THE UNIVERSAL PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION IMPEDED BY PROTESTANTISM.
In the rapid sketch which I have just given, my intention has not been
to write the history of the religious orders; this did not form part
of my design. I am satisfied with having offered a series of remarks
which, by showing the importance of these institutions, were calculated
to vindicate Catholicity from the accusations made against her on
account of the protection which she has at all times afforded them. How
could a comparison be made between Catholicity and Protestantism in
their relations with the civilization of Europe, without devoting a few
pages to the examination of the influence which these institutions have
exercised on civilization? Now, if it is once shown that this influence
was salutary, Protestantism, which has persecuted and calumniated
these religious institutions with so much hatred and rancor, remains
convicted of having done violence to the history of our civilization,
of having mistaken its spirit, and still more of having aimed a blow at
the legitimate development of that civilization itself.
These reflections naturally lead me to point out another fault
which Protestantism has committed. When breaking the unity of
European civilization, it introduced discord into the bosom of that
civilization, and weakened the physical and moral action which it
exercised on the rest of the world. Europe was apparently destined to
civilize the whole world. The superiority of her intelligence, the
preponderance of her strength, the superabundance of her population,
her enterprising and valiant character, her transports of generosity
and heroism, her communicating and propagating spirit, seemed to call
her to diffuse her ideas, feelings, laws, manners, and institutions to
the four quarters of the universe. How does it happen that she has not
realized this destiny? How does it happen that barbarism is still found
at her gates, and that Islamism still maintains itself in one of the
finest climates and countries of Europe? Asia, with her want of moving
power, weakness, despotism, and degradation of women; Asia, with all
the disgraces of humanity, lies under our eyes; and scarcely have we
done any thing which gives reason to hope that she will emerge from her
degraded state. Asia Minor, the coasts of Palestine, Egypt, and the
whole of Africa, are before us in a deplorable condition--a degradation
which excites pity, and forms a melancholy contrast with the great
recollections of history. America, after four centuries of incessant
communication with us, is still so much behindhand that a great part
of her intellectual powers and the resources with which nature has
furnished her, remain until this day to be improved. How does it happen
that Europe, full of life, rich in means of all kinds, overflowing
with vigor and energy, has remained within the narrow limits in which
she still is? If we pay deep attention to this melancholy phenomenon,
a phenomenon with which it is very strange that the philosophy of
history has not occupied itself, we shall find the cause. The entire
cause thereof is the want of unity; her external action has been
without concert, and consequently without efficacy. Men constantly
vaunt the utility of association; they point out how necessary it
is to obtain grand results, and they do not dream that because this
principle applies to nations as well as to individuals, nations, like
individuals, cannot accomplish great works, without conforming to
this general law. When an assemblage of nations of the same origin,
and subject for many ages to the same influence, have reached the
development of their civilization under the guidance and control of a
common idea, among them association becomes a real necessity; they form
a family of brothers; now, among brothers, division and discord have
worse results than among strangers.
I do not pretend to say that the nations of Europe could have
attained to so perfect a concord, that perpetual peace would have
been established among them, and that perfect harmony would have
eventually presided over all their undertakings with respect to the
other countries of the globe; but without giving way to beautiful
illusions, the reality whereof is beyond the bounds of possibility, we
may nevertheless, and without hazard of contradiction, say, that, in
spite of particular differences between nation and nation, in spite of
the greater or less degree of opposition between external and internal
interests, Europe could have kept and perpetuated in her own breast
a civilizing idea which, raising itself above all the misery and
littleness of human passions, would have placed her in a condition to
acquire a greater ascendency and a stronger and more useful influence
over the other nations of the world. Amid the interminable series of
wars and calamities which afflicted Europe during the fluctuations
of the barbarous nations, this unity of thought existed; and it was
owing to it that order in the end came out of confusion, and that
light conquered darkness. In the long struggle of Christianity against
Islamism, whether in Europe, Asia, or Africa, this same unity of
thought enabled Christian civilization to triumph, in spite of the
rivalries of kings and the excesses of the people. While this unity
existed, Europe preserved a transforming power which made all that it
touched become European sooner or later.
