Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Next Page
OCR
Vol. LX.—No. 47.-
“THE CATHOLIC ‘HERALD
PT ag ‘PUBLISHED: EVERY THURSDAY BY .
. M. F IIIA
LNs. 61 North Second Street, Philadelphia.
“Terms—Three Dollars per annum, payable half yearly
in advance. Five Dollars will be received for 2 copies, orl
copy | for two years. All arrearages must be settled prior to
ering a paper to be discontinued. Al] Comnmnications,
except from Agents, or Subscribers enclosing remittances,
must be post paid, and ‘addressed ¢ ['o the “Editor of the
Catholic’ Herald, Philadelphia, Pa,”
oe Boetry.
THE DYING CUKI-TIAN TO THE -CRUCIFIX.
BY THE REV. F——
“Nay, say not thas my worship’s vain,”
When towards Redemption’s emblem thus,
_My dying eyes hehold with pain
The pangs a Saviour felt for us,
: VTi not I prize that wood so frail,
From which all sculptured grief I see.
Those imaged tears, on cheeks so pale,
WI ‘hich, ouce on Calvary fell for me.
“ant no, but "tis, that thus sustained .
Ms © By emblem, frail, my fleeting mind '!
May turn in hope from all that pained, | :
“yo 2 And leave this sinful world behind. ‘ ‘
: While thus my soul in grief surveys's) 1) ) 4.0
The thorny wreath around that brow, ost ta
_ My spirit wakes, ‘md tears and praise, vis Tins
“My best last hope, my Saviour, shout syifere QE
‘Oh! while all else is fleeting fast
From those dim eyes, this imaged wood | ,
Shall fix. my wandering soul at last; OS
_ Refresh it with Redemption’ 's blood, |
7 “Then ‘take, oh, take whate’er thou |
“Take grandeur, gold, with all their guilt,
oh!
Bui leave, leave this cross to net
‘¢ Ww AN G gE. .
Where arethe flowers, the beantifal flowers; oom
"That gladdened onr hearts and our homes in the spring?
St Ww bere is the sunshine of earber hours? 4
Seles Where i is the music that birds used to bing
“Alas, my heart 8 “dirkarest Town iki is summer, .''
Tho’ little “tis like what it once uxed to be;
Thave oo, wetcome to give the new comer—. rad
ui ‘Stameely the summer seems altered tu me. : mo”.
(
Tis my evirits are
These made the giada
ye '
edany, hopes that a are weary)
ess and beauty of yore;
an an ear hasi ite spring—tho" ourown iy no more.
ah
: , Prom the London Tablets, «5 W110 cy
vA. LETTER ON: CATILOLIO ‘ UNT" ry, tt
Adivessel the Right Hon. the Baru: of Sarews-
"BURY, by Nicuoxas,’ Bishop of Mdipotamus, Lon-
~ don: Dolman.! 1841205
All our readers will, we doubt not, be much pleased
With the contents of this pamphlet, an absiract of which
We at once proceed to Y before them.’ The ‘Right
ev. author commences by tracing the social: and po-
litiew! distempers of the present time to that absence of
Spiritual onity which every Catholic so deeply deplores.
he method of restoring unity, by which these distem-
Pers may be curell—becomes, therefore; even’ in’ a
Worldly point of view, and apart from eternal interests
ahogether, a matter of overwhelming importance. « If
Bossuet,:a prelate of immense’ perspicacity'and ‘great!
Prudence,’ thought it not u nfitting to enter intd Wisens-
Sion with Leibnitz as to the reunion of Germany with
the church under almost every disadvantage, surely Dr.
Wiseman argues that he ‘need not be severely blamed,
if he attach | some importance te to the gradual approxima.
bis’ 57
_| of the Catholi¢s themselves.
Philadelphia, Thursday, Nov ember 25, 1841.
tion of many to the + same desirable end,’ ‘and i ‘devote
his talents to forward and’ matare’ -the- Present ‘partial
proposal for a restoration to unity.’
