Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism: Considered in Their Fundamental Principles (1879 )

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BX1753 .D68 1879 Essays on Catholicism, liberalism and so

3 1924 029 402 439 oiin

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CATHOLICISM, AND

LIBERALISM, ^vm^txia

iv.

tjiett

By JOHN

SOCIALISM.

iFunKammtal ^rinttplea.

DONOSO CORTES,

MARQUIS OF VALDEGAMAS.

TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH

REV. WILLIAM M'DONALD,

A.B., S.TH.L.

KECTOR OF THE IRISH COLLEGE, SALAMANCA.

DUBLIN M. H.

GILL &

SO]Sr,

50

UPPER SACKVILLE

1879. ft

ST.

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5"

J\, l'2-z.^^2>

PEIHTED BY

M. H.

GILL AWT) SON,

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50, irpPT:H, EACKVIT.T.K-ST., DTTBl^IH.

;

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

WHEN

I

found Donoso Cortes' Essays on

first

and Socialism

Catholicism, Liberalism,

hands, and opening

enchanted with

it

pages, began to read, I

its

—so

amazed

the views expressed in the ideas

it

contained

it,

—that

at the profoundness of

I

determined,

if

time and its

tran-

This occurred several years ago

slation into English.

my

my

and the angelic sublimity of

occupations should ever permit, to undertake

but

in

was so

circumstances were such that the fulfilment of

the intention then formed was delayed

till

the present

time.

And now

that

venture to give

it

my

about the success of find

many

task

at last accomplished, I

is

to the press, not without misgivings

defects

my efforts. However, if the reader and shortcomings in this English

version of a great work, he will be kind enough to re-

member

that the difficulties I

not insignificant or few. diversity of form in

frequently

is,

had

Any

to contend with were

one acquainted with the

which the same idea

may

be,

and

expressed in two modern languages, knows

well that the translator's task

able anxiety and pain.

But

is

often one of consider-

in the present case there

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

iv

new and special difficulty, which was, to cull and employ language which might bear some proportion existed a

to

the majestic grandeur of the ideas to be expressed.

know

I

I fall far

short of

what

I

aimed

at

—

I feel it is

beyoild

my

skill to

content

if I

have got to within a respectable distance of

the mark. trait of

shoot so high, and

I shall

have drawn an approximately true por-

If I

the inimitable original, I will regard

well done

;

be quite

and

my

readers, I

the perusal of these pages

am

filled

my work

certain, will rise

as

from

with wonder at the

depth and breadth and sublimity of the author's conceptions.

With regard asked well

my

to the plan

and analysis of the work,

I

Canon Torre Velez, so acumen and profound philo-

distinguished friend

known

for his critical

sophical acquirements, to deal with that matter in a concise Introduction

a style becoming a

has done

it

;

which he has very kindly done,

man

willingly,

of his brilliant parts.

on unreasonably short

And

in

he

notice, as

became a warm and generous friend. His words are few, but pregnant and what he says may be taken as ;

the just appreciation of one gifted mind,

endowed with

all

by another

the qualifications requisite to form a

correct judgment.

THE TRANSLATOR. Salamanca,

October 12, 1874.

CONTENTS.

Introduction,

...... BOOK

PAGE i

I.

ON CATHOLICISM. CHAPTER

How

great political question,

I.

......

a Great Question of Theology

is

CHAPTER

always involved in every

II.

Of

Society under the empire of Catholic Theology,

.

.

Of

Society under the empire of the Catholic Church,

.

CHAPTER

Catholicity

is

love,

CHAPTER Our Lord

.24

HI. .

...... .....

CHAPTER

g

34

IV.

53

V.

Jesus Christ has not triumphed over the World by the His doctrine, nor by prophecies and miracles, but in

sanctity of

spite of all these things,

58

CONTENTS.

viii

CHAPTER

VI.

......

PAGB

Our Lord Jesus Christ has triumphed over the World by exclusively supernatural means,

64

CHAPTER VH. The

Catholic Church has triumphed over Society in spite of the

same

........

obstacles,

vifhich

Christ,

and through the same supernatural means,

gave the victory over the World to our Lord Jesus

BOOK

79

II.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO ORDER IN GENERAL.

...... CHAPTER L

On

the free will of man,

CHAPTER Answers

to

some questions

relative to this

CHAPTER Manicheeism of Proudhon,

.

,

CHAPTER How

IL dogma,

.

•

.

.

.

.

.113

IV.

...... CHAPTER

123

V.

....

Secret analogies between the Moral and Physical perturbations,

derived from the liberty of man,

100

III.

dogmas of Providence and Liberty are saved by Catholicity, without falling into the theory of rivalry between God and Man, the

93

all

134

CONTENTS. CHAPTER

mity of

VI.

....... ........ Human

The Angelic and the

prevarications

sin,

CHAPTER

How God

— Greatness and enor-

CHAPTER

Human

prevari-

CHAPTER .

.

.

167

•

.

.179

X.

—Conclusion of

BOOK

.

IX.

.

CHAPTER Gontinuation of the same subject

156

VIII.

Solutions of the Liberal School relative to these Problems,

Socialistic Solutions,

144

VII.

draws good from the Angelic and the

cation,

PAGE

this

Book,

.

195

III.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO ORDER IN HUMANITY.

CHAPTER Transmission of Sin,

dogma

CHAPTER How God

.

.

.

.217

II.

.....

draws good from Sin and Penalty, and from the purifying

action of pain, freely accepted,

CHAPTER Dogma

I.

of Imputation,

of Solidarity

228

III.

—Contradictions of the Liberal School,

.

240

—

CONTENTS.

X

CHAPTER Continuation of the same subject

—

IV.

CHAPTER Continuation of the same subject,

2S7

.

V. .

.

CHAPTER Dogmas

PAGE

Socialistic Contradictions,

.

.279

.

VI.

— Bloody

........

Correlative of

that of

Solidarity

Sacrifices

Theories of the Rationalistic Schools about Capital Punish-

ment,

CHAPTER Recapitulation sity of

—Inefficacy

of

all

The

VII.

....

the proposed

a more profound Solution,

CHAPTER Incarnation of the

Human

Race,

Solutions —Neces-

.

CHAPTER Continuation of the same subject

305

VIII.

Son of God, and the Redemption .

290

.

.

of the

S'S

.

IX.

— Conclusion of

this

Book,

.

325

—

INTRODUCTION.

DONOSO Cortes

is

one of the most profound thinkers

of the nineteenth century.

If the

many and

varied pro-

ductions which have flowed from his learned pen had not raised

him

work now

offered to English readers, translated

to the rank of eminent publicists, the

from

the rich and harmonious tongue of Cervantes and Fray

Louis de Granada, would be sufiScient to immortalise him.

It

bears the modest

insignificant title gives

title

sumptuousness of the splendid under that name. itself

of Essays

but this

True merit

edifice

he has

built

up

characteristically presents

on the scene of the world without pretensions, and

real virtue is

known

to every one but

itself.

to refute the calu;nnies of the pagans, evils

;

no index to the richness and

which

befell the

Roman Empire

he creates

who

laid all the

at the door of the

God; " and after attaining he does what perhaps he had not intended a science unknown to the pagans, which was

Christians, writes the "City of his object,

St Augustine,

INTRODUCTION.

2

the science of the intervention of Providence in history,

St

Thomas aims

at writing a systematic text-book for

students of theology in the thirteenth century, and his

"Sum "

raised theology to the category of a science,

and

became a book of consultation for the learned of all ages. Dante intends to write a poem after the manner of Virgil, and the " Divine Comedy " becomes the reflex of a civilisation, or rather

is

Christian civilisation sung

numbers by a bard. Cervantes aims at suppressing the books of knight-errantry by ridiculing their extravain

gances, and he becomes famous with posterity, not for

but for the deep and witty pic-

his transitory victory,

and the profound knowledge

ture he gives of humanity,

of the

human

heart he displays.

not venture to

call his history

Finally, Bossuet does

anything but a Discourse,

and yet posterity has acknowledged Bossuet to be the father of

what

is

known

as the Philosophy of History.

Well, what those giants of Christian thought were

ages and in their own spheres, the work the Marquis of Valdegamas, under the present of modest title of "Essays," is at the present day. He proposes to compare Catholicism with Liberalism and Socialism and his work is not, as might appear at first

in their respective

;

sight, a simple

errors

more,

of the

—

it is

,

comparison of the truth with the great present time

It is history, like the "

the "

Sum

"

civilisation,

;

it

more

is

—

it

is

much

incomparably more, than what he proposes. of St

City of

Thomas

like the

"

;

God

it is

Divine

;

"

it is

theology, like

the portrait of Catholic

Comedy

;

"

it

is

a pro-

found knowledge of the miseries of the heart, of the

;

INTRODUCTION.

3

and of the defects of human instituwork of Cervantes Saavedra and it is a philosophy of history much more profound than that errors of the intellect, tions, like the

;

of Bossuet and

other historians

all

philosophy of these Essays, history

Spain

possible to decipher.

may

for

;

is

without the

an enigma im-

well be proud of pro-

ducing the illustrious author of these " Essays," a work which, without a controversial character,

and

glorious

sublime apology of

the most

and

the

of Liberalism, Rationalism, and

refutation

victorious

is

religion,

Socialism.

And

let

not be imagined that the varied and

it

encyclopedic character of the work throws the matters of which

it

treats into confusion, or clogs the develop-

ment of the author's plan in its majestic march. No the author knows well what he has to do, and scans all with the eye of genius, which walks not on beaten paths, but opens fresh ones for itself

who

creative artist,

discovers

new

method of

he

it is

as a

rises superior to all calculation,

and

If

aspects of truth and

Our author

his own.

paints,

beauty by some

like the eagle,

is

who

discovers from the firmament he brushes with his wings

immense horizons unseen by other

birds.

He

is

like

the daguerreotype, which condenses into small space,

without

The

confusion,

a

merit of the work

nor in the facts

it

group of innumerable is

states,

not in the matters

it

objects.

treats of,

nor in the problems

it

deals

with, nor in the employment of this or that argument,

nor in the amount of erudition clear

method

it

it

displays, nor in the

follows, nor in the critical skill

it

mani-

INTRODUCTION.

4 fests

for,

;

everything in the "Essays " has been treated of

and discussed a thousand times Cortes, as far as the "

Donoso

great, consists

in

The

before.

Essays

"

merit of

which no other book carries

it

in extracting, like the

;

human

bee, from the flowers spread over the field of intelligence the

the " Essays

"

and

are original

raising the question to a height to

wax and honey with which stored and in the new

is

the hive of aspect with

;

which every question

is

invested from the

first

to the

last page.

But there

I

is

should scarcely have used the word question, for

no such thing here, as

From

troversy.

does not argue nor hold

which he denies

shows error

all

discussions

with

Donoso only

rights.

Donoso

error,

teaches,

its

deformity to the world

;

and

and

in teach-

one and the other with the authority of

whose eloquent organ he

is,

he needs not

contest with error in order to conquer

apologists go

to

profound ignorance and contradictions,

its

or points out

ing

not a work of con-

is

it

the point of view he occupies,

down

into the arena,

it.

to,

truth,

enter on a

Whilst other

and contend with

dubious victory, Donoso Cortes, like a giant, demolishes error

by one

stroke of his

arm

Proudhon and Guizot, whose

:

witness his victory over

fairy edifices

crumble tq

earth under his analytical touch.

In the contest with

others, the monster, Proteus-like,

assumes a thousand

when pressed on one side escapes on the Donoso strips it of its false appearances, and

forms, and other, but

presents

it

to the eyes of thinking

nakedness, and holds

it

up tq the

men

in all its foul

cprite5npt qf the woyld

INTRODUCTION.

—enough assuredly to hide

its

The

5

with confusion, and

fill it

make

it

dishonoured head.

may now see how

reader

this

book, without boast

of erudition, without scientific pretensions, or ostentation of great acquirements, possesses an encyclopedic

There

character. in the

no dogma of

is

faith,

nor hierarchy

Church, nor institution in society, nor important

question in philosophy, nor epoch in history, nor

human

aberration in the speculative sphere of the schools, or in

the practical

life

of nations

;

which does not occupy

proper place in the vast plan of this work. said,

Donoso Cortes

is

politician, apologist

limits himself to

life.

scientific

one sole branch, but

takes in at one glance

of

The mystery

its

have

theologian, philosopher, historian,

but not as a

;

As we

all

like

man who who

a genius,

the orders of science and

of faith, defended

by dogmatic

theologians in the limited circle of the schools, Donoso,

without profaning

and makes

it

by

and

the Church society.

He

demonstrate prophecies.

life,

In the Theological Places, the organisa-

Church

scripture

presents on the scene of real

the touchstone of science, and the founda-

tion of society. tion of the

it,

is

is

dealt with from the data supplied

tradition.

According to Donoso Cortes

the mistress, the foundress, the

life

of

does not require, like the apologists, to the existence of the miracles and

the

In his historical studies Donoso has discov-

ered a sublime miracle in the Christianising of pagan society,

and

in the indefectibility of the

Church, a pro-

found prophecy in process of fulfilment for nineteen The autonomy of reason cannot be admitted centuries.

introduction:

5

by him who reveres the infallibility of the teaching of the Church nor the noisiness of parliaments admired by him who stands astonished before the majesty of the Councils nor the regulations of the police lauded by him who bends in reverence before the grand law of charity. Without the dogma of the fall, and the dogma ;

;

of the

rehabilitation,

" Essays," history is

they are explained in the

as

eyes of men.

God had no

The

without explanation.

of the Christianising of society

lies

miracle

patent before the

Or, to use our a:uthor's

own words

—As

witnesses in the grand act of the creation

and the

of the heavens

earth,

He

desires

should witness a more sublime creation

man

that

—the creation of

Christian civilisation.

The foregoing

We have

offered to the English-speaking public.

no extracts from

it,

now made

a slight sketch of the work

is

we would be

for

afraid to profane

them by placing them in juxtaposition with our meagre observations. The work of Donoso Cortes forms a perfect whole. One must read it through and

and

injure

;

on concluding, every " I never before

man

of bona fides must exclaim,

had noticed the sublime harmonies of

Catholicism, and the foul repugnance of error.

cism

is

the law of

life,

solution of all problems.

Catholicism

everything that departs from ception,

and

Catholi-

the hfe of the intelligence, the

it

one

is

the truth, and

iota, is disorder,

de-

error."

Alejandro de la Torre Velez, Canon and Dignitary of

the Cathedral

D.D.,

of Salamanca, and

Professor of Sacred Scripture,

^c,

Sfc,

BOOK

I.

ON CATHOLICISM.

NOTE. This work was examined in

most famous theologians of

of the Benedictines of Solesmes, all his

observations.

its

dogmatic aspect by one of the

Paris, belonging to the glorious school

and the author has

finally

adopted

ON CATHOLICISM. CHAPTER

I.

How a great question

of theology is always involved in every great political question.

In

his " Confessions of a Revolutionist,"

has written these remarkable words

how we

There

is

the science of God,

and embraces

all sciences,

contains and embraces

They were

all

is

He

our political

is

as

the ocean which contains

God

is

the ocean which

all things.

before,

nothing,

wonderful

Theology, inasmuch

and they are

creation, in the divine understanding

them from

all

is

nothing here to cause surprise,

but the surprise of M. Proudhon. it is

M. Proudhon

" It

ever stumble on theology in

questions."

as

—

;

all

for if

after, their

God made

adjusted them to a mould which

Him. They are all there in that sublime which effects are in their causes, consequences,

eternally in

manner in

in their principles, reflections, in light, forms, in their

eternal exemplars.

In

Him

are the expanse of the sea,

£SSAVS ON CATHOLICISM,

lo

harmony of

the beauty of the plains, the

pomp

globes, the

of worlds, the splendour of the stars, the magni-

There, are the measure, the

ficence of the heavens.

weight, and the

number of

and

all things,

all

the inviolable and subhrne laws of is

under the empire of

finds there the laws of life

the laws of vegetation of motion sensations

;

;

;

all

There, are

beings,

and each

Everything, that lives

everything that vegetates,

everything that moves, the laws

;

everything that has feeling, the laws of everything that has intelligence, the laws of

understandings

;

everything that has liberty, the laws of

In this way,

wills.

own.

its

came

things

thence with number, weight, and measure.

Pantheism, that

it

all

might be

said,

withoutfalling into

and God

things are in God,

is

in

all thing^s.

This explains why, in proportion to the diminution of faith, truths diminish in the world society which turns

horizons

For and

in

all

in the loth

(on

by

"

all

men,

Omnis humanae

funda-

societatis

qui religionem convellit," says Plato

"The most

According to Zenophon pious

cities

have ever been the wisest and most says (against Colotes), in

all its

darkness.

has been considered by

Book of his Laws.

Socrates),

terrifying

as the indestructible foundation of

times,

human society. mentum convellit

and why the

back on God, beholds

its

suddenly obscured

this reason, religion

;

"

That

it is

and nations

lasting."

Plutarch

easier to build a city

the air than to constitute a society without belief in

the gods."

ehap.

8,

Rousseau, in his " Social Contract,"

observes, "

That there never was a

state

lib. 4,

formed

— LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

ii

without religion serving as the foundation."

Voltaire says in the " Treatise on Intolerance," chap. 20, " That

wherever there

is

a

society,

more necessary

is

Rome

Numa,

that

City.

The Roman, among

might be

Polybius declares that this in free states

eternal,

Caesar one

than

made her

in others.

the

Holy

the peoples of antiquity, was

the greatest, precisely because

When

absolutely

is

All the legislations of ancient peoples rest

necessary."

on the fear of the gods. holy fear

religion

was the most

it

day uttered

in

full

religious.

senate certain

expressions against the existence of the gods, Cato and

Cicero at once rose to their feet to accuse the irreverent

youth of pronouncing words dangerous to the is

told of Fabricius, a

Roman

It

state.

captain, that

when he

heard the philosopher Cineas mock the Divinity

in pre-

sence of Pyrrus, he uttered these memorable words "

Would to the gods our enemies may follow this docwhen at war with the Republic " The diminutio n of faith, which produces the diminu-

trine

!

tion_^f__truth,

does not necessa rily ca rr y with

it

th e

diminution, but rather, the extravaganc,e,_S.fthg„illlJnan intellect.

At once

Go d

merciful a nd just,

denies^the

tr uth

to culpable intel ligences, ^_tjIe_does_jiot_^d eny

them

life;

He_condemns them

to error, but_ not

death;^_jience_we_ha^^all_s£^

to

ourey^es

thos e ages of prodigjous incredulity and Jiigh^ culture, which have left_a__track__Jbehind,_^ss_hjmin^

'^.^^^ISiiE-i^

P''°l95S§i^°'^ ^^ time,

with phosphoric light in_history.

them, however

and have shone

Fix your eyes on

—look at them again and

again,

and you

2

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

1

shall see that their splendours are conflagrations,

and

they illumine, only because they are lightning.

One

would say

their illumination proceeds

from the sudden

explosion of materials in themselves obscure but in-

flammable, rather than from the pure regions where is

engendered that gentle

by the

arches of heaven,

light softly diffused over the

inimitable pencil of the Sove-

reign Painter.

And what we

have here said of ages, can be said of

Denying or granting them the faith, God denies or grants them the truth. He does not grant nor deny them intelligence. The infideFs may be sublime, the laeliever's moderate. But the former is only great like men.

an abyss, whilst the the

first

dwells error

with error,

For

is

death

;

latter is ;

no hope whatever

is life.

for those

which abandon the austere worship of truth

for the idolatry of genius.

come

In the abyss,

in the tabernacle, with truth,

this reason there is

societies

holy like a tabernaclg,: in

in the second, truth.

revolutions

;

On

the heels of sophisms

on the heels of the

sophists, execu-

tioners.

He who knows

the laws to which governments are

subject, possesses political truth

laws to which social truth

;

human

;

he who knows the

societies are subject,

possesses

he who knows God, knows these laws

;

he

knows God who hears what He affirms of Himself, and believes what he hears. Theology is the science which has these affirmations for

its

object.

Whence

it

follows,

that every affirmation relative to society or to govern-

ment, supposes an affirmation relative to

God

;

or,

what

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

amounts to the same, that every

political

13

and

social, is

necessarily converted into a theological, truth. If all is

God and by God, and theology God, in whom, and by whom, all is

explained in

is

the science of

explained, theology is

is

the science of

all.

If

it

be, there

nothing beyond that science, which has no plural,

because

and

all,

which

social science

is

do not

God

there

is

jimte^,__injG;od_^in the

is

way he

In this

affirmations from social whilst in

except as arbitrary

exist,

weakness distinguishes what u nity.

Political

h.uman understancjjng^, „ManjnJiis

classifications of the

s implest

has none.

its subject,

distinguishes political

and from rehgious affirmations

but one indivisible and sovereign

He who, when he speaks explicitly of anyknows not he speaks implicitly of God, or when he speaks explicitly of any science, is unaware he affirmation.

thing,

speaks implicitly of theology, received from

God only

necessary to constitute considered in

its

petual subject of subject of

all

may

the

all

human

Divinity, even that

He

intelligence

him a man.

he has

absolutely

Theologj^jthen,

most generalacce£tatioji,Js^the_ persciences^as^

God

speculations.

comes from the mouth of man,

Him.

rest assured

is

is

the perjgetual

Every word which an affirmation of the

by which he blasphemes

or denies

who, turning against God, frantically ex-

claims, " I abhor Thee down a complete system

Thou

;

dost

not exist," lays

of theology, as well as he

who

Him, and says, " Lord, The first hurli strike Thy servant who adores Thee " blasphemy in His face the second lays a prayer at 2, raises

his

contrite

heart

to

!

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

14

His

feet

but both affirm Him, each

:

own way,

in his

for

both pronounce His incommunicable name. In the manner of pronouncing that name, Hes the solution of fearful enigmas

—the vocation

of races, the

providential mission of peoples, the great vicissitudes of

and

history, the rise

and wars, the

fall

different

of famous empires, conquests,

temperaments of

nations, their

physiognomy, and even their various fortunes.

Away

abandoned to senses,

God

there where

substance, man,

infinite

is

silent contemplation, inflicts

and passes through

The

sweet-scented and enervating breezes.

substance

the infinite

:

the desert will be for

him something more sublime than the more silent, more solitary and grand it

braces

The

all,

sun,

worship,

only for

is

stars, all

it is

will

its

night,

if it

his lord if

had no rumours.

of a powerful

vegetation, fall

his

it

had

His god

obscurity, im-

There, shall suddenly

barbarous empires, which shall noise, crushed

em-

it

resplendent disc

—immensity,

secret virtue

infinite.

would be worthy of

all,

these things together

mobility, silence.

not

his only divinity, because

The heavens would be

and the

is

wild turbulence and strange noise.

only he could not take in

with his eye.

no

its

which illumines

if

because

and yet he

city, ;

as his god, because the desert

The ocean would be

adorer of

condemned to a perpetual

is

slavery and an infinite indolence

not adore

death on his

a dream, fanned by

life like

rise,

by

colossal

the

and

one day, with rude

by the immense weight

of others

more

gigantic and colossal, without leaving a trace in the

memory

of

men

either of their

fall

or of their foundation.

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

The armies

there

individuals,

without intelligence.

principally

be without

shall

and above

than to discover which empire Victory

populous.

itself shall

macy, inasmuch as because

it

it

be

is

be

less

is

be only a

the most

the most

title

of legiti-

the symbol of the Divinity,

is

the proof of strength.

is

will

It shall

the object of war to determine which nation heroic,

as the

discipline,

The army

a multitude.

all,

ij

Indian theology and history are one

So we see that and the same

thing.

Turning our eyes to the West, we portals, a region

and theological,

political,

divinity

is

see, stretched at its

which begins a new world orders.

The immense

here analysed, and stripped of

—here

formidable character

it is

in the moral,

multitude.

Oriental

austere and

its

The

divinity

was there stationary here the multitude seethes without All was there silence here it is murmurs, cadence, rest. and harmonies. The Oriental divinity extended through all time and over all space. The grand divine family ;

;

has here

its

genealogical tree, and finds

small space of a mountain top;

There

is

room on the the repose of

god of the East here, in the divine dwelling, all is war, confusion, and tumult. The political, suffers the same vicissitudes as the religious, unity here, eternal peace in the

;

:

every city

is

an empire, whilst

formed one empire.

To

a god corresponds a king

a republic of gods, one of cities

Men

and of gods will

have

in

there, all the multitudes

all will

cities.

;

to

In this multitude of

be disorder and confusion.

them something

heroic and divine,

the gods, something terrestrial and human.

and

The gods

6

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

1

men

will give to

the comprehension and instinct of the

great and the beautiful, and

men

will give to the

gods

and their vices. There will be men of lofty fame and virtue, and incestuous and adulterous gods. Impressionable and nervous in temperament, that people will be great in its poets and famous in its artists, their discords

and

will

make

the wonder of the world.

itself

not be beautiful in

splendour and the reflections of glory fearful,

only because

marrow of

sual to the

but pleasure in it

life

among

occurs

ship with

it

cious, loquacious,

the divinity,

and consistency in its

firmness,

as a world peopled

it

by

regarding the other's

premature,

its

;

and

if

relation-

in respect for

full

The

Oriental

of shadows, or

The East

so ephemeral,

in its turn,

death so

its

glory so short-lived, will call

it

a nation

movement.

is

in

In this

theology, Grecian history, and the Grecian

This phenomenon

Roman

origin, as far as

they were

resolutions.

statues.

character are one and the

Etrurian,

Wanting

in those of the other, in

way Grecian

of the

happy

in gravity in its designs,

as a region

life

nothing

In the eyes of the one, greatness

of children. duration

familiarity

be wanting

world will appear to

Sen-

oblivion.

will look for

that people vain, capri-

and petulant.

will

it

will

nor will death be

will consider 'death

The make

flowers.

it

;

by

followed

bones,

its

and

;

gods

its

is

Life will

surrounded by the

eyes, unless

its

same

is visible

people.

thing.

above

all in

they were gods, were Grecian

Oriental.

many

;

the history

Its principal gods, of Etrurian ;

as far as

Inasmuch as they were Grecian inasmuch as they were Oriental,

;

LIBERALISM, austere and sombre. is

AND

SOCIALISM.

It is a city like_that

of Theseus, and an empire like that of Cyrus.

Janus

like

faces .

on

:

its

head there are two

two countenances

the one

;

faces,

Ronae and on

is

its

symbolic of OxLental

is

duration, and the other of Grecian inovement^ is

Rome

In politics as in religion,

East and the West.

at once the

17

So great

her capacity of movement, that she reaches the conworld

fines of the

and so gigantic her duration, that

;

the world calls her eternal.

God

way

to prepare the

was to

providential mission

and to domineer over ous

heads to the earth.

assimilate

to come, her

all

theologies,

nations. Obeying a mysterimount the Roman Capitol, and

seized with a

the nations,

Created in the designs of

Him who was

all

the gods

all

call,

for

All

sudden

terror,

one

cities,

themselves deserted by their gods

bow

their

after another, see

the gods, one after

:

another, see themselves despoiled of their temples and

of their arly

its

Her

cities.

gigantic empire regards as peculi-

own, the legitimacy of the East, the multitude,

power, and legitimacy of the West, intelligence and

Hence

discipline.

stands

it;

it

grinds

tiieologyhas at

something

i

it

n

subjugates

all,

and no one complains. As her something different from,_and

all,

on«^e

common

with, all theologies,

something peculiar and something the cities conquered

From Sparta

by her arms

she has severity

;

pomp

In a word, the

the

West

its

antithesis,

common

has

with

all

from Athens, culture

and

;

in

Rome

or eclipsed by her glory.

from Memphis, Nineveh.

and nothing with-

and grandeur from Babylon

Rome

East the

is

the

synthesis

thesis, ;

and

8

.

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

1

the

Roman

empire

signifies

nothing

else

but

the

Oriental thesis and the Grecian antithesis, which have

become lost and confounded in the Roman synthesis. Analyse now the constitutive elements of that powerful synthesis, and you shall find that it is synthesis in the political and social orders, only because it is so in the In the Oriental peoples as in the

order.

religious

Grecian republics, and in the

Roman

empire as

in the

Grecian republics and in the Oriental peoples, the theological, serve to is

explain the

political,

systems. Theology

the light of history.

The Roman Capitol except it

in ascending.

greatness could not descend from the

by

the

No

same means which had served

one could put his foot

Rome

in

without the permission of her gods ; no one could scale the" Capitol without first hurling

Maximus.

The

down

who had

ancients,

Jupiter Optimus

a confused notion of

the vital force which exists in every religious system, believed that no city could be conquered unless

abandoned by the national gods. all

wars of city with

Hence we

first

find in

of people with people, and

city,

race with race, a spiritual and religious contest, which

followed the fortunes of the material and political.

The

besieged, whilst they resisted with the sword, turned their eyes to their

them

gods that they might not abandon

in their misery.

The

besiegers, in their turn, con-

jured them with mysterious imprecations to abandon the

city.

terrible

Woe

to the city in

voice which said,

gods are abandoning thee

1

" "

which was heard that

Thy gods are The people of

going

;

thv

Israel could

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

19

not be overcome whilst Moses kept his hands raised to

and could not conquer when

Lord;

the

Moses

is

ages, in

all

human

the figure of the

the dependence of

of religion and the yirtue_pf prayer.

Rome succumbed

fell.

formulas and ways, the_omni-

different

God and

£otence of

they

race, proclaiming in

man^hejjower

.

because her gods succumbed

;

her

empire came to an end because her theology ended.

way

In this

which

ciple

does history place in is

relief,

the grand prin-

hidden in the depths of the human con-

science.

Rome had

given to the world her Caesars and her

Jupiter and Caesar Augustus had divided between

gods.

them the grand empire of things human and divine. sun, which had seen gigantic empires rise and fall, had never, since the day of its creation, beheld one of such august majesty and such extraordinary grandeur. All nations had received its yoke even the rudest and

The

;

wildest had bent their necks

arms

the earth hushed

;

At

that time there

humble digies.

down

its

breath.

was born,

in

an humble

stable, of

parents, a Child, prodigious in the land of proIt

was

appearance that

its

the world laid

:

said of

that at the time of His

among men a new

He was

scarcely born

shepherds and kings;

through the

Him

air

that

and spoken

star

shone out

in

heaven

;

when He was adored by angelic spirits had swept to

men

;

that His incom-

municable and mysterious name had been pronounced in the

beginning of the world

watched

for

His coming

;

;

that the patriarchs

that the prophets

had

had an-

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

20

and that even the sibyls had "^ung His victories. These strange rumours had reached /he ears of the servants of Csesar, and awakened a nounced His kingdom

;

vague terror and dread

That dread soon passed away, when they in their breasts.

and that vague terror saw the days and nights prosecute as

before, their per-

petual rotation, and the sun continue rising on the

Roman

And

horizon.

the imperial governors said to

themselves, " Cffisar is immortal,

and the rumours we

heard were the rumours of nervous and idle people."

And and

is

an

efficacious

—contempt

remedy

oblivion.

But idle

Against the prejudices of

so passed 'thirty years.

the vulgar there

at the

end of thirty years the discontented and

begin to

find,

new and more extraordinary The Child had

in

rumours, new food for their idle talk.

become man, according

to people's' report.

on His head the waters of the Jordan, a dove had descended on

Him

;

On

receiving

a

spirit like

the heavens had opened,

and a voice was heard- on high saying, "This

is

my

Son." In the meantime, he who baptized Him, an austere and sombre man, a dweller in the desert and an abhorrer of the human race, cried out without ceasing to the people, "Do penance;" and

beloved

pointing to the Child

Him, "This

is

the

made man, gave this testimony of of God, who taketh away

Lamb

That all this was a miserable by wretched clowns, was a thing beyond

the sins of the world." farce enacted all

manner of doubt

of that age.

in the eyes of the " strong

minds

The Jewish people was always given

"

to

LIBERALISM, and

\vitchcraft

turned

SOCIALISM.

temple and

it

temple and

it

abandoned

ruined country, in the Babylonic slavery,

its

announced by

conqueror,

redeemed

21

In past times, when

superstition.

eyes, obscured with weeping, to its

its

a great

AND

country.

its

but quite natural, that

It

it

had

prophets,

its

from slavery, and restored

at

it

once to

its

was no way wonderful, then,

should await a new redemption

and a new redeemer, who should

Rome. had been no more than

from

strike

neck

its

the heavy chain of If there

and

enlightened people of that age

the unprejudiced

this,

would probably have

allowed these rumours to pass, as they had the others, till

human

time, the great minister of

them

sipated

otherwise

;

;

for

but some it

name

of the Person of

commenced

extraordinary things.

proud those

whom

to teach a

reason,

dis-

was the those great wonders were Jesus, (this

new

doctrine,

and work

His audacity, or His madness,

and the proud,

far as to call the hypocrites

and

had

arranged things

spirit

happened that

told),

went so

evil

and whitewashed

hypocrites,

who were whitewashed

of His heart was so great, that

He

sepulchres

The hardness

sepulchres.

advised the poor to

be patient, and then mocking them, proclaimed their happiness.

To be

despised Him,

condemned

He

revenged on the said to them,

fornication

who always

rich,

"Be

merciful."

He

and adultery, and

He

ate the

—so —the doctors and the sages, and con—with the gross and versed — so low were His bread of fornicators and adulterers.

He

despised

great was His envy

instincts

rude.

He was

so

filled

with pride, that

He

called

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

22

Himself lord of the

He was

and Jle

washed the

spite of

love;

earth, the sea,

and the heavens

such an adept in the arts of hypocrisy, that feet of

In

a few miserable fishermen.

His studied austerity,

He

said His doctrine

was

He condemned labour in Martha, and sanctified Mary; He had a secret compact with the

idleness in

infernal spirits, for

His

soul.

and received the gift' of miracles in price Crowds followed Him, and the multitude

adored Him. It is evident, in spite of their

good

intentions, the

guardians of the holy things and of the imperial prerogatives, responsible offices, for the

as they were, in virtue of their

majesty of religion and the peace of the

What

empire, could no longer remain impassible. cipally urged

them

to take active measures

prin-

was the

report they had on one hand that a great multitude had been on the point of proclaiming Him King of the Jews, and on the other, that He had called himself Son of God, and had tried to prevent people from paying tribute.

He who the people.

had said and done such things must die for It only remained to prove the charges and

clearly establish the fact.

As

to the tribute,

when He

was once questioned on the point, He gave that celebrated answer, which disconcerted the curious "Give to God what belongs to God, and to Caasar what

—

belongs to Csesar

you your

Caesar,

;

"

and

which was the same as I

rob you of your Jupiter."

questioned by Pilate and

what

He had

said,

—"

by the high

priest,

and proclaimed that

He

He

I

leave

When ratified

was the Son

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

23

God but that His kingdom was not of this world. Then Caiphas said, " This man is guilty, and should of

;

Him

die;" and Pilate, on the contrary, "Set

He

is

free, for

innocent."

Caiphas, the high priest, regarded the question in the religious point of view.

Pilate,

the political point of view.

what the

had

state

to

a layman, regarded

Pilate could not

do with

religion,

it

in

comprehend Caesar with

Caiphas, on the contrary,

Jupiter, politics with theology.

thought that every new religion must disturb the

state,

every new god dethrone Csesar, and that the political was involved in the theological question. tively thought with Caiphas,

called Pilate the

enemy

and

The mob instinchoarse murmurs

in its

of Tiberius.

In this state the

question remained for the moment. Pilate,

immortal type of corrupt judges,

Just One. to

sacrificed the

and delivered up J^sus to the popular fury, and tried to purify his conscience by washing his hands. The Son of God mounted the cross amid mockery and insults; there were raised against Him the hands and tongues of the rich and the poor, the hypocrites and the proud, the priests and the sages, of

women

of bad

adulterers cross,

His

fear,

and

life

praying for

spirit to

and of men of

evil conscience, of

the

The Son expired on the His executioners, and commending

fornicators.

His Father.

Everything was at rest for a

moment

;

but then were

seen things never before seen by the eyes of men.

The

abomination of desolation in the temple; the matrons pf Sion cursing their fecundity

;

the sepulchres yawning

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

24

open

Jerusalem without inhabitants

;

her walls levelled

;

with the ground; her people dispersed through the

The

world, and the world in arms.

were heard screaming wildly. Caesars

and without gods

the deserts peopled

who

did not

;

eagles of

Rome was

Rome

seen without

the cities depopulated and

as the governors of nations,

;

know how

to read,

and were clad

men

in skins

;

who said at other who said,

the multitudes obeying the voice of him the Jordan, " "

He who

Do

penance," and of the

wishes to be perfect,

take up his cross, and follow

let

me

;

him leave all thingSj " and kings adoring

the Cross, and the Cross raised on high in

What

is

formations

the cause of these great changes and trans-

What

?

is

the cause of this great desolation

and universal cataclysm thing

;

?

What

CHAPTER Of society

That new in

"i

No-

II.

under the empire of Catholic

theology

a complete its

has occurred

new theologians are going about world announcing a new theology.

only some

through the

is

all places.

is

s ystem

immerisity

it

called Catholicity.

theology.

Catholicity

of civilisation, so complete, that

embraces eve rything—the science

of God, the science of .the angel, the science of the

universCj^and the sc ience of

m an.

The

infidel falls

into ecstasy at sight of its inconceivable extravagance.

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

25

and the believer at sight of its wonderful grandeur. If there be any one who, on beholding it, passes by with

a

amount

smile,

people,

stupid

of

more astounded

grandeur and that

at

such an

than at that colossal

indifference

extravagance, raise

inconceivable "

voice, and say, Let the fool pass." All humanity has studied for the space of eighteen centuries in the school of its theologians and its doctors

their

;

and at the end of so much application, and the end of so

much

study,

up

to to-day the abyss of

has not been sounded. all

There,

it

things and times are to end,

they had their beginning

:

its

science

how and when and when and how

learns

there, are discovered secrets

which were ever hidden from the speculations of the philosophers of the Gentiles, and the understanding of their sages

:

there, are revealed the final causes of all

things, the concerted

movement of everything human,

the nature of bodies and

the essence of

ways by which men walk, the term

spirits,

the

to which they go,

the point from which they come, the mystery of their peregrination and the line of their journey, the enigma

of their tears, and the secret of

dren suckled at

its

life

prolific breasts,

and death.

Chil-

know to-day more

than Aristotle and Plato, the luminaries of Athens.

And

yet the doctors

who

teach these things, and rise

to such sublimity, are humble.

It

was given

to the

Catholic world alone to present a spectacle on earth reserved formerly to the angels in heaven tacle

of

throne.

science bent in humility

—the

spec-

before the divine

;

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

26

This theology versal

;

and

called Catholic, because

is

because

embraces

it

nature

is

because that

all

all

it

destined to extend through

in its

in India,

is

in the

He

universal

supreme

space and

multitude, like the

is

cause,

container, not the

and author of

who all

Roman

one in

It

He

is

it

gods

is

He

motion;

all

He

sovereign will;

contained.

thing from nothing, and in its being,

is

and impalpable sub-

infinite

intelligence,

human, and

God

living

;

multitude of spirits (gods) which

stance, eternal repose, is

;

god multiple in person, like the Greek gods, He is various in His

like

Him.

serve

He

;

;

It is universal in its

The

Rome.

Greece, multitude in

and

all

truths

because

dualism in Persia, variety in

substance, like the Indian

attributes,

all

dogmas.

God was unity

the Persian

embraces

truths contain

to be prolonged through all time.

God, and

uni-

it is

so in every sense, and under every

is

It is universal

aspect.

its

it

He

the

is

drew every-

maintains everything

regulates all things angelic, all things

things infernal.

He

is

merciful, just,

loving, brave, powerful, simple, secret, beautiful, wise.

The

east

knows His

voice, the

west obeys

Him;

the

south reverences Him, the north hangs on His nod.

His word swells creation; the seraphim

reflect

heavens serve is

His

Him

poised in His hand.

Catholic

on

their inflamed

could not be

wings

;

;

the the

a throne, and the earth's globe

When

the time

God showed His countenance

to cast to the earth it

light for

stars veil their face

all idols

otherwise

;

came, the

this sufficed

by men. And when we remember that fabricated

LIBERALISM,

human

the

the

of

Geritiles

God

were

if

more than mutilated

theology

Catholic

that the

._a,n.d

;

morethan

nortiing

some one of the

deification of

the true

SOCIALISM.

theologies were nothing

fragments of

^ods

AND

the

essential properties of

the biblical God.

man

Catholicity seized on

in his body, in his senses,

Dogmatic theologians taught him in his soul. what to believe moral theologians, what he should do; and the mystics, rising above all, taught him to ascend on high on the wings of prayer, that ladder of Jacob composed of brilliant stones, by which God descends to earth and man rises to heaven, till earth and heaven, God and man, burning together in the and

;

flame of an

blended in one.

infinite love, are

Through Catholicity order entered through

man

into

human

The moral world

societies.

found on the day of redemption the laws

on the day of prevarication and

dogma was

^\ man, and

into

sin.

it

The

had

lost

Catholic

the criterion of sciences. Catholic morality

the criterion of actions, and charity the criterion of

The human

affections.

hampered

state,

saw

conscience, escaped

through

the

as through the exterior darkness,

interior

and at the

from as

its

well

light of

those three divine criterions, recognised the happiness

of the peace

it

had

lost.

Order passed from the religious to the moral world,

and

from the

Catholic

moral

God, creator

to

the

and

political

world.

sustainer of

all

The things,

subjected them to the government of His Providencej and governed them by His vicars. St Paul says in

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

28

Romans, chap. a Deo " and Solomon the

Epistle to

his

potestas nisi

chap.

viii.

ver. 15

—

xiii.

;

me

Per

"

— " Non

est

in the Proverbs,

reges regnant et conditores

legum justa decernunt." The authority of His vicars was holy precisely inasmuch as^ jt was foreign, that is,

divine.

The

The

ide a of authority

is

of Catholic origm.

ancient governors of the Gentiles built ffielFsove-

huma n foundations they g overned /or Catholic themselves^ and they g overned by force. governors, considering themselves as nothing, were reignty _on_

;

no more than the ministers of God, and the servants of the people.

When man became

the child of God,

he immediately ceased to be the slave of man.

There

nothing at once more respectable, more august, and more solemn, than the words pronounced by the Church is

in

the ears of Christian princes at the time of their

consecration

— " Take

this

wand

your sacred power, that you

may

an emblem of

as

be able to support

the weak, sustain the vacillating, correct the vicious,

and lead the good along the path of this

sceptre

directs the

good and

this to love justice

were

emblem

as the

in perfect

salvation.

of divine

chastises the wicked

and abhor

iniquity."

Take

equity, which :

learn from

These words

consonance with the idea of legitimate

by our Lord Jesus know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them and their princes have power over them. But it is not so among you but authority, revealed

—"You Christ

to

the world

;

;

whosoever

will

be greater, shall be your minister, and

whosoever shall be

first

among

you, shall be the ser-

;

LIBERALISM, vant of

AND

SOCIALISM.

For the Son of man

all.

is

not

29

come

to be

ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His

a redemption for

many" (Mark

x. 42-45).

All gained in this fortunate revolution their governors

;

the

latter,

life

—peoples

and

because having domineered

formerly over people's bodies by the right of force,

now they governed

bodies and

the force of right

the former, because they passed

;

minds,

sustained

by

from the obedience of man to the obedience of God,

and because they passed voluntary obedience. gain equally in

the

;

to

constitute

forced

all

if

for princes, in the

name of God,

humanity

from

Yet,

obedience to

gained,

all

did not

mere act of governing

represented the impotence of

a

own name

itself,

and

in its

mere

fact

of only obeying

legitimate ;

authority

by

whilst peoples, from the

God

in the prince,

were

the representatives of the highest and most glorious of

human

prerogatives,

which

consists

in

freedom

any yoke but that of divine authority. This explains, on the one hand, the singular modesty with which the fortunate princes whom men call great, and the Church, saints, shine history; and on the other, the singular noin from

subjection

to

and distinction which are marked on the brow of all Catholic peoples. A voice of peace, of consolation, and of mercy, was raised in the world, and had sounded deeply in the human conscience bihty

and that voice

had

taught

nations

that the

weak

and the poor are born to be served, because they are poor and weak, and that the great and the rich

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

30

they are rich and great.

are born to serve, because

sanctified obediby and by sanctifying the one and deifying the condemned pride in all its most tremendous

ence

;

other,

authority,

deifying

Catholicity,

manifestations, in the spirit of domination,

.There

of rebellion.

spirit

two

are

and

things

in the

totally

—despotism

and Rousseau, who had sometimes sudden

impossible in a truly Catholic society^ revolutions.

and grand illuminations, has written these remarkable words " Modern governments are undoubtedly in-

—

debted to Christianity, on one

side,

for

the firmness

of their authority, and on the other, for the lengthened

Nor has her

between revolutions.

intervals

extended to

alone

this

acting

for,

;

influence

on themselves,

made them more humane. To become convinced of this, we have only to compare them with she has

governments" (Emile

ancient

has said

among

—

"

There

is

1.

4).

And

Montesquieu

no doubt Christianity has created

us the political right

we

recognise in peace, and

we respect in war, for the benefits human race shall never be sufficiently

the right of nations of which the

grateful " (Esprit de Lois,

God tical, is

himself,

who

is

1.

xxix., chap.

3).

the author and governor of poli-

the author and governor of domestic, society.

In the most hidden, in the highest, in the most serene

and luminous

point, of the heavens, there exists a taber-

nacle, inaccessible

even to the choirs of the angels

in that inaccessible tabernacle

is

perpetually verified

the prodigy of prodigies, the mystery of mysteries.

There

is

the Catholic God, one and triple

;

one

in

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

The Father

essence, triple in persons.

31

eternally begets

the Son, and from the Father and the Son eternally

And

proceeds the Holy Ghost.

God, the Son

is

God and

the

the Father

has no plural, because there

is

Holy Ghost

is

God

is

and God

;

but one God,

triple in

The Holy Ghost is God like the Father, but is not the Father is God like the Son, but is not the Son. The Son is God like the Holy Ghost, but is not the Holy Ghost —-is God like the Father, but is not the Father. The Father is God like the Son, but is not the Son is God like the Holy Ghost, but is not the Holy Ghost. The Father is omnipotence, the Son, wisdom, the Holy Ghost, love and the Father and the Son and the Holy and

persons

one

essence.

in

—

—

;

Ghost are

infinite love,

There, unity,

variety, condensing,

God

thesis,

is

supreme power, perfect wisdom.

dilating, is

eternally begets variety eternally resolved

and synthesis;

antithesis,

;

and

into unity.

and He'

is

sovereign thesis, perfect antithesis, infinite synthesis.

Because

He

family..

In His essence are found, in an unutterable and

He is God because He is God', He is perfect; because He is perfect. He is prolific; because He is prolific. He is variety because He is variety, He is is

one.

;

;

incomprehensible manner, the laws of creation and the

exemplars of

All has been

all things.

image, and hence creation

word

universe, signifies unity

Man was made by God

is

made

and variety

to the

is

one

in essence,

and

The

in one.

image of God and not and hence

only to His image, but also to His likeness

man

to His

one and various.

;

:

triple in persons.

Eve

pro-

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

32

Adam Abel is begotten by Adam and Eve and Abel and Eve and Adam are one and the same thing they are man, they are human nature. ceeds from

;

;

—

Adam man

Eve

Adam

is

Eve,

;

man

like

man

like

Abel, but

Eve, but

Eve, but

is

;

is

she

;

man the mother Abel, man like Adam, but is not the

the father

the son.

father

like

man

is

is

;

not the son.

is

not the son

is

Abel

not the mother.

not the mother

is

but

Abel,

like

;

man

is

Adam, but

is

and like

not

the father.

All these names are divine, as are divine the functions sanctified

The

by them.

idea of paternity, foundation

of the family, could not have been conceived by the

human is

mind.

Between the father and the

none of those fundamental

base sufficiently broad on which to build a is

a

fact,

more

and nothing more

;

force

but priority and force

;

is

a

son, there

which afford a

differences,

right.

fact,

Priority

and nothing

cannot constitute, of

themselves, the right of paternity, although they can originate another fact, the fact of slavery.

name name

of the father, supposing this fact, of the son

teaches us,

is

is

slave.

And

is lord,

this truth,

confirmed by history.

The proper and the

which reason

In the peoples

forgetful of the great biblical traditions, paternity

never else but the proper If there

name

had existed a people

for

was

domestic tyranny.

forgetful,

on the one hand,

of those great traditions, and not given, on the other, to the worship of ihaterial force, in that people father

and son would have

and would really P aternity comes from God, and

called themselves,

have been, brothers.

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

33

come from God alo ne, in its name, and in_ its If God had permitted the complete oblivion the traditions of Paradise, the human race, with the

can^

essence.

of

would have forgotten

institution,

The

its

very name.

family, divine in its institution

and

in its essence,

has everywhere followed the vicissitudes of Catholic civilisation

:

and

this is so certain, that the purity^ or the

corruption of the former

is^

ever- an

infalliblejymptom

of th e_purity_ or^ corruption of the latter, as the. history of the various^ vicissitudes jind

second,

orm ations

t ransf

of the

the history oL.the_Jxaxisformations_aiiii.lhe

js^

vicissitudes_throug-h- which the

fi rst

has p assed.

In Catholic ages, the tendency of the family perfection

the hearth

:

it

from natural

it

becomes

spiritual,

is

to

and from

passes to the cloister. Whilst the children at

the hearth prostrate themselves reverently at the feet of

and the mother, the inhabitants of the cloister, more humble a.nd reverent, bathe with tears the feet of another father more exalted, and the sacred mantle of another mother more tender. When Catholic civilisation is conquered, and enters on its period of the father

children

decadence, the family immediately decays, tion

is

vitiated, its

its

constitu-

elements are decomposed, and

all its

and mother, between whom God placed no other intercourse but love, create between themselves the intercourse of severe ceremony; whilst bonds relaxed.

The

father

a sacrilegious familiarity suppresses the distance

placed between children and parents, intercourse of reverence.

profaned,

is

The

God

destroying the

family, then, debased

and

dispersed and lost in the clubs and casinos.

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

34

The

history of the family

fect of

the

family,

eternal in all

is

its

all,

lasts as

exists in its

most

long as

life,

The human

anti-Gatholic family lasts be-

some months.

children,

The

;

between father

artificial

family of the

clubs lasts a day, and of the casino, an instant. tionjs here, as^ in

many

Between the

and the hum,an family of same ,p.rapQriiQ.n as betw een

divine,

is

time and eternity

betweenjthe

:

Dura-

other things, the measure of per-

the cloister, there

cloister,

;

and mother, and between father and children,

natural family, between father

years.

fection.

per-

individuals as long as time lasts

tween father and mother some years

and

The

individuals.

spiritual family, after the divine the

human

many

model of the

divine family, exemplar and

The

lines.

human human

can be given in a few

the

spiritual, family of the

the most perfect, and the se nsual of the club the ,

most imperfect, of

all

human

familie s^there isthe

proportion as between the brevity^ of a

same

mo ment andjhe

immensity of time.

CHAPTER Of

society

III.

under the empire of the Catholic Church.

Constituted,- on one

side,

the criterion of sciences,

the criterion of affections, and the criterion of actions constituted,

on the

other, in society, political authority.

AND

LIBERALISM, in

SOCIALISM.

the family, domestic authority,

it

was necessary to

human

constitute another authority above all infallible

organ of

all

35

ones, the

dogmas, the august depositary of

that should be at once holy and sancti-

all criterions,

fying, that should

be the v/ord of God incarnate

world, the light of

God dancing on

divine charity inflaming all souls

earth, the infinite

heaven

which should treasure

waters for those those

life for

treasures

of the graces of

which should be the refreshment of fatigued

;

men, the refuge of

for

;

in the

the horizons, the

a sublime and hidden tabernacle, to shower them

up on the in

all

who

men, the fountain of living

sinful

who

are thirsty, the bread of eternal

wisdom for the ignorant, way; which should be full of

are hungry,

the wanderers a

warnings and lessons for the powerful, and for the poor full

of love and

that

it

mercy

could speak to

firm, that

it

;

an authority placed so high

all

with power, and on a rock so

could not be shaken by the waves of this

restless sea of the

world

;

an authority founded directly

by God, and which should not be subject tions of

human

and ever

old,

to the fluctua-

things; that should be at once ever

duration and progress, and which

new God

should bless with His special assistance.

That sublime, infallible authority, founded and in which God feels eternally delighted, Catholic, Apostolic,

Roman

for eternity, is

the

Holy

Church, the mystic body

happy spouse of the Word, who teaches the world what she learns from the mouth of the Holy of the Lord, the

Ghost

;

which, placed as

it

were

in

mid-region between

earth and heaven, exchanges prayers for

gifts,

and per-

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

36

petually offers the Father, for the sins of the world, the

precious blood of the Son in perpetual sacrifice, and in

As God makes all things perfect would not become His infinite wisdom to give the truth to the world, and then, entering into His perfect repose, leave it exposed to the injuries of perfect holocaust.

and

finished,

it

time, the vain subject of the disputes of men.

reason

He

which shone on the world beautiful

this

and

sublime perfection and

perfect, with that

Since then she

plenitude of time,

in the

sovereign beauty she ever had standing.

For

eternally conceived the idea of His Church,

in

for us

is

the divine under-

who

navigate in this

sea of the world, boiling in tempests, as a luminous

She knows what saves and our last end in what consists the salvation and in what the damnation of men, and she alone knows it she rules souls, and she alone rules them she straightens the will, and she alone straightens it she purifies and inflames the affections, and she alone inflames and purifies them she moves hearts, and she alone moves them with the grace of the Holy Ghost. In her finds ho place, nor sin, nor error, nor weakness her tunic is without stain tribubeacon placed on a high rock.

and what ruins us

our

;

first

origin

;

;

;

;

;

;

lations are for her

;

triumphs

;

the hurricanes and the

gentle breezes carry her to port.

Everything miraculous

:

it

in is

her

is

spiritual,

spiritual,

supernatural,

and

because her government

is

of intelligences, and because the arms with which she

defends herself and slays, are spiritual .

;

it

is

super-

natural, because she ordains everything to a supernatural

LIBERALISM, end,

men

and because her duty supernaturally

;

it

AND

SOCIALISM.

37

to be holy and to sanctify

is

miraculous, because

is

all

the

great mysteries are directed to her miraculous institution,

and because her

existence; her duration, her con-

quests, are a perpetual miracle.

The Father

Son to earth, the Son sends the apostles and the Holy Ghost to the apostles in ;

sends the

to the world, this

way,

in

the plenitude as well as in the beginning of time, in the institution of the

Church as

the Father and the

Twelve

sinners

in the universal creation,

Son and the Holy Ghost

pronounce

the

mysteriously in their ears, and the earth disturbed

world

;

librium,

:

an unusual

fire

interfere.

words which sound is

immediately

burns in the veins of the

a whirlwind knocks nations out of their equi-

away peoples, disturbs empires, conThe human race sweats blood under the

hurries

founds races.

divine pressure,

and from

all

that blood, and from

all

that confusion of nations, and races, and peoples, and

from those impetuous whirlwinds, and from that

which circulates through

all

fire

the veins of the earth, the

world comes out radiant and renovated, lying at the

Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. That mystic city of God has gates looking

feet of the

directions,

to

signify the

universal

omnium Rempiiblicam agnoscimus Tertulhan.

calling.

in

all

Unam

mundum," says

For her there are neither Jews nor

barbarians nor Greeks.

"

Gentiles,

In her find place the Scythian

and the Roman, the Persian and the Macedonian, those who come from the east and from the west, from the northern zone and from the regions of the south.

Hers

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

38 is

the holy ministry of instruction and of doctrine, hers,

the universal empire and the universal priesthood citizens are kings

and the

saints.

;

her

and emperors, her heroes the martyrs Her invincible militia is composedl>f

who conquered in themselves all its mad concupiscences.

those brave warriors

the appetites of the flesh and

God Himself invisibly

presides in her austere senate and

in her holy councils.

When

world, their infallible

word has been already recorded

her pontiffs speak to the

God himself. That Church placed in the world without human foundation, after drawing it from in

heaven by

an abyss of corruption, withdrew of barbarism.

it

from the night

She has always fought

the Lord, and though hard pressed in

from

all victorious.

the battles of

she triumphs over heretics

;

all

human

passions rebel

against her authority, and she triumphs over passions.

Paganism

came out

all,

Heretics deny her doctrine, and

all

human

and Emperors and kings

fights its last battle with her,

she brings paganism to her

feet.

persecute her, and the ferocity of their executioners

conquered by the constancy of her martyrs. fights

for

is

She only

her holy liberty, and the world gives her

empire.

Under her p rolific empire, the

sciences have flourished,

morals jiaye been purified, laws perfected^ ^"^d jJl j[reat institutions, domestic, political,

and

social,

with rich and spontaneous vegetati on.

have

flou rishe d She has_bad

anathemas onl y for impiou s men, for rebellious peo ples and tyrannous kings. She has defended liberty agginst those

who

aspired to convert authority into

t yrann y,

LIBERALISM, .

God and There

is

the

SOCIALISM.

who

peoples

^^nd .authority against absolute emancipation

AND

;.

and against

inviolability

in

and

persecuted folds

Liberty, in truth, has

In her eyes, error

of

is

born and

lives

for that reason she has sought it,

the

illegitimacy, it

an

commandments.

her eyes holy, and in error, as error

abominable. rights,

to

the rights of

no truth the Church has not proclaimed, nor

error she has not anathematised.

been

aspired all,

His

of

39

and extirpated

human

it

itself,

without

and

out,

it

from the most hidden

And

intellect.

that perpetual

and that perpetual nakedness of

has been a religious dogma, so also has

error, as

it

been a

dogma, proclaimed in all time by all the All have placed beyond discussion the principle on which they rest; all have called the principle which served as its contrast, error, and have despoiled it of all legitimacy and of all rights. political

powers of the world.

All have declared themselves infallible in that supreme qualification;

and

if

political errors, it is

human

they have not

condemned

not because the conscience of the

race recognises the legitimacy of

because

it

all

any

human

has never recognised in

error,

but

authorities

the privilege of infallibility in the qualification of errors.

^Fromjhat

human

ra dical impotence of

authorities to

designate errors, has sprung the principle of liberty^ of discussi on, foundation of

modern

constitutions.

principle does not suppose in society, as sight appear,

first

an incomprehensible and culpable impar-

between truth and

founded on two

error:

it

is

other suppositions, one of which

is

true,

tiality

That

might at

and the other

;

£SSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

40 false;

founded, on one hand, on the fact that

is

it

governments are not

infallible,

which

evident;

is

it

is

founded, on the other, on the infallibility of discussion,

which

we view

false in every light

is

^^Infallibility

it-

cannot result from discussion unless it^bejreyjpusly in those

who

unless

it

discuss

t

ime

former and in the latter

in those

human

an attribute of

Tnfaiilbility is

who discuss who gov ern. If

cannot Jbe in those

it

;

be at the same

nature,

:

it is

in the

are fallible or

either all

all

s

The human

are infallible.

question, then, consists in ascertain-

ing whether

nature

man

nature of

In the

is

sound, or

From

attributes.

quences flow because if it

all

is

fallen

first case, infallibility,

sound understanding,

if

or infallible, which

is fallible

necessarily resolved into this other,

is

it is

:

—

^If

is

the

and greatest of the

it

man

cannot err because it

is

all its

following conse-

the understanding of

sound,

?

essential attribute of the

first

this principle

cannot err because

whether the

viz.,

and infirm

infallible,

is infallible

it is

infalHble

;

truth exists in

men, whether considered in general or individually

the truth

is

affirmations identical

in all

and

if all their

;

men, isolated or

all their

affirmations

are identical, discussion

In the second case, intellect, is

the

first

is

and

fallibility,

infirmity of the infirm

—

understanding of

fallible

it ;

their negations

and greatest of human

this principle the following

infirm,

all

inconceivable and absurd.

and from If the

in general, all their

negations must necessarily be

man

afflictions

consequences flow: because

it is

cannot be certain of the truth, because

it is

if

it

is

fallible

cannot be certain of the truth because

— :

LIBERALISM, it

that uncertainty

is fallible,

whether considered uncertainty

is

in

and

SOCIALISM.

