Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/matthewpeterjudeOOball 
 
THE 
 
 AMERICAN BIBLE 
 
 MATTHEW 
 
 PETER, JUDE, 
 JAMES, HEBREWS 
 
 THE 
 
 Books of the Bible 
 
 in 
 
 Modern English 
 
 for 
 
 American Readers 
 Frank Schell Ballentine 
 
 Good News Publishing Company 
 Scranton, Penna. 
 1902 
 
Copyright, 1902 
 By Frank Schell Ballentine 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Good News, according to S. Matthew, is 
 distinguished by its many quotations from the 
 Old Testament, and by the amount of space it 
 gives to the teaching of Jesus as compared with 
 his acts. 
 
 This body of teaching is always set before us 
 by S. Matthew at considerable length, and after 
 the fashion and method of the old Hebrew Wis- 
 dom Poets. The parallelism of the thought and 
 the rhythmic flow of the language is remarkable. 
 
 On the other hand, the bringing out of this 
 great feature of this Gospel makes us appreciate 
 the learning and culture of the writer, as well as 
 to understand and enjoy the beauties of his 
 thought and diction. It shows us what a charac- 
 teristic portraiture of our Lord he has drawn for 
 us, and the necessity of the four writers for a 
 full and well rounded view of him for all time to 
 come. 
 
 Yet, S. Matthew writes with no stiff national 
 or exclusive pride. 
 
 65214^^' 
 
ii 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 For it is S. Matthew who is the occasion of our 
 Lord's being charged with eating with saloon-keep- 
 ers and prostitutes.^ It is S. Matthew who tell us 
 of the visit of the eastern Magi, in whom Chris- 
 tendom from of old has rightly seen the first fruits 
 of the calling of the Gentiles. 
 
 It is S. Matthew who dwells emphatically on 
 the prospect of men coming from the east and from 
 the west, from the north and from the south, to sit 
 down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the King- 
 dom of Heaven. 
 
 It is S. Matthew who sets forth the law of com- 
 passionate judgment, which will make the doom of 
 Tyre and Sidon more tolerable than that of Chorazin 
 and Bethsaida. 
 
 Yes, it is S. Matthew who represents the Judge 
 of all the earth in the last great day, taking his 
 standard of judgment, not from the old Jewish 
 law, not from the specific truths taught by Christ, 
 even, but from the great and all-inclusive law of 
 kindness, which is stamped everywhere, even when 
 neglected and transgressed, on the hearts and lives 
 of those who have known no other revelation. 
 
 F. S. BALLENTINE, 
 
 Christ's Church Rectory, 
 
 SCRANTON, Pa., 
 
 Trinity tide f 1 90 1. 
 
 1 See note on page 281, S. Luke, Vol. III. 
 
MATTHEW. 
 
THE BOOK 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST 
 THE SON OF DAVID, THE SON OF 
 ABRAHAM. 
 
 Abraham was the father of Isaac, 
 Isaac of Jacob, 
 
 Jacob of Judah and his brothers, 
 
 Judah, of Pharez and Zarah, by Tamar, 
 
 Pharez of Ezrom, 
 
 Ezrom of Aram, 
 
 Aram of Aminadab, 
 
 Aminadab of Naason, 
 
 Naason of Salmon, 
 
 Salmon of Boaz, by Rahab, 
 
 Boaz of Obed, by Ruth, 
 
 Obed of Jesse, 
 
 3 
 
THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 I : 6. 
 
 Jesse of David, 
 
 David of Solomon, by the wife of Urijah, 
 
 Solomon of Rehoboam, 
 
 Rehoboam of Abijah, 
 
 Abijah of Asa, 
 
 Asa of Jehoshaphat, 
 
 Jehoshaphat of Joram, 
 
 Joram of Uzziah, 
 
 Uzziah of Jotham, 
 
 Jotham of Ahaz, 
 
 Ahaz of Hezekiah, 
 
 Hezekiah of Manassah, 
 
 Manassah of Amon, 
 
 Amon of Josiah, 
 
 Josiah of Jeconiah and his brothers, 
 
 at the time of the carrying away to BabyloHo 
 
 Jeconiah became the father of Salathiel, 
 after the carrying away to Babylon. 
 
 Salathiel was the father of Zerubbabel, 
 
 Zerubbabel of Abiudj 
 
 Abiud of Eliakim, 
 
 Eliakim of Azor, 
 
 Azor of Sadoc, 
 
 Sadoc of Achim, 
 
 Achim of Eliud, 
 
 Eliud of Eliazar, 
 
 Eliazar of Matthan, 
 
 Matthan of Jacobs 
 
S. Matth. childhood, c 
 
 I : i6. ^ 
 
 Jacob of Joseph, the husband of Mary, 
 
 the mother of Jesus, called the Christ. 
 So all the generations from Abraham to David 
 were 
 
 Fourteen generations. 
 From David to the carrying away to Babylon, 
 
 Fourteen generations. 
 From the carrying away to Babylon to the 
 Christ, 
 
 Fourteen generations. 
 
 Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way. 
 His mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph. 
 But before they came together she was found with 
 child by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Now, Joseph, her husband, was a good man, 
 and did not wish to expose her, so he intended to 
 divorce her privately. But while he was thinking 
 of this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a 
 dream, and said : 
 
 Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to 
 take to you Mary, your wife. Por that which is 
 begotten in her is by the Holy Spirit, and she 
 will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, 
 for it is he who will save his people from their 
 sins." 
 
 Now, all this has happened so that what was 
 
6 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 1 : 22. 
 
 spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be 
 fulfilled when he said : 
 
 Behold the virgin shall be with child, 
 
 And shall bring forth a son, 
 And they shall call his name 
 Emmanuel, 
 Which means, God with us. 
 Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the 
 angel of the Lord directed him, and took to him his 
 wife ; and did not know her till she had brought 
 forth a son : and he called his name Jesus. 
 
 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of 
 Judaea in the days of Herod the King, Magi from 
 the east came to Jerusalem, and said : 
 
 Where is he who was born King of the Jews ? 
 For we saw his star in the east and have come to 
 pay him homage." 
 
 When Herod the King heard it he was troubled 
 and all Jerusalem with him, and gathering to- 
 gether all the chief priests and scribes of the 
 people he inquired of them where the Christ 
 should be born. 
 
 And they said to him : 
 
 " In Bethlehem of Judaea. For thus it is writ- 
 ten by the prophet : 
 
 And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, 
 
 Art in no way least among the princes of Judah ; 
 
S. Matth. childhood. 7 
 
 2:6. ' 
 
 For out of thee shall come a governor, 
 
 Who shall shepherd my people Israel." 
 
 Then Herod privately called the Magi and 
 learned from them carefully what time the star 
 appeared, and sent them to Bethlehem, and said : 
 Go search out carefully about the young child ; 
 and when you have found him, bring me word, 
 so that I also, may come and pay him homage. ' ' 
 
 They heard the King and went, and to their 
 surprise the star they saw in the east kept going 
 before them till it came and stood over where the 
 young child was. And when they saw the star 
 they were very much pleased. 
 
 And they came into the house and saw the young 
 child with Mary his mother, and fell down and 
 paid him homage ; and opening their treasures they 
 offered him presents of gold, and frankincense, and 
 myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to re- 
 turn to Herod they went into their own country 
 another way. 
 
 Now when they had gone an angel of the Lord 
 appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said : 
 
 ^^Get up, and take the young child and his 
 mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there till I 
 tell you. For Herod will seek the young child to 
 destroy him." 
 
8 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 2 : 14. 
 
 He got up and took the young child and his 
 mother by night and went away into Egypt, and 
 was there till the death of Herod : so that what 
 was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might 
 be fulfilled : 
 
 " Out of Egypt did I call my son." 
 
 Then Herod, when he saw he was mocked by 
 the Magi, was very much enraged, and sent out 
 and slew all the boys in Bethlehem and ail its 
 neighborhood from two years old and under, 
 according to the time which he had carefully 
 learned from the Magi. 
 
 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by 
 Jeremiah the prophet : 
 
 A voice was heard in Ramah, 
 Weeping and great mourning : 
 
 Rachel weeping for her children, 
 And she would not be comforted, 
 Because they are not. 
 
 But when Herod was dead, an angel of the 
 Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 
 and said : 
 
 " Get up, and take the young child and his 
 mother and go into the land of Israel. For those 
 who were seeking the young child's life are dead. 
 
 He got up and took the young child and his 
 mother, and came into the land of Israel. 
 
 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning 
 
s. matth. the anointing. o 
 
 2 : 22. 
 
 over Judaea in the place of his father Herod, he 
 was afraid to go there ; and being warned in a 
 dream he withdrew into the parts of Gahlee, and 
 came and hved in a city called Nazareth, so that 
 what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled : 
 He shall be called a Nazarene. 
 
 Now in those days John the Baptist came preach- 
 ing in the wilderness of Judaea, saying : 
 
 *^ Change your mind and the purpose of your 
 heart ! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 
 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the 
 prophet, saying : 
 
 The voice of one crying in the wilderness : 
 Make ready the way of the Lord. 
 Make his path straight." 
 
 John had his clothes of camel's hair and a 
 leather girdle round his loins, and his food was 
 locusts and wild honey. 
 
 Then were going out to him Jerusalem, all Judaea, 
 and all the country round about Jordan, and were 
 being purified by him in the river Jordan confessing 
 their sins. 
 
 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and 
 Sadducees coming to his purification, he said to 
 them : 
 
 You brood of vipers ! 
 
 Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 
 
lO THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 3:8. 
 
 So bring forth fruit 
 
 Worthy of repentance. 
 
 And do not think to say to yourselves : 
 
 Abraham is our father. 
 
 For I tell you, God is able from these stones 
 To raise up children to Abraham. 
 
 Yes, even now the ax is lying 
 
 At the root of the trees. 
 
 So every tree that is not bringing forth good 
 fruit 
 
 Is to be cut down and thrown into the fire. 
 
 I, indeed, am purifying you with water to lead you 
 to a change of mind and purpose of heart. 
 But he who is coming after me is mightier 
 than I. 
 
 I am not worthy to carry his shoes. 
 
 He will purify you with the Holy Spirit and 
 
 with fire. 
 His fan is in his hand. 
 
 He will thoroughly clean his threshing- 
 floor. 
 
 He will gather his wheat into his barn, 
 But the chaff he will burn up with unquench- 
 able fire." 
 
 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to 
 John to be purified by him. But John would have 
 hindered him, saying : 
 
S. Matth. the anointing, II 
 
 3 • M. 
 
 ^^I need to be purified by you, and do you 
 come to me? " 
 
 Allow me now," Jesus answered him. ^^For 
 thus it is becoming in us to satisfy every religious 
 requirement." 
 
 Then he allowed him. 
 
 And when he was purified, Jesus at once went 
 up from the water, and the heavens v^ere opened, 
 and he saw the spirit of God descending like a 
 dove and coming on him, and a voice out of the 
 heavens : 
 
 " This is my loved Son, 
 
 In him I am well pleased." 
 
 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the 
 wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And 
 when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, 
 he was afterwards hungry. 
 
 Then the tempter came to him : 
 
 " If you are the Son of God," he said, com- 
 mand these stones to become bread." 
 
 " It is written," answered Jesus : 
 
 " Man shall not live by bread alone, 
 
 But by every word which comes out of the mouth of 
 God." 
 
 Then the devil took him into the Holy City, 
 and set him on the parapet of the temple : 
 
 " If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw 
 yourself down. For it is written : 
 
12 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 4. 6. 
 
 He shall give his angels charge over thee, 
 And on their hands they shall bear thee up, 
 Lest thou strike thy foot against a stone." 
 
 '*It is written again," said Jesus : 
 
 " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 
 Again the devil took him to a very high moun- 
 tain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world 
 and their grandeur : 
 
 I will give you all these," he said, if you will 
 fall down and worship me." 
 
 ^' Go away, Satan ! For it is written : 
 
 « Thou shalt w^orship the Lord thy God," 
 And him only shalt thou serve." 
 
 Then the devil left him, and angels came and 
 waited on him. 
 
 Now when he heard John had been handed 
 over to the authorities he went into Galilee. And 
 leaving Nazareth he came and lived in Capernaum 
 which is by the sea in the borders of Zebulun and 
 Naphtali so that what was spoken by Isaiah the 
 prophet might be fulfilled : 
 The land of Zebulun, 
 
 And the land of Naphtali, 
 Toward the sea, beyond Jordan, 
 
 Galilee of the Gentiles, 
 The people sitting in darkness 
 Saw a great light. 
 
s. matth. word and work, 
 
 4 : 16. •^•^ 
 
 To those sitting in the land and shadow of death, 
 To those light sprang up. 
 
 From that time Jesus began to proclaim and to 
 say : 
 
 Change your mind and the purpose of your 
 heart. For the Kmgdom of Heaven is at hand.'^ 
 
 As he was walking by the sea of GaUlee he 
 saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and 
 Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, 
 for they were fishers ; and he said to them : 
 
 " Come follow me and I will make you fishers 
 of men." 
 
 They at once left the nets and followed him. 
 
 Going on from there he saw two other brothers, 
 James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, 
 in the boat with Zebedee their father mending 
 their nets. 
 
 He called them. 
 
 They at once left the boat and their father and 
 followed him. 
 
 He was going round in all Galilee teaching in 
 their synagogues and preaching the good news 
 of the Kingdom, and curing all kinds of disease 
 and all kinds of sickness among the people. 
 And the report of him spread through all Syria : 
 and they brought to him all those who were sick 
 with different diseases and torments, demoniacs, 
 epileptic and palsied, and he cured them. And 
 
14. THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 4 : 25. 
 
 there followed him great crowds from Galilee, 
 Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea, and from beyond 
 Jordan. 
 
 Now seeing the crowds he went up into the 
 mountain and when he had taken his seat, his 
 disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth 
 and taught them : 
 
 Blessed are the poor in spirit I 
 
 For it is to them the Kingdom of Heaven 
 belongs. 
 Blessed are those who mourn ! 
 
 For it is they who will be comforted. 
 Blessed are the meek ! 
 
 For it is they who will inherit the earth. 
 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness. 
 For it is they who will be filled. 
 Blessed are the merciful ! 
 
 For it is they who will obtain mercy. 
 Blessed are the pure in heart ! 
 
 For it is they who will see God. 
 Blessed are the peacemakers ! 
 
 For it is they who will be called the children 
 of God. 
 
 Blessed are those who are persecuted 
 For righteousness' sake 
 For it is to them the Kingdom of Heaven 
 belongs. 
 
 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, 
 Shall persecute you, 
 
s. matth. word and work. IC 
 
 5 : II. ^ 
 Shall say all kinds of evil 
 Against you falsely, 
 For my sake. 
 Rejoice ! 
 
 Be exceedingly glad ! 
 For great is your reward in heaven. 
 For it was in this way they persecuted the 
 prophets, 
 
 Who were before you. 
 
 You are the salt of the earth. 
 
 But if the salt has become saltless, 
 
 With what shall it be salted ? 
 
 It is then good for nothing 
 
 But to be thrown out, 
 . And to be trodden under foot of men 
 You are the light of the world. 
 
 A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 
 
 Nor do men light a lamp. 
 
 And put it under the bushel, 
 
 But on the stand. 
 
 And it gives light to all who are in the house. 
 Let your light so shine before men 
 That they may see your noble deeds, 
 And praise your Father who is in Heaven. 
 
 Do not think I have come to destroy the law, 
 
 Or the prophets. 
 
 I have not come to destroy 
 
1 6 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 5: 17. 
 
 But to fulfil. 
 
 For to tell you the truth, 
 
 Till heaven and earth pass 
 
 Not the dot of an ' i,' nor the cross of a * t/ 
 
 Will ever disappear from the law 
 
 Till everything is accomplished. 
 So whoever shall break 
 One of these least commandments 
 And shall teach men to do so, 
 Will be called least 
 In the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 But whoever shall do and teach them 
 Will be called great 
 In the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 For I tell you. 
 
 Except your religion 
 
 Shall be better than that 
 
 Of the Scribes and Pharisees 
 
 You will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 You have heard it was said to them of old time : 
 
 Thou shalt not kill, 
 And whoever shall kill, 
 
 Shall be in danger of being brought to trial. 
 But I tell you : 
 
 Whoever is angry with his brother 
 
 Will be in danger of being brought to trial 
 Whoever shall say to his brother, You fool ! 
 Will be in danger of the council. 
 
s. matth. word and work. 
 
 5 • 22. 
 
 Whoever shall say : You scoundrel ! 
 
 Will be in danger of the gehenna of fire. 
 - So if you are offering your gift at the altar, 
 
 And there remember your brother 
 
 Has anything against you, 
 Leave your gift there before the altar 
 
 And go away. 
 
 First be reconciled to your brother, 
 And then come and offer your gift. 
 Agree with your adversary quickly, 
 While you are on the road with him, 
 Lest the adversary deliver you to the judg 
 The judge deliver you to the sheriff, 
 And you be thrown into prison. 
 To tell you the truth : 
 You will never come out of there, 
 Till you have paid the last cent. 
 
 You have heard it was said : 
 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
 But I tell you : 
 
 AVhoever looks on a woman 
 To lust after her 
 
 Has committed adultery with her already 
 In his heart. 
 
 If your right eye is a hindrance to you, 
 Pick it out. 
 Throw it from you. 
 
l8 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 5 : 29. 
 
 For it is good for you, 
 
 That one of your members should perish 
 And not your whole body 
 Be thrown into gehenna. 
 
 If your right hand is a hindrance to you 
 Cut it off, 
 
 Throw it from you. 
 For it is good for you. 
 
 That one of your members should perish 
 And not your whole body 
 Go into gehenna. 
 
 It was said also : 
 
 Whoever shall put away his wife, 
 
 Let him give her a writing of divorce. 
 But I tell you : 
 
 Whoever puts away his wife, 
 
 Except because of fornication, 
 Makes her an adulteress. 
 
 Whoever shall marry her 
 
 Who is divorced 
 Commits adultery. 
 
 Again you have heard it was said to them of 
 old time : 
 
 Thou shalt not break an oath, 
 
 But shalt keep your oaths to the Lord. 
 
s. matth. wokd and work. 19 
 
 5 : 34- 
 
 But I tell you : 
 
 Do not swear at all. 
 
 Neither by heaven, 
 
 For it is God's throne. 
 
 Nor by the earth, 
 
 For it is his footstool. 
 
 Nor by Jerusalem, 
 
 For it is the city of the Great King. 
 
 Nor are you to swear by your head, 
 
 For you cannot make one hair white or black. 
 Let your communication be : Yes. Yes. No. 
 No. , 
 
 For whatever is more than these 
 Comes from the evil one. 
 
 You have heard it was said : 
 
 An eye for an eye, 
 
 A tooth for a tooth. 
 But I tell you : 
 
 Do not resist him who is doing you harm. 
 
 But whoever strikes you on the right cheek 
 
 Turn to him the other also. 
 
 And if any one would go to law with you, 
 
 And take away your coat, 
 
 Let him have your cloak, also. 
 
 Whoever shall compel you to go one mile, 
 
 Go with him two. 
 
 Give to him 
 
> THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 5 : 42. 
 
 Who asks of you. 
 
 And do not turn away from him 
 
 Who wants to borrow from you. 
 
 You have heard it was said : 
 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbor, 
 
 And hate thine enemy. 
 But I tell you : 
 
 Love your enemies. 
 
 Bless those who curse you. 
 
 Do good to those who hate you. ^ 
 
 Pray for those who despitefully use you and 
 persecute you, 
 
 So that you may be the children 
 
 Of your Father in Heaven. 
 
 For he makes his sun to rise on the evil 
 
 And on the good. 
 
 He sends rain on the just, 
 
 And on the unjust. 
 
 For if you love those who love you. 
 
 What reward have you ? 
 
 Do not even the saloon-keepers do the same ? 
 
 If you salute your brothers only, 
 
 What do you do more than others ? 
 
 Do not even the heathen do the same ? 
 So you be perfect, 
 
 Just as your Father in Heaven is perfect. 
 
S, Matth. word and work, 21 
 
 6 : 1. 
 
 Be careful not to do your religious duties before 
 men, 
 
 To be looked at by them. 
 
 Otherwise you have no reward, 
 With your Father in Heaven. 
 
 So when you do charitable things 
 Do not sound a trumpet before you, 
 Like the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in 
 the streets, 
 
 So that they may be held in honor by men. 
 To tell you the truth, 
 They have their reward. 
 
 But when you are doing charitable things, 
 
 Do not let your left hand know 
 
 What your right hand is doing, 
 
 So that your charity may be in secret. 
 
 And your Father, who sees in secret, 
 
 Will reward you. 
 
 And when you pray, you are not to be like the 
 hypocrites, 
 
 For they like to pray standing in the syna- 
 gogues 
 
 And at the corners of the streets 
 So that they may be seen by men. 
 To tell you the truth, 
 They have received their reward. 
 
22 
 
 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 6:7. 
 
 When you pray, do not repeat the same thmgs 
 over and over, just as the heathen do. 
 
 For they think they shall be heard 
 
 For their much speaking. 
 So do not be hke them. 
 
 For your Father knows what you need, 
 
 Before you ask him. 
 
 So pray in this way : 
 
 Our Father, thou who art in the heavens, 
 Let thy name be once for all revered, 
 Let thy reign once for all come, 
 Let thy will once for all be done. 
 On earth just as it is in heaven. 
 
 Give us once for all to-day our food for to- 
 morrow, 
 
 And put away our offences once for all from us, 
 Just as we on our part have once for all put away 
 , the offences of those who have offended us. 
 And do not take us at all into temptation. 
 But rescue us rather once for all from the 
 Evil One. 
 
 For if you once for all put away men's failings. 
 Your heavenly Father will also once for all put 
 away yours. 
 
 But if you do not once for all put away men's 
 failings, 
 
 Neither will your Father once for all put away 
 yours. 
 
 When you are fasting do not be 
 
 Like long-faced hypocrites. 
 For they have long faces, 
 
 So that they may appear to men to be fasting. 
 
S. Matth. word and work. 22 
 
 6 : i6. '^O 
 
 To tell you the truth : 
 They have their reward. 
 
 But when you are fasting, 
 
 Anoint your head and wash your face : 
 So that you do not appear to men to be fasting, 
 
 But to your Father who is in secret, 
 And your Father who sees in secret, 
 
 Will reward you. 
 
 Do not be laying up for yourselves treasures on earth, 
 Where moth and rust consume 
 And where thieves break through and steal. 
 
 But be laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
 Where neither moth nor rust consume 
 And where thieves do not break through nor 
 steal. 
 
 P'or where your treasure is. 
 There will your heart be also. 
 
 The light of the body is the eye. 
 So if your eye is perfect 
 Your whole body will be full of light. 
 But if your eye is diseased 
 Your whole body will be full of darkness. 
 . So if the light which is in you is darkness, 
 How great is that darkness ! 
 
24 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 6 : 24. 
 
 No one can be serving two masters. 
 For he will either hate the one, 
 And love the other, 
 Or else he will hold to the one. 
 And despise the other. 
 You cannot be serving God and money. 
 
 So I tell you : 
 
 Do not be anxious for your life, 
 
 What you shall eat, or what you shall drink, 
 Nor yet for your body what you shall put on. 
 Is not the life more than the food? 
 The body than the clothes ? 
 Look at the birds of the air. 
 
 They do not sow, 
 
 Nor do they reap, 
 
 Nor gather into barns, 
 
 And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 
 Are you not much better than they ? 
 Which of you, by being anxious, 
 Can add one hour to the length of his life ? 
 Why then are you anxious about clothes ? 
 Consider the lilies of the field how they grow. 
 They do not toil, nor do they spin. 
 Yet I tell you : Even Solomon in all his 
 
 grandeur 
 Was not clothed like one of these. 
 If, then, God so clothes the grass of the field, 
 
S. Matth. word and work, 2 c; 
 
 6 : 30. ^ 
 
 Which is to-day, 
 
 And to-morrow is thrown into the oven, 
 Shall he not much more clothe you ? 
 O you of little faith ! 
 So do not be anxious, and say: 
 What shall we eat ? 
 What shall we drink ? 
 With what shall we be clothed ? 
 For the heathen seek after all these things. 
 For your Father knows you need all these 
 things. 
 
 But seek first the Kingdom of God and his 
 goodness 
 
 And all these things will be added to you. 
 So do not be anxious about to-morrow, 
 For to-morrow will have its own anxieties. 
 Each day's evil is enough for itself. 
 
 Do not judge 
 
 So that you may not be judged ; 
 For with the judgment you judge, 
 
 You will be judged. 
 With the measure you measure. 
 
 It will be measured you. 
 And why do you look at the mote 
 
 Which is in your brother's eye, 
 But do not consider the beam, 
 
 Which is in your own eye? 
 
26 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 7 : 4. 
 
 Or how shall you say to your brother, 
 Let me get the mote out of your eye ; 
 And look ! a beam is in your own eye ? 
 
 You hypocrite ! 
 First get the beam out of your own eye, 
 And then you will see clearly to get the mote 
 out of your brother's eye. 
 
 Do not give what is holy to the dogs, 
 Nor throw your pearls before pigs, 
 Lest they trample them under their feet, 
 
 And turn again and tear you in pieces. 
 
 Keep asking and it will be given you. 
 Keep seeking and you will frnd. 
 
 Keep knocking and it will be opened you. 
 For he who keeps asking, receives, 
 He who keeps seeking, finds, 
 
 To him who keeps knocking it will be 
 opened. 
 
 For what man is there of you, who. 
 
 If his son asks for a loaf. 
 
 Will he give him a stone ? 
 
 Or, if he aSks for a fish, 1 
 
 Will he give him a serpent ? 
 
 If you, then, who are bad, know how 
 
 To give good gifts to your children. 
 
 How much more will your Father in Heaven 
 
 Give good things to those who ask him. 
 
S. Matth. word and WORIC. 27 
 
 7 : 12. 
 
 So every thing you would have men do to you, 
 You do the same to them. 
 
 For this is the law and the prophets. 
 
 Enter in by the narrow gate. 
 For wide is the gate, 
 
 And broad the way which leads to destruc- 
 tion, 
 
 And there are many who go in by it. 
 Because narrow is the gate, 
 And contracted the way which leads to life. 
 
 And there are few who find it. 
 
 Beware of false prophets. 
 
 They come to you in sheep's clothing, 
 
 But inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 
 You will recognize them by their fruits. 1 
 
 Do men gather grapes of thorns ? ■ 
 
 Or figs of thistles ? 
 
 So every good tree bears good fruit. 
 
 But an unsound tree bears bad fruit. 
 
 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, 
 
 Nor can an unsound tree bear good fruit. 
 
 Every tree which does not bear good fruit, 
 
 Is cut down and thrown into the fire. 
 So you will recognize them by their fruits. 
 
 Not every one who says to me : Lord, Lord, will 
 enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
28 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 7:21. 
 
 But he who does the will of my Father in 
 Heaven. 
 
 Many will say to me in that day : 
 Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your 
 name? 
 
 And in your name cast out demons? 
 And in your name done many wonderful 
 things? 
 
 Then I will declare to them : 
 I never knew you. 
 
 Go away from me, you doers of wickedness ! 
 
 So whoever hears these sayings of mine and 
 does them, 
 
 Is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. 
 
 The rain descended. 
 
 The floods came. 
 
 The winds blew. 
 
 They beat upon that house. 
 It did not fall. 
 
 For it was founded on a rock. 
 
 Every one, who hears these sayings of mine 
 
 and does not do them, 
 Is like a foolish man who built his house on 
 the sand. 
 The rain descended. 
 The floods came. 
 
S. Matth. word and work, 2Q 
 
 7 : 27. ^ 
 
 The winds blew. 
 They struck that house. 
 It fell. 
 
 And great was the fall of it. 
 
 When Jesus finished what he had to say the 
 crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he used 
 to teach them like one who had authority and not 
 like their scribes. 
 
 When he had come down from the mountain 
 great crowds followed him. And a leper came 
 to him and worshipped him, and said : 
 Lord, if you wish you can cure me.'' 
 He stretched out his hand and touched him : 
 " It is my wish," he said. Be cured.'' 
 
 His leprosy was at once cured. 
 " See you tell no one," Jesus said, " but go 
 show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift 
 Moses commanded for a witness to them." 
 
 When he had gone into Capernaum a Roman 
 Captain came to him and begged him : 
 
 ^' Lord," he said, my boy is lying in the 
 house, sick of the palsy, fearfully tortured." 
 I will come and cure him^" said Jesus. 
 
 " Lord ! I am not of enough account for you 
 to come under my roof, but only say the word 
 
30 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 8 : 8. 
 
 and my boy will be cured. For I also am a man 
 set under authority, with soldiers under me, and 
 I say to this one, Go, and he goes, and to an- 
 other, Come, and he comes, and to my slave, Do 
 this, and he does it." 
 
 When Jesus heard this he wondered and said 
 to those who were following : 
 
 " To tell you the truth, I have not found so 
 much faith, no, not in Israel. And I tell you, 
 many will come from the east and the west and 
 will sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob 
 in the Kingdom of Heaven. But the sons of 
 the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer 
 darkness. There will be the weeping and gnash- 
 ing of teeth." 
 
 ^*Go," said Jesus to the Captain. Let it be 
 to you as you beheved." 
 
 The slave was cured that hour. 
 
 When Jesus had come into Peter*s house, he saw 
 his wife's mother lying sick of a fever. 
 
 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and 
 she got up and began to wait on them. 
 
 When evening had come, they brought to him 
 many demoniacs. He cast out the spirits with a 
 word, and cured all who were sick, so that what 
 was spoken by Isaiah the prophet might be ful- 
 filled : 
 
S.Matth. word and work. 7,1 
 
 8:17. 
 
 Himself took our weaknesses, 
 And bore our diseases. 
 
 Now when Jesus saw a crowd about him, he 
 gave orders to go to the other side. 
 
 A Scribe came and spoke to him : 
 
 " Master," he said, " I will follow you wher- 
 ever you are going." 
 
 "The foxes have holes," Jesus said to him, 
 ^' and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son 
 of man has nowhere to lay his head." 
 
 Another of the disciples said to him : 
 
 " Allow me first to go and bury my father." 
 
 " Follow me," Jesus said to him, " and leave 
 the dead to bury their own dead." 
 
 He went into a boat and his disciples followed 
 him. And a big storm came up on the sea so 
 the boat was covered with the waves. But he 
 was asleep. 
 
 They came to him and awoke him, and said : 
 
 " Save, Lord, we are perishing." 
 
 " Why are you afraid " he said to them. " O 
 you of little faith ! " 
 
 Then he got up and rebuked the winds and 
 the sea, and there was a great calm. And the 
 men wondered and said : 
 
 "What kind of a man is this, that even the 
 winds and the sea obey him ? " 
 
^2 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 8 : 28. 
 
 He came to the other side into the country of 
 the Gadarenes where he was met by two demo- 
 niacs coming out of the tombs, exceedingly tierce, 
 so that no one could pass along that way. And 
 they cried out, and said : 
 
 " What do you want of us, you Son of God ? 
 Have you come Jiere to torment us before the 
 time ? " 
 
 Now there was at a distance, a drove of many 
 pigs feeding, and the demons begged him, and 
 said : 
 
 If you drive us out, send us away into the 
 drove of pigs." 
 
 " Go," he said, and they came out and went 
 into the pigs, and the whole drove rushed down 
 the steep into the sea, and perished in the waters. 
 And those who tended them fled and went away 
 into the city and told everything and what had 
 happened to the demoniacs. 
 
 The whole city came out to meet Jesus, and 
 when they saw him they begged him to go from 
 their parts. 
 
 He entered a boat, crossed over and came into 
 his own city. 
 
 They brought him a paralytic, lying on a bed. 
 Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic : 
 Courage ! child. Your sins are forgiven.'* 
 
S. Matth. word and IVOR/C 
 
 9:3. 
 
 Some of the Scribes said to themselves : 
 
 *^This man is blaspheming." 
 
 Jesus knew their thoughts, and said : 
 
 *^Why are you cherishing evil thoughts? For 
 which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven, or 
 to say, Rise and walk ? But so that you may know 
 the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive 
 sins," — then he spoke to the paralytic, — ^^Rise. 
 Take up your bed and go to your house." 
 
 He got up and went to his house. 
 
 But when the crowds saw it they were afraid and 
 praised God who had given such authority to men. 
 
 As Jesus was passing on from there he saw a man 
 called Matthew sitting in his saloon, and he said to 
 him : 
 
 Follow me." 
 
 He got up and followed him. 
 
 As he was sitting at table in the house, many 
 saloon-keepers and prostitutes^ came and sat down 
 with Jesus and his disciples. 
 
 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his 
 disciples : 
 
 ^^Why is your Master eating with the saloon- 
 keepers and prostitutes? " 
 
 Those who are strong do not need a 
 physician," he said when he heard it, but 
 
 ^ See note at end of preface to S. Luke, Vol. III. 
 
 3 
 
OA THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 9:12. 
 
 those who are sick. But go and learn what 
 this means : 
 
 I desire mercy, 
 And not sacrifice. 
 
 For I did not come to call the good but the 
 bad." 
 
 Then the disciples of John came to him, and 
 said : 
 
 Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your 
 disciples do not fast 
 
 " Can the fnends of the bridegroom mourn, so 
 long as the bridegroom is with them t " said Jesus. 
 
 But the days will come when the bridegroom 
 will be taken away from them, and then will 
 they fast. 
 
 No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an 
 old garment. For that which should fill it up 
 tears away from the garment, and a worse tear 
 is made. Nor does any one put new wine into 
 old wineskins, for if they do the skins burst, the 
 wine is spilled, and the skins are spoiled. But 
 new wine is put into fresh skins and both are 
 preserved.'' 
 
 While he was saying these things to them a 
 president of a synagogue came and bent low be- 
 fore him, and said : 
 
S Matth. . WORD AND WORK-. 
 
 9 : i8. 
 
 " My daughter just died. But come and lay 
 your hand on her, and she will live.'' 
 
 Jesus got up and was following him and so 
 were his disciples. 
 
 Then a woman who had a flow of blood tw^elve 
 years came behind him and touched the border 
 of his garment. For she kept saying to herself : 
 
 " If I but touch his garment, I shall be cured." 
 
 But Jesus turning, and seeing her said : 
 Courage ! Daughter. Your faith has cured 
 you." 
 
 The woman was cured from that hour. 
 
 Jesus came into the president's house and saw 
 the flute-players and the crowd wailing, and said : 
 The little girl is not dead but is sleeping." 
 They laughed at him. 
 
 But when the crowd was put out, he went in 
 and took her by the hand, and the little girl got 
 up. And the report of it went out into all that 
 land. 
 
 As Jesus was passing on from there, two blind 
 men followed, crying out, and saying : 
 
 *^Take pity on us, Son of David." 
 
 And when he had come into the house the 
 blind men came to him. 
 
^6 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 r 9 28. 
 
 *' Do you believe I can do this ? Jesus said to 
 them. 
 
 "Yes, Lord.'^ 
 
 Then he touched their eyes, and said : 
 
 ''According to your faith, let it be to you." 
 
 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus 
 sternly charged them, and said : 
 
 " See that no one knows it." 
 
 But they went out and made him known in the 
 whole of that land. 
 
 As they were going out a mute possessed with 
 a demon w^as brought to him. And when the 
 demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the 
 crowd wondered, and said : 
 
 " Never was it so seen in Israel.'' 
 
 But the Pharisees said : 
 
 " He is driving out demons by the prince of 
 the demons." 
 
 Jesus was going about all the cities and the vil- 
 lages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the 
 good news of the Kingdom, and curing all kinds 
 of disease and all kinds of sickness. 
 
 But when he saw the crowds he pitied them 
 because they were distressed and scattered just 
 
s matth. gathering storms, ^7 
 9:36. ^' 
 
 like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to 
 his disciples : 
 
 ^' The harvest is truly plentiful but the laborers 
 are few. So pray the Lord of the harvest to 
 send out laborers into his harvest.'^ 
 
 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave 
 them authority over unclean spirits to drive them 
 out and to cure all kinds of disease and all kinds 
 of sickness. 
 
 Now the names of the twelve apostles are 
 these : 
 
 The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and An- 
 drew his brother, 
 James the Son of Zebedee, and John his brother ; 
 Philip and Bartholomew, 
 Thomas and Matthew the saloon-keeper, 
 James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddseus, 
 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also 
 betrayed him. 
 
 These twelve Jesus sent out and gave them this 
 charge : 
 
 " Do not go to the heathen, 
 Nor enter any city of the Samaritans. 
 But go rather to the lost sheep 
 Of the house of Israel 
 
38 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 lo : 7. 
 
 And as you go, proclaim, and say : 
 The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 
 
 Cure the sick, 
 
 Raise the dead, 
 
 Cleanse the lepers, 
 
 Drive out demons. 
 
 Freely you have received, 
 
 Freely give. 
 
 Do not provide either gold, or silver, or brass 
 in your purses. 
 No bag for your journey. • 
 Nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a stick. 
 
 For the workman is worthy of his food. 
 
 Into whatever city or village you shall enter, 
 Inquire who in it is worthy, 
 And stay there till you go out. 
 As you go into the house, salute it. 
 If the house is worthy, 
 
 Let your peace come on it, 
 If it is not worthy 
 
 Let your peace return to yoUo 
 
 If any one shall not receive you, 
 
 Nor hear your words, 
 When you go out of that house or city, 
 
 Shake off the dust of your feet. 
 
 To tell you the truth : It will be more toler- 
 
s. matth. ga thering storms. 39 
 
 lo : 15. 
 
 able for the land of Sodom and Gomor- 
 rah, in the day of judgment, 
 Than for that city. 
 
 I am sending you out as sheep 
 
 In the midst of wolves, 
 So be wise as serpents 
 
 And harmless as doves. 
 But beware of men. 
 
 For they will hand you over to the courts. 
 
 They will beat you in their synagogues. 
 
 You will be brought before governors and 
 kings 
 
 For my sake, for a witness against them and 
 the heathen. 
 
 But when they hand you over, do not be anxious 
 How you shall speak or what you shall say. 
 For it will be given you in that same hour 
 What you will speak. 
 For it is not you who are speaking. 
 But the Spirit of your Father speaking in you. 
 The brother will deliver up the brother to 
 
 death, 
 The father the child. 
 
 Children will rise up against their parents, 
 And will cause them to be put to death. 
 
40 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 lo : 22. 
 
 You will be hated by all men for my name's 
 sake. 
 
 But he who endures to the end will be saved. 
 But when they persecute you in this city, 
 Flee into the next. 
 For to tell you the truth, 
 
 You will not have gone through the cities of 
 Israel 
 
 Till the Son of man has come. 
 
 A disciple is not above his teacher. 
 
 Nor a slave above his master. 
 
 It is enough for a disciple to be as his teacher, 
 
 A slave as his master. 
 
 If they have called the master of the house 
 Beelzebub, 
 
 How much more the members of his house- 
 hold ! 
 
 So do not be afraid of them. 
 
 For there is nothing covered which will not be 
 
 revealed. 
 And hid, which will not be known. 
 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the 
 
 light. 
 
 What you hear in the ear, proclaim on the 
 housetops. 
 
 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, 
 But are not able to kill the soul. 
 But be afraid of him who can destroy 
 
s. matth. ga thering storms. 41 
 
 lo : 28. ^ 
 
 Both soul and body in Gehenna. 
 Are not two sparrows sold for five cents ? 
 And not one of them will fall to the ground 
 Without your Father. 
 
 But the very hairs of your head are all counted. 
 So do not be afraid. 
 
 You are of more value than many sparrows. 
 
 So whoever shall confess me before men, 
 
 Him will I also confess 
 
 Before my Father in Heaven. 
 Whoever shall deny me before men, 
 
 Him will I also deny 
 
 Before my Father in Heaven. 
 
 Do not think I came to send peace on earth, 
 I did not come to send peace but a sword. 
 For I came to set a man against his father, 
 The daughter against her mother, 
 The daughter-in-law against her mother-in- 
 law. 
 
 A man's foes will be those of his own house- 
 hold. 
 
 He who loves father or mother more than me 
 
 Is not worthy of me, 
 He who loves son or daughter more than me 
 
 Is not worthy of me. 
 
4.2 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 ^ lo : 38. 
 
 He who does not take his cross and follow me 
 
 Is not worthy of me, 
 He who finds his life 
 
 Will lose it, 
 He who loses his life for my sake 
 
 Will find it. 
 
 He who receives you, 
 
 Receives me. 
 He who receives me, 
 
 Receives him who sent me. 
 He who receives a prophet 
 
 In the name of a prophet, 
 V/ill receive a prophet's reward. 
 He who receives a righteous man. 
 In the name of a righteous man, 
 Will receive a righteous man's reward. 
 Whoever shall give a drink 
 
 To one of these little ones, 
 A cup of cold water only, 
 In the name of a disciple. 
 To tell you the truth, 
 He will in no way lose his reward. 
 
 When Jesus had made an end of charging his 
 twelve disciples, he left there to teach and to pro- 
 claim in their cities. 
 
s. matth. gathering storms, 4^ 
 11:2. 
 
 Now when John heard in the prison of the 
 doings of the Christ, he sent by his disciples and 
 said to him : 
 
 Are you the coming one or are we to lisok 
 for another ? " 
 
 Jesus answered them : 
 " Go tell John the things you hear and see. 
 The blind receive their sight. 
 The lame walk. 
 The lepers are cleansed. 
 The deaf hear. 
 The dead are raised up. 
 The poor have the good news proclaimed to 
 them. 
 
 Blessed is he who shall find no hindrance in 
 me. 
 
 As these were going away Jesus began to say 
 to the crowds about John : 
 
 What did you go out into the wilderness to look 
 at? 
 
 A reed shaken by the wind ? 
 But what did you go out to see ? 
 
 A man clothed in soft clothing ? 
 
 Listen, those who wear soft clothing 
 
 Are in kings' houses. 
 But what did you go out to see ? 
 
 A prophet ? 
 
44 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 II :9. 
 
 Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 
 For this is he of whom it is written : 
 
 Behold ! I send my messenger before thy face. 
 
 He shall prepare thy way before thee. 
 
 To tell you the truth : 
 Among those born of women, 
 There has not risen a greater than John the 
 Purifier. 
 
 Yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven, 
 Is greater than he. 
 
 From the days of John the Purifier till now 
 The Kingdom of Heaven is being taken by 
 force, 
 
 And those who are taking it by force are seiz- 
 ing it. 
 
 For all the prophets and the law 
 Prophesied till John, 
 And if you will receive it, 
 This is Elijah who is to come. 
 
 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 
 
 But to what shall I compare this generation ? 
 It is like children sitting in the public squares, 
 Calling to their fellows : 
 
 We piped for you, 
 
 You did not dance. 
 
S. Matth. gathering storms, 4cf 
 11:17. 
 
 We mourned, 
 
 You did not lament. 
 For John came neither eating nor drinking, 
 And they say : He has a demon. 
 The Son of man came eating and drinking, 
 And they say : A glutton ! A wine-drinker ! 
 A friend of saloon-keepers and prostitutes ! 
 But wisdom is shown to be right by her deeds. 
 
 Then he began to upbraid the cities in which 
 most of his wonderful deeds were done, because 
 they did not repent : 
 Woe to you, Chorazin ! 
 Woe to you, Bethsaida J 
 
 For if the wonderful deeds done in you, 
 
 Had been done in Tyre and Sidon 
 
 They would have changed their mind and the 
 
 purpose of their heart long ago. 
 In sackcloth and ashes. 
 But I tell you : 
 It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon 
 At the day of judgment than for you. 
 
 And you, Capernaum, shall you be exalted to 
 heaven ! 
 
 You will be brought down to hades. 
 
 For if the wonderful deeds done in you, 
 Had been done in Sodom, 
 It would have remained 
 To this day. 
 
46 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth, 
 
 n : 24. 
 
 But I tell you : 
 It will be more tolerable for the land of 
 Sodom 
 
 In the day of judgment, than for you/' 
 
 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. 
 Yes^ Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. 
 
 Everything was delivered to me by my Father. 
 And no one fully knows the Son except the 
 Father. 
 
 Nor does any one fully know the Father except 
 the Son, 
 
 And he to whomever the Son wishes to re- 
 veal him. 
 
 Come to me all you who are weary and bur- 
 dened, 
 And I will give you rest. 
 
 Take my yoke on you, and learn of me. 
 For I am gentle and lowly in heart. 
 And you will find rest for your souls. 
 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. ^' 
 
s. matth. ga thering storms. a J 
 
 12 : I. ' 
 
 At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through 
 the wheat fields ; and his disciples were hungry 
 and began to pick and eat some heads of wheat. 
 
 But the Pharisees saw it : 
 Look," they said to him. "Your disciples 
 are doing what it is not right to do on the Sab- 
 bath." 
 
 " Have you not read what David did, when he 
 was hungry^ and those with him : how he went 
 into the house of God, and ate the shew-bread, 
 which it was not right for him to eat, nor for 
 those with him, but only for the priests? Or 
 have you not read in the law, how on the Sab- 
 bath the priests in the temple profane the Sab- 
 bath and are guiltless } But I tell you, one 
 greater than the temple is here. But if you had 
 known what this means : 
 
 I desire mercy 
 
 And not sacrifice, 
 you would not have condemned the guiltless. 
 For the Son of Man is master of the Sabbath." 
 
 He left there and went into their synagogue, and 
 a man with a withered hand was there. And they 
 asked him : 
 
 ''Is it right to cure on the Sabbath ? " 
 
 They asked this so that they might have occasion 
 to accuse him. And he said to them : 
 
48 THE ANOINTED KING. S Matth 
 
 What man of you, who shall have a sheep, 
 if this falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he 
 not lay hold of it and lift it out ? 
 
 How much, then, is a man of more value than 
 a sheep ? So it is right to do good on the Sab- 
 bath." 
 
 Then he said to the man : 
 Stretch out your hand." 
 He stretched it out and it was restored as the 
 other. 
 
 But the Pharisees went out and plotted against 
 him to destroy him. 
 
 Jesus saw it and withdrew from there. And 
 many followed him and he cured them all, and 
 charged them not to make him known; so that 
 what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet might be 
 fulfilled : 
 
 Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, 
 
 My beloved in w^liom my soul is v^ell pleased, 
 
 I will put my spirit upon him. 
 
 And he shall declare judgment to the heathen. 
 He shall not strive nor cry. 
 No one shall hear his voice in the streets, 
 A bruised reed shall he not break, 
 Smoking flax shall he not quench. 
 Till he send forth judgment unto victory. 
 
 In his name shall the heathen trust." 
 
S. Matth. GA THERING storms. 4.0 
 
 12 : 22. 
 
 One possessed with a demon, blind and mute, 
 was brought to him. 
 
 He cured him so the bhnd and mute both spoke 
 and saw. And all the crowds wondered, and said : 
 Can this be the Son of David 1 " 
 
 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said : 
 
 " This man does not drive out demons but by 
 Beelzebub, the prince of the demons." 
 
 He noticed their thoughts, and said to them : 
 Every kingdom divided against itself 
 
 Is brought to desolation. 
 Every city or house divided against itself 
 
 Will not stand. 
 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against 
 himself. 
 
 How then shall his kingdom stand? 
 
 If Beelzebub drives out demons. 
 
 By whom do your sons drive them out } 
 
 So they will be your judges. 
 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, 
 
 Then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 
 How can any one enter a strong man's house 
 
 And spoil his goods. 
 Except he first bind the strong man t 
 
 And then he will spoil his house. 
 He who is not with me is against me. 
 
 He who gathers not with me scatters abroad. 
 4 
 
CO THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 ^ 12:31. 
 
 So I tell you 
 
 All kinds of sin and blasphemy, 
 
 Will be put away from men. 
 But the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit 
 
 Will not be put away from them. 
 Wlioever speaks a word against the Son of man, 
 
 It will be put away from him. 
 But whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, 
 
 It will not be put away from him, 
 Neither in this world, 
 
 Nor in the world to come. 
 
 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, 
 Or else make the tree corrupt and its fruit 
 corrupt. 
 
 For the tree is known by its fruit. 
 O you brood of vipers ! 
 How can you, being evil, 
 
 Speak good things 1 
 For out of the abundance of the heart, 
 
 The mouth speaks. 
 A good man out of the good treasure of his 
 heart, 
 
 Brings out good things. 
 A bad man out of his bad treasure, 
 
 Brings out bad things. 
 But I tell you : 
 
 Every idle word which men will speak, 
 
S. Matth. gathering storms, CI 
 
 12 : 36. ^ * 
 
 They will give account of in the day of 
 judgment. 
 
 For by your words you will be justified, 
 By your words you will be condemned. 
 
 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees 
 answered him : 
 
 Master, we want to see a sign from you." 
 But he answered them : 
 
 wicked and faithless generation is seeking 
 
 after a sign, 
 And no sign will be given it but the sign of 
 Jonah the prophet. 
 For as Jonah was three days and three nights 
 in the belly of the sea monster. 
 So will the Son of man be three days and 
 three nights in the heart of the earth. 
 
 The men of Nineveh will stand up in the 
 judgment with this generation, 
 And will condemn it. 
 For they changed their mind and the purpose 
 of their heart at the preaching of Jonah, 
 And a greater than Jonah is here. 
 
 The queen of the south will rise up in the 
 judgment with this generation. 
 And will condemn it. 
 For she came from the ends of the earth to 
 hear the wisdom of Solomon. 
 And a greater than Solomon is here. 
 
t;2 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 12 : 43. 
 
 But the unclean spirit, 
 When he has gone out of the man, 
 Passes through waterless places. 
 Seeking rest and finds none. 
 
 Then he says : I will return to my house 
 
 From which I came out, 
 
 And when he has come he finds it 
 
 Empty, swept, and adorned. 
 
 Then he goes and takes with himself, 
 
 Seven other spirits more evil than himself. 
 
 And they enter in 
 
 And dwell there. 
 
 And the last state of that man 
 
 Becomes worse than the first. 
 It will be the same also 
 With this wicked generation.'* 
 
 He was still speaking to the crowds when his 
 mother and his brothers were standing outside, 
 seeking to speak to him. 
 
 Some one said to him : 
 Look, your mother and your brothers are 
 standing outside desiring to speak with you/' 
 
 He answered him who told him : 
 
 " Who is my mother ? And who are my bro- 
 thers } " And he stretched out his hand towards 
 his disciples: "Look, my mother, and my 
 brothers. For whoever shall do the will of my 
 
S. Matth. deepening HOSriLITY, c ^ 
 
 12:50. 
 
 Father in Heaven, he is my brother and sister and 
 mother. ' ' 
 
 I 
 
 That day Jesus went out of the house and sat by 
 the sea. And there were gathered to him great 
 crowds, so he got into a boat and sat, and the 
 whole crowd stood on the beach. And he said 
 many things to them in illustrations : 
 
 ^' Look, the sower went out to sow. 
 
 As he was sowing some seeds fell by the road, 
 and the birds came and devoured them. 
 
 Others fell on the rocky places, where they had 
 not much soil, and they at once sprang up because 
 they had no depth of soil, and when the sun was 
 risen, they were scorched, and because they had 
 no root they withered away. 
 
 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns 
 grew up and choked them. 
 
 Others fell on the good ground and yielded 
 fruit, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some 
 thirty. 
 
 He who has ears to hear, let, him hear." 
 
