Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/411

 the law  of  God,  which  shall  judge  the  affected  uncertainties  and the false  interpretations  of  sinners. And thus  it  is,  O  my  God  1 that thy  holy  law  shall  judge  the  world,  and  that  the  criminal  conscience shall  one  day  be  confounded  before  thy  tribunal,  both  by the  lights  of  his  own  conscience  and  by  the  perspicuity  of  thy  heavenly maxims.

Part I. — It  is  rather  surprising  that  the  greatest  part  of  worldly souls, in  justification  of  the  abuses  of  the  world,  and  the  danger  of its  maxims,  allege  to  us  the  candour  and  the  tranquillity  of  their conscience. Besides, that  peace  and  security,  in  the  false  paths  of iniquity,  are  rather  their  punishment  than  their  excuse;  and  that, were it  even  true  that  the  conscience  should  reproach  them  with nothing in  manners  regulated  solely  according  to  the  false  judgments of the  world,  that  state  would  still  be  only  so  much  the  worse,  and more hopeless  of  salvation. It appears  that,  of  all  tribunals,  that of conscience  is  the  last  to  which  an  unbelieving  soul  should  appeal;  and  that  nothing  is  less  favourable  to  the  errors  of  a  sinner than the  sinner  himself.

I know  that  there  are  hardened  souls,  to  whom  no  ray  of  grace or of  light  can  carry  conviction;  who  live  without  remorse  and  without anxiety  in  the  horrors  of  an  infamous  licentiousness;  in  whom all conscience  seems  extinguished,  and  who  carry  the  excess  of  their blindness, says  St. Augustine, so  far  as  even  to  glory  in  their  blindness. But these  are  only  dreadful  examples  of  God's  justice  upon men; and  if  such  have  appeared  upon  the  earth,  they  only  prove how far  his  neglect  and  the  power  of  his  wrath  may  sometimes  go.

Yes, my  brethren,  whether  we  affect  boldly  and  openly  to  cast off the  authority  of  the  law,  like  the  impious  and  the  licentious;  whether we  endeavour  to  mollify  and  artificially  to  reconcile  it  with  our passions, by  favourable  interpretations,  like  the  greatest  part  of worldly  souls  and  common  sinners;  our  conscience  renders  a  twofold testimony  within  us  to  this  divine  law:  a  testimony  of  truth  to the  equity  and  to  the  necessity  of  its  maxims,  and  a  testimony  of severity  to  the  exactitude  of  its  rules.

I say  in  the  first  place,  a  testimony  of  truth  to  the  equity  of  its maxims. For, my  brethren,  God  is  too  wise  not  to  love  order; and he  is,  at  the  same  time,  too  good  not  to  wish  our  welfare. His law  must  consequently  bear  these  two  characters, — a  character of equity,  and  a  character  of  goodness:  a  character  of  equity, which regulates  all  the  duties;  a  character  of  goodness  which  makes us to  find  our  peace  and  our  happiness  here  below,  in  duty  and  in regularity.

Thus, we  feel,  in  the  bottom  of  our  hearts,  that  these  rules  are just and  reasonable;  that  the  law  of  God  commands  nothing  but what is  consistent  with  the  real  interests  of  man;  that  nothing  is more  consonant  to  the  reasonable  creature  than  gentleness,  humanity, temperance,  modesty,  and  all  the  virtues  recommended  in the  Gospel;  that  the  passions  prohibited  by  the  law  are  the  sole source of  all  our  troubles;  that  the  more  we  deviate  from  the  pre-