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tween what is taken away and what is restored in its place, with an exact proportion between the loss and damage unjustly caused, and the reparation that is made. The very first principle of the law of nature inculcates this important duty, as it dictates that we should do to others as we ourselves would wish to be done by, and consequently that we ought to give every one his own, that we ought to pay our lawful debts, and make a just compensation for any injury we have done. As there are various ways of committing injustice and injuring others, so, in like manner, there are various sources from whence the obligation of restitution arises. Generally speaking, there arises an obligation of restitution from a breach of each of the commandments, which forbid us to injure our neighbour in his person, his goods, his honour, his character and reputation. The seventh commandment, which forbids theft, rapine and every other species of injustice, commands and obliges us to be just in our dealings and transactions, to discharge the debts we have contracted, to repair the damages we have occasioned, and not to retain another's man's property against his will. or without his knowledge and free consent, it being equally injurious to retain the property of another unjustly and to take it away unjustly. This made St. Agustine say, 1. 50, hom. 9, that they who find their neighbour's goods, and conceal and retain them, are guilty of a breach of God's commandment, which forbids theft. What thou hast found and not restored thou hast stolen it, says this holy doctor. precept of restitution is expressly mentioned in several parts of the Old Testament, particularly, c. xxi. and xxii. of Exodus, c. vi. of Leviticus, and c. xxxiii. of Ezechiel, where the Almighty says, If any thing be taken away by stealth, the damages shall be restored to the owner; and if any man hurt another man's field or vineyard, and put his cattle to feed on his neighbour's property, he shall restore according to the estimation of the damage.

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And really, my brethren, it was not only expedient but necessary that the Lord should thus establish the law of restitution, in order to protect honest and industrious men, and secure each individual in the peaceable possession of the external goods of fortune with which his divine Providence is pleased to bless him. What security or protection would there be, if knavish and ill-designing men were exempted from the burden of restitution, and could as easily elude the divine Law and escape the justice of God, as they elude the civil law and escape human justice? Would it not be a strong temptation to them to enrich themselves with the spoils of their neighbours whenever they could do it without being discovered? Would it not be a means of making the world become a den of thieves? If, in the present system, notwithstanding the curb of restitution, we hear of so many criminal traffics, so many frauds and circumventions, so many unlawful profite

unjust combinations and crafty stratagems, invented and con ́trived for the purpose of cheating and wronging the simple and unwary, we may easily judge to what lengths human de pravity would drive covetous and avaricious men, if they were under no obligation of making restitution...

It is only on this condition that the Lord promises forgiveness to repenting sinners, who have been guilty of sins of injustice. In order to obtain pardon, they and all their accomplices, who have concurred and co-operated with them either directly or indirectly, must, in the first place, satisfy God by humiliation and penance for having transgressed his holy Law; they must likewise satisfy their neighbour by restoring his property, and by compensating to the utmost of their power the loss which he sustained through their fault. For this reason it has always been the constant practice of the Church to refuse absolution and the holy sacraments of reconciliation to thieves, robbers, usurers, extortioners, unjust dealers, receivers, ac complices, and usurpers of other men's goods, unless they sincerely renounce their detestable practices and make restitution for their past injustices. No power on earth can dispense with them in this duty, or discharge them in conscience from this burden, except the injured person relaxes the obligation, or the right owner of the goods which have been unjustly acquired, or which are unjustly retained, gives his free consent. A consent given by those, who have it not in their power to give up their right, as is the case of children under age, is not sufficient; neither is the consent sufficient which is extorted by force or fear, such as that of the ten men who gave up all their treasures to Ismahel, in order to save their lives, as we read, Jerem. c. xli. v. 8. Such a consent, I say, is not sufficient, because it is not free and voluntary, but compulsory, like unto that which a street robber or a highway man forces from those whose pockets he empties against their will. Hence it follows that those who take an advantage of the necessities and distresses of the poor, and extort their consent to pay unlawful interest or exorbitant prices, and likewise those who fail or break designedly to defraud their creditors, and force them to enter into an unfair composition, are not excused in the sight of God from the obligation of making restitution and paying their lawful debts, because the consent that is given in similar cases is not free. Nothing but a real impossibility, or an absolute incapacity, can discharge them from the burden of restitution, and even in this case it is necessary for them to be firmly resolved to acquit themselves of this duty if ever in their power, and to satisfy for the injury and injustice done to others, as far as they are able. Unless they be in this disposition of heart and mind, they cannot be supposed to be true Gospel penitents, or to have a real regret for their past sins; they do not repent in reality, says St. Augustine, but only ⚫ pretend to repent. Non agitur, sed fingitur pænitentia ; their

