Why men do not believe;...

Introduction

TO THE

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OF

T will doubtless be asked why this pamphlet &i| has been singled out from among the numerous productions of Catholic apologists, and presented to the public in an English dress. The numerous and highly self-satisfied class of obstructives will not fail to question the opportunity and necessity of such a publication. But we are fain to believe that its very subject-matter, as indicated in the title, will be an ample justification of our choice to all reflecting minds capable of discerning and appreciating the tendencies of contemporary thought. The nature and drift of these tendencies can no longer be a matter of mere opinion with those who dare to look facts in the face. The most undeniable characteristic of the age in which we live, even in this country which owes so much to the conservative common-sense instincts of the English mind, is scepticism, unbelief, not only in the exclusive claims of this or that form of positive and dogmatic Christianity, but in any supernatural communication vi Introduction.

whatever of God to man. We hear on every side the divorce of modern educated thought from belief in the supernatural order proclaimed with a portentous unanimity, so much the more noteworthy as the feelings elicited by this acknowledgment are divergent. By some, this movement of the age is hailed as the dawn of an epoch of universal enlightenment ; as the supreme effort of the human mind to shake off the trammels of its long infancy ; while to others it harbinges a storm which will work sad havoc in those institutions hitherto regarded as essential to the well-being and permanence of society. Thus the problem handled in the following pages by the light of the data of history and psychological observation is one which may well claim the attention of thoughtful minds. But, further, many of our brethren in the faith whose lot is cast in English-speaking communities, must have felt at times the need of an impartial and intelligent answer to the question which heads these pages — " Why Men do not Believe." They look around them and see men whose conscientious earnestness and estimable qualities of mind and heart they freely acknowledge, banded together in frenzied hate, or supercilious contempt of those principles and institutions which claim, by so many titles, the allegiance of their reason and deepest feelings ; and their distressed piety, and, mayhap, their tottering faith, demand, " How can such things be ?" Without ascribing to the author the merit he himself repudiates, of having exhausted a problem which requires for its full solution an insight, not only into the shortcomings and imperfections of purely mental processes, but into the dark and impenetrable depths of the human heart and conscience, we may safely promise those who will devote a few leisure hours to

Introduction. vii

this essay an intellectual treat. The position of the author, who for many years was Professor of the Theological Faculty of the time-honored Catholic University of Louvain, his clear-headed accuracy, his candor and liberality, the conspicuous absence from these pages of any bitterness of feeling, the judicial calm wherewith he handles topics so well fitted by their associations and actuality to disturb it, are a sufficient earnest of his competency to deal with this question, and claim for him the attention of all thoughtful, fair-minded men of every school or party. The rapid and alarming advance of Rationalism in the high places of the Established Church, and in the national universities, heretofore the homes of orthodox teaching, dispense us from commenting on the relation indicated by the writer between the religious movement of the sixteenth century and that of our day. Public facts, unlike theories, though never so logically plausible, may not be ignored, nor will we weaken their witness to the views set forth by the learned professor by reflections on current events, which sufficiently tell their own tale. We conclude by joining with the author in the pious hope that this translation may be no less successful than the original it reproduces, in strengthening the convictions of those who believe, and in enabling such as have gone astray to retrace their steps to the Temple of Truth, whose Founder and Builder is God made manifest in the flesh.

X. Y. Z.

Preface

T is useless to deny the fact that in Christian communities many men are to be found who no longer believe in Christianity. Many even, not content with rejecting the religion of Jesus Christ, go on to deny God; or if they do not deny him in express terms, their idea of him is radically false, and they seek to place upon the altar of the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, a philosophical idol, ten thousand times more vain than the idols of wood and stone to which pagan nations offered incense. Whence comes this infidelity ? According to those who pride themselves on being philosophers or critics, the denial of Christianity, or even of a personal and living God, is dictated by science and reason ; it is the natural and legitimate fruit of intellectual progress ; rationalists, spiritualists, materialists, atheists, pantheists, sceptics of every kind, all alike appeal to science and reason to justify their disbelief or their doubts in the eyes of the public, and even apparently to their own conscience. I willingly bear this testimony to learned unbelievers of every shade, that they can shelter their infidelity under the finest and noblest pretexts. I have no intention here to examine or discuss those scientific and philosophical pretexts which they call decisive and unanswer* x Preface.

able reasons. This I have done elsewhere,* and Catholic writers continue to do so daily with the authority which belongs to true learning. I am now going to attempt another method.

