i. 10). Their hosts will attend Him when He comes in majesty to judge the world (St. Matt. xxv. 31).

The Holy Scripture seems to imply that empires, nations, provinces, cities, have each their particular angel guardians. Thus in Daniel (x. 21) St. Michael is spoken of as the protector of Israel; and now that the Christian Church has inherited the privileges of the synagogue, this glorious archangel is venerated as her special protector. In the same chapter (v. 13) mention is made of the prince of the kingdom of the Persians, by whom the holy Fathers understand the angel guardian of Persia. In the Acts of the Apostles (xvi. 9) we read that a man of Macedonia appeared to St. Paul, beseeching him and saying, "Pass over into Macedonia and help us," which is generally understood of the angel of Macedonia inviting St. Paul to preach in that province. St. John wrote his Apocalypse to the angels of the seven Churches of Asia, by which several of the Fathers understand not only the Bishops of those Churches, but likewise the angel guardians of their dioceses.

It is an article of faith that angels are deputed as the guardians and protectors of men; and though the Church has nowhere expressly defined that every one who is born into this world has a particular angel appointed to watch over and to assist him in his journey through life, this opinion is considered certain among all Catholics. Not only have those who are in the state of grace, or who are members of the Church, one of the blessed spirits of heaven to minister to their wants, but even heretics, unbelievers, pagans, and Jews, have all their special guardians to help them in the way of salvation. We have already cited a number of examples from the sacred writers of benefits bestowed on mankind by the ministry of angels; to these we further add one or two clear and explicit declarations. Thus the Psalmist (xc. 11), "He hath given His angels. charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." St. Paul asks, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" (Heb. i. 14.) Our Blessed Lord, referring more particularly to the guardian angels

of each individually, says, "See you despise not one of these little ones; for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father who is in heaven" (St. Matt. xviii. 10).

CHAP. XI. The Creation of Man.

AFTER the fall of the angels, God created man to fill the thrones which they had forfeited. Like the angels, man is endowed with reason and free will. He is an intelligent being, consisting of a body and soul created to the image and likeness of God. It was on the sixth day that Adam, the first man, was created. In the rest of the work of creation God had simply said, "Let there be light; and there was light. Let there be a firmament made amidst the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters; and it was so. And in this same way He continued in the formation of the rest of the visible universe, till He came to man. But now the language of Holy Scripture is suddenly changed: " And God said, Let us make man to our image and likeness; and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth" (Gen. i. 26).

In his first creation man was in a widely different state, both as regards his body and soul, from that in which we now behold him. We are subject to a variety of wants and miseries from which Adam in Paradise was altogether free. We suffer hunger and thirst, cold and heat, pains and sicknesses of every kind, and finally death. But from these trials and miseries Adam was exempt. His body, though mortal of its own nature, being composed of material parts which would naturally dissolve and fall into decay, was by a special favour of God made immortal: "For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of His own likeness He made him, but by the envy of the devil death came into the world" (Wisdom ii. 23, 24). Had he persevered faithfully in the service of God, he would have passed his earthly existence free from pain and sickness, and would have been translated to heaven without death.

So also in his soul he was in a far more perfect state than that in which we enter into this world. He was not only free from all guilt and all the consequences of sin, but his soul was adorned with supernatural gifts of grace and virtue, which made him pleasing in the sight of God, and capable of enjoying hereafter the Beatific Vision in heaven. Besides sanctifying grace, he also received abundance of actual graces, to see and to know the will of God, and to enable him to fulfil it. But this state of innocence and

joy was not of long duration. The devil was jealous at beholding so much happiness, and assuming the form of the serpent, the most "subtle of all the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made," he tempted Eve to transgress the commandment which God had given them: "And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold; and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who also did eat" (Gen. iii. 6). "Thus sin entered into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon all men" (Rom. v. 12).

After the sin of our first parents God might have dealt with them as He had already done with the rebel angels: but out of His infinite goodness and loving-kindness He was pleased to show mercy, and to give them an opportunity of repentance. It is true they were banished from Paradise, and subjected to the ills of our suffering humanity, but they were not hopelessly condemned like the angels. It is true that no acts of repentance of which they were capable would suffice to restore them to the friendship of God; but a future Redeemer was promised, by whose merits mankind might recover their lost innocence, and their title to the kingdom of heaven. The terrible words in which God denounced upon them their punishment were even preceded by the promise, that from the seed of the woman one would come who should crush the serpent's head (Gen. iii. 15). As after the Fall no one could be saved except through the merits of Jesus Christ, the coming of a future Redeemer was at once made known, in order that by faith in Him, and by the union of their actions with His merits and satisfaction, all might have the means of salvation.

A further account of the state of original justice, and of the effects of Adam's sin, is reserved till the explanation of the tenth Article. It belongs to the historical division of religious instruction to treat of the condition of our first parents and of their descendants after the Fall, and to trace the types, and figures, and prophecies, by which the faith in a Redeemer to come was kept alive, and by which mankind were prepared to recognise Him in Jesus Christ, the second person of the most adorable Trinity made man for us.

CHAP. XII.

Second Article: "And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord." HAVING expressed our faith in God the Father, the first Person, we come next to speak of the second Person, of His consubstantiality and equality with the Father, according to His Divine nature, of His incarnation and birth into this world, and of His sufferings and death on the cross for our redemption and salvation.

The second Person of the Blessed Trinity is spoken of in the sacred Scripture as the Son of God, as the Eternal Word or Wisdom of the Father, and as the Messias. But after He was made man to redeem and save us, the name which is most commonly applied to Him is Jesus Christ. This holy name expresses the office which our Lord has taken upon Himself in relation to us; for the name 'Jesus,' which the angel brought from heaven, when he came to announce the mystery of the Incarnation to our Blessed Lady, and to solicit her consent to its fulfilment, signifies Saviour: "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb; and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus" (St. Luke i. 31). The meaning of this name is fully expressed in the words which the angel addressed unto St. Joseph: "Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins" (St. Matt. i. 21). As we are redeemed and saved through our Lord's most pre

cious blood, the name Jesus, or Saviour, was appropriately given to Him on the day of His circumcision, when He first began to shed His blood for us: "After eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, His name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb" (St. Luke ii. 21).

The word 'Christ,' which signifies anointed or consecrated, is also applied unto God the Son made man for us, because He is our King, Priest, and Prophet; and such in the old law received a special anointing or consecration to show that they were set apart, in a special manner, for the dignity and office to which they were called. By redeeming us from sin and the power of the evil one, Jesus Christ has acquired a new title to reign over us. We who were already His by creation are now His by purchase; we doubly belong to Him, because, after creating us, He has also paid the price of our ransom. He is a Priest, in having once offered Himself a sacrifice for us on the Cross, and continuing daily to offer Himself by the ministry of His priests in the Mass. He is also a Prophet in the twofold sense of the word, namely, as being our teacher and instructor in things which relate to God, and likewise as foretelling things to come. But if our Lord is called 'Anointed,' it is not by human hand, nor with material oil, that He received His consecration, but by the command of God in testimony of His super-eminent dignity and office. He was spiritually anointed by the power of the Holy Ghost, who poured out upon Him the richest abundance of divine grace. "He is so much better than the angels," says St. Paul, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they.' For to "angels indeed He saith, He that maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. But to His Son, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows" (Heb. i.).

The name Jesus,' which is emphatically called holy, is entitled to a special reverence above what is given