In order to elevate, to control, and to satisfy this great colossus, the people, you must be provided with something more than human, something mysterious, surpassing human views and human reason; otherwise, you will continue powerless, and will never bring about any moral improvement in the world.
What has become of our great men, who trusted in man, who appealed to reason only, however exalted that reason may have been? Where is now their ascendency? Where the devotion which they have kindled? Where are the masses who have clung to their good or evil fortune? They fall, and their fall is regarded with indifference. Even in prosperity, do they secure attachment? Do they acquire a permanent sway over the hearts of men? Not in the least; respect, and esteem, and even fidelity are meted out to them according to their characters, or according to the benefits which they are judged to have conferred on us. "That man is worth so much: he possesses so much learning, so much talent, and may be so far profitable to me. He only deserves so much consideration; I owe him nothing more." That is his account fully made up. A halo of superhuman radiance should surround him who would govern the masses—something divine, infinite, presaging immortality, heaven, hell, eternity … otherwise, you will continue to have a degraded, besotted, or savage people, a people who, in the country, are sunk in materialism, encroach on their neighbor's field, or become the prey of usurers; who, when their asses are diseased, will call in a veterinary surgeon, but will let their wives suffer rather than pay a doctor to attend them; who will weep over the break-down of one of their horses, but find no tears for the death of an aged parent;—a people who, in towns, find all their pleasures and happiness in rioting and debauchery; who are never well; who accuse others of their sufferings; and who, after squandering their own substance, appeal to others, with hate on their lips and a sword in their hands, saying: "Now we will share with you."
The best means of reclaiming them to religion is, first, to get possession of their ideas, their instincts, and their good feelings. We must enter in at their door, and make them go out by ours. Bind, rivet religious thought to their thought—to those sentiments which cause their hearts to vibrate most, and then elevate their souls; wean them from the prepossessions of earth, from indifference and evil passions, and impart to them the joys of religion and charity.
Take advantage of any occurrence, of any great event, of a fire, a calamity, an illness. … A fire reduces a poor family to ruin, Appeal for aid, placing yourself at the head of the movement, and the result will surprise you. A laborer falls sick, and his fields remain untilled. Call his fellow-laborers together, and they will be glad, they will forget their own interest, to come to the assistance of their suffering comrade. The people of France are not known; the spirit of self-sacrifice and generosity which is in them is not known. It may require some great occasion to develop it. Well, it is for you to bring it about.
For instance, you wish to restore a church or to build a new one, and require a considerable sum of money for the purpose. So much the better; out of that requirement, you may draw treasures of charity and religion.
Enter the pulpit and state your object; be like a father in the midst of his family. Set the whole case before them, your fears, your hopes, your need, and then add:—"We rely upon you. You will aid me, will you not? for I shall take the lead, and this will be our church."
You will then witness how the old French and Christian enthusiasm may be rekindled in the hearts of the people, insomuch that you will be tempted to ask:—"Are we really in the nineteenth century? Are we not still in the middle ages?" All will cooperate: the poor man will offer his two arms, work men will give their day's labor, the agriculturists, if there be any, will supply carts; this one will give money, another wood, a third stone; here windows, and there ornaments will be presented. Who knows but that some, who have never been accustomed to work, will offer to aid in the building? The little bourgeois Voltairien, who has been known to speak evil of God and of His curé, even he may wish to have a hand in the erection of the church; so that all will thereby be brought nearer to God, nearer to the truth, and nearer salvation.
Similar things have occurred in every part of France; though few have any conception of the existence of such a spirit among the people. We have even heard venerable pastors exclaim on witnessing it:—"I have held this parish for twenty-five years without knowing of it. I could not have believed that my parishioners had so much good in them."