Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/71

 Reflection IV. — I say  resources:  alas  t  my  brethren,  we  find none but  in  virtue. The world  wounds  the  heart,  but  it  furnishes no remedies;  it  has  its  chagrins,  but  nothing  to  comfort  them;  it is  full  of  disgusts  and  bitterness,  but  we  find  no  resources  in  it. But in  virtue  there  is  no  sorrow  which  has  not  its  consolation;  and if in  it  we  find  repugnances  and  disgusts,  we  find  likewise  a  thousand resources  which  soothe  them.

In the  first  place,  peace  of  mind,  and  the  testimony  of  the  conscience. What luxury,  to  be  at  peace  with  ourselves;  no  longer to carry  within  us  that  importunate  and  corroding  worm  which pursued us  every  where;  no  longer  to  be  racked  by  eternal  remorses, which  poisoned  every  comfort  of  life:  in  a  word,  to  be  delivered from  iniquity! The senses  may  still  suffer  from  the  sorrows of virtue,  but  the  heart  at  least  is  tranquil.

Secondly. The certainty  that  our  sufferings  are  not  lost;  that  our sorrows become  a  new  merit  for  us;  that  our  repugnances,  in  preparing for  us  new  sacrifices,  secure  an  additional  claim  to  the  promises of  faith;  that  were  virtue  to  cost  us  less,  it  would  likewise bear an  inferior  price  in  the  sight  of  God;  and  that  he  only  renders the road  so  difficult,  in  order  to  render  our  crown  more  brilliant  and glorious.

Thirdly. Submission to  the  orders  of  God,  who  has  his  reasons for refusing  to  us  the  visible  consolations  of  virtue;  whose  wisdom consults our  interest  more  than  our  passions;  and  who  has  preferred bringing  us  to  himself  by  a  less  agreeable  road,  because  it  is a  more  secure  one.

Fourthly. The favours  with  which  he  accompanies  our  sorrows; which sustain  our  faith  at  the  same  time  that  our  violence  lowers self-love; which  fortify  our  heart  in  truth,  at  the  same  time  that our senses  are  disgusted  with  it;  which  make  our  mind  prompt and fervent,  although  the  flesh  is  weak  and  feeble,  insomuch,  that he renders  our  virtue  so  much  the  more  solid  as  to  us  it  seems  melancholy and  painful.

Fifthly. The external  succours  of  piety,  which  are  so  many  new resources in  our  faintings  and  thirst:  the  holy  mysteries,  where Jesus Christ,  himself  the  comforter  of  faithful  souls,  comes  to  console our  heart;  the  truths  of  the  divine  writings,  which  promise nothing in  this  world  to  the  upright  but  tribulation  and  tears, — calm our  fears,  by  informing  us  that  our  pleasures  are  to  come;  and that the  sufferings  which  discourage  us,  far  from  making  us  distrust our virtue,  ought  to  render  our  hope  more  animated  and  certain:  in a  word,  the  history  of  the  saints,  who  have  undergone  the  same disgusts and  trials;  consequently,  we  have  so  much  the  less  reason to complain,  as  characters  so  infinitely  more  pious  than  we,  have experienced the  same  lot;  that  such  has  almost  always  been  the conduct of  God  towards  his  servants;  and  that,  if  any  thing  in  this life can  prove  his  love  toward  us,  it  is  that  of  his  leading  us  by  the same path  that  he  did  the  saints,  and  treating  us  in  this  world  in the  same  manner  that  he  did  the  upright.

Sixthly. The tranquillity  of  the  life  and  the  uniformity  of  the