Even in the fall of man, what great and practical truths does not the attentive believer discover? For if he is struck with awe in considering the extent of the divine justice, and the terrible consequences of one mortal sin, he is likewise enraptured in beholding the tender mercies of God breaking forth from the dark cloud of this mystery, in the cheering tidings of a future Redeemer, with which the Lord presently erected and consoled sinful man after his fall. How much does he adinire the wisdom and goodness of his God, when he comes to reflect, that that very sin, which was to have been the cause of his eternal ruin, is made, in the gracious designs of God, the very occasion of the most astonishing and amiable mystery of the incarnation, by which, as St. Leo observes, sinful man was to gain much more than he had lost by his guilty parent.

But if these bright prospects, if the bare promise of a Saviour, was such a source of delight and comfort to all the righteous of the old law, what raptures will not be excited in the breasts of men by the accomplishment of this solemn promise, the actual incarnation of the Son of God, and his temporal birth at Bethlehem! O, what great things does not faith lay open to the faithful soul, at the astonishing spectacle of a God made man, of a God annihilated under the form of a servant, of a God under the amiable shape of an infant, of a God born in a stable, and laid in a manger! O, it is here the faithful begins to know his God, and the admirable inventions of his tender love towards him. "God so loved the world, (it is thus he exclaims in a transport of ecstacy with St. John,) as to give his only-begotten Son, that, whoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting." John ii. v. 16. Here the Christian soul prostrate before this Divine Infant in profound adoration with the shepherds, and the wise men of the East, is amazed at the wonderful designs of the Most High upon men, at the admirable contrivances of his wisdom and love for the reparation of mankind. It is here he beholds the majesty of God displayed in all its infinite greatness, seeing him, in the person of Jesus Christ, adored by an adorable God-man: Hence he

conceives the meaning of the sublime canticle, "Glory be to God in the highest, and, on earth, peace to men of good will."* It is here, he becomes able in some measure to comprehend with all the Saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge. It is here, he learns more wisdom in a few minutes with St. Bernard, than all the philosophers could teach him during ages, for he, contemplating his Saviour in the manger, reasons thus: either the Incarnate Wisdom of God is deceived, or the world. But Jesus Christ cannot be deceived, therefore, the world is mistaken-the only-begotten Son of God, born in a stable, in extreme poverty and suffering, despised by, and unknown to, the world: what does that mean? what else but what man could never hitherto understand, and what it was most important for him to know, viz. that the end and happiness of man do not consist in the goods of fortune, nor in sensual pleasures, nor in the esteem of men, nor in exalted stations amongst them; but rather in a generous contempt of all the empty goods, which the world so ardently pursues. It is here, the Saints of God, by the example of an humble, poor, annihilated, and suffering God, learnt the exalted science of despising riches, pleasures, and honours: it is here, they became enamoured with hardships, poverty, and all kinds of sufferings, in seeing them courted, esteemed, and loved, by the Incarnate Wisdom of God. It is here, that humility, patience, and self-denial, are enforced by an example, the force of which it is impossible to resist. For, if the Son of God, became a man of sorrows, who shall refuse to suffer? and if the infinite majesty is thus annihilated, will it not be an intolerable impudence in a filthy worm of the earth to be puffed up with pride and haughtiness?‡

If from the stable of Bethlehem, the Christian with the flambeau of faith in his hand, repairs to Mount Calvary, what a great and exalted spectacle presents itself to his view! An affectionate look at the crucifix teaches him more than vo

St. Luke, ii. v. 14. + Ephes. iii. v. 14.

St. Bernard,

lumes could do: Yes, in this great book he reads in flaming and indelible letters the excess of divine love towards men, the infinite sanctity and justice of God, which cannot be satisfied but by a victim of infinite dignity, the grievousness of mortal sin, the infinite importance of salvation, since the former could not be effaced, nor the latter be procured but by the death of a God-man on the cross. Here the poor is consoled, in beholding his God fastened naked to the cross; the sufferer is comforted, by beholding in his God, "the man of sorrows," expiring in torments; the proud is confounded in viewing the God of Majesty satiated with reproaches. Here, a sublime and heavenly philosophy is delivered, supported by the greatest examples that were ever exhibitedhere the Apostles, the Martys, and other Saints of God, assiduously studied, and learned those exalted lessons which none but a God-man could teach, and which, reduced to practice, struck the world with so much astonishment.

What shall I say of that most amiable of all mysteries, which, by way of excellence, may be justly styled the mystery of love, and in which the eternal Son of God, not satisfied with communicating his divine nature to one individual humanity, as he did in the mystery of the Incarnation, gives himself, his sacred flesh and blood with all his Divinity, in the most lovely manner to every one of his faithful children, and thus makes them partakers of his divine nature? O, it is here the divine love truly triumphs in all its lustre! It is here the divine power with a profusion truly divine, pours out infinite treasures to enrich man. What exalted, what generous thoughts, what transports of admiration, of gratitude, of love, of heavenly gladness, must not be excited in a Christian soul, at the contemplation of so high an esteem, of so tender a kindness of God towards men? What powerful incitements to purity, to sanctity, to a noble-minded generosity, and to a kind of divine life must not the Christian feel, in that most intimate union, in that divine alliance, which he contracts with his God, the sole fountain of all sweetness and of all good, by the participation of his adorable Body and Blood?

In the mystery of the Resurrection the faith of the Christian is confirmed by one of the most astonishing miracles, and his hope strengthened by a most illustrious pledge of his own fature resurrection, whilst, in the mystery of his glorious ascension, his charity is inflamed and his heart drawn to the regions of eternal bliss, whither his Saviour has ascended to prepare him a place.

Mysteries, therefore, are not what the Unitarian imagines them to be, viz: mere metaphysical speculations, or empty notions, but they are the very foundations of the whole fabrick of Religion, the most powerful, practical lessons on the infinite perfections of God, the duties of men, and on the most heroic virtues: They are inexhaustable sources of heavenly knowledge, delight and comfort. It was, therefore, most worthy of God to reveal them; and, to reject them, is to deprive men of what is most august and sublime in religion, and what is most instructive to men either learned or unlearned.

I cannot better conclude this whole dissertation, than by subjoining the following beautiful passage of a learned and pious Prelate of France. 66 Religious dogmas when abandoned to reason, or, to speak with more truth, to the depravity of men, as was the case amongst the Pagans, were, what they must have been expected to be, the corruption of morality. But let us turn to another side. Let us consider that revealed doctrine, which disbelievers reject as indifferent and foreign to conduct and practice. We shall find that that doctrine is the very foundation of the observance of the soundest morality. Amongst us it is the belief of mysteries that engages men to fulfil their religious duties. Unbelievers, take a view, we entreat you, of all the truths which the Author of Christianity has taught mankind, and which you consider as merely speculative, and such as are only calculated to embarrass the mind and to overburthen it with a useless yoke. Examine, not only their perfect accordance with each other, which makes of them a connected system, a complete summary of doctrine; but also their intimate relation with morality, and you will discover, that there is not one amongst them, which does not serve,

either to fan our love and gratitude by some benefit; or to gratify our desires by some gift; or to support our courage by some hope; or to prompt us to virtue by some promise; or to reclaim us from vice by some menace; or to direct our morals by some example. If you examine our sacred dogmas, you will not find one, that is not a fecund principle of moral consequences; not one that does not shed its influence on our duties towards God, as well as towards our fellow-men; not one that does not present either some object, or some means, or some motive to what is good and virtuous. No, he that renders useful whatever he ordains, ordains nothing uselessly." Instruct. Past. de M. L'Eveque de Langres sur la revelation.