The record-union., 1893-12-22

Fxnressed in the Sectarian Press
Some Matters of Interest TO Both
Ministers and Laymen.
'In the recent Church Congress the
climax of audacity was reached in the
discussion on the 'Sufficiency of the
Bible,' IN the essay of the Rev. DR.. Rich
ards" says the Ltotng Church (P. Ed of
Chicago. mo more daring assault upon
the primary principles of our holy relig-
ion has been heard in our day from one
sworn, at the most solemn moment IN
his life, to teach and defend those princi-
pies. The fippancy of tone, no less than
the character of the subject treated, were
profoundly shocking to the audience
who had come together to hear Catholic
truth vindicated, not assailed by priests
of the church. Not content with the
treatment of the sacred Scriptures, which
would leave them no more sacred than
modern works of genius, the speaker
proceeded to deny the true divinity OF
of our Lord and to declare that His pre-
cepts needed revision. DR.. Richards has
done what he could to constitute himself
u specimen OF inc kIuU OF pIl6SI MHIC41
Professor NJ Momerle cOngratuIates hlmSel1
and his friends is now possible in the
Church of England, owing to the present
laXiJy of subscription. a man. says Pro-
fessor Momerie, can now deny any doc
trine of the church and yet consistently
remain in an English benetice. Is the
same thing to become true here? Will
our authorities, in view of the increasing
audacity of the unbeIeving party, let this
DRIFT go on without decisive rebuke? For
our part it seems no less than an insult
to the American Church that an assOcia-
ton which by its very name passes as
representative, should make itself the
arena OF assaults upon the fundamental
YeritieS of the Christian religion. At
least two of these speakers were so well
known that in selecting them, the mana
gers can hardly acquit themselves OF IN
difference, TO say the least, as TO the views
which might be ventilated before
Church Congress-
"What, on the side of practice, is the
use OF the Pope's infallibility, even for
lhOse who believe in it?'' asks the New
York ChuTcHMdR (P. E.. "DOes anbody
pretend to be able to reconcile the Sylla-
bus OF Errors, SO far as it deals with the
subject of education, with the principles
of Archbishop Ireland or Cardinal Glib
Dons, or Mgr. Satolh or Leo XIII.? Is
gIJ AOll4aDlob DlGBdlCQ W G1N " lIl0 IAO-
man Church in this country the use of
torce-that is to say, perSecution-tOr the
maintenance or propagation of the true
faith? Would any Roman prelate have
the audacity or impudence to propose an
amendment to the Constitution establish
ing the Roman Church and giving it au-
thoritv over the civil power? The Sylla-
bus Of Errors condemned by Plus TX. is,
for all practical purposes, as worthless
and as disregarded as the Withered leaves
scattered by the November winds. Not
only is Plus ms Syllabus treated with
contempt, but also laws enacted or sane
toned by long succession Of POpeS.
The fact is that intallibility is good for
nothing unless you can get at the iniaIli-
bic man whenever you want him. II
you cannot get at him at all; if he is
only lntallibla when speaking eC cattle
dra; ii only canonist, casuist, expert
can find out whether he is speaking or
not; il, when he does so speak, the sub
tlest and learned even OF Roman Cath
ollcs cannot agree upon what he means
iniallibility is for all practical purposes
moonshine."
"The Roman Catholic hierarchy" says
the New Ork Outlook, ''hOlds that the
work Of education, like the ministry of
religion, is function of the church, not
Of the State. 1t purposes, therefore, to
take the charge of public education out of
the hands Of the State and relegate it to
the church. To do this completely would
be, perhaps, too large an undertaking. 1t
proposes, therefore, to do it only as re-
CARDS Roman Catholic children, and for
this purpose to give Roman Catholic
schools their share of the public school
fund. We meet the issue which the
hierarchy raises by its Otficialdem and for
2 division OF the public school funds with
vigorous reaffirmatiOn Of the American
policy. We reaffirm it on the ground of
principle; that it is the duty of the repub-
lie to provide education in all that is nee
essary to good citizenship for all her citi-
zens. We reaffirm it on the ground Of
public policy, that the greatest danger to
the republic is the massing of ignorant
voters, and that it is therefore indlspensa-
BILE that the republic educate ner chill
dren to vote intelligently. We reaffirm
it on the ground of experience; that
wherever education has been remiJted TO
the church II has been Ill done-that even
in England, where the parochial school
and the board school work side by side
the almost uniform testimony of actual
experiment is in favor of the board
school. We reaffirm it on the broad his
torical grounds; on the witness of Spain
and Italy to the results Of parochlaI edu-
cation supervised and controlled by
Rome, and the witness of New England
and the Northwest to the results of pub
lie education supervised and controlled by
the State. We reat1irm it on the grounds
of a comparison nearer home; between
the educational system of Canada, where
the secretarian differences are carried
down to the cradle, and ROmanists
and Protestants live always in a condi-
ton of armed truce, occasionally break
ing into open war, and Of America,
where the boys and girls of both creeds
learn to know and respect each other in
the public school, and therefore to live
amicably together in all the relations Of
later Iite."
1.-THE State-supported public school is
an American institution says the New
York Observer (Pres.). "The State-sup-
ported parochial is not. Between these
two there is a great difference. We
know too much Of the teaching in Cath
olic parochial schools to remain quiet
while an effort is made to feed them from
the public treasury. Bishop Keane of
the Jesuit University at Washington,
lately preacher at Harvard College, said
at Boston on recent date: The man
who says that in the aims of the Catholic
Church there is anything antagOnistic to
the principles of our Government lies
The Rev. DIR. a. Ii. Plumb of Boston
calls attention to McCarthy's history, by
the Catholic Publication Society, New
ork, 1890, bearing the inIprimatur of
the Archbishop Of New York, text book
which, but for the most strenuous oppo-
sition, the Boston School Board would
have adopted for the children of that city,
which Is full of such teaching. Let one
citation suffice. Alludiug to the Wald-
enses, whose stout-hearted adherence to
their religious convictions through the
ages hiding in the fastnesses of the Alps,
in spite of awful visitations OF relentless
prosecutions, lluminates one Of the
brightest pages of history, this book
says, page 3l5: These secretaries in