aass_3X\1^5_k_ Book PRESENTEl uNTED BT^ ^ 11 "^ ' 1. SERMONS OF RE;V. FRANCIS A. BAKER, One of the First Paulists. New York: THE CATHOLIC BOOK EXCHANGE, I20 West 6oth Street, , 1896, 52 'Ct ^ ^':^-. c>fp r- -•- •( • - • _•--•. CONTENTS. PAGE SERMON I. The Necessity of Salvation. (Mission Sermon.) . . 209 SERMON II, Mortal Sin. (Mission Sermon.) 226 SERMON III. The Particular Judgment. (Mission Sermon.) . , . 239 SERMON IV. Heaven. (Mission Sermon.) . , 252 SERMON V. The Duty of Growing in Christian Knowledge. (First Sunday in Advent.) 263 SERMON VI. The Mission of St. John the Baptist. (Second Sun- day in Advent.) 271 SERMON VII. God's Desire to be Loved. (Christmas Day.) . . . 283 SERMON VIII. The Failure and Success of the Gospel. (Sexagesima.) 292 SERMON IX. The Work of Life. (Septuagesima.) . . . . , 303 SERMON X. The Church's Admonition to the Individual Soul. (Ash Wednesday.) , . . 312 SERMON XI. The Negligent Christian. (Third Sunday in Lent.) , . 320 SERMON XII. The Cross the Measure of Sin. (Passion Sunday.) , 329 SERMON XIII. Divine Calls and Warnings. (Lent.) .... 340 SERMON XIV. The Tomb of Christ the School of Comfort. (Easter Sunday.) 352 CONTENTS. PAGE SERMON XV. St. Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre. (Easter Sunday.) 360 SERMON XVI. The Preacher the Organ of the Holy Ghost. (Fourth Sunday after Easter.) 370 SERMON XVII. The Two Wills in Man. (Fourth Sunday after Easter.) . 380 SERMON XVIII. The Intercession of the Blessed Virgin the Highest Power of Prayer. (Sunday withm the Octave of the Ascension.) ....... ... 391 SERMON XIX. Mysteries in Religion. (Trinity Sunday.) ^ . . . . 399 SERMON XX. The Worth of the Soul. (Third Sunday after Pentecost.) 408 SERMON XXI. The Catholic's Certitude concerning the Way of Salvation. (Fifth Sunday after Pentecost.) . . . 418 SERMON XXII. The Presence of God. (Fifth Sunday after Pentecost.) . 429 SERMON XXIII. Keeping the Law not Impossible. (Ninth Sunday after Pentecost.) . . . . . . .... 437 SERMON XXIV. The Spirit of Sacrifice. (Feast of St. Laurence, Martyr.) 447 SERMON XXV. Mary's Destiny a Type of Ours. (Assumption.) . . 456 SERMON XXVI. Care for the Dead. (Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.) . 465 SERMON XXVII. Success the Reward of Merit. (Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.) 475 SERMON XXVIII. The Mass the Highest Worship. (Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost.) 484 SERMON XXIX. The Lessons of Autumn. (Last Sunday after Pentecost.) . 493 SERMONS. SEEMON I. THE NECESSITY OF SALTATION. (mission sermon.) " Thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. But one tiling ifl necessary." — St. Luke x. 41, 42. If, my brethren, I should ask each one in this assembly what his business is, I should probably receive a great varietj> of answers. In so large a congregation as this, drawn as it is from the heart of a rich and important city, there are un- doubtedly representatives of all the various avocations that grow out of the requirements of social life ; some merchants, some mechanics, some laboring men. I should find some heirs of ease and opulence side by side with homeless beg- gars. Some of you are heads of families, wdiile others are living under guardianship and subjection ; and in answer to my proposed question, you would give me your various em- ployments and states of life. Tou would tell me that your business is to heal the sick, or to assist at the administration of justice, or to teach, or to learn letters, or to labor. The men would tell me that their occupation is at the ofiice, or the warehouse, or the shop, and the women would tell me that theirs is at home by the family fireside. No ! my breth- ren, it is not so. This is not your business. Your words may be true in the sense in which you use them, but there is a great and real sense in which they are not true. * Trade^ 210 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. labor, study — these are not your employments. Your avoca* tions are not so varied as you think they are. Each one of you has the same business. All men who have lived in the world have had but one and the same business. And what is that? The salvation of their souls. However varied your dispositions, your condition in this world, your duties, the end of life is absolutely one and the same to you all. Yes ! wherever man is, whatever his position, whatever his age, he has one business on the earth, and only one — to save his soul. All other things may be dispensed with, but this cannot be dispensed with. This is his true, his necessary, his only duty. Do not think that I am exaggerating tilings in making this assertion. Our Divine Saviour Himself in the words of the text has taught us the same lesson — "Martha^ Martha^ thou art careful^ and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessaryP And what that one thing is. He has taught us, in those memorable words which He uttered on another occasion — " What shall it profit a man^ if he gain the whole woiid^ and lose his own soul ; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soulV^^ But what then, you say; must every one go into a cloister, must every one who wishes to do his duty forsake the world, leave house and parents, lands and possessions, and nourish his soul by continual medi- tation and prayer \ No ! this is not our Lord's meaning. The end of life is indeed the salvation of our souls, but w^e must work this out by means of the daily employments ap- propriate to our several conditions. We must prepare for the life to come by the labors of the life that now is. We must bear our part in this world, but we must do so, always, in subordination to eternity, and thus we shall in some way fulfil the words of the apostle— "77^^^?/ that use this worlds let them be as though they used it not /" f that is, let them not use it in the same way that the children of the world use it, ♦St. Mark viii 36, St. f 1 Cor. vii. 31. THE I^ECESSiTY OF SALVATIOK". 211 jr according to the principles of tlie world. This is enough for the salvation of most men. No one can be excused from doing so much as this. The law of God imperatively and under the highest sanctions requires this of every one here present. This is your duty to your souls. This is your only duty. This done, all will be done. This neglected, all else will be in vain. To prove this will be the theme of my pres- ent discourse. I will make a remark in the outset : It is important for us to bear in mind that the salvation of our souls is properly our work. The grace of God is indeed necessary in order to will, and to accomplish His good will, but without our co- operation, the grace of God will not save us ; accordingly, St. Paul, writing to the Philippians, exhorts them to worh out their salvation.^ It is only little children, who die soon after baptism, and persons equivalent to children, who are saved by a sovereign and absolute act of divine power; with regard to all others, God has made their eternal destiny de- pendent on their own actions. No one of us will be saved merely because Christ died for us ; or because He founded the Catholic Church as the church of salvation, and made us its members; or because He has instituted life-giving sacra- ments; or because God is willing that all should be saved; or because He gives His grace to us all ; or because the Blessed Yirgin Mary has such power with God ; or because the priest can forgive sins. No one will be saved because he has had inspirations of grace, good instruction, good desires, and good purposes. Despite all this, one may be damned. For the Holy Spirit has said distinctly and strongly, " Work out your own salvation." It rests, then, with you to save your souls. The grace of God is indeed neces&.ary. You cannot be saved without the death of Christ, or the Bac^ments of the Catholic Church, or the gifts of the Holj^ * Philip, ii. 12. 212 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. Spirit, or the absolution of the priest, or the patronage oi Mary ; but all these things are within your leach, they arc all in your power. Now, at the time of the Holy Mission^ they are offered to you with especial liberality. God, on His part, has done, one may almost say, all that He could do to make your work easy to you. To make this an accept- able time, it only remains, then, that you do your part. And this you can do. However great your difficulties, however great your temptations, however strong your passions, how- ever importunate your evil companions, may be; however deeply seated your bad habits ; you can, each one can, by the help which God is now willing to render him, save his soul. From this first remark I pass to the immediate subject of my discourse — the obligation of securing our salvation. As we can save our souls, so we ought to do it. IS'ay, this is our only, our all- engrossing duty; and. I shall found my proof of it, my brethren, on this plain rule of common sense and reason, that one ought to bestow that degree of attention and care on any affair which it deserves and requires. Every one feels that it would be an occupa- tion unworthy of a man to spend his tiiiie in writing letters in the sand, or in chasing butterflies from flower to flower ; because these occupations are in themselves vain and pro- fitless. Again, any one would feel it unreasonable, in the father of a family, to set out on a party of pleasure at the very moment that his presence was necessary to arrest some disaster that threatened his family : not because it was wrong in itself for him to seek recreation, but because a higher obligation was then urging. Now, applying these principles, on which every one acts in matters of daily life, to the matter in question ; I say that you are bound to give to the work of your salvation your utmost care and attention, because the care of your souls supremely deserves and urgently requires it. Take in, my brethren, the whole THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. 213 Bcope of my proposition. There is a work of great con- sequence before you. I do not speak as the world speaks. The world tells you that your business here is to get gain, to build a house, to rear a family, to leave a name, to enjoy yourself I say, no. Your business is to seek the grace of God, and to keep it. The world says: seek friends, fall in with the stream, court popularity, do as others do, act on the principles which receive the sanction of the multitude, and a little religion in addition to this will be no bad thing. I say, no. Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice. Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, masters, servants, ye great ones and ye humble ones of the earth, you are all engaged in the same enterprise. God has intrusted to each one of vou a soul. He has intrusted it to you^ not to another. You cannot devolve the responsibility of it on another. That is your care on the earth. Whatever cares of other things you may have, you cannot neglect that one work, you cannot interrupt or postpone it, you cannot put any thing in competition with it. If there is a question between any temporal advantages, however great, or suffering, however severe, on one side, and the salvation of your soul on the other ; you must renounce these benefits, embrace those tortures. If you must consent to see your family die by inches of starvati on, or put your salvation in proximate and certain jeopardy, you must see them starve first. I do not say the case is likely to happen. God rarely allows men to be reduced to such straits. But if the case should occur in the line of duty, nay, if the alternative was presented, of convertino; the whole world on one side, and avoiding* a mortal sin on the other, we must rather consult the welfare of our own souls than that of others ; and this not from selfishness, but because God has intrusted to us our own Bouls, and not the souls of others. And how do I establish 214 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. my proposition? I waive, my brethien, my right to appeal to your faith, to speak by the authoiity of Christ, Who is infiillible and supreme, and Who has a right to challenge your absolute and instantaneous submission and obedience. I postpone the consideration of that love which we owe to onr Maker, and which onght to make lis prompt and willing to do His will. I take my stand on the ground of reason and conscience, and I appeal to you to say whether they do not sustain my proposition. I make you the judges. It is your own case, it is true, yet there are points in which even self- love cannot blind our sense of faith ; aiid I ask you whether the care of our soul's salvation should not be our sovereign and supreme care in life, if it be true that the interests of the soul surpass all others in importance, andean not be secured without our continual and earnest efforts. Your prompt and decided answer in the aiSrmative leaves me nothing more to do than to establish the fact that the salvation of your souls is in fact so important a task. I will do so by proving three points : first, that our souls are our most precious possession ; second, that we are in great danger of losing them ; and third, that the loss of our souls is the greatest of all losses, and is irreparable. Our souls are our most precious possession. My brethren, we have souls. When God created man He formed his body out of the slime of the earth. It was as yet but a lifeless form, a beautiful statue, but God breathed upon it and man became a living soul. This soul, the spiritual substance which God breathed into the body, was formed according to an eternal decree of the Blessed Trinity, in resemblance to the Divine essence ; that is, endowed with a spiritual nature and possessed of understanding and free will. " Let us make man to oui image and likeness," said God ; and the sacred writer tella us " God created man to His own image;" and, as if to give greater emphasis to so important an announcement, he repeats, *HE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. 