I have often reflected, sometimes with wonder, always with sadness, on the phenomenon of infidelity in the midst of the light of Christianity. I have frequently asked myself, in the sincerity of my heart, why so many men — many of whom are noble-minded, serious, learned — reject the teaching of the Catholic Church — the organ and representative of our Lord Jesus Christ upon earth — why certain minds, rather than submit to the authority of the Church, will descend to a total denial of the moral and religious order, and even to universal doubt. In this fact there is certainly matter for a psychological and moral study of high importance and melancholy interest. I know very well that in the eyes of infidels this fact appears the simplest and most natural thing in the world ; I know that they affect to place their infidelity under the direct and exclusive patronage of science and philosophy ; but I am convinced that science and philosophy are in no way interested in the hostile or indifferent attitude which they assume toward the Christian faith. Christians have always possessed, and still, thank God, possess, as large a measure of science and philosophy as infidels. Infidelity depends on other causes. What these causes are I propose now to make the object of my inquiry. I cannot hope to bring to light all the real causes of infidelity ; there are some which necessarily escape the eye of the observer, how-

* In a work entitled Les Dogmes Catholigues, ejcj>os£s, frouv'es et vengh des attagues de Vherhie et de V incredulite.

Preface. xl

ever attentive ne may be ; there are mysteries in the depths of the human soul which the eye of God alone can penetrate. But it is easy for any one who has had an opportunity of closely observing believers and unbelievers, and of studying their history, to recognize the principal and ordinary causes of infidelity.

This work will be divided into two parts, one historical, the other critical. In the first part, after a few words on the preaching of Jesus Christ, and the opposite effects produced by it, we shall mark, by a few examples, the principal phases of the twofold history of the Christian faith, and of unbelief in the bosom of Christianity; this history will afford us valuable lessons ; it will show us how men become, how they remain, and how they cease to be Christians. We shall see, by the experience of eighteen centuries of the human mind, whether the source of infidelity can possibly be the development of reason, and the progress of intelligence. In the second part, relying on the lessons of history and on psychological and moral observation, we shall seek to unfold the real causes of religious unbelief. We shall begin by defining the nature of faith, and the nature of infidelity ; we shall then analyze the principal forms of contemporary infidelity, and we shall seek to distinguish the diverse and often complex conditions of the soul, to which they attach themselves, or by which they are produced.

We trust that God will make use of these pages, humble though they be, to confirm some souls in the happy possession of the Faith, and to rescue others from the corroding bitterness of doubt, or from the gloomy, icy void of unbelief, leading them back to the bright and sweet repose which Christian faith alone can give.

Lou vain, January i, 1864.

Preface To The Second Edition

HIS book has already produced consoling fruits ; God has used it as his instrument to bring back many wandering souls to Christian Faith and practice.

The Sovereign Pontiff had foretold this result in a letter addressed to the author a few weeks after the publication of this work. We give a translation of this letter, which was published by the Revue Catholique of Louvain in the May number of 1864 :

LETTER OF THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF.

Illustrious and Reverend Sir :

To the more considerable works which you have already published, you have added one which, though small in size, will, as its title promises, prove of the greatest utility. For, as in the art of healing the body its diseases are treated with the greatest ease and security when their true cause is known, so may the maladies of the soul be best and most effectually resisted and cured when their origin has been ascertained. As the plague of infidelity, which is the principal evil of our day, proceeds either from corruption of heart, or from the languor of religious feeling, or from the madness of xiv Preface to the Second Edition.

pride, to discover such causes and to bring them to light, by tearing from them the veil under which they disguise their shameful deformity, will assuredly be a powerful aid to the minds of men to reject these errors, and to give them also a free access to the truth. Therefore our most Holy Father, Pope Pius IX., although the numberless cares which press upon him have not yet permitted him to read the book which you have presented to him, especially approves its design, and has charged me to return to you his thanks, and to assure you from him that he foresees most abundant fruit from the labor which you have undertaken, and, as a pledge of that success, to convey to you his Apostolic Benediction, which he gives you with the tenderest affection. Having had the pleasure of fulfilling this agreeable task, I offer you also the expression of my particular respect and esteem, and pray God to bestow all his favors upon you.

