CONCLUSION

To sum up this whole instruction in a few words, we invite you, O. D. B. B., to conduct yourselves, during this election, with such prudence, moderation, truth, sobriety, justice and charity, that your conscience may afterwards reproach you nothing. Our Lord asks : What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul (St. Matt. XVI. 26) ? What will it profit you, O. D. B. B., to have gained an election through illicit means, fraud, falsehood, violence, corruption ? All sin, says the Apostle St. Paul, ends in death, #nës é//orum mors. . .the wages of sin, is death, stipendia peccati mors (Rom. VI. 21, 23). By faithfully following the advice we have just given you, you shall avoid much remorse, procure the happiness of your families, the honor of your parish and county, and the

120 se :

prosperity of the whole country. God elections make good members ; good members make good laws, and good laws make the happiness of a people.

(May 25th 1876.)