Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/230

 you say  nothing;  if  you  spoke  in  this  manner,  you  would  speak the language  of  faith,  and  that  of  a  penitent  king,  who,  contemplating his  repeated  relapses,  and  no  longer  daring  to  speak  to  his  God in prayer,  said,  "  Lord,  I  am  troubled,  I  am  bowed  down  greatly; I  go  mourning  all  the  day  long;  for  mine  iniquities  are  gone  over my  head;  as  a  heavy  burden  they  are  too  heavy  for  me.  My heart  panteth,  my  strength  faileth  me;  for  I  will  declare  mine  iniquity, I  will  be  sorry  for  my  sin.  Forsake  me  not,  O  Lord:  O  my God!  be  not  far  from  me.  Make  haste  to  help  me,  O  Lord,  my salvation." Such is  the  silence  of  compunction  which  forms  before God the  true  prayer.

But to  complain  that  you  have  no  longer  any  thing  to  say,  when you wish  to  pray:  alas! my dear  hearer,  when  you  present  yourself before  God,  do  your  past  crimes  hold  out  nothing  for  you  to dread  from  his  judgments,  or  to  ask  from  his  mercy? What! your whole  life  has  perhaps  been  only  a  sink  of  debaucheries; you have  perverted  every  thing,  grace,  your  talents,  your  reason, your wealth,  your  dignities,  all  creatures;  you  have  passed  the  best part of  your  days  in  the  neglect  of  your  God,  and  in  all  the  delusions of  the  world  and  of  the  passions;  you  have  vilified  your heart by  iniquitous  attachments,  defiled  your  body,  disordered  your imagination, weakened  your  lights,  and  even  extinguished  every happy disposition  which  nature  had  placed  in  your  soul;  and  the recollection of  all  this  furnishes  you  with  nothing  in  the  presence of God? And it  inspires  you  with  no  idea  of  the  method  you ought to  adopt,  in  having  recourse  to  him,  in  order  to  obtain  his forgiveness of  such  accumulated  crimes? and you  have  nothing  to say  to  a  God  whom  you  have  so  long  offended? O man! thy salvation, then,  must  either  be  without  resource,  or  thou  must  have other means  of  accomplishing  it  than  those  of  the  divine  clemency and mercy.

But, my  dear  hearer,  I  go  farther. If you  lead  a  Christian  life; if, returned  from  the  world  and  from  pleasures,  you  are  at  last  entered into  the  ways  of  salvation,  you  are  still  more  unjust  in  complaining that  you  find  nothing  to  say  to  the  Lord  in  your  prayers. What! the singular  grace  of  having  opened  your  eyes,  of  undeceiving you  with  regard  to  the  world,  and  withdrawing  you  from the bottom  of  the  abyss;  this  blessing,  so  rare,  and  denied  to  so many  sinners,  doth  it  give  rise  to  no  grateful  feeling  in  your  heart, when at  his  feet? Can this  recollection  leave  you  cold  and  insensible? Is nothing  tender  awakened  by  the  presence  of  your benefactor, you  who  pride  yourself  upon  having  never  forgotten  a a  benefit,  and  who  so  pompously  display  the  feeling  and  the  excess of your  gratitude  toward  the  creatures?

Besides, if  you  feel  those  endless  tendencies,  which,  in  spite  of your  change  of  life,  still  rise  up  within  you  against  the  law  of  God; that difficulty  which  you  still  have  in  doing  well;  that  unfortunate inclination which  you  still  find  within  you  toward  evil;  those  desires of  a  more  perfect  virtue,  which  always  turn  out  vain;  those resolutions to  which  you  are  always  faithless;  those  opportunities