The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-08-02
THE SINS OF MEN SERVE 10 e1oRuY JESUS.

evil, from sin. The same is true OF the
glory of Jesus Christ; and thus is fur
nished another application of the law by
which God has associated to Himself Jesus
Christ in the rights He has over creatures.
Under no other respect, perhaps, does the
mission Of the divine Mediator so forcibly
exhibit the wisdom, goodness, justice, sane
| THY; in word, all the attributes of God.
Hence the name of Saciour, which expresses
this portion of His mission, has become
distinctive of Him. The mediator between
the culprit and his judge uses his endeav-
ors to obliterate the remembrance of the
crime which exposed the offender to the
merited vengeance of his judge. Even
had we not sinned, our Mediator would
have had q great mission to fulfil in our
regard !; but now that we have sinned, His
whole mission is summed up in the expia-
ton and PREPARATION of our fault. All His
efforts are directed to that purpose, in it's
accomplishment. He exhausts His power
and His skill. 1t is His masterpiece; SO
be the cost what it may, it must be worthy
of His divine hand.
We have seen that evil may glorify cd
in two ways; either by the voluntary re-
pentance of the sinner to whom pardon is
given; or by the punishment of the criminal
who refuses to accept of pardon. In the
first case, it is the mercy of God which
trumphs over sin in the second, it is His
Justice; both triumphs are equally glorious
to Him. Thus far all is clear to our reason
but, what it would never OF itself have
imagined, what the most perfect intelH-
gcnces would never have suspected, is the
method of causing both mercy and justice
to triumph together in the reparation of
the same fault. Infiicting on that fault
punishment incomparably more severe than
all the torments of hell, and still, at the
same time, pardoning it with bounty in
'mparably more generous than II 1t had
been forgotten Immediately on its commits
sinn ,sfo hot ha
and the fault that perfect equilibrium which
immutable Justice would vainly seek for
in the endless ages of an unhappy eternity:
and yet while the chastisement descends
to the level of an infinite evil, it procures
the guilty one an infinite dignity, an in
finite happiness.
Infinite justice has been abundantly
satisfied by the death of the Son of God
this is a truth that admits of no doubt.
The great disorder of sin consisted in this,
that man, ~ mere nothing, had dared to
revolt from his Creator, and to deny His
rights as mans last end. Man owed God
obedience, and this obedience he refused.
Praise was replaced by outrage, love by
indifference-an infinite good was bartered
for 4 fleeing pleasure--The enormity of
the offense is measured by the dignity of
the person offended, whereas the repara-
ton is proportional to the merit of him
who repairs man, who is nothing, could
never have repaired the injury he had
offered to God. AS man He can suffer, as
God He can impart to the slightest suffer
ing of His humanity an infinite value. Sin
is then abundantly repaired. The majesty
of the law has been violated by the de-
iiberate disobedience Of man, the slime of
the earth but with what magnifcence was
it not avenged in the willing obedience of
the Goldman! The infinite goodness of
God was outraged when a momentary gra-
preferred to it, but 1t was
gloriously vindicated when Christ, having
Joy and ignoniny presented to Him, chose
the cross as the means more agreeable to
His Father. What are all the torrents of
hell compared to the expiration Of a God
fest His natural hatred for sin more than
when He SO pitilessly punished it in the
person of the Saint of saints.
But at the same time Gods mercy shines
forth with unparalleled splendor, and both
His mercy and His justice triumph to.
to expiate their sins with Him. If they
accept this invitation, His satisfaction, of
itself infinitely abundant, has the power
not only of etiacing crime but also of ac-
curing merit. The most abandoned sim
ner may therefore, by means of a slight
suffering united by love to the snferings
of His Redeemer, obtain the pardon of his
sins and the graces necessary to make him
a great saint. A Magdalen may in a mo-
ment become the sister of Angels, and b. T
sins, which but this instant were as brands
of hell upon her head, become the title of
her gratitude and the food of her love.
More than this: these very sins will be to
the merciful Saviour Who pardons them SO
many pearls of glory, and the repentant
sinner may justly fatter himself that he
has added as many gems to the diadem of
the Son, as he has committed outrages
against the Father The outrage has been !
cancelled, but the glory resulting from its
expiration shall shine forever on the brow
of Jesus. Hear the Saviour Himself; the |
Pharisees reproach Him for the goodness
which sought out the most wretched and
He answers: They that are in
health need not physician, but they
that are sick-I-ait1- come to call the. |
just, but sinners" 1t was as if He had |
said that His whole mission on earth was
to destroy sin. but at the same time IN u all |