Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/417

 standing all  our  self-blindness,  cannot  help  already  condemning  us in  secret,  have  we  more  indulgence  to  expect  from  the  terrible  and sovereign Judge  of  hearts  than  from  our  heart  itself?

Thus, my  brethren,  study  the  law  of  God  in  your  own  conscience, and  you  will  see  that  it  is  not  more  favourable  than  we  to your  passions:  consult  the  lights  of  your  heart,  and  you  will  feel that they  perfectly  accord  with  our  maxims;  listen  to  the  voice  of truth,  which  speaks  within  you,  and  you  will  admit  that  we only  repeat  what  it  is  continually  whispering  to  your  heart. You have no  occasion,  says  St.  Augustine,  to  apply  to  able  men,  in order  to  have  the  greatest  part  of  your  doubts  cleared  up;  go  no farther  than  yourselves  for  explanations  and  answers;  apply  to yourselves  for  what  you  have  to  do;  listen  to  the  decisions  of your  heart;  follow  the  first  impulse  of  your  conscience,  and  you will always  determine  for  that  choice  most  conformable  to  the  law of God;  the  first  impression  of  the  heart  is  always  for  the  strictness of  the  law  against  the  softenings  of  self-love:  your  conscience will always  go  farther,  and  will  be  more  strict  than  yourselves; and if  you  have  occasion  for  our  decisions,  it  will  rather  be  in order  to  moderate  the  severity  than  to  expose  the  false  indulgence of  it.

Behold the  first  manner  in  which  the  law  of  God  shall  one  day judge us:  that  law,  manifested  in  the  conscience  of  the  sinner,  and, as if  born  with  him,  shall  rise  up  against  him;  our  heart,  marked with the  seal  of  truth,  shall  be  the  witness  to  depose  for  our  condemnation;  our  lights  shall  be  opposed  to  our  actions,  our  remorses  to our  manners,  our  speeches  to  our  thoughts,  our  inward  sentiments to our  public  proceedings,  and  ourselves  to  ourselves. Thus we bear,  each  of  us,  our  condemnation  in  our  own  heart. The Lord will not  bring  other  proof  than  ourselves  to  determine  the  decision of our  eternal  reprobation;  and  the  soul  before  the  tribunal  of  God, says Tertullian,  shall  appear  at  the  same  time  both  the  criminal condemned and  the  witness  which  shall  testify  against  his  crimes. He will  have  nothing  to  reply,  continues  this  father. You knew the truth,  will  be  said  to  him,  and  you  iniquitously  withheld  it:  you admitted of  the  happiness  of  the  souls  who  seek  only  God,  and you sought  him  not  yourselves:  you  drew  shocking  pictures  of  the world, of  its  wearinesses,  of  its  perfidies,  and  of  its  wickednesses,  and you were  always  its  slave  and  blind  worshipper:  you  inwardly  respected the  religion  of  your  fathers,  and  you  made  a  deplorable vaunt of  impiety:  you  secretly  dreaded  the  judgments  of  God,  and you affected  not  to  believe  in  him. In the  bottom  of  your  heart you rendered  justice  to  the  piety  of  the  godly;  you  proposed  to  resemble them  at  some  future  period;  and  you  tore  and  persecuted them with  your  derisions  and  censures:  in  a  word,  your  lights  have ever been  for  God,  and  your  actions  for  the  world.

O my  God! to what  do  men  not  carry  their  ingratitude  and folly! Thou hast  placed  in  us  lights  inseparable  from  our  being, which, by  disturbing  the  false  peace  of  our  passions  and  errors,  continually recall  us  to  order  and  to  the  truth;  and,  through  an  impo-