2 If " To tlie image of God created He him." ^' Man therefore is a compound being, consisting of a body and soul, allied to the material world through the material body which he pos- sesses, and to the world above us, that is, to God and the angels, through his soul. Now, the excellence of all creatures is in proportion to the degree in which they partake of the perfections of God, who is the Author of all being and all goodness. All existing substances partake of His perfection in some degree ; if they do not show forth His moral attri- butes, at least they reflect His omnipotence ; and therefore Holy Scripture calls on the fishes of the sea, the beasts of the earth, the fowls of the air, the sun, moon, stars, earth, moun- tains and hills, to join with angels and men in blessing God. But the superiority of angels and souls over material crea- tures consists in this, that they partake of the moral perfec- tions of God: they show us not only what God can do, but what He is. Like Him, they are spiritual beings. " JV/w makest Thy angels spirits and Thy ministers a hurning fire^'^ says the Psalmist.f They are not gross substances as our bodies are, but pure, subtle, immaterial essences. They are immortal like Him — at least so as that they can never die. They do not need food nor sleep. They are not subject to decay, or old age, or death; they are endowed with understand- ing and free will, to know many of the things that God knows and to love what He loves ; but, above all, to know Him and love Him. Hence the value of the soul is really immeasur- able, and all the treasures of the earth are not to be compared to it. Take the poorest slave on earth, the most wretched inmate of the darkest prison, the most afflicted sufferer whom disease has reduced to a mass of filth and corruption, and that man's soul is more precious and more glorious than the richest diadem of the greatest monarch ; nay, than all the- treasures of the whole earth, with all the jewels that are hid * Gen. i. 26. \ Ps. ciii. 4» 216 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. in the mines and caves under its surface. Our Lord one day permitted St. Catherine of Sienna to see a human soul, and as she gazed transported at its exceeding beauty, He asked her if He had not had good reason to come down from heaven to save such a glorious creature. The saint said the soul Has so beautiful that, if one could see it, one would be willing to suffer all possible pains and torments for love of it. My brethren, if, when you go to your homes, you should find in your house an angel with his face as the appearance of light- ning, his eyes as a burning lamp, his body as a crystal, and his feet in appeai^ance like to glittering brass, what would you do ? Would you not, like St. John, fall down before his feet and adore him ? Would you not faint and fall before him, or if you were so strengthened that you could look upon the glorious vision, would you not gaze upon it with deep and loving awe? Well! such a being you will find there, when you go home. It will go hence with you. It will remain there as long as you remain there. It will come away when you come away. This bright being of whom I speak is no visitor in your house, it is an inmate, it rises with you in the morning, accompanies you through the day, is present with you when you eat, is with you in sickness and in health, in life and in death. This bright and glorious being is yours — it is more yours than any thing else in the world, it is the only thing in the world that is really yours — it is yours ; poverty cannot strip you of it, death cannot tear it from you ; eternity cannot rob you of it. And this being is your soul, your precious, spiritual, immortal soul. All things else will forsake you, property, family, friends ; but this will never forsake you. It is yours. It is yours inalien- ably and for ever. Your greatest, ^^our only wealth and treasure. Oh, inestimable dignity ! We arc told of some saints, who used to make an act of respect to every one they met, by way of saluting his guardian angel, and of others that they bowed down before those whom they knew, by the THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. 217 spirit of prophecy, would slied their blood for the faith. But have we not cause enough to honor man, in the fact that he has a soul, an immortal soul, a soul which shall one day see God ? Shall we not feel an ample respect for each other, my brethren, when we think of what we are t Who could ever speak an impure word before another if he thought of the dignity of a human soul ? What young man would ever dare to go to scenes where he would blush that liis mother or sister should be present, if he remembered that he took his own soul along with him ? Who would lie, or cheat, or steal, if he thought of his soul ? A great and overpower- ing thought ; how does it belittle all the pride and ostentation of the external world ! Come, my brethren, let us go into the streets of this city and look around us. There are stately buildings and proud equipages and gay and brilliant shops— but what are all these to the concourse of human beings, the crowds of immortal souls who are, day by day, making an im- mortal destiny. There is the old man tottering along on hrs stick, there is the little child on the way to school, there is the rich lady with her jewels and costly fabrics, there is the laborer with his spade setting out to his daily toil ; and each one has a soul, each one will live forever. Let us strive to take in this great thought. The tide of liuman beings flows on from morning to evening. New faces continually appear. They come and go. We do not know their history, their destiny ; but we know that each one has a spiritual nature, is made to tlie image of God, is possessed of a bright and glorious soul. We shall meet them again. There will come a day when every one of the throng shall meet again every other. New populations shall come in the place of those who now inhabit the world. The stones of the greatest build- ings shall be reduced to powder, nay, the world itself will be reduced to ashes, and each soul that now lives in this city will survive in its own individuality and immortality. There are some, it is true, who do not seem as if they had souls. There 10 218 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. are women wlio have given iLemselves up to practices of un- eleanness by profession, and men who habitually wallow in drunkenness and sensuality ; and the conversation of such persons is so horrid and obscene, their countenance so devoid of the least trace of shame or self-respect, they seem from having neglected their souls almost to have lost them. They seem really to have become the brutes whose passions they have imitated. No ! even they have souls. They cannot be brutes if they would. They are men, they are made to the image of God, and so they must ever remain. A surgeon^ was once called to atte^nd a man who was afflicted with cancer. This terrible disease had affected one entire side of the face, and had made in it the most dreadful ravages. The cheek was one shapeless mass of putrid flesh ; the nose undistinguishable from the other features, the eye com- pletely eaten out, and the bones of the forehead perforated like a sponge ; but on turning the face of the man, the other side presented a wonderful contrast, being in nowise affected, and showing no trace of sickness except an excessive pallor. The countenance and features were of a noble dignity and beauty, and strikingly like the expression ordinarily observed in the pictures of out* Blessed Lord. So it is with men's souls. Sin has eaten deeply into them, has deprived them of comeliness, has almost defaced the form they once had, has blinded their minds and deprived them of the interior eye ; but still there remain traces of nobility, of the image of God. O man, who- ever thou art, however deeply sunk in sin ; I care not whether your body be as filtliy as the dunghill or the sink, or your heart be the prey of every passion and the slave of every vice ; you have a soul: you have indeed lost much, but you have much remaining ; you have that which is of more value than all else in the world — that wliich is absolutely of more * The surgeon alluded to was Dr. Baker, apd a faithful porlrait of the man Wifl taken, which was preserved in the lau-^-^ THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. 219 ralue than all material tilings ; and wliich to you is of more value than all sptritual things, than all created things in earth and heaven. You are great and noble and spiritual and im- mortal — you are capable of virtue, happiness, and heaven — you are like God, you resemble Him. His image is stamped upon you. And how little you realize this ! Alas, you will realize it at the hour of death. But, secondly, we are in danger of losing our souls. To lose them in the literal sense is of course impossible, for I have said that they are immortal, and will remain with us forever. It would be in some way a hajDpiness to the wicked, if they could, in this sense, lose their souls, for it would free them from the torment of a miserable eternity. But that cannot be : the loss of our souls of which we speak is the loss of God, who alone is the sufficient and satisfying object of our affection. " Thou hast made our souls for Thee," says St. Augustine, " and they are not at peace until they rest in Thee." The loss of our souls is occasioned by sin, which separates us from God, but it is not final and irremediable until death overtakes us in this state of estrangement. The danger of losing our souls, then, is the danger of falling into mortal sin and dying in that state. ]>row, the danger of sinning is, in the present coarse of God's providence, inseparable from the possession of a soul. Free will is a high prerogative, which, while it fits us for the highest state possible, renders sin also possible. As soon as God created the angels, a large part of them rebelled against Plim, and were ca^t out of heaven. As soon as He had made man, our first parents fell and were cast out of Para- dise. It is only a rgitional moral being that can sin; because sin is the voluntary transgression of the Divine law, and there- fore cannot be committed by any creature but one who has a will, that is, intellect and the power of choosing. Almost all the material acts of sm which men commit are committed by brutes also. See the rage of the tiger, the thieving of the 220 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. fox, the impurity of the goat, the tieachery of the ad Jer, the gluttony of the swine. But there are ito sins in these brutes, because they have mere blind instincts. Man, how- ever, has reason and a will, and therefore he is bound to con- trol the instincts which he shares in common with the brutes, and his failure to control these constitutes sin. He has a soul which belongs to God, and of which God is the sover- eign, and his failure to control his passions is rebellion against God, and pride. Further, as the possession of a soul renders sin possible, so the proclivity to evil, w^liich we inherit from the fall, and the temptations of the world, render it exceed- ingly probable. I do not know a more 'striking illustration of this, than the fear which the saints have ordinarily had about their salvation. Their sense of the value of the soul ; their deep knowledge of their own hearts, and of the root of evil that was in them, the weakness of man without grace, and the uncertainty of grace; have kept men of the greatest sanctity, men who have w^rought miracles, who have cast out devils, who have raised the dead to life, always anxious about their perseverance, alwaj^s begging of God the grace never to to allow them to commit a mortal sin. But if these reasons are enough to make saints tremble, what reasons have not ordi- narv Christians to fear ! A chain of evil habits, unmiarded intercourse with men, the constant contact with the world, how fearfully do they augment tlie risk of losing our souls, which all run necessarily in this world. Why, listen to the conversation of ten men, taken almost at random in this city ; for half an hour walk throuo-li the citv, from one end to the other ; and see if the occasions of sin are not more frequent than can be uttered. This is deeply felt by men of the world themselves. It makes them despair. They say there is no pos- sibility of saving their souls in the world. They say it is all in vain to try — :that sin meets them at eveiy step. It is iu*)t, of course, true that sin is inevitable. If it were, it would not be sin. But it is true that the atmosphere of the world is fear* THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. 