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April 24, 1912] THE
HOME'S ESTIMATE OF THE AMERICAN
CONSTITUTION; or THE SYLLABUS
OF POPE PIUS IX.
PART I.
BY JUAN ORTS GONZALEZ.
A coherent, great and lasting nationality does
not consist chiefly in rivers, mountains and fertile
tracts of land. Were it so, Brazil would be a
greater and more enduring nationality than the
United States since the rivers of the former are
larger, her mountains higher and her soil richer
than in the United States.
Nay more, even good schools, great univer
si ties, useful railroads, abundance of money,
brave generals, honest and uble statesmen do not
always and unfailingly create a solid, great and
lusting nationality. All these things are rather
the products than the causes of greatness and
stability in a nation. They may afford the occasion
and give the opportunity for the appearance,
growth and display of a powerful nationality.
They may constitute so to speak the
body of a great nation, but the real soul, the true
vital and effective principle of a lasting and
solid greatness in any nation is to be sought elsewhere.
Let me illustrate from well known historical
facts what 1 mean.
When Greece readied its culminating point in
greatness and culture; when its schools were admired
all the world over, when the education of
its youth was so general and embraced such a
wide range of mental accomplishments that the
word Greek was the synonym for a highly educated
man, when its philosophers were called
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the greatest that
mankind has ever seen, when its orators were
Aesehines and Demosthenes, whose eloquence has
not yet been excelled, when all these glorious attainments
were exhibited in Greece, Greece, the
old and true Greece, the Greece of Thermopylae
and Marathon, the Greece of Homer and Aeschylus
was entering upon her decadence and was
surely dying.
When the wealth of Rome was heaped high
and luxuries unheard of the portion of her people,
when her generals were Pompey and Caesar,
when her writers Cicero, Virgil, Horace and
Seneca, when her navies were numbered by
hundreds and her legions by thousands, when her
lawyers and her laws were the wonder of the
world, when all these magnificent achievement*
were manifest in Rome, the old Rome of Cato
and the Scipios, Rome the conquerer of the world
was in plain decay and was surely dying.
We must be careful, very careful not to measure
the real and lasting greatness of any nation
either by its geographical limits or by its mere
intellectual attainments or by the appearance
now and then of some extraordinary men.
These phenomena are not always unquestionable
evidence of real and lasting greatness in a nation.
Often they appear when the living spirit
of true greatness has passed forever away. The
first essential of all real and endnri-ni* orroalnooj
in any nation is the formation of a vivid conception
of the ideal life. Then they have something
to aspire after, to hope for, to strive for.
When a large majority of the citizens of any
country have woven into their lives noble aspirations,
when they cherish them in their hearts and
illilrl +Y. J .1 - ? - - -
v* uutuu uearer man me itseii then that nation
wiU attain true and lasting greatness. The higher
the ideals, the purer and deeper the aspirations,
the stronger the nation will become. It
does not matter very much whether such citizens
are many or few, what certainly does matter
more is that all or nearly all be guided by the
same high ideals; that all or almost all be quickened
by the some noble aspirations. "When
Home was a world conquering nation its citizens
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S
uumbered perhaps less than three hundred
thousands and when Rome began to decay its
citizens were perhaps more than eighty millions.
When you exemplify, enlarge and develop the
same ideals and aspirations, no matter in how
many forms such ideals be applied, no matter in
how many ways you make application of such
ampliations you always retain the same nationill
it. V })?><?{) 11 co vnn u 1 mo iro 4- U ~ 1
J uina;o nccp LI1C BttlUL' IiaUOllHl
soul.
A little boy grows up to manhood, the years
pass aud he reaches the age of fifty, but he is the
same individual, the very same personality as the
little child of filty years before because his soul
is the same. The only difference is that his body
and soul, his mind and heart, his thoughts and
aspirations nave developed. On the other hand
11 you were able to put a new and different soul
in any individual you would have a new and
different personality no matter whether you had
the same or a different body.
Exactly the same thing happens to a nation
when you introduce new and different ideals, new
and dnierent aspirations, you may retain the
same national body, the same tracts ol lertne
land, the same rivers and mountains, the same
cities and towers, the same social institutions and
political organizations, but you will have no more
me same uauonai soui ana therefore you will not
have tile same nationality.
10 understand tiie civilization of a given nation
it is most important to tmd out wliat constitutes
its real and true soul, in other words what
are its real ideals and aspirations. There is no
otiier more important question than this and
there is no other surer way lor a philosopher to
loresee the luture o! a nation and to determine
whether such a nation is going to prosper or decay,
to endure or disappear.
