of the sufferings of those we love, is to speak with an impatient sorrow; as Peter, when Jesus took His disciples and told them that the Son of Man "must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients, by the high-priests, and the Scribes, and be killed; and after three days rise again. And He spoke the word openly; and Peter, taking Him, began to rebuke Him."* We too are ready to say, "This be far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto Thee." Yet Jesus did not accept this manifestation of a too natural love. His words of rebuke have a divine energy, intended to teach us not to trust our human affections in judging of His supernatural dispensations. "Go behind Me, Satan, because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but that are of men.”‡ And now to make an end. Men have need to look to their principles. They have to make a choice between two things, between faith in a teacher speaking with an infallible voice, governing the unity which now, as in the beginning, knits together the nations of the world, or the spirit of fragmentary Christianity, which is the source of disorder, and ends in unbelief. Here is the simple choice to which we are all brought; and between them we must make up our minds. The events of every day are carrying men further *St. Mark viii. 31. St. Mark viii. 33. + St. Matt. xvi. 22. and further in the career on which they have entered. Every day men are becoming more and more divided. These are times of sifting. Our Divine Lord is standing in the Church: "His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His floor, and He will gather the grain into His barn, and will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."* It is a time of trial, when "some of the learned shall fall," and those only shall be saved who are steadfast to the end. The two great antagonists are gathering their forces for the last conflict; it may not be in our day, it may not be in the time of those who come after us; but one thing is certain, that we are as much put on our trial now as they will be who live in the time when it shall come to pass. For as surely as the Son of God reigns on high, and will reign "until He has put all His enemies under His feet," so surely every one that lifts a heel or directs a weapon, a tongue, or a pen, against His faith, His Church, or His Vicar upon earth, will share the judgment which is laid up for the Antichrist whom he serves. *St. Matt. iii. 12. |