Life - Conferences Delivered at Toulouse

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LIFE: CONFERENCES DELIVERED AT TOULOUSE.

BY THE

REV. PERE

LACORDAIRE,

OP THE ORDER OF FRIAR-PREACHERS.

Translated from the French, with the Author's permission,

BY

HENRY

D.

LANGDON,

Author of " The Rivers of Damascus and Jordan"

NEW YORK PUBLISHER, 37 BARCLAY STREET, :

P.

O'SHEA,

etc.

AND 42

PARK PLACE. 1875.

TO

M. A. V. A

LOVING

TK

I

B U T E

OF

T

I

M

K- T R

I

RD

I 11

I

KN

I>

S

H

I

F

HDL.

DECLARATION.

ALTHOUGH

I

have constantly taught under the

authority and in presence of the Archbishops of Paris,

and

my

doctrine has never been criticized

or called in question

doctrine published

by them

;

although that same

by the press, has

excited neither

reproach nor discussion, yet, lest in treating

so

many theological questions some involuntary error may have escaped me, and this I must and do readily

presume from

submit

my

whose son

Eoman

my weakness, I declare that I

Conferences to the Catholic

Church

am, and in particular to the Holy Church, the mother and mistress of all I

Churches, wherein resides the plenitude of author ity founded on earth by our Lord Jesus Christ.

do not acknowledge the pretended reproductions of my Conferences which I also declare that I

I

have been made by various periodicals, whatever be their form or name. I once more protest against the violation of literary rights is

to place

under the name

whose

result

of a preacher discourses

imperfectly reported amidst an immense auditory,

and no

less

imperfectly corrected

of such speculations.

by the authors

Should the doctrine con

tained in these publications be attacked, I decline

the responsibility thereof as of a

work which

mine, and for which I can be

held

only by

a violation of

FR.

all

at the

not

accountable

right and equity.

HENRI-DOMINIQUE LACORDAIRE, Prov. des Fr. Precheurs.

NANCY,

is

Convent of Notre- Dame-du-Chene,

the I5lh October, 1851.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

DECLARATION LIFE IN

.

GENERAL

THE LIFE OF THE PASSIONS

....

.

5

,

9

.43

THE MORAL LIFE

85

THE INFLUENCE OF THE MORAL LIFE

MAN TO

HIS

LEADING

END

127

THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE THE INFLUENCE

IN

OF

...

165

THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE

UPON PERSONAL AND PUBLIC LIFE

211

LIFE IN GENERAL.

MY

LORD,* GENTLEMEN,

Twenty years of

ago,

God gave me

the thought

expounding from the pulpit the body of Chris

tian doctrine.

The

first

part of this

work

is

done.

begin the second. The times and places are greatly changed. Having reached this point in a laborious career,

To-day

I

I

would

future.

God

a glance upon the past and the Looking back upon the past, I thank

cast

who, in so long a course, amidst so many private and public vicissitudes, has permitted me ;

an extensive plan. Looking towards the future, I thank him for having opened this edifice to me, where I find an

to complete a large portion of

auditory less numerous, doubtless, and less cele

brated than before, but which has preserved the honor of religion with that of letters the tradi ;

with those of taste and knowledge. Ajnongst you, Gentlemen, I shall not forget the

tions of faith

*

Monsigneur Mioland, Archbishop of Toulouse.

but I shall not fear the future.

past,

will

be

words, and from you, per

my

the guardians of

You

they will fall back upon those, who, in other times and places, received I dare not say of my the first fruits of my ardor. haps,

my

last hearers,

apostolate.

When we view, the

treat of truth in a dogmatic point of

question

must we believe

When we live

What

:

is

faith,

and how

?

moral point of life, and how must

treat of truth in a

view, the question

we

is

is

What

:

is

?

These two questions, although bound up gether, are very different from each other.

I We may life.

despise faith, but

/We may

we

cannot despise refuse to submit our irinds to the

revealed will of God, and against his word

an arm of the reason which but

we cannot

masters of

come

will leave

own

be,

make

Him life,

;

as

you are

not wait for your will not wait for them to

It did

life.

to you,

you

essence,

hold from

Whosoever you may

life.

withdraw from you. it

we

stand up as rebels against

the subjects of orders to

to

it

It

came

to

in spite of you.

you without you It reigns

by

;

its

which does not depend upon you,

and which, nevertheless, you bear

in

yourselves

13

(

and an immortal

as in a fragile

but you

)

is

You

live,

and your power, which

live as subjects,

so great against faith,

vessel.

null against

is

life.

am

wrong. Would to God that we had but to submit to life By a strange contrast, how ever, we hold this life, which is not of us, which I

!

deals with us as

counsel.

and

it

lords,

We

obeys

it

speak, and ;

it

and, at the

we mingle with

when we

die,

listens

of

our

we command,

;

same time slaves and

the necessities of servitude,

the responsibility of rule.

nor can we

hand

pleases, in the

We

cannot be born,

please, neither can

we

choose the place and conditions of our existence but in the fatal circle where it holds us, although ;

we are the willing instruments we answer for ourselves to our

free in our actions, of our destiny

;

own fortune and ;

whilst nature convinces us of our

dependency, conscience convinces us of our sove Burdened with this double load from reignty. the

day

of our birth,

and slaves

unknown

we

thus advance, masters

of ourselves, to another

day which

is

and beyond that day, to ages and things wherein our life appears to us from afar under that double and terrible character

which and

it

to

us

;

presents even here below, of necessity

liberty, of invincible duration

and inevitable

14

(

account.

If,

therefore,

spoke with certainty, I speaking to you of force

life

)

when I treated feel much more ;

my

of faith, I

certain in

strength here derives

from your weakness, and instead

mind being able conscience

easily to object to

henceforth

will

be

my

of

your

truth,

your

most

sure

helper.

What then

What

is life ?

is

that mysterious

power which has been forced upon us as a stranger, and for which we must answer as for ourselves ? mountains.

have climbed high Under their solemn form they hold a

charm which

delights us.

Often, in

my

youth, I

us with them, our

It

souls

seems that in raising

take a higher soar, a

deeper scrutiny, and the poet has not said in vain

:

Jehovah has blessed the heights of earth.

We

mounted

charmed with our youth, touched by the scene which widened at each mo ment under our feet but, in proportion as we then,

;

mounted, light and joyous, something of nature vanished before us. The hum and flight of bird 3

became dense

;

rare, the air little

by

little

moved through even the

in a distant perspective,

mained

foliage less

trees fled before us

and a bloomless

to us as a last vestige of grace

field re

and

fertil-

(

15

Soon nothing was

ity.

)

but solitude

left

;

barren,

dreary, silent, without breath, and well-nigh with

own ceased also, and beholding, oppressed by weariness and wonder, we

out respiration ; our listening,

exclaimed within ourselves

What

then was wanting

doleful impression

movement and ment, death

?

Two

is sterile

dead

is

What gave

?

!

us this

things were wanting

y

fertility.

Nature

:

Life

a fertile

is

:

move

And as fertility movement, we believe

immobility.

always appears to us with that wheresoever it is, there

To hear

or

movement, is to hear or see life and as moves in nature, we believe that all nature

all

is

life.

see

;

living,

son.

even that which we

dead by compari

For there are many degrees

and, therefore,

we

call

many

degrees in

is

in

life.

movement, Hardly do

dare to say, save as a poetical figure, that air

and light are living, because if they move, it is under the impression of a force which, so far from being their own, does not leave to them even the shadow of individuality. They are rather the seat of life than living themselves.

