349
873. Is the sentiment of justice natural, or the result of acquired ideas?
"It is so natural that your feeling spontaneously revolts at the idea of an injustice. Moral progress undoubtedly develops this sentiment, but it does not create it. God has placed it in the heart of man, and for this reason you often find, among simple and primitive people, notions of justice more exact than those of others who are possessed of a larger amount of knowledge."
874. If justice be a law of nature, how is it that men understand it so differently, and that the same thing appears just to one, and unjust to another?
"It is because your passions often mingle with this sentiment and debase it, as they do with the greater part of the natural sentiments, causing you to see things from a false point of view.
875. How should justice be defined?
"Justice consists in respect for the rights of others."
- What determines those rights?
"Two things: Human law and natural law. Men having made laws in harmony with their character and habits, those laws have established rights that have varied with the progress of enlightenment. Your laws, at this day, though still far from perfect, no longer consecrate what were considered as rights in the Middle Ages; those rights, which appear to you monstrous, appeared just and natural at that epoch. The rights established by men are not, therefore, always conformable with justice; moreover, they only regulate certain social relations, while in private life there are an
350
immense number of acts that are submitted only to the tribunal of conscience."
876. Independently of the right established by human law, what is the basis of justice according to natural law?
"Christ has told you: 'Do unto others whatsoever you would that others should do unto you.’ God has placed in the heart of man, as the true rule of all justice, the desire which each of you feels to see his own rights respected. When uncertain as to what he should do in regard to his fellow-creature in any given conjuncture, let each man ask himself what he would wish to have done to himself under the same circumstances; God could not give him a safer guide than his own conscience."
The true criterion of justice is, in fact, to desire for others what one would desire for one's self; not merely to desire for one's self what one would desire for others, which is not precisely the same thing. As it not natural to desire harm for one's self, we are sure, in taking our personal desires as the type of our conduct to wards our neighbours, never to desire anything but good for them. In all ages and in all beliefs, man has always sought to enforce his personal rights; the sublime peculiarity of the Christian religion is its taking of personal right as the basis of the right of the neighbour.
877. Does the necessity of living in society impose any special obligations on mankind?
"Yes, and the first of these is to respect the rights of others; he who respects those rights will always be just. In your world, where so many neglect to practise the law of justice, you have recourse to reprisals, and this causes trouble and confusion in human society. Social life gives rights and imposes corresponding duties."
878. It is possible for a man to be under an illusion as to the extent of his rights; what is there that can show him their true limit?
"The limit of the right which he would recognise on the part of his neighbour towards himself under similar circumstances, and vice-versa."
- But if each attributes to himself the rights of his fellow-creatures, what becomes of subordination to superiors? Would not such a principle be anarchical and destructive of all power?
“Natural rights are the same for all men, from the smallest to the greatest; God has not fashioned some men from a finer clay than others, and all are equals in His sight. Natural rights are eternal; the rights which man has established perish with his institutions. But each man feels distinctly his strength or his weak
351
ness, and will always be conscious of a sort of deference towards him whose wisdom or virtue entitles him to respect. It is important to mention this, in order that those who think themselves superior may know what are the duties that will give them a right to deference. There will be no insubordination when authority shall be attributed only to superior wisdom."
879. What would be the character of the man who should practise justice in all its purity?
"He would be truly righteous, after the example of Jesus; for he would practise the love of the neighbour and charity, without which there can be no real justice."
880. Which is the first of all the natural rights of man?
"The right to live, and therefore no one has the right to take the life of his fellow-creature, or to do anything that may compromise his personal existence."
881. Does the right to live give to man the right to amass the means of living, in order that he may repose when no longer able to work?
"Yes but he should do this in concert with his family, like the bee, by honest labour, and not by amassing in solitary selfishness. Certain animals, even, set man an example of this kind of fore-sight."
882. Has man the right to defend what he has amassed by his labours?
"Has not God said, 'Thou shalt not steal?' and did not Jesus say: 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s?'"
What a man has amassed by honest labour is a legitimate property that he has a right to defend for possession of the property which is the fruit of labour is a natural right as sacred as the right to labour or to live.
883. Is the desire to posses natural to man?
"Yes; but when it is simply for himself, and for his personal satisfaction, it is selfishness."
- But is not the desire to possess a legitimate one, since he who has enough to live upon is not a burden to others?
"Some men are insatiable and accumulate without benefit to any one, merely to satisfy their passions. Do you suppose that this can be pleasing to God? He, on the contrary, who amasses through his labour, in order to have the means of assisting his
352
fellow-creatures, practises the law of love and of charity, and his labour receives the blessing of God."
884. What is the characteristic of legitimate property?
"No property is legitimate unless acquired without injury to others." (808)
The law of love and of justice, forbidding us to do to others what we would not that others should do to us, implicitly condemns every means of acquiring which would be contrary to that law.
885. Is the right of property unlimited?
"Everything that has been legitimately acquired is undoubtedly a property; but, as we have said, human legislation, being imperfect, frequently sets up conventional rights opposed to natural justice. For this reason, men reform their laws in proportion as progress is accomplished, and as they obtain a better notion of justice. What appears right in one century appears barbarous in another." (795)
886. What is the true meaning of the word charity as employed by Jesus?
"Benevolence for every one, indulgence for the imperfections of others, forgiveness of injuries."
