if vanity or interest is their sole or principal object, that is to say, if the intention be corrupt, this vitiates every act we perform, as Jesus Christ gives us to understand by this elegant metaphor: (a)" "The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome; but if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be darksome. If, then, the light that is in thee be darkness, the darkness itself how great shall it be!"

CHAPTER XVII.

CONTINUATION OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

PRIDE, lust, anger, and vindictiveness-that is to say, almost all the passions were overthrown by these divine precepts. Jesus Christ had attacked them even in the very heart of man, where they could no longer exist after the deadly blows he had given them. For, widely different from the Pharisees, who cleansed the exterior, and left all corruption within, this wise physician applied himself to rectify the interior, without which the exterior, even supposing it were well regulated, would only be a deceitful show, and vice glossed over with the colors of virtue. There remained one more passion to be subdued-this was avarice of all the passions, the one which strikes its roots the deepest into the soul, and is the most difficult to be extirpated. Jesus Christ exhibits its folly, in hoarding up goods which it seldom enjoys; its disorderly character, engrossing as it does the whole heart, to the exclusion of every thought and desire of heaven; its illusion, in endeavoring against reason and experience, cunningly to ally its schemes with the service of God: for nearly all avaricious men would fain be devout, and persuade themselves that they are so. Lastly, pursuant to his ordinary method, Jesus Christ attacks this passion in the heart, by stripping it of the most specious of all its pretexts, which is the fear

(a) St. Matthew, vi. 22, 23.

of future want. This excellent lesson constitutes the subject of the following articles:

(a) "Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven (1), where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart

also."

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (2). Therefore, I say to you: Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air: they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? Now, which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labor not, neither do they spin; but I say to you, not even Solomon, in all his glory, was arrayed as one of these. Now, if the grass of the field, which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe, how much more ye, O ye of little faith! Be not solicitous, therefore, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after these (3) things do the heathens seek, and your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God

(a) St. Matthew, vi. 19-21; 24-34.

(1) This is principally done by alms. Keeping one's goods is, therefore, losing them; and giving them, is treasuring them up.

(2) Remark the propriety of the term: for a person can possess riches and serve God; but we cannot be subject to riches and serve God.

(3) God does not prohibit foresight, but he prohibits anxiety, as injurious to his parental providence.

Not to trouble ourselves about this present life, and to occupy ourselves entirely about the future life, are, in two words, what we ought to do, and the contrary of what we actually do.

and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not, therefore, solicitous for to-morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."

The judgments which we are in the habit of passing upon one another occupy a position here which shows how much more important this matter seemed to Jesus Christ than to the majority of mankind, who scarcely reckon as faults the transgressions of this kind which they daily commit. Their consequence will be better known, when we shall have seen what recompense Jesus Christ promises to those who do not judge, and what a judgment he reserves for those who do (4). "Judge not," he says, "and you shall not be judged; condemn not, and you shall not be condemned; for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged (5). And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thy a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite (6), cast out first the beam out of thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

if

you

(4) We do not judge, but we see what is as clear as day. Beyond this never judge, be not a judge. You are such with regard to those over whom you have a right of correction. We may be allowed to act upon a legitimate suspicion; but we are not permitted to judge. That a man's fidelity is suspected is not enough to entitle us to judge him faithless, although it be enough to enable us in certain circumstances to displace or discharge him, on account of the right which we have to make use of only persons of unsuspected fidelity. Whilst this right is well known, its limits are scarcely ever known; for we do not only form the judgment, but we pronounce and we publish it, without dreaming that a subordinate, and perhaps a servant, has no less a right to his reputation than the master has to his own, and that often this reputation is even more necessary to the servant. This is one of those sins which are never remitted, if there be not reparation made.

(5) That is to say, that those who shall have judged rigorously shall be judged with rigor; for the judgments of God shall neither be false nor rash, like ours. In what, therefore, could they resemble ours, if not by severity? There are two ways of judging the guilty, even when attainted and convicted-one full of sternness and harshness-the other meek and indulgent. The first was that of the Pharisees-the second that of Jesus Christ, who said to the adulterous woman: Neither will I condemn thee.

