Sunday, July 30.—I have just heard at S. Roch a sermon which lasted more than an hour and a quarter, delivered, for the most part, with great rapidity, and a vehemence of tone and action which would have frightened an English audience. The preacher, l'Abbé Du——, showed very considerable power both of thought and expression. I should have preferred a less rhetorical display, both in manner and matter. But power there certainly was. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the Lord." He began by saying we were all under the reign of a sophism; this sophism was, under a great variety of shapes, the preferring the present life to the future. He then dwelt with great force and beauty on our Saviour's life on earth, that He was God, and that He was a carpenter; that He worked for his daily bread. Now God can do nothing but what is perfectly good and wise; therefore, when He assumed this servile condition, it was a work of perfect wisdom and goodness. He came to do His Father's will. And this one condition runs through all degrees of human society, alone making them acceptable to God,—to do God's will. Glory, genius, success, the wonder and admiration of our fellow men; all this is nothing. To do the will of God will alone open the kingdom of heaven—Jesus Christ stands ready to open the kingdom of heaven to generation after generation of those who, sealed by the fore-knowledge of God, and working with His grace, do His will—and to those alone. There was no key to the present state of things, to these terrible conflicts, this incessant agitation, but one; that life was but a day's labour, an hour's—nothing in comparison of eternity. This life was not the proper condition of humanity. It was fallen—the Saviour's proper work was to restore it to its normal condition; but that normal condition can never be here. Here it is a work of reparation, slow, painful, full of obstacles in proportion to the depth of the fall, but always merciful. Who would give a patient the full nourishment which he could take in health? Now, here we are all patients of Jesus—all—and to our latest moment. We shall never return to our normal condition on earth, but in eternity. You are all workmen and workwomen; idleness is a capital sin—idleness will shut out from heaven—Jesus Christ has taught us to work, every one in his estate. The work is one, though the condition may vary,—to do God's will. It will not be asked us whether we had genius, skill, power to embrace the works of God in our thought; but one thing only will be asked us,—whether we have done our work; that very work which God set us,—to do His will. And this is why society is suffering now to its utmost depths. This world is made the end, the limit, the object, the reward—eternity is put out of sight. "On a ôté Jesus Christ au travailleur de la pensée, au travailleur de l'art, au travailleur de la terre. Et nous souffrons, nous souffrons tous—nous allons de souffrances en souffrances." Thus the question of labour is insoluble. Men think of repaying the young girl's sacrifice who works day and night for the support of her parents; who denies herself every gratification to which she might innocently aspire, with a little more wages—or the mother's tears, who suffers for her family, or the father's continued exertions, with a few pieces of money. Jesus Christ did not so: he assigned to labour a far different reward—he would give it no reward at all on earth—he would give it eternal life. He then drew a vivid picture of the priest's life of toil, suffering, instruction, and benediction. What was the end of this work? It was eternal life. The greater the humiliation, the greater the suffering, the more absolute the cutting off of all human sources of enjoyment or requital—the more the will of God was done, the greater the reward in heaven. To man, no matter what his condition on earth, or the powers of his mind, to man working with grace and inspired by grace, the kingdom of heaven, according as he has done the will of God, will be given. This, and this alone, is the remedy for all the ills of society; and we are under the dominion of a sophism, because this truth is set aside.
There was rather a numerous congregation, by far the greater part women; not many persons of education, I should imagine—yet the sermon in tone was far beyond the reach of any but the educated.
This morning at eight I was at Mass here, a short High Mass; there were many communicants. But I have never been in a church so inconvenient in one respect, there were hardly any prie-dieus; the consequence is, that people sit nearly all the time, or just bend the knee against their chair; it is no easy matter to kneel on the floor, so encumbered with chairs. I think there is far less reverence in the outward demeanour of people at Paris than in the provinces.
