412 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO CHAP. XT. ning the Church of the Gentileswas in darkness,and faroff from the knowledge of God. But when Christthe Prince of peace shone forth,the Jews being stillin darkness,thither came the Gentiles,and offeredto Christthe frankincense of piety,the gold of divine knowledge, and preciousstones, that is,obedience to His commands. THEOPHYL. Or be cause the South is praisedin Scriptureas warm and life- giving,thereforethe soul reigningin the south,that is,in allspiritualconversation,comes to hear the wisdom of Solo mon, the Prince of peace,the Lord our God, (i.e.is raised up to contemplateHim,) to whom no one shallcome except he reign in a good life. But He brings next an example from the Ninevites,saying, The men of Nineveh shallrise up in judgment with thisgeneration,and shallcondemn it. Chrys. CHRYS. The judgment of condemnation comes from mennonocc. lilceor uniike to those who are condemned. From like, forinstance,as in the parable of the ten virgins,but from unlike,when the Ninevitescondemn thosewho livedat the time of Christ,that so theircondemnation might be the Hom.43.more remarkable. For the Ninevitesindeed were barbarians, 10 ""' but theseJews. The one enjoying the propheticteaching, the other having never receivedthe divine word. To the former came a servant,to the latterthe Master,of whom the one foretolddestruction,the otherpreached the kingdom of heaven. To allmen then was itknown thatthe Jews ought ratherto have believed,but the contraryhappened; there fore He adds, For theyrepentedat the preaching of Jonas, and, behold,a greaterthan Jonas is here. AMBROSE. Now in a mystery, the Church consistsof two things,either ignorance of sin,which has referencemainly to the queen of the South, or ceasing to sin,which relatesindeed to the repentantNinevites. For repentauce blotsout the offence, wisdom guards againstit. Aug.de AUG. Luke indeed relatesthisin the same placeas Mat- wTliiEv thew, ^ut in a somewnat differentorder. But who does c.39. not see that it is an idle question,in what orderour Lord saidthosethings,seeingthatwe ought to learnby the most preciousauthorityof the Evangelist,that there is no false hood. But not every man willrepeatanother'swords in the same orderin which they proceeded from his mouth, seeing