Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/404

 attack; they  are  men  immersed  in  pleasure,  and  who  would  be  very sorry to  have  a  spare  moment  to  devote  to  the  investigation  of wearisome  truths  which  they  are  indifferent  whether  they  know  or not;  men  of  a  light  and  superficial  character,  and  wholly  unfitted for a  moment's  serious  meditation  or  investigation;  let  me  again repeat, men  drowned  in  voluptuousness,  and  in  whom  even  that portion of  penetration  and  understanding,  accorded  by  nature,  hath been debased  and  extinguished  by  debauchery.

Such are  the  formidable  supports  of  unbelief  against  the  knowledge of  God:  behold  the  frivolous,  dissipated,  and  ignorant  characters who  dare  to  tax,  with  credulity  and  ignorance,  all  that  the Christian ages  have  had,  and  still  have,  of  learned,  able,  and  celebrated personages;  they  know  the  language  of  doubts;  but  they have learned  it  by  rote,  for  they  have  never  formed  them;  they only repeat  what  they  have  heard:  it  is  a  tradition  of  ignorance and impiety:  they  have  no  doubts;  they  only  preserve,  for  those to come,  the  language  of  irreligion  and  doubts;  they  are  not  unbelievers, they  are  only  the  echoes  of  unbelief;  in  a  word,  they know how  to  express  a  doubt,  but  they  are  too  ignorant  to  doubt themselves.

And a  proof  of  what  I  advance  is,  that,  in  all  other  doubts,  we hesitate  only  in  order  to  be  instructed;  every  thing  is  examined which can  elucidate  the  concealed  truth. But here  the  doubt  is merely  for  doubting's  sake;  a  proof  that  we  are  equally  uninterested in the  doubt  as  in  the  truth  which  conceals  it  from  us;  they  would be very  sorry  were  they  under  the  necessity  of  clearing  up  either the falsity  or  the  truth  of  uncertainties  which  they  pretend  to  have on our  mysteries. Yes, my  brethren,  were  the  punishment  of doubters  to  be  that  of  an  indispensable  obligation  to  seek  the  truth, no one  would  doubt;  no  one  would  purchase,  at  such  a  price,  the pleasure of  calling  himself  an  unbeliever;  few  indeed  would  be  capable of  it;  decisive  proof  that  they  do  not  doubt,  and  that  they are as  little  attached  to  their  doubts,  as  to  religion  (for  their  knowledge in  both  is  much  about  the  same);  but  only  that  they  have lost those  first  feelings  of  discretion  and  of  faith  which  left  us  still some vestige  of  respect  for  the  religion  of  our  fathers. Thus, it  is doing  too  much  honour  to  men,  so  worthy  both  of  pity  and  contempt, to  suppose  that  they  have  taken  a  side,  that  they  have  embraced a  system;  you  honour  them  too  much  by  ranking  them among the  impious  followers  of  a  Socinus,  by  ennobling  them  with the shocking  titles  of  deists  or  atheists:  alas! they are  nothing; they are  of  no  system;  at  least,  they  neither  know  themselves  what they are,  nor  can  they  tell  us  what  that  system  is;  and,  strange  as it  may  appear,  they  have  found  out  the  secret  of  forming  a  state more despicable,  more  mean,  and  more  unworthy  of  reason,  than even that  of  impiety;  and  it  is  even  doing  them  credit  to  call  them by the  shocking  title  of  unbeliever,  which  had  hitherto  been  considered as  the  shame  of  humanity  and  the  highest  reproach  of  man.

And, to  conclude  this  article  with  a  reflection  which  confirms the same  truth,  and  is  very  humiliating  for  our  pretended  unbe-