your derision and censure, because they are humble, simple, chaste, and modest: and the Christian life, which found admirers and panegyrists even among tyrants, experiences from you only mockery and profane railleries.
What folly, my brethren! to find worthy of laughter in the world, which is itself but a mass of trifles and absurdities, only those who know its frivolity, and whose only thoughts are bent on placing themselves secure from the wrath to come! What folly, to despise in men the very qualities which render them displeasing to God, respectable to angels, and useful to their fellow-creatures! What folly, to be convinced that an eternal happiness or misery awaits us, yet to find ridiculous only those who are interested in so important an affair!
Let us hold virtue in respect, my brethren; it alone, on the earth, merits our admiration and praise. If we find ourselves still too weak to fulfil its duties, let us at least be equitable, and esteem its lustre and innocence; if we cannot live the life of the just, let us wish to attain it, let us envy their lot; if we cannot as yet imitate their example, let us consider every derision on virtue not only as a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but as an outrage on humanity, which virtue alone honours and dignifies; far from reproaching the godly with those virtues which render them dissimilar to us, let us reproach ourselves with the vices which prevent us from resembling them; in a word, let us, by a true and sincere respect for piety, deserve to obtain one day the gift of piety itself.
And you, my brethren, who serve the Lord, remember, that the interests of virtue are in your hands; that the weaknesses, the stains with which you blend it, become, as I may say, stains on religion itself; consider how much the world expects from you, and what engagements you contract toward the public, when you espouse the cause of piety; consider with what dignity, what fidelity, what respectability, you ought to support the character and personage of a servant of Jesus Christ. Yes, my brethren, let us, with majesty, support the interests of piety against the sneers of those who despise it; let us purchase the right of being insensible to their censures by giving no foundation for them; let us force the world to respect what it cannot love; let us not of the holy profession of piety make a sordid gain, a vile worldly interest, a life of ill-nature and caprice, a claim to effeminacy and idleness, a singularity from which we arrogate honour, a prejudice, a spirit of intolerance which flatters us, and a spirit of division which separates us from our fellow-creatures; let us make it the price of eternity, the path to heaven, the rule of our duties, and the reparation of our crimes; a spirit of modesty which makes us unassuming, a compunction which humbles us, a gentleness which draws us to our brethren, a charity which makes us bear with them, an indulgence which attracts their regard, a spirit of peace which ties us to them; and, lastly, a union of hearts, of desires, of affections, of good and evil on the earth, which shall be the forerunner and hope of that eternal union which charity is to consummate in heaven.
