Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/222

 sought to  lull  its  grief,  and  to  prevent  the  total  loss  of  reason,  in giving  way  to  all  the  horrors  of  a  profound  melancholy. It is  thus, O my  God! that by  our  eternal  contradictions  we  justify  the adorable ways  of  thy  wisdom  upon  the  lots  of  men,  and  that  we provide  for  thy  justice  powerful  reasons  to  overthrow  one  day  the illusion, and  the  falsity  of  our  pretexts.

For, besides,  be  our  sufferings  what  they  may,  the  history  of religion  holds  out  righteous  characters  to  our  example,  who,  in  the same situation  as  we  are,  have  held  their  soul  in  patience,  and turned their  afflictions  into  a  resource  of  salvation. Do you  weep the loss  of  a  person  dear  to  your  heart? Judith in  a  similar  affliction found  the  increase  of  her  piety  and  faith,  and  changed  the tears of  her  widowhood  into  those  of  retirement  and  penitence. If a pining  health  render  life  more  gloomy  and  bitter  than  even  death itself, Job  found  in  the  wrecks  of  an  ulcerated  body,  motives  of compunction,  longings  for  eternity,  and  the  hopes  of  an  immortal resurrection. If your  character  in  the  world  be  stained  by  calumnies, Susanna  held  out  an  unshaken  soul  under  the  blackest  aspersions;  and  knowing  that  she  had  the  Lord  in  testimony  of  her  innocence, she  left  to  him  the  care  of  avenging  her  upon  the  injustice of. men. If your  fortune  be  the  victim  of  treachery,  David,  dethroned, considered  the  humiliation  of  his  new  state  as  the  just punishment of  the  abuse  he  had  made  of  his  past  prosperity. If an unfortunate  union  become  your  daily  cross,  Esther  found,  in the  caprices  and  frenzies  of  a  faithless  husband,  the  proof  of  her virtue, and  the  merit  of  her  meekness  and  patience. In a  word, place yourself  in  the  most  dismal  situations,  and  you  will  find righteous men,  who  have  wrought  out  their  salvation,  in  the  same; and, without  applying  to  former  ages  for  examples,  look  around, (the hand  of  the  Lord  is  not  yet  shortened,)  and  you  will  see  souls, who, loaded  with  the  same  crosses  as  you,  make  a  very  different use of  them,  and  find  means  of  salvation  in  the  very  same  events where you  find  only  a  rock  to  your  innocence  or  a  pretext  for  your murmurs. What do  I  say? — you will  see  souls  whom  the  mercy of God  hath  recalled  from  their  errors,  by  pouring  out  salutary sorrows upon  their  life;  by  overturning  an  established  fortune;  by chilling  an  envied  favour;  by  sapping  a  health  apparently  unalterable; by  terminating  a  profane  connexion  through  a  glaring  inconstancy. You yourself,  then,  a  witness  of  their  change  and  of  their conversion, have  lessened  the  merit  of  it,  from  the  facilities  provided by  chagrin  and  afflictions;  you  have  placed  little  confidence  in a  virtue  which  misfortunes  had  rendered  as  if  necessary;  you  have said that  it  required  little  exertion  to  forsake  a  world  which  has become tired  of  us;  that  at  the  first  gleam  of  good  fortune,  pleasures would soon  be  seen  to  succeed  to  all  this  great  show  of  devotion, and that  they  had  devoted  themselves  to  God  only  because  they had nothing  better  to  do. Unjust that  you  are! and at  present, when there  is  question  of  returning  to  him  in  your  affliction,  you say that  it  is  not  possible;  that  a  heart  pressed  and  bowed  down with sorrow  is  incapable  of  paying  attention  to  any  thing  but  its grief, and  that  we  are  more  hardened  than  touched  in  this  state  of