Your most humble and devoted servant,

Franciscus Mercurelli,

Part I. Page

Chap. I. — The preaching of Jesus Christ — Some believe our Lord's words, others reject them — Whence arises this difference of attitude and conduct 17

Chap. II. — The manner in which the Christian Faith took possession of the world — An example of the conversion of learned men and philosophers — St. Justin .... 26

Chap. III. — Decisive triumph of Christianity in the Roman world- End of the persecutions — Constellation of great men in the bosom of the Church of the fourth century . . 44

Chap. IV. — St. Augustine — His unbelief and his return to the

Faith 49

§ 1. — How Augustine loses the Faith — He rapidly descends all the steps of unbelief— He falls into materialism and scepticism 50

§ 11. — Augustine's return to the Faith — He passes through an

intellectual and moral crisis before his conversion . 59

Chap. V. — The Christian Faith of the Middle Ages — It is paramount in society and governs men of high intellect as well as the common people — Was this a blind Faith? 72

Chap. VI. — Protestantism and reason 87

§ 1. — Primitive Protestantism — Age of Leo X. — The real doctrines of Luther and his accomplices — Denial of reason and liberty — War declared against science — Immediate effects of these doctrines ....... 90

§ 11. — The negative principle of Protestantism, or the rejection of authority in matters of religion — Fanaticism and rationalism the twofold fruit of this principle . . . 105 xvi Contents,

PAGE

Chap. VII. — Modern infidelity — Infidelity prevails first in England, afterward in France a»d Germany — Poverty of the infidel philosophy of the eighteenth century — Theological infidelity in Germany in

Chap. VIII. — The principal forms of contemporary infidelity — Materialism — Pantheism — Sophistry and scepticism — Spiritual rationalism . . 124

Chap. III. — It is impossible to attribute the infidelity of the present day to the progress of reason and science — Numerous conversions among learned men — Augustin Thierry and Maine de Biran 163

Chap. IV. — Real causes of infidelity — First cause : Ignorance of religion ... .181

Chap. V. — Causes of religious ignorance — It is often voluntary, culpable ignorance — Levity and moral indifference of most infidels . . . 192

Chap. VI. — Materialism — On what it rests — The soul materialized — How the soul arrives at this state, and what moral treatment must be followed to raise it from this degradation 200

Chap. VII. — Scepticism — In what it consists — Different causes of

scepticism . . .211

Chap. VIII. — Corruption of the understanding— Sophistry and its victims 226

Chap. IX. — Unbelievers who admit the fundamental principles of natural religion — Causes of their unbelief . . . . . 232

Chap. X. — Recapitulation of the causes of infidelity — How a young

man may become an infidel 243

: liJ»

Why Men do not Believe ;

OR, THE

PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF INFIDELITY.

PART I.

Chapter I

The preaching of Jesus Christ — Some believe our Lord's words , others reject them — Whence arises this difference of attitude and conduct.

HE parable of Lazarus and the rich man, recorded by St. Luke, contains a passage which, at the first glance, claims especial attention. A rich voluptuary, without compassion for the sufferings of the poor, dies, and is condemned to the torments of hell ; whilst Lazarus, who had lived in extreme poverty and affliction, is carried by Angels to the bosom of Abraham, the father of the faithful. The rich man, seeing himself hopelessly lost, implores Abraham to send Lazarus upon earth, to enlighten and undeceive his brethren, who, like himself, were living in opulence and preparing for themselves a similar eternity of woe. Abraham thus answers this unhappy victim of wealth : " Your brethren have Moses and the Prophets ; let them hear them." "No, father Abraham," replies this miserable reprobate ; " but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance." Abraham said unto him, "If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead."* The history of the preaching of the Gospel, the whole history of Christianity, bears unanswerable testimony to the profound truth of the judgment which our Lord puts into the mouth of Abraham. People are apt to imagine that a striking miracle, performed under such circumstances as ought to banish doubt from any reasonable mind, must overcome opposition and silence contradiction. But this is a grave error which experience condemns. The majority of men who, knowing Jesus Christ and his Church, believe not, would not believe more readily though one went to them from the dead. This assertion admits of abundant proof.

At the commencement of our Lord's preaching St. John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to ask if he were the Messiah whom the world was looking for, and Jesus answered them : " Go and relate to

* St. Luke xvl. 19-31.

John what you have heard and seen : the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me,"* Such were the wonders daily performed by Jesus Christ ; each of his steps was, so to speak, marked by a miracle ; he exercised absolute sovereignty over all nature; nothing resisted his voice ; he called forth the dead from the grave with the same ease with which he gave sight to the blind or calmed the angry w r aves. His doctrine, his life, his moral character, were equal to his power. Never man spake as he did. His lessons infinitely surpassed those of all the wise men who had preceded him ; and men asked in amazement whence came this sublime wisdom to a man who had not followed the teaching of any master. What life was ever to be compared to his in dignity, in moral grandeur, in modesty, goodness, unselfishness, in devotion to duty ! He presented the ideal of moral perfection to the eyes of all men.