Is there any way to hud out what and where
is the set of ideals and aspirations which enfold
the soul real and true of a given nation.
in speaking of the United States there is a
sure and quick way to find this out.
When a nation enjoys a constitution which
condenses and reflects the general ideals and
aspirations of a collectivity or of a nation then
you can say that such a constitution sets forth
and exhibits the national soul of that people.
i say when it condenses and reflects the general
ideals and aspirations of a nation because
a given constitution may be merely the product
of some individuals or class and then it does not
constitute the real and true soul of that nation.
it does not become the real soul of a given
nation unless it expresses the ideals and aspirations
of the collectivity. To illustrate the point
by some practical examples since this is of capital
importance: The Mexican constitution and the
constitutions of many of the South American
republics were modeled on the constitution of the
United States, but these constitutions neither
condense nor reflect the ideals and aspirations
of Mexicans or those of the citizens of other
southern republics. They are but pieces of written
paper. They have no real meaning in the
daily life of the people.
The American Constitution, on the contrary,
was in the past and remains in the present a
living document. Its ideals and aspirations are,
thanks to God, the constant ideals and daily aspirations
of the American people. Americans as
a whole will stand for their constitution to a
man.
I have insisted on these generalizations because,
without a clear grasp of the relationship
between the constitution and the corporate life of
the people it will be impossible to understand
the meaning and purpose of my next articles.
Evey one who does not cherish the Constitution
of the United States as the real and national
expression of the ideals and aspirations of
I ? I H (463) 3
the citizens of this country, will not understand
uiy motives and arguments.
From my point of view my readers know that
the American national soul and civilization is
condensed and, so to speak, crystalized in the
American constitution.
I futro urn nr?TT ^ 3- 1 * 1
no tuij no; ui uiiuersLuiiuiiig me real
Romish civilization, that is, can we find a set of
ideals and aspirations which may constitute the
real soul of the Romish system? There are two
general ways in which Romanism may be studied.
One of these, which is partial and incomplete,
we might call the Roman hypothesis. This undertakes
to conciliate Romanism with other
creeds, rather than to expound fully and frankly
its doctrine; seeking the limits to which it may
go without too manifestly confusing the believer
in his faith, and what in given and determined
cases the nations may demand. The other
method, which we might call the Romanist thesis,
studies its doctrines in their entire extent and
significance, expounding the aims and ideals of
Romanism, its true spirit, its complete life and
history. As the expositors of this doctrine, we
should fall short of the truth if we did not proceed
according to the second method.
Am outsider sees the Roman Catholic Church
advocatincr rdnarpnt.lv rl ifF*?ront voo ???
w ?A x ??.w* VUV} J UUj V? T OH UUU"
dieting doctrines, in accordance with the aspirations
of different peoples and civilizations. He
hears that the Roman Catholic Church advocates
religious freedom in Russia and the Inquisition
in Spain; approves apparently of the
separation of church and state in North America
and condemns this separation in France,
Spain, Portugal, etc. For such an outsider it
seems impossible to find out the real soul, the
true constitution of the Roman Catholic but for
the Roman Catholic theologian the way is very
easy.
Is there no document to which we may direct
the outsider and sav. "Behold the Roman fint.h.
olic system and constitution?" Yes, there is a
document which every one may properly call tin
Magna Charter of Romanism, a document which
embodies indeed the kernel, the essence, the aims,
purposes and finality of Romanism.
There is, so to speak, a Roman Catholic constitution,
a Roman Catholic soul. This is the
syllabus of Pope Pius IX.
My aim now is very definite, namely, to exhibit
Rome's estimate of American civilization by comparing
as carefully and accurately as possible
both civilizations with their respective ideals and
aspirations, as shown by the American constitution
on one hand and the Syllabus of Pope Pius
IX on the other.
The principle of beginning at Jerusalem finds
its primary and most intensely sacred application
to the home. Are we praying daily for the salvation
of a member of our family who may not
be a Christian, or if that one is a Christian, for
his or her continual growth in grace? Are we
so living day by day as to commend our religion,
our Saviour to the confidence and love of those
whom we love? We may have loved ones who
are not in the home. Are they regularly the subjects
of our thought and in our devotions do we
remember them? In numerous cases it is a habit
of the spiritual life; it should be in all. Many
instances of conversion have been tracgd to the
prayers of friends whose pleadings were at the
fimo nwlrnAui? - ?? ?' *
iaj me uiie 011 wnom convicting and
saving grace was bestowed. Let us widen the
circle to relatives, neighbors and friends. It is
a power for service that may be used by many
who have limited opportunities for personal testimony.
The throne of grace is accessible always
and to all who will draw near.
~
Wisdom is always good to leern, whose
wisdom soever it may be?A. M. Fairbairn.