Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/62

 ambitious, the  voluptuous,  the  indolent,  the  revengeful, — none  are happy, each  complains,  no  one  is  in  his  place,  every  condition has its  inconveniences,  and  sorrows  are  attached  to  every  station in life. The world  is  the  habitation  of  the  discontented;  and  the disgusts which  accompany  virtue,  are  much  more  a  consequence  of the  condition  of  this  mortal  life,  than  any  imperfection  in  virtue itself.

Besides, the  Almighty  has  his  reasons  for  leaving  the  most  upright souls  below  in  a  state  in  some  respects,  always  violent  and disagreeable to  nature:  by  that,  he  wishes  to  disgust  us  with  this miserable life;  to  make  us  long  for  our  deliverance,  and  for  that immortal country  where  nothing  shall  more  be  wanting  to  our happiness.

I feel  within  me  (says  the  apostle)  a  fatal  law  in  opposition  to the  law  of  God;  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not;  but  the  evil which I  would  not,  that  I  do. Now, if  I  do  that  I  would  not, it is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me. I find  then a law,  that  when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with  me. For I delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man;  but  I  see  another law in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and bringing me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members. O, wretched  man  that  I  am! who shall  deliver  me  from  the body of  this  death? — Behold the  most  natural  effect  which  the disgusts attached  to  virtue  ought  to  inspire  in  a  Christian  heart: hatred of  ourselves;  contempt  of  our  present  life;  a  desire  for eternal riches;  an  eager  anxiety  to  go  and  enjoy  God,  and  to be  delivered  from  all  the  miseries  inseparable  from  this  mortal life.

Besides, were  virtue  always  to  be  accompanied  with  sensible consolations; did  it  continually  form  for  man  a  happy  and  tranquil state in  this  world,  it  would  become  a  temporal  recompense;  in devoting  ourselves  to  God,  we  should  no  longer  seek  the  good  of faith,  but  the  consolations  of  self-love;  we  would  seek  ourselves, while pretending  to  seek  God;  we  would  propose  to  ourselves  in virtue,  that  conscious  tranquillity,  in  which  it  places  the  heart,  by delivering  it  from  those  violent  and  restless  passions  which  tear  it continually,  rather  than  the  observance  of  the  rules  and  the  duties which the  law  of  God  imposes  on  us. The Lord  would  then  have only mercenary  and  interested  worshippers,  who  would  come,  not to carry  his  yoke,  but  to  repose  themselves  under  the  shadow  of his  voice;  workmen,  who  would  offer  themselves,  not  so  much  to labour  in  his  vineyard,  and  to  support  the  fatigues  of  the  day,  and the oppression  of  the  heat,  as  in  order  to  taste  in  tranquillity  the fruits; servants,  who,  far  from  improving  their  talent  for  the  benefit of their  master,  would  turn  it  to  their  own  utility,  and  employ  it only  for  their  own  advantage.

The upright  live  by  faith:  now  faith  hopes,  but  enjoys  not  in this  world;  all  is  yet  to  come  for  Christians;  their  country,  their riches, their  pleasures,  their  inheritance,  their  kingdoms;  the  present is not  for  them. Here, it  is  the  time  of  tribulation  and  affliction;