Saturday Within Tot Octavb

them that eat him. tus pinguedinem.

Man has been cast forth from Eden, and is gone into the dreary land of his exile. He has nothing left him of the Tree of Life, but the reoolleotion that it was onoe his. It remains in the happy land where it was first planted ; how could it go after the sinner man, now that he is banished into the vale of tears P No ! it remains in Paradise ; far from the abode of suffering, and out of mortals' sight, it continues in all its loveliness, bearing testimony to the primitive intentions of God, which were peace, innocenoe, and love. The day will come, when we shall see it again, for it is to be one of the charms of the new earth, into which our Lord will lead his chosen people on the day of the great Pasch, and the restoration of all things. 1 Happy day ! after which, as the Apostle tells us, every creature longeth, bowed down as it now is, and made subject, by reason of a fault which was not its own, to the inconstancy of ceaseless change. Man, who, against the creature's will, subjected it to the servitude of corruption, that same man keeps up within it the hope, that the time of deliveranoe being come, it, too, will partake, in its own way, of the glorious liberty of the ohildren of God. 2 The glory of the new Paradise will be greater than that of thQ 1 Apoo, zzii. 2. * Rom viii. 19-32.

CORPUS OHBISTK one of old ; for, it is not under the veil of symbols, or in a passing way, that the deifying union is to be fulfilled, but divine Wisdom will give himself, and for ever, and without veil, to man, and in an eternal embrace.

And yet, this union, whose permanent enjoyment is to make the eternal bliss of heaven, is to be contracted even now, and on this very earth of outs ; for it is the eoonomy of the divine plan, that, in all things, the future fife should have its roots in the present one, and should be but the revelation, in the fight ol glory, of the ineffable realities formed here by grace. What, then, after the Fall, will be the conditions of the allianoe, from which eternal Wisdom has not been turned by the sin committed by his oreature Man ?

0 the depth of the riches of this Wisdom of Gk>d ! 1 His love is strong as death, 2 and, even after man'fc disloyalty, will be infinitely admirable in its delicate ways of gaining its object. There is to be nothing unbecoming in the alliance he is bent on ! He will admit no compromise with the depravity which has befallen our now sinful race ! His mercy is infinite ; and, through that, he has pardoned the oflfenoe, the moment the offender expressed his sorrow ; but the pardon is not one which was to mean no compensation, no expiation, on man's side ; that would have ill-suited the dignity of suoh a Spouse as he. And since sinful man oannot offer an adequate expiation, he, Wisdom, undertakes to pay the culprit's whole debt, and give him back the holiness he has forfeited ; this done, he will take our human nature, and espouse her to himself, as his much-loved Bride. I will espouse thee unto me, injustice and judgment, says this God to man, by his Prophet Osee. 3

And he adds : I will espouse thee unto me in faith. 4

1 Rom. xi. 33. * Oaee, ^19.

• Cant. viii. 6. 4 tyid. 20,

For, just as the entrance of divine Wisdom into this world, whieh he comes to save from pride by humility, is to be without exterior parade or glory, so, likewise, tjie divine union is to be accomplished in the mystery of the sacred species of the nuptial banquet, and these species will offer nought to view but the appearance of bread and wine, such as one could find on any table. But, Faith will see through that veil ; and the unspeakable dignity conferred on the ohildren of men, by this heavenly food, will refleot its brightness on the whole creation.

The whole world of creatures, each in its own way, was in expectation of this marvellous manifestation, whioh was to be made upon the sons of God, 1 by the union to be contracted between Wisdom and Man. The Prophet thus speaks of this universal expectation : And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, eaith the Lord, I mil hear the heavens ; and they shall hear the earth ; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the mine, and the oil; and these shall hear Jezrahel? Jezrahel means "the seed or race of God" God will give to man, through corn and wine, the substance to be offered in the mysteries ; and, through oil, the priesthood, which is to transform them into the marriage-dowry, in the very action" of the Sacrifice. It is to be by the Saorifice, and by Blood, that this alliance of justioe and love is to be contracted.

We read in Scripture, that Moses was one day traversing the desert ; he had on him a legal transgression ; the Angel of the Lord met him, and was about to slay him, when Sephofa, the wife of this future leader of Israel, averted the divine vengeanoe by the rough and speedy oircumcision of her son, Bftezer : then marking with his blood the feet of the guilty one, she said to him : A Spouse of blood art thou to me / 3 Thus, and with far greater truth, oould

1 Rom. viii. 19. * Osee, ii. 21-22. 3 Exod. iv. 24-26

CORPUS GHBI8TI. divine Wisdom say to the human raoe ; for he';is not to save, he is not to be united with man, except by the Blood of this Son of Man, who is one in person with that same Wisdom.