 The disciples came and said to him : 
 
 Why do you speak to them in illustrations.? " 
 *'To you it is given to come to a knowledge of 
 
r J. THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 the secret truths of the Kingdom of Heaven," he 
 answered them, but to them it is not given. 
 For whoever has. 
 
 To him will be given 
 And he will have abundance. 
 
 But whoever has not, 
 From him will be taken 
 Even what he has. 
 So I speak to them in illustrations because they 
 see and do not see, they hear and do not hear, nor 
 do they understand. And in them is completely 
 fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah : 
 
 Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand. 
 Seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive, 
 For this people's heart hath become gross. 
 Their ears are dull of hearing, 
 Their eyes they have closed. 
 Lest they should see with their eyes, 
 Hear with their ears, 
 Understand with their heart, 
 Should be converted, 
 And I should cure them. 
 
 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, 
 
 Your ears for they hear. 
 For to tell you the truth : 
 
 Many prophets and good men have desired 
 
s. matth. deepening hostility, c c 
 
 13:17. *^ *J 
 
 To see what you see, and have not seen them. 
 To hear what you hear, and have not heard them. 
 
 So hear the explanation of the illustration of the 
 sower. 
 
 When any one hears the message of the King- 
 dom, and does not understand it, then the wicked 
 one comes and catches away what was sown in his 
 heart. 
 
 This is he who was sown by the road. 
 
 He who was sown on the rocky places, this is 
 he who hears the message and at once with joy 
 receives it. Yet he has no root in himself, but 
 endures for a while, and when tribulation and per- 
 secution rises because of the message he is at once 
 offended. 
 
 He who was sown among the thorns, this is he 
 who hears the message, and the cares of the world 
 and the deceitfulness of riches choke the message 
 and he becomes unfruitful. 
 
 He who was sown on the good ground, this is 
 he who hears the message and takes it in ; who truly 
 keeps bearing fruit and bringing forth, some a 
 hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty." 
 
 He gave them another illustration : 
 *^The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a 
 man who sowed gcod seed in his field. But 
 
c6 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 13 : 25. 
 
 while men were asleep his enemy came and sowed 
 tares also among the wheat and went away. But 
 when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, 
 then appeared the tares also. 
 
 So the slaves of the owner came and said to 
 him : 
 
 Master; did you not sow good seed in your 
 field ? How then has it tares ? 
 An enemy has done this. 
 
 Do you then want us to go and gather them 
 up ? 
 
 No, lest while you gather up the tares you root 
 up also the wheat with them. Let both grow 
 together till the harvest : and in the time of 
 harvest I will say to the reapers. Gather up first the 
 tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but 
 gather the wheat into my barn." 
 
 He gave them another illustration : 
 
 **The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of 
 mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his 
 field. This is, indeed, less than all seeds, but 
 when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and 
 becomes a tree, so the birds of the air come and 
 lodge in the branches of it." 
 
 He gave them another illustration : 
 
 *^The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which 
 
S. Matth. deepening hostility. cj 
 
 13:33- ^' 
 a woman took and hid in three measures of meal 
 till it was ail leavened." 
 
 Jesus said all these things in illustrations to the 
 crowds, and without an illustration he said nothing 
 to them : so that what was spoken by the prophet 
 might be fulfilled : 
 
 I will open my mouth in illustrations. 
 I will utter things hidden 
 From the foundation of the world. 
 
 Then he left the crowds and went into the 
 house. And his disciples came to him : 
 
 Explain to us the illustration of the tares of the 
 field," they said. 
 
 He who sows the good seed is the Son of 
 man/' he answered. " The field is the world. 
 The good seed, these are the sons of the King- 
 dom. The tares are the sons of the evil one, 
 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. 
 The harvest is the end of the world, and the 
 reapers are angels. 
 
 So just as the tares are gathered up and burned 
 with fire, so will it be in the end of the world. 
 The Son of man will send out his angels, and 
 they will gather out of his Kingdom everything 
 which offends and those who are wicked, and 
 will throw them into the furnace of fire. 
 
c8 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 ^ 13 : 42. 
 
 There will be the weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth. 
 
 Then will those who are good shine out like the 
 sun in the Kingdom of their Father. 
 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 
 
 The Kingdom of Heaven is Hke a treasure hid 
 in the field, which a man found and hid, and in 
 his joy he goes and sells whatever he has and 
 buys that field. 
 
 Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mer- 
 chant seeking costly pearls ; and when he has 
 found one pearl of great price, he goes and sells 
 all he has and buys it. 
 
 Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net 
 which was cast into the sea and gathered of every 
 kind ; which, when it was filled, they drew upon 
 the beach and they sat down and gathered the 
 good into vessels but threw the bad away. 
 
 So it will be in the end of the world. The 
 angels will come out and separate the wicked 
 from among the good and throw them into the 
 furnace of fire. 
 
 There will be the weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth. 
 
 Have you understood all these things 
 They say to him, Yes.'' 
 
S. Matth. deepening hostility. rq 
 13:52. 
 
 He said to them : 
 So every Scribe who has been made a disciple 
 to the Kingdom of Heaven, is Hke a man who is a 
 householder who brings out of his treasure things 
 new and old." 
 
 When Jesus had finished these illustrations he 
 left there. And coming into his own country he 
 taught them in their synagogue so they were 
 astonished, and said : 
 
 Where did this man get this wisdom and the 
 power to do these great things? Is not this the 
 carpenter's son? Is not his mother called 
 Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and 
 Simon and Judah? and his sisters, are they not 
 all with us? Where then did this man get all 
 these things ? " 
 
 They were offended at him. But Jesus said to 
 them : 
 
 A prophet is not without honor, except in his 
 own country and in his own house." 
 
 And he did not do many great things there 
 because of their unbelief. 
 
 At that time Prince Herod heard the report of 
 Jesus, and said to his attendants : 
 
 *^This is John the Purifier. He is risen from 
 
6o THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 14 : 2. 
 
 the dead and so these powers are working in 
 him." 
 
 For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him 
 and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, 
 his brother Philip's wife, for John said to him : 
 
 It is not right for you to have her." And when 
 he would have put him to death he was afraid of the 
 crowd, because they considered him as a prophet. 
 
 But when Herod's birthday came the daughter 
 of Herodias danced among them and pleased 
 Herod and for this reason he promised with an 
 oath to give her whatever she should ask. And 
 she, led on by her mother, said : * ' Give me here 
 on a dish the head of John the Purifier." 
 
 The King was sorry. But for the sake of his 
 oath and of those at table with him he com- 
 manded it to be given, and he sent and beheaded 
 John in the prison : and his head was brought on 
 a dish and given to the young girl, and she brought 
 it to her mother. 
 
 His disciples came and took up the body and 
 buried him, and went and told Jesus. 
 
 Now when Jesus heard it he went from there • 
 in a boat to a lonely place apart. And when 
 the crowds heard, they followed him on foot from 
 the towns. And he came out and saw a great 
 crowd and he pitied them and cured their sick. 
 
s. matth. deepening hostility, 6i 
 
 14 : 15. 
 
 And when evening had come the disciples came to 
 him and said : 
 
 ^^The place is lonely, and the time is already 
 past, send the crowds away so that they may go 
 into the villages and buy themselves food." 
 
 But Jesus said to them : 
 They do not need to go away. You give 
 them something to eat.'' 
 
 ^' We have here but five loaves and two fish." 
 Bring them here to me/' 
 
 He directed the crowds to sit down on the 
 grass, and he took the five loaves and the two 
 fish, and looking up to heaven he blessed God and 
 broke and gave the loaves to the disciples and 
 the disciples to the crowds. 
 
 They all ate and were filled, and they took up 
 what remained over of the broken pieces twelve 
 baskets full. 
 
 Those who ate were about five thousand men, 
 beside women and children. 
 
 He at once urged his disciples to get into a 
 boat and to go before him to the other side, till 
 he should send the crowds away. And after he 
 had sent them away he went up into the moun- 
 tain apart to pray. And when evening had 
 come, he was there alone. But the boat was 
 now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the 
 
62 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 14 : 24. 
 
 waves, for the wind was against her. And about 
 daybreak he came to them, walking on the sea. 
 
 When the disciples saw him walking on the 
 sea, they were troubled, and said : 
 
 It is a ghost! " and they cried out for fear. 
 
 But Jesus at once spoke to them : 
 Courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.'' 
 
 " Lord, if it is you," Peter answered him, " bid 
 me come to you on the waters." 
 
 " Come," he said, and Peter went down from 
 the boat and began to walk on the waters to go to 
 Jesus. 
 
 But when he saw the wind he was afraid, and 
 began to sink, and cried out : 
 Lord, save me ! " 
 
 Jesus at once stretched out his hand and took 
 hold of him : 
 
 O you of Httle faith ! " he said. Why did 
 you doubt? " 
 
 When they had got up into the boat the wind 
 ceased. And those who were in the boat wor- 
 shipped him and said : 
 
 You are indeed the Son of God.'* 
 
 When they had crossed over they came to the 
 land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that 
 place recognized him they sent out into the 
 whole of that region and brought to him all the 
 sick, and they begged him to let them but 
 
s. matth. the crisis. 6^ 
 
 14:36. ^ 
 
 touch the border of his garment : and as many 
 as touched were cured. 
 
 Then Pharisees and scribes come to Jesus 
 from Jerusalem and say : 
 
 Why do your disciples act contrary to the 
 tradition of the elders ? For they do not wash 
 their hands when they eat," 
 
 Why do you also act contrary to the com- 
 mand of God because of your tradition ? " he 
 answered them. 
 " For God said : 
 
 Honor thy father and thy mother, 
 
 and, 
 
 He that speaketh evil of father or mother, 
 Let him surely die. 
 But you say : 
 Whoever shall say to his father or his mother : 
 That with which you might have been profited 
 
 by me 
 Is given to God, 
 He shall not honor his father. 
 And you have made the word of God of no 
 
 account because of your tradition. 
 You hypocrites ! well did Isaiah prophesy of you : 
 This people honoreth me with their lips 
 
 But their heart is far from me. 
 But in vain do they worship me, 
 
 Teaching doctrines that are the precepts of men." 
 
64 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 15 : 10. 
 
 He called the crowd to him and said to them : 
 Hear and understand : 
 
 Not what goes into the mouth 
 
 Defiles the man, 
 But what comes out of the mouth, 
 This defiles the man.'' 
 
 The disciples then came to him, and said : 
 *'Do you know the Pharisees were offended 
 when they heard this saying?" 
 
 " Every plant which my Father did not plant," 
 he answered, ''will be rooted up. Let them 
 alone. They are blind guides. And if the 
 blind guides the blind, both will fall into a pit." 
 Explain to us the illustration/' Peter said to 
 
 him. 
 
 And he said : 
 Are you also even yet without understanding? 
 Do you not see that 
 
 Whatever goes into the mouth 
 Passes into the belly 
 
 And is thrown out into the sewer ? 
 But the things which proceed from the mouth 
 Come out of the heart. 
 
 They defile the man. 
 For out of the heart come 
 Bad thoughts, 
 Murders, 
 
s.matth. the crisis. 6 
 
 15 : 19. 
 
 Adulteries, 
 
 Fornications, 
 
 Thefts, 
 
 False witnessings, 
 Blasphemies, 
 These are the things which defile the man. 
 But to eat with unwashed hands 
 Does not defile the man. 
 
 Jesus left there and w^ent into the parts of 
 Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanitish woman 
 came out from those parts and cried : 
 
 " Take pity on me, O Lord, Son of David ! 
 my daughter is badly possessed with a demon." 
 
 But he did not answer her a word, and his dis- 
 ciples came and begged him, and said : 
 
 Send her away, for she is crying after us. " 
 I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the 
 house of Israel, he said. 
 
 But she came and worshipped him, and said : 
 
 " Lord help me." 
 
 " It is not right to take the children's food 
 and throw it to the little dogs." 
 
 Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs feed on 
 the crumbs which fall from their master's 
 table.'^ 
 
 O woman, great is yo.ur faith. Let it be done 
 to you just as you wish.'' 
 5 
 
66 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 15 : 28. 
 
 Her daughter was cured from that hour, 
 
 Jesus left there and came near the sea of Gal- 
 ilee, and he went up into the mountain and sat 
 there. And great crowds came to him with the 
 lame, maimed, blind, mute, and many others, 
 and they put them down at his feet, and he cured 
 them ; so that the crowd wondered when they 
 saw the mute speaking, the lame walking about, 
 and the blind seeing ; and they praised the God 
 of Israel. 
 
 Jesus called his disciples to him : 
 I pity the crowd," he said, " because they 
 have been with me now three days and have noth- 
 ing to eat. And I do not want to send them 
 away fasting lest they faint on the road." 
 
 Where could we get enough loaves in a lonely 
 place like this to fill such a great crowd ? " 
 How many loaves have you ? " 
 Seven, and a few small fish." 
 
 He passed the word along to the crowd to sit 
 down on the ground. Then he took the seven 
 loaves and the fish and gave thanks and broke, 
 and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the 
 crowds. 
 
 They all ate and were filled, and they took up 
 what remained over of the broken pieces, seven 
 hampers full. And those who ate were four thou- 
 sand men beside women and children. 
 
s. matth. the crisis. 67 
 
 15 : 39- ' 
 
 He sent the crowds away, got into the boat, and 
 came into the parts of Magadan. 
 
 The Pharisees and Sadducees came and tempted 
 him and asked him to show them a sign from 
 heaven. 
 
 But he answered and said to them : 
 When it is evening you say, It will be fair 
 weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, 
 It will be bad weather to-day, for the sky is red 
 and cloudy. 
 
 You learn how to read the face of the sky, 
 but you cannot read the signs of the times. 
 
 A wicked and faithless generation is seeking 
 after a sign, and there will no sign be given it, 
 but the sign of Jonah." 
 
 He left them and went away. 
 
 The disciples came to the other side and forgot 
 to take any bread. And Jesus said to them : 
 
 ^^Take care and beware of the leaven of the 
 Pharisees and Sadducees." 
 
 They began to discuss among themselves the 
 fact that they had brought no bread. 
 
 And Jesus seeing it, said : 
 
 you of little faith ! Why are you discuss- 
 
68 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 i6 : 8 
 
 ing among yourselves because you have no bread ? 
 Do you not yet see, nor remember the five loaves 
 of the five thousand and how many baskets you 
 took up ? Nor the seven loaves of the four thou- 
 sand, and how many hampers you took up ? How 
 is it you do not see that I did not speak to you 
 about bread ? Bat meant for you to beware of the 
 leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 
 
 Then they understood that he told them to be- 
 ware, not of the leaven of bread, but of the teach- 
 ing of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 
 
 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea 
 Philippi he asked his disciples : 
 
 Who do they say the Son of man is ? 
 *^Some say, John the Baptist; some, Elijah; 
 and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 
 ^' But you, who do you say I am? " 
 You are the Christ, the Son of the living 
 God." 
 
 It was Peter who answered. 
 And Jesus answered him : 
 
 Blessed are you, Simon son of John, for it was 
 not flesh and blood that revealed it to you, but my 
 Father in Heaven ; and I also say to you, that 
 you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my 
 Church ; and the powers of death shall not prevail 
 over it. 
 
s. matth. the crisis, 6q 
 
 i6 ; 19. ^ 
 
 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, and 
 
 Whatever you declare to be wrong on earth, 
 
 Will be considered so in heaven. 
 Whatever you declare to be right on earth, 
 Will be considered so in heaven. 
 
 Then he charged the disciples not to tell any 
 one he was the Christ. 
 
 From that time Jesus began to show to his 
 disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and en- 
 dure much suffering from the elders and chief 
 priests and scribes, be killed, and the third day be 
 raised up. 
 
 Peter took him and began to rebuke him : 
 ^^Let it be far from you. Lord. This shall 
 never happen to you." 
 
 But he turned and said to Peter : 
 **Get behind me, Satan 1 You are a stumbhng 
 stone to me. For you are not regarding the things 
 of God, but the things of men." 
 Jesus then said to his disciples : 
 If any one wishes to come after me, 
 Let him deny himself, take up his cross, 
 And follow me. 
 
70 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 ' 16 : 25. 
 
 For whoever wants to save his hfe 
 
 Will lose it. 
 Whoever shall lose his life, for my sake, 
 
 Will find it. 
 For what shall a man be profited 
 If he shall gain the whole world, 
 
 And forfeit his life? 
 Or what shall a man give 
 
 In exchange for his life? 
 For the Son of man will come 
 
 In the glory of his Father 
 
 With his angels. 
 
 And then will he render to every man 
 According to his deeds. 
 To tell you the truth : 
 
 There are some of those standing here, 
 Who will most surely not die. 
 Till they see the Son of man 
 Coming in his Kingdom.'* 
 
 After six days Jesus takes with him Peter and 
 James and John his brother, and brings them up 
 into a high mountain apart. 
 
 And he was transformed before them, and his 
 face shone like the sun and his garments became 
 white as the light. And there appeared to them 
 Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 
 
 *^Lord," Peter said to Jesus, '^it is good for us 
 
s. matth. the shado w of be a TH. 7 1 
 
 17 : 4. ' 
 
 to be here. If you wish I will make here three 
 booths, one for you and one for Moses and one 
 for Elijah." 
 
 While he was still speaking a bright cloud over- 
 shadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud : 
 This is my beloved Son. 
 In him I am well pleased. 
 Hear him." 
 
 When the disciples heard it they fell on their 
 faces and were very much afraid. 
 
 Jesus came and touched them, and said : 
 
 " Get up. Do not be afraid." 
 
 And raising their eyes they saw no one except 
 Jesus himself alone. And as they were coming 
 down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, 
 and said : 
 
 " Do not tell the vision to any one till the Son 
 of man has risen from the dead." 
 
 " Why then do the scribes say Elijah must first 
 come ? " his disciples asked him. 
 
 " Elijah is indeed coming and will restore 
 everything. But I tell you Elijah has already 
 come, and they did not recognize him, but did 
 to him whatever they wished. And the Son of 
 man is about to suffer in the same way at their 
 hands." 
 
 Then the disciples understood he was speaking 
 to them about John the Purifier. 
 
72 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 17 : 14. 
 
 When they had come to the crowd, a man came 
 and knelt to him and said : 
 
 Lord take pity on my son, for he is epileptic 
 and is sick. For he often falls into the fire and 
 often into the water, and I brought him to your 
 disciples, and they could not cure him." 
 
 O faithless and perverse generation," said 
 Jesus. How long must I be with you ? How 
 long must I bear with you 1 Bring him here to 
 me.*' 
 
 Jesus rebuked him and the demon went out of 
 him ; and the boy was cured from that hour. 
 
 Then the disciples came to Jesus apart, and 
 said : 
 
 Why could not we drive it out ? " 
 " Because of your little faith. For to tell you 
 the truth, if you have faith like a grain of mus- 
 tard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move 
 from here, there, and it will remove, and nothing 
 will be impossible to you." 
 
 While they were gathering themselves together 
 in Galilee Jesus said to them : 
 
 *^The Son of man will be given into the hands 
 of men. They will kill him, and the third day he 
 will be raised up." 
 
s. matth. the shadow of death. 7^ 
 17^23. 
 
 They were exceedingly sorry. 
 
 When they had come to Capernaum, the col- 
 lectors of the two dollar Temple tribute came to 
 Peter, and said : 
 
 Does not your master pay the two dollars? " 
 Yes,'' he said. 
 And when he came into the house Jesus was the 
 first to speak to him, and said : 
 
 ^^What do you think, Simon? The kings of 
 the earth, from whom do they take toll or tribute ? 
 From their sons or from strangers?" 
 From strangers." 
 
 Surely then the sons are free. But lest we 
 offend them, go to the sea and cast a hook and 
 take up the fish that first comes up, and when you 
 have opened its mouth you will find a coin of the 
 value of four dollars. Take that and give to them 
 for me and you." 
 
 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, and 
 said : 
 
 ^^Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of 
 heaven ? ' ' 
 
 He called to him a little child and set him 
 among them, and said : 
 ^^To tell you the truth : 
 If you do not turn 
 
THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 18:3. 
 
 And become like little children, 
 You will never enter 
 The Kingdom of Heaven. 
 So whoever shall humble himself 
 Like this little child, 
 The same is the greatest 
 In the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Whoever shall receive 
 
 One such little child, 
 
 In my name 
 Receives me. 
 But whoever shall offend 
 
 One of these little ones 
 
 Who believe in me, 
 It is good for him 
 
 That a great millstone 
 
 Should be hung about his neck, 
 
 And he should be sunk 
 
 In the depth of the sea. 
 
 Woe to the world because of offences ! 
 
 For offences must come. 
 But woe to that man 
 
 Through whom the offence comes ! 
 
 If your hand or your foot is a hindrance to 
 you, 
 Cut it off. 
 Throw it from you. 
 
s. matth. the shadow of dea th. 
 
 iS :8. 
 
 It is good for you, 
 
 To go into life maimed or lame, 
 Rather than with two hands or two feet 
 To be thrown into the eternal fire. 
 
 If your eye is a hindrance to you, 
 
 Pick it out, 
 
 Throw it from you. 
 It is good for you 
 
 To go into life one-eyed, 
 Rather than with two eyes 
 To be thrown into the gehenna of fire. 
 
 See that you do not despise 
 One of these little ones. 
 
 For 1 tell you that in heaven 
 
 Their angels are always looking at 
 The face of my Father in Heaven. 
 
 What do you think ? 
 
 If a man has a hundred sheep, 
 And one of them has gone astray, 
 Does he not leave the ninety- nine 
 On the mountains, 
 And go and seek the one astray ? 
 And if he happens to find it, 
 To tell you the truth, 
 He rejoices over it 
 
THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 18 : 13. 
 
 More than over the ninety-nine 
 Which have not gone astray. 
 In the same way, 
 
 It is not the wish of my Father in Heaven 
 That one of these little ones should perish. 
 
 If your brother wrongs you, 
 
 Go show^ him his fault 
 
 Between you and him alone. 
 If he listens to you, 
 
 You have won your brother. 
 But if he does not listen to you, 
 
 Take with you one or two more, 
 
 That at the mouth of two witnesses or three 
 
 Every word may be established. 
 If he refuses to hear them 
 
 Tell it to the Church. 
 If he refuses to hear the Church, also, 
 
 Let him be to you as the heathen 
 
 And the saloon-keeper. 
 
 To tell you the truth : 
 
 Whatever you declare to be wrong on earth, 
 
 Will be considered so in heaven. 
 Whatever you declare to be right on earth, 
 Will be considered so in heaven. 
 Again to tell you the truth : 
 
 If two of you shall agree on earth 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of DEA TH, 7 7 
 
 i8 : 19. ' ' 
 
 On anything they will ask 
 
 It will be done for them 
 
 By my Father in Heaven. 
 For where two or three 
 Are gathered together in my name. 
 
 There am I in the midst of them. 
 
 Then Peter came and said to him : 
 " Lord, how often am I to forgive my brother 
 when he wrongs me ? Seven times ? " 
 
 I do not tell you, Seven times, but, Seventy 
 times seven,'' Jesus said to him. " So the King- 
 dom of Heaven is compared to a certain king 
 who wanted to have a settlement with his slaves : 
 and when he had begun the settlement, one was 
 brought to him who owed him fifty million dol- 
 lars. But since he had not the means to pay, 
 the master ordered him to be sold and his wife 
 and children, and all he had, and payment to be 
 made. 
 
 So the slave fell down at his feet and said: 
 Have patience with me and I will pay you 
 all. 
 
 The master of that slave took pity on him and 
 released him, and let his debt go. 
 
 But that slave went out and found one of his 
 fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred dollars, 
 
78 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 ' 18:28. 
 
 and he seized him and kept choking him, and 
 
 said : 
 
 Pay what you owe. 
 
 So his fellow-slave fell down and kept begging 
 him : 
 
 Have patience with me and I will pay you. 
 
 He would not, but went and threw him into 
 prison till he should pay what was due. 
 
 So when his fellow-slaves saw what was done 
 they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told 
 their master all that was done. 
 
 Then his master called him to him : 
 
 You wicked slave, he said, I let all that debt of 
 yours go, because you begged me. Should not 
 you also have taken pity on your fellow-slave, just 
 as I took pity on you ? 
 
 His master was angry and handed him over to 
 the tormentors till he should pay all that was due. 
 
 Just in the same way will my heavenly Father 
 treat you, if each one of you does not put away your 
 brother's offences from the bottom of your heart." 
 
 When Jesus had finished these words he went 
 from Galilee and came into the parts of Judaea 
 beyond Jordan. And great crowds followed him 
 and he cured them there. 
 
 Some Pharisees came and tempted him and 
 said : 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of death. 7q 
 19:3. 
 
 ''Is it right for a man to put away his wife for 
 every cause ? ' ' 
 
 ''Have you not read," he answered, "that he 
 who created them from the beginning, made them 
 male and female and said : 
 
 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, 
 And shall cleave to his wife, 
 And the two shall become one flesh ? 
 
 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. So what 
 God has joined together, let no man put asun- 
 der." 
 
 " Why then did Moses command to give her a 
 bill of divorce, and to put her away t " 
 
 " Moses for the hardness of your heart allowed 
 you to put away your wives, but from the begin- 
 ning it has not been so. And I tell you. Who- 
 ever shall put away his wife except for fornica- 
 tion, and shall marry another, commits adultery." 
 
 " If the case of the man is so with his wife," 
 his disciples say to him, "it is not good to 
 marry.'' 
 
 " Not all can receive this saying but those to 
 whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who 
 were so born from their mother's womb. There 
 are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men. 
 And there are eunuchs who made themselves 
 eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. 
 
 He who is able to receive it, let him receive it." 
 
8o THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 19 : 13. 
 
 Then little children were brought to him so that 
 he might lay his hands on them and pray, and his 
 disciples rebuked them. 
 
 But Jesus said : 
 Let the little children come to me and do not 
 try to stop them, for of such is the Kingdom of 
 Heaven." 
 
 He laid his hands on them and went away. 
 
 Some one came to him and said : 
 Master, what generous thing shall I do so that 
 I may have eternal life ? ' ' 
 
 " Why do you ask me about the generous ? " he 
 said to him. " There is but One who is generous. 
 But if you want to go into life, keep the com- 
 mandments." 
 Which?" 
 
 " Thou Shalt not kill, 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
 Thou shalt not steal. 
 Thou shalt not bear false witness. 
 Honor thy father and thy mother. 
 
 And, 
 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 
 " All these have I kept," the young man said to 
 him. What do I still lack? " 
 
 '^If you want to be perfect, go sell what you 
 have and give to the poor, and you will have 
 treasure in Heaven, and come follow me." 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of DBA TH. 8 1 
 
 19 : 22. 
 
 But when the young man heard this saying he 
 went away sad. For he was very rich. 
 
 "To teil you the truth," Jesus said to his dis- 
 ciples, " it is hard for a rich man to enter the King- 
 dom of Heaven. And again I tell you, It is easier 
 for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for 
 a rich man to go into the Kingdom of God." 
 
 When the disciples heard it they were exceed- 
 ingly astonished, and said : 
 
 " Who, then, can be saved " 
 
 "With men this is impossible," said Jesus, as 
 he looked on them, " but with God everything is 
 possible." 
 
 ^^See! we have left everything and followed 
 you," Peter then answered and said to him; 
 **what, then, shall we have?" 
 
 ^'To tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, 
 you who have followed me, in the new birth of 
 the creation, when the Son of man sliall sit on the 
 throne of his glory, you also shall sit on twelve 
 thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 
 And every one who has left 
 Houses, 
 Brothers, 
 Sisters, 
 Father, 
 Mother, 
 Children, 
 
82 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 19 : 29, 
 
 Or lands, 
 
 For my name's sake, 
 
 Will receive a hundredfold. 
 And will inherit eternal life. 
 
 But many will be last who are first, 
 And first who are last. 
 
 But the Kingdom of Heaven is like an em- 
 ployer, who went out early in the morning to hire 
 laborers for his vineyard. And when he had 
 agreed with the laborers for a dollar a day he 
 sent them into his vineyard. 
 
 He went out about nine o'clock, and saw 
 others standing idle in the public square. 
 
 You also go into the vineyard, he said to them, 
 and whatever is right I will give you. 
 
 They went. 
 
 He went out again about twelve and three 
 o'clock and did the same. And about five 
 o'clock he went out and found others standing, 
 and said to them : 
 
 Why are you standing here all the day idle.'* 
 
 Because no one has hired us. 
 
 You also go into the vineyard. 
 
 When evening had come the owner of the vine- 
 yard said to his foreman : 
 
 Call the laborers and pay them their wages, be- 
 ginning with the last and ending with the first. 
 
s. matth. the shadow of death. 83 
 
 20 : 9. 
 
 So when they came who were hired about five 
 o'clock each one received a dollar. 
 
 When the first came, they supposed they would 
 receive more, and they, too, received, each man a 
 dollar, and when they received it they began to 
 grumble at their employer, and said : 
 
 These last have spent but one hour, and you 
 have made them equal to us who have borne the 
 burden of the day and the scorching heat. 
 
 Friend, he answered and said to one of them, 
 I am not doing you any wrong. Did you not 
 agree with me for a dollar ? Take what is yours 
 and go. But I want to give to this last just as 
 to you. Is it not right for me to do what I wish 
 with my own ? Or are you envious because I am 
 generous ? 
 
 In this way the last will be first and the first 
 last.'' 
 
 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem he took 
 the twelve disciples apart, and on the road he said 
 to them : 
 
 Listen! we are going up to Jerusalem, and 
 the Son of man will be handed over to the chief 
 priests and scribes; and they will condemn him 
 to death, and will hand him over to the heathen to 
 
84 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 20 ; ig. 
 
 mock and to beat and to crucify, and the third 
 day he will be raised up.'' 
 
 The mother of the sons of Zebedee with her 
 two sons came to him, bowed down to him, and 
 asked something from him. 
 
 ''What do you want ? " he said to her. 
 Say that these my two sons may sit^ one on 
 your right, and one on your left, in your king- 
 dom." 
 
 You do not know what you are asking. Can 
 you drink the cup I am about to drink ? " 
 We can." 
 
 My cup will you drink. But to sit on my 
 right and on my left is not mine to give. But it 
 is for those for whom it has been prepared by 
 my Father." 
 
 When the ten heard they were indignant about 
 the two brothers. But Jesus called them and 
 said : 
 
 "You know that the rulers of the heathen lord 
 it over them and those who are great exercise 
 imperious dominion over them. It must not be 
 thus among you. But whoever wants to become 
 great among you must be your servant, and who- 
 ever wants to be first must be your slave ; just 
 as the Son of man did not come to be served, but 
 to serve and to give his life a ransom for many." 
 
s. matth. the shadow of dea th, 85 
 
 20 : 2g. 
 
 As they were going out of Jericho, a great 
 crowd followed him. 
 
 Two blind men were sitting by the road. And 
 when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they 
 cried out, and said : 
 
 Lord, Son of David, take pity on us ! 
 
 But the crowd told them to be quiet. 
 
 But they cried out the more : 
 Lord, Son of David, take pity on us ! " 
 
 Jesus stopped and called them, and said : 
 
 " What do you want me to do for you " 
 
 " Lord, that our eyes may be opened ! " 
 
 Jesus pitied them, touched their eyes, and they 
 at once received their sight and followed him. 
 
 When they came near Jerusalem and came to 
 Bethphage, to the mount of Olives, then Jesus 
 sent i"wo disciples and said to them : 
 
 " Go into the village ahead of you, and you 
 will at once find an ass tied and a colt with her. 
 Untie them and bring them to me. And if any 
 one says anything to you, say : The Lord needs 
 them. And he will at once send them." 
 
 Now this has happened to fulfil the saying of 
 the prophet : 
 
 Tell ye the daughter of Zion : 
 Behold thy King cometh to thee, 
 Meek and sitting on an ass, 
 And on a colt the foal of an ass." 
 
86 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 21 : 6. 
 
 The disciples went and did just as Jesus 
 directed them and brought the ass and the colt 
 and put on them their cloaks and he sat on 
 them. 
 
 The most of the crowd spread their cloaks in 
 the road, but others cut down branches from the 
 trees and spread them in the road. 
 
 And the crowds going ahead of him and those 
 following, kept shouting : 
 
 " Hosanna to the Son of David ! 
 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ! 
 Hosanna in the highest ! " 
 
 When he had come into Jerusalem the whole 
 city was stirred, and said : 
 Who is this?" 
 
 "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of 
 Galilee," the crowds said. 
 
 Jesus went into the temple and drove out all 
 those who were selling and buying in the temple, 
 overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and 
 the seats of those selling doves, and he said to 
 them: 
 
 " It is written : 
 
 My house shall be called a house of prayer, 
 but you are making it a den of robbers." 
 
 The blind and the lame came to him in the 
 temple and he cured them. 
 
s. matth. the shado w of be a th. 87 
 
 21 : 15. ' 
 
 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw 
 le wonders he did, and the children crying in 
 he temple : 
 
 Hosanna to the Son of David ! 
 hey were indignant and said to him : 
 Do you hear what these are saying?" 
 Yes," Jesus said to them. Did you never 
 read : 
 
 Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, 
 Thou hast perfected praise ? " 
 
 He left them and went out of the city to Beth- 
 any, and lodged there. 
 
 In the morning as he was going back to the city 
 he was hungry. And seeing a fig-tree by the road 
 he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, 
 and he said to it : 
 
 " Nevermore let fruit be gathered from you 
 forever." 
 
 The fig-tree withered away at once. And when 
 the disciples saw it they wondered, and said : 
 
 ^' How did the fig-tree wither away at once ? " 
 To tell you the truth," Jesus answered them, 
 *'if you have faith and do not doubt, not only 
 will you do what has just been done to the fig- 
 tree, but even if you shall say to this mountain, 
 Be taken up and be thrown into the sea, it will 
 
88 THE' ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 21 : 21. 
 
 happen. And everything whatever you shall ask 
 in prayer believing you will receive." 
 
 He went into the temple. 
 
 As he was teaching, the chief priests and elders 
 of the people came to him, and said : 
 
 ^'By what authority are you doing these things? 
 And who gave you this authority?" 
 
 myself, will ask you one thing," Jesus an- 
 swered them, ^^and if you tell me, I also will tell 
 you by what authority 1 am doing these things. 
 The purification of John, where was it from ? 
 From heaven, or from men? " 
 
 They discussed among themselves, and said : 
 
 If we say, From heaven, he will say to us, Why, 
 then, did you not beheve him? But if we say, 
 From men, — we are afraid of the crowd, for all of 
 them consider John as a prophet." So they an- 
 swered Jesus, and said : 
 We do not know." 
 
 ^^Nor do I tell you by what authority I am 
 doing these things. But what do you think? A 
 man had two sons. And he came to the first, and 
 sai'd : 
 
 Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. 
 Yes, sir, he answered, but he did not go. 
 He came to the other and said to him the same 
 thing. 
 
s. matth. the shadow of death 8q 
 
 21 : 30. 
 
 I will not, he answered, but afterwards he 
 changed his mind and went. 
 
 Which of the two did the will of his father ? " 
 The last," they say. 
 
 ^^To tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, 
 '^the saloon-keepers and the prostitutes are going 
 into the Kingdom of God before you. For John 
 came to you in the way of your own religious 
 prejudices and you did not believe him. But the 
 saloon-keepers and the prostitutes believed him. 
 And when you saw it you did not change your 
 mind afterwards so that you might believe him. 
 
 Listen to another illustration : 
 
 There was a man who was an employer. 
 
 He planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug 
 a winepress in it, built a tower, let it out to tenants 
 and went abroad. 
 
 But when the time for the crops came near, he 
 sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his crops. 
 And the tenants took his slaves, and beat one, and 
 killed another, and stoned another. 
 
 Again he sent other slaves more than the first, 
 and they treated them the same way. 
 
 At last he sent his son to them, and said : 
 
 They will respect my son : 
 
 But when the tenants saw the son they said to 
 each other : 
 
QO THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 ^ 21 : 38. 
 
 This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the 
 inheritance will be ours. 
 
 And they took him and threw him out of the 
 vineyard and killed him. 
 
 So when the owner of the vineyard comes what 
 will he do to those tenants ? " 
 
 ^*He will miserably destroy them/' they say to 
 him, ^^and give the vineyard out to other tenants, 
 who will give him the crops at the proper time." 
 
 ^^Have you never read in the scriptures," Jesus 
 said to them, 
 
 " The stone which the builders rejected. 
 This was made the head of the corner, 
 This was from the Lord, 
 
 And it was marvellous in our eyes ? 
 
 So I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken 
 from you and will be given to a nation producing 
 its fruits. And he who falls on this stone will be 
 broken. But on whomever it shall fall it will scat- 
 ter him as dust." 
 
 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees 
 heard his illustrations, they noticed that he was 
 speaking about them. And when they tried to lay 
 hold on him they were afraid of the crowds because 
 they considered him to be a prophet. 
 
 Jesus answered and again spoke to them in 
 illustrations : 
 
s. matth. the shadow of death, qi 
 
 22 : 2. 
 
 *'The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a 
 king who made a marriage-feast for his son. And 
 he sent out his slaves to call those who were in- 
 vited to the feast, and they did not want to come. 
 He again sent out other slaves, and said : 
 Tell those who are invited, See, my dinner has 
 been made ready. My oxen and my fatlings are 
 killed, and everything is ready. Come to the 
 feast. 
 
 But they made light of it and went away, one 
 to his own farm, another to his business. 
 
 The rest laid hold of his slaves, treated them 
 shamefully and killed them. 
 
 But the king was angry and sent his armies 
 and destroyed those murderers and burned their 
 city. 
 
 Then he said to his slaves : 
 
 The marriage is ready, but those who were 
 invited were not worthy. So go to the corners 
 and as many as you shall find invite to the feast. 
 
 Those slaves went out to the roads and gath- 
 ered all they found, both bad and good, and the 
 wedding room was filled with guests. 
 
 But when the king came in to look at the 
 guests he saw there a man who had no wedding 
 garment on. And he said to him : 
 
 Friend, how did you come in here without a 
 wedding garment ? 
 
9 2 THE ANOINTED KING, 5. Matth. 
 
 22 : 12. 
 
 But he was speechless. 
 
 Then the king said to the slaves : 
 
 Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into 
 the outside darkness. There will be the weeping 
 and gnashing of teeth. For many are invited but 
 few chosen." 
 
 Then the Pharisees went and laid a plot to 
 catch him in his talk. And they sent their dis- 
 ciples with the Herodians to him : 
 
 Master," they said, ^^we know you are true 
 and are teaching the way of God truly, and 
 you care for no one, for you do not look at the 
 external appearance of men. So tell us what 
 you think. Is it right to pay tribute to Caesar or 
 not?" 
 
 But Jesus noticed their wickedness, and said : 
 ^^Why are you tempting me, you hypocrites? 
 Show me the tribute money." 
 
 They brought him a Roman coin. 
 Whose is this likeness and inscription?" 
 Csesar's." 
 
 Then give back what is Caesar's to Caesar and 
 ' what is God's to God." 
 
 When they heard this they wondered and left 
 him and went away. 
 
 That day the Sadducees came to him, those who 
 
s. matth. the shadow of DEATFI. 
 
 22 : 23. 
 
 say there is no resurrection, and they asked 
 him : 
 
 " Master, Moses said : 
 
 If a man die without children, 
 His brother shall marry his wife, 
 And raise up seed to his brother. 
 
 Now there were seven brothers with us. 
 
 The first married and died and, not having a 
 child, left his wife to his brother. 
 
 The same thing happened with the second also 
 and the third to the seventh. 
 
 And last of all the woman died. 
 
 So in the resurrection whose wife of the seven 
 shall she be ? For they all had her." 
 
 ''You err," Jesus answered them, "because 
 you do not know the scriptures nor the power of 
 God. For in the resurrection they neither marry 
 nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels 
 in heaven. 
 
 But about the resurrection of the dead have 
 you not read what was spoken to you by God : 
 
 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and 
 the God of Jacob? 
 
 He is not the God of the dead but of the liv- 
 ing." 
 
 The crowds heard and were astonished at his 
 teaching. 
 
 But when the Pharisees heard that he had 
 
OA THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 ^ 22 : 34. 
 
 silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves 
 together. And one of them, a lawyer, tempted 
 him and asked : 
 
 " Master, which is the great commandment in 
 the law? 
 
 He said to them : 
 
 " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, 
 With all thy heart, 
 With all thy soul, 
 And with all thy mind. 
 
 This is the great and first commandment. 
 And another like it is this : 
 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
 On these two commandments hangs the whole 
 of the law." 
 
 While the Pharisees were gathered together 
 Jesus asked them : 
 
 '* What do you think about the Christ ? Whose 
 son is he ? 
 David's." 
 
 How, then, does David under the influence of 
 the spirit call him Lord, and say : 
 The Lord said to my Lord : 
 Sit thou on my right hand. 
 Till I put thine enemies under thy feet ? 
 
 and if then David calls him Lord, how is he his 
 son?" 
 
 No one could answer him a word, and from 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of death. 
 22 : 46. 
 
 that day no one dared to question him any 
 longer. 
 
 Then Jesus talked to the crowds and to the 
 disciples and said : 
 The Scribes and the Pharisees 
 Sit in Moses' seat. 
 So all they tell you, 
 Do and keep. 
 
 But do not do as they do, 
 
 For they say and do not do. 
 They bind heavy burdens, 
 And put them on men's shoulders. 
 But they themselves do not want to move 
 
 them 
 With their finger. 
 
 But all their deeds they do 
 
 To be looked at by men. 
 
 For they make broad their phylacteries. 
 And enlarge the borders of their garments. 
 They love the chief places at feasts, 
 And the chief seats in the synagogue, 
 And the salutations in the market-places. 
 And to be called by men, Rabbi. 
 
 But do not you be called, Rabbi. 
 
 For you have but one teacher, and all you are 
 brothers. 
 
 And do not call any one father on earth. 
 
q6 the anointed king. S. Matth. 
 
 23 : 9. 
 
 For you have but one Father in heaven. 
 
 And do not be called Master. 
 
 For you have but one Master, the Christ. 
 But he who is greatest among you 
 Wiil be your servant. 
 
 Whoever shall exalt himself 
 
 Will be humbled. 
 Whoever shall humble himself 
 
 Will be exalted. 
 
 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 
 For you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven 
 Against men. 
 
 You neither go in yourself. 
 Nor do you allow those entering to go in. 
 
 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 
 For you compass sea and land 
 
 To make one proselyte^ 
 
 And when he is made, 
 You make him twofold more the child of 
 gehenna than yourselves. 
 
 Woe to you, you blind guides ! who say : 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of DEATH 07 
 23 : 16. ^ ' 
 
 Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, 
 
 But whoever shall swear by the gold of the 
 
 temple, he is a debtor. 
 
 You blind fools ! 
 
 Which is greater, the gold ? 
 
 Or the temple which makes the gold sacred ? 
 
 And : 
 
 Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing, 
 But whoever shall swear by the gift on it, he is 
 a debtor. 
 
 You blind fools ! 
 For which is greater, the gift, 
 Or the altar which makes the gift sacred ? 
 
 So whoever shall swear by the altar, 
 Swears by it and by everything on it. 
 
 Whoever swears by the temple, 
 
 Swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 
 
 Whoever swears by heaven, 
 
 Swears by the throne of God and by him who 
 sits on it. 
 
 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees^, hypocrites ! 
 
 For you tithe mint and anise and cummin, 
 
 And have omitted the weightier parts of the 
 
 law, justice, pity and faith. 
 But these you ought to have done, 
 And not to have left the others undone. 
 7 
 
oS THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 23 : 24. 
 
 You blind guides ! 
 You strain out a gnat 
 And swallow a camel ! 
 
 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites \ 
 
 For you clean the outside of the cup and of the 
 dish, 
 
 But inside they are full from extortion and ex- 
 cess. 
 
 You blind Pharisee ! 
 Clean first the inside of the cup and of the 
 dish. 
 
 So that the outside may be clean also. 
 
 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 
 For you are like whited sepulchres which out- 
 side appear beautiful, 
 But inside are full of dead men's bones and 
 of all uncleanness. 
 
 In the same way also, you outside appear to men 
 good. 
 
 But inside you are full of hypocrisy and law- 
 lessness. 
 
 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 
s. matth. the shadow of death, 00 
 
 23 : 29. yy 
 
 For you build the tombs of the prophets, 
 And decorate the graves of good men, 
 And say : If we had been in the days of our 
 fathers 
 
 We should not have shared with them in the 
 
 blood of the prophets. 
 So you are your own witnesses 
 That you are the sons of those who killed the 
 
 prophets. 
 
 Fill up then the measure of your fathers. 
 You serpents ! You brood of vipers ! 
 How can you escape the judgment of ge- 
 henna ? 
 
 So I send you prophets, 
 
 And wise men, and scribes. 
 Some of them you will kill and crucify, 
 Some of them you will beat in your syna- 
 gogues, 
 
 And persecute from city to city, 
 
 That on you may come 
 
 All the good blood shed on the earth. 
 From the blood of Abel the good 
 To the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, 
 Whom they slew between the Holy Place 
 
 and the altar. 
 To tell you the truth : 
 
 All these things will come on this generation. 
 
lOO THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 23 : 37. 
 
 O Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! 
 
 The killer of the prophets, 
 And stoner of those sent to you. 
 How often did I desire to gather your chil- 
 dren together, 
 As a hen gathers her chickens under her 
 wings, 
 
 And you were not willing. 
 Listen, your house is left to you desolate. 
 
 For I tell you : You will never see me 
 
 again 
 Till you say 
 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
 
 Jesus went out from the temple and was going 
 his way, and his disciples came to him to show 
 him the buildings of the temple. But he answered 
 and said to them : 
 
 Do you not see all these ? To tell you the 
 truth, There will not be left here one stone on 
 another which will not be thrown down." 
 
 Now while he was sitting on the mount of Olives, 
 his disciples came to him privately and said to 
 him : 
 
 " Tell us when these things will be and what 
 will be the sign of your coming and of the end 
 of the world." 
 
. Matth. the shadow of death, li 
 24 : 4. 
 
 Jesus answered and said to them : 
 ' See that no one deceives you. 
 
 For many will come in my name, 
 And say, I am the Christ, 
 And will deceive many. 
 And you will hear of wars and rumors 
 wars. 
 
 See that you are not troubled, 
 For it must happen, 
 But the end is not yet. 
 For nation will rise against nation 
 Kingdom against kingdom, 
 There will be famines and earthquakes 
 In different places. 
 But all these are the beginning of birth pangs. 
 
 Then they will hand you over to tribulation, 
 And will kill you. 
 
 You will be hated by all the nations 
 For my name's sake. 
 
 Then many will be offended. 
 They will betray each other, 
 And will hate each other. 
 Many false prophets will rise, 
 And will lead many astray, 
 And because lawlessness abounds. 
 The love of the many will grow cold, 
 
I02 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 24 : 13. 
 
 But he who endures to the end, 
 He will be saved. 
 
 The good news of the Kingdom 
 
 Will be preached in the whole world, 
 For a witness to all the nations, 
 
 And then will the end come. 
 
 So when you see the abomination of desolation 
 Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, 
 Standing in the Holy Place, 
 (Let him who reads, understand), 
 
 Then let those in Judaea 
 Flee to the mountains. 
 
 Let him who is on the housetop 
 
 Not go down to take his things out of the 
 house. 
 
 And let him who is in the field 
 
 Not turn back to take his clothes. 
 
 But woe to those with child ! 
 
 To those giving suck in those days ! 
 But pray that your flight be not in the winter, 
 
 Nor on the Sabbath. 
 For then will be great tribulation 
 
 Such as was not from the beginning of the 
 world 
 Till this time, 
 
 Nor ever will be. 
 
s. matth. the shado w of be a TH. 103 
 
 24 : 22. 
 
 And if those days had not been shortened 
 No flesh would have been saved. 
 But for the sake of the chosen ones, 
 
 Those days will be shortened. 
 
 Then if any one shall say to you : 
 See ! here is Christ, or, There, do not believe 
 it. 
 
 For there will rise false Christs 
 And false prophets. 
 
 And they will show great signs and wonders, 
 To deceive if possible the very chosen ones. 
 See, I have told you beforehand. 
 
 So if they shall say to you : 
 See, he is in the desert ! 
 
 Do not go out. 
 See, he is in the inner chambers 
 
 Do not believe it. 
 For just as the lightning comes out of the 
 east. 
 
 And is seen even to the west. 
 The same way will the coming 
 
 Of the Son of man be. 
 Wherever the carcass is 
 
 There will the vultures be gathered together. 
 
 But at once after the distress of those days, 
 The sun will be darkened, 
 
I04 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 24 : 29. 
 
 The moon will not give her light, 
 The stars will fall from heaven, 
 And the powers of heaven will be shaken. 
 Then will appear the sign of the Son of man 
 in heaven. 
 
 And then will all the tribes of the earth 
 mourn, 
 
 And will see the Son of man 
 Coming on the clouds of heaven 
 With power and great glory. 
 And he will send out his angels 
 With a great sound of a trumpet, 
 And they v/ill gather together his chosen 
 ones, 
 
 From the four winds. 
 
 From one end of heaven to the other. 
 
 Now learn a parable from the fig-tree : 
 
 When its branch has now become tender, 
 And puts out its leaves, 
 
 You know summer is near. 
 In the same way you also. 
 When you see all these things, 
 
 Know it is near, — at the doors. 
 
 To tell you the truth : 
 
 This generation will not pass away, 
 Till all these things happen. 
 
S. Matth. the SHADO W of be a TH. IOC 
 
 24:35- ^ 
 Heaven and earth will pass away, 
 But my words will never pass away. 
 
 But of that day and hour, no one knows, 
 
 Not even the angels of heaven,^ 
 
 Nor the Son, 
 But the Father only. 
 
 For just as the days of Noah, 
 So will the coming of the Son of man be. 
 For as in the days before the flood, 
 They were eating and drinking, 
 Marrying and giving in marriage, 
 Till the day Noah entered the ark, 
 And they did not know 
 
 Till the flood came and took them all away, 
 So will the coming of the Son of man be. 
 
 Then will two men be in the field. 
 
 One is taken, and one is left. 
 Two women will be grinding at the mill, 
 
 One is taken, and one is left. 
 
 So watch. 
 
 For you do not know 
 
 What day your Lord is coming. 
 
 But know this. 
 
 That if the master of the house had known 
 At what time the thief was coming. 
 
Io6 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 24 : 43. 
 
 He would have watched, 
 And would not have allowed 
 His house to be broken through. 
 So you also be ready. 
 
 For at an hour you do not think 
 The Son of man is coming. 
 
 Who then is the faithful and wise slave 
 
 Whom his master has set over his household, 
 To give them their food at the proper time.'* 
 
 Blessed is that slave, 
 
 Whom his master when he comes 
 Will find doing as he was bidden. 
 To tell you the truth, 
 He will set him over all he has. 
 
 But if that wicked slave 
 
 Shall say in his heart, 
 
 My master is delaying. 
 
 And shall begin to beat his fellow-slaves. 
 
 And shall eat and drink with the drunken, 
 The master of that slave 
 
 Will come in a day he does not expect, 
 
 And in an hour he does not know, 
 
 And will cut him asunder, 
 
 And appoint his portion with the hypocrites. 
 
 There will be the weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth. 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of DEA TH, 107 
 25 : I. 
 
 The Kingdom of Heaven will then be like ten 
 bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out 
 to meet the bridegroom. 
 
