American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-08-15


hcnded, will control the mind for
ever. And, furthermore, all men,
at times, believe themselves infalli-
BILE, either through selfsuf1iciency
or under the absolute certainty OF
conviction. Thus, those who most
tiercely assaiied the doctrine by the
use of the most abusive epithets,
were, for the time being, fully re-
conclled to their own infaIllbility.
Again, that no body of Christians,
faithful to the teuets of their own
sect, doubted their own infallibiliiy V.
The Bishop then made this point !:
That since God had given mankind
unerring rules for their guidance in
the purely temporal concerns OF
life. how much more then did it not
behoove Him to provide infaIlible
means in the aH-impOrtant affair OF
salvation.
WHAT THE CHURCH MEANS BY IN
FALLIBILITY.
If the Church of Jesus Christ.
which, He, Il God, has established.
is to continue to the end of ages
triump plant against all the powers
OF darkness, then it must be in tn.
nineteenth century exactly what il
was eighteen centuries ago. The
Church came forth perfect from the
upper room in Jerusalem, on Whit
Sunday, without spot or wrIhklr.'
Then the Church had received the
whole deposit of faith, and that n0I
jot could he added thereto, nor
subtracied therefrOm. She mus
remain unchanged in the unity at
rru n aud as infallible as when she
proceeded from hands of her intal
| lille founder. s'Behold | am with
you all days. even to the con -um-
nation OF the world Since the
Church Is incapable of erring, il
clearly follows that the chief, whom
Christ has placed over her as II
watch tower. should be incapable
of leading her INTO error. Christ
prayed for him that his faith should
fail not, and that, when confirmed,
he should not only feed the lambs
but the sheep of the fold. That
there is the clearest evidence in his
tory, that in all important matters
of faith, the successors Of the
Apostles in all ages have appealed
for final decision of IL disputed
doctrine to the supreme judge. the
Bishop of ROme-hence the famous
saying of ST. Augustine: "ROme
has spOhen-the cause .fnished.' The
Bishop very properly illustrated the
necessity of a final court of appeal
in cOntroverted matters by referring
to the civil courts. That when the
meaning of any particular civil law
cannot be determined, or it's deci-
sion prove unacceptable, there is
privilege of appealing to a supreme
tribunal, to ii supreme Judge, whose
irrevOcahle Judgment determines
the spirit and scope of the law.
The Bishop ridiculed the absurd
notions entertained by some non
Catholics of universal infallibility,
or impeccLbility. as too silly to de-
serve notice. That the Pope, like
any other man, is liable to wrong
doing. He is lnfallible in matters
of faith only as the teacher of the
universal Church and vicegerent of
Christ.
Why the Church defined a dogma
of faith in the nineteenth century,
which was the common belief OF the
Church in all ages.
The substance Of the Bish ops ar
gument on this last point was as
follows: No law, said he, is re-
ferred to the supreme court before
it has been cOntroverted or Tejec.ed
in the lower courts; so in the
Church, no doctrine is referred to
the Pope for definition but such as
have been denied or rejected by
number of her children. AS an
Instance, the Church took no action
on the mystery of the trinity until
the fourth century, when that car
dInal article of Christian faith be
gan to be assailed by Il body of her
own children. So it has been with
the present dogma of inialIibility.
This article of Catholicism was not
specially called in doubt until the
reign of Louis XIV. That king
having raised France to the very
zenith Of her power. became intoxi-
Gated with the glory of absolute
sway. Tue only check on his
cpsaIism was tle spiritual supre-
macy OF the Pope. This lie deter
mined to curtail, and was assisted
in his undertaking by few French
bishops. These originated that
school in the Church denOminated
Gallican. They held that for the
PRONUNCIATION of a law the bishops
must of necessity be convened In
council with the Pope. TO settle
this question was the object OF the
late Vatican council. OF all the
councils of the Church this was the |
most numerOusly attended-OverI
six hundred bishops being i'm atten-
dance. The bishop said no council
greater unanimity OF action;
that of that large number only two
said. non placet. True, a few bish
ops at first opposed the dIfinitiOn
on the ground OF InOpportuneness.
This the Bishop characterized as
foolish and cowardIy. If it was Il
truth always believed, why not pro-