and as He sees it now. These beautiful words are true in their
measure, of every diocese, of every parish, in our day. To-day,
as the Holy Church throughout the world flings open her doors and
rings her bells, and the crowd press in, in cities, in villages,
in country places, God recognizes thousands of his true
worshippers, who worship Him in spirit and in truth. We see and
know some of them, but only His all-seeing eye sees them all, and
only His omniscience, which foreknows the number of those who
shall be His by faith and good works, can measure the greatness
of the harvest of souls which He will reap at the end of the
world. The Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints.
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The Last Judgment is the victory of Christ. Then again,
surrounded by the fruit of His passion, He may repeat the words
which He spoke at the close of His earthly ministry: "I have
glorified thee upon the earth. I have _finished the work_
which thou gavest me to do. Those whom thou gavest Me I have
kept, and none of them hath perished except the son of
perdition." [Footnote 61]
[Footnote 61: St. John xvii. 4, 12.]
These thoughts point the way to two practical lessons, one
relating to our duty to others, the other relating to our duty to
ourselves.
We see here the spirit in which we ought to labor for the
conversion of others. There is certainly a great deal of good to
be done around us. How many in this country are out of the Ark of
safety, the Catholic Church of Christ! How many in her fold need
our efforts and labors to make them better! Why are we not more
active in laboring for them? We say it is of no use; we have
tried and failed. Those whose conversion we had most at heart
seem farther off from the truth than ever. It is no use hoping
for the conversion of those who are not Catholics; they are too
set in their ways. Many of those Catholics, too, who were doing
well as we hoped, have fallen off again, and we are weary of
laboring with so little success. Oh! what a mean spirit this is;
how unlike the spirit of Christ! How unlike the spirit of that
apostle who made himself all things to all men that he might save
_some_. You will put up with no failures. Christ and St.
Paul were content to meet with many failures for the sake of some
success. How unlike the spirit of St. Francis of Sales, who
labored so hard during so many discouraging years, for the
conversion of his misguided Swiss. Christ was rejected and
crucified by those whom He came to teach. The apostles were
despised and their names cast out as evil. And you will not labor
because you cannot have immediate and full success. But some
success you will meet with.
{301}
You may not convert the one you desire to convert, but you will
convert another. You may not succeed in the way or at the time
you look for, but you will succeed in some other way and at some
other time. There is nothing well done and charitably done for
the truth that falls to the ground. God's word does not return to
Him void, but accomplishes the thing whereunto He sent it. We
labor, and other men enter into our labors. But the good work is
done, and the fruits are garnered in heaven. Be of great hopes,
then. You, my brethren of the priesthood, dare to undertake great
things for the honor of our Lord and the extension of His
kingdom. Use every means that prudence and charity can suggest to
gain souls to Christ. In the morning sow your seed, and in the
evening withhold not your hand. Labor in season and out of
season. For Sion's sake hold not your hand, and for Jerusalem's
sake do not rest, until her justice come forth as a brightness,
and her salvation be lighted as a lamp! And you, my brethren of
the laity, labor each in your place, as far as may be given you,
in the same work. Blessing must come from labor, and reward from
Him who has promised that "they that instruct many to justice
shall shine as stars for all eternity." [Footnote 62]
[Footnote 62: Dan. xii. 3.]
The other lesson we learn is one which teaches us how to guide
ourselves in a world of sin and scandal. It is no uncommon thing
for men to draw injury to their own souls from the disorders
around them, by making them a pretext for neglecting their own
salvation, or taking a low standard of duty. One says, there is a
man who does not attend to his religious duties, and makes out of
this an excuse for his own neglect. "What is that to thee? Follow
thou Me," is the answer of Christ. There is another who does go
to the sacraments, but whose life is disedifying. He is profane,
quarrelsome, untruthful, and artful.
{302}
Perhaps he is guilty of worse sins than these. "What is that to
thee?" is again the answer: "Follow thou _Me_. My love, My
life, my teaching is to be the rule of thy conduct, not the
doctrines of others." Oh! how this cuts the way open to a
solution of that question with which we sometimes vex ourselves.
