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When, at length, these Apostles laid down their lives for the doctrines they had preached, they left the world in possession of the truth of the Resurrection; and the seed they had sown in lands, where even the Roman Empire had not extended its conquests, produced a quick and world-wide harvest. All this gave to the astounding fact, which they proclaimed, a guarantee and a certainty beyond suspicion. It was impossible to refuse such evidence, without going against every principle of reason. Yes, O Jesus! Thy Resurrection is as certain as Thy death. Thy Apostles could never have preached, they could never have converted the world, as they did, unless they had had truth on their side.

But the Apostles are no longer here to give their testimony: the equally solemn testimony of the Church has succeeded to theirs, and proclaims, with a like authority, that Jesus is no longer among the dead. By the Church we here mean those hundreds of millions of Christians, who have proclaimed the Resurrection of Jesus by keeping, for now nineteen hundred years, the Feast of the Pasch. And can there be room for doubt here? Who is there, that would not assent to what has been thus attested every year since the Apostles first announced it? Among these countless proclaimers of our Lord's Resurrection, there have been thousands of learned men, the bent of whose mind led them to sift every truth, and who, before embracing the faith, had examined its tenets in the light of reason; there have been millions of others, whose acceptance of a dogma like this, which puts a restraint on the passions, was the result of the conviction, that the only way to eternal happiness is in the due performance of the duties this dogma imposes; and finally, there have been millions of others, who, by their virtues, were the support and ornament of the world, but who

owed all their virtues to their faith in the death and Resurrection of Jesus.

Thus, the testimony of the Church, that is of the wisest and best portion of mankind, is admirably united with that of the Apostles, whom our Lord Himself appointed as His first witnesses. The two testimonies are one. The Apostles proclaimed what they had seen; we proclaim, and shall proclaim to the end, what the Apostles preached. The Apostles made themselves sure of the Resurrection, which they had to preach to the world; we make ourselves sure of the veracity of their word. They believed after experience; so also do we. They had the happiness of seeing, hearing, and touching the Word of Life ;1 we see and hear the Church, which they established throughout the world, although it was but in its infancy, when they were taken from the earth. The Church is that tree of which Jesus spoke in the parable, saying, that though exceeding small in its first commencement, it would afterwards spread out its branches far and wide. St. Augustine in one of his Easter sermons has these fine words: 'As yet, we see not Christ; but we see the Church: therefore let us believe in Christ. The Apostles, on the contrary, saw Christ; but they saw not the Church except by faith. They saw one thing, and they believed another: so, likewise, let us do. Let us believe in the Christ, whom, as yet, we see not; and by keeping ourselves with the Church, which we see, we shall come at length to see Him, whom as yet we cannot see.'3

Having thus, O Jesus! the certainty of Thy glorious Resurrection, as well as that of Thy death on the cross, we confess Thee to be the great God, the Creator and sovereign Lord of all things. Thy 1 St. John, i, 1. 2 St. Matth. xiii. 31, 32. St. Mark, iv. 31, 32. Sermo, ccxxxviii. In diebus Paschalibus, x,

3

death humbled, Thy Resurrection exalted Thee: but Thou Thyself wast the author of both the humiliation and the exaltation. Thou saidst to Thine enemies: 'No man taketh My life away from Me; but I lay it down of Myself; and I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again." None but a God could have such power, none but a God could have exercised it as Thou hast done: we, therefore, are confessing Thy Divinity when we confess Thy Resurrection. We beseech Thee, make worthy of Thine acceptance this humble and delighted homage of our faith!

In Rome, the Station is at the church of St. Mary ad Martyres. It was the ancient pantheon of Agrippa, and had been dedicated to all the false gods; it was given by the Emperor Phocas to St. Boniface IV, who consecrated it to the Mother of God and all the Martyrs. It is not known where to-day's Station was held previously to the seventh century, when this church was chosen. The neophytes were thus assembled, for the second time within the Octave, in a temple dedicated to Mary: it would show them how much the Church desired to inspire them with confidence in her, who had become their mother, and whose office it is to lead to her Son all those whom He calls by His grace to become His brethren.

MASS

The Introit, which is taken from the Psalms, reminds the neophytes of the passage through the Red Sea, and how its waters were gifted with the power of delivering the Israelites. The Church continually alludes to this great event, during the whole Paschal Octave,

1 St. John, x. 18,

INTROIT

Eduxit eos Dominus in spe, alleluia: et inimicos eorum operuit mare. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Ps. Attendite, popule meus, legem meam: inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris mei. V. Gloria Patri. Eduxit.

The Lord hath brought them forth in hope, alleluia: and the sea hath covered their enemies. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Ps. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. . Glory, &c. The Lord, &c.

The Pasch is the reconciliation of man with God, for the Father can refuse nothing to such a conqueror as our risen Jesus, His Son. In her Collect, the Church prays that we may ever show ourselves worthy of such a covenant, by faithfully living up to the mytery of the Paschal regeneration.

Omnipotens

COLLECT

Deus, qui Paschale Sacramentum in reconciliationis humanæ fœdere contulisti : da mentibus nostris, ut quod professione celebramus, imitemur effectu. Per Domi

num.

sempiterne O almighty and eternal God, who hast instituted this Paschal mystery in the covenant of the reconciliation of mankind; assist us with thy holy grace, that what we profess in this solemnity, we may practise in our lives. Through, &c.

To this is added one of the Collects given in Wednesday's Mass, page 247.

EPISTLE

Lectio Epistolæ beati Petri
Apostoli
I Cap. III

Charissimi, Christus semel pro peccatis nostris mortuus est, justus pro injustis, ut nos offerret Deo, mortifi

Lesson of the Epistle of Saint
Peter the Apostle

I Ch. III

Dearly beloved: Christ died once for our sins, the just for the unjust; that he might offer us to God, being put to death

catus quidem carne, vivificatus autem Spiritu. In quo et his, qui in carcere erant, spiritibus veniens prædicavit: qui increduli fuerant aliquando, quando exspectabant Dei patientiam in diebus Noe, cum fabricaretur arca: in qua pauci, id est octo animæ salvæ factæ sunt per aquam. Quod et vos nunc similis formæ salvos facit baptisma: non carnis depositio sordium, sed conscientiæ bonæ interrogatio in Deum, per Resurrectionem Jesu Christi Domini nostri, qui est in dextera Dei.

indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit. In which also coming, he preached to those spirits that were in prison; which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Whereunto baptism being of the like form, now saveth you also: not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is on the right hand of God.

Again it is the Apostle St. Peter who speaks to us, and his instructions are of peculiar interest to our neophytes. He begins by telling them how the Soul of our Redeemer descended into limbo; and how, among the prisoners detained there, were some of those who had perished in the deluge, yet had found salvation in its waters. They were at first incredulous, and despised the threats made known to them by Noe; but, when the flood came and swept them away, they repented of their sin, and asked and obtained pardon. The Apostle then goes on to speak of the favoured inhabitants of the Ark; they are a type of our neophytes, whom we have seen pass through the waters of the font, and thereby become, as did the sons of Noe, fathers of a new generation of children of God. Baptism, says the Apostle, is not like other washings of the body; it is the cleansing of the soul, provided she be sincere in the solemn promise, she vows at the font, to be faithful to the Christ who saves her, and to renounce satan and all

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