Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/468

 errors always  find  in  us  ready  apologies;  we  respect  his  passions equally as  his  authority,  and  his  prejudices  always  become  our own. Lastly, we  catch  the  infection,  and  imbibe  the  errors  of  all with whom  we  live;  we  transform  ourselves,  as  I  may  say,  into other selves;  our  grand  study  is  to  find  out  their  weaknesses,  that we may  appropriate  and  apply  them  to  our  own  purposes:  we have,  in  fact,  no  language  of  our  own;  we  always  speak  the language of  others;  our  discourses  are  merely  a  repetition  of  their prejudicies; and  this  infamous  debasement  of  truth  we  call  knowledge of  the  world,  a  prudence  which  knows  its  own  interest,  the grand art  of  pleasing  and  of  succeeding  in  the  world. O ye  sons of men! how "long  will  ye  love  vanity,  and  seek  after  leasing?"

Yes, my  brethren,  by  that  we  perpetuate  error  among  men;  we authorize  every  deceit;  we  justify  every  false  maxim;  we  give  an air  of  innocence  to  every  vice;  we  maintain  the  reign  of  the  world, and of  its  doctrine,  against  that  of  Jesus  Christ;  we  corrupt  society, of  which  truth  ought  to  be  the  first  tie;  we  pervert  those  duties and mutual  offices  of  civil  life,  established  to  animate  us  to  virtue, into snares,  and  inevitable  occasions  of  a  departure  from  righteousness; we  change  friendship,  which  ought  to  be  a  grand  resource to us  against  our  errors  and  irregularities,  into  a  commerce  of  dissimulation and  mutual  deception;  by  that,  in  a  word,  we  render truth hateful  and  ridiculous  by  rendering  it  rare  among  men;  and, when I  say  we,  I  mean  more  especially  the  souls  who  belong  to God,  and  who  are  intrusted  with  the  interests  of  truth  upon  the earth. Yes, my  brethren,  I  would  that  faithful  souls  had  a  language peculiar  to  them  amid  the  world;  that  other  maxims,  other sentiments were  found  in  them  than  in  the  rest  of  men;  and  while all others  speak  the  language  of  the  passions,  that  they  alone  speak the language  of  truth,  I  would  that,  while  the  world  hath  its Balaams, who,  by  their  discourses  and  counsels,  authorize  irregularity and  licentiousness,  piety  had  its  Phineases,  who  durst  boldly adopt the  interests  of  the  law  of  God,  and  of  the  sanctity  of  its maxims; that,  while  the  world  hath  its  impious  philosophers  and false sages,  who  think  that  it  does  them  honour,  openly  to  proclaim that  we  ought  to  live  only  for  the  present,  and  that  the  end of man  is,  in  no  respect,  different  from  that  of  the  beast,  piety  had its Solomons,  who,  undeceived  by  their  own  experience,  durst publicly avow,  that,  excepting  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  the  observance of  his  commandments,  all  else  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit: that while  the  world  hath  its  charms  and  enchantments,  which  seduce kings  and  the  people  by  their  delusions  and  flatteries,  piety had its  Moseses  and  Aarons,  who  had  the  courage  to  confound,  by the  sole  force  of  truth,  their  imposition  and  artifice;  in  a  word, that, while  the  world  had  its  priests  and  its  scribes,  who,  like  those of the  Gospel,  weaken  the  truth,  piety  had  its  magi,  who  dread  not to announce  it  in  the  presence  even  of  those  to  whom  it  cannot but be  displeasing.

Not that  I  condemn  the  modifications  of  a  sage  prudence,  which apparently gives  up  something  to  the  prejudices  of  men,  only  that