The Son of God came into the world to redeem all who were lost. But do children profit by His abundant redemption? Do they draw from the source of graces that are open to all? Will they be marked with the seal of Divine Adoption, and be nourished with His own Flesh in the Sacrament of His love? Will they be counted, in the course of their career, among the number of His faithful disciples, or among the enemies of His law? Will they one day be admitted into His kingdom? Will they be excluded? Is it heaven or hell that will be their lot for all eternity? It is we priests, and almost we only, that are expected to solve these problems. Children are the noblest portion of the flock that is confided to our care. Their fate is in our hands. If our zeal is not active in their salvation, Jesus will lose, in them, the fruit of His sufferings and death. How many are deprived forever of the sight and possession of God, because they have not received a good Catholic education. Who is to blame? Has the pastor sufficiently instructed, warned, and watched over them? How many lose their baptismal innocence almost as soon as they are capable of losing it, grow up in vicious habits, grow old in sin, and die impenitent at last, because they were neglected in early youth, were not subjected to the amiable yoke of virtue! "Bonum est viro, cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia suâ."--(Thren. iii. 27.) If the first years of life are pure, they often sanctify all the after life; but if the roots of the tree are rotten and dead, the branches will not be more healthy. "Adolescentes, cum semel à malitiâ fuerint occupati, quasi incaptivitatem essent adducti, quoquo diabolus jusserit eunt."--(S. Chrys. Hom. 19 in Gen.) Education is the mould in which a man's moral, intellectual, and religious character is formed. Man will become, in his old age, what education made him in his youth. "Adolescens juxta viam suam, etiam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea."--(Prov. xxii. 6.) All is a snare and seduction for youth. If the fear of God, the horror of evil, the maxims of religion, are not profoundly engraven in the soul, what is to protect young people from their passions? What can be expected of a young man who has never heard of the happiness of virtue, the hopes of the future life, and the blessings or the woes of eternity? Now who will give the Christian education, if not the pastor? Can we rely on the parents? on Sunday-school teachers? Oh, priests! we are almost the only resource of these poor children. Can we, knowing, as we do, how much Jesus Christ loves them, can we, I say, resign ourselves to leaving them in their misery? "The kings of the earth have their favorites," said St. Augustine. The favorites of Jesus Christ are innocent souls. What is more innocent than the heart of a child whom baptism has purified from original stain, and who has not, as yet, contracted the stain of actual sin? This heart is the sanctuary of the Holy Ghost. Who can tell with