(RtaxmW Hwmitg pitotg THE GIFT OF A.y..^.i..QAA ^.sfjolf.3.. Cornell University Library BHVtli^ .L14 1870 Conferences of the Rev. Pere,.Lacordalre olln 3 1924 029 401 860 ex If 70 fo -y^CC^^Z-^'i^ -^-^^ ^ ^'^^A^ /Pf 3. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029401860 CONI'BKBNCES REV. ?im LACORDAIRE, DELIVERED IH THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME, IN PARIS. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY HENRY LANGDOH. NEW YORK: P O'SHBA, PUBLISHER, 45 WARREN STREET. <9 V(,/,U I J Entered accordcno to Act of Conorbss, in thk Year 1870, ar P. O'SHfiA, IK THK CLBBK'a OfFIOK OF THE DISTRICT COtTRT OF THK UnITBD StATES FOR THB SoITTHBBN DISTRICT OP NkW YoRK. ^3 MOST EMINENT AND MOST REVEREND NICHOLAS, OARDINA.L OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER, to be reviv f d. and requires but the vibration of aflfectionate language, of language which entreats rather than commands, which spares rather than strikes, which gently lifts the veil rather than tears it forcibly asunder, which, in fine, treats with the intelligence and cherishes its light, as one cher- ishes the life of a fellow-creature, sick and tenderly loved. If this object is not practicable, what is there on earth wliieh is ? For ns who have known the pain and the allurement of unbelief, when we have infused the smallest particle of faith into a mind tormented Vjy its absence, we thank and bless God : and if we had thu< succeeded bui- once in our lives at the price of the fatigue of a hundred discourses, we should yet thank and bless God. Others, if we do not, others will come after. They will ripen the blade of corn and gather it under their sickle ; the Saviour has said it: "One sows and another reaps."' The Chnrch has not one kind of laborers only ; she has them of every temperament, formed by that Spirit which Mowetfi where if. listetk, which gives wit/tout measure, hwt with dlMribiition which makes some apostles, others p>'ophets, these evange- lists, those pastors and doctors, in order to employ aVholi- n-ess to the minist/ry which edifies the hody of Christ* Children of this Spirit one and multiple, let n- respect its presence in each of us, and when in our age a soul utters vhe strains of eternity, from the time when it gives its witness in favor of Christ and of his Church, let us not sliow ourselves more severe than he who has said, " Who- ever is not against you is for you.'''' ' It is not a question of following the rules of rhetoric, but of leading to the knowledge and love of God : let us have the faith of St. Paul and speak Greek as badly as he did. > Saint John, ch. i, y. 37. • Saint John, ch. 3, t. 8, 14 and 34. Saint Panl to the Hebrews, ch. 8, t. i. Idem to the Ephesians, ch. 4, v. 11 and 13. ' •'^int Mark. ch. 9. v. 39. 1^ Cnlled by the choice of two bishops to the first pulpit of the Ohnrcli iii France, I have there defended the truth to the best of iny ability, with sincerity at least, and it has reached some hearts. I publisli to-day the words which I there uttered. They will reach the. reader cold and dis- colored ; but when, on autumn evenings, the leaves fall and lie upon the earth, more than one look, more than one hand still follows them ; and if perchance they might be disdained by all, the wind may bear them along and pre- pare with them a couch for some poor one whom Provi- dence watches over from the height of heaven CONFERENCES REV. PERE LACORDAIRE. OF THE CHURCH. FIRST CONFERENCi OF THE NEED Ol< a aIEACHING CHUKCH, AND ITS DISTINCTIVE CHARilCTER. Mt Lobd, ' GenTIiBMEN, Chmstianity is as old as the world ; for it consists, essentially, in the idea of a Q-od, Creator, Legislator, and Saviour, and in a life conformable to that idea. Now God manifes^'ed himself to the human race from the first under the threefold relation of Creator, Legislator, and Saviour ; and from the commencement, from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Jesus Christ, there have been men who lived conform- ably with this idea of God. Three times before Jesug Christ, God manifested himself to men in this threefold character : by Adam, the first fatlier of the human race, by Noah, the second father of the human race, and by Moses, the lawgiver of a people whose influence and existence have mixed them up with all the destinies of humanity. There exists, however, a fact not less remarkable, namely, that Christianity only commenced its reign in the world eighteen hundred years ago, by Jesus Christ, lesus Christ appears to have been the first who brought ight into the world : before him, as said Saint John, "it > MoQ3eigneur de Quelen, Archbishop of Paris. 20 shined in darkfiess." ^ But what is the canse of thi»! How is it that Christianity, vanquished in the world before Jesns Christ, has been victorious in it since his coming? How is it that Christianity, before Jesus Christ, "did not hinder the nations ^rom following their ways," ' and that Jesus Clirist, on the contrary, was able to utter that saying of eternal victory, " Tn mtmdo pressuram hdbebitis, sed confidite, ego vioi mundumf" * What new thing is it then that Jesus Christ has ac- complished? Is it the sacrifice on Calvary? The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of men " was slam, from hefore tJie foundMions of the world?''