God. And behold, they are last that shall be first, and they are first that shall be last (9)."

This answer was addressed personally to the Jews. It informs them that the number of those who will be saved shall be very great, since it shall comprise individuals from all parts of the earth; but the number amongst their own nation shall be very small, because what is here termed the narrow gate is for them, the evangelical law, which few of them would embrace. What should render this gate still narrower was the small number even of those who should enter. Hence it followed that those who would not enter should constitute the majority. The latter, more powerful in point of numbers, and more so by their assurance, would turn against the first, and, by their fury in persecuting them, render it more difficult for them to enter that gate, already so hard to gain. But at last the moment should arrive when, although they might desire to enter the heavenly kingdom from which they should have thus excluded themselves, they find it closed against them. Thereupon the weeping and gnashing of teeth, when they shall behold this small number of their brethren, the former objects of their contempt and their ha tred, in the company of patriarchs and prophets, enjoying that ineffable happiness, the privation of which is not less bitter than its enjoyment is delightful. But what shall redouble their rage is, to see that there were places for all, and that theirs shall be filled by those who formerly were strangers to the alliance, but who shall have been admitted in the place of the disinherited children. For they were to throng thither from the four corners of the earth; and behold the sense in which Jesus Christ declares that the number of the elect taken by itself shall be very great, although amongst the Jews it should be very small when compared with the bulk of the nation.

You may here inquire, with reference to this subject, whether amongst the faithful themselves the number of the elect shall be the majority or minority? An idle query from the lips of the greater number who moot the question, since each one must be judged ac

(9) Until then the Jews had been preferred to the Gentiles-the Gentiles shall shortly be preferred to the Jews. These who were the first shall be the last, which does not mean that they shall have the last places in the kingdom of God, but that they shall be utterly excluded from it.

cording to his works, and no one shall be saved barely because there shall be a great number of elect, as no one shall be condemned, precisely because there shall be a great number of reprobates. Wherefore let us not mind others, but let each one think of himself; being persuaded that if he preserve his innocence, or if he recover it by sincere repentance, should but one be saved, that individual shall be himself; but, on the contrary, he shall be reprobate, were there but one reprobate alone, if, after having sinned, he dieth in his impenitence.

(a) "The same day there came some of the Pharisees, saying to Jesus: Depart and get thee hence, for Herod hath a mind to kill thee." The intimation was true, although given out of envy, and not from charity. Perhaps it was Herod himself who caused it to be given. It would be difficult to divine the reason for this warning; however, the thing is not improbable, inasmuch as the Saviour conveys back to this prince his reply through the medium of those who came to speak to him. "Go, he said to them, and tell that fox (10): Behold, I cast out devils, and do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I am consummated. Nevertheless, I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following (11), because it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem (12).”

(a) St. Luke, xiii. 31-35.

(10) Thus styled by Jesus Christ, and perhaps he generally went by the denomination on account of his cunning. Besides being naturally cunning, his situation might further contribute to render him such. He was obliged to please the Romans, by whom alone he held his sway, and he did not wish to displease his subjects, who could not endure the Romans. What cunning must be necessary to reconcile such antagonistic elements, when an individual has not sufficient probity to effect this purpose by righteous conduct --the only means most suitable to secure a successful issue, and the only means by which any one can permanently succeed!

(11) These three days signify the short time which Jesus Christ had to remain upon earth. This answer is full of magnanimity; it is as if he said: I act as I wish I dread no one, and I shall not die except at the time and in the place which I have myself appointed.

The just man can say with the same intrepidity: I do what God wishes me to do-I fear him alone, and I shall not die except at the time and in the place chosen by him. (12) That is to say, it is not suitable that a prophet should suffer death out of Jerusalem. The reason given by some is, because the judgment of a prophet was reserved to the great Sanhedrim: Others think that Jesus Christ spoke thus because the majority

His heart is moved when pronouncing the name of this unfortunate city, and he cannot refrain from addressing to it this reproach which compassion draws forth from the depth of his paternal bosom. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou wouldst not (13)? Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate. And I say to you, that you shall not see me till the time come, when you shall say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

