but vexation of spirit. In the beginning, man's animal passions were as a mighty fire just sprung and raging fiercely, but God subdued them by the waters of the Deluge and tempered them still more since by the waters of Baptism. The devil's powers, too, have been curtailed since the woman Mary crushed the serpent's head, and her divine Son placed at our disposal the means of repelling him. In fine, the way to heaven has been made so smooth by the feet of innumerable saints; so easily traced, deeply dyed as it is with the blood of Christ and the martyrs; and the end has been shown so clear to our view, that the wonder is how, how we can possibly stray from that path; how we can have a single thought but for God and the soul; a single aspiration but one — to " dwell all our days in the house of the Lord."
Brethren, know that it is now the hour for us to rise from the sleep of sin — now, next week, this Advent. And first, you poor soul given to many and serious habits of sin, in God's name cast off now the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Walk honestly, as in the day; thinking nothing, desiring nothing, saying or doing nothing you would be ashamed to exhibit to the world in broad daylight. Free your soul, for good and all, from those sins of drunkenness and impurity, contention and envy. Make it so pure against the coming of your Lord that it will not quail even before the search-light of God's omniscience. In short, in the words of St. Paul, strip yourselves of the old man with his deeds and put on the new; viz., the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, you
