The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-11-17
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faith they are to be decided by the Ro-
man Pontiff. As to Why the definition
Of the doctrine Of infallibilty was made
at the Vatican council in 1870, I will
quote for you Cardinal Manning's reply
to Gladstone. He said:
II will now answer Mr. Gladstone's
question-why the definition was made.
TIE Vatican Council, then, defined the
infallibility of the head Of the Church,
because, if it had failed to do so, the
doctrina, authority of tt Q Church would
have been weakened throughout the
world. Every motive Of worldly policy
would have tempted the council to com
promise, and to shrink from defining ii;
but the peremptory obligations OF Divine
Truth compelled it in defiance OF all pol
icy to define it. Necessity was laid upon
the council, and it could not :recsde'
Universal doubt and sceptlcism are per-
! vadlng men and nations: therefore the
Church defined the infallibility OF Its
head, which is the confirmation OF its
own. As Divine witness, it declared
his commission, and the powers given FOL
its exercise. The Vicar of Jesus Christ
testified to the world, wearied with doubt
and sick with religious contentious, that
the promise of his Master, He that hear
10th you heareth Me- has not failed. The
definition of the infallible teaching OF
the Church by it's head affirms that there
is still divine certainty cf faith upon
earth; and that, as God is the sole Foun
tain of all Truth, SO the Church is the
only channel of it's convey ance and GUS
tody among men. No other policy
prompted the definition. And even
though the combined hostility of Civil
Powers, as We now see it, had been heated
sevenfold hot before its eyes, the council
would not have swerved from declaring,
whether politic or not, the truth deliv-
cred to its charge. If I speak without
hesitation, it is because I am able to
speak of that which I saw with my own
eyes, and heard with my,own ears.
hope shall not violate any conf
deuce which ought to be sacred, or any
reserve the delicacy of which 1 fully
recognize, in going on to state fact OF
which am able to give personal testi-
mony.
One day, during the deliberations Of
the council when the pressure OF diplo-
matists, and governments, and journals
was at its highest, the Holy Father said,
4 have just been warned that if the
council shall persist in making this def
milton, the protection of the French army
will be withdrawn After q pause be
added, with great calmnese, AS if the
unworthy Vicar of Jesus Christ could be
swayed by such motives as these I can
with perfect certainty affirm that policy
had as little influence on the Council OF
the Vatican as it had on the Council OF
Nicea; and that to ascribe the definition
to policy is as strange an alteration OF
Judgment as to ascribe to the definition
the occupation Of Rome, or the Franco
German war to the Jesuits and to the
Pope. When men say these things, can
they believe them?
It needs but little of the historic spirit
to perceive that if the Vatican Council,
for such motives as these, ought to have
abstained from defining the infallibility
of the he ad of the Christian Church, the
Council of Mecca ought also to have alb
stained from defining the Homoousion.
There was violence all round about it.
There was the certainty Of q schism.' Al
ter the council eighty bishops aposta.
tised. They appealed, as all heretics
ever do, to the Civil Powers. The Arian
Schism was formed; it was protected by
Emperor after Emperor. Arianism be-
came state tool against the Catholic
Church. It infected Constantinopls; it
spread into Italy and Spain; it lasted for
centuries. But where is it now: And
where now is the creed of Nicaea? The
Homoosion is at this day in the heart Of
the whole Church throughout the world.
SO will it be with the Council Of the
Vatican. What the Council OF Florence
implicitly declared, and the Council of
Trent assumed as of faith, that the Coun-
Gil of the Vatican explicitly defined. 1t
is very true that since the Council of,
Constance, that is, since the great schism
OF the West, when the civil powers OF
Europe, for time, shook the visible
unity of the Church by endeavoring to
lessen the authority Of it's head, the
power of the Roman Pontif has steadily
consolidated itself in the intellect and
the will Of the Church. What was be-
lieved from the beginning has been now
forced into explicit declaration. Bnt
while the Church has thus been more
and more defining it's faith with Divine
precision, the world has wandered off
farther and farther into the wilderness
Of unbelief. The Council of Trent de
fined the particular doctrines denied by