Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/288

 the eyes  of  men,  than  touched  with  the  endless  fatigues  and  dangers which  he  had  surmounted,  in  order  to  announce  to  them  the Gospel, and  to  convert  them  to  truth;  were  it  permitted,  we might  say  to  you,  my  brethren,  we  sustain,  solely  on  your  account, the whole  weight  of  a  painful  and  laborious  ministry;  our  cares, our watchings,  our  prayers,  the  endless  toilings  which  qualify  us  for, and accompany  us  in,  these  Christian  pulpits,  have  no  other  object but that  of  your  salvation. O! do  not  our  pains  entitle  us  at  least to your  respect  and  gratitude? Is it  possible  that  that  zeal  which suffers all,  in  order  to  secure  your  salvation,  can  ever  become  the melancholy subject  of  your  derisions  and  censures? Demand of God,  good  and  well,  that,  for  the  glory  of  the  church  and  for  the honour of  his  Gospel,  he  raise  up  to  his  people  labourers  powerful in speech,  of  those  men  whom  the  sole  unction  of  the  Spirit  of  God renders nervous  and  eloquent,  and  who  announce  the  Gospel  in  a manner  worthy  of  its  elevation  and  sanctity. But likewise  demand, that,  when  we  happen  therein  to  fail,  your  faith  may  supply the deficiencies  of  our  discourses;  that  your  piety  may  render  the truth, in  your  own  hearts,  that  which  it  loses  in  our  mouths;  and that, through  your  unrighteous  distastes,  you  force  not  the  ministers of  the  Gospel  to  have  recourse,  in  order  to  please  you,  to  the vain artifices  and  colouring  of  a  human  eloquence,  to  shine  rather than to  instruct,  and  like  the  Israelites  formerly,  to  go  down  to  the Philistines to  sharpen  their  instruments,  destined  solely  to  cultivate the  earth: — I  mean  to  say,  to  seek  in  profane  learning,  or  in the  language  of  a  hostile  world,  foreign  ornaments  to  embellish  the simplicity of  the  Gospel;  and  to  give  to  instruments,  and  to  talents destined to  increase,  to  multiply,  and  to  strengthen  the  holy seed, a  vain  brilliancy  and  a  subtlety  which  blunt  its  energy  and its virtue,  and  which  substitute  a  false  splendour  in  the  place  of truth  and  zeal.

And now,  my  brethren,  behold  the  last  fault  inimical  to  that spirit of  faith;  it  is  a  spirit  of  curiosity. You do  not  sufficiently distinguish the  holy  gravity  of  our  ministry  from  that  vain  and frivolous art  which  has  nothing  in  view  but  the  arrangement  of  the Discourse and  the  glory  of  eloquence;  you  assist  at  our  discourses with the  same  view  as  Augustine,  still  a  sinner,  did  in  former  times at those  of  Ambrose. It was  not,  says  that  illustrious  penitent,  in order  to  learn  from  the  mouth  of  the  man  of  God  the  secrets  of eternal  life,  which  I  had  so  long  sought,  nor  the  desire  of  finding in them  remedies  for  the  shameful  and  inveterate  wounds  of  my soul,  and  which  thou,  O  my  God! alone art  acquainted  with;  it was  in  order  to  examine  whether  his  eloquence  corresponded  with his great  reputation,  and  if  his  discourses  warranted  the  unbounded applauses which  his  hearers  bestowed  upon  him. The truths which he  announced  interested  me  not;  I  was  moved  only  by  the beauty and  the  charms  of  the  Discourse.

And such  is  still,  at  present,  the  deplorable  situation  of  far  too many believers  who  listen  to  us;  who,  like  Augustine,  loaded  with crimes, and  fettered  with  the  most  shameful  passions,  far  from