Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/27



The reproach which is here directed by Jesus Christ, against his relations according to the flesh, who pressed him to show himself to the world, and to go up to Jerusalem, in order to acquire those honours which were due to his great talents, may with propriety be directed against the greatest part of this audience. The time which they give to their fortune, to their advancement, to their pleasures, is always ready; it is always time to labour toward the acquirement of wealth and glory, and to satisfy their passions : that is the time of man ; but the time of Jesus Christ, that is to say, the time of working out their salvation, is never ready; they delay, they put it off; they always expect its arrival, and it never arrives.

The slightest worldly interests agitate them, and make them undertake every thing; for what is the world itself, whose deceitful ways they follow, but an eternal agitation, where the passions set every thing in motion; where tranquillity is the only pleasure unknown; where cares are honourable; where those who are at rest think themselves unhappy; where all is toil and affliction of spirit; in a word, where all are in motion, and all are deceived? Surely, my brethren, when we see men so occupied, so interested, so patient in their pursuits, we would suppose them labouring for everlasting ages, and for riches which ought to secure their happiness: how can we comprehend, that so much toil and agitation has nothing in view but a fortune, whose duration scarcely equals that of the labours which have gained it; and that a life so rapid is spent with so much fatigue, in the search of wealth which must perish along with it?

Nevertheless, a mistake, which the slightest investigation is sufficient to expose, is become the error of by far the majority. In vain does religion call us to more necessary and more important cares; in vain it announces to us, that to labour for what must pass away, is only amassing, at a great expense, heaps of sand, which tumble upon our heads, as fast as we raise them up; that the highest pitch of elevation to which we can attain here below, is always that which verges upon our death, and is the gate of eternity; and that nothing is worthy of man, but what will endure as long as man. The cares of the passions are always weighty and important: the steps alone which we take for heaven, are weak and languid: salvation alone we