Ernest Hello - Life Science and Art

7/28/2019 Ernest Hello - Life Science and Art

1/184

in


2/184


3/184

/*


4/184


5/184

LIFE, SCIENCE, AND ART

JESUITBIBL MAISEMINARY


6/184


7/184

Gbe Bngelug Secies

LIFE SCIENCEAND ARTBEINGLEAVES FROM ERNEST HELLO

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BYE. M. WALKER

" I have tried to show how Life, Science, and Artare three mirrors, each of which reflects the sameface." ERNEST HELLO. TFgT'JTT1

BIBL MAISEMINARY

R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD.PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDONANY D AT MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND GLASGOW

48753


8/184


9/184

CONTENTSPAGEINTRODUCTION .... 7I. The One Thing Necessary 23II. The Sphinx - 30

III. Intellectual Charity - 35IV. Some Considerations on

Charity - 45V. Great Men - - 48VI. No Time! - 55

VII. Isolation and Solitude 57VIII. Hope - 61IX. Unity - 67X. The Spirit of Contradiction - 73

XI. Appearance and Reality - 79XII. Indifference - 86

XIII. Light and the People - 91XIV. The Age and the Ages - 95XV. Contemplatives and Lunatics 103XVI. The World - - 108

XVII. The Mediocre Man 112XVIII. Envy - - 115XIX. On the False Association of

Ideas - 121XX. Art - - 124

5


10/184

ContentsXXI. Contempt for Art

-

XXII. The RidiculousXXIII. The Press .XXIV. HistoryXXV. ScienceXXVI. The Holy ScripturesXXVII. The Holy Angels -XXVIII. Alone and PoorXXIX. The Friends of Job -XXX. Credo, Domine, Adjuva

Incredulitatem meam " -XXXI. Work and Rest

I'AGEI27130133M515*J 54159165166

168175


11/184

INTRODUCTIONNEAR the grave of the poetBrizeux, in the cemetery of theBreton town of Lorient, is a greatstone cross bearing the simple inscription : ERNEST HELLO. Anyonepassing that way some twenty yearsago might have found on the grave,not only flowers, but a little stocking,a child's shoe the grateful andtouching ex-voto of some simplepeasant who felt convinced that hewhose prayers, affection, and money,had ever been at the service of thepoor during his life, still cared forthem, and thought of them, andprayed for them, in the silent worldbeyond. Nothing endures like love ;and the memory of the scholar andman of genius, who was also so gooda friend, lingered long about Kero-man and Lorient.

Ernest Hello was born at Lorientin 1828. His father was a magistrate

7


12/184

Life, Science, and Artof high standing, a just and uprightman, greatly respected in the neighbourhood. His mother, a clever,handsome, proud woman, possessingmuch nobility of character, wasalmost too careful of her delicatelittle son, and it seems probable thather excessive precautions did butaggravate his weak health.Ernest's childhood was passed onthe old family estate of Keroman,near Lorient. Beyond the woodedfarms, where the peasants spokeBreton, lay the desolate landes andthe grey sea. He loved these solitudes as a boy, and in manhood hereturned to them to spend the bestyears of his life in strenuous literarywork.

Hello was educated first at Rennes,then at the Lycee Louis le Grand,Paris. He studied for the Bar, butthrew up his profession because hisfellow -barristers decided in conference that it was quite permissibleto defend an unjust cause. He couldnot, he felt, bear to be connectedwith a body of men, the majority ofwhom held such an opinion.Long ago, as a mere child of four,Hello's uncompromising love of8


13/184

Introductiontruth had manifested itself. Heused to dress himself up in the mostfantastic guise and play at being atiger, crawling round the room on allfours and roaring horribly, while hismother fled from him in pretendedalarm. When, however, he one dayattempted by the same means tofrighten away some rather dilatorycallers, he was singularly unsuccessful. Instead of flying fromthe wild beast, the visitors wereamused, and began to pet and caresshim. " So, mother," said the child,when they were gone, "you werenever really frightened at all ! Buthow could you deceive me alittle boy like me ?" Never, saidMme. Hello, did she forget the reproach in her child's voice.So inlvansigeani a nature wouldscarcely have been fitted in anycase for the legal profession, yet hisearly training stood Hello in goodstead when he turned his attentionto journalism. For him, writingwas a vocation ; the writer's art,a sacred art. He was, indeed, endowed with that first and mostindispensable gift of a writer thegift of style ; and this gift of his,9


14/184

Life, Science, and Arttogether with all his other talents, heconsecrated unreservedly to theservice of Justice and Truth, as heunderstood them. " I have hungeredand thirsted after Justice," he declares in the Preface to Les Plateauxde la Balance; " I have tried to do it,to think it, to speak it." Deeplyreligious, in Paris he had fallen underthe influence of Lacordaire andGratry, the former of whom inducedhim to make a careful study oftheology and Catholic philosophy.To this course of solid reading, sayshis biographer Joseph Serre, hedoubtless owed in great measurehis clear, unhesitating Faith, sinceone of the chief sources of Doubtis obscurity of Faith.In spite of his extremely delicatehealth, then, it was full of hope andenergy that Hello, together with hisfriend Georges Seigneur, founded in1859 a newspaper called Le Croise.Ably conducted, it was a successfor a time, but it came to an endafter two years in circumstanceswhich led to a break with Seigneur.This was a bitter disappointment toHello, whose ideal had been to founda paper which should be " the friend,


15/184

Introductionthe enlightened friend, of its readers "

which should "open its pages to allthat was great and shut them to allthat was petty." Yet, the worldbeing what it is, one is not altogethersurprised that a vessel sailed underthese conditions should go under,more especially with so uncompromising a steersman at the helm asHello.

Henceforth, Hello passed most ofhis time at his old country home ofKeroman. He did not lessen hisactivity, but studied and wrote incessantly until his death in 1885.UHomme, perhaps his most important work, was in the Press duringthe Siege of Paris in 1871. In it hetreats of Life, Science, and Art, andshows how each, rightly understood,is a mirror that reflects the Faceof God. Physionomies de Saints, avolume of charming little studies,appeared in 1875 ; Paroles de Dieu,a series of meditations on textsof Scripture, in 1878 ; Contes Ex-traordinahes in 1879. Les Plateauxde la Balance, containing somecriticism of doubtful value, butalso the fine essay on IntellectualCharity, was published in 1880.


16/184

Life, Science, and ArtHello was also a contributor tovarious periodicals, and some of hispapers were collected after his deathand published under the title of LeSttcle : Les Homines et les Idees.Another posthumous volume was

. Philosophic et Atheisme.Hello's life was one of continual

suffering. The victim of some formof bone disease, which also affectedhis nerves, he probably owed thirtyyears of industrious life to the devoted care of the wife he hadmarried in 1857. Mdlle. Zoe Berthierwas twenty-four, and Ernest Helloeighteen, when they met for thefirst time. They became greatfriends, although for years Mdlle.Berthier never contemplated marriage, telling her mother frankly :" Well, I'm not good-looking andI'm not rich. Probably I shall nevermarry. But one's life must be goodfor something, and I mean to beErnest Hello's faithful and devotedfriend. We two shall be old friends."When at length she became hiswife, his mother confided to herthat he had only six months to live.He lived thirty years more ; andno view of Hello can be complete12


17/184

Introductionwhich does not take into consideration all he owed to the sensible,intelligent, and generous companionwhom he was wont playfully to callMaman Zoe.

Ernest Hello may serve as anexample of the heights to whichjournalism may rise in the hands ofa man of genius inspired by highideals. There were few men andsubjects which came up for discussion in his day on which he didnot write, always with strikingoriginality, often with real insight.He was not afraid, as in Les Plateaux de la Balance, to traversethe intellectual world, pronouncingjudgment, not only on his contemporaries, but also on the great namesof Antiquity, with singular indifference to accepted views. MostEnglishmen will dispute his verdicton Shakespeare, and there are manyother cases inwhichwe cannot accepthis opinion, but he is always arresting and independent, and commandsa respectful hearing. He had formeda lofty estimate of the duties ofcriticism. " Criticism," he says," should ennoble all the persons andthings which it touches." And else-

13


18/184

Life, Science, and Artwhere he remarks, speaking ofappreciation : " The happiness of agreat artist is to admire anothergreat artist."

It is not, however, as a critic, butas a religious and philosophicalwriter, that Ernest Hello claims ourattention. He looked out into themodern world, where even goodpeople often seem to have so inadequate a comprehension of the beliefsthey profess, and, behind all theforces of confusion and disintegration, he perceived more clearlythan most men the undoubted andimposing Unity of Truth. God isOne : under all the phenomena ofTime lies the Great Unity. All thatis good and noble and generous inhuman life springs from Him ; allthat is true in Science rests on HisLaws ; Art, in its various forms, is adim but infinitely sacred reflectionof His Eternal Beauty. The humblest among us who strives to doGod's Will and see things as theyare the saint, the scientist, theartist all are looking at the sameFace. There is no room here forclashing interests, for nervous dreadof inconsistencies. Hello was abso-


19/184

Introductionlutely fearless in his deductions fromfirst principles, and with spirit andconfidence his voice rang out, reminding men that God is THATWHICH is, and that outside God isnothing but darkness, disorder, negation, and the most utter boredom.He found it impossible, indeed, toindicate even approximately thehorrible and appalling emptiness ofall that is not God."Truth is One," he proclaimed," and religion, being true, can neithercontradict nor embarrass Truth. . . .God is never in danger. Error ischarged with its own destruction. . . .As Truth does not belong to us,we cannot concede one fractionof it."

