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Show -f-f-t--f-f-f4----f -f-f 4 : " THE Fl 3YLLS : : With a Refutation of the Errors Which It Condemns : Translated from tha Italian of L'FalcorJ. Twenty-sixth error: "The Church has no innate and legitimate right to acquire ac-quire and possess property." Refutation The Church was instituted institut-ed by Chriet as a society, being there- j fore, of divine origin. Her right to ac- quihe and possess property a right j which is common to .all moral societies ' is God-given, and as a consequence, independent of all civil regulations. "But," say our adversaries, "we do not deny that the Church is of divine div-ine origin; we merely maintain that she should not violate the law established estab-lished by her Founder, which law expressly ex-pressly forbids her to possess property of any kind: 'Do not posstsa go'.d, nor silver, nor money in your purses; no scrip for your journey, nor two coat, nor shoes, not a staff.' Christ furnished in hi3 own life an example of the man- j net ill wiui ii mis liLW suuuiu ue yuc into in-to practice; the foxes have their holes, and the birds of the air their neats, but the Son of Man had not whereon to lay his head. He depended for sustenance sus-tenance wholly upon the kindness of charitable persons. St. Peter obeyed to the' very letter the law established by his Divine Master, and hence could, truthfully say to the blind man at the gate of the temple, "Gold and silver. I have none." The law and the example referred to by our adversaries were not for the apostles and other members of the clergy alone. They were intended for the laity as well. Christ, Himself said: "That which I say to you, I say to all." and St. Paul assures us in his letter to the Romans that those "who God foreknew, he also predestined to be made conformable to the imag- of His Son." Those who are so zealous for the interests of the Church are, therefore, bound by that law, as well as ecclesiastics; and if they are correct cor-rect in their Interpretation of it, they must, in order to reach Heaven, themselves them-selves renounce all earthly goods, and possess no gold, nor silver, nor money in their puree3, nor scrip for their journey, jour-ney, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff. For otherwise they will not resemble re-semble their prototype, will not be conformable con-formable to the image of God's Son, and cannot, consequently, be partakers partak-ers with Him in the glory of His Kingdom. King-dom. But the arguments advanced by our adversaries in support cf their position, are childish and silly. The nolite possi-deatfs, possi-deatfs, upon which they rely so strongly, strong-ly, was particular in its nature; it was a command given the Apostles by their Divine Master for the purpose of teaching them that they should impose implicit confidence in Him, who could sustain them by a miracle, mir-acle, and they did in fact, return from the journey upon which He had sent j them, boasting that the very demons i were obedient to their word. The law, prescribed for the Apcstles on this particular par-ticular occasion should not, then, be construed into a general rule of conduct con-duct for the Church; it should only inspire us with the trust that He will not, when necessary fail to exercise Hi3 omnipotence in her behalf, as He ; did in the first three centuries of her j existence, preserving her and causing j her to flourish and grow in numbers de-! de-! spite all the efforts of persecuting ty-i ty-i rants: Sanguis Marty reurn est Semen Christianorum. Besides the supernatural supernat-ural means with which God supplies His Church, He desires her to also employ em-ploy natural or human means and among these are the acquisition and possession of property. The statement that Christ had not whereon to lay His head is mast true, I ! lapse of centuries, have power to thrill us to our bosom's core. It was before this Council of Tara that St. Patrick appeared, preaching the glory of the Christian religion, and it was the leader of the bards, Dubhac, that arose and exclaimed: "Oh ye kings and men of Erin! This man apeaks the glory of the true God, and thi3 harp of mine shall never resound again save unto the praises of Patrick's Pat-rick's God." After Christianity was introduced into Ireland, the art of music flourished more than ever, for not only did the bards Increase in number, but they