enduring them, the present existence would be rather a misfortune than a blessing. Nor can the little glimpse of worldly comfort, and comparative happiness, which is now and then vouchsafed, remunerate him sufliciently for a greater portion of disquietude and anguish, since every worldly enjoyment is accompanied by the conviction, that it is fleeting and illusory. It is only the Hope of a glorious futurity, after the little struggle of the day of this life is over, that can supply an adequate motive for patience under the ills of life as well as perseverance in the combat with those passions, which are so frequently the sources of remorse and anguish. When, however, he raises his thoughts above this world, and calls to mind the promises of the God of all goodness, when he reflects upon the unbounded mercy of Him who is all-powerful to fulfil those promises, he rejects, as insufficient, that stoicism with which false philosophy pretends to brave misfortune, and armed with a surer and a holier motive works out the time of his probation in view of a heavenly recompense.

Indeed, in contemplating the lives and conduct of the early christians, 'we would be at a loss to account for that indifference to suffering, nay that ardour for all that is painful, unless we were to refer it to that firm reliance upon the promises of God, that heavenly virtue, Hope, which taught them to look upon all things in this world as mere means of arriving at what they looked upon as alone deserving the name of happiness. We find, however, that in this confidence, there was nothing of presumption. On the contrary, it was an humble confidence which animated them, a deep conviction of their own unworthiness, a constant watchfulness over themselves, and a fear of offending that great Being, in whom their hope was centered. Nor did the weight of the heaviest misfortunes, the bitterness of the severest afflictions, the continuance of the hardest trials cause them to fall into that dreadful despair which puts the seal upon man's reprobation. The Church of Christ had ever thought that the treasury of divine mercy was open to the most wretched sinners, and that presumption and despair were the two extremes to be avoided in seeking to profit by that mercy. The same precious gift of Hope, has been handed down to us by that holy mother; and taught, and guided by her, we still pronounce, or at least, should pronounce, every day of our lives, that act of confidence in, and reliance upon the mercies of God; "O, my God! relying upon thy goodness and promises, I hope to obtain the pardon of my sins, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer."

That the modern changes in religion have contributed much to degrade this virtue, will, I think be evident to every reflecting mind. Substituting a confidence in self, to confidence in God, extolling at every moment a fatal independence in thought and action, those changes have opened the door to the greatest disorders, and promoted a presumption, on one hand, and that despair on the other, so widely at variance with the humility taught us in the gospel.. Without referring to the intolerable presumption, exemplified in the conduct and inculcated in the doctrines of the modern reformers, we have only to look

around us and to notice what is daily passing, to be convinced of the alarming height to which this spiritual pride has attained. We can scarcely take up a religious newspaper, without meeting, with glaring evidences of this fact. The records of mortality, which of all other records should be couched in terms of humility and diffidence, are scarcely more than the records of human pride and presumption. Instead of evincing an humble trust in the mercy of that great Being, who is to judge both our crimes and our virtues, they serve to communicate the triumph over all the obstacles which impede the narrow road to heaven and resemble more a heathen apotheosis, than a christian obituary. How often have the shafts of ridicule been hurled by the adversaries of the Catholic Church, on account of her prudent and long continued investigations before awarding the crown of heroical virtue to those of her members who have departed this life, with the reputation of superior sanctity. Although Protestants who had the happiness to be witnesses of such investigations, have found in them a sufficient motive to renounce their error and to return to the Church of all ages and every nation, the prejudice still continues as permanent, as unreasonable as ever, and our Church is deemed presumptuous for placing her children upon the list of the friends of God. Yet, the same men, who so loudly condemn the canonizing of our Saints, hesitate not to canonize, on their own puny judgment, on their own ipse dixit, men, whose only apparent merit consists in the presumption with which they rush into the presence of their Judge, the God of all justice.

It is true that the inflated eulogiums, the bombastic panegyrics which follow the demise of a pious member of some of the various sects which distinguish modern religion, can do no harm to the departed soul. But the evil consequences upon the living are beyond calculation. An humble hope and reliance on God becomes obsolete, and, in its place, has been enthroned a presumption and self-righteousness not distinguished from that of the pharisee, whose conduct is so strongly contrasted by our divine Redeemer, with that of the humble publican in the Gospel.

