universal judgment he now decides the eternal fate of mankind. But, the most prominent feature of this last definitive act of God's economy with men, is the condescension of his justice. Yes, Christians, I repeat it; the won derful, yet terrible, condescension of his justice. He might, if he pleased, pass sentence without deigning to justify that sentence; nor would his silence render it less just. But here he condescends to submit his decision to the opinion of his own creatures assembled at his bar; and to the eye, not only of every Angel and Saint, but of every demon and damn'd soul, that decision stands fully and completely justified. His Justice is the sister of his Mercy; nor would the happiness of heaven deserve the name of recompence to the just, unless the misery of hell were allotted as punishment to the sinner. So evident then on that day will appear the enormity of sin; the fairness of the trial; the natural equity, nay, necessity of the sentence; the voluntary, the unyielding obstinacy of the offenders, contrasted with the infinite goodness, sanctity, and majesty of the of fended; so evident, I say, will all these things appear, that Lucifer himself must subscribe to the justice, intensity, and duration of his punishment; and admit that, terrible as it is, it still falls short of his crime,

And as for those wretched men, who blinded by their passions, now flatter themselves that God is too good to punish them eternally-oh! what shall be their horror, when, tried by the test of their own condemning consciences; by the respective lights and graces which they received but rejected; by the dogmas of that revelation which they believed; by the principles of that very reason, which they so unreasonably

preferred to the word of Eternal Truth; what, I say, shall be their horror, when, convicted on their own admissions, they must, in wringing despair, bow to the equity of their doleful doom!

Oh terrible Equity! why art not thou still kept hidden from their view? Thou, thou, by justifying to their own eyes their fate, art the sting of all their torments; and hell would cease to be hell, if they could cease to see thee. Yes, Conscience, Conscience, is the essence of hell. The fire, and all the other external tortures, are but the accessary punishments inflicted by the just anger of God. Let all these tortures of the wicked be removed-still, the conscience of having lost, through their own fault, the good will, the love of their God; this conscience, this conviction alone, would be, for ever, whole hell to the damned.-Conscience is, likewise, the essence of heaven. And were God to strip the blessed of all the appendages of their glory-the conscience of loving that God, and of being loved by him in return, would, of itself, render them eternally happy.-To try his crea tures, then, by the test of their own consciences

a test, which they cannot challenge; and by that test, to convince both themselves and all their fellow-creatures, of the justice of their respective sentences; this, this is the main object of God's general judgment.

But to return.-Self-acquitted, then, or selfcondemned, behold, on either side, the virtuous and the reprobate. Ask me not to enlarge upon the terms, much less upon the execution, of the two sentences, which are now going to be pronounced. Each presents an ocean of thought, through which, were I even not already ex.

hausted, I should be unable to steer the frail bark of my overpowered imagination. Do you, then, my brethren, supply, in the best way you can, your preacher's deficiency. Dive into these two oceans, of infinite happiness, and of infinite misery. Sound them with the plummet of your own serious reflection. And, while I confine myself to little more, than the bare utterance of the two irrevocable awards, and a passing remark on the distinct ground alledged for either by the Eternal Judge, do you remember that now you can choose your fatean hour hence, and the golden opportunity may be lost for ever!

The ground alledged, is expressed in these words: I was hungry, and you gave me-or, you gave me not-to eat." &c. The Redeemer had said "Thou shalt love the Lord thy Godand thy neighbour as thyself." What the Redeemer taught, the Judge confirms-"Faith without works is dead."-Jesus himself is in the person of his poor; and what we do to them, we do to Him.-Upon the observance; or the violation of this double duty-love of God and of our neighbour-the fate of All being now decided; turning to those on his right hand, with joy and tenderness beaming in those eyes which once shed tears of blood, "Come," saith Jesus, "ye blessed of my Father, and receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world." -Mounted on thrones, the Blessed sit, to join their Judge in his judicial capacity, for the condemnation of his and their enemies. Oh! what a sight for each reprobate soul! To behold" such glory, and to say, "I have lost it through my own fault!"-Having next allotted, to such as without any sin of their own have perished

under the crime of Adam, a middle state of being not yet revealed; which state, though not heaven, is yet not hell, (sad consolation for the loss of heaven!) the God, once of mercy, but now of vengeance, darting to the left a look more terrible than ten thousand hells, exclaims: "Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels!!!"

The vale of judgment is again a wasteCreation's doom is sealed-and all is vanished!

The Eternal Father thunders from the highest heavens his confirmation of both sentences; and locking, with either hand, upon their respective inmates, the gates of heaven and of hell, flings the keys into the ocean of eternity!

Oh! Christians, kneel with me; and if you be in sin, renounce it now for ever!

A blessing, &c.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

The Second will commence with the PANEGYRIC OF ST. PATRICK. Text-" Give ear to me you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara who bore you: for I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him." Isaias, c. li, v. 1, 2.

POOR OF IRELAND.

To the persecuted, calumniated, children of ST. PATRICK-the people to whom God has done so much good, and Man so much evil-plundered by the worthless, despised by the ignorant, insulted by the arrogant and brutal; yet moral, religious, constant in the first, the only the Catholic, Faith:-To THE POOR OF IRELAND, whose fidelity, not only unaided, but opposed, by every human means, presents the most striking modern specimen of the ancient Christian spirit:-To THE POOR OF IRELAND, worthy offspring of the ISLE OF SAINTS— these Sermons are dedicated by their admiring, affectionate, and ardent friend

and servant

RICHARD HAYES.