Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/327

 take from  them,  by  honouring  them  with  your  familiarity,  that mark of  disgrace  and  infamy  with  which  they  had  been  stigmatized by the  laws  of  the  church  and  of  the  state,  and  which  degraded them in  the  eyes  of  men.

Thus it  is  through  you  that  the  people  participate  in  these  debaucheries;  that  this  poison  infects  the  cities  and  provinces;  that these public  pleasures  become  the  source  of  the  public  miseries and licentiousness;  that  so  many  unfortunate  victims  renounce their modesty  to  gratify  your  pleasures,  and,  seeking  to  improve the mediocrity  of  their  fortune  by  the  exercise  of  talents  which your passions  alone  have  rendered  useful  and  recommendable,  come upon criminal  theatres  to  express  passions  for  the  gratification  of yours;  to  perish  in  order  to  please;  to  sacrifice  their  innocence,  in occasioning  the  loss  of  it  to  those  who  listen  to  them;  to  become public rocks,  and  the  scandal  of  religion;  to  bring  misery  and  dissension even  into  your  families,  and  to  punish  you,  woman  of  the world, for  the  support  and  credit  which  you  give  them  by  your presence and  your  applauses,  by  becoming  the  criminal  object  of the  passion  and  of  the  ill-conduct  of  your  children,  and  perhaps dividing with  yourself  the  heart  of  your  husband,  and  completely ruining his  affairs  and  fortune.

Fifthly. A scandal  of  duration. It is  little,  my  brethren,  that the corruption  of  our  age  is  almost  wholly  the  work  of  the  great and powerful;  the  ages  to  come  will  likewise  be  indebted  to  you, perhaps, for  a  part  of  their  licentiousness  and  excesses. Those profane poems,  which  have  seen  the  light  solely  through  your means, shall  still  corrupt  hearts  in  the  following  ages:  those  dangerous authors,  whom  you  honour  with  your  protection,  shall  pass into the  hands  of  your  posterity;  and  your  crimes  shall  be  multiplied with  that  dangerous  venom  which  they  contain,  and  which shall be  communicated  from  age  to  age. Even your  passions,  immortalized in  history,  after  having  been  a  scandal  in  their  time, will also  become  one  in  the  following  ages:  the  reading  of  your errors, preserved  to  posterity,  shall  raise  up  imitators  after  your death: instructions  in  guilt  will  be  sought  for  in  the  narrative  of your  adventures;  and  your  excesses  shall  not  expire  with  you. The voluptuousness  of  Solomon  still  furnishes  blasphemies  and  derisions to  the  impious,  and  motives  of  confidence  to  libertinism; the infamous  passion  of  Potiphar's  wife  hath  been  preserved  down to us,  and  her  rank  hath  immortalized  her  weakness. Such is  the destiny of  the  vices  and  of  the  passions  of  the  great  and  powerful: they do  not  live  for  their  own  age  alone;  they  live  for  the  ages  to come,  and  the  duration  of  their  scandal  hath  no  other  limits  than that of  their  name.

You know  this  to  be  a  truth,  my  brethren. Do they  not,  at present,  continue  to  read,  with  new  danger,  those  scandalous  memoirs composed  in  the  age  of  our  fathers,  which  have  transmitted down to  us  the  excesses  of  the  preceding  courts,  and  immortalized the passions  of  the  principal  persons  who  figured  in  them? The irregularities of  an  obscure  people,  and  of  the  rest  of  men  who  then