Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/373

 is to  say,  of  the  priests,  who  are  continually  present  there  before God, and  whose  innocence  and  purity  ought  to  equal  that  of  the heavenly spirits. True it  is,  that  thou  thereby  warn  est  us,  O  my God! what ought,  in  our  temples,  to  be  the  holy  gravity,  and  the inviolable sanctity  of  thy  ministers;  that  it  is  for  us  to  bear  here, stamped upon  our  countenance,  the  holy  dread  of  the  mysteries which we  offer  up,  and  the  lively  and  intimate  sense  of  thy  presence; that it  is  for  us  to  inspire  here  the  people  around  us  with  respect, by the  sole  appearance  of  our  modesty;  that  it  is  for  us  not  to  appear around  the  altar,  and  employed  in  the  holy  ministry,  often more wearied,  more  careless,  and  more  in  haste  than  even  the assisting multitude;  and  not  to  authorize  their  irreverences  by  our own. For, O  my  God! the desolation  of  the  holy  place  hath  commenced with  the  sanctuary  itself;  the  respect  of  the  people  there hath become  weakened  only  in  consequence  of  being  no  longer supported by  the  holy  gravity  of  the  worship  and  the  majesty  of the  ceremonies;  and  thy  house  hath  begun  to  be  a  house  of  dissipation and  of  scandal,  only  since  thy  ministers  have  made  of  it  a house  of  traffic,  of  weariness,  and  of  avarice. But our  examples, in authorizing  your  profanations,  do  not  excuse  them,  my  brethren.

And, in  effect,  it  seems  that  God  hath  never  left  them  unpunished. The shameful  indecencies  of  the  children  of  Levi,  which had so  long  profaned  his  house,  were  followed  with  the  most  dismal calamities:  the  holy  ark  became  a  prey  to  the  Philistines;  it was  placed  at  the  side  of  Dagon,  in  an  infamous  temple;  the  glory of Israel  was  blasted;  the  Lord  withdrew  himself  from  amidst  his people; the  lamp  of  Judah  was  extinguished;  there  was  no  highpriest,  and  Jacob  was,  all  of  a  sudden,  without  altar,  and  without sacrifice.

There is  little  doubt,  my  brethren,  but  that  the  miseries  of  the last age  have  been  the  fatal  consequences  of  the  profanations  and of the  irreverences  of  our  fathers. It was  just  that  the  Lord  should abandon temples  where  he  had  so  long  been  insulted. Dread, my brethren,  lest  we  prepare  for  our  posterity  the  same  calamities,  in imitating  the  disorders  of  those  who  have  preceded  us. Dread, lest an  irritated  God  should  one  day  abandon  these  temples  which we profane,  and  lest  they,  in  their  turn,  become  the  asylum  of error. What do  I  know  but  that  he  is  already  preparing  all  these evils for  us,  in  permitting  the  purity  and  the  simplicity  of  faith  to  be adulterated  in  the  minds,  in  multiplying  those  men  so  wise  in  their own conceit,  and  so  common  in  this  age,  who  measure  every  thing by the  lights  of  a  weak  reason,  who  would  wish  to  fathom  the  secrecies of  God,  and  who,  far  from  making  religion  the  subject  of their  worship  and  of  their  thanksgivings,  make  it  the  subject  of their  doubts  and  of  their  censures? Thou art  terrible  in  thy  judgments, O  my  God! and thy  punishments  are  sometimes  so  much the more  rigorous,  as  they  have  been  tardy  and  slow.

Let us  reflect,  then,  my  brethren,  on  all  these  grand  motives  of religion;  let  us  bring  into  this  holy  place  a  tender  and  an  attentive piety, a  spirit  of  piety,  of  compunction,  of  collection,  of  thanksgiv-