Went to the evening service at Notre Dame des Victoires: I wished to be present at one of the meetings of the Archiconfrérie du très-saint Cœur de Marie. There was a large congregation, which at length filled the church: some thirty or forty members round the altar of the Blessed Virgin; of the rest nine-tenths at least were women of the lower classes. Vespers were sung, the congregation joining with remarkable unanimity. This indeed gives a particular and most pleasing character to the service of the Archiconfrérie. Then the Abbé des Genettes, founder of the brotherhood, a silver-haired old man, mounted the pulpit, and spoke in the most familiar and practical manner on the text "Beware of false prophets." His manner was in calmness the very opposite of that of this morning's preacher. He contrasted the disobedience to parents which now prevailed, the debauchery and wickedness all around them, with what he had known fifty or sixty years ago. They had been struck for this, and the rod was still suspended over their heads; he besought them to repent. When this was over, he read from a paper requests for the prayers of the Archiconfrérie for so many men, so many women, parishes, bishops, &c.; among which I heard in immediate juxtaposition "270 Protestants, 69 Jews." He likewise read a letter of thanks for their prayers, to which was attributed the conversion of a desperate sinner, and such letters he said he was receiving every week. He implored them to be very fervent in their prayers for the objects named to them. There would be in the week, he said, three especial days: Tuesday, the feast of St. Peter in vinculis. He read them the account of this from the Acts. It struck me, from the attention with which they listened to this, that they were not accustomed to read it. He then passed to the Pope, as successor of St. Peter, who was now, it might be said, in a sort of moral captivity. He earnestly and repeatedly besought their prayers for him, who was suffering at the hands of ungrateful subjects on whom he had showered benefactions. Not that the bark of St. Peter could ever be overwhelmed by the waves: it was secure by the divine promise; but they might so far persecute the Pope as to gain for him the crown of martyrdom. More than twenty times since his accession the Holy Father had commended himself to their prayers by means of persons coming from Rome. They should all now pray for him every day. He should be in his confessional that day at six A.M., for several hours; again from half-past-two till five; and from seven till nine, in order that they might prepare themselves for the plenary indulgence attached to this Church on Thursday. He notified likewise a fresh religious service, for the soul of the late archbishop, on Monday, 7th August, at Notre Dame. They should all pray earnestly for the holy archbishop: it may be that he had washed out with his blood his sins, and needed not their prayers; but they should pray for him. He then descended for the benediction. The whole congregation seemed to have one heart and one voice in the hymns which followed. This service lasted from seven to half-past-nine, and was very interesting.
Monday, July 31.—Went to the Père de Ravignan. He told me that, since our last conversation, he had been looking in "Tournely," where he found a passage on the primacy of jurisdiction, which seemed to him quite convincing. He gave me a note for the Père Lacordaire, but my visit was cut short by an appointment, so he begged me to come again.
Went to M. des Billiers: he attacked me again on the primacy of jurisdiction. I said that the Ultramontane theory, when pushed to its absolute issue, demanded the infallibility of the Pope singly; that, indeed, this was involved in the primacy of jurisdiction; that the Pope had exerted the supreme power of withdrawing their authority from the French bishops when it seemed to him for the good of the Church. He did not like to admit that the primacy of jurisdiction involved infallibility, because infallibility of the Pope is not a dogma. But here lies precisely the difficulty of their position. Roman Catholics want, for the completion and impregnability of their system, the infallibility of the single papal chair, and this is precisely what has been ever denied by large schools among them, and is not even now an article of faith. For that they are the universal Church, that their dogma alone is true, that the Greek and every other communion is heretical or schismatical, or both, all this depends on the infallibility of the single papal chair. I said that, if they would prove the Greek Church to be in schism, I should give up our cause.
We went to see M. Gabet, at the Pères Lazaristes, who has been ten years in Central Tartary, or Thibet; gone through great dangers and privations; has come back safe; and is going out again. He was with a brother missionary, who remains at Macao till he rejoins him. His account of Thibet is most interesting, and in many respects very surprising. They have many Catholic practices there—such as holy water, the religious celibate. The Lamas, or priests, are very numerous. Two-thirds of the men of the country live in religious celibacy; and he believes that this is a real celibacy. He and his companions lived for six months in a great community of 5000 lamas; they were, perhaps, of ten different nations, and spoke four different languages. During that time they had not observed the least impropriety among them. They are religious, pray much, and have a complete contempt for those who do not pray. Faire l'esprit fort among them is a sure way to be thought little of. But this religion is very superstitious: they have not the power to choose what they should embrace and what refuse; they have the instinct and the need of religion very strong, but not discernment of what is true religion. Thus, if you read to them the Gospel, they will adore Jesus Christ, Pilate, Caiaphas, &c. Theirs is not an "incroyance raisonnée" like Protestantism, but a cloud of superstition which obscures their sight. He anticipated that Christianity would make large progress among them, because of their religious spirit. There is as yet no religious establishment in Thibet. All over Asia the ministers of religion observe continence. The character of priest and married man is to their notions incompatible. They look for a complete denial of self in one who would teach them religion. There are no laws against foreign religions in Thibet, as there are in China. A great number of the female sex also live in continence, though not so many as of men. I asked him how he accounted for the connexion between so many of their usages and Catholicity. He said some were of opinion that they had derived them from Catholicism; but as they are exceedingly tenacious of their rites, he did not himself think this: others