Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/270

 charms have  attracted  the  general  attention! What tyranny  is  that of custom! It must,  however,  be  submitted  to,  in  spite  of  deranged affairs,  a  remonstrating  husband,  tradesmen  who  murmur, and who  dearly  sell  the  remissions  perhaps  required. I say  nothing of the  cares  of  ambition:  what  a  life  is  that  passed  in  designs,  projects, fears,  hopes,  alarms,  jealousies,  subjection,  and  meannesses! I speak  not  of  a  profane  connexion:  what  terrors  lest  the  mystery be laid  open, — what  eyes  to  shun,— what  spies  to  deceive, — what mortifying repulses  to  undergo  from  the  very  person  for  whom  they have perhaps  sacrificed  their  honour  and  their  liberty,  and  of  whom they dare  not  even  complain! To all  these,  add  those  cruel  moments when  passion,  less  unruly,  allows  us  leisure  to  inspect  ourselves, and  to  feel  the  whole  infamy  of  our  situation;  those  moments in which  the  heart,  born  for  more  solid  joys,  wearies  of  its  own idols, and  finds  ample  punishment  in  its  disgusts  and  in  its  own inconstancy. World profane! If such  be  the  felicity  thou  vauntest so much,  distinguish  thy  worshippers,  and,  by  crowning  them  with such a  happiness,  punish  them  for  the  faith  which  they  have  so credulously  given  to  thy  promises.

Behold what  our  sinner  casts  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ! Her bonds, her  troubles,  her  slavery;  in  appearance,  the  instruments  of her  pleasures, — in  truth,  the  source  of  all  her  afflictions. Now, granting that  this  were  the  only  consolation  of  virtue,  is  it  not  a sufficiently  grand  one,  that  of  deliverance  from  the  keenest  anxieties of  the  passions? To have  your  happiness  no  longer  dependent upon the  inconstancy,  the  perfidy,  and  the  injustice  of  creatures; to have  placed  yourself  beyond  the  reach  of  events;  to  possess  in your  own  heart  all  that  is  wanting  toward  your  happiness,  or to  suffice,  as  I  may  say,  to  yourself? What do  you  lose  in  sacrificing gloomy  and  anxious  cares,  in  order  to  find  peace  and  inward joy; and  to  lose  all  for  Jesus  Christ,  is  it  not,  as  the  apostle  says, to have  gained  all? Thy faith  hath  made  thee  whole,  said  the Saviour to  the  woman;  go  in  peace. Behold the  treasure  which she receives  in  return  for  the  passions  sacrificed  to  him;  behold the reward  and  the  consolation  of  her  tears  and  of  her  repentance, — that peace  of  mind,  which  she  had  never  as  yet  been  able  to  find, and which  the  world  had  never  bestowed. Fools! says a  prophet; misery to  you,  then,  who  drag  on  the  load  of  your  passions,  as  the ox in  labouring  drags  on  the  chains  of  the  yoke  which  galls  him, and who  rush  on  to  your  destruction,  by  the  way  even  of  anguish, subjection, and  constraint.

Lastly, by  her  sin  she  had  been  degraded  in  the  eyes  of  men: they beheld  with  contempt  the  shame  and  the  infamy  of  her  conduct;  she  lived  degraded  from  every  right  which  a  good  reputation and a  life  free  from  reproach  bestow;  and  the  Pharisee  is  even  astonished that  Jesus  Christ  should  condescend  to  suffer  her  at  his  feet.

For the  world,  which  authorizes  whatever  leads  to  dissipation, never fails  to  cover  dissipation  itself  with  infamy:  it  approves,  it  justifies the  maxims,  the  habits,  and  the  pleasures  which  corrupt  the heart; and  yet  it  insists,  that  innocency  and  regularity  of  manners  be