Love and charity are the complement of the law of justice; for, to love our neighbour is to do him all the, good in our power, all that we should wish to have done to ourselves.
Charity, according to Jesus, is not restricted to alms-giving, but embraces all our relations with our fellow-men whether our inferiors, our equals, or our superiors. It prescribes indulgence on our part, because we need the same ourselves; it forbids us to humiliate the unfortunate, as is too often done. How many, who are ready to lavish respect and attentions on the rich, appear to think it not worth their while to be civil to the poor; and yet, the more pitiable the situation of the latter, the more scrupulously should we refrain from adding humiliation to misfortune. He who is really kind endeavours to raise his inferior in his own estimation, by diminishing the distance between them.
887. Jesus has also said: Love your enemies. But would it not be contrary to our natural tendencies to love our enemies, and does not unfriendliness proceed from a want of sympathy between spirits?
"It would certainly be impossible for a man to feel tender and ardent affection for his enemies; and Jesus did not intend to prescribe anything of the kind. To 'love your enemies' means to forgive them, and to return good for evil. By so doing, you become their superior; by vengeance, you place yourselves beneath them."
353
888. What is to be thought of alms-giving?
"To be reduced to beg degrades a man morally as well as physically; it brutifies him. In a state of society based on the law of God and justice, provision would be made for assisting the weak without humiliating them; the means of living would be insured to all who are unable to work, so as not to leave their life at the mercy of chance and of individual good-will."
- Do you blame alms-giving?
"No; it is not the giving of alms that is reprehensible, but the way in which it is too often done. He who comprehends charity as inculcated by Jesus seeks out the needy, without waiting for the latter to hold out his hand."
"True charity is always gentle as well as benevolent, for it consists as much in the manner of doing a kindness as in the deed itself. A service, if delicately rendered, has a double value; but if rendered with haughtiness, though want may compel its acceptance, the recipient's heart is not touched by it.
"Remember, also, that ostentation destroys, in the sight of God, the merit of beneficence. Jesus has said: 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand does;' teaching you, by this injunction, not to tarnish charity by pride and vanity."
"You must distinguish between alms-giving, properly so-called, and beneficence. The most necessitous is not always he who begs by the wayside. Many, who are really poor, are restrained from begging by the dread of humiliation, and suffer silently and in secret; he who is really humane seeks out this hidden misery, and relieves it without ostentation.
"'Love one another;' such is the divine law by which God governs all the worlds of the universe. Love is the law of attraction for living and organised beings; attraction is the law of love for inorganic matter."
"Never lose sight of the fact, that every spirit, whatever his degree of advancement, or his situation in reincarnation or in erraticity, is always placed between a superior who guides and improves him, and an inferior towards whom he has the same duties to fulfil. Be therefore charitable; not merely by the cold bestowal of a coin on the mendicant who ventures to beg it of you, but by seeking out the poverty that hides itself from view. Be indulgent for the defects of those about you; instead of despising the ignorant and the vicious, instruct them, and make them better; be gentle and benevolent to your inferiors; he the same for the
354
humblest creatures of the lower reigns; and you will have obeyed the law of God."
SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL
889. Are there not men who are reduced to beggary through their own fault?
"Undoubtedly there are; but if a sound moral education had taught them to practise the law of God, they would not have fallen into the excesses which have caused their ruin. It is mainly through the generalisation of such education that the improvement of your globe will be ultimately accomplished." (707)
890. Is maternal affection a virtue, or is it an instinctive feeling common to men and to animals?
"It is both. Nature has endowed the mother with the love of her offspring in order to ensure their preservation. Among the animals, maternal affection is limited to the supply of their material needs; it ceases when this care is no longer needed. In the human race, it lasts throughout life, and assumes a character of unselfish devotion that raises it to the rank of a virtue; it even survives death, and follows the career of the child from beyond the grave. You see, therefore, that there is in this affection, as it exists in man, something more than as it exists among the animals." (205-385.)
891. Since maternal affection is a natural sentiment, why is it that mothers often hate their children, and even, in some cases, before their birth?
"The absence of maternal affection is sometimes a trial chosen by the spirit of the child, or an expiation for him if he have been a bad father, a bad mother, or a bad son, in some previous existence. In all cases, a bad mother can only be the incarnation of a bad spirit, who seeks to throw obstacles in the path of the child, in order to make him succumb in the trial he has chosen. But such a violation of the laws of nature will not remain unpunished, and the spirit of the child will be rewarded for surmounting the obstacles thus thrown in his way."
892. When parents have children who cause them sorrow, are they not excusable for not feeling for them the same tenderness they would have felt had their conduct been different?
355
"No; for the training of their children is a task that has been confided to them, and their mission is to make every possible effort to bring them back into the right road. (582, 583) Besides, the sorrows of parents are often the consequence of the bad habits they have allowed their children to contract from the cradle; a reaping of the evil harvest of which they themselves have sown the seeds."