for rejection of true doctrine is proof of an evil heart. 'Understanding,' says St. Augustine, ‘is the reward of faith. Seek not to know in order that you may believe; but seek to believe in order that you may know.""

Stier comments as follows: "He who is of God, hears and understands the words of God; he who is of the truth discerns and accepts all that the personal Truth Himself brings to man, and speaks as the fulfilment and realization of all those truths which were extant among men before His final testimony came. For this no such learning is necessary as can be acquired only within the limits of the school, or by the hard discipline of study; the Father revealeth it to the babes who are willing to learn of His Son, to learn for the direction of their life and for their righteousness as sinners before God. What was expressed long before in Ecclesiasticus, He that keepeth the law of the Lord, getteth the understanding thereof, finds in this utterance of our Lord its full and most distinctive expression. . . . It is the will of man which is concerned; there lies the lack and the hindrance faith, and progressive knowledge in believing, is also an act springing from the sincere willing to do the divine will; unbelief, and the ignorance which follows it, is a crime to be

reckoned against those who love and who work a lie."

Of the next verse, He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but He That seeketh His glory That sent Him, is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him, Sadler says: "The Lord's words here may be true of all teaching of what a man supposes to be his own, elaborated from his own mind, and which is given out to be his own. The thoughts of such an one must centre on himself. The self-complacency which leads him to suppose that he is the sole original author of some truth will pursue him in his enunciation of it, so that he will desire all the credit of it. Not so with the Son of God. He absolutely disclaims what men call originality. He desires to be considered simply as the image and representative of His Father, and to deliver faithfully what He has received. Godet has a very good remark: "This saying has the appearance of a general maxim; but the application of it by Jesus to Himself is very clear. To understand this reasoning, we have only to apply it to the Bible in general: in this book God, and God only, is glorified from the first page to the last. In this book man is constantly humbled; therefore this book is of God.' It is the argument which of all others, most directly reaches the conscience."

"There is no unrighteousness in Him. This is true in its degree of every faithful deliverer of a message which he has received from another to deliver intact. In such a man there is no double-dealing, no concealment, no withholding of that which he is bound to deliver, through fear of losing popularity or destroying his credit with his party."

And Isaac Williams again of the same: "This would apply both to Himself and them; for they could not believe, because they sought their own glory: whereas even His perfect righteousness was in strict union with the Father; as showing that, in whatever degree we would approach, it must be by seeking that glory of God; in losing ourselves, and being lost and found in God. For even the Christian's rule of duty is, not doing thine own ways, not speaking thine own words; that so he may delight himself in the Lord. He that seeketh his own glory is Antichrist, says Augustine; 'Let us not,' he adds, 'seek our own glory, that we fall not into the snares of Antichrist.'"

First Thought.-Our Lord declares that He needs not for the system which He teaches to men the learning of this world, forasmuch as He is not announcing any message of His own inventing, but that which the Father has been

pleased to reveal, and has sent Him to proclaim to the world. We ought never to suffer ourselves to lose sight of the fact that the faith of the Church is of divine revelation. Not even our Lord in His humanity formulated it, but He handed it down to men directly from God Himself.

Nevertheless we need to study and spend much time and thought in acquiring more perfect knowledge of the Catholic faith; not that its essentials are not easily apprehended, but because it is so vast and far-reaching in its wealth of spiritual application.

1. We must always bear in mind, however, in our studies in Christ's religion, that the groundwork of it is supernatural. We shall constantly meet with mysteries which are beyond our human comprehension, as the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Real Presence in the Eucharist. The Church's doctrines with regard to these we maintain against all who deny them on the ground that they have been revealed by God Himself, Who alone can know the truth of such great subjects.

2. Then, too, we must not forget that as the Father was pleased to give this divine religion to men through our Lord, so is He now pleased

to make it known to individuals through the Church.

We may say to those who disbelieve, "The doctrine is not mine, but the Church's." The Bible is only one part of the Church's proclamation of the divine religion; besides that there are her venerable tradition, of universal acceptance, the many writings of her great doctors and saints, the decisions of her councils, the testimony of her worship, her liturgy, forms, and ceremonies. No man may claim any personal right to interpret our Lord's teaching, because of his skill in the Scriptures or his fancied spiritual insight. The doctrine is the Church's; she is Christ's Body, authorized to speak for Him. We must hearken to her voice. The wise Christian says, I am persuaded that I believe all the Church teaches; but if you can show me there is anything that she teaches which I have not accepted hitherto, I will frankly accept that also.

Second Thought.-Our Lord will not allow anyone to escape the obligation of seeking to do the divine will. He has been pleased to implant in every human breast a certain sense of God, or at least of duty, impelling the will to the effort of obedience to the law of duty. Millions may disregard this impulse towards the light