* Saint John ^vit- nesses to this for ns in the book of his visions. Is it the Gospel ? The Gospel, after all, is but the word of God, and that word, after many trials, did not change the world. Is it the sacraments ? The sacraments are onlj* the chan- nels of grace, and the grace of God, although less abundant, without doubt, before Jesus Christ, has nevertheless not ceased continually to flow to men. What new thing, then, has Jesns Christ accomplished ? By what means has he secured the eternal duration of the victory obtained on Calvary ? Listen to his own words, he will say them tn y ou : " Th/yu, art Peter, amd upon this rock IwHJ, hwHd my Church, and the gates qfheU shall notprefoail against her?'' This is the work which was to vanquish for ever hell and the world, which was every day to renew the sacriiice of the Saviour, to maintain and diffuse his doctrines, to distribute his grace ! We come, gentlemen, to speak tn yon of this work, of this Church, which is " tkepiUar and ground of truth /" ' and from to-day we shall fathom this vast subject of meditation, by endeavoring to show you the need of a Church destined to the universal and perpetna. instruction of the human race. • Gospel, ch. 1, 7. 5. ' Acts, ch. 14, v. 15. • St. John, ch. 16, t. 8S. •Revelations, ch. 13, v. 8. »St. Mark, ch. 16, v. 18. • 1st Epistle to Timothy, ch. 3, v. 18. 21 Called to addreso you, not by my own will, but by that of the venerable pontiff who oconpies for me the place of God, do not expect, gentlemen, that I shall speak to yon in high-flown or subtle language. If you are come here to seek vain figures of speech, you have deceived yourselves. Ah ! let the eloquence of time perish. I pray to Heaven for the eloquence only of eternity. I pray only for the truth and charity of Jesus Christ ; and if the success of grace accompanies these discourses, it will prove tliat now, as in tim«s past, God makes use of the weak to confound the strong. Lord ! eleven years have passed since, pros- trate upon the pavement of this stately temple, I divested myself of the embellishments of the world to put on the apparel of thy priests. I came to seek the blessings which thou hast promised to those who serve thee, in anticipa- tion of the time when I should be sent to others. Thou hast given me these blessings ; enable me now to commu- nicate them to my brethren ! Come to the help of thy servant ! Set a watch on my lips, to the end that they may be faithful to my heart, as my heart is faithful to thy law. I will commence by stating an incontrovertible fact : Man is a being subject to instruction. Why have I undertaken to address you in this place? If I look around me I perceive signs of all ages, hair which has become white in the watchings of learning, features which bear traces of the fatigue of combats, others which are animated by the sweet emotions of literary studies, of young men also who have but just plucked the third flower of life. Tell me, you who are assembled here, what do you ask of me ? What do you desire from me ? The truth ! You have it not then within you? You seek it then, you wish to receive it, you are come here to be taught ? Whilst you were infants you had a mother : it was upon her bosom that you received your first education. She 22 enlightened you first in the order of sensations, by con tin ually directing you in your relations with external ob jecte. Moreover, by the long and laborious transmission of language, she laid open within you the source of youi understanding: next she instilled into the depths of youi soul a more precious treasure, that of conscience ; she re- warded and punished you according to your actions, imparted to you the measure of justice and of injustice, and made of you a moral being. She next initiated you into the mysteries of faith, taught you to believe in things in- visible, of which visible things are but the reflection ; she made you a religious being. Thus, from the dawn of your life you were instructed in the four orders which con- stitute your being ; in the orders of sensations, of ideas, of conscience, and of faith. When a man has passed the age of early instruction, he ranges himself from that time in one of the two classes which divide humanity ; the enlightened and the unen- lightened. Men who are not enlightened form what is called the people ; and this class, absorbed in its poverty and incessant labor, remains always incapable of resuming its early education by personal studies or by reflection. These can never deeply analyze their sensations, their ideas, their conscience or their faith. They can only emancipate themselves from the teaching which has been accorded to them by accepting new instruction, of which they perhaps believe themselves to be judges, but of which, in fact, they will never be but the servants. Thus, when Jesus Christ, the liberator of the understand- ing, came into the world, he said of the mission which his Father had confided to him : '• The Lord hath sent me to evcmgdize the poory ^ Why the poor? Without doubt, because they form the greater number ; and all souls bein<: equal before God, when he weighs them in the balance ol 1 Ai. Lake, ch. 4, v. 18. 2a eternal justice the souls of the people must turn the scale ; and again, and for this greater reason, because the people, in their incapability of learning and obtaining knowl- edge, stand in need of a master who puts them in posses- sion of truth by a course of teaching without cost or peril. If the case stand thus with regard to the people, that is to say, with regard to nearly the whole of human kind, may there not be at least an exception for those whom we have called enlightened men ? May they not be empow- ered to break with the teaching which has made them what they are, and reconstruct for themselves, by their own unaided power, an understanding which springs from themselves ? It is true this is their pretension. You all remember, gentlemen, when the time arrived for you to leave your families and enter into society, it appeared to you that there had sprung up within you a iew power, which you called Reason. Tou set yourselves to work to adore this power ; and, prostrating yourselves before it, you said, " Here is my only master, my