Massillon

1835 · ref. 001650 — Paris: Chez Lefevre 1835. Text in French. Two Volumes Complete. 768pp & 720pp. Quarter black morocco leather binding with lovely blue marbled boards. The spine has six raised bands compartmented with gilt tooled designs and gilt lettering. All edges sprinkled. General light self wear. Lovely yellow marbled endpages. Portrait frontispiece with blue tissue guard. Pages starting to lightly fox. Jean Baptiste Massillon June 24 1663 - September 28 1742 was a French churchman and preacher Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death. He was born at Hyères where his father was a royal notary. At the age of eighteen he joined the Congregation of the Oratory and taught for a time in the colleges of his order at Pézenas and Montbrison and at the Seminary of Vienne. On the death of Henri de Villars Archbishop of Vienne in 1693 he was commissioned to deliver a funeral oration and this was the beginning of his fame. In obedience to Cardinal de Noailles Archbishop of Paris he left the Cistercian abbey of Sept-Fonds to which he had retired and settled in Paris where he was placed at the head of the famous seminary of Saint Magloire. He soon gained a wide reputation as a preacher and was selected to be the Advent preacher at the court of Versailles in 1699. He was made Bishop of Clermont in 1717 and two years later was elected a member of the Académie française. The last years of his life were spent in the faithful discharge of his episcopal duties; his death took place at Clermont on September 18 1742. Massillon enjoyed in the 18th century a reputation equal to that of Bossuet and of Bourdaloue and has been much praised by Voltaire D'Alembert and kindred spirits among the Encyclopaedists. His popularity was probably due to the fact that in his sermons he lays little stress on dogmatic questions but treats generally of moral subjects in which the secrets of the human heart and the processes of man's reason are described with poetical feeling. He has usually been contrasted with his predecessor Bourdaloue the latter having the credit of vigorous denunciation Massillon that of gentle persuasiveness. Besides the Petit Carême a sermon which he delivered before the young king Louis XV in 1718 his sermons on the Prodigal Son on the small number of the elect on death for Christmas Day and for the Fourth Sunday in Advent may be perhaps cited as his masterpieces. His funeral oration on King Louis XIV is only noted now for the opening sentence: "Dieu seul est grand." But in truth Massillon is singularly free from inequality. His great literary power his reputation for benevolence and his known toleration and dislike of doctrinal disputes caused him to be much more favourably regarded than most churchmen by the philosophes of the 18th century. UncleAndy. Quarter Morocco Leather. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Hardcover. Chez Lefevre Hardcover