The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-11-24
DEGREES PROMULGATED IN A COUNCIL,

DEGREES PROMULGATED IN COUNCIL,
Plus TX. legislating and decreeing. What he de-
crees is, first his own infallbiIiy. Il is said that
this is claimed only when he speaks ex cathe.
dra but this is phrase of which there is
tablished definition. But 'there is still one per-
son. and one only, who can unquestionably de.
care ca hedra what is ex cathedra aud what
is not, and who can declare II when and as he
pleases. That person is the pope himself The
provision is, that no document he issues shall
be valid without seal; but the seal remains
urged again that the Papal claim does not go
beyond matter of faith and morals; but what
do not morals include, or where is the line to be
drawn which shall exclude any important part
of human action from that domain? Rome
.:Suoh a distinction would be the unworthy
device OF q shallow policy, yainly used 10 hide
the daring of that wild ambition which at Rome
throne-promp the movements of the Vatican.
care not To ask ii there be dregs or tatters OF
human life. such as can escape from the de-
that duty is a power which rises with as in the
morning, and goes to lest vi b us at night. III
is cO-sxIensive with the action of our in
teIligence. 1t is the shadow which cleaves TO us
go where we will, and which only leaves us
supreme direction of Us in respect TO all duty,
which the pontif declares to belong tc him
he makes not as an otiose opinion of the schools,
bat cunclis fidelibus credendam et ttenendam."
THE CLAIM TO ABSOLUTE AND ENTIRE oBED-
IENCE.
Nor is even the claim OF papal infallibility the
most dangerous of recent usurpations. There is
something wider still, and that is the claim
to an absolute and entire obedience
The third chapter sof the Vati-
can constitution has had less attention
than the fourth, but is at least, inks Mr.
Gladstone of equal moment. Quoting the text
of it, he SAYS: "Even, therefore, where the judg-
ments of he pope do not present the credentials
of infalhbiity, they are unappealable and irre-
them, and ali men, clerical and lay, dispersedIy
or in the aggregate, are bound truly to obey
them; and from this rule OF Catholic truth no
man can depart, save at the peril of his saliva
tion. Surely, 1t is allowable to say that this
formidable rival to the-fourth chapter on infal
libility. Indeed, to an observer from without,
it seems to leave the dignity TO the other, but
to itself The third chapter is
the Merovingian Monarch; the fourth
is the Csrolingian mayor OF the PALACE, zee
fourth an iron gripe. Little does It matter TO
me whether my upsrior claims infalibllity so
long as he is entitled to demand and exact con-
formity This, it will be observed, he demands
even in cases not covered by his infalltbility;
cases, therefore, in which he admits it to be
possible that he maybe wrong, but finds it in
tolerable to be told so. AS he must be obeyed in
all his judgments, though not ex cathedra, it
seems pity he could not likewise give the COM
forting assurance that they are all certain to be
right"
having in the individual, put forth this other
doctrine of obedi ence? In this lies
THEvERY ROOT AND KERNEL
of the matter. "fndividual serYitude, however
abject, will not satisfy the party now i1minant
in the Latin Church; the state must ais, q
slave" The danger herein lurking is energeii-
cally dragged from its concealment. The claim
to absolute obedience in all which con-
Germ the discipline and government of the
tudes of facts, whole systems of governments.
And the warning reaches across the Atlantic.
Even in the United states, where the severance
between church and state is supposed 10 be COM
plete, a long catalogue might be drawn OF sub
jects belonging TO the domain and competency
ofthe state, but also undeniably affecting the
government of the church; such as, by way of
example, marriage burial, edu cation, prf on
discipline, blaSphemy, poor relief incOrpora-
celibacy, and obedience. In Europe the circle
is far wild T, the points of contact and of inter
lacing almost l. numerable. But on all matters
respecting which any pope may think proper
to declare that II ey concern either faith, or
church, he claims, with the
appreva! OF "a council undoubtedly
aSsonGe obedenee, at the per of sanSation of
every member of his communion. To such
claims as these-the claims of the Syllabus aud
the eney clical-it seems not TO have been
is probably TO come. am the mean time il is well
to remember that this claim in respect to all
things affecting the discipline and government
of the church, as well as faith and conduct, is
lodged in open day by aud in the reign of a
writing, a free press, toleraiion Of nom
con formity, liberty of conscience, study
of civil ard philosophical matters in independ- l.
ence of the ecclesiastical authority, marriage
unless sacramentally contracted, and the defini-
milton by the state of the civil rights 0ura) of
therefore, the title 10 define its own civil rights,
together with diYi ne right to civil immunities,
and a right to use physical force; and who has
a asserted m d.
die ages with their councils did not invade the
rights of princes; as, for example, Gregory VII.
of the Emperor Henry w.; Innocent III. OF
Raymond of Toulouse; Paul LII. of deposing
henry VIII, or Plus v: in performing the like
paternal Office for Elizabeth.
WHAT THE CATHOLICS SHOULD DO.
With this spirited passage, Mr.. Gladstone ap.
proaches the close of his demonstration of his
third proposition. Under such circumstances,
he thinks it not too much to ask his Roman
Catholic fellow-countrymen to clear away the
presumptive obligations under which they lie
TO their ecclesiastical rulers abroad and TO fulfill
the engagements into which their bishop al
viii not answer. What is wanted, and that in
the most specific form and the clearest terms
Mr. Gladstone takes 10 be one of two things, that
is TO say either:
/. A demonstration that neither in the name
of faith. ror in the name of morals. nor in the
Church, is the Pope of Rome able by virtue OF
the powers asserted for him by the Vatican de-
cree, 10 make any claim upon InOSe VINO au-
here to his communion of such nature can
impair the Integrity of their civil allegiance;
else,
2. That If when such a claim is made, il VI II,
even although resting on the definitions of the
Vatican, be repealed and rejected, just as Bishop
Doyle, when he was asked what the Roman
Catholic clergy would do IL the pope inter-
medd ed with their religion, replied frankly
"The consequence would be that we should OPP
pose him by every means in our power, even by
the exercise of our
SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY"
Ifexplicit assurance to this effect be not given
the conclusion must be:
l. That the pope, authorized by his council,
claims for himself the domain (o) of faith, (b of
morals. tc) of all that concerns the government
and discipline of the church.
3 That he in like ma amer claims the power of
the limits OF those domains.
3. That he does not sever them, by any ac-
knowledged or intelligible line from The do