Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/463

 vices: to  all  we  owe  the  truth. The different  situations  in  which rank and  birth  place  us  in  the  world,  diversify  our  duties  with  regard to  our  fellow-creatures:  in  every  situation  of  life  that  of  truth is the  same. We owe  it  to  the  great  equally  as  the  humble;  to  our subjects as  to  our  masters;  to  the  lovers  of  it,  as  to  those  who  hate it; to  those  who  mean  to  employ  it  against  ourselves,  as  to  those  who wish it  only  for  their  own  benefit. There are  conjunctures  in  which prudence permits  to  hide  and  to  dissemble  the  love  which  we  bear for our  brethren:  none  can  possibly  exist  in  which  we  are  permitted to dissemble  the  truth:  in  a  word,  truth  is  not  our  own  property, we are  only  its  witnesses,  its  defenders,  and  its  depositaries. It is that  spark,  that  light  of  God,  which  should  illuminate  the  whole world; and,  when  we  dissemble  or  obscure  it,  we  are  unjust  toward our brethren,  and  ungrateful  toward  the  Father  of  Light  who  hath spread it  through  our  soul.

Nevertheless, the  world  is  filled  with  dissemblers  of  the  truth. We live,  it  would  appear,  only  to  deceive  each  other:  and  society, the first  bond  of  which  ought  to  be  truth,  is  no  longer  but  a  commerce of  dissimulation,  duplicity,  and  cunning. Now, in  the  conduct of  the  priests  of  our  Gospel,  let  us  view  all  the  different  kinds of dissimulation  of  which  men  render  themselves  every  day  culpable toward  truth;  we  shall  there  find  a  dissimulation  of  silence,  a dissimulation  of  compliance  and  palliation,  a  dissimulation  of  disguise and  falsehood.

A dissimulation  of  silence. Consulted by  Herod  on  the  place on which  the  Christ  was  to  be  born,  they  made  answer,  it  is  true, that Bethlehem  was  the  place  marked  in  the  prophets  for  the  fulfilment of  that  grand  event;  but  they  add  not,  that  the  star  foretold in  the  holy  books,  having  at  last  appeared,  and  the  kings  of Saba  and  of  Arabia  coming  with  presents  to  worship  the  new  chief who was  to  lead  Israel,  it  was  no  longer  to  be  doubted  that  the overshadowed had  at  last  brought  forth  the  righteous. They do not  gather  together  the  people,  in  order  to  announce  this  blessed intelligence; they  do  not  run  first  to  Bethlehem,  in  order,  by  their example, to  animate  Jerusalem. Wrapped up  in  their  criminal timidity, they  guard  a  profound  silence — they  iniquitously  retain  the truth; and  while  strangers  come  from  the  extremities  of  the  east, loudly to  proclaim  in  Jerusalem  that  the  king  of  the  Jews  is  born, the priests,  the  scribes  are  silent,  and  sacrifice,  to  the  ambition  of Herod,  the  interests  of  truth,  the  dearest  hope  of  their  nation,  and the honour  of  their  ministry.

What a  shameful  degradation  of  the  ministers  of  truth! The good-will of  the  prince  influences  them  more  than  the  sacred  deposit of  the  religion  with  which  they  are  intrusted;  the  lustre  of the  throne  stifles,  in  their  heart,  the  light  of  Heaven;  by  a  criminal silence, they  flatter  a  king  who  applies  to  them  for  the  truth,  and who can  learn  it  from  them  alone;  they  confirm  him  in  error  by concealing  that  which  might  have  undeceived  him;  and  how,  indeed, shall  truth  ever  make  its  way  to  the  ear  of  sovereigns,  if  even the Lord's  anointed,  who  surround  the  throne,  have  not  the  cou-