and destroyedthose murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his
servants, ...... by the right of supreme dominion, demands of you as His creatures,
...
THE GREAT COMMENTARY OF
CORNELIUS
LAPIDE(
A
TRANSLATED BY
THOMAS
W.
MOSSMAN,
B.A.,
RECTOR OF TORRINGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE,
Assisted by Various Scholars.
S.
MATTHEWS GOSPEL. CHAPS. XXII. TO COMPLETE. S. MARK S GOSPEL.
XXVIII,
(ZBnition.
JOHN HODGES, AGAR STREET, CHARING 1891.
CROSS, LONDON.
13
1Q53
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD VOLUME.
nr^HIS
^
third
on
Volume
the
Gospels,
of the Translation of Cornelius a Lapide
comprises
Matthew, and the whole of
S.
For the the
3ist
S.
and
for
the
last
of
chapters
Mark.
translation of the 26th
verse,
seven
the
of
chapter
whole of
the,
Matthew from
S.
2yth
chapter,
I
am
*
indebted to the Divine,
the Rev.
eminent
kindness of
an
James
so well
Bliss,
known
connection with the Anglo- Catholic Library the I
Fathers.
am
For the translation of the
indebted
to
another friend.
patristic
For
,
for
Scholar and
his
labours in
and the Library of
28th the
of
S.
Matthew,
remainder,
I
am
responsible myself.
T.
W. M.
THE
HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, ACCORDING TO
S.
CHAPTER 2 77ie marriage of the king
II
s son.
tribute.
23
MATTHEW.
XXII.
TTie
Of the
wedding garment.
AND Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables,
**
2
The kingdom
of heaven
is
Of paying
15
resurrection.
like unto
and
said,
a certain king, which
made a
marriage for his son, 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding : and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner my oxen and my failings are killed, and all :
come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one
things are ready 5
to his
6
:
merchandise
And
to his farm,
and another
:
the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew
them.
and he sent forth his armies, 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye, therefore, into the highways ; and as many as ye shall find, bid to :
the marriage. as
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all, many as they found, both bad and good and the wedding was furnished with :
guests. 1 1
And when
the king
came
in to see the guests,
had not on a wedding garment 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how wedding garment ? And he was speechless.
he saw there a
man which
:
13
Then VOL.
said the king to the servants, III.
earnest thou in hither, not having a
Bind him hand and
foot,
and take him
A
2
S.
MATTHEW,
away, and cast him into outer darkness
XXII.
C.
there shall be weeping and gnashing of
;
teeth.
14 For
many
are called, but few are chosen.
15 IF Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel in his talk.
how
they might entangle
him
1 6 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man ; for thou regardest not the person of men.
17 Tell us therefore, Caesar, or not 1
What
8 But Jesus perceived
hypocrites
19
thinkest thou?
Is
it
lawful to give tribute unto
?
wickedness, and said,
their
Why
tempt ye me, ye
?
Shew me
And he
the tribute money.
And
they brought unto him a penny.
Whose is this image and superscription ? Then saith he unto them, Render therefore 21 They say unto him, Caesar s. unto Caesar the things which are Caesar s, and unto God the things that are God s. 20
22 their
23
When
saith unto them,
they had heard these words, they marvelled, and
left
him, and went
way.
The same day came
If
to
him
the Sadducees, which say that there
is
no
and asked him, 24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brethren and the first, when he had married
resurrection,
:
a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother. 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
27 And last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they
all
had
her.
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, nor the power of God.
Ye do
err,
not knowing the scriptures,
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. 31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which
was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
God
not the
Isaac,
and the God of Jacob ?
God
of the dead, but of the living. 33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. 34 IT But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to is
were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
silence, they
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 41 H While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
and with
all
THE WEDDING FEAST. 42 Saying,
What
think ye of Christ
whose son
?
3
he ?
is
They
say unto him,
The son of David. 43
He
How
saith unto them,
44 The LORD said unto enemies thy footstool. 45 If David then
my
then doth David in
Lord, Sit thou on
him Lord, how
call
is
he
spirit call
my
Church
is
is
it
:
the same in the
militant here
For
his son, &c.
directly
saying, thins
make
I
neither durst any
;
man
from
answered, &c., refuting the incredulity of the Scribes.
The meaning the
till
his son ?
46 And no man was able to answer him a word that day forth ask him any more questions.
And Jesus
him Lord ?
right hand,
on
kingdom of Heaven,
in
made a marriage for kingdom of Heaven is not
earth, as if a king
in other respects the
and precisely
i.e.,
like a king,
but a kingdom.
S.
Gregory
treats
of this parable at length (Horn. 38, in Evang.}.
The
similar to that
is
parable
Maldonatus thinks
it is
the
which Luke records
same with
that,
and
With more reason
not here observed the historical order.
(xiv.
16).
Matthew has
that
S.
Augus Thomas, Jansen, and others think that this is a different parable from that in Luke ; or if the same, that they were uttered upon two occasions, and in different words. It is clear on comparison that they have numerous differences. tine
(/.
2,
de consens. Evang.
c.
71), S.
Luke
For, not to speak of other things,
spoken it
in
the
house of a Pharisee.
was spoken publicly
Again,
And
Luke
calls this
in the temple.
says that the parable was
Matthew here This
is
asserts that
plain from
ver. 23.
marriage feast a supper ; Matthew, a dinner.
For marriage, the Syriac version has
sent his servants, &c.
throughout feast, meaning marriage feast.
The whole
parable may be expounded and applied as follows The king is God the Father the son of the king, the bridegroom, God s Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, whose spouse is the Church, :
i st. is
;
whose nuptials were begun Christ espoused
Church, that
by grace. with glory.
is,
But
human all
in
Incarnation of Christ, for in
Heaven
So Origen,
it
nature to Himself, hypostatically, and the
faithful people,
Wherefore, tropologically, "the
in the
SS.
mystically, to
be His Spouse
consummated
these nuptials shall be
Hilary, Jerome, Gregory,
"by
marriage,
understand,"
union of Christ with the soul; and by
offspring,
and
others.
says Origen,
good
works."
4
MATTHEW,
S.
2d.
God
the Father
He
To
this nuptial feast the
Jews were invited by God, through God, both before and
as the servants of
the incarnation of Christ, that they might believe
after
in
believing
Christ,
they might obtain justice
and failings have only
4th. Bulls
that
first
had taken place; that repenting and seeking grace from Him, and salvation.
was about to take place, and then that
so,
especially the Sacra
of the Eucharist.
Moses and the prophets,
it
since in
for Christ,
hath, through Christ, spread a
and sacraments,
table of evangelical doctrine
3d.
XXII.
made a marriage feast
Judea, and in the whole world,
ment
C.
the general signification of rich
They denote
provision for a banquet.
it
the grandeur of the doctrines
Jerome, and of the Sacraments. Moreover, failings (altilia, Vulg.) do not mean winged creatures, birds and fowls, but bulls and calves, and other creatures which of the Gospel, says
Altilia
are fed up.
For
been
killed,
of Christ, which
is
rtfyafva,
i.e.,
Cross.
is
calves
have been
weddings were wont to be were kept with
feasts
also the marriage feast
here parabolically described, took of the
sacrifice
in sacrifice.
and my
translates,
Gr.
and marriage So
sacrifice,
and offered
victims slain
The Greek
ale, to nourish.
in olden time, as now,
inaugurated by a
from the
derived from
and have
noiv fed,
immolated.
is
Wherefore the Arabic
ctriard, failings.
are
S.
Symbolically,
its
beginning
bulls
by
(Vulg.)
Gregory understands the Fathers of the Old Covenant, who, by
S.
the permission of the Law, smote their enemies with the horn of
But the
corporeal strength. the
New
earth
Testament, raised by contemplation from the things of
to
Prophets bulls
things ;
bulls,
above.
those
S.
were with
word
Chrysostom
says,
"failings
are
Priests."
As
who were both Prophets and
Hilary says, the bulls are martyrs, who, like victims,
have been immolated.
its
But
are leaders of the herd, so are Priests the princes of the
people.
it
failings, saith he, are the Fathers of
of
The
spiritual bread.
God.
failings are spiritual persons, filled as Lastly,
Origen
says, the
dinner
Bulls signify the strong meat of the word
sweeter portions.
;
is
the
failings
The field,
5th.
THE SPIRITUAL BANQUET.
5
who were
invited went away,
the/tfr;;/,
whither those
despising the invitation, signify temporal good things, which drew
away the Jews from the faith of Christ, and from heavenly good things ; and which led them to slay the servants of God, yea, even Christ
God
Himself.
Wherefore,
murderers,
and burnt up
who
sent Titus,
their
slew the Jews as being
city, namely, their capital, Jerusalem.
Christ in this parable has an allusion to Isa. xxv.
6,
Lord of hosts make unto
all
mountain
this
of
feast
xxx.
of wines
things, a feast
fat
on the
lees, of
marrow, of wines on the lees well refined
of
full
the
shall
23,
24,
"Then
he
shall
give the
of
rain
"And
people a fat
things
and
Isa.
seed,
that
"
;
thy
in
thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and
shall
it
feed
thy cattle
in
fat
:
ground
shall eat clean provender,
large
asses that ear the
young
and plenteous in that day shall The oxen likewise and the pastures.
be
hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the
Learn from
Church a
hence that Christ always
rich
of
banquet
spiritual
sets
us in the
before
doctrine
holy
which
fan."
and
grace,
abundantly seasoned with sacred lections, sermons, exhortations,
and with innumerable examples
kind of
in every
virtue, of Apostles,
Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, with frequent receiving of the Sacra
ments, especially the Eucharist, which
and the wine that maketh
virgins,"
is
"the
corn of the
as Zechariah saith
(ix.
17)
elect, ;
with
the Sacrifice of the Mass, with such great adornment of the sacred ministers, altars,
and temples, and with the heavenly harmony of
music and organs, and many other things which of the
inebriate the souls
pious one continual Ixvi.
23,
"The
to another,
faithful,
banquet,
feast of the
and from sabbath
to
according
new moon to
feed,
so that Christianity
shall
the
delight,
to the
is
words
in
Isa.
be from one month
sabbath."
Lastly, Christ Himself, Incarnate,
is
the perennial food and joy
For He, through the Incarnation, really communi them not only all the gifts of His grace, but Himself, in His fulness, and therefore His very Deity itself. And this He
of the
faithful.
cates to all
gives
them
to taste
3
to eat, to enjoy, as
it
is
said in S.
John
vi.
