Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/398

 know what  they  are;  for  it  is  much  more  convenient  to  be  nothing, and to  live  without  thinking,  or  any  knowledge  of  themselves. No, my brethren,  I  repeat  it,  these  are  not  unbelievers,  they  are  cowards, who  have  not  the  courage  to  espouse  a  side;  who  know  only to live  voluptuously,  without  rule,  without  morality,  and  often without decency;  and  who,  without  being  atheists,  live  however without religion,  for  religion  requires  consistency,  reason,  elevation of mind,  firmness,  noble  sentiments;  and  of  all  these  they  are  incapable. Such, however,  are  the  heroes  of  whom  impiety  boasts; behold the  suffrages  upon  which  it  grounds  its  defence,  and  opposes to religion  by  insulting  us;  behold  the  partitans  with  whom  it  thinks itself invincible;  and  weak  and  wretched  must  its  resources  indeed be, since  it  is  reduced  to  seek  them  in  men  of  this  description.

First reason,  which  proves  that  licentiousness  springs  not  from doubts, but  doubts  from  licentiousness. The second  reason  is  only a fresh  proof  of  the  first;  it  is  that  actually,  if  they  do  not  change their life,  it  is  not  to  their  doubts,  but  solely  to  their  passions,  that they hold.

For I  ask  nothing  of  you  here  but  candour,  you  who  continually allege your  doubts  upon  our  mysteries. When you  sometimes think of  quitting  that  sink  of  vice  and  debauchery  in  which  you live, and  when  the  passions,  more  tranquil,  allow  you  to  reflect,  do you  then  oppose  your  uncertainties  upon  religion? Do you  say  to yourselves,  (i  But  if  I  return,  it  will  be  necessary  to  believe  things which  seem  incredible?"  Is  this  the  grand  difficulty?  Ah!  you inwardly  say,  but  if  I  return,  it  will  be  necessary  to  break  off  this connexion,  to  deny  myself  these  excesses,  to  terminate  these  societies, to  shun  these  places,  to  proceed  to  things  which  I  shall  never support  and  to  adopt  a  manner  of  life  to  which  all  my  inclinations are  repugnant.  These  are  what  check  you;  these  are  the  wall  of separation  which  removes  you  from  God.  You  speak  so  much  to others  of  your  doubts;  how  comes  it  that  you  never  speak  of them  to  yourselves?  This  is  not  a  matter,  therefore,  of  reason  and of  belief;  it  is  a  matter  of  the  heart  and  of  licentiousness;  and  the delay  of  your  conversion  springs  not  from  your  uncertainties  upon faith, but  from  the  sole  doubt  in  which  the  violence  and  the  empire of  your  passions  leave  you  of  ever  being  able  to  free  yourselves from their  subjection  and  infamy. Such, my  brethren,  are  the true chains  which  bind  our  pretended  unbelievers  to  their  own wretchedness.

And this  truth  is  more  evident  from  this,  that  the  majority  of those  who  profess  themselves  unbelievers,  live,  nevertheless,  in perpetual  variations  upon  the  point  even  of  unbelief. In certain moments they  are  affected  with  the  truths  of  religion:  they  feel themselves torn  with  the  keenest  remorses;  they  even  apply  to  the servants of  God  most  distinguished  for  their  learning  and  piety, to hold  converse  with,  and  receive  instruction  from  them:  in  others, they make  game  of  these  truths;  they  treat  the  servants  of  God with derision,  and  piety  itself  as  a  chimera:  there  is  scarcely  one of these  sinners,  even  of  those  who  make  the  greatest  ostentation