from nothing. The grossest of all mistakes, my dear hearer; conversion is in general a slow and tardy miracle, the fruit of cares, of troubles, of fears, and of bitter anxieties.
The days, saith Jesus Christ, which are to precede the utter destruction of this visible world and the coming of the Son of Man, shall be days of trouble and woe; nations shall rise against nations, and kings against kings; horrible signs shall be seen in the firmament long before the King of Glory himself shall appear; all nature shall announce, by its disorder, the approaching destruction and the coming of its God. Ah! my dear hearer, behold the image of the change of your heart, of the destruction of that world of passions within you, of the coming of the Son of Man into your soul. Long before that great event, internal wars shall take place; you shall feel your passions excited one against the other; blessed signs of salvation shall appear upon your person; all shall be shaken, all shall be disturbed; all within you shall announce the destruction of the carnal man, the coming of the Son of God, the end of your iniquities, the renovation of your soul, a new heaven and a new earth. Ah! when these blessed things shall come to pass, then lift up your head, and say that your redemption draweth nigh; then be confident, and adore the awful but consolatory preparations of a God who is on the eve of entering into your heart. But, while nothing is shaken within you, and no change appears in your soul; while your heart faileth not for fear, and your passions, still tranquil, remain undisturbed but by the obstacles which retard their gratification; ah! mistrust those who shall tell you that the Lord draweth nigh; that you will immediately find him in the sanctuary, I mean to say, in the participation of the sacrament, in those retired places to which you shall perhaps go to comfort him in the person of his afflicted members; who will be continually saying, " Lo, here is Christ fi believe them not; they are false prophets, saith Jesus Christ: no sign of his coming hath taken place within you; in vain you expect and presume; it is not in this manner that he will come; trouble and dread walk before him; and the soul who continues tranquil, and yet trusts, shall never be visited by him.
"Happy, therefore, is the man that feareth always:" he whose virtues do not entirely quiet him upon his eternal destiny, who trembles lest the imperfections mingled with his most laudable works not only destroy their whole merit before God, but even rank them among those which God shall punish on the day of his wrath. But what idea, will some one say to me, do you give us of the God we worship! An idea worthy of him, my brethren; and, in my second part, I shall prove to you, that false trust is injurious to him, and forms to itself the idea of a God, who is neither true, wise, just, nor even merciful.
Part II. — It is rather surprising, my brethren, that false trust should pretend to find even in religion motives which authorize it, and should mistake the most criminal of all dispositions, for a sentiment of salvation, and a fruit of faith and of grace. In effect, the