only sovereign ! My reason shall henceforth teach me if there exist sensa- tions, ideas, a conscience, things unseen that sustain this world which is visible to us." Tou said this, but it was in vain. You could not rid yourselves of the primitive man ; your reason was a gift of yonr education, you were the children of instruction, the sons of prejudice, the chil- dren of men ; you are so still. In fact, the enlightened class divides itself into two others, one composed of men whose time is unoccupied, whom we may call men of leisure, the other of those who are compelled to labor by the necessity of their position. This latter class is incomparably the more considerable. The distribution of property makes each stand in need of his labor for preserving the social position which his forefathers transmitted to him, and, in such dependence, men are unable to occupy themselves actively about the great questions which agitate human- ity, or to pursue philosophical studies, which alone aiti Bufficient to absorb the whole of an existence. This class is very nearly in the same state of helplessness as the peo- ple ; they are, with the addition of pride, among the poor in understanding whom Jesus Christ came to evangelize. For beware, gentlemen, of accepting the terms of the Gospel in too material and restrained a sense. The most abject poverty is povertj' in regard to truth, as the great- est riches is the riches of the soul in truth. And when man has discovered his real welfare, when he is rich in truth,, he will not exchange his condition for all the for tunes of kings. But the division being thus made, what remains there proudly floating on the surface of humanity, and capable of employiujr [nan's reason for reconstructing itself? Some privileged men, who have received from Heaven genius— a rare thing — fortune, less rare, but which, however, is un common, and finally some dispositions naturally inclined to arduous study — genius, fortune, application, three necessary conditions for arriving at mental superiority. These are they who might be able to reject the ideas which instruction gave them, like the eagle, who, taking her eaglet in her claws, and seeing it cannot look steadfastly at the sun, casts it upon the earth as a worthless burden. But the work is not so easily performed ; captivity also presses upon them. Instruction is not confined to indi- viduals, it extends also to nations and periods. After having mastered his nurses and his teachers, the man of genius has another task to accomplish, that of overcominu^ his nation and his age. Is he able to do this ? Has it ever been accomplished ? Look around you. What man is there, however great he may be, who does not bear the mark of his race and of his age ? I iisk each of you, whoever you may be, would you have been what you are if you had been bdrn six hundred i{5 years ago? Six hundred yeare ago this same cathedral, into which yoii uome to hear the word of God as judges, and full of your own self-sufficiency — this same cathedral would have beheld you bringing stones into its foundations. If, even without changing the age, you had been born in any part of the world Avhich I might name, would yon have been what you are ? Why is France Catholic, Prussia Protestant, Asia Mahometan ? Whence arises this enor- mous diflference between nations so near to each other? A diversified word has prevailed amongst them, diversified teaching has produced different minds, creeds, and morals. Yes, nations and periods undergo the yoke of authority, and impose it in their turn ; they inherit the prejudices and passions which preceded them, modify these by preju- dices and passions to wliich they have given birth, and this changeablcness of time, which appears to attack tlie independence of mankind, is but the effect of submission to tyrannies which engender each other. The tyrants change, but the tyranny changes not. And, strange to say, men are proud of the age in which th.ey live, that is to say, of undergoing with consciousness the prejudices of the time in which they live. For us, Christians set free by the Church, we belong neither to the present age nor to the past, nor to that which is to come ; we are of eternity. We are not willing to submit to the teaching of a particular age, or nation, or man ; for this teaching is false, because it is variable and contradictory. Indeed, with the exception of a certain number of phenomena proved by experience, certain ax- ioms which form the foundation of human reason, and the distinction of justice and injustice, what is there upon which human instruction is agreed I What is there whicli that teaching does not corrupt? I survey with horror the places where man teaches man ; where shall I find a voice wln'ch does not contradict another, and convince it 2 26 of error l I c-iU Loudon, Paris, Berlin, Constantinople, Pekin, celebrated cities, which govern the world and in- struct it; is there one of these which has not its opinions, its systems, its customs, its laws, its doctors of a day % Let ns not leave this capital, it is, they say, the chief seat of human civilization ; well, then, count the doctrines which, during eighty years, have been received here, and which, from here, have spread themselves over Europe Idolatry had its gods without number, and an unique Pantheon elevated to their glory ; but who will enumerate human opinions, and erect a Pantheon vast enough to give to each an altar and a monument ? And yet man is an instructed being ; he is necessarily influenced by the ideas which surround his cradle. If man were not an in structed being he would communicate directly with truth, and his errors would be purely voluntary and individual. But he is taught, and infancy is not able to defend itself against