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III. Belief of Transubstantiation, from Fathers, Couucils, and

V. Ceremonies of the Mass, First Part. 97 VI. Ceremonies of the Mass, Second

VII. Summary of the foregoing Sermons-Use of the Latin tongue. 145

VIII. Review of Protestant Pam

OF

THE REV. RICHARD HAYES.

ST. PATRICK, APOSTLE OF IRELAND.

Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him.

Isaias, c. li, v. 1, 2,

Of all the means, my brethren, which the Eternal Lover of our souls employs, to remind us of our duty, and awaken our hearts to a due sense of his blessings; of all the motives, which in the ordinary course of his Providence, he presses upon his people, with a view to detach their affections from the present transitory things of earth, and engage them in the pursuit of future and lasting joys; there is not one, so constantly or so strongly marked in Scripture; there is not one that fills so many of his inspired pages, or draws such pathetic appeals from the mouths of his prophets; as that perpetual recurrence to the "days of old," when he displayed the wonders of his mercy to our forefathers, and committed to their charge the sacred deposit of his divine religion, to be faithfully handed down to their latest posterity.

But, if the great law-giver of the ancient covenant cries out to the people of God, Deut. xxxii; "Remember the days of old; think upon every generation. Ask thy father, and he will declare to thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee."-If the enraptured Psalmist exclaims, Ps. lxxviii, "How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us! They have not been hidden from their children in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done."-If the Prophet Isaias, the most eloquent tongue of the Holy Spirit, trumpets forth to the sons of Juda, in the words of my text, Is. li; "Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock, whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from 'which you are dug out. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you : for I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him."-If the Lord himself, when delivering to Moses his divine commission, commands him thus to address the children of Israel, Ex. iii; "The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath sent me to you: This is my name for ever, saith the Lord, and this is my memorial unto all generations." If the Omnipotent Monarch of heaven and earth, in whose sight, Is. xl; "All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field;" if He condescended to choose for his eternal name, to be called the "God of his servants," that his favourite people might thus for ever have before their eyes, the mighty blessings he had conferred upon their fathers, and in

their conduct find the living models of their own gratitude and duty. If the Lord, throughout the whole of his sacred Scriptures, never ceases thus to remind his people of their sainted ancestors

With what justice and propriety may not I too, in the person of the Divine Author of their faith and redemption, cry out this day to the People of Ireland, "Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock from whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit, from which you are dug out. Look unto PATRICK your father, and to the CATHOLIC CHURCH, who bore you: for I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him.-1, who am Christ the rock of salvation, "called" him to be the Apostle of your Island; to bring your fathers out of the house of bondage; sitting, as they had been for so many ages, "in the darkness and the shade of death," under the shrines of their Druidish superstition. I sent my servant Pa trick to evangelizę to them my will; to teach them my holy Gospel; to lead them into the way of liberty, light and peace. I "blessed" his labours, and multiplied" their fruits. For, through him, haye I regenerated you by grace unto my Heavenly Father; through him, have I enclosed you within the pale of my holy Spouse the Church; and, from being the habitation of demons-the haunt of every unclean spirit-have I converted your country into a Paradise of virtue-into an Island of Saints. And, though the corruption of your hearts, and the decay of time, have cooled the first fervor of that spirit, which Patrick breathed into your forefathers; though the demon of foreign infide

lity and sacrilege hath broken down the fences, and torn up the altars of your sanctuaries; still, through every difficulty and danger; through the loss of power, privilege, property and life; through famine, carnage, persecution and insult, have I preserved you for my own sake, and for the sake of Patrick my servant, stedfast in that faith, which I once delivered to my saints; and, after the lapse of fourteen centuries, I exhibit you this day to the world, the most singularly faithful nation, that ever received the sound of that Gospel, which I sent forth to the ends of the earth. Give ear to me, then, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto Patrick your father, and to the Catholic Church who bore you. For I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him."

Shall we not, my brethren, hear the voice of our Redeemer in these words of his prophet? Or shall' the children of Erin be as deaf and ungrateful to the God of Patrick, as those of Israel were to the God of Abraham? Give ear to me, then, all you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord. You, first, if any such now hear me, who have departed from the ancient faith, and who, in the consciousness of your apostacy, dare no longer to glory in the name of Ireland's apostle; look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto your father Patrick, and to the Church that bore you; look, and see, that the novelties of latter times are not the doctrine which he taught your Pagan Ancestors.