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On the Catechising of the Uninstructed

Chapter 6.--Of the Way to Commence the Catechetical Instruction, and of the Narration of Facts from the History of the World's Creation on to the Present Times of the Church.

10. But if it happens that his answer is to the effect that he has met with some divine warning, or with some divine terror, prompting him to become a Christian, this opens up the way most satisfactorily for a commencement to our discourse, by suggesting the greatness of God's interest in us. His thoughts, however, ought certainly to be turned away from this line of things, whether miracles or dreams, and directed to the more solid path and the surer oracles of the Scriptures; so that he may also come to understand how mercifully that warning was administered to him in advance, ¹ previous to his giving himself to the Holy Scriptures. And assuredly it ought to be pointed out to him, that the Lord Himself would neither thus have admonished him and urged him on to become a Christian, and to be incorporated into the Church, nor have taught him by such signs or revelations, had it not been His will that, for his greater safety and security, he should enter upon a pathway already prepared in the Holy Scriptures, in which he should not seek after visible miracles, but learn the habit of hoping for things invisible, and in which also he should receive monitions not in sleep but in wakefulness. At this point the narration ought now to be commenced, which should start with the fact that God made all things very good, ² and which should be continued, as we have said, on to the present times of the Church. This should be done in such a manner as to give, for each of the affairs and events which we relate, causes and reasons by which we may refer them severally to that end of love from which neither the eye of the man who is occupied in doing anything, nor that of the man who is engaged in speaking, ought to be turned away. For if, even in handling the fables of the poets, which are but fictitious creations and things devised for the pleasure ³ of minds whose food is found in trifles, those grammarians who have the reputation and the name of being good do nevertheless endeavor to bring them to bear upon some kind of (assumed) use, although that use itself may be only something vain and grossly bent upon the coarse nutriment of this world: ⁴ how much more careful does it become us to be, not to let those genuine verities which we narrate, in consequence of any want of a well-considered account of their causes, be accepted either with a gratification which issues in no practical good, or, still less, with a cupidity which may prove hurtful! At the same time, we are not to set forth these causes in such a manner as to leave the proper course of our narration, and let our heart and our tongue indulge in digressions into the knotty questions of more intricate discussion. But the simple truth of the explanation which we adduce ⁵ ought to be like the gold which binds together a row of gems, and yet does not interfere with the choice symmetry of the ornament by any undue intrusion of itself. ⁶

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Méthode pour enseigner aux catéchumènes les éléments du Christianisme

CHAPITRE VI.

LE CATÉCHISTE DOIT EMBRASSER DANS SES INSTRUCTIONS L’HISTOIRE DE L’ÉGLISE DEPUIS LA CRÉATION JUSQU’À NOS JOURS.

10. S’il répond qu’un avis du ciel, une terreur mystérieuse, lui a inspiré la résolution de [65] devenir chrétien, la sollicitude de la Providence pour les hommes nous fournira un début aussi naturel qu’attrayant. De ces miracles et de ces visions surnaturelles, il faut ramener sa pensée aux principes plus infaillibles, aux oracles plus sûrs des saints livres, en lui faisant sentir que c’est par un effet de la miséricorde divine qu’il a reçu cet avis, avant d’avoir donné son adhésion à l’Ecriture. Il est essentiel de lui représenter que le Seigneur, en l’avertissant lui-même, en lui inspirant le désir d’embrasser le christianisme et de devenir membre de l’Eglise, en l’instruisant enfin par des prodiges et des révélations, n’a voulu que l’engager à suivre paisiblement la voie sûre que lui traçait d’avance l’Ecriture : là, il apprendra moins à chercher des miracles visibles qu’à espérer les merveilles qui échappent aux regards; ce ne sera plus pendant son sommeil, mais les yeux ouverts, qu’il sera instruit. Après ce début, il faut exposer l’histoire de l’Eglise, depuis la création, où tout était bien¹ en sortant des mains de Dieu, jusqu’à nos jours; chaque événement, chaque acte doit être rattaché à ses causes et par conséquent aboutir à cette fin de la charité, qu’on ne doit jamais perdre de vue dans ses actions, comme dans ses paroles. Si des grammairiens, dont la science égale la réputation, essaient d’expliquer les mythes imaginés par les poètes, sans autre dessein que d’amuser les esprits qui se repaissent de chimères, en leur assignant un but pratique aussi frivole, il est vrai, et aussi favorable à la curiosité mondaine que ces fictions elles-mêmes, quelles précautions ne devons-nous pas prendre pour éviter que les vérités saintes, apparaissant dans nos récits sans les principes qui les expliquent, n’inspirent plus qu’une croyance fondée sur une jouissance de l’imagination ou sur une dangereuse curiosité? Toutefois, gardons-nous de sacrifier la suite du récit au développement de ces causes, en laissant notre enthousiasme et notre parole se perdre dans le dédale d’une discussion trop abstraite : la vérité seule du raisonnement doit relier les faits comme un fil d’or qui rassemble des pierres précieuses sans eu troubler l’agencement par un éclat trop vif.