Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/284

 brethren, ah! our wish  would  be  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  render your path  more  easy,  far  from  throwing  fresh  obstacles  in  the  way. Wherefore should  we  dishearten  you  in  the  enterprise  of  salvation, by starting  chimerical  difficulties? It is  our  duty  to  smooth  such  as may  actually  be  found  in  it,  and  to  tender  you  an  assisting  hand,  in order  to  sustain  your  weakness.

Meditate, my  brethren,  upon  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ. What do I  say? Only open  the  Gospel,  and  read;  then  shall  you  find  that we draw'  a  veil  of  discretion  over  the  severity  of  its  maxims;  then, far from  complaining  of  our  excesses,  you  will  yourselves  supply the deficiencies  of  our  silence  and  of  our  softenings,  and  will  say  to yourselves  what  we  dread  to  say,  because  ye  could  never  bear  it. Great God! To bear  his  cross  every  day,  to  despise  the  world  and all it  contains,  to  live  as  a  stranger  upon  the  earth,  to  attach  himself to thee  alone,  to  renounce  all  which  flatters  the  senses,  incessantly to renounce  himself,  to  consider  as  happy  those  who  weep  or  who are afflicted, — behold  the  substance  of  thy  holy  law,  and  which  every Christian undertakes. O! what  can  the  human  mind  add  to  the rigour of  this  doctrine? What could  we  announce  to  you  more melancholy or  more  formidable  to  self-love? Consequently, your reproaches are  merely  a  vain  language  of  the  world,  and  one  of those  fashions  of  speaking  which  no  one  examines,  and  each  adopts; your conscience  inwardly  belies  it;  and  when  you  speak  candidly, you confess  that  we  are  in  the  right,  and  that  the  Gospel  is  a  preacher much more  severe  and  more  fearful  for  the  world,  and  for  those who love  it,  than  it  could  be  possible  for  us  ever  to  be.

First duty  which  the  authority  of  the  holy  word  exacts  of  you, namely, a  docile  spirit.

Secondly. You owe  to  the  authority  of  this  holy  word,  a  spirit of sincerity,  and  inward  application  of  it  to  yourself;  that  is  to  say, to be  a  rigorous  examinator  here  of  your  own  conscience;  to  have incessantly before  your  eyes,  on  one  side,  the  state  of  your  soul, and, on  the  other,  the  truths  which  we  announce;  to  measure  yourself according  to  that  rule;  to  search  into  yourself  by  that  light; to judge  yourself  by  that  law;  to  listen  to,  as  if  addressed  to  you alone, the  holy  maxims  announced  to  the  multitude;  to  consider yourself as  alone  here  before  Jesus  Christ,  who  speaks  to  you  alone through our  mouth,  and  who  sends  us  here  perhaps  for  you  alone. For, my  brethren,  no  one  here  takes  to  himself  that  truth  which attacks and  condemns  him;  no  one  thinks  himself  an  interested personage: it  would  seem  that  we  form  at  pleasure  to  ourselves phantoms of  the  brain,  for  the  purpose  of  combating  them,  and  that the reality  of  that  sinner  whom  we  attack  is  no  where  in  existence. The lewd  and  dissolute  person  recognizes  not  himself  in  the  most animated and  most  striking  traits  of  his  passion. The man,  loaded with ill-acquired  wealth,  and  perhaps  with  the  blood  and  spoils  of the  people,  joins  with  us  in  deprecating  that  very  iniquity  in  others, and sees  not  that  he  judges  himself. The courtier,  consumed  with ambition, and  who  sacrifices  conscience  and  integrity  every  day  to that  idol,  frankly  admits  of  the  meanness  of  that  passion  in  his equals, and  looks  upon  it  as  a  virtue,  and  as  a  deep  experience  of