THIRTEENTH DISCOURSE.

ON COMPASSION FOR THE POOR

Ir should not be necessary for us, my brethren, to inspire you with sentiments of compassion and charity for the poor, of whom you are the pastors and the fathers: it is for you to soften the hardness, and awaken the indifference, of persons of the world, to a sense of their wants; and being as you are by your charac ter, the guardians of your indigent parishioners, and the sole depositaries of their necessities and of their troubles, it might appear superfluous to exhort you to compassionate them, yourselves: still as the forcible address which you have just heard, has turned upon this part of your duty, I think it right to add a few reflections, on the subject.

I am aware, my brethren, that the depres, sion of the times and unfavourable seasons, whilst they multiply poor in our parishes, do not increase the resources of pastors, and that even they themselves may suffer from the public calamities: I know, moreover, that the nar rowness of your means, does not allow the greater part of you, to furnish the poor with all the relief which their misery requires; and this therefore is not what we exact of you. But, my brethren, however scanty your revenues, and however depressed the times, it is nevertheless quite certain, that in your parishes, you are far more at your case, and far more able to supply your wants, than the greater part of the labourers and the miserable cottiers who inhabit them. And we have had the consolation of finding, in the course of our visitations, many charitable pastors, feeling as a father's bosom ought, the miseries of their children; giving according to their ability and even beyond it, as the Apostle says; softening down by their tenderness and cares, the misfortunes of their poor parishioners, and suffering with those whom they could not relieve: but on the other hand, we have often wept on finding many others, who were solely occupied with the

disgraceful care of amassing wealth; hard-hearted towards themselves and still more insensible to the wants and the calamities of their people; base and greedy pastors, who never think they have enough, and who seem to have been clothed with a sacred character, only to make it subservient to an infamous avarice. Behold my brethren, since it is right to speak out here, behold the most general disgrace of the priesthood behold the vice which tarnishes all the holiness, and destroys the good odor, of the sanctuary: all do not carry it to the same lengths; but there are but few, who are not infected by this leprosy; and if, in many parishes the poor are abandoned, it is not always the want of means, but hardness and avarice that shuts up the bowels of the pastor against the cries and the wants of his people.

Yes, my brethren, let us speak the truth, here, since the opportunity offers, but let us speak it with sorrow: from the time in which our living becomes fixed and perpetual by being appointed to a parish; we regard it as our own property and our own patrimony; we attach ourselves to the possession, and endeavour to improve its revenue, as we would a temporal estate frequently too it happens that the

smaller is our portion, the more we cling to it, and the more we share with the rich in their guilty attachment to worldly goods, and even refine upon their avarice and rapacity, without even the miserable plea of their luxury and voluptuousness. It would appear that this vice is a malediction entailed upon the priesthood: we conceal it from ourselves; we cover it with the miserable pretext of a prudent foresight; we fancy that we discover nothing in this sordid passion, but the indispensible duty of maintaining the rights of the church, and of enforcing the dues of our office; and the more we are the slaves of this passion, the more do we represent it to ourselves as a virtue.

Yet, my brethren, nothing so much tarnishes and degrades the generosity and sanctity of our ministry, as this base and detestable spirit. We, you are aware, are here on earth, the ministers of goods to come; the treasures which are unlocked and shut up by the keys confided to us, are the treasures of heaven; the riches which the Lord pours upon the faithful through our services, are the riches of grace: the gospel which we announce, is that word of life eternal which utters a curse upon the wealth of this world, and pronounces none happy or tru

ly rich, but those who are poor in spirit and humble of heart; in a word, all that we are, as ministers of religion, that is, as dispensers of eternal goods, proclaims to our people the contempt of every thing transitory, and the exclusive desire of those goods, which are to endure for ever. What degradation then, my brethren, when the dispenser of eternal riches becomes himself, the slave of a filthy lucre which covers him with opprobrium! when the minister whom Jesus Christ has instituted to undeceive men, and eradicate the love of deceitful goods; like his divine master to curse the pelf of this world and inspire men with the contempt of earthly wealth, appears himself, to live and breathe only for money; to feel no concern, to have no inclination but to scrape it together!

But, it may be asked, must we not distinguish between a prudent foresight, which lays up a reserve against future necessities, from that base and sordid avarice which never thinks it has enough? is all precaution in this matter a crime? Undoubtedly not, my brethren; and were it necessary to reply to this wretched pretext of avarice, I would tell you, that a greedy Priest who lives only to amass gold, and a faithful and