of the word, because nothing appertaining to that which regards man ought to be purely spiritual, man being at the same time, everywhere and always, matter and mind. And just as the sacraments are destined to produce a threefold effect of purity, of light, and of rectitude, the language of the Church is prepared, in the councils of God, to sanctify, to enlighten, and to undeceive mankind. From thence arises a threefold predication: that of morality, which combats concupiscence; that of instruction, which combats ignorance; that of controversy, which combats

error.

When Jesus Christ said to the multitude, "Blessed are the poor in spirit!" (1) it was the preaching of morality. When he said to the Pharisee who came in the night to sound him, "Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven," (2) it was the preaching of instruction. When he replied to the Sadducees who were desirous of embarrassing him on the question of the resurrection of the dead, "Have you not read that which David said, I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob? Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living," (3) it was the preaching of controversy.

These three kinds of preaching are perpetual in the Church, because she has always before her the feebleminded, the ignorant, the deceived. But, with the difference of the passions, which remain constantly the same, or which at least undergo only apparent modifications, ignorance and error vary without bounds, are clothed by turns in the garb of barbarism, of civilisation, of decadency, and assume the peculiar disposition of nations and their native character, in order to lull them to sleep or obtain (1) St. Matthew, ch. 5, v. 3. (2) St. John, ch. 3, v. 5. (3) St. Matthew, ch. 22, v. 31, 32.

the mastery over them. This is the ancient serpent of perdition, which changes its hue with the sun of each age. Thus, whilst the preaching of morality undergoes only diversities of style, the preaching of instruction and of controversy, pliant as ignorance and subtle as error, must imitate their powerful versatility, and force them with weapons renewed without ceasing, into the arms of immutable truth.

The Conferences which we publish do not precisely belong either to dogmatic teaching or to pure controversy. A mixture of the one and the other, of the language of instruction and that of discussion, designed for a country in which religious ignorance and the cultivation of the mind progress at equal paces, and in which error is more bold than learned and profound, we have endeavoured to speak in them of divine things in words which went to the hearts and conditions of our contemporaries. God prepared us for this task by permitting us to live a sufficient number of years in the oblivion of his love, borne on the same course which he destined us to resume at a later period in an opposite sense, so that, in order to speak as we have done, it was only necessary for us to exercise a little memory and hearing, and to keep ourselves in our inmost thoughts in unison with an age which we entirely loved. From thence, I presume, arise the sympathies which have been so profusely extended to us, and also the reproaches which have pursued us. Those have treated us as a brother adventuring in the regions of faith; these, as a brother lost in the remembrances of the world. We have endeavoured to be gentle towards each, towards success as towards humiliation. God, who is the judge of all hearts, has sustained us.

It has been asked what is the practical object of these Conferences. It has been asked, "What is the object of

that strange language, half religious, half philosophical, which affirms and contests, and appears to sport on the confines of earth and heaven?" Its object, its unique object, although it may often be subject to attack on that account, is to prepare souls for the reception of faith, because faith is the principle of hope, of charity and salvation, and because this principle, weakened in France during sixty years by a corrupting literature, aspires to be revived, and requires but the vibration of affectionate language, of language which intreats rather than commands, which spares rather than strikes, which gently lifts the veil rather than tears it forcibly asunder, which, in fine, treats with the intelligence and cherishes its light, as one cherishes the life of a fellow-creature, sick and tenderly loved. If this object is not practicable, what is there on earth which is? For us who have known the pain and the allurement of unbelief, when we have infused the smallest particle of faith into a mind tormented by its absence, we thank and bless God; and if we had thus succeeded but once in our lives at the price of the fatigue of a hundred discourses, we should yet thank and bless God. Others, if we do not, others will come after. They will ripen the blade of corn and gather it under their sickle; the Saviour has said it: "One sows and another reaps." (1) The Church has not one kind of labourers only; she has them of every temperament formed by that Spirit which bloweth where it listeth, which gives without measure but with distribution, which makes some apostles, others prophets, these evangelists, those pastors and doctors, in order to employ all holiness to the ministry which edifies the body of Christ. (2) Children of this Spirit one and multiple, let us respect its presence in each of us, and when in our age a soul utters the strains (1) Saint John, ch. 4, v. 37.

(2) Saint John, ch. 3, v. 8, 14 and 34. Saint Paul to the Hebrews, ch. 2, v. 4. Idem to the Ephesians, ch. 4, v. 11 and 12.

of eternity, from the time when it gives its witness in favour of Christ and of his Church, let us not show ourselves more severe than he who has said, "Whoever is not against you is for you." (1) It is not a question of following the rules of rhetoric, but of leading to the knowledge and love of God: let us have the faith of Saint Paul and speak Greek as badly as he did.

Called by the choice of two bishops to the first pulpit of the Church in France, I have there defended the truth to the best of my ability, with sincerity at least, and it has reached some hearts. I publish to-day the words which I there uttered. They will reach the reader cold and discoloured; but when, on autumn evenings, the leaves fall and lie upon the earth, more than one look, more than one hand still follows them; and if perchance they might be disdained by all, the wind may bear them along and prepare with them a couch for some poor one whom Providence watches over from the height of heaven.

(1) Saint Mark, ch. 9, v. 39.