hath left to us for the world and for vanity? Is he not even jealous of the first-fruits of our heart and of our life, figured by those first-fruits of the earth, which were commanded by the law to be offered up to him? Why then would you retrench from him the fairest portion of your years, to consecrate it to Satan and to his works? Is life too long to be wholly employed for the glory of the Lord who hath given it to us, and who promiseth to us an eternal one? Is youth too precious to be consecrated toward becoming worthy of the eternal possession of the Supreme Being? You reserve, then, for him, only the remains and the dregs of your passions and life! And it precisely is, as if you said to him, Lord, so long as I shall be fit for the world and its pleasures, think not that I shall turn toward or seek thee; so long as the world shall be pleased with me, I can never think of devoting myself to thee; afterward, indeed, when it shall begin to neglect and to forsake me, then I will turn me toward thee; I will say to thee, Lo, I am here! I will pray thee to accept a heart which the world hath rejected, and which reluctantly finds itself under the hard necessity of bestowing itself on thee; but, till then, expect nothing from me but perfect indifference, and a thorough neglect. After all, thou art only entitled to our services when we ourselves are good for nothing else; we are always sure, at least, of finding thee; all times are the same to thee; but, after a certain season of life, we are unfitted for the world, and, while yet time, it is proper to enjoy it before it deserts us. Soul, unworthy of ever confessing the mercies of a God whom you treat with such insult! and do you believe that he will then accept of a homage so forced, and so disgraceful to his glory, he, who taketh no delight but in voluntary sacrifices, he, who hath no need of man, and who favoureth him when he deigneth to accept even his purest vows and his sincerest homages?
The prophet Isaiah formerly mocked, in these terms, those who worshipped vain idols: " You take/' said he to them, " a cedar from Lebanon; you set apart the best and handsomest parts of it for your occasions, your pleasures, the luxury and ornament of your palaces; and when you know not how to employ otherwise the remnant, you carve it into a vain idol, and offer up to it ridiculous vows and homages." And I, in my turn, might say to you, you set apart from your life the fairest and the most flourishing of your years, to indulge your fancies and your iniquitous passions; and when you know not to what purpose to devote the remainder, and it becomes useless to the world and to pleasures, then you make an idol of it; you make it serve for religion; you form to yourself of it a false, a superficial, and inanimate virtue, to which you reluctantly consecrate the wretched remains of your passions and of your debaucheries. O my God! is this then regarding thee as a jealous God, whom the slightest stain in the purest offerings wounds and offends, or as a vain idol, which feels not the indignity and the hypocrisy of the homages offered up to it?
Yes, my brethren, nothing can be reaped in an advanced age but what has been sown in the younger years of life. If you sow in
