The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 4: Acadia and Quebec, 1616-1629
History
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 4: Acadia and Quebec, 1616-1629
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada; Jesuits -- Missions; Jesuits -- North America
4. So much for the temporal; but as to the spiritual, in which the
inexpressible grace of God raises us to the surname and glory of
"most Christian," let us calculate and sum up the benefits which
accompany and favor us [335 i.e., 337] continually after this first
one, which is our calling to the Holy Church and knowledge of our
Savior, Jesus Christ; and then we shall be able to estimate how
great would be our ingratitude, and how horrible the chastisement
it would bring with it, if we do not try to enhance the value of
this grace by communicating it to our fellow-men in proportion to
our means and opportunities. Such chastisement has been wisely
commented upon by the venerable Bede. For, shortly before his age,
the Scotch were illuminated by a divine light, so that they saw
themselves fallen into heterodoxy by delusions and inadvertence;
while the Bretons, or those people of the Province of Wales, were
cast into the abyss and shadows of the outskirts of Hell, the
heresies; of these two so contrary and opposite effects this great
and Saintly Man, [336 i.e., 338] so truly acquainted with the works
of providence and Eternal Justice, attributes the causes to the two
different dispositions of the two nations. "For," says he, "the
Scotch had previously given to the English, through great charity
and devotion, what they had received of Evangelical truth; and
therefore God wished to show them mercy in a full and overflowing
measure, opening their eyes that they might see themselves deceived
and mistaken. While the Bretons, either through negligence or other
lack of spiritual moderation, were quite indifferent when they saw
the English perishing miserably in their infidelity; therefore
they deserved, as ungrateful servants, to lose the talent of the
Catholic faith, which they had not deigned to profit by, either for
others or for themselves." Oh, what [337 i.e., 339] food there is
for reflection and discourse upon this subject!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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