The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-22
Conservation or Bishop Meyserney.


Inc conservation of a Bishop of the Church
az any time or in any place is a solemn and
important event. There is nothing new or
novel In 1t, and yet sufficient importance
at'aches 10 1T to call together congregations
winch no Christian temple nor other public
building IN this city could accommodate.
Such an event took place yesterday and
such congregation gathered in and
about st. Patricks Cathedral The Rax
Father McNerney, who has SO long
and SO faithfully filled the Office and performed.
the duties of secretary to the Archbishop If
this diocese, has been elevated to the episconaI
Office. Having proved himself worthy in that.
which was least, he has been called to higher
duties and greater responsibilities which we
have no doubt he will accept and perform with
the same ability which has marked his past
career and in the same spirit Of reliance upon
the Divine Saviour who has thus called him to
feed and watch over the flock which He hath
purchased with His own most precious blood.
Sixteen bishops and more than ninety priests
from different parts of the United States and
Canada assisted the venerable Archbishop
McCloskey in the conservation ceremonies
From the very fnll report of those ceremonies
which appears in our columns to-day the read
ers of the HERALD, who could not attend, or
who, having tried to gain admittance to tho
sacred precincts, failed in their efforts, will
get an excellent idea of the imposing
pageant, the gorgeous panorama, as it were, of
bishops and priests and acolytes and other
servitors, which passed up and down the broad
aisles of the Cathedral, awning and inspiring
the worshipping assembly with the richness of
their vestments and the variety of their
costumes. The new symbols Of Office which
were worn and borne by the Bishop elect were
gifts from his Catholic friends, who can be
counted by thousands They are rich and
beautiful and worthily bestowed.
The sermon was preached on this occasion
by Bishop Bailey, whose theme was the
Church as a teaching church-as the means
established by God for the diffusion of His
divine truth among men. The prelate ad-
vanced the idea-which he had not the time to
elaborate-that a revelation of Gods will to
man necessarily implies an infallible teacher.
The whole history Of the human race, he con-
the victim of the most shameful errors Even
in the investigations of physical truths,
while men discover many things new
they are continually making a bad
use of them. This is partially true though
not wholly so. That man needed and still
needs divine revelation will hardly be dis
puted, but that the whole or any part of the
of o. ;ob Sc 81 oUs
BILE men and women, can interpret that revela-
ton infallibly has been and may be contra
dicted, because even truth itself is changeful
and changing-not indeed in its nature and
principle but in its manifestations to mortals;
for whether we discern and comprehend the
truth or not does not at all affect the truth
itself, but it does affect our relations to it.
Hence we find the Church Of God from age to
age discarding some things which it once be-
lieved in and taking on others which it had no
faith in. The Catholic Church has done this,
and of necessity it must continue to do it.
But because O man or Church cannot be free
from change, and therefore, not infallible, it's
teachings should not be rejected since the
Holy Ghost, who is the infallible
"
Church, has promised to abide with
it forever. And one Characteristic of His mis-
sion is that He is to guide the Church into all
truth. But as it was in the apostolic days so
is it now, and so has it been all the way along
the Saviour has many things to say unto us,
but we cannot bear them now. And inasmuch
as those revelations are not made in bulk to
the mass of believers, but singly, to individual
hearts, and as no two minds are constituted
alike, nor can they apprehend the same truths
in exactly the same way, SO neither can they,
Individually or collectively, claim infalibility
in the PRONUNCIATION Of those truths This is
the province Of Jehovah alone. y
The confusion which has arisen in religious
matters from taking the Scriptures alone as
guide may indeed present plausible argyll
ment for supreme infallible teacher but the
visible unity Of the Catholic Church can no
more be held to constitute it the only moral
guide of mankind than the visible unity of any
one nation, even for hundreds of years, could
be adduced as an evidence that it was commits
stoned by God to govern the world socially
and politically. Christ's kingdom is set up in
the hearts of men, and He reigns there
whether there be any visible organization or
not. And He must reign until He hath put
all things under His feet, and then shall the
Son also be subject unto him that put all
things under Him, that God may be all in all.
WHAT WILL BECOME OF MEXICO 2-This
question attains a most pressing significance
for the people of the United States by reason
of the facts which are stated in our despatch
from Matamoros to-day. Military men have re-
VOTED against General Cortina and attempted
to assassinate him. He was defended by his
adherents in arms A bloodv FIGHT ens,led