The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1875-07-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

mont of Christian Doctrine. New York Sad
lier 81 Co. New Orleans: G. ID. Elder.
This little book 10 not so much Catechism
as Instructions on the Cstechism, and has been
published at the earnest request of many Of
the Rev. Clergy. It takee every question of
the small Catechism and explains it fully and
clearly. 1t is intended for the use of persons
who are not Catholics, but who wish to learn
the doctrine and practices of the Church !;
while it will be found of great value to all
persons who are engaged in the task of i'm
parting instructions to others.
instruction xxx. ON the fret commandment
| is one of those exceiiant explanations referred
to above, where only the wilfully blind can
fail to see the truth as revealed by God and
taught by His Holy Church.
We could point ont whole pages of instruc-
tions most valuable to us all, but since every
line and every word is a mine of information,
we can only recommend the entire book to
earnest minds, and trust that Gods grace will
make it the means of conversion for many who
| only desire to know the truth in order to en-
brace it.
Confession. BY Nonseigneur de Segur. Translated
from the Frenea. New York: +. O'Shea. New
Orleans: c. ID. Elder.
| Certainly the blind Bishop who writes these
| valuable little books sees very clearly into the
| consciences of men, and knows how to answer
| all the objections proposed by the infdel, the
freethipker, or the Indifferent Catholic of this
| nineteenth century.
The work consists of thirty-three chapters,
all of which are complete and touching an
| swers to as many objections suggested by those
who do not approach the tribunal of penance.
The learned writer closes his admirable work
by revealing secret to the reader, the secret of
all the objections which are raised against
confession. A spoiled conscience, loaded with
grievous faults and inflated with pride. This
is the mystery The celebrated geometrician
Bouguer, whom D'Alembert called the best
head in the Academy" said on his death-bed:
81 have been an inffiel only because was
corrupted let US strike at the root, my father,
it is my heart more than my head that needs to
be cured"
Selections from "BG7ae8' Criterion" (Which
was briefly noticed Que or two weeks ago):
Nature Of Gifted Intellects. 4 Remarkable
Doctrine of ST. Thomas Of Aquin-Why do
not certain truths, that are in themselves
very simple, occur to everybody? Why
must We regard these as extraordinary minds
who have merely discovered truths which every
body might have knownf You might as well
beg God to reveal to you tine secrets of His
providence, and to tell you the reason why He
has endowed some minds with brilliant abili-
ties, which He has not given to others.
St. Thomas of Aquin treats this subject re-
markabfy well. He says that the faculty of
reasoning proves the weakness of the human
mind reason, he asserts, was given to us that
it might aid our intelligence; hence, according
to st. Thomas, angels do not reason on things,
but simply understand them. The number of
ideas which being has is proportionate to the
power of it's intelligence. The Supreme Intel-
ligence sees all things in one idea, and the
more perfectly the created intelligence imi-
tates the uncreated Intelligence, the smaller is
the number of it's ideas. The one, simple, in
finite idea of God contains all things, and our
ideas are more or less universal, in proportion
| as they resemble the divine idea How sub
lime a doctrine! 1t expresses whole volumes
and shows q profound knowledge of the human
| mind. We may make countless applications
of it. Great minds are not such because they
have great number Of ideas; what distin-
guishes them from other minds is the fact that
in few, vast, universal ideas, they see the
world and all it contains.
Some birds soar high above the
earth; they may make long flights without
ever leaving the narrow windings of valleys;
the eagle, on the contrary. majestcaIIy scars
on high, rests on the summit of The lofty Aims
and looks down on hills and valleys aud the
current of streams, sees vast plains with their
popnlons cities, fertile fields, verdant groves
and mighty forests.
Every question has leading point to which
all others are subordinate. On 1t the man of
!
key for the solution of the question The
greater number of Hen may not he able to- de-
tect this point at glance, but they can at
least mike efforts to detect it 10y degrees They
will thus save time and arrive at happy re-
sults. Sharp observation would show us that
every Question and every scieuce has one or
more capital points, hich are the axis around
which the others reTolve. If these points are
clearly understood, the others will be plain
and easy if they are understood only partially
our knowledge of our subject will be imperfect
fhnf ~
them perfection. The human mind is naturally
weak; objects should, therefore, be presented
to 1T in the simplest manner possible; they
should be stripped of all supeIhuous appen-
dages
If an object has various parts that demand
attention, they should be classified under a few
heads The labor of study is thus diminished.
the mind sees with greater clearness aud pre-
cision, and truth is more deeply impressed on
| the memory, aud Therefore more easily re-
| tanned.
! Letter from our Travelling Agent