51,
6 "
MATTHEW,
S.
am
I
reason
who came down from
the Living Bread,
ever shall eat of this
why
Bread, shall live
when
Isaiah,
XXII.
C.
happiness which were
to
cially Priests
their souls;
declaring
beforehand the delights and the
to
and
new Church from
exults,
may
by and by
will
begin that
saith
ii.
Him
of beatitude with
life
This
&c.
he,
parable of the guests.
Then, that
meaning the Jews, refused
invited,
See chaps,
vii.
;
chaps.
now, which
be perfected and consummated in Heaven.
Then
8.
Christ
invites all Christians
Let Christians therefore, and espe
&c.
Ixii.,
and
and Religions, take care to feed in these feasts in and serve Christ in righteousness and holiness, that
thus they
Ver.
Ixi.,
the
is
come
Incarnate, everywhere rejoices
lx.,
This
eternally."
evermore to rejoice and exult with him. xxx., xxxv.,
Whoso
heaven.
to
second part of the
the
is
to say,
is
come
when
who were
these
to the nuptial table of
the evangelical doctrine of Christ, because they were not worthy of it,
because they despised
His
Go ye dovg
then saith the King, that
it
is
God, to
servants, the Apostles into the
highways
the passages,
oduiv,
Traverse and run through
and bendings of the
Do
traverse.
all
roads.
O
ye,
;
Vulg. the ends of the
the outlets
of
the ways.
ways;
Gr. 3/eo-
The meaning
ye Apostles, travel over the whole world
into all the countries of the nations, that ye
of Christ to them, and invite
all
men
to
it.
may preach
He
Wherefore
And
his servants
went
preach the Gospel in according to the all
lands,
and
out,
all
&c.
nations
words in Ps.
their
He
who
go
also bids the is
the
adds
The
Apostles were to go and
unto the ends of the earth, "
xix.,
Their sound
words unto the end of the
the servants are angels
;
the faith
Apostles to transfer the Gospel from the invited guests, that Jews, to all nations.
is,
the ways, and the turnings, and corners, Let there be no nook which you do not
preside
is
world."
gone out into Mystically
:
over the conversion of the
Gentiles, says Origen.
Symbolically: errors
and
the
highways are the various and contradictory
sects of the
So Remigius.
2d. S.
Gentiles, which
Chrysostom
says,
the
Apostles destroyed.
The ways are the various
THE WEDDING GARMENT. men
professions of
arms, &c. shall
the world, as the profession of philosophy,
in
therefore
Christ
be invited to believe.
time of the world. the past actions
is
to
bids 3d.
men
that
S.
of every profession
The way
"
Hilary says,
the
is
are bidden to go out to the end, because
They
forgiven
/
S.
4th.
all."
Gregory
The ways are
says,
their terminations (exitus) are defects.
:
They gathered together
This
&c.
a!/,
of the parable, and only signifies that
an ornament (emblema)
is
men, without any
all
dis
tinction whatsoever, are invited to the faith of Christ.
And
the
copious multitude of
When
all
came
the king
The Church
&c.
wedding,
&c,
that
judgment at the end of the world, all mankind. So Origen, &c.
And
with
filled
a
nations. in,
This shall take place when
them.
been
has
he might survey and examine
God
come
shall
to judge,
to the general
and reward or punish
saw The wedding garment ; Syr. a festal garment. the that which one is is, for clean, garment wedding, precious, he
.
and splendid, at
this
feast
A
life.
woven of
not
faith, as
Therefore
pure and holy
virtues
the heretics say.
For
all
who were
Church, indeed, could not have entered in
of the
faith.
except by of
is
.
.
this life
is
garment
is
charity,
like a clean
and holiness
and splendid robe,
and good works, which are a glorious adornment
So SS. Jerome, Hilary, Tertullian, and others. S. Gregory explains the not having a wedding garment to mean faith without works of charity, by which the Lord comes to unite the man.
of a
Church
in marriage with Himself.
Faust,
c.
Lord
glory.
s
19) explains
of the Holy
But
it
to
But
S.
Augustine
mean one who
(lib.
Hilary says, the wedding garment is the grace and the brightness of heavenly conversation,
S.
Spirit,
which being received by the good answer of confession, served spotless for the celestial company.
which are
fulfilled
contra
2,
seeks his own, not the
out of the
Law and
S.
Jerome
is
says,
pre
works
the Gospel, form the garment
of the new man.
Many
in
the
be found without
day of judgment who believed this
in
Christ
shall
robe of charity and sanctity; yet one only
8
MATTHEW,
S.
is
XXII.
C.
mentioned, because
this matter is spoken of, as it were, by For the direct object of Christ in this parable was to de that when the unbelieving Jews were rejected, the Gentiles
the way. clare
This one, however, denotes
were called to Christ. like
Him.
who
all
are
one wicked person can
signifies that not even
It also
lie
hid in the day of judgment, or go away unpunished.
And
said to him. Friend (Syr.
God to condemn
signifies that
friend
hatred, or a desire
from zeal of
justice.
he was invited to the wedding
Whence
a wedding garment.
how he
plainly,
friend by
But
God
shall there
make
and
i.
yet rejects
marvellous
It is It
him."
as though
is
friend by faith, but not
"bring
manifest will
"I
to light
the
search
no place the hidden things
counsels
of
the
Jerusalem with
heart,"
candles"
12).
Then said the king xiii.
And
39.
to his servants, his angels, as
unto
thousand stood before
Him."
This
him, &c.
is
as Daniel saith concerning them,
thousands ministered
cannot
says,
manner without
For, says S. Jerome, that was
speechless.
according to the words,
Bind
Gregory
and not friend;
"Friend,
he was
darkness,
Matt.
a rude
in
"
S.
because
works"
of denial; for
(Zeph.
and
Trim friend,
calls
he said
of
came
calls \\imfriend,
Therefore he rebukes him
feast.
impudence, because he
for his
them, but in a friendly manner,
Jerome adds, he
S.
The word
comrade), &c.
my
speak thus to the wicked, not out of
will
is
Him, and
ten
thousand
plain from "Thousand
times
an emblem, signifying that the
ten
damned
the sentence of God, nor from thenceforth do any
resist
good thing; altogether as if they had their hands and feet, their mouth and souls, their will and judgment bound. For as S. Augustine says a
chain."
bonds to
(lib.
And
S.
sin, shall
u,
de Trin.),
binding of an
evil will is
They who now are their will, be bound
willingly in
"The "
Gregory
says,
then, against
in punish
ment."
Cast him
.
.
gluttony, says S.
.
teeth.
Gregory.
These are the
And
teeth
which delighted
again the same
S.
in
Gregory says
MANY CALLED
Many
inner darkness
"The
appositely,
outer darkness
is
come were
would not believe
in
who
garment, Christ it
represents
who
by naming
the way, to signify that not
who adorn
but those only is,
this
one, all
good works,
For inasmuch
these,
believe in Christ shall be saved, that
wedding garment,
This saying of Christ ought to raise
make
his calling
and
elect
by means
to strive,
named
of these was
first
She
Tharsilla.
of
election sure.
The
Gregory gives the example of his three paternal aunts.
S.
as
should refer to that matter by
Every one therefore ought
to
even of those who
For no one knoweth whether he be
and awe.
or reprobate.
who
bears special
not having a wedding
in,
their faith with a
with love and holy works.
great fear
who
the Jews,
specially to refer to
place
He
and
parable
rejected,
entered
all
say,
this
invited
first
wicked Christians.
all
not intend in
did
sufficed that
to
is
whom
one was
were called, and did come,
who were
all
that
Christ, to
Besides these,
reference.
damnation."
Because
rejected,
9
the darkness of the heart; the
is
the night of eternal
are called, &c.
refused to
FEW CHOSEN.
:
lived in holy virginity,
and
was called away to Heaven by her grandfather, who was already
among
the blessed, in these words,
into this
mansion of
and cried aloud, delivered sister,
up her
light."
"
Then
Come,
that I
may
receive thee
beheld Jesus,
she, looking up,
"
Depart ye, depart
soul to
Him
ye, Jesus
cometh,"
The second
to be eternally blessed.
Heaven by
Emiliana, was called away to
and so
Tharsilla herself
on the Feast of the Epiphany; and being anxious about her Gordiana, she answered,
sister
shall I leave "
ing,
Come,
Gordiana ? for
"
"And
if
I
come
Again she heard her
Gordiana hath chosen her
alone, to
third
whom
sister s voice say
lot
with the
world."
For, shortly afterwards, Gordiana, forgetful of her consecration to virginity,
married her
bailiff.
Ver. 15. Then ivent the Pharisees the Greek has
And
Kuyidtuffuaiv,
i.e.,
.
.
.
For entangle,
entangle, &c.
ensnare;
for
ray/3f
so the Syriac has prepare gins like bird-catchers.
are snares.
The
Pharisees
put captious questions to Christ with the design that whatever
He
might answer,
He
should incur blame
;
and
way
that so they might,
10 as
MATTHEW,
S.
Him
were, entrap
it
"They (/.
its
a plot by
contra Crescen.
i,
c.
He
His answer, and that
in
to the charge of treason against either laid
XXII.
C.
means of
a
human
or Divine Majesty. says S.
dilemma,"
He
17), that whichever
might be open
Augustine
should choose of
He might be caught. If He answered that would be a traitor to the people of God ; but
two horns,
lawful,
He
said
was not
it
lawful,
He
would be punished
as an
it
if
enemy
was
He to
Caesar.
With
Herodians ;
the
Syr.
with those who were of the house of
Herod.
The Herodians were Caesar,
a Jewish
Roman
tribute to him. They were named Herod of Ascalon, the infanticide, who was entirely Caesar, inasmuch as he had been made king of Judea by
first
devoted to
Roman
Augustus Caesar and the others.
cont.
the
and the payment of
from the
and
who favoured
sect,
S.
Epiphanius
i,
(lib.
So
Senate.
S.
and
hares. 20)
Jerome, Origen,
S.
Jerome (Dialogo
Luriferanos) add that these Herodians were Jewish sectaries,
who
or heretics,
held that
Herod of Ascalon was
the Messiah or
Christ promised by the prophets, because they saw that in sceptre
had
flatterers.
Herod
from Judah.
failed
And
the reason
eagerly encouraged these
why he slew the infants
was that he might
kill
accounted Christ.
For the same reason, he
Christ, that
him the
at
Bethlehem
no one but himself might be built a most magnifi
cent temple for the Jews, vieing with that of Solomon, as Josephus
shows (Lib. Ant.