His voice rang out ; yet in his ownday comparatively few heeded it.Hello was out of touch with his age ;he disliked the century in which helived, and spoke of its faults anderrors with unmeasured scorn. Heloved Justice and Truth with all thestrength of his soul, and was firmlyconvinced of their ultimate triumph ;but a strain of impatience in hisnature made it difficult for him towait, and he wanted the triumph to15


20/184

Life, Science, and Artbe immediate. He was not oneto take comfort in the thought :

11 The truth is great, and shall prevail,When none cares whether it prevailor not. ' 'Conscious of his genius, and ar

dentlydesirous of using it in theservice of God, it was no small trial

to Hello to be overlooked, and thusa touch of bitterness and personaldisappointment has crept into hisfine pages. There are momentswhen we almost feel that he is asangry with the sinner as with thesin when we suspect that he classesmost of his fellow-men among themediocre, and despises them accordingly. We must not, however,forget to take into account in thisconnection the influence of continualill-health on his outlook. It is by nomeans easy to preserve perfect intellectual calm under racking pain, andwith nerves on edge. "The effectof my ill-health on my soul," he confessed once, in a moment of discouragement, "is simply hell. Itmakes me feel as if I were abandonedby God. It hinders me from workingas a man of my temperament needs16


21/184

Introductionto work. ... It tempts me to doubtand to despair."" He had the genius of a Saint,but not the sanctity," says his friendand critic Henri Lasserre, who atthe same time bears an eloquenttribute to Hello's exceptional nobility of mind. His most strikingcharacteristic, Lasserre considers, isloftiness of soul. "There is something of regal grandeur in Hello'sgenius ; and those who aspire tointimacy with him must have intheir own souls, and minds, andhearts, at least some touch of nobility."After all, how much there is inErnest Hello that is winning as wellas lofty. He who wrote so scathinglyof mediocrity, wrote also with exceptional insight and feeling ofcharity, and practised in his own life,in a pre-eminent degree, that truecharity which strives to satisfy thewidely different needs of all withwhom it comes in contact. Peasantsloved him ; beggars loved him and,still more, he really seems to haveloved them ; animals loved him ; thevery swallows came to cheer him onhis death-bed. With more than

17 B


22/184

Life, Science, and Artordinary simplicity, it seemed to himquite natural to pray for the recoveryof a poor lonely old woman'scat her sole remaining companion." Love makes men speak," he tellsus. " Love enables them to understand what is said. Without love,men are nothing but deaf mutes."We have shown that Hello's lifewas a life of study and intellectualactivity. It was also a life of prayer.He prayed with his whole body andwith his whole soul, often prostrateon the ground. The interior life ofa man concerns none but himself andGod, yet M. Joseph Serre has thoughtadvisable in his biography to give usa few brief quotations from Hello'sprivate prayers. Better than anything else, perhaps, they help us toa right understanding of him. Heever presented a bold front to theworld ; his utterances were oftendrastic, sometimes scornful. But thereal Hello was not like that. Weopen the little manuscript book andturn the pages reverently. Theyspeak for themselves, and any comment would be out of place."

Lord, I cannot carry Thy Crossexcept in the sunshine."18


23/184

Introduction" I am not a man ; I am a child."" O my God, I can neither act, norendure, nor wait ! I am a prodigyof weakness."" Thou knowest that I am too weak

to serve Thee by suffering. That isnot my vocation. . . . Give me joy,then joy !"" Lord, I am too weak to sufferand to die."

Genius is a gift of God, and, usedconscientiously, it cannot fail in thelong run to fulfil the end for whichit was given. Ernest Hello died in1885, and his voice seemed to passaway into silence. But Frenchmen,so susceptible to charm of form,could not long remain insensible tothe grave beauty of a style whichrecalls the vibrating sentences ofPascal. Writing, as he largely did, forperiodicals, Hello's work is often unequal, and he is inclined to repeathimself. He is at times prejudiced,even harsh, while some of his ideasare far-fetched. But he has writtenpassages of rare strength and poetry ;while there are others in which hespeaks so vigorously, so abruptly, sotrenchantly, as surely to rouse themost sleepy among us to be up and19


24/184

Life, Science, and Artdoing. Style, he ever held to be aman's most private property, the expression of his personality, his veryself. And to his own canon of stylehe invariably adhered namely, thata man should ''live in accordancewith Truth, think as he lives, andwrite as he thinks."To-day Ernest Hello has comeinto his own, and his fellow-countrymen are reading his works with renewed interest and appreciation.L'Homme is now in its ninth edition,Le Siecle in its sixth. A new edition

of Paroles de Dieu appeared in 1910 ;while Physionomies de Saints hasbeen translated into English byMrs. V. M. Crawford under the titleof Studies in Saintship.The present little book of extractscontains some of the most characteristic and suggestive passages inHello's various works. In three orfour instances a connecting clausehas been added to link the thoughtstogether. It is not possible torender in a translation the force andbeauty of much of Hello's prose ;but even in the medium of anotherlanguage his message has its value.He speaks to us from the grave,


25/184

Introductiondwelling insistently on the Unity ofTruth, the omnipresence of God, theimpossibility of getting on in anydepartment of life without Him, thenecessity for high ideals, and an intelligent grasp of first principles inthe most ordinary details of humanexistence. He tells us what indeedwe know in theory, but are apt toforget in practice that, after all, theSpiritual is the one great Reality.Barely hidden by our dream worldlies the Real World of God." The angels keep their ancient places ;Turn but a stone, and start a wing !'Tis ye, 'tis your estranged faces,That miss the many-splendoured thing."

E. M. W.October, 1912.

21


26/184


27/184

LIFE, SCIENCE, ANDART

ITHE ONE THING NECESSARYTHERE are circumstances thatcause a man to retire into theinterior of his own soul and thinkthings over, and then the Utopiasin which he has hitherto placed hisconfidence vanish. He feels himselfin presence of severe reality realityconfronts him.

In our day, however, good sensehas become confused to such anextent that things have lost theirnames. Which is Utopia ? Whichis reality ? Which are the dreamthings ? Which are the things thatbelong to our waking hours ?One day a woman was preparinga meal for a Guest Who had cometo rest for a while in her house.23


28/184

Life, Science, and Art" Master," she said, " my sister isnot helping me." And the Guestreplied : " Only one thing is necessary."Martha understood in a certainmeasure, at least the remark bywhich Our Lord established Mary'ssuperiority. Martha understood, butthe future generations, for whose instruction God also spoke, have neverunderstood to this day.All through the centuries to thisvery day, men have believed Christianity to be, as it were, a specialitythe speciality of those who fix theirthoughts on another life, the speciality of mystics ; and mysticism hasbeen regarded as one of the formsassumed by dreams worthy of acertain respect, perhaps, but assuredly useless.And so the centuries, with theirreal, practical, pressing needs, haveplaced all their confidence in theirown strength and skill.The result is that to-day thenations of the world no longer knowhow to surmount the innumerabledifficulties of their situation. Yetthey have what they wanted. Theywanted to question matter, to probe

24


29/184

The One Thing Necessaryit, to dominate it ; they have cloneso. And now, confronted by questions that concern the very life of nations, they cannot but see that matterdoes not solve them that, on thecontrary, it complicates them. Theirdiscoveries contain no answer, theirindustry remains dumb. Weaponshave been invented which give death ;no instrument has been discoveredwhich can give life. The advanceof nations has raised a host of problems, just as the advance of armiesraises clouds of dust ; and in theobscure night which they have madearound them, the nations have losttheir way.

It was reserved for the age inwhich we live to spread out beforeman's eyes all the marvels of industry, to enthrone the conqueror inthe midst of his conquests, and thento say to him : " You have placed yourconfidence in your inventions, andnow you are going to die in the midstof them, to die on them, to die bythem."

In preceding centuries, humanitywas embarrassed first by one set ofdetails, then by another. Now itsuffers from universal embarrass-

25


30/184

Life, Science, and Artment. It is struggling in a labyrinth, and it is unable to set anythingin order. However much trouble ittakes, it always arrives at the sameresult confusion.

