Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/355

 sense before  we  can  erect,  it  would  appear,  the  standard  of  piety; that, may  God  preserve  you  from  such  madness;  that  you  endeavour to  be  an  honest  man,  but,  God  be  praised  you  are  no  devotee? What language! — that is  to  say,  that  God  be  praised  you are already  marked  with  the  stamp  of  the  reprobate;  that  with  confidence you  can  say  to  yourself,  "  I  shall  never  alter,  but  shall  die exactly  such  as  I  am." What impiety! And yet  it  is  among  Christians that  such  discourses  are  every  day  ostentatiously,  and  with apparent satisfaction,  repeated.

Ah! my brethren,  permit  my  sorrow  to  vent  itself  here  in  one reflection. The patriarchs,  those  men  so  venerable,  so  powerful, even according  to  the  world,  never  had  communication  with  the kings and  nations  of  the  different  countries,  where  they  were  conducted by  the  order  of  the  Lord,  but  in  the  following  religious terms: "  I  fear  the  Lord." They claimed  no  respect  from  the grandeur of  their  race,  whose  origin  was  almost  coeval  with  the world itself,  from  the  lustre  of  their  ancestors,  from  the  splendour of the  blood  of  Abraham,  that  man,  the  conqueror  of  kings,  the model of  all  sages  of  the  earth,  and  the  only  hero  of  whom  the world could  then  boast. " We  fear  the  Lord." Behold their  most pompous title,  their  most  august  nobility,  the  only  character  by which  they  wished  to  be  distinguished  from  other  men:  such  was the magnificent  sign  which  appeared  at  the  head  of  their  tents  and flocks, which  shone  on  their  standards,  and  every  where  bore  with them the  glory  of  their  name,  and  that  of  the  God  of  their  fathers. And we,  my  brethren,  we  shun  the  reputation  of  a  man  just  and fearing God,  as  a  title  of  reproach  and  shame;  we  pompously  dwell upon the  vain  distinctions  of  rank  and  birth;  wherever  we  go,  the frivolous mark  of  our  names  and  dignities  precedes  and  announces us; and  we  hide  the  glorious  sign  of  the  God  of  our  fathers;  we even  glorify  ourselves  in  not  being  among  the  number  of  those  who fear and  adore  him. O God! leave, then,  to  these  foolish  men  a glory  so  hideous;  confound  their  folly  and  impiety,  by  permitting them to  the  end  to  glorify  themselves  in  their  confusion  and  ignominy.

Nor is  this  all. By these  deplorable  derisions  not,  only  do  you render virtue  useless  to  yourselves,  but  you  likewise  render  it  odious and useless  to  others;  that  is  to  say,  not  only  do  you  bar  against yourselves every  path  which  leads  to  God,  but  you  likewise  shut it against  an  infinity  of  souls,  whom  grace  still  urges  in  secret  to relinquish  their  crimes,  and  to  live  in  a  Christian  manner;  who dare not  declare  themselves,  lest  they  should  be  exposed  to  the  lash of your  satire  and  profane  railleries;  who,  in  a  new  life,  dread  only the ridicule  which  you  cast  upon  virtue;  who,  in  secret,  oppose  only that single  obstacle  to  the  voice  of  Heaven  which  calls  upon  them; and tremblingly  hesitate,  in  the  grand  affair  of  eternity,  between  the judgments of  God  and  your  senseless  and  impious  derisions.

That is  to  say,  that  you  thereby  blast  the  fruit  of  that  Gospel which we  announce,  and  render  our  ministry  unavailing;  you  deprive religion  of  its  terrors  and  majesty,  and  spread  through  the