Thou saids't, "What art thou seeking?" "Believe, and it shall be." 6. Our hope, Lord, faileth never; DE LA MOTTE FOUQUÉ. 102. FUNERAL ORATION OF HENRIETTA OF ENGLAND. [BOSSUET (JAMES BENIGNE), born in Dijon, 1627, was scarcely sixteen, when he sustained his first thesis with such brilliancy, that the literati of Paris desired to hear the young orator at the Hôtel Rambouillet. There, in the presence of the renowned characters of the age, he extemporized a sermon, which delighted and astonished his auditors. His funeral orations, particularly those of the Queen of England, the Duchess of Orleans, the Great Condé, and the Princess Palatine, are unrivalled in any language. Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, died in 1704. This oration was delivered in the Church of Chaillot, near Paris, where the head of the queen, the wife of the unfortunate Charles the First, was deposited.] HE E who reigns in heaven, and from whom all empires proceed, to whom belongs all glory, majesty, and independence, is alone the only one to whom it belongs to make laws for kings, and to give them, when it pleases Him, great and terrible lessons. 2. Whether in raising thrones or in overthrowing them, in communicating His power to princes, or in withdrawing it, and leaving them to their own weakness, He teaches them their duties in a sovereign manner worthy of Himself; for, in giving them His power, He commands them to use it as He would Himself, for the good of the world; and, by withdrawing it, he convinces them that all their power is only borrowed, and although seated on thrones, they are no less under His hand and supreme authority. It is not by words and dis courses alone that He instructs princes, but still more by events and examples. 3. Christians, let the memory of a great queen, daughter, wife, and mother of powerful and sovereign kings in the three kingdoms, speak on all sides at this sad ceremony. This discourse will give you one of those awful examples which displays to the eyes of the world its entire vanity. 4. You will see in a single life the extremes of all things human-joys without bounds, as well as miseries; a long and peaceful enjoyment of one of the most noble crowns in the universe; every thing which could give the greatest glory to birth and rank, adorning a head which was afterwards exposed to all the outrages of misfortune. 5. The good cause, at first followed by good success-then sudden reverses; unheard-of changes; rebellion, checked for a long time, but finally mastering all order; unbridled license; laws abolished; the majesty of the throne violated by outrages, until then unknown; usurpation and tyranny under the name of liberty; a fugitive queen, who could find no retreat in the three kingdoms, and to whom her native land was only a place of exile;-nine voyages by sea, undertaken by this princess, in spite of tempests;-the astonished ocean saw itself traversed so many times, under so many different cir cumstances, and for such opposite causes; a throne overthrown with ignominy, and again miraculously re-established: 6. Behold, the lesson God gives to kings, showing at the same time to the world, the nothingness of their pomp and magnificence. If words fail us, if expressions are powerless to describe a subject so vast and elevated, the subject will speak for itself. 7. The heart of a great queen, formerly exalted by a long 1 succession of prosperities, and then suddenly plunged into an abyss of misery, will speak sufficiently lond. And if it is not permitted to private individuals to give lessons to princes on events so strange, a king lends me his words to say to them, "Listen, O ye great of the earth!-Be instructed, O ye arbiters of the world !" BOSSUET. 103. FUNERAL ORATION OF THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS. [HENRIETTA OF ORLEANS was the youngest child of Charles I. of England. When quite young, she married the Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. She was distinguished by her talents and great personal attractions; she died after an illness of a few hours, at the age of twenty-six, at a period when she had rendered herself most popular in France by the delicate tact and wonderful prudence with which she effected a good understanding between her brother Charles II and Louis XIV., on the subject of the invasion of Holland.] "VANITY of vanity, and all is vanity!" Again am I des tined to render the funeral service to the high and powerful Princess Henrietta of England. She who was so attentive while I rendered this duty to her mother, so soon to become the subject of a similar discourse! 