Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/254

 for ever  united  with  him  be  the  sweetest  consolation  of  your  life, if it  appear  so  desirable  to  live  in  separation  from  him,  and  if  you find even  his  presence  a  punishment? Renounce, then,  the  promises and  all  the  hopes  of  faith;  separate  yourself  as  an  accursed from the  communion  of  believers;  interdict  to  yourself  the  altar and the  awful  mysteries;  banish  yourself  from  the  assembly  of  the holy; no  longer  come  there  to  offer  up  your  gifts  and  your  prayers, since all  these  religious  duties,  supposing  you  in  union  with  your brother, become  derisions  if  you  be  not  so;  depose  against  you  in the  face  of  the  altars;  and  command  you  to  quit  the  holy  assembly as a  publican  and  a  sinner.

Perhaps, alarmed  at  these  holy  truths,  you  will  finally  tell  us, that you  will  so  far  conquer  yourself  as  to  see  your  brother  and  to live  on  good  terms  with  him;  that  you  will  not  be  wanting  in  civilities;  but  that,  for  the  rest,  you  know  where  to  stop,  and  that  he need  not  reckon  much  upon  your  friendship.

You will  not  be  wanting  in  civilities! And that,  my  dear  hearer, you believe,  is  to  pardon  and  to  be  reconciled  with  your  brother, and to  love  him  as  yourself? But that  charity  which  the  gospel commands is  in  the  heart;  it  is  not  a  simple  decorum,  a  vain  outside, a  useless  ceremony;  it  is  real  feeling,  and  an  active  love;  it  is a  sincere  tenderness,  ever  ready  to  manifest  itself  in  actions. You love as  a  Jew  and  as  a  Pharisee,  but  you  love  not  as  a  Christian and as  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ. The law  of  charity  is  the  law  of the  heart;  it  regulates  the  feelings,  changes  the  inclinations,  and pours the  oil  of  peace  and  of  lenity  over  the  wounds  of  an  angry and wounded  will;  and  you  turn  it  into  a  law  wholly  external,  a Pharisaical  and  superficial  law,  which  regulates  only  the  outside, which settles  only  the  manners,  and  is  fulfilled  by  vain  appearances.

But you  are  not  commanded  that  you  shall  merely  refrain  from wounding the  rules  of  courtesy,  and  that  you  shall  pay  to  your brother all  those  duties  which  society  naturally  imposes;  it  is  the world which  prescribes  this  law;  these  are  its  rules  and  customs: but Jesus  Christ  commands  you  to  love  him;  and,  while  your heart is  estranged  from  him,  it  is  of  little  importance  that  you  keep up the  vain  externals  of  courtesy. You refuse  to  religion  the  essential part;  and  the  only  difference  between  you  and  those  sinners who  persist  in  not  seeing  their  brethren,  is,  that  you  know how to  constrain  yourself  for  the  world,  and  you  know  not  how  to thwart  yourself  for  salvation.

And surely,  my  brethren,  if  men  were  united  together  by  the sole ties  of  society,  they  no  doubt  would  discharge  their  duty, by keeping  up  all  the  externals  of  politeness,  and  by  maintaining that mutual  commerce  of  cares,  attentions,  and  courtesies,  which constitute, as  it  were,  the  whole  harmony  of  the  body  politic. But we are  united  together  by  the  sacred  and  close  ties  of  faith,  of  hope, of charity,  and  of  religion. In the  midst  of  the  world  we  form  a society  wholly  internal  and  holy,  of  which  charity  is  the  invisible bond, and  altogether  distinct  from  that  civil  society  which  legislators have  established. Consequently, by  fulfilling,  with  regard  to