NOTE I.

To encourage the reading of Holy Scripture among Catholics, Pope Leo XIII. has granted the following indulgence :

"Our most holy Lord Leo P. P. XIII., in an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Sacred Relics, on the 13th day of December, 1898, kindly granted an indulgence of three hundred days, once every day, to all the Faithful of Christ who should, for at least one quarter of an hour, piously and devoutly read the Holy Gospel,* provided they read an edition that has been approved by legitimate authority. To those who thus read every day for a month a plenary indulgence is conceded once a month, on any day that, having approached worthily the holy Sacraments of Confession and Communion, they pour forth prayers to God for the intentions of His Holiness. These indulgences His Holiness has declared may be offered for the souls detained in the fire of purgatory.

"Given at Rome, December 13th, 1898.

"FR. HIERONYMUS M. CARDINAL GOTTI, Præf."

*The word Gospel in this indulgence stands for any part of the New Testament.

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NOTE II.

As to the text used for this commentary, as the book is one of spiritual reading, I have contented myself with taking the literal translation of the Vulgate given in our ordinary English version, commonly known as the "Douay," though first published by the English College at Rheims in 1582. The version I have used is that published in 1879 by Gill and Son, Dublin, with the approbation of the Right Rev. C. Denvir, sometime Bishop of Down and Connor. A few minor changes I have made, in order to give the more exact meaning of the Latin. For instance, (i. 1), for "by" the Will of God, I read "through" the Will of God, the Latin being "per" and the Greek Sta. And, again (i. 2), instead of "from God the Father," I read "from God our Father," because the Vulgate has "a Deo Patre nostro," and the Greek ảnò Оeοû Пαтрòs μŵv. Also, in i. 3, "every" is put in, as the Latin has "in omni benedictione." There are some other verbal changes; for instance, translating qui" by the English form "He" instead of the Latin idiom "Who" (see i. 5).

διὰ.

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The Latin and Greek text I have consulted is from a work entitled, "Novum Testamentum Græce et Latine. Textum Græce recensuit, Latinum ex Vulgata versione clementina adjunxit Fridericus Brandscheid, cum approbatione Rev. Archiep. Friburg. Herder, 1893."

INDEX

THE COMMENTARY.

FIRST PART OF THE EPISTLE, THE DOCTRINAL PART,
COMPRISING THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS.

CHAPTER II.

THE BENEFIT OF SUPERNATURAL LIFE GIVEN BY GOD
TO JEWS AND GENTILES.