 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 
 For the foolish took their lamps but did not take 
 any oil with them. But the wise took oil in their 
 vessels with their lamps. 
 
 Now whWe the bridegroom was delaying they 
 all became drowsy and went to sleep. But at 
 midnight a shout was raised : 
 
 Look ! the bridegroom ! Come out to meet 
 him. 
 
 Then all the bridesmaids got up and trimmed 
 their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise : 
 
 Give us some of your oil. For our lamps are 
 going out. 
 
 But the wise answered : 
 
 There may not be enough for us and you. Go 
 rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. 
 
 But while they were going to buy the bride- 
 groom came and those who were ready went in 
 with him to the marriage-feast, and the door was 
 shut. 
 
 Afterwards the other bridesmaids came and 
 said : 
 
 Lord, lord, open to us. 
 But he answered : 
 
 To tell you the truth, I do not know you. 
 
I08 THE ANOINTED KING, S. INIatth, 
 
 So watch, for you do not know the day nor the 
 hour. 
 
 For it is as though a man, going abroad, called 
 his own slaves, handed over to them his goods, 
 gave to one five talents, to another two, to another 
 one, to each according to his own ability, and 
 went abroad. 
 
 The one who received five talents at once went 
 and traded with them and gained five more. 
 
 In the same way the one who received the two 
 gained two more. 
 
 But the one who received the one went and dug 
 in the earth and hid his master's money. 
 
 Now after a long time the master of those slaves 
 came and had an accounting with them. 
 
 And the one who received the five talents came 
 and brought five more talents and said : 
 
 Master you handed over to me five talents. 
 See, I have gained five talents more. 
 
 Well, good and faithful slave, his master said 
 to him, you have been faithful over a few things, 
 I will set you over many things. Enter into the 
 ^ joy of your master. 
 
 7'he one who received the two talents came. 
 
 Master, he said, you handed over to me two 
 talents. See, I have gained two talents more. 
 
 Well, good and faithful slave, you have been 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of DBA TH. loQ 
 
 25 : 23. 
 
 faithful over a few things, I will set you over 
 many things. Enter into the joy of your master. 
 
 The one who had received the one talent came : 
 
 Master, he said, I knew you are a hard man, 
 reaping where you did not sow and gathering 
 where you did not thrash ; and I was afraid 
 and went and hid your talent in the earth ; see, 
 you have your own. 
 
 His master answered him : 
 
 You wicked and worthless slave. You knew I 
 reap where I did not sow and gather where I did 
 not thrash } Then you ought to have put my 
 money in the bank, and when I came I should 
 have received back my own with interest. 
 
 So take from him the talent and give it to him 
 who has the ten talents. For to every one who 
 has will be given and he will have abundance. 
 But from him who has not, even what he has will 
 be taken from him. And throw the unprofitable 
 slave into the outside darkness. 
 
 There will be the weeping and gnashing of 
 teeth. 
 
 But when the Son of man comes in his 
 glory and all the angels with him, then will he sit 
 on the throne of his glory, and before him will 
 be gathered all the nations, and he will separate 
 them from each other just as the shepherd 
 
no THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 25 : 32. 
 
 separates the sheep from the goats, and he will 
 set the sheep on his right and the goats on his 
 left. 
 
 Then the King will say to those on his right : 
 Come, you blessed of my Father, 
 Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from 
 the foundation of the world. 
 
 For I was hungry, and you gave me food ; 
 
 I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink ; 
 
 I was a stranger, and you took me in ; 
 
 Naked, and you clothed me ; 
 
 I was sick, and you visited me ; 
 
 I was in prison, and you came to me ; 
 
 Then the good will answer him : 
 
 Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed 
 you ? 
 
 Or thirsty and gave you a drink } 
 
 When did we see you a stranger and took 
 
 you in ? 
 Or naked, and clothed you ? 
 When did we see you sick or in prison, 
 And came to you ? 
 
 The King will answer, and say to them : 
 
 To tell you the truth : 
 
 Since you did it to one of these my brothers, 
 
S. Matth. the SHADO W OF DBA TH. 1 1 1 
 
 25 : 40. 
 
 Even these least, 
 You did it to me. 
 
 Then he will say to those on his left : 
 
 Depart from me, you cursed ones, into the eter- 
 nal fire 
 
 Prepared for the devil and his angels. 
 
 For I was hungry, and you gave me no food ; 
 I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to 
 drink ; 
 
 I was a stranger, and you did not take me in ; 
 Naked, and you did not clothe me ; 
 Sick, and in prison, 
 And you did not visit me. 
 
 Then they also will answer him: 
 
 Lord, when did we see you 
 
 Hungry, 
 
 Or thirsty, 
 
 Or a stranger, 
 
 Or naked, 
 
 Or sick, 
 
 Or in prison, 
 And did not serve you ? 
 
 Then he will answer them : 
 
 To tell you the truth : 
 Since you did not do it 
 
112 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 25 : 45. 
 
 To one of these least, 
 You did not do it to me. 
 
 These will go away into eternal punishment, 
 But the good into eternal Hfe." 
 
 When Jesus had finished all this teaching he 
 said to his disciples : 
 
 *<You know that after two days the passover 
 comes and the Son of man is handed over to be 
 crucified." 
 
 Then the chief priests and the elders of the 
 people were gathered together at the house of the 
 high priest who was called Caiaphas, and they 
 were plotting to seize Jesus by a ruse and to kill 
 him : but they said : 
 
 ^^Not during the feast, lest a riot be stirred up 
 among the people." 
 
 Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of 
 Simon the leper, a woman with an alabaster jar of 
 very costly perfume came to him and poured it on^ 
 his head as he was at table. 
 
 But when the disciples saw it they were indignant, 
 and said : 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of death. ii^ 
 26 : 9. ^ 
 
 *^Why this waste? For this might have been 
 sold for a great deal and given to the poor." 
 But Jesus noticed it and said to them : 
 <^Why are you troubhng the woman? For she 
 has done a good thing to me. For you always 
 have the poor with you, but you do not always 
 have me. For in pouring this perfume on my 
 body she did it to prepare me for burial. To 
 tell you the truth, Wherever this good news shall 
 be preached in the whole world, that also which 
 this woman has done shall be talked about in 
 memory of her." 
 
 Then one of the twelve who was called Judah 
 Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said : 
 
 What are you willing to give me and I will 
 hand him over to you." 
 
 They agreed to give him a hundred dollars. 
 
 So from that time he kept seeking an oppor- 
 tunity to hand him over. 
 
 Now on the first day of unleaven bread, the 
 ^disciples came to Jesus and said: 
 
 " Where do you want us to get ready for you 
 to eat the passover ? " 
 
 ''Go into the city to so and so," he said, "and 
 say to him : The Master says, My time is at 
 
114 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 ^ 26:18. 
 
 hand. I keep the passover at your house with 
 my disciples." 
 
 The disciples did as Jesus directed them and 
 got the passover ready. 
 
 Now when evening had come, he was at 
 table with the twelve disciples, and while they 
 were eating, he said : 
 
 " To tell you the truth, One of you will betray 
 me." 
 
 They were very sorry, and began to say to each 
 other : 
 
 Surely it is not I, Lord " 
 
 He who dipped his hand with me in the 
 dish," he answered, he will betray me. The 
 Son of man is going just as it is written about 
 him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of 
 man is betrayed ! It would be good for that 
 man if he had not been born." 
 
 " Surely it is not I, Rabbi ? " Judah his be- 
 trayer answered. 
 
 You have said." 
 Now while they were eating Jesus took a loaf 
 of bread, blessed God, broke, gave to the dis- 
 ciples and said : 
 
 Take, eat, this is my body." 
 And he took a cup, gave thanks, gave to them, 
 and said : 
 
 All of you drink it. For this is my blood of 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of death, lie 
 
 26:28. ^ 
 the agreement which is shed for many for the put- 
 ting away of sins. But I tell you, I will never 
 drink of this fruit of the vine hereafter, till that day 
 when I drink it new with you in my Father's 
 Kingdom." 
 
 When they had sung a hymn they went out to 
 the mount of Olives. 
 
 Then Jesus said to them : 
 
 '*A11 of you will find a hindrance in me this 
 night. For it is written : 
 I will smite the shepherd 
 
 And the sheep of die flock will be scattered abroad. 
 But after I have been raised up I shall go before 
 you into Galilee." 
 
 *^If all shall find a hindrance in you," Peter 
 answered him, " I will never find a hindrance." 
 
 ^^To tell you the truth," Jesus said to him, 
 
 this night before the cock crows you will deny 
 me three times." 
 
 ^^Even if I must die with you I will not deny 
 you." 
 
 All the disciples said the same. 
 
 Then Jesus came with them to an enclosed piece 
 of ground called Gethsemane and said to the 
 disciples : 
 
 Sit here while I go over there and pray." 
 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee 
 
Il6 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 26 : 37. 
 
 and began to be grieved and to be in great dis- 
 tress. Then he said to them : 
 
 " My soul is very much grieved even to death. 
 Stay here and watch with me. " 
 
 And he went forward a little and fell on his 
 face and prayed, and said : 
 
 ^' My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass 
 from me. Yet not as I desire but as thou dost." 
 
 He comes to the disciples and finds them sleep- 
 ing, and says to Peter : 
 
 " What ! could you not watch with me one 
 hour ? Watch and pray that you do not enter into 
 temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the 
 flesh is weak." 
 
 He went away again a second time and prayed : 
 
 " My father, if this cannot pass away except 
 I drink it, thy will be done." 
 
 He again came and found them sleeping. For 
 their eyes were heavy. And he left them again 
 and went away and prayed a third time, and 
 said again the same words. Then he came to 
 the disciples and said to them : 
 
 " Sleep on now and take your rest. See, the 
 hour is at hand and the Son of man is betrayed 
 into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be 
 going. Look, my betrayer is at hand." 
 
 And while he was still talking, Judah one of 
 the twelve came and with him a great crowd with 
 
S. Matth. the SHADO W of DBA TH, 1 17 
 
 26 : 47- ' 
 
 swords and clubs from the chief priests and 
 
 elders of the people. 
 
 Now his betrayer gave them a sign and said : 
 •'Whomever I shall kiss, that is he. Secure 
 
 him." 
 
 He at once came to Jesus and said : 
 " Hail, Rabbi," and eagerly kissed him. 
 Friend," Jesus said to him, " do that for which 
 you are here." 
 
 Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and 
 secured him. And one of those who were with 
 Jesus stretched out his hand, drew his sword, 
 and struck the slave of the high priest and cut 
 off his ear. 
 
 Put up your sword into its place," Jesus then 
 said to him. For every one who takes the sword 
 will perish with the sword. 
 
 Or do you think I cannot call my Father and 
 he will send me at once more than twelve legions 
 of angels 1 How then should the scriptures be 
 fulfilled that thus it must be t " 
 
 In that hour Jesus said to the crowds : 
 
 " Have you come out as against a robber with 
 swords and clubs to take me ? I sat daily in the 
 temple teaching, and you did not secure me. 
 But all this has happened so that the scriptures of 
 the prophets might be fulfilled." 
 
 Then all his disciples left him and fled. 
 
Il8 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 26 : 57. 
 
 Now those who had secured Jesus led him away 
 to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and 
 the elders were gathered together. 
 
 But Peter followed him at a distance to the house 
 of the high priest, and went inside, and was sitting 
 with the constables to see the end. 
 
 Now the chief priests and the whole council 
 were seeking false witness against Jesus to put 
 him to death. And they found none, though 
 many false witnesses came. 
 
 But afterwards two false witnesses came, and 
 said : 
 
 This man said, I can destroy the temple of 
 God and build it in three days." 
 
 " Do you make no answer,'' the high priest 
 stood up and said to him, ''what is it these are 
 witnessing against you ? '' 
 
 But Jesus kept still. 
 
 *'On your oath, and before the Living God," 
 the high priest said to him, " tell us if you are 
 the Christ the Son of God." 
 
 " It is as you say. Yet I tell you, hereafter 
 
 you will see 
 
 The Son of man sitting on the right of power, 
 And coming on the clouds of heaven." 
 Then the high priest tore his clothes, and 
 said : 
 
 " He has blasphemed. What further need 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of death HQ 
 
 26 : 65. ^ 
 
 of Witnesses have we ? See, now you have heard 
 the blasphemy. What do you think ? 
 He ought to be put to death." 
 
 Then they spat in his face and cuffed him, and 
 some struck him with rods, and said : 
 
 " Prophesy to us, O Christ, who is :he who 
 struck you ? 
 
 Now Peter was sitting outside in the court, 
 and a maid came to him and said : 
 
 " Why, you were with Jesus the Galilean." 
 
 But he denied it before them all and said : 
 I do not know what you are saying." 
 
 And when he had gone out into the porch 
 another maid saw him, and said to those there : 
 This man was with Jesus the Nazarene." 
 
 And he again denied with an oath : 
 I do not know the man." 
 
 And after a little those standing by came 
 and said to Peter : 
 
 " Surely you are one of them. For your talk 
 betrays you." 
 
 Then he began to curse and to swear : 
 
 " I do not know the man." 
 
 And at once the cock crew. 
 
 And Peter remembered the declaration of Jesus : 
 Before the cock crows you will deny me three 
 times. ' ' 
 
I20 THE ANOINTED KING, S. Matth. 
 
 26 : 75. 
 
 He went out and wept bitterly. 
 
 Now when the morning had come, all the chief 
 priests and elders of the people deliberated against 
 Jesus to put him to death. And when they had 
 bound him, they led him away and handed him 
 over to Pilate, the Governor. 
 
 Then when Judah, the traitor, saw he was 
 condemned, he was sorry, and brought back the 
 hundred dollars to the chief priests and the elders, 
 and said : 
 
 ^^I sinned. I betrayed innocent blood.'* 
 '^What is that to us?" they said. You see 
 to that." 
 
 He threw down the silver pieces in the Holy 
 Place and left there and went away and hung 
 himself. 
 
 But the chief priests took the silver and said : 
 ^^It is not right to put them into the treasury, 
 since it is the price of blood." 
 
 So they deliberated and bought with them the 
 potter's field, to bury strangers in. So that field 
 has been called The Field of Blood, to this day. 
 
 Then was fulfilled the saying by Jeremiah the 
 prophet : 
 
 They took the thirty pieces of silver, 
 The price of him who was valued, 
 Whom they of the children of Israel valued, 
 
S. Matth. the shadow of death 121 
 27 ; 10. 
 
 And gave them for the potter's field, 
 As the Lord appointed me. 
 
 Meanwhile Jesus was brought before the Gover- 
 nor. 
 
 And the Governor asked him : 
 Are you the King of the Jews ? 
 It is as you say." 
 And while the charges were being brought against 
 him by the chief priest and the elders he made no 
 answer. 
 
 Then Pilate said to him : 
 
 *'Do you not hear how many charges they are 
 bringing against you?" 
 
 And he did not answer him, — not even a word, 
 so that the Governor was greatly astonished. 
 
 Now at the feast the Governor was accustomed 
 to release to the crowd any one prisoner whom 
 they wanted. And they had then a notorious 
 prisoner called Barabbas. So when they were 
 gathered together, Pilate said to them : 
 
 ''Whom do you want me to release for you, 
 Barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Christ?" 
 
 For he knew that for envy they had handed 
 him over. And while he was sitting on the judg- 
 ment seat his wife sent to him, and said : 
 
 " Have nothing to do with that good man, 
 
122 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 27 : 19. 
 
 for I have suffered a great deal to-day in a dream 
 because of him." 
 
 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded 
 the crowds to ask for Barabbas, and to destroy 
 Jesus. 
 
 But the Governor answered : 
 Which of the two do you want me to release 
 for you ? " 
 
 Barabbas." 
 
 ^^What then shall I do with Jesus who is called 
 the Christ?" 
 
 Let him be crucified ! " 
 Why, what harm has he done? " 
 Let him be crucified ! ! " 
 So when Pilate saw he was gaining nothing, but 
 rather that a riot was being stirred up, he took 
 water and washed his hands before the crowd, 
 and said : 
 
 I will not answer for this bloodshed. You 
 must see to it yourselves." 
 And all the people answered : 
 
 His blood be on us and on our children." 
 Then he released for them Barabbas, but he 
 beat Jesus and handed him over to be cruci- 
 fied. 
 
 Then the soldiers of the Governor took Jesus 
 into the Governor's quarters and gathered to 
 
S. M ATTH. CR UCIFIED. 12^ 
 
 27 : 27. *^ 
 
 him the whole band. And they stripped him and 
 put on him a scarlet robe, and platted a crown of 
 thorns and put it on his head and a cane in his 
 right hand. Then they kneeled down before him 
 and mocked him and said : 
 Hail ! King of the Jews I 
 And they spat upon him, and they took the 
 cane and kept striking him on the head ; and 
 when they had mocked him they took off the 
 robe from him, put his own clothes on him and 
 led him away to crucify him. 
 
 As they were coming out they found a man 
 of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled 
 him to go with them to carry his cross. 
 
 And when they had come to a place called 
 Golgotha, that is to say, Skull's Place, they gave 
 him a drink of wine mixed with gall. But 
 when he had tasted it he refused to drink. 
 
 Now when they had crucified him, they divided 
 his clothes among them by casting lots. And 
 they sat down and kept watch over him there. 
 
 And they put up over his head the written 
 charge against him : 
 
 This is Jesus 
 The King of the Jews. 
 Then they crucified with him two robbers, one 
 on his right and one on his left. 
 
124 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 27 : 39. 
 
 Now those who were passing kept jeering at 
 him, wagging their heads and saying : 
 
 You destroyer of the temple and builder of 
 it in three days, save yourself. If you are the 
 Son of God, come down from the cross." 
 
 In the same way the chief priests mocking him 
 with the scribes and elders, said : 
 
 He saved others, he cannot save himself. 
 He is the King of Israel. Let him now come down 
 from the cross and we shall believe in him. He 
 trusts in God, let him rescue him now if he de- 
 sires him. For he said : 
 
 "I am God's Son." 
 
 Even the robbers who were crucified with him 
 kept throwing the same up to him. 
 
 Now from twelve to three o'clock darkness 
 came over all the land. And about three o'clock 
 Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said : 
 
 " Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani ? " 
 that is, My God ! My God ! Why hast Thou for- 
 saken me t 
 
 Now when some of those standing there heard 
 it they said : 
 
 " He is calling Elijah." 
 
 And one of them at once ran, took a sponge, 
 filled it with sour wine, put it on a cane, and gave 
 him a drink. 
 
 But the rest said : 
 
S. Matth. CR UCIFIED. 1 2 c 
 
 27 : 49. ^ 
 
 *^Let him be. Let us see whether Elijah is 
 coming to save him." 
 
 Jesus again cried with a loud voice and gave 
 up his spirit. And the curtain of the temple was 
 torn in two from the top to the bottom, and the 
 earth quaked and the rocks were rent, and the 
 tombs were opened, and many bodies of God's 
 devoted ones who had fallen asleep were raised, and 
 coming out of their tombs after his resurrection 
 they came into the holy city and appeared to 
 many. 
 
 Now when the Roman Captain and those with 
 him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and the 
 things which had happened they were very much 
 afraid, and said : 
 
 " Surely this was God's Son." 
 
 Now there were many women there looking on 
 from a distance, those who had followed Jesus 
 from Galilee and had waited on him. And 
 among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary 
 the mother of James and Joses, and the mother 
 of the sons of Zebedee. 
 
 Now when evening had come, a rich man from 
 Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was 
 Jesus' disciple, came, and went to Pilate and 
 asked for the body of Jesus. 
 
 Then Pilate ordered it to be given up. And 
 
126 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 27 : 59. 
 
 Joseph, taking the body, wrapped it in a clean 
 linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb 
 which he had cut out in the rock. Then he 
 rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and 
 went away. 
 
 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sit- 
 ting there opposite the grave. 
 
 Now the next day, which is the day after the 
 Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees 
 were gathered together to Pilate, and said : 
 
 ''We remember, Sir, that that deceiver said 
 while he was alive. After three days I rise again. 
 So order the grave to be made secure till the 
 third day, lest his disciples come and steal him 
 away and say to the people. He is risen from the 
 dead, and the last deception will be worse than 
 the first." 
 
 "You have a guard," Pilate said to them, "go 
 make it as secure as you can." 
 
 So they went and made the grave secure by 
 placing the guard and sealing the stone. 
 
 Now late in the week, as it began to dawn to- 
 ward the first of the week, Mary Magdalene and 
 the other Mary came to look at the grave. And 
 there was a great earthquake, For an angel of 
 the Lord came down from heaven and came and 
 rolled the stone away and sat on it. His ap- 
 pearance was like lightning and his clothes 
 
S. Matth. risen again, 127 
 
 28 : 3. ' 
 
 white like snow. And from fear of him the 
 watchers trembled and became like dead men. 
 
 But the angel answered and said to the 
 women : 
 
 Do not be afraid. For I know you are look- 
 ing for Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for 
 he rose just as he said. Come see the place 
 where he was lying. Then go quickly and tell 
 his disciples, He rose from the dead and he 
 is going before you into Galilee. See, I have 
 told you." 
 
 They went quickly from the tomb with fear 
 and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. And 
 Jesus met them, and said : 
 
 "Hail!" 
 
 And they came and grasped his feet and wor- 
 shipped him. 
 
 Then Jesus said to them : 
 Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go 
 into Galilee and they will see me there." 
 
 Now while they were going some of the watch 
 came into the city and told the chief priests 
 everything that had happened. And when they 
 had assembled with the elders and had con- 
 sulted together they gave a large sum of money 
 to the soldiers, and said : 
 
 " Say that his disciples came by night and 
 
128 THE ANOINTED KING. S. Matth. 
 
 28 : 13. 
 
 Stole him while we were asleep. And if this 
 comes to a hearing before the Governor we will 
 satisfy him and prevent you from getting into 
 trouble. ' ' 
 
 So they took the money and did as they were 
 told. And this story has been current among the 
 Jews from that day to this. 
 
 Now the eleven disciples went into Galilee into 
 the mountain where Jesus directed them. And 
 when they saw him they worshipped him, but some 
 doubted. And Jesus came to them and talked to 
 them, and said : 
 
 All authority in heaven and earth 
 
 Has been given to me. 
 So go make disciples 
 Of all the nations, 
 Purifying them, in the name of the Father, 
 And of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 
 Teaching them to observe 
 . Everything I commanded you. 
 And see ! I am with you always, — 
 To the end of the world.** 
 
PETER. 
 
PETER, 
 
 AN APOSTLE 
 
 OF 
 
 JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 To the chosen sojourners of the dispersion 
 In Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and 
 Bithynia : 
 
 According to the foreknowledge of God the 
 Father, 
 
 In consecration of the Spirit, 
 
 To obedience and sprinkling of the blood of 
 Jesus Christ : 
 
 May favor and peace be richly allotted to you. 
 
 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy 
 begot us again to a living hope by the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inher- 
 itance incorruptible, and undefiled, and which 
 does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 
 who by the power of God are guarded through 
 
 131 
 
1-12 GOD'S TRUE GRACE, i S. Peter 
 
 1:5. 
 
 faith to a salvation ready to be revealed in the last 
 day. 
 
 And you greatly rejoice in this, though now 
 for a little while, if need be, you have been put 
 to grief with various trials, so that the test of your 
 faith, which is more precious than gold which 
 perishes, though it is tested by fire, might be 
 found to praise and glory and honor at the reveal- 
 ing of Jesus Christ ; whom, though you have not 
 seen him, you love ; in whom, though you do not 
 now see him, yet you believe, and exultingly 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory ; 
 receiving the end of your faith, — the salvation of 
 your souls. 
 
 Now concerning this salvation the prophets 
 sought and searched diligently, who prophesied 
 of the grace that should come to you : searching 
 what time, or what kind of time, the Spirit of 
 Christ which was in them pointed to, when it 
 witnessed beforehand the sufferings appointed 
 for Christ and the glories which should fol- 
 low them. And to them it was revealed, that 
 not to themselves, but to you, they ministered 
 these things which have now been announced 
 to you through those who preached the good 
 news to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from 
 heaven. 
 
 And into these things angels desire to look. 
 
I S. Peter LIFE IN IT. t 
 
 I : 13. 
 
 So girding up the loins of your mind, be sober, 
 and set your hope perfectly on the favor which 
 is being brought to you in the revealing of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 As obedient children do not be fashioning 
 yourselves according to your former desires in 
 the time of your ignorance, but just as he who 
 called you is holy, you, yourselves, also be 
 holy in every kind of conduct. For it is writ- 
 ten : 
 
 Ye shall be holy, 
 For I am holy. 
 
 And if you call on him as Father, who without 
 respect of persons judges each man's work, con- 
 duct yourselves during the time of your sojourn- 
 ing in fear : knowing that you were redeemed, 
 not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, 
 from your vain conduct handed down from your 
 fathers ; but with precious blood, as of a lamb, 
 without blemish and without spot, even that of 
 Christ ; who was foreknown indeed before the 
 foundation of the world, but was manifested at 
 the end of the times, for your sake, who through 
 him are believers in God, who raised him from 
 the dead, and gave him glory ; so that your faith 
 and hope might be in God. 
 
 Having purified your souls in your obedience 
 to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, love each 
 
1^4 GOD'S TRUE GRACE. i S. PrrER 
 
 I : 22. 
 
 other heartily and earnestly. For you have been 
 begotten again, not from corruptible seed, but 
 from incorruptible, through God's living and abid- 
 ing word. 
 For, 
 
 All flesh is as grass, 
 
 All the glory thereof as the flower of grass. 
 
 The grass withereth, and the flower falleth, 
 But the message of the Lord abideth forever. 
 
 Now this is the message which was brought as 
 good news to you. 
 
 So putting away all malice, 
 
 All deceit. 
 
 Hypocrisy, 
 
 Envies, 
 
 And all evil speakings. 
 As new-born babes, long for the spiritual milk 
 which is without deceit, so that you may grow by 
 it to salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is 
 kind. 
 
 Coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed 
 by men, but with God chosen, precious, you also 
 as living stones build yourselves up a spiritual 
 house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual 
 sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 
 For it is contained in Scripture : 
 
 Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, held in 
 honor. 
 
I S. Peter GIVES HONOR. I ^ r 
 
 2:6. 
 
 And he that believeth on him shall not be put to 
 shame. 
 
 So for you believers is the honor. But for un- 
 believers 
 
 The stone which the builders rejected, 
 
 The same was made the head of the corner, 
 
 and, 
 
 A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. 
 
 For they stumble at the word being disobedient. 
 And they were appointed to this also. 
 But you are a chosen race, 
 
 A royal priesthood, 
 
 A holy nation, 
 
 A people for God's own possession. 
 So that you may make known the excellences of 
 him 
 
 Who called you out of darkness 
 
 Into his wonderful light. 
 For in time past you were no people. 
 
 But now you are the people of God. 
 You had not obtained mercy. 
 
 But now you have obtained mercy. 
 
 Dear brothers, I beg you as strangers and sojourn- 
 ers, abstain from fleshly desires which war against 
 the soul: behaving yourselves nobly among the 
 heathen, so that, in what they speak against you as 
 
1-16 GOD'S TRUE GRACE. i S. Peter 
 
 ^ 2 : 12. 
 
 evil doers, they may by your noble deeds which 
 they look at, praise God in the day of visitation. 
 
 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the 
 Lord's sake; whether to the king as supreme or 
 to governors as sent by him for vengeance on 
 evil doers and for praise to those who do well : 
 (for thus it is the will of God that by well doing 
 you should put to silence the ignorance of fool- 
 ish men) : as free, and not using your freedom for 
 a cloak of baseness but as slaves of God. 
 
 Honor everybody. 
 
 Love the brotherhood. 
 
 Fear God. 
 
 Honor the king. 
 
 Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters. 
 
 With all fear. 
 Not only to the good and gentle, 
 
 But also to the crooked. 
 For this is thankworthy, 
 
 If through consciousness of God, 
 
 Any one endures griefs, suffering wrongfully. 
 
 For what praise is it, 
 
 If, when you are at fault and are cuffed, 
 
 You shall take it patiently? 
 
 But if, when you do well and suffer for it, 
 
 You take it patiently, 
 This is thankworthy with God. 
 
I S. Peter INVOLVES SUFFERING, i-i-j 
 2 : 20. 
 
 For to this you were called, 
 Because Christ also suffered for you 
 I^eaving you an example, 
 So that you should follow his steps. 
 
 Who did not sm, neither was deceit found in 
 his mouth. 
 
 Who when he was reviled, did not revile 
 again. 
 
 When he suffered he did not threaten, 
 
 But committed himself to him who judges 
 impartially : 
 
 Who his own self bore our sins 
 
 In his body on the tree. 
 
 So that we, having died to sins, 
 
 Might live to right doing. 
 By whose stripes you were cured. 
 For you were like sheep going astray, 
 But are now returned 
 
 To the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 
 
 In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your 
 own husbands, so that, if any one does not give heed 
 to the instruction, they may without instruction be 
 gained by the behavior of their wives, as they watch 
 your chaste behavior coupled with reverence. And 
 your adorning, let it not be the outward adorning 
 of platting the hair and of wearing jewels of gold, 
 or of putting on clothes, but let it be the hidden 
 
1-28 GOD'S TRUE GRACE, i S. Peter 
 
 ^ 3-4. 
 
 man of the heart in the incorruptible clothes of the 
 meek and quiet spirit which is of great value in the 
 sight of God. For it was in this way the holy 
 women also who hoped in God used to adorn 
 themselves, submitting themselves to their own 
 husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him 
 master. And you became her daughters by acting 
 generously and not being afraid. 
 
 Husbands, in the same way, live with your 
 wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the 
 woman as to the weaker vessel, as being also joint 
 heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers may 
 not be cut off. 
 
 Finally, all of you be likeminded, 
 
 Sympathetic, 
 
 Loving like brothers, 
 
 Tenderhearted, 
 
 Humbleminded, 
 Not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, 
 
 But on the contrary, blessing. 
 For to this you were called, 
 
 So that you should inherit a blessing. 
 
 For he who wishes to love life 
 
 And see good days, 
 Let him refrain his tongue from evil 
 
 And his lips that they speak no guile ; 
 Let him turn away from evil and do good, 
 
I s. petl r /s sufficient. I ^ 
 
 3:11. 
 
 Let him seek peace and pursue it. 
 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous 
 And his ears listen to their prayers. 
 
 But the face of the Lord is against the evil-doers. 
 
 And who is he who will harm you, if you be- 
 come zealous for what is generous ? But even if 
 you should suffer for thinking and doing what is 
 right, blessed are you. And fear not their fear 
 nor be troubled, but revere Christ in your hearts 
 as Lord, always ready with an answer for every- 
 body who asks you a reason concerning the hope 
 which is in you, yet with gentleness and fear, hav- 
 ing a good conscience, so that in what you are 
 spoken against, they may be put to shame who 
 revile your noble conduct in Christ. For it is 
 better, if the will of God is such, that you suffer 
 for well-doing than for evil-doing. Because Christ 
 also died for sins once, the good for the bad — so 
 that he might bring you to God, being put to 
 death in the flesh, but endued with life in the 
 spirit. And in this also he went and preached 
 to the spirits in prison, who were once disobedient 
 when the long-suffering of God was waiting in 
 the days of Noah, while the ark was being pre- 
 pared, in which few, that is eight souls were saved 
 by means of the water. The counterpart of which 
 now saves you, — purification, — not the putting 
 away of the filth of the flesh, but the appeal of a 
 
14^0 GOD'S TRUE GRACE. i S. Peter 
 
 ^ 3:21, 
 
 good conscience toward God through the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven, 
 angels and authorities and powers being made 
 subject to him. 
 
 Since then Christ suffered in the flesh, arm 
 yourselves also with the same thought ; for he 
 who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from 
 sin ; so that he no longer should live the rest of 
 his lime in the flesh to the desires of men, but to 
 the will of God. 
 
 For the past time was enough in which to do the 
 will of the heathen and to w^lk in 
 lasciviousness, 
 desires, 
 
 wine-drinkings, 
 
 revellings, 
 
 carousings, 
 
 and abominable idolatries. 
 Because you have thus walked they think it 
 strange that you no longer run with them into 
 the same flood of self-abandonment, speaking 
 evil of you. And they will give account to him 
 who is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 
 For, for this purpose was the good news proclaimed 
 even to the dead, so that they may be judged in- 
 deed in the flesh as men are judged but may live 
 in the spirit as God lives. 
 
I S. Peter CUL TIVA TES CHARITY. 141 
 4:7. . 
 
 But the end of everything is at hand. So be 
 of sound mind and self-contained with a view to 
 prayer : above all being hearty and earnest in 
 your love among yourselves. For love covers a 
 multitude of sins : being hospitable to each other 
 without murmuring: according as each has re- 
 ceived a gift ministering it among yourselves as 
 good stewards of the varied grace of God. If any 
 one speaks, speaking as oracles of God : if any 
 one ministers, ministering with the strength which 
 God supplies : so that in every thing God may be 
 praised through Jtsus Christ, whose is the praise 
 and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Dear brothers, do not be astonished at the fiery 
 trial among you which comes on you to prove you, 
 as though a strange thing happened to you ; but in 
 proportion as you are sharers in the sufferings of 
 Christ, rejoice, so that at the revealing of his praise, 
 you may rejoice with exulting joy. 
 
 If you are reproached with the name of Christ, 
 blessed are you, because the Spirit of praise and 
 the Spirit of God rest on you. For let none of 
 you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil 
 doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters. 
 But if a man suffers as a Christian," let him 
 not be ashamed, but let him praise God with this 
 name. For the time has come for judgment to 
 
14.2 GOirS FREE GRACE. i S. Peter 
 
 ^ 4-17. 
 begin at the house of God. And if it begins first 
 at us, what shall be the end of those who do not 
 obey the good news of God? And if the good 
 man is scarcely saved, where shall the irreverent 
 and bad man appear ? 
 
 So let those also who are suffering according to 
 the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to 
 a faithful Creator. 
 
 So the elders among you I exhort who am a 
 fellow-elder, a witness of the sufferings of Christ, 
 and a sharer in the glory which will be revealed. 
 
 Tend the flock of God which is among you, 
 not from compulsion, but from choice, nor sor- 
 didly, but heartily, nor as lording it over the 
 charge allotted to you, but making yourselves 
 examples to the flock. And when the chief 
 Shepherd shall be manifested you will receive 
 the crown of glory which never fades away. 
 
 In the same way, you younger men, submit 
 yourselves to the elder. 
 
 Yes, all of you, gird yourselves with humility to 
 serve each other. For 
 
 God resisteth the proud, 
 
 But giveth grace to the humble. 
 
 So humble yourselves under the mighty hand 
 of God, so that he may exalt you in due time; 
 throwing all your anxiety on him. For he cares 
 for you. 
 
I S. Peter BRINGS TO GLORY. 143 
 
 Be sober. 
 Be watchful. 
 
 Your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, is 
 walking about, seeking whom he may devour. 
 Withstand him, steadfast in your faith, knowing 
 that the same sufferings are being accomplished in 
 your brothers who are in the world. 
 Now the God of all favor, 
 
 Who called you to his eternal majesty in Christ, 
 After you have suffered a little while, 
 Will himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you, 
 To him be the dominion forever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 By Silvanus our faithful brother, as I consider 
 him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and 
 witnessing that this is the true favor of God. 
 
 Stand fast in it. 
 
 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with 
 you, sends you her best wishes, and so does Mark, 
 my son. 
 
 Salute each other with a kiss of love. 
 Peace be to you all who are in Christ. 
 
SIMON PETER, 
 
 A SLAVE AND AN APOSTLE 
 
 OF 
 
 JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 To those who have obtained an equally precious 
 faith with us, through the fairness of our God and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ : 
 
 May favor and peace be richly allotted to you in 
 the full knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord ; 
 seeing that his divine power has given us every 
 thing which belongs to life and piety, through the 
 full knowledge of him who called us by his own 
 glory and virtue. And by this he has given us his 
 precious and greatest promises ; so that through 
 these you may become sharers of the divine nature, 
 having escaped from the corruption that is in the 
 world by desire. 
 
 Yes, and on this very account, adding on your 
 part all earnestness, 
 144 
 
2 S.Peter CHRISTIAN GRACES, 145 
 
 With and by your faith supply courage ; 
 by your courage, knowledge ; 
 by your knowledge, self-control ; 
 by your self-control, endurance ; 
 by your endurance, piety ; 
 
 by your piety, brotherly kindness ; 
 by your brotherly kindness, love. 
 For when these are yours and you have an 
 abundance of them, they make you neither idle 
 nor unfruitful towards the full knowledge of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 For he who has not these is blind, near-sighted, 
 and has forgotten the cleansing of his sins of 
 long ago. For this reason, brothers, go the more 
 earnestly to work to make your calling and selec- 
 tion sure. For when you do this you shall never 
 stumble. For in this way will be richly supplied 
 to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 So I shall always be ready to remind you of 
 these, though you know them, and are established 
 in the truth which is with you. But I think it 
 right, so long as I am in this tent of the flesh, 
 to stir you up by reminding you. For I know 
 that the putting off of my tent will be sudden, 
 just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. And 
 I will make an earnest effort so that after my de- 
 cease you maybe able to remember these things. 
 10 
 
1 46 E YE- WITNESSES. 2 S. Peter 
 
 ~ I : 16. 
 
 For we did not follow cunningly-devised 
 fables, when we made known to you the power 
 and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were 
 eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received 
 from God the Father honor and praise, when 
 there came such a voice to him from the majes- 
 tic glory : 
 
 This is my beloved son. 
 In him I am well pleased. 
 
 And this voice we ourselves heard come out 
 of heaven, when we were with him in the holy 
 mount. 
 
 And we have a prophetic declaration more certain 
 than that : to which you do well to take heed as to a 
 lamp shining in a dark place, till the day dawns, 
 and the day. star rises in your hearts : knowing 
 this first, that no prophecy of scripture comes 
 from private interpretation. For no prophecy 
 ever came by the will of man : but men spoke 
 from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 But false prophets came also among the 
 people, as there will be false teachers also 
 among you, and they will secretly bring in de- 
 structive heresies, denying even the Master who 
 bought them, bringing on themselves swift de- 
 struction. And man}^ will follow their lascivious 
 doings ; and by reason of them the way of truth 
 
2 S.Peter FALSE TEACHERS. 147 
 2:3- ^' 
 
 will be reviled, and with GOVetousness they will 
 with feigned words make merchandise of you. 
 And their sentence now from of old does not 
 linger, nor does their destruction slumber. 
 
 For if God did not spare angels when they 
 sinned, but cast them into Tartarus, and com- 
 mitted them to pits of darkness to be reserved 
 for judgment ; and did not spare the ancient 
 world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a 
 proclaimer of goodness, when he brought a 
 flood on the world of the irreverent ; and turning 
 the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes 
 condemned them with an overthrow, having made 
 them an example to those who should live irreverent 
 lives, and delivered good Lot, sore distressed by 
 the lascivious life of the wicked (for that good 
 man hving among them, in seeing and hearing, 
 tortured his good soul from day to day with 
 their lawless deeds) : the Lord knows how to 
 deliver the pious out of temptation, and to 
 keep the wicked under punishment to the day 
 of judgment; but chiefly those who follow the 
 flesh in the desire of defilement, and despise 
 dominion. 
 
 Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble to 
 revile dignities, where angels, greater in might 
 and power, do not bring a revihng judgment 
 against them before the Lord. But these, as 
 
148 HERETICS DESCRIBED, 2 S. Peter 
 
 2 : 12, 
 
 creatures without reason, born mere animals to 
 be taken and destroyed, reviling in things of 
 which they are ignorant, will surely be destroyed, 
 suffering wrong as the wages of wrong-doing : 
 counting luxury for a moment a pleasure, spots 
 and blemishes, luxuriating in their love feasts, 
 while they feast with you ; having eyes full of 
 adultery which cannot cease from sin ; enticinp^ 
 unstedfast souls; having a heart trained in cov- 
 etousness; children of cursing; forsaking the 
 right way, they went astray, having followed the 
 way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the 
 wages of wrong-doing ; but he was rebuked for 
 his own wrong-doing: a dumb ass spoke with 
 man's voice and stayed the madness of the 
 prophet. 
 
 These are springs without water, and mists 
 driven by a storm. And for them the blackness 
 of darkness has been reserved. For, uttering 
 great swelling words of vanity, they entice in 
 the desires of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those 
 who are just escaping from those who live in 
 error ; promising them liberty, while they them- 
 selves are slaves of corruption. For by what 
 any one is overcome, by that he is enslaved. 
 For if, after they have escaped the defilements 
 of the world, through the full knowledge of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again 
 
2 S.Peter SCOFFERS TO COME. 149 
 
 2 : 20. 
 
 entangled in it and overcome, the last state has 
 become worse with them than the first. For it 
 would have been better for them not to have 
 fully known the way of right-doing, than, after 
 fully knowing it, to turn back from the holy com- 
 mandment delivered to them. 
 
 It has happened to them according to the true 
 proverb: 
 
 The dog turning to its own vomit again, 
 
 The sow which had washed to wallowing in the mire. 
 
 This is now, dear brothers, the second letter 
 which I am writing to you. And in both of them 
 I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you that 
 you should remember the words which were spoken 
 before by the holy prophets and the command- 
 ment of the Lord and Saviour through your apos- 
 tles : knowing this first, that in the last days 
 mockers will come with mockery, following their 
 own desires, and saying : 
 
 Where is the promise of his coming? For 
 from the day the fathers fell asleep everything 
 continues as it was from the beginning of the 
 creation." 
 
 For this they wilfully ignore, that there were 
 heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of 
 water and by means of water, by the word of 
 God. And by this means the world which then 
 
150 THE LORD WILL COME. 2 S. Peter 
 
 3:6. 
 
 was, being overflowed with water, perished. But 
 the heavens which now are, and the earth, by the 
 same word have been stored up for fire, being 
 reserved against the day of judgment and de- 
 struction of irreverent men. 
 
 But do not forget this one thing, beloved, that 
 one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, 
 and a thousand years as one day. 
 
 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as 
 some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you, 
 not wishing that any should perish, but that all 
 should come to a change of mind and purpose of 
 heart. 
 
 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief. And 
 then the heavens will pass away with a great noise, 
 the elements will be dissolved with glowing heat, 
 the earth and the works in it will be burnt up. 
 
 Seeing that these things are in this way all to 
 be dissolved, what kind of persons ought you to 
 be in holy living and piety, looking for and 
 earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, 
 by reason of which the heavens being on fire 
 will be dissolved and the elements will melt with 
 glowing heat ? But, according to his promise, we 
 look for new heavens and a new earth in which 
 right thought and doing dwells. 
 
 So, dear brothers, since you are looking for this, 
 go to work earnestly to be found in place, with- 
 
2 S.Peter NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH, 151 
 2 : 14. 
 
 out spot and blameless in his sight. And consider 
 that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation ; 
 just as our beloved brother Paul also, according 
 to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as 
 also in all his letters, speaking in them of these 
 things. And in them are some things hard to be 
 understood, which the ignorant and unsteadfast 
 wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to their 
 own destruction. 
 
 So you, dear brothers, knowing these things 
 beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with 
 the error of the wicked, you fall from your own 
 steadfastness. 
 
 But grow in the favor and knowledge 
 Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 To him be the glory 
 
 Both now and forever 
 Amen. 
 
JU.DE. 
 
JUDE, 
 
 A SLAVE OF JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 AND 
 
 BROTHER OF JAMES, 
 
 To those who are called, 
 Beloved in God the Father, 
 And kept for Jesus Christ : 
 
 May mercy and peace and love be richly allotted 
 to you. 
 
 Dear brothers, while I was with all earnestness 
 endeavoring to write to you about our common 
 salvation, I found it necessary to write at once to 
 you and to exhort you to contend earnestly for the 
 faith which was once for all delivered to God's de- 
 voted ones. For there crept in secretly certain 
 men who were long ago marked out as on their 
 way to this condemnation, irreverent men, turning 
 the favor of our God into lasciviousness, and 
 denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ* 
 
 155 
 
1^6 JUDGMENT, S. Jude 
 
 Now I desire to remind you, though you know 
 everything once for all, how the Lord, having 
 saved a people out of the land of Egypt, after- 
 wards destroyed the unbelievers. And angels 
 who did not keep their own principality, but left 
 their proper habitation, he has kept in perpetual 
 bonds under darkness to the judgment of the 
 great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and 
 the cities about them, having in the same way 
 with these given themselves over to fornication, 
 and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an 
 example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. 
 
 Yet in the same way these also in their dream- 
 ings defile the flesh, set aside dominion, and 
 revile dignities. But Michael the archangel, 
 when contending with the devil he was disput- 
 ing about the body of Moses, did not dare to 
 bring against him a charge characterized by re- 
 viling, but said : 
 
 The Lord rebuke thee." 
 
 But these revile whatever they do not know. 
 And what they understand naturally, like the 
 creatures without reason, in these they are de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 Woe to them ! 
 
 For they went in the way of Cain and ran 
 riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and 
 perished in the rebellion of Korah. 
 
S.JuDE ENOCH'S PROPHECY. ikj 
 
 12. ' 
 
 These are they who are hidden rocks in your 
 love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds 
 who without fear feed themselves ; clouds without 
 water carried along by winds ; autumn trees with- 
 out fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; wild 
 waves of the sea foaming out their own shame; 
 wandering stars for whom the blackness of dark- 
 ness has been reserved forever. 
 
 And to these also Enoch, the seventh from 
 Adam, prophesied, and said : 
 
 Look, the Lord is coming with ten thousands 
 of his holy ones to execute judgment on all, and to 
 convict all the irreverent of all their irreverent 
 deeds which they have irreverently done, and of 
 all the hard things which irreverent sinners have 
 spoken against him." 
 
 These are murmurers, faulters of Providence 
 following their desires (and their mouth speaks 
 great swelling words), admiring persons for the 
 sake of advantage. 
 
 But you, dear brothers, remember the words 
 which have been spoken before by the apostles of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ ; how they used to tell you : 
 
 ^'In the last time there will be mockers, follow- 
 ing their own irreverent desires.'* 
 
 These are they who make separations, sensuous, 
 because they have not the Spirit. 
 
 But you, dear brothers, building up yourselves on 
 
IS8 REBUKE AND SAVE. S. Jude 
 
 ^ 20. 
 
 your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 
 
 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the 
 
 mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which leads to 
 
 eternal life. 
 
 And some rebuke as you debate with them ; and 
 some save, snatching them out of the fire, and pity 
 others with fear ; hating even the garment spotted 
 by the flesh. 
 
 Now to him who is able to keep you from stum- 
 bling, 
 
 And to present you blameless 
 Before the presence of his majesty 
 With exulting joy. 
 To the only God our Saviour through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, 
 Be majesty, sovereignty, 
 Dominion and authority, 
 Before all time, and now, and for evermore. 
 Amen. 
 
JAMES. 
 
JAMES, 
 
 A SLAVE OF GOD 
 
 AND OI'^ THE 
 
 LORD JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 To the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, 
 Greeting. 
 
 Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you fall 
 into various trials, knowing that the trial of your 
 faith works endurance. And let endurance have 
 its perfect work so that you may be perfect and 
 entire, lacking nothing. 
 
 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of 
 God who gives to all liberally and does not throw 
 it up to them, and it will be given you. But let 
 him ask in faith, without any doubts. For he who 
 doubts is like the surge of the sea driven by the 
 winds and blasts. For do not let that man think 
 he will receive anything from the Lord ; a double- 
 minded man, unstable in all his ways. 
 
I62 HUMILITY, S.James 
 
 I ; 9. 
 
 But let the lowly brother boast 
 
 In his exaltation, 
 
 And the rich 
 
 In his humiliation. 
 
 Because like the flower of the grass 
 He will pass away. 
 
 For the sun rises with the scorching heat, 
 And withers the grass ; 
 And its flower falls, 
 And the beauty of its form perishes. 
 In this way, too, will the rich man 
 Fade away in his goings. 
 
 Blessed is the man who endures temptation. 
 
 For when he has been approved, 
 
 He will receive the crown of life 
 
 Which the Lord promised 
 
 To those who love him. 
 Let no one say when he is tempted, 
 It is from God that I am tempted. 
 
 For God cannot be tempted with evil, 
 
 And he tempts no one. 
 But each one is tempted, 
 
 When he is drawn away by his own desire and 
 enticed. 
 Then the desire 
 
 When it has conceived bears sin, 
 And the sin, 
 
S.James GOD THE GIVER. 1 6^ 
 
 I ; 15. ^ 
 
 When it is full grown, brings forth death. 
 Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. 
 
 Every kind of generous giving and every perfect 
 gift is from above. 
 And comes down from the Father of lights. 
 With whom can be no variation. 
 
 Nor shadow which is cast by turning. 
 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of 
 truth. 
 
 So that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his 
 creatures. 
 You know this, my dear brothers. 
 But let every man be swift to hear, 
 Slow to speak, slow to wrath. 
 For the wrath of man 
 Does not work the goodness of God, 
 ■ So, putting away all lilthiness 
 And overflowing malice, 
 Receive with meekness the implanted word 
 Which is able to save your souls. 
 
 But be doers of the word, 
 
 And not hearers only, deluding your own selves. 
 For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not 
 a doer, 
 
 He is like a man looking at his natural face in 
 a glass, 
 
LIBERTY'S LA W, S. James 
 
 For he looks at himself and goes away, 
 And at once forgets what kind of a man he 
 was. 
 
 But he who looks into the perfect law, 
 The law of liberty, and continues to look, 
 Being not a hearer who forgets, but a doer who 
 does, 
 
 This man will be blessed in his doing. 
 If any one thinks himself to be religious, 
 
 While he does not bridle his tongue, 
 
 But deceives his heart, 
 This man's religion is vain. 
 Pure religion. 
 
 And undefiled before our God and Father, is 
 this. 
 
 To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- 
 tion, 
 
 And to keep himself unspotted from the world. 
 
 My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of 
 persons. For if there comes into your syna- 
 gogue a gold-ringed man, in gorgeous clothes, 
 and there comes in also a poor man in squalid 
 clothes ; and you look with respect on him who 
 wears the gorgeous clothes, and say, Sit here 
 honorably ; And you say to the poor man, Stand 
 there, or sit under my footstool ; are you not 
 
S.James A COMPLETE LAW. l6=; 
 
 2:4. ^ 
 
 divided in your own mind and have become judges 
 with evil thoughts ? 
 
 Listen, my dear brothers. 
 
 Did not God choose those who are poor so far 
 as this world is concerned to be rich in faith, and 
 heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those 
 who love him ? 
 
 But you have dishonored the poor. 
 
 Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves 
 drag you to courts of justice ? Is it not they who 
 revile the noble name by which you are called ? 
 If, however, you keep the royal law according to 
 the scripture : 
 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, 
 you do well. But if you are person-accepting, it is 
 sin which you are committing, and you are con- 
 victed by the law as law-breakers. 
 
 For whoever shall keep the whole law, yet shall 
 offend in one point, he has become guilty of all. 
 For he who said : 
 
 Do not commit adultery, 
 
 said also : 
 
 Do not kill. 
 
 Now if you do not commit adultery, but kill, you 
 have become a law-breaker. 
 
 So speak and so act as men who are to be judged 
 by a law of liberty. For judgment is without 
 mercy to him who has showed no mercy. 
 