Until now, man was tormented byvarious passions, such as love, hate,jealousy, avarice. To-day, a societyand a literature have sprung upwhich prove all too clearly that thetrouble has struck at the very rootsof the soul, changing even the oldsources of disorder. Behind thepassions that can be known andnamed, we see the return of anotherpassion which had neither name norexistence during the Christian centuries, but which was called by thepagans tccdium vitce.Now, to be weary of life is nothingelse but to have an immense need ofGod.The modern man, because he hassucceeded in putting matter to allkinds of new uses, imagines that,among its thousand and one newforms, it will assume the form of aSaviour.He treats as dreamers those whospeak to him of faith, hope, charity,and adoration.

26


31/184

The One Thing NecessaryHe thinks that He was not a

practical man who said : " Seek yefirst the kingdom of God and Hisjustice, and all these things shall beadded unto you."This is why the modern man is atthe end of his resources.He has abandoned his hold on theprey, and grasped at the shadow.Wise positivist though he deem himself, he does not yet even know thathe has lost his foothold on thepositive. He has made use of hissuccess to bury himself in his Utopia.As his sleep has become deeper anddeeper, his dream has become moreand more unlike reality. And justas in his exterior life, man has turnednight into day, day into night, so, inhis interior life, he has tried to turna dream into a reality, and a realityinto a dream ; only the nature ofthings has resisted the attempt, andthe dream has remained a dream,the reality has remained a reality.

Jesus Christ remains what Healways has been the Corner Stoneof this world, of all worlds.He remains the one universalnecessity. Men do not want Himthey say that He is a dream ; but27


32/184

Life, Science, and ArtHe is the Reality, and nothing canever get on without Him.Since matter, brought to bay andclosely questioned, acknowledges itsimpotence, there is only one prudentthing left to do to be converted.The supreme necessity of the intellect, which is Justice and Truth,thus becomes the supreme necessityof life. The necessity for JesusChrist has moved out of the regionof Thought into the region of Fact.Christianity is no longer only themoral necessity of the world ; it isalso the material necessity. It is sourgent, this necessity, that one mightwell say it is the one remedy left tous. Palliatives are exhausted ; truthalone is now practicable. There areno longer two different Savioursfor this world and the next there isonly One for both ; and it is He Whospoke nearly two thousand years agoto Martha and to Mary.On land a sailor is sometimesblasphemous and drunken. But oneday he embarks, and then, at themoment of farewell, a wife or asister ties round his neck a medalof Our Lady, and when the windrises, he remembers. The terrible28


33/184

The One Thing Necessaryvoice of the tempest warns him ofthe limit set to the captain's skill,and busy though he is obeyingorders, he finds time to lift his cap.

Thus, engaged as he is in themost material of occupations, he isreminded by the most material of alldangers of the most spiritual, themost mystical of all necessities thenecessity of prayer. And so thesailor, who perhaps a short timeago was drinking and swearing, issuddenly brought into complete harmony with a Carmelite monk prayinga thousand miles away.He has been led into the domain ofthe spiritual by the material violenceof the raging elements, and it maybe he will rise to great heights.Perhaps with one bound he willleave behind him those who wereonce his teachers, for momentssometimes do the work of centuries.The howling of the wind is terrible,the ship very fragile, the sea verydeep, Eternity something quite unknown.

Everything conspires to reveal toall of us to-day the same greatspiritual necessity which the stormrevealed to the sailor.

29


34/184

Life, Science, and ArtUnum est necessarium. The one

thing necessary, the one thing whichmen do not want, the thing whichthey declare antiquated and absurd,is that which all things are demanding as their principle, their bond ofunion, their very light. WithoutChristianity, everything will fall topieces and we shall perish.

II

THE SPHINXTHE Sphinx of Antiquity was amonster who propounded to allcomers the enigma of Destiny. Ifthey could not guess the meaning ofthe enigma, they were devoured bythe monster. What could be moreabsurd ? Yet what could be deeper,if men did but understand ? Whereis the truth, says Joseph de Maistre,which cannot be found in paganism ?There is a very singular word inhuman language. It is singular,because the thing it expressesseems beyond our control. Yet onetrembles when one thinks of itsimportance to men. There is norecognized method of doing this

30


35/184

The Sphinxthing, but no one can tell how greatthe regret may be of the man whofails to do it. The word I mean isthis to guess.Life mingles people and thingstogether : the good, the bad, themediocre, the very good, the verybad they all jostle against eachother in the streets. Earth, whichis grey, seems to throw a greymantle over everything. Men resemble each other strongly, and wejudge by appearances. Dress, it istrue, makes an artificial dissimilarity, custom another, shynessanother, dissimulation another, ignorance another.

Innumerable are the veils thathide realities from us. Men do notdisclose their secrets ; they concealthem under their various uniforms.A man looking down from hiswindow at a crowded street wouldbe dismayed if he reflected on theglorious or hideous realities passingbefore his eyes. They do not speakto him they do not utter theirnames ; they are disguised, veiled,profoundly hidden, and one is verylike another, if appearance alone beconsulted. But his dismay would

31


36/184

Life, Science, and Artincrease, if this intelligent spectatorof a silent crowd were to say to himself : " My life, perhaps, depends onone of those men passing so close tome ; perhaps some man I am waitingfor, perhaps some man who is waitingfor me, is there before my door. Butthere are so many people passing before my door ! If he of whom I speakshould be there, by what sign shall Irecognize him ?"The history of Truth and the history of Error are alike full of meetings and events which seem theresult of chance.The sight of all these things whosemeaning it so behoves men to guess,andwhich yet they do not guess, droveAntiquity to the edge of a precipice,and the precipice claimed its victims.That precipice is called Fate.The spectator I spoke of just nowhe who watches the passers-by andasks himself vaguely if the manwhom he seeks is among them ison the high road to anxiety anddespair if he be left to himself.The private life of men ; the publiclife of nations ; the secret instinctsof humanity ; literature ; history ; thememories of the past ; the needs of

32


37/184

The Sphinxthe present ; the expectations of thefuture everything warns man thathe may need to guess, and yet there isno rule to enable him to guess right.Hence the Sphinx.

If there were really such a thingas Fate, all questions would beinsoluble, and the only answer tothem all would be despair.But in general the questions whichseem to call for hopeless answershave been incorrectly stated, andthe hopeless answers are often assuperficial as they appear to be profound.

Life is full of obscurities happyhe who can guess their meaning !Still, there is no acknowledged

system of guessing right, no methodwhich resembles a rule of arithmetic.There is often in this world anunknown quantity to discover an x,a big X, which defies the resourcesof algebra.The Sphinx of Antiquity desiredthat there should be no answer.There is an answer, and we can

kill the Sphinx.How can we guess ?A poor man comes along andcraves hospitality.

33 c


38/184

Life, Science, and ArtSuppose he be the Angel of the

Lord?But again, suppose he be anassassin ?How can we guess? Must wemake an effort of thought, an extraordinary act of the mind ?No, this is the secret : To guessis to love.Ask all those who have guessedhow they did it. They loved thatwas all.The human intellect, left to itself,sets sail on an ocean of thoughts. It

is confronted by the problem ofLife, and if the compass is out oforder, if the needle has lost themagnetic north, the intellect veryeasily arrives in practice at Doubt,in theory at a belief in Fate.Love finds its way better. Inpractice it arrives at Light, in theoryat Justice.And here is an admirable truth :The recompense bestowed on theman who guesses and refused to theman who does not guess the recompense which was a stumbling-blockjust now to the bewildered mind ofthe imaginary watcher at the window this recompense, awarded or

34


39/184

The Sphinxrefused, is an example of supremeJustice, of a Justice far superior tothe formal justice of men.The man who guesses is rewarded,because he who guesses is he wholoves.The man who fails to guess is notrewarded, because he who does notguess is he who does not love.He who loves nobility, and wholoves the poor and forsaken, will,when he meets the forsaken, recognize nobility if nobility be there.He who encounters a man in needof something, will divine the need

if he loves the man. And he whocomes across the man of whom hestands in need, will recognize thebenefactor he seeks, if he loves himwell enough not to envy him hisrole the role of giving and of pardoning.

Ill

INTELLECTUAL CHARITY *WHENEVER it is a question ofmaterial charity, people areto be found ready to help. Again,* This chapter is reprinted by permission

from The Irish Rosary.35


40/184

Life, Science, and Artwhen it is a question of teaching thefundamental truths of religion tonations sunk in ignorance, heroesinvariably come forward willing todevote themselves to this heroictask. But I want to speak now of akind of charity which is often forgotten intellectual charity.Man has a thousand needs. Hemay be denned as a creature ofneeds. He does not live by breadalone ; he lives also by the Divinegift of speech. There are some menwho have peculiar and exceptionalneeds more than others, they needLight. Other men there are whoneed that ideas should come to themclothed in noble words. Not onlythe satisfaction of their intellect, butthe very life of their soul (I mightalmost add, of their body) wouldseem to depend on Truth being presented to them in a form that theycan desire, accept, assimilate. Thesemen belong to the poor a specialclass of poor ; for they have oneneed more than most men, a needthat is rarely satisfied. They arepoor indeed, and the charity whichcares for them is the rarest of allcharities.

