Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/490

 to expose  their  weakness  or  their  absurdities:  Jesus  Christ  never speaks of  their  vices  but  in  order  to  point  out  their  remedies. The former were  the  censurers  of  human  weaknesses;  Jesus  Christ  is their  physician:  the  former  gloried  in  being  able  to  point  out  vices in others,  from  which  they  themselves  were  not  exempted;  he never  speaks,  but  with  the  bitterest  sorrow,  of  faults,  from  which his own  innocence  protects  him,  and  even  sheds  tears  over  the disorders of  an  unbelieving  city:  it  is  easily  seen  that  the  former had no  intention  to  reclaim  men,  but  merely  to  attract  esteem  to themselves,  by  pretending  to  contemn  them;  and  that  the  only  wish of the  latter  is  to  save  them,  and  that  he  is  little  affected  with  their applauses or  esteem.

Pursue the  whole  detail  of  his  manners  and  of  his  conduct,  and see if  any  righteous  character  hath  ever  appeared  on  the  earth more generally  exempted  from  all  the  most  inseparable  weaknesses of humanity. The more  narrowly  he  is  examined,  the  more  is  his sanctity displayed. His disciples,  who  have  it  best  in  their  power to know  him,  are  the  most  affected  with  the  innocence  of  his  life; and familiarity,  so  dangerous  to  the  most  heroical  virtue,  serves only in  his  to  discover  fresh  matter  of  wonder. He speaks  only the language  of  heaven:  he  never  replies  but  when  his  answers may be  useful  toward  the  salvation  of  those  who  interrogate him. We see  not  in  him  those  intervals,  as  I  may  say,  in  which the man  re-appears;  on  every  occasion  he  is  the  messenger  of  the Most High. The commonest  actions  are  extraordinary  in  him, through the  novelty  and  the  sublimity  of  the  dispositions  with which he  accompanies  them;  and,  when  he  eats  with  the  pharisee, he does  not  appear  a  man  less  divine  than  when  he  raises  up Lazarus. Surely, my  brethern,  nature  alone  could  never  lead human weakness  so  far;  this  is  not  a  philosopher  who  enjoins  to others  what  he  doth  not  himself,  it  is  a  righteous  character,  who, in his  own  examples,  adopts  the  rules  and  precepts  of  his  doctrine; and holy  must  he  indeed  be,  seeing  the  very  disciple  who  betrayed him, so  interested  to  justify  his  own  perfidy  by  an  exposure  of  his faults, renders  public  testimony,  however,  to  his  innocence  and sanctity: and  that  the  whole  challenged  malice  of  his  enemies hath never  been  able  to  convict  him  of  sin.

Now, I  say,  that,  if  Jesus  Christ  be  holy,  he  is  God;  and  that, whether you  should  consider  the  doctrine  which  he  hath  taught us with  respect  to  his  Father  or  with  respect  to  men,  it  is  no longer  but  a  mass  of  equivocations,  or  qualified  blasphemies,  if he  be  only  an  ordinary  man,  merely  deputed  by  God  for  the  instruction of  men.

I say,  whether  you  should  consider  it  with  respect  to  his  Father. In effect,  if  Jesus  Christ  be  but  a  simple  messenger  of  the  Most High, he  comes,  then,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  manifesting  to  idolatrous nations  the  unity  of  the  Divine  essence. But, besides,  that his mission  principally  regards  the  Jews,  who  for  a  long  time  past, had not  returned  to  idolatry,  and,  consequently,  needed  not  that God should  raise  up  a  prophet  to  reclaim  them  from  an  error  of