And what is

Why does He

and feeble desire. The greater desire is always with the more perfect the greatest is with Him in whom no imperfection can be. the source of this divine longing? desire us to eat this Passover with Him? It is because He desires our faith and love, our repentance and obedience, our presence at the paschal feast in the kingdom of God. His "delights are with the sons of men," therefore He surrounds Himself with His friends, and so fulfils His promise: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." The first moving cause of this divine desire is that He may pour forth His blessings of power and grace upon us. The law of the Divine love is to overflow upon the creation of God. The eternal fountain sheds abroad its fulness on all orders of His works. His love is the first and the last." It moved Him to create all worlds; to redeem us by the gift of Himself; to regenerate us by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit. The same love moved the Word to be made flesh, and to suffer for our sins. It was the source of this strong desire on His night of agony; it is now the spring from which life, healing, cleansing, illumination, solace, strength, and bliss flow down upon His Church. When we draw near to Him at the altar, He sees our wounds, our weakness, our infirmities; He sees our needs,

and our strong desires, and it is His joy to heal, strengthen, and save.

Let us now see in particular what are His intentions and acts of grace to all His faithful servants in this feast of redemption.

1. First, He desires to apply to us the benefits of His passion. The sacrifice upon the cross, which is of infinite worth to redeem all mankind, is made salvation unto each of us, as it is applied to us one by one. It is no more in our power to apply it to ourselves than to redeem ourselves. The application of the blood of Christ is an act of His sovereign grace. It is applied to us first in the laver of baptism; but its cleansing needs to be perpetually renewed, that the sins of our frail and evil will may be perpetually washed away. We stand before God in virtue of that one sacrifice, and by that alone. Therefore in the eating of the true Lamb of atonement, our compassionate and loving High Priest applies the sacrifice of His death for our perfect pardon. He desires to absolve us by the power of His atoning oblation, and to present us in Himself without spot unto His Father. No sinner hopes to be forgiven so as He thirsts to forgive. To pardon is even more blissful than to create. To draw us to the foot of the cross, to sprinkle us with His own divine blood, to unite us to His own sacrifice, this is His desire.

Who, then, when He calls will go away unforgiven? who can fear to come?

2. And again, He desires to give Himself to be our spiritual food. It was His delight to give Himself in our stead; to leave His kingdom, His glory, His eternal joy, to make Himself poor, outcast, and ashamed. He humbled Himself to be a servant, to be made in the likeness of men, to obey and to die, and that upon the cross, and all for us. But as if this were not enough, He has humbled Himself to be for ever our spiritual sustenance; He comes to us, "that we may dwell in Him, and He in us.' He has "compassion on the multitude," toiling onward to the heavenly country, and gives them to eat in the wilderness, lest "they faint by the way." It is His delight to work this divine miracle, not in the mountain or by the sea alone, but in all the world, and in all ages, upon every altar feeding every hungry soul with Himself. With desire He desires to see the thousands that follow throng about Him for the bread of life, and to satisfy them.

دو

3. And lastly, He desires to make us, even now in this life, behold His love. Love pent up withers away; but Divine love cannot be straitened it is like the light of heaven, which pours down in floods upon the earth. He is God, and God is love; and the bliss of God is to shew His

love to all His works. As He gathered round Him the twelve and the more favoured three; as He cherished the disciple beloved above all; as He delighted to shew His love to "Martha and her sister and Lazarus ;" as the trembling, the brokenhearted, and the penitent, came to Him upon earth, and He made them conscious of His compassion; so He desires us to approach Him now in the Sacrament of His death, that He may give us the inward pledges and perceptions of His love. We know how among friends the interchange of mutual love is sweet, and how they who love most have most joy in making their love felt. What we call tenderness is the desire love has to cherish its object with endearment. Dare we ascend from things of earth to things of heaven? Was it not for this that the Son of God, who was in heaven, came down to earth? Incarnation, but God with a love not alone Our Redeemer is not only very God, but very man in all the truth of our humanity. And His human affections follow the laws of our perfect manhood. With desire He invites us to Himself, that He may shew to our intimate consciousness the personal love which moved Him to give Himself, with full intention, for each several soul.

VOL. IV.

What is the mystery of the loving and cherishing man

divine, but also human?

S

And now, from all that has been said, let us learn one great and searching truth.

Above all other motives for drawing near to the holy Sacrament of His body and blood, this is the first and chiefest: because He desires to eat this feast of love with us.

O cold and constrained hearts, who draw near only because He has commanded. O close and calculating souls, who come because it is for their advantage. Hard and perishing are they who have cause to be afraid to come; unbelieving and ungrateful, who, without cause, turn their backs upon His desire. On earth, "He was despised So is He now. "And we

and rejected of men." hide, as it were, our faces from Him." He stands upbraiding with tones of love: "O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against Me:" "All the day long have I stretched out My hands:" "How often would I.... but ye would not" "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." If any dying friend, in the night of his last agony, should say, "Day by day kneel down at noon and remember me," love would constrain us to fulfil it. The known desire of one loved and departed is among the most powerful and persuasive motives.

1 Micah vi. 3; Rom. x. 21; St. Matt. xiii. 37; St. John v. 40.