all the heart, as the acme of all that can be desired, no matter what may be the reception it actually meets with at the hands of men.

See also note on S. Mark 4:26-29.

13:28, 29. "Do you then wish us to go and gather them up?"

What has been well said concerning the Sermon on the Mount applies as well to this parable also. Everything in this discourse refers us to the world of temper and disposition.

A saying of the great Augustin is an excellent commentary on this text. It is especially so for those who are always ready to invoke Church authorities to enforce her discipline upon its members: "Let discipline preserve patience, and let patience temper discipline. Let both be referred to charity, so that on the one hand an undisciplined patience may not foster iniquity, and on the other hand an impatient discipline may not dissipate unity."

In the parable of the Sower there is a suggestion that the thorns should be gotten rid of at once. Here the teaching in reference to the tares says: "No. Let both grow together till the harvest."

Why this apparent contradiction? It is here. In the other parable the evil spoken of is within ourselves. In this parable, however, the evil referred to is without us, in other men. Here, then, is the truth to be followed. Never tolerate evil within yourself for a moment. It is deadly to your spiritual life. To tolerate evil in others is not at all necessarily fatal to us. It may even be necessary for us, as an exercise promoting the growth of the graces of patience and piety within us.

'If your right eye is a hindrance to you. Pick it out.

Throw it from you." "Do not judge that you may not be judged."

The matter of prime importance in dealing with a community, therefore, is not that the tares be got rid of, but that the wheat pass through its natural course of development till the process of growth reach its consummation. So what above everything else is needed is patience. "Stand still and see the salvation of God." Follow the example of Christ in this respect. He could have called down legions of angels to destroy the wicked about him. Yet never once did he dream of doing it. On the contrary, he always frowned down any attempt at it in his disciples.

13:33. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven," etc. This parable of the leaven has the same meaning as that of the grain of mustard seed. "The principle is put into the world, the yeast is put into the meal by the Holy Ghost, who through a woman has placed upon the earth the Son of man. From her the divine leaven will extend itself to the whole human race. The seed comes to our earth. It is the humblest ever seen as it shows itself in a poor Child in a stable. Thirty years of silence. Then a young man who speaks to some others. A man whose discourses have been gathered into ten pages; and that, outside the great monarchies of the East, outside the light and civilization of Greece and Rome; and that, among a poor, powerless people, unknown, scorned. Yet, what do our eyes behold! This seed, the least of all, has produced not a people only, but a world, the Christian world." See also note on S. Luke 13:21.

13:44.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hid in the field."

If men could only be convinced the Kingdom of Heaven is like the treasure hid in the field, they would, of course,

go and do likewise. For men never hesitate to sacrifice everything for what they believe to be the chief good. Devotion all the world over is reckless of expense. No matter what the object of devotion may be, whether earthly or heavenly, its language is ever that of the impassioned lover:

"By night, by day, afield, at hame,

The thoughts of thee my breast inflame,
And aye I muse and sing thy name :

I only live to love thee."

Again, multitudes of instances of self-sacrificing devotion to wisdom as the chief good might be found among the ranks of poor obscure students attending schools of learning. They keep continually before their mind's eye as the motto of their every action :

"To scorn delights and live laborious days."

Would that all men could be led to so act with reference to the Kingdom of God! But the Spirit of God alone can make men see his Kingdom in its peerless beauty. His Holy Spirit alone can convince men of the desirability of giving up all for its sake.

The sacrifice by which the Kingdom of Heaven is gained is such only because of ignorance and want of foresight incident upon man's mutilated nature. When he has made the supposed sacrifice, however, it turns out to have been from his new point of view no sacrifice at all. He now does gladly what once appeared to require a forcing of the will. He can now dance and sing in the spirit where once such a life appeared to necessitate sorrow and sore conflict.

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13:52. Every Scribe who has been made a disciple to the Kingdom of Heaven," etc.

The teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven is neither an

unchanging teaching, nor a revolutionary teaching. It is at once unchanging and progressive. It is a growing life. The foundation, the necessary principles, always remain the same. These are the old things. The form, the mode of application, is modified without limit, according to times, circumstances, expedients. These are the new things. Whoever does not carefully keep these two points of view before him at the same time, goes astray. If, in his care for old things, any one will keep absolutely everything, the changing form, as well as the indestructible foundation, he puts himself athwart the normal and providential march of life. He compromises all stability by the very fact that he rejects progress. If any one in his zeal for new things, attempts to modify the indestructible foundation as well as the changing form, he compromises all progress from the very fact that he rejects what constitutes stability. The first is the slave of routine. The second is the insurrectionist. Both lead to death by different routes.

Let every man then make the distinction between principles and the application of them, between fundamentals and their form, between what is permanent and what transitory. Neither hesitate to see what ought to disappear go out of existence in its proper time, nor fear to see what ought to appear come in its due order. The apostle of the whole truth, the Christian penetrated with the great doctrine of the divine Kingdom, preserves in old things what of itself is imperishable, and adopts in new things what has a right to exist. So it happens that in every age and in every country there is as the result of apostleship, learning, preaching, apologetics, social institutions, always unity, always variety.

The Scribe who has been made a disciple to the King

dom of God always brings out of his treasure, things new and old.

13:58.

"He did not do many great things there."

See note on S. Mark 6: 5.

14:2. "This is John the Baptist."

See note on S. Mark 6:13.

14:13.

apart."

"He went from there *** to a desert place

See note on S. Mark 6: 28 and 31.

14:19. "He blessed God."

See note on S. Luke 9: 16.

14:28, 29. "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water."

Eager but not steadfast, daring and yet fearful, the Apostle is on that stormy night as he was afterwards among the scoffs and questionings in the porch of the High Priest's palace.

14:30. "Lord, save me."

He becomes afraid. So the supernatural strength he has been exercising leaves him. The waters begin to close in about him. He cries out in his agony. It is then the gracious pity of Jesus helps the "little faith" with his firm sustaining grasp. A word of loving reproof accompanies it. But with all this Jesus shows conclusively his unwillingness to quench the smoking flax.

15:2. "Why do your disciples act contrary to the tradition of the Elders?"

The Jews had, and still have to this day the custom of