Friday in Easter Week

Ha9C dies quam fecit Do- This is the <Jay which the minus: exsultemus et laete- Lord hath made: let us be glad

Eight days ago, we were standing near the cross, on which died the Man of Sorrows, 1 abandoned by His Father, and rejected, by a solemn judgement of the Synagogue, as a false Messias : and lo ! this is the sixth time the sun has risen upon our earth since the voice of the Angel was heard proclaiming the Resurrection of this adorable Victim. The Churoh, His widowed spouse, then lay prostrate before the justice of the eternal God and Father, who * spared not even His own Son,' 3 because He had taken upon Himself the likeness of sin ; but now she is feasting in the sight of her Jesus' triumph, for He bids her be exceeding glad. But if within this glad Octave, there be one day, rather than another, on which she should proclaim His triumph, it assuredly is the Friday; for it was on that day she saw Him * filled with reproaches' 3 and crucified.

To-day, therefore, let us meditate upon our Saviour's Resurrection as being the zenith of His own dear glory, and as the chief argument whereon rests our faith in His Divinity. * If Christ be not risen again,' says the Apostle, 'your faith is vain:' 4 but, because He is risen again, our faith rests on the surest of foundations. Our Redeemer owed it to us, there-

1 Is. liii. 3- 2 Rom. yiii, 32.

8 Lament, iii. 30. 4 1 Cor. xy. 17.

WAtKSO. timb, x. U mur m ea. and rejoice therein. fore, that our certainty with regard to His Resurreotion should be perfect. In order to give this mastertruth such evidence as would preolude all possibility of doubt, two things were needed: His Death was to be certified, and the proofs of His Resurrection were to be incontestable. Jesus fulfilled both these conditions, and with the most scrupulous completeness. Hence, His triumph over death is a faot so deeply impressed on our minds, that even now, nineteen hundred years since it happened, we cannot celebrate our ration akin to that which the guards at His tomb experienced when they found their Captive gone. x es, J esus was truly dead. The afternoon of Friday was at its close, and J oseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took down the Body from the cross ; they gave it, stiff and covered with blood as it was, to His afflicted Mother. Who could doubt of His death ? The terrible agony of the previous night, when His human Nature shrank at the foresight of the oup He had to drink ; the treachery of one, and the infidelity of the rest of His Apostles, which broke His sacred Heart ; the long hours of insult and cruelty ; the barbarous soourging, which Pilate devised as a means for softening brutal Jews to pity ; the cross, to which He was fastened with nails that opened four founts of Blood ; the anguish of His agonizing Heart, when He beheld His Mother at the foot of the cross ; the burning thirst, which choked the throbs of life still left ; the spear that pierced His side through to the very Heart, and drew from it a stream of filood and water: — these are proofs enough that death had made God his victim. Dear Jesus! they are now but so many motives for us to love Thy beautiful riory. How could we, for whom Thou didst suffer death, be unmindful of the sufferings that caused it P

Easter without f eelinj thrill of enthusiastio admi-

Friday jn easter week

How could we forget them now, for they enhanoe the splendour of Thy Resurrection ?

He, therefore, gained a true victory over death: He appeared on the earth as a conqueror of a very different kind from any that had hitherto been known. Here was a fact which it was impossible to deny: a Man, whose whole life had been spent in obscurity, was put to death by the most oruel tortures, and amidst the insulting shouts of His unworthy fellowcitizens. Pilate sent to the Emperor Tiberius an offioial account of the judgment and death of One, whom he represented as calling Himself tfce King of the Jews. What would men think, after all this, of them that professed themselves followers of this Jesus ? The philosophers, the wits, the slaves of the world and pleasure, would point the finger of scorn at them, and say: * Lo ! these are they that adore a God who died on a cross ! 9 But, if this God rose again from the grave, is not His death an evidence of His Divinity ? He died, and He rose again ; He foretold His death and His Resurrection ; who but a God oould thus hold in His power ' the keys of death and hell?' 1

