ters of eloquence. Photius says, "Whoever wishes to become an accomplished orator has no need of Plato nor of Demosthenes, if he takes Basil as a model." There is no writer whose style is purer, more beautiful, or more energetic; he reunites all that can convince or charm the mind; his style, always natural, flows with the same rapidity as the stream gushes from its source. The discourse on the text, "Let the waters be gathered together in one place," is full of delicate imagery, grand and elevated thoughts, and happy comparisons, which show in the orator a profound knowledge of the sciences. This discourse is one of a number delivered by St. Basil on the 1st chapter of Genesis. It is said that the most simple understood them, and the most learned were delighted and astonished with them. It is deeply to be regretted that no able pen and intelligent pious mind has undertaken the translation of the Fathers into English. Still more is it to be regretted that they do not enter into the classic course of our colleges.]

THE

HE waters have received the order to flow, and, always obedient, they never exhaust their source. I speak of those which are in movement-the fountains and rivers. When seated by the fountain from which the bright waters gush spontaneously, have you never asked yourself, Why it springs from the earth? Who has caused it? Where is the reservoir from whence it flows? Where will the course of its term be checked? Why does it not stop of itself? Why does not that sea, into which all the waters pour themselves, overflow its bounds?

2. This word of the Gospel answers all. There is the history of all the waters on the face of the earth: "Let the waters be gathered together in one place," for fear that, overflowing the space assigned them and passing from one place. to another, they would inundate the entire continent.

3. Thus we frequently see the ocean agitated by tempests, elevating its waters to a stupendous height; scarcely do they touch the shore when all this impetuosity is reduced to foam, and the waters return to their channel. "Will you not fear me, saith the Lord? I have set the land the bound for the sea."

4. What would prevent the Red Sea from overflowing Egypt, which is lower than is its bed, and uniting its waters with those of the Indian Ocean, if it was not chained in its

bed by the order of its Sovereign Master?

Sesostris and

Darius, the Mede, attempted it, but without success.

Their

power was overthrown by the power of Him who, in collecting the waters in such a place, decided that they should not pass the bounds which he assigned for them.*

5. And God saw that it was good! Ah! without doubt the sea presents a beautiful spectacle when in its calm repose, its surface rippled by gentle winds, delicately tinted with purple or azure, beats not with violence against the neighboring earth, but seems to come with gentle caresses. Yes, God judged this work good, in its connection with others.

6. The waters of the ocean are the common source of all the humidity on the earth, which it distributes by imperceptible channels. Good, because, being the reservoir of our rivers, from all parts it receives waters without ever passing its bounds. Good, in furnishing the vapors which are converted into refreshing showers for the earth; because it enriches the islands, of which it is at the same time the ornament and the rampart; because it unites the most distant countries by the advantages of navigation and commerce; it enriches history; furnishes abundantly all the necessaries of life, and, by transporting different productions into other countries, replaces what is needed in some, by the superabundance of others.

7. But is it possible to understand and fathom the beauties of the sea, with the same eye as he who made them sees them? If they obtain the approbation of the Lord, how by much more should this Christian assembly, where the united voices of men, women, and children, like the murmuring of the waves which break against the shore, carry, even to heaven, the prayers which we address to the Most High!

8. A profound calm shelters you from the tempests. The peace which reigns among you has not been troubled by the

* Nieueventi has made a most luminous application of this argument In his beautiful "Treatise on the Existence of God."

perverse doctrines which the spirit of heresy has spread elsewhere. Merit, then, the praises of the Lord by the faithful practice of the duties of your state, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power in all ages.

ST. BASIL

86. "IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD."

[BOSSUET says: "One of the most forcible discourses, although one of the shortest, upon this text of St. John, is that of St. Basil. One must be deeply prejudiced, not to feel with what force the Arians were refuted by it."]

