come to your succour, and guide you; it may be, indeed, through much of this world's trial, to that blessed home where the Church shall rest for ever, where no temptation or opposition can force us away from the presence of Him in Whose Presence is life, and at Whose right hand there is joy for evermore, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.” G. R. P.

THOUGHTS FOR S. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY.

It is generally supposed that S. Bartholomew was the same person who is spoken of under the name of Nathaniel in S. John's Gospel, and who, from the simplicity of his character, procured such a high encomium from our Blessed LORD. There is also reason to believe that he was of noble birth, and that the contention among the disciples, which is recorded in the Gospel for the Festival, had its origin in a dispute which arose in consequence.

Assuming this, the first thing which will strike us as remarkable in S. Bartholomew's Day, is the admixture in the Apostolic body of the high and the low. The last Apostle whom our Church commemorated was a fisherman-the one whom she is now holding in honour, of gentle blood. Yet they are both equal in power and authority; there is no priestly, no Apostolic prerogative which S. James could not exercise as fully and as plenarily as S. Bartholomew. Birth has no more especial honour in the Church of CHRIST than wealth.

As then S. Barnabas teaches a lesson to the rich, so does S. Bartholomew to the noble. The former sold his broad lands, laid the price at the Apostles' feet, and became an Apostle himself. The latter suffered not the accident of his birth, or the prejudices of his class and education to keep him from acknowledging the claims of the lowly JESUS of Nazareth as Messiah, and joining the humble band of brethren, who who were called to the office and work of the Apostolate.

Now we are, I think, taught this lesson to-day; that the Church is a home for all persons of all classes, and all ranks. There is no order of society which is excluded from it,—“The rich and the poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all." If we look down the list of its worthies, or examine the annals of its saints, we shall find some of every degree enrolled therein. There is Bartholomew for men of birth, while the low-born may be encouraged by Matthew the publican; S. Barnabas represents the wealthy, and S. Andrew

those who earn their daily bread in the sweat of their brow. The single may set before them S. John; the married, Zacharias and Elizabeth; children, Samuel; young men, Timothy; the aged, Simeon and Anna; physicians, S. Luke; lawyers, Zenas; the learned, S. Paul; the ignorant, S. Peter. There is no condition of life in which the Saints do not furnish an example; and when we contemplate the variety of graces displayed in His elect, we the better understand our LORD's words, I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me."

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And next we may learn from S. Bartholomew's Day, the manner in which the Church of CHRIST levels all ranks and social distinctions. I do not of course mean this in the bad sense in which the world uses these words-but that in the Church of CHRIST all men are-in things which belong to the Church-equal.

And the reason is this-that the Church is an institution for the recovery of mankind from terrible evils which have enveloped all classes alike. All men are sinners, and in the Church there is provision made for the restoration of sinners, in one way, and one way alone. Hence it follows that here at least all are equal. High lineage, hereditary possessions, accumulated treasures, exalted position, "the wealth of Ormus or of Ind," or untarnished descent through successive generations from the noblest and the haughtiest families of the land-not one of these will avail in any respect for the remission of sin. And on the other hand, the basest, most degraded poverty, the most tattered rags, the most squalid misery, even Lazarus' wretched lot-none of these are any obstacle whatever to the removal of that foul disease of sin.

There is, as I said, only one way whereby all may be restored, viz., union with CHRIST, through His blessed Sacraments; and these do not vary in their efficacy according to the social positions of individual recipients. They teach continually by a never ceasing witness, that in the sight of the common GOD and FATHER of all, all men are equal.

We might have seen a living illustration of this some time ago in one of our metropolitan Churches, whose faithful Priest has alas! fallen a sacrifice to the popular fury. There his custom was when any of the great ones of the land brought their offspring to the font of regeneration, to place side by side with them some of his more humble parishioners and their children, and thus to teach the great truth that the Sacraments were for all; that the young noble, though clad in costly robes and born to wealth and honour, was in the sight of GOD as far by his natural birth from the Kingdom of Heaven as the child of the peasant or artisan, whose only covering might be the rags of

poverty, whose only prospect a hard life of drudgery; and that the waters of Baptism cleansed the one as much as the other from the foul taint of original sin.

But though this may not be brought forward every where in the same prominent manner, yet every holy service, every baptism, every confirmation, every absolution, every holy oblation, every communion, every benediction bears testimony to the same great verity, that there is one place where earth-born distinctions of birth, and wealth, and rank are laid aside, and that place is the "Church of the Living GOD."

S. Bartholomew's Day may also serve to remind us how in the Christian ministry especially, such distinctions cease. Side by side with noble Bartholomew appears the fisherman and the son of a fisherman, Andrew. First, too, of the illustrious twelve stands the fisherman Peter. Thus the high birth of our Saint secures for him no especial privilege as an Apostle of CHRIST. The poorest and most ignoble of that sacred band could bind and loose, remit and retain sins, baptize, confirm, preach, and offer the Christian Sacrifice. The noblest born could do no more. Bartholomew could execute no more offices than Andrew; Andrew as many as Bartholomew.

