Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/206

 have exhausted,  and  who,  in  their  humble  dwellings,  drag  on  the wretched remains  of  dotage  and  poverty;  those  whom  a  languishing health  renders  incapable  of  labour,  their  only  resource  against indigence and  want;  those  whom  sex  and  age  expose  to  seduction, and whose  innocence  you  might  have  been  enabled  to  preserve. Behold what  is  required,  and  what,  with  every  right  to  justice,  is exacted  from  you;  behold  the  poor  with  whom  the  Lord  hath charged you,  and  for  whom  you  shall  answer  to  him;  the  poor, whom he  leaveth  on  the  earth  only  for  your  sake,  and  to  whom  his providence hath  assigned  no  other  resource  than  your  wealth  and your bounty.

Now, are  they  even  known  to  you? Do you  charge  their  pastors to make  them  known  to  you? Are these  the  cares  which  occupy  you, when you  show  yourself  in  the  midst  of  your  lands  and  possessions? Ah! it is  with  cruelty  to  screw  your  claims  from  the  hands  of  these unfortunate people;  it  is  to  tear  from  their  bowels  the  innocent price of  their  toil,  without  regard  to  «their  want,  to  the  misery  of  the times which  you  allege  to  us,  to  their  tears,  and  often  to  their  despair:— what  shall  I  say? It is  perhaps  to  crush  down  their  weakness, to  be  their  tyrant,  and  not  their  lord  and  their  father. O God! cursest thou  not  these  cruel  generations,  and  these  riches  of iniquity? Dost thou  not  stamp  upon  them  the  marks  of  misfortune and  desolation,  and  which  shall  soon  blast  the  source  of  their families; which  wither  the  root  of  a  proud  posterity;  which  produce domestic discord,  public  disgraces,  the  fall,  and  total  extinction  of houses? Alas! we are  sometimes  astonished  to  see  fortunes  apparently the  best  established,  go  to  wreck  in  an  instant;  those  ancient, and  formerly  so  illustrious  names  fallen  into  obscurity,  no longer  to  offer  to  our  view  but  the  melancholy  wrecks  of  their  ancient splendour;  and  their  estates  become  the  property  of  their rivals, or  perhaps  of  their  own  servants. Ah! could we  investigate the source  of  their  misfortunes;  if  their  ashes,  and  the  pompous wrecks, which  in  the  pride  of  their  monuments  remain  to  us  of their  glory,  could  speak, — Do  you  see,  they  would  say  to  us,  these sad marks  of  our  grandeur? It is  the  tears  of  the  poor,  whom  we neglected,  whom  we  oppressed,  which  have  gradually  sapped,  and at last  have  totally  overthrown  them:  their  cries  have  drawn  down the thunder  of  Heaven  upon  our  palaces. The Lord  hath  blown upon our  superb  edifices,  and  upon  our  fortune,  and  hath  dissipated them like  dust. Let the  name  of  the  poor  be  honourable  in  your sight, if  you  wish  that  your  names  may  never  perish  in  the  memory of  men. Let compassion  sustain  your  houses,  if  you  wish that your  posterity  be  not  buried  under  their  ruins. Become wise at our  cost;  and  let  our  misfortunes,  in  teaching  you  our  faults, teach you  also  to  shun  them.

And behold,  my  brethren,  (that  I  may  say  something  respecting it  before  I  conclude,)  the  first  advantage  of  Christian  charity;  blessings even  in  this  world. The bread,  blessed  by  our  Saviour,  multiplies in  the  hands  of  the  apostles  who  distribute  it;  five  thousand are satisfied;  and  twelve  baskets  can  hardly  contain  the  remnants