15,
c.
rating the Jewish sects,
Listen to
14). "
I say
who, before the coming of Christ, to them.
S.
Jerome
briefly
enume
nothing about the Jewish heretics,
made
light of the
law delivered
There was Dositheus, prince of the Samaritans, who There were the Sadducees, sprung from his
rejected the prophets. root,
who went on
to
deny the resurrection of the
flesh.
There were
the Pharisees, divided from the rest of the Jews on account of certain superfluous observances.
took Herod for
their
king
There were the Herodians, who
instead
of
Christ."
Theophylact,
Euthymius, and Philastrius say the same, with the exception, that for Herod of Ascalon, they substituted his son, Herod Antipas, who
THE CRAFTINESS OF THE
SCRIBES.
But they are mistaken
put John the Baptist to death.
II in their asser
Herod Antipas was ever regarded by the Jews as Messiah. Pharisees, therefore, who took the opposite side, namely, that
tion that
The
the Messiah, and that tribute ought not to be paid
Herod was not to the
Roman
Csesar,
who put themselves forward
the law of Moses and of Jewish liberty,
as vindicators of
suborned these Herodians
go together with their own disciples to Jesus, as to a prophet teacher, and proposed this question to Him concerning giving
to
and
This they did with the crafty design that
tribute to Caesar.
should assert that tribute ought to be given to Caesar, incur the hostility of the Jewish populace
;
He
He
should say that
it
was not to be paid,
if
He
Christ
would
on the other hand,
if,
might
fall
under the
Romans, who would condemn Him
anger of Caesar and the
to
death as being guilty of sedition.
Rabbi means not only a doctor of the are the Rabbins, but a potentate and a prince^ endowed
Master ; Heb. Rabbi. law, such as
with authority.
We know is
the
way of God, i.e., the law of God. For the law way by which we go to God, and to His grace and glory. .
.
the
.
For the law teaches what do, that
And
we may be
is
justified
carest not, &c.
He
pleasing to God, what
wills us to
and blessed by Him.
Thou
fearest neither the anger of
Herod
nor the power of Caesar, so as to be afraid to give a true answer,
and deliver your opinion
in behalf of
your countrymen, even though
you should expose yourself to the hostility of Herod and Caesar; even as John the Baptist, when he rebuked Herod not shrink from incurring his anger.
s
adultery, did
For they trusted that Christ
would pronounce in favour of the Jews, as being faithful against So S. Chrysostom, "By means of flattery Caesar, an unbeliever. they hope to urge thing
against
"that
things;"
charge of
existing
He
to boldness, that institutions,
might come
into
He
and the collision
might say some existing state of
with Caesar on a
rebellion."
For Thou whether
the
Him on
it
To look regardest not the person ; Syr. the face, &c. be the face of a rich man and a prince, or a poor man
12
MATTHEW,
S.
C.
XXTI.
and a plebeian, so that Thou shouldest flatter and defend a prince, and condemn a poor man. Rather wilt Thou, as it were, shut Thine
eyes,
and give sentence
My
say, Caesar is
in favour of truth
friend, but truth
.
.
tribute ; Syr.
.
head or each person was assessed.
that
Master, to
it
was not lawful
and pay him
as their lord,
whom
as follows. it
for
tribute
The
Gr.
capitation-tax,
because each
The
God s faithful And many of
Jews, as
them
to
;
acknowledge Caesar
God
because
they paid tithes and tribute.
Caesar, the successor of Augustus,
The occasion
and
friend."
people, held aloof from the Gentiles, as idolaters.
them thought
justice,
and face.
xotcuxov signifies both person
Tell us therefore
a greater
is
and
By
alone was their Caesar, Tiberius
meant.
is
of this question being propounded to Christ, was
About
was not lawful
this
time one Judas, of Galilee, had taught that
for the
Jews to be
in subjection to the
Romans, and pay them taxes. Now Christ and the Apostles were regarded as Galilaeans ; and the Jews professed to look upon them as upholders of this teaching of Judas the Galilaean, as being their countryman.
And Hear
reason they frequently repudiated this error of
for this S.
Jerome
ad
(in cap. 3,
Tit. ver. i),
"I
think,"
says he,
theirs. "this
precept was given by the Apostle, because at that time the teaching of Judas the Galilaean was
Among
still
in vogue,
their other tenets, they held
it
and had many
probable that, according to
the law, no one ought to be called lord, except
those
who
Caesar.
paid tithes to the
followers.
Temple ought
God
only
;
and
that
not to render tribute to
This sect increased to so great an extent as to influence a
great part of the Pharisees as well as the rest of the people, so that
they referred this question about the lawfulness of paying tribute to Caesar to our Lord,
&c.
S.
Paul
s
who answered is
teaching
in
prudently and cautiously, Render,
agreement with
bids believers be in subjection to princes and
When Jesus to be friends,
knew, &c.
It is as
and to desire
he
powers."
He
"
said,
You
pretend
to maintain a
you may know what you ought according to the law of
though
this answer, in that
to
God, when
do all
in
good conscience, that this case truly and justly,
the while you are
My enemies,
CESAR S DUES. and are
in
Jerome,
who
My
thirsting for "
asks the
prime
"The
blood."
one who gives an answer
is
know
to
mind of him
That
the coin of the census.
Show me
is,
Him
Show Me
the figure of the denarius.
You
a denarius.
will
And
the
The Arabic
coin which Caesar exacts as a tax from each person. has,
says S.
virtue,"
the
question."
Show Me
Ver. 19.
13
they brought unto
say that, according to chap.
xvii.
1 7,
it
appears that the Jews paid a capitation-tax of a didrachma, or a half-shekel.
Roman
But the
denarius was only worth about half a
My
didrachma, or ninepence.
answer
is,
for the sake of convenience, divided into
individual paid two denarii,
Maldonatus.
didrachma.
So Jansen and
would appear that Tiberius and the other
it
Lastly,
or one
that the didrachma was,
two denarii, and that each
emperors ordered a denariiis of this value to be struck coin they required to be paid by the Jews in the
way
Romans were
Baronius shows from Lampridius, the
off,
which
of tribute.
As
in the habit of
such weight and value as they required to be
striking off coins of
paid in the way of tribute, and of greater or less value, according to the necessity of times and requirements.
And Jesus
saith
.
.
.
superscription ; Gr. iviyfafa
for
which the
Vulg. in
Mark
with the
name and image of the prince who coins them. and inscription is this?
For coins are wont
has inscription.
be stamped
to
Hence
the Arab, has, Whose figure
They say unto Him, Casar s, reigned.
Christ already
knew
Tiberius Caesar
i.e.,
but
this,
He
s,
who then
put the question that
might draw from their own mouth a reply which He could turn The cognomen Caesar was first against them and convict them.
He
given to Julius Caesar, from
whom
it
passed to the
succeeding
Servius and Spartianus, and from them Charles Sigonius emperors. (lib. de Nomin. Rom.}, say that Caesar was called originally from the slaughter of an elephant.
Punic tongue.
I
For Caesar
have seen on some
signifies elephant in the
silver coins,
on one
side
an
elephant, with the inscription Caesar; on the reverse, instruments
by means of which the Romans were wont to slay elephants.
Then saith He, &c.
As though
He
said,
"Since
ye,
O
ye Jews,
are
MATTHEW,
S.
14
now
do ye not so much give him the denarius which is due to him
and use
subject to Caesar,
as render or restore (rcddite) to
But
as tribute.
So
God
nor
shall
it
his coins,
is to say, spiritual things, that
For
give ye (date) to God. due.
XXII.
C.
come
God
this
worship and piety,
exacts as what
is
rightly
His
to pass that ye will offend neither against
Caesar."
Observe
that Christ
:
here unwilling to enter into the question
is
whether the Jews were justly or unjustly subjects and tributaries of
Romans.
For
Q\ prima facie^ was a doubtful question. the negative, that they were not justly subject, would seem the more For Pompey, who first reduced the Jews under the Roman correct.
the
this
yoke, was only called in by Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, the grandsons
of Simon the high priest, to decide between them which of the two
was to succeed
what
to the
right then did
Jewish sovereignty and high-priesthood.
Pompey
pass
them
over,
and
By
transfer the sove
power over Judea to the Romans ? For this is Turkish justice. For when the Turk is called in to aid them by Christian princes
reign
upon and enslaves both. And yet, if we examine what happened more carefully, we shall perceive that the contrary proposition is the more probable, namely, quarrelling between themselves, he seizes
that
Pompey
seized
when Pompey had
upon Judea by the
For
right of a just war.
decided in favour of Hyrcanus, as being
justly
the elder, his younger brother, Aristobulus, atacked Jerusalem, and filled
it
with his soldiers,
Hyrcanus.
who
fought against both
Then Pompey took Jerusalem by
subject, with the consent of Hyrcanus, to the
canus being unable to keep
it
storm,
Roman
by himself, delivered
it
Pompey and and made it yoke. to
with the consent of the elders and nobles of the Jews, ferred to be subject to the
Romans
rather than to
Hyr
Pompey,
who
pre
Hyrcanus and
For they saw that without the Romans, the Jewish would be annihilated by schisms and seditions. See the rela
Aristobulus. state
tion in Josephus
(lib.
24,
c.
5,
&c.).
Lastly, prescription was on the side of the Romans,
been
in peaceful possession of
Judea
for
for they
had
about a hundred years,
with at least the tacit assent of the Jewish people.
And
without
WHAT BELONGS TO doubt the position of the possessor the Pharisees wished to deprive the
is
GOD.
1
the stronger.
Romans
Wherefore,
unjustly.
the
this,
Romans
charge, the accused
is
his
In this case the accusers were
absolved.
Romans, whom
the Pharisees, the accused the
it
rightly
For when the accuser does not prove
retained possession.
if
of this possession, the
onus probandi lay upon them of showing that they had acquired Since they were not able to do
5
the accusers wished
Christ therefore, in this place, does
to deprive of their possession.
not choose to enter into the question whether the
Roman dominion
over Judea, and their imposition of tribute, was just or unjust: but
He
takes for granted that, as a matter of
strengthened and confirmed by the various
For the Pharisees,
which was
that
fact,
specified
above
this question
about
titles
was
just.
the
payment of tribute to the Romans, did not put forward the plea
of justice, but of religion lawful nor
becoming
in
propounding
and piety ;
that
to say, that
is
who were
that they,
was neither
it
the alone people of God,
should pay tribute to Caesar, a Gentile and a heathen. not ask,
"
Are we bound
to
pay
tribute to Caesar ?
