Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/424

 familiar maxims  of  the  Gospel  go  infinitely  farther  than  all  our  discourses.— Third  reflection.

I also  say  to  you,  in  the  fourth  place,  that  if  almost  all  be  contested in  the  world  upon  the  most  incontestable  duties  of  Christian piety, it  is  because  the  Gospel  is  a  book  unknown  to  the  greatest part of  believers;  it  is  that,  through  a  deplorable  abuse,  a  whole life is  passed  in  acquiring  vain  learning,  equally  useless  to  man,  to his  happiness,  and  to  his  eternity;  and  the  book  of  the  law  is  never read, in  which  is  contained  the  knowledge  of  salvation,  the  truth which is  to  deliver  us,  the  light  which  is  to  conduct  us,  the  titles  of our  hopes,  the  testimony  of  our  immortality,  the  consolations  of  our exilement, and  the  aids  of  our  pilgrimage:  it  is  that,  on  entering into the  world,  care  is  taken  to  present  to  us  those  books  in  which are explained  the  rules  of  that  profession  to  which  we  are  allotted, and, that  the  book  of  the  law,  in  which  the  rules  of  the  profession of the  Christian  are  contained,  that  profession  which  shall  survive  all others, alone  necessary,  and  the  only  one  which  shall  accompany us into  eternity;  that  book,  I  say  is  left  in  neglect,  and  enters  not into the  plan  of  studies  which  ought  to  occupy  our  earlier  years: lastly, it  is  that  fabulous  and  lascivious  histories  childishly  amuse our leisure;  and  that  the  history  of  God^s  wonders  and  mercies upon men,  filled  with  events  so  grand,  so  weighty,  so  interesting, which ought  to  be  the  sole  occupation,  and  the  whole  consolation of our  life,  does  not  appear  to  us  worthy  even  of  our  curiosity.

I am  not  surprised,  after  this,  if  we  have  continual  occasion  to maintain  the  Gospel  against  the  abuses  and  the  prejudices  of  the world; if  we  are  listened  to  with  the  same  surprise,  when  we  announce the  commonest  truths  of  the  Christian  morality,  as  though we announced  the  belief  and  the  mysteries  of  those  savage  and  far distant nations,  whose  countries  and  manners  are  hardly  known. And if  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  find  the  same  opposition  at present  in  minds,  that  it  experienced  at  the  birth  of  faith,  it  is, that there  are  Christians  to  whom  the  book  of  the  Gospel  is  almost equally unknown  as  it  then  was  to  the  heathens;  who  scarcely know whether  Jesus  Christ  be  come  to  bring  laws  to  men,  and who cannot,  for  a  single  moment,  support  without  weariness,  the reading of  that  divine  book,  the  rules  of  which  are  so  sublime,  the promises so  consoling,  and  of  which  the  pagans  themselves,  who embraced faith,  so  much  admired  the  beauty  and  the  divine  philosophy. Thus, my  brethren,  read  the  holy  books,  and  read  them with that  spirit  of  faith,  of  submission,  of  trust,  which  the  church exacts, and  you  will  soon  be  as  well  acquainted  with  your  duties, and with  the  rules  of  the  manners,  as  the  doctors  themselves  who teach you.

And, indeed,  my  brethren,  whence  comes  it,  I  beg  of  you,  that the first  believers  carried  so  far  the  purity  of  manners  and  the  holiness of  Christianity? Were other  maxims  announced  to  them than those  which  we  announce  to  you? Was another  gospel preached to  them,  more  clear  and  more  explicit  than  that  which  we preach  to  you? Nevertheless, they  were  idolatrous  and  dissolute