Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/379

 they overturned  their  worship. How beautiful,  my  brethren,  to see  the  religion  of  our  fathers  alone  maintaining  itself  from  the first, surviving  all  sects;  and,  notwithstanding  the  diverse  fortunes of those  who  have  professed  it,  alone  passing  from  father  to  son, and braving  every  exertion  to  efface  it  from  the  heart  of  men! It is not  the  arm  of  flesh  which  hath  preserved  it. Ah! the people of  God  hath,  almost  always,  been  weak,  oppressed,  and persecuted. No: it  is  not,  says  the  prophet,  by  their  own  sword that our  fathers  got  the  land  in  possession;  but  thy  right  hand,  O Lord,  and  thine  arm,  and  the  light  of  thy  countenance,  because thou hadst  a  favour  unto  them. One while  slaves,  another  fugitives, another  tributaries  of  various  nations;  they  a  thousand  times saw Chaldea,  Assyria,  Babylon,  the  most  formidable  powers  of  the earth, the  whole  universe,  conspire  their  ruin  and  the  total  extinction of  their  worship;  but  this  people,  so  weak,  oppressed  in Egypt,  wandering  in  the  desert,  and  afterward  carried  in  captivity into a  foreign  land,  no  power  hath  ever  been  able  to  exterminate, while so  many  others,  more  powerful,  have  followed  the  destiny  of human  things;  and  its  worship  hath  always  subsisted  with  itself,  in spite  of  all  the  efforts  made  by  almost  every  age  to  destroy  it.

Now, whence  comes  it,  that  a  worship  so  contradicted,  so  arduous in  its  observances,  so  rigorous  in  its  punishments  upon  transgressors, and  even  so  liable  to  be  established  or  to  be  overthrown, through the  mere  inconstancy  and  ignorance  of  the  people  who  was its first  depositary;  whence  comes  it  that  it  alone  hath  been  perpetuated amid  so  many  revolutions,  while  the  superstitions  supported by  all  the  power  of  empires  and  of  kingdoms,  have  sunk into their  original  oblivion? Ah! is it  not  God,  and  not  man, who hath  done  all  these  things? Is it  not  the  arm  of  the  Almighty which hath  preserved  his  work? And since  every  thing  invented by the  human  mind  has  perished,  is  it  not  to  be  inferred  that  what hath always  endured  was  alone  the  work  of  the  divine  wisdom?

Lastly, if,  to  its  antiquity,  and  to  its  perpetuity,  you  add  its  uniformity, no  pretext  for  resistance  will  be  left  to  reason. For, my brethren,  every  thing  changes  upon  the  earth,  because  every  thing follows the  mutability  of  its  origin. Occasions, the  difference  of ages,  the  diverse  humours  of  climates,  and  the  necessity  of  the times, have  introduced  a  thousand  changes  in  all  the  human  laws. Faith alone  hath  never  changed. Such as  our  fathers  received  it, such have  we  it  at  present,  and  such  shall  our  descendants  one  day receive it. It hath  been  unfolded  through  the  course  of  ages,  and likewise, I  confess,  through  the  necessity  of  securing  it  from  the errors which  have  been  attempted  to  be  introduced  into  it;  but every thing  which  once  appeared  to  belong  to  it,  hath  always  appeared as  appertaining  to  it. There is  little  wonder  in  the  duration of a  religion,  when  accommodations  are  made  to  times  and  to  conjunctures, and  when  they  may  add  or  diminish  according  to  the fancy of  the  ages,  and  of  those  who  govern;  but  never  to  relax,  in spite  of  the  change  of  manners  and  of  times;  to  see  every  thing change around,  and  yet  be  always  the  same,  is  the  grand  privilege