New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-25

ROME Dec. G.-In the brief interval which is now
10 elapse before the assembling of the Council, 1T
nav not be inappropriate to say a few words on It's
aims and purposes gathered in conversation with
intelligent Catholic authorities, and from some
what careful study of the prominent organs OF pub
lie opinion in Rome. OF course, discussion OF the
cardinal points of Christian doctrine held by the
Catholic Church is to be expected. Whatever has
been already decided as belonging to faith remains
intact Neither Pope nor Council has the power,
even If they had the disposition, to change an Ota
of the DEGREES of the Church They have received
the precious deposit of the Apostolic faith IN sacred
trust and can neither add to, take from, It's IN
tegral univeTsaty The Church, as represented by
the hierarchy who form the legitimate guardians oil
the Christian tradition, can only explain and define
the doctrines of her creed without presenting to the
faithful a single new article of belief But the APP
plcaon of the doctrines and discipline of the Church
varies with the progress of events and the condition
Of the world. The development of history manfests
new aspects of human society, and reveals new
wants of Christian civilization. Every age has its
peculiar characteristics is exposed to moral pers of
its own opens novel paths of intellectual error and
practical transgresson. and demands the interven-
tion of the Church in a form adapted to its methods
of thought and its peculiar temptations. The pres
ent age is marked by its revolutionary spirit Moth
ing stable in the traditions of the past the speCu
institutions of government. We are afoat on dis
nal ocean of uncertainty and doubt. 1t is this con-
dton of the civilized world according to the leaders
of Catholic opinion which calls for the special inter
ference of the Church. and makes the cOnvocaton of
an Gcumenical Council matter. not of choice or
dscretIon but of absolute necessity. The only bull
wark, in their view. against the destructive ten
denotes of the day, and the actual dissolution of
civil society to be found in the conservative action
OF the Church. The desperate state Of mind which
they indulge and which indeed they dOubt culti-
vate can only be understood from the perusal of
their writings. Those who remember the fierce and
gloomy protests against the progress of liberal ideas
which were made by the Conservatives of New
England some thirty years ago. when few
audaciOus young men presumed TO question
the infallibty of popular tradition in Church
and State can form a faint conception of the spirit
with which the innovations of modern thinkers are
regarded by the consecrated depOsitaries of the
Apostolic faith. For few years past" says one of
their most eloquent writers, these sectaries have
thrown off the mask. and from one extremity to the
other both of the old world and the new, have re-
vealed their irresistible power These are the men
who have forced nations to an official apostasy, who
have covered both hemispheres with storms and who
have constrained the Holy Church of Christ to pre-
sent to ChrstendOm the supreme remedy OF an Gcu-
menical Council" If we are to believe the Catholic
aarmists, the advocates of freedom of thought at
the present day compose vast and powerful organ
izatiOn which threatens unless speedily arrested to
lay the whole fabric of the Church and of society in
ruins. In of the nations of Europe even Cath
Olcs have been contaminated by their pestilent in
huence; they have been shaken in their allegiance
TO Rome and the Pope; everywhere misunderstand-
ing and confusion prevail but divine hope is held
forth from the assembling of the bishops in Council
which will represent all the wisdom, all the reason,
all the enlightenment all the practical sagacity,
which the Providence of God has vOuchsafed
to humanity. The desire of personal indie
pendence, according to another view, taken
by leading Catholic writers. is only
milder form of the revolutionary spirit. This
principle they insist is at the root of the prevailing
evils of modern society. 1t has spread its dire con-
tagion over the individual, the family the institu-
tions of civil government. 1t has out of the
alienation of man from the Word of God The issue
of it is DEATH 1t has separated the individual from
his Creator taken from the marriage tie the religious
sanctity which it derives from the Divine Revela-
ton, and deprived nations of the support of the
Supreme Ruler by intrusting their political destines
to governments that have rebelled against God and
encroached upon his rights. The system which has
been hOnored with the pretentious names OF mod
ern civilization" modern progress freedom Of
thought" human dignity secularizaton," and
the like, is a system of moral and political death
1t can only give birth TO anarchy and the destruction
of civil society. Failing to recognize the legitimate
authorities that have received the divine sanction
and especially that of the Vicar of Christ the visible
Head of the Church. its inevitable consequences are
contempt Of law, family disorder, popular agitation
the degradation Of mOnarchies, the violation of
treaties and the disruption of all social bonds and
the substitution Of brute force for justice to the
advantage of INSCRIPTIONS tyranny. The action of
the Council, it is believed, asserted, by the
Catholic leaders, will tend to restore
society from the influence Of modern lib
erty of thought. They maintain that it
will prove the appointed means for the regeneration
Of the world. Its triumph the devil is certain
and this triumph will consist in the suppression of
the principle of independence, and the substitution
of the principle of order founded the authority
of God The designs of the Council here deve-
oped in nutshell In one word it aims to suppress
the school of liberal thought which has played such
mischief in Church and State, and reestablish the
supremacy of the Pope a barrier to modern pro-
gress Political governments are to take their lessons
from the Vatican; the teachers Of philosophy are to
sit at the feet OF the Pope science is to be nodded in
the form of tradition and men like Humboldt. Ham
iton. Spencer Tyndall and Huxley, before annOunc-
ing their discoveries are TO obtain the consent OF the
College of Cardinals
The proceedings of the Council not likely to
possess great degree of immediate interest, although
the results may possibly assume certain historical
importance All the discussions are to be held in the
scholastic Latin of the church. which affords little
SCOPE for oratOTy besides being unintegible to the
mass of hearers as the pronunciation of the language