The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-07-10

!, 1870.
my, they mutually require eaeh Other 70
incarnate in its excellence the Idea Of the
Good, which 10 the vital principle Of Al
ethics, but the pricise point, in which both
meet and are harmonixed, was never hit upon
BY mankind saye whom indicated to them by
the God-given wisdom of Christianity.
Heterodox peoples having, through the
false principles they took up with, lost
sight of the true conception of the moral
archetype, were mot slow in forming the
most vicious, exaggerated and absurd ideas
of the contemplative and active states Of
life which we are now considering. But
the reader must bear in mind that We are
speaking of the Pagan, not Of the Christian
world, and that il, while We apply the
terms contemplative and active TO the false
mysticism of Eastern and the aim1ess activ-
ity of Western nations, we do 30 simply to
indicate with greater brevity the two lead
ing theories of Pagan morality, whether
ancient or modern, we must by no means
be supposed to refer to the serious, deeply
meditated aetion and the 1abori0us and
fruitful contemplation inculcated in the
Gospel and practised by the Saints. These
shall be considered in THAR proper place.
In every moral system the ruling iaes il
taken from the ultimate end assigned by
that system to human actions, in other
words, from the determining conception Of
the second ideal cycle. This cycle, having
to corresPosd to the first, implies, accord
ing to the doctrine of the emanationists the
creation Of ones own personality, for tho
emanationist, considering the productien
of things as . simple phenomenal transSor->
nation of the one original substance, and
therefore mere transplanting Fit cat Of
its perfect state, must place the eDd Of the
second cycle and ultimate beatitnde in the
dissolution of all these vaf&ppeasances
and his own annihilation. And % Interior
perfection in this life consists in anticipa-
ting as far as while init 10 possible tho ulti-
mate bliss of the life to come, in Fastening
the fulfillment Of the last cycle and getting
q foretaste Of it's unutterable epioyments,
the emapationist's absorbing duty b, by all
means, to abdicate his own personality,
and keep it in allegiance, since he may not
utterly destroy it. To succeed in this, he
must make every effort to suspend reflec-
ton and concentrate all his faculties in the
single act of intuition-because one is
centrifugal and the other the reverse: re-
Election draws man to the consideration of
himself, and intuition absorbs him into the
object Of all knowledge. And as the in
tuitive act predOminates in contemplation,
must characterize distinct
lively, with Pagan nations, every nantes
tation of the moral law, whenever their
practical ethics differs not from their specu
lative systems. This is no less true of the
imperturbable politics of remote and alb
stemious India than Of the accommodating
" higher law" prevailing nearss homo in
restless, dyspeptic America. Bnt this sors
Of contemplation, while it il absurd In its
principle, is immbral in it's consequences,
because whose addicts himself to it, having
at all times to lose sight Of himself and all |
external things, neglects also his civil |
duties, or if he performs them at all, it is |
more by way of compromise with expe- |
diency and for saving appearances than to |
comply with the requirements of state in |
life which he would commit q grievous sin |
in not needing. His sole duty, in his view |
of duty, is to identify himself as far as pos
sible with the object which he contem-
plates, not, however, with the active love
which characterizes Christian contempla- |
ton, but with sterile inertia Of the mind, |
which by not exercising paralyzes all the
other spiritual powers. Since the affections
will not so easily adapt themselves to this
he takes it to be his duty to |
extirpate them, but with the wicked and in
ordinate propensities of nature he roots out
also its best and most generous elements: he
1--WE refer to old drowsy India, al
belt the reader may think we are delinea&ipg
the character of the modern Preshyterian,)
enjoyments the most harmless, not By any
means for greater good, but because he
holds for wicked and intrinsically bad,
interferes with his favorite pre-
or disturbs that complacent
stupor, which might be not insppropriately
;ermed the dolce for niente of the soul.
THE LATE ARcHBrsHoP AND THE Re
CHuROHEs.-Whent the news of
he decease of Archbishop Odin was officially
the Ref5eun toriHt Eatharn krolr