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“THE CATHOLIC: HERALD.» i : x
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ST ANZAS.
. ‘Deus est! ‘omnipotens:,
Goa of thé storm! thy voice is blent.
ith all of greatand good and brig,
Or in the star gem’d firmament,”
Or Where the storm-cloud veils its ligt
‘And earth below, and’ arch above,
: _Bespeak thy majeny and love.’ i
“Beauty is in the blushing dower,
cA each tint of rising day—
© Bettery 1 love the thunder’s Power, .
| As peal on peal it rolis away !
» Forii ‘io it fearful crash i is told,
“Thi is mighty to uphul
we
Reve takes thé voice whose burning still
“Was answered from the grave’s déep rest—
Vho bude the ogean waves be still ¢
And bear the trembler on their bresaty how
} Who whispered to the rayless air, © * oe
* Let there be be Tight! 2” and liglit was there!
4 ty
“Sweet musi¢ on the breeze may steal gy “se
When summer landscapes gaily bloom.
~ For’ tan doth yon red bolt reveal
Sun5 “thy boundless power ‘mid storm and diosin:
“Thy power tp shelter and_¢reate
‘And tells in thunder-—" God is great!
CASE OF CONSCIENCE.
Our divines may be puzzled by the Case
of Conscience presented by the British Critic.
*Itis a general truth we should wish to see
* earried out much farther and much more con-
5 sistently than now is, that no outlay of money
can righteously purchase any rightin achurch
and no possession of property can rightly de-
serve it, ‘Sacred things are perfectly incom-
municable for money, for they are incommen-
surate with it. Property in pews, supposed
ever so indirectly to be an equivalent for mo-
hey, is of the essence of simony. ‘Phe right
of so much as entering a’chtirch, and being i in
any part of it whatever, much more a righ} to
occupy any particular part, cannot w ithout sin
be bought and sold, or considered an equiva
lent for any expenditure of money.’ It is like
purchasing, or pretending to purchase, a right
to heaven. Viewing a church’ simply as a
sacred place, and putting out of view 1 shi
man aspect, i, €. its congregational purpose:
it is shocking to think of its holy ground being
sold for money, or treated as a house or field.
atif we take its congregational purposes
into account, the offence, and indeed the ab-
surdity, of this proceeding, are all the more
flagrant. Let us suppose the extreme case of
a man founding and endowing a parish church;
that. is, a‘ church, which, according to the
Catholic system, is to be the church, the one
temple for, those within a certain ecclesiastical
distriet, having an’ absolute claim on their at-
tendance, being the one fountain of heavenly
blessings, Hie one place which Gad hath cho-
sen out of-all the tribes to. place his name
there. “If the building is to be this, and all
that is implied,i ina parish church, once conse-
crated, it 1s no longer a thing of this world,—
it is wo Tonger a creation of man,—and itis no
longer a, voluntary affair. In two. respects, of-
infinite it import, does it differ from any mere
earthly institution.” First, it is a Divine real-
itys secondly, it is the’ object ¢ of the most
awful and obliging religions regarda, ‘J'he
‘condescensions of heaven, and the aspirations
‘of men, meet and conspire to make it what it
is. God gives it holiness and efficacy: man
gives it reverence’ and submission. ‘So then
looking only to what man contributes to the
building, the gift of the founder, after he has
done every thing’ that money’ eun do, is the
S
: it only before aspired to b
‘| she maintains it with a liberality which h she’
Nonna.
least part_of, the foundation, arch, 4.
e. the visible society of Chtistiane, gives reve~
rence and faith, and every sanction and. feel?
