The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-17
CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER.


s. 1.-THE Parable Of the Scattered
Seed-A Practical Discourse On the
Functions OF Conscience.
At the principal or high mass yesterday In the
Church OF St. Francis Xavier the Rev. Father
Cezeau, s. j., preached the sermon, taking for his
text the Gospel OF the day-Luke viii, 8 and Is.
This Gospel contains the parable related by the
Divine Redeemer Of the sower who scattered seed,
some OF which fell by the roadside, some on rocky
ground, some among thorns, and then some on
good ground. He said the sower spoken of in
the Gospel is God himself and although He is ON
npotent yet 1t is literally true that He came to
we could not go to Him, for Adams sin had made
an impossible abyss between Him and us. 'The
Word was made fesh," and the Son Of God was
soon conversing with men. The seed Is the eternal
truth, which comes from God and is given to us in
His divine and incompatible Gospel. The field is
the world at large and the souls OF human beings.
1t was not the fault OF the that the seed did
not all fall on good ground for surely no husband.
man would expect to reap harvest from rocks or
thorny grounds. Christ spoke to the multitude in
simtudes. The Gospel does not say that the
sower Intentionally scattered the seed by the way
side, or on the rocks, or among the thornsit fell
on them. 1t is not given to all to understand the
kingdom of God, but only to those who, like the
disciples, gathered around the Divine Redecmer
and inquired from Him the meaning Of
His words. Oh may our Saviour himself
unfold to us this mystery, and may our
hearts be found to be good ground. In the natural
order Of things it cannot be that by the material
seed alone be made fruitful soil OF stony land.
1t is made ITSELF and in order to nourish the seed it
must suck the juices from the earth. When the
Word OF God tails on hardened heart 1t has the
power TO change the condition OF that heart. The
Word is God, is eternal as He who utters it, 1t
q ha
liie," said Christ. 'Men do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth
TwoEDGED SWORD,
and II it does not change the heart IL Is not be-
cause 1t Is powerless, but because we, as free
agents, have Ii in our power to resist its influence
and destroy its saving effects. The eternal law OF
God ought TO regulate our minds; but the law OF
God must be applied TO each man, and this appli-
cation, says st, Thomas, is to the consciences Of
men, and conscience. according to st. Bernard, is
the science OF the heart. For the Word to produce
saving enects depends great deal on the hearts,
law the interior is the conscience.
CONSCIENCE
is that interior light which points out the morality
and what is not allowed; which tells what should
be done and what should not be done-it
Is the practical Judgment OF our daily lives;
causes the rays of His Infinite wisdom TO
shine on our hearts and the beams of His eternal
justice to illumine our reason. Conscience is that
which possesses those innate principles OF justice,
righteousness and purity the light OF which can
not be put out altogether Console nee is the word
OF Cod rebuIing man when he ofrends the Infinite
majesty OF God, and hing his heart with heavenly
pleasure when he complies with Gods command
ments. Conscience stands before the soul as the
tribunal from which II cannot appeal-belere which
man must give an account OF his words and
faults they may possess; 1t censures them for their
nckleness, their want OF fidelity; 1t scourges the
sinner with the sins which he has committed and
causes him to blush, and when conscience
sentences sinner neither
MONEY, FRIENDS NOR INFLUENCE CAN BRIBE
Its impartial justice. The sentence pronounced is
the dread. irrevocabe sentence OF Almighty God.
Conscience Furnishes the sinner once condemned.
II places dark CHASTITY spectres before him; with
fright II surrounds him; 1t reprimands and lashes
his soul even as hounds pursue; and whether I'm
the whirl OF the word or the silence OF solitude,
OF the family, 1t makes the life OF the sinner living
he'll, The Pagan philosopher was right when he
sinned and the Pagans always portrayed sin as
vulture preying on the ever reviving entrails Of
The first man before he sinped knew not what IL
was 10 piush. But when he committed the first sin
ne blushed, he began to tremble, he tried TO hide
himself There were no witnesses to his guilt God
had not yet spoken to him, and why, therefore
should he blush and try TO hide himself where there
t was NOBODY TO see him Because he accused
weight oppressed h,m-the weight of remOrse.
And for
let rs thank God. How many sinners have been
recalled who could net find peace or quietness
until tney nau unDurdened their hearts OF the
weights which oppressed them God does not
wish the death OF sinner, but rather that he be
and i've IL Is true sign of damnation
when person lives In sin and feels not remorse
Of conscience. when sickness has reached such a
stage as to- defy the efforts OF medical art; when
the case is hopeless and death already seizes its
prey, are they not to be pttsd who try to stine
morse OF conscience Like Cato, they are stamped
nth the mark OF Gods wrath and vengeance
fen commit sins Of inju stice, Of drunkenness, OF
mpurity; they make q practice OF cursng and
disappearing for whole years, and II one Of them
,e questioned he will say, my conscience does not
roubie me; my mind IL at peacev Peace peace
THERE ~ NO PEACE"
OF the wicked,n says the Gospel, "thc ways OF
'caCc tncy have not knOVD.U and WOuld take The