221 fiiUy surcharged with evil. There is many a home in this city, many a place of public resort, many a den of secret iniquity, many a gaming-room, and drinking-house, over which there is an inscription legible to the angels, written in letters of fire, " The gate of hell." There are many places where souls are sold daily and hourly, and oh, at what a price ! Thirty pieces of silver was the price ofiered for our Redeemer, but the soul is often sold for one, indeed, often for something still more miserable — for the gratification of an impure passion, for the indulgence of revenge, for a day's frolic. It is true the Evil One does not carry on his traffic under its own name and openly — that it is well concealed under specious pretences; but the danger is only so much the greater. The occasions of sin are everywhere spread under our feet like traps and snares, and encircling us on all sides like nets. But even this is not the worst. The loss of God is not only possible because of our free will, probable because of the corruption of the world, but, in many cases, already certain. Men, on all sides, have lost God, and need only an unforeseen death to make certain the loss of their souls. Who can tell how many are living in a state of mortal sin, month by month, day by day, year by year 1 They go on securely, smilingly ; externally all goes on smoothly ; they are successful and- seemingly happy ; they have plans for many years to come ; but a voice has spoken, " Thou fool, this night shall they require thy soul of thee." Oh ! how many died in mortal sin last year, how many will die in mortal sin next year ! It needs only a little thing, a false step, a rail- way accident, an attack of fever, a change in the weather, a fit of apoplexy, and they are launched into eternity without warning "and ^nthout preparation — death sealing for perdi- tion those whom it finds deprived of the grace of God. Who, I say, can wonder at this, when he looks around him, and sees how little the soul is valued? O my God! it is enough to make the heart sick. Let us take a Catholic 222 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. family, tot I will not take things at the worst. A father has a family of children. He must send them to school or col- lege. He finds an institution w^hich pleases him, and he will tell you that his children are doing excellently, and that the only draw^back is that the school is Protestant or infidel. Is not this to betray the souls of his own children ? Sunday comes : it is true that there is the obligation to hear Mass, but some inducement offers itself to idleness or dissipation, and no Mass is heard, because it is only the soul which is in- jured by the omission. Monday comes : there is an opportu- nity of making some little gain in an unlawful way. Wliat does it matter? We must get rich, and do like our neighbors. The sons grow up in ignorance, and spend their time mostly at the gaming-table or the place of carousal. The daughters grow up. They must be led by their motlier to every scene of folly and sin, because the custom of society requires it. Easter comes : the young people do not like to go to confession, and they add only one sin more, to those with which their hearts are already charged. And then the parents die, and the children come forward to take their places, and to bring up their children in still greater neglect and laxity. Thus Catholics are trained for the world, and souls for hell ; and if we take into the account the graver forms of vice, and consider how many are entirely the slaves of passion, we shall not wonder that there are so few that shall be saved. One of the Fathers, speaking of the great responsibility of the priesthood, dilates on the impossibility of a priest's being saved without great exertion and watchfulness. But if it be difiicult for a priest to save his soul ; what shall I say of the laity, when I consider the prevailing habits of Catholics. It hardly seems to me too strong to say, that to me it would seem a miracle for any such one to be saved. How will men attain that which they do not care for, to which they give no tliought ? And so it is with the salvation of the soul. Who thinks about it ? Who takes any pains for it ? Who THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. 223 makes any sacritice for it ? The soul is more precious than any thing else, and yet every thing else is put before it. It is trampled on in business, betrayed in friendships, choked by domestic cares, imprisoned in the filthy bodies of the licentious, and, as it were, annihilated in the drunkard. It is forgotten, neglected, outraged, despised, ignored. It is not so much sold as thrown away. The body is cared for with the most supreme solicitude. Every pain and ache is re- lieved. Long journeys are undertaken to recover health that is lost or only tlireatened. The most celebrated physicians are sought after with eagerness. But the soul is allowed for weeks and months and years to go on in a state of spiritual death. Confession, prayer, the sacraments, means so easy, means truly infallible in their efficacy, means within the reach of all, are neglected, on pretences the most frivolous, without reason, and almost without motive. " Who will give water to my head^ and a fountain of tears to my eyes^ and I will weep day andj night for the slain of the daughter of my people .^" ^ The loss of our souls is the greatest of all evils, because it is irremediable. I will not go into all that this point contains. It is too great a subject for us at present. I will not dwell on all that is meant by the loss of our souls, but I will con- sider it simply as it is, the failure of reaching our end aiid destiny, and as irreparable. And to help ns to realize this, 1 will summon as a witness one who was the first to come short of his destiny, the devil. We do not know how long it was after the creation of the angels that the devil sinned and fell ; but certainly there was a time when he was a pure, bright spirit, rejoicing in the greatness of his endowments, and with a hope full of immortality. But there came a moment of darkness. He sinned : he was judged : he was cast from heaven , and he sank into hell. There he is now. He is con- fined in chains and darkness. The tree has fallen ; and as it has fallen to the north or to the south, so must it lie forever. Other * Jer. ix. 1. 224 THE NECESSITY OF SALVATION. mistakes may be rectified, "but this never. A loss in busiiiefts may be made good by greater exertions and prudence ; a broken-down constitution may be repaired by art and care : a lost reputation may be recovered by integrity and consist- ency in well-doing ; earthly sorrow may be healed by time and other objects ; sin may be rooted out by penance ; but the loss of the soul is an evil complete and irreparable, and brings with it an undying remorse. "A tree hath hope : if it ie cut down^ it groweth green again^ and the houghs thereof sprout. If its root he old in the earth and its stock he dead in the dust^ at the scent of water it shqil spring and hring forth leaves as when it was first planted ^'"'^ But man, when he shall be dead and stripped and consumed, I pray you, where is he ? . The cry of despair which the first lost soul uttered when he made the terrible discovery that he was really lost, is still ringing in the abodes of ih^ damned, and the keenness of his misery is still unabated. Ages shall go on, the last day shall come, and an eternity shall follow it, and that cry of despair will still be as thrilling, and that anguish as new and as irremediable. As reasonable men, I have appealed to you : what is your decision ? What does reason, what does conscience, what does self-interest say ? You would not be listless if I were to speak to you of your property, your health, your reputation, but now I speak to you of your souls — ^}^our precious, immor- tal souls — your own, your greatest good — a good that you are in danger of losing — the good w^hose loss is overwhelming and irretrievable. They are in your hands for life or for death. It is said that to one of the heathen soothsayers, who was famed for his skill in discovering hidden things, a person once came with a living bird in his hand, and asked the seer to tell whether it was living or dead. The inquirer intended to crush the bird with his handif the wise man should say it was living, and to let it fly if he should say it was dead, and thus in either case to put the * Job xiv. 7, 8, 9. TH£ KECE^SITY OF SALVATION. 226 pi'etended magician to shame. But the soothsayer sus- pected the design, and answered : " The bird is in your hand — to kill it or to let it live." So I answer you, my brethren. Your souls are in your hands, to kill them or to let them live. You can crush them in your grasp and smother their convictions, or you can open your hand and let them fly forth in freedom and gladness. Oh, have pity on your souls ! Your souls are yours. 'So one will be the loser by the loss of your souls but yourselves. God will not be the less happy if you are damned ; the saints will not lose any of their hap- piness if you fail of your salvation ; the angels will be as light and blissful ; the earth will go on just the same as when you were on it ; only you, you yourselves will feel it, and you will feel it hopelessly. Ah, then, take pity on your souls ! You will one day wish that you had done it. One of the courtiers of Francis the First of France^ when he was dying, said : '* Oh ! how many reams of paper have I written in the service of my monajTh ! Oh ! that I had only spent one quarter of an hour in the service of my soul !" A quar- ter of an hour ! And you have days and weeks. Oh, then, once more I beg you to take pity on your souls! If you have never before seriously taken to heart your eternal in- terest, at least do so now. Improve the time of this mission. It is the time of grace. It may be to you the last call, the last opportunity. Make, then, a good use of this time. Set aside the thought of other things, and g-ive yourself to this alone. Now you have an opportunity of making your peace with God, and savino; vour soul. Think, now the hour has come, foreseen by God from all eternity, when, answering to the call of grace, I shall regain His favor, which, alas ! I have lost too long. "What shall keep me back ? See what is the difficulty, and weigh it in the scales with your immortal soul. Is confession difficult ? A confession before the whole universe will be more so. Is it hard to lose a little gain? It wiU be more so to lose your soul. Is it hard to break s^ 10* 226 Mortal sii^. . tie of long standing ? It will be hard to break every tie, and to live in eternal desolation. Is it hard to bear the remarks of companions ? But how will you bear the taunts and jeers of the devil and his angels ? And those very companions who have led you to hell will taunt you for your base compliance to them. Let nothing, then, keep you back. -5^ ^ -^^ (Peroration, according to the circumstances.) SEEMON II. MORTAL SIN. (mission sermon.) " Know thou, and see, that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God."— Jer. ii. 19. In the book of the prophet Ezechiel it is related that God ehowed to the prophet in a vision the city of Jerusalem. It was all stretched out before him in its greatness and in its beauty. The magnificent temple was there, with its stones and spires glittering in the sun ; its streets were full of peo- ple, prosperous and happy ; a people who were in possession of the true religion, w^ho had been adopted by God as His children, and over whom He had exercised a special pro- tection. It was a beautiful sight ; beautiful to the eye, and well fitted to excite the most religious emotions in the mind. But there was somethino- that checked these feelino-s of pleasure and delight. God permitted the prophet to see the interior of that city. He unfolded before liim the secret abominations that were practised there. He showed him the idolatries and impurities to which his chosen people the J ews had delivered themselves up, and then in wrath and indigna- tion God complained of the people and said : " The iniquity of the house of Israel and of Juda is exceeding great ; and the land is filled with hlood ; and the city is filled with jpet^ MORTAL SIN. 227 Terseness, for they have said^' The Lord hath forsaken the earthy and the Lord seeth notP ^ Then tlie joy of the prophet was turned into sorrow. To-night, my brethren, a vision meets my eye hardly lesa beautiful than that which met the eye of the prophet. How beautiful a sight is this church and this congregation! This church is raised to the honor of the true God. Its walls are salvation and its gates praise. And this congregation, beau- tiful as it is in the assemblage of a multitude of living, in- telligent beings — where I see the old man with his crown of silver hair, the young man and the young woman in the freshness of their bloom and youth — is much more so re- garded as a Catholic congregation, as professing the true faith. But tell me — for I cannot look into your hearts as the prophet did — tell me, does God see, beneath this beautiful, out- ward appearance, the abominations of iniquity ? Does God this night see in this church some heart that is in mortal sin ? Some Catholic who has renounced, if not his faith, at least the practice of his faith? Some child of passion who has swerved from the path of justice, lost his conscience and the sense of sin, and given himself to the service of the devil ? Are there any here to-night in mortal sin % There may be. I will confess, and you will not think me uncharitable in doing so, I believe there are some. I know not how many, but from what I know of the world, I believe there are some here, in this congregation, whose consciences tell them they are in mortal sin. Oh ! then, let me tell them what they have done. Let me show them what mortal sin is. Let me prove » -»- to them that it is an evil and a bitter thing for them to have left the Lord their God. This is my subject to-night. I will show you the dreadfulness of mortal sin : first, from its ^.ature ; secondly, from its efiects on the soul ; and thirdly, from its eternal consequences. You know, my dear brethren, that we were created to ♦Ezechiel ix. 9. 228 MOKTAL SIN. love and serve God in this life, ised me. The ox hnoweth his owner and the ass his master^s crih^ hut Israel hath not known me^ and my people hath not imderstood. Woe to the sinful nation^ a people laden with iniquity^ a wicked seed^ ungracious children : they have forsaken the Lord^ they have hlaspherned the Holy one of Israel^ they have gone away hacku^ardP^ But in the second place, mortal sin is the greatest of all evils as regards the sinner himself. Let us consider what are its effects. Ah, my brethren, some of these effects are obvious enough. We have not to go far to seek them. We know ihem ourselves. What is the cause of much of the sickness that affects our race ? What but sin ? What is it that has I Dined so many reputations, that once were fair andumbiem- i^hed ? What is it that has destroyed the peace of so many families? It is sin. What is it that makes so many young persons prematurely old, which steals the bloom from the cheek and the lustre from the eye, and gladness from the heart, and strength from the voice, and elasticity from the gait ? Ah ! it is sin. Yes ! the effects of sin are visible and obvious to all around us, and these external effects of sin are dreadful enough, but they are not so dreadful as the interna, eft'f^cts, on which I puri)Ose particularly to dwell. Well, my brethren, I just said that tlie nature of a mortal sin is to turu * Isai. i. 2, 3^ %. MORTAL SIN. 233 away from God to the creature. Kow, its effect is tc kill the soul. There is a twofold life of the soul. One is a natural life, and this it can never lose, not even in hell, since it can never cease to be ; and the other is the life of grace. You know, my brethren, that in the heart of a good Christian there dwells a wonderful quality, the gift of the Holy Ghost, which we call grace. It is given first in baptism, and resides habitually in the soul unless it is lost by mortal sin. Tjiis it is which makes the soul acceptable to God, and capable of pleasing Him, and of meriting heaven. This grace was purchased for us by the blood of Jesus Christ, and is the most precious gift of God. It ennobles, beautifies, elevates, strengthens, and enlightens the soul in which it