Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/486

 Many righteous  before  him  had  died  for  the  truth,  by  the  hands of the  impious. The head  of  the  forerunner  had  lately  been  seen in the  palace  of  Herod,  as  the  price  of  voluptuousness. Isaiah, by a  grievous  death,  had  rendered  glory  to  God;  and,  notwithstanding his  royal  blood,  his  august  birth  was  ineffectual  in  sheltering him from  those  persecutions  which  are  always  the  recompense  of truth  and  zeal. Many others  have  died  for  the  sake  of  righteousness; but  nature  seemed  not  wholly  interested  in  their  sufferings; the dead  forsook  not  their  tombs,  to  come,  and,  as  it  were,  reproach to the  living  their  sacrilege;  nothing,  in  any  degree  similar,  had, as yet,  appeared  upon  the  earth.

Survey the  rest  of  his  mysteries;  everywhere  you  will  find  traits which distinguish  him  from  all  other  men. If he  rise  up  from among the  dead,  besides  that  it  is  through  his  own  efficiency, (which no  eye  had  ever  yet  beheld,)  it  is  not,  like  so  many  others, who had  been  raised  up  through  the  ministry  of  the  prophets,  to return  once  more  into  the  empire  of  death:  he  arises,  never  more to die;  and,  even  here  below,  he  receives  an  immortal  life,  which is what  had  never  yet  been  accorded  to  any  creature.

If he  is  carried  up  into  heaven,  it  is  not  in  a  flaming  chariot  that he vanishes  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye;  he  ascends  with  majesty, and allows  all  leisure  to  his  affectionate  disciples  to  worship  him, and to  accompany  their  divine  Master  with  their  eyes  and  their homages. The angels,  as  if  to  receive  him  into  his  empire,  come to greet  this  King  of  Glory  and  comfort  the  affliction  of  the  disciples, by  promising  him  once  more  to  the  earth,  surrounded  with glory and  immortality. All here  announces  the  God  of  heaven, who returns  to  the  place  from  whence  he  came,  and  who  goes  to resume  the  possession  of  his  own  glory;  at  least,  every  thing  inclines men  to  believe  so.

And, in  truth,  my  brethren,  when  Elijah  is  taken  up  to  heaven in a  fiery  chariot,  a  single  disciple  is  the  only  spectator  of  that  miraculous ascension;  it  takes  place  in  a  retired  spot,  removed  from the view  of  the  other  children  of  the  prophets,  who,  perhaps  more credulous and  less  enlightened  than  Eliseus,  might  have  been  inclined to  render  divine  honours  to  that  miraculous  man. But Jesus Christ  surrounded  with  glory,  mounts  up  to  heaven  before  the eyes of  five  hundred  disciples:  the  weakest  and  those  who  are  least confirmed in  the  faith  of  his  resurrection,  are  the  first  who  are  invited to  the  holy  mountain:  nothing  is  dreaded  from  their  credulity: on  the  contrary,  their  adorations  are  equally  permitted  as their  regrets  and  tears;  and  a  life  full  of  prodigies,  till  then  so  unheard-of on  the  earth,  is  at  last  terminated  by  a  circumstance  still more wonderful,  and  sufficient  of  itself  to  make  him  to  be  regarded as a  God,  and  to  immortalize  error  and  idolatry  among  men.

In effect,  if  the  pagan  ages,  in  order  to  justify  the  ridiculous  and impious homages  which  they  paid  to  their  legislators,  to  the  founders of  empires,  and  to  other  celebrated  men,  gave  it  out,  in  their historians and  poets,  that  these  heroes  were  not  dead,  but  had  only disappeared from  the  earth;  and  that,  being  of  the  same  nature