Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/140

 dom and  glory. Lastly, against  the  pretext,  drawn  from  the  weakness of  man,  that  it  is  justified  even  by  the  testimony  of  his  own conscience. The certainty  of  a  future  state;  the  necessity  of  a  future state; the  inward  acknowledgment  of  a  future  state. Behold the subject and  arrangement  of  my  discourse.

O God! attend not  to  the  insults  which  the  blasphemies  of  impiety offer  to  thy  glory:  regard  only,  and  see,  of  what  reason  is  capable when  thy  light  is  withdrawn. In the  wickedness  of  the  human mind, behold  all  the  severity  of  thy  justice,  when  it  abandons  it, that the  more  I  expose  the  foolish  blasphemies  of  the  impious  soul, the more  may  he  become,  in  thy  sight,  an  object  worthy  of  thy  pity, and of  the  treasures  of  thine  infinite  mercy.

Part I. — It  surely  is  melancholy  to  have  to  justify,  before  believers, the  most  consolatory  truth  of  faith;  to  come  to  prove  to men,  to  whom  Jesus  Christ  has  been  declared,  that  their  being  is not  a  wild  assemblage,  and  the  wretched  offspring  of  chance;  that a wise  and  an  almighty  Artificer  has  presided  at  our  formation  and birth; that  a  spark  of  immortality  animates  our  clay;  that  a  portion of us  shall  survive  ourselves;  and  that,  on  quitting  this  earthly  mansion, our  soul  shall  return  to  the  bosom  of  God,  from  whence  it came,  and  go  to  inhabit  the  eternal  region  of  the  living,  where  to each  one  shall  be  rendered  according  to  his  works.

It was  with  this  truth  that  Paul  began  to  announce  faith  before the Athenian  judges. We are  the  immortal  race  of  God,  said  he to  that  assembly  of  sages;  and  he  has  appointed  a  day  to  judge  the universe. By that  the  Apostles  spread  the  first  principles  of  the doctrine of  salvation  through  infidel  and  corrupted  nations. But we who  come  after  the  revolution  of  ages,  when  the  plenitude  of nations  has  entered  into  the  church,  when  the  whole  universe  has professed to  believe,  when  all  the  mysteries  have  been  cleared  up, all the  prophecies  accomplished,  Jesus  Christ  glorified,  the  path  of heaven  laid  open;  we,  who  appear  in  these  latter  times,  when  the day of  the  Lord  is  so  much  nearer  than  when  our  fathers  believed, alas! what ought  our  ministry  to  be,  unless  to  dispose  believers for that  grand  hope,  and  to  instruct  them  to  hold  themselves in readiness  to  appear  before  Jesus  Christ,  who  will  quickly  come; far from  having  still  to  combat  these  shocking  and  foolish  maxims which the  first  preaching  of  the  gospel  had  effaced  from  the universe.

The pretended  uncertainty  of  a  future  state  is,  then,  the  grand foundation of  the  security  of  unbelievers. We know  nothing,  say they, of  that  other  world  of  which  you  tell  us  so  much. None of the  dead  have  ever  returned  to  inform  us;  perhaps  there  is  nothing beyond the  grave:  let  us  enjoy,  therefore,  the  present,  and  leave  to chance  a  futurity  which  either  exists  not,  or  is  meant  to  be  concealed from  our  knowledge.

Now, I  say,  that  this  uncertainty  is  suspicious  in  the'  principle which produces  it,  foolish  in  the  proofs  on  which  it  depends,  and frightful in  its  consequences. Refuse me  not  here  your  attention.