Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/180

 he regards  them  as  desperate  reliefs,  which  are  hazarded  when  hope is over,  and  which  are  bestowed  more  for  the  consolation  of  the living than  from  any  prospect  of  utility  to  those  who  are  departing. Servants of  Jesus  Christ  are  called  in  to  support  him  in  this  last moment; whilst  all  he  is  enabled  to  do,  is,  secretly  to  envy  their lot, and  to  detest  the  misery  of  his  own. His friends  and  relations are assembled  round  his  bed,  to  receive  his  last  sighs,  and  he  turns away from  them  his  eyes,  because  he  finds  still  amidst  them  the remembrance of  his  crimes. Death, however,  approaches;  the  minister endeavours  to  support,  by  prayer,  the  spark  of  life  which still remains:  "  Depart,  Christian  soul  \"  says  he. He says  not  to him,  Prince,  grandee  of  the  world,  depart. During his  life,  the public monuments  were  hardly  sufficient  for  the  number  and  pride of his  titles:  in  this  last  moment  they  give  him  that  title  alone which he  had  received  in  baptism;  the  only  one  to  which  he  had paid no  attention,  and  the  only  one  which  can  remain  to  him  for ever. Depart, Christian  soul. Alas! he had  lived  as  if  the  body had formed  his  only  being  and  treasure:  he  had  even  tried  to  persuade himself  that  his  soul  was  nothing,  that  man  is  only  a  composition of  flesh  and  blood,  and  that  every  thing  perishes  with  us:  he is  now  informed  that  it  is  his  body,  which  is  nothing  but  a  morsel of clay  now  on  the  point  of  crumbling  into  pieces,  and  his  only immortal being  is  that  soul,  that  image  of  Divinity,  that  intelligence, alone  capable  of  knowing  and  loving  its  Creator,  which  now prepares to  quit  its  earthly  mansion  and  appear  before  his  awful tribunal. Depart, Christian  soul. You had  looked  upon  the  earth as your  country;  and  it  was  only  a  place  of  pilgrimage  from  which you must  depart. The church  thought  to  have  announced  glad tidings to  you,  the  expiration  of  your  exilement,  in  announcing  the dissolution of  your  earthly  frame;  alas! and it  only  brings  you  melancholy and  frightful  news,  and  opens  the  commencement  of  your miseries and  anguish!

Depart, then,  Christian  soul. — Soul, marked  with  the  seal  of  salvation, which  you  have  effaced, — redeemed  by  the  blood  of  Jesus Christ which  you  have  trampled  under  foot, — purified  by  the  grace of regeneration,  which  you  have  a  thousand  times  stained, — enlightened by  the  lights  of  the  faith,  which  you  have  always  rejected, — loaded with  all  the  tender  mercies  of  heaven,  which  you  have  always unworthily  profaned — depart,  Christian  soul. Go, and  carry before Jesus  Christ  that  august  title,  which  should  have  been  the illustrious mark  of  thy  salvation,  but  which  now  becomes  the greatest of  thy  crimes.

Then, the  expiring  sinner,  no  longer  finding  in  the  remembrance of the  past  but  regrets  which  overwhelm  him, — in  all  which  takes place around  him  but  images  which  afflict  him, — in  the  thoughts  of futurity  but  horrors  which  appal  him, — no  longer  knowing  to  whom to have  recourse, — neither  to  created  beings,  who  now  leave  him, — nor to  the  world,  which  vanishes, — nor  to  men,  who  cannot  save him from  death, — nor  to  the  just  God,  whom  he  looks  upon  as  a declared  enemy,  and  from  whom  he  has  no  indulgence  to  expect — a thousand  horrors  occupy  his  thoughts;  he  torments,  he  agitates