The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-11-11
Civil and Religious Liberty.
LECTURE BY ARCHBISHOP GIBBONS AT
THOMAS CHURCH. WOoDRERRy

|
THOMAS CHURCH, wooDBERRY.
The Archbishop of Baltimore, Rt Rev. Jas
GIbbens, delivered a-lecture last night at tn,
Church OF ST. Thomas, in Woodbury., Balti
more county, on Civil and Religious Liber
ty," The church was full, SO that the paro
chial fund-in which interest the lecture wal
glYen-must have been sWelled considerably
90 long, he said, as man complies with the
Constitution and existing laws of the country
or state he lives in he is entitled to be protect
eel from any exceptional restraint being put
upon him on account of his religious bell eff
The Catholic Church has ever been the FRIEND
and the fOsterer of both civil and religious
llberty-properly understood. Whenever any
Catholic has violated any law of civil or relig
lous freedom he has been governed by other
influences than those of the Church, and has
violated its general policy 1t has ever been
as 1t is now, a standing doctrine OF the Church
that as man, OF his own free will, fell from
| grace so OF his own free will must he rise
again. Coercion and conversion are two terms
That are dramatically opposed, and that can
not be recOnciled. No influence of force should
ever be exerttd in the conversion Of the hea-
then. Pope Gregory in the sixth century sent
| ot. Augustine and other missionaries to con-
vert the Anglo-Saxons, and they had the con-
ISOLATION OF baptizing the king and some of the
| the use OF coercion, desiring that even the
l0Wliest subject should act with the fullest lib
eTty. There has never been u council of the
Church so important as the fourth, which pass
ed the decree that no Moor Jew should be
baptized against his will This was body COM
posed OF the episcopacy OF the Church, and
sitting N country supposed to be the most
fanatlcal OF all Europe. Bishop Fenelon, in
his letter to the son OF James H., of England,
tormulates the standard teaching of the Catho-
lie Church when he says, Never force snb-
Jects to change their religion. No human pow
er can reach the recesses OF the human heart
Endeavor to convert by mild persuasion" No;
the only sword the church has used is the
Spirit. which is the Word ofGod, and the only
blood 1t has shed is the blood OF its martyrs,
that flowed in emulation OF the Saviour HIM
self.
One of the cOmmonest errors of the times is
to suppose that the Church used to lend it's in
huence as against the people. These princes,
on the contrary, have always been the greatest
enemies OF the Church, and, like Achilles OF
OLD, wanted to govern only by the law of pas
sion and brute force. The prelates OF the
Church have been to them what John the
Baptist was to Herod to say, this thing it is
not lawful for you to do" The Church has
always been the restraining power, standing
between the princes and the people From It's
very beginning the Church has been the cham
plon OF the peoples rights. st. Ambrose was
brilliant Illustration OF this when he refused
to allow the Emperor Theodotius to enter his
church, because OF that monarch's bloody mas
sacre OF the people OF Thessalonica The Mag
ma Charta, the great instrument by which civil
liberty was guaranteed to the English people,
and through them to this nation was Wrung
from King John in 1916, on the plains of Run
nymeade, by the Archbishop OF Canterbury
and the Catholic barOns. L. is with no small
degree OF satisfaction that we turn to our
Maryland as the land of the sanctuary, and the
cradle of civil and religious liberty in this
country. 1t was the only colony settled by
Catholics, and the only one among all to raise
alott the banner OF federation. Without dwell
ing uron the tribute paid to Catholic tolersi-
ton lately by distinguished gentleman at a
banquet, which, In my opinion, rather lowered
than raised it, we need only turn to the Amer
lean historian Bancrott-who cannot be sus-
pected OF any partiality towards Catholics
to lind that to the early Catholics of Mary
land alone belong the credit OF sheltering Pro
testants from Protestant intolerance. See the
part taken by Catholics, and the most of them
Of Irish birth, in the American revolution
Look at the record OF Carroll OF Carrollt IN
OF the deeds OF Barry, a Lafayette, Kos
kiosko.
We need not go into the past to see princely
power opposing the Church and the Church
opposing it, although there are no such thrill
ing pages In history as tell OF the sutferings OF
prelates for conscience's sake Because Plus
VII. would not annul the marriage of Young
Bonaparte to Miss Patterson, for the assigned
reason that she was protestant, but really to
let him marry the Queen of Westphalia, the
first Napoleon brought the aged Pontiff to
France and kept him a prisoner and an exile
or 10 cfI al kn%4I
between John the Baptist and Herod is going
on. will not speak of England she has been
prosecutor, but she is doing better now. Rus
sla sends an archbishop into exile simply be-
cause he denies that Alexander is the divinely
appointed head OF the church. In Italy monks
and nuns are expelled from their homes and
their property confscated because they have
not the power to resist In France we have
seen the many headed monster, Communism,
dragging the Archbishop of Paris to death. In
Prussia, the Prime Minister not satisfied with
being the second in the Empire, wants the tt
ara of the Pope, and, like Hannah OF old, with
MOrdecai, because the Church will not bow
down to him, wants to kill it. ST. Crysostem
speaking OF Paul, says that he was not SO no
bic raised to the seventh heaven as he was dy-
ing in the dungeons OF Rome, and SO the Ger
man prelates who were so revered at the last
council where l saw them were not so honor
ed in their elevation as they are now in theil
exile. Their only fault is that they want the
Church governed by her own economy. They
believe in rendering to Caesar the things that
are Caesars, and to God the things that art
dod's. suppose that the Government at Wash
ingtOn should issue a general order that tlit
students OF all Christian denominations in tbs
country should be educated in government e.
adjustments alone, and that no appointments
or removals should be made except by govern
ment sanction, would not the people rise III
and resent such an invasion OF their rights !
say that the Catholic Church in Europe is II,
only contending for itself, but 1or the cause
religion everywhere. But thank God we hive
IN country where we may worship God Ii.
peace as we will This day there is no county
III the world where there is such a federation a,
i'll America, and hope the day will never come
when the Church will be in any way depend
ent for support upon the government.-Batta-
more american OF Moo. 1St
THE RICHMOND 6 ALLEeHANY R. R. Co
is making good progress in track-laying from
each end of it's line From the Richmond end
the cars are now running "a miles, to Cedar
Point, ia miles below Lynchburg; from Viii
liamson's, its western junction with the G. d
O., construction trains run over miles OF
completed track, to where bridge over James
River is nearly completed, that done, in few
days now, track laying will proceed rapidly to
Buchanan. Trains will soon be running over
this williamson Buchanan division Of the
road and the great iron ore beds of Arcadia,
Purgatory, Salisbury, Lowry's, and Roaring
Run, Parsons, Cooks, Callie and Kayser's on
Rick-patch Mtn., will be put in communica-
ton with the. railway system of the country
and new and rich iron field to be opened for
development.
This company has purchased the Clifton
forge pass of Jackson's River through Rich
patch Mountain and in its extensive water
power, iron ore and timber lands, and also the
riverside portion of the Kayse- property below
the pass and just east of Rich-patch Min. On
the broad bottoms and river terraces of the
latter the town of "Iron Gate" is to be laid
out and at once built up, for there the compa
ny will erect its machine shops,a hotel, max
ing it the present western terminus gifts road,
etc. Mr.. Lowry has already opened the old
Kayser house there as a hotel-Hotchtass' Var-
gsaaSas.
Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, who's arrived from
Europe few days since, was taken seriously
i'll at the Clarendon Hotel, New York, on Fri