Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/130

 your obligations:  guilt  must  be  punished,  in  order  to  be  effaced. The Almighty  had  allowed  you  both  time  and  strength  to  satisfy this immutable  and  eternal  law:  this  time  you  have  wasted  in  accumulating new  debts:  this  strength  you  have  exhausted,  either  by new  excesses,  or  at  least  without  making  any  use  of  it,  to  further the designs  of  God  respecting  you:  the  Almighty  must  therefore do, what  you  have  never  done  yourselves,  and  punish,  after  your death, the  crimes  you  have  never  been  inclined  to  expiate  during your life.

This is  to  say,  in  order  to  concentrate  all  these  reflections,  that with every  moment  of  our  life  it  is  as  with  our  death. We die  only once, and  from  thence  we  conclude,  that  we  must  die  in  a  proper state, because  there  is  no  longer  a  possibility  of  returning,  to  repair, by  a  second  death,  the  evil  of  the  first. In like  manner,  we only  once  exist,  such  and  such  moments:  we  cannot  return  upon our steps,  and,  by  commencing  a  new  road,  repair  the  errors  and faults of  our  first  path  j  in  like  manner,  every  moment  of  our  life which we  sacrifice  becomes  a  point  fixed  for  our  eternity;  that moment lost,  shall  change  no  more:  it  shall  eternally  be  Jthe  same; it will  be  recalled  to  us,  such  as  we  had  passed  it,  and  will  be marked  with  that  ineffaceable  stamp. How miserable,  then,  is  our blindness, my  brethren;  we,  whose  life  is  only  one  continued  attention to  lose  the  time  which  returns  no  more,  and,  with  so  rapid  a course,  flies  to  precipitate  itself  into  the  abyss  of  eternity!

Great God! Thou who  art  the  sovereign  dispenser  of  times  and moments; thou,  in  whose  hands  are  our  days  and  our  years,  with what eyes  must  thou  behold  us  losing  and  dissipating  the  moments of which  thou  alone  knowest  the  duration;  of  which,  in  irrevocable characters,  thou  hast  marked  the  course  and  the  measure; moments, which  thou  drawest  from  the  treasure  of  thine  eternal mercies, to  allow  us  time  for  penitence;  moments  which,  every day, thy  justice  presses  thee  to  abridge,  as  a  punishment  for  their abuse; moments  which,  every  day  before  our  eyes,  thou  refusest to so  many  sinners,  less  culpable  than  we,  whom  a  terrible  death surprises and  drags  into  the  gulf  of  thine  eternal  vengeance;  moments, in  a  word,  which  we  shall  not  perhaps  long  enjoy,  and  of which  thou  soon  intendest  to  terminate  the  melancholy  career! Great God! Behold the  greatest  and  best  part  of  my  life  already past and  wholly  lost. In all  my  days,  there  has  not  hitherto  been a single  serious  one, — a  single  day  for  thee,  for  my  salvation,  and  for eternity: my  whole  life  is  but  a  vapour,  which  leaves  nothing  real or solid  in  the  hand  of  him  who  recalls  it. Shall I,  to  the  end, drag on  my  days  in  this  melancholy  inutility;  in  this  weariness which pursues  me,  in  the  midst  of  my  pleasures,  and  the  efforts which unavailingly  I  make  to  avoid  it? Shall the  last  hour  surprise me,  loaded  with  the  void  of  my  whole  years? And, in  all my course,  shall  there  be  nothing  serious  or  important  but  the  last moment, which  will  terminate  it  for  ever,  and  decide  my  everlasting destiny? Great God! what a  life  for  a  soul  destined  to  serve  thee, called to  the  immortal   society  of  thy  Son  and  thy  saints,  enriched