Under

their

influence, stones, minerals, metals, things obscure

and inanimate receive, nevertheless, their part of life in a subsistence which is proper to them, and wherein are hidden mysteries of affinities, increase,

16

(

and

relations.

Above

)

these, spreading out their

and their branches, producing leaves, blos soms, and fruit, upon an organized stock, the plants open a more definite reign, and in their roots

ascensions and radiations, prepare for us a living shade, and food as pleasant as their shade.

bound

But,

to the earth that nourishes them, they can

neither obey our voice nor follow our footsteps their captive

movement

holds

:

them upon the earth The animal seeks

whence they draw fertility. them there. In him life properly

so called

is first

inaugurated, because in him, movement, which in inferior beings

was only

taneous and sensible. hearing, in order to

becomes spon Endowed with sight and individual,

know

nature, with

memory

in

order to recall his impressions, with instinct in order to desire and to shun, the animal moves

not as a king, at least as a guest, and his form is already the foreshadowing of an

upon

if

earth,

other form which in

express the I

fire of

its

look and features

is

to

thought.

have named man.

An

animal

also, I see

him

which moves heavily; his arms have neither the strength of the lion nor the quickness in a flesh

and in comparing them by their speed in time and space, man seems to be the subject. of the eagle,

(

it is

Nevertheless,

ble at his fireside,

world

visible

move

he who

he

)

is

is still

Aged and

king.

the highest

fee

the

life of

^for he thinks, and to think

5

the infinite.^

in

17

is

to

Withdraw every horizon

subject to measure, every image even of earth and

heaven that

falls

weight, form

:

ment him all

under a

man

of the spirit

thinks

limit, forget !

With

a single

move

which animates him and makes

a thinking creature, he traverses

possible worlds

ness of

number,

;

his reason,

all

created,

and alone, in the calm bright he conceives and names the

Not the universe, but the universal appears to him not time, but eternity not space, but immensity. All becomes transformed under

infinite.

;

;

the action of his thought, and assumes an extent

which explains and holds all. He may be accused as a visionary but so to accuse him would be to ;

and no living being can annihi the individual may be killed, but the

destroy his reason, late itself

:

race cannot

;

which mocks

and in the race at death,

subsists the reality,

and truth, which mocks

at

negation.

Man moves also

in the infinite

moves there by

his will.

thought he Whilst the animal

by

his

:

obeys the instinct that urges him, man, stronger than his earthly appetites, commands and subjects

(

them.

By

desire

18

)

he dwells in the unutterable

sol

itudes of the eternal and the immense, and his love seizes the invisible ideal of beauty.

unmeasured

thinks,

in

He loves

.

as

affections

his

as

in

he his

thought, and his heart dilating like his intelligence, he feels free even under the weight of the infinite.

He

P

he loves, he is free Such is his life, such are you all, Gentlemen and in listening to thinks,

;

me your

conscience witnesses that I flatter neither

your nature nor your destiny. less, as faith

Above you, doubt

teaches me, there exist spirits unclothed

purer than yourselves, having a more direct vision of truth, but not another sphere,

with

flesh,

another movement, another liberty man, as well as the angel, has nothing above him but the infi :

nite, real

and

living, that is to say,

God.

Do you remember how God defined himself to Moses EGO SUM QUI SUM / am who am f Man, :

defining himself in his turn, has said in humbler,

but almost as marvellous language :'CoGiTO, ERGO

SUM

/ think,

therefore

I am^ That

conceive, I name, I inhabit the infinite

have

life.

is

;

to say, I

therefore I

For whosoever does not move

unmeasured

in that

orbit of being, possesses but a faint

reflection of life, a

shadow that fades and vanishes,

leaving no trace behind.

God

defines himself

by

19

(

the substance of being

)

man by

;

thought, which

is

and whereby he embraces, under God, the same horizon as God. his highest attribute,

God

the

is

and absolute

summit

act,

of

He

life.

an immutable

eternal

its

is

immoveable

act,

use such an expression, but of an immobility which is the first movement, because it

even,

I

if

For man, created beings, movement, which is their

is "infinite

for all

may

activity subsisting in itself.

has not this

life,

Thought

is

quality

of

subsistent

what approaches nearest

to

it.

repose. for

it

is

even here below, to reach the contemplation But contemplation, which is not ecstasy, truth.

able, of

does not exclude inquiry, desire, clouds, and uncer tainties, and but rarely, on great occasions, does the wayfarer attain the divinity of repose in the living act of thought. ,

I

it is

have defined

life.

is it

that

satisfied

it

we

all

movement, because

activity

But

is

since life

passes, whither does

expressed

it

go

?

move Whence

is

are not at peace within ourselves, and

with being

repose, even

is

or less perfect, until it attains

immutability in God.

ment, since

Life

and because

activity,

by movement more to

x

^

?

Why

does our

greatest

sleep, bring us only an incomplete

suspension of our faculties, and that upon the couch

20

(

where our limbs

)

our imagination still re volts and excites in us with dreams of action a

dream

of life

recline,

?

near to the coming of Christ, the temple of Jerusalem was filled with wondrous signs, and that a doctor of the law, on It is said that in the times

witnessing these prodigies, could not refrain from " What hast exclaiming temple temple :

thou, and

!

!

why art

thou troubled

"

And

?

I, speak that of than Jerusa temple greater lem, the temple of human life, I exclaim, with the

ing of another

same doleful accent thou, and

then, never find repose

Evidently,

and

all

object,

we

all

life

!

thou troubled

art

why

life

:

hast

Canst thou,

?

?

movement supposes

direction supposes an object. if

What

!

in each of our acts

direction,

If

w e had no r

and in their

did not suppose a term to w^hich

we r

totality

tend, at

would be impossible for us to move, or our move ments, deprived of all meaning, w ould wander at r

hazard, foreign to rection. is

to

all

rational

Movement implies

and mechanical

di

a starting-point, which

the free activity of the living being, and a point

be reached, which

something to which activity has not, and which it desires to is

aspires,

which

have.

This something

it

is

the end of

life.

What is

(

Do you know ?

it ?

21

)

Children of

life,

heirs of time

and space by your bodies, of the infinite by your souls, do you know what you desire, do you know what you do and whither you go ? Ah for myself, !

know

I

well

in yours

in

is

know what

I

to

for, like

;

you, I have received at

man, and the abyss which mine also. I know what I desire,

birth the heart of a

my is

it

you

I seek

I shall

and

making my confession make yours also. ^Wretched that we ;

in

are, I desire, I seek, I hope, I wait for '

" "

Happiness," to use an expression of

St.

happiness^ Augustine,

OMNES HOMINES APPETENDO ULTIMUM FINEM, QUI EST

the final end of man."

is

VENIUNT IN BEATITUDO.*

At of St.

word, although sheltered by the name Augustine, you should stop me, and I halt this

myself before a great scruple. For to say that happiness is the end of life, is to say that it is its motor, since the end determines at the same time of

the

movement and

But

to say that happiness

the

direction of is

movement.

the motor of our

not to confess that personal interest Can necessary principle of all our actions ? is it

life,

is

the

it

then

be possible that the very notion of life is in the notion of egotism ? Can it be possible that in *

De

Trinitate, lib. xiii., cap. 4.

