Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/470

 change our  heart  into  a  cowardly  and  grovelling  one,  to  which  any profitable  falsehood  costs  nothing;  into  an  artificial  and  pliable heart, which  assumes  every  form,  and  never  possesses  any  determinate one;  into  a  weak  and  flattering  heart,  which  has  not  the courage to  refuse  its  suffrage  to  any  thing  but  the  unprofitable  and the unfortunate  virtue;  into  a  corrupted  and  interested  heart,  which makes subservient  to  its  purposes,  religion,  truth,  justice,  and  all that is  most  sacred  among  men;  in  a  word,  a  heart  capable  of  every thing except  that  of  being  true,  noble,  and  sincere. And think  not that sinners  of  this  description  are  so  very  rare  in  the  world. We shun only  the  notoriety  and  shame  of  these  faults;  secret  and  secure basenesses  find  few  scrupulous  hearts;  we  often  love  only  the reputation and  glory  of  truth.

It is  only  proper  to  take  care  that,  in  pretending  to  defend  the truth, we  are  not  defending  the  mere  illusions  of  our  own  mind. Pride, ignorance,  and  self-conceit,  every  day  furnish  defenders  to error,  equally  intrepid  and  obstinate  as  any  of  whom  faith  can boast. The only  truth  worthy  of  our  love,  of  our  zeal,  and  of  our courage, is  that  held  out  to  us  by  the  church;  for  it  alone  we  ought to endure  everything;  beyond  that,  we  are  no  longer  but  the  martyrs of  our  own  obstinacy  and  vanity.

O my  God! pour then  through  my  soul  that  humble  and  generous love  of  the  truth,  with  which  thy  chosen  are  filled  in  heaven, and which  is  the  only  characteristic  mark  of  the  just  upon  the earth. Let my  life  be  only  such  as  to  render  glory  to  thine  eternal truths; let  me  honour  them  through  the  sanctity  of  my  manners; let me  defend  them  through  zeal  for  thy  interests  alone,  and  enable me continually  to  oppose  them  to  error  and  vanity:  annihilate  in my  heart  those  human  fears,  that  prudence  of  the  flesh  which dreads to  lay  open  to  persons  their  errors  and  their  vices. Suffer not that  I  be  a  feeble  reed  which  bends  to  every  blast,  nor  that  I ever  blush  to  bear  the  truth  imprinted  on  my  forehead,  as  the most illustrious  title  with  which  thy  creature  can  glorify  himself, and as  the  most  glorious  mark  of  thy  mercies  upon  my  soul. In effect, it  is  not  sufficient  to  be  the  witness  and  depository  of  it,  it is  also  necessary  to  be  its  defender:  character  contrasted  with  that of Herod,  who  is,  in  our  Gospel  at  present,  its  enemy  and  persecutor. Last instruction  with  which  our  Gospel  furnishes  us, — the truth persecuted.

Part III. — If it  is  a  crime  to  withstand  the  truth  when  it  shines upon us,  iniquitously  to  withhold  it  when  we  owe  it  to  others;  it  is the  fulness  of  iniquity,  and  the  most  distinguished  character  of  reprobation, to  persecute  and  combat  it. Nevertheless, nothing  is more  common  in  the  world  than  this  persecution  of  truth;  and  the impious Herod,  who,  on  the  present  occasion,  sets  himself  up  against it, has  more  imitators  than  is  supposed.

For, in  the  first  place,  he  persecutes  it  through  that  repugnancy which he  visibly  shows  to  the  truth,  and  which  induces  all  Jerusalem to  follow  his  example;  and  this  is  what  I  call  a  persecution  of