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Vol. XI
THE CATHOLIC HERALD
IS PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
' °M. FITHIAN,
Street, Philadelphia,
Noe 61 North Second Street, Philadelphia,
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Poctry.
From the Banner of the Cross.
THE ITALIAN. VESPER HYMN.
Hark! a voice of music stealing
Thro’ the Gothic ‘arches dim,
©. © + Murmuring now, now louder pealing—
“Tia_the Vesper Hymn!
Round the altar bending lowly,
Vestals bow in saintly guise ;
Chanted prayers in accents holy,
Like rich incense rises 5, ,
Sweetly o’er the moonlit waters,
Float the [ute’s low tones along,
Sweetly sing the dark-eyed daughters,
Of that land of song. .
Parely breathe the broken hearted,
Bending o'er the loved one’s bier,
| Requiems for the soul departed
~ ‘To ahappier sphere.—
Sweeter than that song of gladness,
pasadena
OL heme hs (Ce
sual love, which produces the most dangerous
impressions, unless the heart be very pure.’ It
is true that those whose eyes are illumined by
faith, and who have the taste of holy’ love,
find therein an admirable allegory, expressing
the union of pure souls’ with God: but few
persons are sufficiently renewed’ in’ Jesus
Christ to enter fully into this mystery of the
Bride with her beloved. If one should stop at
the mere letter of Ecclesiastes, he would be
tempted to believe it the reasoning of the impi-
ous, considering every thing under the sun, as
vanity, because man dies entirely,’ like the
brates, “The book of Macabees exhibit to us
a people, who throw off the yoke of the kings
of Syria, and assume arms to obtain power for
freely exercising their religion, rather than pa-,
liently suffer martyrdom, as did the Christians
without ever revolting against the Emperors.
A great number of the ancients fell into the
error of the millenarians, by reading the reign
of a thousand years ia the Apocalypse: and
St. Augustine avows that he also was himself
under 'the false prejudice of the moderate mil-
lenarians. ' All those who have imbibed the
fancies of Protestants, may be tempted to he-!
lieve that Rome is still, at this time, the Ba-
bylon which offers idols to be adored, because
she allows the images of saints to be honored,
the saints to be invoked, and that she is drunk’
with the blood of martyrs, because she perse-|
cutes reformers.” I have found persons, who:
were struck with the purple or scarlet which,
with such pomp, is seen in this Babylon; we
have difficulty to make them’ understand that!
St. John has described Pagan Rome, which,’
for three centuries persecuted the Christians: |
All those whio labour under similar prejudices, |
think they see in the epistle to the Romans
that God hates and reprobates the greater por-|
tion of mankind, without being determined
thereto by any demerit on their pari. These
same, semi-protestants’ would be unable to
read that God gives the power to will and to
do, without immediately concluding that God
does’ this by a necessitating grace, Afters
Philadelphia, Thursday, January 4, 1844,
De mer an
>
Te
digest it.
subject of contradiction for many in Israel.
is aw odour of life for those who live by faith,
and who die to themselves sincerely; it is an
odour of ‘death for those’ who are estranged
from the life’ 6f God, and who with pride live
shot up within themselves. ’, The best food
‘is converted into poison in corrupted stomachs,
Whoever seeks for scandal “even in’ God's
‘word, deserves there to find it for his own ru-
in, God has so tempered light and shade in
his word, that those who are humble and do-
cile find nothing therein but truth and conso-
jation, and those who are presumptuous and
indocile find there error, and incredulity. All
the difficulties vanish without pain as soon as
the mind is cured of presumption. ‘Then,
according to St. Angustine, (1,) persons pass
over what they comprehend not, and are edified
by what they comprehend, . 3
They have no difficulty to believe that the
word of God has a mysterious depth impene-
trable to their feeble intellect; therefore they
hear with docility all‘ that is taught by their
pastors to justify its difficult passages; they
turn all their attention to the principles which
serve as the key; they distrust themselves,
and continually fear to give reifis 16 curiosity
and reasoning; they permit themselves to be
judged by the word, without wishing to judge
the word; they read no passage of scripture
without the advice of pastors or expericnced
directors, and they read them only in the
spirit of the Church herself: they pray still
more than they read, or read only in the spirit
of prayer, which opens to us the scriptures;
then as Cassian assures us, the soul’ enriched
by that poverty (2) which is the first of the
beatiludes, penetrates the meaning of the sa-
cred word, less by the reading of the text than
Sweeter than the lute's soft tone, =:
Pucor than the voiée ofsadness. “0. 7
From those mourners lone,
ay
fe these hymns of praise to Heaven,— ! °
1» Earth's most grateful harmonies, “
Wafied by the breath of even,
To the listening skies,
For from that pure sbrine ascending
To the glorious courts above,
‘There with Heaven's own anthems blending,
Swell those tones of love.
