Lesson IX.

it

BUT it may well be asked: how is that we are commanded to hate our parents and neighbours after the flesh, when we are ordered to love even our enemies? And verily the Truth saith concerning a wife: What God hath joined together let no man put asunder. And Paul saith: Husbands, love your wives, even as CHRIST the Church. Lo, the disciple preacheth that a wife is to be loved, when the Master saith: If any man hate not his wife, he cannot be My disciple. Doth the judge declare one thing and the crier proclaim another? Can we love and hate both at the same time? But if we ponder the force of the commandment, we can do both by right discernment: so that we can love wife, and those who are joined to us by fleshly kindred, and those whom we know, as neighbours, but those whom we suffer as adversaries in the way of GOD, we must hate, and flee from, and so know them not.

Te Deum, p. 15.

2. OTHER LESSONS FOR ONE MARTYR. SECOND NOCTURN.

From the Exposition by S. Ambrose the Bp. of the 119th Psalm.

Lesson IV. Serm. xxi.

accused as harmful, while in his con

fession he is praiseworthy: accused as a sorcerer, when he glories in the name of the LORD, since loving kindness is the foundation of all virtues. Ry. The LORD made him. p. 82. Lesson V.

TRULY in vain is he accused, who is charged before the impious and unbelieving with impiety while he is master of the faith. Verily he that is accused without a cause must be strong and stedfast. Wherefore then is it added: But my heart standeth in awe of Thy word? To be in awe belongeth unto weakness, dread, and fear. But there is a weakness unto salvation, and there is also a fear of the saints. Fear the LORD, all ye his saints: and, Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD. Wherefore blessed? For he hath great delight in his commandments.

Ry. Thou gavest him. p. 82.

Lesson VI.

LET the martyr therefore be placed

amid perils, while on one side the savage beasts strike terror by their roaring, on another the hissing of the red hot irons and the flames of the fiery furnace glow; here clank the heavy chains, there stands the blood

PRINCES have persecuted me with-stained executioner. Let all things

out a cause, but my heart standeth around, on which he looks, be full of in awe of Thy Word. Well does a torments, while he, thinking on the Martyr say this, because unjustly he divine commandments, on that persuffered the agony of persecution; he petual fire, that endless burning of the that committed no robbery, oppressed wicked, the bitterness of that ever-renone by violence, shed no blood, de-newed suffering, his heart standeth in filed the bed of none, who owed nothing awe; lest by yielding before present to the laws, and yet was made to bear destruction he give himself to that a punishment heavier than that of which never endeth: he is troubled in robbers: who spake righteously, and spirit, whilst he beholdeth as in a figure was not hearkened to: who spake that dreadful sword of judgment to words full of salvation and was striven come. In this fearful trustfulness of with: so that he might say: When I the stedfast man, does not the equal spake unto them, they fought against confidence of him who desires things Without a cause eternal, and is in awe of things divine, therefore he suffers persecution, who combine for the one result? is accused without crime: he is

me without a cause.

Ry. The LORD clothed. p. 82.

Lesson of the Holy Gospel according which he is.

AT that time: JESUS said unto His THE LORD commanded us when we

disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. And that which follows.

come unto Him to leave our goods: because whosoever we be, when we come to the contest of faith, we undertake a struggle against the evil spirits. But the evil spirits possess nothing in this world of their own: naked therefore should we wrestle with the naked. For if one that is clothed wrestle with one naked, he is very quickly thrown to the ground, because he hath whereby he may be grasped. And what are all earthly things, save a sort of clothing for the body? He then that approaches to combat with the devil, let him cast aside his garments, lest he fall.

to preach by night, nor to deliver his doctrine in the dark; but every word of His is dark to the carnal mind, and His word is as night to unbelievers.

Ry. There is a crown. p. 84.

Lesson VIII.

then He desires that His own words should be declared with freedom of faith and confession. Therefore He commandeth that the things spoken in darkness should be preached in the light, and that secrets committed to the ear should be heard upon the housetops, that is, should be spoken with loud proclamation. Continually therefore is the knowledge of God to be brought forward, and the deep secret of gospel doctrine to be made known by the light of apostolic preaching, not fearing those who, though they may have power over the body, yet have no authority over the soul: but rather fearing GOD, Who hath power to cast both soul and body into hell.

Ry. This is the true. p. 84.

Lesson IX.

Hymn. (For one Martyr,) Deus tuorum, as p. 78.

(For many Martyrs,)

Eterna Christi munera,
Et martyrum victorias.

THE eternal gifts of CHRIST the King,
The Martyrs' glorious deeds, we sing:
And while due hymns of praise we pay,
Our thankful hearts cast grief away.
The terrors of the world despised,
The body's torments lightly prized,
By one brief space of death and pain
Life everlasting they obtain.

To flames the Martyr Saints are haled: →
By teeth of savage beasts assailed:
Against them, arm'd with ruthless brand
And hooks of steel, their torturers stand.
The mangled frame is tortured sore;
The holy life-drops freshly pour:
They stand unmoved amidst the strife,
By grace of everlasting life.