2. Oh vanity! Oh nothingness! Oh mortals, ignorant of their destiny! Would she have believed it ten months ago? And you, gentlemen, could you have believed, while she shed so many tears in this place, that you would so soon be reassembled to weep for her? Princess worthy object of the admiration of two great kingdoms was it not enough for England to weep your absence, without being reduced to weep your death? 3. And France, who with such joy saw you return, surrounded with new splendor, had she no other pomp, no other triumph for you on the return from this famous voyage-bearing with you so much glory, so many beautiful hopes? Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity! This is the only word left for me. 4. No; after what we have just seen, health is but a name, life but a dream, glory but a phantom, graces and pleasures but dangerous amusements. All is vain in us but the sincere avowal we make to God of our vanity and nothingness. 5. Consider the mighty ones of the earth! God strikes them as a warning to us. . God spares them so little that he fears not to sacrifice them for the instruction of mankind. . We must be convinced of our nothingnessand if our hearts, enchanted by the world, require sudden shocks, surely the present is sufficiently great and terrible. 6. Oh disastrous night! Oh terrible night! when suddenly, like a clap of thunder, was heard this astounding news-The Princess is dying! The Princess is dead! 7. What, then-she must die so soon! Death ordinarily prepares the greater part of mankind for its last stroke. The princess passed from morning until evening like the flower of the field. In the morning she bloomed with what grace you all know! In the evening we saw her withered; and these strong expressions by which the Sacred Writings exaggerate the inconstancy of human things became for this princess exact and literal. 8. Alas! we composed her history as the most glorious that can be imagined-the past and the present guaranteed a billiant future. But in place of the history of such a beautiful life, we are compelled to give the history of an admirable but lamented death. 9. Behold her, notwithstanding her great heart, this princess, so admired, so beloved; behold her, such as death has made her! A little while, and all will disappear; this shadow of glory will vanish; we will see her stripped even of its sad decorations! 10. She will descend to those gloomy places, to that subterraneous abode, to sleep in dust with the great ones of the earth, among those dead kings and princes, where scarcely can room be found for her, so closely crowded are their ranks, and so prompt is death to fill these places. 11. But here our imagination deceives us again; death does not even leave us enough of the body to, occupy any place, and we only see the tombs. The flesh soon changes its na ture; the body takes another name-while something human yet remains of it but even this soon passes; it becomes-I know not what it has no name in any language. So true it is that all dies in it, even to the terms by which we could designate its unfortunate remains. 12. In this way does the Divine Power, justly irritated against our pride, destroy it; and in order to render all conditions equal forever, reduces us all to the same dust. Can any one build on such ruins? Can any one erect great monuments on such inevitable decay? BOSSUET. 104. THE DEATH OF THE SINNER. [MASSILLON (JOHN BAPTIST) was born in Provence, 1663. At the age of eighteen, he was admitted into the congregation of the Oratory. His success was so brilliant on his first appearance in the pulpit, that in his humility he sought a retreat in one of the most retired houses of the Order, to escape, as he said, "the demon of Pride." All critics have awarded him a pre-eminent place among the small number who are naturally eloquent. He is frequently styled the Racine of the Chair and the Cicero of the Pulpit. After one of his sermons before the Court of Versailles, Louis XIV. said to him:-"Father, I have heard great orators in my chapel, and I was always exceedingly satisfied with them; but when I hear you, I am always exceedingly dissatisfied with myself."] THE HEN, the dying sinner, finding nothing in the remembrance of the past but regrets which overwhelm him-nothing in all objects that are presented to his eyes, but sights which afflict him, and in the thought of the future, only horrors which ter rify. Not knowing where to turn or on whom to call, for creatures fly from him, and the world is fast disappearing; men cannot deliver him from death. A declared enemy of God -from Him no indulgence can be expected-writhes in the horrors he has created for himself; every thought is a torment. Oh, could he but fly from death, which seizes him; or, at least, could he only fly from himself! |