Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/303

 corruption said  the  apostle,  you  will  cut  down  in  corruption. You are continually  saying,  yourselves,  that  we  always  die  as  we  have lived; that  the  character  and  disposition  change  not;  that  we  bear within us  in  old  age  all  the  defects  and  all  the  tendencies  of  our younger years;  and  that  nothing  is  so  fortunate  for  us  as  to  have formed laudable  inclinations  from  an  early  period,  and,  as  the  prophet said,  to  have  accustomed  ourselves  from  the  tenderest  youth to bear  the  yoke  of  the  Lord.

And, in  effect,  when  we  should  attend  solely  to  the  quiet  of  our life, when  we  should  have  no  other  interest  in  view  than  that  of securing  peaceful  and  happy  days  to  ourselves  here  below,  what happiness to  anticipate,  and  to  stifle  in  their  birth,  by  bending  from the first  toward  virtue,  so  many  violent  passions  which  afterward tear the  heart,  and  occasion  all  the  sorrows  and  misery  of  our  life! What happiness  to  have  grafted  in  ourselves  only  gentle  and  innocent ideas,  to  spare  ourselves  the  fatal  experience  of  so  many  criminal pleasures,  which  for  ever  corrupt  the  heart,  defile  the  imagination, engender  a  thousand  shameful  and  unruly  fancies,  which accompany us  even  in  virtue,  outlive  our  crimes,  and  frequently become new  ones  themselves! What happiness  to  have  created innocent and  tranquil  pleasures  for  ourselves  in  these  younger years, to  have  accustomed  the  heart  to  be  contented  with  them,  not to have  contracted  the  sad  necessity  of  being  unable  to  do  without violent and  criminal  gratifications,  and  not  to  have  rendered  insupportable, by  a  long  habit  of  warm  and  tumultuous  passions,  the gentleness and  the  tranquillity  of  virtue  and  innocence! How these younger  years,  passed  in  modesty  and  in  horror  at  vice,  attract blessings  on  the  remainder  of  life! How attentive  to  all  our ways do  they  render  the  Lord! And how  much  do  they  render  us the  well-beloved  object  of  his  cares  and  of  his  paternal  kindness!

But nobody  denies,  you  will  say,  the  happiness  of  being  early devoted to  God,  and  of  having  been  able  to  resist  all  the  temptations of  youth  and  of  pleasure. But that  such  is  not  your  case; you have  followed  the  common  track;  the  torment  of  the  world  and of the  passions  has  swept  all  before  it;  you  find  yourselves,  even still, under  engagements  too  intimate  and  powerful  to  think  of breaking  them;  you  wait  a  more  favourable  situation;  and  you promise yourselves  that,  when  the  passion  which  now  enslaves  you shall be  extinguished,  you  will  never  again  enter  into  new  bonds, but will  heartily  range  yourselves  on  the  side  of  duty  and  of  virtue. Second pretext;  the  passions  and  the  engagements,  from  which  it is  impossible  as  yet  to  withdraw.

But, in  the  first  place,  are  you  quite  certain  that  this  more  favourable situation  which  you  await,  in  order  to  return  to  God,  shall arrive? Who has  revealed  to  you  the  course  and  the  duration  of the  passions  which  at  present  retain  you? Who has  marked  limits to them,  and  said,  like  the  Lord  to  the  troubled  waters,  "  Hitherto shalt  thou  come,  and  no  farther?" When shall  they  have  an  end, do you  know? Can you  take  upon  you  to  say  that  they  shall  one day be  terminated, — that  they  shall  be  ended  at  least  before  your-