 Mercy glories over judgment. 
 
1 66 FAITH AND WORKS, S.James 
 
 2 : 14. 
 
 What good is it, my brothers, 
 
 If any one says he has faith, 
 
 But has no works ? 
 
 Can that faith save him ? 
 
 If a brother or sister is naked, 
 
 And in need of daily food, 
 
 And one of you says to them, 
 
 Go in peace. Be warmed and filled. 
 
 And yet he does not give them the things 
 needed for the body, 
 What good is it ? 
 In the same way also faith, 
 If it has no works, is in itself dead. 
 
 But some one will say : 
 
 You have faith and I have works. 
 
 Show me your faith apart from your works. 
 
 And I will show you my faith by my 
 works. 
 
 You believe God is one. You do well. 
 
 The demons also believe and shudder. 
 But do you want to know, O vain man, 
 That faith apart from works is barren ? 
 
 Was not Abraham our father set right in God's 
 sight by works, 
 
 In offering up Isaac his son on the altar ? 
 
 You see that faith worked with his works, 
 
 And by works faith was made perfect. 
 
 And the scripture was fulfilled, which says : 
 
5. James THE TONGUE, 1 6? 
 
 2 : 23. 
 
 And Abraham believed God, 
 
 And it was counted to him for goodness 
 
 And he was called the friend of God. 
 
 You see that by works a man is set right in 
 
 God's sight, 
 And not by faith alone. 
 
 In the same way was not Rahab the harlot set 
 
 right in God's sight by works, 
 In receiving the messengers and sending them 
 out another way? 
 For as the body apart from the spirit 
 Is dead, 
 
 In the same way also faith apart from works 
 Is dead. 
 
 My brothers, do not get into the way of being 
 many teachers, knowing that we shall receive heavier 
 judgment. For in many things we all offend. 
 
 If any one does not offend in word, he is a 
 perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. 
 And if we put the horses' bits into their mouths, 
 so that they may obey us, we turn about their 
 whole body also. 
 
 Look, the ships also, though they are so great, 
 and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned 
 about by a very small rudder, wherever the impulse 
 of the steersman wishes. 
 
 So the tongue also is a little member, and 
 
1 68 TRUE WISDOM. S. James 
 
 3 : 5- 
 
 boasts great things. Look ! how great a forest 
 a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire. 
 The world of iniquity among our members is the 
 tongue, which defiles the whole body and sets 
 the world aflame and is ever being set on fire 
 itself by gehenna. 
 
 For every kind of beasts and birds, of creep- 
 ing things and things in the sea, is tamed, and 
 has been tamed by mankind, but the tongue can 
 no one tame. It is an uncontrollable evil, it is 
 full of deadly poison. 
 
 With it we bless the Lord and Father ; and 
 with it we curse men, who are made after the 
 likeness of God. Out of the same mouth come 
 blessing and cursing. 
 
 My brothers, these things ought not to occur 
 in this way. Surely the fountain does not send 
 out from the same opening salt water and fresh ? 
 Surely a fig-tree, my brothers, cannot yield 
 olives, or a vine, figs 1 Nor can a salt spring 
 yield fresh water. 
 
 Who is wise 
 
 And understanding among you ? 
 Let him show by his noble conduct 
 His works in meekness of wisdom. 
 
 But if you have bitter jealousy 
 
 And faction in your heart, 
 
S.James WARS AND FIGHTS. i6q 
 
 3 : 14. ^ 
 
 Do not boast, 
 
 And do not lie against the truth. 
 
 This wisdom is not one which comes down 
 
 from above, 
 But is earthly, sensual, demon-like. 
 For where jealousy and faction are, 
 There is confusion and every vile deed. 
 But the wisdom which is from above is first 
 pure. 
 
 Then peaceable, forbearing, persuasive, 
 Full of mercy and generous fruits, 
 Without vacillation, without hypocrisy. 
 And the fruit of right doing is sown in peace, 
 For those who make peace. 
 
 Where do wars come from. 
 And where do the fightings among you come 
 from ? 
 
 Is it not from here, from your lusts. 
 
 Which keep warring in your members? 
 
 You desire and do not have. 
 
 You kill and covet and cannot obtain. 
 
 You fight and war. 
 
 You do not have. 
 
 Because you do not ask. 
 
 You ask and do not receive. 
 
 Because you ask amiss. 
 
 So that you may spend it on your lusts. 
 
O PRIDE AND HUMILITY. S. James 
 
 4 :4- 
 
 You adulterers and adulteresses ! 
 
 Do you not know that the friendship of the 
 
 world 
 Is enmity with God ? 
 
 So whoever wishes to be a friend of the 
 world 
 
 Makes himself an enemy of God. 
 
 Or do you think the scripture speaks in vain, 
 
 The spirit which he made to dwell in us 
 
 He yearns for, even to jealous envy ? 
 
 But he gives more grace. 
 
 So the scripture says : 
 
 God resisteth the proud, 
 
 But giveth favor to the humble, 
 
 So be subject to God. 
 
 But resist the devil, 
 
 And he will flee from you. 
 
 Draw near to God, 
 
 And he will draw near to you. 
 
 Cleanse your hands, you sinners, 
 
 And purify your hearts, you double-minded. 
 
 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. 
 
 Let your laughing be turned to mourning, 
 
 And your joy to heaviness, 
 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord; 
 And he will exalt you. 
 
 Do not talk against each other, brothers. 
 
S. James £ VIL SPEAKING. 1 7 1 
 
 4:11. 
 
 He who talks against a brother, or judges his 
 brother, 
 
 Talks against the law and judges the law. 
 But if you judge the law, 
 You are not a doer of the law but a judge. 
 One only is the lawgiver and judge, 
 He who is able to save and to destroy. 
 Who are you who judge your neighbor ? 
 
 Come now, you who say : To-day or to-mor- 
 row we will go into this city, and spend a year 
 there, and trade, and make money. And you do 
 not know what shall happen to-morrow. 
 
 What is your life ? 
 
 For you are a vapor which appears for a little 
 w^hile, and then vanishes away : instead of your 
 saying, If the Lord wishes, we will both live, 
 and do this or that. 
 
 But now you boast in your vauntings : all such 
 boasting is evil. 
 
 So to him who knows how to act nobly, and 
 does not do it, to him it is sin. 
 
 Come now, you rich, weep and howl 
 
 For your miseries which are coming on you. 
 
 Your riches are corrupted. 
 
 Your clothes are moth-eaten. 
 
 Your gold and silver are rusted. 
 
J72 LOVE OF RICHES. S.James 
 
 ' 5:3. 
 
 Their rust will be 
 
 For a witness against you, 
 
 And will eat your flesh like fire. 
 
 You have laid up your treasure 
 
 In the last days. 
 
 Look, the wages of the laborers. 
 
 Who mow^ed your fields. 
 
 Which by you is kept back by fraud, 
 Cries out. 
 
 And the cries of those who reaped 
 Have entered the ears of the Lord of 
 Sabaoth. 
 
 You have lived luxuriously on the earth, 
 
 And spent wantonly. 
 
 You have nourished your hearts 
 
 In a day of slaughter. 
 You condemned, you killed the doer of right. 
 He does not resist you. 
 
 So be patient, brothers, till the coming of the 
 Lord. Look, the husbandman waits for the 
 precious fruit of the earth and is patient over it, 
 till it receives the early and latter rain. 
 
 So you also be patient. Strengthen your 
 hearts. For the coming of the Lord is at hand. 
 
 Do not complain about each other, brothers, 
 so that you may not be judged. Look, the judge 
 is standing before the door. 
 
S.James CHEERFUL PATIENCE. 1 73 
 
 5 : 10. 
 
 Brothers, take for an example of suffering and 
 of patience the prophets who spoke in the name 
 of the Lord. 
 
 Look, we call those blessed who endured. 
 You have heard of the patience of Job, and have 
 seen the end of the Lord, how the Lord is full of 
 pity, and merciful. 
 
 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, 
 
 Neither by the heaven, 
 
 Nor by the earth. 
 
 Nor by any other oath : 
 But let your yes be yes, and your no, no, 
 So that you may not fall under judgment. 
 
 Is any among you suffering ? 
 
 Let him pray. 
 Is any cheerful ? 
 
 Let him sing praise. 
 Is any among you sick ? 
 
 Let him call for the elders of the Church ; 
 
 And let them pray over him, 
 
 Anointing him with oil in the name of the 
 Lord. 
 
 And the prayer of faith will save him who is 
 sick 
 
 And the Lord will raise him up. 
 And if he has committed sins, 
 It will be forgiven him. 
 
174 ^ GOOD MAN'S PRAYER. S.James 
 
 5:16. 
 
 So confess your sins to each other, 
 And pray for each other, so that you may be 
 cured. 
 
 The prayer of a good man is of much avaiv m 
 
 its workhig. 
 Elijah was a man of Hke passions with us, 
 And he prayed earnestly that it might not 
 rain : 
 
 And it did not rain on the earth 
 For three years and six months. 
 And he prayed again ; 
 
 And the heaven gave rain 
 And the earth bore her fruit. 
 
 My brothers, if any among you errs from the 
 truth. 
 
 And some one converts him, 
 Let him know, 
 That he who converts a bad man from the 
 error of his way 
 Will save a soul from death. 
 And will cover a multitude of sins. 
 
HEBREWS. 
 
In former times it was only partially, 
 
 And in many different ways, 
 God spoke to our forefathers 
 
 In those through whom he revealed himself. 
 But in these last days he has once for all 
 spoken to us 
 
 In his Son, 
 Whom he appointed heir of everything, 
 
 And through whom he made the worlds. 
 
 He is the reflected perfection of God, 
 And the imprint of the divine nature. 
 
 And it is he who sustains everything 
 By the expression of his power. 
 
 So when he had cleared men from the guilt of 
 sin. 
 
 He sat down on the right of the Majesty on 
 high. 
 
 And he became as much greater than the 
 angels 
 
 As the name he inherited is of more dignity 
 than theirs. 
 
 177 
 
l-j^ CHRISTIANITY SUPEBIOB TO JUDAISM. Heb. 
 
 1 ; o. 
 
 For to which of the angels did he ever say : 
 
 Thou art my Son. 
 
 To-day have I begotten thee : 
 
 And again, 
 
 I will be to him a Father, 
 And he shall be to me a Son ? 
 
 And when again he brings the first-born into 
 the world 
 He says : 
 
 Let all the angels of God worship him. 
 And to the angels he says : 
 He maketh his angels winds, 
 And his servants flaming fire. 
 But to the Son he says : 
 
 Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. 
 
 The sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy 
 kingdom. 
 
 Thou hast loved goodness and hated lawlessness, 
 So God, thy God, hath anointed thee 
 With the oil of gladness above thy fellows : 
 And, 
 
 Thou, Lord, in the beginning 
 
 Hast laid the foundation of the earth. 
 
 And the heavens are the works of thy hands. 
 
 They shall perish. 
 
 But thou continuest. 
 
 And they all shall become old as doth a garment, 
 And as a mantle shalt thou roll them up. 
 As a garment, and they shall be changed. 
 
 But thou art the same, 
 
 And thy years shall not fail. 
 
heb. a great salvation. 179 
 
 But to which of the angels has he ever said : 
 Sit thou on my right hand 
 
 Till I make thine enemies thy footstool ? 
 
 Are they not all ministering spirits 
 AVho are being continually sent out 
 
 To do sonae work in the interest of those 
 Who are going to inherit salvation ? 
 
 For this reason we ought to pay the greater at- 
 tention to what we have heard, for fear of drifting 
 away from it. For if the message delivered by 
 angels was to be relied on, and every violation and 
 disobedience was dealt with as it justly deserved, 
 how are we to escape, if we pay no attention to 
 such a great salvation ? Such a salvation as was 
 at first delivered by the Lord, and was then made 
 sure to us by those who heard. Yes, and God, 
 also, bore witness with them to what they told you, 
 with signs and wonders and mighty works and gifts 
 of the Holy Spirit, just as he willed. 
 
 For it was not to angels God subjected the world 
 to come, about which we are speaking. But some 
 one has somewhere testified, and said : 
 
 What is man, that thou art mindful of him, 
 Or the son of man, that thou visitest him ? 
 
 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; * 
 Thou crownedst him with glory and honor. 
 
 And didst set him over the works of thy hands. 
 
 Thou didst put all things in subjection under his 
 feet. 
 
i8o CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAIS3L Heb. 
 
 2 : o. 
 
 For in subjecting everything to him, he left noth- 
 ing not subjected to him. But, as things now are, 
 we do not yet see everything subjected to him. 
 But we see him who was made a little lower than 
 the angels so that, by God's favor, he might die for 
 everybody, that is, Jesus, through the suffering of 
 death, crowned with glory and honor. For it was 
 becoming to him, for whom everything exists and 
 through whom they exist, in bringing many sons to 
 a glorious condition of blessedness, to make the 
 author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 
 For both he who is devoting us to God and those 
 who are being devoted to him are all from the one 
 Father. For this reason he is not ashamed to call 
 them brothers, and says : 
 
 I will declare thy name to my brethren, 
 In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy 
 praise. 
 
 And again : 
 
 I will put my trust in him. 
 And again : 
 
 Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me. 
 Since, then, the children are sharers in flesh and 
 blood, he also himself in the same way partook of 
 them, so that, through death, he might deprive him 
 who has the power over death of his power, that is, 
 the devil ; and might deliver all those who, be- 
 cause of their fear of death, were all their lifetime 
 
Heb. CHRIST above MOSES. i8i 
 
 2: 15. 
 
 bound in slavery. For he never anywhere helps 
 angels. On the contrary, he helps Abraham's 
 children. For that reason it was necessary for him 
 to be made like his brothers in every way, so that 
 he might become a compassionate and faithful high 
 priest in his relation to God for the expiation of the 
 sins of the people. For since he himself has been 
 tempted, and has suffered as a result of it, he is 
 able to render assistance to those who are being 
 tempted. 
 
 Because of what has just been said, devoted 
 brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, fix your 
 mind on the Apostle and high priest whom we pro- 
 fess to be ours, that is, Jesus. Think of him as 
 faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses 
 was faithful in his deahngs with the Children of 
 Israel. For he has been considered worthy of 
 more dignity than Moses to the extent that he who 
 built the house has more honor than the house. 
 For every house is built by some one. But he 
 who built everything is God. Now Moses was 
 faithful in all his dealings with the Children of 
 Israel who constituted God's house, and he was 
 thus faithful as a servant for the purpose of bearing 
 testimony to what was hereafter to be spoken. But 
 Christ was faithful as a Son set over his Father's 
 house. And that house are we, if we hold the 
 
1 82 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAIS3I, Heb. 
 
 3: 6. 
 
 boldness and the boasting of our hope firm to the 
 end. 
 
 It is, on that account, just as the Holy Spirit ' • 
 says : 
 
 To day if ye will hear his voice, 
 
 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, 
 As in the day of temptation in the wilderness, 
 
 Where your fathers tempted me, proved me, 
 
 And saw my works forty years. 
 Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, 
 
 And said : They do alway err in their heart. 
 But they did not know my ways : 
 
 As I sware in my wrath : 
 They shall not enter into my rest. 
 
 See to it, brothers, that none of you are ever so 
 wickedly faithless as to turn away from the living 
 God. On the contrary, encourage each other day 
 by day, while it is called, To-day, so that none of 
 you may become hardened by the deceitfulness of 
 sin. For we have become partakers of the Christ, 
 if, that is, we continue to hold the confidence 
 which we had in the beginning firm to the end : 
 while it is said : 
 
 To-day, if ye will hear his voice. 
 
 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 
 
 For who were they who heard and caused the 
 provocation ? 
 
 But why need I ask ? W as it not all those who 
 were led out of Egypt by Moses ? 
 
heb. be not faithless. 183 
 
 3: 17. ^ 
 
 And with whom was he displeased forty years ? 
 
 Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead 
 bodies fell in the wilderness ? 
 
 And to whom did he swear that they should not 
 enter into his rest, but to the disobedient ? 
 
 And so we see that they were not able to enter in 
 because of unbelief. 
 
 Since, then, a promise has been left us of enter- 
 ing into his rest, let us be afraid that some of you 
 may possibly be considered as having fallen short 
 of it. For we have had Good News brought to us 
 just as they had. But the message which they 
 heard was of no advantage to them, because they 
 were not united by faith to those who heard. For 
 we who have believed are entering into the rest, just 
 as he has said : 
 
 As I sware in my wrath, 
 
 They shall not enter into my rest ; 
 
 although the works were finished from the founda- 
 tion of the world. For he has spoken somewhere 
 of the seventh day in this way : 
 
 And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. 
 And again in another place : 
 
 They shall not enter into my rest. 
 Since, then, it remains that some are entering into 
 it, while they to whom the Good News was first 
 brought failed to enter into it because of their diso- 
 bedience, he again appoints a day, To-day, saying 
 
1 84 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. Heb. 
 ^ 4: 7. 
 
 through the Psalmist, so long afterwards, just as has 
 been said before : 
 
 To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 
 Harden not your hearts. 
 
 For, if Joshua had given them rest, he would not 
 have spoken afterwards about another day. So 
 there is still left a rest for the people of God. For 
 he who has entered into his rest, has himself also 
 rested from his works, just as God did from his. 
 So let us make an earnest effort to enter into that 
 rest, so that no one may fall as a result of the same 
 kind of disobedience. For God's mind is living 
 and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 
 and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, 
 of both joints and marrow, and is skilled in tracing 
 out and passing judgment on men's thoughts and 
 feelings. And there is not a creature which is not 
 plainly in his sight. For everything is naked and 
 laid open to the eyes of him with whom we have to 
 do. 
 
 Since, then, we have a great high priest who has 
 passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, 
 let us hold firmly to what we profess. For our 
 high priest is not one who cannot sympathize with 
 our weaknesses. For, while he never sinned, yet 
 he was tempted in every respect like ourselves. So 
 let us come boldly to the throne of favor so 
 
heb. babes— full-grown men, iS=s 
 
 4: 16. ^ 
 
 that we may receive mercy and may find favor that 
 will be of timely assistance to us when we are in 
 need. 
 
 For every high priest, taken from among men, is 
 appointed for men in their relation to God to offer 
 both bloody and unbloody sacrifices for sins, as one 
 who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring, 
 because he himself also is weak, and for this reason 
 he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as 
 for those of the people. And no one takes the 
 honor to himself. It is only when he is called by 
 God just as Aaron was. So the Christ also did not 
 assume to himself the dignity of a high priest. On 
 the contrary, it was the doing of him who said : 
 
 Thou art my Son, 
 
 To-day have I begotten thee : 
 
 just as he also says in another place : 
 
 Thou art a priest forever, 
 
 After the order of Melchisedek. 
 And, when he was on earth, having with a strong 
 cry and tears offered up prayers and supplications 
 to him who was able to save him from death, and 
 having been heard because of his piety, even though 
 -he was a son, yet he learned obedience from what 
 he suffered ; and, when he had been made per- 
 fect, he became the author of eternal salvation to 
 all those who obey him, addressed by God as high 
 priest after the order of Melchisedek. 
 
i86 CHBISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. Heb. 
 
 5: 11. 
 
 Now we have many things to say about this, and 
 they are hard to explain, because you have become 
 dull of hearing. For when you ought to be teach- 
 ers because of the time you have been believers, 
 you need some one to teach you again the very first 
 principles of the precepts of God. And you have 
 become such as have need of milk, and not of solid 
 food. For no one who drinks milk has any expe- 
 rience in the teaching concerning the way in which 
 a man may attain to a condition acceptable to God. 
 For he is a babe. For solid food is for full-grown 
 men, for those, that is, who by reason of practice 
 have their faculties trained to distinguish between 
 what is noble and what is bad. 
 
 For this reason let us give up the teaching which 
 has to do with the first principles concerning the 
 Christ, and press on to our full growth in him. Do 
 not let us keep laying again a foundation of a change 
 of mind and purpose of heart which leads one to 
 turn from dead works. I say, do not let us keep 
 laying again a foundation which includes such a 
 change, and also these things : Faith which rests 
 on God, the teaching of purifications, the laying on 
 of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal 
 judgment. And what has just been urged we will . 
 do, if God permits. I say, if God permits, for, so 
 far as those are concerned who were once enlight- 
 ened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were 
 
Heb. abb ARAM AND THE BBOMISE. 187 
 6: 4. ' 
 
 made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the 
 noble word of God and the powers of the world to 
 come, and then fell away, it is impossible to bring 
 them back again to a change of mind and purpose 
 of heart. For they have crucified to themselves 
 the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. 
 For the land which has drunk in the rain which 
 keeps coming frequently upon it, and keeps bearing 
 herbs useful to those for whom it is continually 
 worked, receives a blessing from God : but if it 
 bears thorns and thistles, it is not what it ought to 
 be, and is on the point of being cursed. 
 
 But, my dear brothers, we believe better things 
 of you, and things which belong to salvation, even 
 if we speak in this way. For God is not what he 
 ought not to be, so as to forget your work and the 
 love which you showed towards his name in assist- 
 ing his devoted ones and in still assisting them. 
 And we desire that each one of you may show the 
 same earnestness towards the attainment of the 
 full productiveness of hope to the end, so that you 
 may not become indolent, but imitators of those 
 who through faith and perseverance keep inheriting 
 the promises. 
 
 For in making the promise to Abraham, since he 
 had no one any greater to swear by, God swore by 
 himself, and said : 
 
 I will most surely bless thee, 
 
 And I will most surely multiply thee. 
 
1 88 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. Heb. 
 
 6: lo. 
 
 And so he persevered and obtained the promise. 
 For men always swear by some one greater than 
 themselves. And in their every dispute the oath 
 settles the matter. So, wishing to show much 
 more plainly to the heirs of the promise the un- 
 changeableness of his purpose, God pledged him- 
 self with an oath. And he did this so that by two 
 unchangeable things in which it is impossible for 
 God to lie, we, who have fled to take refuge in the 
 hope set before us, may have strong encourage- 
 ment. And this hope is ours, as an anchor of the 
 soul, both sure and steadfast, and it enters into the 
 Holy of Holies, where, as one who has gone before 
 where we are to follow, Jesus has entered for us by 
 having become a high priest forever after the order 
 of Melchisedek. 
 
 For this Melchisedek, King of Salem, Priest of 
 the most high God, who met Abraham returning 
 from the defeat of the kings, and blessed him, con- 
 tinues to be a priest for all time to come. To him 
 even Abraham gave a tenth of everything. He is 
 first explained to be King of goodness and then 
 King of Salem, which is. King of peace. He is 
 without father, without mother, without genealogy. 
 He has neither beginning of days, nor end of life, 
 but is made like the Son of God. 
 
 Now consider how great this man is, to whom 
 
Heb. JESUS AND MELCHISEDEK, 189 
 
 7: 4. 
 
 Abraham gave a tenth of the chief spoils — I mean 
 Abraham the patriarch. And, nideed, those of the 
 sons of Levi who take the office of the priesthood 
 are directed to take tithes from the people accord- 
 ing to the law, that is, from their brothers, even 
 though they are descendants of Abraham. But he 
 whose genealogy is not counted from them has 
 taken tithes from Abraham, and had blessed him 
 who has the promises. Now, without any dispute, it 
 is the less who is blessed by the greater. And here 
 among us, men who die take tithes, but in the case 
 of Melchisedek it is said that he is living. And, 
 so to speak, through Abraham, even Levi who 
 takes tithes has paid tithes. For he was still in 
 the loins of his father when Melchisedek met him. 
 
 Now if there was perfection under the Levitical 
 priesthood, for under it has the people received the 
 law, what need was there still for another kind of 
 priest to arise after the order of Melchisedek, and 
 not to be counted after the order of Aaron ? Now, 
 when the priesthood is changed, the law also of 
 necessity becomes changed. For he, of whom 
 these things are said, belongs to another kind of 
 tribe, from which no one has given attendance at 
 the altar. For it is evident that our Lord has 
 arisen out of Judah, of which as a tribe Moses said 
 nothing about priests. And what we are speaking 
 about is much more evident still, if, after the like- 
 
1 QO CHRISTIANTIY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM, Heb. 
 ^ 7 : 15. 
 
 ness of Melchisedek, there arises another kind of 
 priest, who has been made, not in virtue of the 
 law of an ordinance which is Hmited to the sphere 
 of men's carnal nature, but in virtue of the power 
 of an indestructible life. For it is said of him : 
 
 Thou art a priest forever, 
 
 After the order of Melchisedek. 
 
 For a previous commandment is annulled because 
 it has become weak and useless. For the law 
 made nothing perfect. And a better hope is 
 brought in to take its place, and it is through this 
 hope we keep drawmg near to God. And since 
 all this was done in connection with the taking of 
 an oath, to that extent, also, has Jesus become the 
 surety of a better agreement. For they have been 
 made priests without the taking of an oath, but 
 he with the taking of an oath by him who said to 
 him : 
 
 The Lord sware and will not change his mind. 
 Thou art a priest forever. 
 
 And many is the number of them who have been 
 made priests, because by death they were prevented 
 from continuing. But he, because he continues for- 
 ever, has an unchangeable priesthood. It is for this 
 reason, also, he is able to save completely those who 
 come to God through him. For he is always liv- 
 ing to make intercession for them. 
 
 For such a one was becoming to us as our High 
 
HEB. CHRIST HE A VEN HIGH PRIEST, 1 9 1 
 7:26. ^ 
 
 Priest, pure, innocent, uncontaminated by evil, 
 separated from sinners, and made higher than the 
 heavens. He has no daily need, like the other 
 high priests referred to, to offer up sacrifices, first 
 for his own sins, and then for the sins of the peo- 
 ple. For this latter, he did once for all when he 
 offered up himself. For the law appoints men who 
 are weak to be high priests. But the declaration 
 of the oath, which was after the law, appoints a 
 Son, who has been perfected forever. 
 
 Now the main point of what we are saying is 
 this : It is a high priest of this kind whom we 
 have, one who sat down on the right hand of the 
 throne of the Majesty in the heavens, one who does 
 the high priest's work in the Holy Place and the 
 real tabernacle, which God pitched, and not man. 
 For every high priest is appointed to offer both 
 bloody and unbloody sacrifices. For this reason it 
 is necessary for this high priest also to have some- 
 thing to offer. Now, if he were on earth, he would 
 not be a priest at all. For there are those who 
 offer the gifts according to the law. These per- 
 form their priestly functions for the furtherance of 
 a token and shadow of the heavenly things, just as 
 Moses is warned by God when he is going to make 
 the tabernacle. For he says to' him : 
 See that thou make all things 
 
 According to the pattern 
 
 That was showed thee in the mount. 
 
IQ2 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAIS3L Heb. 
 
 8: b. 
 
 But, as it now is, he has obtained a priest's work as 
 much better, as he is the agent of a better agree- 
 ment which has been made on better promises. 
 For if that first agreement had been faultless, then 
 would no place have been sought for a second. 
 For he finds fault with those through whom the first 
 agreement failed, and says : 
 
 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 
 That I will make a new agreement 
 
 With the house of Israel, 
 
 And with the house of Judah ; 
 Not according to the agreement 
 
 That I made with their fathers 
 In the day that I took them by the hand 
 
 To lead them out of the land of Egypt. 
 For they continued not in my agreement, 
 And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 
 
 For this is the agreement. 
 
 That I will make with the house of Israel, 
 
 After those days, saith the Lord. 
 I will put my laws into their mind. 
 
 And on my heart also will I write them. 
 And I will be to them a God, 
 
 And they shall be to me a people. 
 And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen. 
 
 And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. 
 For all shall know me, 
 
 From the least to the greatest of them. 
 For I will be merciful to their iniquities, 
 
 And their sins will I remember no more. 
 
HEB. TYPES FULFILLED IN CHRIST. 193 
 8:13. 
 
 When he says : A new agreement," he has made 
 the first old. But what is becoming old and losing 
 its strength is near its end. 
 
 Even the first agreement, then, had ordinances*^ 
 of divine service and its Holy Place which belongs 
 to this world. For a tent was prepared and in the 
 first part of it were the lamp- stand, and the table, 
 and the setting out of the loaves. This is called 
 the Holy Place. And behind the second curtain 
 was the part of the tent which is called the Holy 
 of Holies. It had a golden altar of incense, and 
 the ark of the agreement covered all over with gold. 
 In it was a golden jar holding the manna, and 
 Aaron's rod which sprouted, and the tables of the 
 agreement. Above this were Cherubim on whom 
 the divine splendor rests, overshadowing the mercy 
 seat. About these we cannot now speak in detail. 
 Now, these things having been thus arranged, the 
 priests are continually going into the first part per- 
 forming the work connected with God's worship. 
 But into the second part the high priest goes alone, 
 once in the year, and then not without blood, which 
 he offers for himself, and for what the people has 
 done through ignorance. The Holy Spirit thus 
 makes it evident that the way into the Holy Place 
 has not yet been made plain while the Holy Place 
 here on earth is still in existence. This latter is a 
 
194 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAIS3I. Heb. 
 
 9: 9. 
 
 figure of speech for the time now upon us. According 
 to it are offered both bloody and unbloody sacrifices 
 which cannot, so far as the conscience is concerned, 
 make the worshipper a spiritually full-grown man. 
 For they only have reference to eating and drinking 
 and different kinds of baths, — ordinances concern- 
 ing the body which are imposed till the time for 
 putting things to rights has arrived. 
 
 But Christ, having come a high priest of the 
 generous things to come, through the greater and 
 more perfect Tent, not made with hands, that is to 
 say, not of this creation, and not through the blood 
 of goats and calves, but through his own blood, en- 
 tered once for all into the Holy Place, having pro- 
 cured eternal deliverance. For if the blood of 
 bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer, 
 sprinkling those who have been defiled, purifies and 
 makes the body clean, how much more shall the 
 blood of the Christ, who through the eternal spirit 
 offered himself without fault to God, make our 
 conscience clean from dead works to serve a Living 
 God. And it is for this reason he is the agent 
 of a new agreement, so that, death having taken 
 place for deliverance from the wrong-doings which 
 were under the first agreement, those who have 
 been called may receive the promise of the eternal 
 inheritance. For where an agreement is, there 
 must of necessity be the death of him who made 
 
heb. the one eternal sacrifice. 195 
 
 9: 16. 
 
 it. For an agreement is of force where there has 
 been death. For it is never in force while he who 
 made it is living. For this reason even the first 
 agreement has not been inaugurated without blood. 
 For when every commandment had been spoken by 
 Moses to all the people ' according to the law, he 
 took the blood of the calves and of the goats, with 
 water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled 
 both the book itself, and all the people, and said : 
 
 This is the blood of the agreement, 
 
 Which God directed to be delivered to you. 
 
 And both the Tent and everything used in conduct- 
 ing the worship of God he sprinkled in the same 
 way with the blood. And according to the law, 
 it may almost be said, everything is made clean 
 with blood, and without the shedding of blood 
 there is no putting away of sin. 
 
 So it was necessary that the tokens of the things 
 in the heavens should be made clean with these ; 
 but the heavenly things themselves with better sac- 
 rifices than these. For Christ did not enter into a 
 Holy Place made with hands, and in its pattern 
 like the real Holy Place ; but into heaven itself, 
 now to appear before the face of God for us. Nor 
 did he enter into heaven to offer himself often ; as 
 the high priest enters into the Holy Place year after 
 year with blood which is not his own. Otherwise 
 he must often have suffered since the foundation of 
 
ig6 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM, Heb. 
 
 the world. But now, once at the end of the world, 
 he has appeared for the purpose of putting away sin 
 by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is reserved 
 for men once to die and after that, judgment, so 
 the Christ also, having been once offered for the 
 purpose of bearing the sins of the many, shall ap- 
 pear, a second time without sin, for the purpose of 
 salvation, to those who are waiting for him. 
 
 For the law, having a shadow of the generous 
 things to come, and not the exact representation of 
 the things, they can never with the same sacrifices 
 year after year, which they offer continually, make 
 those who draw near spiritually full grown men. 
 Otherwise they would not have ceased to be offered. 
 For, having been once purified, the worshippers 
 would have been no longer conscious of having 
 done wrong. In those sacrifices, on the contrary, 
 the worshippers are reminded of their sins year 
 after year. For it is impossible for the blood of 
 bulls and of goats to take away our sins. It is for 
 this reason when he comes into the world, he says : 
 
 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, 
 But a body didst thou prepare for me. 
 
 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, 
 Thou hadst no pleasure. 
 
 Then said I : Lo, I have come, 
 
 In the roll of the book it is written of me, 
 
 To do thy will, O God. 
 
hkb. purified by the one offering, 1 97 
 
 10 : 8. 
 
 When he says above : Sacrifices and offerings and 
 whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou 
 wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein," 
 which are offered according to the law, then he has 
 said : Lo, I have come to do thy will." He takes 
 away the first to establish the second. In this will 
 we have been purified through the offering of the 
 body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every 
 priest stands day after day doing his work and fre- 
 quently offering the same sacrifices which can 
 never take away our sins. But he, when he had 
 offered one sacrifice for our sins forever, sat down 
 on the right hand of God, from that time waiting 
 till his enemies are put under his feet. For by one 
 offering he has made those who are purified perfect 
 characters forever. And the Holy Spirit also bears 
 witness to us. For after he has said : 
 
 This is the agreement that I will make witli them 
 
 After those days, saith the Lord ; 
 I will put my laws into their hearts 
 
 And in their minds will I write them ; 
 
 Then he says : 
 
 And their sins and their iniquities 
 Will I remember no more. 
 
 Now where these are put away, there is no longer 
 any offering for sins. 
 
iqS CHRISTIANITY superior TO JUDAIS3L Heb. 
 ^ 10 : 19. 
 
 So, brothers, having boldness in the blood of 
 Jesus to enter into the Holy Place, by the way 
 which he inaugurated for us, a new and living 
 way, through the curtain, that is to say, his flesh ; 
 and having a great priest over the house of God, 
 let us come with a true heart and in full faith, with 
 our hearts freed from the consciousness of guilt be- 
 cause they have been sprinkled with the blood of 
 atonement, and with our bodies washed with pure 
 water. Let us hold firmly to the profession of our 
 faith without wavering. For to be relied on is he 
 who gave us the promise. And let us give our at- 
 tention to each other for the purpose of inciting 
 each other* to love and noble deeds, not giving up 
 the assembling of ourselves together as the custom 
 of some is. On the contrary, let us encourage 
 each other, and let us do it so much the more as 
 you see the day coming near. 
 
 For if we wilfully do wrong after we have re- 
 ceived the full knowledge of the Truth, there no 
 longer remains a sacrifice for our wrong-doings, but 
 a fearful waiting for judgment, and a fierceness of 
 fire which is going to devour the adversaries. Any 
 one who has rendered a law of Moses of no effect 
 dies without pity on the word of two or three wit- 
 nesses. Of how much greater punishment do you 
 suppose he will be considered worthy, who has 
 trodden under foot the Son of God, and has con- 
 
heb. need of endurance, 199 
 
 10:29. 
 
 sidered the blood of the agreement with Avhich he 
 was purified a common thing, and has treated the 
 Spirit of divine favor with contempt ? 
 For we know him who said : 
 
 Vengeance is mine, 
 I will repay. 
 •And again : 
 
 The Lord shall judge his people. 
 
 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
 living God. 
 
 But call to mind the former days in which after 
 you were enlightened you endured a great struggle 
 with sufferings, partly by being exposed to con- 
 tempt both by reproaches and troubles, and partly 
 by becoming sharers with those who lived in this 
 way. For you both had sympathy for those who 
 were in prison, and you accepted with joy the 
 seizing of your possessions. For you knew that 
 you have your own selves for a better possession 
 and one which lasts. So do not throw away your 
 boldness. For it has a great reward. For you 
 need endurance so that you may do God's will and 
 receive the promise. 
 
 For yet a very little while, 
 
 And he that is coming shall come. 
 
 And shall not tarry. 
 But my righteous one shall live as a result of his faith. 
 
 And if he shall shrink back, 
 
 My soul hath no pleasure in him. 
 
200 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. ^Hej- 
 
 But we take no part in drawing back to destruc- 
 tion. On the contrary, ours is a faith which leads 
 to the preservation of the soul. 
 
 Now faith is confidence in things hoped for, 
 A conviction with reference to things not 
 seen. 
 For in it 
 
 Our forefathers had noble testimony borne 
 to them. 
 
 By faith we understand that the worlds have 
 been prepared 
 
 By the word of God, 
 So that what is seen 
 
 Has not been made out of what appears. 
 
 By faith Abel offered to God 
 
 A more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, 
 And through it he was informed that he was 
 good, 
 
 God testifying concerning his gifts : 
 And through it he, being dead, 
 Is still speaking. 
 
 By faith Enoch was translated 
 So that he should not see death, 
 
 And was not found, 
 
 Because God had translated him. 
 
 For before his translation he was given to 
 understand 
 That he pleased God. 
 
Heb. 
 11: 6. 
 
 TBIU3IPHS OF FAITH. 
 
 20I 
 
 But without faith 
 
 It is impossible to please him. 
 For he who comes to God 
 
 Must believe that he is, 
 
 And that he is a rewarder 
 Of those who dihgently seek him. 
 
 By faith Noah, 
 
 Warned by God about things not yet seen, 
 
 Moved by fear. 
 Prepared an ark which led to the saving of 
 
 his family. 
 Through this 
 
 He condemned the world. 
 
 And became heir of the goodness 
 Which comes through faith. 
 
 By faith Abraham, when he was called, 
 obeyed, 
 
 When he was called, that is, to go out to a 
 place, 
 
 Which he was to receive for an inheritance. 
 And he went out. 
 
 Not knowing where he was going. 
 
 By faith he became a foreigner in the prom- 
 ised land. 
 As in a foreign country. 
 Living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, 
 
 The heirs with him of the same promise. 
 For he was looking for the city with the 
 foundations, 
 Whose architect and builder is God. 
 
202 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. ^Heb. 
 
 By faith even Sarah herself 
 
 Received strength to conceive seed, 
 And was dehvered of a child, 
 
 When she was past age, 
 
 Because she considered him who gave her the 
 promise 
 
 As one to be relied on. 
 So there sprang fron:i one, 
 
 And him as good as dead, 
 So many as the stars of heaven 
 
 In multitude. 
 And as the sand which is by the seashore, 
 
 Which is innumerable. 
 
 It was as men of faith all these died. 
 
 Not having received the promises. 
 But as having seen them. 
 
 And as having greeted them from afar, 
 And as having confessed that they were 
 strangers, 
 
 And pilgrims on the earth. 
 For those who say such things declare plainly, 
 
 That they are seeking a country of their own. 
 And if they had called to mind the country 
 
 From which they came out. 
 
 They would have had opportunity to return. 
 But now they desire a better country. 
 
 That is, a heavenly. 
 So God is not ashamed to be called their God. 
 
 For he has prepared for them a city. 
 
TBimiPHS OF FAITH. 
 
 203 
 
 By faith Abraham, when he was put to the 
 test, 
 
 Offered up Isaac. 
 Yes, he who had gladly received the promises, 
 
 Was offering up his only begotten Son, 
 That is, he to whom it was said : 
 
 It is in Isaac thy posterity shall be named. 
 For he considered that God is able to raise up. 
 
 Even from the dead. 
 
 And from the dead also. 
 He received him in a figure. 
 
 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, 
 Even with reference to things to come. 
 
 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, 
 Blessed each of the sons of Joseph, 
 And worshipped, 
 
 Leaning on the top of his staff. 
 
 By faith Joseph, when he was coming to his 
 end. 
 
 Made mention of the departure of the chil- 
 dren of Israel, 
 And gave directions about his bones. 
 
 By faith Moses, when he was born, 
 Was hid three months by his parents, 
 
 Because they saw he was a beautiful child, 
 And they were not afraid of the king's 
 decree. 
 
204 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. Heb. 
 ^ 11 : 24. 
 
 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, 
 
 Refused to be called the son of Pharoah's 
 daughter. 
 
 He chose to be abused with the people of God, 
 
 Rather than to enjoy for a time the pleasure 
 of doing wrong. 
 He considered the reproach of the Christ as 
 greater riches 
 
 Than the treasures of Egypt. 
 For he kept looking away from these 
 
 To his final reward. 
 By faith he left Egypt, 
 
 Not fearing the wrath of the king. 
 For he endured. 
 
 As seeing him who is unseen. 
 
 By faith he kept the passover, 
 And the sprinkling of the blood. 
 
 So that the destroyer of the first-born 
 Should not touch them. 
 
 By faith they passed through the Red Sea, 
 
 As by dry land. 
 But when the Egyptians tried to do this, 
 
 They were swallowed up. 
 
 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down. 
 
 After they had been surrounded for seven 
 days. 
 
HEB • TRimiPHS OF FAITH. 205 
 11:31. ^ 
 
 By faith Rahab the prostitute was not slain 
 With those who were disobedient, 
 
 Because she had received the spies 
 With peace. 
 
 / 
 
 And what more can 1 say? 
 
 For the time will fail me, 
 If I tell about Gideon, Barak, Samuel, 
 Jephthah ; 
 
 About David, and Samuel, and the 
 prophets : 
 
 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, 
 
 Did what was right, obtained promises, 
 Stopped the mouths of lions, 
 
 Controlled the power of fire. 
 Escaped the edge of the sword. 
 
 From weakness were made strong. 
 Became vahant in war, 
 
 Turned armies of foreigners to flight. 
 
 Women received their dead 
 
 By a resurrection. 
 And others were tortured. 
 
 Not accepting deliverance, 
 So that they might obtain 
 
 A better resurrection. 
 
2o6 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. Heb. 
 
 11: 36. 
 
 Others were cruelly mocked and beaten, 
 And, more, they were bound and im- 
 prisoned. 
 
 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder. 
 Were tempted, were ^ain with the sword. 
 
 They went about in sheepskins, 
 
 In goatskins. 
 They were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. 
 
 The world was not worthy of them. 
 They kept wandering in deserts and moun- 
 tains and caves. 
 
 And the holes of the earth. 
 
 And all these, 
 
 Though they had noble testimony borne to 
 
 Through their faith. 
 Did not receive the promise, 
 God having provided some better thing 
 
 With reference to us. 
 
 So that they, without us, 
 Should not be made perfect. 
 
 For this reason, then, let us also, since we are 
 surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay 
 aside every encumbrance and the wrong-doing 
 which so many admire, and let us run with patient 
 endurance the race which is set before us looking to 
 
 them 
 
Heb. the endurance of JESUS, 207 
 
 the author and perfecter of our faith, that is, Jesus, 
 who for the joy which was set before him endured 
 the cross, despised shame, and has taken his seat 
 on the right of the throne of God. For think of 
 him who endured such great opposition of wrong- 
 doers against himself, so as not to become weary 
 and faint hearted. Your resistance has not yet 
 come to the spilling of blood in your struggle 
 against sin. And you have forgotten the en- 
 couragement which comes to you as to sons : 
 
 My son regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, 
 Nor faint when thou art reproved by him. 
 
 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, 
 And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
 
 It is for the purpose of discipline you endure. It 
 is as with sons God is dealing with you. For who 
 is the son whom his father does not discipline? 
 For if you have no discipline of which all have had 
 a share, then you are bastards and not sons. And 
 further, we had our natural fathers to discipline us 
 and we respected them. Shall we not much rather 
 submit to the Father of spirits and live? For they 
 used to discipline us for a few days as they thought 
 best. But he does it for our good, so that we may 
 partake of his purity. No discipline for the time 
 being seems to be pleasant. On the contrary it is 
 painful. But afterwards it yields peaceable fruit to 
 those who have been trained by it, that is, the 
 
2o8 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM, Heb. 
 
 12: 11. 
 
 fruit of goodness. For this reason, strengthen the 
 weakened hands and the palsied knees, and make 
 straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame 
 may not be made worse, but may rather be cured. 
 
 Endeavor to be at peace with everybody, and 
 strive after purity, without which no one shall see 
 the Lord. Look carefully whether any one is fall- 
 ing away from the favor of God ; whether any root 
 of bitterness is springing up and troubling you and 
 by it the many are being defiled ; whether there is 
 any immoral or profane person, as Esau, who for 
 one meal sold his own birthright. For you know 
 that even when he afterwards desired to inherit 
 the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place 
 for a change in his father's mind, though he sought 
 it diligently with tears. 
 
 For you have not come to a tangible mountain 
 and a burning fire, and to gloom and darkness and 
 tempest, and a trumpet blast, and a sound of 
 words, whose hearers entreated that not another 
 word should be spoken to them. For they could 
 not endure the order : 
 
 If even a beast touch the mountain 
 It shall be stoned. 
 
 And, so fearful was the appearance, Moses said : 
 
 I am trembling with terror. 
 
Heb. christian graces. 209 
 
 12:22. ^ 
 
 But you have come to Zion, the mountain and city 
 of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to 
 myriads of angels, a festal assembly and congrega- 
 tion of the first-born enrolled in heaven, and to a 
 judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of good 
 men made perfect, and to Jesus the agent of a 
 new agreement, and to sprinkled blood which 
 speaks more eloquently than that of Abel. 
 
 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. 
 For if they did not escape when they refused him 
 who warned them on earth, much less shall we es- 
 cape, if we turn away from him who is warning us 
 from heaven. His voice at that time shook the 
 earth. But now he has promised, and said : 
 
 Yet once more will I make to tremble, 
 Not tlie earth only, but also heaven. 
 
 And this expression: ^^Yet once more," has ref- 
 erence to the removing of what can be shaken, as 
 of what has been made, so that what cannot be 
 shaken may remain. So, since we are receiving a 
 kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us be thank- 
 ful, and so offer service pleasing to God with rev- 
 erent fear and awe. For our 
 
 God is a consuming fire. 
 
 Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to 
 show love to strangers. For by doing this some 
 
2 :o CIIRISriANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM, Heb. 
 
 have entertained angels without being aware of it. 
 Remember those who are in prison as if you your- 
 selves were in prison with them. Remember those 
 who are being ill-treated, and consider that you 
 yourselves also are in the body. Let marriage be 
 held in honor among all, and let the bed be unde- 
 filed. For fornicators and adulterers God will 
 judge. Keep yourselves free from the love of 
 pioney, and be content with what you have. For 
 he himself has said : 
 
 I will never leave thee, 
 
 Nor will I ever for a moment desert thee. 
 
 So that with good courage we say : 
 
 The Lord is my helper. 
 
 I will not be afraid. 
 What can man do to me ? 
 
 Remember those^ who were your leaders, who 
 'taught you about God. Think over the end of 
 their life and imitate their faith. 
 
 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, 
 yes, and forever. Do not be carried away by 
 different kinds of strange teachings. For it is a 
 noble thing for the heart to be made firm by the 
 divine favor, not by foods. For those who have 
 made such external observances the rule of their 
 life have not gained the advantage which they 
 sought in them. We have an altar from which 
 
11 KB. CLOSING THOUGHTS AND DESIRES, 211 
 
 13: 10. 
 
 those who are serving the Tent have no right 
 to eat. For the bodies of those beasts, whose 
 blood is brought into the Holy Place by the high 
 priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the 
 camp. For this reason Jesus also, to purify the 
 people through his own blood, suffered outside the 
 gate. Let us, then, go out to him outside the 
 camp, carrying his reproach. For we have here 
 no enduring city. On the contrary, we are seek- 
 ing the one which is to come. Through him, 
 then, let us be continually offering up a sacrifice 
 of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips which 
 are making confession to his name. But do not 
 forget to do good and to share what you have with 
 others. For it is with such sacrifices God is well 
 pleased. 
 
 Obey your leaders and yield to them. For it is 
 they who are on the watch in the interest of your 
 souls as those who must render an account, and 
 their effort is to do this with joy and not w^ith 
 grief. For this would be unprofitable for you. 
 
 Pray for us. For we believe we have a noble 
 conscience and it is our desire to live nobly in 
 every respect. And I am urging you the more 
 earnestly to do this, so that I may be restored to 
 you the sooner. 
 
2 1 2 CHRISTIANITY SUPERIOR TO JUDAISM. Heb. 
 
 13: 20. 
 
 Now the God of peace, 
 
 Who brought up from the dead 
 
 The great shepherd of the sheep 
 Through the blood of an eternal agreement, 
 
 That is, our Lord Jesus, 
 Completely equip you in everything that is 
 generous 
 
 To do his will. 
 Working in us what is well pleasing in his 
 sight. 
 
 Through Jesus Christ ; 
 To whom be the glory forever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 But I urge you, brothers, to bear with the ex- 
 pression of my thoughts in this urgent manner. 
 For it is but with few words I have written to 
 you. 
 
 I want you to know that our brother Timothy 
 has been set at liberty. If he comes soon I will 
 see you with him. 
 
 Give our best wishes to all your leaders and all 
 ^ God's devoted ones. Those who belong to Italy 
 send their best wishes. 
 
 May the divine favor be with you all. 
 Amen. 
 
NOTES. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 I : I . " The Boo of the Genealogy,^'' 
 
 S. Matthew wrote for Jews. So at the beginning of his 
 narrative he establishes, by a regular genealogy, that Jesus 
 Christ was the son of David and Abraham, in accord with 
 whrt had been predicted by the Prophets. S. Luke, on the 
 other hand, writing for the heathen converted to Christ- 
 ianity goes back, as will be seen, to Adam, the original 
 father of humanity. 
 
 1:3. " By TamarP 
 
 It is out of the ordinary for Jews to reckon their gene- 
 alogy by the use of the names of women. 
 
 In this list of the genealogy of Jesus we find the names 
 of three women besides that of Mary. There are several 
 extraordinary facts connected with these names from a 
 Jewish standpoint as well as in reference to the subject in 
 itself. 
 
 In the first place it is here seen that foreign or Gentile 
 blood becomes mingled with the Jewish blood as this line 
 of genealogy goes down. Rahab the mother of Boaz was 
 a Canaanite. Ruth, the wife of Boaz, was likewise such a 
 foreigner. But not only so. This Tamar played the har- 
 lot and had children by her father-in-law. Jesus' descent 
 comes through one of these children. 
 
 215 
 
2l6 
 
 S. MA TTHE JV—JVO TES, 
 
 Rahab, at an earlier date, did not assume the appear- 
 ance of a harlot for the avenging of a wrong as Tamar 
 did, but she was known of universally as a common prosti- 
 tute of the Canaanitish Jericho. Then when we come to 
 David w^e find the descent coming through Bathsheba, the 
 woman whom he had most cruelly snatched away from 
 her lawful husband, having the husband killed to cover 
 up his crime. 
 
 What is to be said to these facts ? Answer for yourself. 
 Must we have a great and pure ancestry to be great our- 
 selves ? Are our lives necessarily and irretrievably vitiated 
 by the sins of our forefathers ? Must we be able to count 
 a pure lineage either in character or in country to become 
 the greatest man that ever lived t 
 
 1:17. So all the generatiojis from Abraham to 
 David r 
 
 In counting the three periods of fourteen generations 
 each, according to Jewish custom we must count the first 
 and the last of each group, that is Abraham to David 
 inclusive make fourteen generations, David to Jeconiah, 
 inclusive make fourteen generations, Jeconiah to Jesus 
 make fourteen generations. 
 