Are there few or many that will be saved? There are few if few,
many if many. Few if few hear and obey, many if many hear and
obey. Wisdom crieth aloud, she uttereth her voice in the streets;
he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. One hears, lays up and
ponders in his heart, like Mary, what he hears, and becomes a
saint. Another hears as one who looks in a glass and immediately
forgets what he saw reflected in it. Here is the distinction
which produces election and reprobation, salvation and damnation.
This is the practical question for each one of us: To which of
these classes do I belong? This is the prayer which ought to be
our daily petition: Give me, O Lord, an understanding heart, to
know the things that belong to my peace, before they are forever
hid from my eyes. How great the misery of passing through life
slothful, careless, inattentive, and so losing the heavenly
wisdom we might learn! How great the happiness of keeping the
word in a good heart, and bringing forth fruit with patience!
Those who do this not only secure their salvation, but they
console Christ for all His cruel sufferings, for they constitute
the fruit of His Passion, the success of His Gospel, the crown of
Glory which He receives from the hand of His Father, the Royal
Diadem which He will wear for all eternity.
---------------------
{303}
Sermon IX.
The Work Of Life.
(Septuagesima)
"Why stand ye here all the day idle."
--St. Matt. xx. 6.
The parable in to-day's Gospel is intended to describe the
invitations which God has given, from time to time in the history
of the world, to various races and peoples, to enter the true
Church and be saved. But it may be applied by analogy to His
dealings with each individual soul, and our Lord's question in
the text may be understood by each one of us as addressed
directly to himself. Taken in this sense, it affords instruction
and admonition, useful at all times, but more especially suitable
on this day, when the Church first strikes the keynote of those
stirring lessons of personal duty and accountability which are to
be the burden of her teachings through the coming season of Lent.
And, first, it reminds us of that solemn truth, that we have an
appointed work to do on earth. It is difficult for us not to be
sceptical sometimes on this point. Life is so short and
uncertain, man is so frail and erring, that it seems strange the
few years spent here on earth should exert any great influence on
our eternity. Some such feeling as this was at the bottom of the
old idea of heathen philosophy that God does not concern Himself
with the affairs of men, that we and our doings are of too little
consequence to occupy His attention. The book of Wisdom well
expresses this creed: "_For we are born, say they" (that is,
the unbelieving), "of nothing, and after this we shall be as if
we had not been; and our life shall pass away as the trace of a
cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, which is driven away by
the beams of the sun, and overpowered by the heat thereof. And
our name in time shall be forgotten: and no man shall have any
remembrance of our works._" [Footnote 63]
[Footnote 63: Wisdom ii. 2-4.]
{304}
But such a view of life does not agree either with reason or
revelation. God, being Infinite Wisdom, must have an end in every
thing which He created. If it was not beneath Him to create, it
cannot be beneath Him to govern His creatures; and reason and
free will must have been given to His rational creatures to guide
them to their end. It is absurd to suppose a moral and
intellectual being without a law and a destiny. And revelation
confirms this decision of reason. It seems as if the Bible were
written, in great part, to dispel the notion that God is a mere
abstraction, and to exhibit Him to us as a personal God,
interfering in His creation, giving to each created thing its
place, and taking note of its operation. In the pages of
Scripture the world is not a chance world, where every thing is
doubt and confusion; but an orderly world, where every thing has
its place. It is a vineyard, into which laborers are sent to
gather the harvest. It is a house, in which each part has its
order and use. It is a body, in which each member shares the
common life, and contributes to it. It is a school, in which each
scholar is learning a special lesson. It is a kingdom, in which
citizen is bound to the other in relations of duty or authority.
Yes, God has left a wide field for the free exercise of human
choice and will. The pursuits of men, their studies, their
pleasures, may be infinitely varied at their will; but not to
have a mission from Heaven, not to have a work to do on earth,
not to be created by God with a special vocation--this is not
possible for man. He is too honorable and great. The image of
God, which is traced on his soul, is too deep and enduring; his
relation to God is too direct and immediate. No man can live unto
himself, and no man can die unto himself. Each man that comes
into the world is but an agent sent by God on a special embassy.
