The sacraments themselves,

The sacred keys, the discipline dĭvīne,
They subject to the will of temporal powers;
They crush the free election of the bishops;
They bar appeal to this most Holy See,
My glory, which I yield not to another,
The safety of the meanest of Christ's flock.
That great appeal removed by secular hands,
The arteries of the Church were knotted up,
And into fragments tōrn that sacred body
Whose life is in the whole. For this cause, God
Diffused among all realms one single Church,
That unity might be its life's true pledge,

Too vast by any to be slain, or chained.

That Church enslaved, what next? The Faith must vanish!
For on the Church's witness rests the truth,

And if that Church be stifled in the embrace

Of any fleshly realm-engulfed-absorbed―
Who shall receive her words?

Ere long shall be partaker with the worm;
The blind-worm is its sister, and corruption
Its mother, and the dust its winding-sheet;

For power, earth-born, shall back once more to earth.
O witless kingdoms ! scorn ye then that kingdom
Forth from whose womb ye issued-still your stay,
The sole not born from mortal lust or pride;
The kingdom of one God in Persons Three;
The kingdom of a universe redeemed;
The kingdom of humanity assumed ;

The kingdom of the creed and of the prayer;

1 Sacrificial (săk'ri fish'al), relating to sacrifice.

2 Precinct (prē'singkt), limit of

jurisdiction or authority.

3

Sōle, the only one.

The kingdom of commandments just and wise;
The kingdom of the three great virtues winged
Which gaze on heaven; the eight beatitudes;
The sacraments, those seven great gates of God
Betwixt the worlds of spirit and flesh; the kingdom
Wherein God's angels wait upon His poor,
And all men shâre one good! An injury is it
That this fair kingdom should be wide as earth,
Citied on all the mountains of this world,
Rehearsal, glory-touched, of that great City
Which waits us in the heavens ?

Qur God is not unknown

In omnipresent 1 majesty among us

His Church sits high upon her rock, tower-crowned,
Fortress of Law divine, and Truth revealed,
O'er every city throned, o'er every realm!
Had we the man-heart of the men of old,
With what a spirit of might invincible
For her should we not die!

Shall I,

A Christian bishop, and a subject sworn,
Be pagan more than pagan, doubly false-
False to a heavenly kingdom throned o'er earth,
False to an earthly kingdom raised to heaven,
And ministering there, high on the mount of God,
'Mid those handmaiden daughters of a King
Who gird the Queen gold-vested? Pagans, sire,
Lived not, though dark, in Babylonian blindness
The laws of that fair city which they loved,
Subjecting each man, raised him and illumed.
We too are citizens of no mean City:

Her laws look fōrth on us from rite and creed:
In her the race of Man Redeemed we honor,
Which-cleansed from bestial, and ill spirits expelled—

1 Om'ni prěs'ent, present every where.

2 Běs'tial, like the beasts; sensual; animal.

In unity looks down on us, God's Church,

The Bride of Christ, beside the great King throned,
Who on His sceptre leans.

IV.

AUBREY DE VERE..

112. THE THOUGHT OF HEAVEN.

THE

HE end of man is the clear vision and enjoyment of God, which he hopes to obtain in heaven. Blessed, then, is he who employs this short, mortal life to acquire an eternal good, referring the transitory days here below to the day of immortality, and applying all the perishable moments which remain to him to gain a holy eternity. The true light of heaven will not fail to show him the secure course, and to conduct him happily into the harbor of everlasting felicity.

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2. The rivers flow incessantly, and, as the Wise Man 2 says, return to the sea, which is the place of their birth, and is also their last resting-place; all their motion tends only to unite them with their original source. "O God," cries St. Augustine, "Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our hearts are unrestful till they find repose in Thee!"-" What have I in heaven, and what do I desire on earth, but Thee, my God? Thou art the God of my heart, and my portion forever." Behold in detail a few points which we must believe on this subject:

3. Firstly, there is a paradise, a place of eternal glory, a most perfect state, in which all goods are assembled, and where there

Aubrey De Vere, an Irish poet, born in 1814 at Curragh-Chase, County Limerick. He is the author of " May Carols," a volume of poems in honor of our Lady, and several other collections of lyrics. But his chief fame will rest on his dramatic poems, "Alexander the Great" and "St. Thomas of Canterbury," from the latter of which the extracts in this lesson have been taken. No poet of our day surpasses him in beauty and vigor of style, and none approaches him in loftiness of theme and sustained elevation of thought.