Such is Jesus Christ as the Gospel narrative shows him to us, such as he revealed himself to the Jews when he presented himself to them as the expected Messiah, as the only Son of God, as the Word made flesh for the salvation of men.

And how was he received ? What effect did this threefold and incomparable miracle of the power, the doctrine, and the life of Jesus produce upon the

* St. Matthew xi. 4-7.

Jews ? We have just heard these astounding words uttered by his own lips to the disciples of John : "Blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me." And in fact, he was and still remains a subject of scandal to the greater part of mankind. His contemporaries who saw and heard him were divided into two or three different categories with regard to him : some believed in him, others were indifferent and appeared to take no heed either of his works or his person ; many pursued him with implacable hatred. What happened after the raising of Lazarus ? That was a glorious miracle, manifestly attesting divine power. It was a miracle performed before the eyes of a crowd of persons who had flocked to the tomb of Lazarus. They knew that he had been dead four days ; they supposed that his body already showed symptoms of decay f and yet, at the command of Jesus, "Lazarus, come forth," t he that had been dead rose immediately from the grave and appeared full of life. Now listen to the continuation of the Gospel narrative : " Many, therefore, of the Jews who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees, and told them the things that Jesus had done. The chief priests,

* " Domine, jam fcetet, quatriduanus est enim." — Joan. xi. 39.

therefore, and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said : What do we, for this man doeth many miracles ? If we let him alone so, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation. " # The chief of the council, the high priest Caiphas, gave advice that Jesus should be sacrificed for the safety of the people. This advice was adopted by his colleagues, and from that moment the elders of the nation sought to put him to death who had restored Lazarus to life. Nor was that sufficient. Lazarus had become the object of universal curiosity, and afforded embarrassing proof of the Almighty Power of Jesus. The chief priests, therefore, determined to put Lazarus also to death.f

Thus did men who were exclusively devoted to material interests receive such a miracle as the raising the dead to life. And the same story will be repeated again and again in the course of the preaching of Christianity. To induce men to believe it is not enough for the light to shine before their eyes ; before all things they must have a sincere and constant intention to keep their eyes open and to turn them in the direction of the light. The Gospel affords several instances of this moral phenomenon, which, moreover, all of us may observe in different degrees, both in ourselves and in t " Cogitaverunt autem principes sacerdotum, ut et Lazarum interficerent : quia multi propter ilium abibant ex Judasis, et credebant in Jesum." — Joan. xii. 10, 11.

those around us. The understanding does not act alone ; it is in great measure under the dominion of the will, which directs it and fixes its attention on those objects which are pleasing to itself. The truth of this main point of psychology, especially of moral and religious psychology, will become more evident as we proceed.

Among the eye-witnesses of the raising of Lazarus, some beheld in this miracle a proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ; but what of the rest? Many of these men, indifferent to all morality and influenced only by their levity or perhaps their cupidity, hastened to report the fact to the Pharisees, whom they knew to be the enemies of our Lord. It was impossible to deny the miracle, but they shut their eyes to the religious consequences which flowed from it ; they sought to turn it to their own profit or to make use of it as an instrument of their vengeance.

The sacred historian relates, in another part of the Gospel, that the Pharisees, having seen Jesus cure a man who had a withered hand, immediately resolved on his destruction.* Everything which our Lord did irritated them ; the more miracles he performed, the more proofs of his divinity he gave, the more was their hatred kindled against him, the more did their fury rage, the more eagerly did they seek to make away with him.

We meet with another class of persons in the Gospel j men who did not hate Jesus Christ like the Pharisees, but who still did not believe in him ; men who held aloof, some from fear of compromising themselves, others from levity of mind and indifference on matters of religion. Pilate affords us a memorable example of this culpable levity and this fatal indifference with regard to all that is of supreme importance to man. We are all familiar with the examination which our Lord underwent at the hands of this wretched judge, whose name has become a by-word for prevaricating cowardice, before he was delivered to the Jews, who clamored for his death. The Divine Victim, desirous to raise the soul of his judge above the paltry occupations and interests of a day, said to him, in the course of this examination, " I came into the world that I should give testimony to the truth ; every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. And Pilate said to him : What is truth?" This question of surpassing interest was directly suggested by our Lord's language, and was about to be answered by that infallible Teacher, but Pilate did not wait for the answer. Scarcely had he put the question before he left the judgment-hall to seek the accusers of Jesus, and thought no more of inquiring for the truth.* Here is the type of excessive levity. What is truth ? Men know not, and they do not care to know. For Pilate, the truth

was his rank as governor ; all that he feared was to compromise his position. He saw only material interests in life ; riches and glcry absorbed all his thoughts ; the moral world was closed to him. How should such men as he was believe in the preaching of Jesus Christ?

