shake off your delusion. It is here, it is on earth, it is in this life, that God offers you that grace of repentance, which infidels vainly promise you in Hell. Now is the term of your respite; a moment hence, and that term may expire Seize it, then, now while you can. You have only to will it, and your pardon is secure. If you refuse; then, remember, that the question of Him, who is now your Jesus, but shall soon be your Judge; that question, which, from my lips, he has so often put to you this morning; that question, I say, shall eternally pierce your ears; and, in Hell, changing its future tense into the irretrievable past, and the never-to-be-ended present, shall tear the very vitals of your unhappy, yet everlasting being, with a "What doth it profit you to have gained the whole world, now that you have lost your own soul?" !!!

I arraign this day before the tribunal of their Redeemer's mercy, (in order that He, their Judge, may not arraign them before that of his avenging justice, when his mercy shall be no more) all the inhabitants of this city; as well those who, being sectaries, have not sought by prayer and unprejudiced inquiry, and embraced, when found, the Catholic Truth of Jesus; as likewise those, who, being Catholics, have, for years, obstinate in sin, neglected to present themselves at the bar of confession, for their acquittal from the mortal crimes, which their consciences lay to their charge. I warn both, to look back and reflect, how many Christians of dissipated character, young and old, have

within the now expiring twelvemonth, passed, as well from the gay, as from the low scenes of corruption, with which Dublin abounds, to take their last trial, on the other side the grave, with no other document to shew cause, why the sentence of eternal reprobation should not be pronounced against them, save the precarious pardon of a death-bed absolution. Though an almost perfect stranger in your city, I could mention the names of several. You, yourselves, my brethren, can point out many more, who have found themselves in this sad condition. And what sinner now hears me, who can promise himself, that he shall not be summoned to the same account, before the lapse of the ensuing year? I arraign, more particularly, the multitude of ungrateful Christians who, having once experienced, after lives of iniquity, the happiness of a reconciliation with their God, have since returned to their former evil practices; and, by not again laying hold on their only remaining plank after shipwreck, have plunged, farther and deeper than ever, into the ocean of crime. Still more solemnly do I arraign those souls, whom the stings of conscience, the inspirations of grace, prompted during the year, to think of, or perhaps begin, the work of their justification; but, who have since relinquished the design, or left this, their only important concern, imperfect.

And now, my God! if the strong expressions and arguments I have made use of on this occasion; if all the horrors of Hell, mustered up by me in black and burning array before thy peo

ple, terrify to his duty one single individual of this numerous class of unhappy sinners, before the time allotted for the next Paschal Communion shall have terminated; if the consideration of these dread truths induce me, and all offending and imperfect Christians like me, to work out our salvation in fear and trembling; if this remembrance of thy wrath teach the virtuous and perfect to prize, with humble confidence, that happy disposition of grace, which requires not the frequent terrors of thy vengeance to make them persevere in thy love and service; if all or any of these desirable effects, but, particularly, the first, (namely, the conversion of any one sinner, Protestant, or Catholic, who hears me) flow from the discourse, which has just been pronounced; thy minister, O my God! will descend from thy pulpit, rejoicing that his words have been of use, and caring little, in that case, how much he may have shocked the delicate ears of sinners or of critics, either in the choice of his terms, or in the management of his subject. For, O Judge of all Mankind! what will it profit me, or these thy people, to gain the whole world, if we lose our own souls?

Blessed and adorable Trinity! Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Eternal, incomprehensible Majesty of Three Persons in One God! Ever just and ever merciful! Before whom all things are nothing; who standest in need of none, but as thou wert, so art, and shalt for ever be, the same incorruptible, unassailable Deity, in spite of the rebellions of angels, and of men! Vouchsafe to cast thine eye of pity on

us, thy sinful creatures, prostrate at the foot of thy Almighty Throne. Give us a true idea of the infinitely heinous crime, committed by a reptile of earth, when he dares to transgress the law of so great a God. Impress upon our minds, a just dread of that eternal punishment, which thy infinite justice inflicts upon the infinite malice of unrepenting obstinacy. Father! who didst make us to thy image; Son! who didst redeem us by thy death; Holy Spirit! who didst enlighten us with thy truth, and sanctify us with thy grace; restore us all to the dignity of adoption, which we have lost by sin; wash away our filth in the blood of our Redeemer; sanctify us anew by salutary fear, due examination, heart-felt sorrow, sincere confession, and firm and lasting amendment, in thy great sacrament of reconciliation; that so, believing, fear ing, adoring, and loving Thee on earth, we may, with thy angels, rejoice in thy presence for ever: who livest and reignest, one God, in Three Divine Persons, world without end. Amen. A blessing, &c.

Awful, my brethren, and terrifying as are God's eternal judgments; their consideration is, occasionally, needful and salutary to us all. However, as the generality of my readers are influenced to the performance of their duties, as much (I trust) and more by filial love, than by servile fear; I shall comply with the tender and

joyful sentiments, which fill the souls of all devout Christians, on the enrapturing occasion of the current solemnity of Christmas. I therefore give notice, that, on this day fortnight, I will publish my Sermon on the Nativity of our blessed and loving Jesus. "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people: for this day is born to you a Saviour; who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David." St. Luke, ii, 10.