taught their art to I the countless monks, who used it in singing unceasingly the praises of God. And it was taught in the great schools, for Ireland was then the island of j scholars, and many a student from foreign for-eign shores caught up our exquisite melodies and carried them to his own country. King Alfred of Northumber- 1 land, and who distinguished himself by ' a concert he once gave on a harp, was one of these. So famous were the Irish j bards that the king of Scotland and I Wales sent to Ireland for musicians. J Nay, the kings of Ireland were them- j seives sometimes Daras, ana Jtsnan Boru, the greatest of her kings, was one of the greatest of her bards. So powerful did the bards become w-ith the people that the kings feared them, and King Hugh formed the plan of entirely en-tirely abolishing the bardic corporation. corpora-tion. But through the efforts of St. Columboa, who was himself a bard of the highest merit, the abuses of power were eradicated and the threatened destruction de-struction averted. And because the barda had so much influence with the people that their song3 suftained the resistance to England. King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth ordained most severe laws against them. They were forbidden to enter the English pale; they were forbidden to sing their national melodies, and finally orders were given that all bards were to be executed. Queen Elizabeth said, "We can never conquer Ireland while the bards remain." Yet so sweet was their music that even the soldiers appointed ap-pointed to pursue and destroy them would entertain them in their camps for the music they, furnished. As Moore so beautifully says: "The stranger shall be as they lament on his plains; The sight of thy . harp shall be sent o'er the deep, Till the masters themselves as they rivet thy chains. Shall pause at the song of their captive and weep." Amid all the years' of bloodshed and persecution the bards slowly, but surely, sure-ly, died out, and as the poet says: The harp that once through Tara's halls The soul of music shed. Now hang-3 as mute on Tara's walls As if that soul were fled. So sleeps the pride of former days, "So glory's thrifl is o'er, And hearts that once bent high for praise Now feel that pulse no more! No more to chiefs and ladies- bright. The harp of Tara swells: The chord alone that breaks at night, . Its tale of ruin tells. Thus freedom now so seldom wakes, The only throb she gives . because He travelled constantly front city to city, and from village to village', leaving to His disciples (and there wer.-j rich persons among the number) t'.i i care of providing for current necessities. necessi-ties. And although! the Angels J Heaven were at His command, v- a;-- told by the Evangelist, that He aiwuv.-i had "loculi," in which to place the ferlngs of the faithful. And the chur h has, therefore, the authority ui hi.-i r. ample In the foresight and the pn,-.-.. dence with which Fhe provides for h-various h-various needs. The treasurer of t1, funds thus collected by our Divine Savior, Sa-vior, furnished a sad pr.-dfr.; for rr .-Arnaldos, .-Arnaldos, the Marsigli-js, the 'Ockani.' the Wyefcliffe and for all the 9aeri;e-gious 9aeri;e-gious plunderers of the Church in our own day. Ill- fur exat ez latro. an-.J -v.-,- -LLVr names. l ny misrepresent Almighty Cod and eek t fortify their position by qu.-cati.-r. from the Scriptures. In this, thv 1 but follow the example of the discr.'-nators discr.'-nators of error jri every acc, v. hi !" distorting and travestying Th? Wor 1 . God --'.k to make it accord w'.fu rh own opinioivs. St. Auguatine, c(mmerit:n on thi" t -culiarity, says: "II?rcsits and c-unU perver. dogma arLe only when th- Scriptures, good in themselves, an; badly interpreted." Neque nature sunt haerose-s et ounrdam dogmata pervert -tat s nisi duai script -ra: bona3 interpretantur nor. bene. The Church following the- example cf Christ and the Apostie, at whose fe-f the reverend faithful laid the proceed! of all their worldly goods, has alway. p s 'e sel property , notn ithatand n th; persecutions and despoliations to whi. a she ha3 been subjected. Her right t) di go was recogn'izel by Constantino the Great, who immediately after af-ter his conversion promulgate! a law commanding the restitutions cf all the property of which she had been, deprived either by the State or by private pri-vate individuals: sir.e pecunia et eir.