The Sunday, or Dominical, Liturgy was not, however, altogether displaced by the celebration of any particular feast on the Lord's Day; for, no matter how solemn soever that feast, falling on a Sunday, may be, a commemoration must always be made of the Sunday, by adding its Prayers to those of the occurring Feast, and by reading its proper Gospel, instead of that of St. John, at the end of Mass. Neither let us forget, that after the assisting at the solemn Mass and the Canonical Hours, one of the best means for observing the precept of keeping holy the sabbath-day is our own private meditation upon the Epistle and Gospel appointed by the Church for each Sunday.

MASS.

The Church, on the morrow of Trinity-Sunday, began the reading of the Books of Kings in her nightoffice. On this very night preceding our Sunday, she entered on the admirable history of David's triumph over Goliath, the Philistine giant. Now, who is the Church's true David, but that divine Leader who, for these eighteen-hundred years, has been marshalling the army of the Saints to victory? Is not she herself the King's daughter, who was promised to Him who should win the battle against Satan? That battle was won on Calvary, by our Lord Jesus Christ; he saved the true Israel, and avenged the insult offered to the God of hosts. Filled with the sentiments breathed into her by this episode of sacred history, the Church, the Bride, borrows the words of David, wherewith to celebrate the noble exploits of her Spouse, and to tell the confidence which she has in him, in consequence of his triumph. It is her Introit.

11 Kings, xvii. 25-27.

2 Ps. xxvi.

INTROIT.

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? My enemies that trouble me have themselves been weakened, and have fallen.

Ps. If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. Glory, &c. The Lord.

Dominusilluminatio mea et salus mea, quem timebo? Dominus defensor vitæ meæ, a quo trepidabo? Qui tribulant me inimici mei, ipsi infirmati sunt et ceciderunt.,

Ps. Si consistant adversum me castra, non timebit cor meum. Gloria Patri. Dominus.

Notwithstanding her confidence in heaven's helping her in times of trial, yet does the Church ever pray to the Most High, that he would bless the world with peace. If, when the battle comes, the

Bride thrills at the thought, that she will then have the chance of proving her devoted love, yet, as Mother, she trembles when she thinks that many of her children, who would have been saved had the times been peaceful, will perish because of days of trouble overtaking them. Let us pray with her in the Collect.

COLLECT.

Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord, that, by thy providence, the events of this world may be peacefully arranged for us, and that thy Church may be gladdened by being permitted to serve thee with peaceful devotedness. Through, &c.

Da nobis, quæsumus Domine, ut et mundi cursus pacifice nobis tuo ordine dirigatur: et ecclesia tua tranquilla devotione lætetur. Per Dominum.

SECOND COLLECT.

Preserve us, O Lord, we beseech thee, from all dangers of soul and body: and, by the intercession of the glorious

A cunctis nos quæsumus, Domine, mentis et corporis defende periculis : et intercedente beata et gloriosa

semper Virgine Dei Genitrice Maria, cum beato Joseph, cumque beatis Apostolis tuis Petro et Paulo, atque beato N. et omnibus Sanctis, salutem nobis tribue benignus et pacem; ut destructis adversitatibus et erroribus universis, Ecclesia tua secura tibi serviat libertate,

and blessed Mary, the ever
Virgin-Mother of God, of bles-
sed Joseph, of the Blessed
Apostles, Peter and Paul, of
Blessed N. (here is mentioned
the Titular Saint of the
Church), and of all the Saints,
grant us, in thy mercy, health
and
peace; that, all adversities
and errors being removed, thy
Church may serve thee with
undisturbed liberty.

The third Collect is left to the Priest's own choice.

EPISTLE.

Lectio Epistolæ beati Pauli
Apostoli ad Romanos.

Cap. viii.

Fratres,Existimo quod non sunt condigne passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quæ revelabitur in nobis. Nam exspectatio creaturæ revelationem filiorum Dei exspectat. Vanitati enim creatura subjecta est non volens,sed propter eum qui subjecit eam in spe : quia et ipsa creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis in libertatem gloriæ filiorum Dei. Scimus enim quod omnis creatura ingemiscit, et parturit usque adhuc. Non solum autem illa, sed et nos ipsi primitias Spiritus habentes, et ipsi intra nos gemimus, adoptionem filiorum Dei exspectantes, redemptionem corporis nostri : in Christo Jesu Domino nostro.

Lesson of the Epistle of St.
Paul the Apostle, to the
Romans.

Ch. viii.

Brethren: I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed to us. For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope: because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that every creature groaneth, and travaileth in pain even till now. And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The first fruits of the Spirit are the grace and virtues, which He has put into our souls, as the earnest of salvation and the germ of future glory. Our faith confirms our possession of these divine pledges; and regenerate human nature, even amidst all the trials of this life, is consoled at the very thought of the noble destiny to which it is called. Satan may use his fiercest efforts to regain his lost ground; and the soul may have many and frequent battles to fight for the holding what was once under the dominion of the enemy; but Christian hope is an armour of heaven's own making. Hope entereth in even within the veil;1 and then she comes telling the combatant about the disproportion, here mentionod by the Apostle, between the fatigues of the march here below, and the bliss which is to reward our fidelity in the happy land above. He has the promises of God, and the marvellous dealings of the Paraclete in his regard, both in the past and now, all justifying his expectations of the future glory that shall then be revealed, be realised, in him. The very earth he dwells on, which now so often tyrannises over him and deceives his senses, yes, this very earth urges him to fix his heart on something far better than herself; she even seems to share in his hopes. St. Paul tells us so, in our to-day's Epistle: the wild upheavings, the restless changes of material creation, are so many voices clamouring for the destruction of sin, and for the final and total triumph over the corruption which followed sin. The present condition of this world, therefore, furnishes a special and most telling motive, inviting us to the holy virtue of hope. Only they can find anything strange in such teaching, who have no idea of how man's being raised up to the supernatural order was, from the beginning, a real ennobling of the world which was made for man's service. Men 1Heb. vi. 19.

of this stamp have each their own way of explaining God's creation; but the truth which explains everything both on earth and in heaven,-the divine axiom, which is the principle and reason of everything that has been made, is this: that God, who, of necessity, does everything for his own glory, has, of his own free choice, appointed that the perfection of this his glory shall consist in the triumph of his love, by the ineffable mystery of divine union realised in his creature. To bring this divine union about is, consequently, by God's gracious will, not only the one sole end, but, moreover, is the one only law, the vital and constitutive law, of creation. When the Spirit moved over chaos, he adapted the informal matter to the designs of infinite love. Thereby, the various elements, and the countless atoms, of the world that was in preparation, really derived from this infinite love the principle of their future development and power; they received it as their one single mission to co-operate, each in its own way, with the Holy Spirit; that is, co-operate in leading man, the creature chosen by Eternal Wisdom, to the proposed glorious end,-union with God. Sin broke the alliance; and would have destroyed the world, from the very fact of sin's taking from it the purpose of its existence, had it not been for the incomprehensible patience of the God it outraged, and the marvellous renovations of the original plan achieved by the Spirit of love. A violent state, the state of struggle and expiation has now been substituted for what, in the primal design of the Creator, was to be the effortless advance of the king of creation to his grand destiny, the spontaneous growth of, what some one has called man, the god in the bud. Divine union is still offered to the world, but, at what a cost of trouble and travail! We may still enjoy the eternal music of triumph, and all the joys of the divine nuptial banquet; but oh! what a long prelude of sighs and sobs must precede !