2 The Wise Man, Solomon, King of Israel.

3 St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and Doctor of the Church, born at Tagaste, Africa, Nov. 13, 354; died, Aug. 28, 430. He was baptized by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, in his thirty-second year. His works have probably done more to mould Christian thought than those of any other theologian. To the general reader he is best known by his "Confessions,” which have been translated into all languages. His feast is celebrated on Aug. 28.

1

is no evil; a world of wonders, full of felicity, incomparable 1 in happiness, infinitely surpassing every expectation; the house of God and the palace of the blessed; a most lovely and desirable city; and so precious that all the beauties of the world put together are nothing in comparison with its excellence; so that no one can conceive the infinite greatness of the abysses of its delights.

4. Secondly, the soul, purified from all sin, entering heaven will that instant behold God Himself, unveiled, face to face, as He is; contemplating, by a view of true and real presence, the proper divine essence. Then will the soul be deified, filled with God, and made like to God, by an eternal and immutable 2 participation of God, uniting Himself to it as fire does to the iron which it penetrates, communicating its light, brilliancy, heat, and other qualities, in such a manner that both seem one and the same fire.

5. Thirdly, the soul will be happy forever amid the nobility and variety of the citizens and inhabitants of that blessed country, with its myriads of angels, of cherubim, of seraphim, its troop of apostles, of martyrs, of confessors, of virgins, of holy women, whose number is without number. Oh, how happy is this company! The least of the blessèd is more beautiful to behold than the whole world. What will it be to see them all?

6. Fourthly, in paradise God will give Himself all to all, and not in parts; since He is a whole which has no parts; but still He will give Himself variously, and with as many differences as there will be blessèd guests. As star differs from star in brightness, so men will be different one from the other in glory, in proportion as they have been different in graces and merits; and as there are probably no two men equal in charity 4 in this world, so there will probably be no two equal in glory in the next.

7. Consider how delightful it must be to see that city where the great King sits on the throne of His majesty, surrounded by all His blessed servants; there are found the choirs of angels and the company of celestial men; there are found the venera

1 In com'pa ra ble, admitting of no comparison with others.

2 Im mut' a ble, incapable of change.

3 Par tic' i pā' tion, the act or state of sharing with others.

4 Chǎr'i ty, the love of God, and, for His sake, love of our neighbor.

ble troop of the prophets, the chosen number of the apostles, the victorious army of innumerable martyrs, the august rank of pontiffs, the sacred flock of confessors, the true and perfect religious, the holy women, the humble widows, the pure virgins. The glory of ěvèry one is not equal, but, nevertheless, they all taste one and the same pleasure, for thêre is the reign of full and perfect charity.

8. Fifthly, notwithstanding the variety and diversity of glory, yět each blessed soul, contemplating the infinite beauty of God, and the abyss of infinity that remains to be seen in this beauty, feels perfectly satisfied, and is content with the glory it enjoys, according to the rank it holds in heaven, on account of the most amiable Divine Providence which has so perfectly arranged every thing.

9. What a joy to be envi'roned on all sides with incredible pleasures, and, as a mōst happy bĩrd, to fly and sing forever in the air of the Divinity! What a favor, åfter a million of languors, pains, and fatigues, endured in this mortal life; after endless desires for the Eternal Truth, never fully satisfied in this world, to see one's self in the haven of all tranquillity, and to have at length reached the living and mighty source of the fresh waters of undying life, which alone can extinguish the passions and satiate1 the human heart.

1 Satiate (sa' shĭ at), to feed to the full; to satisfy so completely

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.

that it is impossible to receive or desire more.