22

(

defining

life

)

a natural and lawful movement

as

towards happiness, we inscribe upon the front ispiece of the moral order, and under the very guardianship of the Gospel, an appeal to that pas Is man then sion of self which ruins all virtue ?

unable to withdraw from himself, and act under the impression of another motor than his happiness,

under the impression of duty ? Is sacrifice refused to him save under pain of renouncing his nature and his reason and that image of happiness, which ;

should be only an afterthought of the mind, an

consequence of justice desired and prac shall we place it, by our definition even of

ulterior tised,

in the first

life,

supreme

rank of our conscience, as the

which, before

light

others, should

all

enlighten and direct our actions

?

I love in you, atio

i

Gentlemen, that ready protestof good, and I would seal it with my blood ;

but the logical force of ideas still withholds me, and I dare not follow you so quickly to the gen erous ground whereto you invite me. /'Doubtless duty part of his

life

sidered in

its

;

but

is

a sacred notion of man, a

is it

essence,

the highest

is

a rule

;

it

Duty, con

?

is

the rule of

our actions, but not their object. It is the way, not the term; the means, not the end. Now the

(

means

is

inferior to the

23

)

end

;

we

means

desire the

for the end,

and not the end for the means'.

yourselves

when you perform

:

forget the reward

generally soever

end

of

your

there, as

if

life ?

you may duty,

how

may

be performed, the

last

Is

in

this I it

a duty,

it

grant

but

;

is

your power to stop

nothing were beyond

it,

either in

Does nature

or in your

thought? to the impulsions no obstacle here place

hope

heart

Ask

of

your itself

your

to be indifferent

It does not

permit you towards happiness, and although you are free to renounce duty, you are not free to renounce hap ?

Man, whatsoever he may do, is withheld between two necessities which govern his life the

piness.

:

necessity of the ing,

first

principles of his understand

and the necessity of the

ence.

He

final

end

of his exist

cannot free himself from the one or the

other, because the

one and the other form the

regular foundation of the intellectual and moral orders. ciples,

Without the necessity

man would

of the first prin

destroy light in himself

;

with

out the necessity of the final end of his being, he

would destroy

his

activity.

He must

see

and

hope in order to live the son of truth and beati tude, he may go astray in the palace of his fathers, but he cannot fly therefrom. \ :

(

The Gospel

24

how

itself,

)

exalted soever

may

it

be above nature, speaks to you on this head as nature speaks. It does not say, Blessed are they

mourn, without adding, for they shall be com It does not say, Blessed are the poor, forted. that

without adding, for theirs

is

the

kingdom of

Assuredly you would not aspire to higher perfection than that of the Gospel, and heaven.

however great

in

you

disinterestedness

may

be,

it

cannot be greater than in the heart of the Man-

God.

And

yet

my

I feel

soul responds to yours.

with you that I cannot place duty, sacrifice, the ardor of heroes and saints, on the second rank ;

and make the prospective the principle that leads

me

of personal happiness

to love good.

If I

do

not deceive myself, I love good for itself, and if happiness follow it, as it should do, I take it as a consequence, and not as the prime motor of love.\ It seems to me that I should not love

my if

I

loved in order to be happy, and although happi ness should be inseparable from love, I place it on the left hand, and not on the right.

Such

is

the

order which the heart teaches me, and although metaphysics with tradition assure me that happi ness

is

my

final end, I dare to believe that there

25

(

is

obscurity here which

)

requires to be

enlight

ened.

We of the

do

will

this

we will

;

pass this Thermopylae

moral order by asking ourselves

happiness

:

What

is

?

But who knows happiness ? Who has seen it ? Who can tell where it dwells ? Job said, Whence and where

then cometh wisdom,

derstanding f living,

and

hid

is

fowls of

be true of wisdom,

this

of happiness tion

!

seek

it,

the air

of

all

not*

If

eyes

know

it

how much more

true

is

it

With our ears we have

said,

the fame thereof.

piness as of

the

from

of un

Nevertheless, Job added, Destruc

and death have

heard

we

It

the

is the place,

And

We

wisdom.

this is true of

name

and consequently

it,

we

hap

desire

do not doubt

it

it,

it

not altogether a stranger to us. Yes, in this valley of our trouble, which David eloquently

is

called a vale of tears

which the Saviour

;

in this torrent of Cedron,

of the

world has crossed like

and from which we daily drink the and troubled water of our life, happiness is

ourselves, bitter

unknown to us, nor is it even absent. With man, when he fell, it passed the lost threshold of not

Eden, and for sixty centuries, banished like * Job. xxviii. 20, 21.

us, it

26

(

)

wanders with us in the world, the hallowed com panion of our misfortunes, the fellow-citizen of not permitted to appear coii: stantly or fully before us, but it is not forbidden to choose an hour and give it to us. Sometimes

our

It

exile.

is

knocks at our door, sits down by our hearth, desert or filled, and with a single glance cast upon it

our heart, draws from learn

what

it

who

whereby we

Tear of mothers who have found

it is.

and

their sons after absence

traveller

that tear

hails

perils

!

Tear

of the

with the dawn the shores of

Tear of heroes between country Tear of the just man under victory and death the tremor of conscience Tear of Augustine

his long-lost

!

!

!

speaking of

God

waves which are

mother by the brink of the bear him back pure to Carth

to his to

^How many w e never number, and how many more we ignore, because the heart of man, age

r

!

so deep for misery,

is

deeper far for happiness

!

Mise y comes to him from accident, happiness from his nature and his predestination.

Now within u* The

turn, inherits rights

and sentiments

which Christianity has germinated in the bosom of his mother. Introduced, from his birth, at the gates of eternity, he drawls from the holy water

poured upon

an invisible but omnipo the hand of his father will touch

his forehead

tent character

him sparingly

;

;

he

will

grow up under the

roof

which has received him, as an ancestor who should one day reign there, and the forethought of his reign will cover

men

him with a

shield

which makes

same time the grace of his age will give him the tenderness which makes them happy. The servant also, covered by the same strong, at the

unction which flows from the wounds of Christ, has not been forgotten in the change of destinies.

Formerly a slave, he has become free a stranger Instead of merely, he has become a brother. ;

stigmas of bondage or marks of indifference, he bears in his visage the honor of useful service, and in his

hands the generous grasp of

fidelity.

His

220

(

years trouble him not

)

he knows that gratitude will give him time to die, and that charity will not refuse him the prayer which obtains and the

memory which Thus has

;

glorifies.

been

life

personal

enlarged

Thus has man, renewed

Christianity.

in

by the

ancient blessings, found again in his soul and in his

house some traces of the fortunes of his

Was

cradle. it

an abasement

serious

personal

;

life

?

Was

?

from you, the attack a question of knowing whether

is

it

them

to love with greater love

not however hide

I will is

a crime not to reject

it

first

has not,

it

Christians, stifled or

among

atjeast weakened public

life

;

and, to understand

importance of this doubt, we must render account to ourselves of what that other life is

the

which we

call

public

In personal in

public

life,

life,

life.

man

he

is

There, his personal

is

in

duties

and the

rights,

command

end happiness of a people occupy and, as a people public life.

life

is

also

Personal

is

evidently

his

own

his solicitude

rights, the

;

a people.

of

presence

duties and

perfecting and happiness, here, the

in presence of himself

;

perfecting

his thought,

more than a man,

evidently superior to personal

life,

alone, touches

upon egotism

;

221

(

its

very

virtues,

if

)

do

they

course in a wider region, easily

not take

their

become corrupted

under the empire of a narrow fascination. Would Until you have proof of this ? Open history.

now

it

shows us only two kinds of peoples

formed

to public life

;

the

others

;

some

deprived on

every hand of the direction of their affairs and held under the guardianship of a master who permits them only to live without complaining

under the laws which he makes for them. for such their

as

these,

Now,

remark the consequences

condemnation to personal

of

life.