41

essentially in all men,

is

common

essentially in all

affirmations

all their

AND

or individually

men

all their

;

if

that

isolated or united,

negations are

a-

con-

must necessarily be uncertain if all their affirmations and negations are uncertain, discussion is absurd and inconceivable. tradiction in terms, because they ;

Catholicity alone has given a satisfactory and legiti-

mate

solution, like all its solutions, to this fearful pro-

Catholicity teaches the following

blem.

from God, pain and

from

from

death,

sin,

fallibility

fallibihty absurdity in discussion.

Man was by the

redeemed, which,

act of redemption,

if it

—Man

comes

error,

like

from ignorance,

But

it

adds

:

does not signify that

and without any

he escaped from the slavery of

part,

:

from man, ignorance and

sin

effort

on

his

sin, it signifies, at

by redemption he acquired the power of breaking those chains, and of converting ignorance, error, pain, and death into means of his sanctification by the good use of his liberty, ennobled and restored. least,

that

end God instituted His immortal, impeccable,

For

this

and

infallible

nature without

God, hence

and not subject to death. God on earth, that man, aided by grace, which

is infallible,

has placed is

sin,

of original justice and of sanctifying grace

full it

The Church represents human such as it came from the hands of

Church.

it

may become worthy of having him the blood shed for him on Calvary, by submitting to her divine inspirations. With

denied to no one,

applied to voluntarily his faith

he

will

conquer ignorance, with

his patience.

"

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

42

pain,

and with

his resignation, death

:

death, pain, and

ignorance only exist to be conquered by tion,

faith, resigna-

and patience.

It follows

from

this that the

Church alone has the

right to affirm and deny, and that there

side her to affirm

what she

The day when

affirms.

decisions, has

denies, or to

no right out-

deny what she

society, forgetting her doctrinal

asked the press and the tribune, news-

and assemblies, what

writers

is

is

truth and what

is

on that day error and truth are confounded intellects, society enters

error,

in

all

on the regions of shadows, and

under the empire of

Feeling in

itself,

on

one hand, the imperious necessity of submitting

to

falls

fictions.

and withdrawing from

truth

error,

and finding

what

impossible, on the other, to ascertain

error

is

it

and

what truth is, it has formed a catalogue of conventional Iruths, and another of imaginary errors, and has said, " I will adore the former and condemn the latter ignorant so great is its blindness that by adoring the one and condemning the other, it condemns or adores nothing or if it condemns or adores anything, it adores and condemns itself. ;

—

—

;

The

doctrinal intolerance of the

Her

the world from chaos.

Church has saved

doctrinal intolerance has

placed beyond question political, domestic, social, and religious, truths

—primitive

and holy

truths,

which are

not subject to discussion, because they are the foundation of

all

discussions

into doubt for a

that

moment

;

truths which cannot

moment without

oscillating, lost

be

called

the understanding on

between truth and

error.

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

43

and the clear mirror of human reason becoming soiled This serves to explain

and obscured.

why

the Church,

and the Church alone, has had the holy privilege of fruitful and prolific discussions, whilst society, emancipated from her, has done nothing but lose time in ephemeral and barren disputes, which, having their

start-

ing-point in an absolute, could result in nothing but a

The

complete, scepticism. to

Cartesian theory, according

which truth comes from doubt,

the head of Jupiter,

is

like

Minerva from

contrary to that divine law which

presides at the generation of bodies as well as ideas,

and

in virtue of

which contraries perpetually exclude

and like ever begets like. In virtue of this law doubt perpetually comes from doubt, and scepticism from scepticism, as truth from faith, and science from truth. To the profound comprehension of this law of the intellectual generation of ideas, are due the marvels of their contraries,

Catholic civilisation. is

due

that wonderful civilisation

we admire and

that

all

To

theologians, even considered

all

we

that

see.

Its

humanly, put to the blush

modern and ancient philosophers her doctors excite wonder by the immensity of their science its historians ;

;

by

their

those of

generalising and

comprehensive views, cast

antiquity into the shade.

" City of

God

"

is,

St Augustine's

even to-day, the most profound

book of history which genius, illuminated by the rays of Cathohcity, has presented to the astonished eyes of

men.

The

acts of her Councils, leaving aside the divine

inspiration, are the

most

finished

monuments

of

human

ESSA VS- ON CA THOLICISM,

44

The

prudence.

and the science,

Canonical, excel in

feudal,

is

wisdom the Roman,

Thomas

before St

in

St Augustine in genius, Bossuet in majesty,

St Paul in power

Who

Dante } Calderon tion

Who

laws.

.?

is

Who

.?

is

greater as a poet than

equal to Shakspeare

Who,

.'

Who

into the canvas

}

surpasses

and

like Raffaelle, infused life

inspira-

Place people in sight of the will tell you, "

Here has passed a grand and barbarous civilisation." Place them HI sight of the Grecian statues and temples, and they will tell you, " Here has passed a graceful, ephemeral, and brilliant civilisation." Place them in sight of a Roman monument, and they will tell you, " Here has passed a great people." Place them in sight of a cathedral, and on beholding such majesty united to

pyramids of Egypt, and they

such beauty, such grandeur to such

taste,

such grace

to such delicacy, such severe unity to such rich variety,

such measure to such boldness, such heaviness in the stones, with such suavity in

their outlines,

wonderful harmony between silence and

and such

light,

shade

colour, they will tell you, "

Here has passed the greatest people of history, and the most astounding of human civilisations that people must have taken and

:

grandeur from the Egyptian, brilliancy from the Greek, strength from the

Roman,

and,

beyond the

strength, the

and grandeur, something more valuable than grandeur, strength, and brilliancy, immortality and brilliancy,

—

perfection." If

we

pass from sciences, letters, and arts, to the study

of the institutions the Church has vivified with her breath.

LIBERALISM, with her

nourished

SOCIALISM, maintained

substance,

and sustained with her

spirit,

science, this

new

45

with her spectacle

present no less astounding marvels and wonders.

will

which ordains and

Catholicity,

and ordaining

referring

refers all to

infinite variety into constitutive

by

unity,

is,

tions,

united

supreme

element of

infinite

nature, the religion of vigorous associa-

its

by sympathetic

together

Catholicity

man

to solitary

and sombre

is

of egotism

tion

God, and by

to God, converts

all

a constitutive element of supreme order,

liberty into

and

AND

never alone

:

to find a

isolation

and pride

affinities.

man

—supreme

—we

In

relegated

personifica-

must leave Catholic

In the immense circle described by those

boundaries.

immense boundaries, men

live

grouped together, and

obey the impulse of their most noble sentiments of fraternity.

The groups

enter one into the other, and

one more universal and comprehensive, in which move with freedom, and obey the law of sovereign harmony. The child is born, and lives in the domestic all

into

they

association, that divine foundation of

Families

tions.

origin,

groups

classes;

the different classes dedicate

of peace, others the arts of

others administer justice, trial

pursuits.

—

some cultivate the war some seek glory,

themselves to different functions arts

associa-

and thus grouped, form higher

laws of their called

human

group together conformably to the

;

and others prosecute indus-

Within these natural groups, others are

spontaneously formed, composed

of

those

who

seek

by the same path, of those who dedicate them.^elves to the same industrial pursuits, of those who glory

;

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

46

follow the

same business

tributed in their

classes,

—wide

and all these groups, disand all these classes, hier-

among

archically distributed

State

;

themselves, constitute the

move

association in which all others

with

freedom.

In the

This in the social point of view.

families are associated in different groups

of families constitutes a municipium is

form

it

of the

administering their

own

symbol of

its

and a

territory,

unity

and a cemetery, symbol of

All

;

these different

unities

its

their

God,

of

of giving food to the

affairs,

Hence each muni-

and sepulture to the dead. cipium has a temple, symbol of its living

a municipal house, symbol of

who

the families

of worshipping

right

each group

:

each municipium

;

common by

the participation in

political,

religious unity

;

and

administrative unity

jurisdictional its

and

civil

right of sepulture.

constitute the

municipal

unity, which has also its symbol, in the right of using its

coat of arms and unfurling

variety of the municipia

which, in sonified

its

in

associations

is

its

turn, is

symbolised

a king.

Above

is

that of

all

From

banner.

in

all

a throne, and perthese

magnificent

Catholic nations, with their

bosom

of

This perfect and supreme association

is

Christian princes, fraternally grouped in the

the Church.

unity in

its

the

formed the national unity,

head, and variety in

its

members:

it

is

variety in the faithful, scattered over the world, and

unity in the holy Chair, which shines in

Rome, surThat eminent Chair is the centre of humanity, represented, inasmuch as it is rounded by rays of divine

light.

: ;

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

47

by the General Councils, and inasmuch as it is by him who is on earth the common father of the faithful and vicar of Jesus Christ. That is supreme variety, sublimest unity, and most

various, one,

All the elements which exist in dis-

perfect society.

human

order in

The

pontiff

the divine the

human

is

is

is

harmoniously.

human

right

apparent principally in the designa-

And

the person desig'nated pon tiif

pon tiff by God

instituted

human and

the

in this

right shines principally in the institution

right

tion of the person.

by men,

move

societies

king both by divine and

and as he unit es un ite

:

divine sanction, so also does he

and hereditary monarch ies. From the on e he has popularity, from the other^ i nviolability and prestige like th e former, the pontifi cal the advantages of elective

:

mona rchy limitations its

limited on all sides

is

come^ from within, not from without,

own, not from another's

limitations

is

and

humility, this, in

like the latf-pr

;

in

its

will.

The

all

discord to destroy

it

.'

its

its

wonderful

is

is

venerated, and

domestic war and

What monarchy

which the king elects the electors, king, all

om

have the capacity of becoming kings,

exists eternally, despite the efforts of civil

fr

What monarchy

prudence.

which the king, though elected,

which, though

the

foundation of

ardent charity, in

its infinite

,

being elected and electors

?

who

is

this

then elect

Who

i

n

t he

does not see

and hidden mystery—-unity perpetually begetting variety, and variety perpetu ally constitu ting here a deep

its

unity

.',_

Who

does not see here represented the

universal confluence of all things

."

And who

does not

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

48

remark that

Him

of

this strange

monarchy

God

who, being true

the representation

is

and true man,

divinity

is

and humanity, unity and variety, united in one ? The occult law which presides at the generation of unity and variety must be the highest, most universal, most excellent and mysterious of all

things,

human and

uncreated,

visible

and

to

it

essence,

it

God

as

all,

has subjected

Being one in

infinite in its manifestations

is

it

each one of the things that exist, manifests

way.

It is

made man, another

one way

in

God, another

and

;

a

it

in

in

God

His Church, another in the

in

family, another in the universe

each and every part.

its

everything

:

that exists appears to exist only to manifest

different

and

created

divine,

invisible.

Here

it is

;

but

and

in all,

it is

in

an invisible and incom-

prehensible mystery, and there, without ceasing to be a

mystery,

By

a visible phenomenon and a palpable

it is

the side of the king,

whose duty

it is

fact.

to reign with

independent sovereignty, and to govern with absolute power, there

who have

is

a perpetual senate, composed of princes

princedom from God

their

petual and divine senate a governing one,

impedes,

nor

is

is

;

and

a governing one,

and though

so in such a way, that

diminishes, nor

power of the monarch.

eclipses,

The Church

is

this per-

the

it

neither

supreme

the only mon-

archy whj ch ha s preserved intact the plenitude of right, ful

though perpetually

oligarchy,

and

is

in contact

its

with a most powe r-

the only oligarchy which, placed in

contact with an absolute monarch, h as n ot broken ou t into

rebellions

and

seditions.

As

the princes

come

D

^

LIBERALISM, the

after

king,

SOCIALISM.

head, of the social hierarchy

by the

are tempted

spirit

is

priests,

In this wonderful

holy ministry.

society, everything is the reverse of

human associations. In these, those who are at the foot, and

49

come the

the princes

after

charged with the

AND

what occurs

in all

the distance between those

who

are at the

so great, that the former

of rebellion, and the latter

fall

into the temptation of tyranny.

In the Church things are regulated so, that neither

tyranny nor rebellion the subject

what he has

is

Here, the dignity of

possible.

so great, that the prelate's

is

in

common

is

with the subject, rather than

The

from what he has special and peculiar. dignity of the bishops

is

being,

their

like

greatest

not in their being princes, nor

of the pontiff in his being king

bishops

derived from

;

but in pontiffs and

subjects,

Their

priests.

and highest prerogative is not in governing; lit is in the power of making the Son of God the slave of their voicej in offering the Son to the Father in unbloody sacrifice for the sins of the world, in being the channels through which grace is communiincommunicable

cated,

and

supreme and incommunicable power

in the

of remitting and retaining in

what

all

sin.

The

highest dignity

is

the dignitaries are, rather than in what only

some of them

are.

It is not in the apostolate, nor in

the pontificate, but in the priesthood. If

we

C hurch her

consider the pontifical dignity

appears an absolute monarchy.

apos tolic

—"~-™ we—

oligarchy.

If

she

constitution,

isol atedly,

If

appears

the

we

consid er

a

powerful

consider, on the one hand, the dignity '

'

—

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

50

common

to prela tes

deep abyss there people,

it

is

and ^riestej_aiid>.on_J:he jDther, the between the_ priesthood and the

When we

appears an ininiense aristoctacy.

our eyes on the immense multitude of the faithful

fix

hood, and

employed this

world, and

over the

scattered

the

and

apostolate,

the

is

ordained

are in

wonderful society for the advantage of those who

of souls;

human

who obey

;

when

dogma

of the essential equa-

when we remember

that the Saviour of the

consider the consoling

lity

priest-

pontificate

nothing

in their service, that

govern, but for the salvation of those

we

that the

find

race suffered the affronts of the cross for each

men when we find the principle proclaimed that the Good Shepherd should lay down His life for His flock when we reflect that the term of individual and for all

;

;

the different ministries J^s

the action of

all

gregation of

the

faithful,— the

immense democracy,

Church

i

n the con-

a p pears

-

an

in the glorio us a cceptation of this

term, or at least, a society instituted for an end ess entially

of

all

And

popular and democ ratic. that the Church

is,

is

all

the most

she ap pears.

si ngular

In other

those various forms of government are incom-

societies,

patible with one another, or,

they lose

many

if

they ever are united,

of their essential properties.

Monarchy

cannot be united to oligarchy and aristocracy, without the

first

losing

its

naturally absolute character, and the

second, their preponderance.

Monarchy, oligarchy, and

aristocracy cannot live with democracy,

without the

latter losing its

absorbent and exclusive character, as

aristocracy, its

influence,

oligarchy,

its

tendency to

LIBERALISM, and monarchy,

invasion,

AND

SOCIALISM.

absolute character

its

mutual union becomes

that their

their

Tnjjie Chnrrh alnne, which

hilation.

societv^therg_ij ro om for

51

is

a.

so

;

mutual annisupernatur al

these governments, ha r-

all

monically combined, without losing anything of their purity,

original pacific

^r

their

primi tive

combination of powers

in

This

grandeur.

themselves opposed,

and of governments, whose only law, humanly speaking, is

war,

the most beautiful spectacle in the annals of

is

the world.

If the

government of the Church

fin nlH

hp

an immense aristocracy,

might be by an oligarchical power placed in the hands of an absolute king, whose d uty it is to perpetually xiff"er himself in holocaust for the salvation of the peop le. This definition would be the prodigy of definitions, as defined,

called

it

"HTrected

the thing defined

is

the greatest prodigy of history.

Summing up in a few words all we have said, we may assert without fear of being belied by facts, that Catholicity has things

human.

established order and concert

That order and that

*in

all

concert, relatively

man, signify that, through Catholicity, the body became subject to the will, the will to the understandto

ing,

the understanding to reason, reason to faith, and

all to

into

charity,

which has the virtue of transforming

God, purified with an

infinite love.

man

Relatively to

the family, they signify that, through Catholicity, have

been definitely constituted the three domestic persons, united in one with loving bond.

Relatively to govern-

ments, they signify that, through Catholicity, authority

and obedience have been

sanctified,

and tyranny and

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

52

revolution for ever

condemned.

they signify

through Catholicity, war of castes

that,

Relatively to society,

an end, and the concerted harmony of

came

to

social

groups began

;

and

tions took the place of the spirit of egotism tion,

and

science,- letters,

through^ Catholicity,

man

arts,

that with

Rela-

they signify

that,

entered into the possession of

the true and the beautiful, of the true divine splendours.

the

isola-

and the empire of love of the rule of pride.

tively to

said,

all

that the spirit of fruitful associa-

Finally,

results

it

God and of His from all we have

Catholicity appeared

society, supernatural, excellent,

and

in the

perfect,

world a

founded by

God, preserved by Him, and directed by Him, which perpetually holds in deposit His eternal Word, which supplies the world with the bread of

life,

which can

neither deceive nor be deceived, which teaches

the lessons

it

learns from

divine Master,

its

and

men

is

the

perfect transcript of the divine perfections, the sublime

exemplar and finished model of human In the following chapters

we

societies.

demonstrate that neither Christianity nor the Catholic Church, which is its

shall

absolute expression, has been able to produce

great

works,

its

sublime

prodigies,

and

its

marvellous

changes, without a supernatural and constant action

on the part of God,

who

with His providence, and

supernaturally governs society

man

with His grace.

LIBERALISM,

AND

CHAPTER Catholicity

Between

53

IV.

is love.

the Catholic Church and the other societies

scattered over the world, there

between

SOCIALISM.

the

human and

natural

the same distance as

is

and the supernatural; between

divine conceptions.

In the pagan world, society and the city were one and the same thing

;

the Athenian,

Athens.

was

there

in the

nothing

nations, rude

revealed to

Roman, society was Rome in Beyond Athens and Rome ;

but barbarous

and uncultivated

and unsociable by nature.

man human

society,

and, as

Christianity if

this

were

not enough, revealed to him another society, grander

and more

excellent, to the

immensity of which

neither limits nor bounds.

who triumph

Its citizens are

in heaven, the just

who

it

put

the saints

suffer in

purga-

and the Christians who combat on earth. Read attentively, one by one, the pages of history, and after tory,

reading and meditating on them, you shall see with

astonishment that that gigantic conception tional,

that

it

comes as a supernatural

cated to

man

supernaturally.

unexpectedly, and did not see it,

it

was already come.

It

it

saw

nation and one simple glance. love,

is

excep-

and comes without warning, without antecedents

;

communi-

The world received it come for when it saw ;

it

with one sole illumi-

Who

but God,

who combat communion with those who suffer

could have taught those

they are in

revelation,

who

is

here that in

purga-

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

54 tory,

and with those who triumph

God

but

heaven

in

living, the just,

the saint, and the sinner

Who but God

?

?

The

excellence,

which

could throw a bridge over those immense oceans

law of unity and variety, that law par is

Who

?

could unite with loving link the dead and the

at once

human and

which nothing

divine, without

can be explained, and with which everything becomes

one of

plain, is here displayed in

manifestations.

There

its

most astounding

variety in heaven,

is

because

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three persons

and that variety becomes mingled, but not

;

confused, in unity, because the Father is

God, and the Holy Ghost

There

is

is

is

God, the Son

God, and God

variety in Paradise, because

Adam

are two different persons, and that variety

but not confused, in unity, because are

human

is in

and human nature

nature,

our Lord Jesus Christ, because in

is

one.

and Eve

is

mingled,

Adam

and Eve

one.

Variety

is

Him

concur, on

the one hand, the divine nature, and on the other, corporeal and spiritual, or human, nature corporeal

and

and the divine

spiritual

;

and the

natures are

mingled without confusion in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is one only person. Finally, there is variety in the Church, which combats on earth, suffers in purgatory,

and triumphs

in

heaven

;

and that variety

is

mingled,

but not confounded, in our Lord Jesus Christ, only

Head

of the universal Church, who, considered as the

only Son of the Father,

is,

like the Father, the

symbol

of the variety of persons in the unity of essence in the

quality of

God-man,

He

is

;

as

the symbol of the

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

variety of essences in the unity of person

considered at once

all

and when

;

God-man and

as the

God, the perfect symbol of

55

the Son of

possible varieties

and of

infinite unity.

And

as supreme

which,

in

harmony

always found identical in this it

comes that the

various

of

Trinity

manifestations, from

which

is

ever the same.

is

one by love

composed of the

variety,

all its

and

resolved, being

is

law, in virtue of

rendered one,

is

the divine

consists in unity, from,

springs and

variety

all

:

all

that

is

The

variety

the

human and the

father, the mother,

made one by love. The variety of the human and divine natures is made one in our Lord Jesus child, is

Christ

by the incarnation of the Word

the Virgin in

—mystery of

combat,

The variety

love.,

in suffering,

and

in the

in

triumph,

is

womb

of the

of

Church

made one

in

our Lord Jesus Christ by the prayers of the Christians

who

triumph, which

converted into beneficent dew,

fall,

on the Christians who combat, and by the prayers of the Christians who combat, which fall in prolific showers on the Christians who suff"er is

the ecstasy of love.

charity

is in

charity

is

if

he who

such a

to

God

and

God

God, and charity,

all this

being ever

;

he

who

If

God

is

infinite

God

is

is in

charity,

unity

him,

God

and man can

rise

in

without confusion, in

neither God made man loses His divine man made God, his human nature; man man, although God and God ever God

way that

nature, nor

and perfect prayer

charity

is

because

man by ;

;

in him."

in charity is in

can come down to

by charity

God

God, and God

infinite unity, is

"

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

S6

man

though that

is,

The

;

and

by

all this

exclusively supernatural,

exclusively divine, means.

by

Gentiles had

notio n of this supreme d ogma,

some

as they had, more^ or less perfectly, of^alL the Catholic

human in

all times,_ and .a

In every zone, in

dogmas.

races, the re

mong

the

has b een preserved an undying b elief

a future, transformation, so radical and sov ereign,

that

it

should join in one for ever, the Creator a nd the

human and

creature, the in the

the divine natur es.

age of Paradise, the enemy of the

spoke to our

first

Long human

parents of becoming /gods.

prevarication and the

fall,

men

man

The

logies.

it

race

carried this wonderful

how

of research who, no matter

into them, does not find

ago,

After the

There

tradition to the ultimate ends of the world.

no

all

at the

little

bottom of

is

he dives all

theo-

between the pure dogma pre-

difference

dogma vitiated mode of attaining and sovereign end. The

served in the Catholic theology, and the

by human

traditions, consists in the

that supreme transformation

angel of darkness did not deceive our

he told them that they should be love,

obedience. sist in

like

parents

unto gods

when

and pointing out the natural road of

The

error of

the

;

them the supernatural

deceit consisted in hiding from

path of

first

dis-

pagan theologies does not con-

affirming that the divinity

and humanity

shall

be

united in one, but in the fact that the pagans regarded

the divine and

human

natures as thoroughly identified,

whilst Catholicity, considering tinct,

reaches the union

of man.

That pagan

them

as essentially dis-

by the supernatural superstition

is

deification

manifest in the

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

57

divine honours rendered the earth, in quality of im-

mortal and prolific mother of the gods, and to various

whom

creatures

they confounded with the gods them-

Finally, the diQJeifince.betweeji-JPrfinLth.fi.'aguand

selves.

Catholicity

is

notin the one's

and the

affirmin^^

3enying the deification of man, but holding that licity

man

by

is

^graca^..It

is

in

God, whilst Catho-

his nature

become so

says tha t he can

is

God,

is

completely absorbed by

the aggregate of which he forms part

whilst Catholicity

;

teaches that man, even after deification, that

being penetrated by the divine substance, the inviolable individuality of his

God

has for

human

own

and inviolable

He

the empire of

associations,

all

The

substance.

is

what

the

is

what constitutes

individuality,

ing to the Catholic dogma, that

after

is,

preserves-

still

individuality, or,

same, for the liberty of man, which his absolute

by

su.Ei£mat-ii rally

Pantheism's teaching that man, part of

the aggregate which

respect

ot her's

P anthe ism's

in

is

such, accord-

has divided with

it

which are governed at

one and the same time, by the liberty of man and the counsel of the divinity.

Love all

is

in itself prolific

;

because

it is prolific,

things various, without destro ying

and because

it

''""^"""'^'"HFf

^^P"^i

variety

infinite

law, the

end.

love,

is

and

it

mingles in

its

things varioyj^. infinite

unity.

i t^

own

beg et s unity

unity, withny};^

Love, then, It

is

the

is

sole

supreme precept, the only road, the ultimate

Catholicity

Only he

''I'

it s

who

is

loves

Catholic learns to

love, is

love,

a for

because

God

Catholic,

and

it

is

is

only

love.

the

only the Catholic

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

58

who

receives

knowledge from supernatural and

his

divine sources.

CHAPTER

V.

Christ has not triumphed overHhe world

Our Lord Jesus

by the sanctity of

His

miracles, but in spite

doctrine,

of all

nor by prophecies and

these things.

The

Father is love, and sent the Son through love the Son is love, and sent the Holy Ghost through love the Holy Ghost is love, and perpetually infuses His love into the Church. The Church is love, and will burn the world in love. Those who are ignorant of this, or have ;

;

forgotten

it,

will

be perpetually ignorant of the super-

natural and secret cause of visible

mena, of the invisible cause of

bond

all

and natural phenothings visible, of the

that subjects the temporal to the eternal, of the

secret spring of the

Holy Ghost works

movements of the

in

man, providence,

soul, of

how

in society,

the

God,

in history.

Our Lord Jesus

Christ did not conquer the world

with His marvellous doctrine.

but a

man

admired

He had

been nothing

of marvellous doctrine, the world would have

Him

for

gotten both the all as

If

was His

a moment, and would then have

man and doctrine,

of the lower orders,

fell

his doctrine.

for-

Marvellous and

was only followed by a few under the contempt of the most it

LIBERALISM, select of the

AND

SOCIALISM,

Jewish people, and during the

Master was unknown to the

Our Lord Jesus

human

59

life

of the

race.

Christ did not conquer the world

who saw Him

with His miracles.

Of

an act of His

the nature of things, walk on the

will,

those

waters, quiet the waves,

and death, some called

change, by

calm the winds, command

Him

God, others a

life

devil, others

a wizard.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not conquer the world because the ancient prophecies had been

Him.

The synagogue, which was

fulfilled

in

the depositary of

them, was not converted, nor were the doctors who

knew

them by heart converted, nor were the multitudes who had learned them from the doctors, converted. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not conquer the world

The

was New Testament, as it was ever one, eternal, unvarying. That truth, which was eternally in the bosom of God, was revealed to man, infused into his soul, and deposited in history, from the moment the first divine word resounded in the world. And yet the Old Testament, as well in its eternal and essential, as in its accessory, local, and contingent character, in its dogmas as in its rites, never passed the boundaries of the predestined people. That very people with the truth. in

essential truth of Christianity

the Old as well as in the

'

often

broke out into great rebellions, persecuted

prophets, outraged

the

manner of the

with the infernal

its

doctors,

Gentiles, spirits,

its

committed idolatry after nefarious compacts

made

gave

itself

up

in

body and

£SSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

6o

soul to bloody

and horrible superstitions

on which the Truth took

and

crucified

was hidden

it

flesh, it

on Calvary

;

in the ancient

;

and the day

blasphemed, denied,

and whilst the Truth which symbols, represented in the

testified

announced by the ancient prophets, to by fearful prodigies and by stupendous

miracles,

was placed on a

ancient

figures,

accord to explain by

cross,

when

came

it

of

its

own

presence, the cause of those

its

and those fearful prodigies, to verify all the prophetic words, and to teach the nations what was represented in the ancient symbols, and what was hidden in the ancient figures, error had extended stupendous

miracles

freely

through the world, wide as

all its

horizons with misty shadows

it

and had covered and all this with

is,

;

a prodigious rapidity, and without the aid of prophets, or symbols, or figures,

memorable

record

1

Terrible lesson

or miracles.

for

those

who

believe

hidden and expansive force of truth, and

impotence of error to open a way world

in

!

the

in the radical in

the

Lord Jesus Christ conquered the world,

He

for

itself

!

If our

conqpered

it

in spite of

the announced in the

being the truth,

in spite of

being

by the ancient prophets, the represented

ancient symbols, the contained

in the

ancient

figures.

He. conquered

in spite of

His prodigies. His

miracles,

and His marvellous doctrine.

No other doctrine

it

but the evangelical could have triumphed with that

immense apparatus of proofs,

clearest testimonies, irresistible

and invincible arguments.

If

Mohammedanism

spread like a deluge over the African continent, through

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

6i

Asia, and through Europe, this consisted in the fact that it

travelled quickly,

all its

and

Prevaricating, truth,

man.

and carried on the point of and

miracles, all its arguments, fallen

all its

sword

its

testimonies.

man„Kas_npt made

for the

nor was truth inade for prevarica ting' and fallen

^etween jyi^truth and 1^^

prevarication_af man,

God

the

establi shed

a lastin g repugTruth has in itself

nance and an invincible repuls ion. the titles of

imp ose

sovereig nty, and does not ask leave to

its

yoke

its

whilst man, since he rebelled aga inst

;

God, does not to lerate any sove r eignty but his unl ess

it

ow n,

Hence, when

ask his leave and assent.

first

comes within sight, he immediately begins to deny it, and to deny it is to affirm himself in quality If he cannot deny it, he of independent sovereign. enters into combat with it, and by combating it, he the truth

combats

for his

crucifies

it

thinks he believes

On

if

;

ilies

he

own

he

is

If he conquers, he

sovereignty.

conquered, he

flies

:

by

flying,

from slavery, and by crucifying

it,

he he

crucifies his tyrant.

the contrary, between

human

reason and the

and a close relationghip. Sin has united them with_ the bond of_iadiaSQluble matrimony. The ab su rd_ t ri u m phs over njan.^ precisely absurd there

becaus e to

it is

human

is

a secret

de void of

reason.

affinity

all

Man

rights anterior and_su£erior

accepts

becau s e, being devoid of

comes naked

;

pretensions.

His

will accepts it

spring of his understanding, delight in

it,

precisely because

it

because

it

is

and its

rights,

because

it

it

it

has no

.is_the_pff"-'

his understandi ngitakes

own

offspring, its

own

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

62

verbum, because

is

it

In the act o f

power.

a living testimon y of its

creation

and calls^lumself_God,_,^Arid God,

man's estimation,

in

matters

it

of the absurd

like

Gnd, bp

his

own

ing

it,

At

.''

i

all else is

God

least^

he

he

will

.lil^__^iito

Wh^t

if

he

the

is

be independent

hf sovereign like God b y adorin g he will adore himself by mg.gnify-

will

;

productiorij

You who

G od,

unto

nothing.

of truth,

will

creative

its

s like

he be God,

if

that the other be the

God

man

;

be the magnifier of himsel f.

aspire to

subjugate peoples, to domineer

human

over nations, and exercise authority over

reason,

do not declare yourselves the depositaries of clear and and above all, do not produce your evident truths proofs, if you have any, for the world will never recognise you as ijiaster, but will rebel against the brutal yoke of Announce, on the contrary, that you your evidence. have an argument which upsets a mathematical truth that you are going to prove that two and two do not ;

make four, but five; that God does not exist, or that man is God that the world up to this has been a slave to shameful superstitions that the wisdom of ;

;

ages

is

nothing but pure ignorance

an imposture

that

;

obedience slavery ugly, beautiful

the devil this

is

;

is is

;

that revelation

is

that the beautiful

that good

world there

;

government

evil,

is

God, and God

world we inhabit dise

;

all

is

and

tyranny, and is

ugly, and the

evil

good

hell,

;

the

that

that the

and a future para-

that liberty, equality, and fraternity are

incompatible with

;

the devil; that beyond

neither hell nor paradise

a present

is

all

Christian

superstition

dogmas ;

that

— LIBERALISM, robbery is

is

robbery

AND

an imprescriptible ;

that there

is

right,

;

—and be

all this,

63

and that property

no order except

nor anarchy except in order bare announcement of

SOCIALISM.

in anarchy,

sure that, on the

the world, astonished at

your wisdom, and fascinated by your science,

will

an attentive and reverend ear to your words.

If to the

good sense of which you have given such ample

by announcing the demonstration of

lend

proofs,

these things,

all

you afterwards add the good sense of not demonstrating

them

at all

;

or

if,

as the only demonstration of your

blasphemies and your affirmations, you give your blas-

phemies and your affirmations themselves, then the

human

race will extol you to the stars particularly you take exquisite care to call the attention of people to your good faith, carried to the extreme of presenting yourselves, naked as you are, without appealing ;

if

to the

deceptive tricks of

stupid reasoning,

foolish

and vain miracles, thus giving a public testimony of your faith in the triumph of truth, without extraneous aid and if, finally, looking round in historic antecedents,

;

all directions,

you

ask,

where now are your enemies

?

then the world, excited and astonished, will proclaim with one voice, your magnanimity, your greatness, and

your victory, and

will call

you

pious, holy,

and trium-

phant. I

vile

know not

if there be anything under the sun mor e and despicable than the h uman rac e outside the

Catholic lines.

And

and vileness, the and oppressed by

in the scale ,of its degradation

multitudes

deceived by sophists

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

64

and most degraded the sophists and the tyrants, who hold the bloody lash over the one and the other, are, if we examine it well, the least vile, the least degraded, and the least despicable. The first scarcely come from the hand of God, tyrants, are the vilest

come next

when they

;

;

fall

of the Babylonic tyrants.

into those

Ancient paganism

rolls

from abyss

to

abyss, from

sophist to sophist, and from tyrant to tyrant,

till it falls

into the

hands of Caligula, that horrid and shameless

monster

in

human

in

form, with insensate passions and

The modern

beastly appetites.

a prostitute, to

fall

begins

of

Robespierre, supreme

human vanity, with instincts. The last of all

incarnation of

an abyss more deep and obscure there

is

wallowing

man who

his inexorable is

;

about

and

falling into

perhaps even now

in the filth of the social sinks, the

has to adjust to

and ferocious

itself

at the feet of the cynical and

bloody tyrant Marat, and ferocious

by adoring

its

neck the yoke of

his wild

instincts.

CHAPTER Our Lord Jesus

VI.

Christ has triumphed over the world

by exclusively supernatural means.

When shall

I shall

draw

all

be placed on high, that things to

me

:

that

is,

is,

on the

cross, I

I shall assure

dominion and victory over the world.

my

In these words

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

65

solemnly prophetic, the Lord showed His disciples at

how Jittle

once, of

avail for the conversion of the world

were the prophecies which announced His coming, the miracles which proclaimed His omnipotence, the sanctity of

glory,

His doctrine, which was the testimony of His

and how powerful

production of this

for the

was to be His immense love, revealed to the earth in His crucifixion and His death. "I am come in the name of my Father, and you

prodigy,

receive

him

me

will

not

:

if

another shall come in his

receive " (John v. 43).

you

own name,

In these words

is

announced the natural triumph of error over truth, of evil

In them

over good.

forgetfulness in

which

astonishing propagation of

is

found the secret of the

nations held God,

all

pagan

of the

errors, of the palpable

darkness shadowing the world, as also the announce-

ment of the future extension of human future diminution of truth tions of the

Church, the persecutions of the

victories of the sophists,

phemers. its

In those words history

In them

we

are told

and with

the

Catholic

and

;

why

human

to

all its

revolu-

condemns Jesus

the world, placed between

Socialistic

Socialistic in preference

blas-

the Jewish people,

placed between Barrabas and Jesus,

and selects Barrabas

just, the

contained, with all

is

why

the

tribula-

and of the popularity of

scandals, with all its heresies,

tions.

errors, of

amongst men, the

theologies,

the Catholic

selects ;

the

and why

discussions tend to the negation of the evident

and the proclamation of the absurd.

In those word-s,

truly marvellous, is the secret of all our forefathers saw,

E

;

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

66

that our children shall see, and

all

No no

behold.

;

truth, unless the Father calls him

radical, invincible

But the Father

Son

we

ourselves

—

is,

to the

profound words, which

once to the omnipotence of God, and the

testify at

the

that

all

one can come to the Son, that

shall

impotence of the will call,

and

be placed on the

things to Himself: this

is

all

human

race.

nations will respond

cross,

and

shall

draw

all

the saving promise of the

supernatural triumph of truth over error, good over evil;

a promise which shall be completely

the end

fulfilled at

of time.

"My

Father worketh unto now; and

the Father, so the

(John

V.

but

if

17-21).

go

for if I

in

be

"It

is

life

to

I will

of

come

the pens of

to you

all

all sages,

that

is

7).

would

contained

In them are declared the sovereign

and the supernatural,

permanent action of the Holy Ghost. Catholic supernaturalism, with its

will"

send him to you" (John xvi.

capable of explaining

virtue of grace,

As

work.

expedient to you that I go:

all doctors,

those words.

I

whom He

not, the Paraclete will not

I go,

The tongues not

Son giveth

unutterable marvels; there

the triumph of the cross, which

its infinite is is

and

invisible,

Here

the

is

fecundity and

explained, above

all,

the greatest and most

inconceivable of all wonders.

In

humanly speaking, must nec esm ust succumb, first, b ecause it was

fact. Christianity,

sarily succu

Jthe truth;

mb

:

it Jiad

in its su pport

m ar-

doquent testimonies, and^ ir refragab le The human race had always risen and pro-

vellous miracles, proofs.^

it

secondly, because

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

tested against these things separately

probable, nor credible,

would not

rise

and de facto

it

nor

to

;

and

67 it

was not

be imagined, that

it

up and protest against them united broke into blasphemies, protests, and

rebellion.

But the Just One mounted the cross through love, and shed His blood through love, and gave His life through love and that infinite love and that precious ;

blood merited for the world the coming of the Holy

Then everything was changed, for reason was faith, and nature by grace. How admirable is God in His works, how marvellous Man and in His designs, and how sublime in His ideas Ghost.

•

conquered by

!

truth were at

war

the indomitable pride of the former

;

did not square well with the insolent and brutal evidence

God tempered

of the latter.

by placing

it

the evidence of the latter

in transparent clouds,

former, and in sending

compact with him I will tell thee

:

—"

it

to

I will

divide

what thou hast to

strength to believe

it

;

but

and sent

faith to the

him made the following

I

my empire with thee.

believe, will

and give thee

not oppress thy

sovereign will with the yoke of evidence.

stretch

I

my hand to save thee, but I leave thee the power of damning thee. I will not take from thee what I gave thee and on the day I drew thee from nothingness, I out

;

gave thee

freewill."

And

this

compact, through the

grace of God, was freely accepted by man.

way

In this

the dogmatic obscurity of Catholicity saved from

certain

shipwreck

historical

evidence.

Faith,

more

adapted than evidence to the understanding of man,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

68

saved from shipwreck

proposed by

faith if

human it

Truth should be

reason.

were to be accepted by man,

naturally rebellious against the tyranny of evidence.

And

we have

the same spirit that proposes what

believe,

and gives us strength to believe

we should

do,

it,

us what

tells

and gives us the desire of doing

co-operates with us in accomplishing

to

and

it,

So. great

it.

is

the misery of man, so absolute his ignorance, and so

he cannot of himself form

radical his impotence, that

a good resolution, nor conceive a great design, nor a desire of doing anything agreeable to

tageous to the salvation of his soul hand, so elevated

;

God

or advan-

and, on the other

his dignity, so noble his nature, so

is

sublime his origin, and so glorious his end, that

Himself thinks with walks with his

He who

feet,

his thoughts, sees

and operates with

supports him that he

may

holds him that he

may

who commands His

angels to bear

God

with his eyes,

his hands.

walk,

it is

not stumble, and

It is

He who

He

is

it

him in their hands that he may not fall and if he happen to fall. He raises him Himself; and once raised, makes him desire to persevere, and helps him to do so. Hence St Augustine says, "No one comes to salvation unless ;

God

calls

him, and no one, after being called, does acts

calculated to promote this salvation unless

He

assists

Hence God Himself. says in the Gospel of St John (xv. 4, 5), "Abide in me, and I in you. As the

him."

branch cannot bear vine, so neither

the vine

;

fruit

of itself unless

it

abide in the

can you unless you abide in me.

you the branches

:

he that abideth

in

I

am

me, and

LIBERALISM, I in

AND much

him, the same beareth

you

And

do nothing."

can,

Epistle to the Corinthians

we

that

for without

;

me

4,

"And

says,

5),

Christ towards

God

such ;

not

are sufficient to think anything of ourselves,

as of ourselves radical

fruit

69

the apostle in his second

(iii.

we have through

confidence

SOCIALISM.

;

but our sufficiency

impotence of

man

from God."

is

This

in the affair of salvation

was

by Job when he said (chap, xiv.), " Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed, but Thee, O Lord?" Moses says (Exod. xxxiv.), "No confessed

man

of himself

is

innocent before Thee'.'

in that inimitable work,

"

The

St Augustine,

Confessions," turning to

me grace to do what Thou commandest, and command what Thou pleasest." So that as God tells me what I should believe, and gives me strength to believe it, in the same way He commands what I should do, and gives me grace to do what He

God

says, " Lord, give

commands.

What can

understanding can comprehend, what tongue

tell,

what pen

He

describe,

the

manner

in

which

these sovereign prodigies in man, and

God works

carries him along the

hand

at once merciful

Who

will

and

way just,

gentle and powerful.'

mark out the boundaries

empire between the divine will

how

of salvation with a

and the

of that spiritual free will of

man

>.

Who will say how they concur without becoming I only know one thing, O confounded or injured ? as I am, and great and humble and Lord, that, poor powerful as

Thou

Thou

lovest

art.

Thou

respectest

me, and lovest

me

as

me

as

much

much as Thou

as

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

^o

respectest me.

I

know

that

Thou

to myself, because of myself,

abandon

wilt not

me

can do nothing but

I

Thee and be lost; and I know that, when tendering me the hand which is to save me, Thou wilt tender it so softly, so lovingly, and so sweetly, that I shall not feel its touch. Thou art like the delicate forget

breath of the ?ephyr in suavity, like the whirlwind

am borne by Thee as by the whirlwind, Thee freely, as if wafted by the breath of Thou earnest me as if Thou didst force me,

in strength.

and

move

I

I

to

the zephyr.

Thou

but

dost not force but solicit me.

and yet Thou movest and at

callest softly

my

;

door and

in

and

me.

Thou comest

again.

could not

and when in

my

answer Thee answer,

I

mine the answer.

;

but that

I

to

my

door

lost

:

is

in

my

I

;

answer what

know

it

know that I but I know that Thou didst not call;

mouth. Thine being the

Thee, and that merit

I

if

know

I

power not to answer Thee, and be can answer Thee, and be saved I

who move,

do not answer. Thou waitest

if I

callest

It is I

call,

thou

puttest

and Thine and

that I canijot act without

I

act through Thpe,

I

only merit, because

and when I act I Thop assistest me me to act. I know

Thou didst assist when Thou rewardest me because I merit, and when I nierit because I act. Thou givest me three to

merit, as

that

graces—the grace of the preniium with which Thou me; the grace of meriting which Thou

rewardest

gayest me, and. which led

Thou gavest me of know that Thou art like

to

my

reward; and thp

Thy

grace

acting with

I

the mother, and

assistance. I

like the

LIBERALISM, little child,

whom

into

AND

SOCTALISM.

71

the mother infuses the desire of

him her hand that he maywalk, and afterwards kisses him because he desired to walk, and did walk, with the aid of her hand. I know walking, and then gives

that I write only because

and that

of writing,

desire

teachest

me

Thou

or permittest

with the

only what Thou

I write

me

me

inflamest

to write.

I

believe that

he who thinks he moves a finger without Thee, neither

knows Thee nor I

ask

my

is

a Christian.

reader's

pardon

for entering,

though a lay-

man, on the mysterious and thorny paths of grace.

All

however, acknowledge, on a little reflection, that it was an imperious necessity when treating of the serious

will,

subject dealt with in the last chapters, to advance at least

some length on

that slippery path.

We

were

trying to discover the legitimate explanation of that

prodigy, ever

ancient,

new,

ever

viz.,

action Christianity has exercised, and

is

the

powerful

exercising,

on

the world, and of that mystery, no less stupendous and prodigious,

the virtue of transformation she dis-

viz.,

played when brought into relation and contact with human societies. The prodigy of her propagation and of her triumph

is

in her prophetic

her

doctrine

—

not in her historical testimonies, nor

announcements, nor

in the sanctity of

circumstances which, in the state to

which man was reduced after his prevarication and his sin, have been more adapted to keep people from her, than to carry her triumphantly to the uttermost endi> of the earth. Nor were miracles capable of working this

prodigy, for though

it

is

true that, considered in

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

72

themselves,

they

are

supernatural,

considered as an

exterior proof, they are a natural one, subject to the

same conditions

as

human

The propagation

testimony.

and triumph of Christianity

is

a supernatural

fact, as it

has been propagated and has triumphed in spite of

being possessed of what should impede

and

its

victory.

This supernatural fact could not be

legitimately explained except

which, supernatural

by

naturally.

natural in

on the

its action, is

cross,

on them.

its

to a cause

nature, that

This cause, supernatural in grace.

by our Lord when He Author of

by ascending

nature, should operate exteriorly

a manner conformable with

in

propagation

its

itself,

is,

super-

and super-

Grace was merited

for us

suffered an ignominious death

and the apostles received

it

when the

and of all grace descended The Holy Ghost infused into the apostles

all sanctification

the grace, the death of the Son, through the mercy of the Father, merited for us

Holy Trinity redemption, as

interferes it

in

;

so that in this

way

the

the ineffable work of our

did in the creation of the universe.

This serves to explain two things, which without this explanation would be totally inexplicable,

viz.,

how

it

was that the apostles wrought greater miracles than their divine Master, and their miracles were more fruitful

than His, as the Lord had foretold them on several This consisted in the fact that the universal

occasions.

ransom of the human

race, in the

of ages from the time of

whole prolongation

Adam

to the last day, was to be the reward of the bloody tragedy of the cross and in the fact that, till this tragedy was consummated, the ;

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

73

divine mansions were to be closed against the children

of

Adam When

with gates of adamant.

of

Then

fire.

Holy Ghost descended

the time came, the

upon the apostles it

like

an impetuous wind

happened that

at once, without transition,

and divine

The

action.

They

by

all

in

tongues

things were changed

virtue of a supernatural

change was wrought

first

in

now they had light they did not understand, and now they had understanding they were ignorant, and now they became sages they talked of vulgar things, and now they spoke of marvellous things. The malediction of Babel came to an end since that time every people had spoken its own tongue, and now the apostles spoke them all without confusion. They were pusillanimous, and now they became daring they were cowards, and now they became brave they were lazy, and now they the apostles.

did not see, and

;

;

;

;

;

;

became diligent they had abandoned their Lord for the flesh and the world, and now they abandoned the world and the flesh for their Lord they had rejected the ;

;

cross for

they

life,

and now they gave

members

died in their

become transformed live

an angelic

And

as the

life

into

their life for the cross ;

to

men

;

to

God they

cease to be

they abandon the human.

Holy Ghost had transformed the

the apostles transformed the world

;

had seen God, and had not recognised in

it

did not see,

it

knew Him.

His word, and now that

He had

apostles>

not they indeed,

but the invincible Spirit that was in them.

that

;

to live in their spirit

The world

Him and now ;

It had not beheved

ceased to speak,

it

;

£SSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

74

believed in His word.

He who

and now that Father, Jesus,

it

believed in

and now

had seen His miracles in vain, wrought them had gone to His It had crucified His miracles. It

adored

it

Him whom

it

had

crucified

had worshipped idols, and now it burned its idols. it had regarded as vain arguments, it now looked on as victorious and inconceivable proofs it changed it

What

:

its

profound hatred into

immense

love.

As he whojias no jdea of grace has none of Christianity, so he who hasjiojiqtion_^fJhe_grovidence^of_God is in

the most complete ignorance of

dence, taken in

its

the Creator has of

all

Provi-

all things.

most general acceptation, things created,.

is

the care

Things existed

^God created them; but they only subsist because God watches over them with_a c ontinual care,

Jpecat^e

which

is

an incessant creation.

Things which, before

they were, had not in themselves the reason of their being, have not in themselves the reason of their sub-

God

sistence after they

came

the reason of

being and the reason of being, sub-

sistence

nothing

life,

to being.

and the reason of subsistence. lives,

nothing

subsists,

by

alone

is life

Nothing its

own

and

exists,

virtue.

Beyond God those supreme attributes do not exist in any place or thing. God is not like a painter, who, when he finishes a picture, abandons and forgets it nor do the things God created subsist, like the painting, of ;

God made

more sovereign a more substantial and excellent manner. Things of the natural and supernatural order, and those which, escaping beyond themselves.

things in a

way, and things depend on

God

in

;

AND

LIBERALISM, the

common

SOCIALISM.

75

natural or supernatural order, are called

miraculous, without ceasing to be different from one another, as they are governed and directed laws,

have

because

;

because

nor of the it

is

dependence, on the

say of the fountains that they flow

their nature to flow,

should of them fruitful,

in their absolute

When we

it is

different

something, and even a great deal, in com-

all

mon, which consists divine will.

by

trees,

we do not say all we when we say they are

their nature to bear fruit.

Their

nature does not give to things a virtue independent of the will of their

Creator, but a certain determined

manner of beipg dependent, in all and every moment of their existence, on the will of the sovereign Maker and divine Architect. The fountains flow because God commands them to flow with an actual commandment and He commands them to flow because to-day, as in the day of their creation. He sees it is good they should flow.

The

trees fructify because

to fructify with

them

this

commandment because

He

of their creation,

should bear are those

sees

all.

God

the preserver of that ticus

He

and

gives

to-day, as in the

good that the

how much

see

all exist in

dependence on God, or

exist at

is

;

day trees

in error

seek the explanation of events either in

secondary causes, which diate

it

Hpnce we

fruit.

who

God commands them

an actual commandment

alone

all

is

general and

imme-

which does not

in chance,

the Creator of

all

that exists,

that subsists, and the author of

all

happens, according to the words of Ecclesias(xi.

14),

"Good

things and

poverty and riches, are from God."

evil,

life

and death,

Hence St

Basil says

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

76

that in attributing

to

all

God

lies

the

sum

of

all

Christian

philosophy, according to the words of our Lord in St "

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head Matthew

are

all

(x. 29, 30),

numbered."

When we

view things from this height,

it is

clear that

the natural, the supernatural, and the miraculous, equally

The

depend on God.

miraculous, the supernatural, and

the natural

are substantially identical

their origin,

which

being

actual

in

is

all,

the will of is

in

God

phenomena

—a

God

eternal.

all

in

will which,

willed

and actually the resurrection of Lazarus, as He wills eternally and actually that the trees should bear fruit and the trees have no reason more eternally

;

independent of the divine

for bearing fruit

than Lazarus for coming forth from the sepulchre after he was buried. The difference between these phenomena is will

not in their essence, since one and the other depend on the divine will, but in the mode because in both cases ;

the divine will

ways, and

by

these ways

is

called,

and

natural,

is,

is

executed and

virtue called,

fulfilled in

of two different

and

miraculous.

is,

natural,

We

call

two

laws.

different

One

and the other

of is

the daily prodigies

and the intermittent, miraculous.

Whence we see how great is the madness of those who deny the power of working the intermittent to Him who works the daily. What else is this but deny the power of doing the less to Him who does the more or, what is the same, to deny that that can

to

">.

LIBERALISM, be done once which

is

AND

done daily

resurrection of Lazarus because

me,

tell

Why

why do you

SOCIALISM.

77

You who deny

?

the

a miraculous act,

it is

not deny other greater prodigies

do you not deny that sun, which

and those heavens, so beautiful and

?

rises in the east,

and their do you not deny those beautiful, murmuring, or restless seas, and that light, soft sand kissed by their waves, and their concerted harmony or their magnificent turbulence ? Why do you not deny those plains, so full of freshness, and eternal

luminaries

those woods, so

?

full:

and those immense

brilliant,

Why

of silence, majesty, and obscurity,

cataracts, with their glorious rush of

and even those clear and crystalline waters themselves ? And if you do not deny these things, how are you so mad, and so palpably inconsistent, as to waters,

man is impossible, or may say, that I only deny

think that the resurrection of a

even

For myself,

difficult ?

I

him who, having opened his exterior eyes to what surrounds him, or his interior to see what

credit to

see

passes within himself, finds anything either within or

without that It

is

not a miracle.

follows hence, that

the distinction, on the one

hand, between natural and supernatural things, and, on the other, between ordinary phenomena, as well of the natural as the supernatural order, and the miraculous, involves no rivalry or occult antagonism between exists

as

if

by God were

the will of

not the author, and preserver, and

sovereign governor of .

what

God, and what exists by nature;

all

that exists.

All those distinctions, carried

beyond

their

dogmatic

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

78 limits,

end, as

we

see, in the deification of matter,

and

the absolute and radical negation of providence and of grace.

In^ conclusion, taking up the thread of this discourse

by

will_saj^_that provide nce is a general grace,

which God maintains in

being,

its^

,

I

virtue of

and governs by His

counsel, all tha±_e3dstSj_as_^grace js_a special providence

by"which God takes care of man.

dogma

dence and the

The dogma

of provi-

of grace reveal to us the existence

of a supernatural world, in which the reason aiid the causes of

that

all

we

the light which comes thence,

darkness

all is

the explanation that comes thence,

all is

phenomenal, ephemeral, and contingent is

without

us,

and within

The knowledge political

man

of

things are

The supernatural is above The supernatural sur-

us.

rounds the natural, and penetrates through foundation

light, all is

all

dissipated, fleeting phantasms, unreal

shadows, and passing dreams. us,

;

without

;

inexplicable

without that explanation, and without that

smoke which

Without

see substantially reside.

of

the

sciences,

all

and moral.

supernatural,

and

all its pores.

then,

particularly

is

the

of the

In vain shall you try to explain

without grace, and society without providence.

Without providence, and without grace, society and

man

are a perpetual secret to the

importance

of

this

demonstration

human and

race. its

The

sublime

transcendence will be seen hereafter, when, 'on sketching the sad and lamentable picture of our wanderings and

our errors, they shall be the

negation

of

Catholic

all

found to spring

supernaturalism,

as

from their

LIBERALISM, proper source.

AND

SOCIALISM.

In the meantime,

it

to say here, that the supernatural society

and on man,

on which in

built

is

my

purpose

action of

God on

suits

the broad and firm foundation

is

the

of

edifice

such a manner that,

tion, the

79

if

Catholic

doctrine,

you take away that founda-

whole magnificent structure on which human

generations

move with

ease,

comes toppling

to the

ground.

CHAPTER The Cathelic Church has spite

of the same

VII.

triumphed over

obstacles,

and through

society

the

in

same

supernatural means, which gave the victory over the

world to our Lord Jesus

Christ.

The

Catholic Church, considered as a religious institu-

tion,

has exercised the same influence on society, that

a doctrine,__has on the Lord Jesus ^.Christ. has exercised on man. This consists in the fact that our Lord "Jesus XErist, His doctrine, and His Church, are but three different manifestations of one and the same Catholicity,

world

considered

—the saine

thing, that

is,

as

that our

of the divine action operating superna-

and substantially on man and all his powers, on society and all its institutions. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Catholicity, and the Catholic Church, are one and the turally

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

8o

same word

—the word of God, perpetually resounding on

high.

That word has had to surmount the same obstacles, and has triumphed by the same means, in its different incarnations. The prophets of Israel had announced the coming of the Lord His

life,

in the plenitude of time,

had written

lamented with tremendous lamentations His

tremendous woes, foretold His sorrows, described His labours, counted

one by one the drops that composed

the sea of His tears, had seen His torture and His insults,

and had written the history of His passion and death. In spite of

all this,

when He came, and

the people of Israel fulfilled all

knew Him not

the prophecies without

thinking of the prophets and what they foretold. of the Lord was holy

The

;

His mouth was the only

human one which had dared

to pronounce in the pre-

life

sence of men, these words, either madly blasphemous or ineffably divine

— "Who

spite of those words,

before,

will accuse

which no

me

of sin.'"

And

in

man had pronounced

and which no man will pronounce again, the world know Him, and loaded Him with ignominies.

did not

His doctrine was marvellous and true

;

so

much

so,

perfumed everything with its extreme sweetness, and bathed everything with its softened rays. Every word that, sweetly fell from His sacred lips was a marthat

it

vellous revelation, every revelation a sublime truth, every

truth a

hope or a consolation.

people of Israel turned its

its

And in spite of all this, the

eyes from the

light,

and closed

heart against those marvellous consolations, and those

sublime hopes.

He

wrought miracles never seen

xyy

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

men, nor heard of by the Gentiles

men

turn from

Him

with leprosy, or as diction

;

and

with horror, as

He

if

whom He

in spite of 'all this,

He

were infected

bore on His forehead a male-

stamped by divine wrath.

disciples

if

8i

Even one of His

was deaf to the decoying and fell from the eminence of

loved,

allurements of His love,

the apostolate into the abyss of treason.

The Church

of Jesus Christ was announced

by great

prophets, and represented in symbols and figures from

Her divine Founder, on opening

the beginning of time.

her immortal foundations, and on modelling in marvellous

mould her

divine hierarchy,

placed her future

history before the eyes of the apostles.

He

there an-

nounced her great tribulations and unexampled persecutions

;

He saw

her confessors and her martyrs pass

before Him, one by one, in bloody procession.

He

told

them how the powers of the world and of hell would make nefarious compacts, and establish sacrilegious against her

alliances

;

and how she would triumph,

through His grace, over the powers of the world and of hell.

He

cast His sovereign eye over the prolongation

and foretold the end of all immortality of His Church, transformed Jerusalem, clothed with light and with of time,

full

things,

and the

into the celestial brilliant stones,

of glory, and bathed in perfumes of sweetest

grance.

In spite of

all this,

fra-

the world, which ever saw

her persecuted and ever triumphant, which might have

counted her victories by her tribulations, perpetually

new

gives her

new

fulfilling

the great prophecy at the very time

victories in

tribulations, thus blindly it

turns

JSSSA YS

82

ON CA THOLICISM, The

back on the prophet and what he prophesied.

its

Church perfect

is

perfect

and holy.

and holy, as her divine Founder was She also, .and she alone, pronounces iii

presence of the world that word never before heard, "

Who

sin

?

will accuse

And

"

me

of error

in spite of this

Who

?

will accuse

me

of

extraordinary word, which

she alone pronounces, the world neither believes her,

nor follows her, except with is

marvellous and true, because

by of

the great Master of all

wonders

doctrine

the doctrine taught

it is

all truth,

and the great Worker

and yet the world studies

;

Her

its insults.

in the halls of

and lends an attentive ear to the vain eloquence and obscure clowns. She received from her divine Founder the power of working miracles, and she works them, she herself being z, perpetual miracle and yet the world calls her a vain and shameful superstition, and she is made a spectacle

error,

of miserable sophists

;

to

men and

such

nations.

Her own

children, beloved with

love, raise their sacrilegious

hands against

their

tender mother, and abandon the holy hearth which pro-

new family and at new hearth gross delights and impure loves. And in this way does she pursue the path of her dolorous passion, unknown by the world and ignored by heresi-

tected their infancy, and seek in a

a

archs.

And. what

is

singular and marvellous in this

imitating perfectly our

Lord Jesus

suffer tribulations in spite of the prodigies

the

life

she

lives,

is,

that,

Christ, she does not

she works, of

of the truth she teaches, and of the in-

vincible testimonies she produces of the divinity of her

AND SOCIALISM.

LIBERALISM, office

;

but,

on the contrary, she

83

suffers those tribulations

on account of those invincible testimonies, of those truths she teaches, of that holy miracles she works.

nation that

life,

and you

shall

her tribulations,

all

lives,

and of those

moment

in imagi-

those truths, those prodigies, and in-

vincible testimonies,

suppressed

she

life

Suppress for a

all

have

at

one stroke

her tears,

her

all

misfortunes, and all her woes.

In the truths she proclaims tribulation lies

;

lies

the rhystery of her

in the supernatural strength she possesses

the mystery of her victory

;

and those two things

together explain at once her victories and her tribulations.

The

supernatural power of grace

is

perpetually com-

by the ministry of the priests and through the channel of the sacraments and that supernatural power, thus communicated to the faithful, members at once of civil society and of the Church, is municated to the

faithful

;

what

has opened the profound

between ancient and Catholic in the political all

and

social point of view.

well considered, there

results

abyss which

societies,

is

exists

even considered

Between them,

no difference but that which

from the one being composed of Catholics and

the other of pagans

men moved by men who, more more or

less

;

from the one being composed of

and the other of or less completely dead to nature, obey perfectly the supernatural and divine their natural instincts,

impulse of grace.

