LAMEMNAIS
763
LAMENNAIS
Chcnaic, while his Ijrother was called, as vicar-gcncrai,
to Saint-Brieuc. There Felicite completed another
work, in which also he had his brother's collaboration,
and which was to have been printed and published at
Paris in 1S14. In opposition to Napoleon, who wished
to transfer the right to the rnetropolitans, the two
brothers vindicated the pope's exclusive claim to the
canonical institution of bishops. This work marked
the beginning of Lamennais' long struggle against Gal-
licanisra. However, the fall of Napoleon, coming some
months before the book appeared, made it no longer
appropriate, and it thus obtained only a sums d' eslime.
Lamennais next published a violent article against the
imperial university; indeed, when Napoleon returned
from IClba, the young writer, thinking himself insecure
in France, went over to England, where he found a
temporary asylum with M. Carron, a French priest
who had established in London a school for the chil-
dren of emigres. On his return to France after the
Hundred Days, Lamennais made AL Carron his confi-
dant and took up his residence near him in Paris.
Under the influence of this worthy priest and on the
advice of M. Bejsserre, a Sulpician, he decided, though
not without strong repugnance and some sharp prick-
ings of conscience, to take Holy orders, and was or-
dained a priest on 9 March, 1817.
Struggle against Infidelity and Gallicanlsm. — Towards the end of the same year appeared the first volume of the "Essai sur rinditTcrence en matiere de religion ". From beginning to end the book was a vig- orous attack on that indifl'ereuce which appears (1) among those who, seeing in religion nothing but a po- litical institution, think it a necessity only for the masses; (2) among those who admit the necessity of a religion for all men, but reject Revelation; (3) among those who recognize the necessity of a revealed reli- gion, but think it permissible to deny all the truths which that religion teaches with the exception of cer- tain fundamental articles. While open to some criti- cism in regard to the development of its ideas and the force of some of the arguments employed, the " Essai " brought to Catholic apologetics a new strength and brilliancy, and at once commanded public attention. Not content with a defensive attitude in the presence of incredulity, it attacks the enemy boldly, supported by all the resources of dialectic, invective, irony, and eloquence. The clergy and all educated Catholics thrilled with joy and hope, when this champion en- tered the lists armed as none since Bossuet, for it was indeed with Bossuet and Pascal that this priest, yes- terday unknown, was now compared. In the pulpit of Notre-Dame of Paris Frayssinous hailed Lamennais as the greatest thinker since Malebranche. Meanwhile, editions of the "Essai" came rapidly from the press; 40,000 copies were sold within a few weeks, it was translated into many foreign languages, and its peru- sal effected in some places notable returns, in others brilliant conversions to Catholicism. Some of these converts, such as Mme de Lacan (afterwards, by her second marriage, the Baroness Cottu), Benoit d' Azy, Senfft-Pilsach, thenceforth carried on an uninter- rupted epistolary correspondence with Lamennais. These letters, with others published since then or about to be published (addres.sed to such friends as Mile Cornulier <lc Luciniere, de Vitrolles, Coriolis, Montalembert. Berrver, Marion, Vaurin, David Rich- ard), add considerably to our knowledge of his writ- ings, and are not the least interesting part of his works. With their aid we can witness the intimate workings from day today of a mobile and impression- able mind : in them we perceive an aspect of his charac- ter which so seldom appears in his other works — his loving, kind, and tender di.spo.sition, lavLsh in devotion and of a timidity which sought a refuge in outspoken- ness.
Lamennais was now looked upon as the most emi- nent personality among the French clergy; visitors
flocked to see him; the press solicited his contributions.
He promised his collaboration to " Le ("onservateur",
a royalist paper of the Extreme Right party, for which
Chateaubriand and de Bonald were writing. Lamen-
nais, however, cared much less for politics than for re-
ligion, and contributed to " Le Conservateur" only in
defence of Catholic interests. For him it was not
enough to discredit infidel philosophy: he meant to put
something else in its place. He lielieved that the Car-
tesian rationalism which had recently attacked the
foundations of Christian faith, and therefore neces-
sarily of human society, could be comliated by a sys-
tem which should firmly re-e.stal)lish both. To this
object he devoted the second volume of the "Essai",
published in 1820. The philosophic .system which he
expounded in this volume was based on a new theory
of certitude. In the main, his theory is that certitude
cannot be given
by the individual
reason; it belongs
only to the general
reason, that is to
the universal con-
sent of mankind,
the common sense;
it is derived from
the unanimous
testimony of the
human race. Certi-
tude, therefore, is
not created by evi-
dence, but by the
authority of man-
kind; it is a matter
of faith in the testi-
mony of the human
race, not the result
of free enquiry. In
the last chapters
of the book this
philosophic system supports an entirely new method
of apologetics. There exists, says Lamennais, a true
religion, and there exists but one, which is absolutely
necessary to salvation and to social order. Only one
criterion will enable us to discern the true religion
from the false, and that criterion is the authority of
testimony. The true religion, therefore, is that which
can put forth on its own l^ehalf the greatest numlier of
witnesses. This is the case with the Christian, or
rather the Catholic religion. It is in reality the true,
the only religion which began with the world and
perpetuates itself with it. The result of a primitive
revelation, this unique religion has perfected itself
in the course of ages without being essentially modi-
fied; Christians now believe all that the human race
has believed, and the human race has always believed
what Christians believe. The last two volumes of the
"Essai" (1823) were devoted to this thesis. In these
he attempts to prove, with the aid of history, that
the chief dogmas of Christianity have been and are
still, under various disguises, professed throughout the
world. Naturally, these later volumes failed tosecure
the success which the first had attainerl.
The philosophic system of Lamennais, like his apologetics, called forth serious objections. It was pointed out that this philosophy and apologetics fa- voured scepticism by denying the validity of individ- ual reason. If the latter can furnish no certitude, how can we expect any from the gener.al reason, which is but a synthesis of individual reasons? It was also a confusion of the natural and the supernatural orders, of philosophy and theology, to l)a.se lioth alike on the au- thority of the human race; and. since according to him both alike are liased on human testimony, religious faith was at once reduced to human faith. These criticisms and others irritated Lamennais without con- vincing him of his error; he submitted his book to
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