same subject: "Oftentimes when I reflect on the longings of those who looked forward to the presence of Christ, I am filled with compunction and confusion, and even now at the thought can scarce refrain from tears, of so much lukewarmness savour these most sad times. For which of us is as much affected with joy at the exhibition of His grace, as the promise of it alone kindled in them of old ?"

Indeed, if we consider the difference between the greatest Saint and the most reprobate of men; between the beloved disciple and Judas Iscariot; we shall find at the bottom of the heart, that it has been connected with belief in the Godhead of Christ; in the reception of this word Immanuel in all the various degrees and significations in which it is fulfilled. To read the Gospels, to meditate on Christ Crucified, to receive the Sacraments of the Church, and live in its ordinances, to lead apparently blameless lives; these all are as nothing, are of no avail, excepting so far as they take root in this the foundation of the faith, of Christ the Son of God. These things are indeed full of power and grace because they are connected with that belief; but it is that belief which gives them this grace and power. For as "with God nothing shall be impossible;" so it is given to faith to partake of this power of God: and it is said, "all things are possible to him that believeth."

"Adam, hide thyself no longer, for God is with us."" Son of Adam, fear not, only believe, for God is with us. "Ask thee a sign, either in the depth, or in the height above." A sign is given thee beyond all height, and which transcends all depth; it brings up from the lowest

6 S. Bern. Serm. ii. in Cantic.

7 S. Bernard.

depth, and ascends into the Heaven of Heavens; where the Son of David descends, and where the Son of David is gone up on high. "It is as high as Heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than Hell, what canst thou know?" If I climb up into Heaven, Thou art there, the Son of Man exalted above the Angels of God; if I go down to Hell, Thou art there also, the Son of God made subject unto death in wondrous humility; God and Man united in the height above, and in the depth below.

She shall call His Name Immanuel, or "God with us." As St. John testifies, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory;" among us, as God manifested in the flesh, and "going in and out among us;" "God with us" as our Defender, greater than he that is against us; "God with us," not only as partaking of our nature, and made one with us, but giving us to partake of His nature: "God with us," as conferring on us a new birth in Himself, and making us to be sons of God; He hath dwelt among us, nay even, He hath "tabernacled within us:"8 "God with us," as coming down to us in the unspeakable Gift, the Holy Ghost; with us as indwelling, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, coming to make their abode with us in a manifestation unknown to the world; with us, as incorporating us with Himself as parts of His Body; "God with us," as taking us to be with Him in death, for to die is "to be with Christ," and to be with Christ is to be with God; and more especially, and above all at the last Day, of which it is said, then shall " we ever be with the Lord." "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God"

8 ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν.

But as in the Blessed Virgin, the germ and origin, the Mother of Him Who is our God, and from whence we are in Him, as in her all was of faith; so "if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." "Blessed is the womb that bare Thee!" said one to our Lord Himself; but He said, "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it." Blessed indeed to have conceived Christ in the womb, and to have given birth to the Saviour of the world; more blessed is it to have conceived Christ in the heart by faith, that He may there indwell and abide for ever!

SERMON LXXIX.

Saint Mark's Day.

Ephes. iv. 7-16. St. John xv. I—II.

VALUE OF AN INSPIRED GOSPEL.

And He gave some Apostles; and some Prophets; and some Evangelists; and some Pastors and Teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of CHRIST.-EPHES. iv. 11, 12.

THE

HE Gospels for the Sundays during this season of the year, that is, from Easter to Trinity Sunday, are taken for the most part from our Lord's parting discourse with His disciples at the last Supper, as recorded in St. John's Gospel; and perhaps it may be for this reason, that the appointed Gospels for this and our next Saint's day are from the same source. For there is often found this agreement between the Saints' days and the greater Festivals, with which they are connected. And again; the Epistle for to-day has also the like harmony with the sacred season on which this day usually falls. For it speaks of the gifts which our Lord left below for the instruction of His Church after He ascended to Heaven. And the concluding words of the Epistle, as the Text

itself shortly expresses, speak of the purpose of those gifts being to build us up, to form and mould us into the Body of Christ, which is the Head over all; and thus they set forth under another figure the very subject of the Gospel for to-day, which is of Christ the Living Vine, and of the branches which by love abide in Him. Now St. Mark, whether or no he might have been the companion of Apostles, and whether he might have been himself one of those here called Pastors and Teachers, or not; for both of these circumstances are recorded of him in the early Church; yet to us he is only known as an Evangelist, from the Gospel which bears his name. And therefore the Epistle and Gospel for to-day, as combined together, may be considered as bringing before us a lesson of the very deepest interest, namely, how far a written Gospel, as that of St. Mark, may be the means of uniting us unto Christ, and building us up in Him. For of all those miraculous gifts which were poured upon the early Church, and of which the Epistle speaks, none has been so important to us, none comes down to us, and continues with us, in the same way as the work of an inspired Evangelist. Add to which, that when our Lord speaks to us in this day's discourse of His words abiding in us, we must remember it is only by a written Gospel that those His words reach us.

Unto every one of us, says St. Paul to the Ephesians, is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, each has his own appropriate gift, his talents lent him, his own assigned office as a member of Christ's Body. Wherefore He saith, in the Psalm of David, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower