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Lesson II. ND the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

Ry. Look down. p. cxlviii.

Lesson III.

ND all the graven images thereof

ANI shall be beaten to pieces, and all

the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall

return to the hire of an harlot.

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah;

who have committed much evil in this life, certain terrible and unsightly angels, with fiery countenances, and breathing forth fire, appointed for that purpose, shewing the bitterness of their will, with countenances black like the night, on account of their severity and hatred against the human race.

Ry. I have. p. cxlix.

Lesson V.

AND, besides, consider the deep pit, the endless maze of darkness, the fire without brightness, yet having the power of burning though deprived of light; then the multitude of crawling things discharging deadly poison, devouring flesh, eating insatiably, and able pains by their gnawing. And never feeling satiety, causing intolerlastly, that which is the heaviest of all punishments, the. shame and the everlasting confusion. Be full of fear for these things; and, restrained by this fear, hold back thy soul, as it were by a bridle, from lusting after sinful things.

Ry. With Thine. p. cxlix.

Lesson VI.

he is come unto the gate of my people, THIS fear of the LORD the Prophet

even to Jerusalem.

Ry. Behold. p. cxlviii.

SECOND NOCTURN.

From a Sermon of S. Basil the Great on the Thirty-third Psalm. Lesson IV.

promised that he will openly teach; but he did not promise to teach it generally, but only to those who were willing to hear him; not to but to those who with an eager desire those who have wandered far away, for salvation hasten to present themselves; not to strangers from the

WHEN the desire of sinning has promises, but to those who have been

assailed thee, I would thou shouldest consider that awful and intolerable judgment seat of CHRIST, in which the Judge will preside on a throne high and lifted up, and every creature will stand before Him trembling at His glorious aspect. We shall also be brought up one by one to give an account of those things which we have done in this life. Afterwards there will stand, by those

reconciled and united to the Word Himself by the baptism of adoption. Wherefore, he says, Come, (that is, draw near to me by good works,) ye children, ye, who by regeneration have been made worthy to be children of light; hearken unto me, ye who have the ears of your heart open, I will teach you the fear of the LORD; namely, that fear which we described before in our discourse.

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Here beginneth the Book of Nahum THE burden which Habakkuk the

the Prophet.
Lesson I.

prophet did see. O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not THE burden of Nineveh. The book hear! even cry out unto thee of of the vision of Nahum the Elko-violence, and thou wilt not save! shite. GOD is jealous, and the LORD Why dost thou show me iniquity, and revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and cause me to behold grievance? for is furious; the LORD will take spoiling and violence are before me: vengeance on his adversaries, and he and there are that raise up strife and Therefore the law is

reserveth wrath for his enemies. The

LORD is slow to anger, and great in
power, and will not at all acquit the
wicked the LORD hath his way in
the whirlwind and in the storm, and

the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it
dry, and drieth up all the rivers.
Ry. He hath. p. cl.

Lesson II.

BASHAN languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

Ry. I am straitened. p. cl.

Lesson III.

THE LORD is good, a strong hold in
the day of trouble; and he
knoweth them that trust in him. But
with an overrunning flood he will
make an utter end of the place thereof,
and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
What do ye imagine against the
LORD? he will make an utter end:
affliction shall not rise up the second
time. For while they be folden
together as thorns, and while they are
drunken as drunkards, they shall be
devoured as stubble fully dry.
Rz. My Gov..p. cl.

contention.

slacked, and judgment doth never go
forth: for the wicked doth compass
about the righteous; therefore wrong
judgment proceedeth.'
Ry. At Thy. p. cl.

Lesson II.

BEHOLD ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your

days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not their's. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

Ry. Gird about. p. cli.

Lesson III.

THEIR horses also are swifter than

the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Ry. On a sinful. p. cli.

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Here beginneth the Book of Zephaniah Here beginneth the Book of Haggai

THE

the Prophet.

Lesson I. Chap. i.

word of the LORD which came

unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD. I will consume man and beast: I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD. Ry. He hath. p. cli.

Lesson II.

I WILL also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham; and them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

Ry. I am straitened. p. cl.

Lesson III.

HOLD thy peace at the presence of the LORD GOD; for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their master's houses with violence and deceit. Ry. My God. p. cl.

the Prophet.

Lesson I. Chap. i.

IN the second year of Darius the

king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high LORD of hosts, saying, This peopriest, saying, Thus speaketh the ple say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.

Ry. I saw the LORD. p. cxlviii,

Lesson II.

THEN came the word of the LORD

by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

Ry. Look down. p. cxlviii.

