The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-11-05
A Voice of Warning.

e~s..-S
hear and turn incredulous away.
Z Yea 'tis hard to rouse the slothful from
his sleep!
Was that laugh at the warner and his
words Why,-let the foolish laugh ;-'tis
all that they have learned to do. We
stoop to pity such. IT'S better far that one
should meat with laughter than that many
should be lost.
The cry Of danger 10 q call to duty. The
dutiful scarce need q .cry;-er if they do,
simple warning is enough. Be it never SO
faint, it does not stir their energies into
action for they are always active and act
ing, but it concentrates and directs them,
at once, to the point Of danger. They
wait not for reasons. Their faith has made
them watchful their eyes see far and sure
their ears are keen to detect the softest
football of foe; their wills are ready :; and
their hearts are brave. Ye, who are
such,-ye need no reasons from without
for present action. You have them in
you you have faiths strong, unerring
instincts and in your hearts you feel
those strange alarms that foreshadow dan
ger. You need only cry :-"Deep calleth
unto deep land light to guide you to
accepted duty. And duty known,-honor
to you!-you will be sure to do it.
But the lukewarm unaroused demand
more reasons for "Union" than we have
given. Reasons Are not they themselves
the strongest reasons proving that the
warnings are not false alarms and that
Union is their dutyf
Who arc in the greatest danger They.
Whose faith is held by loosest links
Theirs. Whose courage is at lower ebb
than theirs Z No ones. Who. have flung
away their strongest arms They. What
armsq Sacranaept y confessions, COM
munions, -praysEs.
Aud you-youdAsk reasons for Union .
you who will be the weakest in the con-
flict; who will be the first to fall or fly |;
and who, in the honorless hour of an utter
cowardice, may be tempted to give the aw-
full kiss of Judas, and doomed to suffer his
despair. And you ask for reasons for a
Union I!
Are not your lives, your lukewarmness,
your weakness reasons sadly too strong
aud too many Would that we had not
such mournful reasons to give. But we
give them back to those from whom we
get them. . .--s
Say,-ye men of lukewarm lives and
waning faith when have you laid your
sins at tho feet Of those whose absoiution
girds your soul with the strength of grace
When have you, with your forgiven
heart in your hand, gone up to God in holy
Communion to find in the visible power
lessness of the Little Host all invisible
power against your souls enemlesq
Tell me, when have you bent your knees
in prayer and felt upoa your lifted brow
the gentle fall of Gods strong Benediction
Tell me how long is it,-how many
months,-or have the months without
grace widened into years without God +
since you wandered off from Holy Mary
and the blessed saints and angels,-wan-
dered off and far and oh ! 30 long, that
now YOU faint and fall in utter weakness.
and any foe may come, at any hour, and
you cannot RESIST
Answer me,-and your very answers
shall be the very reasons why, in these
days, of your weakness and your enemies
SCrenRtu, you buOuho sSoh Aoh SASSS
and strong and special with your brother
in the church who bear drawer hearts
WELD stronger weapons, wear brighter
shields, hold firmer faith, show truer cour'
age and lead higher lives.
Alone, the individual Catholic is, in oul
times, exposed to most unusual perils 5
exposed when, mark you he is even of the
best and truest Catholic type;-exposed
when even he leads Life of Practice and
not a mere Existence of inane Profession
Why The,air around us is filed with 6
pernicious moral malaria. Literature
philosophy, science, art, politics seem tt
have fallen altogether under the domin
J ion of evil.
The accent of heaven has gone out of the
words of earth. Men wiite,-they write
the false men read-they read the
false and from their writings and their
roo1;npS mon thipk-ana they think the