sions: To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna." You must be humble in your own eyes: "Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones." (Matt. xL 25.) You must hide yourself " in the cliffs of the rock" (Cant, ii. 14), that is, in the wounds of Christ and in contemplation of His passion; and thus you "may suck honey out of the rock." (Deut. xxxii. 13.) "For the rock," as the Apostle observes, " is Christ." (1 Cor. x. 4.)
MONDAY.
Crucifixion of Our Lord. — I.
I. Being come to the place appointed for His execution, Christ is again stripped of His clothes before the multitude at large, and before the insolent soldiery, who sought for nothing more ardently than subjects of scorn and scurrility. This ignominy, due only to our sins, Christ bears with the utmost patience; and in His own person gives us an example of the most perfect evangelical poverty. In order that no one of His senses might escape untormented, "they gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall, and when He had tasted He would not drink." (Matt, xxvii. 34.) He did not refuse the draught in consequence of the gall, but, as St. Ambrose remarks, " He rejected that bitterness which was mingled with wine." Christ wished to drink the chalice of His passion unr mixed with any sweetness. Be ashamed at your sensual disposition, and at your murmurs when it is not grati
II. The place on which the scene was acted was a high hill, exposed to the view of all. This circumstance added to His ignominy; and the place was loathsome, because it was covered with bones. Christ made choice of