This explains the distance there

is

political and social institutions of ancient, and those which have spontaneously sprung up in

between the

£SSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

84

modern, societies sion of ideas in

;

as institutions are the social expres-

common

;

intellectual

common

ideas in

lective result of individual ideas

the col-

individual ideas the

;

form of the manner of being and feeling of

man cease to be and same manner, the one being the representative of prevaricating and disinherited humanity, and the other the representative of humanity redeemed. Ancie nt and modern institutions are only the expresman and ;

the pagan and Catholic

to feel in the

sion^of two different societies, because they expression of two different humanitiej. Catholic societies prevaricate and diately invades them,

and the If

societies

you abstract

and

fall,

.are

the

Hence, when

paganism imme-

ideas, cus_tgms,_institutions,

themsel ves, beco rne^pagan. for a

moment from

that invisible and

supernatural power, with which Catholicity has gone

on gently and and

silently transforming everything visible

by means of a mysterious and secret everything becomes obscured, and the

natural,

operation,

natural

and

supernatural,

converted into darkness.

come

false hypotheses,

visible

and

invisible,

are

All your explanations be-

which explain nothing, and are

besides inexplicable.

There

no spectacle more sad than that presented by a man of great talents', when he enters on the impossible and absurd enterprise of explaining visible things

by the as

all

is

and natural things by the natural which, things visible and natural, inasmuch as they are visible,

natural and visible, are one and the

;

same thing, is quite by itself. Into

as absurd as to explain a fact or a thing

;

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

man

grave error has fallen an eminent

this gifts,

whose

writings

it

85

of great

impossible to read without

is

profound respect, whose discourses cannot be heard without admiration, and whose personal qualities are superior even to his writings, his discourses, and his

M. Guizot surpasses

talents. in

contemporary writers

His view, generally speaking,

questions.

In expression he

and well founded. his eloquence

pure, in style

is

is

subject to his reason

his

;

eloquence

No

of a high order, but his reason of a higher.

how

matter

elevated a question

Guizot enters on

it,

may

when M.

be,

he always looks from the mountain

to the valley, never

When

from the valley to the mountain.

he describes the phenomena he

sees,

appear to describe, but to create, them.

on

impartial

is

adornments of language, severely modest

sober, in the

is

all

the art of taking a serene view of most intricate

party questions, he

displays

with

he does not If

he enters

refined

com-

placency the erroneous and the true part which corresponds to each one it

because

;

and he does not appear

corresponds to him, but

it

respond because he gives

to him.

it

he discusses, he discusses as

he teaches as

if

If

religion,

his

language

austere.

If

were possible

is

he happen to speak of

for him,

ceremonious, and it is

reverence.

easily seen

he

The

he

part

work of social regeneration becomes the person who assigns, and the

assigns the Church in the great, as

In general, when

he were teaching, and

solemn,

would go to the limits of

is

to give

appears to cor-

he were naturally invested with an

eminent right to teach.

it

if

it

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

86

institution to

which he assigns

it.

No

one can say

whether he considers her the queen and mistress of other institutions.

What

can be said

is,

that in

any case

she appears in his eyes like an amnestied queen, who,

even

in the

day of her

glory, preserves the signs of her

past servitude.

M. Guizot's special talent lies in seeing well all that sees, and in seeing everything visible, and in seeing everything in itself and abstractedly. The weak point of his intellect lies in not seeing how those visijale and separate things form an hierarchical and harmonious Both this whole, animated by an invisible power. great defect and that special talent, are nowhere so evident as in the book he wrote to fully describe European civilisation. M. Guizot has seen all there is all, except in that civilisation, as complex as prolific the civilisation itself He who seeks the many and various elements which compose it will find them in his book, for they are there he who seeks the powerful unity which constitutes it, the principle of life which circulates freely through the healthy members of that sound and robust social body, let him seek all these he

—

;

things elsewhere, for they are not found in his book.

M. Guizot has that civilisation,

clearly seen all the visible elements of

and

all

that

is

visible in

those which contain nothing that does not

them; and fall

under

the jurisdiction of the senses, have been thoroughly

examined by him. But there was one at once That element was the Church. and invisible. Church acted on society

in a

manner analogous

visible

The to that

t

LIBERLISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

87

of the other political and social elements, and, besides,

manner

in a

institution

was

influence

Considered as an

peculiarly her own.

born

time and localised in space, her

in

visible

and

limited, like that

of other

and offsprings of time. Considered as a divine institution, she had in her an

institutions localised in space

immense supernatural power, which, uninfluenced by the laws of time and space, acted on directions at once, quietly, secretly,

So

true

is this,

all

and

in all

and supernaturally.

that, in the critical confusion of all social

elements, the Church gave something exclusively her

own

to

the others, whilst she herself, alone impe-

all

netrable to confusion, preserved her absolute identity

Roman

intact.

it

on coming into contact with

society,

became, without ceasing to be Roman, something

her,

had not been before

German

—

it

became

Catholic.

—they

became became

institutions^

without

peoples, without ceasing to be German,

something they had not been before Catholic.

and

Political

social

The

losing their pro per nature, took on e whichjwas-ioreign

to

them

— he

Catholic natu re.

not a vain form, for institution

and

:

it

essential,

it

and hence gave them Catholicity

and changed the essences

it

intact all the forms

preserved

society

lism

all its

Catholicity

was

was, on the contrary, something intimate

found and intimate.

it left

And

gave no form whatever to any

its

own ;

something pro-

the forms intact

and at the same time that

and changed

all

the essences,

essence intact, and received from

The Church was

forms.

was Catholic

;

all

left

feudal, as feuda-

but the Church did not receive

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

88

an equivalent for what she gave, as she received something that was purely external and accidental, whilst

she gave something internal and intimate, which was to

endure as an essence.

from

results

It

European

and more than other at

other civilisations,

civilisations, is

unity and variety

one and the same time,

made

what

i^

most

Europea n

gave

essential

civilisation

the Church

one, gave

an institution

in

it

it

that from which

it

was not

or absolutCj or feudal;

other elements combined

various, whilst

by making

—

essential character^

all

it

one, and,

it

of

all

which, like

and united constituted alone

common mass

in the

this that,

civilisation,

—

is

its

it

its

taken

name.

German, _or^oman,

called

was and

is

called Catholic

civilisation.

Catholicity

not, then, solely, as

is

M. Guizot^upposes,

one of the various elements which entered into the composition of that admirable civilisation that,

muchjnore than

itself.

pies a

Strange

moment

!

that

;

is

it

:

it is

more than

tha t very civ ilisation

M. Guizot sees everything that occu-

in time, or

a circumscribed spot in space,

and does not see that which extends beyond

and time

;

he sees what

is

and he does not see that which

is

in all parts.

organised and hving body, he sees the

compose it, but not the members. Abstract for a

life

as a

human

moment from

institution,

space off,

In an

members which

which courses through those the divine virtue and the

supernatural power which are in the Church it

all

here, or there, or farther

;

consider

which spreads and extends by

a

AND

LIBERALISM, purely right.

But the

it

with his sovereign reason.

difficulty still exists,

fact that

us

89

human and natural means, and M. Guizot is The influence of her doctrine cannot pass the

natural limits he assigns

tells

SOCIALISM.

it

it

because

contradiction which

is

an evident

Between history which

has passed them.

has passed, and reason which

not pass, them, there

is

it

tells

us

it

could

an evident contradiction

—

must be reconciled by a superior

formula and a supreme conciliation, which will har'

monise

facts

with principles and reason with history.

must be sought outside history and and visible and is found in the invisible, the supernatural, and the divine of the holy Catholic Church. That something supernatural, divine, and impalpable, is what has subjugated the world to her, surmounted the most invincible obstacles

That formula

reason, outside the natural

for her,

;

brought into subjection to

and proud

hearts, elevated

her, rebel intellects

her above

human

vicissi-

tudes and secured her empire over tribes and nations.

No

one who does not keep

diving virtue will ever victories, or

will

view her sovereign and

comprehend her

influence, her

as no one

who does not

her tribulations

comprehend them

in

;

ever comprehend what

mate, essential, and profound in European

is inti-

civilisation.

BOOK

II.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO ORDER IN GENERAL.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO ORDER IN GENERAL.

CHAPTER

I.

On the free will of man.

Beyond the action of God there man beyond divine providence ;

human

liberty.

is

only the action of

there

The cqmHnatior^f

that providence, constitutes the rich

is

nothing but

thisliberty with

and varied course

of history.

The

free will of

man

is

and the most wonderful, wonders.

the masterpiece of creation,

if I

may

say

so,

of the divine

All things are invariably directed to

it,

in

way that creation would be inexplicable without man, and man inexplicable if he were not free. His liberty is at once his own explanation, and the explanaBut who will explain that sublime, tion of all things. such a

and so inhim cannot deprive

inviolable, holy liberty, so holy, so sublime, violable, that

him of

it,

He who gave

it

and with which he can

to

resist

and conquer

Him

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

94

who gave

it

an invincible resistance and Who will e'xplain how, in that

to him, with

a tremendous victory

?

God becomes the conqueror, and man the conquered, though the victory of man

man

victory of

i

is

over God,

God a

a true victory; and the defeat of

What

victory

is

that which

the death of the victor

?

true defeat

?

necessarily followed by

is

And what

defeat

is

ends in the glorification of the conquered

that which

How

?

is

paradise the reward of defeat, and hell the penalty of victory

If

?

my

reward be

in

my

defeat,

why do

me ? And if my why do I naturally

naturally reject what will save

demnation be

what

will

in

my

damn me

victory,

I

con-

seek

?

These are questions which occupied

all intellects in

the ages of the great doctors, and are regarded to-day

with contempt by petulant sophists, of

lifting

who

are incapable

from the ground the formidable arms those

To-day

holy doctors easily and humbly wielded.

it

appears inexcusable madness to touch with humility,

and aided by grace, on the deep designs of God profound mysteries

;

as

without understanding

if

man

God appear to-day

All the great questions

and superfluous

sterile

if it

were possible to treat of God, who

and

truth,

Coming

His

in

know anything

something of those profound

mysteries and deep designs.

about

could

is

;

as

intelligence

without gaining in truth and intelligence. to

the tremendous question which

subject of this chapter, and which

I will

is

the

endeavour to

confine within the narrowest limits possible,

the notion generally entertained of freewill

I

hold that is

entirely

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM,

Freewill d oe s not consist, as

false.

,

lieved, in the faculty of choosing, solicit

generally be-

is

good or

with two contrary solicitations.

it

95

evil,

,which

If freewill

consisted in that faculty, the following consequences,

one

relative to

absurd,

man

man, the other to God, and both evidently

must necessarily

fdlTow.

consists in the fact that he

more

The one would be

relative to less free

the

perfect he became, as he cannot increase in per-

becoming subject to the sway of that him to good, nor become subject to the

fection without

which

solicits

sway of good without proportionately escaping from the sway of evil, which, by more or less altering, according to the degree of his perfection, the equilibrium

between

those two contrary solicitations, must diminish his liberty, that

is,

his faculty of choosing, in the

which the equilibrium

is

altered.

same degree

As thehighest

in

per-

fection consists in the annihilation of one of those t;yo

contrary solicitations, and as perfect liberty

is

to be the faculty of choosing between them,

supposed it is

clear,

tEatTetween the perfection and the liberty of man there IS an evident contradiction and an absolute incompati^lity.

The

absurdity of this consequence consists in

the fact that man, being perfection,

free,

he cannot preserve

and bound to aspire to his liberty without re-

nouncing his perfection, nor become perfect without forfeiting his liberty.

The consequence tha t, as

He

would be

is

relative to

God

consists in the fact

subject to rio~con?fary solicitations,

totally devoid of liberty, if

lacultyof choosing between contrary

it

He

consisted in the

solicitations.

For

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

96

He should be capable good and evil, sanctity and sin. Between the nature of God and liberty, thus defined, there is, then, a radical contradiction and an absolute incompatibility. And as it is absurd to suppose, on the God

to

be

free, it

were necessary

of choosing between

one hand, that God cannot "be

be God and remain

free

and remain God, nor

man

and, on the other, that

free,

cannot

attain

liberty,

nor be free without renouncing his perfection,

perfection

his

without

forfeiting

his

follows that the notion of liberty generally enter-

it

tained

The liberty

is

and absurd.

totally false, contradictory,

error

am

I^

supposing that

refuting, consists in

the faculty of choosing^

is

when

it

is

only the

faculty of willing, which supposes the faculty of under-

Every being gifted with jinderstanding and free, and its libert^_i?-. "ot something distinct

standing. will is

from__itsj¥ilL5,nd

its

understanding, but

understanding taken together.

has understanding and

being that

it

that

free,

it

is

When we

we say

the

expres sed in two different

will,

its

w

ill

and

say of one

and of an other

same thing of both but ,

w avs.

If liberty consist in the faculty of understanding

and

wiUing, perfect liberty will consist in understanding and willing perfectly wills

with

all

sequence, that

and as God alone understands and

;

perfection,

God

alone

If liberty consist in is free,

because he

but he

is

an

is

follows

by necessary con-

perfectly free.

understanding and willing,

gifted with will

not perfectly

infinite

it

is

free,

man

and understanding

because he

is

and perfect understanding and

;

not gifted with will.

;

LIBERALISM,

The

AND

SOCIALISM.

97

imperfection of his understanding consists, on

the one hand, in

its

not understanding

understood, and, on the other, in error.

The

one hand,

its

that

all

is

to

be

being subject to

imperfection of his will consists, on the

in

not willing

it's

and, on the other, in

conquered by

evil.

its

that should be willed,

all

being liable to be solicited and

Whence

it

follows that the

imp er-

fection of his liberty consists i n the faculty he posses ses

of pursuing evil and embracing error "ihat the imperfection of

~

Th that

;

which means,

hurnanjiberty consists prec isely

faculty of choosing, which, according

general opinion, constitutes

its

to the

absolute perfection.

When man~came

from the hands of God, he underand because he understood, he willed, and because he willed, he executed, it and by it executing the good his will desired and his intellect That this is the Christian understood, he was free. signification of liberty is clear from the following words

stood the good

;

;

;

of the Gospel

:

—

"

You

shall

shall make you free" (John

know

viii.

the truth,

32).

and the

Between

truth

his liberty

and that of God there was, then, no difference but that which there is between one thing which can be diminished and lost, and another which can suffer neither loss nor diminution is

naturally limited,

—between

one thing that

and another that

is

by nature

infinite.

When to

the

woman

lent

an attentive and curious ear

the voice of the fallen angel, her understanding

became immediately obscured, and her will weakened separated from God, who was her support, she fell into

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

93

On

a moral swoon.

not distinct from her will impaired.

When

templation

to

she passed from the culpable conculpable

the

suffered a great obscurity

ness

;

the

liberty

woman dragged

the

the

her

act,

—her

became miserably

Confounding

was and understanding, became

that instant her liberty, which

will,

man

understanding

a profound weak-

human

with her, and

enfeebled.

notion

of

with that

liberty

of

sovereign independence, some ask why it is said that man was a slave when he fell under the jurisdiction of the devil, whilst at the same time it is held that he was To free when placed absolutely in the hands of God } which we answer, that it cannot be said of man that he is

in

a slave solely because he does not belong to himself,

which case he would never cease to be a

slave,

because he never belongs to himself in an independent >

H e is

and sovereign manner.

into the hands^of a usurper,

and

There

his leyrtimate master.

subjection to a tyrant, no exercises

a sla ve only free is

when he

falls

only_whenJie obeys

no other slavery but

other tyrant but

him who

usurped power, nor other liberty but that

which consists authority.

in

voluntary obedience to legitimate

Others do not comprehend

by which we were placed

in liberty,

how

the grace

and redeemed,

is

reconciled with that liberty and redemption, thinking that, in that

mysterious operation,

and man passive

;

in

God

alone

is

active

which they are totally in

error,

because in this great mystery

God and man

the former acting and the latter co-operating. this

very reason

God

is

accustomed to

concur,

And

for

give, generally

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

speaking, only the grace sufficient to gentleness.

Fearing to oppress,

with calling

it

his part,

Him

to

He

move

99

the will with

contents Himself

with alluring accents.

when he obeys

Man, on

the gentle call of grace, obeys

with incomparable suavity and complacency

;

and when

the gentle will of man, which delights in the joined with the gentle will of God,

it,

call,

is

takes delight

him because He takes delight then that grace which was only sufficient, becomes

in calling in

who

him, and

efficacious,

calls

through the concourse of these two gentle

wills.

As_to_those wha_£Qll£eiye liberty only in the absence of

all soli citation

which can move the

only say that they inadvertently,

two great absurdities rational being can

—

into that,

fall

will of

into

man,

I will

one of these

which supposes that a

be moved without some species of

motive, or into that, which consists in supposing that a

being which

is

not rational, can be

free.

If what_we have said be true, the fa culty of choo sing

given to man, farjro

m

being the necessary condition

is

,

the danger o f liberty, sin ce the possibilit}^ of wandering

from the good an d

falling into error lies in_ it,^as_also

of renouncing the obedience due to God, and of falling

hands of a tyra nt.

into the

All the efforts of

man

should be directed, with the aid of grace, to rendering that faculty inoperative, if

that be impossible,

Only he who loses the good

;

it

is

entirely destroyed, or,

it falls

into perpetual disuse.

till it

till

understands,

and only he who does

and only he who

is

free

is

wills,

and executes,

this is perfectly free

perfect

;

and only he who

;

is

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

loo

perfect

Hence none

blessed.

is

of the blessed have

it,

nor God, nor His saints, nor the choirs of His angels.

CHAPTER Answers

V

to

some questions

II.

dogma.

relative to this

If the faculty of choosing does not constitute the perfection,

but rather the danger, of the free

lies in

man

and

the secret of

sin,

damnation,

gift,

so pregnant

it,

goodness of an

if

how can infinite

the hand that gives

anger life }

?

it

that fearful

took their

to

me

it

it

be merciful,

why

such a heavy burden

}

strong, hand.'

is just,

coming

And

If

it

into being to

if it

annihilate

—a

Shall

hand of mercy or of

I

why

If I sinned

it

give

it

accompany

call it

a

what had

become the

be only strong,

me ?

did

infi-

How shall I designate

God?

be a hand of anger, why did

If

If

if

fall,

with misfortunes and catastrophes, square with the nite

;

origin of his

rise in that faculty,

and death,

will of

and the

his prevarication

just,

I

life

me

with

or only a

done before

object of such rigour?

does

it

not crush and

through use of the

gift I

who is the author of my sin ? If in. the end I be damned through sin, to which I am inclined through the inclination that was given me, who is the author of received,

my

damnation and

dous Being,

whom

my I

hell

?

Mysterious and tremen-

know not whether

curse, shall I fall prostrate at

Thy

to bless or to

feet, like

Thy servant

LIBERALISM, Job,

AND

my

and address to Thee

intensified

by

my

sobs,

till I

SOCIALISM.

loi

burning supplications

move Thee

;

or shall I pile

mountain on mountain, Pelion on Ossa, and renew against Thee the war of the Titans ? Mysterious Sphinx !

I

know

Thee

;

not whether to appease Thee or tiy to conquer I

know

not whether to rush into the

enemies, or to follow the footsteps of

do not even know Thy name. omniscient,

Thy name

tell is

me at

least in

written, that I

Thee for Thy names Those who are saved ;

damned, a

camp

of

Thy

servants.

I

Thou

art

as they say,

Thy sealed books may know how to address which of

are as contradictory as Thyself. call

Thee God, those who

are

tyrant.

Thus speaks the genius its

If,

Thy

of pride and blasphemy, with

flaming eyes turned on God.

Through an incon-

madness or an inexplicable aberration, man, work of the Creator, cites to his tribunal the very God who gave him the tribunal in which he sits, the reason with which he judges, and the very voice with And blasphemies call to other which he cites Him. the blasphemy which blasphemies, as abyss to abyss cites ends in the blasphemy which condemns, or the blasphemy which absolves, Him. Whether he absolve, or condemn Him, the man who, instead of adoring, judges Him, is a blasphemer. Woe to the proud who Blessed are the humble who adore Him, for cite Him He shall come to the one and the other. To the one He shall come as cited on the day of the summons to the other as adored on the day of adoration. He never the one, however, forgets to answer him who calls Him ceivable

the

;

!

;

;

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

I02

He

will

answer with His wrath, the other with His

mercy.

And

let it

absurdity, as

not be said that this doctrine leads to if it

led to the negation of all

competency

on the part of human reason to take cognisance of the things of God, and hence to the implicit condemnation

of theologians and the holy doctors, and even of the

who

them at large in past ages. What this doctrine condemns is the competency of human reason, unillumined by faith, to deal with things Church

herself,

treated of

which are matter of revelation and natural.

When

faith,

because super-

reason interferes in those things with-

out the aid indicated, quality of judge,

it

treats of,

and with, God, in its of postponement

who does not admit

nor appeal against his decisive judgments.

In

this

condemns or aband it is so, not so much on solves, is a blasphemy account of what it affirms or denies of God, as what supposition,

its

whether

decision,

it

;

human

reason implicitly affirms of

itself in

the condemnation and in the absolution,

the same thing of sovereignty.

When

itself

—

its

it

it,

as both in

ever affirms

own independence and

the holy Church affirms or denies

anything of God, she does nothing but affirm or deny of

Him what

she has heard from

God

Himself.

When

eminent theologians and the holy doctors penetrate with their reason into the obscure abyss of the divine excellences,

the

they ever enter

it

with a secret terror, and with

lamp of faith illumining

pect to surprise in faith,

but add to

God

secrets

its light

They do not exand marvels unknown to

their way.

the rays of the lamp of reason,

LIBERALISM, to

examine a

secrets

;

AND

different side

SOCIALISM.

of the

103

same marvels and

they do not expect to see new things in God,

Him

same things in two different ways and these two different ways of knowing, are two different ways of adoring, Him. For it should be known, that there is no mys tery amongst those whic h fai th teaches and the Church p robut only to see in

the

;

poses to us, which does not unite in

itself,

by an

admir-

able disposition of God, two_ qualities which ordinarily

—obscuritj^jind__evidence.__ Catholic

exclude each other

mysteries are like bodies at oncejunijnous and opaque,

way that their shadows can

in such a

by

never be brightened

their light, nor their light obsciLred

by

their

shad ows,

remaining perpetually ob scure and perpetually lum inous^

At

the very time they shed their light over crea-

they keep their shadows for themselves

tion,

everything clear, and can themselves be

They

nothing.

and

more absurd

them, there

is

they

made

make

clear

by

penetrate everything, and are them-

selves impenetrable. it is

;

It

to

appears absurd to admit them,

To him who admits their own to him who

deny them.

no obscurity but

;

denies them, day becomes night, and his eyes, deprived

of light, find nothing but obscurity in

And

yet

men

all

in their great blindness prefer

directions.

denying, to

them light appears to them intolerable if it happen to come from a sombre region and their gigantic pride condemns their eyes to eternal obscurity, admitting,

;

;

regarding the shades found in one sole mystery as

a greater difficulty than those that extend in tions.

all direc-

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

104

Without leaving the deep mysteries which form the subject of this chapter,

it

be easy to demonstrate

will

all

Are you ignorant of the reason why that tremendous gift of choosing between good and evil, sanctity and sin, life and death, was given to man ? Well, deny it for a moment, and on that moment you

we have

said.

human

render totally impossible the angelic and

of liberty, only perfect

r

emove that facu lty, and

and perfect

;

:

in this

way you

is

in

God.

Imperfection

i

If

rush into Pantheism or Atheism,

which are the same thing expressed ways.

is

ntellect. That you suppose it God and the creature are one and the

simultaneous perfectio n in the creature,

the^ libgrty

liberty is the result of the simul-

taneous perfection of the will and the

same

crea-

If in that faculty of choosi ng lies the imperfection

tions.

in

two

different

and you cannot deny one or the

so natural to the creature,

is

perfection to God, that

other without an implication in terms, a substantial con-

and an evident absurdity.

tradiction

that

He

imperfect,

is

is

to say of the creature that

creature does not exist

:

mystery

is

by abandoning the one

;

superior, its negation

As

all

is

false,

To

it

is

He

is

say the

contrary, to

for the other,

human

you have

for the impossible.

contradictory,

the Catholic affirmation.

that

God

results, that if the

and absurd

rationalistic negation, all is simple, natural,

in

say of

does not exist

perfect, is to

it is

whence

reason

abandoned the obscure

He

to say

and

in

the

logical

Catholicity says of

God

absolutely perfect; and of created beings

that they are perfect with a relative perfection, and

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

and

perfect

an

with

imperfect

SOCIALISM.

absolute

imperfect

imperfection

their absolute imperfec tion,

;

and

excellent a way,

so

in

105

w hich

by

are

that

the^arejnfinitely"

separated from God, constitutes their relative perfec-

with which they perfectly

tion,

and form

missions,

The

of^the^universe.

their respective

fulfil

together the perfect

all

harmony

absolute perfection of God, in

our point of view, consists in His being sovereignly that

free,

desiring

understanding the good and

in perfectly

is,

with a perfect

it

will.

fection of all other intelligent in

not understanding and

in

such

the

way

and

same absolute

absolute imper-

free beings, consists

not desiring the good

in

that they cannot

Their relative

evil.

The

understand or desire

perfection

imperfection, to which

consists it

that

in

due, on the

is

one hand, that they are different from God by nature, and, on the other, that they can be united to God, is

their end,

As

by an

and

intelligent

hierarchies,

effort of the will aided

free

by

this,

that they are

all

they are unlike in their being imperfect degrees, differs

not in a different manner.

from

common as

if

grace.

beings are distributed

man

to both

became the

in is

the fact

greater in

different

imperfect in

different

'angel only

the imperfection

that

man

The

in

They

they are hierarchically imperfect.

are like each other in

who

than in the angel,

places they occupied in the

iminense scale of beings.

One and

the

other

came

from the hands of God with the faculty of understanding and desiring evil, and of executing the evil they understood

:

in

this

lies

their

similarity.

But

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

io6 in

the

angelic

nature,

this

a moment, whilst in man,

imperfection lasted but for ever

lasts

in

:

For the angel there was a

lies their difference.

fully

it

solemn moment, in which

choose between good and

it

this

fear-

was given him to In that tremendous

evil.

some instant the angelic phalanxes were divided bowed before the divine throne, others rose in tumult and became rebels. This supreme and instantaneous resolution was followed by an instantaneous and ;

supreme judgment

the rebel angels were hurled into

:

damnation, and the loyal, confirmed in grace.

Man, weaker in intellect and will than the angel, because he was not, like him, a pure spirit, received a weaker and more imperfect liberty, and his imperfection was to last as long as his life. It is here the unutterable beauty of the designs of

with infinite splendour.

how

God saw from

and convenient were

beautiful

He

established hierarchies

He saw

beings.

how

from

all

among

;

it

shines forth

the beginning

hierarchies,

and

and

free

intelligent

eternity,

convenient and beautiful

sort of equality

tures

God

on the other hand,

was to have a certain all His crea-

between the Creator and

and such was

His sovereign

skill,

that

He

united in one the beauty of equality and the beauty

To

of hierarchy. gifts

unequal

observed,

He

;

establish hierarchy

He made

their

and that the law of equality might be demanded more from him to whom He

gave more, and

less

from him to

whom He

gave

less;

so that the most favoured in gifts would be the most

pressed in accounts, and the least pressed in accounts,

;

AND

LIBERALISM, the least favoured in lence of the angel

hope or remedy,

his

condemnation

his

nounced on him

Because the native excel-

inferior,

he only

to be lifted,

fell

The judgment

not be without

shall

condemnation

without

remedy,

So man cannot say

make me

did you angel,

angelic

the

nor that

in

and

divine

one becoming by repetition what the other

magnitude.

in

is

pro-

appeal,

except

moment known to God alone, when the human prevarications weigh equally in scales, the

was without

chastisement instantaneous, and

he only sinned to be redeemed. his

107

Because the native excel-

superior, his fall

eternal.

man was

lence of

gifts.

was

SOCIALISM.

Why

make me

did you not

a

man

Why

to God,

a man, and not an angel

.?

nor the

}

Thy justice ? What grandeur can be compared to that of Thy mercy ? What scales so faithfully balanced as those Thou What measure so precise boldest in Thy hand What matheas that with which Thou measurest who

Lord,

is

not affrighted at sight of

.?

.

matician

is

acquainted with numbers and their mys-

like Thee ) How well wrought are Thou hast worked How well established the things Thou didst establish, and how harmonically beautiful when established Open, O Lord,

terious all

harmony,

the prodigies

!

!

my

intellect, that I

purposes in

Thy

may

understand something of

Thy

designs, something of

what

eternal

Thou

eternally conceivest and eternally executest what does he know who knows not Thee.' and what is he ignorant of who knows Thee for

.'

It

man

cannot say to God,

Why

did you not

make

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

lo8

me an

why did you not make me perfect

can he had not been born ? Why didst Thou make me what I am ? If Thou hadst consulted me, I had not received life with the faculty of losing it hell scares me more than angel

?

not at least say, Lord, were

not better

it

?

I

:

nonentity.

Of himself man knows only how

to

he asks a question, he blasphemes,

if

gives the answer,

mouth

when God Himself, who blaspheme

:

does not put the question in his

when he begs anything, he blasphemes, if who has to attend to his petition, does not tell him what he has to ask, and how he has to ask it. Man did not know what to ask nor how to ask it, till God Himself, coming to the world and becoming man, taught him the " Our Father" that he might learn it by heart like a child. What does man mean when he says. Were it not

God

;

Himself,

had not been born Did he exist before And what meaning is there in his question, if before existing he did not exist.? Man can form some idea of what exceeds his reason hence he can form some idea of mysteries it is only of what does not exist he can form no idea whatever better

I

.'

he existed

.''

;

:

and hence he can form none of nonentity. does not desire to cease to exist suffer,

by changing

his

;

The

suicide

he desires to cease to

manner of being. Man, then, when he says, Why do

expresses no idea whatever I

He

exist.'

Why

do

into this

I

can only express an idea by asking,

exist as I

am

?

This question

Why

do

I

exist with the faculty

other.

is

resolved

of

AND

LIBERALISM, ruining myself? which

view

In

it.

creature,

fact,

109

how we

absurd, no matter

is

every creature, because

if

and

imperfect,

is

SOCIALISM.

if

it

a

is

the faculty of ruining

themselves constitutes the special imperfection of men,

he

who

or,

what

is

the same,

why man

tor;

why man is a creature, why the creature is not the Creathe God who created man ? Quod

asks that question asks

not

is

absurdum.

And

this is not

if

Why

only means,

my

of is

faculty to be

because, what

;

damned?

meant,

man

If

is

whom

person to

the

if

is

world

this

Why

?

become perpetuated conceive salvation

it

nature If

is

man

necessary

life

given

does

final

paradise

Reason

?

once necessary and

at

contingency,

by

its

all cir-

object of

life

commence and

not

it

never

is

and what

cannot future,

by

its

very nature present.

should pass without transition from nonentity

to eternity,

the

is

is

should be saved in

in

as

supposes

futurity

as

the question

the meaning of that

cumstances, what would be the in

if

Thou not save me in spite being damned ? the absurdity

of

capability clearer

still

what

dost

and

live

of glory,

from the

first

moment

—time, space, and the

of existence

entire creation

made for man, its lord, must be suppressed. If his kingdom were not to be of this world, what would be the object of the world

be temporal

And

?

?

or of time,

or of space,

if

if

he were not to

he were not to be

local

?

without time and space, what would be the object

of things created in space

and time

?

that, in this supposition, the absurdity

Whence we

see

which consists in

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

no

the contradiction there

is

between

the

being saved and the faculty of being

necessity of

ends

lost,

in the

absurdity which consists in suppressing at one stroke

time and space, which entails another, that consists in the logical suppression of

account

Man

man.

of,

all

things created

cannot substitute a

divine idea without, on the

and on

for,

human

for a

moment, the entire edifice and burying him in its

of creation falling to the ground

immense

ruins.

When we

view this side of the question,

we may say

that man, in asking for the absolute right of being saved whilst retaining the faculty of being lost, asks, sible, for

God lost

a greater absurdity than when he

to his tribunal for giving ;

him the

if

pos-

summoned

faculty of being

because in the latter he struggled to become God,

whilst in the former he wants to have the privileges of

the divinity, though remaining man. Finally,

we

if

we

consider this serious matter attentively,

shall see that

was not compatible with the divine

it

excellences to save the angel, nor man, without anterior merit.

All

is

rational in

God

— His justice as well as His

goodness, His goodness as well as His mercy

He

is

infinitely just,

infinitely rational.

and good, and merciful,

and

;

He

is

if

also

Whence it follows that it is imposGod without blasphemy either a

sible to attribute to

goodness, or a mercy, or a justice which

is

not built on

sovereign reason, which alone renders goodness true

goodness, mercy true mercy, and justice true justice.

The goodness which

is

not rational

is

weakness, the

mercy, debility, the justice, vengeance; and

God

is

good.

!

AND

LIBERALISM, and

merciful,

what

this,

His

is

infinite

Who

in

just, not weak or vindictive. Supposing meant when He is asked, in the name ot'

goodness, for salvation anterior to

He

does not see here that what

unreasonable, because

He

all

merit?

asked for

is

is

asked for an action without corresponding motive, an effect without its cause ?

its

Singular contradiction

His

infinite

man in

SOCIALISM.

in

!

is

man

name

He

condemns

daily

of in

and he calls that act which on earth he

of his limited reason

heaven a merciful and just

daily

name

condemns

asks from God, in

goodness, that which

!

as the caprice of nervous

women

or the

extravagance of tyrants

As

regards hell,

its

existence

absolutely necessary

is

to render possible that perfect equilibrium in

all

things,

because

it

exists

God

placed

substantially in His

Hell, considered as a penalty,

divine perfections.

is

in

perfect equilibrium with heaven, considered as a reward.

The

faculty of being lost could alone establish in

equilibrium with the faculty of being saved the justice and mercy of it

was necessary that

God might be

hell

;

man an

and that

equally

infinite,

should exist, as the term of

the former, simultaneously with heaven, as the term of the latter.

Heaven

so supposes hell, that without

cannot be explained nor conceived.

it, it

These two things

suppose each other, as a consequence supposes

its

prin-

and a principle its consequence and as he who affirms the consequence which is in its principle, and ciple,

;

the principle which contains

m

reality affirm

same, so he

two

who

its

consequence, does not

different things, but

affirms helL

which

is

one and the supposed

in

2

;

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

1 1

heaven, and heaven, which

two

in reality affirm

same.

It

we What

of

first

all

negation.

supposed in

does not

hell,

but one and the

then, logically necessary to admit those

is,

affirmations, or to

but

is

different things,

two

deny them with an absolute negation; what is denied by their

shall try to see

denied in

is

man

are the faculty of

being saved and that of being lost; in God, His infinite justice

To

and mercy.

called personal,

negation of virtue and

punishment of

all

and as

;

may be

these negations, which

added another, which

is

good and

sin,

is

real

—the

reward and

evil,

in these negations is involved that

the laws of the moral world, the negation of hell

logically involves that of the moral world

And

laws.

me

don't tell

that

man

and

all its

could be saved

without going to heaven, or lost without going to hell

exemption from going to heaven or to

for the

hell is

neither penalty nor reward, damnation nor salvation.

The

justice

are infinite

hand, in in vain,

were

and mercy of God either do not

;

if infinite,

exist, or

they must terminate, on the one

and, on the other, in heaven, or they exist

hell,

which

is

only another manner of being as

if

they

not.

Well, now,

if

this laborious

demonstratioa proves, on

one hand, that the faculty of being saved necessarily supposes that of being

lost,

necessarily supposes hell,

and, on the other, that heaven it

will follow that

He made hell, He made heaven, and

phemes against God because against

Him

because

asks to be exempt from the faculty of being to

he who blasblasphemes that he

lost,

be exempt from the faculty of being saved.

who

asks also

LIBERALISM,

AND

CHAPTER

SOCIALISM.

113

III.

Manicheeism of Proudhon.

Be

the explanation given to the free will of

may, there greatest it

is

no doubt that

it

will

man what

it

always be one of our

and most tremendous mysteries.

In any case,-

must be admitted that the faculty possessed by man

of drawing evil from good, disorder from order, and of disturbing, even

if

only accidentally, the wonderful har-

monies established by God

in all things created, is

tremendous one, and, considered to

what

limits or restrains

The

ceivable.

.free

it,

in itself,

to a certain degree incon-

will given to

'sublime and transcendental, that

abdication on the part of

a

without relation

God

it

man

a

is

gift

so

appears rather an

than a grace.

See

its

effects if not.

Cast your eye over the whole course of time, and you shall see

how muddy and

filthy flow the

rebellious

Adam

comes Cain, the

is

God

people without

at the

fratricide,

waters of that

Away

on which humanity navigates.

river

there, the

head of a mutiny, and then

and

after

him multitudes of

or law, blasphemers, fornicators,

incestuous and adulterous; the few magnifiers of anci

His glory

cence,

down and

and the

all

in

God

the end forget His glory and magnifi-

tumultuously

muddy

sail

in

a capacious ship

stream of the great

fearful clamour, like a

know not whither they

river,

mutinous crew.

go, nor

with

mad

And

they

whence they came, nor

H

ES&A YS ON CA THOLICISM,

1 1 :^

name

the

of the ship which bears, nor the wind which

impels, them. voice

If

the ship

!

now and

and

raised,

is

again a mournfully prophetic

Woe

cries,

to the sailors

woe

!

to

the ship and sailors pay no attention, and

the hurricanes increase, and the ship begins to creak,

and the obscene dances and the splendid feasts, the frantic laugh and the mad clamour, are kept up, till in a solemn moment

all

at once cease

—the

splendid feast,

mad

the frantic laugh, the obscene dance, the

clamour,

the creaking of theship, and the howling of the hurricanes; the waters are over

all,

and

undo the

new

divine work.

A

who

puts his father to the blush

son,

and

him

in

his

th.e

diluvian

history begins

\%

their

battles

;

and

is

shall

the

:

children

be

of

God

men; here

and opposite, the

city of the

is

worshipped, in the other,

liberty and. Providence,

God and man,

begin again that gigantic combat, whose thrilling

The

tudes are the subject of history.

are everywhere defeated

God

Noah

born to

the father curses the

After the Deluge the ante-

again

In one, liberty

Providence

liberty begins to

with the children of

built the divine city,

world.

son ;

silent waters.

whole generation, which

end of time.

cursed to

renew

on the waters,

silence sits

and the anger of God broods over the God renews His work, and human

;

vicissi-

partisans of

God

even the incommunicable and

holy

name

men,

in the frenzy of their victory, conspire to build

of

sinks into profound oblivion, and

The

a tower that might reach the heavens.

heaven

falls

on the

lofty tower,

and God,

confounds the tongues of tribes

;

in

fire

of

His anger,

the tribes are dis-

LIBERALISM, persed through

AND

SOCIALISM.

the quarters of the world, and in-

all

crease and multiply, and people

Here

zones and regions.

all

great and populous

are raised

115

there

cities,

are

pomp

established gigantic empires, full of pride and

;

and ferocious hordes wander in idleness through immense woods or boundless deserts. And the world

brutal

burns

cities,

and

discords,

in

deafened with the

is

Empires

clamours of war.

fall

the earth

till

is

on

one universal misfortune and

The abomination And where is the God

conflagration.

world.

doing, that

liberty,

He

loud

cities

nations on nations, races on races, and peoples on

peoples,

He

on empires,

He

of desolation of might.-'

thus abandons the

that

What is human

field to

queen and mistress of the earth

tolerate

in the

is

Why

.'

does

and tumult, and

universal rebellion

those idols which are raised up, and that great carnage,

and those accumulated ruins One day He called a just man, .and .'

make

will

said to him, " I

thee the father of a posterity as numerous as

the sands of the sea and the stars of the heavens

;

from

thy chosen race shall one day be born the Saviour of nations. I will

may

not

were

my

fall.

witness to acts

myself will govern

I

send

it

angels to bear I shall

be to

it

with it

my providence, and

in their

all

hands, that

my omnipotence before the world in

and

prodigies, " :

When

keeping with His words.

it

it

will

—and His

His people

was enslaved, He sent it liberators when it had no country or home. He miraculously drew it out of Egypt, ;

and gave

and

it

a

home and

He gave it plenty;

it

a country.

It suffered hunger,

suffered thirst,

and

in

obedience

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

ii6

His voice water gushed from the

to

rocks;

great

multitudes of enemies opposed its passage, and the anger of God dissipated those great muhitudes Hke

a cloud.

It

hung

He

Babylon, and

and

tivity,

it

its

wailing harps on the willows of

ransomed

from

it

its

miserable cap-

again saw with gladdened eye, Jerusalem

He

the holy, the predestined, the beautiful. incorruptible justice

judges,

who governed

it

gave

it

peace and

in

god-fearing kings, renowned as prudent, glorious

;

and wise

He

;

discover to like the

it

sent

His ambassadors, prophets, to

as

And

present.

people buried His

that carnal

and hard-hearted His

miracles in oblivion, rejected

abandoned His temple, broke into blasinto idolatry, outraged His incommuni-

warnings,

phemies,

it,

His lofty designs, and make future things

fell

cable name, beheaded His holy prophets,

and

in discords

and seethed

rebellions.

In the meantime the prophetic weeks of Daniel were

completed, and

He who was

to

come, sent by the

Father for the redemption of the world and the consolation of the nations, appeared

ing

Him

on the

earth,

and

see-

meek and humble, it despised outraged His poverty, mocked His meek-

so poor, so

His humility,

Him, clothed

Him

ness,

became scandalised

fool's

garment, and, secretly agitated by the infernal

furies,

made Him

a

after

having drained the chalice

in Pilate's hall.

by the Jews, He came but after,

Crucified

Gentiles

in

drain to the dregs the chalice of

ignominy on the Cross, of infamy

in

;

called the Gentiles,

and the

as before, they carne, the

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

117

world pursued the path of perdition, and sat

in

the

His holy Church inherited from her divine Founder and Master the privilege of persecution

shadows of death.

and outrage, and was outraged and peoples, kings,

From

and emperors.

persecuted

her

by-

own bosom

sprang those great heresies which surrounded her cradle, monsters ready to devour her.

like

prostrate

at

the

feet

of the

In vain they

fell

Hercules

the

divine

:

tremendous battle between the divine and the human

God and man, begins are the issues. The field

Hercules, between

the fury, various

extensive that on land,

on

sea,

land,

of battle

stretches from sea to sea,

and

in

is

so

and

the world, from pole to

The conquering hosts of Europe are vanquished who succumb in Africa, triumph

pole.

Asia, and those

in in

from land to

it

Equal

anew.

America.

not,

who

is

who does

There

is

no man,

let

him be aware of it or no one

not a combatant in this hot contest

;

not take an active part in the responsibility of

The

the defeat or victory.

prisoner in his chains and

the king on his throne, the poor and the

rich,

the

healthy and the infirm, the wise and the ignorant, the captive and the

free,

the old

man and

the child,

the civilised and the savage, share equally in the com-

Every word that

bat.

by God

or

by the

is

pronounced,

world,

is

either inspired

and necessarily proclaims,

implicitly or explicitly, but always clearly, the glory of

the one or the triumph of the other.

warfare

we

all

fight

In this singular

through forced enlistment

;

here

the system of substitutes or volunteers finds no place.

In

it

is

unknown exception

of sex or age

;

here no

;

1

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

18

attention

paid to him

is

who

am

says, I

the son of a

poor widow nor to the mother of the paralytic, nor to the wife of the cripple. In this warfare all men born of ;

woman are soldiers. And don't tell me you don't wish to fight; for the moment you tell me that, you are already fighting nor :

you don't know which

that

side to join

;

for while you are

saying that, you have already joined a side

nor that

:

you are thinking nor that you want to be to be so, you are so no longer indifferent; for I will laugh at you, because on pronouncing that word you have chosen your party. you wish

to remain neutral

;

for while :

Don't

tire

yourself in seeking a place of security against

the chances of the war, for you tire yourself in vain that war

through

is

extended as

time.

all

can you find

just,

combat

far as space,

and prolonged

In eternity alone, the country of the

because there alone there

rest,

is

no

but do not imagine, however, that the gates

:

of eternity shall be opened

show the wounds you bear for those

who

;

you

for you, unless

first

those gates are only opened

gloriously fought here the battles of the

Lord, and were, like the Lord, crucified.

On

turning his eyes to the spectacle presented

history, a

man

sarily falls into

ancient,

principles

there

is

one of these two Manicheeisms

which consists

principle of

in

into the

:

a"ffirmm"g~t:Tiat~ there

good and another of

are

by

unillumined by_the light ofjf3.ith_neces-

evil; that^ thQS£__two

incarnate in two gods, between

perpetual war

:

is"lHie

whom

or into that of Proudhon, which

consists in affirming that

God

is

the evil and

man

the

LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. good,

t hat

h uman, and the

the

119

two_ri^

are

divine,

powers, and that the only, duty of man.Js-to-£Qiiqueir ,

God, the enemy of man.

Ffom

the spectacle of perpetual warfare to which

come those two Manichean

the world was condemned,

systems, one of which

is

in

more conformity with ancient modern

systems, and the other has a closer relation with

and we are forced to

when we consider the notorious fact of that gigantic combat in itself, and abstracting from the wonderful harmony formed by human and divine, visible and invisible, created and uncreated, things, considered in the aggregate, that fact is sufficiently explained by either of doctrines

;

tonfess, that

those two systems.

There dered in

is

no

itself.

difficulty in explaining

There

is

no

any

fact, consi-

fact which, considered thus,

cannot be sufficiently explained by a hundred different hypotheses.

metaphysical

The

difficulty

consists

in

the

fulfilling

every explanation, which

condition of

requires for the true elucidation of every notorious fact,

that other notorious and evident facts be not plicable nof unexplained in

left

inex-

it.

Any Manichean

system explains whatevef by its and a battle supposes it but leaves without explanation what is by nature one and nature supposes a dualism

;

;

;

reason, even unilluminated strating, either that

He

is

one.

God

by

faith, is

does not

capable of demon-

exist, or if

He

exists.

In any Manichean system the battle

explained, but in none the definitive victory definitive victory of evil over good, or of

;

is

as the

good over

evil,

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

I20

supposes the definitive suppression of the one or the other,

and what

we

supposition is

necessary-

In

be definitely suppressed.

cannot

existence,

and

exists with a substantial

find,

this

by way of consequence, that there

something inexplicable in the very battle we thought

sufficiently explained, as every battle is inexplicable in

which If

all definitive

from what

victory

we pass

explanation,

is

impossible.

generally absurd in every Manichean

is

to

what

specially absurd in the

is

explanation of Proudhon,

we

the general absurdity of

Manicheeism are here added

and possible

particular

all

things are

all

met with

good

absurdity

and

evil,

—the

absurdities,

In

evil

and that even

explanation unworthy the

in that

majesty of the absurd. calls

shall clearly see, that to

fact,

when

citizen

Proudhon

good, he does not utter an

absurd requires higher genius

—he

is

The absurd is not in uttering without object. The moment it is

only guilty of buffoonery. it,

but

in uttering it

said that

and

good and

evil coexist in

substantially, the

vestigating in which the evil exists, is

a foolish one.

himself the good, and

and man the and

in

no

discovering

good

evil.

place.

who

and

in

will call

will call

which the good

God

the evil and

Himself the good

Evil and good will be in

The only will

locally

question,

gain the victory.

all

places

then, lies If evil

in

and

things indifferent, there

is

for falling into the ridiculous puerility of

contradicting the

The

Man God

are, in that supposition,

no necessity

man and God,

question which consists in in-

common

sense of the

pecuha'r absurdity of citizen

human

Proudhon

race.

consists in

AND

LIBERALISM, the fact that his dualism

one.

is

God

man

essentially instinctive,

By the

first

;

whence we see that

his

a mathematical, rather than a religious,

is evil,

good

is

But in man, who

dualism.

121

a dualism of three members,

is

constituting an absolute unity

absurdity

SOCIALISM.

he

is

is

—

Manichean

this is the

the good, there

is

one power

and another essentially

God, by the second he

is

logical.

man whence ;

two unities are resolved into three, without ceasing to be two for beyond man and God there is no substantial good or evil, no combatants, no follows that the

it

;

Let us see now how the two

anything.

unities,

which

are three, are converted into one, without ceasing to be

two and three unities. Unity is in God for, besides being God, by the instinctive power which is in man. He Unity is in man for, though he is man by his is man. whence it logical, he is God by his instinctive, power follows that man is man and God at the same time. ;

;

:

It results

be

from

so, is trinity

dualism

all this, ;

that dualism, without ceasing to

that trinity,

without ceasing to be

so, is

that dualism, and trinity, without ceasing to be

;

what they

are, are

unity

;

and that unity which

is

unity,

without ceasing to be trinity, and dualism, without ceasing to be trinity,

is

in all places.

Proudhon had said of himself what he does viz., that he is sent, and then demonstrated,

If citizen

not say,

what he could not demonstrate, divine

;

the theory

rejected as absurd

I

am

viz.,

that his mission

after explaining should

and impossible.

The

still

personal union

of evil and good, considered as existing substantially,

impossible and absurd, because

it

is

be

is

involves an evident

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

122

In the personal variety and substantial

contradiction.

unity which constitute the Christian's one and triple

God, as in the personal unity and substantial variety

which constitute the Son made man, according to the

dogma, there

Catholic there

is

no

no contradiction

is

there

;

but

because there

be much obscurity,

If there

in terms.

however, no

is,

a profound obscurity

is

logical impossibility, however,

essential contradiction in the eyes

of reason, in saying of three persons that they have the

same fundamental substance, tion,

though great obscurity,

standing, in saying

sustained

two

that

by the same

palpable contradiction,

is

no contradic-

eyes of our under-

different substances are

In what there

person.

impossibility, because there

substantial

as there

in the

is

is

radical

an evident absurdity, a

in saying, after asserting the

is

existence of good and

evil,

that evil and

good, substantially existing, are sustained by the same person.

Wonderful

obscurity, without

more

!

man

cannot

contradicts, •

from the Catholic to grope in one

dense, nor escape from that which paralyses his

reason, without falling into that it

fly

condemning himself

And

which denies, because

it.

don't imagine the world follows the footsteps

of rationalism,

in

spite

and dense obscurity

;

it

of

its

follows

absurd contradictions

them on account

that dense obscurity and those absurd

of

contradictions.

Reason follows error wherever it goes, as a tender mother would follow, wherever it went, even if it were to the profound abyss, the beloved fruit of her love, and offspring of her womb. Error will kill it; but what

LIBERALISM, matter

if it

offspring

AND

SOCIALISM.

a mother, and dies at the hands of

is

its

?

CHAPTER How

123

IV.

dogmas of providence and

the

without falling

Catholicity,

rivalry between

saved by

liberty are

into

the

theory

of

God and man.

In nothing does the incomparable beauty of Catholic shine with more splendour than in their universality, that incommunicable attribute of divine solutions

No

solutions.

than

all

sooner

is

a Catholic solution received,

the objects hitherto obscure and cloudy have

thrown on them; night becomes day, and order springs from chaos. There is none of them which does light

not possess that attribute and that secret virtue, whence comes the grand marvel of universal light. In those seas of light there lies

is

only one dark point, that in which

the solution which penetrates the universe with

light.

This consists in the

fact,

that

man

its

not being

God, cannot be in possession of that divine attribute by

which the Lord sees with ineffable created.

Man

is

condemned

of the light from the darkness,

the light.

proceeds

To him from

an

there

is

light, all that

and of the darkness from

nothing evident but what

impenetrable

mystery.

Between

mysterious and evident things, however, there notable difference, that

but cannot

make

man

He

to receive the explanation

is

this

can obscure the evident,

the mysterious clear.

When he rejects,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

124

for the purpose of entering into the possession of that

which

ineffable light

is

God and

in

the intricate and

solutions.

Then what we

divine solutions as obscure, he

gloomy labyrinth of human have demonstrated occurs particular, incomplete

not in himself, the

falls into

his solution is particular

:

—and

sight he appears to solve something

first

consideration

have solved

we

find

At

on farther

;

he solves nothing he appeared to

and reason, which

;

—as

as incomplete, false.

solution as plausible, ends

contradictory,

and absurd.

are discussing

is

by

at first accepted his

rejecting

As

it

as insufficient,

far as the question

concerned, this was completely

we

demon-

After demonstrating the

strated in the last chapter.

evident insufficiency of the human,

only remains to

it

demonstrate the supreme efficacy and sublime convenience of the Catholic, solution.

'i^ God, who cator of

all

is

the absolute good,

good, and

equally impossible for

He had

thing

all

God

He

good

not, as to give

evil

He

good.

is

him

viz.,

to conceive that

He had. Two He could give to

does not possess, or the absolute it is

impossible

any one can give what he has

not, or

that the Creator could be absorbed in the creature

He

is

ness,

was

all

that

both impossibilities are evident, as

:

It

to give to the creature any-

things are totally impossible,

anything the

the supreme fabri-

is

does

unable to communicate His

own

;

and

absolute good-

which would be to communicate Himself,

ftor evil,

which would be to communicate what He has not. He communicates relative good, and thereby all He can communicate,

viz.,

something of that which

is

in

Him, and

is

;

AND

LIBERALISM, not

He

SOCIALISM.

125

between Himself and the

himself, establishing

creature that likeness which testifies to

its origin,

and

that difference which proves the distance between them.

In this way every creature proclaims by its presence who its Creator is, and that itself is only His creature. God being the Creator of all things created, all things created are good, with a

good inasmuch as he

Even the

the tree as tree.

relative

Man

goodness.

is

man, the angel as angel, and

is

who

prince

flashes like light-

ning in the abyss, and the abyss in which he flashes, are

good and excellent

good

in himself,

things.

God

not to be an angel, and nature, which

abyss

is

good

is

The

prince of the abyss

because in being what he

is,

the Creator of angelic

is

superior to all things created.

because

in itse lf,

is

he ceases

it is

Jiie—

ordained to aa^end

sovereignly good.

And

notwithstanding that

all

created essences

are

good and excellent, Catholicity says that evil is in the The quesworld, and its ravages are great and awful. tion

what and

then consists in investigating, on the one hand, evil

is

;

finally,

and on the

how

it

other, in

what

contributes with

it

its

has

its

origin

dissonance to

the universal harmony. Evil has

tion of

the use

its ori gin in

of choosing,

w hich,

human

as

we

liberty.

m an made of_thg..faculty

said, constitutes the imperfec-

,

The

nature of things.

was by the very

faculty of choosing

coiifihed within certain limits, established

All being good, that faculty could

not consist in choosing between the good things which necessarily existed,

and the

evil,

which did not exist at

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

125 all.

separating from the evil

denying

by

it

;

in affirming it

by

its

union, or

The understanding

separation.

its

g'ood, or in

adhering to the

It consisted solely in

of

man

withdrew from the divine understanding, which was equivalent to separating from truth; separated from the truth, it

ceased to understand

it.

The human will withdrewfrom

the divine, which was equal to separating from the good

separated from the good,

ceased to

man

ceased to will

ceased to execute,

will, it

other hand,

it

it

;

and

;

Having

it.

as,

on the

could not cease to exercise his intimate

and permanent faculties, which consisted in understanding, willing, and acting, he continued to understand, will, and act, although what he understood, separated from God, was not the truth, which is in God alone, nor what he willed, the good,

which

is

in

God

alone, nor could

what

he did be the good, which he neither understood, nor willed,

and which, not being understood by

nor accepted by his

will,

Error, which

actions.

is

the negation of truth, was, then,

the term of his understanding tion of the good, of his will

was

sin,

which

is

;

;

view.

same

As

intellect, is

denies

which

the good

;

is

which

the negahis actions

all

that

different manifestations

two

different points of

God

affirms

the truth, and with His

and there being

in

God no

mations but that of the good, which

and that of the

is

the simultaneous negation of truth

thing, considered in sin

evil,

and the term of

and goodness, which are only of the

his intellect,

could not be the term of his

truth,

which

is

in

is

with His

will,

which

other

affir

in

His

will,

His understanding;

and God being only those two affirmations considered

LIBERALISM, substantially

God

—

it

AND

follows that

affirms, virtually denies

SOCIALISM. which denies

sin,

God

127

in all

that

all

His affirmations;

and by denying Him, and doing nothing but deny Him, is

the universal and absolute negation

par excellence. That negation did

or

not,

could

—the

not,

negation

the

affect

essence of things, which exist independently of the

human

will,

and which were

perfect

and

excellent.

of their excellence,

harmony which and

is

it

in

themselves, but even

Still, if sin

did not deprive

them

deprived them of that sovereign

their divine

that delicate

after, as well as before, the

good

prevarication, not only

Maker

established in them,

bond and that

perfect order with

which they were united one with another, and

with

all

Him, when He drew them from chaos, after having drawn them from nothingness, by an effect of His Through that perfect order and infinite goodness. that admirable bond, all things moved directly towards God with an irresistible and regulated motion. The angel, a pure spirit inflamed with love, gravitated to-

wards God, the centre of

all spirits,

vehement

Man,

gravitation.

with

an,

less perfect,

amorous and but not

less

amorous, fallowed with his gravitation the movement of the angelic gravitation, to the angel in the

bosom

and hunaan gravitations. secret

movement of

become confounded with

of God, the centre of angelic

Matter

things to

agitated

by a

ascension, followed the gravitation

of spirits towards that supreme

Him

itself,

without

effort.

Maker who drew

And

all

as all these things,

considered in themselves, are the exterior manifesta-

;

£SSAVS ON CATHOLtCISM,

X28

tions of the essential

good which

is

in

God,

manner

this

of being is the exterior manifestation of His manner of being, perfect and excellent as His essence itself. Things were made in such a way, that they had one perfection mutable and another necessary

and inamiswas

Their inamissible and necessary perfection

sible.

that essential good which

God

placed in every creature

;

mutable perfection was that manner of being that God willed they should have, when He drew them from

their

God

nothingness.

they are

;

be

sarily

He

for a time,

all jurisdiction

duced by the

it

withdrew the

own

;

He

placed,

they exist under the

beings which

Whence

free.

He

but His

the order in which

jurisdiction of those

gent and

they should ever be what

same manner.

the

in

essences from

willed

did not, however, will they should neces-

He

formed

intelli-

follows that the evil pro-

the free human,

free angelic, or

will,

could be, and was, nothing but the negation of the order which

which

signifies

that

God

negation

is

;

in

is

that negation

is

things which

as

God

;

that

is

Dis-

to say, of the

manner of being of

all

order consists in the union of the

God

willed should be

separation of those which rated

called disorder.

the negation of order, that

And

word

the very thing

affirmed

divine affirmation, relative to the things.

things created

all

involved in the very

which

with

denied

is

order

it,

established

is

He

united,

and the

willed should be sepa-

so disorder consists in uniting the things which

willed should be separated, and separating those

which God willed should be united.

LIBERALISM,

The

disorder caused

from

its

SOCIALISM.

by the angelic

129

rebellion, con-

estrangement on the part of the rebel angel

in

sisted

AND

God, who was

its

centre,

by means of a change

manner of being, which consisted in the conits movement of gravitation towards its God, into a movement of rotation around itself. The disorder caused by the prevarication of man, was similar to that caused by the rebellion of the angel, as it is impossible to be a rebel and prevaricator in two ways Man, having ceased to gravitate essentially different.

in

its

version of

towards his

God with

his understanding, his willj

and

works, constituted himself his centre, and was the

mate end of

his actions, of his will,

and of

his

ulti-

his under-

standing.

disturbance caused by this prevarication was and profound. When man had separated from his deep God, all his powers separated at once, one from the

The

themselves

constituting

other,

centres.

His understanding

will, his will lost its

many

it

owed the

which had been subject to God, in

tradictions,

spirit,

fell

and the

into slavery

All had been previously concord

and was afterwards war, tumult, conand discord. His nature was converted from

to the flesh.

harmony

divergent

authority over his actions, the flesh

escaped from the obedience spirit,

so

lost its authority over his

man

;

all

sovereignly harmonious, into profoundly antithetical.

This disorder caused in him

by

himself,

was

trans-

mitted by him to the universe, and to the manner of

being of

all

things; all were subject to him, and

rebelled against him.

