female heart, may be reflected from these sacred walls, and illuminating society with the rays of its bright example, may guide to their eternal salvation those who, unlike you, are doomed to grope their way through the shades and darkness of this vale of tears.

Thus shall you be Poor Clares, not in name only, but in reality; thus shall you be the daughters of your mother; thus shall you merit her maternal intercession; and thus shall she present you to her Jesus, as spouses worthy of his eternal joys, because on earth you have been faithful to his love.

A blessing which, oh! may his loving, allpardoning mercy grant to you, and to all whe hear me-In the name, &c.

I see that Mr. Grace, 3, Mary-street, is about to publish a second edition of GALLITZIN'S Defence of Catholic Principles. In a preface, prefixed to this edition, I have been enabled to give, concerning the illustrious Author's conversion, many interesting particulars, which had not come to my knowledge, when I wrote my former preface.

The following Sermon was preached at the RECEPTION OF MISS C. CAHILL into the Ursuline Convent, Cork, April 25th, 1815, in presence of eight Bishops, the MM. RR. and RR. RR. Doctors Troy, Murray, Everard, Sughrue, O'Shaughnessy, Marum, Murphy and Tuohy.

RECEPTION OF A NUN.

Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come thou shalt be crowned: from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.

Canticle of Canticles, c. iv. v. 8.

KNOWEST thou, O Maid! the loving voice that wafts this invitation to thine ears? Dost thou recognize the accents of Him, who this day decorates thee with the name of spouse? Hast thou heard him whisper to thy soul the soft enticing strains of grace and love? Hath Jesus, Spouse of Virgins, gained, O Virgin! in thy heart, the undisputed ascendancy of enraptured affection? Hath he for ever stifled in thy breast the feverish emotions of flesh and blood? Hath he, in the loudly silent ecstacy of his delights, drowned, and doomed to perpetual stillness, the clamorous, silly, teazing prattle of his rival, World? Art thou his exclusively, O Virgin! Hast thou ears to hear but him? hast thou eyes to see but him? hast thou tears to weep but him? hast thou heart to love but him? Is thy Jesus the first, the last, the only object of thy thoughts? Doth he fill thy soul? Hath he riveted thy affections? Wilt thou be his, unalterably, faithful spouse? Is thy Jesus, in one word, to thee, in thee, All in All?-If thy humility, could speak thy love, I hear thee answer, Yes. Come then, O Virgin Spouse of Christ, and catch, from the lips of his minister, the invitation of thy seul's fond lover. Hear with docility, re

ceive with gladness, obey with confidence, exe cute with promptness, the summons, which his special tenderness for thee, through me, this morning, sends thee.

"Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come; thou shalt be crowned.". Knowest thou whence he calls thee? knowest thou whither and to what he calls thee? "Come from Libanus," saith he ; 66 come. Ascend from that swollen mass of iniquity, the world; which, though in reality a vale of tears, is still a mountain, a Libanus, in its own conceit; though the sink of all that is base and bad, is still admired by the generality of its children, as the pinnacle of all that is great and good; though the crazy ocean of instability and disappointment, is still anchored upon, in thoughtless security, by those who plough the boisterous main of life, as the terra firma of happiness-of happiness, sufficient, forsooth, to satiate the boundless, endless, various, insatiable thirst of human ambition and desires! Come, fly, then, from Libanus, my spouse. Let not the lofty, splendid view of that aspiring mountain dazzle the eyes of thy unsuspecting curiosity. Let not the beauteously gigantic cedars of its greatness, which, in nodding grandeur, mount through clouds, and seem to pierce the heavens, delude thy young hopes with false, flattering, prospects of worldly aggrandizement. Let not the aromatic flavor of its perfumes, which, round its base, bewitchingly entice the senses of the unwary traveller, allure thy heedless passions, to frolick in its lawns, or to breathe the poisonous gale of its deceitful pleasures. Let not the reflected splendor of the luminary orb, when in the might of his noon, he blazes full along the mountain's side, attract thee, to bask, incautious, in the delusive glare of its prosperity, or to singe the

wings of thy silly soul in the glowing brightness of its treacherous smiles. Let not thy senses, thy hopes, thy fancy, be duped by all these glittering charms. Seek not the greatness of that boasting Libanus, which, promising all, performs nought. For, lo!" I saw the wicked lifted up like its most towering cedars. I passed he was no more. I sought his place-I found it not." Ps. xxxvi, 35.

In this strain doth Jesus invite thee, daughter of his love, to quit a criminal and deceitful world. Hear his voice; nor let the metaphorical garb in which I clothe the language of his grace, render it less intelligible to thy soul. Fly, then, from Libanus," continues he: "fly, nor smell the perfumes of its dizzying, intoxicating pleasures. Perfumes, which, though inhaled, are not enjoyed; for, 'ere they have gratified the bewildered sense, the storms of life which buffet down the mountain's rocky sides, have carried them into the valley far behind, and nought remains but vanity and affliction of soul. Clamber not up the rugged paths that lead towards its summit; for, know, they are beset with lions, who, from their dens of darkness, "rove about, seeking whom they may devour." And should thy terror save thee from their fury, thou wilt not be the less exposed to leopards,' who, under the glossy spangled furr of human example and false conscience, will insensibly decoy thy unexperienced weakness, until they clutch thee in the gripe of eternal death. Fly, then, from Libanus, my spouse; from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.' -What! doth thy restless curiosity still push thee forward? Doth thy foolish ambition, thy silly fickleness, thy love of pleasure, in spite of all the dangers that surround thee, still urge

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thee, through repeated difficulties, through disappointments innumerable, to scale the arduous height? If so, why onward-but remember, 'ere thou reach the craggy top, the clouds of human prejudice, the vapors of thy passions shall darken in thy soul the lights of my faith and grace; thy charity shall freeze; and the snows that outcap the summit, shall not find one spark of my love to extinguish in thee, when they congeal thee in the icy fangs of death!"

Nay, pardon me, O loving spouse of Christ, if I have made thy sweet Jesus utter the unnecessary tone of anger and menace. No; he Jashes thee not from danger with the iron Scourges of his terror; but draws thee to himself in the silken bonds of his all-powerful love. Blessed be his tender affection for thee! Blessed be thy prompt obedience to his loving call! But, 'ere we proceed to lead thee forward to the chaste nuptials of the immaculate Lamb, look round and see the multitude of thy Saviour's faithful servants, whom the first news of thy intended union has drawn together. Some, as this devout portion of his flock, filled with admiration and holy envy, at that happiness which they cannot themselves share with thee. More, as these thy new sisters and mothers in Christ, impatiently waiting the moment to adopt thee as their own, with the kiss of congratulation. And then, the mitred dignitaries of the Christian Church; the supporting pillars of the house of God; the legislative depositaries of his authority; the Rulers, Judges, Pastors of his people; surrounded, in all the state of sanctity, by their respective clergy, and anxious thus to honor their Lord, in one of the grandest works of his