 I 123. ''''Behold ! the virgin . ' ' 
 
 I : 23. Nearly all the quotations from the Old Testa- 
 ment are characterized by Hebrew Parallelism and are 
 printed in smaller type to distinguish them from the rest 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 2:1. " Magi from the east came to fei'usalemy 
 According to a popular legend, these Magi were three 
 kings, each representing one of the three races sprung 
 from Noah. Caspar, a descendant of Shem, Melclior 
 
S. MATTHEW--NOTES. 
 
 217 
 
 from Ham, and Balthasar from Japhet, are said to have 
 been their names. 
 
 Christendom has rightly seen in this visit of the Magi 
 the earnest of the future ingathering of the whole heathen 
 world. Among all the festivals entering into the Christ- 
 mas cycle, none has made so deep an impression on 
 Christian life and feeling, poetry and art, as this " Mani- 
 festation of Christ to the Gentiles." 
 
 3 : 4. John had his clothes of earners hah^^'' etc. 
 
 These were the food and the clothes of the poor. To 
 this day locusts, the fruit of the locust tree, are carried to 
 market in Arabian villages. They are very thick and 
 sometimes attain to the length of five inches. 
 
 3:7. " He sazv many of the Pharisees and Saddncees.^^ 
 There are, on the one hand, ungodly learned men, the 
 Sadducees ; there are, on the other hand, men of religious 
 arrogance, the Pharisees. They are offering themselves 
 to a formality to become popular, that the multitude may 
 not be shocked. But they are careful not to confess their 
 their sins and to recognize their real misery ; hence John's 
 remonstrances. 
 
 The Pharisees, men of empty religion and formality, 
 have the letter of the law written on their habits as in 
 their memories, and they think themselves holy because 
 of the variety and the subtlety of their observances. Men 
 of law, but not of justice, they tread eternal justice under 
 foot by their legal iniquities. They smother the simple 
 and real life of God within them by the multiplicity ot 
 their practices and the antiquity of their traditions. How 
 would they understand the necessity of conversion ? 
 What sins have they to confess } Do they not regard 
 
2l8 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 themselves, both altogether and in every particular as 
 being the very pattern of perfection ? 
 
 As for the Sadducees, they do not believe in another 
 life. How then would they understand the necessity of 
 leaving this life, and leaving it voluntarily ? They do not 
 beheve in another order, supernatural, higher than the 
 present order of things. They deny this new kingdom 
 w^hich the Good News proclaims. How can they under- 
 stand the new birth of the heavenly life They deny 
 there is good and evil, vice and virtue. What sins would 
 they then have to confess t 
 
 These are the men of mutilated thought^ of base hope, 
 and of sophistic negation. These are the men of empty 
 religion. These are the two detestable moral races — races, 
 alas ! of all times and of all places — who are the obstacle 
 to the life of God in the soul of individuals and of peoples. 
 They employ their perverse spirit to poison the one 
 against the other of the two forces, equally given of God : 
 Reason and Religion. 
 
 The Forerunner calls them " Brood of Vipers." To 
 break their haughty spirits and hard hearts, which will not 
 be converted, and are lost if they do not consent, he 
 threatens them, as serpents, with ax and fire. 
 
 3:11. " /, indeed^ am baptizing you with water of re- 
 pentance^'' etc. 
 
 Here John falls into Hebrew Parallelism. 
 
 But few people are aware of the fact that a considerable 
 portion of the Bible, perhaps a third of it, is of the nature 
 of Poetry. 
 
 The oriental mind is naturally more poetic than the 
 western and has a strong tendency to the figurative style, 
 which is one of the ordinary characteristics of poetry. 
 
 We find the Hebrew Poetic spirit cropping out in the 
 
S. MATTHEW-^NOTES, 219 
 
 New Testament from time to time, now in the utterance 
 of the greatest hymn the world has yet heard, again in 
 words of wisdom such as the world has never before nor 
 since listened to. 
 
 I refer to the hymn of Mary, S. Luke i : 46-55, and our 
 Lord's Sermon on the Mount, S. Matthew 5 : 1--7 : 27. 
 
 Besides Mary's Hymn, see that of Zachariah, S. Luke 
 I : 68-89, and that of Simeon, S. Luke 2 : 29-32. 
 
 Our Lord's address to the twelve when he sent them 
 out to preach, and other instances of Hebrew poetic struc- 
 ture will be noticed as the reader proceeds. 
 
 For fuller treatment of Hebrew Verse Structure see the 
 note on this subject among the General Notes in S. Mark. 
 
 3:12. *' His fa7i is in his kand,''^ etc. 
 
 For a correct understanding of this image, it is necessary 
 to recall how the Jews gathered their harvest. When the 
 mowers had cut the wheat, the sheaves were spread upon 
 an oval shaped threshing floor. Cattle yoked abreast 
 trampled it with a double effect, causing on the one hand 
 the grains of wheat to become separated from the stem 
 and each grain to become separated from its enveloping 
 husk. Towards evening, when in the east a strong breeze 
 springs up, this mixture of grain and broken chaff is 
 thrown into the air with the aid of a fan, a wide shovel 
 with a very short handle ; the grain, the heavier of the 
 two, falls back upon the earth, while the chaff and the 
 light fragments are carried to a distance. This is what 
 is called deartin^ the floor. It only remains for the har- 
 vester to store the harvest in the caves which served as 
 granaries in those countries. The straw and the remains 
 of the wheat were burnt to make manure, 
 
 See also notes on S, Mark 9 : 43, 44, 47, 49' S®* 
 
220 S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 4:1. To be tempted by the devil. 
 
 The word " tetnptation " generally leaves the impression 
 of sinfulness, a kind of an internal attraction for the evil 
 resisted. The weakness of our nature is such that, even 
 when we triumph over the temptation, it fastens upon us. 
 The old Adam, alas, proves in us the miseries of lust. 
 And we, on our part, feel a vague complicity with the 
 enemy. The man tempted in his senses, in his probity, in 
 his patience, feels an evil tendency within him. He sub- 
 dues it. But he feels it. It is evident our Lord was not 
 so tempted. As related by the Evangelist it is altogether 
 an external thing. It is only an attempt on the part of the 
 devil. It was in no bad sense at all a temptation of the 
 Son of God. For the temptations which come to other 
 men from their bodily desires, or from the evils of the 
 world around them, have had no power over Jesus. They 
 have not even brought the sense of effort to Him in over- 
 coming them. 
 
 Yet if life had passed on thus with him to the end, the 
 holiness inseparable from it would have been imperfect in 
 so far as He was to be the Saviour of men. For men 
 could never have realized the sympathy of one who had 
 thus passed through life. As the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 so well suggests, there was a divine fitness that Jesus, too, 
 should suffer and be tempted, that He might "be able to 
 succor those who are tempted." 
 
 4:4. Man shall not live by bread aloneP 
 Jesus can leave His life and all belonging to it in His 
 Father's hand. In so losing His life, if that must be the 
 issue. He is certain he will save it. If His Father has 
 given Him a work to do, He knows He will be empowered 
 to do it. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 221 
 
 4:5. " Sets kun on the pinnacle of the Templet 
 Shall He test the declaration that He is the beloved Son 
 by throwing Himself headlong down from this pinnacle ? 
 Was there not a seeming warrant for such a trial of the 
 reality of his Sonship ? Had not the Psalmist declared of 
 the chosen one of God that His angels should bear Him 
 up ? 
 
 The answer Jesus makes the Tempter shows the sug- 
 gestion tended to a pretense rather than reality, to distrust 
 rather than reliance. 
 
 4:6. " He will give his angels charge over thee" 
 
 In this appeal to familiar and sacred words, the subtlety 
 of the Tempter lay in the perversion of their true meaning. 
 
 As in all analogous temptations, the words here pre- 
 sented to the soul of Jesus, with their true meaning ob- 
 scured and preverted, must have been precisely those 
 before most precious. We may think of Jesus as having 
 heretofore fed on these very words. He had found in 
 them the stay and comfort of his soul. But now these 
 are the words through which He is brought to the test. 
 
 To have questioned His Father's care in such an hour 
 of trial would have been to have entertained a spirit of 
 distrust of His Providence, He commits Himself abso- 
 lutely to His Father's will. 
 
 4:8. " Takes him tip to a very high monntain.^'' 
 Milton's w^ell known expansion of this part of the 
 Temptation ( Paradise Regaitted^ Book III), though too 
 obviously the work of a scholar exulting in his scholarship, 
 is yet worth studying as the first serious attempt, to realize 
 in part at least what must thus have been presented to 
 our Lord's mind. 
 
 The offer of the Tempter in appearance rests on the 
 actual history of all great conqueror's achievements. The 
 
222 
 
 S. MA TTHE W—NO TES, 
 
 Herods, the Caesars, and their like, gain eminence by 
 trampling the laws of God and of men under foot. They 
 all alike accept evil as the Master and bow down at its 
 behest. To become a mighty conqueror of such a kind 
 Christ has but to go beyond the self imposed limits of a 
 true Messiahship and refuse to accept longer the guidance 
 of the Spirit within and the word of His Father without. 
 
 4:11. *' The devil leaves kimy 
 
 This scene is that of Adam the conqueror. 
 
 The first Adam had been thus put to the test. He had 
 been conquered. Nature had revolted against him. 
 
 Jesus, the new Adam, is conqueror. Spiritual nature 
 obeys him. The evil angel flees. Good angels become 
 his servants. It is after this victorious trial that physical 
 nature is seen to be submissive to him and he exercises 
 miraculous power. 
 
 In his retirement to the wilderness before his public 
 life, the Son of God gives an example that even in the 
 natural order every man ought to follow if he thinks to 
 accomplish here below any great work, any fruitful work, 
 any durable work. In the bosom of solitude man gathers 
 and multiplies all his forces in extraordinary proportions. 
 From an intellectual point of view, he can w^ork out his 
 plans, his thoughts, his needs, every object whatsoever of 
 his meditation. From a practical point of view, he pene- 
 trates general causes and particular effects, he measures 
 the extent of means and calculates their disposition. He 
 goes thence thoroughly equipped for action. What then, 
 if he has recourse to prayer and gives heed to, not only 
 his own spirit, but the Spirit of God invoked by him ? A 
 celestial power then descends upon him. Angels become 
 his servants. They remain his never failing allies. 
 
S, MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 223 
 
 Yet solitude begets three temptations it is necessary to 
 overcome : 
 
 The first is the temptation to a violent reaction into sen- 
 suality, that is to say, a reaction into all the physical appe- 
 tites from which there has been a temporal abstinence. 
 *' He was hungry. * * * Command these stories to become 
 bread. 
 
 The second is a temptation to abandon one's self to 
 a presumptuous confidence in one's own powers, and to 
 the hope of mastering even the nature of things. " Cast 
 tJiyself dow7i. * * * He will give his angels charge over 
 thee.^'' 
 
 The third temptation is to the ambition to rule other 
 men, to reign over them at any price, even to the extreme 
 of abasing one's self before evil. " Shows him all the 
 kingdo77is of the world and the glo^y of them. 
 
 When these -three temjDtations have been overcome, a 
 man can enter into active life. His deeds will be noble, 
 worthy, great, holy. 
 
 Blessed are the poor in spirit.'''' 
 
 Poverty of spirit is the first and foremost requisite of 
 the kingdom of grace. It is the soul realizing its own 
 need. It is the first step in all true repentance. It is 
 the turning of the spirit of man from self, and all selfish 
 calls, to God as its only satisfactory end, its only peace 
 and eternal completeness. 
 
 The blessedness our Lord here speaks of, then, is the 
 blessedness of those who act upon the principle that 
 nothing is absolutely their own. They realize they are 
 receivers before they can give. They are dependent on 
 another's bounty. They are but stewards of a divine 
 King and a loving Father. They give of that which is 
 under their hand, or they withhold it, only in the interest 
 of the divine kingdom. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 To such persons and to such persons alone belongs that 
 temper of heart and mind that belongs of right to the 
 Kingdom of Heaven. The eternal realities are theirs 
 both in this life and that which is to come. 
 
 5 • 3 — 7 • 27. The Sermon on the Mount both in ex- 
 ternal form and internal content is very much like the 
 ancient wisdom Hebrew Poetry. The parallelism is de- 
 cidedly marked from beginning to the end and some of the 
 best samples of its various kinds are to be culled from 
 this rich storehouse. 
 
 It is divided up into six main divisions, and subdivided 
 into threes and multiples of three. 
 
 The first main division includes the nine beatitudes and 
 the two stanzas following. 
 
 The second main division includes the introductory 
 stanza on the law and the prophets and six references to 
 the law as interpreted by scribe and Pharisee in con- 
 tradistinction to what he himself will teach. 
 
 The third main division includes his thoughts on alms- 
 giving, prayer and fasting. 
 
 The fourth main division is on the accumulation of 
 wealth and its motive. 
 
 The fifth main division is on the attainment of a right 
 judgment in all things. 
 
 The sixth main division is on the entrance to life and 
 how to attain to it. 
 
 The first main division is divided into three parts, the 
 nine beatitudes and a strophe and antistrophe on the 
 disciples as the salt of the earth and the hght of the world. 
 
 In the second main division we have another pair of 
 stanzas as strophe and anti-strophe to each other on the 
 eye and the hand. 
 
 The third main division as is often the case in Hebrew 
 poetic arrangement, is the most symmetrical of all. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 225 
 
 In the first place it is subdivided into three parts. Its 
 middle part on prayer is again divided into three parts and 
 this middle part is preceded by a pair of stanza as strophe 
 and antistrophe to each other as well as followed by a 
 pair of stanzas as strophe and antistrophe to each other. 
 
 The fourth main division on the accumulation of wealth 
 and its motive is divided into three parts, the third part 
 of which being marked by a refrain three times used. 
 " Do not be anxious."' 
 
 The fifth main division is divided into three parts, the 
 third part of it being occupied by a remarkably fine and 
 perhaps the most forcible illustration of Hebrew Parallel- 
 ism to be found in the whole of the New Testament. 
 
 The sixth main division on the gate of life and how to 
 enter it is divided into three parts, the last of these parts 
 being concluded by a strophe and an antistrophe on the 
 man who built his house on the rock and he who built 
 his house on the sand, as striking and as pure an ex- 
 ample of the higher parallelism of stanzas as we find any- 
 where. 
 
 5:4. *' Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be 
 comforted. 
 
 Jesus was the " man of sorrows and acquainted with 
 grief." By his very coming to earth, sorrow and grief 
 have been blessed. His touch has changed the face of 
 that which before his time was looked upon as nothing 
 but a deserved punishment and a rightly inflicted penalty. 
 
 Since Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, since he 
 mourned over Jerusalem and bore the anguish of Geth- 
 semane, we have learned to see in all sorrow but a stage 
 on the way to higher joy. Yes, he did indeed come to 
 •* comfort all that mourn ; to appoint unto them that 
 mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil 
 15 
 
226 S. MATTHEW^NOTES, 
 
 of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit oi 
 heaviness." God will wipe away all tears from off all faces. 
 5:5. " Blessed are the meekJ''' 
 
 The influence of the meek and self controlled is in 
 the long run greater than that of the impulsive and pas- 
 sionate. Their serenity helps them to find the greatest 
 amount of true joy in all conditions of life. To them, the 
 earth is not a stage of self assertion and the graspings of 
 desire, but an " inheritance " they have received from their 
 Father. 
 
 5:6. " Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after 
 rlghteo7isju'ss. " 
 
 The cravings of bodily hunger become here a parable of 
 the higher yearning after righteousness. The thirsting 
 after God, like the hart desiring the water-brooks, is cer- 
 tain in the end to gain its full fruition. 
 
 Desires after earthly things, every form of physical long- 
 ing, are either frustrated or end in satiety and weariness. 
 Spiritual aspirations alone, have the sure and steadfast 
 prophesy of fulfilment in them. Such, alone, shall be 
 filled with a fullness not to be repented of. 
 
 5:7. " Blessed are the merciful I " 
 
 Those who are pitiful toward their fellow men become, 
 because of that very fact, more truly the object of God's 
 compassion. And on the other hand no motive to mercy 
 so constrains us to be merciful so much as the feeling that 
 we ourselves have need of it and have found it. 
 
 Though justice be thy plea, consider this — 
 That in the course of justice, none of us 
 Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 
 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
 The deeds of mercy." 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 227 
 
 5:8. " Blessed are the pure in heart. 
 
 The purity here referred to means more than the ab« 
 sence of one particular form of sensual sin. It excludes 
 every element of baseness. It excludes impurity of hate 
 or greed of gain as well as that of the lust of the flesh. 
 It means more. It is more than a simple negative virtue. 
 It is most positive in its influence on character. 
 
 Purity of heart brings with it the power to see, as we 
 can in no other way see, the beauty of nature about us, 
 and the moral order of the world in the light its Creator 
 and Redeemer meant us to see it. 
 
 By the inward light made bright by this same purity of 
 heart the teaching and the life of Christ can be seen and 
 appreciated as it is otherwise impossible to do. 
 
 5:9. " Blessed are the peacemakers^'' 
 
 Be truly peacemakers. Always have a word of reconcili- 
 ation and peace to sweeten the bitterness our brothers 
 shall charge against us or against others. Seek to 
 sweeten evil reports. Strive to prevent enmities, indiffer- 
 ences, coldnesses. Do your best to reconcile those at vari- 
 ance one with another. 
 
 'This is to do the will of God. This is to show our- 
 selves the children of our Father who is in heaven. 
 
 5 : 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for right- 
 eousness sake ! " 
 
 This beatitude rightly follows on the last and is in a 
 way the completion of it. 
 
 We should never be tempted to surrender righteous- 
 ness for peace. We should never compromise the truth 
 for the sake of peace. We must never fail to contend 
 nobly for the faith because of a desire for peace. 
 
 The Prince of Peace himself came not to send peace 
 
228 S. MATTHEW^NOTES, 
 
 but a sword. The wisdom which is from above is first 
 pure'''' a7td thcji peaceable.^'' All they that will live godly 
 in Christ Jesus must suffer persectttion. 
 
 5:11. " Blessed are you wheit men shall revile you. ! " 
 
 As the prophets of old were persecuted because they set 
 forth and maintained the righteousness of God, so the disci- 
 ples of Christ must be reviled and persecuted because they 
 proclaim Christ as the incarnation of the righteous and 
 holy God, because they proclaim the good news of his 
 redemption, and assert the judgment of his holy will 
 against all sin and iniquity. 
 
 5:12. " Great is yotir reward i7t heaven.'''' 
 
 The reward here spoken of, is a reward for those who 
 
 suffer for righteousness' sake, not for those who are simply 
 
 calculating on a future compensation. 
 
 The Kingdom of Heaven is equally promised in the nine 
 
 beatitudes, but in each under a different name in accord 
 
 with it. 
 
 To the poor it is a kingdom. To the meek, often dis- 
 possessed here below, it is a land of great price. To those 
 who mourn, it is an ineffable consolation. To those 
 wronged in judgment, it is an eternal satisfaction. To the 
 pure in heart, it is the vision of God. To the peacemaker, 
 it is to be called the children of God. To the persecuted 
 it is another kingdom. 
 
 5:16. " Let your light so shine before men that they may 
 see your good works!''' 
 
 The motive to publicity here put forth is the direct op- 
 posite of the temper which led the Pharisees to their osten- 
 tatious prayers and almsgiving. They did it to be seen of 
 men. They did it to win men's praise. 
 
-5". MATTHEW--NOTES. 
 
 229 
 
 We are here taught to let our light shine, not for any 
 such shallow reason, but that we may win men, not to our- 
 selves, but to God. 
 
 The man that does his best to prevent his left hand 
 from knowing what his right hand is doing, that is the 
 man who most effectually causes men through seeing his 
 good works to glorify his Father in heaven. For do what 
 he will, such a man cannot keep other men from seeing his 
 good works. These will come to the knowledge of his 
 fellows at last ; and from the very fact of their coming in 
 such a way it will cause men to glorify their Father who is 
 in heaven. See also notes on 6: 1-3. 
 
 5:17. Do not think I have come to destroy the law.^^ 
 
 Christ has fulfilled m his person all the righteousness of 
 the old law. He has fulfilled all its types. He is the 
 reality of which the manna, the passover, the burnt offer- 
 ing, and the sin offering, were but feeble figures. 
 
 He has fulfilled the prophets in that he has fulfilled all 
 that was written of him by Moses and all that followed after. 
 
 He has fulfilled the law in a higher sense than that just 
 referred to. He has fulfilled it in that He has perfected 
 it. He gave to the old commandments a depth and breadth 
 and height before altogether unknown. He showed men 
 how they were meant for, not the eternal alone, but the 
 thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 
 Yes, the old law and the prophets have not been de- 
 stroyed. A new life has rather been infused into them. 
 The spirit of life that was in Christ has passed into them. 
 
 The meaning of the old Jewish Passover has been trans- 
 ferred to Christ our Passover sacrificed for us. Let us, 
 therefore, keep the feast, not with the old leaven of malice 
 and wickedness, but with the new leaven of sincerity and 
 truth. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 5:21,22. ''You have heard * * . But I tell 
 youy 
 
 In these verses our Lord mentions three gradations of 
 offence and judgment. 
 
 Anger is liable to break forth into act and so put a man 
 in danger of its adequate punishment. 
 
 Abusive language brings the man who gives way to it 
 into the danger of a severe punishment. 
 
 Unrestrained anger that breaks forth into the more 
 malignant language of reprobate or villain brings a man 
 into the power of the highest court of the land. It sub- 
 jects him to the danger of the judgment of death. For it 
 is to be noted, the word here translated fool is not at all 
 adequately so translated. Fool does not express the full 
 malignity of the word used by our Lord. 
 
 Anger such as our Lord here refers to is likely to issue 
 in a crime which makes a man guilty of death. 
 
 Our Lord shows in these words the guilt of the angry 
 and malignant spirit from its danger and its tendency. 
 No passion deprives a man so utterly of self control and 
 even of reason, as this one. If not changed by divine 
 grace it makes havoc of spiritual life. For, " Whoever 
 hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no 
 murderer has eternal life abiding in him." 
 
 We must see to it, then, that we bear no malice nor hatred 
 in our hearts. 
 
 5 : 23. So if you a7'e offering your gift at the altar etc. 
 
 The time for worship is the time for recollection and 
 self scrutiny. It is the time for the worshipper to ask 
 himself, not whether he has a ground of complaint against 
 another, but whether another has some ground of com- 
 plaint against him. 
 
 What injury have I done my neighbor? Have I given 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 my neighbor good cause of offence in thought, word, or 
 deed ? Have I spoken bitter words against him ? Am I 
 allowing bitter thoughts of any one to rankle in my heart ? 
 
 5 : 24. " First be reco7iciled to yotir bi^other^ 
 To be reconciled to a brother is not only to remove ill 
 will from our minds concerning him. Open confession of 
 all wrong done him is necessary. Restitution to the extent 
 of our power is required. Only thus can the reconciliation 
 here taught be attained. 
 
 5 : 25. " Ag7'ee with your adversary quickly. '^^ 
 
 This truth holds between man and man. It is also true 
 between a man and his God. 
 
 A wise man at law with any one who had a just cause of 
 complaint against him would do his best to settle the mat- 
 ter before it was actually brought into court. For then it 
 would be too late. 
 
 So the soul of man should make its peace with God 
 while it is called to-day. Before the judgment is set and 
 the books are open this should be done. P'or then we 
 must be all judged for the deeds done in the body. 
 " Judge therefore yourselves brethren that ye be not 
 judged of the Lord." For " it is a fearful thing to fall into- 
 the hands of God." 
 
 5 : 27, 28. " Tkott shalt not commit adulteiyP 
 Not the passing glance, nor the momentary impulse of 
 desire is here referred to. It is the continued gaze by 
 which the impulse is deliberately cherished till it becomes 
 a passion. 
 
 The realization of this great truth enables the Roman 
 Poet to say in accord with our Lord : 
 
 " Who in his breast a guilty thought doth cherish, 
 He bears the guilt of action." 
 
S. MATTHEW-^NOTES, 
 
 5:31. " Whoever shall put away his wife^^'' etc. 
 
 These injunctions respecting divorce naturally follow 
 upon the deeper law of purity laid down in the last few 
 verses. 
 
 There can be no purity of heart and life unless the 
 purity of home life is preserved. This can be done only 
 by respecting the sanctity of marriage and the indissolu- 
 bility of the marriage contract. 
 
 The Jew of our Lord's time could put away his wife 
 for any cause whatever. That generation therefore was 
 an adulterous generation. Even the Apostles, holy men 
 though they were, when they heard Jesus put forth a 
 similar statement, exclaimed : " If the case of the man be 
 so with his wife, it is not good to marry." 
 
 See note on Mark 10:9. 
 
 5 • 33~37* " Thou shall not forswear thy self etc. 
 
 Not a few interpreters and even whole Christian com- 
 munities such as the Society of Friends, see in these 
 words and in James 5 : 12, a formal prohibition of all oaths 
 either promissory or evidential. Such people, accordingly, 
 look on the general practise of Christians, and the formal 
 teachings of the Church of England in her thirty-ninth 
 article as simply an acquiescence in evil. 
 
 But the context here shows that the sin our Lord is 
 speaking against is the light use of oaths in ordinary 
 speech with no real thought of their meaning. Such oaths 
 of course involve irreverence and are inconsistent with a 
 genuine fear of God. The real purpose of an oath duly 
 administered, however, is to intensify such a fear. It is 
 meant to bring the thought of God's presence forcibly 
 home to men. When oaths attain this, therefore, of 
 course they are rightly used. 
 
 The needless multiplication of oaths on trivial occa- 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 233 
 
 sions, however, has tended, and it must be admitted, still 
 tends to weaken awe and to impair men's reverence for 
 truth. 
 
 In the ideal Christian society they are altogether need- 
 less. When we have come to such a state of existence 
 they may readily be dispensed with. It will be many a 
 day, however, before we come to such a state of bliss. 
 
 5 : 39. " But I tell yoti : Do not resist him who is doi7tg 
 yotL kariny 
 
 It must be kept in mind in considering such precepts as 
 this, that the Sermon on the Mount in which it is found, 
 is not a code of laws, but the assertion of the fundamental 
 principles of life. 
 
 What then is the principle involved in the teaching of 
 this verse ? It teaches us clearly and explicitly to enter- 
 tain the very opposite of a spirit of spite and retaliation 
 for a WTong done us. This teaching however does not do 
 away with the fact that a wronged man has duties to 
 society as well as to himself. Society must be protected. 
 The offender is to be reclaimed. These duties call for 
 protest, prosecution, punishment. Yet all these, without 
 bitterness, strife of base passions, or the assertion of an 
 evil temper. 
 
 See also notes on S. Luke 6 : 29, 30. 
 
 5 : 40. *' If any one ivotild go to law with you^ 
 Better to yield, than to stand up stoutly for one's rights. 
 It is wiser to surrender more than is demanded than by 
 wrangling and debate so to disturb our peace of mind and 
 the calmness of our spirit as to lose our true self in the 
 vortex of self assertion. 
 
 5 : 42. " Give to him who asks ofyon^ 
 
 Here again is a seeming paradox. This principle is 
 
234 MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 binding upon us all in its spirit and in its intention, but not 
 in its actual literal interpretation. For were we to give to 
 all men whatever they ask we should be cursing them in- 
 stead of blessing them. 
 
 " Often we see men's homes and hopes laid low, 
 Through gifts they ask for, and the gods bestow." 
 Thus spoke the Roman Juvenal, and so gave voice to a 
 universal fact of the experience of men. Our heavenly 
 Father gives to those who ask him, but sometimes to 
 their hurt. When he withholds from us our desires, it is 
 for our good. So w^e, too, must withhold from those who 
 ask of us not because we are selfish, but because having 
 a true fraternal spirit we cannot grant the petitioner's 
 request. 
 
 The ideal perfect life we are to aim at is the loving and 
 giving temper. Such a life must give heed to every call 
 made upon it. It must strive to meet every expressed 
 want. Whether we give what is asked or whether we re- 
 iFuse the request, we must at least give it attention and 
 base our action upon the good of the petitioner. 
 
 The precepts of Christ lead us to look upon all men as 
 actually our brothers of the same family, of the same 
 flesh and blood, as those we have been accustomed to 
 consider as the nearest and dearest to us. In the ques- 
 tion of giving or withholding, this must always be kept in 
 mind. So, too, in the question of borrowing. Some- 
 times we can do no better or holier act of charity than in 
 lending our influence, our time, our money, or whatever 
 else is at our disposal and needed by our brother man. 
 At such a time lend and seek not for any immediate re- 
 turn. Then sweet will be your reward in the life eternal. 
 
 Cases where the business of the world calls for loans, 
 not for the relief of want, but as a matter of commercial 
 activity, are not in the mind of Jesus in giving this pre- 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 235 
 
 cept. Yet as the relief of a very pressing want comes up 
 even in many a man's business career, even here, too, true 
 charity finds plenty of scope for action. 
 
 See also notes on S. Matth. 6:19-21, and S. Luke 
 6 : 29, 30. 
 
 5 : 43. " Thou shalt love thy neighbor^ and hate thine 
 enemyT 
 
 Neither national nor private hatred can find place in the 
 ideal Christian life for which we are striving, to which all 
 men must ultimately be brought. 
 
 5 : 44. " But I tell you : Love yozir enemieSf^ etc. 
 
 If we would know how we are to attain to love of neigh- 
 bor as well as ourselves, w^e need only follow these explicit 
 practical exhortations. Love those even that natural im- 
 pulse prompts you to hate. Give expression to your love 
 in prayer for those who despitef ully use you and persecute 
 you. For while sometimes circumstances may preclude 
 overt acts of love towards them, while sometimes loving 
 words to them would be met by scorn, prayer to God for 
 them cannot fail of its purpose. In so doing we our- 
 selves become like God and make his will our own. 
 
 We thus draw near God's perfection and become par- 
 takers of his holiness. So, as Shakespeare puts a very 
 like thought : Mercy 
 
 " is an attribute of God himself ; 
 And earthly power doth then show likest God's 
 When mercy seasons justice." 
 
 See also note on S. Luke 6 : 27. 
 
 6:1. Be careful not to do your religious duties before 
 men to be looked at by them.''^ 
 
 Spontaneous love, a spirit of self-denial and a desire, to 
 render adoration, constitute the essence of all true relig- 
 
236 
 
 S. MATTHEW^NOTES, 
 
 ion. Let love of earthly praise and power usurp the place 
 of these in the giving of assistance to a brother in need, 
 and you have shorn your deed of all that in which the 
 purest and highest form of religion naturally shows itself. 
 
 Not the fact of publicity then, but the motive of making 
 it public is what gives a good or a bad character to any 
 action. 
 
 The high ideal of a true disciple of Christ is to let his 
 light shine before men without reference to their praise or 
 blame. 
 
 See also note on 5 : 16. 
 
 6:3. " So when you do charitable things^ 
 What a contrast we have here ? 
 
 While the ostentatious man is seeking to make known 
 his good w^orks to others, the true follower of Christ must 
 be careful how even he himself contemplates his own good 
 deeds. 
 
 In considering these words of our Lord, we must re- 
 member that they have reference to the individual in his 
 private ministration. 
 
 In all public, charitable, undertakings on the other hand, 
 when a whole community has' joined together to forward 
 such a movement, a certain amount of publicity is a duty 
 we owe to our fellows. 
 
 In the erection and carrying on of churches, schools, 
 hospitals and the like, for instance, there must be a more 
 or less public accounting of the funds contributed. This 
 must be done for their protection and for other legitimate 
 and truly religious motives. 
 
 See also note on 5:16. 
 
 6:6. " When you pray^ 
 
 This of course has reference to personal prayers. These 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 237 
 
 should always be of the strictest privacy. Public prayer, 
 at the time of the assembling of the congregation for wor- 
 ship, is not here referred to. 
 
 6:7. " Do not use vain repetitions like the heathen do.^* 
 
 The AVord in the original used here for vain repetitions 
 is but poorly rendered in our English version. 
 
 Formed from a word which reproduces the repeated at- 
 tempts of the stammerer to clothe his thoughts hi words, 
 it might almost be rendered : " Do not gtutter out your 
 prayers. Do not babble them over." 
 
 These words describe only too faithfully the act of 
 prayer when it becomes mechanical. 
 
 On the other hand, it is made thus manifestly clear, that 
 these words of Christ have no reference to the repetitions 
 incident upon intense emotion and genuine fervor. Our 
 Lord himself prayed three times using the same words. 
 
 How far the use of the Lord's Prayer or of the Kyrie 
 Eleiso7i of the Church's Litanies is open to the charge of 
 *' vain repetition " is another question. 
 
 It is obvious to all that their use may easily become so to 
 any mechanical worshiper of the Pharisaic type. Yet, on 
 the other hand, as an ever accumulating w^eight of evidence 
 from really devout souls has continually borne witness, 
 such apt and well considered repetitions have always been 
 found helpful in sustaining the emotion without which 
 prayer is dead. 
 
 Our Lord is here speaking against the root evil of Phari^ 
 saism as well as heathenism. They think they will be 
 heard for their much speaking. They falsely consider 
 prayer as having a quantitive mechanical force, increasing 
 in effectiveness in proportion to the number of prayers of- 
 fered. If fifty fail, a hundred may prevail. 
 
 But all such views of the use and purpose of prayer as- 
 
238 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 sume the object of prayer to be to change the will of God, 
 or to inform him of what he is ignorant of. 
 
 Our Lord here teaches us that in the very fact of such 
 an assumption we vitiate at once the quality of prayer. 
 
 After this manner therefore pray ye, " Our Father.^'' 
 
 6:9. " Our Father y 
 
 The first expression of thought in the pattern prayer of 
 the world is a paternal thought : " Our Father." 
 
 The first expression of a wish is not an utterance of our 
 wants, but that the name " Our Father " may be hallowed. 
 We are taught to have as our first great wish that, " Our 
 Father's " name may be to us and to all men a holy name. 
 — not lightly used in trivial speech, rash assertion, or 
 bitterness of debate, but rather the object of awe, love, 
 adoration. 
 
 As it is in the first three Gospels, so in that of S. John, 
 we find Jesus praying : " Father, glorify thy name." 
 See also note on S. Luke 11:2. 
 
 6:12. Forgive 11s our trespasses, as we forgive those who 
 trespass against us^ 
 
 In the very act of prayer we are to remind ourselves that 
 the only condition of our own forgiveness is that we also 
 forgive our debtors. 
 
 Even in the free grace of God there is a law of retribu- 
 tion. 
 
 The temper that does not forgive cannot be forgiven 
 If we will insist upon the payment of the hundred dollars 
 owed us, we bring back upon us the far heavier debt of 
 the fifty million dollars (Chapt. 18 : 23-35). 
 
 See also note on S. Mark 11 : 25, and S. Luke 11:4. 
 
 6:19-21. Do not be laying up for yourselves treasures 
 on earthy 
 
 On the face of them these words teach a doctrine that 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 239 
 
 is contrary to the whole course of the Christian world. 
 They are directly contrary, not only to miserly hoarding, 
 not only to all miserable stinginess, not only to such hard- 
 heartedness as can belaid at the door of those by compari- 
 son called rich. They are, thus taken, contrary as well 
 to every species of accumulated wealth. Whether that 
 wealth consists of money or lands or bonds or stocks or 
 anything else beside, these words, on the face of them, are 
 against it. 
 
 The same must be said of S. Matthew 5 : 42 ; 19 : 2T'; 
 S. Luke 12 : 33, 34 ; 18 : 22-30. 
 
 Yes, and many sayings of our Lord go further than this. 
 Such are S. Matthew 10 : 9 and its parallels, S. Luke 9 : 3, 
 10 : 4. These go the length of specific commands to cer- 
 tain persons not to hold any property at all. 
 
 Now is this surface meaning the real truth our Lord in 
 these places means to teach 
 
 If it is, then our Lord forbids the laying up of money 
 except as is needful for the supply of our daily wants. He 
 forbids the accumulation of capital on interest. He de- 
 clares against its employment on the building and keeping 
 up of mills and shops and factories. He is against the 
 working of mines. He is against the building and operat- 
 ing of our great railway systems. He is against all these 
 things because none of them can be maintained or brought 
 into operation except by the laying up of capital, except 
 by the stimulating of desires which are not bound by the 
 supply of daily wants. In short these words of our Lord, 
 on the face of them, are altogether against the existence 
 of great commercial countries such as England and 
 America. 
 
 But we have learned that it is not safe to take any text 
 of scripture without its context. It is not safe to take any 
 series of Bible texts without considering well the circum- 
 
240 
 
 S. MATTHEW^NOTES, 
 
 stances under which they were uttered and the other por- 
 tions of scripture that bear upon the same subject. 
 
 When we take all these considerations into account we 
 are brought to understand that our Lord is in these words 
 talking not to his disciples in general throughout all time. 
 He is talking to his immediate followers then surrounding 
 him and especially to his twelve Apostles. 
 
 The Apostolic life is that of a missionary. It is that of 
 one who depends entirely upon the gifts of the faithful for 
 support. He has no property. No fixed nor settled in- 
 come is guaranteed him. 
 
 The first four Apostles began this life when they forsook 
 their nets and followed Jesus. Saint Matthew did the same 
 w'hen he forsook the lucrative employment of a tax-col- 
 lector. St. Paul followed in the same heroic career when 
 he gave up all power and position among his kinsmen 
 according to the flesh. Men in all ages of the Church have 
 done the same when they have given up their material 
 things that they might the better serve Christ their Lord 
 and further the cause of /11s divine Kingdom. 
 
 So we believe individuals are from time to time called 
 to such apostolic abnegation but it is not a law laid on 
 all men alike. See notes on 5 : 42 ; 10:9; S.Luke 12:33; 
 19:17, 19. 
 
 6:25. " Do not he anxious for your life.'''' 
 Take no thought," of King James' version, is a phrase 
 used to translate from the Greek what to-day really means : 
 Be not anxious." 
 
 The temper against which our Lord here means to warn 
 us is not that of foresight and the desire to lay up for a 
 rainy day. He rather wishes to tell us not to allow our- 
 selves to be harassed and worried with the uncertainties 
 of this mortal life. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 To take thought as we now understand it is often the 
 most effectual safeguard, next to the higher defence of 
 trust in God, against worry and vexation of spirit. 
 
 7:1. " Do 7iot jiLdge^ that you may not be judged.^^ 
 Here as elsewhere our Lord gives principles rather than 
 rules. He embodies the principle in a rule which, because 
 it cannot be kept in the letter, forces us back upon the 
 spirit of it. What Jesus lays down in this law, therefore, 
 is a warning against a censorious temper. Don't be eager 
 to find fault in men and to condemn them. Beware of a 
 continual inclination to suspect men's motives. 
 See also note on S. Luke 6 : 37. 
 
 7:2. " With the measure yott measure it will be measured 
 yoti^ 
 
 The severity which we unjustly mete out to others be- 
 comes, by a retributive law, the measure of that which is 
 justly dealt out to us. 
 
 See also notes on S. Mark, 4 • 24, and S. Luke 6 : 38. 
 
 7:3. " Why do you look at the mote which is in your 
 brother^ s eye ? " 
 
 " Oh, wad some Power the giftie gie us, 
 To see oursels as others see us ! " 
 Our own faults require the most careful scrutiny. How 
 easy for us to turn our gaze upon the faults of others ! 
 See also note on S. Luke 6:41. 
 
 7:5. '•^ First get the beam out of your ozvn eye" 
 While we are blind with self-deceit we are but bunglers 
 in the work of dealing with the faults of others. When 
 we have wrestled with our own besetting sins and have 
 overcome them, then, and not till then, shall we be able 
 rightly to aid others in overcoming theirs. See preceding 
 notes. 
 
 16 
 
242 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 7:6. " Do not give what is holy to the dogs^^"* etc. 
 
 Are we then to think of some of our fellow-men as dogs 
 and pigs ? Is not this on the contrary a forgetting of all 
 our Lord's previous teaching ? 
 
 So long as men identify themselves with their passions, 
 we must deal cautiously and wisely with them. Paul did 
 not preach the Good News of Salvation to the howling 
 mob at Ephesus, nor to the " lewd fellows of the baser 
 sort " at Thessalonica. He did not do it at that time 
 because of its being an inopportune time. At any other 
 time he would have told any member of those crowds 
 how he was a redeemed son of God. He would not have 
 hesitated a moment to show him how to claim an inheri- 
 tance among the blessed. 
 
 We need to be on our guard against the brute element 
 in our own natures no less than as we find it in others. 
 We may desecrate the holiest truths by dealing with them 
 in a spirit of irreverence. Alas, for the man that can 
 cynically jest with his truest and noblest impulses ! 
 
 7:7. " Keep asking and it will be given yoiL.^'' 
 In this exhortation, our Lord takes it for granted that 
 in all our petitions we ask only for good things, — for 
 bread, and not for a stone, for a fish, and not for a serpent. 
 He also assumes that we ask in accordance with his teach- 
 ing, that is, in his name, and according to his will. Other- 
 wise we may ask and receive not, because we ask amiss. 
 Jas. 4 : 3. 
 
 7:11. If yon^ then, who are bad,^"* etc. 
 
 These words recognize the fact of man's depravity. 
 They at the same time assert that this depravity is not a 
 total depravity. 
 
 In the midst of all our evil there still remains that 
 element of naturally pure affection which makes the 
 
S, MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 243 
 
 fatherhood of men the fit and effective parable of the 
 Fatherhood of God. 
 
 7 : 12. So eve7y thing you would have men do to you^"* 
 etc. 
 
 God gives his good things in answer to our prayers 
 provided what we ask for is really for our good. So 
 should it be among men. 
 
 We cannot comply with all men's wishes nor can other 
 men always comply with ours. Nor should they. For 
 how often are they foolish or frivolous. Sometimes, they 
 are but requests for the indulgence of passion or lust. 
 
 When, however, the thoughts of our hearts are pure and 
 our wills have become but the expression of such thoughts, 
 we seek from others only that which is good. 
 
 No man is justifiable in making an evil request of an- 
 other man, nor of God. Neither God nor man can be 
 justified in granting such a request for its own sake. 
 
 7:14. " The zvay which leads to life.^'' 
 
 This is the first passage in our Lord's recorded teaching 
 in which the word "life" appears in summing up all the 
 blessedness of his Kingdom. The idea is developed as 
 w^e advance. In chapter 19 : 29, it is spoken of as "eternal." 
 In S. John 17 : 2, 3, we are taught that this eternal life is 
 the true, perfect, knowledge of God and his Christ. 
 
 If there are but few that are finding this eternal life in 
 its fulness here in this present world compared with the 
 great majority that are failing to comprehend it. Scripture 
 as clearly states the great truth that all men shall come to 
 the knowledge of God at some time or other, in some way 
 or other. " Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ 
 will all be made alive." 
 
 See also note on S. Luke 13 ; 23. 
 
244 
 
 ^. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 7:15. " Beware of false prophets. 
 
 The Hebrews understood by Prophets^ not only those 
 who were accustomed to predict future events, but gen- 
 erally also whoever became inspired or claimed to inter- 
 pret Scripture and teach. Under the name of false pro- 
 phets^ the fathers have understood in this place, all false 
 teachers, Jews or Christians. 
 
 The true gift of Prophecy is always followed by its 
 counterfeit. 
 
 7 : 16. " You will know them by their fruits,^'' 
 
 Every teaching is pure or impure in proportion to the 
 
 measure in w^hich it promotes, in the long run, purity, 
 
 peace, and holiness of life. 
 
 7 : 17, 18. " Every good tree brings forth good fruity'' etc. 
 Falseness in teaching, like hypocrisy of life, sooner or 
 later makes itself plainly and uniquivocally known to the 
 children of men. 
 
 We cannot read the secret thoughts of the hearts of our 
 fellows before they have manifested them in outward word 
 or action, yet when once a man out of the abundance of 
 his heart has spoken or acted, we have an unfailing and 
 infallible means of knowing what has been going on 
 within. 
 
 7:22. " Lord, Lord, have we 7iot prophesied in your 
 name ? " 
 
 As before intimated, so here again w^e see that, prophesy- 
 ing is far more than mere prediction of what is hereafter 
 to come to pass. It is above everything else the delivering 
 of a message from God to men, whatever may be the im- 
 port of that message. 
 
 7 : 23. I never knezv you.''^ 
 
 As the confession of Christ referred to in chapter ten, 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 245 
 
 verse thirty-two, has reference to more than a mere Hp- 
 homage, and implies the loyal service of obedience, so 
 here, the condemnation pronounced on the workers of in- 
 iquity is not a condemnation of those who have failed to 
 give intellectual assent to the truth, so much as of those 
 who have actually become accustomed breakers of the law 
 written in the fleshly tables of the heart. 
 
 7 ; 26. " Hears these sayings of mhie and does not do 
 themy 
 
 He of whom Jesus is speaking is not the man who hears 
 nothing of the word of truth. It is the Christian who 
 limits himself to putting this truth into his understanding. 
 For, if he heard not, he would not build. He builds, 
 therefore, but upon the sand. He informs himself but 
 does not put his information to practical use. It is the 
 theologian who seeks knowledge but not holiness ; — it is 
 myself, alas ! I, who rejoice in the word of God, who am 
 charmed with its beauty, and yet do not practise the vir- 
 tues my intellect understands ! 
 
 8:2. If y oil zvish you can ctire me^ 
 
 The words of the man involve a singular mingling of 
 faith and distrust. He believes in the power of Christ to 
 cure. But he doubts his will. As if he were saying to 
 himself : Can he stoop to one so foul as I ? 
 
 If he shared the common feeling that leprosy was the 
 punishment of sin, he might ask himself ; Will he pity 
 and relieve one so sinful as I } 
 
 8:5. " ^ Roman Captain came to him and begged him.^^ 
 Here, as in the case of Cornelius, the faith and life ot 
 Judaism as exemplified in the villages of Galilee has made 
 a deep impression on the soldier's mind. He has found a 
 
246 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 purity, a reverence, a simplicity and a nobleness of life 
 here which he has never seen in his life before. So he has 
 come to " love the nation." 
 
 8:8. " Lord^ I am not of enough account for you to cofue 
 tmdermy roof''' 
 
 This feeling of unworthiness implies at once the con- 
 sciousness of his own sins and at the same time the recog- 
 nition of the surpassing holiness of Him whom he is ad- 
 dressing. 
 
 8:17. Himself took oiir weaknesses and bore our dis- 
 easesy 
 
 Christ came not simply as one of boundless wealth to 
 scatter alms broadcast over the land. His coming was for 
 a far more noble purpose. He came to take upon Himself 
 our infirmities and to bear our sicknesses. 
 
 He suffered with those he saw suffering. This intensity 
 of sympathy was intimately connected with his power to 
 heal. It is worthy of note, therefore, that such labor of 
 love on his part was followed by weariness and physical 
 exhaustion. It is always so, too, with those who are most 
 Christlike in their daily lives. 
 
 8 : 22. " Leave the dead to bury their dead.''* 
 Let those who have no spiritual life linger in the circle 
 of outward routine duties, and sacrifice the highest spirit- 
 ual possibilities of their nature to them. But those w^ho 
 will live in reality and in truth will dutifully do the work to 
 which their Master calls them. They will leave the low^er 
 conventional duties of life to be done or left undone as 
 circumstances at the time may direct. 
 
 8 : 29. " What do you wish of us, you Son of God? " 
 See note on S. John, chapter two, verse four. 
 
S, MA TTHE W—NO TES , 247 
 
 8 : 34. They begged him to go from their parts.^^ 
 They felt the destruction of their drowned herds and the 
 fear of like new disasters more than the deliverance and 
 healing of their unfortunates. Self interest is fierce. Let 
 a man to-morrow discover a process, a vaccine, which pre- 
 serves forever from every malady without exception, is it 
 altogether certain no physician ruined individually by this 
 generous benefaction will not be tempted to say to the ad- 
 mirable inventor, as the Gadarenes did to Jesus ? " De- 
 part out of our country ! " A grave-digger without work 
 was crying one day : *' It's a bad year. No one dies." 
 See also note on S. Mark 5:17. 
 
 9:13. " I did not co?ne to call the righteotcs^ but siiiners^ 
 Jerome and Hilary see some irony in these words. 
 " The rigeteous " that is to say, those who were regarding 
 themselves as righteous, such as the Pharisees. Bossuet's 
 comment is also worth considering. It expresses another 
 side of truth : 
 
 " Jesus Christ as Son of God, whatever pleasure he takes 
 in seeing at his feet a sinner returned to the good way, he 
 always loves with a stronger affection the innocence which 
 has never been inconsistent, and honors it with a greater 
 intimacy. Whatever favor the tears of a penitent may 
 have in his eyes, they can never equal the pure pleasures 
 of an ever faithful holiness. * * * Such are the 
 thoughts of Jesus according to His divine nature. But he 
 thinks otherwise of ns when lie becomes onr Saviour. As 
 Saviour, he says, I must seek those who are lost : as a 
 Physician, those who are sick ; as a Redeemer, those who 
 are captive * * * In the same w^ay that a physician, 
 as a man, will take more pleasure in the company of the 
 well and nevertheless, as a physician, he will take delight 
 in relieving the sick. So this charitable Physician 
 
248 
 
 S. MA TTHE W-'NO TES, 
 
 Surely, as Son of God, he prefers the innocent ; but, m 
 his sphere of Saviour, he will rather seek the criminals 
 again. 
 
 9:15. '■^ B tit Ike days will come, * * * 1/1^71 will they 
 fast. 
 
 The time following the departure of our Lord, as he 
 here shows his disciples, was a time of sorrow, conflict, 
 discipline. At such a time the self conquest implied in 
 abstinence was the natural and true expression of the 
 feelings belonging to it. 
 
 So the Christian Church has always felt. So it was in 
 the lives of at least two great Apostles (Acts 10 : 10 ; ii 
 Corinthians 11 127). 
 
 The Church of England and the American Church fol- 
 lowing her example have always kept their days of fasting 
 in connection with the seasons and days of the Christian 
 Year that call specially to meditation on the sterner, sad- 
 der, side of truth. 
 
 9:17. '''' Nor does any one put new wine into old wine 
 sJdnsT 
 
 This saying means, we believe, that the formalist Phari- 
 sees and Scribes, lost in the observances and rights of the 
 Jew^ish religion, might never have accepted the doctrine of 
 the Saviour, a doctrine rude as the undressed cloth, a doc- 
 trine which was fermenting in the soul like new wine. 
 Therefore Jesus takes for his Apostles men, whose faith 
 indeed is not without the Temple and the synagogue, but 
 who are totally without ecclesiastical functions — that is as 
 one would say nowadays — laity. Hence the stumbling 
 stone to the Jewish priesthood. 
 
 9:18. " ^ president of a synagogue cameT 
 He was the one who, in the gatherings in the Syna* 
 gogue, presided over the assembly. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 249 
 
 9 : 20. " Touched the bo7'der of his garment,^'* 
 See note on S. Mark 5 : 29. 
 
 9 : 22. " Yoiw faith has cured yon 
 See note on S. Mark 5 : 34. 
 
 9 : 23. " He saisj the flute playe7's.^'* 
 
 When any one was dead among the Jews, a number of 
 flute players and weeping women chanted funeral d.'rges 
 about the body. 
 
 9 : 24. " They laughed at himP 
 See note on S. Mark 5 140. 
 
 10 : 1-4. " He called his twelve disciples to him^^'^ etc. 
 
 In naming the Apostles, the Evangelists keep to an 
 order so constant and so particular there is room for 
 believing every thing was symbolic in their calling, the 
 place of each in the number as well as the number itself. 
 
