he is keeping it, cherishes malignity. Where there is strife and enmity there can be neither fast nor festival. Thou wouldest not dare to touch the holy Sacrifice with unwashed hands: approach not then with an unwashed soul! For this is far more than the other, and brings a heavier punishment. Nothing so fills the mind with impurity as anger remaining constantly within it. The Spirit of meekness hovers not where wrath or passion exists; and when a man is destitute of the Holy Spirit, what hope of salvation shall he have, and how shall he walk upright? Had it been an evil thing to suffer wrong, God would not have enjoined it upon us. Know ye not that He is the King of Glory, and therefore He commands us to suffer wrong, and doth all to withdraw us from worldly things, and to convince us what is glory, and what shame; what loss, and what gain. Say you, "I have been shamefully used, and do you exhort me to bear it meekly? How shall I be able?" Nay but it is most easy, if thou wilt look up unto heaven; if thou wilt behold the beauty that is in sight; and whither God hath promised to receive thee, if thou bear wrong nobly. Do this then, and looking up unto the heaven, think that thou art made like unto Him that sitteth there upon the cherubim. For He also was (as at this time) injured and bore it; He was reproached and avenged not Himself; and was spit upon, yet He asserted not His cause. Nay, He made return, in the contrary kind, to those who did such things, even in benefits without number; and He hath commanded us to be imitators of Him.

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Wouldst thou desire to know in earnest how great are the blessings which await thee? He openeth for thee the whole heaven; He maketh thee a fellow citizen with the saints; He fits thee to bear a part in their choir from sins He absolveth, with righteousness He crowneth. For if such as forgive offenders shall obtain forgiveness, those who not only forgive but who also give largely to boot, what blessing shall they not inherit! Therefore pray for him that injured thee. It is for thyself that thou dost this. Hath he taken thy money? Well he took thy sins too; which was the case with Naaman and Gehazi. How much wealth wouldest thou not give, to have thine iniquities forgiven thee? This, believe me, is the case now. For if thou endure nobly and curse not, thou hast bound on thee a glorious crown. It is not my word; but thou hast heard Christ speaking. Pray for those that despitefully use you." And consider the reward how great! "That ye may be like your Father which is in the heavens."

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Let us not then be negligent of what is our life, but let us be in earnest, and do everything in order that we may be without an enemy to present ourselves at the sacred Table, for nothing, I repeat, of what God commands will be difficult, if we give heed.

De Stat. Hom. xx., and Hom. in Cor. xvi.

Fourth Monday in Lent.

CHRIST ASLEEP IN THE STORM. S. Aug.

THIS sleep of Christ is a sign of a high mystery. The sailors are the souls passing over the world in wood. That ship also was a figure of the Church. And all individually indeed are temples of God, and his own heart is the vessel in which each sails; nor can he suffer shipwreck, if his thoughts are only good.

Thou hast heard an insult, it is the wind; thou art angry, it is a wave. When therefore the wind blows, and the wave swells, the ship is endangered, the heart is in jeopardy, the heart is tossed to and fro.

When thou hast heard an insult, thou longest to be avenged; and lo, avenged thou hast been, and so rejoicing in another's harm thou hast suffered shipwreck. And why is this? Because Christ is asleep in thee. What does this mean, Christ is asleep in thee? Thou hast forgotten Christ. Rouse Him up then, call Christ to mind, let Christ awake in thee, give heed to Him. What didst thou wish? To be avenged. Hast thou forgotten that when He was being crucified, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?" He Who was asleep in thy heart did not wish to be avenged. Awake Him up then, call Him to remembrance. The remembrance of Him is His command. And then wilt thou say if Christ be awake in thee, what manner of man am I, who wish to be avenged? Who am

I, who deal out threatenings against another man? I may die perhaps before I am avenged. And when at my last breath, inflamed with rage, and thirsting for vengeance, I shall depart out of this body, He will not receive me, Who did not wish to be avenged; He will not receive me, Who said, "Give and it shall be given unto you; forgive, and it shall be forgiven you." Therefore will I refrain myself from my wrath, and return to the repose of my heart. Christ hath commanded the sea; tranquillity is restored.

Now what I have said as to anger, hold fast as a rule in all your temptations. A temptation has sprung up, it is the wind; thou art disturbed, it is a wave: awake up Christ then, let Him speak with thee. "Who is this, since the winds and the sea obey Him?" Who is this, Whom the sea obeyeth ? "The sea is His, and He made it. All things were made by Him." Imitate the winds then, and the sea rather; obey the Creator. At Christ's command the sea giveth ear; and art thou deaf? The sea heareth, and the wind ceaseth, and dost thou still blow on? What! I say, I do, I devise; what is all this, but to be blowing on, and to be unwilling to stop in obedience to the Word of Christ? Let not the wave master you in this troubled state of your heart. Yet since we are but men, if the wind should drive us on, and stir up the affections of our souls, let us not despair; let us awake Christ that we may sail on a tranquil sea, and so come to our country.

Hom. on the New Testament. Hom. xiii.

Fourth Tuesday in Lent.

THE GOOD PHYSICIAN. S. AUGUSTINE.

THE Apostle Paul saith, "It is a faithful word and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first.” None occasion was there for Christ the Lord's coming, but "to save sinners." Take away diseases, take away wounds, and there is no occasion for medicine. If a great Physician hath come from heaven, some great one was lying sick throughout the whole compass of the world. This sick one is the human race. "But all have not faith. The Lord knoweth them that are His." The Jews were proud, they lifted up themselves, they were highminded, they thought themselves righteous, yea moreover, they belong to the "ninety and nine." What is " were left in the mountains?" Were left in earthly swelling. What is, "belong to the ninety and nine?” They are on the left hand, not on the right. For the ninety and nine are reckoned on the left hand; add one, you pass over to the right. He came then, as He Himself saith in another place; "The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." For the whole was lost; by the sin of one, in whom the whole was, the whole was lost. But One came