that impiety, which deprecates, or which treats with sarcastic smiles, the sacred usages of the Church, is a manifest proof, in whomsoever it may be found, of mediocrity of talent, or of absolute ignorance.

But that which you will admire above all, is the succession of our Christian festivals, their perfect harmony with the seasons and with our wants. The Church has had the wisdom to retrace, in the division of her year, the history of the whole human race, and to stir up in succession the warmest feelings of our hearts.

The four weeks of Advent, which precede the birth of our Saviour, recall to our minds the four thousand years during which the Messiah was expected. During that time, we preach faith, hope, and penance, which open the doors of our hearts to the divine Infant.

The time which elapses between the Nativity and Pentecost places before us the hidden, the public, and the glorious life of the Redeemer; and this part of the year terminates by the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, and the foundation of the Christian Church. What tender love does this succession of mysteries, which we celebrate during this time, excite in the faithful Christian for God his Saviour!

The interval which occurs from Pentecost to All Saints represents to us the pilgrimage of the Church upon earth; and this part of the year terminates by the heavenly feast of our friends and brethren already glorified. With what zeal to do good ought we not to be animated by the courage of the martyrs, the virtues of the other saints, and the combats of our holy mother the Church, of all which this part of the year

reminds us. Heaven, whose feast we celebrate towards the close of the ecclesiastical year, presents itself, as it were, before us, to teach us that this happy place ought to be the end of all our labours; and this noble idea ought to predominate over all our affections and to direct all our actions. Are you acquainted with any teaching more useful than this?

Finally, bounding, as it were, along with you over the threshold of eternity, in the last chapter we contemplate the splended object to which religion conducts us. Heaven will appear to you as the completion of the lawful desires of man, in reference both to body and to soul. May this thought animate you to the end may it strengthen your weakness, and enable you to walk firmly in the path of virtue; a path which, even in this life, is the only way to true happiness.

Thus, in this "Abridgment of the Catechism of Perseverance," the salvation of man through Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever,TM shows itself to you as the object of all the designs of God, the cause of all the events of the world; in short, as the final end of all things. This is the mode in which, after the example of the great Saint Augustine, we teach you, as to the letter, your religion.

But you ought to labour, above all, to understand its spirit, and to make it dwell within you. The spirit of religion is charity. God loves us; contemplate, in our explanation, all that he has done from the beginning of the world for the salvation of man, and all that he will do to glorify him during eternity. In return for so much love, God requires of us to love Heb. xiii. 8.

him above all things, and our neighbour as ourselves, for the love of him. Is this too much? To comply with this, the law, the prophets, the Gospel, and the teaching of the Church, may all be reduced. Children of God! you will love a Father so good, and you will also love all men, your brothers, as children of God, as made to his likeness, and heirs of his kingdom; love thus, in order that your charity may be as universal as your faith.

It is to you, beloved children, who are already communicants, that we address this abridgment. For heaven's sake, do not despise it. Listen to the voice of your reason, which tells you that the religious instructions which preceded your first communion were not sufficient; those were elementary instructions, which the weakness of your understandings not unfrequently prevented you from fully comprehending, and still more frequently were lost sight of in consequence of the frivolity incident to your youthful period of life. Like you, I was also a child; and my experience, in unison with your own, confirms the truth of what I am saying.

And again, the unhappy age in which you live, the general weakness of faith, the numberless scandals which surround you, the seducing occasions of sin which await you, the poisonous maxims that are spread abroad, make, at the present day, the deep study of religion a more sacred duty than ever.

In short, shall I tell it to you,-to you who are so young,-to you who dream of so much happiness? Upon the path of life there are many thorns. Days will come, sad and stormy, which will cause your eyes

C

your

hearts to bleed.

to weep and The loss of your parents and your friends, infirmities, reverses of fortune, and I know not how many contradictions and miseries, will make your life a continual cross. Notwithstanding all you may do to prevent it, in all probability it will be your lot to be stretched upon and nailed to this bed of sorrows. Then will men desert you; for, mark me well, they do not love to look upon suffering; and besides, powerless as they are, what real consolation could they impart to you? In your distress, bathed in tears, towards whom will you turn your eyes?

Ah! there is a comforter who will listen to the recital of your grief, and who has the power and the will to soothe your pains: it is that amiable daughter of heaven, the divine religion in whose bosom you were born. A tender mother, she alone will come to make you smile in the midst of your sufferings; she alone will animate your courage; she alone will make you feel joy amidst so many sorrows; she alone will enliven your blighted hopes, by holding out to you the infallible promises of future happiness and of immortality. But if religion be to you a stranger, if you look upon it as irksome, and love it not, what can you expect? I repeat it, you do not at present know it thoroughly, and if you cease to study it, in a few years you will forget it altogether. Beloved children, believe me when I tell you these things; I am not deceived, and I do not wish to deceive you.

In waiting for your experience to justify my words, accept, as a pledge of my provident friendship, this Abridgment of the Catechism of Perseverance"

which I now offer you.

It will insure your happiness,

because it will convey to you a proper knowledge of, and I hope it will inspire you with a never-dying love for, that religion whose support is so essential to your welfare.

May the God of children bless this new work, undertaken for his glory, and for the salvation of these angels upon earth, to whom our Divine Master said, in pressing them to his bosom: "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such.”n

Matt. xix. 14.