Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/456

 In the  magi  it  finds  a  docile  and  sincere  heart:  in  the  priests, a heart  mean,  deceitful,  cowardly,  and  dissembling:  in  Herod,  a corrupted  and  hardened  heart. Consequently, it  forms  worshippers in  the  magi,  dissemblers  in  the  priests,  and  in  Herod  a  persecutor. Now, my  brethern,  such  is  still  at  present  among  us  the lot of  truth:  it  is  a  celestial  light  which  is  shown  to  us,  says  St. Augustine;  but  few  receive  it,  many  hide  and  dim  it,  and  a  still greater number  contemn  and  persecute  it:  it  shows  itself  to  all, but how  many  indocile  souls  who  reject  it! How many  mean  and cowardly souls  who  dissemble  it! How many  black  and  hardened hearts  who  oppress  and  persecute  it! Let us  collect  these three marked  characters  in  our  Gospel,  which  are  to  instruct us in  all  our  duties  relative  to  truth:  truth  received,  truth  dissembled, truth  persecuted. Holy Spirit,  Spirit  of  Truth,  destroy in us  the  spirit  of  the  world,  that  spirit  of  error,  of  dissimulation, of hatred  against  the  truth;  and  in  this  holy  place,  destined  to form  ministers,  who  are  to  announce  it  even  in  the  extremities  of the  earth,  render  us  worthy  of  loving  the  truth,  of  manifesting  it  to those  who  know  it  not,  and  of  suffering  all  for  its  sake.

Part I. — I  call  truth  that  eternal  rule,  that  internal  light  incessantly present  within  us,  which,  in  every  action,  points  out  to  us what  we  ought,  and  what  we  ought  not  to  do;  which  enlightens our doubts,  judges  our  judgments;  which  inwardly  condemns  or approves  us,  according  as  our  behaviour  is  agreeable  or  contrary  to its  light;  and  which,  in  certain  moments  more  splendid  and  bright, more evidently  points  out  to  us  the  way  in  which  we  ought  to  walk, and is  figured  to  us  by  that  miraculous  light  which  on  this  day, conducts the  magi  to  Jesus  Christ.

Now, I  say,  that  the  first  use  which  we  ought  to  make  of  truth, being for  ourselves,  the  church,  on  this  day,  proposes  to  us,  in  the conduct of  the  magi,  a  model  of  those  dispositions  which  alone  can render the  knowledge  of  truth  beneficial  and  salutary  to  us. There are few  souls,  however  they  may  be  plunged  in  the  senses  and  in the  passions,  whose  eyes  are  not  at  times  opened  upon  the  vanity of the  interests  they  pursue,  upon  the  grandeur  of  the  hopes  which they sacrifice,  and  upon  the  ignominy  of  the  life  which  they  lead. But, alas! their eyes  are  opened  to  the  light,  only  to  be  closed again in  an  instant;  and  the  sole  fruit  which  they  reap,  from  the truth which  is  visible  to,  and  enlightens  them,  is  that  of  adding  to the  misfortune  of  having  hitherto  been  ignorant  of  it,  the  guilt  of having  afterward  known  it  in  vain.

Some confine  themselves  to  vain  reasonings  upon  the  light  which strikes them,  and  turn  truth  into  a  subject  of  controversy  and  vain philosophy: others,  with  minds  yet  unsettled,  wish,  it  would  appear, to  know  it;  but  they  seek  it  not  in  an  effectual  way,  because they would,  at  bottom,  be  heartily  sorry  to  have  found  it:  lastly, others, more  tractable,  allow  themselves  to  be  wrought  upon  by  its evidence, but,  discouraged  by  the  difficulties  and  the  self-denials which it  presents  to  them,  they  receive  it  not  with  that   delight