Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1877-06-10
SUNDAY READING.

plicit definition what Stealing" is. Suppose,
by way of simplifying matters one says, steal
ing is the taking of thing which does not be-
long to the person taking it. Well, yes, and
no. If | take my neighbor's wallet or his
rooster, am thief. But if | take gold
mine in the Indian Territory, am prospec-
tor or mining operator. The government OF
the United States for many years paid
bounty to the fishermen who went down to
the Grand Banks and robbed the sea of its
fish and the fish of their lives. The Grand
Banks had no rights which any bankers were
bound to respect and as to the fish, even
Christ caused them to be taken, and without
any bait, by miraculous draught of net.
In this State where we strain at the gnat Of
opium smoking and swallow the vice of dram
selling, We make it misdemeanOr to rob
birds nest or deny to the trout his natural
riparian rights of his chosen spawning stream
But is the section of the Decalogue we have
quoted an injunction against the theft of ideas
wherever written or whenever spoken Is it
stealing for any tired dominic to appropriate
another dominie's sermon and preach it as if
it were his own! Does the acute reader de
tect the trend of our gradual parallels Are
our approaches betrayal of their authors
purpose Is it evident that the pupiteer of
the MORNING APPEAL is about TO steal his
discourse for this present preachment If
the fisher may drag the sea, Why may not the
scribe fish in the waters where lie the written
words of studiOus men and women, seeking
the Light the light which never shone on
sea or land If that be the Light of truth
and why not /? We hear good deal of the
Roman Doctrine of Infallibility The gen
eral notion is that the ecumencal council
of 1867 declared in effect that anything said
done by the Pope or under his authority,
was infallible-that is to say, it was right be-
cause he did it, and said it, and authorized it;
and that it was like questioning God to deny
it's binding force upon all the world We
think we can let our readers share what we
believe to be our own somewhat shallow and
imperfect, but nOne-the-less instructive in
sight into this subject, by referring to Card
nal Manning's True Story of the Vatican
Council" After an extract from an address |
of his Holiness to the 500 assembled Bishops |
who had gathered round him from all parts of
the world, in 1867, the Cardinal quotes from |
the response of the Bishops, as follows:
Believing that Peter has spoken by the |
mouth of Plus, therefore whatsoever you have |
spoken, confirmed, and pronounced for the
safe custody of the deposit, we likewise speak, |
confirm and pronounce and with one voice
and one mind we re iect everything which, as
being opposed to divine faith, the salvation of |
souls, and the good of human society, YOU
have judged fit to reprove and reject. For
that is firmly and deeply established in our
consciousness, which the fathers at Florence
defined in their Decree on Union, that the
Roman Pontitf is the vicar of Christ, head of
the whole Church, and father and teacher OF
all Christians and that to him III the person
of blessed Peter has been committed by our
Lord Jesus Christ full power to feed, to rule,
and to govern the Universal Church.
Explaining the conditions under which this
document was prepared, his Eminence says
" As it originally stood, the word infalhble
WAS, in more places than one, ascrbed to the
office and authority of the Pontitf. To this
word, as expressing a doctrine of Catholic
truth, no member of the commission OBJ iected.
i'ut IL was Sdlu lidt hOI1t L1dIlIOIc Iidu
as yet been used only in provincial councils,
or pastoral letters, or theological schools, but
that it had not been inserted in the formal
acts of any general council of the Church, and :
that, inasmuch as the 500 bishops then in
Rome We're not assembled in conncil it might
be advisable not to seem to assume the action i
or office of Council. These considerations f
were assented to by all. 1t was then proposed Q
to insert the words of the Council of Florence, :
which was the last authoritative decree on .
the primacy of the Roman Pontif To this r
no objection to the subject matter was
made but it was urged that the draft address d
already contained expressions stronger than \
he decree of the Council of Florence, which
,nly implicitly contains the infalibilty of y
he head of the Church as the teacher of all
for the address explicitly declares y
hat Peter has spoken by the mouth of Plus .:
70 this it was answered that though beyond =,
IL doubt these words explicitly declare the :,
'oice of the Pontif to be infallible as Peter
vas,yet this reclamation of the fathers of Chal-
edon and that of the third Council of Con- ~,
were always, and not unreasona-
'ly, set aside as of little weight in contro-
ersy, as little more than rhetorical amplifca- -,
ions of the authority of 90 o,,d Of Aco+bo '"