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Persons, so in the one soul of man there are three powers. The next answer tells you what these powers are; they are the understanding, the memory, and the will. The understanding is that power of the soul which enables us to think, to reason, to learn, and to know. The memory makes us able to call to mind what we have before learned; and the will gives us the power of choosing what we will do, for example, whether we will sit or stand, speak or be silent, &c. Thus, when a boy learns easily and well what is taught him, we say that he has a clever understanding; when he easily forgets what he has learnt, we say that he has a bad memory; and when he is always bent on evil, choosing it rather than good, we say that he has a perverse will. Now these three powers, as you well know, belong to the soul, for it is not the body that thinks, remembers, or chooses. In this much, then, is the soul like to the Blessed Trinity, that, while the soul is one and cannot be divided, it possesses three distinct powers, as God, who is one, exists in three distinct Persons. But it falls short of being like the Blessed Trinity in this, that each of the Persons in God is God, whole and entire; but each of the powers of the soul is not the soul itself, but only a power or faculty which the soul possesses.

ST. AUGUSTINE'S VISION.

It is related by St. Augustine that, while busied in writing his discourse upon the Trinity, he wandered on the sea shore, lost in meditation. While thus occupied in pondering on this sublime mystery, he beheld a child, who, having dug a hole in the sand, appeared to be bringing water from the sea to fill it. St. Augustine inquired what he was trying to do. "I am trying," he replied, "to empty into this hole all the waters of the deep." "What you are trying to do is impossible," said St. Augustine. "Not more impossible," replied the child, "than for thee, O Augustine, to explain the mystery on which thou art meditating."-St. Augustine.

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SIXTH INSTRUCTION.

Second Article. Jesus Christ. His Divinity and
Sacred Humanity.

Q. What is the second article of the Creed?
A. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.

We come now to the second article of the Creed, in which we express our faith in God the Son, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. In this article we declare that we believe him to be truly the Son of God, made man to redeem us, and in the five following articles we make an act of faith in the different truths that we are taught concerning him. It is particularly necessary that we should be well instructed in all that relates to God the Son, because He is our Saviour, and it is through His merits only that we can obtain the pardon of our sins and enter into heaven.

But why is it that Jesus Christ is in this article particularly called our Lord, that is to say, our Sovereign Master? Is not God the Father our Lord also; and is not the Holy Ghost, who is equal in everything to the Father and the Son, Lord and Master of all, as well as they? Most certainly, my dear children; but there is a particular reason why we give this title especially to God the Son. It is because He is our Lord not only as God, but also as man. For among all mankind who can be higher or more exalted than He? And who can have a better title to be called our Lord than He, who has set us free from the slavery of the devil, given his

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own life as the price of our ransom, and come expressly from heaven to establish in our hearts the kingdom of his love? Wherefore the Heavenly Father says to his Divine Son, as man, in one of the Psalms, "I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And the Archangel St. Gabriel, in announcing to the Blessed Virgin the birth of her Divine Son, said, "The Lord God shall give to him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end."+ Hence, in order to show that we acknowledge him to be our king, and wish to honour and obey him as such, we usually call him our "Blessed Lord," or our "Lord Jesus Christ."

Q. Who is Jesus Christ?

A. He is God the Son, made man for us.

Yes; He is God the Son, made man for us. For Jesus Christ is the Holy and Adorable Name which the Son of God took, when he became man, in order to redeem us. Therefore, when we speak of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity simply as God, we generally call him God the Son, but when we speak of him as God made man for us, that is, as both God and man, we call him Jesus Christ. The meaning of this Holy Name is explained in the catechism at the end of this article.

You will notice that the greater part of our prayers to God which come in the prayer book, are addressed to Jesus Christ. There are some to God the Father, some to God the Holy Ghost, and some to the Blessed Trinity; but most of them are to Jesus Christ. What is the reason of this? It is because it is in Him, as our Saviour, that we place all our hopes. His becoming man and dying for us

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on the cross fills us with a tender confidence, and makes us no longer afraid to approach him. The sinner, when he thinks of his own wickedness and of the Holiness and Majesty of God, might tremble and be afraid to draw near to a God whom he has so much offended; but when he looks at Jesus Christ, who, though God, became man and died for sinners, he is no longer afraid, but runs to Him with confidence and begs him to wash out his sins in His Precious Blood. For the same reason, when we pray to God the Father, we always end our prayers with these words, through Jesus Christ our Lord, because our prayers can only please the Heavenly Father, when offered up through the merits of his Divine Son.

Q. Is Jesus Christ truly God?

A. Yes; He is truly God.

Q. Why is Jesus Christ truly God?

A. Because He has one and the same nature with God the Father.

Jesus Christ is truly God, my dear children, and why? Because he has one and the same nature with God the Father, that is to say, because he has the nature of God; just as the Angels are Angels because they have the nature of Angels, and man is man because he has a body and soul, which is the nature of man. But what do we mean when we say that Jesus Christ has the nature of God? What does the nature of God consist in? You have already been told in the explanation of the first article of the Creed, where you learnt that "God is the Supreme Spirit, who alone exists of himself, and is infinite in all perfections." You see from this, that the nature of God is to be the highest or greatest of all spirits, to exist of his own Power, and to possess every perfection in an infinite or boundless degree. This, then, is the nature which Jesus Christ possesses as

the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father.

It follows from what I have said, that Jesus Christ is infinitely worthy of our homage and adoration. While, therefore, we honour and love him as our Lord and our Saviour, we also adore him as our God. In all our wants, trials, and dangers, we look up to him with an entire confidence, knowing that He, who became man and died to save us, is a God of Infinite Wisdom, Power and Goodness, and therefore both able and willing to assist, console, and defend us.

DEATH OF ARIUS.

The frightful death of the impious heretic Arius is a terrible example of the just anger of God against the teachers of false doctrine, and especially against those who dare to blaspheme the name of his Divine Son. This wicked man, who lived about three hundred years after the time of our Blessed Lord, had blasphemously asserted that Jesus Christ, though the Son of God, is of a different substance, and inferior to his Heavenly Father. This false doctrine was solemnly condemned by the great Council of Nicæa, composed of Bishops from all parts of the world, with the legates or representatives of the Pope at their head. Arius, however, still found many followers, and succeeded in obtaining the support of the Roman Emperor Constantine, who ordered the Bishop of Constantinople to receive Arius back to the communion of the Church. The holy Bishop had recourse to God by prayer, to avert so great a scandal, and Almighty God, jealous of the honour of his Divine Son, did not fail to hear him. On the day appointed for the forcible reception of Arius into the church, a procession of his followers was formed in the streets of Constantinople. With songs of triumph and with great parade, they led forth Arius to the church, boasting loudly of the victory which they had obtained over the Catholic Bishops. Their triumph, however, was but of short duration, for as they were passing through the great square of the city, the anger of God overtook the unhappy man. Suddenly he was seized with frightful spasms, which compelled him to take refuge in a secret room until he should be able to resume his journey. Hour after hour passed away, and he did not make his appearance.

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