Holy Land

“ Lead me into the land of uprightness, into the communion of saints, that pleasant land of the upright, or into a settled course of holy living, which will lead to heaven, that land of uprightness where holiness will be in perfection, and he that is holy shall be holy still. We should desire to be led, and kept safe, to heaven, not only because it is a land of blessedness, but because it is a land of uprightness; it is the perfection of grace. ”

“ The changed conditions in the Holy Land freed the Master to pursue His work unhampered and created the conditions in which the brilliance of His mind and spirit could exercise their influence on government officials, visiting dignitaries of every kind, and the various communities making up the population of the Holy Land. ”

“ The subject of this lecture is the Holy Land. No words could better convey the estimation in which that spot of earth is held by all of us who profess the Christian faith. It is the Holy Land, and anything that can disclose to us its true history, anything that can assist us to dwell more humbly and more piously upon the mysteries—the great mysteries—that surround us, must be welcome to us. ”

“ When the dreaded epoch had passed away, and no perceptible disturbance had occurred in the laws of the universe, when each successive day had lessened the fears and increased the courage of the Western Church, the Holy Land remained open to pilgrims, who came in swarms to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for having a second time saved the world. ”

“ Now, if the natural law enjoins us to love devotedly and to defend the country in which we had birth, and in which we were brought up, so that every good citizen hesitates not to face death for his native land, very much more is it the urgent duty of Christians to be ever quickened by like feelings towards the Church, For the Church is the holy city of the hving God, born of God Himself, and by Him built up and estabhshed. ”

“ which word is beautifully derived "from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretence of going à la Sainte Terre," to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, "There goes a Sainte-Terrer," a Saunterer,—a Holy-Lander. ”

“ The Holy Catholic Church is “The Kingdom of Heaven,” which was described beforehand by our Lord in His parables, which was set up on the Day of Pentecost, and then gradually developed into an organised body, under laws and ministers duly ordained by the Lord Himself, or under the guidance of the Holy Ghost; and which then spread from one land to another through the exertions of the holy Apostles. The Holy Catholic Church is that Kingdom whose founding is described, and whose history is commenced, in Holy Scripture. ”

“ Thus the day shall yet be, when the presence and power of the Holy God in cities shall so absorb the affections, and command the energies of their inhabitants, that, throughout the land, they shall be known and celebrated, not for their wealth, their splendour, their numbers, or their worldly enterprise, but as the places where God has fixed his tabernacle. ”

“ Great was the revolution wrought in church planning by the determination that the laity, clergy, and celebrant should all alike face East. To the Catholic believer nothing was of more mystic import than the orientation of the church. He prayed toward the East, toward the Holy Land where his Lord lived and died and was buried; he looked forward to the dawn of that day when He should come from the East to judge the quick and dead.
"Our life lies eastward ”

“ And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen! And did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills? Bring me my Bow of burning gold; Bring me my Arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire! I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In Englands green & pleasant Land
Would to God that all the Lords people were Prophets ”

“ How can I think of myself when infinitude o'er me is glowing,
Glowing with tokens of love from the land where my sorrows shall cease?
Oh, summer-night of the South! Oh, sweet languor of zephyrs love-sighing!
Oh, mighty circuit of shadowy solitude, holy and still!
Music scarce audible, echo-less harmony joyously dying,
Dying in faint suspirations o'er meadow, and forest, and hill!
I must go forth and be part of it, part of the night and its gladness.
But a few steps, and I pause on the marge of the shining lagoon. ”

“ And what would this be, but a practical exemplification of the true Christian Religion?—the grand predicted triumph of the gospel of peace and love?—the promised second coming of the Lord, "with power and great glory"?—the blissful period of the church foreshadowed in the Revelation under the figure of "the Holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God:" when "the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God." ”

“ Go then to the Church, and bid thy vain thoughts and business of the world keep outside thereof: and at thine incoming, say to thy soul, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, and thou shalt hear His Voice, and behold His temple." Holy Church is the entrance and gate of Heaven. After, fall down before the Cross, and honour Him because He was slain on the Cross, and say "We adore Thee, O Christ, and bless Thee, because by Thy holy Cross Thou didst redeem the world." And then before thou uprisest, have in thy mind how hotly His love burned, That died for thee on the Cross. ”

“ Where is the solitary village that would not feel the impulse, and have its eye and heart lifted to Heaven, in view of the bright cloud of incense, ascending from these hundred temples, and these thrice ten thousand family altars? And to extend our view still further; suppose that every city of our land—that every city of the world—should experience such a change; what almighty strength and zeal would it give to the Angel having the everlasting Gospel to publish! How soon would the universal acclamation of mankind be, "Glory, and honour, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne!" ”

“ When we ask if the city is holy, we mean nothing about basilicas, or churches, or convents; but we mean, are the people like Jesus Christ, like a people prepared as a fit population for a sinless heaven? ”

“ Furthermore, since your City is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind, and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of those three religions for many centuries, therefore do I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer, of whatsoever form of the three religions, will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faiths they are sacred. ”

“ The land will be turned into a Paradise, and the temple will stand in the centre of the land in a section of country dedicated wholly to the Lord. To this, all nations will regularly journey, to learn the way of God and worship before Him. ”

