Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Next Page
OCR
Vol. XIL—_No. 13.
Philadelphia, Thursday, March 28, 1844.
: Whole Number 585
THE CATHOLIC ‘HERALD
18 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
M. FITHIAN
No. 72 North Second Street, Philadelphia.
Terms.—Two Dollars and Fifty Cents, if paid
in advance, or Three Dollars, payable half yearly.
“No paper discontinued until all arrearages are
settled." ‘. .
“All Communications, except from Agents or
Subscribers enclosing remittances, must be post
paid, and. addressed . ** To the Editor of the Ca-
tholic Herald, Philadelphia, Pa.” + i
’ By permission of the Post-Master General, any
Post-Mastercan frank a letter containing a remit~
tance, for a Subscriber. ‘Tent bean
Poetry:
De voce ad bea =
Tn yale:#/y9 For the Catholic. Herald. ‘
mee TWEsSCONVERT,
‘There were’ sounds of joyous musie ewelling,
‘Ateve—within a princely dwelling, ’
And a flood of radiant light wasshed,
On many a beautiful, jewel'd head—
Bright chaplets adorned the Juxuriant hair,
‘That in clustering curls shaded foreheads fair,
‘And an odor of rich and rare perfume, +;
‘Was scenting the air of that stately raom. -
Ob} atl steps were light in the mazy dance,
And gladness seem'd beaming in every glance—
But tho? many shone on that gala night,
In the pride and bloom of their beauty bright,
There was one—the lightof the festival,
Who moved ‘mid her guests more fair than all,
While every eye on her loveliness gazed
‘With delight—and many her virtues praised,”
‘And around her stood an ‘admiring throng,
with a gentle song.
‘ous, festive hour, °
In the pride of ber glittering pomp and power,
Did that lady fair ‘mid her splendour feel,
A sadness so deep o'er her spirit steal?
‘The pure light of religion's cheering ray, oi i
Had never been shed on her darken'd way,
And lured for a time by the joys of earth,
She had wearied soon of its hollew mirth;
And yet to every beholder it seem’d, :
‘That her, brilliant eye, with true pleasure beam’d
And her tones of voice were as sweet and gay,
‘Asa bird's glad notes on a bright spring day—
Alas! tho’ her smile every heart could wia,
Contentment was wanting her own within *
And when mirth and the merry dance were o'er,
Her features no longer that radiance wore,
She had seen the thoughtless and gay depart,
‘Then {ree to commune, with her troubled heart,
She murmur'éd—"Oh why does my spirit pine,
While gifts the most priz'd by the world are mine!
Thave dozzling beauty and youth and health, * ‘*
And glittering treasures of countless wealth—
Dearest friends are mine, and they love me well,
"Then why do sad feelings my bosom swell”
And a still small voice” made her this reply:—
“Ob! well may thy heart ‘mid its triumphs die,
For inthrall'd by the meteor joys of earth,
‘Thy pleasures must perish e’er. at their birth.
‘hou wert form’d to dwell ina world of bliss,
‘Afier faithfully serving God in this, ,.,
‘and how wilt thou answer for time misspent,
‘Which was by thy Maker in mercy lentt,,
‘Oh! give Him at least thy remaining days
Ja faith «true penitence, prayer and praise!
ya : i
Touch'd by compunction deep—that lady pray'd, ,
‘And thus petition'd the Almighty's aid—
“Father of Light! thy blessing on meshed,
‘That I henceforth in duty’s path may tread.’
Restrain the wand'rings of my sinful pride, “|
And be Thysell my teacher and my guide—
Give me a knowledge of Thy holy will,
And let meal! Thy blest commands fulfil;
Let me not wander in. dark .error's maze,
But grant me light to understand ‘Thy ways—
My past transgressions, gracious Lord; forgi
And to ‘Thy glory, teach me how to live!
=
. A oeiwol ee
Her Prayer was heard—and grace and {strength were
jiven, t ' ’ t '
7 th that leads to Heaven.
She knew God's promises could never fail,
‘And sought that Church, within whose sacred pale
All who by wildeting doubt and care opprest,
May find the Faith that guides to endless rest.
To guide her in the 5
Did she then relinquish the joys of earth,
Its innocent pleasures and barmlese mirth {
No, still abe wasseen inthe fesial throng, |,
Sui her voice was beard in the joyous song—
But, mid the allurements that fade and die, a
‘She did not forget—Etersity.
