For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and storm,19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard excused themselves, that the word might not be spoken to them:21 And so terrible was that which was seen, Moses said: I am frighted, and tremble.22 But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels,23 And to the church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect,24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel.
What, then, is the Paraclete's administrative office but this: the direction of discipline, the revelation of the Scriptures, the reformation of the intellect, the advancement toward the "better things? " Nothing is without stages of growth: all things await their season.
Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.3 With the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion founded, on the sides of the north, the city of the great king.3 With the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion founded, on the sides of the north, the city of the great king.4 In her houses shall God be known, when he shall protect her.9 As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God hath founded it for ever.10 We have received thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple.11 According to thy name, O God, so also is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of justice.
This, I say, is man's real death, when souls that know not God shall be consumed in long-protracted torment with raging fire, into which certain fiercely cruel beings shall cast them, who were unknown before Christ and brought to light only by his wisdom.
And he called the twelve; and began to send them two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.8 And he commanded them that they should take nothing for the way, but a staff only: no scrip, no bread, nor money in their purse,9 But to be shod with sandals, and that they should not put on two coats.10 And he said to them: Wheresoever you shall enter into an house, there abide till you depart from that place.11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you; going forth from thence, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony to them.12 And going forth they preached that men should do penance:13 And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
(de Con. Evan. 2, 30.) Or else; according to Matthew (Matt. 10:19), the Lord immediately subjoined, The workman is worthy of his meat, which sufficiently proves why He forbade their carrying or possessing such things; not because they were not necessary, but because He sent them in such a way as to shew, that they were due to them from the faithful, to whom they preached the Gospel. From this it is evident, that the Lord did not mean by this precept that the Evangelists ought to live only on the gifts of those to whom they preach the Gospel, else the Apostle transgressed this precept, when he procured his livelihood, by the labour of his own hands, but He meant that He had given them a power, in virtue of which, they might be assured, these things were due to them. It is also often asked, how it comes that Matthew and Luke have related that the Lord commanded His disciples not to carry even a staff, whilst Mark says, And he commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only. Which question is solved, by supposing that the word ‘staff’ has a meaning in Mark, who says that it ought to be carried, different from that which it bears in Matthew and Luke, who affirm the contrary. For in a concise way one might say, Take none of the necessaries of life with you, nay, not a staff, save a staff only; so that the saying, nay not a staff, may mean, nay not the smallest thing; but that which is added, save a staff only, may mean that, through the power received by them from the Lord, of which a rod is the ensign, nothing, even of those things which they do not carry, will be wanting to them. The Lord therefore said both, but because one Evangelist has not given both, men suppose, that he who has said that the staff, in one sense, should be taken, is contrary to him who again has declared, that, in another sense, it should be left behind: now however that a reason has been given, let no one think so. So also when Matthew declares that shoes are not to be worn on the journey, he forbids anxiety about them, for the reason why men are anxious about carrying them, is that they may not be without them. This is also to be understood of the two coats, that no man should be troubled about having only that with which he is clad, from anxiety lest he should need another, when he could always obtain one from the power given by the Lord. In like manner Mark, by saying that they are to be shod with sandals or soles, warns us that this mode of protecting the feet has a mystical signification, that the foot should neither be covered above nor be naked on the ground, that is, that the Gospel should neither be hid, nor rest upon earthly comforts; and in that He forbids their possessing or taking with them, or more expressly their wearing, two coats, He bids them walk simply, not with duplicity. But whosoever thinks that the Lord could not in the same discourse say some things figuratively, others in a literal sense, let him look into His other discourses, and he shall see, how rash and ignorant is his judgment.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)