National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-14
THE GREAT HILDEBRAND.
LECTURE LAST EVENING At LINCOLN
HALL By DIR. LORD.

LECTURE LAST EVENING At LINCOLN
HALL By DIR. LORD.
THE MASTER GENIUS OF THE PAPAL EN-
PIRE-wHAT HILDEBRAND DID FOR THE
CHURCH AND sTATE-A GREAT, GOOD,
BAD AND INDIFFERENT MAN.
A smaller audience greeted DR.. Lord at Lin
coin hall last evening than the one which assem-
bTed to listen to his brilliant discourse on tho
character and nfs Of Madame de Maintenon, On
Saturday night, Jet IL was conceded by all who
heard him on the subject Of "HiIdebrand" that
It was one Of the most eloquent, instructive and
mastery discourses ever delivered In this city.
The Doctor commenced his lseinrs by saying:
II there be theme which affords . grand va
riety Of the different elements whiehgo to make
up grandeur, strength, majesty, poHer, wretehed-
ness, weakness and woe It was the empires Of the
Popes, which came into existence during the
closing days Of the Roman Empire, and held IN
limited and almost marvellous sway through the
middle ages down to tho rsfuigen. dawnIng of the
great reformation, during which time great,
mighty and despicable deeds became indis-
solubly linked with the Roman Catholic
Church, and with all Its glory and shame the i'm
partial Of mankind will unheststingly pronounce
1t the most wonderful fabric OF human genius that
the world has ever seen. It produced some Of the
grandsst intsllects that ever graeed the halls Of
learning or religion, who were wise in council,
polished in learning, eloquent in debate, and
mighty in war, and whose influence had been sus-
ceptIbly felt even In the remotest parts Of the
earth 1t is too grand for sarcasm, too benign for
ridlcule, and too majestic fer comprehension. If
It were an institution, deep-rooted for the mere
enthralment of mankind, mankind would rise up,
and with the power Of truth and justice over
throw and destroy its existence. But this is not
so. 1t has its great truths, its benevolent quail
ties, Its honesty Of purpose, as well as its desp
cable measures its scheming fralties and its glar
ing errors. And amid these compound and varied
elements 1t stands to-day Q great, broad,
an almost ineomprehensible power through
out the world. While temporal
monarchs are hurled suddenly and forever from
their thrones; while old kingdoms are overthrow
and new ones reared on their ruins; while all
these things have transpired, still the Pope sits
In his pontifcal majesty on his throne, unmoYed
and serene, while kings and princes bend with
reverential homage at his feet and own him the
great Infallible. What worldly power can touch
or mar this wonderful fabric. Clothed in rags
yet living in palace; poor, yet rolling In the
wealth OF accumulated ages. It is glory in de
basement, and debasement in glory. What .
wonderful fascination fingers around this antique
power. How transporting are Its chants and
music and mournful requiems. How they appeal
to the senses, and fill and thrill with wonder the
very being Of the beholder. And yet everywhere
on Its surface is written grief repentance,
misery, wretchedness and woe. What hardships
has 1t not made for the world9 What truths and
virtues has It not msrred and destrOyedr Think
Of its Infamous works. its inquIstiOns its Jesuit
ical schemes, Its gunpouder plots, its massacres,
Its torturing murders and countless crimes, nHing
the world with misery and irretrieVable wrong
Yet with oil these there never existed Church
with more benevolent, high-minded, learned and
heroic men than this, and the greatest Of them oil
was Gregory VII, whose baptismal name was
Hildebrsnd-a man who was great and at the
same time weak; mighty in genius, but narrow
minded IN his religious views, and withal re-
spected above any other man Of his day in the
councils Of the nation.
Hildebrand, or Pope Gregory VII, was born in
Italy in 1920 and dedicated to the Church at six
teen; he was sent to the Benedietine abbey of
Cluny, in Burgundy. and rose to be prior Of that
prncely retreat. At twenty-nine we find him al
ready advancing the policy which he afterward
carried out, ruling kings and indispensable tothe
relgning Pontif. In 1918 al my years of age, he
became Gregory VII. Society was then disgraced
by anarchies, mlseries and superstition, all of
which DR.. Lord painted in his peculiarly graphic
manner, and which the enterprising and intrepid
despot. Two evils stood out as pre-sminent in
his eyes-the marriage Of the clergy and Simony.
The first was o greater scandal to him than II
would be to US, but doubtless was fatal to that
absolution which he sought TO establish, rIvaling
that Of the ancient Caesars. but mere I'm
perishable, since It was based on those
theocratic ideas which. the Church ever
wished to secure. And he was sue
oessful in spite OF the opposition Of the secular
.
in Catholic Europe. But Simony, on the sale Of
ecclesiastical benefices, was more alarming
evil, since it was universal and threatened to de-
stroy the vitality of the Church itself Against
this gigantic evil he arrnyed all his powers, ready
to encounter any dangers and willing to meet
any foes. He did not waste his strength upon
ordinary culprits, but resolutely prepared to en-
counter the Emperor OF Germany-the great
Henry-the most illustrious Of the SUCCESSORS Of
Charlenagne. That memorable strife was then
described-the great contest Of the middle ages,
and the grandest in its results. The Emperor,
after vain resistance, was compelled to succumb
to an Italian prIest-whom he even regarded as
one of his own subjects. The terrors Of the ex-
communication which the Pope inflicted in that
surperstitious age, the revolt of Honry's friends
his passage of the Alps in winter on foot
and nearly alone to appease the wrath OF his
memorable enemy-his appearance as q suppl
cant at the fortress Of Canossa, and his final
yielding up the great privileges Of an Emperor,
were described. And then the grand consequence
Of that Papal victory which made Hidebrand
both o hero and martyr, and his church supreme
over all other powers in Europe, were described,
so that all subsequent ages have Endorsed the
policy of the Pope, and the spiritual authority
has dominated over the temporal, and will con-
tinue to make that authority permanent and majes-
tic wherever Catholicism shall continue to be the
religion ofa great part ofthe Christian world The
mighty ideas which that contest brought out are
still the dominant principles of tho Catholic
Church, and can never DO relinquished until that
Church is itself subverted, but which no enlight-
ened man, in the present state Of railroads.&c. In
quiries, would wish to see, since Catholicism, as
well as Professionalism, had mission to discharge.