M.R.
So Salem, Nu J.*
eieteb
-ouyn y LETTER OF FENELON,
‘To the Bishop of Arras, On the ‘reading
of the Holy Scriptures in the vernact.
“" Jar tongue.”
“s. (Translated for the Catholic Advocate.)
: Continued from page 409.
It is true that these extraordinary things
‘are mysterious and extraordinarily inspired; It
is true that they teach us very profound truths:
but are the generality of men, without humili-
ty, and without acquired virtues, able to bear
“these examples? ° Is there no danger of their
‘abusing them? When not accustomed to these
profound mysteries, are they not astonished to
behold Abraham, willing to slay his own son,
althongh God had given this child to him’ by
‘a miracle, promising him at the same time that
the posterity of the child shall be the benedic-
tion of the Universe? ‘They are surprised to
behold Jacob, who, under the direction of his
inspired mother, seems to enact the part of an
imposter. * Nor are they lees so, to see Osee
seeking, according to the command of God,
the wife whom he takes.” “Indocile and cor-
rupt men are astonished that for model is pro-
posed to them the patience of Job, who curses
the day of his birth, who boasts that he never
deserved the pains which he suffers, and who,
‘in the excess of his suffering, seem mur
mur against God himself, after having rejected
the consolation which his friends wish to give
him, whiie exhorting him to acknowledge him-
self a sinner. \ Nothing is\ more difficult than
“to explain how it is that Judith, whom the
Holy Ghost causes us to admire, conld go to
seek Holoforness.’' She excites him to evils
say libertines; she deceives him, she assassi-
nates him. “In the whole of the Canticle of
Canticles there is not a word of God, nor of} to
wards they seek by, 1 know not how many,
vain ‘subtilties; to giving: the nanié’ne-
cessifating to this grace; which they suppose | communicaie io is ‘the marrow, because we | fellerL(9
that the will cannot reject whenever it is pre-
sented, because it is necessary to follow this
inevitable and invincible delectation. ‘The
ini i jays so numerous and go
dangerous, make use of the gospel to show
that Jesus Christ has declared that he wished
to be believed God, only in the improper and
allegorical sense in which it is said to men,
you are Gods, and that Jesus Christ has’ said
in formal terms my Father is greater than 1,
Protestants pretend to prove by the epistles
to the Romans, to the Galatians; and to the
Hebrews, ‘that faith without works suffices,
although works follow faith.’ ‘They. pretend
to show, by the epistle to the Hebrews, that
in the new law there can be but one only vie-
tim, but one only sacrifice, and but one only
oblation, which need no more be repeated, be-
cause itis notlike the victims of the Jews,
St. John seems to Protestants, in his epistles,
to authorize the impeccability of such as are
the seed of God. Others think they see there-
in fanaticism, when it is said that the unction
teaches all things. ‘They say that St, Pan!
