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thou believest not the truth. Thou refusest to take up the cross, when the Bridegroom calleth thee to pray, fast, or give alms. Set times for prayers, fasting, and alms, are irksome to thee. The preacher's voice galleth thee as he calleth thee to take up thy cross in these. Alas! if thou turnest away from the cross in little things, if thou preferrest a little ease or pleasure to little crosses, how wouldst thou have borne the painful death of the martyrs of to-day? And how knowest thou how soon the chaff shall again be winnowed from the wheat as in their days? the bearer of the cross discerned from its enemy ? If thou hearest not Him, who is Truth itself; if thou walkest not in Him who is the Way, art thou in Him who is 'the Life?' Is He in thee? Wilt thou go to that Life when thou diest?

EASTER TO ASCENSION DAY.

Lord is risen indeed.'
For forty
earth, and speak of the things
Only to His chosen' does He
The three Marys sought

Believe, O Christian, that thy days' will the risen Jesus tarry on pertaining to the kingdom of God.' shew Himself thus after His passion. Christ crucified; they found Him risen. Wouldst thou behold His risen glories, thou must have fixed thine eyes on His Cross. Thou must not only have seen the place where the Lord lay, not only thought of His death and burial, however often, but also have entered into the sepulchre of Jesus with the women, and being dead to sin, have been buried together with him. The Magdalene was the first who heard the voice of her Beloved, because she stood at the sepulchre weeping. Thou canst not be revived by the presence of Jesus, except thou have first lamented his being taken away. But thou hast, I trust, joined thyself to those who, on Easter Eve, went forth to seek Jesus. Love made thee, like the beloved apostle, outrun the rest to His sepulchre ; repentance made thee, like Peter, enter into it. Love made thee to know Him; repentance to cast off thy hindrances and hasten to Him. Profit, then, by His blessed presence while He vouchsafes it to thee, ere 'He be taken up, and the cloud receive Him out of thy sight. Fix thy faithful eyes on the majesty of His glorified Body. Behold It entering into the midst of His disciples, though the doors be shut for fear of the Jews. Behold the radiant scars and marks of His sufferings for thee, and fear lest by thy unfaithfulness thou shouldest have need to mourn when thou lookest on Him whom thou hast pierced. Go often in spirit to

Emmaus, and constrain the Lord to abide with thee; and in breaking of the Eucharistic Bread to make Himself known to thee. Let His appearance to Peter assure thee of forgiveness, if thou, like that apostle, hast gone forth and wept bitterly for thy desertion of thy Lord. Hear, too, how affectionately the Bridegroom provided for the wants of His spouse, the Church,-how He entrusts His ministry and priesthood to His apostles and their successors, As My Father hath sent me, even so send I you.' 'Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.' About to leave this world, and go to the Father, our adorable Head and Saviour leaves His apostles invested with His own power and authority, as His representatives. How sad, if thou art of the number of those who reject Christ in the persons of His apostles and their successors! Still more sad, if thou believest that the apostolic ministry has failed and ceased, and trustest to one of man's devising!

The Treasury.

Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaveu is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth out of his treasure things new and old.'-St MATTHEW

xiii. 52.

HYMN FOR ASCENSION DAY.

OPUS PEREGI STI TUUM,
TE, CHRISTE, VICTOREN NECIS:

0 Lord, thy work is finished now,
The victor's crown is on thy brow:
The glory, Thou hadst left on high,
Recalls Thee to thy native sky.

Borne on a shining cloudy car,
Thou seest the earth receding far;
The crowds from prison thy vict'ries
bring.

Swell the great triumph of their King.

And angel hosts admiring stand,
In bright array on either hand;
Whilst through Heav'n's gates Thou
passest on,

Exulting to thy Father's throne.

There, Thou, our Priest and Advocate,
Our peace with God dost meditate;
And there the Blood thy Love once
shed,

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In our behalf by Thee is pled.

From thence the Church, thy holy
bride,

With richest gifts Thou dost provdie;
And as this Body's soul and heart,
Thou spreadest life through ev'ry
part.

Thence whilst assail'd by this world's
strife,

Thou dost sustain her hidden life;
Wa
And conquering palms of victory.
Varring Thou giv'st her mastery,

To Heav'n, where Thou as Head hast
gone

Thou call'st, O Christ, thy Body on;
Thy footsteps follow in the way.
Then grant that all the members may

Thou, who as victor reign'st in Heav'n,
Jesu! to Thee be glory giv'n,
As was, and is, and shall be done,
Whilst everlasting ages run.

