"no prophet is accepted in his own country. He is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house."

Wherefore, he cannot work many miracles there; for where there is but little consideration for his person, little faith could be placed in his words. Now miracles, which are usually the reward of faith, must not be lavished on incredulity. And to show that such had been, at all times, the conduct of God, (a) “In truth," pursues the Saviour, "in truth I say to you: There were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the earth: and to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman, the Syrian."

Thus they should not expect to be more highly favored than the Israelites then were; and Jesus Christ gave them sufficiently to understand that the fault was their own. Why did they not correct themselves, if they sought to be better treated? And, since disdain. for his person, and incredulity to the words of him whom they should at least regard as the messenger of God, rendered them unworthy of the favor of heaven, why did they not strive to render themselves worthy by listening to him with docility and respect? It was to bring them to this point that Jesus Christ spoke to them after this fashion. But there are always perverse hearts, who turn remedies into poison, and grace itself into a stumbling-block and a rock of scandal. The truth which should light up intelligence in their minds served only to complete their blindness. On hearing these words, "all they in the synagogue hearing these things, were filled with anger. They rose up on the instant, and thrust him out of the city." They sought not merely to banish him; their fury went so far as to attempt his life. "That they might cast him down headlong (13), they brought him to the brow of the hill

(a) St. Luke, iv. 25-30.

(13) Saint Ambrose and Bede judge them more culpable than those who crucified the Saviour, because the latter preserved, at least, the form of justice, whereas those of Nazareth followed without any form the motions of a brutal fury. We hazard

whereon their city was built. But Jesus, passing through the midst of them, went his way," at a moderate pace, without seeming to fear them, and without receiving any hurt. Whether he diffused a mist before their eyes to hinder them from seeing him, or whether he bound their hands by invisible chains-take it either way, it must have been a miracle; but it was almost the only one he wrought in his own country. "For," adds the sacred text, (a) "he could not do any miracle there (14), on account of their unbelief, only that he

(a) St. Matthew, xiii. 58; St. Mark, vi. 5, 6.

the opinion, contrary to their view, that the crime is more enormous where there is more reflection, and that, comparing these two attempts, one is murder, and the other assassination; besides, that the most criminal injustice is that which clothes itself in the form of justice.

(14) Not if we merely contemplate his absolute power, but with respect to the rational exercise of power, and consistently with a certain order which his wisdom has freely established, from which he may deviate when it pleaseth him, but from which he very rarely does deviate. We have already seen that, according to this order, God, generally speaking, grants miracles to faith, and refuses them to incredulity. The latter will perhaps ask if that be not tantamount to saying that miracles are accorded to credulity, and that they are refused to enlightened and diffident reason. It is a sufficient answer, that this conduct of God is highly worthy, and good sense alone tells us that graces should be measured out according to the use which is made of them, and that, consequently, they should be redoubled for those who profit by them, and be retrenched from those who abuse them. The inhabitants of Nazareth belong to the latter class. Jesus Christ had wrought some miracles among them, and rumor had informed them of those which he had wrought at Capharnaum. This was enough to make them believe; and had they believed, having this sufficient proof, prodigies would have been multiplied in their favor. But, by not believing, they deserve that Jesus Christ should in some manner weaken this proof in their regard, very far from fortifying it. We should say the same thing with reference to the miracles upon which religion is founded. They form, for every straightforward and impartial mind, a more than sufficient proof. God will not perform other miracles for those who do not believe; and he will perform them for those who already believe. On his part, this is goodness towards the latter, and justice with regard to the others. And, when I say that God will perform fresh miracles, I suppose, what is true, that miracles have never ceased in the Church. They have been wrought in the Church from its birth, and they shall be wrought in it until the consummation of ages. The verbal process of canonizations is a judicial and incontestable proof for all the period which has elapsed since that period when these proceedings commenced-the very period with reference to which doubts might more readily be entertained as to the gift of miracles having remained in the Church. But it has been remarked, and we may again remark, that miracles follow

cured a few that were sick, laying his hands upon them; and he wondered because of their unbelief." He who had wondered at the faith of a Gentile, found in his fellow-citizens a prodigy of infidelity capable of causing him equal surprise. These two prodigies are daily renewed that of faith to an heroic pitch amongst barbarous nations at the first glimmerings they descry of evangelical truth; and, in the bosom of Christianity, the prodigy of incredulity rising to downright personal hatred of Jesus Christ, and the most furious demonstrations against his religion and its ministers.

