The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-01-19


u Now. from what did Christ purpose to
cave the worlds W hat was tne evii s SHas
He came to remedy. Answer-the nrst
evil oar Lord came to remedy was lgnor-
ance--icnorance the most deplorable, the
most profound! Could anything be more
terrible than that state OF Ignorance IN
which Christ found tise world men o,
profound genius, bowed down and wor-
shipped their own vices aud their own wick
edness. and called those vices God. The
whole world worshipped impurity under
the name of Venus, dishonesty under she
name of Mercury, who was tho God OF
Thieves: Revenge, under the pauie OF
Mars every vice and passion, even to the
Dassion Of Ayarice, that eats the heart out |
Of the miser, which they adored under the
name, Of Ptutus, who was the protector OF
riches and Of those that sought them. lS
was bad enough to be ignorant Of the truth
but they went further, and they not only
Loaf sight Of heaven, but not content with
the darkness of EARTH they went grovei-
ling down into he'll, to find their God there.
. The second evil shat Jesus Christ found
in Che world, wide spread, was the evil of
impurity sapping and destroying tne VIA ha
power and strength Of men. He found "a
soon as manhood began to dawn upon Them,
, N soon as they began to feel the throbs OF
-virile blood in their veins-He found them
yielding to every prompting OF the base
Command, going out ravenning to crafty
that poisoned the spring Of life and de-
ssroyed all hope of future manhood. He
found impufity all over the world, SO that
the vistue of chastity was not only not to
bo found amongst men, ont 1s was not
even known amongst them-it adno name.
g. His Virgin Mother, the p1rest of Gods
creatures, had her avirginity laid as re-
proach upon her. From this impurity 1T
would follow that there wasno snch thing
as the family circle, with its blessed and
holy influences. The Roman wife was
slave, dependent upon the mere caprice of
her husband, who, when time had borne
the bloom off her cheek, exchanged her for
another and fairer and q younger woman.
And in the third place, Jesus Christ found
the evil of dishonesty. No mans word
honesty seemed to have persisted. The
old straight forward manner of the first
republican Romans had Departed and in
the lettering, efete empire dishonesty
commercial, social, Observation-Disclosures the
order of the day.
These were the diseases under which
the world suffered. Men sinned because
they knew no better; they were ignorant.
They were stepped in impurity-their man
hood was gone out of them, SO that few
thousand barbarians easily broke up and
smashed to pieces the mighty Roman ena-
pl10s anu ONcECtbMO UuOb0 OuCO luNAASlUAS
legions that had given law to the whole
world. And dishonesty had crept into ev-
cry rank of life society was rapidly break
ing mp into chaotic elements.
What did Christ say and dof He told
men that he had come down from heaven
expressly 20 teach them, in order that all
rnen might know the truth. He emph attic
ally declared that from his lips, and from
the lips of those he had appointed to teach
them, the world should gain-not spirit
of inquiry, nay friends; not a spirit of
protestanisna looking for the trlith-no! but
he said: "You shall know the trnth: you
shall have knowledge of it, fixed, clear,
and definite, and in that knowledge you
shall find your freedom you shall know
the truth aud the truth shall make you
free"
And then the Son of God laid his hand
upon little child and said " Blessed are
the clean Of heart, for they shall see God"
and to all men he said, " u uless you be-
come even as this little child, you shall not
enter the kingdom" AS if He would say
"Behold this child; no impure thought has
ever soiled its innocence no unlawful
crime or sinful passion has ever entered it's
breast unless you become as this little
child, ye shall not enter the kingdom OF
heaven"
Ank then he declared the sacred princi-
pie of conscience, that every man should
act to his fellow man as he would wish
them to act to him-that every man who
perpetrated an outrage or injury should
not enter heaven until he repaid the last
farthing. He established the principal of
social, commercial and international honor.
Truth, Chastity, and Honor Behold the
three elements of the religion of Jesus
Christine three grand sanitary powers
that he has put into his church when he de-
clared it to be the salt of the earth. 1t is
by truth, chastity and honor that the church
has saved, is saving and is destined unto
the end to save the world. Without truth,
chastity and honor there is no salvation for
the people.
+ba soIvat;on nf tte nooIlaS 'Eor nrar1
reasons. will give you only one. don't
know that it ia the highest reason, but it is
the one that bears most directly upon my