have me to do?" He trembles for the consequences of his sin, he is astonished at the mercy of GOD. He offers himself body and soul to GOD to do with him as He wills. He does not wait, like the blind man of the Gospel, to be asked what GOD should do for him, but he offers to do all for GOD. He gives it up to GOD. Thou have me to do? Thine be done. In that one sentence is summed up the whole effect of conversion. This was the germ, the bud which should bring forth such rich fruit. Now was Saul indeed becoming Paul an Apostle of JESUS CHRIST!

He has no will. LORD, what wilt Not my will but

The Prayer.

O GOD, Wonderful and All-powerful! Who didst cause Thine Apostle S. Paul to be a chosen vessel of Thy Grace, instead of a persecutor of Thy Church, Who didst inflame him with such unwearied love of souls, and such burning zeal, that from being of the straitest sect of the Pharisees, he was made all things

unto all men, to save and not to destroy: We pray Thee pour out Thy Grace upon our hearts, that we may always and immediately obey Thy holy inspirations, and by our fervent love atone for the coldness of our past lives: Grant, O LORD, that, through the Example, and the intercession of this Thine Apostle, we may henceforward, by the following in CHRIST'S Footsteps, so live that CHRIST may live in us: grant that we may never fear anything but that which may separate us from the Love of CHRIST: with Whom, and the HOLY GHOST, Thou livest and reignest One GOD, world without end. Amen.

VIGIL OF THE PURIFICATION. XII. On the History of the Purification. Ps. cxvi. 11, 12, 13.- "What reward shall I give

unto the LORD for all the benefits He hath done unto me? I will receive the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the LORD. I will pay my vows now in the presence of all His people." It is exactly forty days since Christmas, forty days since our Blessed LORD was

"born of the Virgin Mary." And according to the Law, forty days after the birth of a male child, every Jewish mother was obliged to come into the Temple for her Purification, and to make certain offerings, and to present her child to the LORD, and to buy him back or redeem him, being a first-born, for a certain sum of money. So on this day Mary brought the Blessed Child to the Temple. But the Law did not apply in this case either to her or to Him. She needed no Purification. She was as pure a Virgin after as before His Birth, and so she ever remained. In His Conception, and in His Birth she was without stain or defilement. He was not conceived according to the ordinary course of nature, but by the operation of the HOLY GHOST, and in a miraculous manner. No price needed to be paid for Him, for He came to be the Redeemer, and to pay the price, and to be the ransom for the sins of the whole world. Much of this, we may believe, Mary knew, and if we think for a moment, we shall not wonder so much

at her thankfulness, as at her marvellous humility and meekness. Here Mary was on this day bringing into the Temple of the LORD, the LORD of that Temple: here she was fulfilling prophecies uttered hundreds of years before: here she was offering sacrifices for Him Who came to be the One Sacrifice for the sins of all: here she was, brought into the closest and most immediate connection with Him to Whom all past ages had looked forward, and all future ages should look back-the Centre of Eternity!

And that little Child! The Presence of that little Infant Child, the Presence of that Child Whom she carried so tenderly, so lovingly, so reverently in her arms, what did it? Why this! There were two Temples. In the first were some remarkable, some wonderful things which were wanting in the second: in the first were the Ark of the Covenant, the Schechinah or visible Divine Presence, the Urim and Thummim, the Holy Fire on the Altar, the Spirit of Prophecy

these were not in the second, but

yet in the Second Temple, the Presence of this little Child JESUS fulfilled all these in His Own Person, as the GOD-child, and made the glory of this latter house greater than that of the former: and Mary bore Him in her arms by Whom this latter house was filled with glory.

Then again, Mary to-day seems the object of congratulation to persons of all ages, of both sexes, of every condition of life, and all seem to cluster round the Birth and Presentation of the Holy Babe. The Virgin brings Him forth and presents Him, the just man Joseph assists in His Presentation: the barren wife Elizabeth is fruitful: the priest Zacharias becomes the father of the infant John the Baptist, the future ascetic: Angels foretel His Birth: Gentile kings adore Him with their rich gifts: the Jew shepherds in their poverty flock to Him: the aged Simeon takes Him into his arms: the holy widow Anna, spending her days in fasting and prayer, could not but see