Nay, far from lessening, this very sight of man's misery has inoreased the ardour of his love. Later on, this Man-God will say : J have a baptism, wherewith I am to be baptised : and how am I straitened until it be accomplished ! x It was the same from the very first : no sooner has expiation been shown as the royal way, whereby humanity is to be restored to him, and again made worthy of him, by the shedding of divine Blood, — Wisdom has ever had that thought before Him. He is impatient for the great immolation of Calvary ; and until its time is come, he will suggest to his people rites and sacrifices figurative of that one Sacrifice, and of the banquet of the adorable Victim, the Marriage-Feast.

His garden, the place of his delight, is no longer Paradise; it is this parched earth of ours, where man has now, more than ever, need of being loved of God. Ye Cherubim, whom God has stationed to guard the Tree of life, 'tis well that sinful man be kept from approaching it. But the flaming sword ye hold in your hands, will not prevent divine Wisdom from leaving Paradise, and joining our human raoe here in its banishment. He was not only the Tree, but he is, likewise, the River of Life. Speaking of himself, he says, in the Book of Ecclesiasticus : 2, like a brook out of a River gf a mighty water, as though I were but a mere channel of a River, I came out of Paradise. I said : " J will water my garden of plants, " and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow" And behold ! my brook became a great River, and my River became like a sea ; for I make doctrine to shine forth unto all, as the morning light, and I will declare

1 St. Lukt, xii. 60. it afar off, yea, even to the most distant ages. I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will visit all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord}

This living Light, which from early morning, enlightens the whole earth with divine Wisdom, is the varied teaohing of propheoies and figures, which were given by God through the oourse of ages, and, from the very moment of man's oreation, put the shadow of the Messias upon the whole universe. By means of this manifold teaching, Wisdom conveyeth himself, through nations, into holy souls; 2 rouses man up, when disoouragement makes him slumber; 3 cherishes his hopes, and bids him hope, by looking at the future. Those bloody sacrifices, which were prescribed immediately after man's departure from Eden, as the ritual expression of his early worship of God, will be offered up by all after generations ; and, even when idolatry *hall have led mankind into the abyss of every crime, those sacrifices will raise up their voioe, and keep up the prophecy which they are intended to proclaim, — the propheoy of a Viotim, who will be one of infinite worth. The stream of primitive traditions will, as it flows through time and space, get impregnated with foreign elements, and transmit many a worthless or even dangerous material; still, it is through the rite of Sacrifice, observed as it is by the whole world, that the desire and expectation of Christ will be maintained among all nations. 4 Satan, that old serpent thief, may succeed in inducing men to build altars to himself, and, on those altars, offer him sacrifice, which is due to God alone ; but he cannot stifle the voice of truth which accompanies every sacrifice, the voice which teaches that an innooent and pure victim may be substituted in place of guilty man,

1 Ecclus. xxiv. 41-45. 3 Ps. cxviiL 28.

■ Wisd. yii. 27. 4 Gen. xlix. 10 ; Agg. ii. 8.

9B8 OQBPTm GHBISTI. aad work his $piatioa. This will arouse the nation <tf the promised Mediator in many a soul that had got tendered amidst the orgies of this satanie worship ; and here, again, the very sight of the serpent was mads to be the cure of them he had stung, and became tfcp iig% and ensign of the son of Jesse. 1 O root of ^esge ! rootf of the Wisdom of the Most High ! who p there that can understand the depth of his counsels, penetrate the devices of his immense love P 2 Verily? thou art more beautiful than any light of dfty I for thai hght yields, when night cornea on ; whereas thou 0 ]iVi»4om, art overcome by no evil, b# it a§ blaok as sin ! 3

AJJ thos^ apotent Sacrifices were powerless to pcor 4we grace; their ery multiplicity proved their Ability to do w> * 4 but what they could and did sfteet was the keeping alive in mankind the remqmhrww of tba Fall, a$d the expectation of a Redeemer ; ihey were, likewise, the basis of those supernatural a>te, which are requisite for man's justification and §alya)bMW. But, besides their representing the rer ^mptiye element, which the Fall of man has introduced into the plan of God, these bloody fiaarifioes aspjre#s, also* the union of that God with his creature, vbiefe was the primary and chief object of oreatioa. Thajb union was to be effected in the banquet prepared by Wisdom* the eucbwstie banquet, wherein h& Wfedom, the Son of God, was to be received by man, and thus united with him. Yes, this sublime py&tery was also expressed by those figurative Sacri- §t$s, wherein the people partook of the victims offered ; for, iu the E^obanst, the Yiefcim is Man* $q, offered to God, and eaten of by man ; the Deity fa appeased by the Blood of the divine Lamb* and mraUnd is restored* beoawse nourished by his Flash, i Num. xxv 6-$ ; l». xi, 10. 8 Wiafl. pi. ^ 80.

» $o«b* i ' * Hel». x.

SATURDAY WITHIN THB OOTAVB.

