SAINT BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE.

Lessons Gen. xxviii. 10--18; Deut. xviii. 15. For the Epistle: Acts v. 12-17. Gospel: St. Luke xxii. 24-31.

THE COLLECT.

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who didst give to Thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach Thy Word; Grant, we beseech Thee, unto Thy Church, to love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and, behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it."-Gen. xxviii. 12.

66

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."-St. John i. 51.

Behind us Sinai's awful form,
With fiery smoke beclouded,
Lies wrapt in solitude and storm
And mists of darkness shrouded;
While far aloof a trumpet sound,
As from creation's outmost bound,
Grows faint and fainter ever.

Gaze not upon the pathway trod :
Mount Zion is before us,
The city of the living God,

Jerusalem the glorious.

Lo, yonder through the crystal skies
Its gates and golden ramparts rise
The home of love for ever.

And there beside the fruitful banks
Of life's perennial waters,
Mingle with myriad angel ranks

God's ransom'd sons and daughters:
While echo from their festal throng
The voice of harping and the song
Of jubilee for ever.

O joy of joys! no cloud between;
No dream of fabling story;
They see Him whom they loved unseen
There face to face in glory.

Before the uncreated Light

They stand in robes of filmless white,
And reign with Him for ever.

SAINT MATTHEW THE APOSTLE.

Lessons I Kings xix. Epistle 2 Cor. iv. 1-7.

15; 1 Chron. xxix. 1—20. Gospel: St. Matt. ix. 9— 14.

THE COLLECT.

O ALMIGHTY God, who by Thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and Evangelist; Grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same Thy Son Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

"As Jesus passed forth from thence, He saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom and He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose, and followed Him."-St. Matt. ix. 9.

The publican at custom's throng'd receipt
Was sitting; but his heart was far away,
And through the crowds that press'd around his
feet

He mark'd Another passing by that day.

The Master spoke ; and, when His voice was heard, The servant rose obedient to His word.

His home was stored with every soft delight,
His secret coffers overflow'd with gold;
And many felt and many fear'd the might
With which his riches arm'd him. But, behold,
It needed but that low-breathed "Follow Me,"
And he surrender'd all, dear Lord, for Thee.

Was it the mighty impulse of that hour,
One sudden masterful resolve of will,

Which made him, quicken'd by Thy Spirit's power,
With seraph promptitude Thy word fulfil?
Or rather was it fruit of many years,

Which in Thy time of love now first appears ;—

Even as the aloe, which in one brief night
Miraculously clothes itself in bloom,
Has nurtured in its bosom out of sight

The hidden germs of beauty and perfume? Thou knowest, Who alone canst touch the springs And read the deepest of the heart's deep things.

It may be, he had oftentimes confess'd

To his own heart its aching want and woe, And felt that indescribable unrest

Which only Mammon's favourite children know; And through the shadowy veil that hangs between Had look'd on things eternal and unseen.

It may be, he had heard when Jesus spoke
Of rest for weary ones and sin forgiven,

Of patient service and the easy yoke,

And true and lasting treasures stored in heaven The glories of the Father's house above,

The priesthood and the royalty of love.

Enough, the spring was touch'd: he gave up all, And more than all rejoicing found in Christ; A true disciple from his earliest call,

Apostle, prophet, and evangelist;

Who seal'd his faithful witness with his blood
And lived and loved and died a man of God.

SAINT MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS. Lessons Gen. xxxii.; Dan. x. 4; Acts xii. 5-18; Rev. xiv. 14.

For the Epistle : Rev. xii. 7—13. Gospel : St. Matt. xviii.

I-II.

THE COLLECT.

O EVERLASTING God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order; Mercifully grant, that as Thy holy Angels alway do Thee service in heaven, so by Thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven." St. Matt. xviii. 10.

And do Thy angels always worship Thee,
And guard Thy little ones adoring thus?
Always Thy face, O holy Father, see,
And in Thy presence minister to us?

And do they always drink the streams above
That from the Fount of living waters flow,

The while on secret embassies of love

They camp unwearied round Thy saints below?

And are the little ones who lisp Thy name
As much the objects of their tender care,
As those whose loftier work might seem to claim
In their great ministries a nobler share?