Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/464

 rage to  announce  it,  but  join  their  efforts,  with  those  who  dwell  in courts,  to  conceal  and  stifle  it?

But this  duty,  my  brethren,  is,  in  certain  respects,  common  to you  as  to  us;  yet,  nevertheless,  there  are  few  persons  in  the  world, even of  those  who  set  an  example  of  piety,  who  do  not,  almost every day,  render  themselves  culpable,  toward  their  brethren,  of the  dissimulation  of  silence. They think  that  they  render  to  truth all that  they  owe  to  it,  when  they  do  not  declare  against  it;  when they hear  virtue  continually  decried  by  the  worldly,  the  doctrine of the  world  maintained,  its  abuses  and  maxims  justified,  those  of the  Gospel  opposed  or  weakened,  the  wicked  often  blaspheming what they  know  not,  and  setting  themselves  up  as  judges  of  that faith which  shall  judge  them:  that  they  listen  to  them,  I  say,  without joining  in  their  impiety,  is  true,  but  they  do  not  boldly  show their disapprobation,  and  content  themselves  with  merely  authorizing their  blasphemies  or  their  prejudices  by  their  suffrage.

Now, I  say  that,  being  all  individually  intrusted  with  the  interests of  truth,  to  be  silent  when  it  is  openly  attacked  in  our  presence, is  to  become,  in  a  measure,  its  persecutor  and  adversary. But, I  add,  that  you,  above  all  whom  God  hath  enlightened,  you then fail  in  that  love  which  you  owe  to  your  brethren,  seeing  your obligations with  regard  to  them  augment  in  proportion  to  the  grace with which  God  hath  favoured  you;  you  also  render  yourselves culpable toward  God  of  ingratitude;  you  do  not  make  a  proper return for  the  blessing  of  grace  and  of  truth  with  which  he  hath favoured you  in  the  midst  of  your  extravagant  passions. He hath illuminated your  darkness;  he  hath  recalled  you  to  himself,  while wandering in  treacherous  and  iniquitous  ways;  he,  no  doubt,  in thus  shedding  light  through  your  heart,  hath  not  had  your  benefit alone in  view;  he  hath  meant  that  it  should  operate  as  the  instruction or  as  the  reproach  of  your  connexions,  your  friends,  your  subjects, or  your  masters;  he  hath  intended  to  favour  your  age,  your nation, your  country,  in  favouring  you;  for  his  chosen  are  formed only for  the  salvation  or  the  condemnation  of  sinners. His design has been  to  place  in  you  a  light  which  might  shine  amid  the  surrounding darkness,  and  be  a  salutary  guide  to  your  fellow-creatures; which might  perpetuate  truth  among  men,  and  render  testimony  to the  righteousness  and  to  the  wisdom  of  his  law,  amidst  all  the  prejudices and  all  the  vain  conclusions  of  a  profane  world.

Now, by  opposing  only  a  cowardly  and  timid  silence  to  the maxims which  attack  the  truth,  you  do  not  enter  into  the  views  of God's  mercy  upon  your  brethren;  you  render  unavailing  to  his glory and  to  the  aggrandizement  of  his  kingdom,  that  talent  of  the truth which  he  had  intrusted  to  you,  and  of  which  he  will  one  day demand a  particular  and  severe  reckoning:  I  say,  more  particularly of you  who  had  formerly,  with  so  much  eclat,  supported  the  errors and profane  maxims  of  the  world,  and  who  had  at  once  been  its firmest and  most  avowed  apologist. He surely  had  a  right  to exact  of  you,  that  you  should  declare  yourselves  with  the  same courage in  favour  of  truth;  nevertheless,  from  a  zealous  partisan