of the centurion, In none other
   have I found so great faith in Israel.

   Chrys.: For it is a different thing for a Jew to believe and for a
   Gentile.

   Jerome: Or perhaps in the person of the centurion the faith of the
   Gentiles is preferred to that of Israel; whence He proceeds, "But I say
   unto you, Many shall come from the east and from the west."

   Aug., Serm., 62, 4: He says, not all,' but many; yet these from the
   east and west; for by these two quarters the whole world is intended.

   Haymo: Or; From the east shall come they, who pass into the kingdom as
   soon as they are enlightened; from the west they who have suffered
   persecution for the faith even unto death.

   Or, he comes from the east who has served God from a child; he from the
   west who in decrepit age has turned to God.

   Pseudo-Origen: How then does He say in another place, that "the chosen
   are few?" Because in each generation there are few that are chosen, but
   when all are gathered together in the day of visitation they shall be
   found many. "They shall sit down," not the bodily posture, but the
   spiritual rest, not with human food, but with an eternal feast, "with
   Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven," where is light,
   joy, glory, and eternal length of days.

   Jerome: Because the God of Abraham, the Maker of heaven, is the Father
   of Christ, therefore also is Abraham in the kingdom of heaven, and with
   him will sit down the nations who have believed in Christ the Son of
   the Creator.

   Aug.: As we see Christians called to the heavenly feast, where is the
   bread of righteousness, the drink of wisdom; so we see the Jews in
   reprobation. "The children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer
   darkness," that is, the Jews, who have received the Law, who observe
   the types of all things that were to be, yet did not acknowledge the
   realities when present.

   Jerome: Or the Jews may be called "the children of the kingdom,"
   because God reigned among them heretofore.

   Chrys.: Or, He calls them "the children of the kingdom," because the
   kingdom was prepared for them, which was the greater grief to them.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xvi. 24: Moses set before the people of Israel no
   other God than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Christ sets
   forth the very same God. So that so far was He from seeking to turn
   that people away from their own God, that He therefore threatened them
   with the outer darkness, because He saw them turned away from their own
   God. And in this kingdom He tells them the Gentiles shall sit down with
   Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for no other reason than that they held the
   faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To these Fathers Christ gives His
   testimony, not as though they had been converted after death, or had
   received justification after His passion.

   Jerome: It is called, "outer darkness," because he whom the Lord casts
   out leaves the light.

   Haymo: What they should suffer there, He shews when He adds, "There
   shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Thus in metaphor He describes
   the sufferings of the tormented limbs; the eyes shed tears when filled
   with smoke, and the teeth chatter together from cold. This shews that
   the wicked in hell shall endure both extreme cold and extreme heat:
   according to that in Job, "They shall pass from rivers of snow to the
   scorching heat." [Job 24:19]

   Jerome: Weeping and gnashing of teeth are a proof of bones and body;
   truly then is there a resurrection of the same limbs, that sank into
   the grave.

   Rabanus: Or; The gnashing of teeth expresses the passion of remorse;
   repentance coming too late and self-accusation that he had sinned with
   such obstinate wickedness.

   Remig.: Otherwise; By "other darkness," He means foreign nations; for
   these words of the Lord are a historical prediction of the destruction
   of the Jews, that they were to be led into captivity for their
   unbelief, and to be scattered over the earth; for tears are usually
   caused by heat, gnashing of teeth by cold. "Weeping" then is ascribed
   to those who should be dispersed into the warmer climates of India and
   Ethiopia, "gnashing of teeth" to those who should dwell in the colder
   regions, as Hyrcania and Scythia.

   Chrys.: But that none might suppose that these were nothing more than
   fair words, He makes them credible by the miracles following, "And
   Jesus said to the centurion, Go, and be it done to thee as thou hast
   believed."

   Rabanus: As though He had said, According to the measure of thy faith,
   so be thy grace. For the merit of the Lord may be communicated even to
   servants not only through the merit of their faith, but through their
   obedience to rule. It follows, "And his servant was healed in the
   self-same hour."

   Chrys.: Wherein admire the speediness, shewing Christ's power, not only
   to heal, but to do it in a moment of time.

   Aug., Serm., 62. 3: As the Lord did not enter the centurion's house
   with His body, but healed the servant, present in majesty, but absent
   in body; so He went among the Jews only in the body, but among other
   nations He was neither born of a Virgin, nor suffered, nor endured
   human sufferings, nor did divine wonders; and yet was fulfilled that
   which was spoken, "A people that I have not known hath served me, and
   hath obeyed me by the hearing of the ear." [Ps 18:43] The Jews behold,
   yet crucified Him; the world heard, and believed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's
   mother laid, and sick of a fever.

   15. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and
   ministered unto them.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Anselm: Matthew having in the leper shewn the healing of the whole
   human race, and in the centurion's servant that of the Gentiles, now
   figures the healing of the synagogue in Peter's mother-in-law. He
   relates the case of the servant, first, because it was the greater
   miracle, and the grace was greater in the conversion of the Gentile; or
   because the synagogue should not be fully converted till the end of the
   age when the fulness of the Gentiles should have entered in. Peter's
   house was in Bethsaida.

   Chrys., Hom. xxvii: Why did He enter into Peter's house? I think to
   take food; for it follows, "And she arose, and ministered to them." For
   He abode with His disciples to do them honour, and to make them more
   zealous. Observe Peter's reverence towards Christ; though his
   mother-in-law lay at home sick of a fever, yet he did not force Him
   thither at once, but waited till His teaching should be completed, and
   others healed. For from the beginning he was instructed to prefer
   others to himself. Wherefore he did not even bring Him thither, but
   Christ went in of Himself; purposing, because the centurion had said,
   "I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof," to shew what
   He granted to a disciple. And He did not scorn to enter the humble hut
   of a fisherman, instructing us in every thing to trample upon human
   pride. Sometimes He heals by a word, sometimes He reaches forth His
   hand; as here, "He touched her hand, and the fever left her."

   For He would not always work miracles with display of surpassing power,
   but would sometimes be hid. By touching her body He not only banished
   the fever, but restored her to perfect health. Because her sickness was
   such as art could cure, He shewed his power to heal, in doing what
   medicine could not do, giving her back perfect health and strength at
   once; which is intimated in what the Evangelist adds, "And she arose,
   and ministered to them."

   Jerome: For naturally the greatest weakness follows fever, and the
   evils of sickness begin to be felt as the patient begins to recover;
   but that health which is given by the Lord's power is complete at once.

   Gloss., non occ.: And it is not enough that she is cured, but strength
   is given her besides, for "she arose and ministered unto them."

   Chrys.: This, "she arose and ministered unto them," shews at once the
   Lord's power, and the woman's feeling towards Christ.

   Bede: Figuratively, Peter's house is the Law, or the circumcision, his
   mother-in-law the synagogue, which is at it were the mother of the
   Church committed to Peter. She is in a fever, that is, she is sick of
   zealous hate, and persecutes the Church. The Lord touches her hand,
   when He turns her carnal works to spiritual uses.

   Remig.: Or by Peter's mother-in-law may be understood the Law, which
   according to the Apostle was made weak through the flesh, i.e. the
   carnal understanding. But when the Lord through the mystery of the
   Incarnation appeared visibly in the synagogue, and fulfilled the Law in
   action, and taught that it was to be understood spiritually;
   straightway it thus allied with the grace of the Gospel received such
   strength, that what had been the minister of death and punishment,
   because the minister of life and glory.

   Rabanus: Or, every soul that struggles with fleshly lusts is sick of a
   fever, but touched with the hand of Divine mercy, it recovers health,
   and restrains the concupiscence of the flesh by the bridle of
   continence, and with those limbs with which it had served uncleanness,
   it now ministers to righteousness.

   Hilary: Or; In Peter's wife's mother is shewn the sickly condition of
   infidelity, to which freedom of will is near akin, being united by the
   bonds as it were of wedlock. By the Lord's entrance into Peter's house,
   that is into the body, unbelief is cured, which was before sick of the
   fever of sin, and ministers in duties of righteousness to the Saviour.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 21: When this miracle was done, that is,
   after what, or before what, Matthew has not said. For we need not
   understand that it took place just after that which it follows in the
   relation; he may be returning here to what he had omitted above. For
   Mark relates this after the cleansing of the leper, which should seem
   to follow the sermon on the mount, concerning which Mark is silent.
   Luke also follows the same order in relating this concerning Peter's
   mother-in-law as Mark; also inserting it before that long sermon which
   seems to be the same with Matthew's sermon on the mount.

   But what matters it in what order the events are told, whether
   something omitted before is brought in after, or what was done after is
   told earlier, so long as in the same story he does not contradict
   either another or himself? For as it is in no man's power to choose in
   what order he shall recollect the things he has once known, it is
   likely enough that each of the Evangelists thought himself obliged to
   relate all in that order in which it pleased God to bring to his memory
   the various events. Therefore when the order of time is not clear, it
   cannot import to us what order of relation any one of them may have
   followed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were
   possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and
   healed all that were sick:

   17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,
   saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Because the multitude of believers was now very great, they
   would not depart from Christ, though time pressed; but in the evening
   they bring unto Him the sick. "When it was evening, they brought unto
   him many that had daemons."

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 22: The words, "Now when it was evening,"
   shew that the evening of the same day is meant. This would not have
   been implied, had it been only "when it was evening."

   Remig.: Christ the Son of God, the Author of human salvation, the fount
   and source of all goodness, furnished heavenly medicine, "He cast out
   the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick." Daemons and
   diseases He sent away with a word, that by these signs, and mighty
   works, He might shew that He was come for the salvation of the human
   race.

   Chrys.: Observe how great a multitude of cured the Evangelist here runs
   through, not relating the case of each, but in one word introducing an
   innumerable flood of miracles. That the greatness of the miracle should
   not raise unbelief that so many people and so various diseases could be
   healed in so short a space, he brings forward the Prophet to bear
   witness to the things that were done, "That it might be fulfilled which
   was spoken by Esaias the Prophet, saying, Himself took our
   infirmities."

   Rabanus: "Took" them not that He should have them Himself, but that He
   should take them away from us; "and bare our sicknesses," in that what
   we were too weak to bear, He should bear for us.

   Remig.: He took the infirmity of human nature so as to make us strong
   who had before been weak.

   Hilary: And by the passion of His body, according to the words of the
   Prophet, He absorbed all the infirmities of human weakness.

   Chrys.: The Prophet seems to have meant this of sins; how then does the
   Evangelist explain it of bodily diseases? It should be understood, that
   either he cites the text literally, or he intends to inculcate that
   most of our bodily diseases have their origin in sins of the soul; for
   death itself has its root in sin.

   Jerome: It should be noted, that all the sick were healed not in the
   morning nor at noon, but rather about sunset; as a corn of wheat dies
   in the ground that it may bring forth much fruit.

   Rabanus: Sunset shadows forth the passion and death of Him Who said,
   "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." [John 9:5] Who
   while He lived temporally in the flesh, taught only a few of the Jews;
   but having trodden under foot the kingdom of death, promised the gifts
   of faith to all the Gentiles throughout the world.
     __________________________________________________________________

   18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment
   to depart unto the other side.

   19. And a certain Scribe came, and said unto him, "Master, I will
   follow thee whithersoever thou goest."

   20. And Jesus saith unto him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of
   the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

   21. And another of his disciples said unto him, "Lord, suffer me first
   to go and bury my father."

   22. But Jesus said unto him, "Follow me; and let the dead bury their
   dead."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Because Christ not only healed the body, but purified the soul
   also, He desired to shew forth true wisdom, not only by curing
   diseases, but by doing nothing with ostentation; and therefore it is
   said, "Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he commanded his
   disciples to cross over to the other side." This He did at once
   teaching us to be lowly, softening the ill-will of the Jews, and
   teaching us to do nothing with ostentation.

   Remig.: Or; He did this as one desiring to shun the thronging of the
   multitude. But they hung upon Him in admiration, crowding to see Him.
   For who would depart from one who did such miracles? Who would not wish
   to look upon His open face, to see His mouth that spoke such things?
   For if Moses' countenance was made glorious, and Stephen's as that of
   an Angel, gather from this how it was to have been supposed that their
   common Lord must have then appeared; of whom the Prophet speaks, "Thy
   form is fair above the sons of men." [Ps 45:2]

   Hilary: The name "disciples" is not to be supposed to be confined to
   the twelve Apostles; for we read of many disciples besides the twelve.

   Aug.: It is clear that this day on which they went over the lake was
   another day, and not that which followed the one on which Peter's
   mother-in-law was healed, on which day Mark and Luke relate that He
   went out into the desert.

   Chrys.: Observe that He does not dismiss the multitudes, that He may
   not offend them. He did say to them, Depart ye, but bade His disciples
   go away from thence, thus the crowds might hope to be able to follow.

   Remig.: What happened between the command of the Lord given, and their
   crossing over, the Evangelist purposes to relate in what follows: "And
   one of the Scribes came to him and said, Master, I will follow thee
   whithersoever thou goest."

   Jerome: This Scribe of the Law who knew but the perishing letter, would
   not have been turned away had his address been, Lord, I will follow
   Thee.' But because he esteemed the Saviour only as one of many masters,
   and was a man of the letter' [margin note: literator] (which is better
   expressed in Greek, grammateus) not a spiritual hearer, therefore he
   had no place where Jesus might lay His head. It is suggested to us that
   he sought to follow the Lord, because of His great miracles, for the
   sake of the gain to be derived from them; and was therefore rejected;
   seeking the same thing as did Simon Magus when he would have given
   Peter money.

   Chrys.: Observe also how great his pride; approaching and speaking as
   though he disdained to be considered as one of the multitude; desiring
   to shew that he was above the rest.

   Hilary: Otherwise; This Scribe being one of the doctors of the Law,
   asks if he shall follow Him, as though it were not contained in the Law
   that this is He whom it were gain to follow. Therefore He discovers the
   feeling of unbelief under the diffidence of his enquiry. For the taking
   up of the faith is not by question but by following.

   Chrys.: So Christ answers him not so much to what he had said, but to
   the obvious purpose of his mind. "Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have
   holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not
   where to lay his head;" as though He had said;

   Jerome: . . Why do you seek to follow Me for the sake of the riches and
   gain of this world, when My poverty is such that I have neither lodging
   nor home of My own?

   Chrys.: This was not to send him away, but rather to convict him of
   evil intentions; at the same time permitting him if he would to follow
   Christ with the expectation of poverty.

   Aug., Serm., 100, 1: Otherwise; "The Son of man hath not where to lay
   his head;" that is, in your faith. "The foxes have hole," in your
   heart, because you are deceitful. "The birds of the air have nests," in
   your heart, because you are proud. Deceitful and proud follow Me not;
   for how should guile follow sincerity?

   Greg., Mor., xix. 1: Otherwise; The fox is a crafty animal, lying hid
   in ditches and dens, and when it comes abroad never going in a straight
   path, but in crooked windings; birds raise themselves in the air. By
   the foxes then are meant the subtle and deceitful daemons, by the birds
   the proud daemons; as though He had said; Deceitful and proud daemons
   have their abode in your heart; but my lowliness finds no rest in a
   proud spirit.

   Aug., Quaest. in Matt., q. 5: He was moved to follow Christ because of
   the miracles; this vain desire of glory is signified by the birds; but
   he assumed the submissiveness of a disciple, which deceit is signified
   by the foxes.

   Rabanus: Heretics confiding in their art are signified by the foxes,
   the evil spirits by the birds of the air, who have their holes and
   their nests, that is, their abodes in the heart of the Jewish people.

   "Another of his disciples saith unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go
   and bury my father."

   Jerome: In what one thing is this disciple like the Scribe? The one
   called Him Master, the other confesses Him as his Lord. The one from
   filial piety asks permission to go and bury his father; the other
   offers to follow, not seeking a master, but by means of his master
   seeking gain for himself.

   Hilary: The disciple does not ask whether he shall follow Him; for he
   already believed that he ought to follow, but prays to be suffered
   first to bury his father.

   Aug., Serm., 100, 1: The Lord when He prepares men for the Gospel will
   not have any excuse of this fleshly and temporal attachment to
   interfere, therefore it follows; "Jesus said unto him, Follow me, and
   leave the dead to bury their dead."

   Chrys.: This saying does not condemn natural affection to our parents,
   but shews that nothing ought to be more binding on us than the business
   of heaven; that to this we ought to apply ourselves with all our
   endeavours, and not to be slack, however necessary or urgent are the
   things that draw us aside. For what could be more necessary than to
   bury a father? What more easy? For it could not need much time. But in
   this the Lord rescued him from much evil, weeping, and mourning, and
   from the pains of expectation. For after the funeral there must come
   examination of the will, division of the inheritance, and other things
   of the same sort; and thus trouble following trouble, like the waves,
   would have borne him far from the port of truth. But if you are not yet
   satisfied, reflect further that oftentimes the weak are not permitted
   to know the time, or to follow to the grave; even though the dead be
   father, mother, or son; yet are they not charged with cruelty that
   hinder them; it is rather the reverse of cruelty. And it is a much
   greater evil to draw one away from spiritual discourse; especially when
   there were who should perform the rites; as here, "Leave the dead to
   bury their dead."

   Aug.: As much as to say; Thy father is dead; but there are also other
   dead who shall bury their dead, because they are in unbelief.

   Chrys.: This moreover shews that this dead man was not his; for, I
   suppose, he that was dead was of the unbelieving. If you wonder at the
   young man, that in a matter so necessary he should have asked Jesus,
   and not have gone away of his own accord, wonder much more that he
   abode with Jesus after he was forbidden to depart; which was not from
   lack of affection, but that he might not interrupt a business yet more
   necessary.

   Hilary: Also, because we are taught in the beginning of the Lord's
   prayer, first to say, "Our Father, which art in heaven;" and since this
   disciple represents the believing people; he is here reminded that he
   has one only Father in heaven [margin note: Matt 23:9], and that
   between a believing son and an unbelieving father the filial relation
   does not hold good. We are also admonished that the unbelieving dead
   are not to be mingled with the memories of the saints; and that they
   are also dead who live out of God; and the dead are buried by the dead,
   because by the faith of God it behoves the living to cleave to the
   living (God).

   Jerome: But if the dead shall bury the dead, we ought not to be careful
   for the dead but for the living, lest while we are anxious for the
   dead, we ourselves should be counted dead.

   Greg., Mor., iv, 27: The dead also bury the dead, when sinners protect
   sinners. They who exalt sinners with their praises, hide the dead under
   a pile of words.

   Rabanus: From this we may also take occasion to observe, that lesser
   goods are to be sometimes forfeited for the sake of securing greater.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 23: Matthew relates that this was done when
   He gave them commandment that they should go over the lake, Luke, that
   it happened as they walked by the way; which is no contradiction, for
   they must have walked by the way that they might come to the lake.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

   24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that
   the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

   25. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, "Lord, save
   us: we perish."

   26. And he saith unto them, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"
   The he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great
   calm.

   27. But the men marvelled, saying, "What manner of man is this, that
   even the winds and the sea obey him!"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Origen, Hom. in div. vii: Christ having performed many great and
   wonderful things on the land, passes to the sea, that there also He
   might shew forth His excellent power, presenting Himself before all men
   as the Lord of both earth and sea. "And when he was entered into a
   boat, his disciples followed him," not being weak but strong and
   established in the faith. Thus they followed Him not so much treading
   in His footsteps, as accompanying Him in holiness of spirit.

   Chrys., Hom., xxviii: He took His disciples with Him, and in a boat,
   that they might learn two lessons; first, not to be confounded in
   dangers, secondly, to think lowly of themselves in honour. That they
   should not think great things of themselves because He kept them while
   He sent the rest away, He suffers them to be tossed by the waves. Where
   miracles were to be shewn, He suffers the people to be present; where
   temptations and fears were to be stilled, there He takes with Him only
   the victors of the world, whom He would prepare for strife.

   Pseudo-Origen: Therefore, having entered into the boat He cause the sea
   to rise; "And, to, there arose a great tempest in the sea, so that the
   boat was covered by the waves." This tempest did not arise of itself,
   but in obedience to the power of Him Who gave commandment, "who brings
   the winds out of his treasures." [Jer 10:13] There "arose a great
   tempest," that a great work might be wrought; because by how much the
   more the waves rushed into the boat, so much the more were the
   disciples troubled, and sought to be delivered by the wonderful power
   of the Saviour.

   Chrys.: They had seen others made partakers of Christ's mercies, but
   forasmuch as no man has so strong a sense of those things that are done
   in the person of another as of what is done to himself, it behoved that
   in their own bodies they should feel Christ's mercies. Therefore He
   willed that this tempest should arise, that in their deliverance they
   might have a more lively sense of His goodness. This tossing of the sea
   was a type of their future trials of which Paul speaks, "I would not
   have you ignorant, brethren, how that we were troubled beyond our
   strength." [2 Cor 1:8]

   But that there might be time for their fear to arise, it follows, "But
   he was asleep." For if the storm had arisen while He was awake, they
   would either not have feared, or not have prayed Him, or would not have
   believed that He had the power to still it.

   Pseudo-Origen: Wonderful, stupendous event! He that never slumbereth
   nor sleepeth, is said to be asleep. He slept with His body, but was
   awake in His Deity, shewing that He bare a truly human body which He
   had taken on Him, corruptible. He slept with the body that He might
   cause the Apostles to watch, and that we all should never sleep with
   our mind. With so great fear were the disciples seized, and almost
   beside themselves, that they rushed to Him, and did not modestly or
   gently rouse Him, but violently awakened Him, "His disciples came to
   him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish."

   Jerome: Of this miracle we have a type in Jonah, who while all are in
   danger is himself unconcerned, sleeps, and is awakened.

   Pseudo-Origen: O ye true disciples! ye have the Saviour with you, and
   do ye fear danger? Life itself is among you, and are ye afraid of
   death? They would answer, We are yet children, and weak; and are
   therefore afraid; whence it follows, "Jesus saith unto them, Why are ye
   afraid, O ye of little faith?" As though He had said, If ye have known
   me mighty upon earth, why believe ye not that I am also mighty upon the
   sea? And even though death were threatening you, ought ye not to
   support it with constancy? He who believes a little will be reasoned
   with; he who believes not at all will be neglected.

   Chrys.: If any should say, that this was a sign of no small faith to go
   and rouse Jesus; it is rather a sign that they had not a right opinion
   concerning Him. They knew that when wakened He could rebuke the waves,
   but they did not yet know that He could do it while sleeping. For this
   cause He did not do this wonder in the presence of the multitudes, that
   they should not be charged with their little faith; but He takes His
   disciples apart to correct them, and first stills the raging of the
   waters. "Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there
   was a great calm."

   Jerome: From this passage we understand, that all creation is conscious
   of its Creator; for what may be rebuked and commanded is conscious of
   the mind commanding. I do not mean as some heretics hold, that the
   whole creation is animate [ed. note: Origen is accused of maintaining
   that the sun, moon, and stars had souls, (which had been originally
   created incorporeal, and for sinning had been united with the heavenly
   bodies,) that they were in consequence rational, that they knew,
   praised, and prayed to God through Christ, that they were liable to
   sin, and that they, and the elements also, would undergo the future
   judgment. vid. Jerom. ad. Avit. 4] - but by the power of the Maker
   things which to us have no consciousness have to Him.

   Pseudo-Origen: Therefore He gave commandment to the winds and the sea,
   and from a great storm it because a great calm. For it behoves Him that
   is great to do great things; therefore He who first greatly stirred the
   depths of the sea, now again commands a great calm, that the disciples
   who had been too much troubled might have great rejoicing.

   Chrys.: Observe also that the storm is stilled at once entirely, and no
   trace of disturbance appears; which is beyond nature; for when a storm
   ceases in the course of nature, yet the water is wont to be agitated
   for some time longer, but here all is tranquility at once. Thus what is
   said of the Father, "He spake, and the storm of wind ceases," [Ps
   107:25] this Christ fulfilled in deed; for by His word and bidding only
   He stayed and checked the waters. For from His appearance, from His
   sleeping, and His using a boat, they that were present supposed Him a
   man only, and on this account they fell into admiration of Him; "And
   the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, for the winds
   and the sea obey him?"

   Gloss., non occ.: Chrysostom explains thus, "What manner of man is
   this?" His sleeping and His appearance shewed the man; the sea and the
   calm pointed out the God.

   Pseudo-Origen: But who were the men that marvelled? You must not think
   that the Apostles are here meant, for we never find the Lord's
   disciples mentioned with disrespect; they are always called either the
   Disciples or the Apostles. They marvelled then who sailed with Him,
   whose was the boat.

   Jerome: But if any shall content that it was the disciples who
   wondered, we shall answer they are rightly spoken of as the men,'
   seeing they had not yet learnt the power of the Saviour.

   Pseudo-Origen: This is not a question, "What manner of man is this?"
   but an affirmation that He is one whom the winds and the sea obey,
   "What manner of man then is this?" that is, how powerful, how mighty,
   how great! He commands every creature, and they transgress not His law;
   men alone disobey, and are therefore condemned by His judgment.

   Figuratively; We are all embarked in the vessel of the Holy Church, and
   voyaging through this stormy world with the Lord. The Lord Himself
   sleeps a merciful sleep while we suffer, and awaits the repentance of
   the wicked.

   Hilary: Or; He sleeps, because by our sloth He is cast asleep in us.
   This is done that we may hope aid from God in fear of danger; and that
   hope though late may be confident that it shall escape danger by the
   might of Christ watching within.

   Pseudo-Origen: Let us therefore come to Him with joy, saying with the
   Prophet, "Arise, O Lord, why sleepest thou?" [Ps 44:23] And He will
   command the winds, that is, the daemons, who raise the waves, that is,
   the rulers of the world, to persecute the saints, and He shall make a
   great calm around both body and spirit, peace for the Church, stillness
   for the world.

   Rabanus: Otherwise; The sea is the turmoil of the world; the boat in
   which Christ is embarked is to be understood the tree of the cross, by
   the aid of which the faithful having passed the waves of the world,
   arrive in their heavenly country, as on a safe shore, whither Christ
   goes with His own; whence He says below, "He that will come after me,
   let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." [Matt
   16:24]

   When then Christ was fixed on the cross, a great commotion was raised,
   the minds of His disciples being troubled at His passion, and the boat
   was covered by the waves. For the whole strength of persecution was
   around the cross of Christ, on which He died; as it is here, "But he
   was asleep." His sleep is death. The disciples awaken the Lord, when
   troubled at His death; they seek His resurrection with earnest prayers,
   saying, "Save us," by rising again; "we perish," by our trouble at Thy
   death. He rises again, and rebukes the hardness of their hearts, as we
   read in other places. "He commands the winds," in that He overthrew the
   power of the Devil; "He commanded the sea," in that He disappointed the
   malice of the Jews; "and there was a great calm," because the minds of
   the disciples were calmed when they beheld His resurrection.

   Bede: Or; The boat is the present Church, in which Christ passes over
   the sea of this world with His own, and stills the waves of
   persecution. Wherefore we may wonder, and give thanks.
     __________________________________________________________________

   28. And when he was come to the other side into the country of the
   Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the
   tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

   29. And, behold, they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with thee,
   Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the
   time?"

   30. And there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine
   feeding.

   31. So the devils besought him, saying, "If thou cast us out, suffer us
   to go away into the herd of swine."

   32. And he said unto them, "Go." And when they were come out, they went
   into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran
   violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

   33. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city,
   and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the
   devils.

   34. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they
   saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Because there were who thought Christ to be a man, therefore
   the daemons came to proclaim His divinity, that they who had not seen
   the sea raging and again still, might hear the daemons crying; "And
   when he was come to the other side in the country of the Gergesenes,
   there met him two men having daemons."

   Rabanus: Gerasa is a town of Arabia beyond Jordan, close to Mount
   Gilead, which was in the possession of the tribe of Manasseh, not far
   from the lake of Tiberias, into which the swine were precipitated.

   Aug., De. Cons. Evan., ii, 24: Whereas Matthew relates that there were
   two who were afflicted with daemons, but Mark and Luke mention only
   one, you must understand that one of them was a person of note, for
   whom all that country was in grief, and about whose recovery there was
   much care, whence the fame of this miracle was the more noised abroad.

   Chrys.: Or; Luke and Mark chose to speak of one who was more grievously
   afflicted; whence also they add a further description of his calamity;
   Luke saying that he brake his bonds and was driven into the desert;
   Mark telling that he ofttimes cut himself with stones. But they neither
   of them say that there was only one, which would be to contradict
   Matthew. What is added respecting them that they "came from among the
   tombs," alludes to a mischievous opinion, that the souls of the dead
   became daemons. Thus many soothsayers use to kill children, that they
   may have their souls to cooperate with them; and daemoniacs also often
   cry out, I am the spirit of such an one. But it is not the soul of the
   dead man that then cries out, the daemon assumes his voice to deceive
   the hearers. For if the soul of a dead man has power to enter the body
   of another, much more might it enter its own. And it is more
   unreasonable to suppose that a soul that has suffered cruelty should
   cooperate with him that injured it, or that a man should have power to
   change an incorporeal being into a different kind of substance, such as
   a human soul into the substance of a daemon. For even in a material
   body, this is beyond human power; as, for example, no man can change
   the body of a man into that of an ass.

   And it is not reasonable to think that a disembodied spirit should
   wander to and for on the earth. "The souls of the righteous are in the
   hand of God;" [Wis 3:1] therefore those of young children must be so,
   seeing they are not evil. And the souls of sinners are at once conveyed
   away from hence, as is clear from Lazarus, and the rich man.

   Because none dared to bring them to Christ because of their fierceness,
   therefore Christ goes to them. This their fierceness is intimated when
   it is added, "Exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass that way." So
   they who hindered all others from passing that way, found one now
   standing in their way. For they were tortured in an unseen manner,
   suffering intolerable things from the mere presence of Christ. "And,
   to, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou
   Son of David?"

   Jerome: This is no voluntary confession followed up by a reward to the
   utterer, but one extorted by the compulsion of necessity. A runaway
   slave, when after long time he first beholds his master, straight
   thinks only of deprecating the scourge; so the daemons, seeing the Lord
   suddenly moving upon the earth, thought He was come to judge them. Some
   absurdly suppose that these daemons knew the Son of God, while the
   Devil knew Him not, because their wickedness was less than his. But all
   the knowledge of the disciple must be supposed in the Master.

   Aug., City of God, book 9, ch. 21: God was so far known to them as it
   was His pleasure to be known; and He pleased to be known so far as it
   was needful. He was known to them therefore not as He is Life eternal,
   and the Light which enlightens the good, but by certain temporal
   effects of His excellence, and signs of His hidden presence, which are
   visible to angelic spirits though evil, rather than to the infirmity of
   human nature.

   Jerome: But both the Devil and the daemons may be said to have rather
   suspected, than known, Jesus to be the Son of God.

   Pseudo-Aug., Quaest. V. et. N.T., 9, 55: When the daemons cry out,
   "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?" we must suppose
   them to have spoken from suspicion rather than knowledge. "For had they
   known him, they never would have suffered the Lord of glory to be
   crucified." [1 Cor 2:8]

   Remig.: But as often as they were tortured by His excellent power, and
   saw Him working signs and miracles, they supposed Him to be the Son of
   God; when they saw Him hungry and thirsty, and suffering such things,
   they doubted, and thought Him mere man. It should be considered that
   even the unbelieving Jews when they said that Christ cast out daemons
   in Beelzebub, and the Arians who said that He was a creature, deserve
   condemnation not only on God's sentence, but on the confession of the
   daemons, who declare Christ to be the Son of God. Rightly do they say,
   "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?" that is, our
   malice and Thy grace have nothing in common, according to that the
   Apostle speaks, "There is no fellowship of light with darkness." [2 Cor
   6:14]

   Chrys.: That this should not be thought to be flattery, they cry out
   what they were experiencing, "Art thou come to torment us before the
   time?"

   Aug., City of God, book 8, ch. 23: Either because that came upon them
   unexpectedly, which they looked for indeed, but supposed more distant;
   or because they thought their perdition consisted in this, that when
   known they would be despised; or because this was before the day of
   judgment, when they should be punished with eternal damnation.

   Jerome: For the presence of the Saviour is the torment of daemons.

   Chrys.: They could not say they had not sinned, because Christ had
   found them doing evil, and marring the workmanship of God; whence they
   supposed that for their more abundant wickedness the time of the last
   punishment which shall be at the day of judgment should not be tarried
   for to punish them.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 24: Though the words of the daemons are
   variously reported by the three Evangelists, yet this is no difficulty;
   for they either all convey the same sense, or may be supposed to have
   been all spoken. Nor again because in Matthew they speak in the plural,
   in the others in the singular number; because even the other two
   Evangelists relate that when asked his name, he answered, Legion,
   shewing that the daemons were many.

   "Now there was not far from thence a herd of many swine feeding; and
   the daemons prayed him, saying, If thou cast us out hence, send us into
   the swine.

   Greg., Mor., ii, 10: For the Devil knows that of himself he has no
   power to do any thing, because it is not of himself that he exists as a
   spirit.

   Remig.: They did not ask to be sent into men, because they saw Him by
   whose excellence they were tortured existing in human shape. Nor did
   they ask to be sent into sheep, because sheep are by God's institution
   clean animals, and were then offered in the temple of God. But they
   requested to be sent into the swine rather than into any of the other
   unclean animals, because this is of all animals the most unclean;
   whence also it has its name porcus,' as being spurens,' filthy, and
   delighting in filthiness; and daemons also delight in the filthiness of
   sin. They did not pray that they might be sent into the air, because of
   their eager desire of hurting men.

   "And he saith unto them, Go."

   Chrys.: Jesus did not say this, as though persuaded by the daemons, but
   with many designs therein. One, that He might shew the mighty power to
   hurt of these daemons, who were in possession of the two men; another,
   that all might see that they had no power against the swine unless by
   His sufferance; thirdly, to shew that they would have done more
   grievous hurt to the men, had they not even in their calamities been
   aided by Divine Providence, for they hate men more than irrational
   animals. By this it is manifest that there is no man who is not
   supported by Divine Providence; and if all are not equally supported by
   it, neither after one manner, this is the highest characteristic of
   Providence, that it is extended to each man according to his need.

   Besides the above-mentioned things, we learn also that He cares not
   only for the whole together, but for each one in particular; which one
   may see clearly in these daemoniacs, who would have been long before
   choked in the deep, had not Divine care preserved them. He also
   permitted them to go into the herd of swine, that they that dwelt in
   those parts might know His power. For where He was known to none, there
   He makes His miracles to shine forth, that He may bring them to a
   confession of His divinity.

   Jerome: The Saviour bade them go, not as yielding to their request, but
   that by the death of the swine, an occasion of man's salvation might be
   offered.

   "But they went out, (to wit, out of the men,) and went into the swine;
   and, lo, the whole herd rushed violently headlong into the sea, and
   perished in the waters."

   Let Manichaeans blush; if the souls of men and of beasts be of one
   substance, and one origin, how should two thousand swine have perished
   for the sake of the salvation of two men?

   Chrys.: The daemons destroyed the swine because they are ever striving
   to bring men into distress, and rejoice in destruction. The greatness
   of the loss also added to the fame of that which was done; for it was
   published by many persons; namely, by the men that were healed, by the
   owners of the swine, and by those that fed them; as it follows, "But
   they that fed them fled, and went into the town, and told all, and
   concerning them that had the daemons; and, behold, the whole town went
   out to meet Jesus." But when they should have adored Him, and wondered
   at His excellent power, they cast Him from them, as it follows, "And
   when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their
   coasts."

   Observe the clemency of Christ next in His excellent power; when those
   who had received favours from Him would drive Him away, He resisted
   not, but departed, and left those who thus pronounced themselves
   unworthy of His teaching, giving them as teachers those who had been
   delivered from the daemons, and the feeders of the swine.

   Jerome: Otherwise; This request may have proceeded from humility as
   well as pride; like Peter, they may have held themselves unworthy of
   the Lord's presence, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
   [Luke 5:8]

   Rabanus: Gerasa is interpreted casting out the dweller,' or, a stranger
   approaching;' this is the Gentile world which cast out the Devil from
   it; and which was first far off, but now made near, after the
   resurrection being visited by Christ through His preachers.

   Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, in Luc. 3. 30: The two daemoniacs are also a
   type of the Gentile world; for Noah having three sons, Shem, Ham, and
   Japhet, Shem's posterity alone was taken into the inheritance of God,
   while from the other two sprang the nations of the Gentiles.

   Hilary: Thus the daemons held the two men among the tombs without the
   town, that is, without the synagogue of the Law and the Prophets; that
   is, they infested the original seats of the two nations, the abodes of
   the dead, making the way of this present life dangerous to the passers
   by.

   Rabanus: It is not without cause that he speaks of them as dwelling
   among the tombs; for what else are the bodies of the faithless but
   sepulchres of the dead, in which the word of God dwells not, but there
   is enclosed the soul dead in sins. He says, "So that no man might pass
   through that way," because before the coming of the Saviour the Gentile
   world was inaccessible.

   Or, by the two, understand both Jews and Gentiles, who did not abide in
   the house, that is, did not rest in their conscience. But they abode in
   tombs, that is, delighted themselves in dead works, and suffered no man
   to pass by the way of faith, which way the Jews obstructed.

   Hilary: By their coming forth to meet Him is signified the willingness
   of men flocking to the faith. The daemons seeing that there is no
   longer any place left for them among the Gentiles, pray that they may
   be suffered to dwell among the heretics; these, seized by them, are
   drowned in the sea, that is, in worldly desires, by the instigations of
   the daemons, and perish in the unbelief of the rest of the Gentiles.

   Bede, in Luc., 3: Or; The swine are they that delight in filthy
   manners; for unless one live as a swine, the devils do not receive
   power over him; or at most, only to try him, not to destroy him. That
   the swine were sent headlong into the lake, signifies, that when the
   people of the Gentiles are delivered from the condemnation of the
   daemons, yet still they who would not believe in Christ, perform their
   profane rites in secret, drowned in a blind and deep curiosity. That
   they that fed the swine, fled and told what was done, signifies that
   even the leaders of the wicked though they shun the law of
   Christianity, yet cease not to proclaim the wonderful power of Christ.
   When struck with terror, they entreat Him to depart from them, they
   signify a great number who, well satisfied with their ancient life,
   shew themselves willing to honour the Christian law, while they declare
   themselves unable to perform it.

   Hilary: Or; the town is a type of the Jewish nation, which having heard
   of Christ's works goes forth to meet its Lord, to forbid Him to
   approach their country and town; for they have not received the Gospel.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 9

   1. And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own
   city.

   2. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a
   bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy,
   "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."

   3. And, behold, certain of the Scribes said within themselves, "This
   man blasphemeth."

   4. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, "Wherefore think ye evil in
   your hearts?

   5. For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say,
   Arise, and walk?

   6. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to
   forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) "Arise, take up
   thy bed, and go unto thine house."

   7. And he arose, and departed to his house.

   8. But when the multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God,
   which had given such power unto men.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. xxix: Christ had above shewn His excellent power by
   teaching, when "he taught them as one having authority;" in the leper,
   when He said, "I will, be thou clean;" by the centurion, who said to
   Him, "Speak the word, and my servant shall be healed;" by the sea which
   He calmed by a word; by the daemons who confessed Him; now again, in
   another and greater way, He compels His enemies to confess the equality
   of His honour with the Father; to this end it proceeds, "And Jesus
   entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city." He
   entered a boat to cross over, who could have crossed the sea on foot;
   for He would not be always working miracles, that He might not take
   away the reality of His incarnation.

   Chrysologus, Serm. 50: The Creator of all things, the Lord of the
   world, when He had for our sakes straitened Himself in the bonds of our
   flesh, began to have His own country as a man, began to be a citizen of
   Judaea, and to have parents, though Himself the parent of all, that
   affection might attach those whom fear had separated.

   Chrys.: By "his own city" is here meant Capharnaum. For one town, to
   wit, Bethlehem, had received Him to be born there; another had brought
   Him up, to wit, Nazareth; and a third received Him to dwell there
   continually, namely, Capharnaum.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 25: That Matthew here speaks of "his own
   city," and Mark calls it Capharnaum, would be more difficult to be
   reconciled if Matthew had expressed it Nazareth. But as it is, all
   Galilee might be called Christ's city, because Nazareth was in Galilee;
   just as all the Roman empire, divided into many states, was still
   called the Roman city. [margin note: civitas] Who can doubt then that
   the Lord in coming to Galilee is rightly said to come into "his own
   city," whatever was the town in which He abode, especially since
   Capharnaum was exalted into the metropolis of Galilee?

   Jerome: Or; This city may be no other than Nazareth, whence He was
   called a Nazarene.

   Aug.: And if we adopt this supposition, we must say that Matthew has
   omitted all that was done from the time that Jesus entered into His own
   city till He came to Capharnaum, and has proceeded on at once to the
   healing of the paralytic; as in many other places they pass over things
   that intervened, and carry on the thread of the narrative, without
   noticing any interval of time, to something else; so here, "And, to,
   they bring unto him a paralytic laying on a bed."

   Chrys.: This paralytic is not the same as he in John. For he lay by the
   pool, this in Capharnaum; he had none to assist him, this was borne "on
   a bed."

   Jerome: "On a bed," because he could not walk.

   Chrys.: He does not universally demand faith of the sick, as, for
   example, when they are mad, or from any other sore sickness are not in
   possession of their minds; as it is here, "seeing their faith;"

   Jerome: not the sick man's, but theirs that bare him.

   Chrys.: Seeing then that they shewed so great faith, He also shews His
   excellent power; with full power forgiving sin, as it follows, "he said
   to the paralytic, Be of good courage, son, thy sins are forgiven thee."

   Chrysologus: Of how great power with God must a man's own faith be,
   when that of others here availed to heal a man both within and without.
   The paralytic hears his pardon pronounced, in silence uttering no
   thanks, for he was more anxious for the cure of his body than his soul.
   Christ therefore with good reason accepts the faith of those that bare
   him, rather than his own hardness of heart.

   Chrys.: Or, we may suppose even the sick man to have had faith;
   otherwise he would not have suffered himself to be let down through the
   roof as the other Evangelist relates.

   Jerome: O wonderful humility! This man feeble and despised, crippled in
   every limb, He addresses as "son." The Jewish Priests did not deign to
   touch him. Even therefore His "son," because his sins were forgiven
   him. Hence we may learn that diseases are often the punishment of sin;
   and therefore perhaps his sins are forgiven him, that when the cause of
   his disease has been first removed, health may be restored.

   Chrys.: The Scribes in their desire to spread an ill report of Him,
   against their will made that which was done be more widely known;
   Christ using their envy to make known the miracle. For this is of His
   surpassing wisdom to manifest His deeds through His enemies; whence it
   follows, "Behold, some of the Scribes said among themselves, This man
   blasphemeth."

   Jerome: We read in prophecy, "I am he that blotteth out thy
   transgressions;" [Isa 43:25] so the Scribes regarding Him as a man, and
   not understanding the words of God, charged Him with blasphemy. But He
   seeing their thoughts thus shewed Himself to be God, Who alone knoweth
   the heart; and thus, as it were, said, By the same power and
   prerogative by which I see your thoughts, I can forgive men their sins.
   Learn from your own experience what the paralytic has obtained. "When
   Jesus perceived their thoughts, he said, Why think ye evil in your
   hearts?"

   Chrys.: He did not indeed contradict their suspicions so far as they
   had supposed Him to have spoken as God. For had He not been equal to
   God the Father, it would have behoved Him to say, I am far from this
   power, that of forgiving sin. But He confirms the contrary of this, by
   His words and His miracle; "Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins are
   forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, and walk?" By how much the soul is
   better than the body, by so much is it a greater thing to forgive sin
   than to heal the body. But forasmuch as the one may be seen with the
   eyes, but the other is not sensibly perceived, He does the lesser
   miracle which is the more evident, to be a proof of the greater miracle
   which is imperceptible.

   Jerome: Whether or no his sins were forgiven He alone could know who
   forgave; but whether he could rise and walk, not only himself but they
   that looked on could judge of; but the power that heals, whether soul
   or body, is the same. And as there is a great difference between saying
   and doing, the outward sign is given that the spiritual effect may be
   proved; "But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth
   to forgive sins."

   Chrys.: Above, He said to the paralytic, "Thy sins are forgiven thee,"
   not, I forgive thee thy sins; but now when the Scribes made resistance,
   He shews the greatness of His power by saying, "The Son of Man hath
   power on earth to forgive sins." And to shew that He was equal to the
   Father, He said not that the Son of Man needed any to forgive sins, but
   that "He hath power."

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: These words "That ye may know," may be either
   Christ's words, or the Evangelist's words. As though the Evangelist had
   said, They doubted whether He could remit sins, "But that ye may know
   that the Son of Man hath the power to remit sins, he saith to the
   paralytic." If they are the words of Christ, the connexion will be as
   follows; You doubt that I have power to remit sins, "but that ye may
   know that the Son of Man hath power to remit sins" = the sentence is
   imperfect, but the action supplies the place of the consequent clause,
   "he saith to the paralytic, Rise, take up thy bed."

   Chrysologus: That which had been proof of his sickness, should now
   become proof of his recovered health. "And go to thy house," that
   having been healed by Christian faith, you may not die in the
   faithlessness of the Jews.

   Chrys.: This command He added, that it might be seen there was no
   delusion in the miracle; so it follows to establish the reality of the
   cure, "And he arose, and went away to his own house." But they that
   stood by yet grovel on the earth, whence it follows, "But the multitude
   seeing it were afraid, and glorified God, who had bestowed such power
   among men." For had they rightly considered among themselves, they
   would have acknowledged Him to be the Son of God. Meanwhile it was no
   little matter to esteem Him as one greater than men, and to have come
   from God.

   Hilary: Mystically; When driven out of Judaea, He returns into His own
   city; the city of God is the people of the faithful; into this He
   entered by a boat, that is, the Church.

   Chrysologus: Christ has no need of the vessel, but the vessel of
   Christ; for without heavenly pilotage the bark of the Church cannot
   pass over the sea of the world to the heavenly harbour.

   Hilary: In this paralytic the whole Gentile world is offered for
   healing, he is therefore brought by the ministration of Angels; he is
   called Son, because he is God's work; the sins of his soul which the
   Law could not remit are remitted him; for faith only justifies. Lastly,
   he shews the power of the resurrection, by taking up his bed, teaching
   that all sickness shall then be no more found in the body.

   Jerome: Figuratively, the soul sick in the body, its powers palsied, is
   brought by the perfect doctor to the Lord to be healed. For every one
   when sick, ought to engage some to pray for his recovery, through whom
   the halting footsteps of our acts may be reformed by the healing power
   of the heavenly word. These are mental monitors, who raise the soul of
   the hearer to higher things, although sick and weak in the outward
   body.

   Chrysologus: The Lord requires not in this world the will of those who
   are without understanding, but looks to the faith of others; as the
   physician does not consult the wishes of the patient when his malady
   requires other things.

   Rabanus: His rising up is the drawing off the soul from carnal lusts;
   his taking up his bed is the raising the flesh from earthly desires to
   spiritual pleasures; his going to his house is his returning to
   Paradise, or to internal watchfulness of himself against sin.

   Greg., Mor. xxiii, 24: Or by the bed is denoted the pleasure of the
   body. He is commanded now he is made whole to bear that on which he had
   lain when sick, because every man who still takes pleasure in vice is
   laid as sick in carnal delights; but when made whole he bears this
   because he now endures the wantonness of that flesh in whose desires he
   had before reposed.

   Hilary: It is a very fearful thing to be seized by death while the sins
   are yet unforgiven by Christ; for there is no way to the heavenly house
   for him whose sins have not been forgiven. But when this fear is
   removed, honour is rendered to God, who by His word has in this way
   given power to men, of forgiveness of sins, of resurrection of the
   body, and of return to Heaven.
     __________________________________________________________________

   9. And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew,
   sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, "Follow me."
   And he arose, and followed him.

   10. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold,
   many Publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his
   disciples.

   11. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why
   eateth your Master with Publicans and sinners?

   12. But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, "They that be whole
   need not a physician, but they that are sick.

   13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not
   sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
   repentance."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., xxx: Having wrought this miracle, Christ would not abide
   in the same place, lest He should rouse the envy of the Jews. Let us
   also do thus, not obstinately opposing those who lay in wait for us.
   "And as Jesus departed thence," (namely from the place in which He had
   done this miracle,) "he saw a man sitting at the receipt of custom,
   Matthew by name."

   Jerome: The other Evangelists from respect to Matthew have not called
   him by his common name, but say here, Levi, for he had both names.
   Matthew himself, according to that Solomon says, "The righteous man
   accuses himself," [Prov 18:17] calls himself both Matthew and Publican,
   to shew the readers that none need despair of salvation who turn to
   better things, seeing he from a Publican became an Apostle.

   Gloss., ap Anselm: He says, "sitting at the receipt of custom," that
   is, in the place where the tolls were collected. He was named
   Telonarius, from a Greek word signifying taxes.

   Chrys.: Herein he shews the excellent power of Him that called him;
   while engaged in this dangerous office He rescued him from the midst of
   evil, as also Paul while he was yet mad against the Church. "He saith
   unto him, Follow me." As you have seen the power of Him that calleth,
   so learn the obedience of him that is called; he neither refuses, nor
   requests to go home and inform his friends.

   Remig.: He esteems lightly human dangers which might accrue to him from
   his masters for leaving his accounts in disorder, but, "he arose, and
   followed him." And because he relinquished earthly gain, therefore of
   right was he made the dispenser of the Lord's talents.

   Jerome: Prophyry and the Emperor Julian insist from this account, that
   either the historian is to be charged with falsehood, or those who so
   readily followed the Saviour with haste and temerity; as if He called
   any without reason. They forget also the signs and wonders which had
   preceded, and which no doubt the Apostles had seen before they
   believed. Yea the brightness of effulgence of the hidden Godhead which
   beamed from his human countenance might attract them at first view. For
   if the loadstone can, as it is said, attract iron, how much more can
   the Lord of all creation draw to Himself whom He will!

   Chrys.: But why did He not call him at the same time with Peter and
   John and the others? Because he was then still in a hardened state, but
   after many miracles, and great fame of Christ, when He who knows the
   inmost secrets of the heart, perceived him more disposed to obedience,
   then He called him.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 26: Or, perhaps it is more probable that
   Matthew here turns back to relate something that he had omitted; and we
   may suppose Matthew to have been called before the sermon on the mount;
   for on the mount, as Luke relates, the twelve, whom He also name
   Apostles, were chosen.

   Gloss., non occ.: Matthew places his called among the miracles; for a
   great miracle it was, a Publican becoming an Apostle.

   Chrys.: Why is it then that nothing is said of the rest of the Apostles
   how or when they were called, but only of Peter, Andrew, James, John,
   and Matthew? Because these were in the most alien and lowly stations,
   for nothing can be more disreputable than the office of Publican,
   nothing more abject than that of fisherman.

   Gloss., ap Anselm: As a meet return for the heavenly mercy, Matthew
   prepared a great feast for Christ in his house, bestowing his temporal
   goods on Him of whom he looked to receive everlasting goods.

   It follows, "And it came to pass as he sat at meat in the house."

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 27: Matthew has not said in whose house Jesus
   sat at meat (on this occasion), from which we might suppose, that this
   was not told in its proper order, but that what took place at some
   other time is inserted here as it happened to come into his mind; did
   not Mark and Luke who relate the same shew that is was in Levi's, that
   is, in Matthew's house.

   Chrys.: Matthew being honoured by the entrance of Jesus into his house,
   called together all that followed the same calling with himself;
   "Behold many Publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus, and
   with his disciples."

   Gloss., ap Anselm: The Publicans were they who were engaged in public
   business, which seldom or never can be carried on without sin. And a
   beautiful omen of the future, that he that was to be an Apostle and
   doctor of the Gentiles, at his first conversion draws after him a great
   multitude of sinners to salvation, already performing by his example
   what he was shortly to perform by word.

   Gloss. ord.: Tertullian says that these must have been Gentiles,
   because Scripture says, "There shall be no payer of tribute in Israel,"
   as if Matthew were not a Jew. But the Lord did not sit down to meat
   with Gentiles, being more especially careful not to break the Law, as
   also He gave commandment to His disciples below, "Go not into the way
   of the Gentiles."

   Jerome: But they had seen the Publican turning from sins to better
   things, and finding place of repentance, and on this account they do
   not despair of salvation.

   Chrys.: Thus they came near to our Redeemer, and that not only to
   converse with Him, but to sit at meat with Him; for so not only by
   disputing, or healing, or convincing His enemies, but by eating with
   them, He oftentimes healed such as were ill-disposed, by this teaching
   us, that all times, and all actions, may be made means to our
   advantage. When the Pharisees saw this they were indignant; "And the
   Pharisees beholding said to his disciples, Why eateth your Master with
   Publicans and sinners?"

   It should be observed, that when the disciples seemed to be doing what
   was sinful, these same addressed Christ, "Behold, thy disciples are
   doing what it is not allowed to do on the Sabbath." [Matt 12:2] Here
   they speak against Christ to His disciples, both being the part of
   malicious persons, seeking to detach the hearts of the disciple from
   the Master.

   Rabanus: They are here in a twofold error; first, they esteemed
   themselves righteous, though in their pride they had departed far from
   righteousness; secondly, they charged with unrighteousness those who by
   recovering themselves from sin were drawing near to righteousness.

   Aug.: Luke seems to have related this a little differently; according
   to him the Pharisees say to the disciples, "Why do ye eat and drink
   with Publicans and sinners?" [Luke 5:30] not unwilling that their
   Master should be understood to be involved in the same charge;
   insinuating it at once against Himself and His disciples. Therefore
   Matthew and Mark have related it as said to the disciples, because so
   it was as much an objection against their Master whom they followed and
   imitated. The sense therefore is one in all, and so much the better
   conveyed, as the words are changed while the substance continues the
   same.

   Jerome: For they do not come to Jesus while they remain in their
   original condition of sin, as the Pharisees and Scribes complain, but
   in penitence, as what follows proves; "But Jesus hearing said, They
   that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."

   Rabanus: He calls Himself a physician, because by a wonderful kind of
   medicine He was "wounded for our iniquities" that He might heal the
   wound of our sin. By "the whole," He means those who "seeking to
   establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the true
   righteousness of God." [Rom 10:3] By "the sick," He means those who,
   tied by the consciousness of their frailty, and seeing that they are
   not justified by the Law, submit themselves in penitence to the grace
   of God.

   Chrys.: Having first spoken in accordance with common opinion, He now
   addresses them out of Scripture, saying, "Go ye, and learn what that
   meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice."

   Jerome, Hosea 6:5: This text from Osee is directed against the Scribes
   and Pharisees, who, deeming themselves righteous, refused to keep
   company with Publicans and sinners.

   Chrys.: As much as to say; How do you accuse me for reforming sinners?
   Therefore in this you accuse God the Father also. For as He wills the
   amendment of sinners, even so also do I. And He shews that this that
   they blamed was not only not forbidden, but was even by the Law set
   above sacrifice; for He said not, I will have mercy as well as
   sacrifice, but chooses the one and rejects the other.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Yet does not God contemn sacrifice, but sacrifice
   without mercy. But the Pharisees often offered sacrifices in the temple
   that they might seem to men to be righteous, but did not practise the
   deeds of mercy by which true righteousness is proved.

   Rabanus: He therefore warns them, that by deeds of mercy they should
   seek for themselves the rewards of the mercy that is above, and, not
   overlooking the necessities of the poor, trust to please God by
   offering sacrifice. Wherefore, He says, "Go;" that is, from the
   rashness of foolish fault-finding to a more careful meditation of Holy
   Scripture, which highly commends mercy, and proposes to them as a guide
   His own example of mercy, saying, "I came not to call the righteous but
   sinners."

   Aug.: Luke adds "to repentance," which explains the sense; that none
   should suppose that sinners are loved by Christ because they are
   sinners; and this comparison of the sick shews what God means by
   calling sinners, as a physician does the sick to be saved from their
   iniquity as from a sickness; which is done by penitence.

   Hilary: Christ came for all; how is it then that He says He came not
   for the righteous? Were there those for whom it needed not that He
   should come? But no man is righteous by the law. He shews how empty
   their boast of justification, sacrifices being inadequate to salvation,
   mercy was necessary for all who were set under the Law.

   Chrys.: Whence we may suppose that He is speaking ironically, as when
   it is said, "Behold now Adam is become as one of us." [Gen 3:22] For
   that there is none righteous on earth Paul shews, "All have sinned, and
   need glory of God." [Rom 3:23] By this saying He also consoled those
   who were called; as though He had said, So far am I from abhorring
   sinners, that for their sakes only did I come.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or; Those who were righteous, as Nathanael and John
   the Baptist, were not to be invited to repentance. Or, "I came not to
   call the righteous," that is, the feignedly righteous, those who
   boasted of their righteousness as the Pharisees, but those that owned
   themselves sinners.

   Rabanus: In the call of Matthew and the Publicans is figured the faith
   of the Gentiles who first gaped after the gain of the world, and are
   now spiritually refreshed by the Lord; in the pride of the Pharisees,
   the jealousy of the Jews at the salvation of the Gentiles. Or, Matthew
   signifies the man intent on temporal gain; Jesus sees him, when He
   looks on him with the eyes of mercy. For Matthew is interpreted given,'
   Levi taken,' the penitent is taken out of the mass of the perishing,
   and by God's grace given to the Church. "And Jesus saith unto him,
   Follow me," either by preaching, or by the admonition of Scripture, or
   by internal illumination.
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, "Why do we and the
   Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?"

   15. And Jesus said unto them, "Can the children of the bridechamber
   mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come,
   when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

   16. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that
   which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is
   made worse.

   17. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles
   break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put
   new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: When He had replied to them respecting eating and
   converse with sinners, they next assault Him on the matter of food;
   "Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the
   Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples fast not?"

   Jerome: O boastful enquiry and ostentation of fasting much to be
   blamed, nor can John's disciples be excused for their taking part with
   the Pharisees who they knew had been condemned by John, and for
   bringing a false accusation against Him whom they knew their master had
   preached.

   Chrys.: What they say come to this, Be it that you do this as Physician
   of souls, but why do your disciples neglect fasting and approach such
   tables? And to augment the weight of their charge by comparison, they
   put themselves first, and then the Pharisees. They fasted as they
   learnt out of the Law, as the Pharisee spoke, "I fast twice in the
   week;" [Luke 18:12] the others learnt it of John.

   Rabanus: For John drank neither wine, nor strong drink, increasing his
   merit by abstinence, because he had no power over nature. But the Lord
   who has power to forgive sins, why should He shun sinners that eat,
   since He has power to make them more righteous than those that cannot?
   Yet doth Christ fast, that you should not avoid the command; but He
   eats with sinners that you may know His grace and power.

   Aug.: Through Matthew mentions only the disciples of John as having
   made this enquiry, the words of Mark rather seem to imply that some
   other persons spoke of others, that is, the guests spoke concerning the
   disciples of John and the Pharisees - this is still more evident from
   Luke [ref. Luke 5:33]; why then does Matthew here say, "Then came unto
   him the disciples of John," unless that they were there among other
   guests, all of whom with one consent put this objection to Him?

   Chrys.: Or; Luke relates that the Pharisees, but Matthew that the
   disciples of John, said thus, because the Pharisees had taken them with
   them to ask the question, as they afterwards did the Herodians. Observe
   how when strangers, as before the Publicans, were to be defended, He
   accuses heavily those that blamed them; but when they brought a charge
   against His disciples, He makes answer with mildness. "And Jesus saith
   unto them, Can the children of the bridegroom mourn as long as the
   bridegroom is with them?" Before He had styled Himself Physician, now
   Bridegroom, calling to mind the words of John which he had said, "He
   that hath the bride is the bridegroom." [John 3:29]

   Jerome: Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church the Bride. Of this
   spiritual union the Apostles were born; they cannot mourn so long as
   they see the Bridegroom in the chamber with the Bride. But when the
   nuptials are past, and the time of passion and resurrection is come,
   then shall the children of the Bridegroom fast.

   "The days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and
   then shall they fast."

   Chrys.: He means thus; The present is a time of joy and rejoicing;
   sorrow is therefore not to be now brought forward; and fasting is
   naturally grievous, and to all those that are yet weak; for to those
   that seek to contemplate wisdom, it is pleasant; He therefore speaks
   here according to the former opinion. He also shews that this they did
   was not of gluttony, but of a certain dispensation.

   Jerome: Hence some think that a fast ought to follow the forty days of
   Passion, although the day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy
   Spirit immediately bring back our joy and festival. From this text
   accordingly, Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla enjoin a forty days
   abstinence after Pentecost, but it is the use of the Church to come to
   the Lord's passion and resurrection through humiliation of the flesh,
   that by carnal abstinence we may better be prepared for spiritual
   fulness.

   Chrys.: Here again He confirms what He has said by examples of common
   things; "No man putteth a patch of undressed cloth into an old garment;
   for it taketh away its wholeness from the garment, and the rent is made
   worse;" which is to say, My disciples are not yet become strong, but
   have need of much consideration; they are not yet renewed by the
   Spirit. On men in such a state it is not behoveful to lay a burden of
   precepts. Herein He establishes a rule for His disciples, that they
   should receive with leniency disciples from out of the whole world.

   Remig.: By the old garment He means His disciples, who had not yet been
   renewed in all things. The patch of undressed, that is, of new cloth,
   means the new grace, that is, the Gospel doctrine, of which fasting is
   a portion; and it was not meet that the stricter ordinances of fasting
   should be entrusted to them, lest they should be broken down by their
   severity, and forfeit that faith which they had; as He adds, "It taketh
   its wholeness from the garment, and the rent is made worse."

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: As much as to say, An undressed patch, that is, a
   new one, ought not to be put into an old garment, because it often
   takes away from the garment its wholeness, that is, its perfection, and
   then the rent is made worse. For a heavy burden laid on one that is
   untrained often destroys that good which was in him before.

   Remig.: After two comparisons made, that of the wedding, and that of
   the undressed cloth, He adds a third concerning wine skins; "Neither do
   men put new wine into old skins." By the old skins He means His
   disciples, who were not yet perfectly renewed. The new wine is the
   fulness of the Holy Spirit, and the depths of the heavenly mysteries,
   which His disciples could not then bear; but after the resurrection
   they became as new skins, and were filled with new wine when they
   received the Holy Spirit into their hearts. Whence also some said,
   "These men are full of new wine." [Acts 2:13]

   Chrys.: Herein He also shews us the cause of those condescending words
   which He often addressed to them because of their weakness.

   Jerome: Otherwise; By the "old garment," and "old skins," we must
   understand the Scribes and Pharisees; and by the "piece of new cloth,"
   and "new wine," the Gospel precepts, which the Jews were not able to
   bear; so "the rent was made worse." Something such the Galatians sought
   to do, to mix the precepts of the Law with the Gospel, and to put new
   wine into old skins. The word of the Gospel is therefore to be poured
   into the Apostles, rather than into the Scribes and Pharisees, who,
   corrupted by the traditions of the elders, were unable to preserve the
   purity of Christ's precepts.

   Gloss., non occ.: This shews that the Apostles being hereafter to be
   replenished with newness of grace, ought not now to be bound to the old
   observances.

   Aug., Serm., 210, 3: Otherwise; Everyone who rightly fasts, either
   humbles his soul in the groaning of prayer, and bodily chastisement, or
   suspends the motion of carnal desire by the joys of spiritual
   meditation. And the Lord here makes answer respecting both kinds of
   fasting; concerning the first, which is in humiliation of soul, He
   says, "The children of the bridegroom cannot mourn."

   Of the other which has a feast of the Spirit, He next speaks, where He
   says, "No man putteth a patch of undressed cloth." Then we must mourn
   because the Bridegroom is taken away from us. And we rightly mourn if
   we burn with desire of Him. Blessed they to whom it was granted before
   His passion to have Him present with them, to enquire of Him what they
   would, to hear what they ought to hear. Those days the fathers before
   His coming sought to see, and saw them not, because they were placed in
   another dispensation, one in which He was proclaimed as coming, not one
   in which He was heard as present. For in us was fulfilled that He
   speaks of, "The days shall come when ye shall desire to see one of
   these days, and shall not be able." [Luke 17:22] Who then will not
   mourn this? Who will not say, "My tears have been my meat day and
   night, while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God?" [Ps 42:3]
   With reason then did the Apostle seek "to die and to be with Christ."

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 27: That Matthew writes here "mourn," where
   Mark and Luke write "fast," shews that the Lord spake of that kind of
   fasting which pertains to humbling one's self in chastisement; as in
   the following comparisons He may be supposed to have spoken of the
   other kind which pertains to the joy of a mind wrapt in spiritual
   thoughts, and therefore averted from the food of the body; shewing that
   those who are occupied about the body, and owing to this retain their
   former desires, are not fit for this kind of fasting.

   Hilary: Figuratively, this His answer, that while the Bridegroom was
   present with them, His disciples needed not to fast, teaches us the joy
   of His presence, and the sacrament of the holy food, which none shall
   lack, while He is present, that is, while one keeps Christ in the eye
   of the mind. He says, they shall fast when He is taken away from them,
   because all who do not believe that Christ is risen, shall not have the
   food of life. For in the faith of the resurrection the sacrament of the
   heavenly bread is received.

   Jerome: Or, when He has departed from us for our sins, then is a fast
   to be proclaimed, then is mourning to be put on.

   Hilary: By these examples He shews that neither our souls nor bodies,
   being so weakened by inveteracy of sin, are capable of the sacraments
   of the new grace.

   Rabanus: The different comparisons all refer to the same thing, and yet
   are they different; the garment by which we are covered abroad
   signifies our good works, which we perform when we are abroad; the wine
   with which we are refreshed within is the fervor of faith and charity,
   which creates us anew within.
     __________________________________________________________________

   18. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain
   ruler, and worshipped him, saying, "My daughter is even now dead: but
   come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live."

   19. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

   20. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood
   twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment;

   21. For she said within herself, "If I may but touch his garment, I
   shall be whole."

   22. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said,
   "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole." And the
   woman was made whole from that hour.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., xxxi: After His instructions He adds a miracle, which
   should mightily discomfit the Pharisees, because he who came to beg
   this miracle, was a ruler of the synagogue and the mourning was great,
   for she was his only child, and of the age of twelve years, that is,
   when the flower of youth begins; "While he spake these things unto
   them, behold, there came one of their chief men unto him."

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 28: This narrative is given both by Mark and
   Luke, but in a quite different order; namely, when after the casting
   out of the daemons and their entrance into the swine, he had returned
   across the lake from the country of the Gerasenes. Now Mark does indeed
   tell us that this happened after He had recrossed the lake, but how
   long after he does not determine. Unless there had been some interval
   of time, that could not have taken place that Matthew relates
   concerning the feast in his house. After this, immediately follows that
   concerning the ruler of the synagogue's daughter. If the ruler came to
   Him while He was yet speaking that of the new patch, and the new wine,
   then no other act of speech of his intervened. And in Mark's account,
   the place where these things might come in, is evident. In like manner,
   Luke does not contradict Matthew; for what he adds, "And behold a man,
   whose name was Jairus," [Matt 8:41] is not to be taken as though it
   followed instantly what had been related before, but after that feast
   with the Publicans, as Matthew relates.

   "While he spake these things unto them, behold, one of their chief
   men," namely, Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, "came to him, and
   worshipped him, saying, Lord, my daughter is even now dead." It should
   be observed, lest there should seem to be some discrepancy, that the
   other two Evangelists represent her as at the point of death, but yet
   not dead, but so as afterwards to say that there came afterwards some
   saying, "She is dead, trouble not the Master," for Matthew for the sake
   of shortness represents the Lord as having been asked at first to do
   that which it is manifest He did do, namely, raise the dead. He looks
   not at the words of the father respecting his daughter, but rather his
   mind. For he had so far despaired of her life, that he made his request
   rather for her to be called in life again, thinking it impossible that
   she, whom he had left dying, should be found yet alive.

   The other two then have given Jairus' words; Matthew has put what he
   wished and thought. Indeed had either of them related that it was the
   father himself that said that Jesus should not be troubled for she was
   now dead, in that case the words that Matthew has given would not have
   corresponded with the thoughts of the ruler. But we do not read that he
   agreed with the messengers. Hence we learn a thing of the highest
   necessity, that we should look at nothing in any man's words, but his
   meaning to which his words ought to be subservient; and no man gives a
   false account when he repeats a man's meaning in words other than those
   actually used.

   Chrys.: Or; The ruler says, she is dead, exaggerating his calamity. As
   it is the manner of those that prefer a petition to magnify their
   distress, and to represent them as something more than they really are,
   in order to gain the compassion of those to whom they make
   supplication; whence he adds, "But come and lay thy hand upon her, and
   she shall live."

   See his dullness. He begs two things of Christ, to come, and to lay His
   hand upon her. This was what Naaman the Syrian required of the Prophet.
   For they who are constituted thus hard of heart have need of sight and
   things sensible.

   Remig.: We ought to admire and at the same time to imitate the humility
   and mercifulness of the Lord; as soon as ever He was asked, He rose to
   follow him that asked: "And Jesus rose, and followed him." Here is
   instruction both for such as are in command, and such as are in
   subjection. To these He has left an example of obedience; to those who
   are set over others He shews how earnest and watchful they should be in
   teaching; whenever they hear of any being dead in spirit, they should
   hasten to Him; "And his disciples went with him."

   Chrys.: Mark and Luke say that He took with Him three disciples only,
   namely, Peter, James, and John; He took not Matthew, to quicken his
   desires, and because he was yet not perfectly minded; and for this
   reason He honours these three, that others may become like-minded. It
   was enough meanwhile for Matthew to see the things that were done
   respecting her that had the issue of blood, concerning whom it follows;
   "And behold, a woman who had suffered an issue of blood twelve years,
   came behind and touched the hem of his garment."

   Jerome: This woman that had the flux came to the Lord not in the house,
   nor in the town, for she was excluded from them by the Law, but by the
   way as He walked; thus as He goes to heal one woman, another is cured.

   Chrys.: She came not to Christ with an open address through shame
   concerning this her disease, believing herself unclean; for in the Law
   this disease was esteemed highly unclean. For this reason she hides
   herself.

   Remig.: In which her humility must be praised, that she came not before
   His face, but behind, and judged herself unworthy to touch the Lord's
   feet, yea, she touched not His whole garment, but the hem only; for the
   Lord wore a hem according to the command of the Law. So the Pharisees
   also wore hems which they made large, and in some they inserted thorns.
   But the Lord's hem was not made to wound, but to heal.

   And therefore it follows, "For she said within herself, If I can but
   touch his garment, I shall be made whole." How wonderful her faith,
   that though she despaired of health from the physicians, on whom
   notwithstanding she had exhausted her living, she perceived that a
   heavenly Physician was at hand, and therefore bent her whole soul on
   Him; whence she deserved to be healed; "But Jesus turning and seeing
   her, said, "Be of good cheer, daughter, thy faith hath made thee
   whole."

   Rabanus: What is this that He bids her, "Be of good cheer," seeing if
   she had not had faith, she would not have sought healing of Him? He
   requires of her strength and perseverance, that she may come to a sure
   and certain salvation.

   Chrys.: Or because the woman was fearful, therefore He said, "Be of
   good cheer." He calls her "daughter," for her faith had made her such.

   Jerome: He said not, Thy faith shall make thee whole, but, "hath made
   thee whole;" for in that thou hast believed, thou art already made
   whole.

   Chrys.: She had not yet a perfect mind respecting Christ, or she would
   not have supposed that she could be hid from Him; but Christ would not
   suffer her to go away unobserved, not that He sought fame, but for many
   reasons. First, He relieves the woman's fear, that she should not be
   pricked in her conscience as though she had stolen this boon; secondly,
   He corrects her error in supposing she could be hid from Him; thirdly,
   He displays her faith to all for their imitation; and fourthly, He did
   a miracle, in that He shewed He knew all things, no less than in drying
   the fountain of her blood. It follows, "And the woman was made whole
   from that hour."

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: This must be understood as the time in which she
   touched the hem of His garment, not in which Jesus turned to her; for
   she was already healed, as the other Evangelists testify, and as may be
   inferred from the Lord's words.

   Hilary: Herein is to be observed the marvellous virtue of the Lord,
   that the power that dwelt in His body should give healing to things
   perishable, and the heavenly energy extended even through the hems of
   His garments; for God is not comprehensible that He should be shut in
   by a body. For His taking a body unto Him did not confine His power,
   but His power took upon it a frail body for our redemption.
   Figuratively, this ruler is to be understood as the Law, which prays
   the Lord that He would restore life to the dead multitude which it had
   brought up for Christ, preaching that His coming was to be looked for.

   Rabanus, part. e Beda: Or; The ruler of the synagogue signifies Moses;
   he is named Jairus, illuminating,' or, that shall illuminate,' because
   he received the words of life to give to us, and by them enlighten all,
   being himself enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The daughter of the
   ruler, that is, the synagogue itself, being as it were in the twelfth
   year of its age, that is, in the season of puberty, when it should have
   borne spiritual progeny to God, fell into the sickness of error. While
   when the Word of God is hastening to this ruler's daughter to make
   whole the sons of Israel, a holy Church is gathered from among the
   Gentiles, which while it was perishing by inward corruption, received
   by faith that healing that was prepared for others.

   It should be noted, that the ruler's daughter was twelve years old, and
   this woman had been twelve years afflicted; thus she had begun to be
   diseased at the very time the other was born; so in one and the same
   age the synagogue had its birth among the Patriarchs, and the nations
   without began to be polluted with the pest of idolatry. For the issue
   of blood may be taken in two ways, either for the pollution of
   idolatry, or for obedience to the pleasures of flesh and blood. Thus as
   long as the synagogue flourished, the Church languished; the falling
   away of the first was made the salvation of the Gentiles.

   Also the Church draws nigh and touches the Lord, when it approaches Him
   in faith. She believes, spake her belief, and touched, for by these
   three things, faith, word and deed, all salvation is gained. She came
   behind Him, as He spake, "If any one serve me, let him follow me;"
   [John 12:26] or because, not having seen the Lord present in the flesh,
   when the sacraments of His incarnation were fulfilled, she came at
   length to the grace of the knowledge of Him. Thus also she touched the
   hem of His garment, because the Gentiles, though they had not seen
   Christ in the flesh, received the tidings of His incarnation. The
   garment of Christ is put for the mystery of His incarnation, wherewith
   His Deity is clothed; the hem of His garment are the words that hang
   upon His incarnation. She touches not the garment, but the hem thereof;
   because she saw not the Lord in the flesh, but received the word of the
   incarnation through the Apostles. Blessed is he that touches but the
   uttermost part of the word by faith. She is healed while the Lord is
   not in the city, but while He is yet on the way; as the Apostles cried,
   "Because ye judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to
   the Gentiles." [Acts 13:46] And from the time of the Lord's coming the
   Gentiles began to be healed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels
   and the people making a noise,

   24. He said unto them, "Give place; for the maid is not dead, but
   sleepeth." And they laughed him to scorn.

   25. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the
   hand, and the maid arose.

   26. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: After the healing of the woman with the issue of
   blood, follows the raising of the dead; "And when Jesus was come into
   the ruler's house."

   Chrys.: We may suppose that He proceeded slowly, and spake longer to
   the woman whom He had healed, that He might suffer the maid to die, and
   thus an evident miracle of restoring to life might be wrought. In the
   case of Lazarus also He waited till the third day.

   "And when he saw the minstrels and the people making a noise;" this was
   a proof of her death.

   Ambrose., Ambrosiaster, in Luc., 8, 52: For by the ancient custom
   minstrels were engaged to make lamentation for the dead.

   Chrys.: But Christ put forth all the pipers, but took in the parents,
   that it might not be said that He had healed her by any other means;
   and before the restoring to life He excites their expectations by His
   words, "And he said, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but
   sleepeth."

   Bede, in Luc.: As though He had said, To you she is dead, but to God
   who has power to give life, she sleeps only both in soul and body.

   Chrys.: By this saying, He soothes the minds of those that were
   present, and shews that it is easy to Him to raise the dead; the like
   He did in the case of Lazarus, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." [John
   11:11] This was also a lesson to them not to be afraid of death;
   forasmuch as He himself also should die, He made His disciples learn in
   the persons of others confidence and patient endurance of death. For
   when He was near, death was but as sleep. When He had said this, "They
   mocked him." And He did not rebuke their mocking; that this mocking,
   and the pipes and all other things, might be a proof of her death. For
   ofttimes at His miracles when men would not believe, He convicted them
   by their own answers; as in the case of Lazarus, when He said, "Where
   have ye laid him?" so that they that answered, "Come and see," and, "He
   stinketh, for he hath now been dead four days," could no longer
   disbelieve that He had raised a dead man.

   Jerome: They that had mocked the Reviver were not worthy to behold the
   mystery of the revival; and therefore it follows, "And when the
   multitude was put forth, he entered, and took her by the hand, and the
   maid arose."

   Chrys.: He restored her to life not by bringing in another soul, but by
   recalling that which had departed, and as it were raising it from
   sleep, and through this sight preparing the way for belief of the
   resurrection. And He not only restores her to life, but commands food
   to be given her, as the other Evangelists relate, that which was done
   might be seen to be no delusion. "And the fame of him went abroad into
   all that country."

   Gloss., non occ.: The fame, namely, of the greatness and novelty of the
   miracle, and its established truth; so that it could not be supposed to
   be a forgery.

   Hilary: Mystically; The Lord enters the ruler's house, that is, the
   synagogue, throughout which there resounded in the songs of the Law a
   strain of wailing.

   Jerome: To this day the damsel lays dead in the ruler's house; and they
   that seem to be teachers are but minstrels singing funeral dirges. The
   Jews also are not the crowd of believers, but of "people making a
   noise." But when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, then all
   Israel shall be saved.

   Hilary: But that the number of the elect might be known to be but few
   out of the whole body of believers, the multitude is put forth; the
   Lord indeed would that they should be saved, but they mocked at His
   sayings and actions, and so were not worthy to be made partakers of His
   resurrection.

   Jerome: He took her by the hand, and the maid arose; because if the
   hands of the Jews which are defiled with blood be not first cleansed,
   their synagogue which is dead shall not revive.

   Hilary: "His fame went about into all that country;" that is, the
   salvation of the elect, the gift and works of Christ are preached.

   Rabanus: Morally; The damsel dead in the house is the soul dead in
   thought. He says that she is asleep, because they that are now asleep
   in sin may yet be roused by penitence. The minstrels are flatterers who
   cherish the dead.

   Greg., Mor., xviii, 43: The multitude are put forth that the damsel may
   be raised; for unless the multitude of worldly cares is first banished
   from the secrets of the heart, the soul which is laid dead within,
   cannot rise again.

   Rabanus: The maiden is raised in the house with few to witness, the
   young man without the gate, and Lazarus in the presence of many; for a
   public scandal requires a public expiation; a less notorious, a lesser
   remedy; and secret sins may be done away by penitence.
     __________________________________________________________________

   27. And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying,
   and saying, "Thou Son of David, have mercy on us."

   28. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and
   Jesus saith unto them, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" They
   said unto him, "Yea, Lord."

   29. Then touched he their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it
   unto you."

   30. And their eyes were opened: and Jesus straitly charged them,
   saying, "See that no man know it."

   31. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all
   that country.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The miracles that had gone before of the ruler's daughter, and
   the woman with the issue of blood, are now followed by that of two
   blind men, that what death and disease had there witnessed, that
   blindness might now witness. "And as Jesus passed thence," that is,
   from the ruler's house, there followed him two blind men, crying, and
   saying, Have mercy on us, thou Son of David."

   Chrys., Hom., xxxii: Here is no small charge against the Jews, that
   these men, having lost their sight, yet believe by means of their
   hearing only; while they who had sight, would not believe the miracles
   that were done. Observe their eagerness; they do not simply come to
   Him, but with crying, and asking for nothing but mercy; they call Him
   Son of David because that seemed to be a name of honour.

   Remig.: Rightly they call Him Son of David, because the Virgin Mary was
   of the line of David.

   Jerome: Let Marcion and Manichaeaus, and the other heretics who mangle
   the Old Testament, hear this, and learn that the Saviour is called the
   Son of David; for if He was not born in the flesh, how is He the Son of
   David?

   Chrys.: Observe that the Lord oftentimes desired to be asked to heal,
   that none should think that He was eager to seize an occasion of
   display.

   Jerome: Yet were they not healed by the way-side and in passing as they
   had thought to be; but when He was entered into the house, they come
   unto Him; and first their faith is made proof of, that so they may
   receive the light of the true faith. "And when he was come into the
   house, the blind men came unto him; and Jesus said unto them, Believe
   ye that I am able to do this?"

   Chrys.: Here again He teaches us to exclude the desire of fame; because
   there was a house hard by, He takes them there to heal them apart.

   Remig.: He who was able to give sight to the blind, was not ignorant
   whether they believed; but He asked them, in order that the faith which
   they bare in their hearts, being confessed by their mouth might be made
   deserving of a higher reward, according to that of the Apostle, "By the
   mouth of confession is made unto salvation." [Rom 10:10]

   Chrys.: And not for this reason only, but that He might make manifest
   that they were worthy of healing, and that none might object, that if
   mercy alone saved, then ought all to be saved. Therefore also He
   requires faith of them, that He may thereby raise their thoughts
   higher; they had called Him the Son of David, therefore He instructs
   them that they should think higher things of Him. Thus He does not say
   to them, Believe ye that I can ask the Father? But, "Believe ye that I
   am able to do this? They say unto him, Yea. Lord." They call Him no
   more Son of David, but exalt Him higher, and confess His dominion. Then
   He lays His hand upon them; as it follows, "Then he touched their eyes,
   saying, According to your faith be it unto you." This He says
   confirming their faith, and testifying that what they had said were not
   words of flattery.

   Then follows the cure, "And their eyes were opened." And after this, He
   injunction that they should tell it to no man; and this not a simple
   command, but with much earnestness, "And Jesus straitly charged them,
   saying, See that no man know it; but they went forth, and spread abroad
   the fame of him through the whole country."

   Jerome: The Lord from humility shunning the fame of His glorious works,
   gave them this charge, and they from gratitude cannot be silent
   respecting so great benefit.

   Chrys.: That He said to another man, "Go, and proclaim the glory of
   God, [Luke 8:39] is not contrary to this; for what He would teach is,
   that we should hinder those that would commend us for ourselves. But
   when it is the Lord's glory that is to be praised, we ought not to
   forbid, but to promote it ourselves.

   Hilary: Or He enjoins silence on the blind men, because to preach was
   the Apostles' office.

   Greg., Mor., xix, 23: We must enquire how this is that the Almighty,
   whose will and power are coextensive, should have here willed that His
   excellent works should be hid in silence, and is yet preached against
   His will, as it were, by these men who have received their sight. It is
   only that He herein has left an example to His servants who follow Him,
   that they should desire their own good deeds to be hid, and that
   notwithstanding they should be made known against their will, that
   others may profit by their example. They should then be hid by design,
   and published of compulsion; their concealment is by our own
   watchfulness, their betrayal is for others' profit.

   Remig.: Allegorically; By these two blind men are denoted the two
   nations of Jews and Gentiles, or the two nations of the Jewish race;
   for in the time of Rohoam his kingdom was split into two parts. Out of
   both nations such as believed on Him Christ gave sight to in the house,
   by which is understood the Church; for without the unity of the Church
   no man can be saved. And they of the Jews who had believed the Lord's
   coming spread the knowledge thereof throughout the whole earth.

   Rabanus: The house of the ruler is the Synagogue which was ruled by
   Moses; the house of Jesus is the heavenly Jerusalem. As the Lord passed
   through this world and was returning to His own house, two blind men
   followed Him; that is, when the Gospel was preached by the Apostles,
   many of the Jews and Gentiles began to follow Him. But when He ascended
   into Heaven, then He entered His house, that is, into the confession of
   one faith which is in the Catholic Church, and in that they were
   enlightened.
     __________________________________________________________________

   32. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed
   with a devil.

   33. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes
   marvelled, saying, "It was never so seen in Israel."

   34. But the Pharisees said, "He casteth out devils through the prince
   of the devils."

   35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their
   synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every
   sickness and every disease among the people.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: Observe the beautiful order of His miracles; how after He had
   given sight to the blind, He restored speech to the dumb, and healed
   the possessed of the daemon; by which He shews Himself the Lord of
   power, and the author of the heavenly medicine. For it was said by
   Isaiah, "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the
   deaf shall be unstopped, and the tongue of the dumb loosed." [Isa 35:6]

   Whence it is said, "When they were gone forth, they brought unto him a
   man dumb, and possessed with a daemon."

   Jerome: The Greek word here is more frequent in common speech in the
   sense of, deaf,' but it is the manner of Scripture to use it
   indifferently as either.

   Chrys.: This was not a mere natural defect; but was from the malignity
   of the daemon; and therefore he needed to be brought of others, for he
   could not ask any thing of others as living without voice, and the
   daemon chaining his spirit together with his tongue. Therefore Christ
   does not require faith of him, but immediately healed his disorder; as
   it follows, "And when the daemon was cast out, the dumb spake."

   Hilary: The natural order of things is here preserved; the daemon is
   first cast out, and there the functions of the members proceed.

   "And the multitude marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel."

   Chrys: They set Him thus above others, because He not only healed, but
   with such ease, and quickness; and cured diseases both infinite in
   number, and in quality incurable. This most grieved the Pharisees, that
   they set Him before all others, not only those that then lived, but all
   who had lived before, on which account it follows, "But the Pharisees
   said, He casteth out daemons through the Prince of daemons."

   Remig.: Thus the Scribes and Pharisees denied such of the Lord's
   miracles as they could deny; and such as they could not they explained
   by an evil interpretation, according to that, "In the multitude of they
   excellency thy enemies shall lie unto thee." [Ps 66:3]

   Chrys.: What can be more foolish than this speech of theirs? For it
   cannot be pretended that one daemon would cast out another; for they
   are wont to consent to one another's deeds, and not to be at variance
   among themselves. But Christ not only cast out daemons, but healed the
   lepers, raised the dead, forgave sins, preached the kingdom of God, and
   brought men to the Father, which a daemon neither could nor would do.

   Rabanus: Figuratively; As is the two blind men were denoted both
   nations, Jews and Gentiles, so in the man dumb and afflicted with the
   daemon is denoted the whole human race.

   Hilary: Or; By the dumb and deaf, and daemoniac, is signified the
   Gentile world, needing health in every part; for sunk in evil of every
   kind, they are afflicted with disease of every part of the body.

   Remig.: For the Gentiles were dumb; not being able to open their mouth
   in the confession of the true faith, and the praises of the Creator, or
   because in paying worship to dumb idols they were made like unto them.
   They were afflicted with a daemon, because by dying in unbelief they
   were made subject to the power of the Devil.

   Hilary: But by the knowledge of God the frenzy of superstition being
   chased away, the sight, the hearing, and the word of salvation is
   brought in to them.

   Jerome: As the blind receive light, so the tongue of the dumb is
   loosed, that he may confess Him whom before he denied. The wonder of
   the multitude is the confession of the nations. The scoff of the
   Pharisees is the unbelief of the Jews, which is to this day.

   Hilary: The wonder of the multitude is followed up by the confession,
   "It was never so seen in Israel;" because he, for whom there was no
   help under the Law, is saved by the power of the Word.

   Remig.: They who brought the dumb to be healed by the Lord, signify the
   Apostles and preachers, who brought the Gentile people to be saved
   before the face of divine mercy.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan. ii, 29: This account of the two blind men and the
   dumb daemon is read in Matthew only. The two blind men of whom the
   others speak are not the same as these, though something similar was
   done with them. So that even if Matthew had not also recorded their
   cure, we might have seen that this present narrative was of a different
   transaction. And this we ought diligently to remember, that many
   actions of our Lord are very much like one another, but are proved not
   to be the same action, by being both related at different times by the
   same Evangelist. So that when we find cases in which one is recorded by
   one Evangelist, and another by another, and some difference which we
   cannot reconcile between their accounts, we should suppose that they
   are like, but not the same, events.
     __________________________________________________________________

   36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on
   them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having
   no shepherd.

   37. Then saith he unto his disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous,
   but the labourers are few;

   38. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth
   labourers into his harvest."
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   Chrys.: The Lord would refute by actions the charge of the Pharisees,
   who said, "He casteth out daemons by the "Prince of the daemons;" for a
   daemon having suffered rebuke, does not return good but evil to those
   who have not shewn him honour. But the Lord on the other hand, when He
   had suffered blasphemy and contumely, not only does not punish, but
   does not utter a hard speech, yea He shews kindness to them that did
   it, as it here follows, "And Jesus went about all their towns and
   villages."

   Herein He teaches us not to return accusations to them that accuse us,
   but kindness. For he that ceases to do good because of accusation,
   shews that his good has been done because of men. But if for God's sake
   you do good to your fellow-servants, you will not cease from doing good
   whatever they do, that your reward may be greater.

   Jerome: Observe how equally in villages, cities, and towns, that is to
   great as well as small, He preaches the Gospel, not respecting the
   might of the noble, but the salvation of those that believe. It
   follows, "Teaching in their synagogues;" this was His meat, going about
   to do the will of His Father, and saving by His teaching such as yet
   believed not.

   Gloss., non occ.: He taught in their synagogues the Gospel of the
   Kingdom, as it follows, "Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom."

   Remig.: Understand, of God;' for though temporal blessings are also
   proclaimed, yet they are not called The Gospel. Hence the Law was not
   called a Gospel, because to such as kept it, it held out not heavenly,
   but earthly, goods.

   Jerome: He first preached and taught, and then proceeded to heal
   sicknesses, that the works might convince those who would not believe
   the words. Hence it follows, "Healing every sickness and every
   disease," for to Him alone nothing is impossible.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: By "disease" we may understand complaints of long
   standing, by "sickness" any lesser infirmity.

   Remig.: It should be known that those whom He healed outwardly in their
   bodies, He also healed inwardly in their souls. Others cannot do this
   of their own power, but can by God's grace.

   Chrys.: Nor does Christ's goodness rest here, but He manifests His care
   for them, opening the bowels of His mercy towards them; whence it
   follows, "And seeing the multitudes, he had compassion upon them."

   Remig.: Herein Christ shews in Himself the disposition of the good
   shepherd and not that of the hireling. Why He pitied them is added,
   "because there were troubled, and sick as sheep that have no shepherd
   -- troubled either by daemons, or by divers sicknesses and infirmities.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or, "troubled," by daemons, and "sick," that is,
   benumbed and unable to rise; as though they had shepherds, yet they
   were as though they had them not.

   Chrys.: This is an accusation against the rulers of the Jews, that
   being shepherds they appeared like wolves; not only not improving the
   multitude, but hindering their progress. For when the multitude
   marvelled and said, "It was never so seen in Israel," these opposed
   themselves, saying, "He casteth out daemons by the prince of daemons."

   Remig.: But when the Son of God looked down from heaven upon the earth,
   to hear the groans of the captives [Ps 102:19], straight a great
   harvest began to ripen; for the multitude of the human race would never
   have come near to the faith, had not the Author of human salvation
   looked down from heaven.

   And it follows, "Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is
   great, but the labourers are few."

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The harvest are those men who can be reaped by the
   preachers, and separated from the number of the damned, as grain is
   beaten out from the chaff that it may be laid up in granaries.

   Jerome: The great harvest denotes the multitude of the people; the few
   labourers, the want of instructors.

   Remig.: For the number of the Apostles was small in comparison of so
   great crops to be reaped. The Lord exhorts His preachers, that is, the
   Apostles and their followers, that they should daily desire an increase
   of their number; "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he
   would send forth labourers into his harvest."

   Chrys.: He privately insinuates Himself to be the Lord; for it is He
   Himself who is Lord of the harvest. For if He sent the Apostles to reap
   what they had not sown, it is manifest that He sent them not to reap
   the things of others, but what He had sown by the Prophets. But since
   the twelve Apostles are the labourers, He said, "Pray ye the Lord of
   the harvest, that he would send labourers into his harvest;" and
   notwithstanding He added none to their number, but rather He multiplied
   those twelve many times, not by increasing their numbers, but by giving
   them more abundant grace.

   Remig.: Or, He then increased their number when He chose the seventy
   and two, and then when many preachers were made what time the Holy
   Spirit descended upon the believers.

   Chrys.: He shews us that it is a great gift that one should have the
   power of rightly preaching, in that He tells them that they ought to
   pray for it. Also we are here reminded of the words of John concerning
   the threshing-floor, and the fan, the chaff, and the wheat.

   Hilary: Figuratively; When salvation was given to the Gentiles, then
   all cities and towns were enlightened by the power and entrance of
   Christ, and escaped every former sickness and infirmity. The Lord
   pities the people troubled with the violence of the unclean Spirit, and
   sick under the burden of the Law, and having no shepherd at hand to
   bestow on them the guardianship of the Holy Spirit. But of that gift
   there was a most abundant fruit, whose plenty far exceeded the
   multitude of those that drank thereof; how many soever take of it, yet
   an inexhaustible supply remains; and because it is profitable that
   there should be many to minister it, He bids us ask the Lord of the
   harvest, that God would provide a supply of reapers for the
   ministration of that gift of the Holy Spirit which was made ready; for
   by prayer this gift is poured out upon us from God.
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Chapter 10

   1. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them
   power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner
   of sickness and all manner of disease.

   2. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon,
   who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee,
   and John his brother;

   3. Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the Publican; James the
   son of Alphaeus, and Lebaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

   4. Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss. ord.: From the healing of Peter's wife's mother to this place
   there has been a continued succession of miracles; and they were done
   before the Sermon upon the Mount, as we know for certain from Matthew's
   call, which is placed among them; for he was one of the twelve chosen
   to the Apostleship upon the mount. He here returns to the order of
   events, taking it up again at the healing of the centurion's servant;
   saying, "And calling to him his twelve disciples."

   Remig.: The Evangelist had related above that the Lord exhorted His
   disciples to pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into His
   vineyard; and He now seems to be fulfilling what He had exhorted them
   to. For the number twelve is a perfect number, being made up of the
   number six, which has perfection because it is formed of its own parts,
   one, two, three, multiplied into one another; and the number six when
   doubled amounts to twelve.

   Gloss., see Greg. Hom. in Ev., xvii, 1: And this doubling seems to have
   some reference to the two precepts of charity, or to the two
   Testaments.

   Bede: For the number twelve, which is made up of three into four,
   denotes that through the four quarters of the world they were to preach
   the faith of the holy Trinity.

   Rabanus, and cf. Tertullian, cont. Marc. iv, 13: This number is
   typified by many things in the Old Testament; by the twelve sons of
   Jacob, by the twelve princes of the children of Israel, by the twelve
   running springs in Helim, by the twelve stones in Aaron's breastplate,
   by the twelve loaves of the shew-bread, by the twelve spies sent by
   Moses, by the twelve stones of which the altar was made, by the twelve
   stones taken out of Jordan, by the twelve oxen which bare the brazen
   sea. Also in the New Testament, by the twelve stars in the bride's
   crown, by the twelve foundations of Jerusalem which John saw, and her
   twelve gates.

   Chrys.: He makes them confident not only by calling their ministry a
   sending forth to the harvest, but by giving them strength for the
   ministry; whence it follows, "He gave them power over all unclean
   spirits to cast them out, and to heal every sickness and every
   disease."

   Remig.: Wherein is openly shewed that the multitude were troubled not
   with one single kind of affliction, but with many, and this was His
   pity for the multitude, to give His disciples power to heal and cleanse
   them.

   Jerome: A kind and merciful Lord and Master does not envy His servants
   and disciples a share in His powers. As Himself had cured every
   sickness and disease, He imparted the same power to His Apostles. But
   there is a wide difference between having and imparting, between giving
   and receiving. Whatever He does He does with the power of a master,
   whatever they do it is with confession of their own weakness, as they
   speak, "In the name of Jesus rise and walk." [Acts 3:6]

   A catalogue of the names of the Apostles is given, that all false
   Apostles might be excluded. "The names of the twelve Apostles are
   these; First, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother." To
   arrange them in order according to their merit is His alone who
   searches the secrets of all hearts. But Simon is placed first, having
   the surname of Peter given to distinguish him from the other Simon
   surnamed Chananaeus, from the village of Chana in Galilee where the
   Lord turned the water into wine.

   Rabanus, e Beda: The Greek or Latin Petrus' is the same as the Syriac
   Cephas, in both tongues the word is derived from a rock; undoubtedly
   that of which Paul speaks, "And that rock was Christ." [1 Cor 10:4]

   Remig., ap. Rabanus: There have been some who in this name Peter, which
   is Greek and Latin, have sought a Hebrew interpretation, and would have
   it to signify, Taking off the shoe,', or unloosing,' or acknowledging.'
   But those that say this are contradicted by the facts. First, that the
   Hebrew has no letter P, but uses PH instead. Thus Pilate they call,
   Philate. Secondly, that one of the Evangelists has used the word as an
   interpretation of Cephas; The Lord said, "Thou shalt be called Cephas,"
   [John 1:42] on which the Evangelist adds, "which being interpreted is
   Petrus."

   Simon in interpreted obedient,' for he obeyed the words of Andrew, and
   with him came to Christ, or because he obeyed the divine commands, and
   at one word of bidding followed the Lord. Or as some will have it, it
   is to be interpreted, Laying aside grief,' and, hearing painful
   things;' for that on the Lord's resurrection he laid aside the grief he
   had for His death; and he heard sorrowful things when the Lord said to
   him, "Another shall gird thee, and shall carry thee whither thou
   wouldest not." [John 21:18]

   "And Andrew his brother."

   Chrys.: This is no small honour (done to Peter), He places Peter from
   his merit, Andrew from the nobility he had in being the brother of
   Peter. Mark names Andrew next after the two heads, namely, Peter and
   John; but this one not so; for Mark has arranged them in order of
   dignity.

   Remig.: Andrew is interpreted manly;' for as in Latin virilis' is
   derived from, vir,' so in Greek, Andrew is derived from aner. Rightly
   is he called manly, who left all and followed Christ, and manfully
   persevered in His commands.

   Jerome: The Evangelist couples the names throughout in pairs. So he
   puts together Peter and Andrew, brothers not so much according to the
   flesh as in spirit; James and John who left their father after the
   flesh to follow their true Father; "James the son of Zebedee and John
   his brother." He calls him the son of Zebedee, to distinguish him from
   the other James the son of Alphaeus.

   Chrys.: Observe that he does not place them according to their dignity;
   for to me John would seem to be greater not than others only, but even
   than his brother.

   Remig.: James is interpreted The supplanter,' or that supplanteth;' for
   he not only supplanted the vices of the flesh, but even contemned the
   same flesh when Herod put him to death. John in interpreted The grace
   of God,' because he deserved before all to be loved by the Lord; whence
   also in the favour of His especial love, he leaned at supper in the
   Lord's bosom.

   "Philip and Bartholomew." Philip is interpreted, The mouth of a lamp,'
   or of lamps,' because when he had been enlightened by the Lord, he
   straightway sought to communicate that light to his brother by the
   means of his mouth. Bartholomew is a Syriac, not a Hebrew, name, and is
   interpreted The son of him that raiseth water,' [ed. note: or some say,
   the son of Tolmai, or Ptolemy] that is, of Christ, who raises the
   hearts of His preachers from earthly to heavenly things, and hangs them
   there, that the more they penetrate heavenly things, the more they
   should steep and inebriate the hearts of their hearers with the drops
   of holy preaching.

   "Thomas, and Matthew the Publican."

   Jerome: The other Evangelists in this pair of names put Matthew before
   Thomas; and do not add, "the Publican," that they should not seem to
   throw scorn upon the Evangelist by bringing to mind his former life.
   But writing of himself he both puts Thomas first in the pair, and
   styles himself "the Publican;" because, "where sin hath abounded, there
   grace shall much more abound." [Rom 5:20]

   Remig.: Thomas is interpreted an abyss,' or a twin,' which in Greek is
   Didymus. Rightly is Didymus interpreted an abyss, for the longer he
   doubted the more deeply did he believe the effect of the Lord's
   passion, and the mystery of His Divinity, which forced him to cry, "My
   Lord and my God." [John 20:28] Matthew is interpreted, given,' because
   by the Lord's bounty he was made an Evangelist of a Publican.

   "James the son of Alphaeaus, and Thaddaeus."

   Rabanus, e Beda: This James is he who in the Gospels, and also in the
   Epistle to the Galatians, is called the Lord's brother. For Mary the
   wife of Alphaeus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord; John
   the Evangelist calls her "Mary the wife of Cleophas," probably because
   Cleophas and Alphaeus were the same person. Or Mary herself on the
   death of Alphaeus after the birth of James married Cleophas.

   Remig.: It is well said, "the son of Alphaeus," that is, of the just,'
   or the learned;' for he not only overthrew the vices of the flesh, but
   also despised all care of the same. And of what he was worthy the
   Apostles are witness, who ordained him Bishop of the Church of
   Jerusalem. [ed. note: Where St. James the son of Alphaeus is the same
   as the Bishop of Jerusalem is doubtful. Eusebius is cited on both sides
   the question; S. Epiphanius, S. Gregory Nyssen, Theodoret, and the
   Author of the Constitutions take the negative; so does S. Chrysostom,
   but qualifies his evidence elsewhere; S. Jerome varies. Other Fathers
   are in favour of their identity.] [margin note: Hegesippos. ap. Euseb.
   ii. 23]

   And ecclesiastical history among other things tells of him, that he
   never ate flesh, drunk neither wine nor strong drink, abstained from
   the bath and linen garments, and night and day prayed on his bended
   knees. And so great was his merit, that he was called by all men, The
   just.'

   Thaddaeus is the same whom Luke calls Jude of James, (that is, the
   brother of James,) whose Epistle is read in the Church, in which he
   calls himself the brother of James.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 30: Some copies have Lebbaeus; but whoever
   prevented the same man from having two, or even three different names?

   Remig.: Jude is interpreted having confessed,' because he confessed the
   Son of God.

   Rabanus: Thaddeus or Lebbaeus is interpreted a little heart,' that is,
   a heart-worshipper.

   "Simon Chananaeus, and Judas Scarioth, who also betrayed him."

   Jerome: Simon Chananaeus is the same who in the other Evangelist is
   called Zelotes. Chana signifies Zeal.' Judas is named Scarioth, either
   from the town in which he was born, or from the tribe of Issachar, a
   prophetic omen of his sin; for Issachar means a booty,' thus signifying
   the reward of the betrayer.

   Remig.: Scarioth is interpreted The memory of the Lord,' because he
   followed the Lord; or The memorial of death,' because he plotted in his
   heart how he might betray the Lord to death; or strangling,' because he
   went and hanged himself. It should be known that there are two
   disciples of this name, who are types of all Christians; Jude the
   brother of James, of such as persevere in the confession of the faith;
   Jude Scarioth of such as leave the faith; and turn back again.

   Gloss., non occ.: They are named two and two to express their union as
   yoke-fellows.

   Aug., City of God, book xviii, ch. 49: These therefore He chose for His
   disciples, whom also He named Apostles, humbly born without honour,
   without learning, that whatever they should do that was great, it was
   He that should be in them and should do it. He had among them one that
   was evil, whom He should use in the accomplishment of His Passion, and
   who should be an example to His Church of suffering evil men.

   Ambrose, Ambrosiaster, in Luc. 6: He was not chosen among the Apostles
   unwittingly; for that truth is great, which cannot be harmed even by
   having an adversary in one of its own ministers.

   Rabanus: Also He willed to be betrayed by a disciple, that you when
   betrayed by your intimate might bear patiently that your judgment has
   erred, that your favours have been thrown away.
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   5. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, "Go not
   into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
   ye not:

   6. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

   7. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

   8. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:
   freely ye have received, freely give."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: Because the manifestation of the Spirit, as the
   Apostle speaks, is given for the profit of the Church, after bestowing
   His power on the Apostles, He sends them that they may exercise this
   power for the good of others; "These twelve Jesus sent forth."

   Chrys.: Observe the propriety of the time in which they are sent. After
   they had seen the dead raised, the sea rebuked, and other like wonders,
   and had both in word and deed sufficient proof of His excellent power,
   then He sends them.

   Gloss., non occ.: When He sends them, He teaches them whither they
   should go, what they should preach, and what they should do. And first,
   whither they should go; "Giving them commandment, and saying, Go ye not
   into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
   ye not; but go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

   Jerome: This passage does not contradict the command which He gave
   afterwards, "Go and teach all nations;" for this was before His
   resurrection, that was after. And it behoved the coming of Christ to be
   preached to the Jews first, that they might not have any just plea, or
   say that they were rejected of the Lord, who sent the Apostles to the
   Gentiles and Samaritans.

   Chrys.: Also they were sent to the Jews first, in order that being
   trained in Judaea, as in a palaestra, they might enter on the arena of
   the world to contend; thus He taught them like weak nestlings to fly.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., iv. 1: Or He would be first preached to Judaea and
   afterwards to the Gentiles, in order that the preaching of the Redeemer
   should seem to seek out foreign lands only because it had been rejected
   in His own. There were also at that time some among the Jews who should
   be called, and among the Gentiles some who were not to be called, as
   being unworthy of being renewed to life, and yet not deserving of the
   aggravated punishment which would ensue upon their rejection of the
   Apostles' preaching.

   Hilary: The promulgation of the Law deserved also the first preaching
   of the Gospel; and Israel was to have less excuse for its crime, as it
   had experienced more care in being warned.

   Chrys.: Also that they should not suppose that they were hated of
   Christ because they had reviled Him, and branded Him as daemoniac, He
   sought first their cure, and withholding His disciples from all other
   nations, He sent this people physicians and teachers; and not only
   forbid them to preach to any others before the Jews, but would not that
   they should so much as approach the way that led to the Gentiles; "Go
   not into the way of the Gentiles." And because the Samaritans, though
   more readily disposed to be converted to the faith, were yet at enmity
   with the Jews, He would not suffer the Samaritans to be preached to
   before the Jews.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The Samaritans were Gentiles who had been settled
   in the land of Israel by the king of Assyria after the captivity which
   he made. They had been driven by many terrors to turn to Judaism, and
   had received circumcision and the five books of Moses, but renouncing
   everything else; hence there was no communication between the Jews and
   the Samaritans.

   Chrys.: From these then He diverts his disciples, and sends them to the
   children of Israel, whom He calls "perishing" sheep, not straying; in
   every way contriving an apology for them, and drawing them to Himself.

   Hilary: Though they are here called sheep, yet they raged against
   Christ with the tongues and throats of wolves and vipers.

   Jerome: Figuratively, herein we who bear the name of Christ are
   commanded not to walk in the way of the Gentiles, or the error of the
   heretics, but as we are separate in religion, that we be also separate
   in our life.

   Gloss., non occ.: Having told them to whom they should go, He now
   introduces what they should preach; "Go and preach, saying, The kingdom
   of heaven is at hand."

   Rabanus: The kingdom of heaven is here said to draw nigh by the faith
   in the unseen Creator which is bestowed upon us, not by any movement of
   the visible elements. The saints are rightly denoted by the heavens,
   because they contain God by faith, and love Him with affection.

   Chrys.: Behold the greatness of their ministry, behold the dignity of
   the Apostles. They are not to preach of any thing that can be an object
   of sense, as Moses and the Prophets did; but things new and unlooked
   for; those preached earthly goods, but these the kingdom of heaven and
   all the goods that are there.

   Greg.: Miracles also were granted to the holy preachers, that the power
   they should shew might be a pledge of the truth of their words, and
   they who preached new things should also do new things; wherefore it
   follows, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out
   daemons."

   Jerome: Lest peasants untaught and illiterate, without the graces of
   speech, should obtain credit with none when they announced the kingdom
   of heaven, He gives them power to do the things above mentioned, that
   the greatness of the miracles might approve the greatness of their
   promises.

   Hilary: The exercise of the Lord's power is wholly entrusted to the
   Apostles, that they who were formed in the image of Adam, and the
   likeness of God, should now obtain the perfect image of Christ; and
   whatever evil Satan had introduced into the body of Adam, this they
   should now repair by communion with the Lord's power.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxix, 4: These signs were necessary in the
   beginning of the Church; the faith of the believers must be fed with
   miracles, that it might grow.

   Chrys.: But afterwards they ceased when a reverence for the faith was
   universally established. Or, if they were continued at all, they were
   few and seldom; for it is usual with God to do such things when evil is
   increased, then He shews forth His power.

   Greg.: The Holy Church daily doth spiritually, what it then did
   materially by the Apostles; yea, things far greater, inasmuch as she
   raises and cures souls and not bodies.

   Remig.: "The sick" are the slothful who have not strength to live well;
   "the lepers" are the unclean in sin and carnal delights; the daemoniacs
   are they that are given up under the power of the Devil.

   Jerome: And because spiritual gifts are more lightly esteemed, when
   money is made the means of obtaining them, He adds a condemnation of
   avarice; "Freely ye have received, freely give;" I your Master and Lord
   have imparted these to you without price, do you therefore give them to
   others in like manner, that the free grace of the Gospel be not
   corrupted.

   Gloss., non occ.: This He says, that Judas who had the bag might not
   use the above power for getting money; a plain condemnation of the
   abomination of the simoniacal heresy.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., iv, 4: For He knew before that there would be some
   that would turn the gift of the Spirit which they had received into
   merchandize, and pervert the power of miracles into an instrument of
   their covetousness.

   Chrys.: Observe how He is as careful that they should be upright in
   moral virtue, as that they should have the miraculous powers, shewing
   that miracles without these are nought. "Freely ye have received,"
   seems a check upon their pride; "freely give," a command to keep
   themselves pure from filthy lucre. Or, that what they should do might
   not be thought to be their own benevolence, He says, "Freely ye have
   received;" as much as to say; Ye bestow nothing of your own on these ye
   relieve; for ye have not received these things for money, nor for wages
   of labour; as ye have received them, so give to others; for indeed it
   is not possible to receive a price equal to their value.
     __________________________________________________________________

   9. "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,

   10. Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor
   yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord having forbidden to make merchandize of spiritual
   things, proceeds to pull up the root of all evil, saying, "Possess
   neither gold, nor silver."

   Jerome: For if they preach without receiving reward for it, the
   possession of gold and silver and wealth was unnecessary. For had they
   had such, they would have been thought to be preaching, not for the
   sake of men's salvation, but their own gain.

   Chrys.: This precept then first frees the Apostles from all suspicions;
   secondly, from all care, so that they may give up their whole time to
   preaching the word; thirdly, teaches there their excellence. This is
   what He said to them afterwards, "Was any thing lacking to you, when I
   sent you without bag or scrip?"

   Jerome: As He had cut off riches, which are meant by gold and silver,
   He now almost cuts off necessaries of life; that the Apostles, teachers
   of the true religion, who taught men that all things are directed by
   God's providence, might shew themselves to be without thought for the
   morrow.

   Gloss., non occ.: Whence He adds, "Neither money in your purses." For
   there are two kinds of things necessary; one is the means of buying
   necessaries, which is signified by the money in their purses; the other
   the necessaries themselves, which are signified by the scrip.

   Jerome: In forbidding the scrip, "neither scrip for your journey," He
   aimed at those philosophers commonly called Bactroperatae, who being
   despisers of this world, and esteeming all things as nothing, yet carry
   a bag about with them.

   "Nor two coats." By the two coats He seems to mean a change of raiment;
   not to bid us be content with a single tunic in the snow and frosts of
   Scythia, but that they should not carry about a change with them,
   wearing one, and carrying about the other as provision for the future.

   "Nor shoes." It is a precept of Plato, that the two extremities of the
   body should be left unprotected, and that we should not accustom
   ourselves to tender care of the head and feet; for if these parts be
   hardy, it will follow that the rest of the body will be vigorous and
   healthy. "Nor staff;" for having the protection of the Lord, why need
   we seek the aid of a staff?

   Remig.: The Lord shews by these words that the holy preachers were
   reinstated in the dignity of the first man, who as long as he possessed
   the heavenly treasures, did not desire other; but having lost those by
   sinning, he straightway began to desire the other.

   Chrys.: A happy exchange! In place of gold and silver, and the like,
   they received power to heal the sick, to raise the dead. For He had not
   commanded them from the beginning, "Possess neither gold nor silver;"
   but only then when He said at the same time, "Cleanse the lepers, cast
   out daemons." Whence it is clear that He made them Angels more than
   men, freeing them from all anxiety of this life, that they might have
   but one care, that of teaching; and even of that He in a manner takes
   away the burden, saying, "Be not careful what ye shall speak." Thus
   what seemed hard and burdensome, He shews them to be light and easy.
   For nothing is so pleasant as to be delivered from all care and
   anxiety, more especially when it is possible, being delivered from
   this, to lack nothing, God being present, and being to us instead of
   all things.

   Jerome: As He had sent the Apostles forth unprovided and unencumbered
   on their mission, and the condition of the teachers seemed a hard one,
   He tempered the severity of the rules by this maxim, "The labourer is
   worthy of his hire," i.e. Receive what you need for your food and
   clothing. Whence the Apostle says, "Having food and raiment, let us
   therewith be content." [1 Tim 6:8] And again, "Let him that is
   catechized communicate unto him that catechizeth in all good things;"
   that they whose disciples reap spiritual things, should make them
   partakers of their carnal things, not for the gratification of
   covetousness, but for the supply of wants.

   Chrys.: It behoved the Apostles to be supported by their disciples,
   that neither they should be haughty towards those whom they taught, as
   though they gave all, and received nothing; and that the others, on
   their part, should not fall away, as overlooked by them. Also that the
   Apostles might not cry, He bids us lead the life of beggars, and should
   be ashamed thereat, He shews that this is their due, calling them
   "labourers," and that which is given their "hire." For they were not to
   suppose that because what they gave was only words, therefore they were
   to esteem it but a small benefit that they conferred; therefore He
   says, "The labourer is worthy of his meat." This He said not to signify
   that the labours of the Apostles were only worth so much, but laying
   down a rule for the Apostles, and persuading those that gave, that what
   they gave was only what was due.

   Aug., Serm., 46: The Gospel therefore is not for sale, that it should
   be preached for reward. For if they so sell it, they sell a great thing
   for a small price. Let preachers then receive their necessary support
   from the people, and from God the reward of their employment. For the
   people do not give pay to those that minister to them in the love of
   the Gospel, but as it were a stipend that may support them to enable
   them to work.

   Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 30: Otherwise; When the Lord said to the
   Apostles, "Possess not gold," He added immediately, "The labourer is
   worthy of his hire," to shew why He would not have them possess and
   carry about these things; not that these things were not needed for the
   support of this life, but that He sent them in such a way as to shew
   that these things were due to them from those to whom they preached the
   Gospel, as pay to soldiers. It is clear that this precept of the Lord
   does not at all imply that they ought not according to the Gospel to
   live by any other means, than by the contributions of those to whom
   they preached; otherwise Paul transgressed this precept when he lived
   by the labour of his own hands. But He gave the Apostles authority that
   these things were due to them from the house in which they abode. But
   when the Lord has issued a command, if it be not performed, it is the
   sin of disobedience; when He bestows a privilege, it is in any one's
   power not to use it, and as it were to refrain from claiming his right.

   The Lord then having sanctioned this maxim, that they who preach the
   Gospel should live of the Gospel, He spoke these things to the
   Apostles, that being confident they should not possess nor carry about
   with them the necessaries of life, neither things great nor things
   small. Therefore He adds, "Nor a staff," to shew that from His people
   all things are due to His ministers, and they require no superfluities.
   This authority He signifies by the staff, saying in Mark, "Take nothing
   but a staff only." [Mark 6:18] And when He forbids them (in Matthew) to
   take with them shoes, He forbids that carefulness and thought which
   would be anxious to carry them lest they should be wanting.

   Thus also we must understand concerning the two coats, that none should
   think it necessary to carry another besides that which he wore,
   supposing that he should have need of it; for it would be in his power
   to obtain one by this authority which the Lord gave. Further that we
   read in Mark that they should be shod with sandals, seems to imply that
   this kind of shoe has a mystic meaning in it, that the foot should
   neither be covered above, nor yet bare beneath, that is, that the
   Gospel should not be hid, nor yet rest itself on earthly advantage.

   Also when He forbids them to carry two coats, He warned them not to
   walk deceitfully, but in simplicity. So we cannot doubt that all these
   things were said by the Lord, partly in a direct, partly in a
   figurative sense; and that of the two Evangelists one inserted some
   things, the other things, in his narrative. If any one should think
   that the Lord could not in one speech speak some things in a direct,
   and some things in a mystic sense, let him look at any other of His
   sayings, and he will see how hasty and unlearned his opinion is. When
   the Lord commands that the left hand should not know what the right
   hand doeth, does he think that almsgiving, and the rest of His precepts
   in that place are to be taken figuratively?

   Jerome: Thus far we have expounded by the letter; but metaphorically,
   as we often find gold put for the sense, silver for the words, brass
   for the voice - all these we may say we are not to receive from others,
   but to have them given by the Lord. We are not to take up the teaching
   of heretics, of philosophers, and of corrupt doctrine.

   Hilary: The "girdle" is the making ready for the ministry, the girding
   up that we may be active in duty; we may suppose that the forbidding
   money in the girdle is to warn us from suffering any thing in the
   ministry to be bought and sold. We are not to have "a scrip by the way,
   that is, we are to leave all care of our worldly substance; for all
   treasure on earth in hurtful to the heart, which will be there where
   the treasure is.

   "Not two coats," for it is enough to have once put on Christ, nor after
   true knowledge of Him ought we to be clothed with any other garment of
   heresy or law.

   "Not shoes," because standing on holy ground as was said to Moses not
   covered with the thorns and prickles of sin, we are admonished to have
   no other preparation of our walk than that we have received from
   Christ.

   Jerome: Or; The Lord herein teaches us that our feet are not to be
   bound with the chains of death, but to be bare as we tread on the holy
   ground. We are not to carry a staff which may be turned into a serpent,
   nor to trust in any arm of flesh; for all such is a reed on which if a
   man lean ever so lightly, it will break and go into his hand and pierce
   him.

   Hilary: "Neither a staff;" that is, We are not to seek rights of
   extraneous power, having a rod from the root of Jesse.
     __________________________________________________________________

   11. "And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it
   is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.

   12. And when ye come into an house, salute it.

   13. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it
   be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

   14. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye
   depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

   15. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of
   Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, then for that city."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord had said above, "The workman is worthy of his meat;"
   that they should not hence suppose that He would open all doors to
   them, He here commands them to use much circumspection in the choice of
   a host, saying, "Into what city or town ye enter, enquire who in it is
   worthy."

   Jerome: The Apostles, on entering a strange town, could not know of
   each inhabitant what sort of man he was; they were to choose their host
   therefore by the report of the people, and opinion of the neighbours,
   that the worthiness of the preacher might not be disgraced by the ill
   character of his entertainer.

   Chrys.: How then did Christ Himself abide with the publican? Because he
   was made worthy by his conversion; for this command that he should be
   worthy, had respect not to their rank, but to their furnishing food.
   For if he be worthy he will provide them with food, especially when
   they need no more than bare necessaries. Observe how though He stripped
   them of all property, He supplied all their wants, suffering them to
   abide in the houses of those whom they taught. For so they were both
   themselves set free from care, and convinced men that it was for their
   salvation only that they had come, seeing they carried nothing about
   with them, and desired nothing beyond necessaries. And they did not
   lodge at all places indiscriminately, for He would not have them known
   only by their miracles, but much more by their virtues. But nothing is
   a greater mark of virtue, than to discard superfluities.

   Jerome: One host is chosen who does not so much confer a favour upon
   him who is to abide with him, as receive one. For it is said, "Who in
   it is worthy," that he may know that he rather receives than does a
   favour.

   Chrys.: Also observe that He has not yet endowed them with all gifts;
   for He has not given them power to discern who is worthy, but bids them
   seek out; and not only to find out who is worthy, but also not to pass
   from house to house, saying, "And there remain until ye depart out of
   that city;" so they would neither make their entertainer sorrowful, nor
   themselves incur suspicion of lightness or gluttony.

   Ambrose, Ambros., in Luc., 9. 5: The Apostles are not to choose
   carelessly the house into which they enter, that they may have no cause
   for changing their lodging; the same caution is not enforced upon the
   entertainer, lest in choosing his guests, his hospitality should be
   diminished.

   "When ye enter a house, salute it, saying, Peace be to this house."

   Gloss., interlin.: As much as to say, Pray ye for peace upon the master
   of the house, that all resistance to the truth may be pacified.

   Jerome: Here is a latent allusion to the form of salutation in Hebrew
   and Syriac; they say Salemalach, or Salamalach, for the Greek, chaire,
   or Latin, Ave; that is, Peace be with you.' The command then is, that
   on entering any house they should pray for peace for their host; and,
   as far as they may be able, to still all discords, so that if any
   quarrel should arise, they, who had prayed for peace should have it -
   others should have the discord; as it follows, "And if that house be
   worthy, your peace shall rest upon it; but if it be not worthy, your
   peace shall return to you again."

   Remig., ap. Raban.: Thus either the hearer, being predestined to
   eternal life, will follow the heavenly word when he hears it; or if
   there be none who will hear it, the preacher himself shall not be
   without fruit; for his peace returns to him when he receives of the
   Lord recompense for all his labour.

   Chrys.: The Lord instructs them, that though they were teachers, yet
   they should not look to be first saluted by others; but that they
   should honour others by first saluting them. And then He shews them
   that they should give not a salutation only, but a benediction, when He
   says, "If that house be worthy, your peace shall rest upon it."

   Remig.: The Lord therefore taught his disciples to offer peace on their
   entering into a house, that by means of their salutation their choice
   might be directed to a worthy house and host. As though He had said,
   Offer peace to all, they will shew themselves either worthy by
   accepting, or unworthy by not accepting it; for though you have chosen
   a hose that is worthy by the character he bears among his neighbours,
   yet ought you to salute him, that the preacher may seem rather to enter
   by invitation, than to intrude himself. This salutation of peace in few
   words may indeed by referred to the trial of the worthiness of the
   house or master.

   Hilary: The Apostles salute the house with the prayer of peace; yet so
   as that peace seems rather spoken than given. For their own peace which
   was the bowels of their pity ought not to rest upon the house if it
   were not worthy; then the sacrament of heavenly peace could be kept
   within the Apostles own bosom. Upon such as rejected the precepts of
   the heavenly kingdom an eternal curse is left by the departure of the
   Apostles, and the dust shaken from their feet; "And whosoever shall not
   receive you, not hear your words, "when ye go out of that house, or
   that town, cast the dust off your feet." For he that lives in any place
   seems to have a kind of fellowship with that place. By the casting the
   dust off the feet, therefore all that belonged to that house is left
   behind, and nothing of healing or soundness is borrowed from the
   footsteps of the Apostles having trod their soil.

   Jerome: Also they shake off the dust as a testimony of the Apostles'
   toil, that in preaching the Gospel they had come even so far, or as a
   token that from those that rejected the Gospel they would accept
   nothing, not even the necessaries of life.

   Rabanus: Otherwise; The feet of the disciples signify the labour and
   progress of preaching. The dust which covers them is the lightness of
   earthly thoughts, from which even the greatest doctors cannot be free;
   their anxiety for their hearers involves them in cares for their
   prosperity, and in passing through the ways of this world, they gather
   the dust of the earth they tread upon. They then who have despised the
   teaching of these doctors, turn upon themselves all the toils and
   dangers and anxieties of the Apostles as a witness to their damnation.
   And lest it should seem a slight thing not to receive the Apostles, He
   adds, "verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and
   Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city."

   Jerome: Because to the men of Sodom and Gomorrah no man had ever
   preached; but this city had been preached to and had rejected the
   Gospel.

   Remig., ap. Raban.: Or because the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were
   hospitable among their sensuality, but they had never entertained such
   strangers as the Apostles.

   Jerome: But if it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than
   for that city, hence we may learn that there is difference of degree in
   the punishment of sinners.

   Remig.: Sodom and Gomorrah are especially mentioned, to shew that those
   sins which are against nature are particularly hateful to God, for
   which the world was drowned with the waters of the deluge, four towns
   were overthrown, and the world is daily afflicted with manifold evils.

   Hilary: Figuratively, The Lord teaches us not to enter the houses or to
   mix in the acquaintance of those who persecute Christ, or who are
   ignorant of Him; and in each town to enquire who among them is worthy,
   i.e. where there is a Church wherein Christ dwells; and not to pass to
   another, because this house is worthy, this host is our right host. But
   there would be many of the Jews who would be so well disposed to the
   Law, that though they believed in Christ because they admired His
   works, yet they would abide in the works of the Law; and others again
   who, desiring to make trial of that liberty which is in Christ, would
   feign themselves ready to forsake the Law for the Gospel; many also
   would be drawn aside into heresy by perverse understanding. And since
   all these would falsely maintain that with them only was Catholic
   verity, therefore we must with great caution seek out the house, i.e.
   the Church.
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye
   therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

   17. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils,
   and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

   18. And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for
   a testimony against them and the Gentiles."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. 33: Having removed all care and anxiety from the Apostles,
   and armed them with the miraculous powers, He proceeds to foretell the
   evils which should befal them. First, that they might know his
   knowledge of the future; secondly, that they should not think that
   these things befel them because of the want of power in their Master;
   thirdly, that they might not be amazed if these things had come upon
   them unexpectedly; fourthly, that after hearing these things, they
   might not be dismayed in the season of His cross; and lastly, that they
   might learn a new method of warfare.

   He sends them unprovided, bidding them look to those who should receive
   them for support; but rests not in that, but shews his power still
   further, "Lo, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves." Where
   observe that He does not say merely to wolves,' but "in the midst of
   wolves," to shew His excellent might therein, that the sheep would
   overcome the wolves though they were in the midst of them; and though
   they received many bites from them, yet were they not destroyed, but
   rather convert them. And it is a much greater and a more wonderful
   power that can change their hearts than that can kill them. Among
   wolves He teaches them to shew the meekness of sheep.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xvii. 4: For he who undertakes the office of
   preacher ought not to do evil, but to suffer it, and by his meekness to
   mollify the wrath of the angry, and by his wounds to heal the wounds of
   sinners in their affliction. And even should the zeal of right-doing
   ever require that He should be severe to those that are placed under
   Him, His very severity will be of love and not of cruelty, outwardly
   maintaining the rights of discipline, and inwardly loving those whom He
   corrects. Too many, when they are entrusted with the reins of
   government, burn to make the subjects feel them, display the terrors of
   authority, and forgetting that they are fathers, rather desire to be
   thought lords, changing a station of lowliness into that of lofty
   dominion, if they ever seem outwardly to fawn on any one, they inwardly
   hate him; of such He spoke above; "They come to you in sheep's
   clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." [Matt 7:15] For
   prevention whereof we ought to consider that we are sent as sheep among
   wolves, whose innocence we ought to preserve, not having the tooth of
   malice.

   Jerome: He calls the Scribes and Pharisees who are the clergy of the
   Jews, "wolves."

   Hilary: The wolves indeed are all such as should pursue the Apostles
   with mad fury.

   Chrys.: Their consolation under their hardships was the excellent power
   of Him who sent them; wherefore He puts that before all, "Lo, I send
   you." Be not dismayed, though you be sent into the midst of wolves; for
   I am able to bring it to pass that you suffer no hurt, and that ye
   should not only prevail over the wolves, but be made more terrible than
   lions. But it is good that it should be thus; hereby your virtue is
   made brighter, and My power is more manifested. Also that somewhat
   should proceed from themselves, that they should not think themselves
   to be crowned without reason. He add, "Be ye therefore wise as
   serpents, simple as doves."

   Jerome: "Wise," that they might escape snares; "simple," that they
   might not do evil to others. The craft of the serpent is set before
   them as an example, for he hides his head with all the rest of his
   body, that he may protect the part in which life is. So ought we to
   expose our whole body, that we may guard our head which is Christ; that
   is, that we study to keep the faith whole and uncorrupt.

   Raban.: The serpent moreover seeks out narrow chinks through which it
   crawls to draw off its old skin; so the preacher passing through the
   narrow way lays aside the old man.

   Remig.: Beautifully the Lord bids the preacher have the wisdom of the
   serpent; because the first man was beguiled by a serpent; as though He
   had said, The foe is subtle to deceive, be ye therefore wise to rescue;
   he commended the tree, do ye also commend the tree of the Cross.

   Hilary: He first attempted the softer sex, allured her by hope, and
   promised a share of immortality. Do you in like manner seize every
   opportunity, look well into each man's nature and inclination, use
   wisdom of speech, reveal hope of good things to come; that what he
   promised falsely we may preach truly according to God's promise, that
   they that believe shall be like to the Angels.

   Chrys.: But as we ought to have the wisdom of the serpent, that we
   should not be hurt in any deadly part, so also we should have the
   simplicity of the dove, not to retaliate when we are hurt, nor to
   avenge ourselves on those who have designed aught against us.

   Remig.: The Lord unites these two thing; because simplicity without
   wisdom might be easily deceived, and wisdom is dangerous unless it be
   tempered with simplicity that does no man hurt.

   Jerome: The harmlessness of doves is shewn by the assumption of that
   form by the Holy Spirit; as the Apostle speaks, "In malice be ye
   children."

   Chrys.: What is harder than these commands? It is not enough that we
   suffer ill, but we must not be angry thereat, as is the dove's nature,
   for anger is extinguished not by anger, but by meekness.

   Raban.: That by the wolves above He intended men, He shews when He
   adds, "Take heed of men."

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: Ye have indeed need to be wise as serpents, for, as
   they are wont to do, "they will deliver you to councils," forbidding
   you to preach in My name; then if ye be not corrected, "they will
   scourge you," and at length "ye shall be brought before kings and
   governors."

   Hilary: Who will endeavour to extort from you either to be silent or to
   temporize.

   Chrys.: How wonderful that men who had never been beyond the lake in
   which they fished, did not straighway depart from Him on hearing these
   things. It was not only of their goodness, but of the wisdom of their
   Teacher. For to each evil He attaches somewhat of alleviation; as here
   He adds, "for my sake;" for it is no light consolation to suffer for
   Christ's sake, for they did not suffer as evil or wrong doers. Again He
   adds, "for a testimony against them."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxv, 2: Either that they had presented to the
   death, or that they had seen and were not changed. For the death of the
   saints is to the good an aid, to the bad a testimony; that thus the
   wicked may perish without excuse in that from which the elect take
   example and live.

   Chrys.: This was matter of consolation to them, not that they sought
   the punishment of others, but that they were confident that in all
   things they had One present with them, and all-knowing.

   Hilary: And by this their testimony not only was all excuse of
   ignorance of His divinity taken away from their persecutors, but also
   to the Gentiles was opened the way of believing on Christ, who was thus
   devotedly preached by the voices of the confessors among the flames of
   persecution; and this is that He adds, "and the Gentiles."
     __________________________________________________________________

   19. "But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall
   speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

   20. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which
   speaketh in you."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: To the foregoing topics of consolation, He adds another not a
   little one; that they should not say, How shall we be able to persuade
   such men as these, when they shall persecute us? He bids them be of
   good courage respecting their answer, saying, "When they shall deliver
   you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak."

   Remig.: "How or what," one refers to the substance, the other to the
   expression in words. And because both of these would be supplied by
   Him, there was no need for the holy preachers to be anxious about
   either.

   Jerome: When then we are brought before judges for Christ's sake, we
   ought to offer only our will for Christ. But Christ who dwelleth in us
   speaks for Himself, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will minister in
   our answer.

   Hilary: For our faith, observing all the precepts of the Divine will,
   will be instructed with an answer according to knowledge, after the
   example of Abraham, to whom when he had given up Isaac, there was not
   wanting a ram for a victim. "For it is not ye who speak, but the Spirit
   of your Father that speaketh in you."

   Remig., ap. Raban.: Meaning, Ye indeed go out to the battle, but it is
   I who fight; you utter the words, but it is I who speak. Hence Paul
   speaks, "Seek ye a proof of Christ who speaketh in me?" [2 Cor 13:3]

   Chrys.: Thus He raises them to the dignity of the Prophets, who have
   spoken by the Spirit of God. He who says here, "Take no thought what ye
   shall speak," [1 Pet 3:15] has said in another place, "Be ye always
   ready to give an answer to him that demandeth a reason of the hope that
   is in you." When it is a dispute among friends, we are commanded to "be
   ready;" but before the awful judgment, and the raging people, aid is
   ministered by Christ, that they may speak boldly and not be dismayed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   21. "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the
   father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents,
   and cause them to be put to death.

   22. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that
   endureth to the end shall be saved."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: Having placed the comfort first, He adds the more
   alarming perils; "Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the
   father the son; children shall rise against parents, to put them to
   death."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxv, 3: Wrongs which we suffer from strangers,
   pain us less than those we suffer from men on whose affections we had
   counted; for besides the bodily affliction, there is then the pain of
   lost affection.

   Jerome: This we see often happen in persecutions, nor is there any true
   affection between those whose faith is different.

   Chrys.: What follows is yet more dreadful, "Ye shall be hated of all
   men;" they sought to exterminate them as common enemies of all the
   world. To this again is added the consolation, "For my name's sake;"
   and yet further to cheer them, "Whosoever shall endure to the end, he
   shall be saved." For many are hot and zealous in the beginning, but
   afterwards grow cool, for these, He says, I look at the end. For where
   is the profit of seeds that only sprout at first? wherefore He requires
   a sufficient endurance from them.

   Jerome: For virtue is not to begin but to complete.

   Remig.: And the reward is not for those that begin, but for those that
   bring to an end.

   Chrys.: But that no man should say, that Christ wrought all things in
   His Apostles, and therefore it is nothing wonderful that they were made
   such as they were, since they did not bear the burden of these things,
   therefore He says, that perseverance was their work. For though they
   were rescued from their first perils, they are preserved for still
   harder trials, which again shall be followed by others, and they shall
   be in danger of snares as long as they live. This He covertly intimates
   when he says, "Whosoever shall endure to the end, he shall be saved."

   Remig.: That is, He who shall not let go the commands of the faith, nor
   fall away in persecution, shall be saved; he shall receive the reward
   of the heavenly kingdom for his earthly persecutions. And note that the
   end' does not always mean destruction, but sometimes perfection, as in
   that, "Christ is the end of the Law." [Rom 10:4] So the sense here may
   be, "Whosoever shall endure to the end," that is, in Christ.

   Aug., City of God, book 21, ch. 25: To endure in Christ, is to abide in
   His faith which worketh by love.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another:
   for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of
   Israel, till the Son of man be come."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Having foretold the fearful things which should come upon them
   after His Cross, resurrection, and ascension, He leads them to gentler
   prospects; He does not bid them presumptuously to offer themselves for
   persecution, but to fly from it; "When they persecute you in this city,
   flee ye to another." For because this was the first beginning of their
   conversion, He adapts His words to their state.

   Jerome: This must be referred to the time when the Apostles were sent
   to preach, when it was said to them, "Go not into the way of the
   Gentiles;" they should not fear, but may shun persecution. This we see
   the believers did in the beginning, when on a persecution arising in
   Jerusalem they were scattered throughout all Judaea, and thus the
   season of tribulation was made the seedtime of the Gospel.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xxii, 36: Not that the Saviour was unable to
   protect His disciples, does He here bid them fly, and Himself give them
   an example of it, but He instructed man's weakness, that he should not
   presume to tempt God, when he has anything that he can do for himself,
   but should shun all evils.

   Aug., City of God, book 1, ch. 22: He might have suffered them to lay
   violent hands upon themselves, that they might not fall into the hands
   of their persecutors. Therefore if He neither commanded nor allowed
   this mode of departure from this world to His own, for whom He Himself
   had promised that He would prepare an eternal mansion; whatever
   instances may be brought by the Gentiles who know not God, it is clear
   that this is not lawful for those who believe one true God.

   Chrys.: But that they should not say, What then if we fly from
   persecution, and again they cast us out thence whither we have fled? To
   remove this fear, He says, "Verily, I say unto you, ye shall not have
   completed, &c." that is, ye shall not have made the circuit of
   Palestine and return to Me, before I shall take you to Me.

   Raban.: Or; He foretels that they shall not have brought all the cities
   of Israel to the faith by their preaching, before the Lord's
   resurrection be accomplished, and a commission given them to preach the
   Gospel throughout the world.

   Hilary: Otherwise; He exhorts to fly from place to place; for His
   preaching driven from Judaea, first passing into Greece; then, wearied
   with divers sufferings of the Apostles up and down the cities of
   Greece, it takes an abiding refuge in the rest of the Gentile world.
   But to shew that the Gentiles would believe the preaching of the
   Apostles, but that the remnant of Israel should only believe at His
   second coming, He adds, "Ye shall not have completed the cities of
   Israel;" i.e. After the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, that
   which remains of Israel to fill up the number of the Saints shall be
   called into the Church in Christ's future coming to glory.

   Aug., Ep. 228: Let the servants of Christ then do as He commanded, or
   permitted them; as He fled into Egypt, let them fly from city to city,
   whenever any one of them is marked out for persecution; that the Church
   be not deserted, it will be filled by those who are not so sought
   after; and let these give sustenance to their fellow-servants whom they
   know cannot live by any other means. But when the threatening danger is
   common to all, Bishops, clergy, and laity, let not those who have need
   of aid be deserted by those whose aid they require.

   Either therefore let them all pass to some stronghold, or let those who
   are obliged to remain, not be deserted by those whose province it is to
   supply their ecclesiastical needs; that they may either all live, or
   all suffer whatever their Master will have them to suffer.

   Remig.: Be it known moreover, that as this precept respecting endurance
   under persecution specially belongs to the Apostles and their
   successors, men of fortitude, so the permission to fly is sufficiently
   proper for the weak in the faith, to whom the tender Master
   condescends, lest if they should offer themselves for martyrdom, under
   the pain they should deny the faith; and the sin of flight is lighter
   than that of denial. But though by their flight they shewed that they
   had not the constancy of perfect faith, yet their desert was great,
   seeing they were ready to leave all for Christ. So that if He had not
   given them permission to fly, some would have said that they were
   aliens from the glory of the heavenly kingdom.

   Jerome: Spiritually, we may say; When they shall persecute you in one
   book or one passage of Scripture, let us flee to other volumes, for
   however contentious the adversary may be, protection will come from the
   Saviour before the victory is yielded to the enemy.
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   24. "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his
   lord.

   25. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the
   servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house
   Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Because it should come to pass that His disciples among their
   other persecutions should suffer loss of character, which to many is
   the most grievous of all calamities, He consoles them from His own
   example, and those things that were spoken of Him; a comfort to which
   no other can be compared.

   Hilary: For the Lord, the Light eternal, the Captain of the faithful,
   the Parent of immortality, set before His disciples this solace of the
   sufferings that should come upon them, that we should embrace it as our
   glory when we are made like to our Lord in suffering; whence He says,
   "The disciple is not above his master, nor the slave above his lord."

   Chrys.: Understand, so long as he is a disciple or servant, he is not
   above his master or lord by the nature of honour. And do not here
   object to me such cases as rarely happen, but receive this according to
   the common course of things.

   Remig.: He calls Himself master and lord; by disciple and servant He
   denotes His Apostles.

   Gloss. ord.: As much as to say, Be not indignant that ye suffer things,
   which I also suffer, because I am your lord, who do what I will, and
   your master, who teach you what I know to be profitable for you.

   Remig.: And because this sentence seemed not to agree with the
   foregoing words, He shews what they mean by adding, "If they have
   called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more they of his
   household?"

   Chrys.: He said not here, slaves,' but "those of his household," to
   shew how dear they were to Him; as elsewhere He said, "I will not call
   you slaves, but my friends." [John 15:15]

   Remig.: As much as to say, Ye therefore will not seek worldly honours
   and human glory, while you see me pursuing the redemption of mankind
   through mocking and contumely.

   Chrys.: And He says not only, If they have reviled the master of the
   house, but expresses the very words of railing, for they had called Him
   Beelzebub.

   Jerome: Beelzebub is the idol of Accaron who is called in the book of
   Kings, the God of flies; [2 Ki 1:3] Bel,' signifying, "idol;" zebub,' a
   "fly". The Prince of the daemons He calls by the name of the foulest of
   idols, which is so called because of the uncleanness of the fly, which
   destroys the sweetness of ointment.
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   26. "Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall
   not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

   27. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye
   hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

   28. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
   soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body
   in hell."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: To the foregoing consolation He adds another no less, saying,
   "Fear ye not them," namely, the persecutors. And why they were not to
   fear, He adds, "For there is nothing hid which shall not be revealed,
   nothing secret which shall not be known."

   Jerome: How is it then that in the present world, the sins of so many
   are unknown? It is of the time to come that this is said; the time when
   God shall judge the hidden things of men, shall enlighten the hidden
   places of darkness, and shall make manifest the secrets of hearts. The
   sense is, Fear not the cruelty of the persecutor, or the rage of the
   blasphemer, for there shall come a day of judgment in which your virtue
   and their wickedness will be made known.

   Hilary: Therefore neither threatening, nor evil speaking, nor power of
   their enemies should move them, seeing the judgment-day will disclose
   how empty, how nought all these were.

   Chrys.: Otherwise; It might seem that what is here said should be
   applied generally; but it is by no means intended as a general maxim,
   but is spoken solely with reference to what had gone before with this
   meaning; If you are grieved when men revile you, think that in a little
   time you will be delivered from this evil. They call you indeed
   impostors, sorcerers, seducers, but have a little patience, and all men
   shall call you the saviours of the world, when in the course of things
   you shall be found to have been their benefactors, for men will not
   judge by their words but by the truth of things.

   Remig.: Some indeed think that these words convey a promise from our
   Lord to His disciples, that through them all hidden mysteries should be
   revealed, which lay beneath the veil of the letter of the Law; whence
   the Apostle speaks, "When they have turned to Christ, then the veil
   shall be taken away." [2 Cor 3:16] So the sense would be, Ought you to
   fear your persecutors, when you are thought worthy that by you the
   hidden mysteries of the Law and the Prophets should be made manifest?

   Chrys.: Then having delivered them from all fear, and set them above
   all calumny, He follows this up appropriately with commanding that
   their preaching should be free and unreserved; "What I say to you in
   darkness, that speak ye in the light; what ye hear in the ear, that
   preach ye upon the housetops."

   Jerome: We do not read that the Lord was wont to discourse to them by
   night, or to deliver his doctrine in the dark; but He said this because
   all His discourse is dark to the carnal, and His word night to the
   unbelieving. What had been spoken by Him they were to deliver again
   with the confidence of faith and confession.

   Remig.: The meaning therefore is, "What I say to you in darkness," that
   is, among the unbelieving Jews, "that speak ye in the light," that is,
   preach it to the believing; "what ye hear in the ear," that is, what I
   say unto you secretly, "that preach ye upon the housetops," that is,
   openly before all men. It is a common phrase, To speak in one's ear,
   that is, to speak to him privately.

   Rabanus: And what He says, "Preach ye upon the housetops," is spoken
   after the manner of the province of Palestine, where they use to sit
   upon the roofs of the houses, which are not pointed but flat. That then
   may be said to be preached upon the housetops which is spoken in the
   hearing of all men.

   Gloss. ord.: Otherwise; What I say unto you while you are yet held
   under carnal fear, that speak ye in the confidence of truth, after ye
   shall be enlightened by the Holy Spirit; what you have only heard, that
   preach by doing the same, being raised above you bodies, which are the
   dwellings of your souls.

   Jerome: Otherwise; What you hear in mystery, that teach in plainness of
   speech; what I have taught you in a corner of Judaea, that proclaim
   boldly in all quarters of the world.

   Chrys.: As He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do he
   shall do also, and greater things than these shall he do;" [John 14:12]
   so here He shews that He works all things through them more than
   through Himself; as though He had said, I have made a beginning, but
   what is beyond, that I will to complete through your means. So that
   this is not a command but a prediction, shewing them that they shall
   overcome all things.

   Hilary: Therefore they ought to inculcate constantly the knowledge of
   God, and the profound secret of evangelic doctrine, to be revealed by
   the light of preaching; having no fear of those who have power only
   over the body, but cannot reach the soul; "Fear not those that kill the
   body, but cannot kill the soul."

   Chrys.: Observe how He sets them above all others, encouraging them to
   set at nought cares, reproaches, perils, yea even the most terrible of
   all things, death itself, in comparison of the fear of God.

   "But rather fear him, who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

   Jerome: This word is not found in the Old Scriptures, but it is first
   used by the Saviour. Let us enquire then into its origin. We read in
   more than one place that the idol Baal was near Jerusalem, at the foot
   of Mount Moriah, by which the brook Siloe flows. This valley and a
   small level plain was watered and woody, a delightful spot, and a grove
   in it was consecrated to the idol. To so great folly and madness had
   the people of Israel come, that, forsaking the neighbourhood of the
   Temple, they offered their sacrifices there, and concealing an austere
   ritual under a voluptuous life, they burned their sons in honour of a
   daemon.

   This place was called, Gehennom, that is, The valley of the children of
   Hinnom. These things are fully described in Kings and Chronicles, and
   the Prophet Jeremiah. [2 Ki 23:10, 2 Chron 26:3, Jer 7:32;32:35] God
   threatens that He will fill the place with the carcasses of the dead,
   that it be no more called Tophet and Baal, but Polyandrion, i.e. The
   tomb of the dead. Hence the torments and eternal pains with which
   sinners shall be punished are signified by this word.

   Aug., City of God, book xiii, ch. 2: This cannot be before the soul is
   so joined to the body, that nothing may sever them. Yet it is rightly
   called the death of the soul, because it does not live of God; and the
   death of the body, because though man does not cease to feel, yet
   because this his feeling has neither pleasure nor health, but is a pain
   and a punishment, it is better named death than life.

   Chrys.: Note also, that He does not hold out to them deliverance from
   death, but encourages them to despise it; which is a much greater thing
   than to be rescued from death; also this discourse aids in fixing in
   their minds the doctrine of immortality.
     __________________________________________________________________

   29. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall
   not fall on the ground without your Father.

   30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

   31. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Having set aside fear of death, that the Apostles should not
   think that if they were put to death they were deserted by God, He
   passes to discourse of God's providence, saying, "Are not two sparrows
   sold for a farthing, and one of them does not fall to the ground
   without your Father?"

   Jerome: If these little creations fall not without God's
   superintendence and providence, and if things made to perish, perish
   not without God's will, you who are immortal ought not to fear that you
   live without His providence.

   Hilary: Figuratively; That which is sold is our soul and body, and that
   to which it is sold, is sin. They then who sell two sparrows for a
   farthing, are they who sell themselves for the smallest sin, born for
   flight, and for reaching heaven with spiritual wings. [margin note: see
   Ps 124:7] Caught by the bait of present pleasures, and sold to the
   enjoyment of the world, they barter away their whole selves in such a
   market. It is of the will of God that one of them rather soar aloft;
   but the law proceeding according to God's appointment decrees that one
   of them should fall. In like manner as, if they soared aloft they would
   become one spiritual body; so, when sold under sin, the soul gathers
   earthly matter from the pollution of vice, and there is made of them
   one body which is committed to earth.

   Jerome: That He says, "The hairs of your head are all numbered," shews
   the boundless providence of God towards man, and a care unspeakable
   that nothing of ours is hid from God.

   Hilary: For when any thing is numbered it is carefully watched over.

   Chrys.: Not that God reckons our hairs, but to shew His diligent
   knowledge, and great carefulness over us.

   Jerome: Those who deny the resurrection of the flesh ridicule the sense
   of the Church on this place, as if we affirmed that every hair that has
   ever been cut off by the razor rises again, when the Saviour says,
   "Every hair of your head" - not is saved, but - "is numbered." Where
   there is number, knowledge of that number is implied, but not
   preservation of the same hairs.

   Aug., City of God, book xxii, ch. 19: Though we may fairly enquire
   concerning our hair, whether all that has ever been shorn from us will
   return; for who would not dread such disfigurement. When it is once
   understood that nothing of our body shall be lost, so as that the form
   and perfectness of all the parts should be preserved, we at the same
   time understand that all that would have disfigured our body is to be
   united or taken up by the whole mass, not affixed to particular parts
   so as to destroy the frame of the limbs; just as a vessel made of clay,
   and again reduced to clay, is once more reformed into a vessel, it
   needs not that that portion of clay which had formed the handle should
   again form it, or that which had composed the bottom, should again go
   to the bottom, so long as the whole was remoulded into the whole, the
   whole clay into the whole vessel, no part being lost.

   Wherefore if the hair so often shorn away would be a deformity if
   restored to the place it had been taken from, it will not be restored
   to that place, but all the materials of the old body will be revived in
   the new, whatever place they may occupy so as to preserve the mutual
   fitness of parts. Though what is said in Luke, "Not a hair of your head
   shall fall to the ground," [Luke 21:18] may be taken of the number, not
   the length of the hairs, as here also it is said, "The hairs of your
   head are all numbered."

   Hilary: For it is an unworthy task to number things that are to perish.
   Therefore that we should know that nothing of us should perish, we are
   told that our very hairs are numbered. No accident then that can befal
   our bodies is to be feared.

   Thus He adds, "Fear not, ye are better than many sparrows."

   Jerome: This expresses still more clearly the sense as it was above
   explained, that they should not fear those who can kill the body, for
   if the least animal falls not without God's knowledge, how much less a
   man who is dignified with the Apostolic rank?

   Hilary: Or this, "ye are better than many sparrows," teaches that the
   elect faithful are better than the multitude of the unbelieving, for
   the one fall to earth, the other fly to heaven.

   Remig.: Figuratively; Christ is the head, the Apostles the hairs, who
   are well said to be numbered, because the names of the saints are
   written in heaven.
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   32. "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I
   confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

   33. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before
   my Father which is in heaven."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord having banished that fear which haunted the minds of
   His disciples, adds further comfort in what follows, not only casting
   out fear, but by hope of greater rewards encouraging them to a free
   proclamation of the truth, saying, "Every man who shall confess me
   before men, I also will confess him before my Father which is in
   heaven." And it is not properly "shall confess me," but as it is in the
   Greek, "shall confess in me," shewing that it is not by your own
   strength but by grace from above, that you confess Him whom you do
   confess.

   Hilary: This He says in conclusion, because it behoves them after being
   confirmed by such teaching, to have a confident freedom in confessing
   God.

   Remig.: Here is to be understood that confession of which the Apostle
   speaks, "With the heart men believe unto justification, with the mouth
   confession is made unto salvation." [Rom 10:10] That none therefore
   might suppose that he could be saved without confession of the mouth,
   He says not only, "He that shall confess me," but adds, "before me;"
   and again, "He that shall deny me before men, him will I also deny
   before my Father which is in heaven."

   Hilary: This teaches us, that in what measure we have borne witness to
   Him upon earth, in the same shall we have Him to bear witness to us in
   heaven before the face of God the Father.

   Chrys.: Here observe that the punishment is manifold more than the evil
   done, and the reward more than the good done. As much as to say, your
   deed was more abundant in confessing or denying Me here; so shall My
   deed to you be more abundant in confessing or denying you there.
   Wherefore if you have done any good thing, and have not received
   retribution, be not troubled, for a manifold reward awaits you in the
   time to come. And if you have done any evil, and have not paid the
   punishment thereof, do not think that you have escaped, for punishment
   will overtake you, unless you are changed and become better.

   Raban.: It should be known that not even Pagans can deny the existence
   of God, but the infidels may deny that the Son as well as the Father is
   God. The Son confesses men before the Father, because by the Son we
   have access to the Father, and because the Son saith, "Come, ye blessed
   of my Father." [Matt 25:34]

   Remig.: And thus He will deny the man that hath denied Him, in that he
   shall not have access to the Father through Him, and shall be banished
   from seeing either the Son of the Father in their divine nature.

   Chrys.: He not only requires faith which is of the mind, but confession
   which is by the mouth, that He may exalt us higher, and raise us to a
   more open utterance, and a larger measure of love. For this is spoken
   not to the Apostles only, but to all; He gives strength not to them
   only, but to their disciples. And he that observes this precept will
   not only teach with free utterance, but will easily convince all; for
   the observance of this command drew many to the Apostles.

   Raban.: Or, He confesses Jesus who by that faith that worketh by love,
   obediently fulfils His commands; he denies Him who is disobedient.
     __________________________________________________________________

   34. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to
   send peace, but a sword.

   35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
   daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother
   in law.

   36. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: He had before said, "What I say to you in darkness, that speak
   ye in the light;" He now tells them what will follow upon that
   preaching, saying, "Think not that I am come to send peace upon earth;
   I am not come to send peace, but a sword."

   Gloss. interlin.: Or connect it with what has gone before, As the fear
   of death ought not to draw you away, so neither ought carnal affection.

   Chrys., Hom. xxxv: How then did He enjoin them, that when they should
   enter any house they should say, "Peace be to this house," as also the
   Angels sung, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace to men."
   [Luke 2:14] That is the most perfect peace when that which is diseased
   is lopped off, when that which introduces strife is taken away, for so
   only is it possible that heaven should be joined to earth. For so does
   the physician save the rest of the body, namely by cutting off that
   which cannot be healed. So it came to pass at the tower of Babel; a
   happy discord broke up their bad union. So also Paul divided those who
   were conspired together against him. For concord is not in all cases
   good; for there is honour among thieves. And this combat is not of His
   setting before them, but of the plots of the world.

   Jerome: For in the matter of belief in Christ, the whole world was
   divided against itself; each house had its believers and its
   unbelievers; and therefore was this holy war sent, that an unholy peace
   might be broken through.

   Chrys.: This He said as it were comforting His disciples, as much as to
   say, Be not troubled as though these things fell upon you unexpectedly;
   for this cause I came that I might send war upon the earth - nay He
   says not war,' but what is yet harder, "a sword." For He sought by
   sharpness of speech so to rouse their attention, that they should not
   fall off in time of trial and difficulty; or say that He had told them
   smooth things, and had hid the difficulties. For it is better to meet
   with softness in deeds than in words; and therefore He stayed not in
   words, but shewing them the nature of their warfare, He taught them
   that it was more perilous than a civil war; saying, "I am come to set a
   man against his father, and daughter against her mother, and
   daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." So this warfare will be
   between not acquaintances merely, but the nearest and dearest kindred;
   and this shews Christ's very great power; that His disciples after
   having heard this, yet undertook the mission, and brought over others.

   Yet was it not Christ who made this division, but the evil nature of
   the parties; when He says that it is He that does it, He speaks
   according to the manner of Scripture. As it is written, "God hath given
   them eyes that they should not see." [Isa 6:10] Here is also a great
   proof that the Old Testament is like the New. For among the Jews a man
   was to put his neighbour to death if he found him making a calf, or
   sacrificing to Baalphegor; so here to shew that it was the same God who
   ordained both that and these precepts, He reminds them of the prophecy,
   "A man's foes are they of his household." For this same thing happened
   among the Jews; there were Prophets, and false Prophets; there the
   multitude was divided, and houses were set against themselves; there
   some believed one part, and some another.

   Jerome: These are almost the words of the Prophet Micah. [Mic 7:6] We
   should always take note when a passage is cited out of the Old
   Testament, whether the sense only, or the very words are given.

