3 using these means, has departed from the way of spiritual life, and your objection may have some weight; but we see by experience, that all those who make use of them advance from day to day in the love of God, in all kinds of virtue, and in the hatred and horror of sin.”1 This was the great end in all these spiritual exercises.2 Pope Pius II. relates, that a gentleman of the Province of Istria having fallen into a state of despondency, so as to be tempted to hang himself, disclosed the state of his soul to a holy monk. The servant of God, after consoling him and strengthening him to the best of his power, advised him to have a priest in his house, who should say mass every day. St. Bernard expressed the feelings which influenced men: "Come, my thoughts, intentions, wills, affections, all my interior, come, and let us ascend to the altar of God, where the Lord sees and is seen: and you, my cares, anxieties, solicitudes, troubles, wait here below at the door, whilst I, with my reason and understanding, hasten thither. When we have adored, we may return to you; for we shall return. Alas! how quickly shall we return!"4 To many persons of devout and contemplative minds, the Church has yielded a foretaste of heaven. It is related in the history of the Thebais,5 that a certain woman of quality, having an only son, consecrated him to God in the monastery of St. Maurice, that his childhood might be trained to piety and learning. This child was accordingly brought up in the monastery with tender care, and already he had begun to chant the psalms in the choir with the monks, when he was attacked by a fever, which carried him off in a few days. The afflicted mother came to the church, and with a flood of tears accompanied the body of her son to the tomb, on which she afterwards would weep day after day, while the divine service was singing, and she would think within herself how she was never more to hear the sweet voice of her child. During this season of unceasing affliction, it happened one night, that, being overpowered by sleep, she saw in a dream the glorious martyr St. Maurice, for whom she 1 Catechism, ii. xi. 2 S. Bonaventure de Processu Relig. 20; Rodriguez de la Perfection Chrét. i. v. 5; St. Thomas, i. 2, 9, 3, art. 2. 3 Pius II. in sua Cosmog. in Descr. Europa. S. Bernard. de Amore Dei. 5 Lib. ii. c. x. had a particular devotion. "Woman," said the saint, mourn not, and weep no longer for your son, as if he were dead; he is now with us, and enjoys everlasting life. And to prove this, rise at the hour of matins, and go into the church, and there you shall hear the voice of your son, who sings with the monks; and you shall enjoy this satisfaction, not only to-morrow, but as often as you assist at the divine office." The afflicted mother wakening, not feeling assured whether this apparition was more than a dream, waited with impatience for the hour of matins. struck one, and she hastened to the church. she crossed the threshold, when the loud chant of the opening service ceasing, lo, she hears in the distance the sweet voice of her child, entoning the anthem of the day! And so this poor mother, falling into a rapture, poured forth a flood of tears, and gave thanks aloud to God, who had granted her such a consolation. It Hardly had The Church, in summoning to the ministry of religion what was calculated to refresh and gratify the mind of men, gave proof of that wisdom which she was directed to exercise in the management of human infirmities. Passions I allow," says Father Southwell," and loves I approve : for passions being sequels of our nature, and allotted unto us as the handmaids of reason, there can be no doubt but, as their author is good, and their end godly, so their use, tempered in the mean, implieth no offence." In this the Catholic religion was opposed to the Manichæan notions of the Paulicians, Albigenses, Lollards, and even later teachers. St. Augustine condemned the Manichæans, because on solemn occasions their churches were not adorned, "nullo festiviore apparatu." The practice of the early Christians may be known from what St. Leo the Great said: "If it seems reasonable and religious to demonstrate on a festival the joy of our minds by a more handsome dress on the body; if we also adorn as much as we can, with care and a more full ceremonial, the house of prayer, ought not Christians to adorn equally their souls, the true and living temples?" It was alluding to this antimanichæan principle that St. Gregory Nazianzen said of splendid churches, and monuments, and votive gifts, καὶ φιλόσοφον καὶ φιλόχριστον 1 Serm. iii, de Quadrag. Epivov. All things beautiful in nature and art were received with thankfulness. 