Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/148

 honour and  probity  chimeras;  incests,  parricides,  and  the  blackest villanies, pastimes  of  nature,  and  names  which  the  policy  of  legislators has  invented.

Behold, to  what  the  sublime  philosophy  of  the  freethinker amounts! Behold that  force  of  argument,  that  reason,  and  that  wisdom, which  they  are  continually  vaunting  to  us! Agree to  their maxims, and  the  entire  universe  sinks  back  to  a  frightful  chaos;  all is overturned  on  the  earth;  all  ideas  of  virtue  and  vice  are  reversed, and  the  most  inviolable  laws  of  society  vanish;  the  institution of  morals  perishes:  the  government  of  states  and  empires  is without  direction;  all  harmony  in  the  body  politic  falls. The human species  is  only  an  assemblage  of  fools,  barbarians,  voluptuaries, madmen,  and  villains,  who  own  no  law  but  force;  no  other check than  their  passions  and  the  terror  of  authority;  no  other  bond than impiety  and  independence;  and  no  other  God  than  themselves. Behold the  world  of  the  freethinker! and if  this  hideous  plan  of  a republic  pleases  you,  constitute,  if  you  can,  a  society  of  these  monsters. The only  thing  that  remains  for  us  to  say,  is,  that  you  are fully qualified  to  occupy  a  place  in  it.

How worthy,  then,  of  man  to  look  forward  to  an  eternal  destiny, to regulate  his  manners  by  the  law,  and  to  live  as  having  one  day to render  account  of  his  actions  before  Him  who  shall  weigh  us  all in the  balance.

The uncertainty  of  the  believer  is  then  suspicious  in  its  principle, foolish in  its  proofs,  and  horrible  in  its  consequences. But, after having shown  you  that  nothing  can  be  more  repugnant  to  sound reason than  the  doubt  which  he  entertains  of  a  future  state,  let us completely  confound  his  pretexts,  and  prove  that  nothing  is more  opposite  to  the  idea  of  a  wise  God  and  to  the  opinion  of  his own conscience.

Part II. — It is  no  doubt  astonishing  that  the  freethinker  should seek, even  in  the  greatness  of  God,  a  shelter  to  his  crimes;  and that, finding  nothing  within  himself  to  justify  the  horrors  of  his soul, he  can  expect  to  find  in  the  awful  Majesty  of  the  Supreme Being an  indulgence  which  he  cannot  find  even  in  the  corruption of his  own  heart.

Indeed, says  the  unbeliever,  is  it  worthy  the  greatness  of  God to pay  attention  to  what  passes  among  men, — to  calculate  their virtues or  vices, — to  study  even  their  thoughts,  and  their  trifling and endless  desires? Men, worms  of  the  earth,  who  sink  into nothing before  the  majesty  of  his  looks,  are  they  worthy  his  attentive inspection? And is  it  not  degrading  a  God,  whom  we  are taught to  believe  so  great,  to  give  him  an  employment  by  which even man  would  be  dishonoured?

But, before  I  make  you  sensible  of  the  whole  absurdity  of  this blasphemy, I  beg  you  will  observe,  that  it  is  the  freethinker  himself who thus  degrades  the  majesty  of  God,  and  brings  him  to  a  level with man:  for,  has  the  Almighty  occasion  narrowly  to  observe men, in  order  to  know  every  thought  and  deed? Are cares  and