The heart is grieved at the sight of the disastrous event which broke
this precious unity, by diverting the course of our civilization and
destroying its fertilizing power. One can hardly observe without pain,
not to say without anger, that the appearance of Protestantism was
exactly coincident with the critical moment when the nations of Europe,
about at length to reap the fruits of long ages of continued labor
and unheard-of efforts, appeared to the world full of vigor, energy,
and splendor. Putting forth gigantic strength, they discovered new
worlds, and placed one hand on the East and the other on the West.
Vasco de Gama had doubled the Cape of Good Hope, he had showed the way
to the East Indies, and opened communication with unknown nations.
Christopher Columbus, with the fleet of Isabella, ploughed the Western
seas, discovered a new world, and planted the standard of Castile in
unheard-of lands. Ferdinand Cortez, at the head of a handful of brave
men, penetrated to the heart of the new continent, and took possession
of its capital; his arms, which the natives had not yet seen, made him
appear like a God launching his lightnings. Europe everywhere displayed
extreme activity; a spirit of enterprise was developed in all hearts;
the hour had come when the nations of Europe were about to see open
before them a new horizon of power and grandeur, the limits whereof
were invisible to the eye. Magellan discovered the strait which united
the east and west; and Sebastian d'Elcano, returning to the Spanish
coasts, after having made the tour of the world, seemed to be the
sublime personification of European civilization taking possession of
the universe. At one extremity of Europe, the crescent still shows
itself powerful and threatening, like a dark figure appearing in the
corner of a splendid picture: but fear nothing; its armies have been
driven from Granada, the Christian host is encamped on the coast of
Africa, the standard of Castile floats on the walls of Oran, and in
the heart of Spain grows up in silence the wonderful child, who, when
he has but just laid aside the playthings of his age, will frustrate
the last efforts of the Moors of that country by the triumphs of
Alpujarres, and shortly after will break the Mussulman power for ever
on the waves of Lepanto.
The development of mind kept pace with the increase of power. Erasmus
examined all the sources of knowledge, astonished the world by his
talents and his learning, and spread his fame in triumph from one
end of Europe to the other. The distinguished Spaniard, Louis Vives,
rivalled the _savant_ of Rotterdam, and undertook nothing less than to
regenerate the sciences, and give a new direction to the human mind. In
Italy, the schools of philosophy were in a state of fermentation, and
they seized with avidity the new lights brought from Constantinople.
In the same country, the genius of Dante and Petrarch was continued
in their illustrious successors; the land of Tasso resounded with his
accents like the nightingale announcing the coming of the dawn; while
Spain, intoxicated with her triumphs, and transported with pride at
the sight of her conquests, sang like a soldier who, after victory,
reposes on a heap of trophies. What could resist such superiority, such
brilliant display, such great power? Europe, already secure against all
her enemies, enjoying a prosperity which must every day increase, put
in possession of laws and institutions better than any which had before
been seen, and whereof the completion and perfection could not fail to
come with the slow progress of time: Europe, we say, in a condition so
prosperous, replete with noble hopes, was about to commence the work
of civilizing the world. Even the discoveries which were every day
made, indicated that the happy moment had arrived. Fleets transported,
together with warriors, apostolic missionaries, whose hands were
about to scatter in the new countries the precious seed, whence, in
the progress of time, was to grow up the tree under whose shadow new
nations were to find shelter. Thus was the noble work begun, which,
favored by Providence, was about to civilize America, Africa, and Asia.
But the voice of the apostate who was about to cast discord into the
bosoms of fraternal nations already resounded in the heart of Germany.
The dispute begins, minds are excited, the irritation reaches its
height, an appeal is made to arms, blood flows in torrents, and the man
who had been commissioned by hell to scatter this cloud of calamities
over the earth, contemplating before his death the dreadful fruit of
his labors, can insult the sorrows of the human race with a cruel and
impudent smile. Such do we figure to ourselves the genius of evil
leaving his dark abode and his throne in the midst of horrors. He
suddenly appears on the face of the globe, his hand sheds desolation
and tears on all sides; he casts a look over the devastation which he
has made, and then buries himself in eternal darkness.
