Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/290



It is  that  he  may  enter  into  our  hearts,  that  Jesus  Christ  announces, by  John  the  Baptist,  that  we  have  the  way  to  make  straight for him,  by  removing  all  those  obstacles,  which,  like  a  wall  of  separation, rise  up  between  his  mercy  and  our  wretchedness. Now, these obstacles  are  the  crimes  with  which  we  so  often  stain  ourselves, which  always  subsist  because  it  would  be  necessary  to  expiate them by  penitence,  and  we  expiate  them  not:  these  obstacles  are the passions  by  which  our  heart  foolishly  allows  itself  to  be  carried away, which  are  always  living,  because,  in  order  to  destroy,  it  would be necessary  to  conquer  them:  and  we  never  conquer  them:  these obstacles are  the  occasions  against  which  our  innocence  hath  so often  split,  and  which  are  still  every  day  the  rock  fatal  to  all  our resolutions, because,  in  place  of  yielding  to  that  inward  inclination which leads  us  toward  them,  it  would  be  necessary  to  shun  them; and we  shun  them  not:  in  a  word,  the  true  and  only  manner  of making  straight  the  way  of  our  hearts  for  Jesus  Christ,  is  that  of changing  our  life,  and  of  being  sincerely  converted.

But though  the  business  of  our  conversion  be  the  most  important with which  we  can  be  entrusted  here  below,  seeing  that  through  it alone  we  can  draw  Jesus  Christ  into  our  hearts;  though  it  be  the only one  truly  interesting  to  us,  since  on  it  depends  our  eternal happiness; yet,  O  deplorable  blindness! it is  never  considered  by us  as  a  matter  either  of  urgency  or  of  importance;  it  is  continually put off  to  some  other  time,  as  if  times  and  seasons  were  at  our disposal. What wait  you,  Christians,  my  brethren? Jesus Christ ceaseth nor  to  forewarn  you,  by  his  ministers,  of  the  evil  which threaten your  impenitence,  and  the  delay  of  your  conversion  $  he hath  long  announced  to  you,  through  our  mouth,  that,  unless  you repent, you  most  assuredly  shall  perish.

Nor is  he  satisfied  with  publicly  warning  you  through  the  voice of his  ministers;  he  speaks  to  you  in  the  bottom  of  your  hearts, and continually  whispers  to  you,  Is  it  not  time  now  to  withdraw yourself from  that  guilt  in  which,  for  so  many  years,  you  have been plunged,  and  from  which  almost  nothing  but  a  miracle  can  now extricate you? Is it  not  time  to  restore  peace  to  your  heart,  to banish  from  it  that  chaos  of  passions  which  has  occasioned  all  the misfortunes of  your  life,  to  prepare  for  yourself  at  least  some  few happy and  tranquil  days,  and,  after  having  lived  so  long  for  a world  which  hath  always  left  you  empty  and  uneasy,  at  last  to  live for a  God  who  alone  can  give  peace  and  tranquillity  to  your  heart? Will you  not  at  last  bestow  a  thought  upon  your  eternal  interests, and, after  a  life  wholly  frivolous,  return  to  the  true  one;  and,  in