St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-02-20

| lectual horizons reaching far beyond the
! brightest dreams OF other times open
before the vision; aspirations. indefi-
mite, but potent, toward higher planes
OF existence and most complete broad
/ ening out of the individual, thrill souls.
| Progress is the acknowledgements at
all costs and at all haZards-perish what
may of ancient things; perish, a
thoughtless humanity does not fear to
repeat society or church, if society or
| church obStruct the way. The church
never changes in her first constitution
or in haI principles. The mighty task
OF Leo is to maintain the interchangeable
church amid changing humanity, and
to convince humanity that the princi-
pies OF the Interchangeable church are
the cardinal points around which in its
evOlutionS humanity itself must turn,
under penalty of emerging, in spite OF
its hottest and best aspirations, into
chaos and death.
The TWO-FOld- Element ia the
Church.
The church never changes; and yet
she changes. There is in her the double
! llfe--the acknowledgement and the
| h@man, and the human changes. There
| is, even in the acknowledgement life,
the principle, and the application of the
principle, its adaptation to clrcum-
stances of time and place, and this ap-
| pilcation, or adaptation, changes. We
| must distinguish in her life and action
the absolute and the relative, the perma-
nent and the contingent, what she re-
| ceiyed from her founder and what she
has put on of her own accord, what she
| must teach and what she may endure;
| how far new circumstances demand new
| applications of principles inviolable. and
| how far. those circumstances giving way
TO others, other applications may be
brought into play The divine life of
| the church is always guarded by her
! founder. We talk now of her human
life. The two extremes are to be
| Stunned - ultra-consefyatism, which
clogs the chariot's wheels and retardS
| the march, and imprudent precipi-
| fancy of action, which endangerS
health and strength and inflicts harm,
where Immortality would at least
| have been innocu0uS. 70 determine
the golden mean is genius. The leader
measures the past, the present, and the
! future; he sees before him the mighty
| interests Of religion and humanity, and
the mighty consequences of inactlOn, or
| OF action; of repression, orOf impulSlon;
| he gauges the degree and the force. and
| he decides. Ecclesiastical action is
naturally conservative and restrictive.
| There is so much at stake that move
ment is dreaded; principles must re-
main, and all novelty seems danger to
| principles. Then, conservatism is easy
and safe; it suits the timid and the
| INDECENT, and it covers timidity and
| Incidence with the cloak of righteous
| ness and wisdom. The human mind,
too-and the human mind is as human
n of nh nf of ctof
usually small and narrow; it proceeds
along the valley, and deals only with
the few elements it encounters. Seldom
does it rise to high altitude, whence
with eagle-eye it surveys the near and
| the far, the present and the coming, and
| seldom, on this account, does it grasp
the entire situation, and is it in posi-
| ton to
Formulate a Rule of Action,
There are men who seldom see at
time more than one fact or one aspect of
principle, who fear the loss of the
| permanent and the absolute, if amid the
varied evolutionS of human things, it is
transferred from one earthly mold to
| another, and puts on varied working
| forms. The first mission of the church
| is to hold aloft before the eyes of men
| the ideal, what ought to be, if the world
was to do its duty. Unfortunately the
| world in common practice falls below
| the ideal. Churchmen studying so
| much the ideal are in danger OF making
no allowances for the practical, and OF
never enduring what they dc not ap
prove. In this category come the
| theorists and the intranSigents, who
take willingly to themselves the whole
| infallibility of the church, and are ever
appealing to councils and syllabi, when
there is no question whatever OF
! definitions or principles, but of
adjustments and expediencies. Ul-
| conservatives and intransigentS
| have always been in the church. they
are III it today. They exist in Europe
as well as in America, near the pope as
we'll as far away from him. They are
numerous. The external conditions of
the church during the past four cen
| turtles have tended to drive the church
| into her SanctuarieS and theological
| citadels, and to increase within her the
restrictive and retarding elements.
| They were rather in the ascendancy
when Leo appeared on the scene. They
we're strong. They wrapped themselves
| up in the cloakS OF safe tradtlonallSm,
and strict orthodoxy, and freely tainted
| those who differed from them as dan-
gerous liberalizers and imprudent in
novators.
Leo aseends the pontifical throne.
we'll fitted out by unusual intellectual
| parts, worldwide observation, and ma
! tured thoughts. From the Vatican hill
he reads with unerring glance the move
mentS Of the times, diScernS in the
| church the movable from the immova-
| bic, and, rising in giant stature above
| his surroundings he fearleSSly gives the
- 81 for TT,p nd II Q
we'll as in human things.
The Aspirations of the Age.
Is the age right or wrong? 1t is both
| right and wrong as you view 1t under
varied aspects, and cOndemnationS of it
! are justifiable, las we'll as approvalS of il.
| according as you take its evil doings, or
! its good doings. But this much am
! willing to say aloud of my age: Its
| broad, general aspirations toward great
| er liberty, greater light, and greater
| Well-being of humanity in those
| aspirations the age itself finds its defui-
| tiOn-are right, and demand from us
| admiration and hearty cooperation.
| They all make for the uplifting Of hui
| manity, the betterment of the children
of God. They are the continuance of
| the divine creation; they are the in
breathings in men of the spirit OF the
/ Gospel OF CHRIST. All the workings or
God, in nature and in grace, are for
mems elevation; and the vital princi-
Piles which underlie today the evolu-
| tons of the race are the principles of
! charity for felloW-man, of light for the
mind, of peace for the heart, OF liberty
for the Individual and society, which
| Christ preached, and which the church
for centuries nurtured close TO her
| heart, when the outside world disdained
them and strove against them. Why
| should not the church, why should not
her chief pontiif, reach out in love
the hand to this quivering, burning hui
mainly, recognize in its aspirations
heavenly paintings and the fruits of lis
own lessons, encourage all that is good,
deter from what is bad or dangerous,
and do the woman part i'll the forma
ton ana fastening of the new epoch?
| All this is surely the mission of divine
church. Woe to her leaders the Found
er Of the church will noa hold them
blameess-if the world were to move
without them, and if upon the new seas,
toward which, for veal or woe, human