The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-12-23

ance of humility. The Pharisees were
liberal in their aims, mortified in their
lives, lengthy in their prayers; but
their pride spoilt it all. The publican
beating his breast was humble, and,
therefore. was forgiven. While God has
compassion on sinners, we are told that
He hates the proud. But there is no
need to dwell on the truism that. of all
Christian duties. the most essential is
that I'VE humble ourselves under the
mighty hand of God" Now, of all
Christian practices, | think there is
none so humbling. so humiliating, as
the practice of confession To tell to
fellow creature the thoughts that
We have indul5>sI, the mean, selfish,
disgraceful acts we nave done, and to
tell them in all their naked hideouS-
ness, is a process which knocks the
pride out of a man better than any
other that [ know of in the whole
world. 1t is this which makes the con-
fessional so unpopular with average
Englishmen in the present day Cardi-
nal Manning said in one of his tenn
perance speeches that drunkenness is
the besetting sin cf Eng nd. Drunken
ness is bad enough, God knows, not
only in itself, but because of the other
sins which follow in its train. Never
theless, | do not agree with His Emil
nence / am quite certain that pride
is far more subtle, more dangerous,
more deadly, more ruinOuS to the souls
of men than drunkenness. 1t is re-
spectacle vice, a vice which breeds no
remorse in the soul, a vice which is
often accompanied with great show
of virtue, and even of piety, vice
which carries with it fatal blindness
and hardness of heart, vice that rem
ders a man impervious to the sweet in
fuences of Gods grace Now, a true,
heartfelt confession of sin is incompat-
ible with pride. This is why the tri-
bunal of penance has always been one
of the mosg cherished institutions in
the Catholic Church. This, too is the
reason why it never can take root and
flourish in any of those forms of re-
ligion which have thrown off the yoke
of the Church, and proclaimed the right
of private judgment and tie autocracy
of the Individual conscience. To con-.
fess ones sins TO God, who knows them
already. REQUIRES no exercise of humil-
ity, such as is Involved in confessing
them TO a human being, who knows
nothing of them beforehand. 1t would
be simply an intolerable abasement
self at least to the ordinary Christian,
unless he saw in that human being
God delegate and representative, ond
unless he knew that this abasement OF
HIiliESll IL d Hc1CSSeNiJ NOAANAIlOil W NAAN
salvation of his soul.
WATCHING OVER THE YOUNG.
I must add yet another advantage
of confession of a very differ
ent kind. 1t has probably often
occurred to the mind of many
most Catholics, as it has often oc-
Cured to my own. that II there were
no other proof of the paramount claims
a. Church we ShOnl6 find
a sufficient one in the elaborate care
with which she watches over the in
nocence of the young. To guard from
evil and corruption the lambs of the
fold is one of her chief duties and
privileges. This loving care she in
herits from her Divine Founder, Who
was the friend and lover of little chill
dren. Now, l do not think that it IS
possible for any unprecedented and we'll
informed person, who compares the
practical working Of the Catholic sys-
tenn with that of any other religious
system in the world to deny her UNI
rivalled and unapproachable superb
gritty in this respect. She shields her
little ones in their early childhood with
all the jealous care of the most tender
mother, and when the time comes for
the safe seclusion of the parental roof
to be exchanged fora freer intercourse
guards for their purity that are I'M
known. or almost unknown, outside
her fold For the due education of
boys, large schools and for those of
the upper class, largesboarding-sc schools,
are a practical necessity.
THE DANGEROUS TIME TO IN
NOCENCE
Then comes the dangerous time, and
how great the dangers of that time
are is we'll known to every one who
has had an experience of the inner
working of English public schools. To
keep boys safe from a most perilous.
if not a fatal, contact with vice and
gin, is a. problem which has exercised
the mind and troubled the conscience
of every one who has taken part in
the management of any of our large
schools and colleges: and those among
Protestant educators who have studied
the subject most deeply, and who have
had long experience to guide them,
have had. to admit, with sorrow and
grief. that the task was hopeless
one. They have had to submit to
what they considered an inevitable
evil, and their best hope has been by
personal influence to mitigate to some
extent that which they knew they
were powerless to prevent. But is the
evil one for which no remedy can be
provided? God forbid! The Catholic
Church provides an effective remedy
for this. as for every other evil Incl
from large experience, and with a
full knowledge of the subject. Again
and again have been assured by boys
who have passed through Catholic col
leges from the lowest to the highest
FORM that during the whole of their
time there they never heard one i'm
modest word, or came into contact
with any sort of temptation to evil
from those with whom they associated.
I have known some who at the end of
their school course were as innocent
Of moral evil as on the day they en-
tered, and were utterly shocked and
disguised when they were thrown into
the vortex of the World outside, and
had to listen to the kind of talk that
too often forms the common staple of
conversation among those who have
had Protestant education.
THE CHURCH GUARDS HER
TENDER PLANTS.
I shall. perhaps, be told that the
Catholic system is dollhouse sys-
tenn" and [ accept the smile. Does
the prudent gardner expose his tender
plants, during their early growth, to
the cold east wind and the nipping
frosts? If he wants them to be strong
and sturdy. he watches over them and
shelters them from the fatal influences
that will blight their growth and leave
traces of evil that can never be wholly
removed. In like manner does the
Catholic Church She, too, guards her
tender plants, and with prudent vigil
ance avails herself of the means with
which Christ has provided her, to
train them up to habits of virtue and
to a hatred of sin. fostering their moral
strength and their love of all that is