Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/169

 the Lord. That desire  constitutes  all  our  piety  and  consolation; and a  Christian,  not  to  long  for  that  happy  moment,  but  to  dread, and even  look  upon  it  as  a  misfortune,  'is  to  fly  in  the  face  of  Jesus Christ: to  renounce  all  communication  with  him;  to  reject  the  promises of  faith  and  the  glorious  title  of  a  citizen  of  heaven;  it  is  to centre  our  happiness  on  the  things  of  the  earth,  to  doubt  of  a  future state,  to  regard  religion  as  a  dream,  and  to  believe  that  all  dies with us.

No, my  brethren,  death  has  nothing  to  a  just  soul  but  what  is pleasing  and  desirable. Arrived at  that  happy  moment,  he,  without regret,  sees  a  world  perish,  which  he  had  never  loved,  and which to  him  had  never  appeared  otherwise  than  a  confusion  of vanities:  his  eyes  close  with  pleasure  on  all  those  vain  shows  which the earth  offers,  which  he  had  always  regarded  as  the  splendour of a  moment,  and  whose  dangerous  illusions  he  had  never  ceased to dread:  he  feels,  without  uneasiness, — what  do  I  say? — with satisfaction, that  mortal  body,  which  had  been  the  subject  of  all his temptations,  and  the  fatal  source  of  all  his  weaknesses,  become clothed with  immortality:  he  regrets  nothing  on  the  earth,  where he leaves  nothing,  and  from  whence  his  heart  flies  along  with  his soul? he even  complains,  not  that  he  is  carried  off  in  the  middle of his  career,  and  that  his  days  are  concluded  in  the  flower  of  his age; on  the  contrary,  he  thanks  his  deliverer  for  having  abridged his sufferings  with  his  years,  for  having  exacted  only  a  portion  of his  debt  as  the  price  of  his  eternity,  and  for  having  speedily  consummated his  sacrifice,  lest  a  longer  residence  in  a  corrupted  world should have  perverted  his  heart. His trials,  his  mortifications, which had  cost  so  much  to  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  are  then  his sweetest reflections:  he  sees  that  all  now  vanishes,  except  what  he has  done  for  God;  that  all  now  abandon  him,  his  riches,  relations, friends, and  dignities,  his  works  alone  remaining;  and  he  is  transported with  joy,  to  think  that  he  had  never  placed  his  trust  in the  favour  of  princes,  in  the  children  of  men,  in  the  vain  hopes  of fortune,  in  things  which  must  soon  perish,  but  in  the  Lord  alone,  who remaineth eternally,  and  in  whose  bosom  he  goes  to  experience  that peace and  tranquillity  which  mortals  cannot  bestow. Thus tranquil on  the  past,  despising  the  present,  transported  to  touch  at  last that futurity,  the  sole  object  of  his  desires,  already  seeing  the bosom of  Abraham  open  to  receive  him,  and  the  Son  of  Man, seated at  the  right  hand  of  his  Father,  holding  out  for  him  the crown of  immortality,  he  sleeps  in  the  Lord:  he  is  wafted  by  blessed spirits to  the  habitation  of  the  holy,  and  returns  to  the  place  from whence he  originally  came.

May you,  my  brethren,  in  this  manner  see  your  course  terminated.