Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/446

 ances of  worship:  in  a  word,  but  a  people  still  Jewish,  which  honours him  from  the  lips,  but  whose  corrupted  heart,  stained  with  a thousand  crimes,  chained  by  a  thousand  iniquitous  passions,  is  always far  distant  from  him.

Behold the  second  blessing  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which we have  no  part. He comes  to  abolish  a  worship  wholly  external, which was  confined  to  sacrifices  of  animals  and  lawful  ceremonies, and which,  in  not  rendering  »to  God  the  homage  of  our  love,  alone capable of  glorifying  him,  rendered  not  to  him  that  glory  which  is his  due:  in  place  of  these  appearances  of  religion,  he  comes  to  substitute a  law  which  ought  to  be  fulfilled  wholly  in  the  heart:  a  worship, of  which  the  love  of  his  Father  ought  to  be  the  first  and  principal homage. Nevertheless, this  holy  worship,  this  new  precept, this sacred  trust,  which  he  hath  confided  to  us,  has  miserably degenerated in  our  hands;  we  have  turned  it  into  a  worship  wholly pharisaical, in  which  the  heart  has  no  part;  which  has  no  influence in  changing  our  irregular  propensities;  which  has  no  effect upon  our  manners,  and  which  only  renders  us  so  much  the more criminal,  as  we  abuse  the  blessing  which  ought  to  wash  out and purify  all  our  crimes.

Lastly, men  had  likewise  wished  to  ravish  from  God  the  glory of his  providence  and  of  his  eternal  wisdom. Philosophers, struck with the  absurdity  of  a  worship  which  multiplied  gods  to  infinity, and forced,  by  the  sole  lights  of  reason,  to  acknowledge  one  sole Supreme Being,  disfigured  the  nature  of  that  Being  by  a  thousand absurd opinions. Some figured  to  themselves  an  indolent  god; retired within  himself,  in  full  possession  of  his  own  happiness,  disdaining to  abase  himself  by  paying  attention  to  what  passes  on the  earth,  reckoning  as  nothing  men  whom  he  had  created,  equally insensible to  their  virtues  as  to  their  vices,  and  leaving  wholly  to chance  the  course  of  ages  and  seasons,  the  revolutions  of  empires, the lot  of  each  individual,  the  whole  machine  of  this  vast  universe, and the  whole  dispensation  of  human  things. Others subjected him to  a  fatal  chain  of  events;  they  made  him  a  God  without  liberty and  without  power;  and,  while  they  regarded  him  as  the master of  men,  they  believed  him  to  be  the  slave  of  destiny. The errors of reason  were  then  the  only  rule  of  religion,  and  of  the  belief  of those  who  were  considered  as  even  the  wisest  and  most  enlightened.

Jesus Christ  comes  to  restore  to  his  Father  that  glory  of  which the vain  reasonings  of  philosophy  had  deprived  him. He comes to teach  to  men  that  faith  is  the  source  of  true  light;  and  that  the sacrifice of  reason  is  the  first  step  of  Christian  philosophy. He comes to  fix  uncertainty,  by  instructing  us  in  what  we  ought  to know  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and,  what,  with  regard  to  him,  we ought  not  to  know.

It was  not,  in  effect,  sufficient  that  men,  in  order  to  render  glory to God,  should  make  a  sacrifice  to  him  of  their  life,  as  to  the author of  their  being,  and  should,  by  that  avowal,  acknowledge the impiety  of  idolatry;  that  they  should  make  a  sacrifice  to  him of their  love  and  of  their  heart,  as  to  their  sovereign  felicity,  and