By extending itself over Europe, the schism of Luther weakened in a
deplorable manner the action of Europeans on the other nations of the
world; the flattering hopes which had been conceived were dissipated
in a moment, and became no more than a golden dream. Henceforth, the
largest part of our intellectual, moral, and physical powers was
condemned to be employed and sadly wasted in a struggle which armed
brethren against brethren. The nations which had preserved Catholicity
were compelled to concentrate all their resources, power, and energy,
in order to make head against the impious attacks which the new
sectaries made upon them by the press or by force of arms. The nations
among whom the contagion of the new errors had been propagated were
thrown into a sort of giddiness; they had no other enemies but the
Catholics, and they considered only one enterprise worthy of their
efforts--the degradation and destruction of the Roman See. Their
thoughts no longer tended towards the invention of means for improving
the lot of the human race; the immense field which had been thrown
open to noble ambition by the recent discoveries, no longer merited
attention; for them there was only one holy work--that of destroying
the authority of the Roman Pontiff.
This condition of men's minds struck with sterility the ascendency over
nations recently discovered or conquered, which naturally belonged to
Europeans. When the nations of Europe simultaneously approached new
regions, they no longer met as brothers or generous rivals, stimulated
by noble ambition; they were exasperated and implacable enemies, men
who differed in religion, and who fought battles against each other
as bloody as those which had formerly been witnessed between the
Christians and the Moors. The name of the Christian religion, which had
been the symbol of peace for so many ages--a name which on the eve of
battle was able to compel adversaries to lay aside their hatred, and
embrace like brothers, instead of tearing each other in pieces like
lions; a name which had served as an ensign to secure their triumph
over Mohammedan legions: this name, now disfigured by sacrilegious
hands, became a type of discord; and after Europe had been covered
with blood and mourning, the scandal was transported to the nations of
the New World. These simple and confiding nations were stricken with
stupefaction on seeing the miseries, the spirit of division, hatred,
and revenge which reigned among the same men upon whom they had just
looked as demigods.
From that time forward, the forces of Europe were not united in any of
those great enterprises which had shed so much glory on previous ages.
The Catholic missionary, watering the Indian or American forests with
his sweat and blood, could reckon on the assistance of the nation to
which he belonged, if that nation remained Catholic; but he could not
hope that all Europe, uniting in the work of God, would come to sustain
the distant missions with her resources; he knew, on the contrary, that
a great many Europeans would calumniate and insult him, and use all
imaginable means to prevent the seed of the gospel from taking root on
the new soil, and increasing the power of the Popes, by adding to the
renown of the Catholic Church.
There was a time when the profanations of the Mussulmen in Jerusalem,
and the injuries inflicted on the pilgrims who visited the Holy
Sepulchre, were sufficient to arouse the indignation of all Christian
nations. They all uttered the cry, _To arms!_ and in crowds they
followed the monk who led them to avenge the outrages against religion
and the pious pilgrims. After the heresy of Luther, all was changed:
the death of a missionary sacrificed in a foreign land, his torments
and martyrdom, sublime scenes in which the zeal and charity of the
first ages of the Church reappeared with all their energy: all this
was devoted to contempt and ridicule by men who called themselves
Christians--the unworthy posterity of the heroes whose blood had flowed
under the walls of Jerusalem.
In order to conceive in its full extent the evil caused by
Protestantism in this respect, let us imagine for a moment that
Protestantism had not appeared; and in this hypothesis, let us make a
few reflections on the probable course of events. In the first place,
all the strength, genius, and resources which Spain employed to make
head in the religious wars excited on the continent, would have been
able to exert themselves in the New World. The same would have been
the case with France, the Low Countries, and England. These nations,
although divided, have been able to furnish brilliant and glorious
pages in history; if their action on the new countries had been united
and concentrated, would they not have exerted a vigor and energy which
would have been irresistible? Imagine all the ports from the Baltic
to the Adriatic sending their missionaries to the East and to the
West, as did France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy; imagine all the great
cities of Europe as so many centres where means for this great object
are collected; imagine all the missionaries guided by the same views,
under the influence of the same thought, and burning with the same zeal
for the propagation of the same faith; wherever they meet, they meet
as brothers, and co-operate in the common cause; all are under the
same authority: do you not imagine that you see the Christian religion
exerting herself on an immense scale, and everywhere gaining the most
signal triumphs? The vessel which bears the apostolic men to distant
regions may fearlessly unfurl her sails; when she discovers the flag of
another country on the horizon, she is under no apprehension of meeting
with enemies; she is sure of finding friends and brothers wherever
there are Europeans.
