Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/433

 they had  to  shun,  nor  the  derisions  of  the  world  which  they  had only to  dread  in  declaring  for  Jesus  Christ;  it  was  the  most  cruel punishments to  which  they  must  expose  themselves;  it  was  the power of  the  Caesars,  and  the  rage  of  tyrants,  which  they  must  despise;  it  was  superstitions,  become  respectable  through  their  antiquity, countenanced  by  the  laws  of  the  empire,  and  by  the  consent of almost  all  the  people,  which  they  had  to  shake  off;  it  was,  in  a word,  the  whole  universe  which  they  had  to  arm  against  themselves. But the  faith  of  these  pious  men  was  stronger  than  punishments, than  the  tyrants,  than  the  Caesars,  than  the  whole  world: and our  faith  cannot  hold  out  against  the  absurdity  of  customs  or the  puerility  of  derision;  and  the  Gospel,  which  could  formerly make martyrs,  scarcely  at  present  can  it  form  a  believer. The law of God  is  then  immutable  in  its  duration;  always  the  same  in  all times and  in  all  places;  but  it  is  likewise  immutable  in  its  extent, and the  same  for  all  stations  and  conditions. — This is  my  second reflection.

Part II. — The most  essential  character  of  the  law  of  Jesus Christ, is  that  of  uniting,  under  the  same  rules,  the  Jew  and  the Gentile, the  Greek  and  the  Barbarian,  the  great  and  the  people,  the prince and  the  subject;  in  it  there  is  no  longer  exception  of  persons. The law  of  Moses,  at  least  in  its  customs  and  in  its  ceremonies, was  given  only  to  a  single  people:  but  Jesus  Christ  is  a universal  legislator;  his  law,  as  his  death,  is  for  all  men. He came, of all  people  to  make  only  one  people:  of  all  stations  and  of  all conditions to  form  only  one  body:  it  is  the  same  spirit  which  animates it,  the  same  laws  which  govern  it;  different  functions  may there be  exercised,  different  places,  more  or  less  honourable,  be occupied;  but  it  is  the  same  spring  which  rules  all  the  members of it. All these  hateful  distinctions,  which  formerly  divided men, are  destroyed  by  the  church;  that  holy  law  knows  neither poor nor  rich,  neither  noble  nor  base-born,  neither  master  nor slave; it  sees  in  men  only  the  title  of  believer,  which  equals  them all; it  distinguishes  them  not  by  their  names  or  by  their  offices, but by  their  virtues;  and  the  greatest  in  its  sight  are  those  who are the  most  holy.

Nevertheless, a  second  illusion,  pretty  common  against  the  immutability of  the  law  of  God,  is  the  persuasion  that  it  changes  and becomes mollified  in  favour  of  rank  and  of  birth;  that  its  obligations are  less  rigid  for  persons  born  to  elevation;  and  that  the  obstacles, which  high  places  and  the  manners  attached  to  grandeur throw in  the  way  of  the  observance  of  the  strict  duties  of  the  Gospel, and  which  render  the  practice  of  them  almost  impossible  to  the great, likewise  render  their  transgressions  more  innocent. They figure to  themselves  that  the  abuses,  permitted,  in  all  times,  by custom  to  the  great,  are  likewise  accorded  to  them  by  the  law  of God,  and  that  there  is  another  path  of  salvation  for  them  than  for the people. Thence, all  the  laws  of  the  church  violated;  the  times and the  days  consecrated  to  abstinence,  confounded  with  the  rest