Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/492

 spread understanding,  light,  and  the  knowledge  of  God. What! my brethern,  Paul  and  Barnabas  rend  their  garments  when  they are taken  for  gods;  they  loudly  proclaim  to  the  people  who  wished to offer  up  victims  to  them — Worship  the  Lord  alone,  whose  servants and  ministers  we  are. The angel  in  the  Revelation,  when St. John  prostrates  himself  to  worship  him,  rejects  the  homage with horror,  and  says  to  him,  "  Worship  God  alone;  I  am  only thy  fellow-servant,  and  of  thy  brethren  that  have  the  testimony  of Jesus." And Jesus  Christ  tranquilly  suffers  that  they  render  divine honours to  him! And Jesus  Christ  praises  the  faith  of  the  disciples who  worship  him,  and  who,  with  Thomas,  call  him  their Lord and  their  God! And Jesus  Christ  even  confutes  his  enemies who contest  his  divinity  and  divine  origin! Is he,  then,  less  zealous than his  disciples  for  the  glory  of  him  who  sends  him? Or is  it  a matter  of  less  importance  to  him,  pointedly  to  undeceive  the  people on a  mistake  so  injurious  to  the  Supreme  Being,  and  which,  in fact,  destroys  the  whole  fruit  of  his  ministry?

Yes, my  brethern,  what  a  blessing  hath  the  coming  of  Jesus Christ brought  to  the  world,  if  those  who  worship  him  be  idolatrous and profane! All who  have  believed  in  him  have  worshipped  him as the  eternal  Son  of  the  Father,  the  image  of  his  substance,  and the splendour  of  his  glory. There is  but  a  small  number  of  men  in Christianity,  who,  though  they  acknowledge  him  as  a  messenger of  God,  yet  refuse  to  him  divine  honours;  even  this  sect,  universally banished,  and  execrable  even  in  those  places  where  every error finds  an  asylum,  is  reduced  to  a  few  obscure  and  concealed followers, every  where  punished  as  an  impiety  from  the  instant that it  dares  to  avow  itself,  and  forced  to  hide  itself  in  obscurity, and in  the  extremities  of  the  most  distant  provinces  and  kingdoms. Is it,  then,  that  numerous  people  of  every  tongue,  of  every tribe, and  of  every  nation,  which  Jesus  Christ  came  to  form  upon the earth? Is it  a  Jerusalem,  formerly  barren,  and  become  fruitful, which  was  to  contain  tribes  and  nations  in  its  bosom,  and where the  most  distant  isles,  princes,  and  kings,  were  to  come  to worship? Are these  the  grand  advantages  which  the  world  was to reap  from  the  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ? Is this,  then,  that abundance of  grace,  that  plenitude  of  the  Spirit  God  shed  over all men,  that  universal  regeneration,  that  spiritual  and  lasting reign which  the  prophets  had  foretold  with  such  majesty,  and which was  to  attend  the  coming  of  the  Redeemer? What, my brethren,  an  expectation  so  magnificent  is  then  reduced  to  the  miserable sight  of  the  world  plunged  into  a  new  idolatry? That event, so blessed  for  the  earth,  promised  for  so  many  ages,  announced with so  much  pomp,  so  earnestly  longed  for  by  all  the  righteous, and held  out  from  afar  to  the  whole  universe  as  its  only  resource, was then  to  corrupt  and  to  prevent  it  for  ever? That church,  so fruitful,  of  which  kings  and  Caesars,  at  the  head  of  their  people, were to  be  the  children,  was  then  to  contain,  in  its  bosom,  only  a small  number  of  men,  equally  odious  to  heaven  and  to  the  earth, the disgrace  of  nature  and  of  religion,  and  obliged  to  seek,  in