The Catholic missions, in spite of the obstacles which have been
opposed to them by the turbulent spirit of Protestantism, have
accomplished the most difficult enterprises, and realized prodigies
which form a brilliant page in modern history; but how much nobler
would have been their results, if Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France
had been supported by the whole of Germany, the United Provinces,
England, and other northern nations? This association was natural, and
must have been realized, had not the schism of Luther destroyed it. It
may be observed, moreover, that this fatal event not only placed an
obstacle in the way of universal association, but hindered the Catholic
nations themselves from devoting the greatest part of their resources
to the great work of converting and regenerating the world: they were
compelled to remain continually under arms, on account of religious
wars and civil discords. At this epoch the religious orders were
apparently called to be the arm of religion; by their means religion,
consolidated in Europe and satisfied with the social regeneration which
she had just worked, would have extended her action to the infidel
nations.
When we glance over the course of events during the earliest ages of
the Church, and compare them with those of modern times, we clearly
see that some powerful cause must have interfered in modern times to
oppose the propagation of the faith. Christianity appears, and she
extends herself immediately with rapidity, without any aid on the part
of men, and in spite of all the efforts of princes, sages, priests, the
passions, and of all the stratagems of hell. She is but of yesterday,
and already she is powerful, and prevails in all parts of the empire;
nations differing in language and manners, nations of various degrees
of civilization, abandon the worship of their false gods, and embrace
the religion of Jesus Christ. The barbarians themselves, as intractable
and indomitable as wild horses, listen to the missionaries who are sent
to them, and bow their heads; in the midst of conquest and victory,
they are seen to embrace the religion of those whom they have just
conquered. Christianity in modern times has been in possession of the
exclusive empire of Europe; and yet she has not been able to succeed
in introducing herself again on the coasts of Africa and Asia, which
lie under her eye. It is true, that the greatest part of America is
become Christian; but observe, that the nations of those countries
have been conquered; there the conquering nations have established
those governments which have lasted for ages; the European nations have
inundated the New World with their soldiers and colonies, so that a
considerable portion of America is a kind of importation from Europe;
consequently, the religious transformation of that country does not
resemble that which took place in the early ages of the Church. Turn
towards the West, where European arms have not obtained a decided
preponderance; see what takes place there: the nations are still
under the yoke of false religions. Christianity has not been able
to enlighten them; although the Catholic missions have obtained the
means of founding a few establishments more or less considerable, the
precious seed has not been able to take sufficient root in the soil,
in order to bear the fruits which ardent charity hoped for, and heroic
zeal labored to produce. From time to time, the rays of divine light
have penetrated to the heart of the great empires of Japan and China;
at certain moments flattering hopes might be conceived; but these hopes
have been dissipated, these rays of light have disappeared like a
brilliant meteor amidst the darkness of midnight.
What is the cause of this impotence? whence comes it that the
fertilizing power, after having been so great in the first ages, had
proved so vain in the last? Let us not examine the profound secrets of
Providence, or seek to inquire into the incomprehensible mysteries of
the Divine ways; but as far as it is given to a feeble spirit to learn
the truth by the evidences contained in the history of the Church, as
far as it is allowed us to carry our conjectures on the designs of the
Most High, according to the indications which the Lord himself has been
pleased to communicate to us, let us hazard an opinion on the facts:
although dependent on a superior order, they yet have an ordinary
course, which is regulated by God himself. The apostle St. Paul says
that faith comes from hearing. He asks, how it is possible to hear,
if there is no one who preaches, and how can there be preaching, if
there is no one who sends? Hence, we must conclude that missions are
necessary for the conversion of nations, since God has not thought fit
by constant miracles to send legions of angels from heaven to teach the
nations who are deprived of the light of the earth.