again thought that Catholicism had borrowed from them. Neither of these views was necessary. There was no trace whatever of Christian missionaries having been among them. He thought that all the resemblance which was to be found in their rites, customs, and belief, might be accounted for as relics of the one true faith communicated to all the world originally, and handed down by tradition. This faith had been guarded in its purity among the Jews by a written law, and other institutions: but other nations had possessed it likewise, and retained it more or less corrupted. They had no bloody sacrifices, but offered wine, water, corn, and especially paper. He had been well treated on the whole: they had converted two Lamas—one of these had lately written to him: he had sent the letter to the Society for Propagation of the Faith at Lyons, for he believed there was no one in France who understood the Mongolese language. That of Thibet is taken from Sanscrit; but the continuous line above the letters which exists in the latter language is broken at each letter in this. But the strangest thing of all is the Grand Lama, who is at once High Priest, King, and Divinity. They believe in the transmigration of souls, and suppose that Buddha continually becomes incarnate for the redemption of man. When the Grand Lama dies, they wait till a successor is made known to them. And here M. Gabet said that, allowing for some jugglery, it was impossible not to conclude that there was diabolic agency at work. The present Grand Lama is a boy of ten years old; the son of a poor woodcutter 600 leagues from the Grand Lama's residence. The Grand Lama is discovered by a child of a few months or a year old announcing that he is the Grand Lama who died—that his soul has passed to him. Thereupon the most particular inquiries are made. A commission is sent to the spot, and the utensils used by the late Grand Lama are put among a number of others just like them; they then demand of the infant which belonged to the Grand Lama, and he replies, this and this was mine. Were this merely an arrangement of the men in power, would not have chosen the son of a poor man, at a great distance. They had not been, it is true, ocular witnesses of these things; but from what he had heard, he could not doubt that there were "des prestiges diaboliques." Under the Grand Lama there is a king for the management of temporal matters, and four ministers; these conduct matters in an interregnum. They had lived in intimacy with one of these four ministers. The missionary in these countries must be prepared for the most absolute self-denial—he must carry his life in his hand. He noticed that throughout Hindostan the religious indifference of the Europeans (save the Spaniards and Portuguese) injured them exceedingly in the opinion of the natives. With them religion is a first need of life: it does not matter so much what religion it is—to pray is sufficient; but a man who does not pray,—who has apparently no religion at all—is one of the lowest of beings in their eyes. The English might save themselves an immense expense if they showed themselves devoted to their religion instead of indifferent.
M. Gabet has a very pleasing countenance: moustache and long beard, plentifully mixed with grey hairs. He looks in vigorous health. Yet when he went to the East he was delicate. He believes that the constitution adapts itself to the rigours of climate. The cold of Tartary is intense. From this high table land the rivers of Hindostan, China, and Siberia all take their sources. They slept continually on the earth; up to midnight, while the body was warmed with the day's exercise, they maintained some heat, but from that time to the morning they froze. Their only nourishment was wheat or oats, moistened with a little tea. He is going back to Great Tartary. We had no introduction, but nothing could exceed his readiness to hear and answer our inquiries: and he offered to give us again any information in his power.
We got from him the address of the young person who was cured of her blindness in the chapel of S. Vincent on the 12th May, three days after the former cure of the neck. We drove at once to see her at one of the houses of the Sisters of Charity, Rue de l'Arbalète, 25. We told the Sister who received us for what purpose we were come; she assented to it, went out, and brought back immediately the young girl. She is fourteen; very simple and homely in appearance, and looks the daughter of a peasant. She said, in answer to our questions, that it was hearing of the other cure which put it in her thoughts to go to S. Vincent's chapel, and ask for his intercession. She was taken there on Friday, May 12th, at 6¼ a.m., by the Sister who was then with us. I asked her if she could see at all in going there. She replied, "Not the least." She knelt and assisted at the Mass, but nothing took place; but "as soon as I received our Lord, I saw perfectly." "Could you not see at all the instant before?" "Not at all." "And the instant after you saw perfectly?" "Yes." "The cure did not come then by degrees?" "No; it was instantaneous." The disease called amaurosis had subsisted from the month of September before; and every variety of cure having been tried in vain, all treatment had been given up for a month previously. It was accompanied with violent pains in the head. Since the cure she has seen perfectly: she appears to be quite free from any disease in the eyes now. While she and the Sister were gone to the chapel, the rest united themselves at home at Mass in intention for her cure. I said I was going to copy the account of this at the Rue du Bac, when the Sister offered me a MS. copy, which would save me that trouble. And, as it contained the report of the physician who had attended her, we took it at once to get his signature, Rue Mouffetard, 94. He was out, but his wife received us, and it was settled that I should come to-morrow, between twelve and one, when he would be at home. The testimony of this young girl was so clear that I saw no possibility of doubting the effect produced.
I dined with Mr. Coppinger and his two sons: since 1824, he has resided here. The account they give of the irreligion of the shop-keeping class, and of the wretched education which has tainted the springs of French society, is terrible. They said by far the greater number of men at Paris dine away from home in public places, and often leave their wives and families to fare poorly at home, while they themselves feast at a restaurateur's. It appears that on the Sunday night of the last émeute the alarm at Paris was extreme: the rebels were thought to have the best of it; and it was their known intention to sack the quarter of the Tuileries and the Chaussée d'Antin. They think that the present state of things cannot last: but what is to come nobody can tell.