Yet so it was: Jesus was put to death, and rose again from the grave. How do we know it ? By the testimony of His Apostles ; they saw Him after He had risen, they touched Him, they conversed with Him for forty days. But are these Apostles to be credited? Surely they are, for never was there a testimony that bore such internal evidence of truth. What interest could these men have in publishing the glory of their Master, who had been put to a death that brought ignominy both upon Himself and them, if they knew that He never rose again, as He had promised He would ? The chief priests bribed the soldiers to say, that while they were asleep, His

1 Apoc. L 18. disciples, poor timid men as they were, came during the night and stole away the Body. They thought, by this, to throw discredit upon the testimony of the Apostles. But what folly ! We may justly address to them the sarcastio words of St. Augustine: ' What I do you adduce sleeping witnesses ? Surely, you yourselves must have been asleep, to have had recourse to suoh a scheme as this!' 1 but, as for the Apostles, what motive oould they have for preaching the Resurrection, if it never took plaoe? * In suoh a supposition/ says St. John Chrysostom, 1 they would have looked upon their Master as a false prophet and an impostor: and is it likely they would go and defend Him against the aoousations of a whole nation P Would they expose themselves to all manner of suffering for One who had so cruelly deceived them P What was there to encourage them in such an undertaking? The rewards He had promised them P But if He had not fulfilled His promise of rising again, how oould they trust to the rest of His promises ?' 2 No: we must either deny every principle of nature and common sense, or we must acknowledge the testimony of the Apostles to be a true one.

Moreover, this testimony was the most disinterested that oould be, for it brought nothing but persecution and death upon them that gave it. It was a proof that God was with suoh men as these, who, but a few hours before, had been timid cowards, and now were fearless of every danger, asserting their conviction with an intrepidity which human courage could never inspire, and this, too, in cities which were very centres of civilization and learning. The world was made to listen to their testimony, which they confirmed by miracles ; and thousands of every tongue and nation were converted into believers of Jesus^ Resurrection.

1 JBnarrrat. in Ftakn. lxiii. 2 In Matth. JSomil. lxxxix.

When, at length, these Apostles laid down their lives for the doctrines they had preached, they left the world in possession of the truth of the Resurrection ; and the seed they had sown in lands, where even the Roman Empire had not extended its conquests, produced a quick and world-wide harvest. All this gave to the astounding fact, which they proclaimed, a guarantee and a certainty beyond suspicion. It was impossible to refuse such evidence, without going against every principle of reason. Yes, 0 Jesus ! Thy Kesurreotion is as certain as Thy death. Thy Apostles could never have preached, they could never have converted the world, as they did, unless they had had truth on their side.

But the Apostles are no longer here to give their testimony: the equally solemn testimony of the Church has succeeded to theirs, and proclaims, with a like authority, that Jesus is no longer among the dead. By the Church we here mean those hundreds of millions of Christians, who have proclaimed the Resurrection of Jesus by keeping, for now nineteen hundred years, the Feast of the Pasoh. And can there be room for doubt here ? Who is there, that would not assent to what has been thus attested every year since the Apostles first announced itP Among these countless proclaimers of our Lord's Resurrection, there have been thousands of learned men, the bent of whose mind led them to sift every truth, and who, before embracing the faith, had examined its tenets in the light of reason; there have been millions of others, whose acceptance of a dogma like this, whioh puts a restraint on the passions, was the result of the oonviotion, that the only way to eternal happiness is in the due performance of the duties this dogma imposes ; and finally, there have been millions of others, who, by their virtues, we? the support and ornament of the world, but vrhq

PASCHAL TIM* owed all their virtues to their faith in the death and Resurrection of Jesus.

Thus, the testimony of the Churoh, that is of the wisest and best portion of mankind, is admirably united with that of the Apostles, whom our Lord Himself appointed as His first witnesses. The two testimonies are one. The Apostles proclaimed what they had seen ; we proolaim, and shall proclaim to the end, what the Apostles preached. Tne Apostles made themselves sure of the JJesurrection, which they had to preach to the world ; we make ourselves sure of the veracity of their word. They believed after experience ; so also do we. They had the happiness of seeing, hearing, and touohing the Word of Life ; l we see and hear the Church, which they established throughout the world, although it was but in its infancy, when they were taken from the earth. The Church is that tree of which Jesus spoke in the parable, saying, that though exceeding small in its first commencement, it would afterwards spread out its branches far and wide. 3 St. Augustine in one of his Easter sermons has these fine words: 'As yet, we see not Christ ; but we see the Church: therefore let ns believe in Christ. The Apostles, on the oontrary, saw Christ ; but they saw not the Church except by faith. They saw one thing, and they believed another: so, likewise, let us do. Let us believe in the Christ, whom, as yet, we see not ; and by keeping ourselves with the Church, which we see, we shall come at length to see Him, whom as yet we cannot see.' 8

