Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/192

 surplus you  may  have,  belongs  not  to  you;  that  it  is  the  portion  of  the poor; and  that  you  are  entitled  to  consider  as  your  own,  only  that proportion of  your  revenues  which  is  necessary  to  support  that station in  which  Providence  hath  placed  you. I ask,  then,  is  it  the gospel or  covetousness,  which  must  regulate  that  sufficiency? Would you  dare  to  pretend,  that  all  those  vanities  of  which  custom has now  made  a  law,  are  to  be  held,  in  the  sight  of  God,  as  expenses inseparable from  your  condition? That every  thing  which  flatters, and is  agreeable  to  you,  which  nourishes  your  pride,  gratifies  your caprices, and  corrupts  your  heart,  is  for  that  reason  necessary  to you? That all  which  you  sacrifice  to  the  fortune  of  a  child,  in  order to raise  him  above  his  ancestors;  all  which  you  risk  in  gaming; that luxury,  which  either  suits  not  your  birth,  or  is  an  abuse  of  it: would you  dare  to  pretend,  that  all  these  have  incontestable  claims on your  revenues  which  are  to  be  preferred  to  those  of  charity? Lastly, would  you  dare  to  pretend,  that,  because  your  father,  perhaps obscure,  and  of  the  lowest  rank,  may  have  left  to  you  all  his wealth, and  perhaps  his  crimes,  you  are  entitled  to  forget  your  family and  the  house  of  your  father,  in  order  to  mingle  with  the highest ranks,  and  to  support  the  same  eclat,  because  you  are enabled to  support  the  same  expense?

If this  be  the  case,  my  brethren,  if  you  consider  as  a  surplus only, that  which  may  escape  from  your  pleasures,  from  your  extravagancies, and  from  your  caprices,  you  have  only  to  be  voluptuous, capricious, dissolute,  and  prodigal,  in  order  to  be  wholly  dispensed from the  duty  of  charity. The more  passions  you  shall  have  to  satisfy, the  more  will  your  obligation  to  charity  diminish! and your excesses, which  the  Lord  hath  commanded  you  to  expiate  by  acts of compassion,  will  themselves  become  a  privilege  to  dispense  yourselves from  them. There must  necessarily,  therefore,  be  some rule here  to  observe,  and  some  limits  to  appoint  ourselves,  different from those  of  avarice;  and  behold  it,  my  brethren, — the  rule  of faith. Whatever tends  to  nourish  only  the  life  of  the  senses,  to flatter  the  passions,  to  countenance  the  vain  pomp  and  abuses  of the  world,  is  superfluous  to  a  Christian:  these  are  what  you  ought to retrench,  and  to  set  apart;  these  are  the  funds  and  the  heritage of the  poor;  you  are  only  their  depositaries,  and  you  cannot  encroach upon  them  without  usurpation  and  injustice. The gospel reduces to  very  little  the  sufficiency  of  a  Christian  however  exalted in the  world;  religion  retrenches  much  from  the  expenses;  and, did we  live  all  according  to  the  rules  of  faith,  our  wants,  which would no  longer  be  multiplied  by  our  passions,  would  still  be fewer;  the  greatest  part  of  our  wealth  would  be  found  entirely  useless; and,  as  in  the  first  age  of  faith,  indigence  would  no  longer grieve the  church,  nor  be  seen  among  believers. Our expenses continually increase,  because  our  passions  are  everyday  multiplied; the opulence  of  our  fathers  is  no  longer  to  us  but  an  uncomfortable poverty; and  our  great  riches  can  no  longer  suffice,  because  nothing can satisfy  those  who  refuse  themselves  nothing.

And, in  order  to  give  this  truth  all  the  extent  which  the  subject