They do
"
"
but,
Is
it
law
? And they imply that to do so was contempt of God, a disgrace to the Jews, and an injury to their reli Christ answers, on the contrary, that it was not an injury to gion.
ful to
pay tribute to Caesar
"
God and the faith, nor an indignity to a faithful of God were subject to Caesar, a Gentile and
nation,
;
selves
if
might both profitably and honourably obey both
Gentile prince,
if
they would but render
to both their
the people
Jews them
that the
God and
a
and
if
due
;
they would do this with prudence, so as to arouse against them neither
God
nor Caesar, and so destroy their whole nation, as they
did not long afterwards. life
it is
better to pay
money than
to lose
and everything.
Render he
For
therefore,
&c.
That
is,
give to Caesar the didrachma, which
rightly exacts from you to sustain the burdens of the state,
and
especially to maintain soldiers to defend
enemies.
But give
God
also
you against the attacks of the didrachma tithes, oblations, victims,
Jerome says, such as are prescribed in Leviticus, which He, by the right of supreme dominion, demands of you as His creatures,
as S.
1
6
MATTHEW,
S.
and
as faithful to
Him.
"
"
says Origen,
Because,"
what belongs to Caesar, God what belongs to
to Caesar
rendering to
it
The
renders
rights
which belong
;
neither
is
Political
religion adverse
Wherefore, since Tiberius Caesar reigns over
you, and you are his subjects, which clearly
has the right of coining money,
and value
man
not a hindrance to him in
is
God."
obligations are not adverse to religion "
a
from those which belong to God.
to Caesar are different
to political duties.
XXII.
C.
I
mean
is
the case, because he
the denarius of such a weight
seems good to him; and inasmuch as you yourselves, by receiving the coin of the census from Tiberius, as your prince, as
acknowledge that you are therefore by "
u
What
He
to
pay his taxes,
very fact you are under obligation to
this
Christ spoke with His
was careful to
and bound
his subjects,
fulfil
pay."
Bernard (Epist.
S.
says
mouth,"
42),
This Creator of Caesar delayed not
in act.
pay tribute to Caesar." Hear Tertullian (lib. de idololat. c. 15), Render to Ccesar the things of Catsar, and to God the things of God
to "
y
the image of Caesar, which
i.e.,
image of God, which
money
in
is
God
to Caesar, to
is
in
money,
man, to God
so that thou mayest give
;
And
thyself."
Caesar; and the
to
S.
Chrysostom,
"When
thou hearest that the things of Caesar must be rendered to Caesar,
doubt not that those things only are spoken of which do no harm to piety
and
opposed devil"
religion to
And
S.
him
that
which
is
is
faith,
no
done
for
;
which
is
and revenue of the
"If
his."
Which
is
as though Christ said,
ye wish to be exempt from tribute, renounce apostles have
tribute, or toll,
the tribute
we have nothing in our possession then we are free from the obligation of
Hilary says,
which belongs to Caesar, giving
For the
pay them.
to virtue or the
where there
is
all
things, as I
"
If
and the
nothing, there Cassar hath
right"
Politically that,
:
Christ here tacitly admonishes Caesars and sovereigns
being contented with what belongs to them, they must not
intermeddle with the
affairs
of
God and
the Church.
piously did Constantine the Great, as Eusebius testifies stant, iv. 24), say to the prelates
within the Church
;
I
of the Church,
have been appointed by
"
God
You
Wisely and (
Vita Con
are bishops
a bishop without
ON VOWS. the
And
Church."
am
me, who
for
When
his
(as
God
;
for
"
:
Do
yourself; but
up
it is
this."
not
burden
O
yourself,
emperor,
you desire a long
if
To
God
to
God, the things
the emperor pertain palaces, but churches
You have authority And Hosius of Cordova
over fortifications, not sacred said to the Arian
emperor Con-
not intermeddle with matters ecclesiastical, neither
"Do
To
us.
things of the
ad
by
Do
be subject to
reign,
give us orders with respect to such things, but rather learn
from
his
Arian, to ask for a church from S.
to the priest.
stantius,
not lawful
Younger, was instigated by
the
Give the things of
written,
of Caesar to Caesar.
buildings."
is
you have any imperial rights over things divine.
thinking that lift
It
he himself relates, Epist. 33, ad Marcellinani), he heard
the following reply
not
"
a layman, to interfere in such matters as
who was an
mother, Justina,
Ambrose
Valentinian the Elder said,
Valentinian
son,
I/
God
thee
And Theodosius
Church."
Cone. Ephesin.\
them
has entrusted the imperial power, to us the the
Younger
said (Epist.
wickedness for one who has not been
is
"It
enrolled in the catalogue of the holy bishops to thrust himself into
and
ecclesiastical affairs
Tropologically
God
S.
deliberations."
Hilary says,
"We
are
bound
the things of God, our body, soul, and will
Caesar is
:
is
man,
which
in gold, in
in
whom
is
image
the image of God.
is
Caesar, but keep for
his
to render ;
engraven
unto
for the coin of
but
God
s
coin
Give your money then to
God the consciousness of your innocence." And To God must be given Christian love, to kings
"
S.
Augustine says,
human
And
fear."
on the Lord
s
S.
Bernard, or whoever was the author of the book "
Passion, says (cap. 3),
which has Caesar
s
image
;
render unto
Render unto Caesar the penny
God the
soul which
He created
His own image and
likeness, and ye shall be righteous." Symbolically: the author of the sermon to the Brethren
after
wilderness (apud S. Angus,
torn.
sum. 7) says,
10,
when we pay to them and we give
render to Caesar the things of Caesar, the reverence (dulid) which
of
God
(latria}
VOL.
to
due
to
God, when we render unto
which III.
is
is
due
to
Him
"Then
;
Him
in the
do we
the Saints
the things
that Divine worship
alone."
B
1
8
MATTHEW,
S.
S.
Lastly:
Augustine
(in
XXII.
C.
Sent.
Sententiis,
15)
and those who make vows.
thinks well of what he
may vow
him vow and render Let Caesar
This
is
himself.
"
bring presents
Ver.
God, and what vowing pay, let This is required, and this is due.
God
what the Psalmist commands when he
God
pay unto the Lord your
all
;
ye who
image to God.
s
*
says,
Vow, and
are round about
Him
(Ps. Ixxvi. 1 2).
And
22.
Whosoever
"
to
image be rendered to Caesar,
s
applies
rightly
these words to vows,
wheti
heard,
they
who
thus
They
c.
marvelled,
they
marvelled at the wisdom of Christ,
easily extricated
Himself from the snare which to the Pharisees seemed so im
and twisted
possible of escape,
had
laid
it,
net which they laid privily
There
said (Prov. xxi. 30),
counsel against the Ver. 23.
round
it
their
own
according to the words of the Psalm,
Then
their foot
is is
taken."
"
necks,
In their
And
again
suading
to
The Sadducees had
came unto Him, &c.
repentance and a holy
in order that they
life.
seemed
to
it
them unanswerable,
if
He
strife,
i.e.,
still
another.
son, as the
of the dead,
This law
5.
should say the
more than
a
to survive in him.
this
woman
question to confound Christ.
was the wife of one of the men,
incite the other brothers to wrath,
since there was
Him.
name
posterity,
called after the
dead man might seem
found in Deut. xxv.
would
Seed,
who should be
The Sadducees expected by For
per
Him
might confute and overthrow Christ and His
Ver. 24. Saying, Master, &c.
is
it
They oppose
doctrine by the absurdities in which they thought to involve
that so the
is
Lord."
there
therefore with this question, which
Syriac translates,
own it
neither wisdom, nor prudence, nor
heard Christ teaching the Resurrection, and by means of
men
who
and envy, and perpetual
no reason why she should be given to one For the first husband, who might seem to
have had the best right to her,
lost his right
by death.
other hand, Christ had said that she was the wife in the seven, they would have accused doctrine and public incest.
It
was
Him as
If,
on the
common
of
all
as a teacher of shameful
though they
said,
"Such
THE RESURRECTION.
ig
are the absurdities which follow from the doctrine of the Resurrec
Thou
tion.
your
Christ,
spider
s
Christ, ought not to assert in their stupidity, that
by a word, brushes aside
web, and shows them
And
it.
you
are
their fallacy, as
thus
wise."
were a
it
by adding what these
their ignorance,
with their crass and carnal minds never took into considera
come
namely, that in the world to
tion,
one
O
followers imagine,
silly
Then
men
therefore,
wife at
s
Know
this
widow would be no
all.
not the Scriptures, which clearly declare the Resurrection,
Job xix. 25 2 Mace. vii. 9 et seq. and xii. 44; and Ixvi. 14; Ezek. xxxvii. i, 9; Dan. xii. 12, &c. as
;
The power of God ; Gr.
God
He
Mvatfus.
means,
omnipotent, and therefore can raise to
is
He
which have been reduced to dust, even as
"Ye
life
Isa.
know
xxvi.
19
not that
again the bodies
created them out of
For greater power is required to create a thing out of nothing than to raise it from the dead." Christ here nothing at the beginning.
The
touches upon the double root of the Sadducean error.
first
was
ignorance of the Scriptures, which clearly teach the Resurrection.
The
other was ignorance,
tion
treat of the
from vice to
In
Resurrection as referring to a mystical resurrec
virtue.
the Resurrection,
celestial
Nor
bliss.
i.e.,
in the world to
are given
in
husbands by
But
come,
marriage ; for
good and modest do not choose husbands given to
in
Heaven, and
women who
for themselves,
they shall be as the angels, &c.
food;
;
2,
3,
by
spiritual
life,
The
for they live
blessed in
for
race is
by
by incorruption and immortality;
glory, in which, like the angels,
Wherefore there
are
but are
their parents.
Heaven
the Resurrection shall be like the angels, not by nature, but, purity
omni
This caused them to interpret the Scriptures
potence of God.
which
or want of consideration, of the
they
will
after i,
by
spiritual not corporeal 4,
by happiness and
continue for
all
eternity.
be no need then of marriage and generation these things have been instituted for the perpetuation of the
and the
will
individual,
;
by means of children.
Because the father
mortal, therefore he begets a son, that after death he
may
live
20
MATTHEW,
S.
and continue and they
But
in his son.
XXII.
Heaven
in
shall live for ever.
C.
there shall be no death,
Marriage, therefore,
of children would be without an object there.
adds S.
Neither can they die any more.