Children pronounced this benediction when he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. However, this is not what the Saviour had here in view. He intended to go again to Jerusalem for the feast of the dedication before the last journey, when this acclamation was to be uttered; and after it was spoken, he again said to the Jews: "You shall not see me till the time come, when say: Blessyou shall ed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." An evident mark that this first acclamation was not that of which he then spoke. A deeper meaning was concealed beneath these words: they announced the conversion of the Jews, who, reclaimed from their prejudices, should turn at length towards him, and hasten by their ardent invocations the second coming of the Messiah, whom their fathers had rejected. Jesus Christ said that before this period they should see him no more, because he had only a few days further to pass amongst them; after which these wilfully blinded people, who disowned him in

person, should obstinately deny him, even until the consummation of ages, notwithstanding the establishment of his Church and the accomplishment of the prophecies, although these signs had been more than sufficient to make him manifest to all the nations of the earth.

of the prophets who were put to death had been deprived of life at Jerusalem, whence it might very possibly happen, as is also thought, that what Jesus here says had passed into a proverb.

(13) God would have it so, and Jerusalem would not: what God would have, did not come to pass. Wherefore there are, without prejudice to divine omnipotence, wishes of God that have not their accomplishment. Theologians explain this mystery in various ways; but whatever explanation be adopted, Jesus Christ has said it, and we must believe it.

CHAPTER XLIII.

A MAN CURED OF THE DROPSY ON THE SABBATH-DAY.-WE ARE ALWAYS TO TAKE

THE LOWEST PLACE. TO INVITE THE POOR.-PARABLE OF THOSE WHO EXCUSE THEMSELVES FROM COMING TO THE SUPPER.-WE MUST PREFER JESUS CHRIST BEFORE ALL THINGS.

(a) "Ir came to pass, when Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees on the Sabbath-day to eat bread, that they watched him [for the purpose of criticising his actions], and behold, there was a man before him that had the dropsy. Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day (1)? But they held their peace. He taking him that had the dropsy, healed him, and sent him away. And answering them [their very thoughts], he said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him out on the Sabbath-day? And they could not answer him to these things."

Then, after having been observed, Jesus Christ observed them in his turn; and not content with having made them feel that he had nothing to dread from their criticism, he further informed them that they had need of his instructions. "Marking how they that were invited chose the first seats at the table, he spoke a parable, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place (2), lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be in

(a) St. Luke, xiv.

(1) We have seen in note 2, page 112, chapter xv., Part I., that the rabbis were still more scrupulous than the Pharisees upon the observance of the Sabbath. With all that, they do not yet consider that it is kept strictly enough; some of them are even of opinion that it is this desecration which retards the coming of the Messiah, who shall appear directly when the Sabbath shall have been perfectly observed; that, in short, he only awaits this preliminary.

Any practice, however holy it may be in its institution, must always be converted into superstition and fanaticism, when a party would fain reduce all religion to it alone. (2) The sages of paganism had taught this lesson before Jesus Christ. They were unacquainted with humility, yet they enjoined the semblance of it. Instinct tendered this homage to it, and it was honored nearly in the same way as the unknown God, whose

vited; and he that invited thee and him, come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

The refinement of our manners gives but little room for the application of this moral, especially in this particular instance. It very rarely occurs amongst us that the least honorable of the company should go and take the first place at table; or, if he ventured to do it, most likely he would be left to endure the shame of remaining there rather than be affronted by being displaced. However, these presuming individuals are sometimes displaced in other circumstances, which generally are those wherein the degrees of rank are regulated, and perhaps this was the case at the feasts of the Jews. Sincere humility should always be the motive inducing us to station ourselves rather below than above the rank which is due to us. To do this with the design of being invited to go up higher, would be merely substituting for that coarse pride which seizes upon the first seat, the more refined pride which desires to obtain it through deference. Moreover, we should discard the notion that the latter deportment is that which Jesus Christ prescribed to the Pharisees. Incapable as they were of entertaining sentiments of profound humility, he accommodates himself to their weakness, contenting himself, as a first lesson, with making them remark the humiliating blunders of pride, which really ends in shame by the very course it deemed conducive to glory, whilst glory awaits the humility that shuns it. We daily witness the occurrence of this state of things in the world, when men, imitating on this point the sentiments and the conduct of God, resist the proud man who would fain possess himself by force of their esteem and their respect, which they thrust upon the humble man who declines them. But what men sometimes do in this world is

altar was observed by Saint Paul at Athens. But must it not be visible that the semblance without the reality is merely hypocrisy, and that if it be incumbent upon us to appear modest, we should consequently be really humble? This reasoning is extremely simple; yet the world has existed four thousand years without drawing the inference.