in calumny and detraction. Some will carefully avoid all actions which God and religion condemn, but they make very little account of the bad thoughts that trouble their imagination, or of the evil desires that fill their hearts. This is understanding very badly what religion and God command. Is it not said that he who transgresses one divine precept, becomes guilty of all? Are there no sins except Sabbath-breaking, blasphemy, and impurity of act? Are impurity of heart and detraction to be regarded as lawful? No, no. God is not the judge of some sins, but of all. He is not severe on some sins, and indifferent to others. Every mortal sin shuts heaven close. Since our Eternal happiness is the consequence and the recompense of our life here below, let us endeavor to render this life equally good and holy, in the wishes which we form in the bottom of our hearts,-in the words which we pronounce,―in the actions which we perform. Let every thing in us correspond worthily to the will of God. Let us love God with our whole soul, with all our mind,-with all our heart,-with all our strength; we will then fulfill His entire law, and our lot in Eternity will be that of the elect.-AMEN.

PART II.

SERMON XXVII.

ON HOPE.

"In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded."-PSALMS, XXX: 1,

WITHOUT faith, says the Apostle, it is impossible to please God, and the wrath of God presses with all its weight, upon the children of incredulity. The truths which God deigned to reveal to the world, and which the Church of Jesus Christ proposes for your belief, have been presented to your minds and hearts, in the explanation of the Apostles' Creed which I have given you. But to attain heaven, is it sufficient for us to have faith? No. We have a second duty to fulfill, which is that of Hope. We must Hope in God, we must Hope for, and expect with confidence to receive, what God in His Goodness has promised us. "Faith," says a father of the Church, "is the foundation of the edifice of our salvation, Hope is the body, and charity is the crown." Christian Hope will then be the subject of our instruction to-day. I propose telling you what we ought to Hope for from the goodness of God, and the qualities which should distinguish the Hope of the Christian.

To Hope, is to expect with confidence a benefit, a favor, or any advantage whatever, which has been promised us. If the promise was made us by man, the Hope which we would have in the realization of his word, would be only a natural and purely human Hope: this is not the Hope which conducts to heaven. But our Hope is supernatural and divine, if, built upon faith, we Hope and expect such and such favors, because God has promised them to us. To Hope, in the Christian signification of the word, is to expect with

confidence the gifts which the goodness of God has condescended to promise us. This sublime Hope is a supernatural virtue, which the Lord infused into our hearts, the moment the waters of baptism flowed upon our foreheads. It is this virtue which directs us to place our trust in God, and to cast, according to the language of the Scriptures, all our care upon the bosom of God, our Heavenly Father, to fly to Him in all our wants, and with the utmost confidence to expect from His bounty and paternal solicitude, every blessing which He has promised us, both for this life and the life to come.

What are these blessings then, which we may expect with a firm confidence? God loves all men, all without exception, and with the love of a father: He, therefore, most certainly wishes to make us all happy. He takes us all under His powerful protection; and will consequently provide for the support of our existence; He will defend us against our enemies; He will console us in all our afflictions and all our disappointments. The Apostle St. Peter, was well persuaded of this consoling truth, when he invites us to unbosom ourselves of all those things which disturb our peace, and to cast our care on the Lord, because the Lord himself has care of us, to such a degree, that not a hair of our heads can fall to the ground without the permission of our heavenly Father, as Jesus Christ himself declared. This is what we Hope for, and expect from God in the present life; but the promises which He makes us for the life to come, are incomparably more magnificent. Enlightened by the bright rays of divine faith, we can say with the Apostle: "Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His great mercy, hath regenerated us unto a lively Hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not, reserved in heaven. for you."* Yes, my God, Thy infinite bounty promises to receive us into heaven, to associate us with the angels in happiness, to overwhelm our souls with a torrent of delights during all eternity; but this inexpressible happiness will be given us only as the recompense of our virtues; we must therefore render ourselves worthy of it,— we must merit it. Alas! if of ourselves we are incapable of performing the least meritorious action; if we are incapable even of

* 1 St. Peter, i: 3, 4.

conceiving a thought pleasing in the sight of God, how will we be able to gain heaven? My Brethren, "It is good to confide in the Lord;"* for "every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of vicissitude." He knows our weakness, and He will make us strong; our unworthiness, and He will render us worthy. The all-powerful aid of His grace is guaranteed to us; His hand raises us up, if our hearts give away to compunction; His goodness pardons us, if, having had the misfortune to fall into sin, we return to Him with tears of repentance. Yes, our God himself will render us worthy of that happiness which He promises; and, as the royal prophet says, "the Lord will give to us grace and glory;" He will be our strength on earth, "and our reward exceedingly great in heaven.”

Heaven and its graces! to attain them, let us hope for them, let us expect them, without ever doubting, without ever wavering. "Let your hope," says St. Augustine, "be as certain and confident as if you already possessed the blessings you expect." For, in the words of the Apostle, "it is impossible for God to lie; we may have the strongest comfort, who have fled for refuge, to hold fast the Hope set before us: which we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm." We must Hope with the utmost confidence. Why? Because it is God himself who has promised the blessings for which we Hope. No doubt, you have too much reason to mistrust the word and promises of man, for he has too often deceived you; but God is "not like man, He lieth not, deceiveth not." The Lord our God, is truth itself, and nothing but the words of truth can ever issue from His mouth. He is infinitely just and good; He will, therefore, be ever faithful to the promises which He has made us. He is all-powerful; He can, therefore, always accomplish His designs,-He can grant every thing that He has promised; and also, as St. Paul says, "God meaning more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed an oath." Our Hope rests on the word of God; it must therefore be firm, it must be unshaken; for not only the word of God serves as its immovable basis, but it is likewise supported on the merits of our

• Psalms, cxvii: 8. †St. James, i: 17. Hebrews, vi: 18, 19. § Hebrews, vi: 17.