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of taking with him another coat in addition to the one in which he was clad, as if he was
afraid that he might come to be in want, while all the time the power (which was received
from the Lord) made him sure of getting what was needful. To the same effect, when Mark
says that they were to be shod with sandals or soles, he gives us to understand that this
matter of the shoe has some sort of mystical significance, the point being that the foot is to
be neither covered, nor yet left bare to the ground; by which the idea may be conveyed that
the gospel was neither to be concealed, nor yet made to depend on the good things of earth.
And as to the fact that what is forbidden is neither the carrying nor the possessing of two
coats, but more distinctly the putting of them on,—the words being, “and not put on two
coats,”—what counsel is conveyed to them therein but this, that they ought to walk not in
duplicity, but in simplicity?
76. Thus it is not by any means to be made a matter of doubt that the Lord Himself
spake all these words, some of them with a literal import, and others of them with a figurative,
although the evangelists may have introduced them only in part into their writings,—one
inserting one section, and another giving a different portion. Certain passages, at the same
time, have been recorded in identical terms either by some two of them, or by some three,
or even by all the four together. And yet not even when this is the case can we take it for
granted that everything has been committed to writing which was either uttered or done
by Him. Moreover, if any one fancies that the Lord could not in the course of the same dis-
course have used some expressions with a figurative application and others with a literal,
let him but examine His other addresses, and he will see how rash and inconsiderate such
a notion is. For, then (to mention but a single instance which occurs meantime to my mind),
when Christ gives the counsel not to let the left hand know what the right hand doeth,990
he may suppose himself under the necessity of accepting in the same figurative sense at once
the almsgivings themselves referred to, and the other instructions offered on that occasion.
77. In good truth, I must repeat here once more an admonition which it behoves the
reader to keep in mind, so as not to be requiring that kind of advice so very frequently,
namely, that in various passages of His discourses, the Lord has reiterated much which He
had uttered already on other occasions. It is needful, indeed, to call this fact to mind, lest,
when it happens that the order of such passages does not appear to fit in with the narrative
of another of the evangelists, the reader should fancy that this establishes some contradiction
between them; whereas he ought really to understand it to be due to the fact that something
is repeated a second time in that connection which had been already expressed elsewhere.
And this is a remark that should be held applicable not only to His words, but also to His
deeds. For there is nothing to hinder us from believing that the same thing may have taken
place more than once. But for a man to impeach the gospel simply because he does not believe
990 Matt. vi. 3.
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Of the Section Where It is Recorded, that Being Moved with Compassion for…