TWENTY-THIRD SUFFERING OF CHRIST.-Snares laid against him for putting him to death.

I. The sorrow which those continual contradictions occasioned our Saviour, was also much augmented by the intrigues of the chiefs of the people, the priests, doctors, and Pharisees, who endeavoured to surprise him in his words, that they might have some pretence for persecuting him. This was not one of the least of our Saviour's sufferings; many circumstances rendered it very sensible to him, and the prophet speaks only with bitterness of the snares they continually laid against Christ for destroying him: Whose mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit: under their tongue labour and sorrow. They sit in ambush with the rich in private places, that they may kill the innocent.-Ps. ix. 29, 30. They prepared a snare for my feet; and they bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face.—Ps. lvi. 7, 8. From unjust men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps; the proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare; they have laid for me a stumbling-block by the way-side.-Ps. cxxxix. 5, 6, 7. The sorrows of hell encompassed me; and the snares of death prevented me.-Ps. xvii. 6. And the prophet speaks thus, because all their designs tended only to deprive Christ of life.

They followed him whithersoever he went, that they might lose no occasion of thwarting him. When they saw the people assembled about him, they came athwart him, as St. Luke observes (xi. 54), and put a thousand questions to him with great importunity; laying in wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him. The Sadducees and Pharisees appeared sometimes themselves, and sometimes they sent their disciples. Sometimes they dealt with dissimulation, as when they asked him whether they might dispense themselves with paying tribute to Cæsar; and sometimes with clamour, as when they brought before him the woman taken in adultery.

II. There is reason for admiring here their obstinate malice; for seeing all their wiles became unprofitable, that they were often convinced by their own extorted answers, so far as not to have one word to say, and that thereby they drew upon themselves the contempt of the people, they were not discouraged; and losing all shame, they openly persecuted our Saviour even unto death, but could never confound him. He gave thanks for it to God his father, exposing the injustice of his enemies: Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity. For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow, a bitter thing, to shoot in secret the undefiled...They have searched after iniquities; they have failed in their search. The arrows of children are their wounds, and their tongues

against them are made weak.—Ps. lxiii. 2, &c. And in another place he says: For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction; without cause they have upbraided my soul. Their foot hath been taken in the very snare which they hid.-Ps. xxxiv. 7. ix. 16.

III. This clearly shows, that virtue stands in no need of anything but itself, for defending itself against malice; it is strong enough when it appears in its true light: he therefore persecutes it, has no other aim but to disfigure it, by giving it the colour of vice. Behold the tendency of intrigues, cunning, and injustice, which are almost the only means of injuring virtue; but which become unprofitable when it supports itself in its proper colours.

This is a truth which the heathen philosophers have acknowledged, when they said, that the fortress of virtue cannot be carried either by force or surprise; that, as the sun obscures small lights, so virtue surmounts pain and injustice; and that adversity has less power over virtue, than tempests have over the sea. Tempests may indeed put the sea into commotion; but, very far from destroying it, they only purify it, and the sea returns at last to its pristine calmness: thus patience, in the end, appeases anger; truth dissipates lies; humility confounds pride; and the Lord, according to the expression of the royal prophet, will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the just; that the just may not stretch forth their hauds to iniquity.-Ps. cxxiv. 3.

IV. We have also reaped this advantage from the malice of the Jews, as it gave Christ an occasion of revealing many divine secrets to us, which enlightened our faith, kindled in us the love of God, and are the most solid consolation of his servants. When they accused him of not observing the Sabbath-day, because he healed the sick on that day, he taught us that man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was instituted for man, that man might spend it in the service of God with greater care: and thus he undeceived us in the vain surperstition of the Jews on that account. When they tempted him, in asking him for some heavenly prodigy, he taught us this terrible truth, that the incredulous, who profit neither by the graces they receive, nor the signs they see, should have no other sign given them, but the sign of Jonas the prophet (Luke xi. 29), who after being three days in the whale's belly, converted the city of Ninive by his preaching: whereby our Saviour denoted his glorious resurrection, and the progress of his gospel. He adds, that the queen of the South......came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; that he was more than Jonas and Solomon, and that they believed not in him.Matt. xii. 42.

When they asked him, whether a married man could put away his wife, he showed wherein the law of marriage consisted, which had been altered by the interpretation of the Jews; and taught

them what they had never heard, that chaste persons should be like the angels of God. Being asked, by what power be wrought miracles, he declared his divinity, by saying, the Messiah was more than a man, since he was the Lord of David, though he descended from him according to the flesh. Being urged according to the tribute which the Jews paid to Cæsar, he taught us this excellent maxim, that the means of preserving interior peace, was to render to God what belongs to God, and to the world what belongs to the world. When they reproached him, because his disciples fasted not, and washed not their hands before meals, he answered to the first reproach that it was not customary to fast in presence of the bridegroom, because the conversation his disciples had with him, might supply the want of fasting, that is, of great austerities; and to the second, he answered that one ought to be much more anxious about the purity of the heart, than cleanness of body. Being accused of eating with sinners, he brought the example of the prodigal son received by his father; of the strayed sheep brought back to the fold by the good shepherd; and of the lost piece of money, sought for so carefully; adding, that mercy was more agreeable to God than sacrifice. When they brought before him the adulterous woman to see whether he would condemn her to be stoned according to the law of Moses, or pardon her, contrary to the express prohibition of the law; he gave us this admirable instruction, that to judge well of our neighbour, we must know ourselves; and that he, who finds himself guilty, ought not to condemn others but with extreme caution. He was pleased to show us afterwards with what facility he pardoned sinners, by saying to that poor woman these most comfortable words: neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.-John viii. 11.

