, 1863-01-20
LECTURE OF FnOF. o. 4. BROWN.
SON, l.. L. D.


Hall, on Sunday night, of which We print be-
low carefully prepared synopsis, was lis.
tened to By q fair audience, and, considered Ms
scholarly production, was both profound
and eloquent. It is perhaps needless to say
that NC heartily dissent from tho sentiments
Expressed by the orator, aud only give the
summary to our readers as the effort Of .
highly educated mud talented man, renowned
for his ability both as a speaker and thinker:
ney ass Sees3 sess3s5 ye. s 6shee g. ens 0fsa s s @
become q Catholic from conviction, and
not from education; and 1t had never
been his habtt to conceal his sentiments,
mud ho should speak thorn out ffankly on tho
present occasion. When he should speak Of
which llo be1ongcd-tliat which Is generally
known ID tic Catholic Church.
tho relation Of the Church to tho Ronnhiic
aud the necessity Of tho Church to the Rcpub.
lie. iu order to enable It to fulfill It's yu!sslo1.
Tho Church 10 both internal aud external.
The internal church relates to The divine lifc;
Visible form Of tue tnternal-thg continuation
Of the Incarnation itself. The external church
is composed Of individunls embracing tho
whole congregation Of the faithful. Tic ID.
fernal was always holy-always divine, Il is
nevertheless, Included In tho cxteruuI, which
is but IN expression Of inner life.
Many condemn the Church b:causc the or.
terror litc does mol fully represent the divine
Idea Of tho internal. Especially do they com.
plain Of 1hc in,perfcctions Of the clergy. Is
elass, the clergy are more perfect than my
other class, but It IL The tyne Of what tbcy
arc by which they arc Judged. Il magistrate.
soycrign, is Judged BY human standards,
but The type Of the priest Is the God 1nnn. It
Is q divine treasure deposited in . vessel Of
often fail to discover the inner light-tho
divine life. Tho reason is tint 1t Is repre-
scnted to us through human intir1nity, human
tnllibillty, hulnan impcrfections, and often
obstructcd by sin or obscurcd by Ignorance.
Hewould considering Church Ia Its relations
TO Society. In no agc has the Church brought
the world up to its own standard. But look
ietianlty, and then can NC not say that
the Church has brought 1t up to- higher and
holier aspirations and larger and more Catho-
lie virtues. In view Of this great change
Christ died not in vain, nor did he institute
the Chrietian religion ii yat1i. These have 50
entered INTO ordinary life, that we regard
them as natural, but the world knew nothing
Of them until the Church commenced winning
of mankind.
The primary mission Of the church is to
Win souls to heaven. But there is no opposf-
tion between this, her primary mission, and
her secondary mission Of advancing human
civilization. The Catholic church does not
ignore the Eecoad-the cultivation Of man in
this world-his education-his Instruction in
things Of this lite. It does not, however,
subordinate piety to civilization, but regards
both as parts Of Gods divine plan.
The ultimate destiny Of man is heaven. Yet
he should not forget the way over which he
traversed, nor that tho world hasa part to act
wisdom ofGod to suppose that any part ofhis
creation should be neglected to build up
another. All that he made hc pronounced
"vcry good" Everything is good In its
Place, Those make gross error who put
civilization above religion, or suppose that rc-
l1glon ignores civilizations, or hurls its
anathcmas upon human progress. It is an
error to suppose that revelation superseded
the necessity Of reason, or anathcmatised its
exercise. It is only reason that can compre-
bend reye1aHon-assimi1ate it--use 1t IN It's
own Nork- Grace aud revelation are Gods
highest gifts. But it is Ill error to suppose
that grace supplants nature, or that there is
no r. necessity for our cooperating with it.
There never was moment since man WIS
created without revelation. It NAV have BE-
come obscured, as mans reasons or intellect
deter1orated-a civilization fell away, but has
been given to man from the beginning. Tie
supernatural pre-supposes human Intelligence,
and would be imperative without it. We
must carry along the two things-grace and
nature 1t Is an error to separate them. They
belong together, as God has placed them. So
with religion aud civilization. They mus be
carried along pari 7'assee- elements Of the
same thing. do not subordinate religion to
society-place Garth above heaven-but re.
gard them ns elements Of the same system.
