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life, there is reason to believe that, perhaps not one in ten thousand of the adult departs this life, so pure, so spotless, and so perfectly purged from all the dregs of sin, as to be fit to go. straight to Heaven, and pop immediately into the kingdom of unspotted sanctity, since even in great penitents whose repentance is sincere, there usually remains some satisfaction to be made, or some debt of temporal punishment to be cancelled, as appears from several illustrious instances in Holy Writ, such as David, Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites in the wilderness. The very best Christians themselves must acknowledge that they sin daily, and fall by surprize into some venial faults and small offences which, if not effaced by condign penance in this world, deserve to be punished in the next by the justice of God. Hence we read of some renowned saints, that they trembled at the thoughts of the dreadful account they were to give God for every idle word and thought, and that from a conviction that every sin, great and small, mortal and venial, is an offence to God, and must be punished, as St. Augustine says, either here or hereafter, either by the voluntary penance of the sinner, or by the vengeance of an angry God; so that when the sinner neglects or omits punishing him in this life, and dies without having fully satisfied for his past sins by penitential works, he must of course expect in the next life to feel the severity of divine justice, which will not leave the least sin unpunished, as it will not leave the least good action unrewarded.

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As to the particular place of punishment where the Justice of God obliges him thus to detain such souls until their debts are fully discharged, or the kind and quality of torments they suffer, or the manner in which they suffer, nothing has been defined by the Church. However, it is certain, that their pains are beyond all human comprehension. St. Augustine, and other learned fathers and eminent doctors and pastors of the primitive Church, who flourished upwards of a thousand years before the Reformation, are of opinion that they suffer a real and material fire like that of hell, which being created merely for an instrument of the divine vengeance, and blown up by the breath of an angry God, has the wonderful virtue of tormenting spirits with the most piercing activity, and causes much more intense, more acute, more violent, and more grievous pains than whatever we can conceive, imagine, or endure in this world. Our natural fire, compared to the fire of Purgatory, is, according to the aforesaid holy doctor, no more than a painted fire. St. Thomas of Aquin teaches, that the same fire torments the damned in hell and the just in Purgatory, and that the least pain in Purgatory exceeds by many degrees the greatest in this life. Represent, therefore, to yourselves the racks, the plummets, the iron combs, the gibbets, the boiling caldrons, the scorpions, the glowing gridirons and other tortures of the holy martyrs, summed up together, with the most cruel torments that have been ever invented by the most barba

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rous tyrants, they would be all light and tolerable in compari son of the fire of Purgatory. Such is the idea that the holy fathers give us of the pains which the souls suffer there for the expiation of venial sin, and God alone knows how long many souls may have to suffer there; what is certain is, that the judgments of God are hidden and unsearchable; for which rea son St. Paul says, Heb. c. x. v. 31. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He searches Jerusalem with a lantern; he discovers defects and blemishes even in his elect, and exacts a satisfaction to the very last farthing. The souls of the holy Patriarchs and Prophets of the old Law were con fined in the prison, called Limbo, some thousands of years, and we know how inexorable the Lord was in punishing his faithful servant Moses for one small offence, how inflexible with regard to David and other penitents, and how rigorously his justice exerted itself in the person of his own Divine Son, whom he did not spare, but delivered up to the most ignominious and most painful death of the cross.

All this should be a warning to you, my brethren, to expiate in time all your sins, both mortal and venial, and to carcel the debts you owe God's justice, by fasting, praying, alms. deeds, and other satisfactory works, whilst the sun of grace and mercy shines. We should endeavour to prevent the rigours of the other world by embracing the rigours of a penitential life in this world. We should study to preserve our souls from the purging flames of the next life by receiving with patience and resignation the crosses and trials, sicknesses, affictions and other hardships that are incident to our respective states; we should bear them in the spirit of penance and humility, as coming from the holy hands of God, and fre quently cry out to the Lord with the penitent Augustine, to Scourge and afflict our bodies, and to give us our Purgatory here on earth so as to spare our souls hereafter. And since we know the ingratitude and ill nature of the generality of mankind, who think no more of their friends when they disappear from their eyes, we should endeavour not to stand in need of them, but watch over ourselves during this life, that nothing may retard our future happiness when we are dead. For this end we should shun most carefully all faults, even the most light; we should, according to the Apostle's advice, beware of erecting wood, hay or stubble, that is, venial sins, committed either deliberately, or through negligence, or even such as seem to be the pure effects of human frailty, building on the rich foundation of faith and sanctifying grace, gold, silver and precious stones, that is, spiritual treasures of Christian virtues and perfect works, on which the fire of Purgatory has no power. It is for want of taking these wise precautions, that numberless souls are now sentenced to the purifying flames of Purgatory. O my brethren, did you but behold this fiery dungeon under your feet, how sweet and agreeable

