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diff --git a/42865-8.txt b/42865-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e75be9f..0000000 --- a/42865-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3737 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's English Conferences of Ernest Renan, by Ernest Renan - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: English Conferences of Ernest Renan - Rome and Christianity. Marcus Aurelius - -Author: Ernest Renan - -Translator: Clara Erskine Clement - -Release Date: June 3, 2013 [EBook #42865] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH CONFERENCES *** - - - - -Produced by Charlene Taylor, Michael Seow and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - ENGLISH CONFERENCES - OF - ERNEST RENAN. - - ROME AND CHRISTIANITY. - MARCUS AURELIUS. - - TRANSLATED BY - CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT. - - [Illustration] - - BOSTON: - JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY. - 1880. - - - - - Copyright, 1880, - By JAMES R. OSGOOD & COMPANY. - - Franklin Press: - Stereotyped and Printed by - Rand, Avery, & Co., - Boston. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE. - - The Hibbert Conferences. - - _First Conference._ The Sense in which Christianity - is a Roman Work 9 - - _Second Conference._ The Legend of the Roman - Church.--Peter and Paul 39 - - _Third Conference._ Rome, the Centre of the Formation - of Ecclesiastical Authority 73 - - _Fourth Conference._ Rome, the Capital of Catholicism 103 - - The Royal Institution Conference. - - Marcus Aurelius 139 - - - - -NOTE. - - -The lectures contained in this volume were delivered by M. Ernest Renan -in London during April of the present year. The first four, upon "Rome -and Christianity," were given under the auspices of "The Hibbert -Foundation," in response to an invitation under which the distinguished -author visited England. The fifth, "Marcus Aurelius," was incidental to -the visit, and was given before "The Royal Institution." The word -"Conferences," though somewhat new to English usage in its present -sense, has been retained as best expressing the author's original title, -"_Conferences d'Angleterre_." - - - - - ROME AND CHRISTIANITY. - - FIRST CONFERENCE, - - London, April 6, 1880. - - THE SENSE IN WHICH CHRISTIANITY - IS A ROMAN WORK. - - - - -FIRST CONFERENCE. - -THE SENSE IN WHICH CHRISTIANITY IS A ROMAN WORK. - - -Ladies and Gentlemen,--I was proud and happy to receive from the -curators of this noble institution an invitation to continue here an -instruction inaugurated by my illustrious confrère and friend, Max -Müller, the usefulness of which will be more and more appreciated. A -broad and sincere thought always bears fruit. It is thirty years since -the venerable Robert Hibbert made a legacy for the purpose of aiding the -progress of enlightened Christianity, inseparable, according to his -idea, from the progress of science and reason. Wisely carried out, this -foundation has become, in the hands of intelligent administrators, the -centre of conferences upon all the great chapters of the history of -religion and humanity: the promoters of this reform have asked, with -reason, why the method which has proved good in all departments of -intellectual culture should not also be good in the domain of religion? -why the pursuit of truth, without regard to consequences, should be -dangerous in theology, when it is approved of in the entire domain of -social and natural science? You believed the truth, gentlemen, and you -were right. There is but one truth; and we are wanting in respect to its -revelation, if we allow that the critic ought to soften his severe -processes when he treats of it. No, gentlemen, the truth is able to -dispense with compliments. I come gladly at your call; for I understand -the duties towards the right exactly as you do. With you, I should -believe that I injured a faith in admitting that it required to be -treated with a certain softness. I believe with you that the worship due -from man to the ideal consists in independent scientific research, -without regard to results, and that the true manner of rendering homage -to the truth is to pursue it without ceasing, with the firm resolution -of sacrificing all to it. You desire that these conferences shall -present a great historic _ensemble_ of the efforts which the human race -has made to resolve the problems which surround it, and affect its -destiny. In the present state of the human mind, no one can hope to -resolve these problems: we suspect all dogmatism simply because it is -dogmatism. We grant willingly that a religious or philosophical system -can, indeed, or that it ought to, enclose a certain portion of truth; -but we deny to it, without examination, the possibility of enclosing the -absolute truth. What we love is history. History well written is always -good; for, even if it should prove that man in seeking to seize the -infinite has pursued a chimera, the history of these attempts, more -generous than successful, will always be useful. It proves, that, in -reality, man goes beyond the circle of his limited life through his -aspirations. It shows what energy he has expended for the sake of his -love of the good and true; it teaches us to estimate him,--this poor -disinherited one, who, in addition to the sufferings which nature -imposes upon him, imposes still further upon himself the torture of the -unknown, the torture of doubt, the severe resistances of virtue, the -abstinences of austerity, the voluntary sufferings of the ascetic. Is -all this a pure loss? Is this unceasing effort to attain the -unattainable as vain as the course of the child who pursues the ever -flying object of his desire? It pains me to believe it; and the faith -which eludes me when I examine in detail each of the systems scattered -throughout the world, I find, in a measure, when I reflect upon all -these systems together. All religions may be defective and incomplete; -religion in humanity is nothing less than divine, and a mark of superior -destiny. No, they have not labored in vain--those grand founders, those -reformers, those prophets of all ages--who have protested against the -false evidences of gross materialism, who have beaten themselves -against the wall of the apparent fatality that encloses us; who have -employed their thought, given their life, for the accomplishment of a -mission which the spirit of their age had imposed upon them. If the fact -of the existence of the martyrs does not prove the exclusive truth of -this or that sect (all sects can show a rich martyrology), this fact in -general proves that religious zeal responds to something mysterious. -All,--as many as we are,--we are sons of martyrs. Those who talk the -most of scepticism are frequently the most satisfied and indifferent. -Those who have founded among you religious and political liberty, those -who have founded in all Europe liberty of thought and research, those -who have labored for the amelioration of the fate of men, those who will -doubtless find means for further amelioration, have suffered, or will -suffer, for their good work; for no one is ever recompensed for what he -does for the good of humanity. Nevertheless they will always have -imitators. There will always be some to carry on the work of the -incorrigibles; some, possessed of the divine spirit, who will sacrifice -their personal interest to truth and justice. Be it so: they have chosen -the better part. I know not what assures me that he who, without knowing -why, through simple nobility of nature, has chosen for himself in this -world the essentially unproductive lot of doing good, is the true sage, -and has discovered the legitimate use of life with more sagacity than -the selfish man. - - -I. - -You have asked me to retrace before you one of those pages of religious -history which places the thoughts which I come to express in their -fullest aspect. The origins of Christianity form the most heroic episode -in the history of humanity. Man never drew from his heart more devotion, -more love of the ideal, than in the one hundred and fifty years which -elapsed from the sweet Galilean vision, under Tiberius, to the death of -Marcus Aurelius. The religious consciousness was never more eminently -creative, and never laid down with more authority the law of the future. -This extraordinary movement, to which no other can be compared, came -forth from the bosom of Judaism. But it is doubtful if Judaism alone -would have conquered the world. It was necessary that a young and bold -school, coming out of its midst, should take the audacious part of -renouncing the largest portion of the Mosaic ritual. It was necessary, -above all, that the new movement should be transported into the midst of -the Greeks and Latins, while awaiting the Barbarians, and become like -yeast in the bosom of those European races by which humanity -accomplishes its destinies. What a beautiful subject he will discourse -upon who shall one day explain to you the part which Greece took in that -great common work! You have commissioned me to show to you the part of -Rome. The action of Rome is the first in date. It was scarcely until the -beginning of the third century that the Greek genius, with Clement of -Alexandria and Origen, really seized upon Christianity. I hope to show -you, that, since the second century, Rome has exercised a decisive -influence upon the Church of Jesus. - -In one sense, Rome has diffused religion through the world, as she has -diffused civilization, as she has founded the idea of a central -government, extending itself over a considerable part of the world. But -even as the civilization which Rome has diffused has not been the small, -narrow, austere culture of ancient Latium, but in fact the grand and -large civilization which Greece created, so the religion to which she -definitely lent her support was not the niggardly superstition which was -sufficient to the rude and primitive inhabitants of the Palatine: it was -Judaism, that is to say, in fact, the religion which Rome scorned and -hated most, that which two or three times she believed herself to have -finally vanquished to the profit of her own national worship. This -ancient religion of Latium, which contented a race endowed with narrow -intellectual wants and morals, among which customs and social rank -almost held the place of a religion during some centuries, was a -sufficiently despicable thing. As M. Boissier has perfectly proved, a -more false conception of the divinity was never seen. In the Roman -worship, as in most of the ancient Italiote worships, prayer was a magic -formula, acting by its own virtue, independent of the moral dispositions -of him who prayed. People prayed only for a selfish end. There exist -some registers called _indigitamenta_, containing lists of the gods who -supply all the wants of men; thus there was no need of being deceived. -If the god was not addressed by his true name, by that under which it -pleased him to be invoked, he was capable of misapprehension, or of -interpreting capriciously. Now these gods, who are in some degree the -forces of the world, are innumerable. There was a little god who made -the infant utter his first cry (_Vaticanus_); there was another who -presided over his first word (_Fabulinus_); another who taught the baby -to eat (_Educa_); another who taught him to drink (_Potina_); another -who made him keep quiet in his cradle (_Cuba_). In truth, the good wife -of Petronius was right, when, in speaking of the Campagna, she said, -"This country is so peopled with divinities, that it is easier to find a -god than a man." Besides these, there were unending series of -allegories, or deified abstractions, Fear, the Cough, Fever, Manly -Fortune, Patrician Chastity, Plebeian Chastity, the Security of the Age, -the Genius of the Customs (or of the _octroi_), and above all (listen, -that one who, to say the truth, was the great god of Rome), the Safety -of the Roman People. It was a civil religion in the full force of the -term. It was essentially the religion of the State. There was no -priesthood distinct from the functions of the State: the State was the -veritable god of Rome. The father had there the right of life and death -over his son; but if this son had the least function, and the father met -him in his path, he descended from his horse, and bent himself before -him. - -The consequence of this essentially political character was, that the -Roman religion remained always an aristocratic religion. A man became -pontiff as he became prætor or consul. When a man desired these -religious functions, he submitted to no examination; he went into no -retreat in a seminary; he did not ask himself whether he had the -ecclesiastical vocation: he proved that he had served his country well, -and that he had been wounded in a certain battle. There was no -sacerdotal spirit. These civil pontiffs remained cold, practical men, -and had not the least idea that their functions should separate them -from the world. The religion of Rome is, in every respect, the inversion -of theocracy. Civil law rules acts: it does not trouble itself with -thoughts; thus did the Roman religion. Rome never had the least idea of -dogma. The exact observation of the rites commanded by the divinity, in -which it did not regard piety or the sentiments of the heart, if the -request was in form, was all that was required. Even more,--devotion was -a fault; calmness, order, regularity, only, were necessary: more than -that was an excess (_superstitio_). Cato absolutely forbade that a slave -should be allowed to conceive any sentiment of piety. "Know," said he, -"that it is the master who sacrifices for all the household." It was not -needful to neglect what was due to the gods; but it was not needful to -give them more than was due: that was superstition, of which the true -Roman had as much horror as of impiety. - -Was there ever, I ask you, a religion less capable of becoming the -religion of the human race than that? Not only was the access to the -priesthood for a long time forbidden to the plebeians, but they were -also excluded from the public worship. In the great struggle for civil -equality which fills the history of Rome, religion is the great argument -with which the revolutionists are opposed. "How," say they, "could you -become a prætor or consul? You have not the right to take the omens." -Above all, the people were very little attached to religion. Each -popular victory was followed, as one may say, by an anti-clerical -re-action: on the contrary, the aristocracy remained always faithful to -a worship which gave a divine sanction to its privileges. - -The matter became still more pressing when the Roman people, by their -manly, patriotic virtues, had conquered all the nations upon the borders -of the Mediterranean. What interest, think you an African, a Gaul, a -Syrian, took in a worship which concerned only a small number of high -and often tyrannical families? The local religions were continued -everywhere; but Augustus, who was still more a religious organizer than -a great politician, made the Roman idea to hover everywhere by the -establishment of the Roman worship. The altars of Rome and of Augustus -became the centre of a hierarchical organization of Flamens and Augustan -_Sevirs_, who served to found, more than one imagines, the divisions of -the dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces. Augustus admitted all the -local gods as Lares; he allowed more than the number of Lares in each -house; at each cross-road an additional Lare was placed,--the Genius of -the Emperor. Thanks to this fellowship, all the local gods and all the -special gods became "Augustan gods." It was a great advance. But this -grand attempt of the worship of the Roman State was notoriously -insufficient to satisfy the religious needs of the heart. There was -elsewhere a god who could not accommodate himself in any way to this -fraternity: it was the God of the Jews. It was impossible to make -Jehovah pass for a Lare, and associate with the Genius of the Emperor. -It was evident that a conflict must be established between the Roman -State and this unchangeable and refractory God, who did not bend to the -complaisant transformations exacted by the politics of the times. - -Ah, well! behold the most extraordinary historical phenomenon, the most -intense irony of all history: it is that the worship which Rome has -diffused through the world is not in the least the old worship of -Jupiter Capitolinus, or Latiaris, still less the worship of Augustus and -of the Genius of the Emperor: it is, in truth, the worship of Jehovah. -It is Judaism in its Christian form that Rome has propagated, without -wishing it, in so powerful a manner, that, from a certain epoch, -Romanism and Christianity have become almost synonymous words. - -Truly, I repeat it, it is more than doubtful if pure Judaism--that which -is developed under the Talmudical form, and which is still in our day so -powerful--would have had this extraordinary fortune. Judaism propagates -itself through Christianity. But one understands nothing of religious -history (some one, I hope, will demonstrate it to you some day), unless -it is fixed as a fundamental principle that Christianity had its origin -in Judaism itself,--Judaism with its fruitful principles of alms and -charity, with its absolute confidence in the future of humanity, with -that joy of the heart of which it has always had the secret,--only -Judaism freed from some observances and distinctive traits which had -been invented to characterize the special religion of the children of -Israel. - - -II. - -If one studies in fact the progress of the primitive Christian missions, -he remarks that they are all directed towards the West: in other words, -they take the Roman Empire as their theatre and limit. If one excepts -some small portions of the vassal territory of the Arsacidæ, lying -between the Euphrates and the Tigris, the empire of the Parthians -received no Christian missions during the first century. The Tigris was -an eastern boundary which Christianity did not pass under the Sassanidæ. -Two great causes--the Mediterranean and the Roman Empire--determined -this capital fact. - -The Mediterranean had been, during a thousand years, the great route on -which all civilizations and all ideas had passed each other. The Romans, -having freed it from piracy, had made it an unequalled way of -communication. It was in a sense the railroad of that time. A numerous -marine of coasting-vessels rendered the voyages along the borders of -this great lake very easy. The relative security which the routes of the -empire afforded, the sure guaranties found in the public powers, the -scattering of the Jews over all the coasts of the Mediterranean, the use -of the Greek tongue in the eastern portion of this sea, the unity of -civilization which the Greeks first, and then the Romans, had created, -made the map of the empire also the map of the countries reserved to the -Christian missions and destined to become Christian. The Roman _orbis_ -became the Christian _orbis_ in the sense in which it may be said that -the founders of the empire were the founders of the Christian monarchy, -or, at least, that they have drawn its outlines. Every province -conquered by the Roman Empire became a province conquered by -Christianity. Let the figures of the apostles be imagined in the -presence of Asia Minor, of Greece, of Italy divided into a hundred -little republics, of Gaul, of Spain, of Africa, of Egypt, with its old -national institutions, and their success can no more be thought of, or -rather it would seem that their project could never have had birth. The -union of the empire was the necessary preliminary condition of all great -religious propagandism, placing it above nationalities. The empire -recognized this in the fourth century. It became Christian. It saw that -Christianity was the religion which it had accepted without knowing -it,--the religion limited by its frontiers, identified with it, capable -of bringing it a second life. - -The Church, on its side, made itself entirely Roman, and has remained to -this day a fragment of the empire. During the middle ages the Church was -the old Rome, seizing again its authority over the barbarians, imposing -on them its decretals, as formerly it had imposed its laws, governing -them by its cardinals, as it had before governed through its imperial -legates and proconsuls. - -In creating its vast empire, Rome imposed, then, the material condition -of the propagation of Christianity. She raised up, above all, the moral -state which served as an atmosphere and a medium for the new doctrine. -While destroying politics everywhere, it created what may be called -socialism and religion. At the close of the frightful wars which for -some centuries had rent the world, the empire had an era of prosperity -and of welfare such as it had never known: we may even be permitted to -add (without a paradox) liberty. Liberty of thought, at least, increased -under this new _régime_. This liberty is often more prosperous under a -king or a prince than under the jealous and narrow-minded plebeian. The -ancient republics did not have it. The Greeks did great things without -it, thanks to the incomparable power of their genius; but it must not be -forgotten that Athens had a fine and noble Inquisition. The king Archon -was the inquisitor; the royal Portico was the holy office in which the -accusations of impiety were adjudged. These were the cases in which the -Attic orators were most frequently engaged. Not only philosophical -crimes, such as the denial of God or of a Providence, but the lightest -attaint of the municipal worship, the preaching of strange religions, -the most puerile infractions of the scrupulous legislation of the -mysteries, were crimes guilty of death. The gods whom Aristophanes -mocked on the stage sometimes destroyed. They destroyed Socrates; they -failed to kill Alcibiades. Anaxagoras, Protagoras, Diagoras of Melas, -Prodicus of Ceos, Stilpo, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Aspasia, Euripides, -were more or less seriously disturbed. Liberty of thought was, in truth, -the fruit of the royalties resulting from the Macedonian conquest. It -was the Attali, the Ptolemies, who first gave to men of thought the -freedom which no one of the old republics had ever offered them. The -Roman Empire held to the same traditions. There was under the empire -more than one arbitrary law against the philosophers; but these always -resulted from their meddling with political affairs. In the laws of the -Romans, before the time of Constantine, no clause is found against the -liberty of thought; in the history of the emperors, no process of -abstract doctrine. No _savant_ was disturbed in his researches. Men -whom the middle ages would have burned, such as Galen, Lucian, Plotinus, -lived tranquilly, protected by law. The empire inaugurated a period of -liberty in the sense that it destroyed the absolute sovereignty of the -family, the city, the tribe, and replaced or modified these -sovereignties by those of the State. Now, an absolute power is as much -more vexatious as the circle in which it is exercised is more narrow. -The ancient republics, the feudalities, tyrannized over the individual -much more than did the State. Unquestionably the Roman Empire persecuted -Christianity severely at times; but at least it did not destroy it. Now -the republics would have rendered it impossible. Judaism, if it had not -been under the Roman authority, would have stifled it. It was the Roman -magistrates who hindered the Pharisees from killing Christianity. Some -lofty ideas of universal brotherhood--results, in the main, of -stoicism,--a sort of general sentiment of humanity, were the fruit of -the least narrow _régime_ and of the least exclusive education to which -the individual was submitted. The people dreamed of a new era and new -worlds. The public riches were great; and, in spite of the imperfection -of the economical doctrines of the time, there was general comfort. - -General customs were not such as are often imagined. It is true, that, -in Rome, all the vices were publicly displayed with a revolting -cynicism: the spectacles, above all, had introduced a frightful -corruption. Certain countries, as Egypt, had descended to the lowest -baseness. But there existed in most of the provinces a middle class, in -which goodness, conjugal fidelity, the domestic virtues, and uprightness -were commonly practised. Does there anywhere exist, in a world of honest -people in small villages, an ideal of family life more charming than -that which Plutarch has left us? What good fellowship! What sweetness of -manners! What chaste and attractive simplicity! Chæronea was evidently -not the only place where life was so pure and so innocent. - -The customs, even outside of Rome, were still somewhat cruel, either -through the remaining spirit of ancient manners, everywhere sanguinary, -or through the special influence of Roman harshness. But there was -progress during this period. What sweet and pure sentiment, what feeling -of melancholy tenderness, has not found expression by the pen of Virgil -or of Tibullus? The world unbent, lost its ancient severity, and -acquired some softness and tenderness. Some maxims for humanity were -spread abroad. Equality and the abstract idea of the rights of man were -boldly preached by stoicism. Woman became more and more the mistress of -herself. The precepts for the treatment of slaves were improved. The -slave was no longer that necessarily grotesque and wicked being which -the Latin comedy introduced in order to provoke bursts of laughter, and -whom Cato recommended to be treated as a beast of burden. Now, times are -much changed. The slave is morally equal to his master: it is admitted -that he is capable of virtue, of fidelity, of devotion, and he gives -proofs of it. The prejudices concerning noble birth grow less. Some very -humane and just laws are made, even under the worst emperors. Tiberius -was a skilful financier: he founded upon an excellent basis an -establishment of _crédit foncier_. Nero inaugurated in the system of -taxation, until then unjust and barbarous, some improvements which shame -even our own time. Legislation was considerably advanced, while the -punishment of death was stupidly prodigal. Love of the poor, sympathy -for all, and almsgiving, came to be considered virtues. - - -III. - -Unquestionably I understand and share the indignation of sincere -liberals against a government which diffused a frightful despotism over -the world. But is it our fault that the wants of humanity are diverse, -its aspirations manifold, its aims contradictory? Politics is not every -thing here below. What the world desired, after those frightful -butcheries of the earlier centuries, was gentleness, humanity. They had -enough of heroism: those vigorous goddesses, eternally brandishing their -spears on the height of the Acropolis, inspired sentiment no longer. The -earth, as in the time of Cadmus, had swallowed her most noble sons. The -proud Grecian races had killed each other. The Peloponessus was a -desert. The sweet voice of Virgil gently took up the cry of humanity, -peace, pity! - -The establishment of Christianity responded to this cry of all tender -and weary souls. Christianity could only have had birth and expansion in -a time when there were no longer free cities. If there was any thing -totally lacking in the founders of the Church, it was patriotism. They -were not cosmopolites, for the entire planet was to them a place of -exile: they were idealists in the most absolute sense. - -A country is a composition of soul and body. The soul is the souvenirs, -the legends, the customs, the misfortunes, the hopes, the common -sorrows: the body is the soil, the race, the language, the mountains, -the rivers, the characteristic productions. Now, was a people ever more -wanting in all this than the first Christians? They did not cling to -Judæa; after a few years they had forgotten Galilee; the glory of Greece -and Rome was indifferent to them. The countries in which Christianity -was first established--Syria, Cyprus, and Asia Minor--no longer -remembered the time when they were free. Greece and Rome, it is true, -still had a grand national sentiment. At Rome, patriotism survived in a -few families; in Greece, Christianity flourished only at Corinth,--a -city which, since its destruction by Mummius, and its reconstruction by -Cæsar, was the resort of men of all races. The true Greek countries, -then, as to-day, very jealous, very much absorbed in the memories of -their past, gave little countenance to the new doctrines: they were -always lukewarm Christians. On the contrary, those gay, indolent, -voluptuous countries of Asia and Syria, countries of pleasure, of free -manners, _de laisser aller_, accustomed to receive life and government -from others, had nothing to resign in the way of pride and traditions. -The most ancient capitals of Christianity--Antioch, Ephesus, -Thessalonica, Corinth, and Rome--were common cities, so to speak, cities -of the modern type of Alexandria, in which all races met, where that -marriage between man and the soil, which constitutes a nation, was -absolutely broken. - -The importance given to social questions is always the inverse of -political pre-occupations. Socialism takes the lead when patriotism -grows weak. Christianity exploded the social and religious ideas, as was -inevitable, since Augustus had put an end to political struggles. -Christianity, if a universal worship, would, like Islamism, in reality -be the enemy of nationalities. Only centuries, only schisms, could form -national churches from a religion which was from the beginning a denial -of all terrestrial countries, which had its birth at an epoch in which -there were no longer in the world either cities or citizens, and which -the old and powerful republics of Italy and of Greece would surely have -expelled as a mortal poison to the State. - -And here was one of the causes of the grandeur of the new religion. -Humanity is a multiform, changeable thing, tormented by conflicting -desires. _La patrie_ is grand, and the heroes of Marathon and Thermopylæ -are saints. But one's country is not all here below: one is a man and a -son of God, before he is a Frenchman, or a German. The kingdom of God, -an eternal dream which is never destroyed in the heart of man, is a -protestation against a too exclusive patriotism. The thought of an -organization of humanity, in view of its greatest happiness and its -moral amelioration, is legitimate. The State knows, and can only know, -one thing,--to organize a collective egoism. This is not indifference, -because egoism is the most powerful and seizable of human motives, but -is not sufficient. The governments which have rested upon the -supposition that man is composed of covetous instincts only, have -deceived themselves. Devotion is as natural as egoism to a true-born -man. The organization of devotion is religion: let no one hope, then, to -dispense with religion, or religious associations. Each progression of -modern society will render this want more imperious. - -A great exaltation of religious sentiment was, then, the consequence of -the _Roman peace_ established by Augustus. Augustus realized it. But I -ask, What satisfaction could the institutions which Rome dared to -believe eternal present to the religious wants which were arising? -Surely almost nothing. All the old worships, of very different origin, -had one common trait. They shared equally the impossibility of reaching -a theological teaching, a practical morality, an edifying preaching, a -pastoral ministry truly fruitful for the people. The Pagan temple, in -its best time, was the same thing as the synagogue and the church: I -wish to say the common house, the school, the inn, the hospital, the -shelter in which the poor sought an asylum, it was a cold _cella_, into -which one seldom entered, where one learned nothing. The affectation -which led the Roman patricians to distinguish the "religion," that is to -say, their own worship, from the "superstition," that is to say, the -worship of strangers, appears to us puerile. All the Pagan worships were -essentially superstitious. The peasant who in our day places a sou in -the box of a miraculous chapel, who invokes some saint on account of his -oxen, or his horses, who drinks certain waters for certain maladies, is -in these acts a Pagan. Indeed, nearly all our superstitions are the -remains of a religion anterior to Christianity, which that has not been -able to entirely uproot. If one would find the image of Paganism in our -day, it must be sought in some obscure village in the depth of some -out-of-the-way country. - -Having as guardians a popular, vacillating tradition, and selfish -sacristans, the Pagan religion could but degenerate in worship. -Augustus, although with a certain reserve, accepted the adoration of his -subjects in the provinces. Tiberius allowed, under his own eyes, that -ignoble concourse of the cities of Asia to dispute the honor of raising -a temple to him. The extravagant impieties of Caligula produced no -re-action: outside of Judaism there was not found a single priest to -resist such follies. Coming forth, for the most part, from a primitive -worship of natural forces ten times transformed by minglings of all -sorts, and by the imagination of the peoples, the Pagan worships were -limited by their past. One could never draw from them what had never -existed in them,--Deism or instruction. The fathers of the church amuse -us when they bring to notice the misdeeds of Saturn as the father of a -family, and of Jupiter as a husband. But without doubt, it was still -more ridiculous to set up Jupiter (that is to say, the atmosphere) as a -moral god who commands, defends, rewards, and punishes. In a world which -aspires to possess a catechism, what could one do with a worship like -that of Venus, which arose from an old social necessity of the first -Ph[oe]nician navigation in the Mediterranean, but became in time an -outrage to that which one regards more and more as the essence of -religion? - -Here is the explanation of that singular attraction, which, towards the -commencement of our era, drew the populations of the Old World towards -the worships of the East. These worships had something more profound -than the Greek and Latin worships: they appealed, moreover, to the -religious sentiment. Almost all were relative to the state of the soul -in another life, and they were believed to contain some pledges of -immortality. From this arose that favor which the Thracian and Sabasian -mysteries enjoyed, the worshippers of Bacchus, and brotherhoods of all -sorts. There was less of coldness in these little circles, in which one -pressed against another, than in the great glacial world elsewhere. Some -minor religions, like that of Psyche, destined solely to console for -death, had immense popularity. Those noble Egyptian worships which -concealed the emptiness within by grand splendor of ceremonies counted -their devotees throughout the empire. Isis and Serapis had their altars -at the extremities of the world. In visiting the ruins of Pompeii, one -would be tempted to believe that the worship of Isis was the principal -one practised there. Those little Egyptian temples had some assiduous -devotees, among whom were counted a large number of persons of the class -of the friends of Catullus and Tibullus. There was a service each -morning,--a sort of mass, celebrated by a tonsured and beardless priest; -there were some sprinklings of holy water, and perhaps an evening -service: it occupied, amused, and quieted. What more is necessary? - -But, more than all others, the Mithraic worship enjoyed in the second -and third centuries an extraordinary popularity. I sometimes allow -myself to say, that, had not Christianity taken the lead, Mithraicism -would have become the religion of the world. Mithraicism had mysterious -re-unions, and chapels which strongly resembled little churches. It -established a very solid bond of brotherhood between its votaries; it -had the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, and bore such a resemblance to the -Christian mysteries, that the good Justin the Apologist saw only one -explanation of these resemblances: it is that Satan, in order to deceive -the human race, sought to mimic the Christian ceremonies, and committed -this plagiarism. The Mithraic tomb of the Catacombs of Rome is as -edifying and deeply mysterious as the Christian tombs. There were some -devoted Mithraists, who, even after the triumph of Christianity, -defended the sincerity of their faith with courage. The people grouped -themselves around these foreign gods: around the Greek and Italiote gods -there were no gatherings. We must say a good word for it: it is only the -small sects that lay the foundation and build up. It is so sweet to -believe one's self a little aristocracy of truth, to imagine, that, in -common with a very few, one owns the repository of truth! Such a foolish -sect in our own time gives to its adherents more consolation than a more -healthy philosophy. In his day, Abracadabra secured some joyous -followers, and, by means of a little good-will, a sublime theology has -been found in him. - - * * * * * - -We shall see, however, in our next conference, that the religious reign -of the future belonged neither to Serapis, nor to Mithra. The -predestined religion grew imperceptibly in Judæa. This would have -greatly astonished the most sagacious Romans, if it had been announced -to them. It would have been shocking to them in the highest degree. But -so often in history have improbable predictions become true, so often -has wisdom been mistaken, that it is not best to rely too much upon the -likes and dislikes of enlightened men, of _bons esprits_ as we say, when -they undertake to predict the future. - - - - - SECOND CONFERENCE, - - London, April 9, 1880. - - THE LEGEND OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.--PETER - AND PAUL. - - - - -SECOND CONFERENCE. - -PETER AND PAUL. - - -Ladies and Gentlemen,--At our last meeting we attempted to show the -situation of the Roman Empire in regard to religious questions during -the first century. There was in the vast gathering of populations which -composed the empire a pressing want of religion, a true moral progress, -which called for a pure worship without superstitious practices or -bloody sacrifices; a tendency to Monotheism, which made the old -mythological recitals appear ridiculous; a general sentiment of sympathy -and of charity, which inspired the desire of association, of assembling -together for prayer, for support, for consolation, for the assurance -that after death one would be interred by his brethren, who would also -make a little feast in his memory. Asia Minor, Greece, Syria, and Egypt -contained masses of the poor,--very honest men, after their manner, -humble, and without distinction; but revolted at the spectacle which the -Roman aristocracy made, full of horror at those hideous representations -in the theatres, in which Rome made a diversion of suffering. The moral -conscience of the human race sent up an immense protestation, and there -was no priest to interpret it, no pitying God to reply to the sighs of -poor suffering humanity. Slavery, in spite of the protestations of the -sages, remained very cruel. Claudius thought to do a grand and humane -act in making a law that the master who should drive from his house an -old and sick slave should lose his right in that slave, if he were -cured. How could gods without compassion, and born of joy and the -primitive imagination, be expected to console for such evils? A Father -in heaven was required, who kept a record of the efforts of man, and -promised him a recompense. A future of justice was desired, in which the -earth belonged to the feeble and the poor. The assurance was necessary, -that, when a man suffered, it was not an entire loss, and that beyond -those sad horizons, veiled by tears, there were happy fields in which -one day he should console himself for his sorrows. Judaism indeed had -all that. By the institution of the synagogues (do not forget, -gentlemen, that it is from the synagogue that the church comes), it -established association in the most powerful form in which it had ever -been realized. In appearance, at least, the worship was pure Deism; no -images, only scorn and sarcasm for idols. But that which above all -characterized the Jew was his confidence in a brilliant and happy -future for humanity. Having no idea based upon the immortality of the -soul, nor upon the remunerations and punishments beyond the tomb, the -Jew, disciple of the ancient prophet, was as if intoxicated with the -sentiment of justice: he wished justice now upon earth. Having little -confidence in the assurances of the eternity which made the Christians -so easily resigned, the Jew grumbled at Jehovah, reproached him with his -ignorance, and demanded how he could leave the earth so long in the -power of the impious. As for himself, he did not doubt that the earth -would one day be his, and that his law would make love and justice to -reign therein. - -In this struggle, gentlemen, the Jew will be victorious. Hope, that -which the Jew calls the _Tiqva_, that assurance of something which -nothing proves, but to which one attaches himself with so much the more -frenzy because it is not sure, is the soul of the Jew. His psalms were -like the continuous sound of a harp, filling life with harmony and a -melancholy faith: his prophets held the words of eternity. For example, -that second Isaiah, the prophet of the captivity, pictured the future -with more dazzling colors than man had ever seen in his dreams. The -Thora, besides that, gives the recipe for being happy (for being happy -here below, I mean), by observing the moral law, the spirit of the -family, and the spirit of duty. - - -I. - -The establishment of the Jews at Rome dated nearly sixty years before -Jesus Christ. They multiplied rapidly. Cicero represented it as an act -of courage to dare to oppose them. Cæsar favored them, and found them -faithful. The people detested them, thought them malevolent, accused -them of forming a secret society whose members were advanced at any -price, to the detriment of others. But all did not approve these -superficial judgments. The Jews had as many friends as detractors: -something superior was noticeable in them. The poor Jewish colporter of -the Trastevere often in the evening returned home rich with the -charities received from a pious hand. Women, above all, were attracted -by these missionaries in rags. Juvenal counts the weakness towards the -Jewish religion among the vices of the ladies of his time. The word of -Zachariah was verified to the letter: the world seized upon the garments -of the Jews, and said, "Lead us to Jerusalem." - -The principal Jewish quarter of Rome was situated beyond the Tiber, that -is to say, in the poorest and dirtiest part of the city, probably near -the present _Porta Portese_. There, or rather opposite to the foot of -the Aventine, the gate of Rome was formerly situated, where the -merchandise brought from Ostia in barges was discharged. It was a -quarter of Jews and Syrians,--"nations born for servitude," as Cicero -said. The nucleus of the Jewish population at Rome was formed, in truth, -of freedmen, descended, for the most part, from those prisoners whom -Pompey had carried there. They had passed through slavery, without -changing their religious customs in the least. That which is admirable -in Judaism is that simplicity of faith which makes the Jew, transported -a thousand leagues from his country, at the end of several generations, -always a very Jew. The intercourse between the synagogues of Rome and -Jerusalem was continual. The first colony had been re-enforced with -numerous emigrants. These poor men disembarked by hundreds at the Ripa, -and lived together in the adjacent quarter of the Trastevere, serving as -street-porters, engaged in small affairs, exchanging matches for broken -glasses, and showing to the proud Italiote populations a type which -later became too familiar to them,--that of the beggar accomplished in -his art. A Roman who respected himself never placed his foot in these -abject quarters. It was as a suburb given up to despised classes and to -infectious employments: the tanneries, the gut-works, the rotting vats -were banished there. These unhappy people lived tranquilly enough in -this remote corner, in the midst of bales of merchandise, low inns, and -porters of manure (_Syri_), who had there their general headquarters. -The police only entered there when affrays were bloody, or occurred too -often. Few quarters of Rome were so free: politics had nothing to do -there. Worship was not only practised there in ordinary times without -obstacles, but its propagation was also accomplished with great -facility. - -Protected by the disdain which they inspired, caring little, moreover, -for the railleries of the men of the world, the Jews of the Trastevere -led a very active religious and social life. They had some schools of -_hakamin_: nowhere was the ritual and ceremonial of the law observed -more scrupulously: the organization of the synagogue was the most -complete ever known. The titles of "father and mother" of the synagogues -were much prized. Some rich converts took biblical names; they brought -their slaves into the church with them, they had the Scriptures -explained by the doctors, built places of prayer, and manifested their -pride of the consideration which they enjoyed in this little world. The -poor Jew found the means, while begging with a trembling voice, to -whisper in the ear of the great Roman lady some words of the law, and -frequently won over the matron who opened to him her hand full of small -coin. To observe the sabbath and the Jewish feasts was to Horace the -trait which classed a man in the crowd of weak minds. The universal -benevolence, the happiness of reposing with the just, the assistance of -the poor, the purity of manners, the gentle acceptance of death -considered as a sleep, are some of the sentiments which are found in the -Jewish inscriptions, with that particular accent of touching unction, of -certain hope, which characterizes the Christian inscriptions. There have -been many rich and powerful Jews in the world, such as Tiberius -Alexander, who arrived at the greatest honors of the empire, who -exercised two or three times the strongest influence upon public -affairs, and even had, to the great grief of the Romans, his statue in -the Forum; but those were not good Jews. The Herods, though practising -their worship at Rome with much show, were also far from being true -Israelites, even if their only sins were their relations with the -Pagans. - -A world of ideas was thus set in motion on the vulgar quay where the -merchandise of the whole world was piled up; but all that would be lost -in a great city like Paris. Undoubtedly the proud patricians, who, in -their promenades on the Aventine, cast their eyes upon the other side of -the Tiber, did not imagine the future that was forming itself in that -little cluster of poor houses at the foot of Janiculum. - -Near the port was a sort of lodging-house well known to the people and -the soldiers under the name of _Taberna Meritoria_. In order to attract -the loungers, a pretended spring of oil coming out of a rock was shown -there. From a very early time this spring of oil was considered by the -Christians as symbolic: it was pretended that its appearance was -coincident with the birth of Jesus. It seems that later the _Taberna_ -became a church. Under Alexander Severus we find the Christians and the -inn-keepers in a contest over a place which formerly had been public: -that good emperor gave it to the Christians. This is probably the origin -of the Church of the Santa Maria of the Trastevere. - -It is natural that the capital should have fully accepted the name of -Jesus before the intermediate countries could be evangelized, as a high -summit is lighted up while the valleys between it and the sun are still -obscure. Rome was the rendezvous for all the Oriental worships,--the -point upon the coast of the Mediterranean with which the Syrians had the -most intercourse. They arrived there in enormous bands. Like all the -poor populations rising for the assault of the great cities to which -they come to seek their fortunes, they were serviceable and humble. All -the world spoke Greek. The ancient Roman plebeians, attached to the old -customs, lost ground each day, drowned as they were in this wave of -strangers. - -We admit then, that towards the year 50 of our era, some Syrian Jews, -already Christians, entered the capital of the empire, and communicated -the faith which rendered them happy to their companions. At this time no -one suspected that the founder of a second empire was in Rome,--a second -Romulus, lodging at the port in a bed of straw. A little band was -formed. These ancestors of the Roman prelates were poor, dirty, common -people, without distinction, without manners, clothed with fetid -garments, having the bad breath of men who are badly fed. Their -dwellings had that odor of misery which is exhaled from persons grossly -clothed and nourished, and huddled together in narrow rooms. We know the -names of two Jews who were the most prominent in these movements. They -were Aquila, a Jew, originally from Pontus, who was like St. Paul an -upholsterer, and Priscilla his wife,--a pious couple. Banished from Rome -they took refuge at Corinth, where they soon became the intimate friends -of St. Paul, and zealous workers with him. Thus Aquila and Priscilla are -the most ancient known members of the Church of Rome. There is scarcely -a souvenir of them there. Tradition, always unjust, because it is always -ruled by political motives, has expelled these two obscure workmen from -the Christian Pantheon in order to attribute the honor of the foundation -of the Church of Rome to a name more in keeping with its proud -pretensions. We do not see the original point of the origin of -Occidental Christianity in the theatrical Basilica consecrated to St. -Peter: it is at that ancient _Ghetto_, the _Porta Portese_. It is in -tracing these poor vagabond Jews, who bore with them the religion of the -world,--these suffering men, dreaming in their misery of the kingdom of -God,--that we shall find it again. We do not dispute with Rome its -essential title. Rome was probably the first point in the Western World, -and even in Europe, where Christianity was established. - -But, instead of these lofty basilicas, in place of these insulting -devices,--_Christus vincit_, _Christus regnat_, _Christus imperat_,--it -would be better to raise a poor chapel to these good Jews who first -pronounced on the quay of Rome the name of Jesus. - -A capital trait, which it is important to note in any case, is, that the -Church of Rome was not, like the churches of Asia Minor, Macedonia, and -Greece, a foundation of the school of Paul. It was fundamentally -Judæan-Christian, re-attaching itself directly to the Church of -Jerusalem. Paul here will never be on his own ground: he will find in -this great church many weaknesses which he will treat with indulgence, -but which will wound his