Page:The Royal Family of France (Henry).djvu/100

 is Faith. Those nations who walk loyally in the sacred paths of their forefathers are of the elect. They may have wounded themselves in thorny by-ways of History; they may have had their follies, their frailties, their falls, their revolutions. But they will survive their misfortunes, and in spite of the injustice of neighbouring States, and the chastising hand of Providence, they will ever be the children of that same Providence.

The whole history of France asserts and proclaims it. It is Christianity that made France great, happy, and prosperous; it is heresy, unbelief, revolution, that rend, degrade, and ruin her. Many lies and sophistries have been spread abroad to disguise the truth. We will not allude even to the of the 19th century: the cheating Declaration of the Rights of Man hatched in 1789. To the ignorant and the interested, hints are useless. But amongst gross untruths it is advanced by Freethinkers and revolutionary politicians of the New Reformation School, that Frenchmen as Catholics acknowledging the supremacy of the Holy See, whose interests might not always agree with those of their country, are bound in certain circumstances to give precedence to their duty as Christians over their duty as Frenchmen. It is easy to answer this lying calumny. Frenchmen as Catholics acknowledge but one Master, and this Master is God. They honour Him at Rome in the person of His earthly Representative and there serve Him as Christians. In France they serve Him as citizens by the due observance of the laws of their country, by earnestly fighting in the defence of truth, justice, and rightful liberty. These two duties, so distinct from each other, are far from being antagonistic; indeed each is the complement of the other, and are of mutual assistance. Properly understood, they could never be placed in opposition. If at times it seems difficult to make them agree, the fault lies, not with French Catholics, but with those designing sectarians who assail the most sacred rights of conscience in striving to destroy the faith and convictions which form the happiness and dignity of man; who dishonour France and lead her to certain destruction by handing her over to every passion and licence; mischievous, selfish, and costly ribalds, who really detest moral and good government and good people, because these will not shelter