He beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. And calling his disciples together he saith to them: Amen, I say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all they who have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want cast in all she had, even her whole living.

this, of unmitigated wickedness. His heart only the more generously overflowed when its waters of affection had been for a moment restrained by the duty of reproof. It was so now, as He looked over the heads of His scowling enemies, and opened His soul to the city of God, to the multitude of its dwellers and its hosts of pilgrim worshippers: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" He cried in tones of deepest sorrow, His loving heart taking in all His enemies under the holy city's name, "thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not. Behold your house shall be left to you desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see Me

henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Only when this singularly obstinate race shall be glad to recognize the Messias will He return to renew His mission. When shall that be? St. Paul affirms that the "fulness of the Gentiles" will precede the entrance of the Jews into Christ's kingdom.

Exhausted, perhaps, by His long and violent debate, Jesus withdrew into the women's court and sat down opposite the treasury, as was called the place for the deposit of the legal dues for the support of the Temple. He watched with interest the different kinds of people and their various manner of making their offering. Touchd "She of her want cast in all she had." with the generosity of one poor woman, He

gave a beautiful lesson. Thus He taught in the daytime in and about the Temple, and at night retired to Bethany, or to the tent of a disciple on Mount Olivet, all the people watching again in the mornings for His return.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE UNBELIEF OF THE PHARISEES.—THE UNION
OF THE MESSIAS WITH HIS ETERNAL FATHER.

John xii. 37-50.

BEFORE dismissing the subject of the Pharisees and their vices, Jesus discoursed upon their unbelief. This had been a subject of prophecy: "And whereas He had done so many miracles before them, they believed not in Him, that the saying of Isaias the prophet might be fulfilled which he said: Lord, who hath believed our hearing? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?" It was

But Jesus cried out and said: He that believeth in me, doth not believe in me, but in him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in me, may not remain in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and keep them not: I do not judge him: for 1 came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that despiseth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say and what I should

not that God hindered their belief
in order that His prophet might be
justified, but their unbelief was a
penalty of their pride and hypocrisy.
"Therefore they could not believe,
because Isaias said again: He hath
blinded their eyes, and hardened their
heart, that they should not see with
their eyes, nor understand with their
heart, and be converted and I should heal them. These
things said Isaias when he saw His glory and spoke
of Him."

speak. And I know that his command-
ment is life everlasting. The things there-
fore that I speak; even as the Father said
unto me, so do I speak.

Although the divine persuasion of Jesus won some minds among the Jewish leaders, yet these being set

upon their worldly interests and the honors of the synagogue, did not rise to the courage of their convictions. St. John says: "However, many of the chief men also believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, that they might not be cast out of the synagogue. For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God." How often do we see the interests of true religion risked, procrastinated, and finally ruined, because its advocates, sometimes even its official guardians, are inspired by worldly prudence rather than by manly courage in its defence. To avoid trouble, to postpone trouble-here is the smooth excuse of most of those who allow truth and virtue to go to wreck, yielding to cowardice under the guise of prudence. Such was the fatal vice of the Pharisees and elders of Judaism who believed in Christ.

That they and all others dealt with the eternal Father when they dealt with Jesus, He had often enforced upon His hearers. He did so once more and with great emphasis: "But Jesus cried out and said: He that believeth in Me, doth not believe in Me but in Him that sent Me. And He that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not remain in darkness." And this light-giving was life-giving; for it was to redeem men from sin that He taught as well as suffered, and His office of judge was to be manifested only after all this was done: "And if any man hear My words and keep them not, I do not judge him, for I came not to judge the world but to save the world." How judgment exists and how it has its rights He shows: "He that despiseth Me and receiveth not My words, hath One that judgeth him." It is God the Father who judges in the secret con

science of the culprit; and at a final reckoning the word of truth, now rejected, shall rise up against the sinner as the record of his crime of wilful unbelief: "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." The conclusion is plain-the Father and the Son are one, and their message is their one divine revelation of the commandments and the life of God: "For I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting. The things therefore that I speak, even as the Father said unto Me, so do I speak."

The public ministry of Jesus was near its end, and nothing could be more miserable than what seemed to be its results. Jesus was now departing from the Temple of His Father as a man devoted to condemnation and death by the leaders of the Father's people and religion. The secular ambition of the race had grown so strong that it smothered its spiritual instincts, which like a tree whose trunk has been wounded, gave forth only the barren leaves of greed for worldly power, and an overgrowth of formalism in religion. Jesus had failed; in spite of the sublimity of His doctrine, the holiness of His life, the amazing power of His miracles, He had failed. His people, taken in their leaders and rulers, were unconvinced; and these leaders and rulers had entered into a conspiracy which was to put Him to torture and to death.

Weighed down with the woe of this, Jesus went out from the Temple for the last time.

CHAPTER XX.

THE TERRIBLE PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY AND THe end oF THE WORLD.

Matt. xxiv. 1-13; Mark xiii. 1-9; Luke xxi. 5-13.

THE Messias, before leaving the outer enclosure of the Temple, turned sadly and gazed upon its splendid colonnades and massive front. “One of His disciples saith to Him: Master, behold what manner of stones and what buildings are here." The words were an exclamation of joy and of religious and racial pride in the glories of the Temple of Jerusalem. But such feelings were not those of Jesus; rather He was filled with the omens of future doom, and saw the Temple and the race which adored God in it beaten to the earth and scattered abroad: "And Jesus answering saith to him: Seest thou all these great buildings? The days will come in which there shall not be left a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down."

Evening was approaching as they moved out towards Bethany, passing over Mount Olivet, all minds vibrating with this direful farewell to Israel's holy shrine. When they had passed through the gate and were come to the summit of the steep ascent of the Mount of Olives, Jesus sat down to rest. The Apostles had conferred together, and their troubled minds now found voice. The foremost among them begged Jesus to explain His ominous utterance. The western sky was illumined with the rays of the setting sun, and the massive structure of the Temple, with its pinnacles and gables, was clearly defined against this bright background: "And as He sat on the Mount of Olivet over against the Temple, Peter and James and John