Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/394

 spent whole  nights  studying  the  books  of  Moses,  and whole days  instructing  the  people  in  their  duties  to God,  their  neighbor,  and  themselves. And what  the Scribes taught,  the  Pharisees  enforced  by  word  and example. They gave  liberal  alms,  prayed  for  hours daily, and  fasted  twice  a  week. Well might  Christ's followers  have  regarded  them  as  models  of  virtue — and yet  they  were  anything  but  models. For their teaching as  well  as  their  practice,  though  true  to  the letter, fell  far  short  of  the  spirit  of  the  law. With them "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  meant  simply:  "Thou shalt  not  forfeit  the  esteem  of  men,  or  risk  a  shameful death  on  the  gallows  by  an  open  act  of  murder. Anger,  hate,  contempt,  personal  abuse — all  these you  may  freely  indulge,  but  he  who  actually  kills  and he  only,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment." Such was their  teaching  and  such,  too,  their  practice. They were  rigid  Sabbatarians,  as  we  have  seen,  and, in general,  great  sticklers  for  the  exact  outward  observance of  God's  laws,  but  within,  as  Christ  tells  us, they were  full  of  rapine  and  iniquity. And hence, though they  hated  and  despised  and  reviled  Our Lord, they  made  no  open  attempt  to  kill  Him,  but only underhand,  as  if  through  zeal  for  the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath. Thus did  they  keep  the  fifth commandment, and  we,  my  friends,  unless  we  keep it better  than  they,  we  shall  never  enter  into  the kingdom of  heaven.

How then  should  we  keep  it? " But  I  say  to  you," says Our  Lord,  "that  whosoever  is  angry  with  his brother  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment;  and  who-