Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/196

 people! If you,  with  all  your  resources,  feel  so  much  the  misery of the  times,  what  must  they  not  suffer,  those  who  are  destitute  of every  comfort! If the  plagues  of  Egypt  obtrude  even  into  the palaces of  the  great,  and  of  Pharaoh,  what  must  be  the  desolation in the  hut  of  the  poor  and  of  the  labourer! If the  princes  of Israel,  afflicted  in  Samaria,  no  longer  find  consolation  in  their palaces, to  what  dreadful  extremities  must  the  common  people not be  reduced! Reduced, alas! perhaps like  that  unfortunate mother, not  to  nourish  herself  with  the  blood  of  her  child,  but  to make  her  innocence  and  her  soul  the  melancholy  price  of  her necessity.

But, besides,  these  evils  with  which  we  are  afflicted,  and  of  which you so  loudly  complain,  are  the  punishment  of  your  hardness  toward the  poor:  God  avengeth  upon  your  possessions  the  iniquitous use  to  which  you  apply  them:  it  is  the  cries  and  the  groanings  of  the  unfortunate,  whom  you  abandon,  which  draw  down  the vengeance of  Heaven  upon  your  lands  and  territories. It is  in  these times, then,  of  public  calamity,  that  you  ought  to  hasten  to  appease the anger  of  God  by  the  abundance  of  your  charities:  it  is  then that, more  than  ever,  you  should  interest  the  poor  in  your  behalf. Alas! you bethink  yourselves  of  addressing  your  general  supplications to  the  Almighty,  through  these  to  obtain  more  favourable  seasons, the  cessation  of  public  calamities,  and  the  return  of  peace and abundance;  but  it  is  not  there  alone  that  your  vows  and  your prayers ought  to  be  carried. You can  never  expect  that  the  Almighty will  attend  to  your  distresses  while  you  remain  callous  to those  of  your  fellow-creatures. You have  here  on  the  earth  the masters of  the  winds  and  of  the  seasons:  address  yourselves  to the  poor  and  the  afflicted;  it  is  they  who  have,  as  I  may  say,  the keys of  heaven;  it  is  their  prayers  which  regulate  the  times  and the seasons, — which  bring  back  to  us  days  of  peace  or  of  misery, — which arrest  or  attract  the  blessings  of  heaven:  for  abundance  is given  to  the  earth  only  for  their  consolation,  and  it  is  only  on  their account that  the  Almighty  punisheth  or  is  bountiful  to  you.

But, completely  to  confute  you,  my  brethren,  you  who  so  strongly allege to  us  the  evil  of  the  times,  does  the  pretended  rigour  of  these times retrench  any  thing  from  your  pleasures? What do  your  passions suffer  from  the  public  calamities? If the  misfortune  of  the times oblige  you  to  retrench  from  your  expenses,  begin  with  those of which  religion  condemns  the  use;  regulate  your  tables,  your apparel, your  amusements,  your  followers,  and  your  edifices,  according to  the  gospel;  let  your  retrenchings  in  charity  at  least  only follow the  others. Lessen your  crimes  before  you  begin  to  diminish from your  duties. When the  Almighty  strikes  with  sterility the kingdoms  of  the  earth,  it  is  his  intention  to  deprive  the  great and the  powerful  of  all  occasions  of  debauchery  and  excess:  enter, then, into  the  order  of  his  justice  and  his  wisdom:  consider  yourselves as  public  criminals,  whom  the  Lord  chastiseth  by  public punishments. Say to  him,  like  David,  when  he  beheld  the  hand of the  Lord  weighing  down  his  people,  "  Lo,  I  have  sinned,  and