exalted idealism. Attached to circumcision and -outward observances, Ebionite through its taste for abstinences, and by -its doctrine concerning the person and death of Jesus more Jewish than -Christian, leaning strongly towards Millenarianism, the Roman Church -showed, since its first days, the essential traits which will -distinguish it through its long history. Own daughter of Jerusalem, the -Roman Church will always have an ascetic, sacerdotal character, opposed -to the Protestant tendencies of Paul. Peter will be its veritable head; -then, the political and hierarchical spirit of old Rome penetrating it, -it will indeed become the new Jerusalem, the city of the Pontificate, of -the hieratic and solemn religion, of the material sacraments which -justify of themselves, the city of the ascetics of the manner of Jacques -Ohliam with his callous knees and his plate of gold upon his brow. It -will be the authoritative church. If we can believe it, the only mark of -the apostolic mission will be to show a letter signed by the apostles, -to produce a certificate of orthodoxy. The good and the evil which the -Church of Jerusalem did in giving birth to Christianity, the Church of -Rome will do for the Universal Church. It is in vain that Paul will -address to it his beautiful epistle to explain the mystery of the cross -of Jesus and of salvation by faith alone. The Church of Rome will -scarcely comprehend it; but Luther four and a half centuries later will -comprehend it, and will open a new era in a secular series of the -alternate triumphs of Peter and Paul. - - -II. - -An important event in the history of the world took place in the year -61. Paul was led a prisoner to Rome in order to follow up the appeal -which he had made to the tribunal of the emperor. A sort of profound -instinct had always made Paul desire this journey. His arrival at Rome -was almost as marked an event in his life as his conversion. He believed -that he had attained the summit of his apostolic life; and doubtless he -recalled the dream in which, after one of his days of struggle, Christ -had appeared to him, and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast -testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." - -You will not forget the wide divisions which separated the disciples -of Jesus during the first century from the foundation of -Christianity,--divisions so broad, that all the differences which to-day -separate the orthodox, the heretics, and the schismatics of the whole -world, are nothing beside the dissensions of Peter and Paul. The Church -of Jerusalem, obstinately attached to Judaism, refused all intercourse -with the uncircumcised, however pious they might be. Paul, on the -contrary, thought that to maintain the ancient law was an injury to -Jesus, since thus it might be supposed, that, outside the merits of -Jesus, such or such a work could serve for the justification of the -faithful. However strange it may appear, it is certain that the -Judæan-Christians of Jerusalem, with James at their head, organized some -active contra-missions in order to combat the effect of the missions of -Paul, and that the emissaries of these ardent conservatives followed in -some sort the lead of the apostle of the Gentiles. Peter belonged to the -party at Jerusalem, but showed in his conduct that sort of timid -moderation which seems to have been the foundation of his character. Did -Peter also come to Rome? Formerly, gentlemen, this question was one of -the most exciting which could be agitated. Formerly the history of -religion was written, not to recount it, but in order to prove it: -religious history was an annex of theology. During the grand revolt, so -full of courage and of ardent conviction, which, during the sixteenth -century, placed one-half of Europe in opposition to Rome, the negation -of the sojourn of Peter at Rome became a sort of dogma. The Bishop of -Rome is the successor of St. Peter, said the Catholics, and as such the -head of Christendom. How could that reasoning be more strongly refuted -than by maintaining that Peter never placed his foot in Rome? - -As for us, we are permitted to regard this question with the most -perfect disinterestedness. We do not believe, in any sense, that Jesus -intended to give any head whatever to his church; and above all, it is -doubtful whether the idea of such a church as developed later had -existed in the mind of the founder of Christianity. The word _ecclesia_ -occurs only in the Gospel of St. Matthew. The idea of the _episcopos_, -as it existed in the second century, had no place in the mind of Jesus. -He himself was the living _episcopos_ during his brief Galilean -appearance: from that time it is the Spirit who inspires each one until -he may return. In any case, if it had been possible that Jesus should -have had any idea whatever of the _ecclesia_ and _episcopos_, it is -absolutely beyond doubt, that Jesus never thought of giving the future -_episcopos_ of the city of Rome to be the head of his church,--that -impious city, the centre of all the impurities of the earth, of whose -existence he perhaps knew scarcely any thing, and of which he should -have entertained the gloomy opinions which all the Jews professed. If -there is any thing in the world which was not instituted by Jesus, it is -the Papacy, that is to say, the idea that the Church is a monarchy. We -are, then, perfectly at liberty to discuss the question of Peter's -coming to Rome. This question is absolutely without consequence for us; -and from our solution the only result will be to say whether Leo XIII. -is or is not the head of the Christian conscience. Whether Peter was or -was not in Rome, it has for us no political nor moral bearing. It is a -curious question of history: it is useless to pursue it further. - -First, let us say, that the Catholics have laid themselves open to the -peremptory objections of their adversaries by their unfortunate -reckoning of the coming of Peter to Rome in the year 42,--a reckoning -borrowed from Eusebius and St. Jerome, which extends the duration of the -pontificate of Peter to twenty-three or twenty-four years. There is -nothing more inadmissible. In order to leave no doubt in regard to this, -it is sufficient to consider that the persecution of Peter at Jerusalem -by Herod Agrippa occurred in the year 44. It would be superfluous to -oppose longer a thesis which can have no one reasonable defence. It is -possible, in fact, to go much further, and to affirm that Peter had not -yet come to Rome when Paul was taken there, that is to say, in the year -61. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, written about the year 58, is a -very considerable argument here. One can scarcely imagine St. Paul -writing to the faithful, of whom St. Peter was the head, without making -the least mention of the latter. The last chapter of the Acts of the -Apostles is still more demonstrative. This chapter, especially from the -seventeenth to the twenty-ninth verse, cannot be explained, if Peter -was at Rome when Paul arrived there. Let us, then, consider it -absolutely certain that Peter did not come to Rome before Paul, that is -to say, before or about the year 61. - -But did he not come there after Paul? This has never been positively -proved; this late journey of Peter's to Rome was not only probable, but -there are strong arguments in its favor. Besides the testimony of the -Fathers of the second and third centuries, there are three reasons which -do not appear to me unworthy:-- - -1st, It is indisputably certain that Peter suffered a martyr's death. -The testimony of the fourth evangelist, of Clement Romanus, of the -fragment which is called the "_Canon de Muratori_," of Denis of Corinth, -of Caius, of Tertullian, leave no doubt in this respect. Let the fourth -Gospel be apocryphal, allow that chapter xxi. has been added in later -times, it makes no difference. It is clear, that, in the verses in which -Jesus announces to Peter that he shall die by the same suffering as his -own, we have the expression of an opinion established in the Church -about 120 or 130, to which allusions are made as to a fact known to all. -Now, it is not possible to imagine that Peter died a martyr outside of -Rome. It was only at Rome, in fact, that the persecution of Nero was -violent. At Jerusalem, at Antioch, the martyrdom of Peter would have -been much less probable. - -2d, The second reason is found in the Epistle attributed to St. Peter -(v. 13): "The church that is at Babylon ... saluteth you." Babylon, in -this passage, evidently indicates Rome. If the Epistle is authentic, the -passage is decisive: if it is apocryphal, the conclusion to be drawn -from the text is not weakened. The author, in short, whoever he may be, -wishes it to be regarded as the work of Peter. He was consequently -forced, in order to give an appearance of truth to his fraud, to arrange -the circumstances which he related, according to what he knew, or -believed was known in his time, of the life of Peter. If, in such a -spirit, he dated the letter at Rome, it shows, that, in his day, it was -the general opinion that Peter had resided at Rome. But, in any case, -the First Epistle of Peter is a very ancient work, and had very early a -high authority. - -3d, The theory which is founded upon the Ebionite Acts of St. Peter is -also worthy of much consideration. This theory represents St. Peter as -following Simon the Magician everywhere (according to St. Paul), in -order to dispute his false doctrines. M. Lipsius has shown an admirable -critical sagacity in his analysis of this legend. He has shown that the -base of all the different versions of it which have come to us was -written about the year 130. It seems improbable that an Ebionite author -of such early date could have given so much importance to Peter's -journey to Rome, if this journey had not taken place in reality. The -theory of the Ebionite legend must contain some truth at the bottom, in -spite of the fables which are mingled with it. It is quite admissible -that St. Peter might have come to Rome, as he went to Antioch, following -St. Paul, and in part to neutralize his influence. The missions of St. -Paul, and the facility which the Jews had acquired in their voyages had -made long expeditions quite the custom. The apostle Philip is even -represented by an ancient and persistent tradition as having settled -himself in Hierapolis, in Asia Minor. - -I regard, then, as probable, the tradition of the sojourn of Peter at -Rome; but I believe that this sojourn was short, and that Peter suffered -martyrdom soon after his arrival in the Eternal City. - - -III. - -You know the mystery which hovers above the history of primitive -Christianity, which we might desire to know more in detail. The death of -the apostles Peter and Paul remains enveloped in a veil which will never -be penetrated. That which appears the most probable is, that they both -disappeared in the great massacre of Christians commanded by Nero. - -On the 19th of July, in the year 64, a violent fire burst out at Rome. -It originated in that portion of the great Circus near to the Palatine -and C[oe]lian Hills. In this quarter there were many little shops, -filled with inflammable matter, in which the flames spread with -prodigious rapidity. Thence it made the turn of the Palatine, ravaged -the Velabra, the Forum, the Carinæ, ascended the hills, greatly injured -the Palatine, descended again to the valleys, devouring compact -quarters, and piercing tortuous streets, continuing six days and seven -nights. An enormous pile of houses which were torn down near the foot of -the Esquiline, arrested its progress for a time; then it again broke -out, and endured three days more. A considerable number of people -perished. Of the fourteen portions which composed the city, three were -entirely destroyed; of seven, only blackened walls remained. Rome was an -extremely compact city, and the population very dense. This disaster was -frightful, and the like of it had never before been seen. - -When the fire broke out, Nero was at Antium. He returned to the city -about the time when it approached his "transitory" house. It was not -possible to arrest the flames. The imperial houses of the Palatine, the -"transitory" house itself with its dependencies, and the whole -surrounding quarter, were destroyed. Nero did not seem much to regret -the loss of his house. The sublime horror of the spectacle transported -him. Later it was said that he had watched the fire from a tower, where, -in a theatrical costume, with a lyre in his hand, he chanted the ruin of -Ilion to the rhythm of an ancient elegy. - -This was a legend, the fruit of a period of successive exaggerations; -but one point upon which the universal opinion was decisive from the -first was, that Nero had commanded this fire, or at least had revived it -when it seemed about to die out. - -These suspicions were confirmed by the fact, that, after the fire, Nero, -under pretext of removing the ruins at his own cost, in order to leave -the place free to the proprietors, undertook to clear away the _débris_; -and the people were not allowed to approach. This seemed worse when it -was seen that he drew from the ruins what belonged to the country, when -the new palace, that "golden house" which had been the plaything of his -delirious imagination, was seen rising upon the site of the ancient -provisory residence, enlarged by the spaces which the fire had cleared. - -It was believed that he had desired to prepare the place for his new -palace, to justify the reconstruction which he had long contemplated, to -procure money by appropriating the wreck of the fire, in short, to -satisfy his mad vanity, which led him to desire to rebuild the whole of -Rome, so that it might date from him, and be called Neropolis. - -All the honest men of the city were outraged. The most precious -antiquities of Rome, the houses of the ancient leaders, decorated with -triumphal spoils, the most holy objects, the trophies, the ancient -_ex-votos_, the most revered temples, all the belongings of the old -worship of the Romans, had disappeared. It was as if they mourned the -souvenirs and the traditions of the whole country. They celebrated -expiatory services; they consulted the books of the Sibyl: the ladies -especially observed various _piacula_. But the secret consciousness of a -crime and infamy still remained. - -Then an infernal idea took possession of the mind of Nero. He cast about -to see if he could find anywhere some miserable wretches, still more -detested by the Roman plebeians than himself, upon whom he could rest -the odium of the incendiarism. He thought of the Christians. The horror -which they testified towards the temples and the most venerated edifices -of the Romans made the idea plausible, that they should have been the -authors of this fire, the result of which was the destruction of these -sanctuaries. Their air of sadness in regarding the monuments appeared -like an injury to the nation. Rome was a very religious city, and -whoever protested against the national worship was at once remarked. It -should be remembered that certain rigorous Jews went so far as to refuse -to touch money which bore an effigy: they even saw a great crime in -bearing or looking at an image, unless engaged in the occupation of -carving. Others refused to pass beneath a city gate surmounted by a -statue. All this excited the ridicule and ill-will of the people. -Perhaps the idea that the Christians were incendiaries gained force from -their manner of talking about the final conflagration, their sinister -prophecies, their love of reiterating that the world would soon be -ended, and ended by fire. It is even admissible that some of the -faithful might have committed imprudences, and that there were pretexts -for accusing them of having wished, by anticipating the celestial -flames, to justify their oracles, at any price. Four and a half years -later the Apocalypse was to present a chant upon the burning of Rome, -for which the event of 64 probably furnished more than one feature. The -destruction of Rome by fire had been a Christian and Jewish dream; and -it was not merely a dream: the pious sectaries were pleased to see in -spirit the saints and angels applauding from the heights of heaven what -they regarded as a just expiation. - -A certain number of persons suspected of belonging to the new sect were -arrested, and thrown into prison, which was of itself a punishment. The -first arrests were followed by many others. The people were surprised at -the multitude of converts who had accepted these gloomy doctrines: it -was only spoken of with alarm. All sensible men considered the -accusation of having caused the fire as extremely weak. "Their true -crime," said they, "is hatred of the human race." Although persuaded -that the burning was the crime of Nero, many serious Romans saw in this -work of the police a mode of delivering the city from a dreadful -nuisance. Tacitus, in spite of his pity, was of this opinion. And -Suetonius counted the sufferings which Nero heaped upon the partisans of -the new and mischievous superstitions as among his laudable measures. - -These sufferings were something frightful. Such refinements of cruelty -had never been seen. Almost all those arrested were of the _humiliores_ -(the poorest classes). The sentence of these unfortunates, when it -concerned high treason or sacrilege, was to be thrown to the beasts, or -to be burned alive in the amphitheatre. One of the most hideous traits -of Roman manners was that of making a _fête_, a public amusement, of -these tortures. The amphitheatres had become places of execution: the -tribunals furnished the victims. The condemned of the entire world were -forwarded to Rome for the provisionment of the circus and the amusement -of the people. At this time derision was added to the barbarism of these -tortures. The victims were kept for a feast day, to which was given, -without doubt, an expiatory character. "The morning spectacle," -consecrated to the combats of animals, presented an appearance hitherto -unknown. The condemned, covered with the tawny skins of beasts, were -hurried into the arena, where they were torn by dogs. Some were -crucified: others, reclothed with tunics steeped in oil, wax, or resin, -were bound to posts, and reserved to light up the evening _fêtes_. When -the day lowered, these living torches were ignited. For this spectacle, -Nero offered his magnificent gardens beyond the Tiber, which occupied -the site of the present Borgo, the Square, and the Church of St. Peter. -Near by was a circus commenced by Caligula, in which the middle of the -_Spina_ was marked by an obelisk brought from Heliopolis (the same one -which in our day stands in the centre of the Square of St. Peter). This -place had already been the scene of massacres by the light of torches. -Caligula, in one of his walks, decapitated a certain number of consular -personages, senators, and Roman ladies, by the light of torches. The -idea of replacing lanterns by human bodies impregnated with inflammable -substances had occurred to the ingenious Nero. Burning alive was not a -new mode of suffering; it was the ordinary penance of incendiaries: but -it had never been made a system of illumination. By the light of these -hideous torches, Nero, who had established the custom of evening -entertainments, showed himself in the arena, sometimes mingling with the -people in the dress of a charioteer, sometimes conducting his chariot -and seeking applause. Women and young girls were involved in these -horrible games: a _fête_ was made of the nameless indignities which they -suffered. Under Nero, the custom was established of compelling the -condemned to play in the amphitheatre some mythological part entailing -the death of the actor. These hideous operas, where mechanical science -attained to prodigious effects, were very popular. The miserable wretch -was introduced into the arena, richly costumed as god or hero devoted to -death. He then represented by his suffering some tragic scene of the -fables consecrated by sculptors and poets. Sometimes it was the furious -Hercules burned on Mount [OE]ta, tearing the waxed tunic from his skin; -sometimes Orpheus torn in pieces by a bear; Dædalus thrown from heaven, -and devoured by beasts; Pasiphæ struggling in the embraces of the bull; -Attys murdered. Sometimes there were horrible masquerades, in which the -men were dressed like priests of Saturn with a red cloak, the women as -priestesses of Ceres with fillets on the brow; finally, at other times, -some dramatic work of the time, in which the hero was really condemned -to death as Laureolus; or the representations were those of such tragic -acts as that of Mucius Scævola. At the end of these hideous spectacles, -Mercury, with a red-hot iron wand, touched each corpse to see if it -moved. Some masked valets, dressed like Pluto or Orcus, dragged away the -dead by the feet, killing with hammers all who still breathed. The -Christian ladies of the highest respectability even suffered these -monstrosities. Some played the _rôle_ of the Danaïdes, others that of -Dirce. It is difficult to say what fable furnishes a more bloody picture -than that of the Danaïdes. The suffering which all mythological -tradition attributes to these guilty women was not cruel enough to -suffice for the pleasure of Nero and the _habitués_ of his amphitheatre. -Sometimes they were led out bearing urns, and received the fatal blow -from an actor figuring as Lynceus. Sometimes these unhappy beings went -through the series of the sufferings of Tartarus before the spectators, -and only died after hours of torments. The representations of Hell were -quite _à la mode_. Some years previous (the year 41), some Egyptians and -Nubians came to Rome, and made a great success in giving evening -performances, in which they displayed in order the horrors of the -subterranean world, conforming to the paintings of the burial-places of -Thebes, notably those of the tomb of Seti I. - -As for the sufferings of the Dirces, there was no doubt about them. -People know the colossal group now in the Museum of Naples, called the -_Toro Farnese_,--Amphion and Zethus attaching Dirce to the horns of an -unmanageable bull, which is to drag her over the rocks and briers of -Cithæron. This mediocre Rhodian marble, brought to Rome in the time of -Augustus, was the object of universal admiration. How could there be a -finer subject for the hideous art which the cruelty of the time had made -in vogue, and which consisted in reproducing the celebrated statues in -living tableaux? An inscription and a fresco of Pompeii seem to prove -that this terrible scene was frequently repeated in the arenas, when a -woman was the sufferer. Naked, attached by the hair to the horns of a -furious bull, these poor wretches glutted the eyes of a ferocious -people. Some of the Christians immolated in this way were feeble in -body: their courage was superhuman. But the infamous crowd had eyes -alone for their torn bowels and lacerated bosoms. - -After the day when Jesus expired in Golgotha, the _fête_ day in the -Gardens of Nero (it may be fixed about the first of August, 64) was the -most solemn in the history of Christianity. The solidity of any -construction is in proportion to the sum of virtue, of sacrifices, and -of devotion which has been laid down at its base. Only fanatics lay -foundations. Judaism endures still on account of the intense frenzy of -its zealots; Christianity, on account of its first witnesses. The orgy -of Nero was the grand baptism of blood which set Rome apart as the city -of martyrs in order to play a distinct _rôle_ in the history of -Christianity and to be the second Holy City. It was the taking -possession of the Vatican Hill by conquerors hitherto unknown there. The -odious, hair-brained man who governed the world did not perceive that he -was the founder of a new order, and that he signed a charter for the -future, the effects of which would be claimed after eighteen hundred -years. - - -IV. - -As we have said, it is allowable, without improbability, to connect the -deaths of the apostles Peter and Paul with the account which we have -just given. The only historical incident known, by which the martyrdom -of Peter can be explained, is the episode recounted by Tacitus. Some -solid reasons also lead us to believe that Paul suffered the death of a -martyr at Rome. It is then natural to suppose that he also died in the -massacre of July and August, 64. As to the manner of death of the two -apostles, we know with certainty that Peter was crucified. According to -some ancient writings, his wife was executed with him, and he saw her -led to the sacrifice. One accepted account of the third century says, -that, too humble to equal Jesus, he suffered with his head down. The -characteristic trait of the butchery of 64 having been the search for -odious rarities in torture, it is possible that in truth Peter was shown -to the crowd in this hideous attitude. Seneca mentions some cases in -which tyrants have been known to turn the heads of the crucified towards -the earth. Christian piety has seen a mystical refinement in that which -was indeed an odd caprice of the executioner. Perhaps this extract from -the Fourth Gospel--"Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another -shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not"--includes -some allusion to a peculiarity in the suffering of Peter. Paul, in his -quality of _honestior_, had his head cut off. It is also probable that -he was judged regularly, and that he was not included in the summary -condemnations of the victims in the _fête_ of Nero. All that, I repeat, -is doubtful, and of little