Believe me, dear child, if we would pass contentedly through our pilgrimage, we must keep the hope of arriving at our true Home ever before our eyes, else we shall continually be halting. God calls us to Him, and He watches us as we go, and allows nothing to happen save what is for our real good; He knows what we are, and when we come to rough places He will always uphold us with His Fatherly Hand, so that we be not hindered. But to correspond to this grace,

we need an absolute trust in Him.

Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear; rather look to them with full hope that as they arise, God, Whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He has kept you hitherto, do you but hold fast to His Dear Hand, and He will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand, He will bear you in His Arms. What need you fear, my child, remembering that you are God's, and that He has said, "All things work together for good to them that love Him." Do not look forward to what may happen to-morrow; the same Everlasting Father Who cares for you to-day, will take care of you to-morrow, and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then; put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart hath

I

trusted in Him, and I am helped." He is not only with me, but in me, and I in Him.

What can a child fear, surrounded by such a Father's Arms? Be truly as a child, my daughter. You know children do not trouble themselves with looking forward; they leave that to others, and are perfectly content so long as they are near their father. · Do this, my dear child, and you will be at rest. Amen.

It is quite true that Holy Scripture contains fully and clearly all doctrines necessary to salvation; we do not doubt it. It is also true that it is very useful to interpret Holy Scripture by comparing passages together, and bringing the whole into an analysis of doctrine. But I must always believe and affirm that, notwithstanding the admirable perspicuity of Holy Scripture in all things necessary to our salvation, the human mind does not always find its right meaning, but is liable to err, and practically does very often err in interpreting passages which are of great importance to Ps. xxviii. 7.

the confirmation of the Faith. Witness the Lutheran and Calvinistic writers; they, though leaders of the so-called Reformation, are involved in irreconcilable differences as to the meaning of the words of institution of the Holy Eucharist; and while each side. maintains that they have diligently and faithfully studied the sense of those words, taking them with the context of Holy Scripture generally, and comparing the whole with the analogy of Faith, nevertheless they come to very different conclusions. The Word of God is clear enough, but our human minds are cloudy, and, like bats, cannot face the light.

The method of which we speak is good, but our human minds are not able to use it. It is the Holy Spirit of God Who has given us the Scriptures; the same Holy Spirit opens their true meaning to us, and that only through the Church, which is the temple and pillar of Truth: the Church, by whose means the Holy Spirit has kept and preserved the true letter of Scripture; the Church, which alone has the gift of the Spirit of Truth to interpret it. And therefore he who would seek the real meaning of that Heavenly Word, apart from its guardian the Church, will never find it; he who would seek it independently of her, finds a vain delusion instead of the truth; he is misled by the evil one, who knows how to transform himself into the appearance of an angel of light. It

was this which all the heretics of old did, pretending to a better interpretation of Holy Scripture than that taught by the Church, to whom her Crucified Spouse has committed the precious trust. This, sir, is in substance what the Fathers have ever taught.

TO MADAME DE CHANTAL.
ON SELF-RENUNCIATION.

Aug. 9, 1619.

OH, Dear Lord, what a blessing and consolation it is to me to see our Mother thus renouncing herself before Thee! I have long felt the most intense sweetness when I sing the response in the holy office, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord." I How blessed it must have been to S. Joseph and the Holy Virgin as they journeyed towards Egypt, to see nothing save their gentle Jesus! The object of the Transfiguration, my dear Mother, is to see neither Moses nor Elias, nought save Jesus Christ. And the delight of the Bride is to be alone with her King, to say, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." • 2 Cant. ii. 16.

1 Job, i. 21,

We must strive to be stripped of all things, and to let our affections be so wholly and solely united to God that nothing may cling to us as of ourselves. Joseph was very happy in wearing his robe so loosely, that when sin seized and would have held him by it, he left it behind him and fled.'

I stand in wondering love before the Saviour of our souls, Who came forth naked from His Mother's womb, and, dying naked on the Cross, was once more laid in her lap to be made ready for His burial. I ponder that Mother's readiness to despoil herself of all things, even of her Son, "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord." Yes, dear Mother, I bless the Lord, Who has stripped you. My heart rejoices to see you in so hopeful a state, and with Isaiah I say, “Walk naked and barefoot before the Lord;" do not heed making acts of devotion unless they arise within your heart; be content to say, "Naked came I forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither." Do not constrain yourself, but go, as you determined yesterday; "hearken and incline thine ear, forget also thine own people, and thy father's house,' "2" SO shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty,”-in your simple self-renunciation. Abide therein, and ask no more. Amen.