Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/189

 of  those  who  have  neglected  him  to  that  last  hour:  the  death  of sinners  is  abominable  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  equally  as  their  life. If you live  in  sin,  you  will  die  in  all  the  horrors  and  in  all  the  useless regrets of  the  sinner,  and  your  death  shall  be  an  eternal  death. If you live  in  righteousness,  you  will  die  in  peace,  and  in  the  confidence of  the  just,  and  your  death  will  be  only  a  passage  to  a  blessed immortality.

Now, to  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost, be all  honour  and  glory,  now,  henceforth,  and  for  evermore. Amen.

It is  not  without  design  that  our  Saviour  associates  the  disciples, in the  prodigy  of  multiplying  the  loaves,  and  that  he  makes  use  of their  ministry  in  distributing  the  miraculous  food  among  a  people pressed with  hunger  and  want. He might  again,  no  doubt,  have made manna  to  rain  upon  the  desert,  and  saved  his  disciples  the trouble of  so  tedious  a  distribution.

But might  he  not,  after  raising  up  Lazarus  from  the  dead,  have dispensed with  their  assistance  in  unloosing  him? Could his  almighty voice,  which  had  just  broken  asunder  the  chains  of  death, have found  any  resistance  from  the  feeble  bands  which  the  hand of man  had  formed? It is  because  he  wished  to  point  out  to  them, beforehand, the  sacred  exercise  of  their  ministry;  the  part  they were afterward  to  have  in  the  spiritual  resurrection  of  sinners;  and that whatever  they  should  unloose  upon  the  earth  should  be  unloosed in  heaven.

Again, when  there  was  question  of  paying  tribute  to  Csesar,  he needed  not  to  have  recourse  to  the  expedient  of  Peter's  casting  his hook into  the  sea  for  the  purpose  of  producing  a  piece  of  money out of  the  bowels  of  a  fish:  he  who,  even  from  stones,  was  able  to raise  up  children  to  Abraham,  might  surely  with  greater  ease  have converted them  into  a  precious  metal,  and  thereby  furnished  the amount of  the  tribute  due  to  Ceesar. But, in  the  character  of  the  Head of the  Church,  he  meant  to  teach  his  ministers  to  respect  those  in authority;  and,  by  rendering  honour  and  tribute  to  the  powers  established by  God,  to  set  an  example  of  submission  to  other  believers.

Thus, in  making  use,  upon  this  occasion,  of  the  intervention  of the  apostles  to  distribute  the  loaves  to  the  multitude,  his  design  is, to accustom  all  his  disciples  to  compassion  and  liberality  toward the unfortunate:  he  establishes  you  the  ministers  of  his  providence, and multiplies  the  riches  of  the  earth  in  your  hands,  for  the  sole purpose of  being  distributed  from  thence  among  that  multitude  of unfortunate  fellow-creatures  which  surrounds  you.