SERMON LXXI.

SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.-(CONTINUED.)

"According to his mercy he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and the renovation of the Holy Ghost."-TITUS, iii: 5.

WE are all, as children of Adam, sinners and rebels to God. We have inherited his disobedience and his sin, and consequently the punishment which was inflicted upon him. Alas! the sin committed in the terrestial paradise has reduced us to a most deplorable state! We were born in sin,—we were born deprived of the grace of God and children of wrath. If death had surprised us in this sad state, we would have been forever excluded from the happiness of heaven, for the Holy of Holies must necessarily have rejected the impure vessel wherein sin was found. But, eternal thanks to the infinite goodness of God! He condescends to receive us into His arms on our very entrance into the world. He admits us into His temple, to favor us with the most signal blessing of His mercy; one of His ministers pours upon us the holy waters of Baptism, which makes us Christians, washes and purifies our souls, raises them from the grave of sin to the life of grace, by communicating to us sanctification, justice, redemption, the divine adoption, the effusion of the Holy Ghost, eternal life, and the kingdom of God himself, Would to God that I could make you thoroughly understand the effect of this august sacrament! This is the grace which I ask through the intercession of Mary.

and you

Such, my Brethren, is

"I will pour upon you clean water," spoke the Lord, shall be cleansed from all your filthiness."* the effect which the Sacrament of Baptism produces. It entirely blots out every sin which existed in the soul; it blots out original sin, which we brought with us into the world as children of Adam,

Ezechiel, xxxvi: 25.

and it blots out all actual sins, no matter how numerous, which we may have committed before its reception; it remits beside, all the temporal and eternal pains due to these sins. "There is no condemnation," says the Apostle St. Paul, "for those who live in Jesus Christ. You were stained with all these iniquities, but the waters of regeneration have purified you and you are sanctified. If we be grafted in Jesus Christ by the resemblance of His death, we are also like Him by the resemblance of His resurrection, which has been perfected."* In Baptism, all is remitted,-all is forgiven, and God communicates to us here without reserve the blood and merits of His divine Son. A Jew, a pagan, a great criminal receives Baptism and dies immediately after having received it; his soul ascends to heaven and goes to enjoy the vision of God, for there is not the slightest spot upon it. Be Thou blessed, O divine Saviour, who hast merited for us these ineffable graces by Thy sufferings and death! How great the obligation which we have contracted, ever to prove ourselves grateful for so much goodness and mercy ! Divine Saviour, I will love Thee with my whole

heart and with my whole soul.

After blotting out every stain of sin which disfigured our souls, the Sacrament of Baptism procures for us the inestimable gift of sanctifying grace, which renders our souls just, holy, beautiful and bright in the eyes of God. Precious grace, which, entering into our souls, brings us as presents from the God of goodness, faith, hope, charity, and the infused virtues, with the gifts of the Holy Ghost! Precious grace, which induces God to adopt us as His children! We were "children of wrath," and we beacme, “children of adoption." "Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be named and should be the sons of God." We have, as Father, according to grace, Him who is the Father of Jesus Christ by nature. Jesus Christ no longer calls us servants,-He honors us with the name of friends. Even this is not enough,-He wills that we should be His brethren; He desires that we should be incorporated with Him,-that we should become His members,-that we should live with His life; that we should be temples of the Holy Ghost. Yes, the moment the holy

* Romans and Corinthians.

+1 St. John, iii: 1.

waters of Baptism are poured upon our heads, the Holy Ghost unites himself to us. The same Spirit, says St. Augustine, who formed the body of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary, gives birth to the Christian in the baptismal font. He makes us so many temples in which He is pleased to dwell. I repeat it, my Brethren, to impress it the more on your minds: by Baptism we become children of God the Father, members and brethren of Jesus Christ, -temples of the Holy Ghost, and we are made the children of the Church,-members of that holy society which our divine Saviour came to establish on earth, that He might form His elect, and prepare them for the heritage which He so much desires to share with them in heaven. By this sacrament then, my Brethren, we obtain a right, as children of God and His Church, to partake of all the other sacraments, of the holy Sacrifice, of the good works and of the prayers of all the faithful, whether on earth, in purgatory or in heaven,-to have part in all the graces,-in all the benefits common to this divine society.

