Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/521

 Even you,  my  brethren^  when  the  awful  solemnity  of  that  grand event hath  sometimes  intruded  on  your  thoughts,  have  been  unable to  check  feelings  of  compunction  and  dread. But these  have been only  transitory  fears;  more  smiling  and  more  agreeable  ideas have speedily  effaced  them,  and  recalled  to  you  your  former  calm. Alas! in the  happy  days  of  the  church,  it  would  have  been  considered as  renouncing  faith  not  to  have  longed  for  the  day  of  the Lord. The only  consolation  of  those  first  disciples  of  faith  was  in looking  forward  to  it,  and  the  apostles  were  obliged  even  to  moderate, on  that  point,  the  holy  eagerness  of  believers;  and,  at  present, the  church  finds  itself  under  the  necessity  of  employing  the whole terror  of  our  ministry,  in  order  to  recall  its  remembrance  to Christians,  and  the  whole  fruit  of  our  discourses  is  confined  to  making it  dreaded.

I mean  not,  however,  to  display  to  you  here  the  whole  history  of that  awful  event. I wish  to  confine  myself  to  one  of  its  circumstances, which  has  always  appeared  to  me  as  the  most  proper  to make  an  impression  on  the  heart:  it  is  the  manifestation  of consciences.

Now, behold  my  whole  design. On this  earth  the  sinner  never knows himself  such  as  he  is,  and  is  only  half-known  to  men;  he lives,  in  general,  unknown  to  himself,  through  his  blindness,  and  to others  through  his  dissimulation  and  cunning. In that  grand  day he will  know  himself,  and  will  be  known. The sinner  laid  open  to himself,  the  sinner  laid  open  to  all  creatures! Behold the  subject upon which  I  have  resolved  to  make  some  simple,  and,  I  trust,  edifying reflections.

Part I. — "All  things  are  reserved  for  a  future  day,"  says  the sage Ecclesiastes,  *  and  no  man  knoweth  them  here  below,  for  all things come  alike  to  all:  there  is  one  event  to  the  righteous  and  to the  wicked;  to  the  good,  and  to  the  clean  and  to  the  unclean:  to him  that  sacrificeth,  and  to  him  that  sacrificeth  not:  as  is  the  good, so is  the  sinner."

What idea,  indeed,  should  we  have  of  Providence  in  the  government of  the  universe,  were  we  to  judge  of  its  wisdom  and  justice only from  the  diverse  lots  which  it  provides  on  this  earth  for  men? What! the good  and  the  evil  should  be  dispensed  on  the  earth, without choice,  respect,  or  discrimination? The just  man  should almost always  groan  under  affliction  and  want,  whilst  the  wicked should live  surrounded  with  glory,  pleasures,  and  affluence,  and, after fortunes  so  different,  and  manners  so  dissimilar,  both  should alike sink  into  an  eternal  oblivion;  and  that  just  and  avenging  God, whom they  should  afterward  meet,  would  not  deign  either  to  weigh their deeds,  or  to  distinguish  their  merits? Thou, O  Lord,  art  just, and will  render  to  each  according  to  his  works.

This grand  point  of  Christian  faith,  so  consistent  even  with  natural equity,  supposed, — I  say,  that,  in  that  terrible  day,  when,  in the  face  of  the  universe,  the  sinner  shall  appear  before  that  awful tribunal accompanied  by  his  works,  the  manifestation  of  consciences