The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

246 THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.contemplation a taste forthe lives of the originals.Is not our country flooded withthe virtues which markedobscene picturesand immodest representations which corrupt ouryouth ? If the agents of Satan employ such vilemeans for a bad end if ; they are cunning enoughto pour through the senses, into the hearts of theunwary, the insidious poison of sin, by placing before them lascivious portraits in God s; name, whyshould not we sanctify the souls of our children bymeans of pious emblems?Whyshould not we makethe eye the instrument of edification, as the enemymakes it the organ of destruction ? Shall the penof the artist, the pencil of the painter, and the chiselof the sculptor be prostituted to the basest purposes?God forbid ! The arts were intended to be the handmaids of religion.Almost every moment of the day the eyeis receiving impressions from outward objects, and isinstantly communicating these impressions to thesoul ;and thus the soul receives every day thousands of impressions, which are goodor bad according to the character of the objects presentedto its gaze.We cannot, therefore, overestimate the salutaryeffect produced upon us in a church or roomadorned with sacred paintings. We feel, while intheir presence, that we are in the company of thejust, and the contemplation of these pious portraitschastens our affections, elevates our thoughts, checks