   Hilary: Mystically, a sword is the sharpest of all weapons, and thence
   it is the emblem of the right of authority, the impartiality of
   justice, the correction of offenders. The word of God, we may remember,
   is likened to a sword; [margin note: Eph 6:17, Heb 4:12] so here the
   sword that is sent upon the earth is His preaching poured into the
   heart of man. The five inhabiting one house, whom He divides three
   against two, and two against three, we may explain thus; The three are
   the three parts of man, the body, the soul, and the will; for as the
   soul is bestowed in the body, so the will has power of using both in
   any way it chooses; and thence when a law is given it is given to the
   will. But this is only found in those who were first formed by God. By
   the sin and unbelief of the first parent, all the generations of men
   since have had sin for the father of their body, and unbelief for the
   mother of their soul. And as each man has his will within him, there
   are thus five in one house.

   When then we are renewed in the laver of baptism, by virtue of the word
   we are set apart from our original guilt, and severed, as it were, by
   the sword of God, from the lusts of this our father and mother, and
   thus there is great discord made in one house; the new man finding his
   foes within, he seeks with joy to live in newness of spirit; they which
   are derived from the old stock, lust to remain in their old pleasures.

   Aug., Quaest in Matt., q.3: Otherwise, "I am come to set a man against
   his father;" for he renounces the Devil who was his son; "the daughter
   against her mother," that is, the people of God against the city of the
   world, that is, the wicked society of mankind, which is spoken of in
   Scripture under the names of Babylon, Egypt, Sodom, and other names.

   "The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law," that is, the Church
   against the Synagogue, which according to the flesh, brought forth
   Christ the spouse of the Church. They are severed by the sword of the
   Spirit, which is the word of God. "And a man's foes are they of his
   household," those, that is, with whom he before lived as intimates.

   Raban.: For no other mutual rights can be preserved between those who
   are at war in their creeds.

   Gloss. interlin.: Otherwise; He mean, I am not come among men to
   strengthen their carnal affections, but to cut them off with the sword
   of the Spirit; whence it is rightly added, "And a man's foes are they
   of his household."

   Greg., Mor., iii, 8: For the subtle enemy when he sees himself driven
   out of the hearts of the good, seeks out those who most love them, and
   speaking by the mouth of those who are dearest, endeavours while the
   heart is penetrated by love, that the sword of conviction may pierce to
   the inmost bulwarks of virtue.
     __________________________________________________________________

   37. "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me:
   and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

   38. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not
   worthy of me.

   39. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life
   for my sake shall find it."
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   Jerome: Because of what He had said, "I am not come to send peace but a
   sword, &c." that none might suppose that family affection was banished
   from His religion, He now adds, "He that loves father or mother more
   than me is not worthy of me." So in the Song of Songs we read, "Order
   love in me." [2:4] For this order is needed in every affection; after
   God love thy father, thy mother, and thy children; but if a necessity
   should occur that the love of parents and children comes into
   competition with the love of God, and where both cannot be preserved,
   remember that hatred of our kindred becomes then love to God. He
   forbids not to love parent or child, but adds emphatically, "more than
   me."

   Hilary: For they who have esteemed domestic affection of relations
   higher than God, are unworthy to inherit good things to come.

   Chrys.: Yet when Paul bids us obey our parents in all things, we are
   not to marvel; for we are only to obey in such things are not hurtful
   to our piety to God. It is holy to render them every other honour, but
   when they demand more than is due, we ought not to yield. This is
   likewise agreeable to the Old Testament; in it the Lord commands that
   all who worshipped idols, should not only be held in abhorrence, but
   should be stoned. And in Deuteronomy it is said, "He who saith to his
   father and his mother, I know you not; and to his brethren, Ye are
   strangers; he hath kept thy saying." [Deut 33:9]

   Gloss., non occ.: It seems to happen in many cases that the parents
   love the children more than the children love the parents; therefore
   having taught that His love is to be preferred to the love of parents,
   as in an ascending scale, He next teaches that it is to be preferred to
   the love of children, saying, "And whoso loveth son or daughter more
   than me is not worthy of me."

   Raban.: He is unworthy of the divine communion who prefers the carnal
   affection of kindred to the spiritual love of God.

   Chrys.: Then that those to whom the love of God is preferred should not
   be offended thereat, He leads them to a higher doctrine. Nothing is
   nearer to a man than his soul, and yet He enjoins that this should not
   only be hated, but that a man should be ready to deliver it up to
   death, and blood; not to death only, but to a violent and most
   disgraceful death, namely, the death of the cross; therefore it
   follows, "And whoso taketh not up his cross and followeth me, is not
   worthy of me." He had as yet said nothing to them respecting his own
   sufferings, but instructs them in the meanwhile in these things, that
   they may the more readily receive His words concerning His passion.

   Hilary: Or; "They that are Christ's have crucified the body with its
   vices and lusts." [Gal 5:24] And he is unworthy of Christ who does not
   take up His cross, in which we suffer with Him, die with Him, are
   buried and rise again with Him, and follow his Lord, purposing to live
   in newness of spirit in this sacrament of the faith.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxii, 3: The cross is so called from, torment
   [margin note: cruciatus]; and there are two ways in which we bear the
   Lord's cross; either when we afflict the flesh by abstinence; or when
   in compassion for our neighbour we make his afflictions our own. But it
   should be known that there are some who make a shew of abstinence not
   for God, but for ostentation; and some there are who shew compassion to
   their neighbour, not spiritually but carnally, not that they may
   encourage him in virtue; but rather countenancing him in faults. These
   indeed seem to bear their cross, but do not follow the Lord; therefore
   He adds, "And followeth me."

   Chrys.: Because these commands seemed burdensome, He proceeds to shew
   their great use and benefit, saying, "He that findeth his life shall
   lose it." As much as to say, Not only do these things that I have
   inculcated do no harm, but they are of great advantage to a man; and
   the contrary thereof shall do him great hurt - and this is His manner
   everywhere. He uses those things which men's affections are set upon as
   a means of bringing them to their duty.

   Thus: Why are you loath to contemn your life? Because you love it? For
   that very reason contemn it, and you will do it the highest service.

   Remig.: The life in this place is not to be understood as the
   substance, (the soul,) but as this present state of being; and the
   sense is, He who findeth his life, i.e. this present life, he who so
   loves this light, its joys and pleasures, as to desire that he may
   always find them; he shall lose that which he wishes always to keep,
   and prepare his soul for eternal damnation.

   Raban.: Otherwise; He who seeks an immortal life, does not hesitate to
   lose his life, that is, to offer it to death. But either sense suits
   equally well with that which follows, "And whoso shall lose his life
   for my sake shall find it."

   Remig.: That is, he who in confession of My name in time of persecution
   despises this temporal world, its joys, and pleasures, shall find
   eternal salvation for his soul.

   Hilary: Thus the gain of life brings death, the loss of life brings
   salvation; for by the sacrifice of this short life we gain the reward
   of immortality.
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   40. "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me
   receiveth him that sent me.

   41. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive
   a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name
   of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

   42. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a
   cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto
   you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."
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   Jerome: The Lord when He sends forth His disciples to preach, teaches
   them that dangers are not to be feared, that natural affection is to be
   postponed to religion - gold He had above taken from them, brass He had
   shaken out of their purses - hard then surely the condition of the
   preachers! Whence their living? Whence their food and necessaries?
   Therefore He tempers the rigour of His precepts by the following
   promises, that in entertaining the Apostles each believer may consider
   that he entertains the Lord.

   Chrys.: Enough had been said above to persuade those who should have to
   entertain the Apostles. For who would not with all willingness take in
   to his house men who were so courageous, that they despised all dangers
   that others might be saved?

   Above He had threatened punishment to those who should not receive
   them, He now promises reward to such as should receive them. And first
   He holds out to those who should entertain them the honour, that in so
   doing they were entertaining Christ, and even the Father; "He who
   receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." What honour to be compared
   to this of receiving the Father and the Son?

   Hilary: These words shew that He has a Mediator's office, and since He
   came from God, when He is received by us, through Him God is transfused
   into us; and by this disposition of grace to have received the Apostles
   is no other than to have received God; for Christ dwells in them, and
   God in Christ.

   Chrys.: A further reward also He promises, saying, "He who receiveth a
   prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward." He
   said not merely, "Whoso receiveth a prophet," or "a righteous man," but
   "in the name of a prophet," and "in the name of a righteous man;" that
   is, not for any greatness in this life, or other temporal account, but
   because he is a prophet, or a righteous man.

   Jerome: Otherwise; To this His exhortation to the disciple to entertain
   his teacher, there might a secret objection arise among the faithful;
   then shall we have to support the false prophets, or Judas, the
   traitor. To this end it is that the Lord instructs them in these words,
   that it is not the person but the office that they should look to: and
   that the entertainer loses not his reward, though he whom he entertains
   be unworthy.

   Chrys.: "A prophet's reward, and a righteous man's reward," are such
   rewards as it is fitting he should have who entertains a prophet, or a
   righteous man; or, such a reward as a prophet or righteous man should
   have.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xx, 12: He says not, a reward from a prophet, or
   righteous man, but the reward of a prophet or righteous man. For the
   prophet is perhaps a righteous man, and the less he possesses in this
   world, the greater confidence has he in speaking in behalf of
   righteousness. He who hath of this world's goods, in supporting such a
   man, makes himself a free partaker in his righteousness, and shall
   receive the reward of righteousness together with him whom he has aided
   by supporting him.

   He is full of the spirit of prophecy, but he lacks bodily sustenance,
   and if the body be not supported, it is certain that the voice will
   fail. Whoso then gives a prophet food, gives him strength for speaking,
   therefore together with the prophet he shall receive the prophet's
   reward, when he shews before the face of God what bounty be shewed him.

   Jerome: Mystically; He who receives a prophet as a prophet, and
   understands him speaking of things to come, he shall receive reward of
   that prophet. The Jews therefore, who understand the prophets carnally,
   do not receive the prophet's reward.

   Remig.: Some understand by the prophet here, the Lord Jesus Christ, of
   whom Moses says, "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you;"
   [Deut 18:18] and the same also by the righteous man, because he is
   beyond comparison righteous. He then who shall receive a prophet or
   righteous man in the name of the prophet or righteous man, i.e. of
   Christ, shall receive reward from Him for love of whom he received Him.

   Jerome: That none should say, I am poor and therefore cannot be
   hospitable, He takes away even this plea by the instance of a cup of
   cold water, given with good will. He says "cold water," because in
   "hot," poverty and lack of fuel might be pleaded. And whosoever shall
   give to drink to one of the least of these a cup of cold water only in
   the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his
   reward.

   Remig.: "The least of these," that is, not a prophet, or a righteous
   man, but one of these least.

   Gloss, non occ.: Note, that God looks more to the pious mind of the
   giver, than to the abundance of the thing given.

   Gloss. ord.: Or, "the least," are they who have nothing at all in this
   world, and shall be judges with Christ.

   Hilary: Or; Seeing beforehand that there would be many who would only
   glory in the name of Apostleship, but in their whole life and walk
   would be unworthy of it, He does not therefore deprive of its reward
   that service which might be rendered to them in belief of their
   religious life. For though they were the very least, that is, the
   greatest of sinners, yet even small offices of mercy shewn them, such
   as are denoted by the cup of cold water, should not be shewn in vain.
   For the honour is not done to a man that is a sinner, but to his title
   of disciple.
     __________________________________________________________________

   1. And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his
   twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their
   cities.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Rabanus: The Lord having sent out His disciples to preach with the
   foregoing instructions, Himself now fulfils in action what He had
   taught in words, offering His preaching first to the Jews; "And it came
   to pass when Jesus had ended all these sayings, he passed thence."

   Chrys., Hom, xxxvi: Having sent them forth, He withdrew Himself, giving
   them opportunity and time to do the things that He had enjoined; for
   while He was present and ready to heal, no man would come to His
   disciples.

   Remig.: He well passes from the special teaching which He had delivered
   to His disciples, to the general which He preached in the cities;
   passing therein as it were from heaven to earth, that He might give
   light to all. By this deed of the Lord, all holy preachers are
   admonished that they should study to benefit all.
     __________________________________________________________________

   2. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent
   two of his disciples,

   3. And said unto him, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
   another?"

   4. Jesus answered and said unto them, "Go and shew John again those
   things which ye do hear and see:

   5. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are
   cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have
   the Gospel preached to them.

   6. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: The Evangelist had shewn above how by Christ's
   miracles and teaching, both His disciples and the multitudes had been
   instructed; he now shews how this instruction had reached even to
   John's disciples, so that they seemed to have some jealousy towards
   Christ; "John, when he had heard in his bonds the works of Christ, sent
   two of his disciples to say unto him, Art thou he that should come, or
   look we for another?

   Greg., Hom in Ev. vi. 1: We must enquire how John, who is a prophet and
   more than a prophet, who made known the Lord when He came to be
   baptized, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sine of
   the world! -- why, when he was afterwards cast into prison, he should
   send his disciples to ask, "Art thou he that should come, or look we
   for another?"

   Did he not know Him whom he had pointed out to others; or was he
   uncertain whether this was He, whom by foretelling, by baptizing, and
   by making known, he had proclaimed to be He?

   Ambrose, Ambros., in Luc 7:19: Some understand it thus; That it was a
   great thing that John should be so far a prophet, as to acknowledge
   Christ, and to preach remission of sin; but that like a pious prophet;
   he could not think that He whom he had believed to be He that should
   come, was to suffer death; he doubted therefore though not in faith,
   yet in love. So Peter also doubted, saying, "This be far from thee,
   Lord; this shall not be unto thee." [Matt 16:22]

   Chrys.: But this seems hardly reasonable. For John was not in ignorance
   of His death, but was the first to preach it, saying, "Behold the Lamb
   of God, that taketh. away the sins of the world." For thus calling Him
   the Lamb, he plainly shews forth the Cross; and no otherwise than by
   the Cross did He take away the sins of the world. Also how is he a
   greater prophet than these, if he knew not those things which all the
   prophets knew; for Isaiah says, "He was led as a sheep to the
   slaughter." [Isa 53:7]

   Greg.: But this question may be answered in a better way if we attend
   to the order of time. At the waters of Jordan he had affirmed that this
   was the Redeemer of the world: after he was thrown into prison, he
   enquires if this was He that should come -- not that he doubted that
   this was the Redeemer of the world, but he asks that he may know
   whether He who in His own person had come into the world, would in His
   own person descend also to the world below.

   Jerome: Hence he frames his question thus, "Art thou he that is to
   come?" Not, Art Thou He that hast come? And the sense is, Direct me,
   since I am about to go down into the lower parts of the earth, whether
   I shall announce Thee to the spirits beneath also; or whether Thou as
   the Son of God may not taste death, but will send another to this
   sacrament?

   Chrys.: But is this a more reasonable explanation than the other? for
   why then did he not say, Art Thou He that is coming to the world
   beneath? and not simply, "Art thou he that is to come?"

   And the reason of his seeking to know, namely, that he might preach Him
   there, is even ridiculous. For the present life is the time of grace,
   and after death the judgment and punishment; therefore there was no
   need of a forerunnner thither. Again, if the unbelievers who should
   believe after death should be saved, then none would perish; all would
   then repent and worship; "for every knee shall bow, both of things in
   heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth." [Phil 2:10]

   Gloss, non occ.: But it ought to be observed, that Jerome and Gregory
   did not say that John was to proclaim Christ's coming to the world
   beneath, to the end that the unbelievers there might be converted to
   the faith, but that the righteous who abode in expectation of Christ,
   should be comforted by His near approach.

   Hilary: It is indeed certain, that he who as forerunner proclaimed
   Christ's coming, as prophet knew Him when He stood before him, and
   worshipped Him as Confessor when He came to him, could not fall into
   error from such abundant knowledge. Nor can it be believed that the
   grace of the Holy Spirit failed him when thrown into prison, seeing He
   should hereafter minister the light of His power to the Apostles when
   they were in prison.

   Jerome: Therefore he does not ask as being himself ignorant. But as the
   Saviour asks where Lazarus is buried, [margin note John 11:23] in order
   that they who shewed Him the sepulchre might be so far prepared for
   faith, and believe that the dead was verily raised again -- so John,
   about to be put to death by Herod, sends his disciples to Christ, that
   by this opportunity of seeing His signs and wonders they might believe
   on Him, and so might learn through their master's enquiry.

   But John's disciples had somewhat of bitterness and jealousy towards
   the Lord, as their former enquiry shewed, "Why do thee and the
   Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

   Chrys.: Yet whilst John was with them he held them rightly convinced
   concerning Christ. But when he was going to die, he was more concerned
   on their behalf. For he feared that he might leave his disciples a prey
   to some pernicious doctrine, and that they should remain separate from
   Christ, to whom it had been his care to bring all his followers from
   the beginning.

   Had he said to them, Depart from me, for He is better than me, he would
   not have prevailed with them, as they would have supposed that he spoke
   this in humility, which opinion would have drawn them more closely to
   him. What then does he? He waits to hear through them that Christ works
   miracles.

   Nor did he send all, but two only, (whom perhaps he chose as more ready
   to believe than the rest,) that the reason of his enquiry might be
   unsuspected, and that from the things themselves which they should see
   they might understand the difference between him and Jesus.

   Hilary: John then is providing not for his own, but his disciples'
   ignorance; that they might know that it was no other whom he had
   proclaimed, he sent them to see His works, that the works might
   establish what John had spoken; and that they should not look for any
   other Christ, than Him to whom His works had borne testimony.

   Chrys.: So also Christ as knowing the mind of John, said not, I am He;
   for thus He would have put an obstacle in the way of those that heard
   Him, who would have at least thought within themselves, if they did not
   say, what the Jews did say to Christ, "Thou bearest witness of
   thyself." [John 6:13]

   Therefore He would have them learn from His miracles, and so presented
   His doctrine to them more clear, and without suspicion. For the
   testimony of deeds is stronger than the testimony of words. Therefore
   He straightway healed a number of blind, and lame, and many other, for
   the sake not of John who had knowledge, but of others who doubted; as
   it follows, "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell John
   what ye have heard and seen; The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers
   are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the
   Gospel preached to them."

   Jerome: This last is no less than the first. And understand it as if it
   had been said, Even "the poor;" that so between noble and mean, rich
   and poor, there may be no difference in preaching. This approves the
   strictness of the master, this the truth of the teacher, that in His
   sight every one who can be saved is equal.

   Chrys.: "And blessed is he who shall not be offended in me," is
   directed against the messengers; they were offended in Him. But He not
   publishing their doubts, and leaving it to their conscience alone, thus
   privately introduced a refutation of them.

   Hilary: This saying, that they were blessed from whom there should be
   no offence in Him, shewed them what it was that John had provided
   against in sending them. For John, through fear of this very thing, had
   sent his disciples that they might hear Christ.

   Greg., Hom in Ev., vi. 1: Otherwise; The mind of unbelievers was
   greatly offended concerning Christ, because after many miracles done,
   they saw Him at length put to death; whence Paul speaks, "We preach
   Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block." [1 Cor 1:23]

   What then does that mean, "Blessed is he who shall not be offended in
   me," but a direct allusion to the humiliation of His death; as much as
   to say, I do indeed wonderful works, but do not disdain to suffer
   humble things, Because then I follow you in death, men must be careful
   not to despise in Me My death, while they reverence My wonderful works.

   Hilary: In these things which were done concerning John, there is a
   deep store of mystic meaning. The very condition and circumstances of a
   prophet are themselves a prophecy.

   John signifies the Law; for the Law proclaimed Christ, preaching
   remission of sins, and giving promise of the kingdom of heaven. Also
   when the Law was on the point of expiring, (having been, through the
   sins of the people, which hindered them from understanding what it
   spake of Christ, as it were shut up in bonds and in prison,) it sends
   men to the contemplation of the Gospel, that unbelief might see the
   truth of its words established by deeds.

   Ambrose: And perhaps the two disciples sent are the two people; those
   of the Jews, and those of the Gentiles who believed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   7. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes
   concerning John, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed
   shaken with the wind?

   8. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?
   behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

   9. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and
   more than a prophet.

   10. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger
   before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom xxxvii: Sufficient had been now done for John's disciples;
   they returned certified concerning Christ by the wonderful works which
   they had seen. But it behoved that the multitude also should be
   corrected, which had conceived many things amiss from the question of
   John's disciples, not knowing the purpose of John in sending them. They
   might say, He who bare such witness to Christ, is now of another mind,
   and doubts whether this be He. Doth he this because he hath jealousy
   against Jesus! Has the prison taken away his courage? Or spake he
   before but empty and untrue words?

   Hilary: Therefore that this might not lead them to think of John as
   though he were offended concerning Christ, it continues, "When they had
   gone away, Jesus began to speak to the multitudes concerning John."

   Chrys.: "As they departed," that He should not seem to speak flattery
   of the man; and in correcting the error of the multitude, He does not
   openly expose their secret suspicions, but by framing his words against
   what was in their hearts, He shews that He knows hidden things. But He
   said not as to the Jews, "Why think ye evil in your hearts? though
   indeed it was evil that they had thought; yet it proceeded not from
   wickedness, but from ignorance; there- fore He spake not to them
   harshly, but answered for John, shewing that he had not fallen from his
   former opinion. This He teaches them, not by His word only, but by
   their own witness, the witness of their own actions, as well as their
   own words.

   "What went ye out into the wilderness to see?" As much as to say, Why
   did ye leave the towns and go out into the wilderness? So great
   multitudes would not have gone with such haste into the desert, if they
   had not thought that they should see one great, and wonderful, one more
   stable than the rock.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: They had not gone out at this time into the desert to
   see John, for he was not now in the deaert, but in prison; but He
   speaks of the past time while John was yet in the desert, and the
   people flocked to him.

   Chrys.: And note that making no mention of any other fault, He clears
   John of fickleness, which the multitude had suspected him of, saying,
   "A reed shaken by the wind?"

   Greg., Hom in Ev. vi. 2: This He proposes, not to assert, but to deny.
   For if but a breath of air touch a reed, it bends it one way or other;
   a type of the carnal mind, which leans to either side, according as the
   breath of praise or detraction reaches it.

   A reed shaken by the wind John was not, for no variety of circumstance
   bent him from his uprightness. The Lord's meaning then is,

   Jerome: Was it for this ye went out into the desert to see a man like
   unto a reed, and carried about by every wind, so that in lightness of
   mind he doubts concerning Him whom once he preached? Or it may be he is
   roused against Me by the sting of envy, and he seeks empty honour by
   his preaching, that he may thereof make gain. Why should he covet
   wealth? that he may have dainty fare? But his food is locusts and wild
   honey. That he may wear soft raiment? But his clothing is camel's hair.
   This is that He adds, "But what went ye out for to see a man clothed in
   soft raiment?

   Chrys.: Otherwise; That John is not as a waving reed, yourselves have
   shewn by going out unto the desert to him. Nor can any say that John
   was once firm, but has since become wilful and wavering; for as some
   are prone to anger by natural disposition, others become so by long
   weakness and indu1gence, so in inconstancy, some are by nature
   inconstant, some become so by yielding to their own humour and
   self-indulgence. But John was neither inconstant by natural
   disposition; this he means by saying, "What went ye out for to see, a
   reed shaken by the wind?" Neither had he corrupted an excellent nature
   by self-indulgence, for that he had not served the flesh is shewn by
   his raiment, his abode in the desert, his prison. Had he sought soft
   raiment, he would not have dwelt in the desert, but in kings' houses;
   "Lo they that are clothed in soft raiment, are in kings' houses."

   Jerome: This teaches that an austere life and strict preaching ought to
   shun kings' courts and the palaces of the rich and luxurious.

   Greg., Hom in Ev., vi., 3: Let no one suppose that there is nothing
   sinful in luxury and rich dress; if pursuit of such things had been
   blameless, the Lord would not have thus commended John for the
   coarseness of his raiment, nor would Peter have checked the desire of
   fine clothes in women as he does, "Not in costly raiment." [1 Pet 3:3]

   Aug., Doctr. Christ., iii, 12: In all such things we blame not the use
   of the things, but the lust of those that use them. For whoever uses
   the good things in his reach more sparingly than are the habits of
   those with whom he lives, is either temperate or superstitious. Whoever
   again uses them in a measure exceeding the practice of the good among
   whom he lives, either has some [margin note: aliquid] meaning therein,
   or else is dissolute.

   Chrys.: Having described his habits of life from his dwelling-place,
   his dress, and the concourse of men to hear him, He now brings in that
   he is also a prophet, "But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea,
   I say unto you, and more than a prophet."

   Greg, Hom. in Ev., vi. 5: The office of a prophet is to foretel things
   to come, not to shew them present. John therefore is more than a
   prophet, because Him whom he had foretold by going before Him, the same
   he shewed as present by pointing Him out.

   Jerome: In this he is also greater than the other prophets, that to his
   prophetic privilege is added the reward of the Baptist that he should
   baptize his Lord.

   Chrys.: Then he shews in what respect He is greater, saying, "This is
   he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my angel before thy face."

   Jerome: To add to this great worthiness of John, He brings a passage
   from Malachias, in which he is spoken of as an Angel. [ref Mal 3:1] We
   must suppose that John is here called an Angel, not as partaking the
   Angelic nature, but from the dignity of his office as a forerunner of
   the Lord.

   Greg.: For the Greek word Angel, is in Latin Nuntius, a messenger.' He
   therefore who came to bear a heavenly message is rightly called an
   Angel, that he may preserve in his title the dignity which he performs
   in his office.

   Chrys.: He shews wherein it is that John is greater than the Prophets,
   namely, in that he is nigh unto Christ, as he says, "I send before thy
   face," that is, near Thee, as those that walk next to the king's
   chariot are more illustrious than others, so likewise is John because
   of his nearness to Christ.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Also the other Prophets were sent to announce Christ's
   coming, but John to prepare His way, as it follows, "who shall make
   ready thy way before thee;"

   Gloss, interlin.: That is, shall open the hearts of Thy hearers by
   preaching repentance and baptizing.

   Jerome: Mystically; The desert is that which is deserted of the Holy
   Spirit, where there is no habitation of God; in the reed is signified a
   man who in outward show lives a pious life, but lacks all real fruit
   within himself, fair outside, within hollow, moved with every breath of
   wind, that is, with every impulse of unclean spirits, having no
   firmness to remain still, devoid of the marrow of the soul; by the
   garment wherewith his body is clothed is his mind shewn, that it is
   lost in luxury and self-indulgence. The kings are the fallen angels;
   they are they who are powerful in this life, and the lords of this
   world. Thus, "They that are clothed in soft raiment are in kings'
   houses;" that is, those whose bodies are enervated and destroyed by
   luxury, it is clear are possessed by demons.

   Greg.: Also John was not "clothed in soft raiment," that is, he did not
   encourage sinners in their sinful life by speaking smooth things, but
   rebuked them with sharpness and rigour, saying, "Generation of vipers,
   &c." [Matt 3:7]
     __________________________________________________________________

   11. "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there
   hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that
   is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Having first delivered the Prophet's testimony in praise of
   John, He rested not there, but added His own decision respecting him,
   saying, "Among them that are born of women there has not arisen a
   greater than John the Baptist."

   Raban.: As much as to say; What need to recount one by one the praises
   of John the Baptist; "I say verily unto you, Among them that are born
   of women, &c." He says women, not virgins. If the same word, mulier,
   which denotes a married person, is any where in the Gospels applied to
   Mary, it should be known that the translator has there used mulier' for
   femina;" as in that, "Woman, behold thy son!" [John 19:26]

   Jerome: He is then set before all those that are born in wedlock, and
   not before Him who was born of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit; yet
   these words, "there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist," do
   not imply that John is to be set above the Prophets and Patriarchs and
   all others, but only makes him equal to the rest; for it does not
   follow that because others are not greater than him, that therefore he
   is greater than others.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But seeing that righteousness has so great deepness that
   none can be perfect therein but God only, I suppose that all the saints
   tried by the keenness of the divine judgment, rank in a fixed order,
   some lower, some before other. Whence we understand that He that hath
   none greater than Himself, is greater than all.

   Chrys.: That the abundance of this praise might not beget a wrong
   inclination in the Jews to set John above Christ, he corrects this,
   saying, "He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

   Aug., Cont. Adv. Leg. et Proph., ii, 5: The heretic [margin note:
   Manichee or Marcionite] argues from this verse to prove that since John
   did not belong to the kingdom of heaven, therefore much less did the
   other Prophets of that people, than whom John is greater. But these
   words of the Lord may be understood in two ways. Either the kingdom of
   heaven is something which we have not yet received, that, namely, of
   which He speaks, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom,"
   [Matt 25:34] because they in it are Angels, therefore the least among
   them is greater than a righteous man who has a corruptible body. Or if
   we must understand the kingdom of heaven of the Church, whose children
   are all the righteous men from the beginning of the world until now,
   then the Lord speaks this of Himself, who was after John in the time of
   His birth, but greater in respect of His divine nature and supreme
   power. According then to the first interpretation it will be pointed,
   "He who is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he;"
   according to the second, "He who is less than he, is in the kingdom of
   heaven greater than he."

   Chrys.: The kingdom of heaven, that is, in the spiritual world, and all
   relating thereto. But some say that Christ spoke this of the Apostles.

   Jerome: We understand it simply, that every saint who is already with
   the Lord is greater than he who yet stands in the battle; for it is one
   thing to have gained the crown of victory, another to be yet fighting
   in the field.
     __________________________________________________________________

   12. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of
   heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

   13. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

   14. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

   15. He that hath ears to ear, let him hear."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: That what He had last said should not lead any to
   suppose that John was an alien from the kingdom of heaven, He corrects
   this by adding, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the
   kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by
   force."

   Greg., Hom in Ev., xx. 14: By the kingdom of heaven is meant the
   heavenly throne, wither when sinners defiled with any evil deed return
   in penitence, and amend themselves, they enter as sinners into the
   place of another, and take by violence the kingdom of heaven.

   Jerome: Because John the Baptist was the first who preached repentance
   to the people, saying, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at
   hand;" rightly therefore from that day forth it may be said, that "the
   kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by
   force." For great indeed is the violence, when we who are born of
   earth, seek an abode in heaven, and obtain by excellence what we have
   not by nature.

   Hilary: Otherwise; The Lord bade His Apostles go "to the lost sheep of
   Israel," but all their preaching conveyed profit to the publicans and
   sinners. Therefore "the kingdom suffers violence, and the violent take
   it by force," for the glory of Israel, due to the Fathers, foretold by
   the Prophets, offered by Christ, is entered and held by force by the
   might of the Gentiles.

   Chrys.: Or; All who come thereto with haste take by force the kingdom
   of God through the faith of Christ; whence He says, "from the days of
   John until now," and thus He brings them in haste to His faith, and at
   the same time adds support to those things which had been spoken by
   John. For if all things were fulfilled until John, then is Jesus He
   that should come; wherefore He adds, "All the Prophets and the Law
   prophesied until John."

   Jerome: Not that He cuts off all Prophets after John; for we read in
   the Acts of the Apostles that Agabus prophesied, and also four virgins
   daughters of Philip; but He means that the Law and the Prophets whom we
   have written, whatever they have prophesied, they have prophesied of
   the Lord. That He says, "Prophesied until John," shews that this was
   now the time of Christ's coming; and that whom they had foretold should
   come, Him John shewed to be already come.

   Chrys.: Then He adds another token of him, saying, "And if ye will
   receive it, this is Elias who was to come." The Lord speaks in
   Malachias, "I will send you Elias the Tishbite;" [Mal 4:5] and of the
   same again, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face."

   Jerome: John then is said to be Elias, not according to the foolish
   philosophers, and certain heretics who bring forward their
   metempsychosis, or passing of the soul from one body to another; but
   because (as it is in another passage of the Gospel) he came in the
   spirit and power of Elias, and had the same grace and measure of the
   Holy Spirit. But in austerity of life, and fortitude of spirit, Elias
   and John were alike; they both dwelt in the desert, both were girded
   with a girdle of skins; because he reproved Ahab and Jezebel for their
   wickedness, Elias was compelled to fly; because he condemned the
   unlawful union of Herod and Herodias, John is beheaded.

   Chrys.: "If ye will receive it," shewing their freedom, and requiring
   of them a willing mind. John the Baptist is Elias, and Elias is John,
   because both were forerunners of Christ.

   Jerome: That He says, "This is Elias," is figurative, and needs to be
   explained, as what follows, shews; "He that hath ears to hear, let him
   hear."

   Remig.: As much as to say, whoso has ears of the heart to hear, that
   is, to understand, let him understand; for He did not say that John was
   Elias in person, but in the Spirit.
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. "But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto
   children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,

   17. And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have
   mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.

   18. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a
   devil.

   19. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man
   gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of Publicans and sinners. But
   wisdom is justified of her children."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Hilary: The whole of this speech is a reproach of unbelief, and arises
   out of the foregoing complaint; that the stiff-necked people had not
   learned by two different modes of teaching.

   Chrys.: Whence He puts this question, shewing that nothing had been
   omitted that ought to be done for their salvation, saying, "To whom
   shall I liken this generation?

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: By "this generation" He means the Jews together with
   Himself and John. As though He had said; John is thus great; but ye
   would believe neither him nor Me, and therefore to whom shall I liken
   you?

   Remig.: And straightway He answers Himself, saying, "It is like unto
   children sitting in the market-place, crying unto their fellows, and
   saying, We have played music to you, and ye have not danced; we have
   mourned, and ye have not lamented."

   Hilary: By the "children" are meant the Prophets, who preached as
   children in singleness of meaning, and in the midst of the synagogue,
   that is "in the market-place", reprove them, that when they played to
   those to whom they had devoted the service of their body, they had not
   obeyed their words, as the movement of the dancers are regulated by the
   measures of the music. For the Prophets invited them to make confession
   by song to God, as it is contained in the song of Moses, of Isaiah, or
   of David.

   Jerome: They say therefore, "We have played music to you, and ye have
   not danced;" i. e. We have called on you to work good works to our
   songs, and ye would not. We have lamented and called you to repentance,
   and this ye would not, rejecting both preaching, as well of exhortation
   to virtue, as of repentance for sin.

   Remig.: What is that He says, "To their fellows?" Were the unbelieving
   Jews then fellows of the Prophets? He speaks thus only because they
   were sprung of one stock.

   Jerome: The children are they of whom Isaiah speaks, "Behold I, and the
   children whom the Lord has given me." [Isa 8:18] These children then
   sit in the market-place, where are many things for sale, and say,

   Chrys.: "We have played music to you, and ye have not danced;" that is,
   I have shewed you an unrestricted life, and ye are not convinced; "We
   have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented;" that is, John lived a
   hard life, and ye heeded him not. Yet does not he speak one thing, and
   I another, but both speak the same thing, because both have one and the
   same object. "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say,
   He hath a demon. The Son of man came &c."

   Aug., Const. Faust., xvi, 31: I would that the Manichaens would tell me
   what Christ ate and drank, who here speaks of Himself as eating and
   drinking in comparison of John, who did neither. Not indeed that John
   drank nothing at all, but that he drank neither wine nor strong drink
   -- but water only. Not that he dispensed altogether with food, but that
   he ate only locusts and wild honey. Whence then is it said of him that
   he came neither eating nor drinking, except that he used not that food
   which the Jews used? Unless therefore the Lord had used this food, He
   would not have been said to have been, in comparison of John, "eating
   and drinking." It would be strange that he who ate locusts and honey,
   should be said to come "neither eating nor drinking," and that he who
   ate only bread and herbs, should be said to come eating and drinking.

   Chrys.: He says therefore, "Jesus came," as much as to say, I and John
   came opposite ways, to do the same thing; as two hunters chasing the
   same animal from opposite sides, so that it might fall into, the hands
   of one of them. But all mankind admire fasting and severity of life;
   and for this reason it was ordained from his infancy that John should
   be so brought up, that the things that he should say should receive
   credit. The Lord also walked in this way when He fasted forty days;-
   but He had other means of teaching men to have confidence in Him; for
   it was a much greater thing that John who had walked in this way should
   bear witness to Him, than that He Himself should walk in that way.

   Again, John had nothing to shew besides his life, and his
   righteousness; whereas Christ had also the witness of His miracles.
   Leaving therefore to John the representation of fasting, He Himself
   walked in a contrary way, entering to the table of the publicans, and
   eating and drinking with them.

   Jerome: If fasting then pleases you, why were you not satisfied with
   John! If fulness, why not with the Son of man? Yet one of these ye said
   had a daemon, the other ye called a gluttonous man, and drunkard.

   Chrys.: What excuse then shall be given for them? Therefore He adds,
   "And wisdom is justified of her children;" that is, though ye were not
   convinced, yet have ye nothing whereof to accuse me, as also of the
   Father the Prophet speaks, "That thou mightest be justified in thy
   sayings." [Ps 51:4] For though nought be effected in you by that
   goodness which is extended to you, yet He fulfils all His part that you
   may not have the shadow of excuse for your ungrateful doubt.

   Jerome: "Wisdom is justified of her children," i. e. The dispensation
   or doctrine of God, or Christ Himself who is the power and wisdom of
   God, is proved by the Apostles, who are His children, to have done
   righteously.

   Hilary: He is wisdom itself not by His acts, but by His nature. Many
   indeed evade that saying of the Apostle's, "Christ is the wisdom and
   power of God," [1 Cor 1:24] by saying, that truly in creating Him of a
   Virgin the Wisdom and Power of God were shewn mightily. Therefore that
   this might not be so explained, He calls Himself the Wisdom of God,
   shewing that it was verily He, and not the deeds relating to Him, of
   whom this was meant. For the power itself, and the effect of that
   power, are not the same thing; the efficient is known from the act.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev. ii. 11: Or, "Wisdom is justified of her children,"
   because the holy Apostles understood that the kingdom of God was not in
   meat and drink, but in patient enduring; such persons neither does
   abundance lift up, nor want cast down, but as Paul spoke, "I know how
   to abound, and to suffer want." [Phil 4:12]

   Jerome: Some copies read, "Wisdom is justified of her works," for
   wisdom does not seek the witness of words, but of works.

   Chrys.: You should not be surprised at His using trite instances, such
   as that respecting the children; for He spoke to the weakness of His
   hearers; as Ezekiel spoke many things adapted to the Jews, but unworthy
   of the greatness of God.

   Hilary: Mystically; Neither did the preaching of John bend the Jews, to
   whom the law seemed burdensome in prescribing meats and drinks,
   difficult and grievous, having in it sin which He calls having a demon
   -- for from the difficulty of keeping it they must sin under the Law.

   Nor again did the preaching of the Gospel with freedom of life in
   Christ please them -- by which the hardships and burdens of the Law
   were remitted, and publicans and sinners only believed in it. Thus,
   then, so many and so great warnings of all kinds having been offered
   them in vain, they are neither justified by the Law, and they are cast
   off from grace; "Wisdom," therefore, "is justified of her children," by
   those, that is, who seize the kingdom of heaven by the justification of
   faith, confessing the work of wisdom to be just, that it has
   transferred its gift from the rebellious to the faithful.
     __________________________________________________________________

   20. "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty
   works were done, because they repented not:

   21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the
   mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
   they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

   22. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
   at the day of judgment, than for you.

   23. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be
   brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in
   thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

   24. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of
   Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: Thus far He had brought His accusation against the
   Jews in common; now against certain towns by name, in which He had
   specially preached, and yet they would not be converted; whence it is
   said, "Then began he to upbraid the cities in which most of hie mighty
   works were done, because they had not repented."

   Jerome: His upbraiding of the towns of Corozaim, Bethsaida, and
   Capharnaum, is set forth in this chapter, because He therefore
   upbraided them, because after He had such mighty works and wonders in
   them they had not done penitence. Whence He adds, "Wo for thee,
   Corozaim! wo for thee, Bethsaida!"

   Chrys.: That you should not say that they were by nature evil, He names
   Bethsaida, a town from which the Apostles had come; namely, Philip, and
   two pair of the chief of the Apostles, Peter and Andrew, James and
   John.

   Jerome: In this word, Wo, these towns of Galilee are mourned for by the
   Saviour, that after so many signs and mighty works, they had not done
   penitence.

   Raban.: Corozaim, which is interpreted my mystery,' and Bethsaida, the
   house of fruits,' or, the house of hunters,' are towns of Galilee
   situated on the shore of the sea of Galilee. The Lord herefore mourns
   for towns which once had the mystery of God, and which ought to have
   brought forth the fruit of virtues, and into which spiritual hunters
   had been sent.

   Jerome: And to these are preferred Tyre and Sidon, cities given up to
   idolatry and vices; "For if the mighty works which have been done in
   you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have long ago done
   penitence in sackcloth and ashes."

   Greg., Mor., xxxv. 6: In "sackcloth" is the roughness which denotes the
   pricking of the conscience for sin, "ashes" denote the dust of the
   dead; and both are wont to be employed in penitence, that the pricking
   of the sackcloth may remind us of our sins, and the dust of the ash may
   cause us to reflect what we have become by judgment.

   Raban.: Tyre and Sidon are cities of Phoenicia. Tyre is interpreted
   narrowness,' and Sidon hunting," and denote the Gentiles whom the Devil
   as a hunter drives into the straits of sin; but Jesus the Saviour sets
   them free by the Gospel.

   Jerome: We ask where it is written that the Lord did wonders in
   Corozaim and Bethsaida? We read above, "And he went about the towns and
   villages, healing all sicknesses, &c." [9:35] among the rest,
   therefore, we may suppose that He wrought signs in Corozaim and
   Bethsaida.

   Aug., De Dom. Pers. 9: It is not then true that His Gospel was not
   preached in those times and places, in which He foreknew that all would
   be such, as were many in His actual presence, who would not even
   believe on Him when He raised men from the dead. For the Lord Himself
   bears witness that they of Tyre and Sidon would have done penitence in
   great humility, had the wonders of the Divine power been done in them.

   Moreover, if the dead are judged according to those deeds which they
   would have done had they lived, then because these would have believed
   had the Gospel been preached to them with so great miracles, surely
   they should not be punished at all, and yet in the day of judgment they
   shall be punished; for it follows, "But I say unto you, It shall be
   more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for
   you." Those then shall be punished with more, these with less severity.

   Jerome: This is because Tyre and Sidon had trodden under foot the law
   of nature only, but these towns after they had transgressed the natural
   and the written Law, also made light of those wonders which had been
   wrought among them.

   Raban.: We at this day see the words of the Saviour fulfilled; Corozaim
   and Bethsaida would not believe when the Lord came to them in person;
   but Tyre and Sidon have afterwards believed on the preaching of the
   Apostles.

   Remig.: Capharnaum was the metropolis of Galilee, and a noted town of
   that province, and therefore the Lord mentions it particularly, saying,
   "And thou, Capharnaum, shalt thou indeed be exalted to heaven? Thou
   shalt go down even to hell."

   Jerome: In other copies we find, "And thou, Capharnaum, that art
   exalted to heaven, shalt be brought down to hell;" and it may be
   understood in two different ways. Either, thou shalt go down to hell
   because thou hast proudly resisted my preaching; or, thou that hast
   been exalted to heaven by entertaining me, and having my mighty wonders
   done in thee, shalt be visited with the heavier punishment, because
   thou wouldest not believe even these.

   Remig.: And they have made the sins not of Sodom only and Gomorrah, but
   of Tyre and Sidon light in comparison, and therefore it follows, "For
   if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in
   Sodom, it would perhaps have remained unto this day."

   Chrys.: This makes the accusation heavier, for it is a proof of extreme
   wickedness, that they are worse, not only than any then living, but
   than the wickedest of all past time.

   Jerome: In Capharnaum, which is interpreted the most fair town,'
   Jerusalem is condemned, to which it is said by Ezekiel, "Sodom is
   justified by thee." [Ezek 16:52]

   Remig.: The Lord, who knows all things, here uses a word expressing
   uncertainty -- "perhaps," to shew that freedom of choice is left to
   men. "But I say unto you, it shall be easier for the land of Sodom in
   the day of judgment than for you." And be it known, that in speaking of
   the city or country, the Lord does not chide with the buildings and
   walls, but with the men that inhabit there, by the figure metonymy,
   putting the thing containing for the thing contained. The words, "It
   shall be easier in the day of judgment," clearly prove that there are
   divers punishments in hell, as there are divers mansions in the kingdom
   of heaven.

   Jerome: The careful reader will hesitate here; If Tyre and Sidon could
   have done penitence at the preaching of the Saviour, and His miracles,
   they are not in fault that they believed not; the sin is his who would
   not preach to bring them to penitence. To this there is a ready answer,
   that we know not God's judgments, and are ignorant of the sacraments of
   His peculiar dispensations.

   It was determined by the Lord not to pass the borders of Judea, that He
   might not give the Pharisees and Priests a just occasion of persecuting
   Him, as also He gave commandment to the Apostles, "Go not into the way
   of the Gentile." Corozaim and Bethsaida are condemned because they
   would not believe, though Christ Himself was among them -- Tyre and
   Sidon are justified, because they believed His Apostles. You should not
   enquire into times when you see the salvation of those that believe.

   Remig.: We may also answer in another way. There were many in Corozaim
   and Bethsaida who would believe, and many in Tyre and Sidon who would
   not believe, and therefore were not worthy of the Gospel. The Lord
   therefore preached to the dwellers in Corozaim and Bethsaida, that they
   who were to believe, might be able; and preached not in Tyre and Sidon,
   lest perhaps they who were not to believe, being made worse by contempt
   of the Gospel, should be punished more heavily.

   Aug., De Don. Pers. 10: A certain Catholic disputant of some note
   expounded this place of the Gospel in the following way; That the Lord
   foreknew that they of Tyre and Simon would fall from the faith after
   they had believed the miracles done among them; and that therefore in
   mercy He did not His miracles there, because they would have incurred
   the heavier penalty had they lapsed from the faith after having held
   it, than if they had never held it at all.

   Or otherwise; The Lord surely foreknew His mercies with which He deigns
   to deliver us. And this is the predestination of the saints, namely,
   the foreknowledge and making ready the mercies of God, by which they
   are most certainly saved, whosoever are saved. The rest are left to the
   just judgment of God in the general body of the condemned, where they
   of Tyre and Sidon are left, who might have believed had they seen
   Christ's many miracles; but since it was not given them that they
   should believe, therefore that through which. they might have believed
   was also withheld.

   From which it appears, that there are certain who have in their
   dispositions by nature a divine gift of understanding by which they
   would be moved to faith, if they should either hear words or see signs
   adapted to their minds. But if they be not by the high sentence of God
   set apart from the mass of perdition through the predestination of
   grace, then neither words nor works are set before them by God, which
   yet, could they have seen or heard them, would have stirred them to
   believe.

   In this general mass of perdition are the Jews also left, who could not
   believe so great and manifest wonders wrought before their eyes. And
   the cause wherefore they could not believe, the Gospel hath not hidden,
   speaking thus; "Though he did so great miracles before them, yet could
   they not believe, as Esaias said, I have blinded their eyes, and
   hardened their heart." [John 12:37]

   Not in this way then were the eyes of they of Tyre and Sidon blinded,
   or their heart hardened, for they would have believed had they seen
   such wonders as these saw. But it profited those not that they could
   have believed, for that they were not predestinated; neither would it
   have been any hindrance to these that they had not power to believe,
   had they been so predestined that God should have enlightened their
   blindness, and taken away the heart of stone from within them.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 32: Luke also gives this as spoken in
   continuation of some other of the Lord's discourses; from which it
   appears that he has rather followed the actual order of events; Matthew
   to have followed his recollection. Or the words of Matthew, "Then began
   he to upbraid the towns," must be taken, as some think, as expressing
   some particular time by the word, "then," but not referring generally
   to that time in which the many other things here told were done and
   said.

   Whoever, therefore, thinks thus must suppose that this was spoken
   twice. And when we find in the same Evangelist some things spoken by
   the Lord at two different times -- like that in Luke concerning the not
   taking a scrip for their journey,-- what wonder is it if any thing
   else, which was twice spoken, is found once severally in two several
   Gospels in the actual connexion in which it was spoken, which connexion
   is different, because they are two different occasions on which it is
   related to have been spoken?
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   25. At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord
   of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise
   and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

   26. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight."
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   Gloss, non occ.: Because the Lord knew that many would doubt respecting
   the foregoing matter, namely, that the Jews would not receive Christ
   whom the Gentile world has so willingly received, He here makes answer
   to their thoughts; "And Jesus answered and said, I confess unto thee,
   Father, Lord of heaven and earth."

   Gloss. ord.: That is, Who makest of heaven, or leavest in earthlinees,
   whom Thou wilt. Or literally,

   Aug., Serm., 67, 1: If Christ, from whom all sin is far, said, "I
   confess," confession is not proper for the sinner only, but sometimes
   also for him that gives thanks. We may confess either by praising God,
   or by accusing ourselves. When He said, "I confess unto thee," it is, I
   praise Thee, not I accuse Myself.

   Jerome: Let those hear who falsely argue, that the Saviour was not born
   but created, how He calls His Father "Lord of heaven and earth." For if
   He be a creature, and the creature can call its Maker Father, it was
   surely foolish here to address Him as Lord of heaven and earth, and not
   of Him (Christ) likewise. He gives thanks that His coming has opened to
   the Apostles sacraments, which the Scribes and Pharisees knew not, who
   seemed to themselves wise, and understanding in their own eyes; "That
   thou hast hid these things from the wise and understanding, and hast
   revealed them unto babes."

   Aug.: That the wise and understanding are to be taken as the proud,
   Himself opens to us when He says, "and hast revealed them unto babes;"
   for who are "babes" but the humble?

   Greg.: He says not to the foolish,' but to babes, shewing that He
   condemns pride, not understanding.

   Chrys.: Or when He says, "The wise," He does not speak of true wisdom,
   but of that which the Scribes and Pharisees seemed to have by their
   speech. Wherefore He said not, And hast revealed them to the foolish,'
   but, "to babes," that is, uneducated, or simple; teaching us in all
   things to keep ourselves from pride, and to seek humility.

   Hilary: The hidden things of heavenly words and their power are hid
   from the wise, and revealed to the babes; babes, that is, in malice,
   not in understanding; hid from the wise because of their presumption of
   their own wisdom, not because of their wisdom.

   Chrys.: That it is revealed to the one is matter of joy, that it is hid
   from the other not of joy, but of sorrow; He does not therefore joy on
   this account, but He joys that these have known what the wise have not
   known.

   Hilary: The justice of this the Lord confirms by the sentence of the
   Father's will, that they who disdain to be made babes in God, should
   become fools in their own wisdom; and therefore He adds, "Even so,
   Father: for so it seemed good before thee."

   Greg., Mor. xxv, 14: In which words we have a lesson of humility, that
   we should not rashly presume to discuss the counsels of heaven
   concerning the calling of some, and the rejection of others; shewing
   that that cannot be unrighteous which is willed by Him that is
   righteous.

   Jerome: In these words moreover He speaks to the Father with the desire
   of one petitioning, that His mercy begun in the Apostles might be
   completed in them.

   Chrys.: These things which the Lord spoke to His disciples, made them
   more zealous. As afterwards they thought great things of themselves,
   because they cast out demons, therefore He here reproves them; for what
   they had, was by revelation, not by their own efforts.

   The Scribes who esteemed themselves wise and understanding were
   excluded because of their pride, and therefore He says, Since on this
   account the mysteries of God were hid from them, fear ye, and abide as
   babes, for this it is that has made you partakers in the revelation.

   But as when Paul says, "God gave them over to a reprobate mind," [Rom
   1:28] he does not mean that God did this, but they who gave Him cause,
   so here, "Thou hast hid thee things from the wise and understanding."
   And wherefore were they hid from them? Hear Paul speaking, "Seeking to
   set up their own righteousness, they were not subject to the
   righteousness of God." [Rom 10:3]
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   27. "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth
   the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the
   Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."
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   Chrys.: Because He had said, "I confess unto thee, Father, because thou
   hast hid these things from the wise," that you should not suppose that
   He thus thanks the Father as though He Himself was excluded from this
   power, He adds, "All things are committed to me by my Father." Hearing
   the words are committed, do not admit suspicion of any thing human, for
   He uses this word that you may not think there be two gods unbegotten.
   For at the time that He was begotten He was Lord of all.

   Jerome: For if we conceive of this thing according to our weakness,
   when he who receives begins to have, he who gives begins to be without.

   Or when He says, "All things are committed to him," He may mean, not
   the heaven and earth and the elements, and the rest of the things which
   He created and made, but those who through the Son have access to the
   Father.

   Hilary: Or that we may not think that there is any thing less in Him
   than in God, therefore He says this.

   Aug., cont. Maximin. ii. 12: For if He has aught less in His power than
   the Father has, then all that the Father has, are not His; for by
   begetting Him the Father gave power to the Son, as by begetting Him He
   gave all things which He has in His substance to Him whom He begot of
   His substance.

   Hilary: And also in the mutual knowledge between the Father and the
   Son, He teaches us that there is nothing in the Son beyond what was in
   the Father; for it follows, "And none knoweth the Son but the Father,
   nor does any man know the Father but the Son."

   Chrys.: By this that He only knows the Father, He shews covertly that
   He is of one substance with the Father. As though He had said, What
   wonder if I be Lord of all, when I have somewhat yet greater, namely to
   know the Father and to be of the same substance with Him?

   Hilary: For this mutual knowledge proclaims that they are of one
   substance, since He that should know the Son, should know the Father
   also in the Son, since all things were delivered to Him by the Father.

   Chrys.: When He says, "Neither does any know the Father but the Son,"
   He does not mean that all men are altogether ignorant of Him; but that
   none knows Him with that knowledge wherewith He knows Him; which may
   also be said of the Son. For it is not said of some unknown God [margin
   note: i.e. who was not the Creator] as Marcion declares.

   Aug., De Trin., i, 8: And because their substance is inseparable, it is
   enough sometimes to name the Father, sometimes the Son; nor is it
   possible to separate from either His Spirit, who is especially called
   the Spirit of truth.

   Jerome: Let the heretic Eunomius [ed. note: Eunomius, the chief of the
   Anomaean branch of the Arians, taught that there was no mystery about
   the Divine nature. He is opposed by St. Basil, and by St. Chrysostom in
   his Homilees on the incomprehensible nature of God.'] therefore blush
   hereat who claims to himself such a knowledge of the Father and the
   Son, as they have one of another. But if he argues from what follows,
   and props up his madness by that, "And he to whom the Son will reveal
   him," it is one thing to know what you know by equality with God,
   another to know it by His vouchsafing to reveal it.

   Aug., De Trin., vii, 3: The Father is revealed by the Son, that is, by
   His Word. For if the temporal and transitory word which we utter both
   shews itself, and what we wish to convey, how much more the Word of God
   by which all things were made, which so shews the Father as He is
   Father, because itself is the same and in the same manner as the
   Father.

   Aug., Quast Ev., i, 1: When He said, "None knoweth the Son but the
   Father," He did not add, And he to whom the Father will reveal the Son.
   But when He said, "None knoweth the Father bet the Son," He added, "And
   he to whom the Son will reveal him."

   But this must not be so understood as though the Son could be known by
   none but by the Father only; while the Father may be known not only by
   the Son, but also by those to whom the Son shall reveal Him. But it is
   rather expressed thus, that we may understand that both the Father and
   the Son Himself are revealed by the Son, inasmuch as He is the light of
   our mind; and what is afterwards added, "And he to whom the Son will
   reveal," is to be understood as spoken of the Son as well as the
   Father, and to refer to the whole of what had been said. For the Father
   declares Himself by His Word, but the Word declares not only that which
   is intended to be declared by it, but in declaring this declares
   itself.

   Chrys.: If then He reveals the Father, He reveals Himself also. But the
   one he omits as a thing manifest, but mentions the other because there
   might be a doubt concerning it.

   Herein also He instructs us that He is so one with the Father, that it
   is not possible for any to come to the Father, but through the Son. For
   this had above all things given offence, that He seemed to be against
   God, and therefore He strove by all means to overthrow this notion.
     __________________________________________________________________

   28. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
   give you rest.

   29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
   heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

   30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: By what He had said, He brought His disciples to have a desire
   towards Him, shewing them His unspeakable excellence; and now He
   invites them to Him, saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
   heavy laden."

   Aug., Serm., 69, 1: Whence do we all thus labour, but that we are
   mortal men, bearing vessels of clay which cause us much difficulty. But
   if the vessels of flesh are straitened, the regions of love will be
   enlarged. To what end then does He say, "Come unto me," all ye that
   labour, but that ye should not labour?

   Hilary: He calls to Him those that were labouring under the hardships
   of the Law, and those who are burdened with the sins of this world.

   Jerome: That the burden of sin is heavy the Prophet Zachariah bears
   witness, saying, that wickedness sitteth upon a talent of lead. [margin
   note: Zech 5:7] And the Psalmist fills it up, "Thy iniquities are grown
   heavy upon me." [Ps 38:4]

   Greg.: For a cruel yoke and hard weight of servitude it is to be
   subject to the things of time, to be ambitious of the things of earth,
   to cling to falling things, to seek to stand in things that stand not,
   to desire things that pass away, but to be unwilling to pass away with
   them. For while all things fly away against our wish, those things
   which had first harassed the mind in desire of gaining them, now
   oppress it with fear of losing them.

   Chrys.: He said not, Come ye, this man and that man, but All whosoever
   are in trouble, in sorrow, or in sin, not that I may exact punishment
   of you, but that I may remit your sins. Come ye, not that I have need
   of your glory, but that I seek your salvation. "And I will refresh
   you;" not, I will save you, only; but that is much greater, "I will
   refresh you," that is, I will set you in all quietness.

   Raban.: I will not only take from you your burden, but will satisfy you
   with inward refreshment.

   Remig.: "Come," He says, not with the feet, but with the life, not in
   the body, but in faith. For that is a spiritual approach by which any
   man approaches God; and therefore it follows, "Take my yoke upon you."

   Raban.: The yoke of Christ is Christ's Gospel, which joins and yokes
   together Jews and Gentiles in the unity of the faith. This we are
   commanded to take upon us, that is, to have in honour; lest perchance
   setting it beneath us, that is wrongly despising it, we should trample
   upon it with the miry feet of unholiness; wherefore He adds, "Learn of
   me."

   Aug., Serm., 69, 1: Not to create a world, or to do miracles in that
   world; but that "I am meek and lowly in heart." Wouldest thou be great?
   Begin with the least. Wouldest thou build up a mighty fabric of
   greatness? First think of the foundation of humility; for the mightier
   building any seeks to raise, the deeper let him dig for his foundation.
   Whither is the summit of our building to rise? To the sight of God.

   Raban.: We must learn then from our Saviour to be meek in temper, and
   lowly in mind; let us hurt none, let us despise none, and the virtues
   which we have shewn in deed let us retain in our heart.

   Chrys.: And therefore in beginning the Divine Law He begins with
   humility, and sets before us a great reward, saying, "And ye shall find
   rest for your souls." This is the highest reward, you shall not only be
   made useful to others, but shall make yourself to have peace; and He
   gives you the promise of it before it comes, but when it is come, you
   shall rejoice in perpetual rest. And that they might not be afraid
   because He had spoken of a burden, tberefore He adds, "For my yoke is
   pleasant, and my burden light."

   Hilary: He holds forth the inducements of a pleasant yoke, and a light
   burden, that to them that believe He may afford the knowledge of that
   good which He alone knoweth in the Father.

   Greg., Mor., iv, 33: What burden is it to put upon the neck of our mind
   that He bids us shun all desire that disturbs, and turn from the
   toilsome paths of this world!

   Hilary: And what is more pleasant than that yoke, what lighter than
   that burden? To be made better, to abstain from wickedness, to choose
   the good, and refuse the evil, to love all men, to hate none, to gain
   eternal things, not to be taken with things present, to be unwilling to
   do that to another which yourself would be pained to suffer.

   Raban.: But how is Christ's yoke pleasant, seeing it was said above,
   "Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life?" [Matt 7:14] That which is
   entered upon by a narrow entrance is in process of time made broad by
   the unspeakable sweetness of love.

   Aug., Serm., 70, 1: So then they who with unfearing neck have submitted
   to the yoke of the Lord endure such hardships and dangers, that they
   seem to be called not from labour to rest, but from rest to labour.

   But the Holy Spirit was there who, as the outward man decayed, renewed
   the inward man day by day, and giving a foretaste of spiritual rest in
   the rich pleasures of God in the hope of blessedness to come, smoothed
   all that seemed rough, lightened all that was heavy. Men suffer
   amputations and burnings, that at the price of sharper pain they may be
   delivered from torments less but more lasting, as boils or swellinga.

   What storms and dangers will not merchants undergo that they may
   acquire perishing riches? Even those who love not riches endure the
   same hardships; but those that love them endure the same, but to them
   they are not hardships. For love makes right easy, and almost nought
   all things however dreadful and monstrous.

   How much more easily then does love do that for true happiness, which
   avarice does for misery as far as it can?

   Jerome: And how is the Gospel lighter than the Law, seeing in the Law
   murder and adultery, but under the Gospel anger and concupiscence also,
   are punished? Because by the Law many things are commanded which the
   Apostle fully teaches as cannot be fulfilled; by the Law works are
   required, by the Gospel the will is sought for, which even if it goes
   not into act, yet does not lose its reward.

   The Gospel commands what we can do, as that we lust not; this is in our
   own power; the Law punishes not the will but the act, as adultery.
   Suppose a virgin to have been violated in time of persecution; as here
   was not the will she is held as a virgin under the Gospel; under the
   Law she is cast out as defiled.
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Chapter 12

   1. At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his
   disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to
   eat.

   2. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, "Behold, thy
   disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day."

   3. But he said unto them, "Have ye not read what David did, when he was
   an hungred, and they that were with him;

   4. How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread,
   which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with
   him, but only for the Priests?

   5. Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the
   Priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

   6. But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the
   temple.

   7. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not
   sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

   8. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day."
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   Gloss. ord.: Having related the preaching together with the miracles of
   one year before John's enquiry, He passes to those of another year,
   namely after the death of John, when Jesus is already in all things
   spoken against; and hence it is said, "At that time Jesus passed
   through the corn fields on the sabbath day."

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 34: This which here follows is related both by
   Mark and Luke, without any question of discrepancy; indeed they do not
   say, "At that time," so that Matthew has here perhaps preserved the
   order of time, they that of their recollection; unless we take the
   words in a wider sense, "At that time," that is, the time in which
   these many and divers things were done, whence we may conceive that all
   these things happened after the death of John. For he is believed to
   have been beheaded a little after he sent his disciples to Christ. So
   that when he says "at that time," he may mean only an indefinite time.

   Chrys., Hom., xxxix: Why then did He lead them through the corn fields
   on the sabbath, seeing He knew all things, unless He desired to break
   the sabbath? This he desired indeed, but not absolutely; therefore He
   broke it not without cause, but furnished a sufficient reason; so that
   He both caused the Law to cease, and yet offended not against it.

   Thus in order to soften the Jews, He here introduces a natural
   necessity; this is what is said, "And his disciples being an hungred,
   began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat." Although in things which
   are manifestly sinful, there can be no excuse; he who kills another
   cannot plead rage, nor he who commits adultery, lust, or any other
   cause; yet here saying that the disciples were hungry, He delivers them
   from all accusation.

   Jerome: As we read in another Evangelist, they had no opportunity of
   taking food because of the thronging of the multitude, and therefore
   they hungred as men. That they rub the ears of corn in their hands, and
   with them satisfy themselves, is a proof of an austere life, and of men
   who needed not prepared meats, but sought only simple food.

   Chrys.: Here admire the disciples, who are so limited in their desires,
   that they have no care of the things of the body, but despise the
   support of the flesh; they are assailed by hunger, and yet they go not
   away from Christ; for had not they been hard pressed by hunger, they
   would not have done thus.

   What the Pharisees said to this is added, "The Pharisees seeing it said
   unto Him, Behold, thy disciples do what is not lawful to do on the
   sabbath."

   Aug., De Op. Monach., 23: The Jews rather charged the Lord's disciples
   with the breach of the sabbath than with theft; because it was
   commanded the people of Israel in the Law, [margin note: Deut 23:25]
   that they should not lay hold of any as a thief in their fields, unless
   he sought to carry ought away with him; but if any touched only what he
   needed to eat, him they suffered to depart with impunity free.

   Jerome: Observe, that the first Apostles of the Saviour broke the
   letter of the sabbath, contrary to the opinion of the Ebionites [ed.
   note: The Ebionites received only the Hebrew Gospel of St. Matthew
   mutilated. They rejected St. Paul of an apostate, vid. Iren. Haer. 1.
   96. n. 2. Orig. in Cels. v. 65. Euseb. iii. 27] who receive the other
   Apostles, but reject Paul as a transgressor of the Law.

   Then it proceeds to their excuse; "But he said unto them, Have ye not
   read what David did, when he was an hungred?" To refute the false
   accusation of the Pharisees, He calls to mind the ancient history, that
   David flying from Saul came to Nobba, and being entertained by
   Achimelech the Priest, [margin note: 1 Sam 21] asked for food; he
   having no common bread, gave him the consecrated loaves, which it was
   not lawful for any to eat, but the Priests only and Levites; esteeming
   it a better action to deliver men from the danger of famine than to
   offer sacrifice to God; for the preservation of man is a sacrifice
   acceptable to God.

   Thus then the Lord meets their objection, saying, If David be a holy
   man, and if you blame not the high-priest Achimelech, but consider
   their excuse for their transgression of the Law to be valid, and that
   was hunger; how do ye not approve in the Apostles the same plea which
   you approve in others! Though even here there is much difference. These
   rub ears of corn in their hands on the sabbath; those ate the Levitical
   bread, and over and above the solemn sabbath it was the season of new
   moon, during which when sought for at the banquet he fled from the
   royal palace.

   Chrys.: To clear His disciples, He brings forward the instance of
   David, whose glory as a Prophet was great among the Jews. Yet they
   could not here answer that this was lawful for him, because he was a
   Prophet; for it was not Prophets, but Priests only who might eat. And
   the greater was he who did this, the greater is the defence of the
   disciples; yet though David was a Prophet, they that were with him were
   not.

   Jerome: Observe that neither David nor his servants received the loaves
   of shew-bread, before they had made answer that they were pure from
   women.

   Chrys.: But some one will say, How is this instance applicable to the
   question in hand? For David did not transgress the sabbath. Herein is
   shewn the wisdom of Christ, that He brings forward an instance stronger
   than the sabbath. For it is by no means the same thing to violate the
   sabbath, and to touch that sacred table, which is lawful for none. And
   again, He adds yet another answer, saying, "Or have ye not read in the
   Law, that on the sabbath days the Priests in the temple profane the
   sabbath, and are blameless?"

   Jerome: As though He had said, Ye bring complaints against my
   disciples, that on the sabbath they rub ears of corn in their hands,
   under stress of hunger, and ye yourselves profane the sabbath, slaying
   victims in the temple, killing bulls, burning holocausts on piles of
   wood; also, on the testimony of another Gospel, [margin note: John
   7:23] ye circumcise infants on the sabbath; so that in keeping one law,
   ye break that concerning the sabbath.

   But the laws of God are never contrary one to another; wisely
   therefore, wherein His disciples might be accused of having
   transgressed them, He shews that therein they followed the examples of
   Achimelech and David; and this their pretended charge of breaking the
   sabbath He retorts truly, and not having the plea of necessity, upon
   those who had brought the accusation.

   Chrys.: But that you should not say to me, that to find an instance of
   another's sin is not to excuse our own -- indeed where the thing done
   and not the doer of it is accused, we excuse the thing done. But this
   is not enough, He said what is yet more, that they are blameless. But
   see how great things He brings in; first, the place, in the Temple;
   secondly, the time, on the sabbath; the setting aside the Law, in the
   word "profane," not merely break; and that they are not only free from
   punishment but from blame; "and are blameless."

   And this second instance is not like the first which He gave respecting
   David; for that was done but once, by David who was not a Priest, and
   was a case of necessity; but this second is done every sabbath, and by
   the Priests, and according to the Law. So that not only by indulgence,
   as the first case would establish, but by the strict law the disciples
   are to be held blameless.

   But are the disciples Priests? yea, they are yet greater than Priests,
   forasmuch as He was there who is the Lord of the Temple, who is the
   reality and not the type; and therefore it is added, "But I say unto
   you, one greater than the Temple is here."

   Jerome: The word "Hic" is not a pronoun, but an adverb of place here,
   for that place is greater than the Temple which contains the Lord of
   the Temple.

   Aug., Quaest in Matt., q. 10: It should be observed, that one example
   is taken from royal persons, as David, the other from priestly, as
   those who profane the sabbath for the service of the Temple, so that
   much less can the charge concerning the rubbing the ears of corn attach
   to Him who is indeed King and Priest.

   Chrys.: And because what He had said seemed hard to those that heard
   it, He again exhorts to mercy, introducing His discourse with emphasis,
   saying, "But had ye known what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not
   sacrifice, ye would never have condemned the innocent."

   Jerome: What "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," signifies, we have
   explained above. The words, "Ye would never have condemned the
   innocent," are to be referred to the Apostles, and the meaning is, If
   ye allow the mercy of Achimelech, in that he refreshed David when in
   danger of famishing, why do ye condemn My disciples?

   Chrys.: Observe again how in leading the discourse towards an apology
   for them, He shews His disciples to be above the need of any apology,
   and to be indeed blameless, as He had said above of the Priests. And He
   adds yet another plea which clears them of blame, "For the Son of Man
   is Lord also of the sabbath."

   Remig.: He calls Himself the Son of Man, and the meaning is, He whom ye
   suppose a mere man is God, the Lord of all creatures, and also of the
   sabbath, and He has therefore power to change the law after His
   pleasure, because He made it.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xvi, 28: He did not forbid His disciples to pluck
   the ears of corn on the sabbath, that so He might convict both the Jews
   who then were, and the Manichaeans who were to come, who will not pluck
   up a herb lest they should be committing a murder.

   Hilary: Figuratively; First consider that this discourse was held "at
   that time," namely, when He had given thanks to the Father for giving
   salvation to the Gentiles. The field is the world, the sabbath is rest,
   the corn the ripening of them that believe for the harvest; thus His
   passing through the corn field on the sabbath, is the coming of the
   Lord into the world in the rest of the Law; the hunger of the disciples
   is their desire for the salvation of men.

   Raban.: They pluck the ears of corn when they withdraw men from
   devotion to the world; they rub them in their hands when they tear away
   their hearts from the lusts of the flesh; they eat the grain when they
   transfer such as are amended into the body of the Church.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 2: But no man passes into the body of Christ,
   until he has been stripped of his fleshly raiment; according to that of
   the Apostle, "Put ye off the old man." [Eph 4:22]

   Raban.: This they do on the sabbath, that is in the hope of eternal
   rest, to which they invite others. Also they walk through the corn
   fields with the Lord, who have delight in meditating on the Scriptures;
   they are hungry while they desire to find the bread of life, that is
   the love of God, in them; they pluck the ears of corn and rub them in
   their hands, while they examine the testimonies to discover what lies
   hid under the letter, and this on the sabbath, that is, while they are
   free from disquieting thoughts.

   Hilary: The Pharisees, who thought that the key of the kingdom of
   heaven was in their hands, accused the disciples of doing what was not
   lawful to do; whereon the Lord reminded them of deeds in which, under
   the guise of facts, a prophecy was concealed; and that He might shew
   the power of all things, He further added, that it contained the form
   of that work which was to be, "Had ye known what that meaneth, I will
   have mercy;" for the work of our salvation is not in the sacrifice of
   the Law, but in mercy; and the Law having ceased, we are saved by the
   mercy of God.

   Which gift if they had understood they would not have condemned the
   innocent, that is His Apostles, whom in their jealousy they were to
   accuse of having transgressed the Law, where the old sacrifices having
   ceased, the new dispensation of mercy came through them to the aid of
   all.
     __________________________________________________________________

   9. And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:

   10. And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they
   asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they
   might accuse him.

   11. And he said unto them, "What man shall there be among you, that
   shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day,
   will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

   12. How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful
   to do well on the sabbath days."

   13. Then saith he to the man, "Stretch forth thine hand." And he
   stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Because by fair instances He had vindicated His disciples from
   the charge of breaking the sabbath, the Pharisees seek to bring false
   accusation against Himself; whence it is said, "And passing thence, he
   came into their synagogue."

   Hilary: For the things that had gone before were said and done in the
   open air, and after this He entered the synagogue.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 35: It might have been supposed that the matter
   of the ears of corn, and this cure following had been done on the same
   day, for it is mentioned to have been the sabbath day in both cases,
   had not Luke shewn us that they were on different days. So that what
   Matthew says, "And when he had passed thence, he came into their
   synagogue," is to be taken as that He did not enter into the synagogue
   till He had passed thence; but whether several days intervened or He
   went thither straight is not expressed in this Gospel, so that place is
   given to the relation of Luke, who tells of the healing of this kind of
   palsy on another sabbath.

   Hilary: When He was entered into the synagogue, they bring a man of a
   withered hand, asking Him whether it was lawful to heal on the sabbath
   day, seeking an occasion of convicting Him out of His answer; as it
   follows, "And they brought him a man having a withered hand, and asked
   him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

   Chrys., Hom., xl: They do not ask that they may learn, but that they
   may accuse Him; as it follows, "that they might accuse him." Though the
   action itself would have been enough, yet they sought occasion against
   Him in His words also, thus providing for themselves greater matter of
   complaint.

   Jerome: And they ask Him whether it is lawful to heal on the sabbath
   day, that if He should refuse, they might charge Him with cruelty, or
   want of power; if He should heal him, they might charge Him with
   transgressing the Law.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii. 35: But it may raise enquiry how Matthew can
   say that they asked the Lord, "Whether it were lawful to heal on the
   sabbath," seeing Mark and Luke relate that it was the Lord who asked
   them, " Whether it is lawful on the sabbath day to do good or to or
   evil? [Luke 6:9] It is to be understood then that they first asked the
   Lord, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? Then understanding
   their thoughts that they sought an occasion to accuse Him, He placed in
   the midst him whom He was about to heal, and put to them the question
   which Mark and Luke say that He did ask; and when they remained silent,
   He made the comparison respecting the sheep, and concluded that they
   might do good on the sabbath day; as it follows, "But he said unto
   them, What man, shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep,
   and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
   it, and lift it out?"

   Jerome: Thus He answers their question in such a way as to convict the
   questioners of covetousness. If ye on the sabbath, saith He, would
   hasten to lift out a sheep or any other animal that might have fallen
   into a pit, not for the sake of the animal, but to preserve your own
   property, how much more ought I to deliver a man who is so much better
   than a sheep?

   Gloss. ord.: Thus He answers their question with a suitable example, so
   as to shew that they profane the sabbath by works of covetousness who
   were charging Him with profaning it by works of charity; evil
   interpreters of the Law, who say that on the sabbath we ought to rest
   from good deeds, when it is only evil deeds from which we ought to
   rest. As it is said, "Ye shall do no servile work therein," [Lev 23:3]
   that is, no sin. Thus in the everlasting rest, we shall rest only from
   evil, and not from good.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 35: After this comparison concerning the sheep,
   He concludes that it is lawful to do good on the sabbath day, saying,
   "Therefore it is lawful to do good on the sabbath."

   Chrys.: Observe how He shews many reasons for this breaking of the
   sabbath. But forasmuch as the man was incurably sick, He proceeds
   straightway to the work, as it follows, "Then saith he to the man,
   Reach forth thy hand: and he reached it forth, and it was restored
   whole as the other."

   Jerome: In the Gospel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites use [margin
   note: see note, p. 433], and which we have lately translated into Greek
   out of the Hebrew, and which many regard as the genuine Matthew, this
   man who has the withered hand is described as a builder, and he makes
   his prayer in these words, I was a builder, and gained my living by the
   labour of my hands; I pray thee, Jesus, to restore me to health, that I
   may not disgracefully beg my bread.'

   Raban.: Jesus teaches and works chiefly on the sabbath, not only on
   account of the spiritual sabbath, but on account of the gathering
   together of the people, seeking that all should be saved.

   Hilary: Figuratively; After their departure from the corn field, from
   which the Apostles had received the fruits of their sowing, He came to
   the Synagogue, there also to make ready the work of His harvest; for
   there were afterwards many with the Apostles who were healed.

   Jerome: Until the coming of the Lord the Saviour, there was the
   withered hand in the Synagogue of the Jews, and the works of the Lord
   were not done in it; but when He came upon earth, the right hand was
   restored in the Apostles who believed, and given back to its former
   occupation.

   Hilary: All healing is done by the word; and the hand is restored as
   the other; that is, made like to the ministry of the Apostles in the
   business of bestowing salvation; and it teaches the Pharisees that they
   should not be displeased that the work of human salvation is done by
   the Apostles, seeing that if they would believe, their own hand would
   be made able to the ministry of the same duty.

   Raban.: Otherwise; The man who had the withered hand denotes the human
   race in its barrenness of good works dried up by the hand which was
   stretched out to the fruit; [margin note: Gen 3:6] this was healed by
   the stretching out of the innocent hand on the Cross.

   And well is this withered hand said to have been in the Synagogue, for
   where the gift of knowledge is greater, there is the greater danger of
   an irrecoverable infliction. The withered hand when it is to be healed
   is first bid to be stretched out, because the weakness of a barren mind
   is healed by no means better than by liberality of almsgiving. A man's
   right hand is affected when he is remiss in giving alms, his left whole
   when he is attentive to his own interests. But when the Lord comes, the
   right hand is restored whole as the left, because what he had got
   together greedily, that he distributes freely.
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how
   they might destroy him.

   15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great
   multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;

   16. And charged them that they should not make him known:

   17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet,
   saying,

   18. Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul
   is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew
   judgment to the Gentiles.

   19. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice
   in the streets.

   20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not
   quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

   21, And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Hilary: The Pharisees are moved with jealousy at what had been done;
   because beholding the outward body of a man, they did not recognize the
   God in His works; "The Pharisees sent out and sought counsel against
   him, how they ought destroy him."

   Raban.: He says, "went out" because their mind was alien from the Lord.
   They took counsel how they might destroy life, not how themselves might
   find life.

   Hilary: And He knowing their plots withdrew, that He might be far from
   the counsels of the evil hearted, as it follows, "Jesus knowing it
   departed thence."

   Jerome: Knowing, that is, their designs against Him withdrew Himself,
   that He might remove from the Pharisees all opportunity of sin.

   Remig.: Or; He withdrew from thence as avoiding the designs of His own
   when they persecuted Him; or because that was not the time or place for
   Him to suffer, for "It cannot be that a Prophet should perish out of
   Jerusalem," [Luke 13:33] as He Himself spake.

   The Lord also shunned those who persecuted Him through hatred, and went
   thither where He found many who were attached to Him from affection,
   whence it follows, "And there followed him many." Him whom the
   Pharisees with one consent plotted against to destroy, the untaught
   multitude with one consent love and follow; whence they soon received
   the fulfilment of their desires, for it follows, "And he healed them
   all."

   Hilary: On those whom He healed He enjoined silence, whence it follows,
   "And he charged them that they should not make him known." For his
   restored health was a witness to each man. And by commanding them to
   hold their peace, He avoids all ostentation of Himself, and at the same
   time notwithstanding affords a knowledge of Himself in that very
   admonition to hold their peace; for the observance of silence proceeds
   from that very thing which is to be kept silent.

   Raban.: In this also He instructs us, that when we have done any thing
   great we are not to seek praise abroad.

   Remig.: And He also gives them command that they should not make Him
   known, that they might not by persecuting Him be put into a worse
   state.

   Chrys.: And that you may not be troubled at those things which are
   done, and at the incredible madness of the Pharisees, He introduces the
   Prophet's words. For such was the carefulness of the Prophets, that
   they had not omitted even this, but had noted all His ways and
   movements, and the meaning with which He did this; that you might learn
   that He spoke all things by the Holy Spirit; for if it be impossible to
   know the thoughts of men, much more to know the meaning of Christ,
   unless the Holy Spirit revealed it. Therefore it follows, "That it
   might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the Prophet, saying,
   Behold my servant whom I have chosen."

   Remig.: The Lord Jesus Christ is called the servant of the Almighty God
   [ed. note: ~ Our Lord is said to be properly a servant as regards His
   human nature, by S. Athan. Orat. in Arian. i. 43. S. Hilar. de Trin.
   xi. 13. S. Greg. Nyss. Orat. xxxvi. p. 578. S. Greg. Nyss. de Fide ad
   Simpl. p. 471. S. Ambros. de Fid. vs. Pseudo-August, Alterc.cum Paec.
   15. S.Cyrill. Alex. ad Theodor. in Anathem. 10. p. 223. But it came to
   be denied in the course of the Adoptionist controversy, the same
   heretics who denied that our Lord was the true Son of God in His human
   nature, asserting that He was a servant. Theodoret attributes the
   opinion to Apollinarii, "which none of us ever dared to utter."
   Eranist. ii. fin.], not in respect of His divinity, but in respect of
   the dispensation of the flesh which He took upon Him because by the
   cooperation of the Holy Spirit He took flesh of the Virgin without
   stain of sin. Some books have, "Elect, whom I have chosen," for He was
   chosen by God the Father, that is, predestinated that He should be the
   Son of God, proper, not adopted.

   Raban.: "Whom I have chosen," says, for a work which none else has
   done, that He should redeem the human race, and make peace between God
   and the world. It follows, "My beloved, in whom my soul is well
   pleased," for He alone is the Lamb without spot of sin, of whom the
   Father speaks, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
   [Matt 17:5]

   Remig.: That he says, "My soul," is not to be understood as though God
   the Father had a soul, but by way of adaptation, shewing how God is
   disposed towards Him. And it is no wonder that a soul is ascribed to
   God in this manner, seeing that all other members of the body are
   likewise.

   Chrys.: This the Prophet puts in the beginning, that you might learn
   that that which is here said was according to the counsel of the
   Father. For he that is beloved does according to his will who loveth
   him. And again, he that is chosen, does not as an enemy break the lair,
   nor as one being an adversary of the legislator, but as one in
   agreement with Him. Because therefore He is beloved, "I will put my
   Spirit upon him."

   Remig.: Then also God the Father put His Spirit upon Him, when by the
   working of the Holy Spirit He took flesh of the Virgin; and as soon as
   He became man, He took the fulness of the Holy Spirit.

   Jerome: But the Holy Spirit is put, not on the Word of God, but on the
   Only-Begotten, who came forth from the bosom of the Father; on Him,
   that is, of whom it is said, "Behold my servant." And what He will do
   by Him He adds, "And he shall declare judgment to the Gentiles."

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 30: Seeing He preached the judgment to
   come which was hidden from the Gentiles.

   Chrys.: Further, to shew His lowliness, He says, "He shall not strive;"
   and so He was offered up as the Father had willed, and gave Himself
   willingly into the hands of His persecutors. "Neither shall he cry;" so
   He was dumb as a lamb before his shearer. "Nor shall any hear his voice
   in the streets."

   Jerome: For the way is broad and wide which leads to destruction, and
   many walk in it; and being many, they will not hear the voice of the
   Saviour, because they are not in the narrow but in the broad way.

   Remig.: The Greek plateia, is in Latin called latitudo.' No one
   therefore has heard His voice in the streets, because He has not
   promised pleasant things in this world to those that love Him, but
   hardships.

   Chrys.: The Lord sought to heal the Jews by this mildness. But though
   they rejected Him, yet He did not resist them by destroying them;
   whence the Prophet, displaying His power and their weakness, says, "A
   bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoking flax he shall not
   quench."

   Jerome: He that holds not out his hand to a sinner, nor bears his
   brother's burden, he breaks a bruised reed; and he who despises a weak
   spark of faith in a little one, he benches a smoking flax.

   Aug.: So He neither bruised nor quenched the Jewish persecutors, who
   are here likened to a bruised reed which has lost its wholeness, and to
   a smoking flax which has lost its flame; but He spared them because He
   was not come to judge them, but to be judged by them.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 3: In the smoking flax it is observed, that when
   the flame is out it causes a stink.

   Chrys.: Or this, "He shall not break a bruised reed," shews that it was
   as easy for Him to break them all, as to break a reed, and that a
   bruised reed. And, "He shall not quench a smoking flax," shews that
   their rage was fired, and that the power of Christ was strong to quench
   such rage with all readiness; hence in this is shewn the great mercy of
   Christ.

   Hilary: Or, he means this bruised reed that is not broken, to shew that
   the perishing and bruised bodies of the Gentiles, are not to be broken,
   but are rather reserved for salvation. "He shall not quench a smoking
   flax, shews the feebleness of that spark which though not quenched,
   only moulders in the flax, and that among the remnants of that ancient
   grace, the Spirit is yet not quite taken away from Israel, but power
   still remains to them of resuming the whole flame thereof in a day of
   penitence.

   Jerome, Ep. 121, 2: Or the reverse; He calls the Jews a bruised reed,
   whom tossed by the wind and shaken from one another, the Lord did not
   immediately condemn, but patiently endured; and the smoking flax He
   calls the people gathered out of the Gentiles, who, having extinguished
   the light of the natural law, were involved in the wandering mazes of
   thick darkness of smoke, bitter and hurtful to the eyes; this He not
   only did not extinguish, by reducing them to ashes, but on the contrary
   from a small spark and one almost dead He raised a mighty flame.

   Chrys.: But one might say, What then shall these things be always thus?
   Will He endure for ever those who thus lay snares, and are mad against
   Him? Far from it; when His own work shall be all complete, then shall
   He work these things also. And this He signifies, saying, "Until he
   shall send forth judgment to victory;" as much as to say, When He shall
   have accomplished all things which are of Himself, then shall He bring
   in perfect vengeance; then shall they receive punishment when He has
   made his victory illustrious, that there be not left to them any
   irreverent opportunity of contradiction.

   Hilary: Or, "Until he shalt send forth judgment to victory," that is,
   Until He shall take away the power of death, and bring in judgment and
   the return of His splendour.

   Raban.: Or, Until that judgment which was being done in Him should come
   forth to victory. For after that by His resurrection He had overcome
   death, and driven forth the prince of this world, He returned as
   conqueror to His kingdom to sit on the right, hand of the Father, until
   He shall put all His enemies under His feet.

   Chrys.: But the things of this dispensation will not rest in this only,
   that they who have not believed should be punished, but He will also
   draw the world to Him; whence it follows, "And in his name shall the
   Gentiles hope."

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 30: This last we now see fulfilled; and
   thus this which cannot be denied establishes the truth of that which
   some have denied through ignorance, the last judgment namely, which He
   will hold upon earth, when He Himself shall come from heaven. For who
   could have expected that the Gentiles would have hope in Christ's name,
   when He was in the hands of His enemies, when He was bound, scourged,
   set at nought, and crucified; when even His disciples had lost that
   hope which they had begun to have in Him! That which one thief hardly
   hoped on the cross, the nations scattered far and wide now hope. And
   that they may not die for ever, they are marked with that very cross on
   which He died. Let none then doubt that the last judgment will be by
   Christ Himself.

   Remig.: And it should be known, that the meaning not only of this
   passage, but of many others also, is supported by this testimony from
   the Prophet. The words, "Behold my servant," may be referred to the
   place in which the Father had said above, "This is my Son." [Matt 3:17]
   The words, "I will put my Spirit upon him," is referred to the descent
   of the Holy Spirit upon the Lord at His baptism; "He shall declare
   judgment to the Gentiles," to that which He says below, "When the Son
   of Man shall sit in the seat of his Majesty." [Mat.25:31]

   What He adds, "He shall not strive nor cry," refers to the Lord how He
   answered but little to the Chief Priests, and to Pilate, but to Herod
   nothing at all. "He shall not break the bruised reed," refers to His
   shunning His persecutors that they might not be made worse; and that
   "In his name shall the Gentiles hope," refers to what Himself says
   below, "Go ye and teach all nations." [Matt. 28:19]
     __________________________________________________________________

   22. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and
   dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake
   and saw.

   23. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of
   David?

   24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This fellow doth not
   cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: The Lord had refuted the Pharisees above, when they
   brought false charges against the miracles of Christ, as if He had
   broken the sabbath in doing them. But inasmuch as with a yet greater
   wickedness they perversely attributed the miracles of Christ done by
   divine power to an unclean spirit, therefore the Evangelist places
   first the miracle from which they had taken occasion to blaspheme,
   saying, "Then was brought to him one that had a daemon, blind and
   dumb."

   Remig.: The word "Then" refers to that above, where having healed the
   man who had the withered hand, He went out of the synagogue. Or it may
   be taken of a more extended time; Then, namely, when these things were
   being done or said.

   Chrys.: We may wonder at the wickedness of the daemon; he had
   obstructed both inlets by which he could believe, namely, hearing and
   sight. But Christ opened both, whence it follows, "And he healed him,
   insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw."

   Jerome: Three miracles were wrought in one and the same person at the
   same time; the blind sees, the dumb speaks, the possessed is delivered
   from the daemon. This was at that time done in the flesh, but is now
   daily being fulfilled in the conversion of them that believe; the
   daemon is cast out when they first behold the light of the faith, and
   then their mouths which had before been stopped are opened to utter the
   praises of God.

   Hilary: Not without reason, after having mentioned that all the
   multitude was healed together, does he bring in the cure of this man
   separately who was demoniac, blind and dumb. For after the man of the
   withered hand had been brought before Him, and been healed in the
   Synagogue, it behoved that the salvation of the Gentiles should be
   represented in the person of some other afflicted man; he who had been
   the habitation of a daemon, and blind and dumb, should be made meet to
   receive God, should contain God in Christ, and by confession of God
   should give praise to the works of Christ.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 4: For he that believes not, is truly demoniac,
   b1ind, and dumb; and he that has not understanding of the faith, nor
   confesses, nor gives praise to God, is subject to the devil.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 37: This narrative is given by Luke, not in
   this place, but after many other things intervening, and speaks of him
   as dumb only, and not blind. But he is not to be thought to be speaking
   of another man, because he is silent respecting this one particular;
   for in what follows he agrees exactly with Matthew.

   Hilary: All the multitude were astonished at this which was done, but
   the jealousy of the Pharisees grew thereupon, "And all the multitude
   were astonished and said, Is not this the Son of David?"

   Gloss., ap. Raban.: Because of His mercy and His goodness to them they
   proclaim Him the Son of David.

   Raban. e Beda in Luc.: The multitude who seemed less learned, always
   wondered at the works of the Lord; they, on the other hand, either
   denied these things, or what they could not deny laboured to pervert by
   an ill interpretation, as though they were wrought not by a Deity, but
   by an unclean spirit, namely, Beelzebub, who was the God of Acharon:
   "The Pharisees when they heard it said, This man does not cast out
   daemons but by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons."

   Remig.: Beelzebub is the same as Beel or Baal, or Beelphegor. Beel was
   father of Ninus king of Assyria; Baal was so called because he was
   worshipped on high; he was called Beelphegor from the mountain Phegor;
   Zebub was the servant of Abimelech the son of Gedeon, who, having slain
   his seventy brothers, built a temple to Baal, and set him up as Priest
   therein, to drive away the flies which were collected there by the
   abundant blood of the victims; for Zebub means, a fly. Beelzebub
   therefore is interpreted, The man of flies; wherefore from this most
   unclean worship they called him the Prince of the daemons. Having
   therefore nothing more mean to cast upon the Lord, they said that He
   cast out daemons by Beelzebub. And it should be known that this word is
   not to be read with d or t at the end, as some corrupt copies have, but
   with, b.
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   25. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, "Every kingdom
   divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or
   house divided against itself shall not stand;

   26. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how
   shall then his kingdom stand?"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The Pharisees ascribed the works of God to the Prince of the
   daemons; and the Lord makes answer not to what they said, but to what
   they thought, that even thus they might be compelled to believe His
   power, Who saw the secrets of the heart; "Jesus, knowing their
   thoughts, said unto them."

   Chrys., Hom. xli: Above they had accused Christ of having cast out
   daemons by Beelzebub; but then He did not reprove them, suffering them,
   if they would, to acknowledge Him from further miracles, and to learn
   His greatness from His doctrine. But because they continued to maintain
   the same things, He now rebukes them, although their accusation had
   been very unreasonable.

   But jealousy reeks not what it says, so that only it say somewhat. Yet
   does not Christ contemn them, but answers with a gracious mildness,
   teaching us to be gentle to our enemies, and not to be troubled, even
   though they should speak such things against us, as we neither
   acknowledge in us, nor have any reasonableness in themselves.

   Therein also He proves that the things which they had said against Him
   were false, for it is not of one having a daemon to shew such mercy,
   and to know the thoughts. Moreover, because this their accusation was
   very unreasonable, and they feared the multitude, they did not dare to
   proclaim it openly, but kept it in their thoughts; wherefore he says,
   "Knowing their thoughts."

   He does not repeat their thoughts in His answer, not to divulge their
   wickedness; but He brings forward an answer; it was His object to do
   good to the sinners, not to proclaim their sin. He does not answer them
   out of the Scriptures, because they would not hearken to Him as they
   explained them differently, but He refutes them from common opinions.
   For assaults from without are not so destructive as quarrels within;
   and this is so in bodies and in all other things. But in the mean while
   He draws instances from matters more known, saying, "Every kingdom
   divided against itself shall be brought to desolation;" for there is
   nothing on earth more powerful than a kingdom, and yet that is
   destroyed by contention.

   What then must we say concerning a city or a family; that whether it be
   great or small, it is destroyed when it is at discord within itself.

   Hilary: For a city or family is analogous to a kingdom; as it follows,
   "And every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."

   Jerome: For as small things grow by concord, so the greatest fall to
   pieces through dissensions.

   Hilary: But the word of God is rich, and whether taken simply, or
   examined inwardly, it is needful for our advancement.

   Leaving therefore what belongs to the plain understanding thereof, let
   us dwell on some of the more secret reasons. The Lord is about to make
   answer to that which they had said concerning Beelzebub, and He casts
   upon those to whom He made answer a condition of their answering. Thus;
   The Law was from God and the promise of the kingdom to Israel was by
   the Law; but if the kingdom of the Law be divided in itself, it must
   needs be destroyed; and thus Israel lost the Law, when the nation whose
   was the Law, rejected the fulfilment of the Law in Christ.

   The city here spoken of is Jerusalem, which when it raged with the
   madness of its people against the Lord, and drove out His Apostles with
   the multitude of them that believed, after this division shall not
   stand; and thus (which soon happened in consequence of this division)
   the destruction of that city is declared.

   Again He puts another case, "And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided
   against himself; how then shall hie kingdom stand?

   Jerome: As much as to say, If Satan fight against himself, and, daemon
   be an enemy to daemon, then must the end of the world be at hand, that
   these hostile powers should have no place there, whose mutual war is
   peace for men.

   Gloss. ord.: He holds them therefore in this dilemma. For Christ casts
   out daemons either by the power of God, or by the Prince of the
   daemons. If by the power of God, their accusations are malicious; if by
   the Prince of the daemons, his kingdom is divided, and will not stand,
   and therefore let them depart out of his kingdom. And this alternative
   He intimates that they had chosen for themselves, when they refused to
   believe in Him.

   Chrys.: Or thus; If he is divided, he is made weak, and perishes; but
   if he perishes, how can he cast out another?

   Hilary: Otherwise; If the daemon was driven to this division to the end
   that he should thus afflict the daemons, even thus must we attribute
   higher power to Him who made the division than to those who are thus
   divided; thus the kingdom of the Devil, after this division made, is
   destroyed by Christ.

   Jerome: But if ye think, ye Scribes and Pharisees, that the daemons
   depart out of the possessed in obedience to their Prince, that men may
   be imposed upon by a concerted fraud, what can ye say to the healing of
   diseases which the Lord also wrought? It is something more if ye assign
   to the daemons even bodily infirmities, and the signs of spiritual
   virtues.
     __________________________________________________________________

   27. "And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children
   cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

   28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of
   God is come unto you."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: After the first answer, He comes to a second more plain than
   the first, saying, "And if I by Beelzebub cast out daemons, by whom do
   your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges."

   Jerome: He alludes, as is His manner, under the name children of the
   Jews, either to the exorcists of that race, or to the Apostles who are
   by race of that nation. If He means the exorcists who by the invocation
   of God cast out daemons, He thus constrains the Pharisees by a wise
   enquiry to confess that their work was of the Holy Spirit. If, He would
   say, the casting out of the daemons by your children is imputed to God,
   and not to daemons, why should the same work wrought by Me not have the
   same cause? "Therefore shall they be your judges," not by authority but
   by comparison; they ascribe the casting out of the daemons to God, you
   to the Prince of the daemons. But if it is of the Apostles also that
   this is said, (and so we should rather take it,) then they shall be
   their judges, for they shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve
   tribes of Israel.

   Hilary: And they are worthily appointed judges over them, to whom
   Christ is found to have given that power over the daemons, which it was
   denied that He had.

   Raban.: Or, because the Apostles well knew within their own conscience
   that they had learnt no evil art from Him.

   Chrys.: Yet He said not, My disciples, or Apostles, but "your
   children;" that if they chose to return again to their own privileges,
   they might take occasion hence; but if they should be ungrateful, they
   might not have even an impudent excuse, And the Apostles cast out
   daemons by virtue of power which they had from Him, and yet the
   Pharisees made no such charge against them; for it was not the actions
   themselves, but the person of Christ to which they were opposed.

   Desiring then to shew that the things which were said against Him were
   only jealous suspicions, He brings forward the Apostles. And also He
   leads them to a knowledge of Himself, shewing how they stood in the way
   of their own good, and resisted their own salvation; whereas they ought
   to be joyful because He had come to bestow great goods upon them; "If I
   by the Spirit of God cast out daemons, then is the kingdom of God come
   upon you." This also shews that it is a matter of great power to cast
   out daemons, and not an ordinary grace.

   And thus it is He reasons, "Therefore is the kingdom of God come upon
   you," as much as to say, If this indeed be so, then is the Son of God
   come upon you. But this He hints darkly, that it may not seem hard to
   them.

   Also to draw their attention, He said not merely, "The kingdom hath
   come," but, "upon you;" that is to say, These good things are coming
   for you; why do you oppose your own salvation; for this is the very
   sign given by the Prophets of the presence of the Son of God, that such
   works as these should be wrought by Divine power.

   Jerome: For the kingdom of God denotes Himself, of whom it is written
   in another place, "The kingdom of God is among you; [Luke 17:21] and,
   "There standeth one in the midst of you whom ye know not." [John 1:26].
   Or surely that kingdom which both John and the Lord Himself had
   preached above, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
   [Matt 3:2, 4:17]

   There is also a third kingdom of the Holy Scripture which shall be
   taken from the Jews, and be given to a nation that brings forth the
   fruit thereof.

   Hilary: If then the disciples work by Christ, and Christ by the Spirit
   of God, already is the kingdom of God transferred to the Apostles
   through the office of the Mediator.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: For the weakening of the kingdom of the Devil is
   the increase of the kingdom of God.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i. 5: Whence the sense might be this, "If I by
   Beelzebub cast out daemons," then, according to your own opinion, "the
   kingdom of God is come upon you," for the kingdom of the Devil, being
   thus divided against itself, cannot stand. Thus calling that the
   kingdom of God, in which the wicked are condemned, and are separated
   from the faithful, who are now doing penitence for their sins.
     __________________________________________________________________

   29. "Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his
   goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his
   house."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Having concluded the second answer, He brings forward yet a
   third, saying, "Or how can any enter into a strong man's house? For
   that Satan cannot cast out Satan is clear from what has been said; and
   that no other can cast him out, till he have first overcome him, is
   plain to all.

   Thus the same as before is established yet more abundantly; for He
   says, So far am I from having the Devil for my ally, that I rather am
   at war with him, and bind him; and in that I cast out after this sort,
   I therein spoil his goods. Thus He proves the very contrary of that
   they strove to establish. They would shew that He did not cast out
   demons of His own power; He proves that not only daemons, yea but the
   prince, also of the daemons He hath bound, as is shewn by that which He
   hath wrought. For if their Prince were not overcome, how were the
   daemons who are His subjects thus spoiled.

   This speech seems also to me to be a prophecy; inasmuch as He not only
   casts out daemons, but will take away all error out of the world, and
   dissolve the craft of the Devil; and He says not rob, but spoil,
   shewing that He will do it with power.

   Jerome: His "house" is this world, which is set in evil, not by the
   majesty of the Creator, but by the greatness of the sinner. The strong
   man is bound and chained in tartarus, bruised by the Lord's foot. Yet
   ought we not therefore to be careless; for here the conqueror Himself
   pronounces our adversary to be strong.

   Chrys.: He calls him "strong," shewing therein his old reign, which
   arose out of our sloth.

   Aug.: For he held us, that we should not by our own strength be able to
   free ourselves from him, but by the grace of God. By his goods, he
   means all the unbelievers. He has bound the strong man, in that He has
   taken away from him all power of hindering the faithful from following
   Christ, and gaining the kingdom of heaven.

   Raban.: Therefore He has spoiled his house, in that them, whom He
   foresaw should be His own, He set free from the snares of the Devil,
   and has joined to the Church. Or in that He has divided the whole world
   among His Apostles and their successors to be converted. By this plain
   parable therefore He shews that He does not join in a deceitful working
   with the daemons as they falsely accused Him, but by the might of His
   divinity He frees men from the daemons.
     __________________________________________________________________

   30. "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not
   with me scattereth abroad."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: After that third reply, here follows a fourth, "He that is not
   with me is against me."

   Hilary: Wherein He shews how far He is from having borrowed any power
   from the Devil; teaching us how great the danger to think amiss of Him,
   not to be with Whom, is the same as to be against Him.

   Jerome: But let none think that this is said of heretics and
   schismatics; though we may apply it besides to such; but it is shewn by
   the context to refer to the Devil; in that the works of the Saviour
   cannot be compared with the works of Beelzebub. He seeks to hold men's
   souls in captivity, the Lord to set them free; he preaches idols, the
   Lord the knowledge of the true God; he draws men to sin, the Lord calls
   them back to virtues. How then can these have agreement together, whose
   works are so opposite?

   Chrys.: Therefore whoso gathereth not with me, nor is with me, may not
   be compared together with me, that with me he should cast out daemons,
   but rather seeks to scatter what is mine. But tell me; If you were to
   have fought together with some one, and he should not be willing to
   come to your aid, is he not therefore against you?

   The Lord also Himself said in another place, "He that is not against
   you is for you." [Luke 9:50] To which that which is here said is not
   contrary. For here He is speaking of the Devil who is our adversary --
   there of some man who was on their side, of whom it is, said, "We saw
   one casting out daemons in thy name."

   Here He seems to allude to the Jews, classing them with the Devil; for
   they were against Him, and scattered what He would gather. But it is
   fair to allow that He spoke this of Himself; for He was against the
   Devil, and scattered abroad the things of the Devil.
     __________________________________________________________________

   31. "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be
   forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not
   be forgiven unto men,

   32. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be
   forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall
   not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to
   come."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord had refuted the Pharisees by explaining His own
   actions, and He now proceeds to terrify them. For this is no small part
   of correction, to threaten punishment, as well as to set right false
   accusation.

   Hilary: He condemns by a most rigorous sentence this opinion of the
   Pharisees, and of such as thought with them, promising pardon for all
   sins, but releasing it to blasphemy against the Spirit; "Wherefore I
   say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
   men."

   Remig.: But it should be known that they are not forgiven to all men
   universally, but to such only as have performed due penitence for their
   guiltinesses. So by these words is overthrown the error of Novatian,
   who said that the faithful could not rise by penitence after a fall,
   nor merit pardon of their sins, especially they who in persecution
   denied.

   [ed. note: Novatian, a presbyter of Rome, separated from the Church in
   the middle of the third century, and formed a sect, on the ground of
   the Church's restoring the lapsed in persecution upon their repentance.
   In consequence they considered the Church in a state of corruption, and
   they were led to maintain that none were in God's favour who had sinned
   grievously after Baptism]

   Aug., Serm., 71, 13: For what difference does it make to the purpose,
   whether it be said, "The spirit of blasphemy shall not be forgiven,"
   or, "Whoso shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit it shall not be
   forgiven him," as Luke speaks [Luke 12:10]; except that the same sense
   is expressed more clearly in the one place than in the other, the one
   Evangelist not overthrowing but explaining the other? "The spirit of
   blasphemy" it is said shortly, not expressing what spirit; to make
   which clear it is added, "And whoso shall speak a word against the Son
   of man, it shall be forgiven him." After having said the same of all
   manner of blasphemy, He would in a more particular way speak of that
   blasphemy which is against the Son of Man, and which in the Gospel
   according to John He shews to be very heavy, where He says concerning
   the Holy Ghost, "He shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
   and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me." That then
   which here follows, "He who shall speak a word against the Holy Ghost,
   it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which
   is to come," is not said because the Holy Spirit is in the Trinity
   greater than the Son, which no heretic ever affirmed.

   Hilary: And what is so beyond all pardon as to deny that in Christ
   which is of God, and to take away the substance of the Father's Spirit
   which is in Him, seeing that He performs every work in the Spirit of
   God, and in Him God is reconciling the world unto Himself.

   Jerome: Or the passage may be thus understood; Whoso speaks a word
   against the Son of Man, as stumbling at My flesh, and thinking of Me as
   no more than man, such opinion and blasphemy though it is not free from
   the sin of heresy, yet finds pardon because of the little worth of the
   body. But whoso plainly perceiving the works of God, and being unable
   to deny the power of God, speaks falsely against them prompted by
   jealousy, and calls Christ who is the Word of God, and the works of the
   Holy Ghost, Beelzebub, to him it shall not be forgiven, neither in this
   world, nor in the world to come.

   Aug.: But if this were said in such manner, then every other kind of
   blasphemy is omitted, and that only which is spoken against the Son of
   Man, as when He is pronounced to be mere man, is to be forgiven. That
   then that is said, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
   unto men," without doubt blasphemy spoken against the Father is
   included in its largeness; though here again that alone is declared
   irremissible which is spoken against the Holy Ghost. What then, hath
   the Father also taken upon Him the form of a servant, that the Holy
   Ghost is thus as it were spoken of as greater?

   For who could not be convicted of having spoken a word against the Holy
   Spirit, before He become a Christian or a Catholic? First, the Pagans
   themselves when they say that Christ wrought miracles by magic arts,
   are they not like those who said that He cast out daemons by the Prince
   of the demons? Likewise the Jews and all such heretics as confess the
   Holy Spirit, but deny that He is in the body of Christ, which is the
   Church Catholic, are like the Pharisees, who denied that the Holy
   Spirit was in Christ.

   Some heretics even contend that the Holy Spirit Himself is either a
   creature, as the Arians, Eunomians, and Macedonians, or deny Him at
   least in such sort that they may deny the Trinity in the Godhead;
   others assert that the Father alone is God, and the same is sometimes
   spoken of as the Son, sometimes as the Holy Spirit, as the Sabellians.
   The Photinians also say, that the Father only is God, and that the Son
   is nothing more than a man, and deny altogether that there is any third
   Person, the Holy Spirit.

   It is clear then that the Holy Spirit is blasphemed, both by Pagans,
   Jews, and heretics. Are all such then to be left out, and looked upon
   as having no hope? For if the word they have spoken against the Holy
   Spirit is not forgiven them, then in vain is the promise made to them,
   that in Baptism or in the Church they should receive the forgiveness of
   their sins.

   For it is not said, It shall not be forgiven him in Baptism;' but,
   "Neither in this world, nor in the world to come;" and so they alone
   are to be supposed clear of the guilt of this most heavy sin who have
   been Catholics from their infancy.

   Some again think that they only sin against the Holy Ghost, who having
   been washed in the laver of regeneration in the Church, do afterwards,
   as though ungrateful for such a gift of the Saviour, plunge themselves
   into some deadly sin, such as adultery, murder, or quitting the
   Christian name, or the Church Catholic.

   But whence this meaning can be proved, I know not; since place for
   penitence of sins however great was never denied in the Church, and
   even heretics are exhorted to embrace it by the Apostle.

   "If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of
   the truth." [2 Tim 2:25]

   Lastly, the Lord says not, If any Catholic believer,' but, "Whoso shall
   speak a word," that is, whosoever, "it shall not be forgiven him
   neither in this world, nor in the world to come."

   Aug., Serm. in Mount, 1, 22: Otherwise; The Apostle John says, "There
   is a sin unto death; I do not say that he shall pray for it." [1 John
   5:16] This sin of the brother unto death I judge to be, when any one
   having come to the knowledge of God, through the grace of our Lord
   Jesus Christ, opposes Himself against the brotherhood, or is roused by
   the fury of jealousy against that grace by which he was reconciled to
   God.

   The stain of this sin is so great, that it may not submit to the
   humility of prayer, even when the sinful conscience is driven to
   acknowledge and proclaim its own sin. Which state of mind because of
   the greatness of their sin we must suppose some may be brought to; and
   this perhaps may be to sin against the Holy Ghost, that is through
   malice and jealousy to assail brotherly charity after having received
   the grace of the Holy Spirit; and this sin the Lord declares shall be
   forgiven neither in this world, nor in that to come.

   Whence it may be enquired whether the Jews sinned this sin against the
   Holy Ghost when they said that the Lord cast out daemons by Beelzebub
   the Prince of the daemons. Are we to suppose this spoken of our Lord
   Himself, because He said in another place, "If they have called the
   master of the house Beelzebub, how much more they of his household?"
   [Matt. 10:24]

   Seeing they thus spoke out of jealousy, ungrateful for so great present
   benefits, are they, though not Christians, to be supposed by the very
   greatness of that jealousy to have sinned the sin against the Holy
   Spirit? This cannot be gathered from the Lord's words. Yet He may seem
   to have warned them that they should come to grace, and that after that
   grace received they should not sin as they now sinned.

   For now their evil word had been spoken against the Son of Man, but it
   might be forgiven them, if they should be converted, and believe on
   Him. But if after they had received the Holy Spirit, they should be
   jealous against the brotherhood, and should fight against that grace
   which they had received, it should not be forgiven them neither in this
   world, nor in the world to come.

   For if He had there condemned them in such sort that no hope remained
   for them, He would not have added an admonition, "Either make the tree
   good, &c."

   Aug., Retract., i, 19: But I do not say this for certain, by saying
   that I think thus; yet thus much might have been added; If he should
   close this life in this impious hardness of heart, yet since we may not
   utterly despair of any however evil, so long as he is in this life, so
   neither is it unreasonable to pray for him of whom we do not despair.

   Aug., Serm., 71, 8: Yet is this enquiry very mysterious. Let us then
   seek the light of exposition from the Lord. I say unto you, beloved,
   that in all Holy Scripture there is not perhaps so great or so
   difficult a question as this.

   First then I request you to note that the Lord said not, Every
   blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven, nor, Whoso shall
   speak any word against -- but, "Whoso shall speak the word."

   Wherefore it is not necessary to think that every blasphemy and every
   word spoken against the Holy Spirit shall be without pardon; it is only
   necessary that there be some word which if spoken against the Holy
   Spirit shall be without pardon. For such is the manner of Scripture,
   that when any thing is so declared in it as that it is not declared
   whether it is said of the whole, or a part, it is not necessary that
   because it can apply to the whole, it therefore is not to be understood
   of the part. As when the Lord said to the Jews, "If I had not come and
   spoken unto them, they had not had sin," [John 15:22] this does not
   mean that the Jews would have been altogether without sin, but that
   there was a sin they would not have had, if Christ had not come.

   What then is this manner of speaking against the Holy Ghost, comes now
   to be explained. Now in the Father is represented to us the Author of
   all things, in the Son birth, in the Holy Spirit community of the
   Father and the Son. What then is common to the Father and the Son,
   through that they would have us have communion among ourselves and with
   them; "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
   which he hath given us," [Rom 5:5] and because by our sins we were
   alienated from the possession of true goods, "Charity shall cover the
   multitude of sins." [1 Pet 4:8] And for that Christ forgives sins
   through the Holy Spirit, hence may be understood how, when He said to
   his disciples, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit," [Jon 20:22] He subjoined
   straight, "Whosoever sins ye forgive, they shall be forgiven them."

   The first benefit therefore of them that believe is forgiveness of sins
   in the Holy Spirit. Against this gift of free grace the impenitent
   heart speaks; impenitence itself therefore is the blasphemy against the
   Spirit which shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in that
   to come.

   For indeed he speaks the evil word against the Holy Spirit either in
   his thought, or with his tongue, who by his hard and impenitent heart
   treasures up for himself wrath against the day of wrath. Such
   impenitence truly has no forgiveness, neither in this world nor in the
   world to come, for penitence obtains forgiveness in this world which
   shall hold in the world to come.

   But that impenitence as long as any lives in the flesh may not be
   judged, for we must despair of none so long as the patience of God
   leads to repentance. For what if those whom you discover in any manner
   of sin, and condemn as most desperate, should before they close this
   life betake themselves to penitence, and find true life in the world to
   come?

   But this kind of blasphemy though it be long, and comprised in many
   words, yet the Scripture is wont to speak of many words as one word. It
   was more than a single word which the Lord spoke with the prophet, and
   yet we read, The word which came unto this or that prophet.

   Here perhaps some may enquire whether the Holy Spirit only forgives
   sins, or the Father and the Son likewise. We answer the Father and the
   Son likewise; for the Son Himself saith of the Father, "Your Father
   shall forgive you your sins," [Matt 6:14] and He saith of Himself, "The
   Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins." [Matt 9:6]

   Why then is that impenitence which is never forgiven, spoken of as
   blasphemy against the Holy Spirit only? Forasmuch as he who falls under
   this sin of impenitence seems to resist the gift of the Holy Spirit,
   because in that gift is conveyed remission of sin. But sins, because
   they are not remitted out of the Church, must be remitted in that
   Spirit by which the Church is gathered into one. Thus this remission of
   sins which is given by the whole Trinity is said to be the proper
   office of the Holy Spirit alone, for it is He, "The Spirit of adoption,
   in which we cry, Abba Father," [Rom 8:15] so that to Him we may pray,
   "Forgive us our sins; And hereby we know:" speaks John, "that Christ
   abideth in us, by the Holy Spirit which He hath given unto us." [1 John
   4:13]

   For to Him belongs that bond by which we are made one body of the
   only-begotten Son of God; for the Holy Spirit Himself is in a manner
   the bond of the Father and the Son. Whosoever then shall be found
   guilty of impenitence against the Holy Spirit, in whom the Church is
   gathered together in unity and one bond of communion, it is never
   remitted to him.

   Chrys.: Otherwise according to the first exposition. The Jews were
   indeed ignorant of Christ, but of the Holy Ghost they had had a
   sufficient communication, for the Prophets spake by Him. What He here
   saith then is this; Be it that ye have stumbled at Me because of the
   flesh which is around Me; but can ye in the same manner say of the Holy
   Spirit, We know Him not? Wherefore this blasphemy cannot be forgiven
   you, and ye shall be punished both here and hereafter, for since to
   cast out daemons and to heal diseases are of the Holy Spirit, you do
   not speak evil against Me only, but also against Him; and so your
   condemnation is inevitable both here and hereafter.

   For there are who are punished in this life only; as they who among the
   Corinthians were unworthy partakers of the mysteries; others who are
   punished only in the life to come, as the rich man in hell; but those
   here spoken of are to be punished both in this world, and in the world
   to come, as were the Jews, who suffered horrible things in the taking
   of Jerusalem, and shall there undergo most heavy punishment.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm, vid. infra in cap. 25: This passage destroys that
   heresy of Origen, who asserted that after many ages all sinners should
   obtain pardon; for it is here said, this shall not be forgiven either
   in this world, or in the world to come.

   Greg., Dial., iv, 39: Hence we may gather that there are some sins that
   are remitted in this world, and some in the world to come; for what is
   denied of one sin, must be supposed to be admitted of others. And this
   may be believed in the case of trifling faults; such as much idle
   discourse, immoderate laughter, or the sin of carefulness in our
   worldly affairs, which indeed can hardly be managed without sin even by
   one who knows how he ought to avoid sin; or sins through ignorance (if
   they be lesser sins) which burden us even after death, if they have not
   been remitted to us while yet in this life. But it should be known that
   none will there obtain any purgation even of the least sin, but he who
   by good actions has merited the same in this life.
     __________________________________________________________________

   33. "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the
   tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his
   fruit.

   34. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?
   for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

   35. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth
   good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth
   evil things."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. xlii: After his former answers He here again refutes them
   in another manner. This He does not in order to do away their charges
   against Himself, but desiring to amend them, saying, "Either make the
   tree good and his fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and his fruit
   corrupt."

   As much as to say, None of you has said that it is an evil thing for a
   man to be delivered from daemons. But because they did not speak evil
   of the works, but said that it was the Devil that wrought them, He
   shews that this charge is contrary to the common sense of things, and
   human conceptions. And to invent such charges can only proceed from
   unbounded impudence.

   Jerome: Thus He holds them in a syllogism which the Greeks call
   Aphycton,' the unavoidable; which shuts in the person questioned on
   both sides, and presses him with either horn. If, He saith, the Devil
   be evil, he cannot do good works; so that if the works you see be good,
   it follows that the Devil was not the agent thereof. For it cannot be
   that good should come of evil, or evil of good.

   Chrys.: For the discerning of a tree is done by its fruits, not the
   fruits by the tree. "A tree is known by its fruits." For though the
   tree is the cause of the fruit, yet the fruit is the evidence of the
   tree. But ye do the very contrary, having no fault to allege against
   the works, ye pass a sentence of evil against the tree, saying that I
   have a daemon.

   Hilary: Thus did He at that present refute the Jews, who seeing
   Christ's works to be of power more than human, would notwithstanding
   not allow the hand of God. And at the same time He convicts all future
   errors of the faith, such as that of those who taking away from the
   Lord His divinity, and communion of the Father's substance, have fallen
   into divers heresies; having their habitation neither uncover the plea
   of ignorance as the Gentiles, nor yet within the knowledge of the
   truth. He figures Himself as a tree set in the body, seeing that
   through the inward fruitfulness of His power sprung forth abundant
   richness of fruit.

   Therefore either must be made a good tree with good fruits, or an evil
   tree with evil fruits; not that a good tree is to be made a bad tree,
   or the reverse; but that in this metaphor we may understand that Christ
   is either to be left in fruitlessness, or to be retained in the
   fruitfulness of good works.

   But to hold one's self neuter, to attribute some things to Christ, but
   to deny Him those things that are highest, to worship Him as God, and
   yet to deny Him a common substance with the Father, is blasphemy
   against the Spirit. In admiration of His so great works you dare not
   take away the name of God, yet through malevolence of soul you debase
   His high nature by denying His participation of the Father's substance.

   Aug., Serm., 72, 1: Or this is an admonition to ourselves that we
   should be good trees that we may be able to bring forth good fruit;
   "Make the tree good, and its fruit good," is a precept of health to
   which obedience is necessary. But what He says, "Make the tree corrupt,
   and its fruit corrupt," is not a command to do, but a warning to take
   heed, spoken against those who being evil thought that they could speak
   good things, or have good works; this the Lord declares is impossible.
   The man must be changed first, that his works may be changed; for if
   the man remains in that wherein he is evil, he cannot have good works;
   if he remains in that wherein he is good, he cannot have evil works.
   Christ found us all corrupt trees, but gave power to become sons of God
   to them that believe on His name.

   Chrys.: But as speaking not for Himself but for the Holy Spirit, He
   accordingly rebukes them, saying, "Generation of vipers, how can ye
   being evil, speak good things?" This is both a rebuke of them, and a
   proof in their own characters of those things which had been said. As
   though He had said, So ye being corrupt trees cannot bring forth good
   fruit. I do not wonder then that you thus speak, for you are ill
   nourished of ill parentage, and have an evil mind.

   And observe He said not, How can ye speak good things, seeing ye are a
   generation of vipers? for these two are not connected together; but He
   said, "How can ye being evil speak good things? He calls them
   "generation of vipers," because they made boast of their forefathers;
   in order therefore to cut off this their pride, He shuts them out of
   the race of Abraham, assigning them a parentage corresponding to their
   characters.

   Raban.: Or the words, "Generation of vipers," may be taken as
   signifying children, or imitators of the Devil, because they had
   wilfully spoken against good works, which is of the Devil, and thence
   follows, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." That
   man speaks out of the abundance of the heart who is not ignorant with
   what intention his words are uttered; and to declare his meaning more
   openly He adds, "A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart
   bringeth forth good things." The treasure of the heart is the intention
   of the thoughts, by which the Judge judges that work which is produced,
   so that sometimes though the outward work that is shewn seem great, yet
   because of the carelessness of a cold heart, they receive a little
   reward from the Lord.

   Chrys.: Herein also He shews His Godhead as knowing the hidden things
   of the heart; for not for words only, yea but for evil thoughts also
   they shall receive punishment. For it is the order of nature that the
   store of the wickedness which abounds within should be poured forth in
   words through the mouth. Thus when you shall hear any speaking evil,
   you must infer that his wickedness is more than what his words express;
   for what is uttered without is but the overflowing of that within;
   which was a sharp rebuke to them.

   For if that which was spoken by them were so evil, consider how evil
   must be the root from whence it sprung. And this happens naturally; for
   oftentimes the hesitating tongue does not suddenly pour forth all its
   evil, while the heart, to which none other is privy, begets whatsoever
   evil it will, without fear; for it has little fear of God. But when the
   multitude of the evils which are within is increased, the things which
   had been hidden then burst forth through the mouth. This is that He
   says, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

   Jerome: What He says, "The good man out of the good treasure of his
   heart, &c." is either pointed against the Jews, that seeing they
   blasphemed God, what treasure in their heart must that be out of which
   such blasphemy proceeded; or it is connected with what had gone before,
   that like as a good man cannot bring forth evil things, nor an evil man
   good things, so Christ cannot do evil works, nor the Devil good works.
     __________________________________________________________________

   36. "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak,
   they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

   37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou
   shalt be condemned."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord follows up what He had said before by moving their
   fears, shewing that they that have thus sinned shall receive the most
   extreme punishment, "I say unto you, that every idle word that men
   shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of
   judgment."

   Jerome: And the meaning is; If every idle word which does not edify the
   hearers is not without danger to him that speaks it, and if each man
   shall render an account of his words in the day of judgment, how much
   more shall you, who have spoken falsely against the works of the Holy
   Spirit, saying that I cast out demons through Beelzebub, render an
   account of your false charge?

   Chrys.: He said not which ye have spoken,' but makes His teaching of
   universal application to the whole race of mankind, and at the same
   time His words less grievous to them that heard them. By an "idle word"
   is meant one that is false, that accuses any falsely. Some indeed say
   that it includes all light talk, all such as stirs immoderate laughter,
   or shameful and immodest words.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., vi: Or such as lacks either rightness in itself, or
   reasons of just necessity;

   Jerome: being spoken without the profit of either the speaker or
   hearer; as if laying aside weighty matters we should speak of frivolous
   trifles, or relate old fables. For he that deals in buffoon jests to
   create laughter, or brings forth any thing shameful, he will be held
   guilty not of an idle, but of a sinful word.

   Remig.: The words which here follow depend on those that went before;
   "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
   condemned." There is no doubt but that every man shall he condemned for
   his evil words which he speaks; but none shall be justified for his
   good words, unless they proceed from his inmost heart, and from a
   entire purpose.

   Chrys.: See that this sentence is not a burdensome one. The Judge will
   pass sentence not according to what any other has said concerning you,
   but according to what you have yourself spoken. They that are accused
   then have no need to fear, but they that accuse; for those are not
   charged of those evil things that have been spoken of them, but these
   of those evil things that they have spoken.
     __________________________________________________________________

   38. Then certain of the Scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying,
   "Master, we would see a sign from thee."

   39. But he answered and said unto them, "An evil and adulterous
   generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to
   it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

   40. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly:
   so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of
   the earth."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., xliii: Because the Lord had so oft repressed the
   shameless tongue of the Pharisees by His sayings, they now turn to His
   works, whereat the Evangelist wondering, says, "Then certain of the
   Scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign of
   thee;" and that at a time when they should have been moved, when they
   should have wondered, and been dumb with astonishment; yet even at such
   time they desist not from their malice. For they say, "We would see a
   sign of thee," that they may take Him as in a snare.

   Jerome: They require a sign of Him, as though what they had seen were
   not signs; and in another Evangelist what they required is more fully
   expressed, "We would see of thee a sign from heaven."

   Either they would have fire from heaven as Elias did; or after the
   example of Samuel they would that in summer-time, contrary to the
   nature of the climate, thunder should be heard, lightnings gleam, and
   rain descend; as though they could not have spoken falsely even against
   such miracles, and said that they befel by reason of divers hidden
   motions in the air.

   For if thou cavillest against what thou not only beholdest with thine
   eyes, but feelest with thine hand, and reapest the benefit of, what
   wilt thou do in those things which come down from heaven? You might
   make answer, that in Egypt the magi also had given many signs from
   heaven.

   Chrys.: But their words are full of hypocrisy and irony. But now they
   were railing against Him, saying that He had a deamon; now they fawn
   upon Him, calling Him, Master. Wherefore the Lord rebukes them
   severely; "He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous
   generation seeketh after a sign."

   When they railed on Him, He had answered them mildly; now they
   approached Him with smooth and deceitful words, He rebukes them
   sharply; shewing that He was above either affection, and was neither
   moved to anger by evil speaking, nor was to be gained by flattery. What
   He says is this; What wonder that ye do thus to Me who am unknown to
   you, when you have done the same to the Father, of whom ye have had
   such large knowledge, in that, despising Him ye went after daemons? He
   calls them an evil generation, because they have ever been ungrateful
   to their benefactors, and were made worse when they received benefits,
   which is the extreme of wickedness.

   Jerome: Excellently is that said, "and adulterous," seeing she has put
   away her husband, and, according to Ezekiel, has joined herself to many
   lovers.

   Chrys.: Which also proves Him to be equal to the Father, if not to
   believe in Him makes them adulterous.

   Raban.: Then He begins to answer them, giving them a sign not from
   heaven, which they were unworthy to see, but giving it them from the
   deep beneath. But to His own disciples He gave a sign from heaven, to
   whom He shewed the glory of His blessed eternity both in a figure on
   the mount, and after in verity when He was taken up into heaven.

   Wherefore it follows, "And there shall no sign be given it, but the
   sign of the Prophet Jonas."

   Chrys.: For the signs He wrought were not in order to move them, for He
   knew that they were hard as stone, but for the profit of others. Or
   because they had not received it when He had given them a sign such as
   they now desired. And a sign was given them, when by their own
   punishment they learned His power. This He alludes to when He says, "No
   sign shall be given it." As much as to say; I have shewn yon many
   mercies; yet none of these has brought you to honour My power, which
   you will then know when you shall behold your city thrown down upon the
   ground in punishment.

   In the mean time He brings in a saying concerning the Resurrection
   which they should after understand by those things that they should
   suffer; saying, "Except the sign of the Prophet Jonas." For verily His
   Cross would not have been believed, unless it had had signs to testify
   to it. But if that were not believed, truly the Resurrection would not
   have been believed. For this reason also He calls this a sign, and
   brings forward a figure thereof, that the verity itself may be
   believed.

   It follows, "As Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of
   the whale."

   Raban.: He shews that the Jews were as criminal as the Ninevites, and
   that unless they repented they would be destroyed. But like as
   punishment was denounced against the Ninevites, and at the same time a
   remedy was set before them, so neither should the Jews despair of
   pardon, if at least after Christ's resurrection they should do
   penitence. For Jonah, that is The Dove, or The mourner, is a sign of
   Him on whom the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a Dove, and "who
   bare our sorrows." [Isa 53:4]

   The fish which swallowed Jonas in the sea, shews forth the death which
   Christ suffered in the world. Three days and nights was the one in the
   whale's belly, the other in the tomb; the one was cast up on dry land,
   the other arose in glory.

   Aug., De Cons., Ev., iii, 24: Some, not knowing the Scripture manner of
   speaking, would interpret as one night those thee hours of darkness
   when the sun was darkened from the sixth to the ninth hour; and as a
   day in like manner these other three hours in which it was again
   restored to the world, from the ninth hour till sunset. Then follows
   the night preceding the sabbath, which if we reckon with its own day we
   shall have thus two days and two nights. Then after the sabbath follows
   the night of the sabbath prime, that is of the dawning of the Lord's
   day on which the Lord arose. Thus we shall only get two nights and two
   days, with this one night to be added if we might understand the whole
   of it, and it could not be shewn that that dawn was indeed the latter
   part of the night.

   So that not even by taking in those six hours, three of darkness, and
   three of restored light, can we establish the computation of three days
   and three nights. It remains therefore that we find the explanation in
   that usual manner of Scripture of putting a part for the whole.

   Jerome: Not that He remained three whole days and three nights in hell,
   but that this be understood to imply a part of the preparation day, and
   of the Lord's day, and the whole sabbath day.

   Aug., De Trin., iv. 6: For that the three days were not three full and
   entire days, Scripture witnesses; the first day is reckoned because the
   latter end of it comes in; and the third day is likewise reckoned,
   because the first part of it is included; while the day between, that
   is the second day, appears in all its twenty-four hours, twelve of the
   night and twelve of the day. For the succeeding night up to the dawn
   when the Lord's resurrection was made known, belongs to the third day.
   For as the first days of creation were, because of man's coming fall,
   computed from morning to night; so these days are because of man's
   restoration computed from night to morning.

   Chrys.: He said not openly that He should rise again, because they
   would have derided him, but hints it distantly that even they might
   believe that He foreknew it. He said not in the earth, but in the heart
   of the earth, therein declaring His tomb, and that none might suspect
   that there was only the semblance of death. Therefore also He spake of
   three days, that it should be believed that He was dead.

   But the sign itself proves the truth of it; for Jonas was in the
   whale's belly not in figure but in deed; and surely the sign did not
   happen in very deed, if the thing signified happened only in figure.
   Wherefore it is manifest that they are children of the Devil who follow
   Marcion asserting that the passion of Christ was only a phantasy. And
   that He should suffer for them also, though they would not profit by
   it, is shewn by that which He speaks, that to this generation should be
   given the sign of Jonas the Prophet.
     __________________________________________________________________

   41. "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation,
   and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas;
   and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

   42. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this
   generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts
   of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than
   Solomon is here."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: That none should think that the same things would come to pass
   now among the Jews, as had of old been among the Ninevites; that as
   Jonas converted them and their city was delivered out of danger, so the
   Jews should be converted after the resurrection, the Lord now shews the
   contrary, that they should have no fruit of the benefit of the passion,
   but should suffer moreover grievous things, as He signifies below in
   the example of the daemon.

   But now He first shews what just punishment they shall suffer, saying,
   "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation."

   Remig.: The Lord shews in these words that there shall be one
   resurrection of the good and the bad against certain heretics, who said
   that there should be two, one of the good, another of the bad. These
   words likewise overthrow that fable of the Jews, who use to say that
   the Resurrection shall be held a thousand years before the Judgment;
   these words clearly proving that the Judgment shall ensue straight upon
   the Resurrection. "And shall condemn it.

   Jerome: Not by a sentence of judgment, but by the comparison of their
   example; as He adds, "For they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and,
   behold, a greater than Jonas is here." This word hic' is to be taken as
   an adverb of place, not as a pronoun. Jonas (according to the LXX)
   preached for three days, I for this so long time; he to the Assyrians
   an unbelieving nation, I to God's own people the Jews; he preached with
   his voice only, doing no miracles, I, doing so many wonders, am falsely
   accused as Beelzebub.

   Chrys.: Yet does not the Lord stay here, but adds another denunciation,
   saying, "The queen of the south shall rise in the judgment with this
   generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the
   earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon." This was yet more than that
   first. Jonas went to them; the queen of the south waited not for
   Solomon to come to her, but herself sought him. Both a woman and a
   barbarian, and dwelling so far away, she was not afraid of death in her
   desire to hear his wise words. This woman went to Solomon, I came
   hither; she rose up from the ends of the earth, I go round about your
   towns and villages; he spake of trees and wood, I of unspeakable
   mysteries.

   Jerome: So the queen of the south will condemn the Jews in the same
   manner as the men of Nineveh will condemn unbelieving Israel. This is
   the queen of Saba, of whom we read in the book of Kings and Chronicles,
   who leaving her nation and kingdom came through so many difficulties to
   hear the wisdom of Solomon, and brought him many gifts.

   Also in these instances of Nineveh and the queen of Saba, the faith of
   the Gentiles is significantly set above that of Israel.

   Raban.: The Ninevites typify those who cease from sin -- the queen
   those that know not to sin; for penitence puts away sin, wisdom shuns
   it.

   Remig.: Beautifully is the Church gathered out of the Gentiles spoken
   of as a queen who honours how to rule her ways. Of her the Psalmist
   speaks; "The queen stood on, thy right hand." [Ps 45:9] She is the
   queen of the south because she abounds in the fervour of the Holy
   Spirit. Solomon, interpreted peaceful,' signifies Him of whom it is
   said, "He is our peace." [Eph 2:14]
     __________________________________________________________________

   43. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through
   dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

   44. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out;
   and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

   45. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more
   wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last
   state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also
   unto this wicked generation."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord had said to the Jews, "The men of Nineveh shall rise
   in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it;" that they
   should not therefore be careless, He tells them that not only in the
   world to come but here also they should suffer grievous things; setting
   forth in a sort of riddle the punishment that should fall upon them
   whence He says, "When, the unclean spirit has gone out of a man."

   Jerome: Some suppose that this place is spoken of heretics, because the
   unclean spirit who dwelt in them before when they were Gentiles, is
   cast out before the confession of the true faith; when after they went
   over to heresy, and garnished their house with feigned virtues, then it
   is that the Devil, having taken to him other seven evil spirits,
   returns and dwells in them; and their last state becomes worse than
   their first. And indeed heretics are in a much worse condition than the
   Gentiles; for in the heretics was a hope of faith, in the Gentiles a
   war of discord.

   Yet though this exposition has a plausibility and a shew of learning, I
   am doubtful of its truth. For by the concluding words of this, whether
   it be parable or example, "Thus shall it be to this evil generation,"
   we are compelled to refer it, not to heretics, or to men in general,
   but to the Jewish people. So the context of the passage may not shift
   about loosely and vaguely, and be like unmeaning speeches, but may be
   consistent with itself from first to last. The unclean spirit then went
   out from the Jews when they received the Law; and being cast out of the
   Jews, he walked through the wilderness of the Gentiles; as it follows,
   "He walketh through dry places seeking rest."

   Remig.: He calls the hearts of the Gentiles, "dry places," as lacking
   all the moisture of wholesome waters, that is of the holy Scriptures,
   and of spiritual gifts, and strangers to the pouring in of the Holy
   Spirit.

   Raban.: Or, the "dry places" are the hearts of the faithful, which
   after they have been purged from the weakness of loose thoughts, the
   crafty lier-in-wait tries if by any means he may fix his footsteps
   there; but lying from the chaste spirit, the Devil finds no resting
   place to his mind but in the heart of the wicked; as it follows, "and
   findeth none."

   Remig.: The Devil supposed he should have rest for ever among the
   Gentiles, but it is added, "and findeth none," because when the Son of
   God appeared in the mystery of His Incarnation, the Gentiles believed.

   Jerome: And when they believed on the Lord, the Devil, finding no place
   among the nations, said, "I will return into my house whence I came
   out;" I have the Jews from whom I formerly departed. "And when he is
   come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished." [John 14:31] For the
   temple of the Jews was empty, and had not Christ to dwell therein, He
   having said, "Arise, let us go hence."

   Seeing then they had not the protection of Angels, and were burdened
   with the useless observances of the Law, and the traditions of the
   Pharisees, the Devil returns to his former dwelling, and, taking to him
   seven other daemons, inhabits it as before. And the last state of that
   nation is worse than the first, for they are now possessed by a larger
   number of daemons in blaspheming Jesus Christ in their synagogues, than
   they were possessed with in Egypt before they had knowledge of the Law;
   for it is one thing to have no belief that He should come, another not
   to receive Him when He is come.

   A number seven-fold is joined with the Devil, either because of the
   sabbath, or from the number of the Holy Spirit; that as in Isaiah
   [margin note: Isa 11:2] upon the bud which comes from the root of
   Jesse, seven spirits of virtues are related to have descended; so on
   the other hand an equal number of vices should he poured forth upon the
   Devil.

   Beautifully then are seven spirits said to be taken to him, either
   because of the breaking of the sabbath, or because of the heinous sins
   which are contrary to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

   Chrys.: Or, herein He may be shewing forth their punishment. As when
   daemoniacs have been loosed from their infirmity, if they after become
   remiss, they draw upon themselves more grievous illusions, so shall it
   be among you -- before ye were possessed by a daemon, when you
   worshipped idols, and slew your sons to daemons; yet I forsook you not,
   but cast out that daemon by the Prophets, and afterwards came Myself
   seeking to purify you altogether. Since then ye would not hearken to
   me, but have fallen into more heinous crime, (as it is greater
   wickedness to slay Christ than to slay the Prophets,) therefore ye
   shall suffer more heavy calamities. For what befel them under Vespasian
   and Titus, were much more grievous than they had suffered in Egypt, in
   Babylon, and under Antiochus.

   And this indeed is not all He shews concerning them, but also that
   since they were destitute of every virtue, they were more fit for the
   habitation of daemons than before. It is reasonable to suppose that
   these things were said not to them only, but also to us. If after being
   enlightened and delivered from our former evils, we are again possessed
   by the same wickedness, the punishment of these latter sins will be
   greater than of the first; as Christ spake to the paralytic, "Behold,
   thou art made whole, sin not, lest a worse thing come upon thee." [John
   5:14]

   Raban,: For when any one is converted to the faith, the Devil is cast
   out of him in Baptism, who driven thence wanders up and down through
   the dry places, that is, the hearts of the faithful.

   Greg., Mor., xxxiii, 3: The dry places where no water is are the hearts
   of the righteous, which by the power of discipline are dried from all
   humours of carnal lust. The wet places are the minds of worldly men,
   which the humour of carnal lust fills, and makes watery; in such the
   Devil imprints his footsteps the more deeply, inasmuch as in his
   wanderings he comes down upon such hearts as upon low and marshy
   ground.

   Raban.: And returning to his house whence he had gone out, "he findeth
   it empty," of good works through slothfulness, "swept," that is, of its
   old vices by Baptism, and "garnished" with feigned virtues through
   hypocrisy.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 8: So that in these words the Lord signifies that
   some shall so believe as not to have strength for the work of
   continence, and shall return to the world. "He taketh unto him other
   seven," is to be understood that when any has fallen from
   righteousness, he shall also have hypocrisy. For the lust of the flesh
   being cast out of its wonted works by penitence, when it finds not any
   delights in which it may rest, returns the more greedily, and again
   takes possession of the goal, if carelessness has ensued, and there has
   not been introduced as the dweller in the cleansed abode the word of
   God in sound doctrine.

   And as he will not only have the seven vices which are the contraries
   of the spiritual virtues, but will hypocritically feign that he has the
   virtues, therefore his old lust, taking to itself seven other worse,
   that is, this seven-fold hypocrisy, returns to him so as to make the
   last state of that man worse than the former.

   Greg., Mor., vii, 17: For it often happens that the soul in the
   commencement of its progress is lifted up, and prides itself on its
   virtues, that it opens an entrance to the adversary who is raging
   against it, and who shews himself the more violent in breaking into it,
   by how much he was grieved at being cast out, though but for a short
   space.
     __________________________________________________________________

   46. While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his
   brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.

   47. Then one said unto him, "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand
   without, desiring to speak with thee."

   48. But he answered and said unto him that told him, "Who is my mother?
   and who are my brethren?"

   49. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said,
   "Behold my mother and my brethren!

   50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,
   the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Hilary: Because He had spoken all the aforesaid things in the power of
   His Father's majesty, therefore the Evangelist proceeds to tell what
   answer He made to one that told Him that His mother and His brethren
   waited for Him without; "While he yet spake unto the people, his mother
   and brethren stood without desiring to see him."

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 40: We are to understand without doubt that
   this happened close upon the foregoing; for he begins to tell it with
   the words, "And while he yet spake." What can that "yet" mean but that
   it was at the very time He spake the foregoing things?

   Mark also follows up that which He had said concerning blasphemy
   against the Holy Ghost, by saying, "And there came his mother and his
   brethren." [Mark 3:31] Luke has not observed the order of action here,
   but has placed this earlier as he happened to recollect it.

   Jerome: From this is taken one of Helvidius' propositions [margin note:
   Hieron. cont. Helvid. 14, et seq.], on the ground that mention is made
   in the Gospel of the brethren of the Lord. How says he, are they called
   brethren of the Lord, if they were not his brethren? But now it should
   be known that in divine Scripture men are said to be brethren in four
   different ways, by nature, by nation, by kindred, and by affection.

   By nature, as Esau and Jacob. By nation, as all Jews are called
   brethren, as in Deuteronomy, "Thou shalt not set over thee a foreigner
   who is not thy brother." [Deut 17:15] They are called brethren by
   kindred who are of one family, as in Genesis, "Abraham said unto Lot,
   Let there not be strife between thee and we, for we are brethren." [Gen
   13:8] Also men are called brethren by affection; which is of two kinds,
   special and general. Special, as all Christians are called brethren, as
   the Saviour says, "Go tell my brethren." [John 20:17] General, inasmuch
   as all men are born of one father, we are bound together by a tie of
   consanguinity, as in that, "Say unto them that hate you, Ye are our
   brethren." [Isa 66:5]

   I ask then, after which manner these are called the Lord's brethren in
   the Gospel? According to nature? But Scripture saith not, neither
   calling them sons of Mary nor of Joseph. By nation? But it is absurd
   that some few out of all the Jews should be called brethren, seeing
   that all the Jews who were there might have thus been called brethren.
   By affection, either of a human sort, or of the Spirit? If that be
   true, yet how were they more His brethren than the Apostles, whom He
   instructed in the inmost mysteries. Or if because they were men, and
   all men are brethren, it was foolish to say of them in particular,
   Behold, thy brethren seek thee. It only remains then that they should
   be His brethren by kindred, not by affection, not by privilege of
   nation, not by nature.

   Jerome, Hieron. in loc.: But some suspect the brethren of the Lord to
   be sons of Joseph by another wife, following the idle fancies of
   apocryphal writers, who have coined a certain woman called Esca. But we
   understand by the brethren of the Lord, not the sons of Joseph, but
   cousins of the Saviour, sons of a sister of Mary, [margin note: Mark
   6:3] an aunt of Our Lord, who is said to be the mother of James the
   Less, and Joseph, and Jude, whom in another place of the Gospel we find
   called the brethren of the Lord. And that cousins are called brethren,
   appears from every part of Scripture.

   Chrys., Hom., xliv: But mark the loftiness of His brethren [ed. note:
   The text of S. Chrys. has ara goun kai autes kai ekeinon ten aponoian]
   when they should have come in and hearkened with the crowd, or if they
   would not this, to have waited the end of His speech, and then to have
   approached Him -- they on the contrary call Him out to them, and do
   this before the multitude, therein shewing their superabundant love of
   honour, and also, that with all authority they lay their commands upon
   Christ.

   This the Evangelist covertly hints when he says, "While he yet spake;"
   as much as to say, Was there no other time? But what did they seek to
   say? Was it aught of the dogmas of truth? then should they have brought
   it forth before all, that all might profit thereby. But if of other
   things that concerned themselves alone, they should not have called Him
   in such haste, whence it is plain that they did this out of vain glory.

   Aug., De Nat. et Grat., 36: But whatever may be decided concerning
   these brethren, yet concerning the holy Virgin Mary, (for the honour of
   Christ,) when sin in her is in question, I would not have it brought
   into doubt. For from this only we might know that more abundant grace
   was conferred upon her that she should overcome sin on all sides,
   because she merited to conceive and bring forth Him Who it is clear had
   no sin.

   It follows; "Then said one unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy
   brethren stand without seeking thee."

   Jerome: He that delivers this message, seems to me not to do it
   casually and without meaning, but as setting a snare for Him, whether
   He would prefer flesh and blood to the spiritual work; and thus the
   Lord refused to go out, not because He disowned His mother and His
   brethren, but that He might confound him that had laid this snare for
   Him.

   Chrys.: For He said not, Go and say unto her, She is not My mother, but
   continues His discourse to him that had brought Him word; as it
   follows; "But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who in my
   mother? and who are my brethren?"

   Hilary: And He cannot be held to have thought meanly of His mother,
   seeing that in His passion He evinced the most extreme carefulness for
   her.

   Chrys.: But had He desired to disown His mother, He would have done it
   at the time when the Jews cast His birth in His teeth.

   Jerome: He did not then, as Marcion and Manichaeus say, disown His
   mother, so as to be thought to be born of a phantasm, but He preferred
   His Apostles to His kindred, that we also in a comparison of our
   affections should set the spirit before the flesh.

   Ambrose, Ambros. in Luc. 8, 21: Nor does He overthrow the duty of
   filial submission, which is conveyed in the command, "Honour thy father
   and thy mother," [Ex 20:12] but shews that He owes more to the
   mysteries and relationship of His Father, than of His mother; as it
   follows, "And stretching out his hand to his disciples, he said, Behold
   my mother and my brethren."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., iii, 2: The Lord deigned to call faithful disciples
   His brethren, saying, "Go, tell my brethren." Since then a man may be
   made a brother of the Lord by coming to the faith, it should be
   enquired how one may become also His mother. Be it known by us then,
   that he that by believing is made brother or sister of Christ, becomes
   His mother by preaching; for in pouring Him into the heart of the
   hearer, he may be said to beget the Lord; and he is made the Lord's
   mother, when by his word love of the Lord is begotten in the mind of
   his neighbour.

   Chrys.: And besides what has been said, He taught also somewhat more,
   namely, that we should not neglect virtue relying on any kindred. For
   if it profited His mother nothing that she was such, if she had not had
   virtue, who is there that shall be saved by his kindred? For there is
   one only nobility, to do the will of God, and therefore it follows,
   "Whoso shall do the will of my Father which it in heaven, the same is
   my brother, and sister, and mother."

   Many women have blessed that holy Virgin and her womb, and have desired
   to be made such mothers. What is it then that hinders? Behold, He hath
   set before you a broad way, and not women only, but men likewise, may
   become the mother of God.

   Jerome: Let us also expound in another way. The Saviour is speaking to
   the multitude -- that is, He teaches the Gentiles the inward mysteries;
   His mother and His brethren, that is the synagogue and the Jewish
   people, stand without.

   Hilary: Although they had like the rest power to come in, yet they
   abstain from all approach to Him, "for he came unto his own, and his
   own received him not."

   Gregory: Thus also His mother is declared to stand without, as though
   she was not acknowledged, because the synagogue is therefore not
   acknowledged by its Author, because it held to the observance of the
   Law, and having lost the spiritual discernment thereof, kept itself
   without to guard the letter.

   Jerome: And when they shall have asked and enquired, and sent a
   messenger, they shall receive for answer, that their will is free, and
   that they can enter in, if they will believe.
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Chapter 13

   1. The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

   2. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he
   went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

   3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, "Behold, a
   sower went forth to sow;

   4. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls
   came and devoured them up:

   5. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and
   forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

   6. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no
   root, they withered away.

   7. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked
   them:

   8. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an
   hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirty fold.

   9. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: When He had rebuked him that told Him of His mother and His
   brethren, He then did according to their request; He departed out of
   the house, having first corrected His brethren for their weak desire of
   vainglory; He then paid the honour due to His mother, as it is said,
   "The same day Jesus went forth out of the house, and not down by the
   sea aide.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 41: By the words, "The same day," he
   sufficiently shews that these things either followed immediately upon
   what had gone before, or that many things could not have intervened;
   unless indeed day' here after the Scripture manner signifies a period.

   Raban.: For not only the Lord's words and actions, but His journeyings
   also, and the places in which He works His mighty works and preaches,
   are full of heavenly sacraments.

   After the discourse held in the house, wherein with wicked blasphemy He
   had been said to have a daemon, He went out and taught by the sea, to
   signify that having left Judaea because of their sinful unbelief, He
   would pass to the salvation of the Gentiles. For the hearts of the
   Gentiles, long proud and unbelieving, are rightly likened to the
   swelling and bitter waves of the sea. And who knows not that Judaea was
   by faith the house of the Lord.

   Jerome: For it must be considered, that the multitude could not enter
   into the house to Jesus, nor be there where the Apostles heard
   mysteries; therefore the Lord in mercy to them departed out of the
   house, and sat near the sea of this world, that great numbers might be
   gathered to Him, and that they might hear on the sea shore what they
   were not worthy to hear within; "And great multitudes were gathered
   unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat down, and all the people
   stood on the shore."

   Chrys.: The Evangelist did not relate this without a purpose, but that
   he might shew the Lord's will therein, who desired so to place the
   people that He should have none behind Him, but all should be before
   His face.

   Hilary: There is moreover a reason in the subject of His discourse why
   the Lord should sit in the ship, and the multitude stand on the shore.
   For He was about to speak in parables, and by this action signifies
   that they who were without the Church could have no understanding of
   the Divine Word.

   The ship offers a type of the Church, within which the word of life is
   placed, and is preached to those without, and who as being barren sand
   cannot understand it.

   Jerome: Jesus is in the midst of the waves; He is beaten to and fro by
   the waves, and, secure in His majesty, causes His vessel to come nigh
   the land, that the people not being in danger, not being surrounded by
   temptations which they could not endure, might stand on the shore with
   a firm step, to hear what was said.

   Raban.: Or, that He went into a ship and sat on the sea, signifies that
   Christ by faith should enter into the hearts of the Gentiles, and
   should gather together the Church in the sea, that is in the midst of
   the nations that spake against Him. And the crowd that stood on the sea
   shore, neither in the ship nor in the sea, offers a figure of those
   that receive the word of God, and are by faith separated from the sea,
   that is from the reprobate, but are not yet imbued with heavenly
   mysteries.

   It follows; "And he spake many things unto them in parables."

   Chrys.: He had not done thus on the mount; He had not framed His
   discourse by parables. For there were the multitudes only, and a mixed
   crowd; but here the Scribes and Pharisees. But He speaks in parables
   not for this reason only, but to make His sayings plainer, and fix them
   more fully in the memory, by bringing things before the eyes.

   Jerome: And it is to be noted, that He spake not all things to them in
   parables, but "many things," for had He spoken all things in parables,
   the people would have departed without benefit. He mingles things plain
   with things dark, that by those things which they understand they may
   be incited to get knowledge of the things they understand not.

   The multitude also is not of one opinion, but of divers wills in divers
   matters, whence He speaks to them in many parables, that each according
   to their several dispositions may receive some portion of His teaching.

   Chrys.: He first sets forth a parable to make His hearers more
   attentive; and because He was about to speak enigmatically, He attracts
   the attention by this first parable, saying, "Behold, a sower went
   forth to sow his seed."

   Jerome: By this sower is typified the Son of God, who sows among the
   people the word of the Father.

   Chrys.: Whence then went out He who is every where present, and how
   went He out! Not in place; but by His incarnation being brought nearer
   to us by the garb of the flesh. Forasmuch as we because of our sins
   could not enter in unto Him, He therefore came forth to us.

   Raban.: Or, He event forth, when having left Judaea, He passed by the
   Apostles to the Gentiles.

   Jerome: Or, He was within while He was yet in the house, and spake
   sacraments to His disciples. He went therefore forth from the house,
   that He might sow seed among the multitudes.

   Chrys.: When you hear the words, "the sower went out to sow," do not
   suppose that is a tautology. For the sower goes out oftentimes for
   other ends; as, to break up the ground, to pluck up noxious weeds, to
   root up thorns, or perform any other species of industry, but this man
   went forth to sow.

   What then becomes of that seed? three parts of it perish, and one is
   preserved; but not all in the same manner, but with a certain
   difference, as it follows, "And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside."

   Jerome: This parable Valentinus lays hold of to establish his heresy,
   bringing in three different natures; the spiritual, the natural or the
   animal, and the earthly. But there are here four named, one by the
   wayside, one stony, one thorny, and a fourth the good ground.

   Chrys.: Next, how is it according to reason to sow seed among thorns,
   or on stony ground, or by the wayside? Indeed in the material seed and
   soil of this world it would not be reasonable; for it is impossible
   that rock should become soil, or that the way should not be the way, or
   that thorns should not be thorns.

   But with minds and doctrines it is otherwise; there it is possible that
   the rock be made rich soil, that the way should be no more trodden
   upon, and that the thorns should be extirpated. That the most part of
   the seed then perished, came not of him that sowed, but of the soil
   that received it, that is the mind. For He that sowed put no difference
   between rich and poor, wise or foolish, but spoke to all alike; filling
   up his own part, though foreseeing all things that should come to pass,
   so that He might say, "What ought I to have done that I have not done?
   [Isa 5:4]

   He does not pronounce sentence upon them openly and say, this the
   indolent received and have lost it, this the rich and have choked it,
   this the careless and have lost it, because He would not harshly
   reprove them, that He might not alienate them altogether.

   By this parable also He instructs His disciples, that though the
   greater part of those that heard them were such as perished, yet that
   they should not therefore be remiss; for the Lord Himself who foresaw
   all things, did not on this account desist from sowing.

   Jerome: Note that this is the first parable that has been given with
   its interpretation, and we must beware where the Lord expounds His own
   teaching that we do not presume to understand any thing either more or
   less, or any way otherwise than as so expounded by Him.

   Raban.: But those things which He silently left to our understanding,
   should be shortly noticed. The wayside is the mind trodden and hardened
   by the continual passage of evil thoughts; the rock, the hardness of
   the self-willed mind; the good soil, the gentleness of the obedient
   mind; the sun, the heat of a raging persecution. The depth of soil, is
   the honesty of a mind trained by heavenly discipline. But in thus
   expounding them we should add, that the same things are not always put
   in one and the same allegorical signification.

   Jerome: And we are excited to the understanding of His words, by the
   advice which follows, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

   Remig.: These care to hear, are ears of the mind, to understand namely
   and do those things which are commanded.
     __________________________________________________________________

   10. And the disciples came, and said unto him, "Why speakest thou unto
   them in parables?"

   11. He answered and said unto them, "Because it is given unto you to
   know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not
   given.

   12. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more
   abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even
   that he hath.

   13. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not;
   and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

   14. And in them is fulfilled thy prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By
   hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall
   see, and shall not perceive:

   15. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
   hearing, and their eyes they have closed: lest at any time they should
   see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
   with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

   16. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they
   hear.

   17. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men
   have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them;
   and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The disciples understanding that the things which
   were spoken by the Lord to the people were obscure, desired to hint to
   Him that He should not speak in parables to them. "And his disciples
   came to him, and said, Why speakest thou to them in parables?"

   Chrys., Hom. xiv: Wherein it is worthy admiration, that the disciples
   who desire to learn of Him, know when they ought to ask Him, for they
   do not this before the multitude. This Matthew declares, when he says,
   "And they came to him;" and Mark more expressly says, that "they came
   to him when he was alone." [Mark 4:10]

   Jerome: We must enquire how they could come to Him at that time when
   Jesus was sitting in the ship; we may understand that they had at the
   first entered into the ship, and standing there, made this enquiry of
   Him.

   Remig.: The Evangelist therefore says, came to him, to express that
   they eagerly enquired of Him; or they might indeed approach Him bodily,
   though the space between them was small.

   Chrys.: And observe moreover their goodness, how great their thought
   for others, that they enquire about what concerns others, before what
   relates to themselves. For they say not, Why speakest thou to us in
   parables?' but "to them. And he answered and said unto them, Because it
   is given to you to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven."