And each man that dies, but goes back to give an account of its
performance.
{305}
Do not accuse me of saddening and depressing you by thus covering
man's life, from the cradle to the grave, with the pall of
accountability. If God were a tyrant, if He reaped where He did
not sow, if He exacted what was beyond our strength, if His
service did not make us happy, if in His judgment of our actions
He did not take into account the circumstances of each one, his
opportunities, his ignorances, and even his frailties, then,
indeed, the thought of our accountability would be a dreadful and
depressing one. But while our Master and Judge is a God whose
compassion is as great as His power, whose service is our highest
satisfaction, who knows whereof we are made, and who in His
judgment remembers mercy, the thought that each one of us has an
appointed work to do is not only an incentive to duty, but the
secret of happiness. There is nothing pleasant in a life without
responsibility. Rest, indeed, is pleasant, but rest implies labor
that has gone before, and it is the labor that makes the rest
sweet. "_The sleep of a laboring man is sweet_," says the
Holy Scripture. But a life all rest, with nothing special to do,
without aim, without obligation, is a life without honor and
without peace. They who spend their time in rushing from one
amusement to another are commonly listless and wretched at heart,
and seek only to forget in excitement the weariness and
disappointment within. God has made the law, "In the sweat of thy
face thou shalt eat bread," medicinal as well as vindicative.
When, then, you tell me that this world is not my all; that I
have an immortal destiny, that life is a preparation for it; that
the infinite truth is mine to know, the infinite beauty mine to
possess; that I have a mission to fulfil; sin to conquer; duties
to perform; merits to acquire; an account to render; you tell me
that which indeed makes my conscience thrill with awe, but which,
at the same time, takes all the meanness, the emptiness, the
littleness out of life, covers it with glory, blends it with
heaven, expands the soul, and fills it with hope and joy.
{306}
O truth too little known! Religion is not meant to be only a
solace in affliction, a help in temptation, a refuge when the
world fails us. All these it is, but much more. It is the
business and employment of life. It is the task for which we were
born. It is the work for which our life is prolonged from day to
day. It is the consecration of my whole being to God. It is to
realize that wherever I am, whatever I do, I am the child of God,
doing His will, and extending His kingdom on earth. This is the
secret of life. This is the meaning of the world. This is God's
way of looking at the world. As He looks down from heaven, all
other distinctions among men vanish, distinctions of nationality,
differences of education, differences of station, and wealth, and
influence, and only one distinction remains--the distinction
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth
God and him that serveth Him not. When we look at the world, it
dazzles us by its greatness, and overpowers us by its
multiplicity. It is so eager and restless. It is so importunate
and overbearing. Here is the secret which disenchants us from its
spell. The world is not for itself. It is not its own end. It is
but the field of human probation. It is but the theatre on which
men are exercising each day their highest faculty, the power of
free will. It is the scene of the great struggle between good and
evil, between heaven and hell, the battle that began when
"Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon
fought and his angels." [Footnote 64]
[Footnote 64: Apoc. xii. 7]
Into this arena each generation has entered, one after another,
to show their valor. Once the saints of whom we read in the Bible
and the history of the Church were upon the earth, and it was
their turn, and heaven and earth were watching them. They did
their work well.
{307}
So penetrated were they with the great thought of eternity that
some of them, like Abraham, left home and kindred, and went out
not knowing whither they went; and others, like the martyrs, gave
their hearts' blood for a sacrifice. And there were others who
were not saints, for they were not called to deeds of heroism,
but they were good men, who in simplicity of heart fulfilled each
duty, and served God with clean hands and pure hearts. And
penitents have come in their turn. Once they were unwise, and the
world deceived them, and they followed their own will, but
afterward they turned to God, and redeemed their former sins by a
true penance, and died in the number of those who overcame the
Wicked One. And now it is our turn. There are many adversaries.
All things are ready. The herald has called our name. And as the
primitive martyrs, condemned to the wild beasts in the
amphitheatre, nerved themselves for the encounter by the thought
of the thousand spectators ranged around, so to animate our
courage let us give heed to the sympathizing witnesses who watch
our strife, and who cry to us from heaven and from earth: Be
valiant! Do battle for the right! Acquit you like men! Be strong!