When

all

he ceased to be the slav^

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

130

of God, he ceased to be the prince of the earth will

not cause us wonder,

of his terrestrial

The

slavery.

we

if

which

;

consider that the

monarchy were founded

titles

in his divine

animals, to which he, in token of his

dominion, had given their names, ceased to hear his voice,

and to understand

his word,

and to obey

his

com-

mand. The earth was filled became leaden, the very flowers armed themselves with

with weeds, the heavens

Entire nature was, as

thorns.

a

mad

fury against

him

:

by

were, possessed

it

the seas, on beholding him

approach, tossed their waves wildly, and their abysses

resounded with awful clamour

;

the mountains raised

their tops to the

heavens to stop his path

rushed over his

fields,

swept the hurricanes

;

and over

;

the torrents

his fragile dwellings

venom

at

at every step

he

the reptiles spat their

him, the herbs distilled poisons for him

;

dreaded an ambuscade, and in every ambuscade, death.

The

Catholic explanation

all that which without

inexplicable,

it

of

evil

naturally explained.

is

once

accepted,

appeared, and was in If the evil

fact,

do not

exist in a substantial manner, but rather negatively,

cannot serve as matter for a creation, and so the

it

diffi-

culty which arose from the co-existence of two different

and

simultaneous creations,

difficulty

by

was

increasing, the

naturally ceases. That more advance was made

rough road, as the dualism of the creation necessarily supposed another dualism, more repugnant that

—the

still ,to

human

divinity,

which must be conceived as a simple essence.

reason

Or cannot be conceived at

all.

essential dualism

With that

in

the

divine dualism

AND

LIBERALISM, comes

to the

who

131

ground the idea of a

rivalry at once im-

—necessary,

because two gods

and necessary

possible

SOCIALISM.

contradict each other, and two essences which are

repugnant, are condemned, by the very nature of things, to a perpetual quarrel

victory

is

—impossible, because a

definitive

the final object of every contest (and here the

definitive victory consists in the suppression of the evil

by the good,

by the

or of the good

and neither

evil),

one nor the other can be suppressed, because what exists an essential manner, necessarily exists.

in

From

the im-

possibility of the suppression follows the impossibility

of the victory, and from the impossibility of the victory, final object

the contest

of the contest, the radical impossibility of

With the

itself.

divine,

in

which every

Manichean system ends, disappears the human, contradiction, to which the substantial co-existence of good and evil in man must lead. That contradiction is

To

absurd, and because absurd, inconceivable.

of

man

that he

good and

is

these two things

contrary

system

is

at one

and the same time

essentially bad, :

is

essentially

the same as to affirm one of

man

either that

essences,

is

composed of two

thus uniting what the Manichean

obliged to separate in the Divinity

man

affirm

;

or that

and being one, is good and which is to affirm all that is the same time, at bad denied, and to deny all that is affirmed, of one and the the essence of

same

is

one,

thing.

In the Catholic system the

not exist essentially.

The

synonymous with disorder

;

evil

evil

for

it is

exists,

but

it

does

considered thus,

nothing

is

else, if well

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

132

examined, but the disordered manner in which the things are, that have not ceased to be essentially good,

and which, through some secret and mysterious cause, have ceased to be well ordered. The CathoHc system points out that secret and mysterious cause,

assigning of

it,

if

much

there be

nothing which contradicts or

is

and

in the

that exceeds, there

repugnant

to,

is

reason, as,

for the explanation of the perturbation of the

manner

of things, which even after being disturbed, preserve their essences entire

and pure, there

no necessity to

is

have recourse to a divine intervention, with which there would be no proportion between the effect and the cause

is

it

;

enough, to explain the fact

have recourse to the

and

intelligent

which

free beings,

sufficiently, to

intervention

anarchical if

of the

they could not

alter,

in some way, the marvellous order of creation and

its

concerted harmonies, could not be considered either

Of

as free or as intelligent.

accidental and

asserted without contradiction

— of

first,

that as far as

God

;

the

it

things can be

and without repugnance

it is evil, it

second, that as far as

accidental,

considered as

evil,

ephemeral, these two

could not be the work it

is

ephemeral and

could be the work of man.

the affirmations of reason

In this

way

become confounded with the

Catholic affirmations.

The

Catholic system once supposed,

disappear,

and

all

this system the creation

The

one and God

is

which the war of the gods dualism.

all

absurdities

contradictions are suppressed.

evil exists,

is

is

In

one, with

suppressed with the divine

because

if it

did not exist,

;

LIBERALISM,

human

AND

SOCIALISM.

liberty could not be conceived

exists as

;

an accident, not as an essence,

an essence and not an accident,

God, the Creator of tradiction,

all

things,

it

133

but the for

if it

evil

were

would be the work of

which involves a con-

repugnant both to the divine and human

comes from man and is in man, and and being in him, far from there being by coming from any contradiction, there is a great convenience. The reason.

The

convenience

evil

is in this,

that as the evil could not be the

work of God, man could not choose it, if he did not create it, and he would not be free if he could not choose it. There is no contradiction whatever in it for when Catholicism affirms of man that he is good in his essence and bad by accident, she does not affirm of him the same thing she denies of him. To affirm of man that he is bad by accident and good by essence, is not to say contradictory things of him, but things in

which there can be no contradiction, because they are totally different.

In

fine,

the Catholic system being once accepted, the

blasphemous and impious system, which consists

in

supposing a perpetual rivalry between

God and man,

between the Creator and the creature,

falls levelled to

the ground. transitory of

God, of

an

Man, author of the itself,

is

creator, supporter,

all things.

evil,

accidental and

not on the same standing with

and governor of all

essences,

and

Between those two beings, separated by

infinite distance, there is

possible contest.

no imaginable

rivalry or

In the Manichean and Proudhonian

systems, the battle between the Creator of the essential

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

134

good and the creator of the

was inconwas impossible. In the Catholic system there can be no supposition of a contest between two parties, one of which must necessarily be victorious, and the other necessarily essential evil,

ceivable and absurd, because the victory

Two

vanquished.

ence of a contest that

that the victory be possible,

be uncertain.

it

victory it

conditions are necessary for the exist:

is

certain, or

Every

when

it

battle is

is

and

absurd when the

impossible

;

from which

no matter how they are considered, those

follows, that

great battles are absurd, which are entered on for universal domination or for

supreme power, whether the

sovereign be one, or the rulers two

because he .second, will

who

is

one

will

in the first

:

be perfectly alone

;

case,

in the

because the two will never become one, and

be two perpetually.

Those gigantic combats are

of such a nature, that either they are decided before

commenced, or they are not decided

after

they are

entered on.

CHAPTER Secret analogies

v.

between the moral

and

physical per-

turbations, all derived from the liberty of

How

far the

man.

ravages of sin have gone, and to what

extent the whole face of creation has been changed by so lamentable a misfortune, investigations

;

but what

is

is

a matter

above

all

beyond human

doubt

is,

that in

AND

LIBERALISM,

Adam

his spirit

the former

The

by

and

and the

135

were conjointly degraded,

his flesh

pride,

SOCIALISM.

latter

by concupiscence.

cause of the physical and the moral degradation

being the same, they present wonderful analogies

in their

various manifestations.

We

have said that

gradation,

the primitive cause of

sin,

was nothing but a disorder

;

all

de-

and as order con-

sisted in the perfect equilibrium of all things created,

and

that equilibrium in the hierarchical subordination they

observed one with another, and in the absolute subordination they

all

maintained with their Creator,

that sin or disorder, which

is

it

follows

the same thing, consisted in

nothing but the relaxation of that hierarchical subordination which things had

among

themselves, and of the

absolute subordination in which they were with respect to

the

Supreme Being,

or

what

is

the same, in the destruc-

tion of that perfect equilibrium,

union in which

and of that wonderful

are always analogous to their causes, sin

And

things were placed.

all

all

as effects

the effects of

became, to a certain extent, what their causes were, a

disorder, a disunion, a disequilibrium.

Sin was the disunion of

man and God.

Sin produced a moral and a physical disorder.

The moral

disorder consisted in the ignorance of the

understanding, and in the weakness of the

The its

disunion

from

weakness of the

supreme

The

will.

ignorance of the understanding was nothing but the

will

divine

was

in

understanding. its

disunion

The

from the

will.

physical disorder produced

by

sin,

consisted in

—— ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

136

and

sickness

death

in

well now, sickness

;

is

nothing

but the disorder, the disunion, the disequilibrium of the constituent parts of our body.

Death

same

but that same disunion, that same disequilibrium carried to the

nothing

is

disorder, that

extreme. Therefore the physical and moral disorder, ignorance and the weakness of the will on one part, and sickness and death on the other, are one and the same .

thing.

This

be seen more clearly by merely considering

will

that all these disorders, as well physical as moral, take

the

same denomination

at the point

where they end, and

the point where they begin.

The concupiscence of the flesh, and the are called by the same name sin ;

pride of the

the definite

spirit,

disunion of the soul and God, and that of the the soul, are called

From

this

we

by the same name

body and

death.

see the connection between the physical

and the moral world

so close, that

is

is

it

only in the

middle their difference can be observed, as they are

one and the same thing in their end and in their beginning.

And how

could

it

be otherwise

if

the physical,

comes from God, and ends before sin, and after death

as well as the moral world, in

God; For

if

God

the

is

rest,

.'

that

close

connection

between the

moral and the physical world might be unknown to the earth, which

is

which are pure

spirits

purely corporeal, and to the angels, j

but

how

could that mystery

be hidden from man, composed of an immortal

soul.

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

who

a corporeal matter, and

iiud of

two worlds

in the confluence of

Nor did

end here, as not only

placed by

is

God

?

by

perturbation produced

great

that

137

Adam became

sin

subject to sick-

and to death, but the earth was cursed on his account, and in his name. With regard to that tremendous and, to a certain ness

degree, incomprehensible curse, without appearing to

presume to penetrate mysteries so obscure, and acknowledging, as we do, that the judgments of God are as secret as

His works are marvellous,

nevertheless, that

if

it

appears to

the mysterious relation which

us,

God

has placed between the moral and the physical world,

be once confessed, and

manner

is

practically,

though

in a certain

inexplicably, visible in man, to a certain degree,

everything else

mystery;

is

for the

of

little

consequence in this profound

mystery

is

the law of relation,

in

rather than in the applications which can be it

made

of

by way of consequence. It is well to

remark here,

and to make

proof of what

in

we have

more clear, considered as endowed that physical things cannot be

said,

this

subject

difficult

—as

existing in them-

with an independent existence selves,

by themselves, and

for themselves, but rather

as manifestations of spiritual things, which alone have in

themselves the reason of their existence.

it is

God

and the beginning and end of all clear that all things, in- their beginning and

a pure

spirit,

end, are spiritual. either vain

This being

so,

being

things, in their

physical things are

phenomena, and do not

ex'st,

or

if

they

Cornell Catholic

Union Library.

;

SSSAVS ON CATHOLICISM,

138

by God and

exist

exist,

they exist by the

we

spirit

for

and

God

infer, that whenever there

what

it

may,

which means that

;

for the spirit is

in the spiritual, there

from which

;

a disturbance, be

it

must necessarily be

another analogous in the corporeal, regions

as

;

it

is

impossible to conceive that things themselves could

be at

rest,

when

there

beginning and end of

The

is

a perturbation in what

all things.

perturbation, then, produced

by

should be general, was and should be

all

to the

all spirits,

The countenance

bodies.

viously placid and serene,

was and

sin

common

high and to the low regions, to those of to those of

the

is

and

of God, pre-

was disturbed with anger

His seraphim changed colour, the earth bristled with thorns and weeds, and trees withered,

ceased to ,

poisons,

and

it

plants were parched,

herbs dried up, and

sweet liquor, and

distil

and

its

its

covered

itself

it

its

was

and

its

fountains

fruitful

in

with obscure, impene-

and it crowned itself with wild mountains, and there was one zone torrid, and another deadly cold, and it was consumed by heat and nipped with frost, and impetuous whirlwinds sprang up on all its horizons, and its four corners were deafened trable,

dreadful forests,

with the noise of these hurricanes.

Man

being placed

the centre of this universal

in

work and his chastisement, he himself being disordered more deeply and radically than the rest of creation, he was exposed, without disorder, at once

other help

than

his

that

impetuous current of

of the all

divine

the physical

mercy, to the ills,

and of

all

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

139

His life was all temptation and wisdom ignorance, his will all weakness, all corruption. Every one of his actions was

the moral tortures. battle,

his

his flesh

accompanied with a regret

had

bitter dregs, or

by

were counted

desires,

his

hopes, and his disenchantments

by

griefs

his

every one of his pleasures

;

was followed by acute pain his

His memory served as a torment

torture, his

by

illusions

his

illusions.

prevision as

a

throw fringes

his imagination only served to

;

his

;

of purple and gold over his nakedness and misery.

Enamoured of the good sued the path of

evil

to which he

was born, he pur-

on which he had entered fell

Condemned

superstitions.

to suffer

be capable of counting his misfortunes

will

feeling

into the unfathomable

the necessity of a God, he

abysses of

all

;

—who

}

Con-

—

who knows the number Condemned to perpetual sweat on his who will mark the number of drops of sweat that

demned

to labour with fatigue

of his toils

.•

—

brow have

from his brow

fallen

Place

man

nowhere

will

came

'i

as high as possible, or as low as

you

wish,

he be exempt from that penalty which

calumny does not reach him who 'is high, envy reaches him if envy does not reach him who is low, calumny does. Where is the to us from our

first

sin.

If

;

flesh that

has not endured pain, or the

not suffered grief not to

fall

Who was

.'

Who

}

spirit that

ever so high that he feared

ever believed so firmly in the con-

stancy of fortune, that he did not fear

We

men,

alike,

in

our birth, in our

because

we

has

life,

and

in

its

reverses

our death, are

are all culpable, and are

all

?

al]

punished.

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

140 If birth, if is it

life,

we

that

thing else

is

and

if

we

and die as everydo we die full and dies ? Why born, lives^ Why do we live full of grief? And why do

of terrors

?

we come

to the world,

live

when we are

born, with our

crossed on our breast, in a penitent posture

on opening our eyes to the weep, and our

first

salute

is

Historical facts confirm

expounded, and

The

how

death, be not a penalty,

are born, that

all

light,

a sob the

,

arms

And why,

do we open them to

?

dogmas we have

mysterious

their

?

just

consequences.

Saviour of the world, to the edification and the

profound dread of the few just

men who

followed Him,

by by blotting out sins now suppressing the cause by means of the suppression of the effects, and now the effects by means of the suppression of the cause. When a paralytic was placed in His presence, on an occasion when He was surrounded by a multitude of doctors and Pharisees, He raised His voice and said to him, " Have confidence, my son, I remit your sins." Those that were present were scanand

to the scandal of the doctors, blotted out sins

curing diseases, and cured diseases

;

dalised in their heart, thinking, on one side, that the

claim to the power of absolving was pride and madness in

the Nazarene

;

and on the

other, that

it

was extrava-

gant to attempt to cure diseases by absolving from

And

as the

the

minds of those people.

"And

Lord saw these culpable thoughts

that they

power on earth

may know

He

sin.

rising in

immediately added,

that the. Son of

man

hath

to forgive sins, I say to thee. Arise, take

up thy bed, and go unto thy house

;

"

and

it

happened

LIBERALISM,

He

AND

SOCIALISM.

J41

by which He demonstrated that the power and that of absolving, are one and the same power, and that sin and sickness are one and the same as

said

;

of curing,

thing.

Before going farther, in confirmation of

remembering;

it

may be

what we have

first,

well to remark here,

two things worth

said,

that the Lord, before placing the

heavy weight of the crimes of the world on His shoulders,

was exempt from

bodily infirmity, or even indisposi-

He was exempt

because

tion,

all

when He placed the

from

sin;

second, that

He He had accepted the He accepted the princi-

sins of all nations

on His head,

voluntarily accepted the effects as

and the consequences as

causes,

He

ples.

accepted pain, regarding

companion of

He

and

He

sin,

and

He

it

as the inseparable

sweated blood

the Garden,

in

pain from the blow in the Pretorium, and

felt

fainted with the weight of the cross, and

He

suffered

on Calvary, and a tremendous agony on the shameful wood, and He saw death coming with terror, thirst

and

He

His

spirit to

As

groaned deep and mournfully on commending

His blessed Father.

regards the wonderful consonance of which

we

spoke, between the disorders of the moral and those of the physical world, the

human

race proclaims

one voice, without comprehending

and

invincible

great mystery

power obliged :

the voice of

it

it,

as

if

with

to bear testimony to the

all traditions,

the sentiments

of all peoples, the vague rumours scattered

winds, the echoes of the whole world, riously of a great physical

it,

a supernatural

all tell

by the

us myste-

and moral disorder which

— ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

143

happened

in times anterior to the

consequence of a primitive

fault,

Aurora of history, in whose enormity was

cannot be comprehended by the intellect, nor expressed in words. Even yet, if by chance the such that

it

elements become

phenomena

and there are strange spheres, and great chastise-

disordered,

in the celestial

ments of discord, of pestilence, of famine if

visitations,^

the seasons change the placid course of their har-

monious

rotation,

one another,

—

quakes, and

if

if

and are confounded, and battle with the earth

is

convulsed with earth-

the winds, freed from the reins that

curbed their impetuosity, become hurricanes, then

immediately from the

womb

rises

of peoples, guardians of

the tremendous tradition, a persistent and tremulous

which seeks the cause of the unusual disturbance

voice,

in a crinle sufficient to

enrage the Divinity, and bring

on the earth the maledictions of Heaven.

That these vague rumours are sometimes unfounded, and generally the offspring of the ignorance of the laws which preside over the cause of natural phenomena, is very evident but it is no less evident in our eyes that ;

the error in the

is

in

the application and not in the idea,

consequence and not

in

the principle, in the

practice and not in the theory. The tradition exists, and bears perpetual testimony to the truth in spite of all

The multitudes may err, and do when they affirm that such a sin is the

its false applications.

err frequently,

cause of such a disorder err, sin.

when they

And

;

but they neither err nor can

assert that disorder is the offspring of

exactly because the tradition, considered in

AND

LIBERALISM, its

generality,

is

SOCIALISM.

the manifestation and the visible form

of an absolute truth, for that very reason

and almost impossible, to

rid

tion has of truth gives consistence to

and the concrete

is difficult,

What

what

the tradi-

is false

error lives

under the protection of the absolute

Nor is history wanting come in support of this

it

people of the concrete

errors they fall into in its applications.

application,

143

in the

and grows

truth.

remarkable examples, which

in

universal tradition, transmitted

from father to son, from family to family, from race to from people to people, and from region to region,

race,

human

through the whole of the earth level,

and

for

;

has

catastrophes

race,

even to the extremities

whenever crime has filled

have

a certain

tremendous and rude shocks

measure, then

its

nations,

visited

First of

disturbed the world.

risen to

all,

there occurred that

perversion of which the Holy Scriptures when all men, joined in the same apostacy, the same forgetfulness of God, lived without other

universal tell

us,

and

in

good, and without other law, than their criminal desires

and

frantic

their

passions;

of divine wrath was

full,

and then, when the cup

that great conflict and that

portentous inundation of waters swept over the earth,

and

burying

everything in universal destruction

common

ruin,

and

valleys.

When

the ages afterwards reached the middle

of their course,

it

levelling the

happened,

in

mountains with the

in fulfilment of the ancient

prophecies and of the ancient promises, that the Desired of nations

came

to the world.

was remarkable above

all for

The time

of His

coming

the perversity and

mahce

ESSA rS ON CA THOLICISI.^,

144

of men, and for the universal corruption of morals.

was added, that one day, of sad and

this

tearful memory, had passed since a people, blind and maddened, as if it were

the most tearful and sad of

the creation,

drunk with wine, raised

its

made Him

the object of

sorts of affronts' all

God

in its hands,

and

mockery, accumulated

on Him, and loaded His meek

kinds of ignominies, raised

and murdered

thieves.

its its

Him on on the cross between two Then again the cup of divine wrath flowed

shoulders with high,

that

all

countenance, disturbed with

the frenzy of passion, took

all

To

Him

the sun withdrew his rays, the veil of the temple

over

:

was

rent in two, the rocks

were

split,

and the whole

earth suffered shocks and earthquakes.

Many other examples might be adduced in confirmation of the mysterious harmony which is observed between the moral and physical disturbances, and in support of the universal tradition which in

and proclaims

to

parts testifies

all

but on account of the grandeur of those we have mentioned, we may regard the subject it

;

as terminated.

CHAPTER The. angelic

and

the

VI.

— Greatness

human prevarications

and enormity of sin.

UF

to this I have given the Catholic theory about evil,

the offspring of

sin,

and about

sin,

which comes to us

LIBERALISM^ from human

liberty,

AND

SOCIALISM.

which moves

a wide

in

145 field in its

limited sphere, under the eye and with the consent of

that

Lord, who, making

sovereign

everything with

weight, number, and measure, settled matters so well, that neither His providence

may

oppress the free will

of man, nor the ravages of the latter, great and awful as they are, prejudice His glory. further,

however,

strikes

it

me

Before proceeding

as in keeping with the

majesty of the subject, to give a connected account of that awful tragedy which

commenced

ended

in

tions

which were disposed of

Eden, leaving aside the

in

heaven and

and objec-

reflections

another place, and

in

would only serve to obscure the beauty, at once simple and imposing, of this lamentable history. We have already seen

how the

by the profound

we

shall

see

how

are superior to

and dramatic

Catholic theory

is

above

all others,

adaptibility of all its solutions

all

the facts

on which

it

is

;

now

founded

primitive stories, in their grandeur

effect.

Up

to this

we

discovered their

beauty by comparisons and deductions admire their beauty

;

now we

shall

in themselves, without permitting

our eyes to wander to other objects. Before the creation of man, and in times removed be-

yond human investigations, God had created the angels, happy and perfect creatures, whom He permitted to gaze attentively on the brightest splendours of His

bathed

in

absorbed pure

face,

a sea of unutterable delights, and perpetually in

spirits,

contemplation of Him.

The angels were

and the excellence of

their nature

was

greater than that of the nature of man, composed of an

K

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

146

immortal' soul and of the slime of the earth.

By

its

simple nature the angel was connected with God, whilst

by

wisdom, as

by

intelligence,

its

liberty,

its

had been fornied

it

man by

to

his spiritual portion

and by

its

limited

be connected with man had intercourse with the

and by his corporeal matter with the physical world, which was at the service of his will, and under the angel,

And

obedience of his word.

all

creatures

came

into

being with the inclination and the capacity of being transformed, and of ascending which, beginning

sublime Being

by the immense

in the lowliest beings,

who

above

is

all

beings,

ended

and

ladder, in that

whom

the

men and angels, know by a name names. The physical world panted

heavens and the earth,

which

above all and become spiritualised, in a certain way, like man and man, to become more spiritualised like the angel and the angel, to assimilate itself more to that is

to rise ;

;

perfect Being, the source of all creatures,

whose height no

life,

rising,

all

and whose

come from who was their beand as all had come from Him,

immensity no bounds can contain. God, and,

the Creator of

rule can measure,

All had

should return to God,

ginning and their origin

;

and should return to Him, there was nothing which did not contain a spark, more or less resplendent, of His beauty.

In this to that in

way

the infinite variety was reduced of itself

ample unity which created

them a

striking

separating those

all things,

and placed

concert and a wonderful

that were confused,

those that were scattered.

bond,

and collecting

From which we

see that the

LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. of creation was

act

different

complex, and composed of two

God gave

namely, of that by which

acts,

147

existence to what previously had none

;

and of that

other, by means of which He regulated all that He had given existence to. By the first of these acts He revealed His power of creating all substances which

sustain all forms

creating

And

as there

of

all

that

For

substances

beauties.

order there

no

;

and

order,

placed in things,

which is

the

is

He

what

which

this reason, the universe,

everything created by God,

God

substances.

there any beauty beyond

is

placed in things. signifies

all

of

no substance beyond those created by

is

God, neither

He had

with the second, the power

;

the forms which embellish

all

the aggregate

signifies the

form

aggregate of

all

Beyond God there is no creator, beyond is no beauty, beyond the universe there is

creature.

If all

beauty consists

in the beginning,

and

if

in the order established

by God

beauty, justice, and goodness are

the same thing regarded in different lights,

it

follows

beyond the order established by God, there is no and as these three things constitute the Supreme Good, the established order which contains them all is the Supreme Good. that

goodness, nor beauty, nor justice

There being no order, there is

not an

sist in

is

sort of

;

good beyond the established

nothing beyond the established order that

evil,

nor

is

there

any

evil that

does not con-

escaping beyond the established order.

reason, as the established order

disorder

is

the

evil

par

is

excellence ;

For

this

the supreme good,

beyond disorder

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

148

there is

is

no

evil,

beyond the established order there

as

no good.

We infer from

what we have said, that order, or, what good, consists in all things presupreme the same, the serving that bond which God placed in them when He is

drew them from nothingness which

is

the same, the evil

breaking

that

;

and that

par

admirable bond,

disorder,

excellence, consists

or,

in

and disturbing that

sublime concert.

As

bond could not be broken, nor this concert by one who had a will and power, to a certain degree, and in the manner that this is possible, independent of the will of God, no creature was capable of so much but the angels and men, the only ones, amongst all, made to the image and likeness of their this

disturbed, except

Maker

—that

is,

intelligent

that only the angels and

what

is

The

men

free.

Hence

it

follows

could cause disorder,

or,

the same, the evil par excellence.

angels and

men

the universe, except

from which it is

and

it

by

could not disturb the order of rebelling against their

follows that, to explain evil

and

Maker;

disorder,

necessary to suppose the existence of rebel angels

and men. All disobedience and

what

is

and

called sin,

disobedience,

it

follows

all

rebellion against

all sin

God being

being a rebellion and a

that disorder cannot be con-

ceived in creation, nor evil in the world, without suppos-

ing the existence of If sin is

sin.

nothing but disobedience and rebellion, nor

disobedience nor rebellion anything, nor disorder any-

AND

LIBERALISM, thing, but evil,

follows that

it

and

disobedience,

sin,

are

evil,

;

in

which

When

all

sin the

evWpar

in

Whence we

similarity.

conclude that submission to the divine

supreme good, and

reason

as the good, the esta-

and obedience, are things

order, submission,

which reason discovers a perfect

may

149

disorder, rebellion,

things

discovers an absolute identity

bHshed

SOCIALISM.

will is the

excellence.

the angehc creatures were obedient to the

voice of their Maker, gazing on His countenance, bathing

His splendours, and moving without a stumble, and

in

with concerted harmony, at the direction of His word,

happened that the most from his God to

his eyes

it

beautiful of the angels lifted fix

them on

himself, burying

himself in his self-adoration, and ravished in presence of his beauty.

own

Considering himself self-subsistent, and his

ultimate end, he broke that universal and inviolable

law by which what

is divine, has its end and beginning what is one, which, comprehending all, and being comprehended by nothing, is the universal container of all things, and also the powerful Creator of all

in

creatures.

That first

the

rebellion of the angel

evil,

evils,

creation,

and the and of

first sin,

all

was the

first

disorder, the

the root of all the

sins,

of

all

the disorders which were to befall

and particularly the human

race, in

succeeding

times.

For,

without

when the light,

sparkHng and

fallen angel,

now without beauty and

saw the man and the woman

in paradise,

beautiful with the splendours of grace,

feeling in himself

deep sadness at another's good, he

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

ISO

now

demnation,

them

design of dragging

formed the

that

it

into

his

con-

was not in his power to become

and taking the form of a serpent, which in future should be the symbol of craft and deceit, the horror of human nature, and the object equal with them in their glory

;

of the divine wrath, he entered

by the gates of the

restrial

paradise,

and stealing through the

fragrant herbs, surrounded the

woman

snares into which her innocence

fell

fresh

ter-

and

with those crafty

with the loss of her

happiness.

Nothing

can surpass the sublime

which the Mosaic history of

simplicity with

sublime tragedy

this

is

whose theatre was the terrestrial paradise, whose witness was God, whose actors were, on the one part, the king and lord of the abysses, on the other, the rulers given,

—

and lords of the earth whose victim was to be the human race, and whose sad and lamentable catastrophe was to be bewailed with perpetual lamentations by the earth in its

movements, the heavens

their, thrones,

in their courses, the angels on and the unfortunate descendants of those

unfortunate parents, in these valleys of ours without light.

Why did God

prohibit

the trees of paradise

menced felt

his

?

you from eating the

— In

discourse,

serpent com-

and the woman

immediately

that vain curiosity, the

awaken

in

her heart.

standing and her

will,

fruit of all

way the

this

first

From

this

overcome by

cause of her crime,

moment, her underknow not what soft

I

weakness, began to separate from the will of God, and

from the divine understanding.

The day you

eat of that fruit your eyes will be opened,

— LIBERALISM, and you

be

shall

like gods,

Under the mischievous

woman

AND

151

knowing good and

evil.

of these words, the

influence

her heart the

felt in

SOCIALISM.

giddiness of pride.

first

Fixing her eyes on herself with complacence, the face of

God was

veiled from her on that

Proud and

moment.

vain, she turned her eyes to the tree of

and of divine threats, and she found it sight, and judged it would be sweet and felt her senses' burn with the hitherto of corrosive delights and the curiosity of

infernal illusions

was beautiful to the to the palate,

unknown

fire

;

the eyes, and the delight of the flesh, and the pride of the spirit, first

joined together, destroyed the innocence of the

woman, and soon the innocence of

and the hopes treasured smoke before the wind.

And

the

first

for their offspring vanished like

immediately the whole universe, great as

was disturbed

;

man,

and the

disorder,

commenced

it

is,

in the

highest link of the chain of created beings, was com-

municated from one to the other, until nothing was in the place in

which

it

That tendency inherent

was put by in

all

its

left

divine Maker.

creatures to rise and

ascend to the throne of God, was changed to a tendency

know

to sink to I

not what nameless abyss

remove the eyes from God, adieu to

No

is

to seek death

;

for to

and bid

life.

matter

man may dig in the unfathomwisdom, no matter how high he may rise

how deep

able abyss of

in the investigation

will never

rise

a

of the most hidden mysteries, he

high enough, he will never dig deep

enough, to be able to comprehend the great ravages of

;

1

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

52

that

crime, in which all subsequent ones are con-

first

tained as in a fruitful seed.

No man

cannot, the sinner cannot, even conceive the

;

greatness and the foulness of great

it is,

and how

terrible

sin.

To

understand

and pregnant with

how

disasters,

were necessary to cease contemplating it from the human, and to consider it from the divine, point of view it

;

the Divinity being the good, and sin the evil

for,

par

the Divinity being order, and sin disorder

excellence ;

the Divinity being complete affirmation, and sin absolute

negation

and

sin

;

the Divinity being' the plenitude of existence,

its.

absolute destruction, between the Divinity

and negation, between order and disorder, between good and evil, and between being and nonentity, there is an immeasurable distance, and

a,n

sin,

as between affirmation

invincible contradiction,

No. catastrophe

is

an

infinite

repugnance.

capable of creating disturbance in

the Divinity, and altering the ineff'able rest of God's

countenance. The universal deluge swept over nations, and God beheld the tren^endous inundation, considered in itself, and separated from its cause, with serene eye, it was His angels who, in obedience to His command, had opened the cataracts of heaven, and because it was His voice that commanded the waters to cover

because

the mountains and surround the globe.

The storms

gather fpom every point of the horizon, and congregate like a sable

promontory, and the countenance of God it is His will that makes the storms,

tranquil, because is

His voice that

mands them

calls

is it

them, and they come, that com-

to congregate,

and they do congregate.

It

'

AND

LIBERALISM, is

He who

sinful city,

SOCIALISM.

153

sends the winds to carry them over some

and

it is

He

who,

if it

so suit His designs,

and binds up the waters, and detains the

light-

ning in the clouds, and with His delicate breath

dissi-

Gollects

pates these clouds through the universe.

His eyes have seen the

rise

and

fall

of

all

empires

His

;

ears have heard the supplications of nations, devastated

by the sword of conquest, by the scourge of pestilence, by slavery, and by famine, and His countenance has remained serene and impassible, because

makes and unmakes, the world

;

it

is

it

like vain play-toys, the

He who

He who

is

empires of

places the sword in the right

hand of the conqueror, and it is He who oppresses the nations, decimated by famine and pestilence, when it so pleases His sovereign justice. There is a fearful place, the object of all horror and of all dread, where there is insatiable thirst without

without

alleviation,

perpetual hunger

where the eyes never

satisfaction,

never hear any soothing sound, where

see,

all is

the ears

agitation

without repose, weeping without intermission, grief without consolation.

There

is

no door of escape there

On

are doors of entrance.

memory becomes immortal. God alone knows the

place is

;

its

;

all

threshold hope dies, and

The boundaries

of that

duration of those torments

of an hour which never ends.

Well, now, that cursed

place, with its nameless torments, altered not the coun-

tenance of God, for is

it

was

He

himself placed

it

where

it

God made hell for the earth for men and heaven for

with His omnipotent hand.

reprobate, as

He made

the angels and saints.

the

Hell proclaims His justice, as the

;

1

ESSA yS ON CA THOLICISM,

54

undations, plagues, conquests, famines, hell

good, as

all

Wars,

and heaven His mercy.

earth His goodness

itself,

in-

are a

these things are suitably arranged with rela-

tion to the ultimate

end of

creation,

and

all

serve as

principal instruments of the divine justice.

And

because

all

are good,

been made by the Author of

all

and because they have good, none of them can,

or does, alter the ineffable quiet and the unutterable

repose of the

Maker

horror but what all

He

of

Him

Nothing causes

all things.

has not

made

;

and as

He

has

made

Him horror but the negaHe has made. Hence disorder, which is the the order He placed in things, causes Him

that exists, nothing causes

what

tion of

negation of horror

;

and disobedience, which

is

the negation of the

obedience due to Him.

That disobedience and that

disorder are the supreme

evil,

as they are the negation

of the supreme good, in which consists the supreme

evil.

But disobedience and disorder are nothing but

sin

follows that sin, the absolute negation on the

whence

it

part of

man

God,

the evil/«r excellence, and the only thing that can

is

of the absolute affirmation on the part of

cause horror to

God and His

angels.

Sin covered heaven with mourning, hell with flames,

and the earth with weeds. It was it brought sickness and pestilence, famine and death on the world. It was it dug the grave of the most famous and populous cities. It

was

it

presided at the destruction of Babylon of the

magnificent gardens, of Nineveh the exalted, of Persopolis,

daughter of the Sun, of Memphis of the deep mysteries, of

Sodom

the impure, of Athens the

cor-iic,

of Jerusalem

LIBERALISM, the ungrateful, of willed

all

AND

SOCIALISM.

155

Rome the great; because though God He willed them only as a chas-

these things,

tisement and reparation of

sin.

Sin squeezes out

all

come from human breasts, and all the drop by drop, from all the eyes of men

the groans that tears that

and what

fall, is

;

even more, and what no understanding can

sacred eyes of the

express, it drew tears from the Son of God, the meek Lamb who

mounted the

charged with the sins of the world.

conceive nor words

cross,

Neither the heavens nor the earth, nor men, saw

Him weep

fixed on sin.

and

in the

He wept He wept at

and

;

because

He

the sepulchre of Lazarus,

He

only bewailed the

He

felt

sadness and was

soul.

disturbed on entering the Garden, and

Him

of sin that infused into

and that web of sadness.

was

He was

flow from His brow.

was

sin nailed

and

it

sin

Him

;

it

it

was the horror

that unusual disturbance,

His brow sweated blood, and

the spectre of sin that

was

had His eyes

death of His friend

death of the sinful

it

Him

the heavens saw

laugh, and men, and the earth and

was

made

that strange sweat

nailed to the cross,

sin

caused His death.

drove

Him

and

it

into agony,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

IS6

CHAPTER How God draws good from

VII.

and the human

the angelic

prevarication.

Of

all

the mysteries, the most terrible

man

which constitutes associates

As

all

Divinity, in the ruling

in

supreme faculty of selecting between obedience

and rebellion towards to confer

his

God, to give him

this liberty

on him the right of staining the iriimaculate

beauty of the creations of God the

and

things human.

the imperfect liberty given to the creature, consists

in the

is

that of liberty,

the master of himself, as well as

him with the

the government of

is

harmony

and as the order and

of the universe consist in that immaculate

beauty, to give

on him the

;

him the

right

faculty of staining

it,

is

to confer

of substituting disorder for order,

perturbation for harmony, evil for good.

This

right,

even confined within the limits which we

inentioned,

is

awful, that

God

had not been for the

so

extraordinary,

and

this

faculty so

himself could not have given

certain of converting

it

into

it,

if

He

an instrument

accomplishment of His ends, and of curtailing

its

ravages, with His infinite power.

The supreme

reason of existence of the faculty, con-

ceded to the creature, of converting order into disorder,

harmony

into perturbation, good into evil, is in the power which God has of converting disorder into order, perturbation into harmony, and evil into good. Sup-

LIBERALISM, press this

supreme power

AND in

SOCIALISM.

God, and

it

will

157

be logically

necessary either to suppress that faculty in the creature,

deny

or to

at

once the divine intelligence and the divine

omnipotence.

God

If

par

permits

sin,

which

is

excellence, this consists in

the evil and the disorder

the fact that

impeding His mercy and His occasion for

His mercy.

new

sin, far

serves

justice,

from an

as

manifestations of His justice and of

Suppress the rebellious sinner, and you

not thereby suppress the divine mercy, and the

will

sovereign justice

;

one of their special manifestations,

however, would be suppressed, the one in virtue of which

they are applied to rebellious sinners.

As

the supreme good of intelligent and free beings

consists in their union with

God, God,

in

His

infinite

goodness, determined to so unite them, not only with the bonds of nature, but also with supernatural bonds

and

as,

on one

part, that will

might be

:

by and

left unfulfilled

the voluntary disunion of intelligent and free beings,

on the other, the liberty of the creature could not be conceived without the faculty of that voluntary disunion, the great problem consisted in reconciling these two, in a certain measure, opposite extremes, in such a way, that neither the liberty of the creature should cease to exist,

nor the

will

of

God be

unfulfilled.

As

possibility of disunion, as a testimony of the angelic

human

liberty,

the

and

and union, as a testimony of the divine

will,

were necessary, the question consists

how

the will of

God and

in discovering

the liberty of the creature, the

union which the former desires, and the disunion which

ESSA rS ON CA THOLICISM,

1s8

the latter selects, can be reconciled, that the creature

may

not cease to be

For

this, it

God

cease to be Sovereign.

was required that the disunion should be

one point of view, and apparent

real in is,

nor

free,

in

another

that

;

that the creature could separate from God, but in

such a way, that in separating from Him,

Him

united to

in another manner.

beings came into existence united

By

His grace.

sin

to.

it

should be

Intelligent

and

God by an

effect of

free

they were really disunited from God,

because they broke the bond of grace, really and truly,

by which they bore testimony

to themselves, in quality

of intelligent and free creatures. nothing,

if

well examined, but a

Yet that disunion was

new manner

of union,

Him, by the voluntary renunciation approached Him, by falling into the grace, they of His handsof His justice, or becoming the object of His mercy. In this way the union and disunion, which, at first as on separating from

sight,

appear incompatible, are in reality perfectly recon-

cilable

;

and

in

such a way, that the disunion becomes

a special manner of union, and

manner of

The

much

He

because

it

is

creature which is

separated from ;

and

He is mercy, only Him inasmuch as He

it is

a special to

also separated

is

from

fall

Him

into

hands

inas-

them except

inasmuch as

He

is

God inasmuch was separated, from

the object of

because

as

into His

falls

does not

justice,

grace and mercy

was

is

was not united

as

separated from justice.

union

all

creature

He is grace, but because it was Him inasmuch as He is mercy and

God inasmuch

as

The

disunion.

it

grace, in such a way, that

Him

inasmuch as

He

is

it

justice.

AND

LIBERALISM, The

SOCIALISM.

159

liberty of the creature, then, consists in the faculty

of designating the sort of union which

disunion which

God

it

chooses

it

prefers,

by

the

just as the sovereignty of

;

making the disunion selected by the creature, no matter what it may be, conclude- in union. Creation is Hke a circle. God is, in one point of view, consists in

another,

centre

its

circumference,

He

attracts creation, as circumference,

There

is

in

its

The

thing obeys that irresistible attraction.

centre

;

and

free beings lies in flying

which

is

however,

is

placed in things from

which God traced with His

all

eternity

God

.'

What

is

all

collection

the

things infinitely

that circular circumference,

but those things infinitely dilated in is

Divine Intellect

What means

.'

centre of that inexorable circle, but

dilation

angel so

creature will dare to upset those' mathe-

matically inflexible laws, which the

collected in

one,

so presumptuous, as to endeavour

to break that great circle

What

No

What

'

.'

the

beyond the circumference,

nor to penetrate beyond the centre.

man

is

God, to

is

the circumference.

able to escape

powerful, what

liberty of

from the circum-

and in flying from the centre, whicR is

it.

every-

:

God, to meet with God, who

meet with God, who

finger

contains

nothing beyond that universal container

intelligent

ference,

as centre.

;

He

God

And what What

?

there greater than infinite dilation

greater than infinite

collection

?

.''

For

this

reason St Augustin, the most beautiful of geniuses and the greatest of doctors, the the Church love,

became

man

in

whom

the spirit of

incarnate, the saint ravished with

and inundated with the sublime aids of grace,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

i6o

astonished and almost beside himself on beholding things in

God and God

all

and man desiring

in all things,

and not knowing whither, now from the centre which attracts him, now from the circumference which involves him, wrung this expression, like a sublime sob, to

fly,

from

his hsax^-^-Poor mortal,

God?

do you wish

from

Never did human

Cast yourself into His arms.

so sublimely tender.

term of

things

all

God, then, who marks the

It is

potently Sovereign

;

as

all

by

paths end,

And

intelligently free.

which consists

paths, which

end

God

selecting the path

he has to go to the term marked liberty

By

the creature selects the path.

;

marking the term where

we

fly

pronounce an expression so amorously sublime, and

lips

is

to

let it

in selecting

for

is

omni-

by which

him, the creature

not be said, that the

one of the thousand

in the necessary term, is small, unless

consider that

liberty

which consists

in

selecting

between salvation and damnation as insignificant

for

;

those thousand paths which end in God, the necessary

term of

all

things, are all reduced to

two

— hell

the faculty which has been given him, of going to

by the

by

the one or

his

hunger to be

Beyond ciliation

free

other,

what

it

.-1

this explanation there is

no possible recon-

between things which cannot be even imagined,

we

;

whilst

discover the secret causes of the most pro-

found mysteries, and of the

we

God

liberty could satisfy

except as reconciled in an absolute manner with

and

If the creature has not sufficient liberty, with

heaven.

reach the cause of

l/^e

loftiest designs.

human and

With

it

of the angelic

AND

LIBERALISM, varication of the angel, occult

way

it

SOCIALISM.

i6i

was because God knew the

of reconciling the angelic disorder with the

knew how to draw the The angel con-

divine order, just as the angel

angelic disorder from the divine order.

verted order into disorder,

God drew

disunion.

by transforming union

momentary disunion

ing the

The angel

grace,

He

and

terrible

into

Him

to

union.

indissoluble

did not choose to be united to

and he found himself united ishment.

into

order from disorder, by transform-

God by reward,

eternally

by pun-

closed his ears to the soft call of God's

his closed ears heard, in spite of them, the

thunder of His

Wishing to

justice.

fly abso-

lutely from God, the angel only succeeded in separating

Him

from

He

one way, to be united to

in

God

separated from

with

God

the just.

and he was united

Him

in another.

the clement, and he was united

He separated from Him in heaven, to Him in hell. The order placed in God

things does not consist in their being united to

a given way, but in their being united

to

God;

disorder does not consist in separating from side to be united to

Him

from God absolutely.

on the

Whence

in

as true

God on one

other, but in separating

it

follows that true order

never ceases to exist, and that true disorder exists not at

all.

Sin

is

a negation, so radical, so absolute, that

not only denies order, but disorder; after denying affirnlations, itself.

Sin

it

is

denies

own

negations,

all

and even denies

negation of negation, shade of shade,

phantom of phaijtom. tion of

its

it

God permitted the prevaricawe said, was less radical and

If

man, which, as

culpable than the angelic prevarication, this was because

L

— ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

i63

God knew from all eternity the profound manner of reconciling the human disorder with the divine order. Man converted order into disorder by separating what God joined with a loving link. God drew order from by rejoining what man separated, with a softer and more loving link. Man did not wish to be united to God with the bond of original justice and of sanctifydisorder

ing grace, and he found himself united to

bond

mercy.

of infinite

tion, this

who was

that supreme evil

God permitted

He had

was because

the world,

If

to

come

Him

with the

his prevarica-

in reserve the Saviour of

in the plenitude of time

was necessary

for the

;

supreme good,

was necessary that great Man sinned, because God had determined catastrophe. to become man; and when He became man without ceasing to be God, He had enough blood in His veins, and

for this great

and more than out

him

he

him

;

sufficient virtue in

His blood, to wash

God had strength to God had strength to raise because He who had power to dry the

vacillated,

he

he wept,

;

fell,

because

because

when soaked with the waters

earth also

Man

sin.

sustain

blessing,

of the Deluge,

had

enough to dry the valley watered with our tears pains in his members, because God could remove

;

felt

his pains

;

he suffered great misfortunes, because God

had greater rewards reserved for him. He strayed from Eden, he became subject to death, and he was laid in the grave, because God had strength to conquer death, to remove him from the grave, and to raise him to heaven.

As

the angelic and the

human

prevarications enter as

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

163

elements into the universal order, by an effect of a wonderful divine operation, so also the liberty of the angel and the liberty of man, in which these two prevarications have their origin, enter as necessary elements

of that supreme universal law, to which creations, the moral, the material,

are subject.

all things, all

and the divine world,

According to that law, the absolute unity,

in its infinite fecundity, perpetually

produces from

its

womb diversity, which perpetually returns to the prolific womb from which it came — the bosom of God, who is

the absolute unity.

God, considered as the Father, eternally produced the

Son by way of generation, the Holy Ghost by way of procession, and in this way they eternally constitute the Divinity. The Son and the Holy Ghost are eternally identified with the Father,

Him

and eternally constitute with

the indestructible unity.

Considered as the Creator, nothingness by an act of His physical diversity to certain eternal

and so

diversity

;

He

He drew

will,

all things from and so constituted the

immediately subjected

laws, itself

all

things

and to an immutable order was nothing in the physical

world but the exterior manifestation of His absolute unity.

Considered as Lord and as Legislator, angel and to

man

He

gave to the

a liberty distinct from His own, and

so constituted diversity in the moral world

;

He

im-

mediately imposed on that liberty certain inviolable laws and a necessary term, and the necessity of that term,

and the

inviolability of those

laws,

made the

—

— i64

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

human and

the angehc

;

liberty enter into the

broad

unity of His marvellous designs.

The

divine

which

will,

precept given to

Adam

is

the absolute unity,

is

in the

when God said to the human liberty, with the

in paradise

him, Thou shalt not eat ;

annexed imperfection of the faculty of choosing, which is

the diversity,

is

in the condition

and

if thou eatest

the diversity returns to the unity from which first,

by the

subject to death ;

the

woman

it

proceeds,

when God said to man thou wilt be and again, by the promise when He told there would be born from her One who

threat

that

should crush the head of the serpent, with which threat, and with which promise, God announced the two ways by which the diversity which comes from unity, returns to the unity from which

the

way

it

comes

;

the

way

of justice

and

of mercy.

If the precept

were suppressed, the exterior manifesta-

tion of the absolute unity If the condition consists in

human

would be suppressed.

were suppressed, the diversity which liberty,

would be suppressed

in its

exterior manifestation.

other,

on one side, and the promise on the were suppressed, the ways by which the diversity,

if it is

not to be subversive, has to return to the unity

If the threat

from which

As

it

comes, would beeflfaced.

no unity between the physical creation and the Creator, except because the former is eternally there

is

subject to fixed and immutable laws, perpetual manir

same way, there no unity between God and man, except because man,

festations of the Sovereign Will is

;

in the

AND

LIBERALISM, separated from justice

if

165

his crime, returns to the

impenitent, or as purified to the

after

If,

God by

SOCIALISM.

God

God

of

of mercy.

having considered the angelic and the

human

prevarications separately, and found that each, though a

perturbation fix

time, is

by

accident,

a harmony by essence,

is

we

our attention on both prevarications at the same

we

will

how their wonderful harmony, by the

be astonished to see

converted into

dissonance irresistible

virtue of the divine Wonder-worker.

On

arriving here,

and before proceeding

farther,

it is

well to observe that every beauty of creation consists in the fact, that everything

of

some of the

is

in itself a reflex, as

divine perfections, so that

all

it

were,

together are

a faithful translation of God's sovereign beauty.

For

own way, from

the

brilliant

globe which illumines space to the humble

lily

which

forgotten in the valley, and from far below the

this reason all creatures, each in its

is

valleys crowned with

lilies,

to as far above the firma-

ment where the orbs of heaven shine, bear witness, each in its own way, to His ineffable perfections, and sing with The an endless song His excellence and His glory. heavens sing of His omnipotence, the seas of His greatness, the earth of

His fecundity, the clouds, with their

lofty promontories, represent the footstool

foot rests. voice.

He

The is

sublime wrath

His

will,

in the abysses with

His

lightning

in the

arches.

And

He gave the

on which His

the thunder His silence,

with His

loud hurricanes, and in the tem-

pestuous whirlwinds. of the plains.

is

He

painted

us,

say the flowers

me, say the heavens,

stars,

We

my

splendid

are the sparks that drop

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

i66

from

his resplendent robe.

On passing

before us,

His

And

the angel

beautiful,

and man

and glorious, and per-

was stamped on us. In this way some things represented His grandeur, others His majesty, others His omnipotence; and the angel, and man especially, the treasures of His goodness, the marvels of His grace, and the splendour of His God, however, is not only marvellous and perbeauty. fect by His beauty, and by His grace, and by His goodness, and by His omnipotence; He is, besides these things and above all these things, if there were measure in His perfections, infinitely just and infinitely merciful. It follows from this that the supreme act of the creation could not be considered consummate and perfect, except after His infinite justice and His infinite mercy were

fect figure

realised in all their manifestations.

special justice nor the special

And

as neither the

mercy of God which are

applied to sinners, could be exercised without the prevarication of the intelligent

and

conclude that the prevarication

free beings, itself

was the occasion

of the greatest and the most beautiful of

When

all

God shone

we may

all

harmonies.

the intelligent and free beings prevaricated, forth in the midst of creation with

renewed and increased splendour. The universe in general was the perfect reflex of His omnipotence the terrestrial ;

paradise was specially the reflex of His grace

was

specially the reflex of

His mercy,

;

heaven

hell the reflex

of His justice only, and the earth, placed between these

two poles of justice

creation,

was

and of His mercy.

at once the reflex of

When

His

with the angelic and

AND

LIBERALISM,

human that

prevarication there

was not manifested

that which

was afterwards

167

was no perfection

exteriorly,

in

by something

God

besides

to be manifested on Calvary,

The deeper one

things were in order.

all

SOCIALISM.

dives into

more the sovereign convenience, perfect connection, and the and the marvellous concert of the Christian mysteries become apparent. The these awful dogmas, the

science of the mysteries, else

but the science of

if

well considered,

is

nothing

all solutions.

CHAPTER

VIII.

Solutions of the Liberal school relative to these problems.

Before

bringing this book to a conclusion,

I

think

it

right to ask the Liberal, as well as the Socialistic school,

what they think about

God

—

on rendering

sarily stumbles,

religious, political,

As

evil

and

and good, about man and

on which human reason neces-

fearful questions,

itself

social problems.*

regards the Liberal school,

that in

its

profound ignorance

not because

though

it

it is

is, it

account of the great

it

I will

not theological in

does not

know

merely say of

despises theology,

it.

its

it,

and

way, but because,

This school has not

yet comprehended, and probably will never comprehend, the close link that unites divine and great relationship which religious, questions,

The author refers to

political,

human

have with

things, the social

and the dependence which

all

Continental Liberalism, which, in politics, logically

leads to Socialism, as Protestantism in religion does to Infidelity. last four

and proThe

of the condemned propositions of the Syllabus belong to the doc-

trines of this school.

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

1 68

blems relative to government, have on those others

which

refer to

God, the Supreme Legislator of

all

human

associations.

The

Liberal school

theologian

among

is

the only one which has no

doctors and masters; the Abso-

its

them to the dignity and the peoples increased during their government in importance and power. France will never forget the government of Cardinal Richelieu, famous and glorious among the most glorious and famous of the French monarchy. The lustre of the great lutist

school had them, often raised

of governors of peoples,

cardinal

is

so unstained, that

to the blush

;

and

not suffer eclipse glorious

it

puts that of

many

his splendour so sovereign, that

by

kings it

did

the advent to the throne of that

and powerful king,

whom

France

in

her enthu-

and Europe in her astonishment, called the Great Ximinez de Cisneros and Alberoni, the two greatest

siasm,

ministers of the Spanish monarchy, were cardinals

and and perpetually associated with that of the most renowned queen and illustrious woman of Spain, famous among nations for its illustrious women and its renowned queens. The latter is great in Europe by the grandeur of his designs, and by the acuteness and sagacity of his protheologians.

The name

digious intellect.

The

of the former

is

gloriously

former, appearing in those

days when the great acts of

this nation raised her

happy above

the dignity of history, elevating her to epic altitude and

grandeur, governed the great ship of state with a firm

hand, and silencing the turbulent crew which went in her, carried her

through rough seas to others more quiet

;

LIBERALISM, and

SOCIALISM.

where the ship and the

tranquil,

The

and calm.

AND

other,

when the majesty

coming

pilot

169

found peace

in those miserable times

monarchy was

of the Spanish

dis-

appearing, was on the point of restoring her ancient

grandeurs and power, by making her weigh heavily in the political balance of European peoples.

The

science

of

God

him who possesses it, same

gives

sagacity and force, because

sharpens, and at the

it

time expands, the

intellect.

wonderful in the

lives of

What

me most

the saints, and particularly

of the fathers of the desert,

a circumstance which has

is

not been yet duly appreciated.

tomed

appears to

to converse with God,

know no man

I

accus-

and to exercise himself

divine speculations, who, in equality of circumstances,

not superior to

all others, either

in is

by the enlightenment and

vigour of his reason, or by the soundness of his judg-

ment, or by the penetration and acuteness of his intellect

and above

all, I

know none who,

has not the advantage of

prudent

common

condemned

sense.

all

in

equal circumstances,

others in practical and

If the

human

to see things reversely,

it

race were not

would

select for

amongst the generality of men, and the mystics among theologians, and amongst its

counsellors theologians

the mystics, those

who have lived a life most apart from Amongst the persons whom I

business and the world.

know, and

I

know many,

recognised an unshaken sagacity,

the only ones in

common

sense,

whom

and an amazing aptitude to give a

and prudent solution to the most to discover a

means of escape

difficult

in the

I

have

and a prodigious practical

problems, and

most trying circum-

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM.

170

stances, are those retired life

who

lived a contemplative

and

and, on the contrary, I have not yet dis-

;

covered, and

those

who have

I

do not expect ever

men

are called

one of

to discover,

of business, despisers of all

who would be capable of understanding any business. To this numerous class belong those who look on it as their office to deceive others, and who only deceive themselves. It is here that man is astonished at the sublime judgments of God for if God had not condemned those who despise or ignore Him, deceivers by profession, to be spiritual,

and, above

all,

divine speculations,

;

perpetually stupid

of those

who

—or

if

He had

not limited the power

are prodigiously sagacious,

human

societies

could not have resisted either the sagacity of the one

The power

or the malice of the other.

of contemplative

men, and the stupidity of worldlings, are the only things which maintain the world equilibrium.

There

is

in its

being and

only one being in creation which

possesses all the sagacity of spiritual

people, and all the malice of those

God, together with being

is

the devil.

perfect

its

all

spiritual

The

and contemplative

who

ignore or despise

That

speculations.

devil has the sagacity of the

and the malice of the

one, without their virtue,

others,

without their stupidity, and precisely from this comes his destructive force,

and

all his

immense power.

regards the Liberal school, considered in general, theological,

except

necessarily are. its

faith,

in the

nor declaring

about good and

degree in which

Never giving an evil,

all

it is

all

As not

schools

explicit exposition of

its opinion about God and man, and about the order or disorder

LIBERALISM, which are found

trifles, it

SOCIALISM.

in all things created

on the contrary, that tions as

AND

it

may

;

171

and proclaiming,

regards these profound specula-

be said of

it,

that

it

believes in

an

by the philosophers the government of human things, and by certain laws

abstract and absolute god, served in

which he universal

instituted in the

of this school rant,

his

beginning of time

government of the world. is

king of creation, he

in the

Although the god is

perpetually igno-

with an august ignorance, of the manner in which

kingdoms are governed and

the ministers

When he deputed

ruled.

who should govern in

his

name, he deposited

them the plenitude of his sovereignty, and declared them perpetual and inviolable. From that time to this people owe him worship, but not obedience. With regard to evil, the Liberal school denies it in physical, and admits it in human, things. With this school all the questions relative to good or evil are resolved into a question of government, and every in

question of government that sible

is

when the government ;

a question of legitimacy is

legitimate, evil

is

;

and on the contrary, when the government

illegitimate, eyil is

inevitable.

The

so

imposis

question of good

and evil, then, is reduced to investigating on one side which are the legitimate governments, and which the usurpers.

The Liberal school calls the governments established by God legitimate, and illegitimate, those which have not their origin in the divine delegation. God wished that material things should be subject to certain physical laws,

which

He

instituted in the beginning, once for

£SSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

172

and that

ever,

and

in a special

direct

it

;

be governed by reason,

societies should

way

entrusted in a general

way

whence

it

to the well-to-do classes,

to the philosophers

follows

government of human reason, incarnate

way

in the

middle

philosophers

;

classes,

teach and

governments

are but two legitimate

that there

who

by necessary consequence,

and

way

in a special

—the

a general

in

in

the

and the government of divine reason, per-

petually incarnate in certain laws, to which material things are subject from the beginning.

This derivation of the Liberal legitimacy of divine

my readers, and above all, and yet nothing appears more

right will appear strange to

to

my

Liberal readers

evident to me. its

The

;

Liberal school

is

not atheistical in

dogmas, although, not being Catholic,

out knowing and without desiring

it,

leads, with-

it

from consequence

to consequence, to the confines of Atheism.

ing the existence of a God, the Creator of

cannot deny

in

the

God whom

the original plenitude of sovereignty, which

the school.

is

it

recognises and affirms,

all rights,

He who

deist

God

recognises in is

;

Him

he who denies

Him, because he denies His

the constituent

he who

a Catholic;

denies the actual, and recognises in

in

or the constituent

the same thing in the language of

and the actual sovereignty, sovereignty, a

Recognis-

all creatures, it

the constituent, all

existence,

sovereignty is

an

atheist.

This being the case, the liberal school, inasmuch as it is deistical, cannot proclaim the actual sovereignty of reason, without proclaiming at the stituted sovereignty of

same time the con-

God, in which the former, which

LIBERALISM, is

always delegated, has

AND

SOCIALISM.

beginning and

its

173

origin.

The

theory of the constituent sovereignty of the people

does not exist in the Liberal school, except as Atheism

Deism,

exists in

quality of remote but inevitable

in

Hence proceed

consequence.

the two great divisions of

the Liberal school, the democratic and the liberal, properly so called

;

the latter more timid, the former more

The democratic

consistent.

ble logic, has been

party, carried

;

inflexi-

lost in these latter times, as rivers are

lost in the sea, in the schools socialistic

by an

at once atheistical

and

the liberal party struggles to be at rest on

the high promontory

it

has raised for

itself,

situate be-

whose waves are ascending, and will Socialistic and the Catholic. Of this here, and say that, not shall speak we only we party

tween two cover

its

seas,

top

—the

being able to recognise the constituent sovereignty of the people without being democratic, atheistical,

socialistic,

being monarchical and Catholic,

it

and

God

without

recognises,

on one

nor the actual sovereignty of

hand, the original and constituent sovereignty of God,

and on the reason.

other,

And

so

the actual sovereignty of

we were

school does not proclaim

human

in saying the Liberal

right

human, but as

originally

derived from divine, right.