36


41/184

Intellectual CharityThe Gospel speaks on many occasions of those who hunger and thirst,

giving us plainly to understand thatthese expressions are used in theirwidest and most general sense. Tohunger and thirst after Justice isnumbered among the Beatitudes.But men seem curiously disposed tocontract the meaning of the hungerand thirst which it is their duty totry and relieve. The more materiala need is, the more pity it excites.On the other hand, the higher thetype of need, the less compassion isfelt for it. Many a man who wouldnot dream of leaving another to dieof hunger, in the material sense ofthe word, is not afraid to committhe same act in an intellectualsense.Now, written speech may be a

great charity, and its diffusion,whenever it is true and beautiful, isone of the acts of charity most suitedto our time. In many souls, a hungerand thirst exists which can only besatisfied by printed words. Betweenthese eager readers and the writer(who should also be eager) a currentof sublime chantymay be established,since all give and all receive. The

37


42/184

Life, Science, and Artreader gives an immense amountthe writer, and the writer himselfdoes not know how much he receivesfrom his reader. " To understand isto equal," says Raphael. No onecan estimate too highly the importance of the journal to-day itsrights, its duties, its responsibilities,the duties which we have towards it.For the journal distributes the breadof the intellect. It often penetrateswhere books do not penetrate. Iteducates the minds of men. Itsinfluence is all the more profound,because it is for the most part un-perceived. Its teaching is all themore effective, because it does notset out to teach. It is no pedant.It gives itself no professorial airs.The Gospel has told us the verywords with which the human racewill be judged on the Last Day.We all think we understand thesewords, amazing though they be intheir simplicity and their depth.But how many of us really understand them ?" I was hungry, and you gave Meto eat."

4< I was hungry, and you gave Menot to eat."38

.


43/184

Intellectual CharityWhat strange, unheard of, un

suspected forms, will they not take,this hunger and thirst, on the Day ofJudgment ! What stupefaction willthey not cause to men ! A needwhich was quite overlooked, a needwhich was laughed at on earth, theneed of some human soul whichseemed nothing better than a whimto ill-natured and contemptuouseyes, will suddenly become of paramount importance. And EternityEternity, with its two perspectives ofendless joy and hopeless despairmay depend on the response whicha man made to its appeal in the dayswhen he lived on earth.The hour will come when whoeverhas contributed, either positively ornegatively, by act or by negligence,to the satisfaction or the non-satisfaction of the needs of a soul, will beastounded at the consequences ofwhat may once have seemed to himan unimportant decision." Lord," he will say, " when did Isee Thee thirsty, and not give Theeto drink ?" And then he will remember, and be confounded.You will tell me, perhaps, that thisis a very lofty way of considering the39


44/184

Life, Science, and ArtPress and its duties, and the dutieswhich we owe to it.Doubtless. It is lofty because it istrue.Open the great Books which arethe foundations of Law and the

sources of Light, and what is thefirst word which strikes your eyes ?Charity.More especially in the Gospels,charity glows like a flame before oureyes. The Good Samaritan, theProdigal Son, the Lost Sheep, theLost Piece of Money there is noend to the instances. To come tothe end of them, I should have to citeeverything. But to cite everythingin the Gospels which refers tocharity, I should have to transcribethe whole of the four Evangelists,from the first line to the last. Foreven where charity is not mentionedby name, it is understood. TheGospels are for ever treating ofcharity, because they are for evertreating of God, and St. John tells usthat God is Charity.

Charity is so deeply embedded inthe world of thought that it isdifficult even to imagine a system ofreligion that would not enjoin it.

4o


45/184

Intellectual CharityErroneous doctrines twist its truemeaning, and even change its nature ;but still they adopt it, they preach it,they build upon it as on a necessaryfoundation. Say what men will,they always advocate charity. Onecan imagine the maddest, the mostmonstrous things, but one cannot somuch as imagine an exhortation likethe following :" My dear children, do not loveone another. Let each of you thinkonly of himself. Woe to him wholoves his brother ! Woe to him whoremembers the poor 1"No ! Such principles have neveryet been taught, and they never willbe. This, then, is certain : Charityis the foundation of every

doctrinewhich has any reference to thehuman race. It would, therefore,seem evident that every man who iscareful to listen to his conscience is,above all things, careful to practisecharity. It is so in theory. It isnot so in fact.

In the life of many a man, attentive to his conscience and anxiousnot to wound it, charity, whichoccupies the first place in theory,occupies the last place in practice.

41


46/184

Life, Science, and ArtThis phenomenon is so extraordinarythat it seems to me necessary to stateit very clearly, for to cure an evil wemust first look it in the face.

Every man who strives to obey hisconscience is very careful, and sometimes very scrupulous, on certainpoints of morality and conduct. Buthis care and his solicitude do notalways extend to the practice ofcharity. I make an exception, ofcourse, of all those who ought to beexcepted. The Saints, whose livesform, as it were, a practical continuation of the Gospels, and those whoseek with all their hearts to followin the footsteps of the Saints, placecharity before all things in theirthoughts and in their lives. But Iam not here speaking of Saints, or ofthose who in any degree resemblethem. I am speaking of certain menwho are striving to be conscientious.And yet, you will tell me, thereare a great many works of charitynowadays. Much is done for thepoor.

Certainly, much is done for theofficial poor for those who areofficially labelled and assisted aspoor. Those who occupy in the world

42


47/184

Intellectual Charitythe position of poor men are not forgotten.But I am not speaking of this. Iam not speaking of official works ofcharity. I am speaking of charityitself. I am speaking of charity asapplied to all kinds of need, and Imake no exception of the needs ofthe soul. I am speaking of that profound, interior charity, which asksitself in presence of another soul,another mind : "What are its needs ?And what can I do to help to satisfythem ?Here, for example, is a man whothinks, who meditates, who needs togive to others the fruits of his interiorlife. And other men need to receivethese fruits. What can I do for theman who needs to give ? What canI do for those others who need toreceive what the first man is anxiousto give ? If I help the man who isin a position to give, I help at thesame time the men who need toreceive. The benefit is a doubleone.The charity of which I speak isthat intellectual and intelligentcharity which springs from the souland which seeks out the soul. Why43


48/184

Life, Science, and Artis this sublime charity neglected bymany conscientious people ? It isbecause these conscientious peopleare afraid of doing evil, but they arenot afraid of omitting to do good.They are afraid of sinning by act,but they are not afraid of sinning byomission.We must love with all our heart,with all our soul, with all our mind.I do not know if such people lovewith all their heart and with alltheir soul, though I will admit thatthey do, if you like. But they donot love with all their mind. Themind is that which seeks, that whichguesses, that which discerns. It isthe sword of charity.

It is the mind that distinguishesgood from evil ; it is the mind thatsees the difference between one manand another man. It is the mindthat examines and explores, thatprobes the hidden depths of things.To love with all one's mind is to addjustice to one's charity. To lovewith all one's mind is to pardonsuperficial imperfections, and toattach oneself to the nobility concealed beneath them. To love withone's mind with all one's mind is

44


49/184

Intellectual Charityto understand the needs of otherminds, other souls.To love with all one's mind is todetect, wherever they exist, thehunger and thirst of the intellect,and to fly to their relief. To lovewith all one's mind is to go to theassistance of mind, wherever it lives,wherever it suffers." Blessed is he that understandethconcerning the needy and poor,"says the Holy Scripture.Now, there are many kinds ofpoverty.

I repeat of set purpose the sacredwords :" I was hungry, and you gave Menot to eat."He loves with all his mind, whohas been able to divine the needs ofothers.

IVSOME CONSIDERATIONS ON

CHARITYWE ought clearly to understandwhat is meant by charity. Themore glorious a word, the moredangerous it may be. It is impossible to overstate the importance45


50/184

Life, Science, and Artof language. Words are terrible intheir complaisance. They lend themselves to any abuse, and make noprotest.

