The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-15 00:00:00

UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

We have already declared that we are not
of those who exult over the approaching dis-
establishment of the Irish Protestant Church
on the ground that it is a recognition of the
religions principle in Government. On the
contrary, we rejoice in its disestablishment,
because its existence is the perpetuation of an
act of national injustice, and as such, as we
have elsewhere pointed out, an offence against
the- priniary principles of Christian ethics.
The union between Church and State is a
principle which we firmly uphold. For is it
not a truth, from which no good Catholic
worthy of the name can dissent, that it is the
bounden duty of every State to uphold reli-
gious truth, and to control and govern its
people in accordance with the precepts of
Christianity? No Government whatever has
as yet been able to dispense with the aid of
religion in regulating the social condition and
moral welfare of a nation. As far back as the
pages of history will lead us, we find every
State not only complying with the demands
of whatever was at the time the national reli-
gion, but also maintaining the doctrines of that
religion by civil laws and enactments. There
was early implanted in man a religious senti-
ment of such force and power as rendered it
impossible that he should be governed without
strict reference to that feeling. Nowhere is
this work more remarkable than in the history
of the Romans. It would be an impertinence
to our readers to enumerate the various cere.
monies which they so scrupulously observed, in
order to propitiate the gods in all their enter-
prises. Every one knows how intimately reli-
gion was bound up amongst them, with every
department of the State. And when Chris-
tianity came and swept away the traditions of
heathen mythology and the morality based
upon it, we find the new religion occupying
the same position with regard to public affairs
which was before occupied by, the superstition
it had superseded. The religions and civil
principles thenceforth worked together in the
constitution of society—religion, represented
by the Church, stepping in constantly between
the civil ruler and his subjects, whom it ever
protected against injustice and harshness,
making all to work harmoniously together.
Without the co-operation of the Church, the
world could never ha-v e progressed towards
civilization. Society could never have been
formed upon a solid basis unless its relations
had been grounded upon a morality and sense
of responsibility far higher than those which
can be found to underlie any laws ever invented
by man.
The principle involved in the recognition of
this fact has been acted on for centuries, with..
out having been called in question ; but it
remained for the present age to dispute the
truth of its application in the affairs of our
day. We have fallen upon times of such ad-
vancement towards the realization of the utmost
limit of human perfection, that we hear on every
side the persistent cry for the abolition of those
beliefs and doctrines upon which, hitherto, have
rested all ideas of morality and justice, but
which are now held to be no longer essential
to the well-being of mankind. There- has
grown up amongst us a school which holds
that humanity has at length arrived at that
degree of self-sufficiency and independence
which entitles it to cast off the guiding and
restraining hand of religion. It is this school,
whose doctrines are -those of the Revolution,
which is most eager in the demand for disen-
dowment. So long as there is a State Church,
there will, of course, be a large body of people
who, from various considerations, will owe alle-
giance to it ; and a State Church must always
tend to restrain in some degree the license of
the legislature which acknowledges it, in deal-
ing with matters of conscience. And it would
also be possible to point out a variety of other
ways in which an established form of worship
of any Christian denomination tends to keep
alive m a nation a sense of responsibility greater
than that entailed .by human expediency. Take
away the basis of morality inculcated by reli-
gion, and leave the course' of legislation to
follow the whims of the hour, or to be governed
by the caprice and doubtful tactics of party
strife, and it is easy to foresee what would be-
come of all those matters which are now
esteemed of purely spiritual import. Anybody
who carefully weighs the different considera-
tions which sway the proverbial wisdom -of
our legislators, and decide their votes upon
such matters as now come within their sphere,
would hesitate, we think, to commit his con-
science to their keeping. The real aim and
tendency, however, of the party whose cry is
disestablishment, is to place in the hands of
Parliament the conscience as well as the pro-
perty of the nation. This will not endanger
the liberty of the subjedt, but, rather, by re-
moving the old conscientious landmarks, con-
vert .liberty into licence. A course of legisla,
tion of the same character as that which
rendered possible the civil marriages and
divorce acts will soon emancipate a people
'from religious restraints and reduce morality
to little less than a name. But, whatever
course Parliament might take in such an
event, one thing is indisputable, . that the
severance of religion from the State would
undoubtedly free the latter from a healthy
control and responsibility, which, however,
have been growing more problematical as the
age has become more ripe for the threatened
change.
In rejoicing over the proposed measure for
disestablishing the Irish Church as a simple
and necessary act of national justice, we cannot,
alas, fail to perceive that large numbers second
the effort merely as a blow aimed at the
principles and foundation of all religion, and
see in the fall of the inculpated and guilty.
institution a triumph to their own cause, and
an earnest of greater victories in the future.
Indeed, there is no desire on their parts to-
conceal their object. From local- platforms,
from the legislative Chamber' and from a,'
powerful section of the press, their projects
and doctrines are loudly and openly declared.
We are told that the endowment by.the State,.
and the creation into a national Church cif any
creed whatsoever; is ' a principle behind the
age, and directly opposed to it. In fact, religion
is in any shape an 'exploded -superstition; only
fit to exercise the minds of women and imbe-
ciles. For more than eighteen hUndred -years
the world has been grovelling in darkness,
accepting as truths the most wild and 'absurd
doctrines, and governed by a set of impostors,
who lay claim to all kinds of invisible powers
and.virtues. We, the public speakers and
writers of the day,—you know how clever,
how learned we are, for can you not hear us_
from our platforms and read us in the papers?
—We tell you (particularly you benighted
Romanists) that what you are taught to regard
as religious truths is all nonsense, and should
be pnt an end to ! Do you want proof of what
we say? Why then (says the Pall Mall Gazelle),
even the invention of the term " hocus-pocus,"
by the vulgar minds of the wintry, in ridicule
of one of your most sacred dogmas proves
that it is so. Come, then, let us be reasonable,
and discard all religions, and free ourselves
from the restraints they impose upon us, which
are so opposed to our material and social pro-
gress. And if there are amongst us any per-
sons so foolish as to want a religion, why, let
them invent one to suit their own views, and
pay for it out of their own pockets ! This is
no simple caricature of the argument of the
Liberal school in religion. It is the philosophi-
cal basis upon which is grounded that univer-
sally spreading spirit of unbelief of which the
cry for disestablishment is one of the most
salient proofs. . Moreover, it is the natural
result entailed by the principles of the glorious
Reformation.

