Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/200

 And surely  say, — while  that  cities  and  provinces  are  struck  with every calamity;  that  men,  created  after  the  image  of  God,  and  redeemed with  his  whole  blood,  browse  like  the  animal,  and  through their necessity  go  to  search  in  the  fields  a  food  which  nature  has not intended  for  man,  and  which  to  them  becomes  a  food  of  death; would you  have  the  resolution  to  be  the  only  one  exempted  from the general  evil? While the  face  of  the  whole  kingdom  is  changed, and that  cries  and  lamentations  alone  are  heard  around  your  superb dwelling;  would  you  preserve,  within,  the  same  appearance of happiness,  pomp,  tranquillity,  and  opulence? And where,  then, would be  humanity,  reason,  religion? In a  pagan  republic,  you would be  held  as  a  bad  citizen;  in  a  society  of  sages  and  worldly, as a  soul,  vile,  sordid,  without  nobility,  without  generosity,  and without elevation;  and  in  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  what  light, think you,  can  you  be  held? Oh! as a  monster,  unworthy  of  the name of  Christian  which  you  bear,  of  that  faith  in  which  you glorify yourself,  of  the  sacrament  which  you  approach,  and  even  of entry  into  our  temples  where  you  come, — seeing  all  these  are  the sacred symbols  of  that  union  which  ought  to  exist  among  believers.

Nevertheless, the  hand  of  the  Lord  is  extended  over  our  people in the  cities  and  in  the  provinces;  you  know  it,  and  you  lament  it: Heaven is  deaf  to  the  cries  of  this  afflicted  kingdom;  wretchedness, poverty,  desolation,  and  death,  walk  every  where  before  us. Now, do  any  of  those  excesses  of  charity,  become  at  present  a  law of prudence  and  justice,  escape  you? Do you  take  upon  yourselves any part  of  the  calamities  of  your  brethren? What shall  I  say? Do you  not  perhaps  take  advantage  of  the  public  misery? Do you not  perhaps  turn  the  general  poverty  into  a  barbarous  profit? Do you  not  perhaps  complete  the  stripping  of  the  unfortunate  in affecting  to  hold  out  to  them  an  assisting  hand? And are  you acquainted with  the  inhuman  art  of  deriving  individual  profit  even from the  tears  and  the  necessities  of  your  brethren? Bowels of iron! when you  shall  be  filled,  you  shall  burst  asunder;  your felicity itself  will  constitute  your  punishment,  and  the  Lord  will shower down  upon  you  his  war  and  his  wrath.

My brethren,  how  dreadful  shall  be  the  presence  of  the  poor before the  tribunal  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  greatest  part  of  the  rich in this  world! How powerful  shall  be  these  accusers! And how little shall  remain  for  you  to  say,  when  they  shall  reproach  to  you the scantiness  of  the  succour  which  was  required  to  soften  and  to relieve  their  wants;  that  a  single  day  cut  off  from  your  profusions, would have  sufficed  to  remedy  the  indigence  of  one  of  their  years; that it  was  their  own  property  which  you  withheld,  since  whatever you had  beyond  a  sufficiency  belonged  to  them;  that  consequently you have  not  only  been  cruel,  but  also  unjust  in  refusing  it  to them;  but  that,  after  all,  your  hard-heartedness  has  served  only  to exercise  their  patience  and  to  render  them  more  worthy  of  immortality, while  you,  for  ever  deprived  of  those  riches  which  you  were unwilling to  lodge  in  safety  in  the  bosom  of  the  poor,  shall  receive