Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-04-14

come up to this Archbishop in some of
his statements respecting the Pope. He
places him above the apostles, for
he SAYS in his fifth sermon,
During the life time of
st. John there arose serious disturbances
in the Church of Corinth. st. John was
at Ephesus, but the case was not refer
red to him, but to Clement, Bishop OF
Rome, the third in succession from st.
Peter. THE doctrinal DEGREES of coun-
ellis have never been regarded as bind
ing until sanctioned by the POpes;"
(same sermOn.) "The devil NAV vent his
rage against this one Catholic Church of
Jesus Christ, but all his efforts TO destroy
or disintegrdte her must prove abOrtive,
because she possesses a principle OF unity
and stability in the person and office OF
Peter-the chief shepherd of the visible
flock Of Christ and intallible head OF His
Church on earth. lie (the Pope may
BE- as great q sinner as Ddrid WdS, bat y,
like the royal prophet he is commission
Ell to speak in Gods name, God lrW aud
must So that he DOES not err" THE italics
are ours. Notwithstanding this rhetO-
rical flourish of the Bishop, what does it
signify? David, he admits, was inspired.
The Pope is not, and the above goes for
nothing. Now from these state
ments OF the Bishop we come
to this conclusion, that the
supremacy and infallibility OF the Pope
are as necessary 10 the existence OF the
Roman Catholic Church as the opera
tons OF the Holy Spirit are to the eXis-
tence of the Church of Jesus Christ and
the whole body of true believers. But
stop! We must bear in mind that this
doctrine OF Papal iniallibility (having for
one Gifts factors paganism, DjCUS Imperd-
tor, PORhtsr MdrmUS,) is enumerated In
a so-called Christian pulpit in our own
day andln our own city. Professionalism
in its grOtesque shapes could not Origi-
nate anything so grOteSque as this. The
doctrine of Papal infallibility is novel.
Ii was not held by the Roman Catholic
Church as an article of faith till 1870
There are Roman Catholics in this city
(probably some of the priests in the Ca
thedral-it may be- the Bishop himselD
who were taught i'm early life to assert
that the iniallibiity of the Pope was a
Protestant lie, and now they believe 1t be-
cause the oracle has spoken, Rev. I.
Mcguire, an Irish priest, in his discus
sion with Rev. X. 7. Pope, says: "The
Pope's iniallibility is not doctrine OF
mine nor OF any Catholic, The church
has pronounced no opinion on 1t. She
only prOnOunCes on essentials" II 1t
was not essential then how can it be es-
scntial now? But the Bishop brings
before us two inialibles, LIST, the Pope;
2d, the Church. Where are we to lock
for the third? Here We have in the
wear of grace, 1879, u doctrine which
every Christian connected or not with
RomaniSm must believe on pain OF
eternal damnatiOn. In the year of grace,
1869, any Christian might believe IT or
not without any anathema. Can that
church be divine that is thus added to
her essential doctrines, all the time
changing with the years, desiring TO be
las Bishop Wordsworth says like the
last days OF the Athenian months, ner
and old at the same time
The Bishop refers to Pope Nigilius
who denied the faith, but afterwards re-
pented. The History OF the Church
ISmith's) states that on the death of
Agapetus | 1916 at COnstantinople
where he had been sent on an embassy
bv the Gothic king of Italy, Nigilius was
persuaded TO be a candidate by the En-
press and to support the mon0physlf
heresy. In the meantime the sub
Deacon Silverius, son of Pope HOrmls-
das, was elected at Rome. Did Priests
marry then? Next Belisarius who
had recovered the ancient Capital
CRome) depoSed Silverius on a charge
of reasonable corresE pndenCe with the
enemy, and Nigilius was elected, pay
ing POO pounds of gold for his interest.
Now leaving out of consideration any
reference to his faith was not tins
Simonv? Did not this one fact vltiate
all his doing enthusiastically? Would
the Great Head Of the church recognize
such Bishop? Would Peter, who
who said To one man who thought GER
tain powers might he conveyed for
money, Thy money perish with thee?
But this Pope was not the only one who
fell from the faith, Zephyrinus and
Callistus, Bishops OF Rome, the former
from A. d. POI till 2lS, and also a
saint i'm the Roman calendar to whom
the faithful offer their dcvotiOns on the
18th of August, and the latter from us
till 223 adopted the opinion of Noctus,
that Christ was the Father Himself; was
born, suffered, was crucitied and died
committing His spirit into the keeping
Of Himself; dying in appearance only.
Our historian lHippolytus) aihrms that
Zephvrinus was hurried headlong into
this error by CalliStus, who said: Il
never will acknowledge two Gods, the
Father and the Son, hut one God, Tor
the Father born i'm Him having taken
human flesh, diyinized il by uniting 1t
10 Himself and made il one, So that one
God is called Father and Son, &c.
Wordsworth's Hippolytus, p. 293. How
will our Roman Catholic friends ac-
count for this departure from ortho-
doxy? Again, Pope Formosus, S9l-Se6,
MAS succeeded by Stephen VI, S96-Ss',
who caused his body to be disinterred
and placed in the fun pontitical robe IN
the papal chair, and after the show OF
trial was condemned for violations OF
canouical rule. After the murder oil
Stephen tS97) these proceedings were
condemned by a council held 10y John
IN. Throughout this century the paral
chair was the object of fierce contests
or shameful patronage, and the Popes
who filed il in rapid succession were
often removed by secret practice
or open violence. Some OF
these iniallible Wears OF CHRIST
were condemned by their successors
or by Councils or are more deeply
branded by the verdict of history,
NJ 7 raf,ar ~ Inhn Y / and Serylus liz
But why refer 10 them at all. NV
answer is in the Bishops sermon as ne
norted in the h,ioili@Hoer OF the 10th OF
March. Speaking of frotestantism he
saws: Moreover il is fact which no
one dares gainsay that Luther, the
boasted leader Of this great revolt
against the Church of Christ, Was man
81 gross instincts, and of base animal
passions. The originator, too, OF the
religions revolution in England, Henry