conversion is but a mere phantom, though outwardly attended with the most favourable appearances; for as the aforesaid holy doctor observes in his 54th epistle to Macedonius, where injustice is the case no forgiveness is to be had from God, and no benefit is to be received from the healing sacrament of penance without restitution, or the will and intention of it, when it is otherwise impracticable. Let me then, my brethren, reecho these words of Jesus Christ in your ears and impress them deeply on your minds, Render unto Cesar what belongs to Cesar, and that without any considerable delay; for the longer restitution is deferred the more the sin of injustice increases, on account of the greater loss that the proprietor suffers in the interim for want of his property, and the greater length of time that the unjust possessor continues in the will and intention of wronging his neighbour. Let no false pretext, blind partiality, or mistaken regard for your children, friends or relations, induce you to risk your salvation by putting off this duty to the end of your life, and transmitting to your heirs and successors a burden, which, perhaps, they never will discharge, although the obligation of restitution descends and devolves along with the ill-gotten property to those who inherit it, when they know that it was unjustly acquired and unjustly bequeathed. Is it not better, my brethren, to leave your children and friends a little, with the fear of God, than to expose them to the danger of losing their souls by leaving them an ill-acquired property, which they cannot keep without entailing damnation on themselves? In fine, is it not more eligible to live contented with what you can acquire by honest industry, be it ever so little, than to forfeit a happy eternity for the sake of the perishable goods of this transitory life, which are only valuable so far as they are conducive to eternal salvation? What, alas! will it avail a man to possess all the pearls of India, all the diamonds in the sea, all the gold mines of Peru, and all the treasures of the universe, if in the end he loses his immortal soul? Is it not an undoubted truth that riches are attended with many dangers, and commonly made instrumental to pride, vanity, luxury and a multiplicity of other sins? There are, indeed, rich men to be found, who make good use of their riches to God's honour and the good of their neighbour; but they are so generally abused and made subservient to vice, that the Gospel denounces a dreadful wo to the rich, Luke, c. vi. v. 24, and assures us that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven, Mat. c. xix. v. 24. The poor man, whose time and thoughts are constantly employed and taken up with his toil and daily labour, stands fairer for a happy eternity hereafter, than he whose fortune enables him to gratify his passions, and wanton in all the pleasures and delights of nature. Hence, the poverty and sores of a miserable Lazarus, supported with patience, conveyed him to the bosom of Abraham in Para

dise, whilst the wealth and treasures of the rich glutton, squandered in riot and feasting sumptuously, plunged him into hell for all eternity.

Beware then, my brethren, of the dangerous sin of covetous. ness and of its wicked offspring, injustice. Practice the salutary advice of the great Augustine, Redde pecuniam, perde pecuuiam, ne perdas animam; restore that money which does not belong to you, and if it be necessary, even lose that money which does not belong to you, that you may not lose your soul which belongs to God, and which was redeemed with the precious blood of his beloved Son. If, notwithstanding all your industry, you are not as rich as some of your neighbours, you are not to envy them, but to be resigned to the blessed will of divine Providence, which orders all things for the better; if you do not make as rapid a fortune as they do, you should comfort yourselves with the pleasing reflection, that you renounce a short perishable gain for conscience sake and for the love of your. God, who has promised to reward the just and faithful servant hereafter with incorruptible riches and immortal glory in the kingdom of Heaven. O Father of Mercies and giver of all good gifts, renew among thy people that spirit of justice and equity which is the true characteristic of Christianity; preserve us from a covetous worldly spirit which has no bounds; give us grace to moderate the desires of our hearts, and to live soberly, justly and piously in this world, that the transitory goods of this life may never make us forget the permanent and everlasting riches of thy glory, which thou hast prepared in the kingdom of Heaven for those who love and serve thee faithfully here on earth; and which I wish you all, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER

PENTECOST.

On Death.

Domine, filia mea modò defuncta est, sed veni, impone manum tuam super eam et vivet. Mat. c. ix. v. 18. Lord, my daughter is just now dead, but come, lay thy hand upon her, and she will live. Mat. c. ix. v. 18.

THE holy Scripture frequently exhibits the weakness and misery of mankind, under various types and figures, and the Church zealously exhorts us to reflect on those emblems, as so many motives to awaken our faith and put a stop to our fol

lies. In this day's Gospel we read two miracles wrought by our Blessed Saviour, one in favour of a woman who for twelve years had been troubled with an inveterate distemper, and was cured in an instant by touching the hem of his garment; the other in favour of the daughter of a Ruler of the Synagogue, who told him that his daughter was dead. That this will be the end of every one of us in a few years, is a truth too manifest for a. proof. Ages and generations glide away with all their noise and splendor, and roll down the stream of time into the immense ocean and abyss of eternity. Our days pass over without interruption, and the fleeting moments constantly fly from us never more to return. Each instant we approach our last end, and every step we take brings us nearer to the grave. The extent of our existence in this world is but a span, and the frame of our body is so slenderly put together, that it is only one degree from putrefaction. Our sentence is already pronounced, and the execution of it is only deferred for a short time, perhaps much shorter than we imagine. The sentence is general. The sinner and the saint, the rich and the poor must all die, and there is no privilege or distinction to shield them from the fatal stroke. We are all convinced of this, and yet where is the preparation? If indeed by forgetting death, we could make death forget us, there might be some excuse for our negligence; but as we know by experience that it steals upon us unforeseen, and that thousands are snatched away like the dying worldling mentioned in St. Luke, c. xx. at the very time they flatter themselves with the expectation of many years enjoyment of their worldly goods and pleasures, we should frequently make death the subject of our serious consideration, in order to prevent the horrors of an unhappy death, and dispose our souls efficaciously for a happy removal from this vale of tears. I own, there is nothing more melancholy, or more shocking to nature, than the consideration of being obnoxious to such a change. However, as death is inevitable, and as its consequences are eternal and irreparable, what is it we should consider, if it be not a matter of such importance, on which our eternal happiness or misery depends? Must we not be void of reason and religion, if we do not think seriously of dying happily, and preparing ourselves with the utmost diligence to sanctify our last moments by a virtuous life? As we came into the world for nothing else but to provide for a happy eternity, by loving and serving the Lord our God, should we not conclude that we came into the world for nothing else but to learn to die well; a good and happy death being the way to a happy eternity? Seneca himself says, that true philosophy consists in a frequent consideration of death; and St. Augustine tells us, that as siu was the cause of death, so in like manner death is a remedy against sin. If in all our works we reflected seriously on our last end, as the wise man recommends, Eccles. c. vii. v. 10, if we made this the rule and standard of

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