Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/331

 produced you  with  more  favourable  dispositions  to  virtue  than  the simple people;  a  heart  more  noble,  and  more  exalted;  happier  inclinations;  sentiments  more  worthy  of  the  grandeur  of  faith;  more understanding, elevation  of  mind,  knowledge,  instruction,  and  relish for good. You have  received  from  nature,  milder  passions,  more cultivated manners,  and  all  the  other  incidental  advantages  of  high birth; that  politeness  which  softens  the  temper;  that  dignity which restrains  the  sallies  of  the  disposition;  that  humanity  which renders you  more  open  to  the  impressions  of  grace. How many benefits do  you  then  abuse,  when  you  live  not  according  to  God! What a  monster  is  a  man  of  high  rank,  loaded  with  honours  and prosperity, who  never  lifts  his  eyes  to  heaven  to  worship  the  hand which bestows  them!

And whence,  think  you,  come  the  public  calamities,  the  scourges with which  the  cities  and  provinces  are  afflicted? It is  solely  in punishment  of  your  iniquitous  abuse  of  abundance,  that  God  sometimes striketh  the  land  with  barrenness. His justice  irritated  that you turned  his  own  benefits  against  himself,  withdraws  them  from your passions,  curses  the  land,  permits  wars  and  dissensions,  crumbles your  fortunes  into  dust,  extinguishes  your  families,  withers  the root of  your  posterity,  makes  your  titles  and  possessions  to  pass into the  hands  of  strangers,  and  holds  you  out  as  striking  examples of the  inconstancy  of  human  affairs  and  the  anticipated  monuments of his  wrath  against  hearts  equally  ungrateful  and  insensible  to  the paternal cares  of  his  providence.

Such, my  brethren,  are  the  two  characters  inseparable  from  your sins, — the scandal  and  the  ingratitude. Behold what  you  are  when you depart  from  God;  and  this  is  what  you  have  never  perhaps paid attention  to. From the  moment  that  you  are  guilty,  you cannot be  indifferently  so. The passions  are  the  same  in  the  people and  among  the  powerful;  but  very  different  is  the  guilt;  and  a single  one  of  your  crimes  often  leads  to  more  miseries,  and  hath, before God,  more  extended  and  more  terrible  consequences,  than  a whole  life  of  iniquity  in  an  obscure  and  vulgar  soul. But your  virtues have  also  the  same  advantage  and  the  same  lot:  and  this  is what  remains  for  me  to  prove  in  the  last  part  of  this  Discourse.

Part II. — If scandal  and  ingratitude  be  the  inseparable,  consequences of  the  vices  and  passions  of  persons  of  high  rank,  their virtues have  also  two  particular  characters,  which  render  them  far more acceptable  to  God  than  those  of  common  believers:  firstly, the example;  secondly,  the  authority. And this,  my  brethren,  is  a truth  highly  consoling  to  you,  who  are  placed  by  Providence  in  an exalted  station,  and  well  calculated  to  animate  you  to  serve  God, and to  render  virtue  lovely  to  you. For it  is  an  illusion  to  consider the rank  to  which  you  are  born  as  an  obstacle  to  salvation,  and  to the  duties  imposed  upon  us  by  religion. The rocks  are  more  dangerous there,  I  confess,  than  in  an  obscure  lot, — the  temptation stronger and  more  frequent;  and,  while  pointing  out  the  advantages, with regard  to   salvation,  of  high  rank,  I  pretend  not  to  conceal