to say with the Royal Prophet, Ps. cxviii. I partake, O my God, of all the good works of those who fear thee. The Scripture informs us, that God spared Loth on account of the faith of Abraham; he also spared the Israelites on account of Moses, and was willing to spare the Sodomites if ten just men had been found amongst them. But what are the conditions required to gain an indulgence?

One of the most essential conditions required for gaining the benefit of a plenary indulgence, is to be in the state of grace. It is in vain to expect that the punishment due to sin will be forgiven whilst the guilt or affection of it remains in the soul; and the guilt of it will remain in the soul until it is remitted and washed away by the grace of Jesus Christ, who has merited for us the pardon of our sins, and repeatedly promised it to those who sincerely repent, and approach the throne of mercy with proper dispositions. To gain the full effect of a plenary indulgence, and to be released from the whole punishment due upon account of past sins, we must not only be free from the guilt and affection of mortal sin, but also from the guilt and affection of venial sin. This should excite the faithful to redouble their fervour, and to dispose themselves in the best manner they are able for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, if they wish to obtain the benefit of a plenary indulgence. Indulgences, particularly plenary indulgences and jubilees, which are the most signal of all indulgences, are favours granted only to the just, and friends of God, who apply devoutly for them. They are merciful dispensations and releases, designed for the succour and relief of the indigent, to supply their wants out of the treasure of the Church, by offering to God an equivalent for the debt of temporal punishment, that the infirmity of human nature and their own insufficiency render them liable to. Besides the various indulgences that may be gained on the principal solemnities and festivals which occur in the course of the year, the plenary indulgence, called the Jubilee, is granted every twenty-fifth year, and upon some other extraordinary occasions to all the faithful, who, being truly penitent, approach the holy sacrament worthily, and duly comply with the other conditions of fasting, alms-deeds, and devout prayers, which are then usually prescribed. The intention of the Church herein is to renew the spirit of fervour, piety and charity among the faithful, to promote the practice of all kind of good works, to rouse the lukewarm, and bring back the strayed sheep from their evil ways. She then calls most pressingly on all sinners, and most zealously invites them to return, like the prodigal son, to their heavenly Father with their whole heart, that they may be reinstated in their deserted rights, and restored to their paternal inheritance, which they unhappily forfeited. She solicits them to unite with the whole body of the faithful all over the world, in offering a holy violence to Heaven by the public prayers and penitential works which are generally per

formed on the occasion. This solemn indulgence is justly distinguished by the name of Jubilee, a word that signifies joy and exultation, because the effects of it are the conversions of multitudes of sinners, which gives joy to the Angels in Heaven ; the multiplying of all sorts of good works, which gives edification to all Christendom; and the spiritual joy, inward peace, and consolation, which are sensibly felt in the souls of those who worthily partake of it. The year that this great act of grace is extended to all the faithful, is called the Holy and Jubilee year, from the resemblance it bears with the Jubilee year in the old Law, the origin and institution of which we read, Levit. xxv. and xxvii. It was a year of remission and indulgence for the people of God. As soon as it was announced with trumpets by the Priests to the children of Israel, all bondsmen and slaves were set at liberty, prisoners were released, debtors were discharged, and every one returned to his former possessions. It is of it that the Prophet Isaias speaks, c. lxi. where he says, that The Lord sent him to preach indulgence, to deliver captives, to discharge debtors, and to heal the wounds of the sick. The ancient Jubilee was ordered to be celebrated every fiftieth year, and that whole year was sanctified in the same manner that the Jews sanctified their weekly Sabbath, by refraining from servile works; and to prevent the people from suffering any hardships on account of so long a Sabbath, Divine Providence took care to bless the labour of the preceding year in such a manner, that they were supplied with plenty of all kinds of grain and all sorts of fruit, not only for the Jubilee year, but also for the two following years, on account of the sanctification of the Jubilee year. Such were the advantages and benefits of the Jubilee in the old law; but they were only figures and shadows of the benefits and advantages that are derived from the Jubilee in the new Law of grace. In the old Law the people received only temporal blessings, that regarded this transitory life; in the new Law we enjoy many spiritual blessings, that relieve our souls, and open the way to life everlasting. In the Jewish Jubilee, those who had been slaves to men were freed and set at liberty; in the Christian Jubilee, those who were before slaves of Satan by sin, are released from their bondage and restored to the liberty of the children of God. In the ancient Jubilee debtors were acquitted of all their worldly debts, and recovered their earthly possessions; in the Jubilee of the Evangelical law, Christians are released from their spiritual debts, reinstated in the favour of God, and recover the right and title to the kingdom of Heaven, and to their past merits, which they had forfeited by falling into mortal sin. In virtue of the power of binding and loosing, and the keys left to the Church by Jesus Christ, they are freed from their chains, released from their captivity, absolved from the guilt of their sins, acquitted from the punishment they incurred thereby, and delivered from the bonds that might otherwise