dwells : in a word, it is the life of the soul. This grace abides in the soul of every faithful Christian, the little child, the vir- tuous young man and young woman, the old man and the matron, the rich and the poor. Every one who is in the state of friendship with God is possessed of this grace. He may be poor, sick, weak in body, disgusting as Lazarus was, but if he is the friend of God, his soul is endowed with the gift of grace. Now, the moment that one commits a mortal sin, the moment that a baptized Christian turns away from God to the creature, that moment his soul is stripped of this divine grace. The moment that a mortal sin is committed, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, that robe of grace falls off from the Boul and leaves it in its deformitv and weakness. It cannot be otberwise. '^ Can two walk together," says Holy Scrip- ture, •' and not be agreed ?" Can God remain united to the sou' whicli has cast Him off by an act of complete and formal rebel lion? Oh, no! God bears much with us. He retains His friendship for us as long as He can. He restrains His displeas- ure when we are weak and irresolute and tired in His service ; ves, when we a little turn om' heads and hearts toward that world which we have renounced, when we do things that, although wrong, are npt altogether so grievous aB to amount 234 MORTAL SIN. to a renunciation of His friendsliip : but once make a full clioice between God and tlie creature, and God's friendsliip is lost. You cannot reject it and retain it at the same time. God sees things exactly as they are : as you act toward Him, He will act toward you. By mortal sin you renounce Him, and therefore He must renounce you. How can 1 describe to you the change that takes place in that moment ? It has more resemblance to the degradation of a priest than any thing else. If a priest commits certain great crimes, the Church prescribes that he be solemnly degraded from the priesthood ; and nothing is more dreadful than the ceremonial. He stands before the bishop, clad in his sacred Vestments, with alb and cincture, and maniple and stole, and with the chalice in which he has been wont to consecrate the blood of the Lord in his hands. • Then when the sentence of degradation has been pronounced, the chalice is taken out of his hands — he shall oiier the sacrifice of the Lord's body no more ; the golden chasuble is taken off his back, no more shall he bear the glory of the priesthood ; the stole is seized from off his neck — ^lie has lost the stole of immortality ; the white alb is torn from him — he has lost the beauty of innocence ; and last of all, his hands, on which at his ordination the holy oil was poured, are a.-^raped — he has lost the unction of the Holy Ghost. So it is in the moment that one commits a mortal sin. The Holy Scripture calls every Christian a king and a priest, because in his soul he is noble and united to God ; and the soul of the meanest Christian is far more beautiful in God's sight than the grandest monarch, dressed in his richest robes, is to our sight. Well, now, as soon as a mortal sin is committed, and God de- parts, then the degradation of the soul takes place. The devil tears away the garment of justice, the splendor of beauty, the whiteness of innocence, the robe of immortality, which make the soul worthy of the companionship of angels, and the friendship of God. All, all are gone. Oh, how abject and wretched i^ such a soul ! Oh ! how quickly will this awful MORTAL SIN. 235 change go on, and even the poor soul herself thinks not of it ! And do not think this horrible history is of rare occurrence, No ! it takes place in every case of mortal sin. Look at that young man. See, his air and bearing show you that he knowa something of the world, and that life has no secrets for him. Still there was once a time when that young man was inno- cent. He was a good Catholic child, his soul glistened with the brightness of baptismal grace. God looked down from heaven and smiled with pleasure ; his guardian angel followed him in watchfulness indeed, but with joy and hope. He had his little trials, but what was it all — what was poverty or sickn ess or disappointment ? Was he not a Christian ? Was he not a friend of God, was not his soul beautiful in God's sight ? Such he was ; but a day came, a dark and dreadful day, when a voice, a seducing voice, spoke in the paradise of that heart : " Rejoice^ therefore^ O young man^ in thy youth^ and let thy heart cheer thee in the d.ays of thy youth^ and walk in the ways of thy hearty and in the sight of thine eyes^^ He listened to that voice and he fell : he was a. changed being, he had com- mitted his first mortal sin. Oh ! if he could have seen the angry frown of God, the sad and downcast look of his guardian angel. Oh ! if he could have heard the shriek of triumph that came up from the devils in hell. " Thou art also wounded as well as we^ thou art become liTte unto us. Thy pride is brought down to hell. Thy carcass is fallen d.oionP f But he hears nothing, he sees nothing, his brain is on fire, his heart is burned by passion. The world opens to him her brilliant pleasures, and he is perverted. His tastes and thoughts are all corrupted. He does not like the sacraments any more, or Mass or prayer ; his delight is in haunts of dissipation, in drinking and de- bauchery. He commits ^N^yj mortal sin, and each deepens the stains of his soul and increases his misery. Perhaps here and there, for a while, he comes to confession, but he falls ♦Eocles. xi. 9. f^sai. xiv. 10, 11. 236 MORTAL SIN. back. He neglects Lis cliurcli, begins to cnrse and blaspheme holy tilings, and then he is a wretched being, astray from God, with God's curse upon him, the slave of the devil, the heir of hell, fair indeed without ; bnt look within— full of rot- tenness and uncleanness. Oh, weep for him — ^^ Weep not /or the dead^'^ says Holy Scripture, '^ lament for him that goeth away^ for he shall not return again?*' ^ Weep for that young man who has wandered away from his God. Weep for that young woman who has stained her soul with mortal sin. Weep for that old man who has let years go by in sin, and whose sins are counted by the thousand. Weep not for your child who leaves you to go to a distant land, but weep for him who is on his way to the land of eternal night, where everlasting horror inhabiteth. Weep for him who is on his way to hell. Is it not a story to' make one weep ? The ruin of a soul ! '^ How is the gold hecome dim^ the fairest color is changed^ the nohle sons of Sion^ and they that were clothed with the l)est of gold^ hov) are they esteemed as earthen ves- sels^ and the iniquity of thq daughter of my peojple is made greater than the sin of Sodom P ^ Once you were innocent, now you are guilty. Once you had a fair chance of heaven, now heaven is closed to you. Once, perhaps, you had rich merits laid up for heaven, you had gone through many trials, you had borne many suflerings, had achieved many labors of piety, and for each of them the good God, who never allows any good work to go unrewarded, had added many a jewel to your crown ; but, alas ! that crown is broken, those jewels scattered and crushed, those merits lost. And what has done this. That mortal sin ! that rebellion against God, that sin- ful gratification, that turning away from God and loss of grace which it brought with it. Ah ! my brethren, when I think of these things, when I think that Christians are falling into Bin, and, for a very trille and a nothing, losing the favor ♦ Jer. xxii. 10. f Lam. iv. 1, 2, 6. MORTAL SIN. 237 of God, I feel as if I wished all preachers sho^ald go out to the whole world and cry out : " Know thoii and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God.'^ I am not surprised that St. Ignatius said he would be wil- ling to do all he did for the prevention of one mortal sin. But, my brethren I have not as yet described the full effects of mortal sin. It immediately makes us liable to the eternal punishment of hell. That is what hell is made for. It IS the prison for mortal sin. Apostates from the faith, drunkards, murderers, adulterers, the impure, the dishonest, the profane, the impious, calumniators, and all sinners " shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." The sentence of damnation is in the next life, but damnation itself begins in this. Each one of us is a candidate for heaven or hell, at this present moment. Hell is not something which is assigned to us arbitrarily. We dig our own hell for ourselves. When we first commit a mortal sin we open hell under our feet, and every time we commit a fresh mortal sin we deepen tliat hell. It may happen even that the sentence is passed in the same instant that we sin. Many men die in the very act of sin. The fallen angels, themselves, sank into hell the very instant they committed mortal sin, and the instant they committed the first mortal sin. You know, my brethren, that the angels were created very beautiful and powerful. There were myriads and myriads of them. They were as beautiful as Gabriel or Michael or Raphael ; and yet, as soon as they committed one mortal sin, notwithstanding their glory, their beauty, their number, their splendid intellects, their power, they were hurled from the thrones of heaven ; not only defaced, degraded, and dishonored by the loss of sanctifying grace, but condemned to hell, chained in everlasting darkness, waiting for the judgment of the great day. If God dealt so with the angels, surely there is nothing unjust in cutting off the days of a sinner in the very moment 233 MORTAL SIN. of sin. Oh ! mj brethren, I will tell you what happens when one sins : the devils come and claim this soul as their own : this poor soul becomes the slave of tlie devil, the heir of hell and of damnation. It is not for nothing, then, that conscience miakes such a terrible alarm in the soul when we commit a mortal sin. Tell me, did you not at the moment you sinned hear a stern voice speaking in the depths of your heai*t? Tell me, O my brethren, did you not, when you were deeply plunged in sinful enjoyment, feel a dreadful pang at your heart ? Tell me, now that you stand in God's holy presence, tell me now, is there not something within you that tells you, you are ruined ? AVhat is that ? Ah ! that is the beginning of the remorse of the damned/*" That is the sting of the worm that shall never die. That is the shadow of thine eternal doom in thy soul. It tells thee that thou art the child of the devil; it tells thee that thou hast lost God, and that thou art not fit for heaven, but art an heir of hell. And it tells thee truly. If this moment thou wert to die, like Dives, thou wouldst be buried in hell. And why ? For a momentary gratification of appetite ? Is that what you will be punished for ? l^To ; but because, for a momentary gratification of appetite, thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, broken His law, lost His grace. Thou hast made thy choice. Th>Du hast chosen sin and not God, and death overtakes thee before thou hast returned to God by penance, and thou art lost; lost on account of thy sin, lost forever on account of thy sin. Go down to the chambers of hell, ask Dives, ask Judas, ask the fallen angels, ask each one who in that dark abode drags out a long eternity; ask them what it is that brought them there, and they will tell you, mortal sin. It is mortal sin that kindles that flame, tliat feeds that fire, that makes them burn unceasingly, and forever. Oh then, tell me ! if you will not listen to reason, to God, to the angels; will you not listen to your companions lest ? Hearken to them as THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. 239 from tlieir daik prison they cry out, " It is an evil and a bitter thing to have left the Lord thy God.'' Such, my brethren, is mortal sin. Such is one mortal sin. It does not require many mortal sins to lose God's grace or incur damnation. One is enough — one final de- liberate rebellion against God and his holy law. -J^" ^ * (Peroration, according to the circumstances.) SERMON III. THE PARTICULAR JUD(31MENT. (mission sermon.) ■'It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." — Heb. X. 31. There is a moment, my brethren, in the history of each iramoi tal soul, which, of all others that precede or follow it, is the fullest of experience : the moment after death. The moment of death is indeed the decisive moment of om* his- tory. Then tlie question is settled, once for all, whether we are to be happy or miserable for all eternity ; but, for the most part, we do not know that decision. Many men die in- sensible. By far the largest part of those I have seen die, have died insensible. And even when the power of the mind remains to the last, it is extremely difficult to form any true conception of that . state of things into which the soul is about to be ushered. It is difficult to conceive aright before- hand of any thing to which we are unaccustomed. Did it ever happen to you to visit a strange country, and to form anticipations of what it would seem like, and did not the reality falsify all your anticipations ? Well, how much more difficult to realize those things which the soul sees immedi- Rtelv after death, and which are so much farther removed 240 THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. from our former experience ! According to Catholic theology, immediately after death, the soul appears in the presence of Jesus Christ to be judged — to receive an unalterable sentence to lieaven or to hell. If to hell, no prayers can benefit it ; if to heaven, it goes there immediately or not, according to the degree of its goodness. But it is judged unalterably to heaven or hell, the moment after death. And Catholic theologians teach that this judgment takes place in the very cliamber of death itself. There, in that room, while they are dressing the body for the grave, closing the eyes, bandaging the mouth, arranging the limbs in order, that soid has already learned the secrets of ' the eternal world. Naked and alone, it had stood before its Judge, and heard its doom pronounced. To every one, no doubt, even to the most pious, to those who have meditated on the truths of faith, there w^ill be something alarming in tliis moment; but, oh! what wdll it be to the sinful Catholic ? What will be the thoughts and feelings of that large class of Catholics, now^ careless about their salva- tion, who are obeying every impulse of passion, and breaking every commandment of God? This, indeed, is a diflicult question to answer. There is but little in this world that can help us to portray the emotions of the lost Catholic, the moment after death ; b^tt I will not on this account desist from attempting to describe it. I will consider your ad- vantage rather than my own satisfaction, and though I feel deeply that I shall not be able to describe the scene I under- take in anything like the colors of truth, I will undertake to do what I can. First, then, following the soul beyond the limits of this world, I see her overwhelmed with a conviction of the reality and truth of the objects of her faith. Now, in saying that this soul obtains a conviction of the truths of faith, I do not mean to suppose the case of one who has been a sceptic in this world. The truth is, faith is so strong a principle in the heart of a Catholic, that it is exceedingly difficult to put it THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. 