   Remig.: To you, I say, who adhere to Me, and believe in Me. By the
   mystery of the kingdom of heaven, He intends the Gospel doctrine. "To
   them," that is, to them that are without, and who would not believe on
   Him, the Scribes namely and Pharisees, and to the rest who continue in
   unbelief, it is not given. Let us then, with the disciples, come unto
   the Lord with a pure heart, that He may think us worthy to interpret to
   us the evangelic teaching; according to that, "They who draw near to
   his feet, shall receive of his doctrine." [Deut 33:3]

   Chrys.: In saying this, He does not imply any necessity or fate, but
   shews at once, that they, to whom it is not given, are the cause of all
   their own miseries, and yet that the knowledge of the Divine mysteries
   is the gift of God, and a grace given from above. Yet this does not
   destroy free will, as is manifest from what follows; for to prevent
   that either these should despair, or those be remiss, when they hear
   that "to you it is given," He shews that the beginning of all lays with
   ourselves, and then He adds, "For whoso hath, to him shall be given,
   and he shall abound; and whoso hath not, from him shall be taken what
   he hath." As much as to say, Whoso has the desire and the zeal, to him
   shall be given all those things which are of God; but whoso lacketh
   these, and does not contribute that part that pertains to him, to him
   neither are the things which are of God given, but even those things
   that he hath are taken from him; not because God takes them away, but
   because he hath made himself unworthy of those that he has. Wherefore
   we also, if we see any hearkening carelessly, and having exhorted him
   to attend, he do not heed us, let us be silent; for should we persevere
   in urging him, his slothfulness will be the more charged against him.

   But him that is zealous to learn, we draw onwards, pouring forth many
   things. And He well said according to another Evangelist, "That which
   he seemeth to have;" [Luke 8:18] for, in truth, he has not even that he
   has.

   Remig.: He that has a desire to read, shall have given to him power to
   understand, and whoso has not desire to read, that understanding which
   by the bounty of nature he seems to have, even that shall be taken from
   him. Or, whoso has charity, to him shall be given the other virtues
   also; and from him who has not charity, the other virtues likewise
   shall be taken away, for without charity there can be nothing good.

   Jerome: Or, To the Apostles who believe in Christ there is given, but
   from the Jews who believed not on the Son of God there is taken away,
   even whatever good they might seem to have by nature. For they cannot
   understand any thing with wisdom, seeing they have not the head of
   wisdom.

   Hilary: For the Jews not having faith, have lost also the Law which
   they had; and Gospel faith has the perfect gift, inasmuch as if
   received it enriches with new fruit, if rejected it subtracts from the
   riches of ancient possession.

   Chrys.: But that what He had said might be made more manifest He adds,
   "Therefore speak I unto them in parables, because seeing they see not,
   and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Had this been a
   natural blindness, He ought to have opened their eyes; but forasmuch as
   it is voluntary, therefore He said not simply, They see not,' but,
   "Seeing they see not." For they had seen the daemons going out, and
   they said, "He casts out daemons by Beelzebub;" they heard that He drew
   all men to God and they say, "This man is not of God." [John 9:16]

   Therefore because they spake the very contrary to what they saw and
   heard, to see and to hear is taken from them; for they profit nothing,
   but rather fall under judgment. For this reason He spake to them at
   first not in parables, but with much clearness; but because they
   perverted all they saw and heard, He now speaks in parables.

   Remig.: And it should be noted, that not only what He spake, but also
   what He did, were parables, that is, signs of things spiritual, which
   He clearly shews when He says, "That seeing they may not see;" but
   words are heard and not seen.

   Jerome: This He says of those who were standing on the shore, and
   separated from Jesus, and who because of the dashing of the waves,
   heard not distinctly what was said.

   Chrys.: And that they should not say, He slanders us as an enemy, He
   brings forward the Prophet declaring the same opinion, as it follows,
   "Thai there might be fulfilled in them the prophecy of Isaiah, who
   said, With the hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and
   seeing ye shall see and shall not behold." [Isa 6:9]

   Gloss., non occ.: That is; With the hearing ye shall hear words, but
   shall not understand the hidden meaning of those words; seeing ye shall
   see My flesh indeed, but shall not discern the divinity.

   Chrys.: This He said because they had taken away their own sight and
   hearing, shutting their eyes, and hardening their hearts. For not only
   did they not hear at all, but they heard obtusely, as it follows, "The
   heart of this people is waxed gross, and they have heard hardly with
   their ears."

   Raban.: The heart of the Jews is made gross with the grossness of
   wickedness, and through the abundance of their sins they hear hardly
   the Lord's words, because they have received them ungratefully.

   Jerome: And that we should not suppose that this grossness of the heart
   and heaviness of the ears is of nature, and not of choice, He adds the
   fruit of their own wilfulness, "For they have shut their eyes."

   Chrys.: Herein He points out how extreme their wickedness, how
   determined their aversion. Again to draw them towards Him, He adds,
   "And be converted, and 1 should heal them;" which shews that if they
   would be converted, they should be healed. As if one should say, If he
   would ask me I would immediately forgive him, this would point out how
   he might be reconciled; so here when He says, "Lest they should be
   converted and I should heal them," He shews that it was possible they
   should be converted, and having done penitence should be saved.

   Aug., Quaest. in Matt., q. 14: Otherwise; "They have shut their eyes
   lest they should see with their eyes," that is, themselves were the
   cause that God shut their eyes. For another Evangelist says, "He hath
   blinded their eyes." But is this to the end that they should never see?
   Or that they should not see so much as this, that becoming discontent
   with their own blindness and bewailing themselves, should so be
   humbled, and moved to confession of their sins and pious seeking after
   God. For Mark thus expresses the same thing, "Lest they should be
   converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." From which we
   learn, that by their sins they deserved not to understand; and that yet
   this was allowed them in mercy that they should confess their sins, and
   should turn, and so merit to be forgiven.

   But when John relating this expresses it thus, "Therefore they could
   not believe because Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes and
   hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, and
   understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them,"
   [John 12:39] this seems to be opposed to this interpretation, and to
   compel us to take what is here said, "Lest they should see with their
   eyes," not as though they might come to see after this fashion, but
   that they should never see at all; for he says it plainly, "That they
   should not see with their eyes." And that he says, "Therefore they
   could not believe," sufficiently shews that the blindness was not
   indicted, to the end that moved thereby, and grieving that they
   understood not, they should be converted through penitence; for that
   they could not, unless they had first believed, and by believing had
   been converted, and by conversion had been healed, and having been
   healed understood; but it rather shews that they were therefore blinded
   that they should not believe. For he speaks most clearly, "Therefore
   they could not believe."

   But if it be so, who would not rise up in defence of the Jews, and
   pronounce them to be free from all blame for their unbelief? For,
   "Therefore they could not believe, because he hath blinded their eyes."
   But because we must rather believe God to be without fault, we are
   driven to confess that by some other sins they had thus deserved to be
   blinded, and that indeed this blinding prevented them from believing;
   for the words of John are these, "They could not believe, because that
   Elias said again, He hath blinded their eyes."

   It is in vain then to endeavour to understand it that they were
   therefore blinded that they should be converted; seeing they could not
   be converted because they believed not; and they could not believe
   because they were blinded. Or perhaps we should not say amiss thus --
   that some of the Jews were capable of being healed, but that being
   puffed up with so great swelling pride, it was good for them at first
   that they should not believe, that they might understand the Lord
   speaking in parables, which if they did not understand they would not
   believe; and thus not believing on Him, they together with the rest who
   were past hope crucified Him; and at length after His resurrection,
   they were converted, when humbled by the guilt of His death they loved
   Him the more because of the heavy guilt which had been forgiven them;
   for their so great pride needed such an humiliation to overcome it.

   This might indeed be thought an inconsistent explanation, did we not
   plainly read in the Acts of the Apostles [margin note: Acts 2:37] that
   thus it was. This then that John says, "Therefore they could not
   believe, because he hath blinded their eyes that they should not see,"
   is not repugnant to our holding that they were therefore blinded that
   they should be converted; that is to say, that the Lord's meaning was
   therefore purposely clothed in the obscurities of parables, that after
   His resurrection they might turn them to wisdom with a more healthy
   penitence. For by reason of the darkness of His discourse, they being
   blinded did not understand the Lord's sayings, and not understanding
   them, they did not believe on Him, and not believing on Him they
   crucified Him; thus after His resurrection, terrified by the miracles
   that were wrought in His name, they had the greater compunction for
   their great sin, and were more prostrated in penitence; and accordingly
   after indulgence granted they turned to obedience with a more ardent
   affection. Notwithstanding, some there were to whom this blinding
   profited not to conversion.

   Remig.: In all the clauses the word not' must be understood; thus; That
   they should not see with their eyes, and should not hear with their
   ears, and should not understand with their heart, and should not be
   converted, and I should heal them.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: So then the eyes of them that see, and will not
   believe, are miserable, but your eyes are blessed; whence it follows,
   "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."

   Jerome: If we had not read above that invitation to his hearers to
   understand, when the Saviour said, "He that hath ears to hear let him
   hear," we might here suppose that the eyes and ears which are now
   blessed are those of the body. But I think that those eyes are blessed
   which can discern Christ's sacraments, and those ears of which Isaiah
   speaks, "The Lord hath given me an ear." [Isa 50:4]

   Gloss. ord.: The mind is called an eye, because it is intently directed
   upon what is set before it to understand it; and an ear, because it
   learns from the teaching of another.

   Hilary: Or, He is speaking of the blessedness of the Apostolic times,
   to whose eyes and ears it was permitted to see and to hear the
   salvation of God, many Prophets and just men having desired to see and
   to hear that which was destined to be in the fulness of times; whence
   it follows; "Verily I say unto you, that many Prophets and just men
   have desired to see the things that ye see, and to hear the things that
   ye hear, and have not heard them."

   Jerome: This place seems to be contradicted by what is said elsewhere.
   "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad." [John
   8:56]

   Raban.: Also Isaiah and Micah, and many other Prophets, saw the glory
   of the Lord; and were thence called seers.'

   Jerome: But He said not, The Prophets and the just men,' but "many;"
   for out of the whole number, it may be that some saw, and others saw
   not. But as this is a perilous interpretation, that we should seem to
   be making a distinction between the merits of the saints, at least as
   far as the degree of their faith in Christ, therefore we may suppose
   that Abraham saw in enigma, and not in substance. But ye have truly
   present with you, and hold, your Lord, enquiring of Him at your will,
   and eating with Him. [margin note: convescimini]

   Chrys.: These things then which the Apostles saw and heard, are such as
   His presence, His voice, His teaching. And in this He sets them before
   not the evil only, but even before the good, pronouncing them more
   blessed than even the righteous men of old. For they saw not only what
   the Jews saw not, but also what the righteous men and Prophets desired
   to see, and had not seen.

   For they had beheld these things only by faith, but these by sight, and
   even yet more clearly. You see how He identifies the Old Testament with
   the New, for had the Prophets been the servants of any strange or
   hostile Deity, they would not have desired to see Christ.
     __________________________________________________________________

   18. "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

   19. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it
   not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown
   in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

   20. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he
   that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

   21. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when
   tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
   offended.

   22. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the
   word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
   choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

   23. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth
   the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth
   forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: He had said above, that it was not given to Jews to
   know the kingdom of God, but to the Apostles, and therefore He now
   concludes, saying, "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower, ye to
   whom are committed the mysteries of heaven."

   Aug., De Gen. ad lit., viii, 4: It is certain that the Lord spoke the
   things which the Evangelist has recorded; but what the Lord spake was a
   parable, in which it is never required that the things contained should
   have actually taken place.

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: He proceeds then expounding the parable; "Every man
   who hears the word of the kingdom," that is, My preaching which avails
   to the acquiring the kingdom of heaven, "and understandeth it not;" how
   he understands it not, is explained by, "for the evil one" -- that is
   the Devil -- "cometh and taketh away that which is sown in his heart;"
   every such man is "that which is sown by the way side." And note that
   which is sown, is taken in different senses; for the seed is that which
   is sown, and the field is that which is sown, both of which are found
   here. For where He says "carrieth away that which is sown," we must
   understand it of the seed; that which follows, "is sown by the way
   side," is to be understood not of the seed, but of the place of the
   seed, that is, of the man, who is as it were the field sown by the seed
   of the Divine word.

   Remig.: In these words the Lord explains what the seed is, to wit, the
   word of the kingdom, that is of the Gospel teaching. For there are some
   that receive the word of the Lord with no devotion of heart, and so
   that seed of God's word which is sown in their heart, is by demons
   straightway carried off, as it were the seed dropped by the way side.
   It follows, "That which is sown upon the rock, is he that heareth the
   word, &c." For the seed or word of God, which is sown in the rock, that
   is, in the hard and untamed heart, can bring forth no fruit, inasmuch
   as its hardness is great, and its desire of heavenly things small; and
   because of this great hardness, it has no root in itself.

   Jerome: Note that which is said, "is straightway offended." There is
   then some difference between him who, by many tribulations and
   torments, is driven to deny Christ, and him who at the first
   persecution is offended, and falls away, of which He proceeds to speak,
   "That which is sown among thorns." To me He seems here to express
   figuratively that which was said literally to Adam; "Amidst briers and
   thorns thou shalt eat they bread," [Gen 3:18] that he that has given
   himself up to the delights and the cares of this world, eats heavenly
   bread and the true food among thorns.

   Raban.: Rightly are they called thorns, because they lacerate the soul
   by the prickings of thought, and do not suffer it to bring forth the
   spiritual fruit of virtue.

   Jerome: And it is elegantly added, "The deceitfulness of riches choke
   the word;" for riches are treacherous, promising one thing and doing
   another. The tenure of them is slippery as they are borne hither and
   thither, and with uncertain step forsake those that have them, or
   revive those that have them not. Whence the Lord asserts, that rich men
   hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven, because their riches choke the
   word of God, and relax the strength of their virtues.

   Remig.: And it should be known, that in these three sorts of bad soil
   are comprehended all who can hear the word of God, and yet have not
   strength to bring it forth unto salvation. The Gentiles are excepted,
   who were not worthy even to hear it.

   It follows, "That which is sown on the good ground." The good ground is
   the faithful conscience of the elect, or the spirit of the saints which
   receives the word of God with joy and desire and devotion of heart, and
   manfully retains it amid prosperous and adverse circumstances, and
   brings it forth in fruit; as it follows, "And brings forth fruit, some
   a hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold."

   Jerome: And it is to be noted, that as in the bad ground there were
   three degrees of difference, to wit, that by the way side, the stony
   and the thorny ground; so in the good soil there is a three-fold
   difference, the hundred-fold, the sixty-fold, and the thirty- fold. And
   in this as in that, not the substance but the will is changed, and the
   hearts as well of the unbelieving as the believing receive seed; as in
   the first case He said, "Then cometh the wicked one, and carrieth off
   that which is sown in the heart;" and in the second and third case of
   the bad soil He said, "This is he that heareth the word." So also in
   the exposition of the good soil, "This is he that heareth the word."
   Therefore we ought first to hear, then to understand, and after
   understanding to bring forth the fruits of teaching, either an
   hundred-fold, or sixty, or thirty.

   Aug., City of God, book xxi, ch. 27: Some think that this is to be
   understood as though the saints according to the degree of their merits
   delivered some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred persons; and this
   they usually suppose will happen on the day of judgment, not after the
   judgment. But when this opinion was observed to encourage men in
   promising themselves impunity, because that by this means all might
   attain to deliverance, it was answered, that men ought the rather to
   live well, that each might be found among those who were to intercede
   for the liberation of others, lest these should be found to be so few
   that they should soon have exhausted the number allotted to them, and
   thus there would remain many unrescued from torment, among whom might
   be found all such as in most vain rashness had promised themselves to
   reap the fruits of others.

   Remig.: The thirty-fold then is borne of him who teaches faith in the
   Holy Trinity; the sixty-fold of him who enforces the perfection of good
   works; (for in the number six this world was completed with all its
   equipments;) [margin note: Gen 2:1] while he bears the hundred-fold who
   promises eternal life. For the number one hundred passes from the left
   hand to the right; and by the left hand the present life is denoted, by
   the right hand the life to come.

   Otherwise, the seed of the word of God brings forth fruit thirty-fold
   when it begets good thoughts, sixty-fold when good speech, and an
   hundred-fold when it brings to the fruit of good works.

   Aug., Quaest Ev., i, 9: Otherwise; There is fruit an hundred-fold of
   the martyrs because of their satiety of life or contempt of death; a
   sixty-fold fruit of virgins, because they rest not warring against the
   use of the flesh; for retirement is allowed to those of sixty years'
   age after service in war or in public business; and there is a
   thirty-fold fruit of the wedded, because theirs is the age of warfare,
   and their struggle is the more arduous, that they should not be
   vanquished by their lusts.

   Or otherwise; We must struggle with our love of temporal goods that
   reason may be master; it should either be so overcome and subject to
   us, that when it begins to rise it may be easily repressed, or so
   extinguished that it never arises in us at all. Whence it comes to
   pass, that death itself is despised for truth's sake, by some with
   brave endurance, by others with content, and by others with gladness --
   which three degrees are the three degrees of fruits of the earth --
   thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and an hundred-fold.

   And in one of these degrees must one be found at the time of his death,
   if any desires to depart well out of this life.

   Jerome, vid. Cyp. Tr. iv. 12: The hundred-fold fruit is to be ascribed
   to virgins, the sixty-fold to widows and continent persons, the
   thirty-fold to chaste wedlock.

   Jerome, Hieron. Ep. 48, 2: For the joining together of the hands, as it
   were in the soft embrace of a kiss, represents husband and wife. The
   sixty-fold refers to widows, who as being set in narrow circumstances
   and affliction are denoted by the depression of the finger; for by how
   much greater is the difficulty of abstaining from the allurements of
   pleasure once known, so much greater is the reward. The hundredth
   number passes from the left to the right, and by its turning round with
   the same fingers, not on the same hand, it expresses the crown of
   virginity. [ed. note: ~ This alludes to the method of notation by the
   fingers described by Bede (with reference to this passage of S.
   Jerome,) in his treatise De Indigitatione,' vol i. 131. The expression,
   atque suos jam dextra computat annos,' Juv. will occur immediately to
   the classical reader.]
     __________________________________________________________________

   24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, "The kingdom of
   heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

   25. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the
   wheat, and went his way.

   26. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then
   appeared the tares also.

   27. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir,
   didst not thou sow good seed in thy field; from whence then hath it
   tares?

   28. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto
   him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

   29. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up
   also the wheat with them.

   30. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of
   harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares,
   and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my
   barn."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., xlvi: In the foregoing parable the Lord spoke to such as
   do not receive the word of God; here of those who receive a corrupting
   seed. This is the contrivance of the Devil, ever to mix error with
   truth.

   Jerome: He set forth also this other parable, as it were a rich
   householder refreshing his guests with various meats, that each one
   according to the nature of his stomach might find some food adapted to
   him. He said not a second parable,' but "another;" for had He said a
   second,' we could not have looked for a third; but another prepares us
   for many more.

   Remig.: Here He calls the Son of God Himself the kingdom of heaven; for
   He saith, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that sowed good
   seed in his field."

   Chrys.: He then points out the manner of the Devil's snares, saying,
   "While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of he
   wheat, and departed." He here shews that error arose after truth, as
   indeed the course of events testifies; for the false prophets came
   after the Prophets, the false apostles after the Apostles, and
   Antichrist after Christ. For unless the Devil sees somewhat to imitate,
   and some to lay in wait against, he does not attempt any thing.
   Therefore because he saw that this man bears fruit an hundred, this
   sixty, and this thirtyfold, and that he was not able to carry off or to
   choke that which had taken root, he turns to other insidious practices,
   mixing up his own seed, which is a counterfeit of the true, and thereby
   imposes upon such as are prone to be deceived.

   So the parable speaks, not of another seed, but of tares which bear a
   great likeness to wheat corn. Further, the malignity of the Devil is
   shewn in this, that he sowed when all else was completed, that he might
   do the greater hurt to the husbandman.

   Aug., Quaest in Matt., q. 11: He says, "While men slept," for while the
   heads of the Church were abiding in supineness, and after the Apostles
   had received the sleep of death, then came the Devil and sowed upon the
   rest those whom the Lord in His interpretation calls evil children. But
   we do well to enquire whether by such are meant heretics, or Catholics
   who lead evil lives. That He says, that they were sown among the wheat,
   seems to point out that they were all of one communion.

   But forasmuch as He interprets the field to mean not the Church, but
   the world, we may well understand it of the heretics, who in this world
   are mingled with the good; for they who live amiss in the same faith
   may better be taken of the chaff than of the tares, for the chaff has a
   stem and a root in common with the grain. While schismatics again may
   move fitly be likened to ears that have rotted, or to straws that are
   broken, crushed down, and cast forth of the field.

   Indeed it is not necessary that every heretic or schismatic should be
   corporally severed from the Church; for the Church bears many who do
   not so publicly defend their false opinions as to attract the attention
   of the multitude, which when they do, then are they expelled. When then
   the Devil had sown upon the true Church divers evil errors and false
   opinions; that is to say, where Christ's name had gone before, there he
   scattered errors, himself was the rather hidden and unknown; for He
   says, "And went his way." Though indeed in this parable, as we learn
   from His own interpretation, the Lord may be understood to have
   signified under the name of tares all stumbling-blocks and such as work
   iniquity.

   Chrys.: In what follows He more particularly draws the picture of an
   heretic, in the words, "When the blade grew, and put forth fruit, then
   appeared the tares also." For heretics at first keep themselves in the
   shade; but when they have had long license, and when men have held
   communication with them in discourse, then they pour forth their venom.

   Aug., Quaest in Matt., q. 12: Or otherwise; When a man begins to be
   spiritual, discerning between things, then he begins to see errors; for
   he judges concerning whatsoever he hears or reads, whether it departs
   from the rule of truth; but until he is perfected in the same spiritual
   things, he might be disturbed at so many false heresies having existed
   under the Christian name, whence it follows, "And the servants of the
   householder coming to him said unto him, Didst thou not sow good seed
   in thy field? whence then hath it tares?

   Are these servants then the same as those whom He afterwards calls
   reapers? Because in His exposition of the parable, He expounds the
   reapers to be the Angels, and none would dare to say that the Angels
   were ignorant who had sowed tares, we should the rather understand that
   the faithful are here intended by the servants.

   And no wonder if they are also signified by the good seed; for the same
   thing admits of different likenesses according to its different
   significations; as speaking of Himself He says that He is the door, He
   is the shepherd.

   Remig.: They came to the Lord not with the body, but with the heart and
   desire of the soul; and from Him they gather that this was done by the
   craft of the Devil, whence it follows, "And he saith unto them, An
   enemy hath done this."

   Jerome: The Devil is called a man that is an enemy because he has
   ceased to be God; and in the ninth Psalm it is written of him, "Up,
   Lord, and Let not man have the upper hand." [Ps 9:19] Wherefore let not
   him sleep that is set over the Church, lest through his carelessness
   the enemy should sow therein tares, that is, the dogmas of the
   heretics.

   Chrys.: He is called the enemy on account of the losses he inflicts on
   men; for the assaults of the Devil are made upon us, though their
   origin is not in his enmity towards us, but in his enmity towards God.

   Aug.: And when the servants of God knew that it was the Devil who had
   contrived this fraud, whereby when he found that he had no power in
   open warfare against a Master of such great name, he had introduced his
   fallacies under cover of that name itself, the desire might readily
   arise in them to remove such men from out of human affairs if
   opportunity should be given them; but they first appeal to God's
   justice whether they should so do; "The servants said, Wilt thou we go
   and gather them out?"

   Chrys.: Wherein observe the thoughtfulness and affection of the
   servants; they hasten to root up the tares, thus shewing their anxiety
   about the good seed; for this is all to which they look, not that any
   should be punished, but that which is sown should not perish. The
   Lord's answer follows, "And he saith unto them, Nay."

   Jerome: For room for repentance is left, and we are warned that we
   should not hastily cut off a brother, since one who is today corrupted
   with an erroneous dogma, may grow wiser tomorrow, and begin to defend
   the truth; wherefore it is added, "Lest in gathering together the tares
   ye root out the wheat also.

   Aug., Quaest. in Matt., q. 12: Wherein He renders them more patient and
   tranquil. For this He says, because good while yet weak, have need in
   some things of being mixed up with bad, either that they may be proved
   by their means, or that by comparison with them they may be greatly
   stimulated and drawn to a better course. Or perhaps the wheat is
   declared to be rooted up if the tares should be gathered out of it, on
   account of many who though at first tares would after become wheat; yet
   they would never attain to this commendable change were they not
   patiently endured while they were evil. Thus were they rooted up, that
   wheat which they would become in time if spared, would be rooted up in
   them.

   It is then therefore He forbids that such should be taken away out of
   this life, lest in the endeavour to destroy the wicked, those of them
   should be destroyed among the rest who would turn out good; and lest
   also that benefit should be lost to the good which would accrue to them
   even against their will from mixing with the wicked. But this may be
   done seasonably when, in the end of all, there remains no more time for
   a change of life, or of advancing to the truth by taking opportunity
   and comparison of others' faults; therefore He adds, "Let both grow
   together until the harvest," that is, until the judgment.

   Jerome: But this seems to contradict that command, "Put away the evil
   from among you." [1 Cor 5:13] For if the rooting up be forbidden, and
   we are to abide in patience till the harvest-time, how are we to cast
   forth any from among us? But between wheat and tares (which in Latin we
   call, lolium') so long as it is only in blade, before the stalk has put
   forth an ear, there is very great resemblance, and none or little
   difference to distinguish them by.

   The Lord then warns us not to pass a hasty sentence on an ambiguous
   word, but to reserve it for His judgment, that when the day of judgment
   shall come, He may cast forth from the assembly of the saints no longer
   on suspicion but on manifest guilt.

   Aug., Cont. Ep. Parm., iii. 2: For when any one of the number of
   Christians included in the Church is found in such sin as to incur an
   anathema, this is done, where danger of schism is not apprehended, with
   tenderness, not for his rooting out, but for his correction. But if he
   be not conscious of his sin, nor correct it by penitence, he will of
   his own choice go forth of the Church and be separated from her
   communion; whence when the Lord commanded, "Suffer both to grow
   together till the harvest," He added the reason, saying, "Lest when ye
   would gather out the tares ye root up the wheat also." This
   sufficiently shews, that when that fear has ceased, and when the safety
   of the crop is certain, that is, when the crime is known to all, and is
   acknowledged as so execrable as to have no defenders, or not such as
   might cause any fear of a schism, then severity of discipline does not
   sleep, and its correction of error is so much the more efficacious as
   the observance of love had been more careful.

   But when the same infection has spread to a large number at once,
   nothing remains but sorrow and groans. Therefore let a man gently
   reprove whatever is in his power; what is not in let him bear with
   patience, and mourn over with affection, until He from above shall
   correct and heal, and let him defer till harvest-time to root out the
   tares and winnow the chaff. But the multitude of the unrighteous is to
   be struck at with a general reproof, whenever there is opportunity of
   saying aught among the people; and above all when any scourge of the
   Lord from above gives opportunity, when they feel that they are
   scourged for their deserts; for then the calamity of the hearers opens
   their ears submissively to the words of their reprover, seeing the
   heart in affliction is ever more prone to the groans of confession than
   to the murmurs of resistance.

   And even when no tribulation lays upon them, should occasion serve, a
   word of reproof is usefully spent upon the multitude; for when
   separated it is wont to be fierce, when in a body it is wont to mourn.

   Chrys.: This the Lord spake to forbid any putting to death. For we
   ought not to kill an heretic, seeing that so a neverending war would be
   introduced into the world; and therefore He says, "Lest ye root out
   with them the wheat also;" that is, if you draw the sword and put the
   heretic to death, it must needs be that many of the saints will fall
   with them.

   Hereby He does not indeed forbid all restraint upon heretics, that
   their freedom of speech should be cut off, that their synods and their
   confessions should be broken up -- but only forbids that they should be
   put to death.

   Aug., Ep. 93, 17: This indeed was at first my own opinion, that no man
   was to be driven by force into the unity of Christ; but he was to be
   led by discourse, contended with in controversy, and overcome by
   argument, that we might not have men feigning themselves to be
   Catholics whom we knew to be declared heretics.

   But this opinion of mine was overcome not by the authority of those who
   contradicted me, but by the examples of those that shewed it in fact;
   for the tenor of those laws in enacting which Princes serve the Lord in
   fear, has had such good effect, that already some say, This we desired
   long ago; but now thanks be to God who has made the occasion for us,
   and has cut off our pleas of delay.

   Others say, This we have long known to be the truth; but we were held
   by a kind of old habit, thanks be to God who has broken our chains.

   Others again; We knew not that this was true, and had no desire to
   learn it, but fear has driven us to give our attention to it, thanks be
   to the Lord who has banished our carelessness by the spur of terror.

   Others, We were deterred from entering in by false rumours, which we
   should not have known to be false had we not entered in, and we should
   not have entered in had we not been compelled; thanks be to God who has
   broken up our preaching by the scourge of persecution, and has taught
   us by experience how empty and false things lying fame had reported
   concerning His Church.

   Others say, We thought indeed that it was of no importance in what
   place we held the faith of Christ; but thanks be to the Lord who has
   gathered us together out of our division, and has shewn us that it is
   consonant to the unity of God that He should be worshipped in unity.

   Let then the Kings of the earth shew themselves the servants of Christ
   by publishing laws in Christ's behalf.

   Aug., Ep. 185, 32 et 22: But who is there Of you who has any wish that
   a heretic should perish, nay, that he should so much as lose aught? Yet
   could the house of David have had peace in no other way, but by the
   death of Absalom in that war which he waged against his father;
   notwithstanding his father gave strict commands to his servants that
   they should save him alive and unhurt, that on his repentance there
   might be room for fatherly affection to pardon; what then remained for
   him but to mourn over him when lost, and to console his domestic
   affliction by the peace which it had brought to his kingdom.

   Thus our Catholic mother the Church, when by the loss of a few she
   gains many, soothes the sorrow of her motherly heart, healing it by the
   deliverance of so many people. Where then is that which those are
   accustomed to cry out, That it is free to all to believe? Whom hath
   Christ done violence to? Whom hath He compelled? Let them take the
   Apostle Paul; let them acknowledge in him Christ first compelling and
   afterwards teaching; first smiting and afterwards comforting. And it is
   wonderful to see him who entered into the Gospel by the force of a
   bodily infliction labouring therein more than all those who are called
   by word only. [margin note: 1 Cor 15:10]

   Why then should not the Church constrain her lost sons to return to
   her, when her lost sons constrained others to perish?

   Remig.: It follows, "And in the time of harvest I will say to the
   reapers, Gather together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to
   burn them." The harvest is the season of reaping which here designates
   the day of judgment, in which the good are to be separated from the
   bad.

   Chrys.: But why does He say, Gather first the tares? That the good
   should have no fears lest the wheat should be rooted up with them.

   Jerome: In that He says that the bundles of tares are to be cast into
   the fire, and the wheat gathered into barns, it is clear that heretics
   also and hypocrites are to be consumed in the fires of hell, while the
   saints who are here represented by the wheat are received into the
   barns, that is into heavenly mansions.

   Aug., Quaest in Matt., q. 12: It may be asked why He commands more than
   one bundle or heap of tares to be formed? Perhaps because of the
   variety of heretics differing not only from the wheat, but also among
   themselves, each several heresy, separated from communion with all the
   others, is designated as a bundle; and perhaps they may even then begin
   to be bound together for burning, when they first sever themselves from
   the Catholic communion, and begin to have their independent church; so
   that it is the burning and not the binding into bundles that will take
   place at the end of the world.

   But were this so, there would not be so many who would become wise
   again, and return from error into the Catholic Church. Wherefore we
   must understand the binding into bundles to be what shall come to pass
   in the end, that punishment should fall on them not promiscuously, but
   in due proportion to the obstinacy and wilfulness of each separate
   error.

   Raban.: And it should be noted that, when He says, "Sowed good seed,"
   He intends that good will which is in the elect; when He adds, "An
   enemy came," He intimates that watch should be kept against him; when
   as the tares grow up, He suffers it patiently, saying, "An enemy hath
   done" this, He recommends to us patience; when He says, "Lest haply in
   gathering the tares, &c." He sets us an example of discretion; when He
   says, "Suffer both to grow together till the harvest," He teaches us
   long-suffering; and, lastly, He inculcates justice, when He says, "Bind
   them into bundles to burn."
     __________________________________________________________________

   3l. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, "The kingdom of
   heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed
   in his field:

   32, Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is
   the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the
   air come and lodge in the branches thereof."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Seeing the Lord had said above that three parts of the seed
   perish, and one only is preserved, and of that one part there is much
   loss by reason of the tares that are sown upon it; that none might say,
   Who then and how many shall they be that believe; He removes this cause
   of fear by the parable of the mustard seed.

   Therefore it is said, "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying,
   The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed."

   Jerome: The kingdom of heaven is the preaching of the Gospel, and the
   knowledge of the Scriptures which leads to life, concerning which it is
   said to the Jews, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you." [Matt
   21:43] It is the kingdom of heaven thus understood which is likened to
   a grain of mustard seed.

   Aug., Quaest in Ev., i, 11: A grain of mustard seed may allude to the
   warmth of faith, or to its property as antidote to poison.

   It follows; "Which a man took and sowed in his field."

   Jerome: The man who sows is by most understood to be the Saviour, who
   sows the seed in the minds of believers; by others the man himself who
   sows in his field, that is, in his own heart. Who indeed is he that
   soweth, but our own mind and understanding, which receiving the grain
   of preaching, and nurturing it by the dew of faith, makes it to spring
   up in the field of our own breast?

   "Which is the least of all seeds." The Gospel preaching is the least of
   all the systems of the schools; at first view it has not even the
   appearance of truth, announcing a man as God, God put to death, and
   proclaiming the offence of the cross. Compare this teaching with the
   dogmas of the Philosophers, with their books, the splendour of their
   eloquence, the polish of their style, and you will see how the seed of
   the Gospel is the least of all seeds.

   Chrys.: Or; The seed of the Gospel is the least of seeds, because the
   disciples were weaker than the whole of mankind; yet forasmuch as there
   was great might in them, their preaching spread throughout the whole
   world.

   And therefore it follows, "But when it is grown it is the greatest
   among herbs," that is among dogmas.

   Aug.: Dogmas are the decisions of sects [margin note: placita
   sectarum], the points, that is, that they have determined.

   Jerome: For the dogmas of Philosophers when they have grown up, shew
   nothing of life or strength, but watery and insipid they grow into
   grasses and other greens, which quickly dry up and wither away. But the
   Gospel preaching, though it seem small in its beginning, when sown in
   the mind of the hearer, or upon the world, comes up not a garden herb,
   but a tree, so that the birds of the air (which we must suppose to be
   either the souls of believers or the Powers of God set free from
   slavery) come and abide in its branches. The branches of the Gospel
   tree which have grown of the grain of mustard seed, I suppose to
   signify the various dogmas in which each of the birds (as explained
   above) takes his rest. [margin note: Ps 55:6]

   Let us then take the wings of the dove, that flying aloft we may dwell
   in the branches of this tree, and may make ourselves nests of
   doctrines, and soaring above earthly things may hasten towards
   heavenly.

   Hilary: Or; The Lord compares Himself to a grain of mustard seed, sharp
   to the taste, and the least of all seeds, whose strength is extracted
   by bruising.

   Greg., Mor., xix, 1: Christ Himself is the grain of mustard seed, who,
   planted in the garden of the sepulchre, grew up a great tree; He was a
   grain of seed when He died, and a tree when He rose again; a grain of
   seed in the humiliation of the flesh, a tree in the power of His
   majesty.

   Hilary: This grain then when sown in the field, that is, when seized by
   the people and delivered to death, and as it were buried in the ground
   by a sowing of the body, grew up beyond the size of all herbs, and
   exceeded all the glory of the Prophets. For the preaching of the
   Prophets was allowed as it were herbs to a sick man; but now the birds
   of the air lodge in the branches of the tree. By which we understand
   the Apostles, who put forth of Christ's might, and overshadowing the
   world with their boughs, are a tree to which the Gentiles flee in hope
   of life, and having been long tossed by the winds, that is by the
   spirits of the Devil, may have rest in its branches.

   Greg.: "The birds lodge in its branches," when holy souls that raise
   themselves aloft from thoughts of earth on the wings of the virtues,
   breathe again from the troubles of this life in their words and
   comfortings.
     __________________________________________________________________

   33. Another parable spake he unto them; "The kingdom of heaven is like
   unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal,
   till the whole was leavened."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The same thing the Lord sets forth in this parable of the
   leaven; as much as to say to His disciples, As leaven changes into its
   own kind much wheat-flour, so shall ye change the whole world. Note
   here the wisdom of the Saviour; He first brings instances from nature,
   proving that as the one is possible so is the other. And He says not
   simply put,' but "hid;" as much as to say, So ye, when ye shall be cast
   down by your enemies, then ye shall overcome them. And so leaven is
   kneaded in, without being destroyed, but gradually changes all things
   into its own nature; so shall it come to pass with your preaching. Fear
   ye not then because I said that many tribulations shall come upon you,
   for so shall ye shine forth, and shall overcome them all.

   He says, "three measures," to signify a great abundance; that definite
   number standing for an indefinite quantity.

   Jerome: The saturn' is a kind of measure in use in Palestine containing
   one modius and a half.

   Aug. Quaest. Ev., i, 12: Or, The leaven signifies love, because it
   causes activity and fermentation; by the woman He means wisdom. By the
   three measures He intends either those three things in man, with the
   whole heart, with the whole soul, with the whole mind; or the three
   degrees of fruitfulness, the hundred-fold, the sixty-fold, the
   thirty-fold; or those three kinds of men, Noe, Daniel, and Job.

   Raban.: He says, "Until the whole was leavened," because that love
   implanted in our mind ought to grow until it changes the whole soul
   into its own perfection; which is begun here, but is completed
   hereafter.

   Jerome: Or otherwise; The woman who takes the leaven and hides it,
   seems to me to be the Apostolic preaching, or the Church gathered out
   of divers nations. She takes the leaven, that is, the understanding of
   the Scriptures, and hides it in three measures of meal, that the three,
   spirit, soul, and body, may be brought into one, and may not differ
   among themselves.

   Or otherwise; We read in Plato [margin note: R. P., iv. 439.
   logistikon, epithumetikon, thumoeides] that there are three parts in
   the soul, reason, anger, and desire; so we also if we have received the
   evangelic leaven of Holy Scripture, may possess in our reason prudence,
   in our anger hatred against vice, in our desire love of the virtues,
   and this will all come to pass by the Evangelic teaching which our
   mother Church has held out to us.

   I will further mention an interpretation of some; that the woman is the
   Church, who has mingled the faith of man in three measures of meal,
   namely, belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; which when
   it has fermented into one lump, brings us not to a threefold God, but
   to the knowledge of one Divinity. This is a pious interpretation; but
   parables and doubtful solutions of dark things, can never bestow
   authority on dogmas.

   Hilary: Or otherwise; The Lord compares Himself to leaven; for leaven
   is produced from meal, and communicates the power that it has received
   to a heap of its own kind. The woman, that is the Synagogue, taking
   this leaven hides it, that is by the sentence of death; but it working
   in the three measures of meal, that is equally in the Law, the
   Prophets, and the Gospels, makes all one; so that what the Law ordains,
   that the Prophets announce, that is fulfilled in the developments of
   the Gospels.

   But many, as I remember, have thought that the three measures refer to
   the calling of the three nations, out of Shem, Ham, and Japhet. But 1
   hardly think that the reason of the thing will allow this
   interpretation; for though these three nations have indeed been called,
   yet in them Christ is shewn and not hidden, and in so great a multitude
   of unbelievers the whole cannot be said to be leavened.
     __________________________________________________________________

   34. All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and
   without a parable spake he not unto them.

   35. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
   I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been
   kept secret from the foundation of the world.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., xlvii: After the foregoing parables, that none might
   think that Christ was bringing forward any thing new, the Evangelist
   quotes the Prophet, foretelling even this His manner of preaching:
   Mark's words are, "And with many such parables spake he the word unto
   them, as they were able to hear it." [Mark 4:33]

   So marvel not that, in speaking of the kingdom, He uses the similitudes
   of a seed, and of leaven; for He was discoursing to common men, and who
   needed to be led forward by such aids.

   Remig.: The Greek word Parable,' is rendered in Latin Similitude,' by
   which truth is explained; and an image or representation of the reality
   is set forth.

   Jerome: Yet He spoke not in parables to the disciples, but to the
   multitude; and even to this day the multitude hears in parables; and
   therefore it is said, "And without a parable spake he not unto them."

   Chrys.: For though He had spoken many things not in parables, when not
   speaking before the multitudes, yet at this time spake He nothing
   without a parable.

   Aug., Quaest. in Matt., q. 15: Or, this is said, not in Matt that He
   uttered nothing in plain words but that He concluded no one discourse
   without introducing a parable in the course of it, though the chief
   part of the discourse might consist of matter not figurative. And we
   may indeed find discourses of His parabolical throughout, but none
   direct throughout. And by a complete discourse, I mean, the whole of
   what He says on any topic that may be brought before Him by
   circumstances, before He leaves it, and passes to a new subject.

   For sometimes one Evangelist connects what another gives as spoken at
   different times; the writer having in such a case followed not the
   order of events, but the order of connexion in his own memory. The
   reason why He spake in parables the Evangelist subjoins, saying, "That
   it might be fulfilled that was spoken by the Prophet, saying, I will
   open my mouth. in parables, I will utter things kept secret from the
   foundation of the world." [Ps 78:2]

   Jerome: This passage is taken from the seventy-seventh Psalm. I have
   seen copies which read, by Esaias the Prophet,' instead of what we have
   adopted, and what the common text has by the Prophet.

   Remig.: From which reading Porphyry took an objection to the believers;
   Such was your Evangelist's ignorance, that he imputed to Isaiah what is
   indeed found in the Psalms.

   Jerome: But because the text was not found in Isaiah, his name was, I
   suppose, therefore erased by such as had observed that. But it seems to
   me that it was first written thus, As was written by Asaph the Prophet,
   saying,' for the seventy-seventh Psalm out of which this text is taken
   is ascribed to Asaph the Prophet; and that the copyist not
   understanding Asaph, and imputing it to error in the transcription,
   substituted the better known name Isaiah.

   For it should be known that not David only, but those others also whose
   names are set before the Psalms, and hymns, and songs of God, are to be
   considered prophets, namely, Asaph, Idithum, and Heman the Esraite, and
   the rest who are named in Scripture. And so that which is spoken in the
   Lord's person, "I will open my mouth in parables," if considered
   attentively, will be found to be a description of the departure of
   Israel out of Egypt, and a relation of all the wonders contained in the
   history of Exodus.

   By which we learn, that all that is there written may be taken in a
   figurative way, and contains hidden sacraments; for this is what the
   Saviour is there made to preface by the words, "I will open my mouth in
   parables."

   Gloss., ap Anselm: As though He had said, I who spoke before by the
   Prophets, now in My own person will open My mouth in parables, and will
   bring forth out of My secret store mysteries which have been hidden
   ever since the foundation of the world.
     __________________________________________________________________

   36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and
   his disciples came unto him, saying, "Declare unto us the parable of
   the tares of the field."

   37. He answered and said unto them, "He that soweth the good seed is
   the Son of man;

   38. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the
   kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

   39. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of
   the world; and the reapers are the angels.

   40. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so
   shall it be in the end of this world.

   41. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather
   out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

   42. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing
   and gnashing of teeth.

   43. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
   their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord had spoken to the multitude in parables, that He might
   induce them to ask Him of their meaning; yet, though He had spoken so
   many things in parables, no man had yet asked Him aught, and therefore
   He sends them away; "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into
   the house." None of the Scribes followed Him here, from is which it is
   clear that they followed Him for no other purpose than that they might
   catch Him in His discourse.

   Jerome: The Lord sends away the multitude, and enters the house that
   His disciples might come to Him and ask Him privately of those things
   which the people neither deserved to hear, nor were able.

   Raban.: Figuratively; Having sent away the multitude of unquiet Jews,
   He enters the Church of the Gentiles, and there expounds to believers
   heavenly sacraments, whence it follows, "And his disciples came to him,
   saying, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."

   Chrys.: Before, though desirous to learn, they had feared to ask; but
   now they ask freely and confidently because they had heard, "To you it
   is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven;" and therefore
   they ask when alone, not envying the multitude to whom it was not so
   given. They pass over the parables of the leaven and the mustard-seed
   as plain; and ask concerning the parable of the tares, which has some
   agreement with the foregoing parable concerning the seed, and shews
   somewhat more than that.

   And accordingly the Lord expounds it to them, as it follows, "He
   answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of
   man."

   Remig.: The Lord styles Himself the Son of Man, that in that title He
   might set an example of humility; or perhaps because it was to come to
   pass that certain heretics would deny Him to be really man; or that
   through belief in His Humanity we might ascend to knowledge of His
   Divinity.

   Chrys.: "The field is the world." Seeing it is He that sows His own
   field, it is plain that this present world is His. It follows, "The
   good seed are the children of the kingdom."

   Remig.: That is, the saints, and elect men, who are counted as sons.

   Aug., Cont. Faust., xviii, 7: The tares the Lord expounds to mean, not
   as Manichaeus interprets, certain spurious parts inserted among the
   true Scriptures, but all the children of the Evil one, that is, the
   imitators of the fraud of the Devil.

   As it follows, "The tares are the children of the evil one," by whom He
   would have us understand all the wicked and impious.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 10: For all weeds among corn are called tares.

   Aug.: It follows, "The enemy who sowed this is the Devil."

   Chrys.: For this is part of the wiles of the Devil, to be ever mixing
   up truth with error.

   "The harvest is the end of the world."

   In another place He says, speaking of the Samaritans, "Lift up your
   eyes, and consider the fields that they are already white for the
   harvest;" [John 4:35] and again, "The harvest truly is great, but the
   labourers are few," [Luke 10:2] in which words He speaks of the harvest
   as being already present.

   How then does He here speak of it as something yet to come? Because He
   has used the figure of the harvest in two significations;, as He says
   there that it is one that soweth, and another that reapeth; but here it
   is the same who both sows and reaps; indeed there He brings forward the
   Prophets, not to distinguish them from Himself, but from the Apostles,
   for Christ Himself by His Prophets sowed among the Jews and Samaritans.

   The figure of harvest is thus applied to two different things. Speaking
   of first conviction and turning to the faith, He calls that the
   harvest, as that in which the whole is accomplished; but when He
   enquires into the fruits ensuing upon the hearing the word of God, then
   He calls the end of the world the harvest, as here.

   Remig.: By the harvest is denoted the day of judgment, in which the
   good are to be separated from the evil; which will be done by the
   ministry of Angels, as it is said below, that the Son of Man shall come
   to judgment with His Angels.

   "As then the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be
   in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his Angels,
   and they shall gather out of his kingdom all offences, and them which
   do iniquity."

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 9: Out of that kingdom in which are no
   offences? The kingdom then is His kingdom which is here, namely, the
   Church.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 10: That the tares are first separated, signifies
   that by tribulation the wicked shall be separated from the righteous;
   and this is understood to be performed by good Angels, because the good
   can discharge duties of punishment with a good spirit, as a judge, or
   as the Law, but the wicked cannot fulfil offices of mercy.

   Chrys.: Or we may understand it of the kingdom of the heavenly Church;
   and then there will be held out here a two-fold punishment; first that
   they fall from glory as that is said, "And they shall gather out of his
   kingdom all offences," to the end, that no offences should be seen in
   His kingdom; and then that they are burned.

   "And they shall cast them into a furnace of fire."

   Jerome: The offences are to be referred to the tares.

   Gloss., non occ.: "The offences", and, "them that do iniquity," are to
   be distinguished as heretics and schismatics; the "offences" referring
   to heretics; while by "them that do iniquity" are to be understood
   schismatics.

   Otherwise; By "offences" may be understood those that give their
   neighbour an occasion of falling, by "those that do iniquity" all other
   sinners.

   Raban.: Observe, He says, "Those that do iniquity," not, those who have
   done; because not they who have turned to penitence, but they only that
   abide in their sins are to be delivered to eternal torments.

   Chrys.: Behold the unspeakable love of God towards men! He is ready to
   shew mercy, slow to punish; when He sows, He sows Himself; when He
   punishes, He punishes by others, sending His Angels to that.

   It follows, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

   Remig.: In these words is shewn the reality of the resurrection of the
   body; and further, the twofold pains of hell, extreme heat, and extreme
   cold. And as the offences are referred to the tares, so the righteous
   are reckoned among the children of the kingdom; concerning whom it
   follows, "Then the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of
   their Father." For in the present world the light of the saints shines
   before men, but after the consummation of all things, the righteous
   themselves shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

   Chrys.: Not that they shall not shine with higher brightness, but
   because we know no degree of brightness that surpasses that of the sun,
   therefore He uses an example adapted to our understanding.

   Remig.: That He says, "Then shall they shine," implies that they now
   shine for an example to others, but they shall then shine as the sun to
   the praise of God. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

   Raban.: That is, Let him understand who has understanding, because all
   these things are to be understood mystically, and not literally.
     __________________________________________________________________

   44. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field;
   the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth
   and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The foregoing parables of the leaven, and the grain of
   mustard-seed, are referred to the power of the Gospel preaching, which
   has subdued the whole world; in order to shew its value and splendour,
   He now puts forth parables concerning a pearl and a treasure, saying,
   "The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field."

   For the Gospel preaching is hidden in this world; and if, you do not
   sell your all you will not purchase it; and this you ought to do with
   joy.

   Wherefore it follows, "which when a man hath found, he hideth it."

   Hilary: This treasure is indeed found without cost; for the Gospel
   preaching is open to all, but to use and possess the treasure with its
   field we may not without price, for heavenly riches are not obtained
   without the loss of this world.

   Jerome: That he hides it, does not proceed of envy towards others, but
   as one that treasures up what he would not lose, he hides in his heart
   that which he prizes above his former possessions.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xi, 1: Otherwise; The treasure hidden in the field
   is the desire of heaven; the field in which the treasure is hidden is
   the discipline of heavenly learning; this, when a man finds, he hides,
   in order that he may preserve it; for zeal and affections heavenward it
   is not enough that we protect from evil spirits, if we do not protect
   from, human praises. For in this present life we are in the way which
   leads to our country, and evil spirits as robbers beset us in our
   journey.

   Those therefore who carry their treasure openly, they seek to plunder
   in the way. When I say this, I do not mean that our neighbours should
   not see our works, but that in what we do, we should not seek praise
   from without. The kingdom of heaven is therefore compared to things of
   earth, that the mind may rise from things familiar to things unknown,
   and may learn to love the unknown by that which it knows is loved when
   known.

   It follows, "And for joy thereof he goeth and selleth all that he hath,
   and buyeth that field." He it is that selleth all he hath and buyeth
   the field, who, renouncing fleshly delights, tramples upon all his
   worldly desires in his anxiety for the heavenly discipline. [margin
   note: Col 2:3]

   Jerome: Or, That treasure "in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom
   and knowledge," is either God the Word, who seems hid in Christ's
   flesh, or the Holy Scriptures, in which are laid up the knowledge of
   the Saviour.

   Aug., Quaest. in Ev., i, 13: Or, He speaks of the two testaments in The
   Church, which, when any hath attained to a partial understanding of, he
   perceives how great things lie hid there, and "goeth and selleth all
   that he hath, and buyeth that;" that is, by despising temporal things
   he purchases to himself peace, that he may be rich in the knowledge of
   God.
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   45. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking
   goodly pearls:

   46. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all
   that he had, and bought it."
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   Chrys.: The Gospel preaching not only offers manifold gain as a
   treasure, but is precious as a pearl; wherefore after the parable
   concerning the treasure, He gives that concerning the pearl. And in
   preaching, two things are required, namely, to be detached from the
   business of this life, and to be watchful, which are denoted by this
   merchant- man.

   Truth moreover is one, and not manifold, and for this reason it is one
   pearl that is said to be found. And as one who is possessed of a pearl,
   himself indeed knows of his wealth, but is not known to others,
   ofttimes concealing it in his hand because of its small bulk, so it is
   in the preaching of the Gospel; they who possess it know that they are
   rich, the unbelievers, not knowing of this treasure, know not of our
   wealth.

   Jerome: By the goodly pearls may be understood the Law and the
   Prophets. Hear then Marcion and Manichaeus; the good pearls are the Law
   and the Prophets. One pearl, the most precious of all, is the knowledge
   of the Saviour and the sacrament of His passion and resurrection, which
   when the merchantman has found, like Paul the Apostle, he straightway
   despises all the mysteries of the Law and the Prophets and the old
   observances in which he had lived blameless, counting them as dung that
   he may win Christ. [margin note: Phil 3:8] Not that the finding of a
   new pearl is the condemnation of the old pearls, but that in comparison
   of that, all other pearls are worthless.

   Gregory, Hom. in Ev., xi, 2: Or by the pearl of price is to be
   understood the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom, which, he that hath
   found it, selleth all and buyeth. For he that, as far as is permitted,
   has had perfect knowledge of the sweetness of the heavenly life,
   readily leaves all things that he has loved on earth; all that once
   pleased him among earthly possessions now appears to have lost its
   beauty, for the splendour of that precious pearl is alone seen in his
   mind.

   Aug., Quaest. in Matt., q. 13: Or, A man seeking goodly pearls has
   found one pearl of great price; that is, he who is seeking good men
   with whom he may live profitably, finds one alone, Christ Jesus,
   without sin; or, seeking precepts of life, by aid of which he may dwell
   righteously among men, finds love of his neighbour, in which one rule,
   the Apostle says [margin note: Rom 13:9], are comprehended all things;
   or, seeking good thoughts, he finds that Word in which all things are
   contained, "In the beginning was the Word," [John 1:1] which is
   lustrous with the light of truth, stedfast with the strength of
   eternity, and throughout like to itself with the beauty of divinity,
   and when we have penetrated the shell of the flesh, will be confessed
   as God.

   But whichever of these three it may be, or if there be any thing else
   that can occur to us, that can be signified under the figure of the one
   precious pearl, its preciousness is the possession of ourselves, who
   are not free to possess it unless we despise all things that can be
   possessed in this world. For having sold our possessions, we receive no
   other return greater than ourselves, (for while we were involved in
   such things we were not our own,) that we may again give ourselves for
   that pearl, not because we are of equal value to that, but because we
   cannot give any thing more.
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   47. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast
   into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

   48. Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and
   gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

   49. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come
   forth, and sever the wicked from the just,

   50. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be
   wailing and gnashing of teeth."
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   Chrys.: In the foregoing parables He has commended the Gospel
   preaching; now, that we may not trust in preaching only, nor think that
   faith alone is sufficient for our salvation, He adds another fearful
   parable, saying, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast
   into the sea."

   Jerome: In fulfilment of that prophecy of Hieremias, who said, "I will
   send unto you many fishers," [Jer 16:16] when Peter and Andrew, James
   and John, heard the words, "Follow me, I will make you fishers of men,"
   they put together a net for themselves formed of the Old and New
   Testaments, and cast it into the sea of this world, and that remains
   spread until this day, taking up out of the salt and bitter and
   whirlpools whatever falls into it, that is good men and bad; and this
   is that He adds, "And gathered of every kind."

   Gregory, Hom. in Ev., xi. 4: Or otherwise; The Holy Church is likened
   to a net, because it is given into the hands of fishers, and by it each
   man is drawn into the heavenly kingdom out of the waves of this present
   world, that he should not be drowned in the depth of eternal death.
   This net gathers of every kind of fishes, because the wise and the
   foolish, the free and the slave, the rich and the poor, the strong and
   the weak, are called to forgiveness of sin; it is then fully filled
   when in the end of all things the sum of the human race is completed.

   As it follows, "which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting
   down on the shore gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast
   away."

   For as the sea signifies the world, so the sea shore signifies the end
   of the world; and as the good are gathered into vessels, but the bad
   cast away, so each man is received into eternal abodes, while the
   reprobate having lost the light of the inward kingdom are cast forth
   into outer darkness. But now the net of faith holds good and bad
   mingled together in one; but the shore shall discover what the net of
   the Church has brought to land.

   Jerome: For when the net shall be drawn to the shore, then shall be
   shewn the true test for separating the fishes.

   Chrys.: Wherein does this parable differ from the parable of the tares?
   There, as here, some perish and some are saved; but there, because of
   their heresy of evil dogmas; in the first parable of the sower, because
   of their not attending to what was spoken; here, because of their evil
   life, because of which, though drawn by the net, that is, enjoying the
   knowledge of God, they cannot be saved.

   And when you hear that the wicked are cast away, that you may not
   suppose that this punishment may be risked, He adds an exposition
   shewing its severity, saying, "These shall it be in the end of the
   world; the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the
   just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be
   wailing and gnashing of teeth."

   Though He elsewhere declares, that He shall separate them as a shepherd
   separates the sheep from the goats; He here declares, that the Angels
   shall do it, as also in the parable of the tares.

   Gregory: To fear becomes us here, rather than to expound; for the
   torments of sinners are pronounced in plain terms, that none might
   plead his ignorance, should eternal punishment be threatened in obscure
   sayings.

   Jerome: For when the end of the world shall be come, then shall be
   shewn the true test of separating the fishes, and as in a sheltered
   harbour the good shall be sent into the vessels of heavenly abodes, but
   the flame of hell shall seize the wicked to be dried up and withered.
     __________________________________________________________________

   51. Jesus saith unto them, "Have ye understood all these things?" They
   say unto him, "Yea, Lord."

   52. Then said he unto them, "Therefore every Scribe which is instructed
   unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder,
   which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old."
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   Gloss., non occ.: When the multitude had departed, the Lord spoke to
   His disciples in parables, by which they were instructed only so far as
   they understood them; wherefore He asks them, "Have ye understood all
   these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord."

   Jerome: For this is spoken especially to the Apostles, whom He would
   have not to hear only as the multitude, but to understand as having to
   teach others.

   Chrys.: Then He praises them because they had understood; He saith unto
   them; "Therefore every Scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is
   like unto an householder who bringeth out of his treasure things new
   and old."

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 4: He said not old and new,' as He
   surely would have said had He not preferred to preserve the order of
   value rather than of time. But the Manichaeans while they think they
   should keep only the new promises of God, remain in the old man of the
   flesh, and put on newness of error.

   Aug., Quaest. in Matt., q. 16: By this conclusion, whether did He
   desire to shew Aug. whom He intended by the treasure hid in the field
   -- in which case we might understand the Holy Scriptures to be here
   meant, the two Testaments by the things new and old -- or did He intend
   that he should be held learned in the Church who understood that the
   Old Scriptures were expounded in parables, taking rules from these new
   Scriptures, seeing that in them also the Lord proclaimed many things in
   parables.

   If He then, in whom all those old Scriptures have their fulfilment and
   manifestation, yet speaks in parables until His passion shall rend the
   vail, when there is nothing hid that shall not be revealed; much more
   those things which were written of Him so long time before we see to
   have been clothed in parables; which the Jews took literally, being
   unwilling to be learned in the kingdom of heaven.

   Gregory: But if by things "new and old" in this passage we understand
   the two Testaments, we deny Abraham to have been learned, who although
   he knew indeed some deeds of the Old Testament, yet had not read the
   words. Neither Moses may we compare to a learned householder, for
   although he composed the Old Testament, yet had he not the words of the
   New. But what is here said may be understood as meant not of those who
   had been, but of such as might hereafter be in the Church, who then
   "bring forth things new and old" when they speak the preachings of both
   Testaments, in their words and in their lives.

   Hilary: Speaking to His disciples, He calls them Scribes on account of
   their knowledge, because they understood the things that He brought
   forward, both new and old, that is from the Law and from the Gospels;
   both being of the same householder, and both treasures of the same
   owner. He compares them to Himself under the figure of a householder,
   because they had received doctrine of things both new and old out of
   His treasury of the Holy Spirit.

   Jerome: Or the Apostles are called Scribes instructed, as being the
   Saviour's notaries who wrote His words and precepts on fleshly tables
   of the heart with the sacraments of the heavenly kingdom, and abounded
   in the wealth of a householder, bringing forth out of the stores of
   their doctrine things new and old; whatsoever they preached in the
   Gospels, that they proved by the words of the Law and the Prophets.
   Whence the Bride speaks in the Song of Songs [7:13]; "I have kept for
   thee my beloved the new with the old."

   Gregory: Otherwise; The things old are, that the human race for its sin
   should suffer in eternal punishment; the things new, that they should
   be converted and live in the kingdom, First, He brought forward a
   comparison of the kingdom to a treasure found and a pearl of price; and
   after that, narrated the punishment of hell in the burning of the
   wicked, and then concluded with "Therefore every Scribe, &c." as if He
   had said, He is a learned preacher in the Church who knows to bring
   forth things new concerning the sweetness of the kingdom, and to speak
   things old concerning the tenor of punishment; that at least punishment
   may deter those whom rewards do not excite.
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   53. And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables,
   he departed thence.

   54. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their
   synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath
   this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

   55. Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and
   his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

   56. And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this
   man all these things?

   57. And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, "A prophet
   is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house."

   58. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: After the parables which the Lord spake to the people, and
   which the Apostles only understand, He goes over into His own country
   that He may teach there also.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 42: From the foregoing discourse consisting of
   these parables, He passes to what follows without any very evident
   connexion between them. Besides which, Mark passes from these parables
   to a different event from what Matthew here gives; and Luke agrees with
   him, so continuing the thread of the story as to make it much more
   probable that that which they relate followed here, namely, about the
   ship in which Jesus slept, and the miracle of the daemons cast out;
   which Matthew has introduced above.

   Chrys., Hom., xlviii: By "his own country" here, He means Nazareth; for
   it was not there but in Capharnaum that, as is said below, He wrought
   so many miracles; but to these He shews His doctrine, causing no less
   wonder than His miracles.

   Remig.: He taught in their synagogues where great numbers were met,
   because it was for the salvation of the multitude that He came from
   heaven upon earth.

   It follows; "So that they marvelled, and said, Whence hath this man
   this wisdom, and these many mighty works?" His wisdom is referred to
   His doctrine, His mighty works to His miracles

   Jerome: Wonderful folly of the Nazarenes! They wonder whence Wisdom
   itself has wisdom, whence Power has mighty works! But the source of
   their error is at hand, because they regard Him as the Son of a
   carpenter; as they say, "Is not this the carpenter's son?"

   Chrys.: Therefore were they in all things insensate, seeing they
   lightly esteemed Him on account of him who was regarded as His father,
   notwithstanding the many instances in old times of sons illustrious
   sprung from ignoble fathers; as David was the son of a husbandman,
   Jesse; Amos the son of a shepherd, himself a shepherd.

   And they ought to have given Him more abundant honour, because, that
   coming of such parents, He spake after such manner; clearly shewing
   that it came not of human industry, but of divine grace

   Pseudo-Aug., non occ., cf. Serm. 135: For the Father of Christ is that
   Divine Workman who made all these works of nature, who set forth Noah's
   ark, who ordained the tabernacle of Moses, and instituted the Ark of
   the covenant; that Workman who polishes the stubborn mind, and cuts
   down the proud thoughts.

   Hilary: And this was the carpenter's son who subdues iron by means of
   fire, who tries the virtue of this world in the judgment, and forms the
   rude mass to every work of human need; the figure of our bodies, for
   example, to the divers ministrations of the limbs, and all the actions
   of life eternal.

   Jerome: And when they are mistaken in His Father, no wonder if they are
   also mistaken in His brethren. Whence it is added, "Is not his mother
   Mary, and his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? And
   his sisters, are they not all with us?

   Jerome, Hieron. in Helvid., 14: Those who are here called the Lord's
   brethren, are the sons of a Mary, His Mother's sister; she is the
   mother of this James and Joseph, that is to say, Mary the wife of
   Cleophas, and this is the Mary who is called the mother of James the
   Less.

   Aug., Quaest. in Matt., q. 17: No wonder then that any kinsmen by the
   mother's side should be called the Lord's brethren, when even by their
   kindred to Joseph some are here called His brethren by those who
   thought Him the son of Joseph.

   Hilary: Thus the Lord is held in no honour by His own; and though the
   wisdom of His teaching, and the power of His working raised their
   admiration, yet do they not believe that He did these things in the
   name of the Lord, and they cast His father's trade in His teeth.

   Amid all the wonderful works which He did they were moved with the
   contemplation of His Body, and hence they ask, "Whence hath this man
   these things? And thus they were offended in him."

   Jerome: This error of the Jews is our salvation, and the condemnation
   of the heretics, for they perceived Jesus Christ to be man so far as to
   think Him the son of a carpenter.

   Chrys.: Observe Christ's mercifulness; He is evil spoken of, yet He
   answers with mildness; "Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without
   honour, but in his own country, and in his own house."

   Remig.: He calls Himself a Prophet, as Moses also declares, when he
   says, "A Prophet shall God raise up unto you of your brethren. [Deut
   18:18] And it should be known, that not Christ only, who is the Head of
   all the Prophets, but Jeremiah, Daniel, and the other lesser Prophets,
   had more honour and regard among strangers than among their own
   citizens.

   Jerome: For it is almost natural for citizens to be jealous towards one
   another; for they do not look to the present works of the man, but
   remember the frailties of his childhood; as if they themselves had not
   passed through the very same stages of age to their maturity.

   Hilary: Further, He makes this answer, that a Prophet is without honour
   in his own country, because it was in Judea that He was to be condemned
   to the sentence of the cross; and forasmuch as the power of God is for
   the faithful alone, He here abstained from worlds of divine power
   because of their unbelief.

   Whence it follows, "And he did not there many mighty works because of
   their unbelief."

   Jerome: Not that because they did not believe He could not do His
   mighty works; but that He might not by doing them be condemning His
   fellow-citizens in their unbelief.

   Chrys.: But if His miracles raised their wonder, why did He not work
   many? Because He looked not to display of Himself, but to what would
   profit others; and when that did not result, He despised what pertained
   only to Himself that He might not increase their punishment. Why then
   did He even these few miracles? That they should not say, We should
   have believed had any miracles been done among us.

   Jerome: Or we may understand it otherwise, that Jesus is despised in
   His own house and country, signifies in the Jewish people; and
   therefore He did among them few miracles, that they might not be
   altogether without excuse; but among the Gentiles He does daily greater
   miracles by His Apostles, not so much in healing their bodies, as in
   saving their souls.
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Chapter 14

   l. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus.

   2. And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen
   from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in
   him.

   3. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in
   prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.

   4. For John said unto him, "It is not lawful for thee to have her."

   5. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude,
   because they counted him as a prophet.
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   Gloss., non occ.: The Evangelist had above shewn the Pharisees speaking
   falsely against Christ's miracles, and just now His fellow-citizens
   wondering, yet despising Him; he now relates what opinion Herod had
   formed concerning Christ on hearing of His miracles, and says, "At that
   time Herod the tetrarch heard the fame of Jesus."

   Chrys.: It is not without reason that the Evangelist here specifies the
   time, but that you may understand the pride and carelessness of the
   tyrant; inasmuch as he had not at the first made himself acquainted
   with the things concerning Christ, but now only after long time. Thus
   they, who in authority are fenced about with much pomp, learn these
   things slowly, because they do not much regard them.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 43: Matthew says, "At that time," not, On that
   day, or, In that same hour; for Mark relates the same circumstances,
   but not in the same order. He places this after the mission of the
   disciples to preach, though not implying that it necessarily follows
   there; any more than Luke, who follows the same order as Mark.

   Chrys.: Observe how great a thing is virtue; Herod fears John even
   after he is dead, and philosophizes concerning the resurrection; as it
   followers; "And he saith to his servants, This is John the baptist, he
   is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works are wrought in him."

   Raban.: From this place we may learn how great the jealousy of the Jews
   was; that John could have risen from the dead, Herod, an alien-born,
   here declares, without any witness that he had risen: concerning
   Christ, whom the Prophets had foretold, the Jews preferred to believe,
   that He had not risen, but had been carried away by stealth. This
   intimates that the Gentile heart is more disposed to belief than that
   of the Jews.

   Jerome: One of the Ecclesiastical interpreters asks what caused Herod
   to think that John was risen from the dead; as though we had to account
   for the errors of an alien, or as though the heresy of metempsychosis
   was at all supported by this place -- a heresy which teaches that souls
   pass through various bodies after a long period of years -- for the
   Lord was thirty years old when John was beheaded.

   Raban.: All men have well thought concerning the power of the
   resurrection, that the saints shall have greater power after they have
   risen from the dead, than they had while they were yet weighed down
   with the infirmity of the flesh; wherefore Herod says, "Therefore
   mighty works are wrought in him."

   Aug.: Luke's words are, "John have I beheaded: who is he of whom I hear
   such things? [Luke 9:9] As Luke has thus represented Herod as in doubt,
   we must understand rather that he was afterwards convinced of that
   which was commonly said -- or we must take what he here says to his
   servants as expressing a doubt -- for they admit of either of these
   acceptations.

   Remig.: Perhaps some one may ask how it can be here said, "At that time
   Herod heard," seeing that we have long before read that Herod was dead,
   and that on that the Lord returned out of Egypt. This question is
   answered, if we remember that there were two Herods. On the death of
   the first Herod, his son Archelaus succeeded him, and after ten years
   was sent into exile to Vienne in Gaul. Then Caesar Augustus gave
   command that the kingdom should be divided into tetrarchies, and gave
   three parts to the sons of Herod. This Herod then who beheaded John is
   the son of that greater Herod under whom the Lord was born; and this is
   confirmed by the Evangelist adding "the tetrarch."

   Gloss. ord.: Having mentioned this supposition of John's resurrection,
   because he had never yet spoken of his death, he now returns, and
   narrates how it came to pass.

   Chrys.: And this relation is not set before us as a principal matter,
   because the Evangelist's only object was to tell us concerning Christ,
   and nothing beyond, unless so far as it furthered this object. He says
   then, "For Herod had seized John, and bound him."

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 44: Luke does not give this in the same order,
   but where he is speaking of the Lord's baptism, so that he took
   beforehand an event which happened long afterwards. For after that
   saying of John's concerning the Lord, that His fan is in His hand, he
   straightway adds this, which, as we may gather from John's Gospel, did
   not follow immediately. For he relates that after Jesus was baptized,
   He went into Galilee, and thence returned into Judaea, and baptized
   there near to the Jordan before John was cast into prison.

   But neither Matthew nor Mark have placed John's imprisonment in that
   order in which it appears from their own writings that it took place;
   for they also say that when John was delivered up, the Lord went into
   Galilee, and after many things there done, then by occasion of the fame
   of Christ reaching Herod they relate what took place in the
   imprisonment and beheading of John.

   The cause for which he had been cast into prison he shews when he says,
   "On account of Herodias his brother's wife. For John had said unto him,
   It is not lawful for thee to have her."

   Jerome: The old history tells us that Philip the son of Herod the
   greater, the brother of this Herod, had taken to wife Herodias daughter
   of Aretas, king of the Arabs; and that he, the father-in-law, having
   afterwards cause of quarrel with his son-in-law, took away his
   daughter, and to grieve her husband gave her in marriage to his enemy
   Herod.

   John the Baptist therefore, who came in the spirit and power of Elias,
   with the same authority that he had exerted over Ahab and Jezebel,
   rebuked Herod and Herodias, because that they had entered into unlawful
   wedlock; it being unlawful while the own brother yet lives to take his
   wife.

   He preferred to endanger himself with the King, than to be forgetful of
   the commandments of God in commending himself to him.

   Chrys.: Yet he speaks not to the woman but to the husband, as he was
   the chief person.

   Gloss. ord.: And perhaps he observed the Jewish Law, according to which
   John forbade him this adultery.

   "And desiring to kill him, he feared the people."

   Jerome: He feared a disturbance among the people for John's sake, for
   he knew that multitudes had been baptized by him in Jordan; but he was
   overcome by love of his wife, which had already made him neglect the
   commands of God.

   Gloss. ord.: The fear of God amends us, the fear of man torments us,
   but alters not our will; it rather renders us more impatient to sin as
   it has held us back for a time from our indulgence.
     __________________________________________________________________

   6. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced
   before them, and pleased Herod.

   7. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would
   ask.

   8. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, "Give me here
   John Baptist's head in a charger."

   9. And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them
   which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.

   10. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

   11. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and
   she brought it to her mother.

   12. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and
   went and told Jesus.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: The Evangelist having related John's imprisonment,
   proceeds to his putting to death, saying, "But on Herod's birthday, the
   daughter of Herodias danced in the midst.

   Jerome: We find no others keeping their birthday besides Herod and
   Pharaoh, that they who were alike in their wickedness might be alike in
   their festivities.

   Remig.: It should be known that it is customary not for rich only but
   for poor mothers also, to educate their daughters so chastely, that
   they are scarce so much as seen by strangers. But this unchaste woman
   had so brought up her daughter after the same manner, that she had
   taught her not chastity but dancing. Nor is Herod to be less blamed who
   forgot that his was a royal palace, but this woman made it a theatre;
   "And it pleased Herod, so that he swore with an oath that he would give
   her whatsoever she should ask of him."

   Jerome: I do not excuse Herod that he committed this murder against his
   will by reason of his oath, for perhaps he took the oath for the very
   purpose of bringing about the murder. But if he says that he did it for
   his oath's sake, had she asked the death of her mother, or her father,
   would he have granted it or not? What then he would have refused in his
   own person, he ought to have rejected in that of the Prophet.

   Isidore, Lib. Syn., ii, 10: In evil promises then break faith. That
   promise is impious which must be kept by crime; that oath is not to be
   observed by which we have unwittingly pledged ourselves to evil.

   It follows, "And she being before instructed of her mother said, Give
   me here John Baptist's head in a charger."

   Jerome: For Herodias, fearing that Herod might some time recover his
   senses, and be reconciled to his brother, and dissolve their unlawful
   union by a divorce, instructs her daughter to ask at once at the
   banquet the head of John, a reward of blood worthy of the deed of the
   dancing.

   Chrys.: Here is a twofold accusation against the damsel, that she
   danced, and that she chose to ask an execution as her reward. Observe
   how Herod is at once cruel and yielding; he obliges himself by an oath,
   and leaves her free to choose her request. Yet when he knew what evil
   was resulting from her request, he was grieved, "And the king was
   sorry," for virtue gains praise and admiration even among the bad.

   Jerome: Otherwise; It is the manner of Scripture to speak of events as
   they were commonly viewed at the time by all. So Joseph is called by
   Mary herself the father of Jesus; so here Herod is said to be "sorry,"
   because the guests believed that he was so.

   This dissembler of his own inclinations, this contriver of a murder
   displayed sorrow in his face, when he had joy in his mind. "For his
   oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be
   given."

   He excuses his crime by his oath, that his wickedness might be done
   under a pretence of piety. That he adds, "and them that sat at meat
   with him," he would have them all sharers in his crime, that a bloody
   dish might be brought in, in a luxurious feast.

   Chrys.: If he was afraid to have so many witnesses of his perjury, how
   much more ought he to have feared so many witnesses of a murder?

   Remig.: Here is a less sin done for the sake of another greater; he
   would not extinguish his lustful desires, and therefore he betakes him
   to luxurious living; he would not put any restraint on his luxury, and
   thus he passes to the guilt of murder; for, "He sent and beheaded John
   in prison, and his head was brought in a charger."

   Jerome, Hieron. Liv. xxxix, 43: We read in Roman history, that
   Flaminius, a Roman general, sitting at supper with his mistress, on her
   saying that she had never seen a man beheaded, gave permission that a
   man under sentence for a capital crime should be brought in and
   beheaded during the entertainment. For this he was expelled the senate
   by the censors, because he had mingled feasting with blood, and had
   employed death, though of a criminal, for the amusement of another,
   causing murder and enjoyment to be joined together.

   How much more wicked Herod, and Herodias, and the damsel who danced;
   she asked as her bloody reward the head of a Prophet, that she might
   have in her power the tongue that reproved the unlawful nuptials.

   Greg., Mor., iii, 7: But not without most deep wonder do I consider,
   that he who in his mother's womb was filled with the spirit of
   prophecy, than whom there arose not a greater among them that are born
   of women, is cast into prison by wicked men, and is beheaded because of
   the dancing of a girl, and that a man of such severe life dies for the
   sport of shameful men.

   Are we to think that there was any thing in his life which this so
   shameful death should wipe away? God thus oppresses His people in the
   least things, because He sees how He may reward them in the highest
   things. And hence may be gathered what they will suffer whom He casts
   away, if He thus tortures those He loves.

   Greg., Mor., xxix, 7: And John is not sought out to suffer concerning
   the confession of Christ, but for the truth of righteousness. But
   because Christ is truth, he goes to death for Christ in going for
   truth.

   It follows, "And his disciples came, and took up his body, and buried
   it."

   Jerome: By which we may understand both the disciples of John himself,
   and of the Saviour.

   Raban., Antiq. xviii, 5: Josephus relates, that John was sent bound to
   the castle of Mecheron, and there beheaded; but ecclesiastical history
   relates that he was buried in Sebastia, a town of Palestine, which was
   formerly called Samaria.

   Chrys., Hom., xlix: Observe how John's disciples are henceforth more
   attached to Jesus; they it is who told Him what was done concerning
   John; "And they came and told Jesus." For leaving all they take refuge
   with Him, and so by degrees after their calamity, and the answer given
   by Christ, they are set right.

   Hilary: Mystically, John represents the Law; for the Law preached
   Christ, and John came of the Law, preaching Christ out of the Law.
   Herod is the Prince of the people, and the Prince of the people bears
   the name and the cause of the whole body put under him. John then
   warned Herod that he should not take to him his brother's wife. For
   there are and there were two people, of the circumcision, and of the
   Gentiles; and these are brethren, children of the same parent of the
   human race, but the Law warned Israel that, he should not take to him
   the works of the Gentiles and unbelief which was united to them as by
   the bond of conjugal love.

   On the birthday, that is amidst the enjoyments of the things of the
   body, the daughter of Herodias danced; for pleasure, as it were
   springing from unbelief, was carried in its alluring course throughout
   the whole of Israel, and the nation bound itself thereto as by an oath,
   for sin and worldly pleasures the Israelites sold the gifts of eternal
   life.

   She (Pleasure), at the suggestion of her mother Unbelief, begged that
   there should be given her the head of John, that is, the glory of the
   Law; but the people knowing the good that was in the Law, yielded these
   terms to pleasure, not without sorrow for its own danger, conscious
   that it ought not to have given up so great glory of its teachers.

   But forced by its sins, as by the force of an oath, as well as overcome
   by the fear, and corrupted by the example of the neighbouring princes,
   it sorrowfully yields to the blandishments of pleasure. So among the
   other gratifications of a debauched people the head of John is brought
   in a dish, that is by the loss of the Law, the pleasures of the body,
   and worldly luxury is increased. It is carried by the damsel to her
   mother; thus depraved Israel offered up the glory of the Law to
   pleasure and unbelief. The times of the Law being expired, and buried
   with John, his disciples declare what is done to the Lord, coming, that
   is, to the Gospels from the Law.

   Raban.: Otherwise; Even at this day we see that in the head of the
   Prophet John the Jews have lost Christ, who is the head of the
   Prophets.

   Jerome: And the Prophet has lost among them both tongue and voice.

   Remig.: Otherwise; The beheading of John marks the increase of that
   fame which Christ has among the people, as the exaltation of the Lord
   upon the cross marks the progress of the faith; whence John had said,
   "He must increase, but I must decrease." [John 3:30]
     __________________________________________________________________

   13. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert
   place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him
   on foot out of the cities.

   14. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with
   compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The Saviour having heard the death of His baptist,
   retired into the desert; as it follows, "which when Jesus had heard, he
   departed thence by ship into a desert place."

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 45: This the Evangelist relates to have been
   done immediately after the passion of John, therefore after this were
   those things done that were spoken of above, and moved Herod to say,
   "This is John." For we must suppose those things to have been after his
   death which report carried to Herod, and which moved him to doubt who
   he could be concerning whom he heard such things; for himself had put
   John to death.

   Jerome: He did not retire into the desert through fear of death, as
   some suppose, but in mercy to His enemies, that they might not add
   murder to murder; putting off His death till the day of His passion; on
   which day the lamb is to be slain as the sacrament, and the posts of
   them that believe to be sprinkled with the blood.

   Or, He retired to leave us an example to shun that rashness which leads
   men to surrender themselves voluntarily, because not all persevere with
   like constancy under torture with the which they offered themselves to
   it. For this reason He says in another place, "When they shall
   persecute you in one city, flee ye to another." Whence the Evangelist
   says not fled,' but elegantly, "departed thence," (or, withdrew,')
   shewing that He shunned rather than feared persecution.

   Or for another reason He might have withdrawn into a desert place on
   hearing of John's death, namely, to prove the faith of the believers.

   Chrys.: Or; He did this because He desired to prolong the economy of
   His humanity, the time not being yet come for openly manifesting His
   deity; wherefore also He charged His disciples that they should tell no
   man that He was the Christ. But after His resurrection He would have
   this made manifest.

   Therefore although He knew of Himself what was done, yet before it was
   told Him He withdrew not, that He might shew the verity of His
   incarnation in all things; for He would that this should be assured not
   by sight only, but by His actions. And when He withdrew, He did not go
   into the city, but into the desert by ship that none might follow Him.
   Yet do not the multitudes leave Him even for this, but still follow
   after Him, not deterred by what had been done concerning John.

   Whence it follows, "And when the multitudes had heard thereof, they
   followed him on foot out of the cities."

   Jerome: They followed on foot, not riding, or in carriages, but with
   the toil of their own legs, to shew the ardour of their mind.

   Chrys.: And they immediately reap the reward of this; for it follows,
   "And he went out and saw a great multitude, and he had compassion upon
   them, and healed their sick." For though great was the affection of
   those who had left their cities, and sought Him carefully, yet the
   things that were done by Him surpassed the reward of any zeal.

   Therefore he assigns compassion as the cause of this healing. And it is
   great compassion to heal all, and not to require faith.

   Hilary: Mystically; The Word of God, on the close of the Law, entered
   the ship, that is, the Church; and departed into the desert, that is,
   leaving to walk with Israel, He passes into breasts void of Divine
   knowledge. The multitude learning this, follows the Lord out of the
   city into the desert, going, that is, from the Synagogue to the Church.
   The Lord sees them, and has compassion upon them, and heals all
   sickness and infirmity, that is, He cleanses their obstructed minds,
   and unbelieving hearts for the understanding of the new preaching.

   Jerome: It is to be observed moreover, that when the Lord came into the
   desert, great crowds followed Him; for before He went into the
   wilderness of the Gentiles, He was worshipped by only one people. They
   leave their cities, that is, their former conversation, and various
   dogmas. That Jesus went out, shews that the multitudes had the will to
   go, but not the strength to attain, therefore the Saviour departs out
   of His place and goes to meet them.
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, "This
   is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away,
   that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals."

   16. But Jesus said unto them, "They need not depart; give ye them to
   eat."

   17. And they say unto him, "We have here but five loaves, and two
   fishes."

   18. He said, "Bring them hither to me."

   19. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took
   the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he
   blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the
   disciples to the multitude.

   20. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the
   fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

   21. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women
   and children.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: It is a proof of the faith of these multitudes that they
   endured hunger in waiting for the Lord even till evening; to which
   purpose it follows, "And when it was evening, his disciples came unto
   him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past."

   The Lord purposing to feed them waits to be asked, as always not
   stepping forward first to do miracles, but when called upon. None out
   of the crowd approached Him, both because they stood in great awe of
   Him, and because in their zeal of love they did not feel their hunger.
   But even the disciples do not come and say, Give them to eat; for the
   disciples were as yet in an imperfect condition; but they say, "This is
   a desert place." So that what was proverbial among the Jews to express
   a miracle, as it is said, "Can he spread a table in the wilderness?"
   [Ps 78:19] this also He shews among his other works.

   For this cause also He leads them out into the desert, that the miracle
   might be clear of all suspicion, and that none might suppose that any
   thing was supplied towards the feast from any neighbouring town. But
   though the place be desert, yet is He there who feeds the world; and
   though the hour is, as they say, past, yet He who now commanded was not
   subjected to hours. And though the Lord had gone before His disciples
   in healing many sick, yet they were so imperfect that they could not
   judge what He would do concerning food for them, wherefore they add,
   "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns, and buy
   themselves food." Observe the wisdom of the Master; He says not
   straightway to them, I will give them to eat;' for they would not
   easily have received this, but, "Jesus said to them, They need not
   depart, Give ye them to eat."

   Jerome: Wherein He calls the Apostles to breaking of bread, that the
   greatness of the miracle might be more evident by their testimony that
   they had none.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 46: It may perplex some how, if the Lord,
   according to the relation of John, asked Philip whence bread was to be
   found for them, that can be true which Matthew here relates, that the
   disciples first prayed the Lord to send the multitudes away, that they
   might buy food from the nearest towns. Suppose then that after these
   words the Lord looked upon the multitude and said what John relates,
   but Matthew and the others have omitted. And by such cases as this none
   ought to be perplexed, when one of the Evangelists relates what the
   rest have omitted.

   Chrys.: Yet not even by these words were the disciples set right, but
   speak yet to Him as to man; "They answered unto Him, We have here but
   five loaves and two fishes." From this we learn the philosophy of the
   disciples, how far they despised food; they were twelve in number, yet
   they had but five loaves and two fishes; for things of the body were
   contemned by them, they were altogether possessed by spiritual things.
   But because the disciples were yet attracted to earth, the Lord begins
   to introduce the things that were of Himself; "He saith unto them,
   Bring them hither to me."

   Wherefore does He not create out of nothing the bread to feed the
   multitude with? That He might put to silence the mouth of Marcion and
   Manichaeus, who take away from God His creatures, [margin note: i.e.
   deny that God created the visible world] and by His deeds might teach
   that all things that are seen are His works and creation, and that it
   is He that has given us the fruits of the earth, who said in the
   beginning, "Let the earth bring forth the green herb;" [Gen 1:11] for
   this is no less a deed than that. For of five loaves to make so many
   loaves, and fishes like manner, is no less a thing than to bring fruits
   from the earth, reptiles and other living things from the waters; which
   shewed Him to be Lord both of land and sea.

   By the example of the disciples also we ought to be taught, that though
   we should have but little, we ought to give that to such as have need.
   For they when bid to bring their five loaves say not, Whence shall we
   satisfy our own hunger? but immediately obey; "And He commanded the
   multitude to sit down on the grass, and took they five loaves and the
   two fishes, and looking up to heaven blessed them, and brake."

   Why did He look to heaven and bless? For it should be believed
   concerning Him that He is from the Father, and that He is equal with
   the Father. His equality He shews when He does all things with power.
   That He is from the Father He shews by referring to Him whatsoever He
   does, and calling upon Him on all occasions.

   To prove these two things therefore, He works His miracles at times
   with power, at other times with prayer. It should be considered also
   that in lesser things He looks to heaven, but in greater He does all
   with power. When He forgave sins, raised the dead, stilled the sea,
   opened the secrets of the heart, opened the eyes of him that was born
   blind, which were works only of God, He is not seen to pray; but when
   He multiplies the loaves, a work less than any of these, He looks up to
   heaven, that you may learn that even in little things He has no power
   but from His Father.

   And at the same time He teaches us not to touch our food, until we have
   returned thanks to Him who gives it us. For this reason also He looks
   up to heaven, because His disciples had examples of many other
   miracles, but none of this.

   Jerome: While the Lord breaks there is a sowing of food; for had the
   loaves been whole and not broken into fragments, and thus divided into
   a manifold harvest, they could not have fed so great a multitude. The
   multitude receives the food from the Lord through the Apostles; as it
   follows, "And he gave the loaves to hie disciples, and the disciples to
   the multitude."

   Chrys.: In doing which He not only honoured them, but would that upon
   this miracle they should not be unbelieving, nor forget it when it was
   past, seeing their own hands had borne witness to it. Therefore also He
   suffers the multitudes first to feel the sense of hunger, and His
   disciples to come to Him, and to ask Him, and He took the loaves at
   their hands, that they might have many testimonies of that which was
   done, and many things to remind them of the miracle.

   From this that He gave them, nothing more than bread and fish, and that
   He set this equally before all, He taught them moderation, frugality,
   and that charity by which they should have all things in common. This
   He also taught them in the place, in making them sit down upon the
   grass; for He sought not to feed the body only, but to instruct the
   mind.

   But the bread and fish multiplied in the disciples' hands; whence it
   follows, "And they did all eat, and were filled."

   But the miracle ended not here; for He caused to abound not only whole
   loaves, but fragments also; to shew that the first loaves were not so
   much as what was left, and that they who were not present might learn
   what had been done, and that none might think that what had been done
   was a phantasy; "And they took up fragments that were left, twelve
   baskets full."

   Jerome: Each of the Apostles fills his basket of the fragments left by
   his Saviour, that these fragments might witness that they were true
   loaves that were multiplied.

   Chrys.: For this reason also He caused twelve baskets to remain over
   and above, that Judas might bear his basket. He took up the fragments,
   and gave them to the disciples and not to the multitudes, who were yet
   more imperfectly trained than the disciples.

   Jerome: To the number of loaves, five, the number of the men that ate
   is apportioned, five thousand; "And the number of them that had eaten
   was about five thousand men, besides women and children."

   Chrys.: This was to the very great credit of the people, that the women
   and the men stood up when these remnants still remained.

   Hilary: The five loaves are not multiplied into more, but fragments
   succeed to fragments; the substance growing whether upon the tables, or
   in the hands that took them up, I know not.

   Raban.: When John is to describe this miracle, he first tells us that
   the passover is at hand; Matthew and Mark place it immediately after
   the execution of John. Hence we may gather, that he was beheaded when
   the paschal festival was near at hand, and that at the passover of the
   following year, the mystery of the Lord's passion was accomplished.

   Jerome: But all these things are full of mysteries; the Lord does these
   things not in the morning, nor at noon, but in the evening, when the
   Sun of righteousness was set.

   Remig.: By the evening the Lord's death is denoted; and after He, the
   true Sun, was set on the altar of the cross, He filled the hungry. Or
   by evening is denoted the last age of this world, in which the Son of
   God came and refreshed the multitudes of those that believed on Him.

   Raban.: When the disciples ask the Lord to send away the multitudes
   that they might buy food in the towns, it signifies the pride of the
   Jews towards the multitudes of the Gentiles, whom they judged rather
   fit to seek for themselves food in the assemblies of the Pharisees than
   to use the pasture of the Divine books

   Hilary: But the Lord answered, "They have no need to go," shewing that
   those whom He heals have no need of the food of mercenary doctrine, and
   have no necessity to return to Judaea to buy food; and He commands the
   Apostles that they give them food. Did He not know then that there was
   nothing to give them?

   But there was a complete series of types to be set forth; for as yet it
   was not given the Apostles to make and minister the heavenly bread, the
   flood of eternal life; and their answer thus belongs to the chain of
   spiritual interpretation; they were as yet confined to the five loaves,
   that is, the five books of the Law, and the two fishes, that is, the
   preaching of the Prophets and of John.

   Raban.: Or, by the two fishes we may understand the Prophets, and the
   Psalms, for the whole of the Old Testament was comprehended in these
   three, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.

   Hilary: These therefore the Apostles first set forth, because they were
   yet in these things; and from these things the preaching of the Gospel
   grows to its more abundant strength and virtue. Then the people is
   commanded to sit down upon the grass, as no longer lying upon the
   ground, but resting upon the Law, each one reposing upon the fruit of
   his own works as upon the grass of the earth.

   Jerome: Or, they are bid to lie down on the grass, and that, according
   to another Evangelist, by fifties and by hundreds, that after they have
   trampled upon their flesh, and have subjugated the pleasures of the
   world as dried grass under them, then by the presence [ed. note:
   Vallarsi reads paenitentiam, Jerome has borrowed the interpretation
   from Origen who refers to the year of jubilee; and the Glossa ordinaria
   on this verse is, "The rest of the Jubilee is here contained under the
   mystery of the number fifty; for fifty twice taken makes a hundred;
   because we must first rest from evil actions, that the soul may
   afterwards more fully repose in meditation."] of the number fifty, they
   ascend to the eminent perfection of a hundred.

   He looks up to heaven to teach us that our eyes are to be directed
   thither. The Law with the Prophets is broken, and in the midst of them
   are brought forward mysteries, that whereas they partook not of it
   whole, when broken into pieces it may be food for the multitude of the
   Gentiles.

   Hilary: Then the loaves are given to the Apostles, because through them
   the gifts of divine grace were to be rendered. And the number of them
   that did eat is found to be the same as that of those who should
   believe; for we find in the book of Acts that out of the vast number of
   the people of Israel, five thousand men believed.

   Jerome: There partook five thousand who had reached maturity; for women
   and children, the weaker sex, and the tender age, were unworthy of
   number; thus in the book of Numbers, slaves, women, children, and an
   undistinguished crowd, are passed over unnumbered.

   Raban.: The multitude being hungry, He creates no new viands, but
   having taken what the disciples had, He gave thanks. In like manner
   when He came in the flesh, He preached no other things than what had
   been foretold, but shewed that the writings of the Law and the Prophets
   were big with mysteries.

   That which the multitude leave is taken up by the disciples, because
   the more secret mysteries which cannot be comprehended by the
   uninstructed, are not to be treated with neglect, but are to be
   diligently sought out by the twelve Apostles (who are represented by
   the twelve baskets) and their successors. For by baskets servile
   offices are performed, and God has chosen the weak things of the world
   to confound the strong. The five thousand for the five senses of the
   body are they who in a secular condition know how to use rightly things
   without.
     __________________________________________________________________

   22. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship,
   and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes
   away.

   23. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a
   mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there
   alone.

   24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves:
   for the wind was contrary.

   25. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking
   on the sea.

   26. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were
   troubled, saying, "It is a spirit;" and they cried out for fear.

   27. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, "Be of good cheer;
   it is I; be not afraid."

   28. And Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come
   unto thee on the water."

   29. And he said, "Come." And when Peter was come down out of the ship,
   he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

   30. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning
   to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save me."

   31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and
   said unto him, " thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

   32. And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

   33. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying,
   "Of a truth thou art the Son of God."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Desiring to occasion a diligent examination of the things that
   had been done, He commanded those who had beheld the foregoing sign to
   be separated from Him; for even if He had continued present it would
   have been said that He had wrought the miracle fantastically, and not
   in verity; but it would never be urged against Him that He had done it
   in His absence; and therefore it is said, "And straightway Jesus
   compelled his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him to the
   other side, while he sent the multitudes away."

   Jerome: These words shew that they left the Lord unwillingly, not
   desiring through their love for their teacher to be separated from Him
   even for a moment

   Chrys.: It should be observed, that when the Lord works a great
   miracle, He sends the multitudes away, teaching us thereby never to
   pursue the praise of the multitude, nor to attract them to us. Further,
   He teaches us that we should not be ever mixed with crowds, nor yet
   always shunning them; but that both may be done with profit; whence if,
   follows, "And when he had sent the multitude array, he went up into a
   mountain apart to pray;" shewing us that solitude is good, when we have
   need to pray to God.

   For this also He goes into the desert, and there spends the night in
   prayer, to teach us that for prayer we should seek stillness both in
   time and place.

   Jerome: That He withdraws to pray alone, you should refer not to Him
   who fed five thousand on five loaves, but to Him who on hearing of the
   death of John withdrew into the desert; not that we would separate the
   Lord's person into two parts, but that His actions are divided between
   the God and the man.

   Aug., De Cons. Ev., ii, 47: This may seem contrary to that Matthew
   says, that having sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain
   that He might pray alone; and John again says, that it was on a
   mountain that He fed this same multitude. But since John himself says
   further, that after that miracle He retired to a mountain that He might
   not be held by the multitude, who sought to make Him a king, it is
   clear that He had come down from the mountain when He fed them. Nor do
   Matthew's words, "He went up into a mountain alone to pray," disagree
   with this, though John says, "When he knew that they would come to make
   him a king, he withdrew into a mountain himself alone." [John 6:15]

   For the cause of His praying is not contrary to the cause of His
   retiring, for herein the Lord teaches us that we have great cause for
   prayer when we have cause for Right. Nor, again, is it contrary to this
   that Matthew says first, that He bade His disciples go into the boat,
   and then that He sent the multitudes away, and went into a mountain
   alone to pray; while John relates that He first withdrew to the
   mountain, and then, "when it was late, his disciples went down to the
   sea, and when they had entered into a boat, &c." for who does not see
   that John is relating as afterwards done by His disciples what Jesus
   had commanded before He retired into the mountain?

   Jerome: Rightly had the Apostles departed from the Lord as unwilling,
   and slow to leave Him, lest they should suffer shipwreck whilst He was
   not with them. For it follows, "Now when it was evening he was there
   alone;" that is, in the mountain; "but the boat was in the middle of
   the sea tossed with the waves; for the wind was contrary."

   Chrys.: Again, the disciples suffer shipwreck, as they had done before;
   but then they had Him in the boat, but now they are alone. Thus
   gradually He leads them to higher things, and instructs them to endure
   all manfully.

   Jerome: While the Lord tarries in the top of the mountain, straightway
   a wind arises contrary to them, and stirs up the sea, and the disciples
   are in imminent peril of shipwreck, which continues till Jesus comes.

   Chrys.: But He suffers them to be tossed the whole night, exciting
   their hearts by fear, and inspiring them with greater desire and more
   lasting recollection of Him; for this reason He did not stand by them
   immediately, but as it follows, "in the fourth watch of the night, he
   came to them walking upon the sea."

   Jerome: The military guards and watches are divided into portions of
   three hours each. When then he says that the Lord came to them in the
   fourth watch, this shews that they had been in danger the whole night.

   Chrys.: Teaching them not to seek a speedy riddance of coming evil, but
   to bear manfully such things as befal them. But when they thought that
   they were delivered, then was their fear increased, whence it follows,
   "And seeing him walking upon the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is
   a vision, and through fear they cried out." For this the Lord ever
   does; when He is to rescue from any evil, He brings in things terrible
   and difficult. For since it is impossible that our temptation should
   continue a long time, when the warfare of the righteous is to be
   finished, then He increases their conflicts, desiring to make greater
   gain of them; which He did also in Abraham, making his conflict his
   trial of the loss of his son.

   Jerome: A confused noise and uncertain sound is the mark of great fear.
   But if, according to Marcion and Manichaeus, our Lord was not born of a
   virgin, but was seen in a phantasm, how is it that the Apostles now
   fear that they have seen a phantasm (or vision)?

   Chrys.: Christ then did not reveal Himself to His disciples until they
   cried out; for the more intense their fear, the more did they rejoice
   in His presence; whence it follows, "And immediately Jesus spoke to
   them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid." This speech
   took away their fear, and prepared their confidence.

   Jerome: Whereas He says, "It is I," without saying who, either they
   might be able to understand Him speaking through the darkness of night;
   or they might know that it was He who had spoken to Moses, "Say unto
   the children of Israel, He that is has sent me unto you." [Ex 3:14]

   On every occasion Peter is found to be the one of the most ardent
   faith. And with the same zeal as ever, so now, while the others are
   silent, he believes that by the will of his Master he will be able to
   do that which by nature he cannot do; whence it follows, "Peter
   answered and said unto him, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee
   upon the water." As much as to say, Do thou command, and straightway it
   will become solid; and that body which is in itself heavy will become
   light.

   Aug., Serm., 76, 5: This I am not able by myself, but in Thee I am
   able. Peter confessed what he was in himself, and what he should
   receive from Him by whose will he believed he should be enabled to do
   that which no human infirmity was equal to.

   Chrys.: See how great his warmth, how great his faith. He said not,
   Pray and entreat for me; but "Bid me;" he believes not only that Christ
   can Himself walk on the sea, but that He can lead others also thereon;
   also he wishes to come to Him speedily, and this, so great a thing, he
   asks not from ostentation, but from love. For he said not, Bid me walk
   upon the waters, but, "Bid me come unto thee."

   And it seems that having shewn in the first miracle that He has power
   over the sea, He now leads them to a more powerful sign; "He saith unto
   him, Come. And Peter, going forth of the boat, walked on the sea, that
   he might go to Jesus."

   Jerome: Let those who think that the Lords body was not real, because
   He walked upon the yielding waters as a light ethereal substance,
   answer here how Peter walked, whom they by no means deny to be man.

   Raban.: Lastly, Theodorus wrote that the Lord had not bodily weight in
   respect of His flesh, but without weight walked on the sea. But the
   catholic faith preaches the contrary; for Dionysius says that He walked
   on the wave, without the feet being immersed, having bodily weight, and
   the burden of matter.

   Chrys.: Peter overcame that which was greater, the waves, namely, of
   the sea, but is troubled by the lesser, the blowing wind, for it
   follows, "But seeing the wind boisterous, he was afraid." Such is human
   nature, in great trials ofttimes holding itself aright, and in lesser
   falling into fault. This fear of Peter shewed the difference between
   Master and disciple, and thereby appeased the other disciples. For if
   they had indignation when the two brothers prayed to sit on the right
   and left hand, much more had they now. For they were not yet made
   spiritual; afterwards when they had been made spiritual, they every
   where yield the first place to Peter, and appoint him to lead in
   harangues to the people.

   Jerome: Moreover he is left to temptation for a short season, that his
   faith may be increased, and that he may understand that he is saved not
   by his ability to ask, but by the power of the Lord. For faith burned
   at his heart, but human frailty drew him into the deep.

   Aug., Serm., 76, 8: Peter then presumed on the Lord, he tottered as
   man, but returned to the Lord, as it follows, "And when he began to
   sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me." Does the Lord then desert
   him in his peril of failure whom he had hearkened to when he first
   called on Him? "Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught
   him."

   Chrys.: He bade not the winds to cease, but stretched forth His hand
   and caught him, because his faith was required. For when our own means
   fail, then those which are of God stand. Then to shew that not the
   strength of the tempest, but the smallness of his faith worked the
   danger, "He saith unto him, thou of little faith, why didst thou
   doubt?" which shews that not even the wind would have been able to hurt
   him, if his faith had been firm.

   But as the mother bears on her wings and brings back to the nest her
   chick which has left the nest before its time and has fallen, so did
   Christ. "And when they were come into the boat, the wind ceased. Then
   they that were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Truly thou
   art the Son of God."

   Raban.: This may be understood either of the sailors, or of the
   Apostles.

   Chrys.: Observe how He leads all gradually to that which is above them;
   He had before rebuked the sea, now He shews forth His power yet more by
   walking upon the sea, by bidding another to do the same, and by saving
   him in his peril; therefore they said unto Him, "Truly thou art the Son
   of God," which they had not said above.

   Jerome: If then upon this single miracle of stilling the sea, a thing
   which often happens by accident after even great tempests, the sailors
   and pilots confessed them to be truly the Son of God, how does Arrius
   preach in the Church itself that He is a creature?

   Psuedo-Aug., App. Serm., 72, 1: Mystically; The mountain is loftiness.
   But what is higher than the heavens in the world? And Who it was that
   ascended into heaven, that our faith knows. Why did He ascend alone
   into heaven? Because no man has ascended into heaven, but He that came
   down from heaven. For even when He shall come in the end, and shall
   have exalted us into heaven, He will yet ascend alone, inasmuch as the
   head with its body is One Christ, and now the head only is ascended. He
   went up to pray, because He is ascended to make intercession to His
   Father for us.

   Hilary: Or, that He is alone in the evening, signifies His sorrow at
   the time of His passion, when the rest were scattered from Him in fear.

   Jerome: Also He ascends into the mountain alone because the multitude
   cannot follow Him aloft, until He has instructed it by the shore of the
   sea.

   Aug.: But while Christ prays on high, the boat is tossed with great
   waves in the deep; and forasmuch as the waves rise, that boat can be
   tossed; but because Christ prays, it cannot be sunk. Think of that boat
   as the Church, and the stormy sea as this world.

   Hilary: That He commands His disciples to enter the ship and to go
   across the sea, while He sends the multitudes away, and after that He
   goes up into the mountain to pray; He therein bids us to be within the
   Church, and to be in peril until such time as returning in His
   splendour He shall give salvation to all the people that shall be
   remaining of Israel, and shall forgive their sins; and having dismissed
   them into His Father's kingdom, returning thanks to His Father, He
   shall sit down in His glory and majesty.

   Meanwhile the disciples are tossed by the wind and the waves;
   struggling against all the storms of this world, raised by the
   opposition of the unclean spirit.

   Aug.: For when any of a wicked will and of great power, proclaims a
   persecution of the Church, then it is that a mighty wave rises against
   the boat of Christ.

   Raban.: Whence it is well said here, that the ship was in the middle of
   the sea, and He alone on the land, because the Church is sometimes
   oppressed with such persecution that her Lord may seem to have forsaken
   her for a season.

   Aug.: The Lord came to visit His disciples who are tossed on the sea in
   the fourth watch of the night -- that is, at its close; for each watch
   consisting of three hours, the night has thus four watches.

   Hilary: The first watch was therefore of the Law, the second of the
   Prophets, the third His coming in the flesh, the fourth His return in
   glory.

   Aug.: Therefore in the fourth watch of the night, that is when the
   night is nearly ended, He shall come, in the end of the world, when the
   night of iniquity is past, to judge the quick and the dead.

   But His coming was with a wonder. The waves swelled, but they were
   trodden upon. Thus howsoever the powers of this world shall swell
   themselves, our Head shall crush their head.

   Hilary: But Christ coming in the end shall find His Church wearied, and
   tossed by the spirit of Anti-Christ, and by the troubles of the world.
   And because by their long experience of Anti-Christ they will be
   troubled at every novelty of trial, they shall have fear even at the
   approach of the Lord, suspecting deceitful appearances.

   But the good Lord banishes their fear, saying, "It is I;" and by proof
   of His presence takes away their dread of impending shipwreck.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 15: Or; That the disciples here say, It is a
   phantasm, figures those who yielding to the Devil shall doubt of the
   coming of Christ. That Peter cries to the Lord for help that he should
   not be drowned, signifies that He shall purge His Church with certain
   trials even after the last persecution; as Paul also notes, saying, "He
   shall be saved, yet so as by fire." [1 Cor 3:15]

   Hilary: Or; That Peter alone out of all the number of those that were
   in the vessel has courage to answer, and to pray that the Lord would
   bid him come to Him upon the waters, figures the frowardness of his
   will in the Lord's passion, when following after the Lord's steps he
   endeavoured to attain to despise death. But his fearfulness shews his
   weakness in his after trial, when through fear of death, he was driven
   to the necessity of denial. His crying out here is the groaning of his
   repentance there.

   Raban.: The Lord looked back upon him, and brought him to repentance;
   He stretched forth His hand, and forgave him, and thus the disciple
   found salvation, which "is not of him that willeth or of him that
   runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." [Rom 9:16]

   Hilary: That when Peter was seized with fear, the Lord gave him not
   power of coming to Him, but held him by the hand and sustained him,
   this is the signification thereof; that He who alone was to suffer for
   all alone forgave the sins of a11; and no partner is admitted into that
   which was bestowed upon mankind by one.

   Aug., Serm. 76: For in one Apostle, namely Peter, first and chief in
   the order of Apostles in whom was figured the Church, both kinds were
   to be signified; that is, the strong, in his walking upon the waters;
   the weak, in that he doubted; for to each of us our lusts are as a
   tempest. Dost thou love God? Thou walkest on the sea; the fear of this
   world is under thy feet. Dost thou love the world? It swallows thee up.
   But when thy heart is tossed with desire, then that thou mayest
   overcome thy lust, call upon the divine person of Christ.

   Remig.: And the Lord will be with thee to help thee, when lulling to
   rest the perils of thy trials, He restores the confidence of His
   protection, and this towards the break of day; for when human frailty
   beset with difficulties considers the weakness of its own powers, it
   looks upon itself as in darkness; when it raises its view to the
   protection of heaven, it straightway beholds the rise of the morning
   star, which gives its light through the whole of the morning watch.

   Raban.: Nor should we wonder that the wind ceased when the Lord had
   entered into the boat; for in whatsoever heart the Lord is present by
   grace, there all wars cease.

   Hilary: Also by this entrance of Christ into the boat, and the calm of
   the wind and sea thereupon, is pointed out the eternal peace of the
   Church, and that rest which shall be after His return in glory. And
   forasmuch as He shall then appear manifestly, rightly do they all cry
   out now in wonder, "Truly thou art the Son of God." For there shall
   then be a free and public confession of all men that the Son of God is
   come no longer in lowliness of body, but that He has given peace to the
   Church in heavenly glory.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 15: For it is here conveyed to us that His glory
   will then be made manifest, seeing that now they who walk by faith see
   it in a figure.
     __________________________________________________________________

   34. And when they were gone over, they came into the land of
   Gennesaret.

   35. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out
   into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were
   diseased;

   36. And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment:
   and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: The Evangelist had related above that the Lord had commanded
   His disciples to enter the boat, and to go before Him across the
   strait; he now proceeds with the same intention to relate whither they
   arrived by their passage, "And when they were gone over, they came into
   the land of Gennezareth."

   Raban.: The land of Gennezar, by the lake of Gennezareth, takes its
   name from a natural power which it is said to have of spontaneously
   modulating its waters so as to excite a breeze; the Greek words
   importing, creating for itself the breeze.'

   Chrys.: But the Evangelist shews that it was now long time since Christ
   had come into these parts; for it follows, "And where the men of that
   place knew him, they sent into all that region."

   Jerome: They knew Him by fame, not by sight; although indeed by reason
   of the greatness of the signs which He did among the people, He was
   known by face to great numbers. And note how great the faith of the men
   of the land of Gennezareth, that they were not content with the healing
   of the men of that country only, but sent to all the towns round about.

   Chrys.: Nor do they now as before drag Him to their houses, and seek
   the touch of His hand, but they draw Him by their greater faith, for
   they brought unto him all them that were sick, and besought him that
   they might touch but the hem of his garment. For the woman who suffered
   under the issue of blood had taught them all this wisdom, namely, that
   by touching the hem only of Christ's garment they might be saved.

   Therefore it follows, "And as many as touched, were made whole."

   Jerome: If we knew what the word Gennezareth would convey in our
   tongue, we might understand how under the type of the Apostles and the
   boat, Jesus guides to shore the Church when He has delivered it from
   the wreck of persecution, and makes it to rest in a most tranquil
   harbour.

   Raban.: Genezar is interpreted, rise,' beginning.' For then will
   complete rest be given to us, when Christ shall have restored to us our
   inheritance of Paradise, and the joy of our first robe.

   Hilary: Otherwise; When the times of the Law were ended, and five
   thousand out of Israel were entered within the Church, it was then that
   the people of believers met Him, then those that were saved out of the
   Law by faith set before the Lord the rest of their sick and weak; and
   they that were thus brought sought to touch the hem of His garment,
   because through their faith they would be healed. And as the virtue of
   the hem proceeded from the whole garment, so the virtue of the grace of
   the Holy Spirit went forth from our Lord Jesus Christ, and imparted to
   the Apostles, who proceeded as it were from the same body, administers
   salvation to such as desire to touch.

   Jerome: Or, by the hem of the garment understand His least commandment,
   which whosoever transgresses, shall be called least in the kingdom of
   heaven; or, again, His assumption of the body, by which we come to the
   Word of God.

   Chrys.: But we have not a hem or a garment only of Christ, but have
   even His body, that we may eat thereof. If then they who touched the
   hem of His garment derived so much virtue therefrom, much more they
   that shall receive Himself whole.
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Chapter 15<.h2>

   1. Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem,
   saying,

   2. "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for
   they wash not their hands when they eat bread."

   3. But he answered and said unto them, "Why do ye also transgress the
   commandment of God by your tradition?

   4. For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He
   that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

   5. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a
   gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;

   6. And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have
   ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Raban.: The men of Gennezareth and the less learned believe; but they
   who seem to be wise come to dispute with Him; according to that, "Thou
   hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
   unto babes." Whence it is said, "Then, came to him from Jerusalem
   Scribes and Pharisee."

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 49: The Evangelist thus constructs the order of
   his narrative, "Then came unto him," that, as appeared in the passage
   over the lake, the order of the events that followed that might be
   shewn.

   Chrys.: For this reason also the Evangelist marks the time that He may
   shew their iniquity overcome by nothing; for they came to Him at a time
   when He had wrought many miracles, when He had healed the sick by the
   touch of His hem. That the Scribes and Pharisees are here said to have
   come from Jerusalem, it should be known that they were dispersed
   through all the tribes, but those that dwelt in the Metropolis were
   worse than the others, their higher dignity inspiring them with a
   greater degree of pride.

   Remig.: They were faulty for two reasons; because they had come from
   Jerusalem, from the holy city; and because they were elders of the
   people, and doctors of the Law, and had not come to learn but to
   reprove the Lord; for it is added, "Saying, Why do thy disciples
   transgress the tradition of the elders?"

   Jerome: wonderful infatuation of the Pharisees and Scribes! They accuse
   the Son of God that He does not keep the traditions and commandments of
   men.

   Chrys.: Observe, how they are taken in their own question. They say
   not, Why do they transgress the Law of Moses?' but, "the tradition of
   the elders;" whence it is manifest that the Priests had introduced many
   new things, although Moses had said, "Ye shall not add ought to the
   word which I set before you this day, neither shall ye take ought away
   from it;" [Deut 4:2] and when they ought to have been set free from
   observances, then they bound themselves by many more; fearing lest any
   should take away their rule and power, they sought to increase the awe
   in which they were held, by setting themselves forth as legislators.

   Remig.: Of what kind these traditions were, Mark shews when he says,
   "The Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat
   not." [Mark 7:3] Here then also they find fault with the disciples,
   saying, "For they wash not their hands when they eat bread."

   Bede, in Marc., 7, 1: Taking carnally those words of the Prophets, in
   which it is said, "Wash, and be ye clean," [Isa 1:16] they observed it
   only in washing the body; hence they had laid it down that we ought not
   to eat with unwashen hands.

   Jerome: But the hands that are to he washed are the acts not of the
   body, but of the mind; that the word of God may be done in them.

   Chrys.: But the disciples now did not eat, with washen hands, because
   they already despised all things superfluous, and attended only to such
   as were necessary; thus they accepted neither washing nor not washing
   as a rule, but did either as it happened. For how should they who even
   neglected the food that was necessary for them, have any care about
   this rite?

   Remig.: Or the Pharisees found fault with the Lord's disciples, not
   concerning that washing which we do from ordinary habit, and of
   necessity, but of that superfluous washing which was invented by the
   tradition of the elders.

   Chrys.: Christ made no excuse for them, but immediately brought a
   counter charge, shewing that he that sins in great things ought not to
   take offence at the slight sins of others.

   "He answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the
   commandment of God because of your tradition?"

   He says not that they do well to transgress that He may not give room
   for calumny; nor on the other hand does He condemn what the Apostles
   had done, that He may not sanction their traditions; nor again does He
   bring any charge directly against them of old, that they might not put
   Him from them as a calumniator; but He points His reproof against those
   who had come to Him; thus at the same time touching the elders who had
   laid down such a tradition; saying,

   Jerome: Since ye because of the tradition of men neglect the
   commandment of God, why do ye take upon you to reprove my disciples,
   for bestowing little regard upon the precepts of the elders, that they
   may observe the commands of God?

   "For God hath said, Honour thy father and thy mother." Honour in the
   Scriptures is shewn not so much in salutations and courtesies as in
   alms and gifts. "Honour," says the Apostle, "the widows who are widows
   indeed;" [1 Tim 5:3] here honour' signifies a gift.

   The Lord then having thought for the infirmity, the age, or the poverty
   of parents, commanded that sons should honour their parents in
   providing them with necessaries of life.

   Chrys.: He desired to shew the great honour that ought to be paid to
   parents, and therefore attached both a reward and a penalty. But in
   this occasion the Lord passes over the reward promised to such as did
   honour their parents, namely, that they should live long upon the
   earth, and brings forward the terrible part only, namely, the
   punishment, that He might strike these dumb and attract others; "And he
   that, curseth father and mother, let him die the death;" thus He shews
   that they deserved even death. For if he who dishonours his parent even
   in word is worthy of death, much more ye who dishonour him in deed; and
   ye not only dishonour your parents, but teach others to do so likewise.
   Ye then who do not deserve even to live, how accuse ye my disciples?
   But how they transgress the commandment of God is clear when He adds,
   "But ye say, Whoso shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift,
   whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me."

   Jerome: For the Scribes and Pharisees desiring to overturn this
   foregoing most provident law of God, that they might bring in their
   impiety under the mask of piety, taught bad sons, that should any
   desire to devote to God, who is the true parent, those things which
   ought to be offered to parents, the offering to the Lord should be
   preferred to the offering them to parents.

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: In this interpretation the sense will be, What I
   offer to God will profit both you and myself; and therefore you ought
   not to take of my goods for your own needs, but to suffer that I offer
   them to God.

   Jerome: And thus the parents refusing what they saw thus dedicated to
   God, that they might not incur the guilt of sacrilege, perished of
   want, and so it came to pass that what the children offered for the
   needs of the temple and the service of God, went to the gain of the
   Priests.

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: Or the sense may be, "Whosoever," that is, of you
   young men, "shall say," that is, shall either be able to say, or shall
   say, "to his father or mother," O father, the gift that is of me
   devoted to God, shall it profit thee? as it were an exclamation of
   surprise; you ought not to take it that you may not incur the guilt of
   sacrilege.

   Or, we may read it with this ellipsis, "Whosoever shall say to his
   father, &c." he shall do the commandment of God, or shall fulfil the
   Law, or shall be worthy of life eternal.

   Jerome: Or it may briefly have the following sense; Ye compel children
   to say to their parents, What gift soever I was purposing to offer to
   God, you take and consume upon your living, and so it profits you; as
   much as to say. Do not so.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: And thus through these arguments of your avarice,
   this youth shall "Honour not his father or his mother." As if He had
   said; Ye have led sons into most evil deeds; so that it will come to
   pass that afterwards they shall not even honour their father and
   mother. And thus ye have made the commandment of God concerning the
   support of parents by their children vain through your traditions,
   obeying the dictates of avarice.

   Aug., cont. Adv. Leg. et Proph., ii, 1: Christ here clearly shews both
   that that law which the heretic blasphemes is God's law, and that the
   Jews had their traditions foreign to the prophetical and canonical
   books; such as the Apostle calls "profane and vain fables."

   Aug., cont. Faust., xvi, 24: The Lord here teaches us many things; That
   it was not He that turned the Jews from their God; that not only did He
   not infringe the commandments, but convicts them of infringing them;
   and that He had ordained no more than those by the hand of Moses.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 16: Otherwise; "The gift whatsoever thou offerest
   on my account, shall profit thee;" that is to say, Whatsoever gift thou
   offerest on my account, shall henceforth remain with thee; the son
   signifying by these words that there is no longer need that parents
   should offer for him, as he is of age to offer for himself. And those
   who were of age to be able to say thus to their parents, the Pharisees
   denied that they were guilty, if they did not shew honour to their
   parents.
     __________________________________________________________________

   7. "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

   8. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me
   with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

   9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the
   commandments of men."

   10. And he called the multitude, and said unto them, "Hear, and
   understand:

   11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which
   cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord had shewn that the Pharisees were not worthy to accuse
   those who transgressed the commands of the elders, seeing they
   overthrew the law of God themselves; and He again proves this by the
   testimony of the Prophet; "Hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you,
   saying, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is
   far frost me."

   Remig.: Hypocrite signifies dissembler, one who feigns one thing in his
   outward act, and bears another thing in his heart. These then are well
   called hypocrites because under cover of God's honour they sought to
   heap up for themselves earthly gain.

   Raban.: Esaias saw before the hypocrisy of the Jews, that they would
   craftily oppose the Gospel, and therefore he said in the person of the
   Lord, "This people honoureth me with their lips, &c."

   Remig.: For the Jewish nation seemed to draw near to God with their
   lips and mouth, inasmuch as they boasted that they held the worship of
   the One God; but in their hearts they departed from Him, because after
   they had seen His signs and miracles, they would neither acknowledge
   His divinity, nor receive Him.

   Raban.: Also, they honoured Him with their lips when they said,
   "Master, we know that thou art true," [Matt 22:16] but their heart was
   far from Him when they sent spies to entangle Him in His talk.

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: Or, They honoured Him in commending outward purity;
   but in that they lacked the inward which is the true purity, their
   heart was far from God, and such honour was of no avail to them; as it
   follows, "But without reason do they worship me, teaching doctrines and
   commandments of men."

   Raban.: Therefore they shall not have their reward with the true
   worshippers, because they teach doctrines and commandments of men to
   the contempt of the law of God.

   Chrys.: Having added weight to His accusation of the Pharisees by the
   testimony of the Prophet, and not having amended them, He now ceases to
   speak to them, and turns to the multitudes, "And he called the
   multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand." Because He was
   about to set before them a high dogma, and full of much philosophy, He
   does not utter it nakedly, but so frames His speech that it should be
   received by them.

   First, by exhibiting anxiety on their account, which the Evangelist
   expresses by the words, "And he called the multitude to him."

   Secondly, the time He chooses recommends His speech; after the victory
   He has just gained over the Pharisees. And He not merely calls the
   multitude to Him, but rouses their attention by the words, "Hear and
   understand;" that is, Attend, and give your minds to what ye are to
   hear. But He said not unto them, The observance of meats is nought;
   nor, Moses bade you wrongly; but in the way of warning and advice,
   drawing His testimony from natural things; "Not what entereth in at the
   mouth defileth a man, but what goeth forth of the mouth that defileth a
   man."

   Jerome: The word here [ed. note: Jerome reads communicat.' The Vulgate
   has, coinquinat] makes a man common' is peculiar to Scripture, and is
   not hackneyed in common parlance. The Jewish nation, boasting
   themselves to be a part of God, call those meats common, of which all
   men partake; for example, swine's flesh, shell fish, hares, and those
   species of animals that do not divide the hoof, and chew the cud, and
   among the fish such as have not scales. Hence in the Acts of the
   Apostles we read, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."
   [Acts 10:15] Common then in this sense is that which is free to the
   rest of mankind, and as though not in part of God, is therefore called
   unclean.

   Aug., cont. Faust., vi, 6: This declaration of the Lord, "Not that
   which, entereth into the mouth defileth a man," is not contrary to the
   Old Testament. As the Apostle also speaks, "To the pure all things are
   pure;" [Tit 1:15] and "Every creature of God is good." [1 Tim 4:4]

   Let the Manichaeans understand, if they can, that the Apostle said this
   of the very natures and qualities of things; while that letter (of the
   ritual law) declared certain animals unclean, not in their nature but
   typically, for certain figures which were needed for a time. Therefore
   to take an instance in the swine and the lamb, by nature both are
   clean, because naturally every creature of God is good; but in a
   certain typical meaning the lamb is clean, and the swine unclean.

   Take the two words, fool,' and wise,' in their own nature, as sounds,
   or letters, both of them are pure, but one of them because of the
   meaning attached to it, not because of any thing in its own nature, may
   be said to be impure. And perhaps what the swine are in typical
   representation, that among mankind is the fool; and the animal, and
   this word of two syllables (stultus) signify some one and the same
   thing. That animal is reckoned unclean in the law because it does not
   chew the cud; but this is not its fault but its nature. But the men of
   whom this animal is the emblem, are impure by their own fault, not by
   nature; they readily hear the words of wisdom, but never think upon
   them again.

   Whatever of profit you may hear, to summon this up from the internal
   region of the memory through the sweetness of recollection into the
   mouth of thought, what is this but spiritually to chew the cud? They
   who do not this are represented by this species of animal. Such
   resemblances as these in speech, or in ceremonies, having figurative
   signification, profitably and pleasantly move the rational mind; but by
   the former people, many such things were not only to be heard, but to
   be kept as precepts. For that was a time when it behoved not in words
   only, but in deeds, to prophesy those things which hereafter were to be
   revealed. When these had been revealed through Christ, and in Christ,
   the burdens of observances were not imposed on the faith of the
   Gentiles; but the authority of the prophecy was yet confirmed.

   But I ask of the Manichaeans, whether this declaration of the Lord,
   when He said that a man is not defiled by what enters into his mouth,
   is true or false? If false, why then does their doctor Adimantus bring
   it forward against the Old Testament? If true, why contrary to its
   tenor do they consider that they are thus defiled?

   Jerome: The thoughtful reader may here object and say, If that which
   entereth into the mouth defileth not a man, why do we not feed on meats
   offered to idols? Be it known then that meats and every creature of God
   is in itself clean; but the invocation of idols and daemons makes them
   unclean with those at least who with conscience of the idol eat that
   which is offered to idols; and their conscience being weak is polluted,
   as the Apostle says.

   Remig.: But if any one's faith be so strong that he understands that
   God's creature can in no way be defiled, let him eat what he will,
   after the food has been hallowed by the word of God and of prayer; yet
   so that this his liberty be not made an offence to the weak, as the
   Apostle speaks.
     __________________________________________________________________

   12. When came his disciples, and said unto him, "Knowest thou that the
   Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?"

   13. But he answered and said, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father
   hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

   14. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the
   blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: In one of the Lord's discourses the whole superstition of
   Jewish observances had been cut down. They placed their whole religion
   in using or abstaining from certain meats.

   Chrys.: When the Pharisees heard the things that went before, they made
   no reply to them, because He had so mightily overthrown them, not only
   refuting their arguments, but detecting their fraud, but they, not the
   multitudes, were offended at them.

   "Then came his disciples unto him and said, Knowest thou that the
   Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?"

   Jerome: As this word scandalum' (offence or stumblingblock) is of such
   frequent use in ecclesiastical writings, we will shortly explain it. We
   might render it in Latin, offendiculum,' or ruina,' or impactio;' and
   so when we read, Whosoever shall scandalize, we understand, whoso by
   word or deed has given an occasion of falling to any.

   Chrys.: Christ does not remove the stumblingblock out of the way of the
   Pharisees, but rather rebukes them; as it follows, "But he answered and
   said, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be
   rooted up."

   This Manichaeus affirmed was spoken of the Law, but what has been
   already said is a sufficient refutation of this. For if He had said
   this of the Law, how would He have above contended for the Law, saying,
   "Why transgress ye the commandment of God through your tradition?"

   Or would He have cited the Prophet? Or how, if God said, "Honour thy
   father and thy mother," is not this, being spoken in the Law, a plant
   of God?

   Hilary: What He intends then by a plant not planted of His Father, is
   that tradition of men under cover of which the Law had been
   transgressed, this He instructs them must be rooted up.

   Remig.: Every false doctrine and superstitious observance with the
   workers thereof cannot endure; and because it is not from God the
   Father, it shall be rooted up with the same. And that only shall endure
   which is of God.

   Jerome: Shall that plant also be rooted up of which the Apostle says,
   "I planted, Apollos watered?" [1 Cor 3:6] The question is answered by
   what follows, "but God gave the increase." He says also, "Ye are God's
   husbandry, a building of God;" and in another place, "We are workers
   together of God." And if when Paul plants, and Apollos waters, they are
   in so doing workers together with God, then God plants and waters
   together with them.

   This passage is abused by some who apply it at once to two different
   kinds of men; they say, If every plant which the Father hath not
   planted shall be rooted up, then that which He has planted cannot be
   rooted up.' But let them hear these words of Jeremiah, "I had planted
   thee a true vine, wholly a right seed, how then art thou turned into
   the bitterness of a strange vine?" [Jer 2:21]

   God indeed has planted it, and none may root up His planting. But since
   that planting was through the disposition of the will of him which was
   planted, none other can root it up unless its own will consents
   thereto.

   Gloss. interlin.: Or, the plant here spoken of may be the doctors of
   the Law with their followers, who had not Christ for their foundation.
   Why they are to be rooted up, He adds, "Let them alone; they are blind,
   leaders of the blind."

   Raban.: They are blind, that is, they want the light of God's
   commandments; and they are "leaders of the blind," inasmuch as they
   draw others headlong, erring, and leading into error; whence it is
   added, "If the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch."

   Jerome: This is also the same as that Apostolic injunction, "A heretic
   after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that such a one
   is perverse." [Tit 3:11-11] To the same end the Saviour commands evil
   teachers to be left to their own will, knowing that it is hardly that
   they can be brought to the truth.
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, "Declare unto us this
   parable."

   16. And Jesus said, "Are ye also yet without understanding?

   17. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth
   goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?

   18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
   heart; and they defile the man.

   19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
   fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

   20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen
   hands defileth not a man."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: The Lord was used to speak in parables, so that Peter when he
   heard, "That which entereth into the mouth, defileth not a man,"
   thought it was spoken as a parable, and asked, as it follows; "Then
   answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable." And
   because he asked this on behalf of the rest, they are all included in
   the rebuke, "But he said, Are ye also yet without understanding?"

   Jerome: He is reproved by the Lord, because He supposed that to be
   spoken parabolically, which was indeed spoken plainly. Which teaches us
   that the hearer is to be blamed who would take dark sayings as clear,
   or clear sayings as obscure.

   Chrys.: Or, The Lord blames him, because it was not from any
   uncertainty that he asked this, but from offence which he had taken.
   The multitudes had not understood what had been said; but the disciples
   were offended at it, whence at the first they had desired to ask Him
   concerning the Pharisees, but had been stayed by that mighty
   declaration, "Every plant, &c."

   But Peter, who is ever zealous, is not silent even so; therefore the
   Lord reproves him, adding a reason for His reproof, "Do ye not
   understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the
   belly, and is cast out into the draught?"

   Jerome: Some cavil at this, that the Lord is ignorant of physical
   disputation in saying that all food goes into the belly, and is cast
   out into the draught; for that the food, as soon as it is taken, is
   distributed through the limbs, the veins, the marrow, and the nerves.
   But it should be known, that the lighter juices, and liquid food after
   it has been reduced and digested in the veins and vessels, passes into
   the lower parts through those passages which the Greeks call pores,'
   and so goes into the draught.

   Aug., de Vera Relig., 40: The nourishment of the body being first
   changed into corruption, that is, having lost its proper form, is
   absorbed into the substance of the limbs, and repairs their waste,
   passing through a medium into another form, and by the spontaneous
   motion of the parts is so separated, that such portions as are adapted
   for the purpose are taken up into the structure of this fair visible,
   while such as are unfit are rejected through their own passages. One
   part consisting of faeces is restored to earth to reappear again in new
   forms; another part goes off in perspiration; and another is taken up
   by the nervous system for the purposes of reproduction of the species.

   Chrys.: But the Lord in thus speaking answers His disciples after
   Jewish infirmity; He says that the food does not abide, but goes out;
   but if it did abide, yet would it not make a man unclean. But they
   could not yet hear these things. Thus Moses also pronounces that they
   continued unclean, so long as the food continued in them; for he bids
   them wash in the evening, and then they should be clean; calculating
   the time of digestion and egestion.

   Aug., de Trin., xv, 10: And the Lord includes herein man's two mouths,
   one of the body, one of the heart. For when He says, "Not all that
   goeth into the mouth defileth a man," He clearly speaks of the body's
   mouth; but in that which follows, He alludes to the mouth of the heart;
   "But those things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the
   heart, and they defile a man."

   Chrys.: For the things which are of the heart, remain within a man, and
   defile him in going out of him, as well as in abiding in him; yea, more
   in going out of him; wherefore He adds, "Out of the heart proceed evil
   thoughts;" He gives these the first place, because this was the very
   fault of the Jews, who laid snares for Him.

   Jerome: The principle therefore of the soul is not according to Plato
   in the brain, but according to Christ in the heart, and by this passage
   we may refute those who think that evil thoughts are suggestions of the
   Devil, and do not spring from our proper will. The Devil may encourage
   and abet evil thoughts, but not originate them. And if he be able,
   being always on the watch, to blow into flame any small spark of
   thought in us, we should not thence conclude that he searches the
   hidden places of the heart, but that from our manner and motions he
   judges of what is passing within us.

   For instance, if he see us direct frequent looks towards a fair woman,
   he understands that our heart is wounded through the eye.

   Gloss., non occ.: And from evil thoughts proceed evil deeds and evil
   words, which are forbidden by the law; whence He adds "Murders," which
   are forbidden by that commandment of the Law, "Thou shalt not kill;"
   "Adulteries, fornications," which are understood to be forbidden by
   that precept, "Thou, shalt not commit adultery;" "Thefts," forbidden by
   the command, "Thou shalt not steal;" "False witness," by that, "Thou
   shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour;" "Blasphemies," by
   that, "Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain."

   Remig.: Having named the vices which are forbidden by the divine Law,
   the Lord beautifully adds, "These are they that defile a man," that is,
   make him unclean and impure.

   Gloss., non occ.: And because these words of the Lord had been
   occasioned by the iniquity of the Pharisees, who preferred their
   traditions to the commands of God, He hence concludes that there was no
   necessity for the foregoing tradition, "But to eat with unwashen hands
   defileth not a man."

   Chrys.: He said not that to eat the meats forbidden in the Law defiles
   not a man, that they might not have what to answer to Him again; but He
   concludes in that concerning which the disputation had been.
     __________________________________________________________________

   21. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and
   Sidon.

   22. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and
   cried unto him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David;
   my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil."

   23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought
   him, saying, "Send her away; for she crieth after us."

   24. But he answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of
   the house of Israel."

   25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, help me."

   26. But he answered and said, "It is not meet to take the children's
   bread, and to cast it to dogs."

   27. And she said, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
   fall from their masters' table."

   28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, "O woman, great is thy
   faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And her daughter was made
   whole from that very hour.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Leaving the Scribes and Pharisees and those cavillers, He
   passes into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, that He may heal the Tyrians
   and Sidonians; "And Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of
   Tyre and Sidon."

   Remig.: Tyre and Sidon were Gentile towns, for Tyre was the metropolis
   of the Chananaeans, and Sidon the boundary of the Chananaeans towards
   the north.

   Chrys., Hom, iii: It should be observed, that when He delivered the
   Jews from the observance of meats, He then also opened the door to the
   Gentiles, as Peter was first bidden in the vision to break this law,
   and was afterwards sent to Cornelius. But if any should ask, how it is
   that He bade His disciples "go not into the way of the Gentiles," and
   yet now Himself walks this way; we will answer, first, that that
   precept which He had given His disciples was not obligatory on Him;
   secondly, that He went not to preach, whence Mark even says, that He
   purposely concealed Himself.

   Remig.: He went that He might heal them of Tyre and Sidon; or that He
   might deliver this woman's daughter from the daemon, and so through her
   faith might condemn the wickedness of the Scribes and Pharisees. Of
   this woman it proceeds; "And, behold, a woman, a Chananite, came out
   from those parts."

   Chrys.: The Evangelist says that she was a Chananaean, to shew the
   power of Christ's presence. For this nation, which had been driven out
   that they might not corrupt the Jews, now shewed themselves wiser than
   the Jews, leaving their own borders that they might go to Christ. And
   when she came to Him, she asked only for mercy, as it follows, "She
   cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, Lord, thou Son of David."

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The great faith of this Chananaean woman is herein
   shewed. She believes Him to be God, in that she calls Him "Lord;" and
   man, in that she calls Him "Son of David." She claims nothing of her
   own desert, but craves only God's mercy. And she says not, Have mercy
   on my daughter, but "Have mercy on me;" because the affliction of the
   daughter is the affliction of the mother. And the more to excite His
   compassion, she declares to Him the whole of her grief, "My daughter is
   sore vexed by a daemon;" thus unfolding to the Physician the wound, and
   the extent and nature of the disease; its extent, when she says "is
   sore vexed;" its nature, "by a daemon."

   Chrys., Hom. in quaedam loca, xlvii: Note the wisdom of this woman, she
   went not to men who promised fair, she sought not useless bandages, but
   leaving all devilish charms, she came to the Lord. She asked not James,
   she did not pray John, or apply to Peter, but putting herself under the
   protection of penitence, she ran alone to the Lord. But, behold, a new
   trouble. She makes her petition, raising her voice into a shout, and
   God, the lover of mankind, answers not a word.

   Jerome: Not from pharisaical pride, or the superciliousness of the
   Scribes, but that He might not seem to contravene His own decision, "Go
   not into the way of the Gentiles." For He was unwilling to give
   occasion to their cavils, and reserved the complete salvation of the
   Gentiles for the season of His passion and resurrection.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: And by this delay in answering, He shews us the
   patience and perseverance of this woman. And He answered not for this
   reason also, that the disciples might petition for her; shewing herein
   that the prayers of the Saints are necessary in order to obtain any
   thing; as it follows, "And his disciples came unto him, saying, Send
   her away, for she crieth after us."

   Jerome: The disciples, as yet ignorant of the mysteries of God or moved
   by compassion, beg for this Chananaean woman; or perhaps seeking to be
   rid of her importunity.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 49: A question of discrepancy is raised upon
   this, that Mark says the Lord was in the house when the woman came
   praying for her daughter. Indeed Matthew might have been understood to
   have omitted mention of the house, and yet to have been relating the
   same event; but when he says, that the disciples suggested to the Lord,
   "Send her away, for she crieth after us," he seems to indicate clearly
   that the woman raised her voice in supplication, in following the Lord
   who was walking.

   We must understand then, that, as Mark writes, she entered in where
   Jesus was, that is, as he had noticed above, in the house; then, that
   as Matthew writes, "He answered her not a word," and during this
   silence of both sides, Jesus left the house; and then the rest follows
   without any discordance.

   Chrys.: I judge that the disciples were sorry for the woman's
   affliction, yet dared not say Grant her this mercy,' but only "Send her
   away," as we, when we would persuade any one, oftentimes say the very
   contrary to what we wish.

   "He answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house
   of Israel."

   Jerome: He says that He is not sent to the Gentiles, but that He is
   sent first to Israel, so that where they would not receive the Gospel,
   the passing over to the Gentiles might have just cause.

   Remig.: In this way also He was sent specially to the Jew, because He
   taught them by His bodily presence.

   Jerome: And He adds "of the house of Israel," with this design, that we
   might rightly interpret by this place that other parable concerning the
   stray sheep.

   Chrys.: But when the woman saw that the Apostles had no power, she
   became bold with commendable boldness; for before she had not dared to
   come before His sight; but, as it is said, "She crieth after us." But
   when it seemed that she must now retire without being relieved, she
   came nearer, "But she came and worshipped him."

   Jerome: Note how perseveringly this Chananaean woman calls Him first
   "Son of David," then "Lord," and lastly "came and worshipped him," as
   God.

   Chrys.: And therefore she said not Ask, or Pray God for me, but "Lord,
   help me." But the more the woman urged her petition, the more He
   strengthened His denial; for He calls the Jews now not sheep but sons,
   and the Gentiles dogs; "He answered and said unto her, It is not meet
   to take the children's bread, and give it to dogs."

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The Jews were born sons, and brought up by the Law
   in the worship of one God. The bread is the Gospel, its miracles and
   other things which pertain to our salvation. It is not then meet that
   these should be taken from the children and given to the Gentiles, who
   are dogs, till the Jews refuse them.

   Jerome: The Gentiles are called dogs because of their idolatry; who,
   given to the eating of blood, and dead bodies, turn to madness.

   Chrys.: Observe this woman's prudence; she does not dare to contradict
   Him, nor is she vexed with the commendation of the Jews, and the evil
   word applied to herself; "But she said, Yea, Lord, yet the dogs eat of
   the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." He said, "It is not
   good;" she answers, Yet even so, Lord;' He calls the Jews children, she
   calls them masters; He called her a dog, she accepts the office of a
   dog; as if she had said, I cannot leave the table of my Lord.

   Jerome: Wonderful are shewn the faith, patience, and humility of this
   woman; faith, that she believed that her daughter could be healed;
   patience, that so many times overlooked, she yet perseveres in her
   prayers; humility, that she compares herself not to the dogs, but to
   the whelps.

   I know, she says, that I do not deserve the children's bread, and that
   I cannot have whole meat, nor sit at the table with the master of the
   house, but I am content with that which is left for the whelps, that
   through humble fragments I may come to the amplitude of the perfect
   bread.

   Chrys.:. This was the cause why Christ was so backward, that He knew
   what she would say, and would not have her so great excellence hid;
   whence it follows, "Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman,
   great is thy faith, be it unto thee according to thy will."

   Observe how the woman herself had contributed not a little to her
   daughter's healing; and therefore Christ said not unto her, Let thy
   daughter be healed,' but, "Be it unto thee according to thy will;" that
   you may perceive that she had spoken in sincerity, and that her words
   were not words of flattery, but of abundant faith.

   And this word of Christ is like that word which said, "Let there be a
   firmament." [Gen 1:6] and it was made; so here, "And her daughter was
   made whole from that hour."

   Observe how she obtains what the Apostles could not obtain for her; so
   great a thing is the earnestness of prayer. He would rather that we
   should pray for our own offences ourselves, than that others should
   pray for us.

   Remig.: In these words is given us a pattern of catechizing and
   baptizing children; for the woman says not Heal my daughter,' or Help
   her,' but, "Have mercy upon me, and help me." Thus there has come down
   in the Church the practice that the faithful are sponsors to God for
   their young children, before they have attained such age and reason
   that they can themselves make any pledge to God. So that as by this
   woman's faith her daughter was healed, so by the faith of Catholics of
   mature age their sins might be forgiven to infants.

   Allegorically; This woman figures the Holy Church gathered out of the
   Gentiles. The Lord leaves the Scribes and Pharisees, and comes into the
   parts of Tyre and Sidon; this figures His leaving the Jews and going
   over to the Gentiles. This woman came out of her own country, because
   the Holy Church departed from former errors and sins.

   Jerome: And the daughter of this Chananaean I suppose to be the souls
   of believers, who were sorely vexed by a daemon, not knowing their
   Creator, and bowing down to stones.

   Remig.: Thus of whom the Lord speaks as children are the Patriarchs and
   Prophets of that time. By the table is signified the Holy Scripture, by
   the fragments the best precepts, or inward mysteries on which Holy
   Church feeds; by the crumbs the carnal precepts which the Jews keep.
   The fragments are said to be eaten under the table, because the Church
   submits itself. humbly to fulfilling the Divine commands.

   Raban.: But the whelps eat not the crust only, but the crumbs of the
   children's bread, because the despised among the Gentiles on turning to
   the faith, seek out in Scripture not the outside of the letter, but the
   spiritual sense, by which they may be able to profit in good acts.

   Jerome: Wonderful change of things! Once Israel the son, and we the
   dogs; the change in faith has led to a change in the order of our
   names. Concerning them is that said, "Many dogs have come about me; [Ps
   22:16] while to us is said, as to this woman, "Thy faith hath made thee
   whole.

   Raban.: Great indeed was her faith; for the Gentiles, neither trained
   in the Law, nor educated by the words of the Prophets, straightway on
   the preaching of the Apostles obeyed with the hearing of the ear, and
   therefore deserved to obtain salvation.

   Gloss., non occ.: And if the Lord delays the salvation of a soul at the
   first tears of the supplicating Church, we ought not to despair, or to
   cease from our prayers, but rather continue them earnestly.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 18: And that to heal the Centurion's servant, and
   the daughter of this Chananaean woman, He does not go to their houses,
   signifies that the Gentiles, among whom He himself went not, should be
   saved by His word. That these are healed on the prayer of their
   parents, we must understand of the Church, which is at once mother and
   children; the whole body of those who make up the Church is the mother,
   and each individual of that body is a son of that mother.

   Hilary: Or, This mother represents the proselytes, in that she leaves
   her own country, and forsakes the Gentiles for the name of another
   nation; she prays for her daughter, that is, the body of the Gentiles
   possessed with unclean spirits; and having learned the Lord by the Law,
   calls Him the Son of David.

   Raban.: Also whosoever has his conscience polluted with the defilement
   of any sin, has a daughter sorely vexed by a daemon. Also whosoever has
   defiled any good that he has done by the plague of sin, has a daughter
   tossed by the furies of an unclean spirit, and has need to fly to
   prayers and tears, and to seek the intercessions and aids of the
   saints.
     __________________________________________________________________

   29. And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of
   Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.

   30. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that
   were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at
   Jesus' feet; and he healed them:

   31. Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to
   speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see:
   and they glorified the God of Israel.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Having healed the daughter of this Chananaean, the Lord returns
   into Judaea, as it follows, "And Jesus departed from thence, and came
   nigh unto the sea of Galilee."

   Remig.: This sea is called by various names; the sea at Galilee,
   because of its neighbourhood to Galilee; the sea of Tiberias, from the
   town of Tiberias.

   "And going up into a mountain, he sat down there."

   Chrys.: It should be considered that sometimes the Lord goes about to
   heal the sick, sometimes He sits and waits for them to come; and
   accordingly here it is added, "And there came great multitudes unto
   him, having with them those that were dumb, lame, blind, maimed, and
   many others."

   Jerome: What the Latin translator calls debiles' (maimed), is in the
   Greek chullous, which is not a general term for a maimed person, but a
   peculiar species, as he that is lame in one foot is called claudus,' so
   he that is crippled in one hand is called, chullos.

   Chrys.: These shewed their faith in two points especially, in that they
   went up the mountain, and in that they believed that they had need of
   nothing beyond but to cast themselves at Jesus' feet; for they do not
   now touch the hem even of His garment, but have attained to a loftier
   faith; "And cast them down at Jesus' feet."

   The woman's daughter He healed with great slackness, that He might shew
   her virtue; but to these He administers healing immediately, not
   because they were better than that woman, but that He might stop the
   mouths of the unbelieving Jews; as it follows, "and he healed them
   all."

   But the multitude of those that were healed, and the ease with which it
   was done, struck them with astonishment. "Insomuch that the multitude
   wondered when they saw the dumb to speak."

   Jerome: He said nothing concerning the maimed, because there was no one
   word which was the opposite of this." [ed. note: The Vulgate and old
   Italic have no clause to chullous hugieis, (the maimed to be whole) of
   the Greek, which is also wanting in many ancient versions.]

   Raban.: Mystically; Having in the daughter of this Chananaean
   prefigured the salvation of the Gentiles, Ho came into Judaea; because,
   "when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, then shall all
   Israel be saved." [Rom 11:25]

   Gloss., ap Anselm: The sea near to which Jesus came signifies the
   turbid swellings of this world; it is the sea of Galilee when men pass
   from virtue to vice.

   Jerome: He goes up into the mountain, that as a bird He may entice the
   tender nestlings to fly.

   Raban.: Thus raising his hearers to meditate on heavenly things. He sat
   down there to shew that rest is not to be sought but in heavenly
   things. And as He sits on the mountain, that is, in the heavenly
   height, there come unto Him multitudes of the faithful, drawing near to
   Him with devoted mind, and bringing to Him the dumb, and the blind, &c.
   and cast them down at Jesus' feet; because they that confess their sins
   are brought to be healed by Him alone.

   These He so heals, that the multitudes marvel and magnify the God of
   Israel; because the faithful when they see those that have been
   spiritually sick richly endued with all manner of works of
   virtuousness, sing praise to God.

   Gloss. ord.: The dumb are they that do not praise God; the blind, they
   who do not understand the paths of life; the deaf, they that obey not;
   the lame, they that walk not firmly through the difficult ways of good
   works; the maimed, they that are crippled in their good works.
     __________________________________________________________________

   32. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, "I have
   compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three
   days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting,
   lest they faint in the way.

   33, And his disciples say unto him, "Whence should we have so much
   bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?"

   34. And Jesus saith unto them, "How many loaves have ye?" And they
   said, "Seven, and a few little fishes."

   35. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.

   36. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and
   brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the
   multitude.

   37. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the
   broken meat that was left seven baskets full.

   38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and
   children.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Christ first took away the infirmities of the sick, and
   afterwards supplied food to them that had been healed. Also He calls
   His disciples to tell them what He is about to do; "Then Jesus called
   his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude."
   This He does that He may give an example to masters of sharing their
   counsels with the young, and their disciples; or, that by this dialogue
   they might come to understand the greatness of the miracle.

   Chrys., Hom., iii: For the multitude when they came to be healed, had
   not dared to ask for food, but He that loveth man, and hath care of all
   creatures, gives it to them unasked; whence He says, "I have compassion
   upon the multitude."

   That it should not be said that they had brought provision with them on
   their way, He says, "Because they continue with me now three days, and
   have nothing to eat." For though when they came they had food, it was
   now consumed, and for this reason He did it not on the first or second
   day, but on the third, when all was consumed that they might have
   brought with them; and thus they having been first placed in need,
   might take the food that was now provided with keener appetite.

   That they had come from far, and that nothing was now left them, is
   shewn in what He says, "And I will not send them away fasting, lest
   they faint by the way."

   Yet He does not immediately proceed to work the miracle, that He may
   rouse the disciples' attention by this questioning, and that they may
   shew their faith by saying to Him, Create loaves. And though at the
   time of the former miracle Christ had done many things to the end that
   they should remember it, making them distribute the loaves, and divide
   the baskets among them, yet they were still imperfectly disposed, as
   appears from what follows; "And his disciples say unto him, Whence
   should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a
   multitude?"

   This they spoke out of the infirmity of their thoughts, yet thereby
   making the ensuing miracle to be beyond suspicion; for that none might
   suspect that the loaves had been got from a neighbouring village, this
   miracle is wrought in the wilderness far distant from villages.

   Then to arouse His disciples' thoughts, He puts a question to them,
   which may call the foregone miracle to their minds; "And Jesus saith
   unto them, How many loaves have ye? They said unto him, Seven, and a
   few little fishes."

   But they do not add, But what are they among so many?' as they had said
   before; for they had advanced somewhat, though they did not yet
   comprehend the whole. Admire in the Apostles their love of truth,
   though themselves are the writers, they do not conceal their own great
   faults; and it is no light self-accusation to have so soon forgotten so
   great a miracle.

   Observe also their wisdom in another respect, how they had overcome
   their appetite, taking so little care of their meals, that though they
   had been three days in the desert, yet they had with them only seven
   loaves. Some other things also He does like to what had been done
   before. He makes them to sit down on the ground, and the bread to grow
   in the hands of the disciples; as it follows, "And he commanded the
   multitude to sit down on the ground."

   Jerome, Sup. c. xiv, 15: As we have spoken of this above, it would be
   tedious to repeat what has been already said; we shall therefore only
   dwell on those particulars in which this differs from the former.

   Chrys.: The end of the two miracles is different; "And they took up of
   the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. Now they that had
   eaten were four thousand men, besides children and women."

   Whence are the fragments fewer in this miracle than in the former,
   although they that ate were not so many? It is a either that the basket
   [margin note: sporta] in this miracle is of larger capacity than the
   basket [margin note: cophinus] in the former, or that by this point of
   difference they might remember the two separate miracles; for which
   reason also He then made the number of baskets equal to the number of
   the disciples, but now to the number of the loaves.

   Remig.: In this Gospel lection we must consider in Christ the work of
   His humanity, and of His divinity. In that He has compassion on the
   multitudes, He shews that He has feeling of human frailty; in the
   multiplication of the loaves, and the feeding the multitudes, is shewn
   the working of His divinity. So here is overthrown the error of
   Eutyches [margin note: vid. sup. p. 16], who said, that in Christ was
   one nature only.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 50: Surely it will not be out of place to
   suggest upon this miracle, that if any of the Evangelists who had not
   given the miracle of the five loaves had related this of the seven
   loaves, he would have been supposed to have contradicted the rest. But
   because those who have related the one, have also related the other, no
   one is puzzled, but it is understood at once that they were two
   separate miracles.

   This we have said, that wherever any thing is found done by the Lord,
   wherein the accounts of any two Evangelists seem irreconcilable, we may
   understand them as two distinct occurrences, of which one is related by
   one Evangelist, and one by another.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm:. It should be noted, that the Lord first removes
   their sicknessess, and after that feeds them; because sin must be first
   wiped away, and then the soul fed with the words of God.

   Hilary: As that first multitude which He fed answers to the people
   among the Jews that believed; so this is compared to the people of the
   gentiles, the number of four thousand denoting an innumerable number of
   people out of the four quarters of the earth.

   Jerome: For these are not five, but four thousand; the number four
   being one always used in a good sense, and a four-sided stone is firm
   and rocks not, for which reason the Gospels also have been sacredly
   bestowed in this number.

   Also in the former miracle, because the people were neighbours unto the
   five senses [ed. note: That is, there were five thousand, and they were
   fed with five loaves], it is the disciples, and not the Lord, that
   calls to mind their condition; but here the Lord Himself says, that He
   has compassion upon them, "because they continue now three days" with
   Him, that is, they believed on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

   Hilary: Or, they spend the whole time of the Lord's passion with the
   Lord; either because when they should come to baptism, they would
   confess that they believed in His passion and resurrection; or, because
   through the whole time of the Lord's passion they are joined to the
   Lord by fasting in a kind of union of suffering with Him.

   Raban.: Or, this is said because in all time there have only been three
   periods when grace was given; the first, before the Law; the second,
   under the Law; the third, under grace; the fourth, is in heaven, to
   which as we journey we are refreshed by the way.

   Remig.: Or, because correcting by penitence the sins that they have
   committed, in thought, word, and deed, they turn to the Lord. These
   multitudes the Lord would not send away fasting, that they should not
   faint by the way; because sinners turning in penitence, perish in their
   passage through the world, if they are sent away without the
   nourishment of sacred teaching.

   Gloss. ord.: The seven loaves are the Scripture of the New Testament,
   in which the grace of the Holy Spirit is revealed and given. And these
   are not as those former loaves, barley, because it is not with these,
   as in the Law, where the nutritious substance is wrapped in types, as
   in a very adhesive husk; here are not two fishes, as under the Law two
   only were anointed, the King, and the Priest, but a fewer, that is, the
   saints of the New Testament, who, snatched from the waves of the world,
   sustain this tossing sea, and by their example refresh us lest we faint
   by the way.

   Hilary: The multitudes sit down on the ground; for before they had not
   reposed on the works of the Law, but they had supported themselves on
   their own sins, as men standing on their feet.

   Gloss.: Or, they sit down there [margin note: xiv, 19] on the grass,
   that the desires of the flesh may be controlled, here on the ground,
   because the earth itself is commanded to be left. Or, the mountain in
   which the Lord refreshes them is the height of Christ; there,
   therefore, is grass upon the ground, because there the height of Christ
   is covered with carnal hopes and desires, on account of the carnal;
   here, where all carnal lust is banished, the guests are solidly placed
   on the basis of an abiding hope; there, are five thousand, who are the
   carnal subjected to the five senses; here, four thousand, on account of
   the four virtues, by which they are spiritually fortified, temperance,
   prudence, fortitude, and justice; of which the first is the knowledge
   of things to be sought and avoided; the second, the restraining of
   desire from those things that give pleasure in the world; the third,
   strength against the pains of life; the fourth, which is spread over
   all the love of God and our neighbour.

   Both there and here women and children are excepted, because in the Old
   and New Testament, none are admitted to the Lord who do not endure to
   the perfect man, whether through the infirmity of their strength, or
   the levity of their tempers.

   Both refreshings were performed upon a mountain, because the Scriptures
   of both Testaments commend the loftiness of the heavenly commands and
   rewards, and both preach the height of Christ. The higher mysteries
   which the multitudes cannot receive the Apostles discharge, and fill
   seven baskets, to wit, the hearts of the perfect which are enlightened
   to understand by the grace of the seven-fold spirit. [margin note: Isa
   11:2] Baskets are usually woven of rushes, or palm leaves; these
   signify the saints, who fix the root of their hearts in the very fount
   of life, as a bulrush in the water, that they may not wither away, and
   retain in their hearts the palm of their eternal reward.
     __________________________________________________________________

   39. And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the
   coasts of Magdala.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 16

   1. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him
   that he would shew them a sign from heaven.