And again, as our Lord's words in the text remind us that we have
an appointed work to do, they remind us also that we have an
allotted time to do it in. All men acknowledge that religion is a
thing to be attended to. But when? Some seem to think that it is
enough to attend to religion at Easter and Christmas, and that at
other times it may be left alone. Some at still more distant
intervals, when the time has been too long, and the number of
sins too great, and the burden on the conscience too heavy.
Others propose to attend to it in the leisure of old age, or just
before they leave this world. And very many imagine that, if a
man actually makes his peace with God at any time before he dies,
there is not much to be regretted. How different is God's
intention in this matter! "_Man goeth forth, to his work and to
his labor until the evening_." Think of a day-laborer.
{308}
He rises very early in the morning, in the winter, long before it
is light, and goes off to his work. He works all day until the
evening, pausing only at noon, when he seeks some hollow in the
rock, or the shelter of some overhanging shrub, to protect him
from the cold or the heat, while he eats his frugal dinner. Now,
it is after this pattern that God wishes us to work out our
salvation. The Christian should work from the morning till the
evening, from the beginning of life to the end of it. There is
not a day that God does not claim for his own. There is not an
hour over which He has resigned His sovereignty. A man who
perfectly fulfils his duty begins to serve God early in the
morning. In the morning of life, in early youth, when the
dewdrops sparkle in the sunshine, and the birds sing under the
leaves, and the flowers are in their fresh bloom and fragrance,
and every thing is full of keen enjoyment, there is a low, sweet
voice that speaks to the soul of the happy boy: "_My son, give
me thy heart_." And he heeds that voice. It is time for first
communion, and he has leave to go. He does not know fully the
meaning of the act. It is too great and deep. But he knows that
he is making [a] choice of God. He knows that God is very near
him, and he is very happy. By and by the time has come for
confirmation. The candidates stand before the bishop, and see,
that boy is among the number. He is changed from what he was. He
has grown to be a youth now. He is more thoughtful and reserved.
He knows now what temptation means; he has seen the shadow of
sin; he has caught the tones of the world's song of pleasure; but
he does not waver; he is bold and resolute for the right, and he
is come to fortify himself for the conflict of life by the
special grace of the Almighty. And now time goes on, and he
passes through the most dangerous part of life: he is a young
man, he goes into business, he marries. There are times of fierce
temptation, there are times when the objects of faith seem all to
fade away from his mind, there are times when it seems as if the
only good was the enjoyment of this world, but prayer and
vigilance and a fixed will carry him through, and he passes the
most critical period of life without any grievous stain on his
soul.
{309}
Thus passes the noonday of his life, and he comes to its decline.
It draweth toward evening. The shadows are getting long. The sun
and the light and the moon are growing dark, and the clouds
return after the rain. He is an old man and feeble, but there he
is with the same heart he gave to God in youth; he has never
recalled the offering. He has been true to his faith, true to his
promises, true to his conscience, and at the hour of death he can
sing his _Nunc dimittis_, and go to the judgment seat of
Christ humbly but confidently to claim the reward of a true and
faithful servant. Beautiful picture! Life to be envied! A life
spent with God, over which the devil has never had any real
power. But you tell me this is a mere fancy picture; no one lives
such a life. I tell you this is the life God intended you and I
should live. There have been men who have lived such lives,
though, indeed, they are not many. But the number is not so small
of those who approximate to it. Even suppose a man falls into
mortal sin, and more than once, all is not lost. Suppose him, in
some hour of temptation, to cast off his allegiance to God, and
in his discouragement to look upon a life of virtue as a dream;
yet, if such a one gathers up his manhood, if in humble
acknowledgment of his sin he returns with new courage to take his
place in the Christian race, such a man recovers not only the
friendship of God, but the merits of his past obedience. There is
a process of restoration in grace as well as in nature. Penance
has power to heal the wounds and knit over the gaps which sin has
made. What does the Holy Scripture say? "_I will restore to you
the years which the locust, and the canker-worm, and the mildew,
and the palmer-worm hath eaten._" [Footnote 65]
[Footnote 65: Joel ii. 25.]
