Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/522

 will be  the  most  horrible  punishment  of  the  unfaithful  soul. A rigorous examination  shall,  in  the  first  place,  make  him  known  to himself;  and  behold  all  the  circumstances  of  that  awful  discussion.

I ought,  in  the  first  place,  to  make  you  observe  all  the  titles  with which he  will  be  invested  who  shall  examine  you,  and  which  announce all  the  rigour  with  which  he  shall  weigh  in  the  balance  your deeds and  your  thoughts. It will  be  a  rigid  legislator,  jealous  of the  sanctity  of  his  law,  and  who  will  judge  you  only  by  it  j  all  the softenings, all  the  vain  interpretations,  which  custom  or  a  false knowledge had  invented,  shall  vanish;  the  lustre  of  the  law  will dissipate them;  the  resources  with  which  they  had  flattered  the sinner, will  sink  into  nothing;  and  the  incensed  legislator  will  examine almost  more  rigorously  the  false  interpretations  which  had changed its  purity,  than  the  manifest  transgressions  which  had  violated it. It will  be  a  judge  charged  with  the  interest  of  his  Fathers glory against  the  sinner,  established  to  decide  between  God  and man; and  that  day  will  be  the  day  of  his  zeal  for  the  honour  of  the Divinity, against  those  who  shall  not  have  rendered  to  him  that honour which  is  his  due:  a  Saviour,  who  will  show  you  his  wounds to reproach  your  ingratitude;  all  that  he  hath  done  for  you  will  rise up against  you:  his  blood,  the  price  of  your  salvation,  will  loudly demand your  destruction;  and  his  despised  kindnesses  will  be  numbered among  your  heaviest  crimes:  the  Searcher  of  hearts,  to  whose eyes the  most  hidden  counsels  and  the  most  secret  thoughts  will  all be laid  open:  lastly? a God  of  terrible  majesty,  before  whom  the heavens shall  dissolve,  the  elements  be  confounded,  and  all  nature overturned, and  whose  scrutiny,  with  all  the  terror  of  his  presence, the sinner  shall  singly  be  forced  to  support.

Now, behold  the  circumstances  of  that  awful  examination. First, it will  be  the  same  for  all  men;  and,  as  St.  Matthew  says,  before him shall  be  gathered  all  nations. The difference  of  ages,  countries, conditions, birth,  and  temperament,  shall  no  longer  be  regarded; and as  the  Gospel,  on  which  you  will  be  judged,  is  the  law  of  all times and  conditions,  and  holds  out  the  same  rules  to  the  prince and to  the  subject,  to  the  great  and  to  the  lowly,  to  the  anchorite and to  the  man  immersed  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  to  the  believer who lived  in  the  fervour  of  the  primitive  times,  and  to  him  who  hath the misfortune  to  live  in  the  relaxation  of  the  present  age,  no  distinction will  be  made  in  the  manner  of  proceeding  on  the  examination of  the  guilty;  vain  excuses  on  rank  and  birth,  on  the  dangers of his  station,  on  the  manners  of  his  age,  on  the  weakness  of  temperament, will  then  be  no  longer  listened  to  from  you;  and,  with respect to  modesty,  chastity,  ambition,  forgiveness  of  injuries,  renouncement of  one's  self,  mortification  of  the  senses,  the  just  Judge will demand  an  exact  account,  equally  from  the  Greek  as  from  the Barbarian, from  the  poor  as  from  the  powerful,  from  the  man  of the  world  as  from  the  solitary,  from  the  prince  as  from  the  humblest subject; lastly,  from  the  Christian  of  these  latter  times  as  from  the first disciples  of  the  Gospel.

Vain judgments  of  the  earth,  how  shall  you  then  be  confounded!