Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/434

 of days,  are  looked  upon  as  privileges  refused  to  the  vulgar,  and reserved solely  for  rank  and  birth:  thence,  to  live  only  for  the senses, to  be  attentive  only  to  satisfy  them,  to  refuse  nothing  to taste,  to  vanity,  to  curiosity,  to  idleness,  to  ambition,  to  make  a god  of  one's  self;  the  same  prosperity,  which  facilitates  all  these excesses, excuses  and  justifies  them.

But, my  brethren,  I  have  already  said  it,  the  Gospel  is  the  law of all  men:  high  and  low,  you  have  all  promised,  upon  the  sacred fonts, to  observe  it. The church,  in  receiving  you  into  the  number of  her  children,  hath  not  proposed  to  the  great  other  vows  to make,  and  other  rules  to  practise,  than  to  the  common  people: you have  all  there  made  the  same  promises;  all  sworn,  in  the  face of the  altars,  to  observe  the  same  Gospel. The church  hath  not then demanded  of  you,  if,  by  your  birth  according  to  the  flesh,  you were great,  or  of  the  common  people;  but  if,  by  your  regeneration in Jesus  Christ,  you  meant  to  be  faithful,  and  to  engage  yourself  to follow  his  law:  upon  the  vow  which  you  have  made  of  it,  she  hath placed the  holy  Gospel  upon  your  head,  in  order  to  mark  that  you submitted yourself  to  that  sacred  yoke.

Now, my  brethren,  all  the  duties  of  the  Gospel  are  reduced  to two  points. Some are  proposed  in  order  to  resist  and  to  weaken that fund  of  corruption  which  we  bear  from  our  birth;  the  others in order  to  perfect  that  first  grace  of  the  Christian  which  we  have received in  baptism;  that  is  to  say,  the  one  in  order  to  destroy  in us  the  old  Adam,  the  other  in  order  to  make  Jesus  Christ  to  grow there. Violence, self-denial,  and  mortification  regard  the  first: prayer, retirement,  vigilance,  contempt  for  the  world,  desire  of  invisible riches,  are  comprised  in  the  second:  behold  the  whole  Gospel. Now, I  demand  of  you,  what  is  there  in  these  two  descriptions of duties  from  which  rank  or  birth  can  dispense  you?

Ought you  to  pray  less  than  the  other  believers? Have you fewer favours  to  ask  than  they,  fewer  obstacles  to  overcome,  fewer snares to  avoid,  fewer  desires  to  resist? Alas! the more  you  are exalted, the  more  do  dangers  augment,  the  more  do  occasions  of sin  spring  up  under  your  feet,  the  more  is  the  world  beloved,  the more doth  every  thing  favour  your  passions,  the  more  doth  every thing militate  against  your  good  desires;  it  is  in  a  situation  so  terrible for  salvation  that  you  find  privileges  which  render  it  more mild and  more  commodious. The more,  therefore,  that  you  are exalted, the  more  doth  mortification  become  necessary  to  you;  for, the more  that  pleasures  corrupt  your  heart,  the  more  is  vigilance necessary, because  the  dangers  are  more  frequent;  the  more  ought faith to  be  lively,  because  every  thing  around  you  weakens  and  extinguishes it;  the  more  ought  prayer  to  be  continual,  because  the grace, in  order  to  support  you,  ought  to  be  more  powerful;  humility of  heart  more  heroical,  because  the  attachment  to  things  here below is  more  unavoidable:  lastly,  the  more  you  are  exalted,  the more doth  salvation  become  difficult  to  you;  this  is  the  only  privilege you  can  expect  from  elevation. Also, thou  often  warnest  us, great God,  that  thy  kingdom  is  only  for  the  poor  and  the  lowly: