veneration, is the chief and most essential of all those things of which we stand in need. "To know Thee, and to confess to Thee," as it is said in the book of Wisdom, "is perfect justification; to acknowledge Thy justice and Thy power, is the root of immortality." More plainly did our Divine Redeemer teach the same truth, when, looking up to heaven, He said: "This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Him whom Thou hast sent, Jesus Christ."

But in what does this knowledge consist? In two things. For he who would come to God, must first believe that He is; that is, he must believe that He exists and lives; and secondly, that He is the rewarder of those who rightly seek Him. He must therefore confess, not only the existence and essence of God, but also the manner of His relation towards us, that being turned, in the riches of His loving goodness, towards us, He is ready to impart to us of the fulness of His beatitude. This loving God, His essence, and His relation toward us, were shewn to us by our Lord, when He said: "Thus shalt thou pray: Our Father who art in heaven." Simple words, indeed; but in these few and simple words what an unmeasurable fulness of hidden truths! They are like the bud, from which, when it opens itself to our mind, is unfolded the wonderful flower of Revelation; for the inmost nature and essence of God are signified by those words-"Father who art;" His relation to us, His creatures, is expressed in the words "OUR Father."

Let us first meditate upon the name, FATHER, and ask ourselves whether this be only an allegorical, figurative name, by which God is honoured as the Creator

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and Preserver of all things; whether God is named Father, without being so truly and essentially, and in a Divine manner; or, what is the same thing, whether we may call God our Father, without believing that He is really and truly a Father? The holy Prophet Isaias shall answer: "Thus saith the Lord, Shall not I, that make others to bring forth children, Myself bring forth? Shall I, who give generation to others, be barren? saith the Lord thy God." (Isaias lxvi. 9.) Thus answereth also the Apostle St. Paul: "I bend my knee before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all paternity draweth its name, in heaven and upon earth." From these words it is evident that the contrary is the truth,—that the invisible God does not bear the name of Father as if borrowed and derived from the properties of a father upon earth; but, as all which is derived from the power and essence of God is essentially grounded in His nature, and as all paternity upon earth is only conditional and mediate, God alone, the Author of all being and of life, is, in the absolute sense of the word, a Father. This divine paternity is the mystery of the Trinity, more clearly and more expressly signified by the words "who art;" for these are the words from which the most exalted of all supernatural truths are unfolded to the faithful and thinking mind.

There is here in our way a stone of scandal, thrown by ignorance, which must be either removed or passed over. 'Wherefore all this labour, all this excessive ingenuity?' exclaim those who will not think; 'wherefore all this labour of thought and of mind upon a subject in which every attempt of human reason is, if not full of danger and worthy of punishment, at least with

out any fruitful result? Is not the Trinity of God a mystery, an article of faith, and far above all the comprehensive powers of the human mind? Why, then, seek for knowledge in matters of pure faith?"' So many questions can be met only by others. The human mind, in its present condition, is indeed not capable of discovering these truths, or rather, the Deity itself, without its Divine assistance, which is full of love. "No one knoweth the Son but the Father; and no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and to whom the Son shall reveal Him." But does faith exclude all thought? Does the Divine wisdom, by its revelation, destroy or confine the life and workings of the created understanding? Is it intended that light should illumine or darken our powers and properties? and shall the divine light of revealed truths obscure our understanding, or shall it not rather enlighten it? Were the first the case, would not the infidel be right, when he sees nothing in a faithful soul but night, or darkness in the sụn? The true knowledge of the Triune God is the only fountain of light to the intelligent and moral life of man. Should we not, then, labour to arrive at some precision in this knowledge? Certainly,' answers St. Augustin; 'for to understand the mystery of the Trinity with a rational mind, and with a soul fearing God, should employ all the exertions of a Christian.'

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Or shall the favourite objection be raised, that this mystery is too profound, too hidden, and too immeasurable, to render it prudent to venture into this vast ocean? If so, that sublime father of the Church, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, will propose another question, which was perhaps never more deserving of serious consi

deration than at a time when infidelity, or a half faith, adorns itself with the holy semblance of intellectual perspicuity, while the defenders of the true faith retreat behind the bulwarks of authority, which their opponents neither receive nor respect. Shall I,' says the holy Cyril, 'shall I, because I cannot exhaust the fountain and the stream, not draw for myself according to the measure that may be sufficient for me? And when I enter into a garden where a thousand different fruits present themselves to view, shall I retire, because I cannot consume the whole? And because I cannot contain the bright and flaming sun within my eyes, shall I on that account deny myself the light of day?' What shall we answer to this wise man? No, we ought not, and we will not: we will not, indeed, be so foolish as to gaze with bold eyes upon the Divine Sun; nor shall we on that account avoid the light of day, which it pours down upon us. This mild light shines upon us in those words, "Our Father, Thou who art."

What does this wonderful word Thou express, with which we address the invisible God? Every Thou is an I opposed to a Me; consequently, this Thou expresses a Divine I. My God!' exclaims the seraphic Francis, who art Thou, and who am I?' 'My Lord and my God!' exclaims St. Austin, may I know myself, may I know Thee!' For the Divine essence can be known to us only in proportion as we meditate upon our own nature. How wonderful, how enigmatical a being is this I! I know, I feel that I am; and this intimate knowledge and sensation, from which all my other knowledge proceeds, is my self-knowledge. But I know also that this self-knowledge has entered

later; for I know that I existed before this idea was awakened within me. I know also that I see around me, or perceive by my other senses, other things that are not myself. I see my body in its outward form, but not myself; in the same manner as my eye sees all other things, but does not see itself. But what is this? I see, but I do not behold myself. It is expressed more clearly by these words, 'I cannot comprehend myself.' I cannot obtain for myself a full view of my essence. And why? 'Because I do not exist of myself.'

We will hear upon this subject a venerable man, the holy Gregory, Bishop of Tours, who had penetrated deeply into this simple but profound truth. When this learned man, to whom the kingdom of the Franks is so much indebted, had come to Rome, he was received with every mark of distinction by his great contemporary of the same name, the sainted Pope Gregory. Whilst the Pontiff was employed in shewing to him the buildings and monuments of Rome, and had conducted him into the Church of the Apostles, he could not contain within his heart his wonder, how Providence had bestowed upon this man the highest gifts of mind; for the far-famed Gregory of Tours was of low stature, and of a mean and unpromising appearance. But this small man displayed at once the power and acuteness of his mind; for he had in that moment divined the thoughts of his exalted friend and host. Smiling, he looked up to him and said, 'It is the Lord who hath made us, and not we ourselves; He is the same in the great and in the small.'

What words are these which the holy Bishop here employed! They are taken from the 99th Psalm: