eternal glory, without good works; or pardon, without repentance and amendment; which are things impossible for God to do. You do well, even when you are in sin to hope, with an intention of repenting; but to sin wilfully, in hopes of repenting, is folly and presumption; because you are not sure of a moment of life.

As you ought at certain times to make acts of faith, so also acts of hope; when you do a good action, then hope in the promises of Christ: when you are tempted, hope in his power; when you are afflicted, persecuted, hope in providence; when you repent, and do penance for your sins, hope in his mercy: in a word, let not the most holy put their trust in their own doings, nor rely on their own virtue alone, but chiefly on the merits of Christ; it is through him alone, who is our only hope, we can merit or expect a reward; at the same time it is certain, that his merits alone will not save you with out virtue and good works.

SECT. II.

Of despair and presumption.

Q. WHAT vices are opposite to hope? A. Despair and presumption. Q. What is des-pair? A. A diffidence in the power of God, and the merits of Christ. Q. What is presumption? A. A foolish and desperate confidence of salvation, without endeavoring to keep the commandments. Q. Is despair a great sin? A. It is, because it resists the power of God, and the mercy and merits of Christ.. Q. Is presumption a great sin? 4. It is, because it is an abuse of the divine mercy and goodness, and makes a person sin without fear. Q. How are those two opposite to hope? A. One by excess, and the other by defect. Q. How must hope be balanced between despair and presumption? A. By the fear of God, which prevents presumption; and a zeal to do good works, which prevents despair.

op

INSTRUC.-As there is no virtue but what has its posite vice, the vices opposite to hope are despair and

presumption: despair is a most grievous sin; for those sins are the most grievous which are opposite to the theological virtues; as hatred of God, blasphemy, &c. are opposite to charity, or the love of God; infidelity and heresy opposite to faith and despair opposite to hope the reason is, because these sins imply a greater aversion from God than any others; hatred of God extinguishes the love of God, which is our most essential good: by infidelity you depart from God, and from the very knowledge of God, and have an aversion to the truths he has revealed to save you: by despair a man departs from the goodness and mercy of God, thinking his sins to be too great to admit of pardon, and hence gives over all thought and care of his salvation: this makes despair the most dangerous sin of any, and the most to be withstood and resisted: My sin is greater, says the despairing sinner with Cain, than that I may deserve pardon: but if God, O sinner, is able to raise the dead. to life, and raise up sons to Abraham, from the stones. that lie in the torrent, cannot he raise the most hardened and inveterate sinner from the death of sin, by his powerful grace? There is none so wicked, but God has pardoned as great criminals before; himself has assured us, that in what hour soever the sinner repenteth, he will forgive the impiety of his sin, Ezech. xviii. 33. Look not then on the number or greatness of thy sins, but trust in God, who is all-sufficient, to help thy soul out of its distress, and has bound himself by a firm promise to pardon all who repent in their hearts.

Presumption is also a great sin, going upon a supposition that God grants pardon to those who persevere in sin and glory to those who have done no good works; vainly and falsely hoping, that God will do things that are inconsistent with his law, and impossible. This is a dangerous sin, and carefully to be avoided, because it makes you presume so far of God's mercy, as to sin without fear or thought of his justice. This is the voice of the presumptuous man; "God is merciful, and will "forgive our sins, how many and how great soever, and "at whatever time we do penance; hence take all freedom to sin." This is the voice again of the presump

tuous; "Faith alone, without good works, will save us; "as Christ died for our sins, and satisfied for all, we "shall be saved through the merits of Christ alone, "without doing penance ourselves." With these thoughts many live, and many die, without the fear of God. Others sin by presumption, through their neglect and delays of penance; others by neglecting to aspire to greater perfection; these though they avoid greater sins, scruple not to offend in lesser, and think heaven may be had at any rate.

EXHOR.-Remember then the warnings God gives against these sins. First, against despair: turn to me, says our Lord, with thy whole heart, in fasting, weeping, and mourning. Reflect on the Ninivites, who were once overwhelmed in sin, and yet found forgiveness through repentance: an humble and contrite heart God will never despise in any one: let Jonas be your example, to hope in God, under the greatest disasters of soul and body: his voice was from the whale's belly: From the deep below I cried to thee, and thou didst hear my voice: so the sinner, though absorpt in the depth of sin, as Jonas at the bottom of the sea, let him but call upon God, and God will have mercy on him. He has promised it: in what hour soever the sinner repenteth, God will forgive the impiety of his sin. Ezech. xviii.

