THE SHIP AND THE WAVES.

(From S. Augustine.)

THE lesson of the Gospel we have just heard is a lesson of humility, that we may see and know where we are, and whither we must go, and hasten. For not without its meaning is that ship which carries the disciples, and was tossed on the waves by contrary winds. Not without a purpose did our LORD, after He had left the multitudes, go up into a mountain to pray alone; and then coming to His disciples found them in peril, walking on the sea, and entering the ship, comforted them, and calmed the waves. But what wonder that He who created all things can appease them? Nevertheless, when He had entered the ship, they who were in her, approached Him and said: "Of a truth Thou art the SON of GOD." But before this evident manifestation of Himself, they were afraid, and said: "It is a vision." But He entering into the ship, took away the perturbation of their minds from their hearts, when they were now in greater peril in their souls, because of their doubts, than they were before in their bodies by reason of the waves.

Now in these actions of our LORD He instructs us as to the nature of our life in this world. Here there is not one who is not a stranger; though all long not to return to their own country. By this very journey we are exposed to waves and storms; but yet we must at least be in the ship. For if there be danger in the ship, without it is certain destruction. For whatever strength of arm he may possess who swims in the open sea, he is in time carried away, and sinks, overcome by the greatness of the waves. Needful is it that we be in the ship, that we be carried on the wood, that so we may be able to cross the sea. Now this wood, in which our weakness is carried, is the Cross of the LORD, by which we are signed, and delivered from the dangerous storms of this world. We are exposed to the violence of the waves; but it is God that helpeth us.

For when our LORD had left the multitude, He went up alone into a mountain to pray; that mountain signifies the height of heaven. For having left the multitudes, our LORD after His Resurrection ascended alone into heaven, and there, as the Apostle says, He maketh intercession for us. There is a meaning then in His leaving multitudes, and going up into a mountain to pray alone. For as yet He alone is the first-begotten from the dead, after the Resurrection of His Body, unto the right hand of the FATHER; the High Priest, and advocate of our prayers. Head of the Church is above, that the rest of the members may follow at length. If then He maketh intercession for us, above

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the height of all creatures, as on the mountain top, He prayeth alone.

Meanwhile, the ship which carries the disciples, i.e., the Church, is tossed and shaken by the tempests of temptations; and the contrary wind, i.e., the devil, her adversary, rests not, and is ever striving to prevent her attaining unto rest. But greater is He Who maketh intercession for us. For in this our continued tossing hither and thither, He gives us confidence by coming unto, and strengthening us; only let us not in our trouble cast ourselves out of the ship, and throw ourselves into the sea. For though the ship be in trouble, still it is the ship. She alone carries the disciples, and receiveth CHRIST. There is peril, indeed, in the ship, but without the ship there is instant death. Keep thyself therefore in the ship, and pray to GoD. For when all advice fails, when even the rudder is useless, and the spreading of the sails dangerous rather than serviceable, when all human help and strength are gone, sailors then can only have recourse to the earnest cry of supplication, and the utterance of prayer to GOD. Shall He then, Who permits sailors to reach the haven, so forsake His own Church, as not to bring it on to rest?

Yet, brethren, this great distress is not in the ship, except when the LORD is absent. What! can he, who is in the Church, have his LORD absent from him. When has he his LORD absent from him? When he is overcome by any lust. For, as we find it figuratively said in a certain place: "Let not the sun go down upon thy wrath: neither give place to the devil;" and this meaneth not that visible sun, which holds, as it were, the height of glory among the rest of the visible creation, and which can be seen both by us, and the beasts; but that Light, which none but the pure hearts of the faithful see; as it is written, "That was the true light, which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." For this light of the visible sun lighteneth even the smallest animals. Righteousness then, and wisdom, are that true light, which the mind faileth to see, when it is overcome by anger, as by a cloud; and then the sun, as it were, goes down upon a man's wrath. So also in this ship, when CHRIST is absent, every one is shaken by his own storms, and iniquities, and wicked desires. As, for instance, the law tells them, "Thou shalt not bear false witness." If thou observe the truth of witness, thou hast light in the soul; but if overcome by desire of filthy men, thou hast determined in thy mind to speak falsely, thou wilt at once begin to be troubled by the tempest, because of CHRIST's absence; thou wilt be tossed hither and thither by the waves of covetousness; thou wilt be imperilled by the violent storm of thy lusts, and, as it were, through CHRIST'S absence, be well nigh sunk.

What reason for fear is there, that the ship will be turned from her course, and take a backward direction; which is the case, when

one casting aside the hope of heavenly rewards, desire taketh the helm, and a man is turned to those things which are seen, and pass away. For whosoever is troubled by the temptations of lusts, and yet looks into those things that are within, is not in so utterly hopeless a case, if he intreat pardon for his offences, and strive to overcome and master the anger of the raging waves. But whosoever is so turned aside from what he was, as to say in his heart, GOD does not see me, for He neither thinks of me, nor cares whether I sin, or not, hath turned the helm, carried away by the storm, and driven back whence he set out. For there are many thoughts in the hearts of men; and when CHRIST is absent, the ship is tossed by the waves of this world, and by countless tempests.

