purpose. Why then dost thou correspond so ill with divine grace, and make such bad use of so great mercy? What penance hast thou hitherto performed, in anywise proportioned to the grievousness of thy sins? Even the mere observance of thy rule appears to thee too burdensome and difficult!

III. Consider that the sinner grows presumptuous because, as he sees that Almighty God bears up with him so long, he rashly reckons on having time and opportunity in the future for saving his soul, and for putting his conscience in order at the end of his life. But how deceitful is this lying hope of the sinner! and how many in consequence make a bad end, and are therefore damned! Remember, too, that the same thing happens to not a few religious, who by their ungrateful abuse of divine mercy are at last abandoned by it. Reflect, therefore, for what purpose Our Lord has granted thee this period of religious life: it is for no other than that thou shouldst have time to do penance. Humble thyself, therefore, and be ashamed of thyself: beware of abusing so great mercy on the part of God, for by so doing thou art guilty of a grievous injury against Him, and inflictest the most serious loss on thyself.

WEDNESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK AFTER PENTECOST.

In omnibus operibus tuis memorare novissima tua, et in æternum non peccabis.-Eccl. vii. 40.

In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.

I. CONSIDER what a worthy object of our desires it is to avoid mortal sin. It was in order to obtain this

boon that the Saints importuned heaven with their prayers, and this same privilege is within thy reach also, if only thou makest up thy mind to remember thy last end in all thy works. But it is not enough to bear in mind the thought of death only, which is the beginning of thy last end; for in many instances the thought of death has been only the occasion of sinners allowing themselves still greater liberty: Transibit vita nostra .. venite, ergo, fruamur bonis-Sap. ii. 3, 6-Our life shall pass away come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present. That the thought of death may be of profit to thee, thou must also remember that after death will come a severe judgment, and with this judgment will go hand-inhand a sentence of either eternal punishment or of eternal reward-either hell or heaven. Here it is that the efficacy and power of the remembrance of thy last end is to be found.

II. Consider whence proceeds the wonderful power of this remembrance. It is because by bearing in mind these four last things, thou acquirest the habits of the four cardinal virtues, by which all thy faculties are ordered to their right end. Prudence regulates thy reason so that it may not swerve. Justice directs the will that it may be upright. Temperance puts a bridle on thy concupiscence, so that it may not run after the enticements of vice. Fortitude keeps under thy anger, so that thou mayest patiently overcome the difficulties of the practice of virtue. Now the re

membrance of the four last things causes these virtues to gain the ascendancy in thy heart more efficaciously than anything else, because the remembrance of death disperses from thy mind all those fumes of ambition and haughtiness which obscure thy intellect, and endows thee with prudence. The remembrance of judgment causes thee to appear in spirit before that rigorous Judge Who will one day examine the account of thy

stewardship, and so puts thee in possession of justice. The remembrance of hell bridles thy craving after those unlawful pleasures which will be turned into such grievous pains, and imparts temperance to thee. The remembrance of heaven lessens the dread of those evils which will be changed into never-ending joy, and gives thee fortitude. Thus how will it be possible for thee to commit grievous sin? Memorare novissima tua, et in æternam non peccabis-Remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.

III. Consider that this promise of Ecclesiasticus is in many cases not verified, because so many reflect on the four last things in the abstract only, although they discourse about them, discuss them, and even represent them on paper or in marble; but they do not bring them home to themselves as truths that immediately concern them individually. For this reason it is said, memorare novissima tua-remember thy last end. It is needful that thou shouldst realise that it is thou thyself that wilt ere long be stretched on thy deathbed, laid out on the bier, and consigned to the grave: that thou thyself art the one who is concerned in that dreadful judgment, that for thee are destined those eternal torments if thou yieldest to temptation, and that for thee likewise are prepared those heavenly rewards if thou standest fast. It must be a practical remembrance in omnibus operibus tuis-in all thy works. It will avail thee little to keep beautiful pictures of the four last things in thy cell, or to write or preach beautiful descriptions of them-all these are but dead pictures. Thou must keep them alive before thy eyes in all thy actions. This lively remembrance, which, perchance, appears distasteful to thee now, will afterwards become most pleasant to thee, because it will maintain in thee the peace of a good conscience, which is the greatest of all joys, according to that of Ecclesiasticus: Non delectamentum super cordis gaudium

xxx. 16-There is no pleasure above the joy of the heart.

THURSDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK AFTER

PENTECOST.

Similiter odio sunt Deo impius et impietas ejus.-Sap. xiv. 9.

To God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike.

I. CONSIDER that the hatred Almighty God bears sin is equal to the love He bears Himself, which is immense, infinite, essential. This is the reason why He has always pursued sin with such terrible punishments, such as deluges of water, rains of fire, plagues, earthquakes, and numberless other evils. But all this is as nothing. That Almighty God can vent His hatred. for sin, there must needs be a hell; and not even this is enough, for even after millions of ages, it will not be true that He has received a fitting satisfaction from the sinner, overwhelmed though he be by those awful In order to show His great hatred of sin, and receive adequate satisfaction for it, He has gone so far as to punish sin in the person of His own Divine Son-though He had not in Himself aught of sin but its appearance and likeness-by handing Him over to the death of the cross, ad ostensionem justitiæ suæ-to show His justice. Is not this sufficient to give thee some idea of the great hatred God has for sin ?

torments.

II. Consider that so intensely does Almighty God hate sin, that all the boundless love He has for all the good and meritorious works that have ever been performed by the purest of His creatures-by the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Martyrs-if placed in the balance

of His Justice, does not outweigh the hatred He bears to a single one of thy sins: so that were He capable of pain and grief, He would be more distressed at one sin of thine than He would be gladdened by the accumulation of all the good works of all the Saints together, although so noble and worthy from another point of view. Hence, were it possible that the performance of all these good works should depend on the commission of even the slightest sin, He could never wish-though He might permit-its commission; nor could it be His Will that thou shouldst wish it. Thus if, for instance, by telling a lie, thou couldst bring about the conversion of the whole world to the true faith, thou couldst not in conscience tell it. Oh, what an intense hatred for sin must not this be!

III. Consider that in the same degree that Almighty God hates sin, does He also hate thee if thou art a sinner similiter odio sunt Deo impius et impietas ejus— to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike. Hence, in that case, it would be a lesser evil for thee to be a reptile or a wild beast than to be wickedseeing that God hates none of His creatures, but sin only. What a great misfortune thou wouldst deem it, didst thou come to incur the hatred of all thy acquaintance or of all thy fellow-townsmen? Yet is it not far worse for thee to be the object of the hatred of God Almighty and of all the citizens of heaven? There is, however, this difference between the hatred that God bears to the sinner and to his sin, that sin cannot but be hated by God at all times and in all places; whereas the sinner can, if he chooses, come to be the object of God's love, by ceasing to be a sinner, by becoming the object of his own hatred, and by bewailing from his heart the evil he has committed. If, then, thou wouldst but begin to be indignant with thy own rebellious flesh and wayward appetites by