importance. True or not, the legend is -believed. At the commencement of the third century, near Rome, there -were already seen two monuments bearing the names of Peter and Paul. One -was situated at the foot of the Vatican Hill, that of St. Peter: the -other, in the way to Ostia, was that of St. Paul. They were called in -oratorial style the trophies of the apostles. In the fourth century two -basilicas were raised above these trophies. One of them is the present -basilica of St. Peter: the other, St. Paul-without-the-Walls, has -retained its essential features until our own century. - -Did the trophies which the Christians venerated about the year 200 -designate the spots upon which these apostles suffered? It is possible. -It is not unlikely that Paul, toward the end of his life, dwelt in the -suburb which extended beyond the Lavernal gate as far as the pine of the -Salvian springs in the way to Ostia. The shade of Peter, on the other -hand, wanders always, according to the Christian legend, towards the -turpentine-tree of the Vatican, not far from the gardens of the Circus -of Nero, and especially about the obelisk. It may be that the ancient -place of the obelisk in the sacristy of St. Peter, now indicated by an -inscription, is nearer to the place where St. Peter upon the cross of -his frightful agony surfeited the eyes of a populace greedy to see him -suffer. However, that is a secondary question. If the basilica of the -Vatican does not really cover the tomb of St. Peter, it points out not -the less for our remembrance one of the spots most truly hallowed by -Christianity. The place which the seventeenth century surrounded with a -theatrical colonnade was a second Calvary; and, even supposing that -Peter was not crucified there, at least we cannot doubt the sufferings -of the Danaïdes and the Dirces. - - * * * * * - -We shall show in our next assembly how tradition disposes of all these -doubts, and how the Church consummates reconciliation between Peter and -Paul, which death perhaps began. This was the price of success. The -Judæan-Christianity of Peter and the Hellenism of Paul, apparently -irreconcilable, were equally necessary to the success of the future -work. The Judæan-Christianity represented the conservative spirit -without which nothing is solid; Hellenism, advance and progress, without -which nothing truly exists. Life is the result of a conflict between two -contrary forces. The absence of all revolutionary spirit is as fatal as -the excess of revolution. - - - - - THIRD CONFERENCE, - - London, April 13, 1880. - - ROME, - THE CENTRE OF THE FORMATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL - AUTHORITY. - - - - -THIRD CONFERENCE. - -ROME THE CENTRE OF THE FORMATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY. - - -I. - -Almost always the nations created to play a part in universal -civilization, like Judæa, Greece, and the Italy of the renaissance, -exercise their full action upon the world, only after becoming victims -to their own grandeur. They must first die; then the world lives on -them, assimilates to itself that which they have created at the price of -their fever and their sufferings. Nations ought to choose in fact -between the long, tranquil, obscure destiny of that which lives for -itself, and the troubled, stormy career of that which lives for -humanity. The nation which works out social and religious problems in -its own bosom is almost always weak politically. Every country which -dreams of a kingdom of God, which lives for general ideas, which pursues -a work of universal interest, sacrifices through the same its individual -destiny, enfeebles and destroys its _rôle_ as a terrestrial country. -One can never set himself on fire with impunity. Since Judæa made the -religious conquest of the world, it was necessary that she should -disappear as a nation. A revolution of extreme violence broke out in -this country in the year 66. During four years, this strange race, which -seemed created to defy equally that which blessed and that which cursed -it, was in a convulsion before which the historian should pause with -respect as he would before all mystery. - -The causes of this crisis were very old, and the crisis itself was -inevitable. The Mosaic law, a work of exalted Utopians possessed of a -powerful socialist ideal,--the least politic of men,--was, like the -Islam, exclusive of a civil society parallel with a religious society. -This law, which appears to have been drawn up, as we now read it, in the -seventh century before Jesus Christ, would have been the means of -destroying the little kingdom of the descendants of David, even without -the Assyrian conquest. Since the preponderance assumed by the prophetic -element, the kingdom of Judah--embroiled with all its neighbors, seized -with a permanent rage against Tyre, hating Edom, Moab, and Ammon--could -no longer survive. I repeat, a nation which devotes itself to social and -religious problems neglects its politics. The day in which Israel became -"a peculiar people of God, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation," it was -written that she should no longer be a nation as other nations. -Contrary destinies cannot be united: an exaltation is always expiated by -an abasement. - -The Achemenidean kingdom gave Israel little repose. This grand -feudality, tolerant towards all provincial differences, almost analogous -to the Califat of Bagdad and to the Ottoman Empire, was the rule under -which the Jews found themselves most at ease. The Ptolemaic rule in the -third century before Jesus Christ seemed equally sympathetic to them: -there were even no Seleucidæ. Antioch had become an active centre of -Hellenic propagandism. Antiochus Epiphanus felt it necessary to set up -everywhere the image of Jupiter Olympus as the sign of his power. Then -broke out the first great Jewish revolt against profane civilization. -Israel had patiently supported the disappearance of its political -existence since Nebuchadnezzar. It retained no measure in which it saw a -danger to its religious institutions. A race, in general not military, -was seized with an access of heroism; without a regular army, without -generals, without tactics, it conquered the Seleucidæ, maintained its -revealed rights, and created a second period of autonomy. The Asmonean -royalty, nevertheless, was always distracted by profound interior vices. -It endured but one century. The destiny of the Jewish people was not to -constitute a separate nationality. That people dreamed always of -something international. Its ideal was not the city, it was the -synagogue, the free congregation. The same is true of the Islam, which -has created an immense empire, but has destroyed all nationality, in the -sense in which we understand it, among the peoples which it has -subjugated, and leaves them no other country than the mosque and the -_Zaouia_. - -The name of theocracy is often applied to such a social condition, and -rightly so, if we mean by it that the profound idea of the Semitic -religions, and of the empires which came out from them, is the kingdom -of God considered as the master of the world, and universal suzerain. -But theocracy with these nations was not synonymous with the domination -of priests. The priest, properly speaking, plays an unimportant _rôle_ -in the history of Judaism and Islamism. The power belongs to the -representative of God,--to him whom God inspires, to the prophet, to the -holy man, to him who has received his mission from Heaven, and who -proves his mission by a miracle, that is to say, by success. In default -of a prophet, the power belongs to the author of apocalypses, and of -apocryphal books attributed to the ancient prophets, or, better, to the -doctor who interprets the divine law, to the head of the synagogue, and, -still more, to the head of the family who guards the depository of the -law, and transmits it to his children. A civil power, a royalty, has -little to do with such social organization. This organization never -works better than among spread-out peoples, under the rights of -tolerated foreigners, in a grand empire where uniformity does not rule. -It is the nature of Judaism to be politically subordinate, since it -cannot draw from its own bosom a principle of military power. Its -_animus_ has been to form communities with their own laws and their own -magistrates in the midst of other states, until modern liberalism -introduced the principle of the equality of all before the law. - -The Roman rule, established in Judæa sixty-three years before Christ by -the armies of Pompey, seemed at first to realize some of the conditions -of Jewish life. Rome at this epoch did not pursue the policy of -assimilating the countries which she annexed to her vast empire. She -robbed them of the right of peace and war, and arrogated to herself only -the arbitration in great political questions. - -Under the degenerated remains of the Asmonean dynasty and under the -Herods, the Jewish nation preserved a half independence, in which its -religious state was respected. But the interior feeling of the people -was too strong. Beyond a certain degree of religious fanaticism, man is -ungovernable. It should be said that Rome strove without ceasing to -render her power in the East more effective. The little vassal kingdoms -which she had at first preserved, disappeared day by day, and the -provinces made returns to the empire pure and simple. The administrative -customs of the Romans, even in their most reasonable aspects, were -odious to the Jews. In general, the Romans showed the greatest -condescension to the fastidious scruples of the nation; but that was not -sufficient: things had come to a point where nothing could be done -without touching upon a canonical question. These absolute religions, -like Islamism and Judaism, allow no participation: if they do not reign, -they call themselves persecuted. If they feel themselves protected, they -become exacting, and seek to render life impossible to other worships -about them. - -I should depart from my plan if I recounted to you that strange struggle -of which Josephus tells us,--the terror in Jerusalem, Simon Bar-Gioras, -commandant in the city, John of Giscala with his assassins, master of -the temple. Fanatical movements are far from excluding hate, jealousy, -and defiance, from those who take part in them. Very decided and -passionate men associated together ordinarily suspect each other, and in -this there is a force; for reciprocal suspicion establishes terror among -them, binds them as with an iron chain, hinders defections and moments -of weakness. Interest creates the _coterie_. Absolute principles create -division, and inspire the temptation to decimate, to expel, to kill -enemies. Those who judge human affairs superficially believe that a -revolution is quelled when the revolutionists "eat one another," as it -is expressed. It is, on the contrary, a proof that the revolution has -all its energy, that an impersonal ardor presides over it. This is -nowhere more clearly seen than in the terrible drama at Jerusalem. The -actors seem to have entered into the compact of death like some infernal -rounds, in which, according to the belief of the middle ages, Satan was -seen forming a chain to draw into a fantastic gulf numbers of men, -dancing, and holding each other by the hand. So revolution allows no one -to escape from the dance which it leads. Terror is behind the lukewarm. -Turn by turn, exalting some, and exalted by others, they rush into the -abyss. None can recede; for behind each one is a concealed sword, which, -at the moment that he wishes to draw back, forces him to advance. - -The strangest thing of all is that these madmen were not wholly wrong. -The fanatics of Jerusalem, who affirmed that Jerusalem was eternal even -while it was burning, were nearer the truth than those who regarded them -as mere assassins. They deceived themselves upon the military question, -but not upon the distant religious result. These troubled days point -out, in fact, the moment when Jerusalem became the spiritual capital of -the world. The Apocalypse, a burning expression of the love which she -inspired, has taken its place among the religious writings of humanity, -and has there consecrated the image of the beloved city. Ah, how -important it is never to predict the future of a saint or a villain, a -fool or a sage! Jerusalem, a city of common people, would have pursued -indefinitely its uninteresting history. It is because it had the -incomparable honor of being the cradle of Christianity, that it was the -victim of the Johns of Giscala, of the Bar-Gioras,--in appearance the -scourges of their country, in reality the instruments of its apotheosis. -These zealots, whom Josephus treats as brigands and assassins, were -politicians of the highest order, but unskilful soldiers: still they -lost heroically a country which could not be saved. They lost a material -city: they established the spiritual reign of Jerusalem, sitting in her -desolation far more glorious than she was in the days of Herod and of -Solomon. What did these conservatives, these Sadducees, really desire? -They wished something mean,--the continuation of a city of priests like -Emesa, Tyane, Comane. Assuredly they did not deceive themselves when -they declared that the surging enthusiasm was the ruin of the nation. -Revolution and Messianism destroyed the national existence of the Jewish -people; but revolution and Messianism were the true vocation of this -people,--that by which they contributed to the universal civilization. - - -II. - -The victory of Rome was complete. A captain of our race, of our blood, a -man like us, at the head of legions in whose roll, if we could read it, -we should meet many of our ancestors, had come to crush the fortress of -Semitism, to inflict upon the revealed, accepted law the greatest injury -which it had received. It was the triumph of Roman right, or rather -rational right, a creation utterly philosophical, presupposing no -revelation, above the Jewish Thora, the fruit of a revelation. This -right, whose roots were partly Greek, but in which the practical genius -of the Latins made so fine a part, was the excellent gift which Rome -brought to the vanquished in return for their independence. Each victory -for Rome was a victory for right. Rome bore into the world a better -principle in several respects than that of the Jews: I mean the profane -state, reposing on a purely civil conception of society. - -The triumph of Titus was then legitimate in many ways, and still there -never was a more useless triumph. The deplorable religious nothingness -of Rome rendered its victory unfruitful. This victory did not retard the -progress of Judaism a single day: it did not give the religion of the -empire an added chance to struggle against this redoubtable rival. The -national existence of the Jewish people was lost forever; but that was a -blessing. The true glory of Judaism was Christianity, about to be born. -The ruin of Jerusalem and the temple was an unequalled good for -Christianity. - -If the reasoning of Titus according to Tacitus is correctly reported, -the victorious general believed that the destruction of the temple would -be the ruin of Christianity as well as that of Judaism. No one was ever -more completely deceived. The Romans imagined, that, in tearing up the -root, they should eradicate the shoot at the same time; but the shoot -was already a shrub that lived its own life. If the temple had survived, -Christianity would certainly have been arrested in its development. The -surviving temple would have continued to be the centre of all Judaic -works. It would always have been regarded as the most holy place of the -world: pilgrims would have come there, and would there have brought -their tributes. The Church of Jerusalem, grouped around by consecrated -parvises, would have continued, by the strength of its primacy, to -receive the homage of all the world, to persecute the Christians of the -Church of Paul, to exact, that, in order to have the right to call one's -self the disciple of Jesus, one should practise the circumcision, and -observe the Mosaic code. All effectual propagandism would have been -interdicted: letters of obedience signed at Jerusalem would have been -exacted from the missionary. A centre of irrefragable authority, a -patriarchate composed of a sort of college of cardinals under the -presidency of men like James, pure Jews belonging to the family of -Jesus, would have been established, and would have constituted an -immense danger for the new-born Church. When one sees St. Paul after so -many mishaps remaining always attached to the Church of Jerusalem, one -understands what difficulties a rupture with these holy personages would -have presented. Such a schism would have been considered as an enormity. -The separation from Judaism would have been impossible; and this -separation was the indispensable condition of the existence of the new -religion. The mother was about to kill the child. The temple, on the -contrary, once destroyed, the Christians thought no more of it: very -soon, indeed, they will consider it a profane place: Jesus will be every -thing to them. The Christian Church of Jerusalem was by the same stroke -reduced to a secondary importance. It was re-organized around the -element which made its force, the _desposyni_, the members of the family -of Jesus, the sons of Clopas; but it will reign no more. This centre of -hate and exclusion once destroyed, the reconciliation of the opposing -parties in the Church of Jesus will become easy. Peter and Paul will be -brought into accord, and the terrible duality of the new-born -Christianity will cease to be a mortal sore. Lost in the depth of the -interior of the Batanæa and the Hauran, the little group which attached -itself to James and Clopas becomes the Ebionite sect, and slowly dies. - -These relatives of Jesus were pious, tranquil, mild, modest, -hard-working men, faithful to the severest precepts of Jesus concerning -poverty, but at the same time very exact Jews, considering the title of -"Child of Israel" before every other advantage. From the year 70 to -about the year 110, they really governed the churches beyond the Jordan, -and formed a sort of Christian senate. There is no need to demonstrate -the immense danger which these pre-occupations, with genealogies, were -to the new-born Christianity. A sort of nobility of Christianity was -about to be formed. In the political order the nobility is almost a -necessity to the state. Politics having elements of gross struggles -which render it more material than ideal, a state is very strong only -when a certain number of families has, by tradition and privilege, the -duty and interest of guarding its welfare, representing and defending -it. But, in the order of the ideal government, birth is nothing: each -one is valued in proportion to the truth he shows, and the good he does. -The institutions which have a religious, literary, moral end, are lost, -when considerations of family, caste, heredity, prevail in them. The -nephews and cousins of Jesus would have ruined Christianity, if the -churches of Paul had not already been strong enough to act as a -counterpoise to this aristocracy, the tendency of which would have been -to proclaim itself alone respectable, and to treat all converts as -intruders. Some pretensions analogous to those of the Alides in Islam -were established. Islamism would certainly have perished under the -embarrassment caused by the family of the prophet, if the result of the -struggles of the first century of the Hegira had not been to reject, -upon second thought, all those who were too near the person of the -prophet. The true heirs of a great man are those who continue his work, -and not his relatives by blood. Considering the tradition of Jesus as -his own possession, the little _coterie_ of the Nazarenes, as they are -called, would certainly have stifled it. Happily this narrow circle -disappeared in good season: the relatives of Jesus were soon forgotten -in the interior of the Hauran. They lost all importance, and left Jesus -to his true family, the only one which he has recognized,--those of whom -he said, "They hear the word of God, and keep it." - - -III. - -According as the Church of Jerusalem sank, the Church of Rome rose, or, -rather, a phenomenon was evidently manifested in the years which -followed the victory of Titus. It was that the Church of Rome became -more and more the inheritor and the substitute of the Church of -Jerusalem. The spirit of the two churches was the same: what was a -danger at Jerusalem became an advantage at Rome. The taste for tradition -and the hierarchy, and the respect for authority, were in some sort -transplanted from the parvises of the temple to the Occident. James, the -brother of the Lord, had been a sort of pope at Jerusalem. Rome is about -to take up the part of James. We shall have the pope at Rome. Without -Titus, we should have had the pope in Jerusalem, but with this great -difference, that the pope at Jerusalem would have extinguished -Christianity in about one or two hundred years, while the Pope of Rome -has made it the religion of the universe. - -Here appears a very important person, who seems to have been the head of -the Roman Church in the early years of the first century, concerning -whom I am happy to find myself in accord with one of your most scholarly -and enlightened critics, Mr. Lightfoot. I speak of Clement Romanus. In -the penumbra in which he remains, enveloped and almost lost in the -luminous dust of a beautiful far-off history, Clement is one of the -grand figures of early Christianity: one would say that it was the head -of an old effaced fresco of Giotto's, recognizable still from his golden -aureola, and some dim features of striking purity and sweetness. One -thing is beyond doubt: it is the high rank which he held in the utterly -spiritual hierarchy of the church of his time, and the unequalled credit -with which he sustained it. His approval made the law. All parties clung -to him, and wished to shield themselves under his authority. It is -probable that he was one of the most energetic agents of the grand work -that was about to be accomplished: I mean the posthumous reconciliation -of Peter and Paul, without which union the work of Christ could only -have perished. His high personality, aggrandized by tradition, was, -after that of Peter, the most holy figure of the primitive Christian -Rome. - -Already the idea of a certain primacy in the Church of Rome began to -show itself. The right of advising the other churches and of settling -their differences was accorded to this church. It is believed that like -privileges had been allowed to Peter among the disciples. Now a still -closer bond was established between Peter and Rome. In the time of -Clement, great dissensions divided the Church at Corinth. The Roman -Church, being applied to in these troubles, replied by an epistle, -which has been preserved to us. The epistle is anonymous; but a very -ancient tradition teaches that Clement was the author of it. The Church -at Corinth had changed but little since St. Paul. It had the same proud, -disputant, feeble spirit. It is evident that the principal opposition to -the hierarchy was found in this Greek spirit, always mobile, because it -was always full of life, undisciplined (and for my part I like it), not -knowing how to form a flock from a crowd. The women and the children -were in full revolt. Some superior doctors imagined that they possessed -a profound sense in every thing, and mystic secrets analogous to the -gift of tongues and the discernment of spirits. Those who were honored -with these supernatural gifts scorned the ancients, and aspired to -replace them. Corinth had a respectable presbytery, which, however, did -not receive the highest mysticism. The advanced pretenders cast it in -the shade, and put themselves in its place. Some of the _presbyteri_ -were even dismissed. The struggle between the established hierarchy and -personal revelations began, and this struggle fills the history of the -Church; the privileged soul complaining, that, in spite of the favors -with which it is honored, a gross clergy, wanting in spiritual life, -dominates it officially. We see that this was the heresy of individual -mysticism, maintaining the rights of the spirit against authority, -pretending to rise above common mortals and the ordinary clergy by right -of its direct intercourse with divinity. - -The Roman Church was always the church of order, of subordination, and -of rule. Its fundamental principle was that humility and submission were -of more value than the most sublime gifts. Its epistle is the first -manifestation in the Christian Church of the principle of authority. - -A few years since, there was much surprise when a French archbishop, -then a senator, said in the Tribune, "My clergy is my regiment." Clement -had said this before him. Order and obedience were the supreme laws of -the family and the church. "Let us consider the soldiers who serve under -our sovereigns. With what order, what punctuality, what submission, they -obey their commands: all are not prefects, nor tribunes, nor centurions; -but each one in his rank executes the orders of the emperor and of his -chiefs. The great cannot exist without the small, nor the small without -the great. In every thing there is a mingling of diverse elements, and -by this mingling all advances. Let us take, for example, our bodies. The -head is nothing without the feet; the feet are nothing without the head. -The smallest of our organs are necessary, and serve the whole body: all -conspire, and obey the same principle of subordination for