What return shall we make the Lord for the signal favors His infinite mercy has bestowed upon us? My Brethren, what this God of goodness demands of us is, that we should offer to Him every day the faithful fulfillment of the promises which we made to Him at our Baptism. What are these promises? We promised to believe in Jesus Christ. We must then believe firmly that He is truly the Son of God, who came down from heaven, assumed our human nature, and died on the cross to redeem the world. We must believe that He taught mankind a holy doctrine, the only one which can lead to salvation. We must believe that He left after Him disciples whom He charged to propagate His Gospel over the entire earth, and that he clothed them with full authority to teach all nations the truths which He revealed to the world. We must believe in the Church of Jesus Christ,-the Church founded by the Apostles, the infallible depository of the sacred teachings which issued from the mouth of our divine Saviour. You have promised to remain ever united to this holy Church, and to obey her pastors, the successors of the Apostles, in heart and soul; it is on this condition that Baptism made you members of that mystic body of which Jesus Christ is the head, and out of which no one can live in the Spirit of God; for, as St. Cyprian tells us, he who has

not the Church for a Mother, can not have God for his Father. Believe then every thing which the Church teaches, for it is the doctrine of Jesus Christ which she communicates; perform well what she prescribes,-her will is the will of the Son of God himself.

It must be acknowledged, and we, alas! experience it every day, that the holy waters of Baptism have not destroyed our enemies. Satan remains, and he is always a dangerous tempter; the world remains, and it is ever full of evils, and of seductions fatal to many souls; ignorance and concupiscence remain, and causes, alas! but too many to fall into sin! The Lord God does not wish to deliver us from this struggle against sin, just as He does not desire to preserve us from temporal infirmities. Why so? That we may be reminded whence we have fallen, that we should consider this earth as a place of exile, and that, living in the practice of virtue and good works, supported by our immortal hopes, we should never cease to sigh after heaven, promised to those who shall have "valiantly fought the good fight of the Lord." You must then struggle unceasingly, and you must triumph. You have promised not to let yourselves be vanquished, you have promised never more to let yourselves be enslaved by the enemy of God: at the holy font of Baptism you have renounced Satan; no longer will you have, as master, the father of lies; you renounced "his pomps," that is to say, pride, avarice, cupidity, ambition, those assemblies, those shows, circuses, balls, dances and theaters, where the devil lays so many fatal snares for innocence and virtue. You have renounced "his works," that is to say, sin, because the devil is the first author of sin,-it is he who continually solicits men to commit crime. You have therefore renounced all sin and all the suggestions of iniquity. Be men of good will, and the God of mercy who has adopted you as His children, will not forsake you in the hour of temptation; pray, and the assistance of heaven will be given you,God will combat with you, you will keep your baptismal vows, and you will come off victorious.

My Brethren, to procure you the grace of Baptism, to make you His brethren and members, children of His heavenly Father, and heaven your inheritance, the Son of God became incarnate,— was made flesh,-was born in misery,-suffered derision, contempts

and buffets, was crowned with thorns, and died upon a cross! Oh! I conjure you by the recollection of the mercies of the Lord, to be grateful; love your divine Saviour, and every day of your lives, call to mind the extent and the excellence of the great grace which you have received at the holy font of Baptism. Remember, and often renew the promise which you there made. Be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who has done every thing to promote your salvation; love Him with your whole hearts, for He loved you, even to excess, even to death, and He has in reserve for you a crown of immortality, if you persevere in His love, in His faith and His hope.-AMEN.

SERMON LXXII.

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION.

"Then they laid their hands upon them; and they received the Holy Ghost."ACTS, viii: 17.

By Baptism we died to sin and rose to the life of grace,—we received a new birth, and became new creatures; it made us children of God and of the Church. But how weak and frail is the life of an infant! How little is required to take it out of life again! We must then grow in strength, we must be fortified in this spiritual life, we must become perfect men. To strengthen and confirm the new life which Baptism has imparted, is the effect of the Sacrament of Confirmation. In it the Christian, become by baptism the servant of Jesus Christ, acquires that resolute courage which makes him a true soldier of this Man-God. In it faith, hope, charity and the other infused virtues, which were, so to speak, only in their infancy, receive a salutary increase, and attain to that glorious maturity which form the perfect Christian. It is of this sacrament I intend to speak to-day. Be kind enough to hear me attentively.

Confirmation is a sacrament which confers upon us the Holy