Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/26



''" Blessed is  he  that  shall  not  be  scandalized  in  Me." — Matt. xi. 6.

Ex. : I.  Grounds    II. Examples. III. Rewards of  Faith.

I. Grounds:  i.  Multitude. 2. Magnitude. 3. Manner  and variety of  Christ's  miracles.

II. Examples: John's  1. Hidden life. 2. Public  life. 3. Passion and  death.

III. Rewards : Similar  to  those  of  John.

Per. : The  least  in  heaven  greater  than  John.

Brethren, an  ancient  tradition  has  it,  that  of  the two disciples  sent  to  Jesus  by  John,  one  was  a  Jew and the  other  a  converted  Gentile. They were, therefore, a  representative  committee  of  two  on behalf  of  the  whole  human  race,  Jews  and  Gentiles alike, destined  to  bear  ocular  evidence  to  the  fact that Jesus  was  in  very  truth  the  long-promised  Messias,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  the  Son  of  the  living God. Consequently, through  them  Christ  in  to-day's Gospel  preaches  to  us  and  to  all  a  little  sermon  on the  grounds  and  the  examples  and  the  rewards  of faith  in  His  divinity. Stiff-necked and  slow  to believe  as  we  are,  Christ  gives  us  proof  of  His  Godhead suited  to  our  capacity  in  the  multitude  and variety and  magnitude  of  His  miracles. But faith begot of  signs  and  wonders  is  not  the  faith  He craves,  and,  hence,  secondly,  He  points  out  to  us  John the Baptist  whom  He  styles  "  the  greatest  born  of