The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-12

laDguagea. The church was decorated
with. splendor snrpassing the Temple Of
solomon ln all is glory. It's massive columns
ana graceful arches were hung with cloth Of
gold, Silver tapestries, crimson sink in endless
profusion, and works Of religious art by the
greatest masters. The dim religious light of
the ancient sanctuary yielded 20 the intolera-
bic blaze of many millions of wax candles.
The GTegorian mass in Latin and Greek was
celebrated by the Pope. The magnetism of
the immense audience, which included the
lpitiest dignitaries of Church and State. the
solemn music, the display of military arms
and banners, the religious associations Of the
scene, kindled q fervid enthusiasm. and held
the strongest heads as by a spell of enchant
ment. One bewildered worshipper was SO
excited by the occasion that he lost his senses.
and committed suicide on the spot.
The immediate motive of such a gorgeous
exhibition at this time has not been expressly
declared; but IL is in perfect accordance with
the usual policy of the Church of Rome to
appeal to the imagination through the medium
OF the senses. lt presented the influence and
power of the Church in visible, spectacular
form. More than any arguments addressed to
the understanding, more than all the cold de-
ductions of logic, more than the most impress
sive suggestions of passionless and serene
wisdom, was that holiday pageant adapted to
gain possession of the hearts of the multitude.
The impressible Italian nature is reused to its
highest possibilities in such an atmosphere;
while less ardent temperaments are fired by
example and sympathy. The Roman Church
has always understood the secret of bringing
this element of human nature to bear on the
promotion of its interests. 1t looks upon men
and women not as beings of pure contempla-
tion, not as endowed by their Creator with
exclusively spiritual attributes, not indeed as
capable of high intellectual advancement; but
rather as children of a larger growth, who are
to be tempted, as If by sweetmeats, and cakes,
and fine clothes, to the pursuit of virtue and
the attainment of salvation.
The Church makes great account of the
power of association. If it makes provision
for the indulgence of ascetic tendencies, and
the qualification of taste for solitary life, it
presents innumerable points of contact for
persons of contrary disposition. 1t finds an
effective agency in the aggregate of numbers.
A crowd assembled in the midst of consum-
mate architectural splendors, in an atmosphere
perfumed with the odors of incense and soothed
with the strains of the grand ecclesiastical
music of the middle ages, presents all the con
ditons for profound religious influence. 1t
is not necessary to believe that this is mere
illusion of the imagination and the senses.
The spiritual truth, of which every form of
religious worship is to a greater or less degree
the symbol, is brought out of the sphere of
abstraction, held in solution, so to speak, and
presented in state to be assimilated by the
individual.
Still, we do not look upon the late scenic
exhibitions at Rome as any proof of the in
creasing power of the Church over the most
advanced life of the community. The best
minds at the present day which bow at the
Catholic altar utter an inward protest against
the pretensions of the Pope and the dogmas of
the creed. Many who are more faithful than
Mazzini to the visible allegiance to its au-
thority, agree with him in the opinion that
death has seized upon it's vitals, and that a
worthier manifestation of truth is in reserve
for humanity.