the -preservation of the whole." - -The history of the ecclesiastical hierarchy is the history of a triple -abdication; the community of the faithful first placing all its powers -in the hands of the ancients, or _presbyteri_; the presbyteral body at -length delegating its authority to one person who was the _episcopos_; -then the _episcopi_ of the Latin Church recognized as their head one of -themselves, who became the pope. This last progress, if we may call it -so, was not accomplished until our time. The creation of the episcopate, -on the contrary, was the work of the second century. The absorption of -the church by the _presbyteri_ was accomplished before the year 100. In -the Epistle of Clement Romanus it is not yet with the episcopate, but -with the presbytery, that he deals. We find there no trace of a -_presbyteros_ superior to the others, and entitled to dethrone them; but -the author proclaims positively that the presbytery and the clergy are -above the people. The apostles, in establishing churches, chose through -the inspiration of the Spirit the "bishops and the deacons of the future -believers." The power emanating from the apostles has been transmitted -by regular succession. No church has then the right to dethrone its -seniors. The privilege of the rich is nothing in the church. -Accordingly, those who are favored with mystic gifts, instead of -believing themselves above the hierarchy, should be the more submissive. -This involves the great problem, "Who exists in the church? Is it the -people? Is it the clergy? Is it inspiration?" This problem was already -given in the time of St. Paul, who resolved it in the true manner by -mutual charity. One epistle trenches upon the question in the sense of -pure Catholicism. The apostolic title is every thing: the right of the -people is reduced to nothing. We may then safely assert that Catholicism -had its origin at Rome, since the Church of Rome laid down its first -rules. Prescience pertains to spiritual gifts, to science and -distinction: it belongs to the hierarchy, to the powers transmitted -through the medium of the canonical ordination, which attaches itself to -the apostles by an unbroken chain. The free church as Christ conceived -it, and as St. Paul also regarded it, was a Utopia which held nothing -for the future. Evangelical liberty had destroyed it; and it was not -realized, that, with the hierarchy uniformity and death would come in -time. - - -IV. - -Clement had probably not seen either Peter or Paul. His great practical -sense showed him that the salvation of the Christian Church demanded the -reconciliation of the two founders. Did he influence the author of the -Acts which represent to us this reconciliation as accomplished, and with -whom he seems to have had some intercourse, or did these two pious souls -spontaneously fall into accord on account of the bias which he had given -to Christian opinion? We are ignorant for want of proofs. One thing is -sure, the reconciliation of Peter and Paul was a Roman work. Rome had -two churches,--one coming from Peter, the other from Paul. Those -numerous converts who came to Jesus--some through the school of Peter, -and some through that of Paul--were tempted to exclaim, "What! Are -there, then, two Christs?" It was necessary to be able to reply, "No: -Peter and Paul understand each other perfectly: the Christianity of one -is the Christianity of the other." Perhaps (this is an ingenious -hypothesis of M. Strauss) a light cloud was introduced for this purpose -into the evangelical legend of the miraculous fishing. According to the -recital of Luke, the nets of Peter would not contain the multitudes of -fish which could easily have been taken; Peter was obliged to make a -sign to his co-workers to come to his aid. A second bark (Paul and his -friends) was filled as the first, and the fishing of the kingdom of God -was superabundant. - -The life of the apostles begins to become obscure. All those who have -seen them have disappeared: most of them left no writings. One had -entire liberty to embroider on this virgin canvas still. Friends and -enemies profited by the unknown to set up arguments in support of their -theses, and to satisfy their hates. Towards the year 130, that is to say -about sixty-six years after the death of the apostles, a vast Ebionite -legend was produced at Rome, and designated by the title of the -preaching, or the travels, of Peter. The missions of the chief of the -apostles were recounted there, principally those along the coast of -Ph[oe]nicia; the conversions which he had made; above all, his struggles -against the great anti-Christ, Simon the Magician, who was at this epoch -the spectre of the Christian conscience. But frequently under this -abhorred name another person was concealed: it was the false apostle -Paul, the enemy of the law, the veritable destroyer of the Church. The -true Church was that at Jerusalem, presided over by James, the brother -of the Lord. No apostolate was of any value, if it could not show -letters emanating from this central college. Paul had none: therefore he -was an intruder. He was the "man enemy," who came behind to sow the -tares in the steps of the true sower. With what fury Peter gave the -denial to his impostures, to his false allegations of personal -revelations, his ascension to the third heaven, his, pretension of -knowing about Jesus some things which the hearers of the gospel had not -understood, the exaggerated manner in which he and his disciples -interpreted the divinity of Jesus! - -These strange ideas of half ignorant sectaries would have been without -consequences outside of Rome; but every thing which related to Peter -assumed importance in the capital of the world. In spite of its -heresies, "The Preachings of Peter" had much interest for the orthodox. -The primacy of Peter was there proclaimed. St. Paul was thus injured; -but a few retouches extenuated what was shocking in these attacks. -Several attempts were made to diminish the peculiarities of the new -book, and adapt it to the Catholics. This mode of re-modelling books to -suit the sect to which one belonged was the order of the day. Little by -little the force of things was understood: all sensible men saw that -there was safety for the work of Jesus only in the perfect -reconciliation of the two heads of the Christian doctrine. Paul had, -even in the sixth century, some bitter enemies: he had always some -enthusiastic followers like Marcion. Outside of these obstinate men of -the right and left, there was a union of the moderate masses, who, -before their Christianism in one of the schools, fully recognized the -right of the other to be called Christian. James, the partisan of -absolute Judaism, was sacrificed, although he had been the true chief of -the circumcision. Peter, who was much less objectionable to the -disciples of Paul, was preferred before him. James retained no devoted -partisans outside of the Judæan-Christians. - -It is difficult to say who gained the most in this reconciliation. The -concessions came principally from the side of Paul: all Paul's disciples -received the others without difficulty, while those of Peter repulsed -the followers of Paul. But concessions usually come from the strong. In -truth, each day confirmed Paul's victory. - -Each Gentile convert weighted the balance on his side. Outside of Syria, -the Judæan-Christians were swallowed up by the wave of new converts. The -churches of Paul prospered: they had good judgment, solidity of mind, -and some pecuniary resources which the others had not. The Ebionite -churches, on the contrary, grew poorer each day. The money of the -churches of Paul was spent in the support of some glorious poor men, who -were unable to earn any thing, but who possessed the traditional life of -the primitive spirit. The elevated piety and severe manners of these -last were admired by the Christian communities of Pagan origin, who -imitated and assimilated themselves to these customs. It soon happened -that no distinction was manifest: the sweet and conciliatory spirit of -St. Luke and Clement Romanus prevailed. The compact of peace was sealed. -It was agreed that Peter had converted the first-fruits of the -Gentiles, that he had first absolved them from the yoke of the law. It -was admitted that Peter and Paul had been the two heads, the founders of -the Church of Rome; Peter and Paul became the halves of an inseparable -couple,--two luminaries, like the sun and moon. What one taught, the -other taught also. They had always been in accord: they had opposed the -same enemies, had been victims of Simon the Magician. At Rome they lived -like brothers; the Church of Rome was their common work. The supremacy -of this church was established for ages. - -Thus, from the reconciliation of these parties, the settlement of these -primitive struggles, there came forth a grand unity,--the Catholic -Church, the Church of Peter and of Paul, a stranger to the rivalries -which had marked the first century. - -It was, above all, the death of the two apostles which pre-occupied the -parties, and gave an opportunity for the most diverse combinations. The -tissue of tradition grew in this respect, by an instinctive travail, -almost as imperious as that which had presided at the construction of -the legend of Jesus. The end of the life of Peter and of Paul was -commanded _à priori_. It was maintained that Christ had predicted the -martyrdom of Peter, as he had announced the death of the sons of -Zebedee. The need was felt of associating in death the two persons who -had been reconciled by force. It was hoped, and perhaps this was not far -from right, that they died together, or at least as the consequence of -the same event. The places which were believed to have been sanctified -by this bloody drama were early fixed upon, and consecrated by -_memoriæ_. In each case, whatever the people desired came in the end to -be true. Tradition makes history, retrospectively, as it ought to have -been, and as it never is. Not long ago the portraits of Victor Emmanuel -and Pius IX. hung side by side in every frequented place in Italy; and -the people desired that these two men, who represented principles whose -reconciliation was generally considered necessary to Italy, should be in -reality completely united. If, in our time, such views impose themselves -on history, it will one day appear, in documents reputed to be serious, -that Victor Emmanuel and Pius IX. (probably Garibaldi will be added) met -each other secretly, understood and loved each other. During the middle -ages, at different times, similar attempts were made to appease the -hatreds of the Dominicans and Franciscans; to prove that the founders of -these two orders were two brothers living together in the most -affectionate intercourse; that at first their rules were the same; and -that St. Dominic girded himself with the cord of St. Francis. - -Concerning Peter and Paul, the increase of the legend was rich and -rapid. Rome and all its environs, above all the way to Ostia, were full -of souvenirs which were pretended to be connected with the last days of -the two apostles. A crowd of touching circumstances; the flight of -Peter; the vision of Jesus bearing his cross, _iterum crucifigi_; the -final adieu of Peter and Paul; the meeting of Peter with his wife; Paul -at the Salvian waters; Plautilla sending the handkerchief which bound -her hair to bandage the eyes of Paul,--all this presented a beautiful -ensemble, to which was only wanting an ingenuous and skilful writer. It -was too late; the vein of the first Christian literature was spent; the -serenity of the narrator of the Acts was lost; his voice was raised no -more in story or in romance. It is impossible to choose between a crowd -of equally apocryphal writings: in vain one seeks to shield these -recitals with the most venerable names (pseudo-Linus, pseudo-Marcellus); -the Roman legend of Peter and Paul remains always in a sporadic state. -It was more often recounted by the pious guides than seriously read. It -was a local affair: no text concerning it has been consecrated and made -authoritative for reading in the churches. - - * * * * * - -Many among you, ladies and gentlemen, will go to Rome, or will return -there. Ah, well! if you preserve any good remembrance of these -conferences, go, in memory of me, to the Salvian waters, _alle tre -fontane_, to St. Paul-without-the-Walls. It is one of the most beautiful -parts of the Roman Campagna,--deserted, damp, green, and sad. There, in -a deep depression in the soil, crowned by those grand horizontal lines, -disturbed by no living detail,--there are some clear and cold springs. -The fever and mouldiness of the tomb are inhaled there. Some Trappists -are there established, conscientiously practising their religious -suicide. When you are there, sit down a moment, not too long (one -quickly catches the fever there), and, while the Trappists give you to -drink the water which gushes from the three bounds which the head of -Paul made, think of him who came here to talk of these legends with you, -and to whom you have listened with so much courtesy and kind attention. - - - - - FOURTH CONFERENCE, - - London, April 14, 1880. - - ROME, - THE CAPITAL OF CATHOLICISM. - - - - -FOURTH CONFERENCE. - -ROME, THE CAPITAL OF CATHOLICISM. - - -Ladies and Gentlemen,--It is plain that the importance of the churches -in the primitive Christian community was in proportion to their -apostolic nobility. The guaranty of orthodoxy was in the succession of -the bishops, by which the great churches were linked to the apostles. A -direct line appeared to afford a very strong assurance of conformity of -doctrine, and it was jealously maintained. Now, what can be said of a -church founded by both Peter and Paul? It is clear that such a church -ought to endure in order to have a veritable superiority over others. -The _chef-d'[oe]uvre_ of the competency of the Roman Church was the -establishment of this superiority. That once assured, the ecclesiastical -destiny of Rome was established. When this city should have cast off her -secular character, she would have another,--a sacred capacity, -corresponding to that of Jerusalem. - -She would know how to confiscate to her profit this Christianity which -she had so cruelly combated,--so much had humanity suffered, to escape -from those whom fate had designed for this great secular task, _regere -imperio populos!_ - -Under Antonine and Marcus Aurelius, Rome reached its highest grandeur; -its rule of the whole world seemed to be undisputed; no cloud could be -seen upon its horizon. The emigration from the provinces, above all from -the Orient, was augmented rather than lessened. The Greek-speaking -population was larger than it had ever been. All who desired a place in -the world aspired to come to Rome: nothing was sanctioned until it had -received the stamp of this universal exposition of the products of the -entire universe. - -The centre of a future catholic orthodoxy was evidently there. The -well-developed germ of the Papacy existed under Antonine. The Church of -Rome showed itself more and more indifferent to those crude Gnostic -speculations which occupied some minds filled with the intellectual -activity of the Greeks, but tainted with the reveries of the Orient. The -organization of Christian society was the principal labor at Rome. This -extraordinary city applied to this object the energetic moral strength -and the practical genius which she has employed in the most diverse -causes. Careless of speculation, decidedly hostile to dogmatic -innovations, she presided there,--a mistress already trained by all the -changes which had been brought about in discipline and in the -hierarchy. - - -I. - -From the year 120 to 130 the Episcopate was elaborated in the Christian -Church, and the creation of the Episcopate was eminently a Roman work. -All _ecclesiæ_ imply a little hierarchy,--a bureau as it is called -to-day,--a president, some assessors, and a small staff of men in its -service. Democratic associations are careful that these functions shall -be limited as far as possible as to power and duration; but from this -arises that precarious something which has prevented any democratic -association from outlasting the circumstances which have created it. The -Jewish synagogues have had more continuity, although the synagogical -body has never come to be a clergy. This is the result of the -subordinate place which Judaism has held during several centuries: the -pressure from without has counteracted the effects of internal -divisions. If the Christian Church had been left with the same absence -of directorship, it would doubtless have missed its destiny. - -If its ecclesiastical powers had continued to be regarded as emanating -from the Church itself, it would have lost all its hieratic and -theocratic character. It was written, on the contrary, that a clergy -should monopolize the Christian Church, and substitute themselves for -it. Acting as its spokesman, presenting itself as having the sole power -of attorney in every thing, this clergy will be its strength, and at the -same time its gnawing worm,--the principal cause of its future falls. - -I repeat, that history has no example of a more complete transformation -than that which occurred in the government of the Christian Church about -the time of Hadrian and Antonine. What happened in the Christian Church -will happen in any association in which the subordinates could resign in -favor of the bureau, and that again in favor of the president; so that -afterwards the subordinates and the seniors would have no deliberative -voice nor influence, nor any control in the management of the funds, and -the president would be able to say, "I alone, I, am the association." -The _presbyteri_ (seniors) or _episcopi_ (superintending officers) -became very soon the only representatives of the Church; and almost -immediately another still more important revolution took place. Among -the _presbyteri_ or _episcopi_, there had been one, who, through the -habit of occupying the principal seat, absorbed the power of the others, -and became pre-eminently the _episcopos_ or the _presbyteros_. The form -of worship contributed powerfully to the establishment of this unity. -The eucharistic act could only be celebrated by one person, and gave to -the celebrant an extreme importance. That _episcopos_, with a surprising -rapidity, became the head of the presbytery, and, consequently, the -entire Church. His _cathedra_ was placed apart, and, having the form of -an arm-chair, became the seat of honor, the symbol of primacy. From this -time, each church has but one chief _presbyteros_, who is thus called to -the exclusion of the other _episcopi_. Beside this bishop, there were -deacons, widows, and a council of _presbyteri_: but the great step has -been taken; the bishop is the sole successor of the prophets, his -associates have disappeared. Apostolic authority, reputed as transmitted -by the laying-on of hands, suppressed the authority of the community. -The bishops of the various churches soon placed themselves in -communication with the others, and formed of the Universal Church a sort -of oligarchy, which held assemblies, censured its members, decided -questions of faith, and was in itself a true sovereign power. On one -side, the shepherds; on the other, the flock. Primitive equality no -longer existed: in fact, it had endured but a single day. The Church, -however, was only an instrument in the hands of those who guided her; -and these held their power, not from the community, but from the -spiritual inheritance of a transmission claiming to date back to the -apostles in a continuous line. It is evident that the representative -system will never be in any degree whatever the law of the Christian -Church. - -It was the Episcopate, without the intervention of civil power, with no -support from the tribunals, which thus established order above liberty -in a society originally founded upon individual inspiration. This is why -the Ebionites, who had no Episcopate, had also no idea of Catholicity. -At first sight, the work of Jesus was not made to last. Founded upon a -belief in the destruction of the world, which, as years rolled on, was -proved an error, it seemed that his congregation could only dissolve in -anarchy. The prophetic book, the _charismes_, the speaking of tongues, -individual inspiration, were no more than were necessary to bring all -again into the proportions of a common chapel. Individual inspiration -created, but immediately destroyed what it created. After liberty, law -is necessary. The work of Jesus might be considered as saved the day in -which it was admitted that the Church has a direct power, a power -representing that of Jesus. Since then the Church dominates the -individual, drawing him to her bosom through his need. Inspiration -passes from the individual to the community. The clergy is the dispenser -of all pardons, the intermediary between God and the faithful. -Obedience, first to the Church, then to the bishop, becomes the highest -duty. Innovation is the sign of error: schism, henceforth, will be for -the Christian the worst of crimes. - -In a certain regard one may say that this was a decadence, a diminution -of that spontaneity which had been eminently creative until now. It was -evident that ecclesiastical forms were about to absorb, to stifle, the -work of Jesus, that all free manifestations of Christian life would soon -be arrested. Under the censure of the Episcopate, the speaking of -tongues, prophecy, the creation of legends, the making of new sacred -books, would soon become withered powers, the _charismes_ would be -reduced to official sacraments. In another sense, however, such a -transformation was the essential condition of the strength of humanity. -And, moreover, the centralization of powers became necessary when -churches were more numerous: intercourse between these little pious -societies would be impossible, unless they had representatives appointed -to act for them. It is undeniable, moreover, that, without the -Episcopate, the churches, re-united for a time by the souvenirs of -Jesus, would gradually have been dispersed. The divergences of opinion, -the difference in the turn of imagination, and, above all, the -rivalries, and the unsatisfied _amours-propres_, would have operated by -their infinite effects of disunion and disintegration. Christianity -would have expired at the end of three or four centuries, like -Mithraicism and so many other sects which were not allowed to endure. -Democracy is sometimes eminently creative; but it is upon the condition -that the democracy comes forth from conservative institutions which -prevent the revolutionary fever from prolonging itself indefinitely. - -Here was the greatest miracle of the new Christianity. It drew order, -hierarchy, authority, and obedience from the free subjection of desires: -it organized the crowd; it disciplined anarchy. What does this miracle -accomplish other than to strike at the pretended derogations to the laws -of physical nature? The spirit of Jesus strongly inoculated in his -disciples that spirit of sweetness, of abnegation, of forgetfulness of -the present; that unique pursuit of interior joys which kills ambition; -that strong preference given to childhood; those words repeated without -ceasing, as from Jesus, "Whoever is first among you, let him be the -servant of all." The influence of the apostles was not less in that -direction. The apostles lived and ruled after their death. The idea that -the head of the Church held his command under the members of the Church -who had elected him never once occurs in the literature of this time. -The Church thus escaped through the supernatural origin of its power, -that element of decay which exists in delegated authority. A legislative -and executive authority may come from the people; but sacraments and -dispensations of celestial pardons have nothing in common with universal -suffrage. Such privileges come from heaven, or, according to the -Christian formula, from Jesus Christ, the source of all pardon and of -all good. - -The religion of Jesus thus became something solid and consistent. The -great danger of Gnosticism, which was to divide Christianity into -numberless sects, was exorcised. The word "Catholic Church" resounded -everywhere, as the name of that great body which would thenceforth -survive the ages unbroken. The character of this catholicity is already -seen. The Montanists are regarded as sectarian; the Marcionites are -convinced of the falseness of the apostolic doctrine; the different -Gnostic schools are more and more driven from the bosom of the general -church. Something had arisen which was neither Montanism, nor -Marcionism, nor Gnosticism; which was Christianity, not sectarian,--the -Christianity of the majority of bishops, resisting sects, and using them -all, having, if you will, only negative characters, but preserved by -these negative characters from the pietist aberrations, and from -dissolving rationalism. Christianity, like all parties who wish to live, -disciplines itself, and restrains its own excesses. It unites to -mystical exaltation a fund of good sense and moderation which will kill -Millenarism, Charisms, Glossolaly, and all the primitive phenomenal -spirits. A handful of excited men, like the Montanists, running into -martyrdom, discouraging penitence, condemning marriage, are not the -Church. The _juste milieu_ triumphs. Radicals of any sort will never be -allowed to destroy the work of Jesus. The Church is always of a medium -opinion: it belongs to all the world, and is not the privilege of an -aristocracy. The pietist aristocracy of the Phrygian sects and