The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-10-20

fill our houses, street corners, cities aud prai-
ries
Bot true men, manly souls and manly oh ar
acters, are painfully few, and are becomi z
fewer every day, till finally they threaten to
die ont altogether. In the early ages OF the
Church, even in the slandered middle ages, up
to the sad apostnsy of the sixteenth century
(miscslled Reformatiou), when the Catholic
Church reigpsd supreme over the world men
knew aud honored their manhood, and practl-
cal religion and whole souled piety were
equally shared by men as well as women. Bnt
since the boosted Refor IN alton, and especially
sir ce the bloody French Revolution. revealed
religion and Christian piety seem to be aoan'
doneQ to the female sex, while men claim II
their privilege to serve the world, the flesh and
the devil.
What can be the cause or causes Of this
Wholesale degeneracy and apostscy OF man
from the service of God and the practice of re-.
Ggion The oause mnst exist somewhere, for
it is God's and natures law that there can be
real effect. without an adequte cause pro-
ducng that effect. 1t is idle to seek the cause
in human nature alone, for corrupt nature 10
the same in woman as in m an, both having de.
soended from the same tainted stock. In truth,
the causes why men, more than women, desert
God and serve Satan, are numerous and noto-
rious. have not time or patience to mention
and stigmatiZe all the causes which lead man
to neglect and diegrace his true manhood: !
will briefly point out three capital or radical
evils, which prevail and extend chiefly amop &
men, exceptionally among womsn. / Suppose
that all of you, upon ref tction, will agree with
me that the most predominant male vices of
our age and country are
INFIDBLITY, 1NTEMPERANCE, AND HUMAN RE,
sPECT.
The first and woret vice, by its very nstnra,
ia Infideity. This monstrous crinse agair st
God and nature consists in denying the exist
divinity of Christ, the spirituality and i'm NOR
tality of the soul, eternal reward or punish.
ment hereafter, the fact and truth OF revealed
supernatural religion. Intidelity robs man of
possibility Of happiness, strives to annihilsts
God, and makes man infinitely more miserable
than the vilest moral criminal An infdel,
like the senseless animal, lives, moves and has
his being only for this material world, which
is ct best bnt vale OF tears. Hs lives without
faith in Gods word, and dies without hope of
Heaven, but with the certainty Of hell as his
everlasting abode. His only aim and greatest
boast is to live aud die like the brute but, IN
like the brute, he is wretohed here aud ten
thousand times more wretched hereafter, when
he falls into the hands of the living God, whom
he outraged in life and Valniy stroVe to deny
and annihilate.
1t is an opsn question whether q sincere
atheist has ever existed; bat there is no doubt
whatever that the name of practical atheist is
legion nowadays Among the old pagan
Greeks and Romano an unbeliever was q nov
city aud was Stunned like q wild beast. In
vain do we search the history of the 10. called
dark ages for the name of q genuine atheist,
dert or unbeliever. Frederick the Second, |
Emperor of Germany, w0s indeed suspected of
being an infdel, bot the fact cannot be satis- |
established. But in our times the |
skeptIc soctfers Of religion not only exist bat
boast of their infsmy, and Increase from day |
TO day. The infidel work of Tom Paine, Vol |
tsire, Rousseau, Strauss, Renan, Darwin and
The 80 called spiTituslists, are now to be found
u hundreds of libraries and Ia thousands OF
1snds. When lately sectaran preacher Of
he gospel publicly and shSmeessly attacked
he doctrine OF bell, scores of fashionable
preachers rushed into The pulpit and hundreds
II ne Sspaper scribblera rushed into print to
applaud and publish the delusive blAspbemy.
Whenever young man begins to gam BILE, steal.
windle, visit dens Of infAmy, break his pareD ts'
esrte, and violate every commandment
4 G1d and man, he invariably adopts and pre-.
euds to believe infdel principles and thos
opes II smother the undying qnalms Of con.
cienoe and escape the avenRinH hand of God
{ is therefore that | warn oil men against the
Monster of inhdelity.
A second evil to which men are exposed 10
he worse than beastly vice of Intem perAnce
Drunkenness is the champion vice of our sge
nd county. For one live infdel among our
len can show you thousand drunkards in
lmost any district of this city. Intemperance
far more general, disgracefal, and disahtrous
! it's consequences than lnfdelity. 1t is
rime abnormal, unnatural, inhuman and
7 Eutal that to Satan alone We can Asoribe its
lveptiOn and introduction into the modern
orld.
IntemperSnce causes Gins innumerAble and c
iseries uuuttersbIe. 1t disgrHces the image
God, hArdens the soul in sin, murders the
,nscience, and Tuins the family and State; 1t 9
axes noble maB vile brute and worse than !
brute: for bru tes cease drinking when they Q
ave drunk enough, while the drunkard sWills !
II he has drowned his reason, till he wslloWs !
the mire, till be becomes an object Of dis
cat to men, angels and demons. Iutsmper- {
ace ruins body aod soul, reason aud will, for
Inc and fame, health and happiness, for time I
I'D eternity. 1t 10 intemperAace that flls tho
he III
1anB, the prisons with thieves, the RsllOws
ith murderers, the graves with untimely
,rpses and hell with immortal souls
Therefore, If vou wish to respect your man
BOD aud save body and soul, Tenounce intsm- 3
srAnce fOE ever aud join as once the noble o
md Of Total AkS.aipers from all ePiEit nOn1