Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/171

 righteous man:    how  grand   and  inestimable  will  your  heart  then acknowledge it  to  be!

In the  one,  you  will  comprehend  all  the  misery  of  a  soul  which has lived  forgetful  of  its  God;  in  the  other,  the  happiness  of  him who has  lived  only  to  please  and  to  serve  him;  in  a  word,  the  picture of  the  death  of  the  sinner  will  make  you  wish  to  live  the  life  of the  righteous;  and  the  image  of  the  death  of  the  just  will  inspire you with  a  holy  horror  at  the  life  of  the  sinner.

Part I. — In  vain  do  we  repel  the  image  of  death:  every  day brings it  nearer. Youth glides  away;  years  hurry  on;  and,  like water, says  the  scripture,  spilt  upon  the  ground,  which  cannot  be gathered  up  again,  we  rapidly  course  toward  the  abyss  of  eternity, where, for  ever  swallowed  up,  we  can  never  return  upon  our  steps to appear  once  more  upon  the  earth.

I know  that  the  brevity  and  uncertainty  of  life  are  continual subjects of  conversation  to  us. The deaths  of  our  relations,  our friends, our  companions,  frequently  sudden,  and  always  unexpected, furnish  us  with  a  thousand  reflections  on  the  frailty  of  every thing terrestrial.

We are  incessantly  repeating  that  the  world  is  nothing,  that  life is but  a  dream,  and  that  it  is  a  striking  folly  our  interesting  ourselves so  deeply  for  what  must  pass  so  quickly  away. But these are merely  words:  they  are  not  the  sentiments  of  the  heart:  they are discourses  offered  up  at  the  shrine  of  custom;  and  that  very custom occasions  their  being  immediately  and  for  ever  forgot.

Now, my  brethren,  form  to  yourselves  a  destiny  on  this  earth agreeable to  your  own  wishes:  lengthen  out,  in  your  own  minds, your days  to  a  term  beyond  your  most  sanguine  hopes. I even wish you  to  indulge  in  the  enjoyment  of  so  pleasing  an  illusion: but, at  last,  you  must  follow  the  track  which  your  forefathers  have trod; you  will  at  last  see  that  day  arrive,  to  which  no  other  shall succeed; and  that  day  will  be  the  day  of  your  eternity. Happy if you  die  in  the  Lord:  miserable  if  you  depart  in  sin. One of  these lots awaits  you. In the  final  decision  upon  all  men  there  will  be only  two  sides — the  right  and  the  left:  two  divisions — the  goats and the  sheep. Allow me,  then,  to  recall  you  to  the  bed  of  death, and to  expose  to  your  view  the  double  spectacle  of  this  last  hour, so terrible  to  the  sinner,  and  so  consolatory  to  the  righteous  man.

I say,  terrible  to  the  sinner,  who,  lulled  by  vain  hopes  of  a  conversion, at  last  reaches  this  fatal  moment,  full  of  desires,  empty  of good  works,  having  ever  lived  a  stranger  to  the  Lord,  and  unable now to  make  any  offering  to  him  but  of  his  crimes,  and  the  anguish of seeing  a  period  put  to  those  days  which  he  vainly  believed  would have endured  for  ever. Now, nothing  can  be  more  dreadful  than the situation  of  this  unfortunate  wretch  in  the  last  moments  of  his life? Whichever way  his  mind  is  employed,  whether  in  recalling the past,  or  considering  what  is  acting  around  him:  in  a  word, whether he  penetrates  into  that  awful  futurity  upon  the  brink  of which  he  hangs,  or  limits  his  reflections  to  the  present  moment,