35),
(xx.
and procreation
Wherefore
Augustine (Qutzst. Evang. in Luc. xx. 35),
S.
Luke
Appositely says
"Marriage
is
for the
sake of children, children for the sake of succession, succession on
account of death. S.
Luke
And
adds,
therefore, death
is
not, marriage
;
not."
they shall be like
both in body and soul; for they shall be
God
immortal, and eternal as
spiritual,
glorious,
forasmuch as they are born the
is,
born again to a blessed and
sons of the Resurrection, and are endless
is
they are the sons of God, being the sons of the
Blessed are they that rise again
Resurrection.
God
Where,
wherefore they shall neither need nor delight in the
life,
procreation of children.
From
this
passage Auctor Lnperfecti teaches that chastity
most angelic of
all
the meaning of
is
And
Wherefore
S. Basil (de
desire
to
rewarded with
"How
and
makes us great
makes a
and
God
its
purity of incorporeal
yea, that virgins anticipate here,
there,
perfection
corruptible
man most
God
saith he,
thing,"
unto
like
in
angels
Heaven, and
by constant
S. Basil
victory over the flesh here.
receive the similitude of
from
;
like not only to the angels,
glorious a
not by experience
79) teaches that virginity
that future likeness with the
be
struggling with chastity
and the
Virginit.
the seed of future incorruption
and begin
know
angels
the
Cyril of Jerusalem (Cat. 12) calls
S.
the conversation of angels
"virginity nature."
The
the virtues.
lust.
is
but to "is
God
adds that Himself.
virginity,
which
God, that he should
in himself, as in a
most clear mirror,
Himself, with His favours flowing unto him after the
manner of a most sweet ray (of light) Elegantly and piously saith S. Bernard, "
!
"What is
more
beautiful
than chastity, which makes clean what hath been conceived unclean,
which makes a servant of an enemy, and, in
man ?
For a chaste man
in virtue.
differs
short,
from an angel only in
Although the chastity of the one has
the chastity of the other
is
an angel of a
stronger.
Chastity
felicity,
not
more happiness, stands
alone
in
ARE THERE THE SEXES IN HEAVEN? and time of mortality
that in the place
this
In the midst of marriage
of immortality.
customs of that blessed country,
Arian.\
"
until
we
all
come ...
that after the Resurrection, in as there
is
none and
into males,
that
many
But
on earth some experience of
Jerome
again in the male sex.
rise
own day
in this passage
existed
in
and Tertullian
to
created a man.
be
Now,
"the
were in clear
of
lest
sex has
Augustine
testifies
So does
S.
de Resurrect.}, also
(lib.
in
priori reason
is,
Paradise.
For Eve was
all
as
living,"
in the Resurrection the
much
one whatsoever to
do.
different individuals,
this life,
sex,
be changed
(de Civit. xxii. 19).
The a
mother of
again altogether in every
difference
upon
to assert
not a defect (vitium\ but a natural condition.
is
a state of innocence
God
created by
remain,
S.
13),
be no female
will
Augustine himself teaches the contrary.
S.
that the female sex
rise
man,"
iv.
seem
in the angels, so that all females will
Jerome and the Scholastics, passim.
It
Eph.
(in
to a perfect
Heaven, there
held this opinion in his
Chrysostom S.
alone asserts the
Hilary, S. Athanasius (Serm. 3, cont.
this place S.
Basil (in Ps. cxiv.), S.
S.
the words,
it
rites,
converse."
from
Lastly,
represents the state
it
which they neither marry nor
in
are given in marriage, affording here that celestial
21
should seem to
Sex,
;
Adam
same nature and with
therefore,
was shall
this the
shall
then
men from what they The same thing is again.
different rise
They neither marry nor are given neither They marry, spoken of males, nor are given in
from the words of Christ.
in marriage.
marriage, of females.
Christ, therefore,
supposes that there will then be females
;
so far from denying, pre
but in such manner that
sex will not be used for the purposes of marriage and generation.
And
this is
above
what
cited,
Vers.
31,
is
to
be understood as the meaning of the Fathers
who seem 32.
But
at first to
hold a different opinion.
concerning the resurrection of the dead, &c.
Christ, not satisfied with having refuted the Sadducean objection
to the Resurrection, proceeds to prove
God
to Moses,
/ am
the
God
it
to
them by the words of
of Abraham, &c.
Although Christ
might have cited clearer proofs of the Resurrection from Job,
22
MATTHEW,
S.
He
Isaiah, &c.,
did
preferred this from the Pentateuch, because
Sadducees receive.
the
Origen, Bede, and others.
They
Law
as
not to
opposed,
and
traditions (Ant. 18. 2),
to be
is
only
So
Prophets.
Josephus says of the Sadducees,
Law
it
"
They
observed."
Josephus may be more properly taken as
in that passage
speaking of the
the
rejected
that nothing besides the
are of opinion
Although
XXII.
C.
the
Prophets,
but to
under the Law.
to include the Prophets
For otherwise they would have been manifest heretics, and would have been disavowed as such by all the rest of the Jews. Where fore a better reason for this quotation would seem to be, that the
Moses was of
authority of
The
of the Prophets.
and Jacob,
Isaac,
greater weight with the Jews than that
highest veneration was given to
as
their
Abraham,
whom
forefathers,
great
also
they
regarded not as dead, but as living with God, and taking care of the
their posterity.
Hebrews,
to assert that they
I am
had ceased
God of Abraham.
the
God, who boast of Abraham, prophets and
friends
And
this,
And
continually ask of Me.
they were
and also
in ;
days,
forasmuch as
alive,
the Giver of
They
life.
consequence
and
though
and Jacob
Isaac,
were
I
shall
as of
See
S.
Here observe
rise
Matt
that
My
"I
am
faithful
is,
to their descendants.
of the Fathers, they
should not glory in them unless
I
am
especially the living
God, and
therefore themselves live as to the soul,
shall live in the Resurrection as to the
and
also from the dead,
said,
into covenant with them,
Limbus
in the
I
it
that too in a very short time, even as
when
Heaven."
First, as
to them, that
Me
dwelling with
dare openly
to exist.
and who entered
;
Canaan
to give the land of
Whence no one would
from death. shall carry
Then
them with
it
body
were in a few
shall
I
Me
in
raise
them
triumph to
xxvii. 52.
the Sadducees
and Epicurean philosophers
denied the Resurrection, because they denied the immortality of the soul.
The two
immortal, since
things are closely connected. it
pendeaf) of which
should
rise again.
For
if
the soul
is
naturally has an interpendence with that (proit
is
the form,
it
verily
behoves that the body
Otherwise the soul would continue always in an
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT.
23
unnatural condition, and would only possess, as
were, a semi-
it
existence. 2d.
S.
Irenaeus
Chrysostom,
4,
(/.
n)
c.
say that
Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob do not signify the souls only of those Patriarchs, but the entire men. They therefore, though they be dead to men,
God.
are living unto
They
-are,
awake them out of
shortly
as
it
were, asleep
;
and God
and
sleep, to a blessed
shall
eternal
life.
Thus Luke adds, by way of explanation, For all live unto Him. But when the Pharisees had heard, &c. They wished to humble
Him,
Him
as imagining
be puffed up with His victory over the
to
Sadducees, and to hurl back upon Himself the charge of ignorance
He
had brought against the Sadducees. But these foolish men only kicked against the pricks. For Christ is the eternal Truth and Wisdom, who reveals to all men the dark of the Scriptures which
ness of their ignorance.
And
This was one of the
a certain laivyer asked Him, &c.
Pharisees,
who
put himself forward to propose a most
question to Jesus, in order to try whether or not the
Law and
as
was the question of the Sadducees, but
in the Scriptures
The word
likewise.
For
He
was
difficult
skilful in
not only in speculative matters, such
;
matters
in practical
tempting means the same
as trying,
making
man, although he pretended, in the presence of the Pharisees, that he wished to catch and entrap Jesus, yet in his
proof.
this
heart desired to hear what Jesus would reply to this most difficult question, about which
he himself hung
heard Jesus answer, that love of of the
greatest
commandments,
approval by saying,
And Jesus from
the
Mark
among
when he is
he immediately expressed
the his
the truth, &c.
Thou hast answered wisely : thou art not far
kingdom of God.
Master, which (in
So,
our neighbour
Master, Thou hast said
Well,
said to him,
in doubt.
God and
c.
is
the first
12) that this
commandment
that the chief
commandment
to
Law ?
Bede
says
was a much debated point of controversy
the Jews in the time of Christ.
and victims
in the
be offered to
of the
God
Many
Law was
of them thought
concerning sacrifices
according to the Levitical
Law,
24
S.
God
because by these
And
MATTHEW,
XXII.
C.
Lord above
properly worshipped as
is
all.
was why the Pharisees told children to say to their This, too, shows why the lawyer, when he heard
this
parents, corban.
Christ
as one s
(Mark
and one s neighbour whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices
answer, said accordingly, To love (God),
s
more than
is
self,
xii.
all
33).
Moses, in Deut.
Ver. 37. Jesus saith to him, &c.
Mark and Luke
thence
Hebrew meodecha Observe,
love the
which
Lord
the same thing will,
namely,
here spoken
is
to say,
all thy heart,
Thou
and
God.
be the
object
of
all
Him
manner
nothing
What
is
sages
an
much worth
here spoken of as the whole heart,
and
Hence
perfect heart.
repeated, His heart was perfect with God.
This "
is
what
The measure Ver.
38.
charity is
is
God
is,
to love
God
You may add
and
first
i
(See
with
all
as
God,
Him
is,
in
such
thy
will,
in all things.
Kings
xiv. 8,
measure."
For the
commandment. charity
worship
Wherefore
(religione).
For
the heart than to offer
charity, like
&c.)
on the love of God
all virtues, is
religious
that
;
Last
the expression so often
to love without
and the queen of
to
called in other pas
is
in his Treatise
the greatest
more noble than
more noble
sacrifices.
of loving
This
greatest virtue, is
Bernard says
S.
Good and
whole heart, that
His precepts, and to be obedient to
entire
God
3d. Appreciatively, that thou
as of so
that thou shouldst apply thy
to fulfil all
contrary
and thy love
actions,
as thy chief
things whatsoever.
all
shouldst esteem
is
thou shouldst wish
thoughts,
thy
and that thou shouldst choose End, before
is
Comparatively, that thou shalt give no portion
ist.
