The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-11-07

4
OF tine evils Of personal and domestic morality,
| and purifying the personal and, domestic NOR
aiity 1T purified the public morality and life of
nations. And this WAS brought about by the
faith ana knoWledge of God and the, laws of
God-by the sacrament of matrimony-the
union OF the husband and wife restored to its
primitive unity and Its indssolnble contract
by the authority, the supreme authority of the
Christian Church - that pastoral authority
whereby men are restrained by law and by
order, and thus elevating the society of the
world into the Christian world But then
came great conflict; the natural society of
the world stroye to destroy the Church of
CHRIST out of the earth. .Threehun6ihed years of
persecution followed, and the Christian society
gained little by little its ascendant over the
minds and Wills of men, until the world was
weary OF persecution and the Church entered
upon peace. From that time onwarda the ma
tural and supernatural societies of the world
have been at least in state of mutipy topeth-
er down to a time he would hereafter mark,
until they saw Christendom or Christian Eu-
rope in q state in which the spiritual and civil
powers and authorities stood side by side, with
many jars and contentious indeed, but never
theiess with public laws and mutual relations
and duties acting in cooperation together, so
that the natural society Of the world, which
Taught the unlimited lawfnlness of divorce,
was taught the absolute indissolubility of
Christian marriage-the natural society which
taught that fathers had power of life and death
over their children was taught that those chill
dren were the children of God-theirs in the
order of nature, but theirs not in the order of
grace, heirs of the kingdoms of Heaven, wards
committed TO their guardianship, whom they
were bound to bring up in the nurture Of God
and the knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ
They were taught also the duty of mutual
charity one to another. The law authori-
~ aud equality as taught in its perfection
IN the Christian Church under the supreme
authority of one head. That was the state of
the Christian world when these two societies
were in unity together-when every member
OF the State was member of the Church.
when every law of the State was in conformi-
ty with the laws of the Church, when the laws
OF Christianity were inscribed as part of the
laws of the land, when men believed that hu-
man society had not its perfection in being
founded on the order of nature only to the e&-
clusion of religion Indifference to religion,
but when it was founded on the only religion
revealed by Almighty God the only basis. of
life eternal. Then was the time when the ma
tural and supernatural societies were united
together, and acted in mutual cooperation.
Aud now he came to that date to which he be-
fore referred-;}00 years ago. Germany and
England and the north of Europe separated
themselves from the Christian Church. They
broke the bonds of union and renowned the
supreme authority; they constituted them
selves independent, upon the basis of their
own authority, and they went their way and
what that way was he would endeavor to trace. |
There were three things in that division. The |
first was n schism. The second was rejection |
of the divine authority of the church, and the |
third was the setting in motion of that which |
men now called progress, the unlimited, I'M |
guided. aud hcentous action of the human in |
tellect and of the human will without law and |
without. guide. Looking at the condition of |
Germany, they were told the other day it was /
a question whether four-fifths or three-fourths |
did not believe in Christianity. He would not |
determine The proportion. And looking to |
England, divided, sub-divided, parcelled out |
into he knew not how many sects and denom-
nations, each interpreting the Bible for him I
self, because the supreme authority of the |
Church had been rejected. In every country |
that had separated itself from the unity Of the |
Gh,1sGh gY Mas hrefeeted by the public
! Avs. The indissolubility of marriage was de-
stroyed, and the law of divorce was intro
dueed The foundation of the natural order
8f the family itself was broken up. Whereso-
ever divorce entered, the authority of parents
the obedience of children, and the equality of
the family were shorn, if not destroyed. What |
the effect of that change had been he would |
leave those to say who had the daily reports of
the tribunal where such cases were tried before
their eyes. Then it was also announced rs Il |
that national education must be with |
out religion-that the education of children |
belonged to the State Within the last few |
months he had seen it again and again de- |
clared in those authoritatiye newspapers which |
public opinion to a great, but he |
hoped not to the full extent, that il not |
for fathers and mothers to determine how
their children should be educated; that must |
be determined by the supreme authority OF
the State. They told that in the matter !
of religion it was Indifferent whether men |
agreedeit might be good if they could, but
the State had nothing to>do with it, and every |
man had a perfect, uufettered, unlimited |
freedom, not only of thinking as he likes, for |
the State had right his thoughts, but
TO speak as he likes, aud to SOW with both |
hands broadcast errors, heresies, impieties and
hfuspfreruies where viii -ti4at-tAeFe-iS-Tl
authority on earth to restEsSH the sowing of |
that seed of universal desolation, immortality,
and unbeIief, and rob posterity, children I'M
born, of their inheritance of truth and saliva
ton, and all to crafty the unlimited liberty
and the supreme freedom of each individual |
man If ever there was spirit of revolt
against God it was this; and yet it was in
scribed in the public laws of what was called
modern civilization. Tie wUuft expfuiu the
meaning of Liberalism, progress, and modern
civilization. Liberality meart the giving to
every man his due, and giving of our own
freely for his good; liberalism meant giving TO
another that which did not belong to ourselves:
The truth of God and the laws of God and the
rights of parents-those belonged to man,
and to give them away were an impiety. What,
then, was the meaning of progress A depart
ure from that union OF national order and ma
tional laws of states with the supernatural
order which the law of God had revealed in
Christianity. What, then, was the meaning
of modern civilizationl The state of political
society founded upon divorce, secular educa-
ton, infinite divisions and contradictions in
matters of religion, and the absolute rcnuncia-
ton of the suppeme authority of the Christian