Having laid down this principle, I will say that what was required
for the conversion of infidel nations was the organization of
missions on a large scale. There were required missions which, by
the abundance of their resources and the number of their laborers,
might be in proportion to the greatness of the object. Observe that
the distances are immense, that the nations to whom the divine word
is to be announced are dispersed in many countries, and live under
the influence of laws, prejudices, and climates the most opposite
to the spirit of the Gospel. To make head against such vast wants,
and surmount such great difficulties, there was required a perfect
inundation of missionaries; without whom the result would remain
doubtful, the existence of religious establishments very precarious,
and the conversion of great nations little probable, unless Providence
interfered by one of those prodigies which change the face of the world
in an instant. Now Providence does not renew these prodigies every
moment; sometimes he does not even accord them to the most ardent
supplications of the Saints.
In order to form a complete idea of what took place in the latter
ages, let us pay attention to what exists. What is wanting to infidel
nations? What is the incessant cry of the zealous men who devote
themselves to the propagation of the Gospel? Do we not constantly
hear lamentations on the small number of laborers, and on the scanty
resources which are devoted to the subsistence of the missionaries? Is
not this penury of resources the cause of the associations now formed
among the Catholics of Europe?
The organization of missions on a large scale would have been realized
if Protestantism had not come to prevent it. The nations of Europe,
the privileged children of Providence, had the obligation and showed
a decided will to procure for the other nations of the world, by all
the means in their power, a participation in the benefits of the
faith. Unhappily this faith was weakened in Europe, it was given up to
the caprices of human reason, and henceforth what had before been of
easy execution became impossible. Providence, which had permitted the
deplorable disaster of the schism, permits also to be deferred to a
more remote period the happy day when the benighted nations shall enter
in great numbers into the fold of the Church.
But perhaps I shall be told that the zeal of modern Catholicity is not
that of the early ages of Christianity, and this is one of the reasons
which have prevented the conversion of infidel nations. I will not make
a long comparison on this point; I will not say all that might be said;
I will content myself with making an observation which will remove the
difficulty at once. Our Divine Saviour, in order to send His disciples
to preach the Gospel, wished that they should abandon all they had
and follow Him. The same Saviour, revealing to us the infallible sign
of true charity, tells us that there is nothing greater than to give
one's life for one's brethren. The Catholic missionaries of the three
last centuries have renounced all, have abandoned their country, their
families, all the comforts of life, all that can engage the heart
of man on earth; they have gone to seek the infidels amid the most
imminent dangers, and they have sealed with their blood, in all parts
of the world, their ardor for the conversion of their brethren, and for
the salvation of souls. I believe that such missionaries are worthy of
succeeding to those of the first ages of the Church; all declamations
and calumnies are impotent before the triumphant evidence of facts. The
Church of the early ages would be honored, like that of our times, by a
St. Francis Xavier and the martyrs of Japan.
We have spoken, also, of the abundance of the missionaries. The
Church had a wonderful fecundity for the conversion of the ancient
and barbarian world. At her first appearance, the fiery tongues of
the Cenacle and the multitude of prodigies made up for numbers, and
multiplied the servants of God. Nations of different languages,
listening to the same discourse, heard it at the same time each one in
his own tongue; but after this first impulse, by which the Almighty was
pleased to confound the powers of hell, things followed the ordinary
course, and a greater number of missionaries was required for a
greater number of conversions. The great centres of faith and charity,
the numerous churches of the East and West, furnished in abundance
the apostolic men necessary for the propagation of the faith; and
this sacred army had a powerful reserve at hand ready to make up its
deficiencies when sickness, fatigues, and martyrdom had thinned its
ranks. Rome was the centre of this great movement; but Rome, in order
to give the impulse, had no need either of fleets ready to transport
the holy colonies to many thousand places, or of great treasures
to support missionaries in desert regions and countries altogether
unknown. When the missionary, prostrate at the feet of the Sovereign
Pontiff, asked his apostolical benediction, the holy father could send
him in peace with his pastoral staff alone; he knew that the Gospel
envoy was about to traverse Christian countries, and that even in
idolatrous lands he would not be far from princes already converted,
from bishops, priests, and faithful nations; none of whom would refuse
succor to him who went to sow the divine word in the neighboring
countries.
