Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/245

 ture. The same  fancy  which  unites  the  manners,  is  often,  a  moment after,  the  cause  of  separating  them;  but  the  ties  formed  by charity  eternally  endure.

Such is  the  first  source  of  our  likings  and  of  our  hatreds,  the injustices and  the  capriciousness  of  our  fancy. Interest is  the  second;  for  nothing  is  more  common  than  to  hear  you  justifying your animosities,  by  telling  us  that  such  a  man  hath  neglected nothing to  ruin  you;  that  he  has  been  the  mean  of  blasting  your fortune; that  he  continually  excites  vexatious  matters  against  you; that you  find  him  an  insuperable  impediment  in  your  way,  and  that it is  difficult  to  love  an  enemy  so  bent  on  injuring  you.

But, granting  that  you  speak  the  truth,  I  answer  to  you;  to  all the other  ills  which  your  brother  hath  caused  to  you,  why  should you add  that  of,  hating  him,  which  is  the  greatest  of  all,  since  all the others  have  tended  to  ravish  from  you  only  fleeting  and  frivolous riches,  while  this  is  the  cause  of  ruin  to  your  soul,  and  deprives you  for  ever  of  your  claim  to  an  immortal  kingdom? In hating him,  you  injure  yourself  much  more  than  all  his  malignity with respect  to  you  could  ever  do. He hath  usurped  the  patrimony of your  fathers:  it  may  be  so;  and,  in  order  to  avenge  yourself, you renounce  the  inheritance  of  your  heavenly  Father,  and  the eternal patrimony  of  Jesus  Christ. You take  your  revenge  then upon yourself;  and,  in  order  to  console  yourself  for  the  ills  done  to you  by  your  brother,  you  provide  for  yourself  one  without  end  and without measure.

And, moreover,  does  your  hatred  toward  your  brother  restore any of  those  advantages  which  he  hath  snatched  from  you? Does it ameliorate  your  condition? What do  you  reap  from  your  animosity and  your  rancour? In hating  him,  you  say  that  you  console yourself;  and  this  is  the  only  consolation  left  to  you. What a consolation,  great  God! is that  of  hatred;  that  is  to  say,  of  a gloomy  and  furious  passion,  which  gnaws  the  heart,  sheds  anguish and sorrow  through  ourselves,  and  begins  by  punishing  and  rendering us  miserable? What a  cruel  pleasure  is  that  of  hating,  that  is to  say,  of  bearing  on  the  heart  a  load  of  rancour,  which  impoisons every other  moment  of  life! What a  barbarous  method  of  consoling one's  self! And are  you  not  worthy  of  pity,  to  seek  a  resource in  your  evils,  which  answers  no  purpose  but  that  of  eternising, by  hatred,  a  transitory  injury?

But let  us  cease  this  human  language,  and  speak  that  of  the  gospel, to  which  our  mouths  are  consecrated. If you  were  Christian, my dear  hearer;  if  you  had  not  lost  faith,  far  from  hating  those whom God  hath  made  instrumental  in  blasting  your  hopes  and your projects  of  fortune,  you  would  regard  them  as  the  instruments of  God's  mercies  upon  your  soul,  as  the  ministers  of  your sanctification, and  the  blessed  rocks  which  have  been  the  means of saving  you  from  shipwreck. You would  have  been  lost  in credit  and  in  elevation;  you  would  then  have  neglected  your  God; your ambition  would  have  increased  with  your  fortune,  and  death would have  surprised  you  in  the  vortex  of  the  world  of  passions