But a time there came when her wealth took wings,
And she felt the change that misfortune brings—*\-'?
The flattering crowds that had bow'd before, MM
Around her dwelling were scen no more.
But a Friend was hers—who when all depart,
Still remains the stay of, the trusting heart—
And meekly resign'd to His bless’d will
She return’d Him thaoks for Hie goodne
Affliction's rough path she cheerfully trod,
Sustain’d by the thought—" follow my God.”
And wher call’d away—in the Lord’s chosen time,
Her spirit was borne toa happier climo,
here anthems of praise she now gratefully sings,
To the God ofall Mercy—and Ruler of Kings!
still.
¢
rom.
the Ci dvocate,
etd HISTORY
Of the'life,; works and doctrines of Calvin,
“by M. Audin. Paris, 1843.
: (Continued.)
THE 1N SWITZERLAND.
In 1516, a Franciscan friar, by name, Ber-
nardin Samson, came to Zurich, to preach
indulgences, Among his auditors was a young
priest ‘of Toggenbourg, .whose name ,was
Zuinglius, and who found the word of. the
missionary rather unseemly, Born in: a
Canton, whose wealth consisted of mountains
of snow, glaciers, and precipices, Zuinglius
could, not. forgive, Samson for causing ' the
Swiss to discover some alms, amid the slight
revenues which they gathered from their
fields. ., When, in justification of the zeal of
the brother, who made the collection, it was
said to Zuinglius that these, voluntary alms
were destined for the completion of ' that
Basilica, on which Bramante was labouring,
Zauinglius shrugged his shoulders, and pointed
to the summits of the Alps, bathed in sunlight
and presenting a thousand artistic caprices,
either be conceived or produced by human
imagination. ‘The name of Bramante awaken-
ed in him no emotion; by: his instincts, he
resembled the vulgar reformers of Germany,
and Carlstadt especially. .. Only his cold soul
would never have consented to employ brute
foree for the suppression of. images, in th
churches. A,man of thought, he: had made
some study of the biblical books ; seeking in
this commerce with the inspired word to sat-
isfy the curiosity of his pride rather than the
religious; cravings of his soul... He knew
nothing of the created world, but the horizons
of his, Canton, and he thought that. Catholi-
cism, with its images made by human hands,
did not suit the contemplative soul, which, to
meditate upon the works of God, has a suffi-
ciency, of natural wonders’in the, physical
world... He had blamed pilgrimages: to . bol:
places, to, which at. this. epoch, the. Swiss
were accustomed to resort for prayer; he, dis-
covered that. the Christian who, wished to
journey with advantage, should descend into
his heart, to study himself there first, and from
this contemplation to rise to. the adoration of
the Divinity. This was the most beautiful
.| sanctuary, the others were material. works,
Having once entered upon this mystic way, he
soon made for himself a world, wherein God
was to be adored according to his spirit, as
contracted as the valley where he dwelt, and
of whom every emblem’ must be banished, a
world where the priest’s voice should have no
more authority than it could derive from the
divine word, that is from the naked letter of
the text, )
The declivity was perilous, and led directly
to the abyss. . What would he have said of
the traveller, who, wishing to visit the moun-
tains of Albis, would be content to read | the
Latin description of, some old , writer, and
would have refused the assistance of a guide?
Thus, after having expunged from, his
‘ symbol, , pilgrimages, indulgences, images,
purgatory, celibacy, the curate of Einsiedeln,
causing ruin after ruin, came to deny the effi:
presence. Enlightened by a dream, and some
sort of apparition of a being without colour,
he had abandoned the secular teaching of his
chureh, for @ fantastic. interpretation which
destroyed the very letter, whose, power he
came to re-establish.—Universal _ authority
was by him contemned, and sacrificed. to 3
narrow and gross individualism, , In place
of that beautiful Catholic heaven, , people
with our martyrs, ascetics, doctors, fathers,
virgins, he dreamed of an Olympus, in which
amid the same glory he placed Samuel, Elias,
Moses, Paul, Socrates, Aristides, Hercules,
, | the pulpit where Zuinglius
more beautiful far, than anything which could |,
cacy of the sacraments, ;and even the. real | P
Theseus 3 (1) and -even Cato,. who tere. out
his: own» bowels. e comprebend ‘why
Luther has damued Zuinglivs.. (2)
"|; ‘The reformation has. some’ strange boasts.
