Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/210

 seek, in  the  weakness  of  our  own  heart,  the  excuse  of  our  peevishness and  of  our  murmurings;  another,  in  the  excess  or  in  the  nature of  our  afflictions;  and  again,  in  the  obstacles  which  they  seem to us  to  cast  in  the  way  of  our  salvation;  that  is  to  say,  one  while we complain  of  being  too  weak  to  bear  our  sufferings  with  patience; another, that  they  are  too  excessive;  and  lastly,  that  it  is  impossible in  that  situation  to  pay  attention  to  salvation.

Such are  the  three  pretexts  continually  opposed  in  the  world  to the  Christian  use  of  affliction:  the  pretext  of  self-weakness;  the pretext of  the  excess  or  the  nature  of  our  afflictions;  the  pretext of the  obstacles  which  they  seem  to  place  in  the  way  of  our  salvation. These are  the  pretexts  we  have  now  to  overthrow,  by  opposing to  them  the  rules  of  faith. Attend, then,  be  whom  ye may,  and  learn  that  the  cause  of  condemnation  to  most  men  is  not pleasures alone; — alas! they are  so  rare  on  the  earth,  and  so  narrowly followed  by  disgust; — it  is  likewise  the  unchristian  use  they make of  afflictions.

Part. I. — The language  most  common  to  the  souls  afflicted  by the  Lord,  is  that  of  alleging  their  own  weakness  in  order  to  justify the unchristian  use  they  make  of  their  afflictions. They complain that they  are  not  endowed  with  a  force  of  mind  sufficient  to  preserve under  them  a  submissive  and  a  patient  heart;  that  nothing is more  conducive  to  happiness  than  the  want  of  feeling;  that this character,  saves  us  endless  vexations  and  chagrins  inevitable in life;  but  that  we  cannot  fashion  to  ourselves  a  heart  according to our  own  wishes;  that  religion  doth  not  render  unfeeling  and stoical those  who  are  born  with  the  tender  feelings  of  humanity, and that  the  Lord  is  too  just  to  make  a  crime  to  us  even  of  our misfortunes.

But, to  overthrow  an  illusion  so  common  and  so  unworthy  of piety,  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  when  Jesus  Christ  hath  commanded to  all  believers  to  bear  with  submission  and  with  love  the crosses proposed  for  us  by  his  goodness,  he  hath  not  added  that an order  so  just,  so  consoling,  so  conformable  to  his  examples, should concern  only  the  unfeeling  and  impatient  souls. He hath not distinguished  among  his  disciples  those  whom  nature,  pride,  or reflection  had  rendered  firmer  and  more  constant,  from  those  whom tenderness and  humanity  had  endowed  with  more  feeling,  in  order to make  a  duty  to  the  first  of  a  patience  and  an  insensibility  which cost them  almost  nothing,  and  to  excuse  the  others  to  whom  they become more  difficult.

On the  contrary,  his  divine  precepts  are  cures;  and  the  more  we are  inimical  to  them,  through  the  character  of  our  heart,  the  more are they  proper  for,  and  become  necessary  to  us. It is  because  you are weak,  and  that  the  least  contradictions  always  excite  you  so much  against  sufferances,  that  the  Lord  must  purify  you  by  tribulations and  sorrows:  for  it  is  not  the  strong  who  have  occasion  to be  tried,  it  is  the  weak.

In effect,  what  is  it  to  be  weak  and  repining? It is  an  excessive