Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/205

 tears to  the  chimerical  adventures  of  a  theatrical  personage, — we honour  fictitious  misfortunes  with  real  sensibility, — we  depart  from a representation  with  hearts  still  moved  for  the  disasters  of  a  fabulous hero, — and a  member  of  Jesus  Christ,  an  inheritor  of  heaven,  and your brother,  whom  you  encounter  in  your  way  from  thence,  perhaps sinking  under  disease  and  penury,  and  who  wishes  to  inform you of  the  excess  of  his  sufferings,  finds  you  callous;  and  you  turn your eyes  with  disgust  from  that  spectacle,  and  deign  not  to  listen to him? and you  quit  him  even  with  a  rudeness  and  brutality  which tend to  wring  his  heart  with  sorrow! Inhuman soul! have you, then, left  all  your  sensibility  on  an  infamous  theatre? Doth the spectacle of  Jesus  Christ  suffering  in  one  of  his  members  offer  nothing worthy  of  your  pity? And, that  your  heart  may  be  touched, must the  ambition,  the  revenge,  the  voluptuousness,  and  all  the  other horrors of  the  pagan  ages  be  revived.

But, it  is  not  enough  that  we  offer  hearts  feeling  for  the  distresses which present  themselves  to  our  view:  charity  goes  farther:  it does  not  indolently  await  those  occasions  which  chance  may  throw in its  way;  it  knows  how  to  search  them  out,  and  even  to  anticipate them  itself. Last rule:  the  vigilance  of  charity. Jesus Christ waits not  till  those  poor  people  address  themselves  to  him  and  lay open their  wants:  he  is  the  first  to  discover  them:  scarcely  has  he found  them  out,  when,  with  Philip,  he  searches  the  means  of  relieving them. That charity  which  is  not  vigilant,  anxious  after  the calamities of  which  it  is  yet  ignorant,  ingenious  in  discovering those which  endeavour  to  remain  concealed,  which  require  to  be solicited,  pressed,  and  even  importuned,  resembles  not  the  charity of Jesus  Christ. We must  watch,  and  penetrate  the  obscurity which shame  opposes  to  our  bounties. This is  not  a  simple  advice: it is  the  consequence  of  the  precept  of  charity. The pastors,  who, according to  faith,  are  the  fathers  of  the  people,  are  obliged  to watch  over  their  spiritual  concerns;  and  that  is  one  of  the  most essential functions  of  their  ministry. The rich  and  the  powerful are established  by  God  the  fathers  and  the  pastors  of  the  poor  according to  the  body:  they  are  bound,  then,  to  watch  continually over their  necessities. If, through  want  of  vigilance,  they  escape their attention,  they  are  guilty  before  God,  of  all  the  consequences, which a  small  succour  in  time  would  have  prevented.

It is  not,  that  you  are  required  to  find  out  all  the  secret  necessities of  a  city;  but  care  and  attention  are  exacted  of  you:  it  is  required, that  you,  who,  through  your  wealth  or  birth,  hold  the  first rank in  a  department,  shall  not  be  surrounded,  unknown  to  you, with thousands  of  unfortunate  fellow-creatures,  who  pine  in  secret, and whose  eyes  are  continually  wounded  with  the  pomp  of  your train, and  who,  besides  their  wretchedness,  suffer  again,  as  I  may say, in  your  prosperity:  it  is  required,  that  you,  who,  amid  all  the pleasures of  the  court,  or  of  the  city,  see  flowing  into  your  hands the fruits  of  the  sweat  and  of  the  labour  of  so  many  unfortunate people, who  inhabit  your  lands  and  your  fields;  it  is  required  that you be  acquainted  with  those  whom  the  toils  of  industry  and  of  age