 We possess four lists of the Apostles. Now, all have 
 this in common, that they distribute them in three groups. 
 The names in these groups are always the same, howevei 
 the order in which they are given differs. Three of the 
 Apostles invariably occupy the first place in their group. 
 Simon Peter stands at the head of the first group ; Philip, 
 of the second ; James the son of Alphaeus, of the third. 
 Last of all, at the end of every list, Judas Iscariot is found. 
 
 This can be verified by comparing : S. Matth. 10 : 2-4 ; 
 S. Mark 3: 16-19 ; S. Luke 6: 14-16, Acts i : 13. 
 
 We shall not seek the mysterious meaning of these 
 divisions since the sacred writers do not give it, but we 
 call attention to them here as one of the interesting par- 
 ticulars of the Gospel. 
 
 10 : I. The whole of this chapter is occupied with the 
 commissioning and sending out of the twelve Apostles. 
 
250 
 
 ST. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 Here again, then we find an unusual rhythm in the lan- 
 guage and a decidedly marked Hebrew Parallelism. 
 
 The twelve are divided into three sets of four each 
 as indicated by the semicolons. 
 
 The charge is divided into three main divisions, and 
 each main division naturally falls into three stanzas. 
 
 The center group of stanzas, as once before intimated, 
 shows the usual custom of a higher development, or more 
 perfect parallelism than the rest. That is, in this case, 
 the main central stanza is preceded by a shorter intro- 
 ductory stanza and followed by a short conclusion, while 
 it, itself, is not only line after line a perfect example of 
 the lower parallelism, but also of the higher. For in- 
 stance, notice the refrain just like the one in the fourth 
 main division of the Sermon on the Mount. Do not be 
 anxious. Do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid. 
 
 1 he third or final main division of the charge is divided 
 as already intimated, into three stanzas and is marked by 
 most perfect rhythm and parallelism, a striking and fitting 
 climax to the whole. 
 
 10 : 9, 10. Do not provide either gold, or silver^ or 
 brass, in yoitr ptn'ses. 
 
 Experience has led the Church to look on these com- 
 mands as binding only during this mission on which the 
 Twelve were at that time sent. It is impossible not to 
 admire the enthusiasm which showed itself in the literal 
 adoption of these rules by the followers of Francis of 
 Assisi, and, to some extent, by those of Wiclif. But the 
 history of the Mendicant Orders, and other like fraternities 
 forms part of that teaching of history which has led men 
 to feel that in the long run, the beggar's life will bring the 
 beggar's vices. Yet here, as in the Sermon on the Mount, 
 the spirit of these directions is binding stiU, though ad- 
 
ST. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 251 
 
 herence to the letter of them may have become inex- 
 pedient. 
 
 The mission work of the Church has always prospered 
 in proportion as this spirit has pervaded it. 
 
 It is a singular instance of the varied application of the 
 same truth, that the expression " The workman is worthy 
 of his food " — which our Lord makes the ground of his 
 command that the Twelve should make no provision for 
 their journey — is quoted by S. Paul (I Timothy, 5 : 18), as 
 a plea for an organized system for the maintainance of the 
 ministers of the Church. 
 
 The same law fulfills itself in many ways, now by help- 
 ing to pay the hire of the laborer, now by instilling in the 
 hearts of men the full confidence that its payment may be 
 left to God alone without any organized attempt to col- 
 lect it. 
 
 See also notes on 5 : 42 ; 6 : 19-21, and S. Luke 12 : 33 ; 
 17 : 19-19. 
 
 10:12. As you go into the house salute itT 
 This desire of peace is the usual salutation of the East. 
 The guest in these regions is always received with cour- 
 tesy and respect. Admitted to the table and fireside, he 
 finds in such intimate intercourse, if he is an Apostle, 
 every facility for converting those that surround them. 
 
 10 : 16. " Be wise as serpents and hai^mless as doves. 
 
 The serpent usually appears in Scripture as the represen- 
 tative of an evil wisdom to be avoided or fought against 
 Here, however, w^e learn that even the serpent's sinuous 
 craft presents something we may well learn to repro- 
 duce. 
 
 When S. Paul " caught men with guile " (2 Cor. 11-16), 
 becoming "all things to all men" (i Cor. 9-22), he was 
 
ST. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 acting in the spirit of his Master's counsels as here ex- 
 pressed. Would that we all could act them out in our 
 lives as well ! 
 
 In the exhortation here given to imitate the character of 
 the dove the original indicates more than simple harmless- 
 ness. It rather refers to a character in which there is no 
 alloy of baser motives. The followers of Christ are to 
 become at once supremely guileful and absolutely guile- 
 less. Our Lord's reference to the symbolism of the dove 
 in this place gains a fresh significance when we remember 
 he had seen the heavens opened and the Spirit of God de- 
 scending " like a dove " upon himself. 
 
 In and by that Spirit the two qualities here exhorted to 
 find their unity and reconciliation. 
 
 10 : 20. " For it is not yoti who are speaking.^'' 
 It would obviously be beside the drift of our Lord's dis- 
 course to make this promise of special aid in moments of 
 danger, the groundwork of a theory of inspiration affect- 
 ing the written records of his work and of that of the 
 Apostles. 
 
 10 : 23. " Flee into the next."*^ 
 
 If evil days come upon us, we are to remember that they 
 came upon our Master as well. In all our sufferings we 
 are but following in his footsteps. Nothing can befall us 
 that has not already befallen him. If the Captain of our 
 salvation was made perfect through suffering we are not 
 to think it strange if in his wisdom our heavenly Father 
 with a like end in view, allows some fiery trial to try us 
 also, that we may become perfect in every good word and 
 work. 
 
 11 14. ''Go tell John.'' 
 
 The answer of Jesus to John's disciples and the com- 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 253 
 
 merits on John which follow are most musically rhythmic 
 and abound in melodious cadences delightful to the ear. 
 
 In his comment again we find a refrain, What did you 
 go out into the wilaerness to look at ? But what did you 
 go out to see ? But what did you go out to see ? 
 
 It is quite remarkable, again, that the answer and the 
 comments naturally divide themselves into three stanzas 
 of highly wrought parallelism. 
 
 11:5. " The poor have the Good News preached toiheiJi.^"* 
 In this enumeration which passes from the sick cured 
 to the dead raised up, there is a kind of ascending grada- 
 tion. Now, human selfishness, social selfishness, was such 
 that Jesus gives as a sign more divine still than the re- 
 surrection of the dead, this simple fact : " The poor have 
 the Good News proclaimed to them." Oh ! how well has 
 some one spoken when painting the destitution of the 
 people he cried : " Lord ! Lord ! the poor have been 
 abandoned to thee ! " 
 
 11: II. He who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is 
 greater thait //^." 
 
 The least of Christ's disciples, rejoicing in his presence, 
 delighting in his communion, taking solace in his revela- 
 tion of the Father, though less than John Baptist in fame, 
 in work, in the rigor of ascetic holiness, is yet greater 
 than he in the knowledge of divine truth and so in the ful- 
 ness of blessedness and joy. 
 
 11:13. '''All the prophets and the law p7'ophesied t^J^ 
 JolmP 
 
 The English word to prophesy, cannot be applied very 
 well to the law, while in Hebrew, the equivalent term, 
 meaning at once to p^^edict and to prefigure, can be applied 
 to things as well as to persons. The thought of the text 
 
254 
 
 S. MATTHEW^NOTES. 
 
 is as follows : *' Everything has been prophesied and typi- 
 fied up to the time of John's coming. From John's time 
 on, we have the present history and realization of what 
 has been thus prophesied or typified." We have what 
 Saint Luke explains much more clearly in this way : 
 Until John, the Law and the Prophets, since John, the 
 Good News of the Kingdom of God * * * *- John 
 completed the old epoch and opened the door of the 
 new era. 
 
 1 1 : 16-20. To zvhat shall I compa^^e this generatio7i ? 
 
 Worldly wisdom keeps its thoughts fixed only on re- 
 sults. It is for this reason it lacks all true prophetic in- 
 sight into things. It is for this reason it lacks the very 
 power of all others it would have. By keeping its mind 
 exclusively on results alone it, by this very fact, incapaci- 
 tates itself to rightly plan for or to predict the results de- 
 sired. For it is continually misled by present appearances 
 into false and injurious judgments. 
 
 True wisdom, on the other hand, is never guided in its 
 judgments solely by results. It looks into the heart of 
 things. It always recognizes in sincere conviction ex- 
 pressed in conduct the forth putting of divine power, and 
 it pays homage to it irrespective of consequences. 
 
 It is in such a spirit every truly wise person judges all 
 things. It is in such a spirit he himself always acts. He 
 shows his wisdom, not by calculating consequences, but 
 by being faithful in word and deed to the best impulses 
 within. Such men and women make the heroes of life. 
 
 Worldly wise men, on the contrary, always burdened 
 with over anxiety to please, always on the outlook to 
 obviate immediate difficulties, always ready to gain tem- 
 porary advantages, stifle conviction, chill enthusiasm and 
 so cut themselves off entirely from the possibility of a 
 
S. MATTHEW—NOTES, 
 
 255 
 
 heroic career. Nothing they accomplish can become per- 
 manently influential. 
 
 II : 21. " //* the mighty works done in yoii had been 
 done ifi Tyre and Sidon,^^ 
 
 Men are judged not only according to what they have 
 done but according to what they would have done under 
 other circumstances and conditions of life. In other 
 words, they are judged according to their opportunities. 
 
 The whole teaching of St. Paul in his second chapter to 
 the Romans, all the wider hopes of later times as to the 
 future of mankind, are but the development of the truth 
 partly declared and partly suggested here. 
 
 See also note on S. Luke 10:15. 
 
 II 121-24. Here we find a perfect strophe and anti- 
 strophe dwelling on the woes to the cities of Galilee. 
 
 II : 25. " Thoic hast hid these things from the wise and 
 prudent''' 
 
 It is right that the Truth be in some sort hidden from 
 the first view of those who are wise and prudent, because 
 they have the ability and leisure to seek it. It is good 
 that it be a hidden fruit for them, in order that they may 
 get the discipline gained in making an effort to uncover it. 
 But it is on the other hand just and good that it of itself 
 offers itself to babes and the poor, who have neither 
 ability nor leisure. Such is the teaching of this verse if it 
 is to be taken literally. But the context appears rather 
 to lead one to refer it to those wise in their own conceit, 
 to those who are seeking the praise of men rather than 
 the truth of God. 
 
 The "babes," on the other hand, are the disciples, those 
 who have received the kingdom in the spirit of a little 
 child, — childlike, and sometimes childish, indeed, and yet, 
 in their thoughts of it earnest and simple hearted. Such 
 
256 S. MATTHEW-^NOTES. 
 
 are the ones brought under the training through which 
 they have become true Scribes of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven. 
 
 See also note on S. Luke 10 : 21. 
 
 12:12. " is right to do good oit the Sabbath.''^ 
 Not to do good when it lies in our power, is practically 
 to do evil. No formality, tradition, or custom, can we 
 plead as an excuse for not doing good as our hands find it 
 to do. 
 
 12 : 20. " He shall not strive nor cry,'''' etc. 
 
 We have here the description of a character of the ex- 
 tremest gentleness. 
 
 The " bruised reed " is the type of one broken by the 
 weight of sorrow, care, or sin. Men in general disregard, 
 or trample upon such a one. But not so with the Christ. 
 He seeks rather to bind up and strengthen. 
 
 The " smoking flax " is the wick of the lamp which has 
 ceased to burn clearly. Its clouded flame appears to call 
 for prompt extinction. 
 
 Here is a parable of such souls of men as those in which 
 the light that should shine before men has grown dim. 
 Base desires have clogged it. Such men are no longer fed 
 with the pure oil of sincerity and truth. 
 
 For such, the self-righteous Pharisee has no pity. He 
 is content to give thanks that his own lamp is burning. 
 The Christ of God, on the other hand, is all tenderness 
 towards such. He rather seeks to trim their lamps with 
 the oil of gladness and to set a crown of pure gold upon 
 their heads. 
 
 12-25-37. Jesus is here again aroused by the Phari- 
 sees to put his thoughts into Hebrew Parallelisms and to 
 express them with a rhythm appropriate to impassioned 
 Jewish feeling. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 257 
 
 12:32. " Whoever shall speak against the Holy Spii^it, 
 it will not be forgiven hiin^ 
 
 Jesus condemns their wickedness, their hypocrisy, their 
 thirst for money, their love of honors, their imbecile and 
 puerile formalism, the detestable abuse they make of their 
 authority, so they see in him an enemy. They hate him. 
 And so, rather than recognize the remarkable good accom- 
 plished by him whom they detest, they attempt to draw from 
 this very good which ought to be just the thing to de- 
 clare his goodness, a means of dishonoring and destroying 
 him. 
 
 Vainly with every evidence has the Spirit of God, the 
 Breathing from on High, wrought that holy inspiration in 
 the heart of man which is the root of everything good in 
 the world. Vainly with every proof has God lent his aid 
 to it. Vainly with every proof does the Miracle before 
 their eyes contribute to make them adore and love the all 
 powerful God whose ministers they are. On the contrary, 
 all that but excites them and drives their jealous fury into 
 paroxysms against this radiance which is no reflection of 
 them, this glory which is not theirs. Exasperated by 
 envy, treading all good faith under foot, all respect for 
 God present in another soul, and calumniating the very 
 essence of things, they gratuitously ascribe to an act in- 
 contestably salutary and beneficent in itself, a wicked and 
 infamous cause. 
 
 Whoever acts in this w^ay, whoever, in the face of a good 
 deed, a noble action, a thing clearly excellent in itself, 
 tries thus to debase the motives which have inspired it, 
 commits this terrible sin. 
 
 Let a pious woman obeying the better sentiments of her 
 heart visit and tend the sick, let her devote herself with 
 all her heart to some great act of mercy * * * *. Bah ! 
 
 17 
 
■ 258 S. MATTHEW—NOTES. 
 
 insinuates her neighbor, burning with envy, one is a com- 
 plete simpleton to make such a saint of one's self. She 
 is nothing but a hypocrite seeking public esteem. 
 
 Let a brave Christian devote all his power to the ser- 
 vice of God and his neighbor ; let him build a hospital 
 for the sick, a school for the poor, let him diffuse about 
 him timely aid, good advice, a good example. Alas ! it 
 happens sometimes, even in his own camp, the voice of 
 envy is heard murmuring : ' How ambitious ! He is only 
 thinking of making himself popular and of capturing votes 
 to come finally to position and honor.' 
 
 Let another devote all his talent of oratory or of writing 
 to diffuse truth, let God visibly bless his efforts and make 
 his voice, like that of the Apostles', resound suddenly in 
 every corner of the earth ; * their sound went out into all 
 the zvorld ;^ and behold how the Pharisees growing pale 
 stop each one at the gates of the Temple to speak hypo- 
 critically into every ear willing to listen to them : ' He 
 is a proud man in search of vain glory, a speculator in 
 search of money,' etc., etc. 
 
 Such is the abominable sin among us against which the 
 Lord Jesus rises up. The attack in the face of the evident 
 good ; — the disgrace of him who does the good,/;w/ the 
 very cattse of the good, and in pttre aversion to its Author 
 and his glory ; — the calumnious attributing of an infamous 
 motive to that which is the fruit, natural, or supernatural, 
 of a right will, of a deep faith, of a glowing love, of an 
 elevated aspiration, of a holy labor — that is the sin with- 
 out excuse, that is the real satanic act in a human person- 
 ality : that is to say, the hate of known good and the _ 
 direct flaw in its inmost essence, the attack upon the 
 Spirit, upon the very Spirit of God, upon the Holy Spirit. 
 They know what they do. Hence the terrible anathema. 
 
S. MATTHEW—NOTES. 
 
 259 
 
 But have these words the farthest extreme of meaning 
 which many attribute to them ? 
 
 In the first place let it be noted that such a sin as that 
 commonly called the unpardonable sin has not been com- 
 mitted by one who has the least fear that he has committed 
 it. The very fact of such fear is sufficient proof to the 
 contrary. 
 
 Nor is any man who is afraid he wdll commit it very 
 likely to do so. 
 
 We have no dispute with any one concerning the enor- 
 mity of this most heinous sin, nor concerning the necessity 
 for its adequate treatment by a holy and a righteous God. 
 What we wish to do here is to show as clearly as possible 
 by comparing Scripture with Scripture, our reason for 
 believing there is no such thing as endless torments such 
 as the ordinary interpretation of this passage w^ould lead 
 us to think. 
 
 Isaiah 25:8 tells us "He will swallow up death in 
 victory. Hosea 14 : 4, and i Cor. 15 : 26 tell us the same. 
 
 In I S. John 3 : 8 w^e read : " For this purpose the Son 
 of God w^as manifested, that he might destroy the works 
 of the devil." See also Hebrews 2:14. 
 
 " There will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
 crying," S. John tells us in The Revelation, "neither 
 will there be any more pain. For the former things have 
 passed away." 
 
 The time must come when all things will be subject to 
 Christ. He will destroy death the last enemy by de- 
 stroying sin which is the sting of death. So this dreadful 
 sin, as well as others will be no more. Otherwise it 
 never could be true that where " sin abounded, grace did 
 much more abound." Otherwise neither death nor hell 
 would be silent when God should ask those triumphant 
 
26o 
 
 S. MATTHEW--NOTES. 
 
 questions : " O death, where is thy sting ? O Grave, 
 where is thy victory ? " For death could say : Here is my 
 sting, the sin against the Holy Ghost, that sin whose con- 
 sequences endure to all eternity, whose consequences even 
 the fullness of divine love and power can never atone for. 
 I have, therefore, the victory over these miserable sinners 
 and I will hold it while God himself shall last. 
 
 But under such circumstances death has not entirely 
 been destroyed. The grave and gate of death has not 
 been entirely swallowed up in victory. Then could sorrow 
 and sighing and pain never cease. Nor could our God 
 become, as S. Paul so emphatically tells us he will be- 
 come, " the All in All." Then all things would not have 
 become new nor would all the former things have passed 
 away. 
 
 So with S. Paul to the Romans, 5 : 20, 21, we must con- 
 clude : " Where sin abounded, grace did much more 
 abound ; that as sin has reigned unto death, even so might 
 grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life by 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 So we are brought to a happy and scriptural conclusion. 
 We can now say : God created no man to be miserable 
 throughout endless ages. He has not been eternally frus- 
 trated in his divine will. He has created all men to 
 glorify him and finally to enjoy him forever. 
 
 See also notes on S. Mark 3:29,9:43, S.Luke 13; 
 6-9, 21. 
 
 12:36. Every idle wo7'd which men will speak^ they 
 will give account of^ 
 
 Every truth a man expresses by the lips and does not 
 follow in the life, every teaching comprehended by the 
 head but not accepted by the heart, must inevitably be 
 accounted for. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 261 
 
 12 : 37. " By your words you will be jtistified. By your 
 words yoic will be condemned y"* 
 
 According to the teaching of our Lord himself, as he 
 here tells us, we are justified by our words. In Romans 
 3 : 28, S. Paul tells us we are justified by faith. In the 
 Epistle of S. James, that Apostle tells us we are justified 
 by works. 
 
 The fact is, all three are alike elements of a man's 
 character. Each one in its own way shows what a man 
 is. 
 
 Faith implies trust, and therefore love. So it justifies 
 as the root element of character. Words justify as the 
 most spontaneous manifestation of character. Works 
 justify as permanent results of character. Words and 
 works are the tests by which a man should judge him- 
 self. A man's faith can be known only to his God. So it 
 is by faith rather than by works a man is justified before 
 God. And yet no faith is a true faith unless it molds the 
 character of a man in such a way as to enable him to pass 
 the other tests of words and works as well. 
 
 12 : 39-42. " A wicked arid faithless genej^atio?/,''^ etc. 
 
 A triad of exactly similar stanzas brought out by Phari- 
 saic persecution and bitterness. 
 
 These are followed by another to illustrate and enforce 
 the thought they are meant to drive home. 
 
 12 : 44. " I zvill return to my house fro7n which I came 
 outr 
 
 We see here the condition of the man delivered from 
 wild frenzy but left to the routine of common life and 
 conventional morality. With no higher spiritual influence 
 to protect and guide him, he becomes the prey to seven- 
 fold worse influences and lands in a state of life by far 
 worse than the first. 
 
262 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 13:12. Whoever has y to him zcill be givcn^^'' etc. 
 
 That is to say, they who receive grace and do not im- 
 prove it will lose the grace itself, while God will bring all 
 his favors upon him who improves the gifts of grace he 
 has received. 
 
 See also note on S. Mark 4 : 24. 
 
 13:14. " Is completely fulfilled the pi'ophecy of IsaiahP 
 In this quotation from Isaiah we find one of the best 
 illustrations of what is called reversed parallelism to be 
 found anywhere in the Bible. The first line is parallel to 
 the tenth, the second to the ninth, the third to the eighth, 
 the fourth to the seventh, the fifth to the sixth. 
 
 In the next stanza the first is parallel to the fifth, the 
 second to the sixth, the third to the fourth. 
 
 13:19. " When any one hears the ivord of the kingdom 
 etc. 
 
 The wayside hearer hears the w^ord, but does not under- 
 stand it, or to use the phrase expressing at once the literal 
 and the figurative truth here taught, he does not " take it 
 in." He is thoughtless. He is spiritually stupid. His 
 intellect is bright enough. There is no fault in that re- 
 gard. But the trouble is, the man is altogether too much 
 preoccupied with other things. His mind has become 
 with reference to heavenly things, like a footpath, beaten 
 hard by the passage through it of the wishes of the flesh 
 and the current thoughts concerning common earthly 
 things. 
 
 1 3 : 20. " He who was sozun on the rocky places.^'' 
 The characteristic of the rocky ground hearer is in- 
 considerate impulsiveness. He receives the word with 
 joy but without thought. He does not stop to consider 
 the temptations that must necessarily beset his path. So. 
 
S. MA TTHE W—NO TES. 
 
 263 
 
 not having had thought enough to stop to count the cost 
 of the step he takes in the beginning, he is altogether lack- 
 ing in that mental constitution which insures deliberation 
 in every critical period of life. His joy comes to him only 
 through the effects of what he hears upon his imagination 
 and his feelings. Coming without thought, therefore, it 
 goes likewise without thought. So, of course, he endures 
 but for a while. 
 
 See also note on S. Luke 8:13. 
 
 13 : 22. ''''He wJio ivas sozvn among the thorns.''^ 
 
 The one receiving the seed among the thorns as here 
 described reminds us of the double-minded man of whom 
 James speaks. 
 
 This man is neither stupid like the wayside hearer nor 
 a mere man of feeling like the stony ground hearer. On 
 the contrary he hears in the emphatic sense of that word. 
 He hears with thought. He hears with feeling. He under- 
 stands what he hears and realizes its solemn importance. 
 
 What then is the fault of the thorny ground hearer ? 
 The thoughts of his heart are impure thoughts. Other 
 seeds are struggling for the mastery of the soil of his 
 heart. He is of two minds. His will is divided. He is 
 not decided for good. He is not ready to give himself en- 
 tirely to evil. He serves God to-day, money to-morrow. 
 
 Such a man does not apostatize as a rule. He will keep 
 up a profession of religion till he dies. His leaf will not 
 wither. It will continue growing till it reaches the ear. 
 But his ear will grow green when it should be ripe. So 
 this thorny ground hearer becomes in this sense unfruit- 
 ful. He brings forth fruit, but as S. Luke shows, he brings 
 no fruit to perfection. He never attains to ripeness in his 
 personal character. 
 
 See also note on S. Luke 8:14. 
 
264 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 13 : 23. " He who was sozvn on the good ground.''^ 
 See note on S. Luke 8:15. 
 
 13 : 24. " He set another pa7'able before the7n.^'' 
 
 All the parables grouped together in this thirteenth 
 chapter exhibit mutually complementary aspects of the 
 kingdom of heaven in its general nature and in its prog- 
 ress and fortunes on the earth. The parables of the 
 Sower, the Tares, and the Net, teach us that the King- 
 dom of God, as a phenomenon taking its place in the 
 world's history, is destined to be in various respects and 
 for various reasons an imperfect and disappointing thing 
 coming far short of the ideal. 
 
 In the parable of the Sower the short coming takes the 
 form of an unsatisfactory abortive reception of the word 
 of the Kingdom by many individual hearers. This is due 
 to the moral condition of the hearers. 
 
 In the parable of the Tares, as well as that of the Net, 
 on the other hand, this abortion takes the forms of a mix- 
 ture of good and evil, not in the hearts of individuals, but 
 in society as a whole, where some are found to be genu- 
 ine citizens of the holy commonwealth while others are 
 believers by profession only, and in reality counterfeits of 
 the true. 
 
 In the parables of the Mustard Seed, and the Leaven, the 
 history of the Kingdom is exhibited on its bright side. 
 Here it is represented as a spiritual movement destined to 
 advance, by a steady onward course of development, from 
 a small beginning to a great ending, world-wide in its ex- 
 tent, thorough going in its intensive, pervasive effect. 
 
 In the parables of the Hid Treasure, and the Pearl, the 
 Kingdom is exhibited in its own ideal nature as a thing of 
 absolute, incomparable worth, as the highest possible 
 good, as a good worthy to be received, loved, served, with 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 265 
 
 all the heart, as the acme of all that can be desired, no 
 matter what may be the reception it actually meets with 
 at the hands of men. 
 
 See also note on S. Mark 4 : 26-29. 
 
 13 : 28, 29. Do you then wish us to go and gather thein 
 tcp ? " 
 
 What has been well said concerning the Sermon on the 
 Mount applies as well to this parable also. Everything in 
 this discourse refers us to the world of temper and dis- 
 position. 
 
 A saying of the great Augustin is an excellent com- 
 mentary on this text. It is especially so for those who are 
 always ready to invoke Church authorities to enforce her 
 discipline upon its members : " Let discipline preserve pa- 
 tience, and let patience temper discipline. Let both be re- 
 ferred to charity, so that on the one hand an undisciplined 
 patience may not foster iniquity, and on the other hand an 
 impatient discipline may not dissipate unity." 
 
 In the parable of the Sower there is a suggestion that 
 the thorns should be gotten rid of at once. Here the 
 teaching in reference to the tares says : " No. Let both 
 grow together till the harvest." 
 
 Why this apparent contradiction ? It is here. In the 
 other parable the evil spoken of is within ourselves. In 
 this parable, however, the evil referred to is without us, in 
 other men. Here, then, is the truth to be followed. Never 
 tolerate evil within yourself for a moment. It is deadly to 
 your spiritual life. To tolerate evil in others is not at all 
 necessarily fatal to us. It may even be necessary for us, 
 as an exercise promoting the growth of the graces of pa- 
 tience and piety within us. 
 
 " If your right eye is a hindrance to you. Pick it out. 
 
2 66 S. MA TTHE W—NO TES, 
 
 Throw it from you." " Do not judge that you may not be 
 judged." 
 
 The matter of prime importance in dealing with a com- 
 munity, therefore, is not that the tares be got rid of, but 
 that the wlieat pass through its natural course of develop- 
 ment till the process of growth reach its consummation. 
 So what above everything else is needed is patience. 
 " Stand still and see the salvation of God." Follow the 
 example of Christ in this respect. He could have called 
 down legions of angels to destroy the wicked about him. 
 Yet never once did he dream of doing it. On the contrary, 
 he always frowned down any attempt at it in his disciples. 
 
 13 • 33- " '^^^^ Kijtgdom of Heaven is like leaven,^^ etc. 
 
 This parable of the leaven has the same meaning as that 
 of the grain of mustard seed. " The principle is put into 
 the world, the yeast is put into the meal by the Holy 
 Ghost, who through a woman has placed upon the earth 
 the Son of man. From her the divine leaven will extend 
 itself to the whole human race. The seed comes to our 
 earth. It is the humblest ever seen as it shows itself in 
 a poor Child in a stable. Thirty years of silence. Then 
 a young man who speaks to some others. A man whose 
 discourses have been gathered into ten pages ; and that, 
 outside the great monarchies of the East, outside the light 
 and civilization of Greece and Rome ; and that, among a 
 poor, pow^erless people, unknown, scorned. Yet, what do 
 our eyes behold ! This seed, the least of all, has produced 
 not a people only, but a world, the Christian world." 
 
 See also* note on S- Luke 13:21. 
 
 13 : 44. " The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treastcre hid 
 in the field,^'' 
 
 If men could only be convinced the Kingdom of Heaven 
 is like the treasure hid in the field, they would, of course, 
 
S. MATTHEW—NOTES, 
 
 267 
 
 go and do likewise. For men never hesitate to sacrifice 
 everything for what they believe to be the chief good. 
 Devotion all the world over is reckless of expense. No 
 matter what the object of devotion may be, whether 
 earthly or heavenly, its language is ever that of the impas- 
 sioned lover : 
 
 " By night, by day, afield, at hame, 
 The thoughts of thee my breast inflame, 
 And aye I muse and sing thy name : 
 I only live to love thee." 
 
 Again, multitudes of instances of self-sacrificing devotion 
 to wisdom as the chief good might be found among the 
 ranks of poor obscure students attending schools of learn- 
 ing. They keep continually before their mind's eye as the 
 motto of their every action : 
 
 " To scorn delights and live laborious days." 
 
 Would that all men could be led to so act wath reference 
 to the Kingdom of God ! But the Spirit of God alone can 
 make men see his Kingdom in its peerless beauty. His 
 Holy Spirit alone can convince men of the desirability of 
 giving up all for its sake. 
 
 The sacrifice by which the Kingdom of Heaven is gained 
 is such only because of ignorance and want of foresight 
 incident upon man's mutilated nature. When he has 
 made the supposed sacrifice, however, it turns out to have 
 been from his new point of view no sacrifice at all. He 
 now does gladly what once appeared to require a forcing 
 of the will. He can now dance and sing in the spirit where 
 once such a life appeared to necessitate sorrow^ and sore 
 conflict. 
 
 13:52. Every Scribe who has been made a disciple to 
 the Kingdom of Heaven^^'' etc. 
 
 The teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven is neither an 
 
268 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 unchanging teaching, nor a revolutionary teaching. It is 
 at once unchanging and progressive. It is a growing life. 
 The foundation, the necessary principles, always remain 
 the same. These are the old things. The form, the mode 
 of application, is modified without limit, according to 
 times, circumstances, expedients. These are the new 
 thijtgs. Whoever does not carefully keep these two points 
 of view before him at the same time, goes astray. If, in 
 his care for old things, any one will keep absolutely every- 
 thing, the changing form, as well as the indestructible 
 foundation, he puts himself athwart the normal and provi- 
 dential march of life. He compromises all stability by the 
 very fact that he rejects progress. If any one in his zeal 
 for new things, attempts to modify the indestructible 
 foundation as well as the changing form, he compromises 
 all progress from the very fact that he rejects w^hat con- 
 stitutes stability. The first is the slave of routine. The 
 second is the insurrectionist. Both lead to death by dif- 
 ferent routes. 
 
 Let every man then make the distinction between prin- 
 ciples and the application of them, between fundamentals 
 and their form, between what is permanent and what tran- 
 sitory. Neither hesitate to see what ought to disappear 
 go out of existence in its- proper time, nor fear to see what 
 ought to appear come in its due order. The apostle of the 
 whole truth, the Christian penetrated with the great doc- 
 trine of the divine Kingdom, preserves in old things what 
 of itself is imperishable, and adopts in new things what 
 has a right to exist. So it happens that in every age and 
 in every country there is as the result of apostleship, 
 learning, preaching, apologetics, social institutions, always 
 unity, always variety. 
 
 The Scribe who has been made a disciple to the King- 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 269 
 
 dom of God always brings out of his treasure, things new 
 and old. 
 
 13 : 58. " He did not do 7nany g7'eat thmgs there,^^ 
 See note on S. Mark 6 : 5. 
 
 14 : 2. ''^ This is John the Baptist.^"* 
 See note on S. Mark 6 : 13. 
 
 14:13. ^' He went from there ^ ^ ^ to a desert place 
 apart:' 
 
 See note on S. Mark 6 : 28 and 31. 
 
 14 : 19. " He blessed God^ 
 See note on 3. Luke 9 : 16. 
 
 14 : 28, 29. " Lord; if it is you, bid me come to yon on the 
 watery 
 
 Eager but not steadfast, daring and yet fearful, the 
 Apostle is on that stormy night as he was afterwards 
 among the scoffs and questionings in the porch of the 
 High Priest's palace. 
 
 14 : 30. " Lord, save me.'''* 
 
 He becomes afraid. So the supernatural strength he 
 has been exercising leaves him. The waters begin to 
 close in about him. He cries out in his agony. It is then 
 the gracious pity of Jesus helps the " little faith " with 
 his firm sustaining grasp. A word of loving reproof ac- 
 companies it. But with all this Jesus show^s conclusively 
 his unwillingness to quench the smoking flax. 
 
 15:2. " Why do your disciples act contrary to the tradi- 
 tion of the Elders ? " 
 
 The Jews had, and still have to this day the custom of 
 
S. MATTHEW-^NOTES. 
 
 wetting the ends of their fingers before and after meals, 
 with certain gestures determined by their Teachers of the 
 Law. So they need never go beyond the wrist, except at 
 sacrificial meals. Without this formality all food became 
 impure, and defiled whoever had eaten it, yes, more, it 
 made him like an adulterer. He who washed not his 
 hands after ihe meal was guilty as a murderer. That 
 one on the contrary, who observed with exactitude 
 these prescriptions could regard himself as assured of 
 eternal salvation. Let any one picture to himself this 
 absurd ceremonial imposed by the chiefs of a religion 
 upon a whole people who have accustomed themselves to 
 it from infancy and he can understand to what an extent 
 the Jews of our Lord's time were chained to a narrow and 
 empty formalism and were inaccessible to every moral 
 idea at all a little high. 
 
 See also note on S. Mark 7 : 5. 
 
 15:6. " Yo7i have made the word of God of 110 accoimt 
 because of your tradiliony 
 
 This passage was clear enough to those who heard 
 Jesus because they were familiar with the casuistry of the 
 Pharisees. But the modern reader needs some explana- 
 tions. The Scribes and Pharisees generally exercised 
 priestly functions. They persuaded the people to replace 
 the accomplishment of the duty prescribed by God, the 
 natural duty of assisting one's needy parents, by offerings 
 carried to the Temple, that is to say, by a pious act in 
 w^hich they themselves would profit. 
 
 The best means of assisting your aged parents, they 
 would say, is to give to God, by our hands, what you de- 
 sign for them. God will make it turn to their advantage 
 more than if you should give to them directly. Yes, more 
 than that. You yourselves shall have your reward. 
 
S. MATTHEW—NOTES, 
 
 271 
 
 But suppose my aged parents object again, adducing 
 the natural as well as the divine law ? 
 
 Well, answer them : I have offered to God all I can 
 give you. Let that aid you. Call upon Him. In this 
 way you free yourself from all obligations to them. And 
 they, understanding that thenceforth any further claim will 
 be sacrilegious and an attempt upon a holy offering, will 
 keep silence and leave you in peace. 
 
 Alas ! that the severe word of the Lord addressed to 
 such priests of the living God, was deserved ! And yet 
 that this epithet was merited, the word which means lit- 
 erally actors," the word which we have in our own lan- 
 guage, hypocrites," very clearly shows. 
 
 15:19. " Bad thoitghts^ murder s^^"* etc. 
 
 The things which defile a man are here enumerated to 
 the perfect number seven and in a graduated scale from 
 the thoughts from which they spring to the final culmina- 
 tion of all wickedness in blasphemy of God. 
 
 1 5 : 26. " is not right to take the children'' s food and to 
 throw it to the little dogs^ 
 See note on S. Mark 7 : 27. 
 
 15:27. " Yes^ Lord, for even the little dogs feed on the 
 crufnbs which fall from their master^ s tabled 
 See note on S. Mark 7 : 28. 
 
 15 : 31. " They praised the God of Israeli 
 
 The Evangelist uses this expression because Decapolis, 
 
 the province in which Jesus was at the time, was almost 
 
 entirely heathen. 
 
 15 : 33. " Where could we get enough loaves in a desert 
 place ? " 
 
 The Twelve were surprised from a right motive. They 
 
272 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 had doubtless not forgotten the miracle worked at Beth- 
 saida.some months before, but they remembered also the 
 reception given to the Canaanitish woman, the children's 
 loaf which must not be given to dogs. They did not un- 
 derstand that their Master would lavish upon the heathen 
 the like liberality as upon the children of Israel. 
 
 15 : 38. " Those ivho ate were four tJioiisand vien beside 
 women and children.'''' 
 
 This miracle was of great importance in the eyes of the 
 Evangelists, and so all relate it. S. John, giving as a 
 natural sequel to it the promise " of the Bread of Life," 
 shows us what meaning Jesus attached to it. 
 
 The primitive Church was so penetrated with this inter- 
 pretation that for five centuries she painted as a symbol 
 of the Eucharist, not the Supper, but the multiplication of 
 the loaves, and placed before the table of the Lord, as a 
 symbol of Christ, the fish and the large baskets filled with 
 the fragments gathered up by the Apostles. 
 
 If you unite the first letters of the five Greek words, 
 Jesus Christy God^s Son, Saviour, you get the Greek word 
 for fish, in which Christ is mystically signified. No sym- 
 bol is more frequently employed in the primitive Church 
 to designate the Saviour. 
 
 The large baskets are seven in number. It is, therefore, 
 to the multiplication, wiiere the Apostles gather up, not 
 twelve small hand baskets, but seven large hampers of 
 bread, that the Christian artists allude. In the second 
 miracle, symbol of the Eucharist as the first, Jesus, instead 
 of barley, multiplied wheaten bread, which is the proper 
 material for the sacrament. That is the reason of the 
 choice between the two scenes. 
 
 16:1. " Asked him to show them a sign from heaven.^"* 
 
 As Joshua stopped the course of the sun, for example, 
 
S. MATTHEW—NOTES. 
 
 273 
 
 Samuel made it thunder, Isaiah caused the shadow to go 
 back upon the sun dial of Ahaz, etc. 
 
 For a long time the Sadducees had been seen to neglect 
 the work of Christ. Absorbed in political intrigues, they 
 were occupied very little with the Galilean Prophet and 
 his " Kingdom of Heaven." But the Jewish Scribes had 
 finally succeeded in rousing them from their indifference. 
 Tiberias, the dwelling place of Herod, was near by, and 
 the officers of this prince were for the most part, of the 
 sect of the Sadducees. It was some of these we see here 
 among the emissaries of the Sanhedrin. The preceding 
 year our Saviour was content to withdraw himself at times 
 so as to lull the suspicion of the tetrarch. But from this 
 time the blood of John Baptist was upon Herod and was 
 troubling him. His ministers are stirred up against Jesus 
 and have united the Teachers of the Law with them in the 
 persecution. 
 
 16:4. wicked and faithless ge7teratio7i is seeking 
 
 after a sigit,''^ etc. 
 
 The miracles of Jesus Christ are of a peculiar order and 
 of a new character. They are not " signs in the heaven " 
 such as the Jews were demanding. He did almost all of 
 them upon men to cure their infirmities. They partake 
 rather of generosity than of power and do not surprise 
 the beholders so much as they touch the bottom of their 
 hearts. 
 
 16: 18. " You are Peter ^ and 07i this rock I will build 
 my church.^"* 
 
 This assertion can be understood rightly with the knowl- 
 edge of the fact that in the Greek of the original Peter's 
 name, Petros, and Petra are not the same words. They 
 are analogous words, with analogous meanings. Petra, 
 rock, upon which Christ is to build his church, means a 
 18 
 
274 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 natural bed rock. Petros^ Peter's name in the original, on 
 the other hand, means " stone," or *' piece of rock " broken 
 off from the main " bed rock." " The gates of hell will 
 not prevail against it." 
 
 In the East, " Porte " " door," means an established 
 power^ a Gove?'Jime7it, an Empire^ with its regiments, its 
 armies, its flag, its people. So we see it said, even to- 
 day : " The Porte has done so and so," when the Turk- 
 ish Empire is spoken of. So when our Lord says the 
 gates of hell will not prevail against him he means the 
 empire of hell will not prevail against him. 
 
 And in the line of what has just been said attention 
 might be called to the fact that not only in the East but in 
 Europe and America, in all modern languages, everything 
 which constitutes estabUshed governments is designated 
 by a word indicating such and such detail of the building 
 in which the government exercises its political functions. 
 So the Frenchman speaks of the politics of the TtiilleiHes. 
 The Roman Catholic,of the Vatica?t. Inhabitants of 
 monarchical countries, of the speech from the Throne^ 
 meaning the King's or Queen's speech. The Queen has 
 her Court. The President has his Cabinet. The English- 
 man has his two houses of Parliament. Americans have 
 their \.^o houses of Congress. So we hear of the Chair of 
 St. Peter. 
 
 i6 : 19. " / will give you the keys of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven.^'' 
 
 *' The keys " are the symbol of power. 
 
 16 : 20. " He charged the disciples not to tell any oite he 
 was the Christ.^'' 
 
 Though Judea was quiet in our Lord's time, the Jews 
 detested the Roman stranger and counted upon the Mes- 
 siah to free them of him some day. They were ready to 
 
S, MATTHEW—NOTES, 
 
 275 
 
 salute under this holy name the first one willing to use it 
 in restoring their nationality. It was for this reason, 
 while Jesus proclaims himself the Son of God in Jerusalem 
 before the Scribes and Pharisees who do nothing, but con- 
 tradict him, (John 5 : 17 — ) he avoids manifesting himself 
 in the same way among the populations of Galilee, who 
 would rise up at the news that Christ is come, and, as 
 S. John (6 : 15) shows, struck with his miracles, they would 
 run to take him and make him king. 
 See also note on S. Mark 8 : 30. 
 
 16: 23. " Get behind me, Satan^ 
 See note on S. Mark 8 : 33. 
 
 16 : 24. " Let him deity hi77iselfP 
 See note on S. Mark 8 : 34. 
 
 The rebuke of Peter rouses our Lord here to a passion- 
 ate declaration of what all true discipleship of himself 
 must be. And in doing this he naturally falls again into 
 parellelism. 
 
 17 : 1-13. " He was transformed before them.^'' 
 See notes on S. Mark 9 : 2, and S. Luke 9 : 31, 35. 
 
 17 : 16. I brought him to your disciples and they conld 
 not cure himT 
 
 " All the authors who have written on epilepsy or fall- 
 ing sickness are of one mind," says Dr. Passati, "in re- 
 garding this malady as inexplicable." * * * " It is so ex- 
 traordinary," wrote Esquirol, " so beyond all knowledge 
 and all explanation, that the ancients believed it to depend 
 upon the wrath of the Gods." 
 
 The causes of epilepsy can be quite different. — Emo- 
 tions, fear, the crisis of puberty, intestinal worms. One of 
 the frequent causes in young people is the vice of im- 
 purity. 
 
276 
 
 S. MA TTHE W'-NO TES, 
 
 17 : 20. " YoiL will say to this moiuitainP 
 See note on S. Mark 11 : 23. 
 
 18 : 3. ^^Ifyoii do not titm,^'' etc. 
 
 In this discourse of Jesus on who is greatest in the 
 Kingdom of Heaven we find three main divisions of parallel 
 stanzas, and each division subdivided again into three 
 stanzas each. 
 
 18:5. Whoever shall receive one szich little child in niy 
 name receives iner 
 
 This saying of our Lord has given birth to thousands of 
 asylums, orphanages, schools, etc. 
 
 18 : 6. One of these little ones ivho believe in nie.^'' 
 The Greek, which above used the word " child," here 
 and in verse ten, uses the word inikros^ " little one." Our 
 Lord deals no longer with children but with the poor peo- 
 ple whom the world despises and depraves by its sayings, 
 by its examples, by its offenses, these poor people whose 
 faith nevertheless is their only inheritance, their only 
 hope. Our Lord passes from the littleness of childhood 
 to social littleness. And after having spoken here of the 
 little ones who believe, he goes on at once to speak of 
 those who are wandering, and to the search of whom the 
 Good Shepherd gives himself up that not one of them 
 perish. 
 
 18 : 10. " See that yon do not despise one of these little 
 ones, 
 
 Jesus is treating of those whom the world calls " mean 
 people, miserable people " in the full sense of the term, 
 which means material or moral poverty. Let no one de- 
 spise, either the poor or the criminals of that great forsaken 
 class who are called " the little ones." The burden of life 
 they carry so heavily while the rich live in idleness is for 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 277 
 
 them a constant prayer imploring favor, and so their 
 angels always behold the face of their Father in heaven. 
 
 It is precisely because our Lord treats here of mean and 
 miserable people that he adds : " For the Son of Man is 
 come to save the lost," a saying inapplicable to children 
 just as the whole of what follows is. 
 
 18 : 15. " If your brother siits.'*^ 
 
 Gain of some kind, aimed at or wrongfully withheld, is 
 a common source of disputes and going to law. Our Lord 
 points out a more excellent method of gain, and a nobler 
 object. Sacrifice the lower. Attain the higher. Win for 
 God and yourself the brother with whom you have been 
 at variance. 
 
 18 : 20. " Where tzvo or three are gathered together in 
 my iianieP 
 
 The true meaning of these words is embodied in the 
 well known patristic axiom, Ubi tres^ ibi Ecclesia, (" Where 
 three are, there is the Church "). 
 
 The strength of the Church is not to be measured by 
 numbers. The presence of Christ is as true and mighty, 
 his communion w^th his own is as real when they form 
 but a remnant, as when they are gathered together in the 
 greatest numbers. 
 
 18 : 22. " Severity times seven."** 
 
 The use of symbolic numbers in this place wdth their 
 idea of completeness is designed to lead the mind alto- 
 gether away from any numerical standard w^hatsoever. 
 There is no such limit to God's forgiveness of us, neither 
 should there be any such limit of our forgiveness of one 
 another. 
 
278 
 
 S, MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 18 • 23. " Who wished to have an accotmting zvith his 
 slaves y 
 
 " With his slaves^'' is the word for word translation of 
 the Greek. But this does not at all give the full meaning 
 of the Greek. For while it is to be remembered that in 
 Oriental monarchies, in our Lord's time especially, all men 
 in the King's service as office-holders, etc., were as much 
 in his power so far as life and death and imprisonment 
 were concerned as the most degraded menial that was 
 actually bought and sold as so much personal property, yet 
 in addition to this thought, it is evident from the text that 
 it is referring to one who has been handling some part of 
 the king's income as a holder of office, from the immense 
 debt he owes. Only a man in such a position could in 
 those days owe the king what would now be equivalent to 
 about fifty million dollars. 
 
 18:24. '''One * * * ivho owed him fifty million dol- 
 lars.^'' 
 
 The taleitt, as so much silver, is equivalent to about a 
 thousand dollars of our money, but valued by its purchas- 
 ing power in the days of our Lord, it is equivalent to five 
 times that amount. Hence our rendering. 
 
 This sum, prodigious for an individual, tends to give us 
 to understand that our debts are incalculable in God's 
 sight. 
 
 18 : 25. " His wife and children and all he hadP 
 According to an old law of ancient times a creditor could 
 '\ sell his insolvent debtors and their families or reduce 
 them to slavery. 
 
 18 : 28. But that slave went 0111^^"* etc. 
 It is altogether too possible for a man to be under the 
 objective reign of grace and to have a certain appreciation 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 279 
 
 of its value and yet at the same time so regulate his relations 
 to his brethren as in reality to live only under the strict rule 
 of law. Let the slightest opposition be offered to the im- 
 mediate execution of such a man's selfish will and his legal 
 bias of mind becomes aggravated by the superadded hor- 
 rors of a violent temper and the unrelenting cruelty of 
 brutal passion. 
 
 How many self-deceiving followers of Christ rise up 
 from the Lord's Table on a Sunday to go forth on Monday 
 to the perpetration of such atrocities as this in connec- 
 tion with their everyday affairs } The sin of merciless 
 hardness of heart is one easily besetting us all. Instead 
 of asking with Hazael the Syrian, therefore : " Is thy ser- 
 vant a dog that he should do such a thing? " It were far 
 better for each of us to ask ourselves plainly and deci- 
 sively : " Is it I ? " The sum for which mercy is here re- 
 fused is altogether insignificant compared with the enor- 
 mous amount already forgiven this merciless one. This 
 makes it evident to the most casual reader how as nothing 
 are the offenses we receive from our fellows, compared 
 with our sins against God's gracious goodness. 
 
 For the rendering of one hundred dollars instead of one 
 Jmndred pence ^ see note on chapter 20 : 2, and S. Mark 
 14:5, 6. 
 
 18 :3i. " They were exceedingly sorry T 
 
 Sorrow rather than anger is always the mood of the true 
 disciple of Christ as he witnesses the sins against love 
 which are the scandals of Christianity. 
 
 18 : 34. " Delivered him to tJie tormentors.^'' 
 These tormentors should be looked upon as the symbols 
 of whatever agencies God employs in the work of righteous 
 retribution. They are the stings of remorse, the scourges 
 
28o S. MATTHEW^NOTES, 
 
 of conscience, the scornings and reproaches of men. They 
 include all the elements of suffering which men must en- 
 dure as a refining and purifying from evil, whether this 
 suffering is endured here in this present world or in the 
 world to come. 
 
 The fact is, the imagery of the parable leaves us in silent 
 awe. We can find a safe refuge from the questionings 
 it raises within us, only in the all-satisfying thought that 
 the impossible with man is possible with God. 
 
 18:35. " In the safne way will my Heavenly Father 
 treat yon. 
 
 These words cut through the meshes of many a theo- 
 logical system by which men have deceived themselves. 
 The self assurance of justification by faith, the absolution 
 of the Priest of God, are good enough in their place. But 
 they are not to be depended upon as final and irreversible. 
 The forgiven debt is liable to come back upon us. If faith 
 does not work by love it ceases to justify. If a man returns 
 as a dog to his vomit, no past absolution can avail him in 
 the least. The characters of our discharge are as it were 
 traced in sympathetic ink. They appear or disappear 
 according to the greater or less glow of the faith and love 
 of the pardoned debtor. 
 
 19 : 10. " If the case of the man is so with his wife^ it is 
 not good to marry. ''^ 
 
 Nothing testifies better than this saying to what an ex- 
 tent the morals of the people had become corrupted. The 
 Apostles of our Lord themselves did not maintain the 
 thought of conjugal fidelity. 
 
 See also note on Mark 10:9. 
 
S. MATTHEW—NOTES, 
 
 281 
 
 19: 13. " Then little children were brought to him that 
 he should lay his haiids on thein and pray" etc. 
 See note on S. Mark 10 : 13-16. 
 
 19 : 16. " Master^ what good thing shall I do that I may 
 have eter7ial life ? " 
 
 See notes on S. Mark 10 : 19, 20, and S. Luke 10 : 25, 30, 
 and 18 : 9. 
 
 19 : 24. " It is easier for a camel to go throzigh a needless 
 eye than for a rich ma7t to go into the Kingdom of God." 
 
 This expression whose interpretation from an absolute 
 point of view has sometimes embarrassed commentators, 
 has a very simple explanation. In the East they still call 
 " a needle's eye " certain obscure passages, sometimes 
 created by the hand of man, sometimes and more fre- 
 quently formed by natural caves piercing through some 
 mountain. These kinds of tunnels by means of which 
 sometimes a very long circuit is avoided, are usually quite 
 low so that camels can pass through them only by being 
 unloaded and even in some narrow places by going on their 
 knees. The camel drivers prefer to discharge and reload 
 the camels to being compelled to go about the mountain 
 and to make a detour of some places. 
 