ing that ean ratify and realize the design
The gift of brick and mortar and maintenance
for the minister, is an infinitely less important
thing than what the humblest’ Christian gives
when he ‘takes off his hat on entering *the
chore, kneels down on its pavement, draw:
open his ear to th
vinced that itis the ‘true church, , “ Itigid
‘asting”. was too severe upon Sibbald and had
the! effect io give peculiar keenness to his per-
.ceptive, facilities, and che forthwith saw ** that
he was’ jn the. wrong.”?,, Protestants, cannot
'stand - fasting, and consequeni ily prefer a
Fehurch whieh-does not require it, Many pinee
Practices, of a painful nature in use with C
have a like. marvellous eflicacy upon
“What. the’ found
gives cannot, without an ‘apparent eret
who are in search of a pleasant, easy,
reli
be mentioned in ‘Ahe same sentence with whal
the Chureh gives. ° His sacrifice cannot for
moment be measur d with her obediencé. As]
ar as regards the noblest parts of the material,
nay, phe only ‘parts’to be mentioned in ‘a’ sa
cred reference, the Church ‘is ‘the founder —
The Church has allowed one of her childrens
the’ hondr, of rearing
rials, a, fabrid after ‘the pattern. of a house of
God. Till the‘ Chureh comes in, it remai s
only acheap ‘of ‘stones, a'lifeless perishable |
mass. She, by the name of lim who dwells}
in her, give it life and, power, makisg it what
The Church thenceforth proceeds % to. “trea! t
this Structure asa gift of God rather. than’ a
création of man. She commands her child en
to resort to it, at the risk of their salvation;:
encourages to’ profuseness, and does not hési-
taie to deniand “even “by force; she declare$ Tt
to, be ‘inviolable, to be; for ever. nnitarned
and reluctantly yields to, the Sréatest human:
ecessily’ 80 allow’ the sacred walls,
to be ‘destroyed, the sacred ground to be ‘nade,
common; she declares her whole visible estab!
lishment: of fabrics and maintenance to-be|
worth any risk, to call for the most boundless,
political sacrifices from the State, to be cher-} t
ished’ with an infinitade of zeal; and ta be.
humiliating to go to
‘appeals ‘of. ebarity.
+ With earth’s gross male,
igion, is very painful and
: confession, tor perform
penitential “works, to make amends for i injit-
ries, to make restitution of ill- acquired goods.
LIis disagreeable, to be restrained from accu-,
2 mulating ‘the frnits of usury, ‘to be trainmelled
by) the:
laws ‘of j justice, or Aharrassed by the
“as well -as the commandments of. Christ,
and” hence he cannot tolerate the sight of a
monastery-or-conyent, or the idea, of an-un
married “priesthood, . “ He" would | be. freed
rom all these things, and therefore he per-
ceives as clear as noonday, that Protestantism
ancient religion,” and if in a” more peniten'
self-denying mood be had been led_to join
it he is reconverted, or if he-had never yet
embraced it, he contents himself with some
(t} hue or shade, | some, variation | of | Protestant:
* My son,” said the mother of Melanehton |)
to this worthy Patrocles of the Achilles of the
reformation, * my-son !: which religion is the
better, that of the Catholic, church, or that of
the new go: spe vw .
24s Mother” said. Melanchtons “The: Tu
theran church is the best to live in, the Catho-
lic ihe best to die in.” - “Most of those. who
joined ‘the ranks of reform, like Luther wanted
preferred before any “other: visible. institudony
whatever, before the institutions. of commerce
self. "The parish churcli she makes tie greyt
est and” the ‘boldest, and: to “alien hearts ti e
most odious monopoly in the land; she mainé
tains this monopoly at the expense of every
and comfort, and even at the ex:
pense of many important consideration of real
usefulness. She forbids her children'to go
after more- moving and more edifying teach-
drs, or to worship nearer home; she even al-
lows difficulties in the way of the most need-
ful inerease of her habitations; she grudges to
give the blessing of God: through «her. to
nore than one sacred spotin each parish, and
reserves those blessings in all their fullness
for one ecclesiastical unily.’?
+ +e
From the Catholic Advocate.
REASONS FOR NOT BEING A CATUOLIC.