It is just because charity is of allthings most sublime, that the abuseof charity, and the employment ofits name in a false sense, are exceptionally dangerous. Optimi cor-ruptio pessima. The grander theword, the more awful it is ; and ifthe power which was intended togive life be directed against Truth,what service may not thereby berendered to death ?Now, we use the word charity as aweapon against Light, every timewhen instead of crushing error we

parley with it, under pretext of consideration for the feelings of others.We employ the word chanty as aweapon against Light, every time wemake it serve as an excuse for relaxingour execration of evil. As a generalrule, men love to relax their efforts.There is something in the very act offaltering pleasing to human nature ;and besides, the absence of anyhorror of error, evil, sin, and thedevil, becomes a plausible excuse forthe evil there is in us. To feel less

46


51/184

Some Considerations on Charitydetestation of evil in general is onlyperhaps a way of excusing ourselvesfor the particular evil we cherish inour own soul.There is a verse in the Psalms towhich little attention is paid. It isthis : Qui diligitis Dominum, oditemalum. (You who love the Lord,hate evil.)The day on which Evil enteredthe world, saw the birth of something irreconcilable. Charity loveof God requires, supposes, implies,commands, a hatred of the enemy ofGod.At the close of a long war, wheneach side is exhausted, kings haveoften been known to cede to each

other such and such fortresses.They are tired of fighting, andthese concessions have the effect ofsilencing the cannon. But truthscannot be treated like fortresses.When it is a question of makingpeace in spirit and in truth, it is conversion we must have, and not compromise. Justice demands it, and it-is not for us to tamper with justice.In the relations between man andman, a reconciliation seems sometimes to take place, and yet there is no47


52/184

Life, Science, and Artchange in the heart of the offender,who thinks that a simple handshakewill do instead of repentance andcompunction for the wrong he haswrought. But it is not long beforethis false reconciliation reveals itstrue tendency, which is to lead inevitably to a second separation farwider than the first The sameholds good with regard to doctrines.Apparent peace, purchased by concession, is as contrary to charity asto justice, and opens out an abysswhere before there was only a ditch.Charity must have Light, and Lightavoids even the shadow of a compromise. All beauty implies completeness. Peace is perhaps, atbottom, victory sure of itself.It is the crime of the age not tohate Evil, but to discuss terms ofpeace with it and make it proposals.There is only one proposal to maketo it that it should disappear.

GREAT MEN*"PHERE is on our earth a class-L of men deserving of quite especial charity and compassion, and


53/184

Great Menyet we refuse them charity andcompassion more often than we doothers. The class I refer to consistsof those whom we call great men.Great men are poor men of apeculiar type, poorer than the otherpoor. A poor man is a man who isin need. The more needs a manhas, the poorer he is. Birds holdno gilt-edged securities, but they arenot poor, because they have noneeds, or because they have only tospread their wings in order to findeasily, and without the exercise offoresight, that which will satisfytheir needs.Man is the poorest of creatures.He is weighed down by needs.

But the great man is so poor thatin comparison all other men are rich.For the great man has, to beginwith, all the needs of an ordinaryman, and he is more conscious ofthem than anyone.And then he has other needs, atonce higher arid more imperativeneeds which cry out more loudly,and which yet are much less often

heard, because people do not understand. It is almost impossible forthe great man to solicit help in these49 D


54/184

Life, Science, and Artneeds, for the public ear is closed tosuch cries for aid.If Christopher Columbus had gonefrom door to door begging forordinary bread the bread whichall men need, both great men andordinary men people would havelistened to him more readily. Buthe begged for his own special bread :he needed ships with which to discover America. That was his bread." Give us this day our daily bread."Ours ! Not that of our neighbour,but ours, that which is speciallynecessary for us.Now the bread which great menneed is infinitely scarcer than thebread which ordinary men need.That is why great men are poorwith an ordinary human poverty,because they have all the needs ofman, and are also poor with theirown special, exceptional, and peculiar poverty a poverty which springsfrom the immense and unconquerable desires in virtue of which theyare great men.What, as a matter of fact, is thepoor man who bears this terriblename great man * I will try andanswer this question.

50


55/184

Great MenWhen, in some solemn circum

stances, a Sovereign sends an ambassador to another Sovereign, thisambassador is entrusted with asecret, and ought only to confide itto the Sovereign himself.When, in some solemn circumstances, God sends a messenger tohumanity, this messenger is entrusted with a missive, a secret.Only, in this case, the secret iscalled mystery, and it is in virtue ofthis mystery that the great man is agreat man.Little men borrow all their importance from the actions which theyaccomplish. Without these actions,they would be absolutely nothing.They live by them, they exploitthem. They beat the big drum andsucceed in making some noise.But they have no real substance.They are phantoms and will disappear. They always appear inferiorto the place which they occupy andto the result which they obtain.They are crushed by their ownworks ; and when these works areended, their authors retire into theirnatural insignificance. The accidentwhich brought them to the front51


56/184

Life, Science, and Artbears them away again. Once theoccasion which called them intobeing has passed by, these men existno more.The great man, on the contrary,is superior to his actions. Theemotion caused by his name is moreimmortal than the accidents of history. This emotion is due to themystery which surrounds him.And that is why the great man is sodifficult to judge. He acts in virtueof something we do not understand.

Ordinary men may overwhelmhim with a thousand reproaches,true or false, just or unjust. Butthey ought always to maintain withregard to him that attitude of respectdemanded by the presence of thegreat Unknown.

Ordinary men and above all,peculiarly little men experience acertain charm, a certain pleasure, inattacking great men. There is muchof the spirit of revenge mixed upwith this pleasure.These attacks meet with a certainsuccess. But of one thing we maybe sure : The success is due to thegreat man who is insulted. Thecuriosity men feel about him in-52


57/184

Great Men


58/184

Life, Science, and Artdone as the little men do, he wouldonly have had one instead of athousand. But the one defect wouldhave been precisely this : he wouldhave been no longer a great man.

If Christopher Columbus had beenless obstinate, he would not havediscovered America. Even at thisdistance of time, I seem to hear thewords of advice he doubtless received :" But, my friend, be reasonable.Be like one of us. Why insist onstanding out by yourself ? Why notbe like everybody else ? Is that theexample we gave you ? Have yourbrothers, your cousins, your friends,your comrades, your uncles, yourgreat-uncles, ever launched out intomid-ocean without knowing wherethey were going? Look to whatlengths presumption can lead a man!"You remember the celebratedmare who had every good qualityexcept that of being alive, and onlyone single drawrback that of beingdead.A great man who succeeded inbeing what little men desired himto be, would only have one drawback that of being like them.


59/184

No Time !VI

NO TIME!T HAVE no time !1 He has no time !We have no time !

It is the cry of our great cities.They are for ever conjugating theverb : To have no time !These four little words are veryshort, very quickly uttered. Yet howmany things they imply ! How manythings they put a stop to altogether !When I was a young man, literarydiscussion, intellectual discussion,roused and elevated the mind. Wewere full of eager thoughts, and ourwords were warm and enthusiastic.What has become of enthusiasm ?To-day men are too busy ; they arefor the most part almost exclusively

occupied with their business.Now, what is a man of business ?The busy man, the modern manof business par excellence, is the manwho has no time.He is up to his neck in engagements ; hopelessly entangled withinnumerable acquaintances ; harassedby a multitude of details, contradic-55


60/184

Life, Science, and Artlions, unexpected misfortunes, difficulties ; harassed also by the need ofcaution. On all sides are conflictingclaims, complications. At every instant the crowd around him varies incostume and in appearance, but thereis always a crowd always a crowdfollowed by a crowd.You accost a man, a friend, abrother. You are full of ideas andfeelings which it is imperative thatyou should communicate to him inthe interests of your common destiny.He needs your ideas, you need his,and the interchange of thought isreally a necessity.But all sorts of business mattersare there clamouring for his attention. They watch for him, they throwthemselves upon him, they load himwith chains, they drag him away,bound hand and foot, to the cellwhere they stifle their victims.And the words you were about toutter die away within you ; they dieaway, not only on your lips, but alsoin your soul. They die away becausethe busy man who needs to hear yourwords, and whose words you need tohear, has no time to listen to you.He has no time ! What a terrible56


61/184

No Time !expression ! We should do well to tryand fathom the depths of its cruelty.He has no time to work. He hasno time to love. Should some important stranger cross his pathsomeone whom in his own highestinterests it is most urgent he shouldknow he has not even time to perceive his presence. He has no timeto act. For to act and to bustle are nottwo synonymous verbs. He bustles,he bustles, he bustles ! He distributes to left and to right of him,here a word or two, there a shakeof the hand, and his absent glanceabsent because he is always in ahurry never really rests upon anybody.

w VIIISOLATION AND SOLITUDEHERE is the land of exile?Every land which is not ourtrue country is a land of exile. Ourtrue country is the Light for whichwe were born. Exile is the night.Now, everything has its parody,and the greater the Light, thedeeper the shadow which tries tocounterfeit it.

57


62/184

Life, Science, and ArtThe parody of our true home is a

certain private dwelling the blackand isolated abode of egoism.Sometimes man imagines that hewill lose himself if he gives himself,and keep himself if he hides himself.But the contrary takes place withterrible exactitude. Do you knowwhat is a man's most personal andprivate dwelling, what is beyond adoubt his own especial and exclusiveretreat, the symbol and triumph ofthe complete man ? It is called thegrave. " Remember, man, that thouart dust, and unto dust thou shaltreturn," says the Church on a certainday.The most private and undisturbedspot of all is certainly the grave.Then, if egoism were right, if hebest kept himself pure and intactwho shut himself up in the prisonof his own being, sheltered from thefresh air and the outer world, thegrave would be the one dwelling inwhich a man might hope to keephimself inviolate and integral.But admire what takes place !Egoism is so truly death, that thegrave hands over to decomposition,disorganization, and decay, the very

58


63/184

Isolation and Solitudeman whom it shelters from air andlife. It keeps what is confided toit, but keeps it for the worms thatawait their prey.The grave is the man who shutshimself up in himself.You remember the words pronounced after those four historicdays : Lazare, veniforas.The same Voice speaks to everydead heart, and calls to it incessantlyin the fulness of its love : " Comeout of thyself ! Come forth ! VeniforasTThe gift of self is the condition oflife. The more a man opens hisheart, the stronger he grows ; themore he spends himself, the moreconcentrated he becomes ; the moregenerous he is, the more master ofhimself ; the wider the rays of hissympathies, the more glowing thecentre.

