The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-06-23
The Catholic Claim or Spiritual
Supremacy.

CiihG!c waId, VoL XI-, IA 81. a
The nineteenth century may not be able
70 understand it, or, If understanding it,
to acceptit; yeiit Is true that the spirit.
uaI Is the superior, and the Law Of the
temporal. The supremacy belongs in all
things Of right to God, represented on
earth by the Churchor the spiritual or.
der. The temporal has no rights, no
legitimacy save as subordinated to spirit.
uaI--tha, is, to the end for which man
il created and EXIST. The end for which
all creatures are made and exist Is not
temporal, but spiritual and eternal; for
it is God himself who il the final cause
As we'll a. the first cause Of creation. The
end, or God As final cause, preseribes the
law which all men must obey, or fail Of
attaining their end, which Is their sup
rene good. This Law all men and nations,
kings and people, SoVereigns and subjects,
are alike bound 10 obey It is for all men,
for States and Empires, nc less than for
individuals, the supreme law, the Law and
the only Law that binds the conscience.
Nov, religion l. this law, and includes
all that Il commands to be done, all that
It iorbids 10 be done, and all the means
and conditions Of IL fulfllment. The
church, as all Catholics hold, Is the EN-.
bOdiment Of this Law, and Is therefore In
her very nature and constitution teleologl-
cal. She speaks always and everywhere
with the authority Of God, as the final
cause oicreatiOn, and therefore her words
are law, her commands are the commands
Of God. Christ, who is God as we'll as
man, il her personality, and therefore she
lives, teaches, and governs In him, and he
10 her. This being 30, il il clear thatre-
ligiouB liberty must consist in the unre-
strained freedom and Independence Of the
church to teach and govern all men and
nations, princes and people, rulers and
ruled, in all things enjOined by the teleol.
Ogical Law Of mans existence, and there
fore in the recognition and maintenance
for the church Of that very supreme au-
thority which the popes have always
ClAlmeut uuu ukA4lNt Which lllt IleluIluh~
ton protested, and which secular princes
are generally disposed to resist when il
crosses their pride, their policy, their am
bition, or their love ofpOWer. Maniiestly,
then, religior' liberty and PrOlestantiSm
are mutually antagonistic, each warning
against the other.
The Protestant experiment has demon.
strated beyond question that the very
things In the Catholic Church which are
most offensive to this age, and for which
II wages unrelenting war against her. are
precisely those things Il most needs for il
own protection and safety. II needs, first
Of all, the Catholic Church--nay, the pa.
pacy itseli-to declare and apply the law
Of God to States and Empires, to soyer.
eignS and subjects, kings and people, that
politics may no longer be divorced from
religion, but be rendered subsidiary to the
spiritual, the eternal end OF man, for
which both individuals and society exist
and civil governments are instituted;
T. TO take charge Of education;
10 and, most Of all, 10 exercise a Wig
liant censorship over ideas, whether vent.
ell in books, journals or lectures, and to
keep from the public those which tend to
mislead the mind or to corrupt the heart,
as 0 prudent father strives to keep them
from his children.