watchfulness, as that then we may be able to give a good account of our stewardship; holy love, or charity, duly exercised, bring the grace which shall give us joy, and be our life in God, Who is love itself, without end or measure.

Our Saviour, in the Gospel, assures us of comfort and encouragement amidst our present duties and difficulties; and the Lessons, directing and warning the Israelites in the wilderness, before they came to their rest and inheritance, stir us up to reflect that our life in this world is a state of toil and travel, but leading to a heavenly rest and happy home. The Evening Lesson warns us to walk carefully in the mean time, that we may not be seduced by the vanities of the world, and the temptation of its pleasures, which flatter and feed the "fleshly lusts" of the body, but weaken faith and kill the soul. The Holy Ghost the Comforter, for Whom we now pray, is that Spirit "Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." While in the world, therefore, we must not be of it; but while we lawfully use the things of it, we must not abuse them, nor set our hearts upon them, but love and seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

The week before Whit-Sunday has been called EXPECTATION-WEEK; from the expectant state of our Lord's disciples between the time of His leaving them and sending the Holy Ghost to enlighten and comfort them. "Tarry ye," He said, "in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be indued with power from on high" (St. Luke xxiv. 49). The Church, therefore, preparing to celebrate the high

festival which crowns and closes all the rest, justly expects that her children shall make diligent search into the state of their souls, and see that they be well disposed to receive the Holy Ghost, Who dwells in the humble and contrite heart, that is kept pure and clear, but will not abide when iniquity cometh in. Although, then, the wise must always be provided with oil, and their lamps be kept burning; yet when they expect special visits of the Bridegroom of their souls, Who said, "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you" (and with Whom the Father and the Holy Ghost always come, the Three being inseparably One), they ought to trim their lamps, and have them brightly burning. This they must do, by using and exercising special offices of preparation, suitable to the plain and wise directions which the Church gives in her exhortations before the Holy Communion. These are shortly, but very clearly and fully, summed up in the last answer of her Catechism, in which, supposing the person to be well taught already in the nature and end of the Divine Institution, she tells us what is required of those who would receive it worthily, as the commemoration of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and sacrament of His Body and Blood, for the application of all the benefits, which He by His precious blood-shedding bought for us. But such careful and special exercises at particular times are meant to make us constantly careful to live at all times, so as to be ever devoutly and religiously disposed to go to the altar at every possible opportunity, with good hope of being accepted by God, through our Saviour's

mercy. A holy life is that constant preparation to which our Baptism binds us; in which we promised and vowed to keep God's holy will and commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of our life. So shall we be continually ascending after our Saviour, and be prepared to celebrate an eternal festival of heavenly joy and glorious immortality!

"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting: and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."-Acts ii. 2, 3.

WHEN God of old came down from heaven,

In power and wrath He came;

Before His feet the clouds were riven,

Half darkness and half flame.

Around the trembling mountain's base
The prostrate people lay;

A day of wrath and not of

A dim and dreadful day.

grace

But when He came the second time,
He came in power and love;
Softer than gale at morning prime

Hover'd His holy Dove.

The fires that rush'd on Sinai down
In sudden torrents dread,

Now gently light, a glorious crown,
On every sainted head.

Like arrows went those lightnings forth,
Wing'd with the sinner's doom;
But these, like tongues, o'er all the earth
Proclaiming life to come.

And as on Israel's awe-struck ear
The voice exceeding loud,
The trump the Angels quake to hear,
Thrill'd from the deep, dark cloud;

So, when the Spirit of our God
Came down His flock to find,

A voice from heaven was heard abroad,
A rushing mighty wind.

Nor doth the outward ear alone

At that high warning start;
Conscience gives back the appalling tone,
'Tis echoed in the heart.

It fills the Church of God; it fills
The sinful world around:
Only in stubborn hearts and wills
No place for it is found.

To other strains our souls are set:
A giddy whirl of sin

Fills ear and brain, and will not let

Heaven's harmonies come in.

Come, Lord; come, Wisdom, Love, and Power,
Open our ears to hear;

Let us not miss th' accepted hour,

Save, Lord, by love or fear.

"He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness; as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."-Is. lxi. 10.

It is not uncommon in Scripture, as all readers must observe, to represent the especial gift of the

B B