in declaring himself against thee; to feel his wretchedness, and yet to love it; to know his true happiness, and yet to fly from it? What is man, O my God! and who shall fathom his ways, and the eternal contradiction of his errors?
Would I could finish what I had at first intended, and prove to you, my brethren, that the lot of the godly is still more worthy of all our wishes; for this reason, that, when the internal consolations happen even to fail them, yet they have the external aids of piety to strenghen and to assist them: the support of the sacrament, which, to the reluctant sinner, is no longer but a melancholy tribute to decency, equally tiresome and embarrassing; the example of the holy, and the history of their wonders, from which the sinner averts his eyes, lest he see in them his own condemnation: the holy thanksgivings and prayers of the church, which, to the sinner, become a melancholy fatigue: and, lastly, the consolation of the divine writings, in which he no longer finds but menaces and anathemas.
What invigorating refreshment, in effect, my brethren, to the mind of a believer, when, after quitting the vain conversations of the world, where the only subjects have been the exaltation of a family, the magnificence of a building, the individuals who act a brilliant part on the theatre of the universe, public calamities, the faults of those at the head of affairs, the events of war, and the errors with which the government is continually accused: lastly, where, earthly, they have spoken only of the earth; what a refreshment, after quitting these, when, in order to breathe a little from the fatigue of these vain conversations, a believing soul takes up the book of the law, and finds, every where in it, that it matters little to man to have gained the whole world, if he thereby lose his soul; that the most vaunted conquest shall sink into oblivion with the vanity of the conquerors; that the heavens and the earth shall pass away; that the kingdoms of the earth and all their glory shall waste away like a garment: but that God alone will endure for ever; and, consequently, that to him alone we ought to attach ourselves! The foolish have repeated vain things to me, O my God! says then this soul with the prophet; but, O how different from thy law!
And, certainly, my brethren, what soothing promises in these holy books! What powerful inducements to virtue! What happy precautions against vice! What instructive events! what sublime ideas of the greatness of God, and of the wretchedness of man! What animated paintings of the deformity of sin, and the false happiness of sinners! We have no need of thine assistance, wrote Jonathan and all the Jewish people to the Spartans; for, having the holy books in our hands to comfort us, we have no occasion for the aid of men. And who, think you, my brethren, were these men who spake in this manner? They were the unfortunate remains of Antiochus's cruelty, wandering in the mountains of Judea, despoiled of their property and fortunes, driven from Jerusalem and the temple, where the abomination of idols had taken
