The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-04-11
..-,ra STAR AND, cArHoIIo lGEssENelER

~
The Grace of Conversion. ,sst.
- ~ AssfP .L4Sss 1ff@tf
49,. f,eopent accessionss from the Pro-
@.ant communion to the Catholic Church
Vs. well excite alarm, among the seetaries,
nSS feelings of profound JOY and gratitude
ID .no and America we discern a great num-
Typ TX ,sbo. a few years SINCE, bewildered and
pe1ls, m. II, the dark background of con-
s s..iSac sects. now stand out in ltstrous
nle.;S bearing aloft the sceptre of the
p pross in plenary and intellectual power.
gsppr, thrice happy souls Happy IN the
n ,:apidysrv Of the rich inexhaustibfe fount-
disco " Catholic truth, and the saving and
iaI ,iS power of Catholic faithl 35
Tbe Anglican and its daughter, the Epis-
- rsI;;;;eh, have been visited in signal
Sop~n by the special favor of Almighty
cd He frequently makes efolly OF man
70 nraise Him.. The insane movement to
mite the Church Of England with the
Church of God, by coalescing the protest-
hos led MANY to recognize and embrace the
truth as it was in England's Catholic and
hsnn;er days This agitation of the Ca
thaiie and Genevan systems viii continue
Tn he productive of good. Mems minds are
balancing between church teaching with
divine authority and enriched With grace
siy;nr sacraments, and a Christianity that
sroivs ont of each mans private Judgment
eexercisca upon the. text of the scriptures.
This private Judgment is, necessary at the
-ortset of the enquiry, and II logically ex
ercised and taken in connection withrAls
torical proofs and present facts, must lnev-
;tahly lead the seeker into the bosom OF the
one holy Catholic Church But Rfotessant-
ism is the offspring of private liking. or
nrivate interest, and hence its divisions;
and subdivisions, Without any adhesive
nlan of action--the whole Launching itself
rnon an ocean of opposite systems OF faith
in SEPARATE combinations. each combating
waves of human opinion on plank OF Its
own choosing. A portion, respectable for
thair teliieence. han, in the freedom of
This private Judgment reduced the true
faith into a system of mere spiritual phil
osophv, such as Goethe, Carlyle, Coleridge
and Others so eloquently and vigorously
deyeloped. Indeed, the ocean in its storm1-
est commissions affords the truest pIcture'Gf
the Protestant world, as this day it presents
itself to our view. No wonder earnest
seekers are sick at heart with what is, and
are casting about for something to satisfy
the demands of their intellect, something
commensurate with the wants OF their
whole heart. Some, with strong feeling
that their decayed moral nature can be re-
newed only in that order which frees them
from =" the burden of too much liberty"
have the courage to declare for the Catholic
principle But they take for Catholicity
the AnglicanisIn of Pusey, Palmer and their
schools. They are mere Anglieans, and
nothing more. Nay, worse-thelr condi-
ton is awfully frightful. God has opened
their eyes, and yet they will not see. They
are as men standing out in broad midday,
stupidity ignoring the source from. whence
emanates true lightto gladden. and fertilize
the earth. With singular ease and conf
dence they assimilate, their diversified err
rore, mako tho noost Eeinntn- and nnp1aifoSo--
phical subservient to their purpose, and
then complacently talk of the Anglican as
"a branch of the Catholic Church :" Verify
this is what Carlyle, himself as good "a
Protestant as any other, would cali, in his
oddly emphatic way, a sham. No wonder
the sincere, earnest soul, is sorely diSap-
pointed in the moral effects anticipated.
No wonder he begins to have an obscene
but strong sense that all this is paper
scheme, a mere theory, and that while on
the one hand there is an actual system ut
work, that could teach him clearly and
authoritatively, and help and control linn,
there is, on the other hand, a system al
work, and that, too, the old and manifestly
Protestant one; a system that has all. Che
faults of Professionalism as seen in the sects
without their unity, their efficiency and
their zeal. At length lac comes absolutely
to regard the dogmas and formulas to which
he has so long adhered as the worthless ic.
tons of sinful and erring man. He cannot
go back He must either stand still or enter
that Church upon which he and his fore.
fathers turned their backs when starting
out in their enquiries after the truth. Pre-
Cisefy ut this point there is great danger o
falling into absolute spiritual apathy We
were born Protestant, aud tried hard Il
continue 80. We persistentIy sought TO
some excuse far our first love, some instih
cation of our sittllt, Some way o
avoiding the ultimate and redeeming retri
- button of obstinate error. We at length
found ourselves on the brink of abysma
infidelity. Many Professionals are convinced
few are concerted. We do not wonder n
the smallness of the number who do no
respond to the grace of conversion. w
have seen SO many go to n certain point
and then hesitate, or delay, or stop entirely
Many examine with only an Intellectual in
terest. That never brings them within TIL
fold, Many embrace all they Ike of CathO
lie doctrines and practices, and then thinl
they are therefore all but Catholics. Nom
are further off. There is no faith except b.
receiving uhdteUer the Church teaches, be
cG%Se Christ teaches infaliibiy through he1
She does not ask us to like her doctrines
She asks us to submit the, pride of our rea
son to Ieceive them. Our observation con