Redeemer, hear us of Thy love,
That, with the Martyr Host above,
Hereafter, of Thine endless grace,

Thy servants also may have place. Amen.

FEAR not them which kill the body. The above hymn always ends thus.

No chance therefore which can happen to our bodies is to be feared, neither must we allow any grief for the destruction of the flesh for when it is dissolved by reason of its own nature and origin, its substance is spiritual restored to the soul. In order that they who are strengthened by such teaching should have bold confidence in confessing GoD, He addeth the conditions whereby we are to be bound that He will deny before His Father in heaven that man who denied Him among men upon earth but on the other land, the man who confessed Him before men will be confessed by Him in heaven, for according as we have been witnesses to His Name among men, so will His testimony profit us with Grn the FATHER.

Te Deum, p. 15.

FIRST NOCTURN.

Ant. Then shall the righteous men stand in great boldness before the face of them that afflicted them. Alleluia.

Pss. for one or many Martyrs : Ps. i., Beatus vir, p. 5; Ps. ii., Quare fremuerunt, p. 5; Ps. iii., Domine quid, p. 6.

Y. and Ry. and RZR7. to Lessons as in the Common of Apostles in Easter-tide.

The Scripture Lessons in Easter-tide are from the office of the Season, or, when there are none such, from the Common of one or many Martyrs, not in Easter-tide.

SECOND NOCTURN.

Ant. Behold how they are numbered * among the sons of God, and their lot is among the Saints. Alleluia.

Pss. for one Martyr, as in Common | of life, which beforetime was unof one Martyr, p. 80, 81. known to Him.

Pss. for many Martyrs, p. 92. Ps. XV., Domine, quis habitabit, p. 10; Ps. xvi., Conserva, p. 10; Ps. xxiv., Domini est terra, p. 92.

y. Ry. and Ry. as in Common of Apostles in Easter-tidè, p. 77.

A Sermon of S. Ambrose the Bishop. which the footstep of no risen being

Lesson of the Holy Gospel according | Al. They gave splendour to God. Al. *

AT

to S. John.

Lesson VII. Chap. xv. that time: JESUS said unto His disciples: I am the true Vine, and My FATHER is the Husbandman. And that which follows.

A Homily of S. Augustine the Bishop.

Tract 80 on S. John.

This place of the gospel, brethren, where the LORD calls Himself the vine and His disciples branches, He saith in sense, because the Head of the Church, and Mediator between GOD and man, is the Man JESUS CHRIST; and we are His members. Forasmuch as the vine and the branches are of one nature. Wherefore, being GOD, of Whose nature we are not, He was made man, that in Him the Vine, being of human nature, we likewise, being men, might be branches.

* he

Ry. I am the True Vine, and My FATHER is the Husbandman; that dwelleth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Al. Al. . As My FATHER hath loved Me, even so have I loved you. He. Ben. He (or they) whose feast.

WHA

Lesson VIII.

HAT then is this: I am the true Vine? By adding the word true, doth He point to that vine from whence this similitude is drawn? For He is so called a vine by way of similitude, not, by reason of quality, like as He is called a Sheep, a Lamb, a Lion, a Rock, a Corner-stone, and other such things from which these similitudes, though not any qualities, are derived, and which are in themselves true. But when He saith: I am the true Vine, He distinguishes Himself from that, to which it is said: How art thou turned into bitterness, into a strange vine? In what way is that a true vine of which grapes are expected, but it brings forth thorns?

Ry. Her Nazarites were made white.

And they were curdled like milk. Al. Al. y. They are whiter than snow, they are purer than milk, they are more ruddy than rubies, they are fairer than sapphires. And. Glory. And.

Lesson IX.

IAM, saith He, the true Vine, and My

For

Father is the Husbandman. Are then the Husbandman and the Vine one and the same? CHRIST is the Vine, according to that He saith: My FATHER is greater than I. But according to that His other saying, I and My FATHER are one: He Himself is the Husbandman; not such as those who perform their ministry by external work, but such that he giveth increase. neither is he, that planteth anything, neither is he that watereth; but He that giveth the increase from within, GOD. But verily CHRIST is GOD; for the Word was GOD: whence He and is made Flesh, which He was not before, the FATHER are one: and if the Word nevertheless, He remains what He was. Te Deum, p. 15.

2. OTHER LESSONS. For Martyrs in Easter-tide. SECOND NOCTURN. From the Epistle of S. Cyprian, B. M., to the Martyrs and Confessors. Lesson IV.

Book 2. Ep. 6.

WITH what praises shall I speak

of you, most mighty Martyrs? with what proclaiming voice shall I extol the valour of your minds, and perseverance of your faith? Ye endured to the end the most hard question of glory: nor yielded ye from torment, but rather the torments yielded to you. The end of your sorrows, which torments gave not, your crowns did give. The butchery lasted long and the more severely, not to cast down steadfast faith, but the more rapidly to send the men of GOD to God.

Ry, Light perpetual. p. 77.