These proceedings, which obliged the Saviour to quit his ungrateful country, were unable to repress his zeal. True, he abandoned to their reprobate senses these self-blinded individuals, who had passed the sentence upon themselves, that they were unworthy of the eternal life which his mercy had come to offer them. But it was only to seek elsewhere minds more docile and hearts better disposed. (a) "He went about all the cities and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. And, seeing the multitudes " of people who crowded to him from all parts, “he had compassion on them, because they were distressed, and lying like sheep that have no shepherd."

(a) St. Matthew, ix. 35, 36.

faith; that is to say, that the more faith there is, the more miracles there are, and that the source of miracles is almost entirely dried up in places where faith is dead or dying. Thus, incredulity in miracles is the cause of the withdrawal of miracles, and the mystery of the parables was in punishment of incredulity of the doctrine which had been so publicly promulgated. The conduct of God sustains itself, and all his judgments are justified.

CHAPTER XXIII.

MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES.-INSTRUCTIONS AND ADVICE THAT JESUS GIVES

THEM.

(a) "THEN he saith to his disciples: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the har vest that he send forth laborers into his harvest." We cannot rationally doubt the execution of this order, or that all the disciples made the prayer prescribed by their Divine Master. It could not fail to be heard, since he who was to hear it was no other than he who invited them to make the petition. (b) "Then calling together his twelve apostles, he gave them power and authority over all devils, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities. He began to send them two and two," in order that they might aid one another, and that there might be everywhere two witnesses to the same truth. "The names of the twelve apostles are these"-as we have seen before, yet they are ranged here in an order somewhat different from the first, and we believe from that in which they were associated. "The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the publican; James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Canaanean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Jesus."

(c) "He commanded them that they should take nothing for the way but a staff only:" even this they were merely to make use of for a support, for we shall presently see that he did not allow them to make use of it for self-defence. This explains the apparent contradiction of the staff now allowed and now forbidden. In addition, he enjoined upon them "that they should take no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse, but to be shod with sandals, and that they should not put on two coats." An unwavering confidence in Providence was to be then substituted for all these provisions. But we

(a) St. Matthew, ix. 37, 38.

(c) St. Mark, vi. 8, 9.

(b) St. Luke, ix. 1, 2; St. Matthew, x.

1; St. Mark, vi. 7.

must hear, from the very lips of the Saviour, the admirable regulations which he gave to them, and, in their persons, to their successors in the apostolic ministry; for they equally regard the latter, excepting the first, which even may also serve to teach them that they ought not to go elsewhere than whither they are sent, and that if it be criminal to preach without a mission, it would also be a crime to step ever so little beyond its prescribed bounds.

(a) "Jesus commanded his apostles, saying: Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles, and into the cities of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. Freely have you received, freely give. Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff." Be assured, however, that no necessary shall be wanting to you, "for the workman is worthy of his meat. Into whatever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; there abide, until you go thence (1). When you go into the house, salute it, saying: Peace be to this house; and if that house be worthy, your peace shall come upon it; but if it be not worthy, your peace shall return to you (2). Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, going forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony to them (3). Amen, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city."

This advice might suffice to the apostles for this first mission; it was to be rather brief: no persecution awaited them there, and it was merely a slight essay of those missions, wherein, cross in hand,

(a) St. Matthew, x. 5; St. Mark, vi. 11.

(1) It is said in Saint Luke: And whatsoever house you shall enter into, abide there, and depart not from thence. There would be levity in doing so without reason, or a delicacy very unbecoming in an apostle, if done from the hope of better treatment; and whatever was the motive, the host thus left would certainly have cause to complain. (2) The good that you have wished them shall come to pass in one way or the other. (3) Dust on the fect is the proof of the journey; and to shake off this dust was, on the part of the apostles, equivalent to saying: We are come, and you have not wished to reThis is the way in which that action rendered testimony against the in

ceive us.

habitants.