The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1909-03-06
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
The Chief is rot responsible for the
views expressed by correspondents.
still on the Warpath.


Mr.. =. +. Arceneaux again, in your
columns, Eliminates against the Catno-
| lie church. He seems hopelessly set
in his opinion that the church has
been the mother of persecution: the
chrome nightmare, as it were. OF
humanity. From this position neither
logic nor historical references seem
capable of moving him. But I'M
pervious as he has shown himself to
be in this regard, we are convinced
that the great majority of your nu-
merons intelligentreader have been I'M
pressed with the weight of historical
authority, almost exclusively from
nom Catholic sources, which we have
been able to submit, against the views
expressed by Mr.. Areeneaux, upon
the various points of this present con-
troversy.
The best answer we now can make
to the last re-hash of the gentleman
named, and the. best additional proof
which we can give of his persistent
unreliability, is to quote some further
non-C Catholic authorities, bearing
upon these questions.
The English historian Froude says:
Never, in all their history, in ancient
times or modern, never that we know
of, have mankind grown out Of them
selves anything SO grand or beautiful
as the Catholic church. Froude,
Short Studies on Great Subjects {Vol.
lii: Times of Erasmus and Luther
Gibbon, History of the Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire, fch. Xxi, Vol
VI, p. $50. Harper Bros. ed. 1891 /:
f'The authority of the priest operated
in the darker ages as a Statutory
antidote. They prevented the extinc-
ton of letters, mitigated the fierce
ness of the times, sheltered the poor
and defenceless, preserved or restored
the peace and order of society,""
Before the Reformation came, she
1.-THE church, had enfranchised almost
all the bondsmen in the kingdom"
(Englandl. Macaulay, History of
England, Vol. j., p. 80.
II the papal power had not been
adapted to the conditions of Europe,
it could not have subsisted. It was
the remedy Of some of the greatest
evils. We have to look to the
Abyssinians and oriental Christians
to see what Europe would have become
without the papaey. It was morally
and Intellectually the conservative
power of Europe. For in all probable
ity the west, like the east, must have
been overrun by Mohammed anism, and
sunk IN irredeemable degradation if,
in that great crisis of the world, the
church had not reused the nations to
united and prodigious effort COM
mensurate with the danger. In the
frightful state OF society which some
times prevailed, the church every
where presented controlling and
remedial influence. Southey, Book
of the Church.
"She 1.-THE church) combated with
much pertinacity and perseverance the
great vices of the social condition,
particularly slavery \. The
church did not labor less worthily for
the Improvement Of civil and criminal
legislation Finally, she en-
deavored by every means in her
power to suppress the frequent re-
course which at this period was had to
violence, and the continual wars to
which society was SO prone. Guizot,
History Of Civilization in Europe,
Lee. 6.
''The church had, moreover, agita-
ted all the great questions which cor.
cerned man. She was solicitous about
all the problems of his nature. about
all the chances OF his destiny. Hence
her influence on modern civilization
has been immense, greater perhaps
than has ever been imagined by her
most ardent adversaries, or her most
Jealous advocates. Guizot, same
work, Lee. 5.
ssThe Catholic church was the very
heart OF Christendom. The result Of
the ascendency it gained brought
about a stage of civilization that was
one of the most important in the evo1u-
ton OF society ~. Catholicism
laid the very foundations of modern
civilization. Leeky, Hist. Of Ration-
alism, Vol. II, pages IS, 81, 2oa.
We could multiply quotations SIM
liar to the above and from Protestant
or Rationalistic sources, but for the
time being we consider those given
sufficient for our purposes.
Let US present a counter. glimpse of
the effects of Luther and his teachings
upon human knowledge and human
culture.
Erasmus, in 1928, declared: Where
ever Lutheranism reigns, there liter
allure utterly perishes." Quoted by
Hailam, Lit. of Europe, Vol i, p.
1857. In the same year be wrote 10
another letter: ST dislike these Cos.
pel1ers on many accounts, but chiefly |
because, through their agency, litera-
ture languishes, disappears, lies droop-
inc. and perishes: and vet. without