241 out or shake it. And although it sometimes happens t'aat a Oathohc; from reading bad books, or frequenting the society of those who blaspheme his religion, or from becoming ac- quainted suddenly with some of the difficulties which science seems to present to faith, and not knowing the answer to them, or from the petty pride of seeming wiser than his neighbors, and making objections w^iich unlearned Catholics cannot answer, may use the language of a sceptic; yet such cases are very rare, and the scepticism is not very deep. A little guidance from one who knows better, and a little hu- mility on the part of such an objector, will set all right. But there is a kind of infidelity not so easily cured, and far more common among Catholics — a practical infidelity, an in- sensibility and indifference to the truths of faith. The truths of faith — I mean, heaven and hell, God and the soul — are not seen by the eye — it requires reflection to realize them ; but the world, and the objects which it presents, are visible and tangible. The former are lost sight of, while the l^ttter absorb all our thoughts. The body clamors ^<>r necessities and pleasures, and the soul, and things of eternity, are simply forgotten. It is almost the same to many men as if there were no God, no eternity, no heaven, or po hell. Eeally, one hardly sees in what the lives yi aictny Cainolics would differ from what they are now if theru were no God, no heaven or hell. I do not mean to say that they have no faith at all, for even the heathens have some faith ; or that they never think of God, for then they would be brutes ; but that these things have no real hold on their minds or influ- ence over their hearts. They never reflect. They stay away from the sacraments. * They do not listen to sermons. They liave no correct idea at all of the advantage they enjoy in being Catholics ; in a word, they break the commandments of God on the slightest temptation, are children of this world and immersed in its cares and enjoyments. Now, one of tiiese men meets with a sudden death. He goes out in the 1} 242 THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. mornmg — perhaps lie is a meclianic — and he falls from a height. He is taken up and put in a litter hastily made, and carried home. It is apparent that life is ebbing fast. In a few minutes he becomes speechless. He has lost his sight. Ah ! does he breathe at all ? It is hard to say. The doctor comes in great haste. He feels his pulse, looks at him, and says, ''It is all over. He has received an injury in a vital part. He is dead." Yes, he is dead. This morning he was alive and well, he was making his plans, he was talking of the weather — now he is dead. All his old thoughts and ex- perience are all rolled back by a new set of things that are forcing themselves on his vision. He* is dead. He died sud- denly ; but not without warning. Others have died in his home before— he is not young. He has seen wife and chil- dren die. It made him weep for a while ; but he forgot it, and now his turn is come — he is dead. I will not stop to notice the grief of the friends he leaves behind. ISTo ; I will follow his soul, as it enters eternity. The voice of his friends dies on his ear — he begins to hear other voices. As he ceases to see the people in his room he begins to see other objects. Who is that, that is standing at the foot of his bed ? A neighbor was standing there but just now ; but this is another form, a form beautiful, indeed, but majestic and terrible. JSTo ; it is not any one he has ever seen before, and yet, he ought to know that face. He has seen it before ; it is the face his mother looked on as she was dvino; — the face he had often seen in Catholic churches. Yes, it is Jesus Christ. He knows it ; it is the same, and yet, how different ! When he saw that face in pictures, it Avas crowned with thorns ; now it is crowned witli a diadem of matchless glory. When he saw that form in the cliurch, it was naked, and Iianghig on the Cross ; now it is clothed witli garments of re- ixal maixnificence. Yes, it is Jesus Christ ! and He is lookiuii upon him with eyes of lire. He turns to escape those eyep, and he sees thei'e are other figures in the scene, Tliere are THE PARtlGULAR JUDGMENT. 243 two fio^ures — one at the ria:lit hand, and one at the left. "Who are they ? He ought to know them, for they know more of him than any one else — they have been his companions for life. One is very beautiful — a being with golden locks and cloud-like wings — that is his angel guardian ; he looks sad now, for lie has nothing good to say. And the other is the black and hideous demon of hell, that crouches at his side, full of hate and malice, and triumph, too, for he has dogged the steps of this poor sinner from youth to age, and now the time has come for him to seize his prey. And now, as the sin- ner looks from one to another, the meaning of it all breaks upon him. Conviction flashes upon his mind. He may not have been an infidel before ; but putting his past feelings by the side of his present experience, it seems almost as if he had been. Did it ever happen to you to be talking quite unconcernedly, and all at once to find that others were list- ening, before whom for worlds you would not have used such unreserve. Well, to compare small things with great, some- thing like this will be the feeling of the sinner when the cur- tain of time draws up, and shows him the realities of eternity. The whole tide of his past thoughts nnd feelings will be ar- rested, and, with a great check, rolled back before the new set of experiences and sights that rush in on him. Oh !^ he will say, what is this that I see and hear ? Has Jesus Christ al- ways been so near me ? Have my guardian angel and the demon that has tempted me been always in this very rocra ? Ah, yes! it is even so. 1 have been living in a dream all my life, and pursuing shadows. It is true, as I learned in the catechism, and as the Church taught me, I was not made for the world or for sin, but for God. I had a soul, and the end of my being was to love and serve my Maker. He has been watching me all my days, and I have thought little of Him. I heard of judgment, but I did not give heed to it, or I placed it far off in the future ; but now it is here at the door. There is my Saviour, there my angel guardian, ther© 244 THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. the demon. Once I heard of these things, now I see them witli my eyes. Yes, it is all true. The world did not seem to believe it, the world forgot it ; but the world was wrong. The poor and the simple were right, after all, and the wise ones taken in their own craftiness. Yes, Christianity is true, Catholicity is true; I cannot doubt it, if I would, for there it Btares me in the face ! O, overwhelming conviction ! You have heard of the answer of a self-denying old monk to a wild, licentious youth, who reproached him with his folly in living so severe a life for the sake of a hereafter he had never seen. '^ Father," said the youth, "how much wiser I am than you, if there be no hereafter !" " Yes, my son," re- plied the aged man, •' but how much more foolish, if there be !" O fearful discovery, to come on one for the first time, with a strong and deep impression, at the very thresh- old of eternity ! O miserable man ! why did you not think of these things before ? Why did you rush into the presence of your Maker without forethought? Now, for the first time, to think seriously, when there is no longer freedom in thought, or merit in faith. O, the folly and the misery ! But I must pass on, for these are but the beginning of sor- rows. The conviction, then, that the soul acquires in the first moment of her experience in tlie other world is accompanied l^y a mortal terror. Why is Jesus Christ there ? Why are the angel and the demon there ? Ah ! he knows well. It is to try him. Yes, be is to be tried, and to be tried by an un- erring judge — by Jesus Christ. To be tried; and that is something he is not used to. He never tried himself. He never examined his conscience. He was afraid to do it, and if sometimes the thought of a hereafter intruded itself into his mind, he banished it, and thought he would escape some- how or other. Perhaps he built on the very name of Cath- olic, or on the sacraments, as if they possessed a magical power, and would change him at once, in the hour of death, from a sinner to a saint Ferhaps lie thouglit that God THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. 245 would strike a balance between tbe good and the evil that was in liim, and pardon him for being as wicked as he was because he was no worse. Perhaps he built simply on the mercy of God. So far as he thought at all, he built his hopes on some such foundation as this. He did not know how, but he thought somehow he would get off. It is the old story. Almighty God said to Eve : " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And Eve said to the serpent : " We may not eat it, lest we die." And the ser- pent said : " Te shall not surely die." So it is ; man's self- love reasons, and the devil denies. But the time has come when the deceits of sin and the devil are discovered. The sinner is to be tried. He stands as a culprit to be judged. And by what law is he to be tried? By the ten command- ments, of which he has heard so often, and which he has neglected so completely. God says : " Thou shalt not break my commandments, and in the day thou breakest them thou shalt surely die." God had said : " Thou shalt not commit adultery." He had committed it. God had said: "Thou shalt not steal ;" and he had stolen. God had said: ''Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath day." He had broken the Sun- day and neglected the Sunday's Mass. God had said: " Thou shalt do no murder ;" and he had murdered his own soul by drunkenness. He had grown bold in sin, and thought that God had hidden away his face, and would never see it. And now he is brought to trial. There is no hope that his transgressions against the commandments can be hidden. The demon is there as his accuser. " I claim this soul as mine. Look at it ; see if it does not belong to me ? Does it not look like me ? Wilt thou take a soul like that and place it in thy paradise ?" At these words the sinner looks down upon himself and sees his own soul. He has never seen it before. Oh, what a sight ! As a man is horror-struck the first time he sees his blotched and bloated face after an attack of small-pox, so is he horror- 246 THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. struck at the sight of his own soul. Oh, how horribly ugly and defiled it is! What are those stains upon his soul? Ah! they are the stains of sin. Each one has left its sepa- rate mark ; and to look at that soul you might see its history. There is the gangrene of lust, and the spot of anger, and the tumor of pride, and the scale of avarice. Ah ! how hid- eous it is, and how horrible to think how it is changed, for it was once like that beautiful angel that stands by its side, all radiant with light and beauty. It has no reseniblauce now. The words of the demon are true ; it resembles him. But the accuser goes on : "I claim this "body as mine.'' lie turns to the body, as it lies in the bed : " I claim those eyes as mine, by the title of all the lascivious looks they have given. I claim those hands as mine, by the title of all the robberies and acts of violence they have committed. I claim those feet as mine, because they were swift to carry him to the place of forbidden pleasures, and slow to go to the house of God. I claim these ears as mine, by the title of all the detraction they have drunk in so greedily. I claim this mouth as mine, by the title of all the blatphemies and impu- rities it has uttered. See," says he, ^^ this body is mine ; it bears my mark ;" and as he speaks he points to a scar in the forehead, the remnant of a wound received in a drunken affray in a house of ill-fame. Surely he has said enough ; but he is not accustomed to be believed. He has now spoken the tr\ith indeed, because truth serves his purpose better than falsehood w^ould have done. But he knows he is a liar, and therefore needs confirmation ; so he goes on : " I have witnesses, if you want them. Shall I bring them up?" Jesus Christ gives his permission. And now see, at his word, a band of lost spirits come up from hell. Oh ! how pale and haggard they look, and how they glare on the sin- ner as they fix on liim a look of recognition. Who is that who B].'Cal:s to liim first, and holds out her long withered fingers to him, and says, >vith a liorrkl laugli : "1 think you THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. 