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would the name of penance sound in your ears? Had you but a view of the dreadful torments the souls here endure, your bowels would be moved, your hearts would be affected,. and your eyes would stream with tears. They thirst most ardently after the joys of Heaven; they long impetuously. for the happy moment that is to unite them closely to the Lord, and to associate them to the choirs of Angels. They, are bound with chains which they are not able to break; they are burning in flames which they cannot extinguish. From the midst of these scorching flames and waves of fire they cry out to you for help; they beseech you to comfort them in their affliction, to succour them in their distress, to relieve them in their extreme necessity, and to release them from that painful captivity which retards their enjoyment of bliss. O give ear to their sighs and moans, which seem to pierce through the very bowels of the earth. Listen to the mourns ful entreaties, whereby the Church militant represents each of these souls imploring your assistance: Miseremini, &c. Have pity on me, &c. Were you but allowed to penetrate this dark abyss, perhaps you would distinguish, among the rest the voice of a tender parent, of a close relation, of a bosom friend, suffering there for a number of years on your account, and like the poor sick man who, as we read, John, c. v. lay thirty-eight years at the pond of Jerusalem, destitute of a friend on earth to stretch forth a charitable hand to help them. There are, perhaps, this very instant, many such helpless and and friendless objects lying on a bed of fire in the midst of Purgatory, and earnesly craving a spiritual alms from you, that may be thereby delivered from their torments, and released from the debts which detain them imprisoned. You have it in your power to relieve them, and to procure them their liberty on easy terms. You may rescue them from their devouring flames, by applying to them the benefit of the indulgences which you gain, by offering for their relief a part of your devotions and penitential works, and by paying into the hands of the poor the ransome of the captives you wish to deliver; for the alms deeds, fasts, prayers, sacrifices and suffrages of the living, offered to God for the faithful departed, are powerful and effectual means to discharge them from the debts which they have contracted, God being pleased in his mercy to accept of them in their favour, on account of the Communion of Saints, or the mutual participation of good works that subsists between all the members of Christ's mystical body, the Church. Hence it has been the universal practice of the faithful in all ages, since the days of the Apostles, to offer up prayers and supplications for the dead, which is a proof that they held the Catholic doctrine of a middle place, where the faithful departed might be assisted by the suffrages of the living, and that they uniformly believed that all souls do not go straight to Heaven or hell,

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since prayers cannot be any way available to such as die in mortal sin and go to hell; nor are they wanting to such as are immediately admitted into the kingdom of Heaven. Hence also, the Church, exclusive of the other suffrages which are offered up in the course of the year, commands all her Clergy, by a special precept, to recite at this season the whole Office of the Dead, and to offer up all their masses, in all parts of the Christian world, for the souls of all the faithful departed. O what consolation is it to us, my brethren, to reflect, that after the dreadful moment of our passage from death to eter(nity, the entire Church of God will interest itself thus in our favour, and that all the faithful all over the world, even those who do not know us, will be praying with the ministers of the altar for the happy repose of our souls, and labouring for our deliverance? With what heartfelt satisfaction may we not say with holy Job, Reposita est hæc spes mea in sinu méo : This hope is lodged in my bosom. Nay, the people of God, long before the birth of Christ, were accustomed to offer up prayers and sacrifices for the happy repose of the faithful departed, and for their deliverance from the temporal punishment due to their sins. We have an illustrious instance hereof in the 2d Book of Machabees, c. xii. where we read that Judas Macabeus, the virtuous High Priest and the chief commander of the Jewish republic, inspired with religious sentiments, sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem, in order to have a sacrifice offered up in the Temple for the souls of the soldiers who had been slain in battle, being convinced that, as the Scripture says, It is an holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be released from ́ their sins. Christ himself was willing to serve us as a model, and to give us in his own person an idea of the devotion and zeal we should have for the souls in Purgatory; for as the Apostles teach us in the Creed, He descended into hell, that is, into that prison where the souls of the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets were confined along with the spirits who had been incredulous in the days of Noe. Jesus Christ descended into that prison, in order to comfort them by his presence and deliver them by his power. His example should encourage us to descend in spirit into Purgatory, and to afford the souls in prison there all the relief in our power, by offering up our suffrages to the Lord for their speedy deliverance. By contributing thus to hasten their enjoyment of bliss, we shall not only be the means of sending their souls to Heaven to sing the eternal praises of the Lord, in concert with the angelic choirs, but we shall likewise make friends for ourselves in the Court of Heaven; for the souls delivered by our prayers will not repay our kindness with ingratitude; they will never forget our charity; but like so many powerful advocates and intercessors, they will pray for us in their turn, and employ their interest with the Lord in our behalf. On

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the contrary, if we be insensible to their wants and deaf to their cries, we will justly deserve to have the same measure given to us with which we measure unto them. If we forget them now, God, perhaps, will permit us likewise to be forgotten when it comes to our turn. O Father of mercies and God of all consolation, inspire us with sentiments of charity and compassion for all our distressed and suffering brethren. Have pity, we beech thee, in the name and for the sake of of Jesus thy beloved Son, on the souls of all the faithful departed. Deliver them from the temporal punishment justly due to their past sins. Eternal rest grant them, O Lord, Admit them we and let perpetual light shine upon them. pray thee, into thy heavenly kingdom, and to a participation of that endless glory for which thou hast created them; and which I wish you all, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER

PENTECOST.

On the Sin of Covetousness and Injustice, and
the Obligation of making Restitution.

Reddite quæ sunt Cæsaris Casari, et quæ sunt Dei Deo.

Mat. c. xxii. v. 21,

Render to Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Mat. c. xxii. v, 21.

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THIS Sunday's Gospel informs us, that the Pharisees, in concert with the Herodians, endeavoured to ensnare the innocence of our Blessed Saviour, by proposing a question to him, which they imagined he could not answer without either forfeiting his reputation and credit among the people, or drawing on himself the frowns and indignation of the Roman Government, to which Judea was then become tributary. They asked him Was it lawful to pay tribute to Cesar or not? If he replied, that tribute ought to be paid him, they expected that such an answer would render Christ odious in the eyes of the Jews, who looked upon the Romans as usurpers of their country, and believed themselves to be exempted from paying tribute to any foreign Prince whatsoever, as they were the chosen people of God. If Christ answered, that tribute should not be paid, the Pharisees were in hopes that he would thereby incur the displeasure of the Roman Governor,

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