Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/493

 obscurity, a  shelter  for  the  horror  of  their  blasphemy? And all  the future magnificence  of  the  Gospel  was  then  to  be  limited  to  the formation of  the  detestable  sect  of  an  impious  Socinus?

O God! how wise  and  reasonable  doth  the  faith  of  thy  church appear, when  opposed  to  the  absurd  contradictions  of  unbelief? And how  consoling  for  those  who  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  who place their  hope  in  him,  to  behold  the  abysses  which  pride  digs  for itself when  it  pretends  to  open  new  ways,  and  to  sap  the  only foundation of  the  hope  of  Christians.

Behold, my  brethren,  how  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  with relation to  his  Father,  establishes  the  glory  of  his  eternal  origin. Thus, when  the  prophets  speak  of  the  God  of  heaven  and  of  the earth, their  expressions  are  too  weak  for  the  magnificence  and  the grandeur of  their  ideas. Full of  the  immensity,  the  omnipotence, and the  majesty  of  the  Supreme  Being,  they  exhaust  the  weakness of the  human  language,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  correspond  with the sublimity  of  these  images. That God  is  he  who  measures  the waters of  the  ocean  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  who  weighs  the mountains in  his  balance,  in  whose  hands  are  the  thunders  and  the tempests, who  speaks,  and  all  is  done;  who  faints  not,  neither  is weary,  in  upholding  the  universe. It was  natural  for  simple  men to speak  in  this  manner  of  the  glory  of  the  Most  High;  the  infinite disproportion between  the  immensity  of  the  Supreme  Being  and the weaknesses  of  the  human  mind  must  strike,  dazzle,  and  confound it;  and  the  most  pompous  expressions  are  too  feeble  to  convey its  astonishment  and  admiration.

But when  Jesus  Christ  speaks  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  it  is  no longer  in  the  pompous  style  of  the  prophets;  he  calls  him  a  holy Father, a  righteous  Father,  a  merciful  Father,  a  Shepherd  who pursues a  strayed  sheep,  who  kindly  bears  it  home  himself;  a Friend  who  yields  to  the  importunities  of  his  friend;  a  Father  feelingly affected  with  the  return  and  the  amendment  of  his  son:  it is  clearly  seen  that  this  is  a  Child  who  speaks  a  domestic  language; that the  familarity  and  the  simplicity  of  his  expressions  suppose  in him  a  sublimity  of  knowledge  which  renders  the  idea  of  a  Supreme Being familiar  to  him,  and  prevents  him  from  being  struck  and dazzled, as  we  are,  with  his  majesty  and  glory;  and,  lastly,  that  he only  speaks  of  what  is  laid  open  to  his  view,  and  which  he  possesses himself. A person  is  much  less  struck  with  the  eclat  of titles  which  he  has  borne,  as  I  may  say,  from  his  birth:  the  children of  kings  speak,  without  emotion,  of  sceptres  and  crowns; and it  is  likewise  the  eternal  Son  alone  of  the  living  God  who  can speak so  familiarly  of  the  glory  of  God  himself.

Behold, my  brethren,  seeing  we  participate  with  Jesus  Christ  in all  his  blessings,  the  right  which  he  hath  acquired  for  us,  of  considering God  as  our  Father,  of  daring  to  call  ourselves  his  children, and of  loving  rather  than  of  fearing  him. Nevertheless, we  serve him like  slaves  and  hirelings;  we  dread  his  chastisement,  but  we are  little  affected  by  his  love  and  his  promises:  his  law,  so  righteous, so  holy,  has  nothing  pleasing  for  us;  it  is  a  yoke  which  op-