The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-05-17

paid punctualH in a currency Which they
can use. Yaefr h:w a4li}s Hes 80
I t Lnsf' . - 20 ~ ~ ---rrT ,iAtR
- en- bs1Flrat Civilizes7s .e 81. -. {
We have he6rd laush of this nlishtsaed
tnineteenth century, With swelling pride
the. men Of this generation boat Of tAeir
century ~ superior in every respect to an
preceding ones, and glorify themselves nm
der he shallow pretense of praising the age.
I'VE win not ssy that this'centary is not the
imost. enlightsned Of the Christian era, Tor
We Relieve that It is. But II 60, is that
lust source Of priide and self congzatuiasion
to human naeurei Granted that civilization
| Is more c6mpaete and moro general now
than heretofore, can human reason claim
this result as it's worki Rationalists and
materialists answer "yes!" and say that
progress il the law of nature. On the other
hand it is urged that nature, as existing in
man, and left to itself, must sink into con-
stantly Increasing depths q degradation,
that Christianity alone rescued civilization
from the DESTRUCTION which threatened it in
the iron age, and that Christianity alone
could have brought it and has brought it to
its present Developments. AZ .,-s
The fact is beyond condensation that ci-
vilization had nearly disappeared few
centuries after the appearance Of the Chris
tian religion and before it's ascendaney over
tablished. Barbarism was settfing like q
gloomy pan over all society. The sciences
were mot taught, the higher arte. were dis
used, and in some instances, permanently
lost. I.aw had become obsolete. Passion
dictated and force executed. Nations had
dissolved into tribes. War was universal
and perpetual, society chaotic, and proud
philosophy, forgetting its insolence, shrank
powerless and forgotten before the storm
which it could not control. 7--T=7777--
It is an equally well established TACT that
the monks and other clergy OF the Church
were the sayiors of science. They exhumed
and preserved the writings that have de-
scended to us. They took under their pro-
lection the arts of civilization which society
was rejecting. Monasteries werc not only
colleges but workshops. Not only was I'M
grateful Philosophy taken in and sheltered
from the outside storm, but writing, archi-
VCSOuAC, pftIubAIE, OkUcAC, 5CuIpJuIO- duU
other arts were obliged to seek an asylum
where they did not properly belong, but
where they were cherished and revived.Ia
Ages pass on, and we have come to the
nineteenth century. Its civilization is NO
longer confined within convent walls, but
has subdued the world. The Philosophy
that covered in dishonered impotence be-
meath strife which trampled it in the mire,
now sits in academic shades, robed in rever-
ence; the Reason which we saw powerless
before the lawlessness of passion has re-
sumed it's sway and the Human Nature,
then fast losing it's image ofthe Divinity, now
stands forth with all its appropriate dignity.
But see the ingratitude of nature to grace.
That Reason which could not save from de-
cay, now claims the credit due for progress
that Philosophy which was plucked from
drowning, now pretends, to have Gained the
waves and appeased the storm, and together
they take that regenerated Human Nature
which was laps;ng into brutality and set it
up for worship, crowned with the laurel of
Divinity. @ ~.
That the progress of society, however, is
oue 10 rehpOn VIII Dc apparent NOT only
from a close examination of history, but by
reference to principle. Civilization is the
development of mans faculties, both of
mind and heart. The greater this develop
ment, the higher is the grade of civilization
attained. This development is the result
of the exercise of those faculties, and that
exercise is dependent upon opportunity. In
proportion as there is less opportunity, less
freedom to exercise the faculties of mind
and heart, to that extent they will dwindle
and contract. All artificial restraints de-
tract from the liberty, from the opportunity
of xrhich 10 tho conditia,,