The record-union., 1893-01-05

dusty barrel"
| Speaking of the prayer test the Chris
! ttn5 CRiOH says: ''I0 suppose that nature
| is a machine, that God has wound it up
and set it a-goIng, and that when John
and Jane request it He interferes and
readjusts the machinery, is an impos-
| slble conception. But what ii the old
| Hebrew prophets had truer conception
OF God and His world than the Latin the
ologians? What if God is in His world
as the soul of man is in his body? " hat
| II all force is the one Infinite and Eternal
Energy from which all things proceed?
! W hat II laws of nature are only habits of
/ God? What if God is nature and a great
deal more? Then that God hears what
John and Jane ask OF Him, and cons.d-
slders their requests, and acts ac-
| cordlngly IS not an Impossible cOncep-
ton. 1t is matter OF experience says
Professor Tyndan, that an earthly father
who IS at the same time wise ami tender,
listens TO the requests of his children,
and, II they 90 not ask amiss, takes
| pleasure IN granting their requests. W o
| know, also, That this compliance extends
| 10 the alteration within certain limits OF
! the currents of events on earth. With
this suggestion offered by experience, it
| IS no departure from scientific method
TO place behind natural phenomena a
| universal Father, who, in answer to the
rents of those phenomena Mr.. Tyndall
does not believe in the influence OF pray
er on the material universe, not because
the hypothesis is unscientitic, but because
he thinks the phenomena of life do not
justify the hypothesis. The Christian be-
IIeves in such influence because he be-
| IleVes in Jesus Christ and His testimony;
it is enough for him that science does not
contradict that testimony. and that such
| incidents as the preservation of the Spree
| tend to confirm it.''
Doubtless most of the programmes are
| complete" says the New York Christian
AdUocate (MeIh.). "Yet it would be well
| for all in authority in church or Sabbath
school TO consider carefully what it is
| produced to Introduce into the sanctuary.
| The willing workers who endeayor to
! please young and old are entitled to earn
est sympathy, gratitude and cooperation.
The money needed should be promptly
| forthcoming and their efforts applauded.
But coarseness and but1oonery in Gods
house should be received with coldness.
IL IS demorallzlng to applaud anything
! 1rreVerent or low. In a fine church.
| erected by a son in memory of his father,
the ladies OF the society appeared as an
amateur minstrel company with vulgar
Jokes and their faces blackened with
cork! And this in New England city!
1t was not Methodist church, but the
! Christmas celebrations of some of our
! societies have gone almost as far. a few
years ago a lady, who had been disguised
with Methodist Christmas celebration,
and had removed her children to a Prot
| estant Episcopal school within ten miles
OF Central Park, invited us to go with her
| TO the Christmas festival there. We
| went, and here i'll the center of Protest
ant Episcopal influence. in a highly ritu-
/ alIStlc church, we saw a series of per-
| 1ormances which she confessed to never
| having seen equaled for incOngruity
! with the place and time, and for lack of
| refinement. These things show that it is
not the denomination, but the local man
| agement and want of supervision, that
| occasions such departures from proprie-
| ty. Intelligence, attention and good taste
| can prepare a delightful and nirthfuI
entertainment in which all classes can
| take part with equal pleasure, without a
| thlng being done or word said which
will degrade the house OF God or those
| assembled in it,"
Monsignor T: Capel in the Wester7a
| y itHeSs TX. O. "a delicate, intense, filial
| devotion to the Holy See and to the POpe
has been a special characteristic Of all the
| saints in every age. Bitter hatred of the
| Gapacy has been a marked feature of
every hereto and schismatic. To the un-
believer and anti-CathoIic the successor
OF st. Peter has invariably been an OBJ
Ject OF supreme scOrn and a source of in
tense irritation. The worldly Indifferent
| Catholic Is ever ready to minimize the
power OF the Pope, the faithful, pious
! Catholic ever manifestS a high-minded
allegiance, docile spirit of obedience not
only to the commands but to the counsels
and opinions of the Holy Father, child
IKE love and a manly bravery in defend
ing the interests OF the Holy See.
! H'Hprp thpn J., -.
wherewith to obtain a true measure of
! the hight and depth Of the faith and love
III our spiritual life.
mo man realizes that the Pope is the
! Vicar OF Christ, the holder Of the KEYS OF
the Kingdom OF Heaven, the possessor of
sovereign authority over the Church OF
/ Christ unless gifted with faith, and in
proportion to its intensity are these sa-
cred offices inwardly reverenced and out
wardly honored.
1.-The Pope, like st. Peter is the Vicar
of his Lord. He can Judge and he can
acqult; he can pardon and he can con-
| deInn; he can command and he can per-
nit; he can forbid and ne can punish.
He has a supreme jurisdiction over the
people of God. He can stop the ordinary
course of sacramental mercies: he can
| eXcommunicate from the ordinary grace
Of redemption, and ne can remove again
the ban which he has inflicted 1t is the
rule Of Gods providence that what his
| Vicar does i'll severity or in mercy on
earth He Himself confirms in heaven.
Seeing this with clear vision III the bril-
liant tight of faith produces holy awe
and veneratiOn, loyal obedience and du-
tiful allegiance. 1t teaches US that in the
Pope's administrations Of Christ's king
dom, in his religious acts we must never
oppose his will or dispute his word, or
criticise his policy Or shrink from his
side
ION the Vicar of Christ devolve most
momentous duties and responsibilities,
the like of which no other man has. 4
single days government of the Church oil
| God involves more important conse-
quences than does the rule of the mighti-
est or most widely-spread nation. The
| consciences Of millions are TO be in
| formed; the peace of thousands depends
on the appeals made to Rome. Like his
Lord and Master he is crowned with
thorns. There are lurking enemies
within and open enemies without the
church. There will ever be Judases to
betray with kiss, and Pilates with Her
DDS to succumb to popular exigencies,
The eye of Faith discerns this. The true
/ Catholic feeling all this sympathizes in
the sorrows of the Holy Father, pravs
| earnestly for him to be aided in his su-
perhuman labor, gives of his substance
I in way of Peters pence to further the work
of the Vicar OF Christ, following him
WHITTIER he goeth, never deserting him
| however he may be tried, but defending
him at all hazards and against all comers
as son would a 1ather, and as Il wife a
husband, knowing that his cause is the
case OF Cod
Those who pit one Pontiff against
another should take to heart the memo
rable words of Leo MIL, written as
lately as June Il, 1885: The right opin-
ion on this point is that in the govern
ment of the church outside Of the essen
| tial dnties of the Anostnlic Ministry