   2. He answered and said unto them, "When it is evening, ye say, It will
   be fair weather: for the sky is red.

   3. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the sky is
   red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky;
   but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

   4. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there
   shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." And
   he left them, and departed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: As the Lord sent the multitudes away after the miracle of the
   five loaves, so also now, not on foot, but by boat, that the multitudes
   may not follow Him; "And He sent away the multitude, and entered into a
   ship, and came into the coasts of Magedan."

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 51: Mark says Dalmanutha; no doubt the same
   place under a different name; for many copies of the Gospel according
   to Mark have Magedan.

   Raban.: This Magedan is the country opposite Gerasa, and is interpreted
   fruits,' or a messenger.' It signifies a garden, of which it is said,
   "A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed," [Song of Songs 4:!2] wherein
   the fruits of virtues grow, and where the name of the Lord is
   announced.

   It teaches us that preachers having ministered the word to the
   multitude ought to be refreshed themselves with the fruits of the
   virtues within the chamber of their own heart.

   It follows; "And there come unto him Pharisees and Sadducees tempting
   him, and desired him to shew them a sign from heaven."

   Remig.: Wondrous blindness of the Pharisees and Sadducees! They asked a
   sign from heaven, as though the things they now saw were not signs.
   John shews what sign it was they desired; for he relates, that after
   the feeding with the five loaves, the multitudes came to the Lord and
   said, "What sign doest thou, that we may see it and believe on thee?
   Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them
   bread to eat from heaven." [John 6:30-31]

   Therefore when they say here, Shew us a sign from heaven, they mean,
   Cause that it rain manna for one or two days, that the whole people may
   eat, as was done for a long time in the desert. He looking into their
   thoughts as God, and knowing that even if a sign from heaven should be
   shewed them they would not believe, would not give them the sign for
   which they asked, as it follows, "But he answered and said unto them,
   When the evening is come, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the sky
   is red, &c."

   Jerome: This is not found in most copies of the Greek text [ed. note:
   That is, ver 2 and 3. They are omitted in many manuscripts and
   versions]. But the sense is clear, that fair and rainy days may be
   foretold by the condition and harmony of the elements. But the Scribes
   and Pharisees who seemed to be doctors of the Law could not discern the
   Saviour's coming by the predictions of the Prophets.

   Aug., Quaest Ev., i, 20: We might also understand this saying, "When it
   is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red," in
   this way, By the blood of Christ's passion at His first coming,
   indulgence of sin is given. "And in the morning, It will be foul
   weather today, for the sky is red and lowring;" that is, at His second
   coming He will come with fire before Him.

   Gloss.: Otherwise; "The sky is red and lowring;" that is, the Apostles
   suffer after the resurrection, by which ye may know that I shall judge
   hereafter; for if I spare not the good who are mine from present
   suffering, I shall not spare others hereafter; "Ye can therefore
   discern the face of the sky, but the signs of the times ye cannot."

   Raban.: "The signs of the times" He means of His own coming, or
   passion, to which the evening redness of the heavens may be likened;
   and the tribulation which shall be before His coming, to which the
   morning redness with the lowring sky may be compared.

   Chrys.: As then in the sky there is one sign of fair weather, and
   another of rain, so ought ye to think concerning me; now, in this My
   first coming, there is need of these signs which are done in the earth;
   but those which are done in heaven are reserved for the time of the
   second coming. Now I come as a physician, then as a judge; now I come
   in secret, then with much pomp, when the powers of the heavens shall be
   shaken. But now is not the time of these signs, now have I come to die,
   and to suffer humiliations; as it follows, "An evil and adulterous
   generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign he given it,
   but the sign of Jonas the prophet."

   Aug.: This Matthew has already given; whence we may store up for our
   information, that the Lord spoke the same things many times, that where
   there are contradictions which cannot be explained, it may be
   understood that the same sayings were uttered on two different
   occasions.

   Gloss. interlin.: He says, "Evil and adulterous generation," that is,
   unbelieving, having carnal, and not spiritual understanding.

   Raban.: To this generation that thus tempted the Lord is not given a
   sign from heaven, such as they sought for, though many signs are given
   on the earth; but only to the generation of such as sought the Lord, in
   whose sight He ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit.

   Jerome: But what is meant by the sign of Jonas has been explained
   above.

   Chrys.: And when the Pharisees heard this, they ought to have asked
   Him, What it was He meant? But they had not asked at first with any
   desire of learning, and therefore the Lord leaves them, as it follows,
   "And he left them, and went his way."

   Jerome: That is, leaving the evil generation of the Jews, He passed
   over the strait, and the people of the Gentiles followed Him.

   Hilary: Observe, we do not read here as in other places, that He sent
   the multitudes away and departed; but because the error of unbelief
   held the minds of the presumptuous, it is said that He left them.
     __________________________________________________________________

   5. And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had
   forgotten to take bread.

   6. Then Jesus said unto them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of
   the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."

   7. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have
   taken no bread.

   8. Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, "O ye of little
   faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no
   bread?

   9. Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the
   five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

   10. Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets
   ye took up?

   11. How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you
   concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
   and of the Sadducees?"

   12. Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven
   of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: As the Lord had left the Pharisees on account of
   their unbelief, so now He teaches His disciples to be on their guard
   against their doctrine; whence it follows, "And when His disciples were
   come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread."

   Remig.: They were bound to their Master with so great affection, that
   they were unwilling to part from Him for even a moment of time. And
   herein it should be observed how far they were from any longing for
   delicacies, when they took so small care for necessaries, that they had
   even forgotten to take bread, without which human weakness cannot
   support itself.

   "He said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
   and of the Sadducees."

   Hilary: Herein the Apostles are admonished not to be partakers in the
   doctrine of the Jews; for the works of the Law were established to
   produce faith, and to prefigure the things that were to follow; and
   they on whose times truth itself had chanced should look for no further
   types of truth; lest the teaching of the Pharisees, which knew not of
   Christ, should stay the effect of Gospel truth.

   Jerome: For he that takes heed of the leaven of the Pharisees and the
   Sadducees, does not observe the precepts of the Law and of the letter,
   and neglects the traditions of men that he may do the commandments of
   God. This is the leaven of which the Apostle speaks, "A little leaven
   leaveneth the whole lump." [1 Cor 5:6]

   By every means also we should avoid that leaven which Marcion,
   Valentinus, and all the heretics had. For the nature of leaven is such,
   that when mixed with flour, that which seemed a little increases to a
   large quantity, and brings the whole mixture to its own flavour. Thus
   heretical doctrine if it have cast but a small spark into your breast,
   in a short time a mighty flame is raised, and drives the whole temper
   of the man along with it.

   Chrys.: Why did He not say plainly, Take heed of the doctrine of the
   Pharisees? Because He would remind them of those things that had been
   done in the multiplication of the loaves, knowing them to be forgetful.
   To have given them this charge at once bluntly would have seemed
   unreasonable; but to find fault with them on occasion banished by
   themselves prepared the way for the charge; therefore it is that the
   Evangelist brings forward their thoughts; "But they thought within
   themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread."

   Jerome: How had they no bread, seeing that as soon as they had filled
   seven baskets they entered into the boat, and came into the parts of
   Magedan? There they hear that they ought to take heed of the leaven of
   the Pharisees and Sadducees. But the Scripture is witness that they had
   forgotten to take the baskets with them.

   Chrys.: Because the disciples still grovelled about Jewish observances,
   the Lord sharply rebukes them for the benefit of all; whence it
   follows, "But Jesus knowing their thoughts said unto them, O ye of
   little faith, why consider ye among yourselves because ye have no
   bread?"

   Gloss. ord.: As much as to say; Why do ye think that I spake of earthly
   bread, for which ye ought not to have a thought, having beheld Me of so
   little make such abundant overplus?

   Chrys.: This He does that He may put away from them all care for food.
   But why did He not reprove them, when they said, "Whence should we have
   so much bread in the wilderness?" for that seemed a more fitting
   occasion. He did not blame them at that time that He might not seem to
   be by that urged on to do miracles, and He was unwilling to find fault
   with them before the people.

   Also there was more reason in the charge, when after two miracles of
   multiplication of loaves, they had anxiety about food. Observe with
   what mildness He rebukes them; He makes an excuse in answer Himself,
   saying, "Do ye not yet understand, nor remember the five loaves?"

   Gloss. interlin.: As much as to say, Do ye not understand the mystery,
   nor remember the miracle?

   Chrys.: By this calling to mind what was past, and rousing their
   attention to what was to come.

   Jerome: Thus He takes this occasion to instruct them what is meant by
   the five loaves and the seven loaves, the five thousand and the four
   thousand, who were fed in the desert. For if the leaven of the
   Pharisees and Sadducees signified not earthly food, but corrupt
   traditions and heretical dogmas, why should not the food with which the
   people of God is nourished signify the true and uncorrupt doctrine?

   Chrys.: But that you may learn what force Christ's reproof had upon His
   disciples, and how it roused their sluggish spirit, hear what says the
   Evangelist; "Then they understood how that he bade them not beware of
   the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the
   Sadducees;" yet He had not interpreted this to them. This instruction
   of the Lord then drew them away from Jewish observances, and made them
   attentive instead of careless, and raised them out of their little
   faith, that whenever they should seem to have but little provision of
   bread they should have no fear about food, but should despise all those
   things.
     __________________________________________________________________

   13. When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his
   disciples, saying, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?"

   14. And they said, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some,
   Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets."

   15. He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?"

   16. And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of
   the living God."

   17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon
   Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
   Father which is in heaven.

   18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I
   will build my Church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
   it.

   19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
   whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
   whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: As soon as the Lord had taken His disciples out of
   the teaching of the Pharisees, He then suitably proceeds to lay deep
   the foundations of the Gospel doctrine; and to give this the greater
   solemnity, it is introduced by the name of the place, "When Jesus came
   into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi."

   Chrys., Hom., liv: He adds of Philip,' to distinguish it from the other
   Caesarea, of Strato. And He asks this question in the former place,
   leading His disciples far out of the way of the Jews, that being set
   free from all fear, they might say freely what was in their mind.

   Jerome: This Philip was the brother of Herod, the tetrarch of Ituraea,
   and the region of Trachonitis, who gave to the city, which is now
   called Panaeas, the name of Caesarea in honour of Tiberias Caesar.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: When about to confirm the disciples in the faith,
   He would first take away from their minds the errors and opinions of
   others, whence it follows, "And he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do
   men say that the Son of Man is?"

   Origen: Christ puts this question to His disciples, that from their
   answer we may learn that there were at that time among the Jews various
   opinions concerning Christ; and to the end that we should always
   investigate what opinion men may form of us; that if any ill be said of
   us, we may cut off the occasions of it; or if any good, we may multiply
   the occasions of it.

   Gloss., non occ.: So by this instance of the Apostles, the followers of
   the Bishops are instructed, that whatever opinions they may hear out of
   doors concerning their Bishops, they should tell them to them.

   Jerome: Beautifully is the question put, "Whom do men say that the Son
   of Man is?" For they who speak of the Son of Man, are men: but they who
   understood His divine nature are called not men but Gods.

   Chrys.: He says not, Whom do the Scribes and Pharisees say that I am?
   but, Whom do men say that I am? searching into the minds of the common
   people, which were not perverted to evil. For though their opinion
   concerning Christ was much below what it ought to have been, yet it was
   free from wilful wickedness; but the opinion of the Pharisees
   concerning Christ was full of much malice.

   Hilary: By asking, "Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?" He implied
   that something ought to be thought respecting Him beyond what appeared,
   for He was the Son of Man. And in thus enquiring after men's opinion
   respecting Himself, we are not to think that He made confession of
   Himself; for that which He asked for was something concealed, to which
   the faith of believers ought to extend itself.

   We must hold that form of confession, that we so mention the Son of God
   as not to forget the Son of Man, for the one without the other offers
   us no hope of salvation; and therefore He said emphatically, "Whom do
   men say that the Son of Man is?"

   Jerome: He says not, Whom do men say that I am? but, "Whom do men say
   that the Son of Man is?" that He should not seem to ask ostentatiously
   concerning Himself. Observe, that wherever the Old Testament has Son of
   Man,' the phrase in the Hebrew is Son of Adam.'

   Origen: Then the disciples recount the divers opinions of the Jews
   relating to Christ; "And they said, some say John the Baptist,"
   following Herod's opinion [margin note: see Matt 14:2]; "others Elias,"
   supposing either that Elias had gone through a second birth, or that
   having continued alive in the body, He had at this time appeared;
   "others Jeremias", whom the Lord had ordained to be Prophet among the
   Gentiles, not understanding that Jeremias was a type of Christ; "or one
   of the Prophets," in a like way, because of those things which God
   spoke to them through the Prophets, yet they were not fulfilled in
   them, but in Christ.

   Jerome: It was as easy for the multitudes to be wrong in supposing Him
   to be Elias and Jeremias, as Herod in supposing Him to be John the
   Baptist; whence I wonder that some interpreters should have sought for
   the causes of these several errors.

   Chrys.: The disciples having recounted the opinion of the common
   people, He then by a second question invites them to higher thoughts
   concerning Him; and therefore it follows, "Jesus saith unto them, Whom
   say ye that I am?" You who are with Me always, and have seen greater
   miracles than the multitudes, ought not to agree in the opinion of the
   multitudes. For this reason He did not put this question to them at the
   commencement of His preaching, but after He had done many signs; then
   also He spoke many things to them concerning His Deity

   Jerome: Observe how by this connexion of the discourse the Apostles are
   not styled men but Gods. For when He had said, "Whom say ye that the
   Son of Man is?" He adds, "Whom say ye that I am?" as much as to say,
   They being men think of Me as man, ye who are Gods, whom do you think
   Me?

   Raban.: He enquires the opinions of His disciples and of those without,
   not because He was ignorant of them; His disciples He asks, that He may
   reward with due reward their confession of a right faith; and the
   opinions of those without He enquires, that having the wrong opinions
   first set forth, it might be proved that the disciples had received the
   truth of their confession not from common opinion, but out of the
   hidden treasure of the Lord's revelation.

   Chrys.: When the Lord enquires concerning the opinion of the
   multitudes, all the disciples answer; but when all the disciples are
   asked, Peter as the mouth and head [margin note: koruphaios] of the
   Apostles answers for all, as it follows, "Simon Peter answered and
   said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."

   Origen: Peter denied that Jesus was any of those things which the Jews
   supposed, by his confession, "Thou art the Christ," which the Jews were
   ignorant of; but he added what was more, "the Son of the living God,"
   who had said by his Prophets, "I live, saith the Lord." [Eze 33:11] And
   therefore was He called the living Lord, but in a more especial manner
   as being eminent above all that had life; for He alone has immortality,
   and is the fount of life, wherefore He is rightly called God the
   Father; for He is life as it were flowing out of a fountain, who said,
   "I am the life." [John 14:6]

   Jerome: He calls Him "the living God," in comparison of those gods who
   are esteemed gods, but are dead; such, I mean, as Saturn, Jupiter,
   Venus, Hercules, and the other monsters of idols.

   Hilary: This is the true and unalterable faith, that from God came
   forth God the Son, who has eternity out of the eternity of the Father.
   That this God took unto Him a body and was made man is a perfect
   confession. Thus He embraced all in that He here expresses both His
   nature and His name, in which is the sum of virtues.

   Raban.: And by a remarkable distinction it was that the Lord Himself
   puts forward the lowliness of the humanity which He had taken upon Him,
   while His disciple shews us the excellence of His divine eternity.

   Hilary: This confession of Peter met a worthy reward, for that he had
   seen the Son of God in the man. Whence it follows, "Jesus answered and
   said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonas, for flesh and blood
   has not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven."

   Jerome: This return Christ makes to the Apostle for the testimony which
   Peter had spoken concerning Him, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the
   living God." The Lord said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon
   Bar-jonas?" Why? Because flesh and blood has not revealed this unto
   thee, but My Father. That which flesh and blood could not reveal, was
   revealed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. By his confession then he
   obtains a title, which should signify that he had received a revelation
   from the Holy Spirit, whose son he shall also be called; for Barjonas
   in our tongue signifies The son of a dove.

   Others take it in the simple sense, that Peter is the son of John [ed.
   note: In John 21, the Vulgate has Johannis,' but in John 1, 43,
   Jona.'], according to that question in another place, "Simon, son of
   John, lovest thou me?" [John 21:15] affirming that it is an error of
   the copyists in writing here Barjonas for Barjoannas, dropping one
   syllable. Now Joanna is interpreted The grace of God.' But either name
   has its mystical interpretation; the dove signifies the Holy Spirit;
   and the grace of God signifies the spiritual gift.

   Chrys.: It would be without meaning to say, Thou art the son of Jonas,
   unless he intended to shew that Christ is as naturally the Son of God,
   as Peter is the son of Jonas, that is, of the same substance as him
   that begot him.

   Jerome: Compare what is here said, "flesh and blood hath not revealed
   it unto thee," with the Apostolic declaration, "Immediately I was not
   content with flesh and blood," [Gal 1:16] meaning there by this
   expression the Jews; so that here also the same thing is shewn in
   different words, that not by the teaching of the Pharisees, but by the
   grace of God, Christ was revealed to him the Son of God.

   Hilary: Otherwise; He is blessed, because to have looked and to have
   seen beyond human sight is matter of praise, not beholding that which
   is of flesh and blood, but seeing the Son of God by the revelation of
   the heavenly Father; and he was held worthy to be the first to
   acknowledge the divinity which was in Christ.

   Origen: It must be enquired in this place whether, when they were first
   sent out, the disciples knew that He was the Christ. For this speech
   shews that Peter then first confessed Him to be the Son of the living
   God. And look whether you can solve a question of this sort, by saying
   that to believe Jesus to be the Christ is less than to know Him; and so
   suppose that when they were sent to preach they believed that Jesus was
   the Christ, and afterwards as they made progress they knew Him to be
   so. Or must we answer thus? That then the Apostles had the beginnings
   of a knowledge of Christ, and knew some little concerning Him; and that
   they made progress afterwards in the knowledge of Him, so that they
   were able to receive the knowledge of Christ revealed by the Father, as
   Peter, who is here blessed, not only for that he says, "Thou art the
   Christ," but much more for that he adds, "the Son of the living God."

   Chrys.: And truly if Peter had not confessed that Christ was in a
   peculiar sense born of the Father, there had been no need of
   revelation; nor would he have been worthy of this blessing for
   confessing Christ to be one of many adopted sons; for before this they
   who were with Him in the ship had said, "Truly thou art the Son of
   God." Nathanael also said, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God." [John
   1:49] Yet were not these blessed because they did not confess such
   sonship as does Peter here, but thought Him one among many, not in the
   true sense a son; or, if chief above all, yet not the substance of the
   Father.

   But see how the Father reveals the Son, and the Son the Father; from
   none other comes it to confess the Son than of the Feather, and from
   none other to confess the Father than of the Son; so that from this
   place even it is manifest that the Son is of the same substance, and to
   be worshipped together with the Father. Christ then proceeds to shew
   that many would hereafter believe what Peter had now confessed, whence
   He adds, "And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter,"

   Jerome: As much as to say, You have said to me, "Thou art Christ, the
   Son of the living God," therefore I say unto thee, not in a mere
   speech, and that goes not on into operation; but I say unto thee, and
   for Me to speak is to make it so [ed. note: See Mr. Newman's Lectures
   on Justification, Lect iii, p.87], "that thou art Peter." For as from
   Christ proceeded that light to the Apostles, whereby they were called
   the light of the world, and those other names which were imposed upon
   them by the Lord, so upon Simon who believed in Christ the Rock, He
   bestowed the name of Peter (Rock.)

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 53: But let none suppose that Peter received
   that name here; he received it at no other time than where John relates
   that it was said unto him, "Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is
   interpreted, Peter." [John 1:42] Chrys.: And pursuing the metaphor of
   the rock, it is rightly said to him as follows: "And upon this rock I
   will build my Church."

   Chrys.: That is, On this faith and confession I will build my Church.
   Herein shewing that many should believe what Peter had confessed, and
   raising his understanding, and making him His shepherd.

   Aug., Retract., i, 21: I have said in a certain place of the Apostle
   Peter, that it was on him, as on a rock, that the Church was built. but
   I know that since that I have often explained these words of the Lord,
   "Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my Church," as meaning
   upon Him whom Peter had confessed in the words, "Thou art Christ, the
   Son of the living God;: and so that Peter, taking his name from this
   rock, would represent the Church, which is built upon this rock. For it
   is not said to him, Thou art the rock, but, "Thou art Peter." But the
   rock was Christ, [1 Cor 10:4] whom because Simon thus confessed, as the
   whole Church confesses Him, he was named Peter. Let the reader choose
   whether of these two opinions seems to him the more probable.

   Hilary: But in this bestowing of a new name is a happy foundation of
   the Church, and a rock worthy of that building, which should break up
   the laws of hell, burst the gates of Tartarus, and all the shackles of
   death. And to shew the firmness of this Church thus built upon a rock,
   He adds, "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

   Gloss. interlin.: That is, shall not separate it from the love and
   faith of Me.

   Jerome: I suppose the gates of hell to mean vice and sin, or at least
   the doctrines of heretics by which men are ensnared and drawn into
   hell.

   Origen: But in heavenly things every spiritual sin is a gate of hell,
   to which are opposed the gates of righteousness.

   Raban.: The gates of hell are the torments and promises of the
   persecutors. Also, the evil works of the unbelievers, and vain
   conversation, are gates of hell, because they shew the path of
   destruction.

   Origen: He does not express what it is which they shall not prevail
   against, whether the rock on which He builds the Church, or the Church
   which He builds on the rock; but it is clear that neither against the
   rock nor against the Church will the gates of hell prevail.

   Cyril [ed. note: This passage is quoted in the Catena from Cyril in
   Lib. Thes.' but does not occur in any of S. Cyril's works. On the
   subject of this interpolation, vid. Launoy's Epistles, part i. Ep. 1-3.
   and v. Ep. 9. c. 6-12. From him it appears that, besides the passage
   introduced into the Catena, S. Thomas ascribes similar ones to S. Cyril
   in his comment on the Sentences, Lib. iv. cl. 24. 3. and in his books
   contr. impugn.reliq.' and contra errores Graee.' He is apparently the
   first to cite them, and they seem to have been written later than
   Nicholas I. and Leo IX. (A. D. 867-1054.) He was young when he used
   them, and he is silent about them in his Summa, (which was the work of
   his last ten years,) in three or four places where the reference might
   have been expected.]

   According to this promise of the Lord, the Apostolic Church of Peter
   remains pure and spotless from all leading into error, or heretical
   fraud, above all Heads and Bishops, and Primates of Churches and
   people, with its own Pontiffs, with most abundant faith, and the
   authority of Peter. And while other Churches have to blush for the
   error of some of their members, this reigns alone immoveably
   established, enforcing silence, and stopping the mouths of all
   heretics; and we [ed. note: The editions read here, et nos necessario
   salutis,' the meaning of which, says Nicolai, it is impossible to
   divine], not drunken with the wine of pride, confess together with it
   the type of truth, and of the holy apostolic tradition.

   Jerome: Let none think that this is said of death, implying that the
   Apostles should not be subject to the condition of death, when we see
   their martyrdoms so illustrious.

   Origen: Wherefore if we, by the revelation of our Father who is in
   heaven, shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, having also
   our conversation in heaven, to us also shall be said, "Thou art Peter;"
   for every one is a Rock who is an imitator of Christ. But against
   whomsoever the gates of hell prevail, he is neither to be called a rock
   upon which Christ builds His Church; neither a Church, or part of the
   Church, which Christ builds upon a rock.

   Chrys.: Then He speaks of another honour of Peter, when He adds, "And I
   will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven;" as much as to say,
   As the Father hath given thee to know Me, I also will give something
   unto thee, namely, the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

   Raban.: For as with a zeal beyond the others he had confessed the King
   of heaven, he is deservedly entrusted more than the others with the
   keys of the heavenly kingdom, that it might be clear to all, that
   without that confession and faith none ought to enter the kingdom of
   heaven. By the keys of the kingdom He means discernment [margin note:
   discretio] and power; power, by which he binds and looses; discernment,
   by which he separates the worthy from the unworthy.

   It follows, "And whatsoever thou shalt bind;" that is, whomsoever thou
   shalt judge unworthy of forgiveness while he lives, shall be judged
   unworthy with God; and "whatsoever thou shalt loose," that is,
   whomsoever thou shalt judge worthy to be forgiven while he lives, shall
   obtain forgiveness of his sins from God.

   Origen: See how great power has that rock upon which the Church is
   built, that its sentences are to continue firm as though God gave
   sentence by it.

   Chrys.: See how Christ leads Peter to a high understanding concerning
   himself. These things that He here promises to give him, belong to God
   alone, namely to forgive sins, and to make the Church immoveable amidst
   the storms of so many persecutions and trials.

   Raban.: But this power of binding and loosing, though it seems given by
   the Lord to Peter alone, is indeed given also to the other Apostles,
   [margin note: see Matt 18:18] and is even now in the Bishops and
   Presbyters in every Church. But Peter received in a special manner the
   keys of the kingdom of heaven, and a supremacy of judicial power, that
   all the faithful throughout the world might understand that all who in
   any manner separate themselves from the unity of the faith, or from
   communion with him, such should neither be able to be loosed from the
   bonds of sin, nor to enter the gate of the heavenly kingdom.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: This power was committed specially to Peter, that
   we might thereby be invited to unity. For He therefore appointed him
   the head of the Apostles, that the Church might have one principal
   Vicar of Christ, to whom the different members of the Church should
   have recourse, if ever they should have dissensions among them.

   But if there were many heads in the Church, the bond of unity would be
   broken. Some say that the words "upon earth" denote that power was not
   given to men to bind and loose the dead, but the living; for he who
   should loose the dead would do this not upon earth, but after the
   earth.

   Second Council of Constantinople, Concil. Con. ii. Collat. 8: How is it
   that some do presume to say that these things are said only of the
   living? Know they not that the sentence of anathema is nothing else but
   separation? They are to be avoided who are held of grievous faults,
   whether they are among the living, or not. For it is always behoveful
   to fly from the wicked. Moreover there are divers letters read of
   Augustine of religious memory, who was of great renown among the
   African bishops, which affirmed [margin note: see Aug. Ep. 185, 4] that
   heretics ought to be anathematized even after death. Such an
   ecclesiastical tradition other African Bishops also have preserved. And
   the Holy Roman Church also has anathematized some Bishops after death,
   although no accusation had been brought against their faith in their
   lifetime. [ed. note: This passage is quoted from the sentence of the
   Council. It alleges the authority of S. Cyril, from one of whose lost
   works against Theodorus the sentence beginning, "They are to be
   avoided, &c," is quoted.]

   Jerome: Bishops and Presbyters, not understanding this passage, assume
   to themselves something of the lofty pretensions of the Pharisees, and
   suppose that they may either condemn the innocent, or absolve the
   guilty; whereas what will be enquired into before the Lord will be not
   the sentence of the Priests, but the life of him that is being judged.

   We read in Leviticus of the lepers, how they are commanded to shew
   themselves to the Priests; and if they have the leprosy, then they are
   made unclean by the Priest; not that the Priest makes them leprous and
   unclean, but that the Priest has knowledge of what is leprosy and what
   is not leprosy, and can discern who is clean, and who is unclean. In
   the same way then as there the Priest makes the leper unclean, here the
   Bishop or Presbyter binds or looses not those who are without sin, or
   guilt, but in discharge of his function when he has heard the varieties
   of their sins, he knows who is to be bound, and who loosed.

   Origen: Let him then be without blame who binds or looses another, that
   he may be found worthy to bind or loose in heaven. Moreover, to him who
   shall be able by his virtues to shut the gates of hell, are given in
   reward the keys of the kingdom of heaven. For every kind of virtue when
   any has begun to practise it, as it were opens itself before Him, the
   Lord, namely, opening it through His grace, so that the same virtue is
   found to be both the gate, and the key of the gate. But it may be that
   each virtue is itself the kingdom of heaven.
     __________________________________________________________________

   20. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he
   was Jesus the Christ.

   21. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how
   that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders
   and Chief Priests and Scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the
   third day.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Seeing Peter had confessed Him to be Christ the Son of the
   living God, because He would not have them preach this in the mean
   time, He adds, "Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no
   man, that he was Jesus the Christ."

   Jerome: When then above He sends His disciples to preach, and commands
   them to proclaim His advent, this seems contrary to His command here,
   that they should not say that He is Jesus the Christ. To me it seems
   that it is one thing to preach Christ, and another to preach Jesus the
   Christ. Christ is a common title of dignity, Jesus the proper name of
   the Saviour.

   Origen: Or they then spake of Him in lowly words, as only a great and
   wonderful man, but as yet proclaimed Him not as the Christ. Yet if any
   will have it that He was even at the first proclaimed to be Christ, be
   may say that now He chose that first short announcement of His name to
   be left in silence and not repeated, that little which they had heard
   concerning Christ might be digested into their minds. Or the difficulty
   may be solved thus: that the fairer relation concerning their preaching
   Christ does not belong to the time before His Resurrection, but to the
   time that should be after the Resurrection; and that the command now
   given is meant for the time present; for it were of no use to preach
   Him, and to be silent conceiving His cross. Moreover, He commanded them
   that they should tell no man that He was the Christ, and prepared them
   that they should afterwards say that He was Christ who was crucified,
   and who rose again from the dead.

   Jerome: But that none should suppose that this is only any explanation,
   and not an evangelic interpretation, what follows explains the reasons
   of His forbidding them to preach Him at that time; "Then began Jesus to
   shew unto his disciples that he must needs go unto Jerusalem, and
   suffer many things of the elders and Scribes, and Chief Priests, and be
   put to death, and rise again the third day."

   The meaning is; Then preach Me when I shall have suffered these things,
   for it will be of no avail that Christ be preached publicly, and His
   Majesty spread abroad among the people, when after a little time they
   shall see Him scourged and crucified.

   Chrys.: For what having once had root has afterwards been torn up, if
   it is again planted, is with difficulty retained among the multitude;
   but what having been once rooted has continued ever after unmoved, is
   easily brought on to a further growth. He therefore dwells on these
   sorrowful things, and repeats His discourse upon them, that He may open
   the minds of His disciples.

   Origen: And observe that it is not said, He began to say,' or to
   teach,' but "to shew;" for as things are said to be shewn to the sense,
   so the things which Christ spake are said to be shewn by Him. Nor
   indeed do I think, that to those who saw Him suffering many things in
   the flesh, were those things which they saw so shewn as this
   representation in words shewed to the disciples the mystery of the
   passion and resurrection of Christ. At that time, indeed, He only
   "began to shew them," and afterwards when they were more able to
   receive it, He shewed them more fully; for all that Jesus began to do,
   that He accomplished.

   He must needs go to Jerusalem, to be put to death indeed in the
   Jerusalem which is below, but to rise again and reign in the heavenly
   Jerusalem. But when Christ rose again, and others were risen with Him,
   they no longer sought the Jerusalem which is beneath, or the house of
   prayer in it, but that which is above. He suffers many things from the
   elders of the earthly Jerusalem, that He may be glorified by those
   heavenly elders who receive His mercies. He rose again from the dead on
   the third day, that He may deliver from the evil one, and purchase for
   such as are so delivered this gift, that they be baptized in spirit,
   soul, and body, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
   Spirit, who are three days perpetually present to those that through
   them have been made children of light.
     __________________________________________________________________

   22. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, "Be it far
   from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee."

   23. But he turned, and said unto Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan:
   thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be
   of God, but those that be of men."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: While Christ was yet speaking the beginnings of the things
   which He was shewing unto them, Peter considered them unworthy of the
   Son of the living God. And forgetting that the Son of the living God
   does nothing, and acts in no way worthy of blame, he began to rebuke
   Him; and this is what is said, "And Peter took him, and began to rebuke
   him."

   Jerome: We have often said that Peter had too hot a zeal, and a very
   great affection towards the Lord the Saviour. Therefore after that his
   confession, and the reward of which he had heard from the Saviour, he
   would not have that his confession destroyed, and thought it impossible
   that the Son of God could be put to death, but takes Him to him
   affectionately, or takes Him aside that he may not seem to be rebuking
   his Master in the presence of his fellow disciples, and begins to chide
   Him with the feeling of one that loved Him, and to contradict Him, and
   say, "Be it far from thee, Lord;" or as it is better in the Greek,
   hileos soi Kurie, ou me estai soi touto, that is, Be propitious to
   Thyself, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee.

   Origen: As though Christ Himself had needed a propitiation. His
   affection Christ allows, but charges him with ignorance; as it follows,
   "He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an
   offence unto me."

   Hilary: The Lord, knowing the suggestion of the craft of the devil,
   says to Peter, "Get thee behind me;" that is, that he should follow the
   example of His passion; but to him by whom this expression was
   suggested, He turns and says, "Satan, thou art an offence unto me." For
   we cannot suppose that the name of Satan, and the sin of being an
   offence, would be imputed to Peter after those so great declarations of
   blessedness and power that had been granted him.

   Jerome: But to me this error of the Apostle, proceeding from the warmth
   of his affection, will never seem a suggestion of the devil. Let the
   thoughtful reader consider that that blessedness of power was promised
   to Peter in time to come, not given him at the time present; had it
   been conveyed to him immediately, the error of a false confession would
   never have found place in him.

   Chrys.: For what wonder is it that this should befal Peter, who had
   never received a revelation concerning these things? For that you may
   learn that confession which he made concerning Christ was not spoken of
   himself, observe how in these things which had not been revealed to
   him, he is at a loss. Estimating the things of Christ by human and
   earthly principles, he judged it mean and unworthy of Him that He
   should suffer. Therefore the Lord added, "For thou savourest not the
   things that be of God, but the things that be of men."

   Jerome: As much as to say; It is of My will, and of the Father's will,
   that I should die for the salvation of men; you considering only your
   own will would not that the grain of wheat should fall into the ground,
   that it may bring forth much fruit; therefore as you speak what is
   opposed to My will, you ought to be called My adversary. For Satan is
   interpreted adverse' or contrary.'

   Origen: Yet the words in which Peter and those in which Satan are
   rebuked, are not, as is commonly thought, the same; to Peter it is
   said, "Get thee behind me, Satan;" that is, follow me, thou that art
   contrary to my will; to the Devil it is said, "Go thy way, Satan,"
   understanding not behind me,' but into everlasting fire.'

   He said therefore to Peter, "Get thee behind me," as to one who through
   ignorance was ceasing to walk after Christ. And He called him Satan, as
   one, who through ignorance had somewhat contrary to God. But he is
   blessed to whom Christ turns, even though He turn in order to rebuke
   him. But why said He to Peter, "Thou art an offence unto me, when in
   the Psalm it is said, Great peace have they that love thy law, and
   there is no offence to them?" [Ps 119:165] It must be answered, that
   not only is Jesus not offended, but neither is any man who is perfect
   in the love of God; and yet he who does or speaks any thing of the
   nature of an offence, may be an offence even to one who is incapable of
   being offended. Or he may hold every disciple that sinneth as an
   offence, as Paul speaks, "Who is offended, and I burn not?" [2 Cor
   11:29]
     __________________________________________________________________

   24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, "If any man will come after me,
   let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

   25. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will
   lose his life for my sake shall find it."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. iv: Peter had said, "Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall
   not be unto thee;" and had been answered, "Get thee behind me, Satan;"
   but the Lord was not satisfied with this rebuke, but over and above
   desired to shew the impropriety of those things which Peter had said,
   and the fruit of His own passion; whence it is added, "Then said Jesus
   to his disciples, If any man will to come after me, let him deny
   himself, and take up his cross, and follow me;" as much as to say, You
   say unto me, "Be it far from thee;" but I say unto you, that not only
   is it harmful for you to hinder Me from My Passion, but yourself will
   not be able to be saved unless you suffer and die, and renounce your
   life always.

   And note, that He does not speak of it as compulsory, for He does not
   say, Though ye will not yet must ye suffer this, but, "If any man
   will." By saying this He rather attracted them; for he who leaves his
   auditor at liberty, attracts him the more; whereas he that uses
   violence oftentimes hinders him.

   And He proposes this doctrine, not to His disciples only, but in common
   to the whole world, saying, "If any man will," that is, if woman, if
   man, if king, if free, if slave; there are three things mentioned; "let
   him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

   Gregory, Hom. in Ev., xxxii, 2: For unless a man departs from himself,
   he does not draw near to Him who is above him. But if we leave
   ourselves, whither shall we go out of ourselves? Or if we have forsaken
   ourselves, who is it then that goes? Indeed, we are one thing when
   fallen by sin, another thing as we were made by nature. It is therefore
   then that we leave and deny ourselves, when we avoid that which we were
   of old, and strive towards that to which we are called in newness.

   Greg., in Ezech., Hom. i, 10: He denies himself whosoever is changed
   for the better, and begins to be what he was not, and ceases to be what
   he was.

   Greg., Mor., xxxiii, 6: He also denies himself, who having trode under
   foot the risings of pride, shews himself in the eyes of God to be
   estranged from himself.

   Origen: But though a man may seem to keep from sin, yet if he does not
   believe in the cross of Christ, he cannot be said to be crucified with
   Christ; whence it follows, "And take up his cross."

   Chrys.: Otherwise; He that disowns another, whether a brother, or a
   servant, or whosoever it be, he may see him beaten, or suffering aught
   else, and neither succours nor befriends him; thus it is He would have
   us deny our body, and whether it be beaten or addicted in any other
   way, not to spare it. For this is to spare. So parents do then most
   spare their children when they hand them over to tutors, bidding them
   not to spare them. And that you should not think that this denial of
   self extends only to words or affronts, he shews to what degree we
   should deny ourselves, namely, to death the most shameful, even that of
   the cross; this He signifies when He says, "And take up his cross, and
   follow me."

   Hilary: We are to follow our Lord by taking up the cross of His
   passion; and if not in deed, yet in will, bear Him company.

   Chrys.: And because malefactors often suffer grievous things, that you
   should not suppose that simply to suffer evil is enough, He adds the
   reason of suffering, when He says, "And follow me." For His sake you
   are to endure all, and to learn His other virtues; for this is to
   follow Christ aright, to be diligent in the practice of virtues, and to
   suffer all things for His sake.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxii, 3: There are two ways of taking our cross;
   when the body is afflicted by abstinence, or when the heart is pained
   by compassion for another. Forasmuch as our very virtues are beset with
   faults, we must declare that vainglory sometimes attends abstinence of
   flesh, for the emaciated body and pale countenance betray this high
   virtue to the praise of the world. Compassion again is sometimes
   attended by a false affection, which is hereby led to be consenting
   unto sin; to shut out these, He adds, "and follow me."

   Jerome: Otherwise; He takes up his cross who is crucified to the world;
   and he to whom the world is crucified, follows his crucified Lord.

   Chrys.: And then because this seemed severe, He softens it by shewing
   the abundant rewards of our pains, and the punishment of evil, "He that
   will save his life shall lose it."

   Origen: This may be understood in two ways. First thus; if any lover of
   this present life spares his life, fearing to die, and supposing that
   his life is ended with this death; he seeking in this way to save his
   life, shall lose it, estranging it from life eternal. But if any,
   despising the present life, shall contend for the truth unto death, he
   shall lose his life as far as this present life is concerned, but
   forasmuch as he loses it for Christ, he shall the more save it for life
   eternal.

   Otherwise thus; if any understand what is true salvation, and desire to
   obtain it for the salvation of his own life, he by denying himself
   loses his life as to the enjoyments of the flesh, but saves it by works
   of piety. He shews by saying, "For he that will," that this passage
   must be connected in sense with that which went before. If then we
   understand the first, "Let him deny himself," of the death of the body,
   we must take this that follows of death only; but if we understand the
   first of mortifying the propensities of the flesh, then, to lose his
   life, signifies to give up carnal pleasures.
     __________________________________________________________________

   26. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and
   lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

   27. For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his
   angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

   28. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not
   taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Because He had said, Whoso will save, shall lose, and whoso
   will lose shall save, opposing saving to losing, that none should hence
   conclude that there was any equality between the losing on one side,
   and the saving on the other, He adds, "What does it profit a man, if he
   shall gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his soul?" As though
   He had said, Say not that he who escapes the dangers which threaten him
   for Christ's sake, saves his soul, that is, his temporal life; but add
   to his temporal life the whole world, and what of all these things will
   profit a man if his soul perishes for ever?

   Suppose you should see all your servants in joy, and yourself placed in
   the greatest evils, what profit would you reap from being their master!
   Think over this within your own soul, when by the indulgence of the
   flesh that soul looks for its own destruction.

   Origen: I suppose also that he gains the world who does not deny
   himself, nor loses his own life as to carnal pleasures, and thence
   suffers the loss of his soul. These two things being set before us, we
   must rather choose to lose the world, and gain our souls.

   Chrys.: But if you should reign over the whole world, you would not be
   able to buy your soul; whence it follows, "Or what shall a man give in
   exchange for his soul?" As much as to say, if you lose goods, you may
   have it in your power to give other goods to recover them; but if you
   lose your soul, you can neither give another soul, nor any thing else
   in ransom for it. And what marvel is it if this happen in the soul,
   when we see the same happen in the body; for if you should surround a
   body afflicted with an incurable disease with ten thousand diadems,
   they would not heal it.

   Origen: And at first sight indeed the ransom of the soul might he
   supposed to be in his substance, that a man should give his substance
   to the poor, and so should save his soul. But I suppose that a man has
   nothing that giving as a ransom for his soul he should deliver it from
   death. God gave the ransom for the souls of men, namely the precious
   blood of His Son.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxii, 4: Or the connexion may be thus; The Holy
   Church has a period of persecution, and a period of peace; and our
   Redeemer accordingly distinguishes between these periods in His
   commands; in time of persecution the life is to be laid down; but in
   time of peace, those earthly lusts which might gain too great power
   over us are to be broken through; whence He says, "What does it profit
   a man?"

   Jerome: Having thus called upon His disciples to deny themselves and
   take up their cross, the hearers were filled with great terror,
   therefore these severe tidings are followed by more joyful; "For the
   Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels."
   Dost thou fear death? Hear the glory of the triumph. Dost thou dread
   the cross? Hear the attendance of the Angels.

   Origen: As much as to say; The Son of Man is now come, but not in
   glory; for He ought not to have been ordained in His glory to bear our
   sins; but then He shall come in His glory, when He shall first have
   made ready His disciples, being made as they are, that He might make
   them as He is Himself, in the likeness of His glory.

   Chrys.: He said not in such glory as is that of the Father, that you
   might not suppose a difference of glory, but He says, "The glory of the
   Father," that it might be shewn to be the same glory. But if the glory
   is one, it is evident that the substance is one. What then fearest
   thou, Peter, hearing of death? For then shalt thou see Me in glory. But
   if I be in glory, so also shall ye be. But in making mention of His
   glory, He mingleth therewith things terrible, bringing forward the
   judgment, as it follows, "And then shall he render to each man
   according to his works."

   Jerome: For there is no difference of Jew or Gentile, man or woman,
   poor or rich, where not persons but works are accepted.

   Chrys.: This He said to call to their minds not only the punishment of
   sinners, but the prizes and crowns of the righteous.

   Jerome: But the secret thought of the Apostles might have suffered an
   offence of this sort; The killings and deaths you speak of as to be
   now, but the promise of your coming in glory is put off to a long
   distant time. He that knows secret things therefore, seeing that they
   might object this, requites a present fear with a present reward,
   saying, "Verily I say unto you, There be some of those standing here
   that shall not taste death until the Son of Man come in his kingdom."

   Chrys., Hom. lvi: Willing to shew what is that glory in which He shall
   come hereafter, He revealed it to them in this present life, so far as
   it was possible for them to receive it, that they might not have sorrow
   in their Lord's death

   Remig. see Bed. in Luc. 9, 27: What is here said, therefore, was
   fulfilled in the three disciples to whom the in Lord, when transfigured
   in the mount, shewed the joys of the eternal inheritance; these saw
   "Him coming in His kingdom," that is, shining in His effulgent
   radiance, in which, after the judgment passed, He shall be beheld by
   all the saints.

   Chrys.: Therefore He does not reveal the names of those who should
   ascend into the mount, because the rest would be very desirous to
   accompany them whither they might look upon the pattern of His glory,
   and would be grieved as though they were passed over.

   Greg.: Or, by the kingdom of God is meant the present Church, and
   because some of His disciples were to live so long in the body as to
   behold the Church of God built up and raised against the glory of this
   world, this comfortable promise is given them, "There be some of them
   standing here."

   Origen: Morally; To those who are nearly brought to the faith, the Word
   of God wears the form of a servant; but to those that are perfect, He
   comes in the glory of the Father. His angels are the words of the
   Prophets, which it is not possible to comprehend spiritually, until the
   word of Christ has been first spiritually comprehended, and then will
   their words be seen in like majesty with His. Then will He give of His
   own glory to every man according to his deeds; for the better each man
   is in his deeds, so much the more spiritually does he understand Christ
   and His Prophets. They that stand where Jesus stands, are they that
   have the foundations of their souls rested upon Jesus; of whom such as
   stood firmest are said not to taste death till they see the Word of
   God; which comes in His kingdom when they see that excellence of God
   which they cannot see while they are involved in divers sins, which is
   to taste death, forasmuch as the soul that sinneth, dies.

   For as life, and the living bread, is He that came down from heaven, so
   His enemy death is the bread of death. And of these breads there are
   some that eat but a little, just tasting them, while some eat more
   abundantly. They that sin neither often, nor greatly, these only taste
   death; they that have partaken more perfectly of spiritual virtue do
   not taste it only, but feed ever on the living bread. That He says,
   "Until they see," does not fix any time at which shall be done what had
   not been done before, but mentions just what is necessary; for he that
   once sees Him in His glory, shall after that by no means taste death.

   Raban., e Bed. in Luc., 9: It is of the saints He speaks as tasting
   death, by whom the death of the body is tasted just as it were sipping,
   while the life of the soul is held fast in possession.
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Chapter 17

   l. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother,
   and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

   2. And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun,
   and his raiment was white as the light.

   3. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with
   him.

   4. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us
   to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for
   thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: In this Transfiguration undergone on the mount, the Lord
   fulfilled within six days the promise made to His disciples, that they
   should have a sight of His glory; as it is said, "And after six days he
   took Peter, and James, and John his brother."

   Jerome: It is made a question how it could be after six days that He
   took them, when Luke says eight. The answer is easy, that here one
   reckoned only the intervening days, there the first and the last are
   also added.

   Chrys.: He does not take them up immediately upon the promise being
   made, but six days after, for this reason, that the other disciples
   might not be touched with any human passion, as a feeling of jealousy;
   or else that during these days' space, those disciples who were to be
   taken up might become kindled with a more eager desire.

   Raban., e Bed.: Justly was it after six days that He shewed His glory,
   because after six ages is to be the resurrection [ed. note: See the
   Oxford Translation of S. Cyprian, Tr. xiii, n.a.]

   Origen: Or because in six days this whole visible world was made; so he
   who is above all the things of this world, may ascend into the high
   mountain, and there see the glory of the Word of God.

   Chrys.: He took these three because He set them before others. But
   observe how Matthew does not conceal who were preferred to himself; the
   like does John also when he records the preeminent praise given to
   Peter. For the company of Apostles was free from jealousy and vain
   glory.

   Hilary: In the three thus taken up with Him, the election of people out
   of the three stocks of Sem, Cam, and Japhet is figured.

   Raban., e Bed.: Or; He took only three disciples with Him, because many
   are called but few chosen. Or because they who now hold in incorrupt
   mind the faith of the Holy Trinity, shall then joy in the everlasting
   beholding of it.

   Remig.: When the Lord was about to shew His disciples the glory of His
   brightness, He led them into the mountain, as it follows, "And he took
   them up into a high mountain apart." Herein teaching, that it is
   necessary for all who seek to contemplate God, that they should not
   grovel in weak pleasures, but by love of things above should be ever
   raising themselves towards heavenly things; and to shew His disciples
   that they should not look for the glory of the divine brightness in the
   gulph of the present world, but in the kingdom of the heavenly
   blessedness. He leads them apart, because the saints are separated from
   the wicked by their whole soul and devotion of their faith, and shall
   be utterly separated in the future; or because many are called, but few
   chosen.

   It follows, "And he was transfigured before them."

   Jerome: Such as He is to be in the time of the Judgment, such was He
   now seen of the Apostles. Let none suppose that He lost His former form
   and lineaments, or laid aside His bodily reality, taking upon Him a
   spiritual or ethereal Body, How His transfiguration was accomplished,
   the Evangelist shews, saying, "And his face did shine as the sun, and
   his raiment became white as snow." For that His face is said to shine,
   and His raiment described to become white, does not take away
   substance, but confer glory. In truth, the Lord was transformed into
   that glory in which He shall hereafter come in His Kingdom. The
   transformation enhanced the brightness, but did not destroy the
   countenance, although the body were spiritual; whence also His raiment
   was changed and became white to such a degree, as in the expression of
   another Evangelist, no fuller on earth can whiten them. But all this is
   the property of matter, and is the subject of the touch, not of spirit
   and ethereal, an illusion upon the sight only beheld in phantasm.

   Remig.: If then the face of the Lord shone as the sun, and the saints
   shall shine as the sun, are then the brightness of the Lord and the
   brightness of His servants to be equal? By no means. But forasmuch as
   nothing is known more bright than the sun, therefore to give some
   illustration of the future resurrection, it is expressed to us that the
   brightness of the Lord's countenance, and the brightness of the
   righteous, shall be as the sun.

   Origen: Mystically; When any one has passed the six days according as
   we have said, he beholds Jesus transfigured before the eyes of his
   heart. For the Word of God has various forms, appearing to each man
   according as He knows that it will be expedient for him; and He shews
   Himself to none in a manner beyond his capacity; whence he says not
   simply, "He was transfigured," but, "before them."

   For Jesus, in the Gospels, is merely understood by those who do not
   mount by means of exalting works and words upon the high mountain of
   wisdom; but to them that do mount up thus, He is no longer known
   according to the flesh, but is understood to be God the Word. Before
   these then Jesus is transfigured, and not before those who live sunk in
   worldly conversation. But these, before whom He is transfigured, have
   been made sons of God, and He is shewn to them as the Son of
   righteousness. His raiment is made white as the light, that is, the
   words and sayings of the Gospels with which Jesus is clothed according
   to those things which were spoken of Him by the Apostles.

   Gloss., e Bed. in Luc.: Or; raiment of Christ shadows out the saints,
   of whom Esaias says, "With all these shalt thou clothe thee as with a
   garment;" [Isa 49:18] and they are likened to snow because they shall
   be white with virtues, and all the heat of vices shall be put far away
   from them.

   It follows, "And there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with
   them."

   Chrys.: There are inane reasons why these should appear. The first is
   this; because the multitudes said He was Elias, or Jeremias, or one of
   the Prophets, He here brings with Him the chief of the Prophets, that
   hence at least may be seen the difference between the servants and
   their Lord.

   Another reason is this; because the Jews were ever charging Jesus with
   being a transgressor of the Law and blasphemer, and usurping to Himself
   the glory of the Father, that He might prove Himself guiltless of both
   charges, He brings forward those who were eminent in both particulars;
   Moses, who gave the Law, and Elias, who was jealous for the glory of
   God.

   Another reason is, that they might learn that He has the power of life
   and death; by producing Moses, who was dead, and Elias, who had not yet
   experienced death. A further reason also the Evangelist discovers, that
   He might shew the glory of His cross, and thus soothe Peter, and the
   other disciples, who were fearing His death; for they talked, as
   another Evangelist declares, "of His decease which He should accomplish
   at Jerusalem."

   Wherefore He brings forward those who had exposed themselves to death
   for God's pleasure, and for the people that believed; for both had
   willingly stood before tyrants, Moses before Pharaoh, Elias before
   Ahab. Lastly, also, He brings them forward, that the disciples should
   emulate their privileges, and be meek as Moses, and zealous as Elias.

   Hilary: Also that Moses and Elias only out of the whole number of the
   saints stood with Christ, means, that Christ, in His kingdom, is
   between the Law and the Prophets; for He shall judge Israel in the
   presence of the same by whom He was preached to them.

   Origen: However, if any man discerns a spiritual sense in the Law
   agreeing with the teaching of Jesus, and in the Prophets finds "the
   hidden wisdom of Christ," [1 Cor 2:7] he beholds Moses and Elias in the
   same glory with Jesus.

   Jerome: It is to be remembered also, that when the Scribes and
   Pharisees asked signs from heaven, He would not give any; but now, to
   increase the Apostles' faith, He gives a sign; Elias descends from
   heaven, whiter he was gone up, and Moses arises from hell; as Ahaz is
   bidden [Isa 7:10] by Esaias to ask him a sign in the heaven above, or
   in the depth beneath.

   Chrys.: Hereupon follows what the warm Peter spake, "Peter answered and
   said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here." Because he had
   heard that He must go up to Jerusalem, he yet fears for Christ; but
   after his rebuke he dares not again say, "Be propitious to thyself,
   Lord," but suggests the same covertly under other guise. For seeing in
   this place great quietness and solitude, he thought that this would be
   a fit place to take up their abode in, saying, "Lord, it is good for us
   to be here." And he sought to remain here ever, therefore he proposes
   the tabernacles, "If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles."
   For he concluded if he should do this, Christ would not go up to
   Jerusalem, and if He should not go up to Jerusalem, He should not die,
   for he knew that there the Scribes laid wait for Him.

   Remig.: Otherwise; At this view of the majesty of the Lord, and His two
   servants, Peter was so delighted, that, forgetting every thing else in
   the world, he would abide here for ever. But if Peter was then so fired
   with admiration, what ravishment will it not be to behold the King in
   His proper beauty, and to mingle in the choir of the Angels, and of all
   the saints? In that Peter says, "Lord, if thou wilt," he shews the
   submission of a dutiful and obedient servant.

   Jerome: Yet art thou wrong, Peter, and as another Evangelist says
   [margin note: Luke 9:33], knowest not what thou sayest. Think not of
   three tabernacles, when there is but one tabernacle of the Gospel in
   which both Law and Prophets are to be repeated. But if thou wilt have
   three tabernacles, set not the servants equal with their Lord, but make
   three tabernacles, yea make one for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
   that They whose divinity is one, may have but one tabernacle, in thy
   bosom.

   Remig.: He was wrong moreover, in desiring that the kingdom of the
   elect should be set up on earth, when the Lord had promised to give it
   in heaven. He was wrong also in forgetting that himself and his fellows
   were mortal, and in desiring to come to eternal felicity without taste
   of death.

   Raban.: Also in supposing that tabernacles were to be built for
   conversation in heaven, in which houses are not needed, as it is
   written in the Apocalypse, "I saw not any temple therein." [Rev 21:22]
     __________________________________________________________________

   5. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and
   behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, "This is my beloved Son,
   in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."

   6. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were
   sore afraid.

   7. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, "Arise, and be not
   afraid."

   8. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus
   only.

   9. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying,
   "Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from
   the dead."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: While they thought only of an earthly tabernacle of boughs or
   tents, they are overshadowed by the covering of a bright cloud; "While
   he yet spake there came a bright cloud and overshadowed them.

   Chrys.: When the Lord threatens, He shews a dark cloud, as on Sinai
   [margin note: Ex 19:9,16]; but here where He sought not to terrify but
   to teach, there appeared a bright cloud.

   Origen: The bright cloud overshadowing the Saints is the Power of the
   Father, or perhaps the Holy Spirit; or I may also venture to call the
   Saviour that bright cloud which overshadows the Gospel, the Law, and
   the Prophets, as they understand who can behold His light in all these
   three.

   Jerome: Forasmuch as Peter had asked unwisely, he deserves not any
   answer; but the Father makes answer for the Son, that the Lord's word
   might be fulfilled, "He that sent me, he beareth witness of me." [John
   5:37]

   Chrys.: Neither Moses, nor Elias speak, but the Father greater than all
   sends a voice out of the cloud, that the disciples might believe that
   this voice was from God. For God has ordinarily shewn Himself in a
   cloud, as it is written, "Clouds and darkness are round about Him;" [Ps
   97:2] and this is what is said, "Behold, a voice out of the cloud."

   Jerome: The voice of the Father is heard speaking from heaven, giving
   testimony to the Son, and teaching Peter the truth, taking away his
   error, and through Peter the other disciples also; whence he proceeds,
   "This is my beloved Son." For Him make the tabernacle, Him obey; this
   is the Son, they are but servants; and they also ought as you to make
   ready a tabernacle for the Lord in the inmost parts of their heart,

   Chrys.: Fear not then, Peter; for if God is mighty, it is manifest that
   the Son is also mighty; wherefore if He is loved, fear not thou; for
   none forsakes Him whom He loves; nor dost thou love Him equally with
   the Father. Neither does He love Him merely because He begot Him, but
   because He is of one will with Himself; as it follows, "In whom I am
   well pleased;" which is to say, in whom I rest content, whom I accept,
   for all things of the Father He performs with care, and His will is one
   with the Father; so if He will to be crucified, do not then speak
   against it.

   Hilary: This is the Son, this the Beloved, this the Accepted; and He it
   is who is to be heard, as the voice out of the cloud signifies, saying,
   "Hear ye Him." For He is a fit teacher of doing the things He has done,
   who has given the weight of His own example to the loss of the world,
   the joy of the cross, the death of the body, and after that the "glory"
   of the heavenly kingdom.

   Remig.: He says therefore, "Hear Him," as much as to say, Let the
   shadow of the Law be past, and the types of the Prophets, and follow ye
   the one shining light of the Gospel. Or He says, "Hear ye Him," to shew
   that it was He whom Moses had foretold, "The Lord your God shall raise
   up a Prophet unto you of your brethren like unto me, Him shall ye
   hear." [Deut 18:18]

   Thus the Lord had witnesses on all sides; from heaven the voice of the
   Father, Elias out of Paradise, Moses out of Hades, the Apostles from
   among men, that at the name of Jesus every thing should bow the knee,
   of things in heaven, things on earth, and things beneath.

   Origen: The voice out of the cloud speaks either to Moses or Elias, who
   desired to see the Son of God, and to hear Him; or it is for the
   teaching of the Apostles.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: It is to be observed, that the mystery of the
   second regeneration, that, to wit, which shall be in the resurrection,
   when the flesh shall be raised again, agrees well with the mystery of
   the first which is in baptism, when the soul is raised again. For in
   the baptism of Christ is shewn the working of the whole Trinity; there
   was the Son incarnate, the Holy Ghost appearing in the figure of a
   dove, and the Father made known by the voice. In like manner in the
   transfiguration, which is the sacrament of the second regeneration, the
   whole Trinity appeared; the Father in the voice, the Son in the man,
   and the Holy Spirit in the cloud.

   It is made a question how the Holy Spirit was shewn there in the dove,
   here in the cloud. Because it is His manner to mark His gifts by
   specific outward forms. And the gift of baptism is innocence, which is
   denoted by the bird of purity. But as in the resurrection, He is to
   give splendour and refreshment, therefore in the cloud are denoted both
   the refreshment and the brightness of the rising bodies.

   It follows, "And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces,
   and feared greatly."

   Jerome: Their cause of terror is threefold. Because they knew that they
   had done amiss; or because the bright cloud had covered them; or
   because they had heard the voice of God the Father speaking; for human
   frailty cannot endure to look upon so great glory, and falls to the
   earth trembling through both soul and body. And by how much higher any
   one has aimed, by so much lower will be his fall, if he shall be
   ignorant of his own measure.

   Remig.: Whereas the holy Apostles fell upon their faces, that was a
   proof of their sanctity, for the saints are always described to fall
   upon their faces, but the wicked to fall backwards. [ed. note: Abraham,
   Gen. 17, 3; Moses and Aaron, Numb. 16. 4, 22; Tobias and Sarah, Tob.
   12, 16; and our Lord Matt. 26, 39. On the other hand, of the wicked,
   see Gen 49, 7; Isa 28, 13; John 18, 6 (Nicol.)]

   Chrys.: But when before in Christ's baptism, such a voice came from
   heaven, yet none of the multitude then present suffered any thing of
   this kind, how is it that the disciples on the mount fell prostrate?
   Because in sooth their solicitude was much, the height and loneliness
   of the spot great, and the transfiguration itself attended with
   terrors, the clear light and the spreading cloud; all these things
   together wrought to terrify them.

   Jerome: And whereas they were laid down, and could not raise themselves
   again, He approaches them, touches them gently, that by His touch their
   fear might be banished, and their unnerved limbs gain strength; "And
   Jesus drew near, and touched them." But He further added His word to
   His hand, "And said unto them, Arise, fear not." He first banishes
   their fear, that He may after impart teaching.

   It follows, "And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save
   Jesus only;" which was done with good reason; for had Moses and Elias
   continued with the Lord, it might have seemed uncertain to which in
   particular the witness of the Father was borne. Also they see Jesus
   standing after the cloud has been removed, and Moses and Elias
   disappeared, because after the shadow of the Law and Prophets has
   departed, both are found in the Gospel.

   It follows; "And as they came down from the mount, Jesus charged them,
   saying, Tell no man this vision, until the Son of Man shall rise from
   the dead." He will not be preached among the people, lest the marvel of
   the thing should seem incredible, and lest the cross following after so
   great glory should cause offence.

   Remig.: Or, because if His majesty should be published among the
   people, they should hinder the dispensation of His passion, by
   resistance to the chief Priests; and thus the redemption of the human
   race should suffer impediment.

   Hilary: He enjoins silence respecting what they had seen, for this
   reason, that when they should be filled with the Holy Spirit, they
   should then become witnesses of these spiritual deeds.
     __________________________________________________________________

   10. And his disciples asked him, saying, "Why then say the Scribes that
   Elias must first come?"

   11. And Jesus answered and said unto them, "Elias truly shall first
   come, and restore all things.

   12. But I say unto you, That, Elias is come already, and they knew him
   not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also
   the Son of man suffer of them."

   13. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the
   Baptist.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: It was a tradition of the Pharisees following the Prophet
   Malachi, that Elias should come before the coming of the Saviour, and
   bring back the heart of the fathers to the children, and the children
   to the fathers, and restore all things to their ancient state. The
   disciples then consider that this transformation which they had seen in
   the mount was His coming in glory, and therefore it is said, "And his
   disciples asked him, saying, How then say the Scribes that Elias must
   first come? As though they had said, If you have already come in glory,
   how is it that your forerunner appears not yet? And this they say
   chiefly because they see that Elias is departed again

   Chrys., Hom., lvii: The disciples knew not of the coming of Elias out
   of the Scriptures; but the Scribes made it known to them; and this
   report was current among the ignorant multitude, as was that concerning
   Christ. Yet the Scribes did not explain the coming of Christ and of
   Elias, as they ought to have done. For the Scriptures speak of two
   comings of Christ; that which has taken place, and that which is yet to
   be. But the Scribes, blinding the people, spake to them only of His
   second coming, and said, If this be the Christ, then should Elias have
   come before Him. Christ thus resolves the difficulty, He answered and
   said, "Elias truly shall come, and restore all things; but I say unto
   you, that Elias has already come."

   Think not that here is a contradiction in His speech, if He first say
   that Elias shall come, and then that he is come. For when He says that
   Elias shall come and restore all things, He speaks of Elias himself in
   his own proper person, who indeed shall restore all things, in that he
   shall correct the unbelief of the Jews, who shall then be to be found;
   and that is the turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, that
   is, the hearts of the Jews to the Apostles

   Aug., Quaest Ev., i, 21: Or; "He shall restore all things," that is
   those whom the persecution of Antichrist shall have overthrown; as He
   Himself should restore by His death those whore He ought.

   Chrys.: But if there shall so much good arise out of the presence of
   Elias, why did He not send him at that time? We shall say, Because they
   then held Christ to be Elias, and yet believed not on Him. But they
   shall hereafter believe Elias, because when he shall come after so
   great expectation announcing Jesus, they will more readily receive what
   shall be taught by Him. But when He says that Elias is come already, He
   calls John the Baptist Elias from the resemblance of their ministry;
   for as Elias shall be the forerunner of His second coming, so was John
   the forerunner of His first. And He calls John Elias, to shew that His
   first coming was agreeable to the Old Testament, and to prophecy.

   Jerome: He then who at the Saviour's second coming should come in the
   truth of His body, come now in John in power and spirit.

   It followers, "And they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they
   would," that is, despised and beheaded him.

   Hilary: As he announced the Lord's coming, so he was also to foreshew
   His passion by the example of his own suffering and wrong; whence it
   follows, "So also shall the Son of Man suffer of them."

   Chrys.: He takes the opportunity from the passion of John to refer to
   His own passion, thus giving them much comfort.

   Jerome: It is enquired how, seeing that Herod and Herodias were they
   that killed John, it can be said that Jesus also was crucified by them,
   when we read that He was put to death by the Scribes and Pharisees! It
   must be answered briefly, that the party of the Pharisees consented to
   the death of John, and that in the Lord's crucifixion Herod united his
   approval, when having mocked and set Him at nought, he sent Him back to
   Pilate, that he should crucify Him.

   Raban.: From the mention of His own passion which the Lord had often
   foretold to them, and from that of His forerunner, which they beheld
   already accomplished, the disciples perceived that John was set forth
   to them under the name of Elias; whence it follows; "Then understood
   the disciples that he spake to them of John the Baptist."

   Origen: That He says of John, "Elias is already come," is not to be
   understood of the soul of Elias, that we fall not into the doctrine of
   metempsychosis, which is foreign to the truth of Church doctrine, but,
   as the Angel had foretold, he came "in the spirit and spirit of Elias."
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a
   certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

   15. "Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed:
   for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

   16. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him."

   17. Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation,
   how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him
   hither to me."

   18. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the
   child was cured from that very hour.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Peter, anxious for such desirable life, and preferring his own
   benefit to that of many, had said, "It is good for us to be here." But
   since charity seeks not her own, Jesus did not this which seemed good
   to Peter, but descended to the multitude, as it were from the high
   mount of His divinity, that He might be of use to such as could not
   ascend because of the weakness of their souls; whence it is said, "And
   when he was come to the multitude;" for if He had not gone to the
   multitude with His elect disciples, there would not have come near to
   Him the man of whom it is added, "There came to him a man kneeling
   down, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son."

   Consider here, that sometimes those that are themselves the sufferers
   believe and entreat for their own healing, sometimes others for them,
   as he who kneels before Him praying for his son, and sometimes the
   Saviour heals of Himself unasked by any.

   First, let us see what this means that follows, "For he is lunatic, and
   sore vexed." Let the physicians talk as they list; for they think it no
   unclean spirit, but some bodily disorder, and say, that the humours in
   the head are governed in their motions by sympathy with the phases of
   the moon, whose light is of the nature of humours. But we who believe
   the Gospel say that it is an unclean spirit that works such disorders
   in men. The spirit observes the moon's changes, that it may cheat men
   into the belief that the moon is the cause of their sufferings, and so
   prove God's creation to be evil; as other daemons lay wait for men
   following the times and courses of the stars, that they may speak
   wickedness in high places, calling some stars malignant, others benign;
   whereas no star was made by God that it should produce evil.

   In this that is added, "For ofttimes he falls into the fire, and oft
   into the water,"

   Chrys.: is to be noted, that were not man fortified here by Providence,
   he would long since have perished; for the daemon who cast him into the
   fire, and into the water, would have killed him outright, had God not
   restrained him.

   Jerome: In saying, "And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could
   not heal him," he covertly accuses the Apostles, whereas that a cure is
   impossible is sometimes the effect not of want of power in those that
   undertake it, but of want of faith in those that are to be healed.

   Chrys.: See herein also his folly, in that before the multitude he
   appeals to Jesus against His disciples. But He clears them from shame,
   imputing their failure to the patient himself; for many things shew
   that he was weak in faith. But He addresses His reproof not to the man
   singly, that He may not trouble him, but to the Jews in general. For
   many of those present, it is likely, had improper thoughts concerning
   the disciples, and therefore it follows, "Jesus answered and said, O
   faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, how
   long shall I suffer you?"

   His "How long shall I be with you?" shews that death was desired by
   Him, and that He longed for His withdrawal.

   Remig.: It may be known also, that not now for the first time, but of a
   long time, the Lord had borne the Jews' stubbornness, whence He says,
   "How long shall I suffer you?" because I have now a long while endured
   your iniquities, and ye are unworthy of My presence.

   Origen: Or; Because the disciples could not heal him as being weak in
   faith, He said to them, "O faithless generation," adding "perverse," to
   shew that their perverseness had introduced evil beyond their nature.
   But I suppose, that because of the perverseness of the whole human
   race, as it were oppressed with their evil nature, He said, "How long
   shall I be with you?"

   Jerome: Not that we must think that He was overcome by weariness of
   them, and that The meek and gentle broke out into words of wrath, but
   as a physician who might see the sick man acting against his
   injunctions, would say, How long shall I frequent your chamber? How
   long throw away the exercise of my skill, while I prescribe one thing,
   and you do another? That it is the sin, and not the man with whom He is
   angry, and that in the person of this one man He convicts the Jews of
   unbelief, is clear from what He adds, "Bring him to me."

   Chrys.: When He had vindicated His disciples, He leads the boy's father
   to a cheering hope of believing that he shall be delivered out of this
   evil; and that the father might be led to believe the miracle that was
   coming, seeing the daemon was disturbed even when the child was only
   called;

   Jerome: He rebuked him, that is, not the sufferer, but the daemon.

   Remig.: In which deed He left an example to preachers to attack sins,
   but to assist men.

   Jerome: Or, His reproof was to the child, because for his sins he had
   been seized on by the daemon.

   Raban.: The lunatic is figuratively one who is hurried into fresh vices
   every hour, one while is cast into the fire, with which the hearts of
   the adulterers burn [margin note: Hos 7:4,6]; or again into the waters
   of pleasures or lusts, which yet have not strength to quench love.

   Aug., Quaest Ev., i, 22: Or the fire pertains to anger, which aims
   upwards, water to the lusts of the flesh.

   Origen: Of the changefulness of the sinner it is said, "The fool
   changes as the moon." [Eccl 27:12] We may see sometimes that an impulse
   towards good works comes over such, when, lo! again as by a sudden
   seizure of a spirit they are laid hold of by their passions, and fall
   from that good state in which they were supposed to stand. Perhaps his
   father stands for the Angel to whom was allotted the care of this
   lunatic, praying the Physician of souls, that He would set free his
   son, who could not be delivered from his suffering by the simple word
   of Christ's disciples, because as a deaf person he cannot receive their
   instruction, and therefore he needs Christ's word, that henceforth he
   may not act without reason.
     __________________________________________________________________

   19. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, "Why could not we
   cast him out?"

   20. And Jesus said unto them, "Because of your unbelief: for verily I
   say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say
   unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove;
   and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

   21. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The disciples had received from the Lord the power over unclean
   spirits, and when they could not heal the daemoniac thus brought to
   them, they seem to have had misgivings lest they had forfeited the
   grace once given to them; hence their question. And they ask it apart,
   not out of shame, but because of the unspeakable matter of which they
   were to ask.

   "Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief."

   Hilary: The Apostles had believed, yet their faith was imperfect; while
   the Lord tarried in the mount, and they abode below with the multitude,
   their faith had become stagnant.

   Chrys.: Whence it is plain that the disciples' faith was grown weak,
   yet not all, for those pillars were there, Peter, and James, and John.

   Jerome: This is what the Lord says in another place, "Whatsoever ye
   shall ask in my name believing, ye shall receive." [Matt 21:22, John
   16:23] Therefore when we receive not, it is not the weakness of Him
   that gives, but the fault of them that ask.

   Chrys.: But it is to be known, that, as ofttimes the faith of him that
   draweth near to receive supplies the miraculous virtue, so ofttimes the
   power of those that work the miracle is sufficient even without the
   faith of those who sought to receive. Cornelius and his household, by
   their faith, attracted to them the grace of the Holy Spirit [Acts
   10:4]; but the dead man who was cast into the sepulchre was revived
   solely by virtue of the holy body. [2 Ki 13:21]

   It happened that the disciples were then weak in faith; for indeed they
   were but in an imperfect condition before the cross; wherefore He here
   tells them, that faith is the mean of miracles, "Verily I say unto you,
   if ye shall have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say to this
   mountain, Remove hence, and it shall remove."

   Jerome: Some think that the faith that is compared to a grain of
   mustard-seed is a little faith, whereas the Apostle says, "If I shall
   have such faith that I could remove mountains." [1 Cor 13:2] The faith
   therefore which is compared to a grain of mustard-seed is a great
   faith.

   Greg., Mor., pref. c. 2: The mustard-seed, unless it be bruised, does
   not give out its qualities, so if persecution fall upon a holy man,
   straightway what had seemed weak and contemptible in him is roused into
   the heat and fervour of virtue.

   Origen: Or, all faith is likened to a grain of mustard-seed, because
   faith is looked on with contempt by men, and shews as something poor
   and mean; but when a seed of this kind lights upon a good heart as its
   soil, it becomes a great tree. The weakness of this lunatic's faith is
   yet so great, and Christ is so strong to heal him amidst all his evils,
   that He likens it to a mountain which cannot be cast out but by the
   whole faith of him who desires to heal afflictions of this sort.

   Chrys.: So He not only promises the removal of mountains, but goes
   beyond, saying, "And nothing shall be impossible to you."

   Raban.: For faith gives our minds such a capacity for the heavenly
   gifts, that whatsoever we will we may easily obtain from a faithful
   Master.

   Chrys.: If you shall ask, Where did the Apostles remove mountains! I
   answer, that they did greater things, bringing many dead to life. It is
   told also of some saints, who came after the Apostles, that they have
   in urgent necessity removed mountains. [ed. note: St. Augustine says,
   that he had never read or heard of a mountain being transported into
   the sea by faith. Sp. et lit. n. 62. St. Chrysostom appears to refer to
   the occurrence recorded in the history of Gregory of Neo-Caesarea,
   called Thaumaturgus, A.D. 260, whose miracles are reported to us by his
   namesake of Nyssa. Nyssen, however, speaks only of his moving a stone,
   (vol. ii. p. 982.) Pope Gregory, Dial. i. 7. calls it a rock, or even a
   mountain. He mentions it while relating the like miracle in the history
   of St. Benedict. In volcanic countries, changes in mountains and rivers
   occur even from natural causes, much more might prayer cause them. But
   St. Augustine's remark shews that there is very little evidence for the
   fact.]

   But if mountains were not removed in the Apostles' time, this was not
   because they could not, but because they would not, there being no
   pressing occasion. And the Lord said not that they should do this
   thing, but that they should have power to do it.

   Yet it is likely that they did do this, but that it is not written, for
   indeed not all the miracles that they wrought are written.

   Jerome: Or; the mountain is not said of that which we see with the eyes
   of the body, but signified that spirit which was removed by the Lord
   out of the lunatic, who is said by the Prophet to be the corrupter of
   the whole earth

   Gloss. interlin.: So that the sense then is, "Ye shall say to this
   mountain," that is to the proud devil, "Remove hence," that is from the
   possessed body into the sea, that is into the depths of hell, "and it
   shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you," that is, no
   sickness shall be incurable."

   Aug.: Otherwise; That the disciples in working their miracles should
   not be lifted up with pride, they are warned rather by the humbleness
   of their faith, as by a grain of mustard-seed, to take care that they
   remove all pride of earth, which is signified by the mountain in this
   place.

   Raban.: But while He teaches the Apostles how the daemon ought to be
   cast out, He instructs all in regulation of life; that we may all know
   that all the heavier afflictions, whether of unclean spirits, or
   temptations of men, may be removed by fasts and prayers; and that the
   wrath also of the Lord may be appeased by this remedy alone; whence he
   adds, "Howbeit this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting."

   Chrys.: And this He says not of lunatics in particular, but of the
   whole class of daemons. For fast endues with great wisdom, makes a man
   as an Angel from heaven, and beats down the unseen powers of evil. But
   there is need of prayer as even still more important. And who prays as
   he ought, and fasts, had need of little more, and so is not covetous,
   but ready to almsgiving. For he who fasts, is light and active, and
   prays wakefully, and quenches his evil lusts, makes God propitious, and
   humbles his proud stomach. And he who prays with his fasting, has two
   wings, lighter than the winds themselves. For he is not heavy and
   wandering in his prayers, (as is the case with many,) but his zeal is
   as the warmth of fire, and his constancy as the firmness of the earth.
   Such an one is most able to contend with daemons, for there is nothing
   more powerful than a man who prays properly.

   But if your health be too weak for strict fast, yet is it not for
   prayer, and if you cannot fast, you can abstain from indulgences. And
   this is not a little, and not very different from fast.

   Origen: If then we shall ever be required to be employed in the healing
   of those who are suffering any thing of this sort, we shall not adjure
   them, nor ask them questions, nor even speak, as though the unclean
   spirit could hear us, but by our fasting and our prayers drive away the
   evil spirits.

   Gloss. ord.: Or; This class of daemons, that is the variety of carnal
   pleasures, is not overcome unless the spirit be strengthened by prayer,
   and the flesh enfeebled by fast.

   Remig.: Or, fasting is here understood generally as abstinence not from
   food only, but from all carnal allurements, and sinful passions. In
   like manner prayer is to be understood in general as consisting in
   pious and good acts, concerning which the Apostle speaks, "Pray without
   ceasing." [1 Thess. 5:17]
     __________________________________________________________________

   22. And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, "The Son of
   man shall be betrayed into the hands of men.

   23. And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised
   again." And they were exceeding sorry.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: The Lord often foretold to His disciples the mysteries of His
   passion, in order that when they come to pass, they might be the
   lighter to them from having been known beforehand.

   Origen: This seems to be so like a warning He had given above, that a
   man might easily say that the Lord now repeated what He had said
   before; yet is it not so; He had not before said that He must be
   betrayed, but we hear now not only that He must be betrayed, but that
   He must be "betrayed into the hands of men." The Son of Man indeed was
   "delivered up" by God the Father according to the Apostle, [Rom 8:32]
   but different powers gave him up into the hands of men.

   Jerome: Thus does He ever mix the joyful and the grievous; if it
   grieves them that He is to be put to death, they ought to be gladdened
   when they hear, "And shall rise again, the third day."

   Chrys.: For this is no long time that He speaks of continuing in death,
   when He says that He shall rise again on the third day.

   Origen: By this announcement of the Lord the disciples were made very
   sorrowful, not attending to that He said, "And shall rise again the
   third day," nor considering what He must be to whom the space of three
   days was enough to destroy death.

   Jerome: That they were thus made exceeding sorrowful, came not of their
   lack of faith; but out of their love of their Master they could not
   endure to hear of any hurt or indignity for Him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   24. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute
   money came to Peter, and said, "Doth not your master pay tribute?"

   25. He saith, "Yes." And when he was come into the house, Jesus
   prevented him, saying, "What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings
   of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of
   strangers?"

   26. Peter saith unto him, "Of strangers." Jesus saith unto him, "Then
   are the children free.

   27. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea,
   and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when
   thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that
   take, and give unto them for me and thee."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: The disciples were exceeding sorrowful when they
   heard of the Lord's passion, and therefore that none might ascribe His
   suffering to compulsion, and not to a voluntary submission, he adds an
   incident which instances Christ's power, and His submission; "And when
   they were come to Capernaum, there came to Peter those who received the
   didrachma, and said unto him, Doth not your Master pay the didrachma?"

   Hilary: The Lord is called upon to pay the didrachma, (that is, two
   denarii,) for this the Law had enjoined upon all Israel for the
   redemption of their body and soul, and the use of those that served in
   the temple.

   Chrys.: For when God slew the firstborn of Egypt, He then accepted the
   tribe of Levi for them. [margin note: Numb 3:44] But because the
   numbers of this tribe were less than the number of firstborn among the
   Jews, it was ordained that redemption money should be paid for the
   number that came short; and thence sprang the custom of paying this
   tax.

   Because then Christ was a firstborn son, and Peter seemed to be the
   first among the disciples, they came to him. And as it seems to me this
   was not demanded in every district, they come to Christ in Capernaum,
   because that was considered His native place.

   Jerome: Or otherwise; From the time of Augustus Caesar Judaea was made
   tributary, and all the inhabitants were registered, as Joseph with Mary
   his kinswoman gave in His name at Bethlehem. Again, because the Lord
   was brought up at Nazareth, which is a town of Galilee subject to
   Capernaum, it is there that the tribute is asked of Him; but for that
   His miracles were so great, those who collected it did not dare to ask
   Himself, but make up to the disciple.

   Chrys.: And him they address not with boldness, but courteously; for
   they do not arraign, but ask a question, "Doth not your Master pay the
   didrachma?"

   Jerome: Or, They enquire with malicious purpose whether He pays
   tribute, or resists Caesar's will.

   Chrys.: What then does Peter say? "He saith, Yea." To these then he
   said that He did pay, but to Christ he said not so, blushing perhaps to
   speak of such matters.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Otherwise; Peter answered, Yea; meaning, yea, He
   does not pay. And Peter sought to acquaint the Lord that the Herodians
   had demanded tribute, but the Lord prevented him; as it follows, "And
   when he had entered into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, Of
   whom do the kings of the earth receive custom or tribute," (i. e. head-
   money,) "of their children, or of strangers?"

   Jerome: Before any hint from Peter, the Lord puts the question to him,
   that His disciples might not be offended at the demand of tribute, when
   they see that He knows even those things that are done in His absence.

   It follows, "But he said, From strangers; Jesus said unto him, Then are
   the children free."

   Origen: This speech has a twofold meaning. First, that the children of
   the kings of the earth are free with the kings of the earth; but
   strangers, foreigners in the land, are not free, because of those that
   oppress them, as the Egyptians did the children of Israel.

   The second sense is; forasmuch as there be some who are strangers to
   the sons of the kings of the earth, and are yet sons of God, therefore
   it is they that abide in the words of Jesus; these are free, for they
   have known the truth, and the truth has set them free from the service
   of sin: but the sons of the kings of the earth are not free; for "whoso
   doth sin, he is the servant of sin." [John 8:34]

   Jerome: But our Lord was the son of the king, both according to the
   flesh, and according to the Spirit; whether as sprung of the seed of
   David, or as the Word of the Almighty Father; therefore as the king's
   son He owed no tribute.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 23: For, saith He, in every kingdom the children
   are free, that is, not under tax. Much more therefore should they be
   free in any earthly kingdom, who are children of that very kingdom
   under which are all the kingdoms of the earth.

   Chrys.: But this instance were brought to no purpose if He were not a
   son. But some one may say, He is son indeed, but not an own son. But
   then He were a stranger; and so this instance would not apply; for He
   speaks only of own sons, distinct from whom He calls them strangers who
   are actually born of parents. Mark how here also Christ certifies that
   relationship which was revealed to Peter from God, "Thou art Christ,
   the Son of the living God."

   Jerome: Howsoever free then He was, yet seeing He had taken to Him
   lowliness of the flesh, He ought to fulfil all righteousness; whence it
   follows, "But that they should not be offended, go to the sea."

   Origen: We may hence gather as a consequence of this, that when any
   come with justice demanding our earthly goods, it is the kings of the
   earth that send them, to claim of us what is their own; and by His own
   example the Lord forbids any offence to be given even to these, whether
   that they should sin no more, or that they should be saved. For the Son
   of God, who did no servile work, yet as having the form of a slave,
   which He took on Him for man's sake, gave custom and tribute.

   Jerome: I am at a loss what first to admire in this passage; whether
   the foreknowledge, or the mighty power of the Saviour. His
   foreknowledge, in that He knew that a fish had a stater in its mouth,
   and that that fish should be the first taken; His mighty power, if the
   stater were created in the fish's mouth at His word, and if by His
   command that which was to happen was ordered. Christ then, for His
   eminent love, endured the cross, and paid tribute; how wretched we who
   are called by the name of Christ, though we do nothing worthy of so
   great dignity, yet in respect of His majesty, pay no tribute, but are
   exempt from tax as the King's sons. But even in its literal import it
   edifies the hearer to learn, that so great was the Lord's poverty, that
   He had not whence to pay the tribute for Himself and His Apostle.
   Should any object that Judas bore money in a bag, we shall answer,
   Jesus held it a fraud to divert that which was the poor's to His own
   use, and left us an example therein.

   Chrys.: Or He does not direct it to be paid out of that they had at
   hand, that He might shew that He was Lord also of the sea and the fish.

   Gloss., non occ.: Or because Jesus had not any image of Caesar, (for
   the prince of this world had nothing in Him,) therefore He furnished an
   image of Caesar, not out of their own stock, but out of the sea. But He
   takes not the stater into His own possession, that there should never
   be found an image of Caesar upon the Image of the invisible God.

   Chrys.: Observe also the wisdom of Christ; He neither refuses the
   tribute, nor merely commands that it be paid; but first proves that He
   is of right exempt, and then bids to give the money; the money was paid
   to avoid offence to the collectors; the vindication of His exemption
   was to avoid the offence to the disciples.

   Indeed in another place He disregards the offence of the Pharisees, in
   disputing of meats; teaching us herein to know the seasons in which we
   must attend to, and those in which we must slight the thoughts of those
   who are like to be scandalized.

   Greg., in Ezech. 7. 4: For we must cast about how, as far as we may
   without sin, to avoid giving scandal to our neighbours. But if offence
   is taken from truth, it is better that offence should come, though
   truth be forsaken.

   Chrys.: As you wonder at Christ's power, so admire Peter's faith, who
   was obedient in no easy matter. In reward of his faith he was joined
   with his Lord in the payment. An abundant honour! "Thou shalt find a
   stater, that take and give unto them for thee and for me."

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: For by custom every several man paid a didrachma
   for himself; now a stater is equal to two didrachmas.

   Origen: Mystically; In the field of comfort, (for so is Capernaum
   expounded,) He comforts each one of His disciples, and pronounces him
   to be a son and free, and gives him the power of taking the first fish,
   that after His ascension Peter may have comfort over that which he has
   caught.

   Hilary: When Peter is instructed to take the first fish, it is shewn
   therein that he shall catch more than one. The blessed first martyr
   Stephen was the first that came up, having in his mouth a stater, which
   contained the didrachma of the new preaching, divided as two denarii,
   for he preached as he beheld in his passion the glory of God, and
   Christ the Lord.

   Jerome: Or; That fish which was first taken is the first Adam, who is
   set free by the second Adam; and that which is found in his mouth, that
   is, in his confession, is given for Peter and for the Lord.

   Origen: And when you see any miser rebuked by some Peter who takes the
   speech of his money out of his mouth, you may say that he is risen out
   of the sea of covetousness to the hook of reason, and is caught and
   saved by some Peter, who has taught him the truth, that he should
   change his stater for the image of God, that is for the oracles of God.

   Jerome: And beautifully is this very stater given for the tribute; but
   it is divided; for Peter as for a sinner a ransom is to be paid, but
   the Lord had not sin. Yet herein is shewn the likeness of their flesh,
   when the Lord and His servants are redeemed with the same price.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 18

   l. At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, "Who is the
   greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

   2. And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst
   of them,

   3. And said, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become
   as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

   4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the
   same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

   5. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth
   me.

   6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
   it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
   that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The disciples seeing one piece of money paid both for Peter and
   the Lord, conceived from this equality of ransom that Peter was
   preferred before all the rest of the Apostles.

   Chrys.: Thus they suffered a human passion, which the Evangelist
   denotes by saying, "At the same time came the disciples to Jesus,
   saying, "Who pray thee, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
   Ashamed to shew the feeling which was working within, they do not say
   openly, Why have you honoured Peter above us? but they ask in general,
   Who is the greatest! When in the transfiguration they saw three
   distinguished, namely, Peter, James, and John, they had no such
   feeling, but now that one is singled out for especial honour, then they
   are grieved. But do yon remember, first, that it was nothing in this
   world that they sought; and, secondly, that they afterwards laid aside
   this feeling? Even their failings are above us, whose enquiry is not,
   Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? but, Who is greatest in
   the kingdom of the world?

   Origen: Herein we ought to be imitators of the disciples, that when any
   question of doubt arises among us, and we find not how to settle it, we
   should with one consent go to Jesus, Who is able to enlighten the
   hearts of men to the explication of every perplexity. We shall also
   consult some of the doctors, who are thought most eminent in the
   Churches. But in that they asked this question, the disciples knew that
   there was not an equality among the saints in the kingdom of heaven;
   what they yet sought to learn was, how they were so, and lived as
   greater and less. Or, from what the Lord had said above, they knew who
   was the best and who was great; but out of many great, who was the
   greatest, this was not clear to them.

   Jerome: Jesus seeing their thoughts would heal their ambitious
   strivings, by arousing an emulation in lowliness; whence it follows,
   "And Jesus calling a little child, set him in the midst of them."

   Chrys.: He chose, I suppose, quite an infant, devoid of any of the
   passions.

   Jerome: One whose tender age should express to them the innocence which
   they should have. But truly He set Himself in the midst of them, a
   little one who had come "not to be ministered unto, but to minister,"
   [Matt 20:28] that He might be a pattern of holiness.

   Others interpret [margin note: see Origen in loc.] the little one of
   the Holy Spirit whom He set in the hearts of His disciples, to change
   their pride into humility. "And he said, Verily I say unto you, Except
   ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into
   the kingdom of heaven."

   He does not enjoin on the Apostles the age, but the innocence of
   infants, which they have by virtue of their years, but to which these
   might attain by striving; that they should be children in malice, not
   in understanding. As though He had said, As this child, whom I set
   before you as a pattern, is not obstinate in anger, when injured does
   not bear it in mind, has no emotion at the sight of a fair woman, does
   not think one thing while he speaks another; so ye, unless ye have the
   like innocence and purity of mind, shall not be able to enter into the
   kingdom of heaven.

   Hilary: He calls infants all who believe through the hearing of faith;
   for such follow their father, love their mother, know not to will that
   which is evil, do not bear hate, or speak lies, trust what is told
   them, and believe what they hear to be true. But the letter is thus
   interpreted.

   Gloss. interlin.: "Except ye be converted" from this ambition and
   jealousy in which you are at present, and become all of you as innocent
   and humble in disposition as you are weak in your years, "ye shall not
   enter into the kingdom of heaven;" and since there is none other road
   to enter in, "whoso shall humble himself as this little child, the same
   is greatest in the kingdom of heaven;" for by how much a man is humble
   now, by so much shall he be exalted in the kingdom of heaven.

   Remig.: In the understanding of grace, or in ecclesiastical dignity, or
   at least in everlasting blessedness.

   Jerome: Or otherwise; "Whoso shall humble himself as this little
   child," that is, whoso shall humble himself after My example, "he shall
   enter into the kingdom of heaven."

   It follows, "And whoso receiveth one such little one in my name,
   receiveth me."

   Chrys.: Not only if ye become such yourselves, but also if for My sake
   you shall pay honour to other such, ye receive reward; and as the
   return for the honour you pay them, I entail upon you the kingdom. He
   puts indeed what is far greater, "Receiveth me."

   Jerome: For whoever is such that he imitates Christ's humility and
   innocence, Christ is received by him; and by way of caution, that the
   Apostles should not think, when such are come to them, that it is to
   themselves that the honour is paid, He adds, that they are to be
   received not for their own desert, but in honour of their Master.

   Chrys.: And to make this word the rather received, He subjoins a
   penalty in what follows, "Whoso offendeth one of these little ones,
   &c." as though He had said, As those who for My sake honour one of
   these, have their reward, so they who dishonour shall undergo the
   extreme punishment. And marvel not that He calls an evil word an
   offence, for many of feeble spirit are offended by only being despised.

   Jerome: Observe that he who is offended is a little one, for the
   greater hearts do not take offences. And though it may be a general
   declaration against all who scandalize any, yet from the connection of
   the discourse it may be said specially to the Apostles; for in asking
   who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, they seemed to be
   contending for preeminence among themselves; and if they had persisted
   in this fault, they might have scandalized those whom they called to
   the faith, seeing the Apostles contending among themselves for the
   preference.

   Origen: But how can he who has been converted, and become as a little
   child, be yet liable to be scandalized? This may be thus explained.
   Every one who believes on the Son of God, and walks after evangelic
   acts, is converted and walks as a little child; but he who is not
   converted that he may become as a child, it is impossible that he
   should enter into the kingdom of heaven.

   But in every congregation of believers, there are some only newly
   converted that they may become as little children, but not yet made
   such; these are the little ones in Christ, and these are they that
   receive offence.

   Jerome: When it is said, "It is better for him that a mill-stone be
   hanged about his neck," He speaks according to the custom of the
   province; for among the Jews this was the punishment of the greater
   criminals, to drown them by a stone tied to them. It is better for him,
   because it is far better to receive a brief punishment for a fault,
   than to be reserved for eternal torments.

   Chrys.: To correspond with the foregoing, He should have said here,
   Receiveth not Me, which were bitterer than any punishment; but because
   they were dull, and the before-named punishment did not move them, by a
   familiar instance He shews that punishment awaited them; for He
   therefore says, "it were better for him," because another more grievous
   punishment awaits him.

   Hilary: Mystically; The work of the mill is a toil of blindness, for
   the beasts having their eyes closed are driven round in a circle, and
   under the type of an ass we often find the Gentiles figured, who are
   held in the ignorance of blind labour; while the Jews have the path of
   knowledge set before them in the Law, who if they offend Christ's
   Apostles it were better for them, that having their necks made fast to
   a mill-stone, they should be drowned in the sea, that is, kept under
   labour and in the depths of ignorance, as the Gentiles; for it were
   better for them that they should have never known Christ, than not to
   have received the Lord of the Prophets.

   Greg., Mor., vi, 37: Otherwise; What is denoted by the sea, but the
   world, and what by the mill-stone, but earthly action? which, when it
   binds the neck in the yoke of vain desires, sends it to a dull round of
   toil. There are some who leave earthly action, and bend themselves to
   aims of contemplation beyond the reach of intellect, laying aside
   humility, and so not only throw themselves into error, but also cast
   many weak ones out of the bosom of truth.

   Whoso then offends one of the least of mine, it were better for him
   that a mill-stone be tied about his neck, and he be cast into the sea,
   that is, it were better for a perverted heart to be entirely occupied
   with worldly business, than to be at leisure for contemplative studies
   to the hurt of many.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 24: "Whoso offendeth one of these little ones,"
   that is so humble as He would have his disciples to be, by not obeying,
   or by opposing, (as the Apostle says of Alexander, [margin note: 2 Tim
   4:15]) "it were better for him that a mill-stone should be hanged about
   his neck, and he be drowned in the depths of the sea," that is, it were
   better for him that desire of the things of the world, to which the
   blind and foolish are tied down, should sink him by its load to
   destruction.
     __________________________________________________________________

   7. "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that
   offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.

   8. Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and
   cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or
   maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into
   everlasting fire.

   9. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee:
   it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than
   having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: The Lord had said, that it is better for him who
   gives offence, that a mill-stone be hanged about his neck, which He now
   subjoins the reason, "Woe unto the world from offences!" i. e. because
   of offences.

   Origen: This we may understand not of the material elements of the
   world; but here the men who are in the world, are called the world.
   [ed. note: i. e. Mundus, whereas the word commonly used in this sense
   is, "saeculum."]

   But Christ's disciples are not of this world, whence there cannot be
   woe to them from offences; for though there be many offences, they do
   not touch him who is not of this world. But if he be yet of this world
   in loving the world, and the things in it, as many offences will seize
   him as those by which he was encompassed in the world.

   It follows, "For it must needs be that offences come."

   Chrys., Hom., lix: This does not subvert the liberty of the will, or
   impose a necessity of any act, but foreshews what must come to pass.
   Offences are hindrances in the right way. But Christ's prophecy does
   not bring in the offences, for it is not done because He foretold it,
   but He foretold it because it was certainly to come to pass.

   But some one will say, If all men are recovered, and if there be none
   to bring the offences, will not His speech be convicted of falsehood?
   By no means; for seeing that men were incurable, He therefore said, "It
   must needs be that offences come;" that is, they surely will come;
   which He never would have said, if all men might be amended.

   Gloss. interlin.: Or they must needs come because they are necessary,
   that is, useful, that by this mean "they that are approved may be made
   manifest." [1 Cor 11:19]

   Chrys.: For offences rouse men, and make them more attentive; and he
   who falls by them speedily rises again, and is more careful.

   Hilary: Or; The lowliness of His passion is the scandal of the world,
   which refused to receive the Lord of eternal glory under the disgrace
   of the Cross. And what more dangerous for the world than to have
   rejected Christ? And He says that offences must needs come, forasmuch
   as in the sacrament of restoring to us eternal life, all lowliness of
   suffering was to be fulfilled in Him.

   Origen: Or; The scandals that are to come are the Angels of Satan. But
   do not look that these offences should shew themselves in a substantial
   or natural shape, for in some the freedom of the will has been the
   origin of offence, not liking to undergo toil for virtue's sake. But
   there cannot be real good, without the opposition of evil. It must
   needs be then that offences come, as it must needs be that we encounter
   the evil assaults of spiritual powers; whose hatred is the more stirred
   up, as Christ's word invading men drives out the evil influences from
   them. And they seek instruments by whom the offences may the rather
   work; and to such instruments is more woe; for him who gives, it shall
   be worse than for him who takes, the offence, as it follows, "But woe
   unto that man by whom the offence cometh."

   Jerome: As much as to say, Woe to that man through whose fault it comes
   to pass, that offences must needs be in the world. And under this
   general declaration, Judas is particularly condemned, who had made
   ready his soul for the act of betrayal.

   Hilary: Or; By the man is denoted the Jewish people, as the introducers
   of all this offence that is about Christ's passion; for they brought
   upon the world all the danger of denying Christ in His passion, of whom
   the Law and the Prophets had preached that He should suffer.

   Chrys.: But that you may learn that there is no absolute necessity for
   offences, hear what follows, "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, &c."
   This is not said of the limbs of the body, but of friends whom we
   esteem as limbs necessary to us; for nothing is so hurtful as evil
   communications.

   Raban.: Scandal (offence) is a Greek word, which we may call a
   stumbling-block, or a fall, or hitting of the foot. He then scandalizes
   his brother, who by word or deed amiss gives him occasion of falling.

   Jerome: So all affection, our whole kindred, are severed from us; lest
   under cover of duty any believer should be exposed to offence. If, He
   says, he be united to thee as close as is thy hand, or foot, or eye,
   and is useful to thee, anxious and quick to discern, and yet causes
   thee offence, and is by the unmeetness of his behaviour drawling thee
   into hell; it is better for thee that thou lack his kindred, and his
   profitableness to thee, than that whilst thou seekest to gain thy
   kindred or friends, thou shouldest have cause of failings. For every
   believer knows what is doing him harm, what troubles and tempts him,
   for it is better to lead a solitary life, than to lose eternal life, in
   order to have the things necessary for this present life.

   Origen: Or, The priests may with good reason be called the eyes of the
   Church, since they are considered her watchmen; but the deacons and the
   rest her hands, for by them spiritual deeds are wrought; the people are
   the feet of the body, the Church; and all these it behoves not to
   spare, if they become an offence to the Church. Or, by the offending
   hand is understood an act of the mind; a motion of the mind is the
   offending foot, and a vision of the mind is the sinning eye, which we
   ought to cut off if they give offence, for thus the acts of the limbs
   are often put in Scripture for the limbs themselves.
     __________________________________________________________________

   10. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say
   unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my
   Father which is in heaven.

   11. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

   12. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be
   gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the
   mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

   13. And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth
   more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

   14. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that
   one of these little ones should perish."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The Lord had said, under the type of hand, foot, and eye, that
   all kin and connection which could afford scandal must be cut off. The
   harshness of this declaration He accordingly tempers with the following
   precept, saying, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little
   ones;" i. e. As far as you may avoid despising them, but next to your
   own salvation seek also to heal them. But if ye see that they hold to
   their sins, it is better that ye be saved, than that ye perish in much
   company.

   Chrys.: Or otherwise; As to shun the evil, so to honour the good, has
   great recompense. Above then He had bid them to cut off the friendships
   of those that gave offence, here He teaches them to shew honour and
   service to the saints.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or otherwise; Because so great evils come of
   brethren being scandalized, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these
   little ones."

   Origen: The little ones are those that are but lately born in Christ,
   or those who abide without advance, as though lately born. But Christ
   judged it needless to give command concerning not despising the more
   perfect believers, but concerning the little ones, as He had said
   above, "If any man shall offend one of these little ones." A man may
   perhaps say that a little one here means a perfect Christian, according
   to that He says elsewhere, "Whoso is least among you, he shall be
   great." [Luke 9:48]

   Chrys.: Or because the perfect are esteemed of many as little ones, as
   poor, namely, and despicable.

   Origen: But this exposition does not seem to agree with that which was
   said, "If any one scandalizes one of these little ones;" for the
   perfect man is not scandalized, nor does he perish. But he who thinks
   this the true exposition, says, that the mind of a righteous man is
   variable, and is sometimes offended, but not easily.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Therefore are they not to be despised for that they
   are so dear to God, that Angels are deputed to be their guardians; "For
   I say unto you, that in heaven their Angels do always behold the face
   of my Father which is in heaven."

   Origen: Some will have it that an Angel is given as an attendant
   minister from the time when in the laver of regeneration the infant is
   born in Christ; for, say they, it is incredible that a holy Angel
   watches over those who are unbelieving and in error, but in his time of
   unbelief and sin man is under the Angels of Satan.

   Others will have it, that those who are foreknown of God, have
   straightway from their very birth a guardian Angel.

   Jerome: High dignity of souls, that each from its birth has an Angel
   set in charge over it!

   Chrys.: Here He is speaking not of any Angels, but of the higher sort;
   for when He says, "Behold the face of my Father," He shews that their
   presence before God is free and open, and their honour great.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., 34, 12: But Dionysius says, that it is from the
   ranks of the lesser Angels that these are sent to perform this
   ministry, either visibly or invisibly, for that those higher ranks have
   not the employment of an outward ministry.

   Greg., Mor., ii, 3: And therefore the Angels always behold the face of
   the Father, and yet they come to us; for by a spiritual presence they
   come forth to us, and yet by internal contemplation keep themselves
   there whence they come forth; for they come not so forth from the
   divine vision, as to hinder the joys of inward contemplation.

   Hilary: The Angels offer daily to God the prayers of those that are to
   be saved by Christ; it is therefore perilous to despise him whose
   desires and requests are conveyed to the eternal and invisible God, by
   the service and ministry of Angels.

   Aug., City of God, book xxii, ch. 29: They are called our Angels who
   are indeed the Angels of God; they are Gods because they have not
   forsaken Him; they are ours because they have begun to have us for
   their fellow citizens. As they now behold God, so shall we also behold
   Him face to face, of which vision John speaks, "We shall see Him as he
   is." [1 John 3:2]

   For by the face of God is to be understood the manifestation of
   Himself, not a member or feature of the body, such as we call by that
   name.

   Chrys.: He gives yet another reason weightier than the foregoing, why
   the little ones are not to be despised, "For the Son of Man is come to
   save that which was lost."

   Remig.: As much as to say, Despise not little ones, for I also for men
   condescended to become man. By "that which was lost," understand the
   human race; for all the elements have kept their place, but man was
   lost, because he has broken his ordained place.

   Chrys.: And to this reasoning He adds a parable, in which He sets forth
   the Father as seeking the salvation of men, and saying, "What think
   you, If a man have a hundred sheep."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxiv, 3: This refers to the Creator of man
   Himself; for a hundred is a perfect number, and He had a hundred sheep
   when He created the substance of Angels and men.

   Hilary: But by the one sheep is to be understood one man, and under
   this one man is comprehended the whole human race. He that seeks man is
   Christ, and the ninety and nine are the host of the heavenly glory
   which He left.

   Greg.: The Evangelist says they were left "on the mountains," to
   signify that the sheep, which were not lost, abode on high.

   Bede, ap. Anselm: The Lord found the sheep when He restored man, and
   over that sheep that is found there is more joy in heaven than over the
   ninety and nine, because there is a greater matter for thanksgiving to
   God in the restoration of man than in the creation of the Angels.
   Wonderfully are the Angels made, but more wonderfully man restored.

   Raban.: Note, that nine wants only one to make it ten, and ninety and
   nine the same to be a hundred. Thus members which want one only to be
   perfect, may be larger or smaller, but yet the unit remaining
   invariable, when it is added makes the rest perfect. And that the
   number of sheep might be made up perfect in heaven, lost man was sought
   on earth.

   Jerome: Others think that by the ninety and nine sheep are understood
   the number of the righteous, and by the one sheep the sinners according
   to that said in another place, "I am not come to call the righteous but
   sinners to repentance." [Matt 9:13]

   Greg.: We must consider whence it is that the Lord declares that He has
   joy rather over the converted sinners, than over the righteous that
   stand. Because these last are often slothful and slack to practise the
   greater good works, as being very secure within themselves, for that
   they have committed none of the heavier sins. While on the other hand
   those who have their wicked deeds to remember, do often through the
   compunction of sorrow glow with the more heat in their love of God, and
   when they think how they have strayed from Him, they replace their
   former losses by gains following.

   So the general in a battle loves best that soldier who turns in his
   flight and courageously presses the enemy, than him who never turned
   his back, yet never did any valorous deed. Yet there be some righteous
   over whom is joy so great, that no penitent can be preferred before
   them, those, who though not conscious to themselves of sins, yet reject
   things lawful, and humble themselves in all things. How great is the
   joy when the righteous mourns, and humbles himself, if there be joy
   when the unrighteous condemns himself wherein he has done amiss?

   Bede: [ed. note: These two passages, to which the name of Bede is
   prefixed in all the editions, have been sought for in Bede without
   success. They occur in Anselm's Enarrationes,' and the latter may
   perhaps be originally derived from Aug., Quaest. Ev., ii, 32.]

   Or; By the ninety-nine sheep, which He left on the mountains, are
   signified the proud to whom a unit is still wanting for perfection.
   When then He has found the sinner, He rejoices over him, that is, He
   makes his own to rejoice over him, rather than over the false
   righteous.

   Jerome: What follows, "Even so it is not the will, &c." is to be
   referred to what was said above, "Take heed that ye despise not one of
   these little ones;: and so He shews that this parable was set forth to
   enforce that same saying. Also in saying, "It is not the will of my
   Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish,"
   He shews that so oft as one of these little ones does perish, it is not
   by the Father's will that it perishes.
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell
   him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou
   hast gained thy brother.

   16. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more,
   that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be
   established.

   17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church: but
   if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an heathen
   man and a Publican."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., lx: Having above given a severe sentence against those
   who were the cause of offence, making them to fear on all sides; so now
   that they to whom the offence is offered should not fall into the
   opposite fault of supineness and indifference, seeking to spare
   themselves in all things, and so be puffed up; the Lord here checks
   such a tendency, commanding that they be reproved, saying, "If thy
   brother shall trespass against thee, go, tell him his fault between
   thee and him alone."

   Aug., Serm., 82, 1: Our Lord admonishes us not to overlook one
   another's faults, yet not so as seeking for matter of blame, but
   watching what you may amend. For our rebuke should be in love, not
   eager to wound, but anxious to amend. If you pass it by, you are become
   worse than he. He by doing you a wrong hath done himself a great hurt;
   you slight your brother's wound, and are more to blame for your silence
   than he for his ill words to you.

   Aug., City of God, book i, ch. 9: For often we wrongly shun to teach
   and admonish, or to rebuke and check the wicked, either because the
   task is irksome, or because we would escape their enmity, lest they
   should harm or obstruct us in temporal things, whether in gaining
   objects we desire, or in holding what our frailty fears to love. But if
   any one spares reproof of evil doers, because he seeks fitter occasion,
   or fears to make them worse, or that they may be an impediment to the
   good and pious living of other weak ones, or may grieve them, or turn
   them from the faith; herein there is seen no considerations of
   covetousness, but the prudence of charity. And much weightier reason
   have they who are set over the churches, to the end they should not
   spare to rebuke sin; though not even he is free from this blame, who,
   though not in authority, wots of many things in them to whom he is
   bound by the ties of this life, which should be touched by admonition
   or correction, but neglects to do so; shunning their displeasure on
   account of things which he does not unduly use in this life, but
   wherewith he is unduly delighted.

   Chrys.: It is to be noted, that onewhile the Lord brings the offender
   to him whom he has offended; as when He says, "If thou remember that
   thy brother has ought against thee, go, be reconciled to thy brother:"
   [Matt 5:23] otherwhiles He bids him that has suffered the wrong to
   forgive his neighbour; as where he says, "Forgive us our debts, as we
   also forgive our debtors." [Matt 6:12]

   Here He has devised yet another method, for He brings him who has been
   grieved to him that grieved him, and therefore says, "If thy brother
   sin against thee;" for because he that did the wrong would not readily
   come to make amends, because of his shame, He draws to him, him that
   has suffered the wrong; and not only draws him there, but with the very
   purpose of correcting what was done amiss; whence He says, "Go and tell
   him his fault."

   Raban.: He does not command us to forgive indiscriminately, but him
   only that will hearken and be obedient, and do penitence; that neither
   should forgiveness be unattainable, nor sufferance be too far relaxed.

   Chrys.: And He says not, Accuse him, nor, Chide with him, nor, Demand
   redress,-- but, "Tell him of his fault;" that is, remind him of his
   sin, tell him what things you have suffered from him. For he is held
   down by anger or by shame, stupefied as one in a deep slumber.
   Wherefore it behoves you who are in your right senses to go to him who
   is in a disease.

   Jerome: If then your brother have sinned against you, or hurt you in
   any matter, you have power, indeed must needs forgive him, for we are
   charged to forgive our debtors their debts. But if a man sin against
   God, it is no longer in our decision. But we do all the contrary of
   this; where God is wronged we are merciful, where the affront is to
   ourselves we prosecute the quarrel.

   Chrys.: We are to tell his fault to the man himself who did it, and not
   to another, because the party takes it with the more patience from him,
   and above all when they are together alone. For when he who had a right
   to demand reparation, shews rather a carefulness to heal the sore, this
   has great power to propitiate.

   Aug., Serm., 82, 8: When any one therefore offends against us, let us
   be very careful, not for ourselves, for it is glorious to forget an
   injury; forget therefore your own wrong, but not the wound your brother
   has sustained; and tell him of his fault between him and you alone,
   seeking his amendment and sparing his shame. For it may be that out of
   shame he will seek to defend his fault, and thus you will only harden,
   while you sought to do him good.

   Jerome: Thy brother is to be reproved in private, lest if once he has
   lost a sense of shame, he should continue in sin.

   Aug.: But the Apostle says, "Them that sin rebuke before all, that
   others may fear to do the like." [1 Tim 5:20] Sometimes therefore your
   brother is to be spoken to between thee and him alone, sometimes to be
   rebuked before all. What you must do first, attend and learn; "If thy
   brother," says He, "sin against thee, tell him of his fault between
   thee and him alone." Why? Because he has sinned against you? What is it
   that he has sinned against you? You know that he has sinned, and
   therefore since his sin was in private, let your rebuke be in private
   too. For if you alone know of his trespass, and proceed to rebuke him
   before all, you do not correct but betray him. Your brother has sinned
   against you; if you alone know thereof, then he has sinned against you
   only; but if he did you a wrong in the presence of many, then he has
   sinned against those also who were witnesses of his fault.

   Those faults then are to be rebuked before all, that are committed
   before all; those which are done in private, are to be rebuked in
   private. Discern times, and the Scriptures are consistent.

   But why do you correct your neighbour? Because his trespass has hurt
   yourself? Far be it from thee. If you do it from self-love, you do
   nought; if you do it from love of him, you do most rightly. Lastly, in
   what you shall say to him, keep in view for whose sake it is that you
   ought to do it, for your own or for his, for it follows, "If he hear
   thee, thou hast gained thy brother;" do it therefore for his sake, that
   you may gain him.

   And do you confess that by your sin against man you were lost; for if
   you were not lost, how has he gained you? Let none then make light of
   it when he sins against his brother.

   Chrys.: In this it is made plain that enmities are a loss to both
   sides; for he said not, he has gained himself, but, you have gained
   him; which shews that both of you had suffered loss by your
   disagreement.

   Jerome: For in saving another, salvation is gained for ourselves also.

   Chrys.: What you should do if he does not yield is added, "If he will
   not hear thee, take with thee one or two." For the more shameless and
   stubborn he shews himself, the more studious should we be of applying
   the medicine, and not turn to wrath and hate. As the physician, if he
   see that the disease does not abate, he does not slack, but redoubles
   his efforts to heal.

   And observe how this reproof is not for revenge, but for correction,
   seeing his command is not to take two with him at first, but when he
   would not amend; and even then he does not send a multitude to him, but
   one or two, alleging the law, "That in the mouth of two or three
   witnesses every word may stand." [Deut 19:15] This is that you may have
   witnesses that you have done all your part.

   Jerome: Or it is to be understood in this way; If he will not hear
   thee, take with thee one brother only; if he yet will not hear, take a
   third, either from your zeal for his amendment, that shame or
   admonition may move him; or for the purpose of meeting before
   witnesses.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or, that if he affirm that it is no trespass, that
   they may prove to him that it is a trespass.

   Jerome: If yet he will not hear them, then it must be told to many,
   that he may be held in abhorrence; so that he who could not be saved by
   his own sense of shame, may be saved by public disgrace; whence it
   follows, "If he will not hear them, tell it to the Church."

   Chrys.: That is, to those that are over the Church.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or, tell it to the whole Chinch, that his infamy
   may be the greater. After all these things follows excommunication,
   which ought to be inflicted by the mouth of the Church, that is, by the
   Priest, and when he excommunicates, the whole Church works with him; as
   it follows, "And if he will not hear the Church, let him be unto thee
   as an heathen, and a publican."

   Aug., Serm., 82, 7: That is, regard him no longer in the number of thy
   brethren. Though even thus we are not to neglect his salvation; for the
   heathens themselves, that is, the gentiles and pagans, we do not indeed
   regard in the number of our brethren, yet we ever seek their salvation.

   Chrys.: Yet the Lord enjoins nothing of this sort to be observed
   towards those who are without the Church, such as He does in reproving
   a brother. Of those that are without He says, "If any smite thee on the
   one cheek, offer to him the other also." [Matt 5:39] as Paul speaks,
   "What have I to do to judge them that are without?" [1 Cor 5:12]

   But brethren he bids us reprove, and turn away from.

   Jerome: That He says, "As a heathen and a publican," shews that he is
   to be more abhorred, who under the name of a believer does the deeds of
   an unbeliever, than those that are openly gentiles. Those He calls
   publicans, who pursue worldly gain, and levy contributions by trading,
   cheating, and villainous frauds, and perjuries.

   Origen: Let us look well whether this precept extends to all sin; for
   what if any one sin any or those sins which are unto death, such as
   unnatural crimes, adultery, homicide, or effeminacy, it cannot be meant
   that such as these are to be admonished privately, and if he hear you,
   forthwith to say that you have gained him. And not rather first put him
   out of the Church, or only when remaining obstinate after monition
   before witnesses, and by the Church? One man, looking at the infinite
   mercy of Christ, will say, that since the words of Christ make no
   distinction of sins, it is to go against Christ's mercy to limit His
   words only to little sins. Another, on the other hand, considering the
   words carefully, will aver, that they are not spoken of every sin; for
   that he that is guilty of those great sins is not a brother, but is
   called a brother, with whom, according to the Apostle, we ought not so
   much as to eat. But as they who expound this as referring to every sin
   give encouragement to the careless to sin; so, on the other hand, he,
   who teaches that one having sinned in little sins and such as are not
   deadly, is, when he has spurned the admonition of the witnesses and the
   Church, to be held as a heathen and a publican, seems to introduce too
   great severity.

   For whether he finally perishes, we are not able to decide. First,
   because he who has been thrice told of his fault and not hearkened, may
   hearken the fourth time; secondly, because sometimes a man does not
   receive according to his deeds, but beyond his trespass, which is good
   for him in this world; lastly, because He said not alone, "Let him be
   as a heathen," but "Let him be to thee." Whosoever then when reproved
   three times in a light trespass, does not amend, him we ought to hold
   for a heathen and a publican, avoiding him, that he may be brought to
   confusion. But whether he is esteemed of God also as a heathen and a
   publican, is not ours to decide, but is in the judgment of God.
     __________________________________________________________________

   18. "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
   bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed
   in heaven.

   19. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as
   touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my
   Father which is in heaven.

   20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I
   in the midst of them."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Because He had said, "If he will not hear the Church, let him
   be to thee as a heathen, and a publican," whereupon the brother so
   contemned might answer, or think within himself, If you despise me, I
   also will despise you; if you condemn me, you shall be condemned by my
   sentence. He therefore confers powers upon the Apostles, that they may
   be assured that when any are condemned after this manner, the sentence
   of man is ratified by the sentence of God. "Verily I say unto you,
   Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and
   whatsoever ye shall loose upon the earth shall be loosed in heaven."

   Origen: He said not in the heavens (in caelis), as when He spoke to
   Peter, but in heaven (in coelo), for they are not yet attained to the
   like perfection with Peter.

   Hilary: To hold out a great and terrible fear, by which all men should
   be reached in this present life, He pronounces that the judgment of the
   Apostles should be ratified, so that whosoever they bound on earth,
   i.e. left entangled in the noose of sin, and whosoever they loosed,
   i.e. accorded the pardon of God's mercy to their salvation, that these
   should be bound and loosed in heaven."

   Chrys.: And be it noted, that He said not to the Primate [margin note:
   proedros] of the Church, Bind such a man; but, If ye shall bind him,
   the bonds shall be indissoluble; leaving the other to his discretion.

   And see how He has set the incorrigible person under the yoke of a
   twofold necessity; to wit, the punishment that is here, namely, the
   casting forth out of the Church, when He said, "Let him be to thee as a
   heathen;" and the future punishment, saying, that he shall be bound in
   heaven; thus by the weight of his penalties lessening his brother's
   wrath against him.

   Augustine: Otherwise; When you begin to hold your brother as a publican
   you bind him on earth, but take heed that you bind him with just cause;
   for an unjust cause breaks rightful bonds. But when you have corrected
   him, and agreed with him, you have loosed him upon earth, and when you
   have loosed him upon earth, he shall be loosed also in heaven. You
   confer a great boon not on yourself, but on him, as he had done the
   hurt not to you but to himself.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: But He holds out a ratification not only of
   sentences of excommunication, but of every petition which is offered by
   men holding together in the unity of the Church; for He adds, "Again I
   say unto you, that if two of you shall agree upon earth," whether in
   admitting a penitent, or casting out a froward person, "touching any
   thing which they shall ask," any thing, that is, that is not against
   the unity of the Church, "it shall be done for them by my Father which
   is in heaven." By saying, "which is in heaven," He points Him out as
   above all, and therefore able to fulfil all that shall be asked of Him.
   Or, He is in the heavens, that is, with saints, proof enough that
   whatever worthy thing they shall ask shall be done unto them, because
   they have with them Him of whom they ask. For this cause is the
   sentence of those that agree together ratified, because God dwells in
   them, "For where two or more are gathered together in my name, there am
   I in the midst of them."

   Chrys.: Or, because He had said, It shall be done unto them by My
   Father; therefore, to shew that He is the Giver together with His
   Father, He adds this, "where two or three, &c."

   Origen: And He said not, "I will be," but "I am in the midst of them;"
   because straightway, as soon as they have agreed together, Christ is
   found among them.

   Hilary: For He who is peace and charity, will set His place and
   habitation in good and peaceable dispositions.

   Jerome: Or otherwise; All His foregoing discourse had invited us to
   union; now to make us embrace peace more anxiously, He holds out a
   reward, promising to be in the midst of two or three.

   Chrys.: Yet He said not barely, "Where they are gathered together," but
   added, "in my name," as much as to say, If any man look upon Me as the
   chief motive of his love to his neighbour, I will be with him, though
   his virtue be shewn towards other men.

   How is it then that those who thus agree together do not obtain what
   they ask for? First, because they ask things not expedient, and because
   they do not bring on their parts that which they ought to contribute;
   wherefore He says, "If two of you," that is, who shew an evangelic
   conversation. Thirdly, because they pray seeking vengeance against
   those who have grieved them. And fourthly, because they seek mercy for
   sinners who have not repented.

   Origen: And this also is the reason why our prayers are not granted,
   because we do not agree together in all things upon earth, neither in
   doctrine, nor in conversation. For as in music, unless the voices are
   in time there is no pleasure to the hearer, so in the Church, unless
   they are united God is not pleased therein, nor does He hear their
   words.

   Jerome, vid. Origen in loc.: We may also understand this spiritually;
   where our spirit, soul, and body are in agreement, and have not within
   them conflicting wills, they shall obtain from My Father every thing
   they shall ask; for none can doubt that that demand is good, where the
   body wills the same thing as the spirit.

   Origen: Or, In whatever the two testaments are in agreement, for this
   every prayer is found acceptable to God.
     __________________________________________________________________

   21. Then came Peter to him, and said, "Lord, how oft shall my brother
   sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?"

   22. Jesus saith unto him, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but,
   Until seventy times seven."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The Lord had said above, "See that ye despise not one of these
   little ones," and had added, "If thy brother sin against thee, &c."
   making also a promise, "If two of you, &c." by which the Apostle Peter
   was led to ask, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I
   forgive him?" And to his question he adds an opinion, "Until seven
   times?"

   Chrys., Hom., lxi: Peter thought that he had made a large allowance;
   but what answers Christ the Lover of men? it follows, "Jesus saith unto
   him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but, Until seventy times
   seven."

   Aug., Serm., 83, 3: I am bold to say, that if he shall sin
   seventy-eight times, thou shouldest forgive him; yea, and if a hundred;
   and how oft soever he sin against thee, forgive him. For if Christ
   found a thousand sins, yet forgave them all, do not you withdraw your
   forgiveness. For the Apostle says, "Forgive one another, if any man
   hath a quarrel against any, even as God in Christ forgave you." [Col
   3:13]

   Chrys.: When He says, "Until seventy times seven," He does not limit a
   definite number within which forgiveness must be kept; but He signifies
   thereby something endless and ever enduring.

   Aug.: Yet not without reason did the Lord say, "Seventy times seven;"
   for the Law is set forth in ten precepts; and the Law is signified by
   the number ten, sin by eleven, because it is passing the denary line.
   Seven is used to be put for a whole, because time goes round in seven
   days. Take eleven seven times, and you have seventy. He would therefore
   have all trespasses forgiven, for this is what He signifies by the
   number seventy-seven.

   Origen: Or, because the number six seems to denote toil and labour, and
   the number seven repose, He says that forgiveness should be given to
   all brethren who live in this world, and sin in the things of this
   world. But if any commit transgressions beyond these things, he shall
   then have no further forgiveness.

   Jerome: Or understand it of four hundred and ninety times, that He bids
   us forgive our brother so oft.

   Raban.: It is one thing to give pardon to a brother when he seeks it,
   that he may live with us in social charity, as Joseph to his brethren;
   and another to a hostile foe, that we may wish him good, and if we can
   do him good, as David mourning for Saul.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
   which would take account of his servants.

   24. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which
   owed him ten thousand talents.

   25. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be
   sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to
   be made.

   26. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
   have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

   27. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed
   him, and forgave him the debt.

   28. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow
   servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him,
   and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

   29. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him,
   saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

   30. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should
   pay the debt.

   31. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very
   sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

   32. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou
   wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst
   me:

   33. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant,
   even as I had pity on thee?

   34. And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till
   he should pay all that was due unto him.

   35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from
   your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
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   Chrys. That none should think that the Lord had enjoined something
   great and burdensome in saying that we must forgive till seventy times
   seven, He adds a parable.

   Jerome: For it is customary with the Syrians, especially they of
   Palestine, to add a parable to what they speak; that what their hearers
   might not retain simply, and in itself, the instance and similitude may
   be the means of retaining.

   Origen, (vid. 1 Cor 1:30): The Son of God, as He is wisdom,
   righteousness, and truth, so is He a kingdom; not indeed any of those
   which are beneath, but all those which are above, reigning over those
   in whose senses reigns justice and the other virtues; these are made of
   heaven because they bear the image of the heavenly. This kingdom of
   heaven then, i.e. the Son of God, when He was made in the likeness of
   sinful flesh, was then like to a king, in uniting man to himself.

   Remig.: Or, by the kingdom of heaven is reasonably understood the holy
   Church, in which the Lord works what He speaks of in this parable. By
   the man is sometimes represented the Father, as in that, "The Kingdom
   of heaven is like to a king, who made a marriage for his son;" and
   sometimes the Son; but here we may take it for both, the Father and the
   Son, who are one God. God is called a King, inasmuch as He created and
   governs all things.

   Origen: The servants, in these parables, are only they who are employed
   in dispensing the word, and to whom this business is committed.

   Remig.: Or, by the servants of this King are signified all mankind whom
   He has created for His own praise, and to whom He gave the law of
   nature; He takes account with them, when He would look into each man's
   manners, life, and deeds, that He may render to each according to that
   He has done; as it follows, "And when He had begun to reckon, one was
   brought unto Him which owed Him ten thousand talents."

   Origen: The King takes account of our whole life then, when "we must
   all be presented before the judgment-seat of Christ." [2 Cor 5:10] We
   mean not this so as that any shouldst think that the business itself
   must needs require a long time. For God, when He will scrutinize the
   minds of all, will by some undescribable power cause every thing that
   every man has done to pass speedily before the mind of each.

   He says, "And when he began to take account," because the beginning of
   the judgment is that it begin from the house of God. [margin note: 1
   Pet 4:17] At His beginning to take account there is brought unto Him
   one who owes Him many talents; one, that is, who had wrought great
   evils; one on whom much had been enjoined, and had yet brought no gain;
   who perhaps had destroyed as many men as he owed talents; one who was
   therefore become a debtor of many talents, because he had followed the
   woman sitting upon a talent of lead, whose name is Iniquity. [Zech 5:7]

   Jerome: I know that some interpret the man who owed the ten thousand
   talents to be the devil, and by his wife and children who were to be
   sold when he persevered in his wickedness, understand foolishness, and
   hurtful thoughts. For as wisdom is called the wife of the righteous
   man, so the wife of the unrighteous and the sinner is called
   foolishness. But how the Lord remits to the devil ten thousand talents,
   and how he would not remit ten denarii to us his fellow servants, of
   this there is no ecclesiastical interpretation, nor is it to be
   admitted by thoughtful men.

   Aug., Serm., 83, 6: Therefore let us say, that because the Law is set
   forth in ten precepts, the ten thousand talents which he owed denote
   all sins which can be done under the Law.

   Remig.: Man who sinned of his own will and choice, has no power to rise
   again by his own endeavour, and has not wherewith to pay, because he
   finds nothing in himself by which he may loose himself frown his sins;
   whence it follows, "And when he had not to pay, his lord commanded him
   to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment
   to be made." The fool's wife is folly, and the pleasure or lust of the
   flesh.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 25: This signifies that the transgressor of the
   decalogue deserves punishment for his lusts and evil deeds; and that is
   his price; for the price for which they sell is the punishment of him
   that is damned.

   Chrys.: This command issued not of cruelty, but of unspeakable
   tenderness. For he seeks by these terrors to bring him to plead that he
   be not sold, which fell out, as he shews when he adds, "The servant
   therefore fell down and besought him, saying, Have patience with me,
   and I will pay thee all."

   Remig.: That he says, "falling down," shews how the sinner humbled
   himself, and offered amends. "Have patience with me," expresses the
   sinner's prayer, begging respite, and space to correct his error.
   Abundant is the bounty of God, and His clemency to sinners converted,
   seeing He is ever ready to forgive sins by baptism or penitence, as it
   follows, "But the lord of that servant had mercy upon him, and loosed
   him, and forgave him the debt."

   Chrys.: See the exuberance of heavenly love! The servant asked only a
   brief respite, but he gives him more than he had asked, a full
   remittance and cancelling of the whole debt. He was minded to have
   forgiven him from the very first, but he would not have it to be of his
   own mere motion, but also of the other's suit, that he might not depart
   without a gift. But he did not remit the debt till he had taken
   account, because he would have him know how great debts he set him free
   of, that by this he should at the least be made more merciful to his
   fellow servants.

   And indeed as far as what has gone he was worthy to be accepted; for he
   made confession, and promised that he would pay the debt, and fell down
   and begged, and confessed the greatness of his debt. But his after
   deeds were unworthy of the former, for it follows, "But the same
   servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a
   hundred denarii."

   Aug., Serm., 83, 6: That He says he "owed him a hundred denarii" is
   taken from the same number, ten, the number of the Law. For a hundred
   times a hundred are ten thousand, and ten times ten are a hundred; and
   those ten thousand talents and these hundred denarii are still keeping
   to the number of the Law; in both of them you find sins. Both are
   debtors, both are suitors for remission; so every man is himself a
   debtor to God, and has his brother his debtor.

   Chrys.: But there is as great difference between sins committed against
   men, and sins committed against God, as between ten thousand talents
   and a hundred denarii; yea rather there is still greater difference.
   This appears from the difference of the persons, and from the fewness
   of the offenders. For when we are seen of man we withhold and are loath
   to sin, but we cease not daily though God see us, but act and speak all
   things fearlessly. Not by this only are our sins against God shewn to
   be more heinous, but also by reason of the benefits which we have
   received from Him; He gave us being, and has done all things in our
   behalf, has breathed into us a rational soul, has sent His Son, has
   opened heaven to us, and made us His sons. If then we should every day
   die for Him, could we make Him any worthy return? By no means; it
   should rather redound again to our advantage. But, on the contrary, we
   offend against His laws.

   Remig.: So by him who owed ten thousand talents are represented those
   that commit the greater crimes; by the debtor of a hundred denarii
   those who commit the lesser.

   Jerome: That this may be made plainer, let us speak it in instances. If
   any one of you shall have committed an adultery, a homicide, or a
   sacrilege, these greater sins of ten thousand talents shall be remitted
   when you beg for it, if you also shall remit lesser offences to those
   that trespass against you.

   Aug.: But this unworthy, unjust servant would not render that which had
   been rendered to him, for it follows, "And he laid hands on him, and
   held him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest."

   Remig.: That is, he pressed him hardly, that he might exact vengeance
   from him.

   Origen: He therefore, as I suppose, took him by the throat, because he
   had come forth from the king; for he would not have so handled his
   fellow servant, if he had not gone forth from the king.

   Chrys.: By saying, "as he went out," He shews that it was not after
   long time, but immediately; while the favour he had received still
   sounded in his ears, he abused to wickedness the liberty his lord had
   accorded him. What the other did is added; "And his fellow servant fell
   down, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay
   thee all."

   Origen: Observe the exactness of Scripture; the servant who owed many
   talents fell down, and worshipped the king; he who owed the hundred
   denarii falling down, did not worship, but besought his fellow servant,
   saying, "Have patience." But the ungrateful servant did not even
   respect the very words which had saved himself, for it follows, "but he
   would not."

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 21: That is, he nourished such thoughts towards
   him that he sought his punishment. "But he went his way."

   Remig.: That is, his wrath was the rather inflamed, to exact vengeance
   of him; "And he cast him into prison, until he should pay the debt;"
   that is, he seized his brother, and exacted vengeance of him.

   Chrys.: Observe the Lord's tenderness, and the servant's cruelty; the
   one for ten thousand talents, the other for ten denarii; the one a
   suitor to his fellow, the other to his lord; the one obtained entire
   remission, the other sought only respite, but he got it not. They who
   owed nought grieved with him; "his fellow servants, seeing what was
   done, were very sorry."

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 25: By the fellow servants is understood the
   Church, which binds one and looses another.

   Remig.: Or perhaps they represent the Angels, or the preachers of the
   holy Church, or any of the faithful, who when they see a brother whose
   sins are forgiven refusing to forgive his fellow servant, they are
   sorrowful over his perdition. "And they came, and told their lord what
   was done." They came not in body, but in spirit. To tell their Lord, is
   to shew the woe and sorrow of the heart in their carriage.

   It follows, "Then his lord called him." He called him by the sentence
   of death, and bade him pass out of this world, and said. unto him,
   "Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou
   prayedst me."

   Chrys.: When he owed him ten thousand talents, he did not call him
   wicked, nor did he at all chide him, but had mercy on him; but now when
   he had been ungenerous to his fellow servant, then he says to him,
   "Thou wicked servant;" and this is what is said, "Oughtest thou not to
   have had mercy upon thy fellow servant."

   Remig.: And it is to be known, that we read no answer made by that
   servant to his lord; by which it is shewn us, that in the day of
   judgment, and altogether after this life, all excusing of ourselves
   shall be cut off.

   Chrys.: Because kindness had not mended him, it remains that he be
   corrected by punishment; whence it follows, "And the lord of that
   servant was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should
   pay the whole debt.: He said not merely, "Delivered him," but "was
   angry," this he had not said before; when his Lord commanded that he
   should be sold; for that was not in wrath, but in love, for his
   correction; now this is a sentence of penalty and punishment.

   Remig.: For God is said then to be wroth, when he takes vengeance on
   sinners. Torturers are intended for the daemons, who are always ready
   to take up lost souls, and torture them in the pangs of eternal
   punishment. Will any who is once sunk into everlasting condemnation
   ever come to find season of repentance, and a way to escape?

   Never; that "until" is put for infinity; and the meaning is, He shall
   be ever paying, and shall never quit the debt, but shall be ever under
   punishment.

   Chrys.: By this is shewn that his punishment shall be increasing and
   eternal, and that he shall never pay. And however irrevocable are the
   graces and callings of God, yet wickedness has that force, that it
   seems to break even this law.

   Aug., Serm., 83, 7: For God says, "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven;"
   [Luke 6:37] I have first forgiven, forgive you then after Me; for if
   you forgive not, I will call you back, and will require again all that
   I had remitted to you. For Christ neither deceives nor is deceived; and
   He adds here, "Thus will my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from
   your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." It is
   better that you should cry out with your mouth, and forgive in your
   heart, than that you should speak smoothly, and be unrelenting in your
   heart. For the Lord adds, "From your hearts," to the end that though,
   out of affection you put him to discipline, yet gentleness should not
   depart out of your heart.

   What is more beneficial than the knife of the surgeon? He is rough with
   the sore that the man may be healed; should he be tender with the sore,
   the man were lost.

   Jerome: Also this, "from your hearts," is added to take away all
   feigned reconciliations. Therefore the Lord's command to Peter under
   this similitude of the king and his servant who owed him ten thousand
   talents, and was forgiven by his lord upon his entreaty, is, that he
   also should forgive his fellow servants their lesser trespasses.

   Origen: He seeks to instruct us, that we should be ready to shew
   clemency to those who have done us harm, especially if they offer
   amends, and plead to have forgiveness.

   Raban.: Allegorically; The servant here who owed the ten thousand
   talents, is the Jewish people bound to the Ten Commandments in the Law.
   These the Lord oft forgave their trespasses, when being in difficulties
   they besought His mercy; but when they were set free, they exacted the
   utmost with great severity from all their debtors; and of the gentile
   people which they hated, they required circumcision and the ceremonies
   of the Law; yea, the Prophets and Apostles they barbarously put to
   death. For all this the Lord gave them over into the hands of the
   Romans as to evil spirits, who should punish them with eternal
   tortures.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 19

   l. And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he
   departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond
   Jordan;

   2. And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.

   3. The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him,
   "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?"

   4. And he answered and said unto them, "Have ye not read, that he which
   made them at the beginning made them male and female,

   5. And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and
   shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

   6. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God
   hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

   7. They say unto him, "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of
   divorcement, and to put her away?"

   8. He said unto them, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts
   suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not
   so."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., lxii: The Lord had before left Judaea because of their
   jealousy, but now He keeps Himself more to it, because His passion was
   near at hand. Yet does He not go up to Judaea itself, but into the
   borders of Judaea; whence it is said, "And it came to pass when Jesus
   had ended all these sayings, he departed from Galilee."

   Raban.: Here then He begins to relate what He did, taught, or suffered
   in Judaea. At first beyond Jordan eastward, afterwards on this side
   Jordan when He came to Jericho, Bethphage, and Jerusalem; whence it
   follows, "And He came into the coasts of Judaea beyond the Jordan."

   Pseudo-Chrys., [ed. note: The Latin commentary that goes under the name
   of Chrysostom's resumes again at the first verse of this chapter]: As
   the righteous Lord of all, who loves these servants so as not to
   despise those.

   Raban.: It should be known, that the whole territory of the Israelites
   was called Judaea, to distinguish it from other nations. But its
   southern portion, inhabited by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, was
   called Judaea proper, to distinguish it from other districts in the
   same province as Samaria, Galilee, Decapolis, and the rest.

   It follows, "And great multitudes followed him."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: They were conducting Him forth, as the young children of
   a father going on a far journey. And He setting forth as a father, left
   them as pledges of His love the healing of their diseases, as it is
   said, "And he healed them."

   Chrys.: It should be also observed, that the Lord is not either ever
   delivering doctrine, or ever working miracles, but one while does this,
   and again turns to that; that by His miracles faith might be given to
   what He said, and by His teaching might be shewed the profit of those
   things which He wrought.

   Origen: The Lord healed the multitudes beyond Jordan, where baptism was
   given. For all are truly healed from spiritual sickness in baptism; and
   many follow Christ as did these multitudes, but not rising up as
   Matthew, who arose and followed the Lord.

   Hilary: Also He cures the Galileans on the borders of Judaea, that He
   might admit the sins of the Gentiles to that pardon which was prepared
   for the Jews.

   Chrys.: For indeed Christ so healed men, as to do good both to
   themselves, and through them to many other. For these men's healing was
   to others the occasion of their knowledge of God; but not to the
   Pharisees, who were only hardened by the miracles.

   Whence it follows; "And the Pharisees cause to him, tempting him, and
   saying, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?"

   Jerome: That they might have Him as it were between the horns of a
   syllogism, so that, whatever answer He should make, it would lie open
   to cavil. Should He allow a wife to be put away for any cause, and the
   marriage of another, he would seem to contradict Himself as a preacher
   of chastity. Should He answer that she may not be put away for any
   cause whatsoever, He will be judged to have spoken impiously, and to
   make against the teaching of Moses and of God.

   Chrys.: Observe their wickedness even in the way of putting their
   question. The Lord had above disputed concerning this law, but they now
   ask Him as though He had spoken nothing thereof, supposing He had
   forgot what He had before delivered in this matter.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But, as when you see one much pursuing the acquaintance
   of physicians, you know that he is sick, so, when you see either man or
   woman enquiring concerning divorce, know that that man is lustful and
   that woman unchaste. For chastity has pleasure in wedlock, but desire
   is tormented as though under a slavish bondage therein. And knowing
   that they had no sufficient cause to allege for their putting away
   their wives, save their own lewdness, they feigned many divers causes.
   They feared to ask Him for what cause, lest they should be tied down
   within the limits of fixed and certain causes; and therefore they asked
   if it were lawful for every cause; for they knew that appetite knows no
   limits, and cannot hold itself within the bounds of one marriage, but
   the more it is indulged the more it is kindled.

   Origen: Seeing the Lord thus tempted, let none of His disciples who is
   set to teach think it hard if he also be by some tempted. Howbeit, He
   replies to His tempters with the doctrines of piety.

   Jerome: But He so frames His answer as to evade their snare. He brings
   in the testimony of Holy Writ, and the law of nature, and opposing
   God's first sentence to this second, "He answered and said unto them,
   Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them
   male and female?"

   This is written in the beginning of Genesis. This teaches that second
   marriages are to be avoided, for He said not male and females, which
   was what was sought by the putting away of the first, but, male and
   female, implying only one tie of wedlock.

   Raban.: For by the wholesome design of God it was ordained that a man
   should have in the woman a part of his own body, and should not look
   upon as separate from himself that which he knew was formed out of
   himself.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: If then God created the male and female out of one, to
   this end that they should be one, why then henceforth were not they
   born man and wife at one birth, as it is with certain insects? Because
   God created male and female for the continuance of the species, yet is
   He ever a lover of chastity, and promoter of continence. Therefore did
   He not follow this pattern in all kinds, to the end that, if any man
   choose to marry, he may know what is, according to the first
   disposition of the creation, the condition of man and wife; but if he
   choose not to marry, he shall not be under necessity to marry by the
   circumstances of his birth, lest he should by his continence be the
   destruction of the other who was not willing to be continent; for which
   same cause God forbids that after being joined in wedlock one should
   separate if the other be unwilling.

   Chrys.: But not by the law of creation only, but also by the practice
   of the law, He shews that they ought to be joined one and one, and
   never put asunder; "And he said, For this cause shall a man leave his
   father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife."

   Jerome: In like manner He says "his wife," and not wives, and adds
   expressly, "and they twain shall be one flesh." For it is the reward of
   marriage that one flesh, namely in the offspring, is made of two.

   Gloss. interlin.: Or, "one flesh," that is in carnal connexion.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: If then because the wife is made of the man, and both
   one of one flesh, a man shall leave his father and his mother, then
   there should be yet greater affection between brothers and sisters, for
   these come of the same parents, but man and wife of different. But this
   is saying too much, because the ordinance of God is of more force than
   the law of nature. For God's precepts are not subject to the law of
   nature, but nature bends to the precepts of God. Also brethren are born
   of one, that they shouldst seek out different roads; but the man and
   the wife are born of different persons, that they should coalesce in
   one.

   The order of nature also follows the appointment of God. For as is the
   sap in trees, so is affection in man. The sap ascends from the roots
   into the leaves, and passes forth into the seed. Therefore parents love
   their children, but are not so loved of them, for the desire of a man
   is not towards his parents, but towards the sons whom he has begot; and
   this is what, is said, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
   mother, and shall cleave unto his wife."

   Chrys.: See the wisdom of the Teacher. Being asked, "Is it lawful," He
   said not straight, It is not lawful, lest they should be troubled, but
   establishes it through a proof. For God made them from the beginning
   male and female, and not merely joined them together, but bade them
   quit father and mother; and not bade the husband merely approach his
   wife, but be joined to her, shewing by this manner of speaking the
   inseparable bond. He even added a still closer union, saying, "And they
   twain, shall be one flesh."

   Aug., Gen. ad lit., ix. 19: Whereas Scripture witnesses that these
   words were said by the first man, and the Lord here declares that God
   spake them, hence we should understand that by reason of the ecstasy
   which had passed upon Adam, he was enabled to speak this as a prophecy.

   Remig.: The Apostle says [margin note: Eph 5:32] that this is a mystery
   in Christ and the Church; for the Lord Jesus Christ left His Father
   when He came down from heaven to earth; and He left His mother, that
   is, the synagogue, because of its unbelief; and clave unto His wife,
   that is, the Holy Church, and they two are one flesh, that is, Christ
   and the Church are one body.

   Chrys.: When He had brought forward the words and facts of the old law,
   He then interprets it with authority, and lays down a law, saying,
   "Therefore they are no more twain, but one flesh." For as those who
   love one another spiritually are said to be one soul, "And all they
   that believed, had one heart and one soul," [Acts 4:32] so husband and
   wife who love each other after the flesh, are said to be one flesh. And
   as it is a wretched thing to cut the flesh, so is it an unjust thing to
   put away a wife.

   Aug., City of God, book xiv, ch. 22: For they are called one, either
   from their union, or from the derivation of the woman, who was taken
   out of the side of the man.

   Chrys.: He brings in God yet again, saying, "What God has joined, let
   no man put asunder," shewing that it is against both nature and God's
   law to put away a wife; against nature, because one flesh is therein
   divided; against law, because God has joined and forbidden to sunder
   them.

   Jerome: God has joined by making man and woman one flesh; this then man
   may not put asunder, but God only. Man puts asunder, when from desire
   of a second wife the first is put away; God puts asunder, who also had
   joined, when by consent for the service of God we so have our wives as
   though we had them not. [marg. note: 1 Cor 7:29]

   Aug., Cont. Faust., xix, 29: Behold now out of the books of Moses it is
   proved to the Jews that a wife may not be put away. For they thought
   that they were doing according to the purport of Moses' law when they
   did put them away. This also we learn hence by the testimony of Christ
   Himself, that it was God who made it thus, and joined them male and
   female; which when the Manichaeans deny, they are condemned, resisting
   the Gospel of Christ.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This sentence of chastity seemed hard to these
   adulterers; but they could not make answer to the argument. Howbeit,
   they will not submit to the truth, but betake themselves for shelter to
   Moses, as men having a bad cause fly to some powerful personage, that
   where justice is not, his countenance may prevail; "They say unto him,
   Why did Moses then command, to give a writing of divorcement, and to
   put her away?"

   Jerome: Here they reveal the cavil which they had prepared; albeit the
   Lord had not given sentence of Himself, but had recalled to their minds
   ancient history, and the commands of God.

   Chrys.: Had the Lord been opposed to the Old Testament, He would not
   thus have contended in Moses' behalf, nor have gone about to shew that
   what was his was in agreement with the things of old. But the
   unspeakable wisdom of Christ made answer and excuse for these in this
   manner, "He saith unto them, Moses for the hardness of your hearts
   suffered you to put away your wives." By this He clears Moses from
   their charge, and retorts it all upon their own head.

   Aug.: For how great was that hardness? When not even the intervention
   of a bill of divorce, which gave room for just and prudent men to
   endeavour to dissuade, could move them to renew the conjugal affection.
   And with what wit do the Manichaeans blame Moses, as severing wedlock
   by a bill of divorce, and commend Christ as, on the contrary,
   confirming its force? Whereas according to their impious science they
   should have praised Moses for putting asunder what the devil had
   joined, and found fault with Christ who riveted the bonds of the devil.

   Chrys.: At last, because what He had said was severe, He goes back to
   the old law, saying, "From the beginning it was not so."

   Jerome: What He says is to this purpose. Is it possible that God should
   so contradict Himself, as to command one thing at first, and after
   defeat His own ordinance by a new statute? Think not so; but, whereas
   Moses saw that through desire of second wives who should be richer,
   younger, or fairer, that the first were put to death, or treated. ill,
   he chose rather to suffer separation, than the continuance of hatred
   and assassination. Observe moreover that He said not God suffered you,
   but, Moses; shewing that it was, as the Apostle speaks, a counsel of
   man, not a command of God. [marg. note: 1 Cor 7:12]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Therefore said He well, Moses suffered, not commanded.
   For what we command, that we ever wish; but when we suffer, we yield
   against our will, because we have not the power to put full restraint
   upon the evil wills of men. He therefore suffered you to do evil that
   you might not do worse; thus in suffering this he was not enforcing the
   righteousness of God, but taking away its sinfulness from a sin; that
   while you did it according to His law, your sin should not appear sin.
     __________________________________________________________________

   9. And I say unto you, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be
   for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and
   whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Having stopped their mouths, He now set forth the Law with
   authority, saying, "But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away
   his wife, except for fornication, and marrieth another, committeth
   adultery.

   Origen: Perhaps some one will say, that Jesus in thus speaking,
   suffered wives to be put away for the same cause that Moses suffered
   them, which He says was for the hardness of the hearts of the Jews. But
   to this it is to be answered, that if by the Law an adulteress is
   stoned, that sin is not to be understood as the shameful thing for
   which Moses suffers a writing of divorcement; [Deut 24:1] for in a
   cause of adultery it was not lawful to give a writing of divorcement.
   But Moses perhaps calls every sin in a woman a shameful thing, which if
   it be found in her, a bill of divorcement is written against her. But
   we should enquire, If it is lawful to put away a wife for the cause of
   fornication only, what is it if a woman be not an adulteress, but have
   done any other heinous crime; have been found a poisoner, or to have
   murdered her children? The Lord has explained this matter in another
   place, saying, "Whoso putteth her away, except for the cause of
   fornication, maketh her to commit adultery," [Matt 5:32] giving her an
   opportunity of a second marriage.

   Jerome: It is fornication alone which destroys the relationship of the
   wife; for when she has divided one flesh into two, and has separated
   herself by fornication from her husband, she is not to be retained,
   lest she should bring her husband also under the curse, which Scripture
   has spoken, "He that keepeth an adulteress is a fool and wicked." [Prov
   18:23]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For as he is cruel and unjust that puts away a chaste
   wife, so is he a fool and unjust that retains an unchaste; for in that
   he hides the guilt of his wife, he is an encourager of foulness.

   Aug., De Conjug. Adult., ii, 9: For a reunion of the wedlock, even
   after actual commission of adultery, is neither shameful nor difficult,
   where there is an undoubted remission of sin through the keys of the
   kingdom of heaven; not that after being divorced from her husband an
   adulteress should be called back again, but that after her union with
   Christ she should no longer be called an adulteress.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For every thing by whatsoever causes it is created, by
   the same is it destroyed. It is not matrimony but the will that makes
   the union; and therefore it is not a separation of bodies but a
   separation of wills that dissolves it. He then who puts away his wife
   and does not take another is still her husband; for though their bodies
   be not united, their wills are united. But when he takes another, then
   he manifestly puts his wife away; wherefore the Lord says not, Whoso
   putteth away his wife, but, "Whoso marrieth another, committeth
   adultery."

   Raban.: There is then but one carnal cause why a wife should be put
   away, that is, fornication; and but one spiritual, that is, the fear of
   God. But there is no cause why while she who has been put away is
   alive, another should be married.

   Jerome: For it might be that a man might falsely charge an innocent
   wife, and for the sake of another woman might fasten an accusation upon
   her. Therefore it is commanded so to put away the first, that a second
   be not married while the first is yet alive. Also because it might
   happen that by the same law a wife would divorce her husband, it is
   also provided that she take not another husband; and because one who
   had become an adulteress would have no further fear of disgrace, it is
   commanded that she marry not another husband. But if she do marry
   another, she is in the guilt of adultery; wherefore it follows, "And
   whoso marrieth her that is put away, committeth adultery."

   Gloss. ord.: He says this to the terror of him that would take her to
   wife, for the adulteress would have no fear of disgrace.
     __________________________________________________________________

   10. His disciples say unto him, "If the case of the man be so with his
   wife, it is not good to marry."

   11. But he said unto them, "All men cannot receive this saying, save
   they to whom it is given.

   12. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's
   womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and
   there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
   heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: A wife is a grievous burden, if it is not permitted to put her
   away except for the cause of fornication. For what if she be a
   drunkard, an evil temper, or of evil habits, is she to be kept? The
   Apostles, perceiving this burdensomeness, express what they feel; "His
   disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it
   is not good to marry."

   Chrys.: For it is a lighter thing to contend with himself, and his own
   lust, than with an evil woman.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And the Lord said not, It is good, but rather assented
   that it is not good. However, He considered the weakness of the flesh;
   "But he said unto them, All cannot receive this saying;" that is, All
   are not able to do this.

   Jerome: But let none think, that wherein He adds, "save they to whom it
   is given," that either fate or fortune is implied, as though they were
   virgins only whom chance has led to such a fortune. For that is given
   to those who have sought it of God, who have longed for it, who have
   striven that they might obtain it.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But all cannot obtain it, because all do not desire to
   obtain it. The prize is before them; he who desires the honour will not
   consider the toil. None would ever vanquish, if all shunned the
   struggle. Because then some have fallen from their purpose of
   continence, we ought not therefore to faint from that virtue; for they
   that fall in the battle do not slay the rest.

   That He says therefore, "Save they to whom it is given," shews that
   unless we receive the aid of grace, we have not strength. But this aid
   of grace is not denied to such as seek it, for the Lord says above,
   "Ask; and ye shall receive."

   Chrys.: Then to shew that this is possible, He says, "For there are
   some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men;" as much as to say,
   Consider, had you been so made of others, you would have lost the
   pleasure without gaining the reward.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For as the deed without the will does not constitute a
   sin; so a righteous act is not in the deed unless the will go with it.
   That therefore is honourable continence, not which mutilation of body
   of necessity enforces, but which the will of holy purpose embraces.

   Jerome: He speaks of three kinds of eunuchs, of whom two are carnal,
   and one spiritual. One, those who are so born of their mother's womb;
   another, those whom enemies or courtly luxury has made so; a third,
   those who have made themselves so for the kingdom of heaven, and who
   might have been men, but become eunuchs for Christ. To them the reward
   is promised, for to the others whose continence was involuntary,
   nothing is due.

   Hilary: The cause in one item he assigns nature; in the next violence,
   and in the last his own choice, in him, namely, that determined to be
   so from hope of the kingdom of heaven.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For they are born such, just as others are born having
   six or four fingers. For if God according as He formed our bodies in
   the beginning, had continued the same order unchangeably, the working
   of God would have been brought into oblivion among men. The order of
   nature is therefore changed at times from its nature, that God the
   framer of nature may be had in remembrance.

   Jerome, cf Origen in loc.: Or we may say otherwise. The eunuchs from
   their mothers' wombs are they whose nature is colder, and not prone to
   lust. And they that are made so of men are they whom physicians made
   so, or they whom worship of idols has made effeminate, or who from the
   influence of heretical teaching pretend to chastity, that they may
   thereupon claim truth for their tenets.

   But none of them obtain the kingdom of heaven, save he only who has
   become a eunuch for Christ's sake. Whence it follows, "He that is able
   to receive it, let him receive it;" let each calculate his own
   strength, whether he is able to fulfil the rules of virginity and
   abstinence. For in itself continence is sweet and alluring, but each
   man must consider his strength, that he only that is able may receive
   it.

   This is the voice of the Lord exhorting and encouraging on His soldiers
   to the reward of chastity, that he who can fight might fight and
   conquer and triumph.

   Chrys.: When he says, "Who have made themselves eunuchs," He does not
   mean cutting off of members, but a putting away of evil thoughts. For
   he that cuts off a limb is under a curse, for such an one undertakes
   the deeds of murderers, and opens a door to Manichaeans who depreciate
   the creature, and cut off the same members as do the Gentiles. For to
   cut off members is of the temptation of daemons. But by the means of
   which we have spoken desire is not diminished but made more urgent; for
   it has its source elsewhere, and chiefly in a weak purpose and an
   unguarded heart. For if the heart be well governed, there is no danger
   from the natural motions; nor does the amputation of a member bring
   such peacefulness and immunity from temptation as does a bridle upon
   the thoughts.
     __________________________________________________________________

   13. Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should
   put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.

   14. But Jesus said, "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to
   come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

   15. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord had been holding discourse of chastity; and
   some of His hearers now brought unto Him infants, who in respect of
   chastity are the purest; for they supposed that it was the pure in body
   only whom He had approved; and this is that which is said, "Then were
   brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them,
   and pray."

   Origen: For they now understood from His previous mighty works, that by
   laying on of His hands and by prayer evils were obviated. They bring
   therefore children to Him, judging that it were impossible that after
   the Lord had by His touch conveyed divine virtue into them, harm or any
   daemon should come nigh them.

   Remig.: For it was a custom among the ancients that little children
   should be brought to aged persons, to receive benediction by their hand
   or tongue; and according to this custom little children are now brought
   to the Lord.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The flesh as it delights not in good, if it hear any
   good readily forgets it; but the evil that it has it retains ever. But
   a little while before Christ took a little child and said, "Except ye
   become as this child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,"
   [Matt 18:3] yet His disciples, presently forgetting this innocence of
   children, now forbid children, as unworthy to come to Christ.

