Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/152

 excesses. But, look  around  you:  do  you  no  longer  find  any  upright characters  on  the  earth? There is  no  question  here  of  those vain discourses  you  so  frequently  hold  against  piety,  and  of  which you feel  yourselves  the  injustice. Speak candidly,  and  render  glory to the  truth:  are  there  no  longer  chaste,  faithful,  and  righteous souls, who  live  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  observance  of his  holy  law?

Whence comes  it,  then,  that  you  have  not  the  same  empire  over your passions  as  enjoyed  by  these  just  men? Have they  not  inherited from  nature  the  same  inclinations? Do the  objects  of  the passions not  awaken  in  their  hearts  the  same  sensations  as  in yours? Do not  they  bear  within  them  the  sources  of  the  same troubles? What have  the  just  superior  to  you,  but  that  command over  themselves,  and  fidelity,  of  which  you  are  destitute?

O man! thou imputest  to  God  a  weakness  which  is  the  work  of thine  own  disorders! Thou accusest  the  Author  of  nature  of  the irregularities of  thy  own  will. It is  not  enough  to  offend  him; thou wishest  to  make  him  responsible  for  thy  deeds,  and  pretendest that the  fruit  of  thy  crimes  becomes  the  title  of  thine  innocence! With what  chimeras  is  a  corrupted  heart  not  capable  of  feeding its delusions,  in  order  to  justify  to  itself  the  shame  and  infamy  of its  vices!

God is  then  just,  my  brethren,  when  he  punisheth  the  transgressions of  his  law. And let  not  the  freethinker  here  say  to himself  that  the  recompense  of  the  just  shall  then  be  resurrection to eternal  life,  and  the  punishment  of  the  sinner  the  everlasting annihilation  of  his  soul;  for  behold  the  last  resource  of  impiety.

But what  punishment  would  it  be  to  the  freethinker  to  exist  no more? He wishes  that  annihilation;  he  looks  forward  to  it  as  his sweetest hope:  amidst  his  pleasures  he  lives  tranquil  only  in  that expectation. What! the just  God  would  punish  a  sinner  by  affording him  a  destiny  according  to  the  summit  of  his  wishes? Ah! it is  not  thus  that  God  punisheth. For what  would  the  freethinker find so  shocking  in  a  return  to  nonentity? Would it  be  the  deprivation of  his  God? But he  loves  him  not;  he  knows  him  not;  he desires  no  communication  with  him;  for  his  only  God  is  himself. Would it  be  to  exist  no  more? But what  could  be  more  desirable to a  monster,  who  knows  that,  beyond  the  term  of  his  crimes,  he cannot  live  but  in  sufferance,  and  in  the  expiation  of  the  horrors of an  infamous  life? Would it  be  by  having  for  ever  lost  the worldly pleasures  he  enjoyed,  and  the  different  objects  of  his  passions? But, when  he  exists  no  more,  the  love  of  these  must  equally be  extinguished. A more  desirable  fate  cannot  therefore  be pointed  out  to  a  freethinker. It indeed  would  be  the  happy  conclusion of  all  his  excesses,  horrors,  and  blasphemies.

No, my  brethren! The hopes  of  the  freethinker,  but  not  his crimes, shall  perish:  his  torments  shall  be  as  eternal  as  his  debaucheries would  have  been,  had  he  been  master  of  his  own  destiny. He would  willingly  have  eternized  himself  on  the  earth,  in  the