follies of youth do not prevent a man from being honest. Ask the greedy merchant who manufactures goods of an inferior quality, and sells them for those of the first quality; ask the workman who is paid by the day, yet works only half the time; ask the employer who profits by the difficulty of the times to over-work his men, and deprive them of their necessary rest on Sundays; ask them all whether such injustice hinders them from being honest people. Every one will answer without hesitation that he is an honest man. Ask also the spendthrift whether his prodigality destroys honesty; ask that old man whether his sordid avarice, or that inebriate whether his passion for drink, deprives him of the title of an honest man. Each one will make an exception in behalf of his favorite vice, and proclaim himself a perfectly honest man. Therefore, even on the admission of the honest men we speak of, a debauchee, a deceitful and unjust man, a drunkard, a miser, a usurer, a prodigal, may be an honest man, and no one must deny him that character, if he has not stolen money or committed murder! Is not this very convenient morality! Whoever has not been condemned by the criminal courts, will have no account to give to God! It is not the heart then, we are to examine in order to judge of people, but the forehead or the shoulders, to see whether they have been branded with a hot iron. Every one that has not been an inmate of the penitentiary, is fit for heaven! What kind of religion is this? Can yon advocate a religion that allows every thing except robbery and assassination? 2. Perhaps you will say: by an honest man, I mean one who fulfils all his duties, who avoids evil and does good. But, I assure you, that if you find a man who does this without the powerful aid of religion, he is the eighth wonder of the world. You will not make me believe that you have no passions; every man has some, and oftentimes many. If then you are inclined to immorality, to intemperance, to sensuality, who will restrain you? If you are prone to anger, to sloth, to pride, who will govern those passions? Who will hold your arm? who will stop your tongue? The fear of God! But that is out of the question in the religion of the honest man. The voice of reason! But every one knows how little power reason has over a violent passion. What then? There is nothing else but the fear of the police, brutal force. But then what sort of religion is that! ..... The Christian religion alone furnishes effectual remedies against our passions, and enables us to curb their fury. Unless you pretend that man cannot do wrong, that he is an angel, you must admit that without the powerful assistance furnished by Christianity, we cannot be always faithful to the great duties, the performance of which constitutes the truly honest man. Without Christianity we are particularly unable to discharge them with that upright intention in which their moral beauty consists. Human weakness, from which you claim to be free, is so great that the most virtuous Christians sometimes fail in the accomplishment of their duties, in spite of the superhuman force which they draw from faith. And you, deprived of that all-powerful check, abandoned to the inclinations of nature, exposed to the thousand dangers of the world, you pretend to be ever faithful. I confidently maintain, that he who is not a Christian, and says that he is an honest man in the sense explained above, either deceives himself in the grossest manner, or else lies to his own conscience. 3. But I go farther. Even should I see you fulfil all the duties of a citizen, of a father, of a husband, of a son, of a friend, in a word, all the duties which mark the honest man according to the world, I would still tell you, it is not sufficient. No, that is not sufficient. Why? Because there is a God in heaven who has created you, who preserves you, who destines you for His kingdom, who imposes a law upon you. Because you have duties to discharge towards that great God; the duties of adoration, of thanksgiving, of prayer; duties which are as necessary, as strict as, and even more essential, more imprescriptible than your obligations towards your fellow-men. These latter duties might cease if you were separated from the rest of men, whilst those towards God must always and everywhere subsist. In any place, at any time, you are bound to believe in God, to love him, to adore him, to pray to him. Can an ungrateful man say to himself: I am good; my conscience does not reproach me? Certainly not. Well, you are ungrateful, all you who forget Almighty God! He is your father, you owe to Him your life, intelligence, moral dignity, health, fortune, every thing; He created the world for you, for your utility, for your pleasure. He is preparing for you in heaven an infinite beatitude. He forgives you, blesses you, loves you, waits for you!... What do you give Him in return? What homage, what respect, what love? You allege the flimsy pretexts invented by His enemies in order to justify your indifference for His service. Perhaps you have only sneers, hatred and contempt for everything connected with His worship. You do not pray to Him. You do not adore Him. You do not thank Him. Faith in His word, and the practice of His law are the objectr of your impious jests. Ungrateful being! And there is nothing you can reproach yourself with? And you discharge all your duties? Be undeceived. Do not cherish such an illusion any longer. Avow frankly that you are wrong. Acknowledge that the yoke of religious duty, and the desire to get rid of it with some show of decency, led to the invention of the honest man's religion. Not only is it insufficient, but, to tell the truth, it is merely a high sounding word, that has no meaning. Its only object is to palliate, in the eyes of the world and in our own eyes, irregularities and crimes for which the practice of Christianity alone is a remedy. ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF THE POPE. TO OUR WELL BELOVED SONS, THE CARDINALS, AND OUR VENERABLE BROTHERS, THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF FRANCE. PIUS PP. IX. Well beloved Sons and Venerable Brethren, health and apostolic benediction: In the midst of the multiplied sorrows with which we are overwhelmed in our care of all the churches which, notwithstanding our unworthiness, have been by the impenetrable design of Divine Providence confided to us, and in times of diffi culty when the number is but too large of those concerning whom the Apostle says: "They will not endure sound doctrine, but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, and will turn away their hearing from the truth," "and seducers shall grow worse and worse, erring and driving into error,”* we experience the greatest joy when we turn our eyes and our mind towards that French nation which has been rendered illustrious by so many great names, and which has deserved so well of us. It is with supreme consolation for our paternal heart that we see in that nation, by the grace of God, the Catholic religion and its *II Timothy, ch. iv, v. 3, 4; ch. iii, v. 13 saving doctrine increasing day by day, flourishing and prevailing, and with what care and zeal you, beloved sons and venerable brethren, called to participate in our solicitude, endeavor to fulfil your ministry, and to watch over the safety and salvation of the precious flock entrusted to your charge. This consolation is still more singularly augmented by the letters, so marked by respect, which you send us, and which tend to make us more and more acquainted with what filial piety, with what love, and with what ardor you glory in being devoted to us and to the chair of Peter, the centre of Catholic truth and unity, head, mother, and mistress* of all Churches, to which all obedience and honor are due,† which, on account of its primacy, every Church, or, in other words, all the believers that exist on every point of the world must join.‡ We do not feel less satisfaction in learning that you, always calling to mind your grave episcopal functions and your duties, display all your pastoral care and vigilance to have the clergy of your diocesses advancing each day more worthily in the path of their vocation, giving to the people an example of every virtue, and accomplishing carefully the charges of their ministry, in order that the faithful who are confided to your care, being constantly nourished more abundantly with the words of faith, and confirmed by the plenitude of grace, may increase in the knowledge of God and be strengthened in the course which leads to life, and in order that they who unfortunately err may return to the path of salvation. We are aware-and this is likewise a sweet consolation to our heartwith what eagerness, attending to our wishes and advice you hold provincial councils, in order to guard intact and pure in your diocesses the deposit of the faith, in order to hand down sound doctrine, to augment the honor of divine worship, to strengthen the institution and discipline of the clergy, and to encourage everywhere by a happy progress propriety of behaviour, virtue, religion, and piety. We feel also a lively joy at seeing that in a great number of your diocesses, where particular circumstances do not prevent it, the liturgy of the Roman Church has been reestablished, according to our wish, thanks to your ready zeal. That re-establishment has been so much the more agreeable to us as we were aware that in many diocesses in France, on account of the vicissitudes of the times, the sage prescription of our holy predecessor, Pius V, in his apostolic letters of the 7th of the Ides of July, 1568, commencing with the words Quod a vobis postulat, had not been observed. But in reminding you of all these things, to the great happiness of our mind and the praise of your order, well beloved sons and venerable brethren, we cannot however dissemble the great grief which overwhelms us at the present moment, when we behold what dissensions the old enemy endeavors to excite amongst you to shake and weaken the concord of your minds. This is why, in in fulfilment of the duty of our apostolic ministry, and with that profound charity which we have for you and for this faithful people, we write you these letters in which we address ourselves to you, well beloved sons and venerable brethren, and at the same time warn you, exhort you, and supplicate you, to oppose, with the virtue which distinguishes you, and to cause the entire disappearance of all dissensions which this old enemy endeavors