BENEFITS OF THE CHURCH IN THE PURELY NATURAL ORDER

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 19, 19 July 1906, Page 11

BENEFITS OF THE CHURCH IN THE PURELY NATURAL ORDER

(By His Grace Archbishop Redwood.)

(Concluded from last week.)

11. Not are the services of the Church less towards the family. In the heathen world we may say that the family had no existcn c. Slaves had no family.. They could come together only at the convenience and caprice of their mas.ers ; they had no home, and their children were not their own, but their master's. Now, you Inow, sla.es formed the bulk of mainland. The Church appeared, and at o n ce she intervened to improve a situation so unnatural and inhuman. 'She recommended Christian slave-owners to fa\or the marriage of tKeir slaves, to carefully rear their children, to facilitate for thorn the formation of a peculium or private sa\ ings' account, with which they could eventually purchase their liberty and found a -free family. Masters hardened to the material voice of the Church, nay, often they 'did more, ami Christian slaves were emancipated at their marriage. De Rossi found in the catacombs of Rome most touching inscriptions, in which the slavea thus freed thanked their masters for this twofold benefit. How admirable was the solicitude of the Church, when, i-nable as yet to emancipate the slaves, she used all her influence to inspire them with, resignation and hope ! But in heathen times did the family exist even among free men ? Yes, if by family you mean an association of fortunes, a union of some persons bearing the same name and liing under the same roofBut all that was only the appearance or outward show of the family. What really constitutes the family is the union of lives, the fusion of two existences for the purpose of proxreating and rearing ehildr n. The father, the mother, and the chi dren— these are the three constitutive elements of 1h.3 family. What were ihey in heathendom ? What are Ihcy yet in countries devoid of the influence of the Church ? The father, made by God the head of the family, a head which ou^ht 1o lie lull of kindness, gentleness and love, the father who is obliged to work for his own and assume Hie heaviest toil, who is- bound to sot the example of hon-r and virtue, the father when he is sclfsh end profligate, is enly a heartless master and a dreadful tyrant Woman, destined by her grace, sweetness; and incomparable devotednesn to be the queen of the home, the revered mother of her children who grow up like fair olive plants around h:r, was mostly in heathendom a mere object of pleasure, taken or rejected by man at his option— to-day his mistress, to-morrow his slave, flattered to-day, repudiated to-morrow. Victim of her maste-'s inconstancy, she but too often followed has example in dissoluteness, till the severest laws were required to fasten her in slaveiy to a home which man had dishonored. No wonder ; such is the degraded state of woman cv( n at the present day wherever Christ and His Church are not the cornerstone of the home. What is woman in. Mahometan lands ? There numbers of wretched creatures live together pent up in idleness and servitude of £ harem. Those who- are not so confined have neither more dignity nor liberty ; without initiative, without authority without joy, kept strictly apart in the household and excluded from society, they apr'ear in public o%ly with a veil hiding their face and so accentuating their separation from Ihe world. When one reads in the narratives of travellers or missioners the 'sad •condition of woman in certain parts of Africa, and generally m a U countries which the Church has not yet penetrated, the dwdcrery, the ill-treatment, the scornful excttange, the hideous promiscuity to which these creatures of God are subjected, one feels extreme pity or burning indignation. J Nor has the child, that graceful and frail flower , f iSV happier destiny where the Church does not .Protect xts cradle. Listen to what Tertullian relates concerning the barbarous customs prevailing ira iJ«ff * ? a \ Y OT ! d ?, f , his timo : ' Tlhe l^s for Kid infanticide, hut of all laws none is so wan to-nlyt eluded. Among so many men around me a thirst for the blood of Christians, among the upright magistrates so severe on us (let me 1 nock at their conscience^ ™«)f« )f * ho «[ . ma " v ., /re there who have put to death KiT ih cit * C £ ldr » n J by tlr °wning, or hunger, or t£t « rJS? - tCe J? <° f • dOpS ? ' Commenting on this text, a certain historian .pays we can understand it, if we remember the etymology of the famous Latin

