CHAP. XII. 1. IN the mean time,when therewere gathered togetheran innumerablemultitudeof people,inso much thatthey trodeone upon another,He began to say unto His disciplesfirstof all,Beware ye of the leavenofthePharisees,which ishypocrisy. 2. For thereis nothingcovered,thatshallnot be revealed; neitherhid,thatshallnot be known. 3. Thereforewhatsoeverye have spoken in dark ness shallbe heard inthe light; and thatwhich ye have spoken in the earinclosetsshallbe proclaimed upon thehousetops. THEOPHYL. The Phariseessought indeed to catch Jesus in His talk,that they might lead away the people from Him. But thisdesign of theirsis reversed. For the peo ple came all the more unto Him gathered together by thousands,and so desirousto attach themselves to Christ, that they pressed one upon another. So mighty a thing is truth,so feebleevery where deceit. Whence it is said, And when therewere gathered togethera great multitude, insomuch that theytrodeupon one another,He began to say untoHis disciples,Beware ye of the leavenof thePharisees, which is hypocrisy. CYRIL. For they were falseaccusers; thereforeChristwarned His disciplesagainstthem. GREG. NAz. When leaven is praiseditis as composing the bread of life,but when blamed it signifiesa lastingand bitter maliciousness.THEOPHYL. He callstheirhypocrisyleaven, as pervertingand corruptingthe intentionsof the men in whom it has sprung up. For nothing so changes the cha- iCor.5,6.ractersof men as hypocrisy. BKDE. For as a littleleaven leavenetha whole lump of meal, so hypocrisywillrob the mind of allthe purity and integrityof its virtues. AM BROSE. Our Lord has introduceda most forcibleargument