Having thus, 0 Jesus ! the oertainty of Thy glorious Resurreotion, as well as that of Thy death on the oross, we confess Thee to be the great God, the Creator and sovereign Lord of all things. Thy i St f John, i, 1. 2 St. Matth. xiii. 31, 32. St. Mark, iv. 31, 32. 8 Sermo, ccxxxviii. In diebus Faschalibua, x. death humbled, Thy Resurreoticm exalted Thee: but Thou Thyself wast the author of both the humiliation and the exaltation. Thou saidst to Thine enemies : ' No man taketh My life away from Me ; but I lay it down of Myself ; and I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.' 1 None but a God oould have such power, none but a God could have exercised it as Thou hast done: we, therefore, are confessing Thy Divinity when we confess Thy Resurreotion. We beseech Thee, make worthy of Thine acceptance this humble and delighted homage of our faith !

In Rome, the Station is at the church of St. Mary ad Martyres. It was the ancient pantheon of Agrippa, and had been dedicated to all the false gods ; it was given by the Emperor Phocas to St. fioniface IV, who consecrated it to the Mother of God and all the Martyrs. It is not known where to-day's Station was held previously to the seventh century, when this church was chosen. The neophytes were thus assembled, for the second time within the Octave, in a temple dedicated to Mary: it would show them how much the Church desired to inspire them with confidence in her, who had become their mother, and whose office it is to lead to her Son all those whom He calls by His grace to become His brethren.

MASS

The Introit, which 'is taken from the Psalms, reminds the neophytes of the passage through the Red Sea, and how its waters were gifted with the power of delivering the Israelites. The Church continually alludes to this great event, during the whole Paschal Octave,

1 St. John, x. 18.

PASCHAL TIMS

INTROIT

Eduxit eos Dominus in •pe, alleluia: et inimicos eornm operuit mare. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Pt. Attendite, popule mens, legem meam: inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris mei. f. Gloria Patri. Eduxit.

The Lord hath brought them forth in hope, alleluia: and the sea hath covered their enemies. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Ps. Attend, 0 my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. t. Glory, &c. The Lord, Ac.

The Pasoh is the reconciliation of man with God, for the Father can refuse nothing to suoh a oon- aueror as our risen Jesus, His Son. In her Collect, lie Church prays that we may ever show ourselves worthy of such a covenant, by faithfully living up to the mytery of fc the Paschal regeneration.

COLLECT

0 almighty and eternal God, who hast instituted this Paschal mystery in the covenant of the reconciliation of mankind; assist us with thy holy grace, that what we profess in this solemnity, we may practise in our lives. Through, &c.

To this is added one of the Collects given in Wednesday's Mass, page 247.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui Paschale Sacramentum in reconciliationis humanae f oedere contulisti : da mentibus nostris, ut quod prof essione celebramus, imitemur effectu. Per Dominum.

EPISTLE

Lectio EpistolsB beati Petri Apostoli

I Cap. Ill

Charissimi, Ohristus semel pro peccatis nostris mortuus est, justus pro injustis, ut nos off erret Deo, mortifi-

Lesson of the Epistle of Saint Peter the Apostle

/ Ch. Ill

Dearly beloved: Christ died once for our sins, the just for the unjust; that he might offer us to God, being put to deaft

FRIDAY IN B ASTER WEEK: MASS

' catus quidem carne, vivificatus autem Spiritu. In qno ened in et his, qui in spiritibns veniens praedicavit: qui increduli fuerant aliquando, qnando exspe- credulous, ctabant Dei patientiam in diebus Noe, cum f abricaretur area: in qua pauci, id a est octo animae salvae f actse sunt per aquam. Quod et vos nunc similis forma? salvos facit baptisma: non car- eth nis depositio sordium, sed conscientise bonae interrogatio in Deum, per Resurrectionem Jesu Christi Domini nostri, qui est in dextera Dei. indeed in the flesh, but enlivthe spirit. In which also care ere erant, coming, he preached to those spirits that were in prison; which had been some time inwhen they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Whereunto baptism being of the like form, now savyou also: not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is on the right hand of God.