Lesson III.

THUS saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

Rz. Behold. p. cxlviii.

FRIDAY.

saith, We are impoverished, but we

Here beginneth the Book of Zechariah will return and build the desolate

the Prophet.

Lesson I. Chap. i. IN the eighth month. in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. Ry. I have set. p. cxlix.

Lesson II.

BE ye not as your fathers, unto
whom the former prophets have
cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts; Turn ye now from your evil
ways, and from your evil doings: but
they did not hear, nor hearken unto
me, saith the LORD. Your fathers,
where are they? and the prophets, do
they live for ever?

Ry. With Thine. p. cxlix.
Lesson III.

BUT my words and my statutes,
which I commanded my servants
the prophets, did they not take hold
of your fathers? and they returned
and said, Like as the LORD of hosts
thought to do unto us, according to
our ways, and according to our doings,
so hath he dealt with us.

Ry. We looked. p. cxlix.

SATURDAY.

places; thus saith the LORD of hosts,
They shall build, but I will throw
down; and they shall call them, The
border of wickedness, and, The people
against whom the LORD hath indigna-
tion for ever.

Ry. Blessed are. p. cxlix.
Lesson II.

AND your eyes shall see, and ye
shall say, The LORD will be mag-
nified from the border of Israel. A
son honoureth his father, and a
servant his master: if then I be &
father, where is mine honour? and if
I be a master, where is my fear? saith

the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests,
that despise my name.
And ye say,
Wherein have we despised thy name?
Ye offer polluted bread upon mine
altar; and ye say, Wherein have we
polluted thee? In that ye say, The
table of the LORD is contemptible.
Ry. I am straitened. p. cl.
Lesson III.

AND if ye offer the blind for sacrithe lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech GoD that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for

fice, is it not evil? and if ye offer

Here beginneth the Book of Malachi nought? neither do ye kindle fire on

the Prophet.

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mine altar for nought. I have no
pleasure in you, saith the LORD of
hosts, neither will I accept an offering
at your hand. For from the rising of
the sun even unto the going down of
the same, my name shall be great
among the Gentiles; and in every
place incense shall be offered unto my
name, and a pure offering; for my
name shall be great among the hea-
then, saith the LORD of hosts.
Ry. My God. p. cl.

Homilies

FOR THE SUNDAYS IN ORDER,

FROM THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY TILL ADVENT.

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

This Ry. is said to-day instead of

Lesson of the Holy Gospel according Ry. vii. p. xxviii.

to S. Luke.

Lesson VII. Chap. xiv.

AT that time: JESUS spake this parable unto the Pharisees: A certain man made a great supper, and bade many. And that which follows.

Lesson VIII.

FOR spiritual pleasures increase

desire in the mind, while they

satisfy; because the more their savour is perceived, the more is it recognised that it should be eagerly loved: and therefore when they are not possessed they cannot be loved, because their savour is unknown. For who can love what he knows not? Hence the Psalmist admo

A Homily of S. Gregory the Pope. Homily 36 on the Gospels. There is wont to be this difference, beloved brethren, between the plea-nishes us, saying, O taste and see sures of the body and those of the how gracious the LORD is. As if he soul; namely, that bodily pleasures, were saying plainly, Ye know not this when they are not being enjoyed, sweetness if ye taste it not; but touch kindle a strong desire for themselves; the good of life with the palate of the but when they are greedily devoured, heart, that, making trial of its sweetthrough satiety they beget a distaste in ness, ye may be able to love it. For the eater. But on the other hand, man lost these delights when he spiritual pleasures, when they are not sinned in paradise: he went out when possessed, are distasteful, but when he closed his mouth to the food of they are possessed are desired; and by eternal sweetness. so much the more they are hungered after by the eater, the more are they devoured by the hungry. In the former, appetite pleases, experience displeases; in the latter appetite is nought, and experience the rather pleases. In the former, appetite begets fulness, and fulness distaste; in the latter, appetite produces fulness, and fulness appetite.

Ry. A certain man made a great supper, and sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, * for all things are now ready. y. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. For. Glory. For

Lesson IX.

WHENCE we also who have been

born in this toilsome pilgrimage come hither now with distaste: for we know not what we ought to desire. And the more this disease of distaste from which we suffer is increased, the more the mind withdraws itself from feeding on that sweetness. And the less appetite does it now feel for internal delights, the longer it has been unaccustomed to feed upon them. We pine away therefore through our distaste, and we are worn out through our long and deadly fast. And because we will not taste inwardly the sweetness that has

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