words, • suscipere liberos ' '; the words contain a whole drama. The new tynn child was brought to ,the father who examined it ; if he destined it to live "he raised it up, sua.epit, if he doomed it to death, he let it lie. Then it was variously destroyed, or, by more tender hearts, publicly exposed. Pliny alludes to this custom tfuite coolly, and jurisconsults find nothing objectionable in it. & Such was the state of the family in heathendom and everywhere outside the sphere of Christ's teaching- - The Church restored the family. Taking her standon the Sacrament of Matrimony, which makes the union of man and woman one, holy, and indissoluble giving them the grace to lne happily together and to bring i>p their children in the fear and love of God, she reminded man that, if he is' strong, he must not abuse his strength, hut use it to protect the two weal: nesses entrusted to his care— the woman and the child. She excommunicated men, were they kings or emperors, if they dared to infringe the laws of morality or violate the indissclubility of the marriage t-ond We may instance Robert the "Pious, Philip 1., Philip August, who were excommunicated for the repudiation of their lawful wnes, whom the Sovereign Pontiffs, as the unfailing guardians of morality, forced them to take -back. By this persistent watchfulness over the sanctity of marnapje, the Church gave to woman her true place, not as man s slave, but his companion. She encircled the woman s head with the spotless diadem of wife, mother and queen of the home, which had been suffered to fall into degradation. As for the chid, you know what the Church has made it : the object of all jour desires, all your anxious cares, all your thoughts, all your devotedness, all your loi.e. If in that noMe circle which surrounds your table and gladdens your household, there are any who are more loved than others, they are surely the infirm. 'Instead of re.ccting them or dooming them to death— as certain people still do who call themselves civilised, but a rc not enlightened by the " Gospel— you cover them, on the contrary, with an additional vesture of tenderness to conceal their natural defects. 111. ; Now we pasa to the benefits conferred by the Church on society. We g-o back to the time when the"' barbarians rushed upon the decrepit Roman Empire ihey invaded towns and country burning, devastating slaying witb> indiscriminate ferocity, lo whom did the afflicted terrified, desolate inhabitants fly- for help ? T o the bishop. He had always been their adviser ' and lather in the time of peace ; his sole presence reassured ths inh.abitv.nls. He rekindled their courage enjoined prayers and p< n Mice, hedged assistance from all (Quarters, and through a tlnusand dangers ; and if necessary, he went himself alcn- to confront the enemy and, strong m the strength of God, somes times arrested his wild career. Well Inown are the (glorious names of St. Leo the Great who saved Rome fr o m the fury of Attila St Lupus of Troyes, and of St. Aignan of Orleans, who stopped the. barUarnns at the gates of their respeCr tive- cities.. And wh n the barbarian hordes settled on the imperial lards, the Chrrch educated them as she had educated the Roman Empire. 'It was religion, said M* ntalcmberl,' that with invincible perseverance wrought the gigantic work of moulding and kneading all the diverse elements of those Germanic and Northern races, which had conquered Europe to cmiize and sanctify them by the patient and lifeHeiving action of faith. . . The barbarians without the monks were chaos. 'Ihe barbarians with the monks proceeded to make a world destined to the name of Christendom.' The wandering Tribes had to be settled on the soilsuch men, accustomed to live by plunder, had to be taught to till the earth for subbisitence and create wealth by labor It was the work of the monks. They 'became tillers of the soil in order to teach the barbarians agriculture ; they felled the forests, drained the swamps, ploughed and sowed the open fields established colonists and supported them by their example and property. They taught all kinds of trades, so as to stir up a - noble emulation in the inhabit tants setiled round the^ monasteries. Gradually 'bylabor under the influence of the Gospel and the action of divine grace, morals were transformed, the lawless trityes were humanised, and- the habits of theft, polygamy, and human sacrifices became extinct among' them From this takinr possession of the soil sprang feudalism, which organised the territory divided into a multitude, of fiefs. .From the organisation into fiefs resulted many miarrels, pprpetual conflicts in these war- " like races, vhich reMerion had not yet effectually tamed. How co 'rl Iheir impetuosity be restrained"? The Church turned it against Islamism, then rushing