In the eyes of this school there

is

no other

evil

but that

which proceeds from the government's not being where

God

placed

it

in the

beginning

;

and as material things

are perpetually subject to the physical laws which were

contemporaneous with creation, the Liberal school denies evil in

the universality of things

;

and on the contrary,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

174

as

happens that the government of society

it

settled

and

not

is

fixed in the philosophic dynasties, in which

the exclusive right of governing

human

things resides

divine delegation, the Liberal school admits social

by

whenever the government slips from the hands of the philosophers and middle classes, to fall into the evil

hands of kings, or to pass to the popular masses. Of all the schools this is the most sterile, because the least learned

seen,

it

and the most

As we have

egotistical.

knows nothing of the nature of good or evil

;

it

has no notion of

has scarcely any notion of God, and

it

man

because devoid of

Impotent

whatever.

for good,

dogmatic affirmation, and for evil, because all intrepid and absolute negation horrifies it, it is condemned, without

all

knowing it

it,

to

embark

in the ship

whose fortune

to the Catholic port, or to the Socialistic reefs.

school only becomes dominant where society

wane and to

;

the period of

fugitive time

its

domination

is

is

carries

This

on the

that transitory

when the world does not know whether

go with Barrabas or with

Jesus,

and

is

in

a state of

suspense between a dogmatic affirmation and a supreme negation.

Society then willingly allows

itself

to be

governed by a school which never says, T affirm, or, / deny, and which ever says, T distinguish. The

supreme

interest of that school is

.in

preventing the

day of radical negations or of sovereign affirmations; and that it may not arrive, it confounds by means of discussion all notions, and propagates scepticism, knowing as it does, that a people which arrival of the

perpetually hears in the

mouth of

its

sophists the pro

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

175

and the contra of everything, ends by not knowing which side to take, and by asking itself whether truth and error, injustice and justice, stupidity and honesty, are things opposed

among

themselves, or are only the

same things regarded from

different points of view.

This trying period, no matter

always short

;

man was

cussion, being as

human

nature.

it

is,

the

The peoples when they

it

may

last, is

and perpetual

act,

enemy

a day comes

stincts,

how long

born to

dis-

of action, contradicts

pressed by

all

their

in-

flow through the squares

and the streets resolutely calling for Barrabas or Jesus, and levelling with the dust the chairs of the sophists.

The

Socialistic schools, prescinding

from the barbarous

multitudes which follow them, and considered in their doctors and masters, are far superior to the Liberal school,

go straight to all the great problems and questions, and because they always propose a peremptory and decisive solution. Socialism is strong, only

just because they

because

it

because

it is

is

a theology; and

a satanic theology.

it

inasmuch as they are theological, Liberal school, inasmuch as sceptical

;

it

destructive, only

is

The is

Socialistic schools,

will prevail over the

anti-theological

and inasmuch as they are

and

satanic, they will

succumb before the Catholic school, which is at once Their instincts must be in theological and divine. accord with our assertions,

if

we

consider that they

up their hatred for Catholicism, while they have only contempt for Liberalism. Democratic Socialism is right when it says to Liberalism, What God is that you offer to my adoration, and treasure

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

iy6

who must be ing, I

inferior to you, for

He

has no

will,

nor even

deny the Catholic God but while denyWhat I cannot conceive is a god conceive Him.

personality

I

?

;

Everything inclines

without the divine attributes.

me

you have only given Him existence that He may give you the legitimacy which you want your legitimacy and His existence are a fiction which rests oh to believe that

:

a shadow.

I

have come to the world to dissipate

shadows, and to put an end to

The

all fictions.

all

distinc-

tion

between the actual and the constituent sovereignty

has

all

the appearance of an invention of people, who,

not daring to embrace both, desire to retain one at

The

sovereign

exist.

is

like

Sovereignty

is

God

—he

is

least.

one, or he does not

like the Divinity

—

it

either does

and incommunicable. Legitimacy of reason are two words, the latter of which designates the subject, and the former the attribute. I deny not exist, or

it is

indivisible

What is legitimacy, and what is reason } And in case they be something, how do you know that something is in Liberalism and not in Socialism, in you and not in me, in the middle classes and not in the people I deny your legitimacy, and you deny mine you deny my reason, and I deny yours. When you provoke me to discussion, I pardon you, because you know not what you do. Dissolvent, universal discussion, whose secret virtue you know not, the attribute and the subject.

.'

;

destroyed your adversaries already, and to destroy yourself;

as far as I

firmly resolved to carry

ing

it

that

it

may

it

am

is

now going

concerned,

I

am

with a high hand, by murder-

not murder me.

Discussion

is

the

— LIBERALISM, sword the

spiritual

against is

the

it

AND

spirit wields

neither caution nor

title

SOCIALISM.

17;

with eyes blindfold

armour

;

Discussion

avails.

under which Death travels when he seeks to

avoid recognition and goes incognito. dent, recognised him, in spite of his

Rome, the prumask, when he

entered her gates dressed as a sophist; wherefore she

Man, according

wisely objected to his passport.

Was

Catholic,

with the devil.

when

only

lost

to the

he entered into discussion

same demon

Later, they tell us, this

appeared to Jesus in the desert, provoking him to a combat,

spiritual

But

would

it

or,

who

call

a discussion.

it,

then somebody very

he had

appear

different to treat with,

we may

as

said to

him

Begone, Satan,

with which he put an end at once to discussion and diabolical tricks.

must be confessed the Catholics have

It

the special gift of presenting great truths with a bold

and investing them with ingenious trappings.

front,

Antiquity would have unanimously condemned whoever were

human

mad enough

things,

to call into discussion divine

religious

and

magistrates and the gods.

would have joined

totle

social

institutions,

Socrates, Plato,

in deciding against

and the

and Aris-

him

;

in the

great duel he would have the Cynics and the Sophists

on

his side.

As

regards the

does not

exist.

evil, it is

The forms

thing to engender constituted,

it

government

;

it is

will

and

it.

either in the universe or

If society

be able to if it

is

healthy- and well-

forms of

resist all possible

does not

badly constituted and

it

of governments are a small

resist

sickly.

them,

it is

because

Evil cannot be con-

M

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

178

ceived except as an organic vice of society, or as a constitutional vice of

remedy

human

nature

;

and

in this case

the

not in a change of government, but in chang-

is

ing the social organisation or the constitution of man.

The fundamental

error of Liberalism consists in giving

importance to nothing but questions of government, which, compared with social and religious order, have

Liberalism Socialists

is

totally eclipsed

from the moment that

and Catholics propose to the world, their

mendous problems and

When

why

This serves to explain

no importance whatever.

their

tre-

contradictory solutions.

Catholicism asserts that the evil comes from

that sin corrupted

human

nature in the

that nevertheless the good prevails over the

over disorder, because the one divine, there satisfies

is

is

no doubt, even before

sin,

man, and

first

order

evil,

human, the other it it is examined ;

by proportioning

reason in a certain manner,

the grandeur of the causes to the greatness of the effects,

and by equalling the greatness explain,

by the

Socialism says the nature of

unhealthy the

latter,

;

all

men

tutions,

when

it

is in

the other

to rise

—there

is

man

is

up

;

when

it

there

is

to

When

sound and society

is

in

it,

war with

through the

convokes and

calls

in rebellion against all social insti-

no doubt that

in this

way

and solving the question, though there false,

tries

it

places the former at open

to extirpate the evil which

good which on

of what

greatness of the explanations.

is

of proposing

much

that

is

something gigantic and grand, worthy of

the terrible majesty of the subject

;

but when Liberalism

explains the evil and the good, order and disorder,

by

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

the various forms of government, transitory

all

ephemeral and

when, prescinding, on one

;

on the

social, and,

brings into

other,

discussion

by

only ones worthy the statesman,

capable of

—

there

from

their

the

from

all

problems,

problems as of

elevation

no words

are

describing

side,

all religious,

political

its

179

occupying

any language

in

profound

it

the

incapacity and

radical impotence of this school, not only to solve, but

even to enunciate, these awful questions.

enemy

The

Liberal

and of the light, has selected I know not what twilight between the luminous and dark regions, between the eternal shades school,

at once of the darkness

and the divine aurora. it

Placed in this nameless region,

has aimed at governing without a people and without

a God.

Extravagant and impossible enterprise

days are numbered

;

for

be able to say where

of battle,

when the

.

Its

on one side of the horizon

appears God, and on the other, the people. will

!

it

is

No

one

on the tremendous day

plain shall be covered with the

Catholic and Socialistic phalanxes.

CHAPTER

IX.

Socialistic solutions.

The

Socialistic schools are superior to the Liberal school,

as well on account of the nature of the problems which

they aim at solving, as in the manner of proposing and

ASSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

l8o

solving them.

Their masters appear familiarised to a

certain degree, with

those daring speculations which

have God and His nature, society

and

its institutions,

for their object.

From

man and

his constitution,

the universe and

its

laws,

this inclination to generalise, to

consider things in the aggregate, to observe the general discrepancies and harmonies, comes the great aptitude

they have to enter, and to find an exit from, without losing themselves, the intricate labyrinth of rationalistic logic. If in the great contest which, as in suspense, there

it

were, keeps the world

were no other combatants but Socialists

and Liberals, neither would the battle be long, nor the victory doubtful.

All the Socialistic schools are, in the philosophic point of view, rationalistic

;

in the religious, atheistical. alistic,

in the political, republican

As

far as

;

they are ration-

they resemble the Liberal school, and they are

distinguished from republican.

The

it

inasmuch as they are atheistical and

question

lies in

investigating whether

rationalism logically leads to the point where the Liberal

school stops, or to the term in which the Socialistic schools settle down.

Reserving for a future occasion

the examination of this question in the political, shall here principally

occupy ourselves with the

we

religious,

point of view.

Considering the question under this aspect,

it is

clear

that the system, in virtue of which a total sufficiency of

solving

by

itself,

and without the aid of God,

all

ques-

tions relative to the political, the religious, the social,

the human, orders,

is

conceded to reason, supposes

and

in

it

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

i8i

a complete sovereignty and an absolute independence.

This system carries with tions

—the negation of

it

three simultaneous nega-

revelation, the negation of grace,

and the negation of providence. tion,

human

of

The negation

reason

contradicts

its

the negation of grace, because grace

;

absolute independence

providence, because providence its if

But these three negations,

independent sovereignty.

between God and

God by

revelation,

by

God

all.

not united to

at

the negation of

;

the contradiction of

is

well examined, are resolved into one

all link

to

of revela-

because revelation contradicts the total sufficiency

man

;

for if

—the negation of

man

providence, and

is

by

not united

grace, he

is

having

God and to deny Him, are To affirm Him dogmatically, dogmatically despoiled Him of all His

attributes, is

a contradiction reserved for the Liberal

Well, now, to affirm this of

one and the same thing. after

school, the schools.

most contradictory among the

Besides, this

accidental,

it,

contradictions.

is

does also in the

it

is

destroys

it

proclaims.

God

does with

political,

The

it

in the religious,

order with the king and

office of the

proclaim the existences existences

being

no matter

an exotic compound of obvious

What

with the people.

which

from

far

essential in this school, which,

is

how you view it

contradiction,

rationalistic

annuls,

There

is

Liberal school

is

to

and to annul the

none of

its

principles

not accompanied by a counter principle which it.

Thus, for example,

and immediately

it

proclaims monarchy,

ministerial responsibility,

and conse-

quently the omnipotence of the responsible ministry,

1

£SSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

82

which

is

contradictory of monarchy.

proclaims minis-

It

and immediately the sovereign

terial responsibility,

in-

tervention in matters of government, of the deliberative assemblies, which

of the ministers.

is

contradictory of the omnipotence

proclaims the sovereign interven-

It

tion in the affairs of state, of the political assemblies,

and immediately, the

right of the electoral districts to

decide on the last appeal, which

contradictory of the

is

sovereign intervention of the assemblies.

It

proclaims

the right of supreme arbitration, which resides in the

and

electors,

immediately

supreme

explicitly, the

more or

accepts,

it

less

which

right of insurrection,

is

contradictory of that pacific and supreme arbitration. It

proclaims the right of insurrection of the multitude,

which

proclaim

to

is

immediately,

which

bility,

And

with

all

it

is

because

an it

to ostracise the

—to

which

never

it

There

is

—the

god of the time,

its

in

all

and the

corresponding equi-

and as a god, places.

Corruption at one

is

it

In such

Liberal school combined things, that all

discovers,

only one power for which the

power of corruption.

school,

a

way

when

it

is

no

man who cannot be

for Cassar, or proclaim

Cassar, all

the

is

and the has the prevails,

have necessarily to be corrupters or corrupted

where there

it

and

artifice

contradicts the nature of society

Liberal school has not sought

same

sovereign multitude.

discover, through

equilibrium

nature of man.

librium

omnipotence, and

sovereign

these principles and counter principles

aims at one thing industry,

its

establishes the laws of electoral eligi-

;

for

Caesar, or vote

must be Caesars or

AND

LIBERALISM, For

prsetorians.

death

—

The

by promising them

ministers,

school

this

gangrened.

die

all

183

this reason all the societies

domination of

under the

SOCIALISM.

kings

eternity

;

which

fall

same

the

die

corrupt

the

the ministers

the kings, by promising them an expansion of their

The

prerogative.

ministers corrupt the representatives

of the people, by placing

the dignities of the state at

all

The

their feet; the assemblies corrupt the ministers.

members

traffic

with their power, the electors with their

influence; all corrupt the masses with their promises,

and the masses corrupt

all

with their clamour and

threats.

Returning to the thread of

when the

deny the existence of God, they are more logical

Socialistic schools

which the Liberal school

asserts,

and consistent than

it

from being as

and consistent

logical

Catholic school in

with

all

His

though they end

Him

and, nevertheless, they are far

The

in the

Socialistic schools,

in

denying

God

a dogmatic and sovereign

Him

on the contrary,

definitely,

same way, nor deny

deny Him resolutely. that the most daring man is

reasons, nor fact

in their line, as the

Catholic school affirms

attributes, with

The

affirmation.

deny

its.

;

say that

this discourse, I

Him

do not

This consists filled

all

same

for the

in the

with dread in

is no God. One would say that, arriving here, man fears he cannot pass for-

affirming in an absolute way, that there

ward, and that the heavens are falling on the blasphemer

and

his

blasphemy.

that exists

by

is

Some deny Him by

God, and God

affirming that

is

all

saying

that exists

humanity and God are

;

:

All

others,

identical;

1

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

84

between these there are others who assure us that in humanity there is a dualism of powers and energies, and that man is the representative of that dualism. Those

who

man

are of this opinion distinguish in

powers and the spontaneous energies

and true divinity

In the former,

ing to this system,

—

humanity

God

is

God

is

cessive

is

God ;

is

man, or part of

and they

;

that wherever there

influence or a grand domination, there

incline to

God

is is

a great

incarnate.

incarnate in Cyrus, and in Alexander, and

in Caesar,

became

Others are of

a being subject to different and suc-

incarnations

God was

is

Accord-

neither all that exists, nor

man, humanity, or the universe

He

humanity

true

:

in the latter.

the half of man.

another opinion, and deny that

believe that

the reflective

and

in

Charlemagne, and

successively

in

Napoleon.

incarnate in the great

He

Asiatic

empires, and then in the Macedonian, and afterwards in the

Roman.

In the beginning,

He was

The world changes

afterwards the West.

the East, and its

appearance

and moves a step Each time it puts on a new

in each of these divine incarnations,

the path of progress.

in

appearance

in

consequence of a new incarnation.

All these contradictory and absurd systems have

become incarnate

in

one man, come to the world

fatter times to be the personification of

Contradictions.

This

man

is

have already mentioned, and for the

As

all rationalistic

M. Proudhon,

whom we

often in the course of this work.

in these

whom we

mention M. Proudhon passes shall

most learned and consistent of modern

far as his doctrine is concerned, there is

Socialists.

no doubt

it

"

LIBERALISM, is

AND

SOCIALISM.

185

superior to that of contemporaneous rationalists

may

regards his consistency, our readers notion

by the specimens we here give

problems which are the subject of

;

as

form a proper

relative to the

this book.

In the " Confessions of a Revolutionist," M. Proudhon

God

defines

in the

universal power,

produces by the itself,

manner

following

penetrated infinite

with

—

:

"

God

is

which

intelligence,

consciousness which

the

has of

it

the beings of every kingdom, from the ineffable

man, and which only

fluid to

tion of

and says

itself,

:

man

in

attains to a recogni-

—Our Lord God,

the subject of our investigations,

workers dared to convert

Him

absolute king betimes, like the

far

how have

from being the wonder-

into a personal being,

God

of the Jews and of

the Christians, and constitutional betimes, like the

God

and whose incomprehensible providence of the appears perpetually and solely occupied in confusing deists,

our reason

?

—

Here there are three things ist, The affirmation of a universal, intelligent, and divine power, which is pan2d, More excellent incarnation of God in theism humanity, which is humanism 3d, Negation of a per;

;

sonal

God and

of His providence, which

In the work which he

called the "

mical Contradictions," chap,

viii.,

is

deism.

System of Econo-

he says

:

—

" I will pre-

scind from the pantheistical hypothesis, which has ever

me

appeared to sonal or

denied

He

hypocrisy or cowardice.

does not exist."

in the

text asserts.

Here

is

former text, and denied

God

asserted all

all

is

per-

that

is

that the former

There a pantheistical and impersonal

J

ESSA VS

86

God was affirmed

;

OAT

CA THOLICISM,

here are denied, as two things equally

absurd, the impersonality of

God and

pantheism.

Further on in the same chapter he adds

:

—" I

think

remedy against fanaticism is not in identifying humanity with the divinity, which is nothing else but to assert commission in political economy, and in philosophy, mysticism, and the statu quo. The true remedy is in demonstrating to humanity that God, if He exists, After having upset his pantheism and is its enemy." his impersonal God, he here destroys humanism, which the true

is

On

contained in the definition of the text.

hand, the theory of the rivalry between

we have already spoken commences to invest

of which

this book,

the other

God and man,

another chapter of

in

with a concrete

itself

form.

The condemnation rivalry,

appear more

same work, where we

—and

-

I

am

of humanism,

clearly in the ninth chapter of the find the following

sorry to have to confess

that this

declaration will separate

intelligent

among

the Socialists

the more impossible this deification of is

and the theory of

it

:

it,

me

—

for

me

For

my part' am

from the most

—the more

becomes

"

certain as I

I

think on

it,

to subscribe to

our species, which, on consideration,

nothing else in the atheists of our days but the last

echo of religious terror

;

and which, by rehabilitating

and consecrating mysticism under the name of humanism, again places the sciences under the rule of preoccupations, morality under the rule of habit, social

economy under the

rule

of

communism, or, which is and finally, logic itself

the same, of debility and misejy

;

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

187

under the rule of the absurd and the absolute. precisely because

.... ceded

find myself obliged

I

this religion, in it,

is

why

I

am

union with

to

And

repudiate

those which pre-

all

obliged to admit as plausible

still

the hypothesis of an infinite being,

,

.

,

.

against which

should struggle even to death, like Israel against

I

Jehovah, for that

is

my

destiny."

Nothing remains of the

definition of

God, but the

negation of providence, and even that negation dis-

appears with this contradictory affirmation:

how we journey by

behold

chance, conducted

vidence, which never warns us but where ("

it

— "And

by prowounds"

Syst^me des Contradictions," chap, iii.) From the above we see that M. Proudhon, embracing

all

the rationalistic contradictions,

again humanist, then manichean

;

is

now

pantheist,

that he believes in

an impersonal god, and again declares as absurd and monstrous the idea of a god, person

;

and

dence at the same time.

if

that

god be not a

he affirms and denies provi-

finally, that

In one of our former chapters,

we saw how, in the manichean theory of rivalry between God and man, the Proudhonian god was representative of evil now we shall see, according to Proudhon himself, how all this system comes to the ground. ;

In the second chapter of the work already quoted, he explains himself in this

way

:

—

"

Nature, or the Divinity,

has distrusted our hearts, and has not created in them love of sciences

man

for his kind.

All the discoveries of the

about the designs of

social evolutions, to the

Providence regarding

shame of the human conscience

1

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

88

be

it

said,

and

be

to our happiness

it

known, bear

testi-

mony to a profound misanthropy on the part of God. God gives us aid, not through goodness, but because

He procures the good He judges it worthy of

order constitutes His essence. of the world,

it

If

not because

is

good, but because

He

is

by the tender name

obhged to

And

His supreme wisdom.

it

by the

religion of

Him

whilst the vulgar call

of Father, neither the historian nor

the philosophical economist find motives for believing in the possibility of

His esteeming us or loving

comes

despised slave of

he

Man

to the ground.

God

;

he

is

is

not the

us."

manicheism

With these words the Proudhonian

rival,

but the

not the good nor the

evil,

a creature possessed of the gross and servile

is

instincts

God

which slavery engenders.

what union of

severe, inflexible,

is

I

know

and mathematical

not

laws.

He does good without being good and His misanthropy He would be wicked if, He could. The Proud;

proves

honian god here displays an evident relationship with the

Fatum

more

Fatalism

of the ancients.

clearly in

these words

:

—

is

discovered

still

Being come to the

"

second station of our Calvary, in place of resigning ourselves to sterile contemplations, is

what we should

do,

to lend an increasingly attentive ear to the teaching

The

of destiny.

surety of our liberty

is

precisely, in the

progress of our punishment. " is

On

God

What

the heels of the fatalist comes the atheist .''

multiplied

power go ?

Where }

is

He

"i

Into

What is His What promises

will

how many gods "i

does

How far He make

is

He

does His us

}

And

LIBERALISM,

AND

when we take the lamp of discover

all

189

hand

analysis in our

moment

these things, on the

of heaven, of earth, and of

SOCIALISM.

hell,

all

to

the divinities

are converted into a

something incorporeal, impassible, immoveable, incomprehensible, indefinable, and, to say

a negation of let

man

all

put a

object, or let

it

once for

the attributes of existence.

into

In

fact,

a special genius behind every

spirit or

him conceive the universe

one only power,

all,

by

as governed

in either of these suppositions

he does

nothing more than affirm the hypothesis of an unconditional, that

is,

an impossible,

draw from

entity, to

it

an

explanation tolerably satisfactory, of the phenomena

Deep and

which he cannot conceive otherwise. found mystery

To make

!

more and more

pro-

the object of his idolatry

rational, the believer strips

sively of all that could constitute its reality

prodigious efforts of logic and genius, fact that the attributes of the being

;

it

we come

par

succes-

and

after

to the

excellence are

confounded and identified with those of nothingness. This evolution the bottom of

is

all

fatal

and

theodicy

"

inevitable. ("

Atheism

is

at

Syst^me des Contradic-

tions," Prologue).

Once

supreme conclusion, and at would appear the Furies enter

arrived at this

cloudy abyss,

it

possession of the atheist.

this

into

Blasphemies swell his heart,

squeeze his throat, burn his

lips,

vours to raise them into a pyramid

and when he endeato, the

throne of God,

placing one on top of another, he sees with astonieh-

ment

that,

borne down by their specific gravity, instead

of rising with light wing, they

fall

heavy and dead

into

— ^.S-^^

igo

the abyss which

YS

is

ON CA THOLICISM, His tongue can

their centre.

find

sarcastic or contemptuous, nor

no words that are not

appellations that are not stupid or the offspring of anger,

nor

which are not

fits

His style

frantic.

at once

is

impetuous and muddy, eloquent without ornament, and

—

Here he exclaims " What is the use of adoring that phantom of Divinity And what does He want of us by means of that gang of inspired people who persecute us everywhere with their sermons?" (" Syst^me des Contradictions, chap, iii.") And further on he allows tliese cynical expressions to drop from him " With regard to God, I know Him not. God is nothing but pure mysticism. If you desire me to listen to you, begin by suppressing that word in your discourses for, cynically gross.

:

.'

:

;

from the experience of three thousand years,

become convinced that every one that God, wishes to rob

How much

me

of

my

talks to

liberty or

my

have

I

me

of

purse.

How much do I owe and my God" (chap, vi.) Having come to the paroxysm of rage, he breaks out in Chapter VHI. in the following words: "This I say, the first duty of an intelligent and free man is to tear immediately the idea of God from his mind and conyou.'

do you owe me.'

my

Behold

religion

—

science

;

for

God,

our nature, and

With what

am

holy.'

imbecile

not,

He

exists, is essentially hostile to

we depend on Him for nothing. God yet say to me. Be holy

right could

Deceptive

God

I

spirit!

I

your kingdom

is

for other victims

am

if

among

and cannot ever

holy

.

.

I

would answer Him, now at an end seek :

the brute creation. be,

.

as

;

and as

for

know I you, how

I

AND

LIBERALISM, can you be

so, if

you and

SOCIALISM.

resemble each other

I

called, learn

me

from

now we know

that

will be, perpetually

the tyrant of Prometheus " (chap, in the

same

?

Eter-

you may desire to be

nal Father, Jupiter., or Jehovah, as

you were, and you

191

the

rival of

And

viii.)

You are, Adam,

you.

further on

chapter, apostrophising the Divinity which

he denies, he says

:

—

"

You

triumph, and no one dared

to contradict you, when, after tormenting Job, the just figure of our humanity, in his candid piety

ance.

your

We

were

and all

body and

his discreet

as

it

invisible majesty, to

soul,

you insulted

and respectful ignor-

were nothing

in presence of

which we gave the heavens as

Times are now changed Your name, in other times the compendium and sum of all wisdom, the only sanction of the judge, the only power of the prince, the hope of the poor, the refuge of the repentant sinner that incommunicable name, handed over to execration and contempt, will be henceforth despised by the nations. God is nothing else but stupidity and fear, hypocrisy and deceit, tyranny and misery. God is the evil. As long as humanity bends before an altar, the slave of kings and of priests, it will be reprobated a seat, and the earth as a footstool. :

b'ehold you are beaten and dethroned.

;

;

as long as one single

man receives in

God's name, an oath

•from another man, society will be founded on perjury,

and peace and love Jehovah

;

will

be exiled from the earth.

for henceforth, cured of the fear of

having attained true wisdom,

my

hand

I

am

Retire,

God, and

ready to swear with

raised towards heaven, that

you are only the

murderer of my reason and the spectre of my conscience."

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

192

himself has said

It is

No

conscience.

—God

is

it

the spectre of his

one can deny God without condemning

himself; no one can fly from

God

without flying from

That wretch, without leaving earth,

himself.

Those muscular,

in hell.

violent,

already

and impotent contrac-

mad

phrenzy, that

tions, this cynical

is

rage, that violent

and tempestuous wrath, are already the contractions, the phrenzy, the rage, and the wrath of the reprobate. Without charity and without

man

blessing of

—hope

faith,

And

!

speaking of Catholicism, he

he has

lost

the last

yet, occasionally,

feels,

without knowing

when it,

its

martyrdom ceases, as it were by enchantment a gentle and refreshing breeze from heaven reaches his brow, dries up the

Then

serene and sanctifying influence.

his

;

sweat and suspends the

fit

of epileptic convulsions.

—

Then he softly lets fall these words "Ah how much more prudent has Catholicism proved itself, and how :

superior

is

it

to

!

sansimonians, republicans, univer-

all,

the knowledge of society and of knows that our life is only a pere-

sitarians, economists, in

man

The

!

grination,

priest

and that

all

complete perfection

is

denied us

and because he knows this, he is content with commencing on earth an education, which can only in this

world

;

be completed in heaven.

under the auspices of doing, and obtaining, life,

he would

sooner

religion

By what

it

religion, satisfied

what

is sufficient

with knowing,

for the

temporal

never be an obstacle to the powers of earth

will

does

The man who has grown up

1

prefer

martyrdom.

inconceivable

Oh, beloved

error

of

reason

happen that those who have most, need of

"

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

who know you

you, are precisely the very persons least I

193

?

spoke before en passant of M.

acter for consistency

;

now

I

necessary, to say something

much more sight. With notorious,

Proudhon's char-

think

and even

right,

it

more on a subject which

than would appear at

transfcendent

regard to the character,

and consequently evident,

it

fact,

we

is

first

a public,

is

and yet that

that M. Proudhon has adopted, one after another, all the systems relative to the Divinity, and that there is no one fact

among

inexplicable

totally

is

the Sociahsts so

if

consider

of contradictions

full

results, that his character for

consistency

tradictory of the fact which occasions

terranean paths,

by what

it.

is

whence

:

By what

illation of subtle

it

a fact consub-

and knotty

deductions, starting from the notorious fact of ProuS-

honian contradictions,

has

the

world come

to

call

by the name which conby the name of consistency ?

those contradictions precisely tradicts them,

that

is,

There are here a great problem to be solved, and a great mystery to be cleared up.

The

solution of that problem,

and the clearing up of

that mystery, are in the fact, that in the theories of

M.

Proudhon there are at the same time contradiction and consistency

—the

latter real,

If all the fragments I

one by one, and

if

and the former apparent

have just transcribed, be examined they be considered in themselves,

without looking further, each of them

is

the contradiction

of the one that precedes and the one that follows

they are

all

contradictory

among themselves

;

it,

but

N

and

if

we

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

194 fix

our eyes on the rationalistic theory, in which

have their origin, all sins

it

all

others

will be seen that rationalism, amongst

the most like original

sin,

is,

like

it,

an actual

and consequently, that with comprehends and embraces all errors, to whose union with it, it is no obstacle,' they being contraerror, its

and

all

errors in posse;

wide unity

it

dictory amongst themselves, for even contradictions are susceptible of a certain kind of peace and a certain kind

of union, where there involves

them

is

a supreme contradiction which

In the present case, rationalism

all.

that contradiction which resolves tions in

its

supreme

In

unity.

other contradic-

all

fact,

rationalism

once deism, pantheism, humanism, manicheism, ism, scepticism, atheism

most consistent

is

;

and amongst

he who

is

is

is

at

fatal-

rationalists the

at once deist, pantheist,

and atheist. These considerations, which serve to explain the two facts, apparently contradictory, mentioned above, also

humanist, manichean,

satisfactorily explain

fatalist, sceptic,

why, instead of giving one by one

the various systems of the Socialistic doctors about the

we have

preferred considering them all in the M. Proudhon, where they can be seen in their variety and in the aggregate. Having seen what the Socialists think of the Divinity, Divinity,

writings of

it

remains to be seen what they think of man, and

they solve the awful problems of good and sidered in general, which

is

evil,

how con-

the subject of this book.

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

CHAPTER

igj

X.

— Conclusion of

Continuation of the same subject

There

has never been a

the good and the

and

evil,

man

so

as to dare

mode

they

all,

or form in which

however, decidedly

admit their existence and co-existence as a point

they

;

settled

likewise agree, that in the contest which

all

evil,

the former must

latter.

Leaving these

between the good and the

exists

deny

their co-existence in history.

Philosophers dispute about the

they exist and co-exist;

mad

this book.

obtain a definite victory over the

points as undoubted and settled, in

all

else there are

diversity of opinions, contradiction of systems,

and end-

less contests.

The is

Liberal school regards

no other evil but what

is

it

as certain, that there

in the political institutions

which we have inherited from time to time, and that the

supreme good the dust.

consists in levelling those institutions in

The

greater part of Socialists look

settled, that there is

no other

and that the grand remedy tion of social institutions. to us from times past

;

is

evil

but what

in the

upon

is in

it

as

society,

complete destruc-

comes that the good

All agree that the

the Liberals affirm

evil

can be realised at the present time, and the Socialists that the golden age cannot

The

commence

till

the future.

supreme good consisting, according to one and

the other, in a supreme disarrangement, which, according to the Liberal school, must be realised in the political,

and according to the

Socialists,

in

the social,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

196

regions, the

and

one and the other agree in the substantial

intrinsic

goodness of man,

who

is

be the

to

intel-

This free agent of both disarrangements. Socialthe enunciated by explicitly been has conclusion istic schools, and is implicitly involved in the theory

and

ligent

which the Liberal schools hold. That conclusion follows from their theory, in such a way, that if the conclusion be denied, the theory itself comes to the ground. In fact,

the theory, according to which the evil

and proceeds from man,

is

man

in

is

contradictory of the other,

according to which, the evil

is

in the social or political

and proceeds from the political and social Supposing the former, what logically institutions. follows is, to extirpate the evil in man, with which its institutions,

extirpation in society and in government must necessarily

Supposing the

be secured.

follows

is,

latter,

what

logically

to extirpate the evil directly in society or in

government,

in

which are

its

and

centre

its origin.

which we see that the Catholic, and the

From

rationalistic,

theories are not only incompatible, but even contradic-

By the

tory.

whether

Catholic, disturbance,

political or

condemned as mad and useless. The rationalistic theories condemn all moral reform of man as useAnd the one and the other are consisless and mad. social, is

tent in their condemnations

government or or

government

in society, ?

And

;

why

for

if

will

the evil be not in

you disturb

on the contrary,

if

society

the evil

not in individuals, nor proceeds from individuals, will

you attempt an

The

interior

reform of

Socialistic schools feel

man

is

why

?

no inconvenience

in ac-

LIBERALISM, the

cepting

AND

SOCIALISM.

presented in

question,

this

Liberal school, on the contrary, sees in

its

197

and not without reason, serious inconvenience. ing the question as

it

presents itself of

the Liberal school finds

Accept-

own

its

The

way.

acceptation,

accord,

the dire necessity of

itself in

denying with a radical negation, the Catholic theory considered in is

itself

and

and

in all its consequences,

this

exactly what the Liberal school resolutely refuses to

The

do.

principles,

it

is

perpetually occupied in reconciling

contradictory theories and

Moral reforms do not appear disarrangements appear

all ill

human

contradictions.

in its eyes,

excellent,

that these things are incompatible; interiorly,

their counter-

does not wish to be separated from the one

nor the other, and all

and of

friend of all principles,

but political

without adverting for

man, purified

cannot be the agent of disturbance

agents of disturbance, by the very fact of being that they are not interiorly purified.

On

and the

;

so,

declare

this occasion,

as on all others, the balance between Catholicism

Socialism things

—

is

either

absolutely impossible;

man

is

,

If unpurified

himself the duty of disturber,

the

ofifice

social,

—one

of

two

not to be purified, or disturbances

are not to be realised.

preclude of

for

and

disturbances

political, ;

and

of political disturber, to

if

man

takes on

are

only the

man

relinquishes

become the reformer

of himself, neither social nor political disturbances are possible.

So

in the

one as

in the other case, the Liberal

school has necessarily to abdicate in favour of the Socialistic, or in favour of the Catholic, schools. It follows that

reason on their

the Socialistic schools have logic and side,

when they maintain

against the

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

198

Liberal school, that

if

the evil

or in government, there

is

is

essentially in society

nothing to be done but to

disturb government or society, without

its

being either

necessary or convenient, but on the contrary, pernicious and absurd, to attempt the reform of man.

Suppose the innate and absolute goodness of man, is at once the universal reformer and irreformable

man

himself,

which

is

his essence ceases to is

God— become divine. He

equal to transforming

be

human

to

man

into

absolutely good in himself, and produces the absolute

good outside himself by his disturbances. Supreme good, and the cause of all good, he is most excellent, most wise, and most potent. Adoration is a necessity so imperious, that the Socialists, being atheists, and not adoring God, make gods of men, that they may adore something, in some way. These being the ruling ideas of the about man,

it

is

clear

Socialistic schools

the Socialist denies his anti-

thetical nature as a pure invention of the Catholic school.

Hence Sansimonianism, and Fourrierism do not admit that

man

is

so constituted that his understanding leads

him one way, and his will another, nor do they grant there is any sort of contradiction between the spirit and the flesh. The supreme end of Sansimonianism is to demonstrate practically the conciliation and the unity of those two powerful energies

this supreme conciliawas symbolised in the Sansimonian priest, whose office was to satisfy the spirit by means of the flesh, and the flesh by means of the spirit. The principle ;

tion

common

to all Socialists,

which consists

in giving

ill-

constituted society a construction analogous to that of

;

AND

LIBERALISM, man, who

is

199

constructed in an excellent manner, led the

Sansimonians to deny

and

SOCIALISM.

all

species of political, scientific,

social dualism, the negation of

which was necessary,

supposing the negation of the antithetical nature of

The

man. flesh

pacification

once proclaimed,

universal pacification

it

between the

was

and the

spirit

logical to proclaim the

and reconciliation of

all

things

and as things are not pacified or reconciled except by unity, universal unity was a logical consequence of human unity and hence the religious, political, and social pantheism, which constitutes the ideal despotism ;

to which all the Socialistic schools aspire with an im-

mense

aspiration.

The common

father of the school,

Saint Simon, and the patriarch of the school, Fourrier, are

its

august and glorious personifications.

Returning to the nature of man, which

on the

other,

man

proclaim

but also in tute

it;

all

its

absolute goodness,

it

our special

is

object at present, supposing, on one side,

its

was

unity,

and

logical to

holy and divine, not only in his unity,

and

in

each of the elements which consti-

and hence the proclamation of the sanctity For this reason all the

a:nd divinity of the passions. Socialistic

schools,

some

implicitly,

others expHcitly,

proclaim the passions divine and holy. sanctity and the divinity of the passions,

Supposing the it

was

logical

condemn all repressive and penal systems, all, above to condemn virtue, whose office it is to and impede their march, prevent their explosion, and repress to explicitly

their impetuosity.

And

in fact, all these things,

which

are at once the consequence of anterior principles,

and

200

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

principles of

more remote consequences, are taught and

proclaimed with more or

less

cynicism in

all

the Social-

Sansimonian

amongst which the

schools,

istic

and

Fourrierian schools shine forth, like two suns in a star-

spangled firmament.

That

flesh.

is

That

is

what

woman and

of

rehabilitation

what

about attractions.

is

signified

Fourrier says

is

signified

by the

the pacification of the

by Fourrier's theory " Duty proceeds from

—

:

man (understand society), and attraction from God." Madame de Coeslin, quoted by M. Louis de Rayband, in his " Studies

on Contemporaneous Reformists," has

expressed this same thought with greater exactness by saying

:

—

virtues of

The passions are of divine institution, the human institution " which means, supposing

"

;

the principles of the school, that the virtues are perni-

and the passions salutary. For this reason the supreme end of Socialism is to create a new social atmosphere, in which the passions may move freely, cious,

commencing by destroying the announced by the poets will

political,

religious,

and

The golden age and expected by the nations,

which oppress them.

social institutions

begin in the world when that great event occurs,

and that magnificent aurora appears on the horizon. The earth will then be a paradise, and that paradise with gates to the four winds, will not be, like the Catholic

by an angel' The evil will have disappeared from the world, which heretofore has been, but shall no longer be, condemned to be a valley of tears. paradise, guarded

This

is

what Socialism thinks of good and of

God and man.

My

evil,

of

readers will not certainly require

AND

LIBERALISM,

me

SOCIALISM. by

to follow the Socialistic schools step

201

on the

step,

Much

broken path of their mischievous extravagances. they require

less will

me

to do so,

that they were virtually refuted

when they consider, from the moment I

placed before their eyes, the majesty of the Catholic doctrine relative to these great questions, in

simple

its

and august magnificence. Nevertheless, I consider it an iraprescindible and holy duty to level with the ground that edifice of error ; and for this, I have but to employ one sole argument and one single word, enough, and

more than enough,

my

to effect

purpose.

Society can be considered in two different points of view, the Catholic in

the

and the

Catholic point of view,

reunion of a multitude of men, rule

it

it is

Considered

in the

is

who

and protection of the same

institutions.

view,

Considered

pantheistical.

laws,

nothing but the live

all

under the

and of the same

pantheistical point of

an organism which exists with an

individual,

concrete,

and necessary

tion, it is

clear that, as society does not exist indepen-

existence.

dently of the individuals

who

nothing in the society which individuals; whence

quence, that the to is

it

from man.

evil

it

In the

constitute

it,

essentially.

which, society

is

there can be

not previously

follows,

by necessary

and the good which are

in

in

the

conse-

it,

come

Considered from this point of view,

it

exists

touching the individuals in In

supposi-

is

absurd to endeavour to extirpate the

society in which

first

by incidence whom it was

the second

evil

it

from the

only,

without

originally

and

supposition, according to

a being which exists of

itself

with a

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

202

concrete, individual,

admit

and necessary existence, those who

are obliged to solve in a satisfactory way, the

it

very questions which, with respect to man, the rationpropose to Catholics,

alists

Whether

viz.,

essentially or accidentally evil

?

—

if

society

is

what

the former,

way, in what circumstances, and on what occasion, has the social

harmony been disturbed with

incidence

?

We have seen

how

that mischievous

Catholics untie

these

all

what way they solve all these difficulties, and what manner they answer all these questions relative

knots, in in

to the existence of evil, considered as a

consequence of

human prevarication. What we have not yet seen, and what we shall never see, is the manner and the force the

same

of the Socialistic solutions of those lative to the existence of evil,

difficulties re-

considered as existing

solely in social institutions.

This sole consideration would authorise that the Socialistic theory

and that Socialism

company I

will

this

is

it

a theory of mountebanks,

To be as sober as I purposed, argumentation by placing Socialism in The evil which is in society is an

of buffiaons.

end

this

dilemma is

in saying

nothing but the social reason of a

:

—

essence or an accident. it,

is

me

If

it

be an essence, to extirpate

not enough to upset social institutions

necessary besides to destroy society essence that sustains

all

forms.

itself,

which

If the evil

it

;

is

is

the

be acci-

you are obliged to do what you have not what you cannot do you are obHged to explain to me at what time, by what cause, in what way, and in what form, that accident has dental, then

done, what you do not do,

:

— LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

203

supervened, and then, by what series of deductions you come to constitute man the redeemer of society, giving him power to cleanse its stains and to wash away its sins. It will be useful to warn the incautious here, that rationalism, which furiously attacks all the Catholic mysteries, afterwards proclaims, in another way, and for

another purpose, those very mysteries. affirms

two

rationalistic its

faith,

—the

Catholicism

and the redemption Socialism comprehends in the symbol of things

same

the

and Catholics there

evil

;

affirmations.

Between

no more than

is

Socialists

this difference

the latter affirm the evil of man, and the redemption on

the part of

God

;

the former affirm the evil of society,

and the redemption on the part of man. The Catholic, with his two affirmations, does nothing but affirm two simple and natural things that man is man, and exe-

—

cutes

human

works, that

things divine.

God

Socialism, with

is

its

nothing more than affirm, that

God, and executes

two

man

affirmations, does

undertakes and

accomplishes the enterprises of a God, and that society

What

executes the works belonging to man.

human

reason

gain

Socialism, except to

mysterious, for what

Our

does

by abandoning Catholicism for leave what is at once evident and is

at once mysterious

and absurd

refutation of the Socialistic theories

.''

would not

be complete, if we had not recourse to the arsenal of M. Proudhon, now full of reason, and now full of elo-

quence and sarcasm, when he combats and pulverises his

companions

in arms.

See here what M. Proudhon thinks of the harmonical

— ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

204

nature of man, proclaimed by St Simon and

by

Fourrier,

and of the future transformation of the earth into a garden of delights, announced by all the Socialists " But man, considered in the aggregate of his manifesta:

tions,

and when

presents one

on

all

antinomies appear exhausted,

his

which, referring to nothing that exists

still,

earth, remains here below, without solution of

any

how

per-

This serves to explain why, no matter

sort.

fect order

may

be

in society,

Felicity in this world

and weariness.

exile bitterness

never so perfect as to

is

it

an ideal we are condemned to be ever aiming at, and which the invincible antagonism of nature and the spirit is

perpetually places beyond our reach" ("Systeme des

Pay

Contradictions," chap, x.)

attention

now

to the fol-

man

lowing sarcasm against the native goodness of "

The

greatest obstacle equality has to surmount,

in the aristocratic pride of the rich,

is

:

not

but in the indis-

pensable egotism of the poor ; and do you dare, in spite of that, to count on his innate goodness to reform at

the spontaneity and the

once,

malice

.''

"

("

Systfeme

The sarcasm becomes

des

premeditation of his

Contradictions," chap,

viii.)

intensified in the following words,

taken from the same work and from the same chapter:

—

"

The

logic of Socialism

good, they

him

tell

us,

but

in the evil, that

he

good, they repeat, but the good, that he

may

it

may

it is

;

and

if

he

is

man

:

is

necessary to disinterest

is

abstain from

it

man

:

is

necessary to interest him in

reduce

interest of his passions carry evil

truly marvellous

is

it

to practice

him

to evil,

he

disinterested in the good,

;

for if the will

he

do the

will

not

!

AND

LIBERALISM, execute

it.

SOCIALISM.

205

In this case, society will have no right to

upbraid him for attending to his passions, for

it was its him by means of his passions. What an excellent nature was that of Nero, and how

obligation to conduct

gifts What an artistic was that of Heliogabalus, who organised prostitution And as regards Tiberius, what a powerful and grand character his was And, on the contrary, where shall we find words sufficient to blame the society which

marvellously enriched with

!

soul

1

!

produced those divine

souls, and, nevertheless,

being to Tacitus and Marcus Aurelius

what we

Socialists call innate

sanctity of his passions

and abandoned by her

yoke of matrimony herself to It

;

Hymen.

!

A

lovers,

And

.

gave this is

goodness of man, and

Sappho,

full

of wrinkles

submits her neck to the

disinterested in love, she resigns

And

they

woman

call that

holy

a pity this word has not in French the double

is

meaning it has in the Hebrew tongue The whole world would then agree about the sanctity of Sappho." !

The sarcasm

is

invested with that form, eloquently

which might be called the Proudhonian form,

brutal,

in

same work, where M. Proudhon says " Let us pass rapidly by the side of those St Simonian and Fourrierian constitutions, and above all others of the same stamp, whose authors go about the streets and squares, promising to unite with happy link, free love with the purest modesty, delicacy, and spirituality; sad illusion of an abject Socialism, last dream the twelfth chapter of the :

—

of delirious debauch.

Give wings to passion through

inconstancy, and immediately the flesh will tyrannise

— ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

2o6

over the the vile

spirit

;

lovers will be nothing to each 'other but

instruments of pleasure; the longing of the .... to

senses will succeed the fusion of hearts, and

form a judgment of such things it is not necessary to have passed, like St Simon, through the custom-house of the popular Venus."

After having given, and refuted in general, the Socialistic

theories relative to the problems

subject of this book, refute

it

which are the

only remains to explain and relative to the

M. Proudhon's theory

same pro-

blems, to bring this long and complicated debate to a conclusion.

M. Proudhon

factorily lays

down

work we have

"The

compendiously but

his doctrine in

Chapter

viii.

just quoted, in the following

education

of

liberty,

the

satis-

of the

words

subjection

of

:

our

redemption of our soul, this what the Christian mystery, properly interpreted,

interests, the rescue or the is

signifies, as

Lessing has demonstrated.

This education

and that of the human race. Moses, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Zoroaster, were all apostles of expiation, and living symbols of penance. Man is by nature a sinner, which does not mean precisely that he His destiny is bad, but rather that he is badly made.

will last as

is

to

long as our

life,

be perpetually occupied

in

endeavouring to create

his proper ideal within himself."

In this profession of faith there

is

something of the

Catholic theory, something of the Socialistic theory, and

something which

is

neither the one nor the other,

thereby constitutes the honian theory.

individuality

of

the

and

Proud-

LIBERALISM,

What

there

AND

SOCIALISM.

207

here of the Catholic theory consists in

is

the acknowledgment of the existence of evil and of

the confession that sin

in

and that the

man

from

man and

sin,

not in society,

does not come from society but

evil

and

;

in

is

here belonging to the

finally, there is

acknowledgment of the

Catholic theory the explicit

necessity of redemption and penance.

What

there

of the Socialistic theory,

is

man

mation that

is

What

the redeemer.

is

in the affir-

constitutes the

individuality of the Proudhonian theory consists, on one side, in the following

theory,

istic

society,

viz.,

that

theory contradictory of the Social-

man

the redeemer does not redeem

but redeems himself; and in this other, contradic-

tory of the Catholic theory, that

man has not made himself

bad, but on the contrary, that he has been badly made.

Leaving aside what

in this

theory

is

in

conformity with

the Catholic on one hand, and with the Socialistic theory,

on the

other, I will confine myself to that solely

renders which,

different

it

from the others, and

which

in virtue of

neither Socialistic nor Catholic, but exclu-

it is

sively Proudhonian.

The

individuality of this theory consists in affirming

man

that

made.

is

a sinner only because he has been badly

Under

this supposition

M. Proudhon has given

a remarkable proof of sound reason and good logic, in

seeking the redeemer outside the Creator, as

we

could not be well redeemed by him

were badly made.

As God

it.

clear

by whom we

could not be the redeemer,

and a redeemer being necessary, should be

it is

either

man

or an angel

Being doubtful of the existence of the

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

2o8

and certain of the necessity of the redemption, it to, he gave it to man, at once a sinner and the redeemer of his sins.

angels,

having no one else to intrust

who

is

connected and knit

All these propositions are well

Where they

together.

serves

them

made

either well

theory

or badly made.

own redeemer,

is

tion

between

his

his nature

and

way

as to

in the fact

for

man

which

has been

first case,

the

the second, the

in

—

If

is

a manifest contradic-

man

is

his attribute

no matter how badly made he a

:

there

;

In the

and

;

following argumentation occurs

and

is

and basis

to the ground

falls

weak

are all

as foundation

may

be,

is

;

badly made,

man,

for if

made

in

such

be able to amend the work of his Maker,

even to the degree of redeeming himself, far from being a creature badly made, he for

is

a most perfect creature

what greater perfection can be imagined, than what

consists in the faculty of blotting out all his sins, of

amending

all his

imperfections, and, to say

of redeeming himself

.''

Well now,

if in

it

in a

word,

the fact of his

own redeemer, no matter what his imperfections may be besides, man is a most perfect being, to say of him at one and the same time, that he has been badly made, and that he is his own redeemer, is to

being his

affirm

what

because perfect,

is

denied, and to deny

what

is

affirmed,

he has been made most and that he has been badly made. And let it it

is

to affirm that

not be said his imperfections

come

to

him from God,

and the great perfection of redemption from himself;

we will answer, that man could never become own redeemer, if he had not been made with the

for to this

his

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

209

faculty of reaching to such a great height, or, at least,

with the faculty of acquiring that faculty in the course It is necessary to grant

of time.

and to grant anything he was made he was

here,

his

is

some of these

to grant all

redeemer

;

things,

for if

in posse, before

when being

so actually, that posse, in spite of all his imperfections,

constituted

theory

The is

is

him most

perfect.

Hence the Proudhonian

nothing less than a contradiction in terms.

conclusion of

all

that has been said

is,

that there

no school which does not recognise the simultaneous

existence of good and

evil,

and the Catholic alone

satisfactorily explains the nature

and the

origin of the

one and the other, and their various and complicated

no good whatever,

It teaches us that there is

effects.

come from God, and that all that proceeds from God is good it tells us how the evil commenced with the first error of the angelic and the

that does not

;

human

which from being obedient and subbecame rebellious and prevaricating, and how, what degree, those two great prevarications

liberty,

missive,

and to change

all

things with their influence and ravages.

tells us, in fine, is

good

is

de se eternal, because

de se essential, and that the evil

because is

that the

it

is

an accident

not subject to

falls

:

is

whence

it

it

a transitory thing follows the

good

or changes, and the evil can be

removed and the sinner redeemed. future

It

Reserving for a

occasion the explanation of those great and

sovereign mysteries, thfough whose prodigious virtue the evil was extirpated in

its origin,

we have

limited

ourselves to place in relief the sovereign industry and

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

2IO

converts the

God

the wonderful artifice with which

effects of the primitive fall, into constituent

elements of

a superior good and of a more excellent order

we explained the

evil,

by the

;

hence

what manner the good springs from

in

virtue of God, after having explained in

what way the evil springs from the good, by the fault of man, without the human action or the divine reaction implying rivalry of any sort, between beings which are separated

As

by an

infinite distance.

regards the Rationalistic schools, the examination

of their vario.us systems serves to

profound ignorance of

As

questions. is

antitheological,

them

it is

which

civilization,

proper

learned

;

office

is

ignorance

its

in quality of laical

essentially antitheological

it is

demonstrate their

that relates to these deep

regards the Liberal school,

among the

proverbial

school,

all

and

;

in quality of

impotent to give a great impulse to

is

ever the reflex of a theology.

to falsify all principles,

Its

by combining

and absurdly, with those that conmeans it expects to arrive at an by equilibrium, and it only arrives at confusion it thinks it is advancing to truth, and it is only going to war. But as it is impossible to withdraw one's self entirely from capriciously

tradict

them

this

:

;

the authority of theological science, the Liberal school less laical

than

would appear evil,

believes,

at first sight.

is

is

and more theological than The question of good and

the most essentially theological of

imagined, is

it

proposed and solved by

its

all

that can be

doctors,

though

it

seen immediately they are not acquainted with the art

of proposing, and the

manner of

solving,

it.

In the

first

LIBERALISM, place, they prescind in itself, to the evil

AND

SOCIALISM.

from the question relative to

far

excellence, to

solely with a certain sort of evil, as for

one who

is

ignorant of what

particular evils are

in

;

it

evil

occupy themselves if it

evil

is,

were possible to

know what

the second place, particularising

the remedy, as they particularised the

cover

211

they

evil,

dis-

solely in certain political forms, forgetting that

those forms are perfectly indifferent, as reason

tells

us,

and history demonstrates. Pointing out the evil where it does not exist, and the remedy where it is not to be the Liberal school has placed the question outside

fourirf;

its

proper point of view, by which

confusion and disorder into the Its

it

has introduced

intellectual

regions.

ephemeral domination has proved mischievous to

human

societies,

and

diiring its transitory reign the dis-

solvent principle of discussion has impaired the com-

mon

sense of nations.

In this state of society there

no disturbance which may not be trophe which

may

tions,

we

school,

nor catas-

not happen, nor revolution which

may not be inevitable. As regards the Socialistic sidering the

feared,

is

manner

in

schools,

by merely con-

which they propose the ques-

discover their superiority over the Liberal

which

is

not in a position to oppose any kind

of resistance to them. theological, they

Being, as they are, essentially

measure the abysses

in all their pro-

and are not wanting in a certain grandeur in manner of proposing the problems and solving them. Considered, however, more attentively, and on entering

fundity,

the

into the intricate labyrinth of their contradictory solu-

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

212 tions,

their

appearance,

is

hidden under a grand

weakness,

radical

immediately discovered.

The

Socialistic

pagan philosophers, whose theoloand cosmogonical systems formed a monstrous

sectaries are like the

gical

union, on one side, of disfigured and incomplete biblical traditions,

and on the

hypotheses.

and

other, of unsustainable

false

Their grandeur comes to them from the

atmosphere which surrounds them,

all

impregnated with

Catholic emanations, and their contradictions and their

weakness, from their ignorance of dogma, from their neglect of tradition, and from their contempt for the

Church, the universal depositary of Catholic dogmas and of Christian traditions.

Like our dramatic writers of

another age, who, confounding everything grotesquely,

though ingeniously, used to put

in the

mouth

of Caesar

becoming the Cid, and expressions worthy of the knights of Christendom in the mouth of Moorish discourses

warriors, the Socialists of our

times are perpetually

occupied in giving a rationalistic sense to Catholic words, giving fewer proofs of ingenuity than of candour, and

proving

themselves

occasionally less malicious than

innocent.

There

is

nothing

less Catholic,

nor more rationalistic,

than to enter forcibly the rationalistic citadel and the Catholic citadel, taking from the former the ideas, with all their contradictions,

with will

all

and from the

their magnificence.

latter the

garments,

Catholicism, for

its

part,

not consent to those scandalous intrigues, nor to

that shameful

Catholicism

is

confusion, nor to those stupid in

a position

to

show, that

it

spoils.

along

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

possesses the regular index of

problems

social

solutions

to take

;

that

SOCIALISM.

213

all political, religious,

that it will not do to admit it by halves, nor words to cover with them the nakedness of

;

its

other doctrines

;

that there

is

good but the good and the

no other

evil

which

evil

God man

that the

God

;

that the

man

;

that humanity

;

whom it proclaims, is the whom it defines, is the

what

is

brothers, equal

how they

its

measure of

words; that

liberty, equality,

those things and

it

all

men

and nothing

that they are

manner they ;

that its

its ideas,

and

fraternity, or to

those

names

;

and

are so,

words have been

its

ideas to sustain

Catholic

deny at once

that the

the redemption exclusively belongs to tells

is,

necessary to proclaim

is

and

to

it

true

true

has said at the same time

are so, -in what

to the

says

it

said it

to what degree they are so

made

explains

it

alone

when it has and free,

that

else;

alone

nor other

points out

it

that things cannot be explained except as

them

and

alone has the secret of great

it

it

;

dogma

that

all

of

alone

it

us the cause, and the object, of the redemption, and

how the Redeemer and the redeemed are called that to accept its dogma to disfigure it, is the part of a mountebank, and a malicious buffoonery that he who is not with it is against it that it is the affirmation par excellence, and that against it there can be nothing given ;

;

;

but an absolute negation. In this

way does

and

Catholics.

alists

the question stand between Ration-

Man is sovereignly free

;

and being

he can accept the purely Catholic, or the purely he can affirm all or deny all he rationalistic, solutions free,

;

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

214

can be saved or

What man

lost.

^c.

cannot do,

with his will the nature of things, which

What man

cannot do,

is

affirmations

it

is

all,

humanly

Catholicism,

great, only because

and rest in the and Liberals to have the right

Socialists

Liberal or Socialistic eclecticism.

is

to change

immutable.

to find repose

are under the obligation of denying

of denying anything.

is

is

the union of

considered,

all

possible

Liberalism and Socialism are weak, only

;

because they unite in one various Catholic affirmations

and various

rationalistic negations,

and because, instead

of being schools contradictory of Catholicism, they are

The

only two different schools.

Socialists

do not

appear daring in their negations, except when compared with the Liberals,

and a danger

who

see a rock in every affirmation,

in every negation.

ever, strikes the

Catholic school

;

Their timidity, how-

view when they are compared with the it is

only then we discover the boldness

and the timidity with which they you call yourselves apostles of a new gospel, and you tell us of evil and sin, of redemption and grace, things of which the old gospel is full You with which deny.

affirms,

it

How

!

!

call

and

yourselves the depositaries of a religious science,

equality,

and

and you talk

fraternity,

new

political, social;

to us about liberty,

things as old as Catholicism,

He who

He would word in you He condemns you to be only stupid commentators of His immortal Gospel, by the very fact of your aspiring with wanton and mad ambition, to promulgate a new law from a new Sinai, if not from a New Calvary. which

is

as old as the world

!

said

exalt humility and lower pride, fulfils His

BOOK

III.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO ORDER IN HUMANITY.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO

ORDER

IN

HUMANITY.

CHAPTER

I.

Transmission of sin, dogma of imputation.

With

the sin of our

first

parents are sufficiently ex-

plained that great disorder and that formidable confusion which things suffered soon after their creation,

which confusion and disorder were converted, as we saw, without ceasing to be what they were, into elements of

a more excellent order and a greater harmony, by that secret

and incommunicable virtue which

is

in

God, of

drawing order from disorder, from confusion concert,

and good from reign

will.

explain, tive

is

evil,

What

by a most simple act of His soveby itself alone does not

that sin

the perpetuity and constancy of that primi-

confusion, which subsists yet in

To

all

things,

and

particularly in

man.

subsistence,

necessary to suppose the subsistence of

it is

explain satisfactorily this

the cause, and to explain the subsistence of the cause,

8

2

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

1

we

are obliged to suppose the perpetual transmission of

sin.

The dogma consequences,

of the transrhission of

one of the most

is

prehensible and obscure, of

all

sin,

fearful,

with

all its

most incom-

the mysteries that have

been taught us by divine revelation.

That sentence of

condemnation uttered on the head of

Adam

against

all

generations of men, as well those that have been, and

those that are at present, as those that will be in future to the

consummation of time, does not at

square well in the

first

sight

human intellect with the justice of God, One would

and much less with His inexhaustible mercy. say, it

is

on considering a

it

lightly

dogma taken from

religions of the East,

and

for the first time, that

those inexorable and sombre

whose

idols

have ears to hear only

laments, eyes to see only blood, and a voice to utter

only anathemas and to

The

demand vengeance.

living

God, in the act of revealing that tremendous dogma, appears, rather than the mild and clement Ciifistians,

God

of the'

the Moloch of the idolaters, increased

greatness and barbarity, who, not content

in

now with

tender flesh to appease his devouring hunger, buries

human his

generations one after another in the caverns of

Why

belly.

turning to God,

if

are we punished, all we were not culpable 1

nations

say,

Entering fully and directly into the body of the iquestion,

it

will

not be a

difficult

task to demonstrate

the deep convenience of this profound mystery. all,

we should observe

that the very persons

Before

who deny

the transmission of sin as a revealed dogma, are obliged

LIBERALISM,

AND faith,

matter,

we

ways.