We read in Boswell’s life of Dr. Johnson,
concerning the religious . transformations of
Sir Robert Sibbald, a celebrated Scottish anti-
quary and the founder of the royal college, of
hysicians at Edinburgh. “The account ‘is
found in a manuseript life of Sir? Robert, and
written with his own hand. ‘The candour’ if
not the conduct of this .gentleman, is worthy.
of admiration. *+ He tells us that the Duke
of Perth, then Chancellor of Scotland, press-
ed him very much to come over to the Catho-
lic faith : that he resisted all his grace’s argu-
ments for a considerable time, till one day fie Ke
felt himself, as it were, instantaneously co;
vinced, and with tears in his eyes ran into the
Duke's arms, and embraced the ancient reli-
gion ; that he continued very steady ia it for
some time, and accompanied his grace to Lon
don one winter, and lived in his household 5
that there he found the rigid fasting presert-
bed by thechurch very severe upon hun ; and
this disposed iim to reconsider the controver-
sy; and having then seen that he was wreng
he returned to Protestantism.”
Boswell stated the above facts to Dr. Joba-
son, and said thathe had ,a thought to publish
this curious life some tive or other. | One of
the company observed, 1 think you had as
well Jet alone that publication. ‘Fo discover
such weakness’ exposes aman. when he is
gone.” Whereupons Johnson said, ** Nay it
is an honest picture of human ‘nature. ; Tow
ofien are the primary motives of our greaiest
actions as small as Sibbald’s fur his reconver:
sion f"
Sibbald's reasons for abandoning’ “ the | ane
cient religion,” have influenced, thousands,
if not to withdraw froay the: church, at least
to neglect its practices, and presented | shou-
wv chureli. to live in, a church that Jeft all the
and policy, before thé nobility and royalty. $t§ passions free fog indulgence, and neither hum-
Led the: pride nor niortified the selflove of its
olfowers.° But in order to die well, itis ne-
cessary “fo fast and pray,”. “to deny one-
self and take up the eross, to. refrain from
drunkeness and impurity, to practice humility,
‘to chastise the body with its vices and con-
cupiscences,”’.to. do ard suffer much that is
painful to the pride and self love of the human
heart. © The Catholic Church teaches her fol-
lowers the necessity: of . these things, and
grounds * hef injunctions upon the express
words of Christ, hence in her bosom it is
safest fo die. "Therefore, those who desire to
die safely, should not be solicitous to live
easily, and those who seek a religion which
permits an easy life, ought to dread lest. they
do not find a secure death.
Better in this world, to ** mourn with the
disciples of Christ,” better fust rigidly and
humble and mortify ourselves according to the
prescriptions of Catholic faith, with the pros-
et of a safe death ; than have an easy,
fomfortalle, unrestraining religion, and adeath
insecure at not altogether hopeless.
For (Christ says ‘* he that would come after
me let him deny himself take up his cross and
follow me.””
ee
EQUALITY.
‘The , British. Critic, in. the following ex-
tract, beautifully; exhibits the principle of |.
tian Equality: :
* But what'a school of graces, what a heal-
ing and consoling spectacle would true Church
equality, present to this restless, striving, em-
ulous world! ' Men cannot help dreaming of
equality and seeking it somewhere. They
are possessed with tle idea, as they are indeed
with® many other seemingly impossible and
even contradictory ideas, such as an absolute-
aly virtuous authority, purity, an impartial
rule} ‘a universal love, and other—as some
cecm Whem—Utopian theories. ‘These are all
deeply implanted in‘the human’ nind; they
are ‘its ‘natural instinets and just tentencies,
co-ordinate and harmonious in their origin and
right development, aud only conflicting in
their! waste and “abuse. A world. indeed , of
tyrants‘ and” slaves would his world most
speedily became, jf a certain vision of equali-
ty did not continually hover before the eyes of
men; light'to some, darkness to others; en-
couraging ‘those jo the cheerful renunciation
of earthly distinctions; misleading these’ to
restless repining and hopeless discontent.—
he Church is the ‘only sphere and form in
which these instincts can rightly grow and
as
gands from join ing it whose minds , were con- | matore;
is true, that it-** is wrong”, to' belong to “the ‘
she presentsa spiritual equality which
infinitely transcends every system which. hag:
imagined or auempted, and which “effectually
secures, her geduine sons from jvining the $
vulgar ‘throng of ambitious ‘aspirants or en-/ ~~
vious levellers; she is the only-true democra~
ey, the only popular representation; she alone, }
gives pignity to weakness, and humility to;
power;.her law is no arbitrary sysiem of pare.”
