Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/376

 merly triumphedst  over  through  the  striking  operations  of  thy power; and  by  those  lively  lights  which  enlighten  hearts,  more efficacious than  all  our  discourses,  destroy  every  sentiment  of  pride which may  still  rise  up  against  the  knowledge  of  thy  mysteries.

Part I. — Let  us  begin  with  admitting  that  it  is  faith,  and  not reason, which  makes  Christians;  and  that  the  first  step  exacted  of a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  to  captivate  his  mind,  and  to  believe what he  may  not  comprehend. Nevertheless, I  say,  that  we  are led to  that  submission  by  reason  itself;  that  the  more  even our lights  are  superior,  the  more  do  they  point  out  the  necessity of our  submission;  and  that  unbelief,  far  from  being  the  result  of strength  of  mind  and  of  reason,  is,  on  the  contrary,  that  of  error and weakness.

In faith,  reason  hath  therefore  its  uses,  as  it  hath  its  limits: and as  the  law,  good  and  holy  in  itself,  served  only  to  conduct  to Jesus  Christ,  and  there  stopped  as  at  its  term;  in  the  same  way, reason, good  and  just  in  itself,  since  it  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  a participation  of  the  sovereign  reason,  ought  only  to  serve,  and  is given  to  us,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  preparing  the  way  for  faith. It is forward,  and  quits  the  bounds  of  its  first  institution,  when  it  attempts to  go  beyond  these  sacred  limits.

This taken  for  granted,  let  us  see  which  of  the  two,  namely,  the believer or  the  unbeliever,  makes  the  most  prudent  use  of  his  reason. Submission to  things  held  out  to  our  belief,  perhaps  suspected of  credulity,  either  on  the  side  of  the  authority  which  proposes them;  if  it  be  light,  it  is  weakness  to  give  credit  to  them: or on  the  side  of  the  things  of  which  they  wish  to  persuade  us;  if they  be  in  opposition  to  the  principles  of  equity,  of  honour,  of  society, and  of  conscience,  it  is  ignorance  to  receive  them  as  true: or, lastly,  on  the  side  of  the  motives  which  are  employed  to  persuade us;  if  they  be  vain,  frivolous,  and  incapable  of  determining a wise  mind,  it  is  imprudence  to  give  way  to  them. Now, it  is easy  to  prove  that  the  authority  which  exacts  the  submission  of the  believer,  is  the  greatest,  the  most  respectable,  and  the  best  established, which  can  possibly  be  upon  the  earth;  that  the  truths proposed to  his  belief  are  the  only  ones  conformable  to  the  principles of  equity,  of  honour,  of  society,  and  of  conscience;  and, lastly, that  the  motives  employed  to  persuade  him  are  the  most  decisive, the  most  triumphant,  and  the  most  proper  to  gain  submission from the  least  credulous  minds.

When I  speak  of  the  authority  of  the  Christian  religion,  I  do not  pretend  to  confine  the  extent  of  that  term  to  the  single  authority of  its  holy  assemblies,  in  which,  through  the  mouths  of  its pastors, the  church  makes  decisions,  and  holds  out  to  all  believers the infallible  rules  of  worship  and  of  doctrine. As it  is  not  heresy, but unbelief,  which  this  discourse  concerns,  I  do  not  here  so  much consider religion  as  opposed  to  the  sects  which  the  spirit  of  error hath separated  from  the  unity,  that  is  to  say,  as  confined  to  the sole catholic  church,  but  as  forming,  since  the  beginning  of  the