SYMPATHY A NOTE OF THE CHURCH. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, vi. 3. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.-St. John ON MIXING IN THE WORLD, AND ITS SAFEGUARDS. John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devik. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through 220 239 DEVOTION POSSIBLE IN THE BUSIEST LIFE. And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while for there were PRAYER A MARK OF TRUE HOLINESS. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went SHORT DEVOTIONS A HINDRANCE TO PRAYER. And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.-St. Matthew xviii. 21, 22. . 361 SUCH is the Catholic Faith touching the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ-a doctrine defined by the Holy Ghost, and declared by the beloved disciple; such was the prophecy of Isaiah" Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel;" such was the salutation of the angel Gabriel" Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God:" such is the witness of the apostles-"God was manifest in 1 Isa. vii. 14. B* 2 St. Luke i. 28, 35. the flesh." Again-" In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." So the Church confesses: "For the right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man; God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man, of the substance of His mother, born in the world: perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting: equal to the Father as touching His Godhead; and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood who although He be God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ: one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God: one altogether; not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person; for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ." Now, in this mystery there are two cardinal points the one, the integrity of the two natures; the other, the unity of the one person. The Word which is the Eternal Son, begotten from everlasting, the very and Eternal God, of one substance with the Father, having in Himself all the attributes, powers, and perfections of the Divine nature-without ceasing to be God was made man, of the substance of flesh and blood, 2 Col. ii. 9. 1 1 Tim. iii. 16. and took to Himself our nature, with all its endowments and properties of soul and body; "so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man." Wherefore"God was in Christ," not as when He appeared in angelic forms to Abraham and to Israel; nor as He was in the prophets by vision and revelation; nor as He is in us by presence and fellowship; but the man Jesus Christ Himself was God. They that saw Him saw God; they that spake with Him spake with God; they whom He touched and breathed upon, felt the touch and the breath of God. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." 991 Such is this great mystery, which we can hardly enunciate, and having enunciated can do 1 1 St. John i. 1-3. |