But we must take care not to confuse isolation with solitude. Isolation is death, solitude is sometimeslife. Isolation is privacy ; but solitude, says Pere de Ravignan, is thecountry of the strong.A selfish man of business, pushinghis way through his enemies in the

59


64/184

Life, Science, and Artbusy hurrying crowd of egoists, isnot solitary, but he is isolated. Theold anchorite of the desert lived insolitude, but no one was less isolatedthan he. He was in communionwith humanity in its past, its present,and its future ; for he was intimatelyunited with Him, in and throughWhom alone all beings are in communion.

Solitude favours union ; for solitude, rooted in love and in order,elevates the soul, and it is always onthe heights that union is preparedfor and accomplished. Solitude isalso a preparation for action, andoften may be said to comprise action,just as silence prepares the way forspeech, and often says more thanwords can say.In the natural order, isolationweakens and solitude fortifies. Anisolated man escapes many of thesorrows and burdens of life. A mancapable of solitude first gathers together all that life can offer, andthen spends it freely.

If we search for the very summitof solitude, our thoughts rest on theCross that was raised on Calvary.And yet the Crucified Saviour recon-60


65/184

son

Hopeciles all things, and draws all thingsto Himself : Et ego si exaltatusfuero a terra, omnia traham ad meipsum.

VIIIHOPE

CHRISTIANITY places Hope^ among the virtues among thetheological virtues. It places it between Faith and Charity. If thissublime list of the things that areindispensable fell upon our ears forthe first time if the Word of Lifespoke to us to-day for the first timethis superhuman language weshould feel it to be superhuman.The command to hope can comefrom no other than God. But it iswith the marvels of the catechism aswith the marvels of the stars familiarity breeds contempt, or, at least,indifference ; and we have ceasedto notice the extraordinary sublimityof the merciful command whichforbids us to think ourselves lost.

It is not rare to hear men talkas though they thought that Christianity were a thing of the pastsomething already exhausted, its6 1


66/184

Life, Science, and Artsap run dry ; something which fearsthe future, and which, if it continues to exist at all when confrontedby the future with all its greatnessand science, can only exist by appealing for mercy.

It is not rare to hear certain mentalk as though they believed thatChristianity stood in need of indulgence. They seem to think that thedoctrines of the Council of Nicaea,the doctrines of St. John, the doctrines of St. Athanasius, must feelvery timid in face of us moderns,in face of all the gas-lamps inour streets, and that it is a wisecourse for those who wish Christianity well, to plead in its favoursome extenuating circumstances. Intheir minds, avowed or unavowed,is the thought that all that EternalTruth can expect or hope for fromus, is toleration.By a strange self-deception, wetake a great deal of pride in ourown persons, and very little pride inour beliefs.

It is time we became humble, forit is time we became proud. Let usabandon our souls to the radiant influence of Uncreated Light ; let us62


67/184

Hopebecome Its mirrors Its burningmirrors, as it were so that It is reflected back from us, and invadesand penetrates those substanceswhich have hitherto remained impenetrable and remote from it.And, to attain this great end, let us

all be at one one with ourselves,one with each other.Hell strives with all its might tobreak the unity of those who recitethe same Credo.With one hand, it struggles to

break the unity of Christian thoughtin the soul of the individual. It triesto persuade him that it is enough tobe half a Christian, and that it is notnecessary to be altogether and entirely Christian. It tries to persuadehim that Christianity has no right tohis whole soul ; that there are certainreservations to be made, certainbarriers to be erected, certain partswhich must be set aside for the useof the spirit contrary to Christianity.With the other hand, Hell struggles to break the unity of those whobelieve, by introducing into Christiansociety the great dissolvent of self-esteem. Hell stakes its highest onself-esteem, which is the principle63


68/184

Life, Science, and Artof division and the cause of alldivisions. It makes unparalleledefforts to establish coldness betweenCatholics ; and he among us whoaccepts this proffered gift of coldness will indeed yield a valuableobedience to Hell. For coldness isin the moral order what paralysisis in the physical order.In general, those who allow themselves to be divided lose the communion of love, and fall immediatevictims to the spirit of darkness,who calumniates them one to theother, who deceives them, and who,above all, creates misunderstandingsbetween them. A misunderstandingis one of the most effective practicalmethods of the spirit who works fordivision. Misunderstandings havefor accomplices self-esteem andsilence. There are hands made toclasp each other which never meet ina friendly clasp, because self-esteemand silence combine to paralyzethem. There are men who wouldquickly love each other if once theywere to speak to each other ; forwhen they spoke, they would discover that their

souls,united bythe same intimate longings and64


69/184

I

HopeDivine truths, had only been separated by phantoms and diabolicdelusions.What is it that we need in orderto make us truly united ? It is not,I think, the practical necessity forunion which is lacking, nor is itthe ideal beauty of love.Do you remember the day andthe hour when we were commandedto love ?He Who spoke is called theWord. The Word lifted up Hisvoice. And He Who listened wasGod the Father.

In a very solemn moment, on theeve of the Crucifixion, Jesus raisedHis eyes to Heaven and said : Pater,venit hora. . . .

" Father, the hour is come. . . .And now glorify Thou Me, OFather, with Thyself, with the glorywhich I had, before the world was,with Thee."These unfathomable words precede the prayer He utters for us.The Word has just spoken of Himself, now He is about to speak of us:" And not for them only do I pray,but for them also who through theirword shall believe in Me :65 E


70/184

Life, Science, and Art" That they all may be one, as

Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee :that they also may be one in Us. . . ."And, as if to reply to a foreseen

objection, He gives them His Body,His Blood, His Soul, and His Divinity,to be the food of their souls thesame food for all, and a food which isHimself. To demonstrate unity, Heinstitutes the Holy Eucharist.

I have entitled this chapter Hope,and yet it treats of charity. But, tojustify my title, I will ask you tocall to mind the concluding wordsof the verse we have just read :" That they also may be one in Us,that the world may believe that Thouhast sent Me."Do you not now catch a glimpse ofthe reward of charity ? Do you nothear, after the prayer, the promise ?Let us be one, in order that theworld may believe that Jesus Christwas sent by God the Father.Do you not see how the future ofthe world is bound up with the

charity which should unite us ? Doyou not see why I have called mychapter Hope ?Would you like to know the effectof charity on men ?66 .


71/184

Hope" By this shall all men know thatyou are My disciples, if you havelove one for another."God, Who is the Centre, drawsnear to those who draw near to

each other ; He draws away fromthose who hold aloof from eachother. Only never let us imaginethat the path to union is the pathof surrender of doctrine. Let usnot think that the war of ideaswill ever be terminated by theabandonment of any truth. It isthe whole Truth, adored in its fullintegrity, which alone can give uspeace if we really desire it,

IXUNITY

DEATH, in all its forms, is separation. Moral death separatesman from Truth, which is his centre.Physical death separates the bodyfrom the soul. He who has a relishfor death its inventor, the devilis he who is separated and whoseparates, he who does not love.

Life, love, and unity, are inextricably connected, or, rather, theyare one and the same thing.

67


72/184

Life, Science, and ArtDeath, indifference, and separa

tion, are three synonymous terms.What is it, then, which causesseparation ? What is the method ofthe arch- separator, Satan Satanwho does not love ?He tempts every man accordingto his character, his habits, histemperament, and thus only in certain exceptional natures does hearouse violent hate and opposition.As a general rule, he knocks atthe door which opens most easily ofall the door of indolence. Oncethis door is open, the ordinary mandoes not take the trouble to hate, forhate is tiring ; but neither does hetake the trouble to love, for love isa kind of industrious repose. Soonthe man persuades himself thatgoodness is a negative thing ; that, tobe good, all he has to do is to donothing at all ; that only those areguilty who take the initiative withregard to evil, who put some passionand energy into their adherence.The man who, influenced by thedevil, sees things in this way orrather does not see them at all isdeprived in a supreme degree of lifeand of love. He has fallen a victim68


73/184

Unityto that fatal habit of mind, that contented blindness, which imaginesitself wise and has no regrets ; hesuffers from a form of apathetic insanity, which lets Death slip inthrough an open door Death witha friendly face, posing as a good-natured fellow who will not disturbthe ways of the house, but will bringup the dinner at the proper hour,exact no sacrifice, and utter noalarming words. Such a man issupremely separated ; all the moreso because the separation has beenaccomplished peacefully, and he feelsno uneasiness, terror, or remorse.Around him is the silence of thetomb, which is the parody of peace.

