sinner, who without wishing to quit his irregularities, promises himself a change, alleges, in justification of his presumption, first, the power of God, who ruleth over the hearts of men, who can change in an instant the will, and to whom it is equally easy to produce the child of promise from the sterility of old age, as from the fecundity of youth. Secondly, his justice, for having formed man of clay, that is to say, weak, and with almost unconquerable tendencies to pleasure, he ought to have some consideration for his weakness, and more readily pardon faults which are, as it were, unavoidable to him. Lastly, his mercy, always ready to receive the repentant sinner. Now, my brethren, it is easy to take from false trust pretexts so unworthy of piety, and show that the disposition of the presuming sinner insults God in all the above mentioned perfections. Allow me to explain my reasons, and continue to honour me with your attention.
In the first place, when you conceive a powerful God, master of hearts, and changing at his pleasure the rebellious wills of men, is it not true, that you at the same time conceive a power regulated by wisdom, that is to say, which doth nothing but in conformity with that order it hath established? Now, the presumptuous sinner attributes to God a blind power, which acts indiscriminately. For, though he can whatever he willeth, nevertheless, as he is infinitely wise, there is an order in his wills; he willeth not at random, and whatever he doth hath its eternal reasons in the depth of his divine wisdom. Now it is evident that this divine wisdom would not be sufficiently justified before men, if the grace of conversion were to be at last accorded to false trust. For say, in order to merit the greatest of all favours, it would then be sufficient to have a thousand times rejected it? The righteous man, who continually crucifies his flesh, who incessantly groans in order to obtain the precious gift of perseverance, would then have no better claim than a sinner, who without having ever placed himself in a situation to merit it, hath always promised it to himself? It would then be perfectly indifferent either to serve the Lord, and to walk uprightly before him, or to pursue the erroneous ways of the passions, since, at the end, the lot of each would be the same? Much more, it would then be a misfortune, a folly, a lost trouble, to have carried the yoke from youth, since nothing would be risked by delaying it? The maxims of debauchery, on the love of pleasures in the early stage of fife, and on deferring repentance to the years of decrepitude and debility, would then be the rules of wisdom and of religion? The wonders of grace would then serve but to tempt the fidelity of the just, but to authorize the impenitence of sinners, but to destroy the fruit of the sacrament, and to augment the ills of the church? Is this the God whom we worship? And would he be so wonderful in his gifts, according to the expression of the prophet, if he were to dispense them with so little either of order or of wisdom?
In effect, if the empire which God hath over hearts could serve as a resource for a presumptuous sinner, upon that footing the conversion of all men would be certain, even of those infidels who know
