CARDINAL MANNING'S BELIEF.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 211, 20 April 1877, Page 7

CARDINAL MANNING'S BELIEF.

At St. Peter's Church, Hatton-garden, on Sunday evening, 14th January, Pontifical Vespers were sung 1 by bis Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. His Eminence was assisted by the Very Eev. Dr. Kirner, and Fathers Crescitelli, Nenci, J. Bannin, and O'Haire. After Vespers his Eminence preached the sermon, taking for his text : — "And all the kings of the earth shall adore Him; all the nations shall serve Him" (Psalm lxxi. 11). In the course of his remarks his Eminence said that the time once was when the kings of the earth did adore Him, and the nations served Him — when kings and princes bowed down before the name of Jesus. But what was the state of Christendom at the present day ? Time was when Christendom from east to west was one great family of the faith, but now nations and men had gone astray from Jesus Christ. The unity of Christendom was rent asunder; what was formerly Catholic unity is now rent into he knew not how many sections. Looking abroad one might almost think that the prophecy contained in the words of the text would not be fulfilled. The Vicar of Jesus Christ is despoiled of his rightful possessions, and Church, law, and order set at defiance. Heresy and schism were rampant, and men had taken to interpret for themselves the Divine commands and revelations, accepting that which suited their inclinations, and rejecting that which was opposed to their own ends. In the whole history of the Church, however, there never was a time when within the Church herself unity was so strong, so manifest, as at this day. What were the heresies of the present time ? he asked. Heresy was a Greek word, signifying " choosing." And to render it into familiar language, it was picking and choosing on the part of the world, who rejected the Divine voice of the Church, which spoke with authority, for observances of their own creation. The world not only rejected the truth, but in their wisdom (as they thought it) they rejected the teachings of their acknowledged leaders and founders. There was not now a man in Switzerland who believed and practised what Calvin taught, nob a man in Scotland who believed what Knox taught, nor in England what Cranmer taught. Where is Protestantism ? It is an inconsistency. Even among themselves Protestants were at war with each other, and dissension and discord was raging. His Eminence expressed his belief in an ultimate reunion with the Church of God, that reverence to his Blessed Mother would be again universal, and that unity would be again restored. Those in middle age might not live to see the day, but he believed their children would, and they would live to bless the day when the world returned to the Church and faith, of their fathers. — Westminster Gazette.