247 know ine." Oh! that is the poor girl he sec need. She Bays : " I followed thee to ruin ; it is fitting thou shouldst follow me to hell." But there is another woman. Who is that i That is his poor wife ; his poor wife, who had to put up with all the cruelties and violence he practised in his beastly drunkenness ; who was led by want to steal, and by despair to drunkenness. She looks upon him with a blood shot eye. " My husband/' she says : " thou wert my tor mentor in time ; I will be thy tomentor in eternity." But who are those young people, that young man and young woman ? Oh, they are his eldest children, his boy and girl, of whom he took no care ; who, finding nothing but a hell at home, went out — the one to the tavern and the gaming-room, the other to the ball and the dance and the lonely place of assignation, and, after a short career of dissipation, were both cut ofi* in their sin. They meet him, and now they say : *' Father, thou didst pave the way of perdition for us, and now we will cling to thee, and drag thee deeper, who art at once the author of our life and of our destruction." Ah ! lias not the demon made out his case ? Can there be hope for one like that? Are you not ready to condemn him yourselves to hell ? But wait — perhaps he did good penance. And the Judge, turning to the angel guardian says : " My good and faithful servant, what has thou to say in behalf of this soul, which was committed to thy especial care?" The angel looks down upon the ground and sighs, and answers, " Most just and holy Sovereign, alas ! I have nothing to say that can set aside the accusation Thou hast heard. All I can do is to vin- dicate Thy justice and my fidelity. I have given to the man all the graces Thou hast prepared for him. He was a Cath- olic, lie had the sacraments. He had warnings. He had faith. He had many special graces. He had the mission ; and I myself often spoke to him in his heart, calling him to do penance, but he never did do penance. Fe was careless in attendance at Mass, He was seldom at the 248 THE PAKTICULAR JUDGMENT. confessional, and wlien lie did come he made liis confer sion without a sincere purpose of amendment, and soon re- lapsed into his former sins, and at last he died without penance. Therefore there is nothing left for me but to resign my charge and to return the crown " — here the angel takes up a beautiful crown — " to return the crown which Thou hadst made for him, that Thou mayst place it on another brow." " Dost Thou not hear," the demon once more cries out impatiently — '^ Dost thou not hear what the angel says ? Yes, this man is mine, has always been mine. I did not create him, and yet he always served me. Thou didst create him, and yet he has refused to obey Thee. I never died for him, yet he has been my willing slave. Thou didst die for him, and yet he has blasphemed Thy name, broken Thy laws and despised Thy promises. Thou didst allure him by kindness, but wert not able to win his affection. I led him to hell, and found him willing to follow. G Jesus, thou Son of the living God, if Thou dost not give me this soul, there is neither truth in Thy word nor justice in Thy awards." The demon speaks boldly, but Jesus Christ suffers him to speak so, because he he speaks truly; and oh, with what terror does the poor sinner hear that truth ! But terror is not the only feeling that is to fill his heart. Despair is to come in, to make his misery complete. He begins to cry for mercy. " G God, mercy ! have mercy, G Jesus Christ ! Do not let mo perish whom Thou hast redeemed. I have had the faith ; oh, do not let me come to perdition ! Gnly one quarter of an hour to do penance !" Can Jesus Christ resist such an appeal ? No, my brethren, if there were a real disposition to do penance in the heart. I will undertake to say that if the devils of hell were willing to do penance, God would forgive them. But there is no penance in the other world. There is only the desire to escape punishment, not the desire to escape sin ; and being out of the order of the present providence of God, which leaves the will free, there is no real conversion there. There* THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. 249 fore Jesus Christ answers : " wicked man, tliy deeds con- demri tliee. Thou callest for mercy, but it is too late. The time for mercy is over ! Mercy ! thou hast shown no mercy to thyself, to thy wife or children. Mercy ! I have shown thee mercy all the days of thy life. I sent thee my preachers, and thou didst refuse to listen. There is no mercy now but justice — and therefore I pronounce the everlasting sentence. I consign this man^s soul to hell, and his body to the resurrection of damnation." Did you hear that howl ? That was the deviPs howl of triumph. Jesus Christ is gone. The angel is gone ; and the devil goes to the body. They have not done washing it. He begins to wash too. What is he doing. He is washing the forehead ; for on that forehead, the mark of Christ, the holy cross, was placed in baptism, and he is washing it out, and with a brand from hell he places there his own signet — the signet of perdition. And now the soul, feeling the full extent of her misery, cries out : " I am damned. I am damned ! no hope more ; not even Purga- tory. Oh, I never thought it would come to this ; I did but do as the others. I was no worse than my companions, and now I am lost. I that was a Catholic, I that had always a good name, and was liked by my friends. And oh, are the judgments of God so strict ? What will become of my com- panions whom I left on the earth, wild and reckless like my self? Will they too follow me to this place of torment ! Oh, why did not the priest speak of this ? Alas ! he did, but I would not hear. Alas, alas, it is too late now ! Shall I never see Jesus Christ again ? Must I forever despair ?" And a voice rises from the walls of eternitv with ten thousand re- verberations : "Despair." Can there be any thing more dread- ful still ? Yes, the sinner's cup has one more ingredient of bitterness — remorse. You know what a comfort it is to be able to say, " It was not my fault, I did what I could." But the sinner will not have that comfort. On the contrary, he will say, " I might have been saved. It is all true which 250 THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT. the angol said. I was a Catliolic, and had the means of sal- vation. I might have been saved, saved easily, more easily than I was lost. I was never happy ; sin never made me happy. I sinned, and gained for myself misery even in the other world. Fool that I was, I might have done penance, and been happier after it, in time and in eternity. How little God asked of me! I had the mission, if I had but made it well. Oh, what trouble I took to be damned, and how little was required of me to be saved ! Yesterday, God was ready ; ti)0 sacraments were at hand, the church door open, the priest was awaiting me ; but now all is closed. Oh, if I had them now !" But his comxplaints are silenced. An iron grasp is on his throat. The demon has his black hand on his throat and chokes him ; then he puts his horrid arms around him, and hugs him as the anaconda hugs her victims. He carries him swiftly through the air : down, down they go — until at last they reach the gates of hell. They creak upon their hinges, they open, the demon enters with his prey, and casts it on the bed of iiames prepared for it. Then a yell is heard throuo-hout those dismal reo:ions : '' One more Catholic voca- tion thrown away, one more soul lost, one more devil in hell." Come, let us go back to that room where the corpse is laid out. They have just finished preparing it for the grave, and all that we have described has been taking place in that very room too, and they have not known it. They have smoothed the body and laid a white cloth over it; and. they say, how natural it looks^ It wears the smile they remember it used to wear in youth, and that poor soul they are talking of is damned. Jesus Christ has been there, and adjudged it to hell. And this is going on every day. Wherever death takes a man, there judgment meets him. Jesus Christ meets men in all kinds of places. You know how death met Baltassar. He was a drunkard, an adulterer, a sacrilegious robber; and one night, when he was drunk, and held a grand feast, sur- rcunded by his concubines, and with the vessels of God's THE PARTICULAR JUDGMEIsT. 251 house on liis table, a hand appeared on the wall and wrote this sentence : " Mene, Mene, Thecel, Phares;" and that night he died. Yes ! in the midst of their sin ; in the place where they go, Jesus Christ meets the soul, and condemns it to hell. He meets it in the grogshop, where wild companions are gath- ered together, and one of them falls to the ground, under the blow of a companion, and dies. There upon that spot, with those bad companions standing around, with the sound of blasphemy in his ear, Jesus Christ, unseen, meets that soul and condemns it to hell. Another is shot in the street, on his way to keep an assignation, and then and there, in the jitreet, Jesus Christ meets him and condemns him to hell. One dies in the low hovel, where squalid vice and misery have done all they could to brutalise the inmates, and then and there Jesus Christ, in that hovel, meets the soul and con- demns it to hell. Another dies in a bed covered with silken tapestry, and as he dies he sees the face of Jesus Christ look- ing in through the silken curtains to pronounce the sentence against him, who had made a god of this world. Another dies in prison, and there in that cell where human justice placed him, divine justice meets him, and in that prison Jesus Christ meets him and condemns him to hell. Tes, wherever death meets you, O sinner, there Jesus Christ will meet you, and there he will condemn you. It may be to- morrow. It may be in the very act of the commission of sin. It may be without any opportunity of preparation, you will stand before an inflexible and unerring Judge." Oh, then, do not delay nov^^ to propitiate Him while you can. In that tribunal after death, there is no mercy for the sinner ; but there is another tribunal, which He has established, where there is mercy — the tribunal of penance. There the accuser is not the demon, but the sinner himself; and he is not only his own accuser, but his own witness against himself. There the angel guardian waits with joy, not with sorrow. There Jesns Christ is present, but not m wrath. There the sentence 252 HEAVEN. is, " I absolve tliee from thy sin," not " I condemn thee for thy sin." Oh, then, appeal from one tribunal to the other. Appeal from Jesus Christ to Jesus Christ. Appeal from Je- sus Christ at the day of judgment to Jesus Christ in the con- fessional. And if thou wouldst not be condemned by Him when thou seest Him after death, be sure thou gettest a fa- vorable sentence from Him now in the Sacrament of Pen- ance. " Ilahe an agreement with thy adversary quicldy^ whilst thou art in the way with him : lest jperhaps the adver- sary deliver thee to the jttdge^ and the judge deliver thee to the officer^ and thou he cast into jpri'son. Amen. I say to thee^ thou shalt not go out from thence till thou fay the last farthingT'^ SEEMON IV. HBAYEN. (mission seemon.) •* Rejoice and be exceeding glad, because your reward is very great in hea- ven." — St. Matt. v. 12. Some of you may remember the joy with which, after a Bea voyage, you arrived at home. The voyage had been very long and wearisome. You had suffered, pei'haps had been in danger. At last you heard the sailors cry " Land ;" and after a while, your less practised eye began to discern the blue hills of your native country. Oh, how that sight re- vived you ! How your sufferings and dangers were all for- gotten in the thought of the welcome that awaited you at borne ! Well, life is a voyage on the ocean of time; cften & * St. Matt. V. 26. HEAVEN. 253 tempestuous^ always a dangerous voyage ; and in order to aniiQate our courage, to cheer and console us, God has al- lowed us from time to time to catch a glimpse by faith of our distant home of heaven. Let us lift up our thoughts now to that happy land, the land that is very far off, the land that is wide and quiet ; the celestial paradise, the home of the blessed, the city of God. I know that we cannot gain any sufficient idea of it. I know that eye hath not seen its beauty, ear hath not heard the story of it, neither hath the heart of man conceived its image ; but we must do as men do with some costly jewel : turn it first on one side, then on another, to catch its brilliancy ; and if at the last we fall down, blinded and dazzled by the splendors which meet us, we shall in this way at least conceive something of the great- ness of those things which God has provided for those v/ho love Him. The Holy Scripture represents the pleasures of heaven in three difierent lights : first, as Eest ; second, as Joy ; third, as Glory. Let us, then, meditate upon them for a while, under each one of these three aspects. First, then, heaven is a place of rest, by which I under- stand tlie absence of all those things which disturb us here. True, there is happiness even in this life, but how unsatisfac tory, how fleeting ! Here we are never far off from wretched- ness, and never long without trouble. You go into a great city : how rich and gay every thing looks ; what crowds of well-dressed people pass you ! Ah ! in the next street there is the dismal hovel where poverty hides its head, and the chil- dren cry for bread, and there is no one to break it to them. You are strong and healthy, and it is a strange, fierce joy for you on a cold day to struggle with the buffetings of the win- try blast ; but see, the rude wind that kindles a glow on your cheek steals away the blpom from yonder sick man, whose feeble step and sharpened features tell of sufiering and diisease. You have a happy family, and when you go home 254 HE A YEN. your children clamber up on your knees, and your wife tiic eta you witli a smile of affection. Alas ! next door, tlie widow weeps the night long, and there is none to comfort her, for the young man, the only son of his mother, has been carried to Ills long home. And as if this were not enough, as if sick- ness and poverty and death did not cause misery enough in the world, men's passions, hate and. envy^ lust, avarice, and pride, unite to make many a moment wretched that might else have been happj^ But in heaven these things shall be no more. In heaven there shall be complete and perfect rest* The poor man will no more be forced to toil hardly and anxiously to put bread in his children's mouths — to rise up early, and late take rest ; for there they shall not hunger nor thirst any more. The sick man then shall leap as a hart ; he shall run and not be weary ; he shall walk and not faint. The widow's tears shall be dried, for husband and son shall be again restored to her. Oh, what a day shall that be, when dear friends sliall meet together, never to part again, and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes, and sor- row and sighing shall flee away ; when the bodies of the saints, glorious and immortal, no longer subject to decay or fatigue or death, clothed in light, shall enter the gates of -the celestial -city, and shall have a right to the tree of life ! And there shall be no sin there, no gust of passion, no reproach of conscience, no sting of temptation. In this life, says St. Augustine, we have the liberty of being able not to sin, but in heaven we shall have the hii!;her libertv of not beins; able to sin. Brother shall not rise up against brother, neither shall there be war any more, for the former things are passed awav. There shall be no strife or hatred or envv ; no wronii: or oppression; no unkindness or coldness; no falsehood or insincerity ; but within a perfect peace, and without an un- alterable friendship between all the inhabitants of this haj)py land, each rejoicing in the other's happiness and glory. And Iherc is no end to these joys of heaven. Here our best pleas- HEAVEN. 