Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/509

 announcing to  him  the  birth  of  a  son,  commanded  him  to  offer  up a  sacrifice,  and  then,  like  a  devouring  fire  consumed  the  victim and the  pile,  and  vanished  from  his  sight;  that,  terrified,  I  say, at the  spectacle,  he  was  convinced  that  both  himself  and  his wife were  to  be  struck  with  death  because  they  had  seen  the Lord. But his  wife,  holy  and  enlightened,  condemned  his  mistrust. If the  Lord,  said  she  to  him,  wished  to  destroy  us,  he  would not have  made  fire  from  heaven  to  descend  on  our  sacrifice;  he would  not  have  accepted  it  from  our  hands;  he  would  not  have discovered to  us  his  secrets  and  his  wonders,  and  what  we  had hitherto been  ignorant  of.

And behold  what  I  now  answer  to  you. You believe  your  death and your  destruction  to  be  inevitable;  the  state  of  your  conscience discourages you;  in  vain  do  sparks  of  grace  and  of  light  fall  upon your heart;  in  vain  do  they  touch  you,  solicit  you,  and  almost  gain the point  of  consuming  the  sacrifice  of  your  passions;  you  persuade yourself  that  you  are  lost  beyond  resource. But, if  the  Lord wished to  abandon  and  to  destroy  you,  he  would  not  make  fire  from heaven to  descend  upon  your  heart;  he  would  not  light  up  within you holy  desires  and  sentiments  of  penitence:  if  he  wished  to  let you die  in  the  blindness  of  your  passions,  he  would  not  manifest  to you  the  truths  of  salvation;  he  would  not  open  your  eyes  on  those miseries to  come  which  you  prepare  for  yourself. Besides, how do you  know  if  Jesus  Christ  has  not  permitted  your  falling  into such a  deplorable  state,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  prodigy  of  your conversion an  incitement  to  the  conversion  of  your  brethren? How do you  know  if  his  mercy  has  not  rendered  your  passions  so  notorious, in  order  that  thousands  of  sinners,  witnesses  of  your errors, despair  not  of  conversion,  and  be  inflamed  at  the  sight of your  penitence? How do  you  know  if  your  crimes,  and  even your scandals,  have  not  entered  into  the  designs  of  God's  goodness with regard  to  your  brethren;  and  if  your  situation,  which  seems hopeless, like  that  of  Lazarus,  is  not  rather  an  occasion  of  manifesting God's  glory  than  a  presage  of  death  to  you?

When grace  recalls  a  common  sinner,  the  fruit  of  his  conversion is limited  to  himself;  but  when  it  singles  out  a  grand  sinner,  a Lazarus,  long  dead  and  corrupted,  ah! the designs  of  its  mercy  are then much  more  extensive;  in  one  change  it  prepares  a  thousand to come;  it  raises  up  a  thousand  out  of  one;  and  the  crimes  of  a sinner  become  the  seed  of  a  thousand  just. You give  way  to  despondency in  feeling  the  extremity  of  your  wretchedness;  but  it  is perhaps  that  very  extremity  which  draws  you  nearer  to  the  happy moment of  your  conversion,  and  which  the  goodness  of  God  has reserved for  you,  that  you  might  be  a  public  monument  of  the  excess of  his  mercies  toward  the  greatest  sinners. Only believe,  as Jesus  Christ  said  to  the  sisters  of  Lazarus,  and  you  shall  see  the glory of  God;  you  shall  see  your  relations,  your  friends,  your  inferiors, and  even  the  accomplices  of  your  debaucheries,  become imitators of  your  penitence:  you  shall  see  the  most  hopeless  souls sighing after  the  happiness  of  your  new  life;   and  the  world  itself