Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/527

 that is  exalted  only  in  the  eyes  of  men,  and  so  frequently  recommended to  us  to  love  only  what  we  ought  for  ever  to  love.

But, exempted  perhaps  from  all  these  vices  which  we  have  just been mentioning,  and  attached,  for  a  long  time  past,  to  the  duties of a  Christian  life,  you  presume  that  this  terrible  examination  will either not  regard  you,  or,  at  any  rate,  that  you  will  appear  there with more  confidence  than  the  criminal  soul. Undoubtedly, my dear  hearer,  that  will  be  the  day  of  triumph  and  glory  for  the  just; the day  which  will  justify  these  pretended  excesses  of  retreat,  mortification, modesty,  and  delicacy  of  conscience,  which  had  furnished to the  world  so  many  subjects  of  censure  and  profane  derision. The just  shall,  no  doubt,  appear  before  that  awful  tribunal  with more confidence  than  the  sinner;  but  he  will  also  appear  there, and even  his  righteousness  shall  be  judged:  your  virtues,  your  holy works, will  be  submitted  to  that  rigorous  examination. The world, which often  refuses  the  praises  due  to  the  truest  virtue,  too  often likewise grants  them  to  the  sole  appearances  of  virtue:  there  are even so  many  just  who  deceive  themselves,  and  who  are  indebted, for that  name  and  that  reputation,  merely  to  the  public  error. Thus, it  is  not  only  Tyre  and  Sidon  that  I  shall  visit  in  the  day  of my  wrath,  saith  the  Lord;  that  is  to  say,  those  sinners  whom  their crimes seemed  to  confound  with  the  unbelievers  and  the  inhabitants of Tyre  and  Sidon:  I  shall  carry  the  light  of  my  judgments  even  to Jerusalem;  that  is  to  say,  I  will  examine,  I  will  search  into,  I  will fathom the  motives  of  those  holy  works  which  seem  to  equal  you with the  most  faithful  of  the  holy  Jerusalem.

I will  trace,  even  to  the  source,  the  motive  of  that  conversion which made  so  much  noise  in  the  world;  and  it  shall  be  seen whether I  find  not  its  origin  in  some  secret  disgust,  in  the  declension of  youth  and  fortune,  in  private  views  of  favour  and preferment, rather  than  in  the  detestation  of  sin  and  love  of righteousness.

I will  balance  those  liberalities  poured  out  on  the  bosom  of  the poor, those  compassionate  visits,  that  zeal  for  pious  undertakings, that protection  granted  to  my  servants  with  complaisance,  a  desire of  esteem,  ostentation,  and  worldly  views  which  have  infected them: and,  in  my  sight,  they  shall  perhaps  appear  to  be  rather the fruits  of  pride  than  the  consequences  of  grace  and  the  work  of my  Spirit.

I will  recall  that  train  of  prayer  and  other  holy  practices  of  which you had  made  a  kind  of  habit,  which  no  longer  roused  within  you any feeling  of  faith  and  compunction;  and  you  shall  know  whether lukewarmness, negligence,  the  little  fruit  which  attended  them,  and the little  disposition  within  you  previous  to  them,  have  not,  before me, constituted  so  many  infidelities,  for  which  you  shall  be  judged without mercy.

I will  search  into  that  removal  from  the  world  and  from  pleasures, that  singularity  of  conduct,  that  affectation  of  modesty  and regularity; and  perhaps  I  shall  find  them  more  the  consequence of humour,  temperament,  and  indolence,  than  of  faith;    and  that,