Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/341

 mystery of  iniquity,  which  worketh  in  secret,  can  be  revealed;  till then, whatever  passes  in  the  heart  of  men,  buried  from  our  knowledge, is  interdicted  to  the  temerity  of  our  judgments:  even  when what is  visible  in  the  conduct  of  our  brethren  appears  unfavourable to them,  charity  obliges  us  to  suppose  that  what  we  see  not  makes amends for  and  rectifies  it;  and  it  requires  us  to  excuse  the  faults of the  actions  which  offend  us  by  the  innocency  of  the  intentions which are  concealed  from  our  knowledge. Now, if  religion  ought to render  us  indulgent,  and  even  favourable  to  their  vices,  will  it suffer  us  to  be  cruel  and  inexorable  to  their  virtues?

Indeed, my  brethren,  what  renders  your  temerity  here  more  unjust, more  black,  and  more  cruel,  is  the  nature  of  your  suspicions. For, were  your  suspicions  of  the  pious  to  be  directed  only  toward some of  those  weaknesses  inseparable  from  human  nature, — for instance, too  much  sensibility  of  injury,  too  much  attention  to  their interests, too  much  inflexibility  in  their  opinions, — we  would  be entitled  to  reply  to  you,  as  we  shall  afterwards  tell  you,  that  you exact from  the  virtuous  an  exemption  from  error,  and  a  degree  of perfection  which  exist  not  in  life. But you  rest  not  there:  you attack their  probity  and  integrity  of  heart;  you  suspect  them  of atrocity,  dissimulation,  and  hypocrisy;  of  making  the  most  holy things subservient  to  their  own  views  and  passions;  of  being  public impostors; of  sporting  with  God  and  man;  and  all  these  through the ostensible  appearances  of  virtue. What, my  brethren! you would not  dare,  after  the  most  notorious  guilt,  to  pronounce  such  a sentence  on  a  convicted  criminal;  you  would  rather  consider  his fault as  one  of  those  misfortunes  which  may  happen  to  all  men,  and of which  an  evil  moment  may  render  us  capable;  and  you  decidedly give  judgment  against  the  virtuous;  and  you  suspect  in  a  pious character, from  a  holy  and  praiseworthy  life,  what  you  would  not dare to  suspect  from  the  most  scandalous  and  criminal  conduct  of  a sinner? And you  consider  as  a  witticism,  when  directed  against the servants  of  God,  what  would  appear  to  you  as  a  barbarity  when against a  man  stained  with  a  thousand  crimes. Is virtue,  then,  the only crime  unworthy  of  indulgence;  or  is  it  sufficient,  to  serve  Jesus Christ, to  become  unworthy  of  all  respect? Do the  holy  practices of piety,  which  surely  ought  rather  to  attract  respect  and  estimation to your  brother,  become  the  only  titles  which  confound  him,  in  your mind, with  the  infamous  and  the  wicked?

I allow  that  the  hypocrite  deserves  the  execration  of  both  God and man;  that  the  abuse  which  he  makes  of  religion  is  the  greatest of crimes;  that  derisions  and  satires  are  too  mild  to  decry  a  vice which deserves  detestation  and  horror  from  the  human  race;  and that a  profane  theatre  errs  in  throwing  only  ridicule  upon  a  character so  abominable,  so  shameful,  and  so  afflicting  to  the  church; for it  ought  to  excite  the  tears  and  indignation  rather  than  the laughter of  believers.

But I  say,  that  this  eternal  inveteracy  against  virtue;  that  the rash suspicions  which  always  confound  the  pious  man  with  the hypocrite; that  that  malignity  which,  in  making  the  most  pompous