National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-04-05

practice me nurch" has been separate and dis
'iH Il, \, y trns1 civil State.
Peter: ou' what those powers were and how they
were e1 Srcised is best Known by reference to the
pfSgss q che Holy Scriptures. The explanation
is eeea In Acts, li:3s: "Then Peter said, repent
Ind b baptfEed every one Of you in the name OF
shall receive the gift OF the Holy Ghost" The
teachibgsof all the Apostles are in cousOnance
VIII te See ,R 81 aeSer ana not IN seGorG n
priestly absoluton from sin, In the sale by the
Pope &c plenary indulgences to commit crime.
Acts !, where the benefits Of the Gospel having
been limited up to that time to the Jews e1ly,
Peter opens It TO the Gentiles.
As TO the succession, We must deny that the
Apostles hIye any. Paul, in writing on this sub
ship. He Gays that one 70 be an apostle must
Fave seer Jesusi and, in further support Of his
claim, says: "Truly, the signs Of an apostle were
wonders and mighty deeds" They also pos.
sessed TIE power Of life and death. Paul struck
to life again. Those who claim to be successors
Of the Apostles must prove that they have been
eye-Wttnesses OF the resurrection Of Christ; that
they have seen him in the flesh; that they have
received their commissions directly from Heaven;
mot Of men, neither by man, but by the will Of
God,n and that God sttests their apostleship BY
the gift of miraculous powers. submit that
these pretentious successors cannot do this and
must believe that there is no succession, and the
Of Proof ;,Es.o rov.r, A,v. 49,, ,..D ~
erclsed BY the Catholic Church for eighteen hun;
dred years" Is contrary to all the teachings Of
history, which shows that the existence and ex-
ercise Of powers now claimed by the Pope were OF
gradual growth, the title of universal bishops
having first been established A. D. coo. BY de-
Erees the Papacy added to its assumptions and
as it obtained the power exercised them, until
In our day we have the claim set up that ''the
Church" is to be the supreme judge Of theextent
Of her own Jurisdiction and not the State and
that "the Church" ts to be the ultimate arbiter
to decide whether the State has or has not ex-
ceeded in any particular instance the just limits
Of civil authority. How, then, can the Church
admit the unlimited supremacy OF the State?
1t is impossible. 1t Is these doctrines which
have drenched the earth with blood, and filled 1t
with misery, and which cannot be submitted to
without total destruction Of all liberty.
1t is this doctrine, the legitimate result OF the
infalnbility dogma, that the German Govern
resist or be governed by the priesthood. The
Church" has exercised this power for ages, aud
kept the nations In ignorance and superstition,
and 10 resist, as has been frequently done, was to
incur the displeasure of the Church, and To re-
ceive its severest condemnation generally written
What we claim is that matters of State belong
to that body, and the Church must not Interfere.
The history OF the Catholic Church proves her
to be the persistent enemy of liberty and educa-
ton, and WHEN the temporal power of the Pope
was destroyed in 1871 in Rome the most despotlc
government on the face of the earth ceased to
exist, and we hope and believe forever
To us the most melancholy view of the ease is
to see the Catholics Of Republican America de.
Tending the despotism of the Church, and, while
the Catholics Of Italy, Spain, France and Ger
many are moving for liberty, the Catholics of
this country side with the Church in its endeav-
ors TO prevent the peoples OF Europe from obtain
ing what We here enjoy. The motto of "tbe
Church " has been 1.-THE Church supported by the
State-the State controlled by the Church."
and outside of this she has called all else indeI-
ity and heTesy. II the doctrines and practices Of
" The Church " are in accordance with the teach
ings and practices OF the religion OF the Bible
then is she the Church Of Christ. II not, not
Compare them we'll and mark the difference.
In regard to the massacre OF St. Bartholomew,
L. s. has seen ut, after passing 1t by his former
article as q fancy sketch Of NINE to enter into q
discussion Of it, and reduces the number OF the
slain to 1000. An American author fixes the
number at 10000; Hume, the English historian,
places the number in Paris at Il, 500, and does
not state the number in the rest Of the empire
aud DR.. De Cormenin French historian and a
Catholic, places the number at 10000, where no
says the carnage lasted for two days, and In the
provinces at 10000, where it lasted for two months
! accept the latter as nearest the truth. Nor do
these French and English historians agree that
this was political affair, as L. s. SAYS but that
IT was caused directly by ''the Church" and was
part OF plan which was not to be restricted to
France, but was to include others and 10 restore
the waning power Of the Papacy. In mitigation
Of the crime, L. S. says that this occurred ''abOut
three hundred years ago, when men were not hu.
name and enlightened as new" forgetting the
massacre Of Protestants on two occasions IN Mex.
leo, within the past few months, and the stoning
Of Professionals IN Liverpool almost while he was
penning the article Now, to our view, this is
caused by the intolerance of "the Church." an
intolerance which is impaired by her priests
to their eorgreg atlons everywhere, the world
over. Nor will 1t do to say that the great crime
was committed In dark ages; the character of a
Christian must be the same in all ages, and an
inJdRible church is always the same. II is her
boast that she never changes, and admit IL.
The traveller still finds painting Of this mas
sGcTe on the walls OF the Vatican; the Church re-
mains true to her history, whatever her apollo
gtsts may say.
The closing paragraph, in which he says ho
has acted in defence OF justice right religion and
freedom, as against the usurpations and despOt-
isns Of the tyrants Of Europe, may look very we'll
to HIM, but we fail TO see 1t. IL. 81 belongs to
that class Of persons in our country who are be-
Hailing the loss of the temporal power OF the
Pope, and no doubt wishes TO see France replace
him upon the throne. He can bewau the loss of
power TO this despOt, but he has no sympathy for
the poor subjects who suffered so long under him,
and whose hearts leaped for Joy when the Italian
army appeared to release them. The poor Pope,
who even now has household OF more than four
teen hundred officials and servants, including
soldiers, and to whom the Italian Government
offers princely annual revenue, IT, in his eyes q
perseeuIed man, while Victor Emmanuel, who
has given o constitutional monarchy to the people
who love and respect him, and whose liberty is so
great that Garibaldi, elected by the people, sits
In the Parliament Of the nation is In his eyes "a
twin robber" and despOiler OF The Church"
APRIL ., 1876.