With aims such as these we have nothing in
common. The principles and motives of irre-
ligious Liberals are not ours.. It is not on
their grounds that Catholics urge upon the
nation the duty of undoing the unholy work
of the Reformation in Ireland—the forcible
establishment and continued maintenance
against right, justice, and religion, of a State
Church which is not the Church of the nation.
—Westminster Gazette.

RAILWAY AND OTHER COMPANIES.

MOLD AND DENBIGH JUNCTION.

Under the provisions of the Railway Companies
Act of 1867 the directors of this company have just
filed in the Court of Chancery a scheme of arrange-
ment with their creditors. The capital raised under
the powers of the various Acts obtained by the
company amounted to £432,000, of which £107,009
was on mortgage, £lOO,OOO by preference shares,
and £225,000 by ordinary shares. This money has
been spent, and the company remain indebted in
various sums to landowners for land taken for the
purposes of railways, and to other creditors for work
and labour done, materials provided, and money
paid on behalf of the company. To cover a portion
of these liabilities the company have issued Lloyd's
Bonds to the extent of £50,000, but they now find
themselves unable to pay the interest thereon, or
upon the mortgages, or to pay their other creditors.
They have, therefore, determined to apply for powers
to abandon the branch railways, and, after making
an arrangement with their creditors, to raise a fur-
ther sum for the completion of the main line. The
principal features of the scheme proposed are as
follows :—Unpaid landowners will be asked to ac-
cept rentcharges bearing interest at the rate of 5
per cent. per annum in lieu of cash. The company
will be empowered to issue a 5 per cent. debenture
stock to an amount not exceeding £40,000, the
proceeds to be applied to the cost of completing the
line, and paying such landowners as do not accept
rentcharges. The debenture stock and the rent-
charges are to be a first charge upon the company's
undertaking. The existing mortgage debt and mort-
gages, which amount to £107,000, will be converted
into debenture stock, bearing interest at the rate of
4 per cent. per annum for the first five years, and
after that period 5 per cent. Existing debts not
provided for by the articles summarized above will
be met by a debenture stock to be raised to an
amount not exceeding £30,000. This stock is to
bear interest at the rate of 4 per cent. for the first
five years, and after that date 5 per cent., and is to
be, with the mortgage debenture stock, a second
charge on the undertaking of the company. Lastly,
the directors will be empowered to raise, at the same
rate of interest as above, a sum not exceeding
£70,000, in order to pay off the principal sum of
Lloyd's Bonds, the arrears of interest thereon, and
the interest upon the existing mortgage debt of the
company.