Again it is the Apostle St. Peter who speaks to us, and nis instructions are of peculiar interest to our neophytes. He begins by telling them how the Soul of our Redeemer descended into limbo ; and how, among the prisoners detained there, were some of those who had perished in the deluge, yet had found salvation in its waters. They were at first incredulous, and despised the threats made known to them by Noe; but, when the flood came and swept them away, they repented of their sin, and asked and obtained pardon. The Apostle then goes on to speak of the favoured inhabitants of the Ark ; they are a type of our neophytes, whom we have seen pass through the waters of the font, and thereby become, as did the sons of Noe, fathers of a new generation of ohildren of God. Baptism, says the Apostle, is not like other washings of the body ; it is the cleansing of the soul, provided she be sincere in the solemn promise, she vows at the font, to be faithful to the yhrist who saves her, and to renounce sai$n and all

PASCHAL TIM* that is his. The Apostle eonoludes by telling us, that the mystery of our Saviour's Resurreotion is the source of the grace of Baptism: hence, the Churoh has chosen the Feast of Easter for the solemn administration of this Sacrament.

GRADUAL

Hrec dies quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus et laetemur in ea. f. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini: Deus Dominus, et illuxit nobis.

Alleluia, alleluia. f. Dicite in gentibus: quia Dominus regnavit a ligno.

This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. f. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: the Lord is God, and he hath shone upon us.

Alleluia, alleluia. t. Say ye among the Gentiles, that the Lord hath reigned from the Wood.

The Sequence Victimce Paschali page 164.

GOSPEL

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthaeum

Cap. XXVIII In illo tempore: Undecim discipuli abierunt in Galilseam, in montem, ubi constituerat illis Jesus. Et videntes eum, adoraverunt: quidam autem dubitaverunt. Et accedens Jesus locutus est eis, dicens: Data est mihi omnis potestas in coelo, et in terra. Euntes ergo docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sancti: docentes eos servare omnia qusecumque mandavi vobis: et ecce ego vobiscum sum

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew Ch. XXVIII At that time: The eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing him they adored: but some doubted. And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: Ail power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you.

FRIDAY IN B ASTER WEBK: MASS omnibus diebus, usque ad all days, even to the consum-

8t. Matthew's description of the Resurreotion is shorter than those given by the other Evangelists ; # his few brief words on Jesus' appearing to the Apostles in Galilee, are the subject of to-day's Gospel. It was in Galilee, that our Lord vouchsafed to show Himself, not only to the Apostles, but moreover to several other persons. The Evangelist tells us how some of those, that were thus favoured, readily believed; and how others doubted, before yielding the assent of their faith. He then relates the words wherewith Jesus gave His Apostles the mission to preach the Gospel to all nations ; and since He is to die no more, He promises to be with them for ever, even to the end of the world. But the Apostles are not to live to the end of the world: how, then, will He fulfil His promise ? The Apostles, as we said before, are perpetuated by the Church ; the two testimonies, — of tne Apostles and of the Church, — are inseparably linked together ; and our Lord Jesus Christ preserves this united testimony from error or interruption. The liturgy of to-day brings before us a proof of its irresistible power. Peter, Paul, and John, preached Jesus' Resurrection, and established the Christian faith, in Rome; five centuries after, the Church, which oontinued their work, received from an Emperor the gift of the temple, which had once been consecrated to all the false gods, but which St. Peter's successor dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, and to that legion of witnesses of the Resurrection, whom we call Martyrs. At the sight of this magnificent edifioe, which for three hundred years had been deserted by the pagans, but now is reconciled by the Church, and holds within its walls the Christian people, our neophytes could not refrain from exclaiin- oonsummationem saeculi. mation of the world. ing: i Oh ! truly is Christ risen, who, after being put to death on the cross, thus triumphs oyer the Caesars, and over the gods of Olympus V

The Offertory is composed* of those words of Exo- *dus, wherein God commands His people to celebrate, each year, the anniversary of the rassover. If this were so for an event which was but figurative, and whose effects did not extend beyond tnis life, how fervently and joyously ought Christians to keep the anniversary of that other Passover, whose results are to be eternal, and whose divine reality has put an end to all the ancient figures !