All public activity being impossible to them, there remains only riches as a

and

its

of

of elevation,

acquisition as a serious occupation.

spirit of lucre seizes is

means

hearts.

upon

The

Country, which

the place of great things, changes into a place

commerce.

It

has

merchants

for

citizens,

counters for tribune, and the bank or the exchange for Capitol.

Generations

there disdain

because they do not lead to fortune nature, always fertile in spite of

duces living minds there, of their gifts

their

muse

we

men,

;

letters,

and, still

if

pro

see them, deserters

and renegades of genius, transform

into a courtesan and, in their thirst for

gold, betray

modesty and

truth.

Poets aspire to

(

222

)

the dignity of financiers, and the sound of glory

seems

like a

dream to them before the chink measured by

is

Every employ honor by

its

are great

names

profit.

the works of

The

its

of gold.

salary,

greatest names,

if

every there

in such a society, appear behind

commercial enterprise

;

and these

works, useful in the third or fourth rank, ingeni ously take the first, which none disputes with

Those even who

them. ests

direct the general inter

do not disdain to enrich themselves like other

men.

None know how

rich.

Luxury

irruption of ^parties

those

even the

increases with cupidity, and this

tastes divides the

which

common;

to be poor, not

have

no

people into two

longer

who enjoy

all,

anything in and those who

In the countries of public life, enjoy nothing. the honor of taking part in affairs excites a gener ous ambition, and places on the summit of the community a glorious counterpoise to the base tendencies of those

who

human nature

;

whereas here, among

live for themselves,

nothing stops the

course of blood and abjection.

luxury follows, pletes. \

the

For a consequence tutelage, not

to

Cupidity begins, corruption of morals com

of riches in nations held in

say servitude,

is

idleness;

and

(

the inevitable

idleness

is

What

to

is

223

be done when

)

mother

of

depravity.

we can no

longer gain our bread or our fortune and, amidst abundance which exempts from all trouble, we see noth

around us which

ing

from responsibility every rich

lished,

become

us

upon

labor

to

Where public life man is a patrician

is

estab

or

may

As

soon as the occupation of interests ceases, the general interest

such.

own

his

?

calls

appears to him and invites his genius and his heart. He reads in the history of his fathers the those

of

example

who have honored

patrimony by great

devotedness,

and

a

great the

if

elevation of his nature respond even but slight ly to the independence

which he has acquired or

received, the thought of serving the State opens to

him

must speak,

write,

command by

itself,

by

that other

and

his talent,

maintain that talent, however noble in

He

a perspective of sacrifice and labor.

it

may

power which never

be

suf

an eclipse with impunity, namely, virtue. From his early youth, the son of the patrician,

fers

that

is

to

say, of

the public man, passionately

watches the future which awaits him in presence of his fellow-citizens. He does not disdain letters, for he

knows

that

it is

the supremacy of the

mind ;

224

(

)

with eloquence and taste it is the history of the world the science of tyrannies and liberties ;

;

light received from time

the

the

all

into

shadow

of

men

descending from their glory which desires to resemble them,'

great

the

the

;

soul

and bringing

with the majesty of their memory, the courage to do like them. Letters is

had

it

longer

above

drawing near

are

Only those their end no

value, because, placing matter *

its

they no longer see that which en But or hear that which moves men.

living peoples, the cultivation of

among

after

the

divinity.

when Athens

ideas,

lightens

aroma

for

Pallas

who know

nations

is

it,

the palladium of true peoples ; and

rose,

is,

to

of

first

public treasure, the

youth and the sword

young

of

manhood.

It

and object he Demosthenes, and devotes

patrician's delight

therein

delights

the

religion,

letters

like

himself like Cicero

and

;

all

those images of the

preparing him for public duties, make already for him an arm against the too pre From letters he cocious errors of his senses. beautiful,

in

passes

to law.

public

life.

it

If

Law

the second initiation to

is

among

the peoples in servitude

leads only to the defence of

among

free peoples

it

is

vulgar interest, the door of institutions

(

225

)

which found or protect. Thus in elevated medi tations and magnanimous habits, the leaders of nations are formed.

If

riches

produce vo

still

luptuous men, it also produces citizens. If it But enervates some souls, it strengthens others.

wherever country is an empty temple which ex pects nothing from us but our silent passage, there rises

up

all

around in formidable idleness a rapid

The strength

corruption.

of

remain, becomes exhausted in

souls, its

should any

own

dishonor.

heads bear the weight of great inheri tances, and decayed hearts crawl along after dig

Empty nities

which

An

resemble them.

made between

the corruption of

exchange is the subjects and

the corruption of their masters.

nothing more

to

do, because

all is

These, having

permitted to

them, give the impulse to the destruction of mor als and all passes, with unanimous step, to the ;

place where Providence awaits the nations

unwor

thy to live. Let us in concluding, add another feature. In the countries of public life, the citizen inviolable

liberty

;

and

that his

is

by sovereign

to say his goods, his honor, his

person are sheltered from

trary attack, and

is

protected

legislation 15

at the

all

same

arbi

time

and invincible opinion

;

226

(

law alone controls him

of

all

not a dead law, but law

;

which

living in a magistracy

ent

is

itself

This

duties.

its

except

j

independ profound

security, which crime alone can trouble, elevates characters. Each feels himself at home the ser

vant

of

by

right

honorable

obedience,

but

mighty against the errors of power, whatsoever Noble respect for the common they may be. alty, sincere

of

evil,

devotedness to an authority incapable

spring

from that

The

self-confidence.

whole country breathes freely upon the soil given to it by God; injustices, or such evils as may be met with, are but the accidents attached

still

to

human

things, like those clouds

which pass

How

over the heavens in the brightest climates. different life

it

is

of

the countries where personal

Even law

reigns.

caprice

in

itself

is

a will which cannot

subject to the

be forestalled

;

the magistracy, changeable and dependant, obeys

other orders

there

than those of

justice

:

and

hands of a single man, shrinks into a state of fear which governs The his actions, his words, and his thought. each, aware that his lot

lowest soul

of

of

feelings,

that

is

in the

namely,

people.

fear,

becomes

the

Hypocrisy glides behind

fear, in order to lessen it

;

adulation, in order to

227

(

invite

Between these three

it.

disguise

)

which

vices,

and justify one another, hearts become cor

rupt, characters

nothing remains but servi certain but scorn.

fall,

tude, and nothing

is

a

Behold, Gentlemen, in the personal

Man

tions.

life, is

when

it

is

few words, where alone, leads na

all

a complex being, he has received

from God a body which gives him natural Me an intelligence which claims from him intellectual ;

life

a soul which raises

;

him

to religious life

;

a

family which enables him to enjoy domestic life but he has also received from the same hand a ;

country, the right and obligation to live in

mon

with his fellow-men

cate that life

com

and he cannot abdi

;

more than any

other, without falling

from himself and giving himself over to unfail ing degradation, which is the instrument and forerunner of death. is

accused of having

sonal

life,

since

it

is

When, stifled

a death-blow to

accuse

it

is

then,

Christianity

under per evidently aimed at it, public

life

of being in

mankind the

propagator of cupidity, of the corruption of morals

and the degradation of character. I declare at once that it cannot be so

I

am

around me, that a principal founded upon the Gospel cannot produce

certain, before I look

of life

;

228

(

such

)

and that the

results,

of Christians,

life

orable and useful in the order of personal

has been so also in the order of public

Let us

turn

Jesus

Since

us.