$ unci, yicui vciiunc lUMHUdlllur. I J It will not be denied by our adver- j saries that the Church has a right to I exist as. they will not venture to assert that she is an immoral, therefor an il- j licit society. Christ, moreover, ordained that the ministers of the Gospel shouht live by the Gospel: crdinavit Dominus iia qui evangehum annuntiant de evan-gelio evan-gelio vivere. No one will deny that this1 ordinance at least is of divine right. Now the right to employ means to sustain life not alone of the transient but of the permanent possession of property, the least being merely a corollary cor-ollary of the first. To maintain tha contrary would be to deprive the Church of a right which belongs t every individual and to every rightful aocietay; it would be to make her dependent de-pendent for subsistence entirely upoa supernatural means. This would, however, how-ever, te repugnant to the wisdom o Almighty God, who does not unnecessarily unneces-sarily multiply miracles. Only fool live without laying up a store for th- future, fu-ture, without making provision in fun- 2 mer for the wants of the coming winter. win-ter. It is, therefore, evident from th-3 nature of society in general, from tha divine institution of this society, from ' the Holy Scriptures and from the constant con-stant and universal practice of tha Church, that she has an innate and legitimate right to acquire and possess property. The depriving her of that right is a sacrilege, wh.ch will inevitably, inevit-ably, whether soon or late, bring down the wrath of God upon its perpetrators and their accomplices. Is when some heart indignant breaks, To show that SEiil she lives. Blind Carolan, who died in 1733," was the last of the bards. He roamed about the country, belonging to no chief, having hav-ing no home, but heartily welcome in the homes and reigning like a king in the beart3 of the Irish people. But though the bards are gone, their music remains, and has so spread among the Irish people that they may be called a race of muslciane. We can hear the old bardic airs ringing from every field, from every glen-hilitcp seems to shout them unto hilitoD, the very air seems full of them. We hear them sung by the plough hoy, the milkmaid, milk-maid, the shoemaker, the car driver. We hear them poured forth by bagpipes bag-pipes and violins at fairs, at weddings, at christenings. As Moore eays: Dear harp of my country! in darkness I found thee. The cokl chain of -silence has hung o'er thee long. When !rom!.y, my own Island harp! I unbound thee. And gave all thy chords to light, freedom and sor.e! i The warm lay of love-and the light not- j of gladness , Have waken ed thy fondness, thy liveliest I thrill; j But so vie hast thou echoed the deep s:ga of sadness, That even in thy mirth it will steal from thee -still. I Dear harp of my country! farewell to thy i numbers. This sweet wreath of song is the last w ! shall twine: f Go, sleep with the sunshine of . fame on j t'ny slumbers. Till touched by some hand less unworth j than mine. I If the pulse of the patriot, soldier or lover, Has throbbed at our lay, 'tis thy glory alone; I was but as the wind passing heedlessly f '' over, I And all the wild sweetness I wako waj thy, own. Though our bards are all srone, our nation hai3 produced other glorious musicians and poets. She had given U3 ; Michael W. Balfe, whose melodies, like "The Heart Bowed Down." "When Other Lips and Other Heart?," and "Kilarney" have a charm that is im-periahabie. im-periahabie. She had given us Patrick Sarafield Gilmore, the greatest band master that ever lived. She has given us many poeM like Moore, Davi3, Ma-gee Ma-gee and John Boyle O'Reilly, whose- angs will live in the hearts of the people peo-ple eternally. Ot Irish music in general it may said that there is a melancholy sweetness sweet-ness in it that distinguishes it from the music cf every other nation. Like her history, it is filled with great and glorious strains, yet there is always an undercurrent of unutterable woe. Like the nature of her people, it is bright and sunnv, but the clouds of persecution perse-cution will flit across it and throw the shadows of sorrow over it. As Moore says: "The warm lay of love, the light rote of gladness. Have wakened thy fondness, thy earliest thrill. Tet so oft has thou echoed! the deep sigii of sadness. That e'en art thy mirth, it will stein from ihco still."- |