   Jerome: Not because they liked not that they should have benediction of
   the Saviour's hand and mouth; but forasmuch as their faith was not yet
   perfect, they thought that He like other men would be wearied by the
   applications of those that brought them.

   Chrys.: Or the disciples would have thrust them away, from respect to
   Christ's dignity [margin note: axioma]. But the Lord teaching them holy
   thoughts, and to subdue the pride of this world, took the children into
   His arms, and promised to such the kingdom of heaven; "But Jesus saith
   unto them, Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me,
   for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For who were worthy to come to Christ, if simple infancy
   were thrust away? Therefore he said, "Forbid them not." For if they
   shall turn out saints, why hinder ye the sons from coming to their
   Father? And if sinners, why do ye pronounce a sentence of condemnation,
   before you see any fault in them?

   Jerome: And He said distinctly, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven," not
   Of these, to shew that it was not years, but disposition that
   determined His judgment, and that the reward was promised to such as
   had like innocence and simplicity.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The present passage instructs all parents to bring their
   children to the priests, for it is not the priest who lays his hands on
   them, but Christ, in whose name hands are laid. For if he that offers
   his food in prayer to God eats it sanctified, for it is sanctified by
   the word of God, and by prayer, as the Apostle speaks [marg. note: 1
   Tim 4:5], how much rather ought children to be offered to God, and
   sanctified? And this is the reason of blessing of food, "Because the
   whole world lieth in wickedness; [1 John 5:19] so that all things that
   have body, which are a great part of the world, lie in wickedness.
   Consequently infants when born, are as respects their flesh lying in
   wickedness.

   Origen: Mystically; We call them children who are yet carnal in Christ,
   having need of milk. They who bring the babes to the Saviour, are they
   who profess to have knowledge of the word, but are still simple, and
   have for their food children's lessons, being yet novices. They who
   seem more perfect, and are therefore the disciples of Jesus, before
   they have learnt the way of righteousness which is for children, rebuke
   those who by simple doctrine bring to Christ children and babes, that
   is, such as are less learned.

   But the Lord exhorting His disciples now become men to condescend to
   the needs of babes, to be babes to babes, that they may gain babes,
   says, "For of such is the kingdom of heaven." For He Himself also, when
   He was in the form of God, was made a babe. These things we should
   attend to, lest in esteeming that more excellent wisdom, and spiritual
   advancement, as though we were become great we should despise the
   little ones of the Church, forbidding children to be brought to Jesus.

   But since children cannot follow all things that are commanded them,
   Jesus laid His hands upon them, and leaving virtue in them by His
   touch, went away from them, seeing they were not able to follow Him,
   like the other more perfect disciples.

   Remig.: Also laying His hands upon them, He blessed them, to signify
   that the lowly in spirit are worthy His grace and blessing.

   Gloss., non occ.: He laid His hands upon them while men held them, to
   signify that the grace of His aid was necessary.

   Hilary: The infants are a type of the Gentiles, to whom salvation is
   rendered by faith and hearing. But the disciples, in their first zeal
   for the salvation of Israel, forbid them to approach, but the Lord
   declares that they are not to be forbidden. For the gift of the Holy
   Ghost was to be conferred upon the Gentiles by laying on of hands, as
   soon as the Law had ceased.
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. And, behold, one came and said unto him, "Good Master, what good
   thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

   17. And he said unto him, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good
   but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the
   commandments."

   18. He saith unto him, "Which? Jesus said, "Thou shalt do no murder,
   Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not
   bear false witness,

   19. Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy
   neighbour as thyself."

   20. The young man saith unto him, "All these things have I kept from my
   youth up: what lack I yet?"

   21. Jesus said unto him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that
   thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
   heaven: and come and follow me."

   22. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful:
   for he had great possessions.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Raban., e Bed. in Luc., Matt 18:3: This man had, it may be, heard of
   the Lord that only they who were like to little children were worthy to
   enter into the heavenly kingdom; but desiring to know more certainly,
   he asks to have it declared to him not in parables, but expressly, by
   what merits he might attain eternal life.

   Therefore it is said; "And behold, one came and said unto him, Good
   Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"

   Jerome: He that asks this question is both young, rich, and proud, and
   he asks not as one that desires to learn, but as tempting Him. This we
   can prove by this, that when the Lord had said unto him, "If thou wilt
   enter into life, keep the commandments," he further insidiously asks,
   which are the commandments? as if he could not read them for himself,
   or as if the Lord could command any thing contrary to them.

   Chrys., Hom., lxiii: But I for my part, though I deny not that he was a
   lover of money, because Christ convicts him as such, cannot consider
   him to have been a hypocrite, because it is unsafe to decide in
   uncertain cases, and especially in making charges against any. Moreover
   Mark removes all suspicion of this kind, for he says that he came to
   Him, and knelt before Him; and that Jesus when He looked on him, loved
   him. [marg. note: Mark 10:17] And if he had come to tempt Him, the
   Evangelist would have signified as much, as he has done in other
   places. Or if he had said nothing thereof, Christ would not have
   suffered him to be hid, but would either have convicted him openly, or
   have covertly suggested it.

   But He does not this; for it follows, "He saith unto him, Why askest
   thou me concerning good?"

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 63: This may seem a discrepancy, that Matthew
   here gives it, "Why askest thou me concerning good?" whereas Mark and
   Luke's have, "Why callest thou me good?" For this, "Why askest thou me
   concerning good?" may seem rather to be referred to his question, "What
   good thing shall I do?" for in that he both mentioned "good," and asked
   a question. But this, "Good Master," is not yet a question. Either
   sentence may be understood thus very appropriately to the passage.

   Jerome: But because he had styled Him Good Master, and had not
   confessed Him as God, or as the Son of God, He tells him, that in
   comparison of God there is no saint to be called good, of whom it is
   said, "Confess unto the Lord, for he is good; [Ps. 118:1] and therefore
   He says, "There is one good, that is, God."

   But that none should suppose that by this the Son of God is excluded
   from being good, we read in another place, "The good Shepherd layeth
   down his life for his sheep." [1 John 10:11]

   Aug., de Trin., i, 13: Or, because he sought eternal life, (and eternal
   life consists in such contemplation in which God is beheld not for
   punishment, but for everlasting joy,) and knew not with whom he spake,
   but thought Him only a Son of Man, therefore He says, "Why askest thou
   me concerning good," calling me in respect of what you see in me, Good
   Master? This form of the Son of Man shall appear in the judgment, not
   to the righteous only, but to the wicked, and the very sight shall be
   to them an evil, and their punishment. But there is a sight of My form,
   in which I am equal to God. That one God therefore, Father, Son, and
   Holy Spirit, is alone good, because none see Him to mourning and
   sorrow, but only to salvation and true joy.

   Jerome: For Our Saviour does not reject this witness to His goodness,
   but corrected the error of calling Him Good Master apart from God.

   Chrys.: Wherein then was the profit that He answered thus? He leads him
   by degrees, and teaches him to lay aside false flattery, and rising
   above the things which are upon earth to cleave to God, to seek things
   to come, and to know Him that is truly good, the root and source of
   every good.

   Origen: Christ also answers thus, because of that He said, "What good
   thing shall I do? For when we depart from evil and do good, that which
   we do is called good by comparison with what other men do. But when
   compared with absolute good, in the sense in which it is here said,
   "There is one good," our good is not good.

   But some one may say, that because the Lord knew that the purpose of
   him who thus asked Him was not even to do such good as man can do, that
   therefore He said, "Why askest thou me concerning good?" as much as to
   say, Why do you ask me concerning good, seeing you are not prepared to
   do what is good. But after this He says, "If thou wilt enter into life,
   keep the commandments." Where note, that He speaks to him as yet
   standing without life; for that man is in one sense without life, who
   is without Him who said, "I am the life."

   Otherwise, every man upon earth may be, not in life itself, but only in
   its shadow, while he is clad in a body of death. But any man shall
   enter into life, if he keep himself from dead works, and seek living
   works. But there are dead words and living words, also dead thoughts
   and living thoughts, and therefore He says, "If thou wilt enter into
   life, keep the commandments."

   Aug., Serm., 84, 1: And He said not, "If thou desirest life eternal;
   but, "If thou wilt enter into life," calling that simply "life," which
   shall be everlasting. Here we should consider how eternal life should
   be loved, when this miserable and finite life is so loved.

   Remig.: These words prove that the Law gave to such as kept it not only
   temporal promises, but also life eternal. And because the hearing these
   things made him thoughtful, "He saith unto him, Which?"

   Chrys.: This he said not to tempt Him, but because he supposed that
   they were other than the commandments of the Law, which should be the
   means of life to him.

   Remig.: And Jesus, condescending as to a weak one, most graciously set
   out to him the precepts of the Law; Jesus said, "Thou shalt do no
   murder;" and of all these precepts follows the exposition, "And thou
   shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." For the Apostle says, "Whoso
   loveth his neighbour has fulfilled the Law?" [Prov 13:10]

   But it should be enquired, why the Lord has enumerated only the
   precepts of the Second Table? Perhaps because this young man was
   zealous in the love of God, or because love of our neighbour is the
   step by which we ascend to the love of God.

   Origen: Or perhaps these precepts are enough to introduce one, if I may
   say so, to the entrance of life; but neither these, nor any like them,
   are enough to conduct one to the more inward parts of life. But whoso
   transgresses one of these commandments, shall not even come to the
   entrance in unto life.

   Chrys.: But because all the commandments that the Lord had recounted
   were contained in the Law, The young man saith unto him, "All these
   have I kept from my youth up." And did not even rest there, but asked
   further, "What lack I yet? which alone is a mark of his intense desire.

   Remig.: But to those who would be perfect in grace, He shews how they
   may come to perfection, "Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect,
   go, and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor." Mark the words;
   He said not, Go, and consume all thou hast; but Go, and sell; and not
   some, as did Ananias and Sapphira, but "All." And well He added, "that
   thou hast," for what we have are our lawful possessions. Those
   therefore that he justly possessed were to be sold; what had been
   gained unjustly were to be restored to those from whom they had been
   taken. And He said not, Give to thy neighbours, nor to the rich, but to
   the poor.

   Aug., de Op. Monach., 25: Nor need it be made a scruple in what
   monasteries, or to the indigent brethren of what place, any one gives
   those things that he has, for there is but one commonwealth of all
   Christians. Therefore wheresoever any Christian has laid out his goods,
   in all places alike he shall receive what is necessary for himself,
   shall receive it of that which is Christ's.

   Raban.: See two kinds of life which we have heard set before men; the
   Active, to which pertains, "Thou shalt not kill," and the rest of the
   Law; and the Contemplative, to which pertains this, "If thou wilt be
   perfect." The active pertains to the Law, the contemplative to the
   Gospel; for as the Old Testament went before the New, so good action
   goes before contemplation.

   Aug., cont. Faust, v. 9: Nor are such only partakers in the kingdom of
   heaven, who, to the end they may be perfect, sell or part with all that
   they have; but in these Christian ranks are numbered by reason of a
   certain communication of their charity a multitude of hired troops;
   those to whom it shall be said in the end, "I was hungry, and ye gave
   me to eat;" [Matt 25:35] whom be it far from us to consider excluded
   from life eternal, as they who obey not the commands of the Gospel.

   Jerome, Hieron. cont. Vigilant., 15: That Vigilantius asserts that they
   who retain the use of their property, and from time to time divide
   their incomes among the poor, do better than they who sell their
   possessions and lavish them in one act of charity, to him, not I, but
   God shall make answer, If thou wilt be perfect, "Go and sell." That
   which you so extol, is but the second or third grade; which we indeed
   admit, only remembering that what is first is to be set before what is
   third or second.

   Pseudo-Aug., Gennadius, de Eccles. Dogm. 36: It is good to distribute
   with discrimination to the poor; it is better, with resolve of
   following the Lord to strip one's self of all at once, and freed from
   anxiety to suffer want with Christ.

   Chrys.: And because He spake of riches warning us to strip ourselves of
   them, He promises to repay things greater, by how much heaven is
   greater than earth, and therefore He says, "And thou shalt have
   treasure in heaven." By the word treasure He denotes the abundance and
   endurance of the reward.

   Origen: If every commandment is fulfilled in this one word, "Thou shalt
   love thy neighbour as thyself," and if he is perfect who has fulfilled
   every command, how is it that the Lord said to the young man, If thou
   wilt be perfect, when he had declared, "All these have I kept from my
   youth up." Perhaps that he says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
   thyself," was not said by the Lord, but added by some one, for neither
   Mark nor Luke have given it in this place.

   Or otherwise; It is written in the Gospel [ed. note: see above, p. 4,
   note b] according to the Hebrews, that, when the Lord said, "Go, and
   sell all that thou hast," the rich man began to scratch his head, being
   displeased with the saying. Then the Lord said unto him, How sayest
   thou, I have kept the Law, and the Prophets, since it is written in the
   Law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?" For how many of thy
   brethren sons of Abraham, clothed in filth, perish for hunger? Thy
   house is full of many good things, and nothing goes thereout to them.

   The Lord then, desiring to convict this rich man, says to him, "If thou
   wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor;"
   for so it will be seen if thou dost indeed love thy neighbour as
   thyself. But if he is perfect who has all the virtues, how does he
   become perfect who sells all that he has and gives to the poor? For
   suppose one to have done this, will he thereby become forthwith free
   from anger, desire, having every virtue, and abandoning all vice?
   Perhaps wisdom may suggest, that he that has given his goods to the
   poor, is aided by their prayers, receiving of their spiritual abundance
   to his want, and is made in this way perfect, though he may have some
   human passions.

   Or thus; He that thus exchanged his riches for poverty, in order that
   he might become perfect, shall have assistance to become wise in
   Christ, just, chaste also, and devoid of all passion; but not so as
   that in the moment when he gave up all his goods, he should forthwith
   become perfect; but only that from that day forward the contemplation
   of God will begin to bring him to all virtues.

   Or again, it will pass into a moral exposition, and say, that the
   possessions of a man are the acts of his mind. Christ then bids a man
   to sell all his evil possessions, and as it were to give them over to
   the virtues which should work the same, which were poor in all that is
   good. For as the peace of the Apostles returns to them again, [marg.
   note: Matt 10:13] unless there be a son of peace, so all sins return
   upon their actors, when one will no longer indulge his evil
   propensities; and thus there can be no doubt that he will straightway
   become perfect who in this sense sells all his possessions.

   It is manifest that he that does these things, has treasure in heaven,
   and is himself become of heaven; and he will have in heaven treasure of
   God's glory, and riches in all God's wisdom. Such an one will be able
   to follow Christ, for he has no evil possession to draw him off from so
   following.

   Jerome: For many who leave their riches do not therefore follow the
   Lord; and it is not sufficient for perfection that they despise money,
   unless they also follow the Saviour, that unless having forsaken evil,
   they also do what is good. For it is easier to contemn the hoard than
   quit the propensity [ed. note: Vallarsi reads voluptas,' which would
   seem to make the passage mean, It is easier to relinquish avarice than
   pleasure.'].

   Therefore it follows, "And come and follow me;" for he follows the Lord
   who is his imitator, and who walks in his steps. It follows, "And when
   the young man had heard these words, he went away sorrowful." This is
   the sorrow that leads to death. And the cause of his sorrow is added,
   "for he had great possessions," thorns, that is, and briars, which
   choked the holy leaven.

   Chrys.: For they that have little, and they that abound, are not in
   like measure encumbered. For the acquisition of riches raises a greater
   flame, and desire is more violently kindled.

   Aug., Ep. 31, 5: I know not how, but in the love of worldly
   superfluities, it is what we have already got, rather than what we
   desire to get, that most strictly enthrals us. For whence went this
   young man away sorrowful, but that he had great possessions? It is one
   thing to lay aside thoughts of further acquisition, and another to
   strip ourselves of what we have already made our own; one is only
   rejecting what is not ours, the other is like parting with one of our
   own limbs.

   Origen: But historically, the young man is to be praised for that he
   did not kill, did not commit adultery; but is to be blamed for that he
   sorrowed at Christ's words calling him to perfection. He was young
   indeed in soul, and therefore leaving Christ, he went his way.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, "Verily I say unto you, That a
   rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

   24. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through
   the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
   God."

   25. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying,
   "Who then can be saved?"

   26. But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, "With men this is
   impossible; but with God all things are possible."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The Lord took occasion from this rich man to hold
   discourse concerning the covetous; "Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
   Verily I say unto you, &c."

   Chrys.: What He spoke was not condemning riches in themselves, but
   those who were enslaved by them; also encouraging His disciples that
   being poor they should not be ashamed by reason of their poverty.

   Hilary: To have riches is no sin; but moderation is to be observed in
   our havings. For how shall we communicate to the necessities of the
   saints, if we have not out of what we may communicate?

   Raban.: But though there be a difference between having and loving
   riches, yet it is safer neither to have nor to love them.

   Remig.: Whence in Mark the Lord expounding the meaning of this saying,
   speaks thus, "It is hard for them that trust in riches to enter into
   the kingdom of heaven." [Mark 10:24] They trust in riches, who build
   all their hopes on them.

   Jerome: Because riches once gained are hard to be despised, He saith
   not it is impossible, but it is hard. Difficulty does not imply the
   impossibility, but points out the infrequency of the occurrence.

   Hilary: It is a dangerous toil to become rich; and guiltlessness
   occupied in increasing its wealth has taken upon itself a sore burden;
   the servant of God gains not the things of the world, clear of the sins
   of the world. Hence is the difficulty of entering the kingdom of
   heaven.

   Chrys.: Having said that it was hard for a rich man to eater into the
   kingdom of heaven, He now proceeds to shew that it is impossible, "And
   again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
   a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven."

   Jerome: According to this, no rich man can be saved. But if we read
   Isaiah, how the camels of Midian and Ephah came to Jerusalem with gifts
   and presents, [Isa 60:6] and they who once were crooked and bowed down
   by the weight of their sins, enter the gates of Jerusalem, we shall see
   how these camels, to which the rich are likened when they have laid
   aside the heavy load of sins, and the distortion of their whole bodies,
   may then enter by that narrow and strait way that leads to life.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Gentile souls are likened to the deformed body of
   the camel, in which is seen the humpback of idolatry; for the knowledge
   of God is the exaltation of the soul. The needle is the Son of God, the
   fine point of which is His divinity, and the thicker part what He is
   according to His incarnation. But it is altogether straight and without
   turning; and through the womb of His passion, the Gentiles have entered
   into life eternal. By this needle is sewn the robe of immortality; it
   is this needle that has sewn the flesh to the spirit, that has joined
   together the Jews and the Gentiles, and coupled man in friendship with
   angels. It is easier therefore for the Gentiles to pass through the
   needle's eye, than for the rich Jews to enter into the kingdom of
   heaven. For if the Gentiles are with such difficulty withdrawn from the
   irrational worship of idols, how much more hardly shall the Jews be
   withdrawn from the reasonable service of God?

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: It is explained otherwise; That at Jerusalem there
   was a certain gate, called, The needle's eye, through which a camel
   could not pass, but on its bended knees, and after its burden had been
   taken off; and so the rich should not be able to pass along the narrow
   way that leads to life, till he had put off the burden of sin, and of
   riches, that is, ceasing to love them.

   Greg., Mor., xxxv, 16: Or, by the rich man He intends any one who is
   proud, by the camel he denotes the right humility. The camel passed
   through the needle's eye, when our Redeemer through the narrow way of
   suffering entered in to the taking upon Him death; for that passion was
   as a needle which pricked the body with pain. But the camel enters the
   needle's eye easier than the rich man enters the kingdom of heaven;
   because if He had not first shewn us by His passion the form of His
   humility, our proud stiffness would never have bent itself to His
   lowliness.

   Chrys.: The disciples though poor are troubled for the salvation of
   others, beginning even now to have the bowels of doctors.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., 1, 26: Whereas the rich are few in comparison of the
   multitude of the poor, we must suppose that the disciples understood
   all who wish for riches, as included in the number of the rich.

   Chrys.: This therefore He proceeds to shew is the work of God, there
   needing much grace to guide a man in the midst of riches; "But Jesus
   beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with
   God all things are possible."

   By the word "beheld" them, the Evangelist conveys that He soothed their
   troubled soul by His merciful eye.

   Remig.: This must not be so understood as though it were possible for
   God to cause that the rich, the covetous, the avaricious, and the proud
   should enter into the kingdom of heaven; but to cause him to be
   converted, and so enter.

   Chrys.: And this is not said that you should sit supinely, and let
   alone what may seem impossibilities; but considering the greatness of
   righteousness, you should strive to enter in with entreaty to God.
     __________________________________________________________________

   27. Then answered Peter and said unto him, "Behold, we have forsaken
   all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?"

   28. And Jesus said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, That ye which
   have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in
   the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
   the twelve tribes of Israel.

   29. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters,
   or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's
   sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting
   life.

   30. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be
   first."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Peter had heard the word of Christ when He said, "If thou wilt
   be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast." Then he observed that the
   young man had departed sorrowful, and considered the difficulty of
   riches entering into the kingdom of heaven; and thereupon he put this
   question confidently as one who had achieved no easy matter. For though
   what he with his brother had left behind them were but little things,
   yet were they not esteemed as little with God, who considered that out
   of the fulness of their love they had so forsaken those least things,
   as they would have forsaken the greatest things if they had had them.

   So Peter, thinking rather of his will than of the intrinsic value of
   the sacrifice, asked Him confidently "Behold, we have left all."

   Chrys., Hom., lxiv: What was this "all," O blessed Peter? The reeds,
   your net, and boat. But this he says, not to call to mind his own
   magnanimity, but in order to propose the case of the multitude of poor.
   A poor man might have said, If I have nought, I cannot become perfect.
   Peter therefore puts this question that you, poor man, may learn that
   you are in nothing behind. For he had already received the kingdom of
   heaven, and therefore secure of what was already there, he now asks for
   the whole world. And see how carefully he frames his question after
   Christ's requirements: Christ required two things of a rich man, to
   give what he had to the poor, and to follow Him; wherefore he adds,
   "and have followed thee."

   Origen: It may be said, In all things which the Father revealed to
   Peter that the Son was, righteousness, sanctification, and the like, in
   all we have followed Thee. Therefore as a victorious athlete, he now
   asks what are the prizes of his contest.

   Jerome: Because to forsake is not enough, he adds that which makes
   perfection, "and have followed thee." We have done what thou
   commandedst us, what reward wilt thou then give us? What shall we
   have?"

   Jerome: He said not only, "Ye who have left all," for this did the
   philosopher Crates, and many other who have despised riches, but added,
   "and have followed me," which is peculiar to the Apostles and
   believers. [ed. note: ~ The later editions of the Catena, and nearly
   all the Mss. of Jerome, read Socrates.' but Vallarsi adopts the reading
   of a few Mss., Crates, as more agreeable to history, as being named by
   Origen whom S. Jerome in this place follows, and as being often alluded
   to by S. Jerome. This is further supported by the ED. PR. of the
   Catena]

   Hilary: The disciples had followed Christ in the regeneration, that is,
   in the laver of baptism, in the sanctification of faith, for this is
   that regeneration which the Apostles followed, and which the Law could
   not bestow.

   Jerome: Or it may be constructed thus, "Ye which have followed me,
   shall in the regeneration sit, &c.;" that is, when the dead shall rise
   from corruption incorrupt, you also shall sit on thrones of judges,
   condemning the twelve tribes of Israel, for that they would not believe
   when you believed.

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 5: Thus our flesh will be regenerated
   by incorruption, as our soul also shall be regenerated by faith.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For it would come to pass, that in the day of judgment
   the Jews would allege, Lord, we knew Thee not to be the Son of God when
   Thou wast in the flesh. For who can discern a treasure buried in the
   ground, or the sun when obscured by a cloud? The disciples therefore
   will then answer, We also were men, and peasants, obscure among the
   multitude, but you priests and scribes; but in us a right will became
   as it were a lamp of our ignorance, but your evil will became to you a
   blinding of your science.

   Chrys.: He therefore said not the Gentiles and the whole world, but,
   the "tribes of Israel," because the Apostles and the Jews had been
   brought up under the same laws and customs. So that when the Jews
   should plead that they could not believe in Christ, because they were
   hindered by their Law, the disciples will be brought forward, who had
   the same Law.

   But some one may say, What great thing is this, when both the Ninevites
   and the Queen of the South will have the same? He had before and will
   again promise them the highest rewards; and even now He tacitly conveys
   something of the same. For of those others He had only said, that they
   shall sit, and shall condemn this generation; but He now says to the
   disciples, "When the Soul of Man shall sit, ye also shall sit."

   It is clear then that they shall reign with Him, and shall share in
   that glory; for it is such honour and glory unspeakable that He intends
   by the "thrones." How is this promise fulfilled? Shall Judas sit among
   them? By no means. For the law was thus ordained of the Lord by
   Jeremiah the Prophet, "I will speak it upon my people, and upon, the
   kingdom, that I may build, and plant it. But if it do evil in, my
   sight, then will I repent me of the good which I said I would do to
   them;" [Jer 18:9] as much as to say, If they make themselves unworthy
   of the promise, I will no more perform that I promised.

   But Judas shewed himself unworthy of the preeminence; wherefore when He
   gave this promise to His disciples, He did not promise it absolutely,
   for He said not, Ye shall sit, but, "Ye which have followed me shall
   sit;" at once excluding Judas, and admitting such as should be in after
   time; for neither was the promise confined to them only, nor yet did it
   include Judas who had already shewn himself undeserving.

   Hilary: Their following Christ in thus exalting the Apostles to twelve
   thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, associated them in the
   glory of the twelve Patriarchs.

   Aug.: From this passage we learn that Jesus will judge with His
   disciples; whence He says in another place to the Jews, "Therefore
   shall they be your judges." [Matt 12:27] And whereas He says they shall
   sit upon twelve thrones, we need not think that twelve persons only
   shall judge with Him. For by the number twelve is signified the whole
   number of those that shall judge; and that because the number seven
   which generally represents completeness contains the two numbers four
   and three, which multiplied together make twelve. For if it were not
   so, as Matthias was elected into the place of the traitor Judas, the
   Apostle Paul who laboured more than they all should not have place to
   sit to judge; but he shews that he with the rest of the saints pertains
   to the number of judges, when he says, "Know ye not that we shall judge
   Angels?" [1 Cor 6:3]

   Aug., Serm., 351, 8: In the number of judges therefore are included all
   that have left their all and followed the Lord.

   Greg., Mor., x, 31: For whosoever, urged by the spur of divine love,
   shall forsake what he possesses here, shall without doubt gain there
   the eminence of judicial authority; and shall appear as judge with the
   Judge, for that he now in consideration of the judgment chastens
   himself by a voluntary poverty.

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 5: The same holds good, by reason of
   this number twelve, of those that are to be judged. For when it is
   said, "Judging the twelve tribes," yet is not the tribe of Levi, which
   is the thirteenth, to be exempt from being judged by them; nor shall
   they judge this nation alone, and not also other nations.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, by that, "In the regeneration," Christ designs the
   period of Christianity that should be after His ascension, in which men
   were regenerated by baptism; and that is the time in which Christ sat
   on the throne of His glory. And hereby you may see that He spake not of
   the time of the judgment to come, but of the calling of the Gentiles,
   in that He said not, "When the Son of Man shall come sitting upon the
   throne of his majesty;" but only, "In the regeneration when he shall
   sit," which was from the time that the Gentiles began to believe on
   Christ; according to that, "God shall reign over the heathen; God
   sitteth upon his holy throne." [Ps 47:8]

   From that time also the Apostles have sat upon twelve thrones, that is,
   over all Christians; for every Christian who receives the word of
   Peter, becomes Peter's throne, and so of the rest of the Apostles. On
   these thrones then the Apostles sit, parcelled into twelve divisions,
   after the variety of minds and hearts, known to God only. For as the
   Jewish nation was split into twelve tribes, so is the whole Christian
   people divided into twelve, so as that some souls are numbered with the
   tribe of Reuben, and so of the rest, according to their several
   qualities. For all have not all graces alike, one is excellent in this,
   another in that. And so the Apostles will judge the twelve tribes of
   Israel, that is, all the Jews, by this, that the Gentiles received the
   Apostles' word.

   The whole body of Christians are indeed twelve thrones for the
   Apostles, but one throne for Christ. For all excellencies are but one
   throne for Christ, for He alone is equally perfect in all virtues. But
   of the Apostles each one is more perfect in some one particular
   excellence, as Peter in faith; so Peter tests upon his faith, John on
   his innocence, and so of the rest. And that Christ spake of reward to
   be given to the Apostles in this world, is shewn by what follows, "And
   every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, &c." For
   if these shall receive an hundred fold in this life, without doubt to
   the Apostles also was promised a reward in this present life.

   Chrys.: Or; He holds out rewards in the future life to the Apostles,
   because they where already looking above, and desired nothing of things
   present; but to others He promises things present.

   Origen: Or otherwise; whosoever shall leave all and follow Christ, he
   also shall receive those things that were promised to Peter. But if he
   has not left all, but only those things in special here enumerated, he
   shall receive manifold, and shall possess eternal life.

   Jerome: There are that take occasion from this passage to bring forward
   the thousand years after the resurrection, and say that then we shall
   have a hundred fold of the things we have given up, and moreover life
   eternal. But though the promise be in other things worthy, in the
   matter of wives it seems to have somewhat shameful, if he who has
   forsaken one wife for the Lord's sake, shall receive a hundred in the
   world to come. The meaning is therefore, that he that has forsaken
   carnal things for the Saviour's sake, shall receive spiritual things,
   which in a comparison of value are as a hundred to a small number.

   Origen: And in this world, because for his brethren after the flesh he
   shall find many brethren in the faith; for parents, all the Bishops and
   Presbyters; for sons, all that have the age of sons. The Angels also
   are brethren, and all they are sisters that have offered themselves
   chaste virgins to Christ, as well they that still continue on earth, as
   they that now live in heaven. The houses and lands manifold more
   suppose in the repose of Paradise, and the city of God. And besides all
   these things they shall possess eternal life.

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 7: That He says, "An hundred fold," is
   explained by the Apostle, when he says, "As having nothing, and yet
   possessing all things." [2 Cor 6:10] For a hundred is sometimes put for
   the whole universe.

   Jerome: And that, "And every one that hath forsaken brethren," agrees
   with that He had said before, "I am come to set a man at variance with
   his father." [Matt 10:35] For they who for the faith of Christ and the
   preaching of the Gospel shall despise all the ties, the riches, and
   pleasures of this world, they shall receive an hundred fold, and shall
   possess eternal life.

   Chrys.: But when He says, "He that has forsaken wife," it is not to be
   taken of actual severing of the marriage tie, but that we should hold
   the ties of the faith dearer than any other. And here is, I think, a
   covert allusion to times of persecution; for because there should be
   many who would draw away their sons to heathenism, when that should
   happen, they should be held neither as fathers, nor husbands.

   Raban.: But because many with what zeal they take up the pursuit of
   virtue, do not with the same complete it; but either grow cool, or fall
   away rapidly; it follows, "But many that are first shall be last, and
   the last first."

   Origen: By this He exhorts those that come late to the heavenly word,
   to haste to ascend to perfection before many whom they see to have
   grown old in the faith. This sense may also overthrow those that boast
   to have been educated in Christianity by Christian parents, especially
   if those parents have filled the Episcopal see, or the office of
   Priests or Deacons in the Church; and hinder them from desponding who
   have entertained the Christian doctrines more newly.

   It has also another meaning; the "first," are the Israelites, who
   become last because of their unbelief; and the Gentiles who were "last"
   become first. He is careful to say, "Many;" for not all who are first
   shall be last, nor all last first. For before this have many of
   mankind, who by nature are the last, been made by an angelic life above
   the Angels; and some Angels who were first have been made last through
   their sin.

   Remig.: It may also be referred in particular to the rich man, who
   seemed to be first, by his fulfilment of the precepts of the Law, but
   was made last by his preferring his worldly substance to God. The holy
   Apostles seemed to be last, but by leaving all they were made first by
   the grace of humility. There are many who having entered upon good
   works, fall therefrom, and from having been first, become last.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 20

   1. "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an
   householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into
   his vineyard.

   2. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent
   them into his vineyard.

   3. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle
   in the market-place,

   4. And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is
   right I will give you. And they went their way.

   5. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

   6. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing
   idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

   7. They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them,
   Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye
   receive.

   8. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his
   steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from
   the last unto the first.

   9. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they
   received every man a penny.

   10. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have
   received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

   11. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of
   the house,

   12. Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made
   them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

   13. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong:
   didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

   14. Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last,
   even as unto thee.

   15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine
   eye evil, because I am good?

   16. So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called,
   but few chosen."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: To establish the truth of this saying, "There are many first
   that shall be last, and last first," the Lord subjoins a similitude.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Master of the household is Christ, whose house are
   the heavens and the earth; and the creatures of the heavens, and the
   earth, and beneath the earth, His family. His vineyard is
   righteousness, in which are set divers sorts of righteousness as vines,
   as meekness, chastity, patience, and the other virtues; all of which
   are called by one common name righteousness.

   Men are the cultivators of this vineyard, whence it is said, "Who went
   out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard." For God
   placed His righteousness in our senses, not for His own but for our
   benefit. Know then that we are the hired labourers. But as no man gives
   wages to a labourer, to the end he should do nothing save only to eat,
   so likewise we were not thereto called by Christ, that we should labour
   such things only as pertain to our own good, but to the glory of God.
   And like as the hired labourer looks first to his task, and after to
   his daily food, so ought we to mind first those things which concern
   the glory of God, then those which concern our own profit. Also as the
   hired labourer occupies the whole day in his Lord's work, and takes but
   a single hour for his own meal; so ought we to occupy our whole life in
   the glory of God, taking but a very small portion of it for the uses of
   this world. And as the hired labourer when he has done no work is
   ashamed that day to enter the house, and ask his food, how should not
   you be ashamed to enter the church, and stand before the face of God,
   when you have done nothing good in the sight of God?

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xix, 1: Or; The Master of the household, that is,
   our Maker, has a vineyard, that is, the Church universal, which has
   borne so many stocks, as many saints as it has put forth from righteous
   Abel to the very last saint who shall be born in the end of the world.
   To instruct this His people as for the dressing of a vineyard, the Lord
   has never ceased to send out His labourers; first by the Patriarchs,
   next by the teachers of the Law, then by the Prophets, and at the last
   by the Apostles, He has toiled in the cultivation of His vineyard;
   though every man, in whatsoever measure or degree he has joined good
   action with right faith, has been a labourer in the vineyard.

   Origen: For the whole of this present life may be called one day, long
   to us, short compared to the existence of God.

   Greg.: The morning is that age of the world which was from Adam and
   Noah, and therefore it is said, "Who went out early in the morning to
   hire labourers into his vineyard." The terms of their hiring He adds,
   "And when he had agreed with the labourers for a denarius a day."

   Origen: The denarius I suppose here to mean salvation.

   Remig.: A denarius was a coin anciently equal to ten sesterces, and
   bearing the king's image. Well therefore does the denarius represent
   the reward of the keeping of the decalogue. And that, "Having agreed
   with them for a denarius a day," is well said, to shew that every man
   labours in the field of the holy Church in hope of the future reward.

   Greg.: The third hour is the period from Noah to Abraham; of which it
   is said, "And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing
   in the market-place idle."

   Origen: The market-place is all that is without the vineyard, that is,
   without the Church of Christ.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For in this world men live by buying and selling, and
   gain their support by defrauding each other.

   Greg.: He that lives to himself, and feeds on the delights of the
   flesh, is rightly accused as idle, forasmuch as he does not seek the
   fruit of godly labour.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; The "idle" are not sinners, for they are called
   dead. But he is idle who works not the work of God. Do you desire to be
   not idle? Take not that which is another's; and give of that which is
   your own, and you have laboured in the Lord's vineyard, cultivating the
   vine of mercy. It follows, "And he said unto them, Go ye also into my
   vineyard." Observe that it is with the first alone that He agrees upon
   the sum to be given, a denarius; the others are hired on no express
   stipulation, but "What is right I will give you." For the Lord knowing
   that Adam would fall, and that all should hereafter perish in the
   deluge, made conditions for him, that he should never say that he
   therefore neglected righteousness, because he knew not what reward he
   should have. But with the rest He made no contract, seeing He was
   prepared to give more than the labourers could hope.

   Origen: Or; He did not call upon the labourers of the third hour for a
   complete task, but left to their own choice, how much they should work.
   For they might perform in the vineyard work equal to that of those who
   had wrought since the morning, if they chose to put forth upon their
   task an operative energy, such as had not yet been exerted.

   Greg.: The sixth hour is that from Abraham to Moses, the ninth that
   from Moses to the coming of the Lord.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: These two hours are coupled together, because in the
   sixth and ninth it was that He called the generation of the Jews, and
   multiplied to publish His testaments among men, whereas the appointed
   time of salvation now drew nigh.

   Greg.: The eleventh hour is that from the coming of the Lord to the end
   of the world. The labourer in the morning, at the third, sixth, and
   ninth hours, denotes the ancient Hebrew people, which in its elect from
   the very beginning of the world, while it zealously and with right
   faith served the Lord, ceased not to labour in the husbandry of the
   vineyard. But at the eleventh the Gentiles are called. For they who
   through so many ages of the world had neglected to labour for their
   living, were they who had stood the whole day idle.

   But consider their answer; "They say unto him, Because no man hath
   hired us;" for neither Patriarch nor Prophet had come to them. And what
   is it to say, "No man hath hired us," but to say, None has preached to
   us the way of life.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For what is our hiring, and the wages of that hiring?
   The promise of eternal life; for the Gentiles knew neither God, nor
   God's promises.

   Hilary: These then are sent into the vineyard, "Go ye also into my
   vineyard."

   Raban.: But when they had rendered their day's task, at the fitting
   time for payment, "When even was come," that is, when the day of this
   world was drawing to its close.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Consider, He gives the reward not the next morning, but
   in the evening. Thus the judgment shall take place while this world is
   still standing, and each man shall receive that which is due to him.
   This is on two accounts. First, because the happiness of the world to
   come is to be itself the reward of righteousness; so the award is made
   before, and not in that world. Secondly, that sinners may not behold
   the blessedness of that day, "The Lord saith unto his steward," that
   is, the Son to the Holy Spirit.

   Gloss., non. occ., sed vid. Raban.: Or, if you choose, the Father saith
   unto the Son; for the Father wrought by the Son, and the Son by the
   Holy Spirit, not that there is any difference of substance, or majesty.

   Origen: Or; "The Lord said to his steward," that is, to one of the
   Angels who was set over the payment of the labourers; or to one of
   those many guardians, according to what is written, that "The heir as
   long as he is a child is under tutors and governors." [Gal 4:2]

   Remig.: Or, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the master of the
   household, and also the steward, like as He is the door, and also the
   keeper of the door. For He Himself will come to judgment, to render to
   each man according to that he has done. He therefore calls His
   labourers, and renders to them their wages, so that when they shall be
   gathered together in the judgment, each man shall receive according to
   his works.

   Origen, Heb 11, 40: But the first labourers having the witness through
   faith have not received the promise of God, the lord of the household
   providing some better thing for us, that they without us should not be
   made perfect. And because we have obtained mercy, we hope to receive
   the reward first, we, that is, who are Christ's, and after us they that
   wrought before us; wherefore it is said, "Call the labourers, and give
   them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For we always give more willingly, where we give without
   return, seeing it is for our own honour that we give. Therefore God in
   giving reward to all the saints shews himself just; in giving to us,
   merciful; as the Apostle speaks, "That the Gentiles might glorify God
   for His mercy;" [Rom 16:9] and thence it is said, "Beginning from the
   last even unto the first."

   Or surely that God may shew His inestimable mercy, He first rewards the
   last and more unworthy, and afterwards the first; for of His great
   mercy He regarded not order of merit.

   Aug., de Spir. et Lit. 24: Or; The lesser are therefore taken as first,
   because the lesser are to be made rich.

   Greg.: They get alike a denarius who have wrought since the eleventh
   hour, (for they sought it with their whole soul,) and who have wrought
   since the first. They, that is, who were called from the beginning of
   the world have alike received the reward of eternal happiness, with
   those who come to the Lord in the end of the world.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And this not with injustice. For he who was born in the
   first period of the world, lived no longer than the determined time of
   his life, and what harm was it to him, though the world continued after
   his leaving it? And they that shall be born towards its close will not
   live less than the days that are numbered to them. And how does it cut
   their labour shorter, that the world is speedily ended, when they have
   accomplished their thread of life before?

   Moreover it is not of man to be born sooner or later, but of the power
   of God. Therefore he that is born first cannot claim to himself a
   higher place, nor ought he to be held in contempt that was born later.
   "And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of
   the house, saying." But if this we have said be true, that both first
   and last have lived their own time, and neither more nor less; and that
   each man's death is his consummation, what means this that they say,
   "We have borne the burden and heat of the day?" Because to know that
   the end of the world is at hand is of great force to make us do
   righteousness. Wherefore Christ in His love to us said, "The kingdom of
   heaven shall draw nigh." [Matt 4:2]

   Whereas it was a weakening of them to know that the duration of the
   world was to be yet long. So that though they did not indeed live
   through the whole of time, they seem in a manner to have borne its
   weight. Or, by the burden of the day is meant the burdensome precepts
   of the Law; and the heat may be that consuming temptation to error
   which evil spirits contrived for them, stirring them to imitate the
   Gentiles; from all which things the Gentiles were exempt, believing on
   Christ, and by compendiousness of grace being saved completely. Greg.:
   Or; To bear the burden and heat of the day, is to be weaned through a
   life of long duration with the heats of the flesh. But it may be asked,
   How can they be said to murmur, when they are called to the kingdom of
   heaven? For none who murmurs shall receive the kingdom, and none who
   receives that can murmur.

   Chrys.: But we ought not to pursue through every particular the
   circumstances of a parable; but enter into its general scope, and seek
   nothing further. This then is not introduced in order to represent some
   as moved with envy, but to exhibit the honour that shall be given us as
   so great as that it might stir the jealousy of others.

   Greg.: Or because the old fathers down to the Lord's coming,
   notwithstanding their righteous lives, were not brought to the kingdom,
   this murmur is theirs. But we who have come at the eleventh hour, do
   not murmur after our labours, forasmuch as having come into this world
   after the coming of the Mediator, we are brought to the kingdom as soon
   as ever we depart out of the body.

   Jerome: Or, all that were called of old envy the Gentiles, and are
   pained at the grace of the Gospel.

   Hilary: And this murmur of the labourers corresponds with the
   frowardness of this nation, which even in the time of Moses were
   stiff-necked.

   Remig.: By this one to whom his answer is given, may be understood all
   the believing Jews, whom he calls friends because of their faith.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Their complaint was not that they were defrauded of
   their rightful recompense, but that the others had received more than
   they deserved. For the envious have as much pain at others' success as
   at their own loss.

   From which it is clear, that envy flows from vain glory. A man is
   grieved to be second, because he wishes to be first. He removes this
   feeling of envy by saying, "Didst thou not agree with me for a
   denarius?"

   Jerome: A denarius bears the figure of the king. You have therefore
   received the reward which I promised you, that is, my image and
   likeness; what desirest thou more? And yet, it is not that thou
   shouldest have more, but that another should have less that thou
   seekest. "Take that is thine, and go thy way."

   Remig.: That is, take thy reward, and enter into glory. "I will give to
   this last," that is, to the gentile people, according to their deserts,
   as to thee.

   Origen: Perhaps it is to Adam He says, "Friend, I do thee no wrong;
   didst thou not agree with me for a denarius? Take that thine is, and go
   thy way." Salvation is thine, that is, the denarius. "I will give unto
   this last also as unto thee." A person might not improbably suppose,
   that this last was the Apostle Paul, who wrought but one hour, and was
   made equal with all who had been before him.

   Aug., de Sanc. Virg., 26: Because that life eternal shall be equal to
   all the saints, a denarius is given to all; but forasmuch as in that
   life eternal the light of merits shall shine diversely, there are with
   the Father many mansions; so that under this same denarius bestowed
   unequally one shall not live longer than another, but in the many
   mansions one shall shine with more splendour than another.

   Greg.: And because the attainment of this kingdom is of the goodness of
   His will, it is added, "It is not lawful for me to do what I will with
   mine own?" For it is a foolish complaint of man to murmur against the
   goodness of God. For complaint is not when a man gives not what he is
   not bound to give, but if he gives not what he is bound to give; whence
   it is added, "Is thine eye evil because I am good?"

   Remig.: By the eye is understood his purpose. The Jews had an evil eye,
   that is, an evil purpose, seeing they were grieved at the salvation of
   the Gentiles. Whereto this parable pointed, He shews by adding, "So the
   first shall be last, and the last first;" and so the Jews of the head
   are become the tail, and we of the tail are become the head.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; He says the first shall be last, and the last first,
   not that the last are to be exalted before the first, but that they
   should be put on an equality, so that the difference of time should
   make no difference in their station. That He says, "For many are
   called, but few chosen," is not to be taken of the elder saints, but of
   the Gentiles; for of the Gentiles who were called being many, but few
   were chosen.

   Greg.: There be very many come to the faith, yet but few arrive at the
   heavenly kingdom; many follow God in words, but shun Him in their
   lives. Whereof spring two things to be thought upon. The first, that
   none should presume ought concerning himself; for though he be called
   to the faith, he knows not whether he shall be chosen to the kingdom.

   Secondly, that none should despair of his neighbour, even though he see
   him lying in vices; because he knows not the riches of the Divine
   mercy.

   Or otherwise. The morning is our childhood; the third hour may be
   understood as our youth, the sun as it were mounting to his height is
   the advance of the heat of age; the sixth hour is manhood, when the sun
   is steady in his meridian height, representing as it were the maturity
   of strength; by the ninth is understood old age, in which the sun
   descends from his vertical height, as our age falls away from the
   fervour of youth; the eleventh hour is that age which is called
   decrepit, and doting.

   Chrys.: That He called not all of them at once, but some in the
   morning, some at the third hour, and so forth, proceeded from the
   difference of their minds [ed. note: gnome]. He then called them when
   they would obey; as He also called the thief when he would obey.
   Whereas they say, "Because no man hath hired us," we ought not to force
   a sense out of every particular in a parable. Further, it is the
   labourers and not the Lord who speak thus; for that He, as far as it
   pertains to Him, calls all men from their earliest years, is shewn in
   this, "He went out early in the morning to hire labourers."

   Greg.: They then who have neglected till extreme old age to live unto
   God, have stood idle to the eleventh hour, yet even these the master of
   the household calls, and oftentimes gives them their reward before
   other, inasmuch as they depart out of the body into the kingdom before
   those that seemed to be called in their childhood.

   Origen: But this, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" is not said to
   such as having "begun, in the spirit," [Gal 3:3] have been "made
   perfect by the flesh," as inviting them to return again, and to live in
   the Spirit. This we speak not to dissuade prodigal sons, who have
   consumed their substance of evangelic doctrine in riotous living, from
   returning to their father's house; but because they are not like those
   who sinned in their youth, before they had learnt the things of the
   faith.

   Chrys.: When He says, The first shall be last, and the last first," He
   alludes secretly to such as were at the first eminent, and afterwards
   set at nought virtue; and to others who have been reclaimed from
   wickedness, and have surpassed many. So that this parable was made to
   quicken the zeal of those who are converted in extreme old age, that
   they should not suppose that they shall have less than others.
     __________________________________________________________________

   17. And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in
   the way, and said unto them,

   18. "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be
   betrayed unto the Chief Priests and unto the Scribes, and they shall
   condemn him to death,

   19. And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and
   to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom., lxv: The Lord leaving Galilee, did not go up straightway
   to Jerusalem, but first wrought miracles, refuted the Pharisees, and
   taught the disciples concerning perfection of life, and its reward; now
   when about to go up to Jerusalem, He again speaks to them of His
   passion.

   Origen: Judas was yet among the twelve; for he was perhaps still worthy
   to hear in private along with the rest the things which his Master
   should suffer.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For the salvation of men entirely rests upon Christ's
   death; nor is there any thing for which we are more bound to render
   thanks to God, than for His death. He imparted the mystery of His death
   to His disciples for this reason, namely, because the more precious
   treasure is ever committed to the more worthy vessels. Had the rest
   heard of the passion of Christ, the men might have been troubled
   because of the weakness of their faith, and the women because of the
   tenderness of their nature, which such matters do commonly move to
   tears.

   Chrys.: He had indeed told it, and to many, but obscurely, as in that,
   "Destroy this temple;" [John 2:19] and again, "There shall no sign be
   given it but the sign of Jonas the Prophet." [Matt 12:39] But now He
   imparted it clearly to His disciples.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That word "Behold," is a word of stress, to bid them lay
   up in their hearts the memory of this present. He says, "We go up;" as
   much as to say, Ye see that I go of My free-will to death. When then ye
   shall see Me hang upon the cross, deem not that I am no more than
   human; for though to be able to die is human; yet to be willing to die
   is more than human.

   Origen: Meditating then of this, we ought to know that often even when
   there is certain trial to be undergone, we ought to offer ourselves to
   it. But forasmuch as it was said above, When they persecute you in one
   city, flee ye to another," [Matt 10:23] it belongs to the wise in
   Christ to judge when the season requires that he shun, and when that he
   go to meet dangers.

   Jerome: He had often told His disciples of His passion, but because it
   might have slipped out of their recollection by reason of the many
   things they had heard in the mean while, now when He is going to
   Jerusalem, and going to take His disciples with Him, He fortifies them
   against the trial, that they should not be scandalized when the
   persecution and shame of the Cross should come.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For when sorrow comes at a time we are looking for it,
   it is found lighter than it would have been, had it taken us by
   surprise.

   Chrys.: He forewarns them also in order that they should learn that He
   comes to His passion wittingly, and willingly. And at the first He had
   foretold only His death, but now that they are more disciplined, He
   brings forth yet more, as, "They shall deliver him to the Gentiles."

   Raban: For Judas delivered the Lord to the Jesus, and they delivered
   Him to the Gentiles, that is to Pilate, and the Roman power. To this
   end the Lord refused to be prosperous in this world, but rather chose
   to suffer affliction, that He might shew us, who have yielded to
   delights, through how great bitterness we must needs return; whence it
   follows, "To mock, and to scourge, and to crucify."

   Aug., City of God, xviii, 49 In His Passion we see what we ought to
   suffer for the truth, and in His resurrection what we ought to hope in
   eternity; whence it is said, "And shall rise again the third day."

   Chrys.: This was added, that when they should see the sufferings, they
   should look for the resurrection.

   Aug., de Trin., iv, 3: For one death, that namely of the Saviour
   according to the body, was to us a salvation from two deaths, both of
   soul and body, and His one resurrection gained for us two
   resurrections. This ratio of two to one springs out of the number
   three; for one and two are three.

   Origen: There is no mention that the disciples either said or did any
   thing upon hearing of these sufferings that should thus come upon
   Christ; remembering what the Lord had said to Peter, they were afraid
   they should have had the like or worse addressed to themselves. And yet
   there be scribes who suppose that they know the divine writings, who
   condemn Jesus to death, scourge Him with their tongues, and crucify Him
   herein, that they seek to take away His doctrine; but He, vanishing for
   a season, again rises to appear to those who received His word that it
   could be so.
     __________________________________________________________________

   20. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons,
   worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.

   21. And he said unto her, "What wilt thou?" She saith unto him, "Grant
   that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the
   other on the left, in thy kingdom."

   22. But Jesus answered and said, "Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able
   to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the
   baptism that I am baptized with?" They say unto him, "We are able."

   23. And he saith unto them, "Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be
   baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my
   right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given
   to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The Lord having concluded by saying, "And shall rise again the
   third day;" the woman thought that after His resurrection He should
   forthwith reign, and with womanish eagerness grasps at what is present,
   forgetful of the future.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This mother of the sons of Zebedee is Salome, as her
   name is given by another Evangelist, [marg. note: Mark 15, 40; 16, 1]
   herself truly peaceful, and the mother of sons of peace. From this
   place we learn the eminent merit of this woman; not only had her sons
   left their father, but she had left her husband, and had followed
   Christ; for He could live without her, but she could not be saved
   without Christ.

   Except any will say that between the time of the Apostle's calling, and
   the suffering of Christ, Zebedee was dead, and that thus her sex
   helpless, her age advanced, she was following Christ's steps; for faith
   never grows old, and religion feels never weary. Her maternal affection
   made her bold to ask, whence it is said, "She worshipped Him, and
   desired a certain thing of Him;" i. e. she did Him reverence,
   requesting that what she should ask, should be granted her.

   It follows, "He said unto her, what wouldest thou?" He asks not because
   He knows not, but that by its very statement, the unreasonableness of
   her petition might be shewn; "She saith unto him, Grant that these my
   two sons may sit."

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 64: What Matthew has here represented as being
   said by the mother, Mark relates that the two sons of Zebedee spake
   themselves, when she had presented their wish before the Lord; so that
   from Mark's brief notice [marg. note: Mark 10:35] it should rather
   seem, that they, and not she, had said that which was said.

   Chrys.: They saw the disciples honoured before others, and had heard
   that "ye shall sit upon twelve thrones," [Matt 19:28] whereupon they
   sought to have the primacy of that seat. And that others were in
   greater honour with Christ they knew, and they feared that Peter was
   preferred before them; wherefore (as is mentioned by another
   Evangelist) because they were now near to Jerusalem, they thought that
   the kingdom of God was at the door, that is, was something to be
   perceived by sense. Whence it is clear that they sought nothing
   spiritual, and had no conception of a kingdom above.

   Origen: For if in an earthly kingdom they are thought to be in honour
   who sit with the king, no wonder if a woman with womanish simplicity or
   want of experience conceived that she might ask such things, and that
   the brethren themselves being not perfect, and having no more lofty
   thoughts concerning Christ's kingdom, conceived such things concerning
   those who shall sit with Jesus.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or otherwise. We affirm not that this woman's request
   was a lawful one; but this we affirm, that it was not earthly things,
   but heavenly things that she asked for her sons. For she felt not as
   ordinary mothers, whose affection is to the bodies of their children,
   while they neglect their minds; they desire that they should prosper in
   this world, not caring what they shall suffer in the next, thereby
   shewing themselves to be mothers of their bodies only, but not of their
   souls.

   And I imagine that these brethren, having heard the Lord prophesying of
   His passion and resurrection, began to say among themselves, seeing
   they believed; Behold, the King of heaven is going down to the realms
   of Tartarus, that He may destroy the king of death. But when the
   victory shall be completed, what remains but that the glory of the
   kingdom shall follow?

   Origen: For when sin is destroyed, which reigned in men's mortal
   bodies, with the entire dynasty of malignant powers, Christ shall
   receive exaltation of His kingdom among men; that is, His sitting on
   the throne of His glory. That God disposes all things both on His right
   hand and on His left, this is that there shall be then no more evil in
   His presence.

   They that are the more excellent among such as draw near to Christ, are
   they on His right hand; they that are inferior, are they on His left
   hand. Or by Christ's right hand look if you may understand the
   invisible creation; by His left hand the visible and bodily. For of
   those who are brought nigh to Christ, some obtain a place on His right
   hand, as the intelligent, some on His left hand, as the sentient
   creation.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He that gave Himself to man, how shall He not give them
   the fellowship of His kingdom? The supineness of the petitioner is in
   fault, where the graciousness of the giver is undoubted. But if we
   ourselves ask our master, perchance we wound the hearts of the rest of
   our brethren, who though they can no longer be overcome by the flesh,
   seeing they are now spiritual, may yet be wounded as carnal.

   Let us therefore put forward our mother, that she may make her petition
   for us in her own person. For though she be to be blame therein, yet
   she will readily obtain forgiveness, her sex pleading for her. For the
   Lord himself, who has filled the souls of mothers with affection to
   their offspring, will more readily listen to their desires. Then the
   Lord, who knows secrets, makes answer not to the words of the mother's
   petition, but to the design of the sons who suggested it. Their wish
   was commendable, but their request inconsiderate; therefore, though it
   was not right that it should be granted to them, yet the simplicity of
   their petition did not deserve a harsh rebuke, forasmuch as it
   proceeded of love of the Lord.

   Wherefore it is their ignorance that the Lord finds fault with; "Jesus
   answered and said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask."

   Jerome: And no wonder, if she is convicted of inexperience, seeing it
   is said of Peter, "Not knowing what he said." [Luke 9:33]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For ofttimes the Lord suffers His disciples either to do
   or to think somewhat amiss, that from their error He may take occasion
   to set forth a rule of piety; knowing that their fault harms not when
   the Master is present, while His doctrine edifies them not for the
   present only, but for the future.

   Chrys.: This He says to shew either that they sought nothing spiritual,
   or that had they known for what they asked, they would not have asked
   that which was so far beyond their faculties.

   Hilary: They know not what they ask, because there was no doubt of the
   future glory of the Apostles; His former discourse had assured them
   that they should judge the world.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, "Ye know not what ye ask:" as much as to say, I have
   called you to My right hand away from My left, and now you wilfully
   desire to be on My left. Hence perhaps they did this through the
   mother. For the devil betook him to his well-known tool the woman, that
   as he made prey of Adam by his wife, so he should sever these by their
   mother. But now that the salvation of all had proceeded from a woman,
   destruction could no longer enter in among the saints by a woman.

   "Or He says, Ye know not what ye ask, seeing we ought not only to
   consider the glory to which we may attain, but how we may escape the
   ruin of sin. For so in secular war, he who is ever thinking of the
   plunder, hardly wins the fight; they should have asked, Give us the aid
   of Thy grace, that we may overcome all evil.

   Raban.: They knew not what they asked, for they were asking of the Lord
   a seat in glory, which they had not yet merited. The honourable
   eminence liked them well, but they had first to practise the laborious
   path thereto; "Can ye drink of the cup that I shall drink of?"

   Jerome: By the cup in the divine Scriptures we understand suffering, as
   in the Psalm, "I will take the cup of salvation;" [Ps. 116:13-15] and
   straightway He proceeds to shew what is the cup, "Precious in the sight
   of the Lord is the death of his saints."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord knew that they were able to follow His passion,
   but He puts the question to them that we may all hear, that no man can
   reign with Christ, unless he is conformed to Christ in His passion; for
   that which is precious is only to be purchased at a costly price. The
   Lord's passion we may call not only the persecution of the Gentiles,
   but all the hardships we go through in struggling against our sins.

   Chrys.: He says therefore, "Can ye drink it?" as much as to say, You
   ask me of honours and crowns, but I speak to you of labour and travail,
   for this is no time for rewards. He draws their attention by the manner
   of His question, for He says not, Are ye able to shed your blood? but,
   "Are ye able to drink of the cup?" then He adds, "which I shall drink
   of?"

   Remig.: That by such partaking they may burn with the more zeal towards
   Him. But they, already sharing the readiness and constancy of
   martyrdom, promise that they would drink of it; whence it follows,
   "They say unto him, We are able."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, they say this not so much out of reliance on their
   own fortitude, as out of ignorance; for to the inexperienced the trial
   of suffering and death appears slight.

   Chrys.: Or they offer this in the eagerness of their desire, expecting
   that for their thus speaking they should have what they desired. But He
   foretels great blessings for them, to wit, that they should be made
   worthy of martyrdom. "He saith unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of my
   cup."

   Origen: Christ does not say, Ye are able to drink of My cup, but
   looking to their future perfection He said, "Ye shall indeed drink of
   my cup."

   Jerome: It is made a question how the sons of Zebedee, James, and John,
   did drink the cup of martyrdom, seeing Scripture relates that James
   only was beheaded by Herod, while John ended his life by a peaceful
   death. [Acts 12:2] But when we read in ecclesiastical history that John
   himself was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil with intent to martyr
   him, and that he was banished to the isle of Patmos, we shall see that
   he lacked not the will for martyrdom, and that John had drunk the cup
   of confession, the which also the Three Children in the fiery furnace
   did drink of, albeit the persecutor did not shed their blood.

   Hilary: The Lord therefore commends their faith, in that He says that
   they are able to suffer martyrdom together with Him; but, "To sit on my
   right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but for whom it is
   prepared of my Father."

   Though indeed, as far as we can judge, that honour is so set apart for
   others, as that the Apostles shall not be strangers to it, who shall
   sit on the throne of the Twelve Patriarchs to judge Israel; also, as
   may be collected out of the Gospels themselves, Moses and Elias shall
   sit with them in the kingdom of heaven, seeing that it was in their
   company that He appeared on the mount in His apparel of splendour.

   Jerome: But to me this seems not so. Rather the names of them that
   shall sit in the kingdom of heaven are not named, lest that, if some
   few were named, the rest should think themselves shut out; for the
   kingdom of heaven is not of him that gives it, but of him that receives
   it.

   Not that there is respect of persons with God, but whosoever shall shew
   himself such as to be worthy of the kingdom of heaven, shall receive
   it, for it is prepared not for condition, but for conduct.

   Therefore if you shall be found to be such as to be fit for that
   kingdom of heaven which My Father has made ready for the conquerors, ye
   shall receive the same. He said not, Ye shall not sit there, that He
   might not discourage the two brethren; while He said not, Ye shall sit
   there, that He might not stir the others to envy.

   Chrys.: Or otherwise. That seat seems to be unapproachable to all, not
   only men, but Angels also; for so Paul assigns it peculiarly to the
   Only-Begotten saying, "To which of the Angels said he at any time, Sit
   thou on my right hand?" [Heb 1:13] The Lord therefore makes answer, not
   as though in verity there were any that should sit there, but as
   condescending to the apprehensions of the petitioners. They asked but
   this one grant, to be before others near Him; but the Lord answers, Ye
   shall die for My sake, yet is not that sufficient to make you obtain
   the first rank. For if there shall come another with martyrdom, and
   having virtue greater than yours, I will not, because I love you, put
   him out, and give you precedence. But that they should not suppose that
   he lacked power, He said not absolutely, It is not Mine to give, but,
   "It is not mine to give to you, but to those for whom it was prepared;"
   that is, to those who are made illustrious by their deeds.

   Remig.: Or otherwise; "It is not mine to give to you," that is, to
   proud men such as you are, but to the lowly in heart, "for whom it is
   prepared of my Father."

   Aug., de Trin., i, 12: Or otherwise; The Lord makes answer to His
   disciples in His character of servant; though whatever is prepared by
   the Father is also prepared by the Son, for He and the Father are one.
     __________________________________________________________________

   24. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against
   the two brethren.

   25. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, "Ye know that the princes
   of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great
   exercise authority upon them.

   26. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among
   you, let him be your minister;

   27. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

   28. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
   minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: So long as the judgment of Christ upon this request was in
   suspense, the other disciples were not indignant; but when they heard
   Him rebuke them, they were sorrowful; whence it is said, "And when the
   ten heard it, they had indignation against the two brethren."

   Jerome: They do not lay it upon the forwardness of the mother who spoke
   the request, but upon her sons, who, not knowing their measure, burned
   with so immoderate desires.

   Chrys.: For when the Lord rebuked them, then they perceived that this
   request was from the disciples. For though they were grieved in their
   hearts when they saw them so especially honoured in the
   transfiguration, they yet dared not so express themselves, out of
   respect to their teacher.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But as the two had asked carnally, so now the ten are
   grieved carnally. For as to seek to be above all is blameworthy, so to
   have another above us is mortifying to our vanity.

   Jerome: But the meek and lowly Master neither charges the two with
   ambition, nor rebukes the ten for their spleen and jealousy; but,
   "Jesus called them unto him."

   Chrys.: By thus calling them to Him, and speaking to them face to face,
   he sooths them in their discomposure; for the two had been speaking
   with the Lord apart by themselves. But not now as before does He it by
   bringing forward a child, but He proves it to them by reasoning from
   contraries; "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion
   over them."

   Origen: That is, not content merely to rule over their subjects, they
   are severe and oppressive. But among you who are Mine these things
   shall not be so; for as all carnal things are done by compulsion, but
   spiritual things by free-will, so those rulers who are spiritual ought
   to rest their power in the love of their subjects, not in their fears.

   Chrys.: He shews here that it is of the Gentiles to desire preeminence;
   and by this comparison of the Gentiles He calms their troubled souls.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Indeed, to desire a good work is good, for it is within
   our will, and ours is the reward; but to desire a primacy of honour is
   vanity. For when we attain this we are judged of God, because we know
   not whether in our precedence of honour we deserve the reward of
   righteousness. For not even an Apostle will have praise with God,
   because he is an Apostle, but if he has well fulfilled the duties of
   his Apostleship; nor was an Apostle placed in honour as an Apostle, for
   any previous merit of his; but was judged meet for that ministry, on
   account of the disposition of his mind.

   For high place courts him who flies from it, and shuns him who courts
   it. A better life then, and not a more worthy degree, should be our
   object. The Lord therefore, willing to check the ambition of the two
   sons of Zebedee, and the indignation of the others, points out this
   distinction between the chief men of the world, and those of the
   Church, shewing that the primacy in Christ is neither to be sought by
   him who has it not, nor envied by him who has it. For men become
   masters in this world that they may exercise domination over their
   inferiors, and reduce them to slavery, and rob them, and employ them
   even to death for their own profit and glory.

   But men become governors in the Church, that they may serve those who
   are under them, and minister to them whatever they have received of
   Christ, that they may postpone their own convenience, and mind that of
   others, and not refuse even to die for the sake of those beneath them.
   To seek therefore a command in the Church is neither righteous, nor
   profitable. No prudent man will voluntarily subject himself to slavery,
   nor to stand in such peril wherein he will have to render account for
   the whole Church; unless it be one perchance who fears not God's
   judgment, who abuses His ecclesiastical primacy to a secular end, so
   that He converts it into a secular primacy.

   Jerome: Lastly, He sets before them His own example, that so should
   they little weigh His words, His deeds might shame them, whence He
   adds, "As also the Son of Man cometh not to be ministered unto, but to
   minister."

   Origen: For though the Angels and Martha ministered to Him, yet did He
   not come to be ministered unto, but to minister; [marg. note: Matt
   4:11; John 12:2] yea, His ministry extended so far, that He fulfilled
   even what follows, "And to give his life a ransom for many," they, that
   is, who believed on Him; and gave it, i. e. to death.

   But since He was alone free among the dead, and mightier than the power
   of death, He has set free from death all who were willing to follow
   Him. The heads of the Church ought therefore to imitate Christ in being
   affable, adapting Himself to women, laying His hands on children, and
   washing His disciples' feet, that they also should do the same to their
   brethren.

   But we are such, that we seem to go beyond the pride even of the great
   ones of this world; as to the command of Christ, either not
   understanding it, or setting it at nought. Like princes we seek hosts
   to go before us, we make ourselves awful and difficult of access,
   especially to the poor, neither approaching them, nor suffering them to
   approach us.

   Chrys.: How much soever you humble yourself, you cannot descend so far
   as did your Lord.
     __________________________________________________________________

   29. And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

   30. And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard
   that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord,
   thou Son of David."

   31. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their
   peace: but they cried the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou
   Son of David."

   32. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, "What will ye
   that I shall do unto you?"

   33. They say unto him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."

   34. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and
   immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As the proof of the husbandman's industry lies in the
   abundance of his crop, so the fulness of the Church is the evidence of
   an industrious teacher; so it is here said, "And as they departed from
   Jericho, a great multitude followed him." No one was deterred by the
   toilsomeness of the journey, for spiritual love feels no fatigue; no
   one was kept away by the thought of sufferings, for they were going
   into possession of the kingdom of heaven.

   For he who has in very deed tasted the reality of heavenly good, has
   nothing to attach him to earth. In good season these blind men come
   before Christ, that having their eyes opened, they may go up with Him
   to Jerusalem as witnesses to His power. They heard the sound of the
   passers by, but saw not their persons, and having nothing free about
   them but their voice, because they could not follow Him with their
   feet, they pursued Him with their voice; "When they heard that Jesus
   passed by, they cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son
   of David."

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 65: Mark relates this miracle, but speaks of
   only one blind man. This difficulty is thus explained; of the two blind
   linen whom Matthew has introduced, one was well known in that city, as
   appears by Mark's mentioning both his name, and that of his father.
   Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus was well known as having sunk from great
   affluence, and now sitting not only blind, but a beggar. For this
   reason then it is that Mark chose to mention him alone, because the
   restoration of his sight procured fame to the miracle, in proportion to
   the notoriety of the fact of his blindness. Though what Luke relates
   was done after the same manner, yet his account [marg. note: Luke
   18:35] is to be taken of another though similar miracle. That which he
   gives was done as they drew near to Jericho; this in the other two as
   they came out of Jericho.

   "And the multitude rebuked them that they should hold their peace."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For they saw how mean their clothes, and considered not
   how pure their consciences. See the foolish wisdom of men! They think
   great men are hurt when they receive the homage of the poor. What poor
   man dare salute a rich man in public?

   Hilary: Or, They bid them hold their peace, not from reverence for
   Christ, but because they were grieved to hear from the blind what they
   denied, namely, that the Lord was the Son of David.

   Origen: Or; Those that believed rebuked them that they should not
   dishonour Him by styling Him merely Son of David, but should rather
   say, Son of God, have mercy on us.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: They were rather encouraged than repelled by this
   rebuke. For so faith is quickened by being prohibited; and hence is
   secure in dangers, and in security is endangered; whence it follows,
   But they cried out the more, saying, "Have mercy upon us, Son of
   David." They cried out at the first because they were blind, now they
   rather cried out because they were forbidden to come to the Light.

   Chrys., Hom., lxvi: Christ suffered them to be forbidden, that their
   desire might be the more evidenced. Hence learn that though we be
   repulsed, yet if we come to God with earnestness, of ourselves, we
   shall obtain that we ask.

   It follows, "And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What
   will ye that I should do unto you?"

   Jerome: Jesus stood still, because they being blind could not see their
   way. About Jericho were many pits, crags, and abrupt precipices;
   therefore the Lord stands still, that they might come to Him.

   Origen: Or; Jesus does not pass on, but stands still, that by His
   standing His goodness may not pass by, but as from an abiding fount
   mercy may flow forth upon them.

   Jerome: He commands that they be called to Him that the multitude may
   not withhold them; and He asks them what they would, that by their
   answer, their necessity may be made apparent, and His power be shewn in
   their healing.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; He asks them on account of their faith, that whereas
   they who were blind confess Christ to be the Son of God, those who had
   their sight might be put to shame for their esteeming Him only man.
   They had indeed called Christ, "Lord," and they had spoken true; but by
   calling Him the "Son of David," they obliterated this their good
   confession.

   For indeed by a misuse of words men are called Lords, but none is truly
   Lord, but God only. When therefore they say, "O Lord, thou Son of
   David," they thus misapply the term to Christ, as esteeming Him man;
   had they only called Him Lord, they would have confessed His Godhead.
   When then He asks them, "What would ye?" they no longer style Him Son
   of David, but only Lord; "They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be
   opened." For the Son of David cannot open the eyes of the blind, but
   the Son of God can. So long then as they cried, "O Lord, thou Son of
   David," their cure was delayed; as soon as they said, "Lord," only,
   healing was shed upon them; for it follows, "And Jesus had compassion
   upon them, and touched their eyes, and straightway they saw." He
   touched them carnally as man, He healed them as God.

   Jerome: The Creator bestows what nature had not given; or at least
   mercy accords what weakness had withheld.

   Chrys.: But as before this bounty they had been persevering, so after
   the receiving it they were not ungrateful.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: On being healed they rendered a high service to Christ;
   for it follows, "And they followed him." For this the Lord requires of
   thee, according to the Prophet, that "thou be careful to walk with the
   Lord thy God." [Mic 6:8]

   Jerome: They then who had sat shut up in Jericho, and knew only to cry
   with their voice, afterwards follow Jesus, not so much with their feet
   as in their virtues.

   Raban.: But Jericho, which is interpreted the moon,' denotes the
   infirmity of our changefulness.

   Origen: Figuratively, Jericho is taken to be the world, into which
   Christ came down. They who are in Jericho, know not how to escape from
   the wisdom of the world, unless they see not Jesus only coming out of
   Jericho, but also His disciples. This when they saw, great multitudes
   followed Him, despising the world and all worldly things, that under
   His guidance they may go up to the heavenly Jerusalem.

   The two blind men we may call Judah and Israel, who before the coming
   of Christ were blind, not seeing the true word which was in the Law and
   the Prophets, yet sitting by the wayside of the Law and the Prophets,
   and understanding Him only as after the flesh, they cried to Him who
   was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.

   Jerome: By the two blind men are generally understood the Pharisees and
   Sadducees.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 28: Otherwise; The two blind men sitting by the
   wayside, denote certain of both nations already by faith coming in to
   that temporal dispensation, according to which Christ is the way, and
   seeking to be enlightened, that is, to know something concerning the
   eternity of the Word. This they desired to obtain from the Lord as He
   passed by, for the merit of that faith by which He is believed to be
   the Son of God, to have been born man, and to have suffered for us; for
   in this dispensation, Jesus, as it were, passes by, for all action is
   of this world.

   Also it behoved that they should cry out so loud as to overpower the
   din of the multitude that withstood them; that is, so to fortify their
   minds by perseverance and prayer, and mortifying continually the usage
   of fleshly lusts, (which as a crowd ever beset one that is endeavouring
   to come to the sight of eternal truth,) and by the straitest
   painfulness to get the better of the multitude of carnal men who hinder
   spiritual aspirations.

   Aug., Serm., 88, 13: For bad or lukewarm Christians are an hindrance to
   good Christians, who seek to perform the commandments of God.
   Notwithstanding these cry and faint not; for every Christian at his
   first setting about to live well and to despise the world, has to
   endure at the first the censures of cold Christians; but if he
   persevere, they will soon comply, who but now withstood him.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., ii, 28: Jesus therefore, the same who said, "To him
   that knocketh it shall be opened," hearing them, stands still, touches
   them, and gives them light. Faith in His temporal incarnation prepares
   us for the understanding of things eternal. By the passing by of Jesus
   they are admonished that they should be enlightened, and when He stands
   still they are enlightened; for things temporal pass by, but things
   eternal stand still.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Some interpret that the two blind men are the Gentiles;
   one sprung from Cham, the other from Japhet; they sat by the wayside,
   that is, they walked hard by the truth, but they could not find it out;
   or they were placed in reason, not having yet received knowledge of the
   Word.

   Raban.: But recognizing the rumour of Christ, they desired to be made
   partakers of Him. Many spake against them; first the Jews, as we read
   in the Acts; then the Gentiles harassed them by persecution; but yet
   they might not deprive those who were preordained to life of salvation.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Accordingly Jesus touched the eyes of the Gentile mind,
   giving them the grace of the Holy Spirit, and when enlightened they
   followed Him with good works.

   Origen: We also now sitting by the wayside of the Scriptures, and
   understanding wherein we are blind, if we ask with desire, He will
   touch the eyes of our souls, and the gloom of ignorance shall depart
   from our minds, that in the light of knowledge we may follow Him, who
   gave us power to see to no other end than that we should follow Him.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 21

   l. And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage,
   unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,

   2. Saying unto them, "Go into the village over against you, and
   straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them,
   and bring them unto me.

   3. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need
   of them; and straightway he will send them."

   4. And this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
   the prophet, saying,

   5. "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee,
   meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass."

   6. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

   7. And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes,
   and they set him thereon.

   8. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others
   cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way.

   9. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried,
   saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the
   name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: The Evangelist related above that the Lord departed from
   Galilee, and began to go up to Jerusalem. Being now occupied with
   telling what He did by the way, he proceeds in his purpose, saying,
   "And when they drew nigh to Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage."
   Bethphage was a small village of the priests, situated on the declivity
   of Mount Olivet, one mile distant from Jerusalem. For the priests who
   ministered in the temple their apportioned time, when their office of
   ministration was discharged, withdrew to this village to abide; as also
   did they who were to take their place. Because it was commanded by
   their Law that none should travel on the Sabbath more than a mile.

   Origen: Whence Bethphage is interpreted, The house of the Shoulder; for
   the shoulder was the priest's portion in the Law. It follows, "Then
   Jesus sent two of his disciples."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He said not to His disciples, Say, Thy Lord, or Your
   Lord, hath need of them; that they may understand, that He is Lord
   alone, not of the beasts only, but of all men; for even sinners are by
   the law of nature His, though by their own will they are the Devil's.

   Chrys.: And think not this a little thing which was now done, for who
   was it that wrought with the owners of the beasts that they refused
   not, but yielded them? By this also He instructs His disciples that He
   could have restrained the Jews, but would not; and further teaches them
   that they should grant whatever is asked of them; for if they who knew
   not Christ, now granted this, much more it becomes His disciples to
   give unto all. For that which is said, "But will straightway let them
   go,"

   Pseudo-Chrys.: it is to be understood, that after He had entered into
   Jerusalem, the beast was returned by Christ to its owner.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or, The owner of the beasts will straightway send
   them to be engaged for Christ's service. Hereto is added the testimony
   of the Prophet, that it may be shewn that the Lord fulfilled all things
   which were written of Him, but that the Scribes and Pharisees, blinded
   by envy, would not understand the things that they read; "All this was
   done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet;" to
   wit, Zacharias. [Zech. 9:9]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For the Prophet knowing the malice of the Jews, that
   they would speak against Christ when He went up to the Temple, gave
   them this sign beforehand, whereby they might know their King, "Say ye
   to the daughter of Sion."

   Raban.: In history, Daughter of Sion is the name given to the city of
   Jerusalem, which stands on mount Sion. But mystically, it is the Church
   of the faithful pertaining to the Jerusalem which is above.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Behold," is a word used in pointing out any thing;
   look, that is, not with the bodily eye, but with the spiritual
   understanding, at the works of His power. Also aforetimes He oft said,
   "Behold," that He might shew that He of whom He spake before He was
   born was even then thy King. When then ye shall see Him, say not, "We
   have no King but Caesar. He cometh to thee," [John 19:15] if thou wilt
   apprehend Him, that He may save thee; if thou wilt not apprehend Him,
   He cometh against thee; "Meek," so that He is not to be feared for His
   power, but loved for His meekness; wherefore He sitteth not on a golden
   car, refulgent in costly purple, nor is mounted on a mettled steed,
   rejoicing in strife and battle, but upon a she-ass, that loves peace
   and quiet.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 66: In this quotation from the Prophet, there
   is some variety in the different Gospels. Matthew quotes it as if the
   Prophet had expressly mentioned the she-ass; but it is not so quoted by
   John [marg. note: John 12:15], nor in the Church-copies of the
   translation in common use. This seems to me to be accounted for by the
   account, that Matthew wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew language. And it
   is clear that the translation called the LXX, has some things different
   from what are found in the Hebrew, by those who know that tongue, and
   who have rendered the same books out of the Hebrew. If the reason of
   this discrepancy be asked, I consider nothing more likely than that the
   LXX interpreted with the selfsame spirit with which the original was
   written, which is confirmed by that wonderful agreement among them of
   which we are told.

   By thus varying the expression, while they did not depart from the
   meaning of that God whose words they were, they convey to us the very
   same thing as we gather from this agreement, with slight variety, among
   the Evangelists. This shews us that it is no lie, when one relates any
   thing with such diversities in detail, as that he does not depart from
   his intention with whom he ought to agree. To know this is useful in
   morals in avoiding lies; and for faith itself, that we should not
   suppose that the truth is secured in sacred sounds, as though God
   imparted to us not the matter only, but the words in which the matter
   is conveyed. Rather the matter is in such sort conveyed in words, that
   we ought not to want words at all, if it were possible that the matter
   could be known by us without words, as God and His Angels know it.

   It follows, "But the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them,
   and brought the ass, and the colt." The other Evangelists say nothing
   of the ass. And if Matthew had not mentioned the colt, as they do not
   mention the ass, the reader ought not to have been surprised. How much
   less then should it move him, when one has so mentioned the ass which
   the others have omitted, as not to forget the colt which they have
   mentioned. For there is no discrepancy where both circumstances may
   have occurred, though one only related one, and another; how much less
   then where one mentions both, though another mentions only one?

   It follows, "And they put on them their clothes, and set him thereon."

   Jerome: But it seems that the Lord could not in so short a distance
   have sate upon both animals; seeing then that the history has either an
   impossibility or a meanness, we are sent to higher things, that is, to
   the figurative sense.

   Remig.: Notwithstanding, it was possible that the Lord might have sate
   upon both animals.

   Chrys.: To me it seems that He was mounted upon the ass, not only
   because of the mystery, but to give us a lesson of wisdom, teaching us
   therein that it needs not to be mounted on horses, but that it is
   sufficient to employ an ass, and be content with that which is
   necessary. But enquire of the Jews, what King has entered Jerusalem
   mounted upon an ass? They can name none other, but this one only.

   Jerome: The multitudes that came out of Jericho, and followed the
   Saviour, cast down their garments, and strewed the way with branches of
   trees; and therefore it follows, "But the multitudes spread their
   garments in the way;" that is, beneath the feet of the ass, that it
   should not stumble against a stone, nor tread upon a thorn, nor fall
   into a ditch. "Others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed
   them in the way;" from the fruit-trees, that is, with which mount
   Olivet was clothed.

   And when all that could be done was done, they added also the tribute
   of the tongue, as it follows, "And the multitudes that went before, and
   that followed, cried, saying, Hosannna to the Son of David."

   I shall shortly examine what is the meaning of this word, Hosanna. In
   the hundred and seventeenth Psalm, which is clearly written of the
   Saviour's coming, we read this among other things; "Save me now, O
   Lord, send now prosperity. Blessed art thou that art to come in the
   name of the Lord." [Ps 118:25] For that which the LXX give O Kurie
   soson de, "Save now, O Lord;" we read in the Hebrew, Anna, adonai
   osianna,' which Symmachus renders more plainly, "I pray thee, O Lord,
   save, I pray thee." Let none think that it is a word made up of two
   words, one Greek and one Hebrew, for it is pure Hebrew.

   Remig.: And it is confounded of one perfect and one imperfect word. For
   Hosi' signifies save," anna' is an interjection used in entreating.

   Jerome: For it signifies that the coming of Christ is the salvation of
   the world, whence it follows, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of
   the Lord." Which same thing the Saviour in the Gospel confirms, "I am
   come in my John Father's name." [John 5:43]

   Remig.: Because, namely, in all His good actions, He sought not His own
   but His Father's glory.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: And the meaning is, "Blessed," that is, Glorious,
   "is He that cometh," that is, is incarnate; "in the name of the Lord;"
   that is, of the Father, by glorifying Him. Again they repeat,
   "Hosanna," that is, "Save, I pray thee," and define whither they would
   be saved, in the highest, that is in the heavenly, not in the earthly
   places.

   Jerome: Or by that which is added, "Hosanna," that is, Salvation, "in
   the highest," it is clearly shewn that the coming of Christ is not the
   salvation of man only, but of the whole world, joining earthly things
   to things heavenly.

   Origen: Or when they say, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He
   that cometh in the name of the Lord," it is the dispensation of
   Christ's humanity that they set forth; but His restoration to the holy
   places when they say, "Hosanna in the highest."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Hosanna," some interpret glory,' some redemption," and
   glory is His due, and redemption belongs to Him who has redeemed all
   men.

   Hilary: The words of their song of praise, express His power of
   redemption; in calling Him the Son of David, they acknowledge His
   hereditary title to the kingdom,

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Never before had the Lord employed the services of
   beasts, nor surrounded Himself with the ornaments of green boughs, till
   now when He is going up to Jerusalem to suffer. He moved them that
   beheld to do that which they had before desired to do; so it was
   opportunity that was now given them, not their purpose that was
   changed.

   Jerome: Mystically; The Lord draws near to Jerusalem departing from
   Jericho, and taking great multitudes with Him, because great and laden
   with great wares, that is, the salvation of believers that has been
   entrusted to Him, He seeks to enter the city of peace, the place of the
   beholding of God. And He comes to Bethphage, that is, to The house of
   the jawbones; He bare also the type of confession; and halted on Mount
   Olivet, where is the light of knowledge, and the repose from toils and
   pains. By the village over against the Apostles is denoted this world;
   for that was against the Apostles, and was not willing to receive the
   light of their teaching.

   Remig.: The Lord therefore sent His disciples from mount Olivet to the
   village, when He guided the preachers forth from the primitive Church
   into the world. He sent two, because there were two orders of
   preachers, as the Apostle shews, saying, "He that wrought in Peter to
   the Apostleship of circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the
   Gentiles;" [Gal 2:8] or, because the precepts of charity are two; or,
   because there are two testaments; or, because there is letter and
   spirit.

   Jerome: Or, because there is theory and practice, that is, knowledge
   and works. By the ass which had been under the yoke, and was broken,
   the synagogue is understood. By the ass's colt wild and unbroken, the
   Gentile people; for the Jewish nation is towards God the mother of the
   Gentiles.

   Raban.: Whence Matthew, who wrote his Gospel to the Jews, is the only
   one who mentions that the ass was brought to the Lord, to shew that
   this same Hebrew nation, if it repent, need not despair of salvation.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Men are likened to animals, from some resemblance they
   bear in their not recognising the Son of God. And this animal is
   unclean, and beyond all other brutes incapable of reasoning, a stupid,
   helpless, ignoble drudge. Such were men before the coming of Christ,
   unclean with divers passions; unreasoning, that is, lacking the reason
   of the Word; stupid, in their disregard of God; weak in soul; ignoble,
   because forgetting their heavenly birth they became slaves of their
   passions, and of the demons; drudges, because they toiled under the
   load of error laid upon them by the daemons, or the Pharisees.

   The ass was tied, that is, bound in the chain of diabolic error, so
   that it had not liberty to go whither it would; for before we do any
   sin we have free will to follow, or not, the will of the Devil; but if
   once by sinning we have bound ourselves to do his works, we are no
   longer able to escape by our own strength, but, like a vessel that has
   lost its rudder is tossed at the mercy of the storm, so man, when by
   sin he has forfeited the aid of Divine grace, no longer acts as he
   wills, but as the Devil wills. And if God, by the mighty arm of His
   mercy, do not loose him, he will abide till death in the chain of his
   sins. Therefore He saith to His disciples, "Loose them," that is, by
   your teaching and miracles, for all the Jews and Gentiles were loosed
   by the Apostles; "and bring them to me," that is, convert them to My
   glory.

   Origen: Whence also, when He ascended into heaven, He gave command to
   His disciples that they should loose sinners, for which also He gave
   them the Holy Spirit. But being loosed, and making progress, and being
   nourished by the Divinity of the Word, they are held worthy to be sent
   back to the place whence they were taken, but no more to their former
   labours, but to preach to them the Son of God, and this is what He
   signifies when He says, "And straightway He will send them."

   Hilary: Or by the ass and the colt is shewn the twofold calling from
   among the Gentiles. For the Samaritans did serve after a certain
   fashion of obedience, and they are signified by the ass; but the other
   Gentiles wild and unbroken are signified by the colt. Therefore two are
   sent to loose them that are bound by the chains of error; Samaria
   believed through Philip, and Cornelius as the first-fruits of the
   Gentiles was brought by Peter to Christ.

   Remig.: But as it was then said to the Apostles, "If any man say ought
   to you, say ye, The Lord hath need of them;" so now it is commanded to
   the preachers, that though any opposition he made to them, they should
   not slack to preach.

   Jerome: The Apostles' clothes which are laid upon the beasts may be
   understood either as the teaching of virtues, or discernment of
   Scriptures, or verities of ecclesiastical dogmas, with which, unless
   the soul be furnished and instructed, it deserves not to have the Lord
   take His seat there.

   Remig.: The Lord sitting upon the ass goes towards Jerusalem, because
   presiding over the Holy Church, or the faithful soul, He both guides it
   in this life, and after this life leads it to the view of the heavenly
   country. But the Apostles and other teachers set their garments upon
   the ass, when they gave to the Gentiles the glory which they had
   received from Christ. The multitudes spread their garments in the way,
   when they of the circumcision who believed, despised the glory which
   they had by the Law. They cut down branches from the trees, because out
   of the Prophets they had heard of the green "Branch" as an emblem of
   Christ. [marg. note: Isa 11:1, Jer 23:5]

   Or, the multitudes who spread their garments in the way, are the
   martyrs who gave to martyrdom for Christ their bodies, which are the
   clothing of their minds. Or, they are signified, who subdue their
   bodies by abstinence. They who cut down the branches of the trees, are
   they who seek out the sayings and examples of the holy fathers for
   their own or their children's salvation.

   Jerome: When He says, "The multitudes that went before and that
   followed," He shews that both people, those who before the Gospel, and
   those who after the Gospel, believed on the Lord, praise Jesus with the
   harmonious voice of confession.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Those prophesying spoke of Christ who was to come; these
   speak in praise of the coming of Christ already fulfilled.
     __________________________________________________________________

   10. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved,
   saying, Who is this?

   11. And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of
   Galilee.

   12. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that
   sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the
   moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

   13. And said unto them, "It is written, My house shall be called the
   house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

   14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed
   them.

   15. And when the Chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things
   that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying,
   "Hosanna to the Son of David;" they were sore displeased,

   16. And said unto him, "Hearest thou what these say?" And Jesus saith
   unto them, "Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and
   sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: When Jesus entered with the multitudes, the whole city of
   Jerusalem was moved, wondering at the crowds, and not knowing the
   power.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: With good reason were they moved at sight of a thing so
   to be wondered at. Man was praised as God, but it was the God that was
   praised in the man. But, I suppose, that neither they who praised knew
   what they praised, but the Spirit that suddenly inspired there poured
   forth the words of truth.

   Origen: Moreover, when Jesus entered the true Jerusalem, they cried
   out, wondering at His heavenly virtues, and said, "Who is this King of
   glory?" [Ps 24:8]

   Jerome: While others were in doubt or enquiring, the worthless
   multitude confessed Him; "But the people said, This is Jesus the
   Prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." They begin with the lesser that they
   may come to the greater. They hail Him as that Prophet whom Moses had
   said should come like to himself, [marg. note: Deut 15:18] which is
   rightly written in Greek with the testimony of the article, "From
   Nazareth of Galilee," [marg. note: ho prophetes] for there He had been
   brought up, that the flower of the field might be nourished with the
   flower of all excellencies.

   Raban.: But it is to be noted, that this entry of His into Jerusalem
   was five days before the passover. For John relates, that six days
   before the Passover He came to Bethany, [John 12:1] and on the morrow
   sitting on the ass entered Jerusalem. In this observe the
   correspondence between the Old and New Testaments, not only in things
   but in seasons. For on the tenth day of the first month, the lamb that
   was to be sacrificed for the passover was to be taken into the house,
   [marg. note: Ex 12:3] because on the same day of the same month, that
   is, five days before the passover, the Lord was to enter the city in
   which He was to suffer.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "And Jesus entered into the temple of God." This was the
   part of a good Son to haste to His Father's house, and do Him honour;
   so you then becoming an imitator of Christ as soon as you enter into
   any city, first run to the Church. Further, it was the part of a good
   physician, that having entered to heal the sick city, he should first
   apply himself to the source of the sickness; for as every thing good
   cometh out of the temple, so also doth every evil. For when the
   priesthood is sound, the whole Church flourishes, but if it is corrupt,
   faith is impaired; and as when you see a tree whose leaves are
   pale-coloured you know that it is diseased at its root, so when you see
   an undisciplined people conclude without hesitation that their
   priesthood is unsound.

   Jerome: "And he cast out all them that sold and bought." It should be
   known that in obedience to the Law, in the Temple of the Lord venerated
   throughout the whole world, and resorted to by Jews out of every
   quarter, innumerable victims were sacrificed, especially on festival
   days, bulls, rams, goats; the poor offering young pigeons and
   turtle-doves, that they might not omit all sacrifice. But it would
   happen that those who came from a distance would have no victim.

   The Priests therefore contrived a plan for making a gain out of the
   people, selling to such as had no victim the animals which they had
   need of for sacrifice, and themselves receiving them back again as soon
   as sold. But this fraudulent practice was often defeated by the poverty
   of the visitors, who lacking means had neither victims, nor whence to
   purchase them. They therefore appointed bankers who might lend to them
   under a bond. But because the Law forbade usury, and money lent without
   interest was profitless, besides sometimes a loss of the principal,
   they bethought themselves of another scheme; instead of bankers they
   appointed collybistae,' a word for which the Latin has no equivalent.

   [ed. note: " St. Jerome here gives a different sense of the word, from
   what is commonly received among ancient writers. Hesychius, as far as I
   know, is the only one who agrees with him, and he interprets "collyba",
   sweetmeats. At the same time Hesychius himself makes its proper sense
   to be "a kind of coin, with an ox stamped on the brass." Pollux and
   Suidas and others agree with this interpretation, so far as to make the
   word stand for a small coin. Hence Collybists were those who gave
   change in small coin. Origen too, to whom St. Jerome is indebted for a
   great part of his exposition, understands by Collybists those who
   change good coin for bad, to the injury of those who employ them."
   Vallars, in loc.]

   Sweetmeats and other trifling presents they called collyba,' such, for
   example, as parched pulse, raisins, and apples of divers sorts. As then
   they could not take usury, they accepted the value in kind, taking
   things that are bought with money, as if this was not what Ezekiel
   preached of, saying, "Ye shall not receive usury nor increase." [Ezek
   18:17] This kind of traffic, or cheating rather, the Lord seeing in His
   Father's house, and moved thereat with spiritual zeal, cast out of the
   Temple this great multitude of men.

   Origen: For in that they ought neither to sell nor to buy, but to give
   their time to prayer, being assembled in a house of prayer, whence it
   follows, "And he saith unto them, It is written, My shall be called a
   house of prayer." [Isa 56:7]

   Aug., Regula ad Serv. Dei., 3: Let no one therefore do ought in the
   oratory, but that for which it was made and whence it got its name. It
   follows, "But ye have made it a den of thieves."

   Jerome: For he is indeed a thief, and turns the temple of God into a
   den of thieves, who makes a gain of his religion. Among all the
   miracles wrought by our Lord, this seems to me the most wonderful, that
   one man, and He at that time mean to such a degree that He was
   afterwards crucified, and while the Scribes and Pharisees were
   exasperated against Him seeing their gains thus cut off, was able by
   the blows of one scourge to cast out so great a multitude. Surely a
   flame and starry ray darted from his eyes, and the majesty of the
   Godhead was radiant in his countenance.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 68: It is manifest that the Lord did this thing
   not once but twice; the first time is told by John, this second
   occasion by the other three.

   Chrys., Hom., lxvii: Which aggravates the fault of the Jews, who after
   He had done the same thing twice, yet persisted in their hardness.

   Origen: Mystically; The Temple of God is the Church of Christ, wherein
   are many, who live not, as they ought, spiritually, but after the
   flesh; and that house of prayer which is built of living stones they
   make by their actions to be a den of thieves. But if we must express
   more closely the three kinds of men cast out of the Temple, we may say
   thus. Whosoever among a Christian people spend their time in nothing
   else but buying and selling, continuing but little in prayers or in
   other right actions, these are the buyers and sellers in the Temple of
   God. Deacons who do not lay out well the funds of their Churches, but
   grow rich out of the poor man's portion, these are the money-changers
   whose tables Christ overturns.

   But that the deacons preside over the tables of Church money, we learn
   from the Acts of the Apostles. [marg. note: Acts 6:2] Bishops who
   commit Churches to those they ought not, are they that sell the doves,
   that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose seats Christ overturns.

   Jerome: But, according to the plain sense, the doves were not in seats,
   but in cages; unless indeed the sellers of the doves were sitting in
   seats; but that were absurd, for the seat denotes the dignity of the
   teacher, which is brought down to nothing when it is mixed with
   covetousness.

   Mark also, that through the avarice of the Priests, the altars of God
   are called tables of money-changers. What we have spoken of Churches
   let each man understand of himself, for the Apostle says, "Ye are the
   temple of God." [2 Cor 6:16] Let there not be therefore in the abode of
   your breast the spirit of bargaining, nor the desire of gifts, lest
   Jesus, entering in anger and sternness, should purify His temple not
   without scourging, that from a den of thieves He should make it a house
   of prayers.

   Origen: Or, in His second coming He shall cast forth and overturn those
   whom He shall find unworthy in God's temple.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For this reason also He overturns the tables of the
   money-changers, to signify that in the temple of God ought to be no
   coin save spiritual, such as bears the image of God, not an earthly
   image. He overturns the seats of those that sold doves, saying by that
   deed, What make in My temple so many doves for sale, since that one
   Dove descended of free gift upon the temple of My Body? What the
   multitude had proclaimed by their shouts, the Lord shews in deeds.

   Whence it follows, "And the blind and the lame came to him in the
   temple, and he healed them."

   Origen: For in the temple of God, that is in the Church, all have not
   eyesight, nor do all walk uprightly, but only they who understand that
   there is need of Christ and of none other to heal them; they coming to
   the Word of God are healed.

   Remig.: That they are healed in the Temple signifies, that men cannot
   be healed but in the Church, to which is given the power of binding and
   loosing.

   Jerome: For had He not overthrown the tables of the money-changers and
   the seats of them that sold doves, the blind and the lame would not
   have deserved that their wonted sight and power of motion should be
   restored to them in the temple.

   Chrys.: But not even thus were the Chief Priests convinced, but at His
   miracles and the shouts of the children they had indignation.

   Jerome: For, not daring to lay hands on Him, the Priests defame his
   works, and the testimony of the children who cried, "Hosanna to the Son
   of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," as though
   this might be said to none but to the Son of God only. Let then Bishops
   and all holy men take heed how they suffer these things to be said to
   them, if this is charged as a fault in Him who is truly Lord to whom
   this was said, because the faith of the believers was not yet
   confirmed.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For as a pillar a little out of the perpendicular, if
   more weight be laid upon it, is driven to lean still more to one side;
   so also the heart of man when once turned aside, is only stirred the
   more with jealousy by seeing or hearing deeds of some righteous man. In
   this way the Priests were stirred up against Christ, and said, "Hearest
   thou what these say?"

   Jerome: But the answer of Christ was cautious. He spake not what the
   Scribes would fain have heard, The children do well that they bear
   witness to me; nor on the other hand, They do what is wrong, they are
   but children, you ought to be indulgent to their tender years. But He
   brings a quotation from the eighth Psalm, [Ps 8:2] that though the Lord
   were silent, the testimony of Scripture might defend the words of the
   children, as it follows, "But Jesus said unto them, Yea, have ye never
   read, &c."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As though He had said, Be it so, it is My fault that
   these cry thus. But is it My fault that so many thousand years before
   the Prophet foretold that so it should be? But babes and sucklings
   cannot know or praise any one. Therefore they are called babes, not in
   age, but in guilelessness of heart; sucklings, because they cried out
   being moved by their joy at the wonderful things they beheld, as by the
   sweetness of milk. Miraculous works are called milk, because the
   beholding of miracles is no toil, but rather excites wonder, and gently
   invites to the faith. Bread is the doctrine of perfect righteousness,
   which none can receive but they who have their senses exercised about
   spiritual things.

   Chrys.: This was at once a type of the Gentiles, and no small comfort
   to the Apostles; for that they might not be perplexed, contriving how
   having no education for the purpose they should preach the Gospel,
   these children going before them did away that fear; for He who made
   these to sing His praises, shall give speech to those. This miracle
   also shews that Christ was the Framer of nature; seeing the children
   spoke things full of meaning, and agreeing with the Prophets, whereas
   the men uttered things meaningless, and full of frenzy.
     __________________________________________________________________

   17. And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he
   lodged there.

   18. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.

   19. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found.
   nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, "Let no fruit grow
   on thee henceforward for ever." And presently the fig tree withered
   away.

   20. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, "How soon is
   the fig tree withered away!"

   21. Jesus answered and said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, If ye
   have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to
   the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou
   removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

   22. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye
   shall receive.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: A bad man is better overcome by giving way to him than
   by replying to him; for wickedness is not instructed but stimulated by
   reproof. The Lord accordingly sought by withdrawing Himself to check
   those whom His words could not check; whence it is said, "And He left
   them, and went out of the city into Bethany."

   Jerome: Hence it is to be understood that the Lord was in so great
   poverty, and so far from having courted any one, that He had found in
   all that city neither entertainer, nor abode, but He made His home in a
   little village, in the house of Lazarus and his sisters; for their
   village was Bethany; and it follows, "and He lodged there."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Seeking surely to lodge in the body where His spirit
   also reposed; for so it is with all holy men, they love to be not where
   sumptuous banquets are, but where holiness flourishes.

   Jerome: When the shades of night were dispersed, and He was returning
   to the city, the Lord was an hungred, thus shewing the reality of His
   human body.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: For in permitting His flesh to suffer that which
   properly pertains to flesh, He foreshews His passion. Mark the earnest
   zeal of the active labourer, Who is said to have gone early into the
   city to preach, and to gain some to His Father.

   Jerome: The Lord about to suffer among the nations, and to take upon
   Him the offence of the Cross, sought to strengthen the minds of His
   disciples by a previous miracle; whence it follows, "And seeing a
   fig-tree by the wayside, He came to it, and found nothing thereon but
   leaves only."

   Chrys.: He came not because He was an hungred, but for His disciples'
   sake; for because He ever did good and inflicted suffering on none, it
   behaved that He should set forth an example of His power of punishment;
   and this He would not exert upon man, but upon a plant.

   Hilary: Herein also we find proof of the Lord's goodness; where He was
   minded to shew forth an instance of the salvation procured by His
   means, He exerted the power of His might on the persons of men; by
   healing their present sicknesses, encouraging them to hope for the
   future, and to look for the healing of their soul. But now when He
   would exhibit a type of His judgments on the rebellious, He represents
   the future by the destruction of a tree; "Let no fruit grow on, thee
   henceforward for ever."

   Jerome: "For ever," (in sempiternum,) or, "To the end of the world,"
   (in saeculum,) for the Greek word, aion, signifies both.

   Chrys.: This was only a supposition of the disciples that it was cursed
   because it had not fruit; for another Evangelist says that it was not
   yet the season. Why then was it cursed? For the disciples' sake, that
   they might learn that He had power to wither up those who crucified
   Him. And He worked this miracle in that which of all plants is the most
   juicy, that the greatness of the miracle might be more apparent. And
   when aught of this kind is done to brutes or vegetables, ask not
   whether the fig were with justice withered up, seeing it was not the
   season for its fruit; for to enquire thus were extreme madness, for in
   such creatures there can be neither fault nor punishment; but consider
   the miracle, and admire the Worker of it.

   Gloss. ord.: The Creator does no wrong to the owner, but His creature,
   at His will, is converted to the profit of others.

   Chrys.: And that you may learn that this was done for their sakes, to
   the end, namely, that they should be stirred up to confidence, hear
   what is said further. Jesus answered and said unto them, "Verily I say
   unto you, if ye shall have faith."

   Jerome: The Gentile dogs bark against us, affirming that the Apostles
   had not faith, because they were not able to remove mountains. To whom
   we answer, that many wonders were done by the Lord which are not
   written; and therefore we believe the Apostles to have done some not
   written, and that they were therefore not written, that the unbelieving
   might not have in them larger room for cavilling.

   For let us ask them, do they believe the miracles which are written, or
   do they not! And when they look incredulous, we can then establish that
   they who believe not the lesser would not have believed the greater.

   Chrys.: This that the Lord speaks of He ascribes to prayer and faith;
   whence He continues, "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer
   believing ye shall receive."

   Origen: For Christ's disciples pray for nothing that they ought not,
   and as confiding in their Master they pray only for things great and
   heavenly.

   Raban.: But whenever we are not heard when we pray, it is either
   because we ask something adverse to the means of our salvation; or
   because the perverseness of those for whom we ask hinders its being
   granted to them; or because the performance of our request is put off
   to a future time, that our desires may wax stronger, and so may have
   more perfect capacity for the joys they seek after.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 68: It must be considered that Mark relates the
   wonder of the disciples at the withering of the tree, and the answer of
   the Lord concerning faith, to have been not on the day following the
   cursing of the tree, but on the third day after; and that on the second
   day Mark relates the casting of the merchants out of the Temple, which
   he had omitted on the first day. On the second day then he says that He
   went forth out of the city in the evening, and that as they passed by
   in the morning, the disciples then saw that the fig tree was withered.

   But Matthew speaks as though all this had been done on the day
   following. This must be so taken as that when Matthew, having related
   that the fig tree was dried up, adds immediately, omitting all the
   events of the second day, "And when the disciples saw it, they
   marvelled," he yet meant that it was on another day that they
   marvelled. For the tree must be supposed to have withered at the time
   it was cursed, not at the time they saw it. For they did not see it
   withering, but when it was withered, and by that they understood that
   it had withered immediately upon the Lord's words.

   Origen: Mystically; the Lord leaving the Chief Priests and Scribes
   withdrew without the earthly Jerusalem, which therefore fell. He came
   to Bethany to The house of obedience,' that is, to the Church, where
   when He had taken rest after the first erecting of the Church, He
   returned to the city which He had left a little while before, and
   returning, He was an hungred.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For had His hunger been as man for carnal food, He would
   not have hungred in the morning; he truly hungers in the morning who
   hungers after the salvation of others.

   Jerome: The tree which He saw by the wayside we understand as the
   synagogue, which was nigh to the way inasmuch as it had the Law, but
   yet believed not on the way, that is, on Christ.

   Hilary: And that is compared to a fig tree, because the Apostles being
   the first believers out of Israel, like green figs shall in the glory,
   and the time, of their resurrection, be before the rest.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Also the fig in respect of the multitude of seeds under
   one skin is as it were an assembly of the faithful. But He finds
   nothing on it but leaves only, that is, pharisaical traditions, an
   outward shew of the Law without the fruits of truth.

   Origen: And because this plant was figuratively a living creature,
   having a soul, He speaks to it as though it heard. "Let no fruit grow
   on thee henceforward for ever." Therefore is the Jewish synagogue
   barren, and shall continue so until the end of the world, when the
   multitude of the Gentiles shall come in; and the fig tree withered
   while Christ was yet sojourning in this life; and the disciples seeing
   by their spiritual discernment the mystery of the withered faith,
   wondered; and having faith, and not doubting, they bare it, and so it
   withers when their lifegiving virtue passes to the Gentiles; and by
   each one who is brought to the faith, that mountain Satan is lifted up
   and cast into the sea, that is, into the abyss.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; "Into the sea," that is, into the world where the
   waters are salt, i.e. the people are wicked.

   Raban.: And he avenges his exclusion from the elect by more cruel
   treatment of the reprobate.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 29: Or, this is to be said by each servant of God
   in his own case respecting the mountain of pride, to cast it from him.
   Or, because by Jews the Gospel was preached, the Lord Himself, who is
   called the mount, is by the Jews cast among the Gentiles as into a sea.

   Origen: For every man who is obedient to the word of God is Bethany,
   and Christ abides in him; but the wicked and the sinners He leaves. And
   when He has been with the righteous, He goes to other righteous after
   them, and accompanied by them; for it is not said that He left Bethany
   and went into the city. The Lord ever is an hungred among the
   righteous, desiring to eat among them the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
   which are love, joy, peace. But this fig tree which had leaves only
   without fruit, grew by the wayside.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That is, nigh to the world; for if a man lives nigh to
   the world, he cannot preserve in himself the fruit of righteousness.

   Origen: But if the Lord come seeking fruit with temptations, and one be
   found having nought of righteousness but only a profession of faith,
   which is leaves without fruit, he is soon withered, losing even his
   seeming faith; and every disciple makes this fig tree to wither, by
   making it be seen that he is void of Christ, as Peter said to Simon,
   "Thy heart is not right in the sight of God." [Acts 8:21]

   For it is better that a deceitful fig tree which is thought to be
   alive, yet brings forth no fruit, should be withered up at the word of
   Christ's disciples, than that by an imposture it should steal away
   innocent hearts. Also there is in every unbeliever a mountain great in
   proportion to his unbelief, which is removed by the words of Christ's
   disciples.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. And when he was come into the temple, the Chief Priests and the
   elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, "By
   what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this
   authority?"

   24. And Jesus answered and said unto them, "I also will ask you one
   thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what
   authority I do these things.

   25. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" And
   they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he
   will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?

   26. But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John
   as a prophet.

   27. And they answered Jesus, and said, "We cannot tell." And he said
   unto them, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Priests were tormented with jealousy, because they
   had seen Christ entering the Temple in great glory. And not being able
   to master the fire of jealousy which burnt in their breasts, they break
   forth in speech.

   Chrys.: Forasmuch as they could not detract from His miracles, they
   bring matter of blame from His forbidding to sell in the Temple. As
   though they had said, Hast Thou assumed the seat of authority? Hast
   Thou been anointed Priest, that Thou exertest this power?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: By that they add, "Or who gave thee this authority?"
   they shew that there be many persons who give power to men, whether
   corporal or spiritual! as though they had said, Thou art not come of a
   priestly family; the Senate has not conferred on Thee this power,
   neither has Caesar granted it. But had they believed that all power is
   from God, they would never have asked, "Who gave thee this authority?"
   For every man judges of others by himself. The fornicator thinks that
   none are chaste; the chaste does not readily suspect any of
   fornication; he who is not a Priest of God, thinks no man's Priesthood
   to be of God.

   Jerome: Or in these words they urge the same cavil as above, when they
   said, "He casteth out demons through Beelzebub the Prince of the
   demons." [Matt 12:24] For when they say, "By what authority doest thou
   thee things?" they doubt concerning the power of God, and would have it
   understood that the things He does are of the Devil. But when they add,
   "Who gave thee this authority?" they most clearly deny the Son of God,
   whom they suppose to work miracles, not by His own, but by others'
   strength.

   The Lord could have confuted the calumny of His tempters by a simple
   answer, but He put a question to them of such skilful contrivance, that
   they must be condemned either by their silence or their knowledge;
   "Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one question."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Not that they should answer it, and thereupon hear of
   Christ the answer to their question, but that being puzzled they should
   ask Him no farther; according to that precept He had given above, "Give
   not that which is holy to the dogs." [Matt 7:6] For even if He had told
   them, it would have profited nothing, because the darkened will cannot
   perceive the things that are of the light. For him that enquires we
   ought to instruct, but him that tempts, to overthrow by a stroke of
   reasoning, but not to publish to him the power of the mystery.

   The Lord thus sets before them in His question a dilemma; and that they
   might not escape Him, says, "Which if ye tell me, I in like wise will
   tell you by what authority I do these things." His question is this;
   "The baptism of John whence was it? from heaven, or of men?"

   Aug., in Joan. Tr., v. 4: John received his authority to baptize from
   Him, whom he afterwards baptized; and that baptism which was committed
   to him is here called the baptism of John. He alone received such a
   gift; no righteous man before or after him was entrusted with a baptism
   to be called from himself. For John came to baptize in the water of
   repentance, to prepare the way for the Lord, not to give inward
   cleansing, which mere man cannot do.

   Jerome: What the Priests revolved in their malice is shewn when he
   adds, "But they reasoned with themselves." For had they replied that it
   was from heaven, the question was inevitable, Why then were ye not
   baptized by John? But should they reply that it was an invention of
   human device, and had in it nothing divine, they feared a tumult among
   the people. For all the assembled multitudes had received John's
   baptism, and held him accordingly for a Prophet.

   This godless party therefore make answer, and by a seeming humility of
   speech confessing that they know not, turned to hide their insidious
   designs. And they answered Jesus, and said, "We know not." In saying
   that they knew not, they lied; and it might have followed upon their
   answering thus, that the Lord also should say, I know not; but truth
   cannot lie, and therefore it follows, "And he said unto them, Neither
   tell I you by what authority I do these things."

   This shews that they knew, but would not answer, and that He also knew,
   but would not answer, because they would not speak what they knew.

   Origen: But some one will say in opposition to this, that it was absurd
   to ask by what authority Jesus did these things. For that it could not
   be that He would answer, that He did these by the Devil's authority;
   and He would not tell them as it truly was, that He did them by His own
   power. If it should be said, that the rulers put this question to Him
   in order to deter Him from His proceedings; as when we say to one who
   is dealing with what is ours in a way which we do not like, we say to
   him, Who bade thee do this? meaning to deter him from what he is so
   doing; -- if it is to be taken so, what means Christ's answer, Do you
   tell Me this, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

   Perhaps therefore, the place should be understood as follows. There are
   in the general two opposite powers, one on the side of God, the other
   on the side of the Devil; but of particular powers there are many; for
   it was not one and the same power that wrought in all the Prophets to
   enable them to do miracles, but one in these, another in those; and, it
   may be, for lesser things a lesser power, for greater things a greater
   power. The Chief Priests had seen Jesus working many miracles,
   whereupon they desired to know the special degree and properties of
   that power which wrought in Him. For others who have wrought miracles
   wrought them at first in one power, and afterwards when more advanced
   in another and greater power; but the Saviour wrought all in one power,
   that which He received of the Father. But because they were not worthy
   to hear such mysteries, therefore He gives them no answer, but on the
   contrary put a question to them.

   Raban.: There are two reasons why the knowledge of truth should be kept
   back from those who ask; either when he who asks is unfit to receive,
   or from his hatred or contempt of the truth is unworthy to have that
   which he asks opened to him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   28. "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the
   first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

   29. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and
   went.

   30. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and
   said, I go, sir: and went not.

   31. Whether of them twain did the will of his father?" They say unto
   him, "The first." Jesus saith unto them, "Verily I say unto you, That
   the Publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

   32. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed
   him not: but the Publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when
   ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Thus much prefaced, the Lord brings forward a parable, to
   convict them of their irreligion, and shew them that the kingdom of God
   should be transferred to the Gentiles.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Those who are to be judged in this cause, He applies to
   as judges, that condemning themselves they might be shewn to be
   unworthy to be acquitted by any other. It is high confidence of the
   justness of a cause, that will entrust it to the decision of an
   adversary. But He veils the allusion to them in a parable, that they
   might not perceive that they were passing sentence upon themselves; "A
   certain man had two sons." Who is he but God, who created all men, who
   being by nature Lord of all, yet would rather be loved as a father,
   than feared as a Lord. The elder son was the Gentile people, the
   younger the Jews, since from the time of Noah there had been Gentiles.
   And he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
   To day," i.e. during this age. He spoke with him, not face to face as
   man, but to his heart as God, instilling understanding through the
   senses. To work in the vineyard is to do righteousness; for to
   cultivate the whole thereof, I know not that any one man is sufficient.

   Jerome: He speaks to the Gentile people first, through their knowledge
   of the law of nature; "Go and work in my vineyard;" i.e. "What you
   would not have done to you, that do not you to others." [Tobit 4:16] He
   answers haughtily, "I will not."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For the Gentiles from the beginning leaving God and his
   righteousness, and going over to idols and sins, seem to make answer in
   their thoughts, We will not do the righteousness of God.

   Jerome: But when, at the coming of the Saviour, the Gentile people,
   having done penitence, laboured in God's vineyard, and atoned by their
   labour for the obstinacy of their refusal, this is what is said, "But
   afterward he repented, and went." The second son is the Jewish people
   who made answer to Moses, "All that the Lord hath said unto us we will
   do." [Ex 24:3]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But afterwards turning their backs, they lied unto God,
   according to that in the Psalms, "The sons of the strangers have lied
   unto me." [Ps 18:44] This is what is said, "But he went not." The Lord
   accordingly asks "which of them twain did the will of his father? They
   say unto him, The first." See how they have first sentence upon
   themselves, saying, that the elder son, that is, the Gentile people,
   did the will of his father. For it is better not to promise
   righteousness before God, and to do it, than to promise, and to fail.

   Origen: Whence we may gather, that in this parable the Lord spoke to
   such as promise little or nothing, but in their works shine forth; and
   against those who promise great things but do none of these things that
   they have promised.

   Jerome: It should be known that in the correct copies it is read not
   "The last," but The first," that they might be condemned by their own
   sentence. But should we prefer to read, as some have it, "The last,"
   the explanation is obvious, to say that the Jews understood the truth,
   but dissembled, and would not say what they thought; just as though
   they knew that the baptism of John was from heaven, they would not say
   so.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Lord abundantly confirms their decision, whence it
   follows, "Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto yon, that the
   publicans and harlots shall go before you in the kingdom of God;" as
   much as to say, Not only the Gentiles are before you, but even the
   publicans and the harlots.

   Raban.: Yet the kingdom of God may be understood of the Gentiles, or of
   the present Church, in which the Gentiles go before the Jews, because
   they were more ready to believe.

   Origen: Notwithstanding, the Jews are not shut out that they should
   never enter into the kingdom of God; but, "when the fulness of the
   Gentiles shall have entered in, then all Israel shall be saved."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: I suppose that the "publicans" here are to represent all
   sinful men, and "the harlots" all sinful women; because avarice is
   found the most prevailing vice among men, and fornication among women.
   For a woman's life is passed in idleness and seclusion, which are great
   temptations to that sin, while a man, constantly occupied in various
   active duties, falls readily into the snare of covetousness, and not so
   commonly into fornication, as the anxieties of manly cares preclude
   thoughts of pleasure, which engage rather the young and idle.

   Then follows the reason of what He had said, "For John came unto you in
   the way of righteousness, and ye believed Him not."

   Raban.: John came preaching the way of righteousness, because he
   pointed to Christ, who is the fulfilling of the Law.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, because his venerable conversation smote the hearts
   of sinners, as it follows, "But the Publicans and harlots believed on
   him." Mark how the good life of the preacher gives its force to his
   preaching, so as to subdue unsubdued hearts. "And ye, when ye had seen
   it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him;" as much as to
   say, They have done that which is more by believing on Him, ye have not
   even repented, which is less.

   But in this exposition which we have set forth according to the mind of
   many interpreters, there seems to me something inconsistent. For if by
   the two sons are to be understood the Jews and Gentiles, as soon as the
   Priests had answered that it was the first son that did his father's
   will, then Christ should have concluded His parable with these words,
   Verily I say unto you, that the Gentiles shall go into the kingdom of
   God before you. But He says, "The Publicans and harlots," a class
   rather of Jews than of Gentiles. Unless this is to be taken as was said
   above; So much rather the Gentile people please God than you, that even
   the Publicans and harlots are more acceptable to Him than you.

   Jerome: Whence others think that the parable does not relate to
   Gentiles and Jews, but simply to the righteous and to sinners. These by
   their evil deeds had rejected God's service, but after received from
   John the baptism of repentance; while the Pharisees who made a shew of
   righteousness, and boasted that they did the law of God, despising
   John's baptism, did not follow his precepts.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This He brings in because the Priests had asked not in
   order to learn, but to tempt Him. But of the common folk many had
   believed; and for that reason He brings forward the parable of the two
   sons, shewing them therein that the common sort, who from the first
   professed secular lives, were better than the Priests who from the
   first professed the service of God, inasmuch as the people at length
   turned repentant to God, but the Priests impenitent, never left off to
   sin against God. And the elder son represents the people; because the
   people is not for the sake of the Priests, but the Priests are for the
   sake of the people.
     __________________________________________________________________

   33. "Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which
   planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress
   in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a
   far country:

   34. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to
   the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

   35. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed
   another, and stoned another.

   36. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did
   unto them likewise.

   37. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will
   reverence my son.

   38. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves,
   This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his
   inheritance.

   39. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew
   him.

   40. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do
   unto those husbandmen?"

   41. They say unto him, "He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and
   will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him
   the fruits in their seasons."

   42. Jesus saith unto them, "Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The
   stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the
   corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

   43. Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from
   you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

   44. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on
   whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom, lxviii: The design of this further parable is to shew that
   their guilt was heinous, and unworthy to be forgiven.

   Origen: The householder is God, who in some parables is represented as
   a man. As it were a father condescending to the infant lisp of his
   little child, in order to instruct him.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He is called man, by title, not by nature; in a kind of
   likeness, not in verity. For the Son knowing that by occasion of His
   human name He himself should be blasphemed as though he were mere man,
   spoke therefore of the Invisible God the Father as man; He who by
   nature is Lord of Angels and men, but by goodness their Father.

   Jerome: He hath "planted" a vine of which Isaiah speaks, "The vine of
   the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel." [Isa 5:7] And "hedged it
   round about;" i.e. either the wall of the city, or the guardianship of
   Angels.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, by the hedge understand the protection of the holy
   fathers, who were set as a wall round the people of Israel.

   Origen: Or, the hedge which God set round his people was His own
   Providence; and the winepress was the place of offerings.

   Jerome: "A winepress," that is to say, An altar; or those winepresses
   after which the three Psalms, the 8th, the 80th, and the 83rd are
   entitled, that is to say, the martyrs. [ed. note: gtyt, Ps 8, 81, 84.
   Hebr. from gt, the wine press, and so the Vulgate Torcularia, as St.
   Jerome reads. Others consider it a musical instrument used at the
   vintage. St. Augustine takes it for an oil press, Enarr. in Ps. 80.
   init. in Ps. 83. init. of vines or olives. With St. Jerome he
   interprets it of martyrdoms in Ps. 8. n. 3. just before he interprets
   it of Christian Churches, as does Athanasius in loc.]

   Hilary: Or, He set forth the Prophets as it were winepresses, into
   which an abundant measure of the Holy Spirit, as of new wine, might
   flow in a teeming stream.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, the winepress is the word of God, which tortures man
   when it contradicts his fleshly nature.

   Jerome: "And built a tower therein," that is, the Temple, of which it
   is said by Micah, "And thou, O cloudy tower of the daughter of Sion."

   Hilary: Or, The tower is the eminence of the Law, which ascended from
   earth to heaven, and from which, as from a watchtower, the coming of
   Christ might be spied. "And let it out to husbandmen."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: When, that is, Priests and Levites were constituted by
   the Law, and undertook the direction of the people. And as an
   husbandman, though he offer to his Lord of his own stock, does not
   please him so much as by giving him the fruit of his own vineyard; so
   the Priest does not so much please God by his own righteousness, as by
   teaching the people of God holiness; for his own righteousness is but
   one, but that of the people manifold. "And went into a far country."

   Jerome: Not a change of place, for God, by whom all things are filled,
   cannot be absent from any place; but He seems to be absent from the
   vineyard, that He may leave the vine-dressers a freedom of acting.

   Chrys.: Or, it applies to His long-suffering, in that He did not always
   bring down immediate punishment on their sins.

   Origen: Or, because God who had been with them in the cloud by day, and
   in the pillar of fire by night, [marg. note: Ex 13:21] never after
   shewed Himself to them in like manner. In Isaiah the people of the Jews
   is called the vineyard, and the threats of the householder are against
   the vineyard; [marg. note: Isa 5:7] but in the Gospel not the vineyard
   but the husbandmen are blamed.

   For perchance in the Gospel the vineyard is the kingdom of God, that
   is, the doctrine which is contained in holy Scripture; and a man's
   blameless life is the fruit of the vineyard. And the letter of
   Scripture is the hedge set round the vineyard, that the fruits which
   are bid in it should not be seen by those who are without. The depth of
   the oracles of God is the winepress of the vineyard, into which such as
   have profited in the oracles of God pour out their studies like fruit.

   The tower built therein is the word concerning God himself, and
   concerning Christ's dispensations. This vineyard He committed to
   husbandmen, that is, to the people that was before us, both priests and
   laity, and went into a far country, by His departure giving opportunity
   to the husbandmen.

   The time of the vintage drawing near may be taken of individuals, and
   of nations. The first season of life is in infancy, when the vineyard
   has nought to shew, but that it has in it the vital power. As soon as
   it comes to be able to speak, then is the time of putting forth buds.
   And as the child's soul progresses, so also does the vineyard, that is,
   the word of God; and after such progress the vineyard brings forth the
   ripe fruit of love, joy, peace, and the like. Moreover to the nation
   who received the Law by Moses, the time of fruit draweth near.

   Raban.: "The season of fruit," He says, not of rent-paying, because
   this stiff-necked nation brings forth no fruit.

   Chrys., non occ., ap. Chrys.: He calls the Prophets servants, who as
   the Lord's Priests offer the fruits of the people, and the proofs of
   their obedience in their works. But they shewed their wickedness not
   only in refusing the fruits, but in having indignation against those
   that come to them, as it follows, "And the husbandmen took his
   servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another."

   Jerome: Beat them, as Jeremiah, killed them, as Isaiah, stoned them, as
   Naboth and Zacharias, whom they slew between the temple and the altar.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: At each step of their wickedness the mercy of God was
   increased, and at each step of the Divine mercy the wickedness of the
   Jews increased; thus there was a strife between human wickedness and
   Divine goodness.

   Hilary: These "more than the first" who were sent, denote that time,
   when, after the preaching of single Prophets, a great number was sent
   forth together.

   Raban: Or, the first servants who were sent were the Lawgiver Moses
   himself, and Aaron the first Priest of God; whom, having beaten them
   with the scourge of their tongue, they sent away empty; by the other
   servants understand the company of the Prophets.

   Hilary: By the Son sent at last, is denoted the advent of our Lord.

   Chrys.: Wherefore then did He not send Him immediately? That from what
   they had done to the others they might accuse themselves, and putting
   away their madness they might reverence His Son when He came.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He sent Him not as the bearer of a sentence of
   punishment against the guilty, but of an offer of repentance; He sent
   Him to put them to shame, not to punish them.

   Jerome: But when He says, "They will reverence my Son," He does not
   speak as in ignorance. For what is there that this householder (by whom
   in this place God is intended) knows not? But God is thus spoken of as
   being uncertain, in order that free-will may be reserved for man.

   Chrys.: Or He speaks as declaring what ought to be; they ought to
   reverence Him; thus shewing that their sin was great, and void of all
   excuse.

   Origen: Or we may suppose this fulfilled in the case of those Jews who,
   knowing Christ, believed in Him. But what follows, "But when the
   husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir,
   come let us kill him, and let us seize on the inheritance," was
   fulfilled in those who saw Christ, and knew Him to be the Son of God,
   yet crucified Him.

   Jerome: Let us enquire of Arrius and Eunomius. See here the Father is
   said not to know somewhat. Whatever answer they make for the Father,
   let them understand the same of the Son, when He says that He knows not
   the day of the consummation of all things. [marg. note: Matt 22:36]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But some say, that it was after His incarnation, that
   Christ was called a Son in right of His baptism like the other saints,
   whom the Lord refutes by this place, saying, "I will send my Son."
   Therefore when He thus meditated sending His Son after the Prophets, He
   must have been already His Son. Further, if He had been His Son in the
   same way as all the saints to whom the word of God was sent, He ought
   to have called the Prophets also His sons, as He calls Christ, or to
   call Christ His servant, as He calls the Prophets.

   Raban.: By what they say, "This is the Son," He manifestly proves that
   the rulers of the Jews crucified the Son of God, not through ignorance,
   but through jealousy. For they understood that it was He to whom the
   Father speaks by the Prophet, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the
   heathen for thine inheritance." [Ps 2:8] The inheritance given to the
   Son is the holy Church; an inheritance not left Him by His Father when
   dying, but wonderfully purchased by His own death.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: After His entry into the Temple, and having cast out
   those who sold the animals for the sacrifices, then they took counsel
   to kill Him, "Come, let us kill him." For they reasoned among
   themselves, It will happen that the people hereby shall disuse the
   practice of sacrificing, which pertains to our gain, and shall be
   content to offer the sacrifice of righteousness, which pertains to the
   glory of God; and so the nation shall no more be our possession, but
   shall become God's. But if we shall kill Him, then there being none to
   seek the fruit of righteousness from the people, the practice of
   offering sacrifice shall continue, and so this people shall become our
   possession; as it follows, "And the inheritance shall be ours."

   These are the usual thoughts of all worldly Priests, who take no
   thought how the people shall live without sin, but look to how much is
   offered in the Church, and esteem that the profit of their ministry.

   Raban.: Or, The Jews endeavoured by putting Him to death to seize upon
   the inheritance, when they strove to overthrow the faith which is
   through Him, and to substitute their own righteousness which is by the
   Law, and therewith to imbue the Gentiles. It follows, "And they caught
   him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him."

   Hilary: Christ was cast out of Jerusalem, as out of the vineyard, to
   His sentence of punishment.

   Origen: Or, what He says, "And cast him out of the vineyard," seems to
   me to be this; As far as they were concerned they judged Him a stranger
   both to the vineyard, and the husbandmen. "When therefore the Lord of
   the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?"

   Jerome: The Lord asks them not as though He did not know what they
   would answer, but that they might be condemned by their own answer.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That their answer is true, comes not of any righteous
   judgment in them, but from the case itself; truth constrained them.

   Origen: Like Caiaphas [marg. note: John 11:49] so did they, not from
   themselves, prophesy against themselves, that the oracles of God were
   to be taken from them, and given to the Gentiles, who could bring forth
   fruit in due season.

   Gloss. ord.: Or, the Lord whom they killed, came immediately rising
   from the dead, and brought to an evil end those wicked husbandmen, and
   gave up His vineyard to other husbandmen, that is, to the Apostles.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 70: Mark does not give this as their answer,
   but relates that the Lord after His question put to them, made this
   answer to Himself. But it may be easily explained, that their words are
   subjoined in such a way as to shew that they spoke them, without
   putting in And they answered.' Or this answer is attributed to the
   Lord, because, what they said being true, might well be said to have
   been spoken by Him who is truth.

   Chrys.: Or there is no contradiction, because both are right; they
   first made answer in these words, and then the Lord repeated them.

   Aug.: This troubles us more, how it is that Luke not only does not
   relate this to have been their answer, but attributes to them a
   contrary answer. His words are, "And when they heard it they said, God
   forbid." [Luke 20:16] The only way that remains for understanding this
   is, therefore, that of the listening multitudes some answered as
   Matthew relates, and some as Luke.

   And let it perplex no one that Matthew says that the Chief Priests and
   elders of the people came to the Lord, and that he connects the whole
   of this discourse in one down to this parable of the vineyard, without
   interposing any other speaker. For it may be supposed that He spoke all
   these things with the Chief Priests, but that Matthew for brevity's
   sake omitted what Luke mentions, namely, that this parable was spoken
   not to those only who asked Him concerning His authority, but to the
   populace, among whom were some who said, He shall destroy them, and
   give the vineyard to others.

   And at the same time this saying is rightly thought to have been the
   Lord's, either for its truth, or for the unity of His members with
   their head. And there were also those who said, "God forbid," those
   namely, "who perceived that He spoke this parable against them."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise: Luke has given the answer of their lips,
   Matthew that of their hearts. For some made answer openly contradicting
   Him, and saying, "God forbid," but their consciences took it up with
   "He shall miserably destroy these wicked men." For so when a man is
   detected in any wickedness, he excuses himself in words, but his
   conscience within pleads guilty.

   Chrys.: Or otherwise: the Lord proposed this parable to them with this
   intent, that not understanding it they should give sentence against
   themselves; as was done by Nathan to David. Again, when they perceived
   the meaning of the things that had been said against them, they said,
   "God forbid."

   Raban: Morally; a vineyard has been let out to each of us to dress,
   when the mystery of baptism was given us, to be cultivated by action.
   Servants one, two, and three are sent us when Law, Psalm, and Prophecy
   are read, after whose instructions we are to work well. He that is sent
   is beaten and cast out when the word is contemned, or, which is worse,
   is blasphemed. He kills (as far as in him lies) the heir, who tramples
   under foot the Son, and does despite to the Spirit of grace. The wicked
   husbandman is destroyed, and the vineyard is given to another, when the
   gift of grace which the proud has contemned is given to the lowly.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: When they seemed discontent, He brings forward Scripture
   testimony; as much as to say, If ye understood not My parable, at least
   acknowledge this Scripture.

   Jerome: The same things are treated under various figures; whom above
   He called labourers and husbandmen, He now calls builders.

   Chrys.: Christ is the stone, the builders are the Jewish teachers who
   rejected Christ, saying, "This man is not of God." [John 9:16]

   Raban.: But despite of their displeasure, the same stone furnished the
   head stone of the corner, for out of both nations He has joined by
   faith in Him as many as He would.

   Hilary: He is become the head of the corner, because He is the union of
   both sides between the Law and the Gentiles.

   Chrys.: And that they might know that nothing that had been done was
   against God's will, He adds, "It is the Lord's doing."

   Origen: That is, the stone is the gift of God to the whole building,
   and is wonderful in our eyes, who can discern it with the eyes of the
   mind.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As much as to say, How do ye not understand in what
   building that stone is to be set, not in yours, seeing it is rejected,
   but in another; but if the building is to be other, your building will
   be rejected.

   Origen: By the kingdom of God, He means the mysteries of the kingdom of
   God, that is, the divine Scriptures, which the Lord committed, first to
   that former people who had the oracles of God, but secondly to the
   Gentiles who brought forth fruit. For the word of God is given to none
   but to him who brings fruit thereof, and the kingdom of God is given to
   none in whom sin reigns.

   Whence came it then that it was given to them from whom it was
   afterwards taken away? Remember that whatever is given is given of free
   gift. To whom then He let out the vineyard, He let it out not as to
   elect already and believing; but to whom He gave it, He gave it with a
   sentence of election.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Christ is called A Stone, not only because of His
   strength, but because He mightily crushes His enemies; whence it
   follows, "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, and
   on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder."

   Jerome: Whoso sinneth, yet believeth on Him, falls indeed upon a stone
   and is broken, yet is not altogether crushed, but is preserved to
   salvation through endurance. But on whomsoever it shall fall, that is,
   whomsoever this stone shall itself assault, and whosoever shall utterly
   deny Christ, it shall so crush him, that not a bone of him shall be
   left in which a drop of water could be taken up.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: It is one thing to be broken, and another to be ground
   to powder. Of what is broken there remains something; but what is
   ground to powder is as it were converted into dust. And what falls upon
   a stone is not broken by any power of the stone, but because it fell
   heavily, either by reason of its weight, or of its fall from a great
   height So a Christian in sinning, perishes, but not to the utmost that
   Christ can destroy; but only so far as he destroys himself, either by
   the greatness of his sin, or by his exalted rank. But the unbelievers
   perish to the utmost that Christ can destroy them.

   Chrys.: Or, He here points out their twofold destruction; first in
   their stumbling and being offended at Him, signified in that,
   "Whosoever shall fall upon this stone;" the other in the captivity that
   should come upon them, signified by that, "But upon whomsoever it shall
   fall."

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i. 30: Or, Those that fall upon Him, are those that
   despise and afflict Him. These do not perish utterly, but are broken so
   that they walk not upright. But upon these He shall fall when He shall
   come from above in judgment with a punishment of destruction, and
   thence He says, "Shall grind them to powder," because "the wicked are
   like the dust which the wind scattereth abroad on the face of the
   earth." [Ps 1:4]
     __________________________________________________________________

   45. And when the Chief Priests and Pharisees had heard his parables,
   they perceived that he spake of them.

   46. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the
   multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: Hard as were the hearts of the Jews in unbelief, they yet
   perceived that the Lord's sentence was directed against themselves.

   Pseudo-Chrys., in fin. Hom. xxxix: Here is the difference between good
   and bad men. The good man when taken in a sin has sorrow because he has
   sinned, the bad man is grieved not because he has sinned, but because
   he is found out in his sin; and he not only does not repent, but is
   indignant with him that reproved him. Thus they being taken in their
   sins were stirred up to still greater wickedness; "And they sought to
   lay hands on him, but feared the multitude, because they took him for a
   Prophet."

   Origen: One thing they know which is true concerning Him; they esteemed
   Him a Prophet, though not understanding His greatness in respect of His
   being the Son of God. But the rulers feared the multitude who thought
   thus of Him, and were ready to fight for Him; for they could not attain
   to the understanding which the multitude had, seeing they thought
   nothing worthy concerning Him.

   Further, know that there are two different kinds of desires to lay
   hands on Jesus. The desire of the rulers and Pharisees was one kind;
   another that of the Bride, "I held him, and would not let him go;" [
   Song of Songs 3:4] intending to try Him still further, as she saith, "I
   will get me up into the palm tree, I will lay hold of its height."
   [Song of Songs 7:8] All who think not rightly concerning His divinity,
   seek to lay hands on Jesus in order to put Him to death. Other words
   indeed excepting the word of Christ it is possible to seize and to
   hold, but the word of truth none can seize, that is, understand; none
   can hold it, that is, convict; nor separate it from the conviction of
   those that believe; nor do it to death, that is, destroy it.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Every wicked man also, as far as his will is concerned,
   lays hands on God, and puts Him to death. For whoso tramples upon God's
   commandments, or murmurs against God, or raises a sullen look to
   heaven, would not he, if he had the power, lay hands on God, and kill
   Him, that he might sin without restraints?

   Raban.: This, that they are afraid to lay hands on Jesus because of the
   multitudes, is daily acted in the Church, when any who is a brother
   only in name, is ashamed or afraid to assail the unity of faith and
   peace which he does not love, because of the good men with whom he
   lives.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 22

   1. And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

   2. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a
   marriage for his son,

   3. And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the
   wedding: and they would not come.

   4. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are
   bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are
   killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage."

   5. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm,
   another to his merchandise:

   6. And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully,
   and slew them.

   7. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his
   armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

   8. Then saith he to his servants, "The wedding is ready, but they which
   were bidden were not worthy.

   9. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid
   to the marriage."

   10. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together
   all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was
   furnished with guests.

   11. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man
   which had not on a wedding garment:

   12. And he saith unto him, "Friend, how camest thou in hither not
   having a wedding garment?" And he was speechless.

   13. Then said the king to the servants, "Bind him hand and foot, and
   take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping
   and gnashing of teeth.

   14. For many are called, but few are chosen."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. lxix: Forasmuch as He had said, And it shall be given to a
   nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," He now proceeds to shew what
   nation that is.

   Gloss., interlin.: "Answered," that is, meeting their evil thoughts of
   putting Him to death.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 71: This parable is related only by Matthew.
   Luke gives one like it, but it is not the same, as the order shews.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxviii, 2: Here, by the wedding-feast is denoted
   the present Church; there, by the supper, the last and eternal feast.
   For into this enter some who shall perish; into that whosoever has once
   entered in shall never be put forth. But if any should maintain that
   these are the same lessons, we may perhaps explain that that part
   concerning the guest who had come in without a wedding garment, which
   Luke has not mentioned, Matthew has related. That the one calls it
   supper, the other dinner, makes no difference; for with the ancients
   the dinner was at the ninth hour, and was therefore often called
   supper.

   Origen: The kingdom of heaven, in respect of Him who reigns there, is
   like a king; in respect of Him who shares the kingdom, it is like a
   king's son; in respect of those things which are in the kingdom, it is
   like servants and guests, and among them the king's armies. It is
   specified, "A man that is a king," that what is spoken may be as by a
   man to men, and that a man may regulate men unwilling to be regulated
   by God. But the kingdom of heaven will then cease to be like a man,
   when zeal and contention and all other passions and sins having ceased,
   we shall cease to walk after men, and shall see Him as He is. For now
   we see Him not as He is, but as He has been made for us in our
   dispensation.

   Greg: God the Father made a marriage feast for God the Son, when He
   joined Him to human nature in the womb of the Virgin. But far be it
   from us to conclude, that because marriage takes place between two
   separate persons, that therefore the person of our Redeemer was made up
   of two separate persons. We say indeed that He exists of two natures,
   and in two natures, but we hold it unlawful to believe that He was
   compounded of two persons. It is safer therefore to say, that the
   marriage feast was made by the King the Father for the King the Son
   when He joined to Him the Holy Church in the mystery of His
   incarnation. The womb of the Virgin Mother was the bridechamber of this
   Bridegroom.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; When the resurrection of the saints shall be,
   then the life, which is Christ, shall revive man, swallowing up his
   mortality in its own immortality. For now we receive the Holy Spirit as
   a pledge of the future union, but then we shall have Christ Himself
   more fully in us.

   Origen: Or, by the marriage of Bridegroom with Bride, that is, of
   Christ with the soul, understand the Assumption of the Word, the
   produce whereof is good works.

   Hilary: Rightly has the Father already made this wedding, because this
   eternal union and espousal of the new body is already perfect in
   Christ.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: When the servants were sent to call them, they must have
   been invited before. Men have been invited from the time of Abraham, to
   whom was promised Christ's incarnation.

   Jerome: "He sent his servant," without doubt Moses, by whom He gave the
   Law, to those who had been invited. But if you read "servants" as most
   copies have, it must be referred to the Prophets, by whom they were
   invited, but neglected to come. By the servants who were sent the
   second time, we may better understand the Prophets than the Apostles;
   that is to say, if servant is read in the first place; but if
   'servants,' then by the second servants are to be understood the
   Apostles;

   Pseudo-Chrys.: whom He sent when He said unto them, "Go not into the
   way of the Gentiles, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of
   Israel." [Matt 10:5]

   Origen: The servants who were first sent to call them that were bidden
   to the wedding, are to be taken as the Prophets converting the people
   by their prophecy to the festival of the restoration of the Church to
   Christ. They who would not come at the first message are they who
   refused to hear the words of the Prophets. The others who were sent a
   second time were another assembly of Prophets.

   Hilary: Or; The servants who were first sent to call them that were
   bidden, are the Apostles; they who, being before bidden, are now
   invited to come in, are the people of Israel, who had before been
   bidden through the Law to the glories of eternity. To the Apostles
   therefore it belonged to remind those whom the Prophets had invited.
   Those sent with the second injunction are the Apostolic men their
   successors.

   Greg: But because these who were first invited would not come to the
   feast, the second summons says, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner."

   Jerome: The dinner that is prepared, the oxen and the fatlings that are
   killed, is either a description of regal magnificence by the way of
   metaphor, that by carnal things spiritual may be understood; or the
   greatness of the doctrines, and the manifold teaching of God in His
   law, may be understood.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: When therefore the Lord bade the Apostles, "Go ye and
   preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand," it was the same
   message as is here given, "I have prepared my dinner;" i. e. I have set
   out the table of Scripture out of the Law and the Prophets.

   Greg.: By the oxen are signified the Fathers of the Old Testament; who
   by sufferance of the Law gored their enemies with the horn of bodily
   strength. By fatlings are meant fatted animals, for from alere', comes
   altilia,' as it were alitilia' or alita.' By the "fatlings" are
   intended the Fathers of the New Testament; who while they receive sweet
   grace of inward fattening, are raised by the wing of contemplation from
   earthly desires to things above.

   He says therefore, "My oxen and my fatlings are killed;" as much as to
   say, Look to the deaths of the Fathers who have been before you, and
   desire some amendment of your lives.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; He says "oxen and fatlings," not as though
   the oxen were not fatted, but because all the oxen were not fat.
   Therefore the fatlings denote the Prophets who were filled with the
   Holy Spirit; the oxen those who were both Priests and Prophets, as
   Jeremiah and Ezekiel; for as the oxen are the leaders of the herd, so
   also the Priests are leaders of the people.

   Hilary: Or otherwise; The oxen are the glorious army of Martyrs,
   offered, like choice victims, for the confession of God; the fatlings
   are spiritual men, as birds fed for flight upon heavenly food, that
   they may fill others with the abundance of the food they have eaten.

   Greg.: It is to be observed, that in the first invitation nothing was
   said of the oxen or fatlings, but in the second it is announced that
   they are already killed, because Almighty God when we will not hear His
   words gives examples, that what we suppose impossible may become easy
   to us to surmount, when we hear that others have passed through it
   before us.

   Origen: Or; The dinner which is prepared is the oracle of God; and so
   the more mighty of the oracles of God are the oxen; the sweet and
   pleasant are the fatlings. For if any one bring forward feeble words,
   without power, and not having strong force of reason, these are the
   lean things; the fatlings are when to the establishment of each
   proposition many examples are brought forward backed by reasonable
   proofs.

   For example, supposing one holding discourse of chastity, it might well
   be represented by the turtle-dove; but should he bring forward the same
   holy discourse full of reasonable proof out of Scripture, so as to
   delight and strengthen the mind of his hearer, then he brings the dove
   fatted.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That He says, "And all things are now ready," means,
   that all that is required to salvation is already filled up in the
   Scriptures; there the ignorant may find instruction; the self-willed
   may read of terrors; he who is in difficulty may there find promises to
   rouse him to activity.

   Gloss., interlin.: Or, "All things are now ready," i.e. The entrance
   into the kingdom, which had been hitherto closed, is now ready through
   faith in My incarnation.

   Pseudo-Chrys., non occ. sed vid. Gloss. ord.: Or He says, "All things
   are now ready" which belong to the mystery of the Lord's Passion, and
   our redemption. He says, "Come to the marriage," not with your feet,
   but with faith, and good conduct. "But they made light of it;" why they
   did so He shews when He adds, "And they went their way, one to his
   farm, another to his merchandize."

   Chrys.: These occupations seem to be entirely reasonable; but we learn
   hence, that however necessary the things that take up our time, we
   ought to prefer spiritual things to every thing beside. But it seems to
   me that they only pretended these engagements as a cloak for their
   disregard of the invitation.

   Hilary: For men are taken up with worldly ambition as with a farm; and
   many through covetousness are engrossed with trafficking.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or otherwise; When we work with the labour of our hands,
   for example, cultivating our field or our vineyard, or any manufacture
   of wood or iron, we seem to be occupied with our "farm;" any other mode
   of getting money unattended with manual labour is here called
   "merchandize." O most miserable world! and miserable ye that follow it!
   The pursuits of this world have ever shut men out of life.

   Greg.: Whosoever then intent upon earthly business, or devoted to the
   actions of this world, feigns to be meditating upon the mystery of the
   Lord's Passion, and to be living accordingly, is he that refuses to
   come to the King's wedding on pretext of going to his farm or his
   merchandize. Nay often, which is worse, some who are called not only
   reject the grace, but become persecutors, "And the remnant took his
   servants, and entreated them despitefully and slew them."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, by the business of a farm, He denotes the Jewish
   populace, whom the delights of this world separated from Christ; by the
   excuse of merchandize, the Priests and other ministers of the Temple,
   who, coming to the service of the Law and the Temple through greediness
   of gain, have been shut out of the faith by covetousness. Of these He
   said not They were filled with envy,' but "They made light of it." For
   they who through hate and spite crucified Christ, are they who were
   filled with envy; but they who being entangled in business did not
   believe on Him, are not said to have been filled with envy, but to have
   made light of it.

   The Lord is silent respecting His own death, because He had spoken of
   it in the foregoing parable, but He shews forth the death of His
   disciples, whom after His ascension the Jews put to death, stoning
   Stephen and executing James the son of Alphaeus, for which things
   Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. And it is to be observed, that
   anger is attributed to God figuratively and not properly; He is then
   said to be angry when He punishes.

   Jerome: When He was doing works of mercy, and bidding to His
   marriage-feast, He was called a man; now when He comes to vengeance,
   the man is dropped, and He is called only a King. [margin note: homin
   regi]

   Origen: Let those who sin against the God of the Law, and the Prophets,
   and the whole creation, declare whether He who is here called man, and
   is said to be angry, is indeed the Father Himself. If they allow this,
   they will be forced to own that many things are said of Him applicable
   to the passible nature of man; not for that He has passions, but
   because He is represented to us after the manner of passible human
   nature. In this way we take God's anger, repentance, and the other
   things of the like sort in the Prophets.

   Jerome: By "His armies" we understand that Romans under Vespasian and
   Titus, who having slaughtered the inhabitants of Judaea, laid in ashes
   the faithless city.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Roman army is called God's army; because "The earth
   is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;" [Ps 24:1] nor would the Romans
   have come to Jerusalem, had not the Lord stirred them thither.

   Greg.: Or, The armies of our King are the legions of His Angels. He is
   said therefore to have sent His armies, and to have destroyed those
   murderers, because all judgment is executed upon men by the Angels. He
   destroys those murderers, when He cuts off persecutors; and burns up
   their city, because not only their souls, but the body of flesh they
   had tenanted, is tormented in the everlasting fire of hell.

   Origen: Or, the city of those wicked men is in each doctrine the
   assembly of those who meet in the wisdom of the rulers of this world;
   which the King sets fire to and destroys, as consisting of evil
   buildings.

   Greg.: But when He sees that His invitation is spurned at, He will not
   have His Son's marriage-feast empty; the word of God will find where it
   may stay itself.

   Origen: "He saith to His servants," that is, to the Apostles; or to the
   Angels, who were set over the calling of the Gentiles, "The wedding is
   ready."

   Remig.: That is, the whole sacrament of the human dispensation is
   completed and closed. "But they which were bidden," that is the Jews,
   "were not worthy," because, "ignorant of the righteousness God, and
   going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not
   submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. [Rom 10:3]

   The Jewish nation then being rejected, the Gentile people were taken in
   to the marriage-feast; whence it follows, "Go ye out into the crossings
   of the streets, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the wedding."

   Jerome: For the Gentile nation was not in the streets, but in the
   crossings of the streets.

   Remig.: These are the errors of the gentiles.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; The streets are all the professions of this world,
   as philosophy, soldiery, and the like. And therefore He says, "Go out
   into the crossings of the streets," that they may call to the faith men
   of every condition. Moreover, as chastity is the way that leads to God,
   so fornication is the way that leads to the Devil; and so it is in the
   other virtues and vices. Thus He bids them invite to the faith men of
   every profession or condition.

   Hilary: By the street also is to be understood the time of this world,
   and they are therefore bid to go to the crossings of the streets,
   because the past is remitted to all.

   Greg.: Or otherwise; In holy Scripture, way is taken to mean actions;
   so that the crossings of the ways we understand as failure in action,
   for they usually come to God readily, who have had little prosperity in
   worldly actions.

   Origen: Or otherwise; I suppose this first bidding to the wedding to
   have been a bidding of some of the more noble minds. For God would have
   those before all come to the feast of the divine oracles who are of the
   more ready wit to understand them; and forasmuch as they who are such
   are loth to come to that kind of summons, other servants are sent to
   move them to come, and to promise that they shall find the dinner
   prepared. For as in the things of the body, one is the bride, others
   the inviters to the feast, and they that are bidden are others again;
   so God knows the various ranks of souls, and their powers, and the
   reasons why these are taken into the condition of the Bride, others in
   the rank of the servants that call, and others among the number of
   those that are bidden as guests. But they who had been thus especially
   invited contemned the first inviters as poor in understanding, and went
   their way, following their own devices, as more delighting in them than
   in those things which the King by his servants promised. Yet are these
   more venial than they who ill-treat and put to death the servants sent
   unto them; those, that is, who daringly assail with weapons of
   contentious words the servants sent, who are unequal to solve their
   subtle difficulties, and those are illtreated or put to death by them.

   The servants going forth are either Christ's Apostles going from Judaea
   and Jerusalem, or the Holy Angels from the inner worlds, and going to
   the various ways of various manners, gathered together whomsoever they
   found, not caring whether before their calling they had been good or
   bad.

   By the good here we may understand simply the more humble and upright
   of those who come to the worship of God, to whom agreed what the
   Apostle says, "When the Gentile which have not the Law do by nature the
   things contained in the Law, they are a law unto themselves." [Rom
   2:14]

   Jerome: For there is an infinite difference among the Gentiles
   themselves; some are more prone to vice, others are endowed with more
   incorrupt and virtuous manners.

   Greg.: Or; He means that in this present Church there cannot be bad
   without good, nor good without bad. He is not good who refuses to
   endure the bad.

   Origen: The marriage-feast of Christ and the Church is filled, when
   they who were found by the Apostles, being restored to God, sat down to
   the feast. But since it behoved that both bad and good should be
   called, not that the bad should continue bad, but that they should put
   off the garments unmeet for the wedding, and should put on the marriage
   garments, to wit, bowels of mercy and kindness, for this cause the King
   goes out, that He may see them set down before the supper is set before
   them, that they may be detained who have the wedding garment in which
   He is delighted, and that he may condemn the opposite.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "The King came in to see the guests;" not as though
   there was any place where He is not; but where He will look to give
   judgment, there He is said to be present; where He will not, there He
   seems to be absent. The day of His coming to behold is the day of
   judgment, when He will visit Christians seated at the board of the
   Scriptures.

   Origen: But when He was come in, He found there one who had not put off
   his old behaviour; "He saw there a man which had not on a wedding
   garment." He speaks of one only, because all, who after faith continue
   to serve that wickedness which they had before the faith, are but of
   one kind.

   Greg.: What ought we to understand by the wedding garment, but charity?
   For this the Lord had upon Him, when He came to espouse the Church to
   Himself. He then enters in to the wedding feast, but without the
   wedding garment, who has faith in the Church, but not charity.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xxii, 19: Or, he goes to the feast without a
   garment, who goes seeking his own, and not the Bridegroom's honour.

   Hilary: Or; The wedding garment is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and
   the purity of that heavenly temper, which taken up on the confession of
   a good enquiry is to be preserved pure and unspotted for the company of
   the Kingdom of heaven.

   Jerome: Or; The marriage garment is the commandments of the Lord, and
   the works which are done under the Law and the Gospel, and form the
   clothing of the new man. Whoso among the Christian body shall be found
   in the day of judgment not to have these, is straightway condemned. "He
   saith unto him, Friend, How camest thou in hither, not having a wedding
   garment?" He calls him "friend," because he was invited to the
   shredding as being a friend by faith; but He charges him with want of
   manners in polluting by his filthy dress the elegance of the wedding
   entertainment.

   Origen: And forasmuch as he who is in sin, and puts not on the Lord
   Jesus Christ, has no excuse, it follows, "But he was speechless."

   Jerome: For in that day there will be no room for blustering manner
   [marg. note: al. peonitentiae], nor power of denial, when all the
   Angels and the world itself are witnesses against the sinner.

   Origen: He who has thus insulted the marriage feast is not only cast
   out therefrom, but besides by the King's officers, who are set over his
   prisons, is chained up from that power of walking which he employed not
   to walk to any good thing, and that power of reaching forth his hand,
   wherewith he had fulfilled no work for any good; and is sentenced to a
   place whence all light is banished, which is called "outer darkness."

   Greg.: The hands and feet are then bound by a severe sentence of
   judgment, which before refused to be bound from wicked actions by
   amendment of life. Or punishment binds them, whom sin had before bound
   from good works.

   Aug, de Trin. xi, 6: The bonds of wicked and depraved desires are the
   chains which bind him who deserves to be cast out into outer darkness.

   Greg.: By inward darkness we express blindness, of heart; "outer
   darkness" signifies the everlasting night of damnation.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, it points to the difference of punishment inflicted
   on sinners. Outer darkness being the deepest, inward darkness the
   lesser, as it were the out- skirts of the place.

   Jerome: By a metaphor taken from the body, "there shall be weeping and
   gnashing of teeth," is shewn the greatness of the torments. The binding
   of the hands and feet also, and the weeping of eyes, and the gnashing
   of teeth, understand as proving the truth of the resurrection of the
   body.

   Greg.: There shall gnash those teeth which here delighted in gluttony;
   there shall weep those eyes which here roamed in illicit desire; every
   member shall there have its peculiar punishment, which here was a slave
   to its peculiar vice.

   Jerome: And because in the marriage and supper the chief thing is the
   end and not the beginning, therefore He adds, "For many are called, but
   few chosen."

   Hilary: For to invite all without exception is a courtesy of public
   benevolence; but out of the invited or called, the election will be of
   worth, by distinction of merit.

   Greg.: For some never begin a good course, and some never continue in
   that good course which they have begun. Let each one's care about
   himself be in proportion to his ignorance of what is yet to come.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or otherwise; Whenever God will try His Church, He
   enters into it that He may see the guests; and if He finds any one not
   having on the wedding garment, He enquires of him, How then were you
   made a Christian, if you neglect these works? Such a one Christ gives
   over to His ministers, that is, to seducing leaders, who bind his
   hands, that is, his works, and his feet, that is, the motions of his
   mind, and cast him into darkness, that is, into the errors of the
   Gentiles or the Jews, or into heresy. The nigher darkness is that of
   the Gentiles, for they have never heard the truth which they despise;
   the outer darkness is that of the Jews, who have heard but do not
   believe; the outermost is that of the heretics, who have heard and have
   learned.
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle
   him in his talk.

