The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-06-03

The CATHOLIC TRIENMAL COUNCIL, AND Axorsxa
KSorTr POINT IN THKoLoGY.-The seventh pro-
vincial council of the hierarchy Of the Catholic
Church in the United States, which recently as
sembed at Baltimore, have presented tde faithful
with the result of their deliberations, in the usual
form of a pastoral letter After the accustomed
little rhetorical leurshes with which it seems all
official documents, sacred and profane, must CON-
mence, the Bishops proceed TO speak Of the peou-
liar circumstances in which his Holiness the Pope
has been placed during the last year. They mourn
over his exile, and
Some natural tears they she'd"
as they advert to the " desperate Vaccinations Of
abandoned men," who stripped him of his tempe
raj authority but wipe them soon," in order,
with characteristic zeal, to enter into an argument
in favor of his restoration to temporal dominion.
Now, with much of this pastoral address We
cordially, and, we hope, devoutly, sympathizs.
We think can discern in it genuine Christian
spiiit mingled, of course, with slight sprinkling
of the wisdom of this world. Thus, we admire
the temperance and humility of the style, and tho
truly charitable and afectionate spirit which ami
mates many of the passages In this letter. But We
cannot agree with the hierarchy in their views a.
to the Temperatures of the Roman pontifcate.
The object sf giving temporal dominion to the
Pope in the early centuries of the Christian era.
was to render him and his Office independent of the
influence of the kings and princes of the earth.
Whether that object was attained, we need not stop
to inquire ; but, assuredly, in the present cond-
ton of society, there can be no legitimate
ground on which the restoration Of the Pope.
as temporal prince, can be indicated. Nor
is it at all likely that the head of the Romish
Church can reassumc his temporal character. But
we very heartily cencur in the recommendation Of
the Bishops, that collection should be made in
order to afford substantial "aid and comfort" to
his Holiness, in his present depressed circum-
stances. This is proper and seasonable sugges-
tion We shall endeavor to carry out the benevo-
lent intentions of the Bishops to the best of our
ability, and transmit as large sum as possible in
aid Of this meritorious movement.
But we must not overlook the tremendously i'm
portant new theological question which LAS been
projected upon the Christian world by this pastoral
letter :-to-wit, the freedom of the Virgin Mary
from the faint of original The Bishops state
the question, and utter great many solemn, meta
physical erudite, philosophical, and biblical SEN
fences touching it, looking at it, limiting at, and
magnifying it. But they provokingy abstain from
any authoritative solution of it. They are quite
nor communicates much SO as the famous philos>-
pher in the "Spectator," who declared oracularly
that "there was great deal to be said on both
sides of the question" Now, with all filIa rsve-
renee for the hierarchy, we venture our opinion.
We declare, unhesitatingly, our conviction that
not only the Virgin Mary, but all intellectual.
gifted, beautiful women of genius, are entirely free
from original sln We hope that this decision will
meet the appreciation of tie chief Bishop, and that,
in the meantime, the faithful will keep COOL
Really, really, we are panied by this exhibition
I of weakness on the part of the Bishops of the
Catholic Church in this country Surely, it is time
to drop forever these theological riddles, and
trivalities, and petty differences of opinion, in
hair-splitting polemcal controversy. The eccle-
siastica order in all the churches, are too prone to
this solemn trifing, which affords so much scope
for the and sc0fings of the unbclieving and
the thoughtess. Ignorance and error, and anti
Christian feelings and practices, to be encoua-
tered on all hands. Let the clergy of all denomi
nations direct all their energies, and talents, and
powers, against these enemies of truth and tho
happiness of mankind, leaving the discussion OF
theological conundrums to the boys and the blue
stockings