2d. Finally, that altogether final
but
with thy whole
of thy love to an idol, or to anything whatsoever that to
s
shalt
and mind,
soul,
God
shalt love
of,
Thou
understood comparatively.
God with
as
not that which
is
to be
is
thy
one
in every
is
For the complete and highest love of
power as possible to keep. God, in its utmost extent, that only
Persian
of Deuteronomy.
against Calvin, that this precept
as
The
This answers to the
mind.
with the utmost power of thy
has,
and from
vi. 5,
add, with all thy strength.
a queen,
it
Him
commands
LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR. and
sacrifices
Lastly, love
other acts of religion.
all
noble affection and act (of the soul), and
honour, and
fear,
The second
all
is like,
and men, and
all
and
and
affection,
more
far
is
and
is
be loved than
to
to be loved
But above
and
in the duties
Second
not
perfection, although far
creatures whatsoever.
creatures, our neighbour
love
excellent than
&c., as thyself ; Syr. as thy soul.
For God
first.
more
is
the most
is
others.
in order of legislation, but of dignity
below the
25
after all
all
angels
God, among Like, in
things.
which spring from
offices
them.
For
Christ here omits love of ourselves.
and a natural property, For he who
Whence it,
as
it
said,
;
this is innate with
such wise, that
in
will
first
as
Christ,
In the
Wherefore
thyself. "
c.
27),
Love of
first
thyself
place, then,
God
is
to
signify equality,
thyself.
he be good
"
?
xix.
own
where
I
self.
Thirdly,
For we ought
desire
is
what
closely united to us, and, as for
creation, ;
is it
one
s
But the Vulgate
here meant,
is
to love our
our neighbour.
for
The Hebrew
translates neigh
bour, in order to give a great stimulus of love to every
every man, which
de
it is
same things which
yet the
have expounded the law.)
JH properly signifies companion.
i,
omitted, for
thyself, the word as does not
but similarity of love.
18,
not here
is
(lib.
11
s
;
(See Lev.
Augustine says
thyself.
more than our neighbour but we desire for ourselves we ought to
selves
one ; because
very near,
were, our brother.
This
and most is
both by
mankind have been created by the same God the by re-creation, because we have been regenerated
as also
by the same Father,
Body
to
be loved with the whole heart
one
Secondly,
In the expression, as
neighbour.
S.
neighbour as
shalt love thy
everything.
Father
all,
thou hast
were, the ideal and the measure of love to our neighbour,
Thou
above
whom
bad to himself, to
is
it
if
Christ here presupposes that love of oneself, yea, appoints
saying love Doct.
were
it
towards others, thou shouldst exercise
charity "
as
a*id
Blood
Christ,
in
baptism
;
and we are fed by His
in the Eucharist.
He commands,
therefore, that
God
shall
be loved with the whole
26
MATTHEW,
S.
heart
XXII.
C.
and our neighbour, not with the whole heart, but as ourselves. ist. That thou shouldst love thyself only,
;
This does not mean
and neglect thy neighbour, which nature corrupted by
thy
sin,
suggests
what
is
self-love, arising
but that thou shouldst extend to
;
neighbour the love wherewith thou lovest thyself.
2d.
as thou dost not love thyself frigidly, nor feignedly, but
and
sincerely
This
bour.
so,
;
men
1
6),
He
"
said,
Whatsoever
commanded
dying,
to
"
another."
says S.
Augustine (de Vera Religion,
which a
man
come
wishes to
And
his neighbour.
For
this
is
the law of
46), that the
c.
to himself,
iv.
good things
he should wish likewise for
them
to
happen
thou wish that thy property, thy honour, thy
Do
taken from thyself?
to
wife, thy
him."
life
not take them from others.
these two,
them
&c.
Do
thou
for others.
Law and
All the precepts of the
commandments
these two
Dost
should be
Dost thou
wish that they should be given and preserved to thyself? likewise preserve
love,"
the evils which he wishes not to happen to
himself, he should be unwilling for
On
them."
his son (Tob.
thou hatest that another should do unto thee, take
heed that thou do not
rest
ardently
should do unto you, do likewise unto
Tobias, when he was
"What
That
manner, shouldst thou love thy neigh
like
what Christ sanctioned when
is
ye would that
And what
in
from a
the Prophets
of love.
Indeed, they spring upon and grow out of them, just as many branches spring from one tree and one root. Wherefore in these two precepts all are contained, as in their principles
and premisses.
included in the Decalogue. else except precepts of love to
For
commandments
all
are
And the Decalogue contains nothing God and our neighbour. The three
commandments
of the
commandments
of the second Table deal with love to our neighbour,
as S. Augustine says
says
Thou
(Rom.
witness,
ment,
xiii.
shalt not
Thou
it is
(lib.
9),
kill,
Table deal with love
first
8,
"For
Thou
de Trin. this,
briefly
7).
Thou
;
and
comprehended thyself."
if
there be
all
The seven
not commit adultery,
Thou
shalt not bear false
any other
in this saying,
For
God.
Wherefore the Apostle
shalt
shalt not steal,
shalt not covet
love thy neighbour as
c.
to
command
namely, Thou
shalt
the precepts of mercy, and
THE DIVINE SONSHIP. of
2/
the other virtues, natural and supernatural, have to
all
these two
commandments
The
are contained in them.
and of
God and
of love to
precepts of
do with
our neighbour, and hope, and charity,
faith,
The
religious worship, are included in love to God.
precepts
of justice, truth, fidelity, friendship, mercy, gratitude, are included in love to
our neighbour.
direct their
whole
Ver. 41.
When
was
Christ, therefore, signifies that these
be always
precepts ought to
every one
in
were gathered
the Pharisees
xii.
of this occasion of the Pharisees tempting
concerning the Person
how
to return
good
and
for evil,
He
of instruction.
heart,
two
and ought
to
life.
Temple, as appears from Mark
in the
s
together,
Christ
35.
Him
This
&c.
made use them
to instruct
dignity of Messiah, that
He
might teach
and turn a temptation
into
an occasion
taught them
that Messiah, or the Christ,
not a mere man, as they supposed, but the
He
not wonder, therefore, that
God-Man.
was
They must
asserted Himself to be the
Son of
God.
Whose Son
Ver. 42.
have
They
ought to
God
Christ, as
;
They say unto Him, David s.
Christ?
is
said, that Christ, as
man,
will
will
God,
But as to the
be the son of David.
made
But even from
the second reply.
When
proves the former.
Peter was
Christ to be, being inspired by
God he
Christ draws and
it
asked,
whom
he thought
answered, Thou art the
But the Pharisees were devoid
Christ the Son of the Living God.
of the Divine inspiration, wherefore they savoured only of things,
and believed Christ
Observe ferently;
but
the
apparent
Christ, in
said, "
?"
first
They
"that
How
calls
the
He
relate
discrepancy
his
is
things to
somewhat
asked the Pharisees,
was the son of
Lord ?
"
David."
is
dif
be reconciled by
"Whose
is,
Then
that
son was
replied that the Scribes, or Doctors of the
say the Scribes that Christ
Him
these
meaning of the two former Evangelists place,
human
be only a man.
Luke and Mark
:
considering that the
Christ
to
first,
Wherefore they
the Pharisees were either ignorant or unbelieving.
only
be the Son of
Law,
Christ rejoined,
the son of David,
when David
28
MATTHEW,
S.
David
in
Spirit,
Therefore
it
endued him with
to David,
was not so much David in
the Spirit in David, which thus spake. Calleth Him lord, for the son is less than
the father as
not wont to
is
common
is
passage
noth Psalm understood
with the
their
as
Spirit,
Wherefore
his father.
the son his lord, but the son his father,
and other
Italians
are
From
this
who expound
this
nations.
confuted,
not of Messiah, or Christ, but of Abraham, or David,
and
For the Scribes
Hezekiah.
or
call
modern Rabbins
the
For the
being inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Holy Ghost dictated the Psalms living sense.
XXII.
C.
Pharisees
of Christ, and regarded
it
as a
it
of Christ
s
time
prophecy of
Him.
For had they not done so, they would have replied that Christ wrongly applied the Psalm to Messiah, when it ought to be under stood of
Abraham
That
or David, &c.
does apply to Christ
it
evident from the 4th verse of the same Psalm, beginning (secum principium, Vulg.), the headship,
of the Heb.
^^7?>
nedabot,
and the Gr.
strength, in the splendours of the saints (Jay-star,
I
Lastly, Jonathan, the Chaldee,
and the ancient Rabbins take
Ver. 44.
The Lord
Saying,
clearly proves that the
believed, but that
The meaning
it
said,
He
therefore
was David is
as
if
above
all
powers and
next to Himself in Heaven, that
for
phetically, decreed
fore
"
said,
something
said
is
^^, neum,
created i.e.,
God
up,
will set
and
Him
with the most perfect things."
pronounced, spoken pro
DavM s
certain, immutable.
For neum
the same as Amen, or sure and faithful. "
and
by the Lord concerning
fixed,
Him
will raise
principalities,
all
his Lord.
The Lord God hath
right hand, in that after
He may reign
happiness, glory, and authority over
The Heb.
verse Christ
this
God, and therefore
s
David
He
Him
no one
Rabbi Barachias, R.
From
&c.
Death and Resurrection of Christ
exalt
before the
refer to
Messiah was not a mere man, as the Pharisees
My
my
womb,
day of thy
as referring only to Christ.
Lord, even Christ, Sit on
said to
the
from
the
the
is
the force
is
in the
de%fi t
This can
have begotten Thee (Vulg.).
save Christ. Levi,
:
With Thee which
is
And
Lord, and there is,
by metathesis,
the meaning
is,
that
the Father from eternity hath firmly and inviolably decreed
CHRIST
ENEMIES HIS FOOTSTOOL.
S
He
concerning Christ His Son, not as
became Incarnate and was made man Heb.
He
that
God, but
is
(for this
29 in
that
He
the force of the
is
by virtue both of the Hypostatic
Adoni\ Union and of the Redemption which He accomplished on the He hath said, Cross, of all men, and therefore of David, the Lord." ?n&$,
interiorly in
His own mind, from
the sense that
He
But
all eternity.
