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GOSPEL of St. Matth. Chap. v. Verfe

20. For I fay unto you, That except your righteousness fhall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharifees, ye shall in no cafe enter into the kingdom of heaven.

21. Te have heard, that it was faid by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill: and whosoever shall kill, fhall be in danger of the judgment.

22. But I fay unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a caufe, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall fay to his brother, Raca, fhall be in danger of the counsel: but whofoever fhall fay, Thou fool, fhall be in danger of bell-fire.

23. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remembreft that thy brother bath ought against thee;

24. Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, firft be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Ο

The MORAL REFLECTION.

UR Saviour excites his difciples to virtue, and tells them that unless their fanctity be more found and fincere, than that of the Pharifees, they will not be faved: Except your righteousnefs fhall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharifees; ye shall in no cafe enter into the kingdom of heaven. Though the exterior of thofe leaders was grave and edifying, pride and hypocrify lay within: they corrupted their law with falfe gloffes, and abandoned God's commands to follow their own fancies; and thus, at once, they erred against faith and morality.

In the first place, they turned piety into hypocrify. Our Saviour often taxed them with this

vice; Wo unto you bypocrites. They prayed, fafted, and gave large alms; but pride was the motive of these actions, not felf-denial or charity. They mortified their bodies, to procure efteem; and affifted their neceffitous brethren out of oftentation. These actions, performed out of fo bafe a motive, will not entitle us to a reward in the next world, but to a punishment. Your righteoufnefs then must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharifees: you must raise your intention above all temporal views, and expect the reward from God, without courting the applause of men. Oh! the folly of thofe, who practife humility out of a principle of pride: who enrich the poor, to please their vanity, and undergo all the pain of fafting and mortification, for an empty esteem here, and real punishments hereafter! you will take pains, make the most of your labour curb your paffions: relieve the poor: mortify the flesh for God's fake; and give, at least, as much for the joys of heaven, as an hypocrite of fers for the torments of hell.

If

It is certain nothing can be more unreasonable, and at the same time more irksome, than the conduct of an hypocrite: nothing more uncertain than the esteem he affects: nothing more contemptible, though he procures it. To labour as much for vice, as for the purchase of virtue, is irrational: to be continually under a reftraint, is difficult. The interior will appear in fpight of all endeavours to conceal it; and then the affected praise will end in execration: for hypocrify is not only abominable in the fight of God, but in that of men; and even thofe, who are guilty of it themselves, are the first to difpraise it in others.

Let not therefore your righteousness, that is, your piety, resemble that of the Pharifees, which was nothing but oftentation and hypocrify. Abftain not from doing good out of a fear of pride, I 4

nor

nor do a good action out of a motive of vanity. Do not ill, out of an apprehenfion of being thought virtuous: leave people's opinion to themselves, and let your only care be to please God: with that he alone faw your good works; and yet cease not by your life to edify your neighbour. Both are commanded: we muft, as much as prudence will permit, conceal our virtues, and yet expose them to the eyes of the world, that the fpectators may glorify God, to whom they are owing: Let your light fo fbine before men, fays our bleffed Saviour, that they may fee your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven, Matth. v. 16.

O my Redeemer! I implore thy grace, that I may be pleafing in thy eyes by doing what thou doft command, and in the manner thou doft prescribe. I will never omit any part of my duty to avoid cenfure, nor comply with it, to be praised by men. Their blame will not hurt me, if I do well; nor their praise avail me, if I do ill. If I am grateful in thy fight, the difefteem of all creatures can never make me miferable; if difpleafing, their esteem will not make me happy.

Secondly, the Scribes and the Pharifees taught, that the precept, Thou shalt not kill, laid no prohibition upon our thoughts and defires. So that if their hands were not ftained with blood, though their heart was defiled with wicked defires, they supposed themselves innocent; but our Saviour declares, it is not fufficient to abstain from ill actions, but alfo from bad defires; that it is a fin to defire a neighbour's death, as well as to procure it; to covet his wife, as well as to abufe her. With reafon therefore did he declare; that if our righteoufnefs exceed not that of the Scribes and Pharifees, we Shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; that is, unless our hearts be clean of revenge, as well as our hands, and of all ill defires, as well as of fin

ful

ful actions. Our Saviour therefore commands, in this place, to conform the interior motions of the foul, to exterior obfervance of his law; to do good out of a fupernatural motive; and to ftand clear, not only of finful acts, but alfo of defies: and therefore it is not only a fin to procure a confiderable damage to our neighbour, but even to defire one; nay, and to rejoyce at his misfortune. Oh! how often have I fallen into thefe interior fins without fcruple! I fuppofed myself innocent, fo long as I broke not out into overt-acts against thy laws, O God! whilft in the mean time, I gave full range to my thoughts, and no check to my defires. How often have I envied my neighbour's profperity, and triumph'd at his misfortunes? how often have I taken a criminal complacency in those fins, I had not the impudence to commit? and thus have forfeited thy grace for a pleasure only in my imagination. Thou, O Lord, who doft number my hairs, doft alone keep a register of thefe crimes; to pardon them, if I fly to thy mercy by repentance; to punish them, if I remain obftinate. I implore thy mercy, deteft my folly, and confide in thy goodnefs. But why does our Saviour forbid fo feverely, not only murther, but even interior motions of anger? But I fay unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, without a caufe, fhall be in danger of the judgment: and whofoever shall fay to his brother, Racha, shall be in danger of the council. He forbids the leaft of fences, because thy are fins; and though fmall, yet eafily, and infenfibly they draw us into greater. When paffions grow warm, they immediately take fire, and carry us to the greateft diforders. How often has one caft of the eye raised impure thoughts in the mind, which converfation has improved to the ruin of our fouls! a word, fpoken without defign, raises mifunderstandings, quarrels, and dif

putes

putes, which end in averfion and hatred. An innocent laughter proves often the fource of railing and detraction, and a neglect of one point of our duty, often draws after it an omiffion of all the others. We muft then pull up vice by the very roots; left, by growing upon us, it deftroy the charity we owe our neighbour, and the compliance with all thofe duties, we owe God.

Thanks, O Saviour, for thy charity in teaching us a doctrine little understood, and practifed lefs; yet neceffary for all thofe, who intend to fquare their lives by thy commands. Alas! fmall defects are esteemed by deluded mortals heroick virtues ; and blindness canonizes thofe for faints, who are downright finners. They never reflect, they expose themselves to great fins by committing with deliberation little ones: and that, if they give their paffions a small liberty, they will foon take a greater. It is eafy standing, if we keep off a precipice; but if we draw too near, one flip carries us to the bottom.

But if perchance we have injured our brother, how muft we make fatisfaction? Our Saviour tells us in the following words: Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first to be reconciled to thy brother. We muft, out of hand, employ all means poffible to compofe the difference, and to procure a reconciliation. If, in your prayers, you remember an offence against charity; interrupt your devotion; and immediately afk pardon. Prayers, that come from a rankled heart, are ungrateful to God. We must forgive our brother's offences, before God forgives ours, and be reconciled to him, if we intend a reconciliation with our Maker. You must lay afide all rancour, and not only abftain from doing, but even wishing him any harm nay you must go farther, and refolve to do him all the good turns, your circumstances

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