THE other Evangelists, because of the reverence
and honor in which they held Matthew, did not wish to call him by his ordinary
name, but they called him Levi: for he possessed a double name. Now Matthew
himself, according to that saying of Solomon, The righteous man accuseth
himself in the beginning of his speech; and in another place, Do thou
tell thy sins, that thou mayest be justified; calls himself Matthew and a
publican: that he may make plain to those that read that no man should despair
of salvation, having turned to better things, since he himself was suddenly
changed from publican to Apostle.
HERE Porphyry and Julian Augustus argue the
ignorance of the lying historian and the folly of those who immediately followed
the Savior. As though they followed any man who called them; doubtless the
Apostles had seen great virtues and great signs before they believed.
SURELY the very splendor and majesty of the hidden
Deity, which was reflected in his human face, could, from the first glance,
draw to itself those who beheld it. For if in an amber and in a magnet there is
said to be such power that they attach rings and straws and stalks to themselves,
how much more could the Lord of all creation draw to himself those whom he
called?
AND it came to pass that while he was sitting in
the house, behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus. They
saw that the publican turning from his sins to better things had found a place
of penitence, and for that reason they themselves despaired not of salvation.
And not having remained in their former vices, they come to Jesus, so that the
Pharisees and Scribes murmured: they come doing penance, as the following word
of the Lord signifies saying, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: for I am not
come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Now the Lord came to the
banquets of sinners that he might have occasion to teach and might afford
spiritual food to these that invited him.
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