Let us grant that

ever

come

219

making complete abstraction

to acknowledge, that even

from what we hold as

SOCIALISM.

to the

when considering this same term by different and punishment, being

sin

personal of themselves, are of themselves intransmissible

and

;

after

making

this concession,

evidently demonstrate that with or without

dogma In

fact,

it,

is still

will yet

what the

it,

untouched.

no matter how we consider

always

shall

mits

teaches

we

find, that sin

we who com-

this subject,

can produce in him

such destructions, and changes so great, as to be

capable of altering, physically and morally, his primitive constitution

:

when

man, who transmits

this occurs,

all

that he constitutionally possesses, transmits to his children

by generation

his constitutional

•great explosion of

When

conditions.

anger produces an infirmity

enraged, and this infirmity which

becomes constitutional and

organic,

it

a

in the

produces in him

it is

very simple and

natural that he should transmit to his children,

by way

of generation, the constitutional and organic evil which

he

suiTers.

sidered in

That its

constitutional

physical aspect,

infirmity, and, considered in its

and organic is

evil,

con-

reduced to a real

moral aspect, to a pre-

disposition of the flesh to subjugate the spirit, with that

same passion which produced, when it was actual, those terrible ravages. It is beyond all doubt that the prevarication of sible

Adam, being

prevarications,

and physical constitution being

so, it is clear

the greatest of

all

pos-

should and did alter his moral in

a radical manner

he should transmit to

;

us,

and

this

with his

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

22a

blood, the ravages of his sin,

commit It

those

it

and the predisposition to

actually.

follows from

who deny

what we have

the

dogma

said, that in reality

of the transmission of sin

they do not at the same time deny

effect nothing, if

what cannot be denied without evident foolishness and madness ^viz., that a fault, when it is great, leaves behind it a trail in the constitution and in the organism of man,

—

and that organic and constitutional trail is transmitted from one generation to another, corrupting them all in their constitutional and organic essence.

Nor

there

is

more progress made by those who, denysin, deny the dogma of impu-

ing the transmissibility of

tation or the transmission of the penalty

;

for the very

thing which they remove from themselves in quality of penalty,

comes down on them with another name

name which we

the

—with

Let us grant the misfortunes are not a penalty which carries with it

of misfortune. suffer,

the idea of a voluntary determination on the part of him

who

inflicts

It will still

it.

always

result, that in

every

supposition our great misfortunes are equally inevitable and certain

:

those

who do

not admit them as a

legitimate consequence of sin, are obliged to admit

them

as a natural consequence of the necessary relations which exist

between causes and their

effects.

According to

this system, the radical corruption of their nature

was a

penalty on our

Their

first

parents, voluntary sinners.

voluntary disobedience deserved the penalty of the corruption which was imposed on them

Judge.

That same corruption

is in

by an

incorruptible

us a misfortune, as

AND

LIBERALISM, it is

SOCIALISM.

221

not imposed on us as a penalty, but comes to us in our

quality of heirs of a nature radically corrupted.

that misfortune

is

lamentable,

so

that

God

And

himself

could not decree our exemption, without altering the

law of causality which

is in things, by means of a porThat miracle was wrought in the plenitude of time in a manner so convenient and so elevated, by ways so secret, by means so supernatural,

tentous miracle.

and by counsel so sublime, that the unutterable work of God should be scandal for some and madness for others.

The itself

The

transmission of the consequences of

sin,

explains

without any kind of contradiction or violence.

first

man came on

able privileges

:

the world adorned with inestim-

his flesh

was subject

to his will, his

which received

will to his understanding,

the Divine Understanding.

If

our

first

its

light

from

parents had pro-

created before they sinned, their children would have participated,

nature.

To

by way

of generation, of their uncorrupt

prevent things happening thus, a miracle

would have been necessary on the part of God, as that transmission could not be impeded, except

by changing

the law, in virtue of which everything transmits what

it

has to another, in virtue of which a being could only transmit what precisely

it

miserable rebellion, our

has not.

first

Having

fallen into

parents were justly de-

spoiled of all their privileges, and their spiritual union with

God, with

whom

they were united.

converted into ignorance,

As

all their

Their wisdom was

power

into weakness.

regards the original justice and grace in which they

were created, they were completely removed from them,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

222

their flesh rebelled against their will, their will against

their understanding, their understanding against their will,

their will against the flesh,

will,

and

and

their flesh, their

their understanding against that magnificent

God, who had placed them this state

is

it

in

such magnificence.

In

clear the father could only transmit

by

generation what he possessed, and that the son should

be born ignorant from ignorant, weak from weak, cor-

God from

rupted from corrupted, separated from

sepa-

rated from God, infirm from infirm, mortal from mortal,

To have him

rebel from rebel. rant, strong

born wise from igno-

from weak, united to God from separated immortal from mortal

from God, healthy from

infirm,

submissive from rebel,

were necessary to change the

law

which

in virtue of

in virtue of

it

like

engenders

like, into

another

which contraries should engender contraries.

It is easily seen,

from what we have

said, that natural

reason reaches the same term as the dogma, though

by a

There are speculative differences

different route.

between them, there are no practical differences ,

measure the immense distance there

is

it

sterility of

the

we

absolutely necessary to extend

is

the view beyond that

to

between the

natural and supernatural explanation of the fact are considering,

:

fact.

human

It is

then

we

discover the

explanation, and the extraordi-

nary fecundity of the divine explanation.

This fecun-

dity will be seen farther on with the glare of evidence at present

the

dogma

my

duty

is

to

;

expound and demonstrate

of transmission, which, without invalidating

whatever truth there

is

in the natural

explanation of

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

the fact of transmission, rectifies whatever

incomplete in

Natural reason

what

calls

The dogma

penalty,

and misfortune

inevitable

it is

;

tary on the part of is

is

and

false

it.

fortune.

it is

233

by

calls it it is

:

transmitted to us mis-

is

three

names

a penalty, inasmuch as

God

;

is

it

being a true misfortune, in

a

inasmuch as

fault,

The marvel such a way that it

;

in its

fault,

volun-

it is

voluntary on the part of men.

verted into a blessing

—

a misfortune, inasmuch as

it

in its

is

con-

is

being truly a penalty, in

such a

way

that

a true

fault,

in

fault.

In this great design of God, more than in His

other designs,

also a remedy,

is

it

such a

if

way

that

it

and

in its being

also a blessed

is

possible, shines forth that

sovereign

by which He reconciles what appears irreconcilable, and by means of which He resolves into a

virtue

magnificent synthesis

all

antinomies,

and

all

contra-

dictions.

As

far as regards the fault, the

sists in

when

To

I

this difficult

do not

solve

sin

it is

it,

— How can

can

I sin

I

be a

when an

sinner,

infant?

right to observe, that our first father

was, at one and the species, variety

problem

How

}

whole question con-

same

time, an individual

and unity joined

in

one

;

and as

and a it is

a

fundamental and primitive law that the variety which is

in the unity, should leave the unity in

to

be separately constituted, with the

returning in

which

it

its

in

it

is,

necessity of

ultimate evolution to the unity in

originally resided, hence

which was

which

Adam,

left

it

was that the species

Adam by

generation

to

£SSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

224

become separately constituted. But as Adam was. an individual at the same time that he was a species, it necessarily resulted that Adam was in the species in

way he was

the same

individual.

in the

When

the

individual and the species were one and the same thing, Adam was that very thing; when the individual and the species were separated to constitute unity and

Adam

was those two things separated, in the same way as he had been those two things joined in one. There was then an Adam individual and an

variety,

Adam

species

and as the

;

Adam

separation,

and as

individual

nature and

resulted that one

now,

if

sin

took place before the

sinned conjointly with his

with his collective nature,

and the other were

the individual

Adam

Well

sinners.

died, the collective

Adam

has not died, and not having died, he preserves his

As the

the collective

same

because

thing,

it is

Adam human

nature

is

perpetually culpable,

sinful.

Applying these principles to the case

human

Adam, who

that

is

tually in every man,

in question,

we

nature, being in every individual,

same human nature, lives perpelives in him with what constilife sin. Now we can more easily

and

—

Adam's lasting comprehend how sin can

tutes

When child,

sin.

and human nature are one and

perpetually

see clearly that

it

I

am

because

exist in the child just born.

am a am Adam

born, I I

;

sinner, in spite of I

am

being a

a sinner, not because

I sinned actually, when I was Adam, and was an adult before I was a child, and had the name I have. When Adam came from

I

sin

called

now, but because

LIBERALISM,

I

God

SOCIALISM.

I

was

in him,

come from

the

womb

the hands of

when

AND

and he of

me

in

is

my

225

being able to separate myself from his person, separate myself from his sin

such a

in

way

There

something

is

him, something by which

in

I

am

I

me

in

am

Adam in

which

an is

distinguished

my

from him, something which constitutes

not

cannot

him

as to be confounded with

absolute manner.

not

and yet

;

I

now,

Not

mother.

individual

me from what I am most which constitutes me individual variety, and that like relatively to the common unity, is what I have received and which distinguishes

unity, ;

and have from the father who engendered me, and from the mother who had me in her womb. They have not given me the human nature, which comes to me from God, through Adam, but they have put the family seal and stamped their figure on it they have not given me ;

my

being, but the

less to

manner

the greater, that

is,

in which I am, adding the what distinguishes me from

others, to that

which assimilates

particular to the

common, the

me

others

to

individual to the

—the

human

;

and as that which is human and which assimilates me to others is what is essential in him, and what is individual and distinctive is no more than an accident, it

Adam, what

follows that having from God, through

constitutes his father,

and from

essence,

what constitutes

his form, there

considered on the whole,

own With

his

itself

God, through his

is

is

no man who,

not more like

Adam

than

father.

regard to the penalty, the question

from the moment

it

is

is

solved of

ascertained that the fault

P

SSSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

226

is

transmitted to me, as the one cannot be conceived It is just that I

without the other. if it

am

certain that I

is

matters what

is

just

misfortune which

and as

culpable;

necessary,

is

should be punished,

Penalty and mis-

necessarily a penalty.

is

fortune,

which are different things

in the

human, are

Man

identical in the divine point of view.

gives the

of misfortune to the evil produced in quality of

and penalty

inevitable effect of a secondary cause,

the

these

without ceasing to be a mis-

I suffer,

fortune,

name

in

follows that the

it

which a

evil

being voluntarily imposes on

free

another in punishment of a voluntary fault

and as

;

by the

everything that happens necessarily happens will of

to

God, at the same time that everything happening

by His will happens necessarily, it follows that God is the Supreme equation between the necessary and the voluntary, which, though distinct for man, are in

one and the same.

You

view every misfortune

how

see

is

Him

in the divine point of

always a penalty, and every

penalty a misfortune.

From what we have

already said,

we

see

how

great

is

the error of those who, without marvelling at the mysterious analogies

and the secret

established between fathers at those

same

analogies,

Adam

and

affinities

established

which God has

their- children,

wonder

and those selfsame mysterious

by God between

his miserable

can understand, nor

affinities

and

descendants.

reason

reach,

nor

the

No

rebel

intellect

imagination

dream

of,

of the

bond placed by that same God between

the strength of the

link

and the lightness all

LIBERALISM,

men and and

who

in us all

awful sphinx,

;

who

culty from every point of view.

fathom with with his

22j

who

dies

figure

and

species,

and symbolical,

real

is

body and shadow, who had us

essence, is

and

plural, individual

survives,

who

SOCIALISM.

that one man, at once unity and collection,

and

singular

AND

in him, and

all

presents a

And

as

new

man

diffi-

cannot

his reason, nor with his imagination, nor

intellect,

what there

singularly

is

complex and

mysteriously obscure in that nature, neither can he measure, though he bring play, the sins

immense distance that

and the

man

sin of that

found malice and in

Adam

its

him

like

between our its

His

sin,

pro-

After

Adam, and no one

end of time.

to the

exists

unique, like him, in

incomparable greatness.

no one has sinned

sin like

the powers of his soul into

all

will

participating

of the nature of the sinner, was at once one and various,

because posse

;

it

was a

with

stain again,

cence. sins

We

it

Adam

left

who

sin

and

all

a stain on what no

on the pure whiteness of

on top of

Adam

single sin in reality,

sins in

man

can

his purest inno-

now, do nothing more by heaping than place stains on top of stains

sins,

;

snowy plain. Our evil, and our sins a great being a nature damaged greater evil, that compound is not wanting in a certain alone could obscure

beauty of

mony

relation,

which there

the

which springs from that secret haris

between the peculiar foulness of

and the peculiar foulness of the nature of man. Foul things can be harmonised among themselves as and when this happens, there well as beautiful things sin,

,

is

no doubt but

that'

what

is

essentially foul in things,

is

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

228

tempered

in

some measure by what This

concerted in them. reason

why

harmonious and

physical ugliness always appears to diminish

Old age

with years.

is

not a thing that

ugliness, as ugliness loses

what

behold,

to

is

sits

repugnant

in

badly on it,

when

Nothing, on the contrary,

harmonised with wrinkles.

more sad

is

undoubtedly must be the

and nothing more horrible

is

to

imagine, than old age painted on the face of an angel,

wedded to the spring-time of life. who were handsome, and who when grown old or ugliness

Women preserve

a relic of what they were, have always appeared to horrible

Who

ing, first

No for

;

;

beauty

and

is

something

in

God made to be separated made beauty for old age, nor old age

time the things which

God

me

me which keeps screamwas the wretch that dared to unite for the

there

has not ;

Lucifer

is

Adam among

decrepid and

foul,

.''

the only one amongst the angels,

men,

with

all

who that

all that was was resplendent and

united

beautiful.

CHAPTER

II.

How God draws good from sin and penalty, and from

the

purifying action of pciin, freely accepted.

Reason, which

rebels against the penalty

and the

sin

transmitted to us, accepts, though not without repugnance, all that was transmitted, if it drops its own proper name, and takes that of inevitable misfortune. And yet

— LIBERALISM, it

were not

difficult to

AND

SOCIALISM.

229

demonstrate to evidence, that

this

misfortune could not become converted into a blessing

except on condition of

we have

being a penalty

its

the necessary consequence, that in

;

and hence definitive

its

result the rationalistic is less acceptable than the dog-

matic solution. Considering our present corruption as merely the physical and necessary effect of primitive corruption,

and that the that is

if

effect lasts as

there be no

long as the cause,

means of removing the

there of removing the

fact,

our present corruption

stitutes us in

is

is

clear

Primitive corruption

effect.

cause of our present corruption

it

cause, neither

—being an accomplished

a definitive fact that con-

a perpetual misfortune.

Considering, on the otherhand, that there can be no

union between the corrupt and incorruptible, that in the rationalistic explanation,

man and God, time,

is

If

ruptible,

between the

if

perpetual corruption of man, there

man And do

then,

is

an invincible

is

re-

In this system,

absolute contradiction.

perpetually shut out from God.

not answer that

man

could be redeemed, for

the logical consequence of this system impossibility of

demption

future

all

human corruption is God is eternally incorincorruptibility of God and the

totally impossible.

and perpetual, and

—an

follows

it

union between

not only in the present, but in

indelible

pugnance

all

for

human

misfortune,

regarded as the penalty of

except sin.

is

precisely the

There

redemption.

is

inasmuch as

Suppress the

the suppression of the penalty follows

no

;

sin,

re-

it

is

and

and with the sup-

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

230

pression of the sin and the penalty, there

is

no remedy

for the misfortune.

The

In

from God,

and

if

of

free will

system.

fact, if

if

he

man is totally inexplicable in this man is born in necessary separation

lives in

earth

man

is

;

"i

sin

and penalty, the will, and

of the redemption, that of man's free

with them for if

man

be no transmission of

If there

from God, what

in necessary separation

he dies

signifies the free will of

dogma

necessary separation from God,

if

all others, fall is

not

free,

to the ground immediately;

he has not the dominion of the

he has not the dominion of the

not united to God through

united to

any way.

God through man,

Man

separate from

another

;

himself,

God

in

if

man

;

earth, the earth

and

absolutely.

in

does not

liberty,

one way, to return to

Him

Him

not united to

it is

he have not

he separates from

be not

if it

Him

God

in

does

not reach him with His goodness, nor with His justice, nor

AH

with His mercy. all its

things in chaos. to

the harmonies of creation vanish,

bonds are broken

So

be the Catholic

chaos

God

in all things,

is

is

concerned.

—the living God

creatures are here below, self

;

far as

and

He

all

ceases

God is up on high, and neither God troubles Him;

about creatures, nor creatures about God.

The

divine consonance of the Catholic

dogmas

shines

more

resplendehtly, than in the admir-

able union they have

among themselves^a union so human reason cannot

forth in nothing

marvellous and so intimate, that

conceive a greater, and finds itself placed in the tremen-

dous alternative of accepting or of denying them

all.

AND

LIBERALISM,

And

SOCIALISM.

i^^i

each of them does not

this consists in the fact that

contain a different truth, but one and the same, the

number of

of

dogmas corresponding exactly to the number

aspects.

its

Nor have we yet exhausted

the consequences that

all

necessarily follow from considering the lamentable mis-

human

fortune of the

the penalty.

penalty

race, abstracting absolutely

If its misfortune

also,

if

little

Adam

that

which we preserve, from the primitive without explanation whatever,

it

preserved, state,

which

being worthy of re-

not justice, but on the contrary mercy,

gleams

followed immediately on

from intervening

in the

His condemnation

Him,

He had

quil repose

—

;

if,

sin.

first it

is,

condemnation which

that solemn

in

and

remains

mark, in contradiction of what would appear at sight, that

from

not at the same time a

only an inevitable effect of a

is

it

necessary cause, the

is

If

God had

abstained

tremendous catastrophe with

when He saw man separated from

turned His back, and entered into His tranin

a word,

He had delivered him

if,

instead of

condemning him.

over to the inevitable consequences

of his voluntary disunion and of his voluntary separation, his fall

would have been irremediable and his perdition That his fall might have a remedy, it was

infallible.

necessary that

God

Himself to him

in

should approach man, by uniting

some way, with

merciful bond.

Penalty was the new bond of union between the Creator

and His

creature,

ously united in

because

it is

it

and mercy and justice were mysterimercy because it is a bond, justice

—

a penalty.

— ESSA yS ON CA THOLICISM,

233

sufferings and pains the idea of you not only destroy the bond between the Creator and the creature, but you also destroy the purifying and expiatory influence their action has on man. If pain is not a penalty, it is an evil without admixture of good whatever if it is a penalty, though it be an

you remove from

If

penalty,

;

evil

from

by the

which

its origin,

is sin,

yet

it

The

purification of sinners.

is

a great good,

universality of sin

necessitates the universality of purification,

which

turn requires pain to be universal, that the whole

in its

human

may be purified in its mysterious waters. This explains why all men born suffer from their birth to their

race

Pain

death. this

the inseparable companion of

is

obscure valley,

filled

Every

our lamentations, and moistened with our tears.

man

is

a suffering being, and everything not painful

strange to him. grieves to see

it

If

;

if

because the future little

he fixes his eyes on the

vanished

the past as bitter

How

in

life

with our sighs, deafened with

;

if

on the is

full

is

is

he

on the present, he bewails

future,

he

feels perturbation,

of shadows

and mysteries.

soever he considers, he discovers that the

past and present and future are

the past

past,

gone, the present

future has not come.

all,

is

The poor

and

all is

nothing

rapidly going, and the

are loaded with fatigue,

the rich with indigestion, the powerful with pride, the

lazy with weariness, the lowly with envy, and the mighty

with disdain.

The conquerors who drive the nations, by furies, and only stumble on

are themselves driven

others because they are flying from themselves.

consumes the flesh of the youth with

its

Lust

impure flames

;

;;

AND

LIBERALISM, ambition takes the youth, lust,

and burns him

made man, from

;

avarice seizes

and ambition abandons him

artificial life called sleepless

cause they do not sleep

absence of

—

233

the hands of

and drives him

in other flames,

other conflagrations jects

SOCIALISM.

;

him when

into

lust re-

she gives him an

old misers only live be-

;

their life is nothing but the

sleep.

Travel the length and breadth of the land, cast your eyes behind and before you, devour space and time,

and you

what

shall find nothing in the

stated here

is

—a pain which And

increasing lamentation.

cepted,

the measure of

is

no greatness without

all

heroes, are they who,

never abates, and an

this pain, voluntarily ac-

greatness, because there

and sacrifice is merely Those whom the world calls

when

transfixed with a sword of

voluntarily accepted the pain with

pain,

Those

whom

accepted

The

of the flesh.

sword.

its

the Church calls saints, are they

all pains,

is

sacrifice,

pain voluntarily accepted.

by

dominion of men, but

those of the

spirit

saints are those

who

as well as those

who, when beseiged

avarice, laid aside all the treasures of the world

who, when

solicited

when burned by were chaste assailed

by

;

by

gluttony, remained sober

lust, holily

who,

accepted the combat, and

who, when entering on the

filthy thoughts,

;

battle,

and remained pure

;

were

who

rose so high by humility that they conquered pride

who, when saddened by another's prosperity, made such

an

effort,

who

as to convert their base sadness into holy joy

flung to earth the ambition which raised

the stars

;

who changed

them

to

their idleness into diligence

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

234

who, when weighed down by sadness, gave a divorce to their sadness,

bill

and rose by a generous

of

effort

who, when enamoured of themselves, renounced their self-love for love of others, and with

to spiritual joy

;

heroic abnegation offered their hfe for

them

in perfect

holocaust.

The human

race has been unanijnous in acknowledg-

ing the sanctifying virtue of pain.

man

Hence we and among

in all times, in all countries,

find that

all nations,

has always paid worship and homage to great misfor-

CEdipus

tunes.

than

is

grander in the day of his misfortune

in the period of his

name

forgotten his

him from

if

glory

;

the world would have

the divine wrath had not hurled

The melancholy beauty

his throne.

in the

countenance of Germanicus comes from the misfortune

which overtook him

in the spring-time of

life,

and from

that beautiful death. he died, far from his beloved country

and the atmosphere of Rome. than a cruel

when he

man when

Marius,

elevated

by

no more

mud

appears grander than

Mithridates

Pompey, and Hannibal than Scipio. knowing why, always inclines to the

Man, without side of the con-

—misfortune appears to him more beautiful than

victory.

Socrates

is

not from having died heroically

hemlock.

Rome

;

owes

life

he lived

immortality comes to him,

known how

—he

The human if

grand by the

less

than by the death he died

with

is

from his lofty eminence into the

falls

of the marshes.

quered

who

victory, is sublime

to

less to

live,

but from having

philosophy than to his

race would have been indignant

she had permitted Cassar to die like other

LIBERALISM,

men

AND

SOCIALISM.

235

—

his glory was so great that he deserved to be crowned by some great misfortune. To die tranquilly in one's bed, invested with sovereign power,

scarcely allowed to a Cromwell.

some other way

died in

Waterloo

:

—he

proscribed

l)een placed in a

tomb

the beginning of

all

him from in

the world

a thing

is

Napoleon should have

should have died conquered

by Europe, he should have him by God from

fabricated for

time

;

a wide trench should separate

—wide enough

for the

ocean to flow

it.

Pain establishes a certain equality between

who

suffer,

which

is

to establish

it

between

all

all

those

men,

for

by pleasure we are separated, by pain united in fraternal bonds. Pain removes the superfluous, and gives us what we want, and establishes a most perfect all suffer

:

equilibrium in

man

:

man

the proud

does not suffer

without losing some of his pride, nor the ambitious

man some

of his ambition, nor the passionate

of his anger, nor the impure

Pain sions.

is

man some

sovereign in extinguishing the

At

the same time that

us, it gives us

it

what ennobles us

man some

of his impurity. fires

of the pas-

removes what injures

—the hard-hearted do

not suffer without feeling themselves more inclined to

compassion, nor the disdainful without feeling more

humble, nor the voluptuous without feeling more chaste. violent become tamed, the weak fortified. No one comes out of that furnace of pain worse than he entered the greater number come out with sublime virtues they knew not of. One goes in impious, and comes out religious another avaricious, and comes out an alms-

The

:

;

!

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

236

and comes out with the gift of tears another heart-hardened, and In pain there is a something comes out merciful. fortifying, manly, and profound, which is the origin of no one has felt its all heroism and of all greatness giver; another without ever having wept, ;

;

mysterious contact without improving

:

the child ac-

quires by pain the vitality of youth, youth the maturity and gravity of men, men the bravery of heroes, heroes

the sanctity of saints.

On

the contrary, whoever abandons pain for delights,

at once

commences

nuous progress.

to descend with a rapid and conti-

From

the eminence of sanctity he

sinks into the abyss of sin, from glory to infamy.

heroism

is

converted into

weakness

he even forgets

yielding,

all

His

— from the habit

about

effort

of

from the

;

habit of falling, he loses even the faculty of rising.

In

delights he loses his vitality, all the powers of the soul their energy,

and

all

In delight there

strength.

is

enervating, which brings with

Woe

to

body

the muscles of the

him who does not

it

silent

and hidden death.

him who does not retreat and fly, when it with its fragrance and flowers, before he to

come, into that trance, akin to death, which scent of

When

its

through

it

aroma of its

!

Woe

invites

it

falls,

him

over-

communi-

flowers and the

fragrance

this

comes out

though

resist its perfidious

sweet voice, like unto that of the ancient syrens

cates to the senses with the

their

something corrupting and

happens, he either miserably succumbs, or

totally transformed

:

the child that passes

never becomes a youth, on the youth grow

AND

LIBERALISM, grey

and the old man

hairs,

perishes.

as spoils the strength of his

and

lect,

and extravagantly

grade, he will if

;

fall

in

into

opium

sins,

Rome

title

will

be shocked

and

When God wishes to chastise a He enchains them at the feet of

All those

of Emperor, were voluptuous and

—prostitution

in her

temples and on

death in her squares and on her scaffolds. then,

is,

pleasure, as there

Let

pain.

nameless

if

but the smell of blood.

and death

altars,

There

:

France at the same time worshipped pro-

effeminate.

her

feels

the pretorian guard saluted in imperial

with the

stitution

he

and nothing can rouse them from

of delights,

whom

Cynically

things.

Their senses are besotted with the

rulers.

their stupid state

monsters

cruel,

rein to his voracious appetites

his ferocious instincts.

people for their

leaves there

the virility of his intel-

an eminent position, you

him give loose

voluptuous

Man

237

you place him in a humble the hands of justice and the exe-

passions boil in his blood

to see

will,

loses his instinct for great

egotistical

cutioner

SOCIALISM.

it

something hurtful and corrosive is

in

something purifying and divine

in

not be believed, however, that these two

things,

which are opposed to each other, are not

certain

way

united

;

for as

it

in

a

happens that he who freely

accepts pain feels in himself a certain spiritual delight,

which

fortifies

and elevates him, so

also

he who resigns

himself to delights experiences a pain which, instead of fortifying, enervates

and depresses him.

universal penalty to which

Whithersoever like

a mute

man and

we

are

all

turns his eyes, he

melancholy

statue,

Pain

subject

is

by

that sin.

discovers pain

which he has

;

£SSA ys ON CA THOLICISM,

238

approach

whether we

it,

to the circumference

The God

to the

God

difference

is

from or gravitate to

whom we

to

pain which

gravitate in all our gravita-

this,

that

some pains lead us

of goodness and clemency, others to the

is

By

the children of

is

Adam, who, unable

from that which

How

See, then, the

medicine.

is

medicine, to

is

God

sacrifice

to escape from pain, into that

fall

which

in all

His designs, and

I

discordance of

from

sin,

all

kinds of

From human

sorts of discordance

is

sin

and

the

how evil,

harmony from liberty

all

comes the

degradation of the

from the degradation of the species pain, and at the same time a misfortune in the corrupt and

a penalty in the sinful species. tune,

is

!

marvellous

order from disorder, and

pain

the

madness of

admirable in that divine art of drawing good from

species,

God

we approach

pleasure

and by resignation and

penalty,

the pain which

penalty

it,

rush at

of justice and anger, and others again to the

of pardon and mercy.

fly

to rush

whom we

every step, arid to tions.

and

;

We

circle.

gravitate to the centre or rush

and gravitate to God,

to rush

is

common

Pain has something in

always before him.

with the Divinity, which surrounds us like a

it is

inevitable

as grace

is

;

As

far as

as far as a penalty,

in the

way

it is

it is

redemption, grace

a misfor-

redeemable

is

also in the

the most tremendous act of the

penalty.

In this

justice of

God, becomes the greatest act of His mercy.

Through

it

to himself, tion,

man can, when aided by God, rise superior by accepting pain with a voluntary accepta-

and that sublime acceptation instantly turns the

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

239

penalty into a medicine of incomparable virtue.

Every

negation of this doctrine establishes the disorder intro-

duced into humanity by sin, as leads to the negation of

it

necessarily,

some of the

of God, and to the radical negation of If

and

at once,

essential attributes

human

liberty.

the question, considered in this point of view,

concerns the universal order of creation, in the same

same reasons, as the question relative to the human and angelic prevarication considered in a more restricted point of view it concerns, directly and fundamentally, the special order established by God in the various elements of which human nature is com-

way, and

for the

;

The

posed.

voluntary acceptation of pain produces

those great prodigies of which

we

speak, only because

it

has the power of radically changing the whole economy

By

of our being. flesh,

it

is

subdued the rebeUion of the

which again subjects

will is

intellect;

pressed,

by the

by

and

the will

itself to

;

by

it

the

the yoke of the

the rebellion of the intellect

it

it

is

sup-

subjects itself to the dominion of duty

fulfilment of duty

man

and worship of God, from sin.

itself to

overcome, and subjects

;

returns to the obedience

whom

he was separated by

All these prodigies are accomplished by him who,

with generous impulse,, heroically turns against himself,

and does violence to the and to the will to subject intellect to

to

Him by This

is

make

it

flesh to subject it to the will, it

to the intellect,

operate in

God and

for

and to the God, united

the bond of duty.

not the occasion to mention the conditions

and assistance with which the human

will

can

rise to

ESSA YS ON CATHOLICISM,

240

an

effort

so

concerns us

What

supernatural and sublime. is

here

to establish the fact, that without this

elevation on the part of the will, manifested in the

voluntary acceptance of pain, that sovereign

harmony

and that wonderful concert, that God established and in all his powers, could not be restored.

CHAPTER Dogma

of solidarity

in

man,

III.

— Contradictions

of

the Liberal

school.

Every one in

of the Catholic

marvels.

The human

dogmas

is

a marvel, prolific

from one to

intellect passes

another as from one to another evident proposition, as

from a principle to

its

legitimate consequence, united

by a bond of most rigorous deduction. And every new dogma discovers to us a new world, and in each new world the eye rests on new and extensive horizons and at sight of those most extensive horizons, the mind is astounded at the extent of the magnificence together

;

it

discovers.

The

Catholic

universal

facts,

dogmas explain by and these very

explain the Catholic dogmas.

explained by what

various

is

what

various, the contained

is

container

by

the contained.

is

their universality all

facts,

In this one,

in

their

turn,

way what

and what

is

is

one by

by the container, and the The dogma of the wisdom

and providence of God explains the order and marvel-

,

LIBERALISM, lous concert of

all

AND

SOCIALISM.

241

things created, and this order and

concert give the explanation of the Catholic dogma.

The dogma

human

of

by

attested

all

dogma

and

same

this

traditions, serves as a

The

the dogma.

to explain the

liberty serves

primitive prevarication,

Adam — a

prevarication of

as well as a traditional fact

prevarication,

demonstration of

—

harmony

great disorders which disturb the beauty and

of things

and those very

;

divine

fully explains the

disorders, in their evident

manifestations, are a perpetual demonstration of the

prevarication of is

The dogma

Adam.

us there

is

no

evil

which does not resolve

negation of a divine affirmation. that evil

is

tells

itself into

The dogma

a

proclaims

accidental and good substantial, and facts

demonstrate that there in

teaches that evil

a negation and good an affirmation, and reason

is

no

evil

which does not consist

a certain vicious and disordered manner of being, and

no substance which

dogma

is

not

relatively perfect.

God draws

The

good from and perfect order from absolute disorder, and we have seen how all things tend to God, though in different ways, and by their union with God constitute the universal and supreme order. affirms

universal

that

universal

evil,

Passing from the universal to the

human

order, the

connection and harmony, on the one side, of the dogmas

among

dogmas

themsefves, and on the other, of the

with the

facts,

are no less evident.

The dogma which

teaches the simultaneous corruption in individual

and of the

Adam

of the

species, explains to us the trans-

mission by generation of the sin and

its effects

;

and the

Q

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

242

antithetical, contradictory,

we

all

first

and disordered nature which

see in man, leads us from induction to induction,

to the

human

dogma

of a general corruption of the whole

species, then to the

mitted by blood, and

dogma

of a corruption trans-

the

lastly, to

dogma

of primitive

prevarication, which, connecting itself with the

human

liberty given to

dogma

of

man, and that of the Providence

which gave him that junction of the

and concert

liberty, becomes the point of condogmas which serve to explain the order

in

which human things were established,

with those other more universal and sublime ones which

number and measure with which made by the Creator. up the dogmas relative to human order, we

explain the weight and all

creatures were

If we follow

shall see those general laws of humanity,

us

by

their

wisdom and astound us by

which astonish their grandeur,

spring from them, as from a most prolific source.

From

dogma of the concentration of human Adam, united to the dogma of the transmission of that human nature to all men, springs the dogma of the substantial unity of the human race, as a consequence from its principle the human race being the

nature in

;

one, should be also various, according to that law, the

most universal of all laws, by virtue of which everything that is one is resolved into what is various, and everything various into what is one. The human race is one by the substance which constitutes it, and various by the persons who compose it whence it follows that it is one and various at the same time. In the same way, each one of the individuals who compose humanity, :

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

243

being separated from the rest by what constitutes individual,

and united to them by what constitutes

individual

of

the species

—that

substantially

is,

human race, one and The dogma of actual sin

comes, like the

same

time.

dogma

the

and

an

it

an

—be-

various at the correlative of

is

of variety in the species, that of original sin

dogma which proclaims the human race and as a conseother, comes the dogma which

imputation of the

its

substantial unity of the

quence of one and the teaches that

man

is

;

subject to a responsibility peculiarly

and another which he shares

his own, all

it

common

in

with

men.

That

responsibility in

darity, is

common, which

is

called soli-

one of the most beautiful and august revela-

tions of Catholic

By

dogma.

man, elevated

solidarity,

to a superior dignity and a more sublime sphere, living

before and surviving himself, time,

and extended

is

prolonged as long as It consolidates,

as far as space.

to a certain degree creates, humanity,

was void of meaning fies

relationship all

We which

men have

see at once that

dogma

—a word which

in ancient societies,

the substantial unity of

human

and

but

nature,

now

signi-

and the close

with each other.

what human nature gains

in this

same does man gain in nobility, of what happens in the communist

in grandeur, the

is

the reverse

theory of solidarity, of which

we

shall

According to that theory, humanity

speak hereafter.

is

not solidarious

in the vast aggregate of all

men who

but in the sense that

it is

an organic and living unity

men, who

serve, instead of constituting.

which absorbs

all

are

by nature

one,

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

244

The dignity to which the species is raised by the Catholicity does CathoHc dogma reaches individuals. not elevate its lofty level on one side to lower it on the it.

other, nor has

it

discovered humanity's

titles

of nobility

humble man, but one and the other are conjointly elevated to the divine grandeur and its sublime heights. When I fix my eyes on what I am, and regard myself as in communication with the first and with the last of men, and when I view my work, and see my action survive me, and in its perpetual prolongation become the cause of other and other actions, which in their turn survive and are multiplied to the end of time when I to

;

think that in

my

all

those joint actions, which have their origin

action, take

body and a

voice which they take to

what

I did,

and

voice,

acclaim

me, not only for

but for what others did through me, as either

worthy of reward or deserving of death sider all these things, I

myself in

spirit at

hend or measure

Who

but

the level of thing,

God all

all

must say

;

when

myself that

for

I I

con-

throw

the feet of God, unable to comprethe immensity of

my grandeur.

could raise so harmoniously and evenly

things

?

When man

wishes to raise any-

he can never do so without depressing what he

does not

raise.

raise himself

In the sphere of religion he cannot

without depressing God, nor

depressing himself; in politics he

homage social

raise that

to liberty, without denying

spheres he

God

without

unable to render

is it

to authority

knows nothing beyond

;

in

sacrificing

society to the individual, or individuals to society, as

we have

seen, perpetually fluctuating

between com-

— AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

245

munist despotism and the anarchy of Proudhon. has ever attempted to maintain

by

all in their

amount of peace and

establishing a certain

between them, the balance

in

If

proper

he

level,

justice

which he weighed them

has immediately fallen in fragments to the earth, as

if

there were an irremediable want of proportion between

the weight in the scales and the weakness of man.

It

would appear as if God, when constituting him lord of the sciences, withdrew one alone from his jurisdiction the science of equilibrium.

This might serve to explain the absolute impotence to which

parties appear to be condemned and why the grand problem of the harmo-

all equilibrist

in history,

nising of the rights of the State with those of individuals,

and of order with

when

liberty, is still

associations were

first

was cannot keep

a problem, as

formed.

Man

it

things in equilibrium without preserving their being,

nor preserve their being without abstaining from putting his

hand

to them.

Placed and firmly fixed by

their proper positions, every

being, placed and fixed,

is

change

God

in

manner of

necessarily a disequilibrium.

The only peoples who have been free,

in their

at once respectful

and

the only governments that have been at once

moderate and strong, are those in which the hand of man is not seen, and whose institutions were formed with that slow and progressive vegetation, with which everything stable in the dominions of time and history progresses.

That grand power which has been exceptionally God in a special and primitive

denied to man, resides in

£SSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

2+6

Hence everything that comes from His hand comes from it in perfect equilibrium, and everything that is where God placed it, is maintained perfectly Without recourse to examples foreign to the poised. question, the very subject we are treating and enmanner.

deavouring to solve

beyond

truth

The law

of solidarity

human

is

so universal, that

it

mani-

is

and to such a degree that as often as man associates, he falls under

fested in all too,

place this

quite sufficient to

is

doubt.

all

associations

;

Through

his

solidarious union with times past,

and

the jurisdiction of that inexorable law. ancestors he

by the

is in

succession of his

descendants, he enters

times

;

own into

actions,

and through

communion with

his

future

as an individual of a domestic society, he falls

under the law of the solidarity of the family priest or magistrate

he

is in

communion of

;

as a

rights

and

duties, of merits

and demerits with the magistracy or with

the priesthood

as

he

falls

member

of the political association,

under the law of national solidarity

in quality of

And

;

man he

is

reached by

;

and

human

finally,

solidarity.

nevertheless, though responsible under so

many

heads, he preserves whole and intact his personal responsibility, restricts,

which none other diminishes, none other

none other absorbs.

though an individual of a

He may

be a saint

sinful family, incorrupt

and

member of a corrupt society, prevaricator though member of a pure magistracy, and a reprobate though member of a most holy priesthood. incorruptible though

And

on the contrary, that supreme power conferred on

LIBERALISM,

AND

him of withdrawing from his sovereign will, in

a general

rule,

no way

all

of

effort

alters the principle, that as

and leaving

his liberty intact, a is

born,

man

which, even after they

all nations,

lost the track of the divine traditions, retained

knowledge of

law of

this

knew

grandeur, they instinctively

where

totally ignorant of

As

broad foundations.

had

it

the

all

deep roots and

its

;

if

to the people of God, the

they were unable to

human

of this law to the

its

of the unity of the

others could have no idea of humanity, one and darious however,

its

law, but were

this

dogma

known only

race was

a

Although they did

solidarity.

not raise their mind to the contemplation of

human

is

and the society

the prolongation of historic time this has been

the universal belief of

had

247

by an

solidarity

what the family is in which he in which he lives and breathes. In

SOCIALISM.

soli-

make application

race with which they were

unacquainted, they acknowledged and even exaggerated it

in all their political

The

and domestic

associations.

by

blood,

but even of those

other

idea of the mysterious transmission

not only of the

physical,

qualities which exist exclusively in the soul, sufificient to

explain

all

the institutions of the ancients,

as well domestic as political and social.

very

idea of solidarity,

mitted to those to

that they

same

many

whom

in

it is

are in

is in itself

inasmuch as

common,

all

This that

is

is

the

trans-

constitutes the unity of

transmitted

;

and

communion among

as to say they are solidarious.

to say of

themselves,

When

many is

the

the idea of

the transmission of physical and moral qualities prevails

— ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

248

among a

people,

aristocratic.

institutions

their

Hence

necessarily

are

whom

ancient peoples in

all

the

when by its general, and we might character, when applied to all men, were constituted. The more glorious races applied to certain social

exclusiveness of the idea,

groups, was not tempered

say democratic, aristocratically

conquered and reduced to slavery the inferior races

among

;

and

the families which composed the constitutive

groups of a

race,

power was seized on by the one which

boasted the most

glorious

The

ancestors.

heroes,

before entering on the fight, raised to the skies the glory of their illustrious lineage.

Cities

domination in their genealogical all

antiquity, believed

sion.

Aristotle, with

tree.

some men were born

and with the necessary

and these

founded their right to

qualities,

qualities conjointly

Correlative with this

command,

to

and received that right

by hereditary

common

belief

transmis-

was another

that there were races cursed and disinherited, incapable

by generation any and consequently condemned to of transmitting

quality or legitimate

any right, and per-

The democracy of Athens was no more than an insolent and tumultuous aristocracy, served by enslaved multitudes. The Iliad of Homer encyclopaedic monument of pagan wisdom is the history of the genealogies of the gods and heroes considered petual slavery.

—

:

thus,

it is

nothing but the most splendid of

all

peerage

lists.

This idea of solidarity only disastrous inasmuch as various social, political,

among it

the

ancients

was incomplete.

and domestic

solidarities,

was

The not

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

being hierarchically subordinated to the darity, all,

which regulates and

limits,

249

human

because

soli-

embraces,

it

could produce nothing but wars, perturbations, con-

flagrations,

and

Under the

disasters.

pagan

rule of

soli-

human race was constituted in a state of and permanent war and hence antiquity pre-

darity, the

universal

;

sents no other spectacle to our view but the destruction

of nations by nations, kingdoms by kingdoms, races by races, families

by

families,

and

men

gods combat with gods,

by

cities

The

cities.

with men, and often one

and the other sound the note of war, and men and the immortal gods come to blows. Within the walls of the

same

city there

no solidarious association which does

is

not aspire to exercise a domineering and absorbing action,

over

first

own

its

personality of the child father, is

individuals,

In the domestic

other associations.

is

and then over association

and that of the wife by the husband

converted into a thing

;

into tyranny.

and of the

Above

the child

:

the wife, subject to perpetual

tutelage, sinks into perpetual

master of the child

the

absorbed by that of the

and the

father,

wife, converts his

power

infamy

;

the tyranny of the father

tyranny of the State, which embraces

in

is

the

common

a

absorption the wife, the child, and the father, de facto annihilating the

domestic society.

among

the ancients

of war

made on

is

Even

patriotism

nothing more than a declaration

the whole

human

race

by a

caste con-

stituted into a nation.

Coming now from see,

on one

past ages to the present,

side, the perpetuity of

we

shall

the idea contained in

^^^^KS-

2SO

ON

CATHOLICISM,

the dogma, and on the other, the perpetuity of

ravages whenever

it

wanders

its

entirely, or in part from,

the Catholic dogma.

The

same time denies and admits absurd whether it

denies

orders

—

human

it.

In the

ever

place,

political

by denying the hereditary and the

sin,

dogma and maxims which

exclusive foundation of this

by proclaiming

is

first

and

solidarity in the religious

in the religious order,

;

which

is

the

in the political

contradict the

of peoples; amongst others especially the

solidarity

maxim

and

solidarity,

admits or denies

it

transmission of the penalty

order,

and the

Liberal and Rationalist school at one

non-intervention and

of

its

that

correlative,

every one should take care of himself, and have no solicitude

for

the affairs

of

his

These

neighbour.

maxims, which are one and the same, are nothing but pagan egotism, without the

virility

of

people indoctrinated with the enervating

its

hatred.

maxims

school, will call others strangers, because they

A

of this

have not

the courage to call them enemies.

The

Liberal and

solidarity,

Rationalist school

inasmuch as

the legal aptitude of

and

all

all

denies family

proclaims the principle of

it

men

to attain all public offices

the dignities of the State, which

is

a denial of

the action of ancestors on descendants, and the com-

munication of the qualities of the former to the

by

hereditary transmission.

denies that different

transmission,

ways

—

first,

identity of nations

;

But

latter,

at the very time

acknowledges

it

it in two by proclaiming the perpetual and second, by proclaiming the it

;

!

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

The

hereditary principle in monarchy.

251

principle of

national identity either signifies nothing, or

there

and

disasters, of talents

means

and aptitude between past gene-

and the present, the present and the future

rations

and

it

a community of merits and demerits, of glories

is

this

community

is

totally inexplicable, unless con-

On

sidered as the result of hereditary transmission.

the other hand, hereditary monarchy, considered as the

fundamental institution of the State,

and absurd

institution

virtue of transmission

a contradictory

is

whenever the principle of the

by blood, which

principle of all historical aristocracies,

is

is

the constitutive

denied.

the Liberal and Rationalist school, in

its

Finally,

repugnant

materialism, gives to riches communicated the virtue

denies to the transmission

it

the millionaires appears to

it

by blood The rule of more legitimate than the !

rule of the nobles

At

the heels of this ephemeral and contradictory

school all

its

come

the Socialist schools, which, while granting

principles,

Socialists take

deny

all

its

The

consequences.

from the Liberal and Rationalist schools

the negation of religious orders.

human

solidarity in the political

Denying

it

in the religious order,

and they

deny the transmission of the sin and the penalty, and, moreover, the sin and the penalty themselves denying it in the political order, they take from the Socialist and ;

Liberal school the principle of the equal aptitude of

men

for the offices and dignities of the State

advancing

further,

all

but,

;

they demonstrate to the Liberal

school that this principle logically carries with

it

the

a

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

252

suppression of hereditary monarchy, and this entails the

suppression of useless

without

all

monarchy, which,

and embarrassing

much

effort,

not hereditary,

if

a

is

Then they show,

institution.

that supposing the natural equality

of man, that equality carries with all aristocratic distinctions,

the suppression of

it

and consequently the supin which they do not

pression of the electoral vote,

acknowledge the mysterious virtue of conferring sove-

The

reign attributes denied to blood. to the Socialists,

the Pharaohs to

people, according

have not come out from the slavery of fall

and

into that of the Assyrians

and

Babylonians, nor are they so devoid of rights

power, as to drop into the hands of the rapacious rich

family,

Nor does

from the insolent nobles.

after escaping

appear to them

less

it

absurd to deny the solidarity of the

and establish the

Ac-

solidarity of a nation.

cepting the former of these principles, they absolutely

deny the

latter,

as contradictory of

claim the perfect equality of

all

proclaim the perfect equality of

The

;

and as they pro-

all

peoples.

following consequences flow from

being perfectly equal divide

it

men, so do they also

them

into

among

groups,

themselves, as

this.

it is

Men

absurd to

such partition has

no

other foundation but the solidarity of the groups solidarity denied

by the Liberal school

perpetual inequahty logically follows

dissolution theories, in

is

follows

among men.

as the origin of

If this

be

so,

the dissolution of the family.

from the

Liberal

such a way, that without

it,

—

principles

what This

and

those principles

cannot be realised in political associations.

In vain will

AND

LIBERALISM,

you proclaim the idea of equality

body tree,

SOCIALISM. ;

this idea

The

as long as the family remains.

253

cannot take family

is

a

which with prodigious fecundity perpetually pro-

duces the idea of nobility.

But the suppression

of the family carries with

the

it

suppression of property as a necessary consequence.

Man, considered

cannot be the proprietor

in himself,

of the earth, for a very simple reason

proprietorship of

:

a thing cannot be conceived without a certain of proportion possessed,

and between the earth and man there

To

proportion whatever. it

will

be

manner

between the proprietor and the thing

sufficient to

demonstrate

observe that

is

no

this thoroughly,

man

is

a transitory

being, and the earth a thing which never dies or passes

away.

This being

earth should

fall

so, it is

contrary to reason that the

under the proprietorship of men, con-

sidered individually.

The institution of property is absurd

without the institution of the family existence

is

in

it

religious orders.

the reason of

:

its

or in something similar, such as the

The

earth,

which never

dies,

can

fall

only under the proprietorship of a religious or family association,

which never passes away

;

therefore,

on the

implicit suppression of the domestic association,

the explicit of the religious, association,

by the Liberal

or,

and

at least, of the monastic

school, the suppression of the

proprietorship of the earth follows like a logical sequence

from

its

principles.

That suppression

is

so identified

with the principles of the Liberal school, that the latter

has ever inaugurated the period of

its

seizing on the property of the Church,

domination by by the suppres-

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

254

and of entail, without adverting that by seizing on the one and suppressing the others, it did little as far as its principles were consion of the religious orders,

cerned

as to

;

its interests,

The

too much.

in quality of proprietor,

Liberal school,

which

comprehended that as

learned, has never

it

did

anything but

is

it is

necessary

become susceptible of approprithe hands of some one that could per-

for the earth, in order to ation, to fall into

petually preserve

its

proprietorship, the suppression of

entail,

and the

that

can never again acquire property,

it

spoliation of the Church, with the clause is

equivalent to

condemning property with an irrevocable condemnation.

That school has never comprehended that the

earth,

speaking logically, can be the object, not of individual,

but of social appropriation and can only be so under the ;

monastic or the family form of

entail,

perpetuity, are identical, as both one

perpetually.

The

ecclesiastical

and

property, tumultuously proclaimed

with

some time more

in

it,

which, as regards

and the other subsist civil

abolishment of

by Liberalism,

carries

or less proximate, but not

very distant, considering the pace of modern events, universal

now

spoliation.

ignorant of

:

Then

it

will

know what

it

is

that property has no reason of exist-

ence except in the hands of the dead, as the earth, of itself perpetual,

living,

who

When explicit

cannot be matter of appropriation by the

pass away, but

by

the dead,

who

ever

live.

the Socialists, after denying the family as an

consequence of the Liberal school, and the

faculty of acquiring property in the Church, a principle

equally recognised

by the Liberals

as well as

by the

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

25s

deny property as an ultimate consequence of

Socialists, all

AND

these principles, they do nothing more than crown the

work ingeniously commenced by the doctors of Liberalism. Finally, when after suppressing individual property,

communism proclaims

and absolute proprietor of

that the State

all land,

dently absurd in other conceptions,

To be

actual point of view.

it

is

convinced of

universal

is

although

it

is evi-

not so in our this,

we have

only to consider that the dissolution of the family in the

name

of the principles of the Liberal school once

consummated, the question of property lay between

Well now, when the beyond all doubt that the titles

individuals and the State alone.

matter

is

put thus,

it is

of the State are superior to those of individuals, as the

former

is

by nature

perpetual,

and the

latter

cannot be

perpetuated except in the family.

From

the perfect equality of

all

peoples, logically

deduced from the principles of the Liberal Socialists, or rather

consequences families

draws

:

I,

—As from the

perfect equality of all the

which compose the State the Liberal school

in necessary consequence, the non-existence

of

same way and

for

solidarity in domestic society, in the

the same reason, from the perfect equality of in the

school, the

name, draw the following

in their

bosom of humanity

tical solidarity.

necessarily

deny

peoples

results the negation of poli-

If the nation it all

all

is

not solidarious,

that which

family, in the supposition that

is

it is

we must

naturally denied the

not solidarious.

In

the non-solidarious family was denied,

first,

and mysterious bond which unites

the present time

it iii

that secret

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

256

with the past and the future

;

and as a consequence of

this negation, are denied, secondly, its imprescriptable

right of participating in the glories of its ancestors,

communicating to

virtue of

its

its

and

descendants some

same way, it is necessary to deny of a non-solidarious nation what is denied of a non-solidarious family; whence it follows, that

own

reflex of its

with regard to

it

Arguing

glory.

we must

in the

deny, on the one hand, that

it

has any relation with past or future time, and on the other, that

has any right to claim a part of past or

it

What

future glory.

is

denied of the family, logically,

results in the destruction in

man

of that attachment to

the hearth which constitutes the happiness of domestic society

;

by

identity of reason,

what

denied of the

is

nation necessarily results in the radical destruction of that love of country, which, raising

man above

himself,

impels him to daringly undertake the most heroic enterprises.

Whence we for

see that from these negations are drawn,

domestic and for political society, the following con-

sequences

:

—The

solution of continuity in

glory, the suppression of love of family

ism,

which

is

and of

the love of country, and finally,

solution of domestic exist nor

time and

and

political society,

patriot-

the dis-

which cannot

be conceived without that continuity of time

and communion of

glory,

and without being founded on

those great loves.

The

Socialistic schools, which,

than the Liberal, are not quite as first sight,

though more logical

much

so as appears at

do not advance from consequence to conse-

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

quence to our ultimate conclusion, which supposing their premises, not only

The proof of

necessary.

by

pressed

world,

and

however,

what they do not wish

In practice they are yet Frenchmen,

Germans

frontiers.

is,

but absolutely-

in the fact that Socialists,

logic, are in practice

to be in theory. Italians,

it is

logical,

257

theory they are citizens of the

in

;

the world, their country

like

Madmen

they

!

are no frontiers there

is

know

is

without

not that where there

no country, and where there

no country there are no men, although perhaps there be

is

may

Socialists.

Of

the parties contending for domination, the right

of victory belongs to the most logical

;

this is at

once a

and constant fact. Humanly speaking, Catholicity owes her triumphs to

true principle

her

logic.

and an

Even

if

God

universal

did not lead her

by the hand,

her logic would triumphantly carry her to the ultimate

ends of the earth, as

will

appear more clearly in the

following chapter.

CHAPTER

IV.

Continuation of the same subject

— Socialistic

contradictions.

If there be any truth demonstrated it

in

our last chapter,

consists in the affirmation that the Liberal school has

done

nothing but

Socialistic

establish

consequences,

premises which

and the

Socialistic

end

in

schools,

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

258

nothing but draw the consequences contained in the

Those two schools

Liberal premises.

differ

not in ideas,

when the question thus stands between them, it is clear the victory belongs by right to the more daring, and the more daring without any doubt but. in daring

is

:

midway, accepts

that which, without stopping

consequences with the principles.

If this

be

so,

their

there

demonstrated in our

last

chapter, that Socialism has the best of the battle,

and

is

no doubt, as was

that hers

From

is

sufficiently

the palm of victory.

the force of logic paraded

by

it

in its contests

with the Liberal, the Socialistic school has acquired a certain character of being logical

though, to a certain degree, justified

in

;

is

and

not,

consistent, which,

however, sufficiently

being more logical than the most illogical

and contradictory of all the schools, the Socialistic does not effect very much, or rather nothing at all and to :

deserve

its

one hand,

character it

is

it

is

obliged to do more

obliged to demonstrate that

only logical and consistent in a

sistent absolutely in the truth error, its logic

and consistency

:

is

it

is

is

not

but also in an

relative,

absolute manner, and then, that

on the

:

it

and con-

logical

for if it

be only so

in

only a special manner

of being illogical and inconsistent.

There

is

no true

consistency nor logic except in absolute truth.

Well, now. Socialism ditions it

is

:

not one, as

is

is

it

is

in these

its

two con-

contradictory, because

proved by the variety of

symbol of the variety of it

wanting

is

on the one hand,

doctrines

:

its

schools,

on the

other,

not consistent, because, like the Liberal school,

it

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

refuses to accept, although not to the

the consequences of

and

principles are false,

That

own

own

its

its

we saw

its

we

its

being

political society

negation of

was content with accepting the

all solidarity, it

dissolution of domestic

There are those who believe that Socialism

society. will

be ruined because

but

I

am

it

asks and demands too

of opinion that the contrary

destruction will arise from

ing too

In

little.

change

their

name

name should be

whole course of

—not

;

the case, and

asking and demandlogical in the

by asking that people should In

can well conceive that the

I

one, as the nation

one, in the

is

That France should be by Louis Philippe and Clovis,

history.

the nation governed

much

every succeeding generation.

the system of solidarity, national

its

is

what would be

fact,

present case was to begin

ceivable

all

finally, its

the consequences of

remarked that the dissolution of

its

degree,

and

:

former chapter, when

all

in the

a logical consequence of

same

principles

consequences absurd.

does not accept

it

principles,

259

only conceivable, but natural

called is

con-

—and

not

only natural, but necessary, supposing the system which

upholds French

and

solidarity,

and

glories of past

generations.

But

it is

and communion of

present, of present

disasters

and future

inconceivable and contrary to the

nature of things, in the system which cuts the thread of glory and time at every generation.

there are as

many

families

In this system

and peoples as there are

generations, and logic requires in this case, that as the

representative

names

follow the vicissitudes of the things

represented, with every change of generation there should

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

26o

be a corresponding change

names of peoples and

in the

That the absurd competes here with the grodeny but that the grotesque and

families.

tesque, no one can

;

the absurd are rigorously logical, no one can question,

and these are precisely the two things which should Socialism must freely ac-

be invincibly demonstrated. cept the death logical

it

has to

choosing between the

die,

il-

and absurd.

The

Socialistic,

demonstrated without

much

effort

against the Liberal, school, that the family, political, and religious solidarity

once denied, national or monarchi-

be admitted and on the conwas absolutely necessary to suppress in the national public code the institution of monarchy, and

cal solidarity could not trary, that

;

it

in the public international

code the constitutive

But those same

ences of peoples.

differ-

Socialistic schools,

with a contradiction of which there

is no example in and absurd as it is, immediately recognise the highest, the most universal, humanly speaking, the most inconceivable, of all soli-

the Liberal school, contradictory

darities, viz., the

equality,

and

men, either darious.

human solidarity. The banner of liberty,

fraternity, as the

common patrimony of all men are soli-

signifies nothing, or that all

The

recognition of that solidarity, separated

from the others and from the religious teaches and explains

it

to us,

is

an act of

dogma which faith so super-

natural and heroic, that I myself cannot conceive

accustomed as

I

am

to believe

what

I

it,

do not compre-

hend, as a Catholic.

To

believe in the equality pf

all

men, when we see

— AND

LIBERALISM, unequal

theiri all

that there

is

when a

common mass of

men

glories

and misfortunes;

when

born,

humanity, when

I

;

to believe that all

history tells all are enemies

for all

believe that

parts

all

myself the centre of

all

am

I

referred to

referred to

is

when

centre,

and

;

men

to believe

misfortunes and of glories

believe

to.

my

is

;

see

see nothing but individual

I

know humanity

humanity

261

when we

to believe in liberty,

;

slavery established in are brothers,

SOCIALISM.

I

me

;

to

constituted

finally, to believe that I

should believe these things, when they are proposed to

me by

those

my own

who

me

tell

that

should believe only

I

reason, which contradicts all those things they

propose to me,

is

an absurdity so stupendous, an abbera-

tion so inconceivable, that

I

stand mute and astounded

in its presence.

My astonishment

increases

when

observe that those

I

who affirm human solidarity, deny that of the family, which is

to affirm that enemies are brothers,

should not be brothers

political,

with those

my

which

is

affirm

who

little

affirm

all in

human

common

solidarity

human

before denied the

to affirm I have nothing in

own, and

who

that those

;

same who a

solidarity are the

and that brothers

common

with strangers

deny

religion,

all this I

deduce

Socialistic schools illogical,

in legitimate

that

though

the former cannot be explained without the latter

from

;

;

and

consequence that the

are at once illogical and absurd

because after demonstrating against the Liberal

school that some solidarities cannot be accepted while others are rejected, they

ing one amongst

all,

fall

into the

same

error, accept-

—absurd.

and rejecting the remainder

£SSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

263

because precisely the one they proposed to

a point of reason but of

comes to

me

faith,

from those

who deny

the imprescriptable

is

not

and proclaim empire and

faith

right of reason

me

this proposal

and because to

sovereignty.