Our Saviour has himself described several of the moral causes which hindered many of his contemporaries from believing in him. Pride, injustice, corruption of manners, levity of mind, these, according to the testimony of the Son of God, are the chief moral obstacles which close the soul against the entrance of his word. " How can you believe, " said he to the proud Pharisees, "who receive glory one from another, and the glory which is from God alone you do not seek?" # And elsewhere: "Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, for their deeds were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved ?"f Are not these the chief moral causes of religious infidelity in every age? Jesus Christ pointed out to the Jews, who refused to receive his doctrine, that the root of unbelief is in the will rather than in the understanding : " You will not come to me," said he to them.$ He was moved by the disdainful and hostile attitude of the chief priests in the presence of the wonderful miracles which he daily wrought, to cry out to God, Father: "I confess to thee, O

Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hath revealed them to little ones." # The Word by whom the world was made voluntarily annihilated himself, as St. Paul says, in order to restore man ruined through pride : humility is the condition of belief in this God and Saviour.

Again, Our Lord, when explaining the parable of the sower, taught that the cares and riches and pleasures of this life are thorns which too often choke the seed of faith. f

Such are the lessons which the teaching of Jesus Christ presents to us on the twofold question of faith and unbelief. These lessons, which call for the consideration of every reflecting mind, are confirmed by the whole subsequent history of Christianity.

* Matt. xi. 25. t Luc. viii. 14.

26 Why Mm do not Believe, or

Chapter II

The manner in which the Christian Faith took possesstion of the world — An example of the conversion of learned men and philosophers — St. Justin.

T is not intended to give even a brief outline of the history of the triumph of

Christian teaching. I will only give one example to show the manner in which the new faith took possession of the loftiest intellects of the pagan world.

We know how the mass of pagan society received the preachers of the Gospel. That society had become a very sink of corruption, and it defended itself with a kind of frenzy against the moral invasion which attacked all that it loved, adored, and idolized. For three centuries the blood of the disciples of Jesus Christ flowed almost without intermission. We can with difficulty understand the cruelty manifested toward them by the masters of the Roman world.

The era of public persecutions began with Nero. Tacitus, who gives the history of the first persecution, reveals in his narrative the horror with which the new religion was regarded by his fellow-countrymen.

A considerable part of Rome had been destroyed by fire, and public rumor attributed the conflagration to the orders of Nero. " To put a stop to these reports/' says Tacitus, " the Emperor sought out criminals — miserable wretches who were held in abhorrence for their crimes, commonly called Christians, and exposed them to the most cruel torments. Christ, from whom they took their name, had suffered under the Procurator, Pontius Pilate, # in the reign of Tiberius, and his death had repressed for the time this execrable superstition. But the torrent soon broke forth anew, not only in Judea, where it arose, but in Rome itself, the centre where all disasters and crimes meet at last and assume increased dimension. Those who openly avowed themselves Christians were first seized, and afterward, on their deposition, vast multitudes were convicted not so much of the crime of setting fire to Rome as of hatred of the whole human race.f Derision was added to their torments ; some were enveloped in the skins of wild beasts and thrown to dogs to be devoured ; some were crucified ;t the bodies of others were covered with pitch and they were made to serve as torches to give light at night. Nero gave up his own gardens

t St. Peter, the first Pope, was crucified.

for the spectacle, and at the same time opened the games of the circus where the emperor mingled with the people dressed as a charioteer, or taking post in the chariot races." #

Thus did the Master of the world understand the dignity of a sovereign ; thus far did a society without compassion carry its contempt- for human life and its hatred of Christianity.

Tacitus condemns Christians on public report \ he knew nothing of them. One word of his, however, describes admirably the radical opposition between paganism and Christianity : This immense multitude, he says, was convicted, not so much of having set fire to Rome as of hatred of the human race. Tacitus shows clearly enough that he was convinced of the innocence of the Christians of the conflagration of Rome ; but that they were convicted of hatred of the human race is profoundly true, though in a very different sense from that in tended by the Roman historian. The disciples of a God made man through love of men could not hate men ; but they did hate with a burning hatred all that was idolized by the foolish and corrupt human race of whom Tacitus speaks, and they were therefore necessarily looked upon as its mortal and irreconcilable enemies. The world owes its renovation and refreshment to this generous hatred of the religious and social ideas, the manners and customs, of a society which was rotten to the core,