 This same name " needle's eye " w^as likewise given to 
 low porches built in the fortifications of a city. They were 
 built in such a way that the enemies' cavalry could not 
 make a sally, but camels could pass under the conditions 
 just mentioned. 
 
 Meanwhile the allegorical meaning of the parable is 
 understood. To enter the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven, 
 the rich are obliged to unburden themselves of their riches, 
 to make themselves little in their own eyes, to humble 
 themselves, to fall upon their knees. For this gate is very 
 
282 
 
 S. MATTHEIV^NOTES, 
 
 narrow, very low, very contracted. Strait is the gate and 
 narrow, the wayT 
 
 19 : 29. " Shall receive a hundredfold.^'' 
 See note on S. Mark 10 : 29, 30. 
 
 The number of things to be forsaken is here enumer- 
 ated to the perfect number seven, just as in 15:19 the 
 things which defile a man are ennumerated to the same 
 perfect number. Compare S. Mark 10 : 29, 30. 
 
 19 : 30. " BtU many will be last ivho are first.''^ 
 See note on 20 : 16, S. Mark 10 : 31. 
 
 20 : 2. " WJien he had agreed with the laborers for a 
 dollar a dayJ'^ 
 
 The denarins of the original translated by " penny " in 
 our King James' version, was the ordinary day's wage of 
 a common laborer. In that respect, therefore, and in its 
 purchasing power, it was about equivalent to a dollar of 
 our money to-day. 
 
 See also notes on iS : 23, 28, and S. Mark 14 : 5, 6. 
 
 20 : 8. " Pay them their wages^ 
 
 According to the law of Moses a laborer's w^ages must 
 be paid the same day. (Deut. xxiv, 15). 
 
 20 : 10. ** They too received each man a dollar. 
 
 A small thing done in an humble, self-forgetful, devoted, 
 spirit is of more value in God's sight than a great sacrifice 
 done in a mercenary spirit, or in a spirit of self righteous 
 self complacency. God always gives grace to the lowly. 
 
 20 : 15. ''^ Are yon envious because I am generotis ? " 
 
 The " evil eye," Prov. 28 : 22, S. Mark 7 : 22, was the 
 one looking with envy and ill will at the prosperity of 
 others, and so in S. Mark it is noted as among the evil 
 things proceeding from an evil heart. On the other hand, 
 
5. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 283 
 
 as Bruce in his " Parabolic Teaching " so well shows, a 
 good man is a generous, whole-souled, man, full of the 
 milk of human kindness and overflowing with generous 
 impulse. 
 
 20 : 16. " The last will be first and the first last.^'' 
 
 This saying does not point to a leveling of distinctions 
 in the Kingdom of God. It points rather to an exchange 
 of places. The first in the amount of service and sacrifice 
 in this present world, becomes last in the esteem of God, 
 because of pride or vainglory or self seeking. 
 
 We believe this law of last first, first last, applies as well 
 to the eternal as to the temporal side of our natures. We 
 do not believe in the equality of men's condition in the 
 life to come any more than in this life. The general feli- 
 city of the life eternal common to all will embrace much 
 variety of special conditions corresponding to the spiritual 
 histories of individuals. Then some last ones will be seen 
 to take precedence of some who in this life were reputed 
 to be first. 
 
 See also note on S. Mark 10 : 31. 
 
 20 : 21 . " May sit one on yoiir right and one on yonr lefit.''^ 
 See note on S. Mark 10 : 40. 
 
 20 : 23. '''' It is for those for whom it has been prepared by 
 my Father 
 
 You ask me as a man and a friend, what God alone wdth 
 your assistance can give you. You ask as a favor of the 
 Son, what pertains to the justice of God. You ask the 
 protection of another when that must proceed from your 
 own personal efforts. The place of glory and its degree 
 will be given, not to whoever desires them, but to him 
 who merits them, not to the zeal of ambition, but to the 
 
284 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 disinterested zeal of good will and of love. God -svill know 
 how to remember those who forget themselves. 
 See also notes on S. Mark lo : 40, 43. 
 
 20 : 26, 27. " Whoever wishes to become great aptongyotiy^ 
 etc. 
 
 See note on S. Mark 9: 35. 
 
 20 : 30-34. Two blind men were sitting by the road 
 * * * They at once received their sight a7id followed hi7n.^'' 
 See notes on S. Mark 10 : 46-52. 
 
 21 : 9. " The croivds going before him and those following, 
 cried: Hosanna to the Son of David I 
 
 See note on S. Mark 11:9. 
 
 21 : 12. fesiis zvent into the Temple.^'' 
 See note on S. Mark 11 : 15-17. 
 
 21 : 17. ''^ He went out of the city to Bethany and lodged 
 ihere.^'' 
 
 See note on S. Mark 11 : 11. 
 
 21 : 19. *' As he was goiiig back to the city ^ he was htm- 
 gry." 
 
 See notes on S. Mark 11 : 13, 14. 
 
 21:21. " If yon shall say to this monntain^^'' etc. 
 See note on S. Mark 1 1 : 23. 
 
 21 • 22. " Everything whatever you shall ask in prayer^ 
 believing^ yon will receive.^'' 
 See note on S. Mark 11 ; 24. 
 
 21:23-27. '"''By what authority are you doing these 
 things ? And who gave you this authority ? " 
 See notes on S. Mark 11 : 28-33. 
 
S. MATTHEW-^NOTES. 
 
 285 
 
 21 : 27. We do not know^ 
 
 They did not know, they, the masters of Israel, they, 
 who arrogated to themselves the right to interpret every- 
 thing, to judge everything, to distinguish the inspired 
 prophet from the deceiver. They could not say v^hat the 
 man v^^as whose voice had stirred Judea, and drawn to 
 the Jordan, not only the ignorant crowed, but the doctors 
 and the great men. What great humiliation in such a 
 confession, and so their confusion was such Jesus con- 
 tented himself with answering them : " Nor will I tell you 
 by what authority I am doing these things." 
 
 See also note on S. Mark 1 1 : 33. 
 
 21 : 28. " ^ 7na7i had two sons^ 
 ' This parable is severe, indeed, against the Pharisaic 
 spirit, but full of precious truth as regards the Kingdom 
 of God. It tells us what we have perhaps already learned 
 but cannot too often hear again. It tells us the Kingdom 
 of God is open to all comers no matter w^ho or what they 
 have heretofore been. It tells us there is hope even for 
 the most depraved of the sons and daughters of men. It 
 tells us that so far from their case being desperate, there 
 are the greatest possibilities for good in them. Yes, it 
 tells us more. It tells us the Kingdom of God was never 
 designed for any clique or class of men. For a kingdom 
 that can go so far as to invite publicans and harlots into 
 the fullest fellowship of its communion must of course be 
 prepared to go to the ends of the earth in quest of citizens. 
 In this parable then as in so many others spoken by 
 Jesus, there is a latent Christian universalism. It is a 
 parable of judgment, indeed, to all so long as they re- 
 main insincere or hollow hearted. It is a parable of grace 
 to all on the other hand so soon as they turn from their 
 sins and walk in newness of life. 
 
286 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 21 : 33-38- " There was a man who was an ejnployer^'' etc» 
 See notes on S. Mark 12 : 1-7. 
 
 22 : 4. " He again sent out other slaves,^'* 
 
 The invitation is repeated to make the King's patience 
 conspicuous. By this second invitation, the latent hos- 
 tiUty of his subjects is exhibited and their persistent re- 
 fusal is seen to be utterly without excuse. 
 
 22:11. He sazv there a man zvho had no wedding 
 garment on^ 
 
 What is the fault of the man without a wedding gar- 
 ment ? It's the fault most natural to one of his class, 
 not the fault of self-conceit or the ..ant of loyalty of feel- 
 ing but the fault of unmannerliness, a want of thought and 
 refinement of feeling. It is a fault such as Paul speaks of 
 as the fault of unregenerate faith, a sinning because grace 
 abounds. 
 
 Jesus here takes occasion to enter a protest against the 
 licentious abuse of grace. He ever gives great prominence 
 to the gracious character of the Kingdom of God. Yet he 
 is as ever zealous for its righteousness. He sets forth the 
 Kingdom as a Kingdom of grace only because it is as 
 well a Kingdom of true righteousness. For the procla- 
 mation of the Kingdom as a Kingdom of free grace has 
 always been the best way to proclaim its holiness. The 
 grace of God offered to the chief of sinners and accepted 
 in a right spirit by him has always made him the chief of 
 saints. Much forgiveness always produces much love. 
 
 The parable of the Wedding Garment should therefore 
 teach us that while the Kingdom of God is always and in 
 every way a Kingdom of free grace, yet the recipients 
 must live worthy of their privileges. The wedding gar- 
 ment stands for Christian holiness. This, all believers 
 must sedulously cultivate. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 287 
 
 22 : 13. " Throw him out into the outer darkness. There 
 will be the weeping,''^ etc. 
 
 The severity of the punishment here meted out to this 
 man naturally tempts us to make his fault appear as ag- 
 gravated as possible. We are inclined to lay stress on 
 every word that can be supposed to imply deliberate pur- 
 pose to offend. But instead of thus attempting to mag- 
 nify the offender's criminality it is better to realize the 
 solemn truth that even sins of thoughtlessness are no 
 light matter in those who bear the Christian name. 
 
 This man has never been accustomed to restraint. 
 His fault lies in the fact that he dares to enter thought- 
 lessly into the presence of his king without taking heed to 
 his unmannerly ways. 
 
 The royal wrath and the order which it issues are meant 
 to convey to our minds far more than picturesque signifi- 
 cance. They rather tell us plainly that a heedless life 
 on the part of a believer may be attended with the direst 
 consequences. 
 
 The story of Esau and his birthright and the story of 
 the children of Israel in the wilderness are the best pos- 
 sible commentaries on the command of the king. Un- 
 belief on the part of those who have participated in the 
 grace of God, murmuring and hankering after forbidden 
 things, inevitably draw their punishment after them. 
 " There will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 See also notes on S. Mark 9 143, 44, 47. 
 
 22 : 16-22. " Master, we know you are true,'*'' etc. 
 See notes on S. Mark 12 : 13, 14, 17. 
 
 22 : 23-33. " That day the Sadducees came to him^^ who 
 say there is 7to resurrection.^'' 
 
 See notes on S. Mark 12 : 18-27. 
 
288 
 
 S, MATTHEW^NOTES. 
 
 22 : 34-40. " Master^ wJiich is the great commandment in 
 the lazv ? " 
 
 See notes on S. Mark 12 : 28-34, and S. Luke 10 : 25-30. 
 
 22 : 45. " If then David call Him Lord^ how is he his 
 son ? " 
 
 See note on S. Mark 12 : 37. 
 
 23 : 2. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses"* seat.^^ 
 " Sit in Moses' seat : " that is to say, they are invested 
 with a sacred character of authority and it is necessary to 
 obey their precepts as those of Moses. Truth spoken by 
 a bad man is truth all the same. 
 See also note on S. Mark 12 : 28. 
 
 The Scribes and Pharisees have again provoked our 
 Lord to speak with vehemence and with power. He does 
 it in this chapter in a highly wrought parallelism and with 
 most biting sarcasm. Yet he does not come to a close be- 
 fore he gives utterance to his feelings for the people as a 
 whole in most touching pathos. 
 
 The whole discourse is divided into three main divisions. 
 The first and the third are divided into three stanzas 
 each, the second or central division is divided into three 
 times three or nine stanzas. 
 
 This second or central division is one of the finest ex- 
 amples of the higher parallelism to be found. 
 
 The first and second woes are each followed by a stanza 
 in reversed parallelism and are to each other as strophe 
 and antistrophe. 
 
 The third woe is followed by two stanzas in reversed 
 parallelism with an interjected You blind fools ! They 
 are to each other as strophe and antistrophe. 
 
 The fourth woe is followed by a stanza in reversed 
 parallelism, but instead of having, You blind guides ! in- 
 
S. MATTHEW-'NOTES, 
 
 289 
 
 terjected, it comes at the end with an enlargement, You 
 strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. 
 
 This stanza is strophe to the antistrophe which follows 
 the fifth woe. 
 
 The sixth and seventh woes are followed by stanzas 
 which are as strophe and antistrophe to each other. 
 
 In this discourse as a whole there are two remarkable 
 features yet to be enumerated. I refer to the seven times 
 expressed woes, and the four pairs of stanzas of strophic 
 and antistrophic arrangement. 
 
 23 : 5. " They make bi^oad their phylacteries.^'' 
 Phylactery means " memorial of the law of the Lord." 
 Interpreting literally certain passages of the Pentateuch 
 in which they are commanded to have the law always be- 
 fore their eyes, the Jews wrote some of its maxims upon 
 small bands of parchment which they attached to the left 
 arm and in front. The Pharisees pretended to carry 
 larger phylacteries than ordinary people. 
 
 23 : 9. " Do not call any one Father on earth.'''' 
 Jesus means here to warn men against so recognizing 
 the fatherhood of men as to forget the Fatherhood of 
 God. Even the teacher and apostle who is as such a 
 father to men needs to remember that he is but a " little 
 child " in his relation to God. This prohibition has no ref; 
 erence to the custom of giving men titles. It is simply 
 spoken against the tendency of men to range themselves 
 in parties with their peculiar shibboleths and attachments 
 to some particular leader. In Paul's first Epistle to the - 
 Corinthians we see the first recorded instance of this ten- 
 dency in the Church. " I am of Paul," " I am of Apol- 
 los," " I am of Cephas," we find these partisans saying. 
 This is what our Lord here is speaking against. To own 
 19 
 
290 
 
 S. MATTHEW—NOTES, 
 
 Christ as our leader is enough. No other man should be 
 allowed to usurp in our hearts and lives supreme leader- 
 ship. 
 
 23:11. ''^ He who is greatest among you zoill be your 
 serva7it.^'' 
 
 He who is really greatest among men will show his supe- 
 riority, not in assertion; but in his greater abundance of 
 good words and works, in his ministering to the necessities 
 of his fellows, and in all lowliness and Godly fear. 
 
 23 : 14. " Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
 crites ! " 
 
 At the very time the Divine Master was thus confound- 
 ing under the weight of his anathemas the pride and the 
 ambition of these sectaries, a public scandal was bringing 
 the contempt of the whole world upon them. The histo- 
 rian Josephus tells us a Jew of Rome aided by some Phari- 
 see doctors, had converted to Mosaism a noble woman 
 named Fulvia and had persuaded her to bequeath to the 
 Temple at Jerusalem all her fortune representing an enor- 
 mous value. The legacy was received by the lying hypo- 
 crites, but they sent not an obolus to the Temple, and they 
 divided entirely among themselves the spoil plucked by 
 their avarice from the good faith of a stranger. This fact 
 produced a profound impression. Tiberias issued a de- 
 cree expelling all Jews from the precincts of Rome. 
 
 23 : 22. " Whoever shall swear by Heaven,''^ etc. 
 It is quite evident that the Sanctuary and the Altar, 
 which sanctify the presents are of a greater dignity than 
 the gifts put upon them to be sanctified by them. Yet 
 these blind guides were foolish enough to say the oath 
 taken by the gift and by the gold consecrated in the Sanc- 
 tuary and upon the Altar was more inviolable than that 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 291 
 
 taken by the Sanctuary and by the Altar itself. Why ? 
 
 Because they desired the gifts arid the gold by which they 
 profited to be multiplied. This is the reason they raised the 
 estimation of such things. Yes, they went on blindly to 
 declare the gift preferable to the Sanctuary and to the 
 Altar where it is consecrated. 
 
 23 : 23. " You tithe mint and anise a7td cimiminy 
 Jewish custom extended the law of the tithe to all the 
 aromatic plants and herbs. Jesus blames the Pharisees, 
 not for submitting to it, but for not observing the great 
 precepts of the law with the same fidelity as these lesser 
 observances. 
 
 23 : 24. " You strain out a gnat and swallow a cameV^ 
 "Leviticus 11 : 20, 23, 41, 42, forbids the eating of im* 
 
 pure animals. Through fear of violating this law, it was a 
 custom with the Pharisees never to drink anything not 
 carefully filtered. They were accustomed to filter, there- 
 fore, wine and water, for fear of its having in it a little im- 
 pure animal, a gnat, for instance. Has there never been 
 false piety among Christians ? You would be unwilling to 
 lose an Ave Maria from your beads, but the injustices, the 
 slanders, the jealousies, — you swallow them like water. 
 Scrupulous in the little obligations, bountiful beyond 
 measure in the others." — Bossuet, 
 
 24 : 2. " There shall not be left here 07te stofte on another 
 which shall not be thrown down.^^ 
 
 See note on S. Mark 13:2, 
 
 24 : 4. " See that no one deceives you."^* 
 
 The discourse on the Mount of Olives is divided into 
 two main divisions, these have each nine stanzas, and 
 these are again divided into threes. 
 
292 
 
 S, MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 24 : 22. ^''But for the sake of the chosen ones.^* 
 See note on S. Mark 13 : 20. 
 
 24 : 29. " But at once after the distress of those daysJ** 
 See note on S. Mark 13: 24. 
 
 24 : 36. '* Bitt of that day and haur no one knows * * * 
 not even the angels of heaven^ 
 
 As God, Jesus knew this hour, say the theologians, but 
 as man, he, as well as the angels, was ignorant of it, that 
 his nature and intelligence might be perfect human nature 
 and intelligence. 
 
 See note on S. Mark 13:32. 
 
 24 : 48. " Btit if that wicked slave shall say in his heart : 
 My master is delaying^'''* 
 
 Delay brings temptation to relax zeal. Yielding to this 
 temptation exposes to the risk of surprise. Our Lord's 
 discourse on the last things, therefore, contains frequent 
 exhortations to watchfulness. " Watch, therefore, for ye 
 know neither the day nor the hour," — comes in at inter- 
 vals like a solemn refrain. This lesson is continually en- 
 forced. It is enforced, not simply by repetition, but by 
 the use of figurative representations showing vividly the 
 need of such watching. 
 
 25 : r. The Kingdom of Heaven will then he like ten 
 bride smaidsP 
 
 Forethought is the chief part of wisdom. It is the ob- 
 ject of this parable to teach us such a wisdom. It lays 
 before us an instance in which it is put to the test. 
 
 The folly of the foolish virgins consists not in bringing 
 no oil but in not bringing enough. They are foolish in 
 the second place in going aw^ay at an unseasonable hour to 
 purchase oil mstead of taking their place in the marriage 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 293 
 
 procession as they are. It is true they might well have 
 felt ashamed of their dark lamps. Yet it were better not 
 to commit the worse fault of failing altogether in welcom- 
 ing the bridegroom and of gaining admission to the wed- 
 ding feast. And yet like so many of human kind these 
 foolish ones add sin to folly. Lacking forethought in re- 
 gard to the less important function of the occasion, they 
 lose also the all important part of it. 
 
 In their attempt to make up for a past fault they com- 
 mit a far greater one. We should always be ready and 
 willing to mend our ways. But never should we fail in a 
 greater duty by stopping to patch up a fault in a minor one. 
 For that betokens an altogether false estimation of our- 
 selves and the purpose of our lives. 
 
 Let us then learn from this parable to provide for the 
 unusual, to be always on our guard against surprises of 
 all sorts. But if we are suddenly surprised and find our- 
 selves at fault, never let us be deceived into making it a 
 double one by looking back instead of forward. Let us 
 leave those things which are behind and press on to the 
 mark of our high calling in Christ. 
 
 25 : 15. "71? each according to his owt ability!'^ 
 The demands of the Kingdom of God are exacting, but 
 they are always reasonable. To each man is given accord- 
 ing to his own abiUty. The degree of the gift is the 
 measure of accountability. 
 
 25 : 21, 23. " Well ^ good a7id faithftil slaved 
 Equal diligence in the use of unequal endowments has 
 an equal value set upon it in the Divine Kingdom. This 
 is a never failing law of Divine Providence. 
 
 We have in these tv/o verses, significant touches de- 
 scriptive of the character of the faithful ones. They are 
 
294 MATTHEW-— NOTES, 
 
 described as good and faithful. The former means here, 
 as in the parable of the Sower, devoted, enthusiastic, 
 single hearted. That being the meaning of the one epi- 
 thet the other goes along with it as a matter of course. 
 One who is generous in the sense of putting his whole 
 heart and soul into his work, cannot fail to be faithful. 
 For the very secret of fidelity is single heartedness. The 
 sole cause of unfaithfulness, on the other hand, is a di- 
 vided heart. 
 
 No fear of neglect when the whole heart is engaged. 
 No need of a taskmaster's eye to keep a man of such de- 
 votion to his work. Love is its own taskmaster. 
 
 Such is the common character of these two men. 
 
 In the pronouncing of these epithets again, we see in 
 this master a type of the Master of us all. 
 
 He pronounces perfect and good, men in whom w^e have 
 no difficulty in seeing moral defect. He is never loath to 
 pronounce such epithets wherever there is a single 
 hearted devotion to his cause. Those who are serving 
 the Lord of this Kingdom should bear this always in 
 mind. It is well for us to think humbly of ourselves. But 
 it is not well for us to imagine God thinks meanly of our 
 endeavors in the right. Such thoughts can only be in- 
 jurious and degrading in their effect upon us. 
 
 True religion has always an elevating effect upon men. 
 But it can have such an effect only in so far as it is a 
 worship of a generous and magnanimous God. There- 
 fore, while in the language of a former parable we think 
 of ourselves as unprofitable servants, and disclaim all self- 
 righteous pretensions to merit, we need at the same time 
 remember we serve One who will pronounce on every 
 single hearted w^orker, be his position distinguished or 
 obscure, his success great or small, the distinguished and 
 honorable sentence : " Well, good and faithful slave." 
 
S. MATTHEW-^NOTES, 
 
 295 
 
 See also notes on S. Luke 19 : 17, 19. 
 
 25 : 26. " You wicked and slothful slave ! " 
 
 He is called slothful because he has nothing. He is 
 wicked because he accuses his Master and cannot justify 
 himself in it. Sloth has produced in him lying, ingrati- 
 tude, blasphemy. 
 
 25 : 27. Then you ought to have put inyinoney in the 
 batik y 
 
 Who are the bankers ? The divine Saviour will give us 
 to understand this at the conclusion of his discourse ; and 
 the reader will see on the following page. They are the 
 poor, the sick, the suffering, the unfortunate, — the least of 
 those in the world, — these are the bankers of our Lord 
 and into their hands ought always to go, in one form or 
 another, everything we have received of God. 
 
 See also notes on S. Luke 19: 24-27. 
 
 25 : 29. " To eve?y one zvho has will he giveti.^'' 
 
 In everything it is the same. The original portion of the 
 slothful one disappears little by little to the enrichment of 
 the most vigilant. Do we not see^this every day ? 
 
 See also notes on 13:12, and S. Mark 4 : 25. 
 
 25 : 34-45. " The7i the King will say to those on his 
 right.'''' 
 
 In this discourse of our Lord on the great day of judg- 
 ment we find two sets of stanzas of three each which 
 exactly balance each other. 
 
 The fourth is antistrophe to the first, the fifth is anti- 
 strophe to the second, the sixth is antistrophe to the 
 third. 
 
 26:7. '•^ A woman with ait alabaster jar of very costly 
 perfumed 
 
 See note on S. Mark 14 : 3. 
 
296 
 
 S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 
 
 26 : 10. " Why doyoit trouble the woman ? " 
 See note on S. Mark 14 : 6. 
 
 26 : 15. They agreed to give him a hundred dollars.'''' 
 In the time of our Lord, the Jews used Greek money. 
 The shekel, commonly called " the piece of silver," was 
 worth in coin about sixty-five cents. Hence the thirty 
 pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed our Lord were 
 W'orth about twenty dollars. In purchasing power, how- 
 ever, this would be equivalent to-day to about a hundred 
 dollars of our money. 
 
 See also notes on 20 : 2, and 18 : 24, 28. 
 
 26 : 73. " Surely you are one of them, for your talk betrays 
 your 
 
 See note on S. Mark 14 : 70. 
 
 27 : 3. " The7i zvhen fudas * * * was sorry. ''^ 
 
 The Greek word of the original translated " repented," 
 in King James' version, is not the word usually translated 
 by our w^ord " repentance." It does not convey the idea of 
 a change of mind and purpose of heart. It has rather the 
 meaning of " regret." It means simply a change of feel- 
 ing. 
 
 The thirty pieces of silver the traitor once clutched at 
 and gazed upon with such eager desire are now hateful in 
 his sight. Their touch has become like that of molten 
 metal just from the furnace. 
 
 There is something terribly suggestive in the thought 
 that there are no tears here as there were in Peter's re- 
 pentance. 
 
 27 : 24. Pilate * * * took water and washed his 
 hands.'''' 
 
 Pilate chose to perform this symbolic act of hand wash- 
 ing, it is likely, partly as a relief to his own conscience, 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES. 297 
 
 partly to allay his wife's fears, partly as a last appeal of 
 the most vivid and dramatic order to the feelings of the 
 Priests and their misguided fellow-countrymen. A popu- 
 lar poet of his own time and country might have taught 
 him better, had he been willing to learn. But he was 
 altogether too willing to range himself with those 
 
 " Too easy souls, who dream the crystal flood 
 Can wash away the fearful guilt of blood." 
 
 27 : 26. " He beat JestisP 
 
 The scourging inflicted on Jesus was a cruel torture. 
 Divested of his clothes and tied by his hands to the base 
 of a column, the condemned man presented his back to 
 the rods which lacerated him. The instrument of punish- 
 ment for foreigners was, not elm rods reserved for Ro- 
 man citizens, but the leather thongs with small bones and 
 balls of lead attached. Under this horrible whip, the 
 flesh rose in shreds, the blood flowed, and the victim, 
 often falling at the feet of the lictors, exposed all parts 
 of his body to their blows. It was not a rare thing to see 
 condemned men fall at this first punishment, for the Ro- 
 man law did not recognize the limits fixed by the Syna- 
 gogue to the duration and the violence of the punishment. 
 
 The punishment of the Cross, which followed the 
 scourging, was the punishment of slaves, of robbers, and 
 of those guilty of insurrection. 
 
 27 : 32. " A man of Cy^-ene * * * They compelled * * 
 to carry his cross T 
 
 The Evangelist does not expressly say that Jesus had 
 fallen, but the violence done to Simon of Cyrene, quite 
 near Golgotha, bears out the supposition that the Saviour 
 had succumbed under the weight of the cross. Tradition 
 is of one mind upon this point. 
 
S. MATTHEW— NOTES, 
 
 27 : 43. " He trusts in God'"' 
 
 All these sayings are citations or allusions to the ex- 
 pressions of the Sacred Books. The latter ironical ex- 
 pressions refer to the passage of the Book of Wisdom 
 2:18. These accommodations and this playing with sacred 
 texts are often met with in the mouths of Jewish Priests 
 accustomed, in season and out of season, to make per- 
 petual quotations from the legal books. 
 
 28 : 7. " He is going before you into Galilee ^ 
 
 The Lord, it is true, manifested himself at Jerusalem to 
 the Apostles, to the disciples at Emmaus, just as the 
 other Evangelists relate. But it was each time in a pri- 
 vate manner, fugitive and rapid, (as just now to the holy 
 women). In Galilee was to take place the absolutely 
 public appearances ; the miraculous fishing, the ascension 
 in the presence of five hundred persons, etc. 
 
I. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 I : I Peter." — This name given him by our Lord has 
 replaced in his own mind as in that of others, that of Simon 
 Bar-Jona by which he had formerly been known. In the 
 same way Paul takes the place of Saul as the name of the 
 great Apostle to the Gentiles. 
 
 1:2. " The chosen — accordi7ig to the foreknowledge of 
 God the Father:' 
 
 The word chosen and the thought that the disciples of 
 Christ are what they are by the choice of God character- 
 izes the whole teaching of the New Testament. 
 
 The " chosen," like the " saints," had become almost a 
 synonym for Christians (2 Tim. 2 :io; Titus i :i). This 
 thought is referred to the foreknowledge of God. The 
 w^ord hovers between the meaning of a mere prevision of 
 the future, and the higher sense in which " knowing " means 
 " loving " and " approving, " as in i Cor. 8:3; Gal. 4:9; 
 and probably Rom. 8 : 29 ; 11:2. 
 
 In what way the thought of man's freedom to will was 
 reconcilable with that of God's electing purpose the writers 
 of the New Testament did not discuss. Neither excludes 
 the other, nor is either irreconcilable with the other. Both 
 are facts of man's experience with which we have to deal 
 
 299 
 
300 
 
 /. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 and recognize even if sometimes we are utterly baffled 
 with an attempt to reconcile them. 
 
 1:2. " Ti? obedience a7ui sprinklmg of the blood. 
 
 In *' obedience " we have the active human side of the 
 result. In the " sprinkling " the divine side. Moses had 
 sprinkled Israel according to the flesh with the blood of 
 bulls and of goats. By contact with this the people were 
 brought within the covenant of which he was the mediator 
 (Gal. 3: 19). 
 
 In the same way, S. Peter tells us, behevers in Christ 
 are brought within the new covenant by the mystical, spirit- 
 ual sprinkling on their souls and spirits of the blood of 
 Jesus, and for that sprinkling God had chosen them with 
 a purpose supremely wise to which no time limits could 
 be assigned. As S. John puts it, " The blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanses us from all sin." 
 
 1:2. " Grace to you and peace.'''' 
 
 The word " peace " stands for the old Hebrew salutation 
 *' Shalom." The word " grace," " charis," probably stands 
 for the more definite Christian thought, in place of the 
 " joy," or greeting" (chairein), which, as in Acts 15 : 23, 
 S. James i : i, was the customary opening formula of Greek 
 letters. 
 
 1:3. ^ living hope.^'' 
 
 This is a hope not destined as human hopes prover- 
 bially are, to be frail and perishable. On the contrary it 
 has of necessity in it, the living elements of a perennial 
 life. 
 
 Elsewhere S. Peter lays much stress on baptism. But 
 here it is to be noticed he does not refer to it as the in- 
 strument of the new birth, but goes further back than that 
 
/. S. PETER— NOTES, 
 
 301 
 
 to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as that without which 
 baptism and faith aUke would have been ineffectual. In 
 this as in so many other respects his teaching is substan- 
 tially at one with that of S. Paul. See Rom. 6:3, 4. 
 
 1:5. " Who by the power of God are guarded through 
 faith:' 
 
 The power of God is the force which encompasses and 
 protects us. The faith is that through which, as in the 
 vision of Elisha's servant (2 Kings 6 : 16), we feel that we 
 are guarded, and see that " those who are with us are 
 more than those who are against us." 
 
 1:6. ''If need be r 
 
 Our sufferings are not from mere chance. They are 
 never allowed to come upon us but for a purpose. They 
 have their necessary place in the process by which God 
 works out the complete and perfect character of his chil- 
 dren. 
 
 1:7. '* The proof of your faith.'' 
 
 Faith is not known to be genuine till it has been proved 
 by sufferings. Gold is purified, but then it perishes. 
 Faith is purified by sufferings, but then it takes its place 
 among the things which do not perish. Yes, and more 
 than that, for when sufferings have been rightly borne by 
 us children of men here below, praise and glory and honor 
 will be ours at the last great day when Jesus comes in the 
 clouds of heaven to judge both the quick and the dead. 
 
 1:8. " Whom^ though you have not seen him, you love." 
 
 S. Peter, Hke S. Paul, would teach his followers to know 
 Christ no more after the flesh (2 Cor. 5 : 16). Compare 
 S. John 20 : 29. 
 
302 /. S. PETER— NOTES, 
 
 1:13. So ozrding tip the loins of your mindy 
 Here is an echo of our Lord's words to his disciples as 
 found in S. Luke 12 : 35. Compare Ephesians 6:14. The 
 prospect of the coming glories should be our motive to 
 unflagging activity during our sojourn here on earth. 
 
 I : 13. *' The grace which is bei7ig brought to you. 
 
 The communication of grace is continuous. It finds its 
 sphere of action in every successive revealing of Jesus. 
 The beginning of this activity is found in the souFs first 
 consciousness of his presence through every stage of spirit- 
 ual growth. 
 
 1:16. " Ye shall be holy. For I am holy.^'^ 
 
 All members of the Church of Christ partake of the 
 priestly function, in their way offer up spiritual sacrifices, 
 and so must be holy. Compare chapter 2, verse 5. 
 
 1:17. " If y OIL call on hint as Father.^'* 
 
 The sequel shows that this attribute of Fatherhood is 
 not thought of as excluding the idea of judgment, but 
 gives assurance that the judgment will be one of the heart 
 as well as of the head. 
 
 1:18. " Redee7nedy 
 
 This liberation is not so much from the penalty of an 
 evil life as from the evil life itself. 
 I : 19. " With precious blood.'''' 
 
 Remembering that the blood is the life, compare this 
 with S. Matth. 20 : 28 ; S. Mark 10 : 45. 
 
 The minds of the disciples had been directed to the 
 " blood " thus understood, as connected with the remission 
 of sins, in what we know as the words of institution at the 
 Last Supper (S. Matth. 26 : 28 ; S. Mark 14 : 24 ; S. Luke 
 22 : 20). 
 
/. S. PETER— NOTES, 303 
 
 1:21, Who raised him front the dead.^'' 
 
 The redemptive act was completed in the shedding of 
 the precious blood, but the Resurrection and the glory of 
 the Ascension were the foundation of man's confidence 
 that the work had been completed. 
 
 1:22. " Having purified your souls' 
 
 Freedom from sensual lust is the purity here implied, 
 but it includes within its range freedom from all forms of 
 selfishness. 
 
 I : 23. " God^s living and abiding word.'*'' 
 
 This is more than any written revelation. It is far more 
 than any preaching or teaching of the Gospel. It is more 
 like what S. John tells us in the introduction to his Gospel. 
 
 S. Peter is thinking of a divine, eternal, creative, power 
 working in and on the soul of man. " The word of the 
 Lord," had thus come to the prophets of old. As the 
 writer to the Hebrews tells us : " The word of God ... is 
 quick and pow^erful ... a discerner of the thoughts and in- 
 tents of the heart. In other words, God manifested 
 speaks to the soul of man. Either the preached or the 
 written word may be the instrument of this, but he may 
 work independently of both, and is not to be identified 
 with either. 
 
 2:4. " Rejected^ indeed^ by men."*^ 
 
 It was not the rulers of the Jews only, nor the Jews only 
 as a nation, but mankind at large, by whom cx^e head of 
 the corner was rejected. 
 
 2:5. " ^ holy priesthood^ 
 
 As in the time of the patriarchs, as in the original ideal 
 of Israel (Ex. 19 : 5), as in the vision of the future which 
 floated before the eyes of Isaiah (61 :6), so now in the 
 
 * 
 
304 
 
 7. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 Church of Christ, there is to be no separate priesthood, in 
 the Jewish sense of the word, nor are there to be identical 
 functions. All are now to offer spiritual sacrifices as con- 
 trasted, with the burnt offerings of Jewish ritual. Com- 
 pare Rom. 12:1. 
 
 2:5. " TJwough Jesus Christ.^'' 
 
 Here we have the sanction of the Church's use of this 
 form of words in connection with all her acts of prayer 
 and praise, and the implied truth that it is only through 
 our union with Christ as the great High Priest and with 
 his sacrifice we are able to share his priesthood and offer 
 our own spiritual sacrifices acceptably to the Father. 
 
 2:7. " Unbelievers^ 
 
 This means more than the mere absence of belief. It 
 implies an active and deliberate resistance. 
 
 2:8. " Stwnble at the word.^'' 
 
 The " word," as before intimated, is the sum and Sub- 
 stance of the Gospel and even more, that is, the powder of 
 God to salvation. 
 
 " They were appointed to this^ 
 
 It is a part of God's appointed order that the disobe- 
 dient should stumble and be put to shame. Stumbling, 
 however, is not at all identical with being irretrievably lost. 
 Compare Rom. 9:11. 
 
 2:9. That you should make known,^"* 
 
 We are not chosen for our own sakes as Israel was not. 
 We are chosen to act as God's exponents to the world. 
 On this point S. Peter and S. Paul are at one with each 
 other, and with the old Jewish Prophets before them. 
 
/. S, PETER--.NOTES, 
 
 2:11. " Fleshly desires^'* 
 
 The citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem must keep them- 
 selves from everything that tends to render them" unfit 
 for their true and abiding home. 
 
 2:12. " They speak against y on as evildoers ^ 
 Compare S. John 18:30. The disciple must not ex- 
 pect to be above his master. These words show the 
 growth of a widespread feeling of dislike, showing itself in 
 calumny. 
 
 " Glorify God in the day of visitatio7t.^'' 
 
 Here is charity pure and simple. S. Peter anticipates 
 " a day of visitation." But his hope is not that his ene- 
 mies may be put to shame and perish, but that they may 
 then glorify God by seeing how in the midst of all chaos 
 and disorder the disciples of Christ were distinguished by 
 w^orks that were nobly done in calmness, obedience, and 
 charity. 
 
 2 : 13. " Be subject to every ordi7ta7tce of fnan.'*'' 
 The disciples of Christ must submit to all lawfully con- 
 stituted authority and in no way allow themselves to be 
 suspected of illegal and disorderly conduct. 
 
 2:14. As sent by him^ 
 
 The identity of thought here with Rom. 13:3, 4, shows 
 us an interesting coincidence in the teaching of the two 
 Apostles. Both alike recognize that even an imperfect 
 and corrupt government works for a better good than law- 
 less anarchy. 
 
 2:16. As freey and not ti sing your freedom for a cloak 
 of baseness r 
 
 Under the pretense of Christian freedom many a. man 
 20 
 
3o6 
 
 /. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 has become mde, overbearing, insolent, without regard to 
 the courtesies and amenities of Hfe. But that was not 
 Christian. It w^as devilish. They but used their liberty 
 as a cloak of baseness. 
 
 " License they mean when they cry liberty," was tme of 
 the Apostle's times as it is so often true of us to-day. 
 
 2:17. " Honor all ??ie?i.''^ 
 
 This means exactly what it says. It does not mean 
 honor some ?ne7t. It means honor all men. Honor all 
 men, whether rich or poor, whether high or low, whether 
 exalted or degraded. He carries the image of God, no mat- 
 ter w^ho or w^hat kind of a man he may be for the time 
 being. Honor, then, all men. 
 
 '* Love the brotherhood.^'' 
 
 We are all brothers of one family, children of the same 
 Father. Love as such. 
 
 2:19. *' Siifferi7ig wrongfully.^'* 
 
 Natural impulse sanctions the burning indignation and 
 desire to retaliate for a wTong done. Each party to a dis- 
 pute thinks himself at the moment in the right. It is only 
 by acting on the principle that the more he believes him- 
 self to be in the right the more it is his duty to submit 
 patiently, a man can free himself from an endless entangle- 
 ment of recriminations and retaliations. 
 
 2:21. " For to this you zvere called.^'' 
 
 The thoughts of the Apostle travel from the teaching of 
 Christ which he had heard, to the life which he had wit- 
 nessed. Here is the great law of Christian life learnt well 
 by the early Christians. We " must through much tribu- 
 lation enter the Kingdom of God " (Acts 14 : 22). 
 
/. ^S". PETER^NOTES, 307 
 
 2 : 23. Who^ when he was reviled^ did Jiot revile again. 
 Here is a reminder of Isaiah 53 : 7 and recalls many act- 
 ual scenes in the life of our Lord. 
 
 3:1. the same way^ wives T 
 
 It is interesting to note that as S. Peter here passes to 
 the relation of husband and wife after treating of master 
 and slave so Aristotle makes these two relations the main 
 foundation stones of his system of politics "without a 
 word." 
 
 A quiet demeanor and Christlike conduct will go a 
 thousand times further to convert an unbeliever than pious 
 talk and little genuine Christlike life. 
 
 3:3. " The outward adorniiig of plaiting the hair,'*^ 
 These words do not condemn the use of jewelry and at- 
 tention to the color and style of dress, within the limits of 
 simplicity and economy in comparison with one's means. 
 They do, however, tend to minimize that form of personal 
 adornment and bid women to trust not to them, but to 
 moral and spiritual qualities, as elements of attractive- 
 ness. 
 
 3:4. " (9/* great price. 
 
 God's estimate of value differs from man's. His meas- 
 ure of our worth cannot be gauged by the standard which 
 the world generally applies. 
 
 3:6. Like Sara obeyed Abraham.'''' 
 
 The sixth satire of Juvenal illustrates the need of such 
 exhortations as this. The general corruption of the em- 
 pire had extended itself to the life of the home. Not only 
 had adultery and divorce become very common, but wives 
 as a rule had thrown aside all sense of that reverence for 
 
/. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 their husbands which the Apostle here indicates as essen- 
 tial to the holiness and happiness of married life. 
 
 " By doing good and not being afj^aidy 
 
 The Christian wives of unbelieving husbands have much 
 to bear from them. But they are in no way to be in ter- 
 ror. They are not to cower as if they expect a curse or a 
 blow. Such a demeanor is certain to make matters worse. 
 It is a tacit reproach. It but irritates and annoys. Be 
 certain you are right, S. Peter, as it were, says here, and 
 then go about your daily tasks with a cheerful counte- 
 nance and without any fear. 
 
 " Whose daughters yon became^ 
 
 The daughters of Sarah according to the flesh are here 
 told that they only became her children in the true sense 
 of that term when they reproduced her character. Com- 
 pare Rom. 4:12. 
 
 3:7. " Live with your wives according to knoivledge.^^ 
 The wife is not to be treated as a slave, a concubine, 
 nor as a mistress of the house, alone. She is a helpmeet 
 in the daily toil of life, a sharer in its higher hopes and 
 duties, the mother of children to be tenderly and wisely 
 brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 3:9. " Not 7'endering evil for evil.''^ 
 This clause forbids retaliation in act as what follows 
 forbids retaliation in words. 
 
 For to this you were called.^^ 
 God blesses so we must bless. He forgives so we must 
 forgive. Vindictiveness in any form is at variance with 
 the conditions on which our inheritance is to come to us and 
 so involves its certain failure. 
 
/. S. PETER^NOTES. 
 
 3:15. " Ahuays ready with an answer.'''' 
 
 The disciples of Christ are not to take refuge in a silence 
 to which fear might prompt. They are to be ready with 
 a defence, a vindication of their faith and hope. And this 
 answer is to be given, not in a tone of threatening de- 
 fiance, but in meekness, whether the questions are put by 
 an official or a private person. For the tmth should not 
 be made to suffer through any infirmities in its defenders. 
 The spirit of reverential awe toward God is the best safe- 
 guard against such infirmities. 
 
 3:16. " ^ good conscience.'''' 
 
 No skill of speech will alone do the work of the Christ- 
 ian apologist. His life must be in entire accord with his 
 professions. 
 
 3:18. " Christ suffered:'' 
 
 Compare Hebrews 9 : 26 : 28, and 10 : 6, 8, 18, 26. 
 
 " Endtied with life in the Spirit.^'' 
 
 We have here an antithesis, like that of Rom. i : 3, 4 
 and I S. Tim. 3 : 16. 
 
 3:19. " In this also he went and preached to the spirits 
 in prisoft^'' 
 
 " In this," means in his human spirit as distinct from 
 the flesh Christ who had preached to men living on the 
 earth now went and preached to the spirits existing sepa- 
 rated from the flesh. As S. Paul puts it, Christ " des- 
 cended first into the lower parts of the earth," that is, into 
 the region which the current belief of the time recognized 
 as the abode of the disembodied spirits of the dead (Eph. 
 4 : 9). And so when S. Peter tells us Christ " went and 
 preached to the spirits in prison," he means to tell us he 
 went to Hades and proclaimed the good news of man's 
 
/. S, PETER— NOTES, 
 
 salvation to the disembodied spirits there just as he had 
 done while here on earth. Compare S. Matt. 4 : 23 : 
 
 3 : 20, " Who %!^ere mce disohedienty 
 
 The range of our Lord'^ preaching in Hades seems here 
 to be confined to narrow limits, Why this is so we are 
 not told, What was the result is not dwelt upon. The 
 mere fact is mentioned, An<^ many have been the con- 
 jectures as to the meaning of the fact. As a matter of 
 history it is known that the article in the creed which tells 
 us Christ " descended into hell " w^as first put in the 
 Apostles* creed when there was a w^idespread belief, based 
 mostly on this text, that the purpose of Christ's descent 
 into Hades was to liberate its prisoners. He emptied the 
 prison house, that tradition tells us, he set the captives 
 free, and he raised the cross in the midst of Hades, that 
 there also it might proclaim salvation. 
 
 wJiich few^ that is. eight souls %vere saved hy means of 
 the waterJ''' 
 
 S. Peter sees in the very judgment w^hich swept away so 
 many that which brought deliverance to others. Yet but 
 few were thus saved. And now also comparatively speak- 
 ing, but few are in the w^ay of salvation. Yet in the 
 thought of the long-suffering of God, the complement to 
 this thought is brought out. God is not willing that any 
 shall finally perish. 
 
 3:21. " The ceunterpa^'t of mkick now saves tts.^* 
 At first we may not recognize the likeness between the 
 flood which destroyed the world and baptism as a saving 
 ordinance. Yet the deluge only destroyed the evil and 
 gave the human race a fresh start under new and better 
 conditions. And when we taJie tke previous verse into 
 
/. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 3" 
 
 consideration the flood seems to S. Peter's mind, even to 
 those who perished in it, not merely an instrument of de- 
 struction, but an instrument by which even the souls of the 
 disobedient were placed in a position where they were not 
 shut out from the pitying love of the Father who there 
 also did not " will that any should perish." 
 
 " Not the putting aivay of the filth of the flesh. 
 
 Christian baptism is far more than an external rite or 
 washing. Of and in itself the outward form is nothing. 
 We can never wash away sin by a mere outward act. 
 The saving power of baptism varies with the activity and 
 purity of the moral consciousness of the baptized. 
 
 " Through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." 
 
 Compare Rom. 6:4, 5 ; Rev. 1:18. 
 
 3 : 22. Who has gone into heaven^ 
 Compare i Tim. 3:16; Rom. 10:9; Eph. 4 : 9. 
 If there was a real ascension into heaven, there was also 
 a real descent into Hades. S. Peter seems to echo the 
 words of S. Paul in Eph. 4 : 9 above referred to. 
 
 4:1. " For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased 
 from sin.''"' 
 
 It is a general law of the spiritual life that the very act 
 of suffering in the mind of Christ and for him so strength- 
 ens the power of will and faith that the sufferer is by that 
 very fact delivered from the life in which sin is dominant. 
 Rom 7 : 7-1 1. 
 
 4:5. " They shall give arcounty 
 
 Compare S. Luke 16:2; i Cor. 4 : 5. 
 
 The thought of the final judgment should be to all men 
 a motive for patience and courage under false accusations 
 and unjust judgments of men. 
 
/. S. PETER— NOTES, 
 
 4:6. " For this ptirpo!^e was the good 7tews preached even 
 to the dead.'''' 
 
 Of some of the dead our Lord himself had taught S. 
 Peter that if they had seen the wonderful works which he 
 had done they would have repented (Matth. 11 : 21). Here 
 he tells us that opportunity has been given. 
 
 " That they may be judged indeed in the flesh, etc." 
 
 The thought here is very much like that of S. Paul in i 
 Cor. 5 : 5 and 11 132. 
 
 Following the ideas of analogy and continuity, the 
 Apostle here tells us that death does not change the nature 
 and purpose of the divine judgment. The dead had the 
 good news of salvation preached to them that they might 
 be judged by a judgment which is remedial as well as 
 penal. They were judged by the same law as that by 
 which all men are judged, that is according to their deeds. 
 But the purpose of that judgment, like the judgments 
 w^hich come on men in this life, is to rescue them from a 
 final condemnation. 
 
 4:7. " The end of everything is at hand^ 
 
 The times in which the Apostles lived was to them " the 
 
 last times " (i. S. Tim. 4:1;! S. John 2 : 18). 
 
 The end of all they had Uved in, the end of one great 
 
 dispensation of the Father's inscrutable Providence came 
 
 with the preaching of the Apostles and the destruction of 
 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 4:8.^ " Being hearty and earliest in yotir love.'''' 
 A hearty and earnest love is the greatest of all marks of 
 a true Christ-like spirit according to S. Peter, as it is with 
 S. John and S. Paul. Compare i Cor. 13 and S. John's 
 Epistles. 
 
/. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 " Love covers a multitude of sins y 
 
 Love covers, that is, forgives the sins of others and does 
 not expose them. Compare Prov. 10 : 12. This meaning, 
 however, need not exclude the other suggested by S. James 
 5 : 20. Compare also Luke 7 : 47. With such a double 
 meaning the text reminds one in its width of that well 
 known saying handed down to us by the greatest of all 
 Englishmen when he writes : 
 
 " The quality of mercy — is twice blest. 
 It blesses him that gives and him that takes." 
 
 4 : 9. Miitistering as good stewards ^ 
 
 We cannot too often be reminded that we are but stew- 
 ards, not possessors, of what God has given us in our ma- 
 terial and spiritual life. Compare i Cor. 4 : i ; Tit 1:7; 
 S. Luke 12:42; 16:1-12. 
 
 4:11. " That in everything God may he praised.^'* 
 Compares. Matth. 5:16; i Cor. 10:31. 
 This is naturally followed by an ascription of praise in 
 the manner of S. Paul. 
 
 4:12. " Do not be astoiiished at the fiery trial.'''' 
 
 All those who wish to live religiously in Christ Jesus will 
 
 be persecuted. Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3: 12. 
 
 This is the leading purpose and character of suffering. 
 
 It tries our faith. The faith which endures is the stronger 
 
 and purer for the process. 
 
 4:13. ''''Rejoice.^'' 
 Compare S. Matth. 5:12. 
 
 When S. Peter first heard such thoughts from the 
 Master he no doubt himself was astonished. But since 
 that time he has tried and proved the truth of them. 
 
3H 
 
 /. S. PETER^NOTES. 
 
 4:14. " If you are reproached with the iiajtie of Christ.^'' 
 In chapter 3 : 14 we found an echo of the beatitude in 
 S. Matth. 5:10. Here we have the counterpart of the 
 more personal " for my sake " in S. Matth. 5:11. 
 
 4:15. " For let none of you stiffer as a murderer. 
 
 Here is a reference to a tendency more or less prevalent 
 in all times of persecution, whether of Christians by the 
 heathen, or of one body of Christians by another, that is, 
 an altogether false idea which leads men to pose as martyrs 
 when they ought rather to be classed with ordinary crim- 
 inals and to be treated and thought of only as such. 
 
 4:17. " What shall be the erid of those ? " 
 Compare Rom. 11:21; Jeremiah, 25 : 29 ; 49 : 12 ; Eze- 
 kiel, 9 : 6. 
 
 4 : 18. " A7zd If the good man is scarcely saved.^'' 
 
 A time of great tribulation was coming on the earth. 
 
 At that time, but for the sake of the chosen ones no flesh 
 
 should be saved. S. Matth. 24 : 22. 
 
 4:19. So let those who are suffe7-ing according to the 
 will of God.^"* 
 
 Pain and persecution really work out the Father's will in 
 us. They are permitted by him for this purpose and they 
 are controlled by him. He allows nothing to come upon 
 us greater than we can bear and profit by. His grace is 
 always sufficient for us. His will is always good and lov- 
 ing. He plans and executes in us only our completeness 
 in Him in perfect holiness, i Thess. 4 13. 
 
