Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/436

 might promise  yourselves  distinctions  and  preferences;  but  the world shall  itself  be  judged;  and  he,  who  will  judge  it  and  you  also, shall distinguish  men  only  by  their  vices  or  by  their  virtues. He will not  demand  the  names,  he  will  demand  only  the  deeds:  calculate thereupon  the  distinctions  which  you  ought  to  expect.

Thus, we  see  not  that  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  Gospel,  proposed  to the  princes  of  the  people,  and  to  the  grandees  of  Jerusalem,  other maxims than  to  the  citizens  of  Judea,  and  to  his  disciples,  all  taken from the  lowest  ranks  of  the  people;  he  speaks  in  the  capital  of Judea,  and  before  all  that  Palestine  held  the  most  illustrious,  as  he speaks  upon  the  borders  of  the  sea,  or  upon  the  mountains,  to  that obscure populace  which  followed  him;  his  maxims  are  not  changed with the  rank  of  those  who  listened  to  him. The cross,  violence, contempt of  the  world,  self-denial,  abstinence  from  pleasures:  behold what  he  announces  at  Jerusalem,  the  seat  of  kings,  as  at  Nazareth, the  most  obscure  place  of  Judea;  to  that  young  man  who was so  rich,  as  to  the  children  of  Zebedee,  whose  only  inheritance was their  nets;  to  the  sisters  of  Lazarus,  of  a  distinguished  rank  in Palestine,  as  to  the  woman  of  Samaria,  of  a  more  obscure  condition. His enemies  themselves  confessed  that  this  was  his  peculiar character, and  were  forced  to  render  him  this  justice,  that  he taught  the  way  of  God  in  truth,  and  that  he  had  no  respect  of rank  or  of  persons.

What do  I  say? Even after  his  death  the  Gospel  seemed  a  doctrine sent  down  from  heaven,  only  because  that,  announcing  to  the great and  to  the  powerful,  sorrowful  and  crucifying  maxims,  apparently so  incompatible  with  their  station,  they,  nevertheless, submitted to  the  yoke  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  embraced  a  law  which, amid all  their  prosperity  and  abundance,  permitted  to  them  no more  pleasures  and  comforts  here  below  than  to  the  common  and simple people. And, in  effect,  why  should  the  first  defenders  of faith  have  regarded  the  conversions  of  Caesars,  and  of  the  powerful of  the  age,  as  a  proof  of  the  truth  and  of  the  divinity  of  the Gospel? What would  there  be  so  surprising,  that  the  rich  and  the powerful had  embraced  a  doctrine  which  would  distinguish  them from the  people  by  a  greater  indulgence;  which,  while  it  would prescribe tears,  fasting,  self-denial,  to  others,  would  relax  in  favour of the  great,  and  would  consent  that  profusions,  pleasures,  sensualities, gaming,  public  places,  all  so  rigorously  forbidden  to  common believers, become  an  innocent  occupation  for  them;  and  that what is  a  road  to  perdition  for  others,  should  for  them  alone  be  a road  of  salvation? It would  then  be  the  wisdom  of  the  age  which would have  established  the  Gospel,  and  not  the  folly  of  the  cross; it would  be  the  artifices  and  the  deferences  of  men,  and  not  the arm of  the  Almighty;  it  would  be  flesh  and  blood,  and  not  the power of  God;  and  the  conversion  of  the  universe  would  have  nothing more  wonderful,  than  the  establishment  of  superstitions  and of sects.

And candidly,  my  brethren,  if  the  Gospel  had  distinctions  to make,  and  condescensions  to  grant;  if  the  law  of  God  could  relax