Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/45

 Similar is  the  testimony  borne  by  heathen writers such  as  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  Pliny the younger,  in  regard  to  Christ. The first-mentioned  says  that  the  founder  of  the  Christian religion  was  condemned  to  death  by Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  during  the  reign of the  emperor  Tiberius. Heathen- philosophers, such  as  Celsus  and  Porphyrius,  who lived in  the  first  and  second  centuries,  did indeed write  against  Christ  and  His  doctrines, but they  never  called  in  question  the  fact  of His  existence.

" Rejoice  in  the  Lord,"  then,  my  youthful reader! Christ has  in  very  deed  lived  on earth,  and,  as  the  Apostle  says:  "Christ  is our  peace.,,  Christ  alone  can  unite  us  to God,  to  the  God  who  created  the  heavens  and the  earth,  and  in  whom,  to  quote  the  words of  the  same  apostle,  "we  live  and  move  and are." And  this  Christ  is  now  present  in  the Holy  Eucharist,  our  Emmanuel,  of  whom  the Angelic  Doctor  sings :  Lauda  Sion  Salvatorem

Sion, lift  thy  voice  and  sing: Praise thy  Saviour  and  thy  King, Praise with  hymns  thy  Shepherd  true: Strive thy  best  to  praise  Him  well; Yet doth  He  all  praise  excel; None can  ever  reach  His  due.

Jesus! Shepherd of  the  sheep! Thy true  flock,  in  safety  keep. Living Bread! Thy life  supply; Strengthen us,  or  else  we  die; fill us  with  celestial  grace.