erroneous teaching; the people cannot defend themselves from erroneous teaching ; and the greater num- ber of enlightened men are unable to defend themselves from error which they imbibed in their infancy, and against the influence of some superior minds which rule the others. This is the state of humanity, a state of op- pression which betokens an irremediable degradation, or the necessity of a divine teaching which protects infancy, the people, the vulgar among enlightened men, and even those who, by their stronger understandings, are delivered over to the private domination of their own pride, and who do not free themselves from the public domination of their age and nation. Ah ! truth is but a name ; man is but a miserable plav- thing of opinions which succeed each other without end, or else tiiere sliould exist on earth a divine authority for the instruction of man, that being necessarily subject to teacliing. and necessarily misled by the teaehins; ,.f men. '2.1 The heathens themselves felt the want of this : Plato sa-d " that it was necessary for a master to descend from heaven to instruct KumamAty y" thus speaking in advance, as Saint Paul spoke in his letter to the Ephesians, " Ood has given to tis Apostles, Prophets, Eoamgelists, Pastors, and Doctors, in order that we may not be as children, tossed to and fro hy eoery wind of doctrine, hy the malice a/nd cunning of men who sow error around us." ' But by what sign shall we recognize this tutelary au- thority ? How shall we distinguish the genuine authority among so many false ones ? By one sign, only to speak of one ; by a sign as resplendent as the sun, which no false authority possesses, which no false authority can counter- feit — the sign of universality, of Catholicity. If there is anything remarkable in this world it is assuredly this : that no human authority has b6en able to become Catholic, that is to say, to pass the bounds of a certain class of men, or of nationality. Human authorities are of three kinds : philosophical authorities, religions not Christian, and Christian sects. As to philosophical au- thorities, they have never reached the people, nor have they ever united enlightened men in one single school ; but, divided infinitesimally,they have presented to the world in all times a spectacle at sight of which pity has outbalanced esteem. Where exists there in the world at the present time a reigning authority ? The religions not Christian have never been more than national; and that which ap- proaches nearest to Christianity, which may to a certain degree be considered as a Christian sect, Mahometanism, has only aspired towards universality by hoping to sub- ject, the universe to the Caliphat by force of arms. As soon as the Mahometan empire was divided there were as manj' sects as kingdoms : witness Turkey and Persia, the worshippers of AH and those of Omar. Where exists there ' Ch. 4, T. 11 to 14 28 now ill the world a religion not Christian whiuh possesses universal teaching? The same phenomenon reproduces itself for the Christian sects, and we have a notable exam- ple of it in the two great existing schisms, the Greek and the Protestant. The Greeks were subject to the Patri- arch of Constantinople, whilst Constantinople continued to be the unique centre of the East. When the Russian empire was formed the Hussian Greeks constituted a Church for themselves, and burst the last ties which, in the infancy of their empire, still attached them to the primi- tive seat of their schism. As to the Protestant Churches, they have divided themselves into as many fractions as kingdoms : Episcopalian Church of England, Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Calvanistic Church of Holland, present Evangelical Church of Prussia ; and the Protestants who iiave not been brought together in a kingdom into a na- tional unity, such as those of the United States, have formed thousands of sects whicL. have no longer names because they have so many. The true Church, that which from the commencement of its existence has taken the title of Catholic, which no other during eighteen centuries has even once dared to dispute — the true Church, divinely instituted to instruct the human race, has alone established an universal author ity, in spite of the enormous difficulty of the thing. The whole Roman empire leagued itself together against this immense authority which sprung up on all sides, and, not- withstanding the persecution with which she was assailed from the earliest times, the Catholic Church passed the bounds of the Roman empire, and penetrated into Persia, Ethiopia, the Indies, and Scythia. After she had subju- gated the Roman empire and passed beyond its limits, the barbarians came to annihilate the temporal unity founded by heathen Rome, and, whilst all the nations changed and divided themselves, the Catholic Church spread its unity 29 and universality wherever force broke np the ancient communities : she also sought the barbarians even in their forests, to lead them to the foot of the same altar and the same episcopal throne. New worlds disclosed them selves ; the Church was there as soon as the conquerors. The Indians of the West and of the East knew Jesua Ohrist, and the sun nevermore set but in the kingdom of truth. Protestantism, in endeavoi'ing to break up Catho- lic unit}' and universality, has but produced, by the spectacle of its divisions, new proof of the impossibility of founding an universal Church by the simple power of man. In fact, to accomplish this, it is necessary to overcome the jealousy of temporal authority, the diversity of lan- guage, of customs, of prejudices, the enmities between nations, and, lastly and above all, the independence of minds — that independence which is not only a submission