East

attain

to

Asiatic

which must judge history has but two

Christ,

Never has

An

life.

public

and the

traditions

The page

West.

the

short.

is

life,

life.

history,

and

East

pages, the

the

to

hon

of

been able to

it

impure mixture Greek decadency,

of it

languished for a thousand years, from Constan-

Mahomet

tine to

and

jesters

birth

of

schism,

its

with

fell

hands

part of too

the

to

the

show

even the

does

not

its

the weight of their vileness

of

the it

exist,

The Koran,

stranger.

under foot

world, the

that

the

having invented a foolish

it

dust, regenerating form the lamentable

long

willed

had witnessed the

its

another

eunuchs

sophists,

all

conqueror, treads

ble of

between

and they who

;

truth, after

the

into

II.,

first

and, incapa

;

continues under

in

misfortune.

by

that

Christian

life,

cannot

sooner

us,

desolations of

that

beauty and for

in

first

of

destiny

God has

solemn example, where public life or

schism and 'the

later

hinder

captivity of

doctrine.

Let us leave the East.

A

land of servitude

(

229

)

and abjection, Christianity has not been able to live there in its true form, which is the Catholic

Let us leave

form.

it

there until the day

when

Providence, satisfied with having taught us such

by its wretchedness, will give back the same time glory of free peoples and

great lessons to

it

at

the plenitude of truth.

It is

West which

the

the living centre of Christianity, there

study its influence on the public Like the East, and before

w e must

of nations.

life it,

is

r

the

West had

prey to the barbarians and if, masters of the soil, they had also become masters of the

fallen a

;

faith, there

ity in

would have been an end

mankind.

God

strong generations which

the

wave

the whole

of

Roman

the

the charm of

;

empire, rose even to their soul it.

The Sicambre bowed

head before that of Christ

before

Those

of camps,

in order to subjugate his

knew only

it.

become moved by more gentle than their own and the Gospel, which already covered

war and the order a civilization

of Christian

did not permit

cross;

and those

;

his f ramee

whom

bent

neither the

Rhine, nor the Alps, nor the Pyrenees, nor the Ionian legions had stopped, halted before the voice of bishops announcing to

and humiliated by love.

them a God

feeble

At the very moment

230

(

when

the old Greek world, marching to

its

moral

persecuting here and in false councils presided over by the

ruin, tortured the sies,

)

Gospel in

power degraded

imperial

apostolical hierarchy,

word

of

God with

its

the

majesty of

the

the barbarians accepted the

simplicity

;

and, not contented

with opening their hearts to him, they raised his the dignity of statesmen,

bishops to

them

a share in public affairs and

by giving

in the deliber

ations of the country.

Nevertheless into

fall

might

episcopacy, and

magnificent rudiments In elevating the theocracy.

these

by

a necessary consequence the

sovereign pontificate, to public life, modern na tions had to fear lest they should place them selves temporally under a tutelage

which would

take from them the direction of things relating to the community.

them

delivered

whether

own

Providence and their traditions

from

this

peril.

as tribes, or as soldiers, to

chiefs,

Accustomed, choose their

our ancestors preserved even in the

submission of their faith the remembrance of their patrimonial liberty, and grafted upon Christianity the institutions which they had brought from their forests.

them

A

side

by

human monarchy was founded by side with the divine

monarchy

;

a civil

231

(

and warlike aristocracy aristocracy

of

the

)

side

by

side

with the

Tacitus, relating

episcopate.

to his age the customs of the

celebrated

expression

:

Germans, gave this EEGIS EX NOBILITATE,

DUCES EX VIRTUTE SUMUNT. kings

from

birth,

their

"

They

military

called their

from

chiefs

This expression was as the law of a world. Whilst the East bent its dishonored

courage."

new

head under Cgesarism and pompously wore the toga of a fictitious nobility, the West became based

upon a right of inheritance tempered by election, and created a patriciate by the sword and by the

by the sword, which makes devotedness, by the soil, which makes independence. The general soil

;

affairs,

instead of being treated in a council of

revocable functionaries or in a senate as null in

name, were to be treated in assemblies which had at the same time the weight

power

as great in

and the

reality

of

greatness.

The bishops ap

peared there at the right hand of the barons and human speech, silent from the time of Caesar, rose \

again under a form before

same time Gospel

its

unknown

to

it,

at the

borrowing from the unction, from camps their virility, from religious

and

civic,

sovereign majesty. Thereby, the West suddenly became placed, at the very outset

the nation

its

(

232

)

under the inspiration of public life. /The old germanic liberties became allied to the of

its

young

career,

modern

liberties of the Gospel, the city of

times was seen rising from the ruins of antiquity

;

and Rome, already dead, Athens, which was no more, Jerusalem, buried under its curse, all the three extinct but immortal, awoke living in a re public greater and holier than their own, which

had Christ for head, the Gospel for charter, the brotherhood of mankind for cement, Europe for and eternity for future. \ That which until then had been wanting to Christianity, namely a people was given to it. Instead of

frontier,

:

;

which was

that bloody corpse

called the

Roman

empire, and of that ridiculous society which was called

the

Greek

empire,

people, barbarian indeed, but hale in virtues,

spirit,

able to

and sure

Christianity

young

redeem great

in

had

a

body and

faults

by great

of its future civilization in the

simple course of time and truth. All these elements, blended together under

new

forms, religion and war, birth and election,

independence and trust, prepared souls for some thing which had no name in history, and which has remained famous and cherished after having disappeared.

The

ancients

had known courage,

(

233

)

but courage in the service of country in order to defend and aggrandize it, and which, cleaving to

no other virtue than

itself,

to

no gentler and wider

sentiment, left to the hero only a name, the of soldier

;

to glory only a title,

contempt

name

of death.

A

noble work, doubtless, and worthy of respect The barbarian also was a soldier ; like the Greek !

Roman, he despised

or the

loved his country.

of Christ,

he had received

sword another revelation, a word which had not spoken to Themistocles, and which the

from it

Nevertheless, baptized in the

and meekness

light

death, and like them, he

his

The sword

Scipios never heard. tocles

:

Be

thyself.

It said to the

Themis

said to

strong for thy country Christian

:

and great for

Be

strong for

thy God, clement towards the weak, the slave of thy word, and even in the fury of blood forget not thy promised love, and think of thy colors. It was chivalry. The knight was the man of war

by the love of God, and by another tender love sprung from the elevation which softened

w oman had r

received from Christianity.

From

his

infancy, the child of the Christian baron learned to

handle arms, but he learned also to love order to serve him

;

hood had passed from

and,

when

God

a glorious

his heart to his

in

man

senses,

he

234

(

found

in

an

affection

)

powerful help of his virtue. living relations, in presence of

he came to the

altar

;

the

self-respected

all-

Surrounded by his his dead ancestors,

there he took oaths wherein

God, country, the poor, and love met together without wonder, and with that great day in his

memory, he went

forth to the

unknown

fields of

the future, uncertain of what he might find in

way, but sure of never betraying his sworn faith and of dying valiantly, if called upon to die. his

Sometimes he concealed

name, his titles, his remained to recognize the his

but enough knight and, even on those occasions when pru dence led courage, he said with Tancred glory,

;

:

Conservez

ma

devise, elle est cTiere

Les mots en sont sacres:

c'est

a man cceur ;

V amour

et

Vlionneur.