OFFERTORY

Erit vobis hsec dies memorialis, alleluia: et diem festum celebrabitis solemnem Domino in progenies vestras: legitimum sempiter- witn num diem. Alleluia, alle- ance. Alleluia, alleluia, alle-

And this day shall be for a memorial to you, alleluia: and you shall keep it a Feast to the Lord in your generations, an everlasting observluia, alleluia. luia.

In the Seoret, the Churoh beseeches God to accept this present Saorifice for the forgiveness of the sins of her neophytes. But how is this P Their sins have been already effaced. It is true; their sins have been washed away in the waters of Baptism ; but God's foreknowledge of the Sacrifioe that would now be offered to Him, led Him to grant His pardon even before the petition for mercy had really been made.

SECRET

Hostias, quaesumus sacriquas fice, et pro renatorum expiations remispeccati deferimus, et pro sion acceleratione coelestis auxioblii. Per Pominum. tain

Do- Mercifully accept this mine, placatus assume: we beseech thee, 0 Lord, which we offer for the of their sins, who have been regenerated; and to speedily the help of thy grace, Through, #c t

Friday in eastbr week: mass 301

To this is added one of the Seorets given in Wednesday's Mass, page 254.

The Communion-Anthem joyously proolaims the command, given by our Saviour to His Apostles and His Church, to teaoh all nations, and to baptize all people. This order is the warrant of their mission. The use made of it by the Apostles, and oontinued by the Church, during these nineteen hundred years,

Elainly proves that He who spoke these words is still ving, and will for ever live.

COMMUNION

Data est mihi omnia potestas in coelo et in terra, alle- in luia: euntes docete omnes luia: gentes, baptizantes eos in tizing nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Alleluia,

All power is given to me heaven and in earth, allego teach all nations, bapthem in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Alleluia, alleluia. alleluia.

After nourishing her children with the Bread of eternal life, the Church, in the Postoommunion, again prays that they may receive forgiveness of the sins which they oommit in this present life, and whioh would be to their everlasting perdition, were not the merits of our Saviour's Death and Resurrection ever present before the justice of God.

POSTCOMMUNION

Respice, quaesumus Do- Look down, we beseech thee, mine, populum tuum: et 0 Lord, upon thy people: and quern aeternis dignatus es since thou hast vouchsafed to renovare mysteriis, a tern- give them a new life by these poralibus culpis dignanter eternal mysteries, grant them absolve. Per Dominum. also pardon of their temporal offences. Through, &c.

To this is added one of the Postoommunions given in Wednesday's Mass, page 256.

This is the sixth day of the creation. Upon it, the hand of the Son of God formed the body of man out of the slime of the earth, into which he breathed a living soul. This was the creature that was to be the king of the visible creation. A simple oommand of the divine Word had sufficed to call from the earth all the animals that live upon it ; but when, towards the close of this great day, the Creator said: 'Let us make man to our image and likeness', He did more than merely command, He seems to have deliberated: He deigned to become the artificer of His work. Let us adore this His sovereign goodness towards our race, and ever gratefully honour the Friday of eaoh week, as the day whereon the Son of God completed the work He began on th Sunday by the creation of him who was to be master and lord of the world. Nor is this the only mystery that should make Friday dear to us. It was on this same day, that the divine Word, having taken upon Himself the Flesh He Himself had made, died upon the oross, that He might save His rebellious and lost oreature man. 0 sacred day ! Day that didst witness both our oreation and our redemption ! Thou speakest to us of the Son of God, and of His love for us, even more sweetly than of His power! Let us express all this by reciting the following devout prayer, which the Mozarabic Liturgy uses on the Friday of Easter week.