   16. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians,
   saying, "Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of
   God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not
   the person of men.

   17. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
   unto Cesar, or not?"

   18. But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why tempt ye me,
   ye hypocrites?

   19. Shew me the tribute money." And they brought unto him a penny.

   20. And he saith unto them, "Whose is this image and superscription?"

   21. They say unto him, "Caesar's." Then saith he unto them, "Render
   therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the
   things that are God's."

   22. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and
   went their way.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As when one seeks to dam a stream of running water, as
   soon as one outlet is stopped up it makes another channel for itself;
   so the malevolence of the Jews, foiled on one hand, seeks itself out
   another course.

   "Then went the Pharisees; went" to the Herodians. Such as the plan was,
   such were the planners; "They send unto Him their disciples with the
   Herodians."

   Gloss. ord.: Who as unknown to Him, were more likely to ensnare Him,
   and so through them they might take Him, which they feared to do of
   themselves because of the populace.

   Jerome: Lately under Caesar Augustus, Judaea, which was subject to the
   Romans, had been made tributary when the census was held of the whole
   world; and there was a great division among the people, some saying
   that tribute ought to be paid to the Romans in return for the security
   and quiet which their arms maintained for all. The Pharisees on the
   other hand, self- satisfied in their own righteousness, contended that
   the people of God who paid tithes and gave first-fruits, and did all
   the other things which are written in the Law, ought not to be subject
   to human laws.

   But Augustus had given the Jews as king, Herod, son of Antipater, a
   foreigner and proselyte; he was to exact the tribute, yet to be subject
   to the Roman dominion. The Pharisees therefore send their disciples
   with the Herodians, that is, with Herod's soldiers, or those whom the
   Pharisees in mockery called Herodians, because they paid tribute to the
   Romans, and were not devoted to the worship of God.

   Chrys., Hom. lxx: They send their disciples and Herod's soldiers
   together, that whatever opinion He might give might be found fault
   with. Yet would they rather have had Him say somewhat against the
   Herodians; for being themselves afraid to lay hands on Him because of
   the populace, they sought to bring Him into danger through His
   liability to pay tribute.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This is the commonest act of hypocrites, to commend
   those they would ruin. Thus, these break out into praises of Him,
   saying, "Master, we know that Thou art true." They call Him Master,
   that, deceived by this shew of honour and respect, He might in
   simplicity open all His heart to them, as seeking to gain them for
   disciples.

   Gloss., non occ.: There are three ways in which it is possible for one
   not to teach the truth. First, on the side of the teacher, who may
   either not know, or not love the truth; guarding against this, they
   say, "We know that Thou art true."

   Secondly, on the side of God, there are some who, putting aside all
   fear of Him, do not utter honestly the truth which they know respecting
   Him; to exclude this they say, "And teachest the way of God in truth."

   Thirdly, on the side of our neighbour, when through fear or affection
   any one withholds the truth; to exclude this they say, "And carest for
   no man," for Thou regardest not the person of man.

   Chrys.: This was a covert allusion to Herod and Caesar.

   Jerome: This smooth and treacherous enquiry was a kind of challenge to
   the answerer to fear God rather than Caesar, and immediately they say,
   "Tell us therefore, what thinkest Thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to
   Caesar or not?"

   Should He say tribute should not be paid, the Herodians would
   immediately accuse Him as a person disaffected to the Emperor.

   Chrys.: They knew that certain had before suffered death for this very
   thing, as plotting a rebellion against the Romans, therefore they
   sought by such discourse to bring Him into the same suspicion.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He makes an answer not corresponding to the smooth tone
   of their address, but harsh, suitable to their cruel thoughts; for God
   answers men's hearts, and not their words.

   Jerome: This is the first excellence of the answerer, that He discerns
   the thoughts of His examiners, and calls them not disciples but
   tempter. A hypocrite is he who is one thing, and feigns himself
   another.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He therefore calls them hypocrites, that seeing Him to
   be a discerner of human hearts, they might not be hardy enough to carry
   through their design. Observe thus how the Pharisees spoke fair that
   they might destroy Him, but Jesus put them to shame that He might save
   them; for God's wrath is more profitable to man, than man's favour.

   Jerome: Wisdom does ever wisely, and so the tempters are best confuted
   out of their own words; therefore it follows, "Shew me the tribute
   money; and they brought unto Him a denarius." This was a coin reckoned
   equivalent to ten sesterces, and bore the image of Caesar. Let those
   who think that the Saviour asks because He is ignorant, learn from the
   present place that it is not so, for at all events Jesus must have
   known whose image was on the coin.

   "They say unto Him, Caesar's;" not Augustus, but Tiberius, under whom
   also the Lord suffered. All the Roman Emperors were called Caesar, from
   Caius Caesar who first seized the chief power. "Render therefore unto
   Caesar the things which are Caesar's;" i. e. the coin, tribute, or
   money.

   Hilary: For if there remain with us nothing that is Caesar's, we shall
   not be bound by the condition of rendering to him the things that are
   his; but if we lean upon what is his, if we avail ourselves of the
   lawful protection of his power, we cannot complain of it as any wrong
   if we are required to render to Caesar the things of Caesar.

   Chrys.: But when you hear this command to render to Caesar the things
   of Caesar, know that such things only are intended which in nothing are
   opposed to religion; if such there be, it is no longer Caesar's but the
   Devil's tribute. And moreover, that they might not say that He was
   subjecting them to man, He adds, "And unto God the things that are
   God's."

   Jerome: That is, tithes, first-fruits, oblation, and victims; as the
   Lord Himself rendered to Caesar tribute, both for Himself and for
   Peter; and also rendered unto God the things that are God's in doing
   the will of His Father.

   Hilary: It behoves us also to render unto God the things that are His,
   namely, body, soul, and will. For Caesar's coin is in the gold, in
   which His image was portrayed, that is, God's coin, on which the Divine
   image is stamped; give therefore your money to Caesar, but preserve a
   conscience void of offence for God.

   Origen: From this place we learn by the Saviour's example not to be
   allured by those things which have many voices for them, and thence
   seem famous, but to incline rather to those things which are spoken
   according to some method of reason. But we may also understand this
   place morally, that we ought to give some things to the body as a
   tribute to Caesar, that is to say, necessaries. And such things as are
   congenial to our souls' nature, that is, such things as lead to virtue,
   those we ought to offer to God.

   They then who without any moderation inculcate the law of God, and
   command us to have no care for the things required by the body, are the
   Pharisees, who forbad to give tribute to Caesar, "forbidding to marry,
   and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created." [1 Tim.
   4:3]

   They, on the other hand, who allow too much indulgence to the body are
   the Herodians. But our Saviour would neither that virtue should be
   enfeebled by immoderate devotedness to the flesh; nor that our fleshly
   nature should be oppressed by our unremitting efforts after virtue.

   Or the prince of this world, that is, the Devil, is called Caesar; and
   we cannot render to God the things that are God's, unless we have first
   rendered to this prince all that is his, that is, have cast off all
   wickedness. This moreover let us learn from this place, that to those
   who tempt us we should neither be totally silent, nor yet answer
   openly, but with caution, to cut off all occasion from those who seek
   occasion in us, and teach without blame the things which may save those
   who are willing to be saved.

   Jerome: They who ought to have believed did but wonder at His great
   wisdom, that their craft had found no means for ensnaring Him: whence
   it follows, "When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left
   Him, and went their way," carrying away their unbelief and wonder
   together.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no
   resurrection, and asked him,

   24. Saying, "Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his
   brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

   25. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had
   married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his
   brother:

   26. Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

   27. And last of all the woman died also.

   28. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven?
   for they all had her."

   29. Jesus answered and said unto them, "Ye do err, not knowing the
   Scriptures, nor the power of God.

   30. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in
   marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

   31. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that
   which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

   32. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
   Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

   33. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his
   doctrine.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The disciples of the Pharisees with the Herodians being thus
   confuted, the Sadducees next offer themselves, whereas the overthrow of
   those before them ought to have kept them back. But presumption is
   shameless, stubborn, and ready to attempt things impossible. So the
   Evangelist, wondering at their folly, expresses this saying, "The same
   day came to him the Sadducees."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As soon as the Pharisees were gone, came the Sadducees;
   perhaps with like intent, for there was a strife among them who should
   be the first to seize Him. Or if by argument they should not be able to
   overcome Him, they might at least by perseverance wear out His
   understanding.

   Jerome: There were two sects among the Jews, the Pharisees and the
   Sadducees; the Pharisees pretended to the righteousness of traditions
   and observances, whence they were called by the people separate.' The
   Sadducees (the word is interpreted righteous') also passed themselves
   for what they were not; and whereas the first believed the resurrection
   of body and soul, and confessed both Angel and spirit, these, according
   to the Acts of the Apostles [marg. note: Acts 23:8], denied them all,
   as it is here also said, "Who say that there is no resurrection."

   Origen: They not only denied the resurrection of the body, but took
   away the immortality of the soul.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For the Devil finding himself unable to crush utterly
   the religion of God, brought in the sect of the Sadducees denying the
   resurrection of the dead, thus breaking down all purpose of a righteous
   life, for who is there would endure a daily struggle against himself,
   unless he looked to the hope of the resurrection?

   Greg., Mor. xiv. 55: But there are who observing that the spirit is
   loosed from the body, that the flesh is turned to corruption, that the
   corruption is reduced to dust, and that the dust again is resolved into
   the elements, so as to be unseen by human eyes, despair of the
   possibility of a resurrection, and while they look upon the dry bones,
   doubt that they can be clothed with flesh, and be quickened anew to
   life.

   Aug., Enchir., 88: But that earthy matter of which the flesh of men is
   made perishes not before God; but into whatsoever dust or ashes
   reduced, into whatsoever gases or vapours dispersed, into whatsoever
   other bodies incorporated, though resolved into the elements, though
   become the food or part of the flesh of animals or men, yet is it in a
   moment of time restored to that human soul, which at the first
   quickened it that it became man, lived and grew.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But the Sadducees thought they had now discovered a most
   convincing argument in favour of their error.

   Chrys., non occ.: For because death to the Jews, who did all things for
   the present life, seemed an unmixed evil, Moses ordered that the wife
   of one who died without sons should be given to his brother, that a son
   might be born to the dead man by his brother, and his name should not
   perish, which was some alleviation of death. And none other but a
   brother or relation was commanded to take the wife of the dead;
   otherwise the child born would not have been considered the son of the
   dead; and also because a stranger could have no concern in establishing
   the house of him that was dead, as a brother whose kindred obliged him
   thereto.

   Jerome: As they disbelieved the resurrection of the body, and supposed
   that the soul perished with the body, they accordingly invent a fable
   to display the fondness of the belief of a resurrection. Thus they put
   forward a base fiction to overthrow the verity of the resurrection, and
   conclude with asking, "in the resurrection whose shall she be?" Though
   it might be that such an instance might really occur in their nation.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 32: Mystically; by these seven brethren are
   understood the wicked, who could not bring forth the fruit of
   righteousness in the earth through all the seven ages of the world,
   during which this earth has being, for afterwards this earth also shall
   pass away, through which all those seven passed away unfruitful.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Wisely does He first convict them of folly, in that they
   did not read; and afterwards of ignorance, in that they did not know
   God. For of diligence in reading springs knowledge of God, but
   ignorance is the offspring of neglect.

   Jerome: They therefore err because they know not the Scriptures; and
   because they know not the power of God.

   Origen: Two things there are which He says they know not, the
   Scriptures and the power of God, by which is brought to pass the
   resurrection, and the new life in it.

   Or by the power of God, which the Lord here convicts the Sadducees that
   they knew not, He intends Himself, who was the power of God; and Him
   they knew not [marg. note: 1 Cor 1:24], as not knowing the Scriptures
   which spoke of Him; and thence also they believed not the resurrection,
   which He should effect. But it is asked when the Saviour says, "Ye do
   err not knowing the Scriptures," if He means that this text, "They
   neither marry, nor are given in marriage," is in some Scripture, though
   it is not read in the Old Testament? We say that these very words are
   indeed not found, but that the truth is in a mystery implied in the
   moral sense of Scripture; the Law, which is "a shadow of good things to
   come," whenever it speaks of husbands and wives, speaks chiefly of
   spiritual wedlock.

   But neither this do I find any where spoken in Scripture that the
   Saints shall be after their departure as the Angels of God, unless one
   will understand this also to be inferred morally; as where it is said,
   "And, thou shalt go to thy fathers," [Gen 15:15] and "He was gathered
   to his people." [Gen 25:8] Or one may say; He blamed them that they
   read not the other Scriptures which are besides the Law, and therefore
   they erred.

   Another says, That they knew not the Scriptures of the Mosaic Law, for
   this reason, that they did not sift their divine sense.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, when He says, "In the resurrection, they neither
   marry nor are given in marriage," He referred to what He had said, "Ye
   know not the power of God;" but when He proceeded, "I am the God of
   Abraham, &c." to that "Ye know not the Scriptures."

   And thus ought we to do; to cavillers first to set forth Scripture
   authority on any question, and then to shew the grounds of reason; but
   to those who ask out of ignorance to shew first the reason, and then
   the authority. For cavillers ought to be refuted, enquirers taught. To
   these then who put their question in ignorance, He first shews the
   reason, saying, "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given
   in marriage."

   Jerome: In these words the Latin language cannot follow the Greek
   idiom. For the Latin word nubere' is correctly said only of the woman.
   But we must take it so as to understand "marry" of men, "to be given in
   marriage" of women.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: In this life that we may die, therefore we are born; and
   we marry to the end that which death consumes, birth may replenish;
   therefore where the law of death is taken away, the cause of birth is
   taken away likewise.

   Hilary: It had been enough to have cut off this opinion of the
   Sadducees of sensual enjoyment, that where the function ceased, the
   empty pleasure of the body accompanying it ceased also; but He adds,
   "But are as the Angels of God in heaven."

   Chrys.: Which is an apt reply to their question. For their reason for
   judging that there would be no resurrection, was that they supposed
   that their condition when risen would be the same; this reason then He
   removes by shewing that their condition would be altered.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: It should be noted, that when He spoke of fasting, alms,
   and other spiritual virtues, He did not bring in the comparison of
   Angels, but only here where He speaks of the ceasing of marriage. For
   as all acts of the flesh are primal acts, but this of lust especially
   so; so all the virtues are angelic acts, but especially chastity, by
   which our nature is bound to the other virtues.

   Jerome: This that is added, "But are as the Angels of God in heaven,"
   is an assurance that our conversation in heaven shall be spiritual.

   Dionys., de Divin., Nom. i: For then when we shall be incorruptible and
   immortal, by the visible presence of God Himself we shall be filled
   with most chaste contemplations, and shall share the gift of light to
   the understanding in our impassible and immaterial soul after the
   fashion of the exalted souls in heaven; on which account it is said
   that we shall be equal to the Angels.

   Hilary: The same cavil that the Sadducees here offer respecting
   marriage is renewed by many who ask in what form the female sex shall
   rise again. But what the authority of Scripture leads us to think
   concerning the Angels, so must we suppose that it will be with women in
   the resurrection of our species.

   Aug., City of God, book 22, ch. 17: To me they seem to think most
   justly, who doubt not that both sexes shall rise again. For there shall
   be no desire which is the cause of confusion, for before they had
   sinned they were naked; and that nature which they then had shall be
   preserved, which was quit both of conception and of child-birth. Also
   the members of the woman shall not be adapted to their former use, but
   framed for a new beauty, one by which the beholder is not allured to
   lust, which shall not then be, but God's wisdom and mercy shall be
   praised, which made that to be which was not, and delivered from
   corruption that which was made.

   Jerome: For none could say of a stone and a tree or inanimate things,
   that they shall not marry nor be given in marriage, but of such things
   only as having capacity for marriage, shall yet in a sort not marry.

   Raban.: These things which are spoken concerning the conditions of the
   resurrection He spoke in answer to their enquiry, but of the
   resurrection itself He replies aptly against their unbelief.

   Chrys.: And because they had put forward Moses in their Question, He
   confutes them by Moses, adding, "But concerning the resurrection of the
   dead, have ye not read."

   Jerome: In proof of the resurrection there were many plainer passages
   which He might have cited; among others that of Isaiah, "The dead shall
   be raised; they that are in the tombs shall rise again:" [Isa 26:29,
   Septuagint] and in another place, "Many of them that sleep in the dust
   of the earth shall awake." [Dan 12:2]

   It is enquired therefore why the Lord should have chosen this testimony
   which seems ambiguous, and not sufficiently belonging to the truth of
   the resurrection; and as if by this He had proved the point adds, "He
   is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

   We have said above that the Sadducees confessed neither Angel, nor
   spirit, nor resurrection of the body, and taught also the death of the
   soul. But they also received only the five boots of Moses, rejecting
   the Prophets. It would have been foolish therefore to have brought
   forward testimonies whose authority they did not admit. To prove the
   immortality of souls therefore, He brings forward an instance out of
   Moses, "I am the God of Abraham, &c." and then straight subjoins, "He
   it not the God of the dead, but of the living;" so that having
   established that souls abide after death, (forasmuch as God could not
   be the God of those who had no existence any where,) there might fitly
   come in the resurrection of bodies which had together with their souls
   done good or evil.

   Chrys.: How then is it said in another place, "Whether we live or die,
   we are the Lord's." [Rom 14:8] This which is said here differs from
   that. The dead are the Lord's, those, that is, who are to live again,
   not those who have disappeared for ever, and shall not rise again.

   Hilary: It should be further considered, that this was said to Moses at
   a time when those holy Patriarchs had gone to their rest. They
   therefore of whom He was the God were in being; for they could have had
   nothing, if they had not been in being; for in the nature of things
   that, of which somewhat else is, must have itself a being; so they who
   have a God must themselves be alive, since God is eternal, and it is
   not possible that which is dead should have that which is eternal. How
   then shall it be affirmed that those do not, and shall not hereafter,
   exist, of whom Eternity itself has said that He is?

   Origen: God moreover is He who says, "I am that I am;" [Ex 3:14] so
   that it is impossible that He should be called the God of those who are
   not. And see that He said not, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
   Jacob, but "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
   Jacob." But in another place He said thus, "The God of the Hebrews hath
   sent me unto thee." [Ex 7:16]

   For they who in comparison of other men are most perfect before God,
   have God entirely in them, wherefore He is not said to be their God in
   common, but of each in particular. As when we say, That farm is theirs,
   we shew that each of them does not own the whole of it; but when we
   say, That farm is his, we mean that he is owner of the whole of it.
   When then it is said, "The God of the Hebrews," this shews their
   imperfection, that each of them has some small portion in God. But it
   is said, "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,"
   because each one of these possessed God entirely. And it is to the no
   small honour of the Patriarchs that they lived to God.

   Aug., cont. Faust., xvi. 24: Seasonably may we confute the Manichaeans
   by this same passage by which the Sadducees were then confuted, for
   they too, though in another manner, deny the resurrection.

   Aug., in Joan. Tr., xi, 8: God is therefore called in particular "The
   God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," because in
   these three are expressed all the modes of begetting the sons of God.
   For God begets most times of a good preacher a good son, and of a bad
   preacher a bad son. This is signified in Abraham, who of a free woman
   had a believing son, and of a bondslave an unbelieving son. Sometimes
   indeed of a good preacher He begets both good and bad sons, which is
   signified in Isaac, who of the same free woman begot one good and the
   other bad. And sometimes He begets good sons both of good and bad
   preachers; which is signified in Jacob, who begot good sons both of
   free women and of bondmaids.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And see how the assault of the Jews against Christ
   becomes more faint. Their first challenge was in a threatening tone,
   "By what authority doest thou these things," to oppose which firmness
   of spirit was needed. Their second was with guile, to meet which was
   needed wisdom. This last was with ignorant presumption which is easier
   to cope with than the others. For he that thinks he knows somewhat,
   when he knows nothing, is an easy conquest for one who has
   understanding. Thus the attacks of an enemy are vehement at first, but
   if one endure them with a courageous spirit, he will find them more
   feeble.

   "And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at his
   doctrine."

   Remig.: Not the Sadducees but the multitudes were astonished. This is
   daily done in the Church; when by Divine inspiration the adversaries of
   the Church are overcome, the multitude of the faithful rejoice.
     __________________________________________________________________

   34. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to
   silence, they were gathered together.

   35. Then one of them, which was a Lawyer, asked him a question,
   tempting him, and saying,

   36. "Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

   37. Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. with all
   thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

   38. This is the first and great commandment.

   39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
   thyself.

   40. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The Pharisees having been themselves already confuted (in the
   matter of the denarius), and now seeing their adversaries also
   overthrown, should have taken warning to attempt no further deceit
   against Him; but hate and jealousy are the parents of impudence.

   Origen: Jesus had put the Sadducees to silence, to shew that the tongue
   of falsehood is silenced by the brightness of truth. For as it belongs
   to the righteous man to be silent when it is good to be silent, and to
   speak when it is good to speak, and not to hold his peace; so it
   belongs to every teacher of a lie not indeed to be silent, but to be
   silent as far as any good purpose is concerned.

   Jerome: The Pharisees and Sadducees, thus foes to one another, unite in
   one common purpose to tempt Jesus.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or the Pharisees meet together, that their numbers may
   silence Him whom their reasonings could not confute; thus, while they
   array numbers against Him, shewing that truth failed them; they said
   among themselves, Let one speak for all, and all speak, through one, so
   if He prevail, the victory may seem to belong to all; if He be
   overthrown, the defeat may rest with Him alone; so it follows, "Then
   one of them, a teacher of the Law, asked him a question, tempting Him."

   Origen: All who thus ask questions of any teacher to try him, and not
   to learn of him, we must regard as brethren of this Pharisee, according
   to what is said below, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the
   least of mine, ye have done it unto me." [Matt 25:40]

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 73: Let no one find a difficulty in this, that
   Matthew speaks of this man as putting his question to tempt the Lord,
   whereas Mark does not mention this, but concludes with what the Lord
   said to him upon his answering wisely, "Thou art not far from the
   kingdom of God." [Mark 12:34] For it is possible that, though he came
   to tempt, yet the Lord's answer may have wrought correction within him.

   Or, the tempting here meant need not be that of one designing to
   deceive an enemy, but rather the cautious approach of one making proof
   of a stranger. And that is not written in vain, "Whoso believeth
   lightly, he is of a vain heart." [Eccl. 19:4]

   Origen: He said "Master" tempting Him, for none but a disciple would
   thus address Christ. Whoever then does not learn of the Word, nor
   yields himself wholly up to it, yet calls it Master, he is brother to
   this Pharisee thus tempting Christ. Perhaps while they read the Law
   before the Saviour's coming, it was a question among them which was the
   great commandment in it; nor would the Pharisee have asked this, if it
   had not been long time enquired among themselves, but never found till
   Jesus came and declared it.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He who now enquires for the greatest commandment had not
   observed the least. He only ought to seek for a higher righteousness
   who has fulfilled the lower.

   Jerome: Or he enquires not for the sake of the commands, but which is
   the first and great commandment, that seeing all that God commands is
   great, he may have occasion to cavil whatever the answer be.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But the Lord so answers him, as at once to lay bare the
   dissimulation of his enquiry, "Jesus saith unto him, Thou shalt love
   the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all
   thy mind. Thou shalt love," not fear,' for to love is more than to
   fear; to fear belongs to slaves, to love to sons; fear is in
   compulsion, love in freedom. Whoso serves God in fear escapes
   punishment, but has not the reward of righteousness because he did well
   unwillingly through fear. God does not desire to be served servilely by
   men as a master, but to be loved as a father, for that He has given the
   spirit of adoption to men.

   But to love God with the whole heart, is to have the heart inclined to
   the love of no one thing more than of God. To love God again with the
   whole soul is to have the mind stayed upon the truth, and to be firm in
   the faith. For the love of the heart and the love of the soul are
   different. The first is in a sort carnal, that we should love God even
   with our flesh, which we cannot do unless we first depart from the love
   of the things of this world. The love of the heart is felt in the
   heart, but the love of the soul is not felt, but is perceived because
   it consists in a judgment of the soul. For he who believes that all
   good is in God, and that without Him is no good, he loves God with his
   whole soul. But to love God with the whole mind, is to have all the
   faculties open and unoccupied for Him. He only loves God with his whole
   mind, whose intellect ministers to God, whose wisdom is employed about
   God, whose thoughts travail in the things of God, and whose memory
   holds the things which are good.

   Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 22: Or otherwise; You are commanded to love
   God "with all thy heart," that your whole thoughts -- "with all thy
   soul," that your whole life -- "with all thy mind," that your whole
   understanding -- may be given to Him from whom you have that you give.
   Thus He has left no part of our life which may justly be unfilled of
   Him, or give place to the desire after any other final good [marg.
   note: alia re frui]; but if aught else present itself for the soul's
   love, it should be absorbed into that channel in which the whole
   current of love runs. For man is then the most perfect when his whole
   life tends towards the life [marg. note: al. bonum] unchangeable, and
   clings to it with the whole purpose of his soul.

   Gloss., interlin.: Or, "with all thy heart," i.e. understanding; "with
   all thy soul," i.e. thy will; "with all thy mind," i.e. memory; so you
   shall think, will, remember nothing contrary to Him.

   Origen: Or otherwise; "With all thy heart," that is, in all
   recollection, act, thought; "with all thy soul," to be ready, that is,
   to lay it down for God's religion; "with all thy mind," bringing forth
   nothing but what is of God. And consider whether you cannot thus take
   the heart of the understanding, by which we contemplate things
   intellectual, and the "mind" of that by which we utter thoughts,
   walking as it were with the mind through each expression, and uttering
   it.

   If the Lord had given no answer to the Pharisee who thus tempted Him,
   we should have judged that there was no commandment greater than the
   rest. But when the Lord adds, "This is the first and great
   commandment," we learn how we ought to think of the commandments, that
   there is a great one, and that there are less down to the least. And
   the Lord says not only that it is a great, but that it is the first
   commandment, not in order of Scripture, but in supremacy of value.

   They only take upon them the greatness and supremacy of this precept,
   who not only love the Lord their God, but add these three conditions.
   Nor did He only teach the first and great commandment, but added that
   there was a second like unto the first, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour
   as thyself:" But if "Whoso loveth iniquity hath hated his own soul,"
   [Ps 11:5] it is manifest that he does not love his neighbour as
   himself, when he does not love himself.

   Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 30; see Rom 13:10: It is clear that every
   man is to be regarded as a neighbour, because evil is to be done to no
   man. Further, if every one to whom we are bound to shew service of
   mercy, or who is bound to shew it to us, be rightly called our
   neighbour, it is manifest that in this precept are comprehended the
   holy Angels who perform for us those services of which we may read in
   Scripture.

   Whence also our Lord Himself would be called our neighbour; for it was
   Himself whom He represents as the good Samaritan, who gave succour to
   the man who was left half-dead by the way.

   Aug., de Trin., viii, 6: He that loves men ought to love them either
   because they are righteous, or that they may be righteous; and so also
   ought he to love himself either for that he is, or that he may be
   righteous. And thus without peril he may love his neighbour as himself.

   Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 22: But if even yourself you ought not to
   love for your own sake, but because of Him in whom is the rightful end
   of your love, let not another man be displeased that you love even him
   for God's sake. Whoso then rightly loves his neighbour, ought to
   endeavour with him that he also with his whole heart love God.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But who loves man is as who loves God; for man is God's
   image, wherein God is loved, as a King is honoured in his statue. For
   this cause this commandment is said to be like the first.

   Hilary: Or otherwise; That the second command is like the first
   signifies that the obligation and merit of both are alike; for no love
   of God without Christ, or of Christ without God, can profit to
   salvation.

   It follows, "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the
   Prophets."

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 33: "Hang," that is, refer thither as their end.

   Raban.: For to these two commandments belongs the whole decalogue; the
   commandments of the first table to the love of God, those of the second
   to the love of our neighbour.

   Origen: Or, because he that has fulfilled the things that are written
   concerning the love of God and our neighbour, is worthy to receive from
   God the great reward, that he should be enabled to understand the Law
   and the Prophets.

   Aug., de Trin., viii. 7: Since there are two commandments, the love of
   God and the love of our neighbour, on which hang the Law and the
   Prophets, not without reason does Scripture put one for both; sometimes
   the love of God; as in that, "We know that all things work together for
   good to them that love God;" [Rom 8:28] and sometimes the love of our
   neighbour; as in that, "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in
   this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." [Gal 5:14]

   And that because if a man love his neighbour, it follows therefrom that
   he loves God also; for it is the selfsame affection by which we love
   God, and by which we love our neighbour, save that we love God for
   Himself, but ourselves and our neighbour for God's sake.

   Aug., de Doctr. Christ., i, 26, 30: But since the Divine substance is
   more excellent and higher than our nature, the command to love God is
   distinct from that to love our neighbour. But if by yourself, you
   understand your whole self, that is both your soul and your body, and
   in like manner of your neighbour, there is no sort of things to be
   loved omitted in these commands. The love of God goes first, and the
   rule thereof is so set out to us as to make all other loves center in
   that, so that nothing seems said of loving yourself.

   But then follows, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," so that
   love of yourself is not omitted.
     __________________________________________________________________

   41. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

   42. Saying, "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" They say unto
   him, "The Son of David."

   43. He saith unto them, "How then doth David in spirit call him Lord,
   saying,

   44. The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make
   thine enemies thy footstool?'

   45. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?"

   46. And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man
   from that day forth ask him any more questions.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The Jews tempted Christ, supposing Him to be mere man;
   had they believed Him to be the Son of God, they would not have tempted
   Him. Christ therefore, willing to shew that He knew the treachery of
   their hearts, and that He was God, yet would not declare this truth to
   them plainly, that they might not take occasion thence to charge Him
   with blasphemy, and yet would not totally conceal this truth; because
   to that end had He come that He should preach the truth.

   He therefore puts a question to them, such as should declare to them
   who He was; "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He?"

   Chrys., Hom. lxxi: He first asked His disciples what others said of
   Christ, and then what they themselves said; but not so to these. For
   they would have said that He was a deceiver, and wicked. They thought
   that Christ was to be mere man, and therefore "they say unto Him, The
   Son of David." To reprove this, He brings forward the Prophet,
   witnessing His dominion, proper Sonship, and His joint honour with His
   Father.

   Jerome: This passage is out of the 109th Psalm. Christ is therefore
   called David's Lord, not in respect of His descent from him, but in
   respect of His eternal generation from the Father, wherein He was
   before His fleshly Father. And he calls Him Lord, not by a mere chance,
   nor of his own thought, but by the Holy Spirit.

   Remig.: That He says, "Sit thou on my right hand," is not to be taken
   as though God had a body, and either a right hand or a left hand; but
   to sit on the right hand of God is to abide in the honour and equality
   of the Father's majesty.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: I suppose that He formed this question, not only against
   the Pharisees, but also against the heretics; for according to the
   flesh He was truly David's Son, but his Lord according to His Godhead.

   Chrys.: But He rests not with this, but that they may fear, He adds,
   "Till I make thine enemies thy footstool;" that at least by terror He
   might gain them.

   Origen: For God puts Christ's enemies as a footstool beneath His feet,
   for their salvation as well as their destruction.

   Remig.: But "till" is used for indefinite time, that the meaning be,
   Sit Thou for ever, and for ever hold thine enemies beneath thy feet.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: That it is by the Father that the enemies are put
   under the Son, denotes not the Son's weakness, but the union of His
   nature with His Father. For the Son also puts under Him the Father's
   enemies, when He glorifies His name upon earth. He concludes from this
   authority, "If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son?"

   Jerome: This question is still available for us against the Jews; for
   these who believe that Christ is yet to come, assert that He is a mere
   man, though a holy one, of the race of David. Let us then thus taught
   by the Lord ask them, If He be mere man, and only the Son of David, how
   does David call Him his Lord?

   To evade the truth of this question, the Jews invent many frivolous
   answers. They allege Abraham's steward, he whose son was Eliezer of
   Damascus, and say that this Psalm was composed in his person, when
   after the overthrow of the five kings, the Lord God said to his lord
   Abraham, "Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
   footstool."

   Let us ask how Abraham could say the things that follow, and compel
   them to tell us how Abraham was born before Lucifer, and how he was a
   Priest after the order of Melchisedech, for whom Melchisedech brought
   bread and wine, and of whom he received tithes of the spoil?

   Chrys.: This conclusion He put to their questionings, as final, and
   sufficient to stop their mouth. Henceforward accordingly they held
   their peace, not by their own good-will, but from not having aught to
   say.

   Origen: For had their question sprung of desire to know, He would never
   have proposed to them such things as should have deterred them from
   asking further.

   Raban.: Hence we learn that the poison of jealousy may be overcome, but
   can hardly of itself rest at peace.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 23

   1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

   2. Saying, "The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

   3. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do;
   but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

   4. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them
   on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of
   their fingers."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys.: When the Lord had overthrown the Priests by His answer,
   and shewn their condition to be irremediable, forasmuch as clergy, when
   they do wickedly, cannot be amended, but laymen who have gone wrong are
   easily set right, He turns His discourse to His Apostles and the
   people. For that is an unprofitable word which silences one, without
   conveying improvement to another.

   Origen: The disciples of Christ are better than the common herd; and
   you may find in the Church such as with more ardent affection come to
   the word of God; these are Christ's disciples, the rest are only His
   people. And sometimes He speaks to His disciples alone, sometimes to
   the multitudes and His disciples together, as here.

   "The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat," as professing his Law,
   and boasting that they can interpret it. Those that do not depart from
   the letter of the Law are the Scribes; those who make high professions,
   and separate themselves from the vulgar as better than they, are called
   Pharisees, which signifies separate'.

   Those who understand and expound Moses according to his spiritual
   meaning, these sit indeed on Moses' seat, but are neither Scribes nor
   Pharisees, but better than either, Christ's beloved disciples. Since
   His coming these have sat upon the seat of the Church, which is the
   seat of Christ.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But regard must be had to this, after what sort each man
   fills his seat; for not the seat makes the Priest, but the Priest the
   seat; the place does not consecrate the man, but the man the place. A
   wicked Priest derives guilt and not honour from his Priesthood.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxii: But that none should say, For this cause am I slack
   to practise, because my instructor is evil, He removes every such plea,
   saying, "All therefore whatsoever they say unto you, that observe and
   do," for they speak not their own, but God's, which things He taught
   through Moses in the Law. And look with how great honour He speaks of
   Moses, shewing again what harmony there is with the Old Testament.

   Origen: But if the Scribes and Pharisees who sit in Moses' seat are the
   teachers of the Jews, teaching the commandments of the Law according to
   the letter, how is this that the Lord bids us do after all things which
   they say; but the Apostles in the Acts [marg. note: Acts 15:19] forbid
   the believers to do according to the letter of the Law. These indeed
   taught after the letter, not understanding the Law spiritually.
   Whatsoever they say to us out of the Law, with understanding of its
   sense, that we do and keep, not doing after their works, for they do
   not what the law enjoins, nor perceive the veil that is upon the letter
   of the Law.

   Or by "all" we are not to understand every thing in the Law, many
   things for example relating to the sacrifices, and the like, but such
   as concern our conduct.

   But why did He command this not of the Law of grace, but of the
   doctrine of Moses? Because truly it was not the time to publish the
   commandments of the New Law before the season of His passion. I think
   also that He had herein something further in view. He was about to
   bring many things against the Scribes and Pharisees in His discourse
   following, wherefore that vain men might not think that He coveted
   their place of authority, or spoke thus out of enmity to them, he first
   puts away from Himself this suspicion, and then begins to reprove them,
   that the people might not fall into their faults; and that, because
   they ought to hear them, they should not think that therefore they
   ought to imitate them in their works, He adds, "But do ye not after
   their works." What can be more pitiable than such a teacher, whose life
   to imitate is ruin, to refuse to follow is salvation for his disciples?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But as gold is picked out of the dross, and the dross is
   left, so hearers may take doctrine and leave practice, for good
   doctrine oft comes from an evil man. But as Priests judge it better to
   teach the bad for the sake of the good, rather than to neglect the good
   for the sake of the bad; so also let those who are set under them pay
   respect to the bad Priests for the sake of the good, that the good may
   not be despised because of the bad; for it is better to give the bad
   what is not their due, rather than to defraud the good of what is
   justly theirs.

   Chrys.: Look with what He begins His reproof of them, "For they say,
   and do not." Every one who transgresses the Law is deserving of blame,
   but especially he who has the post of instruction. And this for a
   threefold cause; first, because he is a transgressor; secondly, because
   when he ought to set others right, be himself halts; thirdly, because,
   being in the rank of a teacher, his influence is more corrupting.

   Again, He brings a further charge against them, that they oppress those
   that are put under them; "They bind heavy burdens;" in this He shews a
   double evil in them; that they exacted without any allowance the utmost
   rigour of life from those that were put under them, while they allowed
   themselves large licence herein. But a good ruler should do the
   contrary of this, to be to himself a severe judge, to others a merciful
   one. Observe in what forcible words He utters His reproof; He says not
   they cannot, but "they will not;" and not, lift them, but "touch them
   with one of their fingers."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And to the Scribes and Pharisees of whom He is now
   speaking, heavy burdens not to be borne are the commandments of the
   Law; as St. Peter speaks in the Acts, "Why seek ye to put a yoke upon
   the neck of the disciples, which neither we nor our fathers were able
   to bear? [Acts 15:10] For commending the burdens of the Law by fabulous
   proofs, they bound as it were the shoulders of the heart of their
   hearers with bands, that thus tied as though with proof of reason to
   them, they might not fling them off; but themselves did not in the
   least measure fulfil them, that is, not only did not wholly, but did
   not so much as attempt to.

   Gloss., interlin.: Or, "bind burdens," that is, gather traditions from
   all sides, not to aid, but to burden the conscience.

   Jerome: But all these things, the shoulders, the finger, the burdens,
   and the bands with which they bind the burdens, have a spiritual
   meaning. Herein also the Lord speaks generally against all masters who
   enjoin high things, but do not even little things.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Such also are they who lay a heavy burden upon those who
   come to penitence, so that while men would avoid present punishment,
   they overlook that which is to come. For if you lay upon a boy's
   shoulders a burden more than be can bear, be must needs either cast it
   off, or be broken down by it; so the man on whom you lay too grievous a
   burden of penance must either wholly refuse it, or if be submit himself
   to it will find himself unable to bear it, and so be offended, and sin
   worse.

   Also, if we should be wrong in imposing too light a penance, is it not
   better to have to answer for mercy than for severity ? Where the master
   of the household is liberal, the steward should not be oppressive. If
   God be kind, should His Priest be harsh? Do you seek thereby the
   character of sanctity? Be strict in ordering your own life, in that of
   others lenient; let men hear of you as enjoining little, and performing
   much. The Priest who gives licence to himself, and exacts the utmost
   from others, is like a corrupt tax-gatherer in the state, who to ease
   himself taxes others heavily.
     __________________________________________________________________

   5. "But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad
   their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

   6. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the
   synagogues,

   7. And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

   8. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and
   all ye are brethren.

   9. And call no man your father upon the earth for one is your Father,
   which is in heaven.

   10. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

   11. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

   12. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that
   shall humble himself shall be exalted.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord bad charged the Scribes and Pharisees with harshness
   and neglect; He now brings forward their vain-glory, which made them
   depart from God.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Every substance breeds in itself that which destroys it,
   as wood the worm, and garments the moth so the Devil strives to corrupt
   the ministry of the Priests, who are ordained for the edification of
   holiness, endeavouring that this good, while it is done to be seen of
   men, should be turned into evil. Take away this fault from the clergy,
   and you will have no further labour in their reform, for of this it
   comes that a clergyman who has sinned can hardly perform penance.

   Also the Lord here points out the cause why they could not believe in
   Christ, because nearly all they did was in order to be seen of men; for
   he whose desire is for earthly glory from men, cannot believe on Christ
   who preaches things heavenly.

   I have read one who interprets this place thus. "In Moses' seat," that
   is, in the rank and degree instituted by Moses, the Scribes and
   Pharisees are seated unworthily, forasmuch as they preached to others
   the Law which foretold Christ's coming, but themselves did not receive
   Him when come. For this cause He exhorts the people to hear the Law
   which they preached, that is, to believe in Christ who was preached by
   the Law, but not to follow the Scribes and Pharisees in their disbelief
   of Him. And He shews the reason why they preached the coming of Christ
   out of the Law, yet did not believe on Him; namely, because they did
   not preach that Christ should come through any desire of His coming,
   but that they might be seen by men to be doctors of the Law.

   Origen: And their works likewise they do to be seen of men, using
   outward circumcision, taking away actual leaven out of their houses,
   and doing such like things. But Christ's disciples fulfil the Law in
   things secret, being Jews inwardly, as the Apostle speaks. [marg. note:
   Rom 2:29]

   Chrys.: Note the intensive force of the words of His reproofs. He says
   not merely that they do their works to be seen of men, but added, "all
   their works." And not only in great things but in some things trivial
   they were vainglorious, "They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge
   the borders of their garments."

   Jerome: For the Lord, when He had given the commandments of the Law
   through Moses, added at the end, "And thou shalt bind them for a sign
   upon thine hand, and they shall be ever before thine eyes;" [Deut. 6:8]
   the meaning of which is, Let my precepts be in thine hand so as to be
   fulfilled in thy works; let them be before thine eyes so as that thou
   shalt meditate upon them day and night.

   This the Pharisees misinterpreting, wrote on parchments the Decalogue
   of Moses, that is, the Ten Commandments, and folding them up, tied them
   on their forehead, so making them a crown for their head, that they
   should be always before their eyes. Moses had in another place given
   command that they should make fringes of blue in the borders of their
   garments, [marg. note: Num 15:39] to distinguish the people of Israel;
   that as in their bodies circumcision, so in their garments the fringe,
   might discriminate the Jewish nation.

   But these superstitious teachers, catching at popular favour, and
   making gain of silly women, made broad hems, and fastened them with
   sharp pins, that as they walked or sat they might be pricked, and by
   such monitors be recalled to the duties of God's ministry. This
   embroidery then of the Decalogue they called phylacteries, that is,
   conservatories, because those who wore them, wore them for their own
   protection and security. So little did the Pharisees understand that
   they were to be worn on the heart and not on the body; for in equal
   degree may cases and chests be said to have books, which assuredly have
   not the knowledge of God.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But after their example do many invent Hebrew names of
   Angels, and write them, and bind them on themselves, and they seem
   dreadful to such as are without understanding. Others again wear round
   their neck a portion of the Gospel written out. But is not the Gospel
   read every day in the Church, and heard by all? Those therefore who
   receive no profit from the Gospel sounded in their ears, how shall the
   having them hung about their neck save them? Further, wherein is the
   virtue of the Gospel? in the shape of its letters, or in the
   understanding its meaning? If in the characters, you do well to hang
   them round your neck; if in their meaning, they are of more profit when
   laid up in the heart, than hung round the neck.

   But others explain this place thus, That they made broad their
   teachings concerning special observances, as phylacteries, or
   preservatives of salvation, preaching them continually to the people.
   And the broad fringes of their garments they explain of the same undue
   stress upon such commandments.

   Jerome: Seeing they thus make broad their phylacteries, and make them
   broad fringes, desiring to have glory of men, they are convicted also
   in other things; "For they love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the
   chief seats in the synagogues."

   Raban.: It should be noted, that He does not forbid those to whom this
   belongs by right of rank to be saluted in the forum, or to sit or
   recline in the highest room; but those who unduly desire these things,
   whether they obtain them or not, these He enjoins the believers to shun
   as wicked.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: For He rebukes not those who recline in the highest
   place, but those who love such places, blaming the will not the deed.
   For to no purpose does he humble himself in place who exalts himself in
   heart. For some vain men bearing that it was a commendable thing to
   seat himself in the lowest place, chooses so to do; and thus not only
   does not put away the vanity of his heart, but adds this additional
   vain ostentation of his humility, as one who would be thought righteous
   and humble. For many proud men take the lowest place in their bodies,
   but in haughtiness of heart think themselves to be seated among the
   highest; and there are many humble men who, placed among the highest,
   are inwardly in their own esteem among the lowest.

   Chrys.: Observe where vain glory governed them, to wit, in the
   synagogues, whither they entered to guide others. It had been tolerable
   to have felt thus at feasts, notwithstanding that a doctor ought to be
   had in honour in all places alike, and not in the Churches only. But if
   it be blameworthy to love such things, how wrong is it to seek to
   attain them?

   Pseudo-Chrys.: They love the first salutations, first, that is, not in
   time only, before others; but in tone, that we should say with a loud
   voice, Hail, Rabbi; and in body that we should bow low our bead; and in
   place, that the salutation should be in public.

   Raban.: And herein they are not without fault, that the same men should
   be concerned in the litigations of the forum, who in the synagogue in
   Moses' seat, seek to be called Rabbi by men.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: That is, they wish to be called, not to be such; they
   desire the name, and neglect the duties.

   Origen: And in the Church of Christ are found some who take to
   themselves the uppermost places, that is, become deacons; next they
   aspire to the chief seats of those that are called presbyters; and some
   intrigue to be styled among men Bishop, that is, to be called Rabbi.
   But Christ's disciple loves the uppermost place indeed, but at the
   spiritual banquet, where he may feed on the choicer morsels of
   spiritual food, for, with the Apostles who sit upon twelve thrones, he
   loves the chief seats, and hastes by his good works to render himself
   worthy of such seats; and he also loves salutations made in the
   heavenly marketplace, that is, in the heavenly congregations of the
   primitive.

   But the righteous man would be called Rabbi, neither by man, nor by any
   other, because there is One Master of all men.

   Chrys.: Or otherwise; Of the foregoing things with which He had charged
   the Pharisees, He now passes over many as of no weight, and such as His
   disciples needed not to be instructed in; but that which was the cause
   of all evils, namely, ambition of the master's seat, that He insists
   upon to instruct His disciples.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "Be not ye called Rabbi," that ye take not to yourselves
   what belongs to God. And call not others Rabbi, that ye pay not to men
   a divine honour. For One is the Master of all, who instructs all men by
   nature. For if man were taught by man, all men would learn that have
   teachers; but seeing it is not man that teaches, but God, many are
   taught, but few learn. Man cannot by teaching impart an understanding
   to man, but that understanding which is given by God man calls forth by
   schooling.

   Hilary: And that the disciples may ever remember that they are the
   children of one parent, and that by their new birth they have passed
   the limits of their earthly origin.

   Jerome, Hieron. cont., Helvid. 15: All men may be called brethren in
   affection, which is of two kinds, general and particular. Particular,
   by which all Christians are brethren; general, by which all men being
   born of one Father are bound together by like tie of kindred.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: "And call no man your Father upon earth;" because in
   this world though man begets man, yet there is one Father who created
   all men. For we have not beginning of life from our parents, but we
   have our life transmitted through them.

   [ed. note: The Catholic doctrine is, that "the man" is born from his
   parents, by propagation, but that the soul is immediately created by
   God, the human agency being but a certain disposition of matter - such
   that according to God's good pleasure, by a law which He has appointed,
   the gift of a soul is accorded to it. And thus, though a man's soul
   cannot be called the son of his parents, yet that compound nature of
   which the soul forms part, is such.

   That the soul is immediately from God by creation is the Catholic
   doctrine. St. Leo speaks of the Catholic faith consistently and truly,
   preaching that the souls of men, before they were breathed into their
   bodies, were not, nor are incorporated by any other but by God the
   Framer, Who is Creator of them as well as the bodies. Ep. 15, ad
   Turrib. 10. And so St. Hilary, "Every soul is the work of God, but the
   generation of the flesh is come from the flesh." De Trin. x.20. Vide
   also Greg. Nyss. deAnim. p.934. Ambros, de Noe. 4. Hieron. in Eccles.
   xii. 7.]

   Origen: But who calls no man father upon earth? He who in every action
   done as before God, says, "Our Father, which art in Heaven."

   Gloss., non. occ: Because it was clear who was the Father of all, by
   this which was said, "Which art in Heaven," He would teach them who was
   the Master of all, and therefore repeats the same command concerning a
   master, "Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even
   Christ."

   Chrys.: Not that when Christ is here said to be our Master, the Father
   is excluded, as neither when God is said to be our Father, is Christ
   excluded, Who is the Father of men.

   Jerome: It is a difficulty that the Apostle against this command calls
   himself the teacher of the Gentiles; and that in monasteries in their
   common conversation, they call one another, Father. It is to be cleared
   thus. It is one thing to be father or master by nature, another by
   sufferance. Thus when we call any man our father, we do it to shew
   respect to his age, not as regarding him as the author of our being. We
   also call men Master,' from resemblance to a real master; and, not to
   use tedious repetition, as the One God and One Son, who are by nature,
   do not preclude us from calling others gods and sons by adoption, so
   the One Father and One Master, do not preclude us from speaking of
   other fathers and masters by an abuse of the terms.

   Chrys.: Not only does the Lord forbid us to seek supremacy, but would
   lead His hearer to the very opposite; "He that is greatest among you
   shall be your servant."

   Origen: Or otherwise; And if one minister the divine word, knowing that
   it is Christ that makes it to be fruitful, such a one professes himself
   a minister and not a master; whence it follows, "He that is greatest
   among you, let him be your servant." As Christ Himself, who was in
   truth our Master, professed Himself a minister, saying, "I am in the
   midst of you as one that ministers." [Luke 22:27] And well does He
   conclude this prohibition of all vain-glory with the words, "And
   whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble
   himself shall be exalted."

   Remig.: Which means that every one who thinks highly of his own
   deserts, shall be humbled before God; and every one who humbles himself
   concerning his good deeds, shall be exalted with God.
     __________________________________________________________________

   13. "But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut
   up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves,
   neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Christ is truly the Son of that God Who gave the Law; after the
   example of the blessings pronounced in the Law, did Himself pronounce
   the blessings of them that are saved; and also after the cursings of
   the Law, He now sets forth a woe against sinners; "Woe unto you,
   Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." They who allow that it is
   compatible with goodness to utter these denunciations against sinners,
   should understand that the purpose of God is the same in the cursings
   of the Law. Both the cursing there and the woe here fall upon the
   sinner not from Him who denounces, but from themselves who commit the
   sins which are denounced, and worthily bring upon themselves the
   inflictions of God's discipline, appointed for the turning of men to
   good. So a father rebuking a son utters words of cursing, but does not
   desire that be should become deserving of those curses, but rather that
   he should turn himself from them.

   He adds the cause of this woe, "Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
   against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, nor suffer them that are
   entering to go in." These two commandments are by nature inseparable;
   because not to suffer others to enter in, is of itself enough to keep
   the hinderer out.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: By "the kingdom of heaven" is meant the Scriptures,
   because in them the kingdom of heaven is lodged; the understanding of
   these is the door.

   Or "the kingdom of heaven" is the blessedness of heaven, and the door
   thereof Christ, by Whom men enter in. The door-keepers are the Priests,
   to whom is committed the word of teaching or interpreting Scripture, by
   which the door of truth is opened to men. The opening of this door is
   right interpretation. And observe that He said not, "Woe unto you," for
   ye open, but, "for ye shut up;" the Scriptures then are not shut up,
   though they are obscure.

   Origen: The Pharisees and the Scribes then would neither enter in, nor
   hear Him who said, "By me if any man enter in he shall be saved;" [John
   10:9] nor would they suffer those to enter in, who were able to have
   believed through the things which had been spoken before by the Law and
   the Prophets concerning Christ, but shut up the door with every kind of
   device to deter men from entering. Also they detracted from His
   teaching, denied all prophecy concerning Him, and blasphemed every
   miracle as deceitful, or wrought by the Devil. All who in their evil
   conversation set an example of sinning to the people, and who commit
   injustice, offending the weak, seem to shut up the kingdom of heaven
   before men. And this sin is found among the people, and chiefly among
   the doctors, when they teach men what the Gospel righteousness requires
   of them, but do not what they teach.

   But those who both teach and live well open to men the kingdom of
   heaven, and both enter in themselves, and invite others to enter in.
   Many also will not suffer those who are willing to enter into the
   kingdom of heaven, when they without reason excommunicate out of
   jealousy others who are better than themselves; thus they refuse them
   entrance, but these of sober spirit, overcoming by their patience this
   tyranny, although forbidden, yet enter in and inherit the kingdom. Also
   they who with much rashness have set themselves to the profession of
   teaching before they have learned, and following Jewish fables, detract
   from those who search out the higher things of Scripture; these do, as
   far as in them lies, shut out men from the kingdom of heaven.
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour
   widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall
   receive the greater damnation."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. lxxiii: Next the Lord rebukes them for their g1uttony, and
   what was the worst, that not from the rich but from widows they took
   wherewith to fill their bellies, thus burdening the poverty of those
   whom they should have relieved.

   Gloss., interlin.: "Devour widows' houses," that is, your superstitions
   have this only aim, namely, to make a gain of the people that are put
   under you.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The female sex is imprudent, as not contemplating with
   reason all that it sees or hears; and weak, as being easily turned
   either from bad to good, or from good to bad. The male sex is more
   prudent and hardy. And therefore pretenders to holiness practise most
   upon women, who are unable to see their hypocrisy, and are easily
   inclined to love them on the ground of religion.

   But widows they chiefly choose to attempt; first, because a woman who
   has her husband to advise her is not so readily deceived; and secondly,
   she has not the means of giving, being in the power of her husband.

   The Lord then, whilst He confounds the Jewish Priests, instructs the
   Christian that they should not frequent widows rather than others, for
   though their purpose may not be bad, it gives occasion to suspicions.

   Chrys.: The manner of this plundering is grievous, for they make long
   prayers. Every one who does evil deserves punishment; but be who takes
   occasion for his offence from religion, deserves more severe
   punishment; "Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: First, for that ye are wicked, and then because ye put
   on the cloak of sanctity. Your covetousness you dress up in the colour
   of religion, and use God's arms in the Devil's service, that iniquity
   may be loved while it is thought to be piety.

   Hilary: Or, because their observance of the kingdom of heaven proceeds
   hence, that they may keep up their practice of going about to widows'
   houses, they shall therefore receive the heavier judgment, as having
   their own sin and the ignorance of others to answer for.

   Gloss., interlin.: Or, because "the servant that knew his Lords will
   and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." [Luke 12:47]
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass
   sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him
   twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: This the next charge against them is, that they are unequal to
   the salvation of many, seeing they need so much labour to bring one to
   salvation; and not only are they slack in conversion, but destroy even
   those whom they do convert, by corrupting them by example of evil life.

   Hilary: That they compass sea and land signifies that throughout the
   whole world they shall be enemies of Christ's Gospel, and shall bring
   men under the yoke of the Law against the justification of faith. There
   were proselytes made into the Synagogue from among the Gentiles, the
   small number of whom is here denoted by what is said "one proselyte."
   For after the preaching of Christ there was no faith left in their
   doctrine, but whoever was gained to the faith of the Jews became a
   child of hell.

   Origen: For all who Judaize since the coming of the Saviour, are taught
   to follow the temper of those who cried at that time, "Crucify, crucify
   him."

   Hilary: And be becomes the child of a twofold punishment, because he
   has not obtained remission of his Gentile sins, and because he has
   joined the society of those who persecuted Christ.

   Jerome: Or otherwise; The Scribes and Pharisees compassed the whole
   world to make proselytes of the Gentiles, that is, to mix the
   uncircumcised stranger with the people of God.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: And that not of compassion from desire to save him whom
   they taught, but either from covetousness, that the greater number of
   worshippers might increase the number of offerings made in sacrifice,
   or out of vain glory. For he who sinks himself in a slough of sins, how
   should he be desirous to rescue another out of them? Will a man be more
   merciful to another than to himself? By a man's actions therefore it
   may be known whether he seeks another's conversion for God's sake, or
   out of vain glory.

   Greg., Mor. xxxi, 9: But forasmuch as hypocrites though they do ever
   crooked things, yet cease not to speak light things, and thus by their
   good instructions beget sons, but are not able to bring them up by good
   life, but the more they give themselves up to worldly works, the more
   willingly do they suffer those whom they have begotten to work the
   same. And because their hearts are hardened, these very sons whom they
   have begotten they do not own by any sign of the affection due.

   Wherefore it is here said of the hypocrites, "And when he is made, ye
   make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."

   Aug., cont. Faust., xvi, 29 (et cf cont. Adimant. 16): This He said not
   because proselytes were circumcised, but because they imitated the
   lives of those from following whom He bad prohibited His disciples,
   saying, "Do ye not after their works." [Matt 23:3]

   Two things are observable in this command; first, the honour shewn to
   Moses' teaching, that even wicked men when sitting in his seat are
   compelled to teach good things; and that the proselyte is made a child
   of hell, not by bearing the words of the Law, but by following their
   doings. And twofold more than they for this reason, that he neglects to
   fulfil what he had undertaken of his own choice, having been not born a
   Jew, but of free will become a Jew.

   Jerome: Or, because before while he was a Gentile he erred in
   ignorance, and was only a child of hell; but seeing the vices of his
   masters, and understanding that they destroyed in their actions what
   they taught in words, he returns to his vomit, and becoming a Gentile,
   he is worthy of greater punishment as one that has deserted his cause.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, because while he was a worshipper of idols, he
   observed righteousness even because of men; but when he became a Jew,
   prompted by the example of evil teachers, he became worse than his
   teachers.

   Chrys.: For a disciple imitates a virtuous master, but goes beyond a
   vicious one.

   Jerome: He is called a child of hell in the same way as one is said to
   be a child of perdition, and a child of this world; every man is called
   the son of him whose works he does.

   Origen: From this place we learn that there will be a difference of
   torment in hell, seeing one is here said to be singly a child of hell,
   another twofold. And we ought to consider here whether it is possible
   that a man should be generally a child of hell, as a Jew, suppose, or a
   Gentile, or whether specially so in consequence of some particular
   sins; that as a righteous man is increased in glory by the abundance of
   his righteousness, so a sinner's punishment is increased manifold by
   the number of his sins.
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. "Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by
   the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the
   temple, he is a debtor!'

   17. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple
   that sanctifieth the gold?

   18. And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but
   whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

   19. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar
   that sanctifieth the gift?

   20. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by
   all things thereon.

   21. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him
   that dwelleth therein.

   22. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God,
   and by him that sitteth thereon."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: As by making broad phylacteries and fringes they sought after
   the reputation of sanctity, and made this again a means of gain, so now
   He charges them with being teachers of wickedness by their fraudulent
   pretence of tradition. For when in any dispute or quarrel, or ambiguous
   cause, one swore by the temple, and was afterwards convicted of
   falsehood, he was not held guilty. This is what is meant by that,
   "Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing," that is, be owes
   nothing, But if he had sworn by the gold, or by the money which was
   offered to the Priests in the temple, he was immediately compelled to
   pay down that by which be had sworn.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The temple pertains to God's glory, and to man's
   spiritual salvation, but the gold of the temple though it pertains to
   the glory of God, yet does it more so to the delight of man, and the
   profit of the Priests. The Jews then pronounced the gold which
   delighted them, and the gifts which fed them, to be more holy than the
   temple, that they might make men more disposed to offer gifts, than to
   pour out prayers in the temple. Whence the Lord suitably reproves them
   in these words.

   Yet have some Christians at present an equally foolish notion. See,
   they say, in any suit if one swear by God, it seems nought; but if one
   swear by the Gospel, he seems to have done some great thing. To whom we
   shall say in like manner, "Ye fools and blind!" the Scriptures were
   written because of God, God is not because of the Scriptures. Greater
   therefore is God, than what is hallowed by Him.

   Jerome: Again, if one swore by the altar, none held him guilty of
   perjury; but if be swore by the gift or the victims or the other things
   which are offered to God upon the altar, this they exacted most
   rigorously. And all this they did not out of fear of God, but out of
   covetousness. Thus the Lord charges them with both folly and fraud,
   inasmuch as the altar is much greater than the victims which are
   sanctified by the altar.

   Gloss., non occ.: And lest their infatuation should go so far, that
   they should affirm that the gold was more holy than the temple, and the
   gift than the altar, He argues on another ground, that in the oath
   which is sworn by the temple and the altar is contained the oath by the
   gold or by the gift.

   Origen: In like manner the custom which the Jews had of swearing by the
   Heaven He reprobates. For they did not, as they supposed, avoid the
   danger of taking an oath by God, because, "Whoso sweareth by heaven,
   sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon."

   Gloss., ord.: For whoso swears by the creature that is subject, swears
   by the Divinity that rules over the creation.

   Origen: Now an oath is in confirmation of somewhat that has been
   spoken. The oath here then may signify testimony of Scripture which we
   produce in confirmation of that word which we speak. So that Divine
   Scripture is the temple of God, the gold is the meaning which it
   contains. As the gold which is outside the Temple is not sanctified, so
   all thoughts which are without divine Scripture, however admirable they
   may seem, are not hallowed. We ought not therefore to bring any
   speculations of our own for the confirmation of doctrine, unless such
   as we can shew are hallowed by being contained in divine Scripture.

   The altar is the human heart, which is the chief thing in man. The
   offerings and gifts that are bid upon the altar, are every thing which
   are done in the heart, as to pray, to sing, to do alms, to fast. Every
   offering of a man then is sanctified by his heart, by which the
   offering is made. There cannot therefore be a more honourable offering
   than the heart of man, out of which the offering proceeds. If then
   one's conscience does not smite him, he has confidence towards God, not
   by reason of his gifts, but so to speak because be has rightly ordered
   the altar of his heart.

   Thirdly, we may say that over the temple, that is over every Scripture,
   and over the altar, that is over every heart, there is a certain
   meaning which is called the Heaven, the throne of God Himself, in which
   we shall be able to see the things that are revealed face to face, when
   that which is perfect is come.

   Hilary: For since Christ is come, reliance upon the Law is vain; for
   not Christ by the Law, but the Law by Christ, is sanctified, in whom it
   rests as on a seat or throne; so are they fools and blind, who,
   overlooking the sanctifier, pay honour to the things sanctified.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 34: The temple and altar we may also understand
   of Christ Himself; the gold and the gifts, of the praise and sacrifice
   of prayer which we offer in Him and through Him. For not He by them,
   but they by Him, are sanctified.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe
   of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of
   the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and
   not to leave the other undone.

   24. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord had said above that they bound heavy burdens upon
   others, which they themselves would not touch; He now again shews how
   they aimed at being correct in little things, but neglected weighty
   matters.

   Jerome: The Lord had commanded, that for the maintenance of the Priests
   and Levites, whose portion was the Lord, tithes of every thing should
   be offered in the temple. Accordingly, the Pharisees (to dismiss
   mystical expositions) concerned themselves about this alone, that these
   trifling things should be paid in, but lightly esteemed other things
   which were weighty.

   He charges them then with covetousness in exacting carefully the tithes
   of worthless herbs, while they neglected justice in their transactions
   of business, mercy to the poor, and faith toward God, which are weighty
   things.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, because these covetous Priests, when any one did not
   bring his tithes of the smallest thing, made it a matter of grave
   reprehension; but when one injured his neighbour or sinned against God,
   they were at no pains to reprove him, careful only of their own profit,
   neglecting the glory of God, and the salvation of men. For to observe
   righteousness, to do mercy, and to have faith, these things God
   commanded for His own glory; but the payment of tithes He established
   for the support of the Priests, so that the Priests should minister to
   the people in spiritual things, and the people supply the Priests with
   carnal things.

   Thus is it at this time, when all are careful of their own honour, none
   of God's honour; they jealously protect their own rights, but will not
   bestow any pains in the service of the Church. If the people pay not
   their tithes duly, they murmur; but if they see the people in sin, they
   utter not a word against them.

   But because some of the Scribes and Pharisees, to whom He is now
   speaking, were of the people, it is not unsuitable to make a different
   interpretation; and to tithe' may be used as well of him who pays, as
   of him who receives, tithes. The Scribes then and Pharisees offered
   tithes of the very best things for the purpose of displaying their
   righteousness; but in their judgments they were unjust, without mercy
   for their brethren, without faith for the truth.

   Origen: But because it was possible that some, hearing the Lord speak
   thus, might thereupon neglect paying tithes of small things, He
   prudently adds, "These things ought ye to have done," (i.e. justice,
   mercy, and faith,) "and not to leave the others undone," i.e. the
   tithing of mint, anise, and cummin.

   Remig.: In these words the Lord shews that all the commandments of the
   Law, greatest and least, are to be fulfilled. They also are refuted who
   give alms of the fruits of the earth, supposing that thus they cannot
   sin, whereas their alms profit them nothing unless they are careful to
   keep themselves from sin.

   Hilary: And because it was much less guilt to omit the tithing of herbs
   than a duty of benevolence, the Lord derides them, "Ye blind guides,
   which strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel."

   Jerome: The camel I suppose to mean the weighty precepts, judgment,
   mercy, and faith; the gnat, the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin, and
   other valueless herbs. The greater of God's commands we "swallow" and
   overlook, but shew our carelessness by a religious scrupulousness in
   little things which bring profit with them.

   Origen: Or, "straining out a gnat," that is, putting from them small
   sins; "swallowing a camel," that is, committing great sins, which He
   calls camels, from the size and distorted shape of that animal.
   Morally, The Scribes are those who think nothing else contained in
   Scripture than the bare letter exhibits; the Pharisees are all those
   who esteem themselves righteous, and separate themselves from others,
   saying, Come not nigh me, for I am clean.' "Mint, anise, and cummin,"
   are the seasoning, not the substantial part of food ; as in our life
   and conversation there are some things necessary to justification, as
   judgment, mercy, and faith; and others which are like the seasoning of
   our actions, giving them a flavour and sweetness, as abstinence from
   laughter, fasting, bending the knee, and such like.

   How shall they not be judged blind who see not that it is of little
   avail to be a careful dispenser in the least things, if things of chief
   moment are neglected? These His present discourse overthrows; not
   forbidding to observe the little things, but bidding to keep more
   carefully the chief things.

   Greg., Mor. 1, 15: Or otherwise; The gnat stings while it hums; the
   camel bows its back to receive its load. The Jews then "strained off
   the gnat," when they prayed to have the seditious robber released to
   them; and they swallowed the camel, when they sought with shouts the
   death of Him who had voluntarily taken on Him the burden of our
   mortality.
     __________________________________________________________________

   25. "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean
   the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of
   extortion and excess.

   26. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and
   platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: In different words, but to the same purport as before, He
   reproves the hypocrisy and dissimulation of the Pharisees, that they
   shewed one face to men abroad, but wore another at home. He means not
   here, that their scrupulousness respecting the cup and the platter was
   of any importance, but that they affected it to pass off their sanctity
   upon men; which is clear from His adding, "but inwardly ye are full of
   ravening and uncleanness."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, He means that the Jews whenever they were to enter
   the temple or to offer sacrifice, or on any festivals, used to wash
   themselves, their clothes, and their vessels, but none cleansed himself
   from his sins; but God neither commends bodily cleanliness, nor
   condemns the contrary. But suppose foulness of person or of vessels
   were offensive to God, which must become foul by being used, how much
   more does He not abhor foulness of conscience, which we may, if we
   will, keep ever pure?

   Hilary: He therefore is reproving those who, pursuing an ostentation of
   useless scrupulosity, neglected the discharge of useful morality. For
   it is the inside of the cup that is used; if that be foul, what profit
   is it to cleanse the outside? And therefore what is needed is purity of
   the inner conscience, that those things which are of the body may be
   clean without.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: This He speaks not of the cup and platter of sense, but
   of that of the understanding, which may be pure before God, though it
   have never touched water; but if it have sinned, then though the water
   of the whole ocean and of all rivers have washed it, it is foul and
   guilty before God.

   Chrys.: Note, that speaking of tithes He said, "These things ought ye
   to have done, and not to leave the other undone:" for tithes are a kind
   of alms, and what wrong is it to give alms? Yet said He it not to
   enforce a legal superstition. But here, discoursing of things clean and
   unclean, He does not add this, but distinguishes and shews that
   external purity of necessity follows internal; "the outside of the cup
   and platter" signifying the body, the inside the soul.

   Origen: This discourse instructs us that we should hasten to become
   righteous, not to seem so. For whoso seeks to be thought so, cleanses
   the outside, and has care of the things that are seen, but neglects the
   heart and conscience. But he who seeks to cleanse that which is within,
   that is, the thoughts, makes by that means the things without clean
   also.

   All professors of false doctrine are cups cleansed on the outside,
   because of that show of religion which they affect, but within they are
   full of extortion and guile, hurrying men into error. The cup is a
   vessel for liquids, the platter for meat. Every discourse then of which
   we spiritually drink, and all speech by which we are fed, are vessels
   for meat and drink. They who study to set forth well wrought discourse
   rather than such as is full of healthful meaning, are cups cleansed
   without; but within full of the defilement of vanity.

   Also the letter of the Law and the Prophets is a cup of spiritual
   drink, and a platter of necessary food. The Scribes and Pharisees seek
   to make plain the outward sense; Christ's disciples labour to exhibit
   the spiritual sense.
     __________________________________________________________________

   27. "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like
   unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are
   within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

   28. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye
   are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: As above they are said to be "full of extortion and excess," so
   here they are "full of hypocrisy and iniquity," and are likened to dead
   men's bones, and all uncleanness.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Justly are the bodies of the righteous said to be
   temples, because in the body of the righteous the soul has dominion, as
   God in His temple; or because God Himself dwells in righteous bodies.
   But the bodies of sinners are called sepulchres of the dead, because
   the sinner's soul is dead in his body; for that cannot be deemed to be
   alive, which does no spiritual or living act.

   Jerome: Sepulchres are whitened with lime without, and decorated with
   marble painted in gold and various colours, but within are full of dead
   men's bones. Thus crooked teachers who teach one thing and do another,
   affect purity in their dress, and humility in their speech, but within
   are full of all uncleanness, covetousness, and lust.

   Origen: For all feigned righteousness is dead, forasmuch as it is not
   done for God's sake; yea, rather it is no righteousness at all, any
   more than a dead man is a man, or an actor who represents any character
   is the man whom he represents. There is therefore within them so much
   of bones and uncleanness as are the good things that they wickedly
   pretend to. And they seem righteous outwardly, not in the eyes of such
   as the Scripture calls "Gods," but of such only as "die like men." [Ps
   82:6]

   Greg., Mor., xxvi, 32: But before their strict Judge they cannot have
   the plea of ignorance, for by assuming in the eyes of men every form of
   sanctity, they witness against themselves that they are not ignorant
   how to live well.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: But say, hypocrite, if it be good to be wicked, why do
   you not desire to seem that which you desire to be? For what it is
   shameful to seem, that it is more shameful to be; and what to seem is
   fair, that it is fairer to be. Either therefore be what you seem, or
   seem what you are.
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   29. "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build
   the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

   30. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not
   have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

   31. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children
   of them which killed the prophets."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: By a most subtle syllogism He proves them to be the sons of
   murderers, while to gain good character and reputation with the people,
   they build the sepulchres of the Prophets whom their fathers put to
   death.

   Origen: Without just cause He seems to utter denunciations against
   those who build the sepulchres of the Prophets; for so far what they
   did was praiseworthy; how then do they deserve this "woe"?

   Chrys., Hom. lxxiv: He does not blame them for building the sepulchres,
   but discovers the design with which they built them; which was not to
   honour the slain, but to erect to themselves a triumphal monument of
   the murder, as fearing that in process of time the memory of this their
   audacious wickedness should perish.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Or, they said within themselves, If we do good to the
   poor not many see it, and then but for a moment; were it not better to
   raise buildings which all may see, not only now, but in all time to
   come; O foolish man, what boots this posthumous memory, if, where you
   are, you are tortured, and where you are not there you are praised?

   While He corrects the Jews, He instructs the Christians; for had these
   things been spoken to the former only, they would have been spoken, but
   not written; but now they were spoken on their account, and written on
   ours. When one, besides other good deeds, raises sacred buildings, it
   is an addition to his good works; but if without any other good works,
   it is a passion for worldly renown.

   The martyrs joy not to be honoured with money which has caused the poor
   to weep. The Jews, moreover, have ever been adorers of saints of former
   times, and contemners, yea persecutors, of the living. Because they
   could not endure the reproaches of their own Prophets, they persecuted
   and killed them; but afterwards the succeeding generation perceived the
   error of their fathers, and thus in grief at the death of innocent
   Prophets, they built up monuments of them. But they themselves in like
   manner persecuted and put to death the Prophets of their own time, when
   they rebuked them for their sins. This is what is meant, And ye say,
   "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
   partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets."

   Jerome: Though they speak not this in words, they proclaim it by their
   actions, in ambitious and magnificent structures to their memory.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: What they thought in their hearts, that they spoke by
   their deeds. Christ lays bare here the natural habit of all wicked men;
   each readily apprehends the other's fault, but none his own; for in
   another's case each man has an unprejudiced heart, but in his own case
   it is distorted. Therefore in the cause of others we can all easily be
   righteous judges. He only is the truly righteous and wise who is able
   to judge himself.

   It follows, "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that you are
   the children of them which killed the Prophets."

   Chrys.: What kind of accusation is this, to call one the son of a
   murderer, who partakes not in his father's disposition? Clearly there
   is no guilt in being so; wherefore this must be said in proof of their
   resemblance in wickedness.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: The character of the parents is a witness to the sons;
   if the father be good and the mother bad, or the reverse, the children
   may follow sometimes one, sometimes the other. But when both are the
   same, it very rarely happens that bad sons spring of good parents, or
   the reverse, though it be so sometimes. This is as a man is sometimes
   born out of the rule of nature, having six fingers or no eyes.

   Origen: And in the prophetic writings, the historical sense is the
   body, the spiritual meaning is the soul; the sepulchres are the letter
   and books themselves of Scripture. They then who attend only to the
   historical meaning, honour the bodies of the Prophets, and set in the
   letter as in a sepulchre; and are called Pharisees, i.e. cut off' as it
   were cutting off the soul of the Prophets from their body.
     __________________________________________________________________

   32. "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

   33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the
   damnation of hell?

   34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and
   Scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them
   shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to
   city:

   35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,
   from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of
   Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

   36. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this
   generation."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: He had said against the Scribes and Pharisees, that they were
   the children of those who killed the Prophets; now therefore He shews
   that they were like them in wickedness, and that was false that they
   said, "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have
   been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets."

   Wherefore He now says, "Fill ye up the measure of your fathers." This
   is not a command, but a prophecy of what is to be.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He foretels, that as their fathers killed the Prophets,
   so they also should kill Christ, and the Apostles, and other holy men.
   As suppose you had a quarrel with some one, you might say to your
   adversary, Do to me what you are about to do; but you do not therein
   bid him do it, but shew him that you are aware of his manoeuvres. And
   in fact they went beyond the measure of their fathers; for they put to
   death only men, these crucified God.

   But because He stooped to death of His own free choice, He does not lay
   on them the sin of His death, but only the death of the Apostles and
   other holy men. Whence also He said, "Fill up," and not "Fill over;"
   for a just and merciful Judge overlooks his own wrongs, and only
   punishes those done to others.

   Origen: They fill up the measure of their fathers' sins by their not
   believing in Christ. And the cause of their unbelief was, that they
   looked only to the letter and the body, and would understand nothing
   spiritual in them.

   Hilary: Because then they will fill up the measure of their fathers'
   purposes, therefore are they "serpents, and an offspring of vipers."

   Jerome: The same had been said by John the Baptist. Wherefore as of
   vipers are born vipers, so of your fathers who were murderers are you
   born murderers.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: He calls them "offspring of vipers," because the nature
   of vipers is such that the young burst the womb of their dam, and so
   come forth; and in like manner the Jews condemned their fathers,
   finding fault with their deeds.

   He says, "How shall ye escape the damnation of hell?" By building the
   tombs of the saints? But the first step of piety is to love holiness,
   the next, to love the saints; for it is not reasonable in him to honour
   the righteous, who despises righteousness. The saints cannot be friends
   to those to whom God is an enemy. Shall ye be saved by a mere name,
   because ye seem to be among God's people! Forasmuch as an open enemy is
   better than a false friend, so is he more hateful to God, who calls
   himself the servant of God, and does the commands of the Devil.

   Indeed, before God he who has resolved to kill a worm is a murderer
   before the deed is done, for it is the will that is rewarded for good,
   or punished for evil. Deeds are evidence of the will. God then does not
   require deeds on His own account that He may know how to judge, but for
   the sake of other men, that they may perceive that God is righteous.

   And God affords the opportunity of sin to the wicked, not to make them
   sin, but to manifest the sinner; and also to the good He gives
   opportunity to shew the purpose of their will. In this way then He gave
   the Scribes and Pharisees opportunity of shewing their purposes,
   "Behold, I send unto you Prophets, and wise men, and Scribes."

   Hilary: That is, the Apostles, who, as foretelling things to come, are
   "Prophets;" as having knowledge of Christ, are "wise men;" as
   understanding the Law, are "Scribes."

   Jerome: Or, as the Apostle writes to the Corinthians [marg. note: 1 Cor
   12] that there are various gifts among Christ's disciples; some
   Prophets, who foretel things to come; some wise men, who know when they
   ought to speak; others Scribes taught in the Law; of whom Stephen was
   stoned, Paul killed, Peter crucified, and the disciples of the Apostles
   beaten, in the Acts; and they persecuted them from city to city,
   driving them out of Judaea, that they might go to the Gentiles.

   Origen: Or the Scribes who are sent by Christ, are Scribes according to
   the Gospel, whom the spirit quickens and the letter does not kill, as
   did the letter of the Law, which whoso followed ran into vain
   superstitions.

   The simple words of the Gospel are sufficient for salvation. But the
   Scribes of the Law do yet scourge the Scribes of the New Testament, by
   detracting from them in their synagogues; and the heretics also, who
   are spiritual Pharisees, with their tongues murder the Christians, and
   persecute them from city to city, sometimes in the body, sometimes also
   in the spirit, seeking to drive them from their own city of the Law,
   the Prophets, and the Gospel, into another Gospel.

   Chrys.: Then to shew them that they should not do this without
   punishment, He holds out an unspeakable terror over them, "That upon
   you may come all the righteous blood."

   Raban.: That is, all the vengeance due for the shedding of the blood of
   the righteous.

   Jerome: Concerning the Abel here spoken of, there is no doubt that it
   is he whom his brother Cain murdered. He is proved to have been
   righteous, not only by this judgment of the Lord, but by the passage in
   Genesis, which says that his offerings were accepted by God. But we
   must enquire who is this Zacharias, son of Barachias, because we read
   of many Zachariases; and that we might not mistake, here it is added,
   "whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." Some say that it is
   that Zacharias who is the eleventh among the twelve Prophets, and his
   father's name agrees to this, but when he was slain between the temple
   and the altar, Scripture does not mention; but above all, in his time
   there were scarce even the ruins of the temple. Others will have it to
   be Zacharias the father of John.

   Origen: A tradition has come down to us, that there was one place in
   the temple in which virgins were allowed to worship God, married women
   being forbidden to stand there. And Mary, after the Saviour's birth,
   going into the temple, stood to pray in this place of the virgins. And
   when they who knew that she had borne a Son were hindering her,
   Zacharias said, that forasmuch as she was still a virgin, she was
   worthy of the place of the virgins.

   Whereupon, as though he manifestly were contravening the Law, he was
   slain there between the temple and the altar by the men of that
   generation; and thus this word of Christ is true which He spake to
   those who were standing there, "whom ye slew".

   [ed. note: This tradition is mentioned also by Cyril A.? adv. Anthrop.
   27. and Pseudo-Basil, Hom. de Sanct. Christ. Gen. 5. Theophylact (in
   loc.) and Euthymius who mention it, probably derived it from Origen.
   Jerome (in loc.) gives another of the same character from some
   apocryphal books, but sets it aside and adopts the interpretation given
   in the text. The murder of Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, is
   related in the apocryphal Protevangelium of S. James, c. 23. but
   ascribed to a different cause.]

   Jerome: But as this has no Scripture authority, it is as readily
   despised as offered. Others will have it to be that Zacharias who was
   killed by Joas, king of Judah, between the temple and the altar, [2
   Chron 24:21] that is, in the court of the temple. But that Zacharias
   was not the son of Barachias, but of Jehoiada the Priest. But Barachias
   in our language is interpreted Blessed of the Lord,' so that the
   righteousness of Joiada the Priest is expressed by this Hebrew word.
   But in the Gospel which the Nazarenes use, we find written son of
   Joiada' instead of "son of Barachias."

   Remig.: It should be enquired too how He says, "to the blood of
   Zacharias," since the blood of many more saints was afterwards shed.
   This is thus explained. Abel a keeper of sheep was killed in the field,
   Zacharias a priest was slain in the court of the temple. The Lord
   therefore names these two, because by these all holy martyrs are
   denoted, both of lay and priestly order.

   Chrys.: Moreover, He names Abel, to shew that it would be out of envy
   that they would kill Christ and His disciples. He names Zacharias,
   because there was a twofold resemblance in his case, the sacred place,
   as well as the sacred person.

   Origen: Zacharias is interpreted The memory of God.' Whosoever then
   hastes to obliterate the memory of God, seems to those to whom he gives
   offence to shed the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias. For it is
   by the blessing of God that we retain the memory of God. Also the
   memory of God is slain by the wicked, when the Temple of God is
   polluted by the lustful, and His altar defiled by the carelessness of
   prayers.

   Abel is interpreted mourning.' He then who does not receive that,
   "Blessed are they that mourn," sheds the blood of Abel, that is, puts
   away the truth of wholesome mourning.

   Some also shed, as it were, the blood of the Scriptures by putting
   aside their truth, for all Scripture, if it is not understood according
   to its truth, is dead.

   Chrys.: And to take away all excuse from them that they might not say,
   Because you sent them to the Gentiles thereat were we offended, He
   foretels that His disciples should be sent to them, and it is of their
   punishment that He adds, "Verily I say unto you, all these things shall
   come upon this generation."

   Gloss., ord.: He means not only those there present, but the whole
   generation before and after, for all were one city and one body of the
   Devil.

   Jerome: The rule of the Scriptures is only to know two generations, one
   of good the other of bad. Of the generation of the good it is said,
   "The generation of the righteous shall be blessed." [Ps 112:2] And of
   the bad it is said in the present passage, "Generation of vipers."
   These then, because they did against the Apostles like things as Cain
   and Joas, are described as of one generation.

   Chrys.: Otherwise; Because He delayed the punishment of hell which He
   bad threatened them with, He pronounces against them threats of present
   evil, saying, "All these things shall come upon this generation."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As all the good things which had been merited by all the
   saints in each generation since the foundation of the world were
   bestowed upon that last generation which received Christ; so all the
   evil that all the wicked in every generation from the foundation of the
   world had deserved to suffer, came upon that last generation of the
   Jews which rejected Christ.

   Or thus; As all the righteous of former saints, yea, of all the saints,
   could not merit that so great grace as was given to men in Christ; so
   the sins of all the wicked could not deserve so much evil as came upon
   the Jews, that they should suffer such things as these suffered from
   the Romans, and that in after time every generation of them to the end
   of the world should be cast off from God, and be made a mock by all the
   Gentiles.

   For what is there worse than to reject and in such sort to put to death
   the Son coming in mercy and lowliness!

   Or thus; Nations and states when they sin are not thereupon immediately
   punished by God, but He waits for many generations; but when He sees
   fit to destroy that state or nation, He then seems to visit upon them
   the sins of all former generations, and one generation suffers the
   accumulation of all that former generations have deserved. Thus this
   generation of the Jews seems to have been punished for their fathers;
   but in truth they suffered not for others, but on their own account.

   Chrys.: For he who having seen many sinning yet remains uncorrected,
   but rather does the same or worse, is obnoxious to heavier punishment.
     __________________________________________________________________

   37. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and
   stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered
   thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
   wings, and ye would not!

   38. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

   39. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall
   say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord next turns to address the city, desiring to instruct
   His bearers thereby. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem:" this repetition of the
   name is a mark of compassion and intense love.

   Jerome: By "Jerusalem" He means not the stones and buildings, but the
   dwellers there, over whom He laments with the feeling of a Father.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Foreseeing the destruction of the city, and the blow it
   would receive from the Romans, He called to mind the blood of the
   saints which had been, and should yet be, shed in it. Thou killedst
   Esaias who was sent unto thee, and stonedst my servant Jeremias; thou
   dashedst out the brains of Ezechiel by dragging him over stones; how
   shalt thou be saved, which wilt not suffer a physician to come nigh
   thee?

   And He said not, Didst kill and stone; but, "Killest," and "Stonest;"
   that is, This is a common and natural practice with thee to kill and
   stone the saints. She did to the Apostles the same things which she had
   once done to the Prophets.

   Chrys.: Having thus addressed her, and spoken of her cruel murders, He
   said, as justifying Himself, "How often would I have gathered thy
   children together?" as much as to say, Notwithstanding, these thy
   murders have not alienated Me from thee, but I would have taken thee to
   Me, not once or twice, but many times. The strength of His affection He
   shews by the comparison of a hen.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 36: This species has the greatest affection for
   its brood, insomuch that when they are sick the mother sickens also;
   and what you will hardly find in any other animal, it will fight
   against the kite, protecting its young with its wings. In like manner
   our mother, the Wisdom of God, sickened as it were in the putting on
   the flesh, according to that of the Apostle, "The weakness of God is
   stronger than men," [1 Cor 1:25] protects our weakness, and resists the
   Devil that he should not make us his prey.

   Origen: He calls them children of Jerusalem, just as we call each
   generation of citizens the sons of the preceding generation. And He
   says, "How often," though it is well known that once only did He teach
   the Jews in the body, because Christ was ever present in Moses, and in
   the Prophets, and in the Angels, ministering to human salvation in
   every generation.

   Whosoever shall not have been gathered in by Him shall be judged, as
   though be had refused to be gathered in.

   Raban., non occ.: Let heretics then cease to assign to Christ a
   beginning from the Virgin; let them leave off to preach one God of the
   Law and another of the Prophets.

   Aug., Euch. 97:. Where is that omnipotence, by the which He did
   whatsoever pleased Him both in heaven and in earth, if He would have
   gathered the children of Jerusalem and did not? Was it not that she
   would not that her children should be gathered by Him, and yet He did,
   notwithstanding, gather those of her children whom He would?

   Chrys.: Then He threatens the punishment of which they were ever in
   fear, to wit, the overthrow of the city and temple, saying, "Behold,
   your house is left unto you desolate."

   Pseudo-Chrys.: As the body, when the spirit departs, first becomes
   cold, and then decays and decomposes; so also your temple, when God's
   Spirit shall have withdrawn, shall be first filled with strife and
   anarchy, and after shall come to ruin.

   Origen: In like manner to all such as would not be gathered under His
   wings Christ speaks this threat; "Behold, your house is left unto you
   desolate;" i.e. your soul and your body. But if any one of you will not
   be gathered under the wings of Christ, from the very time when he shall
   have refused to be so gathered, (by a mental rather than a bodily act,)
   he shall no more see the beauty of the word, till repenting of his evil
   purpose he shall say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
   Lord." And the word of the Lord then comes with a blessing upon a man's
   heart, when one is turned to God.

   Jerome: "I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me, &c." That is to say,
   Unless ye shall do penitence, and shall confess that I am He of whom
   the Prophets have spoken, the Son of the Almighty Father, ye shall not
   see My face. Thus the Jews have a time allowed for their repentance.
   Let them confess Him blessed who cometh in the name of the Lord, and
   they shall then behold Christ's face.

   Chrys.: Otherwise; In this He covertly alludes to His second coming,
   when surely they shall worship Him. "Henceforth," means from the time
   of His crucifixion.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 24

   l. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples
   came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

   2. And Jesus said unto them, "See ye not all these things? verily I say
   unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that
   shall not be thrown down."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Christ, when He had foretold all that should come upon
   Jerusalem, "went forth out of the temple," He, who while He was in it,
   had upheld the temple that it should not fall. And so each man, being
   the temple of God by reason of the Spirit of God dwelling in him, is
   himself the cause of his being deserted, that Christ should depart from
   him. It is worthy of note how they "shew Him the buildings of the
   temple," as though He had never seen them. We reply, that when Christ
   had foretold the destruction that should come upon the temple, His
   disciples were amazed at the thought that so magnificent buildings
   should be utterly ruined, and therefore they shew them to Him to move
   Him to pity, that He would not do what He had threatened. And because
   the constitution of human nature is wonderful, being made the temple of
   God, the disciples and the rest of the saints confessing the wonderful
   working of God in respect of the forming of men, intercede before the
   face of Christ, that He would not forsake the human race for their
   sins.

   Raban.: The historical sense is clear, that in the forty-second year
   after the Lord's passion, the city and temple were overthrown under the
   Roman Emperors Vespasian and Titus.

   Remig.: So it was ordained of God, that as soon as the light of grace
   was revealed, the temple with its ceremonies should be taken out of the
   way, lest any weakling in the faith, beholding all the things
   instituted of the Lord and hallowed by the Prophets yet abiding, might
   be gradually drawn away from the purity of the faith to a carnal
   Judaism.

   Chrys., Hom lxxv: How means He Hom. this, "that one stone shalt not be
   left upon another?" Either as conveying the notion of its utter
   overthrow; or with respect to the place in which it stood, for its
   parts were broken up to its very foundations. But I would add, that,
   after the fate it underwent, the most captious might be satisfied that
   its very fragments have perished.

   Jerome: Figuratively; When the Lord departed from the temple, all the
   buildings of the Law and the structure of the Commandments were so
   overthrown, that none of them could be fulfilled by the Jews, but, the
   Head being taken away, all the parts were at war among themselves.

   Origen: Every man also, who, by taking into him the word of God, is
   become a temple, if after sinning be yet retains in part the traces of
   faith and religion, his temple is in part destroyed, and in part
   standing. But he who after sin has no regard for himself is gradually
   alienated, until he has altogether forsaken the living God, and so one
   stone is not left upon another of God's commandments, which be has not
   thrown down.
     __________________________________________________________________

   3. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him
   privately, saying, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall
   be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

   4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, "Take heed that no man
   deceive you.

   5. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ;' and shall
   deceive many."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: The Lord continuing His walk arrives at Mount Olivet, having by
   the way foretold the destruction of the temple to those disciples who
   had shewn and commended the buildings. When they had reached the Mount
   they came to Him, asking Him further of this.

   Chrys.: They asked Him in private, because they were great things about
   which they were going to ask Him. They wished to know the day of His
   coming, for the vehement desire they had to see His glory.

   Jerome: They ask Him three things. First, The time of the destruction
   of Jerusalem, saying, "Tell us when shall these things be?" Secondly,
   The time of Christ's coming, saying, "And what shall be the sign of Thy
   coming?" Thirdly, The time of the consummation of this world, saying,
   "And of the end of the world?"

   Chrys.: Luke speaks of one enquiry, that concerning Jerusalem, as
   though the disciples supposed that Christ's coming should be then, and
   the end of the world should be when Jerusalem should be destroyed.

   Whereas Mark does not state them all to have asked concerning the
   destruction of Jerusalem, but Peter, James, John, and Andrew, as having
   more bold and free speech with Christ.

   Origen: I think Mount Olivet to be a mystery of the Church out of the
   Gentiles.

   Remig.: For Mount Olivet has no unfruitful trees, but olives, which
   supply light to dispel darkness, which give rest to the weary, health
   to the sick. And sitting on Mount Olivet over against the temple, the
   Lord discourses of its destruction, and the destruction of the Jewish
   nation, that even by His choice of a situation He might shew, that
   abiding still in the Church He condemns the pride of the wicked.

   Origen: For the husbandman dwelling on Mount Olivet is the word of God
   confirmed in the Church, that is, Christ, who ever grafts the branches
   of the wild olive on the good olive tree of the Fathers. They who have
   confidence before Christ, seek to learn the sign of the coming of
   Christ, and of the consummation of this world.

   And the coming of the Word into the soul is of two sorts. The first is
   that foolish preaching concerning Christ, when we preach that Christ
   was born and crucified; the second its coming in perfect men,
   concerning which it is said, "We speak wisdom among them that are
   perfect;" [1 Cor 2:6] and to this second coming is added the end of the
   world in the perfect man to whom the world is crucified.

   Hilary: And because the questions of the disciples are threefold, they
   are separated by different times and meanings. That concerning the
   destruction of the city is first answered, and is then confirmed by
   truth of doctrine, that no seducer might prevail with the ignorant.

   Chrys.: His first answer is neither concerning the destruction of
   Jerusalem, nor concerning His second coming, but concerning the evils
   which were to be immediately encountered.

   Jerome: One of them of whom He speaks was Simon of Samaria, of whom we
   read in the Acts of the Apostles, that he gave himself out to be the
   great Power, leaving these things written in his works [ed. note: "The
   followers of Simon and Cleobius compose books in the name of Christ and
   His disciples, which they circulate, and so deceive men." Apostol.
   Const. The author of the Treatise De Divinis Nomin. also mentions
   "Simon's Controversial Discourses." Vallarsi.] among others, I am the
   Word of God, I am the Almighty, I am all things of God. The Apostle
   John also in his Epistle, "Ye have heard that Antichrist shall come;
   even now there are many Antichrists." [1 John 2:18]

   I suppose all heresiarchs. to be Antichrists, and under the name of
   Christ to teach those things which are contrary to Christ. No wonder if
   we see some led away by such teachers, when the Lord has said, "And
   shall deceive many."

   Origen: They that are deceived are many, because "wide is the gate that
   leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." [Matt
   7:13] This one thing is enough to detect the Antichrists and seducers,
   that they shall say, "I am Christ," which Christ Himself is no where
   read to have said: for the works of God, and the word which He taught,
   and His power, were enough to produce belief that He is Christ.

   For every discourse which professes to expound Scripture faithfully,
   and has not the truth, is Antichrist. For the truth is Christ, that
   which feigns itself to be the truth is Antichrist. So also all virtues
   are Christ, all that feigns itself to be virtue is Antichrist; for
   Christ has in Himself in truth all manner of good for the edification
   of men, but the devil has forged resemblances of the same for the
   deceiving of the saints.

   We have need therefore of God to help us, that none deceive us, neither
   word nor power. It is a bad thing to find any one erring in his course
   of life; but I esteem it much worse not to think according to the most
   true rule of Scripture.
     __________________________________________________________________

   6. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not
   troubled : for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
   yet.

   7. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
   and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers
   places.

   8. All these are the beginning of sorrows."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., Ep. 199. 25: To this enquiry of the disciples the Lord makes
   answer, declaring all things which were to come to pass from that time
   forwards, whether relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, which had
   given occasion to their enquiry; or to His coming through the Church,
   in which He ceases not to come to the end of time; for He is
   acknowledged as coming among His own, while new members are daily born
   to Him; or relating to the end itself when He shall appear to judge the
   quick and the dead.

   When then He describes the signs which shall attend these three events,
   we must carefully consider which signs belong to which events, lest
   perchance we refer to one that which belongs to another.

   Chrys.: Here He speaks of the battles which should be fought at
   Jerusalem; when He says, "Ye shall hear wars, and rumours of wars."

   Origen: To hear the shouts raised in the battles, is to "hear wars;" to
   hear "rumours of wars," is to hear accounts of wars waged afar off.

   Chrys.: And because this might alarm the disciples, He continues, "See
   that ye be not troubled." And because they supposed that the end of the
   world would follow immediately after the war in which Jerusalem should
   be destroyed, He corrects their suspicions concerning this, "These
   things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."

   Jerome: That is, Think not that the day of judgment is at hand, but
   that it is reserved against another time; the sign of which is plainly
   put in what follows, "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
   against kingdom."

   Raban. [ed. note: From this to v. 36. the commentary of Rabanus is
   wanting in the printed edition. See Pref.]: Or, this is a warning to
   the Apostles not to flee from Jerusalem and Judaea in terror of these
   things, when they should begin to come upon them; because the end was
   not immediately, but the desolation of the province, and the
   destruction of the city and temple should not come till the fortieth
   year. And we know that most grievous woes, which spread over the whole
   province, fell out to the very letter.

   Chrys.: And to shew that He also should fight against the Jews, He
   tells them not only of wars, but of calamities inflicted by Providence,
   "And there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers
   places."

   Raban.: "Nation shall rise against nation," shews the disquietude of
   men's minds; "pestilences," the affliction of their bodies; "famines,"
   the barrenness of the soil; "earthquakes in divers places," wrath from
   heaven above.

   Chrys.: And these things shall not happen according to the order of
   nature before established among men, but shall come of wrath from
   heaven, and therefore He said not that they should come only, or come
   suddenly, but adds significantly, "These all are the beginnings of
   troubles," that is, of the Jewish troubles.

   Origen: Or otherwise; As the body sickens before the death of the man,
   so it must needs be that before the consummation of this world the
   earth should be shaken, as though it were palsied, with frequent
   earthquakes, the air should gather a deadly quality and become
   pestilential, and that the vital energy of the soil should fail, and
   its fruits wither. And by consequence of this scarcity, men are stirred
   up to robbery and war. But because war and strife arise sometimes from
   covetousness, and sometimes from desire of power and empty glory, of
   these which shall happen before the end of the world a yet deeper cause
   shall be assignable.

   For as Christ's coming brought through His divine power peace to divers
   nations, so it shall be on the other hand, "that when iniquity shall
   abound, the love of many shall wax cold," and God and His Christ shall
   desert them; wars shall be again when actions which beget wars are not
   hindered by holiness; and hostile powers when they are not restrained
   by the Saints and by Christ shall work unchecked in the hearts of men,
   stirring up nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

   But if, as some will have it, famine and pestilence are from the Angels
   of Satan, these shall then gather might from opposite powers, when the
   salt of the earth, and the lights of the world, Christ's disciples,
   shall be no longer, destroying those things which the malice of daemons
   hatches. Ofttimes in Israel famines and pestilences were caused by sin,
   and removed by the prayers of the Saints. [marg. note: 1 Ki 17:1, Jer
   14, James 5:17-18]

   Well is that said, "In divers places," for God will not destroy the
   whole race of men at once, but judging them in portions, He gives
   opportunity of repentance. But if some stop be not put to these evils
   in their commencement, they will progress to worse, as it follows,
   "These all are the beginnings of sorrows," that is, sorrows common to
   the whole world, and those which are to come upon the wicked who shall
   be tormented in most sharp pains.

   Jerome: Figuratively; Kingdom rising against kingdom and pestilence of
   that discourse which spreadeth, as a plague-spot, and hunger of hearing
   the word of God, and commotion throughout the earth, and separation
   from the true faith, may be rather understood of the heretics, who
   fighting among themselves give the victory to the Church.

   Origen: This must come to pass before we can see the perfection of that
   wisdom which is in Christ; but not yet shall be that end which we seek,
   for a peaceful end is far from those men.

   Jerome: "These all are the beginnings Of sorrows," is better understood
   of pains of labour, as it were the conception of the coming of
   Antichrist, and not of the birth.
     __________________________________________________________________

   9. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you:
   and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

   10. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and
   shall hate one another.

   11. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

   12. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

   13. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

   14. And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
   for a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Raban.: For what desert so many evils are to be brought upon Jerusalem,
   and the whole Jewish province the Lord shews, when He adds, "Then shall
   they deliver you up, &c."

   Chrys.: Or otherwise; The disciples when they heard these things which
   were spoken of Jerusalem might suppose that they should be beyond reach
   of harm, as though what they now heard was the sufferings of others,
   while they themselves should meet with nothing but prosperous times, He
   therefore announces the grievous things which should befal them,
   putting them in fear for themselves.

   First He had bid them be on their guard against the arts of false
   teachers, He now foretels to them the violence of tyrants. In good
   season He thus introduces their own woes, as here they will receive
   consolation from the common calamities; and He held out to them not
   this comfort only, but also that of the cause for which they should
   suffer, shewing that it was for His name's sake, "And ye shall be hated
   of all men for my name's sake."

   Origen: But how should the people of Christ be hated by the nations who
   dwelt in the uttermost parts of the earth? But one may perhaps say,
   that in this place all is put hyperbolically for many. But this that He
   says, "Then shall they deliver you," presents some difficulty; for
   before these things the Christians were delivered to tribulation. To
   this it may be answered, that at that time the Christians shall be more
   delivered to tribulation than ever.

   And persons in any misfortune love to examine into the origin of them,
   and to talk about them. Hence when the worship of the Gods shall be
   almost deserted by reason of the multitude of Christians, it will be
   said that that is the cause of the wars, and famines, and pestilences;
   and of the earthquakes also they will say that the Christians are the
   cause, whence the persecution of the Churches.

   Chrys.: Having named two sources of opposition, that from seducers, and
   that from enemies, He adds a third, that from false brethren; "And then
   shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate
   one another." See Paul bewailing these same things, "Without were
   fightings, within were fears;" [2 Cor 7:5] and in another place; "In
   perils among false brethren," [2 Cor 11:26] of whom he says, "Such are
   false Apostles, deceitful workers." [2 Cor 11:13]

   Remig.: As the capture of Jerusalem approached, many rose up, calling
   themselves Christians, and deceived many , such Paul calls "false
   brethren," John "Antichrists."

   Hilary: Such Was Nicolaus, one of the seven deacons, who led astray
   many by his pretences. And Simon Magus who, armed with diabolic works
   and words, perverted many by false miracles.

   Chrys.: And He adds, what is still more cruel, that such false Prophets
   shall have no alleviation in charity; "Because iniquity shall abound,
   the love of many shall wax cold."

   Remig.: That is, true love towards God and our neighbour, in proportion
   as each surrenders himself to iniquity, in that proportion will the
   flame of charity in his heart be extinguished.

   Jerome: Observe, He says, "the love of many," not of all,' for in the
   Apostles, and those like them, love would continue, as Paul speaks,
   "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" [Rom 8:35]

   Remig.: "Whoso shall endure unto the end," i.e. to the end of his life;
   for whoso to the end of his life shall persevere in the confession of
   the name of Christ, and in love, he shall be saved.

   Chrys.: Then that they should not say, How then shall we live among so
   many evils? He promises not only that they should live, but that they
   should teach every where. "And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be
   preached in all the world."

   Remig.: For the Lord knew that the hearts of the disciples would be
   made sad by the destruction of Jerusalem, and overthrow of their
   nation, and He therefore comforts them with a promise that more of the
   Gentiles should believe than of the Jews should perish.

   Chrys.: That before the taking of Jerusalem the Gospel was preached
   every where, hear what Paul says, "Their sound is gone out into all the
   earth;" [Rom 10:18] and see himself travelling from Jerusalem into
   Spain. And if one had so large a province, think how much all must have
   done. Whence writing to certain, he says of the Gospel, "It bears
   fruit, and increases in every creature under heaven." [Col 1:6].

   And this is the strongest proof of Christ's power, that in thirty years
   or a little more, the word of the Gospel filled the ends of the world.
   Though the Gospel was preached every where, yet all did not believe,
   whence He adds, "For a witness unto all nations," in accusation, that
   is, of such as believe not, they who have believed bearing witness
   against them that believed not, and condemning them.

   And in fit season did Jerusalem fall, namely, after the Gospel had been
   preached throughout the world; as it follows, "And then shalt the
   consummation come," i.e. the end of Jerusalem. For they who have seen
   Christ's power shining forth every where, and in brief space spread
   over the whole world, what mercy did they deserve when they continued
   still in ingratitude?

   Remig.: But the whole passage might be referred to the end of the
   world. For then "shall many be offended," and depart from the faith,
   when they see the numbers and wealth of the wicked, and the miracles of
   Antichrist, and they shall persecute their brethren; and Antichrist
   shall send "false Prophets, who shall deceive many; iniquity shall
   abound," because the number of the wicked shall be increased; and "love
   shall wax cold," because the number of the good shall diminish.

   Jerome: And the sign of the Lord's second coming is, that the Gospel
   shall be preached in all the world, so that all may be without excuse.

   Origen: And that, "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake,"
   might be then applied thus; That indeed at this time all nations are
   conspired together against the Christians, but that when the things
   foretold by Christ shall have come to pass, then there shall be
   persecutions, not as before in places, but everywhere against the
   people of God.

   Aug., Ep. 199, 46: But that this preaching "the Gospel of the kingdom
   in all the world" was accomplished by the Apostles, we have not any
   certain evidence, to prove. There are numberless barbarous nations in
   Africa, among whom the Gospel is not even yet preached, as it is easy
   to learn from the prisoners who are brought from thence. But it cannot
   be said that these have no part in the promise of God. For God promised
   with an oath not the Romans only, but all nations to the seed of
   Abraham.

   But in whatever nation there is yet no Church established, it must
   needs be that there should be one, not that all the people should
   believe; for how then should that be fulfilled, "Ye shall be hated of
   all nations for my name's sake," unless there be in all nations those
   who hate and those who are hated? That preaching therefore was not
   accomplished by the Apostles, while as yet there were nations among
   whom it had not begun to be fulfilled. The words of the Apostle also,
   "Their sound hath gone out into all the world," though expressed as of
   time past, are meant to apply to something future, not yet completed;
   as the Prophet [marg. note: Ps 19:4], whose words he quotes, said that
   the Gospel bore fruit and grew in the whole world, to shew thereby to
   what extent its growth should come. If then we know not when it shall
   be that the whole world shall be filled with the Gospel, undoubtedly we
   know not when the end shall be; but it shall not be before such time.

   Origen: When every nation shall have heard the preaching of the Gospel,
   then shall come the end of the world. For at this time there are many
   nations, not of barbarians only, but of our own, who have not yet heard
   the word of Christianity.

   Gloss., non occ. [ed. note: This Gloss appears to be a note of S.
   Thomas, in confirmation of the view of S. Chrysostom, which refers this
   to the taking of Jerusalem. cf. Iren Haeres. i. 2 and 3.]: But it is
   possible to maintain both applications of the passage, if only we will
   take this diffusion of Gospel preaching in a double sense. If we
   understand it of fruit produced by the preaching, and the foundation in
   every nation of a Church of believers in Christ, as Augustine (in the
   passage above quoted) expounds it, then it is a sign which ought to
   precede the end of the world, and which did not precede the destruction
   of Jerusalem. But if we understand it of the fame of their preaching,
   then it was accomplished before the destruction of Jerusalem, when
   Christ's disciples had been dispersed over the four quarters of the
   earth.

   Whence Jerome says, I do not suppose that there remained any nation
   which knew not the name of Christ; for where preacher had never been,
   some notion of the faith must have been communicated by neighbouring
   nations. [marg. note: Hieron. in loc.]

   Origen: Morally; He who shall see that glorious second coming of the
   word of God into his soul, must needs suffer in proportion to the
   measure of his proficiency assaults of opposing influences, and Christ
   in him must be hated by all, not only by the nations literally
   understood, but by the nations of spiritual vices.

   And in such enquiries there will be few who shall reach the truth with
   any fulness, the more part shall be offended and fall therefrom,
   betraying and accusing one another because of their disagreement
   respecting doctrines, which shall give rise to a mutual hatred. Also
   there shall be many setting forth unsound words concerning things to
   come, and interpreting the Prophets in a manner in which they ought
   not; these are the false Prophets who shall deceive many, and who shall
   cause to wax cold that fervour of love which was before in the
   simplicity of the faith.

   But he who can abide firmly in the Apostolic tradition, he shall be
   saved; and the Gospel being preached to the minds of all shall be for a
   testimony to all nations, that is, to all the unbelieving thoughts of
   the soul.
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken
   of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let
   him understand:)

   16. Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

   17. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing
   out of his house.

   18. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his
   clothes.

   19. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck
   in those days!

   20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the
   sabbath day:

   21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
   beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

   22. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be
   saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: As above He had obscurely intimated the end of Jerusalem; He
   now proceeds to a more plain announcement of it, citing a prophecy
   which should make them believe it.

   Jerome: That, "Let him that readeth understand," is said to call us to
   the mystic understanding of the place. What we read in Daniel is this;
   "And in the midst of the week the sacrifice and the oblation shall be
   taken away, and in the temple shall be the abomination of desolations
   until the consummation of the time, and consummation shall be given
   upon the desolate." [Dan 9:27, septuagint]

   Aug., Ep. 199, 31: Luke, in order to shew that the abomination of
   desolation foretold by Daniel had reference to the time of the siege of
   Jerusalem, repeats these words of our Lord, "When ye shall see
   Jerusalem encompassed by armies, then know ye that its desolation
   draweth nigh." [Luke 21:20]

   Pseudo-Chrys.: Whence I think that by the abomination of desolation, He
   means the army by which the city of the holy Jerusalem was desolated.

   Jerome: Or it may be understood of the statue of Caesar, which Pilate
   set up in the temple; or of the equestrian statue of Adrian, which
   stood to the present time in the very Holy of Holies. For, according to
   the Old Scripture, an idol is called abomination;' "of desolation" is
   added, because the idol was set up in the desolated and deserted
   temple.

   Chrys.: Or because he who desolated the city and the temple placed his
   statue there. He says, "When ye shall see," because these things were
   to happen while some of them were yet alive. Wherein admire Christ's
   power, and the courage of the disciples, who preached through those
   times in which all things Jewish were the object of attack. The
   Apostles, being Jews, introduced new laws in opposition to the Roman
   authority. The Romans conquered countless thousands of Jews, but could
   not overcome twelve unarmed unprotected men. [marg. note: Chrys., Hom.
   lxxvi]

   But because it had often happened to the Jews to be recovered in very
   desperate circumstances, as in the times of Sennacherib and Antiochus,
   that no man might look for any such event now, He gave command to His
   disciples to fly, saying, "Then let them which, are in Judaea flee to
   the mountains."

   Remig.: And this we know was so done when the fall of Jerusalem drew
   near; for on the approach of the Roman army, all the Christians in the
   province, warned, as ecclesiastical history tells us, [marg. note:
   Euseb., H. E., iii. 5] miraculously from heaven, withdrew, and passing
   the Jordan, took refuge in the city of Pella; and under the protection
   of that King Agrippa, of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles, they
   continued some time; but Agrippa himself, with the Jews whom he
   governed, was subjected to the dominion of the Romans.

   Chrys.: Then to shew how inevitable the evils that should come upon the
   Jews, and how infinite their calamity, He adds, "And let him which is
   on the housetop, not come down to take any thing out of his house," for
   it was better to be saved, and to lose his clothes, than to put on a
   garment and perish; and of him who is in the field He says the same.
   For if those who are in the city fly from it, little need is there for
   those who are abroad to return to the city.

   But it is easy to despise money, and not hard to provide other raiment;
   but how can one avoid natural circumstances? How can a woman with child
   be made active for flight, or how can she that gives suck desert the
   child she has brought forth?

   "Woe," therefore, "to them that are with child, and to them that give
   suck in those days;" to the one, because they are encumbered, and
   cannot easily fly, bearing about the burden of the womb; to the other,
   because they are held by compassion for their children, and cannot save
   with them those whom they are suckling.

   Origen: Or because that will not be a time of shewing pity, neither
   upon them who are with child, nor upon them who are suckling, nor upon
   their infants. And as speaking to Jews who thought they might travel no
   more upon the sabbath than a sabbath-day's journey, He adds, "But pray
   ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath."

   Jerome: Because in the one the severity of the cold prevents your
   flight to the deserts, and your lurking in mountains and wilds; in the
   other, you must either transgress the Law, if you will fly, or
   encounter instant death if you will stay.

   Chrys.:. Note how this speech is directed against the Jews; for when
   these things were done by Vespasian, the Apostles could neither observe
   the Sabbath nor fly, seeing most of them were already dead, and those
   who survived were living in distant countries. And why they should pray
   for this He adds a reason, "For then shall be great tribulation, such
   as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor shall
   be."

   Aug., Ep. 199. 30: In Luke it is thus read, "There shall be great
   distress upon the earth, and wrath upon this people, and they shall
   fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all
   nations." [Luke 21:23]

   And so Josephus [marg. note: B. J. vii], who wrote the Jewish History,
   relates evils so great happening to this people as to seem hardly
   credible. Whence it was not unreasonably said, that such tribulation
   had never been from the beginning of creation, nor should be; for
   though in the time of Antichrist shall be such, or perhaps greater; yet
   to the Jews, of whom we must understand this, such shall never more
   befal. For if they shall be the first and the chief to receive
   Antichrist, they will then rather inflict than suffer tribulation.

   Chrys.: I ask the Jews, whence came upon them so grievous wrath from
   heaven more woeful than all that had come upon them before? Plainly it
   was because of the desperate crime [tolmema] and the denial of the
   Cross. But He shews that they deserved still heavier punishment than
   they received, when He adds, "And except those days should be
   shortened, there should no flesh be saved;" that is, If the siege by
   the Romans should be continued longer, all the Jews would perish; for
   by "all flesh," He means all the Jewish nation, those within and those
   without; for the Romans were at war not only with those in Judaea, but
   with the whole race wherever dispersed.

   Aug.: Indeed some persons seem to me not unfitly to understand by
   "these days" the evils themselves, as in other places of divine
   Scripture evil days are spoken of; not that the days themselves are
   evil, but the things that are done on them. And they are said to be
   shortened, because they are less felt, God giving us endurance; so that
   even though grievous, they are felt as short.

   Chrys.: But that the Jews should not say that these evils came because
   of the preaching and the disciples of Christ, He shews them that had it
   not been for His disciples, they would have totally perished, "but for
   the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

   Aug.: For we ought not to doubt that when Jerusalem was overthrown,
   there were among that people elect of God who had believed out of the
   circumcision, or would have believed, elect before the foundation of
   the world, for whose sake those days should be shortened, and their
   evils made endurable. Some there are who suppose that the days will be
   shortened by a more rapid motion of the sun, as the day was made longer
   on the prayer of Jesus Name. [?]

   Jerome: Not remembering that which is written. "The day continues
   according to thy ordinances." [Ps 119:91] We must understand it of
   their being shortened not in measure, but in number, lest the faith of
   believers should be shaken by lengthened affliction.

   Aug.: For let us not suppose that the computation of Daniel's weeks was
   interfered with by this shortening of those days, or that they were not
   already at that time complete, but had to be completed afterwards in
   the end of all things, for Luke most plainly testifies that the
   prophecy of Daniel was accomplished at the time when Jerusalem was
   overthrown.

   Chrys.: Observe this economy of the Holy Spirit in this, that John
   wrote nothing of all this, that he might not seem to be writing a
   history after the event; for he survived sometime the taking of
   Jerusalem. But these who died before it, and saw nothing of it, these
   write it, that the power of prophecy may shine manifestly forth.

   Hilary: Or otherwise; It is a sign of His future coming that the Lord
   gives, when He says, "When ye shall see the abomination." For the
   Prophet spoke this of the times of Antichrist; and he calls abomination
   that which coming against God claims to itself the honour of God. It is
   "the abomination of desolation," because it will desolate the earth
   with wars and slaughter; and it is admitted by the Jews, and set up in
   the holy place, that where God had been invoked by the prayers of the
   saints, into that same place admitted by the unbelievers it might be
   adored with the worship of God. And because this error will be peculiar
   to the Jews, that having rejected the truth they should adopt a lie, He
   warns them to leave Judaea, and flee to the mountains, that no
   pollution or infection might be gathered by admixture with a people who
   should believe on Antichrist.

   That He says, "Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take
   any thing out of his house," is thus understood. The roof is the
   highest part of the house, the summit and perfection of the whole
   building. He then who stands on the top of his house, i.e. in the
   perfection of his heart, aloft in the regeneration of a new spirit,
   ought not to come down to the lower desire of things of the world.

   "Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his coat;"
   i.e. He that has attained to obedience to the command, let him not
   return back to his former cares, to take on him again the coat of his
   former sins in which be once was clothed.

   Aug.: For in tribulations we must beware of coming down from the
   spiritual heights, and yielding ourselves to the carnal life; or of
   failing and looking behind us, after having made some progress
   forwards.

   Hilary: That which is said, "Woe unto them that are with child, and to
   them that give suck," is not to be taken literally as an admonition to
   women pregnant, but as a description of souls burdened with the weight
   of sin, that neither in the house, nor in the field, may escape the
   storm of the wrath that is in store for them.

   Woe also to those that are being suckled; the weak souls, that is, who
   are being brought to the knowledge of God as by milk, to whom it shall
   be woe, because they are too laden to fly, and too inexperienced to
   resist Antichrist, having neither escaped sin, nor partaken of the food
   of true bread.

   Pseudo-Aug., Serm. App. 75, 2: Or, "They that are with child," are they
   who covet what belongs to others; "they that give suck," are they who
   have already forcibly taken that which they coveted; to them shall be
   "woe" in the day of judgment. "Pray ye that your flight be not in the
   winter, or on the sabbath day;" that is,

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., I, 37: that no one be found in that day in either
   joy or sorrow for temporal things.

   Hilary: Or; That we be not taken in the frost of sins., or in
   discontinuance of good works, because of the soreness of the
   affliction; notwithstanding that for the sake of God's elect, those
   days shall be shortened, that the abridgment of the time may disarm the
   force of the calamities.

   Origen: Mystically; In the holy place of the Scriptures, both Old and
   New Testament, Antichrist, that is, false word, has often stood; let
   those who see this flee from the Judaea of the letter to the high
   mountains of truth. And whoso has been found to have gone up to the
   house-top of the word, and to be standing upon its summit, let him not
   come down thence as though he would fetch any thing out of his house.
   And if he be in the field in which the treasure is hid, and return
   thence to his house, he will run into the temptation of a false word;
   but especially if he have stripped off his old garment, that is, the
   old man, and should have returned again to take it up. Then the soul,
   as it were with child by the word, not having yet brought forth, is
   liable to a woe; for it casts that which it had conceived, and loses
   that hope which is in the acts of truth; and the same also if the word
   has been brought forth perfect and entire, but not having yet attained
   sufficient growth.

   Let them that flee to the mountains pray that their flight be not in
   the winter or on the sabbath-day, because in the serenity of a settled
   spirit they may reach the way of salvation, but if the winter overtake
   them they fall amongst those whom they would fly from. And there be
   some who rest from evil works, but do not good works; be your flight
   then not on such sabbath when a man rests from good works, for no man
   is easily overcome in times of peril from false doctrines, except he is
   unprovided with good works.

   But what sorer affliction is there than to see our brethren deceived,
   and to feel one's self shaken and terrified? Those days mean the
   precepts and dogmas of truth; and all interpretations coming of
   "science falsely so called" [1 Tim 6:20] are so many additions to those
   days, which God shortens by those whom He wills.
     __________________________________________________________________

   23. "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there;
   believe it not.

   24. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
   shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
   shall deceive the very elect.

   25. Behold, I have told you before.

   26. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert;
   go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

   27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto
   the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

   28. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered
   together.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: When the Lord had finished all that related to Jerusalem, He
   came in the rest to His own coming, and gives them signs thereof,
   useful not for them only, but for us and for all who shall be after us.

   As above, the Evangelist said, "In those days came John the Baptist,"
   [Matt 3:1] not implying immediately after what had gone before, but
   thirty years after; so here, when He says, "Then," He passes over the
   whole interval of time between the taking of Jerusalem and the
   beginnings of the consummation of the world.

   Among the signs which He gives of His second coming He certifies them
   concerning the place, and the deceivers. For it shall not be then as at
   His former coming, when He appeared in Bethlehem, in a corner of the
   world, unknown of any; but He shall come openly so as not to need any
   to announce His approach.

   Wherefore, "If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
   there, believe not."

   Jerome: Wherein He shews that His second coming shall be not in
   lowliness as His first, but in glory; and therefore it is folly to seek
   in places little and obscure for Him who is the Light of the whole
   world. [marg note: John 8:12]

   Hilary: Notwithstanding, by reason of the great tribulation in which
   men shall be cast, false prophets promising to shew aid present from
   Christ, will falsely affirm that Christ is present in divers places,
   that they may draw into the service of Antichrist men discouraged and
   distracted.

   Chrys.: He speaks here of Antichrist, and of certain his ministers,
   whom He calls false Christs and false prophets, such as were many in
   the time of the Apostles; but before Christ's second coming there shall
   come others more bitter than the former, "And they shall shew great
   signs and wonders." [2 Thes 2:9]

   Aug., Lib. 83, Quaest., Q79: Here the Lord forewarns us that even
   wicked men shall do some miracles which the saints cannot do, yet are
   they not therefore to be thought to have a higher place in the sight of
   God. For the Egyptian magi were not more acceptable to God than the
   people of Israel, because they could do what the Israelites could not;
   yet did Moses, by the power of God, work greater things. This gift is
   not bestowed on all the saints, lest the weak should be led astray by a
   most destructive error, supposing such powers to be higher gifts than
   those works of righteousness by which eternal life is secured. And
   though magi do the same miracles that the saints do, yet are they done
   with a different end, and through a different authority; for the one do
   them seeking the glory of God, the others seeking their own glory;
   these do them by some special compact or privilege [marg. note: al.
   veneficia] granted to the Powers, within their sphere, those by the
   public dispensation and the command of Him to whom all creation is
   subject [ed. note: see above on chap. vii, 22].

   For it is one thing for the owner of a horse to be compelled to give it
   up to a soldier, another for him to hand it over to a purchaser, or to
   give or lend it to a friend; and as those evil soldiers, who are
   condemned by the imperial discipline, employ the imperial ensigns to
   terrify the owners of any property, and to extort from them what is not
   required by the public service; so some evil Christians, by means of
   the name of Christ, or by words or sacraments Christian, compel
   somewhat from the Powers; yet these, when thus at the bidding of evil
   men, they depart from their purpose, they depart in order to deceive
   men in whose wanderings they rejoice.

   It is one way then in which magi, another in which good Christians,
   another in which bad Christians, work miracles; the magi by a private
   compact, good Christians by the public righteousness, evil Christians
   by the signs of public righteousness. [marg. note: non occ.] And we
   ought not to wonder at this when we believe not unreasonably that all
   that we see happen is wrought by the agency of the inferior powers of
   this air.

   Aug., de Trin., iii, 8: Yet are we not therefore to think that this
   visible material world attends the nod of the disobedient angels, but
   rather the power is given them of God. Nor are we to suppose that such
   evil angels have creative power, but by their spirituality they know
   the seeds of things which are bidden from us, and these they secretly
   scatter by suitable adaptations of the elements, and so they give
   occasion both to the whole being, and the more rapid increase of
   substances.

   For so there are many men who know what sort of creatures use to be
   generated out of certain herbs, meats, juices and humours, bruised and
   mingled together in a certain fashion; save only that it is harder for
   men to do these things, inasmuch as they lack that subtlety of sense,
   and penetrativeness of body in their limbs dull and of earthly mould.

   Greg., Mor. xv, 61: When then Antichrist shall have wrought wonderful
   prodigies before the eyes of the carnal, he shall draw men after him,
   all such as delight in present goods, surrendering themselves
   irrevocably to his sway, "Insomuch that if it were possible the very
   elect should be led astray."

   Origen: That, "If it were possible," is spoken hyperbolically; not that
   the elect can be led astray, but He wishes to shew that the discourse
   of heretics is often so persuasive, as to have force to prevail even
   with those who act [marg. note: al. audiunt] wisely.

   Greg., Mor., xxxiii, 36: Or, because the heart of the elect is assailed
   with fearful thoughts, yet their faithfulness is not shaken, the Lord
   comprehends both under the same sentence, for to waver in thought is to
   err. He adds, "If it were possible," because it is not possible that
   the elect should be taken in error.

   Raban.: He says not this because it is possible for the divine election
   to be defeated, but because they, who to men's judgment seemed elect,
   shall be led into error.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxv, i: And as darts, when foreseen, are less
   likely to hit, He adds, "Lo, I have told you." Our Lord announces the
   woes which are to precede the destruction of the world, that when they
   come they may alarm the less from having been foreknown.

   Hilary: The false prophets, of whom He had spoken above, shall say of
   Christ one while, "Lo, He is in the desert," in order that they may
   cause men to wander astray; another while, "Lo, He is in the secret
   chambers," that they may enthral men under the dominion of Antichrist.
   But the Lord declares Himself to be neither lurking in a remote corner,
   nor shut up to be visited singly, but that He shall be exhibited to the
   view of all, and in every place, "As the lightning cometh out of the
   east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of
   Man be."

   Chrys.: As He had above described in what guise Antichrist should come,
   so here He describes how He Himself shall come. For as the lightning
   needeth none to herald or announce it, but is in an instant of time
   visible throughout the whole world, even to those that are sitting in
   their chambers, so the coming of Christ shall be seen every where at
   once, because of the brightness of His glory.

   Another sign He adds of His coming, "Wheresoever the body is, thither
   will the eagles be gathered together." The eagles denote the company of
   the Angels, Martyrs, and Saints.

   Jerome: By an instance from nature, which we daily see, we are
   instructed in a sacrament of Christ. Eagles and vultures are said to
   scent dead bodies even beyond sea, and to flock to feed upon them. If
   then birds, not having the gift of reason, by instinct alone find out
   where lays a dead body, separated by so great space of country, how
   much more ought the whole multitude of believers to hasten to Christ,
   whose lightning goeth forth out of the east, and shines even to the
   west? We may understand by the carcase here, or corpse [ptoma], which
   in the Latin is more expressively cadaver,' an allusion to the passion
   of Christ's death.

   Hilary: That we might not be ignorant of the place in which He should
   come, He adds this, "Wheresoever the carcase, &c." He calls the Saints
   "eagles," from the spiritual flight of their bodies, and shews that
   their gathering shall be to the place of His passion, the Angels
   guiding them thither; and rightly should we look for His coming in
   glory there, where He wrought for us eternal glory by the suffering of
   His bodily humiliation.

   Origen: And observe, He says not vultures or crows, but "eagles,"
   shewing the lordliness and royalty of all who have believed in the
   Lord's passion.

   Jerome: They are called eagles whose youth is renewed as the eagle's,
   and who take to themselves wings that they may come to Christ's
   passion. [marg. note: Ps 103:5, Isa 40:31]

   Greg., Mor. xxxi, 53: We may understand this, "Wheresoever the carcase
   is," as meaning, I who incarnate sit on the throne of heaven, as soon
   as I shall have loosed the souls of the elect from the flesh, will
   exalt them to heavenly places.

   Jerome: Or otherwise ; This may be understood of the false prophets. At
   the time of the Jewish captivity, there were many leaders who declared
   themselves to be Christs, [marg. note: Josephus, B. J., v. 1] so that
   while the Romans were actually besieging them, there were three
   factions within. But it is better taken as we expounded it above, of
   the end of the world.

   Thirdly, it may be understood of the warfare of the heretics against
   the Church, and of those Antichrists, who under pretext of false
   science, fight against Christ.

   Origen: The genus of Antichrist is one, the species many, just as all
   lies are of one sort. As all the holy Prophets were Prophets of the
   true Christ, so understand that each false Christ shall have his own
   false Prophets, who shall preach as true the false teachings of some
   Antichrist. When then one shall say, "Lo, here is Christ, or lo,
   there," we need not look abroad out of the Scriptures, for out of the
   Law, the Prophets, and the Apostles, they bring the things which seem
   to favour their lie.

   Or by this, "Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there," they shew that it was
   not Christ, but some impostor under the same title, such for example as
   Marcion, or Valentinus, or Basilides taught.

   Jerome: If then any one assert to you that Christ tarries in "the
   desert" of the Gentiles, or in the teaching of the Philosophers, or in
   "the secret chambers" of the heretics, who promise the hidden things of
   God, believe Him not, but believe that the Catholic Faith shines from
   "east to west" in the Churches.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 38: By the "east" and "west," He signifies the
   whole world, throughout which the Church should be. In the same way as
   He said below, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man coming in the
   clouds, of heaven," [Matt 26:64] so now He likens His coming to
   lightning, which uses to flash out of the clouds. When then the
   authority of the Church is set up clear and manifest throughout the
   whole world, He suitably warns His disciples that they should not
   believe schismatics and heretics. Each schism and heresy holds its own
   place, either occupying some important position in the earth, or
   ensnaring men's curiosity in obscure and remote conventicles.

   "Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there," refers to some district or province
   of the earth; "the secret chambers," or "the desert," signify the
   obscure and lurking conventicles of heretics.

   Jerome: Or by this, "in the desert," or "in the secret chambers," He
   means that in times of persecution and distress, the false Prophets
   always find place for deceiving.

   Origen: Or, when they allege secret and before unpublished Scriptures,
   in proof of their lie, they seem to say, Lo, the word of truth is in
   the desert. But when they produce canonical Scripture in which all
   Christians agree, they seem to say, Lo, the word of truth is in the
   chambers.

   Or wishing to point out such discourses as are altogether without
   Scripture, He said, "If they shall say to you, Lo, he is in the secret
   chambers, believe it not." Truth is like the "lightning that cometh out
   of the east, and shineth even unto the west."

   Or this may mean, that truth can be supported out of every passage of
   Scripture. The lightning of truth comes out of "the east," that is,
   from the first beginnings of Christ, and shines throughout even to His
   passion, which is His setting; or from the very beginning of creation,
   to the last Scripture of the Apostles.

   Or, "the east" is the Law, "the west" is the end of the Law, and of
   John's prophecy. The Church alone neither takes away word or meaning
   from this lightning, nor adds aught to its prophecy.

   Or He means that we should give no heed to those who say, "Lo, here is
   Christ," but shew Him not in the Church, in which alone is the coming
   or the Son of Man, who said, "Lo, I am with you, always even to the end
   of the world." [Matt 28:20]

   Jerome: We are invited to flock to Christ's passion wheresoever in
   Scripture it read of, that through it we may be able to come to God's
   word.
     __________________________________________________________________

   29. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
   darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
   fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

   30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and
   then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn."
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   Gloss., non occ.: As soon as the Lord has fortified the believers
   against the arts of Antichrist and his ministers, by shewing that His
   coming would be public, He proceeds to shew the order and method of His
   coming.

   Chrys.: By the tribulation, He means the times of Antichrist and the
   false Prophets; for when there are so many deceivers, the tribulation
   will be great. But it shall not extend through any great length of
   time. For if for the elect's sake the Jewish war is shortened, much
   more shall this tribulation be shortened for their sakes; for which
   reason He said not "After," but "Immediately after," for He shall come
   immediately after.

   Hilary: The darkening of the sun, the failing of the moon, and the fall
   of the stars, indicate the glories of His coming.

   Origen: One will say, As at the breaking out of great conflagrations,
   great darkness is at the first caused by the smoke, so when the world
   shall be consumed by fire, which shall be kindled, even the great
   luminaries shall be darkened; and when the light of the stars is
   decayed, the rest of their substance, incapable of exaltation, shall
   fall from heaven into what it was, when it was first raised aloft by
   the light.

   When this shall have taken place, it follows that the rational heavenly
   powers shall suffer dismay and derangement, and shall be suspended from
   their functions. "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in
   heaven," that sign by which the heavenly things were made, that is, the
   power which the Son wrought when He hung upon the cross. And the sign
   shall appear in heaven, that men of all tribes who before had not
   believed Christianity when preached, then by that sign, acknowledging
   it as made plain, shall grieve and mourn for their ignorance and sins.

   Others will think otherwise, that as the light of a lamp dies away by
   degrees, so when the supply of the heavenly luminaries shall fail, the
   sun shall be darkened, and the moon and the light of the stars shall
   grow dim, and that which in their composition is earthy shall fall from
   heaven. But how can it be said of the sun that its light shall be
   darkened, when Esaias the Prophet declares, that in the end of the
   world, there shall be light proceeding forth from the sun? [Isa 30:26]

   And of the moon he declares that it shall be as the sun. But concerning
   the stars, there are some that endeavour to convince us that all, or
   many of them, are larger than the whole earth. How then shall they fall
   from heaven, when this earth would not be large enough to contain them?

   Jerome: These things, therefore, shall not come to pass by any
   diminution of light, for in another place we read that the light of the
   sun shall be sevenfold; but by comparison with real light, all things
   shall seem dim.

   Raban.: But nothing hinders our supposing that the sun and moon with
   the other stars shall for a time lose their light, as we know did the
   sun at the time of the Lord's passion; as Joel also says, "The sun
   shall be turned into darkness, and the moon blood, before the great and
   manifest day of the Lord come." [Joel 2:31]

   But when the day of judgment is passed, and the life of future glory
   shall dawn, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, then shall
   that come to pass of which Isaiah speaks, "The light of the moon shall
   be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be
   sevenfold. The stars shall fall from heaven," [Isa 30:26] is expressed
   in Mark; "There shall be stars falling from heaven," [Mark 13:25] that
   is, lacking their proper light.

   Jerome: "By the powers of heaven," we understand the bands of the
   Angels.

   Chrys.: Very fitly shall they be shaken and dismayed, seeing so mighty
   a change being wrought, their fellow-servants punished, and the
   universe standing before a terrible tribunal.

   Origen: But as, at the dispensation of the Cross, the sun was eclipsed,
   and darkness was spread over the earth; so when the sign of the Son of
   Man appears in heaven, the light of the sun, moon, and stars, shall
   fail, as though waning before the might of that sign. This we
   understand to be the sign of the cross, that the Jews. may see, as
   Zacharias and John speak, "Him whom they have pierced," [Zech 12:10,
   John 19:37] and the sign of victory.

   Chrys.: But because the sun will be darkened, the cross would not be
   seen, if it were not far brighter than the rays of the sun. That the
   disciples might not be ashamed, and grieve over the cross, He speaks of
   it as a sign, with a kind of distinction. The sign of the cross will
   appear to overthrow the shamelessness of the Jews, when Christ shall
   appear in the judgment, shewing not only His wounds, but His most
   ignominious death, "And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn."
   For when they shall see the cross, they shall bethink them how they
   have gained nought by His death, and that they have crucified Him whom
   they ought to have worshipped.

   Jerome: Rightly does He say, "the tribes of the earth," for they shall
   mourn who have no citizenship in heaven, but are written in earth. [Jer
   17:13]

   Origen: Morally, one may say that the sun, which shall be darkened, is
   the Devil, who shall be convicted in the end of the world, that whereas
   he is darkness, he has feigned himself to be the sun; the moon, which
   seems to receive its light from this sun, is the Church of the wicked,
   which professes to have and to give light, but then convicted with its
   sinful dogmas, shall lose its brightness; and all those who, either by
   false teaching, or false virtues, promised truth to men, but led them
   astray by lies, these are fitly called stars falling from, so to say,
   their own heaven, where they were raised on high, exalting themselves
   against the knowledge of God.

   For illustration of this discourse, we may apply that place in
   Proverbs, which says, "The light of the just is unquenchable, but the
   light of the wicked shall be quenched." [Prov 4:18] Then the brightness
   of God shall appear in every one who has borne the image of the
   heavenly; and they of heaven shall rejoice, but they of earth shall
   lament.

   Aug., Ep. 199, 39: Or, the Church is the sun, moon, and stars, to which
   it is said, "Fair as the moon, bright as the sun. Then shall the sun be
   darkened, and the moon shall not give her light," [Song of Songs 6:10]
   because in that ungoverned fury of wicked persecutors, the Church shall
   not be seen.

   "Then shall the stars fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall
   be shaken," because many, who seemed to be shining in God's grace,
   shall give way to their persecutors, and shall fall, and even the
   stoutest believers shall be shaken. And these things shall be "after
   the tribulation of those days," not because they shall happen when the
   whole persecution is overpast, but because the tribulation shall be
   first, that the falling away may come after. And because it shall be so
   throughout all those days, it shall be "after the tribulation of those
   days," yet on those very days.
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   [30] "And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
   with power and great glory."
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   Chrys.: He adds this, that having heard of the cross, they should not
   now imagine a similar degradation.

   Aug., Ep. 199, 41: The first and most apparent meaning of this is of
   that time when He shall come to judge the quick and the dead in His
   body -- that body in which He sits at the right hand of the Father, in
   which He died and rose again and ascended into heaven. As we read in
   the Acts of the Apostles; "He was taken up, and a cloud received Him
   out their sight," [Acts 1:9] upon which it was said by the Angels, "He
   shall so come as ye have seen Him go into heaven," we may reasonably
   believe that He will come again, not only in the same body, but also in
   a cloud.

   Origen: Therefore shall they see with the bodily eyes the Son of Man,
   coming in human shape, "in the clouds of heaven," that is, on high. As
   at the transfiguration, a voice came out of the cloud, so when He shall
   come again transformed into His glorious appearance, it shall be not on
   one cloud, but upon many, which shall be His chariot. And if when the
   Son of God went up to Jerusalem, they who loved Him spread their
   garments in the way, not willing that even the ass that carried Him
   should tread upon the earth; what wonder, if the Father and God of all
   should spread the clouds of heaven under the body of the Son, when He
   comes to the work of the consummation?

   And one may say, that as in the creation of man, God took clay from the
   earth and made man; so to manifest the glory of Christ, the Lord taking
   of the heaven, and of its substance, gave it a body of a bright cloud
   in the Transfiguration, and of bright clouds at the Consummation;
   wherefore it is here said, "in the clouds of heaven," as it was there
   said, "of the clay of the ground." [Gen 2:7]

   And it behoves the Father to give all such admirable gifts to the Son,
   because He humbled Himself; and He has also exalted Him, not only
   spiritually, but bodily, that He should come upon such clouds; and
   perhaps upon rational clouds, that even the chariot of the glorified
   Son of Man should not be irrational.

   At the first, Jesus came with that power with which He wrought signs
   and wonders in the people; yet was that power little in comparison of
   that great power with which He shall come in the end; for that was the
   power of one emptying Himself of power. And also, it is fitting that He
   should be transformed into greater glory than at the transfiguration on
   the mount; for then He was transfigured for the sake of three only, but
   in the consummation of the whole world, He shall appear in great glory,
   that all may see Him in glory.

   Aug.: But because the Scriptures are to be searched, and we are not to
   content ourselves with the surface of them, let us look closely at what
   follows, "When ye see all these things come to pass, know that he is
   near even at the door." We know then that He is near, when we see come
   to pass not any of the foregoing things, but all of them, among which
   is this that the Son of Man shall be seen coming. "And he shall send
   his Angels," who from the four quarters of the world shall gather
   together His elect.

   All these things He does at "the last hour" [1 John 2:18] coming in His
   members as in the clouds, or in the whole Church as in one great cloud,
   as now He ceases not to come. And "with great power and glory," because
   His power and glory will seem greater in the Saints to whom He will
   give great power, that they may not be overcome of persecution.

   Origen: Or He comes every day "with great power" to the mind of the
   believer in the clouds of prophecy, that is, in the Scriptures of the
   Prophets and the Apostles, who utter the word of God with a meaning
   above human nature.

   Also we say that to those who understand He comes with "great glory,"
   and that this is the more seen in the second coming of the Word which
   is to the perfect. And so it may be, that all which the three
   Evangelists have said concerning Christ's coming, if carefully compared
   together and thoroughly examined, would be found to apply to His
   continual daily coming in His body, which is the Church, of which
   coming He said in another place, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of
   Man. sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the
   clouds of heaven," [Matt 26:6] excepting those places in which He
   promises that His last coming in His own person.
     __________________________________________________________________

   31. "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
   they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end
   of heaven to the other."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Because He had spoken of mourning, which shall be only that
   they may bear witness against themselves and condemn themselves, that
   none should suppose that that mourning will end their woes, He now
   adds, "And he shall send his Angels with a trump and a loud voice."

   Remig.: Here we are not to think of a real trumpet, but of the voice of
   the archangel, which shall be so loud that at its sound all the dead
   shall rise out of the dust of the earth.

   Chrys.: The sound of the trump refers to the resurrection, and the
   rejoicing, and to represent the astonishment which shall be then, and
   the woe of those that shall be left, and shall not be snatched up into
   the clouds.

   Origen: It is written in Numbers, that the Priests shall summon by the
   sound of the trumpet from the four winds those who are of the camp of
   Israel [Num 10:3], and it is in allusion to this that Christ speaks
   here of the Angels, "And they shall gather together the elect from the
   four winds."

   Remig.: That is, from the four quarters of the world, north, south,
   east, and west.

   Origen: Some of little discernment think, that only those who shall
   then be found in the body shall be gathered together, but it is better
   to say that the Angels of Christ shall then gather together not only
   all who from the coming of Christ to the end of the world have been
   called and chosen, but all from the foundation of the world, who like
   Abraham have seen the day of Christ and rejoiced therein. [marg. note:
   John 8:56] And that He here means not only those that shall be found in
   the body, but those also who have quitted the body, the following words
   shew, "from one end of heaven to the other," which cannot be meant of
   any one upon earth,

   Or, the heavens are the divine Scriptures and their authors [marg.
   note: al. autoritates] in which God dwells. "One end of heaven" is the
   beginning of the Scriptures, "the other" end is their conclusion. The
   saints there are gathered together "from one end of heaven," that is,
   from those that live in the beginning of the Scriptures to those who
   live in the ends of them. They shall be gathered together "with a trump
   and a loud voice," that they who bear and attend may prepare themselves
   for that way of perfection which leads to the Son of God.

   Remig.: Or otherwise; Lest any one should suppose that they should be
   gathered only from the four quarters of the world, and not from the
   middle regions, He adds this, "And from one end of heaven to the
   other." By the heights of heaven meaning the central regions of the
   earth, which are under the heights of heaven; and by the ends of
   heaven, meaning the extreme parts of the earth, where the land seems to
   join a very wide and distant horizon.

   Chrys.: That the Lord calls His elect by His Angels pertains to the
   honour of the elect; and Paul also says "that they shall be caught into
   the clouds;" [1 Thes 4:17] that is, the Angels shall gather together
   those that have risen, and when they are gathered together, the clouds
   shall receive them.
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   32. "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet
   tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

   33. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is
   near, even at the doors.

   34. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all
   these things be fulfilled.

   35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
   away."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. lxxvii: Because He had said that these things should come
   to pass "immediately after the tribulation of those days," they might
   ask, How long time hence, He therefore gives them an instance in the
   fig.

   Jerome: As much as to say, When the tender shoots first shew themselves
   in the stem of the fig tree, and the bud bursts into flower, and the
   bark puts forth leaves, ye perceive the approach of summer and the
   season of spring and growth; so when ye shall see all these things that
   are written, do not suppose that the end of the world is immediate, but
   that certain monitory signs and precursors are shewing its approach.

   Chrys.: He shews that the interval of time shall not be great, but that
   the coming of Christ will be presently. By the comparison of the tree
   He signifies the spiritual summer and peace that the just shall enjoy
   after their winter, while sinners on the other hand shall have a winter
   after summer.

   Origen: As the fig has its vital powers torpid within it through the
   season of winter, but when that is past its branches become tender by
   those very powers and put forth leaves; so the world and all those who
   are saved had before Christ's coming their vital energies dormant
   within them as in a season of winter. Christ's Spirit breathing upon
   them makes the branches of their hearts soft and tender, and that which
   was dormant within burgeons into leaf, and makes shew of fruit. To such
   the summer and the coming of the glory of the Word of God is nigh at
   hand.

   Chrys.: This analogy also adds credit to His foregoing discourse; for
   wherever He speaks of what must by all means come to pass, Christ ever
   brings forward parallel physical laws.

   Aug., Ep. 199, 22: That now from the Evangelic and Prophetic signs that
   we see come to pass, we ought to look that the Lord's coming should be
   nigh, who is there that denies? For daily it draws ever more and more
   near, but of the exact time it is said, "It is not for you to know the
   times or the seasons." [Acts 1:7] See how long ago the Apostle said,
   "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." [Rom 13:11] What
   he spoke was not false, and yet how many years have elapsed, how much
   more may we not say that the Lord's coming is at hand now, that so
   great an accession of time has been made?

   Hilary: Mystically; The Synagogue is likened to the fig tree; [ed.
   note: See above on chap xxi, 19] its branch is Antichrist, the son of
   the Devil, the portion of sin, the maintainer of the law; when this
   shall begin to swell and to put forth leaves, then summer is nigh, i.e.
   the approach of the day of judgment shall be perceived.

   Remig.: Or, when this fig shall again bud, that is, when the synagogue
   shall receive the word of holy preaching, as the preaching of Enoch and
   Elias, then we ought to understand that the day of the consummation is
   at hand.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 39: Or, by the fig tree understand the human
   race, by reason of the temptations of the flesh. "When its branch is
   tender," i.e. when the sons of men through faith in Christ have
   progressed towards spiritual fruits, and the honour of their adoption
   to be the sons of God has shone forth in them.

   Hilary: To give sure credit to the things which should come to pass He
   adds, "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away until
   all these things be fulfilled." By saying "Verily," He gives
   asseveration to the truth.

   Origen: The uninstructed refer the words to the destruction of
   Jerusalem, and suppose them to have been said of that generation which
   saw Christ's death, that it should not pass away before the city should
   be destroyed. But I doubt that they would succeed in thus expounding
   every word from that, "one stone shall not be left upon another," to
   that, "it is even at the door;" in some perhaps they would succeed, in
   others not altogether.

   Chrys.: All these things therefore mean what was said of the end of
   Jerusalem, of the false prophets, and the false Christs, and all the
   rest which shall happen down to the time of Christ's coming, That He
   said, "This generation," He meant not of the men then living, but of
   the generation of the faithful; for so Scripture uses to speak of
   generations, not of time only, but of place, life, and conversation; as
   it is said, "This, is the generation of them that seek the Lord." [Ps
   24:6]

   Herein He teaches that Jerusalem shall perish, and the greater part of
   the Jews be destroyed, but that no trial shall overthrow the generation
   of the faithful.

   Origen: Yet shall the generation of the Church survive the whole of
   this world, that it may inherit the world to come, yet it shall not
   pass away until all these things have come to pass. But when all these
   shall have been fulfilled, then not the earth only but the heavens also
   shall pass away; that is, not only the men whose life is earthly, and
   who are therefore called the earth, but also they whose conversation is
   in heaven, and who are therefore called the heaven; these "shall pass
   away" to things to come, that they may come to better things.

   But the words spoken by the Saviour shall not pass away, because they
   effect and shall ever effect their purpose; but the perfect and they
   that admit no further improvement, passing through what they are, come
   to that which they are not; and this is that, "My words shall not pass
   away." And perhaps the words of Moses and the Prophets have passed
   away, because all that they prophesied has been fulfilled; but the
   words of Christ are always complete, daily fulfilling and to be
   fulfilled in the saints. Or perhaps we ought not to say that the words
   of Moses and the Prophets are once for all fulfilled; seeing they also
   are the words of the Son of God, and are fulfilled continually.

   Jerome: Or, by "generation" here He means the whole human race, and the
   Jews in particular. And He adds, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
   my words shall not pass away," to confirm their faith in what has gone
   before; as though He had said, it is easier to destroy things solid and
   immovable, than that aught should fail of my words.

   Hilary: For heaven and earth have in their constitution no necessity of
   existence, but Christ's words derived from eternity have in them such
   virtue that they must needs abide.

   Jerome: The heaven and the earth shall pass away by a change, not by
   annihilation; for how should the "sun be darkened, and the moon not
   give her light," if earth and heaven in which these are should be no
   more?

   Raban.: The heaven which shall pass away is not the starry [marg. note:
   sidereum] but the atmospheric [marg. note: aereum] heaven which of old
   was destroyed by the deluge.

   Chrys.: He brings forward the elements of the earth to shew that the
   Church is of more value than either heaven or earth, and that He is
   Maker of all things. [marg. note: 2 Pet 3:5]
     __________________________________________________________________

   36. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of
   heaven, but my Father only.

   37. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of
   man be.

   38. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
   drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
   entered into the ark,

   39. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall
   also the coming of the Son of man be.

   40. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the
   other left.

   41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,
   and the other left."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Lord having described all the tokens that shall precede His
   coming, and brought His discourse to the very doors, yet would not name
   the day; "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels Of
   heaven, but my Father only."

   Jerome: In some Latin copies is added here, "neither the Son:" but in
   the Greek copies, and particularly those of Adamantius and Pierius, it
   is not found. [ed. note: The addition is found in a very few Greek
   MSS., and ancient versions, in Chrys. and Theophylact. It is in the Old
   Italic version, and is acknowledged by Hilary, Ambrose, and
   Pseudo-Chrys.; but the preponderance of evidence is greatly against it,
   and it is not admitted into the text of the G. T. by any editors. It
   probably crept in from the parallel passage in S. Mark. Adamantius is a
   surname of Origen. Pierius was a presbyter of Alexandria in the third
   century, whose learning occasioned him to be styled Origen the
   younger.'] But because it is read in some, it seems to require our
   notice.

   Remig.: And Mark has the addition. [Mark 13:32]

   Jerome: Whereat Arius and Eunomius rejoice greatly; for say they, He
   who knows and He who is ignorant cannot be both equal. Against these we
   answer shortly; Seeing that Jesus, that is, The Word of God, made all
   times, (for "By him all things were made, and without him was not any
   thing made that was made, [1 John 1:3]) and that the day of judgment
   must be in all time, by what reasoning can He who knows the whole be
   shewn to be ignorant of a part?

   This we will further say; Which is the greater, the knowledge of the
   Father, or the knowledge of the judgment? If He knows the greater, how
   can He be ignorant of the less?

   Hilary: And has indeed God the Father denied the knowledge of that day
   to the Son, when He has declared, "All things are committed to me of my
   Father?" [Luke 10:22] but if any thing has been denied, all things are
   not committed to Him.

   Jerome: Having then shewn that the Son of God cannot be ignorant of the
   day of the consummation, we must now show a cause why He should be said
   to be ignorant. When after the resurrection He is demanded concerning
   this day by the Apostles, He answers more openly; "It is not for you to
   know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own
   power." [Acts 1:7] Wherein He shews that Himself knows, but that it was
   not expedient for the Apostles to know, that being in uncertainty of
   the coming of their Judge, they should live every day as though they
   were to be judged that day.

   Aug., de Trin., i, 12: When He says here, "Knows not," He means, makes
   others not to know;' i.e. He knew not then, so as to tell His
   disciples; as it was said to Abraham, "Now I know that thou fearest
   God;" [Gen 22:19] i.e. Now have I caused that thou shouldest know,'
   because by the temptation he came to know himself.

   Aug., Serm., 97, 1: That He says that the "Father knoweth," implies
   that in the Father the Son also knows. For what can there be in time
   which was not made by the Word, seeing that time itself was made by the
   Word!

   Aug., Lib. 83, Quaest. Q60: That the Father alone knows may be well
   understood in the above-mentioned manner of knowing, that He makes the
   Son to know; but the Son is said not to know, because be does not make
   men to know.

   Origen: Otherwise; So long as the Church which is Christ's body knows
   not that day and hour, so long the Son Himself is said not to know that
   day and hour. The word "know" is used according to its proper usual
   meaning in Scripture. The Apostle speaks of Christ, as "him who knew no
   sin," [1 Cor 5:21] i.e. sinned not. The knowledge of that day and hour
   the Son reserves in store for the fellow-heirs of the promise, that all
   may know at once, i.e. in the day when it shall come upon them, "what
   things God hath prepared for them that love him." [1 Cor 2:9]

   Raban.: I have read also in some one's book, that "the Son" here is not
   to be taken of the Only-begotten, but of the adopted, for that He would
   not have put the Angels before the Only-begotten Son, saying, "Not the
   Angels of heaven, neither the Son." [ed. note: See further on this
   Passage, Hil. de Trin. ix. 58, cited in the Catena on Mark, xiii. 32,
   and Basil adv. Eunom. iv.]

   Aug., Ep. 199, 16: The Gospel then says, "Of that day and hour knoweth
   no man;" but you say, That neither the month nor the year of His coming
   can be known. This exactness of yours up to this point seems as if you
   meant that the year could not be known, but that the week or the decade
   of years might be known, as though it was possible to fix or assign it
   to some seven, ten, or a hundred, or some number of years more or less.
   If you allow that you cannot so limit it, you think with me.

   Chrys.: That you may perceive that it is not owing to ignorance that He
   is silent of the day and hour of the judgment, He brings forward
   another token, "As it was in the days of Noe, so shall the coming of
   the Son of Man be." By this He means that He shall come sudden and
   unlooked for, and while men are taking their pleasure; of which Paul
   also speaks, "When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden
   destruction cometh upon them." [1 Thess 5:3]

   Raban: Marriage and meats in themselves are not here condemned, as the
   error of Marcion and Manicheaus teaches; for in the one the
   continuation of the species, in the other that of life, depends; but
   what is reproved is all unrestrained use of things lawful.

   Jerome: It is asked here, how it was said above, "Nation shall rise
   against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, &c." when here only tokens
   of peace are spoken of as what shall be then? We must suppose, that
   after the wars and the other miseries which shall waste the human race,
   shall follow a short peace, offering rest and quiet to approve the
   faith of the believers.

   Chrys.: Or, To such as are thoughtlessly disposed, it shall be a time
   of peace and enjoyment; as the Apostle said not, When there shall be
   peace,' but "When they shall say, Peace and safety," shewing their
   insensibility to be such as was theirs in the days of Noe, when the
   wicked, and not the good, indulged themselves, but their end was sorrow
   and tribulation. This shews also, that when Antichrist shall come,
   those who are wicked, and despair of their salvation, shall run into
   illicit pleasures; therefore He chooses an instance suitable. For while
   the ark was building, Noe preached among them, foretelling the evils
   that should come; but those wicked giving no heed to him, wantoned as
   though no evil should ever come; so now, because many would not believe
   things future, He makes credible what He says from what has happened.

   Another token He gives to shew how unexpectedly that day shall come,
   and that He is not ignorant of the day, "Then two shall be in the
   field, one shall be taken and the other left." These words shew that
   masters and servants, they that work, and they that work not, shall be
   taken or left alike.

   Hilary: Or, the two in the field, are the two people of believers and
   unbelievers, whom the day of the Lord shall overtake, as it were in the
   labours of this life. And they shall be separated, one being taken and
   the other left; this shews the separation that shall be between
   believers and unbelievers; when God's wrath is kindled, the saints
   shall be gathered into His garner, and the unbelievers shall be left as
   fuel for the fire from heaven. The same is the account to be given of
   that, "Two shall be grinding at the mill." The mill is the work of the
   Law, but as some of the Jews believed through the Apostles, so some
   shall believe through Elias, and be justified through faith; and one
   part shall be taken through this same faith of good works, the other
   part shall be left unfruitful in the work of the Law, grinding in vain,
   and never to produce the bread of heavenly food.

   Jerome: Or, "Two men in one field" shall be found performing the same
   labour, sowing corn together, but not reaping the same fruit of their
   labour. The two "grinding together" we may understand either of the
   Synagogue and the Church, which seem to grind together in the Law, and
   to make of the same Scriptures meal of the commandments of God; or of
   other heresies, which out of both or one Testament, seem to grind meal
   of their own doctrines.

   Hilary:; The "two in one bed" are those who preach alike the Lord's
   rest after His passion, about which heretics and catholics have the
   same confession; but because the Catholic Faith preaches the unity of
   the Godhead of the Father and the Son, and the false creed of the
   heretics impugns that, therefore shall the Divine judgment decide
   between the confession of these two by taking one and leaving the
   other.

   Remig.: Or, these words denote three orders in the Church. "The two men
   in the field" denote the order of preachers [marg. note:
   praedicatores], to whom is committed the field of the Church; by "the
   two grinding at the mill," the order of the married priests [marg.
   note: conjugati], who while with a divided heart they are called first
   to one side, then to the other, do, as it were, ever turn round a mill;
   by "the two in one bed," the order of the continent [marg. note:
   continentes], whose repose is signified by the bed. But in all these
   orders are good and bad, righteous and unrighteous, so that some shall
   be taken, and some left.