Honor, I had well-nigh forgotten it. Honor, throughout the West, was the soul and halo of public

life.

It

was not glory too dear

to pride,

it

was not virtue alone, with its sober inspirations it was more than glory and more than virtue a ;

;

itself, an overwhelming fear of all merited shame, the highest delicacy in the most hallowed modesty. It was St. Louis a captive and

sentiment chaste in

saying to his conqueror, under the threat of death

Become a Christian and I will make

:

thee a knight.

235

(

It

was Duguesclin

new

Bayard

;

unknown

characters

)

;

Godfrey de Bouillon

in ancient times,

;

who

would have enchanted Plutarch, accustomed as he was to illustrious men, and whose glory, preserved

from age

to age,

XI Y.

times of Louis line of

as

it

enlightened the degenerate

still

Honor

is

the

equinoctial

mankind, mankind grows ardent and pure

draws near to

it, it

chills

and tarnishes

as

it

withdraws therefrom.

now

Let us

Constantinople

return in thought to the walls of ;

let

us

enter those

ignoble factions dispute before the

lists

where for

Emperor

Let us enter those

the applause of the multitude.

where the theological mania dwells, which persecution stains with blood and effeminacy palaces

defames

;

let us

who gov soldiers who

observe those eunuchs

ern, those senators

who

bend, those

purchase peace, no longer being able to conquer it, that artifice which betrays even those

implores to save the Empire that

is

to

;

such

is

whom

it

the East,

say a Christendom where public

life

had

perished.

The West Under the

is

not, however, fully

known

to you.

sceptre of the Christian kings, below

the bishops and the barons there was the people.

The people form the foundation

of

human

society.

236

(

They

)

who

are formed of those

labor in order to

live,

because the labor of their ancestors or their

own

has not yet raised them to the independence

The people form the

of a sufficient patrimony.

living

soil

spring

all

return.

the

of

From

country.

them

that ascend, to

the

ruling, because

Incapable of

people

that descend

all

time and

science are wanting to them, they have, however,

need of public life, either not to be oppressed, or not to wither under the uniform contact of inter ests

In the West then, by the natural

and wants.

progress of things, the commonalty was founded.

The Church had been the the castle the second

A

alty.

tion,

the third was the

liberty

and

its

rights, it

its

flags.

had

its

Under

which bound the honor

council,

;

common

republic obscure, but respected,

the charter of its militia,

;

first citadel of

it

had

its chiefs,

that grave protec

of the

weaker

classes to

was formed, by commerce

that of the stronger, Christian society

not only by the liberal arts, but also and industry, so scorned by the ancient peoples, a rear-guard of knowledge and probity which took

rank in the destinies of Europe, and prepared for itself a

more complete

accession

to

public

life.

What had remained of the slavery left by the old to the new world tended daily to grow less, and at

237

(

)

length to disappear. The workman was free, and, warned by the example of the church, the nobility,

and the gentry, that every isolated man is a lost man, they formed associations in order to be

had masters, they had and they were no longer alone in

If

respected. rights also

;

they

still

presence of riches, nor alone before misfortune. Thus, from the prince to the peasant, from the sovereign pontiff to the artisan, a hierarchy grew in Christian political society

up his

place, his power,

and

where each had and where,

his honor,

none being alone, every one was something; a vast assemblage of

men

divided into nations, which,

notwithstanding the remaining vestiges of barba rian

customs, realized that form of government

composed of monarchy, aristocracy, and democ racy, which Aristotle considered to be the best, and of which " description

:

or in a people all,

Thomas, after him, gave

St.

The government is when one alone presides

according to virtue

under him who share virtue

;

and, in fine,

all

*Summa

;

when he

there over

has great

men

his authority according to

when

principate belongs to elect, or because

this

perfect in a city

all,

may

the one and the other either because all

be elected. "*

Theol., 1, 2, 9, 105, Art.

i.

may

r (

But, Gentlemen,

men and

institutions

what were the

238

it is

is

by

)

acts that the value of

decided

;

let us learn

acts of the Christian

then

West.

history has existed, and Moses on the

Since

Homer and Herodotus on the other, first lineaments, we see in the world but

one hand, traced

its

one great struggle, that of the most formidable part of the world against the least of all, the struggle between the East and the West. dle of vile,

man and

of his races, a land religious

cra

but ser

the East has never ceased to aspire to the

domination of it

The

all its posterity.

The Bible shows

to us founding the first empires, and,

from

capitals,

menacing the

who had

other designs, opposed Europe to

Homer, the

rest of the world.

its

God, it,

and

historian of his providence, has related

Troy the prelude of the two Marathon and Salamis followed

to us in the fall of

predestinations.

one another

;

the great king turned his back upon

those small republics, whose speech reached even to Persepolis

and troubled

his

sleep.

Alexander

struck the third blow, and from Granicus to the Indus, Asia, amazed, obeyed the word of a donian.

avenger. legislator

Mace

thousand years to obtain an Arabia gave him, and Mahomet, pontiff,

It required a

and conqueror, appeared, from the

pil-

(

239

)

Hercules to Pont Euxine, upon a line of twelve hundred leagues, before Christianity en

lars of

camped upon the other shore

of

its

destinies.

Europe and Christ found again the old enemy, but much more formidable than ever. It was no longer Asia held at Confucius, and

its

extremities in the bonds of

Buddha kept

pacific doctrines of Zoroaster

;

it

youth, and led by a spirit of the sword a faith and an apostolate.

with a religion in

which made

by the was Asia armed

in its centre

all its

was necessary to see falling under the yoke the conquests of Alexander and the Komans, the primi

It

tive churches,

and even the holy places where

rest

ed the bones of the prophets, the memory of the patriarchs, and the still fresh traces of the Saviour of

men.

A

pliant deism serving as a support to

depraved morals, an adoration of God in war and in success, a blind obedience to the lieutenants of Islam it

such was Asia as

Mahomet had made

it,

as

ruled over one half of the world, coveting the

other, its

;

and from time to time urging thitherward

fanatical squadrons.

Constantinople could but perish there a cen tury sooner or later. It was the West that under

took once more to save the world.

Chivalry,

following the roads of Alexander, for three cen-

(

240

turies arrested there the

saw again the

;

wave

Jerusalem

of error.

cross, whilst at the outer

extremity

of the battle-field Christian Spain regained foot

foot the lost in

ground

by

and shut up a triumph which was

of civilization,

Grenada the remains

of

be accomplished under the eyes of Isabella and Ferdinand. I know, Gentlemen, that the to

eighteenth century has given you another version of these heroic wars ; but the eighteenth century

was too young

for history

:

read

it

as a child

it

which have

reads, and, thanks to the revolutions

ripened our age, we read as men. Twice in fifty years our armies have found again the remains of the

Crusades,

decided colors

by

and the East has seen

Christianity

under

fate

its

banners

whose

were changed, but whose ascendancy had

no longer any under the walls Charles

Martel,

rival.

