Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/295

 still operateth  in  your  heart;  he  still  poureth  out  within  you  the riches of  his  goodness  and  of  his  mercy. Ah! it is  not  his  grace which fails  you,  but  you  receive  it  into  a  heart  so  full  of  corruption and wretchedness,  that  it  is  ineffectual;  it  excites  no  feeling  there of contrition;  it  is  a  spark  which,  falling  into  a  sink  of  filth  and  of nastiness,  is  extinguished  the  moment  it  falls.

Reflect, then,  my  dear  hearer,  and  comprehend  all  the  injustice of your  pretexts. You complain  that  God  is  wanting  to  you,  and that you  wait  his  grace  to  be  converted;  but  is  there  a  sinner  in whose  mouth  that  complaint  would  be  more  unjust  than  from  your lips? Recall here  the  whole  course  of  your  life;  follow  it  from the earliest  period  down  to  this  day. The Lord  had  anticipated you from  your  birth  with  his  blessings;  he  had  placed  in  you  a happy  disposition,  a  noble  spirit,  and  all  the  inclinations  most favourable to  virtue;  he  had  even  provided  for  you,  in  the  bosom of a  family,  domestic  succours  and  pious  and  godly  examples. The mercies of  the  Lord  went  still  farther;  he  hath  preserved  you  from a thousand  dangers;  through  his  goodness  you  have  outlived  occasions where  your  friends,  and  perhaps  the  accomplices  of  your  debaucheries, have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  the  scourge  of  war. To recall you to  him,  he  hath  spared  neither  afflictions,  disgusts,  nor  disgraces;  he  hath  torn  from  you  the  criminal  objects  of  your  passions, even at  the  moment  when  your  heart  was  most  strongly  attached to them;  he  hath  so  mercifully  conducted  your  destiny,  that  a thousand  obstacles  have  continually  thwarted  your  passions,  that you have  never  been  able  to  arrive  at  the  accomplishment  of  all your criminal  wishes,  and  that  something  has  always  been  wanting to your  iniquitous  happiness;  he  has  formed  for  you  serious  engagements and  duties,  which,  in  spite  of  yourself,  have  imposed the obligation  of  a  prudent  and  regular  life  in  the  eyes  of  men;  he has  not  permitted  your  conscience  to  become  hardened  in  iniquity, and you  have  never  been  able  to  succeed  in  calming  your  remorses, or in  living  tranquilly  in  guilt;  not  a  day  hath  past  in  which  you have not  felt  the  emptiness  of  the  world  and  the  horror  of  your situation; amidst  all  your  pleasures  and  excesses,  conscience  hath awoke, and  you  have  never  succeeded  in  lulling  your  secret  disquiets but  by  promising  to  yourself  a  future  change. A just  and  a merciful  God  urges  and  pursues  you  every  where:  ever  since  you have forsaken  him,  he  has  fixed  himself  to  you,  said  a  prophet,  like a worm  which  burrows  in  the  vestment,  continually  to  gnaw  your heart, and  to  render  the  importunity  of  his  biting  a  wholesome remedy to  your  soul. Even while  I  am  now  speaking  to  you,  he worketh  within  you,  filleth  my  mouth  with  these  holy  truths,  and placeth me  here  to  proclaim  them  to  you,  for  the  sole  purpose  of recalling  perhaps  you  alone. What, then,  is  your  whole  life  but one continued  succession  of  favours? Who are  you  yourself  but  a child  of  dilection  and  the  work  of  God^s  mercies? Unjust that  thou art! And thou  darest,  after  this,  to  complain  that  his  grace  is  wanting;  thou,  on  whom  alone  on  the  earth  the  Lord  seemeth  to  cast his regards;  thou,  in  whose  heart  he  so  continually  operateth,  as