PROFESSION OF THE CATITOLIf FAITH. 135 



joys of recovered unity; Aviiile, alas! many of us wlio, 

 zealous for tlie letter, have used it to stiile the spirit, 

 shall peradventure iind themselves shut out from the 

 kingdom of Ood, the fruits Avhereof thcv did nut hring 

 forth.* 



Go then, as a missionary of peace and light, to tlie 

 land whicli awaits you, the country whose moral future, 

 by an especial design of Providence, is almost entirely in 

 the hands of its women. You will have no occasion to 

 regret the absence of that opportunity of public preach- 

 ing from which your sex excludes you. You will speak 

 in tlie modest and persuasive eloquence of conversation, 

 you will speak by your person and your noble life, at 

 once free and submissive, humble and jet proud, austere 

 and tolerant, currying the love of God to the highest 

 aspirations, and the love of your neighbor to the gentlest 

 condescension. 



But I wish to define more particularly the special 

 character of your apostleship. Telling me the story of 

 your soul, with its hates and loves, you said, " I have 

 hated three things — slavery, the Catholic Church, and 

 immorality." Of these three hates but one remains. 

 Slavery no longer exists ; God has effiiced this mark of 

 Cain from the brow of your people with the baptism of 

 blood. And when you came to know the Catholic 

 Church, you changed your hatred into love. You have 

 espoused her in order to struggle more effectively with 

 her against this last enemy. Now, in the firm founda- 

 tion of its dogmas replacing the quicksand whereon 

 your uncertain feet have been treading, in the richness 

 of its sacraments substituted for the barrenness of your 

 w'orship, under the direction of its hierarchy, and in 

 the strength of its unity, you will combat the double 



* Matthew, xxi. 43. 