the -speculative aristocracy of the Gnostics are equally stripped of their -pretensions. - -In the midst of the enormous variety of opinions which fill the first -Christian age, the Catholic opinion constitutes a sort of standard. It -was not necessary to reason with the heretic in order to convince him. -It was sufficient to show him that he was not in communion with the -Catholic Church, with the grand churches which trace the succession of -their bishops to the apostles. _Quod semper, quod ubique_ became the -absolute rule of truth. The argument of prescription to which Tertullian -gave such eloquent force reviews all the Catholic controversy. To prove -to any one that he was an innovator, a disturber, was to prove that he -was wrong,--an insufficient rule, since, by a singular irony of fate, -the doctor himself who developed this method of refutation in so -imperious a manner, Tertullian, died a heretic. - -Correspondence between the churches was an early custom. Circular -letters from the heads of the great churches, read on Sunday in the -re-unions of the faithful, were a sort of continuation of the apostolic -literature. The ecclesiastical province, questioning the precedency of -the great churches, appeared in germ. The Church, like the synagogue and -the mosque, is essentially a citadel. Christianity, like Judaism and -Islamism, is a religion of cities. The countryman, the _paganus_, will -be the last resistance which Christianity will encounter. The few rural -Christians came to the church of the neighboring city. The Roman -municipality thus enclosed the church. Among the cities, the _civitas_, -the grand city, was alone a veritable church, with an _episcopos_. The -small city was in ecclesiastical dependence on the great city. This -primacy of the great cities was an important fact. The great city once -converted, the small city and the country followed the movement. The -diocese was thus the unity of the conglomerate Christians. As for the -ecclesiastical province, it corresponded to the Roman province: the -divisions of worship of Rome and Augustus were the secret law which -ruled all. Those cities which had a flamen, or _archiereus_, are those -which later had an archbishop: the _flamen civitatis_ became the bishop. -After the third century, the flamen held the rank in the city which was -later that of the bishop in the diocese. Thus it happened that the -ecclesiastical geography of a country was very nearly the geography of -the same country in the Roman epoch. The picture of the bishops and the -archbishops is that of the ancient _civitates_, according to their line -of subordination. The empire was as the mould in which the new religion -was formed. The interior framework, the outlines, the hierarchical -divisions, were those of the empire. The ancient archives of the Roman -administration, and the church-registers of the middle ages, and even -those of our own day, are nearly the same thing. - -Thus the grand organisms which have become so essential a part of the -moral and political life of European nations were all created by those -_naïve_ and sincere Christians, whose faith has become inseparable from -the moral culture of humanity. The Episcopate under Marcus Aurelius was -fully ripe: the Papacy existed in germ. [OE]cumenical councils were -impossible. The Christian Empire alone could authorize great assemblies; -but the provincial synod was used in the affairs of the Montanists and -of the Passover. The bishop of the capital of the province was allowed -to preside without contest. - - -II. - -Rome was the place in which the grand idea of Catholicity was conceived. -Rome became each day more and more the capital of Christianity, and -replaced Jerusalem as the religious centre of humanity. Its church had a -generally recognized precedence over others. All doubtful questions -which disturbed the Christian conscience demanded an arbitration, if not -a solution, at Rome. This very defective reasoning was used,--that, -since Christ had made Cephas the corner-stone of his church, this -privilege ought to extend to his successors. By an unequalled stroke, -the Church of Rome had succeeded in making itself at the same time the -Church of Peter and the Church of Paul, a new mythical duality, -replacing that of Romulus and Remus. The Bishop of Rome became the -bishop of bishops, the one who admonished others. Rome proclaims its -right (a dangerous right) to excommunicate those who do not entirely -agree with her. The poor Artemonites (a sort of anticipated Arians) had -much to complain of in the injustice of the fate which made them -heretics; while, even until Victor, all the Church of Rome thought with -them; but they were not heard. From this point, the Church of Rome -placed itself above history. The spirit which in 1870 could proclaim the -infallibility of the Pope might see itself reflected at the end of the -second century by certain clear indications. The writing made at Rome -about 180, of which the Roman fragment known as the "_Canon de -Muratori_" makes a part, shows us Rome already regulating the canon of -the churches, making the passion of Peter the basis of Catholicity, and -repulsing equally Montanism and Gnosticism. Irenæus refutes all -heresies by the faith of this church, "the grandest, the most ancient, -the most illustrious, which possesses by continuous succession the true -tradition of the apostles Peter and Paul; to which, on account of its -primacy, all the rest of the Church should have recourse." - -One material cause contributed much to that pre-eminence which most of -the churches recognized in the Church of Rome. This Church was extremely -rich: its goods, skilfully administered, served to succor and propagate -other churches. The heretics condemned to the mines received a subsidy -from it: the common treasury was in a certain sense at Rome. The Sunday -collection, practised continually in the Roman Church, was probably -already established. A marvellous spirit of tradition animated this -little community, in which Judæa, Greece, and Latium seemed to have -confounded their very different gifts, in view of a prodigious future. -While the Jewish Monotheism furnished the immovable base of the new -formation, while Greece continued through Gnosticism its work of free -speculation, Rome attached itself with an astonishing readiness to the -work of the government. All its authorities and artifices served well -for that. Politics recoils not before fraud. Now, politics had already -taken up its home in the most secret councils of the Church of Rome. -Some veins of apocryphal literature, constantly refilled, sometimes -under the name of the apostles, sometimes under that of apostolic -personages, such as Clement and Hermas, were received with confidence to -the limits of the Christian world on account of the guaranty of Rome. - -This precedence of the Church of Rome continued to increase up to the -third century. The bishops of Rome showed a rare competency, evading -theological questions, but always in the first rank in matters of -organization and administration. The tradition of the Roman Church -passes for the most ancient of all. Pope Cornelius took the lead in the -matter of substitution. This was particularly seen in the dismissal of -the bishops of Italy, and the appointment of their successors. Rome was -also the central authority of the churches of Africa. - -This authority was already excessive, and showed itself above all in the -affair of the Passover. This question was much more important than it -appears to us. In the early times all Christians continued to make the -Jewish Passover their principal feast. They celebrated this feast on the -same day as the Jews,--on the 14th of Nisan, upon whatever day of the -week it happened to fall. Persuaded, according to the account of all the -old gospels, that Jesus, the evening before his death, had eaten the -Passover with his disciples, they regarded such a solemnity as a -commemoration of the last supper, rather than as a memorial of the -resurrection. As Christianity became more and more separated from -Judaism, such a manner of regarding it was very much questioned. At -first a new tradition was promulgated,--that Jesus, being about to die, -had not eaten the Passover, but had died the very day of the Jewish -feast, thus constituting himself the Pascal Lamb. Moreover, this purely -Jewish feast wounded the Christian conscience, especially in the -churches of Paul. The great feast of the Christians, the resurrection of -Jesus, occurred in any case the Sunday after the Jewish Passover. -According to this idea, the feast was celebrated the Sunday which -followed the Friday after the 14th of Nisan. - -In Rome this custom prevailed, at least since the pontificates of Xystus -and Telesphorus (about 120). In Asia there were great divisions. The -conservatives, like Polycarp, Meliton, and all the ancient school, -believed that the old Jewish custom conformed to the first Gospels and -to the usage of the apostles John and Philip. This was the object of the -voyage to Rome which Polycarp undertook about the year 154, under the -Pope Anicetus. The interview between Polycarp and Anicetus was very -cordial. The discussion of certain points appears to have been sharp, -but they understood each other. Polycarp was not able to persuade -Anicetus to renounce a practice which had been that of the bishops of -Rome before his time. Anicetus, on the other hand, hesitated when -Polycarp told him that he governed himself according to the rule of John -and the other apostles, with whom he had lived on a familiar footing. -The two religious leaders remained in full communion with each other; -and Anicetus showed Polycarp an almost unprecedented honor. In fact he -desired that Polycarp, in the Assembly of the Faithful at Rome, should -pronounce, in his stead and in his presence, the words of the -eucharistic consecration. These ardent men were full of too lofty a -sentiment to rest the unity of their souls upon the uniformity of rites -and exterior observances. - -Later, unhappily, Rome took the stand of insisting upon its right. About -the year 196 the question was more exciting than ever. The churches of -Asia persisted in their old usage. Rome, always enthusiastic for unity, -wished to coerce them. Upon the invitation of Pope Victor, convocations -of bishops were held: a vast correspondence was exchanged. But the -bishops of Asia, strong in the tradition of two apostles and of so many -illustrious men, would not submit. The old Polycrates, Bishop of -Ephesus, wrote in their name a very sharp letter to Victor and to the -Church of Rome. The incredible design which Victor conceived on account -of the acrimony of this letter proves that the Papacy was already born, -and well born. He pretended to excommunicate, to separate from the -Universal Church, the most illustrious province, because it had not bent -its traditions before the Roman discipline. He published a decree by -virtue of which Asia was placed under the ban of the Christian -community. But the other bishops opposed this violent measure, and -recalled Victor to charity. St. Irenæus, in particular, who, through the -necessity of the country in which he lived, had accepted for himself and -his churches in Gaul the Occidental custom, could not support the -thought that the mother-churches of Asia, to which he felt himself bound -in the depths of his soul, should be separated from the body of the -Universal Church. He energetically persuaded Victor from the -excommunication of the churches which held to the traditions of their -fathers, and recalled to him the examples of his more tolerant -predecessors. This act of rare good sense prevented the schism of the -Orient and the Occident from occurring in the second century. Irenæus -wrote to the bishops on all sides, and the question remained open to the -churches of Asia. - -In one sense, the process which brought about the debate was of more -importance than the debate itself. By reason of this difference, the -Church was brought to a clearer idea of its organization. And first it -was evident that the laity were no longer any thing. The bishops alone -handled questions, and promulgated their opinions. The bishops collected -together in provincial synods, over which the bishop of the capital of -the province presided (the archbishop of the future), or, at times, the -oldest bishop. The synodal assembly came out with a letter, which was -sent to other churches. This was then like an attempt at federative -organization,--an attempt to resolve questions by means of provincial -assemblies, presided over by bishops agreeing among themselves. Later, -questions concerning the presiding over synods and the hierarchy of the -Church sought solution in the documents of this great debate. Among all -the churches, that of Rome appeared to have a particular initiative -right. But that initiative was far from being synonymous with -infallibility; for Eusebius declares that he read the letters in which -the bishops severely blamed the conduct of Victor. - - -III. - -Authority, gentlemen, loves authority. The authoritaires, as we say -to-day, in the most diverse ranks, extend the hand to each other. Men as -conservative as the leaders of the Church of Rome must be strongly -tempted to favor public force, the effect of which is often for good, -as they must admit. This tendency had been manifest since the first days -of Christianity. Jesus had laid down the rule. The image of the money -was for him the supreme criterion of its lawfulness, beyond which there -was nothing to seek. In the height of the reign of Nero, St. Paul wrote, -"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power -but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, -therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." Some -years later, Peter, or the person who wrote in his name the Epistle -known as the First of Peter, expresses himself in an identical manner. -Clement was an equally devoted subject of the Roman Empire. - -In fine, one of the traits of St. Luke (according to my idea there was a -bond between St. Luke and the spirit of the church at Rome) is his -respect of the imperial authority, and the precautions which he took not -to injure it. The author of the Acts evaded every thing which would -present the Romans as the enemies of Christ. On the contrary, he seeks -to show, that, under many circumstances, they defended St. Paul and the -Christians against the Jews. Never a disparaging word against the civil -magistrates. Luke loved to show how the Roman functionaries were -favorable to the new religion, sometimes even embracing it; and how -Roman justice was equitable, and superior to the passions of the local -powers. He insists upon the advantages which Paul owed to his title of -Roman citizen. If he ends his recital with the arrival of Paul at Rome, -it is perhaps in order not to recount the monstrosities of Nero. - -Without doubt, there were in other parts of the empire devoted -Christians who sympathized entirely with the anger of the Jews, and -dreamed only of the destruction of the idolatrous city which they -identified with Babylon. Such were the authors of apocalypses and -sibylline writings. But the faithful of the great churches were of quite -a different way of thinking. In 70, the Church of Jerusalem, with a -sentiment more Christian than patriotic, left the revolutionary city, -and sought peace beyond the Jordan. In the revolt of Barkokébas, the -division was still more pronounced. Not a single Christian was willing -to take part in this attempt of blind despair. St. Justin in his -Apologies never combats the principle of empire. He desired that the -empire should examine the Christian doctrine, approve and countersign it -in some way, and condemn those who calumniated it. The most learned -doctor of the time of Marcus Aurelius, Meliton, Bishop of Sardis, made -still more decided advances, and undertook to show that there is always -in Christianity something to recommend it to a true Roman. In his -Treaty upon Truth, preserved in Syriac, Meliton expresses himself in the -same way as a bishop of the fourth century, explaining to one Theodosius -that his first duty is to establish by his authority the triumph of -truth (without telling us, alas! by what sign one recognizes truth). Let -the empire become Christian, and the persecuted of to-day would find -that the interference of the state in the domain of conscience is -perfectly legitimate. - -The system of the apologists, so warmly sustained by Tertullian, -according to which the good emperors favored Christianity, and the bad -ones persecuted it, was already full blown. "Born together," said they, -"Christianity and the empire have grown up together, and prospered -together." Their interests, their sufferings, their fortunes, their -future,--all was in common. The apologists were advocates; and advocates -in all orders resemble each other. They have arguments for every -situation and all tastes. Nearly a hundred and fifty years rolled on -before these sweet and half sincere invitations were understood. But the -only impression they made in the time of Marcus Aurelius upon the mind -of one of the most enlightened leaders of the Church was as a prognostic -of the future. Christianity and the empire will become reconciled. They -are made for each other. The shade of Meliton will tremble with joy -when the empire becomes Christian, and the emperor takes in hand the -cause of truth. - -Thus the Church already took more than one step toward empire. Through -politeness, without doubt, but only as a very legitimate consequence of -his principles, Meliton does not allow that an emperor can give an -unjust order. It was easy to believe that certain emperors had not been -absolutely opposed to Christianity. It is pleasant to relate that -Tiberius had proposed to place Jesus in the rank of the gods: it was the -senate which objected. The decided preference of Christianity for power -where it hopes for favors is already very transparent. It is shown, -contrary to all truth, that Hadrian and Antonine sought to repair the -evil done by Nero and Domitian. Tertullian and his generation say the -same thing of Marcus Aurelius. Tertullian doubted, it is true, whether -one could be at the same time a Cæsar and a Christian; but this -incompatibility a century later struck no one, and Constantine proved -that Meliton of Sardis was a very sagacious man when he discerned so -well--a century and a half in advance, seeing through the proconsular -persecutions--the possibility of a Christian Empire. - -The hatred of Christianity and of the empire was that of men who must -one day love them. Under the Severi, the language of the Church remained -plaintive and tender, as it had been under the Antonines. The -apologists affixed a species of legitimism, a pretension that the Church -had always from the first saluted the emperor. "There were never among -us," said Tertullian, "partisans of Cassius, partisans of Albinus, -partisans of Niger." Foolish illusion! Certainly the revolt of Avidius -Cassius against Marcus Aurelius was a political crime, and the -Christians did well not to be involved in it. As for Severus, Albinus, -and Niger, it was success that decided between them; and the Church had -no other merit in attaching itself to Severus than that of seeing -clearly who would be the strongest. This pretended worship of legitimacy -was in truth only the worship of a fixed fact. The principle of St. Paul -bore fruit: "All power comes from God: he who holds the sword holds it -from God for good." - -This correct attitude in regard to power clung to exterior necessities -as much as to the principles which the Church had received from its -founders. The Church was already a powerful association. It was -essentially conservative. It needed order and legal guaranties. This was -admirably shown in the act of Paul of Samos, Bishop of Antioch, under -Aurelian. The Bishop of Antioch had become a powerful personage at this -epoch. The goods of the Church were in his keeping: a crowd of men lived -on his favors. Paul was a brilliant man, somewhat mystical, worldly, a -great secular lord, seeking to render Christianity acceptable to men of -the world and authority. The Pietists, as might be expected, considered -him heretical, and dismissed him. Paul resisted, and refused to quit the -Episcopal house. See into what the most exalted sects are led! They were -in possession, and who could decide a question of proprietorship and -possession, if not the civil authority. Aurelian, about this time, -passed on his way towards Antioch; and the question was referred to him. -Here was seen this original spectacle of an infidel sovereign and -persecutor deputed to decide which was the true bishop. Aurelian showed -under these circumstances remarkably good sense for a layman. He -examined the correspondence of the two bishops, took note as to which -was in relation with Rome and Italy, and decided that he was the true -Bishop of Antioch. - -Aurelian made some objections to the theological reasoning used on this -occasion; but one fact was evident: it was, that Christianity could not -live without the empire, and that the empire, on the other hand, could -not do better than adopt Christianity as its religion. The world desired -a religion of congregations, of churches, or of synagogues and -chapels,--a religion in which the essence of the worship should be -re-union, association, and fraternity. Christianity answered to all -these conditions. Its admirable worship, its well-organized clergy, -assured its future. - -Several times in the third century this historical necessity fell short -of realization. This is seen most plainly under those Syrian emperors -whom their quality of foreigners and base origin placed beyond -prejudices, and who, in spite of their vices, inaugurated a largeness of -ideas and a tolerance hitherto unknown. Those Syrian women of -Emesa,--Julia Domna, Julia Mæsa, Julia Mammæa, Julia Soemia,--beautiful, -intelligent, perfectly fearless, and held by no tradition or social law, -hesitated at nothing. They did what Roman women would never have dared. -They entered the Senate, deliberated there, and governed the empire -effectively, dreaming of Semiramis and Nitocris. The Roman worship -seemed cold and insignificant to them. Not being bound by any family -reasons, and their imagination being more in harmony with Christianity -than with Italian Paganism, these women amused themselves with the -recitals of the deed of the gods upon earth. Philostratus enchanted them -with his "Life of Apollonius Tyane." Perhaps they had more than one -secret affinity with Christianity. Certainly Heliogabalus was mad; and -yet his chimera of a central, Monotheistic worship, established at Rome, -and absorbing all the other worships, proved that the narrow circle of -ideas of the Antonines was broken. Alexander Severus went still farther. -He was sympathetic with the Christians: not content with according them -liberty, he placed Jesus in his lararium with a touching eclecticism. -Peace seemed to be made, not, as under Constantine, by the defection of -one of the parties, but by a large reconciliation. The same thing was -seen again under Philip the Arab, in the East under Zenobia, and -generally under those emperors whose foreign origin placed them beyond -Roman patriotism. - -The struggle redoubled in rage when those grand reformers, Diocletian -and Maximian, animated by the ancient spirit, believed themselves able -to give new life for the empire by holding it to the narrow circle of -Roman ideas. The Church triumphed through its martyrs. Roman pride was -humbled. Constantine saw the interior strength of the Church. The -population of Asia Minor, Syria, Thrace, and Macedonia, in a word the -eastern part of the empire, was already more than half Christian. His -mother, who had been a servant in an inn at Nicomedia, dazzled his eyes -with the picture of an Eastern empire having its centre near Nicæa or -Nicomedia, whose nerves should be the bishops and those multitudes of -poor matriculates of the Church who controlled opinion in large cities. -Constantine made the empire Christian. From the Occidental point of -view, that was astonishing; for the Christians were still but a feeble -minority in the West: in the Orient, the politics of Constantine was not -only natural, but commanded. - -Wonderful thing! The city of Rome received from that politics the -heaviest blow it had ever suffered. Christianity was successful under -Constantine; but it was Oriental Christianity. In building a new Rome on -the Bosphorus, Constantine made the old Rome the capital of the West -alone. The cataclysms which followed, the invasions of the barbarians -who spared Constantinople, and fell upon Rome with all their weight, -reduced the ancient capital of the world to a limited and often humble -condition. That ecclesiastical primacy of Rome which burst with so much -effect upon the second and third centuries flourished no longer when the -Orient had an existence and a separate capital. Constantine was the real -author of the schism of the Latin Church and the Church of the Orient. - -Rome took its revenge, principally by the seriousness and depth of its -spirit of organization. What men were St. Sylvester, St. Damasus, and -Gregory the Great! With an admirable courage they labored for the -conversion of the barbarians, attached them to themselves, and made them -their friends and subjects. The master-work of its politics was its -alliance with the Carlovingian house, and the bold stroke by which it -re-established in that house the empire which had been dead three -hundred years. The Church of Rome rose again