CAPITULA

Deus, Dei Filius, qui ho- 0 God, Son of God, who, in minem, quern sexto die for- the sixth age of the world, masti ex nihilo, sexta setate didst, by thy Blood, redeem sseculi redemisti sanguine man whom thou hadst formed tuo: et qui tunc bene con- out of nothing, on the sixth ditus male cecidit; nunc in day, and who, though created melius reformatus surrexit: in' goodness, fell into evil, but da nobis, ut ita veraciter has now risen regenerated unto redemptionis nostra myste- what is more perfect: grant.

Friday in easter Wees:: mass 3&& rium perpend am us, qualiter in morte et resurrectione tua perenniter gloriemur: ut qui tempore salutis, mundo occurrens, mortem nostram moriendo devicisti, ab aeterna nos liberes damnatione judicii. that we may so truly prize the mystery of our redemption, as that we may for ever glory in thy Death and Resurrection: and that thou, who, in the time of our salvation, didst succour the world and conquer our death by thine own, mayst deliver us from the eternal damnation of the Judgement.

To-day let us hearken to the Churoh of Armenia celebrating the Resurrection. For thirteen centuries she has sung the following stanzas, which a confrere has translated, for our work, from the hymn book, or Charagan. The sentiment is the same as we find expressed in other Liturgies ; but there is, moreover, the style peculiar to the Armenian character. The reader will be pleased with the f ragranoe of antiquity which he will find in these verses, whose vigorous and solemn lyric beauty surpasses that of the liturgical compositions of the Greek Churoh.

IN RESURRECTIONE DOMINI

Hodie resurrexit a mortuis sponsus immortalis et coelestis: tibi nuntium gaudii, o sponsa e terra Ecclesia ; benedic voce exsultationis Deum tuum, Sion.

Hodie inenarrabile Lumen de lumine illuminavit pueros tuos; illuminare, Jerusalem, quia resurrexit lumen tuum Christus.

Hodie tenebra inscitias depuls© sunt trina luce, et tibi orta est lux scientiae,

To-day, the immortal and heavenly Bridegroom rose again from the dead! To thee the glad tidings, O Church, his spouse on earth! Bless thy God, 0 Sion, with a joyous voice.

To-day, the ineffable Light of light enlightened thy children. Be thou enlightened, 0 Jerusalem! for Christ, thy Light, has risen.

To-day, the darkness of ignorance is dispelled by the triple light: and the light of

PASC&AL TtMS resurgens a mortuis Christus.

Hodie Pascha nostrum per immolationem Christi; peragamus f estum in exsultatione, renovati nos a vetnstate peccati, dicentes: Christus resurrexit a mortuis.

Hodie Angelus refulgens, e coelis descendens, deterruit custodes, et Sanctis mulieribus praedicabat dicens: Christus resurrexit a mortuis.

Hodie magnum nuntium Adas protoplast® fuit datum: Surge, qui dormis; illuminavit te Christus, Deus patrum nostrorum.

Hodie vocem nuntii ad Evae aures sonant filiro unguentiferse: Vidimus resurrectum, resurrectionem tuam, Christum, Deum patrum nostrorum.

Hodie Angeli de coelis descendentes annuntiant hominibus: Resurrexit crucifixus, et suscitavit vos secum.

Hodie Phase aerumnarum exitus Israel commutasti in salutis animarum Pascha, sancta resurrectione tua, Christe.

Hodie pro sanguinibus irrationabilium agnorum mactatorum, donasti nobis, Agnus Dei, sangulnem tuum salutare. knowledge has risen, upon thee, it is Christ rising again from the dead.

To-day is our Pasch, by the sacrifice of Christ; let us keep the Feast with gladness, being renewed from the oldness of sin; and let us say: Christ hath risen again from the dead!

To-day a bright Angel came down from heaven, struck the guards with fear, and said to the holy women: Christ hath risen again from the deadl

To-day the great tidings were given to our first parent, Adam: Arise, thou that sleep - est! Christ, the God of our fathers, hath enlightened thee.

To-day, the tidings told by her daughters, who brought their perfumes to the tomb, sounded in the ears of Eve: We have seen Him risen, who is thy resurrection, Christ, the God of our fathers.

To-day, the Angels came down from heaven, saying to men: The Crucified hath risen, and hath raised you up with himself.

To-day, 0 Christ, by thy holy Resurrection, thou didst change the mournful Pasch of Israel into the Pasch that saves souls.

