Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/529

 questioned as  to  the  source  of  His  authority,  He confounded  His  tormentors  with  the  counter-question concerning  the  baptism  of  John. It is  probable, therefore,  and  according  to  St.  Mark's  account quite certain,  that  the  query  of  to-day's  Gospel  was partly sincere  and  partly  insincere;  that  the  lawyer acted in  good  faith,  but  his  followers,  for  whom  he spoke,  maliciously,  for  Christ  first  gives  an  answer direct and  clear,  and  then  reproves  the  self-wise  conceit of  His  enemies  with  the,  to  them,  perplexing difficulty of  the  divine  and  human  origin  of  the  Messias. Charity and  prudence  are  here  marvellously mingled. For the  sake  of  the  one  honest  soul  among His auditors,  Christ  expounds  the  law  of  love,  His action no  less  than  His  words  a  stinging  rebuke  to the  hateful  Pharisees. These doctors  of  the  law,  forsooth, had  so  inverted  and  perverted  the  Decalogue, that out  of  ten  the  insupportable  burden  of  six  hundred and  thirteen  precepts  had  been  evolved,  and while trifles  were  given  prominence  and  rigidly  enforced, the  great  command  of  charity  was  placed  near the end  of  the  list  and  utterly  neglected  in  their teachings and  practice. This was  the  evil  Christ came to  remedy;  to  show  the  world  by  word  and deed that  charity  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  law, the very  temple  of  our  sanctification,  around  which the other  virtues  do  but  serve  as  scaffolding  for  its upbuilding. For God  is  love,  and  His  greatest  gift to men  is  the  love  He  bears  them,  that  love  which called them  into  being,  which  preserved  them  and redeemed them,  and  the  most  precious  offering  that