prayed him, saying: Rabbi, eat." Every occurrence presented to Jesus an occasion of instruction and edification: water had been such for the Samaritan; here food was so for those who offered it him. "I have meat to eat, he said to them, which you know not. The disciples said one to another: Hath any man brought him to eat? Jesus saith to them: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work." He then added, to teach them what that work was in which they were incessantly to co-operate with him: "Do not you say there are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh (14)? Behold, I say to you: Lift up your eyes, and see the countries, for they are white already to harvest." The apostles did not say what Jesus supposes them to say. These words, "there are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh," was a proverbial way of saying that there was no pressing hurry, and that there was still time for rest. The disciples so understood it with reference to the functions of their ministry. Jesus undeceives them by showing them the countries all yellowing into ripeness, figurative of those people who were ready to receive the Gospel, and of the Samaritans in particular, who, at the moment he was speaking, thronged to him in crowds. Yet, as the apostles might have said to him, the harvest doth not come till after seed-time, Jesus Christ informs them that the seed was already sowed by the prophets their predecessors, whose toil, though at first sight unproductive, was now going to yield a harvest that should gladden both sowers and reapers: this is what the Saviour meant to convey by the following words: "He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For in this is the saying true: That it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth (15). I have sent you to reap that in which you did

(14) They then were between Easter and Pentecost, and it is known that Pentecost is the time when harvest is reaped in Palestine: a proof of what we presently state, that this was a proverb of the country, and not a saying of the apostles.

(15) This proverb only has, in the circumstances in which used by Jesus Christ, half its application. It signifies, in the ordinary application, that one has all the trouble, another ali the profit. Jesus Christ wishes merely to convey that the reaper is different from the sower, although one and the other were equally to share the crop.

not labor: others have labored, and you have entered into their labors (16)."

"Now many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him for the word of the woman giving testimony (17): He told me all things whatsoever I have done. So when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired that he would tarry there, and he abode there two days; and many more believed in him, because of his own word. They said to the woman (18): We now believe not for thy saying, for we ourselves have heard him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world (19)."

After the two days which Jesus had granted to the earnest solicitations of the Samaritans, "he departed thence, and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself gave testimony that a prophet (20) hath

Yes, but when

(16) Have not, then, the apostles toiled as much as the prophets? toiling they had the consolation of reaping the fruit of their labors. Theirs was the toil of the harvest-time, wherein pain is mingled with joy, and the joy exceeds the pain. Sow always, ye laborers in the field of the Lord: the seed will be productive at the time when your hopes are at the lowest; or, if it produce nothing, your reward is not the less assured by a Master who recompenses the toil, and not the success.

(17) It is strange to see them crediting so easily the testimony of a lewd woman. This has induced some to believe that she had contrived to save appearances, and preserve the reputation of a decent widow. Whatever weight there is in this conjecture, grace might give sufficient force to the word of a disgraced woman to make her find credence in people's minds, and to make this trust in her neither precipitate nor imprudent.

(18) This woman, according to Origen, represents the Church. We believe at the present day on her testimony; but when we shall have the happiness to see Jesus Christ face to face, we shall say with the Samaritans: We believe now not for thy saying, for we ourselves have heard him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world. (19) This was the first people who recognized in Jesus Christ the amiable character of Saviour of the world. There is no doubt but Jesus Christ declared unto them who he was, and we see here what faith they reposed in his words; but, moreover, they who were not Jews, and who expected the Messiah, could not be fettered by the prejudice of those who regarded him as the Saviour of the Jews merely; wherefore they could only expect him as Saviour of the world, and this, therefore, disposed them towards the belief of this article of Christian faith.

(20) Elsewhere we shall explain this sentence, which seemingly Jesus Christ did not advance, but Saint John gives as the motive of the journey he made into Galilee. This forms a very embarrassing difficulty. For the little welcome that a prophet receives in his country was a reason for Jesus to remain in Samaria, where he was so well received, and not to leave it and return to Galilee, which to him was that ungrateful country, whose disgraceful proceedings made him say that a prophet enjoys no consideration in

no honor in his own country. When he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things he had done at Jerusalem on the festival day; for they also went to the festival day. (a) And the fame of him went out through the whole country. He taught in the synagogues, and was magnified by all."

CHAPTER X.

AN OFFICER'S SON HEALED.-CURE OF ONE POSSESSED, AND OF THE MOTHER-IN-LAW OF SAINT PETER.-THREE MEN REPROVED.

"JESUS came again, therefore, into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain ruler, whose son was sick at Capharnaum. He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to him, and prayed him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death." Since he thus had recourse to Jesus Christ, he may have some time previously commenced believing; but his incipient faith was as yet merely a

(a) St. Luke, iv. 14, 15.