The

Socialistic schools

would be astounded,

if,

on

call-

ing their dogmas into question, the idea occurred to us

categorical question

sion that

And

men

categorical answer to this

them a

of demanding from :

— Whence do you draw the conclu-

are solidarious, brothers, equal and free

yet this question, which

licity,

obliged as

asked

it,

alistic

of

is

all

more

it

valid

answer everything that

still

certainly to

is

against the most ration-

drawn from

history.

that which

and

lends

If history

some support to any philosophical system, liberty, the equality

?

valid against Catho-

Those abstract forms have not

schools.

certainly been

to

is

is

is

it

not

proclaims the solidarity, the fraternity of the

human

race,

but rather to that one nervously articulated by Hobbes,

according to which universal, incessant, and simultaneous

war

is

Man

the natural state of man. is

scarcely born

when he appears

to the world through the mysterious

to have

come

power of a malicious

and charged with the load of an inexorable condemnation. All things raise their hands against him and he raises his angry hand against all things. The conjuror,

first

breath of air that blows on him, or the

light that strikes him,

external things.

is

the

first

first

declaration of

ray of

war by

All his vital powers rebel against the

pressure of pain, and his whole existence

is

concentrated

LIBERALISM,

AND

in a sob.

The

this point

and moment death

who

greater

SOCIALISM.

263

number do not exceed this, for at seizes them the minority ;

sucessfully resist, begin to tread the

way

of their

dolorous passion, and after continual war and various issues,

stumble into the ultimate catastrophe, faint from

and broken down by their sorrows. The them avaricious and cruel it demands from

their efforts

earth

is

them

that sweat which

the

to

life it

;

is

their

takes, scarcely distils a

and

exchange

for

drop of water from

its

life,

in

fountains to assuage their thirst, and a mouthful of food

from

its

their

life,

stores to appease their hunger.

not that they

live,

It

life

is

prolongs

but that they

Tyrants prolong the

continue their sweats. slaves only because

may

life

may

of their

necessary to prolong their

Wherever men gather together, the weak

services.

fall

under the tyranny of the strong.

A woman, remarkable for her talents, desiring to give proof of her ingenuity, began to think one day what

would be the greatest of strange paradoxes, and she found none greater than that which affirms with calmness that slavery is a thing of modern, and liberty of ancient date.

through force

Whether she came to believe it herself of repetition, I know not there is no :

manner of doubt, however, that the world believed it from her, and what was more, was very worthy of believing

it.

although

it is

alistic

cal

As

regards

possible

—^whether

philosopher

and philosophical

human

—what

equality, is

we know

not,

not possible to a ration-

this idea derives its histori-

affiliation

from the division of the

race into castes, of which

some

there be whose

£SSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

264

command, and

office it is to

others to obey, and

The

to

all

idea of frater-

break out into wars and rebellion. nity comes undoubtedly from those long periods of peace and calm which form the golden link of history. And as regards the idea of solidarity, who does not see

whence

comes

it

Romans,

whom

in

foreigners

Who

>.

all

is

ignorant of the fact that the

antiquity

is

condensed, called

and enemies by the same name, which,

suppose, was symbolical of

human

solidarity

I

.'

come to us from history, which condemns and belies them in all its pages, filled with sighs and written in blood, they must come to us either If those ideas cannot

from

events which happened

which precedes reason.

As

all historic

in

regards this latter source, I will merely say,

without fear of contradiction, that pure reason exercised on things of pure reason

;

and

we

fact,

us, requires to

clearness.

cedes

it,

which, existing obscure with respect to

be more closely observed and have

that

As

its

obscurity

may be

light

converted into

regards that primitive age which pre-

all historic

time,

be not revealed to

it is

clear

we cannot know

Supposing

us.

this,

authorised to ask the following question

not what you affirm, from reason, which nor from history, which you

from an age anterior to

known

human

are not dealing with a matter of pure reason,

but with a

thrown on

only

is

that, treating

here of investigating the constituent elements of nature,

age

primitive

that

time, or directly from pure

to you, because

know

:

I

feel

it if it

myselt

— If you is

have

ignorant

contradicts

it,

of,

nor

all historic time, which is unyou go on the supposition that

— liberalism; it

and

socialism.

has not been revealed, whence have you

you have

it

from no one,

why do you

I

add, which

on him who

death on him

inflict

;

.

.

.

And

it ?

afifirm it

speare has told us what your theories are words, words, and nothing but words

265

.

if

Shake-

?

they are

:

but words,

who pronounces and

them.

listens to

This powerful virtue they have from the fact that they are not rationalistic words, which in themselves have

no virtue whatever, but Catholic words, which have the privilege of giving

and taking

life

it

away, of slaying

Those words are

the living and resuscitating the dead.

never pronounced in vain, and ever infuse

terror,

because

no one knows whether they are going to give death,

inflict

omnipotence.

were

falling

although

One

day,

life

or

know how great is their when the shades of evening

all

on the serene and peaceful waters, the Lord

entered into a fragile bark, followed by His disciples,

and when the Lord closed His an impetuous tempest disciples

eyes,

excited

overcome by

sleep,

the waves, and

the

began to pray, thinking they were about to eyes, and pronounced a

The Lord opened His

perish.

few words, which the sea and winds heard with reverence

:

blow.

the sea became calm, and the wind ceased to

And

then turning to His disciples.

He

uttered

other words in their ears, and His disciples were

with great fear

:

Et

tempest was to them Saviour. devils

Lord

timuerunt timore magna.

less terrific

filled

The

than the word of the

Another day, when two men tormented by

came

to the

Lord and implored His

said to the devils.

Go

;

and the

grace, the

devils,

obeying

;

ESSA ri ON CA THOLICISM,

266

men free, and sought an asylum in unclean animals, who cast themselves into the sea, and were buried in its waters. Those who cared the herd, His

voice, left the

full

of dread, through virtue of the divine word, sought

and communicating their terror to the people of that region, they all went to the Lord and safety in flight,

Him

besought

to leave their territory:

—"And

they

them fled, and coming into the city, told everything, and concerning them that had been possessed by the devils. And behold the whole city went

that kept

out to meet Jesus

Him

besought

coasts" (Matt.

and when they saw Him, they He would depart from their The omnipotence of the 33, 34).

;

that viii.

divine word was

more

terrible to the

malevolence of the infernal

When nounced,

spirits.

hear a divine, that

I I

people than the

is

a Catholic, word pro-

immediately look round to see what has

happened, for

I

am

certain that something

must happen,

and that what must happen must necessarily be a miracle of divine justice, or a prodigy of mercy.

be the Church that pronounces if some one else pronounces it, the world

why

it is filled

it,

I

I

If

it

look for salvation

Ask why the

look for death.

with terror and dread,

why

all societies

are disturbed, and hang in suspense like one

who dreams

air is full of

he

To

is

sad and sinister rumours,

about to lose his foothold

ask the world, this

is

and

fall

into

an abyss.

why one madman enter

the same as to ask

trembles when he sees a malefactor or a

a store of powder with a lighted candle, the one ignorant

of,

the other

knowing too

well, the virtue of the

AND

LIBERALISM, candle.

What

SOCIALISM.

has saved the world up to

267

this is that

the Church was in past times sufficiently powerful to extirpate heresies, which, consisting principally in teach-

ing a doctrine different from that of the Church in the words the Church employs, would have long since hurried the world to

its

ultimate catastrophe,

if

they

had not been extirpated. The real danger to human societies commenced on the day the great heresy of the sixteenth century acquired the right of citizenship in

Europe.

Since that, there

is

no revolution which does

not involve for society a danger of death. sists

in

the

fact,

that as they are

Protestant heresy, they are See,

if not,

how they

all

selves with words and

The its

founded on the

all

fundamentally heretical.

establish

and

legitimise

maxims taken from

Sanculotism of the

historic

all

first

antecedents and

This con-

them-

the gospel.

French revolution sought titles

of nobility in the

humble nakedness of the meek Lamb

;

nor were there

wanting those who recognised the Messias called Robespierre his apostle.

From

and

in Marat,

the revolution

of 1830 sprang the Sansimonian doctrine, whose mystic

extravagances formed,

emended and improved.

I

know not what new gospel From the revolution of 1848

sprang impetuously and copiously

all

the Socialistic

doctrines expressed in evangelical words.

Men had

seen nothing of this before the sixteenth century.

do

I

not -wish to say by this that the Catholic world had not suffered great agonies, nor that ancient societies

had not

passed through great changes and transformations

;

I

merely wish to say that those changes were not capable

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

268

of bringing society to the ground, nor those agonies

To-day everything happens the a battle lost by society in the streets of Paris to bring European society to the ground, as if

of depriving reverse suffices

it

of

life.

;

suddenly struck by a thunderbolt morto

i cadde come corpo

;

cade.

Who

does not see in modern revolutions compared

with ancient an invincible power of destruction, which

not being divine, must necessarily be Satanic leaving this subject, I think

important observation here, which reflection of

my

We

readers.

made

that he

Lord

to

in the desert.

God, disfigured to

Eve

faithful report of

in paradise, the

In the suit his

first

;

the

first

second to our

he used the words of

purpose

quoted Scripture, interpreted

Before

will leave to the

I

have a

two of the speeches of the angel of darkness is

?

opportune to make an

it

in his

;

in the

second he

own way.

Would

be rash to believe, that as the word of God, taken in

it

true sense,

its

life, is

power of death explained

God

of

is

the only one which has the power of

also the only one,

is

t

If this

why modern more or

when

were

disfigured, that has the

so, it

would be

revolutions, in

sufficiently

which the word

less disfigured, possess that destruc-

tive virtue.

Returning now to the Socialistic contradictions,

say that

it

is

I will

not sufficient to have denied one after

another religious, domestic, and political solidarity, as I have proved,

and with all

it

human

solidarity

liberty, equality,

which can only find

in

it

and

is

if,

not also denied,

fraternity, principles

at once their reason

and

AND

LIBERALISM, their origin

of

tent^

it

doctrines brings the whole edifice to

follows that Socialism cannot be consis-

beginning with the negation of Catholicism,

if,

does not end in the negation of

when

269

and as the negation of these foundations

;

all Socialistic

the ground,

SOCIALISM.

Sociahsts profess the

dogma

know

I

itself.

human

of

sohdarity,

they do not thereby profess the Catholic doctrine.

know there

is

dogma and

between the one

that

it

that

I

the other

an essential difference, scarcely veiled by the

Humanity, which

identity of name.

in the

eyes of the

Catholic only exists in the individuals which constitute it,

exists in the eyes of the Socialist individually

concretely Catholics

whence

:

it

results, that

say that humanity

is

when

Notwithstanding

contradiction

evident,

is

this,

and

they say

in reality

.

and

although

solidarious,

they appear to say the same thing, different things.

Socialists

the Socialistic

and placed beyoijd

doubt.

all

Although humanity be the universal intelligence served by special groups which bear the name of peoples and families, logic requires that

and through

it

the

be

solidarious

if it

of denying

human

same

obey

all

Hence the

solidarity, or of affirming

and

in

it

and that the groups be

law,

solidarious.

in individuals, in families, if

they should

in the State.

there be one thing evident,

it

is

necessity it

at once

Well, now,

that Socialism

is

incompatible with that radical negation and this absolute affirmation. itself,

is

to

and to

deny

To deny human

solidarity

is

to

affirm the solidarity of the social

itself in

another way.

deny

group

The world cannot

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

270

become subject to the sway of reason. all,

apostlate

law without renouncing

how far its most famous doctors, and he who amongst those who compose its

Hence we above

Socialistic

see

enjoys the greatest renown and fame,

are

M.

from deserving the character of being consistent.

Proudhon, in his contests with those partisans of the

new

gospel

who

and

the

rights,

domestic,

desire the extinction of all individual

concentration political,

civil,

did not require to

make

State

the

in

social,

and

of

all

religious, rights,

great efforts to demonstrate

communism, that is, governmentalism elevated to the extreme, was extravagant and absurd in the prinIn fact, comciples common to the new sectaries. munism, conceiving the State as an absolute unity which concentrates in itself all rights and absorbs all individuals, conceives it as highly and powerfully solidarious, as unity and solidarity are one and the same thing considered in two different points of view. Cathothat

licity,

depositary of the

from unity, which

dogma

makes

it

of solidarity, derives possible

Well, now, as the fundamental point of Socialism precisely the negation of that

communism

contradicts itself when

and recognises ciples

dogma,

it

in practice,

and affirms

it

when

it

it

is

denies

denies

in its applications.

of the family solidarity carries with itself,

it

it

all

government.

is

clear that it

in

theory

it in its

prin-

If the negatior

that of the family

the negation of political solidarity carries with

that of

it

and necessary.

it

That negation proceeds equally

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

i-j\

from the notions Socialists form of the equality and the liberty common to all men, as that equality and liberty cannot be conceived as limited by a government, but simply and naturally by the free action and reaction of

M. Proudhon

individuals on each other. sistent tionist

when he says " :

—

" All

then, as well

by

is

then con-

in his " Confessions of a

men

Revolu-

and free. Society is by the functions of its which means ungovernable. The are equal

nature as

its

destiny, antinomical,

sphere of activity of each citizen being the

result,

on

the one hand, of the natural division of labour, and on the other, of the election he makes of a profession, and the social functions being constituted in such a manner as to produce an harmonic effect, order becomes the result of the free action of all

his

and

hand on me I

to govern

proclaim him

my

me

is

whence

;

absolute negation of government

:

I

every one

draw the

who

puts

a tyrant and a usurper,

enemy."

M. Proudhon is consistent in denying government, he is only so by halves when he indicates this But

if

negation as the last of those which are involved in these Socialistic doctrines.

With the family is denied domestic

solidarity, with government political solidarity

;

but in

the very place he denies those two solidarities, he afSrms, the

with inconceivable contradiction, serves

them

for foundation.

We

that to affirm equality and liberty affirm

human

stop here

;

solidarity.

for at the

Nor does

same time

human,

which

already demonstrated is

the same as to

the contradiction

that he affirms equality

and liberty in his " Confessions of a Revolutionist," he

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

272

denies fraternity in Chap.

me

speak to you insist on

me

mother, respect

me

giving to I

my

We

shall be brothers if be the eldest brother, and you come on this condition :— that society, our common

of fraternity

?

provided that

after

I

my

my

primogeniture and

double portion

;

you

tell

necessities proportionately to

me you

my

by

services

will attend

resources,

and

on the contrary require you to attend to them pro-

portionately to

Whence we

my

labour

solidarity

there

is

otherwise

is

I

cease to labour."

is

double, for

if,

human

contradiction in affirming

when the domestic and

still

when the

;

see the contradiction

on one hand, there

is

book of " Economical

words :—" Do you

Contradictions," in these

it,

of his

vi.

political are denied,

greater contradiction in denying fraternity

principle of liberty

Equality,

proclaimed.

and equality among men

liberty,

and

fraternity

principles which mutually suppose each other,

are

and are

human, the political, are dogmas which are re-

resolved one in the other, as the

and the domestic

solidarities

solved in and mutually suppose each other.

To

accept

some and reject others is to accept what is rejected and reject what is accepted; is at one and the same time to deny what is affirmed and affirm what is denied.

As

regards the question relative to government, the

negation of is

all

government on the part of M. Proudhon

only an apparent contradiction.

ment there

is

If the idea of govern-

not in contradiction with the Socialistic idea,

is

no necessity to deny

between these two ideas, proclaim

in

it is

it

;

if

there

is

contradiction

a notorious inconsistency to

another form the government he denies.

M.

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

273

Proudhon, who denies government, symbol of unity and it in another manner and form, when he recognises and proclaims social unity and solidarity in the following words " Only society,

of political solidarity, recognises

:

that

is,

—

the collective being, can follow

inclination

its

and abandon itself to its free will without fear of absolute and immediate error. This superior reason which is in

it,

and which slowly escapes from

it

through the

manifestations of the multitude and the reflections of individuals,

always puts

The

right in the end.

it

philo-

incapable of discovering the truth by intuition

sopher

is

and

he attempt to direct society, he runs a great

if

own

of establishing his

ideas, inefficient

and

;

risk

insufficient

ever, in place of the eternal

laws of order, and thus

hurrying society to the abyss.

The philosopher requires

something to direct him.

What

be but the law of progress,

and that

humanity as

in its centre

}

"

("

else

can that something

which resides

logic

in

Confessions of a Revo-

lutionist")

Here three things are supposed

—

unity,

solidarity,

and, in a word, social infallibility, precisely the selfsame things which

communism

supposes in the

affirms or

and these others are denied, the capacity and com-

State ; petence of individuals to govern nations, the very thing

Whence

denied in them by communism.

it

follows that

the followers of Proudhon and the communists reach

the same term

by

different roads

and with

human

Government

societies.

infallible

—that

is

it

:

the one and the other

the unity and solidarity of

affirm government,

is

for

one and the other

to say, omnipotent

;

and being S

so,

;

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

274

excludes

all

when

idea of liberty in individuals, who,

placed under the jurisdiction of an omnipotent and in-

Let

government, can be nothing but slaves.

fallible

government reside in the State, symbol of political unity, or in society, considered as a solidarious being,

ever result that government

is

social rights, as well in the first as in the

suppositions.

Whence

it

will

the condensation of

all

second of these

follows, for the individual consi-

dered isolatedly, the most complete slavery.

M. Proudhon, and

is

then, does the contrary of

he, denies solidarity,

and yet supposes

an anarchist, and has a hunger and

He

ment.

is

timid,

it

and appears daring sceptical

is

;

is

he

he

calls

;

is

him-

govern-

the daring

He

is

appears

sceptical in sub-

He solemnly announces

stance and dogmatical in form.

that he

;

;

thirst for

in his phrases, the timidity in his ideas.

dogmatical, and he

says,

he pro-

constitutes tyranny

claims liberty and equality, and

self

what he

altogether contrary to what he appears

going to proclaim new and strange truths,

and he does nothing but makes himself the echo of ancient and discredited errors. That apothegm of his, that property is robbery, has captivated the French It

will

be well

apothegm

From

is

for

by

its

originality

our neighbours to

and ingenuity.

know

that this

of ancient date this side of the Pyrenees.

Viriatus to our

own

days, every robber that takes

to the road, on presenting his

gun at the breast of the traveller, calls him a robber, and takes from him all that he has because he is a robber. M. Proudhon has done nothing but steal his apothegm from the Spanish

;

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

275

As he

robbers, as they rob the traveller of his purse.

presents himself in spectacle to the nations as original,

when he

only a

is

plagiarist, so

when only

apostle of

the past, he calls himself the prophet of the future. principal

artifice

affirms in

consists

words which contradict

Every one

it.

despotism despotism, but M. Proudhon

calls

His

idea he

expressing the

in

it

calls

anarchy

and when he has given its contradictory name to the thing affirmed, he makes war on his friends with the name, and on his enemies with the thing. With the communistic dictatorship which is at the bottom of his system, he scares capital, and with the word anarchy he alarms and drives away his friends the communists; and when he turns his eyes in all directions, and sees the one without power to artifices

consists

though not sustain

who

fly,

and the other already

he bursts into a loud laugh.

ful flight,

it,

is

taking from each

system what,

confound him with those who

quite enough to excite the anger of those

contradict

subscribed

in

sufficient to

in shameAnother of his

by

it

all

;

he has whole pages which might be partisans of order

directed to the turbulent

;

—these

pages are

and others which might be

subscribed by the most fanatical democrats

—these

are

In some he makes a show of the most filthy atheism, and when writing them he intends them for Catholics and others, in fine, might be accepted by the most fervent Catholic, and these he The destines for the ears of materialists and atheists. hand against his to raise pleasure is man's greatest every one, and oblige every one to raise his hand against directed to the friends of order.

;

£SSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

276

When he says that he regards as an enemy whoever wishes to govern him, he reveals only the half him.

of his secret

every one

the other half consists in affirming that

;

who

follows

the world once

and obeys him

his

is

became Proudhonian,

enemy.

If

he, in opposition

to the world, would cease to be Proudhonian

and

;

if

the world followed his example in that, he would hang

himself from the

not

which

first

he met on the road.

tree

after the misfortune of not

if

is

I

the satanic misfortune par excellence, there be

a greater than not desiring to be loved, which

And

Proudhonian misfortune.

mendous in the

know

being able to love,

away

object of divine wrath, preserves

most hidden recess of

being, something of light

distinguishes

him from the

the

is

yet that man, the tre-

his obscure

and

love,

there,

and darkened

something which

infernal spirits

;

although he

is

involved in shadows which are rapidly condensing, he

is

not

all

Declared enemy of

hatred and darkness.

literary as well, as

without knowing

all

moral beauty, he

and morally,

literarily

it,

is

in

all

beautiful

the few

pages he consecrates to the bashful suavity of modesty, to pure

and chaste

and

to Catholic

His style then

magnificence.

majesty and

love,

pomp

rises to

of his subject, or assumes the soft

and pleasing form of freshest

idyls.

Considered isolatedly, M. Proudhon

M. Proudhon

inconceivable.

he appears so

:

he

is

he

is

is

inexplicable and

not a person, although

Though

a personification.

tradictory and illogical as he consistent, because

harmony and

the level of the

is

is,

con-

the world calls him

a consistency

;

he

is

the con-

LIBERALISM, sistency of

dictory

all

exotic

the

principles,

AND

and

modern Rationalism has

SOCIALISM. of

ideas,

of

all

all

277

the contra-

the absurd

premises,

established for the last three

hundred years; and as the consequence contains premises,

and the premises

its

consequence, those

their

M. Proudhon, as M. Proudhon necessarily involves them. For this reason, the examination of the one and of the other gives the same result. All the Proudhonian contradictions are in three centuries necessarily contain

the last three hundred years, and in M. Proudhon are the contradictions of the last three centuries, and both contradictions are concentrated in that, in a certain way,

most notable work of the present age, the " System of Economical Contradictions." Between this work and

and those

author,

its

absolute identity

:

rationalistic centuries, there

the only difference

and forms; the thing represented the

name

on that of time.

This explains

to never be,

He

is

condemned

why M. Proudhon

He

is

be,

to never be original, be-

what

is

there less original

condemned to always because what can appear more original thar

than the consequence so,

names

takes here

and to always appear to

cause, supposing the premises,

appear

in the

an

of book, there the form of man, and farther

condemned original.

is

common

in

is

.''

is

the concentration, in one sole person, of tions of three contradictory centuries

all

the contradic-

.'

This does not mean that M. Proudhon does not seek after true originality.

original all

when he

M. Proudhon wishes to be truly

aspires to formulate the synthesis of

antinomies, and to discover the supreme equation of

;

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

278

contradictions

all

but

;

is

it

precisely here,

where

the manifestation of his individual personality, that

His equation

lies

we

only the begin-

discover his impotence. ning of a new series of contradictions, and his synthesis of a

new series

of antinomies.

the thesis, and

is

Placed between property,

communism, which

which

is

thesis,

he seeks the synthesis

is

the anti-

in non-hereditary property,

without remarking that non-hereditary property property, and consequently his synthesis

because

it

is

is

not

no synthesis,

does not suppress the contradiction, but only

a new manner of denying the conquered thesis, affirming the victorious antithesis.

—which

When,

and

to formulate

comprehend on one hand authority, which is the thesis, and liberty, which is the antithesis he denies government and proclaims anarchy if by this he wishes to say that there is to be no governthe synthesis

to

is

—

ment, his synthesis thesis,

which

antithesis, if

is

which

nothing but the negation of the

is

and the affirmation of the

authority, is

human

liberty

;

and on the contrary,

he means that dictatorial and' absolute government

is

not to reside in the State, but in society, in that case he does nothing, but deny the antithesis and affirm the thesis,

deny

liberty

and

In either case, where

affirm

is

communistic omnipotence.

the reconciliation

M. Proudhon

i"

—where

the

when he is content with being the personification of modern Rationalism, by nature absurd and contradictory and he is weak only when he manifests his individual personality, when synthesis

.'

is

strong only

;

he

is

converted from a personification into a person.

If after

examining him

in his various aspects, I

were

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

279

asked what is the dominant trait of his spiritual physiognomy, I would answer that it is the contempt of God and men. Never did man sin so grievously against

humanity and the Holy Ghost. his heart

struck,

is

sonorous echo.

another

who

it

not he

It is

is in

him,

When

that chord of

ever sounds with eloquent and

who

who speaks then

;

no,

holds him in his bonds,

it

is

who

has possession of him, and throws him into epileptic conit is another who is greater than he, and keeps up a perpetual dialogue with him. What he says sometimes is so strange, and he says it in such a strange way, that the mind hangs in suspense, and knows not if it be

vulsions

a

man

;

who

or a devil

ously or in

As

jest.

speaks, or whether he speaks seri-

regards himself,

if

he could arrange

things according to his caprice, he would prefer to be

taken for a devil rather than for a man.

whichever he be,

it is

Man

or devil,

certain that three centuries of

dam-

nation press on his shoulders with crushing weight.

CHAPTER

V.

Continuation of the same subject.

The

most consistent of modern

of view from which

appears to

me

we have been

to be Robert

open and cynical taries of religious

Socialists, in the point

treating the question,

Owen, when, breaking

into

rebellion against all religion, deposi-

and moral dogmas, he denied duty

at

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

28o

one stroke, by denying not only collective responsibility, which constitutes the dogma of solidarity, but also in-

which

dividual responsibility,

denies

on the dogma of will, Robert

Having denied free

the free will of man.

Owen

rests

and the transmission of

sin,

So

sin.

far,

no one can doubt that there is logic and consistency in but where the contradiction and all these deductions ;

extravagances commence, sin

and

and

free will, afifirms

evil,

when Owen, having denied and distinguishes moral good is

and when affirming and distinguishing

he denies the penalty which

is

these,

their necessary conse-

quence.

Man, according

to

Robert Owen, acts

of invincible convictions.

him, on one side, from his

in

consequence

These convictions come to special organisation, and on

the other, from the circumstances which surround

and as he

is

him

;

not the author, either of that organisation,

or of those circumstances,

it

him

well as the latter, act in

follows that the former, as fatally

and necessarily.

and consistent, but it is all illogical and contradictory and absurd to affirm good and evil All this

is

when human

logical

liberty is denied.

The absurd reaches when our author

inconceivable and the monstrous,

the at-

tempts to found a society and a government in juxtaposition with irresponsible beings.

The

idea of govern-

ment and that of

society are correlative of the idea of

human

Deny

liberty.

affirm

same

all,

one,

and the negation of the

and when you either deny or you do no more than affirm and deny the

others logically follows

thing,

;

and at one and the same time.

I

know

LIBERALISM, not

if

there be in

human

AND

SOCIALISM.

281

annals a more striking proof

of blindness, of inconsistency, and of madness, than that

which

Owen

gives,

when, not

with the extrava-

satisfied

gance of affirming society and government,

after

denied individual responsibility and

he yet goes

liberty,

having

and falls into the inconceivable extravagance of recommending benevolence, justice, and charity to further,

those who, not being responsible or

free,

cannot love,

nor be just, nor be benevolent. The limits which I imposed on myself on commencing this work, prevent

me

from advancing as

wide

far as

might be desirable

Those that we and more than sufficient, to doubt the incontrovertible fact

field of Socialistic contradictions.

have given are

sufficient,

beyond

establish

all

that Socialism, from whatever point of view

consider

it,

contradiction

we may

a stupid contradiction, and nothing but

is

chaos can come from is

for us to place all

in the

its

so palpable, that

it

in relief,

Their

contradictory schools. it

be

will not

difficult

even in these points on which

those sectaries appear to be united and agreed.

there be any negation which

is

common

to them,

If it

is

certainly the negation of the solidarity of the family,

and of

nobility.

tionary and

Once

arrived

here,

all

the revolu-

Socialistic doctors raised their voices

to

deny that community of glories and of misfortunes, of merit and of demerit, which the human race has ever recognised as a fact, between ancestors and descendants in all ages.

Very

well, those

same

revolutionists

and

Socialists

affirm of themselves in practice the very thing

they

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

282

have been denying of others

in

When

theory.

the

French Revolution, bloody and destructive, trampled on all the national glories when, intoxicated with its ;

triumphs,

it

believed itself sure of final victory,

not what aristocratic pride of race seized in direct opposition

that the

with

commenced letters

to

Then

dogmas.

men,

it

was

them-

like ancient feudal barons,

be very scrupulous and careful

of naturalisation

know

I

which was

revolutionists, presenting

most famous

selves to the view of

all its

it,

in their

in giving

My

noble family.

remember that famous question put by the doctors of the new law, to those who presented themWhat selves to them in the white robes of candidature Unfortunate the man who crime have you committed had committed no crime, for he would never see the readers will

—

.'

gates of the capital open for him, in which the revolutionary demigod flashed in awful majesty

!

The human

race had instituted the nobility of virtue, the revolution instituted that of crime.

we have

February,

When

after the revolution of

seen the Socialists and Republicans

divide themselves into categories separated one from

the

other

with the

by formidable

title

tempt and

abysses

of republicans of the

;

when one party

showered conon the other who had only been day following ; when, more fortunate, eve,

ridicule

republicans of the

and consequently more arrogant than proudly said, is is

The

natural in us, and this

coast

all

is

comes

but proclaiming in

others,

to us with the blood full

the prejudices of solidarity?

some

ours, for republicanism

—what

tide republicanism

Examine one by one

all all

LIBERALISM, its

and

schools, each

selves a family,

all

AND

SOCIALISM.

283

struggle to constitute them-

and to lay claim

to the

most noble

In this family group the ancestor

descent.

Simon the noble

Saint

is

in that, Fourrier the illustrious

;

the atheist group, Babeuf the patriot.

common chief, a common a common mission and ;

In

there

all

common

patriotism, a

the groups and

all

in

;

is

a

glory, all

the

by a close solidarity, seek in past ages some personality so noble, so lofty, so exalted, that it may serve all as a bond of union and centre. Some fix families, united

on Plato, the glorious personification of ancient

their eyes

wisdom

;

others, carrying their

mad

ambition to the high-

them on the Redeemer of the human race. Perhaps they might despise Him, being humble but in their insolent pride they do not forget that, humble and poor and wretched as He was. He was a king, and felt the noble blood of kings flowing in His veins. As regards M. Proudhon, the perfect type of est pitch of

blasphemy,

fix

;

Socialistic,

which

is,

in its turn, the perfect

type of

—

human, pride going back on the wings of his arrogance to ages more remote, he seeks his ancestors in those times that bordered on the creation, when the Mosaic On a more institution flourished amongst the Hebrews. opportune occasion

I will satisfactorily

regards M. Proudhon, his nobility

is

demonstrate, as

so ancient, and his

descent so illustrious, that to discover necessary to go

yond the wide tion

still farther,

circle of history,

present,

it

origin

and to beings

and dignity incomparably superior is sufficient for

its

it

is

even to times removed be-

my

to

in perfec-

man.

At

purpose to say that the

'

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

284.

schools

Socialistic

manner

are

condemned

that every one

;

dictory of the one that precedes follows

it

tion of

all

that their conduct

;

their theories,

an irrevocable

in

of their principles

and

is

contra-

is

and of the one that

it,

the complete condemna-

their theories the radical

condemnation of their conduct. It

only remains for us to form a proximate idea of

what the

Socialistic

edifice

would be without those

defects of proportion, which deform

coming under any

what present Socialism

seen

dogmas,

it

may

and prevent

it

is

in

its

from

Having

regular style of architecture.

contradictory

be useful that we briefly examine what

must be when age has stripped it of its contradictions and its inconsistency. Here the method is to take as starting-point, any of the propositions future Socialism

affirmed in

from

common by

all

the schools, arid to deduce

one by one, the consequences which

it,

The fundamental negation of Socialism of

sin,

that grand affirmation which

centre of the carries with tions,

some

it,

Catholic

by way

the negation it

were, the

That negation

of consequence, a series of nega-

social, being.

To go

human,

over that whole

would be a thing impossible, and foreign to our what we have to do is, simply to point out the

purpose

:

more fundamental

The of

affirmations.

is

as

contains.

relative to the divine, others to the

and others to the series

is,

it

sin.

of these negations.

Socialists not only

The

fact,

and the

denied, the negation of

deny

sin,

but the possibility

possibility of the fact, being

human

cannot be conceived without

liberty follows,

sin, or, at least,

which

without the

LIBERALISM, power

human

in

AND

SOCIALISM.

nature of converting

its

285

innocence into

sin.

Liberty being denied, the responsibility of

The negation

be denied. it

the negation of penalty

man must

of responsibility carries with this

;

once denied, the negation

of divine government follows on the one hand, and the

negation of

human government on

the other.

There-

with regard to the question of government, the

fore,

negation of sin ends in nihilism. Individual responsibility being denied, responsibility in

common must be

What

denied.

denied of the indi-

is

vidual cannot be affirmed of the species, which signifies that

human

affirm of

responsibility does not exist.

some what, on one hand, we deny

individually, and,

follows

on the

that once

individual,

other, of all

is

no

of each

collectively,

it

denying the responsibility of the

and that of the

we must deny

species,

This

responsibility of all associations.

there

As we cannot

social, political, or

signifies

the that

domestic responsibility.

Therefore, with regard to the question of responsibility,

the negation of sin ends in nihilism. Individual, domestic, political,

and human responsi-

bility being denied, the negation of solidarity in the

individual, in the family, in the State, follows, as solidarity signifies nothing sibility in

common.

and in the species more than respon-

Therefore, as regards solidarity,

the negation of sin ends in nihilism. Solidarity in

man,

in the family, in the State,

and

iia

the species being denied, we must deny unity in the species, in the State, in the family,

and

in

man, as the

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

286

identity between solidarity

what

is

and unity

is

so complete, that

one cannot be conceived, unless as being

darious, nor

Therefore,

what

is

tegards the question

as

soli-

solidarious unless as being one.

of

unity,

the

negation of sin ends in nihilism.

Unity being absolutely denied, the following negations follow

—that

society,

of humanity, that of the family, that of

The

and that of man.

fact

nothing exists

is,

but under the condition of being one, and therefore

it

cannot be affirmed that the family, society, and humanity exist,

but on condition of affirming domestic,

and human unity

;

negation of these three things must follow. these existences and deny their unity,

not one, they do not exist it is

is

To

affirm

to be guilty

Each of these things must

of a contradiction in terms.

be one, or cannot be at

for

political,

these three unities being denied, the

all; ;

therefore

their very

if

name

they are is

absurd,

a name which does not represent nor designate

anything.

With regard

to the

man,

individual

The

his

negation

man is the only one can exist to a certain degree, without being one and solidarious what is denied by denying his unity follows in a different way.

individual

;

and solidarity, is that in different moments of his life he is one and the same person. If there be no bond of union between the past and the present, and between the present and the future, what follows is that man only exists in the present moment. tion

it

than

real.

is

clear that his existence If I

do not

live in

But is

in this supposi-

more phenomenal

the past, because

it is

past,

AND

LIBERALISM, and because there the past

if

;

is

live in the future,

future does not exist, and because v/ill

not be future

present does not exist, because

afErm

exists

it

existence if

is

united,

and

What

when

more theoretical than

I

it

cannot conceive

it

about to is

that

exist at

in its three

when

I

is

my

for in reality,

;

do not

the past, but something that

is

will exist

am

I

practical

at all times, I

do not conceive time except

I

because the

it

has already past, the result

do not exist

I

time.

is

it

when

only live in the present, and the

if I

;

287

no unity between the present and

do not

I

SOCIALISM.

any

forms

separate them.

not

now ? What

the future, but something that does not yet exist

And who affirm it is

it,

can detain the present a

after

it

has escaped from the future, and before

converted into the past

Therefore to affirm the

.'

existence of man, denying the unity of time, else

?

time to

sufficient

is

nothing

than to give him the speculative existence of a ma-

thematical point.

Therefore the negation of sin ends

in

nihilism, as well in regard to the existence of humanity,

of society, and of the family, as in regard to the exist-

ence of man.

Therefore

with more exactness,

all

necessarily end in nihilism

natural and

those

who

there

is

more

the Socialistic, or to speak

the Rationalistic doctrines

all ;

and there

logical, if we

separate from

God

examine

is it

nothing more well,

than that

should end in nothing, as

nothing beyond God.

Supposing

this, I

am

authorised in accusing present

Sociahsm of being timid and contradictory to deny the Christian God to affirm another god to deny humanity ;

;

under one aspect, to affirm

it

in a

different point of

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

288

view

to

;

certain forms, to

deny society with

subsequently affirm

with different forms

it

family on one hand, and to affirm

;

to

come to deny the

on the other

it

to

;

a certain way, to afterwards affirm him in a different or contrary way all this 'is to enter on the

deny man

in

:

path of timid, contradictory, and cowardly transactions.

and nothing it would not the most in me to demonstrate that

Present Socialism

more.

be

is

a semi-Catholicism,

work permitted,

If the limits of this

for

difficult

advanced of

its

doctors, there

is

a greater

number

of

Catholic affirmations than Socialistic negations, which

produces an absurd Catholicism and a contradictory Socialism.

hands of the

we come

we God

affirm a god,

If

of Catholics

to the humanity,

;

we must fall into the if we affirm humanity,

one and solidarious, of the

dogma; if we affirm society, we must sooner or later come to the Catholic affirmation about social institutions if we affirm the family, we must afterwards Christian

;

one way or another,

affirm,

and

all

of man, no matter into the

if

how of

affirmation

Catholicism

which

all

that Socialism denies

is

it

is

;

that Catholicism affirms, in fine,

made,

Adam

the

every affirmation

is

finally resolved

man

of

like those formidable cylinders

a part pass, the whole must go.

Genesis.

through

Through

that

formidable cylinder shall pass, without leaving a track behind, unless its pontiffs,

it

change

and with

its

course, Socialism with all

all its doctors.

M. Proudhon, who

is

not usually ridiculous,

is

so,

however, when, establishing as a formula the negation of

government as the

last of all negations,

he goes about

LIBERALISM,

AND

in the sublimity of his audacity, ture,

SOCIALISM.

with almost august ges-

demanding of the people the in

place amongst

first

Socialists in presence of Catholics, are like

Socialists.

Greeks

289

presence of the priests of the East

who appear men. from being the

The negation

of

all

government, far

of possible negations,

last

—children

is

nothing but

a preliminary negation, which future Nihilists will set

down

in the last of their axioms.

that,

M. Proudhon

will

through the Catholic cyhnder ness passes through

it.

Not going beyond

have to pass, ;

He must

his

all his affirmations,

the

rest,

then affirm nothings,

or pass through that cylinder with

with

like

everything but nothing-

his negations,

all

with his whole soul, and with

whole body. Whilst M. Proudhon does not valiantly

choose his party, he authorises

me

him before

to accuse

future Rationalists, as suspected of latent Catholicism.

Catholicism

is

not a thesis, and not being

combated by an braces

all,

antithesis

;

which contains

which cannot

be,

I

will

it is

all,

so,

cannot be

a synthesis which em-

and which explains

all,

not say conquered, but even

combated, except by a synthesis of the same species, which, like

it,

should embrace, contain, and explain

In the Catholic synthesis

things.

all

human

theses

all

and

antitheses have convenient room. It attracts

and condenses

cible force of

all in itself,

an incommunicable

with the invin-

virtue.

think they are outside Catholicism, are in is,

as

it

were,

Those who it,

because

the atmosphere of intelligences

;

it

the

Socialists, like the rest, after gigantic efforts to separate

themselves from Catholics.

it,

have done no more than become bad

T

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

290

CHAPTER Dogmas

As

— Theories

Socialism

—Bloody

sacrir-

the Rationalistic Schools

about

of that of solidarity

correlative

of Capital Punishment.

jices

VI.

an incoherent compound of thesis and

is

antithesis, which contradict and destroy each other, the grand Catholic synthesis resolves all these things into unity, by infusing into them all its sovereign harmony. It

may be said

of

its

dogmas, that without ceasing to be

various, they are one only.

In such a

way do

those which

precede merge into those which follow, and those which follow into

those which precede, that

determined which divine

circle.

is

That

the

first

cannot be

it

or which the last in that

virtue possessed

by

all,

of penetrat-

ing one another in their most intimate essence, prevents

any of them from being affirmed or denied by itself, and renders it necessary for all to be affirmed or denied together; and as in its dogmatic affirmations all possible affirmations are exhausted, it follows that against

Catholicism there can be no affirmation of any

no particular negation against

its

sort,

and

prodigious synthesis

there can be nothing but an absolute negation.

:

Well,

now, God, who' is so manifest in the Catholic expression, has disposed things in such a

way

that that supreme

negation, logically necessary to form a contrast to the divine

expression,

is

must, in order to deny

totally impossible, as all,

a person

commence by denying him-

LIBERALISM, and

self,

AND

SOCIALISM.

291

he deny himself, he can deny nothing

if

Hence

afterwards.

else

follows that the Catholic expres-

it

being invincible,

is eternal from the first day of comes expanding in space and resounding in time, with an immense force of expansion, and with an infinite power of resonance. The sovereign virtue has

sion,

creation

;

it

not yet diminished

and space

and when the hours cease to

;

roll,

annihilated, that expression will be eternally

is

resounding in the highest heavens.

world below

is

passing

— men with

Everything

in this

their sciences,

which

are nothing but ignorance, empires with their glories,

which are nothing but smoke; that resounding expression is

alone at rest and in

its

proper being, affirming

one sole affirmation which

The dogma

all

ever consistent with

with

itself.

of solidarity, confounding itself with that of

unity, constitutes with itself, it is

is

one sole dogma; considered

it

in

resolved into two, which, like that of solidarity

and that of unity, are one and the same in essence, and two in their manifestations. The solidarity, and the unity, of all men amongst themselves, carry with them the idea of a responsibility in

common, and

this responsibility

supposes in

its

turn,

that the deserts of the one can injure or be of advantage to the other.

dogma

When

it is

the evil that

is

communicated,

name of solidarity, and it changes it for reversibility, when it is the advantage that is communicated. Thus we say that we all sinned in Adam, because we have all solidarity in him and we were all saved by Jesus Christ, because His merits were the

preserves

its

generic

;

reversible to us.

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

292

And we

see the difference

and does not

happens with the dogmas tion

—they

considered

dogma

is

here only in the names,

at all alter the thing signified.

in

By

their application.

we

all

The

of one dogma.

which we have been saved

in

virtue

of

the

Adam's penalty, the Lord suffered for

suffer

and by the dogma of substitution us all. But as we here see, there tion but

same dogmas

are both nothing but those

of imputation

The same

of imputation and of substitu-

is

substantially ques-

principle in virtue

the Lord,

is

of

identical with

by which we were all culpable, and punished in Adam. That principle of solidarity, by which are that

explained the two great mysteries of our redemption

and of the transmission of

sin, is in its

turn explained

same transmission, and by the human redemption. Without solidarity you cannot even conceive and on the a prevaricating and redeemed humanity other hand, it is evident that if humanity has not been redeemed by Jesus Christ, nor has fallen in Adam, it

by

that

;

cannot be conceived as being one and solidarious.

of

As by this dogma, Adam, is revealed

has not

joined to that of the prevarication to us the true nature of

permitted that

amongst the

nations.

it

should

fall

man, God

into

This serves to explain

oblivion

why

the peoples of the world bear clearest testimonies to

all it,

and why those testimonies are recorded, eloquently in history. There is no people so civilised nor tribe so uncultivated, that has not believed these two things, that the sins of some can bring down the anger of God on the heads of

all,

and that

all

can be saved from the

— LIBERALISM, and from

penalty,

AND

by the

sin transmitted,

a victim in perfect holocaust.

God condemned

SOCIALISM.

human

the

For the

race,

the merits of His beloved Son.

293 offering of

Adam

sin of

and saved

it

through

Noah, inspired by God,

condemns in Canaan his whole race God blesses in Abraham, and afterwards in Isaac, and then in Jacob, the whole Hebrew race. Sometimes He saves culpable ;

children through the merits of their ancestors

times

He

even

chastises,

of culpable ancestors

;

;

at other

in their last generation, the sins

and none of these

which

things,

reason regards as incredible, has caused astonishment or repugnance in the

human

them with a

lasting faith.

firm

and

race,

which has believed

CEdipus

sins,

and

the gods pour out the cup of their displeasure on

Thebes.

CEdipus

is

the object of the Divine wrath, and

the merits of his expiation

On

are- reversible

to Thebes.

when proclaim by His

the greatest and most solemn day of creation,

God

himself

Made Man was about

death the truth of they should be deicide people

all

first

itself,

to

these dogmas.

He

desired that

proclaimed and confessed by the

who, vociferating with supernatural

and sinister clamour, let these words fall from its " His blood be upon us and upon our children would- appear

dogmas

that

God

lips !

permitted both times

to be here condensed.

On

the

"

It

and

same day, the

by putting Him to death, imputes to One, and chastises in Him, the sins of all; and demands the application of the same dogma to itself, by declaring its On that same day on children participators in its sin. whole people, God proclaimed by a which this was sanie people,

^-^^^KS-

294

ON CATHOLICISM, dogma by making Himand the dogma of reversi-

himself proclaims the same self solidarious

bility

with

man

;

by asking the Father,

reward of His suffering

in

for the pardon of His enemies; and the

dogma

of satis-

and that of redemption, the faction by dying for them consequence of all the others, by which the sinner was ;

redeemed tue of the

who

for the substitute,

;

dogma

of solidarity,

suffered death in vir-

was accepted

in virtue of

that of reversibility.

All these dogmas, proclaimed on the same day people, and

by a God, and

fulfilled, after

by a

being pro-

claimed, in the person of a God, and in the generations

of a people, were being proclaimed and

fulfilled,

imperfectly, from the beginning of the world,

symbolised a person.

in

an institution before they were

The

institution in

though

and were fulfilled in

which they were symbol-

was that of bloody sacrifices. That mysterious and, humanly speaking, inconceivable institution, is a fact so universal and constant, that it exists in all peoples and in all regions. So that amongst social institutions, the most universal is precisely the most inconceivable, and ised,

appears the most absurd, that universality tion in

son in

is

it

being here worthy of note,

an attribute

common

to the institu-

which those dogmas are symbolised, to the Perwhom they were fulfilled, and to the dogmas

themselves which were symbolised in that institution,

and

fulfilled in

conceive universal.

that person.

other dogmas,

Imagination

Person,

or

Those dogmas contain

which human things are governed

;

itself

cannot

institution all

the

more by

laws

that Person contains

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

the divinity and humanity joined in one

295

and that commemorative of what those dogmas contain of universal, on the other, symbolical of that one Person in whom universality par excellence institution

is,

on one

exists, whilst

on another

reaches to the

;

side,

side,

considered in

beyond the limits of history. Abel is the first man that offered

itself,

it

and extends

confines of the world,

God a bloody sacri-

to

the great tragedy of paradise

and that sacriwas bloody, was acceptable in the eyes of God, who rejected that of Cain, which consisted fice after

fice,

inasmuch as

;

it

of the fruits of the earth.

And what

and mysterious

who had shed blood

is,

that he

is

here singular

ex-

in

piatory sacrifice, conceives a hatred of blood, and dies

sooner than shed that of his enemy refuses to shed

whilst he

;

How does

brutal as to shed the blood of his brother. it

in it

happen that when shed

in

another impresses, stains in a different

manner

one way

?

it

removes, and

it

that all shed

it ceased

not to run, and

How

is

.'

From that first effusion of blood it

who

as the sign of expiation, becomes so

it

never ran without condemning some and purifying

others, ever preserving intact its

purifying virtue. just,

All the

and Cain, the

men

fratricide

condemnatory and

its

come after Abel the resembled more or less one

of those two types of those two

that

cities

which are governed

by contrary laws and different governors, and are called the city of God aad the city of the world which are ;

not opposed because the one sheds blood and the other

does not, but because in the one

it is

shed by love, and

296

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

in the other

by vengeance

man, and

in the other to

one

in the

;

God,

offered to

it is

expiatory sacrifice and

in

acceptable holocaust.

The human

race, in

which the breath of the

was never

traditions

totally

biblical

has ever

extinguished,

believed with an invincible faith these three things

:

and

in

and when another maddens.

Of these truths clear testimony

is

given by history,

that

it

shed

in

full

necessary blood should be shed

is

one way

it

purifies,

;

of the accounts of cruel episodes, bloody conquests,

the subversion and destruction of famous cious deaths, pure victims placed on

brothers

cities,

smoking

of

against the

rising against brothers, the rich

poor, parents against their

atro-

altars,

children, the entire earth

being like a lake which neither the winds cool nor the

sun warms with his powerful rays. clearly witnessed to

God on

all

legislation

who

takes

by

They

are no lesp

the bloody sacrifices offered to

the altars of the world, and finally,

of life,

all

peoples, which

by the

excommunicates him

and deprives him of

his

own.

In the tragedy of " Orestes," Euripides puts in the

mouth

of Apollo these words

of the war of

Troy

;

:

—

"

Helen

is

not culpable

her beauty was only the instrument

of which the gods availed themselves to enkindle war between two peoples, and cause to flow the blood which was to purify the earth stained with a multitude

Whence we see that the poet, echo at once human and the popular traditions, attributes to

of crimes." of the

blood a secret virtue of purification which riously hidden in

it.

is

myste-

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

297

As sacrifice depends on the existence of that cause and that virtue,

it is

clear that blood

must have acquired

this

virtue under the empire of that cause, in an epoch anterior to bloody sacrifices

;

and as these

instituted since the time of Abel,

saicrifices

it is

we speak

that the cause and virtue

have been

beyond

all

doubt

of are anterior to

Abel, and contemporaneous with the great event of paradise in which that virtue and sarily

have

varication of Adam.

and

its cause must necesThat great event is the pre-

their beginning.

in the flesh of

As the flesh

of

Adam that of the

Adam was culpable, whole

species,

it

was

necessary, that the penalty might bear proportion with

the crime,

it

should

fall

on

all flesh, like

the crime

itself.

Hence the necessity of the perpetual effusion of human The crime of Adam had been followed, however, blood. by a promise of a Redeemer and that promise, substituting the Redeemer for the culprit, was capable of suspending the sentence of condemnation till He who was This explains why Abel, depoto come should appear. ;

sitary for

and of

Adam at once of the sentence of condemnation, suspension

its

till

the Substitute

who was

to

suffer the penalty for the culprit should come, instituted

the only sacrifice which could be acceptable in the eyes

of

—

God the commemorative and symbolic sacrifice. The sacrifice of Abel was so perfect that it contained

in itself, in a

wonderful manner,

all

the Catholic

dogmas

:

was an act of devotion and adoration towards the omnipotent and sovereign God as far as it was a bloody sacrifice, it was as far as

it

was a

sacrifice in general,

it

;

the proclamation of the

dogmas of

the prevarication of

298

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

Adam, and

of

who

the liberty of the prevaricator,

would not have been culpable without free will and of the transmission of the sin and the penalty, without which Adam alone should be offered in sacrifice and ;

;

of solidarity, without inherited sin. to God, an

He

care

At

would

which Abel

the same time,

has of

all

human

was, with respect

it

acknowledgment of His

justice,

and of the

Considering

things.

reference to the victims offered to the Lord,

reversibility,

of

Adam

by virtue of which those punished

with

was

at

gave of

and of the for the sin

were to be saved by the merits of Another, and

of the substitution,

come should be

by

virtue of

which One who was to

offered in sacrifice for the

Finally, as the victims

race.

culprit,

it

it

He

once a commemoration of the promise

removing the penalty from the true

have

not

were

whole human

born lambs with-

first

out spot, the sacrifice of Abel was symbolical of the true sacrifice, in which the

meek and

spotless

Lamb,

only Son of the Father, was to be offered in holiest sacrifice for the sins of the world. city,

which explains and contains

of condensation, in

the

What

first

virtue

is

bloody is

this

things

way Catholiby a miracle

completely contained and explained

God by man. by the Catholic religion, and become condensed with

sacrifice

offered

to

that possessed

which allows her to dilate

an

la all

infinite dilation

and condensation

.'

What wonders

are those which with their

a symbol

?

immense variety find room in And what symbol is that so comprehensive

and perfect as to contain so many things of such a nature.' Such sublime consonance and harmony, perfections so

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

299

sovereign and beautiful, hang over man, that they sur-

pass not only our understanding, but

all

we

could desire

or fancy.

Passing from Father to Son, the tradition began to

be slowly but surely obscured and blotted out from the

memory and

intellect of

God

men.

in

wisdom did not allow the grand echoes of

His

infinite

the biblical

traditions to be totally effaced from the earth, but in

the midst of the tumults of peoples, precipitated one on the other, and

debased by idolatry, those echoes

all

were so changed and weakened, that they

lost their

magnificent richness of sound, and became vague, inter-

Then

and confused.

mittent,

it

was that men drew from

the vague idea of a primitive fault infecting the blood, the consequence, that

it

was necessary

in sacrifice the blood of

man

to

himself.

ceased to be symbolical when

it

became

to

ofifer

The real

God

sacrifice ;

and as

was part of the divine intention to bestow efficacy and virtue on the sacrifice of the Redeemer alone, human sacrifices were wanting in virtue and efficacy. But even as it was, those imperfect and inefficacious sacrifices virtually contained in themselves, on one side, it

the

dogmas

darity;

of original

and on the

stitution,

sin,

of

transmission and of

its

other, of reversibility

soli-

and of sub-

although unable to symboHse either the true

substitution or substitute.

When from

all

the ancients sought an innocent victim free spot,

and conducted

with flowers, that

it

it

might by

to the altar its

crowned

death appease the

divine wrath and satisfy for the debt of the people, they

— ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

30O

were

a great measure right, and wrong only in

in

They were

things.

justice should

some

right in affirming that the divine

be appeased

that

;

could not be

it

so,

except by the shedding of blood that one could satisfy for the debt of all, and that the redeeming victim should ;

be innocent. because

all

They were

right

in

these things,

all

these things were only the explicit affirma-

tion of great Catholic in believing that a

They

dogmas.

man

erred exclusively

could be so innocent and

just,

as to be efficaciously offered in sacrifice for the sins of

the people, in quality of redeeming victim. error, this sole forgetfulness of

This one

one Catholic dogma, con-

verted the world into a sea of blood.

If there were would of itself have been sufficient to impede the coming of all true civilisation. Barbarism ferocious and sanguinary barbarism is the legitimate

no

others,

it

—

and necessary consequence of forgetting any Christian dogma.

The

error I

am

pointing out, was an error only in one

conception and in one point of view

cannot be expiatory of original the species, the be,

and

is,

human

sin

par

sin,

:

man

the blood of

which

excellence ;

expiatory of certain individual

is

the sin of

but

sins.

it

can

Whence

not only the legitimacy, but also the necessity

follow,

and convenience, of the penalty of death. The universality

of

its

of the

shed it is

is

in

institution proves the universality of the belief

human

race in the purifying efficacy of blood,

a certain way, and in

shed in that way.

no remission (Heb.

its

expiatory virtue

when

Without shedding of blood there ix.

22).

Without the blood shed

;

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

301

by the Redeemer, the common debt the human race in Adam contracted with God would never have been extinguished. Wherever the penalty of death has been abolished, society has distilled blood from

On

its

suppression in

and bloody

battle of

the trance of death, so that

it

was obliged to appeal to

The very

foreign intervention.

all its pores.

Saxony followed that terrible May, which drove the State into principle of

its

suppres-

country, threw the affairs of

name of the common Germany into greater dis-

order than ever

its

sion,

proclaimed in Frankfort in

before

by the

in

troubled history.

On

Government of the French Republic, followed those tremendous days of suppression

its

Provisional

June, which shall eternally

memory

the

by

of men.

others in fearful

live,

with

all their horror, in

These would have been followed and rapid succession, if a holy and

acceptable victim had not intervened between the anger of

God and

the crimes of that culpable government and

of that sinful

city.

No one

can know nor

tell

how far

the

virtue of that august and innocent blood might extend but,

humanly speaking, we may say, without fear of being by the facts, that blood will run again in abun-

belied

dant streams, at least

until

France enters again under

the jurisdiction of that providential law, which no people ever transgressed with impunity. I will

not end this chapter without making a

tion which appears to

me

reflec-

of the utmost importance

:

if

such effects have been produced by the suppression of the penalty of death in political crimes, its

ravages reach

if

how

far

would

the suppression were extended to

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

302

common crimes ? to me,

it is,

Well, now,

suppression of the other at

and

distant,

there be one thing evident

if

that the suppression of the one involves the

I

also think

it

some time more or less beyond all doubt, that the

suppression of the penalty of death, in both conceptions,

human

leads to the suppression of all

penalties.

To

suppress the highest penalty in the crimes which attack the security of the State, and with it of the members who

compose

and retain

it,

those perpetrated only

in

it

me

against individuals, appears to

which cannot long

sistency,

of

human

events.

On

a monstrous incon-

the logical evolution

resist

the other hand, to suppress as

excessive the penalty of death in the one and the other, is

the same as to suppress

crimes

;

for

kind of penalty for inferior

all

when a penalty

than that of death

less

may be

applied to the former, any that

is

applied to the

must be wanting to the laws of just proportion, and will be resisted as oppressive and unjust. latter

If the suppression of the penalty of

crimes

is

founded on the negation of political crime, and

this negation

matters,

it is

the ground

;

on the

fallibility

clear that every

moral things, and

in the other carries

of the State to qualify

Well, now, as this in this

of the State in these

system of penalty

for fallibility in political things

fallibility in all

and

death in political

with

it

fallibility in

falls to

supposes the one

the radical incompetence

any human action as a crime.

fallibility is

matter of penalty

a

fact, it follows

that

governments are incom-

all

petent, because all are fallible.

One can only be accused

of crime

by him who can

— LIBERALISM, accuse him of

the one,

AND

SOCIALISM.

303

and he only can impose penalties for who can impose them for the other. Governsin,

ments are not competent to impose a penalty on man, except in quality of delegates of God and human law has power only when it is the commentary of the divine ;

law.

The negation

of governments,

To deny

of

God and

of His law on the part

equal to the negation of themselves.

is

the divine and affirm the

human

law, to affirm

deny God and affirm any government whatever, is to affirm what is denied and to deny what is affirmed is to fall into a palpable and evident crime and deny

sin,

to

;

contradiction.

Then

the blast of revolutions begins to

blow, which will soon restore the empire of logic which presides at the evolution of events, suppressing

human

contradictions with an absolute and inexorable affirmation, or

with an absolute and peremptory negation.

The Atheism the end

is

of the law and of the State

—or what

in

the same, but expressed in a different manner,

the complete secularisation of the State and of the law is

a theory which does not square well with that of

penalty, the one coming from ration from God,

man

in his state of sepa-

and the other from God

in his state of

union with man. It

would appear that governments know, by means of

infallible instinct, that

only in the

name

of

God can they

be just and strong. And so it happens that when they begin to be secularised, or to separate from God, they immediately relax right diminished.

in their penalties, as if

The

they

felt their

lax theories of modern criminal

jurists are contemporaneous with religious decadence,

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

304

and

their rule in

modern codes with the complete

secu-

Since then the criminal

larisation of political powers.

has been so transformed in our eyes, that the children regard as an object of pity what was a subject of horror to

He who

their parents. is

yesterday was called a criminal,

to-day called eccentric or mad.

call

crime misfortune.

government

will pass into the

and then there

The

The day

theories

will

Modern Rationalists come when the

shall

hands of the unfortunate,

be no other crime but innocence.

on penalty held

in absolute

monarchies

days of decay, were followed by those of the

in their

who brought them to the present pass. come the Socialistic schools, with their theory of holy insurrections and heroic crimes. Nor shall these be last for away there on the far-off horizon new and more bloody auroras begin to dawn. The new Liberal schools,

After the Liberal

;

gospel of the world

is

perhaps being written in a prison

the world will only get what

it

deserves,

when

it is

evan-

by the new apostles. Those who made people believe that the earth can be a paradise, have made them more easily believe it can

gelised

be a paradise without blood. illusion

;

it

is

and hour the

The

evil is

in the fact that, precisely illusion

not in the

on the moment

would be believed by

all,

blood

would flow even from the hard rocks, and earth would be transformed into hell. In this obscure and lowly valley

man

cannot aspire to an impossible happiness, without

incurring the misfortune of losing the

little

he has.

AND

LIBERALISM,

CHAPTER Recapitulation

—

Inefficacy

SOCIALISM.

305

VII.

—

of all the proposed solutions

Necessity of a more profound solution.

Up

we have

to this

man and

seen in what manner the liberty of

that of the angel, with the faculty of choosing

which constitutes

their imperfection

was a thing not only

justified,

and

their danger,

but also convenient.