{310}
Many a man's life, which has not been without sin, has yet a
character of continuity and a uniform tending toward God. I
believe there are many who have this kind of perfection. They
cannot say, "I have not sinned," for they have had bitter
experience of their own frailty; but they can say, "I have
sinned, but I have not made sin a law to me. I have not allowed
myself in sin, or withdrawn myself from Thy obedience. I have not
gone backward from Thee. I have fallen, but I have risen again. O
Lord, Thou hast been my hope, even from my youth, from my youth
until now, until old age and gray hairs."
And now, my brethren, if we try our past lives and our present
conduct by the thought of the work we have to do on earth and the
persevering attention we ought to pay to it, do we not find
matter for alarm? and does not our Lord's question convey to us
the keenest reproach? "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" Yes,
idle; that is the word. There is all the difference in the world
between committing a sin in the time of severe temptation, for
which we are afterward heartily sorry, and doing nothing for our
salvation. And is not this our crime, that we are idlers and
triflers in religion? What have our past lives been? What years
spent in neglect, or even in sin? What long periods of utter
forgetfulness of God? What loss of time? What excessive anxiety
about this world? What devotion to pleasure? And are we now
really doing any thing for heaven? Are we really redeeming the
past by a true penance? Are we diligent in prayer, watchful
against temptation, watchful of the company we keep, watchful of
the influence we exert, watchful over our tempers, watchful to
fulfil our duties, watchful against habits of sin? Are we living
the lives God intended us to live? Can we say, "I am fulfilling
the requirements of my conscience, in the standard which I
propose to myself?" Ah! is not this our misery, that we have left
off striving? that we are doing nothing, or at least nothing
serious and worthy of our salvation? "Why stand ye all the day
idle?" _All the day_. Time is going.
{311}
Time that might have made us holy, time that has sanctified so
many others who set Out with us in life, is gone, never to
return. The future is uncertain; how much of the day of life is
left to us we know not. And graces have been squandered. No
doubt, as long as we live we shall have sufficient grace to turn
to God, if we will; but we know not what we do, when we squander
those special graces which God gives us now and then through
life. The tender heart, the generous purpose that we had in
youth; the fervor of our first conversion; the kind warnings and
admonitions of friends long dead; these have all passed away. Oh,
what opportunities have we thrown away! What means of grace
misused! "Why stand ye all the day idle?" You cannot say, "No man
hath hired us." God has not left you to the light of natural
reason alone, to find out your destiny. In baptism He has plainly
marked out for you your work. And now in reproachful tones He
speaks to your conscience: "Creature of my hand, whom I made to
serve and glorify me; purchase of my blood, whom I bought to love
me; heir of heaven, for whose fidelity I have prepared an eternal
reward, why is it that you resist my will, withstand your own
conscience and reason, despise my blood, and throw away your own
happiness?"
But the words of Christ are not only a reproach, but an
invitation. "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" It is not,
then, too late. God does nothing in vain; and when He calls us to
His service, He pledges himself that the necessary graces shall
not be wanting, nor the promised reward fail. Church history is
full of beautiful instances of souls that, after long neglect,
recovered themselves by a fervent penance. Some even, who are
high in the Church's Calendar of Saints, had the neglect and sin
of years upon their consciences when they began. There is only
one unpardonable sin, and that is to put off conversion until it
is too late. As long as God calls, you can hearken and be saved.
To-day, then, once more He calls. To-day, once more the
trumpet-blast of penance sounds in your ears.
{312}
Another Lent is coming, a season of penance and prayer. Prepare
yourself for that holy season by examination of your conscience.
Refuse no longer to work in the Lord's vineyard. Offer no more
excuses; make no more delay. Work while it is called to-day, that
when the evening comes, and the Lord gives to the laborers their
hire, you may be found a faithful workman, "that needeth not to
be ashamed."
---------------------
Sermon X.
The Church's Admonition To The Individual Soul.
(Ash Wednesday.)
"Take heed to thyself."
--1 Tim. iv. 16.