He
said also, in
will say at the time of the Ascension of Christ
triumph into Heaven,
in
is,
"
Come and
on
sit
My
right
hand ;
reign
and triumph in the glory of My majesty." So S. Jerome, Theodoret, and others. For this noth Psalm celebrates the most "glorious
Heaven and
of Christ both in
earth
that
kingdom in which Christ, after His Ascension, began from Zion and Jerusalem to reign over all nations, and by His Apostles to bring them to His
Kingdom
faith all
and worship,
Thy footstool. all
until
He
shall
put
down
the wicked, under His feet in the day of
This means, reign with
made
mount upon
the back of the emperor, as
The
it
is
said that Sapor,
whom
he had
his horse, placing his foot
a kind of footstool.
upon
expression until here does not signify end or conclusion,
but continuation and amplification of
sitting
and
reigning.
even in the time which seems contrary and opposed to
dom, even when Thine enemies Thee.
is,
make
in glory, until I
use of the Emperor Aurelian,
taken captive in battle, to
upon
His enemies, that
judgment."
Me
Thus
Thine enemies subject unto Thee.
king of Persia,
all
shall
seem
Reign
Thy King
to reign rather than
Reign even in the midst of crosses, persecutions, and the
tumults of Satan and his ministers.
And no
one
was
able to
answer
a reason; because, as
I
a mere man.
were
"They
smitten with a mortal tine,
"to
have
said,
silent," "
blow."
be broken to pieces
than to be instructed by lowly
Him
a word ;
Syr.
to give
Him
they believed Messiah to be says
They
S.
Chrysostom,
preferred,"
says S.
"being
Augus
in their swelling taciturnity, rather
confession."
CHAPTER The
I
Scribes
XXIII.
and Pharisees good doctrine^ but
evil examples of life.
34 7^he
destruction ofJerusalem foretold.
TMIEN ^
spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying,
The
scribes
and the Pharisees
sit
in
Moses
seat
:
3 All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do not ye after their works for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men s shoulders ; but they themselves will not move them with one of their :
fingers.
works they do for to be seen of men they make broad their and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8 But be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master, even Christ ; and all But
5
all their
:
phylacteries,
:
ye are brethren.
And
9 is
call
no
man
your Father upon the earth
:
for
one
is
your Father, which
in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters I 1
But he that
12
And
:
for
one
your Master, even Christ.
is
greatest among you shall be your servant. whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased ; is
humble himself shall be
and he
that shall
exalted.
1 3 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye devour widows therefore ye shall receive the houses, and for a pretence make long prayer !
:
!
:
greater damnation. 1
5
Woe
land to
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
make one
proselyte
;
and when he
the child of hell than yourselves. 1 6 Woe unto you, ye blind guides
temple, it is nothing is a debtor.
;
!
is
which
for ye compass sea and made, ye make him twofold more
say,
!
Whosoever
shall
swear by the
but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he
THE HOLY GOSPEL OF Ye fools and blind
17
whether
for
!
S.
MATTHEW.
31
greater, the gold, or the temple that
is
sanctifieth the gold ? 1 8 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that 19 Ye fools and blind !
sanctifieth the gift ?
20 Whoso, therefore, shall swear by the things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear
altar,
sweareth by
by the temple, sweareth by
it,
it,
and by
all
and by him that
dwelleth therein.
And he
22
him
that shall swear
by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by
that sitteth thereon.
23
and
Woe anise,
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye pay tithe of mint, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, !
judgment, mercy, and other undone.
faith
:
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave
tjie
24 Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and !
25
!
excess.
cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, them may be clean also. for ye are like unto 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full s bones, and of all uncleanness. of dead 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. because ye build the 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
26 Thou blind Pharisee
!
that the outside of
!
1
men"
!
32.
33
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of !
hell?
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city the earth, 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon :
:
from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. stonest them Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not !
36 Verily 37
O
38 Behold, your house is 39 For I say unto you, blessed
is
he that cometh
left
Ye
in the
unto you desolate. shall not see me henceforth,
name
of the Lord.
till
ye shall say,
-
S.
MATTHEW,
C.
XXIII.
spake, &c.
Then, that
is
to say,
32 Then Jesus
He
wise answers and reasonings,
Scribes and Pharisees, and had proved that
He
when, by His most
had confounded the
He
errors of the
was the Messiah,
rebuke their persistent effrontery by this powerful and pathetic speech, by which He uncovered their feigned then, I say,
put to
appearance of sanctity, and showed their lurking dishonesty, so that the people might avoid
Saying, &c.
it.
seat
By
we here understand the honour,
and
dignity,
and commanding, which Moses had with the which the Scribes had succeeded. We gather from
authority of teaching
Jews, and to S.
Luke
iv.
when they
For otherwise no Pontiff ever which
and
is
S.
Peter
shown
sat,
but
it
now
sits is
Roman
Peter
communion
Hence to
all
the faithful
Pontiffs succeed S. Peter.
in that actual
wooden
on the Feast of
when he
chair
S.
Jerome
said to
your blessedness, that
defines anything ex cathedra, that
authority concerning the faith, he cannot
err,
is,
Peter
S.
Damasus,
is,
by
"
s
am
I
to the chair of
For although as a private man the Pontiff may
Peter."
used to
is
religiously preserved in his basilica,
to the people every year
Chair, to be venerated.
united in
S.
and authority of teaching and ruling
throughout the world, in which the
in
but sometimes stood
sat,
In like manner, the chair of
taught.
^^ power
signify
the Scribes not only
16, that
his
yet
err,
Pontifical
because he
is
assisted
by the Holy Ghost. Observe, Levites,
many
of the
whose duty
it
Christ did not wish to
and Pharisees were
Scribes
was to teach the people (Mai.
name
the Priests, because
He
priests
ii.
7).
or
But
would not
derogate from the sacerdotal honour.
All things
therefore whatsoever,
He
&c.
things not contrary to Moses and the Law. Scribes,
when they taught men
contrary to the
Law,
was contrary to the
as Christ
Law
of
means, of course,
to say corban to their parents,
showed
Moses
(xv.
all
For the doctrine of the
4).
was
In like manner,
it
to teach, as the Scribes did, that
Jesus was not the Messiah, or the Christ.
For Jesus showed those
very signs and miracles which Moses and the Prophets had foretold Messiah would perform. In such things, therefore, the people
LIMITS OF OBEDIENCE. Scribes, nor
must not follow the doctrine of the
them; but
Law
their teaching
was
it
be obedient to
obey them.
dogmas of the
other
the
all
was generally
their duty to
which were not repugnant to the
Scribes,
were vain and
foolish,
be obligatory,
should
law, even though they and therefore not binding (for that a law it must command something honest and
and Theologians teach
as Civilians
useful,
of Moses,
here teaches that
therefore
Christ
which
in other things, in
conformable to the
33
D. Thomas,
laws, also
i.
2,
quc&st.
in their treatises
95, art.
3),
upon
such as were the
frequent washings of the hands and other parts of the body, might
and simple obedience, and
yet serve for the merit of blind
So Jansen, Franc. Lucas, and word all to such commands
reverence of the sacerdotal order.
But Maldonatus
others.
restricts the
alone as are contained in the
what Christ chiefly referred
For they well,
say,
but they live
their subjects
of Moses.
by
For
as
one hath
ports itself according to the king s
Teacher
do
to
Christ
words.
Gr.
Christians
"
said,
incite
them
likewise
The whole world com
example,"
we may add, of
the
credit to deeds than they
ought to bear
mind
in
see certain Bishops, Pastors,
these words of
and Magistrates not
accordance with the law of Christ.
they bind
.
defffievovffi, i.e.,
This
heaps.
and scandalise
the law,
and thus
For men give more
likewise.
when they
living in
For
s
They teach and order
not.
They both break
ill.
Certainly these were
to.
their evil example,
break the law.
to
Law
command, and do
i.e.,
for
.
.
upon merfs shoulders ; Arab, upon their necks ;
they bind and, as
signifies
it
were, gather them together in
both the multitude and the heavy weight of
the precepts with which they burden the people.
Unbearable ; Vulg. Gr. dvafidaraxra, as English version, to be borne,
rather than impossible.
Such were the numerous
beyond what the Law required, concerning fruits,
&c.
difficult
precepts,
oblations, tithes,
first-
Consider only the vigorous observance of the Sabbath,
which they enjoined, so that they would not allow Christ to heal the sick
on
that day, nor suffer
His
disciples to satisfy their
by plucking ears of corn. VOL.
III.
C
hunger
Move them; S.
MATTHEW,
S.
34 Vulg.
Chrysostom
ness,
says,
XXIII.
and English Version, touch them. As theirs was a double wicked
Syr. "
C.
He
shows that
both because they wish the multitude to
possible manner, without the least indulgence,
live in the strictest
and because, indulg
Which they assume great licence. of in what is required a good prince. things are the very opposite For such a one permits himself no indulgence, but is mild towards ing themselves inordinately,
his subjects,
and ready
to
bestow
All things that they may be
He
pardon."
seen ; Gr.
OeuOwott,
be
i.e.,
a
spectacle.
notes their vain ostentation of sanctity in praying in the public
streets,
Christ here touches
&c.
upon the
root of the incredulity
of the Scribes, that they would not believe in
sought
after vainglory
possible,"
of
men
Him, because they and the applause of men. "For it is im "
says S. Chrysostom,
that he
who
covets the earthly glory
should believe in Christ preaching heavenly
They make large
things."
Vulg. They prolong the fringes
their fringes ;
of their cloaks; Syr. They, the Jews, interpreted too
words of Deut.
God,
for a sign
before thine their
"
vi.
8,
upon
Thou
thine hands,
Whence
arms and foreheads.
frontlets.
They
and they
i.e.,
shall
literally
the
the precepts of
be moved (Vulg.)
bore certain pieces of parchment about
They
eyes."
shalt bind them,
they were called armlets and
did this that they might strike against their eyes
and foreheads, and admonish them to meditate upon and keep the
The words
Divine Law. "
were,
Hear,
shalt love the
and with
all
(fruXdrru,
to
O
upon the pieces of parchment Thou Lord our God is one Lord."
inscribed
Israel, the
"
Lord thy God with thy
strength."
guard,
to
all
thy heart, and with
keep,
and
blue or dark blue colour, as
men who
heavenly
xxii.
12, the
Lord
the Jews to wear fringes, threads depending from the
lowest skirt of their garments,
life
thy soul,
because they put them in constant
remembrance of observing the law. For a similar reason, in Num. xv. 38 and Deut.
commanded
all
They were called phylacteries, from
by keeping the law.
that they should be of a light
S.
professed and lived the
Jerome adds
that the
more
devout Jews were wont to insert very sharp thorns in these fringes,
PHYLACTERIES. them
that being pricked by
as they walked, they might be always
reminded of the Divine Law.