upon Europe. The Peres preached the holy war, the principal episodes of which you know lull wwelt.l t . and which lasted several centuries. Charles Martel and Porters ! Charlemagne* with Roland and the marches of Spain ! Godefroy de Bouillon, and Jerusalem ! La V alette and Malta! Don .J.jan and Lepanto * Sobieski and Vienna ! These names sound like stirring martial strains ; they evoke a glorious past. Of all the services rendered by the Church to society none were more important than the arrest of the Mahometan invasions. ' Without the Crusadea,' said Lacordaire,' we should all be Turks to day ' ; without the victories of the Christian aimies brought about by the eloquence and faith of the Chuich, Europe would* have been conquered and enslaved under the degrading yoke of Mahomet, which meant the definitive decline of all progress and civilisation. Yet the Church is, in her mission, pacific • she wars only with the passions , she neither advises nor allows any but necessary wars/, she hates above all fratricidal conflicts. Now wars were waged not with Mahometans alone, in times of tranq,uility the territorial lords waged relentless wars with each other. The Church brought them to terms of order ; she disciplined their ardor by the institution of chivalry whose members pledged themselves to be ever guided by honor, to follow the precepts of the Gospel, to defend the Church and protect widows, orphans, and the poor. To more effectually a\ert the horrors of war and thwart its action, she instituted the Truce of God, wiiich sanctified certain tunes during wh/ch war was forbidden. '1 hus in France it was forbidden to fight from Wednesday evening to Monday morning ; also during Lent and Ad\ent • from the Sunday before the Asctnsion to the octa\e of Pentecost, on the feasts of the Blessed Virgin of St Peter, St. Lawrence, St. Michael, All Saints, St. Martin, and on all fast days. The Truce of God extended ft?i? t0 P^scns ana things. A council at Orleans in 10,6 guaranteed a -eipctiml peace to clorics Pn d' monks 10 nuns, to pilgrims, to merchants and their servants' to working cxm a d 1 orsos, to vehicles, to wine-dres-ses, to working men, in a word, to all that was weak or necessary in society. •'I he Truce of (iod, r says the illustrious philosopher? Balmes, "is one of * the most! avlnunble deuces ever employed to soften the manners of a barbarous people. 'I he man who, for four (lays in the v. eek and for long periods in the year found himself obliged to suspend the exercise of mip-ht' would necessarily incline to milder manners, he would ri?Z,i a t l° ( She u P. mi SS h * altogether. What is difficult is not to conwnce a man that he is doinfr wrong, but to make him lose the habit of wro^oiS? Now you know that every habit results from the reoetillOr \,,u f ats ' aml is lost *>y 1h *ir cessation' P Whereas from the partition of th« territory rose feudalism, so from these pacific associations fomfed by Dl?a S Jt rilCe °, ! GOCI , rr ° Se the communes. JIoJ pleasant a tas'< it would be to show the £ ° f , tho comuirnes at that period when the fWh was th* beneficent insurer and the ac cepted guide, vh ra administrate™ governed and inelJod according to the laws of the (iospel that 4 eterftj hlf^hi.rt kT^ ,YOU, YOU assist at those commiS'al assem! bhes held before ihe church door after Mass, at which assisted with deliberative ™tes, not men only bi' holds WS ThJrp SU - Ch Sl Vr tors as °™<* independent^housenoids. rheie in public was transacted all businpss regarding the religious or nitlonal inrtereirti o he comwh^was great ,„/ good, n an T k Se e re(i 0t so \;?S What the Church was in the p a st *he is tn-ii-ir