If ever this calm, unshaken, tranquil, and apparently unalterable stateof death was the triumph of thedevil, it is so in times like ours. Welive in an age of war. The Spirit ofGoodness and the Spirit of Evil confront each other on the battle-field ofthe world in the solemn attitudepeculiar to decisive moments, andthey are engaged in questioning,numbering, and marshalling theirsoldiers. They question them, theynumber them, they marshal them ;69


74/184

Life, Science, and Artbut the Spirit of Goodness rousesthem and excites them to action,while the Spirit of Evil lulls them tosleep.The Good Spirit says : u Let thedead bury their dead. Arise ! Takeup your bed, and walk."The Evil Spirit says : " You hadbetter rest. What good would youdo in the battle ? There will beplenty of others to fight. You whoare wise had better keep quiet.Evil has always existed, and alwayswill exist in the same proportions.The madmen who insist on fightingit, gain nothing, and have no timeto rest. You who are wise woulddo well to live and let live, and notto make war on anything. It is impossible to enlighten men. Why,then, attempt it ? Live on terms ofpeace with the opinions you do notshare. Are they not all equallylegitimate ?"Thus speaks the devil ; and henceforth the man, pledged to disunion,invokes the authority of the verydisunion whose author and accomplice he is, to uphold him in notworking for union. He first rendersunity impossible for himself, and70

.,.


75/184

Unitythen declares it impossible for everybody. He will not, and so hedeclares that he cannot; he createsin himself an impossibility, and thenproceeds to point it out. Sometimeshe maintains that a vague kind ofunity of mind and spirit is quitesufficient. Of what good, he thensays, are definite dogmas ? Sometimes he confesses that there is nounity outside Catholicism. But, ineither case, he gives up the hope ofseeing unity revive in himself andothers.He gives tip ! This is the importantword ! This is the devil's word !This is the point I wish to impressupon you. It is the word that Satanwhispered in the ear of Judas. It isthe suicide's word, an expressionconnoting ennui, despair, Hell. Godnever gives up ! The devil alwaysgives up, even when he pretends togo on acting. The man who givesup accomplishes nothing, and is onlya hindrance. The man who doesnot give up can move mountains.What man has the right to utterthe word impossible, since God haspromised to be with us and to help ?Let those unite together, then, who71


76/184

Life, Science, and Arthave not given up, and let them unitein hope in a living, ardent, active,fruitful hope. In the hour of battle,the soldier does not require that hiscomrade should be perfect ; he doesnot try to rake up some grievanceagainst him : he knows that he is hiscomrade, that they are fighting sideby side, that they are sons of thesame country, and he does not stopto think of anything else.

If ever a man and a Christianshould forget little personal divisions,it is surely on the field of battle.Unity and Hope that is the motto ofvictory. When we declare the progress of Truth and the triumph ofBeauty to be impossible, we therebyrender them so. We cease to hopefor them, because we have ceased tostrive for them. Men only strive forwhat they hope to get. Let us dareto hope for victory, and it is possible.Let us resolve to win it, and it isours.

It is ours, but on this condition :That all who dare to hope shouldstretch out a helping hand to thosewho dare to fight. There is anothercondition ; it is that each one of usshould realize the necessity of lend-72


77/184

The Spirit of Contradictioning his personal aid to all who hopeand all who fight, and that he shouldnot expect others to pay his share ofthe tribute. What would become ofa world in which everyone countedon others to do things, and so no onedid anything at all ?

THE SPIRIT OF CONTRADICTION

AS long as I can remember, I havenoticed that men are continuallydisputing together, and doubtlessyou too have noticed it. Universalcontradiction is a universal fact.Division covers the earth. It is netbetween enemies that we find thedeepest division ; it is between friends.Where union seems to exist, theredivision exists, all the more radicaland intimate because of the apparentunion.

I do not enlarge upon this fact ; Isimply state it without discussing it.The intellectual condition of thehuman race is a masterpiece ofdivision.Yet I am sure that if I could contemplate men as they really are in73


78/184

Life, Science, and Artthe depths of their souls, solitaryand recollected, they would not lookat such a distance from each other,so separated, so divided, as they dowhen I see them in the midst of theturmoil of life.

Why do they appear to be greaterenemies than they really are ? Theyare made for union, and division istheir misfortune. Why do they addto their misfortune, the misfortuneof being divided ?The question is of immense importance, of universal importance.The fact is, there is in the world amonster called the Spirit of Contra

diction.Everything I consider in the world,

I can consider under several aspects,and so can you.Paul sees a thing on a certainside ; it looks to him white.Peter sees the same thing on theother side ; it looks to him black.Both are right, both are wrong,for the thing is white on one sideand black on the other." It is white !" cries Paul." It is black ! cries Peter.And behold two enemies !The Spirit of Contradiction shuts74


79/184

The Spirit of Contradictiontheir eyes and embitters their hearts,and blinds and separates their souls.The whiter the things looks toPaul, the blacker it looks to Peter ;and Peter sees it horribly black because Paul sees it excessively white.Their eyes, instead of coming toeach other's aid, are aflame withirritation.They were two intelligent men,made to understand each other.Now they are two enemies, stupidly

obstinate, stupidly blind,all because

the Serpent of Contradiction hasraised his head between them.The thing is so simple that itssimplicity hides its importance. IfPeter is to show Paul to any goodpurpose the black side which hesees, he must first perceive as clearlyas Paul the white side which Paulsees, and he must tell him so. If hedoes not frankly tell him so, eachwill hopelessly entrench himself behind his individual point of view.This is why kindness of heart hassuch an immense role to play in thereconciliation of minds. If you areirritated with your enemy, whoperhaps, after all, is your friend, youwill never convince him.

75


80/184

Life, Science, and ArtPeter imagines that if he were to

grant Paul all that he can grant consistent with truthfulness, Paul wouldtake advantage of his avowal and useit against him. But the absolutecontrary is the case. Paul will seewhat Peter sees, when Peter hasseen what Paul sees and candidlyacknowledged it.

I was but a child when I was ledinto forming erroneous opinionsabout many things, just because Iwas so often contradicted. And eversince that time I have seen clearlythat the Spirit of Contradiction isSatan himself, the father of all lies.Father Faber holds that we shallnever convince a man unless we firstprove to him that we have thoroughlygrasped all his objections and enteredinto his point of view. Nothing ismore true.

Father Faber also says that thereis one thing in the world which cannever, in any case, do any good.This unique thing is sarcasm.You have an antagonist. Laughat his point of view : he will neversee yours. Never! You have shutoff from this man the sources of Life.

Father Faber further says that if a76


81/184

The Spirit of Contradictionman were suddenly to begin to lookwith friendship on all other men, andto put a favourable construction ontheir conduct, this man would findexistence as completely altered as ifhe had been transported to anotherplanet.

In education, in discussion, inscience, in criticism, in public life,in private life everywhere, everywhere, the same fact may be observed : the earth is covered withruins, and it is the Spirit of Contradiction that has caused them.

St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi adoptedthe following for her rule of life :Never refuse anybody anything, unless it be an absolute impossibility togrant it.Here is the spirit which is theexact opposite to the Spirit of Contradiction.The experience of centuries teachesus that men need consoling first, instructing afterwards. They do notunderstand the instruction until theyhave received the consolation. TheSpirit of Contradiction violates thislaw. It will begin by speaking ofthe cause of irritation ; it puts theobstacle in the foreground. It sets

77"


82/184

Life, Science, and Artout by a reproach. It irritates beforeit tries to pacify. That is why itsteaching is sterile and fatal, evenwere it a hundred times in the right.

Begin with argument, and all willbe sterile.Begin with love, and all will be

fertile.The Spirit of Contradiction residesin the soul and gives the man whospeaks a certain tone. If tone is soimportant in speech, it is becausethe tone indicates the attitude ofmind. The tone is more importantthan the words used.

Let us suppose that Father Faber'shypothesis has been realized, andthat this very day men have adoptedkindness as the principle of all theiractions.To-morrow we shall be living onanother planet.

But, you will tell me, differencesof opinion will still exist.I do not say that they will allvanish. But we shall be astounded

if we one day see the small proportions to which they are reduced.If the huge misunderstandingcreated by the Spirit of Contra

diction were to disappear, we should


83/184

Appearance and Realitybe amazed to see to what a greatextent the union of intellects wouldfollow the union of hearts.