The

of Poictiers,

on the

crescent

by

fields

vanquished

the Franks under of

Grenada

by

Ferdinand, in the waters of

Lepanta by another

Spaniard, before Vienna

Sobieski.

by

The

cres

cent has lately received from us the last insult that fortune brings to those

demned

:

we have defended

whom

it,

it

has

con

and the sword

of

Godfrey de Bouillon has signed the delay granted

by

Christ to his expiring adversary.

241

(

Masters

East

the

of

)

Crusades,

we have taken

unknown

to antiquity.

it

by the road in the rear

The

Atlantic,

world to

ships, has revealed the

however protected by its ices or able to escape from the curiosity over

the

all

supremacy

of those

a road

open to our and no land,

its

sun, has been

of

our science or

Jesus Christ has borne his

the ardor of our faith. flag

us,

by

the

of

bearing

seas,

who

therewith

the

adore him, and henceforth

our laws, morals, arms, commerce, enterprise, all our arts and all our designs hover over the

amazed

universe,

at

having for

the

ruler

its

narrowest and weakest of the continents fashioned

In three centuries, from Augustus to

by God.

Constantine, five

Christianity

Rome

conquered

from Clovis

;

in

to

Charlemagne, it subjected the barbarians, of whom it formed the new peoples; in six centuries, from Godfrey de centuries,

Bouillon to Sobieski,

reduced

it

to that

runner of death de

Gama

to the

;

it

overcame Islamism and

weakness which

is

the fore

in three .centuries,

from Vasco

unnamed days

our present

still

of

has taken possession of all the shores washed by waves, awaiting the inevitable day life,

it

over those portions of mankind which the distance or form of their lands has

when

it

will reign

16

242

(

hitherto withheld from

doubt, be believed that

)

its it

action.

It

may, no

will perish itself in its

triumph, leaving upon its tomb human reason altogether freed from the darkness of ignorance

and the mysteries mitted to

an illusion per our liberty, and whose merit it is useless of faith.

here to discuss, since

it

It is

certain that the Chris

is

West has performed its work, the greatest and most mighty work of which, in six thousand tian

years, history has immortalized the benefit.

Whether, then, we consider the modern nations formed by Christianity from within or from with out,

in

their

expansion,

it

having been

political

organization

remains that the public

under

or

in

their

life,

far

from

weight of the supernatural life, has derived therefrom unpar alleled strength, an original sap which has invigor ated

all

stifled

the

things, honor, liberty, letters, the sciences,

the arts, and, in fine, has raised the military and

power of regenerated mankind to a point of If the Eoman greatness which had no example. civil

senate could rise again,

once more on the

if

Greece could assemble

fields of Elis or of

Olimpia and

devote a day to hearing Bossuet, after Herodotus, ah doubtless, in spite of their patriotism reviving !

with them, the generous shades of those great

243

(

)

peoples would feel emotions worthy of them and

and their applause would greet an accom plished future which they had not even foreseen.

of us,

Nevertheless, Gentlemen, does the age in which

we

resemble herein the ages which have

live

preceded us ? an admirable Clovis, has

are

If

public

Europe has shown

in

since

development

the

time

of

not at length become exhausted, and

it

ruins devoured

by

now anything but

nations

the, Christian

What

life

fire,

dust driven by the wind

unity remains to them

?

and what liberty ? Horrible division produces in them at the same time servitude and anarchy. We no longer

know whither

that great

advancing, which

now

democracy, uncertain of like a

its

now

?

body

strikes

of

against unbalanced

road and

its

is

against unlimited

autocracy,

end, and appearing

drunken man rather than

like a society.

power and right somewhere remain in

Christendom

to

it, it is

If

not

that portion subject to the authority of the

but

Church, separated

England

in

among

from

her

the

nations

by schism

which

and

have

heresy.

Europe, the United States in America,

are the last representatives of order at the

Elsewhere on every hand and their repose, if they have any,

time free and stable. nations totter,

same

2-14

(

is

)

but a halt under the hand that represses their

Whence

respiration.

does

this state of things

is

and

?

not bear witness to the powerlessness of a

it

religion

which no longer knows how to direct or

hold

followers

its

?

Gentlemen, in the a

of

question

break

weakness it

of such or

such as

dogmas, souls of

such of

in its total action

less the Catholic

ity

influence

of

an error,

Christianity,

in

to

up, and argue therefrom in favor of the

it

taking

the

first place, it is

its its

parts, instead of

its

upon mankind. Doubt

Church alone contains Christian

God made

it,

with

its

hierarchy,

worship, and the full

efficacy

intercession and jurisdiction.

Catholic Church

its

over

But the

not limited, as you suppose, in measuring the outlines of her visible existence. Everywhere, even in the branches ostensibly sepa is

rated from their primordial stem, the Church holds a regenerating sap and produces effects whose honor

belongs to her. She the cement, such as it r':nnce

is

still

is,

the bond of schism,

of heresy

;

whatever sub-

and cohesion remain to them comes from

the blood which she has shed, and which dry, as

we

see branches fallen to the

the trunk which bore

them

sensible to light and dew.

still

is

not yet

ground under

holding vegetation

Death

is

not wrought

(

245

)

day among minds which truth enlightened. For a long time they preserve therefrom gleams in a

which light, impulsions which animate, and to bring them against the source from whence they sprang,

and which an

acts

still

ungrateful

from

his race,

as

and

of

is ?

it

holds

which treason has not entire

an exception to the Is

to attribute to

Thus England, which you have

Christian nations,

she

it is

son the merits which he

ly stripped him.

named

upon them,

social

decadency of

what has made England what

since her schism that she has found

ed the institutions to which she owes peace in

honor in obedience, and security even in It is not so, as you know. The agitation ?

liberty,

British institutions are the

when England paid

monument

of

an age

to the apostolic see the tribute

which she herself called Peter's Pence, and the hand of a catholic archbishop of Canterbury, the faithful

magnanimous hand of Stephen for ever marked upon the pages to

and

Langton. is which remount, from our age to saint Louis, the Her spirit political traditions of Great Britain.

and her laws were formed under the influence of the Church, at the

same sanctuary and

in the

same

which gave her St. Edward the Confessor for a The United States in their turn, sovereign.

faith

246

(

)

children of Old England, have carried her customs

America, and finding there

to the virgin fields of

no trace

which permitted them to settle under the shelter of an hereditary monarchy and an aristocracy of birth, they have made of that

of antiquity

new world

a republic animated

by

a Christian

although imperfect, showing by that exam ple that the public life is not attached to one single form of government, but that it depends spirit,

especially

upon the

spirit that

animates the peoples

and the sincerity that co-ordains their institutions. England reigns at home and elsewhere because she has

preserved her public right, slowly and

wisely appropriating

and wants

ideas

;

it

to the

development

of ages,

the United States reign at

home a new

and over themselves, because, as owners of land but heirs of an ancient spirit, they have trans ported the customs

their

of

illustrious

country to the shores of their young It

is

Christianity

which

is

civilization.

the father of these two

peoples and the guardian of their charters. fore the

Comte de

mother-

Maistre,

in

There

speaking of the

future of the world, did not desire for England that she should

only

;

become

meaning thereby,

Christian, in his

but

language

Catholic at

the

same time orthodox and penetrating, that what

is

(

247

)

wanting to England, is not the but the authority that guides.

faith that inspires

In

fact, a

people is the devoted to not same heresy traditionally thing as a heretic who has so become from his

own

erring heart.