To-day, thou, 0 Lamb of God, didst give us thine own saving Blood for the blood of irrational lambs that were slain.

30tt

Hodie pro primogenitorum redemption© redemisti captivos, primitise vitse dormientium, et primogenitus mortuorum.

Hodie Angeli in coelis laetantur cum hominibus, et descendentes de coelis annuntiant mundo: Exsultate; hodie Christus resurrexit a mortuis.

Hodie vigil secus petram, thurif eris Sanctis mulieribus, buccinabat voce exsultationis, ut referrent discipulis: Exsultate; hodie Christus resurrexit a mortuis.

Hodie Petra fidei et Johannes dilectus vice versa currebant in monumentum resurrecti, quod videntes narrabant: Christus resurrexit a mortuis.

Hodie nos quoque delectantes clareamus f esto hoc; placato Deo, invicem amplectamur in amore, ac unitim exclamemus: Christus resurrexit a mortuis.

To-day, in place of the ransom of the first born, thou, the first-fruits of life among them that sleep, the first-born among the dead, — didst redeem the captives.

To-day, the Angels of heaven rejoice together with men; and coming down from heaven, they say to the world : Be glad! to-day, Christ hath risen again from the dead!

To-day, the Angel that sat upon the rock and kept guard, spoke with a loud voice to the holy women, that had come with their spices, and bade them be messengers to the disciples: Be glad! to-day, Christ hath risen again from the dead!

To-day, he that is the Rock of faith, and John, the beloved, ran to Jesus* sepulchre, and said, when they saw it: Christ hath risen again from the dead!

To-day, let us, also, be bright in the joy of this Feast. God is reconciled with us ; let us embrace each other with love, and say with one voice: Christ hath risen again from the dead!

We are far from having exhausted the treasury of Adam of Saint- Viotor: let us take another of Ids sequences. The one we seleet, seems the most appropriate to the Friday of the Easter Ootave.

SEQUENCE

Sexta passus f eria, Die Christus tertia Resurrexit;

TAMCK TUCK. I.

Christ suffered death on the sixth day; he rose again on the third. By his victorious

Surgens cum victoria, Collocat in gloria

Quos dilexii. Pro fideli populo, Crucis in patibulo

Immolatur; Clauditur in tumulo, Tandem in diluculo

Suscitatur. Christ i crux et passio Nobis est praesidio,

Si credamus: Christi resurrectio Facit ut a vitio

Resurgamus. Hostia sufficiens Christus f uit moriens

Pro peccato; Sanguinis effusio Abluit nos, impio

Triumphato. Morte sua gimplici, Nostra? morti duplici

Fert medelam: Vita pandit aditum, Nostrum sanat gemitum

Et querelam. Leo fortis hodie Dat signum potential

Resurgendo, Principem nequitiae, Per arma justitiaa,

Devincendo. Diem istam Dominus Fecit, in qua facinus

Mundi lav it, In qua mors occiditur, In qua vita redditur,

Hostis ruit. Greminatum igitur Alleluia canitur,

Corde puro;

Resurrection, he shares his own glory with those ha loves.

He is sacrificed on the gibbet of the cross, for his faithful people: he is placed in the tomb: he rises at dawn of day.

To them that have faith, the cross and Passion of Christ are a safeguard: his Resurrection gives us to rise from our sins.

Christ dying for sin, was our all-sufficient victim: the shedding of his blood was our purification, and the defeat of our wicked enemy.

Jesus' single death is the remedy for ours that was twofold: it opens to us the way of life, and takes away our mourning and grief.

Now does the mighty Lion give proof of power by rising, and conquering the prince of wickedness by the armour of justice.

This is the day which the Lord hath made, for on it the world was cleansed of its crimes, death was slain, life was restored, and .the enemy defeated.

A double Alleluia, and with a pure heart, should be sung to-day; for sin is taken away,

Quia culpa tollitur Et vita promittitur

In futuro. In hoc mundi vespere, Fac tuos resurgere,

Jesu Christe; Salutaris omnibus Sit tuis fidelibus

Dies iste. Amen. and life is promised for the future.

O Jesus! give us, thy servants, to rise again when the evening of this world sets in! May this present day be one of grace to all thy faithful. Amen.