Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/165

 tions; that  is  to  say,  would  detach  you  from  the  world,  your  vices, passions, the  infamy  of  your  excesses,  and  make  you  lead  a  chaste, regular and  Christian  life,  alone  worthy  of  reason. These are  what the world  calls  violent  and  overstrained  resolutions. But likewise, under pretence  of  shunning  pretended  excesses,  would  you  refuse to adopt  the  most  necessary  resolutions? Make a  beginning  at any  rate;  the  first  transports  soon  begin  to  abate;  and  it  is  much more easy  to  moderate  the  excesses  of  piety  than  to  animate  its coldness and  indolence. Dread nothing  from  the  excessive  fervour and transports  of  your  zeal;  you  can  never,  in  that  respect,  go  too far. An indolent  and  sensual  heart,  such  as  yours,  nursed  in  pleasures and  effeminacy,  and  void  of  all  taste  for  whatever  pertains  to the  service  of  God,  does  not  promise  any  very  great  indiscretions in the  steps  of  a  Christian  life. You know  not  yourselves;  you have never  experienced  what  obstacles  all  your  inclinations  will cast in  the  way  of  your  simplest  exertions  in  piety. Take measures only  against  coldness  and  discouragement,  which  are  the  only rocks you  have  to  dread. What blindness! In the  fear  of  doing too much  for  God,  we  do  nothing  at  all;  the  dread  of  bestowing too much  attention  on  our  salvation,  prevents  us  from  labouring  toward it;  and  we  lose  ourselves  for  ever,  lest  we  should  too  surely attain salvation:  we  dread  chimerical  excesses  of  piety,  and  we  are not afraid  of  a  departure  from,  and  an  actual  contempt  of  piety  itself. Does the  fear  of  doing  too  much  for  fortune  and  rank  check your exertions  or  cool  the  ardour  of  your  ambition? Is it  not  that very hope  which  supports  and  animates  them? Nothing is  too much for  the  world,  but  all  is  excess  for  God:  we  fear,  and  we  reproach ourselves,  lest  we  never  do  enough  for  an  earthly  establishment;  and  we  check  ourselves,  in  the  dread  of  doing  too  much  for an eternal  fortune.

But I  go  farther,  and  say,  that  it  is  a  criminal  ingratitude  toward God to  reject  the  thought  of  death,  merely  because  it  disquiets and alarms  you;  for  that  impression  of  dread  and  terror  is  a  special grace with  which  you  are  favoured  by  God. Alas! how many impious characters  exist,  who  despise  it,  who  claim  a  miserable merit, in  beholding  with  firmness  its  approach,  and  who  regard  it as  the  annihilation  of  their  being! How many  sages  and  philosophers in  Christianity,  who,  without  renouncing  faith,  limit  all  their reflections, all  the  superiority  of  their  talents,  to  the  tranquil  view of its  arrival;  and  who,  during  life,  exert  the  powers  of  their  reason only in  preparing  for  that  last  moment;  a  constancy  and  serenity of mind  equally  absurd  as  the  most  vulgar  terrors;  a  purpose  the most imprudent  to  which  reason  can  be  applied. It is,  therefore,  a special  grace  bestowed  on  you  by  God,  when  he  permits  that thought to  have  such  an  energy  and  ascendancy  in  your  soul;  in all  probability  it  is  the  way  by  which  he  wishes  to  recall  you  to himself;  should  you  ever  quit  your  erroneous  and  iniquitous  courses, it will  be  through  its  influence:  your  salvation  seems  to  depend  on that  remedy.

Tremble, my  dear  hearer,  lest  your  heart  should  fortify  itself