"You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains" (Isa. xii. 3). We require grace and energy of various kinds from God; first the grace of knowledge and faith through revelation, then force in action. After the intellect has been illumined, the executive powers must be regulated and sustained. The supernatural life must be inspired into us, developed, and, if lost, again restored to us. All this ought to have been conveyed to us by generation and heredity from Adam. He chose deliberately to convey to us only the fallen natural life; it was for the second Adam to become the source of the supernatural life. The communication of the supernatural life has been dissociated from natural agencies; it has now to be imparted to us through supernatural institutions. Adam gave us the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of evil and of death: Our Lord gives us the fruit of the tree of life which had been forfeited. Through the fall, human nature tends towards excess and deterioration in all its faculties and appetites; its dangers and its needs are many; it requires aid in different conjunctures, or as we say, different kinds of grace. The Sacraments meet all these needs: they bestow on us that which Christ merited for us, forgiveness of sins, in corporation with Him, admission to eternal glory. Consider the great dignity of the Sacraments, their importance, and the value you should set on such a treasure.
