The Irish standard., 1902-11-01

Israel" In word our liberty is
weapon with which, like Saul, we will
intiict deadly wound upon ourselves,
or it is sword with which, like Mi
chael the Archangel, we can conquer
the Internal enemy and win our way
to heaven.
How are we to exercise our moral
freedom? We should employ it in re-
sisting temptation and our vicious ill.,
clinations; we should be as free,' says
st. Paul, and not as making liberty
a cloak for malice, but as the servants
of Cod to whom to serve is 10 rel.,..
AND 81. l'aul says tnat we are the SER
wants of him whom We ooey, whether
it be God or Satan. 'Whosoever,' says
our Lord, 'committeth SIN is the slave
OF sim
What degradation 10 fall from the
sublime estate Of free-born children of
God to the slaves of Satan! What a
humiliation to cease to be heirs in our
Heavenly Fathers house and to be-
come like the prodigal son, the hire
lings OF heartless task master!
Man when he was in honor did not
understand. He is compared to sense
less beasts and is become like unto
them.'
"Our Savior told the Jews that the
knowledge and practice Of his precepts
would secure for them true freedom.
The Jews were indignant that their
freedom should be called in question
We are the seed of Abraham they
exclaimed, and have never been slaves
to any man. But our Lord replied
that though Children Of .Ab. ham they
We're i'll bondage as long as they We're
in sin. Amen, l say TO you; whose
ever committeth sin is the slave of SIM
"Do not Americans sometimes talk
in this way? We are free-born citi-
i. zens and yield to no despotic power;
I, but what will it profit us to enjoy the
blessings of civil freedom it we do not
enjoy the glorious liberty of children
of God, by which we are rescued from
| anu SSlll Ou Slus
what will it avail us to he recog-
nized in the public walk of life as free
i and independent citizens if in the arti-
Gle of our own family and in the sane
;, tuary Of our own hearts we are lashel
as slaves by the man Of Sniff we are
slaves to IL petulant .emper, to lusts,
j, to intemperance, crime, vanglory-
- slaves 70 public opinion, The most ca
PRECIOUS of all tyrants?
"WhO possessed the greater liberty
i, Herod on his Throne or John in his
:. prison? Herod could move according
~ to his pleasure from place to place.
6 He enjoyed civil freedom; his will was
law to others; he had the power Of life
and death over his subjects. And yet
!, his soul was bound in the chains OF
Il unlawful attachment. Johns body
J. was confined in a dungeon, but his soul
, possessed an unrestrained freedom
:, through the kingdom of God that was
- within him.
y 1--WE should exercise our moral free.
II dom not only REFRESHING temptation
but also in pursuit Of virtue and par
d ticularly by an entire conformity tt
j. the will Of God. We should study
J. and prove what is the good and ac
J. ceptable and the perfect will Of God.
II The perfection of sanctity consists il
# the love Of God, for love-, says the
| In sie,f no f,,1f11irr nf thn Ia wv
J. and the perfection of the love of Goo
consists in an absolute conformity tx
IL His Holy will. Union Of heart, O
If sentiment and Of will-this is the clos
V, est bond that can exist between TIL
9. Creator and the creature.
ut Jesus Christ is the highest ideal O
k. Christian perfection. He is the wa.
H. and the truth and the light He cam
~ to teach us by word and by example
Now, if there is any one virtue tina
our Savior inculcates more forcibl
than an other, it is this: That on
heart and will should be III harmon
with Gods will. 1 came down frol
~ heaven He says, I came not to d
NV own will, but the will Of Hill
'e- that sent Me, that I may finish II
le- work. My work is to do the will {
LIS Him that sent Me-
Tie What our Lord practices L
llu breaches to us. lie tells us that thong
we had prophcsied, or worked miracle
us in His name, though we converted II
lse tons, He will know us not, If OF
'uf hearts and affections are estrangt
from God. He tells us that the ha
r'e mony of our will with the will
lhe God will unlock the golden gate
KIT heavenly Jerusalem and administer t
e. fellowship of the children Of God, al
oa in exhorting us to make the will
els God the supreme ruler of our actio
'oo our Lord is echong the voice Of ii
l''h eternal Father.
rec "'My son. says Almighty God, 'gi
me thy heart He does not say 81
~ me thy riches, or thy lands, or thy pc
sui sessions, for these belong to Him
III ready. The earth is the Lords a
SEQ the fulncss thereof, the world and
de- that dwell therein He does not s;l
ltlS .Nr,. ,,,,, r;x-o tho corvipo of th\- bod