to excite, approaching in the bonds of charity, and endeavoring with all humility and meekness to preserve in all things unity of spirit in the bond of peace. By this wisdom you will show that each of you knows how much the sacerdotal and faithful concord of minds, wills, and feelings is necessary for the prosperity of the Church and the eternal salvation of men. if it were ever necessary to keep up among you that concord of minds and of wills, it is particularly so now when, by the will of our very dear son in Jesus Christ, Napoleon, emperor of the French, and by the care of his government, the Catholic Church, tranquil and protected, enjoys with you entire peace. This happy state of things in that empire, and the condition of the times, should excite you yet more warmly, to unite yourselves in the same spirit of conduct and in the same means in order that the divine religion of Jesus Christ, its doctrine, purity of morals and piety, should strike deep root in France, the youth should there more readily find a better and purer education, and that a stop may be thereby put to the hostile - attempts which have already manifested themselves through the proceedings of those *S. Cyprian, Epist. 45. S. August. Epist. 162; et alii. Concil. Ephes. Act iv. St. Irenæus adversus Hæreses, cap. iii. And who were, and still are, the constant enemies of the Church, and of Jesus Christ. This, well beloved sons and venerable brethren, we ask of you more and more, and with all possible earnestness, that in the cause of the Church, in the defence of its holy doctrine, and of its liberty, and in the accomplishment of all the other duties of your episcopal charge, you should have nothing more at heart than to show a perfect union amongst you; than to be united in the same ideas and the same feelings, consulting us in all confidence, us and this Apostolic See, on questions of every kind which may arise, in order to prevent any kind of dissension. And, above all, comprehend how far a good direction of the clergy interests the prosperity of religion and of society in order that you may never cease, in perfect union of minds, to devote all your care and your reflections to an affair of such gravity and great importance. Continue, as you have hitherto done, to spare no pains to have the young men intended for the Church formed early in your religious seminaries to every virtue, piety, and to an ecclesiastical spirit, in order that they may grow in humility, without which we can never please God, and may be so profoundly learned in human literature and the severer studies, particularly in what relates to sacred matters, that they may, without being exposed to any peril or error, not only learn the art of speaking eloquently and writing elegantly, by studying either the so excellent works of the Holy Fathers, or the writings of the most celebrated pagan writers when subjected to a most careful expurgation, but still more, aspire to the perfect and solid knowledge of theological doctrine, of ecclesiastical history, and of the sacred canons, as shown forth in the authors approved of by the Holy See. Thus, that illustrious clergy of France, amongst whom are to be remarked so many men distinguished by their genius, piety, knowledge, ecclesiastical spirit, and respectful submission to the Apostolical See, will abound more and more in courageous and skillful laborers, who, adorned with every virtue, and strengthened by the help of a saving knowledge, will be able, in the course of time, to aid you in tilling the vineyard of the Lord, in replying to opponents, and in not only strengthening the faithful believers of France in our most holy religion, but in propagating that religion by sacred missions amongst distant and infidel nations, as that same clergy has heretofore done, to the great glory of its name, the advantage of religion, and the salvation of souls. You are, as we are, penetrated with sorrow at the sight of so many books, tracts, pamphlets, and empoisoned journals, which are incessantly and malignantly scattered in all parts by the enemy of God and man, to corrupt morals, overthrow the foundations of faith, and ruin the dogmas of our most holy religion. Never cease, then, dearly beloved sons and venerable brethren, to employ all your solicitude and all your episcopal vigilance to remove unanimously, and with the greatest zeal, the flock confided to your care from such pestilential pastures. Never cease to instruct and defend it; to fortify it against the mass of errors by warnings, and by opportune salutary publications. And here we cannot refrain from reminding you of the advice and counsels by which four years ago we ardently excited the bishops of all the Catholic Universe to neglect nothing in order to induce men remarkable for talent and sound doctrine to publish writings calculated to promote enlightenment, and to dissipate the darkness of the prevailing errors. For that reason, while endeavoring to keep from the faithful committed to your charge the mortal poison of bad books and bad journals, be pleased, we earnestly beg of you, to extend all your benevolence and all your favor to the men who, animated by the Catholic spirit and versed in literature and science, devote their time to writing and publishing