(6) Because censure supposes the zeal of justice, and is the expression of it. Now, he who does not commence by condemning himself, has not truly the zeal of justice. He, therefore, only wears the mask of justice, and this it is that makes him a hypo

crite.

We have already remarked, that throughout this entire discourse Jesus Christ had the apostles more directly in view, and that amongst the precepts he gives, some only apply to them and their successors in the ministry. We now call the reader's attention to one of the latter class. "Give not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest, perhaps, they trample them under their feet, and, turning upon you, they tear you (7)." Which signifies that we must not expose holy things to profanation, nor announce the Gospel truths, when we could not reasonably expect any other fruit than to irritate those to whom they are announced, and to attract from these individuals a persecution detrimental to the preacher, and perhaps to the whole Church. Zeal should, therefore, be intelligent-many people will tell you so. But intelligence should not be devoid of zeal; and, if indiscretion is blameworthy, cowardice is more so. Let us add, that it is more common, because human interests find here a good consideration. In the apostles' time, it was necessary to recommend discretion rather than zeal. At other periods, the reverse was the case: zeal, not discretion, required to be inculcated.

After having laid down the law, Jesus Christ had now nothing more to do but to fortify his followers against the false constructions which might be put upon it. These were to be of two kinds. They might be explained, first of all, by custom, which is, they say, the best interpreter of laws. Jesus Christ gives us to understand that this maxim has no connection with his law. He formally declares that the majority shall be prevaricators, and that the number of faithful observers shall be beyond comparison the smallest of the two; that, therefore, his law should be understood and observed to

(7) If any one be tempted to believe that Jesus Christ acted contrary to his own maxim, when he announced his doctrine to the Jews, to whom it was useless, and to the Pharisees, whose fury it excited, we answer: 1st. That many listened with docility and profited by his instructions. 2d. When he taught the Jews, he taught all nations and all ages, to whom his doctrine should be repeated. 3d. The contradictions which it drew upon him should, by causing his death, occasion the redemption of mankind. Persecution, even when foreseen, should not hinder preaching: it should only suspend that preaching, which could have no other effect than exciting persecution, or could not produce sufficient fruit to counterbalance the evil of persecution.

the letter, or, if we wish to explain it by practice, we seek the true construction in the practice of the lesser number. The bad construction of the false prophets was the second rock that should be avoided. Jesus Christ teaches us how to know these dangerous men, and thus gives notes of them beforehand to those who are sincerely desirous of not being seduced. For the false prophet, when once he is unmasked, only takes in those who wish to be taken in. Here are the very words of the Saviour: (a) " Enter ye in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. O, how narrow is the gate!" he exclaims, in a tone which should strike dread into every heart“ O, how narrow is the gate, and straight is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!" This says a great deal in a few words. Directly he adds: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them (8). Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit (9). Every tree that bringeth not

(a) St. Matthew, vii. 13; St. Luke, vi. 45.

(8) That is to say, by their works. A work, if bad, may decide that the prophet is false. A good work does not equally decide the true prophet. We have seen already that there are ostentatious prayers, proud fastings, and pharisaical alms. Humility and charity are the least equivocal marks. In vain may the false prophet disguise himself; he is always despising and slandering, and he is not slow in appearing. Yet, a person may neither be humble nor charitable, and still not be a false prophet. There are men who do wrong, and teach good. Works are not, therefore, an infallible rule to distinguish the true from the false, and Jesus Christ only proposes them as a prudent rule to discern between those whom we ought to reprove, and those whom we ought, at least, to distrust.

(9) It would be troublesome to reckon all the errors which have been built upon this maxim. The most impious was that of the Manicheans, who made use of it to defend their dogma of men born and necessitated to good, and of men born wicked, and necessitated to evil. The most silly was that of the Pelagians, who inferred from it that there was no original sin, because then would a bad fruit spring from marriage, which is a good tree. The most generally known is that which the Council of Trent condemns in Protestants, who concluded from it that all the actions of sinners and of the unbelieving are so many sins.