confirms this maxim, by saying that the spivit-
ual man judges all things, and is judged by
no one. Besides, those who have some incli-
nation towards incredulity do not fail to qaib-
ble concerning the apparent’ contradiction,
which they find in the different editions of the
scriptures as regards chronology. These like-
wise embarrass themselves concerning the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, which by one
evangelist is given to us very different from
that presented by another. ‘They are scanda
lized becanse Jesus Christ says J do not go
up to this feast, and because soon after he goes
there concealed: they say he is fearful, trou-
bled, and that he prays to his father to exempt
him from his passion: and that at last on the
Cross he complains that he is abandoned by
him. ‘They add that ihe‘ disciples of Jesus
Christ cannot ‘agree among themiselves, that
St, Paul; reproves St. Barnabas, You' must
acknowledge that if a book of piety, such as
The Following of Christ, Spiritual Combat,
or Phe Sinner’s’ Guide, comained the bun-
dredth part of the difficulties 19 be found in the
scriptures, yoo would be compelled to pi
hibit the reading of it in your diocess.” ‘The
excellence of this book would not prevent you
from toncluding, that it would be necessary
avoid giving it indifferently’ to all minds
virtue: the letter presents nothing but @ sen-
by its’ own ‘experience; then the scriptures
unfold themselves more clearly, and its veins
then become like the authors of this text, and
we enter into the spirit of him who has com-
posed it. . .
XVI. These difficulties caused St. Au
gustine to declare shat nothing is more justly
called the death sf the soul, than a servile
attachment to the letter of this text. (3)
He there adds, that if men, who have
formed certain actions, are praised in the
scriptures, and “tif these actions are contra-
ty to the practice of good persons who ob-
serve the commandments of God since the
coming of Jesus Christ, these things must be
understood in a figurative sense, and are not
to be applied to present morals; for many
things, which in those times. were done ofli-
ciously, could now only proceed from erimi-
nal. passions,”’ in those who would do the
same. "his father nevertheless avows, ‘that
the figurative sense which a prophet chiefly
had in view, so that his narration of the past
was a figure of the future, should not be pro-
posed to contentious and infidel minds.’"(4)
Ile only maintains that the scriptures havin,
so many Ways open to those who search with
piely, not to criticise so tan authority
with temerity, ‘the Marcionites, the Mani-
chees and other heretics are inspired by the
Demon to seek the vain pretext of scandal
and of caluginy in things which they are not
capable to comprehend. The rule given by
this father for reading the scriptures, is very
remarkable, | ** Whatever doubt,” says he,
“may arise in the heart of a man in listening
to the scriptures of God, let him not withdraw
from Jesus Christ; lethim know ‘that he has
anderstood nothing until Jesus Christ be re-
vealed to him in these words, let him not
presume that he has understood them, until he
tias come to find therein Jesus Christ.(5
Without doubt, such a penetration into the
mysterious ineaning surpasses the reach of
our gross and indocile Christians. This father
also says in the same sermon: “God presents
grand spectacles to Christian hearts: and ino-
thing can be more ‘delicious, if however, one
has the palate of faith for tasting the honey of
God.” But every thing depends on prepara-
1) Epis. ads Hier, 65 |
1 he toe es th 1 2
3) Doct. chr. 1.3, chap. 5. 1s oy
GS Ibid. 22 : :
profane and curious, because this nourishment,
(5) In Psa. 96,
POS pater et .
» Whole Number 573 .
¥ fit Yet 1
however wonderful, would’ be too strong for| tion of heart,’and for the’ humble and “simple
them, and because they would be too weak to | soul this impenetrable depth of the sacred text
The scripture is like Jesus Christ, | hax nothiag concealed.
who has been placed for the fall, and for the} full of charity,’” says’ this father “without any
resurrection of the multitude: like him it is al error and withoat labour, understands the full
“He whose heart is
abundance of divinity’ arid the very vast dec-
‘The'same' word is a bread which’ nourishes | trine of the scriptures.” ‘Behold here ‘the rea-
some, and a sword which pierces others. * It|son simple and decisivé:'Itis because who-
ever, possesses ‘charity in’ his ‘actions, pos-
sesses whatever is’ clear and whatever is ob-
scure in }his text-”(6) ia
This father moreover desires that the faith-
ful, in réading te scriptures, leave fo the text
honor, and only reserve for’ themselves fear
and respect when’ they cannot penetrate the
meaning.{7, .
