The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-05-24

y Justly said, that nowhere else has there bee
'e such wonderful disoernment Of the variou
y capacities OF the human mind, and Of thei
e,t yarisas adaptations. Tenacious of the trut
9 and - all its pEerogatives, the. Catlsoi
Cnuroh has, nevertheless, allowed wild
. liberty OF thought. That the Catholic Churc
d has narrowed the understandings of men. /
= angular charge to make in the face of tn
8 schools ct Catholic philosophy, in whicl
a men Of varying mental structure, training
!, or hahitsc of thosght, have had full, free pla,
7 Of their faculties. And where else hav,
there been SO many free and varying activi
ties as IN the Catholic Church The falls.
charge that the Church letters the minds
and mcvements OF men, may be traced t.
the fact that all Catholic diyersities O,
thought have eonyerged, like different rays
of light, in the elucidation of truth. and that
varying modes of Catholic action have had
one ;object-the advancement of truth.
i Here Is tho intended force of all these IL
fussfatl0ns, for they have had IL logical p,ir-
pose. The world will never OutorOw the
Church. AL tine boosted improvements in
science, in art, in civilization 80 far from
impeding the Church of Christ, and making
her existence no longer needed, will, ut the
/ same time, advance her power, and make
her more needed than ever. If i'll the middle
ages, when society was in the process of
transition from the old to the new, the
| Church was pre-eminently needed to keen
what was just and right and true in the
older forms of civilization, and gradually to
adapt to them what was just and right and
| true In the newer developments of society,
most truly is the Church needed now, when,
there exists perfect chaos of opinions, and
when part of the civilized world is in an
| other transition, from the aimless, rudder-
less vagaries of Professionalism to the solid
rock of Catholicity. If ever the voice of
angel Of God, heard amid and above the
howlings of the storm, it is needed now.
Much false reasoning has been uttered
about the Interchangeable Church., as
though, because Interchangeable, nit was not
adapted to q changing and striving 7yorld.
when, in truth, for the very reason that the
Church of Christ is unchangeably true, she
ia required and adapted for all the changes
and emergencies of time. Who ever heard
q sailor complain of the mariners compass,
because, on account of it's Interchangeable
obstinacy, it would not conform to his
private judgments and caprices about the
right coursef Not one. 1t is for the very T
reason that the mariners compass is un-
changeably true to the eternal law of mag
netic attraction, under all circumstances
and in all places, that it is the -unerring
guide among the whirlwinds and heayings
of the great deep. Catholicity is the mari
ner's compass upon a greater deep-even
that of the wild and rolling, beating ocean
OF humanity, pointing, amid sunny Gains,
or gentle winds, or raging gales, unerringly
to the cross of Jesus Christ, as the needle of
the mariners compass points to the north
guiding age after age, the precious freights
OF immortal souls to the harbor of infinite
and unending joy.
The force of this illustration is all the
stronger that the mariners compass is
human adaptation of an immutable law of
nature to navigation, while the Church of ]
the living God is divine alike in origin and
application, and has existed from the begin ,
ming, unchangeable, like God himself, yet
adapting herself to the wants of every age. l
The Church of God is like his own infinite t
in which Interchangeable truth
meets in the harmony of mercy the innu- s
nerable changes of human need. t
Much has been written and more said S
about "the Church of the future" as though {
altogether different from the historic '
church; but the Church of the future, which '
s not also the Church of the past and of the G
present, can be no Church; for a true Church |
must reach to the ages back well as to r
hose before. If the continuity is broken, a
ruth is broken, and cannot be restored. t
As for eighteen centuries there have been Il
10 forms of civil society. no Gains or tenn 9
,csts i'll the moral, political, social, re- 5
igious world, i'll which the Catholic Church "
las not been true to the organic principles T.
# her divine life, even the enemy of Catiio- e
lefty should admit, that fact being granted, II
hat the presumption is on her side that she II
will be equally true to those principles Il
uring the centuries that are to come. He W
nay deny that the Church has been true. Il
nd, consequently, that she will be true, d
ut he will not admit one proposition and 81
eny the other: he will admit both or deny t,
9th. In other words, he will admit "
qually with the friend of Catholcity, the "
lentity of the Church, past: present, and Us
ONE. Now, it will be impossible for a t.
lend or enemy of the Catholic Church, IL
ON her beginning to this very/day, to d.
clint to an Lc1c when she Mas not a Ia
wing Church: it is, then, probable, that d,
he will continue to be living Church. d
nit where, since the PRONUNCIATION OF ..
hristianity to this time, has existed a gs
ody of Christian believers, which, for the de
uailty OF continual existence, has so good Ii;
RIGHT to.he called the Church of Christ as y