books and journals to propagate and defend Catholic doctrine, to cause the rights worthy of all veneration of this Holy See and its acts to have all their force, opinions and sentiments contrary to the Holy See and its authority to disappear, the obscurity of errors to be dispelled, and the understanding to be illumined with the soft light of truth. Your charity and episcopal solicitude should then excite the ardor of those Catholic writers who are animated with a good spirit, in order that they may continue to defend the cause of Catholic truth with attention and with knowledge; and if in their writings it happen to them to fail in any respect, you should warn them with paternal words and with prudence. Moreover, your wisdom is not ignorant that the bitterest enemies of the Catholic religion have always directed, though vainly, the most violent attacks against this chair of the blessed Prince of the Apostles, knowing full well that religion itself can never fall, or totter, so long as this chair, founded on a rock, shall remain standing, for the proud gates of hell cannot prevail against it, and in it is, entire and perfect, the solidity of the Christian religion.* Hence it is, dearly beloved sons and venerable brethren, that we ask from you with all our power, in conformity with the greatness of your faith in the Church, and the ardor of your piety for the chair of Peter, never to cease to apply, with one heart, one mind, all your care, all your vigilance, and all your labors to this particular point; so that the faithful people of France, avoiding the errors and snares which are spread for them by perfidious men, may make it their glory to adhere firmly and with constancy to this Apostolic See by a love and devotedness every day more filial, and may obey it, as is right, with the greatest respect. In all the ardor of your episcopal vigilance, therefore neglect nothing, either in action or in words, to redouble more and more the love and veneration of the faithful of the Holy See, and that they may receive and accomplish with the most perfect obedience all that the Holy See teaches, lays down as rule, and decrees. And here we cannot avoid expressing to you the great grief which we felt when, among other dangerous writings, lately published in France, there reached us a work entitled, "Sur la situation presente de l'Eglise Gallicane relativement au droit coutumier," the author of which contradicts in the most manifest manner what we recommend to you, and what we inculcate with so much solicitude. We have sent this work to our Congregation of the Index, in order that it may reprove and condemn it. Before terminating this letter, well beloved sons and venerable brethren, we express to you again how desirous we are that you should reject all those discussions and controversies which you know disturb peace, wound charity and furnish the enemies of the Church with the arms with which they combat and torment it. Above all, have at heart the preservation of peace among yourselves and with all, calling seriously to mind that you fulfil a mission in the name of Him who is not a God of dissension, but a God of peace, and who has never ceased to recommend and inculcate peace to His disciples, and to place it above all other considerations. In truth, Christ, as you all know "has placed all the gifts and rewards of His promise in the preservation of peace. If we are the heirs of Christ, let us live in the peace of Christ; if we are the children of God, we must be pacific, of mild hearts, simple in speech, united in affection, and faithful, attached to each other in the bonds of concord."+ The conviction and assurance that we have of your virtue, your religion, and your piety, do not permit us, well-beloved sons and venerable brethren, to doubt of your hearty acquiescence in the paternal advice, the desire, and the demands that we address to you, or that you will destroy to the root all the germs of dissension, and thus render our joy complete, bearing with each other in charity and patience, united and laboring in concert for the faith of the Gospel, continuing with increased zeal as the sentinels of the flocks confided to your solicitude, and accomplishing the functions of your charge up to the consummation of the saints in the edification of the body of Jesus Christ. Be well persuaded that nothing will be more agreeable to us than to do all in our power for your advantage and that of the faithful. Nevertheless, in the humility of our heart, we pray God to bestow upon you continually with favor the abundance of His celestial grace, and to bless your labors and cares as pastors, in order that the faithful confided to your vigilance may walk more and more in the path that is agreeable to God, in all things fructifying daily in all good works. With the presage of this divine protection, and in testimony of the ardent charity with which we embrace you in the Lord, we give you, with affection and from the bottom of our heart, the apostolic benediction-to you, our dear sons and venerable brethren, and to all the clergy and faithful laity of your churches. Given at Rome, the 21st of March, of the year 1853, and of our Pontificate the seventh. PIUS PP. IX. *Let. Synod. Johah. Constant. ad Hormisdam Pont. |