After this preface, his lordship states his:reasons for
believing that he sees ‘an approximation not merely to-
wards individual Catholic practices or doctrines, but to-
wards Catholi¢ union;’ and that ‘the feelings in favour
of a return to unity by the Anglican church are every
day widely spreading and deeply sinking.’
‘Under this novel state of things, what becomes! the
uty of the civil rulers? So Jong, says. the right rev.
author, as the Established Church and the bulk. of the
population eared nothing about unity, the question did
not arise.’ Bat when the gitestion becomes raised in the
church herself, interests large masses of: people, and
cannot be suppressed by ecclesiastical authority, the
statesman must either make up his mind that all com:
munion between the various branches of the one church
is forbidden by ‘Christ, or he must’ begin to reflect
whether it be not his duty to remove ‘all obstacles to
the union of his national church’ with* the Catholic
Church; and to this end he would be called upon to
repeal the statutes of “Praeemunire so far as‘ those sta-
tutes exceed the limits of what. may be considered rea-
sonable political and national jealousy, and interpose a
formidable barrier to the restoration uf what. all
‘Jadmit to be extremely desirable—the- unity” of Chris.
tendom. m5
» Dr. Wiseman next inquires what j is ‘the duty of those
who have undertaken the caise of the Anglican church
—that is—of the Oxford divines sand sums them upas
follows :—(1) ‘To begin at once; and to persevere en-
ergetically in such measures’as direct/y> tend to’ the
work’ of religious reusiion.”’ (2)' To disabuse the’ peo-
the Roman Church. | (3) ‘To apply tothe rulers of the
State ‘for revisiun of all that interferes with true reii-
gious liberty—that ig, with the power‘ of claiming ‘all
the privileges of the Christian svstem—unity, universal
charity, Catholic communion;’ and, failing this, to ‘be
on the rights of the church by the rulers of the State,
(4) *To press their superiors! with determined impor-
tunity to take the work i in hand, or to allow others to
oso.
‘The next consideration i is as to our. dnty—the duty
With reference ty those
obstacles which arise from Catholie practices or from
abuses in other countries, his lordship, states our first
‘To offer cheerfully and honestly every explanation
in our power, and point vat ‘where our real doetrines
are mistaken, where they are confounded | with) mere
ve practices, and where they may be linble to
The sooner a clear and distinet understanding
can be come 'to upon these matters, whether. by’ per-
sonal conference, or by writing, the better for the canses
There exist at this moment, Lam sure, grievous mis-
appehensions in the minds of serious men connected
with the new, movement, upon' this point, ‘which it
seems to me a’ more direct. and friendly infercourse;
directed to this. purpose; could remove. ul
A second duty consists in self- reformation. fo t-!/ &
*Cerlain it is, that for men to hecviie enamoured of
‘| our religion, she must be presented to tham here, where
alone the majority of thei can see, arrayed in all her
heavenly charms, majestic in the temple, devout at the
altar, pure and sublime in the pulpil; moral and ‘high-
ipltned in the college; Christian and pious inthe
ly disei
school; severe‘and mortified in the monastery: exem-
plary in the confraternity ; zealous and generous in the
nobles edifying in the geniles humble and resigned in
the poor; charitable with wealth; cheerful and orderly
with penury 3 ‘chaste and honest'in’ youth; holy and
senerable in age; everywhere reviving Catholic’ insti-
tutions, making peace und content tospring, as flowers,
beneath her‘tread, blessing-and blessed in the happiness
which she diffuses, and the compensations” which ‘she
abundantly distributes.’ In securing all this, there. is
work, for us all) for priest and: ‘ péopley: for rich) and
pool
. And asa ‘corollary to thier we are wisely eshorted, to
avoid all ‘harshness of language, sarcasm, and bitter-
hess,’ which will not either convince the understand-
g
ing or win the affections.