R. K. T.

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It is strange, that Christians should pertinaciously insist upon carnal significations and natural effects in sacraments and mysteries, when our blessed Lord hath given us a sufficient light to conduct and secure us from such misapprehensions. The flesh profiteth nothing: the words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life; that is, the flesh is corruption, and its senses are ministers of death; and this one word alone was perpetually sufficient for Christ's disciples. For when, upon occasion of the gross understanding of their Master's words by the men of Capernaum, they had been once clearly taught, that the meaning of all these words was wholly spiritual they rested there, and inquired no further: insomuch that when Christ, at the institution of the supper, affirmed of the bread and wine, 'That they were His body and His blood,' they were not at all offended, as being sufficiently before instructed in the nature of that mystery. And besides this, they saw enough to tell them, what they eat was not the natural body of their Lord: this was the body which Himself did or might eat with His body: one body did eat and the other was eaten; both of them were His body, but after a diverse manner. For the cause is briefly this:

We have two lives, a natural and a spiritual; and both must have bread for their support and maintenance in proportion to their needs, and to their capacities: and as it would be an intolerable charity to give nothing but spiritual nutriment to a hungry body, and pour diagrams and wise propositions into an empty stomach; so it would be as useless and impertinent to feed the soul with wheat or flesh unless that were the conveyance of a spiritual delicacy.

In the holy sacrament of the eucharist, the body of Christ, according to the proper signification of a human body, is not at all, but in a sense, differing from the proper and natural body; that is, in a sense more agreeing to sacraments; so St Jerome expressly, Of this sacrifice, which is wonderfully done in the commemoration of Christ, we may eat; but of that sacrifice which Christ offered on the altar, the cross,-by itself, or in its own nature, no man may eat.'-For it is His flesh which is under the form of bread,-and His blood, which is in the form and taste of wine: for the flesh is the sacrament of flesh, and blood is the sacrament of blood: for by flesh and blood that is invisible, spiritual, intelligible,—the visible and tangible body of our Lord Jesus Christ is consigned, full of the grace of all virtues, and of divine majesty ;' so St Austin. For, therefore, ye are not to eat that body which you see, nor to drink that blood which My crucifiers shall pour out: it is the same, and not the same; the same invisibly, but not the same visibly. For until the world be finished, the Lord is above, but the truth of the Lord is with us. The body in which He rose again, must be in one place, but the truth of it is everywhere diffused.' For there is one truth of the body in the mystery, and another truth simply and without mystery. It is truly Christ's body both in the sacrament and out of it; but in the sacrament it is not the natural truth, but the spiritual and the mystical.

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'And therefore it was that our blessed Saviour, to them who apprehended Him to promise His natural body and blood for our meat and drink, spake of His ascension into heaven, that we might learn to look from heaven to receive the food of our souls, heavenly and spiritual nourishment;' said St Athanasius. For this is the letter which, in the New Testament, kills him who understands not spiritually what is spoken to him, under the signification of meat and flesh, and blood and drink;' so Origen. For this bread does not go into the body (for to how many might His body suffice for meat?), but the bread of eternal life supports the substance of our spirit ; and therefore it is not touched by the body, nor seen with the eyes, but by faith it is seen and touched;' so St Ambrose. 'And all this whole mystery hath in it neither carnal sense nor carnal consequence;' saith St Chrysostom. 'But to believe in Christ is to eat the bread; and therefore, why do you prepare your teeth and stomach? Believe Him, and you have eaten Him;' they are the words of St Austin. For faith is that 'intellectual mouth,' as St Basil calls it, which is within the man, by which he takes in nourishment.

But what need we to draw this water from the lesser cisterns? We see this truth reflected from the spring itself, the fountain of our blessed Saviour: I am the bread of life; he that cometh unto me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall not thirst:' and again, 'He that eats my flesh, hath life abiding in him, and I will raise him up at the last day.' The plain consequent of which words is this, that, therefore, this eating and drinking of Christ's flesh and blood, can only be done by the ministries of life and of the spirit, which is opposed to nature, and flesh and death.-Bishop Jeremy Taylor.

SANCTIFICATION OF FESTIVALS.

The sanctificalion of days and times is a token of that thankfulness, and a pattern of that public honour, which we owe to God for admirable benefits, whereof it doth not suffice that we keep a secret calendar, taking thereby our private occasions as we list ourselves, to think how much God hath done for all men; but the days which are chosen out to serve as public memorials of such His mercies, ought to be clothed with those outward robes of holiness, wherby their difference from other days may be made sensible. But because time in itself, as hath been already proved, can receive no alteration; the hallowing of festival-days must consist in the shape or countenance which we put upon the affairs that are incident unto those days. ، This is the day which the Lord hath made (saith the prophet David); let us rejoice and be glad in it.' So that generally offices and duties of religious joy are that wherein the hallowing of festival times consisteth. The most natural testimonies of our rejoicing in God, are first, His praises set forth with cheerful alacrity of mind; secondly, our comfort and delight expressed by a charitable largeness of somewhat more than common bounty; thirdly, sequestration from ordinary labours, the toils and cares whereof are not meet to be companions of such gladness. Festival solemnity, therefore, is nothing but the due mixture as it were, of these three elements, Praise, Bounty and Rest. Touching Praise, forasmuch as the Jews, who alone knew the way how to magnify God aright, did commonly (as appeared by their wicked lives) more of custom and for fashion's sake, execute the services of their religion, than with hearty and true devotion (which God especially requireth), He therefore protesteth against their Sabbaths and solemn days, as being therewith much offended. Plentiful and liberal expense is required in them that abound, partly as a sign of their own joy in

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