25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?



Ver. 25. Rabbi, when camest thou hither?] This question they moved, not so much to learn what they knew not, as to make show of what they knew before. But two things make a man truly virtuous, -good actions and good aims. Finibus non officiis a vitiis discernuntur virtutes, saith Augustine: The end maketh or marreth the act. Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat, saith another. The glory of God should consume all sinister ends, as the sunlight puts out the fire, or as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the sorcerers’ serpents.