These, my beloved brethren, are the causes of our hasty relapses after the paschal solemnity. Our conversion, in order to be real, must be entire; if one requisite be wanting-if we neglect to pay the debt of atonement to the justice of God, or of reparation to our injured neighbour, our conversion is counterfeit, and our fall is at hand. If, therefore, it be your sincere desire to persevere in the service of God, shun the dangerous rocks which I have described. Ah! my brethren, so exquisite is the happiness of the man who is sincerely united to God;—who has removed the wall of separation which has so long kept him at a distance from Him; who has thrown himself into the arms of his mercy, after having so long wandered in the painful wilderness of the world; who has re-established peace and tranquillity in his soul, after having so long endured the uneasiness and remorse occasioned by sin:-so exquisite is the happiness of the man, who lives for Him alone who made him ;who serves so kind, so beneficent a Master, after having so long borne the yoke of an ungrateful and unjust world; who loves the only object which can impart happiness to its lovers, after having fixed his heart by turns on a thousand objects, which could neither satisfy his desires, nor fix his inconstancy;-who labours at length for something real and substantial, after having endured so much labour and pain in the pursuit of dreams and shadows so exquisite is the happiness of the man, who has returned to his God; who lives for eternity, after having lived so long for vanity ;-who is comforted with the well-founded assurance of a state of felicity in the next world, after being convinced by experience that no happiness can be found in this ;-who endeavours to save his soul, after having lived as if he had no soul to save :-so exquisite, I say, is his happiness, that, were he possessed of all crowns and sceptres, and of the empire of the whole world, and possessed not God, he would possess nothing; and were he, like Job, on a dunghill, and possessed his God, he would possess all things, since he would enjoy peace of mind in this life, and assured hopes of immortality in the next. Great God! this is the day of thy triumph and glory. Look down with an eye of compassion on this congregation assembled in thy name. Sanctify every individual, I beseech thee. Suffer not thy word to return to thee fruitless. May it this day triumph over all hearts, and draw them to thee. O my God! reward my labours and my solicitudes my petition is the same which thou thyself didst present : to thy eternal Father. I have announced thy name and thy truths to those to whom thou didst send me: sanctify them, therefore; perfect thy work; and suffer not one of them to perish. Look down with an eye of pity on this nation; deliver it from the spiritual evils with which it has been so long chastised, and from the temporal judgments which at this instant are impending over it. Extend the empire of thy faith over the whole world, and reduce all mankind into the captivity of thy holy gospel and, if the petitions of a sinful and unworthy minister can find admittance to thy throne, receive, O God, these effusions of my heart; and may the secret defilements, which thou discoverest in my soul, be no impediment to the success of my supplication. THE mystery of the Resurrection has been always celebrated by the Church with particular solemni ty, and as the chief festival of the year, This, says the royal prophet, is the day which the Lord hath made, a day of jubilation and praise,- a day of honour and glory to the whole community of the elect of God, in heaven and on earth. Now is the scandal of the cross |