'Hymn.

Never yet the tongue hath spoken,
Sense of man hath found no token,
Ne'er on thought of man have broken,
Those unnumbered pains,

Which are in that word, Damnation.
Where of sins each variation,

Hath its own allotted station,
Portioned to its stains.

Angry flames, with sulphur glooming,
Foulest darkness scarce illuming,
And a woe the soul consuming,
Fill their cup of sadness;

Where the death that never dieth,
Where the thirst that nought supplieth,
And the soul 'mid scorpions lieth,
Causing burning madness.

Many there the dismal places,
And of anguish the dark faces,
As in all earth's varied spaces,
Here are visible.

Here of woes our darkest trances,
Are of those but feeble glances,
Which eternity enhances,

And no tongue can tell.

But thus warned by things revealed,-
Half disclosed and half concealed,-
Soon for good or evil sealed,

When our race is run;

Let us now awake from sleeping,
And the holier pathway keeping,
In this world for ever weeping
Sins that we have done.

Lo! how soon this world decayeth,
How short-lived its beauty stayeth,
And its glory but betrayeth,

Coming soon to nought!

And it then to hell descendeth.

Let the bliss which heart transcendeth,
And the life which never endeth,

Ever fill thy thought. Amen.

Prayer.

FATHER Unoriginate, Only-begotten Son, Life-giving SPIRIT,

Merciful, pitiful, long-suffering,
full of pity, full of kind yearnings,
Who lovest the just and pitiest the sinful,
Who passest by sins and grantest petitions,
GOD of penitents,
SAVIOUR of sinners,

I have sinned before Thee, O Lord,
Alas! alas! woe, woe.

How was I enticed by my own lust!
How I hated instruction!

Nor felt I fear nor shame
at Thy incomprehensible glory,
Thy awful presence,
Thy fearful power,

Thy exact justice,

Thy winning goodness.

What judgment shall be upon me?

Who shall quench my flame?

Who shall lighten my darkness if Thou pity me not? LORD, as Thou art loving, give me tears, give me floods, give me to-day. For then will be the incorruptible Judge, the horrible judgment-seat,

the answer without excuses,
the inevitable charges,
the shameful punishment,
the endless Gehenna,
the pitiless angels,

the yawning hell,

the roaring stream of fire,
the unquenchable flame,

the dark prison,
the rayless darkness,
the bed of live coals,
the unwearied worm,
the indissoluble chains,
the bottomless chaos,

the impassable wall,
the inconsolable cry.

But I repent, LORD, O LORD, I repent,
help Thou mine impenitence,
and more, still more,

pierce, rend, crush my heart.
Behold, O LORD, that I am
indignant with myself,
for my senseless, profitless,
hurtful, perilous passions;
that I loathe myself,

for these inordinate, unseemly,
deformed, insincere,

shameful, disgraceful,
passions,

that my confusion is daily before me, and the shame of my face has covered me. Behold me, LORD, self-condemned; Behold, LORD, and enter not into judgment with Thy servant.

And now, Lord,

I humble myself under Thy mighty hand,
I bend to Thee, O LORD, my knees,
I fall on my face to the earth,
I stretch forth my hands unto Thee;
I smite my breast, I smite on my thigh.
Out of the deep my soul crieth unto Thee,
as a thirsty land;

and all my bones,

and all that is within me.

CHAPTER V.-SELF-EXAMINATION.

If death comes speedily, and in itself is full of terrors; and after death the judgment comes, more fearful still; and after judgment hell, unless thou canst pass that searching trial, surely there is no madness so great in all the earth as not to prepare for death and judgment, whilst thou canst.

Wouldest thou know thy condition then for the first time, when it is too late to remedy it? Wouldest thou learn thy sins when the time of grace is past? Men are shocked when they first see themselves after long illness, or battle, or other injury, but what must be the first true sight of self to the careless sinner?

"If we could judge ourselves," saith the Apostle, we should not be judged." "It is not indeed a small step towards amendment, to lay together all our sins, and to be continually revolving and reckoning them up with all their particulars. For he that is doing this will be so heartbroken as not to think himself worthy so much as to live. He that thinks thus will be tenderer than any wax. For tell me not of great and notorious sins only, nor of things that are manifest, and acknowledged amongst all men; but lay together also all thy secret crafts, and thy false accusations, and thine evil speakings, and thy vain gloryings, and thine envy and all such things. For neither will these bring a trifling punishment. For the railer too shall fall into hell; the drunkard hath no part in the kingdom; and he that loves not his neighbour so offends GoD as to find no help even in his own martyrdom, and he who overlooks the poor is sent into the fire.

"Account not then these things to be little, but put

For if thou

even as on the

GOD both in

all together, and write them as in a book. write them down, GoD blots them out; other hand, if thou omit writing them, scribes them and exacts their penalty. It were then far better for them to be written by us, and blotted out above, than on the contrary, when we have forgotten them, for GOD to bring them before our eyes in that day.

"Therefore that this may not be so, let us reckon up with all strictness, and we shall find ourselves answerable for much. For who is clear from covetousness? Nay, tell me not of the quantity, but since even in a small amount we shall pay the same penalty, consider this and repent. Who is rid of all insolence? Yet this casts into hell. Who hath not secretly spoken evil of his neighbour? Yet this deprives one of the Kingdom. Who hath not been self-willed? Yet this man is more unclean than all. Who hath not looked with unchaste eyes? Yet this is a complete adulterer. Who hath not been angry with his brother without a cause? Yet such an one is in danger of the council. Who hath not sworn? Yet this thing is of the evil Who hath not forsworn himself? But this man is something more than of the evil one. Who hath not served Mammon? But this man is fallen But this man is fallen away from the genuine service of CHRIST.

one.

"I have also other things greater than these to mention; but even these are enough, and able, if a man be not made of stone, nor utterly past feeling, to bring him to compunction. For if each one of them casts into hell, what will they not bring to pass when all are met together ?""

Think not lightly of small things. Many grains of sand make up the shores of the ocean: many drops its waters. Moments are short, but they form hours, and hours form days, and days years; and a few years Lent Readings from the

1 S. Chrys. Hom. on S. Matthew. Fathers, pp. 156, 157.