more powerful than ever, -and became again the centre of all the grand affairs of the Occident -during eight centuries. - - * * * * * - -Here my task is ended, gentlemen. You will confide to others the care of -recounting the prodigious history of the feudal church, its grandeurs -and its abuses. Another still will show you the re-action against these -abuses,--Protestantism returning to the primitive idea of Christianity, -and dividing, in its turn, the Latin Church. Each one of these grand -historical pages will have its charm and its instruction. What I have -recounted to you is full of grandeur. One is impartial only to the dead. -Since Catholicism was an inimical power, a danger to the liberty of the -human mind, it was right to oppose it. Our age is the age of history, -because it is the age of doubt upon dogmatic matters: it is the age in -which, without entering into the discussion of systems, an enlightened -mind says to itself, "If, since right exists, and so many thousand -symbols have made the pretension of presenting the complete truth, and -if this pretension is always found vain, is it indeed probable that I -shall be more happy than so many others, and that the truth has awaited -my coming here below in order to make its definite revelation?" There is -no definite revelation. It is the touching effort of man to render his -destiny supportable. But its reward is not disdain, it is gratitude. -Whoever believes that he has something to teach us concerning our -destiny and our end should be welcome. Recall the account in your old -histories of the judicious and discreet words of the Saxon chief of -Northumbria, in the assembly where the question was discussed concerning -the adoption of the doctrine of the Roman missionaries. - -"Perhaps thou rememberest, O king! something which happens sometimes in -the winter days, when thou art seated at table with thy captains and thy -men-at-arms; that a good fire is lighted, that thy chamber is very warm, -while it rains, snows, and blows without. There comes a little bird, -which crosses the chamber on the wing, entering at one door, and going -out by the other. The moment of this passage is full of sweetness for -him: he no more feels the rain nor the storm. The bird is gone in an -instant, and from the winter he passes again into the winter. Such seems -to me the life of men on this earth, and its course of a moment, -compared to the length of time which precedes and follows it. The time -before birth and after death is gloomy. It torments us by its -impossibility of comprehension: if, then, the new doctrine can teach us -any thing a little certain, it deserves to be considered." - -Alas! the Roman missionaries did not bear this minimum of certainty, -with which the old Northumbrian chief, sage as he was, declared himself -content. Life always appears to us a short passage between two long -nights. Happy those who can sleep in the empty noise of menaces which -trouble at times the human conscience, and should no more than cradle -it! One thing is certain: it is the paternal smile which at certain -hours pierces nature, attesting that one eye regards us, and one heart -follows us. Let us guard ourselves from all absolute formula which might -become one day an obstacle to the free expansion of our spirits. There -is no religious communion which does not still possess some gifts of -life and pardon; but it is on the condition only that an humble docility -succeeds sympathetic adhesion. The comparison of the regiment, invented -by Clement Romanus, and since so many times repeated, ought to be -utterly abandoned. - -You wished that I should recall to you the grandeurs of Catholicism in -its finest epoch. I thank you for it. Some associations of childhood, -the most profound of all, attach me to Catholicism; and, although I am -separated from it, I am often tempted to say, as Job said (at least in -our Latin version), "_Etiam si occideret me, in ipso sperabo._" This -great Catholic family is too numerous not to have still a grand future. -The strange excesses which it has supported during fifty years, this -unequalled pontificate of Pius IX., the most astonishing in history, -cannot be terminated in any ordinary way. There will be thunders and -lightnings such as accompany all the great judgment-days of God. And -will she have much to do in order to still remain acceptable to those -who love her,--this old mother, who will not die so soon? Perhaps she -will find, in order to arrest the arms of her conqueror, which is modern -reason, some magician's arts, some words such as Balder murmured. - -The Catholic Church is a woman: let us distrust the charming words of -her agony. Let us imagine that she says to us, "My children, every thing -here below is but a symbol and a dream. In this world there is only one -little ray of light which pierces the darkness, and seems to be the -reflection of a benevolent will. Come into my bosom, where one finds -forgetfulness. For those who wish fetishes, I have them; to those who -wish works, I offer them; for those who wish intoxication of heart, I -have the milk of my breast, which will make drunk; for those who desire -love, I have an abundance; to those who crave irony, I pour out freely. -Come all: the time of dogmatic sadness is past. I have music and incense -for your funerals, flowers for your marriages, the joyous welcome of -bells for your new-born ones." Ah, well! if she should say that, our -embarrassment would be extreme. But she never will. - -Your great and glorious England has resolved, gentlemen, the practical -part of the question. It is as easy to trace the line of conduct which -the state and individuals should follow in the same matter, as it is -impossible to arrive at a theoretic solution of the religious problem. -All this may be conveyed in a single word, gentlemen,--_liberty_. What -could be more simple? Faith does not control itself. We believe what we -believe true. No one is bound to believe what he thinks false, whether -it is false or not. To deny liberty of thought is a sort of -contradiction. From liberty of thought to the right to express one's -thought, there is but one step; for right is the same for all. I have no -right to prevent a person from expressing his mind; but no one has the -right to prevent me from expressing mine. Here is a theory which will -appear very humble to the learned doctors who believe themselves to be -in possession of absolute truth. We have a great advantage over them, -gentlemen. They are obliged to be persecutors in order to be consistent; -to us it is permitted to be tolerant,--tolerant for all, even for those, -who, if they could, would not be so to us. Yes, let us even make this -paradox: liberty is the best weapon against the enemies of liberty. Some -fanatics say to us with sincerity, "We take your liberty, because you -owe it to us according to your principles; but you shall not have ours, -because we do not owe it to you." Ah, well! let us give them liberty -all the same, and we do not imagine that in this exchange we shall be -duped. No: liberty is the great dissolvent of all fanaticisms. In giving -back liberty to my enemy, who would suppress me if he had the power, I -shall really make him the worst gift. I oblige him to drink a strong -beverage which shall turn his head, while I shall keep my own. Science -supports the strange _régime_ of liberty: fanaticism and superstition do -not support it. We do more harm to dogmatism by treating it with an -implacable sweetness than by persecuting it. By this sweetness we even -inculcate the principle which destroys all dogmatism at its root, by -understanding that all metaphysical controversy is sterile, and that, -for this reason, the truth for each one is as he believes it. The -essential, then, is not to silence dangerous teaching, and hush the -discordant voice: the essential is to place the human mind in a state in -which the mass can see the uselessness of its rage. When this spirit -becomes the atmosphere of society, the fanatic can no longer live. He is -conquered by a pervading gentleness. If, instead of conducting -Polyeuctus to punishment, the Roman magistrate had dismissed him -smiling, and taken him amicably by the hand, Polyeuctus would not have -continued: perhaps even in his old age he would have laughed at his -escapade, and would have become a man of good sense. - - - - - CONFERENCE, - - Royal Academy, London, April 16, 1880. - - MARCUS AURELIUS. - - - - -CONFERENCE AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. - -MARCUS AURELIUS. - - -Ladies and Gentlemen,--I have accepted with great pleasure the -invitation to address you in this illustrious institution devoted to the -noblest researches of science and of true philosophy. I have dreamed -since my childhood of this island, where I have so many friends, and -which I visit so tardily. - -I am a Briton of France. In our old books, England is always called the -Island of the Saints; and, in truth, all our saints of Armorican -Brittany, those saints of doubtful orthodoxy, who, if they were again -alive, would be more in harmony with us than with the Jesuits, came from -the Island of Britain. I have seen in their chapel the trough of stone -in which they crossed the sea. Of all races, the Britain race is that -which has ever taken religion the most seriously. Even when the progress -of reflection has shown us that some articles among the catalogues of -things which we have always regarded as fixed should be modified, we -never break away from the symbol under which we have from the first -approved the ideal. - -For our faith is not contained in obscure metaphysical propositions: it -is in the affirmations of the heart. I have therefore chosen for my -discourse to you, not one of those subtleties which divide, but one of -those themes, dear to the soul, which bring nearer, and reconcile. I -shall speak to you of that book resplendent with the divine spirit, that -manual of submissive life which the most godly of men has left us,--the -Cæsar, Marcus Aurelius Antonine. It is the glory of sovereigns that the -most irreproachable model of virtue may be found in their ranks, and -that the most beautiful lessons of patience and of self-control may come -from a condition which one naturally believes to be subject to all the -seductions of pleasure and of vanity. - - -I. - -The inheritance of wisdom with a throne is always rare: I find in -history but two striking examples of it,--in India, the succession of -the three Mongol emperors, Bâber, Hoomâyoon, and Akbar; at Rome, at the -head of the greatest empire that ever existed, the two admirable reigns -of Antonine the Pious and Marcus Aurelius. Of the last two, I consider -Antonine the greatest. His goodness did not lead him into faults: he was -not tormented with that internal trouble which disturbed without -ceasing the heart of his adopted son. This strange malady, this restless -study of himself, this demon of scrupulousness, this fever of -perfection, are signs of a less strong and distinguished nature. As the -finest thoughts are those which are not written, Antonine had in this -respect also a superiority over Marcus Aurelius. But let us add that we -should be ignorant of Antonine, if Marcus Aurelius had not transmitted -to us that exquisite portrait of his adopted father, in which he seems -to have applied himself, through humility, to painting the picture of a -better man than himself. - -It is he who has sketched in the first book of his "Thoughts,"--that -admirable background where the noble and pure forms of his father, -mother, grandfather, and tutors, move in a celestial light. Thanks to -Marcus Aurelius, we are able to understand how these old Roman families, -who had seen the reign of the wicked emperors, still retained honesty, -dignity, justice, the civil, and, if I may dare to say it, the -republican spirit. They lived there in admiration of Cato, of Brutus, of -Thrasea, and of the great stoics whose souls had never bowed under -tyranny. The reign of Domitian was abhorred by them. The sages who had -endured it without submission were honored as heroes. The accession of -the Antonines was only the coming to power of the society of sages, of -whose just anger Tacitus has informed us,--a society of wise men formed -by the league of all those who had revolted against the despotism of the -first Cæsars. - -The salutary principle of adoption made the imperial court of the second -century a true cradle of virtue. The noble and learned Nerva, in -establishing this principle, assured the happiness of the human race -during almost a hundred years, and gave to the world the best century of -progress of which any knowledge has been preserved. The sovereignty thus -possessed in common by a group of choice men who delegated it or shared -it, according to the needs of the moment, lost a part of that attraction -which renders it so dangerous. - -Men came to the throne without seeking it, but also without the right of -birth, or in any sense the divine right: men came there understanding -themselves, experienced, having been long prepared. The empire was a -civil burden which each accepted in his turn, without dreaming of -hastening the hour. Marcus Aurelius was made emperor so young, that the -idea of ruling had scarcely occurred to him, and had not for a moment -exercised its charm upon his mind. - -At eight years, when he was already _præsul_ of the Salian priests, -Hadrian remarked this sad child, and loved him for his good-nature, his -docility, and his incapability of falsehood. At eighteen years the -empire was assured to him. He awaited it patiently for twenty-two years. -The evening when Antonine, feeling himself about to die, after having -given to the tribune the watchword, _Æquanimitas_, commanded the golden -statue of Fortune, which was always in the apartment of the emperor, to -be borne into that of his adopted son, he experienced neither surprise -nor joy. - -He had long been sated with all joys, without having tasted them: he had -seen the absolute vanity of them by the profoundness of his philosophy. - -The great inconvenience of practical life, and that which renders it -insupportable to a superior man, is, that, if one carries into it the -principles of the ideal, talents become defects; so that very often the -accomplished man is less successful in it than one who is fitted by -egotism or ordinary routine. Three or four times the virtue of Marcus -Aurelius came near being his ruin. The first fault into which it led him -was that of sharing the empire with Lucius Verus, to whom he was under -no obligation. Verus was a frivolous and worthless man. Prodigies of -goodness and delicacy were necessary in order to prevent his committing -disastrous follies. The wise emperor, earnest and industrious, took with -him in his _lectica_ (sedan) the senseless colleague whom he had given -himself. He persisted in treating him seriously: he never once revolted -against this sorry companionship. Like all well-bred men, Marcus -Aurelius discommoded himself continually: his manners came from a -general habit of firmness and dignity. Souls of this kind, either from -respect for human nature, or in order not to wound others, resign -themselves to the appearance of seeing no evil. Their life is a -perpetual dissimulation. - -According to some, he even deceived himself, since, in his intimate -intercourse with the gods, on the borders of the Granicus, speaking of -his unworthy wife, he thanked them for having given him a wife "so -amiable, so affectionate, so pure." I have shown elsewhere that the -patience, or, if one chooses, the weakness, on this point, of Marcus -Aurelius, has been somewhat exaggerated. Faustina had faults: the -greatest one was that she disliked the friends of her husband; and, as -these friends wrote history, she has paid the penalty before posterity. -But a discriminating critic has no trouble in showing the exaggerations -of the legend. Every thing indicates that Faustina at first found -happiness and love in that villa at Lorium, or in that beautiful retreat -at Lanuvium upon the highest points of the Alban mount, which Marcus -Aurelius described to his tutor Fronto as an abode full of the purest -joys. Then she became weary of too much wisdom. Let us tell all: the -beautiful sentences of Marcus Aurelius, his austere virtue, his -perpetual melancholy, might have become tiresome to a young and -capricious woman possessed of an ardent temperament and marvellous -beauty. He understood it, suffered it, and spoke not. Faustina remained -always his "very good and very faithful wife." No one succeeded, even -after her death, in persuading him to give up this pious lie. In a -bas-relief which is still seen in the Museum of the Capitol at Rome, -while Faustina is borne to heaven by a messenger of the gods, the -excellent emperor regards her with a look full of love. It seems that at -last he had deceived himself, and forgotten all. But through what a -struggle he must have passed in order to do this! During long years, a -sickness at heart slowly consumed him. The desperate effort which was -the essence of his philosophy, this frenzy of renunciation, carried -sometimes even to sophism, concealed an immense wound at the bottom. How -necessary it must have been to bid adieu to happiness in order to reach -such an excess! No one will ever understand all that this poor wounded -heart suffered, the bitterness which that pale face concealed, always -calm, always smiling. It is true that the farewell to happiness is the -beginning of wisdom and the surest means of finding peace. There is -nothing so sweet as the return of joy which follows the renunciation of -joy; nothing so keen, so profound, so charming, as the enchantment of -the disenchanted. - -Some historians, more or less imbued with that policy which believes -itself to be superior, because it is not suspected of any philosophy, -have naturally sought to prove that so accomplished a man was a bad -administrator and a mediocre sovereign. It appears, in fact, that Marcus -Aurelius sinned more than once by too much lenity. But never was there a -reign more fruitful in reforms and progress. The public charity founded -by Nerva and Trajan was admirably developed by him. New schools were -established for poor children; the superintendents of provisions became -functionaries of the first rank, and were chosen with extreme care; -while the wants of poor young girls were cared for by the Institute of -_Jeunes Faustiniennes_. The principle that the state has duties in some -degree paternal towards its members (a principle which should be -remembered with gratitude, even when it has been dispensed with),--this -principle, I say, was proclaimed for the first time in the world by -Trajan and his successors. Neither the puerile pomp of Oriental -kingdoms, founded on the baseness and stupidity of men, nor the pedantic -pride of the kingdoms of the middle ages, founded on an exaggerated -sentiment for hereditary succession, and on a simple faith in the rights -of blood, could give an idea of the utterly republican sovereignty of -Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonine, and Marcus Aurelius. - -Nothing of the prince by hereditary or divine right, nothing of the -military chieftain: it was a sort of grand civil magistracy, without -resembling a court in any way, or depriving the emperor of his private -character. Marcus Aurelius, in particular, was neither much nor little a -king in the true sense of the word. His fortune was immense, but all -employed for good: his aversion for "the Cæsars," whom he considered as -a species of Sardanapali, magnificent, debauched, and cruel, burst out -at each instant. The civility of his manners was extreme. He gave to the -Senate all its ancient importance: when he was at Rome, he never missed -a session, and left his place only when the Consul had pronounced the -formula, "_Nihil vos moramar, patres conscripti_." Almost every year of -his reign he made war, and he made it well, although he found in it only -_ennui_. His listless campaigns against the Quadi and Marcomanni were -very well conducted: the disgust which he felt for them did not prevent -his most conscientious attention to them. It was in the course of one of -these expeditions, that, encamped on the banks of the Granicus, in the -midst of the monotonous plains of Hungary, he wrote the most beautiful -pages of the exquisite book which has revealed his whole soul to us. It -is probable, that, when very young, he kept a journal of his secret -thoughts. He inscribed there the maxims to which he had recourse in -order to fortify himself, the reminiscences of his favorite authors, the -passages of the moralists which appealed most to him, the principles -which had sustained him through the day, sometimes the reproaches which -his scrupulous conscience addressed to him. "One seeks for himself -solitary retreats, rustic cottages, sea-shore, or mountains: like -others, thou lovest to dream of these good things. To what end, since it -is permitted to thee to retire within thy soul each hour? Man has -nowhere a more tranquil retreat, above all, if he has within himself -those things, the contemplation of which will calm him. Learn, then, how -to enjoy this retreat, and there renew thy strength. Let there be those -short fundamental maxims, which above all will give again serenity to -thy soul, and restore thee to a state in which to support with -resignation the world to which thou shouldest return." - -During the sad winters of the North, this consolation became still more -necessary to him. He was nearly sixty years old: old age was premature -with him. One evening all the pictures of his pious youth returned to -his remembrance, and he passed some delicious hours in calculating how -much he owed to each one of the virtuous beings who had surrounded him. - -"Examples of my grandfather Verus,--sweetness of manners, unchangeable -patience." - -"Qualities which one valued in my father, the souvenir which he has left -me,--modesty, manly character." - -"To imitate the piety of my mother, her benevolence; to abstain, like -her, not only from doing evil, but from conceiving the thought of it; to -lead her frugal life, which so little resembled the habitual luxury of -the rich." - -Then appeared to him, in turn, Diagnotus, who had inspired him with a -taste for philosophy, and made agreeable to his eyes the pallet, the -covering made of a simple skin, and all the apparel of Hellenic -discipline; Junius Rusticus, who taught him to avoid all affectation of -elegance in style, and loaned him the Conversations of Epictetus; -Apollonius of Chalcis, who realized the Stoic ideal of extreme firmness -and perfect sweetness; Sextus of Chaeroneia, so grave and so good; -Alexander the grammarian, who censured with such refined politeness; -Fronto, "who taught him the envy, duplicity, and hypocrisy of a tyrant, -and the hardness which may exist in the heart of a patrician;" his -brother Severus, "who made him understand Thrasia, Helvidius, Cato, -Brutus, who gave him the idea of what a free government is, where the -rule is the natural equality of the citizens and the equality of their -rights; of a royalty which places before all else the respect for the -liberty of the citizens;" and, rising above all others in his immaculate -grandeur, Antonine, his father by adoption, whose picture he traces for -us with redoubled gratitude and love. "I thank the gods," said he -finally, "for having given me good ancestors, good parents, a good -sister, good teachers, and in my surroundings, in my relations, in my -friends, men almost all filled with goodness. I never allowed myself to -be wanting in deference towards them: from my natural disposition, I -could sometimes have shown irreverence; but the benevolence of the gods -never permitted the occasion to present itself. I am also indebted to -the gods, who preserved pure the flower of my youth, for having been -reared under the rule of a prince, and a father who strove to free my -soul from all trace of pride, to make me understand that it is possible, -while living in a palace, to dispense with guards, with splendid -clothes, with torches, with statues, to teach me, in short, that a -prince can almost contract his life within the limits of that of a -simple citizen, without, on that account, showing less nobility and -vigor when he comes to be an emperor, and transact the affairs of state. -They gave me a brother, whose manners were a continual exhortation to -watch over myself, while his deference and attachment should have made -the joy of my heart. - -"Thanks to the gods again, that I have made haste to raise those who -have cared for my education, to the honors which they seemed to desire. -They have enabled me to understand Apollonius, Rusticus, Maximus, and -have held out to me, surrounded with brilliant light, the picture of a -life conformed to nature. I have fallen short of it in the end, it is -true; but it is my fault. If my body has long supported the rude life -which I lead; if, in spite of my frequent neglect of Rusticus, I have -never overstepped the bounds, or done any thing of which I should -repent; if my mother, who died young, was able, nevertheless, to pass -her last years near me; if, whenever I have wished to succor the poor or -afflicted, money has never been wanting; if I have never needed to -accept any thing from others; if I have a wife of an amiable, -affectionate, and pure character; if I have found many capable men for -the education of my children; if, at the beginning of my passion for -philosophy, I did not become the prey of a sophist,--it is to the gods -that I owe it all. Yes, so many blessings could only be the result of -the