them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn, that is, than to be consumed by unlawful desires, or to gratify unlawful passion.

This however is not to be understood as protestants explain it, of those who are consecrated to Almighty God, either by entering upon his ministry, or by religious vows; for if these employ the proper means God will enable them to preserve their first vows by which they became espoused to him. The fathers of the reformation, who began by a violation of religious vows, endeavoured to justify their defection from these solemn engagements previously made to God, by the authority of St. Paul in this passage, but they have corrupted the passage to serve their purpose, translating it in their testaments, if they CANNOT contain themselves, whereas in the original it is, if they Do not contain themselves, ειδεουκ έγκρα τενονται. The apostle does not here admit the impossibility of leading a life of continence, or he would contradict himself, having in the preceding verse recommended to the unmarried and to widows, to continue single; exhorting to the same effect in a following verse, where he declares that the married are led to a solicitude for the things of the world, whereas, the unmarried and the virgin, he expressly asserts, thinketh on the things of the Lord,

that she may be holy both in body and in spirit ; v. 34 and 38 he says, he that giveth his virgin, &c. But in every lawful state of life it is possible to serve God, and the state of lawful matrimony affords no just excuse for neglecting this holy institution, for remaining at a distance from this great supper, which may be made the means of supporting the troubles of life with due resignation, and of drawing off the affections from what is terrestrial, to the things that are of God and to God himself. None of these excuses will be admitted, nor will they be heard, who attempt to justify their negligence, by a pretended respect for these august mysteries, by alleging their great unworthi

ness.

It is true our respect for this great sacrament cannot be too great, but it should be a respect conformable to the intentions of Jesus Christ. It is not by your absenting yourselves, that he will consider himself as honored, since he commands you to come, but by the dispositions which you bring with you; and when you have endeavoured, according to your best ability, to acquire these dispositions, if you do not give him all the honor which is his due, you give him at least what is in your power; you obey his law. It is a false respect which keeps you away, a respect, if it can be so called, which is displeas

.

ing to God, which is injurious to yourselves, as you well know; for, surely you do not flatter yourselves that you are practising humility, by keeping at a distance from your loving and condescending Saviour: the pretext of unworthiness should not satisfy your consciences, and withdraw you from the holy table. I do not mean that notwithstanding the state of sin in which you live, you should eat the body of the Lord and drink his blood. God forbid that I should seem to authorize such a profanation! and wo to that man who should thus commit so criminal an abuse of this most sacred institution, this most august of our mysteries! but my meaning is, that if under the color of your unworthiness, you resolve to abstain from the holy sacrament, because your lives are not sufficiently regular or exemplary, instead of resolving, as you ought to resolve, to reform your lives and renounce your evil habits; that if because you sin, you conceive yourselves dispensed from the obligations of receiving the blessed Eucharist, instead of concluding that sin is to be forsaken and repented of, that you may not deprive yourselves of the inestimable advantages to be derived from it; your pretext of unworthiness is fallacious and null. Say not, my life is such as to make me unfit to receive the God of holiness, therefore do I

bid adieu to the holy sacrament; but since my present conduct debars me from this life-giving food, this heavenly feast, I will reform my conduct. The pretext that persons are unworthy to receive the holy communion, means no more than that they cannot prevail upon themselves to abandon sin, and that they are not yet so lost to faith as well as to virtue, as to presume to harbour the God of all sanctity in their polluted breasts and this pretext, which begins with the sacrament of the altar, is gradually extended to all the several acts of religion. The word of God is not heard, because, say they, it is to no purpose to hear God's word, without a desire to profit by it; the homage of praise and thanksgiving is not offered to the Almighty, because the praises of the Lord ought not to proceed from the lips of a sinner, who is hardened in iniquity; the sacrament of penance, that source of grace and comfort to penitent sinners, is forsaken; for why should we approach to a sacrament of which we are unworthy; the duty of prayer, and even the assistance at the holy sacrifice, and attendance at the temple of the Most High, are resigned upon the plea of unworthiness; and thus every exterior succour is cut off, and a kind of voluntary self-excommunication is submitted to upon a

false principle of respect and of pride, decorating itself with the vesture of humility.

I have dwelt longer on these false pretexts, which serve to keep persons from the fountain of life, than I either expected or intended: that which I had proposed to treat, in the subsequent part of my discourse, must be reserved for some other occasion. Let me conclude by earnestly exhorting you to know your own interest and happiness, to endeavour to obviate the obstacles which stand in your way and prevent your approach to Jesus Christ, not to adduce them as excuses for your neglect. Go then to your God with trembling step, conscious of your unworthiness, as sinful creatures; but let a well founded confidence in his mercies bear you to the foot of his altar, and embolden you to receive him. Were we to deny support to our bodies, we should justly deem ourselves guilty of suicide; Christ has declared that except we eat, &c. Shall we then acquit ourselves of equal, or even greater guilt, when we refuse to our souls that nourishment which is necessary to their life? Without this food, our souls must perish; and if it be a great crime to receive the Lord of heaven unworthily, it is no less certain death to stay away from these divine mysteries, in which we