THE

HE simplest words of the Gospel surpass in depth and magnificence all the other oracles which the Holy Ghost has diffused throughout the Scriptures. Elsewhere it is the servants who speak to us; here it is the Master of the prophets himself. But among the holy evangelists, the one whose voice sounds with the greatest effect-the one who has revealed to us mysteries most sublime and elevated above all intelligence, is John, the son of thunder, whose words you have just heard. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

2. I know more than one writer, a great stranger to the true doctrine, and solely desirous of the glory resulting from human wisdom, who, in his admiration for this opening, has dared to appropriate it, and to insert it in his works. These are the accustomed larcenies of the devil, who has robbed us of our riches to adorn his own lies.

3. And if mere human wisdom has testified so high an admiration for these words, how much should not we, the disciples of the Holy Ghost, esteem them! But if it is easy to admire beautiful passages, it is not so easy to fathom them. One needs only eyes to recognize the beauty of the heavenly orb that enlightens us with his rays; but try to fix your gaze upon him, and your dazzled vision will soon lose the power of contemplating him. Such is the effect produced by meditation on these words, "In the beginning was the Word."

4. The evangelist, wishing to teach us what pertains to the knowledge of the Son of God, takes us back to the principle of all that exists. The Holy Ghost knew well those who would attack one day the glory of the only Son of God; he saw in futurity the sophisms by which certain men would seek to overthrow the faith of Christians.

5. "If he was begotten," they say, "he did not exist before;' and again, "Would that which did not exist have given him birth?" The Holy Ghost has foreseen all these objections; he answers all by this one sentence: "In the beginning was the Word." And if they tell you, If he was begotten, he did not exist before, answer, "In the beginning he was." Before being begotten, what was he? Reflect on this word, “In the beginning."

6. Why speak of the beginning, since there is question of that which has no beginning? "It is to say that in the beginning, from the origin of things, he was; he did not begin-he was. He was not created-he was not made he was. prius factus est, sed erat.*

Non

7. "There was nothing before this beginning. Go back to the beginning of all things; stretch your thoughts as far as you can; go to the first day-farther still-to the beginningbefore all that has ever begun-he was." And if he was at the beginning, at what time was he not?

8. "But what was he? He was the Word. What does this inean? He who was at the beginning was the Word, the inward utterance, thought, reason, intelligence, wisdom, interior speech, sermo; speech which is substantially all truth, and which is truth itself.

9. Where was the Word? Not in a certain place; for that which is limitless cannot occupy a determined position. He was with God. Verbum erat apud Deum,†-equally infinite. Seek throughout all space; everywhere you will find God who fills it; everywhere, likewise, is the Son, himself as immense. * He was not made, but he was first.

†The Word was with God.

"The Word was with God"-apud Deum; that is to say, that he was not something inherent in God-something that affects God-but something that dwells in him as subsisting in him as being a person in God, and another person than that God in whom he is; and this person was divine; it was God.

ST. BASIL

87. LETTER OF ST. BASIL, DESCRIBING HIS HERMITAGE, TO ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN.

I

BELIEVE I may at last flatter myself with having found the end of my wanderings. The hopes of being united with thee-or, I should rather say, my dreams for hopes have been justly termed the waking dreams of men--have remained unfulfilled.

2. God has suffered me to find a place, such as has often flitted before our imaginations; for that which fancy has shown us from afar is now made manifest to me. A high mountain, clothed with thick woods, is watered to the north by fresh and ever-flowing streams. At its foot lies an extended plain, rendered fruitful by the vapors with which it is moistened. The surrounding forest, crowded with trees of different kinds, encloses one as in a strong fortress.

3. This wilderness is bounded by two ravines: on the one side the river, rushing in foam down the mountain, forms an almost impassable barrier, while on the other all access is impeded by a broad mountain ridge. My hut is so situated on the summit of the mountain that I can overlook the whole plain, and follow throughout its course the Iris, which is more beautiful, and has a more abundant body of water than the Strymon, near Amphipolis.

4. The river of my wilderness, which is more impetuous than any other that I know of, breaks against the jutting rocks, and throws itself foaming into the abyss below-an object of admiration to the mountain wanderer, and a source of