255 ores are alloyed by their traiisitoriness; but there, there is no fear for the future. 'No wave disturbs the deep, clear sea of crystal that lies before the throne of God. The angel has sworn that time shall be no longer, and the great day of eter- nity has begun. O heavenly Jerusalem ! O city of God ! which has no need of sun or moon to enlighten it, for there is no night there ! welcome haven of rest to the poor exiles of earth ! Blessed are they that shall enter thy gates of pearl and tread thy streets of gold, for thou art the perfection of beauty and the joy of the w^hole earth. In thy secure re- cesses the wricked cease from troubling and the w^eary are at rest. " Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. My people shall be all just ; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, to glorify me." But though it is easier to describe heaven as a place of rest, that is not the whole description of it. Heaven is also a place of joy, and of joy the most complete, the most pure, the most satisfying that the human heart can possess. Joy in seeing and loving God, or, as it is called, in the Beatific Vision. This it is in which consists essentially the Christian idea of heaven. I say the Christian idea, for our faith teaches us to look forward to a happiness very difierent from what we could have expected by nature. Of com^se natural reason teaches us to look forward to a future life, but it promises no other knowledge of God but such as is possible to our own natural powers when fully developed. But Christianity promises us a knowledge of God to which our natural powers, however enlarged, could never aspire. It teaches us that we shall see Him as He is- -not only think about Him and commune with Him and adore Him, but actually look upon His unveiled Divinity, gaze upon Him face to face. It is not of our Lord's glorified humanity that I speak. That, too, we shall see, and that will be a sight of 256 HEAVEN. unspeakable beauty and joy ; but we shall see more : we shall look upon and into the Divine Essence. Now to our natural powers this is impossible. A blind man can know a great deal about the sun. He may hear it desc^ribed, he may reason about it, he may feel its effects, but he cannot lift up his eyes to heaven and see it. So, naturally speaking, we have not the faculty whereby to see God. "JSTo inan hath seen God at any time^'^ says St. John. " Whom no man hath seen^ or can see^ who inhahiteth the light inaccessible ^^'^ says St. Paul.*^ Clearly there must be some great change in us, something o;iven to us that does not belonoj to us as men, in order to enable us to see God, and the Holy Scripture tells us what that change shall be : " We shall he like to Ilim^fovwe shall see Him as He is^'^ says St. John.f We ourselves shall be- come divine and godlike. The human intellect shall be marvellously strengthened by a gift which the Church calls the light of glory, which shall enable us to look upon God and live. We are told in Scripture that God walked in the garden of Eden and talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. This high companionship was broken by the fall. Man w^as reduced to the rank that essentially belonged to him, and was deprived of that which had been accorded to him of grace. But by baptism he acquires once more a right to that familiar intercourse with God, and in heaven he enters upon its enjoyment. For this reason heaven is called our fatherland. It is our lost inheritance recovered. There we ourselves shall be the sons of God, and God m ill be our Father. Think what is the relation of an affection- ate son to a gocd and wise father. What submission with equalit}^ — what complete sympathy and community of inter- est — what intimate communication of thought and feeling ! So, O Christian soul ! shall it be between you and God. God will be your God, and you will be His child. Thou ♦ St. John i. 18 ; I. Tim. yi. IG. f I. Ep. St. John 'il 2, HEAVEJiT. 257 slialt dwell in His home, and all that He hath shall he thine* ^'All things are yours^ the world^ or life^ Or death^ or things present^ or things to come / for all are yours^ and you are Chrisfs^ and Christ is GodhP ^ Yes, God himself shall be yours. Yon shall look around you and see His towering altitudes, and count them as your own* You shall look deep down into the depths of His wisdom and be wise as God is. You shall find yourself upborne by His power and good- ness, enveloped by His glory, and adorned with His beauty. Oh ! my brethren, is not this joy ? Tell me, tell me, young men, tell me, children, tell me truly, one and all, what have been the happiest moments of your life ? Was it the mo- ments you have spent in sin ? Was it the hour of some earthly success or triumph ? Or was it not rather at some hour when God was near to you, and you felt the music of His voice and the perfume of His breath — some time when you were praying, or when you had made a good confession or communion, or when you were listening to a sermon ? 1 know it was. 1 know there are times when every man has felt the words of the Psalmist : " What have lin heaven? and hesides Thee what do I desire ujpon earth ? Thou art the God. of my heart, and the God that is my portion for- ever.^^f What are all the attainments of learned men to Him who is all- wise ? What are all the conceptions of genius to Him who is all-beautiful, or the moral excellencies of good men to Him who is all-holy ? Yes, the thought of God is the source of the purest and highest pleasure on earth. That thought has ravished the saints with ecstasy, and made the martyrs laugh at their torments. And if merely to think about God in this life can make us so happy, what mast it be to see Him in the life to come ? To know God and to love Him, to know Him as we are known by Him, to love Him with our whole souls, to possess Him ♦1 Cor. iu. 23, f Ps, Ixxrii. 26. 258 HEAVEN. OTthout the fear of losing Iliin, to take part iu His counsels, to enter into His will, and to sliare in His blessedness — this is a joy, perfect and supreme; and this is tlie joy of heaven. This is the joy offered to you. This is all-satisfy- ing. The soul can desire nothing more. This is permanent, for heaven is eternal. This is always new, for God is riches and beauty inexhaustible and infinite. Oh, my brethren, do not envy those who were near our Lord's person when He was upon earth. I know it is natural to do so. I know it is natural to say, " If I could but have seen His face, or heard the sound of His voice ;" but no ! yours is a still happier lot. Do not envy Magdalene, wlio kissed His feet,, nor St. John, on whose breast He leaned, nor the Blessed Virgin, who bore Him in her arms. Is it not permitted to the poorest and the weakest of you to see Him, not in His humility, but in His glory — to converse with Him and dwell with Him in the land of the living ? Oh ! blessed are they that dwell in Thy house ! The world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for- ever. Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and do it ! Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God ! One would have thought that this was enough. To be free from all the trials and sufferings of this present life, and to enjoy the fullest happiness a human soul is capable of — ^^one would think that were heaven enough, and that no more could be added. But the bounty of God has added another element to the happiness of heaven. Heaven is a place of glory — not of rest only, but of glory also. " Glory, honor and peace," says the apostle, " to every man that doeth well." Heaven is the place of God's glory, and it is also the place of the glory of the saints. Even here the good are honored — the really good. True, for a while they may be despised and persecuted, but, in the long run, nothing is honored so much as virtue. During the lifetime of Nero and St. Paul, Nero was a powerful emperor, praised and flattered by hia fiEAVEN. 259 courtiers, and St. Paul a friendless and despised prisoner; now, ISTero is abliorred as tlie wicked tyrant, and St. Paul honored by all men as tlie saint and hero. But this is not enough. In heaven the honor of the saints Avill be magnifi- cent. God himself will honor them. This is one reason for the last judgment, that God may publicly give honor to the good. ^' Whosoever shall glorify mie^ him vnll I glorify^^ tays the Almighty ; ^ and they who are saved will be admitted t.o heaven with respect and solemnity, as those whom the King delights to honor. This is represented to us in the description of the last judgment : ^' Then shall He turn to ♦:hem on the right hand and say : ^ Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' " See how He praises them. See how He honors them and makes kings out of them. They are astonished : it seems too much. Thev know not how they have deserved it. But He insists upon it as their right. He repeats the good actions they have done. ^'I was hungry and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me to drink. I was naked and ye clothed me." Do you hear this, my brethren ? So will it be with you when you stand before God to be judged. He will hold in His hand a beau- tiful diadem of gold, and he will say : '^ This is for thee." And ihou shalt be amazed and shalt say : ^^ No, Lord, this is not for me. I am nothing but a laboring man. I am but a poor boy. I am only a servant-girl. I am not the child of the rich and great. No one ever made way for me in the street, or rose up when I came into their company." But Christ shall say : '' Nay ! a prince thou art, for thou hast done the deeds of a prince." Then He will begin to men- tion them one by one — your kindness to your old mother and father — your humble confession that it was so difficult to make, and which you made so well — the time you overcame that * 1 Xi. ii. 30. 260 HEAVEN. great temptation, and resolved, once for all, to be virtuous — ■ the occasion of sin you renouncbd — the prayers you said in humility and sincerity — the sacrifices you made for your faith — the true faith you kept with your husband or wife — the patience j^ou practised in pain or vexation. Then He will show you your throne in heaven, so bright you will think it an apostle's, or the Blessed Virgin Mary's, or that it belongs to God himself; and then the tears of joy and sur- prise w^ill drop from your eyes, and your heart will be nigh bursting with confusion ; but He will smile upon you, and take you by the hand, and say : " Yes, thou hast been taith- ful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." Then He will give thee a certain jurisdiction, a certain power of intercession ; make thee an assessor in His high court of heaven, and make thee to sit on a throne with Him, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And others shall honor thee. The saints shall honor thee. The Blessed Vir- gin shall honor thee. Now thou honorest her, so much at a distance from thee, and callest her Lady ; but then it shall be as it was w^hen St. John and the Blessed Virgin dwelt together in one home. Thou shalt still honor her as the Mother of Jesus, and she shall honor thee as His disciple. St. Peter and St. John and St. James and St. Andrew shall honor thee. Now thou makest thy litanies to them ; but then it will be as it was when Peter and Thomas and Nathanael and the sons of Zebedee w^ere together, and Jesus carrie in the midst and dined with them. The saints shall be one family with thee. They wdll walk with thee, and sit with thee, and call thee by name, and tell thee the secrets of Paradise. And the angels shall honor thee. Now thou ad- dressest thy angel guardian on bended knee ; but then he will say to thee: "See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus." And the Church on earth shall praise thee. As long as time bhall last, she shall make mention of thee as one of those who HEAVEV. 261 « rejoice witli Christ in His glorious kingdom, and, clothed in white, follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Yes, and the wicked and the devils shall honor thee. Now they may affect to despise you — now they may persecute you and trouble you ; but then they will be forced to do you honor, and, groaning within themselves for anguish of spirit, and amazed at the suddenness of your unexpected salvation, shall say : " These are theyiohom we had sometime in derision^ and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life 'm^adness and their end without honor. Behold how they are nurribered among the children of God^ and their lot is among the saints.^^ ^ Such, my brethren, are the joys of heaven, or, rather, sucb is the faintest and poorest idea of the joys of heaven. Men seek for wealth as the means of defending themselves from the ills of life, but there is perfect rest only in heaven. Men seek for pleasure, but earthly joys are short and unsatisfactory ; the pleasures at God's right hand are for ever sure. Men seek for honor, but the real honor comes from God alone. And these are within the reach of each one of you. When Father Thomas of Jesus, was dying in captivity, his friends came around his bedside, and expressed their regret that he should die, away from his home, and their hope that the Ejng of Spain would even yet ransom him ; but the holy man replied : " I have a better country than Spain, and the ransom has long been paid. That country is heaven, that ransom is the blood of Christ." The Holy Church says : " When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Yes ^ by the blood of Christ, by the sacrament of baptism, the gates of heaven are opened before us. The path is straight and plain. If by sin we have strayed from it, by penance we have been recalled to it, and now there is nothing to do *Wisd.v. 3, 4, 6. 