vet Ci bse ore
must} *
ple, by every means, regarding the ‘true’ character! of
ready at all risks*to resist the sniallest encroachment
“Two more topics then engage the writer's attentions
—first, the ‘facilities fur bringing aboutso happy a con-
summation as the reunion of England with the Catho-
lie chureh:’: and secondly, the obstacles in: the way of
that consummation. * As to the first of these ~ points,
his lordship conceives, that, eomparing thie age with the
times of Archbishops Laude and Wake, men’s minds
were then on the road from, while they are now on the
road to, Catholic truth. « (2) The old: friendship: be-
tween the church and. State is ‘cooled, and | separation
or divorce may easily take place, should civil , rvlers’
oppose ‘the religious welfare of the country.’ (3) *The
advances at the present time have less of a worldly taint
about them.’ Jn seeking for a reunion, the. English
church is not urged by the necessity of providing sup-
port against domestic rebels, but entirely by a sense of
spiritual necessity. (4). [he advances are made ‘ina
spirit of humility‘and confession.‘ ' *They do not want
to treat the matter as one of equal ‘advantages, but as
conscious that their positions is an unhappy one.’ (5)
By tract No. 90, a way is opened for conciliating ‘dif
ferences, not by calling for refractions, but by explo-
nations of the articles ina Catholic sense; in. accord
ance with the advice of Bossuet; i in relation to the Augs-
burg confession.
The difficulties in the way of this desirable consum-
mation Dr, Wiseman enumerates 'in a very summary
manner, principally for the purpose. of..showing.that
they are present to his mind,-and that he does not look
at the future with the eyes of an enthusiast... "The fol-
lowing is the penultimate’ paragraph of the letter:—° }
‘That the return of this country (through its Estab-
lished church) to the Catholic unity, would put an end
to religious dissent, and interior feud, I feel no doubt.
By two ways, the population of the country «would be
worked npon for its moral improvement—the rural dis-
tricts through parochial influences, the denser population
of towns, or manufacturing districts, through: monasti¢
institutions.:| Zaperience has now shown that the coun-
try population are ready to receive without murrhicr
ing, indeed with pleasure, the Catholic views propound-
ed from Oxford, and indeed even more, when taught -
through regular parochial instruction. Add the riche
ness and beauty ofthe Catholic Ritual, the :variety of”
iis subiime services, the touching: offices of - peculiar ..
seasons, the nomberless institutions for charitable ob-
jects, and its hourly sanctifications of domestic life, and
dissent would break in pieces beneath the silent action
of universal attraction, and ils fragments gather round
its ail powerful principles |'Then send forth men: of
mortified looks and plavid demeanour, girt with the cord
of a St. Francis, or bearing on their breast the soul of
Chrisi’s passion, as on their countenances the. marks
‘of its mortification “(Jike the followers” of , venerable
Paul of the ( ross), whose garb allows no comparisoa
of superior fineness or affected poverty, with that of the
poorest that surround them, bot whose attire is atonce
majestic and coarse, and with: bare heads and. feet,
holding the emblem of redemption, let» them’ preach
judgment, and deatn, And future punishment, and pene
wance, and justice, and ‘chastity.:; And) they swill be
heard by thousands with awe and. reverence; and we__
shall see wonders of reformation, pure faith revive with
betier lives, dnd the head converted by the converted
heart.’ ,
‘We have thus given a rolesably ‘complete abstract of
the contents of this letter, which its right rev, author
deseribes as a series of ‘sketches or hints of: what ma
beeome be fore long subjects of more finished detailed
exposition.’ * We have preferred giving Uhis abstract at
some length to troubling our readers with any lengthen-
ed comments of our own on the subject which’ the let
ter treats.) We may be permitted, however, to express
our bumble admiration, of the judicious and- - masterly
manner in which the subject is here handled: and not
less our deep and hearty sympathy with the spiritwhich .
breathes through these pages, and the feelings display-
ed in them of. kindness «for onr, separated brethren.
God grantthat no violence of manner, and no intempe+
rance of expression, may mar the: good work which
‘Hihe’ ‘right Tev.:prelate Nas here taken inshand. © 10/23:
We have only one remark to make, and that concerns
neither the pamphlet nor the author, but the «subject~ .
matter of the pamphlet. * We would most humbly, but
most earoestly, entreat those who have this good work