He

revolts, the people receive

they ignore rather than contradict truth, and, even if all are not innocent by their ignorance, his error

;

because they are able to overcome it, many have neither the time nor the light which would make

them

guilty before God.

They

belong, according

to the admirable expression of catholic doctrine, to the soul of the Church, children

mother although borne live in

in her

unknown

to their

womb, and who

still

her substance as they have sprung from

her fecundity. This remark made, Gentlemen, and highest importance Christianity

it is

of the

in appreciating the action of

upon the

destinies

of

mankind,

I

acknowledge that the greater part of the Catholic people are now in a violent crisis which neither permits liberty to become established nor power to count on the morrow. This is true, it would

be as puerile to deny it, as not to see its cause and to accuse Christianity of it. With the exception of England, who has preserved her public right, the people of the

European continent have

lost

248

(

)

and have not yet recovered or replaced it. They have lost it little by little, under the pro theirs,

gressive influence of a sovereignty troubled by

and which, employing with certain faults and evils in every

the Christian law, skill

persevering

have

age,

learned,

at

to

length,

the

despoil

Church, the nobility, and the commonalty of their acquired rights, and reduce them to absolute political

powerlessness in order to leave standing

arid active

only the summit of society.

work once done, modern it

If,

that

nations had accepted

would have been the East become master

of the

world, the Bas Empire arrived at universality, public

life

extinct,

and

Church

the

it,

all

herself

threatened sooner or later with that terrible legacy

which Constantinople has left That could not be. The race

magne, and

down

to St. Peterbsurg. of Japhet, Charle

St. Louis, that is to

in a single

day the work

say France, shook of

twenty genera all the rest, after and see we overthrown, tions, that which had hoped and attempted to be alone great.

But, from a misfortune which

still lasts,

an equal Christianity had

ruins of public right had brought with

ruin in the

faith

of

nations

suffered a fearful lessening of

and,

when

the

effort

of

;

its

the

it

reign in Europe,

France burst forth to

249

(

former

seize its

life

)

new

again under a

aspect,

irreligion directed, or rather led astray, her blows.

Whilst the revolution of England was accomplished under the empire of Christianity, our own was inspired

by doubt and negation

;

it

destroyed the

sanctuary under pretence of raising France, for getting that the Romans had placed in the same spot the tribune where their orators spake

the temples where spake their gods. has, for sixty years, disordered the

and

That error

world and con

demned the most generous plans to failure. Every cause from which religion is a,bsent, and still more every cause that repudiates religion, is a cause to which

mankind.

If

wanting the first foundation of France had accepted the help of her

old faith, a help

is

which advanced before her with

whose merit posterity will not doubtless she would nevertheless have

disinterestedness forget,

suffered greatly, because the establishment of a lost public right is the

most laborious work

of a

people and of an age, but at least she would have

preserved in her torments the element of tradition

and

stability, the

effectual 'presence of

God

;

and

Europe, instead of being hardly on the threshold of her future, would already bear the noble weight of

an edifice begun in earnest.

(

250

)

But however unfortunate such a be,

however

fertile in trials it

responsibility does not rest

situation niav

may

upon

life

human

of

societies.

peoples raised up

by

it

On

new demon

upon the public

the one hand, the

have not been able

accept the fate of the East

its

Christianity, or

rather Christianity draws therefrom a stration of its generous influence

yet be,

to

after a short sleep,

;

they claimed again their public right, being in capable of living out of a regular community arid

meekly yielding to repose bought at the cost of all the liberties which they held from their fore of

fathers. St.

They appealed from Louis XIY.

Louis, from Charles V.

to

England had appealed from Elizabeth to

to

Charlemagne, as Henry VIII., and

her ancient Parliament.

On

other hand, Christianity having been rejected

the

by

an ill-conducted revolution, that movement, so just in its causes, has been unable to settle after

more than by

its

itself,

sixty years of efforts

;

thus witnessing

had counted too much upon and that the Christian peoples, whatever

failures that

it

they may attempt, will never accomplish anything without the help of the faith Avhich has made them

what they are. Behold now the

future, Gentlemen,

and behold

(251 it

under an

)

infallible alternative.

nation recovered or replaced

save a Christian nation. able to raise

world

lost public right,

its

The Pagan

but, the first breath of

;

nations were

communities in the

illustrious

up

Never yet has a

their public

life

they have not been able to restore its Neither Athens, nor Sparta, nor inspiration. once

lost,

Rome, have revived

their institutions

and their patriotism extinct

destroyed

they have, perhaps, still produced great men, they have not produced citizens. Liberty does not rise again from its avshes

by

its

own

;

virtue, and,

when England,

after

the reigns which I have just cited, regained her

was a miracle without example,

national right,

it

and which, of

itself alone,

is

Even

the divinity of Christianity. is

a striking proof of as to

be born

a natural thing, and to be raised again from the

dead

public

laws life

a miraculous thing, so also, to be born to

is

life is, in

that govern

after

tion

able

a people, the effect of the general

society

lost

it, is

;

but to regain

public,

the effect of a regenera

having which comes from above. to

do

this

England has been because she was Christian, and

heresy which absolute power had imposed upon her, she has rejected with horror skepticism and unbelief.

because, although

preserving

the

(

,

252

)

was which formed her strength against the political traditions of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, This

and

it

this

it is

which

still

forms

tations too often powerless in

it

against the agi

which the Continent

struggles before her eyes.

One

these

of

two things then

will

happen

Europe will return herself to the light the Gospel, and by the Gospel which gave either

Europe

its

institutions

inheritance reason,

it

it

fall

to

of

to

will recover its glorious

persevering in the pride of erring will continue to reject Jesus Christ, and, ;

or,

victim of corruption which will ever increase, will pass

:

on from chimera

fall,

to

the

repose

to chimera,

of

those

it

and from

generations

which have no longer any other liberty than that of dishonor. Then also Christianity will become Disgusted with the spectacle of bondage, they will withdraw more and

the last refuge of great souls.

more

into the true city of the Christian,

which

is

and thence they will shed upon the world that glory of saints which shines upon all eternity,

ruins in order to give to the saddest times a wit

ness and a hope.

Gentlemen, I have ended what I had to say to you in general upon life and its different forms. After having led you from degree to degree even

253

(

)

to the supernatural life, the highest of all, I shoulJ

now speak

to

therelrom as

its

the

of

you

fruit

virtues

and

its

which spring

But

expression.

already long ago, in another assembly, I have treated

of

all

the

supernatural virtues, such as

faith, humility, chastity, charity, religion

liness,

and ho

not neglecting also to show the influence

of these virtues

upon human

society as to right,

property, authority, family and political economy.

The work

then accomplished, and there would remain to me here only to speak to you of the

means

is

established

the supernatural

which

by God I

life.

to

communicate

mean

to us

the Sacraments,

have touched upon but once in regard to the intercourse between man and God, and under their

I

most general

Shall I be permitted to

aspect.

you, and thus to complete, after more than twenty years, the whole apology

expose

this doctrine to

of the Christian faith I

may meet you

you, whether

more, I

God

?

I

know

you without

a part of

having wrought city, which was the cradle of

Dominick had the of his thought,

but whether

here again or never more see close my mouth or open it once

shall not leave

in

not,

first

my my

feeling

happy

ministry in this order,

where

St.

vision and the first friends

and where

I

have met

in a

wor-

.

n L

,

r