Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-07-24
THE PoPE'S ENcYCLIcAL AND
CHRISTIAN UNITY.

The full text of Pope Leo's last ency-
clical has now been received on this side
of the water, and it is plain that the in
terest and importance of it have not been
exaggerated by the previous accounts.
The epistle, which this greatest of recent
popes regards in some sort as his last
will and testament, is addressed ito the
princes and peoples of the earth," and
breathes the great purpose of his pontif-
cate, the re-uniting of all the sects of
Christendom in one universal church,
which of course is to be the church of
Rome, and in which he alone argues, ,ev-
identity with the profoundest sincerity,
social security is to be preserved, the
right of property, which he regards as
the substructure of modern civilization,
maintained, and all human affairs pre-
vented from plunging into anarchy and
chaos. He addresses himself, first to the
Oriental churches, the Greek and the
Armenian, as the earliest schismatics, in
plea for unification with the mother
church at Rome, a union which has often
been attempted and has often seemed on
the point of success. He assures them
that if they will return to the fold the
privileges of their patriarchates and the
rights of their liturgies shall never be
abrogated. Then he directs his appeal
to the innumerable Protestant sects, with
similar assurances to their Episcopal or
ganizations.
One would conclude from the reading
of the encyclical that the venerable pom
tiff really believes his great scheme
to be on the point of realization; but it
is needless to say that there is not par
ticle of likelihood of it in its material
form.
There are insuperable practical diff
culties in the way; for instance, the right
of the Greek and Russian parish clergy
to marry is one that will not be surren-
dered and cannot be tolerated under
Romes historic policy. But beyond that
the tendency of the age is against any
such policy, and towards individualism
in religious thought as in other lines of
human progress; and this individualism,
which is the essence of Professionalism, is
necessarily away from the Catholic
rules of faith. The church of Rome un-
questionally has a great work of useful
ness yet before it in staying some vast
tides of evil with which it is better fitted
to cope than other modern organization,
and if it gains strength it must be in this
work, rather than by absorption.
But there is a view, the spiritual and
al and doctrinal one, in which the Popes
idea is close to realization. The era of
religious rancors and sectarian antipa-
thies which have brought so much of
woe to the world, is fast passing away,
and men are every year more and more
inclined to moral cooperation, regardless
of differences in mere opinion, in works
of practical good. This is work for
which there are multiplied avenues on
every side, and it will be done in the
healthiest way and in the way which fol-
lows most closely in the footsteps of the
Master, by men who have no wish to
make the imposition of their beliefs on
others condition of neutrality-suspicious.
in spirit of tolerance, of good will, of
reverent sympathy, which is the highest
product of Christianity.
The Pope's Encyclical, like much that
has come from his great mind IN recent
years, is to be welcomed because it helps
even though haltingly, to that noble
consumation.-Rrattleboro Reformer.