hinder or retard their souls from entering into the kingdom of Heaven. However, it is only for such sinners as are truly converted and reclaimed from their evil ways, that the Church thus opens her spiritual treasures, and unlocks the gates of the kingdom of Heaven. She claims no power to impart the benefit of an absolution or of an indulgence to those who will not renounce the devil and his works, or who refuse to be reconciled to their enemies, to repair the scandal they have given, to shun the dangerous occasions of sin, to make restitution of their neighbour's property which they unjustly possess, to repair the injuries they have done him, or to drop the detestable habits of cursing, swearing and blaspheming, wherein they are involved. Any abuses that may, perhaps, be committed herein, through the fault or connivance of individuals, cannot with justice be laid to the charge of the Catholic religion; since the Church is so far from authorizing or countenancing them, that she utterly disclaims, censures and condemns them, as appears clearly from the decree of the Council of Trent relative to indulgences, and from the common doctrine of the most learned divines, who assert that pardons and indulgences, granted without a just cause, or without the necessary dispositions on the part of those who apply for them, are not ratified by Almighty God, who, according to the Royal Prophet, Ps. lxxxiv. v. 8, 9. will only speak peace unto his people and unto his saints, and grant it to such as recover his sanctifying grace, by being converted to him with all their heart. O Divine Jesus, grant us all the grace of a true conversion, that we may draw waters in joy from thy sacred fountains, and be duly qualified to hear these words of peace and comfort pronounced in our favour, which thou hast vouchsafed to say to the sick man, mentioned in this day's Gospel, Son, be of good heart, thy sins are forgiven thee. This is the blessing that I wish you all, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. On the Small Number of the Elect.

Multi sunt vocati, pauci veró electi.-Mat. c. xxii. v. 14.

Many are called, but few are chosen.-Mat. e. xxii. v. 14.

WHO would imagine, my brethren, that a guest invited on the part of his sovereign to partake of a marriage feast, would be sentenced on so solemn and so joyful an occasion to be tied

hands and feet and plunged into a frightful dungeon, where there was nothing to be heard but weeping and gnashing of teeth? Such, notwithstanding, was the dismal fate of the guest spoken of in this day's Gospel. What was the cause of his condemnation? He is not accused of having ill treated the other guests, or of having committed any insolence in the banquet room. All the crime he is charged with is, that he came to the marriage feast without being clothed with the wedding garment. For this reason he was expelled by the waiters, and cast into exterior darkness. By this man are represented all sinners who are void of the grace of God, defiled with sin, and whilst they continue in that unhappy state, exposed every moment to the manifest danger of being excluded from the banquet of eternal glory that is prepared for the elect in the kingdom of Heaven, and of being delivered over to the ministers of divine justice, in order to be precipitated into a gloomy prison, where there is nothing but tears, despair, horror, fatal blindness, devouring flames and eternal damnation.