   Origen: Or otherwise; The body is laid as sick on the bed of carnal
   passions, the soul grinds in the mill of this world, and the bodily
   senses labour in the field of the world.
     __________________________________________________________________

   42. "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

   43. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what
   watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have
   suffered his house to be broken up.

   44. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the
   Son of Man cometh."
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   Jerome: Having declared that "of that hour knoweth no man, but the
   Father only," He shews that it was not expedient for the Apostles to
   know, that being ignorant they might live in perpetual expectation of
   His coming, and thus concluding the whole, He says, "Watch therefore,
   &c." And He does not say, Because we know not,' but "Because ye know
   not," shewing that He Himself is not ignorant of the day of judgment.

   Chrys.: He would have them ever ready, and therefore He says, "Watch."

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., ii, 3: To watch is to keep the eyes open, and
   looking out for the true light, to do and to observe that which one
   believes, to cast away the darkness of sloth and negligence.

   Origen: Those of more plain understanding say, that He spoke this of
   His second coming; but others would say that it applies to an
   intellectual coming of the word into the understanding of the
   disciples, for as yet He was not in their understanding as He was to
   be.

   Aug., Ep. 199, 3: He said this "Watch," not to those only who heard Him
   speak at the time, but to those who came after them, and to us, and to
   all who shall be after us, until His second coming, for it touches all
   in a manner. That day comes to each one of us, when it comes to him to
   go out of the world, such as he shall be judged, and therefore ought
   every Christian to watch that the Lord's coming may not find him
   unprepared; and he will be unprepared for the day of His coming, whom
   the last day of his life shall find unprepared.

   Aug., non occ.: Foolish are all they, who either profess to know the
   day of the end of the world, when it is to come, or even the end of
   their own life, which no one can know unless be is illuminated by the
   Holy Spirit.

   Jerome: And by the instance of the master of the household, He teaches
   more plainly why He keeps secret the day of the consummation.

   Origen: "The master of the household" is the understanding, "the house"
   is the soul, "the thief" is the Devil. The thief is also every contrary
   doctrine which enters the soul of the unwary by other than the natural
   entrance, breaking into the house, and pulling down the soul's natural
   fences, that is, the natural powers of understanding, it enters the
   breach, and spoils the soul.

   Sometimes one takes the thief in the act of breaking in, and seizing
   him, stabs him with a word, and slays him. And the thief comes not in
   the day-time, when the soul of the thoughtful man is illuminated with
   the Sun of righteousness, but in the night, that is, in the time of
   prevailing wickedness; in which, when one is plunged, it is possible,
   though he have not the power of the sun, that he may be illuminated by
   some rays from the Word, as from a lamp; continuing still in evil, yet
   having a better purpose, and watchfulness, that this his purpose should
   not be broken through.

   Or in time of temptation, or of any calamities, is the time when the
   thief is most found to come, seeking to break through the house of the
   soul.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xiii, 5: Or, the thief breaks into the house
   through the neglect of the master of the house, when the spirit has
   slept upon its post of guard, and death has come in unawares into the
   dwelling house of our flesh, and finding the lord of the house
   sleeping, slays him; that is, the spirit, little providing for coming
   evils, is taken off unprepared, to punishment, by death.

   But if he had watched be would have been secure from the thief; that
   is, looking forward to the coming of the Judge, who takes our lives
   unawares, be would meet Him with penitence, and not perish impenitent.
   And the Lord would therefore have the last hour unknown, that it might
   always be in suspense, and that being unable to foresee it, we might
   never be unprepared for it.

   Chrys.: In this He rebukes such as have less care for their souls, than
   they have of guarding their money against an expected thief.
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   45. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made
   ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

   46. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so
   doing.

   47. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his
   goods.

   48. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord
   delayeth his coming;

   49. And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink
   with the drunken;

   50. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not
   for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

   51. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
   hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
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   Hilary: Though the Lord had given above a general exhortation to all in
   common to unwearied vigilance, yet He adds a special charge to the
   rulers of the people, that is, the Bishops, of watchfulness in looking
   for His coming. Such He calls a faithful servant, and wise master of
   the household, careful for the needs and interests of the people
   entrusted to Him.

   Chrys.: That He says, "Whom think ye is that faithful and wise
   servant," does not imply ignorance, for even the Father we find asking
   a question, as that, "Adam, where art thou?" [Gen 3:9]

   Remig.: Nor yet does it imply the impossibility of attaining perfect
   virtue, but only the difficulty.

   Gloss., ord.: For rare indeed is such "faithful" servant serving his
   Master for his Master's sake, feeding Christ's sheep not for lucre but
   for love of Christ, "skilled" to discern the abilities, the life, and
   the manner of those put under him, whom "the Lord sets over," that is,
   who is called of God, and has not thrust himself in.

   Chrys.: He requires two things of such servant, fidelity and prudence;
   He calls him "faithful," because be appropriates to himself none of his
   Lord's goods, and wastes nought idly and unprofitably. He calls him
   "prudent," as knowing on what he ought to lay out the things committed
   to him.

   Origen: Or, he that makes progress in the faith, though he is not yet
   perfect in it, is ordinarily called "faithful," and he who has natural
   quickness of intellect is called "prudent." And whoever observes will
   find many faithful, and zealous in their belief, but not at the same
   time prudent; "for God hath chosen the foolish things of the world." [1
   Cor 1:27]

   Others again he will see who are quick and prudent but of weak faith;
   for the union of faith and prudence in the same man is most rare. To
   give food in due season calls for prudence in a man; not to take away
   the food of the needy requires faithfulness. And this the literal sense
   obliges us to, that we be faithful in dispersing the revenues of the
   Church, that we devour not that which belongs to the widows, that we
   remember the poor, and that we do not take occasion from what is
   written, "The Lord hath ordained, that they which preach the Gospel
   should live of the Gospel," [1 Cor 9:14] to seek more than plain food
   and necessary clothing, or to keep more for ourselves than we give to
   those who suffer want. And that we be prudent, to understand the cases
   of them that are in need, whence they come to be so, what has been the
   education and what are the necessities of each.

   It needs much prudence to distribute fairly the revenues of the Church.
   Also let the servant be faithful and prudent, that he lavish not the
   intellectual and spiritual food upon those whom he ought not, but
   dispense according as each has need; to one is more behoveful that word
   which shall edify his behaviour, and guide his practice, than that
   which sheds a ray of science; but to others who can pierce more deeply
   let him not fail to expound the deeper things, lest if he set before
   them common things only, he be despised by such as have naturally
   keener understandings, or have been sharpened by the discipline of
   worldly learning.

   Chrys.: This parable may be also fitted to the case of secular rulers;
   for each ought to employ the things he has to the common benefit, and
   not to the hurt of his fellow-servants, nor to his own ruin; whether it
   be wisdom or dominion, or whatever else be has.

   Raban.: The "lord" is Christ, the "household" over which He appoints is
   the Church Catholic. It is hard then to find one man who is both
   "faithful and wise," but not impossible; for He would not pronounce a
   blessing on a character that could never be, as when He adds, "Blessed
   is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing."

   Hilary: That is, obedient to his Lord's command, by the seasonableness
   of his teaching dispensing the word of life to a household which is to
   be nourished for the food of eternity.

   Remig.: It should be observed, that as there is great difference of
   desert between good preachers and good hearers, so is there great
   difference between their rewards. The good hearers, if He finds them
   watching He will make to sit down to meat, as Luke speaks; but the good
   preachers "He will set over all His goods."

   Origen: That he may reign with Christ, to whom the Father has committed
   all that is His. And as the son of a good father set over all that is
   his, He shall communicate of His dignity and glory to His faithful and
   wise stewards, that they also may be above the whole creation.

   Raban.: Not that they only, but that they before others, shall be
   rewarded as well for their own lives as for their superintendence of
   the flock.

   Hilary: Or, "shall set him over all his goods," that is, shall place
   him in the glory of God, because beyond this is nothing better.

   Chrys.: And He instructs His hearer not only by the honour which awaits
   the good, but by the punishment which threatens the wicked, adding, "If
   that evil servant shall say in his heart, &c."

   Aug., Ep. 199, 1: The temper of this servant is shewn in his behaviour,
   which is thus expressed by his good Master; his tyranny, "and shall
   begin to beat his fellow servants," his sensuality, "and to eat and
   drink with the drunken." So that when be said, "My Lord delayeth His
   coming," he is not to be supposed to speak from desire to see the Lord,
   such as was that of him who said, ?My soul is athirst for the living
   God; when shall I come?" [Ps 42:2] This shews that he was grieved at
   the delay, seeing that what was hastening towards him seemed to his
   longing desires to be coming slowly.

   Origen: And every Bishop, who ministers not as a fellow servant, but
   rules by might as a master, and often an harsh one, sins against God;
   also if he does not cherish the needy, but feasts with the drunken, and
   is continually slumbering because his Lord cometh not till after long
   time.

   Raban.: Typically, we may understand his beating his fellow servants,
   of offending the consciences of the weak by word, or by evil example.

   Jerome: "The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
   not for Him," is to rouse the stewards to watchfulness and carefulness.
   "He shall cut him in sunder," is not to be understood of execution by
   the sword, but that he shall sever him from the company of the saints.

   Origen: Or, "He shall cut him in sunder," when his spirit, that is, his
   spiritual gift, shall return to God who gave it; but his soul shall go
   with his body into hell. But the righteous man is not cut in sunder,
   but his soul, with his spirit, that is, with his gift, spiritual enters
   into the kingdom of heaven. They that are cut in sunder have in them
   thenceforth no part of that spiritual gift which was from God, but
   there remains to them that part which was their own, that is, their
   soul, which shall be punished with their body.

   Jerome: "And shall appoint him his portion with the hypocrites," with
   those, namely, that were in the field, and grinding at the mill, and
   were nevertheless left. For as we often say that the hypocrite is one
   who is one thing, and passes himself for another; so in the field and
   at the mill he seemed to be doing the same as others, but the event
   proved that his purpose was different.

   Raban.: Or, "appoints him his portion with the hypocrites," that is, a
   twofold share of punishment, that of fire and frost; to the fire
   belongs the "weeping," to the frost the "gnashing of teeth." [ed. note:
   See above on chap. viii, 12]

   Origen: Or, there shall be "weeping" for such as have laughed amiss in
   this world, "gnashing of teeth" for those who have enjoyed an
   irrational peace. For being unwilling to suffer bodily pain, now the
   torture forces their teeth to chatter, with which they have eaten the
   bitterness of wickedness. From this we may learn that the Lord sets
   over His household not the faithful and wise only, but the wicked also;
   and that it will not save them to have been set over His household, but
   only if they have given them their food in due season, and have
   abstained from beating and drunkenness.

   Aug., Ep. 199, in fin.: Putting aside this wicked servant, who, there
   is no doubt, hates his Master's coming, let us set before our eyes
   these good servants, who anxiously expect their Lord's coming. One
   looks for His coming sooner, another later, the third confesses his
   ignorance of the matter.

   Let us see which is most agreeable to the Gospel. One says, Let us
   watch and pray, because the Lord will quickly come; another, Let us
   watch and pray, because this life is short and uncertain, though the
   Lord's coming may be distant; and the third, Let us watch, because this
   life is short and uncertain, and we know not the time when the Lord
   will come. What else does this man say than what we hear the Gospel
   say, "Watch, because ye know not the hour in which the Lord shall
   come?" All indeed, through longing for the kingdom, desire that that
   should be true which the first thinks, and if it should so come to
   pass, the second and third would rejoice with him; but if it should not
   come to pass, it were to be feared that the belief of its supporters
   might be shaken by the delay, and they might begin to think that the
   Lord's coming shall be, not remote, but never. He who believes with the
   second that the Lord's coming is distant will not be shaken in faith,
   but will receive an unlooked for joy. He who confesses his ignorance
   which of these is true, wishes for the one, is resigned to the other,
   but errs in neither, because he neither affirms or denies either.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 25

   1. "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which
   took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

   2. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

   3. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

   4. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

   5. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

   6. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh;
   go ye out to meet him.

   7. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

   8. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our
   lamps are gone out.

   9. But the wise answered saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for
   us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

   10. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were
   ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

   11. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to
   us.

   12. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

   13. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein
   the Son of man cometh."
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   Chrys., Hom. lxxviii, In the foregoing parable the Lord set forth the
   punishment of the man who beat, and was drunk, and wasted his Lord's
   goods; in this He declares his punishment who profits not, and does not
   prepare for himself abundantly the things of which he has need; for the
   foolish virgins had oil, but not enough.

   Hilary: "Then," because all this discourse is concerning the great day
   of the Lord, concerning which He had been speaking before.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xii, 1: By "the kingdom of heaven" is meant the
   present Church, as in that, "The Son of Man shall send forth his
   angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
   offend." [Matt 13:41]

   Jerome: This parable of the ten foolish and the ten wise virgins, some
   interpret literally of virgins, of whom there are according to the
   Apostle [marg. note: 1 Cor 7] some who are virgins both in body and in
   thought, others who have preserved indeed their bodies virgin, but have
   not the other deeds of virgins, or have only been preserved by the
   guardianship of parents, but have wedded in their hearts. But from what
   has gone before, I think the meaning to be different, and that the
   parable has reference not to virgins only, but to the whole human race.

   Greg.: For in each of the five senses of the body there is a double
   instrument, and the number five doubled makes ten. And because the
   company of the faithful is gathered out of both sexes, the Holy Church
   is described as being like to ten virgins, where as bad are mixed with
   good, and reprobate with elect, it is like a mixture of wise and
   foolish virgins.

   Chrys.: And He employs the character virgins in this parable to shew,
   that though virginity be a great thing, yet if it be not accompanied by
   works of mercy, it shall be cast out with the adulterers.

   Origen: Or, The understandings of all who have received the word of God
   are virgins. For such is the word of God, that of its purity it imparts
   to all, who by its teaching have departed from the worship of idols,
   and have through Christ drawn near to the worship of God; "Which took
   their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom and the bride." [ed.
   note: Et sponsae' Vulg. and so a few Greek MSS.]

   They take "their lamps," i.e. their natural faculties, and go forth out
   of the world and its errors, and go to meet the Saviour, who is ever
   ready to come to enter with them that are worthy to His blessed bride
   the Church.

   Hilary: Or, "The bridegroom and the bride" represent our Lord God in
   the body, for the flesh is the bride of the spirit. "The lamps" are the
   light of bright souls which shine forth in the sacrament of baptism.
   [ed. note: Alluding to the terms photismos and illuminatia, by which
   Baptism was designated. S. Cyr. Cat. Oxf. Tr. p. 1.]

   Aug., Lib. 83 Quaest, Q59: Or, "The lamps" which they carry in their
   hands are their works, of which it was said above, "Let your works
   shine before men." [Matt 5:16]

   Origen: They that believe rightly, and live righteously, are likened to
   the five wise ; they that profess the faith of Jesus, but prepare
   themselves not by good works to salvation, are likened to the five
   foolish.

   Jerome: For there are five senses which hasten towards heavenly things,
   and seek after things above. Of sight, hearing, and touch, it is
   specially said, "That which we have heard, which we have seen with our
   eyes, and our hands have handled." [1 John 1:1] Of taste, "Taste and
   see that the Lord is good." [Ps 34:8] Of smell, "Because of the savour
   of thy good ointments." [Song of Songs 1:3] There are also other five
   senses which gape after earthly husks.

   Aug.: Or, by the five virgins, is denoted a five-fold continence from
   the allurements of the flesh; for our appetite must be held from
   gratification of the eyes, ears, smell, taste, and touch. And as this
   continence may be done before God, to please Him in inward joy of the
   conscience, or before men only to gain applause of men, five are called
   wise, and five foolish. Both are virgins, because both these men
   exercise continence, though from different motives.

   Origen: And because the virtues are so linked together, that he who has
   one has all, so all the senses so follow one another, that all must be
   wise, or all foolish.

   Hilary: Or, The five wise and five foolish are an absolute distinction
   between believers and unbelievers.

   Greg.: It is to be observed, that all have lamps, but all have not oil.

   Hilary: The "oil" is the fruit of good works, the "vessels" are the
   human bodies in whose inward parts the treasure of a good conscience is
   to be laid up.

   Jerome: The virgins that have oil are they who, besides their faith,
   have the ornament of good works - they that have not oil, are they that
   seem to confess with like faith, but neglect the works of virtue.

   Aug.: Or, The "oil" denotes joy, according to that, "God hath anointed
   thee with the oil of gladness." [Ps 45:7] He then whose joy springs not
   from this that he is inwardly pleasing to God, has no oil with him; for
   they have no gladness in their continent lives, save in the praises of
   men. "But the wise took oil with their lamps," that is, the gladness of
   good works, "in their vessels," that is, they stored it in their heart
   and conscience, as the Apostle speaks, "Let every man prove himself,
   and then shall he have rejoicing in himself, and not in another." [Gal
   6:4]

   Chrys.: Or, The "oil" denotes charity, alms, and every aid rendered to
   the needy; the lamps denote the gifts of virginity; and He calls them
   "foolish," because after having gone through the greater toil, they
   lost all for the sake of a less; for it is greater labour to overcome
   the desires of the flesh than of money.

   Origen: Or, The "oil" is the word of teaching, with which the vessels
   of souls are filled ; for what gives so great content as moral
   discourse, which is called the oil of light. The "wise" took with them
   of this oil, as much as would suffice, though the Word should tarry
   long, and be slack to come to their consummation.

   The, "foolish" took lamps, alight indeed at the first, but not supplied
   with so much oil as should suffice even to the end, being careless
   respecting the provision of doctrine which comforts faith, and
   enlightens the lamp of good deeds.

   Aug.: For there die of both kinds of men in this interval of time
   before the resurrection of the dead, and the Lord's coming shall be.

   Greg.: To sleep is to die, to slumber before sleep is to faint from
   salvation before death, because, by the burden of sickness we come to
   the sleep of death.

   Jerome: Or, "They slumbered," i.e. they were dead. And then follows,
   "And slept," because they were to be afterwards wakened. "While the
   bridegroom tarried," shews that no little time intervened between the
   Lord's first and second coming.

   Origen: Or, Whilst the bridegroom "tarried," and the Word comes not
   speedily to the consummation of this life, the senses suffer,
   slumbering and moving in the night of the world; and sleep, as
   energizing feebly, and with no quick sense. Yet did those wise virgins
   not quit their lamps, nor despair of hoarding their oil.

   Jerome: The Jews have a tradition that Christ will come at midnight, in
   like manner as in that visitation of Egypt, when the Paschal feast is
   celebrated, and the destroyer comes, and the Lord passes over our
   dwellings, and the door posts of each man's countenance are hallowed by
   the blood of the Lamb.

   Hence, I suppose, has continued among us that apostolic tradition, that
   on the vigil of Easter the people should not be dismissed before
   midnight, in expectation of Christ's coming; but when that hour has
   past over, they may celebrate the feast in security; whence also the
   Psalmist says, "At midnight did I rise to praise thee." [Ps 119:62]

   [ed note, Easter vigil: This day was kept an universal fast over the
   whole Church. And they continued it not only till evening, but till
   cockcrowing in the morning. The night was spent in a Vigil, or
   Pernoctation, when they assembled together to perform all parts of
   Divine service. There is frequent mention made of this in ancient
   writers, Chrysostom, (Hom. 30. in Gen,) Epiphanius, (Exp. fid. n. 22.)
   and many others. Particularly Lactantius and S. Jerome tell us observed
   it on a double account. Lactantius, (vii. 19.) says, This is the night
   which we observe, with a per noctation for the Advent of our King and
   God; of which there is a twofold reason to be given; because in this
   night our Lord was raised to life again after His Passion; and in the
   same He is expected to return to receive the kingdom of the world.' "
   Bingham's Antiquities, xxi. 1. 32.]

   Aug.: Or, "At midnight," that is, when none knew or looked for it.

   Jerome: Suddenly thus, as on a stormy night, and when all think
   themselves secure, at the hour when sleep is the deepest, the coming of
   Christ shall be proclaimed by the shout of Angels, and the trumpets of
   the Powers that go before Him. This is meant when it says, "Lo, the
   bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him."

   Hilary: At the trumpet signal they go forth to meet the bridegroom
   alone, for then shall the two be one, that is, the flesh and God, when
   the lowliness of the flesh shall be transformed into spiritual glory.

   Aug.: Or, that the virgins go forth to meet the bridegroom alone, I
   think is to be understood that the virgins themselves constitute her
   who is called the bride - as we speak of the Christians flocking to the
   Church as children running to their mother, and yet this same mother
   consists only of the children who are gathered together. For now the
   Church is betrothed, and is to be led forth as a virgin to the
   marriage, which takes place then when all her mortal part having past
   away, she maybe held in an eternal union.

   Origen: Or, "At midnight," that is, at the time of their most abandoned
   carelessness, "there was a great cry," of the Angels, I suppose,
   desiring to arouse all men, those ministering spirits crying within in
   the senses of all that sleep, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out
   to meet him." All heard this summons, and arose, but all were not able
   to trim their lamps fitly. The lamps of the senses are trimmed by
   evangelical and right use of them; and they that use their senses amiss
   have their lamps untrimmed.

   Greg.: Or, "All the virgins arose," that is, both elect and reprobate
   are roused from the sleep of death; they "trimmed their lamps," that
   is, they reckon up to themselves their works for which they look to
   receive eternal blessedness.

   Aug.: They "trimmed their lamps," that is, prepared to give an account
   of their deeds.

   Hilary: Or, the trimming their lamps is the return of their souls into
   their bodies, and their light is the consciousness of good works that
   shines forth, which is contained in the vessels of the body.

   Greg.: The lamps of the foolish virgins go out, because the works which
   appeared outwardly to men to be bright, are dimmed within at the coming
   of the Judge. That they then beg oil of the wise virgins, what is it
   but that at the coming of the Judge, when they find themselves empty
   within, they seek for witness from without? As though deceived by their
   own self-confidence, they say to their neighbours, "Whereas ye see us
   rejected as living without works, do ye witness to our works that ye
   have seen.

   Aug.: From habit, the mind seeks that which uses to give it pleasure.
   And these now seek from men, who see not the heart, witness to God, who
   sees the heart. But their lamps go out, because those, whose good works
   rest upon the testimony of others, when that is withdrawn, sink into
   nothing.

   Jerome: Or, These virgins who complain that their lamps are gone out,
   shew that they are partially alight, yet have they not an unfailing
   light, nor enduring works. Whoso then has a virgin soul, and is a lover
   of chastity, ought not to rest content with such virtues as quickly
   fade, and are withered away when the heat comes upon them, but should
   follow after perfect virtues, that he may have an enduring light.

   Chrys.: Or otherwise ; These virgins were foolish, not only because
   they departed hence, lacking store of mercy, but because they deemed to
   receive it from those of whom they importunately begged it. For though
   nothing could be more merciful than those wise virgins, who for this
   very mercifulness were approved, yet would they not grant the prayer of
   the foolish virgins. But the wise answered, saying, "Not so, lest there
   be not enough for us and you;" hence we learn that none of us shall be
   able in that day to stand forth as patron [marg. note: prostenai] of
   those who are betrayed by their own works, not because he will not, but
   because he cannot.

   Jerome: For these wise virgins do not answer thus out of covetousness,
   but out of fear. Wherefore, each man shall receive the recompense of
   his own works, and the virtues of one cannot atone for the vices of
   another in the day of judgment. The wise admonish them not to go to
   meet the bridegroom without oil, "Go ye rather to them that sell, and
   buy for yourselves."

   Hilary: They that sell are the poor, who, needing the alms of the
   faithful, made them that recompense which they desire, selling in
   return for the relief afforded to their wants, a consciousness of good
   works. This is the abundant fuel of an undying light which may be
   bought and stored up for the fruits of mercy.

   Chrys.: You see then how great merchants the poor are to us; but the
   poor are not there, but here, and therefore we must store up oil here,
   that we may have it to use there when occasion shall require.

   Jerome: And this oil is sold, and at a high cost, nor is it to be got
   without much toil; so that we understand it not of alms only, but of
   all virtues and counsels of the teachers.

   Origen: Otherwise; Notwithstanding they were foolish, they yet
   understood that they must have light to go and meet the bridegroom,
   that all the lights of their senses might be burning. This also they
   discerned, that because they had little of the spiritual oil, their
   lamps would burn dim as darkness drew on. But the wise send the foolish
   to those that sell, seeing that they had not stored up so much oil,
   that is, word of doctrine, as would suffice both for themselves to live
   by, and to teach others, "Go ye rather to them that sell," i.e. to the
   doctors, "and buy," i.e. take of them; the price is perseverance, the
   love of learning, industry, and toil of all who are willing to learn.

   Aug.: Or we may suppose it not meant as advice what they should do, but
   as an indirect allusion to their fault. For flatterers sell oil, who by
   praising things false, and things unknown, lead souls astray,
   recommending to them, as foolish, empty joys, and receiving in return
   some temporal benefit.

   "Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves," i.e. Let us
   now see what they can profit you who have used to sell you their
   praise. "Lest there be not enough for us and you," because no man is
   profited in God's sight by the testimony of others, because God sees
   the heart, and each man is scarce able to give testimony concerning his
   own conscience.

   Jerome: But because the season for buying was now past, and the day of
   judgment was coming on, so that there was no room for penitence, they
   must not now lay up new works, but give an account of the old.

   Hilary: "The marriage" is the putting on of immortality, and the
   joining together corruption and incorruption in a new union.

   Chrys.; That, "While they went to buy," shews that even, if we should
   become merciful after death, it will avail us nothing to escape
   punishment, as it was no profit to the rich man, that he became
   merciful and careful about those who belonged to him.

   Origen: Or, He says, "While they went to buy," because there are men to
   be found who have neglected to learn any thing useful, till when, in
   the very end of their life, when they set themselves to learn, they are
   overtaken by death.

   Aug.: Or otherwise; "While they went to buy," that is, while they
   turned themselves to things without, and sought to find pleasure in
   things they had been accustomed to, because they knew not inward joys,
   came He that judges; and they "that were ready," i.e. they whose
   conscience bore witness to them before God, "went in with him to the
   wedding," i.e. to where the pure soul is united prolific to the pure
   and perfect word of God.

   Jerome: After the day of judgment, there is no more opportunity for
   good works, or for righteousness, and therefore it follows, "And the
   door was shut."

   Aug.: When they have been taken in who have been changed into angelic
   being, all entrance into the kingdom of heaven is closed; after the
   judgment, there is no more place for prayers or merit. [marg. note: 1
   Cor 15:51]

   Hilary: Yet though the season of repentance is now past, the foolish
   virgins come and beg that entrance may be granted to them.

   Jerome: Their worthy confession calling Him, "Lord, Lord," is a mark of
   faith. But what avails it to confess with the mouth Him whom you deny
   with your works?

   Gloss, ap. Anselm: Grief at their exclusion extorts from them a
   repetition of this title of, "Lord;" they call not Him Father, whose
   mercy they despised in their lifetime.

   Aug.: It is not said that they bought any oil, and therefore we must
   suppose that all their delight in the praise of men being gone, they
   return in distress and affliction to implore God. But His severity,
   after judgment, is as great as His mercy was unspeakable before. "But
   He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not;" by that
   rule, namely, that the art of God, that is, His wisdom, does not admit
   that those should enter into His joy who have sought to do in any thing
   according to His commandments, not as before God, but that they may
   please men.

   Jerome: For "the Lord knoweth them that are his," [2 Tim 2:19] and he
   that knoweth not shall not be known, and though they be virgins in
   purity of body, or in confession of the true faith, yet forasmuch as
   they have no oil, they are unknown by the bridegroom. When He adds,
   "Watch therefore, because ye know not the day nor the hour," He means
   that all that has been said points to this, namely, that seeing we know
   not the day of judgment, we should be careful in providing the light of
   good works.

   Aug.: For indeed we know the day and the hour neither of that future
   time when the Bridegroom will come, nor of our own falling asleep each
   of us; if then we be prepared for this latter, we shall also be
   prepared when that voice shall sound, which shall arouse us all.

   Aug., Ep. 199, 45: There have not been wanting those who would refer
   these ten virgins to that coming of Christ, which takes place now in
   the Church; but this is not to be hastily held out, lest any thing
   should occur contradictory of it.
     __________________________________________________________________

   14. "For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far
   country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his
   goods.

   15. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another
   one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway
   took his journey.

   16. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the
   same, and made them other five talents.

   17. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

   18. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid
   his lord's money.

   19. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth
   with them.

   20. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other
   five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:
   behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

   21. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant:
   thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
   many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

   22. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou
   deliveredst unto me two talents behold, I have gained two other talents
   beside them.

   23. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou
   hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many
   things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

   24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I
   knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,
   and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

   25. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo,
   there thou hast that is thine.

   26. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful
   servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I
   have not strawed:

   27. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and
   then at my coming I should have received my own with usury.

   28. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath
   ten talents.

   29. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have
   abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
   which he hath.

   30. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there
   shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss.: In the foregoing parable is set forth the condemnation of such
   as have not prepared sufficient oil for themselves, whether by oil is
   meant the brightness of good works, or inward joy of conscience, or
   alms paid in money.

   Chrys.: This parable is delivered against those who will not assist
   their neighbours either with money, or words, or in any other way, but
   hide all that they have.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., ix, i: The man in travelling into a far country is
   our Redeemer, who ascended into heaven in that flesh which He had taken
   upon Him. For the proper home of the flesh is the earth, and it, as it
   were, travels into a foreign country, when it is placed by the Redeemer
   in heaven.

   Origen: He travels, not according to His divine nature, but according
   to the dispensation of the flesh which He took upon Him. For He who
   says to His disciples, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of
   the world," [Matt 28:20] is the Only-Begotten God, who is not
   circumscribed by bodily form. By saying this, we do not disunite Jesus,
   but attribute its proper qualities to each constituent substance.

   We may also explain thus, that the Lord travels in a far country with
   all those who walk by faith and not by sight. And when we are absent
   from the body with the Lord, then will He also he with us. Observe that
   the turn of expression is not thus, I am like, or The Son of Man is
   like, "a man travelling into a far country," because He is represented
   in the parable as travelling, not as the Son of God, but as man.

   Jerome: Calling together the Apostles, He gave them the Gospel
   doctrine, to one more, to another less, not as of His own bounty or
   scanting, but as meeting the capacity of the receivers, as the Apostle
   says [marg. note 1 Cor 3:2], that he fed with milk those that were
   unable to take solid food. In the five, two, and one talent, we
   recognise the diversity of gifts wherewith we have been entrusted.

   Origen: Whenever you see of those who have received from Christ a
   dispensation of the oracles of God that some have more and some less;
   that some have not in comparison of the better sort half an
   understanding of things; that others have still less; you will perceive
   the difference of those who have all of them received from Christ
   oracles of God. They to whom five talents were given, and they to whom
   two, and they to whom one, have divers degrees of capacity, and one
   could not hold the measure of another; he who received but one having
   received no mean endowment, for one talent of such a master is a great
   thing.

   His proper servants are three, as there are three sorts of those that
   bear fruit. He that received five talents, is he that is able to raise
   all the meanings of the Scriptures to their more divine significations;
   he that has two is he that has been taught carnal doctrine, (for two
   seems to be a carnal number,) and to the less strong the Master of the
   household has given one talent.

   Greg.: Otherwise; The five talents denote the gift of the five senses,
   that is, the knowledge of things without; the two signify understanding
   and action, the one talent understanding only.

   Gloss., ord.: "And straightway took his journey," not changing his
   place, but leaving them to their own freewill and choice of action.

   Jerome: "He that had received five talents," that is, having received
   his bodily senses, he doubled his knowledge of heavenly things, from
   the creature understanding the Creator, from earthly unearthly, from
   temporal the eternal.

   Greg.: There are also some who though they cannot pierce to things
   inward and mystical, yet for their measure of view of their heavenly
   country they teach rightly such things as they can, what they have
   gathered from things without, and while they keep themselves from
   wantonness of the flesh, and from ambition of earthly things, and from
   the delights of the things that are seen, they restrain others also
   from the same by their admonitions.

   Origen: Or, They that have their senses exercised by healthy
   conversation, both raising themselves to higher knowledge and zealous
   in teaching others, these have gained other five; because no one can
   easily have increase of any virtues that are not his own, and without
   he teaches others what he himself knows, and no more.

   Hilary: Or, That servant who received five talents is the people of
   believers under the Law, who beginning with that, doubled their merit
   by the right obedience of an evangelic faith.

   Greg.: Again, there are some who by their understanding and their
   actions preach to others, and thence gain as it were a twofold profit
   in such merchandize. This their preaching bestowed upon both sexes is
   thus a talent doubled.

   Origen: Or, "gained other two," that is, carnal instruction, and
   another yet a little higher.

   Hilary: Or, the servant to whom two talents were committed is the
   people of the Gentiles justified by the faith and confession of the Son
   and of the Father, confessing our Lord Jesus Christ, to be both God and
   Man, both Spirit and Flesh. These are the two talents committed to this
   servant. But as the Jewish people doubled by its belief in the Gospel
   every Sacrament which it had learned in the Law, (i.e. its five
   talents,) so this people by its use of its two talents merited
   understanding and working.

   Greg.: To hide one's talent in the earth is to devote the ability we
   have received to worldly business.

   Origen: Or otherwise; When you see one who has the power of teaching,
   and of benefitting souls, hiding this power, though he may have a
   certain religiousness of life, doubt not of such an one that he has
   received one talent and hides it in the earth.

   Hilary: Or, This servant who has received one talent and hid it in the
   earth is the people that continue in the Law, who through jealousy of
   the salvation of the Gentiles hide the talent they have received in the
   earth. For to hide a talent in the earth is to hide the glory of the
   new preaching through offence at the Passion of His Body. His coming to
   reckon with them is the assize of the day of judgment.

   Origen: And note here that the servants do not come to the Lord to be
   judged, but the Lord shall come to them when the time shall be
   accomplished. "After a long time," that is, when He has sent forth such
   as are fitted to bring about the salvation of souls, and perhaps for
   this reason it is not easy to find one who is quite fit to pass
   forthwith out of this life, as is manifest from this, that even the
   Apostles lived to old age; for example, it was said to Peter, "When
   thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hand;" [John 21:18] and
   Paul says to Philemon, "Now as Paul the aged."

   Chrys.: Observe also that the Lord does not require the reckoning
   immediately, that you may learn His long suffering. To me He seems to
   say this covertly, alluding to the resurrection.

   Jerome: "After a long time," because there is a long interval between
   the Saviour's ascension and His second coming.

   Greg.: This lesson from this Gospel warns us to consider whether those
   who seem to have received more in this world than others shall not be
   more severely judged by the Author of the world; the greater the gifts,
   the greater the reckoning for them. Therefore should every one be
   humble concerning his talents in proportion as he sees himself tied up
   with a greater responsibility.

   Origen: He who had received five talents comes first with boldness
   before his Lord.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., ix, 2: And bringing his talents doubled, he is
   commended by his Lord, and is sent into eternal happiness.

   Raban.: "Well done" is an interjection of joy; the Lord shewing us
   therein the joy with which He invites the servant who labours well to
   eternal bliss; of which the Prophet speaks, "In thy presence is fulness
   of joy." [Ps 16:11]

   Chrys.: "Thou good servant," this he means of that goodness which is
   shewn towards our neighbour.

   Gloss., non occ.: "Faithful," because he appropriated to himself none
   of those things which were his lord's.

   Jerome: He says, "Thou wast faithful in a few things," because all that
   we have at present though they seem great and many, yet in comparison
   of the things to come are little and few.

   Greg.: The faithful servant is set over many things, when having
   overcome the afflictions of corruption, he joys with eternal joy in
   that heavenly seat. He is then fully admitted to the joy of his Lord,
   when taken in to that abiding country, and numbered among the companies
   of Angels, he has such inward joy for this gift, that there is no room
   for outward sorrow at his corruption.

   Jerome: What greater thing can be given to a faithful servant than to
   be with his Lord, and to see his Lord's joy?

   Chrys.: By this word "joy" He expresses complete blessedness.

   Aug., de Trin., i, 8: This will be our perfect joy, than which is none
   greater, to have fruition of that Divine Trinity in whose image we were
   made.

   Jerome: The servant who of five talents had made ten, and he who of two
   had made four, are received with equal favour by the Master of the
   household, who looks not to the largeness of their profit, but to the
   disposition of their will.

   Origen: That He says of both these servants that they "came," we must
   understand of their passing out of this world to Him. And observe that
   the same was said to them both; he that had less capacity, but that
   which he had, he exercised after such manner as he ought, shall have no
   whit less with God than he who has a greater capacity; for all that is
   required is that whatever a man has from God, he should use it all to
   the glory of God.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., ix: The servant who would not trade with his talent
   returns to his Lord with words of excuse.

   Jerome: For truly that which is written, "To offer excuses excusing
   sins" [Ps. 141:4] happened to this servant, so that to slothfulness and
   idleness was added also the sin of pride. For he who ought to have
   honestly acknowledged his fault, and to have entreated the Master of
   the household, on the contrary cavils against him, and avers that he
   did it with provident design, lest while he sought to make profit he
   should hazard the capital.

   Origen: This servant seems to me to have been one of those who believe,
   but do not act honestly, concealing their faith, and doing every thing
   that they may not be known to be Christians. They who are such seem to
   me to have a fear of God, and to regard Him as austere and implacable.
   We indeed understand how the Lord reaps where He sowed not, because the
   righteous man sows in the Spirit, whereof he shall reap life eternal.
   Also He reaps where He sowed not, and gathers where he scattered not,
   because He counts as bestowed upon Himself all that is sown among the
   poor.

   Jerome: Also, by this which this servant dared to say, "Thou reapest
   where thou sowedst not," we understand that the Lord accepts the good
   life of the Gentiles and of the Philosophers.

   Greg.: But there are many within the Church of whom this servant is a
   type, who fear to set out on the path of a better life, and yet are not
   afraid to continue in carnal indolence; they esteem themselves sinners,
   and therefore tremble to take up the paths of holiness, but fearlessly
   remain in their own iniquities.

   Hilary: Or, By this servant is understood the Jewish people which
   continues in the Law, and says, I was "afraid of thee," as through fear
   of the old commandments abstaining from the exercise of evangelical
   liberty; and it says, "Lo, there is that is thine," as though it had
   continued in those things which the Lord commanded, when yet it knew
   that the fruits of righteousness should be reaped there, where the Law
   had not been sown, and that there should be gathered from among the
   Gentiles some who were not scattered of the seed of Abraham.

   Jerome: But what he thought would be his excuse is turned into his
   condemnation. He calls him "wicked servant," because he cavilled
   against his Lord; and "slothful," because he would not double his
   talent; condemning his pride in the one, and his idleness in the other.
   If you knew me to be hard and austere, and to seek after other men's
   goods, you should also have known that I exact with the more rigour
   that is mine own, and should have given my money to the bankers; for
   the Greek word here (argurion) means money.

   "The words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried in the fire." [Ps
   12:6] The money, or silver, then are the preaching of the Gospel and
   the heavenly word; which ought to be given to the bankers, that is,
   either to the other doctors, which the Apostles did when they ordained
   Priests and Bishops throughout the cities; or to all the believers, who
   can double the sum and restore it with usury by fulfilling in act what
   they have learned in word.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., ix, 4: So then we see as well the peril of the
   teachers if they withhold the Lord's money, as that of the hearers from
   whom is exacted with usury that they have heard, namely, that from what
   they have heard they should strive to understand that they have not
   heard.

   Origen: The Lord did not allow that He was "a hard man" as the servant
   supposed, but He assented to all his other words. But He is indeed hard
   to those who abuse the mercy of God to suffer themselves to become
   remiss, and use it not to be converted.

   Greg.: Let us hear now the sentence by which the Lord condemns the
   slothful servant, "Take away from him the talent, and give it to him
   that hath ten talents."

   Origen: The Lord is able by the might of His divinity to take away his
   ability from the man who is slack to use it, and to give it to him who
   has improved his own.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., ix, 5: It might seem more seasonable to have given
   it rather to him who had two, than to him who had five. But as the five
   talents denote the knowledge of things without, the two understanding
   and action, he who had the two had more than he who had the five
   talents; this man with his five talents merited the administration of
   things without, but was yet without any understanding of things
   eternal. The one talent therefore, which we say signifies the
   intellect, ought to be given to him who had administered well the
   things without which he had received; the same we see happen every day
   in the Holy Church, that they who administer faithfully things without,
   are also mighty in the inward understanding.

   Jerome: Or, it is given to him who had gained five talents, that we may
   understand that though the Lord's joy over the labour of each be equal,
   of him who doubled the five as of him who doubled the two, yet is a
   greater reward due to him who laboured more in the Lord's money.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., ix, 6: Then follows a general sentence, "For to
   every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but
   from him that hath not, even that which he seemeth to have shall be
   taken away." For whosoever has charity receives the other gifts also;
   but whosoever has not charity loses even the gifts which he seemed to
   have had.

   Chrys.: Also he who has the graces of eloquence and of teaching to
   profit withal, and uses it not, loses that grace; but he who does his
   endeavour in putting it to use acquires a larger share.

   Jerome: Many also who are naturally clever and have sharp wit, if they
   become neglectful, and by disuse spoil that good they have by nature,
   these do, in comparison of him who being somewhat dull by nature
   compensates by industry and painstaking his backwardness, lose their
   natural gift, and see the reward promised them pass away to others.

   But it may also be understood thus; To him who has faith, and a right
   will in the Lord, even if he come in aught short in deed as being man,
   shall be given by the merciful Judge; but he who has not faith, shall
   lose even the other virtues which he seems to have naturally. And He
   says carefully, "From him that hath not, shall be taken away even that
   which he seemeth to have," for whatsoever is without faith in Christ
   ought not to be imputed to him who uses it amiss, but to Him who gives
   the goods of nature even to a wicked servant.

   Greg.: Or, Whoso has not charity, loses even those things which he
   seems to have received.

   Hilary: And on those who have the privilege of the Gospels, the honour
   of the Law is also conferred, but from him who has not the faith of
   Christ is taken away even that honour which seemed to be his through
   the Law.

   Chrys.: The wicked servant is punished not only by loss of his talent,
   but by intolerable infliction, and a denunciation in accusation joined
   therewith.

   Origen: "Into outer darkness," where is no light, perhaps not even
   physical light; and where God is not seen, but those who are condemned
   thereto are condemned as unworthy the contemplation of God. We have
   also read some one before us expounding this of the darkness of that
   abyss which is outside the world, as though unworthy of the world, they
   were cast out into that abyss, where is darkness with none to lighten
   it.

   Greg.: And thus for punishment he shall be cast into outer darkness who
   has of his own free will fallen into inward darkness.

   Jerome: What is weeping and gnashing of teeth we have said above.

   Chrys.: Observe that not only he who robs others, or who works evil, is
   punished with extreme punishment, but he also who does not good works.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., lx, 7: Let him then who has understanding look that
   he hold not his peace; let him who has affluence not be dead to mercy;
   let him who has the art of guiding life communicate its use with his
   neighbour; and him who has the faculty of eloquence intercede with the
   rich for the poor. For the very least endowment will be reckoned as a
   talent entrusted for use.

   Origen: If you are offended at this we have said, namely that a man
   shall be judged if he does not teach others, call to mind the Apostle's
   words, "Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel." [1 Cor 9:16]
     __________________________________________________________________

   31. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
   angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

   32. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate
   them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

   33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the
   left.

   34. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye
   blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
   foundation of the world:

   35. For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye
   gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

   36. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in
   prison, and ye came unto me.

   37. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
   an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

   38. When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and
   clothed thee?

   39. Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

   40. And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
   Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
   ye have done it unto me.

   41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me,
   ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
   angels:

   42. For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye
   gave me no drink:

   43. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in naked, and ye clothed me
   not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

   44. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an
   hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
   and did not minister unto thee?

   45. Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
   as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Raban.: After the parables concerning the end of the world the Lord
   proceeds to describe the manner of the judgment to come.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxix: To this most sweet section of Scripture which we
   cease not continually to ponder, let us now listen with all attention
   and compunction of spirit, for Christ does indeed clothe this discourse
   with more terrors and vividness. He does not accordingly say of this as
   of the others, "The kingdom of heaven is like," but shews of Himself by
   direct revelation, saying, "When the Son of man shall come in his
   majesty."

   Jerome: He who was within two days to celebrate the passover, to be
   delivered to the cross, and mocked by men, fitly now holds out the
   glory of His triumph, that He may overbalance the offences that were to
   follow by the promise of reward. And it is to be noted, that He who
   shall be seen in majesty is the Son of Man.

   Aug., in Joan Tr., 21: The wicked and they also who shall be set on His
   right hand shall see Him in human shape, for He shall appear in the
   judgment in that form which He took on Him from us; but it shall be
   afterwards that He shall be seen in the form of God, for which all the
   believers long.

   Remig.: These words overthrow the error of those who said that the Lord
   should not continue in the same form of a servant. By "his majesty," He
   means His divinity, in which He is equal to the Father and the Holy
   Spirit.

   Origen: Or, He shall come again with glory, that His body may be such
   as when He was transfigured on the mount. "His throne" is either
   certain of the more perfect of the Saints, of whom it is written, "For
   there are set thrones in judgment;" [Ps 122:5] or certain Angelic
   Powers of whom it is said, "Thrones or dominions." [Col 1:16]

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 24: He shall come down with the Angels
   whom He shall call from heavenly places to hold judgment.

   Chrys.: "For all his Angels shall be with him" to bear witness to the
   things wherein they have administered to men's salvation at His
   bidding.

   Aug., Serm. 351, 8: Or, by Angels here He means men who shall judge
   with Christ; for Angels are messengers, and such we rightly understand
   all who have brought tidings of heavenly salvation to men.

   Remig.: "And all nations shall be gathered before Him." These words
   prove that the resurrection of men shall be real.

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch 24: This gathering shall be executed by
   the ministry of Angels, as it is said in the Psalm, "Gather to him his
   saints." [Ps 50:5]

   Origen: Or, we need not understand this of a local gathering together,
   but that the nations shall be no more dispersed in divers and false
   dogmas concerning Him. For Christ's divinity shall be manifested so
   that not even sinners shall any longer be ignorant of Him. He shall not
   then shew Himself as Son of God in one place and not in another; as He
   sought to express to us by the comparison of the lightning. So as long
   as the wicked know neither themselves nor Christ, or the righteous "see
   through a glass darkly," [1 Cor. 13:12] so long the good are not
   severed from the evil, but when by the manifestation of the Son of God
   all shall come to the knowledge of Him, then shall the Saviour sever
   the good from the evil; for then shall sinners see their sins, and the
   righteous shall see clearly to what end the seeds of righteousness in
   them have led.

   They that are saved are called sheep by reason of that mildness which
   they have learnt of Him who said, "Learn of me, for I am meek and
   lowly," [Matt 11:29] and because they are ready to go even to death in
   imitation of Christ, who "was led as a sheep to the slaughter." [Isa
   53:7]

   The wicked are called goats, because they climb rough and rugged rocks,
   and walk in dangerous places.

   Chrys.: Or, He calls the one sheep and the other goats, to denote the
   unprofitableness of the one, and the fruitfulness of the other, for
   sheep are greatly productive in fleece, milk, and lambs.

   Gloss., non occ.: Under the figure of a sheep in Scripture is signified
   simplicity and innocence. Beautifully then in this place are the elect
   denoted by sheep.

   Jerome: Also the goat is a salacious animal, and was the offering for
   sins in the Law; and He says not she goats' which can produce young,
   and "come up shorn from the washing. [Song of Solomon 4:2]

   Chrys.: Then He separates them in place.

   Origen: For the Saints who have wrought right works, shall receive in
   recompense of their right works the King's right hand, at which is rest
   and glory; but the wicked for their evil and sinister deeds have fallen
   to the left hand, that is, into the misery of torments. Then shall the
   King say to those who are on "his right hand, Come," that in whatsoever
   they are behind they may make it up when they are more perfectly united
   to Christ. He adds, "ye blessed of my Father," to shew how eminently
   blessed they were, being of old "blessed of the Lord, which made heaven
   and earth." [Ps 115:15]

   Raban.: Or, they are called "blessed," to whom an eternal blessing is
   due for their good deserts. He calls it the kingdom of His Father,
   ascribing the dominion of the kingdom to Him by whom Himself the King
   was begotten. For by His royal power, with which He shall be exalted
   alone in that day, He shall pronounce the sentence of judgment, "Then
   shall the King say."

   Chrys.: Observe that He says not Receive,' but "possess," or "inherit,"
   as due to you from of old.

   Jerome: This "prepared for you from the foundation of the world," is to
   be understood as of the foreknowledge of God, with whom things to come
   are as already done.

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 9: Besides that kingdom of which He
   will say in the end, "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you," though in
   a very inferior manner, the present Church is also called His kingdom,
   in the which we are yet in conflict with the enemy until we come to
   that kingdom of peace, where we shall reign without an enemy.

   Aug., Serm. 351, 8: But one will say, I desire not to reign, it is
   enough for me that I be saved. Wherein they are deceived, first,
   because there is no salvation for those whose iniquity abounds; and,
   secondly, because if there be any difference between those that reign,
   and those that do not reign, yet must all be within the same kingdom,
   lest they be esteemed for foes or aliens, and perish while the others
   reign. Thus all the Romans inherit the kingdom of Rome, though all do
   not reign in it.

   Chrys.: For what the Saints obtain the boon of this heavenly kingdom He
   shews when He adds, "I was an hungred, and ye gave me to eat."

   Remig.: And it is to be noted, that the Lord here enumerates six works
   of mercy which whoso shall study to accomplish shall be entitled to the
   kingdom prepared for the chosen from the foundation of the world.

   Raban.: Mystically, He who with the bread of the word and the drink of
   wisdom refreshes the soul hungering and thirsting after righteousness,
   or admits into the home of our mother the Church him who is wandering
   in heresy or sin, or who strengthens the weak in faith, such an one
   discharges the obligations of true love.

   Greg., Mor. xxvi, 27: These, to whom as they stand on His right hand
   the Judge at His coming shall say, "I was an hungred &c." are they who
   are judged on the side of the elect, and who reign; who wash away the
   stains of their life with tears; who redeem former sins by good deeds
   following; who, whatever unlawful thing they have at any time done,
   have covered it from the Judge's eyes by a cloak of alms. Others indeed
   there are who are not judged, yet reign, who have gone even beyond the
   precepts of the Law in the perfection of their virtue.

   Origen: It is from humility that they declare themselves unworthy of
   any praise for their good deeds, not that they are forgetful of what
   they have done. But He shews them His close sympathy with His own.

   Raban.: "Lord, when saw we thee &c." This they say not because they
   distrust the Lord's words, but they are in amaze at so great
   exaltation, and at the greatness of their own glory; or because the
   good which they have done will seem to them to be so small according to
   that of the Apostle, "For the sufferings of this present time are not
   worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us." [Rom
   8:18]

   Jerome: It were indeed free to us to understand that it is Christ in
   every poor man whom we feed when he is hungry, or give drink to when he
   is thirsty, and so of other things; but when He says, "In that ye have
   done it to one of the least of these my brethren," He seems to me not
   to speak of the poor generally, but of the poor in spirit, those to
   whom He pointed and said, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father
   which is in heaven, the same is my brother." [Matt 12:50]

   Chrys.: But if they are His brethren, why does He call them "the
   least?" Because they are lowly, poor, and outcast. By these He means
   not only the monks who have retired to the mountains, but every
   believer though he should be secular, though an hungred, or the like,
   yet He would have him obtain merciful succours, for baptism and
   communication of the Divine mysteries makes him a brother.

   Origen: As He had said to the righteous, "Come ye," so He says to the
   wicked, "Depart ye," for they who keep God's commandment are near to
   the Word, and are called that they may be made more near; but they are
   far from it, though they may seem to stand hard by, who do not His
   commands; therefore it is said to them, "Depart ye," that those who
   seemed to be living before Him, might be no more seen.

   It should be remarked, that though He had said to the Saints, "Ye
   blessed of my Father," He says not now, "Ye cursed of my Father,"
   because of all blessing the Father is the author, but each man is the
   origin of his own curse when he does the things that deserve the curse.
   They who depart from Jesus fall into eternal fire, which is of a very
   different kind from that fire which we use. For no fire which we have
   is eternal, nor even of any long continuance.

   And note, that He does not say, the kingdom prepared for the Angels,'
   as He does say "everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his
   Angels;" because He did not, as far as in Him lay, create men to
   perdition, but sinners yoke themselves to the Devil, so that as they
   that are saved are made equal to the holy Angels, they that perish are
   made equal with the Devil's Angels.

   Aug., City of God, xxi, 10: It is hence clear, that the same fire will
   be appropriated to the punishment of men and of daemons. If then it
   inflicts pain by corporeal touch, so as to produce bodily torment, how
   will there be in it any punishment for the evil spirits, unless the
   daemons have, as some have thought, bodies composed of gross and fluid
   air. But if any man asserts that the daemons have no bodies, we would
   not pugnaciously contend the point. For why may we not say, that truly,
   though wonderfully, even incorporeal spirit can feel pain of corporeal
   fire? If the spirits of men, though themselves incorporeal, can be now
   inclosed in bodily limbs, they can then be inseparably attached to the
   bonds of body. The daemons then will be united to a body of material
   fire, though themselves immaterial, drawing punishment from their body,
   not giving life to it. And that fire being material will torture such
   bodies as ours with their spirits; but the daemons are spirits without
   bodies.

   Origen: Or it may be that fire is of such nature that it can burn
   invisible substances, being itself invisible, as the Apostle speaks,
   "The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
   seen are eternal." [2 Cor 4:18] Wonder not when you hear that there is
   afire which though unseen has power to torture, when you see that there
   is an internal fever which comes upon men, and pains them grievously.

   It follows, "I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat." It is written
   to the believers, "Ye are the body of Christ." [1 Cor 12:27] As then
   the soul dwelling in the body, though it hungers not in respect of its
   spiritual substance, yet hungers for the food of the body, because it
   is yoked to the body; so the Saviour suffers whatever His body the
   Church suffers, though He Himself be impassible.

   And observe how in speaking to the righteous He reckons up their good
   deeds under their several kinds, but to the unrighteous He cuts short
   the description under the one head, "I was sick and in prison, and ye
   visited me not," because it was the part of a merciful Judge to enlarge
   and dwell upon men's good deeds, but to pass lightly and cursorily over
   their evil deeds.

   Chrys.: Observe how they had failed in mercifulness, not in one or two
   respects only, but in all; not only did they not feed Him when He was
   hungry, but they did not even visit Him when He was sick, which was
   easier. And look how light things He enjoins; He said not, "I was in
   prison," and ye did not set me free, but, and "ye visited me not." Also
   His hunger required no costly dainties, but necessary food.

   Each of these counts then is enough for their punishment. First, the
   slightness of His prayer, viz. for bread; secondly, the destitution of
   Him who sought it, for He was poor; thirdly, the natural feelings of
   compassion, for He was a man; fourthly, the expectation of His promise,
   for He promised a kingdom; fifthly, the greatness of Him who received,
   for it is God who receives in the poor man; sixthly, the preeminent
   honour, in that He condescended to take of men; and, seventhly, the
   righteousness of so bestowing it, for what He takes from us is our own.
   But avarice blinds men to all these considerations.

   Greg.: They to whom this is said are the wicked believers, who are
   judged and perish; others, being unbelievers, are not judged and
   perish; for there is no examination of the condition of such as appear
   before the face of an impartial Judge already condemned by their
   unbelief; but those who hold the profession of the faith, but have not
   the works of their profession, are convicted that they may be
   condemned. These at least bear the words of their Judge, because they
   have at least kept the words of His faith. The others hear no words of
   their Judge pronouncing sentence of condemnation, because they have not
   paid Him honour even in word. For a prince who governs an earthly
   kingdom punishes after a different manner the rebellion of a subject
   and the hostile attempts of an enemy; in the former case, he recurs to
   his prerogative; against an enemy he takes arms, and does not ask what
   penalty the law attaches to his crime.

   Chrys.: Thus convicted by the words of the Judge, they make answer
   submissively, "Lord, when saw we thee &c."

   Origen: Mark how the righteous dwell upon each word, while the
   unrighteous answer summarily, and not going through the particular
   instances; for so it becomes the righteous out of humility to disclaim
   each individual generous action, when imputed to them publicly; whereas
   bad men excuse their sins, and endeavour to prove them few and venial.

   And Christ's answer conveys this. And to the righteous He says, "In
   that ye did it to my brethren," to shew the greatness of their good
   deeds; to the sinners He says only, "to one of the least of these," not
   aggravating their sin. For they are truly His brethren who are perfect;
   and a deed of mercy shewn to the more holy is more acceptable to God
   than one shewn to the less holy; and the sin of overlooking the less
   holy is less than of overlooking the more holy.

   Aug., City of God, book xx, ch. 1: He is now treating of the last
   judgment, when Christ shall come from heaven to judge the quick and
   dead. This day of the Divine judgment we call the Last Day, that is,
   the end of time; for we cannot tell through how many days that judgment
   will be prolonged; but day, as is the use of holy Scripture, is put for
   time. And we therefore call it the last or latest judgment, because He
   both now judges and has judged from the beginning of the human race,
   when He thrust forth the first man from the tree of life, and spared
   not the Angels that sinned. But in that final judgment both men and
   Angels shall be judged together, when the Divine power shall bring each
   man's good and evil deeds in review before his memory, and one
   intuitive glance shall present them to the perception, so that at once
   we shall be condemned or acquitted in our consciences.
     __________________________________________________________________

   46. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the
   righteous into life eternal."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., de Fid. et Op. 15: Some deceive themselves, saying, that the fire
   indeed is called everlasting, but not the punishment. This the Lord
   foreseeing, sums up His sentence in these words.

   Origen: Observe that whereas He put first the invitation, "Come, ye
   blessed," and after that, "Depart, ye cursed," because it is the
   property of a merciful God to record the good deeds of the good, before
   the bad deeds of the bad; He now reverses the order, describing first
   the punishment of the wicked, and then the life of the good, that the
   terrors of the one may deter us from evil, and the honour of the other
   incite us to good.

   Greg., Mor. xv, 19: If he who has not given to others is visited with
   so heavy a punishment, what shall he get who is convicted of having
   robbed others of their own.

   Aug., City of God, book xix, ch. 11: Eternal life is our chief good,
   and the end of the city of God, of which the Apostle speaks, "And the
   end everlasting life." [Rom 6:22] But because eternal life might be
   understood by those who are not well versed in Holy Scripture, to mean
   also the life of the wicked, because of the immortality of their souls,
   or because of the endless torments of the wicked; therefore we must
   call the end of this City in which the chief good shall be attained,
   either peace in life eternal, or life eternal in peace, that it may be
   intelligible to all.

   Aug., de Trin. i, 8: That which the Lord spoke to His servant Moses, "I
   am that I am," [Ex 3:14] this we shall contemplate when we shall live
   in eternity. For thus the Lord speaks, "This is life eternal, that they
   might know thee the only true God. [John 17:3] This contemplation is
   promised to us as the end of all action, and the eternal perfection of
   our joys, of which John speaks, "We shall see him as he is." [1 John
   3:2]

   Jerome: Let the thoughtful reader observe that punishments are eternal,
   and that that continuing life has thenceforward no fear of fall.

   Greg., Mor xxxiv, 19: They say that He held out empty terrors to deter
   them from sin. We answer, if He threatened falsely to check
   unrighteousness, then He promised falsely to promote good conduct. Thus
   while they go out of the way to prove God merciful, they are not afraid
   to charge Him with fraud. But, they urge, finite sin ought not to be
   visited with infinite punishment; we answer, that this argument would
   be just, if the righteous Judge considered men's actions, and not their
   hearts. Therefore it belongs to the righteousness of an impartial
   Judge, that those whose heart would never be without sin in this life,
   should never be without punishment.

   Aug., City of God, book xxi, ch. 11: And the justice of no law is
   concerned to provide that the duration of each man's punishment should
   be the same with the sin which drew that punishment upon him. There
   never was any man, who held that the torment of him, who committed a
   murder or adultery, should be compressed within the same space of time
   as the commission of the act. And when for any enormous crime a man is
   punished with death, does the law estimate his punishment by the delay
   that takes place in putting him to death, and not rather by this, that
   they remove him for ever from the society of the living? And fines,
   disgrace, exile, slavery, when they, are inflicted without any hopes of
   mercy, do they not seem like eternal punishments in proportion to the
   length of this life? They are only therefore not eternal, because the
   life which suffers them is not itself eternal.

   But they say, How then is that true which Christ says, "With what
   measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," [Matt 7:2] if
   temporal sin is punished with eternal pain? They do not observe that
   this is said with a view, not to the equality of the period of time,
   but of the retribution of evil, i.e. that he that has done evil should
   suffer evil. Man was made worthy of everlasting evil, because he
   destroyed in himself that good which might have eternal.

   Greg.: But they Say, no just man takes pleasure in cruelties, and the
   guilty servant was scourged to correct his fault. But when the wicked
   are given over to hell fire, to what purpose shall they burn there for
   ever? We reply, that Almighty God, seeing He is good, does not delight
   in the torments of the wretched; but forasmuch as He is righteous, He
   ceases not from taking vengeance on the wicked; yet do the wicked burn
   not without some purpose, namely, that the righteous may acknowledge
   how they are debtors for eternity to Divine grace, when they see the
   wicked suffering for eternity misery, which themselves have escaped
   only by the assistance of that Divine grace.

   Aug., City of God, book xxi, ch. 3: But, they assert, nobody can be at
   once capable of suffering pain, and incapable of death. It must be that
   one live in pain, but it need not be that pain kill him; for not even
   these mortal bodies die from every pain; but the reason that some pain
   causes their death is, that the connection between the soul and our
   present body is such that it gives way to extreme pain. But then the
   soul shall be united to such a body, and in such a way, that no pain
   shall be able to overcome the connection. There will not then be no
   death, but an everlasting death, the soul being unable to live, as
   being without God, and equally unable to rid itself of the pains of
   body by dying. Among these impugners of the eternity of punishment,
   Origen is the most merciful, who believed that the Devil himself and
   his Angels, after sufferings proportioned to their deserts, and a long
   endurance, should be delivered from those torments, and associated with
   the holy Angels.

   But for these and other things he was not undeservedly rebuked by the
   Church, because even his seeming mercy was thrown away, making for the
   saints real pains in which their sins were to be expiated, and
   fictitious blessedness, if the joys of the good were not to be secure
   and endless.

   In quite another way does the mercy of others err through their humane
   sympathies, who think that the sufferings of those men who are
   condemned by this sentence will be temporal, but that the happiness of
   those who are set free sooner or later will be eternal. Why does their
   charity extend to the whole race of man, but dries up when they come to
   the angelic race?

   Greg.: But they say, How can they be called Saints, if they shall not
   pray for their enemies whom they see then burning? They do indeed pray
   for their enemies so long as there is any possibility of converting
   their hearts to a profitable penitence, but how shall they pray for
   them when any change from their wickedness is no longer possible?

   Aug., City of God, book xxi, ch. 19, 20, &c.: So some there are who
   hold out liberation from punishment not to all men, but to those only
   who have been washed in Christ's Baptism, and have been partakers of
   His Body, let them have lived as they will; because of that which the
   Lord speaks, "If any man eat of this bread, he shall not die
   eternally." [John 6:51] Again, others promise this not to all who have
   Christ's sacrament, but to Catholics only, however ill their lives, who
   have eaten Christ's Body, not in sacrament only, but in verity,
   (inasmuch as they are set in the Church, which is His Body,) even
   though they should afterwards have fallen into heresy or idolatry of
   the Gentiles.

   And others again, because of what is written above, "He that shall
   endure to the end, the same shall be saved," [Matt 24:!3] promise this
   only to those who persevere in the Catholic Church, that by the
   worthiness of their foundation, that is, of their faith, they shall be
   saved by fire. All these the Apostle opposes when he says, "The works
   of the flesh are manifest, which are these, uncleanness, fornication,
   and the like; of which I tell you before, that they which do such
   things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

   Whoever in his heart prefers temporal things to Christ, Christ is not
   his foundation, though he seem to have the faith of Christ. How much
   more then is he, who has committed things unlawful, convicted of not
   preferring Christ, but preferring other things to Him? I have also met
   with some who thought that only those would burn in eternal torments
   who neglected to give alms proportioned to their sins; and for this
   reason they think that the Judge Himself here mentions nothing else
   that He shall make enquiry of, but of the giving or not giving alms.
   But whoso gives alms worthily for his sins, first begins with himself;
   for it were unmeet that he should not do that to himself which be does
   to others when be has heard the words of God, "Thou shalt love thy
   neighbour as thyself," [Matt 22:39] and hears likewise, "Be merciful to
   thy soul in pleasing God?" [Eccl 30:24]

   He then who does not to his own soul this alms of pleasing God, how can
   he be said to give alms meet for his sins? Why we are to give alms then
   is only that when we pray for mercy for sins past, we may be heard; not
   that we may purchase thereby license for continuing in sin.

   And the Lord forewarns us that He will put alms done on the right hand,
   and on the left alms not done, to shew us how mighty are alms to do
   away former sins, not to give impunity to a continuance in sin.

   Origen: Or, It is not one kind of righteousness only that is rewarded,
   as many think. In whatsoever matters any one does Christ's commands, be
   gives Christ meat and drink, Who feeds ever upon the truth and
   righteousness of His faithful people. So do we weave raiment for Christ
   when cold, when taking wisdom's web, we inculcate upon others, and put
   upon them bowels of mercy. Also when we make ready with divers virtues
   our heart for receiving Him, or those who are His, we take Him in a
   stranger into the home of our bosom. Also when we visit a brother sick
   either in faith or in good works, with doctrine, reproof, or comfort,
   we visit Christ Himself. Moreover, all that is here, is the prison of
   Christ, and of them that are His, who live in this world, as though
   chained in the prison of natural necessity. When we do a good work to
   these, we visit them in prison, and Christ in them.
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Chapter 26

   1. And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he
   said unto his disciples,

   2. "Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the
   Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."
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   Hilary: After the discourse in which the Lord had declared that He
   should return in splendour, He announces to them His approaching
   Passion, that they might learn the close connection between the
   sacrament of the Cross, and the glory of eternity.

   Raban.: "All these sayings," i.e. about the consummation of the world,
   and the day of judgment. Or, "finished," because He had fulfilled in
   doing and preaching all things from the beginning of the Gospel to His
   Passion.

   Origen: Yet it is not "all" barely, but "all these;" for there were
   other sayings which He must speak before He should be delivered up.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 78: We gather from John's account, that six
   days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, and thence entered
   Jerusalem sitting upon the ass, after which were done the things
   related to have been done at Jerusalem. We understand therefore that
   four days elapsed from His coming to Bethany, to make this two days
   before the Passover. The difference between the Passover and the feast
   of unleavened bread is this; the name Passover is given to that one day
   on which the lamb was slain in the evening, that is, the fourteenth
   moon of the first month; and on the fifteenth moon, the day that the
   people came out of Egypt, followed the festival of unleavened bread.
   But the Evangelists seem to use the terms indifferently. [marg. note:
   see Acts 12:3]

   Jerome: The Passover, called in Hebrew Phase, does not come as most
   think from paschein to suffer,' but from the Hebrew word signifying to
   pass over;' because the destroyer passed over when he saw the blood on
   the doors of the Israelites, and smote them not; or the Lord Himself
   walked on high, succouring His people.

   Remig.: Or, because by the help of the Lord the Israelitish people,
   freed from Egyptian bondage, passed forth into liberty.

   Origen: He said not, "After two days" will be, or will come, "the feast
   of the Passover," but not meaning the ordinary annual Passover, but
   that Passover such as had never before been, "the Passover will be
   offered." [marg. note: to pascha ginetai]

   Remig.: Mystically, that is called the Passover, because on that day
   Christ passed out of the world to His Father, from corruption to
   incorruption, from life to death, or because He redeemed the world by
   causing it savingly to pass from the slavery of the Devil.

   Jerome: After the two days of the shining light of the Old and of the
   New Testament, the true Passover is slain for the world. Also our
   Passover is celebrated when we leave the things of earth, and hasten to
   the things of heaven.

   Origen: He foretels His crucifixion to His disciples, adding, "And the
   Son of Man shall be delivered to be crucified;" thus fortifying them
   against that shock of surprise, which the sight of their Master, led
   forth to crucifixion, would otherwise have occasioned them. And He
   expresses it impersonally "shall be delivered," because God delivered
   Him up in mercy to the human race, Judas from covetousness, the Priest
   for envy, the Devil through fear that through His teaching the human
   race would be plucked out of His hand, little aware how much more that
   would be effected by His death, than either by His teaching or
   miracles.
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   3. Then assembled together the Chief Priests, and the Scribes, and the
   elders of the people, unto the palace of the High Priest, who was
   called Caiaphas,

   4. And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.

   5. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among
   the people.
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   Gloss., non occ.: Then the Evangelist lays before us the hidden springs
   and machinery by which the Lord's Passion was brought to pass.

   Remig.: This, "then," is to be referred to the preceding words, and
   means before the Feast of the Passover.

   Origen: Not true Priests and elders, but Priests and elders of what
   seemed the people of God, but was indeed the people of Gomorrah; these,
   not knowing God's High Priest, laid a plot against Him, not recognizing
   "the firstborn of the whole creation, [Col 1:15] yea, even against Him
   that was elder than them all, did they take counsel.

   Chrys.: With such ill designs they came to the chief Priest, seeking a
   sanction whence a prohibition should have issued. There were at that
   time several Chief Priests, while the Law allowed but of one, whence it
   was manifest that the dissolution of the Jewish state was having its
   beginning. For Moses had commanded that there should be one Chief
   Priest, whose office should be filled up at death; but in process of
   time it grew to be annual. All those then who had been Chief Priests
   [marg. note: tous ap' archiereos] are here called "Chief Priests."

   Remig.: They are condemned both because they were gathered together,
   and because they were the Chief Priests; for the more the numbers, and
   the higher the rank and station of those who band together for any
   villainy, the greater the enormity of what they do, and the heavier the
   punishment stored up for them.

   To shew the Lord's innocence and openness, the Evangelist adds, "that
   they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him."

   Chrys.: For what then did they conspire, to seize Him secretly, or put
   Him to death? For both; but they feared the people, and therefore
   waited till the feast was over, for "they said, not on the feast-day."
   For the Devil would not that Christ should suffer at the Passover, that
   His Passion might not be notorious. The Chief Priests had no fear in
   respect of God, namely, that their guilt might be aggravated by the
   season, but took into account human things only, "Lest there be an
   uproar among the people."

   Origen: By reason of the parties among the populace, those who favoured
   and those who hated Christ, those who believed and those who believed
   not.

   Leo, Serm. 58, 2: This precaution of the Chief Priests arose not from
   reverence for the festival, but, from care for the success of their
   plot; they feared an insurrection at that season, not because of the
   guilt the populace might thereby incur, but because they might rescue
   Christ.

   Chrys.: But their fury set aside their caution, and finding a betrayer,
   they put Christ to death in the middle of the feast.

   Leo, Serm. 58, 1: We recognise here a providential arrangement whereby
   the chief men of the Jews, who had often sought occasion of effecting
   their cruel purposes against Christ, could never yet succeed till the
   days of the paschal celebration. For it behoved that the things which
   had long been promised in symbol and mystery should be accomplished in
   manifest reality, that the typical lamb should be displaced by the
   true, and one sacrifice embrace the whole catalogue of the varied
   victims. That shadows should give way to substance, and copies to the
   presence of the original; victim is commuted for victim, blood is
   abolished by blood, and the festival of the Law is at once fulfilled
   and changed.
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   6. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,

   7. There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious
   ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.

   8. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, "To
   what purpose is this waste?

   9. For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the
   poor."

   10. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, "Why trouble ye the
   woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.

   11. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.

   12. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it
   for my burial.

   13. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in
   the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be
   told for a memorial of her."
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   Gloss, non. occ.: Having set before us the counsels of the chief of the
   Jews concerning the death of Christ, the Evangelist would proceed to
   follow out their execution, and to relate the bargain of Judas with the
   Jews to deliver Him up, but be first shews the cause of this betrayal.
   He was grieved that the ointment which the woman poured upon Christ's
   head had not been sold that he might have carried off something out of
   the price it brought, and to make up this loss he was willing to betray
   his Master.

   And therefore he proceeds, "Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house
   of Simon the leper."

   Jerome: Not that he was a leper yet, but having been so, and having
   been healed by the Saviour, be retained the appellation to shew forth
   the power of Him who healed him.

   Raban.: "Alabaster" is a kind of marble, white but marked with veins of
   different colours, which was in use for vessels to hold ointment,
   because it was said to preserve it from corruption.

   Jerome: Another Evangelist instead of alabastruin' has nardum
   pisticam,' that is, genuine, unadulterated. [marg. note: John 12:3]

   Raban.: From the Greek, pistis, faith, whence pisticus,' faithful. For
   this ointment was pure, unadulterated.

   Origen: Some one may perhaps think that there are four different women
   of whom the Evangelists have written, but I rather agree with those who
   think that they are only three; one of whom Matthew and Mark wrote, one
   of whom Luke, another of whom John.

   Jerome: For let no one think that she who anointed His head and she who
   anointed His feet were one and the same; for the latter washed His feet
   with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and is plainly said to
   have been a harlot. But of this woman nothing of this kind is recorded,
   and indeed a harlot could not have at once been made deserving of the
   Lord's head.

   Ambrose, Ambros. in Luc. 7, 37: It is possible therefore that they were
   different persons, and so all appearance of contradiction between the
   Evangelists is removed. Or it is possible that it was the same woman at
   two different times and two different stages of desert; first while yet
   a sinner, afterwards more advanced.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxx: And in this way it may be the same in the three
   Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And not without good reason does
   the Evangelist mention Simon's leprosy, to shew what gave this woman
   confidence to come to Christ. The leprosy was an unclean disease; when
   then she saw that Jesus had healed the man with whom He now lodged, she
   trusted that He could also cleanse the uncleanness of her soul; and so
   whereas other women came to Christ to be healed in their bodies, she
   came only for the honour and the healing of her soul, having nothing
   diseased in her body; and for this she is worthy our highest
   admiration. But she in John is a different woman, the wonderful sister
   of Lazarus.

   Origen: Matthew and Mark relate that this was done in the house of
   Simon the leper; but John says that Jesus came to a house where Lazarus
   was; and that not Simon, but Mary and Martha served. Further, according
   to John, six days before the Passover, He came to Bethany where Mary
   and Martha made Him a supper. But here it is in the house of Simon the
   leper, and two days before the Passover.

   And in Matthew and Mark, it is the disciples that have indignation with
   a good intent; in John, Judas alone with intent to steal; in Luke, no
   one finds fault.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxxiii, 1: Or, we may think that this is the same
   woman whom Luke calls a "sinner," and John names Mary.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 79: Though the action described in Luke is the
   same as that described here, and the name of him with whom the Lord
   supped is the same, for Luke also names Simon; yet because it is not
   contrary to either nature or custom for two men to bear the same name,
   it is more probable that this was another Simon, not the leper, in
   whose house in Bethany these things were done.

   I would only suppose that the woman who on that occasion came near to
   Jesus' feet, and this woman, were not two different persons, but that
   the same Mary did this twice. The first time is that narrated by Luke;
   for John mentions it in praise of Mary before Christ's coming to
   Bethany, "It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and
   wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick." [John
   11:2] Mary therefore had done this before. That she did afterwards in
   Bethany is distinct from Luke's account, but is the same event that is
   recorded by all three, John, Matthew, and Mark. That Matthew and Mark
   say it was the Lord's head that she anointed, and John His feet, is
   reconciled by supposing that she anointed both.

   Against this one might raise a cavil from what Mark says, that she
   anointed His head by breaking the box over it, so that there could be
   none of the ointment left with which to anoint His feet also. Let such
   caviller understand, that His feet were first anointed before the box
   was broken, and there remained in it, yet whole, enough wherewith to
   anoint the head by breaking the box and shedding the contents.

   Aug., de Doctr. Christ., iii, 12: But let not any suppose that the
   Lord's feet were by this woman bathed in ointment after the manner
   which the luxurious and debauched use. In all things of this nature, it
   is not the thing itself, but the mind of him who uses it, that is in
   fault. Whoso uses things after such sort as to pass the bounds observed
   by good men with whom he lives, either has some meaning [marg. note:
   aliquid significat] in what he does, or is vicious. What then is vice
   in others, in a divine or prophetic person is a sign of some great
   thing.

   The good odour is the good report which one has gained by the works of
   a good life, and in following Christ's footsteps sheds a most precious
   odour on His feet.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 78: Still there may seem to be some discrepancy
   between the narrative of Matthew and Mark, who say, that "after two
   days is the feast of the Passover," and then bring Jesus to Bethany;
   and that of John, who, relating this history of the ointment, says "Six
   days before the Passover."

   They who urge this do not understand that the events in Bethany are in
   Matthew and Mark inserted out of their place, a little later than the
   time of their occurrence. Neither of them, it is to be observed,
   introduce their account with afterwards.'

   Chrys.: The disciples had heard their Master say, "I will have mercy,
   and not sacrifice," [Matt 9:13] wherefore they thought among
   themselves, If He accepts not burnt-offerings, much less will He the
   application of such ointment as this.

   Jerome: I know that some raise a cavil here, because John says that
   Judas alone was grieved because he had the bag, and was a thief from
   the beginning; but Matthew, that all the disciples were sorrowful.
   These know not the figure syllepsis, by which one name is put for many,
   and many for one; as Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews says, "They
   were sawn asunder," [Heb 11:37] when it is thought that one only,
   Esaias namely, was so.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 79: We may however understand that the other
   disciples thought or said the same, or that they assented to what Judas
   said, and thus Matthew and Mark have described their common consent.
   But Judas said it because he was a thief, the others out of their care
   for the poor; and John desired to mention it only in the case of him
   whose thievish propensity he thought ought to be recorded.

   Chrys.: The disciples then thought thus, but Jesus, who saw the
   thoughts of the woman, suffered it. For her piety was great, and her
   ardour unspeakable, wherefore He condescended to suffer her to pour the
   ointment on His head. As the Father admitted the smoke and odour of the
   slain victim, so also Christ admitted this votive anointing of His
   head, though the disciples, who saw not her heart, murmured.

   Remig.: He clearly shews that the Apostles had uttered something harsh
   against her, when He says, "Why trouble ye the woman?" And beautifully
   He adds, "She hath wrought a good work in me;" as much as to say, It is
   not a waste of ointment, as ye say, but a good work, that is, a service
   of piety and devotion.

   Chrys.: And He says not merely, "She hath wrought a good work," but
   says first, "Why trouble ye the woman?" to teach us that every good act
   that is wrought by any, even though it lack somewhat of exact
   propriety, yet we ought to receive, cherish, and cultivate it, and not
   to require strict correctness in a beginner. If He had been asked
   before this was done by the woman, He would not have directed its
   doing; but when it was done, the rebuke of the disciples had no longer
   any place, and He Himself to guard the woman from importunate attacks
   speaks these things for her comfort.

   Remig.: "For the poor ye have ever with you." The Lord shews in these
   words as of set purpose, that they were not to be blamed who ministered
   of their substance to Him while He dwelt in a mortal body; forasmuch as
   the poor were ever in the Church, to whom the believers might do good
   whensoever they would, but He would abide in the body with them but a
   very short time.

   Whence it follows, "But me ye shall not have always."

   Jerome: Here a question arises how the Lord should have said elsewhere
   to His disciples, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
   world;" [Matt 28:20] but here, "Me ye shall not have always."

   I suppose that in this place He speaks of His bodily presence, which
   shall not be with them after the resurrection in daily intercourse and
   friendship, as it is now.

   Remig.: Or, it is to be explained by supposing this spoken to Judas
   only; and He said not, Ye have not, but "Ye shall not have," because
   this was spoken in the person of Judas to all his followers. And He
   says, "Not always," though they have it at no time, because the wicked
   seem to have Christ in this present world, while they mix among His
   members and approach His table, but they shall not always so have Him
   when He shall say to His elect, "Come, ye blessed of my Father." [Matt
   25:34]

   It was the custom among this people to embalm the bodies of the dead
   with divers spices, to the end that they might be kept from corruption
   as long as possible. And as this woman was desirous of embalming the
   Lord's dead Body, and would not be able because she would be
   anticipated by His resurrection, it was therefore arranged by Divine
   Providence that she should anoint the Lord's living Body. This then is
   what He says, "In that she hath poured," that is, By anointing My
   living Body she shews forth My death and burial.

   Chrys.: That this mention of His death and burial might not cause her
   to despond, He comforts her by what follows, "Verily I say unto you,
   Wheresoever &c."

   Raban.: That is, To whatsoever place throughout the whole world the
   Church shall be propagated, there this also that she hath done shall be
   told. That also that is added signifies, that as Judas by his reproof
   of her has earned evil character of treachery, so has she also earned
   the glory of pious devotedness.

   Jerome: Note His knowledge of things to come, how though about to
   suffer death within two days, He knows that His Gospel will be preached
   throughout the whole world.

   Chrys.: Behold the accomplishment of this saying; to whatsoever part of
   the world you go, you will find this woman famous, and this has been
   wrought by the power of Him who spake this word. How many victories of
   kings and captains have passed into oblivion; how many who built cities
   and enslaved many nations are now known neither by report nor by name;
   but the deed of this woman pouring forth ointment in the house of a
   leper in the presence of twelve men, this resounds throughout the
   world, and though so much time has elapsed, the memory of that which
   was done is not effaced.

   But why promised He no spiritual gift to this woman, but everlasting
   remembrance only? Because this He did promise made her confident of
   receiving the other also; whereas she wrought a good work, it is clear
   that she shall receive an adequate reward.

   Jerome: Mystically; The Lord, about to suffer for the whole world,
   sojourns in Bethany, in the house of obedience, which once was that of
   Simon the leper. Simon also is interpreted obedient,' or, according to
   another interpretation, the world,' in whose house the Church is
   healed.

   Origen: Oil is throughout Scripture put for the work of mercy, with
   which the lamp of the word is fed; or for doctrine, the hearing of
   which sustains the word of faith when once kindled. All with which men
   anoint is comprehensively called oil; and one kind of oil is unguent,
   and one kind of unguent is precious. So all righteous acts are called
   good works; and of good works there is one kind which we do for, or to,
   men; another which we do for, or to, God. And this likewise that we do
   for God, in part only advances the good of men, in part, the glory of
   God.

   For example, one does a kindness to a man out of feelings of natural
   righteousness, not for God's sake, as the Gentiles sometime did; such a
   work is common oil of no fine savour, yet is it acceptable to God,
   forasmuch, as Peter says in Clement, the good works that the
   unbelievers do, profit them in this world, but avail not to gain them
   eternal life in another. They who do the same for God's sake, profit
   thereby not in this world only but in the next also, and that they do
   is ointment of good savour.

   Another sort is that done for the good of men, as alms, and the like.
   He who does this to Christians, anoints the Lord's feet, for they are
   the Lord's feet; and this penitents are most found to do for remission
   of their sins. He who devotes himself to chastity, and continues in
   fastings and prayers, and other things which conduce to God's glory
   only, this is the ointment which anoints the Lord's head, and with
   whose odour the whole Church is filled; this is the work meet not for
   penitents, but for the perfect, or the doctrine which is necessary for
   men; but the acknowledgment of the faith which belongs to God alone, is
   the ointment with which the head of Christ is anointed, with which we
   "are buried together with Christ by baptism into death." [Rom 6:4]

   Hilary: In this woman is prefigured the people of the Gentiles, who
   gave glory to God in Christ's passion; for she anointed His head, but
   the head of Christ is God, and ointment is the fruit of good works. But
   the disciples, anxious for the salvation of Israel, say that this ought
   to have been sold for the use of the poor; designating by a prophetic
   instinct the Jews, who lacked faith, by the name of the poor. The Lord
   answers that there is abundant time in which they may shew their care
   for the poor, but that salvation cannot be extended to the Gentiles but
   by obedience to His command, if, that is, by the pouring out of this
   woman's ointment they are buried together with Him, because
   regeneration can only be given to those who are dead in the profession
   of baptism. And this her work shall be told wherever this Gospel is
   preached, because when Israel draws back, the glory of the Gospel is
   preached by the belief of the Gentiles.
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   14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the Chief
   Priests,

   15. And said unto them, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him
   unto you?" And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

   16. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non. occ.: Having described the occasion of his treachery, the
   Evangelist proceeds to recount the manner of it.

   Chrys.: "Then," when, that is, he heard that this Gospel should be
   preached every where; for that made him afraid, as it was indeed a mark
   of unspeakable power.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 78: The order of the narrative is this. The
   Lord says, "Ye know that after two days will be the feast of the
   Passover; . . . then assembled together the Chief Priests and Scribes;
   . . . then went one of the twelve."

   Thus the narrative of what took place at Bethany is inserted by way of
   digression, respecting an earlier time between that, "Lest there be an
   uproar," and, "Then one of the twelve."

   Origen: "Went," against that one high priest, who was made a Priest for
   ever, to many high priests, to sell for a price Him who sought to
   redeem the whole world.

   Raban.: "Went," he says, because he was neither compelled, nor invited,
   but of his own free will formed the wicked design.

   Chrys.: "One of the twelve," as much as to say, of that first band who
   are elected for preeminent merit. [marg. note: aristiden ixeilegmenon]

   Gloss, non. occ: He adds his distinctive appellation, "Scarioth," for
   there was another Judas.

   Remig.: So called from the village Scariotha, from which he came.

   Leo, Serm., 60, 4: He did not out of any fear forsake Christ, but
   through lust of money cast Him off; for in comparison of the love of
   money all our affections are feeble; the soul athirst for gain fears
   not to die for a very little; there is no trace of righteousness in
   that heart in which covetousness has once taken up its abode. The
   traitor Judas, intoxicated with this bane, in his thirst for lucre was
   so foolishly hardened, as to sell his Lord and Master.

   Jerome: The wretched Judas would fain replace, by the sale of his
   Master, that loss which he supposed he had incurred by the ointment.
   And he does not demand any fixed sum, lest his treachery should seem a
   gainful thing, but as though delivering up a worthless slave, he left
   it to those who bought, to determine how much they would give.

   Origen: The same do all who take any material or worldly things to cast
   out of their thoughts the Saviour and the word of truth which was in
   them. "And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver," as
   many pieces as the Saviour had dwelt years in the world.

   [ed. note: i.e. Before He began His ministry, as what follows in Origen
   shews. For though Origen had at one time considered the duration of Our
   Lord's ministry not to have exceeded one year and a few months, he had
   changed that opinion before this commentary on S. Matt. was written. In
   it he more than once mentions three years as the probable period. vid.
   Comm. in Matt. Ser., sect 40]

   Jerome: Joseph was not sold as many, following the LXX [septuagint],
   think for twenty pieces of gold, but as the Hebrew text has for twenty
   pieces of silver, [marg. note: Gen 37:28] for it could not be that the
   servant should be more valuable than his Master.

   Aug., Quaest Ev., i, 41: That the Lord was sold for thirty pieces of
   silver by Judas, denotes the unrighteous Jews, who pursuing things
   carnal and temporal, which belong to the five bodily senses, refuse to
   have Christ; and forasmuch as they did this in the sixth age of the
   world, their receiving five times six as the price of the Lord is thus
   signified; and because the Lord's words are silver, but they understood
   even the Law carnally, they had, as it were, stamped on silver the
   image of that worldly dominion which they held to when they renounced
   the Lord.

   Origen: The "opportunity" which Judas sought is further explained by
   Luke, "how he might betray him in the absence of the multitude;" [Luke
   22:6] when the populace was not with Him, but He was withdrawn with His
   disciples. And this he did, delivering Him up after supper, when He was
   withdrawn to the garden of Gethsemane. And from that time forward, such
   has been the season sought for by those that would betray the word of
   God in time of persecution, when the multitude of believers is not
   around the word of truth.
     __________________________________________________________________

   17. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples
   came to Jesus, saying unto him, "Where wilt thou that we prepare for
   thee to eat the Passover?"

   18. And he said, "Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The
   Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house
   with my disciples."

   19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made
   ready the Passover.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: The Evangelist having gone through the events
   preliminary to the Passion, namely, the announcement of the counsel of
   the Chief Priests, and the covenant for His betrayal, prosecutes the
   history in the order of events, saying, "On the first day of unleavened
   bread."

   Jerome: The first day of unleavened bread is the fourteenth day of the
   first month, when the lamb is killed, the moon is at full, and leaven
   is put away.

   Remig.: And observe that with the Jews, the Passover is celebrated on
   the first day, and the following seven are called the days of
   unleavened bread; but here the first day of unleavened bread means the
   day of the Passover.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxi: Or, by "the first day," he means the day before the
   days of unleavened bread. For the Jews always reckoned their day from
   the evening; and this day of which he speaks was that on the evening of
   which they were to kill the Passover, namely, the fifth day of the
   week.

   [ed. note: This passage has been altered by the text of S. Chrys. The
   Catena has, Vel hanc primam diem azymorum dicit quia septem dies
   azymorum erant."]

   REMIG. But perhaps some one will say, If that typical lamb bore a type
   of this the true lamb, how did not Christ suffer on the night on which
   this was always killed? It is to be noted, that on this night, He
   committed to His disciples the mysteries of His flesh and blood to be
   celebrated, and then also being seized and bound by the Jews, He
   hallowed the commencement of His sacrifice, i.e. His Passion. "The
   disciples came" unto him;" among these no doubt was the traitor Judas.

   Chrys.: Hence it is evident that He had neither house nor lodging. Nor,
   I conclude, had the disciples any, for they would surely have invited
   Him thither.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., ii, 80: "Go into the city to such a man," Him whom
   Mark and Luke call "the good-man of the house," or "the I master of the
   house." And when Matthew says, "to such a man," he is to be understood
   to say this as from himself for brevity's sake; for every one knows
   that no man speaks thus, "Go ye to such a man." And Matthew adds these
   words, "to such a man," not that the Lord used the very expression, but
   to convey to us that the disciples were not sent to any one in the
   city, but to some certain person.

   Chrys.: Or, we may say that this, "to such a man," shews that He sent
   them to some person unknown to them, teaching them thereby that He was
   able to avoid His Passion. For He who prevailed with this man to
   entertain Him, how could He not have prevailed with those who crucified
   Him, had He chosen not to suffer? Indeed, I marvel not only that he
   entertained Him, being a stranger, but that he did it in contempt of
   the hatred of the multitude.

   Hilary: Or, Matthew does not name the man in whose house Christ would
   celebrate the Passover, because the Christian name was not yet held in
   honour by the believers.

   Raban.: Or, he omits the name, that all who would fain celebrate the
   true Passover, and receive Christ within the dwelling place of their
   own minds, should understand that the opportunity is afforded them.

   Jerome: In this also the New Scripture observes the practice of the
   Old, in which we frequently read, He said unto him,' and In this or
   that place,' without any name of person or place.

   Chrys.: "My time is at hand," this He said, both by so manifold
   announcements of His Passion, fortifying His disciples against the
   event, and at the same time shewing that He undertook it voluntarily.
   "I will keep the Passover at thy house," wherein we see, that to the
   very last day He was not disobedient to the Law. "With my disciples,"
   He adds, that there might be sufficient preparation made, and that he
   to whom He sent might not think that He desired to be concealed.

   Origen: Some one may argue [marg. note: e.g. The Ebionites], that
   because Jesus kept the Passover with Jewish observances, we ought to do
   the same as followers of Christ, not remembering that Jesus was "made
   under the Law," though not that He should leave "under the Law" [Gal
   4:4] those who were under it, but should "lead them out" of it; how
   much less fitting then is it, that those who before were without the
   Law, should afterwards enter in? We celebrate spiritually the things
   which were carnally celebrated in the Law, keeping the Passover "in the
   unleavened bread of sincerity and truth," [1 Cor 5:8] according to the
   will of the Lamb, who said, "Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood,
   ye shall not have life in you." [John 6:53]
     __________________________________________________________________

   20. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.

   21. And as they did eat, he said, "Verily I say unto you, that one of
   you shall betray me."

   22. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to
   say unto him, "Lord, is it I?"

   23. And he answered and said, "He that dippeth his hand with me in the
   dish, the same shall betray me.

   24. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man
   by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he
   had not been born."

   25. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, "Master, is it
   I?" He said unto him, "Thou hast said."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: The Lord had above foretold His Passion, He now foretels who is
   to be the traitor; thus giving him place of repentance, when he should
   see that his thoughts and the secret designs of his heart were known.

   Remig.: "With the twelve," it is said, for Judas was personally among
   them, though he had ceased to be so in merit.

   Jerome: Judas acts in every thing to remove all suspicion of his
   treachery.

   Remig.: And it is beautifully said, "When even was come," because it
   was in the evening that the Lamb was wont to be slain.

   Raban.: For this reason also, because in Christ's Passion, wherein the
   true sun hasted to his setting, eternal refreshment was made ready for
   all believers.

   Chrys.: The Evangelist relates how as they sat at meat, Jesus declares
   Judas' treachery, that the wickedness of the betrayer may be more
   apparent from the season and the circumstances.

   Leo, Serm. 58, 3: He shews that the conscience of His betrayer was
   known to Him, not meeting his wickedness with a harsh and open rebuke,
   that penitence might find a readier way to one who had not been
   disgraced by public dismissal.

   Origen: Or, He spoke generally, to prove the nature of each of their
   hearts, and to evince the wickedness of Judas, who would not believe in
   One who knew his heart. I suppose that at first he supposed that the
   thing was hid from Him, deeming Him man, which was of unbelief; but
   when he saw that his heart was known, he embraced the concealment
   offered by this general way of speaking, which was shamelessness.

   This also shews the goodness of the disciples, that they believed
   Christ's words more than their own consciences, "for they began each to
   say, Lord, is it I?" For they knew by what Jesus had taught them that
   human nature is readily turned to evil, and is in continual struggle
   with "the rulers of the darkness of this world;" [Eph 6:12] whence they
   ask as in fear, for by reason of our weakness the future is an object
   of dread to us.

   When the Lord saw the disciples thus alarmed for themselves, He pointed
   out the traitor by the mark of the prophetic declaration, "He that hath
   eaten bread with me hath wantonly overthrown me." [Ps 41:9]

   Jerome: O wonderful endurance of the Lord, He had said before, "One of
   you shall betray me." The traitor perseveres in his wickedness; He
   designates him more particularly, yet not by name. For Judas, while the
   rest were sorrowful, and withdrew their hands, and bid away the food
   from their months, with the same hardihood and recklessness which led
   him to betray Him, reached forth his hand into the dish with his
   Master, passing off his audacity as a good conscience.

   Chrys.: I rather think that Christ did this out of regard for him, and
   to bring him to a better mind.

   Raban.: What Matthew calls paropsis,' Mark calls catinus.' The
   paropsis' is a square dish for meat, catinus,' an earthen vessel for
   containing fluids; this then might be a square earthen vessel.

   Origen: Such is the wont of men of exceeding wickedness, to plot
   against those of whose bread and salt they have partaken, and
   especially those who have no enmity against them. But if we take it of
   the spiritual table, and the spiritual food, we shall see the more
   abundant and overflowing measure of this man's wickedness, who called
   to mind neither his Master's love in providing carnal goods, nor His
   teaching in things spiritual. Such are all in the Church who lay snares
   for their brethren whom they continually meet at the same table of
   Christ's Body.

   Jerome: Judas, not withheld by either the first or second warning,
   perseveres in his treachery; the Lord's long-suffering nourishes his
   audacity. Now then his punishment is foretold, that denunciations of
   wrath may correct where good feeling has no power.

   Remig.: It belongs to human nature to come and go, Divine nature
   remains ever the same. So because His human nature could suffer and
   die, therefore of the Son of Man it is well said that "he goeth." He
   says plainly, "As it is written of him," for all that He suffered had
   been foretold by the Prophets.

   Chrys.: This He said to comfort His disciples, that they might not
   think that it was through weakness that He suffered; and at the same
   time for the correction of His betrayer. And notwithstanding His
   Passion had been foretold, Judas is still guilty; and not his betrayal
   wrought our salvation, but God's providence, which used the sins of
   others to our profit.

   Origen: He said not, By whom "the Son of Man is betrayed," but "through
   whom," [John 13:2] pointing out another, to wit the Devil, as the
   author of His betrayal, Judas as the minister. But woe also to all
   betrayers of Christ! and such is every one who betrays a disciple of
   Christ.

   Remig.: Woe also to all who draw near to Christ's table with an evil
   and defiled conscience! who though they do not deliver Christ to the
   Jews to be crucified, deliver Him to their own sinful members to be
   taken. He adds, to give more emphasis, "Good were it for that man if he
   had never been born."

   Jerome: We are not to infer from this that man has a being before
   birth; for it cannot be well with any man till he has a being; it
   simply implies that it is better not to be, than to be in evil.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 40: And if it be contended that there is a life
   before this life, that will prove that not only not for Judas, but for
   none other is it good to have been born. Can it mean, that it were
   better for him not to have been born to the Devil, namely, for sin? Or
   does it mean that it had been good for him not to have been born to
   Christ at his calling, that he should now become apostate?

   Origen: After all the Apostles had asked, and after Christ had spoken
   of him, Judas at length enquired of himself, with the crafty design of
   concealing his treacherous purpose by asking the same question as the
   rest; for real sorrow brooks not suspense.

   Jerome: His question feigns either great respect, or a hypocritical
   incredulousness. The rest who were not to betray Him, said only "Lord;"
   the actual traitor addresses Him as "Master," as though it were some
   excuse that he denied Him as Lord, and betrayed a Master only.

   Origen: Or, out of sycophancy he calls Him Master, while be holds Him
   unworthy of the title.

   Chrys.: Though the Lord could have said, Hast thou covenanted to
   receive silver, and darest to ask Me this? But Jesus, most merciful,
   said nothing of all this, therein laying down for us rules and
   landmarks of endurance of evil.

   "He saith unto him, Thou hast said."

   Remig.: Which may be understood thus; Thou sayest it, and thou sayest
   what is true; or, Thou hast said this, not I; leaving him room for
   repentance so long as his villainy was not publicly exposed.

   Raban.: This might have been so said by Judas, and answered by the Lord
   as not to be overheard by the rest.
     __________________________________________________________________

   26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and
   brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is
   my body."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: When the typical Passover was concluded, and He had partaken of
   the Lamb with His Apostles, He comes to the true paschal sacrament;
   that, as Melchisedech [marg. note: Gen 14:18], Priest of the most high
   God, had done in foreshadowing Christ, offering bread and wine, He also
   should offer the present verity of His Body and Blood.

   [ed. note: Many of the passages here quoted appear to have been taken
   by S. Thomas from the Decretum of Gratian, though the Catena gives no
   reference to this compilation. Whenever they can be found, the
   originals are referred to in the margin, and the important differences
   or additions are noticed in the note. The present passage from S.
   Jerome (in Joe.) is found in Gratian. de Cons. ii. 88; that which
   follows from S. Augustine, ibid, 53. The next passage headed Gloss.'
   cannot be found any where.]

   Aug., Ep. 54, 7: "And as they were eating," whereby it is clearly seen
   that at their first partaking of the Lord's Body and Blood, the
   disciples did not partake fasting. But are we therefore to except
   against the practice of the whole Church, of receiving fasting? It has
   seemed good to the Holy Ghost, that for the better honour of so great a
   Sacrament, the Lord`s Body should enter the Christian's mouth before
   other food. For to commend more mightily the depth of this mystery, the
   Saviour chose this as the last thing He would imprint on the hearts and
   memory of His disciples, from whom He was to depart to His Passion. But
   He did not direct in what order it should thenceforth be taken, that He
   might reserve that for the Apostles by whom He would regulate His
   Church.

   Gloss., non occ.: Christ delivered to us His Flesh and Blood under
   another kind, and ordained them to be thenceforth so received, that
   faith might have its merit, which is of things that are not seen.

   Ambrose, Ambr. de Sacr., vi, 1 [ed. note: S. Ambrose's name has been
   retained at the head of the passages out of the Treatise De
   Sacramentis,' because it is placed in the Ben. ed. among the genuine
   works of S. Ambrose, and not in the Appendix. But there seems to be
   little doubt of its spuriousness. See Jenkyns' note to Cranmer's
   Defence, &c.' in Cranmer's Works, ii. 326]: And that we might not be
   shocked by the sight of blood, while it at the same time wrought the
   price of our redemption.

   Aug., in Joan. Tr. 26, 17, cf Serm. 227, 1: The Lord committed His Body
   and Blood to substances which are formed a homogeneous compound out of
   many. Bread is made of many grains, wine is produced out of many
   berries. Herein the Lord Jesus Christ signified us, and hallowed in His
   Own table the mystery of our peace and unity.

   Remig.: Fittingly also did He offer fruit of the earth, to shew thereby
   that He came to take away the curse wherewith the earth was cursed for
   the sin of the first man. Also He bade be offered the produce of the
   earth, and the things for which men chiefly toil, that there might be
   no difficulty in procuring them, and that men might offer sacrifice to
   God of the work of their hands.

   Ambrose, Ambr. de Sacr., iv, 3: Hence learn that the Christian
   mysteries were before the Jewish. Melchisedech offered bread and wine,
   being in all things like the Son of God, to Whom it is said, "Thou art
   a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech;" [Ps 110:4] and of
   Whom it is here said, "Jesus took bread." [John 12:24]

   Gloss., non occ.: [ed. note: This Gloss is partly from the Gloss on
   Gratian de Cons. d. ii. c. 5. The next passage is headed Gregorius in
   Registro' in the editions, and is so quoted by S. Thomas, Summa 3. q.
   74. art. 4. but cannot be found in S. Greg.]

   This, we must understand to be wheat bread for the Lord compared
   Himself to a grain of wheat, saying, "Except a corn fall into the
   ground &c." Such bread also is suitable for the Sacrament, because it
   is in common use; bread of other kinds being only made when this fails.
   But forasmuch as Christ up to the very last day, to use the words of
   Chrysostom as above [marg. note: p. 886], shewed that He did nothing
   contrary to the Law, and the Law commanded that unleavened bread should
   be eaten in the evening when the Passover was slain, and that all
   leavened should be put away, it is manifest that the bread which the
   Lord took and gave to His disciples was unleavened.

   Greg., non occ.: It has given trouble to divers persons, that in the
   Church some offer unleavened and others leavened bread. The Roman
   Church offers unleavened, because the Lord took flesh without any
   pollution [marg. note: commixtione]; other [marg. note: Graecaesc]
   Churches offer leavened bread, because the Word of the Father took
   flesh upon Him, and is Very God, and Very Man; and so the leaven is
   mingled with the flour. But whether we receive leavened or unleavened,
   we are made one body of the Lord our Saviour.

   Ambrose, Ambr. de Sacr., iv, 4: This bread before the sacramentary
   words, is the bread in common use; after consecration it is made of
   bread Christ's flesh. And what are the words, or whose are the phrases
   of consecration, save those of the Lord Jesus? For if His word had
   power to make those things begin to be which were not, how much rather
   will it not be efficacious to cause them to remain what they are, while
   they are at the same time changed into somewhat else? For if the
   heavenly word has been effectual in other matters, is it ineffectual in
   heavenly sacraments? Therefore of the bread is made the Body of Christ,
   and the wine is made blood by the consecration of the heavenly word.

   [ed. note: ap. Grat. ibid. 54. On this remarkable passage it may be
   observed, first, S. Ambrose is referring to the creation, and his
   meaning is, "If his word had power to make these things," i.e. heaven
   and earth, "begin to be, which were not, how much rather is it not
   efficacious to make those things," i.e. the bread, not begin, but
   "continue to be, which were already, and are but changed into something
   else?"

   2. Next he illustrates the change by our own change in regeneration.
   "Tu ipse eras, sed eras vetus creatura; postea quam consecratus es,
   nova creatura esse cepisti."

   3. There is no introduction of the word "substance," i.e. no assertion
   of transubstantiation.]

   Dost thou enquire after the manner? Learn. The course of nature is,
   that a man is not born but of man and woman, but by God's will Christ
   was born of the Holy Spirit and a Virgin.

   Paschasius: As then real flesh was created by the Holy Spirit without
   sexual union, so by the same Holy Spirit the substance of bread and
   wine are consecrated into the Body and Blood of Christ. And because
   this consecration is made by the Lords word, it is added, "He blessed."

   [ed. note: This passage is quoted in the Bodl. MS. and early editions
   of the Cat., as Augustinus in Verb. Dom.' Gratian also (de Cons. d. ii.
   72.) gives it as Augustine's, but the earliest author in whom it is
   found is Paschasius Radbertus, Abbot of Corbey, and a well-known writer
   of the ninth century, De Corpore et Sanguine Dom.' 4.]

   Remig.: Hereby He shewed also that He together with the Father and the
   Holy Spirit has filled human nature with the grace of His divine power,
   and enriched it with the boon of immortality. And to shew that His Body
   was not subject to passion but of His own will, it is added, "And
   brake."

   Lanfranc: When the host is broken, when the blood is poured from the
   cup into the mouth of the faithful, what else is denoted but the
   offering of the Lord's Body on the cross, and the shedding of His Blood
   out of His side?

   [ed. note: This is quoted in the early editions, and in Gratian de
   Cons. ii. 37. as Augustinus in Libro Sent. Prosper.' but does not occur
   in that collection of Prosper as we have it. It is found in Lanfranc
   cont. Bereng. 13.]

   Dionysius, Eccl. Hier., 3, in fin: In this is also shewn, that the one
   and uncompounded Word of God came to us compounded and visible by
   taking human nature upon Him, and drawing to Himself our society, made
   us partakers of the spiritual goods which He distributed, as it
   follows, "And gave to his disciples."

   Leo, Serm. 58, 3: Not excluding the traitor even from this mystery,
   that it might be made manifest that Judas was provoked by no wrong, but
   that he had been foreknown in voluntary impiety.

   Aug., in Joan Tr., 59: Peter and Judas received of the same bread, but
   Peter to life, Judas to death.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxii: And this John shews when be says "After the sop,
   Satan entered into him." [John 13:27] For his sin was aggravated in
   that he came near to these mysteries with such a heart, and that having
   come to them, he was made better neither by fear, kindness, nor honour.
   Christ hindered him not, though He knew all things, that you may learn
   that He omits nothing which serves for correction.

   Remig.: In so doing He left an example to the Church, that it should
   sever no one from its fellowship, or from the communion of the Body and
   Blood of the Lord, but for some notorious and public crime.

   Hilary: Or, The Passover was concluded by the taking the cup and
   breaking the bread without Judas, for he was unworthy the communion of
   eternal sacraments. And that he had left them we learn from thence,
   that he returns with a multitude.

   Aug.: [ed. note: This passage, headed Augustinus' in the Bodl. MS., and
   Aug de Verb. Dom.' in the earlier editions, is apparently taken from
   two canons in the 3d pt. of Gratian, viz. c. 70. and c. 58. to which
   Augustine's name is there prefixed. It has not been found in S.
   Augustine's works. But it is found in Bede on I Cor. x. who also quotes
   it from Aug. de verb. Evang.']

   "And said, Take, eat;" The Lord invites His servants to set before them
   Himself for food. But who would dare to eat his Lord? This food when
   eaten refreshes, but fails not; He lives after being eaten, Who rose
   again after being put to death. Neither when we eat Him do we divide
   His substance; but thus it is in this Sacrament. The faithful know how
   they feed on Christ's flesh, each man receives a part for himself. He
   is divided into parts in the Sacrament, yet He remains whole; He is all
   in heaven, He is all in thy heart.

   They are called Sacraments, because in them what is seen is one thing,
   what is understood is another; what is seen has a material form, what
   is understood has spiritual fruit.

   Aug., in Joan. Tr., 27, 11: Let us not eat Christ's flesh only in the
   Sacrament, for that do many wicked men, but let us eat to spiritual
   participation, that we may abide as members in the Lord's body, that we
   may be quickened by His Spirit.

   Ambrose, de Sacr., iv, 5: Before consecration, it is bread; after
   Christ's words, "This is my body," have been pronounced, it is Christ's
   Body.
     __________________________________________________________________

   27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
   "Drink ye all of it;

   28. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many
   for the remission of sins.

   29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of
   the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
   kingdom."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: The Lord having given His disciples His Body under the element
   of bread [marg. note: sub specie panis], well gives the cup of His
   Blood to them likewise; shewing what joy He has in our salvation,
   seeing He even shed His Blood for us.

   Chrys.: He gave thanks to instruct us after what manner we ought to
   celebrate this mystery, and shewed also thereby that He came not to His
   Passion against His will. Also He taught us to bear whatsoever we
   suffer with thanksgiving, and infused into us good hopes.

   For if the type of this sacrifice, to wit, the offering of the paschal
   lamb, became the deliverance of the people from Egyptian bondage, much
   more shall the reality thereof be the deliverance of the world.

   "And gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it." That they should not
   be distressed at hearing this, He first drank His own blood to lead
   them without fear to the communion of these mysteries.

   Jerome, Hieron. Ep. 120, ad Hedib: Thus then the Lord Jesus was at once
   guest and feast, the eater and the things eaten. [ed. note: ap. Grat.
   do Consecr. d. ii. 87.]

   Chrys.: "This is my blood of the new testament;" that is, the new
   promise, covenant, law; for this blood was promised from of old, and
   this guarantees the new covenant; for as the Old Testament had the
   blood of sheep and goats, so the New has the Lord's Blood.

   Remig.: For thus it is read, "Behold the blood of the covenant which
   the Lord hath made with you." [Ex 24:8]

   Chrys.: And in calling it blood, He foreshews His Passion, "My blood
   ... which shall be shed for many." Also the purpose for which He died,
   adding, "For the remission of sins;" as much as to say, The blood of
   the lamb was shed in Egypt for the salvation of the first born of the
   Israelites, this My Blood is shed for the remission of sins.

   Remig.: And it is to be noted, that He says not, For a few, nor, For
   all, but, "For many;" because He came not to redeem a single nation,
   but many out of all nations.

   Chrys.: Thus saying, He shews that His Passion is a mystery of the
   salvation of men, by which also He comforts His disciples. And as Moses
   said, "This shall be an ordinance to thee for ever," [Ex 12:24] so
   Christ speaks as Luke relates, "This do in remembrance of me." [Luke
   22:19]

   Remig.: And He taught us to offer not bread only, but wine also, to
   shew that they who hungered and thirsted after righteousness were to be
   refreshed by these mysteries.

   Gloss., non occ.: As the refreshment of the body is wrought by means of
   meat and drink, so under the form of meat and drink the Lord has
   provided for us spiritual refreshment. And it was suitable that for the
   shewing forth the Lord's Passion this Sacrament should be instituted
   under both kinds.

   For in His Passion He shed His Blood, and so His Blood was separated
   from His Body. It behoved therefore, that for representation of His
   Passion, bread and wine should be separately set forth, which are the
   Sacrament of the Body and Blood. But it should be known, that under
   both kinds the whole of Christ is contained; under the bread is
   contained the Blood, together with the Body; under the wine, the Body
   together With the Blood.

   Ambrosiaster, in 1 Cor 11:26 : And for this reason also in do we
   celebrate under both kinds, because that which we receive avails for
   the preservation of both body and soul.

   Cyprian, Ep. 63, ad Caecil.: The cup of the Lord is not water only, or
   wine only, but the two are mixed; so the Lord's Body cannot be either
   flour only, or water only, but the two are combined.

   [ed. note: To signify, as S. Cyprian proceeds to say, the union between
   Christ and His faithful people; "For if one offer wine only, the blood
   of Christ begins to be without us; if water only, the people begin to
   be without Christ." This passage of Cyprian is quoted in Gratian. de
   Cons ii. 7.]

   Ambrose, de Sacr., v. 1: If Melchisedech offered bread and wine, what
   means this mixing of water? Hear the reason. Moses struck the rock, and
   the rock gave forth abundance of water, but that rock was Christ. Also
   one of the soldiers with his spear pierced Christ's side, and out of
   His side flowed water and blood, the water to cleanse, the blood to
   redeem.

   [ed. note: ap. Gratian de Cons. d ii, 83, cf. Paschas de Corp. et Sang.
   11]

   Remig.: For it should be known, that as John speaks, "The many waters
   are nations and people." [Rev 17:15] And because we ought always to
   abide in Christ and Christ in us, wine mixed with water is offered, to
   shew that the bead and the members, that is, Christ and the Church, are
   one body; or to shew that neither did Christ suffer without a love for
   our redemption, nor we can be saved without His Passion.

   Chrys.: And having spoken of His Passion and Cross, He proceeds to
   speak of His resurrection, "I say unto you, I will not drink
   henceforth, &c." By the "kingdom" He means His resurrection. And He
   speaks this of His resurrection, because He would then drink with the
   Apostles, that none might suppose His resurrection a phantasy.

   Thus when they would convince any of His resurrection, they said, "We
   did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead." [Acts 10:41]
   This tells them that they shall see Him after He is risen, and that He
   will be again with them.

   That He says, "New," is plainly to be understood, after a new manner,
   He no longer having a passible body, or needing food. For after His
   resurrection He did not eat as needing food, but to evidence the
   reality of the resurrection. And forasmuch as there are some heretics
   who use water instead of wine in the sacred mysteries [ed. note: e.g.
   The Encratites, followers of Saturnius and Tatian in the second
   century. See Can. Apost. 43 and 45 of Johnson's Translation.], He shews
   in these words, that when He now gave them these holy mysteries, He
   gave them wine, and drank the like after He was risen; for He says, "Of
   this fruit of the vine," but the vine produces wine, and not water.

   Jerome: Or otherwise; From carnal things the Lord passes to spiritual.
   Holy Scripture speaks of the people of Israel as of a vine brought up
   out of Egypt; [marg. note: Ps 80:8, Jer 2:21] of this vine it is then
   that the Lord says He will drink no more except in His Father's
   kingdom. His Father's kingdom I suppose to mean the faith of the
   believers. When then the Jews shall receive His Father's kingdom, then
   the Lord will drink of their vine. Observe that He says, "Of my
   Father," not, Of God, for to name the Father is to name the Son. As
   much as to say, When they shall have believed on God the Father, and He
   has brought them to the Son.

   Remig.: Or otherwise; "I will not drink of the fruit of this vine,"
   i.e. I will no longer take pleasure in the carnal oblations of the
   Synagogue, among which the immolation of the Paschal lamb held an
   eminent place. But the time of My resurrection is at hand, and the day
   in which exalted in the Father's kingdom, that is, raised in immortal
   glory, "I shall drink it new with you," i.e. I shall rejoice as with a
   new joy in the salvation of that people then renewed by the water of
   baptism.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev. i, 43: Or otherwise; When He says, "I shall drink it
   new with you," He gives us to understand that this is old. Seeing then
   that He took body of the race of Adam, who is called the old man, and
   was to give up to death that Body in His Passion, (whence also He gave
   us His Blood in the sacrament of wine,) what else can we understand by
   the new wine than the immortality of renewed bodies?

   In saying, "I will drink it with you," He promises to them likewise a
   resurrection of their bodies for the putting on of immortality. "With
   you" is not to be understood of time, but of a like renewal, as the
   Apostle speaks, that "we are risen with Christ," the hope of the future
   bringing a present joy. That which He shall drink new shall also be "of
   this fruit of the vine," signifies that the very same bodies shall rise
   after the heavenly renewal, which shall now die after the earthly
   decay.

   Hilary: It seems from this that Judas had not drunk with Him, because
   He was not to drink hereafter in the kingdom; but He promises to all
   who partook at this time of this fruit of the vine that they should
   drink with Him hereafter.

   Gloss., non occ.: But in support of the opinion of other saints, that
   Judas did receive the sacraments from Christ, it is to be said, that
   the words "with you" may refer to the greater part of them, and not
   necessarily to the whole.
     __________________________________________________________________

   30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of
   Olives.

   31. Then saith Jesus unto them, "All ye shall be offended because of me
   this night; for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep
   of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

   32. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee."

   33. Peter answered and said unto him, "Though all men shall be offended
   because of thee, yet will I never be offended."

   34. Jesus said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, That this night,
   before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice."

   35. Peter said unto him, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not
   deny thee." Likewise also said all the disciples.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: When the disciples had eaten the bread of blessing, and drunk
   of the cup of thanksgiving, the Lord instructs them in return for these
   things to sing a hymn to the Father. And they go to the Mount of
   Olives, that they may pass from height to height, because the believer
   can do nought in the valley.

   [ed. note: The passages (Bede and Rabanus, below, and more further on)
   between the brackets are not found in the earlier Editions of the
   Catena, in the ED. PR. nor the Bodl. MS. They appear to have been
   inserted by Nicolai.]

   [Bede, in Luc., 22, 39: Beautifully after the disciples have been
   filled with the Sacraments of His Body and Blood, and commended to the
   Father in a hymn of pious intercession, does He lead them into the
   mount of Olives; thus by type teaching us how we ought, by the working
   of His Sacraments, and the aid of His intercession, mount up to the
   higher gifts of the virtues and the graces of the Holy Spirit, with
   which we are anointed in our hearts.

   Raban.: This hymn may be that thanksgiving which in John, Our Lord
   offers up to the Father, when He lifted up His eyes and prayed for His
   disciples, and those who should believe through their word. This is
   that of which the Psalm speaks, "The poor shall eat and be filled, they
   shall praise the Lord." Ps 22:26]

   Chrys.: Let them hear this, who like swine with no thought but of
   eating rise from the table drunk, when they should have given thanks,
   and closed with a hymn. Let them hear who will not tarry for the final
   prayer in the sacred mysteries; for the last prayer of the mysteries
   represents that hymn. He gave thanks before He delivered the holy
   mysteries to the disciples, that we also might give thanks; He sung a
   hymn after He had delivered them, that we also should do the like.

   Jerome: After this example of the Saviour, whosoever is filled and is
   drunken upon the bread and cup of Christ, may praise God and ascend the
   Mount of Olives, where is refreshment after toil, solace of grief, and
   knowledge of the true light.

   Hilary: Hereby He shews that men confirmed by the powers of the Divine
   mysteries, are exalted to heavenly glory in a common joy and gladness.

   Origen: Suitably also was the mount of mercy chosen whence to declare
   the offence of His disciples' weakness, by One even then prepared not
   to reject the disciples who forsook Him, but to receive them when they
   returned to Him.

   Jerome: He foretels what they should suffer, that they might not after
   it had befallen them despair of salvation; but doing penitence might be
   set free.

   Chrys.: In this we see what the disciples were both before and after
   the cross. They who could not stand with Christ whilst He was
   crucified, became after the death of Christ harder than adamant. This
   flight and fear of the disciples is a demonstration of Christ's death
   against those who are infected with the heresy of Marcion. If He had
   been neither bound nor crucified, whence arose the terror of Peter and
   the rest?

   Jerome: And He adds emphatically, "this night," because as "they that
   are drunken are drunken by night," [1 Thess. 5:7] so they that are
   scandalized are scandalized by night, and in the dark.

   Hilary: The credit of this prediction is supported by the authority of
   old prophecy; "It is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep
   of the flock shall be scattered abroad."

   Jerome: This is found in Zacharias in words different; it is said to
   God in the person of the Prophet, "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
   will be scattered abroad." [Zech 13:7] The good Shepherd is smitten,
   that He may lay down His life for His sheep, and that of many flocks of
   divers errors should be made one flock, and one Shepherd.

   Chrys.: He produces this prophecy to teach them to attend to the things
   that are written, and to shew that His crucifixion was according to the
   counsel of God, and (as He does throughout) that He was not a stranger
   to the Old Testament, but that it prophesied of Him.

   But He did not suffer them to continue in sorrow, but announces glad
   tidings, saying, "When I am risen again, I will go before you into
   Galilee." After His resurrection He does not appear to them immediately
   from heaven, nor depart into any far country, but in the very same
   nation in which He was crucified, almost in the very place, giving them
   thereby assurance, that He who was crucified was the same as He who
   rose again, thereby to cheer their cast-down countenances. He fixes
   upon Galilee, that, being delivered from fear of the Jews, they might
   believe what He spoke to them.

   Origen: Also He foretels this to them, that they who now were somewhat
   dispersed in consequence of the offence, should be after gathered
   together by Christ rising again, and going before them into Galilee of
   the Gentiles.

   Hilary: But Peter was carried so far by his zeal and affection for
   Christ, that he regarded neither the weakness of his flesh nor the
   truth of the Lord's words; as if what He spake must not come to pass,
   "Peter answered and said unto him, Though all should be offended
   because of thee, yet will I never be offended."

   Chrys.: What sayest thou, Peter? The Prophet says, "The sheep shall be
   scattered abroad," and Christ has confirmed it, yet thou sayest, Never.
   When He said, "One of you shall betray me," thou fearedst for thyself,
   although thou wert not conscious of such a thought; now when He openly
   affirms, "All ye shall be offended," you deny it. But because when he
   was relieved of the anxiety he had concerning the betrayal, he grew
   confident concerning the rest, he therefore says thus, "I will never be
   offended."

   Jerome: It is not wilfulness, not falsehood, but the Apostle's faith,
   and ardent attachment towards the Lord his Saviour.

   Remig.: What the One affirms by His power of foreknowledge, the other
   denies through love; whence we may take a practical lesson, that in
   proportion as we are confident of the warmth of our faith, we should be
   in fear of the weakness of our flesh. Peter seems culpable, first,
   because he contradicted the Lord's words; secondly, because he set
   himself before the rest; and thirdly, because he attributed every thing
   to himself as though he had power to persevere strenuously. His fall
   then was permitted to heal this in him; not that be was driven to deny,
   but left to himself, and so convinced of the frailty of his human
   nature. [ed. note: Remigius has borrowed this from S. Chrysostom, in
   loc.]

   Origen: Whence the other disciples were offended in Jesus, but Peter
   was not only offended, but what is much more, was suffered to deny Him
   thrice.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 4: Perplexity may be occasioned to some by the
   great difference, not in words only, but in substance, of the speeches
   in which Peter is forewarned by Our Lord, and which occasion his
   presumptuous declaration of dying with or for the Lord. Some would
   oblige us to understand that he thrice expressed his confidence, and
   the Lord thrice answered him that he would deny Him thrice before
   cock-crowing; as after His resurrection He thrice asked him if he loved
   Him, and as often gave him command to feed His sheep.

   For what in language or matter has Matthew like the expressions of
   Peter in either Luke or John? Mark indeed relates it in nearly the same
   words as Matthew, only marking more precisely in the Lord's words the
   manner in which it should fall in, "Verily, I say unto thee, that this
   day, in the night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me
   thrice." [Mark 14:30]

   Whence some inattentive persons think that there is a discrepancy
   between Mark and the rest. For the sum of Peter's denials is three; if
   the first then had been after the first cock-crowing, the other three
   Evangelists must be wrong when they make the Lord say that Peter should
   deny Him before the cock crow. But, on the other hand, if be had made
   all three denials before the cock began to crow, it would be
   superfluous in Mark to say, "Before the cock crow twice." Forasmuch as
   this threefold denial was begun before the first cock-crow, the three
   Evangelists have marked, not when it was to be concluded, but how often
   it was to happen, and when to begin, that is, before cock-crow.

   Though indeed if we understand it of Peter's heart we may well say,
   that the whole denial was complete before the first cock-crow, seeing
   that before that his mind was seized with that great fear which wrought
   upon him to the third denial. Much less therefore ought it to disquiet
   us, how the three-fold denial in three distinct speeches was begun, but
   not finished before cock-crow. Just as though one should say, Before
   cock-crow you will write me a letter, in which you will revile me three
   times; if the letter were begun before any cock-crow, but not finished
   till after the first, we should not therefore say that the prediction
   was false.

   Origen: But you will ask, whether it were possible that Peter should
   not have been offended, when once the Saviour had said, "All ye shalt
   be offended in me." To which one will answer, what is foretold by Jesus
   must of necessity come to pass; and another will say, that He who at
   the prayer of Ninevites turned away the wrath He had denounced by
   Jonas, might also have averted Peter's offence at his entreaty. But his
   presumptuous confidence, prompted by zeal indeed but not a cautious
   zeal, became the cause not only of offence but of a thrice repeated
   denial. And since He confirmed it with the sanction of an oath, some
   one will say that it was not possible that he should not have denied
   Him. For Christ would have spoken falsely when he, said, "Verily I say
   unto thee," if Peter's assertion, "I will not deny thee," had been
   true.

   It seems to me that the other disciples having in view not that which
   was first said, "All ye shall be offended," but that which was said to
   Peter, "Verily I say unto thee, &c." made a like promise with Peter
   because they were not comprehended in the prophecy of denial. "Peter
   said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.
   Likewise also said all the disciples."

   Here again Peter knows not what he says; he could not die with Him who
   was to die for all mankind, who were all in sin, and had need of some
   one to die for them, not that they should die for others.

   Raban.: Peter understood the Lord to have foretold that he should deny
   Him under terror of death, and therefore he declares that though death
   were imminent, nothing could shake him from his faith; and the other
   Apostles in like manner in the warmth of their zeal, valued not the
   infliction of death, but human presumption is vain without Divine aid.

   Chrys.: [I suppose also that Peter fell into these words through
   ambition and boastfulness. And they had disputed at supper which of
   them should be greatest, whence we see that the love of empty glory
   disturbed them much. And so to deliver him from such passions, Christ
   withdrew His aid from him. Moreover observe how after the resurrection,
   taught by his fall, he speaks to Christ more humbly, and does not any
   more resist His words. All this his fall wrought for him; for before he
   had attributed all to himself, when he ought rather to have said, I
   will not deny Thee if Thou succour me with Thy aid. But afterwards he
   shews that every thing is to be ascribed to God, "Why look ye so
   earnestly upon us, as though by our own power and holiness we had made
   this man to walk?" [Acts 3:12] ]

   Hence then we learn the great doctrine, that man's wish is not enough,
   unless he enjoys Divine support.
     __________________________________________________________________

   36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and
   saith unto the disciples, "Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

   37. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began
   to be sorrowful and very heavy.

   38. Then saith he unto them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
   death: tarry ye here, and watch with me."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Remig.: The Evangelist had said a little above, that "when they had
   sung an hymn they went out to the mount of Olives;" to point out the
   part of the mount to which they took their way, he now adds, "Then came
   Jesus with them to a garden called Gethsemane."

   Raban.: Luke says, "To the mount of Olives," [Luke 22:39] and John,
   "Went forth over the brook Cedron, where was a garden," [John 18:1]
   which is the same as this Gethsemane, and is a place where He prayed at
   the foot of mount Olivet, where is a garden, and a Church now built.
   [ed. note: This is probably from Areulfus' account in Adamnantus de
   Locis Sanctis, c. 23 (ap. Act. Benedict. iv 502) as he quoted him by
   name, above, p. 95]

   Jerome: Gethsemane is interpreted, The rich valley;' and there He bade
   His disciples sit a little while, and wait His return whilst He prayed
   alone for all.

   Origen: For it was not fitting that He should be seized in the place
   where He had sate and eaten the Passover with His disciples. Also He
   must first pray, and choose a place pure for prayer.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxiii: He says, "Sit ye here, while I go and pray
   yonder," because the disciples adhered inseparably to Christ; but it
   was His practice to pray apart from them, therein teaching us to study
   quiet and retirement for our prayers.

   Damascenus, de Fid. Orth., iii, 24: But seeing that prayer is the
   sending up the understanding to God, or the asking of God things
   fitting, how did the Lord pray? For His understanding needed not to be
   lifted up to God, having been once united hypostatically to God the
   Word. Neither could He need to ask of God things fitting, for the One
   Christ is both God and Man. But giving in Himself a pattern to us, He
   taught us to ask of God, and to lift up our minds to Him. As He took on
   Him our passions, that by triumphing over them Himself, He might give
   us also the victory over them, so now He prays to open to us the way to
   that lifting up to God, to fulfil for us all righteousness, to
   reconcile His Father to us, to pay honour to Him as the First Cause,
   and to shew that He is not against God.

   Raban.: When the Lord prayed in the mountain, He taught us to make
   supplication for heavenly things; when He prays in the garden, He
   teaches us to study humility in our prayer. And beautifully, as He
   draws near His Passion, does He pray in the valley of fatness' shewing
   that through the valley of humility, and the richness of charity, He
   took upon Him death for our sakes.

   The practical instruction which we may also learn from this is, that we
   should not suffer our heart to dry up from the richness of charity.

   Remig.: He had accepted the disciples' faith and the devotedness of
   their will, but He foresaw that they would be troubled and scattered
   abroad, and therefore bade them sit still in their places; for to sit
   belongs to one at ease, but they would be grievously troubled that they
   should have denied Him.

   In what fashion He went forward it describes, "And taking with him
   Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and very
   heavy;" the same to whom He had shewn His glory in the mount.

   Hilary: These words, He began to be sorrowful and very heavy, are
   interpreted by heretics that fear of death assailed the Son of God,
   being (as they allege) neither begotten from eternity, nor existing in
   the Father's infinite substance, but produced out of nothing by Him who
   created all things; and that hence He was liable to anguish of grief,
   and fear of death. And He who can fear death can also die; and He who
   can die, though He shall exist after death, yet is not eternal through
   Him who begot Him in past time.

   Had these faith to receive the Gospels, they would know that the Word
   was in the beginning God, and from the beginning with God, and that the
   eternity of Him who begets and Him who is begotten is one and the same.
   But if the assumption of flesh infected with its natural infirmity the
   virtue of that incorruptible substance, so that it became subject to
   pain, and shrinking from death, it would also become thereby liable to
   corruption, and thus its immortality being changed into fear, that
   which is in it is capable of at some time ceasing to be. But God ever
   is without measure of time, and such as He is, He continues to be
   eternally. Nothing then in God can die, nor can God have any fear
   springing out of Himself.

   Jerome, Hieron. non. occ: But we say that passible man was so taken by
   God the Son, that His Deity remained impassible. Indeed the Son of God
   suffered, not by imputation but actually, all that Scripture testifies,
   in respect of that part of Him which could suffer, viz. in respect of
   the substance that He had taken on Him.

   Hilary, de Trin., x, 10: I suppose that there are some who offer here
   no other cause of His fear than His passion and death. I ask those who
   think thus, whether it stands with reason that He should have feared to
   die, who banished from the Apostles all fear of death, and exhorted
   them to the glory of martyrdom?

   How can we suppose Him to have felt pain and grief in the sacrament of
   death, who rewards with life those who die for Him? And what pangs of
   death could He fear, who came to death of the free choice of His own
   power? And if His Passion was to do Him honour, how could the fear of
   His Passion make Him sorrowful?

   Hilary, in loc.: Since then we read that the Lord was sorrowful, let us
   discover the causes of His agony. He had forewarned them all that they
   would be offended, and Peter that he would thrice deny his Lord; and
   taking him and James and John, He began to be sorrowful. Therefore He
   was not sorrowful till He took them, but all His fear began after He
   had taken them; so that His agony was not for Himself, but for them
   whom He had taken.

   Jerome: The Lord therefore sorrowed not from fear of suffering, for for
   this cause He had come that He should suffer, and had rebuked Peter for
   his fearfulness; [marg. note: Matt 14:40] but for the wretched Judas,
   for the offence of the rest of the Apostles, for the rejection and
   reprobation of the Jewish nation, and the overthrow of unhappy
   Jerusalem.

   Damas., Fid. Orth., iii, 23: Or otherwise; All things which have not
   yet been brought into existence by their Maker have a natural desire of
   existence, and naturally shun non-existence. God the Word then, having
   been made Man, had this desire, through which He desired food, drink,
   and sleep, by which life is supported, and naturally used them, and
   contrariwise shunned the things that are destructive of life. Hence in
   the season of His Passion which He endured voluntarily, He had the
   natural fear and sorrow for death. For there is a natural fear
   wherewith the soul shrinks from separation from the body, by reason of
   that close sympathy implanted from the first by the Maker of all
   things.

   Jerome: Our Lord therefore sorrowed to prove the reality of the Man
   which He had taken upon Him; but that passion might bear no sway in His
   mind, "He began to be sorrowful" by pro-passion [ed. note: see ch. 5,
   page 185]; for it is one thing to be sorrowful, and another to be very
   sorrowful.

   Remig.: By this place are overthrown the Manichaeans, who said that He
   took an unreal body; and those also who said that He had not a real
   soul, but His Divinity in place of a soul. [marg. note: e.g.
   Apollinaris]

   Aug., Lib. 83 Quaest. Q80: We have the narratives of the Evangelists,
   by which we know that Christ was both born of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
   was seized by the Jews, scourged, crucified, put to death, and buried
   in a tomb, all which cannot be supposed to have taken place without a
   body, and not even the maddest will say that these things are to be
   understood figuratively, when they are told by men who wrote what they
   remembered to have happened.

   These then are witnesses that He had a body, as those affections which
   cannot be without mind prove Him to have had a mind, and which we read
   in the accounts of the same Evangelists, that Jesus wondered, was
   angry, was sorrowful.

   Aug., City of God, book xiv, ch. 9: Since then these things are related
   in the Evangelists, they are not surely false, but as when He willed He
   became Man, so likewise when He willed He took into His human soul
   these passions for the sake of adding assurance to the dispensation. We
   indeed have these passions by reason of the weakness of our human
   nature; not so the Lord Jesus, whose weakness was of power.

   Damas., Fid. Orth., iii, 20: Wherefore the passions of our nature were
   in Christ both by nature and beyond nature. By nature, because He left
   His flesh to suffer the things incidental to it; beyond nature, because
   these natural emotions did not in Him precede the will. For in Christ
   nothing befel of compulsion, but all was voluntary; with His will He
   hungered, with His will He feared, or was sorrowful.

   Here His sorrow is declared, "Then saith he unto them, My soul is
   sorrowful even unto death."

   Ambrose, in Luc. 23, 43: He is sorrowful, yet not Himself, but His
   soul; not His Wisdom, not His divine Substance, but His soul, for He
   took upon Him my soul, and my body.

   Jerome: He is sorrowful not because of death, but "unto death," until
   He has set the Apostles free by His Passion. Let those who imagine
   Jesus to have taken an irrational soul, say how it is that He is thus
   sorrowful, and knows the season of His sorrow, for though the brute
   animals have sorrow, yet they know neither the causes of it, nor the
   time for which it must endure.

   Origen: Or otherwise; "My soul is sorrowful even unto death;" as much
   as to say, Sorrow is begun in me, but not to endure for ever, but only
   till the hour of death; that when I shall die for sin, I shall die also
   to all sorrow, whose beginnings only are in me. "Tarry ye here, and
   watch with me;" as much as to say, The rest I bade sit yonder as weak,
   removing them from this struggle; but you I have brought hither as
   being stronger, that ye may toil with me in watching and prayer. But
   abide you here, that every man may stay in his own rank and station;
   since all grace, however great, has its superior.

   Jerome: Or the sleep which He would have them forego is not bodily
   rest, for which at this critical time there was no room, but mental
   torpor, the sleep of unbelief.
     __________________________________________________________________

   39. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed,
   saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
   nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

   40. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and
   saith unto Peter, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

   41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit
   indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

   42. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, "O my
   Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy
   will be done."

   43. And he came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy.

   44. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time,
   saying the same words.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: He took with Him the self-confident Peter, and the others, that
   they might see Him falling on His face and praying, and might learn not
   to think great things, but little things of themselves, and not to be
   hasty in promising, but careful in prayer. And therefore, "He went
   forward a little," not to go far from them, but that He might be near
   them in His prayer.

   Also, He who had said above, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
   heart," now commendably humbling Himself, falls on His face. But He
   shews His devotion in His prayer, and as beloved and well-pleasing to
   His Father, He adds, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt," teaching us
   that we should pray, not that our own will, but that God's will, should
   be done.

   And as He began to have fear and sorrow, He prays accordingly that the
   cup of His Passion may pass from Him, yet not as He wills, but as His
   Father wills; wills, that is, not according to His Divine and
   impassible Substance, but according to His human and weak nature. For
   in taking upon Him the nature of human flesh, He fulfilled all the
   properties thereof, that it might be seen that He had flesh not in
   appearance only, but in reality.

   The believer indeed must in the first instance be loth to incur pain,
   seeing it leads to death, and he is a man of flesh; but if it be God's
   will, he acquiesces because he is a believer. For as we ought not to be
   too confident that we may not seem to make a boast of our own strength;
   so neither ought we to be distrustful, lest we should seem to charge
   God our helper with weakness.

   It is to be observed that Mark and Luke write the same, but John does
   not introduce this prayer of Jesus', that this cup may pass from Him,
   because the first three are rather occupied about Him, according to His
   human nature, John according to His divine.

   Otherwise; Jesus makes this petition, because He sees what the Jews
   will suffer for requiring His death.

   Jerome: Whence He says emphatically, "This cup," that is, of this
   people of the Jews, who, if they shall put Me to death, can have no
   excuse for their ignorance, seeing they have the Law and the Prophets,
   who speak of Me.

   Origen: Then again considering the benefit that would accrue to the
   whole world from His Passion, He says, "But not as I will, but as thou
   wilt;" i.e. If it be possible for all these benefits which shall result
   from My Passion to be procured without it, let it pass from Me, and
   both the world be saved, and the Jews not be condemned in putting Me to
   death.

   But if the salvation of many cannot be procured without the destruction
   of a few, saving Thy justice, let it not pass away. Scripture, in many
   places, speaks of passion as a cup that is drained; and it is drained
   by him, who in testimony suffers whatever is inflicted upon him. He
   sheds it, on the contrary, who denies in order to avoid suffering.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 4: And that none might think that He limited
   His Father's power, He said not, "If thou canst do it," but "If it may
   be," or, "If it be possible;" as much as to say, If thou wilt. For
   whatever God wills can be done, as Luke expresses more plainly; for he
   says not, "If it be possible," but "If thou wilt."

   Hilary: Otherwise; He says not, Let this cup pass away from Me, for
   that would be the speech of one who feared it; but He prays that it may
   pass not so as that He should be passed over, but that when it has
   passed from Him, it may go to another. His whole fear then is for those
   who were to suffer, and therefore He prays for those who were to suffer
   after Him, saying, "Let this cup pass from me," i.e. as it is drunk by
   Me, so let it be drunk by these, without mistrust, without sense of
   pain, without fear of death. He says, "If it be possible," because
   flesh and blood shrink from these things, and it is hard for human
   bodies not to sink beneath their infliction. That He says, "Not as I
   will, but as thou wilt," He would fain indeed that they should not
   suffer, lest their faith should fail in their sufferings, if indeed we
   might attain to the glory of our joint inheritance with Him without the
   hardship of sharing in His Passion.

   He says, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt," because it is the Father's
   will that strength to drink of the cup should pass from Him to them,
   that the Devil might be vanquished not so much by Christ as by His
   disciples also.

   Aug., in Ps. 32, enar. 2: Christ thus as man shews a certain private
   human will, in which He who is our head figures both His own will and
   ours when He says, "Let it pass from me." For this was His human will
   choosing something as apart for Himself. But because as man He would be
   righteous and guide Himself by God's will, He adds, "Nevertheless not
   as I will, but as thou wilt;" as much as to say to us, Man, behold
   thyself in Me, that thou canst will somewhat apart of thyself, and
   though God's will is other, this is permitted to human frailty.

   Leo, Serm., 58, 5: This speech of the Head is the health of the whole
   body, this saying is instruction to the faithful, animates the
   confessor, crowns the martyr. For who could vanquish the hatred of the
   world, or the whirlwind of temptations, or the terrors of the
   persecutors, if Christ did not in all and for all say to the Father,
   "Thy will be done."

   Let all the sons of the Church then utter this prayer, that when the
   pressure of some mighty temptation lies upon them, they may embrace
   endurance of the suffering, disregarding its terrors.

   Origen: And though Jesus went but a "little forward," they could not
   watch one hour in His absence; let us therefore pray that Jesus may
   never depart even a little from us.

   Chrys.: He "finds them sleeping," both because it was a late hour of
   the night, and their eyes were heavy with sorrow.

   Hilary: When then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping,
   He rebukes Peter, "Could ye not watch one hour with me?" He addresses
   Peter rather than the rest, because be had most loudly boasted that he
   would not be offended.

   Chrys.: But as they had all said the same, He charges them all with
   weakness; they had chosen to die with Christ, and yet could not even
   watch with Him.

   Origen: Finding them thus sleeping, He rouses them with a word to
   hearken, and commands them to watch; "Watch and pray, that ye enter not
   into temptation;" that first we should watch, and so watching pray. He
   watches who does good works, and is careful that He does not run into
   any dark doctrine, for so the prayer of the watchful is heard.

   Jerome: It is impossible that the human mind should not be tempted,
   therefore He says not "Watch and pray" that ye be not tempted, but
   "that ye enter not into temptation," that is, that temptation vanquish
   you not.

   Hilary: And why He thus encouraged them to pray that they might not
   enter into temptation, He adds, "For the spirit indeed is willing, but
   the flesh is weak;" this He says not of Himself, but addresses them.

   Jerome: This is against those rash persons who think that whatever they
   believe they can perform. The more confident we are of our zeal, the
   more mistrustful should we be of the frailty of the flesh.

   Origen: Here it should be enquired, whether as all men's flesh is weak,
   so all men's spirit is willing, or whether only that of the saints; and
   whether in unbelievers the spirit is not also dull, as the flesh is
   weak. In another sense the flesh of those only is weak whose spirit is
   willing, and who with their willing spirit do mortify the deeds of the
   flesh. These then He would have watch and pray that they should not
   enter into temptation, for the more spiritual any one may be, the more
   careful should he be that his goodness should not suffer a great fall.

   Remig.: Otherwise; In these words He shews that He took real flesh of
   the Virgin, and had a real soul, saying that His spirit is willing to
   suffer, but His flesh weak in fearing the pain of Passion.

   Origen: There were, I conclude, two ways in which this cup of Passion
   might pass from the Lord. If He should drink it, it would pass away
   from Him, and afterwards from the whole race of mankind also; if He
   should not drink it, it would perhaps pass from Him, but from men it
   would not pass. He would fain therefore that it should so pass from Him
   as that He should not at all taste its bitterness, yet only if it were
   possible, saving the righteousness of God. If it were not possible, He
   was rather willing to drink it, that so it might pass from Him, and
   from the whole race of mankind rather than against His Father's will
   shun the drinking thereof.

   Chrys.: That He prays for this a second and a third time, comes of the
   feelings belonging to human frailty, through which also He feared
   death, thus giving assurance that He was truly made man. For in
   Scripture when any thing is repeated a second and third time, that is
   the greatest proof of its truth and reality; as, for example, when
   Joseph says to Pharaoh, "And for that thou sawedst it twice, it is
   proof of the thing being established by God." [Gen 41:32]

   Jerome: Or otherwise; He prays a second time that if Nineveh, or the
   Gentile world, cannot be saved unless the gourd, i.e. the Jews, be
   withered, His Father's will may be done, which is not contrary to the
   Son's will, who Himself speaks by the Prophet, "I am content to do thy
   will, God." [Ps 40:8]

   Hilary: Otherwise, He bare in His own body all the infirmities of us
   His disciples who should suffer, and nailed to His cross all wherein we
   are distressed; and therefore that cup cannot pass from Him, unless He
   drink it, because we cannot suffer, except by His passion.

   Jerome: Christ singly prays for all, as He singly suffers for all.
   "Their eyes were heavy," i.e. an oppression and stupefaction came on as
   their denial drew near.

   Origen: And I suppose that the eyes of their body were not so much
   affected as the eyes of their mind, because the Spirit was not yet
   given them. Wherefore He does not rebuke them, but goes again and
   prays, teaching us that we should not faint but should persevere in
   prayer, until we obtain what we have begun to ask.

   Jerome: He prayed the third time, that in the mouth of two or three
   witnesses every word might be established.

   Raban: Or, The Lord prayed thrice, to teach us to pray for pardon of
   sins past, defence against present evil, and provision against future
   perils, and that we should address every prayer to Father, Son, and
   Holy Spirit, and that our spirit, soul, and body should be kept in
   safety.

   Aug., Quaest Ev., i, 47: Nor is that an absurd interpretation which
   makes Our Lord pray thrice because of the threefold temptation of His
   Passion. To the temptation of curiosity is opposed the fear of death;
   for as the one is a yearning for the knowledge of things, so the other
   is the fear of losing such knowledge. To the desire of honour or
   applause is opposed the dread of disgrace and insult. To the desire of
   pleasure is opposed the fear of pain.

   Remig.: Or, He prays thrice for the Apostles, and for Peter in
   particular, who was to deny Him thrice.
     __________________________________________________________________

   45. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, "Sleep on
   now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of
   man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

   46. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Hilary: After His persevering prayer, after His departures and several
   returns, He takes away their fear, restores their confidence, and
   exhorts them to "sleep on, and take their rest."

   Chrys.: Indeed it behoved them to watch, but He said this to shew that
   the prospect of coming evils was more than they would bear, that He had
   no need of their aid, and that it must needs be that He should be
   delivered up.

   Hilary: Or, He bids them "sleep on, and take their rest," because He
   now confidently awaited His Father's will concerning the disciples,
   concerning which He had said, "Thy will be done," and in obedience to
   which He drunk the cup that was to pass from Him to us, diverting upon
   Himself the weakness of our body, the terrors of dismay, and even the
   pains of death itself.

   Origen: Or, the sleep He now bids His disciples take is of a different
   sort from that which is related above to have befallen them. Then He
   found them sleeping, not taking repose, but because their eyes were
   heavy, but now they are not merely to sleep, but to "take their rest,"
   that this order may be rightly observed, namely, that we first watch
   with prayer that we enter not into temptation, and afterwards sleep and
   take our rest, when having "found a place for the Lord, a tabernacle
   for the God of Jacob," we may "go up into our bed, and give sleep to
   our eyes." [Ps 132:3]

   It may be also that the soul, unable to sustain a continual energy by
   reason of its union with the flesh, may blamelessly admit some
   relaxations, which may be the moral interpretation of slumbers, and
   then again after due time be quickened to new energy.

   Hilary: And whereas, when He returned and found them sleeping, He
   rebukes them the first time, the second time says nothing, the third
   time bids them take their rest; the interpretation of this is, that at
   the first after His resurrection, when He finds them dispersed,
   distrustful, and timorous, He rebukes them; the second time, when their
   eyes were heavy to look upon the liberty of the Gospel, He visited
   them, sending them the Spirit, the Paraclete; for, held back by
   attachment to the Law, they slumbered in respect of faith; but the
   third time, when He shall come in His glory, He shall restore them to
   quietness and confidence.

   Origen: When He had roused them from sleep, seeing in the Spirit Judas
   drawing near to betray Him, though the disciples could not yet see him,
   He says, "Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed
   into the hands of sinners."

   Chrys.: The words, "the hour is at hand," point out that all that has
   been done was by Divine interference; and that, "into the hands of
   sinners," shew that this was the work of their wickedness, not that He
   was guilty of any crime.

   Origen: And even now Jesus "is betrayed into the hands of sinners,"
   when those who seem to believe in Jesus, continue to sin while they
   have Him in their hands. Also whenever a righteous man, who has Jesus
   in Him, is put into the power of sinners, Jesus is delivered into the
   hands of sinners.

   Jerome: Having concluded His third prayer, and having obtained that the
   Apostles' terror should be corrected by subsequent penitence, He goes
   forth undaunted by the prospect of His own Passion to meet His
   pursuers, and offers Himself voluntarily to be sacrificed.

   "Arise, let us be going;" as much as to say, Let them not find you
   trembling, let us go forth willingly to death, that they may see us
   confident and rejoicing in suffering; "Lo, he that shall betray me
   draweth near."

   Origen: He says not, Draws near to thee, for indeed the traitor was not
   near Him, but had removed himself far off through his sins.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 4: This speech as Matthew has it seems
   self-contradictory. For how could He say, "Sleep on, and take your
   rest," and immediately continue, "Rise, let us be going." This
   contradiction some have endeavoured to reconcile by supposing the
   words, "Sleep on, and take your rest," to be an ironical rebuke, and
   not a permission; it might be rightly so taken if need were. But as
   Mark records it, when He had said, "Sleep on, and take your rest," He
   added, "it is enough," and then continued, "The hour is come, behold,
   the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners;" [Mark 14:41] we
   clearly understand the Lord to have been silent some time after He had
   said, "Sleep on," to allow of their doing so, and then after some
   interval to have roused them with, "Behold, the hour is at hand." And
   as Mark fills up the sense with, "it is enough," that is, ye have had
   rest enough.
     __________________________________________________________________

   47. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and
   with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the Chief
   Priests and elders of the people.

   48. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, "Whomsoever I
   shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast."

   49. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, "Hail, Master;" and
   kissed him.

   50. And Jesus said unto him, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" Then
   came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: Having said above that the Lord offered Himself of
   His own accord to His pursuers, the Evangelist proceeds to relate how
   He was seized by them.

   Remig.: "One of the twelve," by association of name, not of desert.
   This shews the monstrous wickedness of the man who from the dignity of
   the Apostleship became the traitor. To shew that it was out of envy
   that they seized Him, it is added, "A great multitude sent by the Chief
   Priests and elders of the people."

   Origen: Some may say that a great multitude came, because of the great
   multitude of those who already believed, who, they feared, might rescue
   Him out of their hands; but I think there is another reason for this,
   and that is, that they who thought that He cast out daemons through
   Beelzebub, supposed that by some magic He might escape the hands of
   those who sought to hold Him. Even now do many fight against Jesus with
   spiritual weapons, to wit, with divers and shifting dogmas concerning
   God.

   It deserves enquiry why, when He was known by face to all who dwelt in
   Judaea, he should have given them a sign, as though they were
   unacquainted with His person. But a tradition to this effect has come
   down to us, that not only had He two different forms, one under which
   He appeared to men, the other into which He was transfigured before His
   disciples in the mount, but also that He appeared to each man in such
   degree as the beholder was worthy; in like manner as we read of the
   manna, that it had a flavour adapted to every variety of use, and as
   the word of God shews not alike to all. They required therefore a sign
   by reason of this His transfiguration.

   Chrys.: Or, because whenever they had hitherto attempted to seize Him,
   He had escaped them they knew not how; as also He might then have done
   had He been so minded.

   Raban.: The Lord suffered the traitor's kiss, not to teach us to
   dissemble, but that He might not seem to shrink from His betrayal.

   Origen: If it be asked why Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, according
   to some it was because He desired to keep up the reverence due to his
   Master, and did not dare to make an open assault upon Him; according to
   others, it was out of fear that if he came as an avowed enemy, be might
   be the cause of His escape, which he believed Jesus had it in His power
   to effect.

   But I think that all betrayers of truth love to assume the guise of
   truth, and to use the sign of a kiss. Like Judas also, all heretics
   call Jesus Rabbi, and receive from Him mild answer.

   "And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come?" He says,
   "Friend," upbraiding his hypocrisy; for in Scripture we never find this
   term of address used to any of the good, but as above, "Friend, how
   camest thou in hither?" [Matt 22:12] and, "Friend, I do thee no wrong."
   [Matt 20:13]

   Aug., non occ.: He says, "Wherefore art thou come?" as much as to say,
   Thy kiss is a snare for Me; I know wherefore thou art come; thou
   feignest thyself My friend, being indeed My betrayer.

   Remig.: Or, after "Friend, for what thou art come," that do, is
   understood. "Then came they, and laid their hands on Jesus, and held
   him."

   "Then," that is, when He suffered them, for ofttimes they would have
   done it, but were not able.

   Pseudo-Aug., Serm. de Symb. ad Catech. 6: Exult, Christian, you have
   gained by this bargain of your enemies; what Judas sold, and what the
   Jews bought, belongs to you.
     __________________________________________________________________

   51. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his
   hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the High Priest's,
   and smote off his ear.

   52. Then said Jesus unto him, "Put up again thy sword into his place:
   for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

   53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall
   presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

   54. But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must
   be?"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxiv: So Luke relates, the Lord had said to His
   disciples at supper, "He that hath a purse, let him take it, and
   likewise his scrip; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment
   and buy one;" [Luke 22:36] and the disciples answered, "Lo, here are
   two swords."

   It was natural that there should be swords there for the paschal lamb
   which they had been eating. Hearing then that the pursuers were coming
   to apprehend Christ, when they went out from supper they took these
   swords, as though to fight in defence of their Master against His
   pursuers.

   Jerome: In another Gospel [marg. note: John 18:19], Peter is
   represented as having done this, and with his usual hastiness; and that
   the servant's name was Malchus, and that the ear was the right ear. In
   passing we may say, that Malchus, i.e. one who should have been king of
   the Jews, was made the slave of the ungodliness and the greediness of
   the Priests, and lost his right ear so that he might hear only the
   worthlessness of the letter in his left.

   Origen: For though they seem even now to hear the Law, yet is it only
   with the left ear that they hear the shadow of a tradition concerning
   the Law, and not the truth. The people of the Gentiles is signified by
   Peter; for by believing in Christ, they become the cause of cutting off
   the Jews' right ear.

   Raban.: Or, Peter does not take away the sense of understanding from
   them that hear, but opens to the careless that which by a divine
   sentence was taken away from them; but this same right ear is restored
   to its original function in those who out of this nation believed.

   Hilary: Otherwise; The ear of the High Priest's servant is cut off by
   the Apostle, that is, Christ's disciple cuts off the disobedient
   hearing of a people which were the slaves of the Priesthood, the ear
   which had refused to hear is cut off so that it is no longer capable of
   hearing.

   Leo, Serm. 22: The Lord of the zealous Apostle will not suffer his
   pious feeling to proceed further, "Then saith Jesus unto him, Put up
   again thy sword into his place." For it was contrary to the sacrament
   of our redemption that He, who had come to die for all, should refuse
   to be apprehended. He gives therefore licence to their fury against
   Him, lest by putting off the triumph of His glorious Cross, the
   dominion of the Devil should be made longer, and the captivity of men
   more enduring.

   Raban.: It behoved also that the Author of grace should teach the
   faithful patience by His own example, and should rather train them to
   endure adversity with fortitude, than incite them to self-defence.

   Chrys.: To move the disciple to this, He adds a threat, saying, "All
   they that take the sword, shall perish by the sword."

   Aug., cont. Faust., xxii, 70: That is, every one who uses the sword.
   And he uses the sword, who, without the command or sanction of any
   superior, or legitimate authority, arms himself against man's life. For
   truly the Lord had given commandment to His disciples to take the
   sword, but not to smite with the sword. Was it then at all unbeseeming
   that Peter after this sin should become ruler of the Church, as Moses
   after smiting the Egyptian was made ruler and chief of the Synagogue?
   For both transgressed the rule not through hardened ferocity, but
   through a warmth of spirit capable of good; both through hatred of the
   injustice of others; both sinned through love, the one for his brother,
   the other for his Lord, though a carnal love.

   Hilary: But all who use the sword do not perish by the sword; of those
   who have used the sword either judicially, or in self-defence against
   robbers, fever or accident carries off the greater part. Though if
   according to this every one who uses the sword shall perish by the
   sword, justly was the sword now drawn against those who were using the
   same for the promotion of crime.

   Jerome: With what sword then shall he perish, that takes the sword? By
   that fiery sword which waves before the gate of paradise, and that
   sword of the Spirit which is described in the armour of God.