I leave the reflections which I have just made, on the injury done to
the influence of Europe by the schism of Protestantism, with confidence
to the judgment of thinking men. I am deeply convinced that this
influence thereby received a terrible blow. Without the fatal event of
the sixteenth century, the condition of the world would now be very
different from what it is. I may, no doubt, delude myself in some
degree on this point; but I will appeal to simple good sense whether
it is not true, that unity of action, of principles, and of views, the
combination of resources, and the association of agents, are not in
all things the secret of success, and the surest guarantee for a happy
result. I will then ask whether Protestantism did not break this unity,
render this combination impossible, and this association impracticable?
Are not these facts indisputable, as clear as the light of day? These
facts are recent--they are of yesterday; what is their consequence?
what deduction should be drawn from them? Let impartiality, good sense,
and mere common sense, answer me, if they be only accompanied by good
faith.
To every thinking man, it is evident that Europe is not what she would
have been without the appearance of Protestantism; and certainly it
is not less evident, that the results of its civilizing influence
on the world have not answered the promises of the early years of
the sixteenth century. Let Protestants boast of having given a new
direction to European civilization; let them vaunt of having enfeebled
the spiritual power of the Popes, by removing millions of souls from
the sacred fold; let them glory in having destroyed the religious
orders in countries subject to their dominion--of having broken in
pieces the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and thrown the Bible in the midst
of ignorant crowds, with the assurance that, to understand the sacred
volume, private inspiration or the judgment of natural reason was
enough; yet it is not the less certain that the unity of the Christian
religion has disappeared among them, that they want a centre whence
great efforts may proceed, that they are without a guide, wandering
like a flock without a shepherd, blown about by every wind of doctrine,
and unable to bring forth the least of those great works which
Catholicity has produced, and still produces, in such abundance; it is
not the less certain that, by their eternal disputes, their calumnies,
their attacks upon the dogmas and the discipline of the Church, they
have compelled the latter to hold herself in an attitude of defence--to
contend for three centuries, depriving her of the precious time and
means which she would have used to complete the great projects intended
by her, and already so happily begun. Is it a merit to divide men,
to provoke discord, to excite wars, to change brother nations into
enemies, to convert the great family-party of nations into an arena for
rancorous strife? Is it a merit to throw discredit on the missionaries
who go to preach the Gospel to infidel nations--to place all imaginable
obstacles in their way--to employ every means to render their zeal
useless, and their charity without result? If, indeed, all this be a
merit, then I acknowledge that this merit belongs to Protestantism;
but if all this be disastrous, and injurious to humanity, it is
Protestantism which must be responsible for it.
When Luther said that he was charged with a high mission, he spoke
the truth, but a fearful and alarming truth, and one which he did
not understand. The sins of nations sometimes fill up the measure of
the patience of the Most High. The sound of human offences mounts to
heaven, and calls for vengeance; the Eternal, in His fearful anger,
sends down a look of fire upon the earth; then strikes the fatal hour
in His secret and infinite resolves, and the son of perdition, who
is to cover the world with mourning and desolation, appears. As the
cataracts of heaven were formerly opened to sweep the human race from
the face of the earth, so are the calamities which the God of vengeance
holds in reserve for the day of His anger, poured forth from their urn
and scattered over the world. The son of perdition raises his voice;
that moment is marked by the beginning of the catastrophe. The spirit
of evil moves over the whole face of the globe, bearing on his sable
pinions the echo of that ominous voice. An incomprehensible giddiness
takes possession of men's heads; the nations have eyes, and see not;
they have ears, and hear not; in their delirium, the most frightful
precipices appear to them smooth, peaceful, and flowery paths; they
call good evil, and evil good; they drink with feverish eagerness
of the poisoned cup; forgetfulness of all the past, ingratitude for
all benefits, seize all minds; the work of the genius of evil is
consummated; the prince of the rebellious spirits may again bury
himself in his empire of darkness; and the human race has learned, by
a terrible lesson, that the indignation of the Most High is not to be
provoked with impunity.