The Portland daily press., 1894-04-16
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Its Claims to be Called the Church Uni
versal.''

Rev. DR.. Blanchard delivered his third
sermon-lecture yesterday morning In
Congress square church to very large
congregation. The theme was, "The
Claims. of the Roman Catholic Church
to be the Church Universal"
Beginning with allusions to the pre-
ceding lectures on "What Alexander the
Great did for Religion" and "Moham-
med and His Religion" DR.. Blanchard
treated his theme under five heads.
The first showed the claim. This is
indicate by the title of the church.
Catholic means universal. There is, there.
fore, no other church. Its head repre-
senting God on earth, is the sovereign
of all nations-the ruler above all
rulers.
The claim is presented also in the ut
rerances of popes and bishops and theo-
logians and writers. Quotations were
given from the Syllabus Of Plus 9th,
from Cardinal Manning, from Gladstone
and Bismarck. Brownson and the
Freeman's Journal.
Cardinal Manning, one of earth's mob
lest men, put these sentences in the
mouth of the Pope: 81 claim to be the
supreme Judge and director of the con-
sciences of men, of the peasant
that tills the fields, and of the prince
that sits upon the.throne; of the house
hold that lives in the shade of. privacy
and the legislator that makes laws for
Kingdoms; am the sole, last, supreme
Judge OF what is right and wrong. More
over, we declare, affirm, define, and pro-
nounce it to be necessary to salvation
for every human being to be subject to
the Roman Pontiff."
The Freeman;s Journal said:
"The Pope of Rome has supreme au-
| thorlty over every square foot OF surface
| on this globe. His rights are circumscribed
only by the ends of the earth, and the
consuumation of the ages"
| Let this claim, then. of universal SOW
ereignty be held aloft.
Concerning this tremendous claim, let
it be said, first of all, that the American
nation ST ould know of its existence.
There are many American Casho olics
who do not know of this claim. Most
Americans are too busy to study history.
they do not know of the deep roots Of
| institutions and the power of ideas. An
association has arisen-the American
| Protective Association-which attempts
| to give information. But that is "a
secret organization. DR.. Blanchard dis
approved of secret political organiza-
tions. Its aims may be right, but it
| is urged by many fair men that it is
bigoted and proscriptive. He believed
| in the people, but he wanted the leaders
to instruct. Let party leaders tell of
| the aim of Rome. Let the Protestant
clergy instruct. Let the Roman Catholic
priests tell their focks of the claim of
the Roman Catholic church to be the
| ch urch universal
In the second place, A merican Catholics
| should see the fallaciousness OF the dis
| tinction between the Pope as sovereign
| in things spiritual and not sovereign
| in things temporal.
| American Catholics are intelligent.
They are intensely patriotic. They would
defend America against assaults from
| European powers. They would oppose
| the Pope if he assailed their country.
| For they think the Pope is to be
/ ODeyeQ only do SplI oOoShCLs 'uo oAO
logicians are mighty. If the spiritual is
above the.temporal, logic requires sub
mission, even when the command re-
lates to temporal affairs. In the third
| place, students of history see that the
| facts are against the claim Of the Re-
man Catholic church. She claims that
God made revelation through Jesus
| Christ-who is God and man that
| Christ made Peter his successor-that
all subsequent popes derive authority
through Peter and Christ, from God.
They claim that history shows unity,
sanctity, universality, apostolicity.
These are the. flour marks of its divini-
ty.
| impassioned recital of the facts which
history discloses, and which prove the
| faIsity of every assumption. @..
In the last place he said that the
| American people must ever stand on
guard against the grandeur and power
| of an idea-the idea that a man on
| earth renresenting God. is the sovereign