NOTE E, page 47.

Of the Universal Priesthood of the Christian Church.

"CHRISTIANITY allows no place to a tribe of priests ordained to direct other men, as under religious pupilage, having exclusive charge to supply men's needs in respect to God and divine things. While the Gospel removes whatever separates men from God, it also calls men to fellowship with God through Christ; it takes away, moreover, every barrier which separates men from one another in respect to their highest interests. All have the same High-priest and Mediator, through whom all, as reconciled and united to God, have themselves become a sacerdotal and spiritual race; the same King, the same celestial Master and Teacher, through whom all have become wise unto God; the same faith, the same hope, the same spirit, by whom all are animated; the same oracle in the heart of all-the voice of the Spirit proceeding from the Father-all citizens of the same celestial kingdom. There were here neither laics nor ecclesiastics ; but all, so far as they were Christians, were, in their interior life and state, dead to whatever there was in the world that was contrary to God, and were animated by the Spirit of God. Who might arrogate to himself, what an inspired apostle durst not, to domineer over the faith of Christians? The office of teaching was not exclusively conferred on one man, or many; but every believer who might feel himself called, might speak a word in the assembled Church for the common edification.”"-NEANDER, Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und Kirche, tome i., p. 177.

NOTE F, page 57.

On the Dignity of the Ministry.

MOREOVER, if we weigh things in a just balance, we shall find that there is no king, by whatever pomp he may be surrounded, who, as a king, is not below the dignity, I do not say of a bishop, but even of a village curate (vicani pastoris), regarded as a pastor. If I seem

to utter a paradox, I can establish the truth of what I say. In order to this, let us but compare the functions and object of a pastor with those of a king. To what do princes give their concern? Is it not by the vigor of the laws to repress the wicked, and to preserve the upright in peace? That is, to keep the persons and the goods of the citizens of the state in safety. But how much more excellent is the object of the evangelical pastor, who seeks to establish the sweetest tranquillity in the souls of individuals by quieting and taming the lusts of the world? A king labors to the end that the state may live in peace with its neighbors; it is the endeavor of the priest that every one may be at peace with God, may have peace within, and that no one may design the injury of another.

"The prince's object is to protect the house, the field, the cattle of individuals against the encroachment of thieves. See how vile is the object of these royal functions. And what is the occupation of the priest? To protect the goods of the souls which are confided to him, their faith, their charity, their temperance, their chastity, against the violence of the devil; goods which make those happy who possess them, and the loss of which plunges them into misery. What is it that we may receive from the liberality of the prince? Revenues, appointments, titles of honor: fleeting goods-sports of fortune. But what may we hope to receive from the hands of the priest? He administers heavenly grace by the efficacious sacraments of the Church. By baptism he makes children of hell to become heirs of the kingdom of heaven; by the holy unction he gives the soul power to resist the assaults of devils; by the holy Eucharist he unites men with one another, and men with God, in order to form them into one whole; by the sacrament of penance he gives life to the dead, and of slaves he makes freemen; finally, from the breast of the Scriptures he draws daily the sustenance of saving truth, which nourishes and strengthens souls. The priest presents that spiritual beverage which truly rejoices the heart; he presents the remedy which can heal the mortal maladies of the soul, the effectual antidote of the dreadful poison of the old serpent. In a word, whatever falls under the control of the prince is earthly and

fleeting; but that which engages the pastor's care is divine, celestial, eternal. Consequently, as great as is the difference between heaven and earth, between the body and the soul, between temporal and eternal goods, so great is the difference between the functions of a prince and the charge of a priest."-ERASMUS, Ecclesiastes, lib. i., traduction de Roques, dans le Pasteur Evangélique, p. 190, 191.

NOTE G, p. 116.
Of Prayer.

Prayer of Bacon." This invocation, the Christian simplicity of which is very touching in so great a man, afterward became," says M. Chateaubriand, "his habitual prayer when he addressed himself to study."

The Student's Prayer.-" To God the Father, God the Word, God the Spirit, we pour forth most humble and hearty supplications; that he, remembering the calamities of mankind, and the pilgrimage of this our life, in which we wear out days few and evil, would please to open to us new refreshments out of the fountains of his goodness, for the alleviating of our miseries. This, also, we humbly and earnestly beg, that human things may not prejudice such as are divine; neither that, from the unlocking of the gates of sense, and the kindling of a greater natural light, any thing of incredulity or intellectual night may arise in our mind toward divine mysteries. But rather that, by our mind thoroughly cleansed and purged from fancy and vanities, and yet subject and perfectly given up to the divine oracles, there may be given up unto faith the things that are faith's. Amen.”

