spite of winds and storms which exposed them every moment to be buried under its ruins; they cemented it with their blood; they were its laborious founders, and we are only its peaceable guardians and keepers : our most painful duties are but to efface the spots which time has produced-to restore to that which is tarnished its former beauty to support that which totters and threatens ruin-in fine, to close the entrance of this holy place against the impure, or rather to influence them to present themselves before it, like the publican, smiting on the breast, and with a heart broken by repentance. In short, that which was great, that which was heroic, that which seemed to surpass the powers of nature, our predecessors have accomplished. What remains for us to do is almost nothing; it is to preserve for our master what they acquired for him to watch for fear that an enemy should sow tares in the holy field to cultivate the plants, which our heavenly father has planted therein and to water them continually with the waters of spiritual instruction, lest a deadly drought. should stop their growth.

Shall we be excuseable if we refuse to perform services so agreeable, so easy, so consoling? Shall we deserve to bear the name of ministers of Christ, and to be 'the successors of those apostolic men, if we suffer the precious fruit of their blood and their labors to perish through our indolence? if, with a tranquil eye, we see iniquity and wickedness continually prevailing among men-scandals become almost public usages-faith dead, and void of charity and good works, in the greater part of nominal ChristiansGod almost unknown among us, as he was formerly in idolatrous Athens and the people of purchase, the holy nation, Christians, formerly a sweet-smelling savor to Christ in the midst of a Pagan and corrupt world, respected even by the enemies of Christianity for the purity and holiness of their manners, dishonoring God by excesses at which Pagans would

blush, and causing religion to be blasphemed by thẹ impious?

Whence comes it, then, that the desolation of the heritage of Christ, of which we are every day witnesses, does not affect us? Whence comes it, that we think we have discharged our duty, when we have repeated, often without attention, certain prayers which the Church enjoins; and performed, with negligence, certain external duties of divine worship, belonging to our particular offices in the Church? Are we priests only to show ourselves in the temple-only to appear clothed with the pomp and dignity of the priesthood-to decorate our bodies with vain apparel, and suffer our brethren to perish, who are living temples of the Holy Spirit? Is not the most essential of our duties, that at least to which all others have reference, the salvation of mankind? The work of the gospel is committed to us; and if we are of no utility to our brethren, we are usurpers of the priesthood; we have no right to the title, any further than we have zeal to perform the duties, of a priest.

II. Let us, my brethren, enquire into the sources of an error so common among the ministers of the Church. Whence comes it, that the zeal of the house of the Lord-that a holy ardor for the sanctification of the people-that an ardent desire to enlarge the Redeemer's kingdom-that a lively grief at seeing his doctrines despised, and the greater part of our fellow men perishing; whence comes it that these dispositions, so worthy of our profession-so conformed to our calling-so honorable to our ministryso common formerly among the first laborers in the gospel, are so rare, at present, among the clergy?— Whence comes an evil so universal and so deplorable? Never has the Church seen its altars surrounded by so many ministers; never has the vineyard of Jesus Christ nourished more laborers, capable of working therein. And on the other hand, never was

there more need of faithful ministers; never did the multiplicity of sins and scandals render zeal more necessary. Whence comes it then, I again ask, that this zeal, more necessary at the present day than ever, seems extinguished in the greater part of those whom it ought to enflame? Behold the reasons.

In some, it is because they are placed in easy and affluent circumstances; either by the liberality of the Church, or by inheriting the patrimony of their fathers. This authorizes them, they think, to lead an easy, tranquil life; and they consider their affluence as a privilege which exempts them from the laborious duties of the ministry. They leave to those who are in indigent circumstances, the care of the glory of God, of the honor of the Church, and of the salvation of their fellow men for whom Christ died. As if the functions of the priesthood, so holy

so sublime so superior, in some respects, even to the ministry of Angels, like mechanic arts, had no other end than to contribute to our temporal necessities; as if it is only want and indigence, and not zeal, duty, charity, which are to procure laborers for the gospel; as if to co-operate in the work of the salvation of men to render the sacrifice and mediation of the Redeemer useful to them to be God's ministers in the consummation of his elect to continue upon earth the great work which the only Son of God was sent to begin, was a mercenary employment, reserved for those whom hunger and poverty should oblige to engage in it; who should find themselves. condemned to it, as to a slavish work, by the misfortune of their birth; and as if sordid gain alone was to furnish co-workers with Jesus Christ, ministers of the Church, and stewards of the mysteries of God

to men.

Admit that you can live without the temporal assistance of the people; are you the less their spiritual fathers and guides? Admit that you do not live by the altar; are you the less devoted to its service?

When the Church honored you with the priesthood, did she mean only to decorate you with an idle title; and not to associate you with her laborers and her ministers? Would she have called you to her assistance, by the imposition of hands, and made you partakers in her honors, if you had declared that you should take no part in her labors? All the titles with which you were invested by ordination are laborious titles; they imply a love for the service and solicitude to discharge its duties. It is love alone in God which induces him to appoint ministers in his Church; and it is love alone which renders any worthy of the ministry. What, my brethren! Because the goodness of God has placed you in opulence, shall his benefits authorize you to be more ungrateful, more unfaithful to his commands and to the duties of your calling? This opulence was designed by him, in his Providence, to aid you in discharging your functions, and to facilitate their success; not to furnish you with a pretext to neglect them. As soon as the order of Heaven consecrated you to the ministry, you became obliged, whether rich or poor, to be laborious in the service, and to fulfil your ministry, after the example of the Apostles, in poverty and in opulence. Your property forbids you to live at the expense of the altar; but it does not exempt you from its services; on the contrary, it is by serving it at your own expense, that you will serve it with a blessing and with success. The Apostle Paul considered it as a source of singular glory, and one cause of the splendid success of his apostleship, that he had preached the gospel gratuitously. You know, said he to some of the primitive Christians, that I have not been chargeable to you; that though like the other Apos- · tles, I might have exacted of you temporal good things, for the spiritual which I ministered to you, yet I would not use this right; and that the labor of my hands alone has supported my necessities in my apostolical travels. This generous disinterestedness

he considered as having contributed, under the blessing of God, to the immense fruits which the word of the gospel had produced among them under his ministry.

Indeed a holy minister, who, not satisfied with sacrificing his cares, his health, his watchings for the instruction of the people, sacrifices to them likewise the wealth which Providence has given him; who provides, at the same time, for the wants of the soul and of the body; with what respect does he inspire the people for a ministry capable of rendering those who exercise it so generous and so charitable? With what blessings may not a minister of this character hope to see his labors accomplished? Shall then the very circumstance which promises you the most success in your labors occasion you to neglect them? And because Providence has furnished you with more means of being useful to mankind, do you think yourselves under no obligations to assist them? This is the first source of a want of zeal, being placed in an easy, affluent situation..

But the truth is, this is but a pretence to justify us in leading an indolent life, and in neglecting the painful duties of the ministry: the true reason why we neglect our duty is the cold and languishing frame of our hearts; it is a want of love to God, and benevolence to our fellow men. In vain, my brethren, do our manners present to the eyes of men a commendable regularity; in vain is nothing noticed in our conduct which wounds the decency and gravity of our characters; we are dead in the view of God; a love of him inseparable from that which we owe to our brethren, is absolutely extinguished in our hearts. Our regularity is but a decent attention which we pay to the world, and to the seriousness of our calling; while we give nothing to God. Indeed, if we loved him; if his glory was dearer to us than our own, charged as we are, by our ministry, with his interests, could we, with a tranquil eye, see his glory every