The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-03
A SURVIVAL OF RELIGIOUS INTOL-


controversy in England which can hardly
result otherwise than In q triumph for
religious freedom. London dispatch
says that Cardinal Vaughan has issued a
public declaration against the anti-Catholic
oath taken by King Edward on the occasion
of his accession TO the throne. and has
ordered it to be made a subject Of special
service in every Catholic church within
his jurisdiction. The cardinal declares that
the British Parliament alone Of all the
parliaments of the world brands two sacred
Catholic doctrines as ''superstit!ous and
MISUNDERSTANDING which are held sa-
cred by 49, 900 of the Kings subjects,
not TO speak Of other millions who hold
the same doctrines who are not British
subjects. That part of the oath taken by
King Edward which is the basis Of the
present controversy is as follows:
Lord Chancellor-wil you to the utmost
of your power maintain the laws of God,
the true profession of the gospel and the
Protestant reformed religion established by
law. and will you maintain and preserve
inviOlably the settlement of the United
Church of England and Ireland and the
doctrine, worship, discipline and govern
ment thereof as by law established within
Lis A1 aA1l ltA44l diln lHt A12
thereuntO belonging, and will you preserve
unto the bishops and clergy OF England
and Ireland and to the churches there com,
mitted to their charge all such rights and
privileges as by law do or shall pertain TO
them or any Of them?
The King-All this / promise to Go.
1t would have been surprising indeed if
the taking of such an oath at the begin
ming Of the twentieth century by one of
the most powerful sovereigns in the world.
among whose subjects are many millions
of loyal Catholics, had not caused a move
ment for it's repeal. The oath is a relic,
if not of barbarism, at least of a period
when religious liberation was unknown and
when religious liberty was even less ad-
vanced than civil liberty. 1t was an out
growth Of the long and bitter struggle be-
tween Catholicism and Professionalism for
ascendancy in England. The conditions
which existed at an early period of the
struggle are thus described by an English
writer:
The idea of religious roleration. though
it had presented itself as a matter of philo-
sophical speculation, was unknown i'll
Europe in any practical shape. Every
where the dominant party, whichever it
might be. forbade, and that in most cases
unOer pam or death, the practice Oh any
religion except that of the dominant party.
In England, through the whole period OF
reformation, the existing system, whatever
it was, was the only system that was al
lowed. Every other form of worship was
forbidden under penalties heavier or light
er. And there was always some form or
degree of theological error which sent its
professors to the flames. And, besides
burning for heresy, as heresy was under
stood at each successive stage this period
Of English history is especially distin-
urrfchnd for 40 a1nok inO of what WAS
really religious persecution under the guise
of punishment for political offenses. Dur
ing the reign of Henry every mar who
would now be deemed a conscientious
Catholic was liable to die the death of a
traitor. Every man who would now be
deemed a conscientious Protestant was
liable to die the death of q hereto. Under
Edward and Elizabeth the standard of be-
lief was changed, but the difference simply
was that the line was drawn at a different
point. Those who went beyond that point
were burned by those VINO a few years
before might have been burned themselves.
These were the conditions and this was
the soil out of which a few generations
later grew the test act, remuneration of
the doctrine of transubstantiation as a
necessary qualification for office, and the
ironclad anti-Catholic oath TO be taken by
future sovereigns of England. Some of the
intolerant legislation has been repealed,
but enough remains to show an offensive
survival of obsolete conditions. The oath
required to be taken by the sovereign Is
perhaps the most offensive feature, but an
equally vicious one is that which debarred
the late Lord Chief Justice Russell, ac-
knowledged to be the ablest chief justice
that England has seen for "A century, from
becoming lord chancellor because he was i
Catholic. 1t is surprising proof of the ex-
IRENE conservatism, not TO say intolerance,
of the British character that while the
Constitution of the United States, adopted
more than a hundred years ago, leaves
every office in the government, even that
of President, open 10 Catholics. British
laws continue TO impose the proscriptive
and CALLING conditions that prevailed when
religious liberty was in its dawn. There
fore, we repeat, it is not surprising that
the taking of the anti-Catholic cath by
King Edward should have advertised its
monstrosity and started "a movement for its
repeal.