262 HEAVEN. » but to advance and persevere, and heaven is onrs. Will yoii draw back, Christian ? AVill you, by mortal sin, throw away that immortal crown ? No drunkard or adulterer, nothing that is defiled, can enter there. There is only one road that leads to heaven — the road of Christian obedience. Will you renounce your birthright ? Will you, by sin, take the course that leads you away from your heavenly home ? " Oh !" I hear you say, " I will choose heaven." But, remember, heaven is to be won. '^Heaven," says St. Philip Neri, " is not for the slothful and cowardly." Strive then, henceforth, for the rewards that are at God's riglit hand. Strive to attain abnndant merits for eternity. Remember that he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he that soweth plentifully shall reap plentifully. God is not unmindful of your works and labor that proceedeth from love. Things so small as not to be taken notice of, things that happen every day, add a new glory to our mansions in heaven. With this aim, then, let us henceforth work. " Oh, happy T," says St. Augustine, " and thrice happy, if, after the dissolution of the body, I shall merit to hear the songs that are sung in praise of the Eternal King, by the inhabitants of the celestial city !" Happy I, if I myself shall merit to sing those strains, and to stand before my Lord and King, and to see Him in His glory, as he promised ! " He that loveth me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." " How amiable are thy taber- nacles. Thou Lord of Hosts ! My soul hath a desire and a longing to enter into the courts of the Lord." Grant me this, O Lord. Give and withold what Thou wilt. I do not ask length of days. I do not ask f )r earthly honor and pros- perity. I do not ask to be free from care, or labor, or suffer- ing. But this I do ask, O Lord : when this life is over, shut not up my soul in hell, but let me look on Thy face in the land of the living. Make me so to pass through things temporal that I lose not the things eternal. Hail, Heavenly DUTY OF GROWING IN CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 263 Queen! our life, our sweetneijs, and our hope! to Thee do we (uy, poor, exiled children of Eve. Oh, then, from Thy throne in heaven, lift upon us, who are struggling in this world, those merciful eyes of Thine ! and when this our exile is over, show us the blessed fruit of Thy womb, Jesus ! Note. — This was the last Sunday-Sermon which F. Baker preached, two weeks before he was seized with his last iUness. SEEMON V. THE DUTY OF GROAnNG IN CHRISTIAN ENOWLEDGB. (first SUNDAY IN ADVENT.) ** The first man knew not wisdom jjerfectly, no more shall the last find her out. For her tJioughts are vaster than the sea, and her counsels deeper than the great ocean." — Eccles. xxiy. 38, 89. I Tumiv we Catholics, when we lay claim to the possession of the whole truth — the entire revelation imparted to the world from Christ through the apostles — sometimes forget how small a share of that truth each one of us possesses in par- ticular. It is the Church that the Holy Ghost leads into all truth, not individuals. Each Catholic, who is sufficiently in- structed, knows some truth ; he knows what is necessary to sal- vation ; but there are many things which he is totally ignorant of, many things concerning which his conceptions are inade- quate or distorted. Now if this be so, it cannot but be useful to remember it, and I will, therefore, this mc>rning, show j^ou how it must be so, and some of the consequences which flow from it. Each one's knowdedge of truth must be more or less partial and incomplete, because it varies with each one's capacity for receiviug truth. When God gave man reason^ He conferred 264 PUTY OF GROWING IN CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 311 him the faculty of receiving truth ; but the degree iu which this or that man is capable of receiving truth, depends apon the strength and cultivation of his particular reason. The eye is the organ of sight, but one man's eye is stronger and truer than another's. Slight variations of color or form, wholly indistinguishable by one man, are detected in a mo- ment by another. So, one man's reason is stronger than another's. What makes the difference, is, of course, in part the diversity in natural endowments, but it is not altogether due to this cause ; it is due in great measure also to cultiva- tion. Moral dispositions, too, have a great deal to do with it ; and in the case of Christian truth, the grace of God also exerts a special influence. The degrees in which these various elements are found in particular cases, are so different, that there is an almost infinite gradation in the measure in which men are capable of receiving truth. No two men can re- ceive it in exactly the same degree. In all this congregation, where we recite the same Creed and use the same prayers, there are, perhaps, no two of us who mean by them precisely the same thing. The intelligence of each one, his past his- tory, his moral dispositions, will determine how far the faith that is in him corresponds to the faith that is without him — the faith as it is in itself, the object of faith as it is in God. I can make what I mean plain to you by an illustration. Let us suppose a beautiful picture of the crucifixion, for instance, put up in a public gallery. Men of eveiy ki:id enter and pass before it. There comes a man who has never heard of Christ ; he is ignorant and uneducated. He looks up and sees the representation of extremest human agony, mingled with superhuman dignity and patience. Some ray enters his mind; he pauses, is startled then passes on. Now there comes another, who is an anatomist, and he is arrested by the skill with which the body is proportioned, and the play of the muscles and nerves is exhibited. Every line is a study to him, and he stops a good deal longer than the first. Then DUTY OF GROWING IN CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 265 tLere comes an artist, and he sees iu the picture something greater even. He takes in the genius of the conception, the fitness of attitude and expression, the light and shade, the tints of color, the difficulties overcome by art ; and he comes and sits before it, day after day, for hours, absorbed in the study of its beauties. And another comes who is a poet, and to him it brings back the scene of Calvary. In a moment he is far away, and the sun is darkened, and the earth quakes, and there are thunderings and lightnings, and once more the Holy City pours forth its multitude to witness the death of Jesus. And then there comes a sinner. Ah ! that story of love and sufiering ! which tells how God so loved the world, and gave his only-begotten Son, that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. To him, that picture speaks of the horrors of sin, of mercy, of heaven and hell, and thoughts are awakened by it which lead him back to God. There hangs the picture, unaltered. It is just what the artist made it, neither more nor less, yet see how different it has been to different beholders. In'ow, just so it is with the preaching of the truth. As we recite the Creed, as we preach to you, Sunday after Sunday, the Creed itself is indeed unchangeable, but it is a different thing to each one of us who preach, and to each one of you who hear, according to your intelligence, your past history and your present dispositions. How can it be otherwise? Does not. the very word, God, mean something different to us from what it does to a saint ? Do not the words Presence of God, mean something different to you and me from what they did to St. Teresa, to whom the soul of man appeared as a castle with seven chambers, each one more sacred than the others, as you advanced into the interior, until the innermost shrine was reached, where God and the soul were joined together in a manner which human language knows not how to utter ? Do you not see that the doctrine of the Incarnation is something very different to us from what it was to St. Athanasius, who 12 266 DUTY OF GROWING IK CHEISTLIN KNOWLEDGE. spent his Avliole life in conflict for it, wlio endured years of exile and calumny, the estrangement of friends, the suspicion even of good men, rather than falter the least in fidelity to that verity on which his soul had fed ? Or the Real Prep • ence — is that not a different thing to the crovrd who come to church and kneel from custom, but hardly remember why, from what it was to St. Thomas, who composed in honor of it the wonderful hymns Pange Lingua and Laiida Sion^ or to St. Francis Xavier, who spent nights in prayer, prostrate upon the platform of the altar ? Why, St. Thomas, who has so writ- ten of the Christian faith that the Church has named him the angelical doctor, threw down his pen in hopelessness of being able to exprcLSS the high knowledge of divine things which filled his soul. And St. Paul confesses, in writing to the Hebrews, that even in that primitive community, taught by apostles and living in a perpetual call to martyrdom, there were some points of Christian truth which he found himself unable to utter, '' because you are become weak to hear."^ I know that you are Catholics, that you have the Apostles^ Creed by heart, that you believe in one God in Three Per- sons, in the Incarnation and Death of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, and in the two eternities before us; but neither you nor I know what all this implies. Our knowl- edge is very imperfect : we are but babes in Christ, lisping and stammering the Divine alphabet — children, wetting cm" feet in the waves which dash on the shore of the boundless ocean of truth. It is good for us, as I have already said, to remember this, for it gives us at once the true method of forming an estimate of Christianity. A tree is known by its fruit, but it is by its best fruit. If you have a tree in your garden bearing only a small quantity of very delicious fruit, you * Heb. V. II. DUTY OF GROWING IN CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 267 prize it liiglily and take great care of it, tliough many of tlie blossoms fall off, and a great deal of the frnit never ripens. So yon mnst jndge of tlie Catholic Church, by its best and most perfect fruit, that is, by the men of great wisdom and great virtue whom it produces, and not by its imperfect members. Who is likely to be the best exponent and the truest specimen of his religion, a man of prayer and study, deeply versed in the Holy Scriptures and sacred learning, or one of small capacity, little learning, and little prayer ? Evidently, the former ; and yet how often do men take the contrary way of judging of the teaching and spirit of the Church. They visit some Catholic country, they see some instance of popular error, ignorance, or disorder, and they say : " This is Catholicity." Or, at home, they see or hear a Catholic do or say something which gives them offence, and they exclaim : " That is your doctrine ! " " That is your reli- gion ! " Now, supposing the offence they take to be justly taken, which is not always the case, what does it prove ? It may prove that the rulers of the Church have not done their duty ; but it may prove just the contrary, that they have done their duty— that in spite of the obstacles of ignorance and rudeness, they have succeeded in imparting to some darkened souls enough knowledge to lead them to God, though it be the very least that is sufficient for that purpose. But it does not show what the doctrine of the Church really is as intelligently understood. To find out this, you must look at men who are in the most favorable circumstances for understanding it, and they are the saints of God : St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Francis of Sales, St. Teresa, St. Vincent of Paul. O my brethren ! how can men turn away from Catholicity ? I understand how they can turn away from it as you and I express it ; how we can fail to remove their difficulties, or even put new perplexity in their way. But how can they turn away from Catholicity as it is expressed by the great 268 DUTY OF GROWING IN CHRISTIAN KNOWLEBGJil. saints of tlie Cliurcli? What a divine religion! What majesty, what sweetness, what wisdom, what power ! How it commands the homage of the world ! What a universal testimony it has in its favor, after all ! Do you knov/, my brethren, I believe men are far more in favor of Catholicity than we suspect. I believe half the difficulties they find in our religion are not in our religion at all, but in us ; in out ignorance, in our prejudices, in our short-sigh tedne&s and narrow-heartedness. What renders tlie world without excuse is the line of saints, the true witnesses to the genius and spirit of the Catholic religion. And yet, even the saints themselves are not the perfect exponents of the faith, for even the saints were not altogether free from ignorance and error. To understand fully the nobleness of the Chris- tian faith, we should need the help of inspiration itself. Did it never occur to you, my brethren, that the expressions of the prophets and apostles in reference to the light and grace brought by Jesus Christ into the world, were extravagant ? " Behold^ I will lay thy stones in order ^ and tcill lay thy foundations with sapphires^ and I will onake thy hulwarks of jasper : andj thy gates of graven stones^ and all thy horders of desirable stones. All thy children shall he taught of the Lord: and great shall he the peace of thy children^'' " Thou ^lialt no more have the sun for thy light hy day^ neither shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee: hut tlie Lord shall he unto thee for an everlasting light^ and thy God for thy glory. '^^ ■^* Does the Catholic Church, as you understand if, come up to these descriptions ? Is Catholic truth, as you appropriate it, so high and glorious a thing as this ? No ! And the rea- son is, that you are straitened in yourselves. Your concep- tions are so low, your knowledge of the trutli i.« so partial and limited, that you do not recognize tlie description wlien * Isaiah liv. 11-12; h. 19. DUTY OF GROWING IN CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. 269 tl