And this law has passed into the Church. Every one upon whom the Bishop lays his hands and over whom he invokes the HOLY GHOST, becomes that instant a Priest of the Most High. It matters not who he be-the proudest noble or the meanest serf-he is made a Priest with all its accompanying powers and responsibilities, blessings and dangers. There is no distinction; nor in the eyes of the Church is there any other qualification for those who are to bear rule over her members, than that they should be devout, sincere, earnest, zealous, and penetrated with a sincere love of CHRIST and of the flock which He purchased with His Blood.

And thus it came to pass, that former days especially (nor is the sight altogether unseen in our own) witnessed the elevation to the very highest posts, of men sprung from the "lowest of the people," equally with those of high descent and lofty position.

Should then any of the high-born of our land cast their eyes over these poor pages, let them remember that S. Bartholomew's Day has a special message to them; that it speaks of one who, like themselves, could boast of noble blood, but who, at his LORD'S bidding, abandoned all its advantages, that he might become a member of a little despised band, none of whom had anything in this world whereof they could boast. Let them remember, that their birth is a gift of GOD, a talent for which they must give account, and one which may turn to the furtherance of the

Gospel of CHRIST, if they sign it as S. Bartholomew did with the sign of the Cross. They may not be called in God's providence to be Priests as he was; but they may further the cause of CHRIST and His Church, by using their influence aright, by dedicating it to His glory, and by witnessing to Him in the daily actions of their life.

But more especially would S. Bartholomew's Day seem to say to such persons, "Remember, however exalted you may be above your brethren in the world, they are your equals in the Church. Your birth, your station, your wealth cannot procure you a single additional grace, or give you any claim to special favour in the Court of Heaven, whatever it may do in the courts of earth. The Sacraments are the same to you and to the meanest of your dependants; the same in power and superhuman efficacy. Your worldly position of itself gives you no rank in the Church. If called to the Priesthood, you have no greater privilege than the basest born. The Church does not reject high birth and lofty honour from her service; but as if to show how little she accounts it, she celebrated last the fisherman James, and will celebrate next the publican Matthew with honours equal in all respects to those with which now she celebrates Bartholomew the noble-born."

May there not then be a lesson even in the position of S. Bartholomew's Day, to teach us how impartially the Church looks at men and things?

And should, (as is more likely,) those who cannot boast of illustrious ancestry, read these pages, let them bear in mind that though in all that relates to spiritual things all men are equal, they are not so in temporal matters. In affairs of this world, GOD has constituted different ranks of society; and birth, position, and family have advantages which are their right, and of which to attempt to deprive their possessors would be sin.

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Our rule must be "honour to whom honour"- to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters." Let us not sneer at or decry in others that which we may not possess ourselves, but render to every man his due, and learn from S. Bartholomew's Day that GOD's gifts are not confined to any one class or portion of the community, but that the Gospel can point to the rich and noble of this world, as well as to the poor and the lowly, who illustrate its graces, and are numbered amongst the elect.

J. B.

PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE.

PEOPLE were ordered in the law of Moses to offer unto the LORD according to their rank and substance. If Mary, the mother of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, could not afford the cost of a lamb, the offering of the rich, she gave what was less costly, a pair of young pigeons, not, we may be sure, because she was niggardly in her gifts to GOD, but because, as the LORD knew, it was all she could afford. She had little to give, like her of the one mite in the Gospel; but then she gave it with all her heart, not grudgingly, nor of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. If Mary then was lowly in station, and she was poor, as likewise was the Son of the Most High GOD, when He was in the flesh; hence it is plain, that in God's estimation, riches are not necessary for His beloved. The best and holiest have not had them: He Who now sits on the right hand of GoD, in glorious majesty, He Who made and now sustains the world, He Who lighteth the sun and moon and stars, He Who controlleth the winds and the sea, He Who as a Judge with all power, wisdom and justice, will save or destroy at pleasure, those who shall have rolled in wealth, He Himself had no money, no lands, no equipages, no servants during the three and thirty years He lived on earth. During all that time He lived in the extreme of poverty, and He had not where to lay His head. If Mary, the chosen mother of GoD the Most High, was of small note in Judah, the Apostles had little of this world's wealth, "in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness," thus they spent their life: let the poor man then think of his LORD and be comforted; in his trials, and they are many; in his hunger, in his thirst, in his want of clothes or fuel, in his want of money to get even the necessaries of life, let him think of the holy ones who are gone, and say, "I believe in the Communion of Saints. I believe, that as I am now in the same state and condition with them, if I can only receive it with the same patient meekness, and love and joy as they did, I shall, through CHRIST'S mercy and loving kindness, be glorified together with them." This thought alone will bring true joy to the breast-not the longing eagerly for those things which God has not given us, which perhaps He never intends for us, and which if given, might bring about our ruin-not the hating or envying those persons who are above us, and who have been placed in the position which they fill by the same God; but if we see that CHRIST was poor, and His mother was poor, and the Saints were poor, and that to be poor with CHRIST, is so far from being a disgraceful thing, or a thing hastily to be got rid of, that it is a question whether any state can be better for the prospect of our being kings