Burt jaasinuch ‘as’ this disposition is: very
rare, it but rarely happens that men are dispo- .
sed to read thie text with profit. ‘All these
divine writings,”*says this father “are saluta>
ty to those who understand ‘them well; but
they are dangerous’ to those whowish {6 tort
ture them! in order to ‘accommodate them ‘19
the depravity ’of | their hearts, whilst’ they
ought by the rectitude of the text to’ refornt
their hearts.”"(8. :
‘The grand principles of this father, which
he establishes’ in his book, concerning the ad- a
vantages of faith, (de utilitate credendi,) is to
reverse the’ order so flattering. to self-love,
which the Manichees’ proposed, and which’ .
was ‘io know before believing.”"—Chis father,’
on the contrary, desired that persons, should
commence by humbly believing, aml’by sub- a
tnitting to authority, in order’ afterwards to. }
obtain’ knowledge.—Hence™ he ' wished ‘the’
scriptures to be read with aspirit of unreser-ed:
docility.’ Iyis also to be ‘observed that this
father desired the understanding’ of scripture
to proceéd by degrees, in proportion to the
simplicity, humility, and death to self which
ee es
each one had acquired:—*/n talum vident,’””
he says, tin quantum moriuntur huic seculo
in quantum autem huic vivant, non vident.”
According to this Doctor, the most learned’
of all theologians,’ who believes he understands
the scriptures withot seeing charily hrough-
ont, has yet understood nothing, nonduni, in-
7 a eae
* Meath Peg
On she contrary, he says as we have already
seen, a man sustained by faith, by hope, and
by charity, has no need of she scriptures, if it
be not to instruct others, . It-is thus that ma-
ny of the solitaries live with these three vir-
tues, even in the deserts, without having the
sacred books.""(10)
e are not to be astonished at this: here is
the reason which this father gives us:—*Al-
though holy men charged with the mioistry,
or even the holy angels, should labor to ins
struci, no one learns well what he should know.
in order to live with God, unless God himself.
renders him docile.””’. ...2°, “Thos the aid
of instructions are useful to the solitary when,
given by man, provided God operates to make.
them useful."(11 —
XV.‘ Perhaps, my Lord, it will be said”
that the scriptures are now what they wére
in primitive times, that bishops have, by their.
ministry the same authority, and that the faith-,
ful ought to be nourished with the same bread.’
Iris true'that the books of scripture are’ the:
same; bat hothing else is now in the same.
condition: men who bear the name: of Chris-
tians have no longer the same simplicity, the’
same docility, the same’ preparation of mind
and heart. We must regard the greater por-
tion of the faithful as persons who are only
christians by their baptism, received in their
infancy without their consciousness and with-
out voluntary engagement, they dare not re-
i
under their hands, something, in the books,
termed divine, to release them from the yoke,
and to flater their passions, ° We can scarces
ly fook’upon such men as even catechumens.
The‘ catechumens, who ‘formerly prepared
themselves, ai the same’ time, for martyrdom
and baptism, were infinitely superior to these
christians, who have the name only to profane
it!’ On the other hand, the pastors have lost
that great authority with which the ancient
~ (6) Serm, 350, pe charitate.
» (7) De..Genes, ad Lite. 4!
(8) SermeT, iu Psal. 4820 °° 4s
Vet gaye rst
'9) Thid. 1. 2. ¢.36
fy Ibid. 2 €. 39.
(I) Inid 1 4 @. 16, 0 33,
tract theit promises for fear their ‘impiety,
stould’excite the horror of the publie.—They
are even foo inattentive and too indifferent to.
religion, 10 be willing to give themselvesthe
trouble to gainsay it. ‘They woold, never-
theless, be very glad to find, without difficaliy ™~:
i
i