remorse of conscience. If so, my brethren, as undoubtedly is the case of numbers of false penitents, have I not reason to conclude that the generality of christians do not bid fair for entering the kingdom of Heaven, either by the gate of innocence or by the gate of penance? Perhaps you will object and say, that the great God is merciful, and that he did not put you into the world to damn you. Merciful he is, indeed, praise, honour and glory be to his holy name, and were it not for his boundless mercy we would be all lost and undone for ever; but he is equally just and faithful to his promises, and he has no where promised to admit all sinners into the kingdom of Heaven, but he has expressly declared the reverse. He has not put you into the world to damn you; but let me ask you, did he put you into the world to be wicked, to be unjust, to be lewd, to be revengeful, to defame and detract, to rob and cheat your neighbour, to be drunkards, cursers, swearers and blasphemers? No, my brethren, God has put you into the world to love and serve him; and if, instead of loving and serving him, you constantly offend him and transgress his commandments, it is your own fault if you are not saved. It is you yourselves, who damn yourselves, and the Lord may justly say to you as he formerly did to the Jews: Israel, thy perdition is entirely owing to thyself. He created you without your own assistance, says St. Augustine, but he will not save you without your own concurrence. He requires the co-operation of your own free-will with the graces which in his mercy he dispenses, and it is for want of this co-operation that of the many who are called, so few are chosen. Awake then, O sinners, from the fatal lethargy of sin, and labour in good earnest to be of the small number of God's elect. Contend to "enter in at the narrow gate;" for broad is the gate, and wide is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who enter by it ; but the gate is narrow, and the way is strait that leads to life, and few there are that find it, as Christ our Lord expressly says in the Gospel, Matt. c. vii. v. 13, 14. If, therefore, my brethren, you have had the misfortune to shut the gate of innocence against yourselves, you still have a resource. The gate of penance is yet open, and you have it in your power to recover the friendship of God, and to carry the kingdom of Heaven by means of a true and sincere conversion. An affair of such importance admits of no delay, but requires your most serious attention and application. All is gained if Heaven be gained; and if Heaven be lost all is lost, and lost for ever without resource. O let me entreat you to sleep no longer on the brink of hell, and in the arms of perdition. Remember that the sword of divine justice is unsheathed, and hangs over your head, supported only by the slender thread of life, a thread which may break every moment; and should it happen to break, and death surprise you in a bad state, defiled with sin and void of virtue and merits, eternal misery must inevitably be your doom.

Let the terrifying truths which I have announced to you this day inspire you with a salutary fear, but let your fear be always accompanied with confidence in the mercies of God, and the merits of your Blessed Redeemer. O amiable Jesus! we humbly prostrate ourselves at thy feet; we throw ourselves into the arms of thy tender mercy, with a firm hope and confidence in thy goodness that thou wilt not suffer our souls to be eternally lost, since they have cost thee the last drop of thy precious blood. Draw us to thee by thy all-powerful grace and the bonds of divine love, that after loving and serving thee here on earth, we may be admitted hereafter into the number of those happy souls, who are to be in thy presence for ever. This is the blessing, which I wish you all, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.

On the Respect due to the House of God.

Domus mea domus orationis est,-Luc. c. xix. v. 46.

My house is an house of prayer.—Luke, c. xix. v. 46.

THE Universe may be considered as one extensive habitation and spacious temple, formed by the almighty power of God, and replenished with his divine presence, according to the remark of the Prophet Baruch, c. iii. v. 24. where he cries out with astonishment, O how great is the House of God, and how vast is the place of his possession! It is great and hath no end; it is high and immense. A serious consideration hereof, caused King David to cry out to God in Ps. cxxxviii. "Where shall I go, O Lord, to hide myself from thy spirit? "Where shall I fly from before thy face? If I ascend up to "Heaven thou art there; if I descend into hell thou art there "also; if I take wings to fly to the extremity of the earth, "and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 'tis thy hand "that guides me, and thy right hand that shall hold me. "said to myself, perhaps the darkness may cover me; but I "know that even the darkest night becomes luminous to "shew me to thee, for darkness, O my God, is not obscure "to thee, nor is the night to thee less clear than mid-day." Thus this Holy King reasoned with himself, concluding from thence that he was under an obligation to hold himself always in the presence of his God, and never to forget that he is every

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where, that he sees all things, knows all things, and fills alt things with his immensity. St. Augustine, speaking of the immensity of God, figures it to himself as a vast ocean, in which all creatures, to use his expression, are swallowed up and penetrated with the essence of God, without ever being able to come out of him or to disengage themselves from him, because they are present to him by the necessity of their being. Is it not then just that man, who is an intelligent and rational creature, should honour and respect God in all places, and walk continually in his presence without ever straying away or losing sight of it, especially as there is not a greater preservative against sin, nor a more powerful incentive to virtue, than to remember always that God sees us, and that he is a witness not only of our actions, but likewise of our most secret intentions.