 5:1. " Who am a fellow elder. ''^ 
 
 The apostle puts himself on a level with the elders to 
 
/. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 whom he is writing. There is no taint of condescension 
 here. There is not the least intimation of superiority of 
 rank or of personal authority. 
 5:2. " Tend the flock of God:' 
 
 Compare S. John 21 ; 16 ; Acts 20 : 28 ; 9 : 7. The shep- 
 herds' duties had from a very early time been a parable of 
 that of rulers and teachers. Psalm 78 : 70, 71. 
 
 In the Old Testament the shepherds of the people were 
 always the civil rulers of the nation. In the New Testa- 
 ment on the other hand the shepherd of the flock is its 
 spiritual guide and teacher. 
 
 " Nor yet for sordid gain.'''* 
 
 Even in the trouble J times in which S. Peter wrote there 
 was enough wealth in the Church to make the priest's 
 office a lucrative one. For baser natures there was the 
 temptation of using spiritual influence for secular ends 
 Like the Pharisees before them they had the opportunity 
 to devour widows' houses ( i Matth. 23 : 14). They could 
 *Mead captive silly women " (2 Tim. 3:6; Titus i:ii). 
 The calling of a Presbyter might be made as disreputable 
 an occupation as any on the face of the earth. 
 
 5:3. " Nor as lordiitgit over the charge allotted you 
 
 The love of power for the sake of power is as great a 
 hindrance to true pastoral work as avarice. The whole 
 history of the Church shows how fatally it has worked on 
 souls which had conquered or had never known the baser 
 temptation. See S. Matth. 20 : 25-28 ; S. Luke 22 : 24-26 ; 
 2 Cor. 12 : 20. 
 
 ''^Examples to the flock^'' 
 
 The influence of example is more powerful than any au- 
 thority, and to attain that influence is the best safeguard 
 against the abuse of power. 
 
3l6 /. S, PETER— NOTES, 
 
 5:6. " /;/ due tiiJie.^'* 
 
 S. Peter does not say that the exaltation of victory will 
 come in this life. He does not say it will not come till 
 the Resurrection. With the full assurance of a genuine 
 living faith he is content to leave *' the times and the sea- 
 sons in the Father's hands." It should be the same with 
 us. 
 
 5:7. " Throwing all your anxiety 07i him.^'' 
 
 Compare S. Matth. 13:22; Luke 8 114; 21:34. Our 
 
 anxiety is to be swallowed up by our trust in the loving 
 
 Providence of the Father. 
 
 5:9. " The same sufferings are being aceo?nplished in 
 your brothers y 
 
 We are not alone in our sufferings. Far and near are 
 comrades of ours fighting the same battles and enduring 
 the same afflictions. The realiza.tion of such a thought 
 cheers us and helps us very materially in our effort to en- 
 dure to the end. 
 
 5 : TO. " Will himself restore^ establish^ strengthen you.'''' 
 Compare S. Matth. 10:24, 25, S. Luke 6:40; i Cor. 
 
 1:10; 2 Thess. 2:17; 3:3; S. Matth. 7:25; S. Luke 
 
 6 : 48 ; I Cor. 3:11. 
 
 5 : 12. '''•By Silvanus our faithful br other. '''' 
 Silvanus here mentioned by S. Peter has been identified 
 with Silas mentioned in Acts 15 :22, 32, 40, with the Sil- 
 vanus of I Thess. 1:1, 2 ; 2 Cor. i : 19. 
 
 " This is the true grace of God^ 
 
 S. Peter, the Apostle of the Circumcision here bears 
 witness to the genuineness of the teaching of S. Paul the 
 Apostle of the Gentiles. For it is to be kept in mind the 
 
/. 5. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 317 
 
 churches in the region to which this letter goes were 
 founded by S. Paul. So now, as when he and S. John and 
 S. James gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of 
 fellowship (Gal. 2:9), S. Peter recognizes "the grace of 
 God " which had been given to them and through them. 
 
 5:13. ''^ She who is in Bahylonr 
 
 From whom this salutation comes is not definitely known 
 Some think it means the church in Babylon, some think it 
 was S. Peter's wife or some other prominent member of 
 the church there. 
 
 The Babylon referred to has been thought to be the 
 apocalyptic Babylon of S. John's Revelation, that is Rome. 
 But more recent commentators think it is Babylon on the 
 Euphrates. 
 
 5:14. " Salute each other with a kiss of love. ''^ 
 Compare Rom. 16:16; i Cor. 16 : 20 ; 2 Cor. 13 : 12. 
 The separation of the sexes when the church met for 
 worship, which was probably inherited from the Jewish 
 synagogue, was a safeguard against the scandal which the 
 practise might otherwise have occasioned. In the thir- 
 teenth century, when the sexes were no longer separated, 
 the practice was discontinued. 
 
II. S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 I : I. " Through the fairness of our God.^"^ 
 There is no " respect of persons " with our God. Com- 
 pare Acts 10 : 44 ; 15 : 8, 9. 
 
 1:5. " Kiiowledge,^'' 
 
 This means the moral discernment of those who un- 
 derstand w^hat the wall of the Lord is, Eph. 5:17; of those 
 who have their senses exercised to distinguish between 
 good and evil, Heb. 5:14. This kind of knowledge is to 
 be gained only by the practice of virtue. 
 
 1:9. " For he who has not these is blinds 
 We are to pass on from one attainment in the divine 
 calling to another, for if we do not do so w^e sink back of 
 necessity into a want of power to see even the first prin- 
 ciples of the Kingdom of God. 
 
 " Short-sighted:' 
 
 The man in this condition of his spiritual life sees only 
 what is near at hand, the allurements and provocations 
 that spring from the lower man in him. He has lost the 
 power to see the far-off things of eternal life. 
 
 I : 10. "7^7 make your calling and selection sureP 
 Compare i S. Peter 1:2; 2:21; and notes on them. 
 
 318 
 
//. S. PETER— NOTES, 
 
 I : 19. " Till the day dawns and the day star rises in 
 your hearts.^"* 
 
 In S. Paul's thought the " day " is identical with the 
 coming of the Lord as an objective fact; the close of the 
 world's night of ignorance and moral darkness. Here the 
 addition of the words " and the day star rises in your 
 hearts " fixes its meaning as in some sense subjective. 
 The words point to a direct manifestation of Christ to the 
 soul of the believer as being higher than the " prophetic 
 word," as that in its turn had been higher than the attest- 
 ation of the visible glory and the voice from heaven. 
 Compare i S. Peter 2:9; S. Luke i : 78. 
 
 I : 20. No prophecy of Scripture comes from private 
 interpretation . ' ' 
 
 The Apostle here calls on men to give heed to the 
 prophetic word on the ground that no prophecy authentica- 
 ted as such as being recognized as part of the Old or 
 New Testament comes by the prophet's own interpreta- 
 tion of the facts with which he has to deal. It is borne 
 to him from that which is, in the truest sense of the word, 
 an inspiration. 
 
 1:21. By the will of man, ''^ 
 Compare S. John i : 13. 
 
 *' Men spoke from God being moved by the Holy Spirit.'''' 
 These words assert in the fullest sense the inspiration 
 of all true prophets. Their work does not originate in 
 their own will. The mode and degree of their inspiration, 
 however, and its relation to the prophet's co-operating will 
 and previous habits of thought are left undefined. 
 
 2:1. But false prophets came also among the people.^'' 
 The section of the Epistle which now opens was either 
 
//. S. PETER— NOTES, 
 
 taken to a great extent from S. Jude, or S. Jude was taken 
 from it, or both were taken from a common source. 
 
 The warning against false prophets here given is to be 
 compared with S. Matth. 7 : 22 ; 24: 24 ; i S. John 4 : i. 
 
 " Denying eveit the Master who bought thein.^^ 
 No words could better assert the truth that the redemp- 
 tion with the precious blood of Christ was universal in its 
 range than these. The great sin of these teachers was 
 that they would not recognize their position as redeemed 
 men which of right belonged to them. 
 
 The denial referred to may be either a formal rejection 
 of Christ as the Son of God, like that referred to in i John 
 2 : 22, 23 or to a more practical denial shown forth in base 
 and godless lives. 
 
 2:3. " With covetousness they shall with feigned words 
 make merchajidise of you. 
 
 This greed of gain, found in strange union with high 
 flown claims to a higher knowledge and holiness than that 
 of other men seems to have been one of the chief features 
 of the Apostolic age. Our own times are very much like it. 
 
 2:4. " Cast them into Tartarus^ 
 
 The use of a word so closely bound up with the asso- 
 ciations of Greek mythology is a phenomenon absolutely 
 unique in the New Testament. 
 
 2:6. " Having made them an example^ 
 
 S. Peter does not see in the supernatural destruction of 
 the cities of the plain an exception to the normal order of 
 the Divine government. It was rather a pattern instance 
 of the judgment sure to fall, sooner or later, on all who 
 were guilty of like sins. 
 
II, S. PETER— NOTES. 
 
 321 
 
 Compare i S. Peter 3 : 20 ; S. Luke 17 : 26-29 ; Isaiah 
 I .'9, 10 ; Ezek 16 : 48-56. 
 
 2:13. " Luxuriatiitg in their love feasts while they feast 
 with you. 
 
 The love feasts of the early Christians were a kind of 
 social club feast, at first, perhaps connected in time and 
 place with the Lord's Supper, but afterwards first distin- 
 guished and then divided from it. They were a witness 
 of the new brotherhood in which the conventional distinc- 
 tions of society were suspended, and rich and poor met 
 together with the distinct recognition of the fact that the 
 Lord is the maker of them both. 
 
 Disorders connected with them led to their discontinu- 
 ance. I Cor II :2i as wxll as the present text show the 
 beginning of these disorders at a very early period. 
 
 2:19. " Fromisiiig them liberty while they themselves 
 are slaves of corruptioit. 
 
 The Council of Jerusalem had imposed restraints alike 
 on participation in idolatrous feasts and on sins of impurity 
 ( Acts 15:29). S. Peter here refers to those who are treat- 
 ing that Council's rulings with disdain. Compare i Cor. 
 8:9; 10:23. 
 
 2 :22. " has happened to thei7i according to the true 
 provei'b.''^ 
 
 Stress is laid on the fact that there had been a real 
 change. Those who after baptism returned to the im- 
 purity they had renounced, were in the Apostle's eyes, no 
 better than the unclean beasts. Compare S. Matth. 7 : 6. 
 
 3:1. " This is now, beloved, the second letter.^'' 
 
 A new section of the epistle opens. 
 
 The thoughts of the Apostle now turns to mockers who 
 make merry at the delay of the coming of the Lord. 
 21 
 
322 
 
 //. S. PETER^NOTES, 
 
 3:3. Following their own desires^ 
 The habit of self-indulgence is always the natural parent 
 of the cynical and scoffing sneer. 
 
 3:4. " Whei-e is the promise of his coming ? " 
 
 S. Paul had written time and again as if he expected to 
 be Hving on the earth when the Judge of all the earth 
 should finally come (i Thess. 4:15; i Cor. 15 : 51 ; 2 Cor. 
 5 : 4), and yet he had not come, so some men began to 
 think the coming w^as a delusion. 
 
 " Fell asleep." 
 
 Compare S. John 11 : 11 ; i Cor. 11 130. 
 
 In Christian language the old idea of death as a sleep is 
 perpetuated in the term " cemetery " — sleeping-place, as 
 applied to the burial of the dead. 
 
 3:6. The world * * * perished.''^ 
 
 This word carries with it not simply the idea of destruc- 
 tion pure and simple, but rather that of a change, or 
 breaking up of an old order, by which a new and higher 
 order is introduced. 
 
 The seed thrown on the ground decays and dies, but 
 that is the very condition by which alone the new life 
 germinates and starts afresh in the circle of its being. 
 
 3:7. " Stored up for fire," 
 
 Compare S. Mark 9 : 49 and note on it. 
 
 3*8. " One day is ^ ^ as a thousand years" 
 A day may be as important with results for the spiritual 
 history of mankind or of an individual soul as great as 
 those of a millennium. The period of a millennium may 
 be but as a day in the evolution of the great purposes of 
 God. 
 
//. S. PETER—NOTES, 
 
 3 : 14. ''''Go to work earnestly,'''' 
 
 Here is seen a trace of our Lord's words in S. Matth. 
 24 : 46. 
 
 3:15. " The longsuffermg of our Lord is salvation. 
 
 Men were impatient and considered the longsuffering 
 of God as tardiness in the fulfilment of his promises. The 
 true way of looking at it was to see in it the working out 
 of his plan of salvation. 
 
 " Our beloved brother Paul.^'' 
 
 These words imply a full recognition of S. Paul's work 
 as a brother in the Apostleship. Compare i S. Peter 5:12 
 and note on it. See also i Thess. 4 : 5 and 2 Thess. 2. 
 These latter were written when Silvanus was with S. Paul. 
 Compare also Eph. 1:4; 2:7; 3 : 9-1 1 ; Col. i : 20. 
 3 : i6. ''''As they do also the other Scriptures 
 Few passages are more important than this in its bear- 
 ing on the growth of the canon of the New Testament. It 
 shows that the distinctive term of honor used of the books 
 of the Old Testament was applied without reserve to S. 
 Paul's writings. 
 
 3 : 18. " But grow i7t grace and knowledge.'''* 
 Here, as in chapter one, five, stress is laid on knowledge 
 as an element of growth, partly as essential to completeness 
 in the Christian life, partly, also, perhaps, in the reference 
 to the knowledge falsely so called (i Tim. 6 : 20). 
 
S. JUDE— NOTES. 
 
 I : I. " Juder 
 
 S. Jude, the writer of this letter, was a brother of S. 
 James the writer of the letter bearing that name. 
 " Beloved of Godr 
 
 Compare i Cor. i6: 19; Philippians 4:4. 
 
 I : 3. " To contend eariiestly for the faith which was 
 07ice for all delivered.^'' 
 
 Compare for the word "contend," Col. i : 29; 4 : 12. 
 
 The expression here used finds a close parallel in the 
 " striving together for the faith " of Phil, i : 27. 
 
 Faith is obviously to be taken in its objective sense, as 
 being the belief of the Church universal. This * faith " 
 was first of all imparted orally to every convert and took 
 its place among the traditions of the Church (2 Thess. 
 2:15; 3:6), the noble deposit^ " the good thing committed 
 to their trust," which all pastors and teachers were to 
 watch over and to pass on to others (2 Tim. i : 14), iden- 
 tical with the " form of sound words " (2 Tim. i : 13). 
 
 In the words which describe the " mystery of godli- 
 ness " (i Tim. 3 : 16), and in " faithful sayings " of the 
 Pastoral Epistles (i Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11; 
 Titus 3 : 8), we have probably portions of this traditional 
 faith. 
 
S. JUDE— NOTES. 
 
 It was now imperiled by teachers who denied it, both 
 in their teaching and in their Ufe, and it was necessary for 
 men like S. Jude and the other New Testament writers to 
 redouble their efforts to maintain it unimpaired. 
 
 1:4. Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness,^^ 
 This description agrees with that in 2 S. Peter 2 : 18, 
 19. See note on that text. Under the pretence of magni- 
 fying the grace of God (Rom. 6:1), such men, under the 
 guise of Christian liberty, led base and licentious lives. 
 
 Compare i Cor. 6:9-18; 2 Peter 2:2: i S. John 
 3:7-10. 
 
 1:6. Angels who did not keep their own principality'^ 
 
 See 2 Peter 2 : 4 and note. 
 
 " Left their proper habitation.'''' 
 
 This seems to imply such a descent from the region of 
 heaven to that of earth as that referred to in the language 
 of Genesis 6 : 2. 
 
 " He has kept in perpetttal bonds tinder darkness^ ' 
 S. Jude's language like that of S. Peter in his second 
 epistle, chapter two, follows the traditions of the book of 
 Enoch. The resemblance between this tradition, that of 
 the Zoroastrian legend of the fall of Ahriman and his 
 angels, and that of the punishment of the Titans by Zeus 
 in the mythology of Hesiod, shows the widespread cur- 
 rency of the belief referred to. 
 
 1:7. " Gone after strange Jlesh.^^ 
 
 Moral and physical impurity, and not simply or chiefly 
 pride, as in the mediaeval traditions of Caedmon and Mil- 
 ton, is here shown to be the leading feature of the fall of 
 the angels. 
 
326 
 
 S. JUDE— NOTES, 
 
 I ; 10. " But these revile whatevei' they do not knowr 
 Compare Col. 2 : 18. 
 
 *' What they iinder stand Jiaticrally like the ereattcres with- 
 out reaso7t.^'' 
 
 Here is a reference to the natural impulses of sensual 
 desire which the false teachers referred to understood all 
 too well, but which they perverted either to the mere grati- 
 fication of lust, or to that gratification in a way contrary 
 to the laws of nature. 
 
 Compare Rom. i : 26-27. 
 
 I : II. '* They went in the way of Cain.^'* 
 
 Lust is hard by hate. Such false teachers, therefore, as 
 just referred to, must of necessity become murderous and 
 malignant as well as sensual. 
 
 I '12. " These are they who are Jiidden rocks in your 
 love feasts.^'' 
 
 See 2 Peter 2 : 13 and note. 
 " Feed the7?iselves.'" 
 
 These teachers of imparity, instead of submitting them- 
 selves to the true pastors of the Church, came in like the 
 false shepherds of Ezek. 34, i, 2, 8. 10, to feed themselves, 
 that is, to mdulge their own lusts in defiance of authority. 
 
 1:13. Wandering stars r 
 
 These false teachers are like comets or shooting stars, 
 whose irregular appearance startles and terrifies men, and 
 then they vanish into darkness. Such is the parable of 
 the short-lived fame and baleful influence of the false 
 teachers whom S. Jude has in view. They, too, were drift- 
 ing away into eternal darkness. 
 
 1:14. '* 7^? these also Enochs .... prophesied. 
 The words which follow are almost a verbal quotation 
 from the Book of Enoch. 
 
S. JUDE--NOTES. 
 
 327 
 
 I : 16. '''' Admh'ing persons^ 
 
 Compare S. James 2:1; Gal. 2:6; S. Matth. 22 : 16. 
 
 The phrase occurs in the Septuagint, Gen. 19:21; 
 Lev. 19:15. The temper characterized is that which 
 fawns as in wondering admiration on the great, while all 
 the time the flatterer is simply seeking what profit he can 
 get out o him whom he flatters. 
 
 I : 18. " There will be mockers, "^^ 
 
 See 2 Peter 3 : 3 and note. 
 
 1:19. " These are they who make separatio^is^'' 
 The false teachers and mockers spoken of drew lines of 
 separation which Christ did not draw. They claimed for 
 themselves a higher Christian knowledge than the ordinary 
 brother. See 2 S. Peter 2 : 19 and note. They lost sight of 
 the unity of Christ's Church and preferred the position of a 
 sect or party. In doing this they united the exclusiveness 
 of the Pharisees with the sensuous unbelief of the Sad- 
 ducees. 
 
 I : 20. " Praying i7t the Holy Spirit.^"* 
 
 The thought here given expression to corresponds with 
 S. Paul's language in Rom. 8 : 26 and the almost identical 
 phraseology of i Cor. 14: 15. What is meant is the ec- 
 static outpouring of prayer in which the words of the wor- 
 shipper seem to come directly from the Spirit who " helps 
 our w^eakness " and " makes intercession for us," it may 
 be in articulate speech, it may be, in " groanings which 
 cannot be uttered." Rom. 8 : 26. 
 
 1:25. "71? the only God our Saviour,^'' 
 
 Compare i Tim. i : 13. 
 
 The Father, no less than the Son was thought of by S. 
 Peter as well as by S. Paul as the Saviour and preserver 
 of all men. 
 
S. JAMES— NOTES. 
 
 The contents of the epistle of S. James have well been 
 called the wisdom of S. James. For no book of the New 
 Testament, not even excepting S. Matthew's Gospel, has 
 such an exclusive savor of the old Hebrew wisdom litera- 
 ture. 
 
 The epistle as a whole seems to divide itself naturally 
 into five main divisions, and these again into two each, 
 one of which is less rhythmic and shows the traces far less 
 distinctly of parallelism, while that which follows has both 
 of these to a more marked extent. 
 
 The first chapter begins thus with little rhythm and par- 
 allelism and then at verse nine rises more surely to both. 
 
 I : I. To the twelve tribes P 
 
 At the time this letter was written, Judah and Benjamin 
 had to a great extent returned to the Holy Land from their 
 captivity, though great numbers of both tribes were living 
 in various parts of the world. The remaining ten had lost 
 their tribal distinctions and have long since perished from 
 all historical record. 
 
 Long before the destruction of Jerusalem Jewish colon- 
 ists were found in many parts of Europe as well as Asia 
 and suffered from time to time through the persecutions 
 of their enemies. But even where they suffered most they 
 sprang again from the same undying stock, however much 
 it had been hewn by the sword, or burnt by the fire. 
 328 
 
S. JAMES— NOTES. 
 
 329 
 
 1:2. " Cojisider it all joy^^'' etc. 
 
 The apostle is following the same line of thought as that 
 expressed in Heb. 5 : 14. By use our senses may be ex- 
 ercised to the discernment of good and evil. The graces 
 of God given to the soul grow and enlarge on the same 
 principle as the powers of body and mind. If, then, they 
 are allowed to go without exercise they must of necessity 
 at length decay and die. For just as the veteran who has 
 learned to face habitual danger as a duty is more trust- 
 worthy than a raw recruit, so it is with the Christian 
 soldier in his spiritual warfare. In the words of S. Paul 
 (2 Tim. 2 : 3), he must " endure hardness." It is only thus 
 he can become strong in the strength which God supplies. 
 Innocence that has never been tried is beautiful to look 
 upon. But there is a higher stage of the same virtue, — 
 purity won by long and often bitter conflict with the powers 
 of darkness and of death. 
 
 Temptation is not sin. 
 
 You cannot, the old German divine tells us, you cannot 
 prevent the birds flying over your heads, but you can pre- 
 vent their making nests there. 
 
 1:4. " Let endurance have its perfect work^ 
 The grace of endurance will not come to its full beauty 
 in an hour. Emotion and sentiment have their place in 
 the beginning of a Christian career, but that is not to be 
 the end of the matter. Until we have won life by endu- 
 rance the perfect work of God is not worked out in us. 
 
 1:6. " Without any douhtsT 
 
 Here S. James re-echoes the w'ords of our Lord to his 
 wondering disciples as they looked at the withering fig 
 tree. (S. Matth. 21 : 21). 
 
 Faith, in the beginning, is the gift of God, but it is ours 
 
33P S, J A MES—NO TES. 
 
 to tend it and use it with love and zeal or its precious facul- 
 ties will soon be gone. 
 
 1:9. " Let the lowly brother T 
 
 Willingness for Christ's service, whether it is great or 
 little, is the right condition of mind for all disciples. Pleas- 
 ure is naturally felt by most at the prospect of a rise in the 
 world. But there are some fine spirits who fain would 
 shrink from anything like exaltation. To these the kindly 
 apostle writes that they may take heart and not fear the 
 greater dangers which of necessity go with a higher call. 
 
 I : 10. And the rich in his hiimiliatioitj''' 
 
 God puts down one and raises up another. Psalm 75:7. 
 This seems to be the suggestion of this passage, while it 
 further suggests that the poorest may be " rich toward 
 God," and the rich may be very poor in his sight. Com- 
 pare Rev. 2:9:3:17. 
 
 I : 1 1 . " The sun rises with the scorching heai^^ 
 
 Compare Isaiah 40 : 6-8. 
 
 " All flesh is grass " : 
 And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. 
 The grass withereth, 
 The flower fadeth : 
 Because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. 
 Surely the people is grass. 
 The grass withereth ; 
 The flower fadeth. 
 But the word of our God shall stand forever.'* 
 
 "/;/ this way ^ too, will the rich man fade awayT It is 
 not the rich brother who is to fade away in his goings. It 
 is those who put their trust in riches (S. Mark 10 : 24). 
 Even money wrongly gotten can be used by him who has 
 turned from his evil ways to make friends who will receive 
 him into the eternal tents (S. Luke, 16 : 9). 
 
S. JAMES— NOTES. 
 
 33t 
 
 The rich will indeed perish in their journeyings for the 
 sake of gain. We of these latter days as well as the rich 
 Jews to whom these words were first addressed need the 
 same plain reminder. 
 
 I : 12. ''''Blessed is the mail who endures temptation^ 
 The apostle links this blessing with those of our Lord 
 in the Sermon on the Mount. S. Matth. 5 : 3-1 1. 
 1:13. " Let no one say when he is tevipted.^^ 
 The true Christian neither gives way to sin that grace 
 may abound (Rom. 6:1), nor does he think for a moment 
 that God and so power invincible is drawing him from the 
 good. 
 
 Our Christian heritage teaches us better things than that. 
 It tells us, all things are working together for our good. 
 Good will triumph at last. Yet we are at the same time 
 taught humility and watchfulness over the evil within and 
 without us. 
 
 " He tempts no one.^'' 
 
 Our God permits temptation, but he himself does not 
 tempt the children of men. He permits them that by 
 them we may be strengthened, if we will, for his greater 
 service. Here is the Christian conflict and the secret of 
 God's ways with men. 
 
 I : 14. " Each 07te is tempted^^^ etc. 
 
 No power of hell can force its way into the heart of man 
 without his own consent. Only by a man's ow^i treason 
 can the enemy of his soul enter in and reign there. 
 I : 15. " Then the desire^ when it has conceived,^"* 
 The effect of sin is death. The sinful act is mortal. 
 The result is inevitable. As poison to the body so is sin 
 to the soul. There are antidotes to both, but they must 
 be given in time. The door of mercy does not stand open 
 forever, nor can the fountain opened for sin and unclean- 
 
332 
 
 S. JAMES— NOTES. 
 
 ness (Zech. 13 : i) flow on without end. For, as the 
 wisdom of God in Prov. 2 : 24-26 says, I have called and 
 ye refused. Yes, as S. Paul puts it (Rom. 6 : 23) : " The 
 wages of sin is death." 
 
 I : 16. " Do not be deceived P 
 
 S. James the Wise has been dwelling on the negative 
 side of the Father's character. He now turns to the fea- 
 tures of the positive side. 
 
 I : 17. " Eve7y good givittg and every perfect gift^^'^ 
 
 This beautiful sentence, more musical still in the Greek, 
 is thought to be a fragment of some Christian hymn. 
 Compare i Cor. 12:4. 
 
 " With 'who7n can be no variation.^'' 
 
 There are changes of the heavenly bodies and eclipses 
 of one or another, but there is no such variation with God. 
 Compare Malachi 3 : 6. 
 
 " I : 18. He brought us forth by the word of truth. ^"^ 
 There is a greater witness to God's goodness than that 
 which \% wTitten on the dome of heaven. It is the regen- 
 eration of man. The old creation was " by the Word " 
 (S. John I : 3, 10.) The new is by him also. So tenderly 
 is this declared that a maternal phrase is used, — brought 
 forth. And even though a woman may forget her son 
 (Isaiah 49 : 15), yet will he never leave us nor forsake us 
 (Hebr. 13 : 5). 
 
 1 : 20. " The wrath of ma7t does not work the goodness of 
 Godr 
 
 This warning needs to be sounded in the ears of 
 Christians to-day as ever of yore. We are not less apt 
 than Jonah of old to say quickly and in self-excuse, " I do 
 well to be angry." 
 
 Many a holy work of Church and home has been hin- 
 
S. JAMES'-NOTES. 
 
 333 
 
 dered and destroyed in this way ! And if these golden 
 words of the first Bishop of Jerusalem had been heeded 
 there never would have been a page of her long history 
 blotted with the blood of a religious wax, 
 
 1:21. " The implanted word which is able to save your 
 souls y 
 
 The idea of salvation here conveyed is so potentially 
 and not actually. Tended and cared for, it will grow into 
 a tree of life, whose fruit will heal the wounds of sin. So 
 the growth of this plant of God is largely in the hands of 
 each individual soul of man. 
 
 The highest conception of God to the Greek mind was 
 the idea of intellectual sufficiency and contemplation. 
 The Oriental strives for extinction and nothingness. But 
 the Christian is given the sure and abiding hope of the 
 glorified body, the enlightened soul and the perfected 
 spirit working the will and praise of its Maker and Re- 
 deemer forever. 
 
 I : 22. " Doers of the word,^^ 
 
 No acquaintance with the Bible apart from the practise 
 of its precepts will avail the Christian any more thaij it 
 did the Jew. 
 
 Compare Rom. 2:13, 
 
 I : 25. ^* This man will be blessed ifi his .doingT' 
 Here again we have a reminder of the Beatitudes an(i 
 the close of that sermon of which tliey are tlie heginning. 
 The blessedness of this humbly active Christian is like 
 that of the wise man there spoken of (S. Matth. 7 : 24-2 5). 
 
 I : 26. " If any one thinks he is religious while he doe^ 
 not bridle his tongue.''* 
 
 The first mark of true religion is gentleness of tongue^ 
 just as the contrary, blasphemy, is the w^orst sin of all. 
 
334 -S:. JAMES— NO TES, 
 
 I : 27. " Fare religion. , . . is this, etc. 
 
 Here is the double proof of the perfect life of holiness 
 whose savor is a perpetual incense before the Throne of 
 God. The help afforded the helpless is the first of the 
 two requirements,, and it often is a means to bring about 
 the second, that is, that spotless condition of holiness 
 which marks^ and will ever mark> the trae follower of the 
 Lord Jesus. 
 
 Compare S» Matth. 25 : 40* 
 
 f :I. My brother Sy do not hold the faith, , . . with 
 respect ofpers&jisy 
 
 Compare S. Jude, verse i6„ 
 
 The lesson here taught is distinctly addressed to be- 
 lievers, and its severity is the greater because of the 
 Apostle^s unhappy consciousness of its need. What might 
 be endurable in a heathen or a Jew cannot be tolerated for 
 an instant in a professed follower of the lowly Jesus. And 
 this seems to be a further reason for the indignant expos- 
 tulation and condemnation of verse 14. 
 
 Compare 2 Cor. 8 : 9 ; Phil. 2 : 4-7. 
 
 Were these fundamental facts of the Christian faith be- 
 lieved in at that time ? Are they now ? Why then such 
 folly and shame as acceptance of outward appearances ac- 
 . cording to the dictates of the world's fashionable society } 
 
 The true Spirit of Christ does not lead us to contempt 
 for even earthly dignities such as is affected by some of 
 his Ignorant followers. For true reverence and submission 
 to constituted authority are in no way condemned by such 
 passages of Scripture as this. Yet the undue excess of 
 these is condemned. The preference for vulgar wealth, 
 the worship of success of and in itself is nothing more nor 
 less than the basest kind of idolatry. 
 
S. JAMES^NOTES, 
 
 335 
 
 2:5. " Did 7tot God choose those who are poor.''* 
 Compare S. Luke 6 : 20. 
 
 The way to the Kingdom of God is nearer and less 
 cumbered for the poor than for the rich. The trials and 
 troubles of the poor have a tendency to keep them humble 
 and to lead them to look to God for aid in their need and 
 so to become " poor in spirit " (S. Matth. 6:3). 
 
 2:6. Do 7tot the rich oppress you ? " 
 
 This refers to the rich as a class. Not every individual 
 is meant. It refers to those w^ho trust in their riches 
 (S. Mark 10 : 24), who make them a power for evil instead 
 of for good. 
 
 2:11. " For he who said.^* 
 
 Everybody has favorite vices and indulgences, and most 
 men. 
 
 " Compound for sins they have a mind to 
 By damning those they're not inclined to ; 
 and they forget the same Lawgiver has laid his restrictions 
 on every sort and kind. 
 
 2 : 13. For judgment is without mercy to him who has 
 showed no mercy. 
 
 Here again are echoes of our Lord's words in S. Matth. 
 6:1, 2, etc., and a reference to the thought of his parable 
 of the Unjust Steward in S. Matth. 18 : 21-35. 
 
 Those who have no pity are themselves wretched cow- 
 ards. They can be moved by fear when they cannot be by 
 love. 
 
 " Mercy glories over judgment.^'' 
 Compare S. Matth. 9 : 13. 
 
 2:14. If any one says he has faith but has no works.'''' 
 Faith must be embodied in acts. The two cannot be 
 separated. S. James here warns us against the delusive 
 notion that it is enough for men to have religious emo- 
 
33^ JAMES^NOTES. 
 
 tions, to talk religious language, to have so called religious 
 knowledge, and to profess the regulation religious belief, 
 without the habitual practise of religious duties implied in 
 a true love of God and man, and the daily devotion of a 
 pure and noble individual life. 
 
 Here we have the recurring thought dwelt on and used 
 as a sort of refrain : " Can faith without works save a 
 man ? " This idea is so brought out that the whole piece 
 from verse 14 to 26 is divided into three parts, each part 
 forming a regular envelope stanza. 
 
 2 : 19. " The demons.^'* See note on 3 : 15. 
 
 3:1. " The greater jiidgijieiit.^^ 
 
 Not one of us lives to himself nor dies to himself (Rom. 
 14:7). If this is true of the ordinary man, how much 
 more is it true of those who attempt to teach others. 
 " Who is sufficient for these things ? " (2 Cor. 2:6). 
 
 Do not let every man set himself up to be a teacher. 
 
 3:2. 1)1 many thijtgs we all offend. 
 
 Humble indeed was the holy mind of S. James. But 
 this confession of error uplifts him in all right appreciation. 
 It is the very weaknesses of Peter and Paul and James 
 which endear them to us. It is by these we know as- 
 suredly that they were " men of like passions " with our- 
 selves (Acts 14 : 15), and that where they succeeded, we, 
 by the like grace of God, may also win the crown. 
 
 3:2. " ^ perfect man.^'* 
 
 Control over one's tongue does not in itself constitute 
 perfection, but it is a crucial test indicating whether one 
 has attained to it. 
 
 *' The whole body.^'' 
 
 This phrase is used to sum up the aggregate of all the 
 temptations W'hich come to us through the avenues of 
 sense. 
 
S. JAMES— NOTES. 
 
 337 
 
 3:3. " We put the ho7'ses' bridles into their mouths.^'' 
 The thought of man's power over brute creatures and 
 natural forces, and of his weakness in the far greater 
 sphere of self-control, suggests the striking and graphic 
 parallel in one of the choruses of Sophocles' Antigone : 
 " Many the wonders of earth, 
 But none more so than man. 
 E'en he across the sea 
 White with the wintry blast 
 Goes sailing on between 
 The billows that surge round. 
 * * * * 
 
 Of mountain-ranging beast and that 
 Of plain is he the master by 
 His wiles. With neck-encircling yoke 
 The shaggy-maned horse 
 And mountain bull he decks" (332-350). 
 And another passage (Antigone 475) : 
 
 " So I have seen 
 Quite high-strung horses broken in with a 
 Small bit." 
 
 3 : 5. How great a forest a little fire kindles.^'' 
 This image is constantly recurring in poetry ancient and 
 modern. S. James seems to have been thinking of the 
 wrapping of some vast forest in flame by the falling of a 
 single spark of fire among its dead leaves. 
 So Homer sings : 
 
 " As when a spark scarce seen will set ablaze 
 The illimitable forest." Iliad, 2 : 455. 
 
 And Virgil : 
 
 " And wraps the forest in a robe of flame." 
 22 
 
338 -S-. JAMES-^NOTES. 
 
 3:6. Is ever being set 07i fire itself by gehenna,^'* 
 
 S. James does not shrink from tracing sins of speech to 
 their source. The fire of man's wrath is kindled from 
 beneath as the fire that cleanses is kindled from above. 
 
 Gehenna, it is to be remembered, is a Hebrew word for 
 the place of torment. The plain English of it is valley of 
 Hinnom. It does not answer to the Greek word Hades, 
 which means the place of departed spirits, but to the Greek 
 w^ord Tartarus, the symbol to them of the dread penalties 
 of evil. Compare S. Matth. S : 22 ; S. Mark 9 : 43. 
 
 3:14. Do not glory. 
 
 Do not glory over any one. 
 
 This was likely to be the besetting sin of the party of 
 the Circumcision in relation to the heathen converts and 
 so was checked by S. James just as afterwards, when 
 the prospect of the rejection of Israel was becoming a cer- 
 tainty, it became in its turn the sin of the heathen con- 
 verts, and was then checked by S. Paul (Rom 11 : 18). 
 
 3 : 13-18. Here is an envelope stanza on true wisdom. 
 
 3:15. " Demon-like?'* 
 
 This epithet does not state that the false wisdom comes 
 from the devil, it is to be noticed, but that it was demon- 
 like, that is, partakes of the nature of the demons or un- 
 clean spirits who, as in the Gospels are represented as 
 possessing the souls of men and reducing them to the level 
 of madness. Such, S. James shows us, is the character of 
 the spurious wisdom of the many teachers of verse i. Met 
 together in debate, wrangling, cursing, swearing, one 
 would take them for an assembly of demoniacs. Their 
 disputes were marked by the ferocity, the egotism, the 
 boasting, the malignant cunning of the insane. S. Paul's 
 account of the doctrine of demons (i Tim. 4:1), that is 
 proceeding from demons, not from the Spirit of God, pre- 
 
S. JAMES--NOTES, 
 
 339 
 
 sents a striking paralkL See also chapter 2 : 19, which 
 shows how much S. James' thought shad been directed to 
 the phenomena of possession. 
 
 3 : 17. " F/Qrheariiig^ p£rsuaskjey 
 
 True wisdom shows itself, S. James would say, In that 
 subtle yet gentle power to persuade and win which we all 
 feel when we come in contact with one who is clearly not 
 fighting for his own rights^ but for the causje of Tjutlu 
 *' Withcui 'uadliatiahi.^'' 
 
 This is ±he condition necessarily antecedent to the 
 power to be without hypocrisy Where the purpose is 
 single there is no risk of a simulated hypocrisy. 
 
 3 : iS, " The Jriiit .^f r,igM-d&ingJ^ 
 
 Every good deed is a fruit produced by tlie good seed 
 sown in the good soil and not choked by thorns. And in 
 its turn, every such deed is as the .seed of a future fruit 
 like in kind. It is sown in peace by those who make 
 peace. Compare S. Matth. 5 : 9. Note also the resem- 
 blance between this jJ^Ttraiture of true wisdom and the 
 picture which S. Paul draws in i 'Cor. 13, of the excellence 
 of Love, Differing as the two teachers did, in many ways 
 in their modes of thought and language, S. James fasten- 
 ing on the more practical, S. Paul on tTie more spiritual, 
 aspects of the Truth as it is in Christ, there was an essen- 
 tial agreement in their standard of the highest form of the 
 Christian character, A comparison of the two helps us to 
 understand how the one teacher held out the right hand 
 of fellowship to the other (Gal. 2:9), and it also leads us 
 to hope for a like accord now among men who seem to 
 differ in their conception of Christian truth, if only they 
 agree in their ultimate aim and purpose of life and feel in 
 the depth of their being that all true love is Wisdom 
 and all true wisdom is Love. 
 
S. JAMES— NOTES, 
 
 4 : i-io. Here is a long envelope stanza on wars and 
 fightings among men. 
 
 4:2. " You desire and do not haveT 
 
 The genesis of evil is here traced somewhat in the same 
 way as in chapter 1:15, which see and note on it. The 
 germ here is found in desire for what we do not have and 
 in the sins of David (2 Sam. 11 : i), and of Ahab (i Kings 
 21 : 2-4). That desire becomes the master passion of a 
 man's soul and hurries him on to crimes from which he 
 would at first have started back with horror and the deep- 
 est dismay. 
 
 " You do not have because you do not as/c.^* 
 
 Here is the secret of many a man's restless cravings 
 and ever-recurring disappointments. He never once stops 
 to make his wants the subject of true and earnest prayer. 
 
 Compare Philip 4 : 6. With S. James, as with S. Paul, 
 prayer is ever the condition of contentment and joy. 
 
 4 : 4. " Yoti ask and do not received 
 
 But such men do ask, S. James here admits, but he 
 shows what kind of asking it is. They only ask that they 
 may spend what they get on their lusts. All such asking 
 is vain. No prayer which is simply for the satisfaction of 
 our base nature can be answered by our heavenly Father, 
 except to our hurt. 
 
 " The friendship of the world is enmity with God^ 
 Here is another echo from the Sermon on the Mount 
 (S. Matth. 6 : 24 ; S. Luke 16 : 13). 
 
 4 : 6. God resisteth the proud 
 
 But giveth grace to the humble, 
 
 S. James the Wise quotes again from that book of Wis- 
 dom, Proverbs 3 : 34. 
 
S. JAMES— NOTES. 
 
 4:7. " Resist the devil and he will flee from you.^'' 
 This rule points to the true field for the exercise of the 
 fighting element which enters into man's nature. Not in 
 strife and bitterness against each other, not in setting 
 ourselves against the will of God, but in taking our stand 
 against the enemy of God and man are the disciples of 
 Christ to show that they are indeed men. See S. Matth, 
 4 : l-ll. 
 
 4:8. " D7'aw near to God. 
 
 And he will draw near to yon. 
 
 Primarily this may mean, draw near to God in prayer. 
 But it must ever be kept in mind that such drawing near 
 is only effective in so far as it is true and earnest and shows 
 such a disposition in a continual approximation of char- 
 acter and life. We must walk with God as Enoch walked 
 (Gen. 5: 24). 
 
 4: 11-12. Another envelope stanza on backbiting. 
 
 4:9. " Be afflicted and motim and weep.^"* 
 
 Here again, as so often in this letter, can be traced the 
 direct influence of the teaching of the Sermon on the 
 Mount (S Matth. 5 : 4). 
 
 4 : 13. " Come now, you who say,^'' etc. 
 
 Here is a condemnation of such plans for the future as 
 our Lord refers to in the Parable of the Rich Fool (S. Luke 
 12 : 16). 
 
 4:14. '■^ And yoti do not know, what shall happen to- 
 morrow.^^ 
 
 See S. Matth. 6:34. S.James partly reproduces that 
 teaching of our Lord and that in Prov. 27 : i. 
 4:16. " But now you glory i7t your vatintings.'''' 
 The word for vauntings is the same as that translated 
 " the pride of life " in i John 2:16, that is, its braggart 
 boastfulness, not the innocent gladness of living. It is 
 
S. JAMES— NOTES. 
 
 rather the trust of the godless such as the Psalmist refers 
 to in Psalm lo : 6. It is the mistaken confidence of even 
 such a noble man as Job in chapter 19 : 18, before the 
 Almighty instructs him by trouble and loss and pain. 
 
 4:17. ''^ So to him who knows how to do good a7id does 
 not do ity 
 
 Chances to do good He about us on every side. Omis- 
 sion in such cases is often far v^orse than commission. 
 More souls are in jeopardy at times for things left undone 
 than for things done. To leave undone what we know 
 we ought to do, is sin, even if there is no outward act of 
 what men call crime or vice. 
 
 5 : 1-6. Another envelope stanza on the rich. 
 " For your miseries which are coming o7tyouy 
 These words had their first fulfilment in the woes which 
 preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. But these were 
 but the first in the series which are to attain their com- 
 pleteness only in the final Advent. 
 
 5:2. " Yotir riches a^-e corrupted. 
 
 Your clothes are moth-eaten.^'' 
 
 Here and in the line which follows is the union of the 
 two chief forms of wealth in the East. Compare S. 
 Matth. 6:19; Acts 20 : 33. 
 
 5:3. *' Will eat your flesh like flre.^^ 
 
 The rust spreads from the riches to the life itself. And 
 when they fail and leave behind only the sense of wasted 
 opportunities and the memories of wicked pleasures the 
 soul will shudder at their work as the flesh shudders at 
 the touch of fire. 
 
 " In the last daysP 
 
 S. James shared the belief of other New Testament 
 writers that they were living " in the last days " of the 
 
S, JAMES— NOTES, 
 
 343 
 
 world's history and that the great coming of the Lord 
 was near (i S. John 2 : i8 ; i Cor. 15 : 51 ; i Thess. 4 : 15). 
 For those to whom he was writing, however, his words 
 had real and abiding meaning. They were actually living 
 *' in the last days " of Jerusalem and Jerusalem's law and 
 religious polity. In the chaos and desolation of its fall 
 which soon followed their heaped-up treasure availed them 
 little. In fact the very wealth on which they had be- 
 stowed so much care and anxiety marked them out as the 
 first to be attacked and plundered. 
 
 5:4. " Lookt the wages of the laborer s^^ etc. 
 
 The Jewish law condemned those who kept back the 
 wages of the laborer over night (Lev. 19:13). Jeremiah 
 (22:13) had uttered a woe against him "who uses his 
 neighbor's service without wages." Malachi (3 : 5) had 
 spoken of the swift judgment which should come on those 
 " who oppressed the laborer in his wages." 
 
 5:5. ** You have nourished your hearts 
 In a day of slaughter.^'' 
 
 The rich men of Judaea were but fattening themselves, 
 as beasts are fattened, for the slaughter which is surely 
 coming. 
 
 5:6. " You condemned^ you killed the doer of right 
 This is as if a follower of George Fox had addressed 
 the judges and clergy of Charles the Second's reign, and 
 said to them : You persecuted the Friend, and he does 
 not resist you. 
 
 Compare Wisdom of Solomon 2 : 12-16, 5 : 1-5. 
 
 5:11. " Have seen the end of the Lord.''^ 
 
 You have seen what God did in the end of Job's trial. 
 Learn from it how great a deliverance he will also work 
 for you. 
 
344 ^- MES—NO TES. 
 
 5 : 12-20. Four stanzas. The first of these reminds us 
 of a part of the Sermon on the Mount (S. Matth. 5 : 33- 
 37). The others are distinctively peculiar to S. James. 
 
 5 : 5 : 13. " any ainong you suffering : 
 Let him pray:^^ 
 
 The precepts here put forth point to the principle that 
 worship is the truest and best expression of both sorrow 
 and joy. 
 
 5:14. Aitointijtg him with oil in the name of the 
 Lordr 
 
 The contest shows that this was done as a means to a 
 cure. Compare S. Mark 6:13; S. Luke 10 : 34. Friction 
 with olive oil was prescribed by Celsus for fever. Herod 
 the Great used oil baths as a remedy (Joseph Ant. 17 : 6, 
 § 5). See also S. Mark 7 : 33 ; 8 : 23 : S. John 9 : 6). The 
 early Christians are instructed to use what medical means 
 they are acquainted with, in dependence on God's bless- 
 ing sought by trustful prayer. 
 
 See Ecclesiasticus 38 : 1-15. 
 
 5 : 20. " Will cover a vitdtittcde of sins T 
 Compare i S. Peter 4 : 8, and note on it. See also 
 Prov. 10 : 12. 
 
 The sins which are here said to be covered are those 
 of the man converted. The context makes this plain. 
 Yet in the very fact of converting another, we are blessed 
 ourselves and gain favor with God. In this way our own 
 sins also can be said to be covered. For in such an act 
 love reaches its highest point. It of necessity includes 
 faith in God which is the condition of forgiveness: 
 
HEBRE WS—NO TES. 
 
 345 
 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 Whoever wrote this letter stood in close relation to S. 
 Paul. It is evidently the work of a Jew. 
 
 The closing verses show that a particular community is 
 directly addressed, a community well known to the writer 
 and one whose affection the writer knew was his. 
 
 It seems to have been generally taken for granted hereto- 
 fore that this Jewish community was in Palestine. If, how- 
 ever, the writer was Priscilla, it was in Rome and was the 
 congregation which met in her house. See article in Sun- 
 day-school Times, Vol. 42, No. 23, " Did a Woman Write 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews ? " 
 
 The first chapter of this noted letter reminds us in its 
 structure and in its attempted representation of the Son, of 
 the introduction to S. John's Gospel. This introduction 
 tells us the Christ is the " reflected perfection of God." S. 
 John tells us that " In the beginning was the word, etc." 
 This introduction tells us " it was he who sustains every- 
 thing by the expression of his power." S. John's introduc- 
 tion tells us " everything made its appearance through him." 
 
 The object of the writer of this letter is to place the older 
 revelation over against what has been given us in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. As he tells us in this introduction, he in 
 whom God has at last revealed himself to man is Son of 
 God and so above all angels. 
 
The A 
 
 merican 
 
 Bible 
 
 The fame of this work has already traveled to Germany. The pub- 
 lishers of the Theologischer Jahresbericht, of Berlin, have put in a 
 request for copies for review. 
 
 The same kind of a request has come from The Bohemian, of Fort 
 Worth, Texas. 
 
 A professor in a Methodist Seminary in the East says of it : 
 
 " Happy the boy who can sit in his corner with Genesis 
 or Kings in this fascinating form. He need not envy his 
 brother in the corner with Robinson Crusoe. ' ' 
 
 Prof. E. E. Slosson (Presbyterian, University of Wyoming) says, in 
 a letter to the translator : 
 
 ** It is a great work you are engaged in ; only second in importance 
 to that of Wyclif and Luther." 
 
 It does not become colloquial and weak in its effort to be modern." 
 — The Standard, Chicago. 
 
 *' The spirit that characterizes this attempt to modernize the Bible 
 writings is reverent and devout." — The Presbyterian, Philadelphia. 
 
 " The greatest innovation is in the close rendering of the tenses of 
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 '^The impression made on the reader by the modern look of the 
 printed page will in many cases make a new book of the Bible to those 
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 books before us we have an entirely fresh translation in addition to an 
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 The work represents painstaking and scholarly effort to present 
 the New Testament in the common speech of America to-day." — The 
 Co ngregatio nalist. 
 
 " The motive of this effort is excellent. . . . The translation is lucid, 
 vigorous, scholarly, in its effort to uncover the basic qualities of the 
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The /\merican Bible 
 
 The Books of the Bible in modern English for American Readers, 
 and this is what is said about it : 
 
 Last summer 1 used the Gospels in family prayers for the sake of 
 my children. 
 
 **1 think it a most valuable sort of book to have and to use in a 
 family. Such a translation acts in a way as a commentary on the 
 familiar text. It makes the reader think ; applies the Bible to the 
 present day, as it were, so that when he hears the familiar words again 
 they have a new and larger and fuller meaning for him."— Dr. John P. 
 Peters, Rector, St. Michael's Church, N. Y. Formerly Professor of 
 Hebrew, Phila. Divinity School, and the University of Pennsylvania. 
 Author, Reviewer, etc., etc. 
 
 How fresh and interesting the old Book reads in your version ! I 
 read it occasionally at family prayers. 
 
 " I read once the account of Paul's shipwreck, and I tell you we 
 had good listeners. Besides, the whole structure of your work in all 
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 — Dr. J. A. Faulkner, Professor, Drew Theological Seminary, Madi- 
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 Students at the University, prisoners in the State Penitentiary, and 
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 pressed than when the ordinary version is used. It is a strange sight 
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 Testament, to have them borrow it from each other, and sit up nights 
 to read it through like the latest novel, is sufficiently unusual to merit 
 attention." — Prof. E. E. Slosson, in the New York Indepeyidents 
 
 Let any one read a chapter or two of this modernized book to a 
 circle of young people and note the effect for himself. If that effect is 
 not to secure an eagerness of attention, a freshness of interest, an evi- 
 dent clearness of understanding rarely secured by the reading of the 
 older versions, the result will be different from that of many who have 
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 " We become so hardened to the words of Scripture through long 
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 Some of your translations of familiar passages will strike your readers 
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