Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/324

ants of God. Such were the heroes of paganism, and such the saints of Catholicism. They both gained the contrary of what they sought. The heroes who sought to fill the entire earth with the glory of their renown, have been utterly forgotten by the multitude, while the saints whose aspirations were only directed toward heaven are here below honored, revered, and invoked by the people, and by kings, emperors, and pontiffs. How great is God in his works, and how marvelous are his designs! Man imagines that it is he who acts, while it is God who conducts him. He fancies that he descends into a valley, and he finds himself, without knowing it, on a mountain. He thinks that he acquires glory, and even his name is obliterated; and when he seeks a refuge and rest in oblivion, he suddenly finds himself as one deafened by the vociferous outcries of the multitude who proclaim his renown. Some sacrifice everything for the glory of their name, and none survive them to bear it, so that their name becomes extinct with them. The first thing that others immolate on the altar of their sacrifices is the name they bear, which they even efface from their own recollection, and this name, forgotten and despised by them, passes from father to son, and is transmitted from generation to generation as a most glorious title and rich inheritance. Every Catholic bears the name of a saint. Thus, that divine word is every day accomplished which promises the abasement of the proud and the elevation of the humble.

And as there is an infinite distance between God made man and the most gifted of the earth, and an incommensurable distance between heroes and saints, so is there also an immense distinction between Catholic and infidel nations, and between the chiefs who govern them—for