Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/561

 instrument of  all  thy  vengeances  and  bitterness;  that  crucified body on  the  seat  of  all  thy  sensualities  and  debaucheries. What! he shall  descend  to  thy  heart? But will  he  therein  find  where  to repose  his  head? Hast thou  not  changed  that  holy  temple  into  a den  of  thieves? What! thou art  going  to  place  him  among  so many  impure  pleasures,  profane  attachments,  ambitious  projects, emotions of  hatred,  of  jealousy,  and  of  pride;  it  is  amidst  all  these monsters that  thou  hast  prepared  his  dwelling-place? Ah! thou deliverest up  to  his  enemies,  thou  once  more  puttest  him  into  the hands of  his  executioners.

You have  examined  yourselves,  say  you  to  me. Before drawing near, you  have  made  your  confession. Ah! my brethren,  and, with the  same  mouth  from  which  you  have  so  lately  vented  all  your iniquities, you  go  to  receive  Jesus  Christ? And, the  heart  still reeking with  a  thousand  ill-extinguished  passions,  and  which  tomorrow shall  see  in  all  their  wonted  vigour,  you  dare  to  approach the altar  with  your  present,  and  to  participate  in  the  holy  mysteries? And, the  imagination  still  stained  with  the  ideas  of  those recent excesses  which  you  have  just  been  recounting  to  the  priest, you go  to  eat  of  the  pure  bread  of  the  chosen? What! on your departure from  the  tribunal,  the  communion,  in  your  eyes,  supplies the place,  and  answers  the  purposes  of  penitence? From guilt  you rush headlong  to  the  altar? In place  of  dissolving  in  tears  with the penitent,  you  come  to  rejoice  with  the  righteous? In place  of nourishing  yourself  with  the  bread  of  tribulation,  you  run  to  a  delicious feast? In place  of  lingering  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  like the publican,  you  confidently  draw  near  to  the  holy  of  holies? In former times,  a  penitent  came  not  to  the  table  of  the  Lord  but  after whole years  of  humiliation,  of  abstinence,  of  prayer,  and  of  austerity, and they  purified  themselves  in  tears,  in  grief,  and  in  the  public exercises of  a  painful  discipline;  they  became  new  men;  a  heartfelt regret  was  the  only  vestige  of  their  former  life;  no  traces  of their  past  crimes  were  to  be  recognized  but  in  the  grace  of  penitence, and  of  the  macerations  which,  at  last,  had  expiated  them; and the  eucharist  was  that  heavenly  bread  which  no  man,  a  sinner, then ate  but  with  the  sweat  of  his  brow. And, at  present,  to have  confessed  crimes  is  believed  to  have  already  punished  them; that an  absolution,  which  is  only  given  under  the  supposition  of  a humbled  and  contrite  heart,  actually  creates  and  renders  it  so;  that all the  purity  required  of  those  who  receive  the body  of  Jesus  Christ is, that  they  have  laid  open  all  the  virulence  and  infection  of  their sores. Unworthy communicants,  my  brethren! you eat  and  you drink your  damnation! In vain  may  we  comfort  you:  can  man  justify when  God  condemns?

Besides, it  is  pure  and  without  leaven;  it  requires  to  be  exempted from leaven  to  eat  of  it. Now, have  those  worldly  persons,  whom the cirumstances  of  a  solemnity  determine  to  approach  the  holy table, quitted  the  old  leaven  in  presenting  themselves  at  the  altar? Do they  not  bring  along  with  them  every  passion  still  living  in  its roots? Judge thereof  from  the  consequences. On their  departure