The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-08-30

Is IN MS cunning audacity, FoNiSh;
l. No country ever had more tyranncal lawgive
No State IL more INSCRIPTIONS Partisan:
NO Party more desperate Fanatic;
NO PEOPLE a more dangerous Enemy;
man the dead lmpeacher who lies here.
49,, The Party for which he labored is lost
The People whom he oppressed despise him ;
$ The Wealth which he accumulated is scattered
r Ihe lmpeachcr Manager parades more
!, In the halls of Congress;
And his Name,
Consigned to the keeping of that Oblivion,
Which, happily, is not the Tomb of Virtue,
But of Evil
Shall be forgotten in the years to come;
Or, if recalled to Memory
| Will serve as warning Beacon
Whose light has lost it's Baleful Clare
But still marks the dangerous Maelstrom
Where Human Life was Wrecked.
Bitter, unyielding, malignant, unscrupu.
lous, unforgiving, this man lived, and hu.
mainly brcathes a sigh of relief at his death
When tho world heard that the great, hard
leader was dying, it turned it's back upon
him as an outlaw from the human family,
and Its judgment went forth against him.
Their universal verdict was: Sc He is lost. y
AT the same time God looked down from
Heaven upon him, and said: "This day
thou shalt be with me in Paradise.n
In speaking thus, of course, we pre-sup-
pose the validity of the baptism. When
any man is voluntarily baptized with the
intention of receiving the baptism of Chris
tianity, he becomes as innocent as a babe.
his sins and all their penalties are forgiven
him. The only question is the sincerity Of
his intention. Shall we say, positively, that
MIR. Stevens was not sincere; that he, who
was sternness itself in life would, in the mo-
ment OF death, consent to the mockery of a
solemn ceremonial; would trifie with the
interests of eternityP That he was we'll
disposed, previously, is shown by his saying
that he would rather send hundred miles for
Sister Loretta, the Sister who baptized him,
than have the aid of many preacher. That
she acted with as much prudence as zeal, is
evident from the fact that he died in five
minutes after the baptism.
1t Is one of the mysteries of life how such
men arc saved, while amiable, inoffensiye.
benevolent persons daily sink into death
callous, unbclieving, ignorant of God, indif
ferent about tlleir future existence. We
are sometimes terrified and abashed to hear |
OF the unprepared and uprepentant death of
one whom we had always considered harm
less' innocent and worthy of love, while we
are astonished now and then at the evidently
HAPPY end OF some rough, unloved man
whom we never knew to smile. God and
man judge differently.
Mr.. Stevens may have been gifted con-
with cold, bad, repulsive
nature. He may have been naturally full
'f hatred, malice, and bitterness. If so.
md if his reason and his conscience would
lot yield INTERESTINGLY to inclinations
winch they reprobated, his life was, proba-
'ly, prolonged and doubtful struggle
galnst the excessive evil of his nature.
lis last will shows the tender filial pietv ,
oward~iis mother which he entertained +
ven in his old age. Was he altogether t
adj He was remarkable, also, for candor. I
lie abhorred disguise and his party trem- t
led at the bold, outspoken truths which he c
ould not be persuaded from utterinc. d
as there nothing grand about him He t
esplscd Httleness and meanness. The s
lection proceedings in the South provoked t
is scorn, and he would not sanction some
the worst features proposed to be intro t
iced in the mockery of popular govern C
ent forced upon us. Was he altogether Il
anting in magnanmity 2 Il
Men are judged by their motives. Ami ii
'lllty and benevolence may be maintained t,
please men, and thereby CRAFTY one,s- fc
IT, without involving any sense of v
lty or any desire to please God. OF tc
'urse, God is not pleased by what is not lii