Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1855-01-25

right has been claimed; but on what sroun.ls t.is
right asserted. Ifit was divine right, a
right inherent in the spiritual office Of the Bishop
OF Rome as the successor Of St. Peter, then, SIR
confess it may never, il can never lapse; and its
exercise may be renewed with the reception If
additional power. But, sir, if it a right con
ferred for special occasions BY those interested in
! its exercise, conferred by monarchs for their own
safety, and approved by the people for their own
benefit, who were ready, able and willing to con-
| tribute means for giving its exhibition power,
then IL would, of course, cease with the change Of
circumstances in which it was conferred; and those
who invested the Pope with the right, because
| they could assist him with polcer, and because
general safety required the exercise of that power,
retained in their own hands the right TO withdraw
or invaliiate their former bestowal, and leave in
the hands of the Roman Pontiff only bis spiritual
rights over Kings or people, debors the hIoitx of
! his own temporal dominion
| To understand how the Pope ever possessed any
power over Emperors and Kings, and by such
| power, influencing their subjects, must enter
more minutely into the circumstances Of the far
distant age in which it was conferred and exer-
cised, than the time here allowed for a speech,
the space necessary for an essay would Justify
We must enter into the spirit of the middle ages,
| and see how naturally Christian monarchs (then
all of one greedy formed combinations, and how
much human rights and Christian principles
to combinations and jealousies which, while they
distinguished, and really illustrated that period,
| would now be regarded, if they could exist, as
the resort Of men of bad principles to perpetuate
| tyrannical power. But sucn was the state of the
| times, and such the unestablished condition of
/ religion and civil government, that it became
matter of the deepest moment to Christian Princess
| that the latter should combine to support the for
mer And in combining, the Christian (Catholic)
Princes formed league, by which peace, order
and religion were, az far possible, to be main
| tanned among them by reference to the infiuen-
ces which the Pope, a spiritual sovereign,
would naturally have to enforce temporal and
/ temporary power with Kings and people, and
with Kings through their people; and this in
| fiuence augmented by submission ON the part
of individual sovereigns to the DEGREES of the Pope
/ founded on the power which the. united
eigns had conferred on the Pontif and founded on
| that alone.
| Christianity, at that period, had not wrought
out its work of social good vice and di order
were rampant, and the passions of mon seemed to
be allowed indugenccs little realized in these
| times. To secure something like order, religion
and catholicty, among the christian nations, and
to secure the ultimate social effects of the true
| principles of religion, the Christian Princes con-
1 ferred upon the Pope power. which previously
he had not attempted to exercise never, indeed,
claimed TO possess The spiritual power al
ways admitted of divine right, the gift of God.
| The temporal power was conceded, was conferred,
| by the Emperor and Christian Princes, not to ag-
| grandze the Bishop of Rome, but 10 enable him
to decide betwixt them in their various disputes ;
and to keep alive the faith upon which the power
of the Princes evidently rested, No one then pre-
tended that the right to depose a King was di-
vine right in the Pope. He claimed the power to
cut off from the sacraments of the church all who
do not conform to the rules of that church, a
right claimed an exercised by all churches, sup
pose; as every church must be a Judge of the
qualifications of its members, and must, so far as
its influence extends, exercise the power to bind
and loose. That is question purely theological,
and casnot be discussed here.
certainly do no injustice to any one in saying
that such was the disorderly state of Europe that
| if dependence had not been placed by soyereigns
in the influence of the Popes spiritual power, no
King could have maintained his possessions with
4 out an acknowledged physical superiority; and
| no people could have retained show of freedom,
could have counted on life itself, if the avarice
| and bloody cruelty of the Barons could have
| found any advantage, OF even commentary gratlhca-
| tion by sacrificing either. And this was not all
| 1t was admitted that every crown should be held
by the tenure ef Christianity in its wearer; and
yet Paeanism and inhdelty were continually grasp
/ ing at the sceptre-o Kingdoms were constantiy
| changing Monarchs driven from their
throGes by violence; and their successors rarely
Thought of any other object than the permanency
of their own power Meantime, the Papacy was
| permanent, and, IN proportion. to the troubles,
| disorders and disasters of the times, the Papacy
acquired strength. strength IN the constant ap-
peaIs to its arbitration strength in all Its un-
changeable qualities and strength, it will be adj
mited by acception and exercise of duties devolved
upon it by those who in the Papal powers
! the only means of saving Europe from chaos.
| Having asserted that the political power OF the
Popcs, detors their special and proper dominion,
was conferred by the Christian Princes, and that
! it was exercised by the demands an appeals OF
those who were interested in its object. vix order.
religion and princely right, and sometimes pop
ular rights have only to say that, OF course no
Pope thus receiving and thus exercising hIs pow
i er could with truth, assert divine right, or as
sertang IL he could not hope to have that night
permanently admitted. 1t hence follows that
such a right never article Of Roman Cath
olc faith.
| Il cannot be denied that the spiritual power OF
the Pope. the admitted .iaue diUifo, was a motive
among others for comforting the political power,
| and. perhaps also a motive for exercising that
power: and the reverence in which the character
of the Pope was held by Princes and nobies' as
we'll as the people, gave great consequence 10 the
! decisions Of the Pontiff right wrong and IN
sured nrompt obedience, when otherwise there
MIGHT have been hesitancy nd even celebration.
! No doubt, the tesaporal power conferred oy .en-
/ moral consent and by constitution, was niista-
! ken for. and admitted by, certain weak persons
at that time as the spiritual power conferred by
sTbe Foreign Quarterly for January, 1886,
saws. ..In the eleventh century the Papacy fought
! the battle of freedom
Ancellon unfriendly to the Pope, says in
the middle ages there was no social order; II was
the influence and power of the Popes that, per-