Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

De Isaia Propheta. Cap. XIX. Onus -dEgypti. Ecce Dominus ascendet super nubem levem : et ingredietur Mgyptum : et commovebuntur simulacra ^Egypti a facie ejus, et cor ^gypti tabescet in medio ejus : et concurrere faciam JEgyptios adversus ^Egyptios, et pugnabit vir contra fratrem suum, et vir contra amicum suum, ci vitas adversus civitatem, regnum adversus regnum.

Come, let us adore the King our Lord, who is to come.

From the Prophet Isaias. Ch. XIX.

The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord will ascend upon a light cloud : and will enter into Egypt : and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof : and I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians, and they shall hght brother against brother, and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

The Egypt, which the Lord is here represented as visiting, and whose idols and empire he will overthrow, is the City of Satan, which is to be destroyed, and give place to the City of God. But how peaceful is the divine Conqueror's entrance into his conquest ! it is on a cloud, a light cloud, that he comes, as on his triumphal chariot. How many mysteries in these few words ! " There are three Clouds," says Peter of Blois ; " the first, the obscurity of the Prophets ; the " second, the depth of the divine Decrees ; the third, " the prodigy of a Virgin Mother."1 First, as to the obscurity of the Prophets, it is essential to every

1 Second Sermon of Advent. dbyGoogk

ADVENT.

Prophecy that it be thus veiled, to the end that man's frete will may not be interfered with; but under this cloud the Lord comes at last, and when the day comes for the Prophecy to be accomplished, all things are clear enough. Thus was it with the first Coming ; so will it be with the second. Then, as to the Decrees of God ; as they are ordinarily made manifest by second, that is, by created, causes only, — it almost always happens, that the extreme simplicity of the means employed by the divine Wisdom takes men by surprise. Never was this so observable as in the grand event of the Incarnation. Men would naturally expect that, in restoring a fallen world, a power, equal, at least, to that which first created it, would be displayed ; and all they are told about the portent is : You ivill find the Child wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger ! 0 almighty power of God, how dazzling is thy light through this Cloud ! how strong art thou in this apparent weakness !

But there is the third Cloud; it is the Virgin Mary ; a light cloud, " for," says St. Jerome, " neither " concupiscence, nor the burden of earthly marriage, " weigh upon her ;" a Cloud, too, laden with a refreshing Dew, since it holds the Just One, who is to be rained down upon us, that our seething passions may be quenched, and the soil of our spiritual life made fertile. How sweet is the majesty of our divine King, when seen thus through this beautiful Cloud ! O incomparable Virgin ! the whole Church of God recognises thee in that mysterious Cloud, which the Prophet Elias, from the summit of Mount Carmel, saw rising up from the sea, little, at first, like a man's foot, but sending at last such a plentiful rain that all Israel was refreshed by its abundance. Delay not, we pray thee ; give us that heavenly and divine Dew which thou possessest within thee ; our

1 III. Kings, xviii. 42, 43.

SECOND THURSDAY OF ADVENT. sins have made the heavens as brass, and we are parched ; thou alone of creatures art just and pure ! Beseech our Lord, who has set up his Throne of mercy in thee, to come speedily and destroy our enemies and bring us peace.

HYMN FOR ADVENT.

(The Mozarabic Breviary, First Sunday of Advent.)

The almighty King of the universe, coming to save the world, assumed to himself a body like unto ours.

He who reigns with the Most High, enters the Vir- fin's womb, that he may be orn in the flesh, and break the bonds of death.

The nations have sat in darkness ; but they shall see the brightest light, when the Saviour shall come to redeem his creatures.

He, of whom the futureseeing oracles of the Prophets anciently sang, shall now come in glory to cure our wounds.

Let us now be glad in the Lord, and in the Son of God, and be ready to receive him in his glorious coming. Amen.

Cunctorum rex omnipotens,

Mundum salvare veniens, Formam assumpsit corporis Nostra similitudinis.

Qui regnat cum Altissimo, Virginis intrat uterum, Nasciturus in corpore, Mortis vincla disrumpere.

Gentes erant in tenebris : Videbunt lumen f ulgoris, Cum Salvator advenerit Redimere quos condidit.

Quern ohm vatum praescia Cecinerunt oracula, Nunc veniet in gloria, Nostra ut curet vulnera.

Laetemur nunc in Domino, Simul in Dei Filio, Parati eum suscipere Adventus sui gloria. Amen.

PRAYER FROM THE AMBROSIAN BREVIARY.

(Sixth Sunday of Advent, Preface.)

It is truly meet and just, Vere dignum et justum right and available to salya- est, aequum et salutare : nos tion, that we should give tibi, Domine Deus omnipo- thanks to thee, O Lord God tens, gratias agere : et cum almighty : and that we should, tuaB invocatione virtutis, whilst invoking thy power, beatae Mariae Virginis festa celebrate the feasts of the celebrare: de cujus ventre

ADVENT. fructus effloruit, qui Panis Blessed Virgin Mary ; from

Angelici munere nos replevit. whose womb grew the Fruit,

Suod Eva voravit in crimine, which has filled us with the aria restituit in salute. Bread of Angels. That Fruit

Distat opus serpentis et Vir- which Eve took from us when ginis. Inde fusa sunt venena she sinned, Mary has restored discriminis : hinc egressa to us, and it has saved us. mysteria Salvatoris. Inde se Not as the work of the Ser-

Eraebuit tentantis iniquitas : pent is the work of Mary, inc Kedemptoris est opitu- From the one, came the poi- lata majestas. Inde partus son of our destruction ; from occubuit ; hinc Conditor re- the other, the mysteries of surrexit, a quo humana na- Salvation. In the one, we tura, non jam captiva, sed see the malice of the temp- libera restituitur. Quod ter ; in the other, the help of

Adam perdidit in parente, the divine Majesty. By the

Ghristo recepit auctore. one, came death to the creature ; by the other, the resurrection of the Creator, by whom human nature, now not captive but free, is restored ; and what it lost by its parent Adam, it regained by its Maker Christ.