to false authorities, but to authorities which flatter the pride, and appear to support themselves on the reason of each individual. Error, will never overcome these divers obstacles, because error, being at the same time pride of the understanding and logical contradiction, is incapable of uniting either minds or wills. The unity alone of the Church, that unique unity in the world, is an undeniable proof of her divinity : the Church is Catholic, therefore she is true. But it is quite needful to observe that the Catholicity of the Church is not limited to embracing the divers na- tions of the globe : it comprehends also in tiie same spir- itual ties, infancy, the people, enlightened men, the strong and the weak. All, without distinction, have the same creed and the same faith ; instead of which philosophy extends itself only to educated men, and the heathen reli- gions only reached the people. Protestantism itself baa not been able to avoid this radical vice, for it is one thing 30 For the people and another for enlightened men. It com- mands the people by authority, it leaves the instructed free. The people believe their ministers, the educated man oelieves the Bible and himself. In this particular also the Catholic Church is all divine; she not only ex- tends protection to the weak — she makes them also equal to the strong. Yon will perhaps say : But if a teaching Church is ne- cessary to the human race, why was it established so late ? Why eighteen hundred, and not six thousand years ago ? Gentlemen, it was needful that everything should bear the stamp of the fall of Adam — nature, the body, the soul, society, truth itseit — to the end that man might profound- ly feel the want of reparation. Yet God did not aban- don men in tiie times anterior to the constitution of the Church ; he communicated truth to them by Adam, by Enoch, by Noah, by Abraham, by Moses, by a continual snccession of prophets and revelations. The Church her- self, or the community of men witli God, existed from tlie beginning; but she did not exist with the organization and the force which she received from Jesus Christ. Therefore Jesus Christ did not sa^- that he was come to establish the Church, but that he was come to establish it •upon the stoTie — upon a stone destined to hredk tJiose who shoiddfaU upon it, and those upon whom it should faU. ' Jesus Christ has completed the design of the Church as he has completed all things : but before the consummation man was not abandoned — ^lie was prepared and sustained. His condition was not so good as our present condition, but it was sufficient and just, had he been willing to profit by it. He perished by his fault, not by the fault of God. The Church has invested truth with a social character ; and if, returning over the space which we have surveyed, we ask ouTBelves why man is an instructed being, we shall « St. Matthew, ch. 31, v. 44. 31 answer that man is a social being, like all other creatures wlio in their way live by association ; but because map possesses an understanding in addition to the qualities with which they are endowed, his understanding ought also to be kept alive by association, and that truth being the food of the mind, it should be transmitted to him socially, that is to say, by teaching. If man had not sinned, God alone would have been his preceptor, his master ; man, having separated himself from God by sin, has remained opposite to the man who was primitively instructed by God, but who was capable of forgetting that which God had said to him and of corrupting himself. From thence arise superstitions — adulterated vestiges of truth ; from thence philosophy, the eifortof man to arrive at truth ; from thence the need of a teaching Church, to transmit and perpetuate truth, when God was willing to pardon and restore mankind ; but of suspension of the definitive organization of that Church, to the end that man might feel iumself fallen, powerless, and miserable. At present, gentlemen, this Catholic Church, which has accomplished the work which was impossible lor men to achieve ; this Church combats those who have weakened her. and would willingly destroy her. Stripped of the ex- ternal ornaments which she held from men, bound by them as an inconvenient and dangerous power, insulted in her apparent weakness, she resembles a giant whom chil- dren have bound round with little bands, endeavoring to make him fall. She defends herself by her mass ; mole sua stat, and her immobility, of itself, is a victory. Tran- quil, because she bears within her bosom an immortal promise and the spirit of God, she is anxious only about humanity, which is able, more or less, to associate its own destinies with the grandeur of hers. Do not deceive your- selves on this matter, gentlemen. There has been but one question in the world during six thousand years, that of 32 knowing whether Christian truth would be vanquished in it or become victorious: it was vanquished up to the coming of Jesus Christ ; it has been victorious since Jesus Christ, and victorious by the Catholic Church, based upon the stone which Jesus Christ laid. It is, then, for the over- throw of the Catholic Church that fallen nature conspires ; but the Church is no other thing than humanity renovated, vivified by faith, guided by charity, enlightened by the spirit of God. The combat is, then, in the very core of human nature, bet.ween the humanism of the senses and the humanism of the mind. The humanism of the senses z;^ manifested itself in antiquity during four thousand years; the humanism of the mind has manifested itself in modern times during eigliteen centuries : which of these do you prefer ? This is the question. To hope tliat the nobler part of humanity will triumph without the Church, after