trograde in which there is wanting a proper understanding of the dignity of man.

The spirit of modern progress is that of pure naturalism and secularism. The very idea of the supernatural seems to have disappeared from the minds of those outside the Church. What the future of a nation must be that turns its back on God, history tells us ; and if our age goes on unchecked in its course, instead of that perfection and refinement which are promised to us in the name of progress, history tells us we are in danger of reverting to the decay and barbarism that followed the disappearance of the civilization of Babylon and Rome. But in the religion of Christ we have the secret of the perpetual rejuvenation and perfection of society. Christianity is the conservative force in society to-day, and the constructive force of the Christian religion is directed to the reform of the individual.

If humanity would be led aright it must be led by men with the spirit of religion. The problems of our civilization are the problems of every other civilization that has gone before us or will come after us. The cannon, the printing press, the steam engine, and the telegraph are the pillars that support this reign of universal democracy; but this democracy has brought no new problems. Invention and progress have simply extended the old problems to a wider space and affected simultaneously a greater number of people; and trite as it may sound, it is nevertheless universally true that the great need of society in all ages is virtue in the individual, and the danger of society in all ages is vice in the individual. It is useless to perfect your institutions unless you seek first to perfect your men. Democracy will not save men, material prosperity will not save men, intellectual or artistic progress will not save society; only the effort to fulfil and uphold the moral law will save society, and without religion there can be no moral law.

My friends, would you know the truth? The world is weary of its progress. It wants to get away from its progress. When was there such unrest, so much agitation, such world-wide discontent? Material progress is making man the slave of the machine, and intellectual progress is making him foolish; "professing themselves wise they become fools." What do we need? We need social justice, we need mental repose, we need a reform in morals; in a word, all our needs are summed up in one -the need of religion.

If we would seek true progress, if we would promote the welfare of society and our own salvation, our watchword must ever be the words of Christ, our Leader: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Justice."

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY

ADDRESS BY THE RIGHT REV. MGR. PATRICK J. supple, d.d.

THE one institution in the world to-day that is absolutely unique is the Catholic Church. In her uncompromising stand for the truths of Christianity, in her unwavering defence of the code of Christian morals, in her fearless upholding of the principle of authority, in her spiritual dominion over the hearts and consciences of her people she is without a peer and without a rival.

The strong and steady accents of her voice never falter. She quails not before the haughty and overbearing ways of kings, princes, and prime ministers, nor is she overawed by the wayward rebellions of nations and peoples.

She is absolutely true to herself and to the divine charter of her foundation. She stands irrevocably by her principles, for they were given to her by her Divine Founder. They were confided to her not to palter with nor to tamper with nor to trifle with, but to conserve and keep intact as she values her divine origin and divine preservation.

She could not change them if she would and would not change them if she could, for her very life is bound up with absolute fidelity to her sacred trust and with unswerving consistency with the letter and spirit of the doctrines and laws placed in her keeping by Christ, the Teacher of mankind.

The historic non possumus of her central and supreme authority rings as true to-day as when voiced by Pius X against

the enemies of the Church in France and Portugal who would alter her divine constitution, as when launched against Henry VIII by Clement VII in defence of the inviolability of the Christian marriage bond. Her voice is clear, strong, authoritative, and constant.

She cannot speak otherwise. To heed the demands of a fickle, changing world and to juggle with or whittle down the divine truths and laws confided to her keeping would be to abdicate at once her position as a divine teacher and the unique moral eminence which she has occupied for almost twenty centuries. Her foes and detractors never seem to know her nor to appreciate her unique character.

The plain lessons of history are spread before them on the scrolls, yet they never seem to learn them. They are continually asking the Church to change her principles to meet the evervarying moods of the age, utterly oblivious, it would seem, of the fact that her principles are suited for all times and all conditions and all men, simply because they belong to the body of teaching and code of laws delivered to her by the maker and moulder of human nature, her Divine Founder, who knows better than any human legislator what is best for the governance of men and nations.

She stands to-day in the world, as she has always stood, the one fearless exponent of divine truths and divine laws, absolutely devoid of human respect in fulfilling her divine mission, unyieldingly steadfast in facing the violence of men and governments, unalterably true to the behests of her Divine Founder.

It is difficult to measure the value of such a unique institution in the ever-varying, ever-shifting scene of human affairs. On one thing all unprejudiced witnesses are agreed. The steadying power which the Catholic Church brings to bear upon the community by her consistent and constant stand upon her

principles, by her peremptory refusal to substitute for these principles expediency as a rule of action, is simply invaluable and beyond the power of anyone to compute. If this is true of human affairs in general, it is especially so of our American life of to-day. What an advantage in a democracy to have a strong authoritative tribunal that is never deterred by popular clamor from giving a clear and serene expression of its decisions, that never falters in enunciating the moral code of Christianity! Blinded by bigotry and narrow and contracted in his mental vision is he who does not see in the uncompromising championship of the Christian moral law by the Catholic Church with her ever-increasing influence one of the surest safeguards for the permanency of our democratic institutions.

The strength of the Republic depends upon the integrity of its citizens, and the greatest moral power at work in the community to-day is the Catholic Church, which is not content with mere correct outward demeanor, but demands, as a condition for a place at her communion rail, inward rectitude of soul and the allegiance of the heart and conscience to her austere moral standards.

What if some of her children do not live up to her teaching and precepts! The erring brethren we shall have always, and the era of human weakness shall ever be coeval with the privilege of human liberty. Some citizens of the United States do not and will not observe the laws, and yet that does not offset the fact that the Constitution of the United States, the charter of our liberties, is one of the greatest conceptions of the human mind.

So the Church cannot coerce the wills of her children, but she is a constant monitor to their conscience, always holding up before them the highest moral standards and exerting to the utmost her influence to make truth and justice the rule of life.