The prayer of Bacon, which we here give, is somewhat remarkably varied in the preface of his Novum Organum: It there terminates in these words: "And, lastly, that, being freed from the poison of knowledge infused into it by the serpent, and with which the human soul is swollen and puffed up, we may neither be too profoundly nor immoderately wise, but worship truth in charity."-De VauXELLES, Histoire de Bacon, tome i., p. 107.

Prayer of Kepler.-" Before I rise from this table, where I have been pursuing these researches, it only remains for me to raise my eyes and my hands toward heaven, and devoutly address my humble prayer to the Author of all light: O Thou who, by the lofty lights which thou hast spread over all nature, dost raise our desires even to the divine light of thy grace, in order that we may one day be transported into the eternal light of thy glory, I thank thee, Lord and Creator, for all the ecstatic joy which I have experienced in the contemplation of the work of thy hands. I have now finished this book, which contains the chief of my labors, and I have employed in its composition the whole sum of the intelligence which thou hast given me. I have declared to men all the greatness of thy works; I have unfolded to them their evidences, as far as my finite mind has been able to comprehend their infinite amplitude. I have exerted all my efforts to raise myself to truth in the way of philosophy; and if I, a miserable worm, conceived and nourished in sin, have chanced to say any thing unworthy of thee, make it known to me, that I may blot it out. Have I not yielded to the seductions of presumption in presence of the admirable beauty of thy works? Have I not had in view my own renown among men in raising this monument, which should be entirely consecrated to thy glory? Oh, if it has been thus with me, of thy mercy and clemency receive me, and grant me grace that the work which I have completed may be the means of no evil, but may contribute to thy glory and to the salvation of souls.”—BUCKLAND, La Géologie et la Minéralogie, etc., traduit de l'Anglaise, par Doyen, tome i., p. 9, note.

Prayer of De Thou." The historian De Thou relates, in his memoirs, that every morning, besides the prayer which each believer is required to offer, he implored God in private to purify his heart, to banish from it hatred and flattery, to enlighten his mind, and to make known to him the truth, which so many passions and conflicting interests had almost buried: We are happy to find such agreements between contemporary authors."-DE VAUXELLES, Histoire de Bacon, tome i., p. 107, note.

Sacerdotal Prayer.-"Prayer is the most inward and the most es

sential duty of the ministry; it is the soul, so to speak, of the priesthood; it is the pastor's only safety: This alone sweetens the distastes, and precludes the danger of your functions; this alone secures success in the discharge of them.. But, my brethren, even

if prayer were not as indispensable as it is to the success of our functions, do we not owe it to our people? Are we not charged, in our character of pastor and of minister, to pray for them without ceasing? Is it not even the most essential duty of that priesthood which establishes us as mediators between God and the people? On the prayers of the pastor God has made to depend the grace which he intends to bestow upon the flock: It is ours, my brethren, to present to him, without ceasing, the wants of our people, to solicit for them the riches of mercy, to turn away his wrath from the infliction of those scourges and chastisements with which their provocations are often punished: It is ours to deplore before him the vices with which we see our people infected, and of which our cares and our zeal can not cure them: It is ours to ask strength for the feeble, compunction for hardened sinners, perseverance for the righteous. The more boundless the wants of our people, the more lively and frequent should be our prayers: We should never appear before him without having, like the high-priest under the law, the names of the tribes written on our heart-that is to say, the names of the people confided to us; this should always be the principal subject of our prayer." -MASSILLON, Douzième Discours Synodal, De la Nécessité de la Prière.

The same Subject.—" Accompany your labors with your prayers: Speak of the disorders of your people to God more frequently than to them. Complain to him of the obstacles put in the way of their conversion by your unfaithfulness more frequently than of those which their obstinacy may present. Blame yourself alone at his feet for the small fruit of his ministry. As a tender father, apologize to him for the faults of your children, and accuse only yourself," etc.-MASSILLON, Discours sur le Zèle des Pasteurs pour le Salut des Ames.