What shall I say of what he answered those who asked him, which was the greatest commandment of the law? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.— Matt. xxii. 37. They also proposed to him other artful questions, concerning the resurrection of the dead, miracles, and his own person, which he satisfied in the same manner, for the instruction of his Church; thus making the malice of his enemies serviceable to our salvation. Thus it is, that the servants of God, when they are persecuted, satisfied with the testimony of their own conscience ought to labour with fear and love, not in seeking for the means of resisting the wicked, but in reconciling them to God: persevering in the practice of virtue; profiting by the occasions of testifying their fidelity to God; remaining ever faithful imitators of Christ, enemies to his enemies, depositaries of his truth, defenders of his cross, and victorious over the malice of the world.

CONTEMPLATION.-On Christ, concerning the snares laid against him by his enemies. -O sweet Jesus, love of my soul! how can we resist the sweetness of thy spirit? Thou lovest, O amiable Saviour! and art not loved. Thou shinest, O divine light! and art not known. Thou receivest all, O source of heavenly blessings! and we come not to thee. Thou seekest us, O life of my soul! Thou askest, as a favour, that we would give thee our hearts, and we reject thee, and fly from thee. How comes this, O divine Jesus? Is there anything hateful to be found in thee? or rather, what can be found without thee, and out of thee, which deserves to be loved? But, O my God! let not our ingratitude provoke thee.

Remember that thou hast said, that there are twelve hours of the day (John xi. 9), thou mayest give me one of them for knowing and loving thee. Begin by this, although it comes very late, and perhaps may be the last of my life. Since I have been so unhappy as to spend the others without loving thee, may I begin, at least, like those, who, after spending the whole day without doing anything, came in the evening to labour in thy vineyard, and satisfied thee, notwithstanding; because none but those that refuse to come are displeasing to thee. Forget, therefore, what is past, O my God! receive me this moment into the number of thy servants. Let my heart love thee, my spirit adore thee, and my whole interior embrace thee.

II. When shall I be able to say with truth, as thy apostle did: Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ ?—Rom. viii. 35. But if I love thee truly, why shall I not be able to say it with truth? No, Lord! the fear of death shall not separate me from thee, since thou art my life; nor the love of this life; for I am quite ready to lose it for thee; nor the powers of heaven, because thou art more powerful than they; nor things present, because they pass away; nor things to come, because I love nothing in them but thee alone; nor tribulation, because thou comfortest me; nor anguish, because thou dilatest my heart; nor hunger, because thou fillest me; nor poverty, because thou enrichest me; nor dangers, because thou securest me; nor persecution, because thou protectest me; nor sword or torments, because they are sweet to me on account of thy love; nor slavery, because I shall find true freedom in thee; nor freedom itself, because I desire to be a slave to thy love; nor creatures, because they are nothing before thee; nor the vicissitudes of this world; nor the wiles of my enemies; nor my own miseries; because thou changest all these evils into so many blessings for me.

III. If thou art for me, O my God! who shall be against me? If thou hast given thyself to me, with that unbounded charity, why wilt thou not give me all things with thee? By loving thee, I am strong, patient, and meek; I believe all things, hope for all

things, am all things, expect all blessings, and avoid all evils. For by loving thee, I possess thee: and by possessing thee, I am in want of nothing. By loving thee I am a man, I am an angel, I am happy, I am dead to sin, and I live only for thee. Without thy love what good can I have? and what evil have I not? I have but one thing to regret, O my Saviour! it is for having lived so long without loving thee. But, after all, this is the sorrow of a living man: for when I feel it not, I am as one that is dead. Grant, O divine Jesus! that I may be contrite with sorrow for not having loved thee, in order to be inflamed with love when I begin to love thee. Enlighten my eyes, that I may see thy meekness, goodness, and charity; and that being charmed with thy infinite beauty, I may become insensible to everything else. This is what thou expectest of me; therefore, thou bearest with me, and waitest for me. May that happy moment come then, O Lord! wherein I shall begin to love thee for ever!

IV. How much is he to be lamented who loves not thee, O my Saviour ! He lives only for his own misery and ruin. He is foolish, because he is governed by himself, and not by thee. He is more than sick, because he hopes he can be healed without thee; and more than dead, because he imagines he can live without thee. What do I say, O my God! who can express the unhappy state he is in? What worse can happen to him than to resist thee, and to seek for something to be faulted in thee?

How deplorable is the misery of the human heart, when it is deprived of thy love! It endeavours to obscure thee, O eternal light! to accuse thee, O divine purity! and to deceive thee, O infinite wisdom! It would oblige thee to retract, O immutable truth! and would surprise thee in thy words, O increated Word! Why shall I seek to penetrate further into thy loving heart, O my Jesus! is it not sufficient for me to believe that thou knowest the blindness of the Jews, and bearest with it; that thou remainest in silence, and permittest every one to treat thee as he pleases? Thou seest all the thoughts of those ungrateful people, their hatred to thy person, their attempts against thy virtue, their artifices against thy innocence, and their designs against thy wisdom. Thou seest who they are, against whom they rebel, what makes them do so, and what end they propose to themselves; thou beholdest them, and art silent; and sufferest all, O divine patience! O goodness, only worthy of being loved! for what is wanting to thee, O divine Jesus! to make thyself be loved by every one? Thou art a constant, faithful, meek, patient, generous and compassionate friend, industrious in converting all things into good, and full of other infinite perfections.

V. I adore thee, O divine heart, ocean of all blessings, continual source of mercies, furnace of love, and treasure of sovereign hap