Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/565

 sufficiently embellished  to  receive  thee;  but  come  and  be  thyself all its  ornament. Perhaps thou  perceivest  stains  which  repel  thee from it;  but  thy  divine  touch  will  purify  them  all. Perhaps thou discoverest invincible  enemies  still  there;  but  art  not  thou  the Mighty? Thy sole  presence  will  disperse  them,  and  peace  alone will reign  there  when  once  thou  shalt  be  in  possession  of  it. Perhaps it has  wrinkles  which  render  it  forbidding;  but  thou  wilt  renew its  youth  like  that  of  the  eagle. Perhaps it  is  still  stained  with the blemishes  of  its  former  infidelities;  but  thy  blood  will  wash them entirely  out. Come, Lord,  and  tarry  not;  every  blessing will attend  me  with  thee:  despised,  persecuted,  afflicted,  despoiled, calumniated, I  will  consider  as  nothing  my  sorrows  from  the  moment that  thou  shalt  come  to  alleviate  them:  honoured,  favoured, exalted, surrounded  with  abundance,  these  vain  prosperities  will cease to  interest  me,  will  appear  as  nothing  from  the  moment  thou shalt have  made  me  to  taste  how  sweet  thou  art. Such are  the desires which  ought  to  lead  us  to  the  altar.

But, alas! many bring  there  only  a  criminal  disgust  and  repugnance:  occasions  are  required  to  induce  them  to  determine  upon it; of  themselves  they  would  never  have  thought  of  it. But, what do I  say,  occasions? Thunders and  anathemas  are  required. Good God! that the  church  should  be  reduced,  through  the  lukewarmness  of  Christians,  to  make  a  law  to  them  of  participating  in  thy body and  in  thy  blood! That penalties  and  threatenings  should  be required  to  lead  them  to  thy  altar,  and  to  oblige  them  to  seat themselves at  thy  table! That the  Christian's  only  felicity  on earth  should  be  a  painful  precept  to  him! That the  most  glorious privilege with  which  men  can  be  favoured  by  thee  should  be  an irksome  restraint  to  them! Others approach  it  with  a  heavy  heart, a palled  appetite,  a  soul  wholly  of  ice:  people  who  live  in  the  commerce of  pleasures  and  of  the  sacrament;  who  participate  at  the table of  Satan  and  at  that  of  Jesus  Christ;  who  have  stated  days for the  Lord,  and  days  allotted  for  the  age;  people  to  whom  a  communion costs  only  a  day  of  restraint  and  reservation;  who,  on that  day,  neither  gamble,  show  themselves,  see  company,  nor  speak evil. But this  exertion  goes  no  farther;  all  devotion  ceases  with the solemnity;  it  is  a  deed  of  ceremony;  after  this  short  suspension they  are  at  ease  with  themselves;  they  tranquilly  return  to their  former  ways,  for  that  was  a  point  agreed  upon  with  themselves; they smoothly  continue  to  live  in  this  mixture  of  holy  and  of  profane;  the  sacrament  calms  us  upon  pleasures;  pleasures  to  be  more tranquil on  the  side  of  the  conscience  lead  us  to  the  sacrament;  and they are  almost  good  in  order  to  be  worldly  without  scruple. Thus they bring  to  the  altar  a  taste  cloyed  with  the  amusements  and  the delights of  the  age,  with  the  embarrassments  of  affairs,  with  the tumult of  the  passions:  they  feel  not  the  ineffable  sweets  of  this heavenly food;  they  retrace,  even  at  the  foot  of  the  throne  of  grace the images  of  those  pleasures  they  have  so  lately  left:  interests which occupy  us,  projects  which  puzzle  us,  ideas  which  force  us  from the altar  to  drag  us  back  to  the  world,  make  much  deeper  impres-