The Irish standard., 1896-08-29

watchword we must adopt; It will keel
before our minds the characteristic O
this enlightened age. But of all the puff
that are puffed from pulpit, platform ant
through the press the greatest puff O
all is the one that claims Professionalism
to be the greatest, the grandest, the pur
est, the wisest teacher of mankind
They have succeeded in persuading sal
perfcial minds that up to the advent o
the so-called reformation the world wa
in a. pitiable state of ignorance and bar
barism. But since Luther welded hi!
filthy pen against the church, since Cal
vim sowed the seeds Of mental depravity
and since Henry VIII. desecrated the sa
cred bonds Of marriage the world ha:
been enveloped in one continual puff
proclaiming victory for Professionalism
not SO much in religious matters as II
matters of education. It's religious life
which was only shadowy and .sentimen
tai, is fast disappearing, and when mer
will have learned to think for themselves
when the historic prejudice which they
drink in with their mothers milk shall
have faded from their hearts, when his.
tory and not calumny becomes theil
source of information, when the mists o.
bigotry shall have disappeared before the
sun of reason, then may Protestantism'f
funeral rites be chanted. But while The
slow advancing and creaking wheels OF
Professionalism have made much noise
the Catholic Church made giant strides
and never puff. She attributes all hel
success to Him who promised to be with
her all days till the end OF time. When
Professionalism was in the dim future
when the name was not yet coined, the
Catholic Church had civilized the nations
OF Europe.
Her self-sacrificing sons had penetrat-
ed into the forests of Germany and con-
verted the German barbarians to Chris
tianity which owes its growth in Europe
and throughout the whole world to ths
fertilizing powers of the blood of mar.
tyrs When she poured the saving wat
ers OF baptism Oh the heads OF the I'm
tutored sayages of Northern Europe the
CALLING chains that kept hem in slavery
fell from their. hands and she gave them
civil liberty She brought peace anG
happiness 10 the poor and desolate homes
of Europe She taught the nations uni
ty, furthered their mutual interests with
the sword OF the gospel she checked polit-
ical despots and preserved Europe from
becoming Siberian wild. -
Never says James Anthony Fronde
never in all their history in ancient
or modern times, never that we know OF
has mankind thrown out of themselves
anything so grand, SO useful, so beauti-
full as the Catholic Church once was
And again he says, Gin no order of men
were such qualities to be found as they
were found 500 years ago in the clergy
Of the Catholic Church.
Canon Farrar, the great anglican min:
lister, says, What is it that preserved the
best elements Of Christianity in the
Fourth century? The self-sacrifice OF
the nermits. What is it which saved the
principles of law and order and Clviliza-
ton? What rescued the wreck OF an
cient literature from the universal con-
Migration? What kept alive the dying
embers of science? What famed into a
flame the white ashes OF art? You will
say the church; you will say Christian
ity. Yes, but fer many a long century
the very bulwarks and ramparts OF the
church were the monasteries and the one
invincible force of the church lay III the
self-sacrifice, the holiness, the. courage
of the monks" AnG yet with this unim-
peachable evidence before us, with this
fact shining in the pages of history as
clearly as the sun in the heavens some
enlightened people still continue to give
the epithet "iazy' to the monks and
priests and the epithet Ignorant to all
Catholics. But as there is nothing new
under the sun, neithel, is that epithet of
recent invention, for it is as old as Chris
tianity itself. The early Christians
were despised because they were poor
and uneducated, and Gibbon takes as
much gusto in repeating the slanderous
accusation as the average Englishman
does in masticating his Cheshire cheese.
Dr. Hurd, Protestant bishop declares
that the circumstance of making and be-
lieving the Pope to be antichrist is the
first leading principle of the reformation.
And the acknowledgement OF Sterne, a
Protestant minister, proclainls tbs prac-
tice of many an eminent churchman.
when I have little to say he confesses,
cor little to give my people l have re-
course to the abuse of Popery. 1t has a
two-fold advantages it costs me very lit
tie, and find by experience that nothing
satisfies 80 we'll the hungry appetites OF
my congregation. They always devour
it greedily."
The spirit of calumny manifested by
this mercenary minister underlies and
perneateS the whole system OF Protest
antism But the lives of those men who
sat upon the throne of Peter are ample
proof. And intelligent Professionals have
long been persuaded that the spirit of
antechrist finds no congenial breathing
place with the vatican. The mission of
the Roman Pontiff has ever been TO pro-
mote by legitimate means the Christian
religion, Christian virtue and Christian
education, and history is replete wit
facts that tell us they fulfilled their mis-
sion faithfully and we'll.
Colonel Mitchell. Protestant, says:
deep and indelible is the debt which re-
ligion and civilization owe to the early
Roman Pontiffs. They strove long and
nobly to forward the cause of human
improvement" And M. Ancillon, a
French Calyinist, says: During the
middle ages, when there was no social
order, the Papacy, alone perhaps, saved
Europe from barbarism."
Now we need make no apology if we
quote the eloquent words of a faithful
son of the Catholic Church, and eminent
and patriotic prelate, a keen controver-
sialist and impartial historian. "Bene-
fits as Archbishop McHale says, ":are
seldom sufficiently valued but by their
contrasts the glory and happiness of
Europe with the degraded condition OF
the East will not fail to acknowledge
;oH1 Ind "a rt, pr,