having destroyed the Church, is to hope for an effect with- out its cause — is to destroy the foundations of an edifice in order to sustain and enlarge it. It is often said that the past is at war with the future, and this is true. The old world is at war with the new : and what is the new world, if it is not that which has produced the Church? What is the old world, save that which was without a Church ? As the Christian is the Them man, according to the language of the Holy Scriptures, so the Catholic Church is the new Tiumanity. Whoever attacks it invokes the past ; whoever defends it appeals to the future. I know that many wait for a new revelation more perfect than that of Christ, a new Church more perfect that that founded by Christ, a new humanity more perfect than that formed by the Church. But where is the new Christ, where is the new Church, where is the new humanity, and what do we see around us save the old passions, the ancient selfishness, so much the more hideous because it rears its head in the midst of a society which charity has founded ? Ah ! S3 gentleme :^ when the Church appeared upon earth she did not thua announce hereelf. She edified without ruinin* an_vthing; you ruin without edifying anything. But I trespass on your time. Be, then, men of hope and desire ; and you who are more advanced, who appreciate at then- just value the powerless efforts of this age, and who know that the tomb of tlie Church will be the tomb of the civilized world, entertain more ardent faith and charity, de- vote yourselves entirely to that Church out of which there is no salvation in time or in eternity. 2* SECOND CONFERENCE. OF iflE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. My Lokd, Gentlemen, Of all kinds of bondage, the most oppressive, the most fatal in its eflfects, is that of the understandins. Now the understanding is in bondage whenever it is in submission, to individual authorities, and the lot of mankind is such that reason forms itself by instruction, and that all men, without exception, have been ever since the beginning subject to authority. The people, that is to say, the im- mense majority of mankind, remain invincibly bent under the yoke of their early instruction ; and the men who are called enlightened yield at least to the instruction recog- nized by their country and their age. What is man to do to release himself from this servitude ? What resource has he by which to emancipate his understanding ? There are two of these : either he must think by his own unaided means, or, if it be proved that to exercise thought he stands in need of instruction, if he cannot exercise thought of him- self, because God alone thinks in this manner, there is onlj' salvation for him here below by having an authority which represents the infinite intelligence of God, and which communicates to each man its divine conceptions by di- vinely-established teaching. This authority exists, and we have seen that a sign is given by which we may recognize It : the sign of uuiversalitj'. "We must now probe mors profouudly the nature of this authority, this liberator of the human understanding : we must see what is its con- stitution, the constitution which it has received from God for perpetual existence. Now, every kind of authority is composed, primarily, of a hierarchy, that is to say, of a body of men co-ordain- ed to act for the same end ; secondarily, of a power of which that hierarchy is the depositary, and which it exer- cises at will. The subject of this discourse will, then, be the development of the Catholic Church in her hierarchy, and in the power which is confided to it. Truth being the chief good — we may say the only good — of men, and as no man ought to be deprived of this good, without which there is no other, it follows that it was of the highest importance that God should render his Church universal, in order to enable her, like the light of the sun, to enlighten every man coming into the world. Therefore our Saviour commenced by found- ing an apostolate, that is to say by choosing a certain number of men who were to be sent into the whole world. The heathens had shut up sacerdotal knowledge in their temples; a few strangers only who came from afar to inter- rogate them were admitted into the sanctuary. The phi- losophers confined their teaching to the interior of the schools ; they distributed it in gardens and under porticos surrounded by the distinctions of friends and their ap- plause. It was not thus that Jesus Christ gave himself to his work : he did not say to the depositaries of his uncreat- ed Word — to his apostles — " You will wait until some one conies to ask you for tlie truth." He di«l not say to them, '■ Go, and promenade in gardens, and under th-e porticos;" but he said to them, " Oo, cmd teaeh all nations.'''' ' Fear not the diificulties of languages, neither the differences of > St. Matthew, ch. £8, v. 19. 