The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-11-13
Letter from brother HyasInthe.

REVEREND SIR-I am as much
as surprised at the honor
Vou are DISPOSED to do to the few dis |
courses I have published IL Europe. |
Some of them are actually the produc- !
ton of my pen, but these are very |
few, and relate to circumstances OF !
time and place which L fear will have !
no interest for American readers.
The others, more important IN their
subject, since they are part of the
course of conferences instituted at
Notre Dame by the Archbishop of
Paris, are extant only In detached
parts, taken down hastily In short
hand, and the gaps filed by an i'm
perfect summary.
I should have been glad, I acknowl-
edge, if I could have brought to
America something less unworthy OF
the sympathy with which I have been
received here, and which l shall
always reckon among the greatest
honors and purest joys of my life.
Such as they are, however, L CON-
nit these rude productions to the
indulgence of your readers. French
man and Catholic as ] am, present
them, through your hands, to that
great American Republic Of which
you are citizen. to those numerous
and aourishing Protestant Churches
of which you are minister.
I am proud of my France, but /
deem it one Of its most solid glOries
to have contributed to the independ-
ence of this noble country, which it
has never ceased to love, and which
it shall some day learn to initiate. A
people with whom liberty is some
thing else than a barren theory or a
bloody practice; with whom the cause
of labor is never confOunded with
that of revolution, and never divorced
| from that of religion; and who, rear
| ing under all forms and all denomi-
nations its houses of prayer amid its
| houses of commerce and finance,
crowns its noisy and productive week
| with the sweetness and majesty of its
Lords day. And on the seventh
day it ends the work which 1t has
done and rests the seventh day from
all its work that it has made.
| / remain faithful to my Church,
/ and if I have lifted up my protest
| against the excuses which dishonor
it and seem bent on its ruin, you may
measure the intensity Of my love for
it by the bitterness of my lamenta-
ton. When He who is in all things
our master and our example armed
himself with the scourge of cords
against the profaners of the Temple
His disciples remembered that it was
written: 1.-THE zeal of Thy house hath
eaten me up" I continue faithful
to my Church, but / am none the les;
4 sensible of the interest which Will bS
taken in other Churches in what ]
may say or do within the pale o.
Catholicism. Furthermore, havt
never denied that the Christian com
munions separated from Rome were
disinherited of the Holy Ghost, anC
without part in the immense Worl
of the preparation Of the kingdom o
, God. In my relations with some O
the most pious and the most learned
, Of their members, / have experienced
in those depths of the soul, wher'
: illusion is impossible, the unutterabl
{ blessing of the communion of saints
: Whatever divides US externally il
space and time vanishes like dream
} before that which unites us within
the grace of the same God
the blood of the same Chris
! the hopes of the same eternity
Whatever our prejudices, oar alien
atIOns or our IrriCar1ons, under tn
, eye of God. who seeth what we can
not see, under His hand, which lead
! eth as whittier we would not go, we ar
all laboring In common for the up
! building Of that Church Of the futur
which shall be the Church of tn
past n its original purity and beauty
but shall have, besides the depth {
its analysis. the breadth of It's synthe
7 sis, the experience of its tolls, Il
: struggles and its griefs. through a
, these centuries.
! In the sad days of schism and car
j tivity, the word of the Lord came t
: the Prophet Ezekiel, saying: Tho
son Of man, ia e thee one stick an
, write upon it, For Judah and for th
! Children of Israel, his companions
! Then take another stick and writ
I upon it, For Joseph, the stick {
. Ephraim and all the house of Israel
7 his companions and join thor
I one to another into one stick, an
they shall become one In thy hand.
. Ezekiel xxxvii., 1917.
+ 10 me, likewise, who am the leas
q of Christians, In those visions of tn
: soul which are never refused to on
: devout aspirations, the Lord hat
! spoken. He has placed in my hanS
. these two sundered and Withere
branehes-Rome and the children {
. Israel who follow her; the Churche
of the Reformation and the nation
9 that are with them. [ have. presse
5 them together on my heart, and undo
the outpourings of my tears and pray
: ers Ishave so joined them that hence
: forth they might make but one tres
But men have laughed to scorn m
effort, seemingly SO mad, and hav
asked Of me as of that ancient seel
7 Wilt thou not show us what tho
: meanest by these things?" (Ezekie
. xxxvii. 49, And /, looking upo
: that tree, that seems still barren an
Z mutilated, even now behold the bril-
! liant flower and the savory fruit.
zone God. one faith, one baptism"
0 "And there shall be one flock and on
shepherd
: BROTHER HYACINTHE.
{ HIGHLAND FALLS, All Souls Day, Nov.
q 1869.
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