The Lord, it is true, does not desire the death of any sinner, but that he be converted and live, as the Prophet Ezechiel assures us, c. xxxiii, v. 11. He is not willing that any should perish, says St. Peter, 2 Ep. c. iii. v. 9. Jesus Christ gave himself a redemption for all, says St. Paul, Tim. 1 Ep. c. 4. It is his will that all men be saved, and that they come to the knowledge of the truth, v. iv. He invites all mankind, without exception, to the inheritance of his heavenly kingdom, and supplies them with the means that are necessary and sufficient to attain the happy end of their creation. Nevertheless, it is not to be doubted but the greater part of mankind is lost for ever, since Christ himself declares in the conclusion of this day's Gospel, that many are called, few are chosen. This divine oracle is really terrifying, and enough not not only to alarm sinners, but also to fill the just themselves with a salutary fear. Theologians and spiritual writers, however, endeavour to throw some light on it, by remarking, that the number of the elect is to be supposed to exceed the number of reproved sinners, if we take into the calculation of the elect the immense multitudes of Angels and other heavenly spirits who perpetually surround the throne of God, because the nine choirs of Angels and whole celestial hierarchy are, beyond comprehension, more numerous than all the descendants or the whole posterity of Adam, from the creation to the very end of the world. But if the entire race of Adam be considered separately and apart by themselves; in this case the number of the elect amongst them is by many degrees smaller than the number of the reproved, or there are vastly more human beings damned than saved. Some writers do not hesitate to compare the many that are lost to the numberless fleaks of snow and drops of water which fall from the Heavens on a

winter's day; whilst on the other hand, they draw similes from the Scripture, and compare the number of those who are chosen and saved to the few ears of corn that are picked up by the gleaners during the harvest, and to the few scattered grapes which escape the workman's eye in the vintage time. When the calculation is confined to Christians only, it is generally supposed and believed that the number of the elect amongst them is much greater than the number of the reproved, provided all the young children who die in their baptismal innocence be comprised and included in the number; but if we abstract from such children who depart this life in the sanctity of their baptism, and count only the adult, who attain to the age of reason and understanding, it is the common opinion that there are many more grown-up Christians lost than saved, and of course, the number of the elect among them is but small, comparatively speaking. If you ask whence comes this? the reply is easy: From their own demerits, and from their refusing or neglecting to perform the conditions which God requires on their part in order to obtain salvation, namely, to believe what God teaches, and to obey what he commands. In short, there are only two ways that lead to Heaven and life everlasting, the way of innocence, and the way of penance; and there are but few Christians, comparatively speaking, who bid fair for entering Heaven either by the one way or by the other, as I will endeavour to shew you in the following discourse. How few there are who go to Heaven by the way of innocence, shall be the subject of the first point; how few go to Heaven by the way of penance, shall be the subject of the second point. Let us previously implore the divine assistance, through the intercession of the blessed Virgin. Ave Maria.

Innocence is undoubtedly a sure road to heavenly Jerusalem, into which nothing that is defiled will be admitted; but if we except infants, who after their baptism are mercifully withdrawn from the dangers of this sinful Babylon, before malice has time to corrupt their understanding, how few are there, now-a-days, who pass through the road of innocence to the happy mansions of everlasting bliss? Where are those pure souls to be found among the adult who have never been guilty of any actual sin in thought, word or deed? How few are there to be met with in this degenerate age, who constantly live up to the maxims of the Gospel and to the rules of Christianity? Not to speak of the whole race of mankind, nor of the numberless multitudes of idolaters who dwell in those wide extended nations that stretch beyond the tropics, nor of the various tribes of infidels that people the back settlements of America; not to mention the many millions of Pagans who inhabit the extensive empires of Turkey, of Persia, of Tartary, of China, and other populous countries in Asia ; not to speak, 1 say, of all these unbelievers, who live and die not only in the state of