Balder Ex-Libris

Author : Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René
Title : Europe and the faith "Sine autoritate nulla vita"
Year : 1920

Link download : Belloc_Hilaire_-_Europe_and_the_faith.zip

The Catholic Conscience of History. I SAY the Catholic "conscience" of history - I say "conscience" - that is, an intimate knowledge through identity : the intuition of a thing which is one with the knower - I do not say "The Catholic Aspect of History." This talk of "aspects" is modern and therefore part of a decline : it is false, and therefore ephemeral : I will not stoop to it. I will rather do homage to truth and say that there is no such thing as a Catholic "aspect" of European history. There is a Protestant aspect, a Jewish aspect, a Mohammedan aspect, a Japanese aspect, and so forth. For all of these look on Europe from without. The Catholic sees Europe from within. There is no more a Catholic "aspect" of European history than there is a man's "aspect" of himself. Sophistry does indeed pretend that there is even a man's "aspect" of himself. In nothing does false philosophy prove itself more false. For a man's way of perceiving himself (when he does so honestly and after a cleansing examination of his mind) is in line with his Creator's, and therefore with reality : he sees from within. Let me pursue this metaphor. Man has in him conscience, which is the voice of God. Not only does he know by this that the outer world is real, but also that his own personality is real. ...