aid of the gods and a happy fortune." - -This divine candor breathes in every page. No one has ever written more -simply than did he for the sole purpose of unburdening his heart to -God, his only witness. There is not a shadow of system in it. Marcus -Aurelius, to speak exactly, had no philosophy: although he owed almost -every thing to stoicism transformed by the Roman spirit, it is of no -school. According to our idea, he has too little curiosity; for he knows -not all that a contemporary of Ptolemy and Galen should know: he has -some opinions on the system of the world, which were not up to the -highest science of his time. But his moral thought, thus detached from -all alliance with a system, reaches a singular height. The author of the -book, "The Imitation," himself, although free from the quarrels of the -schools, does not rise to this, for his manner of feeling is essentially -Christian. Take away his Christian dogmas, and his book retains only a -portion of its charm. The book of Marcus Aurelius, having no dogmatic -base, preserves its freshness eternally. Every one, from the atheist, or -he who believes himself one, to the man who is the most devoted to the -especial creeds of each worship, can find in it some fruits of -edification. It is the most purely human book which exists. It deals -with no question of controversy. In theology, Marcus Aurelius floats -between pure Deism, Polytheism interpreted in a physical sense according -to the manner of the Stoics, and a sort of cosmic Pantheism. He holds -not much more firmly to one hypothesis than to the other, and he uses -indiscriminately the three vocabularies of the Deist, Polytheist, and -Pantheist. His considerations have always two sides, according as God -and the soul have, or have not, reality. It is the reasoning which we do -each hour; for, if the most complete Materialism is right, we who have -believed in truth and goodness shall be no more duped than others. If -Idealism is right, we have been the true sages, and we have been wise in -the only manner which becomes us, that is to say, with no selfish -waiting, without having looked for a remuneration. - - -II. - -We here touch a great secret of moral philosophy and religion. Marcus -Aurelius has no speculative philosophy; his theology is utterly -contradictory; he has no idea founded upon the soul and immortality. How -could he be so moral without the beliefs that are now regarded as the -foundations of morality? how so profoundly religious, without having -professed one of the dogmas of what is called natural religion? It is -important to make this inquiry. - -The doubts, which, to the view of speculative reason, hover above the -truths of natural religion, are not, as Kant has admirably shown, -accidental doubts, capable of being removed, belonging, as is sometimes -imagined, to certain conditions of the human mind. These doubts are -inherent to the nature even of these truths, if one may say it without a -paradox; and, if these doubts were removed, the truths with which they -quarrel would disappear at the same time. Let us suppose, in short, a -direct, positive proof, evident to all, of future sufferings and -rewards: where will be the merit of doing good? They would be but fools -whom gayety of heart should hasten to damnation. A crowd of base souls -would secure their salvation without concealment: they would, in a -sense, force the divine power. Who does not see, that, in such a system, -there is neither morality nor religion? In the moral and religious order -it is indispensable to believe without demonstration. It deals not with -certainty: it acts by faith. This is what Deism forgets, with its habits -of intemperate affirmation. It forgets that creeds too precise -concerning human destiny would destroy all moral merit. For us, they -would say that we should do as did St. Louis when he was told of the -miraculous wafer,--we should refuse to see it. What need have we of -these brutal proofs which trammel our liberty? - -We should fear to become assimilated to those speculators in virtue, or -those vulgar cowards, who mingle with spiritual things the gross -selfishness of practical life. In the days which followed the belief in -the resurrection of Jesus, this sentiment was manifested in the most -touching manner. The faithful in heart, the sensitive ones, preferred to -believe without seeing. "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet -have believed," became the word for the time. Charming words! Eternal -symbol of tender and generous Idealism, which has a horror of touching -with the hands that which should only be seen with the heart! - -Our good Marcus Aurelius, on this point as on all others, was in advance -of the ages. He never cared to argue with himself concerning God and the -soul. As if he had read the "Criticism of Practical Reason," he saw -clearly, that, where the Infinite is concerned, no formula is absolute; -and that, in such matters, one has no chance of seeing the truth during -his life, without much self-contradiction. He distinctly separates moral -beauty from all theoretical theology. He allows duty to depend on no -metaphysical opinion of the First Cause. The intimate union with an -unseen god was never carried to a more unheard-of delicacy. "To offer to -the government of God that which is within thee,--a strong being ripened -by age, a friend of the public good, a Roman, an emperor, a soldier at -his post awaiting the signal of the trumpet, a man ready to quit life -without regret." "There are many grains of incense destined to the same -altar: one falls sooner, the other later, in the fire; but the -difference is nothing." "Man should live according to nature during the -few days that are given him on the earth, and, when the moment of -leaving it comes, should submit himself sweetly, as an olive, which, in -falling, blesses the tree which has produced it, and renders thanks to -the branch which has borne it." "All that which thou arrangest is suited -to me, O Cosmos! Nothing of that which comes from thee is premature or -backward to me. I find my fruit in that which thy seasons bear, O -Nature! From thee comes all; in thee is all; to thee all returns." "O -man! thou hast been a citizen in the great city: what matters it to thee -to have remained three or five years? That which is governed by laws is -unjust for no one. What is there, then, so sorrowful in being sent from -the city, not by a tyrant, not by an unjust judge, but by the same -nature which allowed thee to enter there? It is as if a comedian is -discharged from the theatre by the same prætor who engaged him. But wilt -thou say, 'I have not played the five acts; I have played but three?' -Thou sayest well; but in life three acts suffice to complete the entire -piece.... Go, then, content, since he who dismisses thee is content." - -Is this to say that he never revolted against the strange fate which -leaves man alone face to face with the needs of devotion, of sacrifice, -of heroism, and nature with its transcendent immorality, its supreme -disdain for virtue? No. Once at least the absurdity, the colossal -iniquity, of death, strikes him. But soon his temperament, completely -mortified, resumes its power, and he becomes calm. "How happens it that -the gods, who have ordered all things so well, and with so much love for -men, should have forgotten one thing only; that is, that men of tried -virtue, who during their lives have had a sort of interchange of -relations with divinity, who have made themselves loved by it on account -of their pious acts and their sacrifices, live not after death, but may -be extinguished forever? - -"Since it is so, be sure, that, if it should be otherwise, they (the -gods) would not have failed; for, if it had been just, it would have -been possible; if it had been suitable to nature, nature would have -permitted it. Consequently, when it is not thus, strengthen thyself in -this consideration, that it was not necessary that it should be thus. -Thou thyself seest plainly that to make such a demand is to dispute his -right with God. Now, we would not thus contend with the gods if they -were not absolutely good and absolutely just: if they are so, they have -allowed nothing to make a part of the order of the world which is -contrary to justice and right." - -Ah! is it too much resignation, ladies and gentlemen? If it is veritably -thus, we have the right to complain. To say, that, if this world has not -its counterpart, the man who is sacrificed to truth or right ought to -leave it content, and absolve the gods,--that is too _naïve_. No, he has -a right to blaspheme them. For, in short, why has his credulity been -thus abused? Why should he have been endowed with deceitful instincts, -of which he has been the honest dupe? Wherefore is this premium given to -the frivolous or wicked man? Is it, then, he who is not deceived who is -the wise man? Then cursed be the gods who so adjudge their preferences! -I desire that the future may be an enigma; but, if there is no future, -then this world is a frightful ambuscade. Take notice that our wish is -not that of the vulgar clown. We wish not to see the chastisement of the -culpable, nor to meddle with the interests of our virtue. Our wish has -no selfishness: it is simply to be, to remain in accord with light, to -continue the thought we have begun, to know more of it, to enjoy some -day that truth which we seek with so much labor, to see the triumph of -the good which we have loved. Nothing is more legitimate. The worthy -emperor, moreover, was also sensible of it: "What! the light of a lamp -burns until the moment in which it is extinguished, and loses nothing of -its brilliancy, and the truth, justice, temperance, which are in thee -shall be extinguished with thee!" All his life was passed in this noble -hesitation. If he sinned, it was through too much piety. Less resigned, -he would have been more just; for surely to demand that there should be -an intimate and sympathetic witness of the struggles which we endure for -goodness and truth is not to ask too much. - -It is possible, also, that if his philosophy had been less exclusively -moral, if it had implied a more curious study of history and of the -universe, it would have escaped a certain excessive rigor. Like the -ascetic Christians, Marcus Aurelius sometimes carried renunciation to -dryness and subtlety. One feels that this calmness, which never belies -itself, is obtained through an immense effort. Certainly, evil had never -an attraction for him: he had no passion to struggle against. "Whatever -one may do or say," writes he, "it is necessary that I should be a good -man; as the emerald might say, 'Whatever one may say or do, I must -remain an emerald, and retain my color.'" But, in order to hold one's -self always upon the icy summit of stoicism, it is necessary to do cruel -violence to nature, and to cut away from it more than one noble element. -This perpetual repetition of the same reasoning, the thousand figures -under which he seeks to represent to himself the vanity of all things, -these frequently artless proofs of universal frivolity, testify to -strifes which he has passed through in order to extinguish all desire in -himself. At times we find in it something harsh and sad. The reading of -Marcus Aurelius strengthens, but it does not console: it leaves a void -in the soul which is at once cruel and delightful, which one would not -exchange for full satisfaction. Humility, renunciation, severity towards -self, were never carried further. Glory--that last illusion of great -souls--is reduced to nothingness. It is needful to do right without -disturbing one's self as to whether any one knows that we do it. He -perceives that history will speak of him: he sometimes dreams of the men -of the past with whom the future will associate him. "If they have only -played the part of tragic actors," said he, "no one has condemned me to -imitate them." The absolute mortification at which he had arrived had -destroyed the last fibre of self-love in him. - -The consequences of this austere philosophy might have been hardness and -obstinacy. It is here that the rare goodness of the nature of Marcus -Aurelius shines out in its full brilliancy. His severity is only for -himself. The fruit of this great tension of soul is an infinite -benevolence. All his life was a study of how to return good for evil. At -evening, after some sad experience of human perversity, he wrote only -as follows: "If thou canst, correct them; on the other hand, remember -that thou shouldest exercise benevolence towards those who have been -given to thee. The gods themselves are benevolent to men: they aid -them,--so great is their goodness!--to acquire health, riches, glory. -Thou art permitted to be like the gods." Another day, some one was very -wicked; for see what he wrote upon his tablets: "Such is the order of -nature: men of this sort must act thus from necessity. To wish it to be -otherwise is to wish that the fig-tree shall bear no figs. Remember, -thou, in one word, this thing: in a very short time thou and he will -die; soon after, your names even will be known no more." The thoughts of -a universal pardon recur without ceasing. At times a scarcely -perceptible smile is mingled with this charming goodness,--"The best -method of avenging one's self upon the wicked is not to be like them;" -or a light stroke of pride,--"It is a royal thing to hear evil said of -one's self when one does right." One day he thus reproached himself: -"Thou hast forgotten," said he, "what holy relationship unites each man -to the human race,--a relationship not of blood, or of birth, but the -participation in the same intelligence. Thou hast forgotten that the -reasoning power of each one is a god, derived from the Supreme Being." - -In the business of life he was always exact, although a little -ingenuous, as very good men usually are. The nine reasons for -forbearance which he valued for himself (book xi. art. 18) show us his -charming good-nature before family troubles, which perhaps came to him -through his unworthy son. "If, upon occasion," said he to himself, "thou -exhortest him quietly, and shalt give to him without anger some lessons -like these,--'No, my child; we are born for each other. It is not I who -suffer the evil, it is thou who doest it thyself, my child!'--show him -adroitly, by a general consideration, that such is the rule; that -neither the bees, nor the animals who live naturally in herds, resemble -him. Say this without mockery or insult, with an air of true affection, -with a heart which is not excited by anger; not as a pedant, not for the -sake of being admired by those who are present; think only of him." - -Commodus (if it was for him that he thus acted) was, without doubt, -little touched by this good paternal rhetoric. One of the maxims of the -excellent emperor was, that the wicked are unhappy, that one is only -wicked in spite of himself, and through ignorance. He pitied those who -were not like himself: he did not believe that he had the right to -obtrude himself upon them. - -He well understood the baseness of men; but he did not avow it. This -willing blindness is the defect of choice spirits. The world not being -all that they could wish, they lie to themselves in order not to see it -as it is. From thence arises an expediency in their judgments. In Marcus -Aurelius, this expediency sometimes provokes us a little. If we wished -to believe him, his instructors, several of whom were men of mediocrity, -were, without exception, superior men. One would say that every one near -him had been virtuous. This is carried to such a point, that one is -forced to ask if the brother for whom he pronounces such a grand eulogy -in his thanks to the gods was not his adopted brother, Lucius Verus. It -is certain that the good emperor was capable of strong illusions when he -undertook to lend to others his own virtues. - -This quality, expressed as an ancient opinion, especially by the pen of -the Emperor Julian, caused him to commit an enormous error, which was -that of not disinheriting Commodus. This is one of those things which it -is easy to say at a distance, when there are no obstacles present, and -when one reasons without facts. It is forgotten at first that the -emperors, who, after Nerva, made adoption so fruitful a political -system, had no sons. Adoption, with the exheredation of the son or -grandson, occurred in the first century of the empire without good -results. Marcus Aurelius was evidently from principle in favor of -direct inheritance, in which he saw the advantage of the prevention of -competition. - -After the birth of Commodus, in 161, he presented him alone to the -people, although he had a twin-brother: he frequently took him in his -arms and renewed this act, which was a sort of proclamation. In 166 -Lucius Verus demanded that the two sons of Marcus, Commodus and Annius -Verus, should be made Cæsars. In 172 Commodus shared with his father the -title of Germanicus. In 173, after the repression of the revolt of -Avidius, the Senate, in order to recognize in some way the family -disinterestedness which Marcus Aurelius had shown, demanded by -acclamation the empire and the tribunitial power for Commodus. - -Already the natural wickedness of the latter had betrayed itself by more -than one symptom known to his tutors; but how shall one foresee the -future from a few naughty acts of a child of twelve years? In 176-177 -his father made him _Imperator_, Consul, Augustus. This was certainly an -imprudence; but he was bound by his previous acts: Commodus, moreover, -still restrained himself. In later years, the evil completely revealed -itself. On each page of the last books of the "Thoughts," we see the -trace of the martyr within the excellent father, of the accomplished -emperor, who saw a monster growing up beside him, ready to succeed him, -and to take in every thing through antipathy, the opposite course from -that which he had believed to be for the good of men. The thought of -disinheriting Commodus must, without doubt, have come often to Marcus -Aurelius. But it was too late. After having associated him in the -empire, after having so many times proclaimed him to the legions as -perfect and accomplished, to come before the world and declare him to be -unworthy would be a scandal. Marcus was caught in his own phrases, by -that style of benevolent expediency which was too habitual with him. -And, after all, Commodus was only seventeen years old: who could be sure -that he would not reform? Even after the death of Marcus Aurelius this -was hoped for. Commodus at first showed the intention of following the -counsels of meritorious persons with whom his father had surrounded him. - -The reproach which is made, then, against Marcus Aurelius, is not that -of not having, but of having, a son. It was not his fault if the age -could not support so much wisdom. In philosophy, the great emperor had -placed the ideal of virtue so high, that no one would care to follow -him. In politics, his benevolent optimism had enfeebled the state -services, above all, the army. In religion, in order not to be too much -bound by a religion of the state, of which he saw the weakness, he -prepared the great triumph of the non-official worship, and left a -reproach to hover above his memory,--unjust, it is true; but even its -shadow should not be found in so pure a life. We touch here upon one of -the most delicate points in the biography of Marcus Aurelius. It is -unhappily certain, that, under his reign, Christians were condemned to -death, and executed. The policy of his predecessors had been firm in -this particular. Trajan, Antonine, Hadrian himself, saw in the -Christians a secret sect, anti-social, dreaming of overturning the -empire. Like all men true to the old Roman principles, they believed in -the necessity of repressing them. There was no need of special edicts: -the laws against the _c[oe]tus illiciti_, the _illicita collegia_, were -numerous. The Christians fell in the most explicit sense under the force -of these laws. Truly, it would have been worthy of the wise emperor who -introduced so many reforms full of humanity, to suppress the edicts -which entailed such cruel and unjust consequences. But it is necessary -to observe primarily, that the true spirit of liberty, as we understand -it, was not then understood by any one; and that Christianity, when it -was master, practised it no more than the Pagan emperors. In the second -place, the abrogation of the laws against illicit societies would have -been the ruin of the empire, founded essentially upon the principle that -the state ought not to admit within its bosom any society differing -from it. The principle was bad, according to our ideas: it is very -certain, at least, that it was the corner-stone in the Roman -constitution. Marcus Aurelius, far from exaggerating it, extenuated it -with all his powers; and one of the glories of his reign is the -extension of the right of association. However, he did not go to the -root: he did not completely abolish the laws against the _collegia -illicita_, and in the provinces there resulted from them some processes -infinitely to be regretted. The reproach which can be made against him -is the same that might be made to the rulers of our day, who do not -suppress with a stroke of the pen all the laws restrictive of the -liberties of re-union, of association, and of the press. - -From the distance at which we stand, we can see that Marcus Aurelius, in -being more completely liberal, would have been wiser. Perhaps -Christianity left free would have developed in a manner less disastrous -the theocratic and absolute principle which was in it; but one cannot -reproach a man with not having stirred up a radical revolution on -account of a prevision of what would occur several centuries after him. -Trajan, Hadrian, Antonine, Marcus Aurelius, could not know the -principles of general history and political economy which have been -understood only in our time, and which only our last revolutions could -reveal. In any case, the mansuetude of the good emperor was in this -respect shielded from all reproach. No one has the right to be more -exacting in this respect than was Tertullian. "Consult your annals," -said he to the Roman magistrates. "You will then see that the princes -who have been severe towards us are of those who have held to the honor -of having been our persecutors. On the contrary, all the princes who -have respected divine and human laws include but one who persecuted the -Christians. We can even name one of them who declared himself their -protector,--the wise Marcus Aurelius. If he did not openly revoke the -edicts against our brethren, he destroyed their power by the severe -penalties which he declared against their accusers." It is necessary to -remember that the Roman Empire was ten or twelve times as large as -France, and that the responsibility of the emperor was very little in -the judgments which were rendered in the provinces. It is necessary, -moreover, to recall the fact that Christianity claimed not only the -liberty of worship: all the creeds which tolerated each other were -allowed much freedom in the empire. Christianity and Judaism were the -exceptions to this rule on account of their intolerance and spirit of -exclusion. - -We have, then, good reason to mourn sincerely for Marcus Aurelius. Under -him philosophy reigned. One moment, thanks to him, the world was -governed by the best and greatest man of his age. Frightful decadences -followed; but the little casket which contained the "Thoughts" on the -banks of the Granicus was saved. From it came forth that incomparable -book in which Epictetus was surpassed, that Evangel of those who believe -not in the supernatural, which has not been comprehended until our day. -Veritable, eternal Evangel, the book of "Thoughts," which will never -grow old, because it asserts no dogma. The virtue of Marcus Aurelius, -like our own, rests upon reason, upon nature. St. Louis was a very -virtuous man, because he was a Christian: Marcus Aurelius was the most -godly of men, not because he was a Pagan, but because he was a gifted -man. He was the honor of human nature, and not of an established -religion. Science may yet destroy, in appearance, God and the immortal -soul; but the book of the "Thoughts" will still remain young with life -and truth. - -The religion of Marcus Aurelius is the absolute religion, that which -results from the simple fact of a high moral conscience placed face to -face with the universe. It is of no race, neither of any country. No -revolution, no change, no discovery, will have power to affect it. - - - - - Transcriber's Notes: - - Phrases in italics are indicated by _italics_. - - Words in the text which were in small-caps were - converted to title-case. - - The "oe" ligature is indicated by "[oe]" (e.g. Ph[oe]nician). - - Missing word added: - pg 34 the word "it" has been added to the phrase: - "if (it) had been announced" - - Words re-arranged: - pg 126 "the be strongest" --> "be the strongest" - - Typos corrected: - pg 32 "Pysche" --> "Psyche" - pg 54 "apochryphal" --> "apocryphal" - pg 95 "Judean" --> "Judæan" (2 occurrences) - pg 109 "Mithracism" --> "Mithraicism" - pg 150 "ctizens" --> "citizens" - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Conferences of Ernest Renan, by -Ernest Renan - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH CONFERENCES *** - -***** This file should be named 42865-8.txt or 42865-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/8/6/42865/ - -Produced by Charlene Taylor, Michael Seow and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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