Then as to presumption; consider as God is merciful so he is just: Slack not, then, to be converted to our Lord, nor delay from day to day, for his revenge will come of a sudden and destroy you; for nothing provokes God more than repeated and presumptuous sinning. Presumption hardens the sinner more in sin, till at length he becomes quite obdurate against the inspirations of God, and admonitions of men. Harden not your hearts. Psalm. xciv. 8.

Neither depend on your faith alone; for St. James hath said, that faith without good works, is a dead faith, and availeth not to salvation, St. James v. Depend not so entirely on the merits of Christ, as to neglect to cooperate with him; for is it not written, that he suffered, leaving you an example that you may follow his steps? 1 Peter ii. 21. He did not suffer then to free you from

suffering and doing penance, as some say. Does not he say again, Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father? St. Matt. vii. 20. And what is his will? Self denial, mortification, penance, humility, and every virtue. Trust not then presumptuous sinner, to the way you are in; trust not to the time to. come, to future grace, but to the present, which is offered you, and is in your power; lest it it be said to you, as to the five foolish virgins who mispent their time, I know you not. Receive not the present grace in vain ; but work in good; improve in good; persevere in good; these only will crown you.

Place a balance between these two extremes, despair and presumption: a filial fear, of offending God your Father, and being separated from him, will defend you against presumption; and the way to avoid despair, is to do good, and avoid sloth; for it is sloth that makes people despair, and think their salvation impossible.. Do as God hath commanded, and then you may go on with good hope and confidence of salvation; with confidence even unto the throne of God.

WHAT

Of Prayer.

WHAT other effects has hope? A. Prayer. Q. What is prayer? A. It is an elevation of our minds to God, to beg all necessaries for soul and body, in order to our eternal good, and is usually accompanied with thanksgiving and praises to God. Q. How must we pray? A. With devotion and perseverance. Q. Where must we pray? A. We may pray in all places, God being present every where, but chiefly in churches, in places of divine worship. Q. Why so? A. Because he is there after a special manner, to confer his benefits. Q. To whom must we pray? A To God only, through our mediator Jesus Christ. Q& What is meant then by praying to Saints and Angels ?. A. No more but to beg they will intercede with God. for us, through the mediation of Christ. Q. For whom

must we pray? A. For all mankind, whether friend or enemy. Q. When must we pray? A. At all times, as scripture teaches, every day of our lives. Q. When in particular must we pray? A. On Sundays and Holidays, being days consecrated to God. Q. When again? A. Morning and evening, and as often as we are tempted, afflicted, or feel a particular need of divine help. Q. What must we pray for? A. Chiefly for grace to keep God's commandments, that we may be saved.

INSTRUO Prayer, which is the blessed effect of hope, is an elevation of our minds to God, to beg for all good, and to be freed from evil; this may be done in words, and then is called vocal prayer, or with the mind and heart only, and this is mental prayer, or meditation, which is the most perfect and excelling.

By holy prayer we beg all necessaries for soul and body, and may pray for temporal as well as spiritual blessings; because God is the author of nature as well as grace, and the giver of all good gifts, temporal as well as eternal: yet we must be cautious, not to ask any thing but what may be worthy of him, or may be some means to bring us to life everlasting. And while we are thus praying to God for his blessings, we should make our thanksgiving for those already received, and praise and rejoice in God; we should also make an offering of ourselves, of our body with its senses, of our: soul with its powers, and of all we have to his service.

As to the manner how we ought to pray, that our prayers may be heard, we must pray in the first place, with devotion; with as great attention as we can to the words of the prayer, or to the sense of it, at least to the end for which we pray, which is to beg of God what belongs to our salvation, so that our mind, in time of prayer, be never taken off from God and the thing we pray for, we must pray with reverence, as in the presence of God; and with humility, knowing our unworthiness, and the great dependance we have on God and his grace, and his independance of us and our service: secondly, we must pray with perseverance, that is, persist in our petition, and even importune heaven in our be