qualification for those who would benefit by the Holy Eucharist. Belief that our Lord Jesus Christ

is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, is the beginning of faith; belief and love, is the increase; but belief, love, and consequent action, is the consummation of true faith. For it costs the mind but little to submit to truth, if it be certainly revealed by God. It costs the heart and affections but little to bid the lips pronounce a few expressions of love: words are not always accompanied by feelings: and feeling, when it does exist, is often devoid of worth, for it is often barren, and produces no fruit. Good works are the proof of our faith and of our love; so far, therefore, as we do not work consistently for God, we have reason to believe that our faith and our love are not such as He would have them to be, who comes to visit us in the Holy Eucharist; and therefore not such as to enable us to draw forth from Him all the benefit He could desire to impart to us.

Let us be careful, then, whilst we recognise the reality and the dignity of the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist, to bear in mind that its benefit to us must depend upon the condition of heart in which we draw near to it. The great gift therein bestowed, is present by the will of Him who gives Himself to us; but that gift, all-precious and life-giving as it is, cannot shed its strengthening influence over our souls, unless they are previously prepared to receive it; unless they are full of that faith and love of which we have been speaking. Hence the great

necessity of meditation and self-examination before we draw near to the holy altar. For in this way only can we rekindle our waning faith and love, and discover the sins and infirmities which have tended to dissolve the tie by which Christ has unveiled Himself to us. By reflecting on the infinite treasure we are about to receive, we learn to judge ourselves severely; by examination, with prayer and confession of sin, we cleanse our consciences, and become worthy to seek and to obtain the full remission of our guilt from Christ Himself in this Holy Sacrament.

The more frequent, then, our communions, the more careful let us be in preparing ourselves, lest we lose the fruit of them. Let us be real and earnest. Let us be on our guard against the deadening effects of custom and mere habit in our religious acts. Let us test the benefit of our communions by the growth of our spiritual life, by our greater self-control, and our increasing hold on all those graces of the Spirit which are the true and unfailing sign of the transforming influence upon our hearts. Thus prepared, let us come to the Holy Eucharist with a firm faith and confidence in its inestimable benefit to us, in the firm belief that Christ Himself, the very source of our life and of all holiness, shall come to us there, to dwell within us, to feed and strengthen us, to enlighten our mind, enkindle our heart, calm and rule our passions, purify our desires, .and give us others purer and more heavenly.

Let us come in the firm belief that He bestows on us, through these precious gifts, a greater faculty for the performance of all those duties which lead towards our blessed home. For love burns brighter with every worthy communion, and the greater our love, the less our pain in labouring for those we love; and so the burden of the law grows easier to bear, whilst the hardest duties become more easy to fulfil. Truly, then, has it been said that the Holy Eucharist is a gift at once sweet and glorious; glorious because it manifests God's majesty and greatness; sweet, because in it God enriches whom He loves, and impoverishes not Himself because He gives for His own sake.

And lastly, let us come full of hope conjoined with faith and love, seeing that it is moreover a most holy and perfect preparation, as well as a sure pledge, of our future home in heaven, insensibly disposing the heart and spirit to their promised blessedness there; the spirit, by enlightening it that it may know God; the heart, by kindling the Divine fire of His love. within it. Thus Holy Communion leads us on from faith to hope, and from hope to fruition. Reception here is a preparation for possession there. Divine sustenance received here though under a veil, is the fittest preparation for being satisfied in all eternity with that same substance unveiled and undisguised in everlasting bliss.

SERMON XVII.

Self-Denial.

ST. MATTHEW xvi. 25.

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it."

HIS, my brethren, is one of those sayings which,

THIS

to the carnal mind, conveys no meaning whatever. Like so many of the most precious truths of Holy Scripture, it is clothed in words purposely adapted to conceal it from the irreverent, seemingly contradictory and trifling; whilst to the humble and earnest enquirer they reveal a most deep and real truth. Twice were they repeated by our Lord, and so full and comprehensive are they, and so close and important in their bearing on our daily life, that, study them as we may, we can never exhaust their riches, or find them fail in their application. To believe them, and to believe Him who spake them, is life and blessedness; to doubt these words, or to act contrary to them, is to lose everything; for it is to lose Christ, and in losing Him, to lose our own selves.

What, then, are these words? what is the mighty truth which they contain? what is this seeking to

save our life, which brings with it (according to the sure word of Christ) the losing of our life? what is this willingness to lose our life, in which only we find or save it for eternity?

Now the seeking to save our life, against which Christ warns us, is the seeking to enjoy our life according to the dictates of the flesh and the world, the laying out our life on the scheme of pleasing ourselves and indulging ourselves, instead of the plan of pleasing God and denying ourselves. As you will observe, the words come immediately after the command to take up the Cross: "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it."

So that, you perceive, to seek to save our life, is to refuse to do this which Christ bids, -is to refuse to take up the Cross. Holy Scripture affords examples of those who, seeking to save their lives, lost them. Dives sought to save his life; he thought to find his life in the purple and the fine linen, and the daily sumptuous fare; he thought his life was in those things. That man whose fields brought forth largely, and who bade his soul enjoy itself for many years, he also counted that he had found his life, that it was in his "much goods laid up for many years;" while yet upon that very night he was about to make proof that a man's life does not consist in the