Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/202

 purpose all  that  vain  ostentation? Are you  afraid  that  the  Lord forgets your  offerings? If you  wish  only  to  please  him,  why  expose your  gifts  to  any  other  eye? Why these  titles  and  these  inscriptions which  immortalize,  on  sacred  walls,  your  gifts  and  your pride? Was it  not  sufficient  that  they  were  written,  even  by  the hand of  God,  in  the  book  of  life? Why engrave  on  a  perishable marble the  merit  of  a  deed  which  charity  would  have  rendered immortal?

Solomon, after  having  completed  the  most  superb  and  the  most magnificent temple  of  which  the  earth  could  ever  boast,  engraved the awful  name  of  the  Lord  alone  upon  it,  without  presuming  to mingle  any  memorial  of  the  grandeur  of  his  race  with  those  of  the eternal majesty  of  the  King  of  kings. We give  an  appellation  of piety  to  this  custom;  it  is  thought  that  these  public  monuments excite  the  liberality  of  believers. But the  Lord,  hath  he charged  your  vanity  with  the  care  of  attracting  gifts  to  his  altars? And hath  he  permitted  you  to  depart  from  modesty,  in  order  to make  your  brethren  more  charitable? Alas! the most  powerful among the  primitive  believers,  carried  humbly  as  the  most  obscure their patrimony  to  the  feet  of  the  apostles:  they  beheld  with  a holy  joy  their  names  and  their  wealth  confounded  among  those  of their  brethren  who  had  less  than  they  to  offer:  they  were  not  distinguished in  the  assembly  of  the  faithful  in  proportion  to  their gifts: honours  and  precedency  were  not  yet  the  price  of  gifts  and offerings, and  they  knew  better  than  to  exchange  the  eternal  recompense which  they  awaited  from  the  Lord  for  any  frivolous  glory they could  receive  from  men;  and  now  the  church  has  not  privileges enough  to  satisfy  the  vanity  of  her  benefactors:  their  places are marked  out  in  the  sanctuary;  their  tombs  appear  even  under the altar,  where  only  the  ashes  of  martyrs  should  repose. Custom, it is  true,  authorizes  this  abuse;  but  custom  does  not  always  justify what it  authorizes.

Charity, my  brethren,  is  that  sweet  smelling  savour  of  Jesus Christ, which  vanishes  and  is  extinguished  from  the  moment  that it is  exposed. I mean  not  that  public  acts  of  compassion  are  to be  refrained  from:  we  owe  the  edification  and  example  of  them  to our  brethren:  it  is  proper  that  they  see  our  works;  but  we  ought not ourselves  to  see  them,  and  our  left  hand  should  be  ignorant  of what  our  right  bestows:  even  those  actions  which  duty  renders  the most shining,  ought  always  to  be  hidden  in  the  preparation  of  the heart: we  ought  to  entertain  a  kind  of  jealousy  of  the  public  view on their  account,  and  to  believe  their  purity  in  safety  only  when they are  exposed  to  the  eyes  of  God  alone. Yes, my  brethren, those liberalities  which  have  flowed  mostly  in  secret,  reach  the bosom of  God  much  more  pure  than  others,  which,  even  contrary to our  wishes,  having  been  exposed  to  the  eyes  of  men,  become troubled and  defiled,  as  I  may  say,  in  their  course  by  their  inevitable flatteries  of  self-love,  and  by  the  applauses  of  the  beholders: like those  rivers  which  have  flowed  mostly  under  ground,  and which pour  their  streams  into  the  ocean  pure  and  undefiled;  while,