SERMON 



Ox xnE OCCASION 01' THE Profession or Catholic 

 Faith, and the First Communion, of a converted 

 Protestant American Lady. 



I will eiug of the mercies of the Lord forever.'"— Psalm Isxxix. 1. 



My Sister in Jesus Christ : It is from you that I 

 have received the text and the subject of this exhorta- 

 tion. Overflowing with gratitude to Him who has 

 called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, 

 you have asked me to forget' this audience, to think 

 only of yourself and God, and to speak only of his 

 loving-kindness whicli has heen manifested in every 

 event of 3'our life. I consent to your request ; tind con- 

 sidering your life in the three divisions by which time 

 is measured, in simple truth and the devout confidence 

 of an overflowing heart, I will endeavor to speak of the 

 designs of God in 3'our past, 3'our present, and your 

 future. The history of Christian souls is the most 

 wonderful and yet the most occult of all histories. 

 The outward events which agitate society have their 

 inner meaning and ultimate reason only in this ; and 

 when we shall come to read it in its completeness in the 

 book of life, in the light of eternity, we shall find in it 

 the irrefutable justification of the providence of God 

 over human affairs, and the true title of the nobility of 

 our race, in the blood and the mercy of Christ. " We 

 shall sing of the mercies of the Lord forever." 