S99 which thus feeds him to a new and a divine life. Such was the general law observed by all nations, when offering Sacrifice : the portion intended for God WQ8 consumed by fire, and this was a transmitting it to heaven ; but, another portion of the same viotim was taken and eaten by the people : and all this signified that there was communion between Heaven and Earth, and that the receivers were all made one, because they all partook of the same sacred food. How admirably are thus grouped together all the man \ And what a prophecy this' was ! It was unceasing, for it was proclaimed each time a saorifice was offered up, and there were thousands every day. It was in these, that the divine Lamb, whom they foretold, was slain from the very beginning of the world; 1 his Blood, in all these early ages, was applied, through hope and faith, upon the souls of men, and oleansed them from their sins; and the mysterious ritual, with its inspired code of prescriptions, was keeping man on the alert, and preparing him for the banquet of the Nuptials of the Lamb. 2 Then, let Wisdom extol his own triumph ! It is He that made, that in the heavens there should rise a light which never fails, and covers the whole earth as with a cloud ; he alone has compassed the circuit of heaven, has penetrated into the bottom of the deep, has traversed the waves of the sea, and has stood in all the earth, and in every people, as the King of all, holding the chief rule, and vanquishing, strongly and sweetly, the hearts of all, both high and low. 3

Meanwhile, the time of banishment is running on ; the long period of expectation is more than half aver. The nearer the realisation of the promised Alliance comes, the more ardent are the longings

1 Ajpae. xin. 8. a Ibid. xix. 7-9. 3 Ecptu*. xariy. 6-11. towards his creature fA vmiau A* v. ;nr Job v: TTrtgK, tksi k, ci tiese :cij» zza& mi« pretxd&L Hz wL* ttm ris arret rfoi r > lia tctj wfcr% ia » /> dweii og tii €ar±_ And Ti t er s ii ti* Cr^a: r >\l ha* a ;

VaL^ ilzA sraa: any spot that '? His Farijfer, all thiags, that Father, wiv>«r ererj word i* f^'r~rfd ty Lis Son,— and acting zh&se be wvmld have bit JY/ti be rationalised, if we mar rercrenrlv me such, a word. He faid to him: Z** 4m»Ung be t§ Jacob, and thxne irJ&riiantt im Iraei Z 1 In obedience U> this his Father's will, he establishes hfm«<>H in fiion, he takes his neat in the holy City, and fixes his

Erwer in Jerusalem. 2 Jerusalem ! it is the (Sty of eace, and is to be the scene of such stupendous mysteries! It was here, that Isaac, the child of promise had come carrying on his shoulders the wood for his self-sacrifice ; here his father is about to slay him, when a ram is mysteriously substituted; and the Mount of the one true Sacrifice is thus selected. It was here, also, that there then lived a King-Priest, who bore the likeness of the Son of God ;* it was Melchisedeoh ; and, when Abraham, the father of believers, came to him, this Melchisedech offered what was to be the sacrifice of the Alliance to come ; he offered a sacrifice of bread and wine ; and thereby showed to Abraham, who saw into the future, the day of Christ, his Son. 4

It is at the very period, when the world, at large, has fallen into idolatry, and offered to false gods the homage of its sacrifices, that divine Wisdom leads, into this otiosen dwelling-place, the people of whom he is to be born as Man ; it is the fulfilment of the command : Let thy dwelling be in Jacob ! let thine inheritance be in Israel ! In this one people, Wisdom will

1 Eoolui. xxiv. 12, 13. 8 Heb. vii. 3.

• IH4. 16. * St. John. viii. 56. maintain his Father's claims and keep alive and pure the light of the expectation of nations. He delivers it, at the oost of countless prodigies, from the Egyptian bondage. 1 The feast of the Paschal Lamb, slain the same day on whioh, at a future time, is to be celebrated the true Supper of the Lord, and the immolation of the Lamb, — the feast of the Pasohal Lamb is the signal of the deliveranoe, and the triumphant march, through the waters of a sea, to the Mount, where is to be contracted, through the bloo<i of victims, the union between God and the house of Jacob : the chosen people beoomes the Bride of God, 2 the priestly kingdom, and the holy nation. 3 Figure, in all things, of God's true people traversing the desert of this world, Israel drinks of the waters which come from the Rook, and the Rock is Christ ; 4 a bread, rained down daily from heaven, strengthens him amidst the fatigues of journey and battle ; and this bread of Angels, as the Scripture terms it, took the taste of anything the eater wished it to have. 5 God himself dwells with Israel, under his tents. He has had a tabernaole made for him, on the plan of one shown by God on the mount ; and, in front of this tabernaole, there is an altar, on whioh a chosen family, consecrated by oil of unction, may alone offer, under the direction of a high-priest, the manifold legal sacrifices, each of whioh points to some excellency or other of the one great Sacrifice of the future. From this altar on which burns a fire that is never quenohed, there goes up to heaven without interruption, the smoke of the flesh and blood of the victims slain. They are a supplication for the coming of that saving Host, which is to put an end to these hecatombs. There are, also, offerings of flour and wine ; they are