“ We, fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad through cruel edicts and severe persecution, greeting. ”

“ And it shall be a centre of unity to them; a church shall be set up in the world, to which the Lord will be daily adding such as shall be saved.
II. That this church shall be firmly founded and well-built: It shall be established in the top of the mountains; Christ himself will build it upon a rock; it shall be an impregnable fort upon an immovable foundation, so that the gates of hell shall neither overthrow the one nor undermine the other (Matt. xvi. 18) ; its foundations are still in the holy mountains (Ps. lxxxvii. 1) , the everlasting mountains, which cannot, which shall not, be removed. ”

“ While this unparalleled work has been performed, the Twelve have ever been foremost in introducing the Gospel in foreign lands; bearing the burden and heat of the day; and while the Saints are comfortably situated in the Valley, in the enjoyment of the blessings of heaven and earth, they are far from their families, traveling on both continents. Wherever they have gone the word has been established in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance ”

“ In Christ Jesus all distinction of nations is taken away; and a spiritual altar, a gospel church, in the midst of the land of Egypt, is as acceptable to God as one in the midst of the land of Israel; and spiritual sacrifices of faith and love, and a contrite heart, please the Lord better than an ox or bullock.
IV. There shall be a face of religion upon the nation, and an open profession made of it, discernible to all who come among them. ”

“ And since all our realm is to be admonished to imitate the example of the imperial city, we have directed everywhere our princely commands, so great is our desire to restore the peace of the Catholic faith to our commonwealth, to gain for my subjects the divine protection. For those whom the same realm contains, the same worship enlightens, what greater blessing can they have than to venerate with one mind laws of no human origin, but proceeding from the Divine Spirit? ”

“ Nearly a hundred men have been shot already in this one place, and the place itself is not more than six years old. Is it strange that these mountain people who have a glimpse of better things, are appealing to us every week of the year to plant institutions among them? [pg 311] Is it not the voice of Christ clearly commanding us to possess and subdue this land, and to transform it into a part of his peaceful and beneficent Kingdom, which shall join hands with us to pass on the torch of Christ to others yet in darkness? ”

“ We pray for a kingdom that will be external. If spirit, then body; if individuals, then communities.
It is to be all-comprehensive governing:—institutions, arts, sciences. All spheres of human life are capable of sanctification and will receive it. A prophet had a vision of a day when the very bells of the horses should bear the same inscription of 'holiness to the Lord' as was engraved on the High Priest's mitre, and when every pot and pan in the kitchens of Jerusalem should be sacred as the vessels of the Temple. ”

“ He is the bread of life; in our Father's house there is bread enough and to spare; we may have fresh supplies from Christ, especially every Lord's day. This outer part is called the sanctuary or holy, because erected to the worship of a holy God, to represent a holy Jesus, and to entertain a holy people, for their further improvement in holiness. ”

“ THE COUNTRY Jesus, like all great souls, loved the country. The sinner craving purification, the saint moved to prayer, the poet eager to create, take refuge on the mountains in green shadows, by the sound of the water, in the midst of fields which perfume heaven, or on steep desert hills parched by the sun. Jesus took His language from the country: He hardly ever uses learned words, abstract conceptions, drab and generalizing terms. ”

“ Look at your own country, Christian though it is called—your own city, highly as it is favored of heaven; and see how far the masses lie from the living God; how his name is profaned, his altars abandoned, while every place of amusement is thronged with merry votaries of pleasure, and drunken men reel athwart the path of church-going people, and the house of her whose steps take hold on hell stands in the very shadow of the sanctuary, and libidinous songs and blasphemous oaths form the horrible counterpart to your sacred psalmody ”

“ Also by the laudable endeavor and industry of the said infante, very many inhabitants or dwellers in divers islands situated in the said sea, coming to the knowledge of the true God, have received holy baptism, to the praise and glory of God, the salvation of the souls of many, the propagation also of the orthodox faith, and the increase of divine worship. ”

“ The concerns of religion should lie nearer our hearts and affect us more than any worldly concern whatsoever. The desolation of God's house should grieve us more than the desolation of our own houses; for the matter is not great what becomes of us and our families in this world provided God's name may be sanctified, his kingdom may come, and his will be done.
1. The psalmist complains of the desolations of the sanctuary, as Daniel, ch. ix. 17. The temple at Jerusalem was the dwelling-place of God's name, and therefore the sanctuary, or holy place, v. ”

“ The stream that is to water half a continent must rise high in the lonely hills, and be fed by many a mountain rill in the solitude, and the men who are to keep the freshness of their Christian zeal, and of the consecration which they will ever feel is being worn away by the attrition even of faithful service, can only renew and refresh it by resorting again to the Master, and imitating Him who prepared Himself for a day of teaching in the Temple by a night of communion on the Mount of Olives. ”

“ Returning to the old continent, the first country which we meet is our own beloved land. Now was the Bible a sealed Book in our Catholic island, and were our sainted fathers enemies of, or strangers to, its inspired truths? Oh! ask the great apostle of North England, St. Aidan, whose disciples, as Bede informs us, "whether they were of the clergy or of the laity, were bound to exercise themselves either in reading the Scriptures or in learning the Psalms" (Hist. Eccl., iii. 5) . ”