derision and scorn, with meekness, gentleness, and charity.

XXII. I do it for another reason: as love is the soul of Christianity; and, as suffering is the soul of love; so, by a little chosen suffering, I would offer up this little instance of my love,-of my love to God, and of my love and obedience to His Church.

Upon this head there are two things (to which the world is a stranger) to be considered :

1. Our suffering Lord, in the great work of our redemption, was obliged to become a man of sorrows;" and, instead of being crucified with Him a little, methinks, it is too great an unlikeness in His followers, to live a life too delicate, without some interruptions of self-denial, upon election and choice. 2. By our fastings and sufferings we have a capacity of serving God beyond that of angels.

And, I do assure you, it is one part (as I think it) of my happiness, that by keeping Lent to my utmost ability, and the Friday's fast, I find an opportunity of exercising one passive grace more than you are aware of; I mean, have the opportunity of bearing charitably, meekly, and temperately, the reproaches, censures, revilings, and derision, that are cast upon me by you and some others for so doing. Pardon me, Sir, that I mention this again.

There may be a persecution by the tongue, as well as by actions; and, methinks, when I am persecuted, or suffer any of the lashes of that two-edged sword, and receive the arrows of bitter words for anything that is purely relative to my duty, in any instance of religion and precept of the divine law, I consider it one of the crosses which God has allotted me to bear, as one of the sorts of persecution for

righteousness, for which I shall have my reward, according to the promise of our Saviour, Who said, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake."*

And though the sufferings of fasting and abstinence, and of the reproaches that befall me for them, be not so great in themselves, yet (as I before hinted) they are a preparation for greater sufferings, and for bearing troubles and persecutions of the most terrible sort to flesh and blood, without fear or reluctance.

And that is another thing the world is not acquainted with; I mean, the advantage of sufferings, persecutions, and afflictions for the cause of God, the sake of religion, and for the keeping close, especially, to any known duty, or what is purely relative to it.

Such sufferings, persecutions, and afflictions
Prove our patience and sincerity.

They make us wise and firm in our conduct.
They enlarge the spiritual man.

They raise the soul.

They strengthen our spirit and harden our

virtue.

They fortify our hope.

They complete our experience.

They are the furnace in which acceptable men are tried.

They demonstrate our love.

They make us keep the stricter guard upon our actions,

And they put on us the livery of Christ.

* S. Matt. v. 11.

Such are the advantages of afflictions, sufferings, or persecutions for a truly religious cause; and, for such sufferings and afflictions, the discipline of fastings and abstinence fits and prepares the spirit of man; as the practice of the primitive Christians shows, who were always in readiness for the sword, the gibbets, or the beasts.

XXIII. By such holy austerities (rightly tempered) I keep my infirmities from climbing and growing up into crimes. They are like a seasonable check at the first appearance of a temptation;—a little thing will dash it to pieces at first. But, if by parley and approaches, by curiosity and indulgence, by carelessness and negligence, we give way, this is of dangerous consequence; and no wise man will venture to court danger or converse with it, or love to put away his guards from him. And, Sir, without some fasting and discipline, give me leave to tell you, you will be apt to yield to the pleasures and allurements of the three great tempters which, by your baptismal vow, you are obliged to resist.

XXIV. I do it because nothing is more brutal than to be abandoned to appetite; nothing makes a man greater than his victory over it.

Abstinence exalts a man above the lower sphere of sense. And, when fasting and alms are joined with our penitential devotions, these raise the value of God's service and keep religion in esteem and veneration, from being thought a cheap and vulgar thing, such as costs nothing, but the expense of a little time and breath. To conclude: let you and me review these things, and for a while let each ""* commune with his own heart and be still."

* Ps. iv. 4.

66 A MAN MAY HAVE THE FORM OF GODLINESS WITHOUT

THE POWER; BUT HE CANNOT HAVE THE POWER WHO DESPISES THE FORM-THAT IS, THE OUTWARD PRACTICE."

BP. WILSON.

Guide for Lent.

THE points to be considered in guiding souls for the due observance of the holy season of Lent, are three-Fasting, Prayer, and Charity. I propose to treat them shortly, and in order.

I.-FASTING.

The foundation upon which the Church has built her quadragesimal fast, and indeed all her fasts, rests upon our Blessed Lord's answer to the Pharisees and the disciples of John :-" Then came to Him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast." Our Lord does not blame the disciples of John. He does not exempt His own.

There had been a threefold division of fasting long held among the Jews-the fast of expectation, the fast of mortification, and the fast of contemplation. And what our Lord taught was this, that, in respect of these fasts, there was, in the meantime, and by *S. Matt. ix. 14, 15.