tial enactments, but is written in the hearts of,
all for the good of all; the voice of her, people
is the voice of God, and her.one object is be re
identical ‘with their highest welfare; she alone,
has preserved through every age. and clime.
her unanimous council, her assembly of one;
inind and one accord; she alone admits an ape.
peal.to the principle, of an. unreserved ‘com-
munity in every ‘thing really nee falt0
life and happiness of mans she exalts the slave”
into. a,brother, ‘and «reduces, the. master to the < .
service 0 One who. himself, tqgok. upon him,
the form of a servant, and. was amongst us as .
he shat seryeth."
oo
°c Charchmi
SOME : SPECIMENS OF 1 NODERN
REASONING.
2 Because § Si. Petér says, that « no, prophecy ”
is of any private interpretation,’ therefore‘ail
doctrine must be.~*~
; Decauic the words B ishop and Piesbyier
are usedl_as.synonymes ‘in the New Testa:
iment, ‘therefore | the Apostles . have | NO succes>
Becatee i in the only ‘place ‘where St. Paal’
mentions Regeneration, he’ connects it with’
Baptism, therefore Baptismal Regeneration i isl
a Popith error.
» Because St. Jam condenins “he making :
any: difference’ between rich” or ia,
churches, therefore pew rents we scriptural
and apostolic.
~Becausesou “0 the poor the. .
Gospels preached, therefore they onght to,
have plages where they can go by thenisel vers! :
Becayise « St. Paul. says, -** Sindy to, be!
quie Xaherefore s stuffed rnd cushioned pews. .
are unquestionably -rpostoli¢s >. 52
“hy:
pocrites, therefore we need not fast at all, > ro,
Because. St.: Paul says to ‘Timothy: that
‘the time will come when they. will not en-
dure sound doctrine,”’. and therefore it is not
worth while to insist much on ductrine. .And
so on ad infinitum, TALECTICUS.
———++-¢—__
A’ correspondent. of the Churchman has:
written a letter on the American Protestant
Association, from -which we have only room
for extracts.
Me. Eilitor,—Deeply convinced of the
grievous departure of the popish sect from the
essential principles; uf ‘the .true “Catholic
Chareh, of Christy,1 look with sorrow’ ons
whatever may tend to advance its cause in our-
country,. "The recent furmation of a society
withthe above title is eminently of this cha-,
racter. lis direct tendency is to merge in one
system ‘of indifference: the most heterogeneous
mass of. heresy andjschism, not unconnected
with the profanity of bringing the Church of.
Christ itself into the unholy alliance. + It pro-
fesses to aim at the preservation and defence
ofthe Gospel, while giving sanction to the
most grievous departures: from it, Tt enlists»
in avowed league in the ¢ause of Christ ele~
ments: essentially antagonistic to that cause.
Save in the liule and unworthy representation.
which the Church has therein, disgraceful: to
her, and impotent for any, influence in her, '
behalf, it isa monstrous array of sects and?
arties, severed. from the Church and.from:._
each other, all at variance with the Gospel in:
its integrity, claiming the honor of contending
for the Gospel, because declaring war against
another erring sect: . Mere Protestantism, and
hatred of-popery, are all that_is necessary to
admit any heresy or schism, or what is worse
than heresy or schism, ~to~fraternization
wit this. grand, analganator of truth anil
N
\
\
3
2
8
ate
an the’ ‘divine blessing ‘he éxpeeied ean,
tia truly enlightened Christian ask it~on a
scheme 80 directly. calculated to give promi-
ence and encouragenient to eroneous : and
strange doctrines contrary toGou’s word 2).
Sects shall in vain sise up, and schisms take
counsel together. He that sitet i the
heavens shall laug’ them to scorn, The ord
shall have them in derision,
“Phat gracious God leaves Himselfoot with .
out perpetual witness’ of His guardianship of