We

have also seen how, from the exercise of that constituted

came with sin, which profoundly disturbed by God in all things, and the very manner of being of all creatures. Farther having marked the disorders of creation, we

liberty, evil

the order established suitable

on, after

proposed to ourselves

to

we

demonstrate, and

did

demonstrate perfectly, we think, that as to the angel

and to man, gifted with the tremendous power of drawing evil from good, and of corrupting

all things,

the one

with his rebellion, the other with his disobedience, and

both with

sin,

God, to establish a contrast to that

destructive liberty, reserved to himself the power of

drawing good from

evil,

and order from

disorder,

making

and convenient use of it, so as to place things in a more regulated manner of being, than they would have attained without rebellious angels and sinful men. As large

was impossible to avoid evil without suppressing the and the human liberty, which were a great good, God, in His infinite wisdom, succeeded in transit

angelical

forming

evil

without suppressing

it,

so as to

make

U

it

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

3o6

serve

His omnipotent hand as the instrument of

in

greater convenience, and of

To

more sublime

that the general end of things its

perfections.

demonstrate what suited our purpose, we observed

own way,

was

to manifest, each in

the sublime perfections of God, and to be

like sparks of

His beauty and reflexes of His magni-

ficent glory.

Constituted in the point of view of this

universal end,

we had no difficulty in demonstrating human disobedience and the angelical

that from the

rebelHon incomparable good flowed, and that the one as

make

well as the other served to

viously reflected only the divine

magnificence, also reflect

and

all

From things,

the sublimity of His mercy

Order was not

and absolute, except when creatures had

universal

them

all

the grandeur of His justice.

all

which pre-

creatures,

goodness and the divine

in

these splendid reflexes. the problems relative to the universal order of

we passed

order of

human

to those which refer to the general

things

:

wandering through

we saw we saw how humanity was evil

field,

this

propagate in humanity with sin

species in the individual.

in

As

Adam, and sin,

;

wide there

the sinful

considered in

itself,

was powerful enough to disturb the order of the universe, it was also powerful enough, and with more reason, to infuse disorder into all

derstand what again,

end of

it

is

all

we

human

said before,

things.

In order to un-

and what we

shall repeat

well to remark here, that as the universal

things

is

to manifest the divine perfections,

the particular end of

man

is

to preserve his union with

God, the seat of his joy and of his

rest.

Sin disordered

'

AND

LIBERALISM, things,

SOCIALISM.

307

by separating man from

stitutes

his special

end

;

that union which conand from that moment the

problem, as far as regards humanity, consists in deter-

mining how its

cause

evil

— in

can be conquered in

its effects,

that

is

its effects

of the individual and of the species, in

quences

;

and

in

to say, in the corruption all

its

conse-

in its cause, that is to say, in sin.

God who in its effects,

most simple in His works because He is His essence, conquers evil in its cause and by one sole transformation but this trans-

formation

so radical and extraordinary, that through

is

most perfect

is

in

;

that was evil is transformed into good, and all that was imperfection into sovereign perfection. Up to this we have been explaining the manner and the form in which God transforms into instruments of good the very effects of evil and sin. Proceeding all from a primitive it all

corruption of the individual and of the species, they are nothing else in

the species or in the individual,

considered in themselves, but a lamentable misfortune.

Misfortune means necejsary effect

from which the

effect flows is

constantly, misfortune then

By imposing

is

;

and

the cause

one of those which act

by

its

nature invincible.

the misfortune as a penalty,

transformation possible, by means of ceptation on the part of man.

if

its

When

God made

its

voluntary ac-

man, aided by

God, heroically accepted his misfortune as a penalty, his misfortune did not itself,

a

change

its

nature, considered in

which would be totally impossible

new and

purification.

;

but

it

acquired

strange virtue, the virtue of expiation and

Ever preserving

its

invincible identity,

it

;

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

3o8

produces effects which naturally are not in it, whenever voluntary acit combines in a supernatural way with

This consoling and sublime doctrine comes to us, at one and the same time, from God, from reason, and from history, constituting a rational, historical, and ceptation.

dogmatic

truth.

The dogma

and of penalty,

of the transmission of sin

and that of the purifying action of the latter when freely accepted, led us, as it were by the hand, to the examination of the organic laws of humanity, by which all its historic evolutions

explained.

human

and

all its

The aggregate

order,

movements

and constitutes

it

are sufficiently

laws constitutes

of those

such a

in

way

that

it

cannot be even imagined otherwise. After having given the Catholic solutions about these

deep and dreadful problems, of which some relate to the universal order, and others to the

human

order,

we

proposed the solutions invented by the Liberal school and

by modern

Socialists,

and we demonstrated, on one

side,

the sublime harmony, and consonance of the Catholic

dogmas, and on the other the extravagant contradiction of the Rationalistic schools.

The

radical impotence of

reason to discover a suitable solution for these funda-

mental problems, serves to explain the incoherence and the contradiction which are observed in

human

and those incoherent contradictions serve to demonstrate

to himself, to

how

impossible

mount on

his

it is

for

solutions

in their turn

man, abandoned

own wings

to those lofty

and serene heights where God has placed the secret laws of

all things.

From

this

examination, to a certain ex-

AND

LIBERALISM, tent prolix, it is

if

we consider

SOCIALISM.

309

the narrow limits of this work,

evidently demonstrated

—

that all negation of

first,

dogma carries with it the negation of all the other dogmas, and on the contrary, that the affirmation of one dogma carries with it the affirmation of all the a Catholic

Catholic dogmas, which that Catholicism

is

is

an invincible demonstration

an immense synthesis, placed beyond

the laws of space and of time istic

school denies

which

it

all

;

second, that no Rational-

the Catholic

follows that they are

and to the absurd

sistency,

;

all

dogmas at once, from condemned to incon-

and

third, that

it

is

not

possible to escape from the absurd, and from inconsistency, without accepting all Catholic affirmations with

an absolute acceptation, or denying them tion so radical that

In

fine,

which order,

it

with nega-

examining one by one those dogmas

after

refer to the universal order

we

all

borders on Nihilism.

and to the human

considered their harmonious and magnificent

aggregate in the institution of bloody

sacrifices,

which

origin from that primitive age which

immedi-

ately followed the great catastrophe of Eden.

There

takes

its

we saw

that that mysterious institution

is,

on one hand,

the commemoration of that great tragedy, and of the

promise of a Redeemer made by God to our parents

first

on the other, the incarnation of the dogmas

;

of solidarity, of reversibility, of imputation, and of sub-

and

stitution

;

sacrifice,

such as

tude of time. oblivion

finally,

the perfect symbol of the future

we were

When

amongst the

to see

it

realised in the pleni-

the biblical traditions nations,

the world

fell

forgot

into

the

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

310

proper signification of that religious institution which was being corrupted in all parts by its corruption is ;

explained the universal institution of

human

sacrifices,

of the tradition,

which bear testimony to the although they depart from it on these points in which truth

it

had

With

fallen into oblivion with the nations.

this

motive we pointed out the great error and the great teaching which are found in that institution, which at first

sight appears inexplicable,

man

inasmuch as

it

pro-

is

Its great error is in attributing to

foundly mysterious.

the expiatory virtue of

Him who was

to be his

substitute, when the proper time should come, according

and of the ancient

to the voice of the ancient prophecies traditions

;

its

great teaching

is

in attributing to

virtue of appeasing in a certain way, gree, the divine wrath.

blood the

and to a certain de-

By the concatination and

tion of these deductions,

we came

connec-

to the examination of

punishment by death, universally instituted throughout the world as a profession of faith in the virtue which blood, this

made at

all

times by the whole

human

is in

With

race.

motive we interrogated the Rationalistic schools on

this difficult subject

their answers

and

tory and absurd. contradiction,

;

and on

this point, as

their solutions

on

all others,

appeared to us contradic-

Following them from contradiction to

we gave them

the alternative of selecting

between the acceptation of punishment by death political as well as for

common

crimes, or the radical

for

and

absolute negation of the crime and of the punishment.

Having come remains for

to this point of the discussion,

us, in

order to finish

it,

it

only

to approach with

AND SOCIALISM.

LIBERALISM,

311

holy

terror, and mute and extatic reverence, the mystery of mysteries, the sacrifice of sacrifices, the

dogma

of dogmas. Up to this we have seen, on one hand, the marvels of the divine order, on the other,

the harmony of universal order, and

found convenience of the human order rise to

a higher point

still,

finally, ;

the pro-

now we have

to

which overlooks and com-

mands

all the Catholic heights. There is seated in all His majesty, merciful and tremendous, meek and terrible, He who was to come, and did come, and, coming, drew

all

things and united

them

to Himself, with strong

loving bond.

He

subject of

all

prophecies, the prefigured in

the end of

all

dogmas, the confluence of the

universal,

is

the solution of

and the human orders

the light of

;

all

and

problems, the

the key to

all

figures,

divine, the all secrets,

enigmas, the promised of God, the desired

all

of the patriarchs, the expected of the nations, the father

of the afflicted, the reverenced of the choirs of angels,

the Alpha and

Omega

of

all

things.

Universal order consists in

all

being harmoniously

ordained to that supreme end which the universality of things.

God imposed on

The supreme end

of things

consists in the exterior manifestations of the divine perfections.

ficence

All creatures sing the goodness and magni-

and omnipotence of God.

The

just proclaim

His mercy, the reprobate His justice. Every single creature of creation celebrates His love in some special manner, as the reprobate His justice and the just His mercy.

And

if this

be

so, is it

not clearly of the highest

convenience that there should be raised in the universe

ESSA yS ON CA THOLICISM,

312

formed to manifest His divine perfections, a universal voice, to proclaim the divine love, that finishing touch of the divine perfections

?

The human order consists God that union cannot be :

in

the union of

man

with

realised in our actual con-

dition of separation, without a gigantic effort to raise us

to

But who asks a great

Him.

from the weak

effort

and who commands him who has

?

fallen in the valley,

on his shoulders the weight of his sin, to I rise and ascend the highest peak of a mountain ? know that the heroic and voluntary acceptance of my

and

carries

pain and

how am

my I

cross

abhor, and abhor to love

would

raise

me above

myself.

voluntarily to love that which

God, and

what

I

I feel

naturally love

.''

But

naturally

I

They

tell

me

the corrosive love of the flesh

my veins. They tell me to walk, and With my sin on my head I cannot I am a prisoner. merit, and I cannot escape from my sin which clutches me, if they do not remove it from me. No one can

careering through

remove

it

from me,

if

he do not entertain

nite love anterior to all merit,

that infinite love.

I

am

the toy of the universe

;

for

me an infime with

and no one loves

the laughing-stock of God, and in vain shall I travel

round the

my misfortune goeth with me and in vain shall I raise my eyes to that metallic heaven which never yet illumined my brow with a ray of world, for whithersoever

I

go

;

hope. If all this

be

so,

it is

clear the Catholic edifice

we have

been laboriously building up comes to the ground, for

want of that splendid cupola which should serve as a

AND

LIBERALISM,

New

secure finish.

tower of Babel as

by pride and

fabricated

quicksands,

built

on

it

must

be,

and moving

faithless

The human

the laughing-stock of the winds.

divine order, are nothing but airy words fearful

313

be the play-toy of the tempest and

will

it

SOCIALISM.

order, the

and

;

all

those

problems which make humanity pensive and

continue to exist involved

sad,

in invincible obscurity, in spite

Though

of the vain apparatus of Catholic solutions.

better linked together than the solutions of the Ration-

connection, however,

alist schools, their

that

can

it

not so perfect

human

the impulse of

resist

is

Catholicity says, or teaches, or contains no said, contained, is

and taught

reason.

If

more than

is

in those solutions. Catholicity

no more than a philosophical system, more perfect

than past, but

than future systems.

in all probability less

Even to-day she may be accused

of notorious impotence

to solve the great problems which refer to God, the universe,

and to man. God is not perfect, if He do not manner order does not exist in the

love in an infinite universe,

if

there

;

nothing

is

in

it

to manifest that love

;

and as regards man, the disorder in which he is placed is so invincible, that he cannot be saved unless infinitely loved.

And

don't

tell

finitely merciful,

were hidden, is

of

rules

itself

and

in

me

that

God

is infinitely

and that love

His

infinite

is

good and

supposed, and as

goodness and mercy

a thing so important, that when lords

it

over

all.

Love

is

it

;

init

for love

exists,

it

not the contained,

but the container; it does not hide, but manifest itself; it is of such a nature that it cannot exist in any part

4

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

31

without appearing to be alone, and to rule

any end, but ordains

naturally ordained to

He who

itself.

mad

and

;

be

things to

all

he love properly, must appear

loves, if

love, to

not

It is

all.

must appear an

infinite,

infinite

madness.

There

a voice in

is

my

me and

and

heart,

my very

it is

my heart

itself,

and which says God, look for true the want know If you to to me, Him who loves you to madness, and helps you to love Him to madness, and that is the true God for in God is blessedness, and blessedness is nothing else but to love and to suffer swoons of love, and to swoon thus perwhich

within

is

is

self,

;

petually.

me,

Let no one

call

answer

for I will not

hear

is

the voice of love,

and

I

will

He

whither

follow

my

goes, nor to

me

to

him who does not But

his call.

Here

I

am,

the voice I

I shall

say at once,

He

is

taking

He I

and I

I

and our love must be there

are heaven.

I

;

me;

for

He goeth,

whithersoever Hetaketh me, and whithersoever

and

Him

beloved, without asking

what part

love

if

and our

love,

would wish to love thus, and

I

He,

know

cannot thus love, .and have no one to love in this

manner, and on pose.

which

Who I

am

this

will

account torment myself to no pur-

withdraw

suffocated,

to ascend to higher

me

from

and give

this

me

narrow

circle in

wings of the dove

and more sublime regions

?

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

CHAPTER

VIII.

The Incarnation of the Son of God, and the

We

said

315

human

the redemption

of

race.

these were two problems which should

be

solved before order, either universal or human, could be

properly constituted. tive

God drew good from

prevarication, which served

as

the primi-

occasion for the

manifestation of two of His greatest perfections justice

infinite

enough

:

it

was

and mercy.

human things,

order and concert which witness the presence of

of that

God

His works, that the sin of the prevarication

should be blotted out

drew from

it,

lence existed,

not

requisite besides, for the existence in the

things of creation, and particularly

all

— His

however, was

This,

;

as long as

and

itself

no matter what good God

as, it

in

subsisted, the evil

defied, as

it

par

excel-

were, the divine power.

Besides, nothing so becomes the infinite mercy of God, as to assist with strong but clement

hand the

weakness of man, that he might

above

rise

invincible

his miserable

condition, so that the consequences of his sin might be

converted into an instrument of his salvation.

out

sin,

might

and

fortify the sinner, so that

rise freely

and meritoriously

—

when

To

blot

fallen

he

this is the great

problem which must be solved, even when all others are disposed of, if Catholicity is to be anything more than one of the laboriously imperfect systems which testify to the profound and radical impotence of human reason.

6

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

31

Catholicity solves these two great problems

most

highest,

glorious of all her mysteries

united

in that great

:

God

the divine perfections.

all

by the and

incomprehensible

most

ineffable,

is

mystery are

in

with His

it

astounding omnipotence, His perfect wisdom, His mar-

His

goodness,

vellous

mercy, and above

crowns

His

justice.

sublime

His other perfections, which authoritatively

alL

commands His mercy just,

terrible

with that ineffable love which

all,

be merciful, His justice to be

to

His goodness good, His wisdom

omnipotence omnipotent

;

for

God

is

and His

wise,

not omnipotence,

nor wisdom, nor goodness, nor justice, nor mercy is

love,

and nothing but love

;

but that love

is

:

God

of itself

omnipotent, wise, good, just, and merciful.

was love commanded His mercy to give hope to prevaricating and fallen man, with that divine promise It

of a future Redeemer,

who should come

take on Himself and conquer in paradise, love

which came mortal flesh

life,

and

It

sin.

which sent

Him

to the world to

was love promised

to earth,

and love

it was love took human flesh and lived a and died on the cross, and rose again in the ;

in glory.

It

was by love we sinners were

saved.

The

glorious mystery of the incarnation of the

of God, possesses.

is

the only

title

of nobility the

human

Son race

Far from wondering at the contempt modern

Rationalists display for man,

cannot explain nor conceive,

if

there be anything I

it is the guarded prudence and the timid conduct they manifest in this matter. Taking man fallen from that primitive state of original

— LIBERALISM, justice

AND

and sanctifying grace

examining

imperfect

his

organic constitution, and

SOCIALISM,

which God placed him,

in

and

contradictory interior

considering the bhndness of

weakness of

his understanding, the

317

his will, the gross

inclinations of his flesh, the

ardour of his concupis-

and the perversity of

his inclinations, I cannot

cence,

conceive nor explain that parsimony of epithets and that measured contempt.

If

nature, and, taking, raised

it

has not impressed on

must confess that cannot be found

God

has not taken

to Himself,

and

human

raising

a ray of His divine nobility,

it

to express

in the

human

tongues of

all

it,

we

words

vileness nations.

can

I

my God

had not taken flesh in died on the cross for the the womb of a woman, nor whole human race, the reptile I tread on would be less Even as it is, the despicable in my eyes than man. heaviest on my reason is faith which weighs point of say for myself, that

if

that of the nobility and dignity of the

human

species, a

dignity -and nobility I wish to understand, and cannot I

desire to fathom,

eyes,

filled

them

In vain do

regions.

their

me

whom men names

I

my

turn

;

for

to higher spheres I

and more serene

bring to mind the lofty virtues of

call heroes,

and who

my conscience

fill

history with

raises its voice,

and

tells

those heroic virtues are resolved into heroic vices,

which

mad

in their turn are resolved into blind pride or

ambition.

The" human race appears to

immense crowd are

In vain do

with sickening horror, from the annals of

crime, to raise

those

and cannot

its

idols

;

lying under the feet of

and the heroes,

like

its

idols,

me

like

heroes,

who

an

who

adore

8

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

31

To

themselves. crowds,'

No

it

believe in the nobility of those stupid

was necessary

God

for

one can deny that revelation,

How

nobihty.

not told him

and confounds me thinks

know he

does he

—

is

to me.

own God has

if

is

requires less faith to believe in the incompre-

it

human dignity, than in God-Made Man, by virtue

hensible mystery of

mystery of a Ghost, in the

always

noble,

it

in his

one thing exceeds my reason, that there should be any one who

There

.'

to reveal

and believe

lives

abandons

womb

subject to faith

own

of the

Holy

This proves that

of a virgin.

faith for his

the adorable

man

and when he

thinks he

reason, he only

abandons

;

faith in the divinely mysterious, for faith in the

myste-

riously absurd.

The

incarnation of the

Son of God was most conve-

nient, not only in quality of sovereign manifestation of

His

infinite love, in which, if

we may say

the

so, lies

perfection of the divine perfections, but also in virtue

of

other profound

and sublime consequences.

The

supreme order of things cannot be conceived, if all things Well, now, without

are not resolved in absolute unity. that prodigious mystery creation

was double, and the

universe a dualism, symbol of perpetual antagonism,

contradictory of order. thesis; thesis.

On one

and on the other

side

creatures,

Supreme order required a

and broad, that

was God, universal His universal

anti-

synthesis so powerful

it would be capable of reconciling, by means of union, the thesis and antithesis of the Creator That this is one of the fundamental and creatures. laws of universal order, is seen clearly when we consider

LIBERALISM,

AND

that this very mystery which

evident

in

man

Man, considered

SOCIALISM.

319

we wonder

at in God, is any astonishment.

without causing

in this point of view, is

nothing but a

composed of an incorporeal essence, which is the thesis, and of a corporeal substance, which is the

synthesis

The very being, which, considered as a compound of spirit and matter, is a synthesis, is no more than an antithesis, which it is necessary to reduce to unity by means of a superior synthesis, together with the thesis which contradicts it, when considered in quality of creature. The law of the reduction of variety

antithesis.

to unity, or

what

antitheses, to a

the same, of

supreme

The

mutable law.

is

all

theses with their

is

a visible and im-

synthesis,

only difficulty here

is

in finding that

God being on one side, and all supreme synthesis. things created on the other, it is evident the reconciling synthesis cannot be sought outside these terms, beyond which there

is

and

universal

found either

nothing imaginable, being; as they are,

absolute.

The

in creatures or in

synthesis, then,

God,

must be

in the antithesis or

the thesis, or rather in one and the other simultaneously or successively. If man had quietly persevered in that excellent state and noble condition in which he was placed by God, variety would have been lost in unity, and the created antithesis would have been united to the creative thesis in supreme synthesis, by the deification of man.

He was

disposed by

God

for this deification,

when He

adorned him with original justice and sanctifying grace. Man, in use of his sovereign liberty, was despoiled of

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

320

that grace, and renounced that justice, and, deprived of both, raised an tarily

to the divine will

impediment

by volun-

But human

renouncing his deification.

liberty,

though capable of impeding the fulfilment of the will of God relatively, cannot impede its realisation absoreduction of variety to unity was what was

The

lutely.

absolute in the divine will

through the deification

and contingent

reduction exclusively

its

;

of man, was what was

relative

which means that God willed the end

;

with an absolute, and the means of attaining that end with a relative, will

wisdom of God In

fact,

and

;

relative,

to

.shines

it,

human

liberty

will,

would not have been

contingent and necessary, in His

be

God and

;

will,

the

man could and God decreed what

the liberty of

In quality of sovereign

did exist.

be,

forth with ineffable splendour.

on the contrary, through what was absolute

sovereignty of

was

the

in this, as in all things,

not have been sovereign, and without what

relative in

possible

and

without what was absolute in His divine

God would was

;

His freedom, that what was to

in virtue of

should be in a certain way.

Then it happened that the universal order desired by God with an absolute will should be realised by the immediate humanisation of God, since realised

by the immediate

totally

impossible,

account of his

will,

with

it

deification of

a

relative

could not be

man, which was

impossibility

on

and afterwards with an absolute

impossibility on account of his sin.

On

another occasion

I

demonstrated the great reach

and universality of the divine solutions, which, contrary

LIBERALISM, to what

we observe

in

AND

human

SOCIALISM.

ones,

321

do not suppress one

obstacle to create a greater, nor solve one difficulty to fall

problem

into another, nor a

make

it

more obscure than

contrary,

surmount

difficulties

ever in another

which belongs to

;

but on the

and solve

obstacles at once,

all

and problems at one simple

this peculiarity

more

one point of view, to

in

all

And

stroke.

divine solutions,

all

is

particularly observed in this adorable mystery of

Son of God for it was at once means of reducing all to unity, divine

the incarnation of the the sovereign

;

condition of order in the universe, and the marvellous

one of restoring order impossibility of

friendship

man

humanity.

of returning

and grace of God

by those who deny

by

The

radical

the

himself, to

after sin, is confessed

the greater part of the

even

dogmas of

M. Proudhon, the most learned of the

Catholicity. Socialists,

in fallen

does not hesitate to say, that supposing

sin,

the redemption of man, by the labours and merits of

God, was

absolutely necessary, because

We

could not be otherwise redeemed.

go so

far

:

we only say

that this

sinful

man

Catholics do not

manner

of redemption,

without being either absolutely necessary, nor the only

one possible, is- nevertheless adorable and convenient. We see from all this that God laboured to surmount, by one sole act of His industry, the obstacle opposed to the '

and that which impeded

realisation of universal order,

human God,

order.

He

By becoming man

synthetically united

without ceasing to be

God and man; and

as

spiritual essence and corporeal substance were already

synthetically united in man,

it

results that

God Made

£SSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

322

Man

united in Himself, through sublinne process, on one

side corporeal substances

the other the Creator of the same time,

man.

He

by

and all

spiritual essences,

with

His creatures.

all

voluntarily suffering

took on Himself, removing

it

No

At

and dying for from man, that

primitive sin, through which his whole race in into corruption,

and on

Adam

fell

and was condemned to death.

matter in what point of view this grand mystery

may be

viewed,

observer the

presents to the eye of the attentive

it

same marvellous conveniences.

whole human race suffered condemnation

in

If the

Adam,

it

was reasonable and just it should be saved in another more perfect Adam. As we had been condemned by the law of solidarity, which was the law of justice, it was

right

and proper we should be saved by the law of

reversibility,

which

is

a law of mercy.

sins of a representative nient, if

we had

To

suffer for the

would not be just and conve-

not been allowed to merit through the

merits of a substitute.

Nothing was more conformable

to reason than that, as the sins of the former

were im-

putable, the merits of the latter should be

reversible

to us.

And

we can answer those who, full of blame God for the condemnation of all

this

arrogant pride,

in the person of

our

first

parent

;

for

even supposing

we had not been all sinners in our first parents, with what right can we complain of being condemned in a representative, who were saved in a substitute.' To rise against God on account of the law of the imputation of sin, without pletes

and explains

remembering that other which comit, through which another's merits

— LIBERALISM, are reversible to us,

is

AND

great

323

for it is bad any case unqualified

timerity,

and

faith or gross ignorance,

SOCIALISM.

in

madness.

Order being established of

all

impeded by lish

in

the universe by the union

things in God, and in humanity as far as

the

sin, it

latter,

it

was

only remains to completely re-estab-

on one hand, to place man

in the capacity

of rising above himself to the degree of accepting tribulations with a voluntary acceptance,

and on the

to give to that acceptance a meritorious virtue.

God attended

things

mystery,

in this divine

consequences and admirable in

The

itself.

other,

To both fruitful in

precious

blood shed on Calvary not only blotted out our sin

and

satisfied the penalty,

but through

value placed us in the capacity, meriting crowns

;

in it

when

inestimable

its

applied to us, of

were given us two joint graces

that which consists in accepting tribulation, and that in virtue of which this acceptance, gladly effected in the

Lord and through Him, acquires meritorious

sum

this lies the

of the Catholic religion

with firm faith that

can do

all in

we can

Him and

—

virtue.

In

in believing

naturally do nothing, but

Him who

through

strengthens us.

dogmas without this are pure abstractions, denuded of all virtue and efficacy. The Catholic God is All other

not an abstract nor dead sonal God,

out us

;

who

God

;

He

is

a living and per^

perpetually operates within and with-

who, while contained within

us,

surrounds and

The mystery which merited grace for contains us. without which we walked in error and darkness, is mystery /«r

us,

the

excellence ; all others are adorable, elevated,

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

324

one alone the sublime, because more sublimity the elevated, no beyond it because beyond it there are no more heights and the adorable, because beyond it there is nothing worthy of

and sublime;

this

there

is

;

;

adoration.

The day, eternally joyous and sad, the Son of God Made Man was placed on a cross, all things at once were restored to order, and in that divine order the cross

Some

raised above all things created.

was

of these mani-

some His mercy, others His justice. The cross alone was the symbol of His love and the pledge of His grace. Through it the confessors fested the goodness of God,

and the

confessed,

virgins

were chaste, and the fathers

of the desert led angelic lives,

who

witnesses

down

laid

unshaken constancy.

and the martyrs were firm

their lives with

From

manly and

the sacrifice of the cross

proceeded that marvellous energy with which the weak

astounded the

strong,

and disarmed

the proscribed

ascended the Capitol, and some poor fishermen conquered the world. gain victory it,

mercy

sad, joy

;

;

;

all

Through the

who combat,

the unprotected, protection

and consolation,

was raised

all

in the air there is

who conquer who seek those who are

cross all

strength ;

;

all

who weep. Since the cross no man who cannot live in

heaven before his mortal remains are consigned to the for if he live here in tribulation, he lives there '-v^arth ;

in hope.

;

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

CHAPTER

325

IX.

— Conclusion of

Contiimation of the same subject

This

is

which

all

this book.

that singular sacrifice of inestimable value, to

others mentioned

history

in

and fable are

This was the sacrifice the Jewish people and

referred.

the Gentiles desired to signify in their bloody holocausts,

and Abel represented in a perfect and acceptable form, when he offered to God the first-born and purest of

The

his lambs.

true altar

was

to

be a

cross,

true victim a God, and the true priest that

and the

same God,

God and man, august pontiff, everlasting priest, perpetual and holy, who came to fulfil in the plenitude of time the promise made to Adam in paradise, the faithat once

ful

of His promise, and keeper of His word

fulfiller

for as

He

does not threaten in vain, neither does

He

promise vainly.

and

He

did disinherit free and culpable

promised him a redeemer, and

redeem him. With His presence

dogmas

explained, and

of solidarity might be all

human

pains

to

;

He

threatened to disinherit free man,

all

man

;

himself

He

then

came

mysteries are cleared,

laws

all

He

fulfilled.

all

That the law takes on Himself

fulfilled.

He

the law of reversibility.

fulfil

to

He

showers on the world copious floods of the divine graces

won by His

man

passion and death.

in so perfect

anger of God

fell

In

a manner, that

on

Him God becomes all

the impetuous

Him and man becomes

so perfect and divine, that

;

all

in

Him

the divine mercies, like a

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

326 soft

and gentle shower,

by

fall

That pain might pain and

on him.

He

become

holy,

that

acceptance might be meritorious,

it

its

suffering

sanctified

Who

with a voluntary acceptance.

offer to

;

He

accepted

would dare to

God his will in holocaust, if He had not first laid own to perform that of his heavenly Father ?

aside his

Who

could have mounted to the summit of humility,

humble Lamb had not first trod the And who with secret paths of that thorny summit more daring flight could have ascended rugged mounif

the patient and

.'

tains

on rugged mountains,

of divine love,

if

He had

not

till

he reached the pinnacle

first

ascended them one by

one, reddening their sides with His purple blood,

and

lacerating on their thorns His pure flesh, whiter than

the snow

.''

Who

but

Him

could have told

men

that

on

the other side of those abrupt and giant mountains lay bright and cheerful meadows, where the air

is

benign,

the heavens serene, the waters pure and limpid, the

harmony

and the freshness perpetual where true which never ends, and pleasure true pleasure, which never ceases, and love true love, which where there is perpetual rest is never extinguished life

is

ineffable,

;

life,

;

without idleness, everlasting

repose without

fatigue,

and where are sublimely confounded the sweetness of possession and the beauty of hope .'

The Son of God, Made Man, and placed on the cross by man, is at once the realisation of all things perfect, represented in

all

symbols, and typified in

all figures,

and the universal figure and symbol of all perfections. The Son of God, Made Man, as He is at once God and man,

is

ideality

and

reality united.

Natural reason

AND

LIBERALISM, tells us,

attain in

SOCIALISM.

327

and daily experience proves, that man cannot any act, or in anything whatever, that relative

perfection

possible for

is

it

him

to reach,

not before his eyes a finished model of

higher

For the people of Athens to acquire that

perfection.

admirable

he have

if

still

instinct,

what was beautiful or what was heroic

of discovering with a single glance in literature, or artistically sublime,

in the actions of

lutely necessary they should

men,

have before

it

was abso-

their eyes the

statues of their wonderful artists, the verses of their sub-

lime poets, and the heroic actions of their great captains.

The people its artists,

of Athens, as

we

find

it,

necessarily supposes

and captains, as we

poets,

them

find

;

and

these in their turn did not reach such daring heights

without fixing their eyes on something

still

higher.

All

the Greek captains attained their great eminence because

they fixed their eyes on Achilles, who reached the highest pinnacle of glory.

poets became their eyes

types of

All those great

great and

on the artistic

" Iliad "

and

artists

and eminent

eminent because they fixed

and the

" Odyssey,''

literary beauty.

immortal

The one and

the

other would never have existed if they had not fixed their gaze on Homer, magnificent personification of artistic, literary,

and heroic

grace.

This law, by virtue of which

all

that

tude is in a more perfect manner in an in an incomparably higher and more still

in

one person,

is

is

in the multi-

aristocracy,

perfect

so universal, that

reasonably considered the law of history.

it

and

manner

might be

This law

is

in its turn subject to certain conditions as necessary as

ESSAYS ON CATHOLICISM,

32 8

Thus, for example,

itself.

all

a necessary condition of

it is

those heroic personifications, that they belong at the

same time

to the special association they personify,

more general and superior

to another

Virgil, and Dante, are

two

different

same time

the

all at

one of which

cities,

live

:

;

in the superior

are citizens, in the inferior emperors. in

called

which

all

inferior, in

condensed

in

That superior

which they

called here Paris, there Athens, elsewhere

Well now, as

like peoples,

one person,

stand out in

in

Rome.

so

it

their perfections

was

human above

superior to

The

race.

city,

be

fulfilled

which bears the name

excellences of this city, ex-

had the advantage of a personification others, as it was superior to all other

all,

all

and should consequently be subhme and Nor was this enough for, that the law might be

perfect.

cities,

;

in every iota,

it

was

natures in his personal unity

God, by the other man,

And

don't

tell

me

fulfilled

that the person in

right

humanity were condensed, should unite two

man.

and

that the

right

universal law of typical personification should

cellent

is

rule, is

those inferior cities are

whom

relief,

with respect to the superior of the

they

have equal rights of citizenship,

humanity; and the

virtues

the other

in the superior

together with a certain equality, in the inferior

each one rules with absolute sway

city,

citizens of

local,

is

general, one inferior, the other superior

they

Homer,

Achilles, Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon,

them.

and

personified in

—by the

for

God

whom

different

one he should be

alone

is

superior to

that for the fulfilment of this

law the incarnation of an angel were

sufficient

;

as man,

AND

LIBERALISM,

SOCIALISM.

329

compound of a spiritual soul and a corporeal body, participated at once in the physical and considered as a

angelic natures, and was, as

were, the confluence of

it

whence it follows, that being, inasmuch as he was man, all creation, he must be God to be at the same time something beyond the created. all

things created

;

we

Finally, that the law in all,

it

are explaining might be fulfilled

was necessary

person

for the

who

ruled with

authority in the inferior city to be a citizen, and nothing

more

in the superior

the empire of inhabited

;

hence God,

Made Man,

is

single in

things created, whilst in the tabernacle

all

by the

divine essence

in all things equal to the

is

the person of the Son,

Father and the Holy Ghost.

Great would be the error of those

who

should believe

that I look on this line of argument as invincible, and

To

these analogies as perfect.

suppose that

;

No

arrogance and madness. illumining what

God

tabernacle defended

here

is

can see

and the mere endeavour to remove which cover them appears to me foolish

gated blindness the divine veils

man

would be unmiti-

clearly through these deep mysteries

ray of light

has hidden

by

in

is

capable of

the impenetrable

My only design

divine obscurity.

to demonstrate, with a vigorous demonstration,

that far from

what God commands us

incredible,

is

it

not only credible but reasonable.

believe the demonstration

of evidence, as long as

it

may is

—that he who

following truth

the absurd, and the divine darkness.

to beheve being

There

is

I

be carried to the limits

confined to proving the

abandons

is less

faith falls into

obscure than

human

no Catholic dogma nor mystery

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

330

which

not comply with these two conditions,

does

rendering a belief reasonable

necessary for

when

explain everything satisfactorily

mitted

it

is

—

first,

to

once ad-

second, to be itself capable to a certain degree

;

There

and comprehension.

cbf explanation

is

no man of

sound sense and straightforward mind, who does not on the one hand, of

feel satisfied,

to

his radical incapacity

discover revealed truths, and on the other, of his

marvellous aptitude to explain them

all satisfactorily in

This would show that reason was given

a relative way.

to man, not to discover the truth, but to see and .explain it

when placed

lamentable

is

before him.

So great

and so up to the thing he should

his misery,

his intellectual indigence, that

present day he

not certain of the

is

have investigated,

if

it

first

had entered into the divine

plan to allow him to investigate anything.

Tell me,

if

man who has discovered with certainty what his reason is, why he received it, for what it serves, and how far it reaches. And when I see, on one not,

if

there be

hand, that this

is

lisped,

nounced,

I

and. feel

was not made nounce

the

A

of this alphabet, and on the

thousand years has passed since

other, that six first

one

it

has

not yet

authorised to say that this

for

man

it

was

been properly pro-

to pronounce, nor

alphabet

man, to pro-

it.

Taking up the thread of this discourse, I will say it was an excellent and convenient thing, for humanity to have before it a universal model of universal and infinite

perfection, as

the various political associations

have ever had one, from which they drew, as from their

LIBERALISM,

AND

proper source, these special

which they surpassed

in

SOCIALISM.

gifts

and excellences this

would be

sufBcient of itself to explain the great mystery treating,

as

God

alone

in

the glorious periods of their

In the absence of other reasons,

history.

331

could

serve

we

are

the finished

as

exemplar and perfect model for all tribes and nations. His presence among men, His marvellous doctrine. His life

of holiness. His tribulations without number, His

passion, full of opprobrium

and ignominy, and His

death, which perfects and crowns

all,

cruel

are the only things

can explain the prodigious height and sublime level reached by

human

virtues.

In the societies lying on the

other side of the cross, there were heroes, in the great Catholic society, saints ; and the pagan heroes are to the saints of Catholicity, of course in the proper proportion,

and with the necessary

reservations,

what the various

personifications of nations are to the absolute personifi-

cation of humanity, in the person of a God,

Between those various

through love of men. cations and

absolute one there

this

Made Man,

is

personifi-

an immense,

between the heroes and the saints an immeasurable, distance nothing more natural than when the first was ;

infinite,

The

the second should be immeasurable.

heroes were

passion excited to

The

saints are

men who, its

through the aid of a carnal

utmost, did extraordinary things.

men who, subduing

all

carnal passions,

courageously stem, unaided by any carnal asssistance, the

tide

of

sorrows.

all

The

heroes,

exciting

to

own powers, attacked all who The saints always began by distrusting

feverish ebullition their

opposed them. their

own powers,

and, unaided by, and deprived

of,

all

ESSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

332

help from them, entered on the contest at once with themselves, and

all

the powers of earth and

The

hell.

heroes proposed to attain high glory and great renown

among human

The

nations.

saints regarded the vain talk of

generations as nothing, cared not for renown and

and leaving aside their own will, as something vile, placed themselves and their all in the hands of God, regarding it as excellent and glorious to put on the

glory,

This

livery of His servants. saints

were

:

and

one

the

is

opposite of what they intended

thought to

have

what the heroes and attained

the

for the heroes,

who

other

the ;

the earth with the glory of their name,

fill

fallen into

whilst the saints,

profound oblivion

who only

among

pontiffs,

works, and it

is

He

how

and kings.

is

knowing how, he thinks he

is

below by peoples,

How great

marvellous in His designs

himself goes, and

thinks he

it

peoples,

fixed their eyes on heaven,

are honoured and reverenced here

emperors,

all

is

only

God

is

God

in

His

Man thinks

1

that bears him.

descending into a valley, and without finds himself on a mountain.

gaining glory, and he

one seeks refuge and

falls into

rest in oblivion,

This one

oblivion

and he

is

;

that

suddenly

deafened by the clamour of nations proclaiming his glory.

The one is

sacrificed everything to their

called after

them

:

their

Their names were the the altar of their

from

their

first

sacrifice,

own memory.

name, and no one

name ended with

themselves.

thing the others offered on so far even as to blot

them

Well, those names they forgot

and despised, are handed down from father to son, from generation to generation, as a glorious relic and a rich inheritance

:

there

is

no Catholic who

is

not called

LIBERALISM, Thus

after a saint.

is

AND

SOCIALISM.

333

daily fulfilled that divine expres-

sion which announced the humiliation of the proud and

the exaltation of the humble.

As between God, Made Man, and the rulers of human intelligence there is an infinite, and between

the the

heroes and saints an immeasurable, distance, so between the Catholic and Gentile multitudes, and those who lead and guide them, there is an immense distance, as all copies are moulded on their originals. The Divinity, by His presence, produces sanctity the sanctity of the ;

most exalted,

in its turn, is the cause,

the virtue of the sense of the there

less,

and on the

on one hand, of

other, the

Hence we observe

least exalted.

no people which has not common

is

what

Catholic, nor. Gentile people which has

common

sense,

and

consists in that

will

cause him no surprise

that

sense, if is

called

sound reason which

with a simple glance sees everything in

This

common

its

who

own

place.

considers that

Catholicity being the absolute order, the infinite truth

and the finished it

perfection,

things are seen

in

their

it

is

only in

it

and through

intimate essence, in their

proper place, in the importance they have, and in the marvellous order in which they are placed. Catholicity there

is

no

common

Without

sense in the least

exalted, nor virtue in the less, nor sanctity in the

exalted

;

for

most

common sense, virtue, and sanctity on Made Man, occupied in teaching

earth suppose a God,

sanctity to heroic souls, virtue to the firm,

and

in direcf:-

ing the reason of the wandering multitudes involved in the darkness and shadows of death.

ON CATHOLICISM,

^•^^^KS-

334

That Divine Master

is

the universal ordainerwho acts

for this reason, no matter you view Him, nor in what aspect you conConsider Him, you always find Him in the centre. sidered as God and man at the same time, He is that centre-point in which are united the creative essence

as the centre of all things

what

;

side

and the created substances.

God

the Son of

is

the second person, that

of the three divine Persons.

He

Considered solely as

human

He

Redeemer, all

tion

is

is

nature

is

con-

Considered as

densed with mysterious condensation. once

the centre

Considered solely as man,

that centre-point in which

is

is,

God

that central person on

the divine graces and rigours.

whom

fall

at

The redemp-

the grand synthesis in which are united and

and mercy. Considered at once as the Lord of heaven and earth, and as born in a stable, and living a hidden life, and suffering death on a cross, He is that centre-point in which all theses and reconciled the divine justice

antitheses, with their perpetual contradiction

and reconciled

variety, are united thesis.

He

of the rich lord

He

He

;

is

a superior syn-

the poorest of the poor, and the richest

naked, and clothed with resplendent robes

obeys man, and commands the heavens ;

wherewith to

and

infinite

the slave and the king, the servant and the

;

is

in

and

satisfy

He

His hunger nor assuage His

He commands

the rocks to

distil

;

has not thirst,

water and the

loaves to multiply, that the people might live and the

crowds have plenty. adore

Him

;

at the

vested with power,

Men insult and the seraphim same moment obedient and in-

He

dies because ordered to die,

and

;

LIBERALISM,

He commands

AND

SOCIALISM.

the veil of the temple to be rent, the

sepulchres to open, the dead to

Him,

follow

all

hide his rays.

335

rise,

the good thief to

nature to be disturbed, and the sun to

He comes in the middle of time, He disciples, He is born in the centre-point seas and three immense continents. He

walks amid His of two great is

which observes the just medium

citizen of a nation

between

those which

thoroughly enslaved every

way

middle

;

a centre

is

are

He

;

life,

which

between the past and the future

amid applause and

insult,

and

independent

Himself the Way, and

the Truth, and truth

;

and

the Life,

entirely

calls

;

He

and

is

He

is

in the

the present,

spends His

dies between

is

life

two

thieves.

And

hence

He

was

at

once a scandal to the Jews and

a madness to the Gentiles.

The one and

the other had

naturally an idea of the divine thesis and the antithesis;

they imagined, however, and

in this,

human

humanly

speaking, they were not far astray, that this thesis and antithesis

human

were totally irreconcilable and contradictory

intelligence could not rise to their reconciliation

by means of a supreme synthesis. The world had ever seen rich and poor but it could not conceive the union in one person of the greatest indigence and opulence. But this very thing, which appears absurd to reason, is ;

when the person in whom these things are united, is divine, who either had not to be or to come,, or had to be or to come in that manner. His coming was the not so

sign for the universal for universal

reconciliation of all things,

peace among men

;

the poor and the

and rich,

;

ON CA THOLICISM,

336

£:SSA YS

the

humble and the

—

happy and the

the

powerful,

Him, and in Him alone and indigent, powerThis is that ful and humble, happy and afflicted. pacific fraternity He taught all those who opened afflicted

their

This

were one

all

He was

for only

and

understandings is

in

at once opulent

ears

petual and unwearied preaching

one

His

to

divine word.

that evangelical fraternity preached with per-

Deny

after another.

by

Catholic doctors,

all

our Lord Jesus Christ, and

immediately partisanship and

partialities,

tumults and proud

and

mad

discords

rebellions,

and great

sinister

cries

and

and implacable rancours, and endless

The poor

wars and bloody battles, begin. standard against the

rich,

fortunate, aristocracies

raise their

the unfortunate against the

against kings, the

multitudes

against the aristocracy, and one against the other, the

immense

disturbed and barbarous multitudes, like two

oceans which meet at the mouth of the abyss.

True humanity God, and

it

is

is

there

in is

no

man

:

it

was

contradictory nature, for on one side excellent,

baseness. it

one side

His own by uniting

that

it

it

and on the other the sum of

On

it

Son of

in the

revealed to us the secret of

it is

is

all

indignity and

so excellent, that

with the

Word

;

its

sublime and

God made

and so sublime,

was from the beginning, and before

He

came,

promised by God, silently adored by the patriarchs,

announced from time to time by the prophets, revealed to the world even by false oracles, and represented in all the sacrifices and figures. An angel announced it to a virgin, and the Holy Ghost formed

it

by His

virtue in

:

LIBERALISM, her virginal womb, and to Himself for ever

AND

SOCIALISM.

337

God entered into, and united it and thus perpetually united to

;

God, that sacred humanity was celebrated

in its birth

by the voice of angels, proclaimed by the stars, visited by shepherds, and adored by kings and when God, ;

united to this humanity, desired to be baptized, the

heavens

opened, and the Holy Ghost was

Him

descend on

in figure of

heard on high, which said

whom

am

I

well pleased."

He

menced

to preach,

the

consoling the

sick,

:

seen to

a dove, and a voice was

— This And

is

my

beloved Son in

then when

He com-

wrought such wonders, curing

afflicted, raising

the dead to

life,

commanding the winds and the waves, revealing hidden and announcing future things, that He caused wonder and astonishment to heaven and earth, angels and men. Nor did the prodigies cease here, for that humanity was to-day seen dead by all, and in three days resuscitated and glorious, victor over time and death and silently ;

cleaving the

air,

was seen

to ascend on high like a divine

aurora.

And

this

was on the

same humanity, on one

other,

by God, without

exemplar of

itself

side so glorious,

baseness, predestined

all

being culpable, to suffer as a sub-

stitute the penalty of sin.

Hence He, on whose

divine

countenance the angels loved to look, went through the world so lowly; hence

is

so sad and sorrowful

He

in

whose eyes the heavens find their delight hence is naked in this valley He who on the hills of heaven is hence walks like a clothed with a garment of stars ;

;

sinner,

among

sinners,

He who

is

the saint of saints

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

338

He

here

converses with a blasphemer, there talks with

an adulteress, or discourses with a miser.

To Judas

He

offers

gives a kiss of peace,

paradise

;

man

He He

He

and when

speaks with such

,

and to a robber

converses with sinners.

love, that tears

their eyes.'

fill

thus melts for the

when when

Under the sun

there

and with

afflicted.

He This

suffering,

should be profoundly acquainted with sorrow, thus pities the miserable,

His

was man so unblessed with orphanage and want

.never

An entire

of protection.

disciples betrays, another denies,

nor has

He

Him

people curse

and

all

;

one of His

abandon Him;

a drop of water to moisten His

lips,

nor a

mouthful of bread to satisfy His hunger, nor a pillow on

which to

He

what

rest

His head.

No agony was when

suffered in the Garden,

sweated blood

;

ever equal to all

His pores

then His face was stricken with blows,

His body covered with a purple garment

in mockery, and His brow crowned with thorns; He bore the weight of His cross, and fell to the ground many times, and

ascended the side of Golgotha, followed by maddened

who filled the air with their sinister vociferawhen He was raised on high, His abandonment

crowds, '

tions

;

so increased that His very Father turned His eyes from

Him, and the angels who obeyed Him, shaded

their

alarmed faces with their wings, that they might not behold Him even the superior part of His soul aban;

doned His humanity

in that terrible

remaining serene and indifferent to

shook their heads, and said

God, come down from that

:

If

cross.

moment

all.

And

Thou be

of death,

the crowds the Son of

AND

LIBERALISM,

How God,

SOCIALISM.

339

could they believe, without a special grace of

in the

cross in that state

Him who

of

divinity

How

?

scandal and madness

nailed

to

the

not look on His words as a

And

?

is

yet that man, suffering

mortal agony without alleviation, subjected the world to His law, carrying

some poor

it

as

it

were by storm, through the

Him, abandoned by and miserable strangers in the land. Through Him men changed their course of life, for Him they abandoned efforts of

fishermen, like

all,

His love they took up their cross, and and peopled the deserts, and rejected sensual pleasures, and believed in the sanctifying virtue of suffering, and led a pure, spiritual life, and chastised and their flesh without mercy, subjecting it for ever their property, for left

the

city,

;

besides

all this,

believed soon

after

His death stupendous

and incredible things for they believed that He who had been crucified was the only Son of God, and God Himself that He had been conceived in the womb of a that He virgin by the operation of the Holy Ghost ;

;

;

who had been born

in a stable

and wrapjjed

in

swad-

dling clothes, was the Lord of heaven and earth that when He died, He descended to hell, and released the ;

pure and upright souls of the ancient patriarchs that He afterwards resumed His body, and raised it glorious ;

from the grave, and bore

it

through the

air,

transfigured

and resplendent that the woman, who had borne Him in her womb, was at once loving mother and immaculate virgin that she was carried by angels to heaven, and there proclaimed by the angelic choirs and a sovereign ;

;

edict,

queen of

creation,

mother of the

afflicted, inter-

;

£SSA VS ON CA THOLICISM,

340

mother of the Son

cesser of the just, refuge of sinners,

and spouse of the Holy Ghost

;

are of less value than the secret

that

and

things visible

all

and only

invisible,

worthy to be despised when compared with them that there is no other good but that which consists in under;

going labour, accepting sorrow, tolerating living in perpetual tribulation

;

afflictions,

nor other

evil

and

but sin

and pleasure; that the waters of baptism purify, confession cleanses from sin, bread and wine are converted into

God, and God

tions

that

;

He

head, and none falls

without

man

thinks,

that

if

is

within and without us in

has counted

all

grows without His

His permission or it

the

He

is

his will incline,

all direc-

hairs

of our

ordination nor

command

;

that

puts the thoughts before it

is

He moves

it

;

that

if

him

it is

;

He

him when he is strong, and that he stumbles and falls if His aid is removed from him that the dead shall rise and come to judgment; that there are a

who

fortifies

;

heaven and a

eternal

hell,

punishment and everlasting

was to be believed by the world powers of the world, and this marvellous doctrine was to invincibly open a way for

glory

;

that

all this

in opposition to all the

itself

kings and emperors trious confessors,

virgins

power of princes, that innumerable crowds of illus-

and

against the will ;

in spite of the

eminent doctors, delicate and bashful

and glorious martyrs were to give

their lives for

it

and that the madness of Calvary was to be so contagious, as to turn the heads of people as far as the sun's rays

reach and the earth extends. All thgse incredible things were believed

by men,

LIBERALISM,

AND

SOCIALISM.

341

when that grand tragedy of the three hours represented on Calvary to the dread of the sun and the shaking of the earth in fulfilled

all

her members, came to an end.

the word pronounced

draw them with (chap,

mercy

;

Man

but he

very marrow of his bones, voice of

Him who

His love

for him.

that fearful

and

softened and

is

if

justice

filled

—

and

and

resists

with love to the afflicted

in dying, proves

me

persecutest thou

This

."

is

but loving voice, which continually sounds

in the ears of sinners

of gentle complaint

and that loving and soft accent what goes straight to the soul,

;

is

and transforms and changes and converts and obliges

:

bands of love

he hear the sad and

dies for him,

Why

the

Thus was / will

of such condition, that he

is

omnipotence

against

Osee

in

of Adam, with

the cords

ver. 4).

xi.,

rebels

by God

it

to seek

Him

in the city

it all

and the

to God, desert, in

the rugged mountain and in the plains, by the high

roads and by-paths.

It is that voice

which inflames

the soul with the chaste love of the Spouse, and carries it,

almost beside

itself,

in pursuit of

His intoxicating per-

fumes, as thirst brings the stag to the beautiful springs of living waters.

God came

to the world to cast fire on

the earth, and immediately the earth began to smoke

and burn

in all its four quarters,

and the powerful flames

of those divine conflagrations are daily extended through all regions.

believes

Love explains the

inexplicable,

through love what appears

and man

incredible,

and

does what appears impossible to do, for love smoothes

and makes everything

When

possible.

those apostles

who saw

the Lord, before His

I;:

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

342

and clothed

passion, transfigured

white garments,

in

more shining than the sun, and purer than the snow, said in ecstasy, Let us remain here, they had not yet any idea of divine love, nor its ineffable delights hence ;

the great apostle, master of the art of love, afterwards said

:

— One

Christ,

want

thing alone I desire to understand, Jesus

Him

and

know

to

Jesus Christ things

all

;

crucified

all,

;

which was the same as

and to know

Him

for in

all, I

:

—

And Him

he did not say, transfigured nor glorious

know Him

to

little

—

want only to know

and

are united all knowledge

and then he added

;

:

crucified

for

;

it

His omnipotence, assisting

in

:

avails in

thought at the marvellous work of universal creation, nor does

it

suffice to

countenance

know Him

glitters

with

powers of heaven are absorbed divine throne

;

nor

is

it

in

His glory when His

uncreated in

enough

and the

light,

admiration before the

to see

Him

pronounce

the unappealable decrees of His justice, surrounded

Nor

angels and seraphim.

when

fied

it

thirst, unsatisfied

and asks he

for is,

as

for

.

The

an

apostle with

more, and mounts higher

in

He

known

prefers to be

manner

in

which

;

Him

in the act of

That

is

reason can ;

know

for

to signify,

Jesus Christ, and

only did those privileged

and most

conceive,

His incomprehensible and

what the apostle wishes

only want to

Him

daring thought

in the highest

imagination imagine, or the will desire

I

unassuagable

hunger, and invincible desire, longs

only content with knowing Christ crucified, that

is

excellent

—

by

the soul completely satis-

witnesses the profound wonders of His

mercy.

infinite

is

it is

to

or

know

infinite love.

when he says

Him

men want

crucified.

to know.

— LIBERALISM,

who

SOCIALISM.

343

took up their cross, and marched on, carefully lay-

down

ing

AND

their foot

whenever they saw the bloody and

glorious track of His footsteps,

who converted dise,

Him

only those fathers

the desert wastes into gardens of para-

wanted to know.

Him

only did those chaste

vir-

want to know, who laying all concupiscence at His feet, took Him for spouse, and consecrated their pure and virginal thoughts to Him, Him alone all those want to know who, turning their eyes into fountains, have received tribulations with heart-felt joy, and have firmly ascended the rugged gins, miracles of fortitude,

mount

of penance.

Among

the wonders of creation, a soul in charity

the most marvellously wonderful, not only because state

is

is

its

the highest and most excellent that can be

imagined on

this earth below, but

because

it

proclaims

with loud voice, the prodigies wrought by divine love,

which was capable not only of blotting out our thereby disorder and the cause of

all

sin,

and

disorder, but also

of inchning us to voluntarily desire the deification

we

formerly rejected, and rendering us capable of attaining

what we

by accepting the assistance of the grace the Lord and through the Lord, when He

desired,

we merited

in

shed His blood on Calvary to merit

we might

merit

it

for us,

and that

All these things are signified by

it.

those memorable words pronounced by Jesus Christ,

when about expiring equal to saying, not with

my

I

my justice,

omnipotence

;

:

It is

consummated

effected with

nor

my

my

love

mercy, nor

for I blotted out sin

the divine majesty and

human

:

which was

what

my

I

could

wisdom, nor

which obscured

beauty, freed humanity

:

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

344

its shameful captivity, and restored to man the power of being saved, which he had lost through sin. Now my spirit can descend to fortify, embellish, and

from

deify man, for

I

have drawn him and united him to

me

with a powerful and loving bond.

When

by

those memorable words were pronounced

the Son of

God on

expiring on the cross,

things

all

became marvellously ordained and perfect in order. Every one of the dogmas contained as well in this in the

former book,

one of those laws all

is

a law of the moral world

of itself permanent

is

;

as

every

and perpetual

together compose the code of laws which constitute

moral order in humanity and the universe to the physical, to

;

which the material are

and united

subject,

form

the supreme law of order, which directs and governs

all

things created.

To

such a degree

perfect order, that

necessary that

is it

disorder, cannot conceive disorder; tion,

when

as absurd

all

things be in

man, though turning everything into hence every revolu-

destroying ancient institutions, rejects them

and

injurious

;

and when substituting others

of individual invention, says they constitute excellent order.

This

crated

among

is

the signification of the phrase conse-

revolutionists of all times,

the perturbation they sanctify, a

new

Even M. Proudhon, the most daring of

when they

call

order of things. all,

only defends

his anarchy in quality of the rational expression of perfect,

that

From

is,

absolute order.

the perpetual necessity of order, flows the per-

petual necessity of the physical and moral laws which

;

AND

LIBERALISM, constitute

it

;

God

When He drew man from

they were

for this reason

proclaimed by

SOCIALISM.

345

created and

all

alone from the beginning of time.

the world from nothingness, formed

the slime of the earth,

made

the

woman from

and constituted the first family, God established once for ever the physical and moral laws which consti-tute order in humanity and the universe, withdrawing them from the jurisdiction of man, and placing them beyond the reach of his mad speculations and vain his rib,

Even the dogmas of the incarnation of the Son of God, and of the redemption of the human race, were revealed by God in paradise, when He made that caprices.

merciful promise to our

parents, with which

first

tempered the rigour of His

He

justice.

In vain has the world denied those laws:

aspiring

yoke by denying them, has done nothing but increase its burden by mean;

to emancipate itself from their it

of catastrophes this

ever

proportioned to the

negations,

law of proportion being one of the constitutives of

order.

God

left

a free and wide

broad were the dominions free will of

man, to

whom

to

field

He

left to

human

was given authority over sea

and land, the right of rebelling against making war on heaven, entering into alliances with the infernal

his

Creator,

treaties

and

deafening the world

spirits,

with the noise of battle, burning tions

opinions

the empire of the

cities

with conflagra-

and discords, astounding them with the tremendous

shocks of revolutions, closing his understanding to the truth,

and

his

eyes to the

light,

and opening them

ESSA YS ON CA THOLICISM,

346

to error

and darkness with delight

raising empires, estabHshing

and of

tiring of republics,

rejecting

what he before

of founding and

;

and destroying

republics,

empires and monarchies

desired, returning to

of

;

what he

abandoned, of affirming everything, even the absurd of denying everything, even evidence

no God, and of

all

light,

I am God;

;

of saying there

:

is

of proclaiming his independence

powers, and of adoring the sun which gives him the tyrant

who

oppresses him, the reptile that

creeps on the ground, the hurricane which roars,

the

lightning which flashes, the rumbling thunder, and the

passing cloud.

All this and

much more was

given to

notwithstanding his possession of

all

man; but the stars

this,

perpetually pursue their course, in regulated rotation,

and the seasons succeed each other

in

harmonious

circle,

without ever overtaking or becoming confounded one with the other, and the earth

is clothed with grass and and bending harvests, as it ever was from the day received from on high the virtue of fructifying and

trees it

;

things physical

all

and

fulfil

to-day as they did yesterday

shall to-morrow, the divine

commands, moving

in

perpetual peace and harmony, without infringing in the slightest the laws of their powerful

sovereign hand,

Maker, who with

regulates their steps,

them loose rein. and much more was given

restrains

their

impetuosity, or gives

All that

to

man

;

but not-

withstanding he could not prevent punishment following

on the heels of on

his sin, chastisement

his first transgression,

on

his crime, death

damnation on

his obstinacy.

LIBERALISM, justice

tion

on

on

by

SOCIALISM.

347

mercy on his repentance, separaand catastrophes on his rebellions.

his liberty,

his scandals,

To man

AND

has been given to bring society lacerated

it

discords to his feet, to level the strongest walls, sack

opulent

bury

cities,

destroy extensive and renowned empires,

in fearful ruin the highest civilizations, enveloping

their splendours in the dense cloud of barbarism

has not been given him

is,

to suspend

for

what

;

one day,

for a

single hour, for one sole instant, the infallible fulfilment

of the fundamental laws of the physical and moral world,

humanity and the universe what the world has never and shall never see is, that the man who flies from order by the door of sin, returns not by constitutives of order in

:

the door of penalty, that herald of

messages to

God who

bears His

all.

THE END.

Cornell Catholic

Union Library.

Printed by

M. H.

Gill

* Son, 30, Upper

SacXviUe-st. Dublin,

ff

-;^\^)i\^\\\^\\^^*^^'*!,\\^^^^^