done to himself.

Christ has thus recommended his little ones

to the whole world.

Men can say these things and mean little or nothing thereby; but Christ can not thus employ speech. He is the truth, and his words are truer than our minds can realize.

We think and resolve within ourselves that it would be easy for us to do a benefit to the grand person of Christ, if he were on earth. And yet he is with us in the person of the little ones who believe in him, and we fail to realize it.

Christ always keeps his authentic mission from the Father in evidence. In receiving Jesus, men received the Father who sent him. It is equivalent to saying: If ye would do an act of charity to the great Yahveh, turn and do such act for these humble ones who believe in me; for he and I are one, and what ye do to our little ones, ye do to us.

The Lord often makes use of concrete images to illustrate his truths. There are two kinds of millstones in use in the East.

There is the small stone turned by hand, with which often the poorer classes grind their corn at home, and there is the large stone usually turned by an ass in mills. It was one of these larger stones that Sampson was put to turn, after his eyes were put out by the Philistines.

Now it would not require a stone even as large as the smaller hand-millstone to sink a man if tied about his neck. Neither is drowning essentially more terrible in the depths of the sea than in water just sufficient to submerge one, but such is the nature of the human mind that the size of the stone and the depth of the sea heighten the horror which the contemplation of such a fate creates within us. In fact, it seems that it was a proverbial expression to express a terrible retribution for crime. And yet these words are inadequate to express God's vengeance upon the man who shall cause one of Christ's little ones to stumble. Even if the evil effect does not follow, the man who deliberately speaks or acts in a way calculated to give grievous scandal to one of these little ones of Christ's flock is liable to the punishment.

(6) Gosp. III

As we have before stated, the little ones include children and adults who believe in Christ. But this last declaration of Christ is especially in favor of the weaker ones of Christ's flock. It contemplates especially the innocent child, and the poor and ignorant who have not in themselves the means to refute the sophistry of error. Woe to the man who robs the child of its innocence, and teaches it the ways of vice and crime. Woe to the man who boasts of his superior intellect, and who uses it to rob the humble believer in Christ of any part of his faith. Woe to the man who disseminates false doctrines among the people. Woe to any man who gives grievous scandal; and the weaker the person scandalized, the greater is the scandalous one's offense.

Christ speaks not of material injuries that a man might do to one of his little ones; not that he does not avenge these; but he speaks in the present manner to show us how much greater is the injury done against a man's spiritual interests than that done against the things that only affect the body.

Considering the nature of fallen man, it is inevitable that occasions of stumbling shall come, but woe to the man through whom they come.

Men are free; no man is under any moral necessity to give scandal, but yet scandals will come. They have come. They have invaded the Church. They have been found even in the Supreme Pontiffs of Rome. And they have had their terrible effect upon the little ones of Christ. No scandal is so baneful in its effects as scandal given by a priest. The eyes of the world are upon him. By divine right he is the light of the world, and men are to walk in his light. How terrible the crime, then, if he lead those who trust in him, not unto life, but unto sin and death? Such an unfaithful servant can hear ringing in his ears the terrible words of the prophet Ezekiel: "His blood will I require at thy hand." The priest must be forever watchful: the eyes of men are upon him when he is all unconscious of it. He can not mingle unobserved in the mass of men; his position marks him, and men watch him, and the weaker ones stand or fall with him. He can not be an indifferent factor; he must be either a power for good or a power for evil. It is easier for him to

give scandal than it is for other men, and at the same time, more terrible. The people have a right to expect that the priest's life should be raised above the common life of men, and they do expect it. Woe, therefore to the man who in that high place causes men to stumble.

