The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-06 00:00:00

HERMICAL ESTABLISHMENTS.

Nothing is more mischievous or more dan-
gerous in its way than a perverted application
of Catholic principles in regard to questions
vitally aflecting Catholic interests, for men
are but too apt to be misled, even in grave
matters, by superficial views, persistently put
forward under colour of principles which they
reverence. The Encyclical and Syllabus of
Pope Pius IX., regarded by Catholics as a
rule of conduct in political as in other„ matters,
have of late been put to such a perverted use.
Catholics have been gravely warned that to
upset an heretical establishment is a violation
of the teaching of the Syllabus. Anything
more absurd than such an assertion can
scarcely be conceived ; it is contrary not only
to the express directions of the Syllabus, but
to the nature of the relations subsisting be-
tween the supernatural and the civil order of
society. But since such a view of the obliga-
tion imposed upon Catholics by the Syllabus
has been persistently urged, and in apparent
good faith, it is worth while, in order to coun-
teract such a mischievous advocacy, in the
name of the Syllabus, of the cause of hereti-
cal establishments in England and Ireland,
briefly to examine the true nature of the rela-
tions between the spiritual and political
powers.

- The civil order of society, mediately ordained
of God indeed, but under the guidance simply
of the will and of the wisdom of man, has often
set itself in direct opposition to the will of
God. It has in various times and circum-
stances condemned what God has approved
of, rejected what He has revealed, forbidden
what he has ordered. But when the super-
natural society, immediately ordained of God,
supervened, and political society was moulded
and formed by the presence and co-opera-
tion of divinely-guided power, then a union,
widespreading in its effects, penetrating into
every relation of civil life, and mutually
beneficial, was effected between supernatural
and. civil society. As long as this union be-
tween supernatural truth and political society
lasted, every one who valued the great end for
which man exists, was bound by duty to God
and to his country, to preserve this union
intact. But the moment political society apos-
tatized from supernatural truth and enthroned
a hateful and persecuting heresy in its place,
then it became the duty of every man, who
preferred truth to error, to labour without rest
for the sake of both supernatural and civil
society, to overthrow the iniquitous compact
between heresy and the State. At the Re-
formation, political society revolted against
the supernatural society instituted by God,
struck it down with the iron hand of perse-
cution,' and put in its place a malignant heresy,
which for three centuries has corrupted the
minds of men, blasphemed against the most
11 sacred truths of religion, and as long as its
influence was paramount, proscribed and pur-
sued with unrelenting persecution, the scat-
tered members of the supernatural society
instituted by God. In favour of this estab-
I lished heresy, we are now bidden, even by
1 Catholic writers, to abstain from taking our
part in the disestablishment of the Irish
Church. Such an act might injure forsooth
Ithe Establishment in England. Nay, more,
w a are bidden in the name of the Syllabus to
forbear. Can perverse political partizanship
carry men further? Political enthusiasm is not
I to be despised, but surely there are limits im-
posed, even by Catholic instincts, upon the
absurd identification of the establishment of
heresy with the establishment of truth in a
State. To our mind nothing is more offen-
sive than the lip-service offered to Papal
authority by the perpetual thrusting forward
of the Syllabus, in defence of the Irish or Eng-
lish Establishment. What does it mean? This
bandying about of Papal authority, of the
Encyclical and Syllabus, is either mockery or
the most transparent ignorance, which even a
newspaper writer can be guilty of, concern-
ing the meaning of those condemned propo-
sitions. The most superficial acquaintance
with the Syllabus on the part of those who
make use of it for political purposes, would
show that the Pope in condemning the propo-
sition that the Church might be separated
from the State and the State from the Church
in no way affirmed the maintenance of an
heretical establishment ; on the contrary, the
Syllabus in direct terms condemns " the estab-
lishment of national churches withdrawn and
completely separated from the authority of the
Roman Pontiff." We recommend to the atten-
tion of such Catholic writers amongst us who
are fond of lecturing the Catholic public,
bishops and priests, as well as Catholic mem-
bers and electors, on the obligations imposed
upon them by the Syllabus of not separating
an heretical establishment from the State the
study of the 37th proposition of the Syllabus.
The Catholic public in England, although they
have the widest tolerance for individual politi-
cal opinions, have already had more than
enough of such paltering with the plain and
express teaching of Rome.
The time, it seems to us, has now happily
arrived in England for the State to withdraw
from exclusive association with an heretical
rbeoldigiyjoauns opinions,d,i
nthe midst of so many conflicting
take up neutral ground.
There is no need that this withdrawal should
be effected in a spirit hostile to the religious
principle of government ; on the contrary, the
State is bound to promote, as far as lies within
its power, and according to its lights, Christian
civilization. It is bound now as heretofore to
act in accordance with the laws of Christian
morality, and in obedience to the general pre-
cepts of Christian Faith. The only change
is that the State would cease to be identified
with one special heresy, which, however esti-
mable, harmless, and even innocent its indivi-
dual members may now be, is in itself a direct
negation of the will of God. The beneficial
importance of such a change cannot be over-
rated. It is, as it were, as if the State were
to be exorcised of the evil which it has been
so long possessed of. An enemy has entered
into possession, and for more than three hun-
dred years has held the State in bondage to
its evil will, blaspheming in set terms our holy
religion, proscribing and persecuting the Catho-
lics of the three kingdoms, and propagating
by means of the influence and power of the
State its false doctrines among the people. The
cessation of this active agency and propagan-
dism of the State in favour of the too long-
established heresy cannot fail to introduce a
fairer and more equitable spirit into our legis-
lation—a more kindly and considerate treat-
ment of the ancient faith. The ban, as it were,
under which we have so long lain would be re-
moved. So complete a change, as the disestab-
lishment of the Anglican Church involves, may
well be looked upon as the inauguration of
a new and happier epoch for Catholicism in
England.
It may be that we are already standing on
the threshold of that " silver age" which Arch-
bishop Manning has predicted. The "golden
age" of perfect union between Church and
State has passed away, but, as the Arch-
bishop of Westminster points out to us, so has
also the " iron age" of persecution, but he sees
the approach of the " silver age" of perfect
toleration, in which the Church will be free
to pursue at will her divine mission of once
more rebuilding, in the nineteenth century,
Christendom, shivered to pieces in the religi-
ous revolution of the sixteenth.—Westminster
Gazette.

William Lloyd Garrison has received $31,000 as
the national testimonial to his faithful services to free-
dom.
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