Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/128

 mercies: and  we,  charged  with  a  multiplicity  of  cares;  we,  in  the midst of  the  solicitudes  and  the  engagements  of  the  age,  which  absorb almost  all  our  days  and  our  moments;  we,  responsible  to  our relations, to  our  children,  to  our  friends,  to  our  inferiors,  to  our superiors, to  our  stations,  to  our  country,  for  such  an  infinity  of duties, — we  still  find  a  void  in  our  life;  and  the  little  which  remains to  us,  we  think  too  long  to  be  employed  in  serving  and blessing thy  holy  name!

But we  are  happy,  you  say,  when  we  know  how  to  amuse  ourselves, and  innocently  to  pass  away  the  time. But how  do  you know that  your  course  is  not  already  run,  and  that  you  do  not  perhaps touch  the  fatal  moment  which  commences  your  eternity? Does your  time  belong  to  you,  to  be  disposed  of  as  you  please? Time itself  passes  away  so  soon;  and  are  so  many  amusements necessary to  assist  it  in  passing  still  more  rapidly?

But is  time  given  to  you  for  nothing  serious,  great,  and  eternal; nothing worthy  of  the  elevation  and  destiny  of  man? And the Christian and  inheritor  of  heaven,  is  he  upon  the  earth  only  to amuse  himself?

But are  there  not,  you  say,  many  innocent  recreations  in  life? I grant there  are  many:  bat  recreations  suppose  pains  and  cares, which have  preceded  them;  while  your  whole  life  is  one  continued recreation. Recreations are  permitted  to  those  who,  after  fulfilling their duties,  are  under  the  necessity  of  affording  some  moments  of relaxation  to  the  weakness  of  human  nature:  but  you,  if  you  have occasion for  relaxation,  it  is  from  the  continuance  of  your  pleasures, and even  what  you  call  your  recreations:  it  is  from  the  rage  of  inordinate gaming,  of  which  the  duration  and  earnest  attention necessary, besides  the  loss  of  time,  render  you  incapable,  on  quitting it,  of  application  to  any  other  duty  of  your  station. What recreation can  you  find  m  a  lawless  and  boundless  passion,  which occupies almost  your  whoie  life,  ruins  your  health,  deranges  your fortune, and  renders  you  the  continual  sport  of  a  miserable  chance? And is  it  not  with  such  characters  that  we  find  neither  order,  rule, nor discipline? All serious  duties  forgotten;  disorderly  servants; children miserably  educated;  affairs  declining;  and  public  scorn and contempt  attached  to  their  names  and  their  unfortunate  posterity? The passion  of  gaming  is  almost  never  unaccompanied; and to  those  of  one  sex  especially,  is  always  the  source  or  the  occasion of  all  the  others. These are  the  recreations  you  believe innocent, and  necessary  to  fill  up  the  empty  moments  of  the  day.

Ah! my brethren,  how  many  of  the  reprobate,  in  the  midst  of their  anguish  and  punishments,  entreat  from  the  mercy  of  God only one  of  those  moments  which  we  know  not  how  to  employ! and, could  their  request  be  granted,  what  use  would  they  not  make of that  precious  moment! How many  tears  of  compunction  and penitence! How many  prayers  and  supplications,  to  soften  the Father of  mercies,  and  to  induce  his  paternal  feelings  to  restore  to them  his  affection? This only  moment  is  nevertheless  refused. Time, they  are  told,  exists  no  more  for  them:    and  you  find  your-