'You are the light of the world.' This is to be understood not only of the pastors, but of all the Faithful. St Paul expresses it thus: — ‘A crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.' [1] Whilst St Peter says: 'If any man speak, let him speak as the words of God' [2] — that is, as if God spoke through his mouth. It is recorded of St Matthias, by St Clement of Alexandria, that he said that when anyone did wrong in the neighbourhood of a Christian, he was to lay the blame on that Christian neighbour for not having set him a good enough example.
Thirdly, the Christian life demands extreme strictness. The smallest precepts must be attended to, and not one of them despised. Laxity begins with small things, and from them we fall into great evils. 4 He who despises the day of small things shall fall little by little.’ [3]
For the establishing of this strict Christian Justice, Jesus Christ lays down a fine principle: — that i the law of God is inviolable, and must be fulfilled in the very least particular.'
He is here considering particularly what had been predicted about Him in the law and the