(b) St. John, iv. 46–54.

his country and among his kindred. This is explained by saying that what was called the Saviour's country is not entire Galilee, but solely the city of Nazareth, whither he did not wish to return, for the reason assigned by the Evangelist, choosing rather to dwell at Capernaum or in other parts of Galilee. This explanation, which appeared to me more satisfactory than five or six others given by the interpreters, is still far from being satisfactory. Those who will not content themselves, may consider this passage as not explained what inconvenience can result from this? There are enough of matters clear in Scripture to support faith and maintain piety. Those who wish to understand every thing are not aware that intelligence of every thing is not granted at all; what you cannot understand another does understand, and the latter in his turn does not understand what you do. Besides, the explanations which are not satisfactory to me are so to others, and there is no decision whether they cr I judge the best. Whatever be the case, let us seek and ask for light; yet let us respect the obscurity which should not at all weaken the faith and veneration due to the divine Scriptures, because, as I have said, there remain enough of things so clear as incontestably to assure both one and the other. And reason alone teaches us that we are to judge, not what is clear by what is obscure, but what is obscure by that which is clear.

doubt to be resolved into true faith, once he had seen or experienced himself the truth of those things which he had heard concerning the Saviour. Jesus, aware of his disposition, reproached him for it by these words: "Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not." The father, who was entirely engrossed with his son's danger," saith to Jesus: Come down, Lord, before that my son die. Go thy way, saith Jesus to him; thy son liveth." This efficacious expression operated simultaneously upon the son's body and the father's soul. "He believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way." The next day, The next day," as he was going down, his servants met him, and they brought him word that his son lived. He asked therefore of them the hour wherein he grew better, and they said to him: Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him (1). The father therefore knew that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him: Thy son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle (2) that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee."

It has been said already that (a) “Jesus, leaving the city of Naz areth, came and dwelt in Capharnaum on the sea-coast, in the borders of Zabulon and of Nephthalim." He went there after the miracle at the marriage of Cana, (b) “he and his mother, his brethren and his disciples." But as the "pasch of the Jews was at hand, they remained there not many days," during which they scarcely had time to do more than prepare their place of abode. Jesus returned thither again from Cana, (c) " and forthwith," when he had arrived there, "upon the Sabbath-day, going into the synagogue, he taught

(a) St. Matthew, iv. 13.

(b) St. John, ii. 12, 13.

(1) One hour after mid-day.

(c) St. Mark, i. 21-26; St.
Luke, iv. 35.

(2) The second which he wrought in this journey from Judea to Galilee; or the second which he wrought in Galilee, counting as the first the miracle at the marriage feast of Cana, which he wrought in like manner after arriving from Judea; or perhaps the Evangelist merely remarks those which Jesus wrought under the special circumstances of his return, because they signalized his arrival in the country, and disposed the people to receive him and hearken to him. The interpreters are divided upon these different explanations, among which it is optional to choose whichever we find best, without being fearful of falling into any prejudicial error.

them. They were astonished at his doctrine; for he was teaching them as one (3) having power, and not as the Scribes. There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy one of God." It is hard to say what motive made him speak thus; but, whether he hoped to soften Jesus Christ by flattery, or whether his design was to spite him in some manner by divulging his divinity, which the Saviour wished to make known by degrees only, still it is quite certain that his intention was bad. Wherefore Jesus Christ, who did not wish to be at all indebted to such evidence, imposed silence upon him (4)," and threatened him, saying: Speak no more, and go

(3) Jesus spoke as a lawgiver, and the Scribes merely as interpreters of the law. He had the power of working miracles, and they had not. In these two respects he had an advantage which they could neither contest nor assume to themselves. But there were others in which they might have imitated, if not equalled him; and failing in these, their ministry was stripped of dignity, and their word of efficacy. Jesus Christ practised what he taught, while the acts of the Scribes notoriously belied their doctrines. Jesus Christ had only in view the glory of his Father, and the salvation of men, while the Scribes sought nothing but their own glory and the spoils of the widow, whose house they devoured, after having insinuated themselves by their hypocrisy, into esteem and respect. The zeal of Christ was authorized by example, and ennobled by that perfect devotedness which, forgetful of self, seeks only the salvation of those for whom it is exercised. What tone may not such zeal assume ?-or who can resist the power which both reason and nature confer upon it? That of the Scribes, being, on the contrary, inspired by pride and self-interest, could not be made to appear natural, when it was only artificial; nor dignified, since it must have been changeful as the chameleon -having to pass incessantly from severity to indulgence, from censure to adulation. Nor could it have authority, because through all its grimaces were seen, at one time the shifts and artifices of inordinate vanity, and at another the selfish schemes of interest, these being the evident springs of action, determining and guiding its course. He who acts not, but only talks, is a babbler. He who speaks for the love of praise is a declaimer. He who speaks only for vile profit might be called a buffoon, if his abuse of the divine word, by employing it for his own base purpose, did not aggravate his crime into sacrilege.

(4) The disciples have imitated their Master in this point. When the demon said by the mouth of the girl having a pythonical spirit: These men are the servants of the most high God, who preach unto you the way of salvation; Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit: I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her (Acts, xvi.) Coming from the father of lies, everything, even truth, should be suspected. When he speaks truth, he does so to make it subservient to lying.

Like father, like sons, Luther zealously defended the dogma of the real presence