The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-06-29
and the light of human knowledge.

lire and sword, during incursion anC
conquest by hordes OF ignorant bar.
parlans, to rebuild schools and renew
libraries perishing in all-devouring
contiagrations and to transmit learn
ing down the ages through new gen.
erations OF disciples; to keep alive q
knowledge Of the classic languages
while Teutonic, Slavic, Magyar ano
Tartar tongues were gaining sway
and modern languages were in pro-
cess of formation was no light task
The medieval period was the Heroic
Christian Scholar of the Middle Ages!
Salute him with reverence We who
now in the quietude of academic
courts seek and find the mental train
ing and intellectual armament possible
OF attainment only by reason of the
monks who preserved the sacred fire
OF learning amid the chaos OF Eu-
ropes transformation from subvert-
ed Roman civilization to barbaric
sway and then to modern conditions
OF enlightenment!
| The far-famed Renaissance brought
| with it certain perils and certain
evils. 1t created a zeal for Pagan
art which tended, to some extent to-
ward the decline of that Christian art
| which in Cathedral, monastery and the
| lesser shrlnes constituted one of the
| chief glories of Europe. 1t caused to
come into being, hand in hand with
an enthusiasm for learning, an impa-
t1ence with religious restraints, a
questioning of Christian verities pro-
crossing from day to day until its
sad elimination in the religious revo-
luton of the sixteenth century.
Strange to say, that revolution tore
from the protecting sway of the
Church only portions of the Teutonic
race; leaving unmoved the Latin and
Kettle races Except in Scotland) the
races from which the Teutons had re-
ceived their knowledge of the Chris
tian faith and the precious gifts Of
learning, culture and civilization.
Upon close and accurate inspection
and analysis, we find that the Middle
Ages were, in many respects, far in
advance of the boosted twentieth CEN
tury. Their scholars certainly sur
passed those of our day in the culti-
walton of philosophy and logic and in
their devotion to those subjects.
Logic is sadly needed at all times.
Thinking is for rational beings newt
able. Thinking must be correct or in
correct Logic is the science of COR
rect and well-ordered thought leading
to correct conclusions; that is, lead
Ing to the truth. 1t ought to be a
prominent feature of the instruction
given to the students at all institu-
tons of learning. 1t is one of the chief
weapons in the armament of the soul
One of the most recent errors due to
loose and incorrect thinking is that
which has achieved evil fame under
the title Modernism" The MODERN
lists claim that the plan of salvation
established by the Divine Founder of
Christianity has been misunderstood;
that it was left incomplete and must
be rounded out and perfected by hui
Elimination of a few individuals favor
ed with transcendant powers of rat
iocination.
The error has been authoritatively
condemned and has been well-nigh ex-
tirpated. An example of the ill-found-,
ed and illogical propositions enunci-
ated by the wavering and feeble rem
nants of the false cult, may be seen
in the attempts made to fasten upon
Cardinal Newman the philosophical
paternity of the "Modernist Move
ment." 1t is based upon scanty knowl-
edge and Grass misunderstanding of
his famous book, 1.-THE Development of
Christian Doctrine" Listen for mo-
ment to Newman's own words in the
preface to the latest edition of that
work:
ut is scarcely necessary to add that
he now submits every part of the book
to the judgment of the Church, with
whose doctrine, on the subjects of
which he treats, he wishes all his
thoughts to be coincident."
In one of the chapters Of the book
that great scholar, litterateur and the
ologian who became a Cardinal Of
Holy Church, declares:
There are various revelations all
over the earth which do not carry with
them the evidence of their divinity
Such are the inward suggestions and
secret Examinations granted to so
many individuals: such are the ira
dictionary doctrines which are found
among the heather, that vague and
unconnected family of religious truths.
originally from God, but sojourning,
without the sanction of miracles or a
definite home, as pilgrims up and
down the world, and observable and
separable from the corrupt legends
with which they are mixed, by the
spiritual mind alone @
There is nothing impossible in the
notion of a revelation occurring with
out evidences that it is a revelation;
just as human sciences are a divine
gift, yet are reached by our ordinary
powers and have no claim on our
faith. But Christianity is not Of this
nature: 1t is revelation which
comes to us as a revelation, as q
whole, effectively, and with a profess
sion of infallibility; and the only ques-
ton to be determined relates to the
matter of the revelation
Despite these express and emphatic
assertions of absolute orthodoxy, a
writer in the Contemporary Review,
of recent date, falsely Identifies New
man with the so-called "Modernists"