"| If we listen to it, the exposition of faith b
Zuinglius, is the. song of a melodious swan :
it is. Bullinger, who affirms this. Because
@ mountaineer population, whose gross: incli-
nations are flatiered, allows itself to be: hur+
tied away, almost ‘without resistance, by the
voice of its priest, the: reformation: triumphs,
cries out“'a miracle!” and imagines to. see
the luminous light of . the desert: enveloping
reaches, and the
tongues of fire of Jerusalem descending upon
the lips of the orator.
<s, Those who are acquainted with the con-
dition of Helvetic. society during the middle
ages, have. no great difficulty, in responding
to Bollinger. |, During . that period, : feudal
“| Switzerland was at the same time governed
by her bishops and her barons. -‘T'o the first
she paid tythes, to the last annual rents.- Her
grain, her fruits did not belong to her: she
could only, dispose of them according to the
good pleasure of her lords... When her, sons
came forth from her fields, they had to. take
up the lance and sword, and assume. place
among the retainers ‘of the Suzerains, Switz-
erland has, at the price of her blood, conquer-
ed her freedom, but it was: only to fall: back
under the yoke of. sovereigns, more unman-
ageable than the Austrian. ‘Those iron hands
revenge themselves, by wringing from: the
mountaineer population: the pretended exac-
tions of the Roman Chancery... Delivered by
the arms of their vassals from foreign despot-
ism, they, would be glad to be rescued from
the yoke of the Roman Court. .Who will
free them? (It \will not be the people, who
ave 60 many reasons to hate their new mas-
ters. Nor would the sword be of much use
to them, even should the people be willing to
unsheathe it in their defence. ‘The word, is
then the new Arminius whom. the lord waits
for in his castle.
jLet the word. then resound, and we shall
behold them rally around him who announces
it, although indeed attracted by mere worldly
interests, . Luther declared, * that the golden
suns of the tabernacles have operated more
than one conversion.” | Now the. churches
of Switzerland had suns, chalices,) soutans,
reliquairies, copes, and dalmatics of gold and
silver... Nowhere, in all christendom, could
be found more splendid abbeys, Around these
convents were spread pasture grounds, in
which the seigneurs . would have been de-
lighted to graze their horses. ‘Therefore, the
immediate effect of a reformation should be to
secularize the monasteries, and to deliver up
the riches of the church to the covetousness
of the great and powerful. Protestantism
proceeded thus in Saxony fardifferent from the
princes of this world: who break to pieces the
instruments which they have used, it showed
itself generous, and did not even forget the
cellars of its protectors which it had filled up
with wines stolen from the monks. In Swit
xerland the example could not be lost. ‘That
the’ people, afier all their disappointments in
the war of independence against the house of
Ausiria, consented to Jend to their lord the
lebeian lances which were stored away in the
arsenal, should not awaken our astonishment:
the people were once more the dupes of the
promises of their masters: they expected,
when the hour should arrive, to take part of
the booty of the monasteries, deemed sufli-
ciently rich to satisfy the avarice of nobles
and villains; but this time they were well
determined to stipulate for a larger, share
of the administration of the country.
< In general, the councils, were filled with
the nobles or their creatures, and in some of
the cantons, the powers of the Senate were
really exorbitant. It ruled over the magis-
tracy and the clergy. In case of need, it could
rohibit fractious theologians from grinding
their grain at the city mills, buying provisions
atthe markets, Ithad famine in its service:
the priest could only make use of excommu-
nication, which kills, the soul but leaves the |
body living. ‘The weapons were not equal.
What could the clergy answer to this order
of the Senate of Bale? boy
« We make known to pastors, theologians
and students, that they must be present at the
discussion set on foot by master Farel, in
1. Exposition de‘ la foi .Chretienne, dedice a
Francois, I er.’ .