The eighth and ninth verses of St. Matthew, to which the forty-third, forty-fifth and forty-seventh verses of Mark correspond, are nearly identical in sense with the twenty-ninth and thirtieth verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew, which have already been commented. Christ commands us to cut off the proximate occasions of sin. With these occasions Christ allows no temporizing, no compromising, no half-measures. His words are, "cut it off," "cast it out." It is a terrible thought to think of putting up one's hand, and tearing the eye out of its socket, and casting it upon the earth; it is terrible to think of cutting off the right foot or the right arm and throwing it away. These strong expressions are chosen to illustrate how hard it is at times for a man to separate himself from occasions of sin. These occasions may be the wrong love of women, drink, gambling, -whatever they are, though they be as the right eye, the right hand, or the right foot, they must go. A man can not separate himself from such occasions unless he is resolved to do something hard, a thing that seems like tearing out a part of his heart. Caius Mucius Scævola is said to have thrust his right hand into a fire till it was consumed, in the camp of Porsena, to show the enemies of Rome what a Roman could endure for the honor of Rome; and shall the citizens of the kingdom of Heaven hold in lower regard their citizenship and the honor of the Christian name? The Roman general Regulus, being taken captive by the Carthaginians, was sent to Rome with terms of peace dishonorable to Rome. The agreement was that he was to return to captivity if the terms of peace were rejected. And this old Roman came before the Senate of Rome, and moved it to reject the proposed treaty, and then he went back to die by torture, because he loved Rome better than his life. All through history we find examples of men who have loved their country better than their lives. And shall we find no patriotism in Christians for that true country of the soul? Their cause is

infinitely better than that of any worldly patriot; their leader surpasses in greatness and goodness all the great leaders of history, as infinity surpasses nothingness. And yet we have to ask ourselves where are God's heroes? Every Christian should be a hero; but instead we find few who are resolute to cut off everything, even be it as the right eye, or right hand, if it stands between them and the kingdom of God.

It is evident that the divine Lord employed this forcible illustration more than once. In the present illustration the right foot is added to the right hand and right eye. While the preceding doctrine related to the evil of actually giving scandal, the illustration has regard to the necessity of fleeing the occasions of scandal. The absolute obligation is incumbent on all men to give up everything, no matter how dear, that causes them to stumble. Many men are morally ruined by a lack of this decision of character. They know from experience the danger, but they are attached to the thing, and they do not bring themselves to that force of resolution necessary to break with the occasion of sin.

A cold, selfish world looks skeptically upon the Church, and asks: "Where are the saints?" Men of no faith are confirmed in their unbelief by the vain theory that some believers are no better than themselves. It is easy for men to adopt the moral level of their age, and it is a sad truth that worldly ideas have lowered the standards of Christianity. Nevertheless God still has his saints, although the world knows them not. When Eliah cried out in distress that the people of Israel had forsaken God, and that he only was left, God answered him that he had still in Israel seven thousand men who had not bowed the knees to Baal. Eliah knew them not, but God knew them, so we to-day know not the saints of God. They crave not the world's recognition; they are humble and meek; the world passes them by without regard; but they are known unto God; and in the day of his coming, their glory will appear. The Church of Christ has within her two everlasting fountains, the one of true doctrine, the other of grace. These fountains have in them the efficacy to make men saints, and all through the ages men have drunk in sanctity from their waters. Men must choose freely to drink therefrom, and God is calling all

men to come and drink of these waters of life. Let us hasten to drink thereof, and join the great host of the saints of God.

It can safely be said that there can be no object existing as the occasion of sin that is dearer to a man than his right foot, or his right hand, or his eye. The Saviour's teaching is a grand appeal to moral courage. This moral courage is what the world lacks to-day. Men temporize; they employ halfmeasures; they shrink from pain and self-denial. The easy, comfort-seeking life of the world to-day has enervated them. We find few evidences of that stern, rugged devotion of faith and duty of our forefathers, and the world is too busy to learn of Jesus the cure of its ills.

The doctrine of the eternity of hell is very explicit in St. Mark. Even though we reject the forty-fourth and fortysixth verses, still the doctrine is clear. In the forty-third verse, hell is called the unquenchable fire; and in the fortyeighth verse, hell is spoken of as the state where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. The passage is parallel to Isaiah LXVI. 22-24: "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all men."

An examination of the words of Isaiah will throw light on the words of Christ. The Prophet is evidently speaking of the end of time, when the Lord will create the new heavens and the new earth, and will divide the human race into two great divisions, the elect and the reprobate The elect are represented as in Jerusalem, the holy city. Without the city, in the horrid valley of Hinnom, the carcasses of the enemies of God are lying. They are forever eaten by worms, forever burning by fire. And the elect go forth from the city to look upon the awful sight. Now the language of the Prophet and the language of the Redeemer are metaphorical. The fire and the worm are not two entities that shall prey on the damned, but two terms to help the human mind to realize that hell is a torture, and that it is eternal. It is easy to represent to the