Part 22 (1/2)
”You will hold yourselves accountable,” said St John Chrysostom, ”not only for your own salvation, but for universal salvation; he who prays must take upon himself the burden of the interests of the whole hues had cleansed our whole race of its deforous morality had rendered us indifferent to the illnesses, weaknesses, and sufferings of huenerative science would not have been able to arise It is only by recognizing the effects that we can go back to the unhealthy causes, and save huer The _causes_ of death are as invisible and intangible asnectar Woe to us if the diseased and degenerate did not exhibit theuard, to testify to the unconscious errors which threaten us with perdition Science does not exactly li the sick, like the _personnel_ of a hospital, but it penetrated by that goodly door, and made its way in a contrary direction towards a norer The ultimate result of science is not the care of the sick but universal health We owe the hygienic ”coeneral reat an extent, to the fact that sick people were collected together and tended
The proenics, which offers us the universal hope of a eneration than that of the past has been made possible because we mercifully collect all the feeble-minded, the epileptics and the unhealthy It was to this we had to look in order to find the roads which lead to health, and arrive at the gates of a better world
When Christ showed the way of salvation to men He pointed to those ere rejected by society, in whom the obvious effects of evil could be seen, because the causes of evil are too subtle, and are not always directly visible: ”You hear with your ears and do not understand; you behold with your eyes and do not see”
But, on the other hand, the extreh that the ”will” of ather thenance in order to obtain salvation St
Matthew says that at the Last Judgment those who are lost will be separated fro will call the latter to his right hand, saying, ”Codom prepared for you froered, and ye gave ave me drinkI was naked and ye clothed me I was in prison, and ye came unto me” ”And when,” replied the just, ”sae thee, O Lord, an-hungered or thirsty or naked? When sae thee sick or in prison and ca shall answer and say unto them, ”Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, ”Depart froered, and ye gave ave me no drinksick and in prison and ye visited , ”When sae thee an-hungered, or a-thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not , ”Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me”
This is the fundamental difference between heathen and Christian morality; between intellectual Greek philosophy and practical modern science; between the aesthetic ideal and the ideal of ”life”
Positive science, therefore, has ht almost say that the hout the centuries and the different civilizations, the only form of life which is really life--that which science has revealed to-day
They alone, at a period of disorderly excess, had a dietary which begins to be generally recognized as hygienic; they ate coarse bread, fresh fruit, al but regular repasts Withdrawing froe, spacious houses in the open country or, at any rate, rather isolated--if possible, standing on a height
Their luxury was not heavy, padded furniture but large grounds where it was possible to live in the open air Loose clothing, coowns, physical exercise, agricultural work, traveling, made them almost the precursors of the modern life of sport Every convent spread benefactions all around--received the poor, tended the sick, as if to show that this freer and ed life was but a phase, which must necessarily be accompanied by help to humanity They represented the social and intellectual _elite_; it was the Benedictines who preserved manuscripts and treasured the arts; it was the followers of Saint Bernard who practised agriculture, and it was the sons of Saint Francis who preached peace
Or it uided by positive study of the laws of life and of the ious lahich reveal the paths of life; and realizes a form of civilization which recalls and, in some ways, reproduces the ancient oases of the spirit
If, however, ere to risk a parallel between modern society and a convent, what kind of convent would the former be?
Here is a ienic clothing, are correct in their language, never indulge in noisy quarrels, have all their interests in life in common, and dispense their charities coldly, as if they were a custoation of their order; they meditate on eternal life, on salvation, and rewards and punish touched by these thoughts The real truth is that they have lost their faith, and that they do not love one another; aer, envy and even hatred, drive away internal peace; and corruption begins to filter in under these other sins; a sign of a deeper decadence now begins to show itself, for chastity has been lost That which is, _par excellence_, the standard of Christianity, the sign of respect for life, the consecration of the purity which leads to eternal life, has been overthrown together with faith The love of man is not coh purity that an ardent love to all mankind, and comprehension of others, and intuition of truth, arise like a perfume It is that ardent fire called charity or love, which keeps life kindled, and gives value to all things ”Though I bestow all ive my body to be burned,” says St Paul, ”and have not charity, it profiteth ift of prophecy and understand all e, and have not charity, I aues of els and have not charity, I a cyenerate” convents the greatest and hest level of perfection reached, are lost; just as a person punished by degradation first loses the last and highest acquisitions, and only keeps the lower
In social convents, on the other hand, the ultimate attainment has not yet been reached; that is the difference and the contrast The social elevation towards Christianity is only on its first steps Love is lacking, and thence chastity; and all this is absent owing to the arid void left by the absence of faith, and the oppression of spiritual life Positive science has not yet touched the inner man, and the social environment does not therefore realize, in its ”force of universal civilization,” the loftier human acquisitions
When we occupy ourselves with the ”ht to ask ourselves if we really love them and if we are sincere in our wishes for their ”morality”
Let us be practical Fathers and mothers, what can you hope for froerous to their bodies than the spiritual risks which they run We reater war, a universal one, to which all young men are called, and where the survivors are pointed out as absolutely exceptional
Therefore you are educating your sons for death What, then, is the use of troubling so much about them? Is it not useless to take care of their soft hair, and their rosy nails, and the fresh and bewitching beauty of their vigorous little bodies, if they are to die before long?
Ah! all those who love children le for peace:
The creed which Mme de Hericourt sets forth in her book, ”_La Femme Affranchie_,” about the time of the French Revolution, is very eloquent
”Mothers, you ad, 'Do not tell lies, because this is unworthy of a person who respects himself Do not steal: would you like it if people stole your things? It is a dishonest thing to do Do not oppress those of your companions who are weaker than yourself, and do not be rude to them, for that would be a cowardly act' These are excellent principles But when the child has becohis wild oats means that he must perforce be a seducer, an adulterer, and a frequenter of brothels What? Is this mother, who told her boy not to tell lies, the same person who permits him now that he is a ht her child not to steal another child's toy, she thinks it lawful for her son to rob a woman like herself of her life and her honor And she who advised hie hi whom society has rading fact which perverts all huainst the white slave traffic; and at the saenics has arisen which tends to protect the health of posterity
These are excellent things But the question which lies at the root of all these questions is a spiritual question It is not the white slaves who are the ”lost” hus; they are the victirave spiritual danger is hanging over us, what external hygiene can save us, unless it is preceded by a direct struggle against this danger? The really ”lost” are those who persist in a state of death, without perceiving it