2. Op. Luth. t. viii. Jen. fol. 192, p. 198,
default of which, they will not have permis-
sion to grind their grain at the mill, to cook
thei¢ bread at the oven, or to buy their meat
and vegetables at the market of the city,”
‘They were forced to obey, for the palace
of the bishop was not provisioned.’ There-
fore, on the day indicated’ by the Senate, all
the streets of Bale were thronged by priests of
every rank; bishops, grand vicars, pastors,
chaplains, vicars, monks of all orders, Fran-
ciscans, Benedictines, Dominicans, Clerks,
‘Tonsurates,' Counts,’ Barons, who searcely
knew how to read, professors of the Univers-
ity, masters of colleges, students, merchants,
peasants, who came impelled by brute force,
to assist atthe tournament. ‘ ‘The theologians
of the two religions were undoubtedly the
natural judges of the field of combat; but most
commonly, the Senate remained sovereign
master.” If, yielding ‘to ‘party ‘influences,
governed by ideas of locality, and’ domestic *
hatred, urged on bythe noise of steel gauntlets,
and the shouts of students, it decided that the
new word had triumphed over’ the old, then
the question was adjudicated, and forthwith
the hand of some mason attached a cord to the
neck of a statue and made it Jeap from its pe-
destal, amid the acclamations of the laughing’
crowd. And in the evening, it was’ public-
ly announced that the image was vanquished,
and that Moses was right in forbidding the’
worship of idols, which, against the text of the
decalogue, had been invented by the papacy.
But if quite fresh from the school benches,’
some seminarian took it into his head to draw
a distinction between’an image and an idol,’
they pointed out to him the glory which cov-
ered the Saint’s head with its halo of massive‘
gold, and the argument was irrefutable. At
Liestal, the ‘ people, excited by the magis-
trates, cried out to the monks: * Discourses,’
and nots masses!" The monks resisted :
“and they cot off their supply of provisions.’? *
3) The historian has not even one souvenir:
of pity for these poor religious, ’and yet they
had cleared out the rubbish from the whole
ous to forbid these passionate ‘contests ‘of hu
man speech, in which Catholic faith could’
acquire no recompense but blessings; whilst®
error,’ if ‘triumphant,” marched away with’
hands full of gold.’ Bat they would not even
hearken to iis voice.’ If the prelates insisted, *
if they-appealed to the weapons of St. Paul's,’
anathema, they were driven’ from their sees,
‘Then Capito (Kepflein) and CEcolampadius
(Hausschein) usurped their places and enact-*
ed the office of Judge, theologian, priest, and,
bisLop.. Zuinglius, who divined the hostility”
of the spiritual power, had organized a reli~ |
gion in which, according to his gospel, (4)
the priesthood was devolved upon every chris-
tian; so that senators who yesterday perform-'
ed the part of theologian, would waken up tu-
morrow, priest according to the order of the
pastor of Einsiedeln, © ©: ‘
‘The religious form of the country was soon
changed in Switzerland : Bale, Neuchatel, °
rich, Coire embraced the reformation. But!
Luther's work had been spoiled; he no longer
recognised it, so profound was the transfor+.
mation! «At each theorem, from some new’
evangelist, the Saxon monk roused himself, in’
order to condemn ‘the indocile soul.“ When:
Ccolampadius died, he caused the Devil “10'
intervene, to account for the sudden death of
the theologian. ‘ When’ Zuinglius fell at Cap-
pel, in bis suruggle with’ the lesser cantons,’
the doctor returned thanks to God for having
removed from this earth that“ enemy of the!
holy name of Jesus.» Whilst Beza sang :
Zwingle, homme de: bica, sentant’ son!
€)
Delamour du grand Dieu, de !'amour du pays, .
A Dieu premierement voua sa vie, et puis)
De mourir pour Zurich'ea son’ ewur fit emprises|
Qu’il s’eu acquitta bien, tue, reduit en ceadre,
Ul volut Je pays et verite defendre, ‘ .
*t Zwinglius, a good man, feeling his’ soul’
absorbed with love for the great God, and love’
for the country, vowed his life to God first,’
and ‘then his heart resolved to die for Zurich, :
of which he well acquitted himself being kill.
ed, reduced to ashes, he was desirous 10 de-
fend the country and truth.” ==" snacc 5!
| » Gcolampadius : and, Zwinglius, \ having’
abandoned the doctrines of ‘the Saxon Re- +
former, were: desirous to constitute a distinct <
,
2 Hottenger, p. 491. Ruchets Hist, Reform. ?.
ot
b a .
4. Paul Henry, t. 1, p. 133.