that holy society now designated as the Catholic Church (for baptism had not as yet become necessary); and I am bound to acknowledge in them, my elder brethren, the earliest "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”*

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Oh what delight thrills my soul, as I muse over the lives and virtues of these holy Patriarchs! How I love to behold them, partaking beforehand, although less abundantly, in those blessings which I possess in their full reality; saluting the promises from afar," as the Apostle expresses it, and exulting in the hope of that day which was the object of their desires, but was destined to dawn in its fulness upon ourselves! How I love to reckon their merits as my own, in virtue of the family tie that links us in one; to participate in their intercessions, and to unite myself with them in the worship of that God to whom they rendered so pure a homage! True it is, the just now living on earth, together with the countless saints who, since the Gospel times, have passed into the heavens, offer a sufficient support to my weakness, and constitute for me a widespread and glorious Communion. But I would wish to enjoy the whole of my blessedness; and by taking into my account the ages that preceded Christ's coming, I seem to gain additional strength, and to multiply my spiritual resources. men, of whom the world was not worthy,‡-these men, to whom the Holy Scriptures give such illustrious titles, constitute a cloud of witnesses,"?

These

all testifying in favour of that Faith which I have received, and of that hope which lies nearest to my heart. They will assist me by their prayers in pursuing the path which they have trod before. I will invocate them frequently. I will ask from each of them that virtue for which he was most distinguished. "My father! my father!" I will exclaim, "the chariot of Israel, and the guider thereof!"* Thou whose prayer is a rampart and whole army to the people of God, support, sustain thy child who cries to thee. Be a chariot to bear him safe heavenward, and a guide to direct him on his way.

Yes! I desire and I firmly resolve from this time, to realize more fully in my daily life my communion with the Church of old. The true Catholic spirit embraces all places and all times; and to every one of the Faithful it belongs of right to say with David, "I am a partaker with all them that fear thee, and keep thy commandments."†

FOURTH MEDITATION.

The Church Universal begins in Abel

A question here occurs upon which I would desire briefly to touch.

The Church, viewed as the universal society of

the just, begins, as we have seen, with the earliest history of man. It is my joy to feel that so it is. But here I ask myself, to whom among all the just may we conceive to belong the eminent dignity of being first in this spiritual genealogy? For the fountain-head of our earthly existence we must go back to Adam; was it given to Adam also to begin the society of the saints? At first one would feel inclined to reply in the affirmative, and with some show of reason. That faith which Adam possessed before his fall still remained with him after it; and his rigorous lifelong penance, after eternal Wisdom had "brought him out of his sin,"* might seem to have restored him his claim to be viewed as our first spiritual

ancestor.

A

But no. He in whom we all died, must not inscribe his name at the head of the just. prerogative so high demands one who had never

stained his glory;" and the holy Fathers agree in designating Abel as first in the long line of the saints. "This blessed City," says St. Augustin, speaking of the Church, "originates in Abel, as the city of the wicked in Cain." +

Abel, we must remember, is distinguished in Holy Scripture as the first to honour God by sacrifices of Blood, opening thus a new access to the divine favours. "The Lord," we read in Genesis, "had respect to Abel and to his offerings."§ And, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice exceed

ing that of Cain, by which he obtained a testimony that he was just; God giving testimony to his gifts." So, too, again, Abel is distinguished above other Saints of the Old Testament by shedding his blood in the cause of religion, and by perseverance to the end in the holy state of chastity. Priesthood-Martyrdom-Virginityall these three are thus seen to unite, as a holy Doctor has remarked, in crowning this blessed Saint with glory, and making him the perfect image of that divine Redeemer who was to appear later on in the world's history. Magnificent and sublime destiny! To be the first progenitor of the saints-the head of the predestinate the first fruits of sanctity on earth-as our Lord Himself would seem to indicate where He traces the sufferings of His elect "from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias who was killed between the temple and the altar." +

Let us cherish a special devotion to Holy Abel. Holy Church seems to invite us to it, blending as she does his name and memorial with some of the most solemn moments of our life. Every time Mass is said, immediately after the Consecration, the Blessed remembrance of Abel and his accepted offering is pleaded before God; and again, when the Christian in his last agony is solemnly exhorted by the Church to offer up the sacrifice of his life in full resignation to the divine will, the name of Abel recurs in the Litany at the head of those few chosen saints, whom she invokes at that awful moment. O my soul, let not this tender + Matt. xxiii. 35.

Heb, xi. 4.

regard for blessed Abel, thus exhibited by thy holy Mother the Church, be lost sight of by thee. Learn, in the school of this lovely Saint, the science of self-sacrifice: so shall God "accept thine offering even as he accepted that of just Abel his servant." *

FIFTH MEDITATION.

Superiority of our privileges to those of the
ages before Christ.

The Church being designed to supply a home to the children of God, and be their support and safeguard through life's pilgrimage on their way to the better land, reason was there, O my God, that this Thy holy society should commence with the dawn of our race, and exist through all ages. I marvel not at this. I know that Thy bountifulness could never deny this aid to Thy elect, and that Thy elect can never fail from off the earth.

But what a difference between the spiritual privileges of that old time, and our own day! and how happy are we in belonging to an era in which the constitution of the Church offers such peculiar advantages. True it is, the ages that preceded our Lord's birth were not without their gifts of grace; but grace superabounds in those which

* Liturg.