دو

Now the fourth watch of the night is the end of the night; for every watch consists of three hours. It meaneth then that now in the end of the world CHRIST is come, and is seen walking upon the waters. For thought his ship is tossed about by the storms of temptations, yet she beholds her glorified GoD walking above all the risings of the sea, i.e., above all the principalities of this world. For it was before said in the words of His Passion, when according to the flesh He gave an example of humility, that the waves of the sea raged against Him, to which He yielded of His own accord for our sakes, that the prophecy might be fulfilled-"I am come into the depths of the sea, and the floods overflow me.' For He drove not away the false witnesses, and the maddened shouts of those that said, "Let Him be crucified." He did not check by His power the fierce hearts, and words of those angry men, but in patience endured them all. They did unto Him whatever they pleased, because He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. But after He was risen from the dead, that He might pray alone for His disciples, who were in the Church as in a ship, and borne onwards in the faith of His Cross, as on wood, and were endangered by this world's temptations, as by the waves of the sea; His name began to be honoured even in this world in which He was despised, accused, and slain : that He Who by His suffering in the flesh, had come into the depths of the sea, and the floods had overwhelmed Him, might now, through the glory of His name, tread upon the necks of the proud, as upon the swollen waters. Just as now we see the LORD walking, as it were, upon the sea, and behold the whole madness of the world under His feet.

But the errors of heretics must be added also to the dangers of the tempests and there are those, who try the minds of those that are in the ship, by saying that CHRIST was not born of a Virgin; and had not a real body, but appeared to the eyes what He was not. And these notions of heretics have now sprung up at a time, when the name of CHRIST is honoured among all nations; when CHRIST, i.e., is, as it were, walking on the sea. The disciples in

their distress said, "It is a vision." But He gives us strength against these deadly opinions, by His own words-" Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid." For men in vain fear have entertained these opinions of CHRIST, looking at His honour and Majesty; and they think that He, Who deserved to be so glorified, could not thus be born, fearing Him, as it were, walking on the sea. For by this action the greatness of His honour is figured: and so they think that He was a phantom. But when He saith, “It is I," what else does He say, than that there is nothing in Him which does not really exist? Therefore, if He showeth His flesh, it is flesh; if bones, they are bones; if wounds, they are wounds. For as the Apostle says, "There was not in Him yea and nay, but in Him was yea." Hence the expression, “Be of good cheer; it is I, be not afraid." That is, be not overawed by My Majesty, as to desire to take away the reality of My Being from Me. Though I walk on the sea, and have under My feet the pomp and pride of the world, as the angry waves, yet I have appeared as very man, and My Gospel declareth the truth concerning Me, that I was born of a Virgin, and am the Word made flesh; that I said truly, Touch Me, and see, for a spirit hath not bones, as ye see Me have:' that they were the real prints of My wounds which the Apostles handled. Therefore it is I, be not afraid."

But the thought of the disciples, that He was a phantom, represents and points out not only those who say that our LORD had not human flesh, and who disturb even those who are in the ship; but those also who think that the LORD hath in any matter spoken falsely, and who do not believe that the things, with which He has threatened the ungodly, will come to pass: as if He were in part true, and in part false, appearing like a phantom in His words; as if He were yea and nay. They, however, who rightly understand His words, "It is I, be not afraid," believe all the words of the LORD, so that, hoping for the rewards He promises, they dread also the punishment which He threatens. For as that is true which He will say to those who are placed on His right hand, "Come, ye blessed of My FATHER, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" also is that which they on the left hand will hear, “Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

Faith is a tender plant, which grows up only with careful nurture. It is not called forth by indolently listening to sermons, or critically judging of the preacher's doctrine, but by labouring diligently day and night, by keeping down all sinful thoughts and desires, by much selfdenial, by contemplating the life and

death of JESUS as set forth in the services of the Church, by meditating on the deeds of holy men of old, by de vout participation in the ordinances and sacraments of the Church, which were mercifully prepared by our heavenly FATHER for this very purpose. -REV. W. GRESLEY.

MY AUNT NELLY'S PORTFOLIO.

(Continued from page 224.)

POOR dear little Willie could think of little else besides his godfather's beautiful present, and the terms of its acquisition. The desire to possess it haunted him all day and all night too, for when he was not thinking he was dreaming of it. Regularly every morning, while he was being dressed, he propounded it to the under nursery-maid, but invariably with a premonitory charge that she must not help him out with the solution: this Susan would gladly have done if she might, having her private reasons for wishing the affair brought to a speedy decision. In fact, her little charge had worn his pockets so threadbare with working his hands round and round them in the agony of guessing, that she found she had to mend them almost every evening.

But if Willie's cogitations did not promote their immediate object, they answered another good purpose by contributing greatly to the diversion of the family circle. Every morning, on his entrance into the breakfast room, he was sure to be greeted with a merry shout, and inquiries as to how he got on with his riddle. He had generally in reply some new guess to announce, but so diffuse and elaborate were his explanations, that, as "the critic" said of the interpreter, they were "the hardest of the two to guess. The first, if I remember rightly, was "papa's coat." But this seemed altogether a failure; for he had confounded the numerical order in regard to "the creature's legs," adopting the more natural sequence of one, two, three. viz., a coat-brusher with its one leg, papa with his two, and--but there Willie was brought up, for, with all his puzzling, he couldn't hit upon any piece of furniture of a tripod description except a milking stool, and that there was no managing but by the monstrous supposition that the dairy-maid had borrowed papa's coat to milk the cows in.

دو

"A turnip was the fruit of another day-and-night's hard thinking. That seemed more promising: there was the horse (an unquestionable quadruped) who brought the turnip from the field, the cook (an unquestionable biped) who pared and washed it, and the iron crock (an unexceptionable tripod) in which it was boiled. A turnip therefore, deny it who could, clearly fulfilled the conditions of the statute, only, as some unlucky caviller objected, "a turnip is not a living creature, any more than a coat when the wearer is out of it." A watch promised fairly but for the same objection, and also for the trifling discrepancy that its