and to the luxury of those sounds and voices so calculated to soften the heart; a soul alike insensible to scorn or to praise; a soul beyond the reach of the things of this earth, and proof against all the revolutions of life; the same in good or in bad fortune; viewing, with indifferent eyes, every occurrence here below, esteeming the good or the evil which occur to him as a matter that does not regard him; and, through all the agitations of the earth, the tumult of the senses, the contradiction of tongues, the vain enterprises of men, always watchful to guard over his peace of heart, to move continually with a steady pace toward eternity, never to lose sight of his God, and to have his conversations always in heaven.
Not that I would exclude from the altar all those who have not yet attained to this state of death: alas! it is the business of a whole life; and the body of Jesus Christ is an aid established to fortify and to assist us in this undertaking. But our inclination ought to bend to it, lest we approach the altar unworthily; we must be at open war with the senses, with our own corruption, with our own weaknesses, and be continually gaining the advantage in some article; Christian self-denial must be practised; the daily victories, which the impressions of the world and of the senses gain over us must be expiated by retirement, by silence, by tears, and by prayer; we must rise with fresh vigour from every backsliding. But I mean you to understand that a communion is not the concern of a day, or of a solemnity; that our whole life ought to be a preparation for the eucharist; that all our actions should be as steps which lead us up to the altar; that the life of too many in the world, even of those who are not in debauchery, who restrict themselves upon nothing, who live according to the senses, who are warm only on the interests of the earth, is a life which shows not the death of the Lord, and which, consequently, excludes you from this mystery. I mean you to comprehend, that the eucharist is a festival, if I dare to say so, of mourning and death; that delights, pleasures, and vain decorations disfigure this sacred table, and occasion your being rejected equally as him who appears there without the wedding garment; that the meats of the earth and the bread of heaven cannot be eaten at the same time; and that, on the morrow after the Israelites had eaten of the old corn of the Land of Canaan, the manna ceased, neither had they any more of that heavenly food. I mean you to comprehend, that this sacrament is the fruit and not the mark of penitence; that those communions, determined by a solemnity, gave rise to more profaners than true worshippers; that the body of Jesus Christ cannot be eaten without living by his spirit; that the plenitude of the Holy Spirit must even rest upon a soul, as upon Mary, before Jesus Christ can enter into it, as it were, to assume once more the human nature. I mean you to comprehend, that the reading of the holy books, and the salutary rigours of penitence, should prepare an abode in our hearts for Jesus Christ, to the end that we might be like holy arks, and that this