36 iiustoms, nor tlie temporal powere ; half, not to examine the courses of rivers or the direction of mountains — go straight before you : go, as travels the thunderbolt of him who sends you, like the creating word which brought life into chaos, like the eagles and the angels. And who were the first apostles whom he chose ? Ton might have seen, gentlemen, experiments of apostle- ship in times near to us, men who, after a century of de- struction, found it fit and excellent to build up again. Where did they choose their apostles ? In the higher ranks of society : they invited to themselves the learned, the ingenious, the high functionaries of state. Jesus Christ did not thus act : the work was the deliverance of the hu- man race fi-om error ; he chose his apostles not from among the oppressors of the underatanding, but from among the oppressed — not from the ranks of philosophers and learned men, but from the poor and simple-minded. One day, as he walked on the bordei-s of a lake in Galilee, he saw two fishermen, and he said to them, " FoUow me : I will make you fishers of men.'''' ' And such were the first liberators of the human underetanding. The apostolate being founded as the parent stock of the episcopate, the universe was readily comprehended in its many parts : all these men separated to diffuse the Gos- pel under the four winds of heaven. The Church, how- evei-, had not yet all the elements necessary to univer- sality, for who could keep in one single association, in one single doctrine, all the dispersed apostles? Who could hinder p9,rticular Churches fi-om becoming in time diversified and opposed to each other? Who was to put them in communication with each other? There is no" universality without unity. A centre was necessary to the apostolate, an unique chief of the apostles, and the bishops their successors. This idea was even more bold • St. Matthew, ch. 4, v. 10. uiid more original tliau tliat of the apostolate. What! an miique chief for the whole world ! What ! place upon the head of a single nian an authority against which all the princes of the earth might one day league theuiselves ! Constitute unity upon one head, which a sword-cut might make to fall ! This was bold, original, impossible, yet, however, it is s(;. Not far from the place where the rul- era of the ancient world sat by the force of arms, an old man sits whose voice commands and is respected not only within the limits of the largest human empire which has ever existed, but within and beyond the limits of all the seas. He has traversed not one century only, but eigh- teen hundred years. He has witnessed the rising up against him of schisms, heresies, kings and republics, and he rests secure upon the monument which creates his power, having only for his guard that short saying, " Thou art Pet&r, and upon that rock Twill huild my OhurGh." The Chuj'ch, however, was not yet complete. If all her ministers had been bishops under a single supreme pontiff, the bonds of unity would have been easily broken, on account of the too great dignity and independence with which each minister would have been invested. Jesus Christ, therefore, instituted the presbytery, which should, under the authority of bishops, spread the Gospel, offer the Sacrifice, and administer some of the sacraments ; and afterwards the deacons, to aid the priests in their min istration. The vicar of Jesus Christ was to exercise jurisdiction to bind and loose in every part of the world ; he alone could appoint bishops and assign to them a disti'ict and a flock. The bishops were to have jurisdiction to bind and loose within their respective provinces, and to assign to the priests under them a district and a flock. The priests were to communicate directly and habitually with the faithful laity, to offer up for them the holy Sacrifice, to 38 administer the Sacrainents, save those of Cuiitirination and Orders, and to publish the "Word of God. The deei Eions in matters of faith, the regulations with regard to general discipline (the government of the Church), were to ap]3ertain only to the sovereign pontiff and the bishops. The Church thus constituted possessed the unity of a monarchy, the expansive action of a democracy, and be- tween these the constitution of a powerful aristocracy, thus uniting in its centre all the elements of power : the unity which co-ordains, the action which spreads, and the moderation which keeps unity from being absolute, and action from being independent — a perfect economy which no government has ever possessed, because in all human governments the three elements of power have always sought to destroy each other from the passions of men. God alone, by His Son. has accomplished this chef-fVceuvre. Such, gentlemen, is the hierarchy which was founded to secure forever the destinies of truth. But in expos- ing to you its principles of action I have only performed a part of my task. In effect, what is a hierarchy ? It is composed of men. And what are men without power ? What is the human race itself if it is disarmed? It is needful, tiien, for the Ciiurch to possess a power in addi- tion to tiie hierarchy. Xow, tliere are only two kinds of power : strength or force which kills the body, and persua- sion which kills the soul, in order to put another into its place. Which of these, the power which' kills the body, or that which kills the soul by changing it, was given to the Church of God ? One day, in an Eastern town, some men were at prayer in a chamber, where they waited for something which had been promised to them. On a sudden a voice came from heaven, like a rushing wind, which filled the whole house wliere they were. Tongues of fire appeared upon their heads; and filled with the spirit of God, they began tn 39 speak all the languages which were spuken under heaven, and one named Peter stood up and spoke thus to tho multitude: "Men of the Jews, listen ; these men are not drunken, as you suppose, ixit this is the aGoomplishment of the saying of the prophet : The spirit of God shall he poured out upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.'''' ' The power which God gave to his Church was then the power of his Spirit. But this power is invisible ; and God, who creates everything in harmony, owed to his Church, existing in time, and or- dained for it, a power suitable for time, that is to say, per- suasion or force ; since in this world man can only be at- tained by this double action. Which of these, then, has he given to her? Is it persuasion or force? It is not force. "When Jesus Christ was attacked in the Garden of Olives a disciple drew the sword, and the