Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-06-01
The Ecumenical Council.

Inc ffUnlcIlcNl tOUnCll.
The Council is making rapid progress to-
ward the declaration Of papal iniallibility.
SO far as we can trust the reports that come
from Rome, it would seem that the oppos-
ton makes but little Roadway against this
forogonc conclusion. We are by no means
disposed to complain against this inevitable
result Of so many centuries agitation Of the
question Nor does it make any serious diff
ference, how the final declaration Of the
urallihlity Of the Holy See will Doe brought
about The antagonists Of the measure at
Rome may show that the question is gam
grcnol with fraud" but we conceive that the
principle has taken such deep root in the soil
Of the church, aud haa so grown into her life,
that the exposure of the historical naccura-
cies and frauds which is made by them and
by such writers as Crafty aud Janus,
will produce no result in preventing the re.
suit or in shaking the dominant system It
makes no difference that the decrctals Of l.o-
doro are false. or that the dogma Of Papa in.
hlHbilily is proved to be without any author
ity. Greek or Latin, in the first six centuries
The doctrine is now evidently inwroughi Inc
to the Catholic faith notwithstanding the
able protests Of few Of the Fathers, and il
win soon be announced as part Of the sys-
tom by the authoritative voice Of the Council.
One thing alone strikes us with surprise that
the declaration of Council which conle-sedly
H. allblc. can make the Pope inlallible. The
Council Is either infalible or alliblc If il
IS inlallible, then it cannot communicate It's
own prerogatiyc, or declare something else TO
have the quality which il alone possesses. If
it is iallibo, as it holds itself to be by ascrib.
ing inGlIiblity to the Pope, then it may err
even in declaring this fact If the Council
is inialiblc, it cannot transfer its gift to anoth-
cr If it is hliblc, It's declaration is worth
nothing Its action, whatever it is, cannot
make one hair of the Popes head white or
black, and it Is matter Of very little concern
to us which horn Of the dilemma the church
takes.
As Protestants, we should rather welcome
the definition 1t will create an internal dis
turbanee in the body Of the church 1t will
ALLEVIATE it from the sympathes Of the nine.
teonth century. twill produce a wide sepa-
ration between it and the tendencies Of mod.
crn thought and civilization. If this is made
an article Of faith, there will be nothing left to
those who have opposed it with so much in
ctfectual power, but to submit or secede.--
Some will do one thing aud some another, but
we imagine that the advantage to Protest
ant Christianity will come from it, not in the
disruption of the Roman church, but ia the
more accurate definition Of that system with
which it has to contend Knowing the source
Of power in the church, it will be at no loss
to estimate It's forces, or where to aim its
blows Politically this matter reaches further
than it does theologically. 1t has received
the protest of some of the Catholic powers
and it will be likely to effect a speedy divorce
between the temporal and spiritual sovereignty
of the PontiG. The great worldly powers
will see to it that no infaliblo hand informed
dies with their affairs The assertion of
celestial right in the Pope may not weaken
the spiritual supremacy of the church, but it
will destroy its secular significance and power.
The sceptre of inGllbility will be barren
one, except in the region of dogma and ec-
closasm To this its influence will be most
rigidly confined by the suspicion and jealousy
of the worldly powers We apprehend that
on the whole the papacy will gain in some
things, but it will lose far more than it will
gain. The world has gone beyond the mid
| die npas