   Hilary: The Lord then bids him return his sword into its sheath,
   because He would destroy them by no weapon of man, but by the sword of
   His mouth.

   Remig.: Otherwise; Every one who uses the sword to put man to death
   perishes first by the sword of his own wickedness.

   Chrys.: He not only soothed His disciples, by this declaration of
   punishment against His enemies, but convinced them that it was
   voluntarily that He suffered, "Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my
   Father, &c." Because He had shewn many qualities of human infirmity, He
   would have seemed to say what was incredible, if He had said that He
   had power to destroy them, therefore He says, "Thinkest thou that I
   cannot now pray to my Father?"

   Jerome: That is to say, I need not the aid of the Apostles, though all
   the twelve should fight for me, seeing I could have twelve legions of
   the Angelic army. The complement of a legion among the ancients was six
   thousand men; twelve legions then are seventy-two thousand Angels,
   being as many as the divisions of the human race and language.

   [ed. note: It was generally supposed that in the dispersion at Babel,
   mankind was divided into seventy-two nations, each speaking a different
   language. For that is the number of the heads of families enumerated in
   the genealogy, in Gen. xi. See Aug. de Civ. Dei, xvi. 6.]

   Origen: This shews that the armies of heaven have divisions into
   legions like earthly armies, in the warfare of the Angels against the
   legions of the daemons. This He said not as though He needed the aid of
   the Angels, but speaking in accordance with the supposition of Peter,
   who sought to give Him assistance. Truly the Angels have more need of
   the help of the Only-begotten Son of God, than He of theirs.

   Remig.: We might also understand by the Angels the Roman armies, for
   with Titus and Vespasian all languages had risen against Judaea, and
   that was fulfilled, "The whole world shall fight for him against those
   foolish men." [Wisdom 5:21]

   Chrys.: And He quiets their fears not thus only, but by reference to
   Scripture, "How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it
   must be?"

   Jerome: This speech shews a mind willing to suffer; vainly would the
   Prophets have prophesied truly, unless the Lord asserts their truth by
   His suffering.
     __________________________________________________________________

   55. In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, "Are ye come out as
   against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with
   you in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.

   56. But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be
   fulfilled." Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

   57. And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the
   High Priest, where the Scribes and the elders were assembled.

   58. But Peter followed him afar off unto the High Priest's palace, and
   went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Having commanded Peter to put up his sword, which was an
   instance of patience, and having (as another Evangelist writes [marg.
   note: Luke 22:51]) healed the ear that was cut off, which waS an
   instance of the greatest mercy, and of Divine power, it now follows,
   "In that hour said Jesus to the multitudes, (to the end that if they
   could not remember His past goodness, they might at least confess His
   present,) Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for
   to take me?"

   Remig.: As much as to say, Robbers assault and study concealment; I
   have injured no one, but have healed many, and have ever taught in your
   synagogues.

   Jerome: It is folly then to seek with swords and staves Him who offers
   Himself to your hands, and with a traitor to hunt out, as though
   lurking under cover of night, one who is daily teaching in the temple.

   Chrys.: They did not lay hands on Him in the temple because they feared
   the multitude, therefore also the Lord went forth that He might give
   them place and opportunity to take Him. This then teaches them, that if
   He had not suffered them of His own free choice, they would never have
   had strength to take Him. Then the Evangelist assigns the reason why
   the Lord was willing to be taken, adding, "All this was done that the
   Scriptures of the Prophets might be fulfilled."

   Jerome: "They pierced my hands and my feet;" [Ps 22:16] and in another
   place, "He is led as a sheep to the slaughter;" and, "By the iniquities
   of my people was He led to death." [Isa 53:7-8]

   Remig.: For because all the Prophets had foretold Christ's Passion, he
   does not cite any particular place, but says generally that the
   prophecies of all the Prophets were being fulfilled.

   Chrys.: The disciples who had remained when the Lord was apprehended,
   fled when He spoke these things to the multitudes, "Then all the
   disciples forsook him and fled;" for they then understood that He could
   not escape but rather gave Himself up voluntarily.

   Remig.: In this act is shewn the Apostles' frailty; in the first ardour
   of their faith they had promised to die with Him, but in their fear
   they forgot their promise and fled. The same we may see in those who
   undertake to do great things for the love of God, but fail to fulfil
   what they undertake; they ought not to despair, but to rise again with
   the Apostles, and recover themselves by penitence.

   Raban.: Mystically, As Peter, who by tears washed away the sin of his
   denial, figures the recovery of those who lapse in time of martyrdom;
   so the flight of the other disciples suggests the precaution of flight
   to such as feel themselves unfit to endure torments.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 6: "They that had laid hold on Jesus led Him
   away to Caiaphas the High Priest." But He was first taken to Annas,
   father-in-law to Caiaphas, as John relates. And He was taken bound,
   there being with that multitude a tribune and cohort, as John also
   records. [John 18:12]

   Jerome: But Josephus writes [ed. note: "Josephus (Ant. xviii. 3 and 4,)
   twice mentions this Caiaphas as the successor of Simon the son of
   Camithes, but we do not find that he purchased the High Priesthood of
   Herod." Vallarsi.], that this Caiaphas had purchased the priesthood of
   a single year, notwithstanding that Moses, at God's command, had
   directed that High Priests should succeed hereditarily, and that in the
   Priests likewise succession by birth should be followed up. No wonder
   then that an unrighteous High Priest should judge unrighteously.

   Raban.: And the action suits his name; Caiaphas, i.e. contriving,' or,
   politic,' to execute his villainy; or vomiting from his mouth,' because
   of his audacity in uttering a lie, and bringing about the murder. They
   took Jesus thither, that they might do all advisedly; as it follows,
   "Where the Scribes and the Elders were assembled."

   Origen: Where Caiaphas the High Priest is, there are assembled the
   Scribes, that is, the men of the letter [marg. note: literati], who
   preside over the letter that killeth; and Elders, not in truth, but in
   the obsolete ancientness of the letter.

   It follows, "Peter followed Him afar off," He would neither keep close
   to Him, nor altogether leave Him, but "followed afar off."

   Chrys.: Great was the zeal of Peter, who fled not when He saw the
   others fly, but remained, and entered in. For though John also went in,
   yet he was known to the Chief Priest. He "followed afar off," because
   he was about to deny his Lord.

   Remig.: For had he kept close to his Lord's side, he could never have
   denied Him. This also shews that Peter should follow his Lord's
   Passion, that is, imitate it.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 46: And also that the Church should follow, i.e.
   imitate, the Lord's Passion, but with great difference. For the Church
   suffers for itself, but Christ for the Church.

   Jerome: He went in, either out of the attachment of a disciple, or
   natural curiosity, seeking to know what sentence the High Priest would
   pass, whether death, or scourging.
     __________________________________________________________________

   59. Now the Chief Priests, and elders, and all the council, sought
   false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;

   60. But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found
   they none. At the last came two false witnesses,

   61. And said, "This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of
   God, and to build it in three days."

   62. And the High Priest arose, and said unto him, "Answerest thou
   nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?"

   63. But Jesus held his peace. And the High Priest answered and said
   unto him, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether
   thou be the Christ, the Son of God."

   64. Jesus saith unto him, "Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you,
   Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of
   power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."

   65. Then the High Priest rent his clothes, saying, "He hath spoken
   blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have
   heard his blasphemy.

   66. What think ye?" They answered and said, He is guilty of death.

   67. Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote
   him with the palms of their hands,

   68. Saying, "Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?"
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: When the Chief Priests were thus assembled, this conventicle of
   ruffians sought to give their conspiracy the character of a legal
   trial. But it was entirely a scene of confusion and uproar, as what
   follows shews, "Though many false witnesses came, yet found they none."

   Origen: False witnesses have place when there is any good colour for
   their testimony. But no pretext was found which could further their
   falsehoods against Jesus; notwithstanding there were many desirous to
   do a favour to the Chief Priests. This then is a great testimony in
   favour of Jesus, that He had lived and taught so irreproachably, that
   though they were many, and crafty, and wicked, they could find no
   semblance of fault in Him.

   Jerome: "At last came two false witnesses." How are they false
   witnesses, when they repeat only what we read that the Lord spoke? A
   false witness is one who takes what is said in a different sense from
   that in which it was said. Now this the Lord had spoken of the temple
   of His Body, and they cavil at His expressions, and by a slight change
   and addition produce a plausible charge. The Lord's words were,
   "Destroy this temple;" [John 2:19] this they make into, I can destroy
   the Temple of God. He said, "Destroy," not, I will destroy, because it
   is unlawful to lay hands on ourselves.

   Also they phrased it, "And build it again," making it apply to the
   temple of the Jews; but the Lord had said, "And I will raise it up
   again," thus clearly pointing out a living and breathing temple. For to
   build again, and to raise again, are two different things.

   Chrys.: Why did they not bring forward now His breaking the Sabbath?
   Because He had so often confuted them on this point.

   Jerome: Headlong and uncontrolled rage, unable to find even a false
   accusation, moves the High Priest from his throne, the motion of his
   body shewing the emotion of his mind.

   "And the High Priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing
   to the things which these witness against Thee?"

   Chrys.: He said this with a design to draw from Him some indefensible
   answer which might be made a snare for Him. But "Jesus held his peace,"
   for defence had availed nothing when none would listen to it. For here
   was only a mockery of justice, it was in truth nothing more than the
   anarchy of a den of robbers.

   Origen: This place teaches us to contemn the clamours of slanderers and
   false witnesses, and not to consider those who speak unbeseeming things
   of us worthy of an answer; but then, above all, when it is greater to
   be manfully and resolutely silent, than to plead our cause in vain.

   Jerome: For as God, He knew that whatever He said would be twisted into
   an accusation against Him. But at this His silence before false
   witnesses and ungodly Priests, the High Priest was exasperated, and
   summons Him to answer, that from any thing He says he may raise a
   charge against Him.

   Origen: Under the Law, we do indeed find many instances of this
   adjuration; but I judge that a man who would live according to the
   Gospel should not adjure another; for if we are not permitted to swear,
   surely not to adjure. [marg. note: Numb 5:19, 1 Ki 22:16]

   But he that regards Jesus commanding the daemons, and giving His
   disciples power over them, will say, that to address the daemons by the
   power given by the Saviour, is not to adjure them. But the High Priest
   did sin in laying a snare for Jesus; imitating his father, who twice
   asked the Saviour, "If thou be Christ the Son of God." Hence one might
   rightly say, that to doubt concerning the Son of God, whether Christ be
   He, is the work of the Devil. It was not fit that the Lord should
   answer the High Priest's adjuration as though under compulsion,
   wherefore He neither denied nor confessed Himself to be the Son of God.
   For he was not worthy to be the object of Christ's teaching, therefore
   He does not instruct him, but taking up his own words retorts them upon
   him. This sitting of the Son of Man seems to me to denote a certain
   regal security; by the power of God, Who is the only power, is He
   securely seated to Whom is given by His Father all power in heaven as
   in earth.

   And there will come a time when the enemies shall see this
   establishment. Indeed this has begun to be fulfilled from the earliest
   time of the dispensation; for the disciples saw Him rising from the
   dead, and thereby saw Him seated on the right band of power.

   Or, In respect of that eternity of duration which is with God, from the
   beginning of the world to the end of it is but one day; it is therefore
   no wonder that the Saviour here says, "Shortly," signifying that there
   is but short time before the end come. He prophesies moreover, that
   they should not only see Him "sitting at the right hand of power," but
   also "coming in the clouds of heaven." These clouds are the Prophets
   and Apostles, whom He commands to rain when it is required, they are
   the clouds that pass not away, but "bearing the image of the heavenly,"
   [1 Cor 15:49] are worthy to be the throne of God, as "heirs of God, and
   joint-heirs with Christ." [Rom 8:17]

   Jerome: The same fury which drew the High Priest from his seat, impels
   him now to rend his clothes; for so it was customary with the Jews to
   do whenever they heard any blasphemy, or any thing against God.

   Chrys.: This He did to give weight to the accusation, and to confirm by
   deeds what He taught in words.

   Jerome: And by this rending his garments, he shews that the Jews have
   lost the priestly glory, and that their High Priest's throne was
   vacant. For by rending his garment he rent the veil of the Law which
   covered him.

   Chrys.: Then, after rending his garment, he did not give sentence of
   himself, but asked of others, saying, "What think ye?" As was always
   done in undeniable cases of sin, and manifest blasphemy, and as by
   force driving them to a certain opinion, he anticipates the answer,
   "What need we any further witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his
   blasphemy."

   What was this blasphemy? For before He had interpreted to them as they
   were gathered together that text, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou
   on my right hand," [Matt 22:44] and they had held their peace, and had
   not contradicted Him. How then do they call what He now says blasphemy?
   "They answered and said, He is guilty of death," the same persons at
   once accusers, examiners, and sentencers.

   Origen: How great their error! to pronounce the principle of all men's
   life to be guilty of death, and not to acknowledge by the testimony of
   the resurrection of so many, the Fount of life, from Whom life flows to
   all that rise again.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxv: As hunters who have started their game, so they
   exhibit a wild and drunken exultation.

   Jerome: "They spit in his face, and buffeted him," to fulfil the
   prophecy of Esaias, "I gave my cheek to the smiters, and turned not
   away my face from shame and spitting." [Isa 50:6]

   Gloss., ord.: "Prophesy unto us" is said in ridicule of His claim to be
   held as a Prophet by the people.

   Jerome: But it would have been foolish to have answered them that smote
   Him, and to have declared the smiter, seeing that in their madness they
   seem to have struck Him openly.

   Chrys.: Observe how circumstantially the Evangelist recounts all those
   particulars even which seem most disgraceful, hiding or extenuating
   nothing, but thinking it the highest glory that the Lord of the earth
   should endure such things for us. This let us read continually, let us
   imprint in our minds, and in these things let us boast.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 44: That, "they did spit in his face," signifies
   those who reject His proffered grace. They likewise buffet Him who
   prefer their own honour to Him; and they smite Him on the face, who,
   blinded with unbelief, affirm that He is not yet come, disowning and
   rejecting His person.
     __________________________________________________________________

   69. Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him,
   saying, "Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee."

   70. But he denied before them all, saying, "I know not what thou
   sayest."

   71. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and
   said unto them that were there, "This fellow was also with Jesus of
   Nazareth."

   72. And again he denied with an oath, "I do not know the man."

   73. And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to
   Peter, "Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth
   thee."

   74. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, "I know not the Man."
   And immediately the cock crew.

   75. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him,
   "Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." And he went out, and
   wept bitterly.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 6: Among the other insults offered to our Lord
   was the threefold denial of Peter, which the several Evangelists relate
   in different order. Luke puts Peter's trial first, and the ill-usage of
   the Lord after that; Matthew and Mark reverse the order.

   Jerome: "Peter sat without," that he might see the event, and not
   excite suspicion by any approach to Jesus.

   Chrys.: And he, who, when he saw his Master laid hands on, drew his
   sword and cut off the ear, now when he sees Him enduring such insults
   becomes a denier, and cannot withstand the taunts of a mean servant
   girl.

   "A damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee."

   Raban.: What means this, that a handmaid is the first to tax him, when
   men would be more likely to recognise him, except that this sex might
   seem to sin somewhat in the Lord's death, that they might be redeemed
   by His passion? "He denied before them all," because he was afraid to
   reveal himself; that he said, "I know not," shews that he was not yet
   willing to die for the Saviour.

   Leo, Serm. 60, 4: For this reason it should seem he was permitted to
   waver, that the remedy of penitence might be exhibited in the head of
   the Church, and that none should dare to trust in his own strength,
   when even the blessed Peter could not escape the danger of frailty.

   Chrys.: But not once, but twice and thrice did he deny within a short
   time.

   Aug.: We understand that having gone out after his first denial, the
   cock crowed the first time as Mark relates.

   Chrys.: To shew that the sound did not keep him from denial, nor bring
   his promise to mind.

   Aug.: The second denial was not outside the door, but after he had
   returned to the fire; for the second maid did not see him after he had
   gone out, but as he was going out; his getting up to go out drew her
   attention, and she said to them that were there, that is, to those that
   were standing round the fire in the hall, "The fellow also was with
   Jesus of Nazareth." He who had gone out, having heard this returned,
   that he might by denial vindicate himself. Or, as is more likely, he
   did not hear what was said of him as he went out, but it was after he
   came back that the maid, and the other man whom Luke mentions, said to
   him, "And thou also art one of them."

   Jerome: "And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man." I
   know that some out of a feeling of piety towards the Apostle Peter have
   interpreted this place to signify that Peter denied the Man and not the
   God, as though he meant, I do not know the Man, because I know the
   God.' But the intelligent reader will see that this is trifling, for if
   he denied not, the Lord spoke falsely when He said, "Thou shalt deny me
   thrice."

   [ed. note: e.g. S. Ambrose (in Luc.) says, He well denied him as man,
   for he knew him as God." And S. Hilary, (in loc.) "Almost without sin
   did he now deny the man, who had been the first to acknowledge him as
   Son of God; yet seeing through infirmity of the flesh, he had at least
   doubted, he therefore wept bitterly when he remembered that he had not
   been able, even after warning, to avoid the sin of that fearfulness."]

   Ambrose, in Luc., 22, 57: I had rather that Peter deny, than that the
   Lord be made out false.

   Raban.: In this denial of Peter we affirm that Christ is denied not
   only by him who denies that He is Christ, but who denies himself to be
   a Christian.

   Aug.: Let us now come to the third denial; "And after a while came they
   that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them,"
   (Luke's words are, "About the space of one hour after, [Luke 22:59])
   for thy speech bewrayeth thee."

   Jerome: Not that Peter was of a different speech or nation, but a
   Hebrew as his accusers were; but every province and every district has
   its peculiarities, and he could not disguise his native pronunciation.

   Remig.: Observe how baneful are communications with evil men; they even
   drove Peter to deny the Lord whom be had before confessed to be the Son
   of God.

   Raban.: Observe, that he said the first time, "I know not what thou
   sayest;" the second time, "He denied with an oath;" the third time, "He
   began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man." For to persevere
   in sinning increases sinfulness, and he who disregards light sins,
   falls into greater.

   Remig.: Spiritually; By Peter's denial before the cock-crow, are
   denoted those who before Christ's resurrection did not believe Him to
   be God, being perplexed by His death. In his denial after the first
   cock-crow, are denoted those who are in error concerning both Christ's
   natures, His human and divine. By the first handmaid is signified
   desire; by the second, carnal delight; by them that stood by, the
   daemons; for by them men are led to a denial of Christ.

   Origen: Or, By the first handmaid is understood the Synagogue of the
   Jews, which oft compelled the faithful to deny; by the second, the
   congregations of the Gentiles, who even persecuted the Christians; they
   that stood in the hall signify the ministers of divers heresies, who
   also compel men to deny the truth of Christ.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., i, 45: Also Peter thrice denied, because heretical
   error concerning Christ is limited to three kinds; they are in error
   respecting His divinity, His humanity, or both.

   Raban.: After the third denial comes the cock-crow; by which we may
   understand a Doctor of the Church who with chiding rouses the
   slumbering, saying, "Awake, ye righteous, and sin not." [1 Cor 15:14]
   Thus Holy Scripture uses to denote the merit of divers cases [marg.
   note: meritum causarum] by fixed periods, as Peter sinned at midnight
   and repented at cock-crow.

   Jerome: In another Gospel we read, that after Peter's denial and thee
   cock-crow, the Saviour "looked upon Peter," [Luke 22,61] and by His
   look called forth those bitter tears; for it might not be that he on
   whom the Light of the world had looked should continue in the darkness
   of denial, wherefore, "he went out, and wept bitterly." For he could
   not do penitence sitting in Caiaphas' hall, but went forth from the
   assembly of the wicked, that he might wash away in bitter tears the
   pollution of his timid denial.

   Leo, Serm. 60, 4: Blessed tears, O holy Apostle, which had the virtue
   of holy Baptism in washing off the sin of thy denial. The right hand of
   the Lord Jesus Christ was with thee to hold thee up before thou wast
   quite thrown down, and in the midst of thy perilous fall, thou
   receivedst strength to stand. The Rock quickly returned to its
   stability, recovering so great fortitude, that he who in Christ's
   passion had quailed, should endure his own subsequent suffering with
   fearlessness and constancy.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 27

   1. When the morning was come, all the Chief Priests and elders of the
   people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:

   2. And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to
   Pontius Pilate the governor.

   3. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was
   condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of
   silver to the Chief Priests and elders,

   4. Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
   And they said, "What is that to us? see thou to that."

   5. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed,
   and went and hanged himself.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 7: The Evangelist had above brought down his
   history, of what was done to the Lord as far as early morning; he then
   turned back to relate Peter's denial, after which he returned to the
   morning to continue the course of events,

   "When the morning was come, &c."

   Origen: They supposed that by His death they should crush His doctrine,
   and the belief in Him of those who believed Him to be the Son of God.
   With such purpose against Him they bound Jesus, Who looses them that
   are bound. [marg. note: see Isa 61:1]

   Jerome: Observe the evil zeal of the Chief Priests; they watched the
   whole night with a view to this murder. And they gave Him up to Pilate
   bound, for such was their practice to send bound to the judge any whom
   they had sentenced to death.

   Raban.: Though it should be observed that they did not now first bind
   Him, but before, when they first laid hands upon Him in the garden, as
   John relates. [John 18:12]

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxiv: They did not put Him to death in secret, because
   they sought to destroy His reputation, and the wonder with which He was
   regarded by many. For this reason they were minded to put Him to death
   openly before all, and therefore they led Him to the governor.

   Jerome: Judas, when he saw that the Lord was condemned to death,
   returned the money to the Priests, as though it had been in his power
   to change the minds of His persecutors.

   Origen: Let the propounders of those fables concerning intrinsically
   evil natures [ed. note: vid. S. Basil. Reg. Brev. 84.] answer me here,
   whence Judas came to the acknowledgment of his sin, "I have sinned in
   that I have betrayed righteous blood," except through the good mind
   originally implanted in him, and that seed of virtue which is sown in
   every rational soul? But Judas did not cherish this, and so fell into
   this sin.

   But if ever any man was made of a nature that was to perish, Judas was
   yet more of such a nature. If indeed he had done this after Christ's
   resurrection, it might have been said, that the power of the
   resurrection brought him to repentance. But he repented when he saw
   Christ delivered up to Pilate, perhaps remembering the things Jesus had
   so often spoken of His resurrection.

   Or, perhaps Satan who had "entered into him" [John 13:27] continued
   with him till Jesus was given up to Pilate, and then, having
   accomplished his purpose, departed from him; whereupon be repented.

   But how could Judas know that He was condemned, for He had not yet been
   examined by Pilate? One may perhaps say, that he foreboded the event in
   his own mind from the very first, when he saw Him delivered up. Another
   may explain the words, when "he saw that he was condemned," of Judas
   himself, that be then perceived his evil case, and saw that he himself
   was condemned.

   Leo, Serm., 52, 5: When he says, "I have sinned, in that I have
   betrayed innocent blood," he persists in his wicked treachery, seeing
   that amid the last struggles of death he believed not Jesus to be the
   Son of God, but merely man of our rank; for had he not thus denied His
   omnipotence, he would have obtained His mercy.

   Chrys.: Observe that he repents only when his sin is finished and
   complete; for so the Devil suffers not those who are not watchful to
   see the evil before they bring it to an end.

   Remig.: "But they said, What is that to us?" that is to say, What is it
   to us that He is righteous? "See thou to it," i.e. to thy own deed what
   will come of it. Though some would read these in one [marg. note: Quid
   ad nos tu videris?], What must we think of you, when you confess that
   the man whom yourself have betrayed is innocent?

   Origen: But when the Devil leave any one, he watches his time for
   return, and having taken it, he leads him into a second sin, and then
   watches for opportunity for a third deceit. So the man who had married
   his father's wife afterwards repented him of this sin, [1 Cor 5:1] but
   again the Devil resolved so to augment this very sorrow of repentance,
   that his sorrow being made too abundant might swallow up the sorrower.

   Something like this took place in Judas, who after his repentance did
   not preserve his own heart, but received that more abundant sorrow
   supplied to him by the Devil, who sought to swallow him up, as it
   follows, "And he went out, and hanged himself." But had he desired and
   looked for place and time for repentance, he would perhaps have found
   Him who has said, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked."
   [Ezek 33:11]

   Or, perhaps, he desired to die before his Master on His way to death,
   and to meet Him with a disembodied spirit, that by confession and
   deprecation he might obtain mercy; and did not see that it is not
   fitting that a servant of God should dismiss himself from life, but
   should wait God's sentence.

   Raban.: He "hung himself," to shew that he was hateful to both heaven
   and earth.

   Pseudo-Aug., Hil. Quaest. V. et N. Test. q. 94: Since the Chief Priests
   were employed about the murder of the Lord from the morning to the
   ninth hour, how is this proved that before the crucifixion Judas
   returned them the money he had received, and said to them in the
   temple, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood?"

   Whereas it is manifest that the Chief Priests and Elders were never in
   the temple before the Lord's crucifixion, seeing that when He was
   hanging on the Cross they were there to insult Him. Nor indeed can this
   be proved hence, because it is related before the Lord's Passion, for
   many things which were manifestly done before, are related after, that,
   and the reverse. It might have been done after the ninth hour, when
   Judas, seeing the Saviour dead and the veil of the temple rent, the
   earthquake, the bursting of the rocks, and the elements terrified, was
   seized with fear and sorrow thereupon. But after the ninth hour the
   Chief Priests and Elders were occupied, as I suppose, in the
   celebration of the Passover; and on the Sabbath, the Law would not have
   allowed him to bring money. Therefore it is to me as yet unproved on
   what day or at what time Judas ended his life by hanging.
     __________________________________________________________________

   6. And the Chief Priests took the silver pieces, and said, "It is not
   lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of
   blood."

   7. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to
   bury strangers in.

   8. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.

   9. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,
   saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him
   that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;

   10. And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: The Chief Priests knowing that they had purchased a murder were
   condemned by their own conscience; they said, "It is the price of
   blood."

   Jerome: Truly straining out the gnat, and swallowing the camel; for if
   they would not put the money into the treasury, because it was the
   price of blood, why did they shed the blood at all?

   Origen: They thought it meet to spend upon the dead that money which
   was the price of blood. But as there are differences even in burial
   places, they used the price of Jesus' blood in the purchase of some
   potter's field, where foreigners might be buried, not as they desired
   in the sepulchres of their fathers.

   Aug., App. Serm., 80, 1: It was brought about, I conceive, by God's
   providence, that the Saviour's price should not minister means of
   excess to sinners, but repose to foreigners, that thence Christ might
   both redeem the living by the shedding of His blood, and harbour the
   dead by the price of His passion. Therefore with the price of the
   Lord's blood the potter's field is purchased. We read in Scripture that
   the salvation of the whole human race has been purchased by the
   Saviour's blood. This field then is the whole world. The potter who is
   the Lord of the soil, is He who has formed of clay the vessels of our
   bodies. This potter's field then was purchased by Christ's blood, and
   to strangers who without country or home wander over the whole world,
   repose is provided by Christ's blood.

   These foreigners are the more devout Christians, who have renounced the
   world, and have no possession in it, and so repose in Christ's blood;
   for the burial of Christ is nothing but the repose of a Christian; for
   as the Apostle says, "We are buried with him by baptism into death."
   [Rom 6:4] We are in this life then as foreigners.

   Jerome: Also we, who were strangers to the Law and the Prophets, have
   profited by the perverse temper of the Jews to obtain salvation for
   ourselves.

   Origen: Or, the "foreigners" are they who to the end are aliens from
   God, for the righteous are buried with Christ in a new tomb hewn out in
   the rock. But they who are aliens from God, even to the end, are buried
   in the field of a potter, a worker in clay, which being bought by the
   price of blood, is called the field of blood.

   Gloss, non occ.: "To this day" means to the time when the Evangelist
   was then writing. He then confirms the event by the testimony of the
   Prophet; "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the
   Prophet," &c.

   Jerome: This is not found at all in Hieremias; but in Zacharias [marg.
   note: Zech 11:13], who is the last but one of the twelve Prophets,
   something like it is told, and though the sense is not very different,
   yet the arrangement and the words are different.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 7: But if any one thinks this lowers the
   historian's credit, first let him know that not all the copies of the
   Gospels have the name Hieremias, but some simply "by the Prophet."

   But I do not like this defence, because the more, and the more ancient,
   copies have Hieremias, and there could be no reason for adding the
   name, and thus making an error. But its erasure is well accounted for
   by the hardihood of ignorance having heard the foregoing objection
   urged. It might be then, that the name Hieremias occurred to the mind
   of Matthew as he wrote, instead of the name Zacharias, as so often
   happens; and that be would have straightway corrected it, when pointed
   out to him by such as read this while he yet lived in the flesh, had he
   not thought that his memory, being guided by the Holy Spirit, would not
   thus have called up to him one name instead of another, had not the
   Lord determined that it should thus be written.

   And why He should have so determined, the first reason is, that it
   would convey the wonderful consent of the Prophets, who all spake by
   one Spirit, which is much greater than if all the words of all the
   Prophets had been uttered through the mouth of one man; so that we
   receive without doubt whatever the Holy Spirit spake through them, each
   word belongs to all in common, and the whole is the utterance of each.
   Suppose it to happen at this day, that in repeating another's words one
   should mention not the speaker's name, but that of some other person,
   who however was the other's greater friend, and then immediately
   recollecting himself should correct himself, he might yet add, Yet am I
   right, if you only think of the close unanimity that exists between the
   two. How much more is this to be observed of the holy Prophets!

   There is a second reason why the name Hieremias should be suffered to
   remain in this quotation from Zacharias, or rather why it should have
   been suggested by the Holy Spirit. It is said in Hieremias, that he
   bought a field of his brother's son, and gave him silver for it, [Jer
   32:9] though not indeed the sum stated in Zacharias, thirty pieces of
   silver. That the Evangelist has here adapted the thirty pieces of
   silver in Zacharias to this transaction in the Lord's history, is
   plain; but he may also wish to convey that what Hieremias speaks of the
   field is mystically alluded to here, and therefore he puts not the name
   of Zacharias who spoke of the thirty pieces of silver, but of Hieremias
   who spoke of the purchase of the field. So that in reading the Gospel
   and finding the name of Hieremias, but not finding there the passage
   respecting the thirty pieces of silver, but the account of the purchase
   of the field, the reader might be induced to compare the two together,
   and so extract from them the sense of the prophecy, how far it refers
   to what was now accomplished in the Lord.

   For what Matthew adds to the prophecy, "Whom they of the children of
   Israel did value, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord
   appointed me," this, "as the Lord appointed me," is found neither in
   Zacharias nor Hieremias. It must then be taken in the person of the
   Evangelist as inserted with a mystic meaning, that he had learned by
   revelation that the prophecy referred to this matter of the price for
   which Christ was betrayed.

   Jerome, Hieron. ad Pam. Ep. 57, 5: Far be it then from a follower of
   Christ to suppose him guilty of falsehood, whereas his business was not
   to pry into words and syllables, but to lay down the staple of
   doctrine.

   Aug., Hieron. in loc.: I have lately read in a Hebrew book given me by
   a Hebrew of the Nazarene sect, an apocryphal Hieremias, in which I find
   the very words here quoted. After all, I am rather inclined to think
   that the passage was taken by Matthew out of Zacharias, in the usual
   manner of the Apostles and Evangelists when they quote from the Old
   Testament, neglecting the words, and attending only to the sense.
     __________________________________________________________________

   11. And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him,
   saying, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said unto him, "Thou
   sayest."

   12. And when he was accused of the Chief Priests and elders, he
   answered nothing.

   13. Then said Pilate unto him, "Hearest thou not how many things they
   witness against thee?

   14. And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor
   marvelled greatly.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 7: Matthew, having finished his digression
   concerning the traitor Judas, returns to the course of his narrative
   saying, "Jesus stood before the governor."

   Origen: Mark how He that is ordained by His Father to be the Judge of
   the whole creation, humbled Himself, and was content to stand before
   the judge of the land of Judaea, and to be asked by Pilate either in
   mockery or doubt, "Art thou the King of the Jews?"

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxvi: Pilate asked Christ that which His enemies were
   continually casting in His teeth, for because they knew that Pilate
   cared not for matters of their Law, they had recourse to a public
   charge.

   Origen: Or, Pilate spoke this affirmatively, as he afterwards wrote in
   the inscription, "The King of the Jews." By answering to the Chief
   Priest, "Thou hast said," He indirectly reproved his doubts, but now He
   turns Pilate's speech into an affirmative, "Jesus saith unto him, Thou
   sayest it."

   Chrys.: He acknowledges Himself to be a King, but a heavenly one, as it
   is more expressly said in another Gospel, "My kingdom is not of this
   world [John 18:36], so that neither the Jews nor Pilate were excusable
   for insisting on this accusation.

   Hilary: Or, when asked by the High Priest whether He were Jesus the
   Christ, He answered, "Thou hast said," because He had ever maintained
   out of the Law that Christ should come, but to Pilate who was ignorant
   of the Law, and asks if He were the King of the Jews, He answers, "Thou
   sayest," because the salvation of the Gentiles is through faith of that
   present confession.

   Jerome: But observe, that to Pilate who asked the question unwillingly
   He did answer somewhat; but to the Chief Priests and Priests He refused
   to answer, judging them unworthy of a word; "And when he was accused by
   the Chief Priests and Elders he answered nothing."

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 8: Luke explains what were the accusations
   alleged against Him, "And they began to accuse him, saying, We found
   this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to
   Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King." [Luke 23:2]

   But it is of no consequence to the truth in what order they relate the
   history, or that one omits what another inserts.

   Origen: Neither then nor now did Jesus make any reply to their
   accusations, for the word of God was not sent to them, as it was
   formerly to the Prophets. Neither was Pilate worthy of an answer, as be
   had no fixed or abiding opinion of Christ, but veered about to
   contradictory suppositions.

   "Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?"

   Jerome: Thus though it is a Gentile who sentences Jesus, he lays the
   cause of His condemnation upon the Jews.

   Chrys.: He said this out of a wish to release Him, if He should justify
   Himself in His answer. But the Jews, though they had so many practical
   proofs of His power, His meekness and humbleness, were yet enraged
   against Him, and urged on by a perverted judgment. Wherefore He answers
   nothing, or if He makes any answer He says little, that total silence
   might not be construed into obstinacy.

   Jerome: Or, Jesus would not make any answer, lest if He cleared Himself
   the governor should have let Him go, and the benefit of His cross
   should have been deferred.

   Origen: "The governor marvelled" at His endurance, as knowing that he
   had power to condemn Him, He yet continued in a peaceful, placid, and
   immovable prudence and gravity. He marvelled "greatly," for it seemed
   to him a great miracle that Christ, produced before a criminal
   tribunal, stood thus fearless of death, which all men think so
   terrible.
     __________________________________________________________________

   15. Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people
   a prisoner, whom they would.

   16. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.

   17. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them,
   "Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is
   called Christ?"

   18. For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

   19. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him,
   saying, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have
   suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."

   20. But the Chief Priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they
   should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.

   21. The governor answered and said unto them, "Whether of the twain
   will ye that I release unto you?" They said, "Barabbas."

   22. Pilate saith unto them, "What shall I do then with Jesus which is
   called Christ?" They all say unto him, "Let him be crucified."

   23. And the governor said, "Why, what evil bath he done?" But they
   cried out the more, saying, "Let him be crucified."

   24. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a
   tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the
   multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person; see
   ye to it."

   25. Then answered all the people, and said, "His blood be on us, and on
   our children."

   26. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged
   Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Because Christ had answered nothing to the accusations of the
   Jews, by which Pilate could acquit Him of what was alleged against Him,
   he contrives other means of saving Him.

   "Now on the feast day the governor was wont to release unto the people
   a prisoner whom they would."

   Origen: Thus do the Gentiles shew favours to those whom they subject to
   themselves, until their yoke is riveted. Yet did this practice obtain
   also among the Jews, Saul did not put Jonathan to death, because all
   the people sought his life. [marg. note: 1 Sam 14]

   Chrys.: And he sought to rescue Christ by means of this practice, that
   the Jews might not have the shadow of an excuse left them. A convicted
   murderer is put in comparison with Christ, Barabbas, whom he calls not
   merely a robber, but a notable one, that is, renowned for crime.

   Jerome: In the Gospel entitled according to the Hebrews,' Barabbas is
   interpreted, The son of their master,' who had been condemned for
   sedition and murder. Pilate gives them the choice between Jesus and the
   robber, not doubting but that Jesus would be the rather chosen.

   Chrys.: "Whom will ye that I release unto you?" &c. As much as to say,
   If ye will not let Him go as innocent, at least, yield Him, as
   convicted, to this holy day. For if you would have released one of
   whose guilt there was no doubt, much more should you do so in doubtful
   cases. Observe how circumstances are reversed. It is the populace who
   are wont to petition. for the condemned, and the prince to grant, but
   here it is the reverse, the prince asks of the people, and renders them
   thereby more violent.

   Gloss., non occ.: The Evangelist adds the reason why Pilate sought to
   deliver Christ, "For he knew that for envy they had delivered him."

   Remig.: John explains what their envy was, when he says, "Behold, the
   world is gone after him;" [John 12:19] and, "If we let him thus alone,
   all men will believe on him." [John 11:48] Observe also that in place
   of what Matthew says, "Jesus, who is called Christ," Mark says, "Will
   ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?" [Mark 15:9] For the
   kings of the Jews alone were anointed, and from that anointing were
   called Christs.

   Chrys.: Then is added something else which alone was enough to deter
   all from putting Him to death; "When he was set on the judgment seat,
   his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just
   man." For joined with the proof afforded by the events themselves, a
   dream was no light confirmation.

   Raban.: It is to be noted, that the bench (tribunal) is the seat of the
   judge, the throne (solium) of the king, the chair (cathedra) of the
   master. In visions and dreams the wife of a Gentile understood what the
   Jews when awake would neither believe nor understand.

   Jerome: Observe also that visions are often vouchsafed by God to the
   Gentiles, and that the confession of Pilate and his wife that the Lord
   was innocent is a testimony of the Gentile people.

   Chrys.: But why did Pilate himself not see this vision? Because his
   wife was more worthy; or because if Pilate had seen it, he would not
   have had equal credit, or perhaps would not have told it; wherefore it
   is provided by God that his wife should see it, and thus it be made
   manifest to all. And she not merely sees it, but "suffers many things
   because of him," so that sympathy with his wife would make the husband
   more slack to put Him to death. And the time agreed well, for it was
   the same night that she saw it.

   Chrys., Hom. iii, in Caen. Dom.: Thus then the judge terrified through
   his wife, and that he might not consent in the judgment to the
   accusation of the Jews, himself endured judgment in the affliction of
   his wife; the judge is judged, and tortured before he tortures.

   Raban.: Or otherwise; The devil now at last understanding that he
   should lose his trophies through Christ, as be had at the first brought
   in death by a woman, so by a woman he would deliver Christ out of the
   hands of His enemies, lest through His death he should lose the
   sovereignty of death.

   Chrys.: But none of the foregoing things moved Christ's enemies,
   because envy had altogether blinded them, and of their own wickedness
   they corrupt the people, for they "persuaded the people that they
   should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus."

   Origen: Thus it is plainly seen how the Jewish people is moved by its
   elders and the doctors of the Jewish system, and stirred up against
   Jesus to destroy Him.

   Gloss., non occ.: Pilate is said to make this answer, "Whether of the
   twain will ye that I release unto you?" either to the message of his
   wife, or the petition of the people, with whom it was a custom to ask
   such release on the feast-day.

   Origen: But the populace, like wild beasts that rage the open plains,
   would have Barabbas released to them. For this people had seditions,
   murders, robberies, practised by some of their own nation in act, and
   nourished by all of them who believe not in Jesus, inwardly in their
   mind. Where Jesus is not, there are strifes and fightings; where He is,
   there is peace and all good things. All those who are like the Jews
   either in doctrine or life desire Barabbas to be loosed to them; for
   whoso does evil, Barabbas is loosed in his body, and Jesus bound; but
   he that does good has Christ loosed, and Barabbas bound.

   Pilate sought to strike them with shame for so great injustice, "What
   shall I do then with Jesus that is called Christ?" And not that only,
   but desiring to fill up the measure of their guilt. But neither do they
   blush that Pilate confessed Jesus to be the Christ, nor set any bounds
   to their impiety, They all say unto him, "Let him be crucified." Thus
   they multiplied the sum of their wickedness, not only asking the life
   of a murderer, but the death of a righteous man, and that the shameful
   death of the cross.

   Raban.: Those who were crucified being suspended on a cross, by nails
   driven into the wood through their hands and feet, perished by a
   lingering death, and lived long on the cross, not that they sought
   longer life, but that death was deferred to prolong their sufferings.
   The Jews indeed contrived this as the worst of deaths, but it had been
   chosen by the Lord without their privity, thereafter to place upon the
   foreheads of the faithful the same cross as a trophy of His victory
   over the Devil.

   Jerome: Yet even after this answer of theirs, Pilate did not at once
   assent, but in accordance with his wife's suggestion, "Have thou
   nothing to do with that just man," he answered, "Why, what evil hath he
   done?" This speech of Pilate's acquits Jesus. "But they cried out the
   more, saying, Let him be crucified;" that it might be fulfilled which
   is said in the Psalm, "Many dogs have compassed me, the congregation of
   the wicked hath inclosed me;" [Ps 22:16] and also that of Hieremias,
   "Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest, they have given
   forth their voice against me." [Jer 12:8]

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 8: Pilate many times pleaded with the Jews,
   desiring that Jesus might be released, which Matthew witnesses in very
   few words, when he says, "Pilate seeing that he could prevail nothing,
   but that rather a tumult was made." He would not have spoken thus, if
   Pilate had not striven much, though how many efforts he made to release
   Jesus he does not mention.

   Remig.: It was customary among the ancients, when one would refuse to
   participate in any crime, to take water and wash his hands before the
   people.

   Jerome: Pilate took water in accordance with that, "I Will wash my
   hands in innocency," [Ps 26:6] in a manner testifying and saying, I
   indeed have sought to deliver this innocent man, but since a tumult is
   rising, and the charge of treason to Caesar is urged against me, I am
   innocent of the blood of this just man. The judge then who is thus
   compelled to give sentence against the Lord, does not convict the
   accused, but the accusers, pronouncing innocent Him who is to be
   crucified.

   "See ye to it," as though be had said, I am the law's minister, it is
   your voice that has shed this blood. Then answered all the people and
   said, "His blood be on us and on our children." This imprecation rests
   at the present day upon the Jews, the Lord's blood is not removed from
   them.

   Chrys.: Observe here the infatuation of the Jews; their headlong haste,
   and destructive passions will not let them see what they ought to see,
   and they curse themselves, saying, "His blood be upon us," and even
   entail the curse upon their children. Yet a merciful God did not ratify
   this sentence, but accepted such of them and of their children as
   repented; for Paul was of them, and many thousands of those who in
   Jerusalem believed.

   Leo, Serm., 59, 2: The impiety of the Jews then exceeded the fault of
   Pilate; but he was not guiltless, seeing he resigned his own
   jurisdiction, and acquiesced in the injustice of others.

   Jerome: It should be known that Pilate administered the Roman law,
   which enacted that every one who was crucified should first be
   scourged. Jesus then is given up to the soldiers to be beaten, and they
   tore with whips that most holy body and capacious bosom of God.

   Chrys., Hom. iii, in Caena Dom.: See the Lord is made ready for the
   scourge, see now it descends upon Him! That sacred skin is torn by the
   fury of the rods; the cruel might of repeated blows lacerates His
   shoulders. Ah me! God is stretched out before man, and He, in whom not
   one trace of sin can be discerned, suffers punishment as a malefactor.

   Jerome: This was done that we might be delivered from those stripes of
   which it is said, "Many stripes shall be to the wicked." [Ps 32:10]
   Also in the washing of Pilate's hands all the works of the Gentiles are
   cleansed, and we are acquitted of all share in the impiety of the Jews.

   Hilary: At the desire of the Priests the populace chose Barabbas, which
   is interpreted the son of a Father,' thus shadowing forth the unbelief
   to come when Antichrist the son of sin should be preferred to Christ.

   Raban.: Barabbas also, who headed a sedition among the people, is
   released to the Jews, that is the Devil, who to this day reigns among
   them, so that they cannot have peace.
     __________________________________________________________________

   27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall,
   and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.

   28. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

   29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his
   head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him,
   and mocked him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!"

   30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the
   head.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 9: After the Lord's trial comes His Passion,
   which thus begins, "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into
   the common hall," &c.

   Jerome: He had been styled King of the Jews, and the Scribes and
   Priests had brought this charge against Him, that He claimed
   sovereignty over the Jewish nation; hence this mockery of the soldiers,
   taking away His own garments, they put on Him a scarlet cloak to
   represent that purple fringe which kings of old used to wear, for the
   diadem they put on Him a crown of thorns, and for the regal sceptre
   give Him a reed, and perform adoration to Him as to a king.

   Aug.: Hence we understand what Mark means by "clothed him with purple;"
   [Mark 15:17] instead of the royal purple, this scarlet cloak was used
   in mockery; and there is a shade of purple which is very like scarlet.
   Or it may be, that Mark spoke of the purple which the cloak contained,
   though its colour was scarlet.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxvii: What should we henceforth care if any one insults
   us, after Christ has thus suffered? The utmost that cruel outrage could
   do was put in practice against Christ; and not one member only, but His
   whole body suffered injuries; His head from the crown, the reed, and
   the buffetings; His face which was spit upon; His cheeks which they
   smote with the palms of their hands; His whole body from the scourging,
   the stripping to put on the cloak, and the mockery of homage; His hands
   from the reed which they put into them in mimicry of a sceptre; as
   though they were afraid of omitting aught of indignity.

   Aug.: But Matthew seems to introduce this here as recollected from
   above, not that it was done at the time Pilate gave Him up for
   crucifixion. For John puts it before He is given up by Pilate.

   Jerome: All these things we may understand mystically. For as Caiaphas
   said that "it is expedient that one man should die for the people,"
   [John 11:50] not knowing what he said, so these, in all they did,
   furnished sacraments to us who believe, though they did them with other
   intention. In the scarlet robe He bears the bloody works of the
   Gentiles; by the crown of thorns He takes away the ancient curse; with
   the reed He destroys poisonous animals; or He held the reed in His hand
   wherewith to write down the sacrilege of the Jews.

   Hilary: Or otherwise; The Lord having taken upon Him all the
   infirmities of our body, is then covered with the scarlet coloured
   blood of all the martyrs, to whom is due the kingdom with Him; He is
   crowned with thorns, that is, with the sins of the Gentiles who once
   pierced Him, for there is a prick in thorns of which is woven the crown
   of victory for Christ. In the reed, He takes into His hand and supports
   the weakness and frailty of the Gentiles; and His head is smitten
   therewith that the weakness of the Gentiles sustained by Christ's hand
   may rest on God the Father, who is His head.

   Origen: Or, The reed was a mystery signifying that before we believed
   we trusted in that reed of Egypt, or Babylon, or of some other kingdom
   opposed to God, which He took that He might triumph over it with the
   wood of the cross. With this reed they smite the head of Christ,
   because this kingdom ever beats against God the Father, who is the head
   of the Saviour.

   Remig.: Or otherwise, By the scarlet robe is denoted the Lord's flesh,
   which is spoken of as red by reason of shedding of His blood; by the
   crown of thorns His taking upon Him our sins, because He appeared "in
   the likeness of sinful flesh." [Rom 8:3]

   Raban.: They smite the head of Christ with a reed, who speak against
   His divinity, and endeavour to maintain their error by the authority of
   Holy Scripture, which is written by a reed. They spit upon His face who
   reject in abominable words the presence of His grace, and deny that
   Jesus is come in the flesh. And they mock Him with adoration who
   believe on Him, but despise Him with perverse works.

   Aug., Quaest. Ev., ii, in fin: That they took from off the Lord in His
   passion His own garment, and put on Him a coloured robe, denotes those
   heretics who said that He had a shadowy, and not a real body.
     __________________________________________________________________

   31. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from
   him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

   32. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name:
   him they compelled to bear his cross.

   33. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to
   say, a place of a skull,

   34. They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had
   tasted thereof, he would not drink.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: After the Evangelist had narrated what concerned the
   mocking of Christ, he proceeds to His crucifixion.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 9: This is to be understood to have been done
   at the end of all when He was led off to crucifixion after Pilate had
   delivered Him up to the Jews.

   Jerome: It is to be noted, that when Jesus is scourged and spit upon,
   He has not on His own garments, but those which He took for our sins;
   but when He is crucified, and the show of His mockery is completed,
   then He takes again His former garments, and His own dress, and
   immediately the elements are shaken, and the creature gives testimony
   to the Creator.

   Origen: Of the cloak it is mentioned that they took it off Him, but of
   the crown of thorns the Evangelists have not spoken, so that there are
   now no longer those ancient thorns of ours, since Jesus has taken them
   from us upon HiS revered head.

   Chrys., Hom. de Cruc. et Lat., ii: The Lord would not suffer under a
   roof, or in the Jewish Temple, that you should not suppose that He was
   offered for that people alone; but without the city, without the walls,
   that you might know that the sacrifice was common, that it was the
   offering of the whole earth, that the purification was general.

   Jerome: Let none think that John's narrative contradicts this place of
   the Evangelist. John says that the Lord went forth from the praetorium
   bearing His cross; Matthew tells, that they found a man of Cyrene upon
   whom they laid Jesus' cross. We must suppose that as Jesus went out of
   the praetorium, He was bearing His cross, and that afterwards they met
   Simon, whom they compelled to bear it.

   Origen: Or, as they went out, they laid hold of Simon, but when they
   drew near to the place in which they would crucify Him, they laid the
   cross upon Him that He might bear it. Simon obtained not this office by
   chance, but was brought to the spot by God's providence, that he might
   be found worthy of mention in the Scriptures of the Gospel, and of the
   ministry of the cross of Christ. And it was not only meet that the
   Saviour should carry His cross, but meet also that we should take part
   therein, filling a carriage so beneficial to us. Yet would it not have
   so profited us to take it on us, as we have profited by His taking it
   upon Himself. [marg. note: angareia]

   Jerome: Figuratively, the nations take up the cross, and the foreigner
   by obedience bears the ignominy of the Saviour.

   Hilary: For a Jew was not worthy to bear Christ's cross, but it was
   reserved for the faith of the Gentiles both to take the cross, and to
   suffer with Him.

   Remig.: For this Simon was not a man of Jerusalem, but a foreigner, and
   denizen, being a Cyrenean; Cyrene is a town of Lybia. Simon is
   interpreted obedient,' and a Cyrenean an heir;' whence he well denotes
   the people of the Gentiles, which was strange to the testaments of God,
   but by believing became a fellow-citizen of the saints, of the
   household, and an heir of God.

   Greg., Hom. in. Ev., xxxii, 3: Or otherwise; By Simon who bears the
   burden of the Lord's cross are denoted those who are abstinent and
   proud; these by their abstinence afflict their flesh, but seek not
   within the fruit of abstinence. Thus Simon bears the cross, but does
   not die thereon, as these afflict the body, but in desire of vain-glory
   live to the world.

   Raban.: "Golgotha" is a Syriac word, and is interpreted Calvary.

   Jerome: [ed. note, b: He probably refers to an anonymous disputant, of
   whom he speaks more at length in his Commentary on Ephesians 5, 14; but
   a tradition to the same effect is mentioned by Origen, whose words, as
   preserved in a MS. Catena quoted by Ruaeus, are, "A tradition has come
   down to us, preserved by the Hebrews, that the body of Adam is buried
   in Calvary, so that as in Adam all die, so in Christ may all be made
   alive." And to the same effect Epiphanius cont. Tatian, and the
   Pseudo-Cyprian. De Resur. Christi.']

   I have heard Calvary expounded as the spot in which Adam was buried, as
   though it had been so called from the head of the old man being buried
   there. A plausible interpretation, and agreeable to the ears of the
   people, yet not a true one. Without the city outside the gate are the
   places where criminals are executed, and these have got the name of
   Calvary, that is, of the beheaded. And Jesus was crucified there, that
   where the plot of criminals had been, there might be set up the flag of
   martyrdom. But Adam was buried near Ebron and Arbee, as we read in the
   volume of Jesus the son of Nave. [ed. note: Josh. 14, 15. in the
   Vulgate, "Adam maximus ibi inter Enacim situs est;" departing from both
   the Heb. and LXX.]

   Hilary: Such is the place of the cross, set up in the centre of the
   earth, that it might be equally free to all nations to attain the
   knowledge of God.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 11: "And they gave him to drink wine mingled
   with gall." Mark says, "mingled with myrrh." [Mark 16:23] Matthew put
   "gall" to express bitterness, but wine mingled with myrrh is very
   bitter; though indeed it might be, that gall together with myrrh would
   make the most bitter.

   Jerome: The bitter vine makes bitter wine; this they gave the Lord
   Jesus to drink, that that might be fulfilled which was written, "They
   gave me also gall for my meat." [Ps 69:12] And God addresses Jerusalem,
   "I had planted there a true vine, how art thou turned into the
   bitterness of a strange vine?" [Jer 2:21]

   Aug.: "And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink." That Mark
   says, "But he received it not," we understand to mean that He would not
   receive it to drink thereof. For that He tasted it Matthew bears
   witness; so that Matthew's, "He could not drink thereof," means exactly
   the same as Mark's, "He received it not;" only Mark does not mention
   His tasting it.

   That He tasted but would not drink of it signifies that He tasted the
   bitterness of death for us, but rose again the third day.

   Hilary: Or, He therefore refused the "wine mingled with gall, because
   the bitterness of sin is not mingled with the incorruption of eternal
   glory.
     __________________________________________________________________

   35. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that
   it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my
   garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

   36. And sitting down they watched him there;

   37. And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE
   KING OF THE JEWS.

   38. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right
   hand, and another on the left.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss, non occ.: Having described how Christ was led to the scene of
   His Passion, the Evangelist proceeds to the Passion itself, describing
   the kind of death; "And they crucified him."

   Aug., Lib. 83, Quaest q25: The Wisdom of God took upon Him man, to give
   us an example how we might live rightly. It pertains to right life not
   to fear things that are not to be feared. But some men who do not fear
   death in itself, yet dread some kinds of death. That no sort of death
   is to be feared by the man who lives aright, was to be shewn by this
   Man's cross. For of all the modes of death none was more horrible and
   fearful than this.

   Aug., in Serm., non occ.: Let your holiness consider of what might is
   the power of the cross. Adam set at nought the commandment, taking the
   apple from the tree; but all that Adam lost, Christ found upon the
   cross. The ark of wood saved the human race from the deluge of waters;
   when God's people came out of Egypt, Moses divided the sea with his
   rod, overwhelmed Pharaoh, and redeemed God's people. The same Moses
   changed the bitter water into sweet by casting wood into it. By the rod
   the refreshing stream was drawn out of the rock; that Amalech might be
   overcome, Moses' outstretched hands were supported upon his rod; the
   Law of God is entrusted to the wooden ark of the covenant, that thus,
   by these steps we may come at last to the wood of the cross.

   Chrys., Hom. de Cruc. et Lat. ii: He suffered on a lofty cross, and not
   under a roof, to the end that the nature of the air might be purified;
   the earth also partook a like benefit, being cleansed by the blood that
   dropped from His side.

   Gloss., ap. Anselm: The shape of the cross seems also to signify the
   Church spread through the four quarters of the earth.

   Raban.: Or, according to the practical exposition, the cross in respect
   of its broad transverse piece signifies the joy of him that works, for
   sorrow produces straitness; for the broad part of the cross is in the
   transverse beam to which the hands are fastened, and by the hands we
   understand works. By the upper part to which the head is fastened is
   denoted our looking for retribution from the supreme righteousness of
   God. The perpendicular part on which the body is stretched denotes
   endurance, whence the patient are called long-suffering' [marg. note:
   longamines]. The point that is fixed into the ground shadows forth the
   invisible part of a sacrament.

   Hilary: Thus on the tree of life the salvation and life of all is
   suspended.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 12: Matthew shortly says, "They parted his
   garments, casting lots;" but John explains more fully how it was done.
   "The soldiers, when they had crucified him, took his garments, and made
   four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat; now the coat
   was without seam." [John 19:23]

   Chrys.: It is to be noted, that this is no small degradation of Christ.
   For they did this as to one utterly abject and worthless, yet for the
   thieves they did not the same. For they share the garments only in the
   case of condemned persons so mean and poor as to possess nothing more.

   Jerome: This which was now done to Christ had been prophesied in the
   Psalm, "They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon my
   vesture." [Ps 22:18] It proceeds, "And sitting down, they watched him
   there." This watchfulness of the soldiers and of the Priests has proved
   of use to us in making the power of His resurrection greater and more
   notorious.

   "And they set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus,
   the King of the Jews." I cannot sufficiently wonder at the enormity of
   the thing, that having purchased false witnesses, and having stirred up
   the unhappy people to riot and uproar, they found no other plea for
   putting Him to death, than that He was King of the Jews; and this
   perhaps they set up in mockery.

   Remig.: It was divinely provided that this title should be set up over
   His head, that the Jews might learn that not even by putting Him to
   death could they avoid having Him for their King; for in the very
   instrument of His death He not only did not lose, but rather confirmed
   His sovereignty.

   Origen: The High Priest also in obedience to the letter of the Law wore
   on his head the writing, Holiness to the Lord,' but the true High
   Priest and King, Jesus, bears on His cross the title, "This is the King
   of the Jews;" when ascending to His Father, instead of His own name
   with its proper letters, He has the Father Himself.

   Raban.: For because He is at once King and Priest, when He would offer
   the sacrifice of His flesh on the altar of the cross, His title set
   forth His regal dignity. And it is set over and not beneath the cross,
   because though He suffered for us on the cross with the weakness of
   man, the majesty of the King was conspicuous above the cross; and this
   He did not lose, but rather confirmed, by the cross.

   Jerome, Hieron., non occ.: As Christ was made for us a curse of the
   cross, so for the salvation of all He is crucified as guilty among the
   guilty.

   Leo, Serm. 55, 1: "Two thieves were crucified with him, one on the
   right hand and one on the left," that in the figure of His cross might
   be represented that separation of all mankind which shall be made in
   His judgment. The Passion then of Christ contains a sacrament of our
   salvation, and of that instrument which the wickedness of the Jews
   provided for His punishment, the power of the Redeemer made a step to
   glory.

   Hilary: Or otherwise; Two thieves are set up on His right and left
   hand, to signify that the entire human race is called to the Sacrament
   of the Lord's Passion; but because there shall be a division of
   believers to the right, and unbelievers to the left, one of the two who
   is set on His right hand is saved by the justification of faith.

   Remig., ap. Gloss. ord.: Or, by the two thieves are denoted all those
   who strive after the continence of a strict life. They who do this with
   a single intention of pleasing God, are denoted by him who was
   crucified on the right hand; they who do it out of desire of human
   praise or any less worthy motive, are signified by him who was
   crucified on the left.
     __________________________________________________________________

   39. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their beads,

   40. And saying, "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in
   three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the
   cross."

   41. Likewise also the Chief Priests mocking him, with the Scribes and
   elders, said,

   42. "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of
   Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

   43. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him:
   for he said, I am the Son of God.

   44. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in
   his teeth.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys.: Having stripped and crucified Christ, they go yet further, and
   seeing Him on the cross revile Him.

   Jerome: "They revile him" because they passed by that way, and would
   not walk in the true way of the Scriptures. "They wagged their heads,"
   because they had just before shifted their feet, and stood not upon a
   rock. The foolish rabble cast the same taunt against Him that the false
   witnesses had invented, "Aha! thou that destroyest the temple of God
   and rebuildest it in three days."

   Remig.: "Aha!" is an interjection of taunt and mockery.

   Hilary: What forgiveness then for them, when by the resurrection of His
   body they shall see the temple of God rebuilt within three days?

   Chrys.: And as beginning to extenuate His former miracles, they add,
   "Save thyself; if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross."

   Chrys., Hom. de Cruc. et Latr. ii: He, on the contrary, does not come
   down from the cross, because He is the Son of God; for He therefore
   came that He might be crucified for us.

   Jerome: Even the Scribes and Pharisees reluctantly confess that "He
   saved others." Your own judgment then condemns you, for in that He
   saved others, He could if He would have saved Himself.

   Pseudo-Chrys.: [ed. note, d: Hom. de Cruce et Latr. in the Latin Chrys.
   (ed. Paris. 1588.) vol. iii. p. 750]

   But attend to this speech of these children of the Devil, how they
   imitate their father's speech. The Devil said, "If thou be the Son of
   God, cast thyself down;" [Matt 4:6] and they say now, "If thou be the
   Son of God, come down from the cross."

   Leo, Serm. 55, 2: From what source of error, O Jews, have ye sucked in
   the poison of such blasphemies? What teacher delivered it to you? What
   learning moved you to think that the true King of Israel, that the
   veritable Son of God, would be He who would not suffer Himself to be
   crucified, and would set free His body from the fastenings of the
   nails? Not the bidden meaning of the Law, not the mouths of the
   Prophets. Had ye indeed ever read, "I hid not my face from the shame of
   spitting;" [Is 50:6] or that again, :They pierced my hands and my feet,
   they told all my bones." [Ps 22:16] Where have ye ever read that the
   Lord came down from the cross? But ye have read, "The Lord hath reigned
   from the tree." [ed. note, e: Ps. 96, 10. Dominus regnavit a ligno,' in
   the old Italic Version; and so Tertullian adv. Marc. iii. The Vulg.
   follows the Heb.]

   Raban.: Had He then been prevailed on by their taunts to leave the
   cross, He would not have proved to us the power of endurance; but He
   waited enduring their mockery; and He who would not come down from the
   cross, rose again from the tomb.

   Jerome: But unworthy of credit is that promise, "And we will believe
   him." For which is greater, to come down while yet alive from the
   cross, or to rise from the tomb when dead? Yet this He did, and ye
   believed not; therefore neither would ye have believed if He had come
   down from the cross. It seems to me that this was a suggestion of the
   daemons. For immediately when the Lord was crucified they felt the
   power of the cross, and perceived that their strength was broken, and
   therefore contrive this to move Him to come down from the cross. But
   the Lord, aware of the designs of His foes, remains on the cross that
   He may destroy the Devil.

   Chrys.: "He trusted in God, let him now deliver him, if he will." O
   most foul! Were they therefore not Prophets or righteous men, because
   God did not deliver them out of their perils? But if He would not
   oppose their glory, which accrued to them out of the perils which you
   brought upon them, much more in this man ought you not to be offended
   because of what He suffers; what He has ever said ought to remove any
   such suspicion.

   When they add, "Because he said, I am the Son of God," they desire to
   intimate that He suffered as an impostor and seducer, and as making
   high and false pretences. And not only the Jews and the soldiers from
   below, but from above likewise. "The thieves, which were crucified with
   him, cast the same in his teeth."

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 16: It may seem that Luke contradicts this,
   when be describes one of the robbers as reviling Him, and as therefore
   rebuked by the other. But we may suppose that Matthew, shortly alluding
   to the circumstance, has used the plural for the singular, as in the
   Epistle to the Hebrews we have, "Have stopped the mouths of lions,"
   [Heb. 11:33] when Daniel only is spoken of. And what more common way of
   speaking than for one to say, See the country people insult me, when it
   is one only who has done so. If indeed Matthew had said that both the
   thieves had reviled the Lord, there would be some discrepancy; but when
   he says merely, "The thieves," without adding both,' we must consider
   it as that common form of speech in which the singular is signified by
   the plural.

   Jerome: Or it may be said that at first both reviled Him; but when the
   sun had withdrawn, the earth was shaken, the rocks were rent, and the
   darkness increased, one believed on Jesus, and repaired his former
   denial by a subsequent confession.

   Chrys.: At first both reviled Him, but afterwards not so. For that you
   should not suppose that the thing was arranged by any collusion, and
   that the thief was not a thief, he shews you by his wanton reproaches,
   that even after He was crucified he was a thief and a foe, but was
   afterwards totally changed.

   Hilary: That both the thieves cast in His teeth the manner of His
   Passion, shews that the cross should be an offence to all mankind, even
   to the faithful.

   Jerome: Or, in the two thieves both nations, Jews and Gentiles, at
   first blasphemed the Lord; afterwards the latter terrified by the
   multitude of signs did penitence, and thus rebukes the Jews, who
   blaspheme to this day.

   Origen: The thief who was saved may be a sign of those who after many
   sins have believed on Christ.
     __________________________________________________________________

   45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto
   the ninth hour.

   46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
   "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is to say, My God, my God, why hast
   thou forsaken me?

   47. Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, "This
   man calleth for Elias."

   48. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it
   with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

   49. The rest said, "Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save
   him."

   50. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
   ghost.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys., in Hom. de Cruce et Latr.: Creation could not bear the
   outrage offered to the Creator; whence the sun withdrew his beams, that
   he might not look upon the crime of these impious men.

   Origen: Some take occasion from this text to cavil against the truth of
   the Gospel. For indeed from the beginning eclipses of the sun have
   happened in their proper seasons; but such an eclipse as would be
   brought about by the ordinary course of the seasons could only be at
   such time as the sun and moon come together, when the moon passing
   beneath intercepts the sun's rays. But at the time of Christ's passion
   it is clear that this was not the case, because it was the paschal
   feast, which it was customary to celebrate when the moon was full.

   Some believers, desiring to produce some answer to this objection, have
   said, that this eclipse in accordance with the other prodigies was an
   exception to the established laws of nature.

   Dionys. ad Polycarp. Ep. 7: When we were together at Heliopolis, we
   both observed such an interference of the moon with the sun quite
   unexpectedly, for it was not the season of their conjunction; and then
   from the ninth hour until evening, beyond the power of nature,
   continuing in a direct line between us and the sun. And this
   obscuration we saw begin from the east, and so pass to the extreme of
   the sun's orb, and again return back the same way, being thus the very
   reverse of an ordinary eclipse.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxviii: This darkness lasted three hours, whereas an
   eclipse is transient, and not enduring, as they know who have studied
   the matter.

   Origen: Against this the children of this world urge, How is it that of
   the Greeks and Barbarians, who have made observations of these things,
   not one has recorded so remarkable a phenomenon as this? Phlegon indeed
   has recorded such an event as happening in the time of Tiberius Caesar,
   but he has not mentioned that it was at the full moon. I think
   therefore that, like the other miracles which took place at the
   Passion, the rending of the veil, and the earthquake, this also was
   confined to Jerusalem.

   Or, if any one chooses, it may be extended to the whole of Judaea; as
   in the book of Kings, Abdias said to Elias, "As the Lord thy God
   liveth, there is no nation or kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to
   seek thee," [1 Ki 18:10] meaning that be had been sought in the
   countries round about Judaea. Accordingly we might suppose many and
   dense clouds to have been brought together over Jerusalem and Judaea,
   enough to produce thick darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour. For
   we understand that there were two creatures created on the sixth day,
   the beasts before the sixth hour, man on the sixth; and therefore it
   was fitting that He who died for the salvation of man should be
   crucified at the sixth hour, and for this cause that darkness should be
   over the whole earth from the sixth to the ninth hour. And as by Moses
   stretching out his hands towards heaven darkness was brought upon the
   Egyptians who held the servants of God in bondage, so likewise when at
   the sixth hour Christ stretched out his hands on the cross to heaven,
   darkness came over all the people who had cried out, "Crucify him," and
   they were deprived of all light as a sign of the darkness that should
   come, and that should envelop the whole people of the Jews. Further,
   under Moses there was darkness over the land of Egypt three days, but
   all the children of Israel had light; so under Christ there was
   darkness over all Judaea for three hours, because for their sins they
   were deprived of the light of God the Father, the splendour of Christ,
   and the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

   But over the rest of the earth there is light, which every where
   illumines the Church of God in Christ. And if to the ninth hour there
   was darkness over Judaea, it is manifest that light returned to them
   again after that; "so, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have
   entered in, then all Israel shall be saved." [Rom 11:25]

   Chrys.: Or otherwise; The wonder was in this, that the darkness was
   over the whole earth, which had never come to pass before, save only in
   Egypt what time the Passover was celebrated; for the things done then
   were a type of these. And consider the time when this is done; at
   mid-day, while over the whole world it was day, that all the dwellers
   on the earth might perceive it. This is the sign He promised to them
   that asked Him, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, and
   there shall no sign be given it save the sign of Jonas the Prophet,"
   [Matt 12:39] alluding to His cross and resurrection. And it was a much
   greater marvel that this should come to pass when He was fastened to
   the cross, than when He was walking at large on the earth.

   Surely here was enough to convert them, not by the greatness of the
   miracle alone, but because it was done not till after all these
   instances of their frenzy, when their passion was past, when they had
   uttered all that they would, and were satiated with taunts and gibes.
   But how did they not all marvel and conclude Him to be God? Because the
   human race was at that time plunged in exceeding sluggishness and vice,
   and this wonder was but one, and quickly past away, and none cared to
   search out its cause, or perhaps they attributed it to eclipse, or some
   other physical consequence.

   And on this account He shortly afterwards lifts up His voice to shew
   that He yet lives, and Himself wrought this miracle; "And about the
   ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice," &c.

   Jerome: He employed the beginning of the twenty-first Psalm. [marg.
   note: Ps 22:1, Vulg.] That clause in the middle of the verse, "Look
   upon me," is superfluous; for the Hebrew has only Eli, Eli, lama
   sabachthani,' that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It
   is impiety therefore to think that this Psalm was spoken in the
   character of David or Esther or Mardocheus, when passages taken out of
   it by the Evangelist are understood of the Saviour; as, "They parted my
   garments among them," and, "They pierced my hands."

   Chrys.: He uttered this word of prophecy, that He might bear witness to
   the very last hour to the Old Testament, and that they might see that
   He honours the Father, and is not against God. And therefore too, He
   used the Hebrew tongue, that what He said might be intelligible to
   them.

   Origen: But it must be asked, What means this, that Christ is forsaken
   of God? Some, unable to explain how Christ could be forsaken of God,
   say that this was spoken out of humility. But you will be able clearly
   to comprehend His meaning if you make a comparison of the glory which
   He had with the Father with the shame which He despised when He endured
   the cross.

   Hilary, de Trin. x. 50 &c.: From these words heretical spirits contend
   either that God the Word was entirely absorbed into the soul at the
   time it discharged the function of a soul in quickening the body; or
   that Christ could not have been born man, because the Divine Word dwelt
   in Him after the manner of a prophetical spirit. As though Jesus Christ
   was a man of ordinary soul and body, having His beginning then when He
   began to be man, and thus now deserted upon the withdrawal of the
   protection of God's word cries out, "My God, my God, why hast thou
   forsaken me?"

   Or at least that the nature of the Word being transmuted into soul,
   Christ, who had depended in all things upon His Father's support, now
   deserted and left to death, mourns over this desertion, and pleads with
   Him departing. But amidst these impious and feeble opinions, the faith
   of the Church imbued with Apostolic teaching does not sever Christ that
   He should be considered as Son of God and not as Son of Man. The
   complaint of His being deserted is the weakness of the dying man; the
   promise of Paradise is the kingdom of the living God. You have Him
   complaining that He is left to death, and thus He is Man; you have Him
   as He is dying declaring that He reigns in Paradise; and thus He is
   God. Wonder not then at the humility of these words, when you know the
   form of a servant, and see the offence of the cross.

   Gloss., non occ.: God is said to have forsaken Him in death because He
   exposed Him to the power of His persecutors; He withdrew His
   protection, but did not break the union.

   Origen: When He saw darkness over the whole land of Judaea He said
   this, Father, "why hast thou forsaken me?" meaning, Why hast thou given
   Me over exhausted to such sufferings? that the people who were honoured
   by Thee may receive the things that they have dared against Me, and
   should be deprived of the light of Thy countenance. Also, Thou hast
   forsaken Me for the salvation of the Gentiles. But what good have they
   of the Gentiles who have believed done, that I should deliver them from
   the evil one by shedding My precious blood on the ground for them? Or
   will they, for whom I suffer these things, ever do aught worthy of
   them? Or foreseeing the sins of those for whom He suffered, He said,
   "Why hast thou forsaken me?" that I should become "as one that
   gathereth stubble in the harvest, and gleanings in the vintage." [Mic
   9:1]

   But you must not imagine that the Saviour said this after the manner of
   men by reason of the misery which encompassed Him on the cross; for if
   you take it so you will not hear His "loud voice" and mighty words
   which point to something great hidden.

   Raban.: Or, The Saviour said this as bearing about with Him our
   feelings, who when placed in dangers think ourselves forsaken by God.
   Human nature was forsaken by God because of its sins, and the Son of
   God becoming our Advocate laments the misery of those whose guilt He
   took upon Him; [ed. note: "These words He uttered as representing the
   person of men. For He was never forsaken by His Divine nature; but we
   were the forsaken, and the overlooked; whence He said this in as
   representing us." Damasc. Fid Orth. iii 24. and so Theophylact.]
   therein shewing how they who sin ought to mourn, when He who never
   sinned did thus mourn.

   Jerome: It follows, "Some of them that stood by," &c.; "some," not all;
   whom I suppose to have been Roman soldiers, ignorant of Hebrew, but
   from the words "Eli, Eli," thought that He called upon Elias. But if we
   prefer to suppose them Jews, they do it after their usual manner, that
   they may accuse the Lord of weakness in thus invoking Elias.

   Pseudo-Chrys., Hom. vi in Pass. (vol iii, p. 733): Thus the Source of
   living water is made to drink vinegar, the Giver of honey is fed with
   gall; Forgiveness is scourged, Acquittance is condemned, Majesty is
   mocked, Virtue ridiculed, the Bestower of showers is repaid with
   spitting.

   Hilary: Vinegar is wine, which has turned sour either from neglect, or
   the fault of the vessel. Wine is the honour of immortality, or virtue.
   When this then had been turned sour in Adam, He took and drunk it at
   the hands of the Gentiles. It is offered to Him on a reed and a spunge;
   that is, He took from the bodies of the Gentiles immortality spoiled
   and corrupted, and transfused in Himself into a mixture of immortality
   that in us which was spoiled.

   Remig.: Or otherwise; The Jews as degenerating from the wine of the
   Patriarchs and Prophets were vinegar; they had deceitful hearts, like
   to the winding holes and hollows in spunge. By the reed, Sacred
   Scripture is denoted, which was fulfilled in this action; for as we
   call that which the tongue utters, the Hebrew tongue, or the Greek
   tongue, for example; so the writing, or letters which the seed
   produces, we may call a reed.

   Origen: And perhaps all who know the ecclesiastical doctrine, but live
   amiss, have given them to drink wine mingled with gall; but they who
   attribute to Christ untrue opinions, these filling a sponge with
   vinegar, put it upon the reed of Scripture, and put it to His mouth.

   Raban.: The soldiers misunderstanding the sound of the Lord's words,
   foolishly looked for the coming of Elias. But God, whom the Saviour
   thus invoked in the Hebrew tongue, He had in ever inseparably with Him.

   Aug., in Serm., non occ.: When now nought of suffering remains to be
   endured, death still lingers, knowing that it has nothing there. The
   ancient foe suspected somewhat unusual. This man, first and only, he
   found having no sin, free from guilt, owing nothing to the laws of his
   jurisdiction. But leagued with Jewish madness, Death comes again to the
   assault, and desperately invades the Life-giver.

   "And Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
   ghost."

   Wherefore should we be offended that Christ came from the bosom of the
   Father to take upon Him our bondage, that He might confer on us His
   freedom; to take upon Him our death, that we might be set free by His
   death; by despising death He exalted us mortals into Gods, counted them
   of earth worthy of things in heaven? For seeing the Divine power shines
   forth so brilliant in the contemplation of its works, it is an argument
   of boundless love, that it suffers for its subjects, dies for its
   bondsmen. This then was the first cause of the Lord's Passion, that He
   would have it known how great God's love to man, Who desired rather to
   be loved than feared.

   The second was that He might abolish with yet more justice the sentence
   of death which He had with justice passed. For as the first man had by
   guilt incurred death through God's sentence, and handed down the same
   to his posterity, the second Man, who knew no sin, came from heaven
   that death might be condemned, which, when commissioned to seize the
   guilty, had presumed to touch the Author of sinlessness. And it is no
   wonder if for us He laid down what He had taken of us, His life,
   namely, when He has done other so great things for us, and bestowed so
   much on us.

   Pseudo-Aug., Vigil cont. Felicianum, 14: Far be from the faithful any
   suspicion that Christ experienced our death in such sort that life (as
   far as it can) ceased to live. Had this been so, how could aught have
   been said to live during that three days, if the Fountain of Life
   itself was dried up? Therefore Christ's Godhead experienced death
   through its partaking of humanity or of human feeling, which it had
   voluntarily taken on it; but it lost not the properties of its nature
   by which it gives life to all things. For when we die, without doubt
   the loss of life by the body is not the destruction of the soul, but
   the soul quitting the body loses not its own properties, but only lets
   go what it had quickened, and as far as in it lays produces the death
   of somewhat else, but itself defies death. To speak now of the
   Saviour's soul; it might depart without being itself destroyed from His
   body for this three days' space, even by the common laws of death, and
   without taking into account the indwelling Godhead, and His singular
   righteousness. For I believe that the Son of God died not in punishment
   of unrighteousness which He had not at all, but according to the law of
   that nature which He took upon Him for the redemption of the human
   race.

   Damasc., de Fid. Orth. iii, 27: Although He died as man, and His holy
   soul was separated from His unstained body, yet His Godhead remained
   inseparate from either body or soul. Yet was not the one Person divided
   into two; for as both body and soul had from the beginning an existence
   in the Person of the Word, so also had they in death. For neither soul
   nor body had ever a Person of their own, besides the Person of the
   Word.

   Jerome: It was a mark of Divine power in Him thus to dismiss the Spirit
   as Himself had said, "No man can take my life from me, but I lay it
   down and take it again." [John 10:18]

   For by "the ghost" in this place we understand the soul; so called
   either because it is that which makes the body quick or spiritual, or
   because the substance of the soul itself is spirit, according to that
   which is written, "Thou takest away their breath, and they die." [Ps.
   104:29]

   Chrys.: Also for this reason He cried out with a loud voice to shew
   that this is done by His own power. For by crying out with a loud voice
   when dying, He shewed incontestably that He was the true God; because a
   man in dying can scarcely utter even a feeble sound.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 18: Luke mentions the words which He thus
   cries out, "Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit."

   Hilary: Or, He gave up the ghost with a loud voice, in grief that He
   was not carrying the sins of all men.
     __________________________________________________________________

   51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top
   to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

   52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which
   slept arose,

   53. And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
   the holy city, and appeared unto many.

   54. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching
   Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared
   greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."

   55. And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus
   from Galilee, ministering unto him:

   56. Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and
   Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Origen: Great things were done at the moment that Jesus cried with a
   great voice.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 19: The wording sufficiently shews that the
   veil was rent just when He gave up the ghost. If he had not added,
   "And, lo!" but had merely said, "And the veil of the temple was rent,:
   it would have been uncertain whether Matthew and Mark had not inserted
   it here out of its place as they recollected, and Luke had observed the
   right order, who having said, "And the sun was darkened," adds, "And
   the veil of the temple was rent in twain;" [Luke 23:45] or, on the
   contrary, Luke had returned to what they had inserted in its place.

   Origen: It is understood that there were two veils; one veiling the
   Holy of Holies, the other, the outer part of the tabernacle or temple.
   In the Passion then of our Lord and Saviour, it was the outer veil
   which was rent from the top to the bottom, that by the rending of the
   veil from the beginning to the end of the world, the mysteries might be
   published which had been hid with good reason until the Lord's coming.
   "But when that which is perfect is come," [1 Cor 13:10] then the second
   veil also shall be taken away, that we may see the things that are
   hidden within, to wit, the true Ark of the Testament, and behold the
   Cherubim and the rest in their real nature.

   HILARY; Or, The veil of the temple is rent, because from this time the
   nation was dispersed, and the honour of the veil is taken away with the
   guardianship of the protecting Angel.

   Leo, in Serm. de Pass., non occ.: The sudden commotion in the elements
   is a sufficient sign in witness of His venerable Passion, "The earth
   quaked, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened."

   Jerome: It is not doubtful to any what these great signs signify
   according to the letter, namely, that heaven and earth and all things
   should bear witness to their crucified Lord.

   Hilary: "The earth quaked," because it was unequal to contain such a
   body; "the rocks rent," for the Word of God that pierces all strong and
   mighty things, and the virtue of the eternal Power had penetrated them;
   "the graves were opened," for the bands of death were loosed. "And many
   bodies of the saints which slept arose," for illumining the darkness of
   death, and shedding light upon the gloom of Hades, He robbed the
   spirits of death.

   Chrys.: When He remained on the cross they had said tauntingly, "He
   saved others, himself he cannot save." But what He would not do for
   Himself, that He did and more than that for the bodies of the Saints.
   For if it was a great thing to raise Lazarus after four days, much more
   was it that they who had long slept should now shew themselves alive;
   this is indeed a proof of the resurrection to come. But that it might
   not be thought that that which was done was an appearance merely, the
   Evangelist adds, "And came out of the graves after his resurrection,
   and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

   Jerome: As Lazarus rose from the dead, so also did many bodies of the
   Saints rise again to shew forth the Lord's resurrection; yet
   notwithstanding that the graves were opened, they did not rise again
   before the Lord rose, that He might be the first-born of the
   resurrection from the dead.

   "The holy city" in which they were seen after they had risen may be
   understood to mean either the heavenly Jerusalem, or this earthly,
   which once had been holy. For the city of Jerusalem was called Holy on
   account of the Temple and the Holy of Holies, and to distinguish it
   from other cities in which idols were worshipped.

   When it is said, "And appeared unto many," it is signified that this
   was not a general resurrection which all should see, but special, seen
   only by such as were worthy to see it.

   Remig.: But some one will ask, what became of those who rose again when
   the Lord rose. We must believe that they rose again to be witnesses of
   the Lord's resurrection. Some have said that they died again, and were
   turned to dust, as Lazarus and the rest whom the Lord raised. But we
   must by no means give credit to these men's sayings, since if they were
   to die again, it would be greater torment to them, than if they had not
   risen again. We ought therefore to believe without hesitation that they
   who rose from the dead at the Lord's resurrection, ascended also into
   heaven together with Him.

   Origen: These same mighty works are still done every day; the veil of
   the temple is rent for the Saints, in order to reveal the things that
   are contained within. The earthquakes, that is, all flesh because of
   the new word and new things of the New Testament. The rocks are rent,
   i.e. the mystery of the Prophets, that we may see the spiritual
   mysteries bid in their depths. The graves are the bodies of sinful
   souls, that is, souls dead to God; but when by God's grace these souls
   have been raised, their bodies which before were graves, become bodies
   of Saints, and appear to go out of themselves, and follow Him who rose
   again, and walk with Him in newness of life; and such as are worthy to
   have their conversation in heaven enter into the Holy City at divers
   times, and appear unto many who see their good works.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 20: It is no contradiction here that Matthew
   says, that "The centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus,
   feared when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done;"
   while Luke says, that he wondered at the giving up the ghost with a
   loud voice. For when Matthew adds, the things that were done, this
   gives full scope for Luke's expression, that he wondered at the Lord's
   death, for this among the rest was wonderful.

   Jerome: Observe, that in the very midst of the offence of His passion
   the Centurion acknowledges the Son of God, while Arius in the Church
   proclaims Him a creature.

   Raban.: Whence with good reason by the Centurion is denoted the faith
   of the Church, which, when the veil of heavenly mysteries had been rent
   by the Lord's death, immediately asserts Jesus to be both very Man, and
   truly Son of God, while the Synagogue held its peace.

   Leo, Serm. 66, 3: From this example then of the Centurion let the
   substance of the earth tremble in the punishment of it Redeemer, let
   the rocks of unbelieving minds be rent, and those who were pent up in
   these sepulchres of mortality leap forth, bursting the bonds that would
   detain them; and let them shew themselves in the Holy City, i.e. the
   Church of God, as signs of the Resurrection to come; and thus let that
   take place in the heart, which we must believe takes place in the body.

   Jerome: It was a Jewish custom, and held no disgrace, according to the
   manners of the people of old, for women to minister of their substance,
   food, and clothing to their teachers. This Paul says, that he refused,
   because it might occasion scandal among the Gentiles. They ministered
   to the Lord of their substance, that He might reap their carnal things,
   of whom they reaped spiritual things. Not that the Lord needed food of
   the creature, but that He might set an example for the teacher, that He
   should be content to receive food and clothing from His disciples.

   But let us see what sort of attendants He had; "Among whom was Mary
   Magdalene , and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of
   Zebedee's children."

   Origen: In Mark the third is called Salome.

   Chrys.: These women thus watching the things that are done are the most
   compassionate, the most sorrowful. They had followed Him ministering,
   and remained by Him in danger, shewing the highest courage, for when
   the disciples fled they remained.

   Jerome, Hieron. adv. Helvid.: See,' says Helvidius, Jacob and Joseph
   are the sons of Mary the Lord's mother, whom the Jews call the brethren
   of Christ. [marg. note: Mark 6:3] He is also called James the less, to
   distinguish him from James the greater, who was the son of Zebedee.'
   And he urges that it were impious to suppose that His mother Mary would
   be absent, when the other women were there; or that we should have to
   invent some other third unknown person of the name of Mary, and that
   too when John's Gospel witnesses that His mother was present.'

   O blind folly! O mind perverted to its own destruction! Hear what the
   Evangelist John says: "There stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother,
   and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary
   Magdalene." [John 19:25]

   No one can doubt that there were two Apostles called James; the son of
   Zebedee, and the son of Alpheus. This unknown James the less, whom
   Scripture mentions as the son of Mary, if he is an Apostle, is the son
   of Alpheus; if he is not an Apostle, but a third unknown James, how can
   he be supposed to be the Lord's brother, and why should he be styled
   The Less,' to distinguish him from The Greater?' For The Greater and
   The Less are epithets which distinguish two persons, but not three. And
   that the James, the Lord's brother, was an Apostle, is proved by Paul,
   "Other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." [Gal
   1:19]

   But that you should not suppose this James to be the son of Zebedee,
   read the Acts, where he was put to death by Herod. [marg. note: Acts
   12:1] The conclusion then remains, that this Mary, who is described as
   the mother of James the less, was wife of Alpheus, and sister of Mary
   the Lord's mother, called by John, Mary the wife of Cleophas. But
   should you incline to think them two different persons, because in one
   place she is called Mary the mother of James the less, and in another
   place Mary the wife of Cleophas, you will learn the Scripture custom of
   calling the same man by different names; as Raguel Moses' father-in-law
   is called Jethro. In like manner then, Mary the wife of Cleophas is
   called the wife of Alpheus, and the mother of James the less. For if
   she had been the Lord's mother, the Evangelist would here, as in all
   other places, have called her so, and not described her as the mother
   of James, when he meant to designate the mother of the Lord.

   But even if Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary the mother of James and
   Joses, were different persons, it is still certain, that Mary the
   mother of James and Joses was not the Lord's mother.

   Aug.: We might have supposed that some of the women stood "afar off,"
   as three Evangelists say, and others "near the cross," as John says,
   had not Matthew and Mark reckoned Mary Magdalen among those that stood
   afar off, while John puts her among those that stood near. This is
   reconciled if we understand the distance at which they were to be such
   that they might be said to be near, because they were in His sight; but
   far off in comparison of the crowd who stood nearer with the centurion
   and soldiers. We might also suppose that they who were there together
   with the Lord's mother, began to depart after He had commended her to
   the disciple, that they might extricate themselves from the crowd, and
   looked on from a distance at the other things which were done, so that
   the Evangelists, who speak of them after the Lord's death, speak of
   them as standing afar off.
     __________________________________________________________________

   57. When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named
   Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:

   58. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate
   commanded the body to be delivered.

   59. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen
   cloth,

   60. And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock:
   and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

   61. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over
   against the sepulchre.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Gloss., non occ.: When the Evangelist had finished the order of the
   Lord's Passion and death, he treats of His burial.

   Remig.: Arimathea is the same as Ramatha, the city of Helcana and
   Samuel, and is situated in the Chananitic country near Diospolis. This
   Joseph was a man of great dignity in respect of worldly station, but
   has the praise of much higher merit in God's sight, seeing he is
   described as righteous. Indeed he that should have the burial of the
   Lord's body ought to have been such, that he might be deserving of that
   office by righteous merit.

   Jerome: He is described as rich, not out of any ambition on the part of
   the writer to represent so noble and rich a man as Jesus' disciple, but
   to shew how he was able to obtain the body of Jesus from Pilate. For
   poor and unknown individuals would not have dared to approach Pilate,
   the representative of Roman power, and ask the body of a crucified
   malefactor.

   In another Gospel this Joseph is called a counsellor; and it is
   supposed that the first Psalm has reference to him, "Blessed is the man
   that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." [Ps 1:1]

   Chrys.: Consider this man's courage; he risked his life, and took upon
   him many enmities in order to render this service; and not only dares
   to ask for Christ's body, but also to bury it.

   Jerome: By this simple burial of the Lord is condemned the ostentation
   of the rich, who cannot dispense with lavish expense even in their
   tombs. But we may also consider in a spiritual sense, that the Lord's
   body was wrapped not in gold, jewels, or silk, but in clean linen; and
   that he who wrapped it, is he who embraces Jesus with a pure heart.

   Remig.: Or, otherwise; The linen is grown out of the ground, and is
   bleached to whiteness with great labour, and thus this signifies that
   His body which was taken of the earth, that is of a Virgin, through the
   toil of passion came to the whiteness of immortality.

   Raban.: From this also has prevailed in the Church the custom of
   celebrating the sacrifice of the altar not in silk, or in coloured
   robes, but in linen grown from the earth, as we read, was ordered by
   the Holy Pope Silvester.

   Pseudo-Aug., Serm. App., 248, 4: The Saviour was laid in a tomb
   belonging to another man, because He died for the salvation of others.
   For why should He who in Himself had no death, have been laid in His
   own tomb? Or He whose place was reserved for Him in heaven, have had a
   monument upon earth? He who remained but three days space in the tomb,
   not as dead, but as resting on His bed? A tomb is the necessary abode
   of death; Christ then, who is our life, could not have an abode of
   death; He that ever liveth had no need of the dwelling of the departed.

   Jerome: He is laid in a new tomb, lest after His resurrection it should
   be pretended that it was some other who had risen when they saw the
   other bodies there remaining. The new tomb may also signify the virgin
   womb of Mary. And He was laid in a tomb hewn out of the rock, lest had
   it been one raised of many stones, it might have been said that He was
   stolen away by undermining the foundations of the pile.

   Pseudo-Aug., Aug in Serm., non occ.: Had the tomb been in the earth, it
   might have been said they undermined the place, and so carried Him off.
   Had a small stone been laid thereon, they might have said, They carried
   Him off while we slept.

   Jerome: That a great stone was rolled there, shews that the tomb could
   not have been reopened without the united strength of many.

   Hilary: Mystically, Joseph affords a figure of the Apostles. He wraps
   the body in a clean linen cloth, in which same linen sheet were let
   down to Peter out of heaven all manner of living creatures; whence we
   understand, that under the representation of this linen cloth the
   Church is buried together with Christ. The Lord's body moreover is laid
   in a chamber hewn out of rock, empty and new; that is, by the teaching
   of the Apostles, Christ is conveyed into the hard breast of the
   Gentiles hewn out by the toil of teaching, rude and new, hitherto
   unpenetrated by any fear of God. And for that besides Him ought nothing
   to enter our breasts, a stone is rolled to the mouth, that as before
   Him we had received no author of divine knowledge, so after Him we
   should admit none.

   Origen: This is no casual mention of the circumstances that the body
   was wrapped in clean linen, and laid in a new tomb, and a great stone
   rolled to the month, but that every thing touching the body of Jesus is
   clean, and new, and very great.

   Remig.: When the Lord's body was buried, and the rest returned to their
   own places, the women alone, who had loved Him more attachedly adhered
   to Him, and with anxious care noted the place where the Lord's body was
   laid, that at fit time they might perform the service of their devotion
   to him.

   Origen: The mother of the sons of Zebedee is not mentioned as having
   sat over against the sepulchre. And perhaps she was able to endure as
   far as the cross only, but these as stronger in love were not absent
   even from the things that were afterwards done.

   Jerome: Or, when the rest left the Lord, the women continued in their
   attendance, looking for what Jesus had promised; and therefore they
   deserved to be the first to see the resurrection, because "he that
   endureth to the end shall be saved." [Matt 10:22]

   Remig.: And to this day the holy women, that is, the lowly souls of the
   saints, do the like in this present world, and with pious assiduity
   wait while Christ's passion is being completed.
     __________________________________________________________________

   62. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the
   Chief Priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

   63. Saying, "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet
   alive, After three days I will rise again.

   64. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third
   day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto
   the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse
   than the first.

   65 Pilate said unto them, "Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as
   sure as ye can."

   66 So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and
   setting a watch.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Jerome: It was not enough for the Chief Priests to have crucified the
   Lord the Saviour, if they did not guard the sepulchre, and do their
   utmost to lay hands on Him as He rose from the dead.

   Raban.: By the Parasceve is meant preparation;' and they gave this name
   to the sixth day of the week, on which they made ready the things
   needed for the Sabbath, as was commanded respecting the manna, "On the
   sixth day they gathered twice as much." [Ex 16:22] Because on the sixth
   day man was made, and on the seventh God rested; therefore on the sixth
   day Jesus died for man, and rested the Sabbath day in the tomb. The
   Chief Priests although in putting the Lord to death they had committed
   a heinous crime, yet were they not satisfied unless even after His
   death they carried on the venom of their malice once begun, traducing
   His character, and calling one, whom they knew to be guileless, "a
   deceiver." [John 11:49]

   But as Caiaphas prophesied without knowing it, that "it is expedient
   that one man should die for the people," so now, Christ was a deceiver
   [marg. note: seductor], not from truth into error, but leading men from
   error to truth, from vices to virtue, from death to life.

   Remig.: They say that He had declared, "After three days I will rise
   again," in consequence of that He said above, "As Jonas was three days
   and three nights in the whale's belly," &c. [Matt 12:40] But let us see
   in what way He can be said to have risen again after three days. Some
   would have the three hours of darkness understood as one night, and the
   light succeeding the darkness as a day, but these do not know the force
   of figurative language.

   The sixth day of the week on which He suffered comprehended the
   foregoing night; then follows the night of the Sabbath with its own
   day, and the night of the Lord's day includes also its own day; and
   hence it is true that He rose again after three days.

   Aug., Aug. in Serm., non occ.: He rose again after three days, to
   signify the consent of the whole Trinity in the passion of the Son; the
   three days' space is read figuratively, because the Trinity which in
   the beginning made man, the same in the end restores man by the passion
   of Christ.

   Raban.: "Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the
   third day." For Christ's disciples were spiritually thieves; stealing
   from the unthankful Jews the writings of the New and Old Testament,
   they bestowed them to be used by the Church; and while they slept, that
   is, while the Jews were sunk in the lethargy of unbelief, they carried
   off the promised Saviour, and gave Him to be believed on by the
   Gentiles.

   Hilary: Their fear lest the body should be stolen, the setting a watch
   on the tomb, and sealing it, are marks of folly and unbelief, that they
   should have sought to seal up the tomb of One at whose bidding they had
   seen a dead man raised from the tomb.

   Raban.: When they say, "And the last error will be worse than the
   first," they utter a truth unwittingly, for their contempt of penitence
   was worse for the Jews than was their error of ignorance.

   Chrys., Hom. lxxxix: Observe how against their will they concert to
   demonstrate the truth, for by their precautions irrefragable
   demonstration of the resurrection was attained. The sepulchre was
   watched, and so no fraud could have been practised; and if there was no
   collusion, it is certain that the Lord rose again.

   Raban.: Pilate's answer to their request is as much as to say, Be it
   enough for you that ye have conspired the death of an innocent man,
   henceforth let your error remain with you.

   Chrys.: Pilate will not suffer that the soldiers alone should seal. But
   as though he had learnt the truth concerning Christ, he was no longer
   willing to be partner in their acts, and says, Seal it as ye will
   yourselves, that ye may not be able to accuse others. For had the
   soldiers alone sealed, they might have said that the soldiers had
   suffered the disciples to steal the body, and so given the disciples a
   handle to forge a tale concerning the resurrection; but this could they
   not say now, when they themselves had sealed the sepulchre.
     __________________________________________________________________

Chapter 28

   1. In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day
   of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the
   sepulchre.

   2. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord
   descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the
   door, and sat upon it.

   3. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

   4. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

   5. And the angel answered and said unto the women, "Fear not ye: for I
   know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

   6. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place
   where the Lord lay.

   7. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the
   dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see
   him: lo, I have told you."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Pseudo-Chrys., Hom. de Resur., iii: After the mockings and scourgings,
   after the mingled draughts of vinegar and gall, the pains of the cross,
   and the wounds, and finally after death itself and Hades, there rose
   again from the grave a renewed flesh, there returned from obstruction a
   hidden life, health chained up in death broke forth, with fresh beauty
   from its ruin.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 24: Concerning the hour when the women came to
   the sepulchre there arises a question not to be overlooked. Matthew
   here says, "On the evening of the Sabbath." What then means that of
   Mark, "Very early in the morning, the first day of the week?" [Mark
   16:2]

   Truly Matthew, by naming the first part of the night, to wit, the
   evening, denotes the whole night in the end of which they come to the
   sepulchre. But seeing the Sabbath hindered them from doing this before,
   he designates the whole night by the earliest portion of it in which it
   became lawful for them to do whatever, during some period of the night,
   they designed to do.

   Thus, "On the evening of the sabbath," is just the same as if he had
   said, On the night of the sabbath, i.e. the night which follows the day
   of the sabbath, which is sufficiently proved by the words which follow,
   "As it began to dawn towards the first day of the week." This could not
   be if we understood only the first portion of the night, its beginning,
   to be conveyed by the word, "evening." For the evening or beginning of
   the night does not "begin to dawn towards the first day of the week,"
   but only the night which is concluded by the dawn.

   And this is the usual mode of speaking in Holy Scripture, to express
   the whole by a part. By "evening" therefore he implied the night, in
   the end of which they came to the sepulchre.

   Bede, Beda in loc.: Otherwise; It may be understood that they began to
   come in the evening, but that it was the dawn of the first day of the
   week when they reached the sepulchre; that is, that they prepared the
   spices for anointing the Lord's body in the evening, but that they took
   them to the sepulchre in the morning. This has been so shortly
   described by Matthew, that it is not quite clear in his account, but
   the other Evangelists give the order more distinctly. The Lord was
   buried on the sixth day of the week, and the women returning from the
   sepulchre prepared spices and ointments as long as it was lawful to
   work; on the sabbath they rested, according to the commandment, as Luke
   plainly declares; and when the Sabbath was past and the evening was
   come, and the season of labour returned, with zealous devotion they
   proceeded to purchase such spices as they yet lacked, (this is implied
   in Mark's words, "when the sabbath was past," that they might go and
   anoint Jesus, for which purpose they come early in the morning to the
   sepulchre.

   Jerome: Or, otherwise; This apparent discrepancy in the Evangelists as
   to the times of their visits is no mark of falsehood, as wicked men
   urge, but shews the sedulous duty and attention of the women, often
   going and coming, and not enduring to be long absent from the sepulchre
   of their Lord.

   Remig.: It is to be known that Matthew designs to hint to us a mystical
   meaning, of how great worthiness this most holy night drew from the
   noble conquest of death, and the Resurrection of Our Lord. With this
   purpose he says, "On the evening of the Sabbath." For whereas according
   to the wonted succession of the hours of the day, evening does not dawn
   towards day, but on the contrary darkens towards night, these words
   shew that the Lord shed, by the light of His resurrection joy and
   brilliance over the whole of this night.

   Bede, Beda Hom. Aest. i: For from the beginning of the creation of the
   world until now, the course of time has followed this arrangement, that
   the day should go before the night, because man, fallen by sin from the
   light of paradise, has sunk into the darkness and misery of this world.
   But now most fitly night goes before day, when, through faith in the
   resurrection, we are brought back from the darkness of sin and the
   shadow of death to the light of life, by the bounty of Christ.

   Chrysologus, Serm. 75 [ed. note: The Sermons of S. Peter of Ravenna,
   surnamed Chrysologus, are quoted in the Catena under the name,
   Severianus.]: Because the sabbath is illuminated, not taken away, by
   Christ, Who said, "I am not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it."
   [Matt 5:17] It is illuminated that it may lighten into the Lord's day,
   and shine forth in the Church, when it had hitherto burnt dim, and been
   obscured by the Jews in the Synagogue.

   It follows, "Came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary," &c. Late runs
   woman for pardon, who had run early to sin; in paradise she had taken
   up unbelief, from the sepulchre she hastes to take up faith; she now
   hastens to snatch life from death, who had before snatched death from
   life. And it is not, They come, but "came," (in the singular,) for in
   mystery and not by accident, the two came under one name. She came, but
   altered; a woman, changed in life, not in name; in virtue, not in sex.
   The women go before the Apostles, bearing to the Lord's sepulchre a
   type of the Churches; the two Marys, to wit.

   For Mary is the name of Christ's mother; and one name is twice repeated
   for two women, because herein is figured the Church coming out of the
   two nations, the Gentiles and the Jews, and being yet one. Mary came to
   the sepulchre, as to the womb of the resurrection, that Christ might be
   the second time born out of the sepulchre of faith, who after the flesh
   had been born of her womb; and that as a virgin had borne Him into this
   life present, so a sealed sepulchre might bring Him forth into life
   eternal. It is proof of Deity to have left a womb virgin after birth,
   and no less to have come forth in the body from a closed sepulchre.

   Jerome: "And, behold, there was a great earthquake." Our Lord, Son at
   once of God and man, according to His two-fold nature of Godhead and of
   flesh, gives a sign one while of His greatness, another while of His
   lowliness. Thus, though now it was man who was crucified, and man who
   was buried, yet the things that were done around shew the Son of God.

   Hil.: The earthquake is the might of the resurrection, when the sting
   of death being blunted, and its darkness illuminated, there is stirred
   up a quaking of the powers beneath, as the Lord of the heavenly powers
   rises again.

   Chrys.: Or the earthquake was to rouse and waken the women, who had
   come to anoint the body; and as all these things were done in the
   night-time, it was probable that some of them had fallen asleep.

   Bede: The earthquake at the Resurrection, as also at the Crucifixion,
   signifies that worldly hearts must be first moved to penitence by a
   health-giving fear through belief in His Passion and Resurrection.

   Chrysol., Serm. 77 et 74: If the earth thus quaked when the Lord rose
   again to the pardon of the Saints, how will it quake when He shall rise
   again to the punishment of the wicked? As the Prophet speaks, "The
   earth trembled when the Lord rose again to judgment." [Ps 76:8] And how
   will it endure the Lord's presence, when it was unable to endure the
   presence of His Angel? "And the Angel of the Lord descended from
   heaven." For when Christ arose, death was destroyed, commerce with
   heaven is restored to things on the earth; and woman, who had of old
   held communication to death with the Devil, now holds communication to
   life with the Angel.

   Hil.: This is an instance of the mercy of God the Father, to supply the
   ministry of heavenly power to the Son on His resurrection from the
   grave; and he is therefore the proclaimer of this first resurrection,
   that it may be heralded by some attendant token of the Father's good
   pleasure.

   Bede: Forasmuch as Christ is both God and man, therefore there lack not
   amidst the acts of His humanity the ministrations of Angels, due to Him
   as God. "And came and rolled back the stone;" not to open the door for
   the Lord to come forth, but to give evidence to men that He was already
   come forth. For He who as mortal had power to enter the world through
   the closed womb of a Virgin, He when become immortal, was able to
   depart out of the world by rising from a sealed sepulchre.

   Remig.: The rolling back of the stone signifies the opening of Christ's
   sacraments, which were covered by the letter of the Law. For the Law
   having been written on stones, is here denoted by the stone.

   Chrysol., Serm. 74: He said not rolled,' but "rolled back;" because the
   rolling to of the stone was a proof of death; the rolling it back
   asserted the resurrection. The order of things is changed; The Tomb
   devours death, and not the dead; the house of death becomes the mansion
   of life; a new law is imposed upon it, it receives a dead, and renders
   up a living, man.

   It follows, "And sat thereon." He sat down, who was incapable of
   weariness; but sat as a teacher of the faith, a master of the
   Resurrection; upon the stone, that the firmness of his seat might
   assure the stedfastness of the believers; the Angel rested the
   foundations of the Faith upon that rock, on which Christ was to found
   His Church.

   Or, by the stone of the sepulchre may be denoted death, under which we
   all lay; and by the Angel sitting thereon, is shewn that Christ hath by
   His might subdued death.

   Bede: And rightly did the Angel appear standing, who proclaimed the
   Lord's coming into the world, to shew that the Lord should come to
   vanquish the prince of this world. But the Herald of the Resurrection
   is related to have been seated, to shew that now He had overcome him
   that had the power of death, He had mounted the throne of the
   everlasting kingdom. He sate upon the stone, now rolled back, wherewith
   the mouth of the sepulchre had been closed, to teach that He by His
   might had burst the bonds of the tomb.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 24: It may disquiet some, how it is that
   according to Matthew though the Angel sate upon the stone after it had
   been rolled back from the sepulchre, whereas Mark says that the women
   having gone into the sepulchre, saw a young man sitting on the right
   hand. Either we may suppose that they saw two, and that Matthew has not
   mentioned him whom they saw within, nor Mark him whom they saw without
   the sepulchre; but that they heard from each severally what the Angels
   said concerning Jesus.

   Or the words, "entering into the sepulchre," [Mark 16:5] may mean
   entering into some enclosed place, which probably there might be in
   front of the rock out of which the sepulchre was hewn; and thus it
   might be the same Angel whom they saw sitting on the right hand, whom
   Matthew describes as sitting on the stone which he had rolled back.

   Chrysol., Serm. 75: The splendour of his countenance is distinct from
   the shining of his raiment; his countenance is compared to lightning,
   his raiment to snow; for the lightning is in heaven, snow on the earth;
   as the Prophet saith, "Praise the Lord from the earth; fire and hail,
   snow and vapours." [Ps 148:7] Thus in the Angel's countenance is
   preserved the splendour of his heavenly nature; in his raiment is shewn
   the grace of human communion. For the appearance of the Angel that
   talked with them is so ordered, that eyes of flesh might endure the
   still splendour of his robes, and by reason of his shining countenance
   they might tremble before the messenger of their Maker.

   Chrysol., Serm. 77: But what means this raiment where there is no need
   of a covering? The Angel figures our dress, our shape, our likeness in
   the Resurrection, when man is sufficiently clothed by the splendour of
   his own body.

   Jerome: The Angel in white raiment signifies the glory of His triumph.

   Greg., Hom. in Ev., xxi, 4: Or otherwise; "Lightning" inspires terror;
   "snow" is an emblem of equity; and as the Almighty God is terrible to
   sinners and mild to the righteous, so this Angel is rightly a witness
   of His resurrection, and is exhibited with a countenance as lightning,
   and with raiment as snow, that by His presence He might terrify the
   wicked, and comfort the good; and so it follows, "And for fear of him
   the keepers did shake."

   Raban.: These who had not the faith of love were shaken with a panic
   fear; and they who would not believe the truth of the resurrection
   "become" themselves "as dead men."

   Chrysol., Serm. 75: For they kept watch over Him with a purpose of
   cruelty, not with the solicitude of affection. And no man can stand who
   is forsaken by his own conscience, or troubled with a sense of guilt.
   Hence the Angel confounds the wicked, and comforts the good.

   Jerome: The guards lay like dead men in a trance of terror, but the
   Angel speaks comfort not to them, but to the women, saying, "Fear not
   ye;" as much as to say, Let them fear with whom unbelief abides; but do
   ye who seek the crucified Jesus hear that He has risen again, and has
   accomplished what He promised.

   Chrysol., Serm. 77: For their faith had been bowed by the cruel storm
   of His Passion, so that they sought Him yet as crucified and dead; "I
   know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified;" the weight of the trial
   had bent them to look for the Lord of heaven in the tomb, but, "He is
   not here."

   Raban.: His fleshly presence, that is; for His spiritual presence is
   absent from no place. "He is risen, as he said."

   Chrys.: As much as to say, If ye believe me not, remember His own
   words. And then follows further proof, when he adds, "Come, see the
   place where the Lord lay."

   Jerome: That if my words fail to convince you, the empty tomb may.

   Chrysol., Serm. 76: Thus the Angel first announces His name, declares
   His Cross, and confesses His Passion; but straightway proclaims Him
   risen and their Lord. An Angel after such sufferings, after the grave
   acknowledges Him Lord; how then shall man judge that the Godhead was
   diminished by the flesh, or that His Might failed in His Passion.

   He says, "Which was crucified," and points out the place where the Lord
   was laid, that they should not think that it was another, and not the
   same, who had risen from the dead. And if the Lord reappears in the
   same flesh, and gives evidence of His resurrection, why should man
   suppose that he himself shall reappear in other flesh? Or why should a
   slave disdain his own flesh, seeing the Lord did not change ours?

   Raban.: And this glad tiding is given not to you alone for the secret
   comfort of your own hearts, but ye must extend it to all who love Him;
   "Go quickly, and tell his disciples."

   Chrysol., Serm. 77: As much as to say, Woman, now thou art healed,
   return to the man, and persuade him to faith, whom thou didst once
   persuade to treachery. Carry to man the proof of the Resurrection, to
   whom thou didst once carry counsel of destruction.

   Chrys.: "And, behold, he shall go before you," that is, to save you
   from danger, lest fear should prevail over faith.

   Jerome: Mystically; "He shall go before you into Galilee," that is,
   into the wallowing style [marg. note: volutabrum] of the Gentiles,
   where before was wandering and stumbling, and the foot had no firm and
   steady resting-place.

   Bede: The Lord is rightly seen by His disciples in Galilee, forasmuch
   as He had already passed from death to life, from corruption to
   incorruption; for such is the interpretation of Galilee,
   Transmigration.' Happy women! who merited to announce to the world the
   triumph of the Resurrection! More happy souls, who in the day of
   judgment, when the reprobate are smitten with terror, shall have
   merited to enter the joy of the blessed resurrection!
     __________________________________________________________________

   8. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great
   joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

   9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them,
   saying, "All hail." And they came and held him by the feet, and
   worshipped him.

   10. Then said Jesus unto them, "Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that
   they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me."
     __________________________________________________________________

   Hilary: The women having been comforted by the Angel, are straightway
   met by the Lord, that when they should proclaim His resurrection to the
   disciples, they should speak rather from Christ's own mouth than from
   an Angel's.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 23: "They departed forth of the tomb," that
   is, from that spot of the garden which was before the tomb hewn in the
   rock.

   Jerome: A twofold feeling possessed the minds of the women, fear and
   joy; fear, at the greatness of the miracle; joy, in their desire of Him
   that was risen; but both added speed to their women's steps, as it
   follows, "And did run to bring his disciples word." They went to the
   Apostles, that through them might be spread abroad the seed of the
   faith. They who thus desired, and who thus ran, merited to have their
   rising Lord come to meet them; whence it follows, "And, behold, Jesus
   met them, saying, All hail."

   Raban.: Hereby He shewed that He will meet with His help all those who
   begin the ways of virtue, and enable them to attain to everlasting
   salvation.

   Jerome: The women ought first to hear this "Hail," that the curse of
   the woman "Eve" may be removed in these women.

   Chrysol., Serm. 76: That in these women is contained a full figure of
   the Church is shewn hereby, that Christ convinces His disciples when in
   doubt concerning the Resurrection, and confirms them when in fear; and
   when He meets them He does not terrify them by His power, but prevents
   them with the ardour of love. And Christ in His Church salutes Himself,
   for He has taken it into His own Body.

   Aug.: We conclude that they had speech of Angels twice at the
   sepulchre; when they saw one Angel, of whom Matthew and Mark speak; and
   again when they saw two Angels, as Luke and John relate. And twice in
   like manner of the Lord; once at that time when Mary supposed Him to be
   "the gardener," [John 20:15] and now again when He met them in the way
   to confirm them by repetition, and to restore them from their
   faintness.

   Chrysol.: Then Mary was not suffered to touch Him; now she has
   permission not only to touch, but to hold Him altogether; "they came
   and held him by the feet, and worshipped him."

   Raban.: It was told above how He rose when the sepulchre was closed, to
   shew that that body which had been shut up therein dead, was now become
   immortal. He now offers His feet to be held by the women, to shew that
   He had real flesh, which can be touched by mortal creatures.

   Chrysol.: They hold Christ's feet, who in the Church present the type
   of Evangelic preaching, and merit this privilege by their running to
   Him; and by faith so detain their Saviour's footsteps, that they may
   come to the honour of His perfect Godhead. She is deservedly bid to
   "touch me not," who mourns her Lord upon earth, and so seeks Him dead
   in the tomb, as not to know that He reigns in heaven with the Father.
   This, that the same Mary, one while exalted to the summit of faith,
   touches Christ, and holds Him with entire and holy affection; and
   again, cast down in weakness of flesh, and womanly infirmity, doubts,
   undeserving to touch her Lord, causes us no difficulty.

   For that is of mystery, this of her sex; that is of divine grace, this
   of human nature. And so also we, when we have knowledge of divine
   things, live unto God; when we are wise in human things, we are blinded
   by our own selves.

   Chrysol., Serm. 80: They held His feet to shew that the head of Christ
   is the man, but that the woman is in Christ's feet, and that it was
   given to them through Christ, not to go before, but to follow the man.
   Christ also repeats what the Angel had said, that what an Angel had
   made sure, Christ might make yet more sure.

   It follows, "Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not."

   Jerome: This may be always observed, both in the Old and New Testament,
   that when there is an appearance of any majestic person, the first
   thing done is to banish fear, that the mind being tranquillized may
   receive the things that are said.

   Hilary: The same order as of old now followed in the reversal of our
   woe, that whereas death began from the female sex, the same should now
   first see the glory of the Resurrection, and be made the messenger
   thereof.

   Whence the Lord adds, "Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee,
   there shall they see me."

   Chrysol.: He calls them "brethren" whom He has made akin to His own
   body; "brethren" whom the generous Heir has made His co-heirs;
   "brethren," whom He has adopted to be sons of His own Father.

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, ult: That the Lord, both by His own mouth, and
   by the Angel, directs them to seek for Him, not in that place in which
   He was to shew Himself first, but in Galilee, makes every believer
   anxious to understand in what mystery it is spoken. Galilee is
   interpreted transmigration,' or revelation.' [ed. note: According to
   the two different senses of the Hebrew root glh, migrating from a
   country,' or revealing,' both coming from the primitive notion of
   making bare.']

   And according to the first interpretation what meaning offers itself,
   save this, that the grace of Christ was to pass from the people of
   Israel to the Gentiles, who would not believe when the Apostles should
   preach the Gospel to them, unless the Lord Himself should first make
   ready their way in the hearts of men. This is the signification of
   that, "He shall go before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him,"
   means, there shall ye find His members, there shall ye perceive His
   living Body in such as shall receive you. According to the other
   interpretation, revelation,' it is to be understood, "ye shall see him"
   no longer in the form of a servant, but in that in which He is equal
   with the Father. That revelation will be the true Galilee, when "we
   shall be like him, and shall see him as he is." [John 3:2] That will be
   the blessed passing from this world to that eternity.
     __________________________________________________________________

   11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the
   city, and shewed unto the Chief Priests all the things that were done.

   12. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken
   counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

   13. Saying, "Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away
   while we slept.

   14. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and
   secure you."

   15. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this
   saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chrys., Hom. xc: Of the signs which were shewn around Christ, some were
   common to the whole world, as the darkness; some peculiar to the watch,
   as the wonderful apparition of Angels, and the earthquake, which were
   wrought for the soldiers' sake, that they might be stunned with
   amazement, and bear testimony to the truth. For when truth is
   proclaimed by its adversaries, it adds to its brightness.

   which befel now; "Some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto
   the Chief Priests all the things that were done."

   Raban.: Simple minds, and unlearned country-folk, often make manifest
   without guile the truth of a matter, as the thing is; but on the other
   hand, a crafty wickedness studies how to recommend falsehood by glosing
   words.

   Jerome: Thus the Chief Priests, who ought to have been by this turned
   to penitence, and to seek Jesus risen, persevere in their wickedness,
   and convert the money which was given for the use of the Temple to the
   purchase of a lie, as before they had given thirty pieces of silver to
   the traitor Judas.

   Chrysol.: Not content to have put the Master to death, they plot how
   they may destroy the disciples, and make the Master's power matter of
   charge against His disciples. The soldiers indeed lost Him, the Jews
   missed Him, but the disciples carried Him away, not by theft, but by
   faith; by virtue, and not by fraud; by holiness, and not by wickedness;
   alive, and not dead.

   Chrys.: How should the disciples carry Him away by stealth, men poor,
   and of no station, and who scarcely dared to shew themselves? They fled
   when afterwards they saw Christ alive, how, when He was dead, would
   they not have feared so great a multitude of soldiers? How were they to
   remove the door of the sepulchre? One might have done it unperceived by
   the guard. But a large stone was rolled to the mouth requiring many
   hands. And was not the seal thereon? And why did they not attempt it
   the first night, when there was none at the sepulchre? For it was on
   the Sabbath that they begged the body of Jesus.

   Moreover, what mean these napkins which Peter sees laid here? Had the
   disciples stolen the Body, they would never have stripped it, both
   because it might so receive hurt, and cause unnecessary delay to
   themselves, and so expose them to be taken by the watch; especially
   since the Body and clothes were covered with myrrh, a glutinous spice,
   which would cause them to adhere.

   The allegation of the theft then is improbable. So that their
   endeavours to conceal the Resurrection do but make it more manifest.
   For when they say, "His disciples stole the body," they confess that it
   is not in the sepulchre. And as they thus confess that they had not the
   Body, and as the watch, the sealing, and the fears of the disciples,
   make the theft improbable, there is seen evidence of the Resurrection
   not to be gainsaid.

   Remig.: But if the guards slept, how saw they the theft? And if they
   saw it not, how could they witness thereto? So that what they desire to
   shew, they cannot shew.

   Gloss., non occ.: That the fear of the Governor might not restrain them
   from this lie, they promise them impunity.

   Chrys.: See how all are corrupted; Pilate persuaded; the people stirred
   up; the soldiers bribed; as it follows, "And they took the money, and
   did as they were instructed." If money prevailed with a disciple. so
   far as to make him become the betrayer of his Master, what wonder that
   the soldiers are overcome by it.

   Hilary: The concealment of the Resurrection, and the false allegation
   of theft, is purchased by money; because by the honour of this world,
   which consists in money and desire, Christ's glory is denied.

   Raban.: But as the guilt of His blood, which they imprecated upon
   themselves and their children, presses them down with a heavy weight of
   sin, so the purchase of the lie, by which they deny the truth of the
   Resurrection, charges this guilt upon them for ever; as it follows,
   "And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

   Chrysol.: "Among the Jews," not among the Christians; what in Judaea
   the Jew concealed by his gold, is by faith blazed abroad throughout the
   world.

   Jerome: All who abuse to other purposes the money of the Temple, and
   the contributions for the use of the Church, purchasing with them their
   own pleasure, are like the Scribes and Priests who bought this lie, and
   the blood of the Saviour.
     __________________________________________________________________

   16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain
   where Jesus had appointed them.

   17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

   18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given
   unto me in heaven and in earth.

   19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
   of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

   20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
   you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
   Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Bede, Beda in Hom., non occ.: When Saint Matthew has vindicated the
   Lord's Resurrection as declared by the Angel, he relates the vision of
   the Lord which the disciples had, "Then the eleven disciples went into
   Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them."

   For when coming to His Passion the Lord had said to His disciples,
   "After I am risen I will go before you into Galilee;" [Matt 26:32] and
   the Angel said the same to the women. Therefore the disciples obey the
   command of their Master. Eleven only go, for one had already perished.

   Jerome: After His Resurrection, Jesus is seen and worshipped in the
   mountain in Galilee; though some doubt, their doubting confirms our
   faith.

   Remig.: This is more fully told by Luke; how when the Lord after the
   Resurrection appeared to the disciples, in their terror they thought
   they saw a spirit.

   Bede, Hom. Aest. in Fer., vi., Pasch. [ed note: This Homily of Bede
   (tom. vii, p. 12) is word for word, the same with the Commentary of
   Rabanus on this part of S. Matthew.]: The Lord appeared to them in the
   mountain to signify, that His Body which at His Birth He had taken of
   the common dust of the human race, He had by His Resurrection exalted
   above all earthly things; and to teach the faithful that if they desire
   there to see the height of His Resurrection, they must endeavour here
   to pass from low pleasures to high desires.

   And He goes before His disciples into Galilee, because "Christ is risen
   from the dead, the first fruits of them that slept." [1 Cor 15:20] And
   they that are Christ's follow Him, and pass in their order from death
   to life, contemplating Him as He appears with His proper Divinity. And
   it agrees with this that Galilee is interpreted revelation.'

   Aug., de Cons. Ev., iii, 25: But it is to be considered, how the Lord
   could be seen bodily in Galilee. For that it was not the day of the
   Resurrection is manifest; for He was seen that day in Jerusalem in the
   beginning of the night, as Luke and John evidently agree. Nor was it in
   the eight following days, after which John says that the Lord appeared
   to His disciples, and when Thomas first saw Him, who had not seen Him
   on the day of the Resurrection.

   For if within these eight days the eleven had seen Him on a mountain in
   Galilee, Thomas, who was one of the eleven, could not have seen Him
   first after the eight days. Unless it be said, that the eleven there
   spoken of were eleven out of the general body of the disciples, and not
   the eleven Apostles.

   But there is another difficulty. John having related that the Lord was
   seen not in the mountain, but at the sea of Tiberias, by seven who were
   fishing, adds, "This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to
   his disciples after he was risen from the dead. [John 21:14]

   So that if we understand the Lord to have been seen within those eight
   days by eleven of the disciples, this manifestation at the sea of
   Tiberias will be the fourth, and not the third, appearance. Indeed, to
   understand John's account at all it must be observed, that he computes
   not each appearance, but each day on which Jesus appeared, though He
   may have appeared more than once on the same day; as He did three times
   on the day of His Resurrection. We are then obliged to understand that
   this appearance to the eleven disciples on the mountain in Galilee took
   place last of all.

   In the four Evangelists we find in all ten distinct appearances of Our
   Lord after His Resurrection.

   1. At the sepulchre to the women.

   2. To the same women on their way back from the sepulchre.

   3. To Peter.

   4. To two disciples as they went into the country.

   5. To many together in Jerusalem;

   6. when Thomas was not with them.

   7. At the sea of Tiberias.

   8. At the mountain in Galilee, according to Matthew.

   9. To the eleven as they sat at meat, because they should not again eat
   with Him upon earth, related by Mark. [Mark 16:14]

   10. On the day of His Ascension, no longer on the earth, but raised
   aloft in a cloud, as related by both Mark and Luke.

   But all is not written, as John confesses, for He had much conversation
   with them during forty days before His ascension, "being seen of them,
   and speaking unto them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."
   [Acts 1:3]

   Remig.: The disciples then, when they saw Him, knew the Lord; and
   worshipped Him, bowing their faces to the ground. And He their
   affectionate and merciful Master, that He might take away all
   doubtfulness from their hearts, coming to them, strengthened them in
   their belief; as it follows, "And Jesus came and spake to them, saying,
   All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

   Jerome: Power is given to Him, Who but a little before was crucified,
   Who was buried, but Who afterwards rose again.

   Bede: This He speaks not from the Deity coeternal with the Father, but
   from the Humanity which He took upon Him, according to which "He was
   made a little lower than the Angels." [Heb 2:9]

   Chrysol., Serm. 80: The Son of God conveyed to the Son of the Virgin,
   the God to the Man, the Deity to the Flesh, that which He had ever
   together with the Father.

   Jerome: Power is given in heaven and in earth, that He who before
   reigned in heaven, should now reign on earth by the faith of the
   believers.

   Remig.: What the Psalmist says of the Lord at His rising again, "Thou
   madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands," [Ps 8:6] this
   the Lord now says of Himself, "All power is given unto me in heaven and
   in earth."

   And here it is to be noted, that even before His resurrection the
   Angels knew that they were subjected to the man Christ. Christ then
   desiring that it should be also known to men that all power was
   committed to Him in heaven and in earth, sent preachers to make known
   the word of life to all nations; whence it follows, "Go ye therefore,
   and teach all nations."

   Bede, Beda in Hom. non occ.: He who before His Passion had said, "Go
   not into the way of the Gentiles," [Matt 10:5] now, when rising from
   the dead, says, "Go and teach, all nations."

   Hereby let the Jews be put to silence, who say that Christ's coming is
   to be for their salvation only. Let the Donatists also blush, who,
   desiring to confine Christ to one place, have said that He is in Africa
   only, and not in other countries.

   Jerome: They first then teach all nations, and when taught dip them in
   water. For it may not be that the body receive the sacrament of
   Baptism, unless the soul first receive the truth of the Faith. "In the
   name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," that they whose
   Godhead is one should be conferred at once, to name this Trinity, being
   to name One God.

   Chrysol, Serm. 80: Thus all nations are created a second time to
   salvation by that one and the same Power, which created them to being.

   Jerome, Didymi Lib. ii, de Spir. Sanct.: And though some one there may
   be of so averse a spirit as to undertake to baptize in such sort as to
   omit one of these names, therein contradicting Christ Who ordained this
   for a law, his baptism will effect nothing; those who are baptized by
   him will not be at all delivered from their sins. From these words we
   gather how undivided is the substance of the Trinity, that the Father
   is verily the Father of the Son, and the Son verily the Son of the
   Father, and the Holy Spirit the Spirit of both the Father and the Son,
   and also the Spirit of wisdom and of truth, that is, of the Son of God.
   This then is the salvation of them that believe, and in this Trinity is
   wrought the perfect communication of ecclesiastical discipline.

   Hilary, de Trin. ii, 1 &c: For what part of the salvation of men is
   there that is not contained in this Sacrament? All things are full and
   perfect, as proceeding from Him who is full and perfect. The nature of
   His relation is expressed in the title Father; but He is nothing but
   Father; for not after the manner of men does He derive from somewhat
   else that He is Father, being Himself Unbegotten, Eternal, and having
   the source of His being in Himself, known to none, save the Son.

   The Son is the Offspring of the Unbegotten, One of the One, True of the
   True, Living of the Living, Perfect of the Perfect, Strength of
   Strength, Wisdom of Wisdom, Glory of Glory; the Image of the Unseen
   God, the Form of the Unbegotten Father.

   Neither can the Holy Spirit be separated from the confession of the
   Father and the Son. And this consolation of our longing desires is
   absent from no place. He is the pledge of our hope in the effects of
   His gifts, He is the light of our minds, He shines in our souls.

   These things as the heretics cannot change, they introduce into them
   their human explanations. As Sabellius who identifies the Father with
   the Son, thinking the distinction to be made rather in name than in
   person, and setting forth one and the same Person as both Father and
   Son. As Ebion, who deriving the beginning of His existence from Mary,
   makes Him not Man of God, but God of man. As the Arians, who derive the
   form, the power, and the wisdom of God out of nothing, and in time.
   What wonder then that men should have diverse opinions about the Holy
   Spirit, who thus rashly after their own pleasure create and change the
   Son, by whom that Spirit is bestowed?

   Jerome: Observe the order of these injunctions. He bids the Apostles
   first to teach all nations, then to wash them with the sacrament of
   faith, and after faith and baptism then to teach them what things they
   ought to observe; "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
   have commanded you."

   Raban.: "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without
   works is dead also." [James 2:26]

   Chrys.: And because what He had laid upon them was great, therefore to
   exalt their spirits He adds, "And, lo, I am with you always, even unto
   the end of the world." As much as to say, Tell Me not of the difficulty
   of these things, seeing I am with you, Who can make all things easy. A
   like promise He often made to the Prophets in the Old Testament, to
   Jeremiah who pleaded his youth, to Moses, and to Ezekiel, when they
   would have shunned the office imposed upon them. And not with them only
   does He say that He will be, but with all who shall believe after them.
   For the Apostles were not to continue till the end of the world, but He
   says this to the faithful as to one body.

   Raban.: Hence we understand that to the end of the world shall not be
   wanting those who shall be worthy of the Divine indwelling.

   Chrys.: He brings before them the end of the world, that He may the
   more draw them on, and that they may not look merely to present
   inconveniences, but to the infinite goods to come. As much as to say,
   The grievous things which you shall undergo, terminate with this
   present life, seeing that even this world shall come to an end, but the
   good things which ye shall enjoy endure for ever.

   Bede, Beda in Hom., non occ.: It is made a question how He says here,
   "I am with you," when we read elsewhere that He said, "I go unto him
   that sent me." [Jon 16:5]

   What is said of His human nature is distinct from what is said of His
   divine nature. He is going to His Father in His human nature, He abides
   With His disciples in that form in which He is equal with the Father.
   When He says, "to the end of the world," He expresses the infinite by
   the finite; for He who remains in this present world with His elect,
   protecting them, the same will continue with them after the end,
   rewarding them.

   Jerome: He then who promises that He will be with His disciples to the
   end of the world, shews both that they shall live for ever, and that He
   will never depart from those that believe.

   Leo, Serm., 72, 3: For by ascending into heaven He does not desert His
   adopted; but from above strengthens to endurance, those whom He invites
   upwards to glory.

   Of which glory may Christ make us partakers, Who is the King of glory,
   "God blessed for ever,"

   AMEN.
     __________________________________________________________________

                                    Indexes
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture References

   Genesis

   [1]1:6   [2]1:11   [3]2:1   [4]2:7   [5]3   [6]3:6   [7]3:9   [8]3:17
   [9]3:18   [10]3:19   [11]3:19   [12]3:22   [13]5   [14]7   [15]11
   [16]13:8   [17]14:18   [18]15:9   [19]15:15   [20]17   [21]20:7
   [22]21:28-31   [23]22:18   [24]22:19   [25]25:8   [26]30:33
   [27]31:38   [28]35:33   [29]37:28   [30]40:22   [31]41:32   [32]44:5
   [33]49   [34]49:7   [35]49:10   [36]100

   Exodus

   [37]3:14   [38]3:14   [39]3:14   [40]7:16   [41]12:3   [42]12:24
   [43]13:21   [44]15:34   [45]16:22   [46]19:9   [47]19:16   [48]20:5
   [49]20:12   [50]20:17   [51]24:3   [52]24:8

   Leviticus

   [53]19:12   [54]20:7   [55]23:3   [56]24:7

   Numbers

   [57]3:44   [58]5:1   [59]5:19   [60]10:3   [61]15:39   [62]16
   [63]23:22   [64]24:17

   Deuteronomy

   [65]4:2   [66]6:8   [67]6:13   [68]15:18   [69]17:15   [70]18:18
   [71]18:18   [72]18:18   [73]19:15   [74]22:25   [75]23:25   [76]24:1
   [77]25   [78]25:10   [79]28:1   [80]32:8   [81]33:3   [82]33:9

   Joshua

   [83]1:5   [84]14   [85]15   [86]19:15

   Judges

   [87]1:6

   1 Samuel

   [88]14   [89]21   [90]28:19   [91]28:19

   1 Kings

   [92]17:1   [93]18:10

   2 Kings

   [94]1:3   [95]13:21   [96]23   [97]23:2   [98]23:10   [99]24:6

   1 Chronicles

   [100]3:17

   2 Chronicles

   [101]24:21

   Job

   [102]24:19

   Psalms

   [103]1:1   [104]1:4   [105]2:8   [106]3   [107]4:4   [108]7:4
   [109]8   [110]8   [111]8:2   [112]8:6   [113]9:19   [114]10
   [115]11:5   [116]12   [117]12:6   [118]13:5   [119]16:11   [120]18:1
   [121]18:43   [122]18:43   [123]18:44   [124]19:4   [125]20
   [126]22:1   [127]22:16   [128]22:16   [129]22:16   [130]22:16
   [131]22:18   [132]22:26   [133]24:1   [134]24:6   [135]24:7
   [136]24:8   [137]24:8   [138]26:6   [139]32   [140]32:10   [141]34:8
   [142]34:18   [143]36:11   [144]38:3   [145]38:4   [146]40:8
   [147]41:9   [148]42:2   [149]42:3   [150]44:23   [151]45:2
   [152]45:3   [153]45:7   [154]45:9   [155]47:8   [156]50:5
   [157]50:15   [158]51:4   [159]51:7   [160]55:6   [161]59:1
   [162]62:11   [163]63:5   [164]66:3   [165]68:15   [166]68:26
   [167]69:12   [168]76:1   [169]76:8   [170]78:2   [171]78:19   [172]80
   [173]80:3   [174]80:8   [175]81   [176]82:6   [177]82:6-7   [178]83
   [179]84   [180]87:3   [181]91:11   [182]94:19   [183]96   [184]97:2
   [185]102:19   [186]103:5   [187]104:29   [188]107:25   [189]109:9
   [190]110:1   [191]110:3   [192]110:4   [193]110:4   [194]112:2
   [195]114:3   [196]115:15   [197]115:16   [198]116:13-15   [199]118
   [200]118   [201]118   [202]118:1   [203]118:14   [204]118:25
   [205]119:62   [206]119:81   [207]119:91   [208]119:105   [209]119:105
   [210]119:133   [211]119:165   [212]122:5   [213]124:7   [214]131:1
   [215]132:3   [216]132:11   [217]141:2   [218]141:2   [219]141:4
   [220]142:5   [221]145:17   [222]148:7

   Proverbs

   [223]4:18   [224]9:1   [225]13:10   [226]18:17   [227]18:23
   [228]21:13   [229]25:21   [230]27:6   [231]30:8

   Ecclesiastes

   [232]12:7   [233]19:4   [234]27:12   [235]30:24

   Song of Solomon

   [236]2:16

   Isaiah

   [237]1   [238]1:16   [239]1:16   [240]2:3   [241]5:4   [242]5:6
   [243]5:7   [244]5:7   [245]6:9   [246]6:10   [247]7:10   [248]7:13
   [249]7:14   [250]7:14   [251]7:14   [252]8:18   [253]9:1   [254]10:22
   [255]11:1   [256]11:1   [257]11:2   [258]11:2   [259]13   [260]14:14
   [261]16:1   [262]19:1   [263]26:29   [264]28   [265]30:26
   [266]30:26   [267]35:6   [268]38:1   [269]40   [270]40:7   [271]40:9
   [272]40:31   [273]42:1   [274]43:25   [275]46:4   [276]49:2
   [277]49:18   [278]50:4   [279]50:6   [280]50:6   [281]53:4
   [282]53:7   [283]53:7   [284]53:7-8   [285]53:8   [286]54:6   [287]55
   [288]56:7   [289]60:6   [290]61:1   [291]66:1   [292]66:5
   [293]66:24

   Jeremiah

   [294]2:21   [295]2:21   [296]2:21   [297]7:32   [298]10:13
   [299]12:8   [300]14   [301]16:16   [302]16:16   [303]17:13
   [304]18:9   [305]22:30   [306]23:5   [307]23:29   [308]31:15
   [309]32:9

   Ezekiel

   [310]1:8   [311]8:12   [312]16:3   [313]16:52   [314]18:17   [315]28
   [316]33:11   [317]33:11

   Daniel

   [318]2:34   [319]9:27   [320]12:2

   Hosea

   [321]6:5   [322]7:4   [323]7:6   [324]12:15

   Joel

   [325]2:31

   Jonah

   [326]3   [327]16:5   [328]20:22

   Micah

   [329]5:2   [330]6:8   [331]7:6   [332]9:1

   Haggai

   [333]2:7

   Zechariah

   [334]1:3   [335]5:7   [336]5:7   [337]6:12   [338]6:12   [339]6:12
   [340]9:9   [341]11:13   [342]12:10   [343]13:7

   Malachi

   [344]3:1   [345]4:2   [346]4:5

   Matthew

   [347]1:1   [348]1:10   [349]3:1   [350]3:2   [351]3:4   [352]3:7
   [353]3:17   [354]4:2   [355]4:6   [356]4:11   [357]4:17   [358]5:16
   [359]5:17   [360]5:23   [361]5:32   [362]5:39   [363]6:3   [364]6:12
   [365]6:14   [366]7:2   [367]7:6   [368]7:13   [369]7:14   [370]7:15
   [371]8:11   [372]8:41   [373]9:6   [374]9:9   [375]9:9   [376]9:11
   [377]9:13   [378]9:13   [379]10:5   [380]10:5   [381]10:13
   [382]10:22   [383]10:23   [384]10:24   [385]10:35   [386]11:13
   [387]11:27   [388]11:29   [389]12:2   [390]12:24   [391]12:27
   [392]12:39   [393]12:39   [394]12:40   [395]12:50   [396]12:50
   [397]13:41   [398]14:2   [399]14:40   [400]16:22   [401]16:24
   [402]17:5   [403]17:10   [404]18:3   [405]18:3   [406]18:18
   [407]18:32   [408]18:32   [409]19:18   [410]19:28   [411]20:10
   [412]20:13   [413]20:28   [414]20:28   [415]21:22   [416]21:43
   [417]21:43   [418]22:12   [419]22:16   [420]22:36   [421]22:39
   [422]22:44   [423]23:3   [424]23:3   [425]23:9   [426]23:9
   [427]23:34   [428]24   [429]24:35   [430]25:1   [431]25:33
   [432]25:34   [433]25:34   [434]25:34   [435]25:35   [436]25:40
   [437]25:40   [438]25:41   [439]26   [440]26:6   [441]26:18
   [442]26:32   [443]26:37   [444]26:38   [445]26:64   [446]28:19
   [447]28:20   [448]28:20   [449]28:20   [450]28:20   [451]39

   Mark

   [452]3:31   [453]4:10   [454]4:33   [455]6:3   [456]6:3   [457]6:18
   [458]7:3   [459]10:17   [460]10:24   [461]10:35   [462]12:34
   [463]13:25   [464]13:32   [465]14:30   [466]14:41   [467]15
   [468]15:9   [469]15:17   [470]16:2   [471]16:5   [472]16:14
   [473]16:23   [474]40

   Luke

   [475]1:5   [476]1:76   [477]2:14   [478]2:43   [479]3:1   [480]5:1
   [481]5:8   [482]5:30   [483]5:33   [484]6:9   [485]6:29   [486]6:37
   [487]7:3   [488]7:33-34   [489]8:18   [490]8:39   [491]8:46
   [492]9:9   [493]9:33   [494]9:33   [495]9:48   [496]9:50   [497]10:2
   [498]10:19   [499]10:22   [500]11:12   [501]11:13   [502]12:10
   [503]12:47   [504]12:49   [505]12:49   [506]13:33   [507]17:21
   [508]17:21   [509]17:22   [510]18:12   [511]18:13   [512]18:35
   [513]20:16   [514]21:18   [515]21:20   [516]21:23   [517]22
   [518]22:6   [519]22:19   [520]22:27   [521]22:36   [522]22:39
   [523]22:44   [524]22:51   [525]22:59   [526]23:2   [527]23:34
   [528]23:45   [529]61

   John

   [530]1   [531]1:1   [532]1:1   [533]1:1   [534]1:15   [535]1:26
   [536]1:29   [537]1:29   [538]1:31   [539]1:36   [540]1:42   [541]1:42
   [542]1:49   [543]2:19   [544]2:19   [545]3:2   [546]3:9   [547]3:13
   [548]3:14   [549]3:16   [550]3:29   [551]3:30   [552]4:3   [553]4:35
   [554]5:14   [555]5:22   [556]5:22   [557]5:37   [558]5:43   [559]6
   [560]6:13   [561]6:15   [562]6:30-31   [563]6:40   [564]6:51
   [565]6:51   [566]6:53   [567]6:54   [568]7:23   [569]8   [570]8:12
   [571]8:29   [572]8:34   [573]8:56   [574]8:56   [575]9:5   [576]9:16
   [577]9:16   [578]10:9   [579]10:18   [580]10:18   [581]10:30
   [582]11:2   [583]11:11   [584]11:21   [585]11:23   [586]11:25
   [587]11:48   [588]11:49   [589]11:49   [590]11:50   [591]12:1
   [592]12:2   [593]12:3   [594]12:15   [595]12:19   [596]12:24
   [597]12:26   [598]12:32   [599]12:37   [600]12:39   [601]13:2
   [602]13:13   [603]13:27   [604]13:27   [605]14:2   [606]14:3
   [607]14:6   [608]14:6   [609]14:12   [610]14:23   [611]14:31
   [612]15:15   [613]15:22   [614]16:12   [615]16:23   [616]16:33
   [617]17:3   [618]17:5   [619]17:11   [620]18   [621]18:1   [622]18:12
   [623]18:12   [624]18:19   [625]18:23   [626]18:36   [627]18:36
   [628]19:15   [629]19:23   [630]19:25   [631]19:26   [632]19:37
   [633]20:15   [634]20:17   [635]20:28   [636]20:28   [637]21
   [638]21:14   [639]21:15   [640]21:18   [641]21:18   [642]43

   Acts

   [643]1:1   [644]1:3   [645]1:7   [646]1:7   [647]1:9   [648]2:13
   [649]2:37   [650]3:6   [651]3:12   [652]4:20   [653]4:32   [654]6:2
   [655]8:21   [656]10:4   [657]10:15   [658]10:41   [659]11:29
   [660]12:1   [661]12:2   [662]12:3   [663]13:46   [664]15:9
   [665]15:10   [666]15:19   [667]18:3   [668]20:29   [669]23:8

   Romans

   [670]1:3   [671]1:9   [672]1:28   [673]2   [674]2:1   [675]2:14
   [676]2:14   [677]2:29   [678]3:23   [679]5:5   [680]5:20   [681]6:4
   [682]6:4   [683]6:22   [684]7:24   [685]7:25   [686]8:2   [687]8:3
   [688]8:15   [689]8:15   [690]8:17   [691]8:18   [692]8:28   [693]8:32
   [694]8:35   [695]8:35   [696]9:3   [697]9:16   [698]10:3   [699]10:3
   [700]10:3   [701]10:4   [702]10:4   [703]10:10   [704]10:10
   [705]10:14   [706]10:18   [707]11:25   [708]11:25   [709]13:4
   [710]13:9   [711]13:10   [712]13:11   [713]14:8   [714]16:9   [715]17

   1 Corinthians

   [716]1:23   [717]1:24   [718]1:24   [719]1:25   [720]1:27   [721]1:30
   [722]2:6   [723]2:7   [724]2:8   [725]2:9   [726]2:15   [727]3
   [728]3:2   [729]3:6   [730]3:6   [731]3:13   [732]3:15   [733]5:1
   [734]5:6   [735]5:8   [736]5:12   [737]5:13   [738]5:21   [739]6:3
   [740]7   [741]7:12   [742]7:29   [743]9:14   [744]9:16   [745]9:27
   [746]10   [747]10:4   [748]10:4   [749]10:4   [750]10:33   [751]11:19
   [752]11:26   [753]12   [754]12   [755]12:3   [756]12:27   [757]13:2
   [758]13:2   [759]13:10   [760]13:12   [761]14:30   [762]15:10
   [763]15:14   [764]15:20   [765]15:25   [766]15:31   [767]15:49
   [768]15:51

   2 Corinthians

   [769]1:8   [770]3:16   [771]4:18   [772]5:10   [773]5:10   [774]6:10
   [775]6:14   [776]6:16   [777]7:5   [778]9:7   [779]11:13   [780]11:26
   [781]11:29   [782]13:3

   Galatians

   [783]1:8   [784]1:10   [785]1:16   [786]1:19   [787]1:20   [788]2:8
   [789]3:3   [790]4:2   [791]4:4   [792]5:14   [793]5:19   [794]5:24
   [795]6:2   [796]6:4

   Ephesians

   [797]2:14   [798]2:14   [799]2:14   [800]2:19   [801]4:8   [802]4:13
   [803]4:22   [804]4:31   [805]5   [806]5:13   [807]5:16   [808]5:32
   [809]6:12   [810]6:17   [811]14   [812]19

   Philippians

   [813]2:6   [814]2:10   [815]2:15   [816]3:2-3   [817]3:8   [818]4:12

   Colossians

   [819]1:6   [820]1:15   [821]1:16   [822]2:3   [823]3:5   [824]3:13

   1 Thessalonians

   [825]4:17   [826]5:3   [827]5:7   [828]5:17

   2 Thessalonians

   [829]2:9   [830]3:10

   1 Timothy

   [831]1:4   [832]1:9   [833]4:3   [834]4:4   [835]4:5   [836]5:3
   [837]5:20   [838]6:8   [839]6:20

   2 Timothy

   [840]2:8   [841]2:19   [842]2:19   [843]2:25   [844]4:14   [845]4:15

   Titus

   [846]1:12   [847]1:15   [848]1:16   [849]3:11-11

   Hebrews

   [850]1:13   [851]2:9   [852]3:18   [853]4:12   [854]11   [855]11:33
   [856]11:37   [857]40

   James

   [858]1:14   [859]2:26   [860]5:17-18

   1 Peter

   [861]3:3   [862]3:15   [863]3:18   [864]4:8   [865]4:17   [866]5:8

   1 John

   [867]1:1   [868]1:3   [869]2:18   [870]2:18   [871]3:2   [872]3:2
   [873]4:13   [874]5:16   [875]5:16   [876]5:19   [877]10:11

   Revelation

   [878]6:10   [879]17:15   [880]21:22

   Tobit

   [881]4:16   [882]12   [883]16

   Wisdom of Solomon

   [884]3:1   [885]5:6   [886]5:21

   Sirach

   [887]47
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture Commentary

   Matthew

   [888]1   [889]2   [890]3   [891]4   [892]5   [893]6   [894]7   [895]8
   [896]9   [897]10   [898]11   [899]12   [900]13   [901]14   [902]15
   [903]16   [904]17   [905]18   [906]19   [907]20   [908]21   [909]22
   [910]23   [911]24   [912]25   [913]26   [914]27   [915]28
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Greek Words and Phrases

     * O Kurie soson de: [916]1
     * aion: [917]1
     * gnome: [918]1
     * grammateus: [919]1
     * eisenenkes: [920]1
     * eunoon: [921]1
     * koruphaios: [922]1
     * logistikon, epithumetikon, thumoeides: [923]1
     * ne ten humeteran chauchesin: [924]1
     * paschein: [925]1
     * periousios: [926]1
     * plateia: [927]1
     * propatheia: [928]1 [929]2 [930]3
     * prostenai: [931]1
     * proedros: [932]1
     * ptochoi: [933]1
     * ptoma: [934]1
     * pathos: [935]1 [936]2
     * pistis: [937]1
     * tolmema: [938]1
     * tous ap' archiereos: [939]1
     * to pascha ginetai: [940]1
     * photismos: [941]1
     * chaire: [942]1
     * chullous hugieis: [943]1
     * chullos: [944]1
     * angareia: [945]1
     * aner: [946]1
     * axioma: [947]1
     * argurion: [948]1
     * aristiden ixeilegmenon: [949]1
     * aphanizein: [950]1
     * ara goun kai autes kai ekeinon ten aponoian: [951]1
     * exairetos: [952]1
     * epiousios: [953]1 [954]2
     * ethnos: [955]1
     * hileos soi Kurie, ou me estai soi touto: [956]1
     * ho prophetes: [957]1
     * rhachos: [958]1
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Hebrew Words and Phrases

     * 'sh: [959]1
     * 'chz: [960]1
     * 'l yqym: [961]1
     * 's': [962]1
     * 's: [963]1
     * v'r sv: [964]1
     * vz: [965]1
     * vz: [966]1
     * gtyt: [967]1
     * gt: [968]1
     * glh: [969]1
     * gs' l m'n: [970]1
     * zr: [971]1
     * zrv: [972]1
     * zrch: [973]1 [974]2
     * chchlh: [975]1
     * chll: [976]1
     * chts: [977]1
     * chtsrvn: [978]1
     * yknyhv: [979]1
     * l'h: [980]1
     * mrym: [981]1
     * m'n: [982]1
     * mrr: [983]1
     * nzyr: [984]1
     * nchs: [985]1
     * nchsn: [986]1
     * ntsr: [987]1
     * ns' = ns': [988]1
     * sglh: [989]1
     * lmh: [990]1
     * mk ndvt: [991]1
     * vvd: [992]1
     * my ndv: [993]1
     * qr't: [994]1
     * r'h: [995]1 [996]2
     * rhv: [997]1
     * rvm: [998]1
     * rvts: [999]1
     * rchv: [1000]1 [1001]2
     * rm: [1002]1
     * rv: [1003]1
     * slm: [1004]1
     * s'lty'l: [1005]1
     * sv: [1006]1
     * slmvn: [1007]1
     * tmrvrym: [1008]1
     * tmm: [1009]1
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Pages of the Print Edition

   [1010]9  [1011]10  [1012]11  [1013]12  [1014]13  [1015]14  [1016]15
   [1017]16  [1018]17  [1019]18  [1020]19  [1021]20  [1022]21  [1023]22
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   [1665]663  [1666]664  [1667]665  [1668]666  [1669]667  [1670]668
   [1671]669  [1672]670  [1673]671  [1674]672  [1675]673  [1676]674
   [1677]675  [1678]676  [1679]677  [1680]678  [1681]679  [1682]680
   [1683]681  [1684]682  [1685]683  [1686]684  [1687]685  [1688]686
   [1689]687  [1690]688  [1691]689  [1692]690  [1693]691  [1694]692
   [1695]693  [1696]694  [1697]695  [1698]696  [1699]697  [1700]698
   [1701]699  [1702]700  [1703]701  [1704]702  [1705]703  [1706]704
   [1707]705  [1708]706  [1709]707  [1710]708  [1711]709  [1712]710
   [1713]711  [1714]712  [1715]713  [1716]714  [1717]715  [1718]716
   [1719]717  [1720]718  [1721]719  [1722]720  [1723]721  [1724]722
   [1725]723  [1726]724  [1727]725  [1728]726  [1729]727  [1730]728
   [1731]729  [1732]730  [1733]731  [1734]732  [1735]733  [1736]734
   [1737]735  [1738]736  [1739]737  [1740]738  [1741]739  [1742]740
   [1743]741  [1744]742  [1745]743  [1746]744  [1747]745  [1748]746
   [1749]747  [1750]748  [1751]749  [1752]750  [1753]751  [1754]752
   [1755]753  [1756]754  [1757]755  [1758]756  [1759]757  [1760]758
   [1761]759  [1762]760  [1763]761  [1764]762  [1765]763  [1766]764
   [1767]765  [1768]766  [1769]767  [1770]768  [1771]769  [1772]770
   [1773]771  [1774]772  [1775]773  [1776]774  [1777]775  [1778]776
   [1779]777  [1780]778  [1781]779  [1782]780  [1783]781  [1784]782
   [1785]783  [1786]784  [1787]785  [1788]786  [1789]787  [1790]788
   [1791]789  [1792]790  [1793]791  [1794]792  [1795]793  [1796]794
   [1797]795  [1798]796  [1799]797  [1800]798  [1801]799  [1802]800
   [1803]801  [1804]802  [1805]803  [1806]804  [1807]805  [1808]806
   [1809]807  [1810]808  [1811]809  [1812]810  [1813]811  [1814]812
   [1815]813  [1816]814  [1817]815  [1818]816  [1819]817  [1820]818
   [1821]819  [1822]820  [1823]821  [1824]822  [1825]823  [1826]824
   [1827]825  [1828]826  [1829]827  [1830]828  [1831]829  [1832]830
   [1833]831  [1834]832  [1835]833  [1836]834  [1837]835  [1838]836
   [1839]837  [1840]838  [1841]839  [1842]840  [1843]841  [1844]842
   [1845]843  [1846]844  [1847]845  [1848]846  [1849]847  [1850]848
   [1851]849  [1852]850  [1853]851  [1854]852  [1855]853  [1856]854
   [1857]855  [1858]856  [1859]857  [1860]858  [1861]859  [1862]860
   [1863]861  [1864]862  [1865]863  [1866]864  [1867]865  [1868]866
   [1869]867  [1870]868  [1871]869  [1872]870  [1873]871  [1874]872
   [1875]873  [1876]874  [1877]875  [1878]876  [1879]877  [1880]878
   [1881]879  [1882]880  [1883]881  [1884]882  [1885]883  [1886]884
   [1887]885  [1888]886  [1889]887  [1890]888  [1891]889  [1892]890
   [1893]891  [1894]892  [1895]893  [1896]894  [1897]895  [1898]896
   [1899]897  [1900]898  [1901]899  [1902]900  [1903]901  [1904]902
   [1905]903  [1906]904  [1907]905  [1908]906  [1909]907  [1910]908
   [1911]909  [1912]910  [1913]911  [1914]912  [1915]913  [1916]914
   [1917]915  [1918]916  [1919]917  [1920]918  [1921]919  [1922]920
   [1923]921  [1924]922  [1925]923  [1926]924  [1927]925  [1928]926
   [1929]927  [1930]928  [1931]929  [1932]930  [1933]931  [1934]932
   [1935]933  [1936]934  [1937]935  [1938]936  [1939]937  [1940]938
   [1941]939  [1942]940  [1943]941  [1944]942  [1945]943  [1946]944
   [1947]945  [1948]946  [1949]947  [1950]948  [1951]949  [1952]950
   [1953]951  [1954]952  [1955]953  [1956]954  [1957]955  [1958]956
   [1959]957  [1960]958  [1961]959  [1962]960  [1963]961  [1964]962
   [1965]963  [1966]964  [1967]965  [1968]966  [1969]967  [1970]968
   [1971]969  [1972]970  [1973]971  [1974]972  [1975]973  [1976]974
   [1977]975  [1978]976  [1979]977  [1980]978  [1981]979  [1982]980
   [1983]981  [1984]982  [1985]983  [1986]984  [1987]985  [1988]986
   [1989]987  [1990]988  [1991]989  [1992]990
     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.

References

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  29. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=28#ii.xxvi-p93.1
  30. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=22#ii.i-p328.1
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  34. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=7#ii.ii-p163.1
  35. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=10#ii.ii-p11.1
  36. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=100&scrV=0#ii.viii-p82.1
  37. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=14#ii.xiv-p148.1
  38. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=14#ii.xxii-p171.1
  39. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=14#ii.xxv-p222.1
  40. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=16#ii.xxii-p171.2
  41. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=3#ii.xxi-p63.2
  42. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=24#ii.xxvi-p192.1
  43. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=21#ii.xxi-p196.1
  44. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=34#ii.vi-p282.1
  45. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=22#ii.xxvii-p302.1
  46. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=9#ii.xvii-p39.1
  47. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=16#ii.xvii-p39.1
  48. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=5#ii.i-p122.1
  49. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=12#ii.xii-p312.1
  50. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=17#ii.v-p306.1
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  58. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=1#ii.xxvi-p420.1
  59. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=19#ii.xxvi-p420.1
  60. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=3#ii.xxiv-p206.1
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  63. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=22#ii.ii-p164.1
  64. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=17#ii.ii-p20.1
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  77. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=0#ii.i-p188.1
  78. file:///ccel/a/aquinas/catena1/cache/catena1.html3?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=10#ii.iii-p116.1
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