But who, without profound grief, can look at the other side of the picture, to behold the dreadful ravages of despair? Who can take up, unmoved, the records of daily crime, and contemplate the rapid pace at which suicide has advanced, within our own day? Whether it owe its origin to the mawkish sentimentality of young France, or the moral cowardice which shrinks from the patient endurance of the ills of life, it is alike evident that its subjects have lived here without Hope-without God. In the perpetration of this horrid crime, presumption and despair meet in embrace. Presumption, urging its victim to rush, with a black catalogue of unpardoned crimes, into the awful presence of its offended God; despair, diffiding in promised aid from above, to enable it to stem the torrent of affliction, puts the seal to his reprobation. It is historically true, that the crimes of presumption and despair have incalculably multiplied, since the yoke of authority has been thrown off, since perfect

independence of all spiritual guidance has become the fashionable doctrine; and it is also a fact worthy of remark, that the faithful child of the Catholic church finds in the divine hope instilled into him by that tender Mother, a sure preservative against those, too often, successful enemies of salvation.

BERNARD.

REMEMBER THOU MUST DIE.

I.

What is Ambition's hope to me?

What were a glorious name?
What would it profit me to be
First in the lists of Fame?
There is another voice I hear,
Each hour that passes by;
It harps forever on my ear-
REMEMBER THOU MUST DIE!

II.

I've gaz'd aloft upon the Star
That heroes glory in,

And sometimes deem'd it not too far

For even me to win;

But when to tread Fame's slipp'ry track

Ambition bade me try,

This thought forever held me back-
REMEMBER THOU MUST DIE!

III.

I've thought upon the charms of Gold,
And fancied it were sweet,

Its smiling treasures to behold

All shining at my feet;

But when I look'd upon my hordes,
Although my heart beat high,

I still could hear those burning words-
REMEMBER THOU MUST DIE!

IV.

I've tried the cup of Pleasure too,
And drain'd it to the lees;

But found, as all must find it, true,

That Pleasure cannot please:

Her sparkling bowl seem'd sweet awhile,

But soon the fount went dry,

And then I heard with bitter smile

REMEMBER THOU MUST DIE!

CONSEQUENCES OF SCHISM.

(Translated for the Catholic Cabinet from the German of F. Geiger.)

The last effect of a separation from the Catholic Church, when carried out to its full extent, and developed in all its consequences, is BARBARISM—a state from which the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church alone, has rescued the world. That consequence is the natural and necessary effect of schism, and all history attests the fact.

A schism chiefly occurs when a person or community rejects the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, and withdraws from obedience to him in spiritual aflairs. Separated from this head, men cease to belong to the Catholic Church. Christ has built his Church on Peter, (who fixed his See at Rome, the centre of the then known world) and on his successors. The See of Peter is the

keystone which holds together in unity the Church built for all nations-it is the rock on which rests the whole Church of Jesus Christ on earth. Whoever separates from the foundation of a house is thereby separated from the house itself. St. Cyprian, the celebrated Father of the third century, in his book de unitate Ecclesiæ, says, whoever separates from the See of Rome, is no longer a member of the Church.

When one separates from the rock of Rome, and draws to himself a party, who proceed to choose their own Superiors, Bishops, &c., these become a church detached and foreign from the Rock-one that can have no solidity, since men can lay no other foundation than that which Christ has laid (1. Cor. iii. 11.) Hence it is that during the eighteen centuries of Christianity so many schismatical establishments have perished. The Bishops who side with these schisms, severed from the central See of Rome, are in a dismembered condition, without union, without superiors, without protection-and, as all history attests, they finally fall into the grasp of secular power. The schismatical Russian church in its infancy had its own Patriarch; the Emperor removed him, and established in his stead a Synod, consisting of ecclesiastical and civil members, of which he himself is the President.

When England renounced the supremacy of the Pope, her bishops and clergy quietly fell under the civil power of that blood-thirsty tyrant, Henry VIII., and such of them as refused obedience to his caprices he drove into exile, burnt at the stake, or beheaded on the scaffold. Those who throw off the au

thority of the Keys, seldom escape the power of the Sword.

Whenever a Religion, or a Church teaching religion, comes under the control of political power, that moment it parts with its dignity, and becomes an object of suspicion in the public eye; for people are ever prone to look on government with distrust, and particularly so when it goes beyond its legitimate functions to meddle with those of religion. This sort of government always, and necessarily, begets an insensibility in the public mind, and thus religious belief is banished. In this state men comply with ecclesiastical enactments from compulsion, and only do so whilst the compulsion lasts; for the secular power never can control the hearts of a people, nor ever produce a true and cordial submission to religious authority. Do we not see that in Enggland the church establishment, composed of heterogeneous materials, is looked upon coldly, and even contemptuously, by many of the most sensible men in the land? It is the same in every Protestant country, where they endeavour, by means of new formulas and rituals, to re-animate the bones of worn-out and gasping heresies. These formulas are issued like other decrees of State, and meet with the same reception. Some resent and resist them as religious innovations, others turn them into ridicule, and laugh at them as ebullitions of politico-pietism.

Separated from the centre of Ecclesiastical unity, and subject to a temporal sovereign, Religion has this ordeal to undergo, namely, a constant change in