But take them IN the order established by
God. You cannot have religion In its pcrfec.
ton where there is no civilization; nor can
5on have true civilization without religion.
But let us come down to our times and our
Hepubllc- In the history Of the world he
found no government SO much in accordance
with both civilization and religion as was ours.
1u the idea Of Its founders. Take the idea, and
human wisdom can go no farther. This war
what is it: 4 collapse of the American sys- g
tem-not as It existed in the minds Of its
founders, but such as We hare made II IN prac-
tiee. We may talk Of slavery and Of aboli-
t1on: We may seek for causes in what the
South has done, and In what the North las
done; but the true cause Of the difficulty ia
not here. These are the occasions, the Incl.
dents-not the cause. .
When speak Of the American system, do
not mean the ideaa as 1t existed in the minds Of
oped It. As such, it has Ellicn below
nearly every other system Of the civilized
whence Las this come? 1t has come from
oar attempt 10 separate religion from clri1iz-
one Of the two terms, and that the lowest.
We said, practically, that society can take
care OF itself-it does not need the help Of re-
1igion. Hero has been the first grand mis-
take: When VIC first commenced, will not
say that we had 10 re1igion-no religious
trnth-out truth. re had no religious unity. The
into sccts, and therefore incapable Of fnfam-
ing the civilization Of the country. 1 do not
say thut we had no Catholic truth, but we
had no Catholic truth in it's unity. It was
tue great error Of the Rcformers that instead
Of attempting to correct errors in the church,
they vent out from the church, and thus
broke the continuity Of Christian life. They
broke loose from the church and disconnect-
cd themselves from the part-from unity Of
scattered.
THIS wns the grand difllculty-thc grand
error Of the Reformers. We hare committed
me same error. They became sophistical,
We have taken the earth, not as a medium.
bnt as an end. # VIC have cultivated religion
az al, IL WAS not to bring ourselves into closer
communion with God--not 10 advance ciyi-
lization-but for sordid ends. Ne have held
up commerce as the great cyangclizer and
clyilizer Of the age. VIC have said that conf
mcrce was the best missionary to send abroad
among the nations. Thus we hare IGNORED
God as the great ordcrer Of eyents-He have
subordinated religion, as we'll rs civilization,
to commercial pursuits.
! interpret the present war to be 4 collapse
of democracy, combined with Professionalism,
No*, What is the remedy? In our own
strength, VIC are poWerlcss. We cannot arrest
the downward tending Of affairs. The human
lrm is By far too short for our present strait.
We shall have TO be chastised, castigated,
Y alnmbied, be made to feel that In our strength
Dependence IS upon the strong arm Of the
a Almighty. We have attempted to provide for
he world alonc. Our attention has been
given too much to material things. It Is
necessary that We be brought to betterml
y adyersity, BY chastisement. God has a
:ohtf.se cry with US, for neglecting his great
been too prosperous. They have been carried
way BY their material success from God.
lAey have practically left religion and ciyill-
zet1on to take care Of themselves, and attempt
"a to carry on society without regard to
either. But remember, 1t is said Of the ma
1ons no that l3 forget God, they shall be turned
The might of the Divine hsnd now compels
mem to sut1er-to lose that Of which they
'4on9ht themselves sure-to be conquered
where they felt themselves inyincib1c If this
var lasts long enough to tcach the American
oeople to realize on earth the idea Of the fra
ners Of our institutions-to see clearly, and
lct upon the conviction that grace aud rcyela-
t Will have accomplished good purpose.
3ut this gracc-this revelation must I1avo
ome mode Of being presented medium
through which, It can become operative. This
node, this medium is the cxtcrnal church,
shtcf' Is generally known as the Catholic
Church.
say that the Republic, without the Catho-
tc Church, can never fulfill its mission. 1 do
rot say this hastily. But it is a conviction
orced upon me BY long delibcration, I love