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in Provicience from the day of the Incarnation up to that time, 

 as I have pointed out ; its religion was Fatalism. Even among 

 the Jews it was only by force of miracles that people could be 

 made to believe in the intervention of God. But, from the 

 day when men have felt the heart of God beat in His Son, 

 when they beheld Him, who is the revelation of the Father, 

 men believed that God loved, and would not abandon them to a 

 fatal destiny. Now, just see what a change in our views takes 

 place the moment the stupendous fact of the Incarnation casts 

 light on our deep darkness. We say to ourselves, on first con- 

 templating our little earth lost in the vast universe, Can it be 

 possible the eye of God can see it? And, now that I know 

 that among so many thousands of worlds, it has been the object 

 of the love of the Most High, the abode of His Son, the theatre 

 on which His highest love has been displayed, can we now 

 say, that any number of worlds are worth that on which have 

 fallen the tears and the blood of His Son ? How willingly can we 

 now say, in sympathy with the Prophet, ^' O little Earth, smallest 

 star-planet, lost amid the immensity of the universe, yet thou art 

 the most glorious of w^orlds, for out of thee came the Saviour, 

 the Son of the Highest ! Yes, in thy celestial journey across 

 the realms of boundless space, angels salute thee, for in the 

 whole universe they see no spot surpassing thee in brightness. 

 Let them wander through the star-spangled heaven, whose 

 splendours announce the glory of God ; let them pursue their 

 course through His wide domain, and contemplate the magni- 

 ficence of His handiwork. They will never find anything more 

 grand than Divine love, which immolates itself ; and the light 

 of all suns will pale before the ray which shines from the Cross. 

 O Earth ! blessed art thou, for from thee has come forth the 

 Saviour." We seemed to say, what is the secret of the Divine 

 will ? and what is the meaning of these extraordinary dis- 

 pensations which blind and confound us ? But now God has 

 answered us, we have seen the Cross triumphant. We know 

 across all that bewilders and troubles us the Kingdom of God 

 advances, and will finally subdue the earth. But not only are 

 the destinies of humanity at large illumined by the Cross, but 

 the individual history of each one of us. The Cross tells us the 

 value of a human soul in God^s eyes, by showing at what a price 

 God has redeemed it. And when we believe in that love, and 

 when we know the value of our soul, how can we doubt the 

 goodness of Providence ? Is not this precisely the energetic 

 reasoning of St. Paul ? " God, who spared not His own Son, 

 but delivered Him up for us all, shall He not with Him freely 

 give us all things V' 

 After so striking a proof of His lovC; may we not expect a 



