mies? Even Christ had constantly to contend with the Pharisees and Scribes.

11. The pillars of the church are cast down upon the earth, and evangelic doctrine is heard no more. The gold of the temple is gone; the true divine wisdom, which enlightens and gladdens the heart. The roof of the church has fallen in; in the storm and the whirlwind are swept away the devout priests and princes, who adorn the bride of Jesus. The binding lime and mortar fail. Where seest thou now-a-days true love among Christians? No more are they united in Christ Jesus-therefore no one seeks the good of the other, but each one only his own. All the walls of the Church are undermined.

12. In the primitive Church were the chalices of wood, and the prelates of gold; in our days, the prelates are of wood, and the chalices of gold.

13. We stand on the battle-field, but doubt not that we shall conquer at last, and in every way, even dying; and in death shall fight more successfully than in life.

14. This morning thought I, that I should go to heaven, but the hope is delayed. Thou, who suspectest that I perhaps have had fears, knowest thou not that faith fears. nothing? He who hath faith stands where the men of the world cannot reach, where the sword and dagger of the enemy come not.

15. Oh wonderful power of hope, before whom all sorrows yield, all ready consolation comes!

16. Take away, Lord, my sins, and I am freed from all trouble. Yes! set me free, not according to my righteousness, but according to thy mercy!

ERASMUS.

BORN 1467-DIED 1536.

1. Though thou hadst gotten six hundred teachers, yet it is the Lord that doth truly and effectually teach this philosophy and wisdom.

2. Faith is the door whereby we enter into the house of God.

3. Faith purgeth the heart, and love straighteneth the crooked and corrupt will. Faith judgeth and teacheth what is to be done; love executeth the same as the servant of faith. Faith is a gift put into man's mind, through which he does, without any doubtfulness, believe all those things to be true which God has taught and promised us. Faith is the most sure knowledge that is in the world.

4. Whom can that most meek and gentle Lamb refuse or reject, who, when the thief hanging on the cross did own Him, forthwith did bid him to the bridal feast, and, of a blaspheming sinner, made him an heir of His kingdom?

5. This life is a battle; whether we will or not, we cannot choose but fight, either on God's side or the devil's.

6. Nothing quiets the mind of man, save only the grace of Christ.

7. The eye of faith is a simple dove's eye, reverently beholding God in the manner in which it is His pleasure to be known of us.

8. He hath come once for all. He hath once for all finished that singular and marvellous sacrifice with the commemoration of which He would have us nourished until He come again the second time, not to be then a Redeemer, but a Judge and Rewarder.

9. Christ was eternally the Son of God; but, after He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, His blessed soul was full of all heavenly grace. But, though He might thus be called twice born, once of His Father, without time, and before all time, and again of His mother, in the time appointed by God, yet are there not two sons, but only one Son. He was conceived of the substance of the virgin, that we should acknowledge the verity of His human nature.

10. Our Lord took on Him, not only the verity of man's nature, but also the miseries which accompany the nature of man fallen, those things only excepted which are not suitable to the dignity of the Person who was both God and man, or else which do exclude the fulness of grace. For neither did He receive proclivity or readiness to do sin, nor the power to sin; neither did He take unto Him error or ignorance. And those incommodities which He took, He took not of the necessity of nature, but voluntarily for our sake, to make satisfaction for our offences, and to suffer for that which we had trespassed.

II. There are three Sabbaths. The first was the Sab

bath of God alone, without us. The second is ours, by His love and goodness, but imperfect here in this life. The third Sabbath is perfect in the world to come.

JACOBI DE VALENTIA.*

BORN 1468-DIED 1491.

1. O Lord, think not upon my sins, but think upon Thy mercy, which is greater than all my sins and transgressions. 2. The faith of the church, under both Testaments, is the same. The faith which saves us is the same that saved the ancient fathers. For, as it is the same Christ that is believed by us and by them, so it is the same faith. There is this difference only-that the mystery of the incarnation and redemption, which, we believe, is completed; to them it was future. But yet, as we believe that no one can be delivered from sin, save by the blood and passion of Christ, so did the fathers believe.

3. The sacrifice of the morning and evening lamb, of itself, brought no grace, nor did it purge away sin. But, through means of the blood of the coming Christ, thus prefigured, they received deliverance from sin who, when offering their sacrifice, believed in the blood to come. Thus it was alone their faith and hope in a coming Christ that delivered them from guilt.

4. Thus David prayed because he believed; for faith goes before all prayer.

5. As the divine Word assumed this flesh and human nature, in the unity of His person, that He might suffer in

* We translate these gems from the author's Commentary on the Psalms and Song of Solomon; a rare old Latin quarto.

it (which person is called one Christ, God and man), so this Christ assumed, and united, and espoused to Himself the whole Church and community of believers into the unity of His mystical body, that He might suffer for it. Thus Christ and the Church are called one mystical man and one mystical Christ, whose head is this true Christ, and whose body or members are the whole Church of the faithful. Thus Christ is called the Bridegroom and Head of the Church.

6. Christ is the object and the subject of all our theology, and of Holy Scripture.

7. As Christ is the dispenser of grace, so is He the giver of rewards. As God, through Christ, called and justified those whom He predestinated from eternity, so it is meet that, through Christ, He should bestow the glory, the blessedness, and the honour. Thus Christ is in all things the mediator between God and man. Seeing He is the Intercessor, the Surety, the Interpreter, so is He the Leader, the Judge, the Rewarder.

8. As Christ is the Head of the Church and of all believers, from whom flows down all virtue and all grace to all the members, so the devil is head and chief of all the wicked and unbelieving. Unbelievers are members of the devil; and as of Christ and the Church is fashioned one mystical body, so of the devil and Church, or synagogue of Satan is composed one devilish body.

9. Since His ascension, the Bridegroom has not spoken personally and familiarly to His bride, but through a medium; and this is to last till His second coming, when He will speak to us. Then will He introduce His bride