Louis Veuillot: The Liberal Illusion [1866]

[Stone]

The Liberal Illusion

Chapter IX

Jesus Christ is the King of the world, He speaks to the world through His Priest, and the decrees of this Priest, being an expression of the  royal rights of Jesus Christ, are eternal. They apply not to one time alone, but to all times; not to one society alone, but to all societies; not to some men, but to all men. And since they have been prescribed in accordance with the nature of Humanity by the Creator Himself of Humanity, everywhere human society has need of them, everywhere its instinct calls for them by dint of cries, of sighs, of recurrent troubles, of unutterable pangs; for outside their empire nothing good exists, nor has anything good the fullness and assurance of life. That is the reason why there is no time, no society, no man from whom the faithful of Christ ought not to exact some form of obedience to the decrees of the Priest of Christ the King of the World.

The children of the Christ, the children of the King, are kings. They form an absolutely superior society, whose duty it is to take possession of the Earth and reign over it for the purpose of baptizing all men and of raising them to that selfsame supernatural life, that selfsame royalty and that selfsame glory for which Christ has destined them. They ought to strive for that goal, because the only way of realizing the ideal of universal liberty, universal equality, universal fraternity is to establish the universal reign of Christ. For the liberty that is man’s due is liberty to attain his supernatural end, which is union with Christ; and the only society ever known to recognize all men as equals and as brothers is the society of the disciples of Christ.

In the normal order, Christian society is maintained and extended by means of two powers that ought to be distinct — not separated; united — not confused; one above the other — not equal. The one is the head, the other the arm; the one is the supreme and sovereign word of the Pontiff, the other the social power.

Christian society, being firstly and above all Christian, submits wholly to this first law; and it puts all things in their place, because it first of all puts in His place its sole Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. It puts Him in His sovereign place in society, as all the faithful put Him in His sovereign place among souls; and out of this arises order, liberty, unity, greatness, justice, empire, peace.

Thus, across the breaches opened by human passions, by human weakness, and in spite of them, was formed in its magnificent variety that commonwealth of Europe which could be called the Christian Republic or even the Christian Family; a wonderful work, broken up by heresy just when the internal peace and the progress of the arts gave glorious promise of extending to the entire human race the fruits of the Redemption. Had Catholic unity been maintained until the XVIth century, there would no longer be any infidels, nor idolaters, nor slaves; the human race would be Christian to-day, and owing to the number and diversity of the nations coalescing in the unity of faith, it would be safe from the danger of universal despotism so imminent to-day.

[Stone]

The Liberal Illusion

Chapter X

These two powers, united, distinct and one above the other, whereby Christian society is ruled, have been called the two swords. For the word would be of no avail, if it could not be at certain moments a sword. The meekness of Christ has willed that there should be two swords, so that the advent of repression might be delayed and the need of it forestalled.

The first sword, the one that cleaves nothing but darkness, remains in the patient and infallibly enlightened power of the Pontiff. The other, the material sword, is in the hand of the representative of society, and in order that it may make no mistake, it is in duty bound to obey the commandment of the Pontiff. It is the Pontiff who bids it come forth from the scabbard and who bids it return thereto. Its duty is to repress aggressive error, once it has been defined and condemned, to shackle it, to strike it down; to give protection to the truth, whether the latter is under the necessity of defending itself, or has need, in its turn, to go on the offensive.

The secular arm ought to clear the way for the truth, to assure it liberty of teaching, to guard afar the way of its ambassadors and of its followers. It has been said to the Apostles: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them.” It has been enjoined upon us to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God: Thy kingdom come. This commandment implies the duty on the part of all peoples to receive the messengers of Christ, and gives to Christian society the right at least to protect their lives. It is enough that they should endure exile, hunger, toil, insults, that they should die of want, that they should be devoured by wild beasts; the Christian commonwealth has certainly the right to demand that they shall not, besides all that, have to run the risk of falling into the hands of the executioner, and that the persons of their converts, who have entered the family, shall be as sacred as the persons of the missionaries themselves. Such are the duties of the power obedient to the commandment of the Pontiff. It is his part to see that this divine order, which was given to Peter after he was invested with the primacy, is carried out: “Arise, kill and eat.” That is to say, according to the interpretation of the Fathers: Kill error, which is death, and transform it into thy light, which is life.