I

XIAPPEARANCE AND REALITYWANT the reader to lend himself

to a supposition. Let us supposethat we have to do with a strangerfrom another planet, someone quiteignorant of the ways of our world,and that we are showing him someof the sights which meet our eyesdown here.We take him first to a battle-field.What a horrible tumult ! Thewhistling of the shells, followed bytheir explosion ! The deadly combat ! The wounded, the dying ! Allthat bloody confusion which Chateaubriand called la cohne de la mort.The stranger turns to us and says :" I did not know what Hate was, butnow I know. I am horrified. I amappalled. Hate is, then, the inventionof men. Not deeming themselvessufficiently mortal, they have summoned Hate to the aid of Death."To calm our traveller and to vary79


84/184

Life, Science, and Arthis course of instruction, we willbring another picture before hiseyes.We will take him to a receptionin high society. Instead of cries ofpain and bursting shells, he will meetwith nothing but greetings andsmiles. For here civilization reigns,here it flourishes, here the art ofpolite speech is found in perfection.There are neither men nor womenin the elegant apartments ; there areonly gentlemen and ladies. Thewords exchanged breathe the mostadmirable courtesy. Nobody emphasizes his remarks unduly. Nobody utters a sharp word. Theopinions expressed are never farfrom the golden mean. Nobody isvery religious : that would be goinga little far. Nobody is very irreligious : that, too, would be going alittle far. Nobody is very authoritative : that would be disagreeable.Nobody is very revolutionary : thatmight give offence.Nobody owns to any positivefaith : that would be a little old-fashioned. But each is ready togive what protection he can to oldbeliefs, for their destruction among80


85/184

I

Appearance and Realitythe lower classes would not be without drawbacks, especially their complete destruction for we must havenothing quite complete. Not that itis really desirable that the peopleshould preserve a definite and livingfaith. By no means ! Still, onewould wish them to retain somevestiges of trust in Providence, somevestiges of fear. It is rather a goodthing when the poor hope for certainrewards in another life and dreadcertain punishments. It helps themto support the miseries of this world,and in all things prudence is necessary.Our stranger begins to feel reconciled to men. How kind and amiablethey are ! How moderate ! We arefar enough away from the battle-fieldnow. We call his attention to agroup of gentlemen on his right, andto a group of ladies on his left.The gentlemen are talking politicsand literature. Two in particularare arguing together. We do nothear all they say, we stand at a littledistance looking and listen ; ng, butwe gather that they are talking ofmodern writers. They blame severelythose people of strict views who be-81 f


86/184

Life, Science, and Artlieve all they feel bound to believe."Sometimes," says one gentleman,a it may be necessary generously tosacrifice one's own convictions forthe sake of others, and the interestsof Truth for the sake of harmony."This remark is almost unanimouslyapproved. Still, someone does venture to contradict and to say : " Canthere be any harmony withoutTruth ?"The shadow of a smile flits overthe faces of the listeners, and in certain eyes there is a cold flash whichresembles steel.We now turn to the group of ladies.Surely the flowers, the diamonds, theradiant and smiling faces, excludeany idea of hostility or revenge ? Adexterous wave of the fan conveyshere a greeting, there a sign ; themost exquisite politeness presidesover every movement. Now andagain, the slightest of gestures emphasizes certain words. But how couldanyone imagine that the term " mydear," uttered in a certain tone ofvoice, should be meant as an impertinence ? It would be impossible tothink that, would it not ? Yet theseelegant women survey each other82


87/184

Appearance and Realitywith a cursory glance, and guess,imagine they guess, or else unconsciously reveal a thousand secrets.But without a long and terribleexperience of the world and its ways,how could one distrust a basket offlowers ? If a dart should pierceand chill the heart, would it be likelyto have first concealed itself in abasket of flowers ?No ! Such a suspicion will neverenter the noble mind of our companion. The stranger from a distantsphere who has just been appalledby the horrors of the battle-field, isactually reassured by the pleasingpicture of our kindly civilization.He believes that, whereas a shorttime ago he was contemplating hate,the charms of kindness are now beingunfolded before his eyes.

Well, listen ! If I were reallycharged with his education, if it weremy duty to initiate him into terrestrialmatters, I should say :You are making a radical mistake.The dust of the battle-field contains

not an atom of hate. The men whoare now killing each other will bequite ready presently to help andassist each other. After having

83


88/184

Life, Science, and Artrisked their lives in an attempt tokill others, they will soon perhaps berisking them with the contrary intention of saving the lives of theirenemies. The word enemy has inthis connection a special andmysterious sense. The enemy is theman who happens to be confrontingyou. In fighting him, you obey adecree which you do not understand ;you obey a feeling of fury which isnot really yours, which springs fromsomething higher than your personalsentiments." But," interrupts the stranger," where is hate to be found if it is notto be found in death ?"Where is hate to be found ? Perhaps in that very drawing-room wherejust now you were admiring thesuavity and elegance of our socialintercourse. It lies, perhaps, in thosesmiles, those artifices, those reticences,and above all, in those silences." You are angry, therefore you are inthe wrong," said one of the Ancients.The remark is as false as it is celebrated. I should much prefer tosay, " You are angry, therefore youlove." A man who is liable to growangry is almost always a man of deep84


89/184

Appearance and Realityaffections. His may be " the angerof love," to quote Joseph de Maistre.The man who gets heated in argument, who pursues his adversary withaccusations, who wishes at all coststo carry the citadel by storm, to convert, to persuade, is a man full ofaffection. The apparent violence hedisplays with regard to you, is reallyonly an ardent desire to unite himself to you, and to bear you awaywith him to the regions of peace andvictory. If you repulse him absolutely, he will end by being silent,and then, indeed, he will love nolonger. In discussions among educated people, the man who tends toget heated is accused of giving wayto hate : he is really the man wholoves.He who can manage to maintain aperfect moderation, who never allowsa word to escape him beyond what isdictated by prudence and calculation,he whose words and demeanour remain irreproachable, is often he whodoes not love. The other man gavehimself to others ; this man reserveshimself, and seems amiable becausehe is indifferent.

Hate is not a violence ; it is a85


90/184

Life, Science, and Artreticence. It is not ardent ; it is cold.It is a negative quantity. It is not atransport of passion, but a holdingaloof.He who loves is moved to speak,and so is he who believes. " I havebelieved, therefore have I spoken."He who has ceased to love is silent.The life that is based on hate is basedon silence. Certain almost imperceptible shades of expression andgesture serve, as it were, to accentuate the silence ; they indicate thedegree below zero to which thefrozen temperature of separation hasfallen. For this is the true name ofhate : it is neither pursuit nor reproach nor fury it is separation.

XIIINDIFFERENCE

MANY people who know nothingabout it, reproach Truth withbeing intolerant. This needs explanation.One would say, to listen to them,that Truth and Error are two beingswith equal rights ; two queens, bothlegitimate, who should live in peace,86


91/184

Indifferenceeach in her own kingdom ; twodeities, who divide between themthe allegiance of the world, withoutone having the right to seize thedomains of the other. And fromthis mode of thought springs indifference, which is the triumph ofSatan. Hate pleases him, but hateis not enough ; he must have indifference.

Indifference is a unique kind ofhate, a cold and lasting hate whichhides itself from others sometimeseven from itself behind an air oftolerance. For indifference is neverreal. It is hate combined with falsehood.To continue to pour forth dayafter day a torrent of fierce invectiveagainst Truth, men would require adecision of character which they donot possess.

Accordingly, the line which theytake is to take no particular line.And yet a noisy hate is much moreeasily explained, once original sin isgranted, than a silent hate. Whatastonishes me is not to hear someblasphemy on the lips of a man.Original sin is there ; free will isthere ; blasphemy has its explana-87


92/184

Life, Science, and Arttion. What plunges me in a stupefaction absolutely beyond expressionis neutrality.

It is a question of the future ofthe human race, and of the eternalfuture of everything in the universepossessing intelligence and freedom.It is certainly and of necessity aquestion of you yourself, as, indeed,of every person and every thing.Then, unless you are not interestedin yourself, nor in anybody nor anything, it is certainly and of necessitya question of an interest most sacredto you. If you are alive at all, rouseup the life in you. Take your soul,and rush into the thick of the fight.Take your wishes, your thoughts,your prayers, your love. Catch upany weapon which you can possiblywield, and throw yourself body andsoul into the struggle where everything is at stake.Placed on the battle-field betweenthe fire of those who love and thefire of those who hate, you must lendyour aid to one or the other. Makeno mistake about it. The appealis not to men in general, it is to youin particular ; for all the moral,mental, physical, and material gifts88


93/184

Indifferenceat your disposal are so many weaponswhich God has placed in your hands,with liberty to use them for oragainst Him. You must fight; youare forced to fight. You can onlychoose on which side.

Jesus Christ, when He cameinto this wrorld, asked men foreverything He needed, for Hechose to be poorer than the poorestamong them. He asked for a placein which to be born : it wasrefused Him. The inns were full ;a stable door was the only one open.He asked for a place in which todwell : it was refused Him. TheSon of man had not where to layHis head. And when it came toHis death, He. had not six feet ofground in which to lie. Earth rejected Him, and He hung betweenearth and sky on a Cross.Now, He Who asked then, asksstill. He asks for a place in which tobe born. The people who filled theinns, and who would not put themselves out, but sent Jesus away tobe born between an ox and anass, are an admirable figure ofthose men who are for eversacrificin

Ernest Hello - Life Science and Art

Documents

Transcript of Ernest Hello - Life Science and Art