Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/495

 quality which  it  may  possess,  is  it  not  the  sole  gift  of  him  who alone is  worthy  of  all  love?

What prophet  prior  to  Jesus  Christ  had  ever  spoken  thus  to  men, You shall  love  me:  whatever  you  do,  you  shall  do  it  for  my  glory? You shall  love  the  Lord  your  God,  said  Moses  to  the  children of  Israel. Nothing is  amiable  in  itself  but  what  can  bestow happiness upon  us:  now,  no  creature  can  be  our  happiness  or  our perfection: no  creature,  consequently,  is  worthy  of  being  loved  for itself; it  would  be  an  idolatry. Any man,  who  comes  to  propose himself to  men  as  the  object  of  their  love,  is  impious  and  an  impostor, who  seeks  to  usurp  the  most  essential  right  of  the  Supreme Being: he  is  a  monster  of  pride  and  folly,  who  wants  to  erect  altars to himself,  even  in  hearts,  the  only  sanctuary  which  the  Divinity had never  yielded  up  to  profane  idols. The doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ, that doctrine  so  divine,  and  so  much  admired  even  by  the  pagans, would no  longer,  in  that  case,  be  but  a  monstrous  mixture  of  impiety, of  presumption,  and  of  folly,  if,  not  being  himself  the  God blessed in  all  ages,  he  had  made  that  love  which  he  exacted  of  his disciples the  most  essential  precept  of  his  morality;  and  it  would be a  ridiculous  mark  of  ostentation  in  him  to  have  held  himself  out to men  as  a  model  of  humility  and  modesty,  while,  in  fact,  he  was carrying presumption  and  unlimited  compliance  to  a  degree  far  beyond all  the  proudest  philosophers,  who  had  never  aspired  to  more than the  esteem  and  the  applauses  of  men.

Nor is  this  all:  not  only  Jesus  Christ  insists  that  we  love  him, but he  also  exacts  of  men  marks  of  the  most  disinterested  and  most heroical love:  he  insists  that  we  love  him  more  than  our  relations, than our  friends,  than  our  fortune,  than  our  life,  than  the  whole world, than  ourselves;  that  we  suffer  all  for  his  sake,  that  we  renounce all  for  him,  that  we  shed,  even  to  the  last  drop,  our  blood for him:  whoever  renders  not  to  him  these  grand  homages  is  unworthy of  him:  whoever  puts  him  in  competition  with  any  creature, or  with  himself,  insults  and  dishonours  him,  and  forfeits  every pretension to  his  promises.

What! my brethren,  he  is  not  satisfied,  as  the  idols,  and  even the true  God  himself  had  appeared  to  be,  with  the  sacrifices  of goats  and  bulls! — he carries  his  pretensions  still  farther,  and requires of  man  the  sacrifice  of  himself;  that  he  fly  to  gibbets; that he  offered  himself  to  death  and  to  martyrdom  for  the  glory of his  name! But if  he  be  not  the  master  of  our  life,  by  what  right doth he  exact  it  of  us? If our  soul  be  not  originally  come  from him, is  it  to  him  that  we  ought  to  return  it? Is that  regaining  it, to have  lost  it  for  his  sake? If he  be  not  the  Author  of  our  being, do we  not  become  sacrilegious  and  murderers,  when  we  sacrifice ourselves for  his  glory,  and  when  we  transfer  to  a  creature,  and  to a  simple  messenger  of  God,  the  grand  sacrifice  of  our  being,  solely destined to  confess  the  sovereignty  and  the  power  of  the  eternal Maker, who  hath  drawn  us  from  nothing? That Jesus  Christ  die for himself,  well  and  good,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  even  that  he exhort  us  to  follow  his  example:  many  prophets  before  him  had died for  the  Lord's  sake,  and  had  exhorted  their  disciples  to  walk