All these things the Pharisees wore
and broader than other
larger
to
be
it
in their minds.
people,, that they
stricter observers of the law, "
Not
35
might appear to
made but
although they says
understanding,"
little "
S.
Jerome,
all
of
that
these things should be carried in the heart, not in the body, for
bookcases and chests have books, but have not therefore the know ledge of stands
Chrysostom, by phylacteries, under
S.
Moreover,
God."
amulets worn to preserve
such
for
health,
esteemed the pieces of parchment described above. way, some Christians wear the Gospel of
charm
as a kind of
And
says,
regards time, that
the body, that place, that
love
"They
we should
we should
the voice, that
we should
the
lowest
the
salute
cry out,
we should bow
first
them
necks
in
Rabbi
public."
first
S.
forum.
but also as regards
first,
Hail,
of lions, and not the head
tail
their
not only as
salutations,
Always be the
"
in the
Vulg.
;
and as regards
;
the head to them;
them
salute
Matthies in Pirke Avoth,
Be
John about
S.
Scribes
to preserve health.
salutations in the market-places
Chrysostom
the
In the same
and
as regards
Wisely saith R.
to salute every one. is,
be the
chief
among
of foxes; that
among good and honourable men, not
the
deceitful, proud, and impious ones." Rabbi, from m, i.e., much or great, because a great man, such
a Rabbi, or Doctor of the Law, was equivalent to excelling others in learning in
Pirke Avoth,
"
Who
and
*
He who
man ?
as
persons, as
Well saith R. Benzoma
authority.
a wise
is
many
willingly learns of
had more understanding than the all, Who is the mighty aged, because I sought Thy commandments. man ? He who rules over anger, and his own spirit, according to according to the words,
the saying,
Better
the patient
is
the rich
(Ps. is
?
cxxviii.),
thee,
He
that
Thou
and happy
honoureth others,
man
he that taketh a
ruleth his spirit than is
I
shalt it
eat the labour of thine
thou be. is
written,
Who Him
Who
(Prov. xvi. 32).
city
it
is
said
hands;
O
well
contented with his own, as
is
shalt
as
than the strong, and he that
is
honoured?
He that Me I
that honoureth
MATTHEW,
S.
36 will
and
honour,
and Pharisees,
Rabbi above
who
Christ, yea,
lawful to desire a doctor
by
it
He
ye called Rabbi, &c.
be not
Scribes
Me
despise
be
shall
lightly
"
esteemed.
But
that
they
XXIII.
C.
we may obtain and by
this
the Council of Trent
be honoured and called
But
even to the exclusion of Christ.
and preach, and have influence with
means gain the
(sess.
it is
degree, as a testimony of learning, that
s
authority,
the people,
forbids the ambition of the
desired to
24,
Wherefore
fruit.
greater
12) orders that
c.
and
all dignities,
at
of canonries in cathedral and collegiate churches,
least the half
should be conferred only upon masters and doctors, or at least licentiates in theology or
but do not be
canon
Christ does not say, do not
law.
called,
Christ does not forbid the doctor tion
be,
Rabbi.
of the name, that by
ambi
degree, but the proud
man
a
it
s
should please himself and
despise others, as though he had his knowledge and learning from himself,
and not from
He
Therefore
which was what the Scribes
Christ,
adds the reason, for one
He
means, there
are
the
your
one chief Rabbi over
is
disciples,
is
and
are
all
brethren,
all,
did.
Master, even Christ. of
whom
all
others
equal one to another.
Therefore
let
none of them proudly
and wish
to
be called Rabbi, as though he were of himself a
doctor and master of others, for this
who
alone has
Doctor of
all,
all
wisdom
himself above the
lift
is
a wrong done to Christ,
Himself, and
in
who indeed makes them
lower sense Paul himself, as
S.
rest,
is
the only supreme
And
doctors.
in this
Jerome says, with modesty calls
himself the doctor of the Gentiles.
He means
Call no one your father upon earth, &c.
in the sense
and the preserver of all things, as though ye entirely depended upon any but God. This was what the Gentiles and Atheists did, and others who trusted in men rather of the prime author of
That
than in God.
which
He is
is
subjoins, for one
whole family therefore
.this
life
in
Heaven and
the meaning, is
is
plain
your Father, &c.
earth
the only real Father of
is
named
all,
from the reason "
Of whom
"
(Eph.
forasmuch as
iii.
He
15).
the
God
only gives
AGAINST VAINGLORY. soul
and
and
creates,
life,
37
In comparison of Him, says
preserves.
and
S. Jerome, earthly fathers are only so in a figurative sense,
command
ought not therefore insolently to
their
the chief Father of
Neither be ye Vulg.
One
life,
that
13,
Gr.
Himself, in the
way of
All others teach as they have been
first
tinkling
first
Syr.
Chrysostom
by Himself
virtue to heavenly glory.
says,
their "it
Him.
outward
in the
cymbal; but Christ makes known For, as S.
place,
taught by
others only teach in words that sound
to the mind.
moderators;
Ruler and Orderer, Gr. xa^fjrjfc, of your
He
Christ.
or governors,
xa^Tjra/,
the
is
not ambitious of being called masters;
teaches us, and leads us by the
all
God,
all.
called, i.e., be
magistri ;
rulers ; for
but
children,
ought to submit themselves together with their children to
is
Secondly, ears, like
a
meaning inwardly not
man who
gives
man
understanding by teaching, but exercises by means of admoni
tion
what has been ordained by
God."
Thirdly,
all
others only
show what the law commands and what God requires ; but Christ gives grace to the will, that we, to
be done,
may indeed
He
is
that
the
when we hear
constantly
fulfil
greater of you,
the things which ought
the same.
&c.
He
"
Chrysostom,
And
says
S.
rid of
by
teaches,"
must be got
that the disease of vainglory
"
any one ministers the divine Origen says, humility." is that it who Christ words, knowing produces fruit by His means, "If
he by no means holds himself forth
Whence Himself,
it
follows,
who
and well does
that
is
as a master, but a
the greatest,
c.,
minister."
because even Christ
the true Master, hath professed Himself to be a
is
minister, in that
He
He saith, I am among you as he that ministereth He add after the whole saying, He that exalteth ;
himself shall be abased ; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
These words Remigius. the proud.
those
are
as
applied
For both God and men "
and
Blessed Peter
it.
God
will raise
Damian
will
God and men,
both to
says
humble and depress from it, and flees from
exalt the
Glory follows them that
who pursue
lofty height,
true
bring
flee
down
insolent pride from
up humility to glory," says S. gives a memorable example
its
Hilary. (Epist.
15).
MATTHEW,
S.
38
There was, he
became in
a certain bold and warlike clergyman,
says,
by means of
great
a
consequence
XXIII.
C.
and
his pride
about
quarrel
And
his arms.
certain
estates
who
he had another
with
powerful man, which he determined to decide by the fortune of
and the troops of both were drawn up in battle array. The clergyman before the battle went into a church and heard Mass. war,
It
chanced that the words of the Gospel were read,
When
himself shall be abased.
He
that exalteth
he heard them he said insolently, or words are
in
for if
rather blasphemously,
"These
had humbled myself
should never have become as great as
By and
I
falsified
me,
I
by, in the heat of battle, his horse being very thirsty,
some water
contrary to his wish, to
horse with his shield, in order to cause
when, behold, an enemy
He
was near.
that
it
I
am."
ran,
struck his
to return into the battle,
sword transfixed that blaspheming mouth
s
of his like a thunderbolt, and slew him, humbling his pride and
him down
casting
to the ground, showing that the words of Christ
are indeed true.
Woe
Ver. 13.
Observe
unto you, Scribes, &c.
enumerated eight beatitudes, repeating the word Matt,
in S.
v.,
He
so does
that,
as
Christ
blessed eight times
here bestow eight maledictions upon
the impious Scribes, eight several times repeating the word woe. Christ the
promises with as
new Lawgiver
many
many
imitates Moses, the ancient lawgiver,
who keep the law, and who break it. Thus Origen.
blessings to those
curses those
Moreover, the word woe
is
who
threatens
partly prophetic of the grave punish
ment which should partly "
says,
fall upon the wickedness of the Scribes, and is and Whence Basil condoling pitying in its signification. This word woe, which is prefixed to intolerable pain, applies
to those
who were soon
punishments."
for
it
be destroyed by dreadful
therefore presupposes a deadly fault,
threatens the punishment of hell, as Christ explains in ver. 33.
For ye
shut, &c.
"
I
for I preach, repent ye, this
afterwards to
The word woe
for
the
kingdom has been shut
Adam s
sin.
I,
kingdom of Heaven ; Heaven is at hand. For kingdom of
indeed open to
for
expiating that sin
all
four
by
My
the
thousand years, through death, will
now open
it,
THE SCRIBES SHUT UP HEAVEN. whoso believeth
that
Me
in
and followeth
My
life,
39
may
enter into
Wherefore many of the Jews, being aroused by But you, O ye Scribes, turn preaching, are striving to enter in.
the open kingdom.
My
them away, and shut Heaven against them by your vain and per verse
which ye
traditions,
"
Chrysostom door
says,
into their
instil
The kingdom
of
minds."
Heaven
is
Holy Scripture
the understanding of Scripture, or Christ
is
keys are the Scribes and Priests the opening of the door
is
;
the key
evil
the
;
the bearers of the
;
the word of knowledge
is
Ye
interpretation.
your wickedness and
offend by
as S.
For,
example
men
also cause
;
to
and because ye
;
calumniate and persecute Me, and draw them away from believing in
Me, which
Me
by
the road to Heaven.
is
alone there
entrance into
is
shut
they
Tropologically,
up
For
says
Chrysostom,
who draws
he
those
is
it
who
is
a grievous
are going is
on
safely into error
a pestilence
whom
For
sin.
if,
is
altogether
Wherefore such a
itself.
doctor deserves, and brings upon himself as of souls
who
kingdom of Heaven
the
the part of a doctor to recall the erring,
a son of perdition, yea, he
number
the door, because
Heaven."
excommunicate any one without cause. For ye enter not in yourselves, &c. This S.
am
I
many
as the
hells
he corrupts and destroys, because he
is
not
a teacher and promoter of salvation, but a betrayer. Ver. 14.
Woe
Because ye devour, that
unto you, &c.
the substance of widows, in extracting
them under a feigned appearance of prayers.
Gr.
This
vpo^oiff-t
is
why He adds
puKta
sanctity
in explanation,
exhaust, selling
your long public
making long prayers.
praying at length as a pretext.