The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-04-24
Papal Infalllbiity-No. 6.

Q The identity of the Church and the tru
# human race, by virtue of the ideal Trut
}, common TO and Inherent in both, isa stron
j proof in favor of Catholicity: for the phil
!. osophic mind it has all the rigor and evi
Q dence of 9 metaphysical conclusion. If tn
Church is the reordination Of mankind, tn
0 non-catholic finds himself in an excentri
3 state, outside Of his natural condition, an,
morally excluded from the race: with re
: spect to Ideal Truth he is running wild; h
is in this regard simply an outlaw, and cor
, responds in the intellectual order to tn
. material condition of one bred and reare,
3 without the pale of society. Conversion
to the Church is therefore but the return O
} the individual to the species, of the exil,
to the mother-country, of the amputatei
member to the body it belonged to; of tn.
} part to the whole. The proposition that
outside of the Church, there is no saliva.
} ton, though decried as the formula of the
most heartless intolerance, is, viewed in
this light, vigorously logical. We, Catho-
lies, have not made logic, therefore can't
be held to answer for its inevitable conclu-
sions. Salvation is the life of the soul,
which is neither imaginable nor possible
without the Ideal Truth, by which it ia
produced. And whenever Providence, by
extraordinary and mysterious ways, vouch-
safes to communicate the truth to one, who,
without any fault of his, happens to be
outside the elect society, it is clear that
that man, once initiated, becomes ipso facto
q member of the body, which by divine
privilege preserves ideal truth in its integ-
rity.
| The Church could not contain the human
race potentially, nor actnalize this potenti-
atty in the succession of ages, if she was
not herself perfectly one, with all the
divers and often discordant parts of which
she is composed harmonized in one organism
with its own inherent life and responsible
personality. The organic principle which
informs each individual and aggregation of
individuals is two-fold: objective and sub
jective, common and proper, impersonal
and personal. Theobjective, impersonal and
common clement is one and the same for
all individuals and aggregations; it can
neither be changed nor modified without
manifest absurdity: it is absolute, neces-
sary, universal-it is Ideal Truth itself. and
In It's purest entity. This browning upitv
conJoIns and harmonizes the whole creation.
from the total existence to which we give
the name Of world or universe, down tn tho
very minutest of its component parts. 1T
resides IN the whole and in each mart ar 4
without going out of itself, without expan-
sion or division; by virtue of the abiding
creative act, it diffuses all around it actual |
existence, force, harmony, number, intelli-
gence and life. Inasmuch as it creates and
governs the universe, it is its soul, TAKING
tins word In nobler sense than the Stoics
ana PIatonIcians used it; inasmuch "a IL
resides in the mind, it is the Intellipible
as it produces, actualizes, deter
mines and classifes the forces of nature. il
is the generic and specific essence of things:
finally, as it informs the divers
associations of men, from the narrow fam
lily circle to universal society, it is the
ldeaiity OF mankind. The subjective ele
ment, being contingent, particular and
Unite, varies in proportion to the diversity
Of individuals or universalities subject to
Its influence. Such is in man the thinking
in people, the national genius:
in organic bodies, the plastic force and
vital principle; in inorganic, the various
orces, the sum of which is called nature.
Now, applying these conceptions to eccle
'lastlcal society, it is manifest that it's OBJ
ective principle is its invisible head, that
s, Ideal Truth incarnate, the WORD made .
eesh and dwelling in it till the end of time: .
While its subjective principle is, as regards
universal society, it's visible head, and as j.
"Sards particular societies, extends to -,
ach and every partaker of the priesthood d.
With him, and through him with the great
fish Priest, of whom he is the vicar. The
'atholic Hierarchy is the organization oe =
he various particular communities of re- -.
enerate mankind with their respective
eads, under the guidance, direction and +
uthority. of one supreme chief And "a r
his Hierarchy is the only organism which, r
y its successive development and am plifi !,
alton, can actualize the moral unisy of the :.
pecies; with all the memorable TYRANNY =
f logic, it follows that its visible bead is -
ne only organic Rrinciple upon which de- 81
ends the future unity of the world. !,
In the first article of this series IL was a
roposed to show up the absurd preten- is
ons of the time servers, who would sacri- a
InrYIa fD fhn r1a -