Saviour said to him, '■^ Puthaok thy sioord into its sheath, for he who smites with the sword shall perish iy the sword."' And when he dispei'sed his apostles to preach he said to them, '^I send you forth as sheep among wolves ; he ye prudent as serpents and harmless as doves."' Yon see, gentlemen, we are not armed like warriors, but like lambs and doves: prudence only is recommended to us, because no one is entitled to act without it among men. The only vengeance which is permitted to us by the Gospel is to shake off the dust of our feet : ''Exoutite pulverem de pedihus vestris."' The dust — that which of all things is most feeble, most inoffensive ; that which here below is nearest to annihilation ! This is all which is permitted to us : to shake a little dust upon the world. The power of persuasion is, then, the power which was given to us. But how 1 ' Acts, eh. 2, V. 14 and following. ' St. Matthew, eh. 36, v. 53. •St. Matthew.ch. 10, ^. 16. 'St. Matthew, eh. 10, v. U. 40 Persuasion reposes firet npon rearuii. The Church should, then, possess the highest reason which exists under heaven. She should be the highest metaphysical author- ity, the highest historical authority, the highest moral anthoritj', and the highest social authority. The highest metaphysical authority : in this sense, that upon all the mysteries of which the destinies of humanity are composed — mystei-ies which she does not create, but which she explains — she possesses the most rational, the most elevated solutions, before which those proposed by religions and philosophical doctrines in divers times can- not keep their ground. To demonstrate this will occupy much time ; this demonstration is the very object of our Conferences, and will result from tlieir development. The highest historical authority : the future is an ob- scure spot, in which all defects maj* be hidden for a day ; but the past belongs only to those who really possess it, and no one, however great his genius may be, whatevei power he may wield, is able to create rights of naturaliza- tion for himself in the past, if he has not been borne along in its inaccessible depths. Now, nothing like the Church existed there. The Cimrch is the past of humanity — she is history itself When you wish to establish anything outside her pale, you are compelled to commence with yourselves, M'ith your own dust, and say, "Behold the truth, which commences in me !" This pretension hu- manity will never recognize. This character of noveltv is that of the Christian sects, and it is the deeiee which condemns them. Yesterday, to-day, in a thousand years, if they exist so long, men will be able to say to him -who founded them, '• On such a day, at such an hour, you were at Witte;nberg ; you appeared in the public square in the costume of a monk ; you held in your hand a bull of your pontiff, and yon threw it into a pile ! But humanity preceded you by twenty centuries; it was too 41 late !" Thus, when men say to us, to us of antiquity " Tou would do well to make yourselves a little newer,' it is just as if they had told a king of France to go to St. Denis and gather together the bones of his ancestors and throw them into the Seine, to the end that the sepulchre be whiter when he descends into it. It is easy to under- stand that this historical authority is our strength and our glory, and it is on this account that it is disputed with so much animosity — men waste all their energies in building up against us fabulous chronologies. It is easy to make figures, but man cannot make days ; and when he has tired himself with inventing lying origins, he sud- denly, on a stone or strip of paper grown old, meets with that which is sufficient to drive his inventions to the winds. We, on the contrary, have our traditions, our book, and for witness to that tradition, for guardian to that book, an eternal race. There are some Jews in this assembly — everywhere is seen that man whom popular phraseology has called the Wandering Jew. The priest cannot speak anywhere without raising up an eternal man, a Jew who stands up to say, " Yes, it is true ; I was there." The highest moral authority : for the Church is chaste, she engenders chastity, and there is no morality without chastity. It is chastity which makes families, royal races, genius, enduring and powerful nations. Wherever that virtue exists not there is only corruption in a tomb. Ah ! if there are any here who are not my brethren by faith — I desire but to appeal to their consciences — I shall ask them, Are you chaste ? How should you believe if you are not chaste ? Chastity is the elder sister of Truth; be chaste for a year and I answer for you before God. It is be- cause we possess this virtue that we are strong, and those who attack ecclesiastical celibacy, that halo of the Chris- tian priesthood, know well what they are doing. Hereti- cal sects have abolished it among themselves; it is the 42 thermometer of heresy : at each degree of error corres- ponds a degree if not of contempt for, at least of diminu- tion of, tliis celestial virtue. Finally, the highest social authority : society is impossi- ble if it be not founded upon respect for authority by the people, and for tlie people by the authority. Well, then, the Catholic Cluii-ch carries the respect of the people for authority to its liighest degree ; she changes the master into a father, so that if the fatlier eri-s, the children, like those of tlie patriarch, cover his faults with the mantle of their respect. At the same time she instils into the hearts of sovereigns that respect so delicate, so precious in the eyes of their people. In their palaces, and in the m.idst of their pomp, she causes them to practice tliat say- ing of the Gospel, '' He who icoidd ie greatest among you l