However, as a great part of the earth which we inhabit is either contaminated with vice, or laid out for temporal affairs and profane purposes, and as our manifold necessities and worldly avocations do not allow us to be at all times, and in all places, in that respectful posture and devout employment, with which we should endeavour to present ourselves before the infinite majesty of God, it was expedient that some particular places should be sanctified and set apart for this sacred and religious purpose. Hence we read in the Old Testament, that certain places have been particularly chosen, sanctified and appropriated to the divine worship, both in the law of nature and under the written law of Moses, and that the Almighty God himself has been pleased to manifest the wonderful effects of his power and goodness in these places more frequently and more copiously than in others; for as he thought proper to make choice of some particular times in preference to others for displaying the riches of his mercy, and to ap point certain festival days to be devoted in a special manner to his divine service, though he is equally Lord and master of all days and of all times, so he has likewise thought proper to choose certain particular places in preference to others for his special habitation, there to receive the homage and submission of his faithful servants, and to bestow his gracious favours and blessings more readily and more abundantly, though in the interim he is intimately present in all places, fills the wide expanse of Heaven and earth with his immensity, and cannot be limited or confined within the precincts or walls of any material edifice, like unto the idols and false gods of the Gentiles, as St. Paul speaks, Acts, c. vii. My present design is to take a comparative view of the types and figures of the old Law, and of the asylums of piety and religion which, in the new Law of grace are dedicated to the worship of God by the solemn consecration and benediction of the Holy Catholic Church. The transcendant sanctity of these sacred places shall be the subject of the first point. The great respect

that is due to them, and the profound reverence and edifying piety with which we ought to conduct ourselves therein, shall be the subject of the second point. Let us previously invoke the assistance of the Divine Spirit, through the intercession of the blessed Virgin, &c. Ave Maria.

The Book of Genesis informs us, c. xxviii. that the Lord appeared to Jacob at Bethel in the mysterious vision of a ladder, the foot of which stood upon the ground, the top seemingly reaching to Heaven, and numbers of Angels ascending and descending by it. Whereupon Jacob, trembling and filled with awe, adored the Divine Majesty as there present; and having erected a stone for a title, he poured oil on it and cried out, How awful is this place! It is truly no other than the dwelling-place of God, and the gate of Heaven;, the Lord is most certainly here, and I knew it not. The holy Patriarch was not ignorant that the Lord was present in all places by his immensity; but until then he knew not that the Lord had chosen that particular place, and sanctified it by a special presence which required a peculiar respect and veneration. The Almighty appeared likewise to Noah, Abraham, and other Holy Patriarchs and Prophets, and they accordingly erected altars to his honour, and worshipped him in the particular places where he had appeared to them, and had given them sensible marks of his special presence; but Solomon was the first man that ever erected a permanent Temple to the living God. During the forty years that the children of Israel were travelling through the desert, they had no other place of worship but a portable Temple, that is to say, the Tabernacle, which was erected in the middle of their camp by the express orders of God himself, who was pleased to accept the vows, oblations and sacrifices of his people in that particular place. When they arrived at Jerusalem, and were formed into a commonwealth, he ordered a magnificent Temple to be built in that city, that they might invoke his holy name therein, and adore him with greater splendour and solemnity. The amazing grandeur and magnificence of that Temple served to inspire them with a reverential awe and respect; it was so august, and upon so grand a scale, so highly embellished and so richly decorated, that the view of it impressed their minds with some idea of the beauty and splendour of Heavenly Jerusalem, and of the infinite grandeur and glory of God. The Scripture tells us, that when the solemnity of its dedication was completed, the majesty of God filled the whole Temple, and having caused fire to descend from Heaven and consume the prodigious number of holocausts that were offered on the occasion, the Lord was pleased to appear to Solomon, and assured him that he had chosen that holy place for his own habitation, and that his eyes would be open, and his ears would be attentive to the prayers which his people would offer therein. Hence, Daniel in his captivity,

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opened his window towards Jerusalem three times a day, and prayed with his face towards the Temple, when he could not go there in person. The Jews were accustomed to flock to it from all parts, in order to adore and glorify the Lord in it, by the most solemn acts of religion. They held this holy Temple in such respect and veneration, that they were accustomed to premise several ablutions and purifications before they would venture even to approach the exterior court, that served as a barrier to keep them at a greater distance from the Holy of Holies, which was in the interior Court of the Temple. None but the Priests were permitted to enter into the interior court, every other person being for bid under pain of being stoned to death. Nay, the Holy of Holies was inaccessible to every one except the High Priest himself, who after many preparatory exercises of religion, was allowed to enter into it once a year, with the blood of the immolated victims, this sacred place being a figure of Heaven, which was shut against man till Christ our High Priest, entered there, covered with his own precious blood, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. c. ix.

Such, my brethren, was the respect the people of God, in the old Law, paid to these sanctified places which were appropriated in a special manner to the divine Service; such, in particular, was the reverential awe and veneration which the Jews testified with regard to the Temple of Jerusalem, and which God himself inforced with so much rigour that he punished the least profanation of it with great severity. In the Book of Leviticus, chap. xix. he expressly commanded them to reverence his Sanctuary, and to do nothing in it but what tended to his honour and regarded his worship. Nay, he ordered Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet before they approached the altar and Tabernacle, and Moses to to take off his shoes when he approached the burning bush, out of respect to the holy ground whereon he stood; and he forbid the Israelites even to approach the holy Mount on which the Law of the Ten Commandments was published.

These examples are recorded in Holy Writ for our instruction, and are so many convincing proofs of the singular respect that is due to those Christian temples and sacred houses of religious worship, which under the new Law of the Gospel are dedicated to the honour of God, and sanctified in a particular mannner by his special presence. It must be acknowledged that they are by many degrees more holy and more venerable than the Jewish Temple, or any of the other ancient types and figures, as these were no more than empty shadows of the good things which Christ was to confer on us. Our churches, chapels, and oratories, are by excellency the houses of God, and are therefore stiled by the Peophet the new Heavens on earth, which were promised to the children of the New Testament. Here there are no barriers between God VOL II.

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