although it is impossible to be silent of that Grace of graces, and Sacrament of sacraments, whereby GOD has been pleased to dwell on earth with men, and to give Himself to them every day as medicine and as food. Once He was offered as a Sacrifice for us on the Cross; but here He renews the offering daily on the Altar for our sins. "This do," He said, “in remembrance of Me." (S. Luke xxii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 25.) O saving Remembrance! O only Sacrifice, Acceptable Offering, Bread of Life, Sweetest Sustenance, Royal Food, Manna that contains all sweetness. (Wisd. xvi. 20, 21.) Who can praise Thee sufficiently! Who can worthily receive Thee! Who can venerate Thee with due reverence! My soul faints when I think of Thee, my tongue cannot speak of Thee, nor can I magnify Thy marvels as I desire. (Ps. cxix.)

And if the LORD had granted this benefit only to the pure and innocent it would have been an inestimable gift; but by the very fact that He vouchsafed to communicate Himself to these, He constrains Himself to pass through the hands of many wicked ministers, whose souls are the abode of Satan, whose bodies are vessels of corruption, and whose life is spent in sin and uncleanness. Yet to visit and console His friends, He consents to be handled by such men, to be handled by their filthy hands, received into their sacrilegious mouths, and buried in their loathsome bodies. Once only His Body was sold, but He is sold again thousands of times in this Sacrament; once He was mocked and despised in His Passion, but the wicked mock and despise Him a thousand times on the Altar; once He was placed between two thieves, and a thousand times He is given into the hands of sinners.

Wherewithal, then, shall we serve a Master who seeks our good in so many ways and manners? What shall we give Him for this marvellous sustenance? If servants serve their masters because they give them meat, if soldiers pass through fire and sword for the same reason, what do we owe to our Master for this Heavenly Food? And if GOD required so much gratitude for the manna which He sent from on high, which was corruptible food (Exod. xvi. 20), what will He require for this Food, which not only is Incorruptible, but also makes them incorruptible that receive It worthily? (S. John vi. 54.) And if the

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SON of GOD Himself gave thanks to His FATHER for a meal of barley-bread, what thanks ought men to give for this Bread of Life? (v. 11.) If we owe so much for that food which keeps us in a state of existence, how much more for that which preserves us in a good state of existence? For we praise not a horse as a horse, but as a fine horse; neither wine as wine, but as excellent wine; nor a man as a man, but as a good man. If, then, thou owest so much to Him who made thee a man, what dost thou owe Him for making thee a good man? If so much for the good things of the body, what for those of the soul? If so much for the gifts of nature, what for the gifts of grace? And lastly, if thou owest Him so much because He made thee a son of Adam, how much more because He made thee the son of GOD? (1 S. John iii. 1.) For it is certain, as Eusebius Emisenus says, that far better is the day wherein we are born to eternity than that wherein we are born to the perils of the world. Behold then, Brother, a new claim, a new chain. Let this, together with the former ones, bind thy heart, and constrain thee more to virtue and to thy Master's service.

CHAPTER VI.

Of the Sixth Cause that constrains us to Virtue, namely, the inestimable Benefit of Divine Predestination.

THE

HE sixth Benefit is that of Election, which belongs to those alone whom GOD has chosen from all eternity for everlasting life. For this benefit the Apostle gives thanks in his own name and in that of all the elect, writing to the Ephesians in these words: "Blessed be the GOD and FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in CHRIST : according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by JESUS CHRIST to Himself." (Eph. i. 3-5.) This same benefit the royal Prophet magnifies, saying, "Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and receivest unto Thee; he shall dwell in Thy Court, and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of Thy House." (Ps. lxv. 4.) This may indeed with good reason be called the Benefit of benefits, and the Grace of graces. It is the Grace of graces, because it is given before all merit by the mere bounty and liberality of GOD, Who, doing injury to none, but giving to every man what is sufficient for his salvation, extends to others the immensity of His Mercy, as a most liberal and absolute Master of His own possessions.

It is also the Benefit of benefits, not only because it is the greatest of benefits, but also because it is the cause of all the rest.

For when a man has received this benefit of election to

Glory, the LORD provides him with all other benefits and means that are required to obtain it, as He Himself has testified by a Prophet, saying, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee," (Jer. xxxi. 3); that is, calling thee to My Grace, that thereby thou mayest attain to My Glory. But the Apostle signified this yet more clearly when he said, “For whom he did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of His SON, that He might be the First-born among brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." (Rom. viii. 29, 30.) The reason of this is, that as GOD disposes all things orderly and sweetly, when He thinks good to choose any one for His glory, in addition to that grace He gives him many other graces: for He provides him with all that is requisite for the attainment of that first grace. So that as a father who brings up his son to be a cleric, or a learned man, begins from his childhood to occupy him with Church matters or literary studies, and directs all the steps of his life to this end, so also this Eternal FATHER, having chosen a man for His glory, whereunto we are led by the path of righteousness, seeks always to lead him by that path, that so he may attain to his appointed end.

For this benefit, so great and of such long standing, thanks must be given to the LORD by all who perceive signs of it in themselves. For though this secret is hidden from the eyes of men, yet as there are signs of justification, so are there also of GOD's election. The chief of these is amendment of life, of their perseverance in a good life. For one who has lived for many years in the fear of GOD, with diligent care to avoid all deadly sin, may piously believe that, as the Apostle says, GOD will keep him without sin to the end for the day of His coming, and will finish in him that which He hath begun. (Phil. i. 6; 1 Cor. i. 8.)

It is true that no man is to account himself secure, as we see by the example of Solomon, who, after living well so long, was deceived at the end of his life. (1 Kings xi.) But these are especial exceptions to the general rule, which is, as the Apostle says, (1 Cor. iii.,) and as Solomon teaches us in his Proverbs, say

ing, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Prov. xxii. 6.) So that he who was virtuous in his youth, will be so in his old age. With these signs then, and others noted by the Saints, a man may humbly presume of the infinite Goodness of GOD that He has put him in the number of His elect. And as he hopes in the Mercy of the LORD that he will be saved, so he may humbly presume that he is of the number of those who are to be saved, for one implies the other.

How greatly, then, is a man bound to serve GOD by this great benefit, the being written in that book whereof the LORD said to His Apostles, "In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." (S. Luke x. 20.) How great a benefit to have been loved and chosen from all eternity, ever since GOD is GOD, to have had a home in His loving Bosom from the years of eternity, to have been chosen for the adopted son of GOD, when the Eternal SON of GOD was begotten among the glories of the Saints, who were present to the Divine understanding. (Ps. cx. 3.) Consider next attentively all the circumstances of this Divine Election, and thou wilt see that each one is itself a new benefit, and a new obligation. Consider how worthy is the Elector Who chose thee, GOD Himself, Infinite in riches and in blessedness, Who had no need of thee or of any one. See how unworthy in himself was the chosen, a miserable mortal creature, subject to all the poverties, infirmities, and miseries of this life, and justly condemned to the everlasting torments of the next for his crimes. Consider also how exalted is this election, for thou art chosen to so great a dignity, that there can be none greater, to be a son of GOD, an heir of His kingdom, a sharer in His glory. Consider also how free and gracious was this election, for it was, as we have said, before all desert, of the mere good pleasure of the Divine will, and as the Apostle says, "to the praise of the glory of His grace," (Eph. i. 6); for the more free and gracious the benefit, the more is the receiver obliged. Consider also how ancient is this election, for it began not with the world, but is older than the world, as old as GOD, Who, as He is from all eternity, so from all eternity has loved His elect, has had