Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/413

 most secret  evils,  and  the  succours  of  our  most  righteous  inclinations;  and  that  none  but  He  alone  who  knoweth  the  bottom  of hearts,  could  be  capable  of  laying  down  such  maxims  to  men. The heathens themselves,  in  whom  all  truth  was  not  yet  extinguished, rendered this  glory  to  the  Christian  morality;  they  were  forced  to admire  the  wisdom  of  its  precepts,  the  necessity  of  its  restraints, the sanctity  of  its  counsels,  the  good  sense  and  sublimity  of  all  its rules; they  were  astonished  to  find,  in  the  discourses  of  Jesus  Christ, a more  sublime  philosophy  than  in  the  Roman  or  Grecian  schools; and they  could  not  comprehend  how  the  Son  of  Mary  should  be better  acquainted  with  the  duties,  the  desires,  and  all  the  secret folds of  the  human  heart,  than  Plato  and  all  his  disciples.

Will you  tell  us,  after  this,  that  nature  is  our  first  law,  and  that tendencies to  pleasures,  inherent  in  our  being,  can  never  be  crimes? I have  often  said  it;  it  is  an  impiety  only  of  conversation;  it  is  an ostentation  of  freethinking,  of  which  vanity  makes  a  boast,  but which truth  inwardly  belies. Augustine in  his  errors  had  spared  no pains  to  efface,  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  those  remains  of  faith and of  conscience  which  still  recalled  him  to  the  truth;  he  had eagerly sought,  in  the  most  impious  opinions  and  in  the  most  shocking errors,  wherewithal  to  comfort  himself  against  his  crimes;  his mind, flying  the  light  which  pursued  him,  wandered  from  impiety to impiety  and  from  error  to  error:  nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  his efforts and  flights,  the  truth,  always  victorious  in  the  bottom  of  his soul, proclaimed  its  triumph  in  spite  of  himself:  he  could  succeed neither in  seducing  nor  in  quieting  himself  in  his  disorders:  "  I bore,  O  my  God,"  says  he,  "  a  conscience  racked,  and  still  bleeding, as  it  were,  from  the  grievous  wounds  which  my  passions  incessantly made  there:  I  was  a  burden  to  myself;  I  could  no  longer sustain  my  own  heart;  I  turned  myself  on  every  side,  and  no where  could  it  find  ease;  I  knew  not  where  to  lay  it,  that  I  might be  delivered  from  it,  and  that  mine  anxiety  might  be  comforted."

Behold the  testimony  which  a  sinner,  who,  to  all  the  keenness of the  passions,  added  the  impiety  of  opinions  and  the  abuse  of lights,  renders  of  himself. And these  examples  are  of  every  age: our own  has  beheld  famous  and  avowed  sinners  who  made  an  infamous boast  of  not  believing  in  God,  and  who  were  looked  upon as heroes  in  impiety  and  freethinking:  we  have  seen  them  touched at last  with  repentance,  like  Augustine,  and  recalled  from  their errors; we  have  seen  them,  I  say,  make  an  open  avowal,  that  they had never  been  able  to  succeed  in  effacing  the  rules  and  truth  from their soul;  that,  amidst  all  their  most  shocking  impieties  and  excesses, their  heart,  still  Christian,  inwardly  belied  their  derisions and blasphemies;  that  before  men  they  vaunted  a  strength  of  mind which forsook  them  in  private;  that  that  apparent  unbelief  concealed the  most  cruel  remorses,  and  the  most  gloomy  fears;  and that they  had  never  been  firm  and  tranquil  in  guilt.

Yes, my  brethren,  guilt,  always  timorous,  every  where  bears  a witness  of  condemnation  against  itself. Every where  you  render homage, by  your  inward  anxieties  and  remorses,  to  the  sanctity  of