into Hades to the souls of the departed. How great was His mercy, humility and charity in descending thither! He would thus undergo the law of death, and the conditions of a dead man, as He had done of a living, and so He descended Himself, and remained there till the LORD's Day. What was the joy of the spirits of the holy Fathers, at His coming! How would they fall down and worship Him, and sing, with great and reverent delight, hymns of praise and triumph. O Thou, Who didst draw all to Thyself, having been lifted up from the earth; Who didst stretch out Thy Hands to embrace all, leave me not, O LORD, in the mire of my lusts, but draw me unto Thee, that being crucified and dead to the world, I may live to Thee, or rather, Thou mayest live in me.

Then, when the gates of hell had been broken, and the great Serpent bound, the Conqueror led the way upwards, taking with Him the army of the saints. Then did the true Samson lay low the hostile band. Then did the Immaculate Lamb, in the Blood of His Covenant, lead the prisoners from the pit. (Zech. ix. 11.) Then, though the strong man armed, guarded his palace, CHRIST the stronger came upon him, entered His palace, overcame him by His Cross, bound and took from him all his armour, wherein he trusted, and divided his spoils. Then did Benaiah, the son of the valiant, go down and slay the lion in the pit. (1 Chron. xi. 22.) But what is the unutterable bitterness, and inconsolable grief, nay, extreme damnation of them, who remain unrescued in the fire that never can be quenched, in the worm that never dieth, the death that never endeth! What shall it be for them to experience it, who would not believe nor fear it!

Thou didst take away our reproach by Thine Own. Thy Bonds have made us free. By the thorny Crown on Thy Head Thou hast gained for us the Kingly Diadem. By Thy Wounds we have been healed. By Thy descent into hell, Thou hast made us to ascend up into heaven. ·

Prayer.

Grant, O LORD, &c.-Coll. for Easter Even.

Let Thy grace and mercy, O LORD, descend upon all souls bound in darkness and the shadow of death, and redeem them from their cruel taskmasters, and let them not perish. Let it descend on the souls of all my relations, benefactors, and friends, deliver them from the punishment they have deserved, and raise them to everlasting joy. And grant to me, merciful LORD, to see with joy Thy most glorious Body, at Thy second coming, and to rejoice at Thy Presence, with Thine elect, for ever. Amen.

To Thee, O Glorious and unfading Light, we offer our worship; to Thee, Who, being Incarnate, didst appear in the world, and hast descended even to Hades, and there dispersed the darkness, and showed unto the nations the light of the resurrection. Glory be to Thee, O LORD, the Giver of life. Bury in me all sinful affections, and draw my soul to Thee, by Thy mighty love. Amen.

NOTE. For other Prayers, see "Instructions and Holy Aspi rations for Afflicted Christians," and A. Acland's "Liturgia Domestica," Part ii.

EASTER DAY.

Prophecy.

THEREFORE My heart is glad, and My glory rejoiceth: My flesh also shall rest in hope. For Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine HOLY ONE to see corruption. Ps. xvi. 9, 10.

Holy Scripture.

cometh on the children of disobedience. In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie; and the napkin that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Reflections.

He, Who lay in death, is Risen in glory. The blessed day dawns, the day that holds pre-eminence among days: the day when the Light first shone, the day on which the LORD rose triumphantly, and said, This is the day which the LORD hath made, let us rejoice and be glad therein. After the mockery and blows, after the vinegar and gall, after the wounds and torments of the Cross, after death and Hades, arose the new Flesh from its funeral, the latent Life returns. The LORD took His Body again, rose in His Own Power, and went forth from the closed and sealed Tomb. None ever awoke and rose from sleep so easily as CHRIST arose from the dead. CHRIST

went out of the closed womb of the Virgin, so He went forth from the closed sepulchre with His glorious Body.

And lo, there was a great earthquake, and the Angel of the LORD came down from heaven. As the earth was moved at His Passion in token of mourning, so was it moved at His Resurrection in sign of joy. The hearts of men must be moved by faith in the Passion, to fear and repentance, before they can be moved to the joy of His Resurrection. If the earth quaked when the LORD rose for the pardon and justification of His Elect, how will it tremble when He shall rise to punish all the guilty! How will they bear the presence of the LORD, who could not bear the presence of His Angel?

He rose on the third day. There is mystery in the third; the emblem of the Holy TRINITY, showing the harmonious consent of the Holy TRINITY in the work. He rose on the first day of the week to renew and re-create the world on that day on which He made it. He remained dead forty hours, to give proof of the reality of His Death, and of our redemption. The Godhead, however, quitted neither His Soul in hell, nor His Body in the Tomb; and what Its power had severed, It united. Thus has He confirmed our patience, and quickened our hope; and to show us two lives in the flesh; one laborious, which we must endure, and another blessed, for which we must hope.

But though His Body rose again, It rose not as before, but glorious and spiritualized. The same in Nature, but changed in quality; the same in Essence, but changed in glory. But, O my soul, let us lay