may injure our spiritual life; and, therefore, bringing before us the thought of a serpent, a venomous reptile, whose bite is certain death, He would have us avoid sin, as we would shun that reptile; and as we would shrink back at the very sight of it, so likewise should we recoil from sin, the moment that the bare thought of it comes before our minds. Quote text here again.

Taking, therefore, the advice of the Holy Ghost, we shall endeavour to penetrate our souls with a holy horror of sin, asking of Him, with this view, to assist us by His holy grace.

A short petition addressed to the Holy Ghost.

N.B. Instead of this introduction, the points of previous discourse may be used by presenting a brief recapitulation of them.

BODY OF THE SUBJECT.

1. Mortal sin is so called, because it kills the soul. Explain how, and proceed to state, that the death of the body may be caused in two ways, either naturally, as the result of ordinary sickness, or violently by murder; and murder may be committed by the hands of another, or by one's own. In any form, death is dreadful, and our entire nature endeavours to resist it, but murder is more dreadful than natural death, and beyond all comparison self-murder is the most shocking of all deaths.

Here bring your audience to the spectacle of a man, who has just committed suicide; and inspecting the body all over, especially the fatal wound, excite their horror at the sight; after which make the comparison of a person guilty of mortal sin, showing how he has deprived his soul of spiritual life, has been guilty of suicide with regard to it, and a suicide so much more dreadful, than that of the body, as the life of the soul is more precious than that of the body.

T

2. Death deprives a dead man of everything belonging to his temporal life.

Summon your audience once more to the spectacle of a dead man, who has committed suicide, and say, he may have been a man in high station, a king, a prince, &c. What now is his dignity and rank? He may have been voluptuous, revelling in sensual pleasures: what now of them? Go into detail in each of these divisions and quote 1 Tim. vi. 7. Make comparison with respect to the soul, by showing how the sinner by one mortal sin deprives his soul of all her spiritual treasures. To draw out this, show, that if he have lived a long life in the most fervent practices of religion, if he had led the life of the most rigid anchorite, &c., and if laden with the merits thus earned for himself, he had acquired a right to a high place in heaven with confessors and martyrs, &c., and if he had committed but one mortal sin, all his merits are lost, as the ship is buried in the sea by being wrecked.

Here explain the doctrine of reviviscence of merits to guard against error, adding, however, that the general truth yet remains, that so long as the sinner remains in mortal sin, all his merits are lost for the time, and if he die in that state, they are lost for all eternity.

3. Death deprives the dead man of all vital power.

Again summon your audience into the presence of a corpse, and depict the state of utter helplessness, in which it lies in death: eyes that see not, ears that hear not, and feet that move not, and the entire body a helpless mass of matter, &c. Compare the soul in the death of sin, showing how it can do nothing worthy of reward in heaven; and proceed to detail a variety of great acts of virtue, concluding by insisting, that they are of no value for eternal life, being dead works, whereas a mere cup of cold water given in a state of grace would have its reward. (Quote 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2, 3.)

N.B.-Explain, to prevent error, that good works done in a state of sin are not useless, but that still these works, performed by a sinner in the state of sin, can never be

accounted amongst the works meriting reward in heaven. Here remonstrate against the sinner remaining in a state of sin, &c.

4. The decomposition of a dead body.

Bring your audience once more into the presence of a dead body, and describe it as it grows livid, and changes colour, showing already signs of putrefaction, with an offensive smell issuing from it, on account of which it becomes necessary to remove it, and bury it in the earth, that it may not infect the air, and spread abroad the odour of pestilence and death. Proceed further to describe the condition after a few days in the grave. (Quote Job, xvii. 14.) Make the application to the soul, by stating her condition to be more dreadful in sin. This show by contrasting what it was when in grace with what it now is in the state of sin, taking the example of Lucifer, as he was, and what he became, keeping before the audience the great fact, that sin has been the cause of this terrible transformation, and operates the same fearful change in the soul of every man as he falls into mortal sin. Recite that it has been given to some saints to have visions of damned souls, and that they were so horror-stricken at the sight, that they declared they would rather walk on burning coals till the day of judgment, than witness such a spectacle again. Appeal to the sinner, saying: Sinner, if you could see the state of your unhappy soul, the fearful spectacle you have made of it by sin, &c., you would cry out for mercy, and return to your offended Creator, &c.

CONCLUSION.

Sum up briefly, but forcibly, the four points, and exhort sinners to repentance.

Consult Bourdaloue's "Retreat ;" and Theology on Sin, Human Acts, Grace, and Merit.

VENIAL SIN.

"He that is faithful in that which is least, is also faithful in that which is greater, and he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater."-LUKE, xvi. 10.

INTRODUCTION.

In the judgments we form of things we often consider them not as they are in themselves, but as they are in comparison with other things. We judge a thing great or small, not because we consider it great or small in itself, but because, comparing it with something else, we judge it so in comparison. This mode of thinking and judging leads us into many mistakes, more especially in matters concerning our soul and salvation. Venial sin is a remarkable example. We compare it with mortal sin, and we say it does not kill the soul, as does mortal sin; it does not deserve hell, as does mortal sin; and, from this comparison, we allow ourselves to be led erroneously to the conclusion, that venial sin is a small matter, and that we have no great reason to be much concerned about it. Alas! what a fatal error! an error which has deceived, and is deceiving, innumerable souls, taking them away from the narrow path leading to everlasting life, and beguiling them into the broad road, that ends in everlasting death.

How important, therefore, that we should guard against an error so disastrous; and in order to do so, we will, in the name of God, bestow some reflections

in this address on the subject of venial sin, in order that, with God's grace, we may conceive a just notion of it, and thereby be careful to avoid it.

[A short invocation.]

If the subject is to form one of the series, instead of the foregoing introduction, you may recapitulate the chief points of the preceding discourse.

BODY OF THE SUBJECT.

Here

1. Refute the idea that venial sin is a small matter, by showing, first, that it is an offence against God, and there fore a greater evil than any temporal calamity. Here mention— 1st, Some of the greatest temporal calamities, such as loss of reputation, loss of property, sickness, &c., and insist, that to offend God by the least sin is incomparably greater than any one of these calamities, or than all of them put together. 2ndly, That God can never sanction or approve of the least sin for any conceivable reason whatever. suppose the saving of one's life, the averting of wars, famines, &c., the conversion of a nation of idolaters, the preventing of heresies and schisms, &c.; to avert any, or all of these evils, to procure any of these advantages, it will never be lawful to tell even a venial lie, for God could never allow it by any sanction, and did He do so, He should cease to be God; and, sooner than do so, He would let all these evils come, and all these advantages be lost. 3rdly, That it is an article of our faith as Christians, that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven with a single venial sin upon our souls. The Apostle says expressly, that nothing defiled shall enter that kingdom of holiness. (Apoc. xxi. 27.)

However just we may otherwise be, and predestined for glory, and with treasures of merit stored up for our reward, nevertheless, our soul, if it depart this life, bearing with it the stain of only one venial sin, is shut out from heaven, and must go into the dungeons of pur