Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-10-25
A BIunder About Friar HyacInthe.

A city newspaper, in speaking of the
Reverend Hyacinthe and his relations tc
the ultramontane or conservative ele'
ment of the Catholic Church, says thai
this struggle, coming on the eve of the
cession Of the Ecumenical Council, "wil
excite the deepest attention of the religi.
ous world, as portending, in effect, the
beginning of Protestant reformation in
France" &GM ME&NGA
The stupidity of supposing that the eff.
forts of Friar Hyacintbe are tending to.
ward Protestsntism is only equaled by
the ungenerousne of the same newspa-
per in comparing him to Beecher. The
latter effort seems more like huge bur
lesque than the effort to state a fact.
The friar is plain man, who gives him.
self wholly to his religious duties
Beecher ia an ostentstious Puritan, rich
as Cres sus, and who spends more money
every week than Hyacinthe has ex-
pended during his whole life. The for
mer is demsgogue, who is as much at
home on the stump as ia the pulpit. The
latter never made a political speech in
his life. He never wrote for the New
York Ledger, and does not know a trot.
ting horse from q span of mules. He is
the embodiment of sarnestness, sincerity,
and devotion to the religion which
he teaches. Beecher teaches no religion
in particular. He has substituted the
revelations Of the Bsecher family for
those taught in Holy Writ. He is, in eff
feet, q highly developed and versatile
rowdy. Less educated, he would have
been successful ward politician. With
out an education. he would probably have
been prize fighter.
Nothing can equal the absurdity of the
assertion that the efforts of Frisr Hya-
cintbe are tending toward Protestantism.
To assert such q thing is to assert that
two-thirds of the Catholic Church is tend.
ing in the same direction. Hyacinthe is
backed by three-6fths or more of French
Catholicism; by the theological faculty
of Munich, the more influential of the
Bohemian clergy, the majority Of the
German bishops, and no small portion of
the laity and clergy of the United States !
Is it supposable case that all this Cath
olic element is laboring for the beginning
of Protestant reformation2 There
would have been no more absurdity in
asserting that, when there we're splits in
Methodism and Presbyterianism, in this
country, the division portended the be-
ginning of Catholic reformation in the
United States.
The difference between Hyacinthe and
the Pope is the same difference which
exists between conservative aud liberal
Catholicism everywhere. This difference
is we'll stated in q German journal,
which says, when speaking of the ap-
preaching council:
"If the times are now past when the
Roman Catholic world listened with a
holy awe to the decisions of council,
the assembly attracts universal attention
for other reasons. There the heads of
that power will meet which is now at
tackled as the most bitter enemy of prog
ress. And in spite of the obstinacy with
which every change and every reform
has been opposed, they do not seem to
be blind to the fact that the times are
changing, and we with them. The voices
are no longer few and isolated which
show the conviction is forcing itself even
upon the minds of the clergy, that the
spirit of the sgs must be recognized if
the power of the church is not to be
entirely lost. Whole corporations, like
the theological faculty of Munich, refuse
to accept the mon possunaus which at
Rome is considered the only logical
point Of view"
What Hyacinthe and bis cosdjutors re-
fuse to recognize ia that the world does
not move. They have discovered that
any institution which does not move for
ward and keep pace with the spirit of the
age will very soon be left far in the rear.
In fue, the contest is the old and ever
lasting one between liberalism and con-
ervatism-between forces 10 motion and
those at rest. Hyscinths does not differ
from the head of the church on cardinal
points of religion. He does not chal-
lenge the truth of single principle in
volved in the Catholics confession Of
faith. There is not a sentiment in his
sermons or his letter to his superior
which shows a tendency toward or the
slightest sympathy with Professionalism.
He believes, as do thousands OF other
clergymen of bis own faith, that the
church is too heavily weighted with dog
mas that are useless and rules that are
BE and they believe that
to add to these impedimenta the further
weight of papal infsllibility, and the doc
trins that the progress Of the world must
be stopped to keep pace with the snail
like moFemepts of Rome, would be to
fatally oyerlosd the church, impair it's
usefulness, and make it drag upon
rather than the propulsive power Of re-
ligion.- Chicago Times.