The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-11-28


Council itself, to begin with, is against It.. Its
first intention df its first intention was honesty
has proved failure. The Greek churches,
with their miHons; the Protestant churches,
with their millions, will all be unrepresented.
They were invited, but they have all refused
to have anything to do with it. BY all such it
win be regarded as pretentious and holy
show; and by such Its decisions, whatever
they may be, will be heartily despised. Its
aims and objects, so far as these have been
made known, have commanded no respect
either inside or outside the Church. On the
contrary, they have by universal Christendom,
with the exception only of class-a limited
and contemplate class inside the Church, who
are either without the reasoning faculty or
whose reason is the slave of bethlehem
heartily and emphatcally condemned. The
dogmatic confirmation of the Syllabus, which
insults human reason by condemning all
modern progress; Of the bodily assumption
Of the Virgin, which is very beautiful,
but very ridiculous, and of the personal
infallibility Of the Pope, which is an
open and unqualified absurdity, is or was the
avowed object Of the Council. We say is or
was because it is now almost If not absolutely
certain that the programme has been changed.
The public pulse has been felt, and the beating
has been so strong, SO emphatic, SO adverse
that it has been found necessary to throw over
board at least one, if not more, of the often
ders in the original programme.
To the outside, non-Catholic, rationalistic,
unchurched world it was reasonable to con-
clude the Pope, his curia and advisers gene
rally, would not listen. The programme, how
ever, not finding favor, but rather being con-
demned inside the Church and by laymen Of
all ranks and GLASSES, by preachers, by priests,
by professors Of theology and by bishops, the
Pope and his friends must now see that to per-
severe is in the last degree dangerous. We
have all along known, thanks to the AHge-
meiase Zeitung and our own correspondent,
that there was in Germany powerful liberal
party inside the Church, totally opposed
to the plan and purpose of the Coun-
Gil. We did not know, however, until
the publication Of ''Von Janus work
of immense ability and laborious learning, and
evidently the product of many hands and
many brains-that the plan Of the Council
was so much out of favor on the part of
progressive Catholics. This work, which has
fallen upon the Church like a thunderbolt
shows that the countrymen of Luther are not
to be despised. In France, the Archbishop
of Paris and the Bishop Of Orleans, both of
them leaders, although on different sides, in
the Gallican Church, have pronounced against
infallibity; and in the name Of France
Father Hyacinthe stands up before the world
protesting against the old women and the
petticoats of the Vatican. In England, too,
where lack of numbers in the Catholic Church
is made up by strength Of faith and intensity,
of feeling, alienation has been provoked, and
where or how it will end it is truly difficult to
say. All things considered we have no
choice, but say that while the Ecumenical
Council win be grand archaeological show
it will not do much to heal ''Christendom's
divisions" or to benefit mankind.