Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/18

 old: "  they  have  gone  astray  because  there  is  not  one of  them  who  thinks — thinks  of  the  one  thing  worth thinking  about." The great  heart  of  God  as vainly  yearns  after  them  now  as  it  did  after the Israelites  when  He   said:  "Oh,  that  they would  be  wise  and  understand  and  provide  for their  last  end/'    In  all  that  throng  is  there  one single  thought  of  God  or  heaven,  of  religion  or  the soul?    You  hear  every  topic  discussed  but  these,  and if  perchance  you  hear  them  mentioned  at  all,  it  is  only one  poor  old  beggar  who  begs  an  alms  for  God's  sake and  invokes  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  the  giver; or,    more   frequently,    a   blasphemer    who  asks Christ  to  damn  his  brother's  soul  for  jostling him.    Talk  to  them  of  death  and  judgment,  heaven or  hell,  and,  if  they  do  you  no  bodily  injury, be  assured  they  will  laugh  at  you  as  a  fanatic and  a  madman.    Tell  them  of  the  saints  who gave  up  all  to  follow  Christ;  of  the  martyrs  who  were consistent  enough  to  purchase,  with  their  temporal lives, life  eternal— and  they  will  tell  you  that  that doctrine was  good  enough  for  the  Middle  Ages— those thoughts  suited  to  Sunday  only;  but  that  the week-day cares  of  this  practical  age  are  very  different and vastly  more  important. There is  a  stringency  in the  money  market,  for  example,  and  immediately  the whole country  is  intensely  interested;  but  the  selfsame people  look  on  with  unruffled  calmness  at  the daily spread  of  infidelity  and  the  hourly  ravages  of  immorality,   A  few  shiploads  of  gold  are  sent  abroad, and soon  return  in  answer  to  a  universal  cry  of  pro-