Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/482

 those distant  ages  which  have  preceded  us? Do we  merit  to  have been looked  forward  to  like  celestial  men,  who  were  to  fill  the  earth with sanctity  and  righteousness? Have not  those  ages  been  deceived in  their  expectation  of  the  Christian  people? Were the just of  those  distant  times  to  return  upon  the  earth,  could  we  present ourselves  to  them,  and  say,  Behold  those  celestial,  spiritual, temperate, believing,  and  charitable  men,  whom  you  expected? Alas! my brethren,  the  just  of  former  times  were  Christians before the  birth  of  faith;  and  we  are  still  Jews,  under  all  the  advantages of  the  Gospel:  we  live  solely  for  the  earth:  we  know  no true  riches  but  the  present  good:  our  whole  religion  is  grounded  in the  senses:  we  have  received  more  assistances,  but  we  are  not  more believing.

To the  lustre  of  the  prophecies  which  have  announced  Jesus Christ, we  must  add  that  of  his  works  and  of  his  miracles: — second resplendent character  of  his  ministry. Yes, my  brethren,  even admitting that  Heaven  had  not  promised  him  to  the  earth  with such magnificence;  that  the  manner  in  which  he  was  to  appear  to the  earth  had  not  constituted,  during  all  these  first  ages,  the  sole occupation and  expectation  of  the  universe;  did  ever  man  appear more wonderful,  more  divine  in  his  actions,  and  in  all  the  circumstances of  his  life?

I say,  first,  in  his  actions  and  in  his  miracles. I know,  and  we come  from  saying  it,  that,  in  the  ages  which  preceded  him,  extraordinary men  had  appeared  upon  the  earth,  to  whom  the  Lord seemed to  have  delegated  his  omnipotence  and  virtue:  in  Egypt and in  the  desert  Moses  appeared  the  master  of  heaven  and  earth; in the  following  ages  Elijah  came  to  present  the  same  sight  to  men. But, when  we  narrowly  examine  their  power  itself,  we  find  that  all these miraculous  men  always  bore  with  them  the  marks  of  weakness and dependence.

Moses only  operated  his  miracles  with  his  mysterious  rod;  without it  he  was  no  longer  but  a  weak  and  powerless  man;  and  it would  seem  that  the  Lord  had  attached  the  virtue  of  miracles  to that  morsel  of  parched  wood  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  Israelites sensible that,  in  his  hands,  Moses  himself  was  but  a  weak  and fragile instrument,  whom  he  was  pleased  to  employ  in  the  operation of  grand  effects:  Jesus  Christ  operates  the  grandest  miracles, even without  speaking;  and  the  sole  touch  of  his  garment  cures inveterate infirmities. Moses communicates  not  to  his  disciples the power  of  operating  miracles;  for  it  was  an  extraneous  gift which he  had  received  from  Heaven,  and  which  he  had  not  the power of  delegating:  Jesus  Christ  leaves  to  his  disciples  a  still greater efficacy  than  had  appeared  even  in  himself. Moses always acts in  the  name  of  the  Lord:  Jesus  Christ  operates  all  in  his  own name; and  the  works  of  his  Father  are  his. Nevertheless, this Moses, who  had  not  been  prophesied  of  like  Jesus  Christ,  who  remitted not  sins  as  he  did,  who  never  gave  himself  out  as  equal  to God,  but  only  as  his  faithful  servant, — this  Moses,  dreading  that, after his  death,  his  miracles  should  make  him  pass  for  a  god,  takes