Scarcely any portion of the Sermon on the Mount has given such scope for fanciful interpretations of the allegorical kind as these verses in the form of an epilogue or peroration.

Whosoever heareth and doeth.-This is first to be applied to one who lays a solid foundation for a life of sanctity. He takes the whole sermon literally, gives up the world and all its pleasures, goes into a cloister and gives every single moment of his life to the practice of virtue, and the observing of every jot and tittle of His holy rule. This is the real wise man.

Others transfer the meaning to the Church founded on a rock, against which the rain from above, floods from below, and winds from every point of the compass, have beaten and will beat in

vain.

2And doeth them not.-What about the man who will neither hear the words nor do them? His case must be dealt with on other principles altogether. Our Lord here was applying His words to His hearers, for that is the business of a peroration. The man then who doeth them not, and has heard and preached and practised them for a while, if he do not continue, is likely to fall.

Great was the fall thereof, is applied by nearly all interpreters to eternal damnation. Is not the fall of a prominent good man in this world very terrible? Does he not go down very low? Corruptivio optimi pessima. Who so mean and degraded ?

Some, like Maldonatus, who think this Sermon composed of detached pieces, delivered here and there, but put together by the Evangelist, explain the conclusion by the next verse.

It is plain from verse 28 that the people were listening to Him as well as His chosen ones. The greater portion of the sermon has reference to those who practise the counsels of perfection, and therefore, could not have a practical effect upon a crowd say some, therefore it was addressed only to the Apostles. But what force is there in this sort of reasoning? Are not the people to hear ever of high morality? Are not there latent vocations in a multitude who decide upon their course of life by listening to such sermons? Need a priest be always talking about mortal sin and damnation? The most sensible view is that He preached before a great multitude with His twelve around Him, just as deacons and clergy are stationed nearest to a pulpit.

1He was teaching as one having authority.-This is the one great centre of His teaching. He asserted His power. He spoke not like the lawgivers or prophets of old, "thus saith the Lord," nor as the Scribes and Pharisees with their targum and talmud glosses, drivelling into puerilities; no, He spoke thus: "But I say unto you."

This authority was manifested in His mien, His manner and the superior wisdom of His utterances. The people were struck wonderfully (that is the force of the Greek word) with Himself and His teaching. When He confirmed His teachings, as we shall see in the next chapter, by miracles, then did He convince indeed.

Jesus did not preach for admiration but he got it. To do so is:

Ist. To debase one's office. 2nd. To degrade God's word. 3rd. To get one's reward here, like the Pharisees giving

alms.

Authority is the basis of truth. Because:

Ist. It is so laid down by Our Lord.

2nd. Because man unaided alway errs in philosophy, a fortiori in theology.

3rd. Teaching of the Church. Does not reason. Anathema sit.

CHAPTER VIII.

Christ cleanses the leper, heals the centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, and many others; he stills the storm at sea, drives the devils out of two men possessed, and suffers them to go into the swine.

1. Cùm autem descendisset de monte, secutæ sunt eum turbæ multæ.

2. Et ecce leprosus veniens adorabat eum, dicens: "Domine, si vis potes me mundare."

3. Et extendens JESUS manum, tetigit eum dicens: "Volo, mundare." Et confestim mundata est lepra ejus.

4. Et ait illi JESUS: "Vide nemini dixeris ; sed vade, ostende te sacerdoti, et offer munus quod præcepit Moyses in testimonium illis."

1. And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him :

2. And behold, 1a leper coming, adored him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

3. And Jesus, stretching forth his hand, touched him, saying: I will. Be thou made clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4. And Jesus said to him: 'See thou tell no man: but go, 'show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded for a testimony to them.

The Sermon on the Mount was delivered in the second year of Christ's ministry. He was well known throughout Judea before this, and had called the twelve. This miracle is supposed to be the same as that recorded in S. Mark i. 40, and in S. Luke v. 12. It is not necessary to identify them, as Our Lord performed several miracles perfectly alike; and, if He cured one leper the report of His curative power must come to others, and thus all lepers would flock to Him.

1A leper.-In the Thirteenth and Fourteenth chapters of Leviticus, long ceremonies are given minutely with regard to leprosy. It was a very dangerous cutaneous disease, and prevalent among those Jews who were of un

tidy and slovenly habits. All are not agreed as to whether it was infectious or not by touch; but the general opinion is that it was infectious by inhaling air polluted by its presence. Hence lepers were sent out of society and dwelt in deserts.

Adored Him.-This is believed to have been divine worship or latria. Our Lord's divinity was already believed in by many. The leper said Lord if thou wilt thou canst; recognising divine power dependent on the will. Our Lord's answer: "I will. Be thou made clean," accepts the worship and rewards the faith.

Touched Him.-Some commentators defend Our Lord's violation of the Mosaic law. Finis legis non cadit sub lege. There was no danger of infection. A priest anoints a man in smallpox or typhus when he knows very well he is not in danger. The law did not oblige.

* See thou tell no man.-This was a very common caution given by Our Lord, and nearly always unheeded by the grateful creatures who published His beneficence. It may be put down to modest humility.

Show thyself . . . . . . testimony.-He causes him to observe the law. The testimony was for the priests, and some say for the people. Lingard suggests his getting a certificate of cleanness.

3rd. To see the wonders He instantaneously. wrought.

5. Cùm autem introîsset Capharnaum, accessit ad eum centurio, rogans eum.

6. Et dicens: "Domine, puer meus jacet in domo paralyticus, et malè torquetur."

7. Et ait illi JESUS: "Ego veniam et curabo eum."

8. Et respondens centurio, ait: "Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantùm dic verbo, et sanabitur puer meus.

9. "Nàm et ego homo sum sub potestate constitutus, habens sub me milites; et dico huic Vade, et vadit; et alii Veni, et venit; et servo meo Fac hoc, et facit."

5. And when he had entered into Capharnaum, there came to him 'a centurion, beseeching him,

6. And saying: Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grievously tormented.

7. And Jesus said to him: I will come and heal him.

8. And the centurion making answer, said: "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.

9. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, "Do this, and he doeth it.

The early Fathers and the great majority of commentators consider this miracle the same as that mentioned in S. Luke vii. They vary in their modes of reconciling the two narratives. In Luke the Centurion sends a deputation who speak partly in his name and partly in their own. He is then supposed to meet Our Lord near his house and utter the Domine non sum dignus. The few who consider the two accounts to apply to different miracles obviate this trouble. It is divided here for the convenience of following the usual mode of explication which has been adopted.

1A Centurion, was a sort of captain who had one hundred men under his command in the Roman army, and there were sixty of them in each legion (which mostly consisted of six thousand men). That he was a Gentile is gathered from the fact that there is no record of such an office being given to a Jew, and from the context also.

2Servant. It is boy in Greek, but with them as among the Irish a