devour," he sees the house that was

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swept and garnished thrown into disorder;" when he beholds the fair and lovely forms of the numerous virtues which adorned the soul of the repentant sinner, dashed, as it were, from their pedestals, like so many beautiful statues, broken in pieces, and swept contemptuously, like so much rubbish, from their sacred repository, and the hideous figure of opposite vices occupying their places; when he perceives humility succeeded by pride, continency by lust, meekness by anger, and by hatred charity, then accompanied by his associates in wickedness, does he rush with precipitation into the desecrated mansion, and render its condition more miserable than it was before. "Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in, they dwell there, and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first."

This, my friends, is a true description of the stratagems employed by the principle of evil (and unhappily they are but too often successful) to cause the poor unfortunate sinner to relapse insensibly into his former transgressions. Not being able to maintain his station in a soul which is become the temple of the Holy Spirit, he endeavours by the agency of the inclinations of corrupt nature, and of the temptations of worldly honors, riches and pleasures, to draw it by degrees into a course of action which may induce the Holy Spirit to abandon it, and thus enable him to recover his

deserted post. By the insidious artifices of these infernal agents, the converted sinner is first of all led imperceptibly to relax in his usual vigilance; the consequence of which is, that the passions begin to renew their operations. These operations, however, are conducted with such secrecy and silence, as not to excite the smallest alarm. They produce nevertheless their effect upon the soul. They gradually diminish its relish for heavenly contemplations. They render it less susceptible of spiritual impressions, and therefore occasion it to be less fervent and assiduous in the practice of religious duties. In the same proportion as prayer is neglected, the supply of supernatural succour, which is imparted only to those who earnestly apply for it, is of course withheld. And thus being insensibly debilitated by the passions which work in secret, and which acquire additional strength from the progressive diminution of resistance which is opposed to them, and being destitute at the same time through its own neglect of adequate assistance from above, it is assailed from without by the corrupt maxims and practices of the world, which, acting in concert with the treacherous enemies who betray it from within, succeed at length in producing in it a sense of disorder, which is inconsistent with the sanctity of the august presence of the spirit of God. He abandons it therefore to Satan, and to his infernal crew; who immediately take possession of it, and reduce it to a state of the most degrading servitude. Oh! what

a melancholy alteration in its condition, is the soul of the poor unfortunate sinner thus doomed to experience! The temple of the Living God converted into a den of wicked spirits! The fair daughter of Sion, the chaste spouse of Jesus Christ, reduced to the condition of a common harlot! Such are the images which but too faithfully depicture the dreadful revolution produced in the soul of the relapsing sinner. Well then may the last state of that man be said in the parable to be worse than the first; since the circumstances which in the first instance made so powerful an impression upon his mind, are not calculated in the second to produce the same effect. He becomes familiar by habit with the light which first awakened him as it were from his lethargy, and roused him to a sense of the wretchedness of his condition. He no longer conceives the same lively notions of the deformity of sin. The terrors of the divine judgments cease to inspire him with the same dread. The rewards promised to God's faithful servants in a future state, present no longer the same attractions to his vacillating mind; and the more frequent his relapses, the more feeble are the impressions produced by these circumstances.

Such then, my friends, it appears, being the dreadful consequences of the dangerous habit of relapsing into sin; let me caution you against it with the utmost earnestness. Should you have the happiness to stand, be humble and diffident, and beware lest you fall. But should it be your mis

fortune to have fallen, apply for succour to the throne of grace, and aided by that supernatural assistance which will be accorded to your solicitations, make a strenuous effort to raise yourselves up again, and to recover your erect attitude. Yet, remember at the same time, that the recovery of that attitude is rendered more difficult by each succeeding relapse, and tremble, lest provoked by your reiterated infidelities, the Almighty in his anger, should abandon you to your weakness; and that thus you should fall at length to rise no more. Be watchful therefore, my friends, be vigorous, be constant. Guard with circumspection the avenues of your souls against the delusive seductions of worldly vanities. Keep your attention fixed on the motions of the traitors that lurk within your bosom, particularly on those of your predominant passion,—and let the strong arm of a firm and energetic government, awe them into inactivity and submission. You brand with dishonor the violator of his engagements with a fellow creature; and what more sacred and solemn engagement than that which you have contracted with your Omnipotent Creator? You reflect with horror on the baseness of the man, who, to gratify a craving appetite, or to serve some selfish purpose, takes part with the enemies of his friend and benefactor, in their opposition to his interests ; and where is the friend, where is the benefactor to be compared with him, whose love surpasseth all understanding, and whose boundless benefi

cence is equal to his love? To what severe restraints, moreover, are you not prepared to submit, what painful sacrifices are you not willing to make, when pronounced to be necessary for the preservation of life? And what comparison is there between the few fleeting years of your earthly existence, and the endless duration of eternity, throughout which your destination will be ultimately determined by the indulgence or mortification of your disorderly appetites? To the felicity of that future state did our blessed Saviour allude, when, to the observation of the woman who exclaimed from the crowd, "blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breast that thou didst suck," he emphatically replied, "Yea, even blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it." Great, unquestionably must have been the happiness of the Virgin Mother of the World's Redeemer, in being the parent of such a son. Great indeed must be the happiness of every mother who has the satisfaction to contemplate the expanding virtues of her darling child; and what child that loves his mother (and where is the child that does not love his mother?) would not wish by his virtuous conduct, to afford her this pure and heartfelt delight, in return for the innumerable benefits which he has experienced from her maternal tenderness. Great, however, as that happiness must undoubtedly be, yet that too, like other earthly blessings, is perishable and evanescent. That in particular of the Holy Virgin, was sorely