Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/297

 give it  the  preference  over  all  others,  and  even  to  neglect  every other in  order  to  devote  yourself  to  it  alone,  has,  nevertheless,  absolutely discharged  you  from  the  trust,  in  order  to  take  it  wholly upon himself. Show us,  then,  this  promise  in  some  new  Gospel, for you  well  know  that  it  is  no  where  to  be  found  in  that  of  Jesus Christ. " The  sinner,"  says  the  prophet  Isaiah,  "  hath  nothing  but foolish  things  wherewith  to  justify  himself;  and  his  heart  worketh iniquity,  to  practise  hypocrisy,  and  to  utter  error  against  the  Lord."

Lastly. This pretext  is  foolish  in  itself,  for  you  say  that  you  want grace: I  have  already  replied  that  you  deceive  yourself;  that,  if candid,  you  will  acknowledge  that  grace  has  never  been  wanting  to you;  that  you  have  more  than  once  felt  its  salutary  impressions; that, had  so  obstinate  a  resistance  not  been  opposed  by  your  hardness of  heart  and  impenitence,  it  would  have  triumphed  over  your passions; that  God,  who  wishes  all  men  to  be  saved,  who  out  of nothing  has  drawn  reasonable  beings,  solely  to  praise,  to  bless,  and to glorify  him;  in  a  word,  who  has  only  made  us  for  himself,  has opened to  you,  my  dear  hearer,  as  well  as  to  so  many  other  sinners, a thousand  ways  of  conversion,  which  would  have  infallibly  recalled you ere  now  to  the  right  path,  had  you  not  obstinately  shut  your ears against  his  voice. You want  grace,  you  say:  well,  what  do you  thereby  pretend? Would it  be  to  have  it  understood  that  God, who is  our  Father,  and  of  whom  we  are  the  children,  who  has  an affection  for  us  infinitely  surpassing  that  of  the  tenderest  mother for an  only  son,  that  a  God  so  good  leaves  us,  through  want  of assistance,  in  the  actual  impossibility  of  well-doing? But do  you reflect that  such  language  would  be  a  blasphemy  against  the  wisdom of God,  and  the  justification  of  every  crime? Are you  then  ignorant, that  whatever  be  the  blow  given  to  our  liberty  by  the  fall  of our  first  parent,  it  is  still  however  left  to  us;  that  neither  law  nor duties would  longer  be  imposed  upon  man,  had  he  not  the  real  and actual power  of  fulfilling  them;  that  religion,  far  from  being  an  aid and a  consolation,  would  consequently  be  no  longer  but  a  vexation and a  snare;  that  if,  notwithstanding  all  the  cares  which  God  has for our  salvation,  we  perish,  it  is  always  the  fault  of  our  own  will, and not  the  default  of  grace;  that  we  are  individually  the  authors of our  misery  and  destruction;  that  it  has  depended  upon  ourselves to  have  avoided  them;  and  that  a  thousand  sinners,  with neither more  grace  nor  succours  than  we,  have  broken  their  chains, and have  rendered  glory  to  God  and  to  his  mercies  by  a  life  altogether new?

But, granting  that  these  truths  were  less  certain,  and  that,  in reality,  you,  my  dear  hearer,  want  grace,  it  would  equally  be  true then that  God  hath  altogether  forsaken  you;  that  you  are  marked with a  character  of  reprobation,  and  that  your  state  cannot  be  worse. For, to  be  without  grace,  is  surely  the  most  terrible  of  all  situations, and the  most  certain  presage  of  eternal  condemnation. And it  is that  horrible  thought,  however,  which  comforts  you,  which  justifies in your  eyes  your  tranquillity  in  guilt,  which  makes  you,  without trouble or  remorse,  to  delay  your  conversion,  and  which  even  serves