66 Beauty of body," says St. Augustine, "is a benign gift of God; not to reconcile it or any other excellence with the service of God, were to apostatise from Christianity, and to rank oneself among the Manichæans." Flowers bloomed on the altars; men could behold the blue heaven through those tall narrow-pointed eastern windows of the Gothic choir as they sat at vespers, where the richness and beauty of every part seemed still more perfect, from the contrast which perhaps was offered by the dreary fens and the watery waste which extended without far on all sides. The cloud of incense breathed a sweet perfume; the voice of youth was tuned to angelic hymns; and the golden sun of the morning shining through the coloured pane, cast its purple or its verdant beam on the embroidered vestments and marble pavement. To be seated on some crag in the upper regions of the Alps, and to behold the rising sun lighting up the eternal snows and ice of the surrounding heights, is enough to realise some of the brightest dreams of early youth; and there too, as on St. Bernard's Mount, religion had her solemn temple and her early sacrifice, in harmony with all around. In cities, in forests, on islands in the green ocean, or washed by the wave of some placid lake, the Church was zealous to meet the loveliness of nature with all her peaceful charms. Amadis and his companions set out by daybreak, that they may hear mass from the good hermit at the chapel of the three fountains. Even in cities the churches, always open, offered a beautiful and quiet spot, like a paradise, removed from the noise and vanities of the crowd. It is told at Winchester how Bishop Wykeham was influenced in selecting the precise spot where stands his tomb. When a student in his youth, he had been accustomed every morning to attend the mass that was celebrated at a very early hour of the morning by a devout monk of the monastery, by name Pekes, at a certain altar dedicated to God, under the patronage of the blessed Virgin Mary, in that very spot of the ancient cathedral; hence he chose it for his burial. To be insensible to this spiritual harmony was regarded as an evil indication. George de Chastellain says, in speaking of the faults of Orat. iii. Philip the Good, "Alloit tard à la messe, et hors l'heure fit célébrer deux heures après midy, voire trois souvent, et en ceste manière de faire il excéda toute observance Chrestienne." When Petrarch first saw Laura, it was at six o'clock in the morning at mass, in the church of the convent of St. Claire, near Avignon. It was great wisdom in the Church to invite the faithful to approach her altars at these sweet hours of prime, when nature seemed to announce her mysteries; for it was at such an hour that the poet sung, Methinks it should have been impossible How devout was Dante when he walked through the forest, O'er the ground, that on all sides Delicious odour breathed. A pleasant air Kept tenor.2 Nor did Religion err in accepting the innocent service of children to precede her solemn processions, and to wait upon her priests. It was shewn by devout writers how the Son of God testified his love for the young; calling them to him, blessing them, working the most remarkable cures in favour of them; such as the ruler's son, he that was tormented by the devil, the centurion's servant, and the daughter of the Cananean, the daughter of Jairus, and the son of the widow of Nain. The purity and innocence of such a soul as that of the young Aloyscius Gonzago seemed to account for this distinction. The very heathens had a conception that piety in youth was peculiarly grace ful. The Io of Euripides possesses a great charm, from the portrait which it gives of candour and sacerdotal innocence united in a child, who, leading a pure life, is seen coming out, as the morning sun gilds the inaccessible summits of Parnassus, to sweep the marble steps of the temple with branches of laurel, and to drive away the little birds, without killing them, which perch on the walls, singing his simple song of gratitude for being employed to serve Heaven and not mortals, and for his daily food which he receives from Apollo. The Church taught her ministers to treat youth with great tenderness, and to forgive the sallies and levity of childhood. It would have been an evil day for children if her discipline had been abolished to make way for that of the Manichæans or Calvinists, who saw an evil principle in the most innocent features, and in whose breast a dark fanaticism had killed all sweetness and mercy. The poet Wordsworth can discern in youth the evidence of our celestial origin; for in being born we come from God, who is our home : Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy; But he beholds the light, and whence it flows He sees it in his joy! The youth who daily further from the east Must travel, still is Nature's priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended. At length the man perceives it die away, As says St. Augustine of himself: "Audivi vocem tuam post me, ut redirem, et vix audivi, propter tumultus peccatorum. But this sad picture does not resemble those who bore their palm, which had been blessed with a prayer that they might imitate the innocence of the youths who bore them before our Lord; who knew not the haughtiness of pride nor its self-sufficient stiffness; who could admire beauty and grace every where, and who, like Sophocles, would not have disdained to act a part among the companions of Nausicaa; whose infancy had not been schooled to the maxims of avarice, but who had been suffered to exalt their imagination, and to warm their hearts |